Peace messages from church leaders 1 State Edition

• Published in: Advertiser (Adelaide, Australia : 1931)
• Main Author: Philip Wilson, Jeffrey Driver, Graham Vawser, Robert L. Voigt, Reverend John Field
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Adelaide, S. Aust Nationwide News Pty Ltd 25.12.2006
• Subjects: Wilson, Philip
• ISSN: 1039-4192

"It was Sunday, Christmas. Our family had spent a holiday with my husband's parents, but in order for us to be back at work on Monday, we found ourselves driving home on Christmas Day. We stopped for lunch at a town on the way. The restaurant was nearly empty. We were the only family and ours were the only children. I heard Erik, my oneyearold, squeal with glee. "Hithere" the two words he always thought were one. "Hithere" and he pounded his fat baby hands whack, whack, whack on the metal high chair. His face was alive with excitement, his eyes were wide, gums bared in a toothless grin. He wriggled and giggled and then I saw the source of his merriment. A tattered rag of a coat, obviously bought by someone else a long time ago, dirty, greasy and worn; baggy pants; spindly body; toes that poked out of worn out shoes; a shirt that had a deep dirt ring around the collar; and a face like none other, gums as bare as Erik's. My husband went to pay the bill, imploring me to get Erik and meet him in the car park. "Lord, just let me get out of here before he speaks to me," and I bolted for the door. It was soon obvious that both the Lord and Erik had different plans. As I drew closer to the man, I turned my back, walking to sidestep him and any air he might be breathing. As I did so, Erik, all the while with his eyes riveted on his best friend, leaned over my arm, reaching with both arms to a baby's pick-me-up position. In a split second of balancing my baby and turning to counter his weight, I came eye-to-eye with the old man. Forgive me"." I would like to suggest that the real meaning of Christmas is in this story. Simply put, Erik is God. Simply put, the bum is us. Erik is God's yearning and passion for us, with our tattered lives, our tattered hurts, our tattered relationships, and our tattered sins. Erik is two arms determined to hug us. Erik is a determined little baby who makes no distinctions but would embrace the least likely - you and me.