"What I Want For Christmas" by Rev. Thomas Schade

[Memos from Rev. Barbara Merritt and Rev. Tom Schade]

M I N I S T E R’ S   M E M O




“What I Want For Christmas”


About this time of the year, with Christmas just a few days away, people in
my immediate family start to ask about potential Christmas presents that
might be given and received. We are not the type to rush into things,
preferring to think of the last minute as the especially creative moment. So
we might say, “Assuming that your health holds up, and that none of us
convert to another religion, and that a national emergency so grave as to
imperil shopping doesn’t occur, is there anything that you might like for
Christmas?” “Hmmm”, the other replies, as though such a possibility had
never arisen before “you know me. I already bought everything that I have
ever wanted, so I am not sure.” Eventually some things get bought, and some
of those are not returned or exchanged, and some of what is kept is
eventually treasured
.
At least this year, we have a new dog. She submitted her Christmas list a
while ago. She wants some of those things that squeak when you bite them.
She could use a couple more of those things that bounce when you chase them,
and she would surely appreciate some things that are both chewy and allowed.
A nice gift would be permission to take a nap on the couch. She would also
like to hear “no, No, NO!” less often and “good dog” a little more
frequently, please. She also requests that we install those springy door
stops, the kind that go “boing, boing, boing’ all over the house. She might
get some of what she wants, because she has been a good dog.

For us older people in the house, the gift-giving thing fades over time.

What I really want for Christmas is for someone to write about three more
heart-breakingly beautiful verses of Silent Night. I would like be able to
stand for just a few minutes longer at the end of the Christmas eve
service – standing in the darkened sanctuary, and seeing the faces, your
faces, glowing like lanterns in the night, and all of us, singing together.
“Glories Stream from heaven afar; Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia”

It is in that moment that the spirit of Christmas really enters into my
heart, and I would so like it to last a moment longer.

                                                Tom

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