Happy New Year!

How quickly Christmas is left behind. Last week it was all lights and presents, parties, and love. Now it’s back to the “real world.” Every magazine will have it’s year in review issue, and articles speculating on we can expect in 2012.

In a way that’s appropriate. All the hope and expectation around the birth of Jesus was not really about the birth of a child. The hope and expectation were focused on what that child would accomplish. At the annunciation Gabriele promises Mary, “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.  He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." (Luke 1:32-33) Shortly thereafter Mary visits Elizabeth, the child Elizabeth has conceived leaps in her womb in recognition, and Mary proclaims,

“For the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” (Luke 1:49-53)

Jesus grew up. And when he did he fulfilled the words of Mary, Gabriele and the prophets. He challenged the powerful, taught us to receive the love of God and share that love with others. Jesus changed the course of history, bending it in the direction he referred to constantly as “the Kingdom of God.” In the Kingdom of God there would be justice, and peace; kindness and compassion.

But the Kingdom isn’t finished. Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit are still working on it—in part because they want to give you and me a chance to be involved in building it.  The Kingdom, Jesus says, is like a seed growing secretly. It’s like leaven in a loaf of flour. It’s often hidden, but it’s growing. It’s getting ready to burst forth. We who follow Jesus are invited to help with the gardening. Help the Kingdom grow and flourish.

So it’s perfectly fine—required in fact—to move beyond Christmas into the world of ordinary life. But in doing so, let us not leave behind the hope, the joyful expectation that lay behind our Christmas celebrations. That gift is meant to be carried forward. The “real world” does not have to be the way it is. Jesus showed us how to live a different set of values. The kingdom, of justice, compassion and peace has been planted. It’s growing. So let us garden!

Happy New Year!