North Star News - Christmas

THE GIFT OF CHRISTMAS

Pastor Gary Halverson

First Eidsvold Lutheran Parish

Are you ready for Christmas?  When most people ask me that question they are asking if I have bought and wrapped all the gifts I am giving at Christmas.  Some people prepare for the celebration of Christmas long before December arrives.  Late on Thanksgiving Day as we prepared to leave my sister’s house my second sister said, “Wait, Gary, I have something for you to take home.”  Then she placed in my car a box with five Christmas gifts perfectly wrapped with individualized ornaments attached to each bow for each of us who will be in the Karlstad parsonage on Christmas morning.  My sister had been helping my mother shop this fall.  They were all done on Thanksgiving Day.  I, on the other hand, had not given a thought to even one Christmas gift for this year.

Are you ready for Christmas?  I admire people who plan ahead, but the question of being ready for Christmas has a deeper meaning than cards, gifts, and decorations.  The true focus of Christmas is the gift that no money can buy.  It is the gift God the Father has given us in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ, to be our savior and lord.  As St. Paul wrote in Romans 3 about the salvation Christ brings, “Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”  Looking back on all that Our Lord has done for us, St. Paul summed it up beautifully in these verses.  But when the angels announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds on hills above Bethlehem they said, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)   Even as a babe in the manger he was the gift of God.

Are you ready for Christmas?  A great way to prepare for Christmas is to open your heart to the love of Jesus by reading his word, following his instructions, and trusting his promises.  Preparing for Christmas is not all about frantic activity but should also include taking some quiet time to read God’s Word, to sing the sweet carols of faith, and quietly to ponder the awesome event we are celebrating.  As one beloved carol says, “how silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given, as God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven.”  No matter how many Christmas memories you may have accumulated over the years, the most important thing to remember is the great gift of that first Christmas in Bethlehem.

Are you ready for Christmas?  At a recent church council meeting one of the members read a story by my predecessor in this parish, Pastor Don Peterson, called “A Four Dollar Christmas” from his book “Ponderings.”  The title sums up the story, the story of his most memorable Christmas when there was almost no money for gifts but there was love and faith, and the gift no money can buy.  This is the heart of Christmas, to receive the gift of Christ by faith and live in the assurance of his love, his presence, and his promises all through the year.

As St. Paul said in 2^nd Corinthians 9:15 “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”

Newsletter December 2014

I recently decided to read Karl Ove Knausgaard’s trilogy “My Struggle” this winter.  It was wildly popular in Scandinavia recently, and the English translation has been moderately popular in America.  So I stopped at several book stores this fall looking for all three volumes.  Volume three is not yet out in paperback, so that will have to wait.  Volume two was immediately available in every large book store.  But nobody had a copy of volume one on hand.  Being impatient, I began to read volume two, which is set in Sweden, but soon realized that I wanted to start with volume one which is set in Norway.  The only way to do this was to order a copy on-line.  Normally, books ordered on-line arrive promptly, but day after day passed with no book in the mail.  Again being impatient, I told the clerk at the post office that I was looking for this book to arrive, and she assured me that normally books ordered on-line arrive in a day or two.  Finally, when I thought they had lost my order, the book arrived from an obscure (to me) publisher in New Jersey.  Finally, I could begin at the beginning.

Patience is one of the themes of Advent when we have to wait to begin at the beginning of the story of Jesus’ life.  Advent is centered on the coming of Jesus.  First of all, we prepare to celebrate his coming into this world as the child of Bethlehem after Israel had waited long centuries for the promised Messiah.  The scripture says, “When the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law….” (Galatians 4:4)

In Advent we also read the scriptures that speak of his coming again in power and glory to judge the nations, and again there is the issue of patient waiting until the right time shall come.  At the ascension of Jesus the disciples were promised he would come again (Acts 1:11) but were also told it is not for them to know the time of his coming (Acts 1:7).  So, his followers are to wait patiently for the day when he will come again to judge the world and set all things right – and there are plenty of things that need setting right in this world.  We try to wait patiently even as we pray “Come, Lord Jesus.” (Revelation 22:20)

But thanks be to God, the third coming of Jesus is into the lives of believers by Word and Sacrament.  For that, no one has to wait, for the Word of God is proclaimed continually and the Sacraments are administered regularly among us.  There is no waiting line for them.

Patience is listed as one of the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22, but patience in everyday life seems to be in short supply today.  As I write this in the days before Thanksgiving, the airwaves are filled with ads and reports about early shopping on Thanksgiving Day so people can get a good deal and get ahead on their shopping.  Last year there were news reports of people knocked to the floor as shoppers rushed to be the first to get into the store.  Can we not let one holiday be fully and properly celebrated before beginning on the next?  Does this not call to mind the harsh words of the prophet Amos to Israel for “saying, when will the new moon be over that we may sell grain?  And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great, and deal deceitfully with false balances?” (Amos 8:5)

As one of the fruits of the spirit is patience, so one of the virtues of Christian living is patience.  God has his own timetable for his work, and he will not be hurried, any  more than I could hurry my book through the mail by fretting about it or pestering the postal clerk.  With regard to things happening out in the world Psalm 37:7 says, “be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.  Do not fret over those who prosper in their way, over those who carry out evil devices.”  With regard to things happening in our own lives Psalm 40:1 says, “I waited patiently for the Lord.  He inclined to me and heard me.”

This Advent season, let us practice the virtue of patience.  Let us see if we can be patient with one another, especially when it comes to one another’s shortcomings and failings.  Let us see if we can find some time in this busy month to be still, as Psalm 37 advocates, and wait patiently for the Lord.  Let us see if we can resist the temptation to be first in line, fastest on the road, and the first to get something done.  Let us pace ourselves through this month knowing that Christmas will come on December 25 no matter what we do or fail to do, and let this be a lesson in life knowing that God will accomplish his will in his time according to his timetable.  May you be filled with the fruit of the Spirit this holiday season, filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22)