Christmas from My Point of View

When I was in seminary, many years ago, I was asked to write a story for our congregation’s Christmas festival for families.  There was music, arts and crafts projects, cookie making, singing carols, and me telling a story near the end of the event.  Somewhere there is a photo of me dressed as talking Christmas tree telling this story.  So I wrote, with an inspirational hat tip to Dr. Seuss and Charles Shultz, Christmas from My Point of View.   Not a very good title for a talking Christmas tree story, but over the years I’ver returned to it and thought it would make an interesting children’s book one day of which I’m working on self publishing for next year.  You are welcomed to use the story, but please please add this credit, “An original work written by Rev. Michael Davison, Dec 1987.  Published at Davison’s Doodle, Dec 2012.”

Christmas from My Point of View

For the next several minutes I want you to use your imagination with me.  I want you to imagine that you are a Christmas tree.  Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a Christmas tree?

furtree

Here I am on the Christmas tree lot with other bigger, fuller, more fancy trees.  Here I sit just little ol’ me.  I ama fur tree not some old sticky scotch pine.  Not many people like fur trees because we don’t have may limbs and I guess you could say that I am kinda skinny.  Here I sit on the lot wondering if I will be bought.

Three weeks to Christmas.  I have no fear that someone will come along who will appreciate my beauty and cheer.  Two weeks to Christmas.  I am starting to loose some of my needles.  “Hey buddy!” I shout at the guy running the Christmas tree lot.  “Hey buddy, come over here and turn me so that people can’t see my bare places.  I’m embarrassed.”  Hey, there comes some interesting prospects maybe they will want me.  Stand up straight and a tall.  Get those branches out, needles forward, trunk straight . . . wow does this hurt.  They are stopping for a look.  No it the tree next to me.  No, wait  they are looking at me.  “Chase, look at this tree.”  “Yes, I guess it is ok.  I don’t know.  It’s kind of scrawny and it doesn’t have many branches.”  “Amy, look at this one over here.”  And there they go to buy one of those thicker trees.

treekneedles

One week to Christmas.  I loose more needles, and it is harder to get my branches to stand up.  What’s worse is that they have stuck me over here in the looser section of the tree lot.  Once you get put over here they have decided that you are not going to sell.  Guess I have to start accepting that its the fire pit for me sooner rather than later.

It is cold and there are only three of us left.  Me the fur.  The short scotch pine that is lob-sided a bit, and this tall giant blue spruce, into no one’s car will he fit.  The tree salesman begins to close up early because there is no point staying open when your trees look like us.  I am laying over to one side now.  My needles are almost all gone.  I am weak and tired.

Suddenly, in front of me appears a family who want to look at me.  They stand me up and turn me around to see that my needles have fallen to the ground.  They are talking to the salesman.  “This one will be just fine.  How much?”  The salesman says, “Well, this one has been here a while so how about ten bucks?”  In a blur the thing I know I being tied to the roof of a car.  Now I am in a stand.  Now water, oh good tasting water.   There is a pause and a decision at hand . . . where to put the tree?

Well of course you know.  In the front window I must go.  So here, cleaned up, watered and feeling quite good  I’m waiting for all the boxes of ornaments, lights upon lights, boxes of balls, the big ones and small ones, all colorful and shiny.  The tinsel and glitter that you find behind the couch even when it is Easter.  I’m waiting!

But something is different here.  These people don’t have a lot.  Matter of fact there is only one box.  A box of average size that could hold a great deal, but it wouldn’t be something anyone would steal.  The water helps lift my spirit, but I am realizing that I am going to be half decorated.  The family that bought me didn’t have a lot and I thought, “I will be naked, bare.  What do I look like from the street?  Will people come from far and near to see my decoration?  What will the neighbors think?  I wonder how my friend the scotch pine and giant have been treated?

They decorated and tinseled me and I put up with it most of the time.  When they unwrapped the star to set on top, I bent my trunk so it wouldn’t be straight.  My trunk hurt too much to hold it for long.  They turned off the lights and stood back in awe.  Honestly, I wasn’t the best looking tree from the start and the ornaments didn’t help much.  There was a paper plate angle with a crooked smile that the youngest had made, and then there was this elf looking dude who was coming unglued.  Is that popcorn on a string?  The lights are hot, and some were missing their color, so old they could blow a fuse any moment.  Here I sit in this window just barely decorated with the meager, worthless things.

It is Christmas morning now and I have put up with all these simple decorations.  The presents weren’t as many as I expected there to be, but it doesn’t seem to matter to this family.  It is early and I am rudely awakened  by the oldest boy.  He turns my lights on.  They are so bright because many of my needles have fallen off.  I look down to the sight of this small boy gazing up at me with wide eyes full of life.  He just sits in the floor starring up at me.  So, I look around to see what there was to see . . . funny it is just me.  Me and my homemade ornaments.  Nothing else.  He didn’t go for the presents under the tree.  Instead he just sat and watched not making a sound.  I have nothing on me worth looking at:  no flash, no glitter, not even fake snow.  I wondered what is so special that makes him look at me so?  All the stuff that I thought made a Christmas tree special were not here.  Why was I so special?

I heard something I could not quite make out.  I listened close.  Softly, squeaky words that can up from the floor.  The little boy was singing.  “Oh Christmas tree, oh christmas tree, of all the trees most lovely.”  Singing to me?  “Each year you bring to me delight, meaning in the Christmas night, Oh Christmas tree, oh christmas tree, of all the trees most lovely.”  Is there something about me?  Is it the Christmas season?  Then I felt something.  A kind of tickling, funny feeling and I looked to make sure it wasn’t the lights.  It started at the bottom of my trunk.   It crawled up and out on my branches and then out to my needles I almost wanted to scratch it.  I haven’t felt like this since the day they took me off the truck at the Christmas tree lot.  I was alive with something I hadn’t thought of before.  Maybe Christmas isn’t glitter and flash?  Maybe Christmas is something made to last?

So, here some advice from one Christmas tree to you.  Share stories about family and friends, laugh, remember those not with you far and near.  Instead of buying a lot of glitter and flash take some time and make something that’s made to last.

, 12/14/2012. Category: Michael D.

Paragraphs from SSCSJ

A few paragraphs from a resource my companion and I publish weekly for subscribers called, Sacred Steps: Children’s Sermon Journal.  This resource is exegesis and commentary on the Revised Common Lectionary texts as well as ideas about how to translate these texts for children.  Some subscribers use our resource for their own study in preparation for preaching as well as for their preparation for a children’s sermon (message).  Some use this resource as an adult education resource for Sunday school classes.  Stop by the website and see if this resource is right for you or your context.

Zephaniah 3:14-20

The third Sunday in Advent (Year C) provides the unique opportunity to preach from a rather unknown prophet, Zephaniah.  In fact, many people in the pews on Sunday probably never heard a sermon on this “minor” prophet.  Choosing to focus on Zephaniah, rather than the selection from the more familiar prophet, Isaiah, will be a challenge, but the chance to hear some “new” old words is advantageous for the whole community.  However, due to the lack of knowledge about Zephaniah, some education will be necessary.  Who is this prophet?  What was his message for the people of ancient Jerusalem?  What message might these words offer the faithful in the 21st century?

With language reminiscent of exilic prophets like Isaiah, we find here a promise by God to gather those who have been excluded from human community (v 19b).  What society has declared as “their shame” God will declare worthy of praise and fame (v 19c).  All who feel they have been separate from God’s presence, God “will bring you home” (v 20a).  This Divine ingathering will create a world in which all are welcome.  The exuberance with which Zephaniah portrays this future vision is contagious.  It excites the hearer/reader with anticipation of a time when God and humanity will live in such congruence that every day will be filled with praise and song; all will love and know that they are loved.  Can we imagine this prophetic vision?  How can we work in partnership with God to make it a reality for all of God’s children?  Are we engaged in this Divine ingathering, welcoming everyone as part of God’s community?  Is not Advent the time to envision a world filled with Divine hope, joy, peace, and love?

Isaiah 12:2-6

The book of Isaiah has always been a great favorite for Christian preachers and interpreters, though not always for the best motivations.  It is one of three “major” prophets in the 1st Testament; Jeremiah and Ezekiel are the other two.   The prophetic words within Isaiah are often quoted by the writers of the New Testament gospels, as a way of speaking about the experiences of those who encountered Jesus of Nazareth.  This usage has led many Christians to claim that the prophet Isaiah was “predicting” Jesus.  Such an approach not only fails to consider the socio-historical contexts represented in Isaiah, but also robs the texts of their depth and meaning.

However, most often “salvation” refers to “deliverance” in a physical sense, as in being “saved” from the hand of the enemy (a human one).  It is regularly used in the Hebrew Bible to talk about military victory, or it can convey the idea of being rescued from danger.  In Isa 12, “salvation” seems to be used in both ways.  The prophet speaks of God becoming “my salvation” from whatever threat had caused fear and weakness (v 2).  Also, the passage declares that the people will joyfully “draw water from the wells of salvation” (v 3), a constant source of their “welfare” experienced in right relationship with God, neighbor, and self.  How can we be “wells of salvation” for those who do not have the advantages needed to be whole or who thirst for knowledge of the Divine?  How does the Advent season help us to claim that God is our “salvation”?  What do we need to enjoy the fullness of life lived in covenant with God, neighbor, and self?

Philippians 4:4-7

It is obvious why the Lectionary committee would select this epistle reading for the third Sunday in Advent.  “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, Rejoice.”  A textual note in the NISB indicates that the word “Rejoice” can also be translated, “Farewell”, and gives this alternate translation:  “Farewell, in the Lord always; again I say, Farewell.”  Though awkward to read, this rendering provides another way to approach the text on Advent’s “joy” Sunday, as you consider Paul’s summation and parting blessing in Philippians.  Bethlehem is not far off.  The choir of angels, the shepherds, and the candles of a silent night are all out there in the distance.  It is a reminder that, in welcoming or departing, in our coming and going, or bumping into and up against others, in everyday life, in death and in living, believers are to practice gentleness, prayer, and thanksgiving because the Lord is always near.

Luke 3:7-18

The third Sunday of Advent offers a story about John the Baptist that is not particularly “joyful.”  Some might even read vv. 7-9 as a rebuke of people who only attend worship at Christmas and Easter.  The British comedian Rowan Atkinson, best known as Mr. Bean, also does a few religious characters. When I read this story from Luke, I think of a sketch where Rowan plays a local priest chastising a full congregation about their lack of presence the week before.  The bit is called, “Not the Nine O’Clock News Songs of Praise.”  Be advised, some of the language may offend, but odds are good that John the Baptist’s words were offensive then, and the content of his words do offend and contradict our consumer culture today.  Are Christmas and Easter the only “important” days to be in worship or participate in a community of faith?  If asked, “Why do you attend every Sunday or why are you so active in your church,” how would you respond?  Participation in a community of faith and communal worship is a value shared by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Finally, v. 18 notes that John “proclaimed the good news to the people.”  How is his preaching in this text “good news” or the “good news of God?”  John does not speak of a Messiah until he discerns, or maybe he overheard, a group talking about how John might be the Messiah, and then, in response, John speaks of this Messiah, but that is not directly associated with the “good news” of which John speaks.  From John’s perspective in this text, the “good news” is not a person, not a Messiah; it is something about people changing their ways as they prepare the way of the Lord.

 

, 12/14/2012. Category: SSCSJ.
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