It's a Day...

A day of love...

Tricky part is that biblical love is different.

It's not warm and fuzzy and affirming.

It's not automatic or easy.

It's not limited to your closest peeps.

Erdman's Bible Dictionary describes it best:

"An internal quality, expressed externally in concrete actions for the welfare of the other."

I read stories of some of the Christmas miracles and I think, yep. That's who we are meant to be. Soldiers lay down their weapons and share a meal. People reach out to others. Our frantic work to sell and buy comes almost to a halt. (A great wailing was heard in the Stroudsburg area this year when it was discovered that Starbucks would not be open...yep, that was what that sound was.)

A great breath is taken.

There's a beautiful line from a carol called "Star Child."

This year, this year, let the day arrive, when Christmas comes for everyone, everyone alive."

Love is born...expressed in concrete actions for the welfare of the other.

Merry Christmas!

Candlelight and Commitment...

Joseph was committed, or should have been.

This girl-to-be-wife was pregnant. He planned to put her aside quietly, shield her from public disgrace.

Angels appeared in dreams. God's plans were spoken. Joseph heard a name and a plan which means "God with us."

Joseph committed. The world moved past Joseph. We only hear about him at this time of the year. Mary, we see her along the way. Joseph plays his bit part and pretty much disappears...only a couple of times as "parent" do we glimpse the furrowed brow and the responsibility of fatherhood.

Joseph heard a name and a plan...God with us.

Our commitment may be much the same. We may be named once or twice, referred to in passing, but God's plan may play out around us while we think we are not doing much.

I'm sure God could have made things work if Joseph had dismissed the dream as Ebenezer Scrooge tried to dismiss Marley. But commitment carried it forward.

The Isaiah text sings, "Arise, shine; for your light has come...Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn." (60:1,3)

Light those candles tonight in commitment to playing your part.
God's got the rest...

Begets...

What do you say about the long line of romantic nights that become Matthew's begats?

Having my own children arrive yesterday, one with a six-month old, I think what there is to say is...Now the work begins.

Begats belie the hard work of raising the next generation, of sleepless nights and bone-weary days. There's joy, no doubt. It's fun to look back on your ancestors and see where you came from, to whom you are connected.

But we are connected by ceaseless toil. Our parents couldn't just have taken a week of childlessness, assuring us they'd pick up again on the flip side. Even a week of vacation without kids required work to arrange.Simply unloading the car for a few days at Christmas took the dad 45 minutes. The house looks like someone sneezed baby.

But the joy and the work and the joy begat the new and the ongoing and the memorable and the next.

The promise is what you say about the begats...the promise is coming to pass.

Matthew 1:1-17

 An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, 4 and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

What then?

"What then will the child become?" the neighbors wonder after the birth and naming of John.

Oh, a prophet in the wilderness who eats bugs and honey and preaches repentance.

O that.

Well.

I often dream of the rising up that could happen. 55% of the American people are against the tax plan. Rise up.

41 Americans live in poverty. 9 million of those get not one cent of cash income.
Rise up.

Health care for children whose parents fall in between poor enough and not rich enough.
Rise up.

Standards of moral and ethical behavior for our elected officials, including not spending tax payer money to settle lawsuits against them.
Rise up.

I don't think we have to eat bugs to be effective. I just think we must rise up.

What, then, will we become?

Luke 1:57-66

57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.

59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. 60 But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.” 61 They said to her, “None of your relatives has this name.” 62 Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. 63 He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed. 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. 65 Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. 66 All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.

Mary's Real Work...

The song in Luke is the Magnificat...parallels the song of Hannah in 1 Samuel. It is the preaching text for the third Sunday in Advent (last Sunday).

I remembered my raising. There were two Marys. One, Catholic like my best friend, was holy and worthy of worship and adoration. My protestant Mary was submissive and obedient and agreed to have the baby Jesus--the man who would do the real work.

But I hear her song in a new way as an adult. Kathleen Norris says Mary "found her voice" when she said "yes" to God's work...and she spent her life following that path. Scholar Elizabeth Johnson reminds us that Mary's experience fulfills the five biblical pointers that identify a prophet.

She's not just a virgin who had a baby or a submissive woman. She's a magnificent prophet who spoke God's truth and who raised a son who changed the world. She proclaimed God's no to oppression in this song and followed Jesus all the way to the cross to enact that truth.

(Course, it could be argued, she had time because there was no Christmas to prepare for and decorate for and preach for and wrap gifts for and send cards for--not that I've managed any of that, except gifts--unwrapped).

But I hope the proclamation of and work toward justice is my everyday call growing from Mary's work...not just a Christmas celebration of a new baby. Most know the real work of having a baby is not the labor, but what follows.

Same is true of Christmas. This may be the labor...but the real work of Christmas is yet to come.

She Persisted...

Women have certainly persisted since the beginning of time.

The song from 1 Samuel reflects the persistence of Hannah, a barren woman taunted by the other wives, who prayed so intensely in the temple for a child that the priest accused her of being drunk. She persisted.

She became pregnant and gave birth to Samuel who would become God's voice to King David.

The question for Advent may be "can we persist?" A part of that question for this writer is what our churches would have looked like if all the people who left because they were dissatisfied with rules over service, hate over love, conflict over community, etc., if all those people had stayed and changed God's church.

Anyone who has been given credit for changing the world has persisted. We persist in this recitation of judgment and hope, of ultimate restoration.

May it change us and may we change the world.

Persist!


1 Samuel 2:1b-10

“My heart exults in the Lord;
    my strength is exalted in my God.[a]
My mouth derides my enemies,
    because I rejoice in my[b] victory.

2 “There is no Holy One like the Lord,
    no one besides you;
    there is no Rock like our God.
3 Talk no more so very proudly,
    let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the Lord is a God of knowledge,
    and by him actions are weighed.
4 The bows of the mighty are broken,
    but the feeble gird on strength.
5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
    but those who were hungry are fat with spoil.
The barren has borne seven,
    but she who has many children is forlorn.
6 The Lord kills and brings to life;
    he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
7 The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
    he brings low, he also exalts.
8 He raises up the poor from the dust;
    he lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes
    and inherit a seat of honor.[c]
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
    and on them he has set the world.

9 “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones,
    but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness;
    for not by might does one prevail.
10 The Lord! His adversaries shall be shattered;
    the Most High[d] will thunder in heaven.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;
    he will give strength to his king,
    and exalt the power of his anointed.”

Hope in Hindsight...

Zephaniah proclaims a word of hope. This trouble will come to an end. The Lord will rejoice over you with gladness, renew you in God's love. God will save the lame, gather the outcast, change their shame into praise and renown.

At that time, I will bring you home.

Walking through judgment into hope.

Experts tell us hope comes from hindsight. We have to have experienced something good in the past to understand something good can happen in the future. People who have no break, nothing good they can hang on to, no experience of succeeding, cannot experience hope.

Mary sings of God's mighty works in her song of praise...hindsight that brings hope.

Perhaps on this day, we look backward to see where God has been at work.

Then we look forward to see where we might give someone else a break, so they have hope in hindsight as well.

A moment of Rest...

A friend died suddenly this week. He was vital, energetic, harassed me with great delight. His death surprised us all; I’m absolutely sure it surprised him too.

Some days you can deal with judgment and call and service and all the other things our faith demands of us.

Some days, you need to rest in the knowledge you are loved and cared for.

Psalm 67

1 May God be gracious to us and bless us
    and make his face shine on us—[b]
2 so that your ways may be known on earth,
    your salvation among all nations.

3 May the peoples praise you, God;
    may all the peoples praise you.
4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
    for you rule the peoples with equity
    and guide the nations of the earth.
5 May the peoples praise you, God;
    may all the peoples praise you.

6 The land yields its harvest;
    God, our God, blesses us.
7 May God bless us still,
    so that all the ends of the earth will fear him

On That Day...

"On that day," Amos proclaims.

On that day the grounds keepers at Mara Lago will be able to play a round of golf after their work. The dishwashers at Per Se will be able to take their family for a meal there on their day off. Part-time workers at War-Mart will have living wages and benefits.

The 55,000 homeless in LA will open their doors after a long day and get a good nights sleep in their beds. Those who need dental work will have appointments.

"...they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them."

Breathe in hope...cough a little, cause we're not used having deep breaths of hope...then get to it. It's ours to rebuild and inhabit.

Amos 9:11-15

On that day I will raise up
    the booth of David that is fallen,
and repair its breaches,
    and raise up its ruins,
    and rebuild it as in the days of old;
12 in order that they may possess the remnant of Edom
    and all the nations who are called by my name,
    says the Lord who does this.

13 The time is surely coming, says the Lord,
    when the one who plows shall overtake the one who reaps,
    and the treader of grapes the one who sows the seed;
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
    and all the hills shall flow with it.
14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,
    and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,
    and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant them upon their land,
    and they shall never again be plucked up
    out of the land that I have given them,
says the Lord your God.

Shake It, Shake It, Baby...

Sitting at Starbucks this morning to do this and listening to a very young Michael Jackson sing ABC, 123. The chorus, as most of you are aware, or the bridge--or whatever you call that little insert--goes, "Shake it, shake it, baby," and then repeats that several times.

So I am reading the very serious Haggai...which is actually a word of hope today as the Lord of hosts tells us to take courage for God is with us...and then God says, "Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come..."

I remembered as a young teen, panning for gold in Colorado. You scooped a bunch of sediment off the bottom of a cold river, then sifted it through a special pan to find the gold nuggets. I didn't find anything, but I had this image of God shaking earth and sea and nations to settle the muck to the bottom and let the treasure come to the top to be used for God's purposes.

Somehow that made our current situation in the country and in the world much more palatable.

Shake it, shake it, baby!

Haggai 2:1-9

In the second year of King Darius, 1 in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: 2 Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, and say, 3 Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing? 4 Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts, 5 according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear. 6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; 7 and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendor, says the Lord of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lordof hosts. 9 The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts; and in this place I will give prosperity, says the Lord of hosts.

Who?

Today's text is from Haggai. The computer keeps trying to correct it. Yeah, that guy. After Cyrus the Great conquerors Babylon and allowed the exiles back into Judea, Haggai and Zechariah challenge the people to rebuild the temple. "For Haggai, nothing is more crucial than the Temple, because it represents God's indwelling presence."(Stephen L. Cook, New Interpreter's One Volume Commentary, Haggai)

We've moved to the polar opposite of temples representing God's indwelling presence. Many will say we don't need buildings at all. That is beside the point.

God's point asks these questions to a people who don't want to invest in rebuilding God's house: "Is it a time for your yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?...Consider how you have fared. You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and you that earn wages earn wages to put them into a bag with holes."

Then my favorite line: "Consider how you have fared."  Maybe the original version of "How's that working for you?" God wants to know if there's a deep dissatisfaction in our lives that nothing seems to fill?

God continues, "You have looked for much, and lo, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away."

If we keep looking for meaning and purpose, will we eventually open ourselves to the indwelling presence of God--the presence that fills the holes and enables us to turn toward our neighbors to build the kingdom?

Woe...

When I was a teenager learning what it meant to be a good citizen, the ultimate problem for a politician was being caught in a lie.

We just finished a close race in Alabama--really close--with a candidate who was removed from the bench of the Alabama Supreme Court for breaking the law and who had credible charges of sexual misconduct.

More than 1600 demonstrable lies have come out of our president's mouth in the 11 months he has been in office.

A senator resigned under pressure for sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior. Many more in congress are under pressure. I sometimes feel sorry for them all because, for so long, that behavior was completely accepted in our culture...even encouraged And they have what some might call the bad luck to live in the transition to a better way. Or we hope it sticks this time. We've been at this point before in my lifetime.

The congress is working to pass a tax reform bill which leans heavily toward more than a trillion dollars in deficit spending (unless the economic stars line up just right--which we can hope, but I haven't seen it ever before), but they cannot continue to fund health insurance for our most vulnerable children because we "don't have the money."

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean. 

The Advent call is to soul searching. It think it might be a full-time job for all of us right now.

Matthew 23:13-26

 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in, you stop them. 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the sanctuary is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the sanctuary is bound by the oath.’ 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the sanctuary that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘Whoever swears by the altar is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gift that is on the altar is bound by the oath.’ 19 How blind you are! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it; 21 and whoever swears by the sanctuary, swears by it and by the one who dwells in it; 22 and whoever swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by the one who is seated upon it.

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!

²⁵ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup,^[c] so that the outside also may become clean.

Humility...

Father Knows Best. I don't remember watching it, except for a few reruns. It was a bit before my time. But I knew that white, 1950's male, head-of-households were the expert in everything.

Until I knew they weren't.

Pharisees thought they were expert in all thing religious. Until we knew they weren't. Rome thought it was expert in all things Pax Romana, until it wasn't. Name a group, name an issue, and there is expert-in-everything, until there isn't.

Humility is a gift. "The greatest among you will be your servant."

Seems our expertise can become oppressive.

Matthew 23:1-12

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ² “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; ³ therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. ⁴ They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear,^[a] and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. ⁵ They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. ⁶ They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, ⁷ and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi. ⁸ But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students.^[b] 9 And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father—the one in heaven. ¹⁰ Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah.^[c]11 The greatest among you will be your servant. ¹² All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.

Persistence...

Power strikes back.

Amos is holding up their unjust practices. Perhaps they stood before the press of the day and made a milquetoast apology. Perhaps they just avoided the issue.  But after Amos has gone on and on and on...power bites back.

Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sends word to the King, reporting all the ways Amos challenges the power and practice of those in charge. 

"Seer," Amaziah says, with the full power of the King behind him. "Go prophesy somewhere else. Bethel belongs to the King and we're tired of your trouble."

Hear the finger pointing that weakens Amos's words: 

• You are a prophet sent to destroy the king...
• You are a political hack, sent to destroy the opposition...
• You are an enemy of the good guys, sent to spread lies and propaganda...
• You are someone with a vendetta against us...making up charges

Amos fires back. I'm a herdsman, a tree trimmer. God took me from that work and gave me this work.

You can tell me to stop speaking, but God is still at work.

The Alpha and the Omega will bring justice. 

Amos 7:10-17 

10 Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. 11 For thus Amos has said,

‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
    and Israel must go into exile
    away from his land.’”

12 And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there, and prophesy there; 13 but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”

14 Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I am[a] no prophet, nor a prophet’s son; but I am[b] a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, 15 and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’

16 “Now therefore hear the word of the Lord.
You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
    and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
17 Therefore thus says the Lord:
‘Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city,
    and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,
    and your land shall be parceled out by line;
you yourself shall die in an unclean land,
    and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’”