In Iceland Christmas has a different flavor.  Instead of Santa there are Christmas Lads.  13 characters that live in exile all year long.  Up in the mountains with their mom and dad, their tummys growel and poverty is their norm.  One by one, each character descends from the mountains one at a time, one day at a time, until all are in town on Christmas Eve.  Then they celebrate.  

You know when they are coming because strange things begin to happen.  Doors start slamming and sauges disappears.  Candles get blown out and your soup ladles go missing.  For these 13 young lads celebration is about getting what is their before the return to the mountains, the same way they came.  One day at a time, one character at a time for 13 days, until they all are home again.  In poverty they live all year, exiled away from abundance and generosity  and when they come, celebration  or at least their version of it, is the order of the day.

If I had been hiding away all year, how joyous I would be to go and celebrate.  The news of the adventure would be the sweetest sound, for it heralds the mark of something fresh and exciting.  It brings with it a sense of hope.  Maybe things will be different now. 

The Isrelites have received their message from the king and home is where they have gone.  Now they celebrate a festival of thanks and giving, honoring that which has changed the course of their lives.  No more living in a exiled cold world.  They are home. 

Now for us a babe in a manger born,

will be the herald and sign,

that  calls us home to live and love,

a festival of grand design. 

We could be like those Christmas lads seeking to take and not give. 

But a festival of taking,

is often very short lived. 

Giving away however as Christ does give,

is a festival that always lasts,

for it speaks across time and changes us, a legacy that does last. 

Let us pray, Dear lord teach us how to live the festival of new life you give to us, especially when we feel exiled. Help us to reach out to those in exile and show them the way of festival in your love. In Jesus name. Amen

Challenge for the day. Read Ezra 3:8-13. Then take a picture if the time word festival or write your ideas. Post to social media with #messiahlutheranpc #signs4life #AdventPhoto