No sermon today

One week to go 'till Christmas. The tradition at St. Paul is to have a children's program. That was today so...no sermon.
This year my family is reinventing and re-imagining what it means to celebrate Christmas because for the first time in my life, my siblings an I are Not going to be together.
This will not be easy.
I have always drawn much of my identity from who I am in relation to my family. We have always been very close. The very symbol of that closeness is our yearly gathering at the family home around christmas time.
All that fell apart this summer for various and understandable reasons, of which I won't go into here.
And so my wife and our children have had several conversations about what our family traditions will be. It's both sad and exciting. Sad for what has been lost, exciting starting a new chapter of life of which we will pen many of the details that otherwise may have been pre-determined.