Hello,
Merry Christmas!
Wednesday was Christmas, at least for the high school youth of our
church. Wednesday’s date was June
25, 6 months after the day that most people celebrate Christmas. Why celebrate Christmas on the 25th
of June?
That was the question that I am sure was running through the gal’s mind that
I asked to write “Merry Christmas” on the 16-inch cookie that I handed
her. “Could you please write Merry
Christmas on this cookie,” I asked her to which she responded with a confused
look on her face, “Excuse me, did you say ‘Merry Christmas?’”
“Yeah, Merry Christmas.”
She raised her eyebrows and with the “the customer is always right” look
on her face turned around, went to her icing station, scripted “Merry
Christmas” on my cookie, and handed it back to me with a look of concern about
my sanity on her face.
When I went to the check out counter, the cashier ran a bunch of my stuff
through her bar code reader, and when she came to my cookie she read the
inscription, and with the same look as the icer had when she gave it to me, she
cast her glance upon me before registering the cookie.
The young man who was bagging my groceries was mindlessly filling the
blue plastic bags with the hot dogs, and buns and chips, but when he reached
for my cookie, he, too, gave me a look of wonderment of my mental stability.
I smiled at the both of them as I left the grocery store.
I invited the high school youth up to my house for the Christmas
party. We put up a tree, decorated
it with portraits we made of each other by passing around a piece of paper and
sequentially drawing one facial feature of the person whose name was on the
paper until the portrait was complete, and we placed the presents that we had
brought (articles of clothing that the youth went out and bought that they
would want to wear) around the tree.
We opened the presents which would be going to the local clothing
outlet, sang “Happy Birthday” to Jesus, dined on tube steaks and chips, and
deserted on our “Merry Christmas” cookie.
Why celebrate Christmas on June 25th?
Because Christmas is not just one day of the year. In truth, it is every day. Every day Jesus comes into our lives
with the transforming grace of God.
Every day Jesus incarnates our lives with forgiveness that puts the past
behind us, and with love that shapes the future. Every day Jesus pours himself into our lives with
uninhibited generosity, filling our cup to overflowing.
That is why the high schoolers were asked to go and buy an article of
clothing that they would want to wear which would be given to the local
clothing shelter. Poverty in and
of itself can be rather dehumanizing, and when the impoverished teens of our
town go to the clothing shelter to find clothing, only to find clothing that
someone doesn’t want to wear anymore, the dehumanization of poverty
mounts.
The birth of Jesus is the pinnacle of humanization, but when the high
school kids of Greensburg come to the clothing shelter to find clothing maybe
they will hear a whisper of how valuable they are when they see the brand new
clothes from Old Navy, Aeropostal, and AF.
Why celebrate Christmas on June 25th? Because Jesus advents our life every
day, and every day there are people all around us for whom the good news of
God’s love for them has yet to be tangibly felt.
Have a great week….Merry Christmas!
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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