Sunday had moved along nicely after that shaky time at the local diner. You found yourself back in the garage getting the decorations out. Why did folks have to stick their nose into lives that was not theirs? you think to yourself. Why did that gentlemen have to invite you to come to worship anyway? Why couldn't he have just left you out of the conversation? You were perfectly happy staying home and working on your Christmas decorations instead of going to some stuffy old worship service. Your mom made you go when you were a kid and you swore when you were older you would never darken the door of a church again. You went for weddings and funerals but that was it. Sunday morning? That is the time to relax and do chores.
Chores like putting up the Christmas decorations. That day was coming and you needed to get the place decorated. What good would it be to not have the house decorated for Christmas? You have a string of lights in your hands, working to untangle them. As you thought about it, you began to think, "What am I doing? I want nothing to do with church and I am putting up Christmas decorations?" Well, you think, I am only putting up the colored lights because they are pretty. Everyone does it. It doesn't mean anything. You push the thoughts out of your mind as you get the lights untangled and hung around the house. It was a nice enough day to get the lights out.
Next comes the...no, do I really have to put that out? Standing there in the garage, you look at your nativity set. There is the shepherd and his sheep. Then the wise men. What makes them so wise? Shouldn't they have kept that valuable stuff for themselves? Of course there is Mary and Joseph, and...sigh, the baby Jesus. Why am I even putting this out? You don't think about Jesus much except if you hit your thumb with a hammer or get upset with something that is going on. "Why am I putting out baby Jesus when I don't even have anything to do with Him?" you ask yourself.
Holding that baby in your hands, you look down at it. Didn't that guy at the dinner invite you to go to worship next Sunday? Nope, not happening...looking down at the baby. This is just a symbol of Christmas, you think to yourself. I am not being hypocritical. Pushing the thoughts out of you mind (with a few chose words to accompany your foolish thinking), you finish your decorations.
Heading inside, you decide you could use a cup of coffee. It might have been nice out, but it was still a chilly December day. A cup of java would be good right about now. You walk to the coffee maker, pick up your cup, reach for the coffee pot and stop...there it is. How did that get there? Didn't you throw that stupid thing away? How is it sitting on the counter next to the coffee maker once again.
What is up with that invitation?
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