Canticle: Nunc Dimittis

There is probably no more difficult a time to mourn the loss of a loved one and join in the burial prayers than this. The twelve days of Christmas are for celebration, festivity, lightheartedness, merriment; a time to celebrate birth and God's love in sending Jesus to us. But for us this year, the twelve days of Christmas mean sorrow, loss, grief, and death. In the season of birth, we are in the season of death.

I'd like to share two personal memories with you, because they both have to do with Christmas and the placing side-by-side of birth and death. I was ordained a deacon in the month of June. My first Christmas I was at the Cathedral. The Bishop was going to celebrate the Christmas Eve service, his very last, as he planned to retire seven days later at the end…