Let earth receive
My wife and I took full advantage of a Cocoa Crawl last Saturday in the Logan Square and Avondale neighborhoods and so strolled along Milwaukee Avenue to do a little Christmas shopping and see which stores had the best cocoa. One place that wasn’t on our list was the above store called Books4Cause, but the neon sign offering “FREE BOOKS” was too intriguing to pass up.
The store is not unlike one of those little free lending libraries that are popping up, but this was more than that. Books4Cause claims to Chicago’s only free bookstore and, indeed, there were hundreds of books (and albums, CDs, DVDs, and VHS tapes) lining bookshelves in the kinds of categories you’d find in any other bookstore: fiction, classics, philosophy, memoirs, young adult, etc. But as Anne and I started to peruse the options, I had this weird feeling. Are these books really free? Should I be taking free books since I can afford to buy new ones? Is there a suggested donation to give? I kept looking around at different signage in the store and the message I got over and over was this: Yes, it’s really free. Take one. Or two. Or up to 10. Just let the clerk at the desk know how many you’re taking and…that’s it. Enjoy your new book(s)!
There were a few titles that intrigued me, but, sadly, in the end, I didn’t take any. I just couldn’t get over the free-ness of it all and couldn’t appreciate or receive the generous offer.
Many of us will sing over the next few days, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King;” and, if you’re like me, sometimes the familar words of a well-known song loses a little of its oomph. But this line from one of my favorite Christmas hymns is one I need to pay attention to.
Maybe it’s a Protestant thing or an American thing or a general Western culture thing, but there seems to be this embedded ethos that says that we have to do or earn certain tasks before we are able to receive something. That can be true in our faith lives, too, no matter how much we say/sing how amazing grace is.
What is a gracious gift you need to be open to and receive this season? Forgiveness? Rest? Friendship? Joy? Patience? I hope we have the posture of Mary who, on that frenzied night of giving birth, stopped, pondered all that was around her, and received the grace of new life.
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