6 years ago, while I was between ministries, I held a full-time job selling language-learning software out of a kiosk in Ala Moana Shopping Center. It was a decent job that helped pay the bills and let me be outdoors a lot. I met many interesting people who were trying to learn a language to improve their lives in one way or another, as well as many other interesting people who were passers-by and was simply in need of conversation more than learning conversational Japanese.
One day, as I was opening the kiosk, I noticed a young man sitting on a wall close by. The mall wasn’t open yet, so I figured he was just waiting for one of the stores to open. I smiled over at him and said good morning and he replied with a good morning. As I slid open the sidings which covered the kiosk and turned on all the equipment, I couldn’t help but notice that his eyes were fixed on me.
I’ll admit it started to get a little creepy, but he seemed friendly enough, and there were people around so I felt reasonably safe. Just in case, I paused in opening the cash drawer to count the day’s starting cash.
The kiosk was open, but the mall still had another 20 minutes or so before they opened, and the mall management didn’t allow for the kiosks to begin any kind of selling process before the actual starting time. So I did what any good employee would do; I pretended to clean.
As I was fidgeting with our display boxes, I once again caught the eye of that young man who was still sitting on the wall by our kiosk, and who still had his eyes fixed on me. I smiled at him, and he smiled back. Then, a real serious look came over his face as he asked me, in what seemed to be a voice that took every ounce of courage he had, “Do you know Jesus?”
I smiled, not so much because of the question he asked, but because of how this young man was seemingly building up the bravery to start an evangelistic conversation. I told him I did in fact know of Jesus and he let out a breath of relief. He asked me, “Do you mind if we talk for a while?”
I knew I had at least 20 minutes to spare, so I told him I would be more than happy to talk with him; it beat fidgeting with display boxes.
He told me about how he came to Hawaii from the west coast in the hopes of finding a new life. His life back home was one of making wrong choices which always led him into a lot of trouble. He wasn’t sure why he chose Hawaii, but it seemed like as good a place as any to start a new life, but soon after he got here he realized it would be a lot more difficult than he thought to get a life started.
He stayed at the YMCA at first, but because he couldn’t find a job he ended up living on the beach and in the parks when his money ran out. He told me how appreciative he was of the many programs and organizations that tried to help the homeless in Honolulu; especially those who fed them and showed them places they could do their laundry and get a day’s rest off the streets.
It seemed like he needed someone to talk with, so I sat next to him and listened.
He asked about my life and how it was going, which surprised me. I told him how I had just finished serving a church in youth and young adult ministry, and was going to seminary to become a pastor. He wanted to know more about my church and what the youth ministry was like there. I found myself opening up to this young man in a way I hadn’t opened up to a stranger in a long time.
He told me that the reason he was so interested in my ministry is that 2 weeks before he had met a church group who was serving meals in the park. While he was eating, the pastor of that church came around and introduced himself, taking a little time to meet as many people as he could. But he hasn’t seen that church or that minister since, and wondered if I knew of anywhere close by he could go to church. He said that pastor and his brief conversation touched him in such a way that he finally understood what was missing in his life.
He then looked me in the eyes and said these words which I will never forget. “I used to have a lot of things – money, women, toys, friends – and for me that was enough. But all of that got taken away, and I didn’t know why until a few days ago. I now believe that God had emptied my life of everything materialistic so that I would have room for God in my life.”
When he was done saying those words he asked if he could pray with me and after that prayer was done we hugged and he walked away, never to be seen by me again.
I thought about his words all day. I thought about how he faced his new life with an openness of heart and a willingness of spirit. I also thought about where my life was currently. The more his words filled me, the more I realized what was missing in my life. I truly, deeply missed the ministry. I enjoyed sales, but what I wanted more than anything was to be back in the church, doing God’s work.
My encounter with that young man happened almost 6 years ago to the day, during the build up to Christmas in a secular world. That conversation helped put into priority the things, or one thing, that was important in my life: living in a world centered on God.
To this day I believe I was visited by an angel who spoke to me the words I needed to hear in the way I needed to hear them. To this day I believe that the young man who crossed my path for a brief moment shone a light so bright that I could once again find the path God had put me on.
It was an unexpected but very welcomed Christmas gift indeed. That visit by a messenger of God revived my hope in a life in ministry, filled me with the joy and peace of making the decision to finish my studies and pursue ordination, and brought back into my life the knowledge that I have always lived and will forever live within the love of God.
In many ways the Christmas story we heard tonight is the same. There are visits from angels who tell those they visit not to be afraid. There are visits by family members who reassure loved ones that everything will be okay. There is even a proclamation that God will surely work through a specially chosen person who will bring to life a son, a son whose own life will change the world.
Through these visits we hear words of hope as we wait for the Christ-child to be born; a child who will fulfill the promises of God. These are promises that were told of by ancient prophets for which generations of the people of Israel waited. Imagine the things you are waiting for to come true in your lives, then imagine that through the simple birth of a child all those things can come true.
Promises of a life lived free of emotional pain and free of living in an oppressive situation can all come true if, and when, we allow the Christ-child to be born within us. But, the Christ-child isn’t promised only to us. No, the Christ-child yearns to be born in all of humanity. And the way that happens is through us, through those of us who are sitting here tonight.The child of which the angel promised wasn’t promised only to Mary and Joseph, nor was he promised only to the shepherds in the fields. God’s promise of being present in human form is made for all people, through all time. Just as Mary and Joseph were chosen to care for the child until he was ready to be shared with the world, so are we asked to be the same caretakers of that promise; the same caretakers of the light of Christ which shows the path into God’s never-ending, all-encompassing love.
Earlier this week, Ann and I went to the Post Office to mail a box to my family in Oregon. I fully expected the experience to be less than enjoyable, but what I actually experienced was nothing short of enlightening as to how humanity can be if we really allow the light within us to shine.
As you might imagine the lines were long and the building was filled with a lot of people and a lot of boxes. I stood at the back of line, watching as those in line ahead of me patiently waited for their turn to move forward. If you’ve ever been in the Post Office when people are trying to mail multiple boxes, you would know how the line-shuffle works; people place their boxes on the ground and as they move forward they use their feet, legs, and hips to slide their boxes on the floor ahead of them.
Except that on this day the shuffle wasn’t happening as much. There was a security guard standing in the room and she suggested that those who had multiple boxes could move their boxes to the front of the line where she would watch them. Almost immediately 2 or 3 younger people volunteered to move boxes for the elder folks, for which the elders were thankful.
That was just the beginning of niceties. A woman had a large stack of boxes on a hand truck she was trying to take out of the Post Office, but it didn’t fit through the door. Another woman noticed she was having a difficult time and took the top box from the pile, the one that was keeping the rest of the stack from going through the door, and carried it to the woman’s car. A young man was trying to open the door while at the same time balancing a stack of no less than 5 boxes. An older gentleman saw his struggle and not only opened the door, but carried half his stack to the front of the line.
People began to look for opportunities to help one another, actually going out of their way to open doors, hold places in line, carry heavier boxes, and so on. The people in that room began to spread the joy of Christmas one person at a time. That, my friends, is how the light of Christ is spread throughout our world. The example of love being shared on an afternoon in the Post Office almost seemed out of place in a time when most people would be too busy to care. But, you know, that’s what sharing the light of hope which the Christ-child brings can be like – out of place in a world that is desperately seeking peace, joy, and love.
On that day, people found ways to be angels of love.
Soon we will be honoring 2 traditions of Christmas Eve at Ewa Community Church. The placing of the Stars of Remembrance is a way for us to share our personal journeys into God’s love. We will be writing the names of those we want to remember at this time of year. Perhaps there is a loved one who is alone on this night, or who has no reason to celebrate in the joys Christmas brings. Perhaps it’s a family member who is having a difficult time with their finances or battling illness. Perhaps it’s someone you don’t even know, such as people living in or trying to flee from war-torn countries. Either way, you will be asked to write their names on a star and place them on the tree.
The world is waiting for the promises of God to come, the promises which we can bring to them as angels of love. And as those angels we will bring the message of God’s love to all.
God is always with us. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment