A little over three years ago we had a new development our family. Our son Philip had gotten engaged. His fiancée, Rachel, was to begin a master’s program in voice – she is an opera singer – and it made sense to invite her to live with us to save her rent, utilities, food etc. (Our son was in Melbourne at the time.)

Now there are always adjustments with that kind of thing. Early on we had to get used to her a bit and she had to get used to us. She was a new person in a new place. It just takes a little time to get used to living out of someone else’s refrigerator. When do you get to hold the TV remote?

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Any of us can look into the night sky and with very little training find the Big Dipper. Once we’ve found the Big Dipper, you follow the far edge of the open side and it will point you to the Little Dipper. Once you have found the Little Dipper, at the very end of the handle is a bright star, among the brightest in the night sky.

This bright star is special. Most of the stars rise and fall in the night sky as the earth turns on its axis. But not this one, because from our perspective, it is straight above the very top of the world. It’s always up there. During the day it isn’t visible because of the light of the sun, but it is still there. At night, as long as there are no clouds and you are in the Northern Hemisphere, you can see it. It is always due north, and so we also call it the North Star.

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Many of us spend so much time and effort in the run up to Christmas that we have a hard time simply enjoying the moment, then with a whoosh it’s gone. It’s helpful to remember – and to remind others – that, like the song says, there are actually 12 days of Christmas. That’s a blessing for absorbing the season spiritually. It’s also a blessing in that it offers us an opportunity to further reflect on the astounding revelation of himself that God gave us in Jesus’ birth. Which brings us to today’s Gospel which is, in my view, the most important passage of scripture for two primary reasons.

First, it answers the great questions of human existence. We know we live in a universe that is beyond our grasp, and ever-expanding. And each of us has a distinct and ever-expanding universe of awareness, knowledge and relationships nestled in the larger scheme of things. How do we fit together? How does my life matter? What does it all mean, if anything at all? You may not spend much time thinking about such things but you need to know someone has, kind of like you hop on a plane trusting that someone figured out how to make it fly safely. And you do have some interest.

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