Of course, we have to make “honorable mention” of Saint Nick tonight! Of course, we do…we are ALL Saints! Our namesake, behooves us.
Saint Nicholas was a “historic Christian saint” and Greek Bishop of Myra, (modern-day Turkey). Because of the many miracles attributed to his prayers, he is also known as “Nikolaos the Wonderworker.”
Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, “brewers,” pawnbrokers and students in various cities and countries around Europe…
I suspect his ever growing popularity and reputation in the Milwaukee area is because of the brewing industry in our city….and due to the influence of the Catholic Church. Remember we were once called the “Beer Capital of the World!” Pabst, Schlitz, Miller, Blatz, Miller-Coors, all the micro-breweries…Lakefront, Sprecher and many, many others….
St. Nick’s reputation “evolved” among the faithful, as was common for nearly all the early Christian saints, and his legendary habit of “secret gift-giving” gave rise to the traditional model of Santa Claus (“Saint Nick”) through Sinterklaas.
The historical Saint Nicholas was actually born at Lycia in Asia Minor (now Turkey). He was the only son of wealthy Christian parents named Epiphanius and Johanna. He was very religious from an early age and according to legend, Nicholas was said to have rigorously observed all the fasts of the church. His wealthy parents died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still very young and he was raised by his uncle—also named Nicholas—who was the bishop of Patara. First, Nicholas served as a “lector” in the church and then later, becoming a priest.
In his youth he made a pilgrimage to Egypt and the Palestine area. Shortly after his return he became Bishop of Myra (following in his uncle’s footsteps) and was later thrown into prison during the persecutions of Diocletian.
He was released after “the accession of Constantine” as Holy Roman Emperor and was present at the First Council of Nicaea…where a draft was made for the Nicene Creed.
According to Western Christian tradition… St. Nick is known for “all the good that he did” – in helping out “others” and usually “anonymously”…not bringing any kind of personal attention to himself!
Little did he know about the commercialism that would one day ensue…in his name.
Let me just say this…St. Nick embodied “Christian love” for others, not because of merits or good works, but -because he could help them out, it flowed naturally from this old bishop…because it was the right thing to do. He was in a position to help. And, so he did! I like the fact that he tried always to give in secret.
What I appreciate is the story that is told in the midst of our Gospel text for this evening.
Jesus had decided to tell a short parable…a story actually! It was about a man who went on a trip – leaving his servants in charge.
It happened all the time. It was a common enough occurrence. Landowners came and went with ease. People that could travel did travel. He was probably a man of some “means” which was obvious because of all of his household servants.
Now obviously, each servant had his job to do. If you were a painter, you painted. If you were a herder, you herded. If you were a chef, you cooked. If you were a farmer, you farmed. If you were a dishwasher, you washed dishes. If you were a teacher, you taught. Life went on…
There were things to do, stuff to be accomplished. It mattered not that the owner was away.
Each servant had their job or chores to perform and the head of the household never told them when exactly he might return.
According to the story, he only told the doorkeeper to be alert.
The rest of the household staff is simply to continue doing their respective jobs.
Here is our advent theme.
We have jobs to do. Each and every one of us. We have family and friends to take care of – and to be supportive of them. We have homes and apartments that obviously need upkeep and cleaning. We have children to raise and grandchildren to spoil and some of us have parents to take care of…
There is more than enough for us to do.
All of us are to continue learning and growing daily in our lives of faith…we have responsibilities. We have stuff that needs our attention. We have lives to attend to.
We all have stuff to do.
Advent reminds us…of all these things.
It also reminds us, that Jesus is away…but like the householder he is coming back. No one knows when…in the mean time and in the in between time, we all have our own stuff to do.
So do it!
And where you CAN help out, those who are less fortunate than you yourself, do that as well. Because like Old St. Nick, because, you can. Amen.