“We See God in Each Other”
Isaiah 9:2, 6
Hebrews 1:1-3a
Luke 1:39-45
Luke 1:46-56
John 1:1-5, 10-16
The first time he came to the church, on a Tuesday afternoon in early September, I was the only one here.
I heard the new doorbell ring, and when I went to the front door and opened it, there was a middle-aged Black man standing there wearing a hoodie, jeans, and work boots—and looking like he was about to cry.
I invited him inside and offered him a chair. He told me he was hurting and hoping to get some prayer and maybe a blessing. He said he was suffering from racism at his workplace and, while he was trying not to be angry, it just hurt so bad.
I listened, and told him how sorry I was. When the time came for me to pray for him, he got down on his knees and bowed his head. When the prayer was over, he asked to be anointed, and I went into my office and got the beautiful little anointing kit that ivy tillman gifted me a few years back. I took out the small tube of oil and poured a few drops into the handcrafted little dish.
I dipped my thumb in the oil and drew a cross on his head as I said an improvised blessing. Then the man I’ll call V stood up and, with tears in his eyes, thanked me and went on his way.
A couple weeks later I drove by a worksite and saw V on the job. I prayed that he was being treated justly.
The second time V came to the church door, he told me he thought things were getting a little better. Again, he asked me for a blessing and an anointing, and again he got down on his knees.
Last week, V came to see me again. He took a seat and we talked for a while. He told me his supervisors were messing with him and treating him differently than his white co-workers, even though he had more skills than they did. He is a good man and a hard worker, and he needs this job.
V knows he’s being mistreated, but he’s not out to punish anyone; he just wants to be treated with the dignity he deserves. He’s got a diversity advocate on his side, but an entrenched system is hard to break.
The pain in V’s eyes is real, but the hope in his hurting heart is disarming. Once again, his trust and vulnerability pierce my heart. And when he struggles to get down on his knees so that a white woman can anoint him and bless him and pray that white people will stop mistreating him, it takes my breath away.
Because in V’s pain, humility, and desire to do the right thing I see Jesus. Because in V’s returning to me for a blessing again and again, I can only conclude that he must see something of God in me.
Friends, we have spoken a lot this Advent of Christmas as the story of God’s ages-old and ongoing work of grace and love through unlikely, ordinary people. We have seen how foreigners, women, unbelievers, and deeply flawed individuals played keyed roles in preparing the way for God’s love and light to enter the world in a whole new way. We have reflected on fear and trust, risk-taking and decision-making, and how there is not only room for every person in God’s great plan but also true value in every person’s story. We’ve talked about the importance of sharing the greatest story of all from generation to generation.
And sometimes the story we need to learn is a person. Sometimes the Spirit we are making room for when we tend to the story of another person is none other than the love of Jesus. Sometimes we need to tell our story and live our truth so that others can see God’s love alive and at work in and through us.
Sometimes, like Elizabeth greeting Mary, we need to give voice to what we see and feel, praising God and affirming God’s love made flesh in the body and soul of someone else.
And always, especially when we are feeling alone or afraid, discouraged or confused, we need to magnify the Lord, remembering the great things God has already done to bring us justice and joy, hope and love.
May we, too, say yes to love. May we, too, so open our hearts and eyes that we might see in others the same tender barrier-crossing, trouble-making, lowly-lifting, death-defying love of God made flesh in Jesus. And may we live and love in such a way that other people see God’s love made flesh in us.
Soon and very soon, beloveds, God’s love will be born in us again. In joy and thanksgiving I leave you with this song lyric from Iona’s John Bell:
Before the world began
one Word was there;
grounded in God he was,
rooted in care;
by him all things were made,
in him was love displayed,
through him God spoke
and said,
“I am for you.”Life found in him its source,
death found its end;
light found in him its course,
darkness its friend;
for neither death nor doubt
nor darkness can put out
the glow of God, the shout
“I am for you.”The Word was in the World
which from him came;
unrecognized he was,
unknown by name;
one with all humankind,
with the unloved aligned,
convincing sight and mind
“I am for you.”All who received the Word,
by God were blessed,
[siblings they all were]
of earth’s fond guest.
So did the Word of grace
proclaim in time and space,
and with a human face,
“I am for you.”
Thanks be to God!
