A Christmas wish for everyone

As I sat down to write this Christmas article, our city was wrapped in the snow globe of our first seasonal snowstorm.

My puppy Skunk – a rescue from our local Funds for Furry Friends – had just come in from diving through mini-snowdrifts. A neighbour’s young grandchild had been “helping” shovel the sidewalk. The very air was filled with snowflakes and the world looked fresh and clean and filled with winter possibility.

As I took time to make a strong cup of coffee with a healthy swig of eggnog, I also took some time to ponder the beauty and joy that seems inherent to this time of year. Christmas is coming and with it comes hope, joy, love, and the potential that is wrapped in every Christmas gift under our trees.

When I was growing up in southwestern Ontario in the 70’s and 80’s we always put up our Christmas tree on the 12th of December. Not long after that my sisters and I would get up each morning to see if any presents had yet been placed beneath the tree. The excitement over those first few was palpable. We would sneak into the living room and give them a shake, only to be scolded by our mom that we had to wait for Christmas Day!

The laughter in her voice only egged us on and we would sit at the table eating breakfast having serious conversations about what those presents might really be. Too small for a bike. Too early for a puppy because a puppy wouldn’t be able to breathe. Too soft to be a boardgame. Maybe it was socks … the anticipation was killing us, but in a good way.

Everyday brought the same ritual only to get more exciting when some of the presents were wrapped by us and we were ‘in the know.’ Sisters and parents trying to guess what was wrapped in shiny paper and poorly shaped bows. They were always wrong and we would giggle with every incorrect guess. Wouldn’t they be surprised come Christmas morning when they unwrapped what their gifts really were?

Looking back, it is hard to tell what was more exciting: the anticipation of unwrapping our own mysterious gifts or the expected joy of seeing the amazement on the faces of those who opened the gifts we had given. It truly was a win-win scenario.

Over the years the gifts have changed, the people gathered around the Christmas tree have grown up and moved away and have their own family Christmas traditions to share. My own role as a leader in the Church with Christmas Eve and Day services and gatherings to attend with other peoples’ families has led me to create different traditions with my husband and Skunk, but two things have never changed. I still adore the anticipation of what those Christmas gifts might hold, and I am still struck with awe as I watch the faces of those I care for open Christmas gifts of all kinds and they revel in the joy and love that those gifts share.

The true joy of Christmas really isn’t about the actual gifts purchased, wrapped, and given. The beauty of this season isn’t even about family gatherings and too much good food. It is really all about that very fist Christmas gift when God in heaven presented to us the greatest present of them all – Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God With Us, Saviour of the World.

On a dark December night, in a humble place made special not by riches and decorations but simply by Love Incarnate, God came to this world and offered that beautiful gift of Love, Hope, Peace, and Joy that was wrapped in swaddling cloths and simply placed in his mother’s arms.

That first Christmas gift was too small to be a bike. It was too soft to be a boardgame. It certainly wasn’t socks. And while certainly not a puppy, it came just in time to be able to breathe in its first breath and cry out its first sounds. The baby born in that stable, named by an angel before he was even born, was a greater gift than any child could ever have imagined.

Jesus was God’s own gift to the world and in this gift we were all given the potential for love, hope, peace, and joy. We have all been given the opportunity to ponder the wonder and possibility that has been given to us, entrusted to us, in this Christmas season.

While not all who read this article will be believers in Jesus Christ, I do believe that for each and every one of us who still has the wonderment of a child within, especially in this season, regardless of our religious beliefs, we can all agree that the greatest gift our world could use right now is that which brings us all love, hope, peace, and joy.

And so, my Christmas wish for all of you – whoever you are and whatever you may believe in – is that this season and the year to come will bring you an abundance of Love, Hope, Peace, and Joy!

» Bishop Rachael Parker, Anglican Diocese of Brandon