Did you receive any Christmas presents this year? Can you remember each one, and who gave it to you? Do the clothes fit; are you already considering re-gifting, will some wind up on a shelf never to be enjoyed?

How about last year, or five years ago; ten years? What did you receive? Who gave it to you? Do you still have these gifts, or are they worn out, or tossed out, or never used?

Let me tell you about three different gifts I received in the past: The Train, The Jacket and The Key.

The Train

When I was a boy, we lived in New York City. We weren’t poor exactly, but we lived in a rented lower flat on a dead end street in Queens, surrounded by a marshland that was used as a city dump. (Nowadays it is more politically correct to call it a landfill.)

Our family tradition for Christmas was that, on Christmas Eve, my grandparents would come over, and with my parents, they would set up the tree and decorate it. My younger brother (and later, baby sister) and I would have to play in our room until the adults were done. Finally, we would hear the tinkling sound of a little china bell, the signal that “Santa” had come and that all was ready. We’d enter the living room with its linoleum floor, and find it transformed into a wonderland with the tree, lights, ornaments, brightly wrapped gifts and…the train.

The train was your basic Lionel starter set, a gray streamlined locomotive, a couple of cars, an oval track and the black transformer with a handle you moved to make the train run. And the train would be moving, making its way around the track! You see, the thing about the train is that it was not new. In fact, it may have belonged to my dad originally. What I do remember, is that each year, he would drag it out of the closet, work on it until it ran, and put it under the tree. I, (and in later years my brother) would play with it all through the holidays until it inevitably stopped working.  Then, the train would disappear into the closet until the next Christmas.

Now, I received many presents during those years, and I can even remember one or two of them, but no memory is more precious than my dad patiently working on that train in secret every year. Every Christmas he dragged it out, fixed it up, made it run and gave it to me.

It reminds me of God’s patient love for the Israelites. Generation after generation, God would “fix up” the Israelites, patiently mending them; redeeming them. Then, the nation would play around with their faith until it broke, until other gods became more important. And God would send a prophet, or a king, and repair the broken relationship. Again and again.

The Jacket

Growing up in the fifties, there were certain symbols that seemed important to a boy’s identity. One of these was the leather jacket. There were two types. One was the black “motorcycle jacket” as worn by Marlon Brando in the movie “The Wild Ones”. The other type was the brown flight jacket worn by all the hero pilots in the World War two movies. I wanted one! And so I hinted and cajoled as the 1955 Christmas season approached.

On Christmas Eve, the little china bell sounded, and my brother and I dashed into the living room to see what bounty there was for us. There, under the tree was a box with my name on it, of sufficient size and weight to give me hope. I tore off the paper and opened the box – A LEATHER JACKET! But it was not black or brown, it was Gray! And it was was three quarter length, with a little belt, And it had a fake fur collar. But what was even worse, my little brother, four and a half years younger than I, received exactly the same kind of jacket – THEY MATCHED! In a word, this was the least cool present I had ever received.

Of course, I had to wear it. It was the only winter jacket I had! And I did wear it. It kept me warm and dry when it rained or snowed. It was my winter jacket until I outgrew it.

Sometimes we ask for things, and then get something entirely different from what we expected. “A baby?! We asked for a Messiah, and God sends us a baby? How is a baby going to crush the Romans and establish a nation?” Did you ever wonder why the angels announced Jesus’ birth to shepherds and not to the priests? I think it was because the priests would not accept the kind of Messiah that Jesus was. But the shepherds, well they just trusted God to do what He said He would do. And Jesus did establish a kingdom, greater than the priests or shepherds or disciples could ever have imagined.

The Key

Not all the memories of my childhood are happy ones. When I was a senior in high school, my parents marriage broke up. And just before Christmas in 1959, they separated, and my mother moved to New Jersey. We children stayed behind with my dad, but I knew it was just a matter of time until we would have to go and live with my mother.

One night, after a church youth group meeting, I told my best friend, Bob Zittel, about my fears. I was in my last year of high school. I was active in the church youth group. And I didn’t want to leave my friends. Bob cried with me that night. In desperation and wishful idealism he said “Maybe you could come live with us.”

Soon, Christmas came, and gifts were exchanged. One gift was a small package from Bob’s parents. I opened it, and inside I found an old house key and a simple note that said, “Just in case.” With that old key, they welcomed me into their home, where I lived until graduation. When I needed it most, they gave me shelter, surrounded me with understanding, and accepted me just as I was. It is still hard for me to grasp the sacrifice they made in terms of privacy, tranquility and the financial shock of another teenage mouth to feed.

This gift of unselfish love was my salvation during the most difficult time of my youth. Yet it was given in such a quiet and unassuming way that most people around didn’t even notice. Every year at Christmas time, I remember 1959, and give thanks to Kay and Charlie Zittel for their gift to me.

For me, these Christmas presents have come to symbolize God’s love. Some involved nothing more than picking it up at a store, and paying for it. Some gifts required work and skill; an investment of time and patience. And sometimes, a gift involved a sacrifice.

Can you imagine being given a gift and not receiving it? Would you ever leave a gift with your name on it under the tree? What would have happened to me had I never played with the train, or worn that jacket on those cold winter days, or not used that key to enter a the shelter of Kay and Charlie’s home?

At Christmas, we have received a present. And God is the One who gave it to us; The baby Jesus. Along the way, Jesus would teach and suffer and die for our sins. Then He rose from death to new life. Now, two thousand years later, we still receive the gift God is giving: His eternal, patient and sacrificial love, which can free us from sin and bind us to Him forever.

But you and I have to accept the gift. We can’t just leave it under the tree. Can you imagine receiving the most precious, priceless gift, and then not picking it up and opening it? Yet, that’s what so many people do with God’s gift at Christmas. They just leave it there, under the tree. I tell you, you will never receive a gift as precious as Jesus the Christ! In John 1:12 we read,“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

I’m convinced that our job, as Christians, as disciples, is to point to the gift so others can receive it. “Hey look, under the tree! Look at what God left for you! Go ahead, pick it up, open it. It’s for you.”

So when I say “Merry Christmas” what I mean is,“ Hey look! Look and see the present God has for you. It has your name on it!”

“And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.’”

Luke 2:10-11 (ESV)