Run, Mary Run

This is from The Brilliance. 

Some may find it offensive, but the story of the birth and childhood of of Jesus was anything but peaceful.  It would be easy to write additional verses to this song, lyrics dealing with hunger, homelessness, and exclusion.  The ability to hear the contemporary truth of scripture through careful and faithful contextualization--ancient and modern--transforms people and systems. 

May we have ears to hear. 

Like far too many children today, violence, discrimination, fear, poverty and life "on the run" characterized the earliest experiences of this special baby.

As we worship the Christ child, may we really see him in the children who suffer today, near and far.

Christmas humility

Sober Fact

Christians believe that so great is God’s love and concern for humanity that God became human. We do well to remember that God’s insertion into human history was achieved with an almost frightening quietness and humility. There was no…special privilege; in fact the entry of God into God’s own world was almost heartbreakingly humble. In sober fact there is little romance or beauty in the thought of a young woman looking desperately for a place where she could give birth to her first baby.

J. B. Phillips
Source: Good News: Thoughts on God and Man

Christmas truth

An Incarnation Into Littleness

The incarnation is the irruption of God into human history: an incarnation into littleness and service in the midst of overbearing power exercised by the mighty of this world; an irruption that smells of the stable. The Son of God was born into a little people, a nation of little importance by comparison with the powers of the time. He took flesh among the poor in a marginal area—namely, Galilee; he lived with the poor and emerged from among them to inaugurate a kingdom of love and justice. That is why many have trouble recognizing him.

Gustavo Gutierrez
Source: The God of Life

Light

Isaiah 9
¹ Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—
² The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
³ You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
when dividing the plunder.
⁴ For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.
⁵ Every warrior’s boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.
⁶ For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.

Santa's hearing different kinds of Christmas wish lists in 2011

Santa finds kids giving shorter lists in recession

By MARTHA WAGGONER
AP – Tue, Dec 6,

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A job for their mom or dad. Money for the heating bill. Food or a place to live. Maybe gloves or boots.

More and more, Santas say the children on their laps are asking for less for themselves — and Santa is promising less as well.

With unemployment stubbornly high, more homes in foreclosure and the economic outlook dim, many children who visit Santa are all too aware of the struggle to make ends meet.

"These children understand the conditions around the home when they ask for stuff," said Richard Holden, a 69-year-old Santa from Gastonia, N.C. "They understand when there are other children in the family, they need to be cautious or thoughtful of them as well and not ask for 10 to 12 items."

Cliff Snider, who's been playing Santa since he was a teenager, agrees.

"I think the parents are saying, 'It's an economic thing. Just list two to three things you really want to have,'" he said. "Parents are trying to encourage the children to be thrifty."

And the 64-year-old Snider does his best to help out. When he gets a big-ticket request, he typically responds: "There's an awful lot of children asking for that this year. What else do you want?"

At the Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School, Santas learn lines like, "Wow, that's a big gift. Is there anything else you might like?"

These days, though, Santas are having to use it less and less.

"I think it's becoming more popular not to have that long list," said Tom Valent, dean of the Howard Santa school in Midland, Mich., which gets more than 3,000 letters to Santa a year and just graduated its 75th class. "Families are teaching their children to be as much of a giver as a receiver."

Starlight Fonseca has been teaching her five children, ages 5 to 14, "that we're not the only ones who have to cut things back. We're not the only ones struggling."

The 31-year-old mother and her husband Jose had been relying on a stipend from the University of Texas law school that Fonseca lost when an illness made it impossible for her to keep her grades up. She'd hoped to graduate in May but was unable to attend school this semester and can't get student loans due to poor credit.

Fonseca tells her kids that "to make it fair for everyone, Santa has to cut back for everyone. ... We paint it in a way that Santa is doing the best he can to make everybody happy at Christmas."

It's especially hard for the oldest children.

They were two little kids who used to be excited about Christmas, and now they know every gift under the tree should have gone to the utility company," she said. "It shouldn't be that way, but that's where we are now."

Of course, Santas still see some kids like the 9-year-old who pulled out a BlackBerry and showed Snider photos of all the things he wanted. "It cracked me up," he said.

Holden's response to a long list is to say something like, "Why don't you narrow this down just a little bit and choose two or three items you would really like?" Sometimes he'll even mention prices, and say, "With things like they are, Santa Claus will do what he can to help you get what you like. But we can't make you any promises."

Tim Connaghan, who runs the International University for Santa Claus in Riverside, Calif., conducts an annual survey among the 500 Santas he employs. The economy has become such a big issue that Connaghan asked them for advice on how to handle some of the questions kids were asking about unemployed parents or having to move.

"Let's all hope your dad will find a new job, or you will get into a new home," is one recommended response.

"Acknowledge the problem, give them a positive response and say, 'Santa loves you, too. Maybe I could get something special for you,'" said Connaghan. "It's that quick, usually. But the hope is that when the child leaves, he feels a little better."

Connaghan recalled the night he and other Santas took some needy children shopping. One boy wanted to buy toilet paper because his mother was taking napkins and paper towels from a fast food restaurant for toilet paper.

"He wanted to buy her real toilet paper — a common, everyday item that we all take for granted," Connaghan said. "And this child is thinking this is a Christmas gift."

Holden has had children ask for things like heat at home. He'll tell the child Santa will do what he can, then try to let the parents know about agencies that might help.

One child returned a year later and "said she wanted to thank Santa for getting her some help when they didn't have food or a place to stay." Someone had overheard the conversation with Santa and helped the family.

"There's more to being a Santa Claus than you think there is," Holden said. "You don't just go 'ho, ho, ho,' pat them on the back of the head and send them on their way. You get involved with them. ... You just make sure they feel loved and they feel special when they leave your lap.

Children dance at CityWalk!

Here is a part of the program from the CityWalk@Akard Christmas party last week.

Aren't children wonderful?

Thanks to Rachel Lamb, our intern from Perkins School of Theology at SMU, for organizing the ongoing dance classes for these special children who live in the building.

Enjoy!

Keeping Christmas. . .reprise

Food for thought and reflection this Christmas season.


Keeping Christmas
by Henry Van Dyke

It is a good thing to observe Christmas day. The mere marking of times and seasons, when men agree to stop work and make merry together, is a wise and wholesome custom. It helps one to feel the supremacy of the common life over the individual life. It reminds a man to set his own little watch, now and then, by the great clock of humanity which runs on sun time.

But there is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas.

Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world; to put your rights in the background, and your duties in the middle distance, and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the foreground; to see that your fellow-men are just as real as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy; to own that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness--are you willing to do these things even for a day?

Then you can keep Christmas.

Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and the desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to bear in mind the things that other people have to bear on their hearts; to try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you; to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you; to make a grave for your ugly thoughts, and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open--are you willing to do these things even for a day?

Then you can keep Christmas.

Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world--stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death--and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love?

Then you can keep Christmas.

And if you keep it for a day, why not always?

But you can never keep it alone.

[First posted December 2009]

Vacancy/No Vacancy

Reflecting on the Christmas story seems a natural enterprise this time of the year, right?  Well, I've been doing that this week. 

One of the really human parts of the story relates to housing or, better, lodging.  Joseph attempts in vain to secure decent lodging for his young wife on the very night of her delivery.  While I can't relate to exactly that circumstance, I can relate to failed attempts at securing timely lodging in a decent location on road trips. 

Anyone else with "horror stories" about roadside inns? 

I get what must have been a combination of frustration, anxiety and fatigue, mixed with a little fear and apprehension on the part of both Joseph and Mary. 

As I pondered the young couple's dilemma, along with the overall circumstance of their compromised reputations related to the child Mary carried, my mind jumped to our housing endeavors aimed to bring homeless persons inside a home, a longer term inn with room to spare on a permanent basis, at least for those who secure one of the 300+ units available. 

Having no place to live, to stay, to call home is a tough deal shared by far too many men, women and children in Dallas, and across the nation. 

In the midst of these thoughts I received an email message (copied in part below) from Jenny Fogel, a member of our development team, reporting on the Christmas party shared by all the residents of our building at 511 N. Akard:

The CityWalk Christmas party was incredible. Last night wasn’t just a grouping of people in a room who all happen to live in the same building. It was a family. The sense of community was incredible—our neighbors really know each other. And they really know us. There was so much light and so much love in that room.


I know that this building was a seemingly endless series of frustrations and obstacles, and there are of course still some things that need to be ironed out. But please just know that it was all worth it.

Of course, the story of Joseph and Mary involves a lot more than finding a place to stay.  But Jesus entered our world from the stable Joseph managed to secure for that special night.  I find it easy to believe and to observe that Jesus continues to enter our world through and in the context of the housing secured for the very poor in developments like CityWalk@ Akard. 

Merry Christmas!

When song breaks out!

I wonder how many who sing at the end do so because they are caught up in the power of this unexpected moment? How many are drawn in by the music and the shared, surprising experience? Is there a lesson here for community builders?

Living Christmas. . .

This from The New York Times on December 22, 2009.  Fitting Christmas meditation it seems to me.

Ben Kennedy

By VERLYN KLINKENBORG
Published: December 22, 2009

Unless you live in Helena, Mont., you’re unlikely to have any notion of who Ben Kennedy was. And even if you live in Helena, you may have never knew his name. You might have seen him on the street or in the alleys behind buildings downtown, collecting cans and flattening cardboard boxes for recycling. He probably would have caught your attention if you drifted downwind of him, for, in truth, his scent was high and overripe. His hair was wild, and his mouth had long been going bald of teeth.

Ben Kennedy was a native of Belt, Mont., a few miles east of Great Falls. You could be forgiven for thinking he was homeless, but he died in his subsidized housing in Helena on Dec. 2, just short of his 87th birthday.

To read more click here.

What child is this?

[This post appeared last year on Christmas day.  It is repeated here at the request of a reader. LJ]

It is a very good question, and more than worthy of our reflection.

Over the years I've come to the conclusion that grappling with this question is especially important as we consider both our own understandings of this person named Jesus and, even more so, as we consider how he is to be understood by our children (the next generation).

Moreover, the answer to this question will be extremely important to those of us who are concerned for the health. well-being and just development of our communities. Of course, I realize that not everyone who works in the arena of community development comes at the task from a faith perspective.

But, I do.

So, the question is vital to me and to my understanding of my own work.

Just from the various birth narratives we gain important insights, some possibly surprising, about the nature of this amazing person.

Consider what the Christian literature claims about this child:

• He will be a revolutionary leader whose values will shake up power structures for the benefit of the poor and the powerless (Luke 1: 46-55).
• He was born in a stable thanks to the fact that "there was no room" in the inn for him or his parents--likely an indication of the family's poverty; this child was born in conditions not unlike those experienced every day in Dallas by the homeless who "camp" under our bridges and endure life with nowhere to really rest. On occasion, babies enter our world in such circumstances (Luke 2:1-7).
• He was born to very poor parents, as is made clear when they offer two doves as a sacrifice of dedication, the gift reserved for the poor (Luke 2:22-24).
• He was understood to be source of "salvation" to all people, not just one group (Luke 2:29-32).
• So far as the community at large was concerned, he was born to an unwed mother (Matthew 1:18).
• His arrival signals the coming of forgiveness of sin, the advent of salvation and the redemption of the city of Jerusalem (Matthew 1:21; Luke 2:38).
• He was understood to be a new king who would rule on the basis of a new set of values (Matthew 2:1-2, 6).
• He was an immigrant (King Herod would have considered him "illegal" for certain!), along with his parents who depended upon foreign hospitality for his safety and survival (Matthew 2:13).
  
  Christmas means many things to us. For me, at least in part, it is a time of reflection. The birth of Jesus and the circumstances surrounding his birth reveal so much about the purpose of his coming. The birth stories remind me of the fundamental values that direct our work in the city with and among the very poor.
  
  Merry Christmas!
  
  .

"A Quarter of Remembrance"

My good friend Mike Cope shares a moving story about this season. 

Keeping Christmas

Food for thought and reflection this Christmas season.

Keeping Christmas
by Henry Van Dyke

It is a good thing to observe Christmas day. The mere marking of times and seasons, when men agree to stop work and make merry together, is a wise and wholesome custom. It helps one to feel the supremacy of the common life over the individual life. It reminds a man to set his own little watch, now and then, by the great clock of humanity which runs on sun time.

But there is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas.

Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world; to put your rights in the background, and your duties in the middle distance, and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the foreground; to see that your fellow-men are just as real as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy; to own that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness--are you willing to do these things even for a day?

Then you can keep Christmas.

Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and the desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to bear in mind the things that other people have to bear on their hearts; to try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you; to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you; to make a grave for your ugly thoughts, and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open--are you willing to do these things even for a day?

Then you can keep Christmas.

Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world--stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death--and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love?

Then you can keep Christmas.

And if you keep it for a day, why not always?

But you can never keep it alone.

"A Christmas Sermon on Peace"

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. first delivered "A Christmas Sermon on Peace" at Ebenezer Baptist Church on Christmas Eve, 1967. In his message, King delivers a timeless challenge to people of faith to rise above the evil and hatred of the present age to prove up the power of enduring, suffering love.

Here are selected portions of the moving address for your Christmas Eve reflection:

This Christmas season finds us a rather bewildered human race. We have neither peace within nor peace without. Everywhere paralyzing fears harrow people by day and haunt them by night. Our world is sick with war; everywhere we turn we see its ominous possibilities. And yet, my friends, the Christmas hope for peace and good will toward all men can no longer be dismissed as a kind of pious dream of some Utopian. If we don't have good will toward men in this world, we will destroy ourselves by the misuse of our own instruments and our own power. Wisdom born of experience should tell us that war is obsolete. . . .

. . . if we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical, rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective. No individual can live alone; no nation can live alone, and as long as we try, the more we are going to have war in this world. Now the judgment of God is upon us, and we must either learn to live together as brothers or we are all going to perish together as fools. . . .

. . . It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality. . . .

. . .we will never have peace in the world until men everywhere recognize that ends are not cut off from means, because the means represent the ideal in the making, and the end in process, and ultimately you can't reach good ends through evil means, because the means represent the seed and the end represents the tree. . . .

. . . I've seen too much hate to want to hate, myself, and I've seen hate on the faces of too many sheriffs, too many white citizens' councilors, and too many Klansmen of the South to want to hate, myself; and every time I see it, I say to myself, hate is too great a burden to bear. Somehow we must be able to stand up before our most bitter opponents and say: "We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you. We cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws and abide by the unjust system, because noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good, and so throw us in jail and we will still love you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and, as difficult as it is, we will still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our communities at the midnight hour and drag us out on some wayside road and leave us half-dead as you beat us, and we will still love you. Send your propaganda agents around the country, and make it appear that we are not fit, culturally and otherwise, for integration, and we'll still love you. But be assured that we''ll wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves; we will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory."

.

Can we sing a new song this Christmas?

If you're looking for a new Christmas carol, you might consider the one written by staff members at Sojourners. Here's what they say about their lyrics:

A popular Christmas song says “let your heart be light,” and that "our troubles will be out of sight." Even though Christmas is a time of wonder and excitement at the birth of our Savior, a troubled economy, violent conflicts, and extreme poverty weigh on our spirits and require our attention.


So instead of just the feasting and presents, what if we all take action this Christmas? Let’s not just sing about God’s love when we can commit to actions that will bring love, peace, and justice for our neighbors far and near.

And, here are their lyrics!

Have Yourself a Peace and Justice Christmas

Have yourself a peace and justice Christmas,
Set your heart a-right.
Flee the malls and focus on Christ’s guiding light.


Have yourself a peace and justice Christmas,
Give your time a way.
Share God’s love, And serve “the least of these” today.


Here we are, as we pray for peace,
We’ll live simply and give more.
We care for those far and near to us,
Which brings cheer to us, once more.


God brings down
The haughty from high places,
And lifts up the low.
God cares for the hungry and the humble, so –
Forget the stress and let the peace and justice flow!

Think this is a song you can sing this year?

Tell me what it would mean in your daily life to add this carol to your celebration and consciousness.

.

"Sweetheart, just tell them I'm a professional beggar!"

A few years ago, when Joanna, our youngest daughter, was wrapping up her masters degree at Texas Tech University, she called one evening to ask me a question.

"Dad, I'm doing a paper on the sociology of our family. One of the questions relates to what our parents do professionally," she explained.

"What do I tell them you do, Dad?"

Of course, I understood her confusion. I'd been a minister in the church context for about 25 years. Now I was doing the Central Dallas thing. . .but, what exactly was that anyway?

I didn't hesitate in my reply: "Sweetheart, just tell them I'm a professional beggar!"

With that in mind, and in view of the Christmas holiday, take a look at this.

Merry Christmas! And, don't forget us in the New Year!

Now, the work of Christmas

A litany from Howard Thurman, heard in church on Sunday. . .

When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with their flocks,
the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal the broken,
to feed the hungry,
to release the prisoner,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among the people,
to make music in the heart.

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The time between

So long as my memory lasts, I'll likely never forget the week linking the third Sunday in Advent with the fourth Sunday 2007.

While waiting for the arrival of the child of hope, my father died.

At mid-week we gathered with a crowd of friends, relatives and associates to begin the memorial and healing process. Dad's wake or "visitation" on Wednesday was not only memorable, but remarkable. Church folks, relatives, long-time business associates, people from all walks of life dropped by to express their love and sympathy. The rich, the poor, the educated, the uneducated, the young, the old--all came to pay their respects.

They lifted us.

Two guests stand out from that evening.

Julio worked with my dad as the maintenance supervisor for one of their retail centers, as well as other properties. He and my dad became close friends. Julio loved dad and dad returned the sentiment. I expect that Julio visited my father 75 times over the past three months. He was a special friend and a valued partner to my dad. Of course, Julio was among the first to arrive Wednesday evening.

Tatum is a little girl from my parents' church. Still in elementary school, she and my dad shared a very special friendship. Not long ago, Tatum went through a major health crisis of her own that included a liver transplant. She loved my dad and he loved her. She came with her parents. She couldn't stop the tears. The bond between this old man and this sweet little girl was beyond amazing. Love is something, isn't it?

On Thursday, we laid my father's worn out body to rest, as he went on to a world we can only imagine at this point.

The crowd returned.

The love flowed.

The ministers were amazing.

John Siburt is a young, brilliant, genuine, loving pastor. The church is so fortunate to have him as their leader. His message was finely crafted and full of the kind of heart my dad always appreciated. My dear friend, Edd Eason spoke and did his typical touching, healing work. To me, Edd is like the brother I never had. Dan Stevens provided the music and, as always, his voice was inspirational.

Friday was quiet and lonely. But, good.

Saturday, while trying to wrap up preparations for our family Christmas, Brenda and I were involved in an automobile accident.

As we drove down LBJ Freeway, a car sped out of nowhere at a high speed and hit our car lightly before crashing into a retaining wall, spinning out of control back into the traffic, hitting another driver before coming to a violent stop on the other side of the highway.

Unnerving to say the least.

The driver of the runaway car was seriously injured, but the rest of us miraculously escaped harm. Cars can be repaired. I pray the other driver can be as well.

None of us have guarantees, do we?

So, during this particular "in between time" waiting for The Arrival, we are very aware that we are fragile, limited, vulnerable. Life is largely out of our control.

It is clear that we need each other.

It is certain that we wait together for a very good reason.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring? But, we wait gladly.

Merry Christmas.

.

Angels

There is a scene toward the end of the classic 1947 film, The Bishop's Wife, that really got to me last week when I watched it again.

The Bishop (David Nevin) and his wife (Loretta Young) look in on their little girl who is sleeping peacefully in her bed. On one of the bedposts hangs a new doll. The couple notice it and realize they have no idea where it came from.

All of this occurs after the departure of Dudley, the angel (played by Cary Grant) sent to help the Bishop realize that his mission is not to build a gigantic, mega-expensive Gothic cathedral in honor of the departed husband of an initially very unhappy widow who seeks to control the entire process. His mission is to serve the poor, work for justice and peace and extend the love of God where it is needed most.

Problem is, once Dudley departs, no one will remember anything about his presence, influence or work. Thus, the doll left behind by the angel for the little girl.

Great movie. Okay, okay, I'm sentimental and enjoy old movies with a point!

As I watched these closing scenes, I recalled my experience with another angel.

We were living in Richardson, Texas at the time. Our daughters were probably about 8 and 4. We had become friends with a very unusual fellow, Eugene Morcile or Clay Foulks--there was this dispute and/or discrepancy about his birth certificate that he worked to resolve the entire time we knew him.

Eugene, that's the name I settled on, had not enjoyed an easy life. He was about 30-years-old when we met. He had been homeless, actually was homeless when he came to us. We helped him get a place to live and he worked at various jobs, off and on. We picked him up for church often, until he got his own transportation.

One Christmas Eve, about 8:00 p.m., he showed up at our door.

I can still remember, even feel the knot in my stomach when I saw him at the door.

"It's Christmas Eve for Pete's sake! Can't I ever get a break?"--that's what I felt and thought, but didn't say.

In retrospect, I've realized that, to me, Eugene was fundamentally a part of my work, a bit of a project.

He saw our relationship entirely differently. To him, I was his friend.

He had come to bring us presents. Toys for the girls.

He had no family, no place to go on Christmas Eve, so he came by our house to share the joy he had. He came in and had something to drink, didn't stay long, but accomplished his mission.

I've thought about him often over the years. We lost track of one another after he moved back to Pennsylvania, his home. He came back once for a visit almost 20 years ago. I haven't seen him since.

I thought of him as I watched that old movie, the story of Dudley the angel and the Bishop and his wife.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Eugene was an angel sent to teach me about friendship and its superiority to "service" and "programs" with clearly defined professional limits.

An angel? Sent to teach me about the real nature of community? It makes sense to me.

I bet he never did get that birth certificate thing worked out. Likely there was no birth certificate at all.