Emily Schaming
December 25, 2005
Ottawa Mennonite Church
There is a story of a woman who got so caught up in the Christmas rush that she suddenly realized she had not send out any Christmas cards. She immediately raced to the store and was overjoyed to find a lovely card that she really liked with a peaceful picture of Bethlehem and the manger. She quickly signed the cards and mailed them out. When she got home from the post office, she noticed that she had one card left over. She had purchased 50 cards, but only sent out 49. She picked up the card and studied it more carefully. Down in the bottom corner was a small inscription that read, "A gift is on the way!"
This is what Advent is about. Four weeks in which we say, 'a gift is on the way'. And now we arrive at Christmas, the day on which gift-giving is expected. But what gifts can we give and receive beyond new mittens, good books and the latest mp3 playing-tv-camera-cell phone?
The Gifts of the Magi
Many of us are familiar with O. Henry's lovely Christmas story The Gifts of the Magi. The story tells of a young couple, Jim and Della, who are struggling to make ends meet. Christmas arrives and each wants to give the other the perfect present. Each of them has a unique and precious possession. Jim has an heirloom pocketwatch, the story says, " Had King Solomon been the janitor, with all his treasures piled up in the basement, Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to see him pluck at his beard from envy." Della has such lovely hair that the story claims, "Had the queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty's jewels and gifts."
So Della sells her hair to buy Jim an elegant chain for his watch. And inevitably Jim sells his watch to buy her tortoiseshell combs for her hair.
At the end of the story Henry speaks to the reader, saying, "…here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. O all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi."
Perhaps it is indeed unwise to sacrifice our greatest treasures. But think of the result! One of the greatest treasures in our busy lives is time. It means so much to people when time is given away, time to spend around a family dinner table, time to make a phone call, time to sit and listen. The list of treasures we have to give is long and varied.
Today we celebrate a gift of sacrifice. The treasure of a child being sent to earth to live with us.
The Gift of the Incarnation
When I am at the children's hospital I see many kids who are going through cancer treatment. For some, treatment means they lose all of their hair. Last spring a teenage boy was in for treatment and he was telling me about his prom. Dozens of friends from his high school, including some of the girls, had shaved their heads for the occasion so that he would not feel awkward coming with his bald head. This boy was very moved by this gift of understanding, and I know it meant a lot to his friends to be able to feel a little of what their friend was going through.
This is our gift from God. Rather than looking at our problems from a distance, God took on human form, tried to understand what people go through. A precious gift of understanding. For many people, Christmas is a time when vulnerability, helplessness, loneliness, is felt most strongly. Because there is so much emphasis placed on having a Martha Stewart Christmas, where all the napkin rings match, the food is delicious, and the presents just what a child who already has more than enough wants, because the expectation levels are so high and parents fear disappointing their children, stress levels are at their greatest. We can easily forget the meaning of Christmas. But Christmas is also the time that we are reminded that it is at the precise places of our own pain, helplessness, vulnerability, and weakness, that God desires to enter in. Christmas is the celebration of the incarnation -- God becoming human, taking on flesh. God giving us the gift of understanding our humanity.
Awkward and Inconvenient Gifts
Then there are the awkward and inconvenient gifts. We've all received them. The 'Oh, thank you! I ummm…left your gift at home!' present. The over-extravagant gift from someone we really wish wasn't so interested in giving us presents. At a Christmas party the other day, a woman told me about an expensive watch she had purchased and had engraved a little too early in the year. She figured she couldn't in all good conscience change the name on the inscription to express her undying love for her new boyfriend so just ended up swallowing the loss. Gifts are not always easy to accept, or to give.
And here we find ourselves on a day filled with presents, with the most inconvenient gift of all! The Child Himself. What do we say? We smile nicely and pat the humbly- wrapped present. "How nice of you, God, to have been so thoughtful," we mumble politely. But the Gift lies on the dresser unopened year after year. Perhaps because we don't expect to find much inside except a useless religious trinket. Perhaps because we don't feel any need for God just now. Perhaps because we know that if we unwrap the Gift we'll be obligated to the Giver beyond what we can ever repay. And so it sits ... and so it sits until in loneliness, in pain, in utter desperation we tug at the ribbons and tear off the wrappings, hoping against hope we'll find inside what we've longed for. And so it is. Unconditional Love! Endless Peace! Justice for all!
This is not a gift that is merely on its way, it is a gift that has been opening and becoming manifest within human hearts, generation after generation. It is here within us today.
"See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes."
"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light."
Eleanor Roosevelt once said,
"Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow is a mystery.
Today is a gift.
That's why it is called the present."
Today, in the present, we have received God's gift of a baby, we have seen the promise of that gift fulfilled. So now it is our task to take the light into the world so that people who see us say, "Look at those people. Look at their joy, the radiant light they have, how they love one another and others, how they give of themselves. What did they get for Christmas?"
1 All quotations of Scripture, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version.