The Address Book
My wife mentioned to me several weeks ago that it was time to write Christmas Cards. We began by pulling out our address book. We have used the same address book since we were first married over 30 years ago and it has seen better days. It is full of notes, scribbles, and additions, deletes. It has served our family well, but it has not held well under the test of time. Several pages have begun to fall out and paper clips and elastics hold it together.
I open each page gently as if I was opening some ancient manuscript as I carefully read the names off. With the passing of time, some of the names have been crossed off due to losing touch with someone, or due to the death of a friend or relative. As each name is read, Marie and I somehow seem to have a conversation about the person or the way that we came to know them, about their friendship, or about the impact they have had in our lives. We mention the number of times that someone has moved, or the number of locations at which I have worked, and sometimes we pause and look at each other asking: “Who is that person?” Names have been added as other people enter our lives. Some of the pages have been filled and we have resorted to adding post its. However, we have some how have resisted the temptation of replacing the “Address Book” because it represents a chronicle of the changes in our lives. The old address book is a way to reflect on those who have touched us. A way to stay connected to people to family, friends, neighbors.
During this Advent season we are caught up so much in the preparations we are making for family festivities that we hardly know where to turn. Do we have a hard time staying connected with those we love. It is, of course, the time of year when we're reunited with our families, when we renew acquaintances of friends from whom we've been separated for a year or many years. Sometimes as a substitute for a reunion, we send greeting cards. First, it is a batch that includes warm, handwritten messages. A little further along we sign our names without the personal messages. Finally, we send some with our name printed on the bottom. If we run out of time we do as the phone company once said: “Reach out and touch someone with a call” Today, they encourage us to get connected with our network or Text message someone!!
However, nothing can substitute for our physical presence among those we love. There is something about being present that is a grace, a gift. A neighbor told me, one of his friends had passed away suddenly and as he approached the family at the wake service he struggled for the appropriate words to say to the family. Before he could say anything, his friend’s mother embraced him saying: Thank You for coming. My neighbor had left the wake service without saying a word, but the family appreciated his gift to them, his presence.
In Today’s Gospel, the writer of Luke tells us: Shortly after Mary received the good news, actually very scary news, from the angel that she was to bear a son, she gave that gift of presence to Elizabeth, her cousin. She set out on a long and dangerous journey to visit her cousin whose pregnancy was already far along. Mary could have, through a messenger, sent greeting conveying her wishes about the coming birth of John the Baptist. Rather, she went in person and gave to Elizabeth something no messenger could possibly give. She gave the grace of her presence. She offered Elizabeth the gift of being with her to support her in her time of need.
Our God could have sent some kind of a messenger, angelic or human, to bring about our redemption. However, God sent his son. Jesus came and dwelt among us and his physical presence was a gift, a grace of such magnitude that 2006 years later we still celebrate that coming the presence with wonder and joy. There are some in our community for whom the grace of presence has special meaning: the sick, the lonely, the dying and the alienated ...those who have turned society off. Sometimes we may be afraid to visit them because we don't know what to say. Jesus tells us that we don't have to say anything. Our presence speaks more eloquently than words. The real message is that we love them.
Less than 24 hours from now, our society will pause and recognize the Birth of Jesus. The stores will be closed and the shopping rush will cease. You will be able to find plenty of empty parking spots at the mall. Time will seem to stop and many will gather will family and friends. This church will be crowded with people who have come from near and far. It will be filled with those we see every Sunday and it will be filled with those who may not have been here for a while. Each person giving thanks to Jesus for his presence among us.
In these last few hours as we approach the end of Advent, can we take time to reach out to someone in our family, or neighborhood that may be alone and offer him or her the gift of your presence? Can we take the one commodity that is in very short supply—time and give it to someone else. Can we take time to open the address books of our hearts and minds and reconnect with someone who we may have not seen in a while? Today as the world seems to be in great haste we should look not further than the example of our blessed mother who ignored her own wants and needs and sought out the her cousin Elizabeth to see what she could do to help!!! She gave her the gift of her presence to someone who needed it. I believe that each of us is challenged to do the same.
