“A Joyous Greeting”
by Bruce J. Johnson
(
A
couple of weeks ago, Elie D’Annolfo handed me a copy of an “Incredimail” that
she had received, saying that she didn’t quite know how to forward it to me
electronically! It was a story titled:
“Three
Trees.” I share it with you here because I too don’t know how to forward it to
all of you electronically!
“Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods.
They were discussing their hopes and dreams and what would make them feel the
happiest and most fulfilled, when the first tree said, “Someday I hope to be a
treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could
be decorated with intricate carving and everyone would see my beauty.”
Then the second tree said, “someday I will be a
mighty ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the
four corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the
strength of my hull.”
Finally, the third tree said, “I want to grow to be
the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of
the hill and look up to my branches and think of the heavens and God and how
close to them I am reaching. I will be the envy of all, the greatest tree of
all time and people will always remember me.”
After a few years of praying their dreams would come
true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree,
he said, ‘This looks like a strong one. I think I should be able to sell the
wood to a carpenter and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy because he
knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest.
At the second tree, the woodsman said: “This looks
like a strong tree, I should be able to sell it to a shipyard.” The second tree
was happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.
When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree
was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not
come true. One of the woodsmen said, “I don’t need anything special from my
tree. I’ll take this one” and he cut it down.
When the first tree arrived at the carpenter shop,
he was made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed in a barn and
filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for. The second tree
was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship
and carrying kings had come to an end. The third tree was cut into large pieces
and left alone in the dark.
The years went by, and the trees forgot about their
dreams. Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth and they
placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree.
The man wished that he could have made a crib for the boy, but this manger
would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew
that it had held the greatest treasure of all. And felt a joy unlike anything
that he had ever experienced or anticipated!
Years later, a group of men got into the fishing
boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While
they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn’t think that
it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men awoke the sleeping man, and
he stood and said, “Peace.” and the storm stopped. At this time, the tree knew
that he had carried the King of Kings and he felt a joy unlike anything that he
had ever experienced or anticipated!
Finally, someone came and took the third tree. It
was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who carried it.
When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air
to die on the top of a hill. Three days later, the tree came to realize that it
was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was
physically possible, because Jesus had been crucified on it. And he felt a joy
unlike anything that he had ever experienced or anticipated!
The moral of the story, of course, is all about
God’s plan and our participation in it, sometimes at the cost of dreams we once
had for ourselves but with an even greater reward, knowing a joy unlike
anything we had ever experienced or anticipated.
This morning’s lesson is about Mary and Elizabeth, two
related and pregnant women, who learned in an unexpected way that they were
being used as key figures in God’s plan of salvation.
Listen:
“And the angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” Momentarily, the divine plan for the redemption of mankind waited upon the consent of this little Jewish girl, before she sealed her acceptance with that stupendously humble fiat: ‘And Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
(Who’s Who in The New Testament, Brownrigg, p. 163.)
Isn’t that a wonderful line? “Momentarily, the divine plan …”
And then she hears about
Upon her arrival,
“Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy!”
What powerful symbolism--- this movement within the womb—a leap for joy--- not for just himself but for all humankind!
For me, this ‘joyous greeting’ begs the following question: When was the last time you and I felt real joy and under what circumstances?
Now, there may be a number of appropriate responses to this question, certainly unique to our own life stories and a number of useful and operative definitions of joy. However, I read the following a few days ago:
“Joy is a sustained sense of well-being and inner peace—a connection to what really matters.”
(“O” Magazine, May 2001, p. 298.)
Is that what was happening in
And is that what the Christmas experience is meant to be for us all… that God is always simply ‘waiting’ on us to hear and respond to the voice of the one who sends our Emmanuel. God waits on us to affirm that we know our place and purpose in God’s plan and that we rejoice in the coming of our Savior and what we are called to do in His service.
The late Henri Nouwen once wrote this:
“Joy and hope are never separate. I have never met a hopeful person who was depressed or a joyful person who had lost hope. But hope is something other than wishes, and joy something other than happiness. Wishes and happiness generally refer to things and events. You wish that the weather will change or the war will end. You wish that you will get a new job, better pay or a reward, and when you get what you wish, you are happy… Joy is not the same as happiness. We can be unhappy about many things, but joy can still be there... It is important to become aware that at every moment of our life we have the opportunity to choose joy... it is in the choice that our true freedom lies, and that freedom is, in the final analysis, the freedom to love.”
And that, to my mind, is the essence of it all--- that we greet the happy morn—joyously--- because we know and accept our place and purpose in God’s plan, that we feel and embrace the sense of well- being and inner peace that comes with our connection to what really matters in world--- that we choose to accept and rejoice in God’s love for us and of course, to love one another.
We are all meant to offer ‘a joyous greeting’ to the coming of Christ because of the love embodied in the child in the manger, the love that is of God. I know that it is in being loved and loving that we seek and we find our place and purpose. It is there that we discover life’s deepest meaning, a meaning that we can affirm in the face of tragedies we cannot fathom and in the face of human stupidities we cannot understand as well as amidst celebrations and successes we may not deserve.
Dear Friends, the highest purpose of Christianity, a purpose predicted by prophets and announced by angels and shown to the world by the light of a star and simply ‘waiting’ on us, is a way of life, not a sophisticated system of belief—and that way is the way of love.
Let us welcome and embrace it with joy.
Amen