“How Does Santa Do It?”

Christmas Eve - 24 December 2007

Scripture Reading:  “Luke 2:1-20”

Rev. Dr. Carol  L. Kerr

 Blue Point Congregational Church

How does Santa do it?  How does he manage to keep on giving without giving up? 

Now, I am not talking about flying around the world in a sleigh on Christmas Eve.   Certainly, only Santa can do that.  What I am talking about is how can we learn to live as generously as Santa lives?  Did you know there is a Saint behind Santa Claus?  Santa Claus originally was inspired by Saint Nicholas.  Saint Nicholas lived in the third century.  He was rich and yet obeyed the word of Jesus to “sell what you own and give money to the poor.” 

How can learn to be as generous as that?  How can we learn to forget being served and serve?  How can we learn to forget receiving and give?  How can we learn to forget being loved but love?  How can we learn to forget being cared for and care? 

I think there are three secrets to Santa’s generosity and why he never give up.  The first secret is all the letters he receives from children all over the world.  Hundreds of millions of kids write Santa letters every year.  Maybe you have written Santa a letter or two yourself.  (Raise hands!)  I think Santa’s heart has grown very large reading the letters that come from the children.    Now days, they don’t just send letters in envelopes and stamps but, they can also e-mails Santa.   Here are some I found:    “Christmas is my favorite holiday.  People are much nicer during the holidays (Josh, 10, Olympia, Washington).”    “I love you very much.  Please use the front door, we do not have a chimney.  Don’t forget my Daddy gave you the key when I was born.  (Thomas 5, Staten Island, NY)”   “Do you keep jumper cables in your sled in case ruldolph’s nose goes out?  (its gotta go out sometimes!)”  (Jessica age 10)  “I think that if Santa was someone else we would be sad. (Alison, 8).” 

These letters  from children remind me of one of my favorite Christmas ornaments.   It is made out of a Styrofoam cup hung upside down by a big purple pipe cleaner.  It has some red and green sprinkles stuck on the outside with about half a bottle of Emeralds glue.  There is a large red pipe cleaner hanging in the middle that is mangled and sticks out at an odd angle.  This has a little gold bell dangling off its end.  This is an ornament one of my children made many years ago at their pre-school.  

 Remember when you were a child and your teacher would say, let’s make a Christmas ornament for our moms and dads.  You got a red piece of construction paper and drew all over it and punched a hole in it, and stuck a pipe cleaner in it and brought it home and you brought it home to your mother and dad and said with a twinkle in your eye, “I’ve got something for you!”   And you waited to see that twinkle in their eye, that says it touched the deepest part of them.   

All year long Santa reads and rereads letters he gets from children all over the world.  They make his heart grow large.  They make up a world-wide mantra of the wishes and dreams.    Santa understands the children come and so they have been coming.   Each night that a child is born Santa writes its new name in golden letters on his list.  He marvels- a new name and a new life.    He thinks about the beauty of fathers and mothers sitting beside their children’s cribs.  He feels the glory of the child’s beginning and wonder of its life’s course. 

For Santa,  each night a child is born is a holy night and it reminds him of the Christmas night the prophet Isaiah foretold, “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us;  authority rests upon his shoulder; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Is. 9:6)”   That is how Santa does it.

How does Santa do it?  His first secret is the letters he reads from children all over the world.  They make his heart grow large.  He has a second secret, however.  That is, he is willing to get into strange and ridiculous situations in order to give.  I mean think how ridiculous it is to have this fat old man sneaking into people’s houses by going down the chimney.  Children have a natural sympathy for his plight which they express in some of their letters.    “I hope you have a good trip.  Don’t fall off the roof.  Be careful when you are going down the chimney.  Make sure the reindeer don’t sneak away (Hayden, 6, Cochrane, Alberta)” 

There is a logic in Santa’s ability to laugh at himself.  After all, generosity really has to come hand in hand with not taking yourself too seriously.  If you took yourself too seriously you wouldn’t be willing to give anything away.  I have a great story that proves this point: 

The Rev. Karen Anderson always wanted the chance to ring the Salvation Army bell next to one of their Christmas buckets.  She loved the idea of people walking by and throwing a few coins into the red bucket.  She loved people call out “Merry Christmas!”  But, most of all she loved the cheery “ding-a-ling” of the little bell they get to ring. 

So she went to the Salvation Army and signed up.  Her first assignment was outside a coffee shop in town and was just the way she imagined.  She rang that bell “ding-a-ling” happily for hours.   But, then her second assignment was a mall across from JC Penney’s.  When the lieutenant arrived her hands reached for the bell.  No bell.  He explained, “The mall owners have complained, no bells, only this.”  He handed her a sign.  The sign was attached to a dowel.  On the top of the dowel, two pieces of paper were stapled together over the center of the stick.  One side read “DING” and the other side “DONG.”  Instead of ringing, she now had to flip a sign that read “DING-DONG”   She had lost her lovely ding-a-ling.  She had to stand next to her bucket in silence and flip her sign “DING-DONG”

 People pushed past her.  Many frustrated.  Few joyous.  Then they would see her.  Their scowls would contort and scrunch up into a Grinchy smirk.  They were half embarrassed for her.  They would throw a dime in the bucket and then walk away trying to stifle their giggles.   As her time wore on she felt like she was doing nothing but affirming her idiocy with the sign “DING-DONG.”  “DING-DONG”  was a description of herself, rather than they sound of a bell.    She was the “DING-DONG!” 

For four hours she flipped the sign.  Ten minutes before she was suppose to quit, a fellow in black cowboy boots and a ten-gallon hat walked up to her and laughed out loud.  He started out chuckling and then bent over hysterically laughing.  She started flipping her sign with increasing vigor.   She was getting  really annoyed.  When he stood up for air, she was ready to kick him in the shins, for his rude reaction to her obviously ridiculous sign.  Then he said, “I must say, I’ve never seen a sign like that before.  Anybody that stands with a sign that says “DING-DONG” must be duly rewarded.”  He reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet, flipped past the dollar bills, the five dollar bills, and the ten dollar bills.  He plucked out a fifty dollar bill and stuffed it into her bucket.  He left muttering “I never” and his laughter like Santa’s pipe smoke lingering in the air. 

Generosity works only when we lose our pretenses, set ourselves aside, get rid of our ego’s long enough to see the bigger and better picture beyond us.  That is Santa’s 2nd secret.  It is why he doesn’t care what he looks like going down that chimney.  There is a big church word for what is happening here, the word is “incarnation.”  Incarnation is when something gets changed into something else at the same time.  Skeptics would say that this is an impossible.  But incarnation can take place by miracle.    The ringing of the bell, “ding-a-ling”, was incarnated into a sign, “DING-DONG.”  Amazingly the bell still rang out in silence and  because of its incarnation it worked to create even greater generosity than if it had stayed the same.   Incarnation happens to us when we are able to put our little selves aside in order for a bigger more compassionate and generous self to emerge.   Christmas  is all about incarnation.  I’m talking about the incarnation of God.    The all powerful, all knowing, all present God of the universe comes down as a helpless babe in a impoverished stable on a cold night.   It is through the willingness of God to incarnate himself and so humble himself that the great love of God can be poured out into the world through Jesus the Christ. 

How does Santa do it?  His first secret is staying in touch with the children of the world.  His second secret is being able to humble himself.  But, how does he handle the big problems that come his way?  How does he handle these letters?    “Please send a message to my sister in heaven that I love her and wish her a happy Christmas.”   (Michael, age 9) Or, this letter, “Dear Santa, how can I get a family who have fled from abuse and are now ‘in hiding’ to believe in you?  The children are 7, 9 and 11.” 

I think Santa’s third secret it Wally.  Whose Wally?  Wally lived in the mid-west and Wally was nine and was in 2^nd grade when he should have been in 4^th grade.  He had some sort of learning disability.  He was big and clumsy, and slow in movement.  Wally was liked, but he irritated the other kids and they often tried to keep him out of their games.  He never sulked, he always hoped.  And Wally was a natural protector of the underdog.  If the older boys chased the younger ones away, Wally would say, “Can’t they stay?  They’re no bother.” 

That year Wally was picked to be the innkeeper in the Christmas Pageant.  The director, Miss Lambard, reasoned that the Innkeeper did not have many lines, so Wally couldn’t mess them up.  So, the day of the pageant happened and Wally was completely caught up in the magic.  The time came when Joseph appreared, slowly, tenderly guiding Mary to the door of the inn.  Wally the innkeeper was waiting.

“What do you want?” he said swinging the door open brusquely.

“We seek lodging.”

“See it elsewhere!”  So far so good.

“We have traveled far and are very tired.”

“There is no room in this inn for you.” 

“Please good innkeeper, this is my wife, Mary.  She is pregnant.  She needs a place to rest.  Surely you must have some small corner for her to stay.”  This is when Wally began to waver.  He looked down at Mary and shuffled back and forth on his feet.  There was a long pause.  Miss Lambard whispered loudly from back stage, “No! Be gone!”  So Wally repeated, “No!  Be gone!

Joseph and Mary sadly began to walk away.  But, the innkeeper didn’t go back to the inn.  Wally stood there in the doorway watching the forlorn couple.  His mouth was open.  He was tearing up.  Then the Christmas pageant became different from all others.  “Don’t go Joseph!”  Wally called out.  “Bring Mary back.”  Wally’s face grew broke into a smile.  “You can have my room!”  

Wally is Santa’s third secret.   I imagine Wally wrote letters to Santa just like all the other kids.   Santa knew that it was Wally who would be able to deliver even greater gifts to the world.  This is because Jesus knocked on the door of the inn and Wally’s heart answered.   

No doubt Wally held a candle at his churches candle lighting Christmas Eve Service.   All his Wally’s friends and the adults who knew Wally were holding candles.  The whole congregation had heard Wally’s cry at the Christmas Pageant, “You can have my room!” and understood the true meaning of Christmas.  When Christ knocks on your door –  give him your room !  That’s what these candles mean.   I can imagine from Santa’s point of view, way up there in the sky, looking down from his sled, there are millions of tiny lights all over the world this Christmas Eve.  Like Wally we  who have let Christ into our rooms and our hearts are able to bring the gifts of joy, peace, hope and love to the dark places that even Santa can’t go. 

So how does Santa do it?  How can you do it to?  How can yo forget being served and serve?  Forget receiving and give?  Forget being loved but love?  Forget being cared for and care?  This is how:   First, keep in touch with the children of the world.  Second, be willing to humble yourself.  Third, don’t turn the baby Jesus away, but let him have your room.  

Justin, age 7, wrote this letter to Santa :  “Please help out the people that cannot have a decent Christmas.  Help the homeless find homes, help the starving find food and shelter.  Christmas is really about helping others and celebrating the birth of Jesus and being with family and friends.  Its not just about the toys!”