+ Nicholas ("Santa Claus"), 270-343 A.D.
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"Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness — without it no one will see the Lord." + Hebrews 12:14
Here are some recent highlights:
When we handed these books out to our congregation, this is part of the note we included inside each one:
This might seem at first to be a peculiar Advent devotional. But saints often are peculiar people who stand out in a particular time and place. In fact, the times when saints shine the most are times of darkness. They give glimpses of Jesus’ Light, which darkness cannot overcome.
And we, as part of Jesus’ Church, are called to live as Advent people who anticipate Jesus’ coming into our darkness today to overcome it. Ultimately, our hope rests in the God of Advent who drew near to us in Jesus’ first coming and will come again to take away the darkness forever and be our eternal Light.That hope is what saints have embodied as our sisters and brothers across time, ethnicities, Christian traditions, nationalities, and more.
As we step into this next year, our prayer is that we will shine all the more with the holy light of Christ in us and through us. And we pray that we “being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love.” After all, “the Father has enabled us to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves.”
This post features an excerpt from Our Church Speaks so that you might also walk some of this journey with us with reflection, prayer, and anticipation for how the Light of the world might shine in your life during this season.
Nicholas, "Santa Claus" Bishop of Myra
The inspiration for the beloved Santa Claus was a real, historical figure: Saint Nicholas. He was bishop of the seaport town of Myra (in modern-day Turkey) during Emperor Diocletian's widespread persecution of Christians in the late third and early fourth centuries. Nicholas was known for his generosity and compassion. After the death of his parents, Nicholas donated his inheritance to the poor. He cared for orphans and widows, giving gifts of food and providing the necessary money to prevent children from being sold into slavery. So many acts of mercy and miraculous deliverance are attributed to Nicholas that he is sometimes known by his nickname, Nicholas the Wonderworker.
Diocletian's successor, Constantine, declared an end to the persecution and granted toleration for Christianity, but threats to Jesus' Church soon came from within. The priest Arius began teaching that Jesus Christ was not coeternal with the Father but was instead a divine hero and a created being. Nicholas believed that Arius's teaching was a corruption of the faith handed down by the apostles and suffered for by the early church martyrs.
The Council of Nicaea was called in 325 to address Arius's teaching. Nicholas was among the three hundred bishops and nearly two thousand clergy in attendance. Emotions ran high at the council, as many in attendance bore the scars and wounds of Diocletian's persecution. Legendary accounts of the council say that Nicholas, having witnessed so many children and innocents suffering for their true faith in Christ, was overcome with emotion when he saw Arius present at the council. Walking up to Arius, he slapped the false teacher across the face. Nicholas was arrested for the assault, and the elderly bishop spent the remainder of the council in a prison cell. Nicholas's fierce dedication to theological accuracy was matched by his fierce devotion and love for children. The memory of Nicholas has been cherished through the centuries, and he is known today in many regions of the world as Santa Claus (derived from Sint Nikolaas, a Dutch name for Saint Nicholas).
Scripture
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of His own will He brought us forth by the Word of Truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures." + James 1:17-18
Meditation: The Art of Giving
When Ebenezer Scrooge faces his own mortality, the dead-end terminus of his miserly greed, he converts. He renounces his old self and puts on a new self. What if he had only converted in his heart? What if he had decided to merely believe in selfless generosity without practicing it? Well, of course it would be evidence that no substantive change had occurred. It also would make a really lousy story. The delightful conclusion of Dickens's A Christmas Carol is th exuberant, unrestricted, overflowing generosity that bursts forth from Scrooge's changed heart. What does it mean that one of Western society's most beloved mythologies is about money?
Might it suggest that somehow, we all know deep in our bones that true heart change is always demonstrated by generous giving?
It is no exaggeration to say
that money is God's arch competitor
for human allegiance. For perhaps the majority in the American church today, materialism remains the primary barrier to progressing from spiritual infancy to maturity. Tragically, many Christians have known the Lord for years, even decades ... but they have never modeled biblical generosity themselves. So they remain babies in Christ, with the most important step in sanctification still lying ahead of them.
Saint Nicholas was not generous because he wanted kids to like him or because it was merely fun to give presents. He was giving what he had already received, and continued to receive, from his heavenly Father. His generosity was but a shadow of the true generosity that God showed him in the gospel.
There may be such a thing as a generous unbeliever who practices the virtue from a heart of gratitude, even if they do not know that their gratitude is owed to Jesus. But there is no such creature as an ungenerous or stingy Christian. It is a contradiction in terms. A Christian who does not give their money away freely and generously has yet to truly convert.
Prayer
O merciful Creator, You inspired the generosity of Your servant Nicholas, and Your loving hand is open wide to satisfy the needs of every living creature: Make us always thankful for Your loving providence, and give us grace to honor You with all that You have entrusted to us: that we, remembering the account we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of Your good gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with You and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
pgs. 197-199
The Celebrity & The Saint
The celebrity demands, "Look at me!" The saint whispers, "Look at God."
The celebrity says, "Try to be like me, but you'll never be like me." The saint says, "Why would anyone want to be like me? Who has God made you?"
The celebrity is ever ascending, climbing the tower of Babel to the double-platinum throne. The saint is ever descending, saying, "Please have my seat, I insist."
The celebrity offers you everything you want but can never have. The saint offers you the thing you fear but will redeem your soul.
The celebrity is a Ferrari screaming down the highway with music blaring. The saint is the freshwater creek beside the highway that almost nobody ever notices and is nearly impossible to hear over the roar of traffic. Yet the water murmurs as it wanders over stones and around oak roots. It is not silent.
+ Ben Lansing & D.J. Marotta,
Our Church Speaks
Additional Advent Resources:
Many blessings of peace and presence,
Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan
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