Powerful Prayer

Psalm 22; Philippians 4:6-9

There is a Target commercial that is quite colorful, and if I sing the first word of the song you would probably be compelled to sing it aloud (or at least in your head).  “Alouette…”  I am sure you can imagine the tune and many of the words, despite reading this post in English.  Well I must share that this popular French Canadian song, does annoy me, for it is about a lark being plucked.  However, I brought it up for the fact that everyone seemed to know this little song by heart, just as we would most nursery rhymes. Or just as we respond when we hear, “Our Father who….” or when I start saying, especially at a funeral, “The Lord is my shepherd…”  We know these prayers and psalms by heart, and we can almost not stop ourselves when we hear it begun.

This is important for us to understand to understand Jesus’ words from the cross, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me…” it was not simply a statement of angry at God for letting Him die on the cross, rather this traditional lament we call Psalm 22 today.  Dyeing of affixation Jesus had very little breath to spare on the whole Psalm, but once he started this, I imagine, that those gathered, even those who did not follow Jesus, were finishing the Psalm.  It would be part of the Jewish tradition to know the Psalms by heart, for they were sung as part of worship, part of life. 

Why Psalm 22? It is a classic lament from an individual’s perspective, and Jesus would certainly lament as a human being crucified.  But you may notice that as the lament moves into thanksgiving for God, it becomes more communal.  By the conclusion of the Psalm the writer is admitting that God is for not only Israel, but families of the nations (gentiles) and not only for those now, but who have gone before and those yet born.  So Jesus makes it clear that God will rescue Him not to simply rescue His Son, but the whole of Humanity.

  Just as we should remember when Paul writes:

Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

It is not to an individual Paul is writing.  He is writing to a community, and we know in our hearts that when we ask in prayer God does not see us as the center of the universe.  God will answer prayers for one only in community.  So if we think we are praying for what we think the church should like like as per our individual perspective, we may be disappointed that God has not answered our prayers.  However, if we understand that even Jesus while lamenting about His awful and painful emptying on the cross, knew God in Heaven was responding not just to save Him, but to save us all from this worldly way of sin and death. 

Merry Christmas

Luke 2:1-20

Do you remember the first infant you held?  The first infant that was yours, or a close family or friend’s?  It is a miracle in itself.  Each child is a little miracle and while holding the baby, you realize how helpless they are.  A baby can’t walk nor do much of anything independently from parents, honestly they are not even aware they are independent from others.  Every baby is a miracle and the Baby Jesus is no different. 

Imagine one of the shepherds being a boy who comes to Bethlehem after hearing the angel, to see the child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.  This young shepherd is encouraged the hold the infant, his first baby to hold.  Of course the chorus of Heavenly Hosts, he heard in the field would resonate in his heart, but you know that first time of holding a helpless infant is just as special.  Imagine with me, that 50 years later he holds another baby and recalls that time in the City of David.  Perhaps he even tells his experience to Luke.  50 years after that this baby, now a man, holds a baby, experiencing the miracle of a child.  And another 50 years or so that child does the same, and so forth.  That would mean that it would take only 40 people or so to have been directly connected to holding Jesus.  

I share this illustration to emphasize that our movement, the church, is not as old as we think.  First of all when the incarnation happened, Judaism in which Jesus entered was already over 3,000 years old.  It is arrogant for Christians to believe their generation is the end of the Age.  Jesus makes it clear we are to be ready and only God in Heaven will know. Calling the time of the incarnation “ancient,” and living in a time we call “post-modern,” keeps us from understanding the reality that we may simply be in the infancy of our faith.  God’s time is not human time.

Jesus as a baby demonstrated His greatest power.  The power of vulnerability.  All babies posses that power and that is why they thrive, for the parents, and even society does what is necessary for each child to live.  Jesus is no different and yet he walks into adulthood without shedding that great power.  Jesus served.  Jesus went to the cross and through that great vulnerability, the Divine Love was revealed in the empty tomb. 

As Christians, we need to follow Emmanuel who demonstrated the power of vulnerability, servitude, and love.  We must understand we are still each learning to do that, and even our movement, we call the church, is struggling to learn to be vulnerable for Love.

 

Father Richard Rohr’s Wish inspired this Christmas Day Sermon

Joy

Luke 1:26-56

As we approach the celebration of the birth of Jesus, I think of other birth stories.  Those on sit-coms are quite neat and honestly, unreal.  We know that birth is hard word, labor even, and it is even stated in Genesis.  I think of my own son’s nativity, which did not resemble a sit-com and rather ended with an unplanned c-section. (I encourage you to read my wife’s theological reflection based on her experience).  This week good friends had a baby girl, who had to be taken by helicopter to a larger hospital for her lungs were not developed enough.  The new mom commented that when people ask “How are you?” they are generally expecting you to answer “good.”  She was not.  She would honestly say, “empty, sad, angry, lost, heartbroken, scared, & just really, really sad.”  not Happy.  I share her words to help us understand joy.  Many times joy and happy are simultaneous, but I believe when we use it as Christians we don’t simply imply happy.  For I believe it is safe to say this new mother is not happy within this hard developing nativity, but she does feel joy.  For joy is knowing hope, peace, and love, despite our human condition.

As we approach Christmas, we must be aware that Mary is pregnant, just as our mothers were.  Jesus does not come down from Mount Olympus nor does he come riding a creature such as only Ezekiel could describe.   Jesus is born just as any person is born.  God incarnate is unique to Christianity and it is very good news, for we are not to ignore our humanity and the desires associated with the physical world.  We are to try to bring our desires in line with the desire of divine incarnation which Jesus demonstrates and does with agape; Love. 

Mary would certainly answer, “How are you?” like my friend.  To have your first child and have to lay Him in a manger.  To have had angels tell her how special this baby was, and yet still need to feed Him and take care of Him as any human mother would.  I believe she would have thought of her own words and perhaps even said them again when she looked at Jesus worrying about Her son’s responsibility to the world and her own for Him to survive in the world as she felt “empty, sad, angry, lost, heartbroken, scared, & just really, really sad” and yet great and overwhelming JOY:

‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
   and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
   Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
   and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
   from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
   he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
   and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
   and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
   in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
   to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’ (Luke 1:46b-55)

Jesus brings that Joy despite the human condition.  Not simply because He was a baby, but that He entered our humanity.  Through His great love took on our human condition to the point of death, even death on a cross, thus giving us incarnate divine desire of love as our model.  So despite our human condition we find hope, peace and love and celebrate Joy that only the Divine can provide.

December 2011 Newsletter

There is a chill in the air and lights are strung. We are preparing for Christmas, and there is an excitement, especially for children. Within the preparation we will experience stress, but hopefully we will also experience great hope, peace, love, and joy. Certainly the reason for the season is Jesus who is our certain hope and love giving us joy and peace that surpasses all understanding. However, the excitement of the shopping, parties, and even traditions can distract us from Emmanuel.

The scriptures keep me focused and one of my favorite is from the beginning of John, as he explains how important it is having Jesus take on human form, Incarnation:

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. (John 1:14-18)

John makes it clear that we here on earth are able to know the Glory of God through only His Son Jesus. It was necessary for Jesus to be fully human as well as fully divine as to demonstrate God’s great love for humanity. Therefore during this season we prepare for Jesus coming into the world, not simply as a memory of a birthday celebration, but how Jesus breaks through the darkness everyday from the beginning, today and forever, as John writes earlier in his Gospel about Jesus, “What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” (1:3-5)

As the chilly busy days of December turn to night, I am reminded of the incarnation by the numerous Christmas lights. Each string of lights reminds me that Christ Jesus is in our lives in numerous and various ways. Each by themselves may be lost in the hustle and bustle of the “holiday” demands, but together it is obvious that the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, is the light in all our lives that cuts through the darkness, providing us with hope, peace, love and joy.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor JC