A Few of My Favorite Things, Part Two: Christmas Stockings

“The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there,” the classic poem says.

The house in which I grew up had no chimney. Maybe that’s why my family did not do Christmas stockings.

There is no sadness implied in that observation. We had plenty of Christmas without stockings.

Stockings were a part of the tradition of my step-mother’s family. So, when my father married Imogene, a stocking with my father’s name on it and one with my name on it went up next to those of Imogene, her children Danny and Kathy, and her mother Mrs. Ross. When Debra and I got married, she got a stocking, too. It was a very nice tradition so we adopted it in our household.

Our family has been blessed to live in houses with fireplaces and mantles. So, whether we have been in Louisville, in Adel, in Nashville, or in Augusta, we have hung the stockings on the mantle. Well, that’s where the ones that belong to the human beings in the family are. The stockings of Fritz (the big dog), Otis (the cat), and Jack (the little dog) are tacked to the door beside the fireplace. I’m frankly surprised that no one has thought to put one up for Jimmy Stewart (Joshua’s chinchilla) or Corky (Sara’s beta fish). They probably will after they read this.

Each human member of the family puts at least one thing in everybody’s stocking. Naturally, Debra is the one that really fills the stockings that belong to the children and to me. I put a lot of stuff in hers.

We open them on Christmas Eve. Our Christmas Eve has the structure of a high church worship service. First, we attend the Christmas Eve worship service. Second, we come home and eat a supper of submarine sandwiches. Third, we open our stockings. Fourth, we watch It’s a Wonderful Life. Fifth, we go to bed to await Santa Claus.

It’s a fun night.

There is another stocking in our house the origin of which I wish I could remember. Among all of our Christmas tree ornaments is a small, simple, green stocking. The hanger is attached to it via a small safety pin. I have had that little stocking for as long as I can remember; it goes back to my childhood. Unfortunately, I can’t remember who gave it to me. But, it’s a connection with my childhood. When we decorate the tree, my family always makes sure that I am the one to hang it on the tree.

It’s too small to hold a gift. But it, like most good things, is a gift in and of itself.

In the Meantime: Be Compassionate

(A sermon for the Third Sunday of Advent based on Isaiah 35:1-10 & Matthew 11:2-11)

Our Advent topic is “In the Meantime.” On the First Sunday of Advent I said that here in the meantime between the First and Second Advents of Jesus Christ we who are his followers are to be ready. On the Second Sunday I said that we are to be at peace. Here on the Third Sunday of Advent I want to say that we should be compassionate.

It is better to be compassionate than not to be compassionate. Furthermore, acting on your compassion is better than just feeling compassion. Those truths are universal; they are not limited to Christians.

But surely Christians, of all people, should have hearts full of compassion and lives filled with acts of compassion. Compassion is worth having just for the sake of having it; that is true whether you are a Christian or not. We Christians, though, are filled with the love and the Spirit of God through his Son Jesus Christ and we really should need no other motivation to have and to practice compassion.

Ask yourself: what are Christians like? Here is my partial list.

Christians are kind.

Christians are gentle.

Christians are loving.

Christians are full of grace.

Christians are compassionate.

Those should be the facts into which we are growing, not the possibilities that we are pondering as options. When we are filled with the love and grace of God, how can it be otherwise?

Furthermore, compassion is for us an eschatological reality. That is, the meeting of people’s needs is a sign that the kingdom of God has come, is coming, and will come. When John the Baptist sent messengers to Jesus asking if he was the “one who is to come,” Jesus replied with words that not only summarized what he had been doing but also called to mind the words of the prophet Isaiah. The things that Jesus had been doing to touch and to change people’s lives were exactly the kinds of things that Isaiah had said would happen when the Messiah came. Jesus did what he did because in him the Kingdom of God had come.

What was John worried about? He had earlier proclaimed that Jesus was the one who was to come. Now he asks Jesus whether he is in the fact the one. John was an authentic prophet—Jesus said that he was “more than a prophet.” John was also a product of his people and a student of his holy book. They and it taught that when the Messiah came, there would be judgment of the wicked and vindication of the righteous. So John preached that the one who would come after him would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Yet Jesus went around associating with sinners. He went around touching and loving and showing grace to sinners. He did not see the diseases and defects of people as signs of their sin and thus causes for judgment; he saw them as opportunities to show the grace of God and to demonstrate the power of the Kingdom. He offered the good news of God to the poor. Jesus challenged John to see the things he was doing as signs of the arrival of the Kingdom of God. He reminded John that the prophets had expected acts such as his when the Kingdom came.

Then Jesus said, “Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me” (Matthew 11:6). He was challenging John to accept the kind of Messiah that Jesus was and to maintain his allegiance to him. “My way is the way of the Kingdom,” Jesus was saying. “These things I do—those are Kingdom acts. Don’t let them cause you to doubt. Exactly the opposite should happen—let them cause you to believe.” Jesus’ way—and thus God’s way—Jesus was saying, was the way of service and sacrifice. In effect, Jesus was challenging John to place his fingers in the nail prints in his hand and in the wound in his side long before he told Thomas to do so. He wanted John to understand that the acts of compassion—the acts of mercy and love and healing and preaching—were the signs of the Kingdom.

In short, Jesus told John that the very acts of compassion that surprised him were in fact the evidence that the Kingdom had come.

Such acts are still the sign that the Kingdom has come. Therefore, you would expect me now to proclaim, “So, let’s get out there and do acts of compassion so that they’ll know the Kingdom has come.” There would be some merit to that. The challenge is certainly placed before us. But is that what Jesus was doing? Was he out there healing and preaching and loving in order to prove that the Kingdom had come? No—the Kingdom had come in him and therefore those things had to happen. They happened because the Kingdom had happened. They thus have to happen through us through whom the works of the Kingdom continue.

So I must say frankly that it bothers me when I see a lack of compassion in you or in me because I wonder just how well we are living in the Kingdom.

Now I want to confess something else that bothers me. What are the implications of this truth: folks who aren’t Christians are just as capable of compassion and kindness as Christians are?

This past Thursday (12/13/07) in a Starbucks Coffee drive-through lane, a customer in line behind Arthur Rosenfeld was angrily honking and yelling at him. Rather than respond in kind, Rosenfeld paid for the irate patron’s order. That set off a chain of kindness that lasted all day long as customer after customer paid for the order of the person behind them. Now, we would really love that story if I could finish it by saying that Rosenfeld was a Christian and that he was intentionally sharing the love of Christ and that the love of Christ got passed right down the line at that drive-through all day long. But I can’t say that. In fact, the story noted that Rosenfeld is “a Tai-Chi master” who “responded with a bit of Zen.”

"It wasn't an idea to pay anything forward, nor was it even a random act of kindness, it was a change of consciousness," he said. "Take this negative and change it into something positive." That’s a very Eastern philosophy way of talking and living. Rosenfeld’s action apparently had no overtly Christian motive behind it.

But you know—it’s just possible that the love of Christ and the Kingdom of God crept through somehow anyway, isn’t it? Would you want to say, “No, it didn’t—not if the people exhibiting kindness didn’t mean for it to” and thereby limit the power and grace of God?

In a similar vein, would you want to say that the love of Christ and the kingdom of God cannot be made obvious in the compassionate acts of Christians even when we don’t explicitly make our message known? This week’s brouhaha over our sister church’s ministry of providing shoes to school children got me to thinking about that. Naturally, the Christians involved in that ministry believe that through it they are expressing the love of Christ. Naturally, some folks are concerned that the children not be required to submit to a religious ritual or to overt evangelization as a condition of receiving the shoes. The proper result is that the volunteers have to be very careful not to cross that line.

But again I ask: would any of us say that in those acts of compassion the love of Christ and the Kingdom of God do not break through? Would any of us limit the power and grace of God by saying that unless we make the message overt God can’t work?

And yet, as much as I believe that God can work through our actions when we can’t be overt and as much as I believe that God can work even through the actions of people who don’t claim to be acting on his behalf, I also believe that we need to be as self-conscious as possible about our identity as citizens of the Kingdom and as disciples of Christ.

We should be aware of our poverty before God so that we can be brothers and sisters to those in poverty around us. We should be always aware that we are among the “least of these” so that we can be sisters and brothers to the “least of these” around us. We should be intentional about growing in his grace and in his love so that we just can’t help but feel and show compassion. We should be intentional about performing acts of compassion as a way of announcing the present and coming Kingdom of God. We should preach the good news to the poor and to the hurting with our words and with our actions.

In this meantime between the First and Second Advents of Christ, let us make his present presence obvious by our compassion.

A Few of My Favorite Things, Part One: Little Rodents Singing About Christmas

My taste in music has not always run in rational directions. I once bought a Partridge Family album. One of my favorite albums as I was entering puberty was Jingle Jangle by the Archies. There was a time when I preferred the Monkees to the Beatles; I even joined the Monkees fan club. Once, I had just enough money to buy one new album. I chose Golden Earring over Lynyrd Skynyrd.

I realize that I have just frittered away whatever coolness points I may have had, if any.

Thankfully, my tastes have matured and changed.

Here is an opinion of mine that has not changed, though: when I was a child I thought that Christmas with the Chipmunks was one of the greatest Christmas albums ever made; now that I am a man, I still believe that Christmas with the Chipmunks is one of the greatest Christmas albums ever made.

Why?

First of all, the three-part harmony created by Alvin, Simon and Theodore is amazing.

Second, if you want pathos with your Christmas, it’s in there. Hearing David Seville sing longingly of wanting a white Christmas will break your heart. And if hearing Alvin exclaim at the end of the song, “Hey Dave, look, it’s snowing!” doesn’t bring a tear to your eye, you need to get your tear ducts cleared out.

Third, there is high comedy in this album, too. When you hear Alvin take off in his own direction on Over the River and Through the Woods and Jingle Bells you’ll laugh and laugh. Of course, he’s an egomaniacal showoff, but you’ll still laugh.

Fourth, a special guest star sings on one of the songs. I won’t give away his name, but he had a shiny nose. And he sings like he has a head cold.

Finally, the album is just plain fun. While Christmas is many things, it certainly ought to be fun. So put this album on and smile.

Now, some folks might complain that there is none of the true meaning of Christmas on this album. Indeed, there are no Christmas hymns or Christian carols. I think that’s ok. I mean, do you really want a bunch of Chipmunks singing about the birth of the Christ Child? I didn’t think so.

So, if you’ve got it, play it. If you don’t have it, go buy it.

By the way, sometimes I still hear I Think I Love You, Jingle Jangle, and Take the Last Train to Clarksville in my head.

And one more thing: I really like the Carpenters.

But not as much as I like the Chipmunks.

Good Will to All and Separation of Church and State

This Sunday is the Third Sunday of Advent. My sermon, with which I am still wrestling (the sermon is winning), will deal with the subject of compassion. The text is Matthew 11:2-11, in which John the Baptist sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus whether he is the one who is coming or whether they should look for another. Jesus told John’s disciples to go back and tell him what they witnessed: the deaf hear, the lame walk, the dead are raised, and the poor hear the good news.

It seems to me that Jesus was saying that such acts of compassion and grace were the signifiers of the presence of the Kingdom of God. In my sermon I will say that acts of compassion in the here and now by the followers of Jesus are signifiers to those around us that the Kingdom of God is among us—and is coming. Somehow such acts, when motivated by the grace and love and presence of God, connect us with God’s great work of salvation that he is accomplishing.

One question with which I am wrestling is this: what makes a Christian’s acts of compassions different than those of a non-Christian? It is foolish to claim that a non-Christian is not capable of the same acts of compassion and even sacrifice as a Christian. It is foolish to claim that a declared allegiance to Christ automatically makes one more compassionate than a non-Christian. Anybody who looks around knows better.

Still, I am convinced that when a person has experienced the grace and love and compassion of Christ, that person will become more and more compassionate and that growing compassion will show itself in consistent acts of compassion.

It is natural, then, that individual Christians and Christian congregations will look for opportunities to exhibit compassion by helping folks who are in need. We seem especially to look for such opportunities at Christmas time.

For the last few years, the First Baptist Church of North Augusta, South Carolina, has conducted a program called Laces 4 Love. Through that program they have provided new shoes for disadvantaged children in the Aiken and Edgefield County school systems. They provide about 12,000 pairs of shoes through this program. It’s a good thing.

This year, though, Americans United for Separation of Church and State has objected to the program. Their objections stem from remarks by Mark Owens, the founder of the ministry, that were reported in North Augusta Today. Owens said that when the volunteers deliver the shoes, they remove the children’s old shoes and wash their feet like Jesus did for his disciples at Passover.

Here are the opening lines from Americans United’s press release on the matter:

Americans United for Separation of Church and State has urged public school officials in South Carolina to discontinue a church-run program that subjects disadvantaged students to ritual foot-washing as part of a shoe giveaway.

In letters sent Dec. 10 to officials in Aiken and Edgefield Counties, Americans United objects to the “Laces4Love” ministry run by the First Baptist Church of North Augusta. The program provides new shoes to needy children but asks them to participate in the Christian rite of foot-washing.

Americans United said the activity clearly violates the constitutional separation of church and state. The school districts, AU said, should discontinue their involvement in any program that seeks to sponsor proselytism or religious rituals.

Apparently, the “foot-washing” consists of using some wet-wipes to clean the children’s feet before they don their new shoes.

School officials insist that no proselytizing takes place.

Here’s the way that I suspect it works. The good folks at the church want to provide shoes to disadvantaged children. They want to do that because they believe the love of Christ compels them to do so and because they want to help the children. I imagine that both the church and the schools are well aware of the fact that care must be taken that the lines of separation between church and state not be crossed. I further suspect that cleaning the children’s feet is a matter of practicing good sanitation. But, in the hearts of the volunteers, in cleaning the children’s feet they are performing a Christ-like action. I doubt that anyone ever comes right out and says that to a child—and if they do, they shouldn’t.

But, honesty should compel us Christians to admit that we should not, cannot, and will not in our hearts separate such acts of compassion from the fact that we act out of conviction that the Kingdom of God is present in and through us and that what we are doing is part of our living out the principles of that Kingdom. Honestly, we hope that the love of Christ comes through in what we are doing.

Still, we should respect the principle of separation of church and state and thus be careful in how we carry out such ministries.

A story in today’s Augusta Chronicle reported that “a group of North Augusta missionaries Thursday donated shoes to Greendale Elementary School pupils and as school officials had promised, no religious strings appeared to be attached.” The story went on to report that the children were given wet wipes with which they cleaned their own feet.

I am a separation of church and state Baptist. I believe that government sanction of Christianity is the quickest and surest way to quash the genuineness of the faith. But in this case, I believe that Americans United overreacted, made a mountain out of a molehill, and tried to stir up a tempest in a teapot.

We Christians want to help where there is hurt. We also want to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. We understand that there are lines that we must be careful not to cross. We believe that through our acts of kindness the love of Jesus is communicated without any overt effort at evangelization.

We would be lying if we denied any religious motivation.

We would be lying if we said that we did not believe that the Spirit of God is at work in what we are doing.

But our schools and our communities will be greatly impoverished if our churches are ever denied the opportunity to help as and where we can, so long as we follow the rules.

The Other Wise Man

Advent Season at The Hill Baptist Church includes many special services. This Sunday evening we will have our annual “Night of Christmas Stories.” At that service various church members read classic and contemporary stories of the season. Some of the stories are original compositions by members of our church family; the story The Advent Calendar that I posted on the blog several days ago is a story that I wrote for a past year’s service. This year a family in our church will present a story that they wrote.

But most of the stories that we share were written by other folks. Some of them are acknowledged classics.

Unfortunately, most great Christmas stories are too long to use. That is the case with one of my favorites, The Story of the Other Wise Man by Henry van Dyke. What follows is a summary of that story.

Artaban was to join the other three wise men on their trek to Israel to see the new king whose birth the strange star signified. He had sold his house and all his possessions in order to acquire his gift for the child, a gift comprised of three jewels: a sapphire, a ruby, and a pearl. The agreement he had with his friends was that when the star they had seen appeared again, he would meet them where they were and they would journey together to Israel. He was ten days’ journey from his three friends and they made it clear that they would wait no longer than ten days.

Sure enough, the star appeared and Artaban set out. On the tenth day of his journey, when he was just a few hours from the rendezvous point, he came across an injured man. What should he do? His conscience told him to help the man, but his schedule told him to press on. His conscience won out and he stopped to aid the injured man. As it happened, the man was a Hebrew who told Artaban that the great king of the Jews was to be born in Bethlehem, not Jerusalem.

Artaban left and reached the place of meeting, but his friends had already left. Artaban had to sell the sapphire to acquire provisions for his own journey to Bethlehem.

When he arrived at Bethlehem he found no sign of the family he was seeking. He did chance upon a house where a young mother was caring for her small son. She told him that a family such as he sought had been in Bethlehem and that they had attracted much attention. But immediately after being visited by three men much like Artaban the family had left. She heard that they had gone to Egypt.

Disappointed, Artaban prepared to leave, but was stopped by the sound of screaming and crying from the streets of Bethlehem. “They’re killing the children,” came the cries. Artaban stood in the doorway of the house at it was approached by a soldier wielding a blood-stained sword. Artaban reached into the folds of his robe and took out the ruby. He said that the ruby was for a soldier who understood that there was no one else in the house. The soldier took the ruby and went away.

Artaban then traveled to Egypt in search of the newborn king. There he met a rabbi who told him that the king of the Jews would not be found in the halls of power but with the poor, the needy, and the afflicted. Artaban journeyed all over Egypt and the rest of the Middle East, looking everywhere among the unfortunate and destitute for the king. He never found him. For thirty-three years he looked, and everywhere he went he helped the poor and sick and needy in every way he could.

An old man now, Artaban traveled one more time to Jerusalem. It was Passover. Hordes of people were moving together in the same direction. Someone told him that a person who some called the King of the Jews was about to be executed. Just then, a young woman who was being sold to satisfy her father’s debts broke free from some soldiers who were holding her and threw herself at his feet. Artaban used his last jewel, the pearl, to ransom her. Suddenly a tremendous earthquake struck and a piece of tile fell from a building, striking Artaban in the head. The ransomed girl held the head of the seriously wounded wise man. She heard something that sounded musical but almost like a voice. Artaban spoke.

“Not so, my Lord: For when saw I thee an hungered and fed thee? Or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw I thee a stranger, and took thee in? Or naked, and clothed thee? When saw I thee sick or in prison, and came unto thee? Three-and-thirty years have I looked for thee; but I have never seen thy face, nor ministered to thee, my King.”

Then she heard the voice again, only this time the words came through: “Verily I say unto thee, inasmuch as thou hast done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, thou hast done it unto me.” And Artaban died, having found the King.

I love that story because of the truth it tells: it is in serving others that we find the King.

The book is still in print and is worth acquiring and reading.

There is also a very good television movie from 1985 entitled The Fourth Wise Man that is based on van Dyke’s story. It stars Martin Sheen and is available on DVD.

A Mickey Mouse Kind of Christmas

We spent Christmas at Disney World one year.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Sara was eleven and Joshua was fourteen and Debra and I were younger than we are now. Our family has always dearly loved the Christmas season; we still do. Sometimes, though, the buildup is so intense that the letdown is precipitous. So Debra and I got the idea of taking a nice, exciting trip for the holiday. I called a travel agent and faster than you could say “MasterCard” we had purchased a nice package deal. We’d fly out of Nashville on Christmas Eve morning at 6:00 and arrive in Orlando later that morning to begin five days of Christmas fun in the sun with about a zillion of our closest friends.

So we packed up our clothes and our toiletries and our presents and we went to bed early on the night before Christmas Eve. We awoke the next morning to find Nashville covered in ice. I understand now that if you have any question about the status of your flight you really should call the airline before you go to the airport but we didn’t do that. We made several very careful trips out to our car and loaded our suitcases into the trunk.

Then we tried to leave.

Those of you have lived in or visited Nashville know that it is quite hilly. The street on which we lived dipped right in front of our house. In one direction was a slight incline and in the other direction was a more significant incline. The path we needed to take took us in the direction of the slight incline. The wheels of the car began to spin but the car wasn’t going too far. The ice was preventing us from gaining traction. But we finally made it off our street. Then we turned left to head toward the airport but that road was so icy we couldn’t navigate it. We had to turn around and go another way. At that point I was wondering if we’d ever make it to the airport and if we did what we’d find. But we pressed on.

We did make it to the airport and what we found was a parking lot so covered with ice that you couldn’t see the lines that separated the rows of parking spaces from one another, much less the lines that separated the individual parking spaces. So we just parked beside a car that was parked beside another car that was parked beside another car. If they towed one of us, I figured, they’d have to tow all of us. We checked our bags, checked in at our gate, and in a little while boarded our flight.

Only when we were aloft did we learn that the flight had almost been cancelled; the plane that was supposed to take us was not able to leave another airport because of the same storm. The airline had brought a plane in from Atlanta in order to avoid canceling the flight.

I don’t think of Nashville and Orlando being all that far apart, but I guess they are. The temperature in Nashville when we left was twenty degrees. The temperature in Orlando when we landed a couple of hours later was eighty degrees. We rode a bus from the airport to Disney World where we checked in to our very nice room at the Caribbean Beach resort.

And then we started doing the Christmas stuff you do when you’re spending Christmas at Disney World.

We rode rides. The Tower of Terror at Disney MGM is my favorite. We ate food. It was so-so but it was expensive. There is one section of the park that looks like a normal neighborhood. Disney had brought in the Christmas lights display that some fellow had put up at his house for years until his neighbors complained so much that he had to stop doing it. I guess that Disney World doesn’t get such complaints. They gave you 3-D glasses to wear as you walked through the neighborhood that created the effect that angels were flying at your head. That was neat.

One night we went to the Polynesian Resort for a Christmas dinner show. We had a nice meal, listened to some Hawaiian Christmas songs, and watched some dancers perform some Hawaiian Christmas dances. I didn’t know there were such things, so it was an educational experience for me.

From listening to people talk I gathered that some families spent every Christmas holiday at Disney World. I suppose that if your family is scattered all over the country there are worse places to use as a gathering place.

I was amazed, though, at how many people were there. There were thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of them. We didn’t even see the famous Disney Christmas Parade because we couldn’t get to it for all the people. The Animal Kingdom had just opened that year so we decided to visit it; we lasted about two hours because it was impossible to do anything because of the crowds.

All in all it was a nice trip. It was a little odd, though, to go to bed on Christmas Eve with no Christmas tree and with the presents just piled up on the floor. We woke on Christmas morning and gathered on the hotel room beds to open our presents. I don’t remember any gifts in particular, but I think that everybody liked what they got. And I don’t remember which of our children said it or maybe they both said it at the same time, but one or both of them said, “This is nice. Let’s don’t ever do this again.” What they meant was that they wanted to be home for Christmas. There are lots of nice places in the world, and they both love Disney World, but to them, there was no place like home for Christmas.

I learned a valuable lesson from that Mickey Mouse Christmas. When it comes to Christmas, the simple is more valuable than the spectacular. We had a spectacular trip. But we really missed the simple Christmas of home.

Now, some spectacular things happened on the first Christmas, to be sure. If you could ask the shepherds, they would testify to the spectacular. Angels appeared to them, after all. But, even though something miraculous was going on in the coming of his Son into the world, God chose to work for the most part in simple ways and through simple things: a baby being born, for example.

I learned that Christmas that when it comes to Christmas, simple is better. I hope that my family and your family will always keep Christmas in the simple ways that bring the most joy. Such Christmas keeping honors the Savior who was born to a simple family in a simple stable in a simple town for a simple purpose: to show the love of God.

Article at EthicsDaily.com

An article by me entitled New Baptist Covenant Celebration Must Avoid Appearance of Partisanship appears today at EthicsDaily.com.

It is an abridged version of a post that appeared here at On the Jericho Road. To read the unabridged version, go here.