An angel in the Thrift Shop

A Christmas angel arrived in the Thrift Shop last Saturday.  He wasn’t very big, only the size of your average second grader.  He wasn’t wearing white and didn’t sport a halo.  There weren’t any trumpets or angel choirs, although there were Christmas carols in the background.  And unlike most angels who arrive all strange and unannounced, this angel has been coming into the Thrift Shop regularly since he was a preschooler.  His life hasn’t been so heavenly either; the Thrift Shop volunteers tell me that he’s had a tough life.

Michael (not his name but a good one for angels) arrived Saturday morning his face wreathed in smiles.  Under his arm he had a brand new truck of which he was clearly quite proud.  He placed it on the counter and then politely asked the Thrift Shop volunteer if she would please give it to some kid who needed a Christmas present.  “I figure some kid needs this more than me.”

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.  His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.  Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins.  The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.  The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.  The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:1-9)

Isaiah wrote these words to encourage his people in a time when peace on earth was a rare thing, as difficult to imagine as wild beasts behaving as if they were housepets.  It was a time when nothing was certain, a time of despair and dislocation. A time not unlike our own.   Like our ancestors in faith, we dream of a day when the most vulnerable may live without fear, a time when every inch of the earth is drenched in presence of the Holy.  And like them, every once in a while we receive a glimpse of what that world might look like- a world full of angels bearing trucks under their arms speaking words of compassion and hope.