I had an entirely different meditation planned for today, but then I ran across an article in The Anglican Digest that I want to share a bit from. It's written by the Rev. Richard Tudor, St. Barnabas', Florissant, Missouri.
Tudor notes that this time of year is known for the many 'old favorite' movies. Among them The Bishop's Wife in which the Bishop preaches a sermon. Tudor doesn't quote the sermon word for word and I will not include all his article, but I found it a moving reminder of the real Reason for the Season, as they say, and a call to offer homage to the One we often forget.
"We still remember that night. We will gather in our churches on Christmas Eve to celebrate that birth. We put a star atop our Christmas trees and sing carols, the songs the angels sang. And as a part of the Christmas Season and Spirit, in imitation of the Magi, we give gifts. We work our way frantically through stores picking up presents so our parents, children, brothers and sister, nieces and nephews, cousins and friends, all those close to us, will have a gift from us on Christmas morning. Everyone's stocking gets filled, except one. That stocking belongs to the person whose birth we celebrate on Christmas, the Christ Child.
That empty stocking needs to be filled with gifts from each of us. What gifts can we bring to the Christ Child?...We can give him precious gifts which he and this world desperately need: human kindness, love, and compassion for others! These are the only gifts which will fill the empty stocking of the Christ Child.
When that star in the East hung low in the heavens and drew those people to the manger in which the Christ Child lay, it shone as a beacon of hope to all, to you and to me. That hope, born again on Christmas, is a realization of what it means to be one of God's children...When we look into the manger, we see an innocence which was once ours, an innocence of goodness and trust to which we are summoned to return.It is so simple and yet so complex and confusing. Jesus is born into a world of power and might but these are not the possessions he craves. God enters the world on Christmas in the person of the Christ Child--weak, humble, and defenseless. And he gives the world the priceless gift of appreciation of these qualities. May we, I pray, come away from our celebration of Christmas with a personal awakening of the Godly power of these timeless values...
I hope that on Christmas morning you will find your stockings filled with all that you want and need. But I also hope that you will hang up the stocking of the Christ Child and in this coming year, will try to fill it with the gifts God give to you--human kindness, love, compassion for others. Christ's stocking canot remain empty if there is to be peace on earth. When the stocking of the Christ Child is filled, ours will be filled too."
See you tomorrow.
