As we begin this
second week of Advent, our Christian friends in Mexico are also counting the
days until Christmas. They are preparing
in much warmer surroundings.
High of 79 today
in Monterrey, Mexico!
I would like to share with you about a
colder place and time. In the winter of
1979, a friend and I were traveling back from Dallas ,Texas to Lexington Ky. We
were seminary students and had been at a conference at Southern Methodist
University. Somewhere in Arkansas, we were in the midst of a heavy snow storm.
We went as far as we could but the interstate was closed. We were in a small
town with no motel.
As I remember, we called the the local
UM Church to see if they knew someone who could take us in. A young school
teacher in a small house volunteered to be our hostess. We along with some
additional students camped out at her house. She made a huge pot of chili and
we found shelter on that bitterly cold day. We played board games and
talked until sometime the next day when
the road reopened. I don't remember her name but I certainly remember her
kindness and willingness to take in folks that she had never seen before.
I would imagine that we have all been in
situations where we needed someone's help. Think of the times when you have
been welcomed. Maybe it was when you
were helped to fix a flat tire, or
someone gave you a ride to the doctor,or lent you some money until pay day.
Somehow these persons extended an attitude of welcome and a
helping hand.
The Las Posadas tradition (which is
part of our service today )began when the Spanish missionaries told the story
of Jesus birth in Bethlehem to the native people of Mexico. The remembrance of Mary and Joseph traveling and
needing a place of shelter developed into a 9 day event where groups of
pilgrims search nightly for a home that will allow them to enter. If the participants are allowed inside,
there will be a festival of prayer and
carols and fiesta.
We remember that
it was after Jesus' birth that Mary and Joseph and their small son had to flee
for a safe place because Jesus life was in danger. They made their way from Judea all the way to Egypt where they
were strangers and had to depend upon those around them to offer hospitality and help. They were
refugees far away from home.
In our lives, we
find ourselves in both roles. Sometimes we receive help from others, and
sometimes we are there to give help to those in need. In the Old Testament
there is a Scripture where God reminds
the people of Israel to treat the
stranger with kindness:
“When a
stranger resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. . . Love
them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God. “
I once worked with a woman named Grace
who was a nurse. I appreciated her friendship because I was new in that town.
During our breaks, we talked and she
told me of her life. She was Japanese American
and had grown up in California. During WWII ,as a little girl, she and
her family had to leave their home to go to one of the U.S. government internment camps for persons of Japanese
background. She told me how frightening it was to leave everything they had,
and not know how long they would be gone, or what would be there when they
returned. Even though they were American citizens, they were required to go to
the camps. She and her family lived in barracks until the end of the war.
When Grace and I worked together, I became
sick and missed several days of work. Of all my coworkers, Grace was the one
who found my apartment, and delivered homemade chicken soup which aided in my
recovery. May be she did this because
she was a nurse, or maybe it was because her name was Grace, but it probably
was because she knew what it was like to be looked at as a stranger, to be in
trouble, to depend upon someone else. Grace lived out her faith as she cared
intentionally for those around her.
We are in midst of the
Advent season where we are reflecting on
God's gift of Jesus to our world and what that means for our lives. It is a
season of great hospitality. We gather
together for Christmas events and
dinners. We have special parties in our organizations We draw names and buy
gifts for friends and family. It is a time of year where we express our love
for one another.
We send cards
and try to be thoughtful to those we
care about. It is a great season of giving. How large can our circle of care
reach? Are there limits to the love and welcome that we can give?
In the marketplaces and in homes ,
preparations are also being made in Mexico for Christmas. In worship services in the Methodist Churches
there, people will be singing carols and remembering the story of Jesus
birth. One of the newest Methodist
churches in the Oriental Conference in Mexico is Templo Alleluya. Besides
gathering for worship, the Templo Alleluya Church has a daily feeding program
for children and hopes to also start a
school for the neighborhood.
Templo Alleluya is located in a area of
shacks built along a railroad track in
Piedras Negras,a border town across from
Eagle Pass,Texas. The assigned
minister,Pastor Hector ,wasn't sure if the church could survive in this place
with limited water and electricity. The church however survives and ministers
among and with the people there. Pastor Hector and his wife Berta saw the great needs of the neighborhood,
especially hunger. He and his family prayed that there would be enough food to
satisfy the hunger of the people who came to his church.
“One day, we had no food, but we came across
some bags on the side of the road..and they were full of bread.” Pastor Hector
recalls. “There were enough for every person in the church. We found out (that
day) that God was in charge of the food!”
Repeatedly they
have been amazed at the way God has provided.
I think that it is also true that God is in charge of Advent and Christmas!
When we make our
lists of all that needs to be done, leave room for what God wishes to include
on that list. Let's begin each day with
the prayer that we will be ready to
receive and
welcome those who may be in need of friendship, of support, of help.
It may be the
server at your table, the cashier at the store, the new neighbor down the
street, a co worker you don't know very well, the person who is very different
from you.
A friend of mine who is a pastor was
telling this story of what happened to him on a Christmas Eve. He was working
late at the church trying to get every thing prepared for the 7:00 service. It
was 5:30 and he still had things to do. There was a knock at his office door. A
young couple were there along with their baby. The couple were heading for West
Virginia; they had enough money for gas and a meal, but they needed diapers.
My friend was
frustrated by this interruption. He really did not want to have to deal with
a baby on Christmas Eve! And then the realization came to him: isn't
that what Christmas Eve was all about ? A new born in need far from home.
Opportunities to offer hospitality don't always come at a convenient time or
place or according to our schedules. They come in God's timing.
Leave room on your lists for the opportunities
that God will give you this Advent.
Remember the
times when you have needed grace, forgiveness, compassion, and how God has met
those needs. What a privilege that we can also treat someone else as a
cherished guest!
There will always
be people in need of welcoming. The world yearns for cups of cold water, for
acts of kindness,for interest instead of indifference, for looks of
understanding instead of disgust. This Advent let the Las Posadas be reflected
in our lives as we make room for others!
James 2:14-18 The Message
17Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you
learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about
faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old
friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be
clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without
providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn't it
obvious that God-talk without God-acts is
nonsense?
18I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds
good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works
department."
Not so fast.
You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my
faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand
in glove.
.
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