There are some traditions that won’t die. If you were like most Americans – you’ve been searching for the perfect gift. Maybe you started your search this week: gravy still dripping down your chin, turkey still digesting in your stomach as you leapt through crowds and dodged quicker than any running back to get to that last one, limited time, Black Friday sale.
Maybe you’re more savvy than that…Back when Halloween costumes and Christmas Trees came out together, you saw the signs of the times. You read between the lines when the minions came knocking at your door saying “Trick or Treat.” You knew what they were really saying was “Trick or Treat – only 55 days left till Christmas – buy me a gift!”
Whether you do it online or in person, whether you prepare all year for it or let it sneak up on you with a bite of mistletoe – Brace yourself – Christmas is coming. If you are like most – you’ve begun searching for the perfect gift for that person who is impossible to shop for.
There are some traditions that won’t die – and finding the perfect gift is one of them. We all know what it’s not. It’s not the ugly sweater from Aunt Cathy. It’s not the yellow polka dotted suspenders I sent my dad this year. Nor is it the gift basket of soaps and bathing oils – what are your relatives trying to say by giving you things to make you smell better?
And we know how to start fights about gifts. Recently on Facebook a man posted this:
One year, I decided to buy my mother-in-law a cemetery plot as a Christmas gift. The next year I didn’t buy her a gift. When she asked me why, I replied, “Well, you still haven’t used the gift I bought you last year!” And that’s how the fight started.
In trying to find the perfect gift we drown in consumerism and hunger for meaning. When we purchase more and find ourselves emptier than our wallets. When we give till it hurts only to find the hurt is credit card debt. When we realize we’re worried about schedules, menus, and forget to realize with the Grinch that Christmas is something that can’t be bought after all.
Finding the perfect gift is a lot like trying to decide which of the Seven Wonders of the World is the most wonderful. A teacher assigned a class to write down a list of what they thought were the current Seven Wonders of the World. Most of the students came back the pretty much the same list:
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- Egypt’s pyramids
- Taj Mahal
- The Grand Canyon
- Panama Canal
- Empire State Building
- Peter’s Basilica
- The Great Wall of China
One little girl had a difficult time with the assignment. The teacher asked her, “are you having trouble with the assignment.” “Yes,” she promptly said, “there are so many that it is hard to choose which should be number one.” The teacher said, “Well, why don’t you share your list with the class and we’ll help you decide.”
“I think the Seven Wonders of the World are:
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- To see
- To hear
- To touch
- To taste
- To feel
- To laugh
- And to love.
The perfect gift is not made, manufactured, sold, and shipped through Amazon.com. The perfect gift is not something you can charge on your credit card, save up for through your piggy bank, or earn through hard work. If you are like most people – you are searching for the perfect gift.
The perfect gift is what we look for during the Advent Season. It was there in the very first moment of creation. “In the Beginning was the Word.” It wasn’t bought or sold, but instead was given freely as a self-sacrifice. “The Word was with God and the Word was God.” It was the perfect gift for us in our darkest hour. “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot extinguish it.”
The perfect gift we long for, the perfect gift we search for, the perfect gift we need more than ever this year – is Jesus. Emmanuel. God with us. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
This time of year the days grow short and it seems both in nature and in our spirits that the darkness is trying to overcome the light. Evil is trying to beat goodness. Commercialism, not secularism, is trying to kill Christmas.
Perhaps that is why we celebrate Advent during this time of year. To remember our need. To remember his love. To remember God’s gift.
Perhaps that is why we need candles lit in front of us each Sunday. To give us light in dark times, to give us hope in the midst of grief and despair. for hope that the light of day will end night.
Funny thing about this gift God gives. We have to be ready to receive it. Advent calls us to get ready for Christ’s coming. Be ready. We have to open the gift. Be ready to have our debt of sin paid in full. Be ready Jesus to shape and change our lives. Be ready to experience an amazing grace and a wonderful presence. Be ready to receive the perfect gift.
A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer’s showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.
As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and how much he loved him. He handed him a beautifully wrapped gift box. Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with his name embossed in gold. Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and said, “With all your money and power you give me a Bible? I wanted a car!” He stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible behind.
Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old. He thought perhaps he should go to him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. But before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to him. He needed to come home immediately to take care of things.
When he arrived at his father’s house, sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father’s important documents and saw the Bible, new, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. His father had carefully underlined a verse,
Matt 7:11- “If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him”
As he read those words, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer’s name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words…PAID IN FULL.
There are some traditions that won’t die. Advent is one of them. This Advent Season, let’s get ready to receive the perfect gift.
Worship's Wake 