Conversation Point

Tender Mercies

Travelers stranded at Denver International Airport and London's Heathrow Airport awoke this morning with a bit more hope in their hearts that they may make it home in time for Christmas. Two days and two feet of snowfall have paralyzed one city, while fog embraces the other in a steadfast hold not due to ease until sometime Saturday. Tens of thousands of people worldwide are affected by flight cancellations and delays that will take days to untangle.

Meanwhile, people are making the best of the circumstances in which they find themselves. There has been no mail delivery, no holiday shopping and basically no movement in Denver since the blizzard started whirling around a city used to dealing with such things. At a time of year when people credit themselves with feats of productivity that become legend, different stories emerge that respect this pause in time, unexpected and unavoidable. If home really is where our hearts are, then those living in Denver are finding that this storm brings opportunities to listen to those still, small voices residing in each of us. At the airport, a small city of makeshift cardboard shelters and blanketed cots cradle the souls of its community of several thousand. Airport workers, themselves stranded, are keeping the place clean and tidy. In London, people are being cared for with food and alternative sleeping arrangements in the terminals.

When we are faced with these kinds of brutal realities that we simply can't ignore, we relinquish control to what is, and our human agendas shift, revealing important truths of which we may not have been aware. A young woman, stranded in Denver and late to her own wedding, told a reporter, "I've given up on crying." A man expecting a seven hour layover at the bus terminal, a wait that is now at forty-eight hours and counting, said simply, " I am ready to go home." A traveler in London en route to Paris summed up the refrain in so many hearts: "We're so close, I hope we don't miss Christmas."

"In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was great with child. and while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered. and she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them at the inn.

And in that region, there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, 'Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among all with whom he is pleased (Luke 2:1-14)!"

We are so close. I hope we don't miss Christmas.

posted by Cory L. Kemp @ 2:23 PM