Old Song, New Beginnings

Christmas eve 2019

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, born to us this day, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

We love beginnings. I think this is why people love birth announcements and weddings so much. After all, who doesn't love to eat wedding cake and hold cute babies (especially when you can give them back to their parents…!)?

Christmas movies and making candy, babies and weddings all take us back to a time that seemed simpler and happier. That’s probably we like to remember beginnings so much – they are so full of potential. They’re not messy or complicated with real life problems. We can remember the good stuff and forget about the bad.

Maybe this is why we also remember opening lines of our favorite stories: “Once upon a time” and “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” “It was a dark and stormy night.” “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”

I wonder if you would recognize where this one is from: “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.”

This is the start of the greatest story of all time, a story could not be contained one just one book and could not take place in the span of one lifetime. It is a story that begins at the very beginning and tells of a God, who created a world that was good and full of life and wanted to share it with us. Even though we tend to mess thing up God’s nice beginnings, over and over and over again, not fulfilling our God-given potential. So, God began a new chapter to the story. And this one also starts with the words, “in the beginning.”

In an example of divinely sanctioned plagiarism, this is how John chooses to tell us the Christmas story. There are no angels or shepherds or censuses or managers or even Mary and Joseph. Instead, John takes us back to the very beginning, to the dawn of time, to tell Jesus’ birth story like a dramatic crane shot that zooms out and out and out until you can see all of creation: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Which you will hear when we light our candles later this evening.

It would be pretty hard to imagine a Christmas Eve service without lighting candles and singing “Silent Night.” It would also be almost as hard to imagine Christmas without the hymn that follows, as we extinguish our candles and bring up all the lights – singing the epic, Joy to the World!

Now THAT is a memorable first line to a song, isn’t it! Da da da da…. And you’ve got that song stuck in your head all day. This marks the 300ths year this song has been in existence! Looking pretty good, I might say, Joy to the World! What is your secret? Is it the catchy tune, or the Christmas cheer-filled lyrics? Well, it’s probably NOT the words, because this beloved Christmas hymn isn’t actually about Christmas! Or at least, not originally.

Yes, you did hear me correctly. Joy to the World actually about the end of the world: the second coming of Jesus. Christmas is the first coming of Jesus, remember. If you take a moment to flip to the back page of your bulletin, and scan the words, you’ll see that there are a few things missing here too – there is no baby Jesus, no Mary and Joseph, no manger or animals, no shepherds.

So, why are we singing it 300 years later, at just about every Christmas eve and Christmas day service? Well, this hymn IS based on Psalm 98, which is technically the Psalm that is appointed on Christmas. You can see why it’s chosen for today – this is a BIG celebration, and all of creation participates in the joy! This joy was captured by both the lyrics written by Isaac Watts, British non-conformist Christian, and the tune arranged by American Lowell Mason, based on a tune by Handel – the guy better known for composing “The Messiah.”

Isaac Watts was a hymn-writing powerhouse in his day, but he was better known for classics like “When I Survey the Wonderous Cross,” “Our God our Help in Ages Past” “Alas and Did My Savior Bleed” ….you know, all that cheery Lent stuff. While this one man is credited with over 700 hymns… THIS is the one we remember. He probably would be aghast that it so necessary our Christmas eve worship services, since this of course was not intended to be a Christmas hit Though you really can’t deny that it helps us make a joyful noise to the Lord!

But sometimes, our hearts just don’t seem to be in a “Joy to the world” frame of mind. Perhaps getting here to Christmas has been a struggle. Illness, family feuds, stress, grief, depression, anxiety, all try to zap away any feeling of joy we strive to have. Singing Joy at Christmastime can feel extra painful, and extra hollow.

But it is when things look their most frightening or frustrating, when the way that took you here has disappeared and the way forward is still hidden… at the time of the year when the night is the longest - THIS is when our hope is born.

This baby who was born this night to literally embody the love of the God who created us, to walk with us, to dry our tears, and to know what it is to be human, to show us that “Love has Come.” This baby’s parents had a hard journey ahead of them for him to be born in that “Little Town of Bethlehem.” He was born, not in a palace or among the best medical care money can buy - this special baby was born in a cave where animals were kept. This baby’s first crib was the only thing available – “away in a manger,” an animal feeding trough with hay.

The night this baby was born, shepherds watching their sheep in field by night were waiting for the sun rise. Instead – “Hark, The herald Angels Sing,” shocking the shepherds their shining angel army making joyful noise and tell them the good news – a baby named Jesus was born, and he would usher in a new kind of kingdom, one based on love.  And much later, the wise men from far away followed the leading of a “star of wonder,” which they could only follow at night. … “westward leading,” On and on and on through those long nights over many, many miles, to find the child whom they had been waiting for.

[Maybe you’re done with waiting for dawn to show up, like the shepherds. … because you have done enough waiting… waiting in the doctor’s office, killing time in the hospital waiting rooms drinking bad coffee, perched in borrowed chairs, waiting in the night by the bedside of someone you love. It is here, in this night, as the writer of Psalm 98 put is, "the LORD has made His salvation known. " (v. 2) It is here, on this night, that God’s promise to be with us always. Like a song that you just can’t get out of your head, and your heart.

A choir director of at a women’s prison once shared that she wanted to give a gift to the incarcerated women she leads every week. Since the prison prohibited physical gifts, she wrote them a song instead, also based on the same Psalm as Joy to the World. Her song went, “Sing a new song… sing a song of hope. For the song that you sing will set you free… it will be with you always wherever you go.” And so, Joy to the World was reborn with a new beginning. (Story from Here my Voice, A prison prayer book) ]

God has a new beginning in store, and it happens right here, tonight - God’s word became flesh and living among us. The word made his home with us. He bought a house in the neighborhood and moved in next door. God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that whoever believes in him should not die but have eternal life, to quote from another famous verse in the Gospel of John.

O Come, all you faithful, we sing old songs to remind us that God is the song that is in our hearts. We might be too preoccupied, too worried, and too burdened to hear sometimes, but we still carry this song in our hearts as a reminder of this promise, that a new song is on the horizon. “Let every heart prepare him room and let heaven and nature sing.” And let us join in the song too, this night and always. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Like Fathers, Like Son

12-22-19

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Finally! We are done with John the Baptist and finally here some of that happy Christmas stuff! Mary? Check. Baby? Check. Angel? Check. Adoring, peaceful Holy family? Well….. Not exactly. And there are a few OTHER things missing, anyway. If we only had the Gospel of Matthew to inform our Christmas plays, we would have no census or reason to travel, no manger, no assortment of various cattle, nor the haste of the shepherds. But we would still have an angel, a star, magi, and the perspective of Joseph.

"Let Mum Rest"

One of the most unusual nativities sets that I’ve ever seen still has all the usual core elements – Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, and a manger with some hay. But this one I saw stuck out because they weren’t in the “poses” we’re used to - Mary kneeling and praying over Jesus, or with Jesus on her lap, and Joseph standing, leaning, and generally looking on -like “hey, I’m here if you need me.”  No, in THIS nativity, Mary was lying down, sound asleep, clearly passed out from exhaustion, and baby Jesus is cradled in Joseph’s arms as he stays awake and keeps watch.

It’s kind of jarring, because we don’t usually see Joseph get top billing… or any billing at all. Can any of you name a Christmas song about Joseph? Can any of you name a Christmas song that even has Joseph even mentioned IN it? (apparently there are some, but not many, and I couldn't think of any!)

Poor Joseph, the often-overlooked member of the nativity set, often indistinguishable from a shepherd figurine. Joseph, the supporting role to Mary and Jesus. Joseph, helpless as his fiancé’s belly grows, along with his fear of the future, and later standing helplessly by and holding Mary’s hand as she sweats and pushes Jesus into the world. Good old Joseph, changing the diapers, overcoming his fear of the future. Joseph, making a family long after the star and the angels have faded from the sky, long after the shepherds and magi have left. Joseph listens to his faith rather his fear, and follows the command of God, even when the path God has called him to is not quite as pristine as that perfect Christmas card.

But it took some doing to get there didn’t it? Because this scene – of Joseph holding Jesus while Mary sleeps - or one like it, almost never happened.

While Mary said “yes” to God’s whole extraordinary plan – “Here I am, the handmaid of the Lord,” in spite of how difficult it would make her life…Joseph at first wanted nothing to do with the whole situation. This was a hiccup in his plan, and while he was choosing the “nicest” way to go about it, this would have devastating consequences for Mary had it taken place as Joseph had so “kindly” planned.

Think about it –Mary was a teenage girl of a conquered people, living in poverty. In our own time, the statistics state that women in this situation are more likely to be the victims of sexual assault and violence. Martin Luther even postulated that Mary could have been without parents, leaving her without a support network and increasing her risk. If this truly was her situation, as uncomfortable we are with Joseph taking this teenaged bride in an arranged marriage, Joseph might have been her only chance at financial stability.

We laud Joseph for wanting to just “divorcing her quietly” rather than exposing her to possible public punishment – perhaps even death by stoning, which had fallen out of use, but was STILL LEGAL. Though her future as a single divorced mom in this culture is probably only one step up from her public disgrace. Though legally, Joseph was well within his rights to dismiss her… sometimes the legal or socially correct thing to do is not the RIGHT thing to do. As we see in this case, God has other plans, and some literal divine intervention happened.

Since Jo didn’t believe Mary at her word, God had to step in and clue him on his role in this divine plan. Joseph was guided by the rules he was taught, but in the end, was open and accepting to God’s plan, even if it meant his life was going to be very different than he imagined. Though it was a rough start, Joseph came around, did the right thing, and became the most famous step-dad of all time.

In a recently published book called, When Kids Ask Hard Questions: Faith-Filled Responses to tough questions, UCC Pastor Emily Brown writes about the holy family, and the important representation they have for members of blended or non-typical families. In her essay, Pastor Brown comments that, “Right at the heart of the Christian story is the story of a stepparent and stepchild, forming a loving family in extraordinary circumstances… “

Pastor Brown reminds us that there are many kinds of families in the Bible… rarely do we hear of example of a “nuclear” family, with a mom and a dad with “mutual biological progeny” aka children from the genetic material of both parents. Much more often we hear of the Patriarch Fathers with multiple wives and children with dozens of half- siblings – Like Abraham and Jacob - , families of a mother and a daughter-in-law – Like Naomi and Ruth - , families of a couple without children (Priscilla and Aquila), families headed by businesswomen matriarchs too (like Lydia in the book of Acts chapter 16). No families by the description of “mom, dad, 2 kids, a dog and a house with a picket fence.” Even the “holy family” doesn’t fit in the category.

But despite his unusual role, Joseph cared for and provided for his family, even though he and Jesus were not related by blood at all. Joseph “later, in the face of great danger he leaves everything he knows and flees with Mary and Jesus to Egypt…” (64) to seek asylum from the murderous rampage of King Herod. And we often forget that Mary and Joseph went on to have many children – Jesus hasbrothers and sisters, and at least one is named later.

God use all kinds of ways to make a family. Not just by birth, but by angel decrees, bonds of love, and the waters of baptism. This is visible in the family that Jesus was born into, as a baby with two daddies, who grew up influenced by both of his fathers. We don’t know for sure if Jesus was actually a carpenter, but we can assume that Jesus picked up a few things from his father Joseph – like building and construction – communities, building up the lowly and forgotten, and constructing a new kind of kin-dom, built on Kin (family) rather than Kings (rulers).

Like father(s), like son… at the very end of his life, as Jesus hung on the cross, Jesus remakes family yet again. In the gospel of John, Jesus sees his mother, utterly bereft that her son was dying in agony. He turns to his beloved disciple and says, “behold your mother,” and to his mother, “behold your son.” And from that day forward, that disciple took Mary into his household and took care of her. Like father(s), like son - he took care of Mary, his mom, and made sure she would be ok.

But this is not where Jesus’s care ends. Jesus loves, cares about, and provides for all the lost and the venerable, the tired, the grieving, the forgotten, the frustrated and the lonely… not just at this time of year, but ESPECIALLY at this time of year.

When most people are ask what the most important think about Christmas is, almost always someone will say. “Family.” But Jesus didn’t come only to the perfect “Christmas card” families your get in the mail from your relatives and friends. The gift of Christmas doesn’t just arrive to families who have “storybook” or “Hollywood and Hallmark” endings.

All families are holy. No matter how big or small, related by blood or by choosing. Where there is love, there is God, and where there is God, there is family.

Jesus makes ALL of us family. Not just here at our church, which just so happens to be called “Family of God.” We are all sibling in the body of Christ, members of the family of God across the world and across time, joined in the waters of baptism rather than the waters of the womb. And families love and care for each other, to the best of our abilities. We will probably and likely fail sometimes, but there is always a place for us in this family, around this table, sharing this meal. There is room for all kin in this Kin-dom. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Disappointing December

12-15-19

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.

Every Advent I feel like I want to start strong, with the motivation to read daily devotions, taking time to really reflect on the Advent season. Most years though, like this one, I get to about this point and realize I have done exactly zero of the things that I had intended to do. Even when I was in WI during thanksgiving, though we did put up my family’s pre-lit Christmas tree and got down the boxes of decorations… but we never actually put them on the tree!

This is pretty funny, given that many years ago when I was home for Christmas break while in college, I apparently had insisted on decorated the tree that year, even when my mom was less than thrilled about it. When I left to go back for the January term… guess who was left to take all the ornaments down again? Not me! Oops! Most years, my mom likes to remind me of this time where I didn’t finished what I had started.

How is your Advent going? Are you going to finish strong, or did everything go off the rails starting December 2^nd? These texts for this 3^rd week in Advent aren’t exactly helping, either. There is still no sign of Mary, Joseph, angels, shepherds, wise men, star,  manger, no Christmas NOTHIN’. Instead, all we have is John the Baptist, for the second week in a row. And he is NOT one we usually associate with Christmas cheer.

This week he is no longer “the preacher on fire” in the desert, preparing the hearts and minds for the coming of the Lord. Instead, John has been thrown in prison for his bold words. A prison that was more like a dungeon, dark and damp and full of chains and despair. But how did he get from “Israel’s Most Famous” to “Israel’s Most Wanted”? Well, we’ve skipped over all the in-between chapters in Matthew where John made some very powerful people angry, resulting in his imprisonment and eventual exception.

Now, at death’s door, John wondered if his life’s work had been worth it. The Lord’s anointed was SUPPOSED to come with power and might, with lots of righteous judging and fiery smiting, and be a savior that basically kicks booty and takes names, with the kingdom of peace to come LATER. But so far, he doesn’t seem to be exactly living up to those expectations. He doesn’t seem to be finishing what JOHN started.

Instead, Jesus heals the blind, mute, lepers, and young girls, and Jesus gives the Sermon on the Mount about peace and the Kingdom of God, where Jesus hangs out with fisherman and tax collectors and Roman soldiers. Which, spoiler alert, where NOT how he was supposed to act as the expected Messiah.

It’s no wonder that John the Baptist sends people to ask Jesus, “are YOU the one who is to come? … or is it someone else?”  And we might very well wonder right there with John, as he watches Jesus’ ministry unfold, and wonders if his prep work for the messiah has been premature.

But disappointment does not just come to us at Christmas time. Though perhaps right around this time of year is when we feel it the most.  Expectations are high to pull into December 25^th having just arranged the best Christmas ever, only it almost actually never happens that way. Instead, too often, real life happens.

This “most wonderful time of the year” can also bring up old hurts from people you might only see once a year. Families are complicated, and nothing hurts more than being disappointed by the ones closest to you, the very ones who should be supportive through thick and thin.

And last, but not least, we can’t let God off the hook for being a disappointment. Think about all the “if-onlys” and “what-ifs,” even of just the past year – where you had wished that God would have acted more like a Messiah, both in your own lives and in the world in general. And so, we wonder along with John, since the fulfillment of the promise is Jesus, the exact wrong kind of savior – that is, if you are looking for someone to bring fire and brimstone, Jesus is not your man. 

The savior we WERE given came as a helpless baby, screaming into the world with blood and placenta, born to a teenage mother in a dirty cave. This savior grew up and hung out with all the wrong kinds of people. He healed the sick and fed the poor and talked to those on the fringe. He was a homeless traveler who preached the wrong things, like peace and love, and got on the wrong side of the people in power. Jesus disappointed John the Baptist, he disappointed his family, he disappointed his own followers, and he died, disappointing the hopes of a nation waiting for God to act.

And in dying, Jesus was again a disappointment… disappointing death itself. Because dead people are supposed to stay dead, after all.

Dry and barren wildernesses, as Isaiah writes, aren’t supposed to be joyful and to blossom, either. We expect them to be, well, dry and barren, not full of life and joy and singing. There aren’t supposed to be streams in the desert, or pools of water where there once was only burning sand.

But then again, the blind aren’t supposed to see either, nor should the deaf be able to hear. The lame are not supposed to run like the dear, and the mute sing for joy. The poor are not supposed to be given food for free. There are not supposed to be fools on God’s highway! And if they somehow find themselves there, they need to GET LOST as soon as possible!

Except that, on God’s highway, even us fools will not get lost along the way. On this highway, sinners are welcomed. The poor are fed. The broken are healed and made whole again, and streams run where there was once a barren desert. There are cracks of hope in the stone that seals our tombs, a light shining through them in the darkness, and the dead don’t stay dead.

Jesus asked the crowds what they had expected to see when they went out to the desert to see John the Baptist. What they got was the opposite of a man in soft robes – they got a man who lived his convictions with every ounce of his being – with itchy camel hair to boot. What do WE expect this Advent season? Are we expecting a Christmas to arrive that is as pristine as most of our nativity sets? As lovely as they are, most of them depict the holy family in perfect repose, at peace, and, ironically enough, draped in soft robes.

But that not the most accurate. God is not just found in the perfect glittery Christmas cards and the Hallmark family channel movies. God is not just found among the palaces with those wearing soft robes. God is found among those who are not offended by the fight for what Jesus himself fought for - justice and equality and kindness and love.

Instead, here is our God, born to us as a tiny helpless infant.  Here is our God, who sticks by us, no matter what, every year, through all the good and bad Christmases alike.  Here is our God, who died and rose again for you, even when you disappoint yourself and others. Here is our God, who will see to the finish what has been begun in all of us.

I believe that God has been faithful to me, over and over again, in the journey that has brought me to this time and this place. It has not always been smooth going, but God has proven to me that great things happen to those who trust. …and God has always gone beyond my hopes and expectations.

We can’t know exactly where the next year will take us. But we can know where God is in all the happenings in our lives. God is right here, in the beginnings and the endings, in the disappointments, and the busy-ness, in the starting strong and in the fizzling out, in the dying and in the rising. Our God is right here. In the manger, on the cross, at the table. In the bread and wine. And in the face of one another. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Doorbusters and Dreams

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.

The last few weeks have been so busy, and we still have so many weeks to go before Christmas! Last Sunday we lit the first candle on our Advent wreath. And only a week before that, while we were still concerned about finding a big enough turkey and looking for Grandma’s stuffing recipe, we celebrated Christ the King Sunday…. But I’m forgetting a holiday or event of the last few weeks. Do you know which one I didn’t mention? Maybe this will give you a hint…and it’s not either of my weddings… though the reception with my family in Wisconsin also coincided with the first major snowstorm of the season in the Midwest.

having fun at the wedding!

Perhaps this story will help. While I was in seminary in Minneapolis, right after Thanksgiving I drove down to Iowa with a friend from college, to attend another college friend’s wedding. Ironically, there was a snowstorm that weekend too! At the time, the friend I drove with had a full-time job in the fine china and luggage department at Macy’s. In order to get the day off to attend this wedding, she agreed to come in to work at a ridiculously early hour the day before for this very special “holiday” I’m refereeing to.  

Between the hours of 4 AM and 1 PM, she alone sold approximately twelve thousand dollars’ worth of merchandise. Ninety-five percent of all employees of her Macy’s were needed that day. The next day, on Saturday, her voice was still nearly hoarse from saying over and over again, “Would you like a gift receipt with that?” all day long, on Black Friday.

Do you remember “way back” when people woke up in the darkness and wee hours of the morning to get a “doorbuster” deal? And now, just over eleven years later, that seems quaint. This year, I have seen “black Friday doorbuster deals” starting in early in November, not to mention the number of stores that are open all day on Thanksgiving.

We have entered into in the season of Advent, a time of brightness as the sun sets earlier every day.  It is a time of waiting as the world demands instant gratification. It is a time of reflection as our lives kick it into overdrive. It is also a time to celebrate our savior coming to us as a helpless baby born to a teenage girl in poverty, even as our society continues to treasure and seek only riches and power.

The whole idea of Advent is pretty much the opposite of what the “Christmas Season” has become. So, we are going to do the opposite of what you would expect. Instead of offering FEWER events in this busy time, we will offer one thing MORE to your plate: the space to pause, and a moment to remind ourselves that “Jesus is the reason WE celebration this season.”

We all could use a little renewal and reflection no matter what season we find ourselves in, but it seems that every year December reaches unheard of levels of busyness and stress. Between school plays, pageants, concerts, visiting family, dinner parties, exams, and the twelfth time in one day you’ve heard the song “All I want for Christmas is YOU,” who has the time or sanity to take even a moment to pause and think about what this whole season is for?

Isaiah today reveals to us the vision of what we have to look forward too, as we make room for the coming of a new kind of kingdom in our lives. Isaiah describes a world where mighty predators coexist with the most helpless and vulnerable among us. A world where the powerful and the powerless live together in peace.

We may even recast Isaiah’s vision in different ways. What do you imagine the coming kingdom of God to look like? I think it might look something like this, from the reflections of a colleague: “The CEO will dream with the peace activist … the senators will dance with the undocumented farm workers … the American military leaders will dine with Pakistani mothers… children from all nations will play together and learn together and grow in to their full God given potential … animals and the earth will be treated with respect and care … war will cease and they will not harm anywhere in this holy creation “ Now THAT would be a pretty amazing thing to see on a Christmas card, wouldn’t it?

This is the vision of how life can be that we are making room for - the vision of a new kingdom getting ready to be born in the world, a kingdom you are a part of. This is the kingdom we are turning TOWARD, turning to face as it arrives, like the dawn that comes after a long night, like a shoot growing up from a stump long thought dead.

And right now, when we in the church are celebrating Advent but the rest of the world is in full-blown Christmas mode, the voices tell us that our Christmases are supposed to look and feel like the most perfect Hallmark card. And we all know that deep down, that’s not true. But we can’t help feeling like inadequate failures compared to them.

Those voices do not deliver. Following these voices takes us down a road that ends in credit card debt, strained relationships, a planet in peril, conflicts and wars and poverty and national anxiety, leaving our lives as dead as a stump left behind after chopping down a Christmas tree.

Another voice, echoing Isaiah’s original idea, comes from John the Baptist - a voice from the wilderness cries out that the kingdom of heaven is coming near to us, and a new way of being is not only possible, but on it’s way to us RIGHT NOW. We are Children of the Promise, not “Children of Snakes,” and we belong to a kingdom where new shoots grow out of dead stumps. We belong to a kingdom where the old, “snaky” person in us dies, so that a new person, a new creation in Christ, can be born. It’s time to get ready for this kingdom to arrive.

But there is certainly a lot of junk left over from the old life, the “brood of vipers” life that is cluttering up the way and making our paths of following Jesus pretty crooked. This extra stuff needs to be given up and left behind …. Things like trying to keep up with the Joneses and having the picture-perfect Christmas.

Earlier this week I spoke at the annual Memorial Tree Lighting around the corner at the Leaver-Cable Funeral home. Every year, Lou Baynes, the owner, invites families that have lost someone in the last few years, to come and write their name on a dove to place on their Christmas tree, which is then lit up. This time of year is hard for many people for many reasons, and their space was filled with people grieving, one of things I shared with the group was that,

“When things look their darkest, when the way through is obscured in a dim fog, when the way that took you here has disappeared and the way forward is still hidden… at the time of the year when the night is the longest - THIS is when the hope is born… when we string lights on trees that remain green even in the coldest weather, and dream of a white Christmas because of sense of rebirth that fresh snow brings.”

I also read from a book that I find myself turning to more and more, “Ash and Starlight,” a book of prayers written by a Presbyterian pastor who lost her father in 2015. In a prayer called “The Parent’s advent prayer,” she writes:

“But, [Jesus] you came to me amidst darkness and stars— reminding me how darkness and light are most beautiful together. And, in that holy, mysterious and messy night, you redefined perfection, promising me that leaning into the mystery …  [is] the most faithful response…. This will be more than enough, because you’ve made a manger in which my heart will rest …” (128)

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Fear Not, Hang On.

11-17-19

Grace and peace to you from God our creator and from our lord and savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.

The Holidays seem to begin a little bit earlier every year. The Halloween candy aisle cropping up like fields of some sort of massive sugar harvest… in August. Blowup and light up pumpkins in yards in September. Sales on cranberry sauce and turkeys in October. The morning after Halloween, on All Saints Day, some places are fully decked out for Christmas. Already, pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks are “over” and done with– it’s not even thanksgiving and they are already pushing “winter holiday” drinks, like peppermint and gingerbread.

It’s almost as if by starting early we can make the holidays come a little faster. Or maybe our rush comes from the struggle to have everything ready and perfect for the holidays. We think that if we can just start a little earlier, we would feel just a little less stressed this year. All I know is, this year is going fast enough without the help of Elf on the Shelf and Christmas trees before Thanksgiving, thank you very much.

But looking back on last year, it might really be a GOOD PLAN to get a jump on some holiday shopping, before it REALLY gets crazy. Because plans are good. We like plans. They help us be organized and get stuff done. We’ve made all sorts of pithy quotes about plans: “A failure to plan is a plan to fail.” “Plan ahead: it wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” “To be prepared is half the victory.” “A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.” “Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.” “A man; a plan; a canal; Panama!” Actually, that last one is the same backwards as it is forwards, now THAT is planning!

But while the rest of the world is gearing up for Christmas, making plans and preparing, fussing and bustling, Jesus is talking about the end of the world. And, incredibly, he’s also telling us not to worry about it.

This week especially it seems like Jesus was quoting from last week’s newspaper as he is talking to his disciples. And then he says, don’t be terrified. Really, though, Jesus, it’s hard not to be at least a little freaked out when reading the newspaper headlines lately. The swirling chaos of the world going on around us and Jesus harsh words about what is in store for believers would make anyone want to shut the newspaper, turn off CNN or NPR, and hide under the bed until Jesus comes back and fixes everything.

But we MIGHT come out from under the bed, Jesus, if you would just tell us your timetable about things, in order to take the guess work out of it. Could you just be a little more specific?

But Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. Jesus knows our tendency to take the littlest hint and make it into a fixed event in time to plan for. He knew that there would be people making predictions, writing books about being “left behind,” and that Hollywood would make blockbuster movies about the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012. Remember that? That was over 5 years ago!

But at the same time, Jesus wanted to give his followers a heads up on SOME things – like how following him would not be all snowflakes and lattes. By the time followers of Jesus were reading the Gospel of Luke for the first time, it was already pretty tough going for them. What Jesus was describing as future events were actually happening to those who joined this Jesus movement. They were getting called out and put on the spot, and were being treated in ways that we find hard to imagine withstanding today. The people of the early church, listening to Luke’s account of Jesus, needed some encouragement for living in the while waiting for Jesus to come back. They needed strength in order to continue to share their faith in Jesus despite all that stood against them.

And we’re still at it, two thousand years later, still trying to figure out what it means to live while we wait. And we need just as much encouragement and support from Jesus.

So when asked point-blank about the timetable of the end of the world, Jesus didn’t take the bait. Instead, Jesus echoed the refrain – fear not – found throughout the Gospel of Luke that began with an angelic baby announcement to a childless priest and his wife, announcing that Jesus’s cousin, John the Baptist was on his way. The message “Fear Not” continued when an unexpected visitor came to an unsuspecting teenaged girl to announce a second unexpected pregnancy – this time, Jesus. The message “Fear Not” continued through the sky with the angel host who scared the pants off some shepherds on the night shift the night that this baby was born. And Jesus says it over and over again to his bewildered and beleaguered followers, both then and now: “Fear not. Do not be afraid.”

There is so much to be afraid of in this world. And so, we make plans in order to be ready, and to help us feel safer. But we would drive ourselves crazy if we tried to cover every contingency. We would simply end up spending our lives under the bed, too afraid to come out.

At the same time, we can’t expect Jesus to do all the work. Sometimes, most of the time, doing God’s work is just about showing up or taking the chance to open your mouth.

But it’s really hard to live between those two realities. It’s daunting, and it’s exhausting, and we’ll still want to give up. But it’s sometimes the tiniest things that God decides to use, the smallest action that you never think about again, but changes someone’s life.

I worked at a Lutheran Bible camp, like Crossroads, in Wisconsin for three summers. My third summer I was on the leadership staff, so we came early to welcome all the regular counselors for staff training. The morning they were all due to arrive, I don’t remember why I was in a bad mood, but I just remember feeling terribly grumpy about something. irritated that I had to be cheerful and welcome all these first-year counselors. But I put on my big girl pants, showed up, and did my job.

Much later in the summer, I got a note from one of these “chipper first year counselors,” telling me that when she had first pulled up to the camp, anxious about this new experience, I was the one who greeted her, and put her at ease.

And miraculously, just this last week, I got a note in the mail from another person, whom I had not seen or talk directly to in many years, saying, “if you ever wonder if being a pastor has made a difference in somebody’s life and faith, keep this [note] somewhere where you can find it. You made a difference in my life and faith journey.” This was someone who had remained connected, though eventually being on different parts of the country. Over the years, my friend has been through many rough patches, but had seen the ministry work I had posted about on Facebook, and had inspired him from a distance.

Siblings, do not be weary in doing what is right. Whether the world itself is falling apart around you, or you are just having a bad day, by your endurance you will gain your souls – or, in the words of another translation - by holding fast, you will gain your lives. By holding fast to what? Jesus, of course. And we can’t do that with our hands full of fear.

We let go of fear and hold fast to the hope that there will be a day where what is evil in the world will be burned up and blow away like paper… where evil will have not a root or branch to grow from. It is by holding fast to the name of Jesus, who  will give us the strength to face the next sunrise, no matter what it brings. Amen.

"Bring the wine, eternal life is mine!"

11-10-19

Grace to you and peace from God our Creator and from our Lord and savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the holy Spirit, amen.

When I was in seminary, I did my “field education” at a church that was made up of about half social justice-passionate white retirees, and half first- and second-generation immigrants from Ethiopia and Eritrea. One year we went on a women’s retreat, where I learned that after marriage, women in these two countries traditionally retained their last names, and secretly laughed at the still-popular tradition or assumption of American women to take their new husband’s last name. These Ethiopian and Eritrean women thought the irony particularly funny. 

It’s funny, because there are also plenty of grown-up shirts out there targeted to brides that say things like “pop the champagne, I’m taking his last name” or “bring the wine, his last name is mine!” Which is cute and funny, until these brides find themselves standing in the slow line at the DMV with their 6 points of legal identification in order to “make his last name theirs” on their driver’s license. Bring the wine, indeed.

We are about to embark on a deep dive into some marriage practices that are going to seem very surprising to us… and then we are going to explore how this is actually a red herring. Buckle up, we’re about to get nerdy.

Luke chapter 20 begins with some of Jesus’ opponents questioning his authority, like a big game of “Stump the Savior.” Enter the Sadducees – who are not “sad you see” because they don’t believe in the resurrection, but perhaps because they’re branch of Judaism was not the one that survived to this day. The Sadducees were a group within the Jewish faith that were well-educated and well-connected to those in political power – meaning the Romans.

They also knew their Torah, but rejected the idea of the resurrection - and to play “stump the savior” by asking a question that has no “right” answer. It’s like imagining that in heaven there was a game show going on called, “will the real husband please stand up?” where this woman gets to pick which one of her seven husbands will be her husband in the resurrection. "First up is Greg! Oh, no, Greg - we have video footage of you putting an empty milk carton back in the fridge and never once doing the dishes. Husband number 1, you're not it!” BZZZZZZT!

It was a silly scene that came from a real practice, though… in fact, one of Jesus’ own ancestors was someone caught in this type of situation, known in history as “levirate marriage.” Her name was Tamar (Gen. 38), daughter in law of Judah, one of the twelve sons of Jacob. You may not have heard of her, since this story gets left out of pretty much every Sunday School curriculum. When Judah’s son – Tamar’s husband – dies without Tamar having a son, Tamar’s brother in law was legally obligated to marry her, and their first born would be considered her first husband’s son and heir. But… that’s not exactly what happens……when the second son dies, Judah is reluctant to wed her to his last son… so she literally has no status and no place. Instead, she tricks Judah into making her pregnant, does have a son, and secures her future…. Thanks to her father-in-law. Yes, not everything in the Bible is rated PG.  

Tamar put up with this – and used it to her advantage - because she had nowhere else to go. Levirate marriage – one of MANY versions of “biblical” marriage, was a deeply flaw solution to an incredibly unjust system, where childless widows literally had no place – they had no place with their in-laws, and yet, she could not go back to her family of origin and be “marriageable” again. This was the only way that women like Tamar had a shot at eternal life – in a world where having sons was the only way to leave a legacy behind, to have your name live on forever.

Fast forward to her great something Grandson Jesus, who was clearly following his trickster Grandma Tamar’s footsteps. In Advent we will be changing from the year of Luke to the Year of Matthew, where Matthew records’ Jesus’s lineage… including Tamar as one of 5 amazing women of faith listed (Matthew 1). Like Grandma Tamar, Jesus flips expectations upside down.

Jesus knew that this wasn’t really about marriage… or Moses…. Or even what happens to us after we die. Levirate marriage wasn’t even being practiced at this time. So Jesus does what he does best… turns the tables and uses their best and most clever arguments against them.

At her death of this theoretical woman, Jesus assured the Sadducees that she would be no man’s property. She isn’t going to spend all of eternity as a the wife of brother A, B, C, D, E, F, or G… she’s going to spend it as a beloved child of God, first and foremost. That is the identity that will define her – and all of us – in the age to come. Not by who’s last name she has, or whether or not she has a son. … the wrong question is “whose wife will she be?” and the right question is, “Whose child is she? And who loves her?”

So, for Jesus – and for us – “Whose wife will she be?” is 100% the wrong question. Jesus clearly separates marital status from resurrection status. Marriage is a human institution, created and sanctioned by God, but not made permanent in eternal perpetuity once you “put a ring on it.” At death “marital status” will never determine our eternal status.

As God was creating the beautiful and complex world that we live in, God did not just create one human being to be in charge, all alone. God created another person, and they in turn created other people, and that means we are created be in relationships with one another – spouses, parents, sons and daughters, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and our adopted family in the form of friendships too. We can’t help ourselves. It’s in our DNA.

We believe in a God who sent his son into our world to experience what we experience - not just the good and happy parts of life, but also suffering and pain, anxiety and grief. But over and over again, Jesus promises his followers that he will be with them, and he is also promising to be with us, as God’s beloved children, here and now. We are people of the resurrection, children of God, who put our hope in a God of the living, a God who IS alive… who has a relationship with us… and created us to be in relationship with one another, in many forms.

God delights in our relationships, and brings us together, and then promises to be present with us in those relationships in all their complexities, in all the ups and downs, on the good days and on the bad days…. Even in suffering, and even death. Because nothing can take away our “child of God” status - not our last name, not the suffering we have endured, not the mistakes we’ve made.

As one wise pastor wrote: “We are meant to be whole and complete in our relationships, all of our relationships, whether they are relationships between neighbors, friends, family members or spouses. We are meant to be able to treat others as they should be, and we are meant to be treated in the same way.” I think that is why we hear the “1 Corinthians love passage” at so many weddings: we strive for the eternal ideal of love in our pre-resurrection life as we will be able to achieve in our post-resurrection.

Living this type of stubborn, persistent love here on earth is a challenge ….But, of course, God will outstrip us all in the stubborn love department now, and in the life to come. Because our God is good, and God’s steadfast, stubborn, unrelenting love will stretch on forever. This love will never cease, not even in parting or death, not also long as God has created days for us to live. The love we have for one another is powerful, but it is only a small manifestation of the love that God has given us. Life is not endless or certain, but the love of God is both certain and endless. No matter where life brings us, love will be there. Love is here, with you and with me. Love is here today… but not just this day only. Love with be with us today, tomorrow, and always, in this life and the next, whatever that may look like. Thanks be to God, amen. 

Our All Saints Stories

11-3-19

Grace to you and Peace from God our Creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sometimes I feel that my life is one big story, and I have yet to figure out of it’s a comedy, tragedy, drama, fantasy, or all of the above. Most people, I believe, can easily see themselves as the protagonist of their own life story, as the hero or heroine struggling valiantly against adversity, a mystery to be solved, or even as the comic relief for others. Perhaps this is why we are so drawn to a good story. We can sit for hours binge watching shows on Netfix auto-play, or read a page turning book until the wee hours of the morning, and spend hundreds of dollars to go see Hamilton.

We do this, because we know that, at the finish, all the loose ends will be tied up – the villains will get what’s coming to them, the romantic leads get married, and all the world is as it should be. Depth and meaning have come from their sufferings and turned them into something beautiful and inspiring for our viewing pleasure.

One of my favorite classes I took in college was called Mythology and Folklore, where we discussed the underlying cultural patterns found in the writings of many cultures, including our own. One such pattern is called “The Hero’s myth.” The hero myth structure goes something like this: the hero or heroine is called to leave his or her community to go on some sort of journey or quest, leaving the familiar for the unknown. After the departure come the initiation of adventures, trials, tests, and temptation for our hero, where she or he will reveal their true mettle and become a new person. Then our hero or heroine returns to the community and is celebrated for the new skills and abilities earned along the way.

But do our lives have a plot, whether or not it falls within the “hero’s journey”?  All too often it seems that things happen for no reason. There is not necessarily a dastardly villain out to get us. But still, calamities befall our friends and families. People get sick, lose their jobs, move away, or die suddenly, get bullied at school. And often there seems to be no happy ending in sight. That’s where the metaphor breaks down.

Life is not a simple narrative from Point A to Point B, populated with incidental characters. Unlike happy endings in novels, movies, and nexflix, life does not wrap up neatly and fade to black and the end credits.  Life is messy. Life is painful. But life is full of joy too.

This All Saints Day might you might find yourself in a difficult part of your own story. We might have lost someone we dearly loved in the last year or are missing someone special who has been gone for a while, though their loss still feels fresh. It may be hard for us to see that our stories not only have a point, but also have a direction, when things seem stuck or uncertain.

This good thing is that God has a story too. It’s full of love and grace that God wants to share with us. The Bible tells us the story of God’s people – not perfect characters by any means – struggling and living and being saved by God.

All the people of the Bible were once people like us. These people are part of God’s story, they are part of our story as people of faith – the heroes and heroines we look up to and strive to be like. But God wants US o be part of this story too, to share in the love and forgiveness and freedom that faith and trust in God gives us. This is what faith is all about – trusting that, when thing in life don’t make sense to us, and the plot goes askew, we are still loved by a God who continues to make meaning out of these plots.

Jesus the place where God’s story and our story intersect most clearly intimately. Jesus is God revealed in a person who could heal through the power of touch, who could be heard through real vocal cords, and who’s actual blood saved us.

The people that Jesus was talking while he preached this day might have felt stuck in a story they didn’t want to be in – not just his disciples were present - he was speaking to great crowds of people who were forgotten and ignored by anyone with power, influence, or authority, political or religious. Jesus turns the values and “rule” of his world – and ours on their head with his blessing and woes. In God’s reign, what sounds like blessing are actually woes, and vice versa.

But what is a “Woe”? I think we can get a clearer picture from “The message” translation, which reads: “But it’s trouble ahead if you think you have it made. What you have is all you’ll ever get. ….And it’s trouble ahead if you’re satisfied with yourself. Your self will not satisfy you for long.  ….. And it’s trouble ahead if you think life’s all fun and games. There’s suffering to be met, and you’re going to meet it.”

For the blessings, Jesus might have used the same words as a friend of mine did, as she rewrote some of them for modern ears, for people who don’t feel blessed:  she shared, “Blessed are you when you come to church looking like a mess, hoping for gas money, for yours is the kingdom of God.  ….. Blessed are you when you’re feeding your kids unhealthy food because it’s also the cheapest and what you can afford, for you will be filled.……Blessed are you when your throat closes up when you try to pray because your grief is overwhelming, for you will laugh.”

As we live through the pages of our time here on earth, as we face challenges and make difficult decisions, we are never alone. In the world of literature these helpers take the form of people like Samwise Gamgee, Hermione Granger, and others. In our real lives, they can take the for of parents, mentors, siblings, and friends. Some of these people have gone on ahead of us to become the cloud of witnesses, whose names we will hear read and candles will be lit in their memory in just a few minutes. Some have even died in the last year… as recent as just a few weeks ago. Even though we miss them, we take comfort in that God has claimed them as beloved children, and they have received in full the inheritance of eternal life that are promised to all of us in baptism. And we also remember, just as we ourselves are far from perfect, these saints are also sinner’s of God redeeming.

As I have walked my own journey, one special prayer has given me comfort over the years – it’s called the Servant’s Prayer, and it goes like this: “O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us.”

I have prayed this prayer many times in my life, because it reminds me that God is there to help and guide us. No matter where I am, God is here with me. God accompanies me through this life and never leaves my side. No matter what part of the journey we are one, we are never alone. And our journeys are far from over.

We will meet people who will change our lives. We may be challenged; we may be changed. What we think are blessings might be struggles or troubles. Living through trouble and struggles might end up blessing us in the end.  We may not know how the next book, chapter, paragraph, or even the next sentence of our lives might work out, but we know who is going on our journey with us, every step of the way – the Author of our Lives. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Saint and Sinner, Ash and Starlight

10 -27 – 19 – Reformation Sunday 

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by the Power of the Holy spirit, amen.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that it feels like nearly everyone I know is writing a book… It turns out that the upside is invitations to participate in a LOT of book launch teams – which usually means getting to read advance e-book copies! One such book was the launched “Holy Disunity” by Presbyterian Pastor Layton Williams, which I highly recommend, partly because I’m convinced that she’s a Lutheran in secret.

In her book, Pastor Williams shares a Jewish teaching called “the two pockets.” Imagine you have 2 pockets, each with a slip of paper in it. One paper says, “I am but dust and ashes.” The other one says, “for my sake, the universe was created.” Williams reflects, we “live somewhere in the midst of being both dust and ash, and once for whom the universe was created,” (56)  This reminded me very much of Luther’s theology of “Simul Eustice Et Peccator” – I am simultaneously saint and sinner… both at the same time. I am both a beloved child of God and a broken imperfect person in need of being forgiven.

In each chapter of Williams’ book, she explores this “Simul” of how such unlikely gifts as Difference, Tension, Doubt, and Uncertainty separate us, how these gifts show up in the Bible, and finally how each of these gifts can ultimately save us and lead us to a more true unity.

This Reformation, we are going to take a page out of the book of this Presbyterian, and add our own chapter, which we will call: “The Gift of Reformation” – How reformations separates us, where reforming shows up in the Bible, specifically in the readings we hear every Reformation Sunday, and how reformation can save – or free us – for unity in Jesus’ name.

How can something that we as Lutherans hold so dear – The protestant Reformation – also be something that separates us? The truth is, the legacy of Martin Luther and the Reformation is complicated. The same can be true of our Lutheran heritage – something that we can cling to and frees us, but also is filled with evil acts we would rather forget about.

 When Martin Luther set out to nail his 95 theses to that church door in Wittenberg five hundred and two years ago, “The protestant reformation” was not his end goal. He did not want to separate from the Catholic Church, but instead reform from within. But nothing ever really goes according to our plans … especially if other people are involved… and especially when the plans involve change and giving up power. The long-term fallout on Luther’s actions (and some of his more controversial writings against Jewish people and minorities) caused centuries-long religious wars, and it has been argued, the rise of Hitler and the Nazi regime. 

And spoiler alert – church splits didn’t start OR stop with the Reformation. Five hundred years BEFORE Martin Luther, the Roman Catholic and the Greek Orthodox church split. And after Luther, we split separated further into the denominations we are more familiar with today – Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, Pentecostals, Baptists, etc. And even Lutherans separate all the time – even AFTER the merger of the ELCA happened, other groups have split of and become their own entities for one reason or another. And the ELCA itself is far from unified.

He may not have known what was to come, but Martin Luther felt he was following in a very long tradition of reforming our faith that comes from the Bible itself… all the way back to the Old Testament. The audience that heard the words of the Prophet Jeremiah were in desperate need of a word of renewal, hope, and reformation. The people of Israel at that time were in exile, scattered, and had suffered so much loss and were facing so much uncertainty. The royal line of King David was broken, their temple in Jerusalem was broken, and their covenant with God had been broken. Just as they wondered if God would abandon them, comes the word from Jeremiah – a new covenant was coming, one written not on dead stones that can be broken, but on their hearts – dynamic and beating with life.

As Lutheran Christians, we see the embodiment of this new covenant in Jesus, and in this particular instance, remember that Jesus is talking to Jewish people who already believed in him! They were not conveniently forgetting the centuries of suffering under the rule of foreign powers. Every year at the Passover they retold and remembered the story of going from slavery in Egypt to freedom. Their declaration to Jesus is an act of defiance that says, even though we have been under the yoke of others, we are only beholden to God. Then Jesus challenges them to take that same defiance and apply it to their own lives – to the sin and brokenness of the human condition that challenges all of us. Jesus teaches that we are beloved children of God, but broken people of dust and ash, ruled by our fearful and sinful natures… and there is nothing that we can do to earn God’s love…. A daring, reforming idea that got him into a lot of trouble, and led to his crucifixion.

In Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome, Paul is seeking to clarify and interpret the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and what they mean for us – in reforming previous ideas about what “makes us right with God.” Paul reminds us that it’s not about what we do. It’s about what JESUS did.  Jesus died for the sake of the world, to stand in defiance of those who would hoard God’s love for themselves, to redeem his beloved children of ash and starlight… so that sin and death do not have the last word – resurrection does. New life DOES. Jesus DOES.

And thousands of years after, Martin Luther took these ideas and ran with them. Luther loved the book of Romans, and this passage specifically helped to change the course of his life. From the life and writings of one person in Germany, to us here today, in twenty-first century Pennsylvania. And it’s not just us, bearing Luther’s legacy in a Lutheran church in North America… this reforming work of the church in ongoing and spreading – as I saw so well when I went to Namibia and met Lutherans from all over the world – Ethiopia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Canada, and Guyana…. sometimes even gathered as one over coffee, the third Lutheran Sacraments.

The road that has gotten us there is fraught, but and we are still far from unified in being “of one mind in Christ Jesus” as Paul wrote in another letter. But we are getting there. If one amazing Presbyterian pastor weren’t enough… In the words of another Presbyterian, who wrote a beautiful book of prayers called “Ash and Starlight,” she writes “… freedom sometimes comes in one, glorious breakthrough … More often, freedom comes through a muddy trail run …weaving and winding, not always moving forward….” . Just as we go in search of this freedom, [Jesus says]“You are already free. Now live into that truth.” (49-50).

The gift of the reformation is that it’s not over. Jesus is still freeing us from sin, death, and brokenness of life that holds us captive. Jesus is still sending us out into the world to serve our neighbor who are in need … especially those who are different or with whom we disagree. Jesus is still setting us free from our fear. Jesus is still leading us to constantly be re-making ourselves … even if that means sometimes separating for a time. Sometimes Jesus is still peaking, even if it’s through someone who is not Lutheran. The church is still reforming, and we are still figuring out what this freedom means for us. And sometimes Jesus is every using us saints and sinners to do God’s freeing work.

We have already been made free by Jesus, and there is nothing we can do to earn it – that is the revelation that Martin Luther had all those hundreds of years ago. And that nothing will stand in the way to access the love of God. Just as Jesus was a living person, with a body made of ash and starlight, just like ours, arriving as a baby in a manger show us God’s love in the flesh … our faith is alive, still being made new in every moment, as we are made new people every single day, without fail.

Not death, not sin, not powers or principalities of this world, not our own fear and limitations, can stand it the way. Not even WE can stand in the way of this reforming work begun in Jesus… Which we do all the time. It’s that whole “same time sinner and saint” thing. Despite our urge to fight and divide, Jesus is still forging the way to freedom…. For all. And we’re invited along for the ride. Thanks be to God. Amen.