Remember newspapers?
They kept getting smaller and more expensive. What’s worse, they steadily increased the price for long time loyal customers, while giving the best deals to new customers, that is until you tried to cancel a subscription.
The Business and Sports sections were always important but the best part of holding a newspaper during my early morning coffee, was the comics. I had several favorites and among them was Frazz, by Jef Mallet.
Frazz is a young, successful songwriter, who works as a janitor at Bryson Elementary School. He has blond spiky hair, wears a jumpsuit with a tee shirt that often has a recognizable logo, and is often shown holding a broom or mop as he has deep philosophical discussions with third graders. He and his girlfriend, Miss Plainwell, a 1st grade teacher at the school, train together for marathons.
In 2007, Frazz got up to run on Christmas morning at 5:00 am in the snow. A time he said was the most peaceful and quiet hour of the year. A gift he gives to himself. Ever since, Frazz has used that moment to share a message of peace in his early morning experience. Maybe in a clever poem, or perhaps a silly pun like the time he ran from Lake George down Frederick street, which was about all he could handel. It was his Hallelujah Course. It is certainly a time of contemplative solitude that we get to watch from the other side the cartoon panel.
Inspired by Frazz, I awoke and made my way to Lakeshore Park to watch the sunrise. The sky had started to lighten up by the time I got to the top of the hill overlooking the Tennessee River. The Smoky Mountains were in the background along with the silhouette of Mt. LeConte. The sun took its time to rise and the sky transitioned constantly through a pallet of different colors, first a light pink over a pale blue tint to the white sky. The moon still shown in it’s last sliver. Then different hues of orange with purple accents lit among the few clouds. I noticed several contrails, even with some in the making. People were already on the move. A full throated motorcycle engine whined above the low hum of the city noise that is always present. My mind drifted to the challenges humanity has wrought upon itself across the world.
Hate is strong and mocks the song, Of peace on Earth
A couple walking together passed behind me and called out, “Merry Christmas”.
I must have appeared to them, startled at their greeting, because I was. But it yanked me back into the present and the glory that was unfolding before me.
“Good Morning,” I said, “and Merry Christmas to you.”
Wild and sweet, the words repeat, Of peace on Earth
By then there was a ribbon of orange above the outline of the Smokies and it was brightest over Mt LeConte. Rays of sunlight burst upward. The blue gray mist in between the ridges of the Blue Ridge was now visible, as the steam puffed out of my coffee thermos. Could it be that the sun would rise on Christmas morning over LeConte itself?
God is not dead, Nor doeth He sleep
In that moment the full gravity that is the hope flooded my soul. God chose to walk among us in the fullness of human experience… birth, life, death. Love, joy, loss and grief. Creator joins Creation. Unity.
A voice, A chime, A chant sublime, Of peace on Earth, Good-will to all people!
I think Frazz is on to something. The greatest joys are the simple things that don’t cost money, that are provided in Creation itself. They are in the relationships we have with family, friends, and perhaps, third graders. Could it be our best efforts are spent in service to others… broom in hand?
The sun appeared over the eastern peak of Cliff Tops in a benediction. It is so! Amen.
Merry Christmas everyone!
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