Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”
(Hebrews 13.5 NRSV)
A disappointed first grader trudged up the front path. "I'm to be one of the children at the manger in the Christmas play," she announced glumly. "That's wonderful! Why so sad?" asked her mother. "I wanted to be an angel. They're the ones that sing the song of rejoicing." Then she added, "I can't rejoice unless I'm an angel." That little girl was suffering from a common misconceptionthat only angels rejoice. If so, it is only because the nonangelic do not know the good news. The coming of the Christ child is for those who know they haven't been all they ought to have beenwho have sincere regrets over time misspent, values misplaced, actions misguided. He cares about us, too.

Now, that doesn't mean we can excuse our sinful behavior. In the cartoon MARVIN, the infant Marvin is writing a letter to Santa Claus. "And Santa," he writes, "Although I may not always be perfect, I think you would have to find me innocent of any wrong doing by virtue of the fact that I'm just a little baby.”

"Unless, of course," he adds, "you are of the theological persuasion that believes in original sin."

Well, Marvin, most of us believe in original sin. We believe that sin is part and parcel of human nature. But because it is part of our nature does not allow us to evade responsibility for our actions. We do not get off the hook that easily. Still, sometimes we need to be reminded that God is not like Santa. God loves us naughty or nice. He hopes that we will be nice, but he loves us with a love that even sin cannot defeat.

Dear God, thank you for loving me even when I am not very loveable. Amen.

Ron Newhouse

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