Second Sunday of Advent

1 Timothy 6.6-11; Mark 10.13-16

St. Nicholas the Wonderworker

The Feast of St. Nicholas is properly celebrated tomorrow, the 6th December. However, he's very often missed especially if you don't come to a mid-week service and so I thought that this year we might remember him on the nearest Sunday to the 6th. And I wanted to remember him because he and the traditions and stories surrounding him have had an abiding influence on our celebration of Christmas in this and other countries down the years. His 'claim to fame' as it were stems from his time as bishop of Myra in Asia Minor, now Turkey. His principle good deed apparently was to save three girls from a life of prostitution by giving their poor father, who couldn't afford dowries so that they could get married, gold coins, enough for three dowries. He gave the money anonymously and there are different versions of the story as to how he did that. One of the stories is that Nicholas dropped the bags of money down the chimney of the girls house and the bags fell into the stocking of one of the girls which she'd hung by the fire to dry. St. Nicholas is also known, certainly in the Orthodox world as a wonder worker because many miracles are attributed to his intercessions on behalf of others.

As we think about the feast of Christmas we can see that it is bracketed as it were, by two Feasts that celebrate giving. The first is this feast of St. Nicholas and then after Christmas itself we have the feast that follows on the 6th January, Epiphany, in which we in the West celebrate the visit of the Wise Men to Jesus. So overlapping the weeks of Advent where we are looking forward to celebrating Christmas and to thinking about the second coming of Jesus, we have the theme of giving that stretches from 6th December through Christmas Day to 6th January. It starts with the example of the giving of St. Nicholas, through the giving by God of His Son Jesus Christ, to the giving of the gifts to Jesus by the Wise Men. 

The readings set in the lectionary for the feast of St. Nicholas reflect several themes that connect the man himself, Christmas and the Christian life as you'd expect. The reading from the first letter to Timothy is St. Paul's call to Timothy not to be tempted by and distracted by what the world regards as important such as money, but, as he says, to 'pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.' St. Paul stresses that often, the pursuit of financial gain can lead to ruin in different ways. And it's here that we read those very well worn words, and words that are reflected in the opening sentences of the funeral service 'we brought nothing into the world, so we can take nothing out of it.'

What St. Paul is stressing here, rather than having a swipe at money, is the call to every Christian to get our priorities right. It leads right to what Jesus Himself said that 'where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.' And our treasure as Christians is meant to be Jesus Christ and His teaching about faith and love and the values of discipleship. Everything else comes after that. As Jesus Himself again said, 'seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.' And we do that, as the gospel reading reminds us, as little children. That is, with the faith and trust that children have.

And St. Nicholas seemed to do just that. As we look at his life and his work, he was someone who lived the Kingdom of God and passed onto us that example of life and faith and love. And it's love that is at the very heart of his life, for it is out of love that a life of giving springs.

As we think ahead to Christmas and the Nativity of the Incarnate God, we are reminded of those words from St. John's gospel, chapter 3 verse 16 - 'God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son'. God loved so much that He gave. Love is the motivation for giving. And again, it was St. John who said that we can only love because God loved us first. And I suppose that it follows from that, that we can only give in the right and true spirit because God gave Himself to us in Jesus Christ. So if our giving is to be of real value it must be out of love. If it's done out of love it is Godly giving, we are following the example of God Himself.

Maybe as we approach Christmas we might benefit by really thinking about what motivates our giving and whether or not we give out of a real sense of love for others, as did St. Nicholas. Thinking about how we give also paves the way for thinking more deeply about what we give as we shall when we come to think about the giving of the gifts by the Wise Men. In the meantime, as St. Paul says to Timothy, and as undoubtedly St. Nicholas did, let us put righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness at the heart of all our dealings as we prepare this Advent for the great feast of Christmas