The Real Santa is Coming to Town            Dec. 3, 2006

Are you ready? The children are! (Here I’m referring to the children’s sermon about Santa Claus. I told them about the real St. Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra. He was known for protecting poor children, not the one that just rewards children who are good. )

You will all know the man dressed in a red suite in the department stores with lines of children waiting to tell him what the want for Christmas. That Santa is going to check his list twice to see who's naughty or nice. I’m amazed when my children were younger and getting antsy in stores around Christmas time. Complete strangers would walk up to them and say 'Be good now, or Santa won't come to your house.' While the cultural Santa myth may seem harmless to the culture, there is a theological issue that is very serious.

The popular Santa Claus myth is in fact the polar opposite message of the Good News that of Jesus Christ that we celebrate at Christmas. Unlike the Santa in the department store, God comes to those who are good and those who are bad. Let me make is plain as possible. They say Santa Claus won't come unless we're good. Now, what is the message about Jesus coming into our world that first Christmas? That he doesn't come unless we're good?

No! Quite the opposite. Jesus came precisely because we human beings are sinners. Our half hearted attempts to love our neighbors fall way short of what God desires for us. Especially where children are concerned, we neglect the poor. Sexuality was one of God’s greatest gifts, but we have exploited women and men as sexual beings, and our families have suffered. We failed to care for the sick, feed the hungry, or give homes to the homeless. In fact, we found ways to make the rich ones richer while the poor get poorer. We have this problem with sin, and we can't get free of it. In that first Christmas, God came in the person of Jesus Christ to forgive us and to show us a better way to live. That was an absolutely free and undeserved gift from God. In the next Christmas, Jesus will come again to make the whole recreation new.

The question I’m asking is, “What does God want us to do to get ready for the time Jesus comes? The real St. Nicholas and St. Paul both give us similar answers.

St. Paul talks a lot about Christ living in us, and us living in him. He says that we are the body of Christ, with his heart, his mind, and his soul. In our lesson, Paul wrote, “may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.”

We welcome Jesus by abounding in the love God has for us and for others, especially the poor. We welcome Christ by letting God's desire fill our hearts, our minds and our souls, which we have come to know as the love of Jesus Christ. Plain as possible, we receive God’s desire into our hearts by imitating Christ, and abounding in his love every day.

How do you imitate Christ? We can take a lesson from the advertising industry that our children see on television every time they turn it on. Advertisers don't just show us their products; they show us other people enjoying their products, so that we might catch their desires, so that we might 'welcome them into our hearts.'

We can also imitate the real saints, like the real St. Nicholas. Saint Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra, which in our times is the Southern part of Turkey. He was the patron saint of Russia and the special protector of children who were poor and powerless.

In the time when Saint Nicholas lived in order for a young girl to find a husband she had to be able to offer something of value to the prospective husband and this was called a dowry. What was offered depended on how wealthy or what trade the father of the girl was engaged in. It could be cattle, seeds, land, or if he was very poor it might be just a few chickens. A fisherman might give a boat or nets. A shopkeeper might give a portion of his business. The richer the dowry the richer the husband.

In the town where Saint Nicholas lived there was a very poor man with three daughters. The man could hardly afford to even feed his daughters much less provide them with a dowry so they could be married. He was ready to just have to ask his daughters to leave his house. This would make big problems for his daughter and her really didn't want to do it. Saint Nicholas secretly went to the home and gave the poor man three dowries that these young girls could be saved from shame and marry. This is where the custom of giving presents in secret came from.

There were many other stories of appearances of St. Nicholas to people in bad situations, the poor and sailors in peril on the sea. It seems like whenever the faithful discovered an anonymous gift, people attributed it to St. Nicholas. This is very different from the gifts that the white bearded man in the mall wearing a red suite. The gift of God's gracious forgiveness is the gift above all others, one that truly deserves our thanks and celebration.

With that, I can give you a specific suggestion for this week. If you'd like to do something a bit different than the popularized Santa stuff of today, then do something this week with the real life person from whom the Santa legends descend: St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra in modern day Turkey. The day we set aside to commemorate him happens to be this Tuesday, December 6.

How might we imitate him? Today after church a group is putting together gifts for the homeless families at the Presbyterian night Shelter. You could join us!

Or, there are opportunities to help at the Crowley House of Hope. That where poor families and children will come for food, clothing, and perhaps, a special toy.

Or you could bring a toy or gift for a poor child. We have a box for toys for the children in East fort Worth for San Miguel Lutheran Church. We also have the angel tree. And then there are countless other charities who are providing for the poor children far and wide. I’m proud of what our congregation is doing this season of Advent and Christmas.

As we look to saints like St. Nicholas, and as we follow in their footsteps and encourage each other to deeds of reaching out, this, we abound in love. This is not only a way to prepare for welcoming Christ in our hearts, not only a way of honoring and celebrating Christmas, it is a way to live Christmas and to experience its peace. Let us pray with St. Paul that the Lord help us to abound in love for one another and for all.

Amen