Saturday, December 15, 2001
Saturday, December 15, 2001
We boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.
The Hansens had a family practice of allowing everyone to open one gift on Christmas
Eve. They were thoughtful enough to have presents for each of the Campbell children
as well. As young James opened his package, he tried to conceal his lack of
excitement. It was a pair of mittens. He already had two pairs of mittens. It was not the
his best Christmas.
That night, away from his home and parents James had a dream. He dreamed of
mittens. In his dream one of the mittens was missing. The whole dream was spent
desperately searching for that mitten. He dreamed the same dream over and over
again in the next few weeks, and each time he could not find the missing mitten. Now,
many years later, James finds that he is continually drawn to mittens-- "lost mittens,
wadded, trampled, soiled, useless mittens, fallen from pockets to sidewalks." He would
pick up mittens without thinking. Mittens became his hobby.
One day before Christmas he was walking through a church parking lot, and when he
found a mitten lodged in a high, hard packed snow bank. Since he found the mitten in
the church parking lot he thought someone from church might have lost it. He felt that
the mitten ought to go in the lost-and-found box, but all the doors to the church were
locked. Around the front of the church was a life-size plastic nativity scene. James
Campbell trudged through the snow until pausing right in front of the plastic Christ
child. The divine child had his hands extended into the December chill. On sudden
impulse, James placed the mitten on an outstretched plastic hand of the Christ child. It
was absurd, of course, to put a single mitten on a plastic doll, but there was something
very right about this act as well. Christmas is about adoring Jesus.
(Romans 5:2
NRSV)
James Campbell tells about a Christmas that was both painful and memorable. Four
days before Christmas his mother was hospitalized. To make matters worse, his father
was stationed overseas. James and his brothers and sisters were farmed out to the
Hansens--a family in their church. The Hansens were kind enough to take the children
in and share their tree. Christmas Eve came and they were standing around someone
else's tree. It was awkward in spite of the Hansens' generosity. The Campbell children
wanted their own tree, their own presents, their own uninvaded privacy. Concern about
their mother didn't make it easier for them.
Dear God, may this truly be a season of sharing and adoring Jesus. Amen.
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