“Dear Santa…”

(Philippians 1:3-11, Luke 3:1-6)

The Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg

           Dear Santa, it’s been a while since my last letter.  Maybe you remember?  I was seven or so and asked for a football and surfboard, and my mom made me put oranges and socks on my list, but I didn’t care too much about them.  Remember?  We lived in Virginia and didn’t have a fireplace, so we left the sliding door unlocked in the back.  I didn’t think you’d mind since you could land in the back yard by the creek and the reindeer could eat some grass while they waited for you, as there wasn’t any snow.  Anyway…that was almost 40 years ago, so it’s been a while.

        I don’t know what sort of moral standard you employ for that naughty and nice list you keep, but I suppose you know that I haven’t been your biggest fan for quite a few years now.  When you think about it, though, it’s not really you I have a problem with, so much as what people have turned you into.  It probably frustrates you as well.  You started out, of course, 1700 years ago as just plain on Nicholas, a humble servant, and then a bishop, when Christians were mostly poor and ostracized from society.  You gave gifts to the poor and your example inspired others to do the same.  You were all about simplicity and selflessness.  I really like that version of you.  The church respected your humble spirit so much that they made you a saint: St. Nicholas.  Nowadays, though, well, so much for simplicity and selfless ness.  You are the star of a crazed phenomenon called the Christmas shopping seas…oh forget it.  Why am I telling this to you, Santa?  You already know, and I am sure it bothers you too.

        Anyway…I am writing to you in your capacity as a saint.  Even though we Congregationalists technically did away with saints a long time ago – sorry about that – you seem to have survived the cut and still have quite a bit of popular support.  My Catholic friends tell me that saints can get messages through to God, so I figure it is okay to ask you to get a message through to the big guy for me.  I know this is a busy time of year for you, but this is important, so if you could just cut and paste this into an email, or even just summarize it in a text message to the boss, I’d really appreciate it.

        Since everybody is sending you lists of what they want these days, I thought I’d get in on the act too.  And I just want to say that I want more!  Don’t worry, I’m not talking about more stuff.  I’ve got plenty of that, too much probably.  I’m just saying I want more of all the wonderful things that are happening around our church right now.  There is some totally excellent stuff happening and more of the same would be great.

        Since I haven’t written in so long, and since you live up there at the North Pole now and might be a little out of the loop, maybe I should give some examples of what I mean.

        A few years ago we really took a big risk.  A few people from the past, and a whole lot of people from the present who sit in the pews of our church nearly every week gave a lot of money – about one and a half million dollars – and we built an addition on our building.  We intended to use it for church groups and activities, and also to help us get connected to kids around town who otherwise wouldn’t have anything very constructive to do for several hours after school.  We didn’t really know how it was going to turn out, but we trusted each other, and we trusted God, enough to go ahead with it.  And it has been wonderful.  With almost 90 kids in the Boys and Girls Club every day, we are helping families give their kids a safe, constructive environment, and at least for some of them, it makes a big difference.  So it is great, just great.  But like I said, it was a big risk.  But we trusted God and we trusted each other, and we are doing something wonderful.  So, Santa, on my list this year is a hope that we will learn from our success, and be willing to take risks in the future as well.

        And here’s another example: we had a man join our church three or four years ago.  He came here because we are a welcoming congregation and he could sing in the choir some.  But even with that, he wasn’t really finding his niche here very easily.  The fact that he often had to work on Sunday morning didn’t help, and overall he didn’t feel like he was contributing much to the life of the church.  But then we asked this man, Jim Brown, to be our church historian, and oh my goodness, Santa, you should have seen it.  He took up that role and ran with it.  He dove into the archives, cleaned out the vault, found old stuff all over this building and other places in town, and he was helped us honor and respect and value our past as we haven’t done for a long time.  They say if you don’t know where you have been you can’t know where you are going, and Jim Brown is helping us remember and understand where we have been.  And, you know, Santa, the same thing could happen to everyone who sits in our pews here on Sunday morning.  Every single one of them has gifts and abilities and interests that can help them feel like they are doing something important for others, either in the church or in the wider community.  The Christian church has proclaimed for a long time that everyone has “spiritual gifts” that are for the building up of the community.  We found Jim Brown’s a little while ago, and Santa, on my list this year is a hope that we will learn from our success, and find that special place for lots more people in our congregation.

        And one more example, for you, ol’ Saint Nick: a few weeks ago, I got a shock during our worship service.  It was fairly early in the service and we were cruising through things, and guess I was a little distracted, reworking part of my sermon in my head.  Our wonderful Moderator, Dick Nielsen, finished up his welcome and sharing some things going on in the life of our church, the choir sang, and then Becky had the kids come up for the Early Word.  She must have been talking for a couple of minutes before I realized what was right in front of me.  There were 27 kids sitting around Becky, none over the age of 10 or so.  And this wasn’t some special kids day.  It was a “normal” Sunday: Then I realized that because they had started coming while I was away on Sabbatical, I didn’t even know some of them.  Twenty seven kids!  That was great to see.  And you know, Santa, the thing that is so nice about that is that this isn’t exactly your typical, modern family church.  We aren’t planted in the middle of some new subdivision.  We don’t have a day care with a hundred upper-middle class kids in it.  We don’t have a dozen programs about how to make their lives better.  Shoot, most people have to drive 20 minutes or more out of their way, to a part of town they don’t normally visit, just to get here on Sunday.  But people are coming.  I think they sense something in our in our midst.  I think they sense that we are a church that is serious about our faith, serious about our faith in a way that leads us to think about others more.  I think they sense that we are trying to provide spiritual food, spiritual food that can help them be Christian and have an inclusive heart and an open mind.  I am even hopeful, Santa, that they sense that if their children grow up in this congregation they are more likely to grow up with something like the open, loving, peaceful, truthful spirit of Jesus in them.  So, Santa, on my list this year is that we will learn from our success and that even more families, families of one, or five or ten, will find the true spirit of Jesus here.

        Well, I guess that’s about it, Santa.  If you could help us continue to trust and take risks, find the spiritual gifts and the sweet spot of service for more and more people, and help more and more families of all types and sizes find the true spirit of Jesus here, then, well, that would be a really wonderful Christmas, a wonderful way to celebrate the coming of Jesus into the world.

        Peace,

        Mike Solberg, Rockford, Illinois

        P.S. Some oranges, socks, and a new pair of goggles would be pretty good too.