There’s a knock at the door…and we wonder who it could be. Is it the ghost of Christmas past, coming to haunt us with deeds we’ve done or left undone, loose ends, and people we have yet to fully reconcile with? Or is it a sign that perhaps something we’ve done, some small gesture, a glance, a touch, a kind word mattered to someone? Could it be a sign to show us what really matters?
I’ve often been reminded of moments that I’ve let pass me by. Moments that really mattered, but I was preoccupied or distracted. I didn’t recognize their importance. They are small everyday things that in the moment just feel like life, but are really something more than that. I was at a restaurant recently and a group of women were passing around this baby who must have been less than a year old. This little baby saw my face and just stared…he just stared and stared with this startled, curious expression. The other ladies laughed, and then they went to eating their food and I went back to eating mine. As they departed, one of the women said to me: “It’s been nice being with you.” It hit me, and woke me up. I’ve spent countless times in restaurants either by myself or with Jennifer or with friends, and it never occured to me the simple truth – every time I ate in a restaurant I’ve been with all these other people. They’re presence is not insignificant even though I’ve never said a word even exchanged a glance with most of them. I’ve been there. They’ve been there. We’ve been there together. So common, and so Intimate. Sitting, eating side by side. And the woman gave me a message that started me – my presence, eating at another table, mattered to her.
Sometimes we get these wake up moments in not so subtle ways. A woman you love and have dedicated your life to comes home one day and says “I’m pregnant…and it’s not your baby.” And in the story of Joseph and Mary, Joseph asks whose it is, and Mary replies God – which is code for “who knows?” And the great mystery touches their life and leaves this struggling young family with a burden, at least it seems that way on the surface. This young, vulnerable couple has no idea that the burden they are carrying, this great mystery, will someday grow up and live in such a way that we will literally mark time by his life. It was an act of hope, a risk for Joseph to go along with Mary and say this moment matters.
The story of Joseph and Mary asks us to reconsider our burdens. It asks us to wonder if this time could be an anticipation of good things to come It asks us to imagine that this birth of hope may feel in the moment like a burden, like something too hard to bear and make sense of.
This is a season of Advent – a season of waiting, waiting for hope to be made known to us. Our season of advent may be months, sometimes it may years. We do our best in the given circumstances. We follow our instinct, even if it means breaking the rules sometimes, and we wait. We wait to see what those actions mean, what they give birth to.
I love the story that John read written by Bob Welsh – especially the ending where the officer comes to pay Bob a visit. And she tells him tenderly and proudly – “I’m Sue McKay.” She was not just telling Bob her name. She was saying what we all yearn to hear. She was saying – “You matter. Your life matters to me. Your life was not spent in vain. You matter.”
Those two little words fulfill a lifetime – You matter. All the chasing, all the scheming, all the working diligently, all the sleepless nights and wonderings come to an end with two little words – You matter. We can spend a whole lifetime trying to hear those two little words. It’s my belief that these words are being communicated to us all the time, but it’s difficult for us to hear it.
That’s my definition of justice. Some people think justice work is only for certain people, young people maybe. People who can march and who have strong lungs, and are willing to be beat up and go to jail. All these things may prove useful, but for me the heart of doing justice is much simpler and much more powerful. Justice work is helping ourselves and others hear two little words that are at the heart of existence being uttered at all times, and being heard by only a few – you matter. Justice is saying simply “you matter. You matter to me personally. Your struggles matter to me” And all our actions can flow from these two little words.
These words arrive to us at different times and in surprising places. These two little words may surprise us while we’re eating in a restaurant, or while we’re shocked with an unexpected possibility, pregnant with hope, that we interpret as a burden, or even while we’re talking to someone here at church. Reaching out to another, shaking their hand, and in our heart feeling the simple truth – you matter. Walking outside of here and going to our car, and holding in our hearts a truth for this surrounding block, for Elm street, for the North Side – you matter. Going through this season the best we know how, and in our moments of stress reminding ourselves of these two little words.
These two little words are knocking at our door waiting to finally be heard. I love this season because the environment feels quieter to me, more still. I can feel things in this season, subtle sensations that I miss most of the time. It sometimes take this silence, this cold, this season of waiting to remind us what truly our life is about. Our life are seeds of hope for a future unknown. But our life is known – not in the future, not when we’ve finished our shopping lists and resolved all our worries. It’s known right now. It’s knocking on the door waiting to tell us the meaning of this season and the meaning of our life – and this great meaning is held in two little words – you matter.
