Christmas Miracles

Christmas is coming and I want to talk about small miracles. They happen to me occasionally. In fact, one just occurred the other day.
My Christmas miracle is very small compared to the huge world-changing event of the birth of Jesus. But it is also big because it gave me peace of mind. It is about a pre-lit Christmas tree. We bought one three years ago because it was easy to set up and I didn't have to wait for Hardy to put on the lights. I like to put up the tree for the first Sunday of Advent.

When I plugged in the lights, this is what I saw!

One of the light strings was not working (about two thirds of the way up the tree). Now what? All lights had worked fine the first two years. Hardy set about trying to fix things by attempting to find out which bulbs were defective. He had to test each bulb (of a 48-bulb string!) and replace the ones which didn't allow the current to pass. In the process, another string of lights went out! By now we were well past First Advent and this was not good. Maybe we would just do without a tree this year. Struggling with this problem, I decided to let it go:
"Just give me your peace, God, and help me to see things in perspective. Christmas is not about having a perfect Christmas tree. It is about your perfect love and showing that love to others. I will be happy even if all the lights aren't on."

The next morning, following Hardy's efforts of replacing bulbs, the second string of lights came back on. But the section nearer to the top of the tree was still dark. Hardy was at the end of his wits and I suggested we would just add more decorations. We left the lights on and went to have our breakfast. When we got up from the table, I went into the living room and, lo and behold, the entire tree was lit up! All 240 lights were burning brightly! How did that happen? I couldn't believe it! There must be an explanation for this, but I have my own conclusion!

Now I could happily decorate the tree.

"The key is handing over the burden to God, where it belongs, and accepting the peace that this world cannot give." (Kathy Kalina, quoted by April Yamasaki in her December blog post)

People might laugh at me and call me naive. I’m okay with that, because Christmas itself is a small miracle — a tiny baby born to a young couple in a cave — and yet so completely life- and world-altering that it becomes huge.

Suspending disbelief, shepherds and magi went to see for themselves what they heard. I wonder what they thought as they knelt beside that manger. Everything was just as the angel had said and they were amazed.
Mary kept thinking about all these things, wondering what they meant. She would encounter many miracles in her life with Jesus.
Joseph had experienced his own miracle. As he was processing all that Mary had told him and wondering about quietly calling off the wedding, an angel came to him in a dream and told him to go ahead with it. (Matthew 1.19-21)

Perhaps it was easier to believe in miracles 2,000 years ago than it is today. What would have astonished the world at that time is no big deal to us: electricity, automobiles, airplanes, flush toilets (to name a few of the 'wonders' we take for granted). These are all part of our normal life today and we accept them as such. All have plausible explanations and can be scientifically proven. "No big deal." Miracles of another kind will be happening in the next century and they will seem ordinary to our great-grandchildren. Every century has its miracles.

I will share another small miracle with you, but it, too, is actually big and wonderful. My father always said a prayer before meals. He prayed in German because that was his heart language:

Komm, Herr Jesu, sei du unser Gast

und segne was du uns bescheret hast.

Translation:  Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest

                and bless what you have given us.

Some of Opa's grandchildren did not understand German, but they obviously understood what was happening. One of them was Shara. One day Shara claimed that Opa prayed especially for her because at the end of his prayer he mentioned her name every time. We were all puzzled by this until someone solved the riddle: The second syllable of the word bescheret is pronounced like the name Shara!

Shara's limited understanding of German is like our limited understanding of God. We can never grasp the breadth and height and depth of it. The important thing is that we know God calls us by name. Opa had all his grandchildren in mind when he prayed, but to recite 20 names each time would have been a rather long prayer when there are hungry children at the table!

Advent Prayer

"Every year we celebrate the holy season of Advent, O God.

Every year we pray those beautiful prayers of longing and waiting

and sing those lovely songs of hope and promise.

Every year we roll up all our needs and yearnings and faithful expectations into one word: 'COME!'

And yet, what a strange prayer this is! 

After all, you have already come and pitched your tent among us. 

You have already shared our life with its little joys, its long days of tedious routine, its bitter end. 

Could we invite you to anything more than this with our 'Come'?

Could you approach any nearer to us than you did when you became the 'Son of Man'?

In spite of all this we still pray: 'Come.' "

                                                                                                      -Karl Rahner

[from Sojourners and Bruderhof Communities online (cited in Wayne Holst's Colleagues List blog)]

May God's peace abide in your heart and home this Christmas!