Rev. Jill Duffield
Senior Pastor
It was a full flight. We’d received the instructions to put personal items beneath the seat, keep our coats with us (we were headed from Toronto to Halifax, coats weren’t optional), and volunteer to check our carry on if we were boarding in a higher numbered zone. I’d just gotten settled in my aisle seat, anticipating getting up of course, when a young couple with an infant stopped at my row. “Do you want us?” The woman asked. “Of course!” I replied. Then I added, “Actually, I want the baby!”
I learned that the baby was seven months old, named Anderson and already well traveled. The small family had been to South Africa and Zimbabwe so that Anderson could meet his grandmother and extended family. Anderson’s “mum” had immigrated to Halifax a little over a year ago to marry her Canadian love. Anderson smiled at me beneath his pacifier. I had to sit on my hands to not reach out and ask to hold him.
Anderson’s mum showed me pictures of them with her mother, cousins, aunts, and uncles, all dressed in bright colors. She shared videos of them literally dancing in the streets. I said it must have been hard to leave. I asked if her mother would come to Halifax. Anderson’s mum said it was indeed hard to say goodbye and no, her mother would not make the long journey to Canada. Her mother’s age and her responsibility to care for other grandchildren prevented that from being a possibility. I wondered how long it would be before they would all be together again.
Anderson fussed during takeoff and landing. Otherwise, he slept soundly in his mother’s arms, a tiny baby whose citizenship spanned the globe.
I asked Anderson’s mum if the move had gone well. I asked if she’d adjusted to what must have been a tremendous change. “No regrets,” she said. She looked at her infant and then back at me, “You can never regret doing something for love.”
I wondered if that’s what Mary thought in the stable, after all the travel, the upheaval, the challenges, and unexpected events. Did she look at her infant and remember saying “Let it be with me according to your word” not possibly able to comprehend what that “yes” meant? Did she gaze on her baby and think that no matter what was come, for her, for her son, the love this tiny baby came to bring the world meant she could have no regrets?
I wonder if, this Christmas, we might say yes to love, too, no matter how much change, challenge, and upheaval it brings. Could we say yes to love for, and for the sake of, Jesus? Love for the world God loves. Love for each other. Love for our enemies. Love for ourselves. Love for our neighbors. Love for our God. Knowing no matter where saying that yes takes us, no matter what comes as a result, we never regret anything done for love.
I pray for Anderson, for his mum and his dad, his family all over the globe as we celebrate the tiny baby who came to save the world.
