Casting a Vision at FoG

Sermon 1-26-20 “State of FoG”

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.

One summer I went fishing with my uncle and cousin on a lake in northern Wisconsin. I did not notice the beauty that was all around me – the warm sunshine or the relaxing sound of the waves. I only remember that I could NOT get the hang of fishing. My uncle tried his best to teach me, but at every turn I struggled – baiting the hook – YUCK, casting the line – it didn’t get very far, reeling in the fish – the line got all tangled, taking the fish off – YUCK again.

Fortunately, Jesus would probably not ask ME to bait a hook and cast a line. I have other God-given gifts to use for Jesus’s work in the Kingdom. And you do as well. There are as many different ways to follow Jesus as there are followers. I look around this sanctuary and see the vast array of gifts that God is using – understanding of numbers and money, teaching youth and children, expression in music and creativity, practicing hospitality and care-giving, and the love of learning, just to name a few. Take a moment to think about how Jesus as called you. What kind of words has he used, or might he have used had you been the disciples on the beach? How would you finish the call of Jesus for YOU? “Follow me, and I will make you……” a nurse practitioner of the soul. Follow me and I will make you Scout for people. Follow me and I will make you coach for following in Jesus’ footsteps… or pilot for the route to the kingdom of God.

A friend just told me a “dad” joke that works well for today. What is something that you have, that when you keep it in your hand, it doesn’t work at all? Probably a lot of things fit the bill, but he was thinking of a net to catch fish with. A net for fish doesn’t work if you hang on to it. It can only do its job properly if you, quite literally, “throw it away.” Fortunately, no fishing skills are actually required for catching people for the kingdom of God.

For almost 45 years, Family of God has been “Fishing for People” on behalf of Jesus in the Buckingham community. In March it will be the 45^th anniversary of being an official and authorized worshipping community by the Lutheran Church in American, one of the processor Lutheran denominations that eventually formed the ELCA. We have not always been in this location – we’ve been in the Buckingham School, in the Hughesian   Building, at the Holiday Inn, just to name a few of the places we have worshiped early on, before purchasing this land and building this building. Things have not always been easy - between suffering through cold water on Sunday mornings to challenges with the township that never seem to change. But here we are, in 2020, hopefully with a clear vision –on how far we have come and what lay behind us, what God is doing in our midst right now, and how Jesus is calling us to follow him into the future for the next 45 years… or at least, for the next 5, as we look toward our 50^th anniversary in 2025.

But as for year 44… we’ve had our fair share of successes, challenges, and opportunities in the past 12 months, making for a pretty packed year! Way back in the early part of last year, we had our first ever MLK Day of service, along with a seven-week sermon series on baptism, dinners and learning over at Buckingham Pizza during Lent. Holy Week brought us large numbers for our brand-new family-friendly Good Friday service. In the summer we had no chance to slow down, with Kyle Campbell’s confirmation – which you all participated in, in one way or another, a week of visioning during our “Family Chats,” Vacation Bible School with Trinity Episcopal, updating the Multi-Purpose room, and attending the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Milwaukee WI. This left us almost no time to get ready for a very busy fall and winter – the beginning of our Joyful Noise services, Feed My Starving Children Meal packing at Del Val, welcoming new members including a first communion retreat, & painting our windows for Advent & Christmas for the third year in a row.

2019 also brought challenges – saying goodbye to our organist Father Glenn, mourning the deaths of a few beloved members, keeping worship consistent amidst our organist transition, the continuing struggle to keep our aging building in good repair while keeping the budget balanced, and recruiting volunteers and leaders in key positions to help keep our ministries active.

As we look back on 2019, we can ask ourselves how much of our nets are we actually casting. We are spending close to half of our budget on expenses related to internal operations, and the upkeep and management of our property. Almost a third of my time in 2019 was spent in tasks and activities related to administration and property. To put this in perspective, only about 15% of my time and about 10% of our budget was spent on outreach and community related activities. Are we casting the nets of our resources in the right areas?

As we are moving into 2020, and our 45^th year as a congregation, we have more than a few opportunities before us. I hope that through the help of the Holy Spirit, we can rise to the occasion, and motivate us to reallocate our time and our resources. We are the closest Lutheran church to New Hope - on the Pennsylvania side of the river – so the opportunity to becoming an opening welcoming and affirming community for our LGBTQIA siblings in Christ is right there for the taking. The “fish” are there, do we have the courage to do the work?

Now that we have a well-established Joyful Noise service for kids and families, how can figure out to be better reach out to them, especially families who have members with special needs and are on the Autism spectrum? Perhaps it’s time to cast our nets wider, which will be easier and more effective when we have more hands at the task.

Looking ahead, we have successfully reached our pledge goal of 45 pledges for 2020 – next, we must ask, how can we continued to foster a community of generosity in wholeness as a community, rather than sponsoring individual causes or reactively giving only when something goes wrong or need to be fixed… to instead transform into a community that is proactively generous and communally oriented. Much the same as the uselessness of nets for the purpose of fishing for people when they are in your hand… money in the bank or in a wallet does nothing for the kingdom of God.

We started some of this work last summer, during our Family Chats, and we hope to continue this work in the coming year as we explore some of the hopes and dreams that we shared together. I shared a few of these dreams in my report, but I also want to remind you right now of what we dreamed that FOG might live into –

-         More small group events, a summer evening midweek service, a full parking lot each Sunday with people greeting each other as they walk in,

-         Make more use of our building, co-sponsor events with other churches, become a community hub, outdoor movie nights, book discussions, 

-         Become the “go-to” church in the area, to encourage our young people to serve, to be welcoming of the LGBTQIA community, to include interactive elements in worship, update music in the framework of traditional worship....

I could go on and on with all of these wonderful, hopeful dreams we have. And not every one of us will feel called to every item on this list. Jesus calls everyone differently, at different times and different speeds. But we have all been called to be part of this congregation, in one way or another. Like the fish, we have all been caught by Jesus.

The disciples who dropped their nets and followed Jesus that day did not know how their adventure was going to turn out, and right now neither do we. Some days will be easier than others.

But Jesus is the one who chose us, caught us, and called us to a life of living in his footsteps. And we have one another as companions along the way, and we, at Family of God Lutheran church are continuing this journey so long after these first disciples. As we prepare to look back as a congregation on 2019, let’s listen hard to what Jesus is calling us to be and do in 2020. Together, let’s look and listen for how Jesus is causing the kingdom to come near to us, right now, with us and among us. Then we too can take up our nets in our own different ways, to follow Jesus into a new and exciting future.

There is a prayer that can be found in the ELW that is perfect for venturing with Jesus into the unknown. It’s one of my favorites, and we’ll say it again during our annual meeting. But really, we can’t pray it enough, and I think you’ll see why. Let us pray.

Lord 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; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Baptism of our Lord and Ourselves

1-19-20

I did something a little bit differently for this sermon - I walked everyone though the baptism liturgy and talked about each part, much like I did last year for A - "Affirmation of Baptism" during our "Season of Baptism" during  the season Epiphany last year. 

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.

Last year, Series on baptism do you remember? B – Born Anew, A -Affirmed, P- EmPowered, T- Trust, I – Inspire, S – Serve, M- Multiply

Baptize infants/ kids vs. “Believer’s Baptism”

The reason we baptize babies - symbolizes that we do nothing to earn God’s love

Part 2: Rite of “Confirmation = Affirmation of Baptism (we can affirm this all the time, not just when we’re in the 9th or 10th grade)

P. 227 - Go through Baptism service 

Opening prayer - Big ticket words - Water/word/ death/ resurrection / saints

Presentation: Parents present, or if older, they can answer for themselves (consent)

Go through each promise

TO LIVE WITH (HIM/HER/THEM) AMONG GOD’S FAITHFUL PEOPLE, Be part of a faith community

(HIM/HER/THEM) TO THE WORD OF GOD AND THE HOLY SUPPER – bring them to church!

TEACH (HIM/HER/THEM) THE LORD’S PRAYER, THE CREED, AND THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, (Self-explanatory)

PLACE IN (HIS/HER/THEM) HANDS THE HOLY SCRIPTURES, AND NURTURE (HIM/HER) IN FAITH AND PRAYER, (pretty obvious)

SO THAT YOUR CHILD MAY LEARN AND TRUST GOD, PROCLAIM CHRIST THROUGH WORD AND DEED, CARE FOR OTHERS AND THE WORLD GOD MADE, AND WORK FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE. DO YOU PROMISE TO HELP YOUR CHILD GROW IN THE CHRISTIAN FAITH AND LIFE?

Parents promise, sponsors promise, then WE all as a community promise (we need all of us!!) You are all responsible for each other.

Profession of Faith = early rite of Exorcism. Greek “Eckballo” to cast out, like throw a ball (renounce = turn your back on, cast out)

If you were to add things to “turn our backs on,” what would they be? What specifically “defies” or “rebels” against God? What other things might you add to the list? I would offer adding:

-         Fear and scarcity thinking

-         Too much consuming / big retail

-         Institutional racism and individual discrimination

-         Sexism, gender-based violence, toxic masculinity

-         Unjust economic systems (to name a few)

Creed = What we turn toward/ what we DO profess (can’t just be against things)

Trinitarian Creed – father son Holy Spirit (3 “no,” 3 “yes”)

Thanksgiving at the Font

-         “Flood Prayer” written by Martin Luther

-         Reviews the “Highlights of “salvation history” – the “big times” that God has saved God’s people, ending with Jesus

Actual Baptism: “sprinkling”

Where did we get baptism? John the Baptist, who we have been hearing about a lot! but also the end of Matthew – Command from Jesus to baptize in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit (the promise is that Jesus is with us until the end of the age)

Some traditions are (like ours) give the kid a white robe = made into a new person, and given new life in Christ, related to why pastors traditionally will wear a white robe, called an “Alb” (though it’s optional)

We say, “WE belong to Christ, in whom we have been baptized”

Prayer: same prayer that is later said over confirmands – Holy Spirit

Oil and Cross –oil from  old historical ritual from the tradition of anointing for special purpose - Kings, prophets, Jesus when he was on his way to Jerusalem

-         That cross may be invisible, but it never goes away! It’s always with us!

Candle: the light of Christ that is within us

-         Can and should light on our baptism anniversaries

-         Is where birthday candles come from

Congregational welcome! (Move on into service)

Martin Luther’s small catechism wrote “What gifts or benefits does baptism grant? It brings about forgiveness of sins, redeems from death and the devil, and give eternal salvation to all who believe it….”

An example of what it looks like to live our baptisms – MLK Jr.

Tomorrow we will affirm the life of MLK and all the gifts he had… working for justice and preaching good news to the oppressed – and to accept the cost of doing so, which for MLK was his life.

That was a walk through baptism, which is not just one day – it marks us our whole lives as belonging to God. Which is something of great value that we can take with us in our everyday lives, to walk through the world knowing that we are worthy and loved, and empowered to tell others that they are worthy and loved by God too. Thanks be to God, amen.

Epiphany: When We See the Face of God

1-12-19

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

Imagine for a moment that you are president of the United States. You are going about your business, doing your president thing, when one morning you hear a knock on the door of the Oval Office. Some dignitaries from various nations approach your desk with a question. They eagerly ask, “Where is the new president of the United States? Our intelligence has informed us that a new president is now in office, and we have come to pay our respects.” Your blood suddenly turns cold. To your knowledge there has been no election, no new president. You are the one in power, and you’d like to keep it that way. After all, you've worked so hard to get here. Who, then, could these ambassadors be speaking of? And what might it take to keep all this confusion quiet?

If you were looking for the person “in charge” in our country, you would look at the White House. Likewise, where else would you look for the birth of a king than in the royal palace the seat of power?

When the wise men finally showed up to finally take their place in our nativity scenes, they knocked on King Herod’s palace door. They were not the “Fun Kind” of surprise visitors. Their arrival struck fear into the hearts of those in power. Their arrival signaled to those who had a stake in the status quo that change was on the horizon. And for someone like King Herod – comfortable, in control, and backed by the Roman Empire, change is a bad thing. Change means revolution.

But this is not exactly how Christmas cards and Hallmark store displays have taught us to imagine the scene, in a stylized stable with well-behaved animals, dirty shepherd next to richly dressed men bearing gifts, with bright pointed star hanging overhead, shining light on the serene scene. In reality, Christmas is long over by the time the star leads these wise men to the place where Jesus is. Their journey was long and hard, probably through mountains and deserts…and when they finally arrived, their news brought fear and not joy. But through hardship and suspicion, they still pressed on, until finally the star stopped and revealed to the wise men where Jesus was. It was there, in a house somewhere in Bethlehem, that these wise sages of the East witnessed the unveiling of God face to face. They saw firsthand God’s “epiphany.”

This season we have now entered has a funny name. “Epiphany” is not a word you hear a lot. “I had an epiphany at work today,” you might say to a friend, referring to brainstorming a good idea for a project. It’s just a fancy way to describe that light bulb moment, quite literally, when a realization dawns on you, when suddenly things make sense and you can’t figure out how you couldn't see it just a moment ago. It’s when the world suddenly shifts into focus, like putting on a new pair of glasses …. and it takes you a moment to get used to how clear the world looks.

When those really good ah-ha moments happen – some people have cited falling in love, or having a child, or when you land that perfect job – your life is never quite the same again. And how could you live your life in the same old night now that the dawn has arrived? How could you put on your old out-of-date glasses now that your way is bright and clear? You can never go back, nor would you want to. You are living in a new world. Everything has changed.

Everything changed the night when Jesus was born, when the King of Kings and Lord of Lords revealed his face between bands of cloth in the straw of a manger. Everything changed when angels announced his birth and shepherds sang his praises. Everything changed when these men from another religion and another country acknowledged Jesus, a baby born into poverty, as their true king. As Mary’s song, the Magnificat said, the world is turned upside down – the mighty would be brought low and the lowly lifted up, the hungry would be fed and the full sent away empty. The ordinary order of the world of haves and have-nots could no longer hold. All because God revealed God’s true character in a baby born in Bethlehem.

But Epiphany is not just a one-time occasion that we celebrate and remember having happened in the past. No, God has Epiphanies all over the place. The God we worship is continually revealing to us who God is and how God is working in the world – through people, through churches and congregations, and even through other unlikely sources. 

Even novles, Movies, plays, and musicals can sometimes be a medium of God’s epiphanies.

When I was in high school, I fell in love with the musical Les Mis, and played my library copy of the ancient technology called a “CD” on repeat, and watched the anniversary productions on PBS. As you can imagine, I was very excited when a few years ago, a movie version with a star-studded cast came out in theaters.

As you might recall, Les Mis follows the fortunes of one man, Jean Valjean. At the start of the musical he is a hardened criminal, released on parole after 19 years in prison. He, like many in our own time, seeks work but is turned away time and time again because he is an ex-con. Hungry, cold, and desperate, he finds himself sleeping in a church, where the bishop of the church welcomes him, feeds him, and offers him a warm place to spend the night.

But Valjean saw the fine silver cutlery while he ate and that night, he stole the silver and took off. He is caught and dragged back before the bishop. Valjean knew that he blew his only chance - he would go back to prison for the rest of his life. The soldiers knew that too. They sneered and repeated Valjean’s paper-thin lie – that the bishop had felt sorry for Valjean, and GAVE him the silver. Yeah right. Like any person, even a bishop, would be so THAT kind to an ex-con.

But instead of press charges, the bishop took the silver candlesticks down from the mantle, and said, “you forgot, I gave these also…” The soldiers and Valjean are both aghast. Valjean is released, but the bishop was not finished. He told Valjean that he must use the silver to become an honest man, and that his gift had rescued Valjean’s soul for God. The bishop had given him his freedom, and said that he had a soul worth saving.

The rest of the musical reveals to us how this man chose to live the rest of his life after this epiphany - to live for others and not just for himself. At the end of his life, on his deathbed surrounded by his loved ones both living and dead, he is able to sum up his life by this maxim: “to love another person is to see the face of God.”

Though we don’t know what happened to the wise men after they saw the face of God, we can assume that they were never the same again. They had given fine gifts, but had experienced the greatest gift of all. Their lives had changed. For one thing, they had become fugitives, sneaking out of the country to avoid becoming Herod’s informants. Herod had no intention of paying homage to the newborn king. He would rather snuff out any threat to his power than see the true face of God revealed in a humble child.

But God continues reveals himself in unexpected places and to unlikely people. God reveals God’s face to a teenaged girl and her carpenter fiancé…..to tired shepherds in the middle of the night… and to star-gazing sages of the orient…. also, to you and to me. For God revealed God’s face in the form of a small child so that all people could have a place at the table – Jews, gentiles, men, women, non-binary people, and children, black and white, carpenters and lawyers, straight, gay, depressed, happy, mentally-challenged, socially challenged, financially challenged, bored, addicted, busy, ex-cons and bishops. We see the face of God in all these people. Thanks be to God, Amen. 

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.