Christmas Presents for Christmas Presence

(The following is adapted from the sermon I preached for St. Peter’s Church, Purcellville, VA, on Dec 30, 2012)

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I always used to enjoy without question all the facets of Christmas: the giving and receiving of gifts, decorating the house, the special church service with all the great carols, gathering with family for a special meal, and doing all the other things that we only did at Christmas.  And did I mention getting presents?  I have always been particularly fond of getting presents....

But in the last five years or so, after I finally found and embraced a saving faith in Jesus and had some time to really think about all the things we do at Christmas, I've become rather conflicted over most of the traditional Christmas festivities we engage in. Faith made me feel rather Grinch-y: looking down from the great height of Mount Crumpet at those foolish Whos, engaging in the sound and fury of their pointless Christmas revels (Jing Tinglers and Pan Tookahs, indeed!).  As a Grinch who already knows and understands that the “Spirit of Christmas” isn't tied to the stuff, the “stuff” seems pointless!  So why not just let Christmas come WITHOUT boxes or ribbons or tags?  Why bother? 

After all, the presents I love are just consumerism and greed, encouraged in our hearts by marketers and advertisers, right?  Decorations and lights and travel and family gatherings and parties and presents are just reasons to spend money we wouldn't spend otherwise, and all to benefit the bottom line of stores and other businesses.  Have you ever felt this way about Christmas?  Have you ever considered going to that extra worship service at Christmas and skipping all the rest?

As I struggled to make peace with our typical Christmas observances, especially the gift giving part, I finally reached an uneasy truce: at Christmas God gave us the gift of Jesus, so we give gifts to each other;  it’s Jesus’ birthday, so we give gifts to each other because we can’t give them to him;  the Wise Men brought gifts to Jesus, so we give gifts…  Those seem rather trite and flimsy reasons (or should I say “excuses”?) for our American-style Christmas Extravaganza, but it’s the best I could come up with… 

Then earlier this week I read an interesting article called “Putting Mary Back in Christmas” by Robin Philips.  The article was primarily about finding an appropriate middle ground between what many consider the Catholic extreme of an all-but-deified Mary on the one hand versus a common Protestant attitude that is so very careful to keep Mary a mere ordinary human being as to make her (Mary) even less important than any other ordinary Christian. 

In his article Mr. Philips says this: “Mary is the supreme example of God’s grace reaching us through the stuff of the created world. By saying “yes” to God, Mary’s womb became the means by which the God-man could come to earth and rescue us from the curse of sin and death.”  What that statement is saying is that God works through “means” (of stuff) to convey his grace to us; He uses the world to act for Him; He uses creation to bless His people.  And God’s use of creation is not simply a matter of miraculously manipulating inanimate objects, but also of using the actions of people. 

Of course, it shouldn't surprise us that God uses creation to bless.  In our reading from John, we heard this: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.”  (John 1:1-3)
God MADE all the “stuff” and substance that we call the world.  The Earth, the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, all of these things from the very beginning of creation are “stuff” and that stuff is God’s. 

We fell because of stuff (that whole unfortunate incident with the apple that we heard about), but we are also blessed through stuff.  Israel was a nation made of stuff – people, land, houses, possessions.  And from Israel came King David, and from David’s progeny came Mary, and from Mary came Jesus – who is both God AND “stuff”, and the ultimate blessing upon humankind. 

God blesses through stuff – not mere ideas or thoughts or words.  God acts by means of stuff, for example plaguing Pharaoh with actual frogs and locusts, feeding Israel in the wilderness with real food, giving Israel actual land as a home, and being born into this world of stuff as a baby to act here for the benefit of his people. 

God created the stuff, and then created himself within that stuff through the cooperative womb of Mary.  And from that life as stuff came our salvation!  Now salvation itself is certainly an intangible “idea” - a “concept” - but it was got for us by means of stuff… a human body born from a woman, living in the world, then dying on a wooden cross, pierced by iron, and wrapped with linen and spices in death and placed in a rocky tomb.  And that’s all stuff, stuff, and more stuff!  (and all this talk of stuff reminds me of the comedy routine by George Carlin on “stuff”….)

So how can all this “stuff” make sense of our Christmas celebrations?  It goes back to Mary, who is not merely to be remembered as the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, but who also serves as the supreme example of God’s grace entering the world by means of His people, who are stuff he created.    And we also are means God uses to bless others.  None of us is likely to bless the world so richly and universally as Mary did when she obediently allowed God’s Son to enter creation through her.  But we – both individually and as The Church - are just as important for conveying the Good News of God’s saving grace, and serving as a conduit of His Blessings. 

Because think about it: when is the last time you felt richly and compellingly blessed by a mere thought or idea?  I couldn't come up with anything for myself….  But when have you felt richly and compellingly blessed by someone’s actions or gifts or presence – by those things that rely on actions within the “stuff” of the world? 

Now there is fertile ground where I can think of all sorts of examples in my own life:  unexpected gifts large and small, acts of service, kind words, a smile, an acknowledgement, and just the warm presence of another person beside me.  All of these things rely on the activities of another person to convey blessings from God.  Because you know that ultimately, all those blessings are from God, no matter what person may physically provide them to you.

And that, I think, is our basis for all we do at Christmas.  Of course, we remember and honor God and Jesus and what has been done for us.  But that’s history and ideas – intangible concepts.  It gets real when it becomes flesh and dwells among us; when our thoughts and feelings become actions and gifts and service to one another; when we make it real by representing it in the stuff of creation, here and now.

Our Christmas Presents become a way of demonstrating and paying forward God’s Christmas Presence.  The gifts we give one another – whether wrapped in paper and bows, or consisting of the acts of love we perform for others - are a way of making Christ known.  And that is a perfectly wonderful reason to continue to keep Christmas well.

Our Christmas “Presents” show forth Christ’s Christmas “Presence,” and in that way God blesses us, every one.  Merry Christmas!

Viral Compassion

You can always tell it's been a slow news day when all the media outlets are reduced to reporting on the latest thing that's gone viral on the internet!  Of course, that's the only reason I heard about the NYC police officer who got his 15 minutes of fame by being "caught" giving a new pair of boots and socks to a barefoot homeless man a couple weeks ago.  A photo of the incident went viral, becoming so popular the news media felt compelled to jump into the fray, reporting the "story" and asking people's opinion on what the officer did, how to help the homeless, and so on.

Now the man is shoeless again!  When people noticed the man some days later, barefoot again, he said he didn't feel safe wearing such expensive boots, and hid them so they wouldn't be stolen.  Further investigation revealed that the man was not homeless, and has an apartment paid for by various benefits he receives.  He just has a history of refusing help.

Where does this sort of story leave us when we are  asked - especially at this time of year - to help the needy?  The Pollyanna optimists believe they can give a shoeless man a pair of boots (or put a dollar in the red kettle or give a tot a toy...) and change his life.  The Scrooge-like cynics see just another person unwilling to take care of themselves and expecting a handout in the name of Christmas.  The story of this shoeless man shows that neither end of this spectrum is true in this case; neither Pollyanna nor Scrooge have got it right.

Where, then, does the middle ground lay?  How should we orient our hearts to those in need?   Helping others in order to feel good about your own charity will most often lead to disappointment when your gift does not yield the anticipated transformation and/or gratitude from the recipient.  Refusing to help others so that they must learn to help themselves will most often lead to being cut off from humanity and with a withered capacity for compassion.

We can't expect to permanently "fix" poverty.  Jesus himself states that the poor will always be with us (Matthew 26:11).  But neither can we ignore the poor.  Jesus expects us to help them (James 1:27).


The solution is to keep our eyes on Jesus when we serve others.  Give chiefly because compassion for humanity demands it, and with no expectation of any reward  (whether in the form of gratitude from the recipient or the form of satisfaction at doing a good deed).  That, after all, is what Jesus would do!  God's compassion for Humanity is, after all, the reason for the season.

An epidemic of "viral compassion" is what I want for Christmas!  Can you help?

Get Some Help!

The image that comes to my mind when I'm feeling over-worked is that of a busy waiter working a crowded, noisy dining room, bringing orders to the diners from the kitchen.  This server is carrying a large tray, heavily laden with plates of food, hoisted high and carefully balanced.  When another waiter approaches and says "let me help," the answer is always "Thanks, but I've got it."  Why?  because it is more effort to lower the tray and try to balance it on one hand to pass some of the load to another, than it is to just press on and finish the job yourself.  At least, that's how I often feel!  The things I most need help with are the very things that seem to require MORE effort to hand off than to just complete on my own.

And then there are all those other reasons for not taking help: pride (can't let others think I can't do this myself!), perfectionism (no way can someone else do this the way I want it done!), distrust (she's only helping so she can try to take my place!), and so on and so on....  We are some seriously broken people, aren't we?

But we don't have to be!  I heard a very striking sermon last month reminding us that Jesus wants to help us. In all things.  At all times.  Jesus is a helper and his desire is to help us.  He watches us in our self-imposed struggles, trying to catch our attention so he can say "I will HELP you!"  The help he offers is not help that we have to direct, either.  Unlike the well-meaning waiter trying to offer help but needing action on my part for the help to be effective, all we have to do to receive Jesus' help is to ask for it.  He is God, after all, an he can do anything.

Right now, take a moment to close your eyes, and bring to mind an area of your life in which you need help. Now imagine Jesus has entered into the room.  He is looking intently at you, his desire to ease your burden is clearly written on his face.  He speaks, saying "let me help you."  Say yes, my friend, say yes!

And you don't have to figure out HOW to "let" Jesus help you.  My waiter may find that the restaurant has gotten less crowded so the trays are lighter and easier to manage.  Maybe the management has hired more waiters.  Or bought lighter plates!  Perhaps the next diner he serves will offer him a job somewhere else that doesn't involve balancing heavy trays.  Or perhaps the same trays with the same plates for the same diners just doesn't feel like such a difficult load any more....

Just say "Jesus, help me" and watch with confident expectation for something to change.

I look up to the mountains—
    does my help come from there?
My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth!
     (Psalm 121:1-2)

Just say yes and Jesus will do the rest.