The gift giving and the gift finding season is hard upon us. The commercial culture that surrounds us is insistent on it. Even if we manage to resist the lure of the expensive “toys,” even if we bake or make our gifts, even if we donate to good causes in someone’s name, the need to find a wonderful gift is part of the challenge of this season for most of us.
Rev. David Blanchard tells the story of an African boy who wanted to give a gift to his teacher, who was going home to England:
“The child had no money and his options were few. The day before the teacher was to leave, the child brought her a huge seashell. The teacher asked the boy where he could have found such a shell. He told her there was only one spot where such extraordinary shells could be found, and when he named the place, a certain bay many miles away the teacher was speechless.
“Why…why, it’s gorgeous…wonderful, but you shouldn’t have gone all that way to get a gift for me.” His eyes brightening, the boy answered, “Long walk part of gift.”
Long walk part of gift.
This is not exactly a Christmas story, not a holiday story at all in its specifics. But most of the most important gifts we give to each other involve some version of the “long walk.” The long walk we take with our children and our partners, with our friends. The long walk we take to live out our commitments to justice and to compassion for our neighbors. The life-long walk we take with ourselves. And the long walk we take with and for our church.
As we move into the heart of this holiday season, I am thinking of the hundreds of people who take a long walk to make this church what it has been for so long, a beacon of hope for so many. I am thinking of the ushers and the greeters, the teachers and advisors in our religious education program, of the singers and ringers in the choirs, of the lay ministers and the justice makers and the advocates who support the Fund Drive. I am thinking of the coffee servers and of all the congregants who show up for committee meetings and stay till the end. I am thinking of the volunteers in the office and of all the people who say “yes” when their church asks them to step up and help.
It is dangerous to make a list. I know I have not named all that should be named. But I hope my point is clear. “It takes a village.”
First Unitarian is far from perfect. I encounter our limitations and the ways we fall short every day. But we are a community that keeps taking those long walks of commitment and service.
We are a community of “yea-sayers,” willing, often pleased to go the extra mile to help make First Unitarian the community we want it to be.
We, the people, are the church, of course. And just as we take those long walks for this community, we also receive the gifts of service that are being given.
As one of our hymns, describes it: “giving, receiving as love shows us how.”
I invite all of us to take time this season to offer thanks for the many gifts that support the ministry we do together. But I also invite you to give thanks for the opportunities to serve. What would a community of “yea-sayers” do without those long walks that allow our commitments to live.
Blessings of the season,
Bill