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"Putting Yourself Into the Story"
“It’s a wonderful story. Mary, Joseph, the babe. The shepherds, the angels, the wise travelers from the Eastern Region.” We know the story. We know each part. What we are left to discover is our place in the story. The part we will choose.
It was a surprise to each of these to find themselves in the story, just as it was a surprise to those I pulled from the congregation this evening to find themselves in the story. But that’s what this evening is about, isn’t it? How do we find ourselves in the story? Two Americans were invited to teach in a large Russian orphanage. About 100 boys and girls who had been abandoned, abused, and left in the care of a government-run program were in the orphanage. As Christmas drew near, the American Missionaries decided to tell the orphans of the first Christmas. The story included Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem. Finding no room in the inn, the couple went to a stable, where the baby Jesus was born and placed in a manger. Throughout the story, the children and orphanage staff sat in amazement as they listened. Some sat on the edges of their stools, trying to grasp every word. Completing the story, each child was given three small pieces of cardboard to make a crude manger, along with a small paper square, cut from yellow napkins the couple had brought with them. No colored paper was available in the city. The children were instructed to tear the paper and carefully laid strips of the napkin in the manger for straw. Small squares of flannel, cut from a worn-out nightgown an American lady was throwing away as she left Russia, were used for the baby's blanket. A doll-like baby was cut from tan felt the missionaries brought from the United States. As the orphans assembled their manger the teachers walked among them to see if any needed help. All went well until one of the teachers looked at little 6 year old Misha’s project. She was startled to see not one, but two babies in the manger. Quickly, a translator was brought over to ask the boy why there were two babies in the manger. Crossing his arms in front of him and looking at his completed manger scene, the child began to repeat the story very seriously. For such a young boy, who had only heard the Christmas story once, he related the happenings accurately--until he came to the part where Mary put the baby Jesus in the manger. Then Misha started to ad lib. He made up his own ending to the story as he said, "And when Mary laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked me if I had a place to stay. I told him I have no mamma and I have no papa, so I don't have any place to stay. Then Jesus told me I could stay with him. But I told him I couldn't, because I didn't have a gift to give him like everybody else did. But I wanted to stay with Jesus so much, so I thought about what I had that maybe I could use for a gift. I thought maybe if I kept him warm, that would be a good gift. So I asked Jesus, `If I keep you warm, will that be a good enough gift?'" And Jesus told me, "If you keep me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me." "So I got into the manger, and then Jesus looked at me and he told me I could stay with him---for always." With that, the little boy’s eyes brimmed full of tears that spilled down his cheeks. His head dropped to the table and his shoulders shook as he sobbed and sobbed. The little orphan had found someone who would never abandon nor abuse him, someone who would stay with him--for always. Misha had found his place in the story. That’s what Christmas eve is all about. Finding our own place in the story. Near the child. Near enough, that the Christ might find his place in our story. Enter in. This night, may we all enter in. In a moment, you will be invited to the table of our Lord. It is right and good to celebrate the birth of Christ by entering into the story of Christ’s gift for us…his very blood and body to save us from sin. |
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