A Christmas Message
from Robert Campbell

If there is a word that sums up December, it must surely be “preparations.” By now, our preparations for Christmas are in full flight. Trees and lights have gone up, decorations have been hung, poinsettias are being purchased, baking being churned out, malls being thronged, cards and gifts being mailed or delivered, donations being made, travel plans being finalized, lists being composed, and, in organized households, lists being ticked off.

So much is happening: the frenzy of shopping and gift-giving, the busy round of recitals and school concerts and caroling engagements, the social calendar of luncheons and parties and family gatherings, and, for ministers, the churning out of special liturgies and services. In the midst of all the busyness, we can easily be seduced into imagining that Christmas is something that we do rather than something that we receive.
That is why I am glad that, in our church, we gathered at the Communion Table to celebrate the Lord’s Supper on the first Sunday of Advent, right at the beginning of the busy season. What happens at the Table reminds me that, before Christmas can be about our preparations, it is about God’s preparations. The Table is about what God has done and what we may receive. It speaks of God how took this flesh of ours and made it holy. It speaks of how God, through the fruit of Mary’s womb, forever anointed humanity with grace. It speaks of how “the Word became flesh and lived among us . . . full of grace and truth” and how “from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:14, 16).

John Calvin, a towering figure of the Reformation and one of the greatest-ever theologians of the church, says that, in the Sacrament of Communion, we have a witness to our life in Christ, a life in which “whatever is Christ’s may be called ours.” Imagine: Whatever is Christ’s becomes ours. How could this be, that we should receive his blessings, his glory, his riches, his life? Well, here the sacrament points to the mystery of the incarnation, in which Christ comes to share our life and give us all he has to give. Calvin calls this the “wonderful exchange.”

“This is the wonderful exchange, which out of his measureless benevolence, [Christ] has made with us,
that, becoming Son of Man with us, he has made us [children] of God with him;
that, by his descent to earth, he has prepared an ascent to heaven for us;
that, by taking on our mortality, he has conferred his immortality upon us;
that, accepting our weakness, he has strengthened us by his power;
that, receiving our poverty unto himself, he has transferred his wealth to us;
that, taking the weight of our iniquity upon himself, he has clothed us with his
righteousness.” (Institutes, IV.xvii.2)

When you think of all that Christ has done for us, how can you label it anything other than a wonderful exchange? In a season full of exchanges, this is one that, in the end, will make a difference. So may our preparations this season focus on the wonderful exchange and may Christmas be for us a time for living in response to Christ’s measureless benevolence.