The last couple of weeks I have been watching two sports. In one of them the score always seems to end at 53-47 – the others are more unpredictable. I usually don’t watch NFL football but their playoffs this year have caught my attention with the outcomes often in doubt till the very end.

Across Canada vigils were held at schools, universities, community centres and halls to remember the lives of the Canadian citizens and residents ended in the skies over Iran. Our human longing to connect with a larger context and have ceremonies to help with grieving has been on display in beautiful ways.

Last week we remembered the wisdom figures who followed a star to the home of Jesus and his family. This week the flashes over the same sky which the Magi observed were a missile creating disaster.

That’s probably not the way you’ve thought of the Wise Men. But I burst out laughing when I read that line in For the Time Being, W.H Auden’s wonderful Christmas Oratorio. It’s a majestic telling of the story of the Incarnation of Christ, with deep connection to our human longings.  But this the self-description of one of the wise men creates a smile;

I like that blessing better than Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. As we celebrate Christmas and approach 2020 it is good to know that the gifts of the season are an expression of God’s smile.