“Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and
action.” (1 John 3:18) Besides many retail stores on newspaper route number
one, I had a few residents at the end of my route. There were a few customers that were more
memorable than others. One such customer was elderly man who had difficulty
walking and was on oxygen from time to time. I remember this man who would wait expectantly for his afternoon newspaper and was so happy when he could open it
up at the end of the day and review the news since his last delivery. It was a warm feeling to see the twinkle in his eyes, sitting on his
porch waiting for his newspaper. Many years later it occurred to me why this
simple act of receiving the newspaper was really an act of love. I was the
newspaper boy responsible for delivering the newspaper – the daily news and for
this dear man, I was a messenger of God’s love.
What is love? Love is a
relationship. Whether it is a family member, a friend, a sibling, a spouse, it
is a relationship. Love is the dependable paper boy who could be counted on
each day to be a messenger of love. It wasn’t the news, the newspaper, the time
of day that was so meaningful and what the elderly man was looking for, it was my
relationship with him. I remember spending
several minutes each day talking to my elderly customer. I remember this man as
not having family and he didn’t get out much. His neighborhood was pretty
limited. There was a Convent, a school, and a Catholic Church and so I and the
mailman were sometimes the only the human faces that this elderly man saw in
many days – we represented something fundamentally human – a meaningful and
dependable relationship – love in action. “Little
children, let us love…in truth and action.” This is love.
This is the fourth week on the
journey toward Christmas morning. It is the week of love. Late this evening, in
the early hours of Christmas morning a child, the son of a loving, living God
will be born amongst us. This night shows us a God that is more than a
spiritual presence in our midst. This night is about a God that is incarnational.
It is about love in action. It came upon
the midnight clear and the world in solemn stillness lay to hear the angels
sing – to sing a song about the love that is born this night, love not in word
or speech, but love in truth and action.
Just as the elderly man waiting
for news from the world comes to its fulfillment in delivery of the afternoon newspaper,
so does our wait for God’s incarnational and unconditional love come to its
fulfillment in a drafty stable, on a cold night when all the world is hushed and
waiting for the song the angels sing, “Fear
not, I bring you good news…” This is
love in truth and action.
Prayer:
God you are love and love is what we celebrate this night. Help us, O
God, to see our lives as more than random and isolated events that have no
connection to one another. Help us, O God, to be the incarnational love that
brought you to earth in baby Jesus. Help us to love, not in words or speech,
but in truth and action and may the gift we bring tonight and every day be
pleasing to you. Amen.
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