About this time each year we begin to get some very strange ads for gifts. One of my favorites is the ad that says, “This is a gift for someone who has everything.” Here is a gift in that category that beats all.

A Marshmallow Shooter with pump-action rapid fire. Shoots mini marshmallows over 30 feet. The easy-to-refill magazine holds 20 marshmallows for nonstop action. The perfect present for the little rascal on your list. Buy one, get a free bag of Marshmallows.

What does any of this have to do with Christmas giving? 

Then there are those boxes that are marked “some assembly required”, with instructions in English, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Chinese. Now we have a new generation of toys which should read on the outside, “some disassembly required.” Elaine and I spent two hours the other day trying to disassemble some of the toys for our grandchildren for Christmas. You have to have wire cutters to cut hundreds of little plastic wires that hold them in place. Is any of this the spirit of Christmas giving? 

And then there are the associated worries. Do I have something for everyone on my list? Have I forgotten anyone? Do I have the same number of gifts for all the children? 

Sometimes life can only be described as frenetic in this season. Someone has said, “We can only dream vague visions of a disentangled life.” 

What is all of this about anyway? Where does the gift-giving tradition of Christmas come from? What is its origin? Some say it’s from the three wise men. They brought their gifts to Jesus. Some families observe the tradition of three gifts per person maximum because the Wise Men brought three gifts to the Christ child. 

Or maybe the gift giving comes from St. Nicholas, the bishop of the fourth century. Born to wealthy parents, he was orphaned when he was 10. He used his entire inheritance to assist the poor and the needy. I am reminded of a letter a child wrote to Santa that said something like this: “Dear Santa, Please save all your presents for the poor kids. After the poor kids, I come next. Love, Trudy.” 

Or does the gift giving come from a call in Scripture? Does Scripture say anything about gift giving in celebration of Jesus’ birth? I know about the “spiritual gifts” in Scripture. I know the text that says, “All good gifts come from above.” But I’m not sure of a specific origin to the practice of giving. 

Or is gift giving derived from a purely secular push to improve the retail economy? Where does the gift giving tradition fit into Christmas? 

Every so often a challenge goes out to simply our lives at Christmas time. Couldn’t we just make the process a whole lot simpler? There was an article by a young woman from Colorado in Newsweek this past week. The column was called, “My Turn.” She and her husband had been married for several years and then decided to start a family. She made this comment: “Suddenly it was though a mall had thrown up in our living room on Christmas morning.” She added, “I don’t want my children to grow up thinking every Christmas is a jackpot.”[i] 

We talk about this each year, but what do we do? What can we do? Can we create a new pattern with some last minute shopping? 

I invite you to meditate for a few minutes on this text for today: “Thanks be to God for God’s indescribable gift.” What if these words guided your last minute shopping? What does it mean to model God’s witness to us in this season? What might an indescribable Christmas gift look like? 

A GIFT OF YOURSELF 

For one thing, the gift ought to be a gift of yourself. That is precisely what God has done at Christmas. 

In a “Peanuts” comic strip, Charlie Brown cracks open his piggy bank. “Look, Lucy,” he says, “I’ve got $9.11to spend on Christmas.” Lucy is not impressed. “You can’t buy something for everyone with $9.11.” 

Charlie Brown retorts, “Oh yeah? Well, I’m going to try.” Lucy comes back, “Then they are sure going to be cheap presents.” Charlie Brown says, “But Lucy, nothing is cheap if it costs you all you have.” 

At Christmas, God gives all that God has. God gives Himself. 

Let at least one gift this year be a gift of self. I think it was Ralph Waldo Emerson who said, “The only gift is a portion of yourself.” Or James Russell Lowell, who said, “The gift without the giver is bare.” These are not necessarily religious quotations, but they could be. 

In the Newsweek article I cited earlier, a family decided to give only home-made gifts, and began last Thanksgiving (2004). The only money allowed to be spent was for supplies to make something for someone else. 

The writer of the article admitted that it was a daunting task. She was not sure that they were up to it. She said, “It’s hard to come up with something that doesn’t look like a 3^rd grader’s class project.” 

I’m not sure I’m up to that either. It presumes a certain amount of craftiness on my part. But the idea behind it is solid. It’s a gift of self. It is something that has you in it. 

Maybe it’s the gift of time. Competent psychologists tell us that what children really want is time with the significant adults in their lives. Maybe it’s a specific time event. I promise to give you one afternoon or one evening per month. Take extra care to choose something that reflects you. 

Paul says that Jesus emptied himself and took the form of a servant (see Philippians 2). I’m not sure this is easy to explain. It may be the “indescribable” gift. But it’s the message. What would at least one gift in that spirit look like for you? 

GIFT FROM THE HEART 

The text also implies that giving ought to be from the heart. The gift comes from the heart of the giver to the heart of the recipient. Jesus is the gift from the heart of God. Charles Wesley wrote about it in one of my favorite hymns, “Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heaven to earth come down.” In Jesus, God gives me exactly what I need. God gives meaning. God gives hope. God gives direction. God gives me a model for living. Can there be something of that expression in a gift from you at Christmas time? 

Our gift giving is too often much like channel surfing on the television. It is fast-paced, aggressive, skimming the surface. Sometimes it’s even irritating. 

A representative Christmas gift ought to be a gift from the heart. The gift is not something selected from a pre-arranged gift list. It is not something that is the fruit of an intensive catalog search. It is not something that comes with a pre-printed exchange voucher. I saw a cartoon a few years ago of a woman who was opening a gift on Christmas morning and exclaimed, “Wow! This is the perfect gift to exchange for exactly what I wanted.” That’s not quite the divine idea. And the gift is not simply a gift from a well-orchestrated advertising blitz. Rather it is a gift from your heart to the heart of another. 

For many years we have had an Alternative Giving Mart here at Christ Church. This year was one of the best ever. Over $8000 was raised. This year Elaine came up with an idea from the Alternative Giving Mart. We purchased three little pigs. The story of the Three Little Pigs has been a favorite of mine for many years. I’ve told it to all of our children and to our grandchildren. We actually have fourteen versions of the book in a small children’s library in our home. It’s a story to tell and re-tell. So three little cut-out paper pigs were put in envelopes with cards and divided among the 7 grandchildren. Hopefully they will be received as a gift from the heart to the heart. 

GIFT FOR BECOMING 

The text also implies that last minute shopping should include gifts for becoming. God sent Jesus so that we might become what God desires. I had a book in my library many years ago entitled The Becomers. It was published in 1973 by Keith Miller. I no longer have the book, but I think it’s still a powerful title. A real Christmas gift is a gift for becoming. 

Someone sent me a story this week about a husband who forgot their anniversary. His wife angrily told him, “Tomorrow there had better be something in our driveway that goes from 0 to 120 in 2 seconds flat.” The next day she saw a small package sitting in the driveway. She brought it in and opened the package. Inside was a brand-new bathroom scale. (Arrangements for the husband’s funeral are still pending.) 

What is your spouse or your child or your parent or your close friend becoming? What spiritual gifts are emerging in him or in her? What is the most positive growing edge of that person’s life? What strength of character is emerging? What is a gift for becoming? Someone wrote recently, “Probably the reason we all go haywire at Christmas time… is that we don’t know how to put our love into words.” 

Several years ago I came across a letter dating from the 16^th century. It was a Christmas letter written by a woodworker craftsman to a friend. Here is what he said.

I salute you, my friend, and my love for you goes deep. There is nothing I can give you which you have not got; but there is much, very much, that while I cannot give it, you can take.

No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take Heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in the present little instance. Take Peace. The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach is joy. Take Joy!

And so, at this Christmas time, I greet you. Not quite as the world sends greetings, but with profound esteem and with the prayer that for you, now and forever, the day breaks and the shadows flee away. 

I like that letter because it implies becoming. 

There’s a wonderful scene in the original version of the movie  “Home Alone.” I almost decided to show you the scene this morning on the screen. Young Kevin is left behind accidentally by his parents when they leave on a Christmas trip. While he is fending for himself he wanders into a church where a children’s choir is practicing. He sits for a while and listens. He looks across the aisle and sees an old man who happens to be his neighbor. There are stories about the old man. The stories say he is mean and that he dislikes children. Kevin isn’t so sure. Eventually they sit beside each other in the church, listening to the music.  

They strike up a conversation. Kevin learns the man is in church to hear his granddaughter sing. He is not able to hear the actual performance. “Why not?” asks Kevin. “Because my son and I have not spoken for many years,” he replies. “I won’t see him or his wife or my granddaughter on Christmas Day.” 

“Why don’t you call him?” asks Kevin. “Oh, I couldn’t do that,” came the reply. “He might not speak to me.” 

“I think you ought to try. You never know unless you try,” Kevin replies. Thoughtfully the man responds, “Maybe you’re right. I’ll think about it.” 

One of the closing scenes in the movie shows Kevin at a window in his home. He is looking out the window as he watches the old man greet his son and daughter and granddaughter. He greets them on the front walk and walks toward the door, welcoming them back into his home. 

Kevin had given him the gift of becoming. He became again the father and the grandfather he was meant to be. 

Last minute shopping! Why bother with all of this? Can we really change things? Maybe we can change our own hearts, and we can gain some inner peace. 

A.J. Muste was a devout Christian Quaker and a social activist. He wrote and lived themes of peace, non-violence, reverence for life and social justice. He died when I was still a very young man. 

Someone asked him one time why he labored for lost causes. The reporter said, “Your work didn’t make any world impact at all.” Muste replied, “I don’t do these things to change the world. I do these things to keep the world from changing me.” 

I offer you a new kind of last minute Christmas shopping. Try some of that shopping this week. Begin by taking a bit of devotional time. Pray over it. Let the Spirit work in your imagination. Pray over a particular person where selection is especially difficult. I believe God will answer that prayer. I believe direction will come. And you will have a distinct peace and joy in the process. Maybe you will even have an “indescribable” peace and joy. 

Give a gift of yourself. Give a gift that goes from heart to heart. Give a gift toward becoming. That’s one part of Christmas we can rediscover and enjoy.