Little Things Mean a Lot

Seems to me that the prevailing concept of this Advent–and into Christmas, too–is that God takes insignificant things and makes them great! You & me as well. Texts to be heard on the upcoming weekend involve how children grow, and how we ourselves may grow into the likeness of God as revealed in the ChristChild.

I SAMUEL 2:18-20 recalls how the boy Samuel ministered with older Eli in the sanctuary at Shiloh, and how his mother Hannah would bring him a larger robe each year. Was this a forerunner of Christmas giving? At any rate, Samuel would be able to enter the New Year with new clothes, which probably fit him better, signifying that his growth was more than physical. The story reminds us that God doesn’t just create and step back: God is truly supervising our maturity. The Old (year) may pass, yet the New is always at hand…

The author of Colossians 3:12-17 may well have been thinking of the ancient tradition of taking off “old” clothes before Baptism, and afterward donning new duds. Here he lists some virtues of the New Clothes: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience…forgiving…and loving. “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” What binds the members of this well-dressed congregation to each other is the peace of Christ. We become these things as we allow the grace of God to flow through us no matter the situation… Even in aggressive traffic!

The Gospel is LUKE’s story (2:41-52) of pre-teen Jesus staying in Jerusalem and hanging out with the teachers in the Temple. After three days (!) his parents finally caught up to him and their relief was palpable. “Did you not know,” said he, “that I must be in my Father’s house?” I guess they were looking for Jesus in all the wrong places. Just as in the story of young Samuel, Jesus gradually recognized his spiritual growth–which I commend to you. He and we need to grow FROM our roots, not IN SPITE of them…

Written on Christmas Eve, when the earth stood hard as iron. But the Solstice is past, and soon small signs of the renewed world will be noticed. May YOUR New Year be blessed with special clothing–and an awareness of ever-expanding growth.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Visit with us every Tuesday as we try to make sense of our own lives through the readings proscribed for the upcoming weekend–at horacebrownking.com