It is the Christmas gift of God

I imagine it happened like this: Not many years after Jesus, his apostle, Peter, was speaking to a small gathering of Christians about Jesus’ promise to come again. Afterward, as people were leaving, Peter heard someone sadly comment, “Where is the promise of his coming? The world has been this way forever and it will always be like this” (2 Peter 3).

During the four Sundays before Christmas Day, Christianity celebrates God’s coming into the world in the life of Jesus. It also proclaims that Jesus will come again. We even sing carols about Jesus’ second coming, “For lo, the days are hastening on, By prophet seen of old, When, with the ever-circling years, Shall come the time foretold, When the new heav’n and earth shall own The Prince of Peace their King…” In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is visited by three spirits, the last of which is The Spirit of Christmas Yet To Come. The spirit implies to Scrooge that Scrooge must change himself if he is to change his miserable future. Does this mean that, after all God’s promises, it is up to us— our own frail endeavors, our own faltering steps—to usher in Christmas?

No. It has never been ours to redeem Christmas. Christmas redeems us. If I may add an adjective to Paul’s word to the Ephesians (2:8): “For by grace you have been saved through faith... it is the Christmas gift of God.”

A number of years ago, a father had taken his little daughter out on Lake Michigan for a sail on the family’s new catamaran. It began as a beautiful day, but while they were still more than a mile out on the lake, a storm swept down from Canada and sun-capped wavelets became dark, whitecapped, crashing crests. In the midst of the storm, the gale snapped the mast and the boat capsized. They were too far from shore for the small girl to swim. The father required all of his strength to attempt a swim to bring back assistance. He told his young daughter he was going to swim to shore and find people to help, then made double sure her life jacket was on correct and tight.

“Remember how I taught you how to f loat in the water? You float here by the boat till I return. I promise I’ll be back.”

It seemed forever till he reached the shore. No one was at the marina. The father ran two miles to Great Lakes Naval Station. Rescue vessels were immediately launched. After circling and searching the area for hours, hope dwindled aboard the rescue boats. Then through binoculars a sailor spotted the bright red color of a life vest.

When they were close enough to the bobbing body, they engines were cut, and they drifted the last several yards. When they were close enough, in the silence of desperate wishes the crew heard singing: (perhaps you remember the tune from church) “Be not dismayed whate’er betide, God will take care of you…” Safe aboard the rescue vessel, the small survivor was asked, “We heard you singing. Weren’t you afraid?

“Oh, no,” she said, “My father promised he would come back, and my father always keeps his promises.”

The following affirmation was declared at the second convening of the World Council of Churches: “God does not leave any of us to stand alone…We do not know what is coming. But we know who is coming. It is He who meets us every day and who will meet us at the end—Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Therefore, we say to you, rejoice in hope.”