Once there was a very famous and wealthy judge, who had to travel to the next town, to hear a court case. It was a long and arduous route through a mountain pass, during the winter, It was cold and snowy, and the roads were often dangerous for violence and thievery. On the return trip, the judge was attacked, and his horse stolen. Nevertheless, he escaped with his life. A violent snowstorm came up, and the road ahead of him disappeared into swirling and blowing drifts of snow. The judge became lost and disoriented. Yet he had to keep going, or he would fall asleep in the snow and never wake up. So, he struggled on, getting colder and more tired with each step. Just when he thought he could no longer go on, he saw a faint light off in the trees. As he got closer, he realised it was a small shack he had passed on his way through to the next town. He reached the door of the shack and knocked, asking “Please let me in, or I will freeze to death.” The door opened, and he was welcomed into a tiny and poor place, with a table, a small place for sleeping, and a small fireplace. As the judge warmed himself by the fire, the old man who opened the door offered him some tea. Carefully, the man brought down a cracked and chipped cup, and an old pot for tea. He apologised to the judge for the poverty of his place, and the condition of the tea cup, but explained that it was all he had. The judge, touched by the man’s honesty, responded “Out of your poverty you have offered me the very best of what you have. You have honoured me with your generosity. I will not forget this.”
Human bodies are amazing. An adult person has somewhere around 60,000 miles of blood vessels, and about 15 million blood cells being produced and destroyed every single second.
There are 640 muscles in your body which account for about half of your weight. There are about 200 in your buttocks and about five in each eyelid, which keep you blinking, even when you are not aware.
Did you know the average adult is covered with twenty square feet of skin, enough to cover a queen-sized bed - and it’s constantly renewing itself. If it were all stretched out flat, it would be enough to blanket a queen-size bed. Seventy percent of the dust in your house is your old skin. Over an average lifetime, a person loses forty pounds of skin—and yet most of us still seem to be gaining weight. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that we still have enough fat in our bodies to produce seven bars of soap.
With all the intricacies of the human body, however, a strikingly small change can have drastic results. Just after I turned 30, I got Bell’s Palsy - one of the symptoms of Bell’s Palsy is a loss of motor function on one side of the face, including the eyelid muscles. You can no longer blink - and without blinking, what happens? What happens if a child accidentally takes several iron tablets? Or not enough? The tiniest of things can make such a difference in the body. If you lose your little toe, what happens to balance? If you lose an eye, what happens to vision and depth perception?
In one of today’s lessons, Paul addresses his remarks to the congregation in the Greek city of Corinth. There was a controversy over what kind of role women should be allowed to play in the church. There were arguments about whether or not meat had to be kosher, or whether Gentiles had to be circumcised. There was still a large gap between the rich and the poor. The rich ate their own food before the communal meal because they had better food than the poor people, and didn’t want to share. There was tension and conflict between people of different ethnic backgrounds. Those who were Jews thought new converts should adhere to “the way we do things here”. In other words, it wasn't entirely a lot different than a lot of churches today.
We think we understand this passage, to the point where we may miss some of the deeper connotations of the metaphor. Before Paul talks about the church as a body, he first spends some time discussing the importance of the Spirit. The first verses of the chapter are about the gifts that are given by the Spirit. Paul was writing in Greek, something which is important for this text. In Greek the word for "spirit" is the same as the word for "breath." Today, we've made a distinction between “clinical death” when someone is unable to breathe or maintain a heartbeat on their own and “brain death” when there is complete and irreversible cessation of brain activity. In Paul's time, one just checked to see if someone was breathing. The breath, the spirit, gave a body life. Absence of breathm absence of Spirit, meant death. Paul's analogy of the church as the body of Christ must have the Holy Spirit in order to be alive. Without this Spirit, the Breath of God, the body of Christ is dead. The parts of the body, and the abilities the body has are, in Paul’s description, gifts given to the church to be used. Paul says that the church needs to keep itself focused on the Spirit that gives life, and to allow that Spirit to infuse every part of the body of Christ. For if that Spirit is not with us, then none of the parts of the body are able to do what they are meant to do.
Just as that occurred in Corinth in the first century, so it happens all the time in North America in the twenty-first century. Granted, circumcision or kosher meat are not big issues for most of us. Instead we debate homosexuality and abortion. Yet some of the issues do remain the same. We have not reached consensus completely on questions like the role of women in church leadership. We still have a hard time including the poor, and ethnic minorities in an institution that is largely dominated by fairly well off white leaders. In either time - then or now - the division within the body plays itself out in a very similar way: people divide into groups, create labels, and pit themselves against those who don't fit. For Paul it was the Jews versus the Greeks and slave versus free. Today, we have the fundamentalists versus feminists, liberationists versus literalists, the premillenialists versus the postmodernists and so on.
Paul’s advice is to view one another not as opponents, but as members of the same body with different gifts and functions—gifts that are complementary rather than contradictory. And, says Paul, since the gifts are given to us by the Spirit, we are also called to offer those gifts, regardless of how good, or how poor we think they are.
Paul makes it clear that it shouldn't be that way. The church should be a place where all of our divisions are left behind, where political affiliation and income bracket and educational level simply don't matter, a place where the bonds of unity through the Holy Spirit take precedence over divisions of race or age or creed. The goal of the church is not to make everyone look the same and do the same things and think the same ways. Rather the church is a place where all of our different gifts can be affirmed and used for the glory of God through the Body of Christ. There is no gift too small or insignificant that it cannot be offered to God.
The hymn this morning “As with Gladness”, includes the line “All our costliest treasures bring....”. What does that mean? Money? Expensive pianos or pipe organs? What do we have that is most important for the church? The poor man offered the judge all of the very best of what he had. If the situation had been reversed, would the judge have offered the man tea out of his best cups? Not likely. Yet the man gave without restraint from his own meagre resources, in a cracked and chipped cup which was the best of what he had.
So, given that we have been given these wonderful gifts of the Spirit, we are also to give the best of what we have - of time, of talent, or wealth, of our very selves. What is our costliest treasure? Isn’t it this? Our selves?
Sources:
1. All Our Costliest Treasures, based on 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 by Fran Ota, January 2010.
2. Body and Spirit based on 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 by Rev. Richard Gehring
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013
“Living Water” A sermon based on Luke 3: 17 - 23 Humber United Church, January 13, 2013
Luke : People's hopes began to rise, and they began to wonder whether John perhaps might be the Messiah. So John said to all of them, “I baptize you with water, but someone is coming who is much greater than I am. I am not good enough even to untie his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. In many different ways John preached the Good News to the people and urged them to change their ways. After all the people had been baptized, Jesus also was baptized. While he was praying, the clouds parted, and the Holy Spirit came down upon in bodily form like a dove. And he heard a voice, “You are my own dear Son. I am pleased with you.”
****************************************************************************
Far into the imaginary future of this universe, there is a desert planet called Dune. With the exception of giant desert sandworms, it is believed there is nothing else on Dune, except a handful of a small group of people who call themselves Fremen. It is believed there is no water on Dune. The only commodity on this planet is an addictive spice which is mined from the sand. But there is water on Dune - hidden in large underground reservoirs, slowly and painstakingly collected by desert dwellers called Fremen. This dry, desert planet was once green and fertile, till people destroyed it with their desire to use its resources for their own wealth. The Fremen are saving up enough water to begin replanting and re-greening their home. Water and life are one and the same thing.
****************************************************************************
Here on this earth, in this lifetime, water brings both life and death. In the river flowing through the new creation, the water is life itself. In the river flowing through Bangkok, human waste, food waste and industrial garbage flow to the sea, and in the rainy season, cholera, typhoid and parasites are prevalent. In this same water, people bathe and wash their clothes; and do their cooking. They are well aware that the water which gives life for some, gives death to others. There is no choice. The water of life is also the water of death.
In Ethiopia and Eritrea, trees have been so consistently cut down for homes and fuel, that the desert has taken over - water is a rare commodity. For years, rain has barely fallen at all. When the water does come, disease is a very real problem. People die without rain, they die with rain. A child’s life expectancy is about five years, if even that.
Recently, water in all its forms has been the source of much death. A tsunami resulting from a Point 9.5 earthquake killed thousands and destroyed much that was once green. Nuclear power plants depend on water for cooling the core, but once the reaction becomes critical, the very water itself becomes poison. Levees broke in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, killing and washing away most of a city, with the poorest of the poor suffering the most. Those levees threaten to break again, if another such storm comes through.
All around Ontario, there are communities which have no clean water. Early in ministry, a town quite near me suffered several deaths from water which had not been properly monitored and treated. Here in Newfoundland, the water supplies in nearby towns can contain enough bacteria that boil water orders are issued. We are outraged when people die from poor water - shouldn’t happen here, we say. Yet where is our outrage when people in our aboriginal communities have no clean water? Where is our outrage when children die around the world for lack of clean water?
Michigan State University sits on top of one of the four largest dump sites in the United States. The water in student housing is said to be safe and drinkable, yet baby formula will not mix properly, and boiling the water produces an oily slick on the surface, which adheres to the cup. Toronto’s garbage is being shipped to Michigan, because we’d rather pollute someone else’s drinking water than our own.
Water in the Christian faith is used as the symbol of new life. We use water, either in a font, or in immersion, in a river or the ocean - to symbolise the death of the old person - going beneath the water as Jesus did, and rising a new person. In this age of infant baptism, the whole symbolism of dying and rising is lost. Baptism has become about doing something - we get the baby “done”, not because it’s important in a religious way, but because family puts pressure. Part of me wonders how baptising a child can be symbolic of dying with Jesus and rising out of the waters of life a new person.
- and yet baptism is not about what we do, but about what God does. As Jesus rose out of the waters of the river, he heard a voice - “You are my son and I am proud of you.” - and it’s interesting that
up to this point, Jesus hasn’t really done anything for God to be proud. He’s been born to Mary at a really inconvenient time, forcing her to go into labor while spending the night in a pretty awful place. He caused his parents worry when he was twelve by wandering off during a trip to Jerusalem and staying lost for three days. He did what hundreds, if not thousands of people were doing in the Jordan river, a baptism in the river - a mikvah, a cleansing.
In the Isaiah reading God says to the people, “I have called you by name, you are mine. I will be with you when you pass through the waters, and you will not be overwhelmed;” Significant, I think, that water comes in here - Jesus “passes through” the waters, and is called by name.
Baptism is a statement about identity. We are all children of God, whether baptised by water, or by Spirit. - and I think it is really significant took that while Jesus goes down, and is immersed in the Jordan to be baptised, the Spirit is also there. Child of God, you are beloved and I am proud of you. All of God’s children, whether baptised with the water of life, or with the spirit of life.
I think that is why water is so important in this identity: it’s something we encounter every day in one form or another, and is absolutely necessary for maintaining and sustaining our lives. And every time we encounter it, whether we’re brushing our teeth or making our coffee or washing our hands or even shoveling some of this unbelievable Newfoundland snow, we can remember that we are children of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
So as you walk through life, remember how important water is - not just for our physical life, but also our spiritual life. Baptism is not something we do once and forget about.....it should be something we carry with us, as close as water - the symbol of our naming and our identity. May it be so.
Sources:
1. “The Water of Life”, a sermon by Rev. Fran Ota January 2006.
2. “Dune”, science fiction novel by Frank Herbert, 1965
3. Baptism and Christian Identity, by Rev. Frank Schaefer
****************************************************************************
Far into the imaginary future of this universe, there is a desert planet called Dune. With the exception of giant desert sandworms, it is believed there is nothing else on Dune, except a handful of a small group of people who call themselves Fremen. It is believed there is no water on Dune. The only commodity on this planet is an addictive spice which is mined from the sand. But there is water on Dune - hidden in large underground reservoirs, slowly and painstakingly collected by desert dwellers called Fremen. This dry, desert planet was once green and fertile, till people destroyed it with their desire to use its resources for their own wealth. The Fremen are saving up enough water to begin replanting and re-greening their home. Water and life are one and the same thing.
****************************************************************************
Here on this earth, in this lifetime, water brings both life and death. In the river flowing through the new creation, the water is life itself. In the river flowing through Bangkok, human waste, food waste and industrial garbage flow to the sea, and in the rainy season, cholera, typhoid and parasites are prevalent. In this same water, people bathe and wash their clothes; and do their cooking. They are well aware that the water which gives life for some, gives death to others. There is no choice. The water of life is also the water of death.
In Ethiopia and Eritrea, trees have been so consistently cut down for homes and fuel, that the desert has taken over - water is a rare commodity. For years, rain has barely fallen at all. When the water does come, disease is a very real problem. People die without rain, they die with rain. A child’s life expectancy is about five years, if even that.
Recently, water in all its forms has been the source of much death. A tsunami resulting from a Point 9.5 earthquake killed thousands and destroyed much that was once green. Nuclear power plants depend on water for cooling the core, but once the reaction becomes critical, the very water itself becomes poison. Levees broke in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, killing and washing away most of a city, with the poorest of the poor suffering the most. Those levees threaten to break again, if another such storm comes through.
All around Ontario, there are communities which have no clean water. Early in ministry, a town quite near me suffered several deaths from water which had not been properly monitored and treated. Here in Newfoundland, the water supplies in nearby towns can contain enough bacteria that boil water orders are issued. We are outraged when people die from poor water - shouldn’t happen here, we say. Yet where is our outrage when people in our aboriginal communities have no clean water? Where is our outrage when children die around the world for lack of clean water?
Michigan State University sits on top of one of the four largest dump sites in the United States. The water in student housing is said to be safe and drinkable, yet baby formula will not mix properly, and boiling the water produces an oily slick on the surface, which adheres to the cup. Toronto’s garbage is being shipped to Michigan, because we’d rather pollute someone else’s drinking water than our own.
Water in the Christian faith is used as the symbol of new life. We use water, either in a font, or in immersion, in a river or the ocean - to symbolise the death of the old person - going beneath the water as Jesus did, and rising a new person. In this age of infant baptism, the whole symbolism of dying and rising is lost. Baptism has become about doing something - we get the baby “done”, not because it’s important in a religious way, but because family puts pressure. Part of me wonders how baptising a child can be symbolic of dying with Jesus and rising out of the waters of life a new person.
- and yet baptism is not about what we do, but about what God does. As Jesus rose out of the waters of the river, he heard a voice - “You are my son and I am proud of you.” - and it’s interesting that
up to this point, Jesus hasn’t really done anything for God to be proud. He’s been born to Mary at a really inconvenient time, forcing her to go into labor while spending the night in a pretty awful place. He caused his parents worry when he was twelve by wandering off during a trip to Jerusalem and staying lost for three days. He did what hundreds, if not thousands of people were doing in the Jordan river, a baptism in the river - a mikvah, a cleansing.
In the Isaiah reading God says to the people, “I have called you by name, you are mine. I will be with you when you pass through the waters, and you will not be overwhelmed;” Significant, I think, that water comes in here - Jesus “passes through” the waters, and is called by name.
Baptism is a statement about identity. We are all children of God, whether baptised by water, or by Spirit. - and I think it is really significant took that while Jesus goes down, and is immersed in the Jordan to be baptised, the Spirit is also there. Child of God, you are beloved and I am proud of you. All of God’s children, whether baptised with the water of life, or with the spirit of life.
I think that is why water is so important in this identity: it’s something we encounter every day in one form or another, and is absolutely necessary for maintaining and sustaining our lives. And every time we encounter it, whether we’re brushing our teeth or making our coffee or washing our hands or even shoveling some of this unbelievable Newfoundland snow, we can remember that we are children of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
So as you walk through life, remember how important water is - not just for our physical life, but also our spiritual life. Baptism is not something we do once and forget about.....it should be something we carry with us, as close as water - the symbol of our naming and our identity. May it be so.
Sources:
1. “The Water of Life”, a sermon by Rev. Fran Ota January 2006.
2. “Dune”, science fiction novel by Frank Herbert, 1965
3. Baptism and Christian Identity, by Rev. Frank Schaefer
Saturday, January 5, 2013
“Aha!!!” Matthew 2:1-12 Epiphany Sunday January 6, 2013
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem village, in the territory of Judah- during the reign of King Herod - a band of scholars and astrologers arrived in Jerusalem from Persia. They asked , “Where can we find and pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews? We observed a star in the eastern sky that signaled his birth. We’re on pilgrimage to worship him.” When word of their inquiry got to Herod, he was terrified - and not Herod alone, but most of Jerusalem as well. Herod lost no time. He gathered all the high priests and religious scholars in the city together and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?” They told him, “Bethlehem, in Judah. The prophet Micah wrote it plainly:
It’s you, Bethlehem, in Judah’s land, no longer bringing up the rear.
From you will come the leader who will shepherd-rule my people, my Israel.”
Herod then arranged a secret meeting with the scholars. Pretending to be as devout as they were, he got them to tell him exactly when the birth-announcement star appeared. Then he told them the prophecy about Bethlehem, and said, “Go find this child. Leave no stone unturned. As soon as you find him, send word and I’ll join you at once in your worship.” Instructed by Herod, they set off. Then the star appeared again, the same star they had seen in the eastern skies. It led them on until it hovered over the house where the child lived. They could hardly contain themselves: They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time! They entered the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother. Overcome, they bowed before him, then opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh. In a dream, they were warned not to report back to Herod. So they left the territory without being seen, and returned to their own country by another way.
*****************************************************************************
A friend of mine, Anna Murdock, is a lay minister in the United Methodist Church. Anna says “My mother and brother are enjoying searching through old church records for pieces of family history. When I walked into Mom's house this evening, she handed me a piece of paper and said, "Sit down and read this. I want to watch your face." So I did. It was a bit of history of Society Baptist Church out in the country near the town where she lives. The church was organized in 1821 and some charter members are Mom's ancestors evidently. It lists some charges made against church members ...
Failing to abide by church's established doctrine; drinking; operating a moonshine still; cursing;
un-Christian conduct; and COMMUNING WITH METHODISTS!
Rev. Jody Seymour at Davidson United Methodist Church in North Carolina, says: “People who journey without being changed are nomads. People who change without going on a journey are chameleons. People who go on a journey and are changed by the journey are pilgrims.”
January 6, today, is Epiphany. Every year, the lectionary brings us the Magi. Every year we take all the elements of three years’ worth of biblical story and scrunch it down into roughly six weeks - four of Advent, one for Christmas, and one for Epiphany. We tend to forget that this was a story played out over several years, and with many layers of meaning.
The Greek historian Herodotus cites the Magi as Medeans living in Persia, which at the time of Jesus’ birth was part of the Parthian Empire. They were scientists, priests, astrologers, and existed for around five thousand years; they were almost certainly Zoroastrians. They were not just 'wise men,' but an entire social class of priests and sages.
“They were the center of spiritual-political authority through the ages of several great empires. They interpreted dreams and were responsible for sacred rituals, including animal sacrifices. The Magi may have even been responsible for crowning any new ruler who came to power. If true, then to be crowned without the favor of the Magi would jeopardize the legitimacy of any king.
The Magi believed that the stars could be used to predict the birth of great rulers. They believed that the next great ruler was about to be born: the "king of the Jews." But even so, why visit the newborn king of a foreign nation? It is not implausible to assume that the main intention of the Magi was diplomatic in origin. If a new king had been born, it would prove useful to pay tribute to him and his family. They may have assumed that Herod, the ruler of Judea and Palestine, had produced a son, an heir to his seat of power, who would exceed his father's legacy by leaps and bounds. Rome and Parthia were the two "superpowers" of the era, and Palestine was a significant part of the political view.”
Well, what did they find in Jerusalem? Herod had syphilis, was paranoid and almost dead. There was a laundry list of people happy to take his place, and help him along to the next world if need be. He had killed his previous wife and several sons out of suspicion that they were trying to kill him. He knew the new king was not one of his offspring. So he consulted with advisors, found out about the prophecy, and determined to find this usurper to his power.
After a journey of about 1300 miles into a foreign country, the Magi found Mary, Joseph and the child who was approximately two. What went through the minds of these aristocrats as they met this peasant couple of a different race and religion? The gifts they brought imply a legitimising of the rule of this king. They were not Jewish. They were foreigners, Gentiles, considered pagan. If you look closely at your Christmas cards, you might see that tradition has one of them African, one Asian, and one Caucasian. Nowhere in the text does it say there were three - there could have been more.
Magi, rich and influential Zoroastrian priests, scholars and astrologers - made a pilgrimage to a town in a country more than a thousand miles from their home. They saw a convergence of celestial phenomena which they believed heralded the birth of a new king, perhaps even a new kind of king. They travelled an incredible distance, even by today’s reckonings, found the one they were seeking, and when they did presented incredibly expensive and significant gifts, and according to Matthew, worshipped the baby. They were not of the same faith as Jesus’ family, yet somehow what they found transcended any individual faith. Even these scholars and priests had an “Aha!” moment - in fact, a couple of them. They took a long journey to an unknown place, which in itself was full of learning; they stretched themselves in coming to find a child of Peace, yet one who was not of their faith at all; they saw through Herod’s schemes, and returned on a different road - another one they likely had not travelled before; they were changed people.
The whole Christmas story is full of “Aha!!” moments. Mary goes on a journey to visit her cousin Elizabeth, and realises that her pregnancy will change everything; Joseph, in an “Aha!” moment, goes on a journey of self-discovery, willing to fly in the face of religious tradition, and go against his own culture. Joseph and Mary set out on a journey together, as husband and wife - into unknown territory full of danger. They return to Nazareth and for a couple of years life is quiet. Then, unbeknownst to them, Herod meets some foreign priests and scholars looking for a child who they say will be King of the Jews, and he orders slaughter of all male children under two. Word of this edict filters down. Once again, Joseph has an “Aha!!” moment, takes Mary and Jesus - and they move again, this time into a foreign country - Egypt - where they live as immigrants. The Magi find them there.
Something happened to all the players in this story. All of them knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was no return to the same life, from the journeys they had taken. They were true pilgrims, because they were willing to set out on a long, long journey without knowing if they would even live. The Magi found what they were seeking, and left changed by their entire experience. Mary and Joseph were changed as well. They did not turn away these “pagans”, or refuse them because they were Gentiles. They welcomed the visitors and accepted the gifts.
Here, in a sense, is where Anna Murdock’s story comes in. We in the church have tended to be divided. When we look back in our history, we’ve discriminated against other branches of Christianity, and other faiths. Yet along the way we have also begun to realise we are all pilgrims, all on a journey of faith; we’ve begun to have “Aha!!!” moments of our own. Light is beginning to dawn, a little bit at a time. The whole church is on a journey into a foreign place, a place we have not existed before, where the Christian church is not the centre of faith, but part of something larger. It is unknown territory for us, and in this unknown territory we as individuals are changed.
So who are we, today? Who are the Magi today, who come seeking? Are we willing to set out on the road with them, looking for something we only think is happening? Are we true pilgrims, or nomads, or chameleons?
If we are pilgrims, then we are on this journey with all peoples of all faiths - and we owe it to those others, and to God, to have respect for the ways God is revealed in the world. Our religion should not be our God, but rather the means by which we find our God revealed in humanity. May it be so.
Sources
1. www.magijourney.com
2. http://nouspique.com/component/content/article/52/248-the-magi-today
3. Dr. Jody Seymour, Davdison United Methodist Church, North Carolina.
4. Anna Murdock, United Methodist lay leader.
It’s you, Bethlehem, in Judah’s land, no longer bringing up the rear.
From you will come the leader who will shepherd-rule my people, my Israel.”
Herod then arranged a secret meeting with the scholars. Pretending to be as devout as they were, he got them to tell him exactly when the birth-announcement star appeared. Then he told them the prophecy about Bethlehem, and said, “Go find this child. Leave no stone unturned. As soon as you find him, send word and I’ll join you at once in your worship.” Instructed by Herod, they set off. Then the star appeared again, the same star they had seen in the eastern skies. It led them on until it hovered over the house where the child lived. They could hardly contain themselves: They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time! They entered the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother. Overcome, they bowed before him, then opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh. In a dream, they were warned not to report back to Herod. So they left the territory without being seen, and returned to their own country by another way.
*****************************************************************************
A friend of mine, Anna Murdock, is a lay minister in the United Methodist Church. Anna says “My mother and brother are enjoying searching through old church records for pieces of family history. When I walked into Mom's house this evening, she handed me a piece of paper and said, "Sit down and read this. I want to watch your face." So I did. It was a bit of history of Society Baptist Church out in the country near the town where she lives. The church was organized in 1821 and some charter members are Mom's ancestors evidently. It lists some charges made against church members ...
Failing to abide by church's established doctrine; drinking; operating a moonshine still; cursing;
un-Christian conduct; and COMMUNING WITH METHODISTS!
Rev. Jody Seymour at Davidson United Methodist Church in North Carolina, says: “People who journey without being changed are nomads. People who change without going on a journey are chameleons. People who go on a journey and are changed by the journey are pilgrims.”
January 6, today, is Epiphany. Every year, the lectionary brings us the Magi. Every year we take all the elements of three years’ worth of biblical story and scrunch it down into roughly six weeks - four of Advent, one for Christmas, and one for Epiphany. We tend to forget that this was a story played out over several years, and with many layers of meaning.
The Greek historian Herodotus cites the Magi as Medeans living in Persia, which at the time of Jesus’ birth was part of the Parthian Empire. They were scientists, priests, astrologers, and existed for around five thousand years; they were almost certainly Zoroastrians. They were not just 'wise men,' but an entire social class of priests and sages.
“They were the center of spiritual-political authority through the ages of several great empires. They interpreted dreams and were responsible for sacred rituals, including animal sacrifices. The Magi may have even been responsible for crowning any new ruler who came to power. If true, then to be crowned without the favor of the Magi would jeopardize the legitimacy of any king.
The Magi believed that the stars could be used to predict the birth of great rulers. They believed that the next great ruler was about to be born: the "king of the Jews." But even so, why visit the newborn king of a foreign nation? It is not implausible to assume that the main intention of the Magi was diplomatic in origin. If a new king had been born, it would prove useful to pay tribute to him and his family. They may have assumed that Herod, the ruler of Judea and Palestine, had produced a son, an heir to his seat of power, who would exceed his father's legacy by leaps and bounds. Rome and Parthia were the two "superpowers" of the era, and Palestine was a significant part of the political view.”
Well, what did they find in Jerusalem? Herod had syphilis, was paranoid and almost dead. There was a laundry list of people happy to take his place, and help him along to the next world if need be. He had killed his previous wife and several sons out of suspicion that they were trying to kill him. He knew the new king was not one of his offspring. So he consulted with advisors, found out about the prophecy, and determined to find this usurper to his power.
After a journey of about 1300 miles into a foreign country, the Magi found Mary, Joseph and the child who was approximately two. What went through the minds of these aristocrats as they met this peasant couple of a different race and religion? The gifts they brought imply a legitimising of the rule of this king. They were not Jewish. They were foreigners, Gentiles, considered pagan. If you look closely at your Christmas cards, you might see that tradition has one of them African, one Asian, and one Caucasian. Nowhere in the text does it say there were three - there could have been more.
Magi, rich and influential Zoroastrian priests, scholars and astrologers - made a pilgrimage to a town in a country more than a thousand miles from their home. They saw a convergence of celestial phenomena which they believed heralded the birth of a new king, perhaps even a new kind of king. They travelled an incredible distance, even by today’s reckonings, found the one they were seeking, and when they did presented incredibly expensive and significant gifts, and according to Matthew, worshipped the baby. They were not of the same faith as Jesus’ family, yet somehow what they found transcended any individual faith. Even these scholars and priests had an “Aha!” moment - in fact, a couple of them. They took a long journey to an unknown place, which in itself was full of learning; they stretched themselves in coming to find a child of Peace, yet one who was not of their faith at all; they saw through Herod’s schemes, and returned on a different road - another one they likely had not travelled before; they were changed people.
The whole Christmas story is full of “Aha!!” moments. Mary goes on a journey to visit her cousin Elizabeth, and realises that her pregnancy will change everything; Joseph, in an “Aha!” moment, goes on a journey of self-discovery, willing to fly in the face of religious tradition, and go against his own culture. Joseph and Mary set out on a journey together, as husband and wife - into unknown territory full of danger. They return to Nazareth and for a couple of years life is quiet. Then, unbeknownst to them, Herod meets some foreign priests and scholars looking for a child who they say will be King of the Jews, and he orders slaughter of all male children under two. Word of this edict filters down. Once again, Joseph has an “Aha!!” moment, takes Mary and Jesus - and they move again, this time into a foreign country - Egypt - where they live as immigrants. The Magi find them there.
Something happened to all the players in this story. All of them knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was no return to the same life, from the journeys they had taken. They were true pilgrims, because they were willing to set out on a long, long journey without knowing if they would even live. The Magi found what they were seeking, and left changed by their entire experience. Mary and Joseph were changed as well. They did not turn away these “pagans”, or refuse them because they were Gentiles. They welcomed the visitors and accepted the gifts.
Here, in a sense, is where Anna Murdock’s story comes in. We in the church have tended to be divided. When we look back in our history, we’ve discriminated against other branches of Christianity, and other faiths. Yet along the way we have also begun to realise we are all pilgrims, all on a journey of faith; we’ve begun to have “Aha!!!” moments of our own. Light is beginning to dawn, a little bit at a time. The whole church is on a journey into a foreign place, a place we have not existed before, where the Christian church is not the centre of faith, but part of something larger. It is unknown territory for us, and in this unknown territory we as individuals are changed.
So who are we, today? Who are the Magi today, who come seeking? Are we willing to set out on the road with them, looking for something we only think is happening? Are we true pilgrims, or nomads, or chameleons?
If we are pilgrims, then we are on this journey with all peoples of all faiths - and we owe it to those others, and to God, to have respect for the ways God is revealed in the world. Our religion should not be our God, but rather the means by which we find our God revealed in humanity. May it be so.
Sources
1. www.magijourney.com
2. http://nouspique.com/component/content/article/52/248-the-magi-today
3. Dr. Jody Seymour, Davdison United Methodist Church, North Carolina.
4. Anna Murdock, United Methodist lay leader.
Monday, December 24, 2012
“Nothing But a Child” based on Luke 2:1-20 Christmas Eve Humber United Church
Waiting for Christmas. Especially as children, throughout December, it seemed like nothing but just waiting for Christmas. Waiting is a hard thing to do when you’re a child - well, hard for all of us. Waiting has a strange dynamic. The more you wait the longer time stretches. It’s like when your eyes are glued to the clock, time just won’t pass - or you stand drumming your fingers, waiting for the kettle to boil.
Waiting is not one of our cultural virtues. We want what we want and want it now. No money? No problem. Charge it. Who saves for something they want any more? Have you ever done this? I have - picking up two cheeseburgers and fries at one of those fast-food places, trying to eat while driving, steering the car with my knees. Yet we know, that getting food fast and eating fast is actually not good for our health. The process of waiting for food includes sitting down at a table, studying the menu, smelling the food. One of the things I love most about being in Portugal and Spain is that every place has olives and bread on the table to nibble on, and engage in conversation, waiting for the meal to come. Waiting - good for your health.
Would Christmas be half as much fun if we just skipped all of Advent? Would we take any time to pause and do some reflection about the meaning of Christmas? Jesuit priest William Lynch says there are two kinds of waiting: first, the “nothing else to do” kind, where the world thinks it is up to God to make a move now. People go through each day doing ordinary things while worrying about the future - and this is the place where we find despair, helplessness, and confusion - and we get the people who pick up on something as obscure as a round stone that the Mayans used as a calendar, that stops at December 21, 2012 - and right away we think it means the world is coming to a literal end.
It's like throwing up your arms and saying, everything's so corrupt that we just have to wait for the tide to turn. "We keep on waiting for the world to change." It almost sounds like an appeal to a higher source, a prayer to God for help.
Wait a minute...God already did help....that’s why we are here tonight. An angel appeared and said "I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A baby has just been born in David's home town, a Savior who is Messiah."
The Messiah has already come, and continues to come. God's peace and goodwill has been declared to the world. This is not a message of passive waiting for God just to wave a wand and everything will come right. This is the second kind of waiting.
The second kind of waiting is based on expectation.. It's an active waiting, like preparing for visitors who are already on the way to see us. The house needs to be cleaned, food needs to be prepared. What we're waiting for is imminent, in that it’s just about to happen - but also immanent, already here in part.
Tonight we hear Oliver sing "O Holy Night", written by French poet Placide Cappeau in 1847:
Truly he taught us to love one another, his law is love and his gospel is peace.
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother, and in his name all oppression shall cease.
Amazing - written one year before the French abolition of slavery, and the American Emancipation Declaration by almost 16 years. Cappeau had an expectant kind of waiting, and an active waiting. God was actively at work in the world for the full realization of the coming realm, and it was to come in the birth of a child. Nothing but a child..
Not everybody sees the magnitude of what Cappeau saw. We’ve made Christmas about being busy, partly so the waiting will go faster, partly because our culture tells us we have to, but the “busy” often wears us out. We miss the best part; taking part in this birth.
In this story from Luke, the world is invited to reflect on the birth through the eyes of faith. God is pushing us to look, to see the miracle, the hope tied up in a child. Nothing but a child - and yet in a child, the hopes and fears of all the years are met. In the birth of every baby, Jesus is born again, and in the birth of Jesus, the hopes and the fears of all our years are met with faith.
“Nothing but a child could wash these tears away, or guide a weary world into the light of day. Nothing but a child could help erase these miles so once again we all can be children for awhile.
Now all around the world, in every little town, everyday is heard a precious little sound. Every mother kind and every father proud looks down in awe, to find another chance allowed.”
A small town, a young girl and a man, a baby - a gaggle of ragged toothless shepherds - and a choir of angels of every kind singing - the hopes and fears of all the years, are met - in nothing but a child. Nothing but a child, and yet everything wrapped up *in* this child, in every child. What an incredible gift to the world!
Sources:
1) Waiting on the World to Change, by Rev. Frank Schaefer, based on LKuke 2:6-12
2) "Images of Hope: Imagination as Healer of the Hopeless'' William F. Lynch, 1966
3) "O Holy Night" music by Adolphe Adam in 1847 to the French poem "Minuit, Chrétiens" by Placide Cappeau
Saturday, December 15, 2012
“Joy Shall Come” Philippians 4:4-7 “Rejoice in the Lord always.” Third Sunday of Advent, December 16, 2012, Humber United Church
May you always be joyful in your union with God. I say it again: rejoice! Show a gentle attitude toward everyone. God is coming soon. Don't be anxious about life around you, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking with a thankful heart. God's peace, which is far beyond human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe, in union with Jesus.
*************************************************************************
This isn’t the sermon I wrote earlier in the week. Just as the sermon was finished, news came of a horrendous shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Some of my colleagues thought that we should not light the candle of Joy today, as a way of remembering those people, including eighteen children - whose families will feel no joy this Christmas.
Others of us felt the opposite - that this is precisely the time when the candle of Joy should be lit. If we allow such things to even push us to stifle the light of faith, then the young man who did the shooting wins again. The passage from Philppians tells us to show a gentle attitude towards everyone; not to be bogged down in anxiety about life, but pray to |god for what is most needed, and pray with a thankful heart. Precisely what is needed in this tine is a message of peace, and the message that there will yet be joy, even in the face of such great and unspeakable sorrow.
Following the shootings, Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas, was interviewed on Fox News, and made this comment:
“It’s an interesting thing. We ask why there’s violence in our schools but we’ve systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage? Because we’ve made it a place where we do not want to talk about eternity, life, what responsibility means, accountability. That we’re not just going to have to be accountable to the police, if they catch us, but we stand one day before a holy God in judgment… Maybe we ought to let [God] in on the front end and we would not have to call him to show up when it’s all said and done at the back end.”
When I heard this comment, I had quite a strong, negative response, and in fact sent a message to Mr. Huckabee suggesting that his personal political agenda had not place in this time of great tragedy and grief for these parents. I’ve had to struggle with why the reaction to him was so strong.
One reason is that Huckabee’s argument is painfully crass. The odds are that this person suffered a personality disorder, or some deep grief of his own which took him to such a place of darkness.
According to media reports, Adam Lanza killed his mother and then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School, where he proceeded to kill 20 children and six adults before killing himself. To say that he went on this rampage because “God has been removed from our schools” is witless. A simple generic prayer at the beginning of the school day would not have prevented this young man from carrying out this act.
If he believes that removing God from schools took God’s protection from 20 children and seven adults, which resulted in their deaths, then he’s also theologically confused. Huckabee’a faith teaches that sometimes suffering and death are evidence of one’s devotion to God (see the fate of Jesus and almost every one of His disciples). Why were the victims people who had nothing to do with the offenses that so upset Huckabee? Why would anyone link the attacks to “removing God from our schools”, instead of linking indifference to the plight of the poor – a concern spoken about much more often in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament?
Was Mike Hucakbee more godly and Christian in his comments? Did his comments offer any compassion to these families? Or were they dismissed because there was no prayer every morning in that school?
The great writer C.S. Lewis was a novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland. Although raised an Anglican, he fell away from the church, and only began to deal with faith when he met the great Christian writer J.R. R. Tolkien. He held academic positions at both Oxford University, and at Cambridge University. He is best known for his fictional work, The Chronicles of Narnia, and for his non-fiction Christian writings, such as Mere Christianity, and Miracles. In 1947 Time magazine portrayed Lewis on its cover alongside a pitchforked, horned, and tailed devil. The magazine accused Lewis of heresy. His heresy, interestingly, was Christianity in a world gone awry. Lewis was a man of laughter and surprises, of jokes and joy. He had a ruddy face because he had a sunny heart. A publisher who collecting selections from Lewis’s works for a book, called it The Joyful Christian.
Yet Lewis knew pain. His wife, the American writer Joy Davidman, died a scant four years after their wedding. Lewis's book “A Grief Observed” describes his experience of bereavement. Throughout the months immediately following his wife’s death, he very candidly describes his resulting anger and bewilderment at God, his observations of his impressions of life and his world without her, and his process of moving in and out of stages of grieving and remembering her. Lewis exhibits doubt and asks fundamental questions of faith throughout the work. Because of his candid account of his grief and the doubts he voices, some of his admirers found it troubling. They were disinclined to believe that this Christian writer that they had grown to know and love could be so close to despair. They even thought that it might be a work of fiction. Others, such as Lewis’s critics, suggested that he was wisest when he was overcome with despair.
About four years ago the Atlanta Journal carried an article that which talks about depression, particularly around the holidays. Christmas is often a season of unmet expectations, because in some ways it touches the most idealized memories of our childhood; we get nostalgic over the loss of that time in our lives…over losing the ability to enter innocently into the joy of the season. The parties we thought would be great aren't; we see all sorts of ads on TV about toys and realize we can't get our kids everything they want. At Christmas dinner mom or dad gets drunk again, a family argument erupts, the car breaks down, a family member gets the flu and joy is sucked away.
Or, worse, a disturbed and violent young man takes two guns, shoots his own mother, and then goes into a school and simply begins shooting again.
But I have to say again, that it is precisely because this threatens to overwhelm us that we have to light the candle of Joy, and hold fast to that faith - to be gentle with others, to rejoice in God always. God does not cause such horrendous acts as some kind of punishment. The whole of Jesus’ life and message was that God does not behave in such a way. God has given human beings choices and will; sometimes the world around us becomes so heavy and unbearable that such atrocities can happen. God does not desire them, does not cause them.
The theme of joy surrounds the whole Christmas story, and it’s at this time that we can NOT let go of it. The angel said "I bring you good news of great joy" (Luke 2:10). Peter writes of the Jesus movement, "Though we do not see him now, we believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy" (1 Pet. 1:8). In the New Testament the word for "joy" occurs 60 times. The verb form, which means, "to rejoice" is used 72 times. If we do not see the New Testament as a book of joy, we fail to understand the message.
In our hymnbook, we have the wonderful chorus:
"You shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace;
the mountains and the hills will break forth before you,
there’ll be shouts of joy, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands."
On Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the Sundays following, we sing one of the greatest hymns of Isaac Watts. Watts was in poor health most of his life, and for the last thirty years was an invalid, unable to leave home. He could have been bitter, instead he wrote: "Joy to the world, the Lord is come, let earth receive her King”. He wrote it for Easter, but it has become such a part of the Christmas season, that it works in either. In fact, it works all the time.
There’s another one “While by the Sheep”....
While by the sheep we watched at night, glad tidings brought an angel bright.
How great our joy! Joy, joy, joy!
This gift of God we'll cherish well, that ever joy our hearts shall fill.
How great our joy! Joy, joy, joy!
And another one “Joy shall come, even to the wilderness.....”
I am sure those families in Newtown will feel as if joy has gone from the world. Our prayers go to all of them, to hold them in love. Our prayers must even go to the family of the young man, who will find no joy this Christmas. Yet for the Christian, it is Joy which is our theme in this season. Joy which comes from the knowledge of the love of God, the love which holds us in spite of ourselves, in spite of the things which happen in the world. Joy shall come, even to the wilderness......may it be so.
Sources:
1. Mars Hill Review 8 (Summer 1997) “Joy and Sehnsucht: The Laughter and Longings of C.S. Lewis” by Terry Lindvall
2. Sermon “All I Want for Christmas”, by Rev. Steve Jackson, New Song Church, 230 Elm Street, Cumming, Georgia. Dec. 2000.
3. Voices United 884 “You shall go out with joy”
4. “While by the Sheep”, Traditional German carol, Nach Friedrich von Spee.
5. Comments re: Mike Huckabee, from a blog by Peter Wehner, senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Previously worked in the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush.
*************************************************************************
This isn’t the sermon I wrote earlier in the week. Just as the sermon was finished, news came of a horrendous shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Some of my colleagues thought that we should not light the candle of Joy today, as a way of remembering those people, including eighteen children - whose families will feel no joy this Christmas.
Others of us felt the opposite - that this is precisely the time when the candle of Joy should be lit. If we allow such things to even push us to stifle the light of faith, then the young man who did the shooting wins again. The passage from Philppians tells us to show a gentle attitude towards everyone; not to be bogged down in anxiety about life, but pray to |god for what is most needed, and pray with a thankful heart. Precisely what is needed in this tine is a message of peace, and the message that there will yet be joy, even in the face of such great and unspeakable sorrow.
Following the shootings, Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas, was interviewed on Fox News, and made this comment:
“It’s an interesting thing. We ask why there’s violence in our schools but we’ve systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage? Because we’ve made it a place where we do not want to talk about eternity, life, what responsibility means, accountability. That we’re not just going to have to be accountable to the police, if they catch us, but we stand one day before a holy God in judgment… Maybe we ought to let [God] in on the front end and we would not have to call him to show up when it’s all said and done at the back end.”
When I heard this comment, I had quite a strong, negative response, and in fact sent a message to Mr. Huckabee suggesting that his personal political agenda had not place in this time of great tragedy and grief for these parents. I’ve had to struggle with why the reaction to him was so strong.
One reason is that Huckabee’s argument is painfully crass. The odds are that this person suffered a personality disorder, or some deep grief of his own which took him to such a place of darkness.
According to media reports, Adam Lanza killed his mother and then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School, where he proceeded to kill 20 children and six adults before killing himself. To say that he went on this rampage because “God has been removed from our schools” is witless. A simple generic prayer at the beginning of the school day would not have prevented this young man from carrying out this act.
If he believes that removing God from schools took God’s protection from 20 children and seven adults, which resulted in their deaths, then he’s also theologically confused. Huckabee’a faith teaches that sometimes suffering and death are evidence of one’s devotion to God (see the fate of Jesus and almost every one of His disciples). Why were the victims people who had nothing to do with the offenses that so upset Huckabee? Why would anyone link the attacks to “removing God from our schools”, instead of linking indifference to the plight of the poor – a concern spoken about much more often in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament?
Was Mike Hucakbee more godly and Christian in his comments? Did his comments offer any compassion to these families? Or were they dismissed because there was no prayer every morning in that school?
The great writer C.S. Lewis was a novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland. Although raised an Anglican, he fell away from the church, and only began to deal with faith when he met the great Christian writer J.R. R. Tolkien. He held academic positions at both Oxford University, and at Cambridge University. He is best known for his fictional work, The Chronicles of Narnia, and for his non-fiction Christian writings, such as Mere Christianity, and Miracles. In 1947 Time magazine portrayed Lewis on its cover alongside a pitchforked, horned, and tailed devil. The magazine accused Lewis of heresy. His heresy, interestingly, was Christianity in a world gone awry. Lewis was a man of laughter and surprises, of jokes and joy. He had a ruddy face because he had a sunny heart. A publisher who collecting selections from Lewis’s works for a book, called it The Joyful Christian.
Yet Lewis knew pain. His wife, the American writer Joy Davidman, died a scant four years after their wedding. Lewis's book “A Grief Observed” describes his experience of bereavement. Throughout the months immediately following his wife’s death, he very candidly describes his resulting anger and bewilderment at God, his observations of his impressions of life and his world without her, and his process of moving in and out of stages of grieving and remembering her. Lewis exhibits doubt and asks fundamental questions of faith throughout the work. Because of his candid account of his grief and the doubts he voices, some of his admirers found it troubling. They were disinclined to believe that this Christian writer that they had grown to know and love could be so close to despair. They even thought that it might be a work of fiction. Others, such as Lewis’s critics, suggested that he was wisest when he was overcome with despair.
About four years ago the Atlanta Journal carried an article that which talks about depression, particularly around the holidays. Christmas is often a season of unmet expectations, because in some ways it touches the most idealized memories of our childhood; we get nostalgic over the loss of that time in our lives…over losing the ability to enter innocently into the joy of the season. The parties we thought would be great aren't; we see all sorts of ads on TV about toys and realize we can't get our kids everything they want. At Christmas dinner mom or dad gets drunk again, a family argument erupts, the car breaks down, a family member gets the flu and joy is sucked away.
Or, worse, a disturbed and violent young man takes two guns, shoots his own mother, and then goes into a school and simply begins shooting again.
But I have to say again, that it is precisely because this threatens to overwhelm us that we have to light the candle of Joy, and hold fast to that faith - to be gentle with others, to rejoice in God always. God does not cause such horrendous acts as some kind of punishment. The whole of Jesus’ life and message was that God does not behave in such a way. God has given human beings choices and will; sometimes the world around us becomes so heavy and unbearable that such atrocities can happen. God does not desire them, does not cause them.
The theme of joy surrounds the whole Christmas story, and it’s at this time that we can NOT let go of it. The angel said "I bring you good news of great joy" (Luke 2:10). Peter writes of the Jesus movement, "Though we do not see him now, we believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy" (1 Pet. 1:8). In the New Testament the word for "joy" occurs 60 times. The verb form, which means, "to rejoice" is used 72 times. If we do not see the New Testament as a book of joy, we fail to understand the message.
In our hymnbook, we have the wonderful chorus:
"You shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace;
the mountains and the hills will break forth before you,
there’ll be shouts of joy, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands."
On Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the Sundays following, we sing one of the greatest hymns of Isaac Watts. Watts was in poor health most of his life, and for the last thirty years was an invalid, unable to leave home. He could have been bitter, instead he wrote: "Joy to the world, the Lord is come, let earth receive her King”. He wrote it for Easter, but it has become such a part of the Christmas season, that it works in either. In fact, it works all the time.
There’s another one “While by the Sheep”....
While by the sheep we watched at night, glad tidings brought an angel bright.
How great our joy! Joy, joy, joy!
This gift of God we'll cherish well, that ever joy our hearts shall fill.
How great our joy! Joy, joy, joy!
And another one “Joy shall come, even to the wilderness.....”
I am sure those families in Newtown will feel as if joy has gone from the world. Our prayers go to all of them, to hold them in love. Our prayers must even go to the family of the young man, who will find no joy this Christmas. Yet for the Christian, it is Joy which is our theme in this season. Joy which comes from the knowledge of the love of God, the love which holds us in spite of ourselves, in spite of the things which happen in the world. Joy shall come, even to the wilderness......may it be so.
Sources:
1. Mars Hill Review 8 (Summer 1997) “Joy and Sehnsucht: The Laughter and Longings of C.S. Lewis” by Terry Lindvall
2. Sermon “All I Want for Christmas”, by Rev. Steve Jackson, New Song Church, 230 Elm Street, Cumming, Georgia. Dec. 2000.
3. Voices United 884 “You shall go out with joy”
4. “While by the Sheep”, Traditional German carol, Nach Friedrich von Spee.
5. Comments re: Mike Huckabee, from a blog by Peter Wehner, senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Previously worked in the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Who is In??? Luke 3:1-6 Acts 5:4-11 Humber United Church Second Sunday of Advent December 9, 2012
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene - during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. All people will see God’s salvation.’”
Acts
When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them. Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.” The apostles and elders met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that they were accepted, by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as was done for us. God did not discriminate between us and them, for their hearts were purified by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that they are saved, just as we are.”
***********************************************************************
Remember the outcry when women were to be ordained in the church? It was indeed fearsome to behold. If women were going to be ordained, the whole Christian movement would go to hell in a handbasket. Yet, today most mainline Protestant denominations have ordained women.
Two of the kinder arguments used were that Jesus didn’t ordain any women, that women were not as smart as men. The less kind argument was that women could not possibly be a reflection of Jesus - and the Bible was used as a kind of proof. Well, technically Jesus didn’t ordain any men either! The Bible does tells us that Jesus called women as well as men to be his disciples. Luke’s Gospel tells us of the women and men who travelled together with Jesus - and the women provided the money. The Book of Acts tells us of the women who led churches. The first witnesses at Easter were Mary Magdalene and her friends. Genesis, in the creation story, says both male and female were created in the image of God, and it’s interesting that the Catholic Catechism also says that both men and women are made equally in God’s image.
During the 12-13C CE, the Cathars, also called Albigensians by Rome, lived in the area of Languedoc, in southeastern France, bordering on Spain. The Cathars rejected any idea of priesthood or the use of church buildings. They divided into ordinary believers who led ordinary lives, and an inner group of Parfaits (men) and Parfaites (women) who led ascetic lives, but worked for their living - generally in itinerant manual trades like weaving. Men and women were regarded as equals; there was no doctrinal objection to contraception, euthanasia or suicide. By the early thirteenth century Catharism was probably the majority religion in the area, supported by the nobility as well as the common people. Not only did many Catholics, priests included, defect to the Cathars, but the group refused to pay tithes to Rome. Accusing the Cathars of heresy, Pope Innocent III instituted a Crusade against the Cathars, and by the end over 500,000 people, Cathar and non-Cathar alike, had been killed.
We of a certain age can remember even further back, when blacks were not considered people, could not worship in a white church, or eat in restaurants for whites, or use the same washrooms, or shop in the same stores, or live in the same parts of town as whites. In 1980, when Norio and I visited friends in Maryland, they told us that selling their house to blacks would mean the value of homes in the whole area would go down.
Many of us remember the debates over the admission of gays and lesbians to ordained ministry in the church in 1988. At the national office, I often found letters on my desk, accusing gays of having sex with animals, and all kinds of depraved behaviours. At General Council in Camrose, Alberta in 1997 - bags of dog poop were left on the chairs of people who were either suspected of being gay, or supported gay ordination. These things were always done either overnight, or early enough in the morning that no-one saw who it was.
Well, less than 20 years after the Pentecost experience, Paul and Barnabas faced similar challenges. It is a fact of human living that as long as there are institutions, and churches, and societies - there will always be arguments about who is “in” and who isn’t. Acts 5 records the most controversial, and the most pivotal event in the life of the early church. It called into question whether or not the new “church” was a Jewish reform movement, an independent sect, or was a wider movement where all barriers had been removed. There had already been other arguments about food, and practices foreign to the Jewish church. Following his conversion, Paul had visited Jerusalem, met Peter and James, caused a stir there among the Jews, been shipped off to Caesarea and then home to Tarsus. He spent the next eleven years in Cilicia and Syria. Around 40-41 CE rumours of Greek converts in Antioch went around, and the Jerusalem church sent Barnabas to check it out.
Barnabas got on board, and together with Paul became pastor of a new church which was young, dynamic, and mostly Greek converts. The church in Jerusalem was strongly Jewish, and steeped in the Jewish traditions. The church leaders in Jerusalem thought that any Gentiles who wanted to follow Jesus had to become Jews first, by being circumcised. They could buy the idea that proselytes to Judaism like Cornelius could receive the Holy Spirit, for he was already a "God fearer", but accepting out and out pagans from another place and culture was a different matter. Its wasn't long before this issue came to a head.
On the first journey Paul and Barnabas witnessed to Jews and Gentiles alike. They founded churches in Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe in the Southern region of the province of Galatia. Increasingly, it was the Gentiles who believed. The Jews got jealous and incited the rabble, and the authorities, to throw the apostles out of each town, one after another. When the dust had settled, and their visas were running out they turned round and worked their way back to the coast visiting each of these newly formed churches, and appointed leadership teams. Eventually they returned to home base, Antioch in Syria, tired but fully convinced of the rightness of their strategy. The hostility of the Jews, the responsiveness of the Gentiles, and the evidence of the filling of the Holy Spirit convinced them that it was the grace of the Spirit, not religious law or text.
In the Acts text, the words of some believers who were Pharisees insisted that new believers must be circumcised and require to obey the Law of Moses. Peter points out that God made the choice that the Gentiles would hear the message; that God had given them the Spirit, and that God made no distinction between Jew and Gentile. And Peter asks “Why do you put God to the test? We believe it is by the grace of the Spirit that they are saved, just as we are.”
If we are Christians, that means we are followers of Jesus, and that means we are followers of the most radical and inclusive way. That’s the message about preparing the way - preparing your heart, opening it to the Spirit. Everyone receives wisdom and Spirit from God, regardless of race, language, age, gender, or sexuality. Paul says God makes no distinctions. There is no “in” and “out”. Being inclusive means recognising the gifts that the Spirit has given to all people. May it be so.
Sources:
1. Sermon by Rev. Stephen Sizer, www.cc-vw.org/sermons/ibsacts15.htm
2. www.catholic-womens-ordination.org.uk/old-site/against.htm
3. http://www.cathar.info/
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. All people will see God’s salvation.’”
Acts
When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them. Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.” The apostles and elders met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that they were accepted, by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as was done for us. God did not discriminate between us and them, for their hearts were purified by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that they are saved, just as we are.”
***********************************************************************
Remember the outcry when women were to be ordained in the church? It was indeed fearsome to behold. If women were going to be ordained, the whole Christian movement would go to hell in a handbasket. Yet, today most mainline Protestant denominations have ordained women.
Two of the kinder arguments used were that Jesus didn’t ordain any women, that women were not as smart as men. The less kind argument was that women could not possibly be a reflection of Jesus - and the Bible was used as a kind of proof. Well, technically Jesus didn’t ordain any men either! The Bible does tells us that Jesus called women as well as men to be his disciples. Luke’s Gospel tells us of the women and men who travelled together with Jesus - and the women provided the money. The Book of Acts tells us of the women who led churches. The first witnesses at Easter were Mary Magdalene and her friends. Genesis, in the creation story, says both male and female were created in the image of God, and it’s interesting that the Catholic Catechism also says that both men and women are made equally in God’s image.
During the 12-13C CE, the Cathars, also called Albigensians by Rome, lived in the area of Languedoc, in southeastern France, bordering on Spain. The Cathars rejected any idea of priesthood or the use of church buildings. They divided into ordinary believers who led ordinary lives, and an inner group of Parfaits (men) and Parfaites (women) who led ascetic lives, but worked for their living - generally in itinerant manual trades like weaving. Men and women were regarded as equals; there was no doctrinal objection to contraception, euthanasia or suicide. By the early thirteenth century Catharism was probably the majority religion in the area, supported by the nobility as well as the common people. Not only did many Catholics, priests included, defect to the Cathars, but the group refused to pay tithes to Rome. Accusing the Cathars of heresy, Pope Innocent III instituted a Crusade against the Cathars, and by the end over 500,000 people, Cathar and non-Cathar alike, had been killed.
We of a certain age can remember even further back, when blacks were not considered people, could not worship in a white church, or eat in restaurants for whites, or use the same washrooms, or shop in the same stores, or live in the same parts of town as whites. In 1980, when Norio and I visited friends in Maryland, they told us that selling their house to blacks would mean the value of homes in the whole area would go down.
Many of us remember the debates over the admission of gays and lesbians to ordained ministry in the church in 1988. At the national office, I often found letters on my desk, accusing gays of having sex with animals, and all kinds of depraved behaviours. At General Council in Camrose, Alberta in 1997 - bags of dog poop were left on the chairs of people who were either suspected of being gay, or supported gay ordination. These things were always done either overnight, or early enough in the morning that no-one saw who it was.
Well, less than 20 years after the Pentecost experience, Paul and Barnabas faced similar challenges. It is a fact of human living that as long as there are institutions, and churches, and societies - there will always be arguments about who is “in” and who isn’t. Acts 5 records the most controversial, and the most pivotal event in the life of the early church. It called into question whether or not the new “church” was a Jewish reform movement, an independent sect, or was a wider movement where all barriers had been removed. There had already been other arguments about food, and practices foreign to the Jewish church. Following his conversion, Paul had visited Jerusalem, met Peter and James, caused a stir there among the Jews, been shipped off to Caesarea and then home to Tarsus. He spent the next eleven years in Cilicia and Syria. Around 40-41 CE rumours of Greek converts in Antioch went around, and the Jerusalem church sent Barnabas to check it out.
Barnabas got on board, and together with Paul became pastor of a new church which was young, dynamic, and mostly Greek converts. The church in Jerusalem was strongly Jewish, and steeped in the Jewish traditions. The church leaders in Jerusalem thought that any Gentiles who wanted to follow Jesus had to become Jews first, by being circumcised. They could buy the idea that proselytes to Judaism like Cornelius could receive the Holy Spirit, for he was already a "God fearer", but accepting out and out pagans from another place and culture was a different matter. Its wasn't long before this issue came to a head.
On the first journey Paul and Barnabas witnessed to Jews and Gentiles alike. They founded churches in Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe in the Southern region of the province of Galatia. Increasingly, it was the Gentiles who believed. The Jews got jealous and incited the rabble, and the authorities, to throw the apostles out of each town, one after another. When the dust had settled, and their visas were running out they turned round and worked their way back to the coast visiting each of these newly formed churches, and appointed leadership teams. Eventually they returned to home base, Antioch in Syria, tired but fully convinced of the rightness of their strategy. The hostility of the Jews, the responsiveness of the Gentiles, and the evidence of the filling of the Holy Spirit convinced them that it was the grace of the Spirit, not religious law or text.
In the Acts text, the words of some believers who were Pharisees insisted that new believers must be circumcised and require to obey the Law of Moses. Peter points out that God made the choice that the Gentiles would hear the message; that God had given them the Spirit, and that God made no distinction between Jew and Gentile. And Peter asks “Why do you put God to the test? We believe it is by the grace of the Spirit that they are saved, just as we are.”
If we are Christians, that means we are followers of Jesus, and that means we are followers of the most radical and inclusive way. That’s the message about preparing the way - preparing your heart, opening it to the Spirit. Everyone receives wisdom and Spirit from God, regardless of race, language, age, gender, or sexuality. Paul says God makes no distinctions. There is no “in” and “out”. Being inclusive means recognising the gifts that the Spirit has given to all people. May it be so.
Sources:
1. Sermon by Rev. Stephen Sizer, www.cc-vw.org/sermons/ibsacts15.htm
2. www.catholic-womens-ordination.org.uk/old-site/against.htm
3. http://www.cathar.info/
Saturday, December 1, 2012
“Looking for Light” a sermon based on Luke 21:25-36 Humber United Church Corner Brook, Newfoundland
“There will be strange things happening to the sun, the moon, and the stars. On earth whole countries will be in despair, afraid of the roar of the sea and the raging tides. People will faint from fear as they wait for what is coming over the whole earth, for the powers in space will be driven from their courses. Then the Son of Man will appear, coming in a cloud with great power and glory. When these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your salvation is near.” Then Jesus told them this parable: “Think of the fig tree and all the other trees. When you see their leaves beginning to appear, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, you will know that the Kingdom of God is about to come.
“Remember that all these things will take place before the people now living have all died. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pas away. Be careful not to let yourselves become occupied with too much feasting and drinking and with the worries of this life, or that Day may suddenly catch you like a trap. For it will come upon all people everywhere on earth. Be on watch and pray always that you will have the strength to go safely through all those things that will happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”
******************************************************************************
Allow me to begin by wandering off into Christmas carols a little. There’s one which we love to sing that could be almost be called an advent hymn - I wonder if you can guess?
Here’s a couple of clues: It is loved by children and adults alike, it speaks about the coming of an important person, who knows us and our every action, someone who is good and loving and who expects us to be the same.
Did you get it?
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
“He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows if you’ve ben bad or good, so be good for goodness’sake:
Santa Claus, Sinterklaas, Saint Nicholas...the figure we have now derived from a person who lived in southwestern Turkey in the 4th century. Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra, and he was credited with miracles involving sailors and children. After his death he became the patron saint of sailors, children, and unmarried girls. Historically, feast days are given for saints, and so the "feast day"of Nicholas was celebrated on December 6th.
At about the same time Nicholas lived, Pope Julius I decided to establish a date for the celebration of the birth of Jesus. As the actual time of year for this event was unknown, the Pope decided to assign the holiday to December 25th. There had long been a pagan midwinter festival at this time of year and the Pope hoped to use the holiday to christianize the celebrations.
Eventually, Saint Nicholas's feast day also became associated with December 25th and his connection with Christmas was established. A tradition developed that he would supposedly visit homes on Christmas Eve and children would place nuts, apples, sweets and other items around the house to welcome him. In Holland, where the tradition was strongest., he became known as “Sinter Klass”, and after the tradition came to North America, the name gradually became "Sancte Claus." and then Santa Claus.
It’s interesting that the song summarises the Advent message in a secular way. In the movie “The Polar Express”, Santa refers to himself as a symbol of the spirit of Christmas. Here, in a song about Santa, is the essence of what today’s gospel tells us about being aware an ready to see Jesus..
What are some of the things which happen in our homes this time of year? The house was decorated, a tree trimmed, and baking shortbread, cakes, squares, and sugar cookies cut into
the shapes of trees and stars? And one other thing.....lights are put up. The history of decorating trees with lights comes form the 12th century, when candles were put on the branches of evergreen trees. The history of using light, in all our church celebrations, is much more. The coloured lights we put on the trees, and use to decorate our homes, come from a time in Christian history when Advent and Christmas were the season of light. In the Jewish year, the Season of Light, Hanukkah - also happens in December. It’s the time of year when the nights are the longest and darkest.
Jesus tells one of his hard stories again this week. He pairs a kind of foretelling of the earth in chaos, coming suddenly - and then he moves from there to a fig tree, which can look really totally dead - but begins to show leaves as the days change, and we know spring is around the corner, and there is a return of light.
I am not sure Jesus is saying be ready for the end of the world, although it sounds like that. I think he is saying what he said last week - that the coming of the Realm of God means an ending to the old way of life, and the beginning of a new way of living, and being human. - and he says we need to be ready for it.
“He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good, for goodness’ sake.” You know what - I don’t think this means “For goodness sake be good so Santa will bring gifts.”. I think it means be good, just because being good is the right thing to do. And “being good” is the way to stay alert, to look for the coming of Jesus, and the coming of the realm....
Just as we get all excited about the coming of Santa, we are also called to expect Jesus’ coming with the same energy, the same dedication, and indeed the same joy.
In fact, what we are doing here, with Advent is looking for light - light in the darkness, light which signifies the coming of something special, the light from the star the Magi followed - we’re looking for light to break into this world. We hang lights, light candles, pray for light. We come to services, looking for light - God’s light, the light of Jesus. We want that light to illuminate us - and Jesus says clearly we need to be ready
We are called to prepare ourselves for the gift of God to us, and the best way to prepare for that gift is what Advent is all about; not fear of what will happen if we are not prepared, but rather by learning to BE light - hope, peace, joy and love, and we use the candles and lights to remind us that we are “lights” too.
God sees us when we’re sleeping. God knows when we are awake. God knows what we do. God calls us to learn to be something else - the light of the coming realm of God. May we prepare, in this time of Advent, to be ready.
“Remember that all these things will take place before the people now living have all died. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pas away. Be careful not to let yourselves become occupied with too much feasting and drinking and with the worries of this life, or that Day may suddenly catch you like a trap. For it will come upon all people everywhere on earth. Be on watch and pray always that you will have the strength to go safely through all those things that will happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”
******************************************************************************
Allow me to begin by wandering off into Christmas carols a little. There’s one which we love to sing that could be almost be called an advent hymn - I wonder if you can guess?
Here’s a couple of clues: It is loved by children and adults alike, it speaks about the coming of an important person, who knows us and our every action, someone who is good and loving and who expects us to be the same.
Did you get it?
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
“He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows if you’ve ben bad or good, so be good for goodness’sake:
Santa Claus, Sinterklaas, Saint Nicholas...the figure we have now derived from a person who lived in southwestern Turkey in the 4th century. Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra, and he was credited with miracles involving sailors and children. After his death he became the patron saint of sailors, children, and unmarried girls. Historically, feast days are given for saints, and so the "feast day"of Nicholas was celebrated on December 6th.
At about the same time Nicholas lived, Pope Julius I decided to establish a date for the celebration of the birth of Jesus. As the actual time of year for this event was unknown, the Pope decided to assign the holiday to December 25th. There had long been a pagan midwinter festival at this time of year and the Pope hoped to use the holiday to christianize the celebrations.
Eventually, Saint Nicholas's feast day also became associated with December 25th and his connection with Christmas was established. A tradition developed that he would supposedly visit homes on Christmas Eve and children would place nuts, apples, sweets and other items around the house to welcome him. In Holland, where the tradition was strongest., he became known as “Sinter Klass”, and after the tradition came to North America, the name gradually became "Sancte Claus." and then Santa Claus.
It’s interesting that the song summarises the Advent message in a secular way. In the movie “The Polar Express”, Santa refers to himself as a symbol of the spirit of Christmas. Here, in a song about Santa, is the essence of what today’s gospel tells us about being aware an ready to see Jesus..
What are some of the things which happen in our homes this time of year? The house was decorated, a tree trimmed, and baking shortbread, cakes, squares, and sugar cookies cut into
the shapes of trees and stars? And one other thing.....lights are put up. The history of decorating trees with lights comes form the 12th century, when candles were put on the branches of evergreen trees. The history of using light, in all our church celebrations, is much more. The coloured lights we put on the trees, and use to decorate our homes, come from a time in Christian history when Advent and Christmas were the season of light. In the Jewish year, the Season of Light, Hanukkah - also happens in December. It’s the time of year when the nights are the longest and darkest.
Jesus tells one of his hard stories again this week. He pairs a kind of foretelling of the earth in chaos, coming suddenly - and then he moves from there to a fig tree, which can look really totally dead - but begins to show leaves as the days change, and we know spring is around the corner, and there is a return of light.
I am not sure Jesus is saying be ready for the end of the world, although it sounds like that. I think he is saying what he said last week - that the coming of the Realm of God means an ending to the old way of life, and the beginning of a new way of living, and being human. - and he says we need to be ready for it.
“He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good, for goodness’ sake.” You know what - I don’t think this means “For goodness sake be good so Santa will bring gifts.”. I think it means be good, just because being good is the right thing to do. And “being good” is the way to stay alert, to look for the coming of Jesus, and the coming of the realm....
Just as we get all excited about the coming of Santa, we are also called to expect Jesus’ coming with the same energy, the same dedication, and indeed the same joy.
In fact, what we are doing here, with Advent is looking for light - light in the darkness, light which signifies the coming of something special, the light from the star the Magi followed - we’re looking for light to break into this world. We hang lights, light candles, pray for light. We come to services, looking for light - God’s light, the light of Jesus. We want that light to illuminate us - and Jesus says clearly we need to be ready
We are called to prepare ourselves for the gift of God to us, and the best way to prepare for that gift is what Advent is all about; not fear of what will happen if we are not prepared, but rather by learning to BE light - hope, peace, joy and love, and we use the candles and lights to remind us that we are “lights” too.
God sees us when we’re sleeping. God knows when we are awake. God knows what we do. God calls us to learn to be something else - the light of the coming realm of God. May we prepare, in this time of Advent, to be ready.
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