Santa Ted

The gifts of God always seem to come in very unique packages...in particular this morning...the gifts of hope and joy.

Ted had a wonderful ability to welcome people from many different walks of life...young and old...and through a very positive outlook on life even in the midst of serious difficulties like his battle with cancer he somehow seemed to open a way for hope and joy. Two things we need today....here today as we mourn the loss of Ted Culgin to this family and community...but also out there today in the world. We need Hope and Joy.

My thoughts wandered to those two important things and the impact they have had on my life as I reflected on the great man Ted was. My reflections in particular settle in on the story and questions that surround the story of Santa and it starts a little like this...

There is something wrong with the world when Santa dies. That's not supposed to happen. Two things actually that have me a little unsettled this morning... the funeral director is supposed to be on this side of the casket and Santa is not supposed to die. What's going on? What's wrong with the world, man! Actually, now that I think of it Gore Bay has lost two Santa's in the last five months and for a small community like ours that can be somewhat overwhelming. In those moments and in these times Hope and Joy have a tendency to bury themselves beneath cold layers of pain.

When I received the sad news of Ted's passing I could feel a piece of that hope and joy being taken from me..."no more time...this really is it". I wasn't ready, the news was painful, and I thought Santa's not supposed to die....not yet...not now.

I'm reading a story with my boys right now called "The lion, the witch and the wardrobe" Just this past week we read a chapter where the Penvesi children who have made their way into Narnia through the wardrobe are running for their lives. You see the White Witch who has made herself queen of Narnia wants to kill them. There is a prophecy that everyone knows about that says if ever two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve get into Narnia that they are the rightful heirs to the throne. The White Witch is evil. She makes it winter all the time, we've learned and worse than that, it is winter all the time and no Christmas and no Santa. The White Witch's power has been able to keep Santa out of Narnia. And to me this all sounded a little bit like Gore Bay in January. (Winter all the time and no Santa.)

So the children are on the run with two talking beavers (who are called Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, naturally). They are being chased by the White Witch who is traveling on her sled. While hiding in a cave through the night they are awoken in the morning to the sound of a sled and bells. Initially they fear for their lives until Mr. Beaver's investigation reveals a wonderful twist in the story. It's not the White Witch...it's Father Christmas. For the first time in a long time in Narnia--Father Christmas has made his way into Narnia and it is the first real symbol of hope that all that is wrong with the world is finally starting to weaken. Gifts are given to the children to prepare them for battle and for life...sword, shield, bows and arrows, healing potion...Hope and Joy brought to the kids at the hands of Father Christmas.

Hope and joy...something I saw Ted working for whenever he could. Whether it was just enough hope for Chemo-Sabe to get through the next difficult day in the cancer clinic or someway he could bring a joyful smile to someone's face with a painfully bad joke that we all loved. Especially in the end when mobility became nearly impossible..."for one person," Ted would say, for just one person Ted would work to find enough strength if he knew it would bring a little bit of joy and some hope to a someone else....because hope and joy must survive...on this day above any other...hope and joy must survive...as a gift from Ted, even today at his funeral...they must find a way back into our hearts and from that place work outward to weaken the grip of evil in the world.

We all have a Santa story. One that means a great deal to me. In a very difficult time in my life when things were very emotionally difficult and stressful as a minister, things broken between my parents and in my life, we had just had a new baby and were in a new house sitting around in our living room when there was a knock at the door. One of the boys went running to the door, opened it and I'm pretty sure they slammed the door and came screaming back..."It's Santa, It's Santa, It's Santa" "What??, where???" I responded. "At the door" "Well, did you let him in?"..."no I slammed the door in his face."

This is a moment neither I nor my boys will ever forget....not that we slammed the door in Santa's face...but that Santa came in, spent time with us and brought gifts of joy to my children and a gift of hope to me. A visit that made our family feel like the most special family on earth. Gifts of Hope and Joy that we felt and experienced, that were seen in a small but significant act of thoughtfully reaching out to some friends. Ted only ever intended to have an impact on just one person and yet look at the room full of people that he has helped to influence over the years.

I still to this day don't know how Ted ever talked Santa into coming to our home. He never would tell me, no matter how hard I tried to get the answer to that question out of him. He seemed to have this strange but wonderful inside connection with Santa. And so I guess the real question I'm struggling with this morning in the midst of these stories going around in my head is, "has Santa really died?" If as we've said...hope and joy must survive...and if, after today, hope and joy survive, then Ted will be a very happy and peaceful man knowing that he had made a little bit of a difference. If hope and joy survive then I believe Santa is still alive. What about you, Do you believe in Santa?