Devotional 12-16-12

Luke 3:7-18

John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.’

And the crowds asked him, ‘What then should we do?’ In reply he said to them, ‘Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.’ Even tax-collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, ‘Teacher, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.’ Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.’

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, ‘I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’ So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

The Chaff Girl

She grew up in a rough neighborhood. She was one of six children. All of her clothes were hand-me-downs. Her father drank to excess on a regular basis and when he did, he would get mean. She learned to hide the bruises that were on her skin. But it was the emotional scars that still haunted her into her adult years. “You’re no good.” “I wish you were never born.” “Can’t you do anything right?” Those are just a few of the things that her parents told her through the years.

Her older brother was different. He let the words bounce right off of him and never took them to heart. Oh how she wished that she could be like him. Teflon she called him, because he never seemed to let the bad stuff stick. He was always in a good mood. She, on the other hand, took everything to heart. Although never diagnosed, she struggled with moderate to severe depression throughout her life.

Advent and Christmas was her least favorite time of year. In fact, she hated December altogether. Other people would get out nice decorations, sing Christmas carols, and exchange gifts. Her father would always get the cheapest tree he could find at the last minute. It would stand in their living room, looking pathetic. There were no lights, no bulbs, no tinsel, no angel or star on top. Just a plain tree, shedding needles rapidly. On Christmas day, each of the six brothers and sister would get one gift. She remembered getting a doll one year when she was very little. But by the time she was eight or nine it was a pack of chewing gum or a roll of lifesavers. Other kids at school would show up in shiny new clothes and talk about their gifts. She would sit quietly, listening and dreaming of what it must be like.

When she was eleven, she asked her father if she could have some new shoes for Christmas. He told her he would see what he could do. She was so excited that she could hardly wait for Christmas day. That morning she woke up and found a note that said, “Greedy girls don’t get presents.” She never asked for anything ever again.

So a few years ago, she was sitting in one of the pews of a church that she started attending. It was Advent and the preacher was preaching about John the Baptist. “The axe is lying at the root of the trees.” “The chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” No one knows if it was her depression or her life experiences that made her hear those particular words more than the others in the Scripture lesson. But when the preacher said, “Merry Christmas” to her and she responded with a less than heartily, “yea sure, merry Christmas,” he asked if everything was ok.

Everything was not ok. It hadn’t been ok for a long, long time. But nobody really ever cared to ask. So they sat down in the parlor of the church and talked about her life. She was surprised to see that the pastor was really listening to her and was really concerned for her.

“You are not chaff,” he said. “God made you and loves you and you are to be gathered with the wheat.” “But how do you know,” she asked. “Surely someone is chaff or else the Scripture doesn’t make sense.” “It’s not up to me to judge,” said the pastor. “Only God can do that.” “But I do believe that everyone has some wheat and some chaff in them, and just maybe when God separates the wheat from the chaff, maybe God isn’t separating some people from other people, but rather, God is separating out the parts of our lives that are chaff and burning that, but the parts of our lives that are wheat, God is gathering them to keep it together like a quilt patched of all the wheat from every person’s life.”

She had never been baptized before, so the pastor suggested that she be baptized. She agreed. On the day of her baptism, she was asked to remove her shoes. She did not know why, but she did. The pastor’s wife moved her shoes out of the way and looked inside of them to read the number. And two weeks later, on Christmas day, her doorbell rang and there was the pastor and his wife holding a box, wrapped up in green and red paper, with a silver bow and a fruit basket. She opened up the present and found a pair of brand new shoes with a note on them, “Merry Christmas!”


Prayer

Loving God:
There are days we feel like wheat.
And there are days we feel like chaff.
Separate the wheat in our lives from the chaff in our lives.
Remind us that we were all created by your love.
And give us eyes to see your grace for our lives.
And to offer that grace to those around us.
Especially those who need it the most.
In the name of Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Rev. David Stackpole