Christmas Is A Time for Love
“And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, “Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.” 16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. 17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. 18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.”
December 24, 2010: Luke 2:15-20, Christmas Is A Time for Love
Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
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Christmas is time for faith, hope, and love. For Christians love is about the mercy, grace, and charity that God has shown in the gift of Jesus Christ. One thing we are reminded of at Christmas is that people can give without loving, but you can’t love without giving. Love is about sharing, serving, and sacrificing. This is what we celebrate at Christmas – that God shared Jesus Christ with us; that he came to serve and not to be served and sacrificed his life that we might know the love and forgiveness of God and receive eternal life.
In Luke 2 we are reminded that the census overwhelmed Bethlehem’s hospitality industry and there was no room at the inn. Mary and Joseph were homeless; none of the relatives they might have had in the area (since they went back to Bethlehem because Joseph was from the line of David) would share their home with them and take them in. Sharing is one way we put love in action in our lives. This week I received the following letter from Chris Austin the Executive Director of the Homeless Prevention Council. She wrote, “Dear Doug, Jill, and Church Family, On behalf of the Homeless Prevention Council, our Board, Staff, and Clients, I would like to express our heart-felt thanks for Brewster Baptist Church’s generous donation of $32,000 from your wonderfully successful and very popular Holiday Fair. Please extend our deep appreciation to the members of the Fair Committee, and the entire Church Family who worked so tirelessly on this project. We know you are aware of the current homeless prevention crisis. We are so grateful for this significant gift of support for the people of the Lower Cape. We feel very fortunate to have your support and partnership in all we do to assist our clients – your neighbors – seeking homeless prevention. Thanks for “our” Christmas Miracle, Chris.”
Christmas is a time for love and love is demonstrated in giving in unselfish ways as God did in giving us Jesus Christ and which I’m glad to say we did with the Holiday Fair to help people so they would not be in the same position as Mary and Joseph the night Jesus was born.
Love is also about serving others. The return address of a card I received was from a convent in Pennsylvania, which sparked my curiosity because I don’t know anyone who lives there. I opened the card which had the words of Isaiah 9:6 on the front, “For unto us a child is born.” Inside it said, “Dear Pastor Doug, I want to share a story with you in hopes that you will share it with the Sawyer Family, if they are still parishioners. The nativity set at our convent needed a new crèche. My sister found me one at a Brewster swap or consignment location. My sister lives in Chatham. Last month she gave me the crèche she had acquired. Firmly secured in the bottom of the crèche is a sign – made for Brewster Baptist Church by Fred Sawyer, 1983.
“If you can, would you share with the Sawyer family, perhaps even Fred, that the crèche has a new home in the Convent of Mercy, in Newtown Square, PA. It is a lovely addition and beautifully made. The “traveling stable” creates a lovely home for our nativity set. As we begin this week of Christmas, may you and your parishioners, like the crèche, be a home for the Christ Child. Fred’s name will remain on the crèche and he and his family will be remembered in prayer each year. Thank you for your kindness in sharing this message. Sincerely, Sister Kathleen Keenan, A Sister of Mercy.”
We are not all called to live lives of full-time Christian service as a nun or a pastor, but we are all called to serve as sisters and brothers of God’s mercy in sharing Christ’s love and making a home for him in our lives. When a child is born love makes a home for that child to live and grow up in. Jesus is born as a baby to remind us that if we are to be a home for him, we are to love him and make room for him in our hearts, minds, and daily lives. Just as a baby needs daily care and love to survive and thrive so does our relationship with Christ.
The shepherds come to worship and adore Jesus and they share the good news they were told about him. Evelyn Underhill wrote, “Adoration, as it more deeply possesses us, inevitably leads on to self-offering. Charity is the live wire along which the power of God, indwelling our finite spirits, can and does act on our souls and other things, rescuing, healing, giving support and light.”
Love is about sharing, serving and sacrificing. I read a nice story about a train called the Liberty Limited. “It started out on a previous Christmas, when Bennett and Vivian Levin were overwhelmed by sadness while listening to radio reports of injured American troops. “We have to let them know we care,” Vivian told Bennett. So they organized a trip to bring soldiers from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda Naval Hospital to the annual Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia. The cool part is they created their own train line to do it. Yes, there are people in this country who actually own real trains. Bennett Levin – native Philly guy, self-made millionaire and irascible former Licensing and Inspections commissioner – is one of them. He has three luxury rail cars. Think mahogany paneling, plush seating and white-linen dining areas. One car, the elegant Pennsylvania, carried John F. Kennedy to the Army-Navy game in 1961 and ’62. Later, it carried his brother Bobby’s body to D. C. for burial. “That’s a lot of history for one car,” says Bennett.
He and Vivian wanted to revive a tradition that endured from 1936 to 1975, during which trains carried Army-Navy spectators from around the country directly to the stadium where the annual game is played. The Levins could think of no better passengers to reinstate the ceremonial ride than the wounded men and women recovering at Walter Reed in D. C. and Bethesda, Maryland . “We wanted to give them a first-class experience,” says Bennett. “Gourmet meals on board, private transportation from the train to the stadium, perfect seats – real hero treatment.” Through the Army War College Foundation, of which he is a trustee, Bennett met with Walter Reed’s commanding general, who loved the idea. Over the next months, Bennett recruited owners of 15 other sumptuous rail cars from around the country into lending their vehicles for the day. The name of their temporary train? The Liberty Limited. Amtrak volunteered to transport the cars to D. C. – where they’d be coupled together for the round-trip ride to Philly – then back to their owners later. Conrail offered to service the Liberty while it was in Philly. And bus drivers would bring the disabled soldiers 200 yards from the train to Lincoln Financial Field, for the game.
A benefactor from the War College donated 100 seats to the game – on the 50-yard line – and lunch in a hospitality suite. Corporate donors filled, for free and without asking for publicity, goodie bags for attendees: From Woolrich, stadium blankets. From Wal-Mart, digital cameras. From Nikon, field glasses. From GEAR, down jackets. These gifts were not just for the soldiers, but for their guests, too, since each was allowed to bring a friend or family member. The Marines, though, declined the offer. “They voted not to take guests with them, so they could take more Marines,” says Levin, choking up at the memory. Bennett’s an emotional guy, so he was worried about how he’d react to meeting the 88 troops and guests at D.C.’s Union Station, where the trip originated. Some GIs were missing limbs. Others were wheelchair-bound or accompanied by medical personnel for the day. “They made it easy to be with them,” he says. “They were all smiles on the ride to Philly. Not an ounce of self-pity from any of them. They’re so full of life and determination.” At the stadium, the troops reveled in the game, recalls Bennett. Not even Army’s lopsided loss to Navy could deflate the group’s rollicking mood. Afterward, it was back to the train and yet another gourmet meal before returning to Walter Reed and Bethesda. “The day was spectacular,” says Levin. “It was all about these kids. It was awesome to be part of it.”
The most poignant moment for the Levins was when 11 Marines hugged them goodbye, then sang them the Marine Hymn on the platform at Union Station. “One of the guys was blind, but he said, ‘I can’t see you, but man, you must be beautiful!’ says Bennett. “I got a lump so big in my throat, I couldn’t even answer him.” It’s been three weeks, but the Levins and their guests are still feeling the day’s love. “My Christmas came early,” says Levin, who is Jewish and who loves the Christmas season. “I can’t describe the feeling in the air.” Maybe it was hope. As one guest wrote in a thank-you note to Bennett and Vivian, “The fond memories generated last Saturday will sustain us all – whatever the future may bring.”
Christmas is a time for Love. Love is about sharing, serving, and sacrificing. Each of us can ask ourselves this Christmas, “How much love is demonstrated in and through my life?” Think about what you can do with your attitude and actions toward those around you. In what small or significant ways can you demonstrate love this Christmas week and in the coming year? John Wesley wrote, “We should always remember that love is the highest gift of God. All our revelations and gifts are little things compared to love. There is nothing higher in religion. If you are looking for anything else, you are looking wide of the mark.” This is what we celebrate at Christmas – that God loves us and shared Jesus Christ who came to serve and not to be served and who sacrificed his life that we might know the love and forgiveness of God and receive eternal life.