I and was amused earlier in the week to watch a young toddler unwrap his present, and then proceed to play with the wrapping paper. Every parent, everyone who has watched children, will smile a wry smile at this; we've seen it before. We've seen it before because we've probably done it before ourselves when young. The box it came in, the paper it was wrapped in, all more fun-filled than the present itself. Well, boxes provide endless opportunities for creative play, don't they?
And this has a direct parallel with how we might approach the faith. Get so wrapped up in church that God misses out. Become so concerned with the fripperies that the relationship with God never materialises, or suffers as we put all our energy into the secondary stuff, forgetting the primary love, love for God.
You would think that the Great Commandment makes it clear enough- to love God with all our passion, with all our prayer, with all our energy and all our intelligence ('The Message' translation), but we miss the mark more than hitting it, If our attention isn't on the fripperies, then it's somewhere else altogether, and loving God doesn't come into the picture at all.
Advent is approaching- a penitential season. Time to take stock- the present inside the box (discovering the love of God again in a new way) or being content with the wrappings, seductive as they are. Seductive, but only wrappings.
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