Third Advent Bonus Day

Advent, 2017

Thursday, December 28, 2017

The number of days of Advent is different from year to year. In 2008, there were twenty-six days in the season. This year there were only twenty-three days. So the following few “bonus” days for 2017 will take us almost to the end of the year. Enjoy these extra devotions, keeping in mind that Christmas for the author didn’t happen until the next to the last entry.

In the beginning was the Word, 

and the Word was with God, 

and the Word was God.”

John 1:1

One of the things we like most at Christmas, at least many of us do, is to go Christmas shopping. We check our list to see how many gifts we need or want to buy, and then we check our pocketbooks to figure whether or not we have the money to do all we want to do. Unfortunately some of us fall into the trap of running out of money before we run out of gifts to buy, and we pull the plastic from our pockets to make up the difference – which, of course, means that we may be paying for Christmas long after the holiday is over!

God prepared only one present on that first Christmas. One present for everyone to share. My, oh, my, our first Christmas present was much more expensive than we can ever imagine! A perfect gift that “would keep on giving” for centuries and centuries – yes, for all eternity!

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit were in the beginning, inextricably joined – “the Word was – was with God – was God.” In that stable on the first Christmas morning, God the Father and God the Son were separated. I simply cannot imagine what that initial separation must have cost God! God the Father remaining in his eternal, omnipotent state, and God the Son bound by time, space, and human form – helpless in the arms of his earthly mother!

What an expensive Christmas present! How much God loved us that he would give such a gift, knowing not only the grief and loneliness of the separation but also the fact that the greatest grief was yet to come!

We cannot ever put such love and value into our gifts. We certainly can never give such expensive gifts. But perhaps we can choose a gift for God – something he really wants, one “that will keep on giving.” Perhaps we could wrap our hearts in a little package and put it under the tree, an everlasting gift of love and appreciation to God.

Father, thank you for being willing to let Jesus come here – away from you to us. Thank you for this most perfect of gifts! I have so little to give you in return, but here is my small gift. I give you my life, my love, my loyalty – for as long as you allow me to live on this earth. Amen.

The Light of the World
prepared for Homosassa United Methodist Church, 2008,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator.