Dear Parishioners and Friends,
During the Advent season, which begins this year on the last Sunday of November, we always hear about that great forerunner of our Lord, John the Baptist. Now John was very straightforward about himself. He did not see himself at the high end of some social scale. Instead, he saw himself in the light of God's destiny. Indeed, his humility was inescapable.
"The one who is more powerful than I am," he said, "is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals." John saw clearly the hope and the promise which Jesus offered, and he saw himself as helping others do the same. He called attention to what he saw. He proclaimed, "Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." He had to convince people to open the portals of their lives, and to let go of the assumptions and ideologies that previously had blocked them off from one another and from the truth of God.
Despite growing up in a poor family in New York City, Pete Richards was a shining star on the basketball court. God had given him a gift that Pete used to get a full scholarship to a big eastern university. While in college, Pete Richards not only made his team a winner, but he established himself as a fine student with a very promising career ahead of him in business. Then came Viet Nam. Because Pete had been in ROTC in college, he graduated with a Second Lieutenant’s commission. Six months later, Pete found himself in the jungles of Viet Nam responsible for a rifle company. One night while on patrol, Pete Richards’ dreams were suddenly shattered by a land mine. Miraculously, he survived, but it meant the loss of both legs, and nearly 18 months in a veteran’s hospital. For Pete Richards, there would be no more basketball, no promising career on Wall Street, and as far as he could see, no more life worth living. He became withdrawn from even his family and friends, and it was clear that each day, the bitterness in his soul was taking his life. Too proud to take the assistance offered to him by his family, Pete became one of the hundreds of faceless men on the streets of New York City asking passersby for a handout. He found a great spot just outside the steps leading into St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church on Fifth Avenue. After all, he reasoned, those rich churchgoers owed him something for his time in Viet Nam.
One day, a young man about Pete’s age stopped by his wheelchair, and said, "Hi! Mind if I sit down by you for a while?" "It’s a free country," said Pete, "suit yourself." The stranger introduced himself as Dan Ferris, and Pete was startled when he took out a thermos of coffee and some deli sandwiches, and offered them to the hapless man in the wheelchair. At first, Pete refused the kindness, but he was really hungry, and the food mellowed him so that he and Dan began to talk. The next day, Dan was back with more sandwiches and coffee. Slowly, he began to gain Pete’s confidence, and their meeting by the steps of the church became a daily ritual. One day, Dan told Pete about a friend of his who was starting a course to train people to use computers. He asked if Pete would be interested. At first, Pete resisted, but Dan’s insistence finally won out. The next day, Dan came to Pete’s single room, helped him get shaved and dressed, and they set off for the computer school. Pete Richards turned out to be a computer genius, and today he lives a fruitful and productive life. No matter where he goes, Pete never tires of telling anyone who will listen about a man he met on Fifth Avenue whose confidence in him gave him back his life."
You and I, likewise, are called by God to find such hope and promise in others. In so doing, we are called to help break down the barriers that separate us one from another. This Advent, let us, like John the Baptist, be proclaimers of God’s truth, sometimes being lone voices in the wilderness of popular opinion, making highways in the desert, but always being encouragers, heralds of promise, and champions of rebirth of the human spirit.
Faithfully,
The Reverend Philip W. Stowell
