The Poverty of Christmas

Advent brings into focus the first chapter of John and the Word becoming flesh and the Light coming into the world, into the midst of darkness and still shining. Jesus does not shun the darkness or hide from it. Wherever there is darkness, Jesus is. The Jesus Way can be seen in the darkness and followed. That is good to remember in days of darkness and deception. The One who is Light does not avoid those days or dark places. You can bet on Jesus being there. I also like to read the account of the birth of Jesus in Luke and Matthew. The poverty of the manger scene with the work animals and the lowly shepherds surrounding the young parents who barely had enough to live and were bringing a new life to share in their poverty. Jesus could have been born anywhere. He could have been born to royalty, or in a nice home owned by a successful businessman. Or maybe he couldn't have? This choice of birthplace was not random. It was a chosen place just as the parents were chosen. This was who God is. The God who came among the poor because that is only way this God comes. God is among the poor today. You can bet on that, too. Thomas Merton reflecting on the poverty of Christmas wrote, "I am certain when the Lord sees the small point of poverty and extenuation and helplessness to which the monk is reduced, the solitary and man of tears, must come down and be born there in this anguish and make it constantly a point of infinite joy, a seed of peace in the world" Merton was writing of his own vow of poverty but I take it to refer to anyone who is helpless and caught in "extenuating circumstances".  When we sweep the homeless from our urban streets, or keep the migrants on the other side of our walls or let world's homeless live in refugee camps indefinitely is it because we don't recognize the face of Jesus?

My maternal grandparents were Jehovah's Witnesses.  When I was young I had no idea what that meant only that they didn't believe in celebrating Christmas. At least, in principle that was supposed to be true. But Grandma, who married into the faith at the young age of 14, had her own ideas. She loved celebrating Christmas and kept her tree up til Easter. She celebrated birthdays and Christmas with lots of gifts. I guess Grandpa couldn't see the point of trying to stop her. When we visited them on Christmas there were lots of gifts under the tree. For us and her other grands of which there were many, remember, married at 14! When I met her she seemed really old and tiny. She had a little yippy dog and her youngest son lived with them although he was old, too, by then. Grandpa was severe and didn't say much. He was the true believer and next to his armchair were piles of Witness literature and his Bible. I guessed Christmas was all Grandma's thing. I figured the JW stuff came with the territory, how much about religion do you know at 14? I don't think she ever bought into it. She never proselytized and I never saw her reading any JW literature. I didn't hear of her going door to door like she was supposed to either. My mother filled us in on the major ideas of the religion but she broke away before she married my dad in her early twenties. It caused a lot of tension in the family. Her older brother was a strict follower. He lived with his wife in a cabin in the Adirondacks and didn't celebrate anything. He was never at the Christmas gatherings. I gathered there must have been some hurts in my mom's life from the decision she made to marry my father and take on his Methodism. Her dad was a baker and the family never had much money. All the kids had jobs to contribute to the family budget. Her father was a strict parent and she told me one time she was locked in a closet as a punishment for some misdeed. Otherwise, she seemed indifferent to being raised as a JW. If their strange beliefs (to me and later in life to her) ever had a hold on her I never knew it. Like she tossed off their belief that only 144,000 would be saved scornfully letting me know that the only reason they went door to door was to bulk up their chances to be one of them. She would say they don't really care about you! When Grandpa died first I learned JW's don't believe in funerals either. Although, Grandpa had one at the local funeral home and the local JW congregation attended, my parents and some of my mom's siblings had to come up with the money to pay for it. Seems JW's don't believe in life insurance either. When I became a pastor it was an uncomfortable topic around the extended family. JW's don't think too highly of pastors or of the churches that do. Pastors have a bad habit of fleecing their congregations and tend toward immorality, according to JW gossip. When I was young, my grandma told me I was her favorite perhaps because I was her first grandchild. She loved me still even after I became a pastor. I guess she didn't believe what JW's said about pastors either. I think of Grandma every Christmas and the way love can triumph over religion.