Psalm 125: 3

". . .as the mountains surround Jerusalem so God surrounds Israel, both now and forevermore."

Reflection by Donna Schaper

A child stood with her parents in a store. The parents stood with a frazzled clerk who had opened a white plastic Christmas tree to show them what it looked like. The child looked at the tree and made a quick conclusion. "No," said she, "it's too small. There won't be room for all the presents you're going to give us under such a small tree."

We come to Christmas with a similar disproportionality. We find the story too small, too fragile, too weak for the bleakness of the earth's demands. We want a big tree and we want big presents and we want them now.

And we can't afford them. Imagine wanting another want: to be surrounded by love and security. We imagine we can't afford them, either. The Psalm gives us a promise: that God's security is like the mountains. We are already surrounded by it. It is already there. In fact the room is so full of that security that we probably can't fit a tree into it at all.

One way this year could be different would be to focus on the security that already does exist and let the tree, large or small, mark the security. "As the mountains surround Jerusalem, So God surrounds Israel, both now and forevermore."  The tree lights up, the presents are given and received, and we are pulled towards the surround sound of God's mountainous love for us.

It will continue to be different as we get the message about size that Jesus' birth brings into the world. Because of Jesus the last thing that matters is the size of the tree. God messes with the proportionality issue and sides with the small as tender power over the large. Christmas comes to open up your mind and heart to God's love. That is something really different.

Prayer

O God, let the size of our trees be so small in the grand scheme of things that they fit the mountainous love of God into our living rooms. Amen.

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City. Her latest work is 20 Ways to Keep Sabbath, from The Pilgrim Press. Check out her work at www.judson.org.

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