As the world rushes on with after-Christmas sales and gift exchanges, the church continues to celebrate Christmastide. As the music of the season fades into the distance, we as a people of faith need to drink deeply of the life-giving truths of this holy season, to taste of its promise, to receive those tidings of great joy in our individual lives.
For a season, we’ve listened to angels and found ourselves expectant and hopeful, we’ve been more generous and loving; we’ve had a glimpse of the way life would be if we were to become the people we could be. We’ve pondered in our hearts the Christmas mystery; we’ve heard the glad tidings of great joy and know they are for all people. We’ve believed for a season that with God all things are possible.
All of the anticipation and waiting and the joy of Christmas itself is past, and we’re left with the miracle of the Christ Child in our midst, and the growing awareness that we’ve only begun to understand the wonder of his love and the meaning of such a gift of grace. We become aware that we must live into as well as anticipate and prepare for the coming of Christ.
The truth is that Christmas is not “finally over”, but very much still and forever with us. These days on the other side of Christmas are to be days when we continue to ponder the meaning of Immanuel, God with us - not a Christmas present received in a moment of time, but the gift of Holy Presence forevermore.
As we begin to think about taking down decorations, putting away presents and getting back to normal, it’s important that we take time to reflect on where we’ve been in this year that is drawing to a close. We’ve made it through the uncharted territory of a continuing pandemic; we’ve come face to face with the depth of racial injustice and systemic racism in this nation; we’ve faced a deep and continuing political divide. Just what is to be the next chapter in our lives? At what points will we encounter Jesus Christ and have opened to us a new sense of purpose and direction? How will we continue to journey into this year that lies before us?
Are we ready for the Christ we are given in this holy child?
Are we willing to accept the consequences of knowing him?
Are we willing to be sent out to do the work of Christmas?
This poem by Howard Thurman helps as we think about these questions:
“When the Song of the Angels is Stilled”
“When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and the princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flocks,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among people,
to make music in the heart.
Let the work of Christmas begin!
Let’s begin it together.”
Giving thanks for those streams of mercy, carrying us into this new year, and asking God’s blessing on our journeys of life and faith in 2021.
Elizabeth
Many years ago, I taught school in the mountains of southeastern Kentucky. It was in the early ‘70s that I discovered a very special “filmstrip” to show my class for Christmas- “Peter and the Hermit.” I’ve tried to find the story in some form and there no sign of it anywhere. I did find a Christmas reading by Paul Harvey about “The Man and the Birds.” It’s a little like the story I remember, and he doesn’t know his source either, so he calls his story “The Man and the Birds.” At our church we’ve planned an outing for our children, with activities including decorating a tree for the birds. Our outing has now become a “drive through” experience due to increasing Covid cases in our area. The children will be given a special bag with popcorn and cranberry garland and a Bagel/P-nut Butter/Bird Seed treat. Hopefully this will encourage them to go home and make more to decorate a tree for their feathered friends.
I had hoped to tell them the story of “Peter and the Hermit.” Instead I’ve written the story as I remember it and will give it to them as they drive through.
“Peter and the Hermit”
Years ago, in a little town in the mountains, a little boy named Peter made friends with an old man who lived alone up one of the “hollers.” He was called the “hermit” by everyone in town, because he always stayed off to himself. Peter would visit and talk with him and bring him cookies his mother had made and just loved being his friend. Again and again Peter would ask him to come to church, but he always said, “That’s not a place for someone like me.” Peter never really understood what he meant, but loved him and continued to visit day after day.
On Christmas Eve, Peter rushed to see his special friend, taking a warm plate of food and a small Christmas cake his mother prepared. Again Peter asked his friend to come with him; again the old man again said, “That’s not a place for someone like me.” Peter told him Jesus loved everybody that God sent Jesus so we could see and hear and understand God’s love for us. He told him that Jesus made a place for him, too. The old man just shook his head and sent Peter on his way.
Soon it began to snow, and as the old man sat alone beside the warmth of his woodstove, he heard a thumping sound against the front window, again and again. He went outside and found birds thrashing around in the snow. You see, they’d been drawn to the window and the warm glow inside. He loved the birds – they always kept him company – their company was “a place for someone like him.” He went to the barn and opened the door and lit a lantern, hoping to draw them in to shelter, but still they thrashed around in the deepening snow. He took a bag of seed from the barn and made a trail of seeds from the front window to the warm and welcoming barn. Still the birds did not understand. “If only I could communicate with them and they would know I want to help them,” he thought, “if only I could become a little bird they would understand me and know how much I care for them.”
The old man watched the little birds thrashing in the snow, not seeing the warmth and shelter of the barn or the trail of seeds leading them there. At that very moment the bells at church began ringing “Joy to the World.” In that moment the old hermit fell to his knees in the snow. All at once he understood. Now he “got it.” Just as he was struggling to help the birds to come to trust him and find the way he marked to get them to shelter, so God, after struggling to help us come to trust him and find the way to him, sent Jesus, so we could see and understand his love for us and love him back. Miracles happen on Christmas Eve!
Our experiences of Christmas will be different this year, but miracles still happen on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas, as Tiny Tim said, “God bless us every one.”
Elizabeth
This “Prayer for Advent,” by Presbyterian Outlook editor, Jill Duffield, has much to say about the Advent Journey.
What are you waiting for, Alpha and Omega? Are you waiting for us to recognize our need for you? We are desperate for your in-breaking.
What are you waiting for, Most High God? Are you waiting for us to plead for relief from the chaos we have created? We cry out on behalf of a groaning creation to deliver us from evil.
What are you waiting for, God of our ancestors? Are you waiting for us to give thanks for your inexplicable unwillingness to give up on us? We praise you for your relentless love for the world and for your steadfast care of us.
What are you waiting for, Triune God? Are you waiting for us to better reflect the Savior we prepare to welcome and worship? We admit our shortcomings and ask for your help trusting the Spirit will intercede for us.
We are waiting, Gracious God, for your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, full of grace and truth, to join our human family, take on our human frailty, bind up our wounds, make us whole and save us.
We know we do not wait or work in vain because you, God of all that is seen and unseen, keep your word, stay true to your character and promise to never abandon us. Confident as your children, we wait in peace, eager to bear witness to your love incarnate, Emmanuel, God with us now and always. Amen.
Jill Duffield has returned to parish ministry, as Head of Staff at First Presbyterian Church, Greensboro. May God bless her ministry now and in all the years to come. I’ll miss her good words in the Outlook, and ask God’s blessing on them from her pulpit.
Elizabeth