Lights Please…

The girls are home from school this week as we get ready for the Christmas holiday. As I started to write my Christmas Eve sermon I invited the girls to help me. I read them the Christmas story from Luke’s gospel, and I invited them to ask me questions about the story or to tell me what images from the story they could see in their imagination. It wasn’t long before they started asking questions. Annaleigh interrupted asking, “Why did you say ‘David?’ I thought this story was about Jesus?” Well, Luke tells us that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which was where King David was born (1 Samuel 16:4). The Hebrew scriptures tells us that it was from Bethlehem that God would raise up a savior (Micah 5:2).

I kept reading, and when I arrived at the angel’s pronouncement to the shepherds, the girls joined in almost word for word. I asked them how they new what the angels say to the shepherds. Isabelle admitted she had been trying to memorize the audio from our Linus ornament on the Christmas tree. “Lights, please…That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.” Sometimes I forget that children are always listening, always watching what we grown-ups do. I was both thankful that they had committed scripture to their memory, but a bit troubled with their ability to memorize what they see and experience.

Christmas is a hurried time, and frankly over the last few days I was not setting the best example. Of course there’s the stress in making sure the Christmas lists had been filled, the cookies baked, the house cleaned, and end of the year business all tidied up with a bow. Maybe their hyperactivity is just a reflection of my own restlessness? Thankfully, there’s good old Linus to offer them a moment of beautiful respite.

So, there’s still hope. Maybe the gifts, cookies, and business are not nearly as important as sitting around the tree in thanksgiving, actually spending some holy time around the quickly-hung ornaments. A quick survey of our tree revealed Linus on stage, Tiny Tim on Scrooge’s shoulder, kindergarten school projects on red construction paper, a blue glass TARDIS (surprised?), an Italian leg lamp (I know it’s Italian because it said “Fragile” on the box), an ornament remembering our wedding anniversary, an angel topper from generations ago, and many more. Our tree tells a beautiful story, and it is a story I can do a better job telling.

What is your Christmas story? Is it remembered through ornaments on a tree? Is it shared through reading scripture with your friends and family? Do you tell your story through service and generosity? Linus’ “Lights please…” is such a simple and beautiful reminder of God’s light in the person of Jesus in a dark world. If you could call for the spotlight, what story would you tell?