Christmas messages have come to me again this year as I spent time reflecting on the story that has directed and supported my life for 76 years. In my early years my parents introduced me to the Christmas story and church. Parents play an important role in what a child comes to believe. Not only by what they say but also what they do – how they model or live the Christmas story or the gospel story.
For most of my life as a Christian minister I asked the question, “What does the Christmas story mean to me this year?” I knew the story was not factual; but I knew it was true! So how do I share this story and make it come alive for people this year. I use Advent as a way of listening for the answer. It is my contemplative practice.
This year I used the prayer which I shared in my last blog that begins: “Now, O Lord, calm me into a quietness that heals and listens…” In the carol, O Little Town of Bethlehem, the words and music draw me into this prayer space of reflection and connection.
1. O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie.
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by;
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light.
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.3. How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is giv’n!
So, God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of his heav’n.
No ear may hear his coming;
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him, still
The dear Christ enter in.
At a recent family gathering an anxious mother brought up the dilemma: What do we tell our children as they get older and want to know if Santa is real? Her dilemma was, Will they still be able to trust me when they discover I have lied to them for 10 years? This mother also put it in the context of a previous experience with her children’s discovery that the Tooth Fairy was not “real”. It was just their parents. Continue reading