Cosmic Connections: A Christmas Eve Meditation
It was Christmas Day in the afternoon. Presents had been opened and their detritus had been cleared. The yule feast was in the rearview mirror and a young boy could finally embrace the desire of his heart: a giant bucket of Legos left under the tree by Santa.
I am going to build a Tower. Said the boy. But not just any tower….the tallest Lego tower EVER!
Great. Said his sleepy-eyed dad from the couch where he lay watching football. Have at it!
The boy began stacking the colorful plastic bricks and as the tower grew taller, his dad became more awake. Before long, dad and son were on their knees together in the middle of the floor, strategizing and structuring the world’s greatest Lego tower.
It seemed like they had been at it for just a few minutes when mom came in to announce bed time.
But the tower….we aren’t finished with it! Cried the boy.
It will keep. Said mom as she hustled her son off to brush teeth, wash face, and settle in for a long winter’s nap.
Dad remained. A man on a mission.
When are you coming to bed? His wife asked.
Soon….he replied in the way a pre-occupied man replies…..soon.
The next morning his son woke up and stumbled downstairs to find every Lego brick had been used by his dad to build what did seem to be the tallest tower ever made in one’s own living room. Next to it sat his father…eyes filled with anticipation for the kudos that would surely pour from his son’s lips.
Dad …. We were supposed to do it together. Said the boy and then he walked away.
Relationship. It’s more than sharing genetic material or sitting in the desk next to another person day after day after day. It’s more than an annual birthday phone call or Christmas card. It’s even more than living in the same house together for 30 years.
Relationship is about investment….of presence, of self.
Relationship is about being there...together.
Relationship is a connection, a connectedness.
In the stories of Christmas we read about a God who had been denied relationship with his own creation by their acts of disobedience. That cosmic rip in the universe that began with Adam and Eve extended through time and space to create a great gulf between God and God’s own. Amazingly, we read that God took the initiative, understanding love more than anger or hate or resentment or revenge….entering into a whole new place: a human body….that of a baby who would grow to become a man. He did it all for relationship, to connect once again with his own dear children who had gone off on their own….building towers and living lives and following their momentary desires.
What a mess we made of things.
Much like the dad who worked through the night to fulfill his personal quest for success, thus missing the opportunity for connection with his own son who was now heading into the kitchen to eat a lonely breakfast.
An hour or so later, the dad came to his son’s room with a gift, all wrapped up in Christmas paper.
The son, a bit confused but clearly interested, took the package, opened it and found a whole new bucket of Legos.
Let’s start over. Said the dad.
And so they did. Dad and son spent the whole morning stacking tiny plastic bricks to make a tall, tall tower right next the one made the night before. And when both towers were complete and stood side by side….the son said, we aren’t finished.
He gathered a few more Legos together and built a simple arch which he used to connect the two towers…forming a bridge.
Did you know Legos were invented by a Danish carpenter in 1940? His name was Kirk Christiansen and he called his new toy Lego as a play on words because in his language it means “play well” and in Latin, “I put together.”
That is the act we celebrate tonight - a distant father, separated from his children because of their own poor choices…. made a decision: to come and be with them in their brokenness, their disobedience, their self-appointed and self-determined exile. For God so loved us….God couldn’t stay away. God reached out….bridging the gulf, putting together what had been torn asunder.
God, in Christ, is the bridge that says this is a relationship -- one of such monumental importance that I would cross heaven and hell, all of eternity, the entire cosmos …..to be with you. And he did just that.
Based on an anonymous story I heard years ago....credit offered up to whomever told the story first!
I am going to build a Tower. Said the boy. But not just any tower….the tallest Lego tower EVER!
Great. Said his sleepy-eyed dad from the couch where he lay watching football. Have at it!
The boy began stacking the colorful plastic bricks and as the tower grew taller, his dad became more awake. Before long, dad and son were on their knees together in the middle of the floor, strategizing and structuring the world’s greatest Lego tower.
It seemed like they had been at it for just a few minutes when mom came in to announce bed time.
But the tower….we aren’t finished with it! Cried the boy.
It will keep. Said mom as she hustled her son off to brush teeth, wash face, and settle in for a long winter’s nap.
Dad remained. A man on a mission.
When are you coming to bed? His wife asked.
Soon….he replied in the way a pre-occupied man replies…..soon.
The next morning his son woke up and stumbled downstairs to find every Lego brick had been used by his dad to build what did seem to be the tallest tower ever made in one’s own living room. Next to it sat his father…eyes filled with anticipation for the kudos that would surely pour from his son’s lips.
Dad …. We were supposed to do it together. Said the boy and then he walked away.
Relationship. It’s more than sharing genetic material or sitting in the desk next to another person day after day after day. It’s more than an annual birthday phone call or Christmas card. It’s even more than living in the same house together for 30 years.
Relationship is about investment….of presence, of self.
Relationship is about being there...together.
Relationship is a connection, a connectedness.
In the stories of Christmas we read about a God who had been denied relationship with his own creation by their acts of disobedience. That cosmic rip in the universe that began with Adam and Eve extended through time and space to create a great gulf between God and God’s own. Amazingly, we read that God took the initiative, understanding love more than anger or hate or resentment or revenge….entering into a whole new place: a human body….that of a baby who would grow to become a man. He did it all for relationship, to connect once again with his own dear children who had gone off on their own….building towers and living lives and following their momentary desires.
What a mess we made of things.
Much like the dad who worked through the night to fulfill his personal quest for success, thus missing the opportunity for connection with his own son who was now heading into the kitchen to eat a lonely breakfast.
An hour or so later, the dad came to his son’s room with a gift, all wrapped up in Christmas paper.
The son, a bit confused but clearly interested, took the package, opened it and found a whole new bucket of Legos.
Let’s start over. Said the dad.
And so they did. Dad and son spent the whole morning stacking tiny plastic bricks to make a tall, tall tower right next the one made the night before. And when both towers were complete and stood side by side….the son said, we aren’t finished.
He gathered a few more Legos together and built a simple arch which he used to connect the two towers…forming a bridge.
Did you know Legos were invented by a Danish carpenter in 1940? His name was Kirk Christiansen and he called his new toy Lego as a play on words because in his language it means “play well” and in Latin, “I put together.”
That is the act we celebrate tonight - a distant father, separated from his children because of their own poor choices…. made a decision: to come and be with them in their brokenness, their disobedience, their self-appointed and self-determined exile. For God so loved us….God couldn’t stay away. God reached out….bridging the gulf, putting together what had been torn asunder.
God, in Christ, is the bridge that says this is a relationship -- one of such monumental importance that I would cross heaven and hell, all of eternity, the entire cosmos …..to be with you. And he did just that.
Based on an anonymous story I heard years ago....credit offered up to whomever told the story first!
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