based on Luke 1:26-56
Advent 3 - December 14, 2008



We were out in the car, running a few errands.
My son, Aaron, and I.
He was five years old.

It was just before Christmas.
And rather abruptly,
Aaron commented on the weather.
Noting the lack of snow.
Wondering aloud how Santa
could land a sleigh . . . on a rooftop
if it wasn't covered with snow.

Now, I have never been given
to "speaking with forked tongue,"
so my mind went into high gear,
and I began to "hum and haw,"
whereupon Aaron continued his musing . . .
much to my relief . . .
by saying, "Well, don't you know?
. . . It's the magic!"
And I thought, "What a word that is! . . .
Magic."
It describes things that happen
that we cannot explain,
while at the same time
while we are very much aware
that there is, for sure, an explanation.
But the explanation may just be beyond us.

And if we have the faith of a child . . .
what Jesus encouraged his followers to have . .
then we don't have to have the explanation.
Knowing that it's magic . . .
is explanation enough.

How is it that David,
a shepherd boy in Palestine,
wandering the rocky hills of his homeland,
explained being suddenly transported
from a pasture to a palace.

We might first explain it as politics.
He must have known the right people.
Pulled the right strings.
But, No. Not so.
The prophet Samuel came looking . . .
"for the person God would choose . . ."
A son of Jesse . . .
And he found the least likely
of the sons of Jesse . . .
the youngest . . . the one out in the fields . . .
the shepherd . . .tending the sheep.
And Samuel anointed David,
in front of his older brothers . . . to be successor
to the existing king of the nation.

David . . . transported
from pasture to palace
as if by magic.
But in truth . . .
by the awesome action
of the Spirit of God.

How is it that Joseph,
a carpenter in Nazareth,
accompanied by his betrothed,
travelling to Bethlehem
explained being catapulted
from obscurity
to world-wide renown?

Had he decided that one day
that he would father the Messiah?
That he would accept his promised bride
already heavy with child
a situation itself beyond his ken
that he would take her off to a stable . . .
for her to give birth? . . . No. Not so.

The world unfolded around him
as it does for us all . . .
without much apparent reference
to his personal preferences, or choices.
And this man who loved his Mary
despite her unexplainable predicament,
did what he could for her . . .
made a place in the hay for her . . .
and the Adam of the New Creation of God
was born.

Joseph transported from a carpentry shop
to the annals of eternity,
as if . . . "by magic."
But in truth . . .
by the awesome action
of the Spirit of God.
And it happens today, as well.
Let that not be forgotten.
It happens today as well.
And there is no telling
what or who might be next.
What or who might be next
caught up . . . in the magic of God.

Montgomery Ward
was a department store chain
that at its height
was one of the largest retailers in the world.

And Robert Lewis May
was a copywriter for the company catalogues.
In 1939,
he was approached by his supervisor,
who told him
that that year the store was not going to buy
someone else's story
for their special Christmas booklet.
They were going to produce their own . . .
And he, Robert May, copywriter,
was the one
who had been assigned . . . to write it.

It wasn't something Robert May wanted to do.
It wasn't something he was even inclined to do.
Not even halfway.
He was a copywriter. . . not a story teller.
He wrote words for advertising.
And also . . .
he was living through a very heart-heavy time.
His wife was dying.

Her passing on was imminent.
And he had one child at home.
He was facing a great deal of uncertainty.
And the last thing in the world he wanted to do
was take on a project
of writing a Christmas story.

But we all know . . .
that just like the old Candid Camera slogan,
"when you least expect it,"
God steps up and calls you by name.

Robert May. Copywriter.
Found himself preoccupied all the more
with worry . . . pacing back and forth
across his little cubicle of an office . . .
Attempting to come up with an idea.
Eventually he prepared a draft.
Submitted it.
And it was rejected in a flash.
"Too childish!" was the comment.

So, he tried again . . . Consulted a friend.
Redid the story,
Ran it by his own child . . . and his dying wife.
And his wife liked it.
And his child responded with sparkling eyes.

And thus, out of of this man's responsibility,
and his personal sense
of unworthiness, inability and impending grief,
was born the Christmas character of Rudolph,
the reindeer with the nose so bright . . .
The story received so well
that music writers came to him
seeking to publish the story as a song.

Written by a man with a heavy heart,
pouring his own pain onto paper.
Robert May . . .
experienced some of the magic of God.

It happened for me.
On my first student charge.
Far away . . . in Saskatchewan . . . 43 years ago.
Dealing with the realization
that my four years of studies in physics
were seemingly wasted.

I was lonely out there. Depressed.
My first extended time away from home.
Out of touch with all my friends.
No email in those days.
I didn't even have a phone.
And with seven dollars a week to live on,
not likely to pay for a phone call.
And the people
in the two little country churches
I'd been sent to serve for the summer?
. . . as a test of my calling . . .?
the people there. . . to my dismay . . .
were completely indifferent to my presence.
There was virtually no one in church.

So I started by wanting to run.
But a letter from my own pastor
served to encourage me.
"Preach to them about the love of God,"
he counselled, "and be bold for the Lord!"
So I prepared a sermon on the love of God.
Awakening, in its preparation,
to the realization
that God's love is not dependent
on the response of the people.
And neither should be my ministry.
God's love comes first.
Anything people do can only be response.
Nobody earns God's love.

And that Sunday morning
I did what I never do.
I slept in. Missed my alarm clock.
Raced to the church at the last minute . . .
to find it so full of people
that I could hardly get in.
And I knew they were not there because of me!

So I was transported that day
from a valley to a mountaintop . . .
as if by magic,
but in truth by the utterly amazing power
of the Spirit of God.

We each have our story.
And within each story
there are things that have happened
that none of us can explain.

But if we have even the faith of a child . . .
what Jesus encouraged his followers to have . .
then we don't have to have the explanation.
Knowing that it's the magic . . .
is explanation enough.
It's enough to know
that God is able to make happen
whatever God wants.
And it's enough to know
that whatever God wants, whatever God does
arises from deep eternal love.

So, this Christmas,
it is good for us Christians
to open ourselves anew
to God's Presence in our midst.
To relax and to let God have full sway.
To get ourselves
and our sense of our personal requirements,
out of the way.

Because all of our hopes
and all of our dreams
have no particular future
apart from the will and intention of God.

But the Spirit of God is with us,
within us, around us . . .
present always . . .
never far from us . . .

And Christmastime
is a special reminder of that.
A reminder as to what
is at the root of our greatest joy in life.

"Don't you know?
. . . It's the magic!"