Second Sunday of Advent, December 4, 2016

                When my Mom was living in her own apartment, it has become obvious that she was a very generous person. She gave small amounts of money to several charities and organizations. I can’t really fault her for her choices. All of them were worthy, not a swindler among them.

                Now how do I know this, you may be thinking?

                When Mom lived briefly here in Peterborough we had all her mail transferred to our home address. And even though she has been living in Kingston now for a few years, we still get some of her mail – especially at this time of year, Christmas. All those charities and organizations have begun to send us their Christmas pleas for donations and help. And that’s how we discovered just how many there were; several to say the least. Hey, it’s her money and I appreciate her generosity.  She has been good to my family when needed, so I don’t begrudge a few bucks helping kids or animals.

                What intrigues me is the number of “gifts” that come with these packages at Christmas –  free pens, free Christmas cards, free Christmas stickers, free reusable bags, etc. Some say that these things come as a thank-you for past donations. But I am sure that these freebies are meant to spur us to give again, because the letter by itself isn’t very effective and easily disregarded.

But it raises an interesting, if small, ethical dilemma. Should I use the Christmas cards, for example, even though I won’t be sending them any money? Also, there is a piece of me that would prefer that these organizations spend the tens of thousands of dollars they must pay out for this Christmas promotional swag on the real causes they support. But I expect this strategy must work, or they wouldn’t keep doing it.

                Then I think that God’s Gift to humanity was free, too.  The Advent of Love and Grace in a wee baby arrived unexpectedly and gave himself to the world and for the world. He came as an unconditional gift because just the letter of the law by itself hadn’t had the desired effect that God had wanted from his people.

So, God personalized his Love with an embodied appeal, hoping to inspire us, once and for all, to act out of love, hospitality, generosity and peace.

We have a choice – we don’t have to respond at all if we don’t want, just like I don’t have to give a cent to the organizations my Mom used to support.

But in and through Jesus Christ God has given us a gift of wholeness and well-being, God’s shalom, and it is utterly free. “But when the fulfillment of the time came, God sent his Son, born through a woman, and born under the Law. This was so he could redeem those under the Law so that we could be adopted.  Because you are sons and daughters, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba, Father’” (Galatians 4: 4-6, Common English Bible)

If you are not a Christian or religious or ever care to be, this might sound like a lot of seasonal mumbo-jumbo and it is all going to end up in some recycle bin which is where I usually put the letters that ask for Mom’s money, yet I hang on to most of the free stuff. It’s too good just to throw away.

So, whether or not the message that Jesus is somehow, someway, the Son of God, rings true to you, the gift of the power of incarnational (therefore embodied, tangible and physical) Love that he will always represent is still yours to keep and use.  

Love is always something that you or I can use!

Dale