It is exam week at the college.  But a group of students carve out time from their all-night study sessions in the library to put on a Christmas party, complete with gifts, for kids from low-income families.  Go tell John what you see and hear . . .

They know what these patients are going through.  During their tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, they lost arms and legs and hands.  They know both the physical pain and psychological trauma of such injuries and the hard work of rehab.  So they did not hesitate to accept the hospital’s invitation to serve as counsellors and mentors to those going through amputations.  They console, explain, comfort, and when necessary, push these patients to rebuild their lives – just as they did.  Go tell John what you see and hear . . .

A few days before Hanukkah (the Jewish Festival of Lights), vandals desecrated a synagogue, spray-painting vicious and hateful slurs on the building.  The churches in the area immediately came together to organize volunteers to help their Jewish neighbours scrub the ugly graffiti off the walls.  And, spontaneously, a movement began among Catholic and Protestant families to place a lighted candle in their windows on each of the eight nights of Hanukkah, making their entire town a living community of peace and good will.  Go tell John what you see and hear . . .

Jesus says to those John has sent to ask him if he is the Messiah:  Go tell John what you see and hear.  Tell him about the broken people who have been made whole.  Tell him of all the crosses that have become the means to new hope and resurrection.  Tell him the stories of those who refuse to yield to darkness and find forgiveness and grace in the light of God.  Tell John – and everyone you encounter – that God is in our midst in every act of love, in every healing of a heart or spirit broken, on every bridge built over the chasm of hatred and violence.

The mystery of Christmas calls us to a much different approach to gift-giving. Real Christmas gift-giving reflects the God who empties himself of his divinity in order to remake humanity in his holiness; the gifts we give should mirror the Love of God, a love too complete and generous for us to imagine.

The true gifts of Christmas that God gives and enables us to give transform the hearts and lives of those we love: gifts of comfort and support, of compassion and reconciliation, of forgiveness and understanding.

The true call of this the third Sunday of advent is to: Tell everyone the true story of Christmas peace and to do so by the example of our lives.