"So, what did you expect...Miracles?"
Jane Leyden Cavanaugh
Sunday, December 16th 2007

Intro – My Crumber

What that introduction did NOT mention was that I know a thing or two about waitressing. I know the obvious things like: “You serve from the left, you clear from the right… except for beverages which are both served AND cleared from your right.

I also know that you set your water and wine glasses in this order: water glass directly above your knife, going clockwise, your champagne glass behind to the right, white wine glass in front of that, sherry glass next, and last but not least, your red wine glass.

And when you get to a certain level of waitressing, like me, you have special equipment beyond a simple cork screw. Not many people in this room have their own… crumber. I have in my hand a bonafide deluxe crumber, a long slender metal object, concave in design. I used this for many years in my waitressing days, in very classy institutions like… the Lexington in St. Paul.

Between courses, we were instructed to take our crumber and de-crumb the table. Slide the crumber across the tablecloth and scoop the crumbs up and dispose of them immediately.

Crumbs were abhorrent to a TRUE wait person. They were the forgettable remnants of the food that mattered: the hors d’oeuvre, the main course, the dessert. Crumbs had no merit in and of themselves. They were destined for the floor or the trash can. They had to be quickly disposed of.

Wait persons who left crumbs on their tables were considered sloths and slackers. I was not one of them.

,b> BIG versus small

To me, a crumb is the ultimate small thing. And a miracle, the word for the day, is the ultimate big thing.

The word miracle, to me, conjures up something extraordinary, unbelievable, spectacular, fantastico! (That’s Italian for fantastic.)

A friend of mine in the San Diego area said that all of her neighbor’s houses burned to the ground this fall. Her house, in the midst of them, was the only house untouched by the fire. A miracle!

Small child caught in well for 18 days comes up unscathed. A miracle!

The Vatican appoints Fr. Jim Debruycker as new head of the Office of Doctrinal Faith. A miracle!

As I reflect this Advent and read the scriptures, I’ve thought a lot about this idea of big versus small. And what really IS a miracle? And what is the SIZE of a miracle?

Even Crumbs are Bread

I stumbled upon this poem by Gunilla Norris called “Even Crumbs are Bread”

Be careful with the crumbs
Do not overlook them.

Be careful with the crumbs
The little chances to love

The tiny gestures, the morsels that feed,
The minims.

Take care of the crumbs
A look, a laugh, a smile
A teardrop, an open hand

Take care of the crumbs.
They are food also.

Do not let them fall.
Gather them. Cherish them.

-----

This reminds us of the significance of the small. Now I feel bad about what my crumber and I did to so many crumbs in my day.

Addicted to the Spectacular

A sign above a Benedictine retreat center caught my attention. It said: “Be insignificant, for you are addicted to the spectacular.”

I think many of us are. Lots of us don’t like the insignificant, like the crumb. We like things that are special. And we like spectacular, big things to happen to us. Small is boring and dull. Big and spectacular is where it’s at. Think of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Plaza, the Chevy Suburban, the Super Bowl half-time entertainment.

Motivational speakers say: “Think Big!” They never get up and say: “Get out there everybody and think small!” Bigger is better.

Scripture Supports the Small

But that’s not the message of our faith. Even back in Jesus’ day, people could not wrap their heads around Jesus, this Jewish leader, and his penchant for the non-spectacular, the small, the unobtrusive.

His beginnings, born in obscurity as the advent story goes, in a stable In his ministry, socializing and eating with regular folk and nobodies In his last days riding into Jerusalem, on a donkey instead of a big, impressive Clydesdale. He always said things like “The last shall be first” and “If only you could be… like this little child” and “Blessed are the poor, the hungry, the meek” … the crumbs of society who always get overlooked.

In our gospel reading today, Jesus doesn’t give a hoot about what the world considers great. He gives John the Baptist the ultimate backhanded compliment: “I solemnly assure you, history has not known a person born of woman greater than John the Baptizer. Yet the least born into the reign of God is greater than John.” In other words, “John the Baptist is the greatest, most important person in history… but he’s a nobody in the Kingdom of God.”

Jesus seemed to see the small and value the small and cherish the crumbs.

Scripture supports the Big

On the other hand, especially in the readings we’ll hear today, Jesus is also about the big and spectacular. Today in our gospel, we hear about the healings and extraordinary miracles that happened when people experienced Jesus: the blind see, cripples walk, lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life and the poor are given GOOD news for a change.

These kinds of miracles were foretold by the prophet Isaiah 700 years prior – in our first reading. These kinds of miracles will happen when the reign of God starts taking place.

Some ideas about Miracles

Today I feel called to remind us that:

  1. Miracles exist – they did in Jesus’ time. They do now.
  2. Miracles come in all sizes – not just the “super-sized” ones we hear about in the news and the scripture readings today.
  3. God feeds us with miracles every day.
Berlin Wall Rock and Small Miracles

To remind me of these ideas, I have two things on my bedside altar these days.

In my left hand, I have a piece of cement, but not just any old piece of cement. This is a piece of the Berlin Wall. I was given it as a gift in 1989 after a friend of mine returned from a trip to Germany. She chipped it off herself after the wall fell.

In my right hand, I have my daughter, Tess’ play shoe. It’s a fancy one, pink fluff on the top. The label on this shoe says “SMALL MIRACLES.”

To me, they represent God’s ability and desire to feed us with both big miracles (hold up rock “Fall of the Berlin Wall”) and small miracles (hold up shoe).

My list of big miracles

If I look at my life and had to say what were the biggest miracles I’ve experienced so far, I’d have to say:

Finding love so late in the game, marrying Joe at age 38 Getting pregnant with my daughter Tess so late in the game, age 42 <> What miracles would I like to see happen now? What miracles am I expecting now? I’ll give you my Top 3:

  1. (Church) – miracle #1. Rome would send out a letter this Christmas to every Catholic Church in the world and say, “We need your help. Give us your fresh ideas to make our church work better.”
  2. (World) – My second miracle would be that the war in Iraq ends.
  3. My 3rd miracle is much more personal: I’d love to have a second child.
My Miracle Crumbs

It looks like my top 3 miracles are not going to happen this Christmas.

Did God skip over me?

Then I remember the poem:

Take care of the crumbs – the tiny gestures, the little chances to love they are food also Do not overlook them. Cherish them.

I look back on this last month and I realize I may not have been fed by the big miracles that I expected, but I was fed well by several unexpected “miracle crumbs.”

NYC story

On the first weekend in December every year, Joe and I fly to NYC to spend the weekend alone and re-enact the story of our engagement by skating on Rockefeller Plaza. We had a blast this year. That was the weekend we had gotten dumped on with snow back here in Minnesota. When we pulled up to our house after our trip, our quiet neighbor John had shoveled our sidewalk while we were gone – that small gesture, a “miracle crumb” made our homecoming that night a bit more pleasant because of our neighbor’s thoughtfulness.

Hospice story

A neighbor, who meant a lot to me, passed away last month. I had the chance to see him in the hospice, a few hours before he died. His family, some friends, including me, prayed over him and sang “Amazing Grace” in his little room. It was crowded. His wife, and all his grown children and their spouses were there. I knew that one of his children’s spouses had distanced herself from the family and had not been to a family function in 2 years. This caused my neighbor a great deal of heartache. But I noticed she was there that afternoon, with the family. Her presence made the gathering very special, perhaps it was a small step toward reconciliation with the family. Another “miracle crumb” that fed me.

Adoption story

And lastly, my sister adopted a 7 year-old daughter Vika from Siberia three weeks ago. Joe, Tess and I met her and spent an afternoon with her in her new home. As we left, she snuck over to Joe, opened her arms and gave him a big hug and kiss on the cheek. Seeing this little courageous person, so far from home, start to bond with her Uncle Joe – that little kiss on his cheek – another “miracle crumb” that warmed my heart.

This Advent

So what I’m working on this Advent – is not to overlook the “miracle crumbs.” To be aware of the small miracles around me. I let so many pass me by.

To move from being “addicted to the spectacular” to being “grateful for the crumbs”

You – Miracles and Miracle Crumbs

I wrote this reflection for all the people in here who, like me, have been praying for some BIG miracles.

What is a miracle you’re expecting????

And maybe a few of you are feeling a certain sadness because your big miracle, the miracle you expected, doesn’t look like it is going to happen.

Perhaps, someday, you may be fed with that miracle, Or perhaps that big miracle is not yours to receive. Time will tell.

In the meantime, I invite you to be open to the small miracles that God is offering all around you – the “miracle crumbs” to refresh you and sustain you this advent.

Conclusion

A plaque hangs on my daughter Tessy’s door that says: “Where there is love, there are miracles.” I suppose it could be that simple.

If so, I’d like to be like that little boy in the movie “The 6th Sense” who had the ability to see dead people everywhere he went – thus the famous line where he’d say: “I see dead people”

I’d love to be the kind of person who, anywhere I’d go, I’d say: “I see miracles.”

Let’s continue to expect miracles. And believe that God, who loves us, feeds us with both big miracles and “miracle crumbs” every day.

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