I am a present shaker. I weigh, poke, and shake a gift before I tear the paper. For years I claimed that part of the fun of opening presents is guessing what’s inside--but truthfully, I don’t like surprises. When I was ten, my parents surprised me. The biggest box under the Christmas tree had my name on it. I had to stand up to tackle the unwrapping. The box was stuffed with weeks’ worth of crumpled newspapers and there, at the bottom, was a smaller box the size of an alarm clock radio. In fact, it was an alarm clock radio. I was surprised--and rather disappointed. My parents were pleased to have outsmarted me, but I just felt tricked. I am the shepherd in the Christmas story who, after the glorious promise made by the caroling angels, arrived in Bethlehem and thought, “That’s it?” A baby born in a manger was not what the Jewish people were expecting. They were surprised--and we know from the account of his betrayal and death that many felt tricked, deceived by the promise of a Saviour who did not deliver them.
We know what’s waiting for us on Christmas morn. All the same, Advent is our chance to shake the present. Advent is a time to retell the Christmas story, to weigh it, to turn it over and over, to look at it from different angles: in other words, to try to understand something about it that we didn’t understand before. And maybe this Advent we will shake the present, that is, shake up our humdrum, day-to-day expectations of who God is and what He can do. Maybe this year God will surprise us.
- Rebecca G.
No comments:
Post a Comment