A Poem
and Reflection 2nd Sunday of Christmas St. Andrew’s Church, Nags Head, N.C. January 5, 2020 Thomas E. Wilson, Supply Clergy
Joseph Moments
When I
was a child, I remember my Grandmother tell us children that we were descended
from Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland. She told it within the context of the
old chestnut about the Bruce and the Spider. The story goes that Bruce had been
defeated three different times by the hateful Sassenach, English, Army. He was
now an outlaw and in hiding in a cave for months. Over the time of hiding he
saw a Spider try to build a web. The Spider kept tossing herself off a rock and
failing three different times, but she kept trying, and on the fourth she
succeeded. The Bruce took heart and he gathered his troops together one more
time to come back came
back and won the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, even though his men were
outnumbered ten to one.
We tend to tell the stories and legends to the next
generations that we need to hear. I knew my grandmother faced lots of
difficulties, but she kept on coming back. The point of the story was lost on
me for several years because I was enamored of being from royalty. I would have
fantasies of the Scottish authorities looking me up and offering me the crown
of Scotland. They never showed up, which I guess is alright since my older
brother would have rightly inherited the throne.
I imagine Joseph being told as a child that he descended
from the line of King David, with perhaps a fantasy about the rulers of this
world acknowledging him as the rightful offspring to the Davidic line. But Joseph, like all of us, had to learn to
grow up out of fantasies. There is no long-lost relative who is going to leave
wealth to us so we will never have want. There is no magic cure that will fix
everything. There is no lottery ticket that can give us peace. The past cannot
be expected to be our future. All we can do is to live into the present moment
and claim the heritage of the wisdom of our ancestors.
The story my grandmother told may not have been factual. I
may not be a blood descendent of Scottish Kings. Robert the Bruce may have
never noticed a spider when he was hiding in a cave, but facts are not the same
as truth. The story my grandmother
passed on to me was told for two purposes; 1) To tell me never to give up or be
discouraged. “Try, Try Again”. You may need to change the tactics a bit, but
you need to be faithful to your goal. 2)
You don’t come from a line of quitters. Every generation has had to struggle,
and they expect you to be faithful to the heritage of hope passed on through
the generations.
As I grew older, I heard stories about my family that had
facts as well as truth. From my mother I would hear stories of what her parents
had gone through in the depression and adversities through which they struggled.
I would hear stories my father would tell of his father and all he went
through. I was part of the story as my parents had to deal with me. Yet, while
they may have wanted to cut their losses on me, they never gave up. The way we learn how to not give up is when
people have not given up on us.
Joseph, part of the heritage of David, had grown up enough
and did not expect to see his son grow up to be King. He, like all fathers,
wants his son to grow up and be part of the shaping and healing of the society
in which he lived.
I want you to imagine the scene of the Gospel story for
today. Joseph gets up from his bed one morning to work and help take care of
his son, when he hears someone knocking on the door of the house. (Matthew
doesn’t know anything about a stable or a census). He opens the door and there is this band of
foreigners asking to see the King, his son. Joseph has had some dreams and he
and Mary have talked about what they have discerned through dreams and visions,
but their son being the successor to the political throne of David wasn’t past
of their fantasies.
But it was the fantasy of Herod the King, the politician
currently holding the office. Herod, like all tyrants who will do anything to
hold onto power, lived and ruled in a cauldron of hate and suspicion. He had
come to power, not because of the will of the people, but by the foreign
influence of the Romans who had conquered the area. Herod was set up to rule as
a puppet for Rome. Whatever Rome wanted; he would do; and he did. Any threat to
his throne, Herod would need to destroy, not just for his sake but because Rome
needed stability for the benefit of the ruling clique by whatever means necessary.
The band of strangers had met with Herod earlier in their
search and were distrustful of him, for they found that lies come easier to
wannabe tyrants than truth. Herod was as crooked as they come. That night the
strangers share a dream to go back home by another way to avoid Herod. Joseph,
while impressed with the visit by the strangers, has trouble sleeping and in his
dream, he discerns the need to get out of town. He and his family flee into
Egypt.
Joseph leaves behind all the fantasy of being the new David
and moves into a life where he will care and love his wife and son and not give
up building a new future for his family. He does what all our families are
called to do, to lovingly life fully and completely, working hard, not giving
up, but with a trust in God’s grace each new day that all will be redeemed.
If you ger a chance, I invite you to take time to read or
re-visit C. S. Lewis’ Narnia Chronicles. He has ordinary young boys and girls
become Kings and Queens who rule over Narnia under the leadership of Aslan the
Lion, the Christ figure. It is a story that has no facts whatsoever but plenty
of truth. May you find that you have the
choice of being Kings and Queens over your life, but always under the rule and
guidance of the one that is greater than ourselves.
Joseph
Moments
Waking
from dreams, we Josephs know,
of a
loving in blessed space between us,
a
changing world, pregnant utterly thus,
while
something deeper begins to grow.
No longer
about goals of our tiny self,
rather
now aware that true life shared,
delivers
us from place where we dared
not hope
to be ever taken from a shelf.
We were
safe there, with our tidy plans,
where all
things fit, nothing out of place,
leaves no
room for an Emmanuel grace,
yet now
our fingers move to open hands.
Giving
our self away,
welcoming
new day.
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