Everyday Miracles -- A Christmas Eve Reflection

(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.