Liz Zehr

Although we know very little about Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra, there is no disputing the fact that he has become one of the most popular saints of the Christian calendar. Certainly, he is the most imitated! For countless centuries, in Christian countries around the world, people have dressed up with white beards and variations of red garb to play at being St. Nicholas or Santa Claus for a group of delighted children. Indeed, every parent or grandparent who puts a gift under a tree is, in part, imitating a man who is remembered for no other reason than the fact that he knew what it is to love!

Of the many legends concerning Nicholas, most detail his many acts of generosity and mercy.  This was a man committed to the Scriptural mandate to love our neighbour. It’s a task more easily spoken of than done. It’s easy to talk of loving but much more difficult to do it. Loving is more an act of the will than of the heart. It involves making hard choices, making commitment. It means choosing to function and act with no motivation other than the desire to benefit another.

The Scriptures call us to be imitators of Christ, to quite literally pretend that you are Jesus.  We are invited to participate in a faithful act of pretence! I like that idea!  For although there are dishonest kinds of pretending where we pretend to be something that we have no intention of truly becoming, there is also, I think, a good kind of pretence where the act of pretence can lead us to the real thing.

In the same way, as we pretend to be more Christ-like, as we put on the face of Christ, we grow into the fullness of his grace and love. What begins as pretence, becomes a reality. To use Scriptural terms, we are talking about putting on Christ, about Christ being formed in us. But regardless of the terminology, the reality of what occurs is the same. As we seek to be more Christ-like, the true Christ honours our faithful act of pretence by turning it into a reality.

So what does all that have to do with St. Nick? As the reigning symbol of the modern, secular holiday season, poor old Santa has become a symbol of all the elements in our modern, consumer driven Christmas that are offensive to us. As such, he gets more than his fair share of bad press from cranky church people at this time of the year.

But not all of it’s deserved. Yes, Christmas is overly hyped and overly commercialized. Yes, there are things we would rather do with a little less of and others we would want to see given a higher profile.  But at the same time, as flawed and imperfect as our annual imitations of old Nicholas might be, on one level they represent a striving for something good and something right. It’s not the real thing by a longshot, but it is informed by the real thing and can still point toward the real thing. And that, in my mind, is something to be thankful for.

So this year, as you dodge through the mall, quietly cursing the muzak Christmas carols and the too-early “holiday” decorations, see if you can’t squeeze out a smile and a prayer for St. Nick. He may be more of a friend than you think!

At the end of May, my assistants and I had the opportunity to meet with a group of pastors, and one deacon, who are called to serve in specialized ministries of spiritual care within the wider community. Some serve in long term care or hospitals. Others serve as chaplains within the Canadian Armed Forces or within the correctional system. Others serve in social service and community counselling ages or hospices. One is called to minister to seafarers on the Great Lakes. Their ministries are unique and represent an amazing breadth of contexts and situations. Regrettably, this work is relatively unheralded within the life of our church and these gifted colleagues engage their ministries in relative anonymity.

The testimonies they shared regarding their particular experiences of ministering within this time of pandemic were poignant and profound. Some spoke of the challenges of ministering to overwhelmed staff colleagues struggling to do their work in times of outbreak. Others referenced their experiences of accompanying the dying in circumstances where family members were not allowed to be present. We heard about escalating mental health challenges and ministering to victims of sexual misconduct within the Canadian Armed Forces. We heard a lot of pain.

We also, however, consistently heard profound words of grace, hope and love. Our colleagues consistently referenced how blessed they feel to be able to do the work that they do. They spoke of the privilege of accompanying people in circumstances that; while fraught with much pain, distress and anxiety; were also profoundly holy and sacred.   

Many have had to change the ways and means by which they serve. One colleague now does shopping runs for seafarers that are locked on board and has been known to carry a balance of up to 20k on his personal credit card in order to do that. “You are a very trusting man,” I said! “It’s all based on trust, bishop!” “It’s all based on trust.”

Each of these colleagues is sharing and living out the Gospel in places and contexts that congregational ministries are unable of unlikely to reach. They extend the breadth and scope of the church’s ministry efforts. They are agents of grace and blessing who are at work at the margins, with people and communities with whom the church would otherwise have no, or very limited, contact.

Their calls to ministry are issued by a synod, or by the ELCIC, on behalf of the whole church. They are our agents of grace and blessing to the world! At the same time, each of them has made a commitment to make themselves available to support congregational ministries as they are able beyond the work they do in their own specialized ministry context. And I can tell you that they honour that commitment by providing supply and interim ministry support to our congregations on top of the significant responsibilities they carry under the terms of their primary calls.

Thank-you, my dear colleagues, for carrying our church’s ministry to places and people to whom we might otherwise not go! You bless us all by your services and we are deeply grateful!