It's Never Dull in Donegal

The Time is Near

A reflection from Executive Presbyter & Transitional Stated Clerk Rev. Dr. Erin Cox-Holmes

I love Advent and Christmas worship. This past Sunday we sang one of my favorite Advent/Christmas carols, "People Look East." The myriad of metaphors are a feast for Christmas fools.

Love, the Guest, is coming. With all your ability, set the table of welcome.

Love, the Rose, is coming. The flower from the root of Jesse merits all our back-breaking labor to plow bare furrows, to prepare for the Coming One even when things could not be more bleak.

Love, the Bird, is coming. This nest, this Church, this Call. Like the mother pelican, we pluck out our own feathers to line the nest to nurture the fledglings and guard fragile new life in the winter seasons.

Love, the Star, is coming. Wonder. Awe. Daring to choose merriment. Daring to forsake despair. Daring to believe the True Light is coming into the world, and the darkness will never overcome it.

Love, the Lord, is coming. How are we, in this moment, in this next breath, getting ready?

As I sang, I was remembering two moments from the past week when I knew the Reign of God has drawn near.

The first started with a gift card. An old electronic gift card given to me by my loving husband, Kent, five years ago. In good character-in-a-parable fashion, I’d rejoiced when I received it, then I lost the email, then I forgot about it. Then, looking for something else, I found the forgotten gift card instead. I lose things. A lot. I had recently lost a shoulder wrap precious to me, also a gift from Kent, from this very company. They had a replacement. And very low stock. I put in the gift card number, and it demanded a pin. There wasn’t a pin. The gift card was so old that the vendor had changed. I called customer service. Natasha took it on as a personal challenge. It took her 45 minutes – staying past her quitting time – to find a way to get the system to accept the archaic gift card and send my replacement winging its way to me. Love, the Shoulder Wrap, is on the way. I demanded to speak to a supervisor to commend Natasha. The supervisor told me, in delighted hushed tones, that my commendation would go into Natasha’s personnel file, and that she would be celebrated publicly. And, when the time for raises comes, it would be factored in to her compensation calculations. Wow. As I was singing, I was remembering all the times I have failed to say “thank you,” when someone goes beyond the necessary to gift me with unexpected, and undeserved, grace. Thank you, Natasha. I’m grateful.

The other moment was from the previous Sunday. I had been gifted with the privilege of participating in five baptisms at our Shiloh church in Oxford. There were three young ones. And two 12-year-olds, who were choosing the rigors of baptism for themselves. When I asked them if they desired to be baptized, the joy dancing from their eyes and wriggling from their bodies meant the angels were letting loose with shouts of mirth. Joy – palpable, real, overflowing joy – bounced from those young women and filled the room. Love wasn’t just on the way. Love had arrived.

People Look East

by Eleanor Farjeon

People, look east. The time is near

Of the crowning of the year.

Make your house fair as you are able,

Trim the hearth and set the table.