Christmas is a time of discovery, and it can happen even when you think you're well versed in the story. So it is for the teenage boy in Empty Boxes who muses over some of life's big issues and comes to a fresh understanding of God's love in the birth of His Son Jesus. This is not your ordinary kind of Christmas story, but author and narrator Rev. Dr. Jason Broge didn't want to tell an ordinary kind of story.
Broge, who is senior director of global research and development at LHM, conveys the message of Empty Boxes, a special presentation from The Lutheran Hour, in large part through the interior monologue of the teenager—a technique that is made for radio. Following a Christmas Eve service, on a frosty drive home with his mom's best friend, Ruth, the teenager gets lost in a reverie that touches on teenage angst, the loss of a friend, a regrettable search, a week's worth of silence, and a nagging sense of emptiness.
Perhaps it's the choppy, discordant sounds of Ruth's radio station search that lands for a moment on a sermon from The Lutheran Hour by Dr. Dale Meyer speaking on "meaninglessness" from Ecclesiastes that inspires the boy to examine his young life. If so, his musing takes him to a similar conclusion as that of the writer of Ecclesiastes: "Everything is meaningless."
And it could have been left at that, but something happened at that Christmas Eve service. Filling in for his dad as usher, the boy assisted with the distribution and lighting of candles. And then the pastor's message—Jesus, the Light of the world—like the lit candles and the Advent wreath that illuminated the church—dispels the darkness, conquers the meaninglessness of life without Him, and fills the empty boxes of our lives.
"There are so many reasons why the holidays can bring about a sense of emptiness," said Ashley Bayless, LHM's director of production, who plays Ruth in the drama. "One of the things I like most about Empty Boxes is how Broge helps us see Jesus at work in the everyday. As you hear the boy reflect on his life, you can see God's handiwork and faithfulness throughout his life, and it reminds us how God is at work in our lives, too."
Empty Boxes is available for radio stations to use anytime in December; it will also be available online at lutheranhour.org/emptyboxes, as a podcast, and through the 'Daily Devotions by LHM' app starting December 15.
In addition to this radio special, Lutheran Hour Ministries has produced several award-winning holiday television specials, which air on stations across the U.S. and Canada each year. To see where these shows are airing in your area during this Christmas season, visit our broadcast guide!