Proverbs 3:1-4
My child, do not forget my teaching,
but let your heart keep my commandments,
for length of days and years of life
and abundant welfare they will give you.
Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you;
bind them around your neck;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
Then you will find favor and high regard
in the sight of God and of people.
As I mentioned last week, the past three weeks have simply been a crazy time of one thing after another – coming at me hard and fast with hardly a moment to draw breath between them. There’s been a week long visit with family from back east involving a very active two-year old running five adults into near exhaustion; a much more involved Halloween celebration than I’m used to; an ordination; and a couple of Sundays where I didn’t have time enough to actually prepare a sermon, and so, ended up winging it with the help of a very responsive congregation. It makes me tired just to type that all out.
While searching for a theme for this Sunday’s message I stumbled on a story I don’t remember reading before. It’s from a booklet of Advent meditations and is about faithful friends who will always have your back. It’s a very moving story. I’ll share it with you shortly but first I need to say that after reading the story I realized that I, and several loyal friends, have only recently lived very similar stories, and it led me to see those recent stories in a different light.
This is the story I’ve stumbled on. It’s in the 2014 Advent Daily Devotional booklet from the Stillspeaking Writers Group. This particular story was written by Quinn Caldwell who is the pastor of a Congregational Church in New York State, where one member of his church is from India, having been relocated here by his company.
Caldwell had invited the gentleman to read the scripture at their Christmas Eve service and he had agreed, and when he arrived almost 30 others came with him. They sat quietly while he shared the reading and as he returned to his pew, each one shook his hand to congratulate him for doing his job well.
Later in the service the pastor gave his standard “everyone is welcome here” invitation to share communion and, much to his surprise, every one of the reader’s friends came forward and as they received, each responded with “Merry Christmas!”
It was later learned that none of these visitors were Christian – they were there to support their friend and colleague -- but they had taken the time to study in advance and find out the proper responses so they could participate in a respectful manner – honoring both the church setting and their friend.
These are the companions we all should be grateful for on our journey through this life.
Thinking about this story it felt kind of familiar, and then I realized that was because I had participated in two similar events very recently – twice actually in the past week.
First example – a group of friends meets most every week for a musical jam night. It’s not an open mic, just a group of friends meeting to share our music and enjoy each other’s company. A week or so ago a couple from our group were scheduled for a gig at a location they had never played – they also had another member of our group opening for them. It was a bigger than usual deal because it might lead to bigger gigs for them down the road. So the night of the performance most of our jam group showed up to be support for them. In my husbands’ and my case I know, it was probably the busiest week we’ve had in months, but we were there for our friends -- musicians need audience – and it was a delightful evening!
The second example occurred three days later – same basic group but a very different setting. One member of our jam group was being formally ordained into the ministry by her denomination. This is a big deal thing. Only two people from our group were connected to the religious aspect of this event but – once again – multiple members of the jam showed up just to celebrate with our friend and honor the importance of her ordination to her.
Again, this was not a specifically Christian group of folks from the jam – some have connections to other denominations, some claim no such connection at all – but they showed up because this is so important to our friend and they wanted her to know they cared.
But the most important piece of it all, to my admittedly Christian view, was that, when we were called to share bread and cup at the table, every one of this mixed group, went forward to share the meal – just like the transplants from India from Quinn Caldwell’s story – they were there to love and support their friend on her big day.
These are the true and faithful companions for our journey – some of the many that God places in our lives to share – for a shorter or longer while – our journey through this life. We are blessed to have them, and we are often blessed to be them for others, as we are called and sent by God to build and strengthen the Reign of God, here and now.
In this time of confusion and fear and personal carelessness that we are living in right now, there are many who need the support and friendship of others, whether they are long-time friends or strangers we have just met along the way. The examples I’ve shared here are happy examples but there are so many occasions that may not be quite so happy, for us to walk with others and support them, and show them “Hey, I’m here, and I will walk this road with you for as long as it takes.”
May we always be up for the task – and the joy of companioning and traveling with our brothers and sisters.
While searching for a theme for this Sunday’s message I stumbled on a story I don’t remember reading before. It’s from a booklet of Advent meditations and is about faithful friends who will always have your back. It’s a very moving story. I’ll share it with you shortly but first I need to say that after reading the story I realized that I, and several loyal friends, have only recently lived very similar stories, and it led me to see those recent stories in a different light.
This is the story I’ve stumbled on. It’s in the 2014 Advent Daily Devotional booklet from the Stillspeaking Writers Group. This particular story was written by Quinn Caldwell who is the pastor of a Congregational Church in New York State, where one member of his church is from India, having been relocated here by his company.
Caldwell had invited the gentleman to read the scripture at their Christmas Eve service and he had agreed, and when he arrived almost 30 others came with him. They sat quietly while he shared the reading and as he returned to his pew, each one shook his hand to congratulate him for doing his job well.
Later in the service the pastor gave his standard “everyone is welcome here” invitation to share communion and, much to his surprise, every one of the reader’s friends came forward and as they received, each responded with “Merry Christmas!”
It was later learned that none of these visitors were Christian – they were there to support their friend and colleague -- but they had taken the time to study in advance and find out the proper responses so they could participate in a respectful manner – honoring both the church setting and their friend.
These are the companions we all should be grateful for on our journey through this life.
Thinking about this story it felt kind of familiar, and then I realized that was because I had participated in two similar events very recently – twice actually in the past week.
First example – a group of friends meets most every week for a musical jam night. It’s not an open mic, just a group of friends meeting to share our music and enjoy each other’s company. A week or so ago a couple from our group were scheduled for a gig at a location they had never played – they also had another member of our group opening for them. It was a bigger than usual deal because it might lead to bigger gigs for them down the road. So the night of the performance most of our jam group showed up to be support for them. In my husbands’ and my case I know, it was probably the busiest week we’ve had in months, but we were there for our friends -- musicians need audience – and it was a delightful evening!
The second example occurred three days later – same basic group but a very different setting. One member of our jam group was being formally ordained into the ministry by her denomination. This is a big deal thing. Only two people from our group were connected to the religious aspect of this event but – once again – multiple members of the jam showed up just to celebrate with our friend and honor the importance of her ordination to her.
Again, this was not a specifically Christian group of folks from the jam – some have connections to other denominations, some claim no such connection at all – but they showed up because this is so important to our friend and they wanted her to know they cared.
But the most important piece of it all, to my admittedly Christian view, was that, when we were called to share bread and cup at the table, every one of this mixed group, went forward to share the meal – just like the transplants from India from Quinn Caldwell’s story – they were there to love and support their friend on her big day.
These are the true and faithful companions for our journey – some of the many that God places in our lives to share – for a shorter or longer while – our journey through this life. We are blessed to have them, and we are often blessed to be them for others, as we are called and sent by God to build and strengthen the Reign of God, here and now.
In this time of confusion and fear and personal carelessness that we are living in right now, there are many who need the support and friendship of others, whether they are long-time friends or strangers we have just met along the way. The examples I’ve shared here are happy examples but there are so many occasions that may not be quite so happy, for us to walk with others and support them, and show them “Hey, I’m here, and I will walk this road with you for as long as it takes.”
May we always be up for the task – and the joy of companioning and traveling with our brothers and sisters.
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