This week's Theme: The Glory of Christmas
Day 1: Into the Ordinary
Pigeon peas were one of the trustiest heralds of the Christmas season. Each year, they were invariably “scarce this year” and everyone, including my mother, would vigorously protest the tripled price, but would buy them anyway, because Christmas dinner—or lunch in those days—was not the same without “stru peas” (stewed pigeon peas).
And so Saturday afternoons in December would often find us on the stoop, with bowl (for shelled peas), bucket (for shells) and broom (for… well, the obvious). We dreaded the long, boring task of shelling peas, and dreaded even more the occasional [army] worm wiggling to escape the invasion of its pod.
Sometime, somewhere, someone had told me that a worm had inched up the body of an unsuspecting pea sheller who was later awakened in the middle of the night by a crawling tickle in the ear! From then on, shelling peas was for me a torture of constant tickling—not just in the ears, but in every pore of my guarded, overanxious body.
But then suddenly, someone would pop a pod, and there they were! Not worms, but beautiful, speckled peas—with glints of red and yellow and orange, and green.
We called them “calico peas”. They were nothing special in the adult world— just peas—but in the unspoilt wonderment of childhood, they were a spark of colorful delight amid the unending piles of green pigeon peas.
Somehow, as they fell through our fingers like shiny, bead-sized gems, the tiny legumes with their specks and flecks of rainbow color would awaken us from the tedium and monotony of shelling peas as they introduced color and vibrancy, and every possibility of the imagination into the bowl of peas.
In some small way, the "calico peas" remind me of the very first heralds of Christmas— holy angels breaking into the monotony and tedium of sheep-watching. The gospel writer Luke gives us the account (Luke 2:8-14 - NKJV):
Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.
Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
The glory of Christmas breaking through the world of shepherds is symbolic of the way the simple message of Christmas fills the ordinary human world with its good tidings of great joy. In every sense, the extraordinary has come into the "ordinary" of human existence.
Holy angels— matted sheep. Divine Savior— crude manger. Loving mother— makeshift layette. But hillside, field, and town resound with the notes of joy, Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given... (Isaiah 9:6 - NKJV).
Light in place of darkness (Isaiah 60:1-3), glory in place of gloom (Isaiah 9:1-2), life in place of death (John 10:10).
Calico color in place of worms.
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