The annual management staff Christmas party was a long-time tradition at the Wisconsin Natural Gas Company. Each year it was held at a very private club in downtown Racine, Wisconsin. The club was located on the fourth floor of a corner building on Main Street, and accessible through a small lobby and a tiny elevator. It was an exclusive club for the movers and shakers in our city.

In 1967 I started at the company as a laborer, doing pick & shovel work on a construction crew. I worked hard, paid attention, studied a little, and gradually worked my way up to an entry-level salaried position. We were a small outfit, about four hundred employees at our peak. We were the wholly owned subsidiary of a much larger company, Wisconsin Electric Power Company. Thus our executive officers all were under other executives at the larger parent company.

As I moved up the ranks in level, I began to hear about the “Christmas Party”. Being a small company, we were all on a first-name basis; George. our VP, was the highest ranking executive, “the Boss” in our cozy realm. I jumped to a level five, the equivalent of a supervisor, with my first promotion. The job expanded, and my level kept up until one day I was a level seven manager, and eligible for the fabled “Christmas Party”.

The club where it took place consisted of quiet lounges, a bar, and a dining room. We socialized with drinks from the bar, (ginger ale for me) and grabbed appetizers from the table. The most sought-after goodie came from the huge plates of cooked shrimp and cocktail sauce that the waiters carried about in our midst. I knew most of the men because I attended the monthly staff meeting with them, about twenty-five of us altogether. But on those party nights, a few of the senior executives from the parent company graced us with their presence. No first names with these guys, at least not for me.

I think it was my first time at the party when I happened to enter the lobby at the same time the CEO and Senior VP came in. I mumbled a greeting and stood aside to let them enter the tiny elevator. With a gracious smile, the CEO invited me in, and squeezed together, we were lifted to the fourth floor.

When it was time for dinner, our VP would introduce officers and guests. The big guys might make a remark or two. Someone would say a prayer, and dinner would follow: salad, a good steak, and dessert. Then, the party would start. The bar opened, jackets were removed, and playing cards appeared. With a little money on the table, a long evening of friendly poker would begin. That’s usually when I left, not because I objected to the festivities, but because I didn’t drink and had no skill at card-playing. I enjoyed those parties with these good people who worked hard to deliver energy, gas or electric, to our customers. They did what was needed, and did it quietly and well.

By 1989, we had a new VP, Ron Espe. That year he asked me to give the invocation at the party. The company was changing, there were rumors of mergers, whisperings of reorganizations, a changing of the guard. The Christmas Party began as usual, and when dinner time arrived this was the prayer I said:

Dear God, our Creator,

We are especially aware of your generous redeeming love at this time of year.

How amazing and wonderful of you to send an infant child as your answer to darkness and death;  as your gift of light and life to us!

We invite you to our table here tonight, Lord.

Be among us to bless the food, the friendships and our celebration.  We thank you for these things.

Thank you too, for all the joys and challenges that life can bring.

And most of all, thank you for your eternal and changeless love; whose name is Jesus.

Amen.

Soon after, the corporate culture changed quickly, and the annual Staff Christmas Party for Wisconsin Natural Gas Company ceased to be. Within the next four and a half years, we merged with another gas utility, and we in turn were merged into the parent company, becoming an operating division. Most of the men attending that celebration in 1989 were gone; retired, let go, or quit. I was one of the few left, narrowly escaping a layoff, only to be shuffled out years later during yet another merger.

When I thanked God that night for “…challenges that life can bring.” little did I realize how big those challenges would be. But through it all, I was sustained by faith in the God of ”… changeless love; whose name is Jesus.”

For most of us, the year 2020 has been the most challenging we’ve faced. As you celebrate Christmas this year, I pray that you will be sustained by faith in the God who holds all things in his hands, the God who will cover you with His love. Merry Christmas!

“The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach. Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the LORD.”

Zephaniah 3:17-20 (ESV)