The Secret Santa Mystery

Written by Tom Fowler, Published on 12/21/2009

Reverend Dan Parsons had to admit to some human pride whenever he thought of the church he had built. Now in its sixth year, what had started as a handful of people in his living room had grown into a membership of over 600 faithful. What impressed and pleased him the most, as he sat sipping a cup of coffee in his modest office one afternoon shortly after Thanksgiving, was that the membership was an excellent mixture of the young and old. There were many young couples with children of all ages but also a solid group of senior citizens to go along with the many middle-aged persons in his congregation.

His attention now turned to Christmas and the decorating of the church. The “Hanging of the Greens” in the sanctuary was one of the best times of the year for Pastor Dan, for it commenced the Season of Advent. It was his favorite time in the Christian year.

A tradition, which he had started in the young church’s first year, was the Christmas tree in the sanctuary. This year, the new sanctuary had been completed and there would be ample room for a large tree and the gifts to God, which the membership would place beneath it. These gifts would be distributed to the various local charitable organizations shortly before Christmas Day. Pastor Dan was very pleased that this had quickly become a tradition at the young church. The people in his flock were kind, generous and not forgetful of the disadvantaged persons living in the community.

All of this was running through his mind as he walked to the sanctuary to examine the tree, which had been placed a week ago. What he found underneath it surprised him, for not only did he find the first few gifts to the hungry and homeless people, but also there were several brightly colored gift-wrapped boxes addressed to various children of the church. They were simply marked as being, “From Santa.”

Pastor Dan did not think anything of this at first, but the next day he noticed several more gifts. They were similarly wrapped and again addressed to individual children of the church “From Santa.”

Bright sunlight coming through the new sanctuary window bathed the beautifully decorated tree. At this moment, Pastor Dan realized that the tree was blessed by God and a Secret Santa Claus was leaving gifts for the church children beneath it. He smiled and wondered who in his congregation was performing good works in secret.

Back in his office, with afternoon coffee firmly in hand, Pastor Dan paused to reflect. Security was tight in the new church and besides staff members there were only a handful of persons with keys to the main building, which housed the sanctuary.

After finishing his coffee, Dan could only think of five parishioners who could be Secret Santa. Three of them chaired key committees and the other two were members of the building committee. They just happened to be all men, men of all ages.

Pastor Dan realized that “Santa Claus” could very easily be a staff member and/or a female. But, his years as an ordained minister had placed within him a keen intuition and sixth sense regarding church business and spiritual matters. He had a hunch that “Santa” was one of the five non-staff church members with keys to the main building.

Dan thought no more about this for the remainder of the day, for his afternoon and evening were busy with committee meetings plus the death of one of the elder church member’s sister. Around 10:00 p.m., Dan sat in his office, which was only a few feet down the hall from the entrance to the sanctuary and quietly sipped a diet drink. He was grateful the long day was over. He knew he would have another one tomorrow. The door his office was closed and his light was off. He loved the feeling of peace and spirituality the quiet office offered under such circumstances.

As he sat in silence, alone with his thoughts, he heard noises in the sanctuary. Immediately he suspected that Santa Claus was making a delivery. He was alone in the darkened, closed pastor’s office, and his car was parked around in back. Santa no doubt came in the front entrance, believing the building was empty. Acting quickly, Dan silently crept to the sanctuary door, peeking in to see what was happening. What he saw startled him in a way he had never experienced before -- and in his time in ministry he had seen much.

He saw a man dressed as Santa placing gifts underneath the big tree. The man moved quickly and, when he arose, Dan noticed he was not pudgy like the real Santa Claus at all, but rather he was slender and very graceful. He had to move very quickly and as silently as Santa did to make it back to his office before being seen.

Dan’s curiosity now got the better of him. He knew he would not rest until he got to the bottom of this. He planned to be secretly in the building every night for the remainder of the week. He hoped Santa had not finished his work. Dan strongly suspected he had not.

The next night, Pastor Dan took extra precautions, returning to the church around 9:30 p.m. and leaving his automobile parked around the block. A little after 10:00, he was rewarded for his diligence. This time, he heard “Santa” quietly enter the main building at the front door. He did not leave his office until he was certain Santa was in the sanctuary. He got to the door in time to see Santa hurry toward the tree carrying a huge sack. It was obviously heavy as Dan noticed Santa used both hands to tote it. Santa again laid the gifts underneath the tree quickly. This time, Dan knew Santa would hurry out of the sanctuary to exit the building so he returned to his office as Santa placed the last gift at the foot of the tree.

Dan spent most of the next day thinking of Secret Santa. Who could it be? Dan did not know it yet but he would get his answer later that night.

The scenario was the same as it had been the previous two nights. Dan observed Santa quickly and silently entering the church building to place Christmas gifts underneath the tree for the children of the church. As Dan, for the third night in a row, spied on Santa from outside the sanctuary, he recalled with amusement receiving the first telephone call about the gifts underneath the tree from a curious parishioner late that morning. He told the caller that there was a Secret Santa Claus in the congregation but had no idea who he really was.

Dan noticed that Santa reached into the sack of gifts with his left hand. Quickly and efficiently, as in the two nights previously, he was very graceful in his movements and wasted no time or effort. Dan thought to himself that this was no doubt how the real Santa Claus worked. How could it be otherwise if he wanted to visit all the homes of small children the world over in one night?

Dan quietly trekked the few feet back to his office. Sitting silently as Santa quickly locked the front door and drove away, he thought seriously about the identity of his congregations’ Santa Claus. Very soon, more parishioners would be asking questions about Santa Claus and the presents underneath the tree.

Pastor Dan thought of the five men who possessed keys to the main building. First on his mind was Al Busby. Al chaired the Church Council and was the oldest of the group at 77. He was a wonderful man but suffered from arthritic knees and walked with a cane.

Next, he considered Chuck Daughtry. Chuck was the youngest of the men at age 33 and a member of the building committee. He was also a member of the church’s newly formed basketball team and the first to suffer injury in a game, badly breaking an arm a couple of weeks ago.

Dan’s thoughts turned to Jim Dockery. Jim was 45 years old and a former professional baseball player. Jim was the Pastor-Parish Relations committee chair and, as such, Dan knew him well. He recalled fondly the last time they had dined together, discussing church business and swapping stories. He learned that Jim used to pitch for a Triple-A minor league team and was the first left-handed pitcher on that team to throw a no-hitter. He was very proud of that and Dan was a man who had much to be proud of, for Dan had grown wealthy with the computer company he had founded 15 years ago.

Pastor Dan was deep in thought. But, he laughed out loud as he considered Bob Key as Santa Claus. Bobby, as he was called, was 65 years old and one of the most lovable men in the church. If anyone could be Santa Claus, it would be Bobby. However, Dan’s amusement turned to somberness as he recalled Bobby’s clumsiness. Last year, he broke a leg falling down stairs and, just recently, broke a lamp in Dan’s office during a meeting of the building committee.

Finally, he thought of Jeff Reynolds. Jeff’s story was a sad one. Jeff was 41 years old but had suffered a minor stroke last year. He had lost his job stacking freight in a warehouse because he walked with a limp and had lost strength on his right side. But, his fate could have been far worse. He was the best committee worker of the five and had lost none of his organizational and administrative skills. Jeff and his family considered him very fortunate. Could a grateful Jeff Reynolds be “Secret Santa?”

Sipping a cold diet cola, Dan sat in thoughtful silence until almost midnight. Then it came to him and he wondered why it took him so long to figure it out. Before locking up, a very relieved Pastor Dan called his wife to tell her he was coming home. Before hanging up, he said, “and I know who our Secret Santa is.”