O Holy Night
Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake. – Psalm 79:9 (NIV)
In the perfect Christmas Eve scene, the candles are all lit and haven’t started dripping on the tablecloth yet. My makeup is perfect, and I haven’t teared up yet. The turkey is bronzed or the ham is glazed, beautifully proportioned on platters that permit a near-perfect marriage of green bean and plate. The perfectly wrapped gifts sit next to the perfectly decorated, well-chosen tree in a spotless living room.
What most people want to do is get into their pajamas, the comfortable ones that don’t match. But that glow, that perfectionist glow compels us all to the tableau.
No one wants to be asked to “give the blessing” because no words would really work. We ache for everyone in the world to eat as well as we will tonight. We return to an old family favorite, worn as the pajamas are, and hold hands. “Bless this food, O God, and us to thy service.” We don’t use the word “thy” much except on nights like this. Or “Come Lord Jesus, be our guest and let thy gifts to us be blessed.” True gratitude is what the perfect purports.
While we help the chef with the dishes, while some smoke cigars or drink brandy, when we figure out how to get whoever is drinking too much to not drink any more, when the great mess begins and presents are opened and the kids have started fighting, when we finally forget our aims for holiday perfection and relax into the glow of the Christmas tree lights, Christmas begins.
The holy imperfect: We give intimates a good quick look and say thank you God for that one and that one and that one. We breathe. We realize the strength of the theology of the incarnation. Its holiness put in human packages. The holy imperfect is perfect: linking heaven to earth, time to eternity, body to soul, God in human. A baby human at that. Wow.
Prayer
Long lay the world in sin and error pining, till thy holiness came. Wow.
About the AuthorDonna Schaper is Interim Minister at the United Congregational Church of Little Compton. Her latest book is Remove the Pews.