UNWRAP THE GIFT

(This is an abriged version of the Christmas sermon preached at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 12/25/11.)

Luke 2:1-7

The reciprocal nature of the Christmas holiday season is found most vividly in the giving and receiving of gifts. The season has been termed by some the season for giving. And if the truth is told, it is also the season when many persons expect to receive.

This act of giving and receiving will be played out from house to house. On Christmas morning, children across the land will rush to the Christmas tree, look under the tree, find those gifts that have been placed there for them, and begin to unwrap their gifts. Young faces will be filled with joy, as they unwrap their gifts and discover what has been given to them.

These acts of gift-giving, while offering joy to some, also should lead us to reflect upon the very commercialism that has come to so permeate our sense of reality, the materialism that has come to consume so much of our collective conscious. This is the type of affluenza – that which Marion Wright Edelman describes in terms of us having too much that is worth too little – that in some ways has become even more pronounced in the economic down-turn that affects us all today.

That Jesus was born poor and homeless, that his earthly father was a working class man and his mother was single offers us a cause for pause and reflection in the light of the relative elaborateness of the season of Christmas for many. That Jesus was born in a manger, and that we have been offered images of him being wrapped not in fine clothing but is swaddling clothing, gives us cause for pausing yet again to reflect upon who it is that we worship, who it is that we follow, and who it is we seek to imitate, who it is that we celebrate during this season.

The gift that is Christ is one that if are to really unwrap it, we would find that he is for the poor among us – for he was poor. If we unwrap the gift that is Christ, we discover that he is for the immigrant and exile among us because he was born to travelers. If we unwrap the gift that is Christ, we see the unfolding of the reality that he is for the bound as he came to set at liberty those who were bound.

If we are to unwrap the gift that is Christ we find one who healed the sick and fed the hungry in his day. He ate with sinners and blessed untouchables – leopers and those demon- possessed.

I am reminded of the story of a little boy who one year decided that what he wanted for Christmas was a wagon. In the days leading up to Christmas, the little boy would boy would pass by a church where there was a statue of Jesus in front of the church. Everyday, the boy would pass by, and he would pray, Jesus if you give me a wagon for Christmas, I will give you a ride. Jesus, if you give me a wagon, I promise, that I will give you a ride. Well, on Christmas, the little boy went down-stares and under the tree… he found the wagon that he had prayed to Jesus for.

And so the boy went outside with this wagon… As he was riding, a police officer stopped the boy and said, we have a report that a statue of Jesus is missing from the church down the street, and we notice that you have one in your wagon. The boy said to the police officer, I’m just keeping the promise I made to give Jesus a ride. Some of us owe Jesus a ride for the gifts not only that he has given to us, but for the gift that he is to us.

And so it is that the real gift of Christmas is Christ. And when we unwrap this gift, we discover real peace amidst a warring world. We find real joy amidst joy that often feels vapid and false. We find hope in the face of the apparent insurmountabilities of life.

And ultimately, the gift of Christ is our redemption. In these days of uncertainty and fear, Christ makes real claims upon the church and the world. These are days when most stores offer instant rebates for many of the things that we buy. In days past, I can remember my grandmother collecting S&H green stamps for the things she would buy… As she collected enough green stamps, she would go to the store to cash in the stamps for something she had been waiting to buy.

Ultimately, that is what Christ has done for us. He came into the world, and has entered into our lives to be our redemption, to buy us back, and claim us for God. This is the gift that we unwrap during this season, Christ, our redeemer, Christ, the redeemer of the world. Unwrap the Gift!