There’s nothing quite like the feeling of finishing that last fall semester final. Regardless of the outcome, the cessation of academic stress clears the way for the sensation of holiday stress.
I’m thinking about finals because I’ve just heard Burl Ives’ rendition of “Holly Jolly Christmas” for the first of what promises to be a gazillion and one times between now and Dec. 26. Whenever I hear that song, I cannot help but think about my biology final at Atlantic Cape Community College in Mays Landing, because the professor looked just like Burl Ives. Though, to tell the truth, he resembled the snowman on “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” more than Ives himself.
I dreaded my biology final. Science has never been a favorite subject of mine. I would much rather dissect fiction than frogs.
The morning of my biology final, I woke up with a fever. I had two finals scheduled for that day – psychology of adolescence/adulthood and biology of our world – and I thought I would be fine if I could only stop shivering. I popped a couple of ibuprofen and drove to campus.
Midway through my psych final, my chest began burning with every inhale. I struggled to hold back coughs, and the little dots on the Scantron form started moving around in dizzying swirls. I randomly filled in the last five questions to put an end to my misery. But I still had a second exam in a half-hour. When I broke into uncontrollable fits of coughing, I realized I had little choice.
I walked into my professor’s office and explained my situation. Keeping to the other side of his desk, he jotted down his home phone number and told me to call him as soon as I felt better.
Four days later, two days before Christmas, I called him, expecting to schedule a makeup exam for the first week of the spring semester. Instead, he asked me what I was doing that afternoon and gave me directions to his home.
At his front door, I held out a doctor’s note, written evidence of my bronchitis, but he only smiled, bid me entrance and led me into his kitchen. The house was decorated for the holiday in both sight and smell. It would’ve put Hallmark to shame. Hints of cinnamon and nutmeg lingered about boughs of garland, laurel and holly.
The professor offered me a seat at the table and asked if I liked mulled cider. I confessed that I had never tasted it. Cider was served only cold in my house. He smiled again, walked over to the counter, and lifted the lid off of a Crock-Pot. What I had taken for a scented candle was actually the aroma emanating from this potion. He placed an oversized coffee mug in front of me and then handed me a stapled packet of papers. Enjoy, he said before leaving the room.
I reached maybe the third question when his wife walked into the kitchen, placed a plate of holiday cookies on the table, wished me luck and left the room. For the next hour and a half, I worked on the exam interrupted only once, when my professor refilled my cup and told me to help myself to more if I so desired.
When I was done, I took my test into his living room. I thanked my professor for his trouble. He insisted that it was his pleasure, and he wished me a merry Christmas.
I left somewhat bewildered because what I thought was a stodgy science professor treated an undergrad in a gen-ed class with empathy and sincere hospitality.
During the season of Advent, we are waiting – waiting for Christ’s return and waiting for the commemoration of our Savior’s birth. However, we are not to passively wait. Our waiting needs to be active. Hospitality is a good virtue to practice as we wait during Advent.
Our virtue of hospitality is not merely welcoming people into your home or having a holiday gathering. It is a Christian attitude.
Having an attitude of hospitality means that the hospitality we show during this holiday season is deliberately God-centered. When we show hospitality, we are serving Christ in others whether it is giving to the poor, volunteering our time or listening to someone in need. If we can keep that idea in the forefront of our minds and hearts as we also prepare, welcome and celebrate, our hospitality can take on a spiritual nature, leading us to a more meaningful Advent season.
The hospitality that we give to others will last well beyond a dinner, a gift or even a biology final exam. Like my professor’s sincerity, hospitality can made a lifelong impression.
Deacon Dean Johnson serves at Church of the Holy Family, Sewell.
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