Dear Friends, 

According to the Christian calendar, the recent Feast of the Epiphany (January 6) has brought the Christmas season to an end. After weeks of waiting and watching through Advent, the pace of the gospel quickens greatly at the coming of the Lord.  

But are we ready to follow him into what comes next? Perhaps it is time.

Once the announcement of “Emmanuel” is made, Matthew immediately tells us about the response of an empire that is spiraling dramatically in its grasp for control. Foreigners from other nations come to pay their respects to this new king. Meanwhile, Herod “was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him…” (2:3). Throughout the gospel narrative, the lust for power is made plain. The relentless scheming of the political assembly is amplified, competing for center stage (2:8).

Without sugar coating the situation, the angel of the Lord warned Joseph and Mary about the weight of reality that was to follow (2:12). For them, new skills of discernment and navigation would be required (2:13). As Matthew tells it, it was the presence of the Messiah seeking Magi–reframed as a sign of alien invasion–that became yet another ingredient in the deranged justification for Herod’s rage and subsequent violence (2:16).

The week after the Epiphany reads like the script of a Martin Scorsese film. It is a season of upheaval. Believing that the people of God have been here before, I am grateful for the enduring witness of this particular reflection of Howard Thurman, a 20th century theologian, educator, and civil-rights leader.

The Work of Christmas

When the song of the angels is stilled,

When the star in the sky is gone,

When the kings and the princes are home,

When the shepherds are back with their flock,

The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,

To heal the broken,

To feed the hungry,

To release the prisoner,

To rebuild the nations,

To bring peace among brothers,

To make music in the heart.

This Sunday, we will gather in worship to commemorate the Baptism of the Lord and to reconsider this “work of Christmas” as the people of APUMC. Right now, we are also making our preparations for the season of Lent. This year, Ash Wednesday is February 18. Does that sound early to you? It strikes me that in 2026, there is little time to waste between the cradle and the cross. As if a part of God’s plan for the year is to usher us with great urgency into a season of repentance and prayer.

I hope to see you this Sunday as we reaffirm our baptismal covenant. 

Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?

I do.

The call of the church is becoming clear. 

We have work to do!

Yours, 

Darren