Tis Week Before Christmas

Tis the week before Christmas and all through the house every creature is stirring including the mouse.  The manger is placed near the chimney with care, in hopes baby Jesus soon will lay there.

The children are nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of shepherds dance in their heads. The hearth hangs three stockings of peace, hope and love, over which there flies a snow-white dove.

And Mama in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap, have just settled our brains for a long night’s nap. When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, we sprang from the bed to see what was the matter. 

Away to the window we flew like a flash, tore open the shutters, and threw up the sash.  The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow, gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.

When, what to our wondering eyes should appear, but a caroler drive-by in a big, green John Deer.  With a mustached driver doing a wheely, we knew in a moment it was Father Ed Healey.

Not too far behind in a sleigh cold and frosty, we knew in a flash, it was Monsignor Tosti. From the sleigh, sprinkling snow on God’s earthly kingdom, was that jolly sweet elf named Father Tom Wyndham.

“The Night Before Christmas” is that famous poem we hear every year as part of our Christmas tradition.   My parody gives us a small, but important shift away from Santa Claus and onto the reason for the season – Jesus in the manger, the Christ-child is born.  And we wait in anticipation.

It’s the 4th Sunday of Advent, Christmas is very close, and what do we hear in our first reading from Isaiah: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.”  Then in our Gospel passage from Matthew we hear it repeated:  “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means “God is with us.”

“God is with us.”  That’s a profound statement we need to repeat every day and not just during Advent and then on Christmas.  We should not say: “God is present only when we do good or when things are going well for us – health-wise and family-wise,” for example. We should not say: “God is absent when we’re suffering .”  Although, how often have we cried out, “Where are you God!?  Come down from heaven and help me!”

God is always present and certainly not just in heaven.  God is always with us, even when it may not seem so.  That presence is felt through the action of the Body of Christ.  And that’s all of us being there for the homeless, for the hurt, for the suffering, for those who need a helping hand. For those in need of a kindness that brings hope, joy, and love.  When we are kind to those in our lives and those who need our support, our help, our love, for them, we are known as Emmanuel.  

One snowy Christmas Eve a bus was making its way down a slippery road.  In one seat on the bus, a wispy old man sat holding a bunch of fresh flowers. Across the aisle was a young girl whose eyes came back again and again to the man’s flowers. The time came for the old man to get off.  Impulsively he thrust the flowers into the girl’s lap. 

“I can see you love the flowers,” he explained, “and I think my wife would like you to have them.  I’ll tell her I gave them to you.” The girl accepted the flowers and then watched the old man get off the bus and walk down a snowy path through a small cemetery.

The title of this story is “The Gift.”  It’s a reminder to all of us at Christmas to remember with love those who have left before us like the old man bringing flowers to his wife’s grave.  They are still with us – in our hearts and minds.  This story also is a reminder that gift-giving with no expectation of something to be received in return should be the rule of the season.

Therefore, let’s turn our attention to the two trees on the altar.  They are the giving trees with envelopes provided for our gifts to families in need. These trees are bare.  Many of you have taken them home and have been generous. Thank you!

We’ve lit the last candle on our Advent Wreath.  It symbolizes Peace reminding us of the message of the angels: “Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men.” Let’s be angels helping to bring peace to all our families. Let’s show good will towards all people, near and far, big and small.  Let’s all be known as Emmanuel throughout this season and the coming new year.

Deacon David Pierce