December 8, 2008
Rev. Ron Fritts
To set the stage of the real importance of this season, I begin
with 2 quotes from Glimpses of Truth by Tom Shepherd, faculty member
at Unity Institute.
“In recent years there has been an increasing pressure from
clergy in traditional churches to de-emphasize Christmas in favor
of Easter….A lot of cross, very little manger.”
“Although this will sound like rank heresy to most orthodox
clergy and theologians, it is possible to contend that the main
event of the Christian Faith occurred not at Calvary but Bethlehem.”
I used to be concerned about Santa Claus being emphasized more
than Jesus in the celebration of Christmas. Only recently have I
begun to understand the Santa and gift giving are really just a
result and extension of the significance of the story of the birth
of Jesus. As Shepherd suggests, “…at least he’s
a saint, theoretically based on a real person, who represents the
virtues of love, kindness, and generosity….not a fuzzy rabbit
and colored eggs…
(who) represents new clothing and carbohydrates, a secularized
holiday silenced of every whisper of religiosity.”
I joked last Sunday about having a picture made of me sitting
on Santa Claus’ lap at mall, to fully experience this child-size
view of Christmas. I’m not sure what it says about me, that
many present in the service believed I actually did it until I told
them I was only kidding.
My mother has reminded me for years that Christmas is about children.
Again as Shepherd writes, “Christmas is the world’s
birthday, because every cradle is the manger and every child is
the Christ.”
Why do children love Christmas? The answer quite obviously is,
the presents. And the children are on to something spiritually important,
because Christmas gift giving is love-giving. So I urge you to use
this season for giving the following gifts of love:
Give the world a gift of love – be what you are, an expression
of God.
For God, love is not a choice, it is who God is; God loves because
God is Love; God gives because it is God’s nature. And we
being created in the image and likeness also have love as our basic
nature. So by allowing that love to express through us and as us,
we help the world remember what they are – love.
Give yourself a gift of love. Find time, take time out from the
parties, the shopping the wrapping, the cleaning, the baking to
meditate. Stop and listen when carols are playing. Watch a Christmas
special on TV. Make the Christmas Eve service a priority in your
schedule. This year along with the wonderful atmosphere of candles
and music, we will observe the lighting of the Twelve Powers candles.
Give someone you love a gift by graciously accepting their gift.
It’s easy to forget that receiving completes the cycle. Don’t
you feel great when you give someone a gift and they love it? So
when you are given a gift, don’t say, “You shouldn’t
have?” or “You didn’t need to do that.”
Say “Thank you” and let the giver feel your gratitude.
Give someone you don’t know a gift of love. You may have
heard the story a while back of the customer at Starbucks who paid
for the person behind him at the drive-through window. The rest
of the day, no one paid for their own order as the customers continued
to pass the kindness on. I tried it the other day and it was really
fun.
This weekend we are sponsoring the Abundance Exchange. You can
read about it on the Community Calendar of www.quincynew.org. Along
with blessing others through gift-giving, we are demonstrating the
Law of Giving and Receiving, the Universal Principle of circulation.
Wayne Teasdale, writes in The Mystic Hours, “If you want
to know with immediate and tangible recognition what God is like,
examine kindness in yourself and others.” This Christmas,
don’t only examine it. Live it. Admire it. Enjoy it. It’s
God become flesh and dwelling among us.
