12-15-2024 Sensing the Mystery of Christmas
This was delivered at the Annual Christmas Party
Many of the hymns in our hymnbook are written by Bill and Gloria Gaither who are probably the most famous and successful gospel music writers of our time. Gloria, who is a prolific writer in her own right, mostly writes the lyrics for the songs. I read once that she typically comes up with the words and then gives them to her husband Bill to put them to music. Recently, I read something she wrote about sensing the mystery of Christmas and I thought today would be a good time to share it with you.
Gloria wrote that she thinks of our minds as the center of a city where five major highways flow through it. Those highways are sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. These thoroughfares allow us to experience life in all its complexity. It is through these senses that we learn, gain insights, and internalize all that is true and helpful for life.
She went on to say that if ever there was a truth that needed to be internalized in every way, it’s the amazing story of a God who spoke all things into existence and continues to sustain creation with His breath, yet who loved His creation so much that He Himself came as a helpless baby to touch us at our point of need. When we weren't understanding the immensity of His love for His creation, He spoke His love in terms we could comprehend: the sound of a baby's cry on a cold night, the smell of a lowly, animal-filled stable, the rough texture of a feeding trough filled with coarse straw, the brightness of a new star in the dark night sky, and the taste of the Bread of Life to feed the souls of us all.
Since that night more than two thousand years ago that divided time itself into B.C. meaning before, and A.D. meaning that event, those whose lives have been changed by this baby boy have created dozens of symbols and traditions in their efforts to express an event was both human and divine. All the senses have been called into play by the deep longing to share the very personal experiences of a cosmic and eternal change-point. Light, warmth, belonging, satisfaction of deep un-nameable hungers, fresh and eternal life, spiritual pilgrimage, the divine gifts, the return of the Song of Life...all these need the ladder of symbolism to even begin to approach and express the depths of Redeeming Love that was shown to us that night!
We all have a rich heritage of traditions and symbols given by to us by others so that we can experience and communicate to our children the unfathomable love of God—the God who came to walk with us, to touch us where we are broken, to feed us the true water and food of the Spirit, and to be His love made visible.
As we celebrate Christmas, let's use all the senses—every avenue we have—to embrace this amazing Story. And as we do, let's also remember to always tell and retell the reason for every tradition, giving thanks for the reality we celebrate! Let's promise each other that every highway to the soul will never become a bypass.
Gloria wrote that we need to allow ourselves to Smell Christmas because if all she could remember of Christmas were just the smells of the season, she would consider herself rich because of those memories. She speaks of the real cedar tree her grandfather cut in the Michigan woods and brought with fragrance into the old farmhouse, the smell of cranberries simmering on the stove, Grandma’s bread baking in the oven, popcorn popping to string for the tree, and spicy pumpkin pies cooling on the kitchen counter. There was fragrance of clean sheets and blankets from the cedar closets pulled tight up around her neck as she was tucked into bed to wait for faraway Christmas morning. There was her daddy’s Old Spice and her mother’s Max Factor powder as they held her on their laps to read the sweet story of the birth of Jesus from Luke 2. And there was the warming smell of hickory logs burning in the pot-bellied stove that heated the seldom used “front room” through the special days of celebration.
She goes on to write about the Sounds of Christmas because music defines Christmas–not just the music of Christmas carols filling the house and the age-old story set to a hundred different tunes, but also the music and rhythms of life that include the giggles and whispers of children keeping secrets, the sound of bells coming from the Salvation Army bell ringers in front of the grocery store, the crinkling sound of paper being folded around surprise packages, the sound of carolers outside in the crisp winter night, the music of the traffic in the streets rushing home with gifts, the sound of the logs crackling in her kitchen fireplace, and the sound of hot bubbling chili simmering on the stove.
It is this harmonious song of Life that keeps us humming along as we prepare for the coming of Christmas day. This is one time when everything stops down for a magical moment to sing and retell the “Greatest Story Ever Told.” The Giver of the Music, after all, started the whole world singing this song at first with an angel chorus, and the Song will never be satisfied until all creation sings it at the greatest Homecoming this world—and the whole Cosmos—has ever known.
So, we all need to cherish every part of the Christmas season. Recall your memories and traditions of the past as you continue to create new memories and traditions with each Christmas season that you experience. And as you do this, never forget why we celebrate this child who left Heaven so that He could save us from our sins and live for eternity in Heaven with the God that created each one of us.
Merry Christmas everyone!