christmas Eve 2007 

ready or not it’s here!  christmas eve, the time children think will never arrive and a time that seems to over-run adults.  there has been the hectic round of entertainment, the decorating of the home and, of course, the shopping, trying to find just the right gift for each family member, friend and associate.

we look for that something special that we feel will really please them, comfort them or enhance their ego…or perhaps their waistline.  and then comes the difficult part of balancing the cost and what we perceive the value of the gift to be.  can we afford it?  and is the value of the gift worth the price?  in fact, we may find ourselves at times questioning the whole value of the christmas season.  is it worth the effort?  why don’t i feel happy at this time of year?  why do i feel depressed when i should feel good?

but what is it that we are really looking for at christmas?  what is it that we really want that plunges so many into depression and despair when it does not come.  clyde reid, the author of "you can choose christmas", suggests that it may be the santa myth.  deep down inside of us we keep on expecting christmas to have it’s childhood magic.  strange and wonderful things happening around us--happening to us.  seeing a strange beneficent man in a red suit at the toy department.  a man who has the power to bestow anything he wishes.

then christmas day …loads of packages appearing like magic during the night…sleds, bikes, slippers, toys, games and the like.  maybe chrismas was like that when we were little and still waited for santa.  and unconSciously, we want it to be like that again.

or maybe it never was…and we keep wishing it could be  that magical childhood christmas that never will be …not now.  so we go on grieving for it, wanting it, feeling let down, sad, depessed, disappointed.

once more christmas arrives and it is apparent that the great miracle has not happened.  the huge package has not arrived.  the ultimate gift is not there.  the final proof has eluded us again.  so depression sets in.  all the shopping and spending made no difference.  the thoughtful gifts didn’t do the trick.  santa has not appeared.  the myth has failed.

iti’s possible that we carry this childhood santa myth with us year after year.  we need to ask ourselves, “is christmas hard for me because i am unconSciously waiting for the great santa myth to be fulfilled even while knowing it won’t?  am i waiting for that great gift to prove to me that i am okay, loved, wanted and accepted?  or have i somehow missed it?

there is the story of a man who was traveling in rural oklahoma when his car ran out of gas.  he went to a nearby farm house to call a service station but the farmer insisted on taking him to town, bringing him back, and even staying with him until the car was running again.  the man offered the farmer a twenty dollar bill and the farmer shook his head.  when the man insisted, the farmer replied, “look mister, i feel very good about helping you.  if i took your money, you’d buy that feeling back from me.  and it’s not for sale!”

yes, some things are not for sale!  either because we do not have sufficient funds to pay the price or because the nature of the item is such that it can only be received as a gift.  it is true that the real measure of a gift is in its cost.  not the money you spend, but the cost.  what did it cost you?  how much of you did you spend?  how much of your love and caring is invested in the giving of that gift?  a true gift is a gift of love.

that’s the message that st. paul is trying to convey to titus and that st. luke is proclaiming in his christmas story.  that god loved us so much that in spite of our behavior, in spite of our righteousness, or lack of it, he gave us the greatest gift the world has known.  he gave us jesus.  he gave us himSelf.  and the cost in the end?  the life of his only begotten son for our salvation.

the christmas gift is god’s unconditional love that we call grace.  no money can buy it, its one of those things that’s not for sale.  it can only be given away as an act of love.

there is a depth … a reality … a promise in christmas.  and this depth has nothing to do with the holiday … or families … or receiving gifts.  it has to do with god’s eternal promise that we can have a new life … start over … begin again … be born anew.

if we want that.  that can happen!  that is the miracle we celebrate this night.

god so loved the world … you and me … that he broke through into history in the form of a man … who showed us that love of god for us.  showed us that we are indeed okay, wanted and accepted.   and that makes all the difference.