(The second of my yearly Advent stories)

Many years ago, I began on the first of the four Advent Sundays to pray, “Come, Lord Jesus. Then I would watch expectantly for Him to become present in small, but recognizable ways in my life and heart. And most years my heart and mind are attentive enough to recognize His coming.

One Christmas Eve, our children and grandchildren were all at our home surrounded by the friendly reds and greens of Christmas with yummy smells teasing from the kitchen. In one bedroom a baby snuggled into sleep, while in others whispering parents wrapped and ribboned Christmas secrets. Only Grandad was missing, out doing his traditional Christmas Eve shopping. As excited older grandchildren were setting out to explore the woods and creek, I was making a clean-up sweep through the holiday chaos. One preschooler, too young for exploring and too old for a nap, went from room to room knocking on doors, only to be told that he couldn’t come in.  When I found little Jordan sobbing forlornly in the middle of the Christmas glitter, I decided to console him (and me) with an outing to feed the ducks that winter on the lake in town. When we arrived at the lake, the hungry ducks and geese gobbled up our bread crusts so quickly and ferociously, that we began to fear we would soon become part of their Christmas Eve menu. As we took refuge in our car, I heard our parish bells ringing for the special Christmas Eve children’s service, The Mass of the Bells. Since the children get to sing all their favorite carols and even ring bells to celebrate the birth of Christ, it seemed like a Christmas serendipity for Jordan. Looking at our faded jeans and muddy tennis shoes, I hesitated. But remembering the ragged shepherds at the first Christmas, I headed on to church anyway. For lack of having his own bell, Jordan rang my keychain as he sang with off-key gusto. Then, as all the children gathered around the priest on the floor of the Sanctuary to talk about the Christmas story, Jordan somehow managed to squirm all the way to the front of the group. When Father asked them what happened when Mary and Joseph knocked at the door of the Inn, Jordan’s response rang out, “They wouldn’t let them in!” Then with a sudden rush of outraged feeling, he shouted louder, “They wouldn’t open the door!” It seemed like he remembered his feelings about the closed doors at home earlier and identified with the Holy Family. So, when Father asked how they would respond to Jesus knocking at the door of their hearts, Jordan sang out with conviction, “Come in Jesus! Come right on in.” On the way home, Jordan joyfully assured me that even if others sometimes didn’t let people in, he and Jesus always would. At his own level, he had made the connection between his life and the Gospel story, realizing that opening his heart to Jesus, also meant opening his heart to others.

And my heart was filled with the joy of Christmas, of seeing Jesus being born once more in the heart of a child.

A postscript about Jordan. When he was a college junior, he was active in the Baptist Student Organization at Memphis University. He and several other students took cold water and hamburgers downtown in the August heat to share with the homeless.  As they did this, one man asked for them to pray over him. And as they prayed, others began coming forward asking, not for money or even food, but for prayer.

After college, Jordan became a teacher with a non-denominational Christian organization, first in Indonesia where besides teaching, he reached out to homeless street children through organizing and coaching soccer teams. Then, he taught in Afghanistan in a school of two hundred students. It was in a compound, but shortly before Christmas, Afghan student siblings and their parent were killed by the Taliban for being Christians. Then the school was warned there was a plan to bomb it. So, it was closed immediately and the teachers had to scramble for flights home.  His last three years of missionary teaching were in Bolivia.

So, whenever the stores start Christmas music, let it be our cue to start praying the prayer of our hearts, “Come, Lord Jesus.”