What shall I give Him, poor as I am...

We made it! Christmas is over! Well, not quite yet, it isn’t. There are those pesky twelve days of Christmas. The celebrating could go on and on, if we let it! Goodness, the tree is looking dry and empty without a load of boxes and bags underneath it. The ornaments that were hung with surprise, joy, and fondest memories now look somehow out of place.

Can we for one moment stop, and think about this? Think about that first rush of joy when a new child is born, when you first really felt the presence of the living God in your life? What about the first time a young Sunday School class looked at you in awe of the wonderful stories you were telling them? That moment sparkled with hope that was bursting with possibility! Here and now in the “bleak mid-winter” of post-New Years, to borrow from Christina Rossetti and hymn 144 in the Presbyterian Hymnal Glory to God, we find ourselves in the sleep deprived, post-adrenaline rush, visitor dispersing moments of Christmas. Epiphany is just days away, however isn’t it interesting that long ago Jesus was recognized in that quiet time, exhausted time, silent night time after the shepherds-sheep-donkey-cows have receded from the landscape?

I believe another Rossetti verse fits in right about here, at right about now.

“What can I give Him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I’d give him a lamb.

If I were a wise man, I would do my part.

What shall I give him? I’ll give him my heart.”

When the manic merriment is over, and the reality and daily-ness of life descends…so does the realization that what is most needed, what is most valued, what is most treasured is not the best package wrapped in boxes and bows; it is a life lived as a daily gift to the One who came down at Christmas time. Take the last few days of Christmas and like Mary, after the gifts are delivered and opened, let us remember “these things and ponder them in (our) heart” (Luke 2:19). Let’s let the celebrating go on and on… We can have a few more days, a few more weeks, a few more moments of God with us—if we let it.

Comments

Directional-ly Impaired

Holy Promise People, Lent 2017, Second Presbyterian Church My family and friends know that I am a little bit directional-ly impaired. I’m fine as long as the smart phone battery hangs in there, but if I forget to recharge…I could be circling 86 th street for quite a while! Life can feel like that sometimes. There are distractions, obligations, self-imposed expectations, and competing priorities that can take focus away from the joy of a life lived in God . Could that be why Lent is one of my favorite times of the church season? Yes, I love the pageantry of Easter and the Christmas music, but there is something soothing and comforting about Lent that reorients me. http://maiaduerr.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/creditcard-trek.jpg Often people give something up for Lent as a sign of self-denial. One year I had to have jaw surgery and gave up talking for Lent. (Really!) I have friends that give up chocolate, shopping during the week, and even social media. How

Be a sheep

Here's to Christmas Pageants! Years ago, okay decades ago, I lived in Crawfordsville, and they had an epic one. You see, the church let the YOUTH GROUP tell the Christmas story. We all know that can be a little risky. It was not told in King James English, or even NRSV. I didn’t get to see it; I was in Sunday School. Still, I treasure two memories from that event; yes, they are memories of an event I did not see and yet became part of our family Advent Lore. It changed the way I wait. First memory, the kings arrived down the center aisle on bicycles, and second the shepherds’ big line was, “’Biding’s a bore.” Any time I have to wait, I repeat that line. The shepherds are SO RIGHT! “And in the same country there were shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night” (Luke 2:8 KJV). They were waiting. Shortly after that, Christmas Pageants disappeared from the churches I attended. I don’t know if the contemporary interpretation was

God's Hope Floats

Friends, it is a little TOO easy to relate to the familiar Noah’s Ark story of Genesis. However, teaching it to a multi-aged class this Sunday taught me something new. Noah put his reminder on the ground where he would be able to touch it and to remember that even a seemingly forever-flood comes to an end. Faithfulness means remembering that God is with us. God put a reminder in the sky where we can remember to look up, to look around, and to remember that God’s love cannot be overcome by any kind of flood, fears, or sorrow. It had not occurred to me, until today, that we need to build a reminder for ourselves, too. Like Noah, we know that these days will seem far away by next year. However, we need to remember that isolation, fear, and tiredness do not last forever; God has set a promise in the sky. So, I encourage our families to build a touchstone in your house or garden to remind us that God’s hope floats. You might read the God’s Hope Floats story of Noah f

Second Church Steps

Search This Blog