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Third
Sunday of Advent – C
Zephaniah 3:14-18, Philippians 4:4-7, Luke 3:1-10
December 17, 2006
Fr. Carl McCarthy
A little boy, about 6 years old, had been
attending Sunday school for years. After hearing about God for so long,
he decided it to go and look for God himself. He thought the journey
could be long, so he found and old gym bag, stocked it with root beer,
granola bars, and peanut butter cookies, and set out, without telling his
mother where he was going. He hadn’t gone very far when he became tired
and decided to rest for a while.
He cut across a grass park to sit
on a bench. Another person was sitting on the bench, so he climbed up and
sat down beside her. The two sat there and didn’t say anything for a long
time. Then he asked her, “are you thirsty?” She smiled and nodded that
she was. So out came the root beer. They shared it and sat in silence.
Then they ate the cookies and the granola bars. As they sat together, she
did not speak a word. So he talked. He told her stories of his mom and
dad, his Sunday school teacher, his pets, and they drank more root beer.
The time passed, and he began to
think of his mom at home. He knew that she would be mad at him for going
off without telling her where he was going. He got down from the bench,
picked up his empty gym bag, and said goodbye to the old woman. She gave
him a big smile and with that he ran up to her and gave her a big hug and
a kiss, and smiled back at her as he headed for home.
When he got home, he found his
mother frantic with worry. She grabbed him and shook him, “Where have you
been? I have told you never to go off by yourself.”
He looked at her and smiled,
saying, “You didn’t have to worry mom, I spent the afternoon with God.”
His mom was speechless. “Yes,” he said, “You know, I never knew that God
would be so old and so quiet…and thirsty.”
Meanwhile, the old woman had
gotten up from the bench, picked up her cane and returned home. Her son
was at home, waiting for her. Frantic, he said, “Mom, where have you been?
How many times do I have to ask you not to go off by yourself?”
Her face was radiant, and smiling
she said, “Oh, dear; you shouldn’t have worried. I spent the afternoon on
a park bench with God.”
Her son was stunned. She was
worse than he had thought. Then she continued, very thoughtfully, “You
know, I never expected that God would be so young and so talkative…and to
love root beer like he does!”
God is in our
midst, and this holy season of Advent calls us to find God in one another.
It can be so easy to forget that God is in every person. This young boy
and this feeble old woman have uncovered a deep theological truth about
the incarnation -- that God became flesh through his Son, and has made his
home with us. Do we have that same belief? What is our experience of
God? And what are we showing others that our God looks like?
St Paul encourages us in the
letter to the Philippians to make sure that all people know God through
our kindness. He says we should dismiss all anxiety from our minds.
“Rejoice,” he says. “Rejoice in the Lord always.” As Christians, I fear
that we do not allow our joyful God to be seen, and because of this, we do
not allow people to see our kindness. Like laughter, joy is contagious.
How many times have we been in situations where we shouldn’t laugh, but we
could not contain our laughter? Our joy should be same way. Our joy should
be seen in our generosity, our compassion, our love and our care for all
people. No one should go without the joy that we can give. The early
church believed that the body of Christ was in their midst. They believed
that Christ would return at any moment. Because of this belief, they made
sure that no person was without the basic necessities of life: food,
housing and financing. They shared this joyful God.
If St. Paul stepped into our
churches and homes today, would he find us rejoicing and sharing our
kindness? Better yet, if Paul sat next to us on a church pew or a park
bench, would he come to know and experience God through our action and
care?
sdrose@bellsouth.net
7-15-2007
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