Page 7 - Presbyterian Connection Newspaper

Connection
A CHRISTMAS STORY
PRESBYTERIAN
7
presbyterian.ca
WINTER 2018
Serving Santa
Bruce Templeton and Santa have been close friends in St. John’s, Newfoundland, for 40 years. Over a period of 30 days, they have about 50 visits together to the Santa Claus Parade, the Flight to the North Pole (where 18 children fly on a real plane to meet Santa in the North Pole) and multiple other locations. They visit seniors’ homes where Santa met a 103-year-old resident and later Santa held a 600- gram baby in Paediatric Intensive Care in the children’s hospital.
Bruce has been selected by his Santa colleagues and is the only living Canadian of the 24 inductees in the world in the International Santa Claus Hall of Fame. He has written three books and some of the proceeds for his first book “The Man in the Red Suit” were matched by Rotary and the Gates Foundation and they purchased 300,000 doses of polio vaccine through the World Health Organi- zation.
What started as Bruce being a seasonal actor has become much more, and he is called to hospitals and to seniors’ homes to bring cheer and hope. Before entering the room and being uncertain of what he will find behind the door, he has a prayer with St. Nicholas and asks that Nicholas “go and prepare the way for me.”
cia. Today, we call it Turkey. It was here where a little boy was born to an older couple. The father was called Epiphanius, the mother Jo- hanna, and they named their child Nicholas, meaning victorious. They were a Christian family and young Nicholas received a good education, but his parents died when he was quite young—first his father, then his mother—and he was an orphan by the age of nine.
His parents had left an estate and Nicholas was looked after by five priests who acted as his guardians. As he grew into his teen years, Nich- olasbecamemoreandmoreaware that while he had the financial re- sources to do almost anything, there were many families around him who had much less. Nicholas tried to figure out how he could help others without anyone knowing his identity and he asked his friend, Priest Phil- lip, how he should go about it. Priest Phillip suggested that he quietly share his wealth.
As an example, there was a merchant named Shem, who was a widower with three daughters. The custom of the day was that a female could only go into marriage with a dowry. Shem was unable to provide a dowry for his daughters. So, when Nicholas was sixteen, he went out quietly late at night and looked through the window of the family’s simple home. There, on a clothesline, hung to dry before a fire were three pairs of woollen stock-
ings. Nicholas quietly reached into his pocket and put two silver coins in each of the stockings. This was a large amount of money and pro- vided the dowries for the three girls.
The story of a mysterious spirit who gave generously to those in need spread through the town. Sometime later, a pair of crutches mysteriously appeared for a girl who could not walk.
Nicholas had found his vocation. At the urging of his guardians, he studied in Alexandria to become a priest and years later was appointed the Bishop of Myra.
News of Nicholas’ generosity continued to spread throughout the world. And ever since his death on Dec. 6, AD 343, the date has been celebrated as St. Nicholas Day. Later, he became the patron saint of chil- dren and seafarers, and many of the stained-glass windows in old world churches depict St. Nicholas with three (Trinity) of something—for ex- ample, there may be three children, three bags of coins or three ships.
Our boy Nicholas was now very tired. He had finally found the saint for whom he was named. He could think of no one better to have his teddy bear and so he walked over to him.
“St. Nicholas, I have come a long way with Santa and I have a present for you. You are such a generous man and you do so much for oth- ers and I would like you to have my teddy bear.”
St. Nicholas took the bear and gave boy Nicholas a warm embrace. Then, to the great surprise of our lit- tle friend, St. Nicholas said to him and to Santa, “You must go on.”
St. Nicholas took the boy by the hand and they joined Santa at the time machine. St. Nicholas asked that his spirit come along on this final trip. And so the time machine set off for its last destination in the year 4 BC with the boy Nicholas, the Spirit of St. Nicholas, Santa and Teddy all aboard.
Bethlehem: the beginning
Little Nicholas pushed the last button on the time machine and it wasn’t long before the doors opened to a small town. The night was clear and they could see the stars. It was very quiet and quite late.
St. Nicholas lit his lantern and he led the way down a path past busy, crowded inns. Soon they came across a humble barn, and inside there were animals and a man and woman with a new baby. There were also wise men and gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The wise men (also called Magi) were named Balthazar, (a Babylonian scholar), Gaspar (an Indian scholar) and Mel- chior (a Persian scholar).
Little Nicholas looked into the manger at the small child. All was calm,allwasbright.
Quietly he walked forward with his teddy that St. Nicholas had returned to him and asked the baby’s parents if he could give it to the child in the manger. With their permission, he placed his teddy next to the baby.
Nicholas had fulfilled his mission. He had come with the Spirit of St. Nicholas and Santa and their voyage was complete. The wise men turned and nodded their approval. And Mary and Joseph smiled their appreciation.
While St. Nicholas has always been an impor tant par t of holiday celebrations, on that special night, little boy Nicholas vowed that he would “Keep Christ in Christmas” forever.
Master of Divinity (M.Div.) The Presbyterian College, Montreal
Equipping women and men for transfor- mational leadership in the church and within a global context. Formation for ministry that is rooted in a warm, worshipping community, walking together in the way of Christ.
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