I don’t remember exactly how we came to the book Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story – probably it was in a list of recommended books for reading aloud to children. After repeatedly checking it out of the local library year after year, I finally purchased my own copy. The author Cynthia Rylant has written several books with gentle and dignified treatment of impoverished Appalachian communities and the love within the community. The touching story in Silver Packages, coupled with gorgeous paintings by Chris K. Soentpiet, makes this book an easy story to read and enjoy over and over.
The book starts, “A train comes through Appalachia every year at Christmas time. And though it doesn’t have antlers, nor does the man standing on its rear platform have a long white beard, it may as well be Santa Claus and his sleigh for all the excitement it stirs up. People call it the Christmas Train. And it has been coming to them for years. Each new child born in the mountains learns to walk, talk, and wait for the Christmas Train. It is everyone’s delight.”
The book isn’t centered on the Christmas Train as much as it centered on the story of Frankie – a boy who waits each year for his silver package thrown from the back of the train. Each year he hopes for a doctor kit, but never receives it. Instead he receives other toys he plays with and things like gloves, warm socks, a hat, etc. When he grows up he leaves the community and “he changes a little into a different kind of person.”
“But deep in him, never changing, are his memories. And what he remembers most about being a boy in the hills is that just when it seemed his feet would freeze like the snow, a man on a train had brought socks. Just when it seemed his fingers were hardening to ice, the man had brought mittens. Just when the cold wind was cutting sharp as a blade into his throat, the man had brought a scarf. And just when Frankie’s ears were numb with red cold, the man had brought a hat. And Frankie remembers something about owing a debt.”
So, again, what does this picture book have to do with a blog about prayer? And why am I talking about a seemingly secular book in a faith-based post? Simply because I believe God’s Truth and Beauty are in this book, along with some good messages.
Each year the people of that community wait expectantly and hope for a visit from the Christmas Train. Have you ever waited for something? Hoped for something? Believed it will be here….eventually?? I don’t mean the sort of package you ordered online where you can track its every move. I mean the kind of things that (generally) mean much more: for healing, for financial provision, for a spouse, for a family member to come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Sometimes these things take days and sometimes decades. Either way, we wait. And unlike the community in the book we don’t know when that promise “train” will be arriving.
That’s where trust comes in. Do you trust that package you ordered online to arrive? Of course. Do you trust the God of the Universe to work things out for your good (Romans 8:28)? Do you trust that God has good intentions for you (Jeremiah 29:11)? Do you trust that God will keep his promises (Joshua 21:45)? If you are like me, truly and fully saying “YES, I trust you, God!!” is easier said than done. Perhaps it is a growing edge as we are continuing to “work out [our] salvation [that is, cultivate it, bring it to full effect, actively pursue spiritual maturity] with awe-inspired fear and trembling [using serious caution and critical self-evaluation to avoid anything that might offend God or discredit the name of Christ]” (Philippians 2:12 AMP). Hopefully, though, we are each growing in our ability to trust God for our needs and our wants – and for those of people around us.
The other big theme I see in this book is how the members of this community received these gifts with graciousness and how the giving nature of the Christmas Train impacted Frankie. In time, he grew up, left home, and became a doctor who was practicing in a city. But he remembered the people who were still in the hills. He remembered receiving toys, gloves, socks, and other things he needed and he wanted to repay his debt by giving to the people. (Spoiler alert:) So, he moves home to help care for others in that community.
In our Christian society we’re often reminded how we are supposed to give to others – through gifts, missions, charities, etc. Indeed, Jesus tells us, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me” (Matthew 25:35-36 NIV). Whatever we do for those in need we also, by extension, do for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is right and good to extend tangible (and intangible!) love and care to those in need. No one less than the Apostle Paul reminded us that, “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:35 NIV).
Giving is important, but so is receiving. Mary and Joseph received the angel’s messages about the baby she was to carry. The woman with an issue of blood and the man born blind received healing. The Apostle Paul received his salvation. In our world it’s easy to find people who “take,” but to be able to “receive” a gift given graciously and generously is also important. At Christmas we are reminded that God offers his gifts of love, grace, and mercy to us with an invitation – to receive them graciously. The people of Frankie’s community received the silver packages from a generous man who offered them. We, God’s people, can receive gifts from an unchanging, generous God who gives good gifts to us, his children.
Today I invite you to hold tightly to hope as you wait for and trust God to move in your circumstances. I invite you to not neglect to give generously to others, but also to stop and receive what God offers you this season – salvation, provision, healing, grace, hope, peace, joy, love and so much more.
Amen and amen.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 NIV)
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)
“Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.” (Joshua 21:45 NIV)
“Your promise has been tested through and through, and I, your servant, love it dearly.” (Psalm 119:140 MSG)
“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11 NIV)
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17 NIV)