THE PERFECT GIFT

Jesus asked the crowd, Why did you go out to the desert? He might ask us, Why are you here?

We come to the third Sunday of Advent – Gaudete Sunday…invited to rejoice! It’s not quite Christmas, but we’re almost there. We’re in the home stretch of preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ…preparing to give birth to Christ this Christmas. 

Two weeks ago we said we are pregnant with God.

Let us focus today on our Christmas shopping, hoping to find the best gift for the Christ-child…and for ourselves.

What gift would you like to give God this Christmas? What do you want for your loved ones...for yourself? Perhaps peace, joy, hope, love, happiness, fulfillment, holiness…

Today we hear of Isaiah’s Christmas wish, his joyous desire for the desert and the parched land to bloom with abundant flowers.

A few years ago preaching in Coachella, between Palm Springs, CA, and the Mexican border, I was blessed to see the desert in bloom. The cacti were alive and radiant with vivid yellows and reds, pinks and purples; as beautiful as any Fall up north.  But there is a greater meaning in Isaiah’s wish...about the parchness and pain in our lives. (I quote from an earlier blog seven years ago, River or Lake.)

"There is an illuminating book about the condition of humanity, its downfall and ultimate redemption. It is entitled, Cry, the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton. Its central character is a poor black pastor, Stephen Kumalo, in the back-country of South Africa.

"He is troubled because of the lack of news from his son and sister, who left for Johannesburg to find work.  As the story begins, the land is parched, the plants in the field have wilted, and there is an air of hopelessness – reflective of the brokenness in the relationships among the family members and society.

"Kumalo travels to the big city, where his worst fears are realized: his son stands accused of murder; his sister surviving as a prostitute. After much struggling to put his house in order, saving the soul of his son (if not his life), he returns home a broken man, expecting all to reject his ministry and tribal leadership.

"Instead, they welcome him with jubilation, sensitive to his loss, and appreciative of his sacrifice and loving efforts. The book ends with life-giving rain pouring upon the fields, symbolic of new life and new hope."

Today so much brokenness and hopelessness is still evident in our individual families and in our global family. 

We hear this same lament and hope by the psalmist today who prays that God will secure justice for the oppressed and give food to the hungry. Sadly, that’s an all too common dream (especially at Christmas).

I ask again, What is your prayer this Christmas? What do you really want, and to give? 

Forty-five years ago, John Lennon shared his Christmas dream. He wrote…Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can; No need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man; Imagine all the people sharing all the world; You may say I’m a dreamer. Perhaps he was.

Ten years ago, Rev. Andrea Ayvazian shared her Christmas wish:

 If we dug a huge grave miles wide, miles deep

And buried every rifle, pistol, knife, bullet, bomb, bayonet…

If every light-skinned man in a silk tie said

To every dark-skinned man in a turban

I vow not to kill your children

And heard the same vow in return

 If every elected leader would stop lying

If every child was fed as well as racehorses bred to win derbies

If every person with a second home gave it to a person with no home

If every mother buried her parents not her sons and daughters

If every person who has enough said out loud I have enough

If every person violent in the name of God were to find God

We would grow silent, still for a moment, a lifetime

We would hear infants nursing at the breast

Hummingbirds hovering in flight-two lovers sigh across the ocean

We would watch old wounds grow new flesh

And jagged scars disappear…

And we would once again give birth to God.

TO GIVE BIRTH TO GOD! Perhaps the gift we really want is the one Mary gave and got…giving birth to Christ!

What a great Christmas present that would be…to God…and to ourselves!

Perhaps you’re thinking, No way...I'm not Mary. But if Mary was the only one pregnant with God, then it was all for naught. If Christ was only born 2,000 years ago but is not born in our hearts, and in our actions, then God’s dream remains unfulfilled.

God’s Christmas wish and ours is that we give birth once more to God.

How? As Jesus, Mary and Joseph did - by giving the best of ourselves. That's the best Christmas present for God...and for ourselves. You cannot receive what you don't give.

Not as a mere response to a need or a commandment, but out of the love and joy that is at the heart of birthing life. That's why we rejoice on this Gaudete Sunday.

That's why we are filled with joy when we shop for the one we love. While we still have 14 shopping days to make our dream and God’s dream a reality, why wait?  Why not give and get the perfect gift today?