Why is the nativity scene still up in our church?

     In the traditional liturgical calendar, the season leading up to Christmas day is called “Advent.”  This is designed to be a time of introspection—of preparing our hearts for the coming of the Lord at Christmas.  There is usually one Sunday after Christmas and before Epiphany, when we celebrate the revelation of the Christ Child to the wisemen.  The Sundays following Epiphany, up until Lent begins, are “Ordinary Sundays,” from “Ordinal,” so they are numbered “First Sunday after Epiphany,” “Second Sunday after Epiphany,” etc.
     So if we are preparing our hearts for Christmas in the season preceding it, then logically, we must be celebrating Christmas in the days following it!  How then, should we celebrate Christmas after all the gifts are opened and the tree is taken down?  We should be spreading the Good News of Christmas with our words and our actions—the Good News that Christ has come to give us the Peace of God—the “Shalom,” that is wholeness and completeness found in relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
     This is the true work of the church, spreading His message.  This work then bears fruit, so that this “Ordinary Time” is anything but “Ordinary.”  It is a time of growth!  This is why the traditional color of Ordinary Time is green—the color of new growth—and it is why the nativity is still up.  It is up to remind us to “Get to work,” and spread the Good News of Jesus’ birth!


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