🕊️ Keeping Christmas — A reminder that God meets us not in certainty, but in wonder, where mystery is held gently in the light of love.

Keeping Chirstmas– December 28, 2025 | First Sunday After Christmas

Bulletin – 12-28-2025

Scripture: Isaiah 63:7–9 | Matthew 2:13–23

This Sunday at Holy Covenant United Church of Christ, we gathered on the First Sunday After Christmas to reflect on what it means not simply to celebrate Christmas — but to keep it. As the season’s brightness gives way to quieter days, worship invited us to consider how the mystery of God-with-us continues to shape our lives beyond December 25.

Drawing on the words of theologian and musician Barry Taylor, we were reminded that “God is the name of the blanket we throw over mystery to give it shape.” Christmas does not eliminate mystery; it holds it — wrapping the unknown in presence, tenderness, and hope.

Our scriptures carried this truth with honesty and depth. In Isaiah 63:7–9, the prophet recalls God’s steadfast love — a presence that does not abandon the people but carries them through suffering and exile. In Matthew 2:13–23, the Christmas story continues not with angels and shepherds, but with flight, fear, and courage, as the Holy Family seeks refuge in Egypt and later returns home by a different road.

Together, we acknowledged that Christmas is not sentimental or safe. Love takes flesh, and then love must travel — into uncertainty, displacement, and the hard work of protecting life. To keep Christmas is to remain faithful to that journey.

Guest preacher Rev. Judah L. Jones preached a sermon titled “Keeping Christmas,” inviting us to see Christmas not as a single holy moment, but as a way of living — choosing compassion over fear, welcome over indifference, and hope that refuses to go silent.

Music carried this theology forward throughout the service, weaving joy, courage, and resolve into every note. From the opening violin prelude to songs of resistance and praise, worship reminded us that faith is something we sing — and something we live.

📖🙏 Order of Worship Highlights:

• Prelude: “Christmas Medley” — Violin
• Introit: “Come On, Ring Those Bells”
• Hymn: “Joy to the World”
• Gift in Song: “Ella’s Song”
• Sermon: “Keeping Christmas” — Rev. Judah L. Jones
• Song of Response: “Christmas We Shall Not Be Moved”
• Doxology: “W Żłobie Leży”
• Closing Hymn: “Go Tell It On the Mountain”
• Postlude: “Rain Down”

✨ “The work of Christmas begins when the song ends.”

“Christmas is not something we finish — it is something we keep.” — Rev. Judah L. Jones