Christmas Presence
In the story we have just read the
wise men brought gifts.
What was more important? The gifts they brought or the fact that they visited Jesus.
Their presents or their presence?
What is most important in your life – the people who give you gifts or the gifts themselves?
Can you imagine a child sitting in a room with a big pile of presents waiting to be opened – but being on their own?
No one to share the opening with, no one to say thank you to, no one to play games with.
It might be fun to start with but after a while presents become meaningless, if you are alone, unloved, cut off from others.
On the other hand, what would it be like if on Christmas morning a child were to wake and look through the curtain to see snow falling on snow? Although it is early the sun’s rays are just beginning to glow through the clouds and warm the frosty trees, and all is quiet. They check the end of the bed and then run downstairs to look under the Christmas tree. Finally, they take a risk and creep into their parents’ bedroom … and no, nowhere can they find any presents!
No presents at Christmas! What could possibly have happened?
- The elves went on strike over pensions and didn’t wrap the presents in time.
- Santa Claus’ sleigh blew a gasket and he is still waiting for the rescue services.
- You have been found out. Mum had been blaming Dad for eating her secret supply of chocolates and actually they now know that it was you.
- Perhaps no one loves them enough to get me a present?
I am so desperate to get a present I even give money to my children, my grown up children, for them to go and buy me something, anything. Even another pair of socks.
Fatima Whitbread, the former world javelin champion and recently a participant in I’m a celebrity, was abandoned by her parents at birth and grew up in a children’s home. She said,
Growing up in a children’s home, I didn’t get birthday cards, I didn’t get presents, I didn’t get kisses and cuddles. When you cry there is no one there to pull you on their knee and tell you everything will be all right.
What would it be like not to have any gifts given to you?
- Lonely – doesn’t anyone know me? Maybe an elderly person living alone. Maybe someone who has been kicked out of their home. No one even makes a telephone call.
What would it be like not to have any gifts given to you?
- Unloved – the people around don’t care enough to think about gifts. Too busy, too concerned about other things. Don’t love you.
What would it be like not to have any gifts given to you?
- Guilty – Santa Claus often asks, have you been a good boy then? Maybe I have no gifts because I have been a bad person.
In our lives, nevermind at Christmas, what we really long for
is to be known, to be loved and to be forgiven.
Presents aren’t important unless first of all there is
relationship, love and forgiveness.
Christmas is about more than just presents isn’t it?
As the word Christmas implies, it is about Christ.
The presence of Christ – Jesus’ presence.
When Jesus comes
he deals with our loneliness, he loves us, he forgives our sin.
Question
Can we know God? Can we know his love? Can our relationship with him be rescued?
Our first reading was one from an ancient scripture when one of the kings of Israel asked that question, will God really dwell with men? He asked. The highest heavens cannot contain you, much less this temple that I have built.
He was quite right to ask that question. Can it possibly be that God will be presentwith us? Could we possibly know his presence?
Answer
In the second reading we get the answer, The Word (Jesus) became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Or as another translation puts it, God became man and moved into the neighbourhood.
Life without Jesus is like Christmas without presents
The good news is that we can always have Jesus’ presence.
And his presence is worth much, much, more than Christmas presents.
At Christmas we celebrate his coming to be among us, his birth, his arrival on this planet. We remember an actual, physical, historical, geographical, biological arrival of the baby Jesus.
Not a myth or a story. Not a character of legend.
Jesus was a real person. Born as a baby, growing up to be a man.
And what does his presence at Christmas mean? What is it like when we know his presence in our lives?
- You are not alone. You are a precious person, created by God to know his love and presence in your life. Through his Holy Spirit you need never again be alone. He is always with you, calling you, speaking to you, becoming your best friend.
What is it like when we know his presence in our lives?
- You are loved. Just as a well-chosen present (even a small inexpensive present) indicates that someone loves you. And Jesus’ life on earth, his death and resurrection, show you that God loves you enough to reach out and give you his presence.
What is it like when we know his presence in our lives?
- You are forgiven. Whatever your past, your guilt, your hurt, he has paid the price to put you right with your creator God and make you whole. His sacrifice is enough to cover everything that could possibly come between you and God. You can know complete forgiveness. That’s what the king of Israel finished his prayer with, hear from your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.
Remember the child wandering about the house trying to find the presents? Christmas would not be complete without a present.
But it is totally meaningless without Jesus’ presence. .
- May your life be made complete by his presence.
- May you know that you are not alone, that you are indeed loved with an everlasting love and forgiven by the one who has paid the price to bring you the most expensive present in the world.
- May you know – Jesus’ presence.
David Flowers, 18/12/2011