St. Luke’s Stories

One morning recently I had a disagreement with my son. It was just a minor misunderstanding – the kind of thing that blows over easily. But as I was getting ready to leave the house a thought crossed my mind that I was leaving with things a bit unsettled. I thought how terrible it would be if I was involved in some car wreck and died (yes – I probably watch too many dramatic shows!). But I wasn’t sad over the thought of losing my life, I was sad over the thought of my son wrestling over our last encounter. I knew that he would feel regret and the thought of him feeling that way made me sad. Again, we didn’t even have a real argument or anything but I would never want him to think that he would need to feel guilty. Keep in mind that I had my own emotions of being a little miffed but more important to me was making sure that I didn’t leave my son in a bad way or in a situation where he struggled with guilt.

This Sunday is Epiphany Sunday. It is one of the oldest of holidays that we celebrate in the Church. Epiphany is from a Greek word that means “manifestation”. It means that something is revealed or made known. Perhaps you have heard someone say, “I’ve had an epiphany!” (although I don’t know a lot of people who have the word “epiphany” as part of their daily vocabulary!) The exclamation is intended to mean that an idea, thought, or explanation has come to mind. Something has been made known to them.

Just five days! Our Christmas morning tradition is – orange rolls. It is so much a part of our holiday, that we never eat orange rolls at any other time during the year. It is a tradition we’ve held since our daughter Hannah was very young. It started because I wanted to have the most time to focus with my family. I would buy the orange rolls in a can so that it would be quick and easy. As the years progressed and Hannah & Brooks got older, they started asking for homemade orange rolls. Several years ago I found a great recipe and started making the rolls from scratch. Now that the kids are older, Christmas morning isn’t so much about the fun of playing with new toys (which was a lot of fun for all of us!) but has become more about enjoying the morning together.

As we draw closer to Christmas, I want to encourage you to read “The Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. It doesn’t take that long and it has some of the most moving phrases I have read.