Luke 2:1-20
What
is the best gift you have ever received? What is the most wonderful present
you’ve ever been given? What story can you tell about your best gift ever?
My
story about one of my best gifts takes place in 7th grade. At the
last Girl Scout meeting before Christmas, one of my leaders asked if any of us
knew a gift we were getting for Christmas. A few of the girls spoke up and told
about a special item of clothing they’d been asking for or some new piece of
jewelry they really, really wanted. I tentatively raised my hand, and when my
leader called on me, I said I knew about my one big present but I was afraid
they would all think it was silly. The girls and my leaders assured me that no
one would think that, and no one would make fun of me no matter what the gift
was. I took a deep breath and said,
“I’m
getting my doll house.”
You
need to understand that my doll house was a gift that I had dreamed about and
saved for a long time. For at least two years, I had saved every penny I earned
or was given and bought some miniature piece of furniture or accessory to go
into my future doll house. Family and neighbors knew that I was collecting
items to decorate it, so I received gifts of tiny mixing bowls for the kitchen
and a wee little set of books to go into a miniscule bookcase. So that fall
when my mother found a lady in Franklin who built dollhouses, it was a big
deal. And when we went to her shop and she let me pick out what I wanted for my
floors and on the walls, it was an even bigger deal. And knowing that the doll
house was going to be waiting for me under the Christmas tree was the biggest
deal of all. I might have been the least cool seventh grader in Middle
Tennessee, but I could not have cared less. I was getting my doll house.
Until
the Christmas of 1998, I would have said that was one of the best Christmas
gifts I had ever received. But in 1998 I held my ten day old baby daughter in
my arms and knew that the gift of my doll house had been topped. A little over
two years later, Christmas came in July when my baby boy was born.
You’re
probably thinking that this is going to be a message about the true gift that
we receive tonight. And it is. The coming of the Christ child is a gift unlike
any other, but what does this gift mean? Is it a gift that you can only
understand when you’ve had a child yourself? No. As much of a joy as it is to
have a baby, this gift is more than just something only a parent can grasp.
Is the gift
ushered in by Jesus’ birth one of salvation? Of course, God becoming one of us
through the birth of his Son was and is a gift we can never repay. Not only did
God choose to become like us, God chose not to be born to royalty, to wealth,
to worldly power or empire, but to be born instead to the lowly and the
marginalized, the poor, and the overlooked. Yes, that is a gift unlike any
other.
But
I think there is another facet to this gift we receive on this night, this holy
night.
We receive the
gift of memory.
No, we do not have
physical memories of a young couple finding no room in an inn or of a baby
being born in a shelter designed for animals.
We cannot call to
mind the sound of the heavens reverberating with angel song. We do not have a
recollection of shepherds, another group of forgotten and overlooked people,
rushing from the hillsides to see a baby.
So what is it we
remember? What is this gift of memory we are given tonight and every Christmas
Eve?
We
are reminded in this beautiful story of what God intended and intends for the
world.
We are reminded of
who God created us to be.
We are reminded
that God called creation into being out of Love for Love and because of Love.
We are reminded
that we are part of that creation. We have value and worth in God’s eyes.
We are reminded of
our calling as God’s children, as those who seek to follow his Son.
We are reminded
that although our world is so broken, so far from what God intended, Light
still shines in the darkness.
We are reminded
that as long as we have hope, as long as we keep even one candle lit, the
darkness will not overcome the Light … or us.
Tonight we are
given a gift. We are given a chance to remember and to see through God’s eyes.
Tonight we are
given a gift, and this is one that will not break or lose its shine.
Tonight we
remember that Love was born in our midst.
Tonight we
remember that the Good News came into the world in the way we all do, in the
birth of a baby, in the cry of a child.
Tonight, on this
Holy Night, we remember our most precious and wonderful gift, Christ our Lord.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen and amen and amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment