Ended or begun?

Has Christmas ended or begun?

My neighbor removed the cheery red and white lights he'd wrapped around his porch railings and hauled the family Christmas tree out to the curb. The after holiday sales have started and the annual "best and worst" appeared in this morning's Post. It's over.

But at church, where the banks of poinsettias, white-lighted trees, creche and Christmas carols just began, the celebration of the birth of the Messiah has just begun. We reflect on what the manner of God's coming says about God and draw lessons for living.

God came into the world in the utter vulnerability of an infant, just as every human does. Who can resist an infant, soft and warm wanting only love. No words, no judgment, no demands --God wanted humankind to know that first. God came into a family and knew the ups and downs living those relationships. Within that setting, a babe became a child, a child a man, and that man our Savior.

Family relationships delight and the trouble. Sometimes we want to draw close and other times we'd like to run away. God knows.