From the Pastor's Pen
Living (or visiting) in the Bucey household brings you into contact with all things elephant. There are elephant paintings, elephant tapestries, elephant figurines, elephant dishes, elephant clothing, elephant everything! I think you get the picture. My wife, Barb, loves elephants and anything having to do with elephants. The license plate on her car bears these letters – ELEFNT. Enough said.
Elephants are often a topic of conversation in our home and many times have been object lessons to our kids, i.e., elephants mate for life and elephants cry. And because of her fascination with the largest land-roaming mammal, I have come to see in them many lessons for my thoughts and my writings at this time of year. Here goes….
A group of clergy were getting a tour of the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus Winter Headquarters in Sarasota, Florida. To get the real feel of the circus, the ministers were allowed to enter the big top through the performers entrance at the beginning of the three-ring event.
One of the men noticed a curious thing – just outside the tent there were several elephants standing in close proximity, and around their ankles ropes were tied which were merely extending out across the grass, but tied to nothing. The oversight was pointed out to the handler, to which he replied, “Oh, don’t worry. We never tie them up. We just tie a rope around their leg and drop it, and they think they’re tied up.”
How many of us imagine ourselves tied up to something from which we cannot get away, when in truth, our ropes are in our heads and hearts and not on our hands and feet. I could stop here, but I’ll make a couple of Advent comments which better describe our tethering.
How often is our gift-giving celebration lessened by the question, “Well, what did they get us (or me) last year?” as we attempt to get just the right gift for a seldom-seen relative? Or, how often do we break the bank or the credit card bill in an attempt to show our love when what most people really want is to be loved. PERIOD. How many times do we get frustrated at the mall at canned Christmas music which started just after Halloween? And how many times have we sat back on Christmas morning watching the toddler playing with the box and/or the wrapping paper wondering if it was worth all the fuss?
Why are we so struck by the elephant’s inability to break free from the tethering rope? I think it is because we enjoy the feeling that we’re secure. We really enjoy all the gift-giving because it gives us a sense that we have mimicked God’s gift-giving at Christmas. We feel safely tethered to the thought that we are required to do the “Christmas Thing” rather than getting into intimate conversations about Emanuel -- God with us.
At least the elephant is “fooled” into thinking he/she is confined. We actually do this to ourselves. We tie the rope and then drop it. It is safer that way. Let’s not be fooled this year. This Advent and Christmas Season we have an opportunity to un-tether ourselves and get at the real meaning of Christmas -- that God decided to come and live among us, not to give gifts, but to love us. It is really that simple. Untether yourself.
