Jolly Old St. Nicholas

 December 6, 2016

Advent – Season of Hope

Jolly old St. Nicholas, giver of gifts.  What a delightful surprise to wake up to small gifts in our shoes, a tribute to Nicholas, bishop.  How we wash down and sanitize great saints over the ages, turning this brave man into a “jolly old elf,” with red suit and beard and belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly.

We have no control over what happens to us when we are gone.  There is little we can do to preserve our memory in the form that we would wish.  We are helpless before the forces in society that would turn a great saint into a commercial figure to be exploited to make money.  How we wish we could have more control over how we will be remembered when we die, but we don’t.

All we can do is live our life the best we can while on this earth.  The rest is up to God.

Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed!  For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”   Isaiah 6:5

This post is part of a series of reflections on the church year. To receive daily posts in your email, click on the button below