From the Pastor’s Heart

Christmas is such a special time. It is a nostalgic time. We remember the Christmases that now belong to our personal history. It is also a time of receiving as much as it is a time of giving.

I remember the Christmas of 1980 when our middle daughter Amy was 19 months old. We sat together on the couch, in our little house in Hillsville, with the Penney’s catalog in our laps. She opened the book and pointed out each and every present Nancy had ordered for my Christmas presents.

The questions we often ask during this time of year are; what do you want for Christmas? What do you hope to receive this Christmas? What do you plan on giving?

I recently read a story that addresses both giving and receiving. “Brian Abel Ragan’s father used to tell him a story every Christmas when he was growing up. It was about a little boy who was very poor. His widowed mother struggled to make ends meet. The little boy had only one toy—a sad little car in awful condition. It had only one window and two wheels. The roof was smashed in. But the boy loved that car.

It was almost Christmas and the boy knew there would be no presents. But he was excited anyway. It was the first year he would be allowed to go to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve; he couldn’t wait. He knew that, before mass began, people brought gifts to the Christ child. He had been told the gifts were magnificent jeweled chalices for the altar, new clothes for poor children like himself, and envelopes full of money.

The little boy wanted very much to give the Christ child a present. And so he set out to earn enough money before Christmas to do just that. On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, he sat at the kitchen table counting out what he had earned. He had enough money to buy a fine present for the Christ child. But before he could put the money back in his pocket, his mother returned home. “Oh, son,” she said, “What a good boy you are! Now we can have a real Christmas dinner!” And she scooped up the money and hurried off to get to the market before it closed. The little boy was heartbroken. What was he going to do now? You’ve already guessed, haven’t you? On his dresser he saw his broken toy car. He knew it was the only thing he had to give the Christ child, so he put the car in his pocket and later that evening set off for mass.

When he arrived the church was filling up. He walked timidly to the manger scene that was set up before one of the side altars. Magnificent gifts were already piled up before the Christ child. The little boy laid his broken toy car amid all the treasures. He squeezed into a pew close by just as the organ began playing the prelude.

About this time one of the ushers took a last look at the manger scene to see if everything was in place. Suddenly he spied the car. “Who would leave a piece of trash like this at our Lord’s crib?” he said loudly enough for the boy to hear. The usher picked up the toy car and threw it across the church. The little boy was crushed. There was no time for him to retrieve his gift. The organ was playing and the procession had begun.

Then suddenly, everything came to a dead stop. To the amazement of everyone present, the baby in the manger came to life and crawled across the stone floor. He crawled until he reached the broken car. Then carefully he tucked it under his arm and crawled back to the manger. By this time all the people had fallen to their knees. At this point the priest rose and approached the manger. There, just as before, was a plaster child with a halo, but now he smiled and his arms were folded tight around a broken toy car.

Brian Abel Ragan remembers hearing his father tell this story and he resented it. He didn’t like his father. His father had problems with alcohol. The song “Please Daddy (Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas)” could have been written for him. When his father wasn’t passed out drunk, he was a foul-mouthed terror. Regan had a difficult time forgiving his father. He felt his father was trying to use this story to manipulate him into being a more obedient son.

With time, however, Regan came to put this little Christmas story into perspective. “As I think of my father’s Christmas story now,” says the grown-up Regan, I realize that I cast him in the wrong role. My father was not the good little boy who gave his last plaything to the Lord. My father was the smashed…car….He was a wreck. But despite or because of all this, he clearly longed to be cradled in his Savior’s arms, to have Christ still seek him after he had been rejected by everyone else.”
Here’s why we call the story of Jesus “Good News.” God cares about a broken world. God cares about broken people. That’s what Advent and Christmas are all about.

Come and sit with me on the couch, or better yet, come and worship with me and I will tell you what you are receiving this Christmas. You are receiving the gift of God’s love and salvation, God’s hope, peace and joy in the way of the Christ Child. You are receiving the present of his presence. No matter where we have been or what we have done God longs to cradle us in his loving arms. I pray you will open your arms, heart and soul to receive the gifts of Christmas.

What you give God in return is between you and God.

Christmas Blessings,
Pastor Russel