There are few things more exciting in life than the birth of a baby. That is true whether you are a commoner or a controversial member of a royal family. We all share the joy when friends or family announce that they are expecting. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have become household names to Americans over the past couple of years, but their lives have not been totally without good cheer. For example, when they gave birth to their first child, Archie, there was such keen public anticipation that Whole Foods Market created a commemorative cheddar cheese they called “Royal Addition.”
The press release for the new cheese said that since cheddar cheese is popular in both the U.S. and the U.K., this cheese was meant to “embody the cultures” of the British prince and the American actress. Its bright orange color was meant to honor
Harry’s notably red hair. In case you haven’t tried this cheese yet, the Whole Foods press release described the Royal Addition’s taste as “tangy and creamy, with a slightly sweet and nutty finish.” (1)
“Slightly sweet and nutty”—that describes a lot of children I know, especially at Christmas. Christmas is such an exciting time for children. But kids and parents often have different priorities at Christmas.
A woman whose Twitter handle is Mommy Owl posted the following conversation she had with her seven-year-old child:
The child said, “I wish I could see Santa’s naughty kid list.”
Mom replied, “To see if you’re on it?”
The 7-year-old responded, “To see who I could have the most fun with.” (2)
I think we all feel some sympathy for that mom.
More proof of this theory that kids’ priorities at Christmas are different than parents’ priorities can be seen in kids’ letters to Santa Claus. Here a few examples of recent letters to Santa taken from the Internet:
Dear Santa Claus,
When you come to my house there will be cookies for you. But if you are real hungry you can use our phone and order a pizza to go.
Dear Santa,
I want a Puppy. I want a playhouse. Thank you. I’ve been good most of the time. Sometimes I’m wild.
This one’s from a four-year-old: Dear Santa,
I’ll take anything because I haven’t been that good.
I’ve got some good news for you this morning. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t been that good this year. Jesus still came for you. The Christmas story is such a magnificent one—so full of tenderness and love. The young bride-to-be of Joseph knew that God was at work in her life. Her cousin Elizabeth knew, too. When she greeted Mary, she spoke out with a loud voice, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb . . .”
Mary answered Elizabeth with a song of joy, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. For He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden; for, behold, from hence forth all generations shall call me blessed. For He that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is His name . . .”
We would do well this morning to spend a few moments with this charming young woman named Mary, wise beyond her years. Her experience of Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection was the most intimate one of all. After all, she was his mother.
If Mary were here this morning, what are some lessons she might share with us, as the mother of God’s Messiah?
I think the first lesson Mary would share with us is that God is working in the small things of the universe. That’s the message of Christmas, isn’t it? That God, the Almighty Creator of the universe, the Great I AM, set aside His own majesty and authority to be born as a tiny baby to a poor young couple. He could have come as a conquering warrior, a charismatic king, a commanding emperor. Instead, God came as a poor and helpless baby to show us that God loves us enough to enter into our daily lives.
The Christmas song, “Be Born in Me,” sung by Francesca Battistelli expresses this idea beautifully in its second verse:
“All this time we've waited for the promise
All this time You've waited for my arms
Did You wrap yourself inside the unexpected
So we might know that Love would go that far?” (3)
What an incredible gift! In the birth of Jesus, God wrapped Himself inside the unexpected. It is easy to miss the joy of Christmas because we are looking for the big moment, the big gift, the big pageantry of decorations and lights and flashy worship services. But the actual Christmas story is almost entirely composed of little, private moments of joy when God shared the message of the coming Messiah with humble, poor, nobodies like the shepherds, or Anna, the widow praying in the Temple. Or you and me.
Henri Nouwen, a Dutch priest and writer, tells of a small wooden Nativity scene that he saw placed underneath a church altar. The figures of Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus were hand-carved, very simple, and smaller than a human hand. But just below the altar was a large light. When it was turned on the figurines cast a huge shadow on the wall behind them. In this, he saw the message of the Christmas story. In his words, “God’s light shining on this small, humble family casts ‘large, hopeful shadows against the walls of our life and our world . . .’” (3)
That’s when we see God most clearly, when His light and hope shine through humble people and simple acts of love.
Ray Mohler Jr. was four years old when he woke up with hip pain so severe that his parents took him to the hospital. The doctors diagnosed him with a rare and painful, but treatable, hip disorder. After about eight hours in the hospital, they discharged him. It was a scary experience for a little boy. After he returned home, Ray couldn’t stop thinking about the kids he had met who had to stay at the hospital for days, or weeks, or even months. And he determined that he could do something to make the experience a little less frightening for them.
That Christmas, Ray donated half his Christmas and birthday presents to the children at the local hospital. Two years later, when Ray was six, he and his family founded the Little Saint Nick Foundation. Since its founding in 2004, the Little Saint Nick Foundation has collected and donated over 500,000 toys and electronics to hospitalized kids across the nation. They also create kid-friendly gift bags for emergency departments, family care packages for the families of hospitalized children, and anxiety relief programs for kids. And the Foundation actively works to recruit and train kids and teens to work in their collection and donation programs. (4) Truly, “a little child will lead them . . .” (Isaiah 11:6)
God came as a poor baby to bring us life at Christmas. God used six-year-old Ray Mohler to spread joy and hope at Christmas. And God can use you and me to share His joy and hope and love to others. The message of Christmas is that God is working in even the small things of the universe.
I think the second lesson Mary would share with us is God is working in difficult circumstances. Read through the Bible and you will see that God never chooses the easiest path to accomplish His will.
Jesus was born to a young couple who hadn’t even consummated their marriage yet. Don’t you think Mary and Joseph’s family and friends and neighbors wondered and worried and gossiped about Mary’s premature pregnancy? And Jesus was born during the reign of King Herod, a ruthlessly ambitious ruler who was willing to kill all the infant boys in the region to prevent any competition for his throne. What was God’s logic in sending the Christ Child, the Messiah, to these people and this place at this time? Why doesn’t God just choose an easier path for accomplishing His will? Because, according to God’s word, God’s light shines brightest in the darkness, God’s power is greatest in our weakness, and God’s grace shows up when we least expect it.
Kaitlyn De Jesus was diagnosed with autism at age three. The neurologist told her mother, Marisabel, that she would never be able to speak. Marisabel refused to accept their diagnosis. By her teens, Kaitlyn could speak one or two words at a time with visual prompts. But that was the extent of her verbal expression—until two years ago.
A neighbor on Kaitlyn’s street, Don Weaver, decorates his yard every Christmas with a musical light display consisting of 200,000 lights. Kaitlyn and her mother visit every night of the Christmas season. Weaver even puts out a special chair for Kaitlyn.
During the 2019 Christmas season, as Marisabel and Kaitlyn were enjoying the light display, Kaitlyn suddenly got up from her chair and began to speak. According to her mother, Kaitlyn said, “Mom! Look at the blue lights. Look at the snowmen. Santa’s coming!” Don Weaver and the other neighbors present gathered around, excited. It was the first time any of them had heard her speak.
As Marisabel says, “At Mr. Weaver’s house she comes to life . . . If only Christmas could be around all year.” (5)
God works in the small things of the world, and God works in the difficult circumstances of life as He did in Kaitland’s life. And the third lesson Mary would share with us is God is working in everyone who opens their heart to Him. Isn’t it amazing that God, the Almighty, the Creator of the universe, never forces anyone to accept Him? He sent an angel to speak to Mary and Joseph ahead of time. He came in the most unlikely manner to the most unlikely people at the most unlikely time so that we would not be overwhelmed by His power but overjoyed by His love.
Actor Richard Crenna tells a story about opening his heart to the message of Christmas when he was a teenager. Some of our older members will remember Crenna as Luke McCoy in the popular television program, “The real McCoys” years ago. But he had a long career in both television and motion pictures as a serious actor.
It’s interesting. Crenna says that he and his parents never celebrated a “normal” family Christmas. The Crennas owned a residential hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Richard describes the hotel’s residents as “unfortunates.” They were a mix of old con men, bookies, gamblers, and even a notorious thief. Young Richard often made fun of these unfortunate men behind their backs.
Richard envied his friends and their descriptions of gathering around their Christmas tree and enjoying a meal and exchanging gifts with their family. Instead of a family Christmas tree, the Crennas had a Christmas tree in the hotel lobby. Instead of a family dinner, the Crenna Christmas dinner was a meal at a local restaurant.
Richard first broke into acting in junior high when he played a character on a local radio comedy. At age 16, he was invited to New York for a big audition. He was scheduled to leave right after Christmas. That Christmas Eve, his parents announced that they were having a Christmas party. They led Richard down to the hotel lobby. It was filled with the hotel’s “unfortunates.” These normally sad-eyed men were gathered around the lobby Christmas tree, and they were smiling and full of Christmas cheer. All the residents, even the men Richard had “mimicked relentlessly,” gathered around to congratulate him, to wish him luck, to give him gifts that would set him up for his new life in New York.
As Richard Crenna would write later, “It was now clear; the men and women I had once written off as has-beens and weirdoes were instead Children of the Most High God . . . As I got on the train to New York a man said to me ‘How was your holiday?’ I said, it was my best Christmas ever. I spent it with . . . my family.” (7) Those who were formerly the object of his ridicule were now his family. Only Christmas can do that.
Richard Crenna had his best Christmas ever when he opened his heart to the working of God. And in doing so, he discovered the same thing that so many people down through the centuries have discovered: God works in the small things in the universe, God works in the difficult circumstances in life, God works in everyone who opens their heart to him. That truth is what motivated Mary’s song of joy. It’s still spreading joy all over the world more than 2,000 years later.
What about you? Have you opened your heart to the working of God? Are you ready to welcome Jesus, the Messiah, this Christmas? If so, you can discover the overwhelming joy of Christmas in your own life as well.
1. “Whole Foods Will Celebrate the New Royal Baby with a ‘Vibrant Orange’ Cheddar Cheese” by Annaliese Griffin, April 25, 2019, Quartzy.com, https://qz.com/quartzy/1603533/at-whole-foods-a-cheese-will-celebrate-the-royal-baby/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=daily-brief.
2. Posted by Mommy Owl @Lhlodder on Twitter, December 9, 2019. Cited in “40 Funny Tweets That Sum Up Kid Logic” by Caroline Bologna, HuffPost.com January 19, 2021, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kid-logic-funny-tweets_l_5fb16b14c5b6b956698c38e1?guccounter.
3. “Be Born in Me,” written by Nicole Nordeman and Bernie Herms, recorded by Francesca Battistelli.
4. “The Lord is Near,” Advent Meditations from the works of Henri Nouwen, p. 30.
5. “4 Inspiring Stories About Gifts that Keep On Giving presented” by HuffPost and Ebay, December 15, 2016, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/4-inspiring-stories-about-gifts-that-keep-on-giving_n_58262353e4b0c4b63b0c8811. For more information, see https://littlestnick.org/
6. “Christmas light display inspires teen with autism to speak for the first time” by Rachel Paula Abrahamson, Source: Today, December 12, 2019. https://www.today.com/parents/nonverbal-girl-autism-speak-first-time-christmas-lights-t169945?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=etcetera
7. Susan E. Wolfe Devol’s Sermons, St. Matthews Lutheran Church http://www.stmatthewsnoho.org/Sue%20Sermons/2004_12_24.htm.