I had tried, tried to keep a two-week -old local paper on the front burner until I could use it for this article, but low and behold, it has disappeared, so I will need to depend on my increasingly undependable memory about a recently deceased gentleman in our town.

I didn’t know him in his lifetime, but I do now, as will you. Not that his death brought forth thick files from news rooms across the nation. No one keeps files on those who go up and down the alleys of towns, driving trucks, selling wares with a cheery voice and greeting customers by name, who knew all was right in their world; this modern peddler was on the job.

Tip O’Neill once said, “There’s nothing mysterious about politics. Half of the success is in just showing up.”

Maybe that’s the way it is with Christians at Christmas time. God is inviting us to honor Him by showing up at the Crib, the homeless shelter, the choir practice, the family dinner, complete with a dish to pass. Out of bed and at our post, wherever that might be, to greet whoever might be there.

The writer of this peddler’s story had captured the values of his life, as day by day he reassured the people hidden in the alleys on his route that all was still right in their world. Their friend was coming, someone who knew them by name.

A bit lonelier this Christmas without his cheery voice, and that’s good, reminds us of how important, even precious, are those whose lives appear too ordinary to be missed, once they leave their earthly addresses.

So, I suggest for your encouragement that you take time out and think of all your friends and relatives whom you will meet Christmas Eve, who will greet you by name. Nice, isn’t it that they came, to be with the Holy Family, and with you, for you are family, and holy, as well. Maybe not holy enough for a celebration in Vatican Square, but at the close of life. to have arrived at the Celestial Vatican Square will be A-OK with you, am sure.

All kinds of prayers are silently whispered by modern Christians, no two alike, some to be found in Joyce Rupp’s OPEN DOOR.

All-Embracing Love,
You are the equilibrium of my life.
When I lean too strongly toward the outer
world draw me back to silence and solitude.
When I cling too firmly to my inner world,
urge me forth to share what you have given
Move me always in the direction of growth
I open the door.

A grieving poem...by William Stafford

Among shirts in their closets with their empty sleeves –among coats that
embrace only air– my old grief hides.
Doors close, lights click;
Footsteps count off into silence; and
there my old grief bows in its corner
again. It lives on in its quiet at home
in the dark,
tugging a sleeve sometimes for a word,
for a gesture, for a warm coat.

In one of Ranier Maria Rilke’s many beautiful poems, he speaks to God in this way.

I don’t want to think of a place for you.
Speak to me from everywhere...
When I go towards you,
It is with my whole life.

Peace, and joy, and love to you and yours during this beautiful Christmas season.

Ruth

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