I don’t know about you, but I am not quite ready to let go of Christmas. I will never understand why the church gives the season of Advent four whole weeks, while the season of Christmas gets Christmas Day plus one Sunday. It just doesn’t seem equitable.
Anyway, this is what I am calling Christmas Sunday, and we have some surprise Christmas gifts to talk about. Maybe gifts that we did not even know that we have.
Our first gift is that God has named us; we are chosen, holy and beloved. I really need you to say that so that it sinks in a bit. Say, we are chosen, holy and beloved. I don’t know about you, but there have been times in my life when those words have been like water when I was dying of thirst. To know that I am chosen, holy and beloved has gotten me through some dark hours, maybe you as well.
We are chosen, because God selected us. God breathed each and every one of us into existence. Not because we wanted it, but because God wanted it.
We are holy. The word holy means set apart for a different purpose. But let’s be clear, set apart does not mean separate from the world. We do not separate ourselves from the world! In fact, we are called to do just the opposite. We are called to involve and entangle ourselves in the world for the purpose of transforming the world. We are set apart because we are to lead the effort to reconcile the world to God and to one another.
We are beloved. The birth, death and resurrection of Jesus happened for each and every one of us. Because of Jesus, God does not sweat the things that bring us hurt and shame. God loves us and calls us to a place of repentance, forgiveness and restoration.
Just as Mary and Joseph looked upon their newborn baby with nothing but love, that is exactly how God looks at us. Certainly not because we deserve it, but because God is God. God sees us as sons and daughters and God loves us.
We are chosen, holy and beloved:
That’s just our first gift. Our second gift is a bunch of new clothes. An interesting thing is that when we buy clothes, what is most important about buying clothes is the fit. We want our clothes to reflect and represent what we think of ourselves, our best selves.
But when we think about spiritual clothes, our gift today; we actually do not want them to fit. We don’t want these clothes to reflect who we truly are. Otherwise, we would see a lot of ragged hems, holes, shredded seams, rips and tears, fading and wear. No, if we had a choice of spiritual clothes to wear, I suspect that we might see a lot of people walking around in big bulky overcoats, preventing anyone, even God, from seeing what is underneath.
Most of us, when we are honest with ourselves, we think that we can hide our true selves from God. Maybe we think that we are OK hiding behind good deeds, or politeness, or even busyness. Maybe we think that surface things can overcome the deeper things that they hide; bitterness, jealousy, addiction, abuse, anger; whatever it is that we think that we are hiding from God. We think that we can cover all this with a bulky overcoat.
But wait, we need to remember our first gift; we are chosen, holy and beloved. And because of this first gift, God has given us a second gift. God has given us all brand new clothes.
God says clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. And we know that when God offers us a gift, our response to humbly accept. We know that it will be the right size. We know that it will fit perfectly. We know that it will bring something out in us that perhaps we never noticed. We know that this gift of clothing will be something that we never want to take off because it completes us; a new set of clothing that makes us feel free, feel safe, feel capable of doing anything because these are God inspired and God-designed clothes. We should wear them proudly.
So, before you start packing up and putting away all of your Christmas things, remember to open these last two gifts; the card says that you are chosen, holy and beloved. And inside the gift box, a brand new set of clothes, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, made especially for you, the colors and the fabrics match, the style is right for any season, they fit you perfectly and they are blessed by God.
And remember, God is not giving us this gift of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience to store in a closet somewhere. Our best thank you to God for this Christmas gift is to use it, to try your absolute best to wear it out. If that is happening, then Christmas does make a difference. It is not just a holiday about receiving, it is a holiday about caring and sharing, and it leaves behind blessings that we can enjoy year-round. That’s why Christmas is and should be the most wonderful time of the year.
And as you go into the New Year, make a resolution to wear this gift of spiritual clothing as often as possible. Cover yourself in the character of Christ, dress yourself in the image of your creator, and above all, remember that you are chosen, holy and beloved. May it be so. Amen.
Queen Anne 
