A particularly stingy man went Christmas shopping, and was horrified at how much everything cost. That is, until he spotted a $100 vase that was on sale for only $5, because it was cracked and broken. He quickly bought it and had the salesman ship it, so that the person getting it would think that the stylish vase had been broken in the mail. Later, he received a thank you note. “Thank you for the lovely vase,” the note continued. “It was especially thoughtful of you to wrap each broken piece separately.”

Gifts are an important part of Christmas – whatever they cost. And so we work mighty hard to give gifts that our family members and friends will enjoy – to cheer them and let them know that we love them. In fact we work so hard at it and at all those Christmas cards and decorations that some of us wear ourselves out in the process. In our efforts to make Christmas pleasant for others we might just miss out on what God has for us, like Martha in the story of Jesus’ visit to her and her sister Mary. But God wants all of us to experience the joy of Christmas.

And so, according to the scripture readings throughout Advent and this Christmas Eve, God offers us four Christmas gifts that it would be unfortunate for us to miss. Earlier, I mentioned two of the Christmas gifts that God wants us to enjoy – gifts that Jesus was born to give us. One was the gift of the Holy Spirit to fill us – to guide, strengthen, and give purpose to our lives. The other was the gift of hope – to uplift us, sustain us and provide us with peace, especially through the difficult times, by showing us our ultimate destiny. Tonight, the Nativity story in Luke’s Gospel tells us about the other two Christmas gifts that God wants us to have. An angel announces the gifts, in one of the most familiar verses in the Bible. The angel said: “I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people: to you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” The angel came to let the shepherds and all of us know that God has sent us two Christmas gifts in one package. The package God sent us – the one that we celebrate at Christmas – is Jesus. The two gifts that God offers us in this one package are inseparable: a Savior to rescue us, and a Lord to lead us. Now you might well ask, “What do we need a Savior to rescue us from?” During my years of ministry there have been times when people have questioned the existence of evil, but nowadays most of us are pretty well attuned to evil in the at work in the world. And that’s what we desperately need a Savior to rescue us from.

Whenever I’ve met with groups of parents and godparents prior to a baptism, I’ve tried to review and explain the various parts of the baptism service in the Prayer Book. One of the parts of that Baptism service is called the threefold renunciation. It asks 3 questions. The first is, “Do you renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?” I explain that it isn’t my job to encourage them to believe in a devil or demons, and that what this question is asking them to reject is cosmic evil, whatever forms it takes – whether you call it entropy or the dark side of the force. God sent Jesus to rescue us from cosmic evil – whatever you want to call it – and to break its power over us. The second question asked is, “Do you renounce the evil powers of this world, which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God?” Those are all forms of collective human evil. I don’t care which forms you find most offensive or compelling – drug cartels, terrorist organizations, materialism, the Ku Klux Klan, organized crime, sex slavery, or all the forms of injustice in nations and business. God sent Jesus to rescue us from all systemic human evil in this world – whatever forms it takes – and to break its power over us. The third question asked is, “Do you renounce all sinful desires that draw you from the love of God?” That’s all those sins that each and every one of us is prone to – whatever the addiction, drive or personal defense might trigger them. All of us act without love sometimes. It’s simply a matter of which impulses we’re, personally, most prone to commit. God sent Jesus to rescue us from our own personal inclinations to evil, and to break their power over us. Whatever experiences of evil have been most real to you – whether cosmic, systemic, or individual – you know that evil exists. It’s the darkness that the light of Christ came to overcome. And so God has a gift for you – to thwart the powers of evil. It’s a Savior to rescue us, and His name is Jesus. God wants you to make this gift of a Savior yours. Just ask.

But that’s not all. Very closely linked to the gift of a Savior is the last gift that God has for us at Christmas – the gift of a leader. If anything’s in short supply, nowadays, it’s good leadership. In fact there’s so little leadership around and so many manifestations of evil, that lots of people get frightened or confused and follow almost any kind of leadership – simply to escape confusion. God sent Jesus to provide us with a good and selfless leader. That’s what the angel meant by calling Christ the Lord. It’s not enough to be rescued from evil. People need someone to lead us to the good, to lead us to God, to show us God’s ways, and that’s what Jesus came to do – to rescue us, to set us free, to break the power that evil may have over us, and to lead us into God’s good ways. The two go together.

A story might help. Once there was a town, and in that town there lived a small family – with just one child. His name was Jack, and he was about ten years old. One night Jack’s house caught fire. All the neighbors ran out to try to help as they heard the fire engines outside, but the fire spread so fast and the smoke was so thick that no one – not even the fire fighters -- dared to enter the house. Then all of a sudden, from nowhere it seemed, a dark figure covered all over with a soaking wet blanket burst through the crowd, smashed through the front door and disappeared into the house. The crowd was shocked, and so much time passed that they were sure, whoever the person was, that he must have been lost in the flames. But then the man, all slumped over, stumbled from the house again and fell to the ground – holding Jack firmly in his arms. Ambulances sped them away.

About a month passed when a special town meeting was called to discuss how to help Jack. With both his parents gone and no other relatives available, every one in town wanted to provide the boy with the best home they could. Jack was there, with all the other townspeople crowded into the auditorium. Shortly after the meeting began the richest couple in town rose their feet, and the man said, “As you all know we have much to give, and if Jack comes to live with us we’ll provide him with everything that he could ever want.” A school teacher stood up – the most popular teacher at the school – and said, If Jack comes to live with me I’ll make sure that he gets the best education that anyone could ever have.” A local physician rose and said, “If Jack lives with me he’ll get the very best physical care.” A couple, with a dozen children, called out, “If Jack comes to live with us, he’ll never be lonely.” While they were still speaking Jack watched a man enter the hall. He jumped up, ran over and threw his arms around him. He recognized him by the burn scars on his hands as the man who’d rescued him from the fire and made his own choice about who he’d live with. The man’s scars showed his love, and that earned him the right to raise Jack.

God sent Jesus to rescue us, and with that, He earned the right to lead us, because He’s the one who loves us enough to have risked Him self rescue us. Someone to rescue us from the dark and to lead us into the light, God sent us these 2 gifts at Christmas for our good. They’re ours for the asking. Make them yours and rejoice.

Jesus, be our Savior – to rescue us from all evil, and our Lord – to lead us to God.