On the eighth day they brought him to the temple to become a child of Abraham and to be named. The previous days were spent enjoying and rejoicing in the blessings of God upon this family. Now it was time to begin the adventure, the journey of Faith, enriched by the blessings of God.
Today is the eighth day of Christmas. The Church in celebrating Easter and Christmas celebrates for an Octave, or eight days - each day being as the feast itself. The reason is to bring the celebration to its completion, to celebrate the wholeness of God's blessings, and to journey forth renewed and rekindled, enriched by the blessings of God.
This eighth day falls on a Sunday this year, which is an eighth day in itself. The week consists of seven days, the seventh being fulfillment, the Lord's Day, the Sabbath, Saturday. Christ rose on the first day of the week, Sunday, and transformed that first day - a day of leaving last week behind and starting over fresh, forgetting the days gone by - into an eighth day, a day of new beginnings rooted in the blessings and experiences of God that went before. We do not start out with an empty slate ... we carry the experience of God with us into the new day, the new week, the new year.
So many people last night celebrated into oblivion, trying to forget the past. As followers of the one named Jesus on that day, we celebrate with life renewed, heart set on fire, confident assurance and great hope. Our journey is not into darkness, but rather into the Light. We journey having been blessed by God and called now to be a blessing. Happy New Year to all!
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