Presents?

Well I hope you had a good Christmas. A quiet one I expect. And perhaps we might say a strange one. But I hope it was still a good one. And I hope that you received some presents that you have been able to enjoy. After all, that’s what Christmas is really all about isn’t it? Let’s be honest, however old we are, we still enjoy receiving presents don’t we? Especially from those closest to us. And, I expect we also enjoy giving presents to those we love. We love to see their faces as they open gifts we know they will appreciate. We like to surprise them. We like to give them what we know they will enjoy. We like to be generous. We love to give. I received a present this year that really made me laugh. It made the rest of the family laugh too. I love the song “Great Gig in the Sky” by Pink Floyd. It’s mainly a vocal, without words. In my opinion it’s one of the greatest vocals ever recorded. That view is not shared by the rest of the family. They don’t like the song. So for a Christmas present, Zac came up with a clever solution. He gave me a picture of the sound wave of the song. That means he gave me a picture of the lines you would see on a computer if you were playing the song and watching the sounds waves. Lots of vertical lines very close together. Underneath the picture of the sounds wave were the words: “Now you can look at the song so we don’t have to listen to it!” Brilliant. I will frame it and hang it in my office! But I wonder, with all the challenges of 2020, with all the disappointments, with all the uncertainty and with all the emotional strain, if there is something more then presents we desire at this time. Actually it is another gift. But it’s not one we give. It’s one we receive. It’s a gift that has been given to us but it’s better than a present we receive, it’s one we live in. We desire and enjoy presents at Christmas. But I’m wondering if more than presents, we desire and look for presence. And specifically God’s presence. God’s presence is a gift to us and it was given in a new way that first Christmas. God came to be with us. God came and made his dwelling among us. He came to do life with us. And he still does. And maybe what we need far more than presents, great though thy can be, as we go into 2021, is presence: the presence of God with us at this very challenging time. And the truth is that God longs to come to us. He is all around, closer than we think. But he is waiting to be invited to share our day with us; each day, every day. He waits every day. He gives us the gift of his presence when we invite him to walk with us, to go before us and behind us, to our right and to our left, above us and below us, within us and in all those we meet. So what will it be: presents, or presence for 2021?