December 17, 2017 - Third Sunday of Advent

"Christ's Living Witness"

Audio Clip

During a recent business trip, I was inspired by a magazine article entitled "The Place Where Sybil Stood Up."  It's the story of a women's life journey which began in the deep south during the 1950s. The account begins with a description of the harrowing circumstances which she and eight other children faced upon their integration of Little Rock Central High School and how one tenth-grader, Sybil Jordan, would become the first African-American student to attend that school all three years and graduate.

Sybil and twenty-four students shared home room together for all three years.  None of them ever said a word to her. The only time she spoke, was once a month when it was her turn to choose a Bible passage and she read it to the class.  These students were reading and listening to Scripture on a daily basis, yet none of them would speak to Sybil --- not a single word! The word of God was on their lips and in the ears, yet as for their relationship with Sybil, the love of God was far from their hearts.

In today's Gospel, we hear of the mission of John the Baptist, the mission which he shares with us, the baptized followers of Jesus.  The passage tells us that John came to testify to the light so that all might believe through Him. Testifying to the light may take different forms --- it may be displayed by word, by service, by trial or by death.  For John the Baptist, it was all of these. From every indication, a fifteen year-old Sybil Jordan was called to provide her testimony by trial quite early in life, while enduring physical, verbal and emotional suffering.

Yet, this was the moment when the sustaining power of Jesus entered Sybil's life to give her the grace required to carry her cross.  In our second reading, St. Paul offers a prayer for the early Christians at a time when they were experiencing infighting and conflict.  It's a prayer which Sybil would have drawn strength from --- "May the God of peace make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless . . . . The one who calls you is faithful, and he will also accomplish it."  This verse is a promise from Paul that Jesus will protect us and help us persevere in our difficulties. Jesus asked Sybil to bear the responsibility of being the first of what would be many African-American children to be educated in that school. Through prayer and perseverance, she was the one, the model, to open a path of opportunity for others --- and she was asked to carry that burden while being regularly mistreated.  Does that remind you of anyone?

Our gifts are given to us by the Lord as He sees fit, often in preparation for the opportunities or in response to the trials we encounter.  The time and the place for each of these, the particular moments for each of us to be noticed by the world will likely be different for you and someone else.  But, when our time comes, will non-believers be able to recognize us as believers? Will something that we say or do allow a non-believer to say he or she must be a Christian?  If we can answer "yes" to this, then now, we are truly Christian.

Many years later, Sybil received an invitation from a white student, Ron Hughes, to attend their class' twentieth reunion.  While they were there, the other classmates, one-by-one, came to Sybil and apologized. The testimony of a fifteen year old girl had stuck with those students for more than twenty years.

Sybil is now seventy-three years old and, on occasion, has the opportunity to share her perspective on her experience in high school.  Her explanation is a beautiful illustration of what it means for us to be witnesses for Jesus Christ. Sybil shares --- "Some of you will do wonderful things in your life that nobody will  know anything about . . . . You rarely hear anything about the foot soldiers, and that's OK because the most important thing is that we all do our part in order to make the world a kinder, gentler, fairer place."

You may be curious to know what was the Psalm which Sybil read each month, for three years to her classmates --- I was.  It's a beautiful psalm which expresses our hope in Christmas and the arrival of our Savior. Let us remember these words when our crosses make us afraid or worried, tired or lonely.  When it seems we are facing incredible odds and we are searching for peace, try to picture this young girl, standing in her classroom with no friend in sight, proclaiming her trust in Jesus:

I lift up my eyes to the mountains; where is my help to come from?

My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth

May he save your foot from stumbling; may he your guardian not fall asleep!

You see --- he neither sleeps nor slumbers, the guardian of Israel.

The Lord is your guardian, your shade, the Lord, at your right hand.

By day the sun will not strike you, not the moon by night.

The Lord guards you from all harm

The Lord guards your life.

The Lord guards your comings and goings, henceforth and forever.

Amen.