Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.
**************************************************************************
Pretty well anyone who has ever gone to a service of worship at some time has heard the Beatitudes, taken from the Sermon on the Mount, in the Gospel of Matthew. It is a familiar, beautiful, and powerful text. But unfortunately, in our familiarity with Matthew’s Gospel, we have lost something of our ability to really listen to what it really says. Oh your heads will nod up and down, but will you really be thinking about what it says.
The actual Sermon on the Mount is a long passage, including sayings and parables. If you read the whole sermon, Jesus must have been on a real roll, and the disciples were propping their eyes up with whatever they could find. The Beatitudes is only one tiny excerpt from the whole thing. The entire Sermon on the Mount is parts of Chapters 5, 6 and 7 of Matthew. Only Matthew and Luke address parts of this sermon at all. Mark and John don’t.
Today, the lectionary text is the Matthew version of the Beatitudes - but I decided to go off lectionary, and use Luke. In the Hebrew prophetic tradition, which we can see in the book of Deuteronomy, blessings and curses, or blessings and woes were given together - and in Luke’s text, Jesus preaches in the very best of the Hebrew prophetic tradition. But we have to be careful that we don’t interpret the words “woes” or “curses” the way we might understand them today. I don’t think that’s what Jesus had in mind. So let’s look at what Luke calls the “Sermon on the Plain”.
“Blessed are the poor, because God’s realm is yours. Blessed are those who are hungry now; because you will be filled. Blessed are those who are crying now, because you will laugh. Blessed are you when others hate you, exclude you, insult you and throw out your name as something evil because of the son of man. Rejoice in that day. Jump for joy! Because, listen - your reward in heaven will be greater; their ancestors did the same sorts of things to the prophets.
On the other hand, woe to you who are rich, because you have received every bit of your comfort. You are full now, but you will know hunger; you laugh now, but you will know mourning and sadness. When everyone says good things about you, talks well about you, you are in fact cursed; because that’s how their ancestors treated the false prophets."
Jesus paints two pictures. One is of a group of people who are poor, outcast, hungry, shunted aside, saddened. They are outsiders; everyone talks and thinks badly of them, if they think about them at all. Jesus looks at that group and says - you are blessed!
Then there are the other ones. They are rich, have full stomachs, happy and laughing, and everybody likes them because they’re easy to get along with. Jesus looks at them and says, “Wow. Gotta feel sorry for you guys.”
In fact, Jesus really does take everything we believe about the world and turns it completely upside down. And if we’re really reading it, it’s downright upsetting. It’s completely physical; no spiritualising of this one, no “poor in spirit” here. Not hungering for righteousness, only the physical hunger when you don’t have enough to eat. Then he says “Too bad for those of you who have enough. You missed the boat.”
Well, it’s harsh, no question. It’s Jesus doing what he always does in his parables and sermons and stories. He keeps hammering home that the last shall be first in God’s realm.
I think there’s yet another piece behind some of this. We know that Mark was the first Gospel written, quite some time after the death of Jesus; we know that Matthew and Luke used Mark as their basis; and we are pretty sure that some of the sayings attributed to Jesus came from a primitive body of literature, called the Q source, a “Sayings Gospel”. So are we to say that Matthew's "poor in spirit" is secondary to Luke's "poor". We *could* argue that, because Matthew tends to spiritualise, moralise and generalise. However, the expression "poor in spirit" is found in several places in the texts from Qumran and may have been the issue of the day.
There is no question that the Gospel authors were creative in their presentation of Jesus. But what is more helpful? An isolated saying of Jesus, completely historical, but completely out of context; or a creative "saying" of Jesus manufactured by the earliest Christian communities, developed through their knowledge of many sayings of Jesus and the interaction of his disciples with him over these sayings, transformed into a message for the needs of the church which grew out of the movement?
Here’s what I think is really important about this text, and the Matthew. They really highlight how absolutely revolutionary Jesus was and how revolutionary he calls us to be. They highlight Jesus as a man who sees things differently from the way the world sees them. These are not happy little platitudes that are designed to make us feel good. They are revolutionary statements that describe a people with values that are very different from those of the world around us and of which we are a part. They describe the people who live under God’s authority now and who will live in God’s realm. They are Jesus' affirmation of those who, perhaps not knowing it, already are part of the realm of God which he works for, and for which we are to be working.
Seems to me these sayings refer to these people:
- the poor, both in life and in spirit – those who wish to be close to God but somehow can’t; those who know there is something important missing from their lives.
- those who mourn, not only for loved ones who have died, but also those who feel deep sadness about the violence and injustice in our world and who want to do something about it. Those who mourn a life they cannot somehow grasp.
- the meek. We tend to misrepresent meekness as wishy-washy, meek people as useless and helpless. But that isn’t right. The word ‘meek’ is meant to indicate quiet strength of character. The meek do not show of themselves off, but are strong and firm in their values and their lives.
There are people who live God’s way rather than the way of self-centredness. They live for others: the compassionate, the pure in heart, those who work for peace.
And these people are then those who are persecuted, ridiculed and lied about if they live with commitment and integrity. Jesus’ implies that his disciples must expect to be persecuted: not for who they are or what they have or don’t have, but because of our commitment to a way of life that Jesus taught about. Really revolutionary Christians have always been ridiculed, pushed aside, ignored and opposed, just like the person we follow.
The world says, ‘Follow me and I will give you wealth, power and security.’ Jesus says, “Don’t follow the world. You may have lots to eat on the table, but in your life you will know real hunger. You may laugh now, but in your life you will know real and lasting grief.
So I don’t see Jesus as offering blessings to one group of people, and cursing another. I don’t see him drawing a line. I see him talking about attitudes to others, attitudes to life, attitudes to our circumstances.
St. Augustine said “Our whole business in life is to restore to health the eye of the heart whereby God may be seen.” I think maybe that’s what Jesus was talking about in the second part of this text - those whose hearts are so clouded they cannot see God clearly, if at all; those whose lives are, in fact, empty - despite what they have.
In the book “Eat, Pray, Love”, author Elizabeth Gilbert talks about the meaning of the word ‘guru’. She says “The word Guru is composed of two Sanskrit syllables. The first means ‘darkness’, the other means ‘light’. Out of the darkness and into the light.”
In this lesson today, Jesus’ function was that of a Guru - someone who helped those he was teaching to step out of the darkness and into the light. The second group - those who will know the woes - they haven’t yet seen the way. They are preoccupied with the things of this world - wealth, power and security. Jesus turns it all upside down.
A colleague of mine, in the Presbyterian Church USA, Rev. Thom Shuman - wrote this version of the Beatitudes for 2011. Thom is a man who has struggled all his life with what it means to find blessings where others would see nothing but heartache.
Blessed are the dog-walkers, for they will discover the streets of the kingdom.
Blessed are the asylum seekers, for they will be welcomed with open arms.
Blessed are those who read to children, for they will plant seeds that bear fruit.
Blessed are those who weep for the homeless, for they will be shawled in God's grace.
Blessed are those who stock food pantries, for they will taste God's hope.
Blessed are those who bring in the marginalized, for they shall be called bridge-builders.
Blessed are the faith-full foolish, for they shall be called the clowns of God.
May it be so.
Sources:
1. “The Other Beatitudes”—A Sermon from Luke 6:20-26 August 18, 2010 by Rev. Stephen Hovater, Pleasant Valley Church of Christ.
2. “An Upside-Down Man”, by Rev. Marion Latham Bellarine Linked Congregations, Uniting Church in Australia.
3. Midrash comments from Rev. Greg Chapman.
4. Beatitudes for 2011, by Rev. Thom Shuman, Immanuel Presbyterian Church, Cincinnatti, Ohio
5. Eat, Pray, Love. Elizabeth Gilbert. New York, NY. Penguin Books, 2006; p. 123.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
“Seeing Stars” a sermon based on Isaiah 9:1-4, 1 Cor. 1:10-18 Third Sunday of Epiphany: Humber United Church, Corner Brook, NL
Isaiah 9:1-4
Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.
1 Cor. 1:10-18
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Peter”; still another, “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel - not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
**************************************************************
One of my favourite cartoons is Lynn Johnston's "For Better of for Worse". I don’t know how many men or children would be able to see themselves in it but I guarantee that women see themselves in it almost daily. I certainly have.
In case you are not familiar with this cartoon, let me give you a little background. It is loosely based on the family life of Lynn, who lives in North Bay Ontario - and is married to a dentist. Her stories are drawn from all kinds of experiences and issues which we all confront in life - revolving around a fictional character Elly, her husband and two children Michael and Elizabeth.
I think my all-time favourite is when John goes away to a convention and Elly is along - the kids are asleep, and as she lies in bed, the house begins to make strange noises - a tap dripping here, a creak there, a thump somewhere downstairs.
Elly’s eyes get bigger and bigger, and she slides further down until the balnkets are right up over her nose “Somehow the house just seems so much emptier when John’s not here.” she thinks. Eventually, there are only eyes peering over the top of the blankets, and there is Elly, thinking to herself “I wonder how many feminists are afraid of the dark?”
I wonder how many of us are afraid of the dark?
Sometimes when I would drive along Highway 401 at night in Toronto, I could see the headlights of a jet circling to land. Especially on a cloudy or foggy night, it is amazing to see those two powerful beams slicing through the clouds. The right wingtip has a red flashing light, and the left wingtip a green flashing light. The riding, or running lights are there so that the plane will be visible to others in the dark. The headlights are there so that the pilot will be able to see.
It is the same with ships - the left, or port side, has a green running light. The right, or starboard, has a red running light. Navigation of ships was done by the stars. Did you know that it still is? Yes, ships have all kinds of computer technology to navigate by, but on every commercial ship, the navigational officers and bridge crew *must* be able to do everything the old fashioned way - with a sextant, and by the stars. I was on the bridge of a ship last year, after dark, - and on big ships the bridge must remain dark so that the crew can see outside. The moon was shining, and not far from it was an incredibly bright light. Both I and the two officers were sure it was the space station. The captain arrived, and we asked him what he thought. “No”, he said “It’s Jupiter.” When we checked the almanac, indeed it was.
Light is an integral part of our lives - and the absence of light, the darkness, tends to frighten us. How about a really simple example? I bet every one of us, at some time, has come home quite late, having forgotten to leave light on in the house.
Well, if you’re like me, nothing ever seems to be in the place it should be - not even the light switches, which always seem to be at least three inches further left than we remember they were. Distance and space are distorted in the dark. Even time seems distorted.
We bang our shins on the coffee table and mutter under our breath, trying to pretend it didn’t really hurt. The old dressing gown on the back of the door takes on ominous proportions, and we suddenly develop a great need, like our friend Ebenezer Scrooge, to peer under the bed and behind all the doors.
And then what happens?
We find the light switch, and everything is thrown into stark relief. The coffee table seems a lot smaller than it did when we barked our shins on it, and tried to feel our way around it. The goblin behind the door simply becomes our comfy and baggy old dressing gown again.
And we realise there’s nothing more lurking under the bed than a couple of dust bunnies and those pencils we couldn’t find last time the phone rang.
*************************************************************
The World Council of Churches logo is a ship sailing the sea. The metaphor of the church as a ship has been used for centuries. You all know well that the front of the church - here where the table and pulpit are, and the choir - is called the chancel. The lobby is known as the narthex. But the main body of the church, where you are all sitting, is called the *nave* - from the Latin “navis” meaning ship. So in church, we are literally sitting in the belly of the ship.
What kind of ship is the Christian church in the world? The good ship “Lollipop” where we are happy as long as everything goes the way we think it should? Are we a cruise ship, living the life of luxury while the people who look after us work long hard hours for slave wages? Are we a ship full of a bunch of sailors who all think they know the best way to steer, and can’t even agree on the charts?
How do we know where we are sailing? How do others see us as we sail? Do all our leading and running lights work properly? Do we know how to navigate by the stars?
Isaiah says "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, those who lived in a land of deep darkness, on them light has shined." We take that to be a prophecy referring to Jesus; in my imagery of light - Jesus becomes the leading light - the headlights on the plane, the star which shines in our spiritual sky to give guidance on the way.
What does that make us? Christ is the leading light - the star pointing the way for us, but no ship can travel with only one light. Every ship needs running lights too - to port and starboard - every ship needs light in the galley - every ship needs light to be able to see other ships.
With a leading light alone, progress is slow. With running lights alone progress is also hampered. It is the fine working of both together - through calm and through storm - which enables the ship to make headway. So if we in the Christian church are neither leading lights nor running lights, how do we help light the way for others?
If we stay inside our own little ship, put out the lights outside, and shutter the windows, we can see each other, but we cannot see out and no one else can see in.
The light only works if it illuminates the way for everyone.
Is the Christian church a light for a world in increasing darkness? Is each of us a light in our part of the ship? Every ship needs leading lights and running lights. If there are no lights at all, the end is disaster.
It is a question I ask a lot - because it seems as if the church and Christians are no longer a light, or stars on the way, for illumination as we travel together. We are inward focussed; we have put out the lights on our ship and shuttered the windows so that we can see only each other inside - most of us thinking the same way of course - and no one can see in.
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians makes a strong case for being united rather than divided. Jesus, the leading light, in my image, did not come to divide, but to bring together. Today marks the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity”, and so we have the word of Paul to the churches in Corinth. These churches were seriously divided, over who was the one they followed - Paul. Peter. Apollos or Jesus.
On the back of your bulletin this morning, is a reflection by Rev. Darren Liepold, Mission and Service staff at our national office. Darren writes “We remember that despite our differences we are all part of God’s family. We are diverse, but each of us is created in God’s image. The languages may be different, the liturgical practices anything but uniform, yet today we celebrate our unity.” We celebrate our unity in Jesus, who is the one leading light, the great shining star we see in the sky.
Based on a sermon “Leading Lights and Running Lights” , January 1996, Fran Ota.
Notes by Rev. Darren Liepold, Mission and Service Staff, The United Church od Canada; January 23, 2011
Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.
1 Cor. 1:10-18
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Peter”; still another, “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel - not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
**************************************************************
One of my favourite cartoons is Lynn Johnston's "For Better of for Worse". I don’t know how many men or children would be able to see themselves in it but I guarantee that women see themselves in it almost daily. I certainly have.
In case you are not familiar with this cartoon, let me give you a little background. It is loosely based on the family life of Lynn, who lives in North Bay Ontario - and is married to a dentist. Her stories are drawn from all kinds of experiences and issues which we all confront in life - revolving around a fictional character Elly, her husband and two children Michael and Elizabeth.
I think my all-time favourite is when John goes away to a convention and Elly is along - the kids are asleep, and as she lies in bed, the house begins to make strange noises - a tap dripping here, a creak there, a thump somewhere downstairs.
Elly’s eyes get bigger and bigger, and she slides further down until the balnkets are right up over her nose “Somehow the house just seems so much emptier when John’s not here.” she thinks. Eventually, there are only eyes peering over the top of the blankets, and there is Elly, thinking to herself “I wonder how many feminists are afraid of the dark?”
I wonder how many of us are afraid of the dark?
Sometimes when I would drive along Highway 401 at night in Toronto, I could see the headlights of a jet circling to land. Especially on a cloudy or foggy night, it is amazing to see those two powerful beams slicing through the clouds. The right wingtip has a red flashing light, and the left wingtip a green flashing light. The riding, or running lights are there so that the plane will be visible to others in the dark. The headlights are there so that the pilot will be able to see.
It is the same with ships - the left, or port side, has a green running light. The right, or starboard, has a red running light. Navigation of ships was done by the stars. Did you know that it still is? Yes, ships have all kinds of computer technology to navigate by, but on every commercial ship, the navigational officers and bridge crew *must* be able to do everything the old fashioned way - with a sextant, and by the stars. I was on the bridge of a ship last year, after dark, - and on big ships the bridge must remain dark so that the crew can see outside. The moon was shining, and not far from it was an incredibly bright light. Both I and the two officers were sure it was the space station. The captain arrived, and we asked him what he thought. “No”, he said “It’s Jupiter.” When we checked the almanac, indeed it was.
Light is an integral part of our lives - and the absence of light, the darkness, tends to frighten us. How about a really simple example? I bet every one of us, at some time, has come home quite late, having forgotten to leave light on in the house.
Well, if you’re like me, nothing ever seems to be in the place it should be - not even the light switches, which always seem to be at least three inches further left than we remember they were. Distance and space are distorted in the dark. Even time seems distorted.
We bang our shins on the coffee table and mutter under our breath, trying to pretend it didn’t really hurt. The old dressing gown on the back of the door takes on ominous proportions, and we suddenly develop a great need, like our friend Ebenezer Scrooge, to peer under the bed and behind all the doors.
And then what happens?
We find the light switch, and everything is thrown into stark relief. The coffee table seems a lot smaller than it did when we barked our shins on it, and tried to feel our way around it. The goblin behind the door simply becomes our comfy and baggy old dressing gown again.
And we realise there’s nothing more lurking under the bed than a couple of dust bunnies and those pencils we couldn’t find last time the phone rang.
*************************************************************
The World Council of Churches logo is a ship sailing the sea. The metaphor of the church as a ship has been used for centuries. You all know well that the front of the church - here where the table and pulpit are, and the choir - is called the chancel. The lobby is known as the narthex. But the main body of the church, where you are all sitting, is called the *nave* - from the Latin “navis” meaning ship. So in church, we are literally sitting in the belly of the ship.
What kind of ship is the Christian church in the world? The good ship “Lollipop” where we are happy as long as everything goes the way we think it should? Are we a cruise ship, living the life of luxury while the people who look after us work long hard hours for slave wages? Are we a ship full of a bunch of sailors who all think they know the best way to steer, and can’t even agree on the charts?
How do we know where we are sailing? How do others see us as we sail? Do all our leading and running lights work properly? Do we know how to navigate by the stars?
Isaiah says "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, those who lived in a land of deep darkness, on them light has shined." We take that to be a prophecy referring to Jesus; in my imagery of light - Jesus becomes the leading light - the headlights on the plane, the star which shines in our spiritual sky to give guidance on the way.
What does that make us? Christ is the leading light - the star pointing the way for us, but no ship can travel with only one light. Every ship needs running lights too - to port and starboard - every ship needs light in the galley - every ship needs light to be able to see other ships.
With a leading light alone, progress is slow. With running lights alone progress is also hampered. It is the fine working of both together - through calm and through storm - which enables the ship to make headway. So if we in the Christian church are neither leading lights nor running lights, how do we help light the way for others?
If we stay inside our own little ship, put out the lights outside, and shutter the windows, we can see each other, but we cannot see out and no one else can see in.
The light only works if it illuminates the way for everyone.
Is the Christian church a light for a world in increasing darkness? Is each of us a light in our part of the ship? Every ship needs leading lights and running lights. If there are no lights at all, the end is disaster.
It is a question I ask a lot - because it seems as if the church and Christians are no longer a light, or stars on the way, for illumination as we travel together. We are inward focussed; we have put out the lights on our ship and shuttered the windows so that we can see only each other inside - most of us thinking the same way of course - and no one can see in.
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians makes a strong case for being united rather than divided. Jesus, the leading light, in my image, did not come to divide, but to bring together. Today marks the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity”, and so we have the word of Paul to the churches in Corinth. These churches were seriously divided, over who was the one they followed - Paul. Peter. Apollos or Jesus.
On the back of your bulletin this morning, is a reflection by Rev. Darren Liepold, Mission and Service staff at our national office. Darren writes “We remember that despite our differences we are all part of God’s family. We are diverse, but each of us is created in God’s image. The languages may be different, the liturgical practices anything but uniform, yet today we celebrate our unity.” We celebrate our unity in Jesus, who is the one leading light, the great shining star we see in the sky.
Based on a sermon “Leading Lights and Running Lights” , January 1996, Fran Ota.
Notes by Rev. Darren Liepold, Mission and Service Staff, The United Church od Canada; January 23, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
“Called to Shine” Isaiah 49:1-7, John 1:29-42 Humber United Church January 16, 2011 Second Sunday in Epiphany
Last week, in the United States, in the process of attempting to kill Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, a lone gunman managed to injure several people, and kill several - including a nine-year old child.
The press coverage has turned this young man into a social misfit, a person with anger issues, someone who acted outside the norm - an anomaly in society. What annoys me more than anything, is that if this man had been a Muslim, he would immediately have been branded a terrorist, not human - and once again the anti-Muslim and Islamophobic contingent would have come out of the woodwork. Yet because he is home-grown, he becomes a wacko, and ceases to be human.
But this time there has been widespread discussion about free speech, including hate speech - and that the strong anti-government rhetoric of the right wing has fueled such violence. There have been the usual evangelical and religious types who insist that this is punishment of a nation which has turned away from God.
Even more interesting is that the anger is directed at those people who are struggling to improve the lives of more than 45 million Americans who currently live in poverty - who have no health care, minimal employment, and are often hungry. All that violence and anger, over something which is generally accepted as one of the core Christian values, in a society which has more church-goers per capita than any other.
This week is also the anniversary of the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King. Although the names and faces are different, the issues are not so much. Blacks were looking to be treated like human beings, to be allowed to be free to live, not as segregated semi-slaves, but as children of God, just like others. King supported better rights and treatment of poor people, believed in peaceful resistance, and opposed the war in Viet Nam. He preached that all people were children of God. Yet there were those who did not wish to see that all people are children of God; the freedom movement was bitter and violent, and into that came another assassin, James Earl Ray.
For many of us, coming to church and worshipping God, or coming to Sunday School and learning about God, has similar dynamics. In a sense we are like John, who says he didn't recognize Jesus. The man who Luke identifies as a cousin of Jesus, doesn't recognize him. He doesn’t recognise him until his eyes are opened, the light shines, and he sees Jesus in a new way.
In fact, do we not "see" Jesus all around us -- in pictures, in words, in the lives of others -- yet we don't often recognise him. Sometimes we don't want to, but often we just haven't really had our eyes opened.
How well do we see? If I asked you, for instance, to tell me - without turning around - who is sitting behind you this morning and how the person is dressed, could you do it? Some can’t, others could probably do it with incredible detail.
When ministers write sermons, we do a number of things to help "see" what's in the text. We start with the assumption that God has something new to reveal in a text, although sometimes that’s easy to see, other times we wonder what on earth new we can wring out of this text. I often study the text using a commentary, I also discuss the text with other clergy online. I also subscribe to a sermon website, called the “Desperate Preacher”. I use that one a lot.
In John’s text, we find the Greek word - enblepo. It's only used 12 times in the whole New Testament, and only twice in John's gospel, both times in this very text. And John says twice - I myself did not know himIn the NRSV, the word is translated as “looked” in once instance, and “watched” in the other instance. But in the Jerusalem Bible, they are both translated as "looked hard at". I like this translation, because it indicates to me an intent look, a penetrating look which goes beyond just the cursory way we generally take things in. This means “really looked at.” Beyond the surface. When John "looked hard at" Jesus, he recognized him. When Jesus "looked hard at" Simon, he recognized in him a rock, a solid foundation. When we take a hard look at Jesus - really look - , I believe we begin to recognize him all around us.
We recognize Jesus in the face of our neighbour, in children who have no food on their tables. in the hands of people who work the soil, in voices that speak other languages, and people of other faith groups. We can only really see Jesus when we learn to “look hard “at another person.
Jesus "looked hard at" Simon. He saw what all of us would see, a fisherman. He probably smelled like the sea. He may have arrived in his work clothes. His skin had been darkened by the sun, and perhaps had a leathery appearance from the constant exposure to the weather. As a fisherman, Simon would have been considered “unclean” by the other Jews, someone who worked as a labourer, and was a lower social caste.
When Jesus he looked at Simon, he saw all those things, but he also saw a man of convictions, of compassion, of honor. Jesus decides to call him Peter, the rock.
None of these things had been seen by others. Simon may not have seen them himself. But as the story unfolds, first Jesus, then Simon, then the twelve, and then all of those around him begin to sense what Jesus had seen.
We can also take a hard look at God. And we begin to see God as if for the first time. We find a God of compassion, a God of justice, a God of love, a God of vengeance.
In their book Teaching Your Children Values (Simon & Schuster, 1993) Linda and Richard Eyre suggested, as an exercise, that children should be taught to look people in the eye. If you look around you, how many people actually make mutual eye contact in conversations. It's as if we are afraid to see the human being inside the other. If we don’t have to look people in the eye, then we can dehumanise them to the point where they become terrorists, or be convinced it is all right to kill them
Near the beginning of this sermon, I noted that John recognised Jesus when his eyes were opened and he saw the light. In the season of Epiphany, it is light which is the focus - light and a new way of seeing. Since September 11, 2001, the media have inundated us with a lot of coverage about terrorism and Muslims. Radical Islam has become a household concept. Our knowledge of Islam is limited to the fanatics who insist that the Qu’ran tells them that “jihad” - the holy war - is against those who hate Islam. Islamophobia is the new phrase of choice.
In fact, the majority of Muslims, just as the majority of Christians - will tell you that they are a peace-loving religion, and that the word “jihad” means the war with the dark side of one’s own internal self.
Jews, Christians and Muslims are known in religious circles as “people of the book” - or the Abrahamic faiths. That is because we use many common texts - the Qu’ran holds chapters on Abraham, Jonah, Mary, and Joseph, includes the story of the birth of Jesus - who is revered as a great prophet. Light is a concept which is important - seeing people in the light is important.
So I am going to read you a short passage from the Qu’ran. This is my favourite section, taken from the chapter called “Light”.
“God is the light of the heavens and the earth; God’s light is like a niche in a wall, in which is a lamp. The lamp is in a glass, the glass seems as if it is a glittering star; the lamp is lit from a blessed tree, an olive neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil will give light even though no fire has touched it. Light upon light! God guides to the light whoever God pleases”
In the world today, where human beings are dismissed so easily if they aren’t like us, living in the light, learning to look into the eyes of others and seeing God shining there is an imperative. Perhaps it’s a good way to start a new year - to “look hard” at others, to see the humanity there.
Perhaps we will begin to recognize God in our midst; the ordinary events of life take on divine qualities; the every day becomes sacred; the mundane becomes holy; people are seen in a new light, and are holy. Amen.
***************************************************************************
Sources:
1. “Taking a Hard Look” a sermon based on John 1:29-42 by Rev. Randy Quinn
2. Teaching Your Children Values. Linda & Richard Eyre. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993.
3. Qu’ran Chapter 24: Light
The press coverage has turned this young man into a social misfit, a person with anger issues, someone who acted outside the norm - an anomaly in society. What annoys me more than anything, is that if this man had been a Muslim, he would immediately have been branded a terrorist, not human - and once again the anti-Muslim and Islamophobic contingent would have come out of the woodwork. Yet because he is home-grown, he becomes a wacko, and ceases to be human.
But this time there has been widespread discussion about free speech, including hate speech - and that the strong anti-government rhetoric of the right wing has fueled such violence. There have been the usual evangelical and religious types who insist that this is punishment of a nation which has turned away from God.
Even more interesting is that the anger is directed at those people who are struggling to improve the lives of more than 45 million Americans who currently live in poverty - who have no health care, minimal employment, and are often hungry. All that violence and anger, over something which is generally accepted as one of the core Christian values, in a society which has more church-goers per capita than any other.
This week is also the anniversary of the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King. Although the names and faces are different, the issues are not so much. Blacks were looking to be treated like human beings, to be allowed to be free to live, not as segregated semi-slaves, but as children of God, just like others. King supported better rights and treatment of poor people, believed in peaceful resistance, and opposed the war in Viet Nam. He preached that all people were children of God. Yet there were those who did not wish to see that all people are children of God; the freedom movement was bitter and violent, and into that came another assassin, James Earl Ray.
For many of us, coming to church and worshipping God, or coming to Sunday School and learning about God, has similar dynamics. In a sense we are like John, who says he didn't recognize Jesus. The man who Luke identifies as a cousin of Jesus, doesn't recognize him. He doesn’t recognise him until his eyes are opened, the light shines, and he sees Jesus in a new way.
In fact, do we not "see" Jesus all around us -- in pictures, in words, in the lives of others -- yet we don't often recognise him. Sometimes we don't want to, but often we just haven't really had our eyes opened.
How well do we see? If I asked you, for instance, to tell me - without turning around - who is sitting behind you this morning and how the person is dressed, could you do it? Some can’t, others could probably do it with incredible detail.
When ministers write sermons, we do a number of things to help "see" what's in the text. We start with the assumption that God has something new to reveal in a text, although sometimes that’s easy to see, other times we wonder what on earth new we can wring out of this text. I often study the text using a commentary, I also discuss the text with other clergy online. I also subscribe to a sermon website, called the “Desperate Preacher”. I use that one a lot.
In John’s text, we find the Greek word - enblepo. It's only used 12 times in the whole New Testament, and only twice in John's gospel, both times in this very text. And John says twice - I myself did not know himIn the NRSV, the word is translated as “looked” in once instance, and “watched” in the other instance. But in the Jerusalem Bible, they are both translated as "looked hard at". I like this translation, because it indicates to me an intent look, a penetrating look which goes beyond just the cursory way we generally take things in. This means “really looked at.” Beyond the surface. When John "looked hard at" Jesus, he recognized him. When Jesus "looked hard at" Simon, he recognized in him a rock, a solid foundation. When we take a hard look at Jesus - really look - , I believe we begin to recognize him all around us.
We recognize Jesus in the face of our neighbour, in children who have no food on their tables. in the hands of people who work the soil, in voices that speak other languages, and people of other faith groups. We can only really see Jesus when we learn to “look hard “at another person.
Jesus "looked hard at" Simon. He saw what all of us would see, a fisherman. He probably smelled like the sea. He may have arrived in his work clothes. His skin had been darkened by the sun, and perhaps had a leathery appearance from the constant exposure to the weather. As a fisherman, Simon would have been considered “unclean” by the other Jews, someone who worked as a labourer, and was a lower social caste.
When Jesus he looked at Simon, he saw all those things, but he also saw a man of convictions, of compassion, of honor. Jesus decides to call him Peter, the rock.
None of these things had been seen by others. Simon may not have seen them himself. But as the story unfolds, first Jesus, then Simon, then the twelve, and then all of those around him begin to sense what Jesus had seen.
We can also take a hard look at God. And we begin to see God as if for the first time. We find a God of compassion, a God of justice, a God of love, a God of vengeance.
In their book Teaching Your Children Values (Simon & Schuster, 1993) Linda and Richard Eyre suggested, as an exercise, that children should be taught to look people in the eye. If you look around you, how many people actually make mutual eye contact in conversations. It's as if we are afraid to see the human being inside the other. If we don’t have to look people in the eye, then we can dehumanise them to the point where they become terrorists, or be convinced it is all right to kill them
Near the beginning of this sermon, I noted that John recognised Jesus when his eyes were opened and he saw the light. In the season of Epiphany, it is light which is the focus - light and a new way of seeing. Since September 11, 2001, the media have inundated us with a lot of coverage about terrorism and Muslims. Radical Islam has become a household concept. Our knowledge of Islam is limited to the fanatics who insist that the Qu’ran tells them that “jihad” - the holy war - is against those who hate Islam. Islamophobia is the new phrase of choice.
In fact, the majority of Muslims, just as the majority of Christians - will tell you that they are a peace-loving religion, and that the word “jihad” means the war with the dark side of one’s own internal self.
Jews, Christians and Muslims are known in religious circles as “people of the book” - or the Abrahamic faiths. That is because we use many common texts - the Qu’ran holds chapters on Abraham, Jonah, Mary, and Joseph, includes the story of the birth of Jesus - who is revered as a great prophet. Light is a concept which is important - seeing people in the light is important.
So I am going to read you a short passage from the Qu’ran. This is my favourite section, taken from the chapter called “Light”.
“God is the light of the heavens and the earth; God’s light is like a niche in a wall, in which is a lamp. The lamp is in a glass, the glass seems as if it is a glittering star; the lamp is lit from a blessed tree, an olive neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil will give light even though no fire has touched it. Light upon light! God guides to the light whoever God pleases”
In the world today, where human beings are dismissed so easily if they aren’t like us, living in the light, learning to look into the eyes of others and seeing God shining there is an imperative. Perhaps it’s a good way to start a new year - to “look hard” at others, to see the humanity there.
Perhaps we will begin to recognize God in our midst; the ordinary events of life take on divine qualities; the every day becomes sacred; the mundane becomes holy; people are seen in a new light, and are holy. Amen.
***************************************************************************
Sources:
1. “Taking a Hard Look” a sermon based on John 1:29-42 by Rev. Randy Quinn
2. Teaching Your Children Values. Linda & Richard Eyre. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993.
3. Qu’ran Chapter 24: Light
Saturday, January 8, 2011
“By Another Road” January 9, 2009 Epiphany Humber United Church A sermon based upon Matthew 2:1-12; Matthew 3:13-19
Matthew 2:1-12
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem, astrologers from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child born king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising, and have come to honour him." When Herod heard this, he was frightened; calling together the chief priests and scribes, he inquired of them where this Messiah was to be born. They said, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for it was written by the prophet: 'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.'" Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned the exact time when the star appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; when you have found him, send word so that I may also go and honour him." They set out; ahead of them the star moved, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; they knelt down and paid him homage. Opening their treasure chests, they offered gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Then, having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Matthew 3:13-19
Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John objected, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, yet you come to me?" Jesus replied, "Let it be so; for it is proper for us, in this way, to fulfill all righteousness." So John agreed. When Jesus had been immersed, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens opened to him; he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. A voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
********************************************************
Do you like to travel? You probably know by now that my husband and I travel a lot. In 2009 - between us - we went to Panama, Colombia, the western Caribbean, Japan, Cuba, and all the eastern provinces of Canada. In 2010 - between us - we went to St. Maarten and St. Thomas, Dominican Republic. Japan, Cuba, and Finland - as well as Tennessee and Florida. We always lament that we don’t spend nearly long enough in any place, and see just enough that we want to return and explore some more.
Travelling changes us if we are paying attention. In January 2009, I went to Cartagena de Indias in Colombia - just a few hours on a cruise excursion - but even in a few hours saw the Museum of the Inquisition, heard tales of Spanish torture; saw a church where Jesuit priests defended indigenous peoples, and were killed for it. It was enough to have eyes opened, and be changed enough to want to return. In Panama, I saw a country struggling to modernise itself , and heard the pride of people who now have control of their own destiny. They have a vision for their country. If we are open to seeing, even such a short time can change us, because it changes how we see our own lives as well.
Matthew tells us that some men saw something in the sky which made them leave their homes, their comforts, and take a long journey to a completely new place. They had no idea where they were going, actually - they just knew that they had to go. They were not tourists, nor on a trip for their health. They believed this journey had a purpose of incredible importance. But stars don’t always shine in clear skies, and a trip using hand-held instruments, through cold snowy deserts, on unknown roads, would have been quite dangerous. Sometimes the star was brilliant, sometimes the light was completely obscured and the way unclear.
We are told, almost as an aside, that they returned home by another road. Wait a minute! There’s no more star, no more light, and after this tremendous journey they have to set out on different roads equally unknown, equally dangerous, and find their way back home? Yet they have been changed. They have seen something totally new, totally outside their everyday lives. Because of this journey, they must go by another road.
Jesus comes to John to be baptised. Much speculation goes on about why Jesus would do this. Did he know from birth what he was to do, or did he develop a sense of call as he grew up? Was this baptism an entering into the community of faith, or entering into John’s movement? But Jesus was already a member of a community of faith, an active, practicing Jew who attended synagogue and temple.
So perhaps he finds an affinity with John, who takes the Jewish ritual and turns it into something new, a way of prompting people to think a little more about their faith.
So it’s important to note that baptism for the Jews was a ritual by which people were cleansed before worshipping in the temple, except that they could perform the ritual but not be repentant in their hearts. John’s call to baptism includes repentance.
After Jesus is baptised, Matthew says “as he came up out of the water, the heavens were opened to him...and he saw the spirit descending as a dove and alighting on him.” Jesus says to John that this is done “to fulfill all righteousness.”
We are in the season of Epiphany. Thursday was Epiphany Day for us. The word ‘epiphany’ means to have an “aha” moment when we can see clearly things which had been obscure before.
The Magi had an epiphany - from the beginning when they saw the star, to the place where they found Jesus and realised they had seen something which would change their lives forever, to the setting out again on unknown roads, trusting that they were being led.
Jesus had an epiphany, I believe. I am not convinced he knew himself what his life would hold - but like many of us called to ministry, he felt an impetus to something which he could not ignore. In order fulfill all righteousness, that is - to be cleansed and in good and right relationship with God - he felt he had to take this step.
Now - John says he baptises for repentance. Repentance literally means turning around and going on another road, another path from the one we are on now. The Magi set out on what they thought was one road, and ended up on a completely different road than the one on which they arrived. Their lives were irreversibly changed.
Jesus came for baptism - maybe a step in his process of discernment which he himself felt was necessary, to be in right relationship with God. His sense is confirmed when he has an “aha” moment, when God could be heard and seen and felt - and his sense of call into ministry was confirmed. It meant that he had to turn, and step out on another road altogether. It happened in a flash - and probably to those around him there was no break in continuity. It happened to *him*. It meant he likely had no idea where ministry would lead, but he had to do it, and he had to trust even when the way was not clear.
The magi didn’t know how the story ended - and in fact for them it didn’t end. They met Herod, and with a flash of insight knew that was not the way to go; they found the child, and knew they had found something special; and at the end they knew they could not return home the same way. Matthew says they found the house where Jesus was, and offered their gifts. They might have stayed a couple of hours, or overnight Yet even in that brief time, their lives were completely changed.
As we come into a new year, - 2011 - what is it which leads us as a congregation? What ideas do we want to honour and worship? What is our potential for life in the future??? What makes us look up, look forward, step out on the road?
Throughout Advent, through Christmas, and into Epiphany we travel a road. We try to find new insight; to learn new things about ourselves and our faith. Today, with the Magi, we come to the house and find the child. We come to offer our gifts, and we leave again by another road, trusting that God is with us. May it be so.
*******************************************************
Sources:
- sermon “New Light” 2008 by Fran Ota
- sermon “Another Road” 1995 Fran Ota
- “Midrash” online lectionary discussion
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem, astrologers from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child born king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising, and have come to honour him." When Herod heard this, he was frightened; calling together the chief priests and scribes, he inquired of them where this Messiah was to be born. They said, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for it was written by the prophet: 'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.'" Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned the exact time when the star appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; when you have found him, send word so that I may also go and honour him." They set out; ahead of them the star moved, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; they knelt down and paid him homage. Opening their treasure chests, they offered gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Then, having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Matthew 3:13-19
Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John objected, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, yet you come to me?" Jesus replied, "Let it be so; for it is proper for us, in this way, to fulfill all righteousness." So John agreed. When Jesus had been immersed, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens opened to him; he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. A voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
********************************************************
Do you like to travel? You probably know by now that my husband and I travel a lot. In 2009 - between us - we went to Panama, Colombia, the western Caribbean, Japan, Cuba, and all the eastern provinces of Canada. In 2010 - between us - we went to St. Maarten and St. Thomas, Dominican Republic. Japan, Cuba, and Finland - as well as Tennessee and Florida. We always lament that we don’t spend nearly long enough in any place, and see just enough that we want to return and explore some more.
Travelling changes us if we are paying attention. In January 2009, I went to Cartagena de Indias in Colombia - just a few hours on a cruise excursion - but even in a few hours saw the Museum of the Inquisition, heard tales of Spanish torture; saw a church where Jesuit priests defended indigenous peoples, and were killed for it. It was enough to have eyes opened, and be changed enough to want to return. In Panama, I saw a country struggling to modernise itself , and heard the pride of people who now have control of their own destiny. They have a vision for their country. If we are open to seeing, even such a short time can change us, because it changes how we see our own lives as well.
Matthew tells us that some men saw something in the sky which made them leave their homes, their comforts, and take a long journey to a completely new place. They had no idea where they were going, actually - they just knew that they had to go. They were not tourists, nor on a trip for their health. They believed this journey had a purpose of incredible importance. But stars don’t always shine in clear skies, and a trip using hand-held instruments, through cold snowy deserts, on unknown roads, would have been quite dangerous. Sometimes the star was brilliant, sometimes the light was completely obscured and the way unclear.
We are told, almost as an aside, that they returned home by another road. Wait a minute! There’s no more star, no more light, and after this tremendous journey they have to set out on different roads equally unknown, equally dangerous, and find their way back home? Yet they have been changed. They have seen something totally new, totally outside their everyday lives. Because of this journey, they must go by another road.
Jesus comes to John to be baptised. Much speculation goes on about why Jesus would do this. Did he know from birth what he was to do, or did he develop a sense of call as he grew up? Was this baptism an entering into the community of faith, or entering into John’s movement? But Jesus was already a member of a community of faith, an active, practicing Jew who attended synagogue and temple.
So perhaps he finds an affinity with John, who takes the Jewish ritual and turns it into something new, a way of prompting people to think a little more about their faith.
So it’s important to note that baptism for the Jews was a ritual by which people were cleansed before worshipping in the temple, except that they could perform the ritual but not be repentant in their hearts. John’s call to baptism includes repentance.
After Jesus is baptised, Matthew says “as he came up out of the water, the heavens were opened to him...and he saw the spirit descending as a dove and alighting on him.” Jesus says to John that this is done “to fulfill all righteousness.”
We are in the season of Epiphany. Thursday was Epiphany Day for us. The word ‘epiphany’ means to have an “aha” moment when we can see clearly things which had been obscure before.
The Magi had an epiphany - from the beginning when they saw the star, to the place where they found Jesus and realised they had seen something which would change their lives forever, to the setting out again on unknown roads, trusting that they were being led.
Jesus had an epiphany, I believe. I am not convinced he knew himself what his life would hold - but like many of us called to ministry, he felt an impetus to something which he could not ignore. In order fulfill all righteousness, that is - to be cleansed and in good and right relationship with God - he felt he had to take this step.
Now - John says he baptises for repentance. Repentance literally means turning around and going on another road, another path from the one we are on now. The Magi set out on what they thought was one road, and ended up on a completely different road than the one on which they arrived. Their lives were irreversibly changed.
Jesus came for baptism - maybe a step in his process of discernment which he himself felt was necessary, to be in right relationship with God. His sense is confirmed when he has an “aha” moment, when God could be heard and seen and felt - and his sense of call into ministry was confirmed. It meant that he had to turn, and step out on another road altogether. It happened in a flash - and probably to those around him there was no break in continuity. It happened to *him*. It meant he likely had no idea where ministry would lead, but he had to do it, and he had to trust even when the way was not clear.
The magi didn’t know how the story ended - and in fact for them it didn’t end. They met Herod, and with a flash of insight knew that was not the way to go; they found the child, and knew they had found something special; and at the end they knew they could not return home the same way. Matthew says they found the house where Jesus was, and offered their gifts. They might have stayed a couple of hours, or overnight Yet even in that brief time, their lives were completely changed.
As we come into a new year, - 2011 - what is it which leads us as a congregation? What ideas do we want to honour and worship? What is our potential for life in the future??? What makes us look up, look forward, step out on the road?
Throughout Advent, through Christmas, and into Epiphany we travel a road. We try to find new insight; to learn new things about ourselves and our faith. Today, with the Magi, we come to the house and find the child. We come to offer our gifts, and we leave again by another road, trusting that God is with us. May it be so.
*******************************************************
Sources:
- sermon “New Light” 2008 by Fran Ota
- sermon “Another Road” 1995 Fran Ota
- “Midrash” online lectionary discussion
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Past, Present, and Yet to Come a sermon based on "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, December 26, 2010
Christmas is a time which we all associate with family, friends, good feelings, food, wine, laughter, - for those who are religious, it is a time of reflection, celebration, affirmation, joy. They are all positive emotions, and for most of us, they put us in a more generous and better frame of mind, we are a little more open to others, a little more patient - we come a little closer in touch with what we are supposed to be about all year around, all our life..
Dreams are strange things. We can do things in dreams that we can’t do during our waking hours. Most of our dreams, we don’t remember. Some we do, and often they bring us messages we need. Musicians tell stories of memorising pieces of music in dreams, or composing in dreams. Our minds - amazing things that they are - keep on working. Dreams tell us things about ourselves that we aren’t always able to face otherwise. There are lots of logical explanations, but it is still miraculous what the mind can do, and how it can help us see ourselves.
I remember vividly one particular dream, early on in ministry, and after what seemed to be a particularly trying week. I dreamed I was laboriously climbing up a very steep mountain, grabbing on to small trees, tufts of grass, anything which provided a handhold - hand over hand climbing the mountain. At one point I stopped for a rest, and happened to look off to the side - and there, parallel to the course I was charting up the mountain, was a clear path - unimpeded by trees or rocks or grass.
For Scrooge, Christmas Eve could have been described as a nightmare. He certainly thought it was a series of pretty bizarre nightmares. Had the visitations stopped after Marley, or maybe the first of the three “spirits”, he might have been able to write the whole thing off as that particular piece of mouldy cheese he’d eaten earlier in the evening with his thin gruel - and nothing would have changed.
The last visitation is the one which really makes him sit up and take notice. This spirit is a phantom - none of the light of the first spirit of the past, or the generosity and joy, and yet clear criticism of the spirit of abundance. Here he is visited by a phantom which seems to suck light in, and cast nothing but gloom around. There is no conversation, only a relentless insistence that he continue this journey.
And so the phantom shows him a father walking slowly home from the graveyard; in the home by the fire, a small chair sits empty, with a small crutch beside it. Tim, Bob Cratchit’s son, has died. Scrooge begins to realise that the boy did not die because of something he might have done, but precisely because of the opposite - because of what he did not do, thinking that if he minded his business and the rest of the world minded theirs, he caused no harm.
The phantom shows him a man lying on a four-poster bed covered in a sheet, hears people derisively sneering over the body, stealing the very slippers off the body and discussing the waste of even giving the man a funeral. At the end, he finds himself in a graveyard, seeing his own name etched on a gravestone. In a most powerful way, he is faced with the end of his life, and how feeble and inadequate that life was.
But hear the words, as he falls to his knees in front of the spirit - his soul finally broken open, and his vision clear to look at himself.
“I am not the man I once was” he says, “I will not be the man I might have been, had it not been for this. Why show me this if I am past all hope?” “Assure me that I may yet change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life.”
Now - as I said - it may be that Scrooge was dreaming. Today we would say his subconscious finally opened up. Maybe - but maybe not - who knows for sure?
Dreams have figured strongly in the story of Jesus birth. Mary had a dream that an angel visited her to announce her pregnancy. Joseph had a dream, just as he was about to separate himself from Mary - an angel again announcing that her child must be born, and be named Jesus - because he will save his people. In today’s Scripture, Joseph again has a dream - that he, Mary and Jesus are in danger. Each of these visitations begins with “Do not fear.” Life is about to turn upside down, but don’t be afraid. Life will be dangerous, but don’t be afraid. God is here, God is with you. Don’t be afraid.
About fifteen years ago, in my very first parish, a group of us went to the town of Creemore, Ontario, to the “Journey of Love” - which is a recreated walk of the road to Bethlehem, complete with props and actors. The first time I went, the journey ended at the manger. The second time, one walked on around a corner, further from the manger. There stood a cross, and a Roman soldier.
Both life, and faith, are a journey. Scrooge was taken - however we care to explain his experience - on a journey in which his life literally passed before his eyes. He was shown his life as it had been, as it was, and finally what it would be in the end.
The story of Scrooge is a story of past, present, and possible futures. What would have happened if he had not made change? The first possibility - a despised man finally dead, and people celebrating. Scrooge himself, when he awakens in his own room and realises it is Christmas Day, and he hasn’t missed it, exclaims “I will live in the Past, Present and Future! The Spirits of all three shall strive within me!”
The church year is also designed as a journey, with Past, Present and Future. I don’t think we can say it enough - that Christmas would be nothing without Easter. Christmas and Easter take their meaning from each other - they are, to some extent, the bookends. Without the birth, there would be no Easter. If there were no Easter, there would be no Christmas.
We commit ourselves to Past, Present and Future every time we say the memorial acclamation at the communion service:
Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
Christmas past - the historical birth of a small baby in a backwater town; Christmas present - the celebration of that birth, Jesus reborn within us each Christmas; Christmas yet to come - that Jesus will continue to be reborn, and continue to come into the world.
That was, I believe, the message in Dickens great drama - in those words of Scrooge “I will live in the Past, Present and Future. I will keep Christmas in my heart!”
Past, Present, and Future.
What we were once - what we are today - what we may yet be.
Christmas Past, Christmas Present, Christmas yet to come.
Christmas in all of life, and the story is unfinished...................................................
Sources:
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Dreams are strange things. We can do things in dreams that we can’t do during our waking hours. Most of our dreams, we don’t remember. Some we do, and often they bring us messages we need. Musicians tell stories of memorising pieces of music in dreams, or composing in dreams. Our minds - amazing things that they are - keep on working. Dreams tell us things about ourselves that we aren’t always able to face otherwise. There are lots of logical explanations, but it is still miraculous what the mind can do, and how it can help us see ourselves.
I remember vividly one particular dream, early on in ministry, and after what seemed to be a particularly trying week. I dreamed I was laboriously climbing up a very steep mountain, grabbing on to small trees, tufts of grass, anything which provided a handhold - hand over hand climbing the mountain. At one point I stopped for a rest, and happened to look off to the side - and there, parallel to the course I was charting up the mountain, was a clear path - unimpeded by trees or rocks or grass.
For Scrooge, Christmas Eve could have been described as a nightmare. He certainly thought it was a series of pretty bizarre nightmares. Had the visitations stopped after Marley, or maybe the first of the three “spirits”, he might have been able to write the whole thing off as that particular piece of mouldy cheese he’d eaten earlier in the evening with his thin gruel - and nothing would have changed.
The last visitation is the one which really makes him sit up and take notice. This spirit is a phantom - none of the light of the first spirit of the past, or the generosity and joy, and yet clear criticism of the spirit of abundance. Here he is visited by a phantom which seems to suck light in, and cast nothing but gloom around. There is no conversation, only a relentless insistence that he continue this journey.
And so the phantom shows him a father walking slowly home from the graveyard; in the home by the fire, a small chair sits empty, with a small crutch beside it. Tim, Bob Cratchit’s son, has died. Scrooge begins to realise that the boy did not die because of something he might have done, but precisely because of the opposite - because of what he did not do, thinking that if he minded his business and the rest of the world minded theirs, he caused no harm.
The phantom shows him a man lying on a four-poster bed covered in a sheet, hears people derisively sneering over the body, stealing the very slippers off the body and discussing the waste of even giving the man a funeral. At the end, he finds himself in a graveyard, seeing his own name etched on a gravestone. In a most powerful way, he is faced with the end of his life, and how feeble and inadequate that life was.
But hear the words, as he falls to his knees in front of the spirit - his soul finally broken open, and his vision clear to look at himself.
“I am not the man I once was” he says, “I will not be the man I might have been, had it not been for this. Why show me this if I am past all hope?” “Assure me that I may yet change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life.”
Now - as I said - it may be that Scrooge was dreaming. Today we would say his subconscious finally opened up. Maybe - but maybe not - who knows for sure?
Dreams have figured strongly in the story of Jesus birth. Mary had a dream that an angel visited her to announce her pregnancy. Joseph had a dream, just as he was about to separate himself from Mary - an angel again announcing that her child must be born, and be named Jesus - because he will save his people. In today’s Scripture, Joseph again has a dream - that he, Mary and Jesus are in danger. Each of these visitations begins with “Do not fear.” Life is about to turn upside down, but don’t be afraid. Life will be dangerous, but don’t be afraid. God is here, God is with you. Don’t be afraid.
About fifteen years ago, in my very first parish, a group of us went to the town of Creemore, Ontario, to the “Journey of Love” - which is a recreated walk of the road to Bethlehem, complete with props and actors. The first time I went, the journey ended at the manger. The second time, one walked on around a corner, further from the manger. There stood a cross, and a Roman soldier.
Both life, and faith, are a journey. Scrooge was taken - however we care to explain his experience - on a journey in which his life literally passed before his eyes. He was shown his life as it had been, as it was, and finally what it would be in the end.
The story of Scrooge is a story of past, present, and possible futures. What would have happened if he had not made change? The first possibility - a despised man finally dead, and people celebrating. Scrooge himself, when he awakens in his own room and realises it is Christmas Day, and he hasn’t missed it, exclaims “I will live in the Past, Present and Future! The Spirits of all three shall strive within me!”
The church year is also designed as a journey, with Past, Present and Future. I don’t think we can say it enough - that Christmas would be nothing without Easter. Christmas and Easter take their meaning from each other - they are, to some extent, the bookends. Without the birth, there would be no Easter. If there were no Easter, there would be no Christmas.
We commit ourselves to Past, Present and Future every time we say the memorial acclamation at the communion service:
Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
Christmas past - the historical birth of a small baby in a backwater town; Christmas present - the celebration of that birth, Jesus reborn within us each Christmas; Christmas yet to come - that Jesus will continue to be reborn, and continue to come into the world.
That was, I believe, the message in Dickens great drama - in those words of Scrooge “I will live in the Past, Present and Future. I will keep Christmas in my heart!”
Past, Present, and Future.
What we were once - what we are today - what we may yet be.
Christmas Past, Christmas Present, Christmas yet to come.
Christmas in all of life, and the story is unfinished...................................................
Sources:
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
“Christmas Present” Isaiah 7:12-16 and Matthew 1:18-25 Humber United Church, Corner Brook, NL December 19, 2010
Isaiah
Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of God also? Therefore God himself will give you a sign: The young woman is pregnant, and will give birth to a son, who will be called Immanuel. He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject wrong and choose right, because even before he knows enough to reject wrong and choose right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before their marriage, she became pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Joseph was faithful to the law, and did not want to disgrace her in public; he thought he would divorce her quietly. An angel appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife. Her child is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, to be named Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this was to fulfill the words of the prophet: “The young woman will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel “God with us”. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel had said and took Mary home as his wife. ***********************************************************************
Poor Scrooge. He was exhausted after trying to shut out the light of the Spirit which shone on his past. Finally, aware of being back in his own bedroom, he fell into a deep sleep. For some reason he wakened early and pulled back all the bed curtains to have a good view of the whole room. - and waited...the bell tolled one. Time passed, fifteen minutes in fact, before he realized the light across his bed was coming from under the sitting room door.
Dickens describes the scene as Scrooge entered his sitting room:
“It was his own room. There was no doubt about that. But it had undergone a surprising transformation. The walls and ceiling were so hung with living green that it looked a perfect grove, from every part of which bright, gleaming berries glistened. The crisp leaves of holly, mistletoe and ivy reflected back the light, as if so many little mirrors had been scattered there. Such a mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney as that dull hearth had never known, either in Scrooge’s time or Marley’s, if at all. Heaped upon the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, poultry, great joints of meat, suckling pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince pies, plum puddings, barrels of oysters, red-hot chestnuts, cherry-cheeked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears, immense cakes, and seething bowls of punch, that made the chamber dim with their delicious steam.”
Seated on this throne sat a Giant, who Dickens described as “free in its genial face, its sparkling eye, its open hand, its joyful attitude.” Scrooge was timid, hung his head, not wanting to meet the clear kind eye of the Spirit.
“The Spirit was dressed in a deep green robe, bordered with white fur. The robe hung loosely, the large chest was bare. Its feet were also bare, and on its head it wore a holly wreath, set here and there with shining icicles.” He carried a kind of torch which looks like a horn of plenty - and as Scrooge and the Spirit travel the city, Scrooge=s eyes are opened to the world around him, to the things he doesn't know about that world.
"Is there a particular flavour in what you sprinkle from your torch?" asked Scrooge.
"There is. My own."
"Could it apply to any kind of dinner on this day?" asked Scrooge.
"To any kindly given. To a poor one most."
“Why to a poor one most?” asked Scrooge.
"Because it needs it the most."
In this visitation, Scrooge is stunned that the ghost blesses the home of his clerk, Bob Cratchit a tiny place of four rooms. He didn't know Bob had children - he didn't know one of them was ill. When he begs to know that Tim will live, he hears back his own words "If he's going to die, he should do it, and decrease the surplus population."
And - says the Spirit. "Will you decide which men shall live and which shall die? It may be that in the sight of heaven you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. O God! To hear the insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his brothers in the dust!"
It's not hard to relate this to the present. We all know people like Scrooge, hurt by life and by their own actions, who also believe that by not doing anything, no one is hurt. Yet even doing nothing is tantamount to doing something. And don’t we all know people who are critical of the poor, who get blamed for their poverty, without ever knowing their circumstances. Scrooge blamed the poor for their own circumstances instead of looking closely at the conditions around himself and them, even instead of finding out from them *why* or how they got into such a position.
The Spirit takes Scrooge to see Bob Cratchit’s home - where the feast is meagre, yet Bob Cratchit’s family are full of gratitude for that which they do have. It’s a sharp comparison - the great bounty around the Spirit, and the meagre Christmas meal of the Cratchits. There are a couple of things to draw from this today - just as Dickens did then.
First, that the Spirit, - and the huge feast laid out around him, the green-ness of the room and the warmth of the fire - are representative of the realm of God - the vision God has for people on earth, living in creation without any fear or want. The Spirit represents Immanuel, God-with-Us.
Second, it reinforces a very real truth. That there is actually more than enough food in the world already to feed everyone. The problem is not with the amount of food available, it is the distribution. The so-called First World countries take more than their fair share of what’s needed, often wasting it - and the poor of the rest of the world go without. In some parts of our country we live with a sense of entitlement - that we somehow deserve everything we have, even if it is over-the-top.
At the end of this part of the story there is a particularly telling scene. The Spirit and Scrooge are standing out in the cold, and the Spirit pulls back the front the of the robe. Huddled there are two children: hungry, shriveled, destitute, prematurely aged.
“Are they yours?” asks Scrooge?
“They are Man’s.” replies the Spirit. “This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, but most of all beware this boy.” “Have they no refuge or resource?” asks Scrooge, and again hears his own words flung back at him “Are there no prisons? Are there no poorhouses?” Today, I guess we would say are there no jobless programs, are there no shelters? Today we still live side by side with Ignorance and Want, and think it doesn’t affect our lives.
In the scriptures, angels were messengers from God. Joseph has a visit from an angel, telling him that Mary’s child will be “God-with-Us”. Scrooge encounters angels, who shine the light of God into his heart; who proclaim the good news. In this open and joyful Spirit we hear other words from Isaiah: “The Spirit of God is upon me. I am sent to bring good news to the oppressed, to comfort the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and release to prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
The picture of this messenger - God’s green creation full of everything human beings could ever need, also proclaims the year of God’s favour. Christmas Present - every year should be the year of God’s favour.
Marley came to Scrooge in the darkness of his rooms and his soul, to speak of repentance, of changing his ways. Two Spirits come in the bright light of vision, into the recesses of hard hearts, and then the bright light of vision on the world around. Yet neither Spirit *was* the light. Dickens’ Spirits are those who testify to the light, to bring messages from God. They point to the one who is coming - the centre of Christmas. The Spirit of Christmas Present comes to testify to good news for all people. As Scrooge took another step along the road to his repentance and reclamation, so we also take a step on the road to repentance, a commitment to living the Gospel to its fullest.
Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of God also? Therefore God himself will give you a sign: The young woman is pregnant, and will give birth to a son, who will be called Immanuel. He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject wrong and choose right, because even before he knows enough to reject wrong and choose right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before their marriage, she became pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Joseph was faithful to the law, and did not want to disgrace her in public; he thought he would divorce her quietly. An angel appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife. Her child is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, to be named Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this was to fulfill the words of the prophet: “The young woman will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel “God with us”. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel had said and took Mary home as his wife. ***********************************************************************
Poor Scrooge. He was exhausted after trying to shut out the light of the Spirit which shone on his past. Finally, aware of being back in his own bedroom, he fell into a deep sleep. For some reason he wakened early and pulled back all the bed curtains to have a good view of the whole room. - and waited...the bell tolled one. Time passed, fifteen minutes in fact, before he realized the light across his bed was coming from under the sitting room door.
Dickens describes the scene as Scrooge entered his sitting room:
“It was his own room. There was no doubt about that. But it had undergone a surprising transformation. The walls and ceiling were so hung with living green that it looked a perfect grove, from every part of which bright, gleaming berries glistened. The crisp leaves of holly, mistletoe and ivy reflected back the light, as if so many little mirrors had been scattered there. Such a mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney as that dull hearth had never known, either in Scrooge’s time or Marley’s, if at all. Heaped upon the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, poultry, great joints of meat, suckling pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince pies, plum puddings, barrels of oysters, red-hot chestnuts, cherry-cheeked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears, immense cakes, and seething bowls of punch, that made the chamber dim with their delicious steam.”
Seated on this throne sat a Giant, who Dickens described as “free in its genial face, its sparkling eye, its open hand, its joyful attitude.” Scrooge was timid, hung his head, not wanting to meet the clear kind eye of the Spirit.
“The Spirit was dressed in a deep green robe, bordered with white fur. The robe hung loosely, the large chest was bare. Its feet were also bare, and on its head it wore a holly wreath, set here and there with shining icicles.” He carried a kind of torch which looks like a horn of plenty - and as Scrooge and the Spirit travel the city, Scrooge=s eyes are opened to the world around him, to the things he doesn't know about that world.
"Is there a particular flavour in what you sprinkle from your torch?" asked Scrooge.
"There is. My own."
"Could it apply to any kind of dinner on this day?" asked Scrooge.
"To any kindly given. To a poor one most."
“Why to a poor one most?” asked Scrooge.
"Because it needs it the most."
In this visitation, Scrooge is stunned that the ghost blesses the home of his clerk, Bob Cratchit a tiny place of four rooms. He didn't know Bob had children - he didn't know one of them was ill. When he begs to know that Tim will live, he hears back his own words "If he's going to die, he should do it, and decrease the surplus population."
And - says the Spirit. "Will you decide which men shall live and which shall die? It may be that in the sight of heaven you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. O God! To hear the insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his brothers in the dust!"
It's not hard to relate this to the present. We all know people like Scrooge, hurt by life and by their own actions, who also believe that by not doing anything, no one is hurt. Yet even doing nothing is tantamount to doing something. And don’t we all know people who are critical of the poor, who get blamed for their poverty, without ever knowing their circumstances. Scrooge blamed the poor for their own circumstances instead of looking closely at the conditions around himself and them, even instead of finding out from them *why* or how they got into such a position.
The Spirit takes Scrooge to see Bob Cratchit’s home - where the feast is meagre, yet Bob Cratchit’s family are full of gratitude for that which they do have. It’s a sharp comparison - the great bounty around the Spirit, and the meagre Christmas meal of the Cratchits. There are a couple of things to draw from this today - just as Dickens did then.
First, that the Spirit, - and the huge feast laid out around him, the green-ness of the room and the warmth of the fire - are representative of the realm of God - the vision God has for people on earth, living in creation without any fear or want. The Spirit represents Immanuel, God-with-Us.
Second, it reinforces a very real truth. That there is actually more than enough food in the world already to feed everyone. The problem is not with the amount of food available, it is the distribution. The so-called First World countries take more than their fair share of what’s needed, often wasting it - and the poor of the rest of the world go without. In some parts of our country we live with a sense of entitlement - that we somehow deserve everything we have, even if it is over-the-top.
At the end of this part of the story there is a particularly telling scene. The Spirit and Scrooge are standing out in the cold, and the Spirit pulls back the front the of the robe. Huddled there are two children: hungry, shriveled, destitute, prematurely aged.
“Are they yours?” asks Scrooge?
“They are Man’s.” replies the Spirit. “This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, but most of all beware this boy.” “Have they no refuge or resource?” asks Scrooge, and again hears his own words flung back at him “Are there no prisons? Are there no poorhouses?” Today, I guess we would say are there no jobless programs, are there no shelters? Today we still live side by side with Ignorance and Want, and think it doesn’t affect our lives.
In the scriptures, angels were messengers from God. Joseph has a visit from an angel, telling him that Mary’s child will be “God-with-Us”. Scrooge encounters angels, who shine the light of God into his heart; who proclaim the good news. In this open and joyful Spirit we hear other words from Isaiah: “The Spirit of God is upon me. I am sent to bring good news to the oppressed, to comfort the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and release to prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
The picture of this messenger - God’s green creation full of everything human beings could ever need, also proclaims the year of God’s favour. Christmas Present - every year should be the year of God’s favour.
Marley came to Scrooge in the darkness of his rooms and his soul, to speak of repentance, of changing his ways. Two Spirits come in the bright light of vision, into the recesses of hard hearts, and then the bright light of vision on the world around. Yet neither Spirit *was* the light. Dickens’ Spirits are those who testify to the light, to bring messages from God. They point to the one who is coming - the centre of Christmas. The Spirit of Christmas Present comes to testify to good news for all people. As Scrooge took another step along the road to his repentance and reclamation, so we also take a step on the road to repentance, a commitment to living the Gospel to its fullest.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
The Ghost of Christmas Past December 5th, 2010 A sermon based upon Matthew 3:1-12 Humber United Church, Corner Brook, Newfoundland
Matthew 3
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. Do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, he will clear threshing floor, gathering wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” ******************************************************************************
As Scrooge lay in the bed, the curtains were drawn back, and he saw a figure unlike anything his imagination could have produced - like a child, yet like an old man diminished to a child's proportions. Its hair, which hung down its back, was white as if with age yet the face had not a wrinkle, and the tenderest bloom was on the skin. It wore a tunic of purest white, and round its waist was a lustrous belt, the sheen of which was beautiful. It held a branch of fresh green holly in its hand. From its head shone a bright clear light, and it held a great cap under its arm.
“Are you the spirit whose coming was foretold to me?” asked Scrooge? "I am."
"Who, and what are you?" Scrooge demanded. "I am the Ghost of Christmas Past."
"Long Past?" inquired Scrooge, presumably noting signs of age. "No. Your past."
Scrooge begged the spirit to put the cap over its very bright head.
"What!" exclaimed the Ghost, "Would you so soon put out, with worldly hands, the light I give? Is it not enough that you are one of those whose passions made this cap, and force me through whole trains of years to wear it low upon my brow!"
“I am here" said the Ghost. “for your welfare, your reclamation.”
***************************************************************
And so begins a journey into the past, and we get a glimpse of what made Scrooge the man he had become. A small boy, sitting alone in a schoolroom, while all his classmates leave for Christmas at home. The small boy’s mother died giving birth to him, and the father rejected him. He is sent to a boarding school, and a little bit of this boy hardens up and closes away.
The scene changes. A little girl comes in. "I have come to bring you home, dear brother!" she says. "Home, for good. Father is so much kinder than he used to be, that home's like Heaven! He spoke so gently to me one night when I was going to bed, that I was not afraid to ask him once more if you might come home; and he said Yes, you should; and sent me in a coach to bring you. And you're never to come back here.”
The scene changes again. Scrooge is older now, a man in the prime of life. His face already wears the signs of greed and obsession. He is sitting with a fair young woman, in whose eyes there are tears.
"It matters little," she said, softly. "To you, very little. Another idol has displaced me; and if it can cheer and comfort you in time to come, as I would have tried to do, I have no just cause to grieve."
"What Idol has displaced you?" he asks. "A golden one." responds the young woman.
"Have I ever sought release?" "In words? No. Never."
"In what, then?"
"In a changed nature; in an altered spirit; in another atmosphere of life. In everything that made my love of any worth or value in your sight. If this had never been between us," she asks; "would you seek me out and try to win me now? Ah, no!"
"Spirit!" says the watching, old Scrooge, in agony again, "show me no more! Conduct me home. Why do you delight to torture me? No more, I don't wish to see it! Show me no more!"
****************************************************************
We have seen a small and lonely boy, cut off from family, left alone at Christmas - a child whose father blamed him for the death of his mother in childbirth. We learn that the girl is Scrooge’s younger sister, probably by a second marriage. Fan also died, giving birth to Fred, Scrooge’s nephew. There are hints of abuse, of violence in this child’s background. Here is a child who learns that response to pain is to shut himself off. His father blames him and isolates him; Scrooge blames his nephew Fred, and isolates himself even further. Then we see him as his engagement ends, becoming harder, and the idol of money becoming his first love, instead of her.
Let’s look back at what we’ve seen of Scrooge. Marley shows Scrooge his unwillingness even to be open to those around him. He works in a dark place, with little light other than one candle. He lives in a dark house, huddled away by himself. He keeps his spirit in the dark, blocking out everything. Christmas, with all its joy and good spirits, offends his darkness. He has been given a talent, but instead of using his talent for the common good, as Paul says, he uses it - but not even for himself. He just doesn’t know what else to do. In this encounter with the Spirit of Christmas Past, he cannot bear the light which emanates from the ghost, and wants it covered. “Would you put out the light I give with worldly hands”asks the ghost “especially since you are one of the people responsible for forcing me to wear it year in and year out.” At the end of this chapter, Scrooge grabs the hat and pushes it down over the Spirit, but even that cannot shut out the blinding light. The light causes him pain, because it shines into the darkest places of his soul. He does realise I think, that this spirit has come to help him bring his gifts into the light, but the effort of looking at himself is unbearable, and he goes back into the darkness.
It seems to me that there are several threads in this exerpt from the story.
First, there are the gifts Scrooge had at one time. As we look back, he was a sensitive child who cared deeply for his sister, who wanted desperately to be loved by his father, who had a gift of joy, love and intelligence. His father was a similar man, but when life brought grief, he blamed a child, and lost the ability to love well. Scrooge doesn’t even see the tiny seed that is planted here.
He is treated with love and care, treated justly and kindly by his employer; he finds a beautiful young woman, and they have plans for their future. He is able to employ his gifts and his intelligence - and he has the opportunity to use those “for the common good”, yet he doesn’t. Remember Marley’s ghost, wailing into the dark night in an agony of the soul “Mankind was my business, the common welfare was my business.” Scrooge just doesn’t see it.
Finally, there is the underlying theme of repentance. I have a poster, supposedly John the Baptist, shouting “Merry Christmas, you brood of vipers! Now repent!”
What does it mean to repent? Nowadays we seem to think repent means to say we are sorry for something and promise not to do it again. Well, perhaps that’s part of it - but not all! To repent literally means to turn our lives around, to go in a different direction altogether. To repent means to look at the crooked paths of our lives, shine the light of the Spirit into those dark corners, take out all the things we have hidden away there and nurse so carefully, and throw them out.
Marley wishes to repent - but in Dickens’ story, he missed his chance. He cries out in grief “At this time of the rolling year I suffer most. Why did I walk through crowds of my fellow beings with my eyes turned down, and never once lift them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode? Were there no poor homes to which the light of that Star would have conducted me?”
The Ghost of Christmas Past forces Scrooge to let its light shine into the very darkest recesses of his own heart. Only by going back into his past, and the places where the road became crooked and bent, can he understand where he got away from the Spirit of Life.
What chains do we carry around from our past? What do we have in our hearts which needs to be illuminated, so that we can truly prepare for God’s love to enter? What do we push down? What has shaped us, in such a way that our gifts are mis-used, or not used at all?
While Advent is a time of waiting for the coming of Jesus, it is also one of the two times of the year when we are called to take time for introspection and reflection. Faith dies not just happen, as Scrooge is beginning to find out. Faith is important, but it takes work. To turn our lives around, to step out on a new road, can only happen if we understand ourselves.
There’s one other theme here, and the theme that keeps coming back - not only in Scrooge’s story, but the Christmas story, and in our story. God is reaching for each of us, wanting to make us whole people in every way. God will go to any length necessary to reach us, to help us, to show us what love is, and who we can be as children of love.
Sources:
1. Sermon from Advent 2 Year B
2. “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. Do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, he will clear threshing floor, gathering wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” ******************************************************************************
As Scrooge lay in the bed, the curtains were drawn back, and he saw a figure unlike anything his imagination could have produced - like a child, yet like an old man diminished to a child's proportions. Its hair, which hung down its back, was white as if with age yet the face had not a wrinkle, and the tenderest bloom was on the skin. It wore a tunic of purest white, and round its waist was a lustrous belt, the sheen of which was beautiful. It held a branch of fresh green holly in its hand. From its head shone a bright clear light, and it held a great cap under its arm.
“Are you the spirit whose coming was foretold to me?” asked Scrooge? "I am."
"Who, and what are you?" Scrooge demanded. "I am the Ghost of Christmas Past."
"Long Past?" inquired Scrooge, presumably noting signs of age. "No. Your past."
Scrooge begged the spirit to put the cap over its very bright head.
"What!" exclaimed the Ghost, "Would you so soon put out, with worldly hands, the light I give? Is it not enough that you are one of those whose passions made this cap, and force me through whole trains of years to wear it low upon my brow!"
“I am here" said the Ghost. “for your welfare, your reclamation.”
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And so begins a journey into the past, and we get a glimpse of what made Scrooge the man he had become. A small boy, sitting alone in a schoolroom, while all his classmates leave for Christmas at home. The small boy’s mother died giving birth to him, and the father rejected him. He is sent to a boarding school, and a little bit of this boy hardens up and closes away.
The scene changes. A little girl comes in. "I have come to bring you home, dear brother!" she says. "Home, for good. Father is so much kinder than he used to be, that home's like Heaven! He spoke so gently to me one night when I was going to bed, that I was not afraid to ask him once more if you might come home; and he said Yes, you should; and sent me in a coach to bring you. And you're never to come back here.”
The scene changes again. Scrooge is older now, a man in the prime of life. His face already wears the signs of greed and obsession. He is sitting with a fair young woman, in whose eyes there are tears.
"It matters little," she said, softly. "To you, very little. Another idol has displaced me; and if it can cheer and comfort you in time to come, as I would have tried to do, I have no just cause to grieve."
"What Idol has displaced you?" he asks. "A golden one." responds the young woman.
"Have I ever sought release?" "In words? No. Never."
"In what, then?"
"In a changed nature; in an altered spirit; in another atmosphere of life. In everything that made my love of any worth or value in your sight. If this had never been between us," she asks; "would you seek me out and try to win me now? Ah, no!"
"Spirit!" says the watching, old Scrooge, in agony again, "show me no more! Conduct me home. Why do you delight to torture me? No more, I don't wish to see it! Show me no more!"
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We have seen a small and lonely boy, cut off from family, left alone at Christmas - a child whose father blamed him for the death of his mother in childbirth. We learn that the girl is Scrooge’s younger sister, probably by a second marriage. Fan also died, giving birth to Fred, Scrooge’s nephew. There are hints of abuse, of violence in this child’s background. Here is a child who learns that response to pain is to shut himself off. His father blames him and isolates him; Scrooge blames his nephew Fred, and isolates himself even further. Then we see him as his engagement ends, becoming harder, and the idol of money becoming his first love, instead of her.
Let’s look back at what we’ve seen of Scrooge. Marley shows Scrooge his unwillingness even to be open to those around him. He works in a dark place, with little light other than one candle. He lives in a dark house, huddled away by himself. He keeps his spirit in the dark, blocking out everything. Christmas, with all its joy and good spirits, offends his darkness. He has been given a talent, but instead of using his talent for the common good, as Paul says, he uses it - but not even for himself. He just doesn’t know what else to do. In this encounter with the Spirit of Christmas Past, he cannot bear the light which emanates from the ghost, and wants it covered. “Would you put out the light I give with worldly hands”asks the ghost “especially since you are one of the people responsible for forcing me to wear it year in and year out.” At the end of this chapter, Scrooge grabs the hat and pushes it down over the Spirit, but even that cannot shut out the blinding light. The light causes him pain, because it shines into the darkest places of his soul. He does realise I think, that this spirit has come to help him bring his gifts into the light, but the effort of looking at himself is unbearable, and he goes back into the darkness.
It seems to me that there are several threads in this exerpt from the story.
First, there are the gifts Scrooge had at one time. As we look back, he was a sensitive child who cared deeply for his sister, who wanted desperately to be loved by his father, who had a gift of joy, love and intelligence. His father was a similar man, but when life brought grief, he blamed a child, and lost the ability to love well. Scrooge doesn’t even see the tiny seed that is planted here.
He is treated with love and care, treated justly and kindly by his employer; he finds a beautiful young woman, and they have plans for their future. He is able to employ his gifts and his intelligence - and he has the opportunity to use those “for the common good”, yet he doesn’t. Remember Marley’s ghost, wailing into the dark night in an agony of the soul “Mankind was my business, the common welfare was my business.” Scrooge just doesn’t see it.
Finally, there is the underlying theme of repentance. I have a poster, supposedly John the Baptist, shouting “Merry Christmas, you brood of vipers! Now repent!”
What does it mean to repent? Nowadays we seem to think repent means to say we are sorry for something and promise not to do it again. Well, perhaps that’s part of it - but not all! To repent literally means to turn our lives around, to go in a different direction altogether. To repent means to look at the crooked paths of our lives, shine the light of the Spirit into those dark corners, take out all the things we have hidden away there and nurse so carefully, and throw them out.
Marley wishes to repent - but in Dickens’ story, he missed his chance. He cries out in grief “At this time of the rolling year I suffer most. Why did I walk through crowds of my fellow beings with my eyes turned down, and never once lift them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode? Were there no poor homes to which the light of that Star would have conducted me?”
The Ghost of Christmas Past forces Scrooge to let its light shine into the very darkest recesses of his own heart. Only by going back into his past, and the places where the road became crooked and bent, can he understand where he got away from the Spirit of Life.
What chains do we carry around from our past? What do we have in our hearts which needs to be illuminated, so that we can truly prepare for God’s love to enter? What do we push down? What has shaped us, in such a way that our gifts are mis-used, or not used at all?
While Advent is a time of waiting for the coming of Jesus, it is also one of the two times of the year when we are called to take time for introspection and reflection. Faith dies not just happen, as Scrooge is beginning to find out. Faith is important, but it takes work. To turn our lives around, to step out on a new road, can only happen if we understand ourselves.
There’s one other theme here, and the theme that keeps coming back - not only in Scrooge’s story, but the Christmas story, and in our story. God is reaching for each of us, wanting to make us whole people in every way. God will go to any length necessary to reach us, to help us, to show us what love is, and who we can be as children of love.
Sources:
1. Sermon from Advent 2 Year B
2. “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens
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