Christmas - 2008 December 25, 2008

A common theme of some of the television commercials over the past few weeks, as might be expected even despite the current economy, has been the portrayal of surprise and delight in the faces, especially of children, as they found gifts and opened them on Christmas morning. Many times it was evident that it was the gift that was wanted. It was expressed that the gift seemed to make it “the best Christmas ever.” Perhaps that has been part of your experience. Perhaps it is just a sentiment or an ideal that we are told is supposed to be a part of Christmas. Of course we know that whoever sponsored the commercial was hoping for the response that whatever particular item was unwrapped was their product that was being advertised.

Surprise and delight - those are important parts of the whole tradition of gift giving, especially at this time of the year. But another image came to my mind as I thought of this. In this case, it was not the picture of children excitedly opening present. It was, rather, the thought of the hope, the expectation that often accompanies giving a gift, especially if it is a special gift to a special person such as a parent or a grandparent, to a person who is loved and cherished. The giving of a gift to that person is important because of the effort that is involved in making or choosing the gift. It is also important to the giver of the gift because of the questions that accompany it: would the gift be appreciated? Would the effort involved be appreciated? Would he sentiment expressed be understood?

The receiver of such a gift is often closely watched. Was it apparent that the gift was a real joy to receive? Was it apparent that the meaning, the love, that the gift was to convey was evident? Was it apparent that the gift was truly a surprise and a delight?

These thoughts and reflections, although they were the result of mere television commercials, prompted a realization on my part that the surprise and delight of gift-giving, the selfless spirit of generosity, of self giving, that is suggested by the exchange of gifts, summarizes well and is a worthwhile understanding of the Christmas event that we celebrate.

As much as anything else, Christmas represents a gift. The recalling of the birth of Jesus Christ in a humble setting, as told to us in the story of the Scriptures, celebrates the absolute love, the absolute generosity of our God and Creator for us. So total is this love that no longer is there any distance between God and ourselves. So total is this love that, in Jesus Christ, not only is living our life shared with us, but so are all the challenges and difficulties, all the hopes and joys that are a part of this life. And, even more than that, in Jesus Christ even death itself is confronted and over come. So total is this love that not only is it shown to us in one event in history, in the birth in the stable, but it is available to us, regularly and frequently, in the Eucharist we must come together to celebrate and to share.

Christmas celebrates the total giving of God to us in the birth of Jesus Christ. But it is our being here, this response we make, that allows us to receive, to open - with surprise and delight - that gift of God’s love for us today, in our lives and in our world.

It is the experience of giving a special gift to a very special person that reveals to us an sight into the response our God seeks from us. In the moment of the giving there is the expectation and the hope for a genuine response, for surprise and delight and the effort and intent of such a gift, for a connection, a link that a material gift can signify for a relationship.

God comes to us now, totally yet simply, in love, with the hope that we might know and we might appreciate how truly valuable we are, and what it is possible for us to be as creatures of our God, as images of our God, as reflection of the totality of God’s love for us in our lives. It is in our response, in our giving of ourselves totally to our God and to one another that we realize our potential, our ability, that makes us to be the crown of God’s creation.

Our presence here permits us to open and to receive this great gift of God’s love for us. But we must be here, we must be present at the Eucharist, expressing to one another and supporting one another in the belief in the generosity of our God. We must be here, we must be present at the Eucharist in order to share in the real gift of God’s love found in the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ shared in communion. If we are here, if we are present, then the gift of God’s love that calls us together this Christmas day, is regularly available to us in living out our lives with an outlook, a perspective, a guidance in the choices that we make which reflect our surprise, our delight, at the generosity and goodness of our loving God