Holy Everywhere

Isaiah 40:21-31; Mark 1:29-39

Jesus touches Simon Peter’s mother-in-law to heal her.  He crosses a very strong line, and He implies that is to be done not only for individuals but in the synagogues, the religion as well. The healing was a miracle, but the touching was against the rules of ancient Judaism.  So even if it was good, full of love, it broke the law to touch the unclean. 

We as Christians are not immune to these lines as well.  How we worship, what we think,  we set up lines as well. 

We need to learn from young children who can see the image on a coloring sheet and yet color away with their hearts intent.  If the page is a picture of a bunny they will color across all the lines and say it is a bunny.  It is not that the lines are not important but they are not meant to contain, that which is “unsearchable” as Isaiah says in verse 28.

Let us be like the children, like Jesus, and cross over boundaries and lines to touch others with our crayons of love. 

Is not the cross and empty tomb the ultimate crossing of the boundary?

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.