We’ve almost made it. In fact by the time you read this, Christmas 2018 will be in the books. So much energy and time and emotion… and then it’s over.
But as I type this, it’s still pre-Christmas and our annual Women’s Christmas event at church was just last week. I’m in charge, but I’m not an event planner so I always worry about things going wrong. Regular Readers may recall that last year I botched the closing prayer, so my fears are not totally unfounded.
Most years we do some combination of readings and carol singing. This year I’d asked a lady from our committee to read the birth narrative of Jesus found in Luke 2. It’s the famous passage that’s in the Charlie Brown Christmas special. It depicts the scene found on stamps and cards everywhere: shepherds, angels and baby lying in a manger.
The Luke 2 passage ends by saying, “and Mary pondered all these things in her heart.” Much has been made about what exactly it means that Mary pondered it all, but you can only ponder about pondering so long before you realize you need a shot of rum for your eggnog.
The evening began and seemed to move along without a hitch. Food, crafts, music and festivity— it was all going well. When it came time for the Luke 2 reading, I knew there was only one final carol left. I’d close in prayer, and we’d “fa la la” our way home.
Our reader stood up and began. She read about shepherds in the field, and I nibbled on some brie in the back. Five more minutes and I’d kick off my heels and relax.
The shepherds trekked to the manger, where they found the baby “wrapped in swaddling clothes.” I readied myself to walk up front as I heard the final line, “and Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”
But the reader didn’t move. Instead she began to read the next set of verses in Luke 2 about the infant Jesus being presented at the temple.
I froze. Why was she still reading!? Luke is a LONG gospel. What was her plan? I didn’t know what to do and, instead, started giggling (I told you I’m not an event planner). Meanwhile Jesus was growing up. He became a teenager and his parents took a trip to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.
I curled up in a ball on a couch behind the sound board in a fit of Christmas hysteria. How long was she going to read? Jesus lived for 33 years! Our event had to be over in approximately five minutes.
One of the other women saw me unraveling and came over and whispered, “She told me it was an unusually long passage you asked her to read.“
I whipped my head up. “I told her to read until Mary pondered things!! That was like 10 verses ago!”
My friend smiled, “She thought you meant the second time Mary pondered things.”
Oh no! Mary didn’t ponder again until the end of the chapter. I leaned back, shaking with wildly inappropriate laughter while Jesus hung out in the temple, instructed the Rabbi’s, and worried his parents when they couldn’t find him.
The women sat politely in the room and seemed to be listening as if everything was totally normal. The only anomaly was that the director of the program was having a breakdown in the back.
Finally Jesus and his parents reunited and left Jerusalem. And once again, this time with an air of certainty, perhaps having perfected the art, Mary pondered things in her heart.
The final carol music came to life and all the women stood up in unison to sing. I walked forward, trying to rearrange my face from hysteria to poised grace for the closing prayer.
The women smiled back at me. They were ready to go home and celebrate Christmas. And then time would march forward. Like it always does. Like it did in Luke 2.
And I realized the larger message. Yes, it’s a lot of time and energy and emotion to get ready for Christmas and then it’s just over… except it’s not. Our family doesn’t only celebrate that a baby was born. We celebrate that he grew up, he stuck around, and he did amazing things that lasted long after Mary pondered them, amazing things that are still true even today.
Peace and joy are not meant to stop the day after Christmas. They are not meant to just be over. Time keeps moving (it will even be summer again) but the things we celebrate this season are real and true all year long.