NRS Isaiah 6 The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.

NRS Psalm 843 Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.
4 Happy are those who live in your house,
ever singing your praise.
5 Happy are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

NRS 1 John 47 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.
10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

(As adapted from the story by Victor Hoagland, www.cptryon.org/prayer/adx/adnick)

Long, long ago in a place far, far away, there was born a baby named Nicholas. Nicholas had warm, loving parents, who also happened to be very wealthy. But Nicholas didn't grow up to be a spoiled child. Rather, his parents taught him the way of Jesus, that it is always better to give than to receive. When Nicholas was still a young man, his parents died and left him a great deal of money. But instead of going out and spending that money on himself, Nicholas began reading and studying the Bible very carefully, and it's said that as a poor pilgrim, he traveled all the way to the Holy Land just to walk where Jesus walked.

When Nicholas returned to his hometown, which was called Myra, he overheard a story that troubled him very much. Nicholas learned of a man who had lost all his money. The man had three very lovely daughters whom he loved more than anything or anyone in the whole world. But because he was so poor, he had no money to help them get married. With nothing to eat, the man was so desperate that he was thinking of selling one of his daughters into slavery. That way at least the rest of them might survive.

The night before the first daughter was to be sold, Nicholas came to the poor man's house, and without anyone seeing him, he tossed a small bag of gold through an open window. Nicholas quickly vanished into the night, but the next morning, when the poor man found the bag of gold on his kitchen floor, he was amazed. Where did this gold come from? At first he thought that maybe the money was fake, but after he tested it, he knew it was pure gold. Great tears came to the man's eyes as he fell to his knees and thanked God for this mysterious blessing. He counted all the coins and found that he had enough money to arrange for his oldest daughter's wedding, and enough to live on for the whole next year. But the poor man kept wondering: Who had given him the gold?

By year's end, though, the poor man again had nothing to live on, and again he was faced with the terrible choice of having to sell one of his two remaining daughters into slavery. But when he heard of the poor man's situation, Nicholas again came to his house with another bag of gold. Under the cover of darkness Nicholas quietly approached the window and again he tossed a bag of gold through, but instead of falling to the floor, the bag of gold fell into one the daughters' shoes. The next morning when she went to put on her shoes, she found the bag of gold and ran to her father. Again, the poor man could not believe his eyes. He fell to his knees and thanked God and prayed that God would reveal to him the generous stranger who had once more saved him and his family. With the money the father immediately made arrangements for the marriage of his second daughter, and again there was money left over for him and his youngest daughter to live on for the whole next year.

But for the third year in a row, there was a great misfortune in the land, and by year's end all the money was gone and again the poor man had nothing to live on. He hated seeing his youngest daughter go without food, and again he contemplated selling her into slavery, so that at least she wouldn't starve to death. The poor father paced the floor of their tiny house night and day, wondering what to do. But again, Nicholas learned of the poor man's distress and again he planned another midnight visit. On his tiptoes, Nicholas crept up to the window of the poor man's house, and this time when he tossed in the bag of gold, the bag fell into the daughter's stocking that she had left to dry by the fireplace. But this time the father was awake pacing the floor, and when he saw the money tossed through the window, he ran outside to find the man, and running down the road some distance from the house he caught up with Nicholas.

"Why have you given us this gold?" the father asked.
"Because you needed it," answered Nicholas.
"But why did you do this in secret?" the poor man asked again.
And Nicholas answered, "Because it is good to give and have only God know about it! God gave us his only Son; what is it that I should give you a little gold."

Immediately Nicholas vanished into the dark, but before very long, the story of Nicholas and three poor maidens spread throughout the city of Myra.

Not so long after these things the leader of the church in Myra passed away, and all the priests and all the people of the city gathered in the great cathedral to choose a new bishop. They talked, and talked, and talked, and talked, but they could night decide who should be their next bishop. After many days of debate, God spoke to one of the city elders in a dream, and in that dream God told him that they should all gather together the next morning in the cathedral to pray, and as they prayed, someone would come through the cathedral doors. And this person should be their choice.

So the next morning they all gathered together and they prayed. And they prayed. And they prayed. And they prayed. But no one came through the cathedral doors. They prayed, and they prayed, and they prayed some more. And just when they had all but prayed themselves out, who do you think came through those cathedral doors? That's right, Nicholas! All the people cheered and immediately they chose Nicholas their bishop. The cloaked him with the bishop's cloak, and gave him the bishop's staff, and put on him the bishop's hat.

As the Bishop of Myra, Nicholas spent the rest of his days caring for and loving the people of his church. He was a sneaky bishop, helping people in secret, never claiming credit for himself. He offered help to all in need, and then he would quietly disappear without waiting for thanks. He worked to make sure that families had enough to eat and a good place to live; he looked after the old and the sick to see that they were well taken care of; he welcomed the sailors and seafarers who brought goods into and out of his city, and honored them for their dangerous work. And in all these good works, Nicholas never asked for anything but gave to God all the glory. Most of all, though, Nicholas loved children, and to every child he met he gave a small gift - a piece of candy or a little toy. For the children of Myra, Bishop Nicholas reminded them of how Jesus had once said, "Let the children come to me and do not stop them; for it is to such that the kingdom of heaven belongs" (Matthew 19:14).

Some say that all these years later St. Nicholas continues to pay secret visits to the homes of God's children. Some leave out their shoes for St. Nicholas to leave them a little gift. Some hang out their stockings for St. Nicholas to drop gifts into. Some children even leave out a carrot for the white horse that they say St. Nicholas rides from house to house. And look, I think maybe St. Nicholas has come by here tonight, because we have these treats.

Do you think St. Nicholas would like you to have one? I do, too.

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.