Worth the Effort

Christmas can sometimes feel like a hassle. We buy presents and wrap them. We buy groceries and prepare dishes. We decorate. We plan. We dress up and attend. It can be a lot of effort expended for just one day. Then boom. Back in the box and in the attic.

God went to a lot of trouble to get our attention for the birth of Jesus. Angelic visitations. Virgin births. The heavenly host singing. Prophetic visions. A really bright star. All of that and barely anyone showed up to the party except the animals who already happened to be there and some shepherds who were on the outskirts of town. Why go to all trouble? There was no celebrity guest list. Mary didn’t have a fancy birthing suite or epidural. No cute monogrammed onesie to dress the baby in and take home. Just a little room off to the side with the animals, manure, and an empty feeding trough. The wise men were running a bit late, but we’ll get to that next week. Basically, Mary and Joseph were alone. It doesn’t mention their family. They were far from home in a town that was far too preoccupied with the census to have room for this pregnant teenager at the last minute.

The baby was born. The angels had sung. The shepherds arrived. Everyone was amazed. Christmas was here. Now what? Karoline Lewis asks a poignant question about Christmas in simply stating “what do we do with Jesus once he is born?” We have spent all this time waiting and preparing. What do we do now that he is here?

Every year, I get stuck on verse 19 where it says “and Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.” The Message translation says “Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself.” The Good News translation says “Mary remembered all these things and thought deeply about them.”

Mary was keeping Christmas in her soul, soaking it in and turning the wonder of it over and over in her head. God’s time had broken through chronological time. God was showing up in a baby, enfleshed in tiny hands and baby toes.

So what now? What do we do now that Jesus is here? How do we keep Christmas even after the wonder and magic of this moment? If we don’t learn to keep Christmas, then we risk preparing our hearts only to pack away the good tidings that our souls desperately need for another year.

Years ago I went on a mission trip with a church out of Georgia down to a non-profit organization called Give Kids the World in Orlando. I don’t recall if I have mentioned this wonderful place to you before, but it is this 70-acre whimsical village founded in 1989 that looks like a cross between Whoville and Candyland. This special place welcomes critically ill children and their families from all over the world with a weeklong, cost-free vacation. It is almost entirely supported by volunteers. Throughout the week, volunteers help feed the families and also provide all sorts of wonderful activities in the village. But the absolute BEST thing that the Village does every week is celebrate Christmas.

They don’t leave it set up for Christmas. Every Thursday, volunteers work together to decorate the village, bring out activities, prepare presents, and all get ready so the children and their families can have Christmas together. All because they don’t want any child to go without Christmas. Every Thursday the decorations and presents come out. Over and over again. That’s a lot of work it seems to do every Thursday, over and over. But the looks on those children’s faces. The sheer wonder and joy. Those wide eyes. Those brilliant laughs. It is the sound of surprise that someone would go to all that trouble on your behalf. It was the beautiful collective gasp of feeling miraculously loved.

It is Christmas, and God has decided that you are worth the effort. Love has broken through and may just show up when you least expect it. If God was willing to work with teenagers, shepherds, and a band of astrologers, God may just show up anywhere. Nothing is off limits to the divine. Howard Thurman says “there is more to life than we previously imagined. Angels hide in every nook and cranny, magi masquerade as everyday people, and shepherds wear the garments of day laborers. The whole earth is brimming with glory for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.” Perhaps we might say the whole earth is brimming with glory for those who keep Christmas within their hearts, who know that love is worth the hassle.

The surprise of Christmas is the overwhelming, ridiculous arrival of God’s inescapable love. The praise song O How He Loves us refers to the it as “the unforseen kiss” of God.

Gregory Boyle tells the story of a concert pianist named Eric Genius who went to play for the inmates at Pelican Bay State prison, long considered to be the home of “the worst of the worst” in California. As he played, everyone was so moved by the music that they began to weep. Afterwards, the pianist Eric turned and asked if there were any questions. An inmate named Louie with tattoos covering every inch of his face stood up sobbing. All he could manage to get out was this one question: “why?” He couldn’t understand why the pianist was there. Why was he bothering with playing such beautiful music for the likes of him?

At which point Eric the pianist looked at him and also started to cry and said “because you are deserving. You are worthy of beauty and music.”

Gregory Boyle says that the only language God knows is love because God is love. He calls it the whole language of God. So when we say Emmanuel, God with us, we can also say love is with us. At Christmas, the cry of a newborn baby rings out in the night as God says, “I see you. You are deserving. You are worthy of love.”

And Mary it says, treasured all these things in her heart and kept them deep inside herself.

Christmas is upon us, and soon we will come to the table set by the bread of life born and laid in a manger. Today we will light candles celebrating the light of the world breaking through the darkness.

A savior has been born, Christ the Lord. Emmanuel, love with us. Love is worth the hassle friends. May we treasure it. May we keep it. For God just may show up where you least expect it.