"Such A Small Thing"

By Rev. Billy D. Strayhorn

(Luke 1:39-55)

[39] In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, [40] where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. [41] When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit [42] and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. [43] And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? [44] For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. [45] And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord."

[46] And Mary said,

"My soul magnifies the Lord,

[47] and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

[48] for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.

Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

[49] for the Mighty One has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.

[50] His mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation.

[51] He has shown strength with his arm;

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

[52] He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

and lifted up the lowly;

[53] he has filled the hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away empty.

[54] He has helped his servant Israel,

in remembrance of his mercy,

[55] according to the promise he made to our ancestors,

to Abraham and to his descendants forever."

(NRSV)

INTRODUCTION:

Have you ever noticed how true the old saying is: "Good things come in small packages?" It's small things like a compliment, a thank you, a word of encouragement. It's small things like an engagement ring, a wedding band and wedding vows. "Good things DO come in small packages?"

Take for example the little ways that children misunderstand even the simplest Christmas carols. One Christmas, a two-year-old innocently warbled out a very distinctive version of the hymn 'O Come All Ye Faithful,' she sang: "Sing choirs of angels...sing and expect raisins"! (1)

Friday's Family Circus by Bil Keane, showed Billy singing: "Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel ... Barney's the king of Israel." (2)

A concerned little girl approached her father one day and said, "Daddy, I just don't think it's right to ignore Jesus."

Dad, more than a little confused, answered, "Well, I agree. We shouldn't ignore Jesus. But what made you think of that?"

"Well, it's that Christmas song we sing at church. You know, the one that says, 'O come let us ignore Him'."

It really is the small things. And sometimes our children, through their misunderstanding, help us to get back in touch with the small things that really make a difference. Sometimes their small eyes see more than we ever could.

When Andrew Banister was three years old, he stopped Dad right in the middle of reading the Christmas story, asked, "Did Mary & Joseph take all the stickers out of the hay before they put him in the manger?"

When Evan Simmons was four years old Mom and Dad took him to see a live nativity. Evan who had just become a big brother looked things over and then said, "They don't have a changing table? Where did Jesus' Mommy change his diaper."

It is the small things. And sometimes our small things notice.

I. NO ALTAR:

Maybe you've noticed that this morning our Sanctuary no longer looks like a Sanctuary. It doesn't even look like a worship center. There's no altar. No Bible. No candles except the Advent Candles. There's no pulpit or lectern. The choir's been shoved off to the side. Instead, it's all set up for tonight's production. It looks like a living room, a diner and a stable. And yet, while it doesn't look like an altar, it may well be the best altar we've ever had. For it reminds us that worship is not about a place.

Jesus didn't say: "For where two or three are gathered in a building that looks like a cathedral or where two or three are gathered in an Early American Church, I am among them." Read with me Mat 18:20. (p. 20 NT) Jesus said: "For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them."

It's enough that we gather to worship. We don't need a physical altar, it's enough that we have the altar of our hearts. That's what is important. It's such a small thing but it's an important part of our faith. The altar is nice but we don't need it. There's a whole bunch of other things that we can use instead.

II. THE MANGER:

Take the manger and Bethlehem, for example. One young man wrote, "Dear God, was there anything special about Bethlehem or did you just figure that that was as good a place as any to start a franchise? Your friend, Jim age 12." (3)

That's a good question. Scripture says God chose this small community as the birthplace of the Savior. Read with me Micah 5:2. (p. 862 OT) Such a small thing. But a place, now, where it's always Christmas. The birth of Jesus is always being celebrated there as people make pilgrimages from around the world and descend into the grotto of his birth.

And then there was Mary and Joseph. It was such a small thing, this thing that Mary did, wasn't it? Just a small thing. Just a little "Yes!" That's all it took for this world changing, universe changing, creation changing event to take place. Just a little "Yes" from a faith filled but small and frightened girl.

It was such a small thing, this thing that Joseph did, wasn't it? Just a small thing, his little "Yes" to God and that little "Yes" of belief for a ridiculously hard to believe story told by his betrothed Mary. It was just a little "Yes" but it too set this creation changing, life changing birth event into motion.

"Yes" is such a small word, unless God asks for it and God gets a hold of it. And when God gets a hold of it, you can't ever tell what wonderful thing God will do with that little "Yes." God might turn one or two little "Yeses" into the greatest "Yes" that ever walked. The "Yes" who gives meaning to the rest of this stage and to the rest of life.

III. A LIVING ROOM:

You see, without the Mary's "Yes" and Joseph's "Yes" the great "Yes" of Christ wouldn't be. And without the "Yes" of Christ, it wouldn't matter what this room or that room or any Sanctuary looked like. But with the "Yes" of Christ, then any heart can become and altar and any room can become a Sanctuary.

It might be your very own living room as you gather around the Christmas tree on Christmas morning. You can transform your Christmas and your living room into a Sanctuary. How? Simply by taking time, in the midst of the joy of the day, to read one or both of the birth narratives. And then offer a word of prayer, a word of thanks for the coming of the Christ child. It's such a small thing, but a little Scripture and a word of prayer can transform any heart into an altar and any living room into a Sanctuary.

IV. A DINER:

You can transform a diner into a Sanctuary, too. It doesn't matter where people gather. All that matters is that they gather and share the love and the grace of God. Sometimes it might not even be the diner itself but the accouterments, such as a tablecloth.

I just read a story entitled the Gold and Ivory Tablecloth. A true story, it was written in 1954. It seems a young pastor and his wife were assigned to a downtown church. The church had flourished at one time but now had fallen on hard times. But the pastor believed that the Church could flourish again.

This particular year a horrendous storm had come through. The church, in need of repairs, suffered another blow. A large chunk of rain soaked plaster fell out of the wall right behind the altar. It left a huge hole. There were no funds to fix it and no way to hide it.

That afternoon the pastor and his wife went to an auction to benefit the youth. The auctioneer opened a box and pulled out a beautiful gold and ivory lace tablecloth. It was nearly 15 feet long and came from a former era. But the preacher had a wonderful idea and bought the tablecloth for $6.50. He carried it back to the Church and tacked it over the hole behind the altar. It even made the chancel look somewhat festive.

Just before noon on Christmas eve, as the preacher was unlocking the church, he noticed a woman standing at the bus stop. It was freezing, the bus wouldn't be there for another 40 minutes, so he invited her in to get warm. She told him that she had come to the city to interview for a job as governess to the children of one of the wealthy families but she was turned down. She was a war refuge and her English was imperfect.

She went into the Sanctuary, sat down on a pew. She looked up and then ran up to inspect the gold and ivory tablecloth covering the hole behind the altar. She touched it, felt it and said, "It's mine. It's my banquet cloth." She lifted it up and showed the surprised pastor the initials embroidered on it. "My husband had it made especially for me in Brussels! There's not another like it anywhere."

For the next few minutes she and the pastor talked excitedly about how she and her husband had opposed the Nazis in Vienna and had to flee the country. They were advised to go separately. Her husband put her on a train to Switzerland, where they planned to reunite. But that was the last time she saw him. She later was told that he died in a concentration camp.

The woman was filled with grief and remorse for leaving him and said, "Perhaps these years of wandering have been my punishment." The pastor tried to comfort her and even urged her to take the tablecloth but she refused and left.

After the Christmas eve service, people told him how beautiful the cloth looked. One man in particular, a local jeweler, was struck by the cloth and looked rather puzzled. "It's strange," he said with a slight accent. "Many years ago my wife, God rest her, and I owned such a cloth. In our home in Vienna, my wife put it on the table only when the Bishop came to dinner."

The pastor became very excited and told the jeweler about the woman who had been in the church earlier. The jeweler clutched the pastor's arm and said, "Can it be?" Together they contacted the family that interviewed her and then drove to the woman's city.

It's such a small thing but on Christmas morning, this man and his wife, who had been separated for many Christmases, were reunited because of a storm, a hole in the wall and a tablecloth. You see small things can transform our lives. (4)

V. THE TREE:

You can even transform the Christmas tree into an instrument of worship. I don't mean make it the object of worship, that's idolatry. But the tree can remind us of the true meaning of this season.

A. The lights remind us of the light of Christ. The ornaments remind us of the gifts of the Magi and the great gift of salvation which God gave us through the birth of Christ. The star or angel on top of the tree remind us of the star which led the Magi and the Angel of the Lord that announced the birth to the shepherds.

The tree itself, an evergreen, reminds us of the eternal life that is promised through the resurrection. The trunk of the tree reminds us of the cross. In some Churches, they only use a live tree for an Chrismon Tree. After Christmas this tree is taken down, the limbs cut off and a large cross made from the trunk. This cross is then displayed all the way through Lent and Easter to remind everyone of the link between Christmas and Easter. Such a small thing, but the birth, the death and the resurrection are all embodied in the tree.

B. And then there's the gifts under the tree. Such a small thing. A few presents, a few gifts. They, too, remind us of the gifts of the Magi and the inestimable gift of God in this baby given to us. And sometimes, it's the small gifts that mean the most.

This year there has been a conspiracy afoot to make this one of the best Christmases I've ever had. My family keeps giving me wonderful gifts; gifts that I don't really get but gifts that will stick with me forever. This card represents one of those gifts.

I love my family dearly but my family has at times seemed to have defined itself but what it owns. Consequently Christmas always seemed to be about getting more stuff. Honestly, I thought the battle had been lost. But this year, Christmas seems to have hit my family, not between the eyes, but in the heart. My mother sent me the best gift I have ever gotten form her. She saw that the Church was buying pew Bibles, so she sent what she would have spent on us and told me to buy 5 Large Print Bibles.

My uncle Lee and Aunt Dorothy did something very similar. And then my oldest son Paul called and said, "We've got everything we need, and you've got more than us. What do you say we forego buying gifts for each other and go buy a bunch of stuff for the needy? Let's buy toys for tots and that kind of stuff."

Such a small thing but the best gifts they've ever given us.

C. One year a grandma made her grandson a multicolored afghan to replace the worn out comforter she'd made for him before. The boy saw it, hugged it to himself and said: "Grandma, I really needed this. My old blanket has lost all its warm." (5)

There are a lot of people whose blankets have lost all their warm. The homeless, especially. We've already delivered 76 blankets to the Slab or Loaves and Fishes in Ft. Worth. Seventy-six people will now stay a little warmer. There are more to deliver. And more to collect. A blanket is such a small thing but look at what it does. It touches our hearts when we give but even more so, it helps keep those less fortunate warm not just with the warmth of the blanket but with the warmth of the love given with the blanket.

D. There's one more gift under the tree. It's the gift that takes a lifetime to unwrap. And it IS the best gift that anyone could ever give because it comes from God. It's the gift of grace. And it is freely given. That grace comes in a small package that was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in manger because there was no room at the inn. That grace comes through Jesus.

CONCLUSION:

In an old Family Circus, Dolly is helping to set out the Nativity scene. The stable is up, Mary and Joseph have been placed inside. You can see the other characters still in the box. Dolly holds up the manger with the baby Jesus in it and says, "Here He is! The star of Bethlehem!" (6)

And she's so right. Jesus is the star of Bethlehem. He was such a small thing but He changed everything. Christmas is His day. His day makes our day. So, remember the small things

1. Lorna Unrau, Nipawin, Saskatchewan, Country Woman Magazine, Nov/Dec 1992.

2. Family Circus by Bil Keane, 12-19-97

3. Children's Letters to God, from the internet

4. The Gold and Ivory Tablecloth, adapted from, Christmas Miracles, Jamie C. Miller, Laura Lewis, Jennier Basye Sander. (William Morrow and Company, Inc. New York: 1997) pp. 69-72.

5. Bea Mansanarez, Monte Vista, Colorado: in Little Sprouts, Country Woman Magazine.

6. Bil Keane, Family Circus