In the classic Christmas story, A Christmas Carol, Scrooge wakes up the morning of Christmas, disoriented and uncertain. He is emerging from a dream and his journey into Christmas past, present, and future. He swings open the windows of his bedroom, trying to determine what day it is. He asks someone on the street, and when the person proclaims it is Christmas Day, Scrooge exclaims, “I haven’t missed it!”
It is the question we might find ourselves asking throughout the Advent and Christmas season, “Have we missed it?” We celebrate the birth of Jesus every year. We look forward to it, and we plan on it. But the arrival of the Light of the World and the presence of God can feel elusive. We go looking for it, wondering if we have seen it.
This is not a new phenomenon! We share this experience with those who have come before us. John Jeffers begins his sermon from December 15, 1985 by saying, “The meaning of Christmas is subject to being diminished by the peril of the familiar.” If we are not careful, we will miss the meaning of Christmas because it is so familiar. We might miss the coming of God’s hope, peace, joy, and love because they come to us in ways that do not always stand out.
We find them in the ordinary. We experience them in familiar ways such as friendship, forgiveness, kindness, hospitality, and encouragement. We underestimate the power of these gifts! We might not see the presence of Christ in them at first. They seem too small and too fragile to convey God’s love, but perhaps, so did an infant in a manger.
We celebrate the small familiar gifts of hope, peace, joy, and love. We keep our eyes open for them, so we do not miss them. When we see them, we give thanks for them! We give thanks for the gifts of Advent and Christmas as familiar as they can be.
-Tripp