Leaning into the Light

Did you know that author Katherine Patterson (married to a Presbyterian Pastor!) wrote an original story for her husband to read on Christmas Eve to his congregation? Well, I'm no award winning novelist, but I do recognize a great tradition. For three years I have written a story for the children of my church and read it to them on Christmas Eve. My hope is that the adults present also listen to the story. Here is my Christmas Eve story from December 24, 2014. Blessings!

John

Leaning Into the Light

An Original Story by Rev. John H.G. Curtiss

Written for the Children of the Community Presbyterian Church for the worship service on Christmas Eve.

December 24, 2014

Hello there. My name is Jack and I am 8 years old. And I want to tell you about the best Christmas I ever had. It all started with the lighting of the first Advent Candle.

You see, my mom and my two sisters – I’m the middle child – a Jack-in-the-box – my family likes to tease – we go to church each week. My Dad…he’s not really into church. My Dad once said to me, “Rooster Nugget (that’s his nickname for me), I work all week with a bunch of hypocrites! Why would I want to spend my free Sunday morning with more of ‘em!” Now, I’m not entirely sure what a hypocrite is – but Dad stays home on Sundays and does yard work or little things around the house (when he’s not watching SportsCenter on ESPN).

My oldest sister is 12 and my mom says that she is practicing being a teen-ager a year too early. That means that she rolls her eyes at half of the things my mom says and ignores the other half. Because she is nearly a teen-ager, I am stuck with my baby sister a lot. She’s fun, but she is only 3 and can’t do a lot for herself. So I sit next to her in church and help keep her quiet so that mom can listen and my big sister can pretend like she isn’t listening.

At my church we prepare for Christmas by lighting the advent candle. It’s a way to help us prepare for the birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas Day. There are four Sundays in Advent and each Sunday we light another candle. When we get to Christmas Eve we get to light the big candle in the middle and then we know that Christmas is the next day.

Well last year something amazing happened during Advent. I was actually listening to the words of the pastor (amazing, I know, I’m only 8!). And he said that we can prepare for Christ to come into our hearts at Christmas time by doing the things that Christ did when he was alive on earth. He said that Jesus was doing things like feeding the hungry and caring for those without.

And that just gave me an idea. You see, I’m a growing boy and I like to eat. And Jesus was always eating with the people around him. There are lots of stories about Jesus feeding the people around him. His disciples, complete strangers, even little children. It seemed to me that Jesus spend a lot of time feeding people. And so I thought we should have a meal at the church on Christmas Eve – feed the hungry people and then invite them to church. I didn’t realize that this simple idea was going to cause so much of a fuss in my little church.

Well, I didn’t tell anyone about my idea until the Second Sunday of Advent.  And then I only remembered when we were lighting the second candle at church. So I told my mom about my brilliant idea – but she said not now. So I started to doodle and draw on the back of the bulletin and I came up with a poster for the free food before worship at church night. It seemed like a perfect idea in my head.

I went home and I made those posters. I even let my little sister color them in even though she can’t stay in the lines. I had my mom look up the address of the church and everything and when I showed her my work, my mom was impressed, but she just wasn’t sure it would work. She said that sometimes things happen in the church slowly – that different groups need to be involved – and that everyone was just too busy to make a church supper on the night of Christmas Eve happen. When she saw how disappointed I was, she at least agreed to talk to the pastor.

We met the pastor after worship after the 3^rd Sunday in Advent. And although he liked the spirit of the idea (“It’s always good to want to help people, Jack!” Pastor reassured me.) He just didn’t think there was any way we could pull this off. We hadn’t talked to the mission team – and they are always involved when there is outreach. And we hadn’t talked to the session – they have to approve new ideas like this. And the kitchen ladies have to be involved early because nothing happens in the kitchen without their explicit approval. “Good idea. No, Jack – great idea. But not this year. Not this year.” I think he made my mother a little mad, because she said, we will see about that, pastor. And she had that look in her eye. You know the look. All moms have one.

The next week, she helped my make posters and we hung them up all over town – especially in the places where people in need are more likely to be. We walked the streets of town putting our posters up. And at home at night Mom started to make phone calls to her friends. She had been a member of the church for a long time. She was working so hard on this that even my Dad noticed and asked what kind of trouble we were getting into. He seemed to like the idea that we were doing something without the pastor’s approval. I didn’t realize that people were taking sides – some for the dinner and some against the dinnet.

On the 4^th Sunday of Advent – just a few days before Christmas Eve – the church was buzzing with excitement. The pastor asked my mother and I to come into his office to talk. He had found a couple of our posters around town and wanted to know the story. My mom explained that the birth of Jesus Christ was about sharing God’s love – and that her son – that’s me – wanted to show love by feeding people. The pastor wanted to know what kinds of plans were made and what kind of approval she had. Does the session know about this? What about the Deacons – they are always in charge of food? Does the mission committee or the evangelism committee know about this? He had question after question about how we had planned this backwards and it wasn’t going to work. He looked a bit tired, but mom said that’s because preachers work hard during Advent and getting ready for Christmas.

He didn’t exactly give us his blessing and he admitted that he was more than a little skeptical but he could see just how determined my mother was. She quickly assured him that everything would be fine, that God would bless this meal, and that the Holy Spirit might even show up in our church on Christmas Eve. I’m not sure the preacher knew what to say about that!

Before I knew it, it was Christmas Eve. Church service weren’t till later – when it was properly dark so that the shepherds can see the star and the baby Jesus can be born at night in the manger.

My mother and I and my two sisters went to church early in the afternoon. I thought it was odd that we only had 2 onions and a bag of carrots. Mom went into the kitchen and began to chop the onions and the carrots. Soon another lady from church came – and she had the celery and a can of broth. They got out the big pot and began to cook the onions, mix in the carrots, and stir in the broth. Every little bit another member of the church would show up – with some potatoes, a bit of meat, some herbs and seasons. Even the men’s group president showed up with 6 dozen cookies from the local grocery. Pretty soon the church kitchen smelled like supper. Everytime I turned around someone was bringing a bit of this or that. Mrs. Smith brought her homemade bread. Mr. Jones brought some store bought rolls.  There was a buzz of excitement in the place.

About an hour before church began, the pastor showed up, and with him several people I had never seen before. He said they were waiting outside looking for the food.

We began to serve. We begin to eat and soon the hall was filled with the sounds of pleasant 

conversation, of laughter and story-telling. I even saw the preacher look around all misty eyed at the fellowship around him.

And then I saw my dad enter the back. By the looks of it he had showered and shaved and put on his nice shirt. He winked at me and smiled and said he didn’t want to miss what happened to the trouble makers. We grabbed a bowl of stew and found a seat and ate together as a family. I couldn’t believe that we are all together on Christmas Eve.

That night at church, the pastor set aside his notes and said that he had a different message to share tonight. He wanted to say that the church is better when we are together – working together towards a common goal of sharing God’s love. He said that Jack, that’s me, had taught him that. He said that he loved the idea that Christmas Eve happens shortly after the winter solstice – the longest night of the year because the earth is just now beginning to lean into the light. He said that he saw all of us today lean into the light by working together and sharing God’s love.

That was the best Christmas I’ve ever had. I can’t remember what present I got last year – but I do know that I was a part of a group of people who leaned into the light together. 

Amen and amen.