He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? Romans 8:32
Some ugly things we give up gleefully. After gift-wrapping and festooning them with ribbons, we take them to the annual Christmas party. Our poker-faced church friends put their pretties under the tree. After dinner and the traditional hymn-sing, the hosts announce the White Elephant Exchange. It starts with grinning and groaning. It unfolds with rivalry and resignation. It ends with someone getting stuck again with the Christmas bells made from cat food cans. Some awful things have nine lives and keep coming back accordingly.
Some ugly things we give up clandestinely. Nicotine, alcohol and drug addictions, along with infidelity and financial fraud, do not make for great social glue in conventional church circles. There is a Tree accessible year-round, but the gift wrap would only befit the One who once hung from it to host the Ultimate Exchange. So we shrink from showing our shockers, covering them instead with the veiled bravado of good intentions and bad excuses. We are fine until some fiend uses the siren song of the electric can opener to make cats come running. Uncannily, the many cat food cans form into bells that toll loudly for the quick return of all the ugly things we had given up quietly. Unless we purposely put out the welcome mat with a wink at sin and a nod to Satan, we need not despair. (Part 1 of 2)
Comment: Those annual White Elephant gift exchanges, ripe with groans and grins, were always hosted in the immaculate home of a perfectionist wife and her less finely-strung husband. The relaxed atmosphere allowed him to yawn lustily, but before it could become too infectious or the frivolity unstoppable, the guests were herded into the TV room to watch a long movie heavy on spiritual content. It got somewhat lost on those growing heavy with cravings for sleep. Some grew defiant, murmured excuses and left. Some endured to the end, drained of most of the spiritualty that would have them eager to get up for church in the morning. Fine, so we are forced to admit that it’s not a museum for saints, but a hospital for sinners. In fact, the cultural trend continues to blame “sickness” for all kinds of sinful behavior. The popular talk show host, skilled in psychobabble, argues that marital infidelity occurs because we humans were not wired for monogamy.. The merry holiday spirit marking the month is actually quite forgiving. Commerce drives it and people overspend with a vengeance. Drinking and driving are common and so are family tensions. Some in-laws face being outlawed and some folks fall apart because they can’t agree on the perfect Christmas tree. While the holiday spirit runs amok, the Holy Spirit is not fazed. He welcomes it when our private ugly things shed the seasonal tinsel and we choose to focus on the Christ of Christmas as foretold in Isaiah 61. He comes to bind up the brokenhearted, to comfort all who mourn, to set captives free, to give the spirit of praise that vanquishes despair. Amazingly, we are sanctified to the point of being called God’s “planting of the oaks of righteousness.” In contrast to that, the flighty holiday spirit is satisfied with a crop of zucchini.
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