Back in 1997, the Land’s End catalog featured an article by humorist Garrison Keillor entitled “What I’m Giving You for Christmas.” This is how it began:

“A few years ago, someone near and dear gave me a polo shirt for Christmas, and I said thank you, of course, and put it on and tried to look pleased, but what I was thinking was, ‘Burgundy?’ In my experience, burgundy polo shirts are worn by guys who smoke Cigarillos, drive Buick LeSabre convertibles and place large wagers on basketball games. I’m more of a wheat or antique blue type of person. But did I turn to the giver and say, ‘Sorry, I’m an English major and we don’t wear this color’? No, I put the polo shirt in a special section of my closet where I keep never-to-be-worn Christmas-gift clothes. After the three month Christmas gift cooling off period required by law, I gave the shirt to a homeless shelter. I hope it’s being worn by someone now, and yet I can imagine a homeless person being offered this shirt and saying to the volunteer, ‘You wouldn’t have something in pale green or aqua would you?’ Just because you’re homeless doesn’t mean you look good in burgundy.”

Well, I was here in the church earlier this morning for the prayer breakfast, and I’m glad to report that as we gave the Christmas stockings to more than 1000 homeless guests, no one received a burgundy polo shirt! Better still, the gifts of warm clothing, underwear, toilet articles and other necessities were accepted graciously and joyfully, and I want to thank all of you who helped to make Christmas a wonderful reality for those men, women and children who came to us from all over the city of Atlanta.

Now the question that many if not most of us have been asking our family members and friends since right after Thanksgiving is, “What do you want for Christmas”? We listen carefully to the answer, and then begin the annual ritual of shopping and buying and trying to find the right gift for the right person at the right and reasonable price.

Sometimes, oftentimes, we get it right, and on Christmas morning, there is great delight in both the giving and receiving of gifts. There are other times when it doesn’t work out that way, as was the case with a man who procrastinated until the last minute and frantically went to the mall, purchased a handsome pen and pencil set and had it monogrammed. The clerk said, “A Christmas gift for your wife? Won’t she be surprised”! The husband replied, “I’ll say, she’s expecting a new car.”

To be sure, it would be foolish of me to criticize our December shopping spree. We are bombarded with the message that it’s good for the economy and as long as we don’t buy a burgundy polo shirt or try to cut someone off in the mall parking lot or run up our credit card bills sky high, or forget and ignore the people all around us and among us who are poor, we’re probably going to survive.

Of course, it would be so much more meaningful, if instead of asking the question, “What do you want for Christmas?” we focused on the deeper spiritual reality of “What all of us really need for Christmas.” And who of us would deny that the answer in reply would be “Peace on earth, serenity in our lives, joy in our homes, and a sense of God’s presence as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.” After all, that is the reason for this season, and somehow, every one of us knows that if we don’t center our hearts and minds on that manger scene long ago, we are going to miss the essence of Christmas.

The good news is that the shopping is over and done. And if we watch and wait and concentrate our attention on that Child born in Bethlehem, right here and right now, it is not too late to celebrate the arrival of the Holy One. And that is what God wants for Christmas!

Our scripture lesson this Christmas Eve morning is familiar to all of us. In Luke, chapter 2, we read that In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled…so Joseph and Mary went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth…to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem…and Mary, his betrothed, was with child. While they were there, the time came for her to be delivered. And she gave birth to her first-born Son and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no place - no room - for them in the inn. (Luke 2:1-7)

Those expectant words - No room for them in the inn - have given birth in our imagination to a scene in ancient Bethlehem where Mary and Joseph knock on the door of a rustic inn and inquire if there are any vacancies. In our mind’s eye, we see the innkeeper shake his head sadly, and then, with compassion on his face, he offers them the only available place - a stable around back where sometime later, on that silent, holy night, surrounded by animals and a soft lantern light, Mary’s Baby is born.

That is the scene we have imagined and re-enacted in Christmas pageants down through the centuries. And it all comes from one verse in the second chapter of Luke: She gave birth to her first born Son, wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger, because there was no place - no room - for them in the inn.

Well, no one knows for certain exactly how it happened. But we Christians believe that as it did happen, time was split in two, from B.C. to A.D., and ever since we have celebrated Christmas as the day God gave the whole world the greatest gift of all - His Son, our Savior, Jesus.

So today, in preparation for tomorrow’s ancient tradition of giving and receiving gifts which began with the birth of Jesus, I want to leave you with the question, “What Does God Want for Christmas?”

If we look at that scene in Bethlehem once more, I think it shows that God wants us to open the door and invite Him to come in. Just as we imagine Mary and Joseph knocking at the door in Bethlehem, so it is now that God in person, in the person of Jesus, knocks at the doors of our lives seeking entrance. And although He has the power to push the door down and force His way in, He has chosen instead to give us the decision of our own free will.

Some of us opened that door a long time ago and have walked in a relationship with the Lord for many seasons. Others of us have opened it more recently, perhaps through a conversion experience. But there are still those of us who have kept the door closed and shut tight, saying that we’re not ready or the time isn’t right to open our lives to Him.

If that is where you are today, then listen again to what the angels proclaimed to Joseph and Mary and those shepherds long ago: Be not afraid! Because once that door is opened, you will discover the depth of God’s forgiveness and the height of His amazing grace. Once that door is opened, you will find that He is patient and kind and ready to accept you just as you are with the promise that He can help you become all that you were meant to be. And that is what God wants for Christmas - that we will open the door and invite Him to come in.

There is something else He wants as well - that we will open our arms to share His love, and open our hands to give the best we’ve got to give.

I want to try an experiment with you. Fold your arms and turn toward the person to your left and then to your right. Not much to share, is there. Now, close your hands and make two fists, then turn again to your neighbor on both sides. Feels confrontational, doesn’t it? One last time, open your arms and your hands and try once more - to the left and to the right. Be careful not to poke anybody in the side! How does that feel?

Now here’s the point. So many of us go through life with our arms folded and our hands closed, not physically always, but emotionally and spiritually. When we do that, it is basically impossible to give or to share anything we have with anyone else. And that is not the way God wants it to be. What He wants, especially for Christmas, are open arms and open hands to share His love and to give the best we’ve got to give.

In a wonderful story entitled “Trouble at the Inn,” an awkward nine year old boy named Wallace Purling was chosen to play the innkeeper in the Christmas pageant. The pageant director, Miss Lumbard, knew that the part was simple enough without too many lines. And because Wally was bigger than all the rest of the children, his refusal of lodging to Joseph would be all the more realistic.

So the day of the pageant came, a large crowd gathered in the sanctuary, the children were dressed in their costumes and no one was more caught up in the wonder of it all than Wallace Purling. He stood in the wings until the time came for him to walk out onto the chancel platform as Joseph knocked on the wooden door of the inn.

“What do you want?” said Wally in a gruff voice. “We seek lodging,” replied the second grade Joseph. “Seek it elsewhere. The inn is filled,” replied Wally, looking straight ahead.

“Please sir,” said Joseph, “This is my wife Mary. She is heavy with child and needs a place to rest. She is so tired.” Now, for the first time, Wally looked down at Mary. There was a long pause, which made some in the audience a little embarrassed and tense.

“No. Be gone!” the prompter whispered from the wings. “No” Wally repeated, “Be gone.” Joseph turned sadly and took Mary’s arm as the two of them started to move away. As Wally stood in the doorway, his mouth was open, his face looked concerned and tears started to stream from his eyes. And suddenly, that Christmas pageant became different from all the others. “Don’t go!” Wally called out. “Bring her back. You can have my room!” he said.

Some people in the church thought the pageant had been spoiled. But most everybody agreed that it was the most joyful and meaningful Christmas pageant they had ever seen. (From Guideposts Magazine, 1966)

Our children have so much to teach us about open arms to share God’s love and open hands to give the best we’ve got to give. That is what Christmas is all about! And that is what God wants for Christmas from you and from me.

Finally this - God wants us to open our hearts to receive His Son. Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and the wise men, the angels and in our imagination, the innkeeper - they all opened their hearts to receive Him, and so can we!

For that is ultimately what all of us need and what God wants us to receive for Christmas - the presence and the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ deep down in our hearts. So, as we make our way to the manger later on this silent, holy night, I think Christina Rossetti said it best for all the rest of us:

  “What can I give Him, poor as I am?
   If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb.
   If I were a wise man, I would do my part,
   Yet, what can I give Him?
   Give Him my heart.”

And that is what God wants for Christmas!

In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.