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.

Love

Isaiah 61:1-4;; 8-11; Luke 4:16-21
I remember helping my father with the Christmas lights.  I even remember one strand that if one was out or loose the whole strand was out.  I am so glad that strand did not persist in our yearly tradition, but it was not as easy as today.  Incandescent bulbs broke easily and they needed to be clipped on the tree.  So when Mindi and I started celebrating Christmas as a married couple I was happy to buy a strand of the new LED lights.  They were easy to put on and seemed to work well for the last 6 years and they worked perfectly fine the first night I put them up this year.  The next day half the bottom strand stopped working.  I changed the fuses and they still did not light. 
I thus went out searching for similar lights and I did find something compatible at the second store.  As a son of an engineer I was searching for a strand strung in a parallel circuit, not a series circuit.  It is fine if you do not remember this information from grade school, as a son of an engineer I have to remember certain things.  I will remind you the difference between these two type of circuits.  A series circuit the current of electricity passes through each circuit element without branching, thus if one element is disconnected (for bulbs burnt or loose) the current is disabled.  A series circuit also must share the voltage of the source, while a parallel circuit will have the same voltage draw of the source for each element is directly connected to the source.  This is why a parallel circuit light strand will stay let if one bulb is burnt out or loose.
So I, as my father’s son, looked at the box of lights for the words parallel circuit, and found the trademarked term “Constant ON” with a accurate definition of a parallel circuit, including two illustrations.  However, no where is it confirmed that the circuit was strung parallel, not even in parenthesis (I do like parenthesis).  I have no problem with the company trademarking a catchy term, but if they were going to take the time to define it on each box, I feel it would be a good idea to share the official term within the definition.  Do they really think we cannot handle the term “parallel circuit”?
I bring this up to demonstrate how terms meanings can be lost and or manipulated so easily in society.  And as religious people we also let some of our important words to lose their meaning.  Take for instance the word “love,” it is of great importance to the Gospel.  We use it between, family members and friends.  We say it to our children even before they understand language, and we use it to explain the feeling we have for them.  We use it also for pizza, paintings, and presents under the Christmas tree.  We are quite aware that feeling the word love varies as per the context.  However, the word love is used only for half of its Biblical meaning.  Feeling is important, but it is also used to refer to action. 
Isaiah’s prophecy is about action for those oppressed, broken-hearted, captive, mourning and more.  Jesus correctly states that the prophesy had been fulfilled in His reading, for Jesus is the incarnation of love.  It is not that Jesus has a warm and fuzzy feeling, but came to earth as a baby to preach, heal, teach, and most of all love us beyond understanding, to the point of death.  Isaiah’s words define the action part of the definition of Love, which is known as the Good News; Gospel. 
I believe the best explanation how the definition is feeling and action is when Jesus answers what the most important law is: 

He said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’ (Matthew 22:37-40)

Yes it is important to have a wonderful feeling for God and simultaneously love your neighbor as yourself.  As this is recorded in Luke, the neighbor is the Good Samaritan.  It is clear that we are not simply to have nice and warm feelings, but to do compassion and merci to express this love.  Just as Jesus tells us in Matthew 25 what we do to the least of these we do onto Him.  The one that loved us so much he went humbly to the cross.  This love is equally action, and we participate in the action of love we are in touch with the feeling for God with all our heart, soul and mind. 
As church, we are to love each other, as Jesus told Peter when Jesus asked him three times if Peter loved Him.  Peter would respond with affirmation and Jesus responded with a call to action; “…feed my lambs…tend my sheep….feed my sheep.” (John 21) And as a church we are not strung in a parallel circuit, we are strung in the old series circuit.  The light of Christ is more than powerful enough to light each one, but if one is burnt out or loose we are all affected.  Jesus is the strand itself, as He says He is the vine (John 15), but God does the pruning.  We must love one another and the neighbor for we are all interconnected.  God will fix and/or replace the burnt bulbs and loose ones, but we must realize we are strung together by God’s grace and love, and thus we shine Jesus’ love by our action of love, for Jesus fulfilled this prophecy and we are called to do the same:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
   because he has anointed me
     to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
   and recovery of sight to the blind,
     to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4: 18-19)

Peace

 

Isaiah 40:1-11; Mark 1:1-8

Isaiah tells the exiled people, to expect, to repent, because the comforter is coming. This voice is to come from the wilderness. That is literally where they would need to pass through to return to the Promised Land. They had lost not only their land but much of the structures that held them together as the “chosen people.” War brought them in exile, and even though

The Persians eventually send the Hebrews back to Jerusalem and the Promised Land. God I am sure was at work, yet the Persians were not naïve. They understood the importance of having a grateful ally near Egypt and on the coast of the Great Sea. This was military, economic, and political advantage, to have restored the Hebrew people to Canaan.

Not long after they were restored to the Promised Land they most have forgotten the comforter, God, was near, for they turned from the covenant. Depending on military and political boundaries for identity is the problem.

Identity as the people of God is not a matter of the state, it is expecting God and thus turning to God. Expecting the messiah to establish the Kingdom of David again, is repeating the same problem. The Jews understood the oppression of Rome under the title of Pax Roma. This peace established by the state can only go so far. Peace established by mandate, by gun, by oppression does not last long. Those in exile lived in peace but not in harmony. Those that lived behind the iron curtain lived in peace but not in harmony. Peace that God wants is a peace that surpasses all understanding, and includes harmony as well as no war.

So when John comes on the scene, he is baptizing on the border, in the Jordan, repentance. Not to usher in the Kingdom, but because it is near. Because John expects the coming comforter, Jesus, we turn to God. This is the peace we are to expect everywhere we go. John though is not actually leading us through the wilderness to a new land. He is on the edge of the Promised Land, and consumes the wonderful wild honey of the land of Milk and Honey. And he consumes the locusts of the land of slavery and from the decimated fields. John is preparing the way of a greater peace that cannot come from a state, a church, or humanity. Save one, the one that saves.

Jesus will bring peace not through calling the heavenly hosts. Not by leading an army. Not through violence or political mandate. Jesus does it and call us to follow him as our earliest known Hymn states as Paul records it in his letter to the Philippians:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
   did not regard equality with God
   as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
   taking the form of a slave,
   being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
   he humbled himself
   and became obedient to the point of death—
   even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8)

If we are of the same mind and give ourselves to Christ. To each other we will find peace. We are being called to our boundaries, to our learning edges, and we should expect God there, for God is near. To expect is to live in hope and not despair. To expect is because you know God is.

We expect God, not to do what we want. We expect to see God everywhere we turn thus we turn to God, repentance. Peace

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

Hope

Mark 13:24-37

Mark writes this Gospel perhaps with the knowledge of the destruction of the temple.  He writes earlier in the chapter Jesus’ prophecy of its destruction, thus Mark is aware of the great importance that destruction would be had it happened or not when the Gospel was originally written.  For many it would have been a “sign” of the end of the world.  Either way then as there are today many “signs” of the end of the world as Jesus refers to, but he makes it clear that only the Father knows.  Jesus even admits He does not.  It is important to understand that Jesus is pastorally telling us that there is a triumphant end, but not for us to worry about when, but to be vigilant in all we do.

Currently there are many lists in preparation for Christmas.  The children’s lists filled with toys, and the adults with purchasing said toys, decorating, cooking, parties, gifts, etc.  It can be a stressful time, and during the season we use the word hope, a lot.  But we often confuse it with wish.  First of all let us look at the proper grammar of the two words.  If you say, I wish to pass the exam, you are saying you would like to. If you say, I hope to pass the exam, you are confident of that result.  Truly we intermix these words all the time.  The children may hope for a toy, and it may be true they are confident Santa (or a parent) will come through, but they may still say hope for the present they are certainly not getting.  And vice versa. 

Let us explore how we mix these words in a deeper and harder reality than Christmas lists.  I knew a woman who was a victim/survivor of domestic violence.  She shared many horrible aspects of the situation, including her own family origin.  She is certainly not to blame, and would hope to the violence would end, or if things were going well that it had.  She was honestly wishing not hoping at that time, for she hoped as if it would happen without any other changes to her situation.  She was terrified of the financial and social realities of leaving him, and thus was wishing for it to stop.  But almost as if the wish came true, she understood what hope was, to be able to imagine the future without violence, and that included the scary steps.  First a shelter, therapy, a job, but hope was knowing the future without violence and seeing the little things along the way.

Such it is with families with military oversees.  They don’t wish them home, they hope for their return.  Knowing it through the small gestures of remembering the loved one, and thus even if the reality is a return under a flag, they know the greater victory.

Jesus is asking us to be hopeful people, not wishful people.  We know the eventual outcome and we act as if it has happened.  That is what His resurrection is; the victory over death and sin.  We live connecting the small visible resurrection moments together moving toward the great victory.  That is living in hope, that is being vigil and awake.  The guard at the master’s house cannot just sit down on the porch swing and close his eyes, wishing he will hear the twig snap, the guard is to be alert looking out and searching for the moments of resurrection as that brings them together.  We “Keep Awake” and we do that with Hope.

Keep Alert this Advent

During December, I find our kitchen filled with more baked goods than any month of the year.   As I write this I can smell a cake I have in the oven, and as usual my wife asked me how long it needed to bake, and as usual, I answered, “Until it’s done.”  I am aware that it is an annoying answer, but it may help to know that I was an artisan baker and a pastry chef, and so I know not to depend simply on a timer.  I remember giving the same answer to the interns that came from the culinary schools when they asked how long to bake something; I would never give even an approximate time until they understood that it is important to be able to use all one’s senses.  I found in the bakery and in the kitchen those that depended only on the timer were more likely to pull items early or late from the oven.  Thus I am not trying to be annoying, but true to my first vocation.

Now as a minister, I find some truths of baking to be relevant to understanding the Gospel.  Jesus even said, “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” (Matthew 13:33)  That parable is full of great meaning, especially the power of Christ’s Kingdom.  During December we are getting ready for Emmanuel, “God with us.”  The Christ Child will be born King of Kings.  Jesus comes into the world as a small baby, and yet with all the glory of His Kingdom.  This is a great miracle.

We hear about the number of shopping days and I know that children (and teachers) count the days until Christmas break.  We wait in lines and wait for packages.  We decorate our homes, our churches, our public spaces.  We bake and we eat.  All of this we do waiting for our Savior’s birth, every year during December. 

We are preparing ourselves for this great birth of this great King.  If we have an Advent calendar or wreath it seems we need to simply wait the specific number of days or weeks until December 25.  It is true that day will come if we are ready or not, but if we look at the wait simply as a means of getting there, we may miss the miracle.  Waiting and preparing requires us to be vigilant.

The season is about Jesus.  We are waiting for the incarnation and this does deserve the preparation and celebration each and every year.  However, our traditions can be like the timer in my kitchen.  If I depend on them alone I can experience the incarnation, but if I am vigilant in all ways I will certainly know Emmanuel, God with us.  Thus every year as I prepare for Christmas I am aware of the importance of keeping prepared to experience the reason for the season. “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” (Matthew 24:44) I will celebrate with my family and with all of you on December 25, but I will search with my soul for the miracle of the incarnation daily, and I will celebrate it whenever and wherever I find it.

God, Self, and Neighbor

Matthew 25:31-46

If you saw someone with a backpack on you may assume they are backpacking, but they also could be homeless.  Sure it may be easy to guess which by the quality of the items or where you see the individual, but you might be wrong.  The real difference between the two is there is a planned end to the hike and no certain end to one who is homeless.  However, when I hiked I did not take each step with the end in mind, it was assumed. 

Jesus reminds us that we are to think eschatologically; that is about the end.  In this passage He tells us the end will be like separated goats and sheep.  Well when I have been on farms where there are these animals, and I spooked them they would run in their respective groups.  At the end it will be easy to separate the two, but the judgment is less about then than it is about now.  For we have received unconditional boundless grace which we do not deserve, so I believe Jesus is not making salvation based on one’s action, yet rather is reminding those that do believe this would be their reaction.  They will run with the sheep.

For when Jesus adds himself as being part of the least of these, He is reminding us that love we do is to God, Self, and Neighbor.  We realize we receive this grace we do not deserve and feel very unworthy, but Jesus wants us to take care of those that are considered unworthy'; the least of these.  We are therefore to respond with love to ourselves, God and Neighbor as He states in  Matthew 22:37-40:

He said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’

This is the Law, according to Jesus and thus is where one would place judgment.  However, it is all wrapped in grace, so it is not what we do that saves us, but we respond as if we would be running with the goats.  We live as Christians doing what God commands for we do not live wandering, we live with the purpose of God.

‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

We know there is a final victory over all evil, and we live that way not simply with the feeling of “love,” but acting on love to God, Self, and Neighbor, for we know what fold we run with.