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G old. Frankincense. Myrrh. Possibly the most famous gifts ever given. We still remember

them 2,000 years later and have established a loving tradition—as well as a massive commercial industry—to continue giving gifts at Christmas.

For many of us, our minds turn to gift-giving about the same time Advent begins. The word advent means a beginning or arrival. In the Christian tradition, the Advent season is the four weeks leading to Christmas, a time of spiritual preparation.

No matter how long your gift list or how crowded the stores, observing Advent—even for a few minutes a day—can remind you this is truly a spiritual season and can be a celebration of your own divine identity.

To that end, Unity offers you this Advent booklet to be read each day from December 1 through Christmas, then continuing through the Twelve Days of Christmas.

Our theme is gifts—not merely the tangible gifts we can wrap in bright paper but the gifts of our hearts, the gifts of our love, the gifts we bring to others simply by being alive. We contemplate ways to share our deepest gifts of hope and faith, peace, love, and joy.

May the articles, stories, and devotionals in this booklet enrich the Christmas season for you and nourish you spiritually. This is our gift to you.

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Generous donations from friends like you allow us to make Unity literature available to those most in need of spiritual encouragement. Please give at unity.org/donatenow.

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The Gifts We BringBy Rev. David McClure

W

e are told a story that three wise men followed a star to find Jesus after he was born, bearing with them gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We

don’t really know whether there were exactly three men, only that three gifts were offered.

Nearly every year during my Christmas sermons or on Facebook, I have mentioned one of my favorite Christmas cards that a dear friend sent me. It’s from The Far Side cartoon created by Gary Larson.

The card shows a fourth wise man who is being turned away from the stable entrance because the gift he brought was fruitcake! This fact is not known to most of us.

What’s wrong with fruitcake as a gift? Personally, I love fruitcake, and if anyone out there wishes to send me some, I would consider it a gift worthy of entry into my Nativity scene and my heart.

In this time before Christmas, many Christians observe what is known as Advent. These four weeks leading up to Christmas mark the beginning of the Christian liturgical year.

One of the meanings of the word advent is “the arrival of a notable person, thing or event.”

Of course, nearly all our attention goes to the arrival of Jesus into our lives and into the consciousness of humanity, which is arguably the most notable event in human history.

But what about the others who arrived in Bethlehem? What about the lowly shepherds? Are they any less

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notable? And what about the wise men? Are their presence and their gifts any less notable?

What if the only gift you can bring to the party is fruitcake? Does that make you less important, less valuable, less loving, in the great Christmas scheme of things, than Jesus?

Each Christmas, among the songs we sing and replay is “The Little Drummer Boy.” The song tells of a poor boy who didn’t believe he had any gift to bring to Jesus at his birth. But Jesus’ mother invited him to offer as his gift the one thing he could do—play the drum. As the song goes: “I played my best for him … then he smiled at me.”

Jesus’ message is that each one of us is as notable as he was. We all have the Christ spirit within our being. And we all have an essential and precious gift to give to each other and to the world at Christmas, no matter what it may be.

Chloe’s Christmas Gift

By Rev. Ric Schumacher

Once upon a magical, mystical time lived a little girl named Chloe. Every Sunday, Chloe would walk down Market Street past four houses to go

to church.

On the first Sunday in December, Pastor Bob always asked for volunteers to help set up the church’s Nativity scene on the front lawn. Each year, Chloe volunteered, and each year she was told she was too little.

But this year, Chloe was the only person to volunteer and she was just about as tall as the plastic statues of Mary and Joseph, so she got to stay after church to help. Pastor Bob did most of the work, but Chloe had the most important job: placing the little plastic statue of Jesus in the manger.

As they finished, Chloe asked, “Now what?” Pastor Bob said, “We should pray.” Chloe asked, “Can I pray too?”

“Well, how about this?” Pastor Bob said. “We will both pray with our eyes open, and I will say the words and you watch my face and when I wink at you, you say AMEN, which means it is so.” After they prayed, Chloe walked home alone.

Remember, this is no ordinary story; it is a magical, mystical, Christmas miracle story.

Weeks later on Christmas Eve, Chloe couldn’t sleep, even with her dog Gilbert tucked beside her. She decided to show Gilbert the manger scene, so she got out of bed, dressed warmly, and packed her Hello Kitty backpack in the kitchen. Together they headed out the door and down the street, past four houses to the church. Gilbert walked beside Chloe without a leash.

Moonlight illuminated the little manger scene. Chloe was explaining the names of the statues when Gilbert began to growl.

A man was approaching. Gilbert growled louder and bared his teeth. The man placed his index finger to his lips, and Gilbert went silent.

Chloe introduced herself. “Did you come here to see Jesus?” she asked. “Tonight is his birthday.”

The man nodded and said nothing. He was scruffy with a week’s growth of beard and an old, long, baggy coat. The sneakers on his feet were wet with snow. Chloe asked his name.

“My name is Joe.”

Chloe asked, “Is it Joe or Joseph?” Pointing to the statue of Joseph, Chloe said, “Did you know that man was also named Joseph? He was Mary’s husband and she was Jesus’ mother.”

“Yes, I knew that,” Joe said. “The Bible doesn’t say too much about Joseph. They seem to have forgotten him. Sometimes I think the world has forgotten this old Joseph too.”

At that moment Gilbert gently bit the sleeve of Chloe’s coat and pulled her into the little stable. Then Gilbert slowly approached Joe and took hold of the sleeve of his long black coat, pulling him into the stable beside Chloe. Until now Gilbert had positioned himself between them as a protective presence, but the loyal dog sensed that was no longer necessary. The three stood in silence for what seemed to be the longest time.

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Chloe spoke first. “Joe, are you hungry? You look hungry and a little skinny ’cause your belt is pulled tight.”

Slowly, Chloe removed her backpack and pulled out two baloney sandwiches on white bread with butter and ketchup, plus four homemade Christmas cutout cookies—two white stars and two green bells. She also had two cups for a Thermos of hot chocolate and had brought a large Milk Bone biscuit for Gilbert.

“I brought this to have a birthday party with Jesus, but I think he would like you to have it.”

Joseph said humbly, “I accept.”

They ate in silence. When they finished, Chloe packed up the cups and Thermos, said goodbye, and started for home. Before she left the churchyard, Joe spoke. “I came here looking for something—I’m not sure what—but I found the Christ spirit alive and well in you. This little stable blessed me tonight, and so did you.”

“That’s just what Pastor Bob and I prayed for! Bye, Joe. Merry Christmas!”

Joe stood alone for a while, but he didn’t feel alone anymore. He remembered the old saying, “And a little child shall lead them.” He always thought that meant something different. They say there was a tear or two in old Joe’s eyes that night, but we’ll never really know.

Chloe and Gilbert arrived home and went straight to bed. In the morning, she awakened to her mother’s voice, “Chloe, it’s Christmas!” Chloe and Gilbert bolted down the stairs, excited to tell her mother about the birthday party with Joseph and Jesus. Chloe talked about the baloney sandwiches, the star- and bell-shaped cookies, and the hot chocolate. Chloe’s mother said to her, “That’s nice, dear. Now open your pretty presents.”

Maybe Chloe’s mother didn’t believe her or maybe she wasn’t listening or just didn’t understand. To this day, some say it was just a little girl’s Christmas Eve dream. But I believe in Christmas magic. I believe in Pastor Bob’s prayer and Chloe’s “Amen.” In the end, and this is the end, I believe!

“I came here looking for something—I’m not sure

what—but I found the Christ spirit alive and well in you. This little stable blessed me

tonight, and so did you.”

L

iz Kennedy was sitting in her office in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit when one of the nurses knocked. The nurse asked Dr. Kennedy, my daughter-in-law, if

she would take a call from a man who had called a number of times.

Dr. Kennedy answered the phone and the man on the other end asked whether she was the Dr. Kennedy who had trained at Health Shands Cancer Hospital at the University of Florida. Jokingly, she asked the man if he was a bill collector. The man said he had been trying to find her for several years. He wanted to thank her for working so hard to save his daughter’s life.

Twenty-seven Christmases ago, this father had been told that his little girl’s only hope for survival was to be placed on a special bypass machine (ECMO) so that her failing lungs could rest and heal. At that time the University of Florida did not have ECMO available. Hospital after hospital was contacted and the answer was the same—the ECMO machines were being used.

Finally, Cincinnati was identified as the closest hospital with an available machine. Cincinnati was 800 long miles away, too far for an ambulance or helicopter. A private jet was volunteered and the decision was made to transport.

Several hours later the fragile infant, a nurse, a respiratory therapist, and Dr. Kennedy were in the air. While it had been difficult to get the baby this far because of altitude and pressure changes, it was going to become more difficult when the plane landed.

After what seemed an eternity, the plane arrived in Cincinnati. It was just after sunset and the city was aglow

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Prayers for Dr. KennedyBy Louise Thomas

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with Christmas lights. The prayer continued, “Just let us get her to the ECMO machine.”

Later that night the baby girl was put on the machine that would ultimately save her life. For the transport crew, it seemed a Christmas miracle.

The man on the other end of the phone asked Dr. Kennedy how he could repay her for her hard work. The answer was a simple: “Pay it forward.”

With that, he explained that his daughter had become a social worker who placed foster children in more permanent homes. After some conversation he ended by saying that every Christmas for the past 27 years, he and his family had given thanks and said prayers for Dr. Kennedy and her family.

The Christmas miracle had come full circle.

We are all connected by prayer.

The Christmas miracle had come full circle.

Advent