April 21, 2013

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Acts 9:36-43 (NRSV)

(36) Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity.

(37) At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs.

(38) Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, “Please come to us without delay.”

(39) So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

(40) Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up.

(41) He gave her his hand and helped her up. then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive.

(42) This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

(43) Meanwhile he stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.

Revelation 7:9-17 (NRSV)

(9) After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.

(10) they cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

(11) And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,

(12) singing, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

(13) then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?”

(14) I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

(15) For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.

(16) They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat;

(17) for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

John 10:22-30 (NRSV)

(22) At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter,

(23) and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon.

(24) So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.

(25) Jesus answered, “I have told you , and you do not believe. the works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me;

(26) but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep.

(27) My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.

(28) I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.

(29) What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand.

(30) The Father and I are one.”

I was blessed last week to have the opportunity to sit back and worship here with you all. It is such a wonderful experience to be able to participate in worship rather than lead it occasionally. I really enjoyed Phyllis’ words as I am sure you all did as well. In addition, not having to prepare much for last week gave me the chance to work ahead a bit. A few more weeks of school and the semester will be over so these last few weeks, needless to say, I have a bit of work. Papers are coming due, projects are getting ready to be presented. Final exams are getting a bit too close for comfort. So I entered this week caught up, and dare I say, a bit ahead. I was proud of myself.

Then, Monday happened. Monday happened and, well, everything changed. I was on my way to DC when I heard the news of the bombing. At that moment, no one was real sure exactly what was going on. I don’t know if you have ever felt like that. I remember on Sept. 11, 2001, I was starting my senior year of College. I had a 9:30am class on Tuesdays, and would walk to class with my friend who lived next to me. When we left for class, there was a report of one plane crash, but that was it. We went to class, unaware of what was happening, until 11am when class let out and we went to get some lunch and it was at that point, as we walked into the cafeteria and saw TV screens on all over the place, so many people gathered round that there was no room to move.

We got out of class and realized that the world had changed. That is what Monday felt like. I heard bits of the radio and by the time I had class, I realized that something horrible was happening, but it wasn’t until I got out of class that it really hit me.

You see, guilt strikes us in different ways. Sometimes we struggle with guilt for things we did or said that we shouldn’t. Sometimes we struggle with guilt for things we didn’t do or say that we should have. Monday mornings I have a routine. It is the one day of the week that I can “sleep in.” Eimy and Ian have to get to work and school, but i can’t take them like I usually do because I leave before they get home. So, generally, I will get up to give Ian a hug and kiss goodbye since I won’t see him until wednesday night, or he comes and gives me a hug and a kiss. This monday, for whatever reason, we didn’t see each other before he left for school. I didn’t really think about that until after I got out of class and back to my room a little before 9pm and got online to check my email and the news and that is when I heard about the little 8 year old boy who lost his life in Boston.

Just like that, we struggle with guilt for things we should have done, things that didn’t seem all that important at the time, but in all reality are the most important things there are. There is a lot of guilt to go around this week. I am sure each of you missed an opportunity to let someone close to you know that you love them. It is unfortunate that sometimes it takes a massive crisis for us to remember who is important in our lives.

We are left today, with this image of Jesus as our shepherd. I don’t know about you but when I was growing up and was thinking of a shepherd, the image I got in my mind was of a lonesome boy, out on the range guarding his flock. For that reason, it can be comforting to imagine, rather, to know that while we flock together, we have Christ guarding us, protecting us, guiding us home. Yet, it begs the question, if Jesus, if God, if the Holy Spirit is shepherding us, that means they are protecting us from something. They are protecting us from some evil. As a shepherd guards, he does his best to keep his flock safe, but to a certain extent, it is in the shepherds power to protect, but not in his power to control the evil that lurks outside of his view.

If we think of Christ as our shepherd in this light, it quickly becomes scary. We know Jesus to be part of the Holy Trinity, Jesus as man, but also as God and as the Holy Spirit. We know that as part of the trinity, all that we see and experience is part of His creation. This brings us to the ever present question, if all is created by God, why is there so much sorrow and heartache and evil. Many say that God created it. This, historically, has been a popular understanding. To us, it makes logical sense. God creates everything. Evil is something, therefore it was created and since it was created it had to be created by God. See, it makes sense. There are a couple of problems with this though. First of all, this logic has been used by some individuals who use it to scare and to blame. It is this understanding of evil that gives us those individuals who say that illness, cancer, AIDS, poverty, death, and destruction are signs of God’s vengeance upon those who have sinned. It is this understanding of evil that gives us those who say that health, prosperity, wealth, influence, and power are nothing more than blessings for those individuals who have kept God’s commandments.

Yet, here is the thing. There is one fact that blows a hole in this logic. Good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. Despite the fact that this logic has been used more times than we can count, the truth is that this logic is just that, a human attempt to understand something that is to a certain extent beyond our comprehension. No matter how many times we hear this perspective on why evil exists, the truth is, when we read through the Bible, especially when we read through the New Testament, this understanding of evil is simply wrong. It is simply a way we have come to pretend that God is on our side. What it fails to do is ask the question, are we on God’s side?

You see, there are other explanations of why evil exists and what exactly evil is. I don’t want to get into a whole bunch of theology, because frankly, it confuses me just as it might confuse a number of you. However, let me give you what I believe is possibly the most likely explanation that I feel fits into the understanding we get through careful study of scripture.

Evil, in all its forms, is not something. It is not a substance, it is not a piece of matter. It is, rather, a state of mind. It comes into being in a very simple way. We don’t get our priorities straight. We order our lives and our beings in ways that are counter to what God intends. We can do this because God gives us the ability to choose what we do in life. God gives us the power to order our priorities in any way that we want. When our priorities are ordered in the correct way, our lives, our words, our thoughts and our deeds bring us closer to God. But the reverse is also true. When our priorities are not in the right order, we put distance between ourselves and God. More than this, it becomes a self-fulfilling circular habit. When we order our priorities incorrectly, we get further from God. As we draw away from God, it becomes harder and harder to realize how our priorities should be ordered and we just keep moving farther and farther away.

In this understanding, evil exists not because God creates it, but because we do. We create it and allow it. What makes matters worse is that over time it just keeps getting harder and harder for us to figure out how to get everything in order.

That is why that image we have of the Shepherd watching over us can be a bit misleading. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that Christ is not our shepherd. Rather, Christ being our shepherd is not simply a matter of him looking out for wolves. Rather, it is a matter of Him trying over and over to convince us that the only reason wolves are there is because we choose to see them. But, to a certain extent they are illusions. Created by our inability to answer our calls. He tells us that much today in his words, “You don’t believe because you don’t recognize the voice of the shepherd among you.”

We wondered if we tend to think of the image of the shepherd as an image of Jesus on a grassy hillside surrounded by fluffy white sheep.  Here we see a sharper image:  Jesus is the Lord who is the Shepherd of the Twenty-third Psalm:  "When you recite the psalm, 'the Lord is my shepherd,' Jesus says, "you are addressing me.  The Father and I are one, I am the Good Shepherd."

And now come the words, "My sheep hear my voice.  I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.  No one will snatch them out of my hand.  What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father's hand.  The Father and I are one."

Today listen for the voice of our Shepherd, calling us away from deadly things, empowering and equipping us to raise up others who long to know the power of his forgiving love.  Let's show ourselves to be alive in Christ, raising up others in the joy of our risen Lord.

Today, we struggle with the events of this past week. Today we look to God, we call to the Shepherd, we pray that we can understand why. Maybe the reason why is that we have created something we can’t control. Maybe the reason why is that we have sinned and are being punished. Maybe the reason is simply that, sometimes, bad things happen. We also know that as Christ calls us into the fold, we too, must answer. We too must share that love that brings us home.

Today, we are humbled. We are in awe of the evil that has befallen us. We are scared that more will come. We mourn for those whose lives have been taken away far too soon. We are reminded that, in life, there is little true security. That is, except in the arms of the shepherd who calls us, who searches for us, and who loves us.

If we learn nothing else from this past week, let us learn this. We share this life with family and friends. We share this life with neighbors and acquaintances. We share in this life, a planet filled with two things. First, it is a planet filled with pain. Secondly, and more importantly, it is a planet filled with millions of opportunities every day to reach out, embrace, and love. For it is in this embrace, it is in this love, that we begin to see how we have misordered the priorities in our lives. In fact, it is the one thing that can help us see clearly when we are trapped in the downward spiral that draws us away from God. This embrace and this love, gives us enough clarity to see through the evil and recognize the love. This love, brightens our path, and together, we can walk, back into the fold, where we will be blessed to share an eternity in the fold of the creator, the only place we can be where it will be impossible to confuse evil with love.

Fourth Sunday in Lent

March 10, 2013

Fourth Sunday in Lent

Joshua 5:9-12 (NRSV)

(9) The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” And so that place is called Gilgal to this day.
(10) While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho.
(11) On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain.
(12) The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 (NRSV)

(16) From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way.
(17) So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
(18) All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation;
(19) that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.
(20) So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
(21) For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 (NRSV)

(1) Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.
(2) And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
(3) So he told them this parable:
(11b) “There was a man who had two sons.
(12) the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them.
(13) A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living.
(14) When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need.
(15) So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed his pigs.
(16) He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything.
(17) But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger!
(18) I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;
(19) I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.’”.
(20) So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.
(21) Then the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”
(22) But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe - the best one - and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
(23) And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate;
(24) for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.
(25) “Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.
(26) He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on.
(27) He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’
(28) Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him.
(29) But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that i might celebrate with my friends.
(30) But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’
(31) Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.
(32) But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”

So, earlier this week, Eimy got an email from a friend at work. She told me about it when she got home. The email said simply, You are wonder woman! You wonder where your keys are, you wonder where your shoes are. You wonder if the bills were paid, you wonder if you turned off the coffee maker.
Eimy thought I should include that email in my remarks this morning, but I hesitated, because truth be told, she is a wonder woman. And for that gift, I am, and will be, forever grateful.
But, I did want to start this morning with family. Because it is the bonds of family that our Scripture speaks of this morning. Anytime I get a scripture that is well known, it is both a blessing and a curse to come up with a message. Today, with our reading of the prodigal son, we have what is one of the most well known stories of the Bible. Even more so, it has come to have meaning in our larger society, even outside of church. Most people, even if they have never been to church, know the story of the prodigal son. It is likely that more sermons have been written on this parable than just about any other one. It is truly difficult to find words to speak that haven’t been spoken before. Yet, with all that in mind, here we go.
“Blood is thicker than water.” That is something I remember my father saying quite often. He would use that phrase in different contexts yet, I always knew what he meant. No matter what else you may do in life, your family will always be your family. And no matter what other priorities may come about, no matter what happens to you in life, you always do for family. There are no exceptions to this rule, at least not any my father could think of.
Yet, growing up, it was always just something my father said. Yet, looking back, I can see that it is something he lived. When my sister was born and had serious medical problems, whatever sacrifices it called for, they were sacrifices that had to be made. My mother leaving her career to stay home and take care of her, a sacrifice that had to be made. My father taking upon himself working endless hours so we could pay for food and medicine, even though he was a truck driver and would be gone most weeks and we could see him only on the weekends, a sacrifice that had to be made. When my sister had to have surgery and was in the hospital for weeks, even over my birthday, my father would come home to my grandmother’s house where I was staying to give me a small remote control race car even though his presence was needed at the hospital. A sacrifice that had to be made. All of these sacrifices had to be made, and they were, without thought or second guessing, because, when you get to the heart of it, you do for family, not because they deserve it, not because they want it, not because they even need it, but because they are family and family is the bond that, in life, is what ties us to each other and forms the backbone of our society.
“Blood is thicker than water.” Of course, it is a bit easier to live out this ideal when the issues you are dealing with are life and death of a family member. When the issues are more day to day, sometimes it can get harder to live out the responsibilities and obligations of life when we find ourselves disagreeing with each other, maybe on the opposite side of the argument from our mother or father, sister or brother, neighbor or friend.
While I have painted a picture of my father here that is true to form, it does glance over some of his more human characteristics. Like, for example, when I went away to college and came back with some different social and political ideals that he wasn’t too thrilled about. To make a long story short, the word brainwashed was thrown out a couple of times. At one point, in the midst of a heated argument, I remember him walking down the stairs in a huff and as he walked out the basement door, he screamed back at me, “You are nothing but a democrat.” For my father, and much of my family, that was the ultimate insult. Nothing was worse.
Yet, even though we would disagree, at the end of the day, blood is thicker than water. At the end of the day, you do for family.
On tuesday, I have a project due for a class I am taking called “Pastoral Care and Counseling in Contexts.” This particular class begins to introduce us into the world of counseling in the context of pastoral relationships. The professor, an extremely smart individual who came to ministry through psychological counseling, is a firm believer that your interaction with people in your life is a reflection of where you came from. So, as the first big assignment in this class, we have to do a genogram. I had never heard of a genogram before this semester, but it is kind of like a family tree, but a bit more involved. You draw a family tree, but you include a lot of other information. Age of death, cause of death, disabilities, illnesses, migrations, separations, divorces, etc etc. After that, you include information about the types of relationships. Estrangements, hostile or violent relationships, abuses, family “secrets”. Just about anything that happens among families that affects people in one way or another.
I have spent the past couple of weeks working on this project and it is quite a sight to see four generations of both my family and Eimy’s family. To see it in that form, it gives you a frame of reference that you don’t normally have. Looking back over our two families gives quite a picture into our lives. Just as the professor wants us to realize that where we come from affects where we are going, seeing our families’ histories really drives that point home. As I look back over my side of the family, I can see some patterns that I never really thought about before. For example, while I know which members of my family have been divorced, it didn’t dawn on me until I put it on paper how stable my family has been. Of all my aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, there are only two divorces in my family. In fact, my father and his brothers were each married once. My mother and her sisters as well, were each married only once. While the lack of divorces is a good thing, it also speaks to the idea that life can be difficult and sometimes we just have to plough through and make the life that we have and not let petty differences break us apart. As we look over Eimy’s family, the one major pattern is migration. Not only has Eimy migrated here, her parents, her paternal grandparents and all of her aunts, uncles and cousins on her fathers side moved from Colombia to Ecuador. On her mothers side, there are a few who still live in Bogota, Colombia, many others have migrated to other parts of Colombia. Still others have moved out of the country entirely. One lives in Caracas, Venezuela. Eimy’s mom of course is in Quito. Another uncle lives in Fort Myers, Florida.

So the understanding of how migration affects families is strong in Eimy’s family, and the idea of sticking it out and not letting our differences break us apart is strong in my family. Eimy and I each bring these qualities to our family. While we have ventured out in our own, individual lives, those values that we learned venture with us, they become part of who we are and how we live.

Our story this morning, the prodigal son, is a story, a parable that has been dissected in every imaginable way. We can look at it through the eyes of the father, the son who stays home, the one who goes away. We can look at it through the slaves of the father, or the people in the far away land who the son came to know. Yet, this morning, we look at it through the lens of the family. The prodigal son was, just that, a son. He was a son who thought he knew better, and who realized later how wrong he was. He went back to his father, the father was his father. And as his father, he loved him anyway and was overjoyed to see his lost son return. The brother, was the brother who questions decisions, who believed that he had been wronged, who suspected that life wasn’t fair. In other words, this family, the father, the son and the brother are us. We are that family and we each can relate to one of these characters in some way or another. And when we do that, we remember that blood is thicker than water.

Not only are we that family, but God is the head of that family, of our family. He is that father that lets us take what is his and use it for our purposes. He is the one that waits patiently for us to see the error of our ways, and he is the one that rejoices when he sees us coming, even though we are still far off. Because, no matter what we have done, we still belong and there is still joy when we return.

In life, we many times try to do it our own way. We try to strike our own path. We try to control all the uncontrollables. But, in the end, we can’t control them, not on our own.

In my senior year of high school, I had a difficult time. I had been gone the year before, so all of my friends had changed and so had I. I had to take the required classes that juniors have to take, but I had to take them as a senior, so I wasn’t even around a lot of the friends I had had before. It was a difficult time, and I found it hard to find a place again. Then I went on to college and had to start all over again. My girlfriend at the time was in high school with me and she came to Bucknell with me too. Her and I would talk a lot and I would tell her how much I learned from my year as an exchange student. Her father had died of cancer a few days before I left for south america, and now, a few years later, my father as well had just been diagnosed with cancer, so we would talk about that and she helped me get through it. We would talk about future plans. I was excited about returning to Argentina during my junior year, and I loved my classes and we would talk and I would say how much I wanted a life that was different than the one I knew. It was at this point that she said something that has stuck with me ever since. She said, “It is great that you have all these dreams and ambitions and hopes. But, whatever you do, don’t ever forget who you are and where you came from.”

That advice has served me well. Because for all of the changes that have happened in my life, my family has always been there, in good times and in bad, when I deserved their love and when I failed miserably at deserving it.

The prodigal son, he comes home. There is celebration, not because the sons actions in life deserved the celebration, but because in the end, he remembered where he came from. He remembered that blood is thicker than water. He remembered that what he deserves is irrelevant in the eyes of the father. The son had come home.

On this Sunday as we draw closer to that day when Christ will sacrifice himself, let us remember that at the end of the day, we are to remember where we came from, even if the place we come from is a total wreck. Even if the place we come from is filled with filth, and sin, and anger and hatred and violence, even if the place we come from is so horrible that there are no words that could truly describe it, if we remember where we came from, and return back to that home, the father will be there waiting. That will be a celebration we definitely won’t want to miss.

Third Sunday in Lent

March 3, 2013

Third Sunday in Lent

Isaiah 55:1-9 (NAB)

(1) All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk!
(2) Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare.
(3) Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David.
(4) As I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of nations,
(5) So shall you summon a nation you knew not, and nations that knew you shall run to you, because of the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you.
(6) Seek the Lord while he may be found, call him while he is near.
(7) Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked man his thoughts; Let him turn to the Lord for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving.
(8) For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
(9) As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.

1 Corinthians 10:1-13 (NAB)

(1) I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea,
(2) and all of them were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
(3) All ate the same spiritual food,
(4) and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ.
(5) Yet, God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the desert.
(6) These things happened as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil things, as they did.
(7) And do not become idolaters, as some of them did, as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.”
(8) Let us not indulge in immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell within a single day.
(9) Let us not test Christ as some of them did, and suffered death by serpents.
(10) Do not grumble as some of them did, and suffered death by the destroyer.
(11) These things happened to them as an example, and they have been written down as a warning to us, upon whom the end of the ages has come.
(12) Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.
(13) No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it.

Luke 13:1-9 (NAB)

(1) At that time some people who were present there told him about the Galileans whose book Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices.
(2) He said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?
(3) By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!
(4) Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower  at Siloam fell on them - do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?
(5) By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”
(6) And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none,
(7) he said to the gardener, “For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. [So] cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?”
(8) He said to him in reply, “Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it;
(9) it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.””

The scripture lesson this morning is a little different. We have two, seemingly separate pericopes. It begins with Jesus giving some words that can seem very different than we usually hear Him. These are not the words of the Jesus we like to think about, anyway. This is the fire and brimstone Jesus, the one who doesn’t tell us what we want to hear, he tells us what we need to hear. Then, he lapses into a short parable. Parables, of course, are nothing new for Jesus, he uses them consistently, this we know. This one, though, is slightly different because it ends and we are left to think about what it means. There is no explanation, there is no attempt to explain it to his apostles. The only meaning we can pull out of it is on our own, making some implications based on the few lines above.
I guess maybe that is par for the course, here we are in the middle of lent and the lectionary gives us a passage that causes us to dig a little bit, to search around for the meaning. We are not given a passage that makes everything clear, not a passage that tells us in no uncertain terms that we are loved and children of God. Not a passage that tells us how grace covers our lives when we see it and when we don’t. Not a passage that brings us up to feel God’s presence in us, but a passage that causes us to stir, to dig, to shuffle our emotions until we can’t see which way is up.
After all, isn’t that what lent is truly about? A time to reflect on the sufferings that Christ undertook on behalf of all of us who millenia after the fact continue in the same circles of sin and selfishness that we have since time began. Here we are, two thousand years after the fact, still living in our sin, still suffering for our sin, still asking Christ to come to us, to suffer again for us, to help us find the way to redemption.
That is where we are today, in search for redemption. It is through the lens of the search for that redemption that we read these words this morning from the Gospel of Luke. Now, I have been here officially since last july. I was here, unofficially for two years prior to that. I have preached on a lot of subjects during that time, some better than others. Yet, it is no surprise that I tend to favor preaching on what it means to live in the community of faith, and I do that because I think it is an aspect of religion, of our faith that we tend to overlook in our society. The politics and economics of our life put a huge emphasis on the individual at the expense of the community.Through my eyes that means that we have come to see our collective responsibility to each other and to our world as either irrelevant or indifferent.
Yet, preparing these words for today, made me realize that sometimes I put so much attention on our collective responsibility to each other, that I have unintentionally minimized the importance of individual faith and our individual relationships to God. This is an aspect of my ministry that is still developing and I thank you for helping me realize that our emphasis has to be on both the collective and the individual rather that one at expense of the other.
Lent, then, is a time when we can inwardly focus our faith journeys. It is true that we journey together, but we each do that in unique and complex ways. It is to this individual journey that we turn this morning. Our society has many ills, it often lacks direction, strength, and responsibility. And when we suffer from those ills, so many times we point at the problem. When we lose our jobs, we blame the employers who seem completely aloof to our daily concerns. It is just greedy business owners that cost us our jobs. It is easier to do that than to say, I never got to work on time, or I didn’t work as hard as I could have. When our families fall apart, we say it was my husband or my wife who lied to me, who cheated on me, who fell out of love with me. It is easier to say that than to look at ourselves and see the times and places when we weren’t the partner they needed. When wars break out, we say it is all because of those others, it is their fault, for they hate our freedom, or they despise our faith. Because it is easier to say this than to look at ourselves and see that maybe we haven’t always played our decks above the table, that we have failed to be of assistance in disasters or we have been too uncaring when we demand that the poor countries in the world pay debt they can’t afford even when doing so means their citizens can’t eat. We are a society, we are a people who too often look at blame as being that of someone else. We define our world in terms of black and white, of good and bad, of them and us.
Yet, Christ himself tells us what happens when we act in that way. When we look at this scripture there is one benefit in reading it two thousand years later. When Jesus talks of the Galileans, when he talks about the eighteen who perished when the tower of Siloam fell, we can look over them because we don’t necessarily have any context for who these people are. It is easy for us to say, Jesus is talking about people who don’t exist anymore. When we do this, it undermines the message for us. Because while there may be no more Galileans, at least not in the biblical sense, the idea still remains today if we put it in context. The underlying message is don’t assume that you are ok just because you can point to others who are worse. The underlying message is that it isn’t a competition. So, let’s replace the words Galileans and the group who died at the tower of Siloam with some of our “others” today. Maybe this will give us some sense of what this message could sound like today.
Let’s rephrase this with some things we hear today, even in church.

“Do you think that these Republicans were worse sinners than you? I tell you, no!”
“Do you think that these Democrats were worse sinners than you? I tell you, no!”
“Do you think that these Drug Lords were worse sinners than you? I tell you, no!”
“Do you think that these urban gangs were worse sinners than you? I tell you, no!”
“Do you think that these homosexuals were worse sinners than you? I tell you, no!”

The list goes on, we could replace the word Galileans for any one of a million different people and groups we point to when we try to deflect blame away from us. They can be that neighbor that doesn’t respect your property. They can be that girl down the street who had an abortion. They can be that kid who hangs out on the corner opposite of your house who just looks like trouble.

Yet, today we are to realize that ultimately we cannot deflect blame to someone or something else. Today we are to realize that ultimately we each and every one of us falls short of God’s Glory because we all sin. It is true that the sin of stealing bread is vastly different from the sin of robbing someone of their life. Yet, at the end of the day, they are all sins, and we all commit more of them than we care to admit. That is, until today. Today, we are called to admit how short we have fallen. Today, we are called to recognize that, one day, each of us will be called to account. I don’t know exactly what that experience will be like, but I am pretty sure what it won’t be like. It won’t be a time when you will be compared to other’s sins. On that day, I would be willing to bet that you won’t be asked how sinful your neighbor or your friend or your enemy were. Because, on that day, there is only one competition to be worried about. That competition will be with yourself. And I guarantee you, that as you look into your life you will find much to be worried about. Indeed, it is likely that no matter how good you tried to be, it will not be enough to get you into God’s eternal home. Yet, I don’t say that to scare you, because you and I and everyone couldn’t even hope to measure up. That is the good news, because Christ has already filled up the gap for us.

This lenten season, we reflect upon ourselves, we think and pray and strive to get closer to who God created us to be. It is in this lenten season, that our minds and our wills remind us that at the end, we are all to go back to God. That is both a gift and a responsibility. As Saint Augustine sat down to compile his confessions he spends the last third of that book, more or less, to philosophical musings. At the very end, he speaks of that Sabbath day we all look to share in. In then end, that is where we are going. Augustine writes:

“But the seventh day is without evening. The sun does not set on it, because you sanctified it to last forever. For after all your works which were very good, you rested on the seventh day, although you made all these works in an unbroken rest. So, may the voice of your book tell us in advance that we too, after our works (which are very good only for the reason that you have given them to us), may rest in you in the sabbath of eternal life.

First Sunday of Lent

February 17, 2013

Deuteronomy 26:1-11 (CEB)

(1) Once you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and are settled there,
(2) take some of the early produce of the fertile ground that you have harvested from the land the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket. Then go to the location the Lord your God selects for his name to reside.
(3) Go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him: “I am declaring right now before the Lord my God that I have indeed arrived in the land swore to our ancestors to give us.”
(4) The priest will then take the basket from you and place it before the Lord your God’s altar.
(5) Then you should solemnly state before the Lord your God: “My father was a starving Aramean. He went down to Egypt, living as an immigrant there with few family members, but that is where he became a great nation, mighty and numerous.
(6) The Egyptians treated us terribly; oppressing us and forcing hard labor on us.
(7) So we cried out for help to the Lord, our ancestor’s God. The Lord heard our call. God saw our misery, our trouble, and our oppression.
(8) The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, with awesome power, and with signs and wonders.
(9) He brought us to this place and gave us this land - a land full of milk and honey.
(10) So now I am bringing the early produce of the fertile ground that you, Lord, have given me.” Set the produce before the Lord your God, bowing down before the Lord your God.
(11) Then celebrate all the good things the Lord your God has done for you and your family - each one of you along with the Levites and the immigrants who are among you.

Romans 10:8b-13 (CEB)

(8b) The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.
(9) Because if you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and in your heart you have faith that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
(10) Trusting with the heart leads to righteousness, and confessing with the mouth leads to salvation.
(11) The scripture says, All who have faith in him won’t be put to shame.
(12) There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord is Lord of all, who gives richly to all who call on him.
(13) All who call on the Lord’s name will be saved.

Luke 4:1-13 (CEB)

(1) Jesus returned from the Jordan River full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.
(2) There he was tempted for forty days by the devil. He ate nothing during those forty days and afterward Jesus was starving.
(3) The devil said to him, “Since you are God’s Son, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.”
(4) Jesus replied, “It’s written, People won’t live only by bread.”
(5) Next the devil led him to a high place and showed him in a single instant all the kingdoms of the world.
(6) The devil said, “I will give you this whole domain and the glory of all these kingdoms. It’s been entrusted to me and I can give it to anyone I want.
(7) Therefore, if you will worship me, it will all be yours.
(8) Jesus answered, “It’s written, You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”
(9) The devil brought him into Jerusalem and stood him at the highest point of the temple. He said to him, “Since you are God’s Son, throw yourself down from here;
(10) for it’s written: He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you
(11) and they will take you up in their hands so that you won’t hit your foot on a stone.”
(12) Jesus answered, “It’s been said, Don’t test the Lord your God.”
(13) After finishing every temptation, the devil departed from him until the next opportunity.

So, today is the first Sunday of lent. I have to admit, it doesn’t seem quite normal to me as this is the first year in quite some time that I was unable to attend an Ash Wednesday service. Yet, here we find ourselves gathered as we collectively take that first step into that yearly reminder of how our sin, the sin that we are unable to overcome, was finally overcome for us by our messiah, Christ Jesus.
Traditionally, lent is a time when we do some major soul searching. Many traditionally sacrifice a part of their routine in order to remember the ultimate sacrifice Christ made for us. Sometimes we go without chocolate, coffee, soda or some other favorite snack.
The sacrifices are one of the focal point of the lenten season, as they help us to remember the ultimate sacrifice Christ makes on Good Friday. Yet, today, on this first Sunday in Lent, we focus not on the sacrifices, per se, but rather on temptation. Not just any ordinary, run of the mill, temptation; but, rather, the temptation Jesus himself faces in the wilderness with no less than the devil, himself.
Now, it is important to set the scene. Jesus has just been baptized. It is at this point, after this baptism, that Jesus goes off into the wilderness. It is at this point that Jesus is confronted by the devil and is tempted in the three ways the scriptures tell us. Jesus is tempted first with food, with sustenance after his body was weakened by fasting for so long. Then comes the temptation of power, power over all people and things. Finally, comes the temptation of testing God. This may be the most interesting. It is also the one I think I want to focus on a bit. It is easy to see ourselves in the first two temptations. We all have our baser instincts that can have an immense amount of control over us. Think of hunger. How many people in the world are hungry or thirsty? How many times have we heard of parents who steal to feed their family. How many are tempted by physical needs in one way or another. This temptation might be the one that is easiest for us to relate to, as it involves those biological functions which are common to us all and we each know to some extent what it is to be hungry, thirsty, tired, sick, or hurt.
Next comes the temptation of power. We can all relate to this as well. It is symbolic, at least in my mind, to our psychological needs. It is our need to be with people, our need to be successful, our need to be wealthy. It is our need to be worthy to our friends and family. It is our need to know that we can affect people’s lives.
Finally, the temptation of testing God. This one can be either easily related to, or very difficult to relate to, depending on how we think of it. If we think of this temptation as testing God’s word, it can be easy to relate to. We know that God has said that he loves us, so when we act in a way that puts that promise to a test, we are testing God to keep that promise. Yet, if we think of this temptation in another way, it becomes difficult to get our minds around. When the devil tempts Jesus to jump from the pinnacle of the temple, he is in essence, testing Jesus belief and understanding that he was the Son of God. While we are all children of God, what the devil was asking was a bit different. It is easy in retrospect to say that Jesus was the Son of God. That is something that we, as Christians, hold as fundamental to our faith. Yet, this is also one of those times when it becomes helpful to remember the very human side of Christ. Jesus Christ was a human being, in every way that we are human. Which we can take to mean that he dealt with things like doubt. It is this doubt that could make it very difficult to entertain the idea that he was the Son of God. Jesus is just about to begin his public ministry. Shortly, he will be going out into the world and sharing the good news of the gospel. He will bring this news as the Son of God, he needs to be sure he is. He needs to believe with every fiber of his being that he has understood his call correctly. Anything less would be insufficient and would weaken his message. When the devil asks him to jump off the pinnacle of the temple, he is playing to that belief. He is putting the entire ministry of Christ, that which is about to begin, on the table. He is saying, if you are so sure, then jump. Jesus had to be sure he was who he said he was, but the devil is saying, if you honestly believe that, then prove it. In essence, the devil is playing mind games.
These temptations both remind us that at the very outset of his ministry, Jesus knew the road would be rough. They also remind us that, very much like us, Jesus dealt with all of this as a human. He existed in a world that was full of temptation and he had to struggle with that temptation in many of the same ways that we continue to struggle with temptation. It is worth noting that even in Luke’s account this morning that in verse 6 that, “And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their (kingdoms) glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please.” The devil was given the authority of the world. This is not to suggest that God has no authority in the world, but rather that temptation is the way that the devil works in the world. It is in that temptation, that we are each put into situations wherein we are called to make a choice that either brings us closer to God or further away from the source of all-encompassing love.
Temptation is that thing that we, as humans, have dealt with since the very beginning. In so many of the early writing of Christianity we see how our forefathers in the faith dealt with temptation. It is one of those stories I want to bring up this morning.
The year is around 386. The man who would come to be known as Saint Augustine is around 32 years old. The past few years of his life has been a constant inner struggle. He sees himself as a philosopher and has struggled with coming to terms with the faith he has learned from his mother, Monica. Over the past few years, he has joined a group that was seen as heretical by the church. He spent time talking with friends about astrology and other pagan-associated ideologies. He wants to come to faith yet struggles with the idea of how evil exists and where it comes from. If you read the Confessions of St. Augustine, you get a front row seat into this internal struggle. Yet, he finally comes to a faith that is so strong it led many others to a life in the service of Christ as well. I want to just mention how Augustine comes to understand evil, because it ties into the temptation we all deal with daily.
Augustine couldn’t understand how evil could exist in a world that was created by God. He understood God to be totally good and that everything that exists was created by God. So the problem was how evil could exist if God didn’t create that evil. It made no sense. But then, he has a realization. He comes to define evil in a very particular way. For Augustine, evil becomes something that has no substance but it does have a formal existence. In other words, it does exist, but is is not a thing. It is a state of mind, or a frame of thought. What causes this evil to come into being is the disorder of priorities. The priorities that we have in how we choose to love. Augustine understands man to have two wills. One will is of God and one will is of Man. These two wills are in constant struggle for control over behavior. Augustine explains it in this way.
“The enemy had control of my will, and from that had made a chain to bind me fast. From a perverted act of will, desire had grown, and when desire is given satisfaction, habit is forged; and when habit passes unresisted, a compulsive urge sets in: by these close-knit links I was held”...”To set out and arrive at my goal was only a matter of having a will to go: but it meant a wholehearted and undivided act of will, not this stumbling to and fro with a maimed will, wrestling with it as one part rose while the other slipped to the ground.”
Augustine has what we would call a conversion moment in a garden and all of these ideas are swimming around in his head. He had understood his actions to be his will, but when he began to look upon the problem as this struggle between two wills, things start to make more sense. In this struggle, he could see that part of the issue he was having was with control and that depending on God meant losing that control or at least accepting that he didn’t have all the control. He eventually comes to emphasize the experience of the force of habit because he now thought that the experience  proved conclusively that change could only happen through processes entirely outside of his control. He writes, “That was all, just not to wish what I wanted, and to want what You (God) wished. but where was my free-will in the gruelling time: from what deep recess was it called-up, at that turning point, in which I bent my neck to Your light yoke.
Augustine sees this struggle of wills to be the heart of his faith because it is in this struggle that the free-willl which God gives man plays out its role. It is in this struggle that the temptation attacks. When we choose the wrong thing, we are in essence, putting our priorities in an order that is different than what God would want. Therefore, the temptation wins and we take a step further away from God. The story of the temptation of Jesus reminds us of this struggle between these two wills that struggle within each of us.
It is here that our faith brings us today. And it is here that we yearn to hear God and to draw closer to him, firm in our belief in his promise that Easter is coming. Frederich Beuchner wrote an arcticle called Whistling in the Dark. I would like to close this morning with a passage from that article.
Buechner writes: In many cultures there is an ancient custom of giving a tenth of each year’s income to some holy use. For Christians, to observe the forty days of Lent is to do the same thing with roughly a tenth of each year’s days. After being baptized by John in the river Jordan, Jesus went off alone into the wilderness where he spent forty days asking himself the question what it meant to be Jesus. During Lent, Christians are supposed to ask one way or another what it means to be themselves. Se we ask, If you had to bet everything you have on whether there is a God or whether there isn’t, which side would get your money and why? When you look at your face in the mirror, what do you see in it that you most like and what do you see in it that you most deplore? If you had only one last message to leave to the handful of people who are most important to you, what would it be? Of all the things you have done in your life, which is the one you would most like to undo? Which is the one that makes you happiest to remember? Is there any person in the world, or any cause, that, if circumstances called for it, you would be willing to die for? If this were the last day of your life, what would you do with it?

To hear yourself try to answer questions like these is to begin to hear something not only of who you are but of both what you are becoming and what you are failing to become. It can be a pretty depressing business all in all, but if sackcloth and ashes are at the start of it, something like Easter may be at the end.

First Sunday after Christmas

First Sunday of Christmastide

December 30, 2012


1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26 (NIV)

(18) But Samuel was ministering before the Lord - a boy wearing a linen ephod.
(19) Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.
(20) Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, “May the Lord give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to the Lord.” Then they would go home.
(26) And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with men.

Colossians 3:12-17 (NIV)

(12) Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
(13) Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
(14) And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
(15) Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
(16) Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
(17) And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Luke 2:41-52 (NIV)

(41) Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover.
(42) When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom.
(43) After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it.
(44) Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends.
(45) When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.
(46) After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
(47) Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.
(48) When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
(49) “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
(50) But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
(51) Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
(52) And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

One of the great things about the holidays is spending time with family. As the holidays pass, we realize another wonderful tradition about the holidays, our families go home. So, in that respect, A bible group was discussing the unforeseen possibility of sudden death. “We will all die some day, the leader of the discussion said, “and none of us really knows when, but if we did, we would all do a better job of preparing ourselves for that day.” Everybody nodded their heads in agreement with this comment.

“What would you do if you knew you only had four weeks of life left before your great judgment day?” the leader asked the group.
“For those four weeks, I would go out into my community and witness to those that have not yet accepted Jesus into their lives,” one person said.
“A very wise thing to do,” said the group leader. And all the group members agreed that would be a very good thing to do.
“For those four weeks, I would dedicate all of my remaining time to being of more service to others, “ said another woman.
“That’s wonderful!” the group leader commented, and all the group members agreed.
One gentleman in the back finally spoke up loudly. “For those four weeks, I would travel throughout the United States with my mother-in-law in an economy car, and stay in a cheap motel every night.”
Everyone was puzzled by his answer. “Why would you do that?” the group leader asked curiously.
“Because,” the man smiled sarcastically, “it would be the longest four weeks of my life.”

I have to admit, that as a kid growing up, this particular piece of scripture made total sense. By that, I mean, it fit into the view of the world I had. Think about it, what self-respecting teenager honestly thinks his parents know what is best? How many of you, at that age, sat in church and thought, why can’t my parents be at least half as cool as Joseph and Mary? Jesus pulls a stunt like this and the pie ends up in the face of Mary and Joseph.

However, looking at this scripture through the eyes of a parent gives me a whole new understanding. This is one of those pieces of scripture that, in all reality, is totally unbelievable. Am I wrong? Put yourself in the story, how different would it turn out?
Here is an example, putting myself and my parents into the story. My parents have realized that I have wandered off. The idea that they left me behind is not even brought up, I was the one who had to have wandered off. They turn around and walk back to Jerusalem, finding me at the temple. The first reaction of my mother, may very well have been close to what Mary said. But that is where the similarities end. At this point, my father would get involved. I think it is curious that Joseph is silent throughout this story. My father would come over, grab me by the ear, with no intention of being gentle. God’s son or not, this just isn’t acceptable behavior. My father would pull me over to the side and slap me right upside the head, again with no intention of being gentle. Then he would say something close to, “Are you out of your mind?” Although his words would be slightly different, just not repeatable in this particular location. Do you know what you put your mother and I through? What could have possibly led you to believe this was ok to do?
Then, let’s assume I respond in the same way Jesus did. “But you should have known I would be here.” “Why would you think any different?” This, in turn, would ensure another slap upside the head as he would say, “This, my boy, is not your mother’s and my fault! You better give up the attitude and answer my questions with a little more respect, or your are gonna have one heck of a headache by the time we get back home. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, Dad. I am sorry.” I would have to say, as that is the only acceptable response. And he would reply, now get your butt moving, we are already gonna get home late and you will still get your chores done before you even think about going to bed, understand?”
Now, raise your hand if this story is more in line with what you would have experienced? Don’t lie!
Yet, the story in scripture is so totally different. Why is it, that the story is so unbelieveable? Why do Mary and Joseph react so differently to how most parents react? Is it due to a different time? I don’t think so, if anything parents have gotten less strict rather than more. I believe that a father in ancient Israel would at the least respond as my own father would, likely more strict. Is it because they were at fault? I doubt that too. Jesus knew the rules of the household. He knew that he should let his parents know where he is. So why do we get a story that in so many ways is unbelieveable?
The truth is that there may simply not be an answer to this question. Maybe part of being a Christian is believing in the unbelievable? We have just celebrated Christmas, which when you get down to the cold hard facts, is pretty unbelievable. Christmas is about believing that God himself came to earth as a flesh and blood human. God came to us as one of us. This is unbelievable too. Prior to Christianity, most religions had a God or Gods that were elsewhere. They may interact with humanity through the weather, through disasters or through blessings. They may have helped win battles, punish enemies, or hear prayers, but they were not human in any way, shape, or form. Even in Judaism, Christianities forbear, God was separate from the human experience. He was present in prayer, in battle, in blessing, but he was not human. Not only this, but according to Jewish tradition, the Messiah that was to come was not God incarnate. The Jews believed that the messiah that was foretold by the prophets, would be a soldier, a leader, someone who would help overthrow the shackles of Rome or any other foreign power that held the Jews captive. The messiah was not understood to be God in the flesh.
Yet, it turns out, that is exactly what the messiah was. Christmas is the celebration of the Incarnation, the moment when God decided that he was to intervene in humanity by becoming fully human. The Word became flesh, as John reminds us. But what does it mean to become fully human? And what purpose would God have for intervening in humanity in this way?
These are questions I ask, knowing very well that I don’t have the answers to them. In fact, I don’t believe anyone has the answers to these questions; except God, of course. Yet, here we are, the last sunday of the calendar year, asking these questions and wondering what it all means. We are hoping that we can gain a better understanding. We are hoping that as we make the progression from one year to another, that God is still present, that God is still guiding us, protecting us, and most importantly loving us, because if this last year taught us nothing else, it taught us that we simply can’t do it alone.

During this year we have tried to deal with changes, we have tried to be open and honest in our discussions with each other. We have tried to be helpful to those in need. We have tried to be of service to those we encounter. We have tried to be open-minded when our day to day realities get shattered or when the change comes slowly, tapping at our stained-glass windows, reminding us that what has been is no more and that whether or not we like it, the change has come and is ready to engulf us in its uncertainty, its strangeness, its darkness.

This week has been one of discomfort for me. I have been battling this cold or whatever it

is. I have been coughing, I have lost my voice on a number of occassions. I have felt feverish, yet with no fever. On top of that, my kids are with their grandmother, so the house is eerily quiet. So quiet, that I can actually hear myself think. I had forgotten what that was even like. Yet, it has served to give me a space. A space to help me sort out all that I have been experiencing this year. Sometimes it is important to just take a time and reflect, collect, and invigorate. This past week has served very well for this. This idea of incarnation was one thing I spent some time reflecting about this week. And it is here, in this idea of incarnation, that my thoughts found some structure.
The other night, Eimy and I went to the movies to see Les Miserables. Now, it has long been one of my favorite stories. I learned the music when I was in high school, I saw the play twice on broadway, I have seen a number of the film adaptations, and when I lived abroad the first time, I took with me, and read, the entire novel, which, if you have never seen it, is quite bulky. My copy had over a thousand pages, but it was a book that I couldn’t but down.
So, Eimy and I went to see the movie and I have to admit it is one of the best movie adaptations I have seen in a long time. I am going to assume that you all have some idea of what the story is about, and it is far too complicated to get into it here. However, if you have never read it or seen it, I encourage you to do so.
As I watched this movie, I noticed something that I had never noticed before. The story, like many others, involves a number of different characters, and each one is essential to the story. Yet, most stories present us with characters that are either good or evil, either positive or negative, either saint or sinner. Yet, Hugo’s characters don’t fall under any of these categories. They are each very human and they each suffer from different character flaws and tendencies. No one in the story is truly good and no one is truly bad. Even the character who most people associate as the “evil” character, Inspector Javert, is not evil at his core. As you get to know him, you understand that his understanding of the world is based on laws. For him, good means following the laws and bad means breaking them. In his mindset, he is Good, regardless of how he portrayed.
The main character also, is no saint. He has done a lot of good in his life, but he has erred in the past. It goes on like this. No character is without some flaws, some imperfections. They are, for lack of a better term, truly human in every way. Because we all are this way too. Each and every one of us is not truly good or truly bad. If we look at ourselves, we see our flaws. When we look at others, we see their flaws as well. Regardless of how we try to define our world and its inhabitants, at the end of the day, we are all just human and our understanding of the world comes from that collective identity as member of humanity.
So, if God were to intercede in our lives, doesn’t it make sense that he would have to do it as a human, because doing it in any other way would make it impossible for us to grasp the message he gives us.
As the characters in the movie change over time and circumstance, they too slowly begin to see their common humanity. Without trying to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen the movie, the last scene is one in which the lead character finally sees the connections that have woven together his reality throughout his life.
Much the same way, the incarnation is essentially, God’s attempt to help us see the connections that weave all of us together, a tapestry that begins and ends with God himself. Jesus being born a flesh and bone human being allows us to view the connections that unite us with each other and the connections that unite us with God.
This Christmas, we celebrate connection. We celebrate that God wants us to connect to each other and to him. We are invited to participate in the weaving together of all of our uniqueness with the glory and brightness that is God incarnate.
Towards the end of the movie, there is a song, and one of the lines says, “to love another person is to see the face of God.” We know that God is love, but this re-words that truth in a way that makes us stop to think. To love is to see. To love another is to see God. God has entered into our reality to show us just how world-changing love can be.
As you go today, as you prepare for the beginning of a new year, a new life, a new time, a new motivation, may you also prepare for a new love. May this year and may this day give you the opportunity to see God’s face in the love you have for your spouse, for your children, for your family and for your friends. And may others see God’s face in the love they have for you. That is the incarnation, seeing God in all his glory in the flesh and bone of those you encounter.