December can be a wonderful month of preparing and anticipating, celebrating and recuperating. But then comes January, with its gloomy grey days and undecked halls. January can feel like we’ve boxed up and put away our hope and anticipation for another year. The realities of life and the daily grind settle back in and even though daylight is supposed to be getting longer, it doesn’t feel like it yet.

The Christmas story as told by Matthew also includes some “January” episodes. After Christ’s birth, unspeakable tragedy seems to deny the reality of God’s good news of great joy. Can there ever really be joy? Will life ever truly be good? This Sunday we’ll see how tragedy does not disprove our hope, but it can actually deepen it, if we will believe God.

May you have a joyful and hope-filled Christmas, and then Sunday we’ll talk about the month after Christmas…