From the Pastor's Pen

Dear friends,

I am a wrapping machine right now.  This year it is my privilege to wrap packages for my family.  Of course I am wrapping the gifts my husband and I are giving to our loved ones.  I am wrapping most of the gifts my parents are giving.  And… I am wrapping the gifts my oldest son is giving the family because he lives in California, and he thought it would be ok to send all the family gifts to me, and I would wrap them for him.  Hmmm….  He’s right, of course, but there are a lot of packages to wrap this year!  So I wrap in every spare moment.  I am a wrapping machine!

I got to thinking about gift wrapping during the many hours I have been wrapping and was wondering, why do we wrap our gifts?  Of course the obvious answer is to increase the surprise and magnify the joy of the gift.  I have, in years past spent time creasing the seams just so, encircling the box with ribbon and creating an artistic display with bows.  This year my package wrapping is a little more utilitarian.  Still the brightly colored wrapping and a single bow creates a joyful gift. 

Then I got to thinking theologically.  Sorry.  I can’t help myself sometimes.  I began to think about God wrapping all his love in such a beautiful package for all of humanity at Christmas.  God wrapped himself in skin and came to us in a package that would cause us to oo and ah.  That package would be so beautiful, so intimate, so enticing as to draw us in.  That package would bring forth our love before we even thought about it.  Babies do that.  Then draw the love right out of you. 

I think God knew what he was doing when he wrapped himself up and came to us “special delivery.”  Our gift giving and our wrapping imitates the remarkable love of our savior but our God gets the prize for gift wrapping and gift giving!

Peace,

Pr. Sally