Tuesday, December 6, 2022
St. Nicholas Day
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Putzing, more than it’s cracked up to be
Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God.
St. Nicholas lived in the third and fourth centuries, in a Turkish seaport. He became famous for secretly dropping three bags of gold on successive nights into the windows of three impoverished girls, so their father would have a wedding dowry for each of them.
Nicholas became Bishop of Myra, where he was born. Perhaps he attended the Council of Nicea and helped shape the Nicean Creed. Centuries later, his bones were taken to Venice during the First Crusade.
On St. Nicholas Day, we can give three gifts ourselves. We could call three people and appreciate them aloud. We could carry $5 bills in our car and give them to three people at streetcorners, then ask their names and wish them Merry Christmas.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received double for all her sins from the hand of the Lord.
St. Nicholas is surely the most famous saint of all. Children love to hear his name and they circle round to receive gifts from St. Nicholas. Father Christmas and Santa Claus are named after him. In many European countries, gift giving takes place today rather than on December 25. He is the patron saint of Russia (yes!) and Greece, as well as sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers and students.
Jesus said to his disciples, “What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray?”
When I write these devotions, I sometimes think of them as sheep. There are hundreds of them in the ever-increasing flock. But each one matters. Each one takes us down the lectionary passageways, deep into the words of the Bible. Stories abound of people and events during the thousands of years of bible history. Together we get to explore the passages, the caverns and the caves that appear when we click on “Today’s Readings.”
If he finds the stray, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.
Many of us want to share our happy experience with the gospel. I think stories are the best way to do that, and these devotions are often simple stories. Stories pave a path into deep thoughts, and also into quiet sitting, when thoughts are not particularly welcome.
Today, while Jasper was here, he and I did a lot of putzing. I wound some nylon rope around a piece of wood to keep it from tangling. We burned the ends to keep it from fraying. Jasper picked out the matches, but he didn’t light them. Maybe next time.
We took our recycling to the apartment recycling dumpster, and Jasper rode in the front seat. We cut strawberries for Margaret to make pie and jam. How can there by strawberries in December? But there are, and we picked them last week.
We opened a set of wrenches, pliers, knives and saws I got on Black Friday. Jasper used a saw for the first time, and he cut a wooden tongue depressor right in half, one gentle stroke at a time, getting back into the groove every time his small saw slid out. Construction sites continue to fascinate him. One of these days he will be building skyscrapers or bridges, and maybe he’ll remember using a saw to cut a tongue depressor.
Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley.
I couldn’t figure out how to close the folding knife, but we watched a YouTube video that showed how. Jasper won’t be touching that knife anyway, but once it was open it needed to be closed.
We installed a stationary disco light in the bathroom and watched the lights spin. I remembered dancing, a long time ago. Jasper, entranced by the lights, well, I have no idea what he was thinking.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together.
On Sunday our pastor shared his favorite Bible story (also mine), from 1 Kings 19. Elijah is waiting for God in a cave. The wind blows, the earth shakes, the fire blazes, but God is not in them. Then God appears, in silence, with a still, small voice. Pastor Kevin’s favorite translation is that God spoke in a “low whisper.”
These days, when Margaret and I both get tired more easily and seem busier than ever, I hear God’s low whispers more often when I am putzing than most any other time.
Fear not to cry out, “Here is your God! Here he comes with power.” Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, and carries them in his bosom.
(Isaiah 40, Psalm 96, Matthew 18)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
#
