Christmas Day
25th December 2009
Preacher: The Rev'd Gillian Moses, Assistant Curate

Theme: The Christmas Present

Text: Isaiah 62.6-12, Titus 3.4-8a, Luke 2.8-20

May my words be in the name of God: Source of all being, eternal Word and holy Spirit. Amen.

Well here we are again: it is Christmas Day , and the craziness, the preparations and the mad shopping of the last few weeks are reaching their culmination. I wonder how you are planning to spend the day , after you leave here. Perhaps you have a special lunch or dinner planned – maybe an elegant meal at a restaurant , or a chaotic gathering of family and friends on the deck , or something quieter in the comfort of the air-conditioning. And of course there are the Christmas presents , and the stockings , and the moment of anticipation or dread as you each unwrap your gifts to see what Santa has brought this year. Because lets face it , Christmas is really all about the presents.

I think of the stress involved in my own family’s gift exchanging – the deliberations over what to give , the struggle with the budget , especially this year , as the family has got bigger and the money has got tighter. Then there is the act of shopping itself , and the madness that accompanies the retail experience at this time of the year – it should be called extreme shopping , given the levels of adrenaline and fear involved , and that’s just finding a car park. There is also the spectre of Round the Clock shopping , as my local shopping centre opens its doors for 36 straight hours of nonstop selling. I’m pretty sure that shopping for Christmas gifts at 4am on Christmas Eve comes close to my definition of hell , but apparently other people enjoy it so to each his or her own.

But Christmas presents aren’t all bad news , and I don’t want to sound like Ebenezer Scrooge. I actually love the tradition of Christmas presents. I enjoy taking the time to really think about what I will give the important people in my life , whether I shop for them , or bake for them, or simply give of my time and my assistance. It’s no coincidence that the festival of Christmas has become so closely associated with giving , even if we feel at times that the whole thing has got out of hand. I think our tradition of giving captures the very essence and meaning of the Christmas story. Let me explain.

You may be familiar with the origin of Santa Claus in the figure of Bishop Nicholas of Myrna. Nicholas , who later became Saint Nicholas , gave anonymously to people in his community who were in need of a little help. The archetypal St Nicholas story tells of the bishop hiding coins in the laundry of young women who were too poor to have dowries and who therefore lacked any real prospect of marriage. More importantly , his actions inspired others in his community to continue his habit of giving to those in need long after Nicholas himself had died. These days , it seems to me that St Nick is making a bit of a comeback with more and more people deciding to give to various charities , in the name of family and friends , instead of buying things we don’t really need or even want.

There is also the biblical story of the Wise Men who came to the stable bringing gifts for a king. You can see the Wise Ones in the corners of the cathedral this morning , still making their way to the crib and the infant Jesus , bearing their traditional gifts of gold , frankincense and myrrh. Their gift-giving has also inspired our Christmas tradition of giving presents to each other. It seems that Christmas and presents really have become inseparable.

There is another gift at the heart of the Christmas story , however , that can easily be overlooked. That “gift” is the child in the crib , who sometimes goes by the name of Jesus , but who also is known as Emmanuel , God-with-us. And it is that name which gives us a glimpse of the greatest Christmas present of all.

In the midst of all the trappings of Christmas , it is easy to forget the importance of this gift. Jesus is God’s gift of Godself to us. The angels in Luke’s story proclaim to the shepherds the coming of the Messiah , the Lord , and in time Christians have come to believe that in Jesus , God really did come to us and take up a life alongside our own lives. There is something more than a little uncomfortable about that idea , if you really think about it. What does God mean , by getting so up close and personal with us and our lives? It seems to me that God , in choosing to walk alongside us , is making a powerful statement about the worth and potential of humanity.

God’s gift is ultimately not just the gift of Godself , but the gift of ourselves. God is saying to us , “you are something important – what you do , who you are , matters.” And the message is for all of us. Not just the good and great , whoever they are. Think of the people whose lives have intersected with God , both in the biblical stories we have , and in those ‘real life’ stories we all know about. God comes to the peasant , to the thief , to the shepherd and to the young woman. God also comes to the rulers and the wealthy , the wise and the powerful. We don’t always recognise God in our midst and sometimes we deliberately hide from the challenge. Because God wants more of us than we probably think we have.

You see God gives with great generosity , and then expects us to be equally generous. God creates , and then expects us to be co-creators in this incredible world around us. God loves without reserve , and then expects nothing less of each one of us. Yet that is God’s true gift to us. That is the gift of ourselves – God shows us , through the Incarnation , through the gentle Christmas story , that we are far more than we think ourselves to be. In Jesus we see what it looks like to live as God intended us to live.

The challenge for each of us , then , is to accept the present and that means thinking about how we spend this life we have been given. The American poet , Mary Oliver , in her poem The Summer’s Day , asks each of us:

Tell me , what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

It is not enough to horde ourselves like Scrooge , eking out our days in survival mode. Imagine if the Christmas presents you give later today to your loved ones were simply put away in a cupboard to gather dust and be kept safe , but never unwrapped. No , you give them to bring joy to the receiver , and to be used and appreciated and loved. The same is true of our lives – we must live them. We must be our God-given selves.

How do we do that? Well, it might take a whole lifetime to find the answer to that question, to discover just who I am, just who you are. It certainly beings with seeing ourselves and each other differently. We are, each one of us, as precious gif t from God to the world. We each have something unique that only we can bring to this life and share with those around us. If we don’t share it, if we don’t open up that gift and really engage with the people and the lives around us, we are wasting it. There are no do-overs. This is the only life that counts.

And so my prayer for each of us this Christmas is that we remember. Remember that “This one, wild and precious life” we have is to be spent generously and lovingly. It is precious , too precious to waste. It is God’s Christmas present to each of us , so strip off the ribbon , tear the paper , and dive headfirst into your wild and precious life. And have a very Merry Christmas.

In the name of the Child who comes to us. Amen.

Gillian Moses, St John’s Cathedral Brisbane, Christmas 2009.