A few days ago, the Christmas shoe boxes that you so lovingly created were opened.
Loaded onto trucks, shipped across time zones, oceans, and continents, they made their way to their final destinations. To land in a set of little hands and to bring joy and hope and love: the Gospel.
One box is ready.
For some of us, it was a tiny dent to the wallet, for others of us, packing the shoe box was a financial sacrifice. And so it goes every year. Out of the calling we have received, we pour out. That’s the only response. And that’s how we receive our anointing. Anointing comes through our obedience. The more we actively fill the needs God puts in front of us, the stronger our anointing.
And then more gather.
His law is love, and we can respond to that law in a myriad of different ways. The shoe box is a tiny example of a response. How do I respond to this one glorious life? To being born in this country and with all these resources and this spare change in my pocket? There are so many options. The shoe box is just one.
And it’s unglorious and so humble. And so much work. Thank you, volunteers.
We will have Christmas presents this year; we will give them and we will receive them, so we have to show up for those who don’t have that option at all. And we did.
There is an account of fishes and loaves. The very meager lunch belonged to a little boy, and the disciples asked him for his food. He said yes, and his small obedience impacted the thousands who were there. God multiplied the food and everyone who had a need had that need met. Because God sees, and He knows. And he used that little boy to work a miracle. He uses me and you, friend. Because we show up and say yes.
And shoe boxes are so un-extravagant, so unsuspecting.
God, who was born in a manger among the animals and filth. God, who chose to be born in Bethlehem, an off-the-grid, tiny town. God, who chose to be born to an unwed teenager. God works through the shoe boxes. He shows up when we show up. It makes sense though. The God who dwelt among the poor aligns Himself with our humble shoe boxes more than He aligns Himself with our opulence.
And off the boxes go to the processing center. And then off to Mexico they go!
Emmanuel, God with us, lives up to His promise. He is with us as we are with them. If you don’t feel Him, go to the poor. May we pour ourselves out for the marginalized, lost, lonely, hopeless, outcast, unnoticed, and difficult. We will feel Him working there, and when we see Him face to face one day, we will know Him.
On that day you will recognize Him, and He will recognize you.
Pour yourself out so much that it changes the way you live. May our hearts break for what breaks His. Then we can be sure that we know Him.
Except it wasn’t one truck, it was three. And it wasn’t one box, it was 15,312. Fishes and loaves, my friends. And a little boy who said yes to God.
The community we all long for is one that pours out.
It gathers around to love, to show up to meet a need, and stands in solidarity. No judgment, no questions, just an outpouring of love. I don’t know who opened the shoe box, but I do hope we share eternity together.
To us a Savior is born, so let us pour out. Amen, amen, and amen.
