Edina Morningside Community Church

Today’s scripture reading: Matthew 2:1-23

Sermon audio:

I always find this week to be a weird one, don’t you? It’s a sort of limbo time, between the high points of Christmas and New Year’s. Christmas is the finale after weeks—or months—of preparation, and New Year’s is the launch of a brand-new start, but in between them are these quiet, unremarkable days. For many families, this week involves travel—coming home from a Christmas trip, seeing the other side of the family, or going to wherever one will spend the rest of the winter. Even if this week has not literally held travel, it still feels like the hours on a trip between departure and arrival, when everything is in motion and nothing is settled yet.

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Edina Morningside Community Church

Today’s scripture reading: Luke 2:1-20

Sermon audio:

Earlier this month I attended one of the Christmas concerts put on by area colleges this time of year. In between the musical pieces, narrators read various biblical passages, including the Christmas story that we just heard. As I listened to verses from Luke’s gospel for the umpteenth time, I heard something I’d never paid any attention to before. Tucked in there among registrations, Nazareth, Jerusalem, shepherds and angels, there’s a little, overlooked mention. Mary gives birth to the child, “and wrapped him in bands of cloth” before laying him in the manger.

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