As I’ve said, I’m taking the Christmas Eve service, so I will be telling this story:
One Christmas, in a town in Germany, about 300 years ago, a very important man in the church stood up in front of all the people who were sitting in the pews and told them about the meaning of Christmas. He used big, long words such as “immaculate” and “redemption”, he said complicated things about “salvation through the lamb who came and who was sacrificed”, and the children who were sitting there, as good as gold, and not fidgeting, didn’t understand a word of what he was saying.
At the end of the service, while the grown ups stood at the back of the church and talked about the weather, the group of children were whispering together. Finally they pushed one young girl forward.
“Go on, Leisel, you ask him…” they said.
“Excuse me, Sir…” she said to the very important man, rather afraid of what he might do or say at the interruption.
“Yes? What is it?” Happily, he wasn’t fierce or frightening, but rather he had kind eyes and an inviting smile.
“Er…you see, Sir,” she pointed to the small group of children. “We didn’t really understand what you said about God and Jesus…You used very big words, and we don’t know what they mean”
“Oh, I am very sorry. Do you know, I didn’t think of that?” he apologised. Then he gestured for the other children to come forward and to sit down on the floor. They came shyly – because after all this was a very important man – and sat down.
“Right,” he said. “First of all… Do you know the story of Jesus’ birth?”
“Yes, “they said, and told him about the baby born in a stable, about the angels who sang, the shepherds who came to visit, the parents Mary and Joseph. By the time each child had finished adding their part to the story they were no longer shy, but rather sitting up straight, putting up their hands, eager to add an extra detail to what they were saying.
“There was a donkey!” one boy said
“And a cat!” another offered.
“Excellent,” said the very important man. “You know the story”
“Yes,” Liesel said, “We know the story. But what does it mean?”
The very important man opened his mouth to tell them. But then he shut it again, realising he was about to use big, long words like “immaculate” and “redemption” all over again. And these were the words the children didn’t understand.
He looked around the church and saw that someone had put a decoration just in front of the altar, with holly, and sweet-smelling oranges, and spicy-scented cinnamon sticks, tied together with red ribbons. He took hold of the orange
“Look”, he said “the orange is round like the earth. This is the world that God created, and this is the world that God loves. Each one of us who lives on the earth is precious to God.”
The children nodded. They understood the idea of love: their mums and dads loved them; they loved their parents, their friends, their pets. That was clear.
The very important man plucked a ribbon from the decoration and wrapped it round the orange.
“The ribbon is red – it shows the very strength of God’s love. Sometimes bad things happen in the world, but God will always love us. Sometimes we do bad things that hurt others, but God will always love us. So much so, that Jesus – that little baby that you know about – came to teach us how much God loves us. He showed us, by loving and helping other people”
Some of the children looked a little bit doubtful.
“How did a baby help people?” one child asked
The very important man paused and smiled
“Well, first the baby made people happy because the Angels that you know about came because of him, to tell the shepherds that God loves everyone – rich and poor. But then the baby grew up to be a man, who spoke to everyone who needed help, and who told them about a God who loved them and wanted them to love other people.
But sadly”, continued the very important man,” not everyone liked these ideas, and in the end they did bad things to the man, Jesus, and killed him. So the red ribbon reminds us that God’s love is that strong.”
“But why was Jesus special?” a voice came from behind the children. It was one of the parents who had stopped chatting and come to join the group at the front of the church.
Again the very important man looked around him and saw the small candles that were part of another decoration. He made a hole in the top of the orange, and then, carefully, he pushed the candle into it. Then, taking a long taper he lit the candle.
“The candle shows us that Jesus was the Light of the World – he showed us the way. He came, from Heaven, to light our world. He is the Son of God. He is light, and love, and peace – all the things that God gives us.”
For a moment there was silence as they all watched the flame dancing in the slight draught from the windows, and thought about Jesus, the light of the world, lying in an animal feeding trough.
It was time to go, and as the children started to get to their feet, one small boy remembered he had some sweets in his pocket. They were special, because his Grandmother had given them to him for Christmas, but he wanted to give this kind man something to show that he understood what he had said. A little reluctantly, Peter pulled the sweets from his pocket and held them out in his hand.
“Thank you, Sir”, he said. “That makes it easier to understand. You can have my Christmas sweets to say Thank you.”
The very important man looked at the sweets and understood how special they were to Peter. He thought very quickly, and cried out
“Wait!” The children all paused. “Look, Peter has given me his Christmas sweets. And they can help us remember that God gives us food and good things in our world. “
The very important man snatched a twig from the Christmas decoration beside the altar and broke it into four pieces. He stuck them into the orange and then carefully put a sweet on each twig.
“North, south, east, west” he continued. “– it doesn’t matter where we are in the world, God’s love goes with us, and we are told to share the good gifts he gives us with everyone. “
With that, the very important man placed the orange onto the altar.
“Thank you, God, for the gift of your love, shown to us in Jesus.”
The very important man got to his feet, solemnly shook the hands of all the children and the grown ups and left the church. As he put the last of Peter’s Christmas sweets into his mouth, he knew that he would not forget the night when some children made him think much more carefully about the Christmas story
And now, every year, all over the world people make Christingles like this one to remember that God made the world, that he loves us all and that Jesus came to be our light.
View from the Teapot 