“Keeping Christmas”
A sermon by Sid Burgess for Edgewood Presbyterian Church,
Birmingham, AL
Third Sunday of Advent, December 14, 2008
Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Novelist John Grisham is best known for courtroom dramas and legal thrillers. Grisham has wryly observed that his books have made him famous in a country where people do not read. In 2002 Grisham set aside his crime dramas to write a delightful comedy novella entitled SKIPPING CHRISTMAS. Since most Americans don’t read, the book has been made into a sound recording--a book on tape--CD, actually-- and then into a movie, “Christmas with the Kranks,” both available through your local public library.
The storyline is this. The aptly-named Luther Krank and his less cranky wife, Nora, hatch a plan to skip Christmas. Krank, an accountant, has run the numbers. He figures that for what they spend on Christmas--the decorations, the gifts, the parties, the contributions. . . . For what they normally spend on Christmas, the couple can take a 10-day Caribbean cruise. The Krank’s daughter, Blair, their only child, has recently left the nest to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer in Peru. So this is the year to forego all of the trappings of Christmas and set sail for the sunny Caribbean on December 25th.
The couple begins to notify friends, coworkers, neighbors and family members that they are opting out of Christmas this year--no tree, no decorations, no parties, no cards, no presents, no contributions to local charity. And, no, the Kranks will not be attending the Church’s Christmas Eve service.
It is a tempting idea, don’t you think? Imagine all of the time, energy, and money you could save, not to mention the stress of making decisions--what to buy, who to invite, what to cook, when to come, where to go. Imagine the freedom of declaring a moratorium on the whole Christmas celebration.
But I suspect a good number of you are fairly well along in your Christmas preparations, the Church’s emphasis on the season of Advent notwithstanding. So perhaps it will serve us well to examine our scripture texts today for some ideas on how to make our Christmas celebrations more faithful--not skipping Christmas but keeping Christmas.
I would like for us to focus on the brief text from 1st Thessalonians. First a bit of background. This letter from St. Paul is the oldest document to survive the early Christian era. Paul is writing to a group of Christians who apparently don’t know anything about Mary and Joseph and the baby. Nothing about Bethlehem and the manger. They are not waiting for Christmas. These earliest Christian have been waiting for two long decades for what they believed to be the imminent return of the Risen Christ. We do not know what specific questions St. Paul may be answering, but knowing human nature as we do, we can assume the members of First Church Thessalonica want to know: ‘Where is Jesus?’ To his credit, Paul does not try to answer the unknowable. Instead, he issues three specific calls to action-- directives I think can help us observe a more faithful Christmas. First, St. Paul issues a call to lively worship. Second, a challenge to live a life of discernment. And third, live a life of holiness.
Regarding worship, here are the great apostle’s guidelines: 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks (to God) in all circumstances. Here, in a time of national peril, the nation on the brink of what could become a second great depression . . . . this is our Christian duty: rejoice, pray, and give thanks to God. Rejoice in the confidence that God’s steadfast love never ceases. Markets may fall and keep falling, but says Isaiah, Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations (61.11b)
Rejoice, pray, give thanks. Let these elements guide our worship and we shall have no difficulty in ‘keeping Christmas.’ Second, St. Paul issues a call for discernment. Among the characteristics that set Christians apart is the directive to be a discerning people-- a thinking, questioning, reflecting people. “Test everything,” Paul says, even the prophets. This to say, you have divine authority to question scripture itself. What’s more, you have divine authority to question the prevailing wisdom of our time. To challenge the assumption that more is better, that biggest is best. That personal freedom trumps corporate responsibility. That national security takes precedence over divine standards of justice, fairness, and mercy. Rather than getting caught up in hustle and bustle of commercial Christmas let this be for you and for this Church a sacred season of discernment.
First, a Christmas focus on worship. Second, a Christmas observance that seeks to discern the will of God--for us, for the Church, and for our nation. Third, St. Paul urges us to live a life of holiness: hold fast to what is good, and abstain from every form of evil. Imagine, a holy Christmas versus a going-in-the-hole Christmas. Imagine, holding fast to the good versus rushing on to the next event, racing to meet the next expectation. “God is good,” so that holding fast to all that is good, and wholesome, and healthy; all that is fair, and honest, and loving, is holding on to God. Imagine the joy of celebrating a Holy Christmas--a Christmas that would not require the expenditure of anything save your devotion to God the Father and the Son.
Well, enough preaching, let’s get back to John Grisham’s story of Luther and Nora Krank, the couple who have decided to skip Christmas. While shoppers crowd the mall to purchase gifts, Luther is squeezing in one final visit to the tanning parlor--can’t be the big white tuna on the love boat. While everywhere else is eating Christmas cookies, Nora is picking at nuts and berries so as to fit into her new bathing suit. Meanwhile, back home, pressure is building in the neighborhood for the Kranks to string the obligatory lights, and mount the regulation roof-top display so that the street can once again compete for the town’s ‘best decorated’ award. But the Kranks are hanging tough late on Christmas Eve Day. Success is within their sights. In just a few short hours they will have succeeded in skipping Christmas--the whole Christmas rush--and they’ll be sailing the calm, clear waters of the Caribbean. As nightfall approaches snow begins to fall. Looks like it’s going to be a “white Christmas.” Not worry: the Kranks have their bags packed and their tickets are ready for the fast break on Christmas Day.
And then the phone rings. It’s the Krank’s daughter, Blair, the peace corps volunteer working in Peru. Except she is not in Peru. Blair is calling from the Miami airport, where she has just landed with her Peruvian fiancé in tow. An excited Blair is eager for her beloved to experience his very first American Christmas!
“Oh, Mom, I do so want him to see the house all decorated, with Frosty the Snowman on the roof, and snow on the ground; the dinning room table set for a feast; and, the whole neighborhood there for the party--just like always.”
You can guess what these two parents do. They set off in a mad dash to make it all happen. But its too late. Too late to get it all done. The only tree left at the Boy Scout tree lot has shed all of its needles. None of the traditional food is left at the grocery store. The traffic at the mall has creating a road block to the stores. The Kranks are not going to be able to pull it off until . . . .
Until, in the true spirit of Christmas those offended friends and neighbors come to the rescue, coming together--pooling their resources--to provide for the cranky Kranks the best Christmas ever. Old tight-fisted Luther seals the celebration himself by giving the couple’s cruise tickets to a neighbor fighting a losing battle against cancer. In short order, the Kranks have gone from skipping Christmas to keeping Christmas. It is a transformation only the God of love and peace could effect.
23 May the God of peace . . .sanctify you entirely;
and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.