Skip to main content

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. 
Labels:
Location: Indianapolis, IN, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

And on the seventh day...

Figure 1 http://www.montreat.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Mountains-2-400x250-300x187.jpg We think of “Sabbath” as a time to NOT DO something.  We stop.  We wait.  We rest.  We sit.  However, that is a lot of work!  I think of Sabbath as “making a space.”  It is an active choosing, remembering, and prioritizing a holy space for God.  It is less about “letting go” and more about “leaning in” to the Breath of the Holy Spirit.  In this context Sabbath is a return to our making.  You see, in the beginning “the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). It is the breath of the Lord God that stirs dust into human.  It is the breath of the Lord God that makes us living and gives us a life.  Therefore, “Sabbath” – a time for rest and renewal, is an opportunity to reach for that breath of God which gives u...
Post a Comment
Read more

Merci

St. Julien the poor A month before I arrived in Indianapolis I found myself sitting in a dark old church. St. Julian the Poor Church is in Paris. It rests in the shadows of the great Notre Dame Cathedral, but it stands with a quiet calm garden of persistent presence. In that church I prayed for a word with which to focus my coming months of transition. The word I got was “thank you.” I explained to my inner voice that this was not one word but two words. A still small nudge reminded me that in the church in which I sat it is one word, “merci.” July is a “thank you” month. We thank the VBS helpers, attendees, and parents. We thank the Sunday School teachers, shepherds and volunteers who stand with the children of our church to walk through important faith moments in the Bible. Some of us are thankful for no school and abbreviated/expanded schedules, depending on the situation. Saying “thank you” is an important part of being a Christian. It is how we stand before God and walk th...
Post a Comment
Read more