The Only Gift that Matters

Christmas is a time for gift-giving.  Christmas gifts first appear when the wise men present gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Christ child. Yet in the gospel narrative, the Magi do not arrive until almost two years after Jesus is born. Jesus is a toddler. Perhaps he is even speaking. That changes the story, doesn’t it? 

Furthermore Jesus and his folks are still residing in Bethlehem according the gospel account. Talk about overstaying your welcome at a relative’s house! At least they have moved out of the stable. The story says they are now in a house. Of course, preachers do not mention these details. It would disrupt the traditional narrative and get people questioning what else the church is not telling them. 

Back to the gifts. I am the gift-wrapper in my house. My wife is the card sender, and I am the gift-wrapper. It is just the way our roles have developed over the years. I wrap all the gifts. I learned how to wrap presents when I was young and worked in my family’s retail businesses.  

I used to be good at it, but I am not the best gift-wrapper any more. I don't worry if the paper is not cut straight or the tape is not neat. I don’t use ribbons or bows any longer. I don’t even put name tags on the presents. I write the name of the recipient on the wrapping paper with a marker.   

My gift wrapping may not be perfect, but I don’t get any complaints. That is because it is content of the gift that is important. I heard a sermon this Advent entitled “What’s Inside That Gift?” The theme of the homily was that we are the gift. The central idea was that the best gift we can give is to be the best version of ourselves. This gift of ourselves needs to be opened. 

It was a good sermon. I judge the quality of a sermon by whether it gets me thinking beyond what the preacher explicitly states. A good sermon gets my mind moving in new directions. If my mind wanders during the delivery of the message, that is a good thing! It means that the sermon is working! My mind was wandering last Sunday. 

My mind went to the prologue of John’s Gospel where it says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” I know that the Greek text literally says that the Word "dwelt in us.” That is another thing that most preachers will not tell you. We are the wrapping. God is the present. The apostle Paul uses this same imagery, saying, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?”  

When people were looking around them for signs of the coming Kingdom of God, Jesus told them, “The Kingdom of God is within you!” What people are seeking for is inside us. The only real Christmas gift that matters is God in us. God is the True Self residing in the wrapping of these human selves. And God, as the apostle tells us, is Love. 

The Gift of the Magi, as O. Henry so beautifully expressed in his 1905 short story of that title, is not a physical present. It is the love expressed by the giving. Unconditional love is what people really want. Physical gifts are imperfect representations of the Gift of Love. As the Christmas hymn says, “Love Came Down at Christmas.” May Divine Love come to earth through you. 

 

Living In Interesting Times

Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Let your heart be light 

Next year all our troubles will be out of sight  

Have yourself a merry little Christmas 

Make the Yuletide gay 

Next year all our troubles will be miles away. 

I heard that song recently, but I don't believe it. I do not think that “next year all our troubles will be out of sight” or “miles away.” If the political prognosticators are correct, by the time the twelve days of Christmas are over, our troubles will be just beginning. This is the first time in my life that I feel like next year will be far worse than this year.  

Yet others disagree. The other day I was speaking with a young woman, who was grinning from ear to ear and gushing about the political appointments being made by the incoming president and what they promise for the future. She is having a “merry little Christmas.” 

There is an old curse that says, “May you live in interesting times.” Whether it is a blessing or a curse, we certainly live in interesting times!   It is the perceived danger of our times that makes them interesting. Taking risks pumps adrenaline and releases endorphins. That is the attraction of extreme sports. 

I am finishing up my seasonal reading of Auden’s “For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio.” The penultimate section of the poem is about the Holy Family fleeing to Egypt to escape the murderous King Herod. These are Mary and Joseph’s final words as they arrive in Egypt:  

Safe in Egypt we shall sigh 

For lost insecurity.  

Only when her terrors come 

Does our flesh feel quite at home.  

 

Something in us is attracted to risk.  When things feel too secure, we “sigh for lost insecurity.” Only when life has an element of insecurity “does our flesh feel quite at home.”  So we invite disaster. We yearn for it. I think that explains the 2024 election results. 

Even though we buy insurance and wear seat belts to guard against accidents, there is something in us that likes living without a safety net. Here in New Hampshire our state motto is “Live Free or Die.” We are the only state in the union that does not require adults to wear seat belts or carry auto insurance. Granite Staters like risk. 

All humans like a certain level of risk. We evolved as a species to survive in a dangerous world. Our bodies are designed for it. We expect it. We thrive on it. When there is no danger, we seek it out. We invent it. Hence the fascination of conspiracy theories. 

People in war weary countries, like Ukraine and Gaza, are sick of war and yearn for normality. They would give anything to live secure and “boring” lives. If I lived in one of those lands I would feel the same way. Most Americans living today do not remember real civil unrest or national economic distress.  

The American Civil War and the Great Depression are ancient history. Today many Americans think that danger comes in the form of vaccines, transgender people, 2½ percent inflation, and migrants crossing the border to pick our fruits and vegetables.  We do not know what real danger is. I suspect we will find out in 2025.  

Fantasy writer Terry Pratchett wrote: “The phrase ‘May you live in interesting times’ is the lowest in a trilogy of Chinese curses that continue ‘May you come to the attention of those in authority’ and finish with ‘May the gods give you everything you ask for.’ I have no idea about its authenticity.”  

I don’t know if these sayings are authentic either, although I suspect they are not Chinese. In any case, we live in interesting times. As we approach a new year, I am wishing more than ever that Americans had voted for boring times, inattention from those in authority, and unanswered prayers.