Holy One, you have come among us to lead us in paths of righteousness. Guide our feet through the wilderness toward the living water of your grace, following in the steps of our Savior: Jesus Christ, the light of the world. Amen.
This third Sunday of Advent, John the Baptist for a second week in a row calls us to repentance. We are invited to turn away from evil, to reject the temptations of Satan and turn toward the good and the path of following Jesus. We need to hear his message once again this Advent, “at a time in our world when some flourish beyond imagining while others starve for lack of resources and love.”
John the Baptist, as the forerunner, lives in a way that we should emulate. John the Baptist always pointed toward the one who was to come, Jesus. His message was never about him, but about Jesus. “His deeds mattered, but Jesus' deeds mattered more. His proclamation was compelling, but Jesus' proclamation was all consuming.”
When Jesus appears on the scene, John the Baptizer immediately acknowledges the greatness of Jesus, greater than all that is past—greater than John, greater than all ancient memories and hopes. When Jesus comes into the narrative, John quickly, abruptly, without reservation says of Jesus, "He must increase, I must decrease."
What to do while we watch and wait this Advent season? Move from the large vision of Isaiah to the small discipline of John. If John embodies all that is old and Jesus embodies all that is new, take as your Advent work toward Christmas that enterprise: decrease/increase which is a form of repentance. Decrease what is old and habitual and destructive in your life, so that the new life-giving power of Jesus may grow large…
Decrease our focus on ourselves and increase our love for our neighbors…
Franz Jacob is a barber in a small town outside of Quebec. One of his regulars is six-year-old Wyatt Lafreniere. Wyatt is autistic - he has trouble sitting still and he's hypersensitive to being touched.
So Franz will follow Wyatt around his shop as needed. He'll crawl on the floor with Wyatt and clip the boy's hair a snip and a shear at a time. Wyatt will sometimes just lie down on the floor, so Franz will lie down on the floor, too, taking as much time as Wyatt needs.
Many barbers and hairdressers don't know how to deal with clients with disabilities like autism, but Franz Jacob has several regular customers with autism, Wyatt being the youngest. He's learned how to adapt to their needs. He schedules them for the end of the day so he can take the time he needs, as long as an hour to 90 minutes. "I lock the front door. It has to stay quiet," explains Franz. "I'm just being really patient because they are [the ones] driving those moments."
Franz Jacob also works with people who are terminally ill, who want to enjoy a last trim. "When you shave someone who is probably going to die within 48 hours ... it's indescribable . . . I'm really proud to be doing all this,' he says.
To Wyatt's mom, Franz Jacob is a hero.
"He welcomes him like his best friend. To see that he accepts these differences is just fantastic," she says.
A few weeks ago, Mrs. Lafreniere published a photo she took of the burly, grizzly-bearded, tattooed barber lying on the floor of his shop giving her son a haircut. The photo was posted online and in newspapers throughout Canada, and made the barber a hero - but Franz says, "I don't see myself like that, but I'm just doing my best all the time for my community." [CTVnews.ca; CBC]
Isn’t that what John the Baptist expects of us?
In what our Christian tradition has come to call the "Incarnation," that is God with us, the God of love becomes one of us so that we might become one with God. The Incarnation is not only an event but a practice: that we "embody" the love of God for the sake of others.
A barber in Canada becomes the "incarnation" of God's love when he puts aside his adult world to bend down and crawl on the floor to enter the world of his young autistic client.
May this Christmas be the beginning of our own "practice" of incarnation: to leave our own self-centered world to travel humbly in the world of those in need and, through our patience, understanding and generosity, to make the compassion and peace of God a reality in their lives.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment