The Feast of Nicholas

December 6, 2016

As it says in the Episcopal “Lesser Feasts and Fasts,” little is known for sure about St. Nicholas. He was a bishop; he was tortured and imprisoned for his faith during the persecution of Diocletian. He was perhaps at the Council of Nicaea.

But the many legends about him surely have some basis in fact. It seems clear that he was a friend of sailors, and of the poor. And most of all, children. He is their patron saint, and thus the Patron of the Royal School of Church Music. For those who have earned an RSCM Ribbon, the guy on the medal is Nicholas, dressed as a bishop.

On this Feast of Nicholas, I was visited by the two men that I have helped for years, about an hour apart. One of them needed fuel for his “new” car (a beat-up wreck of an old rusted-out Plymouth). He asked for $5; to his surprise, I rode with him to the gas station and treated him to a full tank.

The other showed up with a young friend, perhaps in her twenties or thirties. I have heard of this person for several years, and had not until now met her. She was very cautious and did not speak for a good twenty minutes; she listened to the other two of us talk. She wandered over to the youth choir bulletin board and finally spoke; in a quiet voice she asked me about the Lent Madness bracket chart from last spring, there on the board, and the “trading cards” for the previous winners of the Golden Halo, starting with C. S. Lewis. She seemed comfortable with the idea of Saints, but not comfortable at all about being inside a church building. I can’t blame her; churches are often thoroughly unfriendly to those who live on the edge, as I suspect she does. And it is not unknown for churches and those who work in them to do positive harm to people, harm that is sufficient to scare them away from church for the rest of their life.

I think that Nicholas would be a friend to people like these. I am honored that on this day, I was granted opportunity to do the same.

Both of my friends expressed concern for this country and its future. With each of them, we talked about that for a good while. They are both convicted felons and in this state will never be permitted to vote. But they still care, and their premonition is like mine; we are in for some hard times. Perhaps not right away, and definitely not just because of the election of Mr. Trump – the three of us agree that Mrs. Clinton would have been just as bad if not worse. But sooner rather than later. One of them views it through apocalyptic lenses; the End is near, and the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The other is just scared, worried about what it will be like for a poor old veteran in bad health – a sailor, no less, veteran of the U.S. Navy - in and out of drug addiction and sometimes out on the street. Like my other friend, he also spoke of the Day of Doom: "When He comes, I don't look forward to standing before him. I've got a lot to answer for." I quoted the verse from Malachi: "For who may abide the day of His coming? And who shall stand when He appeareth?" - there is not a one of us who can do anything except fall on our knees before Him when He sits on the throne of judgement.

It struck me afterwards that I was able to speak freely with them on these topics, in a manner in which I cannot with the church people, where I feel that I am walking on eggshells when politics comes up, to say nothing of eschatology. It struck me also that these two men (and the young lady) have a much better idea what “hard times” can be like than I do, or most of my middle-class friends. And they are worried.

Nicholas, pray for us.