I write what I write now at the risk of sounding morbid, but I don't feel morbid in writing it, so I will continue to write. I was recently challenged by a little known writer named Arthur D. Yunker in his life changing work, "Toward A Theology of Pipe Smoking". He uses very imaginative metaphor and it has stirred me toward a theology of imagination. As of late I've found myself trapped, almost, by intellectual pursuit, forgetting that we often find meaning in the absurd, rather than falling in step with a modernist or post-modernist view that removes the magical aspects of life. There is a joy found in getting over the seriousness of the everyday and find a happier place with God. To flee with God, while in the process of unpleasantries, can make any task pleasant. J.R.R. Tolkien describes it like this in "On Fairy Stories".
"Why Should a man be scorned if when finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or, if when he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison walls? The world outside has not become less real because the prisoner cannot see it. In using escape in this way the critics have chosen the wrong word, and what is more, they are confusing the escape of the prisoner with the flight of the deserter."
And where did I need to use such drastic measures of escape? What action did I seek God-almighty's assistance in my desperate flee? Why, wrapping presents of course. Having lost my tape dispenser, I have great difficulty finding the end of the tape. After I do, I struggle to keep my find, while cutting a piece of tape that will inevitably be too long or too short. And I must cut multiple ones, and find some peace of furniture to attach them, so that I don't have to go through the dramatic ordeal of find the end of the tape again. And that's just the tape! Forget about cutting the correct size and shape of paper, and then snugly wrapping that paper around an object that is not a consistent shape! It is very stressful.
So, as I wrapped presents with Selah Elise, I cried out to God to make meaning and value of my pain. I wanted a deeper meaning for what I was involved in. And He showed up. Suddenly I was aware that I was like the present. I asked God," How so?" and He said," Because you are a gift in temporary wrapping." I never thought about it. Wrapping paper's beauty is barely in existence long enough to enjoy it, until it is violently (If it's my present it is violent indeed.) ripped off into pieces, so as to expose the thing inside. The thing that I've been waiting to see for so long! My present.
Suddenly, Christmas gained more meaning. I thought only the tree and candy cane had meaning. But no; I am a gift in temporary wrapping. A gift that God is so excited to unwrap. Paul shares with the Corinthians," For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life." I finally understood this verse a little deeper. I don't want to be unclothed. I don't want my wrapping to be torn apart. That sounds painful. But at the same time, I don't want this wrapping anymore. It keeps me away from what I was made for. My present state keeps me apart from my future state. If the gift stays wrapped, then it cannot be used as it was created to be used. The unwrapping that I speak of is obviously an expression of death, but only a small part. I realized that it is less about the death I will experience and more about the resurrection I will enjoy. That's the beauty of it all. I get unwrapped, not so that I will be discarded, but that my wrapping will be discarded. I, me the gift inside, will finally be able to be used as I was designed.
I like how Job says," for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow..." A shadow of what? Paul explains in Colossians that," These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ." It would be so easy to stop there, but we forget that Jesus described Himself as the Way. He is the door to let us in. Into where? What is this "reality" that is found only in Christ. The Author of Hebrews gives us a bit more by saying," They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” In Heaven! We were designed to be enjoyed by God in His realm of existence! All my days on Earth, everything I do, is to get there to that place. I could say so much more about this, but the Bishop of Durham himself has said it far better than I could in "Surprised by Hope".
So, with a new theology toward wrapping, I became very excited and praised God for new understanding of what my life will be like. Not just the life I live here, but there in the future, when God's realm is fully manifested. "For the life I live I no longer live for myself, but for Him who loved me, and gave Himself for me." I now wait with greater anticipation to open my gifts from Tabitha and Selah. An anticipation that I only know in part and my God knows far more than me. An anticipation to release them into the joy set before them, the joy of being used as they were created to be.
My understanding comes with a challenge that is best said by C.S. Lewis. I must now live in the realization that there are others on this same journey.
It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses and to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you may talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship or else a horror and corruption such as you now meet if at all only in a nightmare. All day long we are in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never met a mere mortal." (Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis)
Unwrap your presents with great zeal. Take in what God has done and what He is doing. And then apply that lesson to others. Maybe that concept is what William Booth so strongly understood as he came near his own unwrapping and that's why his last word to those under him was," Others." They are in desperate need to understand there is more to life than discarded wrappings and it comes through Jesus.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Sincerely,
A Fellow Present in Christ
