Guest Writer: Susan Lyon
The privilege of meeting a real Magi in the Food Pantry line
“As they offered gifts most rare at that manger rude and bare;
so may we with holy joy, pure and free from sin's alloy,
all our costliest treasures bring, Christ! to thee, our heavenly King.”— William Chatterton Dix, Music: Dix, melody Conrad Koch, 1982 Hymnal; 119, vs.3.
Tradition holds that there were three male magi that found the Christ child in Bethlehem. But if St. Mark’s Food Pantry is any indication, there are more than three and women are very much magi, too! I have witnessed four beautiful events recently when our hungry neighbors in line brought gifts to the Christ child in each other!
Not long ago, one neighbor rummaged around in her car and found six one-dollar bills, which she gave to another neighbor in line who had run out of gasoline in our parking lot. She said, “Here, it’s all I have, but I want you to have the money to buy some gas.” The magi brought her heart and “widow’s mite” to Jesus.
Another hungry neighbor, who often looks sad, beckoned me to her car. She handed me a small children’s coat still on the hanger. “Here, I found this coat on sale. Maybe someone in line will need it for their cold little boy.” Her face brightened. This magi clothed the Christ child.
A third neighbor, a cheerful elderly veteran who drives a huge, antique, very broken down, baby blue Lincoln finally has received his back pay for disabilities incurred in the Marines. “The first thing I’m going to do is to bring a thank-you offering to St. Mark’s for helping me and others. Then, I’ll fix my car.” This magi brings gold, so the work of Christ’s Kingdom can flourish.
The mother of two elderly sisters recently died. The sisters, regulars in our Food Pantry line, have been making walking sticks out of the crepe myrtle tree in their mother’s front yard. They have brought at least a dozen sticks to Food Pantry, saying, “Here, give these sticks to someone who has trouble walking.” The magi honor their mother and bring healing gifts to God’s children.
What can we learn from our magi neighbors at Food Pantry? How can we be magi, too? What special gifts does each of us have to offer the Christ? “…and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts…” Matthew 2: 11
The Christ Child dwells in all people. “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” “Go and search diligently for the young child.” Matthew 2:2,8
Venite adoremus Dominum.
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.
Deacon Susan Loy Lyon
