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Friday, December 24, 2010
What’s On Your Shirt
By Rev. Cindy Bates
Luke 2:1-7
In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3All went to their own towns to be registered. 4Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
The other day on the Internet I happened upon a message by a minister by the name of Ron Lewis. He was talking about the meaning of Christmas and the reason we celebrate this time of year and he shared a story about a gift that came from a friend of his. His friend, Jason, was a special needs person who worked at a local thrift store. He went into the store to keep in touch with Jason and see how things were going in his life. They talked a little about how they were celebrating the season. Ron, the minister told his friend that he was out shopping for a special shirt because there was a party coming up at his wife’s new business and he wanted to make a good impression. Ron wished Jason a Merry Christmas and then he was off to the mall. A few days later, Ron was out walking across a parking lot when he heard his name being called out. He looked up and saw his friend Jason, who had a gift for him. Jason had listened to his friend’s need for a special new shirt and he was so excited because he had found the perfect thing! It was an adult size “small” bright pink sweatshirt with two teddy bears on the front with the message “Beary Christmas!” Obviously it wasn’t exactly what Ron had in mind to wear to his wife’s Christmas party, but the gift was one of the best gifts he had ever received…one of the greatest examples of “It’s the thought that counts.” He said the gift melted his heart as it was such a gift of passion and excitement, generosity and innocence…the things that make Christmas truly meaningful.
Ron said his friend’s gift really made him ponder, “The reason for the season!” And he began to think about what had happened the day he went to the mall and was looking for that special shirt he needed for the party. At one point he looked up and saw a young woman wearing a shirt that said, “I am the reason for the season!” He said her message brought out all kinds of negative thoughts and emotions within him. He found himself really judging her and wondering who she thought she was…obviously somebody’s spoiled child who felt the meaning of Christmas was to haul in all the loot she could possibly get! Her shirt gave him a very different message about Christmas than the shirt given to him by his friend, Jason.
His “shirt” illustrations got me thinking about what message I have been sharing or wearing around this Christmas season. I admit that when things get a little hectic during this time of year, and the volume gets turned up on the activities and responsibilities, I am not always my best self. I get so focused on deadlines and getting ready for company and planning menus and getting all the shopping done that sometimes, I get a little “out of sorts” and I am sure the message written across my “persona” is not the one I really want read. Does that happen to you? Do you find yourself saying, “I will be glad when all this is over, so we can get back to normal, when the demands and the expectations of this season aren’t so great? Life at Christmas is too cluttered and out of sync with how life should be! Christmas is just too much!” Really, I worry that might be the message I have been wearing around. What message have you been wearing around this Christmas?
Well, there was more to Ron’s story. He said he kept thinking of the girl at the mall wearing, “I am the reason for the season.” And, then it came to him…he realized she was right. Whether she knew it or not, he said, that truly was and is the message of Christmas. The story we share about the birth of a baby in a manger is truly a message from God saying, “you are the reason for this season. I want to be with you and show you how much you are loved.”
A pastor friend of mine posted on her Facebook today that one of her three year old twins got up this morning and started running around the house shouting “Joy to the weird! Joy to the weird!” Out of the mouth of babes! He might have been a little confused about what he was saying, but there is so much truth in his proclamation! No matter who we are, no matter where we have been, no matter how weird our life has gotten, God comes to us in a baby in a manger and says, “I love you.”
Do you get that message? Is that message in you being read by others this year? Pastor and author James Moore in his Advent study, What Can We Learn From the Christ Child?, tells about a “Peanuts” comic strip where Charlie Brown and Linus are watching television. Snoopy is standing on top of the TV with his ears sticking up in the shape of a “V,” serving as an antenna. Then Charlie says to Linus, “I don’t understand it either. All I know is it gives us a better picture.” Moore says, “The same thing could be said about Christmas. I don’t understand everything about the coming of the Christ Child. All I know is he gives us a little better picture. He clears up the confusion and shows us not only what God is like, but what God wants us to be like.” The Christmas story comes to give us a message of God’s love and light and God desires that we share that message with others.
Remember a game you might have played as a child, called “telephone” and you would have a line of people and you would start a message by whispering it into the ear of the first person at one end of the line like….”My favorite flowers are red roses!” And the message received at the other end of the line was something like “My father glowers at runny noses.” The message gets all messed up and not what was intended at all. I wonder if we haven’t done that with Christmas. I fear that we have managed to distort the message that God tried to get us to understand when the words were proclaimed that first Christmas, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news, of great joy for all people.” That good news was meant to be a life giving, life changing, life-transforming message from God, an individual message to each one of us saying, “You are the reason for the season!”
Beloved Bishop in the United Methodist church, Melvin Wheatley, in his book Christmas is for Celebrating, wrote, “In the gift of Jesus, God notices us. We are neither out of sight nor out of mind. We are eternally and intimately the objects of attention and affection. In the gift of Jesus, God nourishes us. God instructs us with truth and sustains us with presence. And just as surely, in the gift of Jesus, we are served notice that God needs us. The same spirit that dwelt in Jesus is meant to come and dwell in us.” That is the simple, profound message of Christmas. God loves us and needs us to show that love to others.
Former colleague, and good friend, Rev. Linda McCoy shared a story of a man in Cambridge, England, Bert Holloway, who every year for 43 years, at one minute after midnight on Christmas Eve would hand his wife, Ethel, a love letter. The gift is a tradition they started when they were first married, and every year he affirms his love for her in letters she keeps and treasures. Linda said, “I think that’s what Christmas is meant to be for us, God’s yearly love letter, God’s reminder and reaffirmation of unconditional, undying love.” This Christmas, this day, this special night we have the opportunity to open that letter again, truly hear that message and treasure all that it means for our lives.