Trinity Church in the City of Boston
Second Sunday after Christmas Day Year A
January 4, 2026
O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Songs of Thankfulness and Praise, to you, oh lord, we raise
Happy New Year my friends!
While the church liturgical year begins on the first Sunday of Advent, our calendar year has reset as of three days ago and I don’t know about you, but I have received countless suggestions on how to reflect on last year and prepare for this new year. Questions about “what gave me joy,” “what gave me energy,” “what was impossible, what really was crappy about 2025 and for 2026, what goals shall you have?” “What things shall you make habits that worked or didn’t work in 2025?”
Regardless of how you ended your 2025 or started your 2026,
I give thanks that we are here together today, to continue in the tradition of gathering as the faithful coming together and then going back into the world.
We too, gather and then are sent resolutely, after being fed by word and sacrament.
Living sometimes in the known and often by faith into the unknown.
Here we go, 2026!
The sleepy in-between-time between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve is over, the work world picks up with fervor this week (if it slowed down at all for you.)
The emails and meetings await you.
The Todo lists might become a bit too overwhelming…
and so, we take our time today
To Be still
To listen again for hope,
For fortitude and for direction amidst a world that swirls confusion around us.
Let’s lean into our lessons today.
We sing once more like Shepherds and Angels- joyfully, proclaiming-ly, the good news of the birth of our Lord and Savior in the most ordinary of ways- as a baby to a young couple in Bethlehem.
We hear today that in the past 11days Jesus has gone from a wee baby in the manger to being 12 years old. Time Flies, (much like our vacation also feels)…. and they say children grow up in the blink of an eye!
Luke’s tells us Jesus’ birth story in a unique way.
He tells us not only the Christmas Story that we read each year on Christmas Eve, the gospel writer then also shares Jesus’ presentation at the Temple (which we celebrate on February 2nd each calendar year- 40days after Jesus’ birth) and then this story of Jesus at 12years old, right before his 13th birthday when he would have celebrated his Bar Mitzvah- becoming a man.
Luke gives us three snapshots of Jesus, a trilogy of sorts, as a boy growing up in faith, growing in the tradition. Luke shares that his parents went annually to Jerusalem, as all faithful were required to do, for prayer and celebration. Jesus grew up obedient to the customs, to his parents, to the faith. Jesus was a truly human boy, Luke wants us to know.
And Jesus’ parents, also truly human though not divine, faithfully lived into the unknown each step of the way. Their willingness to stay together, have this child, travel to Bethlehem for Roman Empire requirements and the birth, to present this child at the temple at 40days old, and then annually with their community go to Jerusalem, guided them to press pause on their daily lives and to go pray, to gather, to live into their lives of faithful obedience.
Gathering to seek wisdom and guidance and to celebrate God in their midst.
AND then.
On the normal annual route and return home to Nazareth (not by another road like the Magi of the Gospel of Matthew) Mary and Joseph realize that Jesus was no longer with them.
The holy family once again reveals their true humanity.
GREAT Anxiety, Fear, Guilt, Anger- they have lost their firstborn.
We can only imagine….
Picture Home Alone when Catherine O’Hara realizes Kevin is not there. AAAHHHHH!!!
Imagine that sinking feeling in your gut when you realize the worst could have happened.
Where was Jesus?
It takes Mary and Joseph three days to find Jesus, Jesus goes a total of 4 days missing from his parents.
I can only imagine the fear, the heartache, the agony of those days- searching for their child. Looking with all of their being.
We know the rest of the story.
Jesus is, we know- is safe and sound, surrounded by community, sitting in the Temple.
He has stayed in the space you dream all children get lost in, the building of the faithful.
Sitting, Listening, Absorbing.
In the midst of the routine, Jesus has returned to the temple and centered down for comfort, for wisdom, for courage for what is ahead.
While his parents greet him with anger and interrogation, expressing their righteous anxiety, the passage concludes with a family returning home together and Mary treasuring all these things in her heart.
Mary ponders.
Luke uses the same words when the Shepherds and Angels appear at the manger scene.
Luke does not tell us about her next steps, rather, that each of these moments were held to wonder.
Curiosity
Trust.
Peace.
There is a peace for Mary and transformation for those who encounter this child.
Shepherds’ lives were transformed that holy night and in this chapter of Jesus’ childhood- we hear of a transformation for Mary and Joseph- Jesus is also transforming into the man called to ministry. While Luke does not speak of the Magi, Matthew’s gospel speaks of their transformation from their encounter with Jesus.
As we begin this new year, I wonder where do we have a moment where we stop in our tracks and wonder “where is Jesus?”- where has our busy-ness brought us?
Where have we lost ourselves in the flurry of the fullness of life demanded of us and we don’t even see God in our Midst?
Where have we been so overcome by the mid bleak winter of personal loss, global fear, and anxiety that we do not see God in community in our midst, and we have lost hope.
Where, in our doing what we should do, have we lost our reason for the pilgrimage, for the journey?
Where have we forgotten to take time to ponder?
Where have we lost the time for being still and wondering?
The Age-old Story- reminds us that every year we start again, we hear the story of Jesus being born to us, God bridging heaven and earth through the vulnerability of a baby and becoming flesh for us, love come down to us.
We are reminded again that even those closest to Jesus, even his parents, do not immediately know what is going on and
Jesus embraces them where they are.
Jesus goes home with his parents and continues to grow in “wisdom and years.” (Some teasingly joke that he was grounded until his baptism as an adult- where Luke continues the story and our gospel for next week.)
I wonder in this new year how you might find ways to re-center, be still and listen- finding ways to discover God, already there, in your midst.
How we might not take for granted our routine and instead open our eyes to the holy right here in our midst.
In the midst of a disorientating world, centering on the Love of God and being in community allows us, too, to grow in wisdom and years. This new year at Trinity Church invites you to so many ways to ponder and wonder. From bible studies, to serving in our community and neighbors, to serve in worship and to learn, to care for those around you in the parish, to feast and to break bread (both at the altar and with mardi gras cakes that abound after the 10am service)- to see where God breaks open the expected to open new opportunities to experience grace and love.
Now thank we all our God, with hearts and hands and voices.
Each year is a gift, a new chapter to be still, to listen, to challenge the ordinary and rediscover God in our midst even as the unexpected occurs.
God with us, Emmanuel, invites us to walk in faith each moment, not always fully understanding and yet knowing we are not alone, we are enough, and we, too, have each moment to recenter ourselves with hope and love and be a light in this world.
O may this bounteous God
through all our life be near us, with ever joyful hearts
and blessed peace to cheer us, to keep us in his grace,
and guide us when perplexed, and free us from all ills
of this world in the next.
Amen
"I will with God's Help" 