Do you spew
out or soak up? That’s a different way of suggesting how we as Christians
approach the seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas with a variety of attitudes.
Those attitudes determine what impact the seasons will have upon us
individually and our communities. Fountains spew. Sponges soak. Which will you
be this holiday season?
Tremendous
artwork has been associated with fountains through the centuries. Some are
simple and share the sound of falling water. Others, far more elaborate, are
meant to be enjoyed with multiple senses. Sculptures amidst waterfalls delight
the eyes. The water cascading over the artwork creates its own musical concert.
The spray upon skin brings a wondrous cooling that borders on healing.
The fountain
shares all this while recycling its flow to offer it all once again to every
passerby. That is what a fountain does. It takes the water supplied and
overflows it for the enjoyment of others.
Now your
typical sponge operates in a different way. When it comes to water, the sponge
soaks it up. The water disappears. You can leave the sponge in the sun and the
water disappears while leaving no impression upon the observer. Squeeze the
sponge and the water reappears generally in a form you would rather avoid and
often as you hold it over a drain.
The water
goes in, but it rarely comes out in a form that makes you want to share the
experience with someone you love. The sponge draws away. It removes what you
don’t want to see. It hides the past event. You really want it to impact as few
of your senses as possible.
The holiday
season offers Christians the opportunity to showcase the difference between the
secular and sacred approaches to these celebrative occasions. A Christian and a
non believer will see the same event, but experience it in radically different
ways. For the latter there is a feel good experience that may prompt at its
best an expression of good will toward another person. For the Christian the
event is an expression of an ancient Story connecting the profane and the
sacred, the mortal and the immortal, the temporal and the eternal. Humanity has
become the recipient of this Story and has the blessing of passing it on to
each succeeding generation.
Churches can
be like sponges with the Stories of Thanksgiving and Advent. They produce
magnificent presentations in drama and music. They include the smallest angels
to the eldest matriarchs and patriarchs. Choirs and soloists spend months
rehearsing. Thousands of dollars are spent on costumes and sets.
Who sees the
results of all these efforts? By the time the families of all the participants
crowd into the limited seating and the few remaining seats are taken by members
of the church down the street, those who have never heard the Story find there
is no room in the inn. The church has soaked up all the good news and left
nothing for a world hungry to know there really is a thing called hope.
The
individual Christian can seem no better. Having gone to a community
Thanksgiving worship service at the local church, the individual finds little
for which to be thankful when in the company of the unchurched. The music was
stirring, the preschoolers heart-touching, and the drama as good as anything on
Broadway throughout the season of Advent, but when that last candle, the Christ
Candle, is blown out on Christmas evening, no one outside the circle of
intimate Christian friends will have heard the glad tidings proclaimed by the
angels long ago.
The fountain
stands in the middle of the town square. Even on the coldest night it sprays
its water into the air for all the villagers to enjoy. It quietly shares its
beauty, a glistening dream to prompt its visitors to go to their neighbors and
say, “Come and see!” May we like the fountain invite those who do not know the
Story to come and see it presented in heart-transforming fashion. Brave the
dark, brave the cold, but come to see, come to hear the greatest Story ever
told. (John 3:16)
