December 24/25, Nativity (Isaiah 52:7-10; John 1:1-14)
What is the story within the story that we need to hear anew?
One year, desperate for a striking story for my Christmas Eve sermon, I hid away from the children and the in-laws and tore through an Advent devotional. The vignette that grabbed my attention first caught it in a sour way. The author described a Christmas when she was given an unexpected, overwhelmingly generous gift: close friends offered her enough money to live on for a year so she could devote her time to writing. They believed in her and her work. With that gift of time, Harper Lee went on to write To Kill a Mockingbird.
It’s a striking story, but I was annoyed. This is what Christmas means to Harper Lee? The biggest, most shocking gift she’d ever received, born of deep friendship, simple love, and faith in her value and potential? Good for her, I thought, but the last thing people need when they’re reaching out for something beyond the present-laden tree is one more Christmas morning fairy tale.
Then it slowly dawned on me. This is the beginning arc and the foundational heart of the Christian tale: the gift of the Word made flesh, the grounds of our joy and celebration, trees and presents and all. A new life of deep intimacy with God, freely given—as gift, as grace. We are worth more to God than we ever imagined. We are worth the risk and sacrifice involved. “I can’t believe it!” the shocked recipients cry.
