A Gift from Above
Sit back, relax, and ease your mind. Even if there are gifts yet to be wrapped; even if the turkey still has to be prepared for tomorrow's baking; even if there are a few more cards that you fully intend to get into the mail; for now, there is nothing that you can do about it. Depending upon how many things are left undone and your attitude toward them, at this point you are either trapped, or freed. You can't get to them and they can't get to you.
I think we undersell Christmas Eve services by continually speaking of them as a time to be with family and friends. I’m not so sure folks come here to be with anyone. I think that Christmas Eve services’ greatest draw is that it takes us away. Away from things to be done, away from tasks to be completed, away from the hectic schedules we have been living for the past four weeks.
I have been a pastor for thirty-three years. During that time, I had all but forgotten how relaxing Christmas Eve services can be. It was my in-laws who reminded me of the relaxing nature of such services when they announced that they would be willing to drive up here in order to be with us on Christmas morning, but that they would not leave Atlanta before attending the Christmas Eve service in their own church. “We did our time,” they say in reference to the years of carting children here and there and staying up late to put together and set out gifts. What they look most look forward to now is a quiet service, in their own church, away from all the noise and hustle.
I had somewhat forgotten. I am grateful to them for helping me to remember how calming and peaceful a Christmas Eve service can be.
I realize that the busyness isn't all bad. These activities occur because there are loved ones, families, friends who we want to be with and to remember with gifts. As hectic as the busyness may be, it is far better than the emptiness of a Christmas spent alone. Such experiences have their own toil, bringing their own form of anxiousness.
From whichever end of the spectrum you have departed this evening, this is a wonderful time to relax, to enjoy, and to receive. You might even want to take a nap. What a gift that would be.
Christmas is a time to receive. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our giving that we forget the essential element of receiving. We take such pride in giving "just the right gift," that we fail to marvel at what is being handed to us. I don’t know the reason, but we have ceased to be what is most essential if Christmas is to be Christmas. We’ve lost the ability to be good receivers.
Maybe it is guilt. Have we been so thoroughly schooled that “it is more blessed to give than to receive" and so we feel guilt at receiving?
Perhaps it is embarrassment. We hastily picked-up and wrapped something only to be embarrassed by the thought and insight of the gift which is offered to us.
Maybe it is an issue of self-sufficiency. We take such pride in being able to make our own way so that any acknowledgment of need leads to feelings of humiliation.
I don't know what it is, but something has made it difficult for us to be good receivers. We prefer to be on the giving end and not on the end that gets. And yet, receiving is the essential act of this season. Christmas is not celebrated because it is a "time to give". We mark this day on our calendars because it is a time to receive.
On Christmas, we receive the gift of
God’s Savior.
Maybe God knew that we had rather give than get, and that is why God choose to come as a little child. Then, at least for a little while, we could pretend that God needed us. We could believe, for a while, that without our giving care to that cute little bundle of joy all of this would have been impossible. But God didn't really need us to do anything. God just sort of needed us, God wanted us, and therefore God offered to love us. God wanted us to have, and if the only way we could receive was for God to allow us to think that we were giving in return then so be it. God would stop at nothing.
In a manger, in Bethlehem, God gave
us a gift. A gift beyond any other that
could ever be given; a gift that is but
the first installment of all that God has for us. Christmas is a time to celebrate and to
remember ourselves as those who receive.
We receive God's love.
(Pause)
Listen to that ... it is so quiet. Look around you ... there is contentment in every face. Glory to God in the highest, (for) on earth there is peace among those whom (God) favors. It is a peace given to us by God; it is the peace which comes from being on the receiving end of God's grace.
Each time we gather a little more of this gift comes our way. It is such a wonderful gift that it softens our resolve to always be a giver. God's desire to give is so great that eventually we are all worn down - reeducated on the importance of receiving; strengthened so as to say "So what," if we aren't the best gift giver around; opened so that we can admit how needy we really are. This is what comes to us, in the silence, in the peace of this gathering.
Okay, time for those of you who took a nap to wake back up; we are about to resume the liturgy and you need to find you place in the bulletin. I need to remind you that those gifts are still in the attic; the turkey needs to be washed; and that stack of cards is staring you down.
But as you return, glorify and praise God for the luxury of being a receiver. For to you, this day, a Savior has been born. God has come into our world, God has come into your life and given you a wonderful gift.
How swell it is to be on the
receiving end of God's outpouring of love.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment