New Year

I am grateful for the near arrival of the new year and the sense of fresh beginnings that comes with it.  I realize that the new year is a contrived thing.  It is, after all, just the tick of a clock.   Still, I find myself thinking of new goals and new possibilities for the new year.  It is, I believe, a profound spiritual truth that we do not have to continue to be what we have been, to do what we have been doing, or to think as we have been thinking.  There is the possibility of newness and fresh creativity in this present moment!

A Personal Credo at Christmastime

I believe in the one who was wrapped in rags and laid in a manger.  Because of him,  I believe that God is love and there is real hope for this world.  I believe that the manger foretells the sort of life he was to live--pressed out of the places you might expect to find one who reigns ("no room") and welcomed in the places frequented by the poor, the blind, the crippled and the lame.  I believe that his life was an unbroken narrative of protest and praise:  protest against every power, attitude, spirit, and act that diminishes the beauty of human beings; and praise because of the power of God which he himself embodied and that is at work in the world to bring renewal and healing.  I believe that the manger foretells the cross.  These two are bookends around his life, one a symbol of his humble birth, the other a reminder of his lowly death.  I believe that all that is worst about our world is disclosed by that cross: it is nothing less than the revelation of our world's violent resistance to justice, mercy and love.  And I believe that what is best in our world is revealed by that cross: the crucified one transforms hatred into love, judgment into grace, despair into hope.  On one side of the cross we hear the worst: "Crucify him!" and on the other side of the cross we hear the best, "Father, forgive them..."  I believe that today all humans must decide on which side of that cross they will stand.  Because of the manger and the cross, those two bookends of the life, I believe what John wrote, "For God so loved the world..."   I believe that death could not hold him, that the power of God which he made known in humble love is the power that holds the future.  I believe that the power of resurrection is at work in our world today, bringing renewal and hope.  I believe that there is a community of believers, men, women and children, in whom his Spirit dwells and who are the 'firstfruits' of God's renewal work--and that they must let their lights shine, no matter how dark the day!   And I believe that one day, one beautiful day, the last sigh of sorrow will have been uttered,the last war will have been fought, the last tear will have been cried, and the kind of love that his whole life revealed will bind us together.  Shalom.  I believe in the one who was wrapped in rags and laid in a manger.  Because of him,  I believe that God is love and there is real hope for this world. 

Advent and Disappointment

"This year, give them what they want for Christmas."

Each year I marvel, at least once, at the audacity of the advertisers during the Christmas season. The loser this year, in my estimation, is the commercial that compels us to give our loved ones what they want, followed by visual images of (mostly) children laughing and smiling as they open their presents.  The narrator of this particular commercial manages to sprinkle in the word "joy" about a half-dozen times.  Apparently, the only thing that is required of us who would bring joy to our loved ones is to buy them the stuff they want this year.

I admit it, I'm offended.  I'm offended that the profound and powerful word "joy" has been so easily co-opted by an industry that stands to gain much if we believe their story.  I'm offended that the visual images portrayed on the commercials raise expectations to an impossible level.   I'm offended by the very notion that joy and more stuff are somehow intrinsically related.  (What is the message here to those who cannot afford all that stuff?)  I'm offended that many unsuspecting souls who believe the story of the advertisers will spend themselves into oblivion.  In short, I'm offended that a word with rich and powerful resonance in the Christian story--joy-- is used in manipulative ways for self-serving ends.

The story of Advent grants a necessary and honest critique of the idealized American Christmas.  If the dreamy Christmas the advertisers want to give us (and we are so quick to believe) is one of realized joy, the story of Advent speaks of joy that comes.  That's an extraordinarily important difference.  The idealized version of Christmas promises joy here and now, if you simply meet the right requirements.  Advent reminds us that we can expect visitations of joy here and again as hints and promises of the joy that is to come.  The first Advent of Jesus opens our hearts and minds to the visitation of joy, to be sure.  Our encounter with the love of God, poured out in Jesus, cannot help but bring with it occasions of deep and profound delight.  But just as the healing ministry of Jesus was a promise and sign of that healing which will come to our world on that great and beautiful day, so our experiences of joy today point to the "everlasting joy" that will be upon our heads (Isaiah 35:10) at the next Advent of the the Christ.

I go on a bit long in this blog today because I believe that our Americanized version of Christmas sets us up for disappointment, while the Advent story gives us resources for becoming courageous in the midst of disappointment.  The one says"you can have it all now"--and fails to deliver, while the other reminds that here in the time in which we are living between the first and the second Advent we can expect much heartache and pain, but the delightful visits of joy are portents of the everlasting joy that will come when, at last, the will of God is done on earth as it is in heaven.  Advent invites me to live hopefully, to pray unceasingly and to work fearlessly toward that day.

O Holy NIght

Every year on Christmas eve our congregation sings the hymn.  We sang it in the church I grew up in, too--or perhaps I should say that it was sung on our behalf.  Every year, Christmas eve, Mrs. Dobbins came to the front of the darkened sanctuary, the pianist played the introduction and everyone knew what was coming.  It never grew old, at least not to me. Her powerful soprano voice lifted our congregation up and beyond the rafters:

O Holy Night!  The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.

For me personally, there is no text that speaks more powerfully to the meaning of Advent.  The next line describes the personal impact of the first arrival of Jesus.  Notice, the author appeared to believe that it is our value as human beings that is illumined by the arrival of Jesus.  

Long lay the world in sin and error pining.

 Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.

The next line lays out the hope we embrace in the second Advent, the return of Jesus.  The birth of Jesus lifts the eyes to the horizon:

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

A later verse captures the new possibilities in our living as a result of the first and second Advent of Christ.  Here it becomes clear that the author believed that all who believe in God through Jesus are granted a new vocation:

Truly He taught us to love one another.

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother.

And in His name all oppression shall cease.

The following is the entire text of this magnificent hymn, as I've found it at this site: http://www.carols.org.uk/ba32-o-holy-night.htm   (Bear in mind that this is a translation, so there may be minor discrepancies with the version with which you are most familiar.)  Read it through. These words leave me almost speechless.   I'd love to hear where they impact you.

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
O'er the world a star is sweetly gleaming,
Now come the wisemen from out of the Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friends.
He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!

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.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!

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.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!

O Holy Night Lyrics Christmas Carol Lyrics  

The Great Disconnect

In a New World we shall sing;

Not, as we once believed,

A wispy home far away,

But here, on this firm rock.

I heard about a pastor who, many years ago, interviewed members of his congregation.  He asked each participant, "What do you think God is doing on Sunday?"  He then asked the same question regarding the remaining days of the week.  As the interviews unfolded, the pastor began to notice a trend.  Many members of the congregation were able to communicate what they believed God was up to on Sunday (meeting with the church gathered in worship) and sometimes on Wednesday (meeting with those gathered for Wednesday night prayer meeting), but were hard-pressed to describe what God might be doing on the remaining days of the week.

That story is a rather rough example of what I call "The Great Disconnect."  I'm not just thinking here of people who don't take their religion very seriously, the so called "church hypocrites."  I'm speaking of many of us for whom faith is a passionate concern.  Many seem to find it difficult to connect spirituality with the earthy endeavors of every day.  The 'great disconnect' can sing passionately and enthusiastically on Sunday, and then have no sense at all of how faith is connected to the rest of life.  I don't say this condescendingly or judgmentally.  It is too often my own experience.  How does paying the bills, emptying the trash, changing diapers, fixing the leaky faucet, etc. connect with a sacred adventure?

It is precisely because of this great disconnect that the theme of worship during the season of Advent is, I believe, particularly important.  Our worship during Advent is organized around the theme of hope for this world.  As you read the Advent Scripture readings, I trust that you'll listen to how earthy they are.  The hope that we embrace during Advent is hope for this world.  In the passage we'll be looking at this coming Sunday, Isaiah describes that day when "the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."  How exactly, we might ask, does the water cover the sea?  The water is the sea.  Exactly.  The knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth like that.

Remember that this is a vision of hope for this earth.   If the end of all things is a renewed heaven and a renewed earth, then we don't have two different realities--an earthy reality and a heavenly one.  We rather have this hope that one day the knowledge of God will so overlap and penetrate the earth that God's will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Today, each day, Sunday through Saturday, we pray and labor toward that end.