Spiritual Double Talk
Luke 6: 17-26
Opening:
Church Blooper Announcements [Best read by a leader from the church in the manner of making genuine announcements in church.]
1. The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.
2. Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church.
3. For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery.
4. Tuesday at 4:00 PM there will be an ice cream social, featuring homemade ice-cream. All ladies giving milk will please come early.
5. With Easter Sunday approaching, we will be asking volunteers to come forward and lay eggs on the alter.
6. Next Sunday a special collection will be taken to defray the cost of new carpet. All those wishing to do something on the carpet please do so on your way out.
7. The ladies of the church have given up their clothing for this year’s fund raiser. Members of the church may get a sneak peek at them on the Friday prior to the event.
8. Sandy is still in the hospital. She asked me to announce that she is having trouble sleeping and requests recordings of Pastor Rich’s sermons.
9. Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.
10. The stewardship committee unveiled the church's new giving campaign slogan: "I Upped My Pledge--Now Up Yours."
11. 8 new choir robes are currently needed, due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
12. Please don't forget this year’s rummage sale. Ladies, It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Don't forget your husbands.
13. The confirmation class will be presenting a dramatic Passion Play this year during Lent. The congregation is invited to come and see this tragedy.
Clearly by this list of church bulletin bloopers there is often a difference between what is said and what is heard. In fact much of what we say often has multiple meanings. Our English language is filled with idioms and expressions that mean different things in different contexts. Take the expression “getting ahead”. We use this expression often in our language, but its meaning is dependent upon context? In a conversation about financial matters, this means trying to pay off credit cards, or put more money in a savings account. In a conversation about professional success it has to do with advancing one’s self to a higher place within the company. But, when used by a person behind the wheel of a car it means to pass a slower moving vehicle. Often what we say has multiple meanings, and each different meaning is contingent upon the context. Within the context, we understand quite clearly the meaning behind what is being said, but from the outside looking/listening in, the meaning can be lost or confused.
The church often times struggles with this contextual confusion as well. Within the context of the church, couched in the language and the teaching, we have little problem understanding the message behind the words that are spoken in worship. But, to a person who is not part of the church, this may not be the case. Take for instance the words, “Take and eat, this is my body given for you.” Historically there is evidence to believe that in the early formation of the church, Roman unbelievers made claims that those Christians are cannibals.
So, as we continue to live into the mission of being a church for people who have no church, we need to be mindful in this day of how people hear what we insiders are saying.
But, this contextual understanding of things is not only for the language of worship. We might also want to be mindful of creating our own bulletin bloopers by assuming that newer members are aware of what is being announced. For instance; announcing an annual event with little explanation of what its for, or what’s expected from the volunteers leaves new people floundering to get involved because they do not have the needed insider information to translate the announcement.
Within the context, we understand quite clearly the message behind the words, but from outside the context we often can’t and this leads to confusion. This is true of God’s Word as well.
Gospel:
Jesus speaks God’s Word to a diverse crowd of people. Some came from Jerusalem [Jews], and some came from as far as Tyre and Sidon [Gentiles]. By Jesus’ message to them we can surmise that some were poor and hungry, while others were more affluent and well fed. Some were hated and excluded, while others were loved and received social praise. Some were grieving, while others were joyful. People of various different backgrounds, different religions, different stations in life. Of this motley crowd of different people, they all had one thing in common. Verse 18 says they all came to hear him and to be healed. And so, he spoke to them words of healing.
To the poor, the hungry, the broken-hearted, the outcast his words were like salve on their wounded souls.
Blessed are you .
But to the affluent and well fed, the socially acceptable, and those
currently experiencing joy, Jesus’ words would have sounded more like a bitter pill.
Woe to you.
So that there is no confusion, even though Jesus delivers his message in two parts (blessings and woes) the Word of God remains the same.
Beneath the surface of the list of blessings and woes is the same
Message—God’s love is for all.
It has been said that God’s Word, when properly proclaimed, will do two things. It will comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable. Those who heard God’s Word on that day as comfort probably remained as Jesus’ disciples. But, I wonder, what of the people who heard it as affliction? Did they hear it all? Or, did they ignore Jesus call to change their ways? Did they change their ways and follow him onward? The text doesn’t tell us.
Connection:
How do we hear God’s word? When we are in need, when we are threatened, when we are crying, when we are rejected, we hear God’s Word loud and clear. It comforts us, and we join the church, and we continue coming to church just as those who were in the crowd came to Jesus because they wanted to hear him and be healed. And we learn to believe and trust that whenever we are afflicted we can count on God to comfort us by His Word. In bad times, God’s Word is clear and we listen and we follow.
But, what about when times are good, when we are comfortable? Do we hear God challenging us to grow in discipleship, to remain faithful, to change our ways so that others less fortunate may be blessed?
Closing:
Fortunately, God’s Word comes to us in the life promised through the love of Jesus. Such that all of us who believe and are baptized are given freely this promise of God’s eternity.
Its important for us to remember then, that no matter if it challenges us or comforts us, God’s Word for us is always one of God’s love and care for His chosen people.
Therefore, no matter if we are comforted or afflicted by God’s Word we want to be listening and following.
I remember the person I once was. But, because of God’s love—both tough and tender— today I am thankful that I no longer recognize the person in those memories.
My guess is that you might be able to say the same thing about your relationship with God.
Words may mean different things to those who listen in from outside the context of the message, but to those of us within the context, the meaning of the words is most often very clear.
Remain then in relationship to God through Jesus, and when God’s Word is spoken to you, there will be no confusion.
God’s Word is not a blooper.
Let us pray…
Lord God, by your mercy keep us in relationship with you, that your Word would always be our guidance and comfort.
Amen
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
The One For All
The One For All
[Begin with a puzzle ball. Demonstrate how one piece holds it together.]
I have been asked to offer teaching and preaching on the question of whether or not the ELCA believes in universal salvation. The quick answer is yes. But, so that there is no confusion this belief in universal salvation is not the same as universalism. Universalism holds that all people will eventually be saved. Put another way; that all paths lead to God. This we do not hold to be true. There is only one path which leads to God, it is the path of Christ. There may be many twists and turns in this path, and we may encounter people who appear to be walking in the opposite direction as we are. Still, there is only one path. What we hold to be true is that God will judge us all. But, because of Jesus' death and resurrection, we believe that his judgment will be with grace and mercy, which is more powerful than his wrath. In the end, like the puzzle ball, we believe that this one single piece—the Good News of Jesus Christ—is what has the power to hold us all together in this world and in the next.
In today’s Gospel lesson, did you catch that one little moment in the text when God’s grace comes out? It’s very subtle, but its there. The disciples look at Jesus with Moses and Elijah, and they quickly want to build something. Then, God addresses them. “This is my Son. Listen to him!”
Since its beginning, based on New Testament texts, Christianity has made an exclusive claim: Jesus Christ is God’s only Son, sent to redeem the world. This claim has fueled, throughout history, innumerable mission endeavors aimed at proclaiming the Gospel message in order to "save" human beings who have not heard the story of salvation. In turn, these efforts have raised questions such as, "What about those who never heard, did not believe, weren’t reached, had no opportunity to hear the Gospel?" and "Will only Christians be saved?"
The traditional medieval Roman Catholic response was, "There is no salvation outside the Church." Protestants later rejected that claim and substituted their revised version of exclusiveness. Which was, "Apart from faith there is no salvation." Of course, this faith would come only from being baptized into the Christian faith upon hearing the claims of the preached Gospel. However, both Roman Catholics and Protestants provided various "loophole" theologies. There were second chances for those of "invincible ignorance" (Roman Catholic), or those "not accountable," e.g. infants, mentally retarded, etc. (Protestants). Others would assert that Jesus – the valid avenue for Christians – is only one of many ways that lead to the God of the universe, and that other religions possess equally valid paths to God.
Today, Lutheran theology asserts that all of these views are based on a defective understanding of the New Testament. Today, limiting God’s redemption by exclusivity or loopholes, or placing Christ in a pantheon of world saviors, demonstrates that, "Our thinking about Christ is too small." The ELCA acknowledges that, "In answer to John the Baptist’s question, 'Are you the one who is to come?' the Good News answer is 'yes, and we need not look for another.'" Nothing is more certain in the New Testament than its intention to picture Jesus in an utterly exclusive way, making this claim the heart of the Gospel, itself.
However, we understand the exclusivity of this claim in the way ELCA Lutherans approach all theological questions – by understanding God’s grace, God’s action in Christ.
The Christian hope for salvation, whether for the believing few or the unbelieving many, is grounded in the person and meaning of Christ alone, not in the potential of the world’s religions to save, nor in the moral seriousness of people of good will, not even in the good works of pious Christians and church people. ... There is a universalist thrust in the New Testament, particularly in Paul’s theology. How else can we read passages such as 'for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ'.
ELCA Lutherans hold that, Salvation in the New Testament is what God has done to death in the resurrection of Jesus. Salvation is what God has in store for you and me and the whole world in spite of death, solely on account of the living risen Christ. ... The universal scope of salvation in Christ includes the destiny of our bodies together with the whole earth and the whole of creation. This cosmic hope is based on the promise of eternal life sealed by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Through raising Jesus from the dead, God put death to death, overcoming the deadliest enemy of life at loose in the world. This hope for the final salvation of humanity and the eternal universal redemption of all things in heaven and on earth ... is drawn from the unlimited promise of the Gospel and the magnitude of God’s grace made known to the world through Christ."
But what of faith? Isn’t faith necessary for salvation? ELCA Lutherans proclaim, "To say we are saved by faith alone means we let God-in-Christ do all the saving that needs to be done, apart from any works we can perform. ... If I confess that God has saved me, a lost and condemned sinner, whom else can he not save? Faith is precisely awareness that God’s accepting love reaches out to all sinners, even to me. Faith is the opening of heart and mind to the universal grace and goodness of God." Therefore, to answer the frequestly asked question, "Are you saved?" The Lutheran can faithfuly proclaim with boldness, "Yes! Because Jesus died for me!"
For ELCA Lutherans, The special quality of Jesus’ uniqueness is best grasped in terms of his universal meaning. This concrete person, Jesus of Nazareth, is unique because of his unequaled universal significance. The point of his uniqueness underlines his universality. If Jesus is the Lord and Savior, he is the universal Lord and Savior, not merely my personal Lord and Savior. Because Jesus is the unique and universal Savior, there is a large hope for salvation, not only for me and others with the proper credentials of believing and belonging to the church, but for all people whenever or wherever they might have lived and no matter how religious or irreligious they may have proved to be themselves. This grace of God, given freely is offered to all.
The New Testament is full of warnings about substituting right words and doctrines as religious screens against the living word and will of God. Still, these warnings are not God’s last word. The final word is that God came to the world in Christ in order to redeem the world, and that nothing can come between God’s creation and God’s all-encompassing love. That is precisely how ELCA Lutherans understand Jesus' claim that, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me." (John 14:6) What God has done in Christ is done for all; God’s act in Christ is the way that all come to God. This Good News we are compelled to joyously share with all people: "God has acted in Christ, and you are the recipient of this loving act."
To those who often passionately argue that "while God offers grace and salvation to all, humans must accept it with deep repentance and a change of life," the ELCA cautions against making salvation into a work that we accomplish by our response to God’s offer. Rather, in our telling the Good News we pray that those who hear "will present" themselves "to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present their lives to God as instruments of righteousness".
Will, then, all people be saved in the end? We must say quite honestly, "We do not know the answer. That is stored up in the mystery of God’s own future. All God has let us know in advance is that he will judge the world according to the measure of his grace and love made known in Jesus Christ. What I can tell you with the assurance given to one of faith and trust in what God has done in Christ is that I am saved. My friends, you can claim this in faith as well. Furthermore, this invitation of the heart is given to all people because of what Christ has done. None of can know what God has in store for the other. But, we can and do know what God has in store for us.
Like the puzzle, there is One who was given for all. This One has the power to hold us all together. One who came to make known to all that God’s judgment is not of wrath and vengeance, but of grace, mercy and love. Therefore we can trust in him, and follow the path of his son, Jesus.
This message challenges us to live likewise in this pluralistic world; to judge not with wrath or vengeance, but with the same grace, mercy and love that God has already shown us by the death and resurrection of the One who is for all.
Amen
[Begin with a puzzle ball. Demonstrate how one piece holds it together.]
I have been asked to offer teaching and preaching on the question of whether or not the ELCA believes in universal salvation. The quick answer is yes. But, so that there is no confusion this belief in universal salvation is not the same as universalism. Universalism holds that all people will eventually be saved. Put another way; that all paths lead to God. This we do not hold to be true. There is only one path which leads to God, it is the path of Christ. There may be many twists and turns in this path, and we may encounter people who appear to be walking in the opposite direction as we are. Still, there is only one path. What we hold to be true is that God will judge us all. But, because of Jesus' death and resurrection, we believe that his judgment will be with grace and mercy, which is more powerful than his wrath. In the end, like the puzzle ball, we believe that this one single piece—the Good News of Jesus Christ—is what has the power to hold us all together in this world and in the next.
In today’s Gospel lesson, did you catch that one little moment in the text when God’s grace comes out? It’s very subtle, but its there. The disciples look at Jesus with Moses and Elijah, and they quickly want to build something. Then, God addresses them. “This is my Son. Listen to him!”
Since its beginning, based on New Testament texts, Christianity has made an exclusive claim: Jesus Christ is God’s only Son, sent to redeem the world. This claim has fueled, throughout history, innumerable mission endeavors aimed at proclaiming the Gospel message in order to "save" human beings who have not heard the story of salvation. In turn, these efforts have raised questions such as, "What about those who never heard, did not believe, weren’t reached, had no opportunity to hear the Gospel?" and "Will only Christians be saved?"
The traditional medieval Roman Catholic response was, "There is no salvation outside the Church." Protestants later rejected that claim and substituted their revised version of exclusiveness. Which was, "Apart from faith there is no salvation." Of course, this faith would come only from being baptized into the Christian faith upon hearing the claims of the preached Gospel. However, both Roman Catholics and Protestants provided various "loophole" theologies. There were second chances for those of "invincible ignorance" (Roman Catholic), or those "not accountable," e.g. infants, mentally retarded, etc. (Protestants). Others would assert that Jesus – the valid avenue for Christians – is only one of many ways that lead to the God of the universe, and that other religions possess equally valid paths to God.
Today, Lutheran theology asserts that all of these views are based on a defective understanding of the New Testament. Today, limiting God’s redemption by exclusivity or loopholes, or placing Christ in a pantheon of world saviors, demonstrates that, "Our thinking about Christ is too small." The ELCA acknowledges that, "In answer to John the Baptist’s question, 'Are you the one who is to come?' the Good News answer is 'yes, and we need not look for another.'" Nothing is more certain in the New Testament than its intention to picture Jesus in an utterly exclusive way, making this claim the heart of the Gospel, itself.
However, we understand the exclusivity of this claim in the way ELCA Lutherans approach all theological questions – by understanding God’s grace, God’s action in Christ.
The Christian hope for salvation, whether for the believing few or the unbelieving many, is grounded in the person and meaning of Christ alone, not in the potential of the world’s religions to save, nor in the moral seriousness of people of good will, not even in the good works of pious Christians and church people. ... There is a universalist thrust in the New Testament, particularly in Paul’s theology. How else can we read passages such as 'for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ'.
ELCA Lutherans hold that, Salvation in the New Testament is what God has done to death in the resurrection of Jesus. Salvation is what God has in store for you and me and the whole world in spite of death, solely on account of the living risen Christ. ... The universal scope of salvation in Christ includes the destiny of our bodies together with the whole earth and the whole of creation. This cosmic hope is based on the promise of eternal life sealed by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Through raising Jesus from the dead, God put death to death, overcoming the deadliest enemy of life at loose in the world. This hope for the final salvation of humanity and the eternal universal redemption of all things in heaven and on earth ... is drawn from the unlimited promise of the Gospel and the magnitude of God’s grace made known to the world through Christ."
But what of faith? Isn’t faith necessary for salvation? ELCA Lutherans proclaim, "To say we are saved by faith alone means we let God-in-Christ do all the saving that needs to be done, apart from any works we can perform. ... If I confess that God has saved me, a lost and condemned sinner, whom else can he not save? Faith is precisely awareness that God’s accepting love reaches out to all sinners, even to me. Faith is the opening of heart and mind to the universal grace and goodness of God." Therefore, to answer the frequestly asked question, "Are you saved?" The Lutheran can faithfuly proclaim with boldness, "Yes! Because Jesus died for me!"
For ELCA Lutherans, The special quality of Jesus’ uniqueness is best grasped in terms of his universal meaning. This concrete person, Jesus of Nazareth, is unique because of his unequaled universal significance. The point of his uniqueness underlines his universality. If Jesus is the Lord and Savior, he is the universal Lord and Savior, not merely my personal Lord and Savior. Because Jesus is the unique and universal Savior, there is a large hope for salvation, not only for me and others with the proper credentials of believing and belonging to the church, but for all people whenever or wherever they might have lived and no matter how religious or irreligious they may have proved to be themselves. This grace of God, given freely is offered to all.
The New Testament is full of warnings about substituting right words and doctrines as religious screens against the living word and will of God. Still, these warnings are not God’s last word. The final word is that God came to the world in Christ in order to redeem the world, and that nothing can come between God’s creation and God’s all-encompassing love. That is precisely how ELCA Lutherans understand Jesus' claim that, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me." (John 14:6) What God has done in Christ is done for all; God’s act in Christ is the way that all come to God. This Good News we are compelled to joyously share with all people: "God has acted in Christ, and you are the recipient of this loving act."
To those who often passionately argue that "while God offers grace and salvation to all, humans must accept it with deep repentance and a change of life," the ELCA cautions against making salvation into a work that we accomplish by our response to God’s offer. Rather, in our telling the Good News we pray that those who hear "will present" themselves "to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present their lives to God as instruments of righteousness".
Will, then, all people be saved in the end? We must say quite honestly, "We do not know the answer. That is stored up in the mystery of God’s own future. All God has let us know in advance is that he will judge the world according to the measure of his grace and love made known in Jesus Christ. What I can tell you with the assurance given to one of faith and trust in what God has done in Christ is that I am saved. My friends, you can claim this in faith as well. Furthermore, this invitation of the heart is given to all people because of what Christ has done. None of can know what God has in store for the other. But, we can and do know what God has in store for us.
Like the puzzle, there is One who was given for all. This One has the power to hold us all together. One who came to make known to all that God’s judgment is not of wrath and vengeance, but of grace, mercy and love. Therefore we can trust in him, and follow the path of his son, Jesus.
This message challenges us to live likewise in this pluralistic world; to judge not with wrath or vengeance, but with the same grace, mercy and love that God has already shown us by the death and resurrection of the One who is for all.
Amen
Christmas Eve 2007
This Holy Moment
Christmas Eve: Luke 2:1-20
I think I was 6 years old when I first participated in a Christmas Pageant at church. I was a shepherd. I remember my part as if it were yesterday. When the angel appeared I was to act terrified. When the angel finished speaking I was to act joyful, then go and kneel next to Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. It was a simple little pageant that my church put on. My costume wasn’t much more than a bathrobe. But, what an impression that particular Christmas made on one little person’s faith.
I was very excited to be a part of this pageant. So much so that the manger scene caught my imagination, possibly for the first time that Christmas. Among the many traditions that were part of the Christmas season in our home was this little nativity scene that my grandmother brought out each year. It was a little wooden barn filled with ceramic figurines of shepherds and sheep, Wise Men and camels, parents and Child. And, my grandmother would place it prominently under the Christmas Tree. This little manger scene captured my child-like imagination for the first time that year. I remember lying on my belly on the floor in front of the tree moving the figurines around to reenact the story. I still vividly remember climbing clear under the tree to position my face right behind each of the wise men and each of the shepherds in order to imagine what they must have seen that night. Since then my child-like imagination has changed, and I have seen many more depictions of that nativity scene. Each time, the scene is basically the same: the manger in the middle, Joseph and Mary nearby, and the shepherds, magi, angels, and animals flanking the scene.
We've all seen it, probably thousands of times on Christmas cards, in churches, on front yards, in pageants, and in plays. And every time, the scene is essentially the same: the manger in the middle, surrounded by the parents and all the familiar visitors. But, I have yet to see a pageant, or a play, that really and truly depicts the whole Christmas story. Actually, I have never yet seen a card, a painting, or a even a stage that is big enough to depict the whole Christmas story. It would require a stage the size of, well, Honey Brook. And then, the nativity scene would actually be this tiny little non-event happening off in the woods somewhere unnoticed by the normal activity of life in Honey Brook. In other words, to truly pull off a depiction of the whole nativity story, the stage would need to be enormous, so that the proportions would be correct. For, you see, to tell the whole story, the nativity scene itself would have to be made tiny. Very tiny. Unnoticeably tiny.
Luke tells us the whole Christmas story, and he sets for us the stage -- the whole stage of that very first pageant. He begins with the headline of the day: "In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered." If there had been newspapers in the ancient world, this would have been the front page headline on every one of them. It would have been the lead story on every news broadcast and the hot topic of every contemporary discussion. This decree meant higher taxes. Higher taxes meant more hardship, more poverty. This decree meant an increase Roman domination through war and oppression. This decree forced people into motion all over the Empire, including a certain newly married couple from Nazareth. Luke begins to set the stage for the Christmas story by telling us that Rome, not a manger in Bethlehem, is at the center of the stage. The Roman Emperor, not a baby, is the character with the top billing of the show. And the prospect of an Empire-wide tax, not some anonymous birth, is the headline. Luke goes on to tell how the decree from Caesar Augustus prompted Joseph to travel from Nazareth, where he lived, to Bethlehem, which was his ancestral home. A traditional nativity scene puts the Bethlehem manger in the center, under the spotlight. But, Luke's account reminds us, that Bethlehem was not only far from the center of the world's stage, it was not even at the center of Joseph's stage. Joseph’s home was Nazareth, and going to Bethlehem was a long way from home, not a journey one chooses to make with a pregnant wife on a donkey. Joseph went because he was forced to do so under the oppressive foot of the empirical decree. Next, Joseph and Mary arrive in Bethlehem, only to find that there is no room for them in the inn. This couple and this birth were not even big news in the small village of Bethlehem. They were pushed off to the side of a town that was itself off to the side of a province that was off to the side of the empire.
We’ve never seen the whole Christmas story depicted because we’ve only ever seen the manger at center stage. But the birth of Jesus was not center stage. In reality, if we were to climb under the Christmas tree and peer over the shoulders of the real characters and see through the eyes of those who were actually there, this Holy moment, when God first broke through time and space to enter creation in a child, happened so far from the center of the stage that it was practically backstage. Yet, from backstage, with the center stage players completely unaware, God steals the show.
So let's reset the whole nativity scene in our imagination. At the center is not a manger but a throne. It's Caesar's throne -- the seat of the world's power -- and it's in Rome. Off to the far side of the stage is a bit of background scenery -- that represents the rather unimportant Roman province of Palestine. Painted on the edge of that scenery is a tiny village, barely even noticeable to the audience. The tiny village is Bethlehem. And somewhere behind the scenes, away from the main events even of that tiny town, is where we find the manger. It is not center stage at all. It’s actually barely noticeable, off in the margins of life and existence. Yet, miraculously, wondrously, perfectly, that is where God came into the world. God came in the margins of life; on the edges of things where the world least expected it. The truth of the Christmas story is that God came into the world backstage, behind the main scene. He came practically unnoticed by the entire world. No headlines. No politics. No Banners. No Guns. He came in the silence of a night, in a manger, in a barn. He came to an unknown and unimportant place, and he came to unknown and unimportant people. He snuck in! While the big news of the day was so many other seemingly important historical events, God was behind the scenes re-creating history itself.
It is mind boggling to consider how God could have made his entrance onto this world's stage: the awe-striking spectacle, the unmistakable glory, and the unfathomable power. Shock and Awe, that is likely how we might have expected the scene. But that is not how God came down from heaven and began a new life among us. The truth is that while the domination of the world’s powers seemed to be the drama on center stage, God came into the world backstage through the weak, the poor, and the ordinary. And, what a difference this backstage act has made.
Consider these tidbits of how God has stolen the show away from the Empire by working backstage. At that time in the world in which Jesus was born, dates were set according to the Roman Emperor -- what year of his particular reign it was. But now, most of the nations of the world set time according to this singular baby's birth -- December 24th, 2007 A.D., anno domini, the year of the Lord. At that time, Caesar Augustus, Quirinius, and Herod were big names, important men. Now they are just the supporting cast in the bigger story of what God was doing with Jesus’ birth. At that time, Rome was the most important city in the world, and Bethlehem was just a backwater village in a conquered country. Now, Bethlehem is one of the most famous, most visited places on earth. And Rome's greatest claim to fame today and through much of Western history is, arguably, the role it plays in Christ's church. This singular moment in time—This Holy Moment—changed all of history, even our understanding of time and place. And God did all this, from behind the stage. God didn't come with power or prominence, with influence or importance. God didn't come into the spotlight of center stage. God came into the world through the world’s back door. God snuck in through backstage, and then stole the show.
My friends, on this Christmas Eve and every Christmas, and even every moment, that continues to be God’s divine strategy for entering our lives. He continues to come into the world, into our lives, through moments and events that seem completely benign and unimportant. Think about it—-Stores, banks, and malls that would never play "Amazing Grace" or "A Mighty Fortress" over their sound systems during the rest of the year will, at Christmas time, routinely play songs that say, "Let earth receive her King," "God and sinner reconciled," "Let every heart prepare him room.". God sneaks into banks, stores and malls. We Christians often lament the commercialization of Christmas. I wonder, though, if we have underestimated God. For I suspect that the effect may actually be flowing in the other direction: it is not Christmas that is being commercialized, but rather it is our already over-commercialized culture that is annually, routinely, and unwittingly overrun by God’s good news for the world. Christmas was -- and continues to be -- God's Holy Moment—when God shows up in the most unsuspecting of times. And by God’s entering this tiny moment, it becomes a moment of holiness through which all moments thereafter are transformed by God’s presence within it.
Ever since, God has continued to come to us every December in tiny seemingly unnoticeable and fleeting moments through songs, traditions, and sentiment. He comes through even the tiniest measures of generosity, good will, and just the sheer festivity of the season. God comes through the excitement that children feel as Christmas approaches, and he comes through the longing, and even the hurt that adults feel at this time of the year. God brings joy, wonder, and magic into our lives in ways that none of us can produce—not even Disney World can produce the true magic of Christmas. But, God can, and he does every year and he does it out of what seems like nothing to us. God turns our mere moments into Holy Moments—giving us these tiny glimpses of the eternity with Him that He has promised to all who believe. It are these tiny moments, that fill us every December with a renewed sense of holiness that encourages us to respond to God with faith, hope and love. It is God sneaking in upon our hearts that turns us toward charity, forgiveness, and grace for all of our brothers and sisters on the earth, and instilling in our souls the hope of a world where peace reigns.
Christmas was nothing for history to write about, a mere moment in the ticking of all of time—But, it was a moment into which God came to this world—and through it the world has found that every moment in time offers the opportunity for holiness. Christmas gives us a glimpse of what God is like and what he continues to do. God didn't come marching in through the front door, flexing his muscles, and demanding the spotlight. He could have, but he didn’t. The king of the universe arrived in swaddling cloths, mostly ignored by the world he had created. And, still today, God does not barge into our lives. He waits for tiny fleeting moments, when we least expect it, and when our hearts are made vulnerable, to inspire within us just a moment’s worth of true faith, true joy, true hope, true love. And through that moment—and the memory of a host of others like it—God turns our tiny, unnoticeable lives into a sign of the eternal presence of his Son for others to see. God’s most precious gift for all the world—the child born in a manger—is now the child born again and again in and through us.
At that first Christmas, God came into the lives of insignificant, common people, and the angels announced to shepherds that this was good news of great joy. And it is! For we are assured that God willingly comes into our lives too. In that first Holy Moment, God came into a place that seemed small and unimportant. That’s good news of great joy for all of us, for our life and our homes seem so small and unimportant. Yet, God comes to be born in us. In that first Holy Moment, God came into a place that was messy and unworthy of him. And that's good news which brings great joy because our hearts, our lives, and our world are messy and unworthy. Yet God comes to be born in us.
I have yet to see the whole Christmas story depicted on a stage. But I have seen the whole Christmas story played out again and again in individual lives. It is the story of this God who could come bursting in, but does not. It is the story of this God who comes in gently and unassumingly, perhaps even unnoticed at first. And it is the story of this God who, bit by gracious bit, comes into your life and mine backstage, by his mercy, and becomes the star of our show in lived out moments of holiness.
I was 6 years old when the nativity scene first caught my imagination, I first got to play a part in a Christmas pageant, and that was my privilege. But it is today our greater privilege -- to live every day as if we are players in God’s continual nativity scene. Tonight, here into this tiny moment, God comes to you and me reminding us that:
just as he entered in and provided the grace for a young mother,
just as he entered in and encouraged a confused adopting father,
just as he entered in and brought hope to overworked and lonely shepherds,
just as he entered in and provided a sense of wonder and adventure to three wise old men—-God once again comes to us.
Best of all, he promises to come and be accessible to every moment of life—turning our lives of uneventful moments into lives filled with the same love, peace and joy found in the child born in that first Holy Moment.
Amen. Merry Christmas!
Christmas Eve: Luke 2:1-20
I think I was 6 years old when I first participated in a Christmas Pageant at church. I was a shepherd. I remember my part as if it were yesterday. When the angel appeared I was to act terrified. When the angel finished speaking I was to act joyful, then go and kneel next to Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. It was a simple little pageant that my church put on. My costume wasn’t much more than a bathrobe. But, what an impression that particular Christmas made on one little person’s faith.
I was very excited to be a part of this pageant. So much so that the manger scene caught my imagination, possibly for the first time that Christmas. Among the many traditions that were part of the Christmas season in our home was this little nativity scene that my grandmother brought out each year. It was a little wooden barn filled with ceramic figurines of shepherds and sheep, Wise Men and camels, parents and Child. And, my grandmother would place it prominently under the Christmas Tree. This little manger scene captured my child-like imagination for the first time that year. I remember lying on my belly on the floor in front of the tree moving the figurines around to reenact the story. I still vividly remember climbing clear under the tree to position my face right behind each of the wise men and each of the shepherds in order to imagine what they must have seen that night. Since then my child-like imagination has changed, and I have seen many more depictions of that nativity scene. Each time, the scene is basically the same: the manger in the middle, Joseph and Mary nearby, and the shepherds, magi, angels, and animals flanking the scene.
We've all seen it, probably thousands of times on Christmas cards, in churches, on front yards, in pageants, and in plays. And every time, the scene is essentially the same: the manger in the middle, surrounded by the parents and all the familiar visitors. But, I have yet to see a pageant, or a play, that really and truly depicts the whole Christmas story. Actually, I have never yet seen a card, a painting, or a even a stage that is big enough to depict the whole Christmas story. It would require a stage the size of, well, Honey Brook. And then, the nativity scene would actually be this tiny little non-event happening off in the woods somewhere unnoticed by the normal activity of life in Honey Brook. In other words, to truly pull off a depiction of the whole nativity story, the stage would need to be enormous, so that the proportions would be correct. For, you see, to tell the whole story, the nativity scene itself would have to be made tiny. Very tiny. Unnoticeably tiny.
Luke tells us the whole Christmas story, and he sets for us the stage -- the whole stage of that very first pageant. He begins with the headline of the day: "In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered." If there had been newspapers in the ancient world, this would have been the front page headline on every one of them. It would have been the lead story on every news broadcast and the hot topic of every contemporary discussion. This decree meant higher taxes. Higher taxes meant more hardship, more poverty. This decree meant an increase Roman domination through war and oppression. This decree forced people into motion all over the Empire, including a certain newly married couple from Nazareth. Luke begins to set the stage for the Christmas story by telling us that Rome, not a manger in Bethlehem, is at the center of the stage. The Roman Emperor, not a baby, is the character with the top billing of the show. And the prospect of an Empire-wide tax, not some anonymous birth, is the headline. Luke goes on to tell how the decree from Caesar Augustus prompted Joseph to travel from Nazareth, where he lived, to Bethlehem, which was his ancestral home. A traditional nativity scene puts the Bethlehem manger in the center, under the spotlight. But, Luke's account reminds us, that Bethlehem was not only far from the center of the world's stage, it was not even at the center of Joseph's stage. Joseph’s home was Nazareth, and going to Bethlehem was a long way from home, not a journey one chooses to make with a pregnant wife on a donkey. Joseph went because he was forced to do so under the oppressive foot of the empirical decree. Next, Joseph and Mary arrive in Bethlehem, only to find that there is no room for them in the inn. This couple and this birth were not even big news in the small village of Bethlehem. They were pushed off to the side of a town that was itself off to the side of a province that was off to the side of the empire.
We’ve never seen the whole Christmas story depicted because we’ve only ever seen the manger at center stage. But the birth of Jesus was not center stage. In reality, if we were to climb under the Christmas tree and peer over the shoulders of the real characters and see through the eyes of those who were actually there, this Holy moment, when God first broke through time and space to enter creation in a child, happened so far from the center of the stage that it was practically backstage. Yet, from backstage, with the center stage players completely unaware, God steals the show.
So let's reset the whole nativity scene in our imagination. At the center is not a manger but a throne. It's Caesar's throne -- the seat of the world's power -- and it's in Rome. Off to the far side of the stage is a bit of background scenery -- that represents the rather unimportant Roman province of Palestine. Painted on the edge of that scenery is a tiny village, barely even noticeable to the audience. The tiny village is Bethlehem. And somewhere behind the scenes, away from the main events even of that tiny town, is where we find the manger. It is not center stage at all. It’s actually barely noticeable, off in the margins of life and existence. Yet, miraculously, wondrously, perfectly, that is where God came into the world. God came in the margins of life; on the edges of things where the world least expected it. The truth of the Christmas story is that God came into the world backstage, behind the main scene. He came practically unnoticed by the entire world. No headlines. No politics. No Banners. No Guns. He came in the silence of a night, in a manger, in a barn. He came to an unknown and unimportant place, and he came to unknown and unimportant people. He snuck in! While the big news of the day was so many other seemingly important historical events, God was behind the scenes re-creating history itself.
It is mind boggling to consider how God could have made his entrance onto this world's stage: the awe-striking spectacle, the unmistakable glory, and the unfathomable power. Shock and Awe, that is likely how we might have expected the scene. But that is not how God came down from heaven and began a new life among us. The truth is that while the domination of the world’s powers seemed to be the drama on center stage, God came into the world backstage through the weak, the poor, and the ordinary. And, what a difference this backstage act has made.
Consider these tidbits of how God has stolen the show away from the Empire by working backstage. At that time in the world in which Jesus was born, dates were set according to the Roman Emperor -- what year of his particular reign it was. But now, most of the nations of the world set time according to this singular baby's birth -- December 24th, 2007 A.D., anno domini, the year of the Lord. At that time, Caesar Augustus, Quirinius, and Herod were big names, important men. Now they are just the supporting cast in the bigger story of what God was doing with Jesus’ birth. At that time, Rome was the most important city in the world, and Bethlehem was just a backwater village in a conquered country. Now, Bethlehem is one of the most famous, most visited places on earth. And Rome's greatest claim to fame today and through much of Western history is, arguably, the role it plays in Christ's church. This singular moment in time—This Holy Moment—changed all of history, even our understanding of time and place. And God did all this, from behind the stage. God didn't come with power or prominence, with influence or importance. God didn't come into the spotlight of center stage. God came into the world through the world’s back door. God snuck in through backstage, and then stole the show.
My friends, on this Christmas Eve and every Christmas, and even every moment, that continues to be God’s divine strategy for entering our lives. He continues to come into the world, into our lives, through moments and events that seem completely benign and unimportant. Think about it—-Stores, banks, and malls that would never play "Amazing Grace" or "A Mighty Fortress" over their sound systems during the rest of the year will, at Christmas time, routinely play songs that say, "Let earth receive her King," "God and sinner reconciled," "Let every heart prepare him room.". God sneaks into banks, stores and malls. We Christians often lament the commercialization of Christmas. I wonder, though, if we have underestimated God. For I suspect that the effect may actually be flowing in the other direction: it is not Christmas that is being commercialized, but rather it is our already over-commercialized culture that is annually, routinely, and unwittingly overrun by God’s good news for the world. Christmas was -- and continues to be -- God's Holy Moment—when God shows up in the most unsuspecting of times. And by God’s entering this tiny moment, it becomes a moment of holiness through which all moments thereafter are transformed by God’s presence within it.
Ever since, God has continued to come to us every December in tiny seemingly unnoticeable and fleeting moments through songs, traditions, and sentiment. He comes through even the tiniest measures of generosity, good will, and just the sheer festivity of the season. God comes through the excitement that children feel as Christmas approaches, and he comes through the longing, and even the hurt that adults feel at this time of the year. God brings joy, wonder, and magic into our lives in ways that none of us can produce—not even Disney World can produce the true magic of Christmas. But, God can, and he does every year and he does it out of what seems like nothing to us. God turns our mere moments into Holy Moments—giving us these tiny glimpses of the eternity with Him that He has promised to all who believe. It are these tiny moments, that fill us every December with a renewed sense of holiness that encourages us to respond to God with faith, hope and love. It is God sneaking in upon our hearts that turns us toward charity, forgiveness, and grace for all of our brothers and sisters on the earth, and instilling in our souls the hope of a world where peace reigns.
Christmas was nothing for history to write about, a mere moment in the ticking of all of time—But, it was a moment into which God came to this world—and through it the world has found that every moment in time offers the opportunity for holiness. Christmas gives us a glimpse of what God is like and what he continues to do. God didn't come marching in through the front door, flexing his muscles, and demanding the spotlight. He could have, but he didn’t. The king of the universe arrived in swaddling cloths, mostly ignored by the world he had created. And, still today, God does not barge into our lives. He waits for tiny fleeting moments, when we least expect it, and when our hearts are made vulnerable, to inspire within us just a moment’s worth of true faith, true joy, true hope, true love. And through that moment—and the memory of a host of others like it—God turns our tiny, unnoticeable lives into a sign of the eternal presence of his Son for others to see. God’s most precious gift for all the world—the child born in a manger—is now the child born again and again in and through us.
At that first Christmas, God came into the lives of insignificant, common people, and the angels announced to shepherds that this was good news of great joy. And it is! For we are assured that God willingly comes into our lives too. In that first Holy Moment, God came into a place that seemed small and unimportant. That’s good news of great joy for all of us, for our life and our homes seem so small and unimportant. Yet, God comes to be born in us. In that first Holy Moment, God came into a place that was messy and unworthy of him. And that's good news which brings great joy because our hearts, our lives, and our world are messy and unworthy. Yet God comes to be born in us.
I have yet to see the whole Christmas story depicted on a stage. But I have seen the whole Christmas story played out again and again in individual lives. It is the story of this God who could come bursting in, but does not. It is the story of this God who comes in gently and unassumingly, perhaps even unnoticed at first. And it is the story of this God who, bit by gracious bit, comes into your life and mine backstage, by his mercy, and becomes the star of our show in lived out moments of holiness.
I was 6 years old when the nativity scene first caught my imagination, I first got to play a part in a Christmas pageant, and that was my privilege. But it is today our greater privilege -- to live every day as if we are players in God’s continual nativity scene. Tonight, here into this tiny moment, God comes to you and me reminding us that:
just as he entered in and provided the grace for a young mother,
just as he entered in and encouraged a confused adopting father,
just as he entered in and brought hope to overworked and lonely shepherds,
just as he entered in and provided a sense of wonder and adventure to three wise old men—-God once again comes to us.
Best of all, he promises to come and be accessible to every moment of life—turning our lives of uneventful moments into lives filled with the same love, peace and joy found in the child born in that first Holy Moment.
Amen. Merry Christmas!
Holy Interruptions
Holy Interruptions
Matthew 3:1-12
Have you noticed that the forms you fill out for membership in things keeps getting longer? Email address, beeper number, cell phone, fax number, then they want to know all the same information about your spouse. A nice safe feeling isn’t it—to know that the organization you are signing up for feels so secure that they need to be able to contact you in multiple ways, as if there might just be some sort of emergency that would cause them to need all this information. But, we are people who are wired and available at all times. At any time, or in the middle of anything we can be contacted. How many of you have had this happen to you. You’re at home watching a movie with your family—sharing a rare quality moment—when the phone rings. OK, no problem—the answering machine will get it, right? Then, about 30 seconds after the phone stops ringing, your cell phone rings? I had this happen to me once, and when I did answer the cell phone the person wanted to know if I had gotten the email he sent just a few minutes ago.
One of the hottest techno-gadgets this Christmas is the new I-Phone. This thing allows you to have your phone, email, and any other form of contact with the outside world all rolled up into one neat package that fits ion your pocket. —-I’m enticed—I must admit.
There is much that is positive and exciting about all this access. Amy and I have been in contact with Elijah’s agency workers half way around the world. The latest pictures we received of him show him looking so much healthier than he did back a month or two ago. Email access to our son’s agency worker is great. These types of things are the blessings of having such access.
But there is a price for being so wired: sometimes our houses sounds like a hospital ICU, and the once relative impermeable walls of our home that offered space for sanctuary and protection from the worries of other places have now been made very much permeable.
In an article titled “The Age of Interruption,” author Michael Ventura observed:
Interruption is increasingly taken for granted—both the right to interrupt others and the expectation that one will be interrupted in turn. The individual’s time, already experienced as a cross between a labyrinth, a cage and a treadmill, is now vulnerable to fragmentation without warning from any direction. All of this makes for efficient communication and contact but it also allows the outside world of work into our homes at all hours.
During Sunday morning worship, we practice a kind of boundary support that is otherwise not available on any other kind of routine. We all have been taught to turn off our cell phones in the theatres or at certain other special events. But, for most of us I would assume, there really isn’t any other time in our weeks when we are given permission to not be contacted for at least a few hours on Sunday morning. If you are new to coming to church on a regular basis, you may have begun to realize that after a while your friends and associates accept that you don’t answer the phone on Sunday morning. Every once in a while they may try to test this though, just to see if maybe the boundary is down. Amy gets a call every once in a while on Sunday morning from her neurotic boss. She doesn’t answer it, and then later returns the call with a friendly reminder that she does not answer the phone on Sunday mornings. It’s like having holy permission to not be available for at least a few hours during each week. You’ll still be enslaved during the rest of your week, but at least for these hours the church provides a kind of sanctuary away from the world of complete access.
Without this, or possibly other self-imposed boundaries on interruptions we don’t have a chance to be nourished by God or to nourish the other members of our family, or someone else we care about.
Today’s gospel lesson confronts us with a bit of an interruption itself. Right in the middle of our Christmas busy-ness, just when we are all sort of breaking stride with the increased pace of our Christmas preparation sprint to the finish—-God sends us John the Baptist with a message that is like a holy interruption. It goes something lie this.
[Skit]
“You brood of vipers. Bear fruit worthy of repentance.”
Bear fruit worthy of repentance? No I’m not listening—-I’m not answering his call—it will make me focus attention on my sinfulness. You know, all that selfishness that we get so wrapped up with during December. I want this —- I want that. So, like I said—-I am not answering the Baptist’s call. But, denial doesn't work—-I’ve already heard God’s Word. The ringing of those words are already in my head.
Bear fruit worthy of repentance!
Go away!
Bear fruit worthy of repentance!
Oh why must God torment me like this—-and just when I was starting to get into the Christmas Spirit.
Oh OK fine, maybe if I heed this for just a moment he’ll stop bugging me—Lord forgive me for my sinfulness. There, I repented. Now let me go back to my Christmas feeling.
(Pause)
Bear fruit worthy of repentance!
UUUGGGHH!
Lord, forgive me for my selfishness, forgive me for , forgive me, forgive me, forgive me……(silence)
[Now relieved]
Hey, that wasn’t so bad. No, as a matter fact. It was pretty good. Thank you Lord, for reminding me of what Christmas is truly about. —
Lord, you can interrupt me anytime.
I will..
John the Baptist is the one who was sent to prepare the way for Jesus. He did that by telling those first disciples that they needed to repent.
Still today, while we are busy preparing our homes, and our schedules for Christmas—God sends John the Baptist to prepare us—to prepare our hearts and souls for the coming of Jesus. God interrupts with an interruption that calls us to repent—it is a Holy interruption. When he heed it we encounter the true spirit of Christmas—-The gift of new life found in the forgiving grace of the crucified one, Jesus.
Meanwhile, as difficult as true repentance can be, we encounter a God who is not only accessible at all times, but he has given us the gift of prayer in the name of Jesus. That’s why we pray in the name of Jesus. In the cacophony of heavenly prayers going up to God. We have been promised that when we ask in the name of Jesus—we will not be put on hold.
God wants us to interrupt him. God wants to be accessible to us at all times.
In this world when we are trying, somewhat poorly, to be accessible to all at all times. Its good to know that God has made himself accessible to us at all times. And when we call upon him whether for repentance or in the joy of thanksgiving—we are given the permission for a holy interruption.
Amen .
Matthew 3:1-12
Have you noticed that the forms you fill out for membership in things keeps getting longer? Email address, beeper number, cell phone, fax number, then they want to know all the same information about your spouse. A nice safe feeling isn’t it—to know that the organization you are signing up for feels so secure that they need to be able to contact you in multiple ways, as if there might just be some sort of emergency that would cause them to need all this information. But, we are people who are wired and available at all times. At any time, or in the middle of anything we can be contacted. How many of you have had this happen to you. You’re at home watching a movie with your family—sharing a rare quality moment—when the phone rings. OK, no problem—the answering machine will get it, right? Then, about 30 seconds after the phone stops ringing, your cell phone rings? I had this happen to me once, and when I did answer the cell phone the person wanted to know if I had gotten the email he sent just a few minutes ago.
One of the hottest techno-gadgets this Christmas is the new I-Phone. This thing allows you to have your phone, email, and any other form of contact with the outside world all rolled up into one neat package that fits ion your pocket. —-I’m enticed—I must admit.
There is much that is positive and exciting about all this access. Amy and I have been in contact with Elijah’s agency workers half way around the world. The latest pictures we received of him show him looking so much healthier than he did back a month or two ago. Email access to our son’s agency worker is great. These types of things are the blessings of having such access.
But there is a price for being so wired: sometimes our houses sounds like a hospital ICU, and the once relative impermeable walls of our home that offered space for sanctuary and protection from the worries of other places have now been made very much permeable.
In an article titled “The Age of Interruption,” author Michael Ventura observed:
Interruption is increasingly taken for granted—both the right to interrupt others and the expectation that one will be interrupted in turn. The individual’s time, already experienced as a cross between a labyrinth, a cage and a treadmill, is now vulnerable to fragmentation without warning from any direction. All of this makes for efficient communication and contact but it also allows the outside world of work into our homes at all hours.
During Sunday morning worship, we practice a kind of boundary support that is otherwise not available on any other kind of routine. We all have been taught to turn off our cell phones in the theatres or at certain other special events. But, for most of us I would assume, there really isn’t any other time in our weeks when we are given permission to not be contacted for at least a few hours on Sunday morning. If you are new to coming to church on a regular basis, you may have begun to realize that after a while your friends and associates accept that you don’t answer the phone on Sunday morning. Every once in a while they may try to test this though, just to see if maybe the boundary is down. Amy gets a call every once in a while on Sunday morning from her neurotic boss. She doesn’t answer it, and then later returns the call with a friendly reminder that she does not answer the phone on Sunday mornings. It’s like having holy permission to not be available for at least a few hours during each week. You’ll still be enslaved during the rest of your week, but at least for these hours the church provides a kind of sanctuary away from the world of complete access.
Without this, or possibly other self-imposed boundaries on interruptions we don’t have a chance to be nourished by God or to nourish the other members of our family, or someone else we care about.
Today’s gospel lesson confronts us with a bit of an interruption itself. Right in the middle of our Christmas busy-ness, just when we are all sort of breaking stride with the increased pace of our Christmas preparation sprint to the finish—-God sends us John the Baptist with a message that is like a holy interruption. It goes something lie this.
[Skit]
“You brood of vipers. Bear fruit worthy of repentance.”
Bear fruit worthy of repentance? No I’m not listening—-I’m not answering his call—it will make me focus attention on my sinfulness. You know, all that selfishness that we get so wrapped up with during December. I want this —- I want that. So, like I said—-I am not answering the Baptist’s call. But, denial doesn't work—-I’ve already heard God’s Word. The ringing of those words are already in my head.
Bear fruit worthy of repentance!
Go away!
Bear fruit worthy of repentance!
Oh why must God torment me like this—-and just when I was starting to get into the Christmas Spirit.
Oh OK fine, maybe if I heed this for just a moment he’ll stop bugging me—Lord forgive me for my sinfulness. There, I repented. Now let me go back to my Christmas feeling.
(Pause)
Bear fruit worthy of repentance!
UUUGGGHH!
Lord, forgive me for my selfishness, forgive me for , forgive me, forgive me, forgive me……(silence)
[Now relieved]
Hey, that wasn’t so bad. No, as a matter fact. It was pretty good. Thank you Lord, for reminding me of what Christmas is truly about. —
Lord, you can interrupt me anytime.
I will..
John the Baptist is the one who was sent to prepare the way for Jesus. He did that by telling those first disciples that they needed to repent.
Still today, while we are busy preparing our homes, and our schedules for Christmas—God sends John the Baptist to prepare us—to prepare our hearts and souls for the coming of Jesus. God interrupts with an interruption that calls us to repent—it is a Holy interruption. When he heed it we encounter the true spirit of Christmas—-The gift of new life found in the forgiving grace of the crucified one, Jesus.
Meanwhile, as difficult as true repentance can be, we encounter a God who is not only accessible at all times, but he has given us the gift of prayer in the name of Jesus. That’s why we pray in the name of Jesus. In the cacophony of heavenly prayers going up to God. We have been promised that when we ask in the name of Jesus—we will not be put on hold.
God wants us to interrupt him. God wants to be accessible to us at all times.
In this world when we are trying, somewhat poorly, to be accessible to all at all times. Its good to know that God has made himself accessible to us at all times. And when we call upon him whether for repentance or in the joy of thanksgiving—we are given the permission for a holy interruption.
Amen .
Fish Stick Jesus
Fish Stick Jesus
Psalm 98
Jesus in a fish stick. Mary on a grilled cheese sandwich.
Increasingly, God has been foregoing traditional theophanies, or conventional methods of communication, and has instead been revealing himself in kitchen mistakes. In November of 2004, Fred Whan, an Ontario man in Kingston, after burning a fish stick at dinner, found the face of Jesus on his fish stick. A year later he took it out of the freezer and put it up for auction on eBay.Earlier that year, Diana Duyser of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, declared she had found an image of the Virgin Mary on her burnt grilled cheese sandwich. She, too, auctioned it off, selling it for $28,000. In her eBay ad, she wrote: “I would like all people to know that I do believe that this is the Virgin Mary Mother of God. That is my solemn belief, but you are free to believe that she is whomever you like.”
What do we make of this? Has God abandoned his usual means of revelation and finally come to us in what we all really understand ... food? Or have our imaginations run away with us?
Reactions to the images have been mixed. Some have poked fun at the images found especially in the “miraculous” food items. Ken Schram of Seattle with some aluminum foil made a number of other images on grilled cheese sandwiches. These he hoped to sell, the proceeds to benefit Toys for Tots. Among his creations were a sandwich with his own image, one with Elvis, and another with the image of President Bush burned across its surface. Dan French of The Examiner, also commenting on the images, writes that it seems that “God has a plan for me, and that plan is to sell you his mug in my beer mug for four grand!”
No matter what you think about these “miraculous” images, these latter-day theophanies do point to a yearning in our culture to find Christ in everyday, ordinary things. We’re all looking for the same thing, some faith-worthy sign to give us at least a fleeting clue on how to live our best lives and be our best selves in a confused and disoriented world. The problem here is that these cheesy images also pose a real danger to our faith. How in the world do you lift up a God worthy of praise and thanksgiving when you’ve just found him on a fish stick? Where are my faith and my praise for a transcendent God when that God is not much more than a commodity on eBay? After all, a God we have to save from the garbage disposal or that emerged from a mistake in the kitchen does nothing worthy of praise. Thanking a God we can sell or own or that we can reproduce with cleverly wrapped tin foil is a waste of our time.
Psalm 98 calls us back to worship, thanksgiving and praise. In this Psalm there’s not even a hint that we should look for God any further than the songs of praise and thanksgiving that God has given us to sing. This Psalm tells us we should praise God because God does not forget his love and faithfulness. We are loved by God!
We as people love many things that do not love us back. We love our cars and our homes. We love food or entertainment. None of these things can return our love. We love a God who loved us first. Scripture tells us: “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10). God’s steadfast love and faithfulness last through all generations. It is no accident that the psalmist ends the psalm, “For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” We give God thanks and praise for the sole reason that God loves us so much. God went into death itself to claim us as his own. God loved us before we even began to love him and for this he deserves our thanks and praise. God is all around us!
Finally, we give God thanks and praise because Jesus Christ’s face is found, not on the burn marks of a baked piece of fish, but in the marks of life in the faces around us. “We are his people” and as his people, we discover Christ’s presence in the faces of the people with whom we live and work, and those with whom we don’t live and work — the needy, the marginalized, the less fortunate, those in prison, those on welfare, those who live in rich houses or cardboard shacks, those who are different from us, those who live in freedom and those who live in the shadow of tyranny. This is most significant. For in this the baked fish stick challenges us. We need not look for Christ in a piece of baked fish! It should not be easier to see Christ in a fish stick than it is to see him in the faces of our neighbors. If we long to see Christ, we need only to look around us. Christ is with us in the faces of our neighbors. In the people who do what Christ does for us as they care, provide, love and keep us safe. And in the people we are called to be Christ to, doing the same for them.
God asks for our song of thanks and praise. And God deserves it. Because God has defeated the sting of sin and death for us! Because God has not and will not forget his love and faithfulness to us. And God surrounds us with people who reflect his face and presence! So don’t be looking for God in these foolish places like fish sticks and grilled cheese. Find God in the faces of those around you. And, on this day when we celebrate our music ministry, listen for God in the song upon our hearts.
Amen!
Psalm 98
Jesus in a fish stick. Mary on a grilled cheese sandwich.
Increasingly, God has been foregoing traditional theophanies, or conventional methods of communication, and has instead been revealing himself in kitchen mistakes. In November of 2004, Fred Whan, an Ontario man in Kingston, after burning a fish stick at dinner, found the face of Jesus on his fish stick. A year later he took it out of the freezer and put it up for auction on eBay.Earlier that year, Diana Duyser of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, declared she had found an image of the Virgin Mary on her burnt grilled cheese sandwich. She, too, auctioned it off, selling it for $28,000. In her eBay ad, she wrote: “I would like all people to know that I do believe that this is the Virgin Mary Mother of God. That is my solemn belief, but you are free to believe that she is whomever you like.”
What do we make of this? Has God abandoned his usual means of revelation and finally come to us in what we all really understand ... food? Or have our imaginations run away with us?
Reactions to the images have been mixed. Some have poked fun at the images found especially in the “miraculous” food items. Ken Schram of Seattle with some aluminum foil made a number of other images on grilled cheese sandwiches. These he hoped to sell, the proceeds to benefit Toys for Tots. Among his creations were a sandwich with his own image, one with Elvis, and another with the image of President Bush burned across its surface. Dan French of The Examiner, also commenting on the images, writes that it seems that “God has a plan for me, and that plan is to sell you his mug in my beer mug for four grand!”
No matter what you think about these “miraculous” images, these latter-day theophanies do point to a yearning in our culture to find Christ in everyday, ordinary things. We’re all looking for the same thing, some faith-worthy sign to give us at least a fleeting clue on how to live our best lives and be our best selves in a confused and disoriented world. The problem here is that these cheesy images also pose a real danger to our faith. How in the world do you lift up a God worthy of praise and thanksgiving when you’ve just found him on a fish stick? Where are my faith and my praise for a transcendent God when that God is not much more than a commodity on eBay? After all, a God we have to save from the garbage disposal or that emerged from a mistake in the kitchen does nothing worthy of praise. Thanking a God we can sell or own or that we can reproduce with cleverly wrapped tin foil is a waste of our time.
Psalm 98 calls us back to worship, thanksgiving and praise. In this Psalm there’s not even a hint that we should look for God any further than the songs of praise and thanksgiving that God has given us to sing. This Psalm tells us we should praise God because God does not forget his love and faithfulness. We are loved by God!
We as people love many things that do not love us back. We love our cars and our homes. We love food or entertainment. None of these things can return our love. We love a God who loved us first. Scripture tells us: “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10). God’s steadfast love and faithfulness last through all generations. It is no accident that the psalmist ends the psalm, “For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” We give God thanks and praise for the sole reason that God loves us so much. God went into death itself to claim us as his own. God loved us before we even began to love him and for this he deserves our thanks and praise. God is all around us!
Finally, we give God thanks and praise because Jesus Christ’s face is found, not on the burn marks of a baked piece of fish, but in the marks of life in the faces around us. “We are his people” and as his people, we discover Christ’s presence in the faces of the people with whom we live and work, and those with whom we don’t live and work — the needy, the marginalized, the less fortunate, those in prison, those on welfare, those who live in rich houses or cardboard shacks, those who are different from us, those who live in freedom and those who live in the shadow of tyranny. This is most significant. For in this the baked fish stick challenges us. We need not look for Christ in a piece of baked fish! It should not be easier to see Christ in a fish stick than it is to see him in the faces of our neighbors. If we long to see Christ, we need only to look around us. Christ is with us in the faces of our neighbors. In the people who do what Christ does for us as they care, provide, love and keep us safe. And in the people we are called to be Christ to, doing the same for them.
God asks for our song of thanks and praise. And God deserves it. Because God has defeated the sting of sin and death for us! Because God has not and will not forget his love and faithfulness to us. And God surrounds us with people who reflect his face and presence! So don’t be looking for God in these foolish places like fish sticks and grilled cheese. Find God in the faces of those around you. And, on this day when we celebrate our music ministry, listen for God in the song upon our hearts.
Amen!
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Pastor Rich
