(also posted on Pastoral Ponderings)
What
miracles have you seen at Christmas?
Christmas
is a time for miracles. Sometimes the miracles are big, like the
complete personality change we see in the Grinch or Ebenezer Scrooge.
But most often they are small everyday things that we could easily
miss. In her poem The Christmas Miracle
Angela Morgan writes:
Do you know the marvel of Christmas time,
The miracle meaning
of song and chime,
Of hearty love and huge good will,
Of
feasts that gladden and gifts that spill?
Do you know what
happens to homes and men
When Christmas love is abroad again?
Could you look beneath, you would see the rush
Of a flood
as real as a river's gush;
A torrent wonderful, deep and wide,
That sweeps the world in its magic tide.
Oh, it
isn't the gift, and it isn't the feast;
Of all the miracles,
these are least.
It's the good that flows from the hearts of
men
When Christmas love is abroad again.
For wishes are
real, and love is a force,
And the tide, which ages ago had
source
In the heart of a babe, has grown and gained
Till
all humanity, single-veined,
Answers the call of the mighty
surge,
Swings to the great resistless urge.
What
miracles have you seen at Christmas? What
small everyday miracles have been part of your Christmas
celebrations?
Christmas is not only a time for miracles, Christmas draws out
miracles. As we tell again the story of God breaking into the world,
of God becoming one of us, the Word-Made-Flesh we are drawn to look
for the miraculous around us. At the same time, the story and the
spirit of the season draws the miraculous out of us.
I think of the phenomenal amount of giving that happens this time of
year. Salvation Army campaigns, toys for kids, Christmas Hampers,
“Adopt-a-family” programs. What is the success of those things if
not a miracle? Even when times are tight and everyone expects
givings to be down I am often surprised at the amazing generosity of
people in the Christmas season. A specific example. As Advent began
the St. Paul’s Explorers group asked for help so they could fill
“blessing bags” for the Friendship Centre. Three weeks after they
asked they had enough donations (and money to buy more supplies) that
they were able to fill 52 bags. Which happened to match almost
exactly the number of clients the Friendship Centre had who they
would give those bags to. Is that a Christmas miracle?
The ghost of Jacob Marley tells his former partner that it is
required of every spirit to walk among their neighbours. Too often we
fail to let our spirits do that, maybe because we are too busy, or
too wrapped up in our own ‘stuff’, or just too tired. But there
is something about Christmas that pushes our spirits out and about.
That may be an everyday miracle in and of itself, certainly it allows
more miracles to happen. When we reach out beyond ourselves and share
gifts of love miracles happen.
The
next stanza of The Christmas Miracle
reads:
Oh, vain is the boast of the hardened one
Who scouts what the
centuries have done.
Be he ever so mean, be he ever so cold,
Though his heart be flint and his claim be bold,
His
veins will tingle, his pulses thrill,
To the sound of "
Peace on earth, good will! "
Why, even the man who grips
his purse
With a stingy mouth and a cruel curse
Must
yield to the flood and be borne away
To join in the glory of
Christmas Day.
So I ask again, what miracles have you seen at Christmas? Were they
big and showy or were they everyday miracles? Something like one
bored child choosing to entertain another young child and getting a
hug in return. Or maybe strangers connecting so that one is not alone
and lonely over the holidays. Or maybe the person with just enough
still putting a couple of bucks in the Salvation Army Kettle. Or
maybe some other gift of love shared with a neighbour, a friend, a
family member, a stranger. What miracles might have floated right
under our noses without our seeing them? What miracles have we done
without thinking it was a big deal?
Christmas is a time for miracles. The miracles of Christmas are
expressed in words like hope, peace, joy, love, and birth.
Hope: it is a miracle of Christmas that God breaking into the
world gives us hope for what yet may be. Even with all that seems to
go wrong in the world Christmas reminds us that God is still active
in the world, God still moves us toward God’s vision for the world.
Peace: Christmas marks the
birth of the Prince of Peace. A miracle of Christmas occurs when the
story moves us closer to living together in peace and justice with
all our neighbours. We may have a long way to go, but the miracle is
that we keep heading in that direction.
Joy: Christmas Joy is that
deep sense that somehow, some day all will be well. Christmas Joy is
the miracle that allows us to search for joy even when our hearts are
heavy.
Love: Love is always a
miracle. Love that moves us to give of ourselves for the benefit of
our neighbours is deeply embedded in the Christmas story. The baby in
the manger is Love in human form. Love that is shown in grand
gestures and gentle everyday kindnesses is the miracle that keeps the
world functioning, keeps us hopeful, leads us to peace, and gives us
great joy.
Birth: New life, new
possibility, birth is a miracle. Birth happens in many ways, many
things are born each new day. Each birth opens a door to a new way of
being in the world. What is being born in your heart this Christmas
time? What new miracles might that birth bring about?
In
The Lord of the Rings we
find gems of wisdom like “I have found that it is the small
everyday deeds of ordinary folks that keep the darkness at bay. Small
acts of kindness and love.” or “Even the smallest person can
change the course of the future” or “Such is of the course of
deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because
they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.”. It is
wisdom like this that leads me to believe so strongly in the power of
everyday miracles, everyday acts of love. Not because they are grand
or showy, but because they are loving. We may feel we can not
accomplish great things but each of us can do many small things. We
are all capable of sharing the love, peace, hope, and joy that shines
from the manger on Christmas night. And that might be the greatest
miracle of all.
We
close with the remainder of The Christmas Miracle:
Have
you guessed the secret of Christmas night,
When the whole world
loves with all its might,
When the whole world gives with a
lavish hand
And joy is awake throughout the land?
Do you
know the marvel that happens then
In the glow that goes from
the hearts of men?
Have you looked beneath, have you seen the
fire
That leaps from the soul of a great desire —
A
warmth as real as the heat that springs
From the hearth where
the great log laughs and sings?
Oh, it isn't the holly,
it isn't the snow,
It isn't the tree or the firelight glow;
It's the flame that goes from the hearts of men
When
Christmas love is abroad again.
'Tis the laughter of children,
quivering high
In a shower of radiance to the sky
For
wishes are real, and love is a force,
And the torch which ages
ago had source
In the star that lighted the wise men's way
Burns with a magical fire to-day.
So great the
shining, so pure the blaze,
It reaches beyond, through the
stellar ways,
Till — listen! A wind voice told it me —
Our
globe that swims in ethereal sea
Glows like a lamp whose flame
is love
To the other worlds that swing above;
And this
the signal that makes them know
We have hearths and homes and
cheer below
Why, gods and angels walk by the light
That
streams from the earth on Christmas night!
Let us all listen for the laughter of children and words of love. Let
us all look for the glow that radiates from the manger and through
the hearts of men, women, and non-binary folk alike. Let us all walk
with gods and angels this Christmas night,
May we all see the miracles happening right in front of us. May we
all take the chance to be miracle-workers in our own right – even
if our miracles are of the humdrum, everyday type.
Amen.
