A Newspaper Boy's Advent:Love

“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.

A Newspaper Boy's Advent: Peace

A Paper Boy’s Advent: Peace

It was long before Mp3 players, iPods, and Walkmans that I delivered papers to retail stores throughout the downtown and I remember the excitement I felt when delivering papers to the retail stores at Christmas time.  Going into the stores, listening to the taped music piping through the sound system quickened a young boy’s Christmas spirit and brought joy and a quiet peace that blessed a paper boy delivering his newspapers along paper route number one. 

The familiar songs of Christmas bring a peace that feeds my spirit in a time that has become more harried and stressful in recent years. I enjoy listening to the familiar, beloved Christmas songs that have been a part of my life from the days of hanging tinsel on the branches of the family Christmas tree. Whether it’s Frosty the Snowman, Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire or Hark the Herald Angels Sing, the music of Christmas brings me peace – peace that gave me joy along route number one or a quiet peace that blesses my daily life today.

The candle of peace is the second candle of the Advent season and one that not only speaks to what we would hope for all human kind in all the nations of our fragile world, but it is also what we pray for our own spirits. Peace like the gentle falling snow on cold December night or the quiet, peaceful music streaming throughout a retail stores is God’s gift to us in this season – this season of waiting, hoping and anticipating. May our spirits be filled with peace in this season and may the music of Christmas be the medium in which the angels of God bring us daily blessings.

Prayer

Even in the midst of crazy holiday schedules, harried family members, tinsel, and Christmas music, may we find the peace we seek and the simple joys of everyday tasks whether it is delivering papers, preparing food for the family, or preparing our hearts for the birth of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

A Newspaper boy's Advent:Joy

There is an Easter hymn that I like very much. It is called, “There will be Joy in the Morning.” Although the specific arrangement has been sung by many church choirs over the years at Easter time, it is also a message for this season of Advent. The chorus builds with the words, “There will be joy! There will be joy in the morning on that day. There will be joy, joy, joy in the morning on that day!” Joy is a wonderful expression for the season Advent too. 

As I recall my newspaper route in the retail section of a medium size town, I remember what joy looked like to a newspaper boy at Christmas time. Joy looked like the Christmas decorations hung beautifully from telephone poles and across telephone wires that lined the streets of downtown. Joy looked like the chocolate bag of candy that the clerks at J.C. Penny’s offered to me at Christmas time. The bustling, busy shoppers loaded down with packages and bows looked like joy to me. The first crunchy, tasty bite into a steaming Coney Dog smothered in onions at a storefront restaurant and the Christmas punch and cookies at the fire-house filled my heart with joy. Oh yes, the warm, welcoming smile of the owners at Gustafson’s Paint store – so warm and friendly that you thought you were visiting you grandmother looked like joy to me. The narrow, ancient steps leading up to the Odd Fellows club and the smoke filled room, the clink of billiard balls, and 25 cents for a bottle of Coke looked like joy to a paper boy at Christmas time.  This is joy – joy, joy, joy in the morning on that day! 

What does joy look like to you?  The Christmas story is a story of mystery, a story of joy, and story of promise. Mary was surely surprised about the news she received from an angelic newspaper boy named Gabriel. Once the shock wore off and she began to process this recent news, joy looked like a song to her and with a heart of gratitude and soul of grace. “And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.” (Luke 1:46-48) This is joy! This is Advent.

Prayer:

God, you fill our hearts with joy at this time of year. You are joy to us! God, in your mercy, may the eyes of our hearts and the voice of our soul, like Mary, sing praises to you – praises of joy and may we see the joy of everyday as one more surprise from the one who gives us life. Amen.

Quarreling with the Mystery

“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12.  This passage is a favorite among weddings and funerals. Some know this as “Paul’s love chapter” and the poetry and the images Paul uses in this text are powerful and probing. Besides the metaphorical understanding of love that is a good part of this passage, even more compelling is the thinly veiled mystery that is behind every word and phrase. 

An older woman was facing surgery and we began to talk about the anxiety and the fear that comes with any surgery – no matter how simple or routine it may be. There is always an element of mystery with anything that is unknown and even Paul quarreled with the mystery – the unknown. As for me, a part of the joy of living is quarreling with the mystery. What do I mean, quarreling with mystery? Life is a mystery and the human race continues to search for answers to life’s most complex and difficult questions, but I believe that in questioning the mystery we discover the presence of an Eternal God. “For now I know only in part – then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known”.  Even the way this phrase is penned by Paul, mystery is implied. 

I woke up this morning and saw one of the many beautiful sunrises over the hills and plains of Indiana – a mystery that does not so much beg for an answer, but seeks to brighten my days. From the time I was a small child, the smell of autumn and the crunch of leaves beneath my feet was comforting. It was comforting not because I needed answers to a changing season, but rather that I was comforted by a mystery that for everything there is season, a time for every matter under heaven. I am drawn to solar eclipses, stories of animals struggling to survive in a hostile world, and attempts to explain the big questions of life, but not that I need to disprove God, but, rather,  to hold onto a mystery – a sacred blessing – “For now I see in mirror dimly, but then face to face…” Quarreling with the mystery is not a statement of doubt or burning questions that unsettles my soul; no quarreling with the mystery is to appreciate life as a series of sacred questions and its answers draw me closer to the Source of all life – a life that is fully known as I have been fully known. Today, as in everyday, I want to live in the tension of knowing and to be known. 

Prayer: 

God of Holy mysteries, probing questions, and unending grace, may my spirit never stop quarreling with the mystery – the mystery that opens my eyes to see you face to face. Now I know in part and one day I will fully know as you have known me and this, Holy God, will be a day of rejoicing! Amen.

I Spy

I spy something green, what do you think it is? I heard a tiny voice shouting back, the grass! Yes, that’s right, now it’s your turn to “spy” something. Our neighbors were playing this game with their twin girls outside on a warm Sunday afternoon and I listened to the progression of the game.  The glee and laughter of the tiny voices brought back similar memories when I played “I spy” with my boys and even further back, with my sisters as we traveled across the country one summer in search of yet another camping site.

The notion of “spying” something assumes that you are looking for something. The great Sherlock Holmes snoops around a crime scene and through his discriminating mind and uncanny observations, Holmes spies the missing piece to a criminal case he is trying to solve. Whether it’s Holmes on the path of a confounding case or a family playing “I Spy…” we’ve known times when it feels as though we have lost something and we set out on a journey to find that missing piece that will bring the wholeness we are seeking.

The scriptural passage that is often quoted in times of seeking and searching comes from John. It is the Johannine passage that defines Jesus as the good shepherd. The phrase that is quoted is at the very end of verse 10 in John 10: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” This statement begs the question, “what is abundant life?” I cannot speak for you for you must spy your own understanding of abundant life, but I will reflect a little on what it means to me.

Abundant life is not a phrase used to convince, persuade, or argue for a reason to be a Christian, but a promise that says that in following the example of Christ, I will know fulfillment even in this life. Abundant life is not about the sweet by and by that will be mine if I am obedient to God’s will, but a promise that says that in following the example of Christ, I will know joy even in the midst of suffering. Abundant life is not a shallow, scriptural response to a searching soul, but a promise that says that God delights in me, just as I am. This is abundant life – it is what I spy in life dedicated to Christian living.

Prayer

God help me to find fulfillment in living as Christ would live, joy, even in the midst of suffering, and help me to delight in you as much as you delight in me. Amen.