The Little Way

Durham Catholic Worker

Christmastide 2014

1116 Iredell Street, Durham, NC 27705

To Announce!

When is Christmas?

Eucharist,
Daily Office,
and Works of
Mercy!

Liturgical Christmas
vs. fake Christmas.
Page 7

Page 3

http://cfw.dionc.org

A Word from
St. Clare Chapel
A teen aspires to
be just like
St. Stephen.
Page 9

Advent, Christmas, & Providence

Leigh Edwards Miller
Ive recently been reading a book of published letters
written by an English professor at the University of
Mississippi, one who is normally in the business of
writing poetry and >iction. At one point in a letter she
writes something to the effect of: One of the reasons
that I like writing >iction is because every part of a
>iction story somehow contributes to, or is a part of,
that storys ending. Everything somehow >its. In real
life, though, you have all of these offshoots and
missteps and unexpected happenings that dont >it
tidily into any sort of story. As I read this, I thought,
Thats right. Life is not tidy, things dont happen
according to plan; we simply have to accept the
randomness, mistakes and sufferings that befall us that
arent explainable and dont make sense in any story of
our lives.

two comings we have heard so much about: the >irst

coming of the Incarnation of the second person of the
Holy Trinity and the second coming of Christ in glory.
As Ive been forced to contemplate and await these
comings, Ive more and more realized that the English
professor got it all wrong. The Incarnation and the
second coming of our LORD are two points in history
that dictate what is already the ending of the world, the
>inal end of this present darkness. However, as Advent
reminds us, the LORD makes us wait for these endings,
and it would be foolishness to suppose that the LORD
tarries without reason or makes us wait without
purpose. We must suppose, then, that if the Lord does
not leave us to live our lives without reason, that no
part of our lives, no part of the happenings of this
world, will not >inally end up a part of the story whose
end the LORD has already prepared. To think
Yet, over the past few weeks I have sat and listened to
otherwise, to think that we are able to make mistakes
Scripture and readings and sermons anticipating the
Continued on p.2
Christmastide 2014

that can foil Gods plan, that we can make steps that
cannot be brought into the story that ends with the
coming of Christ, to believe that we have parts of our
lives that even God cannot redeem to His good plans,
is the pinnacle of pride. It is to believe that we are
more powerful than God Himself.
The Gospel genealogies of Jesus offered to us in this
season are an easy example of Gods incorporation
of, his redemption of, a fallen humanity. To start with
the obvious, easily detectable, point from the
genealogy from St. Matthew, we can look at some of
the outliers in the list of Jesus ancestors: the
women. Five women are mentioned in the
genealogy: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, the wife of Uriah, and
Mary. Rahab was not only a Gentile, but a prostitute.
After hanging red cloth over her doorway, so that the
Israelites would pass over her house, she was
incorporated into the people of Israel who would
directly bring >lesh to the Savior of the world. The
wife of Uriah, the woman brought into adultery by
King David, whose husband was murdered to protect
Davids image after he made her pregnant, is the
mother of the wise Solomon. Mary became pregnant
out of wedlock, spending her >irst days as a young
mother in an animal shelter. It seems, just from these
three, that the LORD not only forebears with those
things that seem outside of a neat, tidy plan, but
makes them new, bringing them in as necessary
parts of the Salvation of the world.
Really, though, to just dwell with the few women
mentioned is to ignore the mass of the genealogy
itself, the men from whom the Messiah descended.
We >ind Abraham, who lied about his wifes status to
protect himself; Jacob, who deceived his dying father
to steal the birthright from his brother; David, who
killed a just man after lying with his wife; Solomon,
with his harem in the palace; and Manasseh, the evil,
idol-worshiping tyrant of a king who slaughtered
innumerable people, just to point out a few. The
story of Israel is not a clean story. It does not >it
into the plan we may imagine an almighty and
perfect God would create for redeeming the world.
At the same time, it is the only story that makes
2

sense of a God who is known in the lowly, the poor,

the humble, and the powerless.
We celebrate Advent, it seems, in part to remind
ourselves that, in this time of darkness and waiting,
when we cannot see what is ahead of us, that we
know the ending. Thus, these parts of our lives that
do not seem to make sense, which we often call
coincidence, mistakes, or failures, cannot but be
part of what God intends to incorporate into His
plan, will it or not on our parts. The only thing that
may compound our sins or the sins of others that
have hurt us, perhaps deeply - is to despair of them
and to think they are beyond the scope of Gods
mercy and goodness. As the Bishop of Rome, Francis,
reminds us, God never tires of forgiving us; we are
the ones who tire of seeking his mercy. A time of
waiting, a time of darkness, is as Christians will
always say really a time of hope. We know our sins
all too well; we live with the burden of our
separation from God and from one another; we do
not seem to be able to get out of the darkness. If we
can but turn, again and again and again, and offer
ourselves to the work of the LORD, if we can really
believe that the Lord seeks only our honest
confession of our sins, we can know that the Lords
forbearance with, his incorporation of, a fallen
humanity is oh-so-good news for us. The Lord has
the end already decided.
Life may not seem to work out so neatly. It may not
seem to >it what we think our lives should look like.
But whether or not it >its into Gods story is not our
decision. Our decision, then, is not >inally whether or
not we will be a part of Gods plan for we will. Our
decision in this life is whether we will be like those
in Isaiahs prophecy who come shame faced before
the throne of the Lord at the end of time for their
complaining about the apparent powerlessness of
the Lord, or if we will be numbered amongst those
rejoicing at the triumph of humility, the triumph of
the downtrodden, the triumph of the persecuted and
the lowly: the triumph of our God.+

Christmastide 2014

To Announce, Not Denounce

Fr. Colin Miller

Peter Maurin used to say that his mission, and the

mission of the Catholic Worker, should be to
announce, not to denounce. In these pages of late,
we have done a good bit of what might be called
denouncing. So then, to keep Peter happy, I want to
repeat the announcement he was making, which is
very simple. If you want to know what I want the
CFW to be all about, here it is.
What do we announce? Christ.
How do we announce him? By being his body, the
Church.
How do we be the Church? By doing what the
Church does.

are unworthy, through our manifold sins...We do

not presume to come to this thy table... Worthiness
and unworthiness are de>initional of the LORD and
his creatures, respectively. And yet, it is precisely
part of the LORDs worthiness that he deigns to call
us to worship him. I dare to say that each word of
the Liturgy falls under one of these confessions.
The liturgical logic of worthy-of-praise//unworthy
to praise//gratuitous gift of mercy in Christ making
us able to praise, is exactly what we try extend
throughout the rest of our lives. And so the >irst
tentacles of the Eucharist are the Daily Of>ice.
Morning and Evening Prayer sanctify the rest of the
day with exactly this logic: Almighty God, Father of
all mercies, we thine unworthy servants do give
thee most humble and hearty thanks...

What is that? In brief, the following.

Eucharist

Morning Prayer

Evening Prayer

The Works of Mercy

We announce Christ, and he comes to us every

morning in the >lesh in the Eucharist. But the
Eucharist has tentacles, as our friend JR Rigby has
taught us to say, and it wants to touch our whole
lives. Or, as Paul Grif>iths says, the Eucharist is
omnivorous, and wants to devour all that we have
and are. The Christian life is always nothing more
or less than working out the logic of the Mass of
doing what the fact that we do this action commits
us to, to living the entailments of the Eucharist.
There are two primary confessions that appear
over and over again in the Eucharistic liturgy: the
LORDs worthiness to be praised and adored by us,
and our unworthiness to do so. The confession of
praise is constant: Holy! Holy! Holy!...All Glory be
to thee, Almighty God.... But equally constant is we
Christmastide 2014

The Works of Mercy are therefore constitutive of

Christianity precisely because not to practice them
would be to fail to understand the logic of the Mass
- to contradict ourselves. In the Mass we participate
identically in the superlative Work of Mercy - the
Passion. Giving to those who beg, giving our bed to
the homeless, eating with the hungry, forgiving
wrongs, praying for enemies - all these the LORD
did >irst for us and does for us at each liturgy. We
welcome especially those whom we think
unworthy, precisely because in the Eucharist we
are welcomed as unworthy. The Works of Mercy are
not part of outreach or a social program. They are
part of the Liturgy.
The Catholic Worker then, is just an attempt to be
faithful to the Mass. This is what and how we
announce. The various No!s we say then, to
various modern tools, to technology, to luxury, to
wealth, to lust, to food are not denunciations
simply made for the sake of contrariness or
naysaying. They are the No!s we >ind necessary in
order to say a much larger Yes! Yes to announcing
Christ.+

"3

Easy Essays
By Peter Maurin

Wealth-Producing Maniacs
1. When John Calvin
legalized money-lending at interest,
he made the bank account
the standard of values.
2. When the bank account
became the standard of values,
people ceased to produce for use
and began to produce for pro>its.
3. When people began to produce for pro>its
they became
wealth-producing maniacs.
4. When people became wealth-producing
maniacs they produced too much wealth.
5. When people found out
that they had produced too much wealth
they went on an orgy
of wealth-destruction
and destroyed
ten million lives besides.

By Kelly Steel

Why Not Be A Beggar?

1. People who are in need
and are not afraid to beg
give to people not in need
the occasion to do good
for goodness' sake.
2. Modern society
calls the beggar
bum and panhandler
and gives him the bum's rush.
3. The Greeks used to say
that people in need
are the ambassadors of the gods.
4. We read in the Gospel:
"As long as you did it
to one of the least
of My brothers
you did it to Me."
5. While modern society
calls the beggars
bums and panhandlers,
they are in fact
the Ambassadors of God.
6. To be God's Ambassador
is something
to be proud of.

"
4

Christmastide 2014

WHEN BAD IDEAS MATTER

Fr. Justin Fletcher, Vicar, St. Lukes, Chickasha, OK
Id like to begin by pointing out something of a
taboo: we all have bad ideas in our heads, and often
enough these bad ideas do us no harm. We like to
think having the facts or being right or having the
proper awareness is important, and yet just think of
the current jargon around education. Its proclaimed
so important that parents can be arrested for failing
to foist it upon their children. But by the time college
years roll around the tune inevitably changes. Just get
a degree. The diploma is a means
to gainful employment. Both
p a r e n t a n d c h i l d a g r e e :
whatever ideas are in the head
dont really matter, so long as
the prevailing one is, hurry up
and graduate so the cash 6low
can start. Were prone to be
comfortable not knowing who
fought or won the War of 1812
so long as weve got a job.
Sometimes bad ideas dont
matter.
Almost daily, having the
right ideas about everything is
sacri>iced for the sake of
something else. I dont think
having some bad ideas in our
head is the worst thing, and
neither do you. Theres an endless list of things that
we either know nothing or very little about. The list of
things we know only through hearsay is even larger.
Yet, almost none of us spend very much time
worrying about these lists. We sense that very little
of our lives depends upon the intricacies of these
things.
But sometimes bad ideas matter. We feel this
acutely in conversation with others who have such
bad ideas that they are harmful not only to their own
heads, but to ours as well. Brain pain occurs when
someone discloses he thinks the purpose of life is
helping others, getting ahead, or living life to the
fullest. Such bad ideas are positively harmful for the
Christmastide 2014

person who has these thoughts, and to anyone these

bad thoughts might be imposed upon. Sometimes bad
ideas matter.
At Christmas, an important bad idea is on
display. That idea is the size of God. Properly speaking,
the LORD isnt any size at all. He isnt big or small, tall
or short, fat or skinny. All these words denote
something that can be measured. If it can be
measured it can be captured or hemmed in by a
certain amount of space. The
LORD is the creator of everything,
so he isnt subject to or bound by
any amount of space. He is
uncontainable. And yet, at
Christmas, the uncontainable
becomes a single human being.
His name is Jesus.
Because of this it is very dif>icult
for us not to think of God as
occupying a certain amount of
space. After all, on the night he
was born, Jesus >it in his most
holy Mothers arms. There are
important reasons to maintain
that God, even in the person of
Jesus, remains utterly beyond
space. The LORD is not one more,
not even the most powerful,
actor on the worlds stage. It would take a long time,
and many words to describe why his uncontainability
is foundational to all Christian faith. But the truth is,
most of us are going to think about God as a person
who occupies space. We cant help it. Since we cant
help it, were probably going to think of the LORD as
really big, really strong, and really powerful. These
are bad ideas. But does it matter?
If you think the LORD is a giant Santa Claus who
will do your bidding so long as you live, by the
standards of the always changing times, a morally
decent life, or if you think hes the being who
validates your self-serving, self-consumed habits
(Continued on p.6)
"5

(Bad Ideas cont.)

doing this very well after all because hes so big and
powerful, or if this big, strong, and powerful God is in
fact some kind of uber-therapist that placates the mess
youve made of your life, you have not only a bad idea,
you have an idol. Idols, in the end are self-serving, as St
Paul says, covetousness is idolatry. The Scriptures teach
us that idols demand innocent blood. We kill for idols.
They intermingled with the heathens and learned their
pagan ways, so that they worshiped their idols, which
became a snare to them. They sacri6iced their sons and
daughters to evil spirits. They shed innocent blood, the
blood of their sons and daughters, which they offered to
the idols of Canaan, and the land was de6iled with blood,
says the psalm. This bad idea matters. It is harmful to
everyone associated with it. It gives religious
justi>ication to our covetous bloodthirst.
On the other hand, suppose you think God is a
very large, mighty being whose might and size might
crush you in an instant. As a result an ardent fear seats
itself deep within your breast. You therefore pay this
very large God all manner of honors, hymning his
praises, heeding his warnings and commands with
great devotion. Indeed, you spend your days in
reverence and awe, humbling invoking his name,
careful never to offend his honor. This would be a bad
idea. The LORD needs not to be appeased or placated.
But this bad idea is a far better one than the other. This
is the idea that would demonstrate that the LORD is
great and greatly to be praised. From this bad idea, one
might move along to a more profound depth.
Its okay to have bad ideas, even though they are
in fact bad. Some bad ideas are better to have than
others. The ones by which we enthrone the praises of
the Most Holy Trinity instead of using him to suit our
ends, are the best of all. This Christmas, youll be
tempted into bad ideas, just make sure theyre the good
ones. +

"
6

What the Catholic

Worker Believes
By Peter Maurin
1. The Catholic Worker believes
in the gentle personalism
of traditional Catholicism.
2. The Catholic Worker believes
in the personal obligation
of looking after
the needs of our brother.
3. The Catholic Worker believes
in the daily practice
of the Works of Mercy.
4. The Catholic Worker believes
in Houses of Hospitality
for the immediate relief
of those who are in need.
5. The Catholic Worker believes
in the establishment
of Farming Communes
where each one works
according to his ability
and gets according to his need.
6. The Catholic Worker believes
in creating a new society
within the shell of the old
with the philosophy of the new,
which is not a new philosophy
but a very old philosophy,
a philosophy so old
that it looks like new.

Christmastide 2014

When is Christmas?
Joe Sroka, Catholic Worker, CFW, Durham

When are you going to decorate for Christmas? is a question I am frequently asked in the weeks leading
up to Christmas. Besides an Advent wreath lit with a few blue candles and single pink one, the dcor in our
house lacks the illumination of a Christmas tree or any bright decorations. In contrast, a stroll down our street
after Thanksgiving reveals several houses adorned in brightly lit Christmas decorations. Even our favorite
Mexican restaurant is already playing Christmas songs sung in Spanish (who knew the lyrics of Feliz Navidad are
the same in Spanish). I answer this question of when by saying we will put up the tree and play Christmas
music after church on Christmas Eve. Christmas will start when Advent is over. In spite of what retailers would
have us believe, the day of Christmas is just the beginning of the season of Christmas, or Christmastide.
How and when we celebrate Christmas either >ittingly or un>ittingly, I think, has much to do with our
ordering of time. We tend to be most familiar with a year that begins in January and ends in December. January
is the season for a new beginning and ultimately hopeless resolutions. December, and even bleeding back into
November, closes out the year with insatiable consumerism and a meager celebration void of the fullness of
Christs Incarnation. Or worse: an of>hand, Thank God, Jesus was born to save us from all of this. Christmas,
then, becomes a singular event without anticipation and preparation. Christmas is over as soon as it began. This
celebration of Christmas is too short and dull.
However, the church year is markedly different from this secular ordering. Through his Incarnation and
Passion, Christ has redeemed all things. The church year is an expression of this redemption as time is wrapped
around his life, his redeeming death and resurrection. Thus the year, according to the church, begins with
Advent and Christmas. Why does the church order the calendar this way?
The church calendar, through Christ, has redeemed time. Time, like all things, has been made new and
patterned on Christ. The church calendar reimagines time with the weekly Eucharistic celebration on Sundays,
the seasons of the church year, and the feasts of the saints. The calendar is sacramental in that it reveals a
mystery where all time, each moment, is transcended by the reality that is beyond time, the triune Lord.
Thus, the church calendar shows a relationship between the liturgical celebration and the reality being
celebrated. Our celebration of Christmas, with its joy of the birth of Jesus Christ and the true Light that illumines
the world, is related to the reality that Christ has actually been born of a virgin and taken our human nature
upon him. When we celebrate Christmas, we are participating in the actual event we are celebrating
Christmas. The present celebration of Christmas cannot be separated from the historical, past event of Christs
coming and the future event of his Second Coming.
When the church year begins with Advent and Christmas, it points all of the following year to the union of
the Lord to our humanity. The Incarnation, the divine Word coming in the >lesh of Jesus Christ, is just the
beginning. Joining His >lesh to ours that Christmas morning will climax in our joining his death and resurrection
in Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Christmas is so much more than a one-day celebration to close out the
shopping season. Christmas is not only the beginning of the Christian year but also the beginning of the Easter
paschal mystery.
The effect of Christmas, Christ being joined to our human >lesh, is felt throughout the entire year. In the
Incarnation, we participate in the mystery of our salvation. The church calendar secures our attention to
(Continued on p. 8)

Christmas 2014

"7

(When is Christmas cont.)

this mystery. Each Sunday is a joyful weekly remembrance of the glorious resurrection. The >irst day of each
week is a celebration of the risen Lord. Throughout the year, the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent,
Holy Week, Easter, and After Pentecost, fold us ever closer to the redemptive history of our Lord. The feasts of the
saints further mark the death and resurrection of Lord onto our time. The year for Christians, then, is the chance
to see and participate in the work of Christ marked onto all time, each year, season, day, and moment.

The church calendar, then, is another good and beautiful gift from the Lord. Like his gift to us that
Christmas morning or his gift to us at the Mass in his own Body and Blood under bread and wine, the church
calendar is the Lords gift to us, redeeming time and beckoning us to participate in Him. The church calendar is a
simple way to participate in the Lords goodness. Embracing the church calendar is a step towards Peter Maurins
desire for the Catholic Worker, to create a world where it is easier to be good. The calendar takes fallen,
metronomic time, just one damn thing after another, and places us in Christs Passion. By celebrating the feasts
and fasts of the year, we participate in the death and resurrection of Christ.

When are you going to decorate for Christmas? then has everything to do with setting our life to the
rhythm of the church calendar, the life of Christ marked onto time. Advent was a season of darkness, the light of
Christ growing stronger each Sunday, until it shines in its fullness Christmas morning. Our exile is over. We have
left behind the valley of tears. We mourn and weep no more. Christ is here. He is joined to our >lesh, thus inviting
us to join his life, a life of self-giving and self-emptying love, hung to die on the cross but raised to newness of life.
Christmas, then, is more than a single day that marks the end of the shopping season or closes out the end of year
holidays. Christmas is a season of celebration that begins that >irst Christmas morning. And Christmas is a
reminder that time will never be the same.+

Panhandling and Community News

by Fr. Colin
William Joseph Sroka was born to Joseph and Michelle Sroka early on Sunday morning, 3 Advent,
December 14th. We all gathered at the Birth Center around 5am. All are healthy and happy after an
amazingly short, but very intense labor and delivery. William is now the second infant to take up residence
at the Maurin House. He has already attended several Masses and is learning to sing The Magnificat. He is
scheduled to enter the Church through water and the Holy Spirit on the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord,
January 11, 2015, at the Church of the Holy Family in Chapel Hill.
Deacon James MacGregor Stewart is scheduled to enter the Sacred Order of Priests at All Souls Episcopal
Church in Oklahoma City on January 16. Please join us in praying and fasting a novena for the Ordination
following the Feast of Epiphany. It will be a joyous occasion.
Because of the upcoming Holy Days and the following Ordination, travel will take some of us away from
the St. Clare Chapel and so the regular services may be interrupted if the services of a priest cannot be
obtained. Any changes will be announced via email. If you do not use email, you may want to call to check.
Liturgies at St. Josephs, including breakfast, however, will take place as usual on Christmas Day.
Thank you to the many of you who have sent in year-end donations. We continue to welcome them, and to
beg you to make a pledge for 2015 if you do not already have one standing. Merry Christmas!+
8

Christmastide 2014

A Word from St. Clare Chapel

Tyler Hambley, Catholic Worker, CFW, Durham
For the Feast of St. Stephen (26 December):
Around a year ago, Crystal and I attended a Christmas
party at the house of some old friends of ours. The
evening was warm, relaxed, and comfortable. We
gave thanks, shared dinner, and sipped holiday
cocktails by the fireside. Christmas cheer was all
around. After an hour or so of gentle merry-making, a
teenager was casually asked what he wanted to be
when he got older (like what college he would go
to, what hed study, andwhen all grown upwhat
career path hed take). The question seemed rather
harmless given the context, but what happened next, I
wont soon forget.
Now, as an aside, we all know this what do you want
be? question gets asked a lot, especially of
adolescents. In fact, I ask it of young people all the
time; its a way of expressing interest in their lives.
However, the open-endedness of the question seems to
presume the deep, modern presumption of individual
autonomy and self-realization.
Take the related
statement, You can do whatever you put your mind
to, kid, as the same kind of sentiment (Full
disclosure: I grew up wanting to put my mind to
professional sports. It didnt work out.). Yet, imagine
the dauntingeven hauntingpressure to choose
ones life when confronted with the paralyzing
proliferation of professions out there. How does one
even begin? What informs the discernment process?
For us in the church, I fear such a flattening of
choice is exactly what lies behind much of the heartbreaking confusion and isolation experienced by so
many young people today charged with the task of
producing themselves ex nihilo.
Anyway, back to the party the young teenager
answered the question he was asked with the most
interesting response Ive ever heard: I want to grow
up to be a martyr, he said. Immediately, awkward
laughter broke out. Im serious, he continued, I
want to grow up to be a professional Christian.
Slightly perturbed, a peer of mine sitting nearby
responded, Well, thats fine, but you cant want to be
Christmastide 2014

a martyr. The Church gets it wrong when it thinks

violence is redemptive. Sure, but what about the
violence of the cross? I wondered aloud. Thats
Christ, not us, retorted my peer. But doesnt being
faithful mean taking up ones crossbeing prepared
to receive persecution should it come? From there,
the mood of the room palpably shifted. This was
supposed to be a comfy, cozy Christmas celebration
after all, not a debate over a teenagers indecent
openness to death! And yet, perhaps it was not even
the question of martyrdom that was so off-putting, but
rather this teens easy willingness to cast off modern
catechisms for sound career advice. (Apparently, the
presumption of open-ended autonomy only runs so
deep when young people start questioning the
foundations of what the rest of us take for granted.)
Nevertheless, in a sense, that other peer of mine was
right: martyrdom, understood as dying for the sake of
the gospel, is not to be sought outright, since life is
declared good by God and not to be discarded
lightly.
Moreover, redemption in the Christian
purview is not internal to violence suffered, but is
located in the obedience, endurance, and fortitude
gifted by God even unto death. And yet, despite this,
my peer may have missed what that teen was driving
at. For us Christians, there are higher goods than
merely living and breathing. In fact, we live only for
the purposes of glorifying God; everything else is
derivative. This glorifying begins with our worship
and stretches out into everything else we do. Our
entire lives are meant to give witness to the glory of
God. But that word, witness, comes from the Greek
word, martusor, martyr in the New Testament (only
later did martyr come to refer exclusively to those
who suffered death). In that vein, then, we are
certainly called to be martyrswitnessesto the
glory of God as manifested in Christs rein over the
principalities and powers of our world. Yet, what does
a martyr-witness look like, especially in light of
Christmas cheer?
(Continued on p.10)
"9

(St. Stephens cont.)

Today is the feast of St. Stephen, considered to be the first martyr of the Church. Stephen, who was called by the
Apostles to be a deacon, found his story being taken up into Christs story. He connected the glorification of God in
worship to the service of the poor and hungry, and in so doing Stephen discovered his calling within the communal
framework of the deeper narrative of the Body of Christ.
Acts 6 says Stephen was performing great wonders and signs among the people. Apparently, this came off rather
indecently as folks soon confronted Stephen. Here, of course, Stephen might have backed off; he could have tried
to avoid a conflict; instead, he engaged in an intense debate as to whether or not the glory of God stood with Jesus.
Indeed, Stephen saw that by enduring in his witness, even in the face of debate and argument, he pointed to a
deeper good than saving face, saving his life, or saving the sensibilities of the culture around him. Furthermore,
Stephens willingness to point beyond himself to the greater glory of God did not result in violence toward his
opponents, but rather in the loving embrace of them, who in the words of Christ, know not what they do. Stephen
died, not out of spite, but in trusting love: love of those who killed him, and trust in the one who would redeem him.
Now, its interesting that St. Stephens feast day comes
the day after Christmas. Were used to filling this season
with good cheer and present sharing. Celebrating the
death of a Christian witness feels well, a little offputting, much like the teenager who felt called to
martyrdom at a Christmas party. We understandably
remark, Baby Jesus was just born for goodness sake,
why jump to the bloody stuff so quickly? Yet, Stephens
feast day reminds us that the death of a witness
participates in the death of that baby born in Bethlehem
so long ago. The destiny and legacy of that child was and
is cross-shaped, and even in Christmas we must
remember that. But that destiny is also marked by
resurrection. Witnessthat is, martyrdomtakes place
between Christs cross and resurrection. The order is
important, for the life a witness lives derives from whats
yet ahead of her: resurrection. As a result, she can feel
boldly called forward as a martyrnot because she seeks
deathbut because God has oriented her life so fully in
Christs victory that she lives with nothing to lose. A
witness-martyr discovers who she is, not through an openended buffet-line of possible selves, but rather through
remembering her baptism in the life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
May this Christmas season yield the gifts of endurance
and trust, so that we might all bear witness to the
wondrous embrace of a child who loved us while we were
yet sinners. Who knows? Maybe, like Stephen, we will
grow up to be faithful martyrs one day, and like the
teenager at the Christmas party, discover ourselves
joining that great cloud of witnesses whove given us all a
wonderful story in which to find ourselves. Amen.+
"
10

Christmastide 2014

Donate These Things!

Weekly Schedule

Washer
Dryer (2)
Twin frames and ma4resses
Coee
$30k for a Priests Salary
Laundry detergent
Dish soap
Farm land
Toilet paper
13-gallon trash bags
Fresh vegetables
Grocery cards
Wheat sandwich bread

At St. Josephs Episcopal Church

(1902 W. Main St., Durham)
Morning Prayer: 7:30am Mon-Fri
Breakfast: 8:00am Mon-Fri
Evening Prayer: 5:30pm Mon-Fri
At St. Clare Chapel, Peter Maurin House
(1116 Iredell St., Durham)
Holy Eucharist 6:25am Mon-Fri
Evensong: 6:00pm Sun
Supper: 6:30pm Fri, Sun
Compline: 8:30pm Fri, Sun
All are welcome anytime.

Editors
Fr. Justin Fletcher
Dr. Crystal Hambley
Tyler Hambley
Leigh Miller

Fr. Colin Miller

Joe Sroka
Michelle Sroka

Contact Us
The best way to get involved in the
community is to come to the Daily Office at
St. Josephs Episcopal Church, Monday
through Friday at 7:30am and 5:30pm. You
can also call Fr. Colin at 919-BUM-CHIN
(919.286.2446).

Christmastide 2014

"11

The Little Way is a pamphlet of The Community of the Franciscan Way, a Mission of the Episcopal Diocese
of North Carolina. We seek a life of prayer, study, simplicity, and fellowship with the poor. We stand in the
tradition of the Catholic Worker Movement, founded in 1933 by Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day. The Peter
Maurin Catholic Worker House offers food and shelter to the poor. Funds are directly used for the
performance of the Works of Mercy, and no one in the community draws any salary or other benefits.
Donations are always welcome.

The Corporal Works of Mercy

To feed the hungry
To give drink to the thirsty
To clothe the naked
To harbor the harborless
To visit the sick
To ransom the captive
To bury the dead

The Community of the Franciscan Way

1116 Iredell Street

Durham, NC 27705
http://cfw.dionc.org

The Spiritual Works of Mercy

To instruct the uninformed
To counsel the doubtful
To admonish sinners
To bear wrongs patiently
To forgive offenses willingly
To comfort the afflicted
To pray for the living and the dead