[Propertalk] Christmass Eve Sermon

Sat Dec 24 00:49:54 EST 2016

Dear Colleagues,

I rarely post sermons here, especially since I am retired, or as the Bishop says: "retreaded." I do a lot of supply preaching, but I rarely am prepared enough ahead of time to share the sermons.

I am preaching this Saturday evening at a small UCC Church in town, expecting about 25 -30 people, plus my family. I am ELCA Lutheran, but we are Full Communion Partners with the UCC, so this arrangement is not too unusual.

I have always used stories at Christmas Eve, and this one I wrote based on a tale my mother-in-law told many years ago. I offer it here in memory of her, since she died in 2001.

Honya's Christmas Gift

In 1931, Anna Onyshko was eight years old. She lived with her mother and three brothers in Woods Run, a neighborhood that sat at the edge of the Ohio River on the North Side of Pittsburgh. Her parents were immigrants from Ukraine, and her family called her Honya, her Ukrainian nickname. Two of her brothers were older, and were very protective of their little blonde haired, green-eyed sister. And, Honya was very protective of her pudgy little brother, Butch, three years younger than her. Their father had died when the youngest boy was just a baby, and that meant the family had severe financial difficulties in those days before social security.

Honya’s mother did the best she could to provide for her children. She worked as a housekeeper for some well-to-do families in the North Hills several days a week. She also worked occasionally in a sewing factory on the 3 to 11 shift when she was not laid off. Honya’s mother considered herself lucky to be able to work in the factory when they had contracts to make shirts and dresses. But, it was the middle of the depression, and jobs were few and far between, especially for women with no formal education and few employable skills.

Well, Honya loved Christmas more than any other holiday. But, since her family was very poor she and her brothers rarely got presents at Christmas. Still, the excitement and beauty of the holiday always created an exhilarating joy within Honya.

Honya’s family was Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic, so they celebrated Christmas according to “the old calendar”. For them Christmas was on January 7th, instead of December 25th. Many families in Honya’s neighborhood were either Roman Catholic or Protestant, so those families observed Christmas on December 25th and they would decorate their homes then. Honya loved to look at all of the beautiful decorations. However, what she treasured most were the Christmas trees. All the shiny balls and stunning ornaments would captivate Honya. However, her family never had a tree for Christmas, because they could not afford one. So, when she visited her girlfriends she would sit and look at the beautiful trees in their homes.

That year Honya asked her mother, “Mama, do you think that this year we might have a tree in our house for Christmas?” She already knew the answer. Her mother said sadly: “Oh, Honya, I am so sorry, but we have no money to buy a tree.”

Honya was sad to hear her mother say that. She decided that there must be some way that they could have a beautiful tree in their house to help them celebrate Christmas this year.

After New Year’s Day, the families who celebrated Christmas in December often took down their trees and hauled them to banks of the Ohio River. The spring floods would wash the trees away. When Honya went down to the river, she thought of how sad it was that these once beautiful trees were now abandoned. She saw that some even still carried a few decorations: tinsel and broken bells and angels. Honya was sad because the trees had been thrown away and would soon be washed down the river.

Then, Honya realized what she could do for her family this Christmas. She took the nicest tree she could find from the great pile along the river, and dragged it home. On her way home, she looked for things that she could hang as ornaments on the tree. She found some shiny washers and bolts along the streets and wrapped them up in her babushka.

When Honya got the tree home her mother was totally surprised and pleased. She gave Honya some buttons and ribbons to hang on the tree. They leaned the tree in the corner of the room and Honya decorated it with all of the treasures she had found along the streets from the riverfront to her home and with the things her mother had given her. Before long, it was the most beautiful tree she had ever seen in her whole life.

It was a glorious Christmas for Honya. She was so excited that her family could enjoy her gift to them of a “recycled” Christmas tree that year.

When Honya brought her Christmas tree home for her family, it was her gift of love for them. But it also showed that, even in the midst of hardship and trouble, God was still with them in ways they might not understand. They knew they were somehow, undeniably and inexplicably loved by God and blessed to be together. The tree itself proclaimed for Honya the meaning of Christmas, that God was with them, and shared love with them even though their lives were difficult and times were tough. God had not abandoned them, and would be with them always.

I believe that Honya herself learned to live out that hope in her life. In later years, my mother-in-law handed down that heritage to her family. We still remember with thanksgiving that spirit of joy and awesome wonder that always marked her celebration of Christmas.

So, for me and my wife and children, Christmas has always given us a sense of being blessed beyond our realizations. It is my prayer that all of you will realize that Christmas is more than just being in the pews to sing Silent Night by candlelight. It also is a time for us to receive God’s gifts of love and hope, and learn to share them with one another.

God gives us these gifts through the Christ Child: love, joy, peace, hope and so much more. May we, at this Christmas time and in the year to come, find these decorating our Christmas trees, and even more, find them decorating our hearts as we learn to live with our families and friends in love and peace.

Thanks be to God.

Pr. Bob Kaltenbaugh
Johnstown, PA

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