ILLUSTRATION: Christmas -- Giving, Wise Men
Gordon Moyes tells of an email he received from a family that had lost their father and husband just before last Christmas. It is always a hard time for a family with three teenage boys when a dad suddenly dies, and the mother has to step into his shoes with three very demanding teenagers. Judith told of a custom their family has.
Judith wrote: "It is just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so. It all began because my husband Mike hated the commercialism of Christmas: the overspending, the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry, and the dusting powder for Grandma -- the gifts given in desperation because you cannot think of anything else. He just said, 'All I want is for my boys and us to be together, and to be Christian.'
"Knowing he felt this way I decided one year not to buy him the usual shirt, sweater, tie and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way. Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, took up the sport of wrestling at the school he attended. Shortly before Christmas, there was a match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church. The boys were mostly black and came from under-privileged, poor families.
"These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and new wrestling shoes. As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, designed to protect a wrestler's ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford. Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. And as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn't acknowledge defeat. Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, 'I wish just one of them could have won,' he said. 'They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them.'
"Mike loved kids -- all kids -- and he knew them. He had coached little league football. When Christmas came that year the idea for his present came. I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church for their team. On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year. In succeeding years I followed the tradition -- one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a football game, another year a cheque to two elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on, always helping the poor.
"The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents. As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the envelope never lost its allure. As you know, we lost Mike last year due to cancer.
"When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree. It was my gift for Mike. I was sending in his name a group of underprivileged kids to church camp. "In the morning, as we all gathered round the tree in our pajamas, I was amazed to find three more envelopes stuck in the tree. Each of our sons, unknown to the others had placed an envelope on the tree for their dad telling what they had done for others. This year we know it will happen again. A tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing around the tree with wide-eyed anticipation watching as their fathers take down the envelope. Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us."
Gordon said, "As I read Judith's e-mail, my eyes filled with tears. What a magnificent tradition in that family! What would your re-action be if you were given the unexpected? It happens and that surprise may be the most beautiful of all. After all, weren't the first gifts totally unexpected? Mary and Joseph were amazed at the unexpected gifts given to their newborn baby Jesus."
In his Dec, 12 column, John Leo writes, "The "winter program" at Ridgeway Elementary School in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, changed the lyrics of the Christmas carol 'Silent Night' to the more inclusive 'Cold in the Night.' ('Cold in the night, no one in sight, winter winds whirl and bite.' ) After this success, the program's next step will obviously be:
a) Changing "O Holy Night" to "Uh-oh! Wholly
night!" a song about a lunar eclipse.
b) Singing "O Little Town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania."
c) A song celebrating the comeback of the American auto industry,
"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Ford."
d) A ditty about hoping for snow at the Panama Canal, "I'm
dreaming of a white isthmus."
Leo adds this: "Before backing down and permitting a full Nativity scene, a public library in Memphis agreed to allow the scene, but only if the baby Jesus, Joseph, Mary and the wise men were removed. This left a shepherd boy and some farm animals. Next year the library will accept a Nativity scene only if it consists of:
a) A shepherd boy and some chickens.
b) A shepherd boy and some ferrets.
c) A shepherd boy explaining that the head librarian in Memphis
thinks with a brain that may or may not be the result of Intelligent
Design."
ILLUSTRATION: Expectations
In one Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, Calvin is talking to Susie (remember, his arch-enemy) about a test they had just taken. Calvin asked her: "What grade did you get?"
Susie says, "I got an A."
Calvin replies, "Really? Boy, I'd hate to be you. I got a C."
Curious, Susie asks, "Why on earth would you rather get a C than an A?!"
To which Calvin smugly replies "I find my life is a lot easier the lower I keep everyone's expectations."
"Moral indignation has never led anyone to Christ, but mercy has." (William Dever)
You just might be a Scrooge . . .
If you turn on the lawn sprinklers on Christmas Eve to keep
carolers away
. . . you just might be a Scrooge.
If you buy all of your Christmas gifts at a store that also
sells gas
. . . you just might be a Scrooge.
If you get your Christmas tree at a rest stop at night
. . . you just might be a Scrooge.
If you give bathroom fixtures as Christmas gifts
. . . you just might be a Scrooge.
If your favorite Christmas movie is Jurassic Park
. . . you just might be a Scrooge.
If your best Christmas tradition involves a fire and reindeer
meat
. . . you just might be a Scrooge.
If your favorite pastime is putting defective bulbs in your
neighbors' string of Christmas lights
. . . you just might be a Scrooge.
If your only holiday decoration is a rotting pumpkin
. . . you just might be a Scrooge.
In the book Christmas Spoken Here (Broadman Press), John Killinger wrote: "One day I was staring through the window of a beautiful little Christmas shop. It was packed with Christmas items, even though Christmas was still six months away. There were exquisite crèche from Italy, Germany, and Norway. There were fuzzy-faced elves and jolly old Santa Clauses, sleighs and reindeer of every size and description, bells and trees, and music boxes. There were nutcrackers and candles and electric lights, angels and wise men and little drummer boys, stars and snowmen and gingerbread cutouts. The little shop was fairly bursting with Christmas, and a loudspeaker broadcast a medley of Yuletide tunes. It was infectious, even in the summertime. And down in the corner of the front door, where no one could miss it, was the neatest touch of all. It was a small sign that said, 'Christmas Spoken Here.'
"'Christmas Spoken Here.' I cannot imagine a better slogan for the church, at this season or any time of year, than that one. What could say better why we are here? God has entered human history to change its course forever. He has come as a Word, as something said, articulated, put in a message: 'The Word became flesh and dwelt among us' (John 1:14). We remember the event each year in song and pageant and decoration. 'Christmas spoken here.' It has to be spoken here, for it is the basis of all we do.
"Christmas Spoken Here." It is an appropriate motto for us. The church ought always to speak Christmas. We ought always to be reminded of the Word God has spoken: the intelligible, important, and loving Word of His concern for us. And Christmas is the best time of all the year for remembering it. 'The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.' That is Christmas, and Christmas is spoken here. It will always be spoken here.
"Lord, You have spoken to us in the birth and life and death of Jesus, and Your Word is plain. Help us to hear it and respond to it with all our hearts. For there is no other word as intelligible, or important, or loving as this one. Amen."