Here’s my prescription for moving through the holiday season with a smile on your face and warmth in your heart. It’s one that I fill each holiday season by going into my own archives (inside and out) and sharing what still and always rings true.
Every year around this time I remember, with great fondness, a Christmas eve church service I attended in the East Village in New York City with my one and only sister Louise. It was snowing and everyone who entered the warm sanctuary left a puddle beneath them as they thawed, unwound scarves, stowed mittens and settled into a pew. The church was packed with a diverse, colorful and expectant crowd.
We sang carols and listened to the magic of the Christmas story: the angels speaking, the shepherds harking and the wise men traveling to bring gifts to this child who would save the world.
Then came the sermon – not usually my favorite part of the service – but I have to tell you, I was blown away. The fact that I continue to share this story all these ears later is because this particular sermon went right through me and straight to my heart where it has lived ever since. All it takes is for me to hear a Salvation Army bell in front of Cost-U-Less, inhale the piney scent of the wreath on a friend’s door or see the bottles of guavaberry wine for sale along the road – for the memory to click in and do it’s thing.
The message was simple and to the point: Christmas is about a baby – a soft, sweet smelling, helpless newborn – innocent, full of possibility and hope, vulnerable, soft, dewy. That’s what we are celebrating.
It’s not about shopping and wracking up debt and eating and drinking too much – though we sure do manage to do plenty of that. It’s not about whether you have the perfect family or cook the perfect meal. It’s not about how many or how few parties you were invited to or how big your tree or how many presents you give or get. It’s about a baby and not just about this special baby named Jesus. It’s a celebration of babyhood – the infants we all were and the baby who lives on in all of us – that part of us that is eternally innocent, hopeful and wide-eyed. It’s about the baby in us that inspires love and needs nurturing. It’s a birth announcement and an invitation to check in with our own neo natal inner selves and ooh and coo and be overwhelmed and warmed by what we experience in our own inner mangers.
I used to sit on the subway in NYC on my way to school and I’d look at the homeless guy sleeping and I’d think – that guy had a mommy – which was just another way of saying (and seeing) that he too was once a baby. The effect of that perception was like a magic wand. He transformed before my very eyes and became more like me. He had a mommy too and he became lovable.
The baby sermon as I’ve come to call it – has the same effect. Seeing everyone as an infant is a great leveler. Tapping into that part of us – full of unfilled promise and possibility – makes you want to just pick yourself up and rock to a lullaby or, more in keeping with the season, a Christmas Carol.
This is what Christmas is about and it’s the sentiment on which I’m building my holiday season. The wise men brought gifts to the child – to honor him with what was important in their worlds – gold, frankensense and myhrr. Gold is still a measure of wealth but Frankensense and myrhh are lesser treasures and today the wise men might have brought ipods or electric blankets or musical mobiles to go over the manger.
Here’s to celebrating – you the baby, the most beautiful baby the world has ever seen. It’s the best way I know to celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus and to ensure that your holiday season is anchored in what it’s really all about – love.
However you celebrate, whatever your traditions – borrow the message of this sermon from long ago and let it light a candle in your heart so that you, in turn, can illuminate the world.
About a Baby
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