Is This It?

Anybody out there old enough to remember when it was a big deal to ride around and look at Christmas lights? Why was it a big deal? Well, there were not as many Christmas specials on TV for one thing. Why...because TV had not been around long enough to make the specials.

So instead of sitting with our heads in a box we had to go out and make something "special." I suppose more people had time on their hands so they would decorate their porches and trees and roofs with all sorts of lights. Not as many people do that, do they? Or do I simply not pay enough attention. Or if I am paying attention am I so overstimulated with the light shows of culture that it simply does not impress me anymore?

Why ride around when you can see it all from the comfort of your home on HD? Well first of all we did it as a family. We actually talked about the lights instead of simply watching them. I remember if all went well we ended up at Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone. That was special.

I remember at the small rural church that I served years ago the tradition was to stuff brown paper bags on a certain Saturday afternoon with nuts, an orange, an apple, and an assortment of small candies. These were called "pokes." The kids would grab them the next Sunday afternoon and were underwhelmed to say the least. These pokes were no longer special to children who did not much like the fruit and were used to having all the candy their stomachs could handle most any time they wanted it.

But the adults wanted to do it because they could remember the days when pokes were special. They still had stories lining their memory chest of their parents who reminded them that a poke was all they got for Christmas. It was special. So I joined in this tradition of remembering the ghosts of Christmas past. In a day when video games would soon relegate coloring books to the attic these adults at least felt the need to nod to the simple days of the past.

Which brings me to what the dear woman said the other evening at the Live Nativity scene. The shepherds were taking their places, the wise men were making their way toward the stable, and Mary and Joseph were now looking down at the manger. I was getting ready to walk over to the microphone and read the Christmas story for the first time that evening when the woman asked me, "Is this it?" "What do you mean, " I responded? "Well is this it or is there something else?"

I felt the need to tell her that I was getting ready to read the story and that yes there would be some dramatic presentations later and some music. For this passing observer, however, something needed to "happen." Simply witnessing the scene and the characters was not enough.

The children that night, however, seemed captivated by simply seeing the scene. Some of them would come up and stare at a "real" Mary and Joseph and then they would stand over the manger looking at baby Jesus. None of the children asked if "anything was going to happen." It already had...

So tonight I think I'll drive around and look at some Christmas lights. I might even go find a Dairy Queen. And as I taste that soft serve I will remember how special small things can be and that the reason for the lights is that something indeed "did happen."