Outside the Box

A common Christmas image is a tree surrounded by lots of boxes wrapped with colorful paper and pretty ribbon. Often the hours that it takes to prepare these beautiful gifts are quickly undone as anxious recipients tear through the ribbon, paper and boxes to see what’s inside the box. Then there are the gifts which will not fit in the boxes: bicycles, wagons, etc.; items which do not easily lend themselves to pretty packages and concealment with wrapping paper. Families have different traditions surrounding how these items are given: some may simply be placed next to the tree unwrapped with a bow on them, others may be hidden and the recipient sent on a scavenger hunt to see how quickly they can find the gift.

As we enter Advent and prepare our lives and homes to celebrate the gift of Christ at Christmas, I want to encourage you to think outside the box more this year. Like those items that could not be contained in wrapped packages around the Christmas tree, there are precious gifts God offers us that we may lose sight of in the Christmas story. These gifts cannot be contained in boxes but can reshape our lives. They are gifts which do not grow old, wear out, or break down. However, they are gifts which we may sometimes neglect in a corner, overlook as we go from box to box, or mistakenly think we have to put away when the Christmas decorations are packed up.

The gifts I have in mind are gifts of change, joy and awe.

John the Baptist in his preaching reminds us that God offers us the opportunity to walk in a new way. We can change the way our life is headed, or in John’s words, we can “repent”. Repentance is all about accepting the invitation to change which God offers us. On Sunday December 4^th, we will celebrate this gift of change gives us.

On December 11^th, our children will share a Christmas pageant in worship, “Census Time in Bethlehem.” What better time celebrate the joy God offers us than when children are helping to lead us in worship? The prophet Isaiah celebrates the time when God will come as a time of unbridled joy and good news. This joy was not meant only for the shepherds and angels in Bethlehem, but for all of us.

Finally on December 18^th, as we hear again the news of the angel Gabriel visiting Mary to tell her that she will give birth to the Messiah, we will remember the awesome news that God wants to dwell with us. Like Mary this news opens up for us a chance to marvel at what God intends to work in and through us. It is a gift of awe.

Change, joy, awe: gifts we never outgrow and which do not break down. They are gifts God offers us today. I hope and pray that all that we do this Advent and Christmas season will help us think outside the box as we live into new ways of embodying God’s presence among us.

Peace, Max