Saint Benedict Episcopal Church

I could hardly believe it. It was November 1st and I walked into a drug store and there it was already; Christmas Decorations! Why was I surprised?  By the time you receive this newsletter, the frenzy of consumer Christmas will have begun. How many shopping day will the merchants make it this year? Will this be a good Christmas?

Some years back, I decided that I didn’t like Christmas. I despised all the glitz and fake joy, all the frenzy of shopping, the traffic, and all the rest. But then one day I discovered the other Christmas. The Christmas that comes after prayerful patient waiting, the Christmas that grows from the darkness into the light and hope of the world, the Christmas that is truly Christ.

A parishioner recently told me a funny story. She once asked a person who once gave her the usual holiday platitude of putting Christ back into Christmas, how do you do that?

The person was dumbstruck and had no answers for her. I love her question! How do we put the Christ back into our Christmas?

I think it starts with the beauty and dark hope of Advent. The best Advent experiences I’ve had have taken place here in the Northwest. The darkness and gloomy days add to the rich words of the prophets and the gloom of end time readings that we often get in scripture during this season. Advent is ripe with dark hope in the midst of gloomy days of rain. Somehow the gloom goes so well with Advent waiting. The hope we proclaim in the coming of Christ changes everything, Listen to the scriptures we will hear in the upcoming weeks and you will know this hope that is about changes and endings and new beginnings—transitions. We put Christ into Christmas when we come to understand that when Jesus is born in our hearts, everything changes and let’s face it—few among us are fond of change because it signifies a death or ending of something in our lives—Advent is dark hope and Christ’s coming brings an ending and a beginning.

We put Christ back in Christmas by rethinking consumerism at the holidays and buying gifts that are bigger and point to something besides our own loved one’s use or desire. We put Christ back in Christmas when we remember the poorest in our own community and in the world and there are so many ways to do this! We can go feed folks at our community dinner or participate in the giving tree or buy gifts through Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD). This year my family are all getting mosquito nets! Not that my mom and dad will unwrap a mosquito net under the tree exactly, but I have purchased mosquito nets to help countries that still live with the threat of Malaria so that people can live safely. Our new Bishop Greg Rickel has issued a challenge to all Episcopalians in the diocese to buy one mosquito net each from ERD (your cost: $12—the cost of one discount priced book or C.D. or two 16 oz lattes with a syrup shot!). If each and every one of us in our diocese did just that, we’d buy over 200,000 nets and think of how many holy families we’d help. Talk about putting the Christ back in Christmas! Want to buy a Mosquito Net for someone you love? Check out our webpage link to the ERD Gifts for life catalog online.

We put the Christ back in Christmas when we allow Jesus to be born in us anew. We are all bearers of Christ and have within us the joy and playfulness of the Christ child. How do you kindle that joy at Christmas time? For me, it is the manger that kindles the playfulness of the Christ child. Every year, I set out my manger in Advent putting only the barnyard animals in the barn. Mary and Joseph are placed across the living room because they are still on a journey, the magi are even further away as they are coming a great distance. On December 24, Mary and Joseph arrive on January 6, the magi arrive.  For me, it sparks a playfulness. Some of the sisters at the Priory tell of closing their eyes on New Years eve in front of the manger and praying to God, “Lord who would you have me be in this new year? And then with eyes closed, they pick a character from the nativity scene. I had to laugh one year when I watched as the head of their community picked up the donkey! Everyone laughed. I wonder who you will be this year. I wonder who you keep joy and play alive in the midst of Christmas. A big part of placing Christ into Christmas is by having a joyful heart.

I imagine that there are a million possibilities for how to put Christ back into Christmas and to celebrate the wonder of Christ’s birth, not just in the world in a certain time and place, but also within each and every one of us. Christ is born in you and you are sent to be  the hands of Christ in the world. Thanks be to God.