Choose Wisely

Isaiah 62:1-5
John 2: 1-11

In this passage of John, we have Jesus and his mother at a wedding banquet in Cana of Galilee. It’s a beautiful area full of rolling mountains and limestone buildings everywhere. In those days, weddings were a seven day event that was like one long party for the guests and wedding couple. It was expensive to host so many people for that many days, and the usual custom was to make sure the finest wine and the best food were served the first couple days while everyone was still sober and able to appreciate the finery.

For whatever reason, on the third day of the wedding the wine began to run out. Perhaps it had been a particularly hot summer week and everyone was very thirsty, or perhaps it was a rowdy bunch of people attending this wedding, or perhaps the couple did not have the funds to properly supply the wedding. The writer of John does not explain so we are left to guess the reason the wine began to run out four days too early.

What’s interesting is that it is not the bridegroom or the master of the banquet that notices the lapse; it is Mary, Jesus’ mother who becomes concerned. In her concern she does not turn to those around her to collect money to head out and buy more wine, she turns to her son. Now, some of you out there are mothers and some of you are sons, and we all know that when a mother gets it into her head that her son needs to do something – he had better do it or she will nag him until he does.

Jesus was relaxing at a table, talking to his disciples and other friends when his mother approaches him. You can almost see the determined look on Mary’s face. “They have no more wine” she tells Jesus and he looks up at her, a little confused as to why she is bringing this to his attention. Does his mother want them to go home early since the wine is gone? And so he asks her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not come.”

In the book of John, the writer is very clear that Jesus knows exactly when his hour will come for he repeats it throughout the book. Jesus knows his hour will be the moment he hangs on the cross. His mother, however, has a different idea of what it means for his hour to have come. Mary knows the potential Jesus has to do great things, and she’s not willing to let the wedding couple be embarrassed or this fine party to end just because they were lacking wine. Not when her son, her Jesus had the power to do something about it – whether it was his hour or not.

So after Jesus makes his protest, she merely turns to the servants and says, “Do whatever he tells you.” Mary didn’t exactly insist that Jesus make something happen. When she tells the servants to do whatever Jesus says, she leaves it up to him to make the choice. Help those who are in need or let it go? He could have sent the servants on their way and they would have obeyed without question. Jesus had a choice to make, forced upon him by his well meaning mother, Jesus could make this his moment to begin his ministry or he could wait for a more convenient time.

Throughout our own lives we are offered choices. Some of them are given to us by our family, our work, and our friends and some are given to us by God. We all know of times when we have wanted nothing more than to sit back and relax when someone offers us a chance to help out.

We must choose between what we would rather do and what we know we should do. There are times when our own desires win rather than the needs of others. The truth is that sometimes our own desires NEED to be considered first so we don’t burn ourselves out in helping other people. But there is another truth, and that is sometimes we are too selfish to help because we are very comfortable where we are at right now in our lives.

Only Jesus knew if it was selfish to not help that couple out. Perhaps Mary was wrong in bringing this matter to his attention because Jesus’ time to perform miracles was not yet here. Only Jesus knew the truth. The same thing goes for all of us. Only we know if when we deny our time and attention to something if it is out of selfishness or because we truly cannot stretch ourselves any thinner. In those moments we are given a choice, to help or not help.

Jesus must have been torn between what he felt was right and what his mother felt about it all. In this moment, Jesus realized that sometimes it’s not about perfect timing. Sometimes it is about doing what is right regardless of anything else. These people needed his help and he gave it. He utters two sentences to the waiting servants.

“Fill the jars with water” and so the servants filled them to the brim. And then, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet”. In those two sentences a miracle occurs. The water becomes wine as the master of the banquet takes a drink, and this is not just any old wine. Jesus gives this couple all he has and it is the finest of wines to end the wedding banquet.

The other thing we are to learn from this text is that when we agree to help, it should not be a half-hearted attempt because we know we should. Jesus gave the best wine to this couple even though he did not consider it his time to do miracles. When we are given choices, we must commit to our choice whole-heartedly otherwise there is no point in saying yes or no at all.

Jesus calls us to give what we can, when we can. Only we know what that means. Sometimes we have to say no because there is nothing left to give, but there are other times when we have to say yes and do it with our whole hearts. Make your choice and be at peace with it.

Amen.

Three Lessons from the Magi

Isaiah 60: 1-6
Matthew: 2: 1-12

The visit of the Magi has always been an exciting mystery for Christians. There are many stories that have been passed down about these men that came visiting from afar, following a star to an unknown destination, only to find a baby in a manger. Matthew is the only book in the bible to mention the wise men, and yet there seems to be so much history to this story. If I asked some of you to tell me the story of the wise men, I’m sure someone would mention that there were three of them, and yet nowhere in Matthew’s account does he say how many men came to see baby Jesus. There could have been two, three, or twenty. What we do know is that three gifts were offered to baby Jesus of gold, frankincense, and myrrh which is perhaps where we got the notion that there were three men. From stories passed down, we were told that these wise men were from the Orient and even a beloved hymn mentions the same thing, however all this passage tells us is that they came from the East.

When we look at this text, if we strip away what tradition and stories passed down tell us, we actually know very little about these visiting magi and their purpose, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have things to teach us. In fact, this passage tells us quite a lot about Jesus and a lot about humanity. Let us begin with the magi. The word magi comes from the Greek word Magoi and translates as wise men so we know that these men have a lot of education. We also know that these men must have been stargazers, studiers of astronomy and astrology for them to notice one star appear out of the thousands they can see in the night sky.

We also know they must have been at least vaguely familiar with Jewish traditions and religion for them to know the appearance of this star coincides with the appearance of the king of the Jews. We also know not only were they NOT Jewish, but they get lost on their way. They see the star appear and contrary to what tradition and our pageants say, they did not follow the star the whole way to Bethlehem. They got lost, and in a manner very untypical of men, they stopped and asked for directions when that happened.

It’s not surprising that they had to stop in Jerusalem to ask King Herod about where to go next. I always imagined that Bethlehem and Jerusalem were very far apart, however when I was there it didn’t take us long at all to get from Bethlehem into Jerusalem for they are only about ten miles apart. So you can imagine it looked like the magi were at their destination when they reached the area the star had appeared because they were in fact very close to it.

This is where it gets interesting. The Magi stop at King Herod’s palace to inquire about where the king of the Jews was to be born. King Herod is disturbed by this news and approaches his chief priests and advisors to ask them where the Messiah was to appear. The Pharisees and the Sadducees get together and then recite from the Old Testament the exact location. The Magi continue on to their destination and we hear nothing more about priests and teachers.

The very people who should have been aware that their Messiah had been born, the very people who should have been on their way to Bethlehem heard the news from nonbelievers. When they heard the news, their reaction was one of disinterest. Nowhere in the bible does it say several chief priests and teachers followed the Magi to also go worship the Christ. No. They gave the information to the Magi and continued about their day like nothing had happened to change everything.

This is an important lesson to all of us when we think we know so much about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. It is a reminder that sometimes it takes someone outside of the fold to show us the way. And doesn’t Jesus show us that when he grows up and instead of becoming a priest he looks for the outcasts of society to hang out with. Jesus does not want to be part of the in-crowd. Jesus has no desire for popularity or to listen to what everyone else thinks God is up to. He knew that faith had nothing to do with how much knowledge of God we have, he knew faith was not about how much scripture we can quote or how often we worship in the church. Faith is what we do with our knowledge, how we react after worship and after encountering God’s saving grace. Faith is action. Faith is response. Faith is what the Magi had and what the Pharisees and Sadducees lacked.

That leads us to our second discovery. The Magi believed in a prophesy that wasn’t theirs. They saw the star, they connected the dots, and they believed. Perhaps they didn’t know exactly what they believed, but they had faith enough to begin a long, arduous journey to an unknown land with an unknown ending. They could have got there and been killed. They could have got there and found nothing at all. But the Magi believed and so they acted upon their belief. That is faith.

In contrast we have all the Israeli people who know the scriptures, we have the chief priests and teachers of the law who know it word for word, and no one put it together and once the knowledge was given to them, not a one of them acted upon it. This tells us that Jesus did not come just to save the Jews. This tells us that every person on this planet has a chance to be saved if they are willing to believe. This tells us that we don’t have to know everything about God to be saved. We just have to believe and act upon that belief. The magi had no way to prove if this Messiah could actually bring peace and salvation to the Jewish nation and to their own lands. However, what they knew was that the possibility for redemption existed and that was something that could not be ignored.

The final lesson we can take from these three men is that science and religion can and do mix. If it wasn’t for the science of stargazing, the Magi would never have known to come to Bethlehem. Too many Christians take the bible so literally that they cannot imagine a world that existed longer than 6,000 years despite the scientific proof that it has existed for millions of years. There are people out there that are so against evolution despite the proof it’s real because they think somehow that makes God unreal. Or the idea of the Big Bang as how the universe began.

What we must understand is that the bible was never written to be a historical document. It was never meant to show us exactly how long God took to create the world and who are we to say what a day is to God? It took God six days to create the earth and on the seventh he rested. Great. But how do we know that for God a day is not a million years? God exists outside of time and space because there was never a time when God didn’t exist. But when we get so literal with the Bible we limit our ability to understand the world and God. How do we know that the spark that began the Big Bang was not God? What if God created us to evolve so that we would always be improving ourselves which is what God wants us to do spiritually, so why not physically too? When we put limits on God, we put limits on our ability to understand God.

The Pharisees and the Sadducees fell victim to that same trap. They thought they knew everything there was to know about God and the Messiah. They thought they had it all figured out, up until the moment Jesus appeared three days after they crucified him. Thankfully, despite and because of their ignorance, Jesus saved us. But this story is a reminder to us all that we can’t possibly have all the answers. We can’t possibly think that we know God’s mind. And it also tells us that we should never lose sight of the fact that Jesus works from the outside in and the very people we think are least knowledgeable about God may be the very ones who have the faith to act on what Jesus wants us to do.

Amen. 

The Community of Believers: Mary & Elizabeth's Story

Micah 5: 2-5a
Luke 1: 39-55

Let’s tell a story about two women both pregnant, both scared and unsure of their future. They are separated by a long distance, it’s a hard journey. It’s a hard journey whether you are man or a woman, but for a pregnant woman the journey becomes that much harder.

Both have been put into a situation beyond their control and both have been given orders by a higher power. Unsure of what’s going to happen in their futures, they feel that baby inside of them and know that their destiny will always be linked to that little tiny person.

The thoughts that must have ran through their heads; Elizabeth with her husband Zechariah who couldn't speak because he refused to heed the power of the Lord. She would go about her busy days, washing and cleaning, sweeping the floor while her husband sat in silence. Did she talk? Just to hear her own voice, to hear a human voice, since her husband could not participate in the conversation. Or did she sit there quietly while she did her chores, to allow the silence to invade every nook and cranny of that space?  Was it a heavy silence or was it calm and peaceful, almost holy and sacred?

How did Zechariah feel - this old man, this stubborn old man watching the baby continue to grow inside of Elizabeth?  Knowing no matter what he did or thought he was not going to be able to speak to her because of his lack of faith and trust.

Months pass, the baby continues to grow. And all of a sudden, one day, in comes Mary. Now Mary’s story is about a young girl, we know she is probably a teenager; a young teenager. We’re not sure about Joseph. He could have been a young man or he could have been older too. Both have been suggested. But Mary, pregnant and having never had sex – that would baffle people today, let alone people back then.

Did she wonder if it was really God? Was an angel really speaking to HER? Little old Mary from a tiny village. She was no one. She was just a young girl, getting ready for her wedding day when the angel came to her. The confusion and the bafflement she had to have felt. But she managed to answer the angel and say, “yes I will do this”.

Although even as she says yes, at the same time how her head must have swirled with thoughts. How her heart must have raced with fear and pure adrenaline that something so magnificent, so monumental and scary had been thrust upon her without her consent. No one asked Mary if this is what she wanted to do. They told her after the fact.

Pregnancy back then was never as joyful as it is today, because the chance of you surviving birth wasn't always that good, and the chance of your baby surviving was even less so. If you managed to give birth to that baby, more often than not they died in their first year, and if not the first year then the first five when the children are the most vulnerable.

And here is the angel of the Lord, coming to Mary and saying, “You have been blessed.” Maybe I’m a cynic but I think in my head, I would have been thinking, “That’s not a blessing. That’s a burden. You have just given me the task of giving birth to the world’s savior. You have just told me that the world’s fate rests on whether I can give birth to a healthy baby and keep him alive.” But she managed to answer the angel and said she would do it.

However, when the angel disappeared and she had to go tell Joseph that she was pregnant, yet never had sex, and that somehow it was magically the savior, the Messiah they had all been waiting for – I’m sure she was terrified. I’m sure she had doubts about her own sanity. So what did she do? What did Mary decide to do?

She got ready, she hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea and entered Zechariah and Elizabeth’s home. Why did she do that? What was the purpose of going to Elizabeth? Elizabeth even asks that, “Why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” it was simple really. Mary was scared and she was pregnant and probably felt very alone.

Elizabeth was pregnant and might as well have been alone because Zechariah could not speak and their family was not supporting them. So Mary sought out the one person who might know exactly how she felt. Mary needed someone who knew what she was going though. She needed community. It is one of the reasons that we come to church.

We need community. We need people to share our common lot with. We need people who will understand when we say, “I believe in Jesus Christ as my lord and savior. I believe in the Holy Spirit who resides in my heart. I believe in God the Father who sent his only Son so that I could be saved”. We need a place, a holy space where we can go and talk and commiserate with each other. Listen to each other’s burdens and woes, embrace each other and share in the joys that we have in our lives. The blessings we have received. So we might have a moment of hope, to know that as bad as things sometimes get, as scary as they were for both Mary and Elizabeth, there is joy and peace to be found.

When Mary sought out Elizabeth, the two together found faith and joy, they provided comfort for each other. Elizabeth as she turns to Mary’s greeting, suddenly the baby leaps in her womb. I've never been pregnant, but I've watched very pregnant ladies, and when the baby suddenly kicks, you can see it happen. With my sister Allicia, she had twins, and you could see a hand pushing on one side and a foot on the other and you knew it was both of them moving around; perhaps having a little baby fight or something in there.

Those of you that have been pregnant or witnessed such things can imagine the baby leaping in Elizabeth’s womb as she was filled with the Holy Spirit. What is that Scripture we say so often, “Where two or three gather in God’s name, His Spirit resides”. And Elizabeth in a loud voice exclaims, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the child you bear”, which is an instant source of comfort for Mary who sought out Elizabeth because she was terrified. She needed the reassurance that this was not all in her mind, that this was not a burden, this was a blessing. She needed to know the little baby inside of her would survive and would save the world, and she was going to have a beautiful part in that.

Never in the story does it say it will be easy, but now because she has sought out Elizabeth, she knows she can do it. There are people there rooting for her, the Holy Spirit will be with her, and she is blessed.

“Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her”. That is what Elizabeth tells Mary. “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfilled his promise to her”. And just with those few words Mary’s terror and fear changed to joy and she began her song.

“My soul glorifies the Lord and my soul rejoices in God my savior. Where he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant”.  Now, now Mary understands all will be well. Because she has sought out one that understands her pain, understands her terror of this not being a blessing, but a burden. Instead, she realizes with Elizabeth’s words of reassurance and comfort that she can do this. That God has made her a blessed person and generations of people will hail her name because she was willing to set aside the shame, the fear, the pain of years of uncertainty as she raises this child. She was willing to put all of this aside to rejoice in the Lord and to accept what had been thrust upon her.

This is what God offers to us as we come to church, and as we prepare ourselves for the coming of our lord and savior. We can put the fears away. We can put the pain away for a moment. The burdens, the responsibilities, the hurts inflicted by people knowingly and unknowingly will all be set aside for a moment. We can put it all away so we may embrace our future, together in community, sharing God’s love, sharing God’s commitment to us. Rejoicing in the promises made that will NOT be broken. But we need that reassurance. We need that time to reflect which is what Advent gives to us.

Tomorrow as we come together and read the story of our Savior’s birth, and sing the songs that magnify our souls and help us to rejoice, we will do so knowing that in the last four weeks we have taken a moment to commiserate with those that came before us. We have taken a moment to understand what it means to be faithful followers, and to know that God will never leave us alone. He will never leave us nor forsake us for he has sent his son to be with us, and we shall call him Emmanuel – God with us.

Amen. 

The Pinch of Salt

Isaiah 12: 2-6
Luke 3:7-18

Did you know to make a dessert sweeter, a pinch of salt is often added? If you want to bring out the full flavor of fruit, a squeeze of lemon works wonders. Did you know the quilts the Amish painstakingly make always have a flaw in them? Today we read the rest of Luke 3 and John the Baptist’s revelations about the Messiah. In it, we receive the pinch of salt, the squeeze of lemon, the flaw in the quilt that reminds us that good news often needs a dose of reality to make it truly good.

John the Baptist is one of my favorite people in the bible because he does not mess around. He cuts straight to the point, gets to the reality of the situation quicker than any prophet does previously. Even Jesus will often skate around the point he’s trying to lead the people to by offering them questions and parables. Jesus does this because it is more beneficial for a person to discover the truth with their own minds than to be told the truth. But John, well he is all about cutting to the heart of the matter and telling everyone exactly the way it will be. I can appreciate that because I have a similar philosophy.

John the Baptist is out in the wilderness preaching the coming of the Messiah. He is preaching the good news! He is giving every Jew the news that for thousands of years they have been anticipating. The news spread like wildfire. Everyone was coming out to see the crazy Baptist man in the wilderness who was yelling about the coming Messiah. People were shouting for joy, preparing their children, praying to God, offering sacrifices in the temple.

Have any of you watched or been to Times Square on New Year’s Eve? I have a cousin who went and when she came back she told me the energy in the air is electric. She said the anticipation and party atmosphere soaks into your bones and you find yourself unable to feel the cold because you’re warm from the inside out. You smile because others are smiling, you laugh at jokes that aren’t normally that funny. She said if she could go every year she would because the feel good camaraderie makes the rest of the year seem more hopeful and happy.

This is how I imagine the crowds felt as they listened to John speak. People were smiling, clapping, laughing. They were bringing their friends and neighbors and children out into the wilderness to hear this news that made them warm from the inside out. But all of a sudden, John shouts, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”

It had to have felt like a bucket of cold water dropped on all of their heads. The instant silence, the awkward glances exchanged among the crowd of people as they listen to him go from glowing terms of the Messiah’s coming to their own wickedness. The shifting of feet, the almost silent muttering as people listened to him and realized their own sinfulness. The joy became shame as they realized they are not ready for the Messiah to come. John the Baptist was serious when he said the people needed to prepare the way for the Lord.

They needed to prepare the way for the Lord to enter their hearts by accepting their utter unworthiness to receive him. This is the dose of reality that keeps the Gospel from being a fairytale. Yes, Jesus is coming to save the world. Yes, Jesus will love all people. Yes, Jesus will forgive you for the wrongs you have committed. Yes, you will be given eternal salvation and go to heaven. BUT. First, before any of that can happen, we must clear our hearts and minds of wickedness. We must ask God to forgive us for the pain we have caused in the world. We must ask God to help us become better people. We must ask God to send his Spirit deep into our hearts and reveal to us our own sinfulness so we can let go of that darkness to embrace the light of Jesus Christ.

If we do not, John the Baptist tells us what will happen. “and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” You’d think some people would be turned off by this harsh speaking, this utter honesty coming from John’s lips. However, the people’s response, from young to old, from innocent babe to hardened soldier was, “What can we do then?”

We need both the Good News and the consequences of what happens when we ignore the Good News. We need that little dose of bitterness to make the rest of it sweeter. In the movie, “A Walk to Remember” Mandy Moore says to her bitter boyfriend, “Suffering makes the world a more compassionate place.” At the time he responds, “tell that to those who suffer” and he doesn’t find out until the end of the movie that Mandy is one of the people that is suffering. However, she knew that the truth depth of meaning and feeling is found when we experience both sides of the coin. We need both pain and happiness to be able to truly understand both emotions.

We need to know that we are sinful, and we need to know how deeply our sins have invaded into our core selves so that we can truly appreciate the joy of being forgiven. John the Baptist understood humanity better than many of us do. He understood that humanity needs the pain of rejection we could experience to understand the happiness in complete acceptance that Jesus offers us. We need to know the pain we have caused so we can make amends equal to the hurt we inflicted.

Think about it this way. When do we appreciate life the most? Isn’t it right after experiencing loss or the fear of losing a loved one or our own life? Advent is the time we take to sweep away the darkness in our souls so that when that little baby Jesus, our Lord and Savior, comes into our lives, we can appreciate and understand the true meaning of Christmas. Jesus makes us good. Jesus makes us better. Jesus makes us whole.

And the only way to truly grasp what it means to be made whole is when we look at the fragmented mess our souls are in without Jesus to hold us together.

Amen.

True Meaning of CHRISTmas

Malachi 3: 1-4
Luke 3:1-6

Resistance. This time of year invokes resistance in many of us because our expectations of Christmas and the New Year have become separated from the expectation God has for us during this time. The demands we have placed on ourselves have created a tension within us because we want things to go smoothly during our parties and we want our decorations to be perfect and we hope to find just the right gifts to give our loved ones. However, God has already picked out the perfect decorations and has sent us all the most perfect of gifts. The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are not supposed to be spent frantically. God asks us to take this time to prepare for the gift he has given us.

Advent is a special time and it is not because of the trees or the wreaths or the candles. Advent is where we take four weeks to prepare the way for the Lord. John the Baptist spoke about making the way straight for the Lord so all people will see God’s salvation. This was a striking image in a country full of sand dunes, mountains, and rocky paths that made traveling difficult. How do we prepare for the coming of our Lord? How can we make the path straight for others as well as ourselves?

John the Baptist gives us the first clue. After he receives his message in the wilderness, every person he finds he tells them about the one who is coming, the Messiah. Then when they believe his message, he baptizes them so they may repent of their sins. Does this mean that we should run around for the next several weeks shouting about our coming Messiah and everyone that shows interest we should baptize?

No, your job for the next several weeks is to take stock of your life. Each day, take a moment to quietly assess where you are in your spiritual journey. What have you left undone? Each day, pray for forgiveness for whatever wrongs you have committed. Take time to be with your family, or if they live far away, speak with them on the phone or write them a card. Each day, say a prayer and find a place to quietly think about the gift God is sending to you. As much as many of us enjoy the parties and the gifts and the rich food, Advent and Christmas have nothing to do with any of those things. Perhaps that is why the holidays are not always a happy time for people. The pressure to succeed and to do things right is enormous. The financial toll this season takes because of the social expectations is substantial. The strain it puts on personal and professional relationships is not insignificant either.

A couple weeks ago a channel was airing a Charlie Brown Christmas and Charlie has been tasked to find the perfect tree for their Christmas play. Well, Charlie finds a real tree, which is tiny and who’s needles fall everywhere, it’s a rather pathetic little tree. All the children make fun of him because Charlie didn’t pick out one of the bright, shiny metal trees that had become so popular.

Suddenly fed up Charlie Brown yells out, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?!” Linus replies, “Of course Charlie Brown. The true meaning of Christmas is, “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field and keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shown around about them. They were so afraid and the angel of the Lord said, Fear not for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy and it shall be to all people. For unto you this day born in the city of David is a Savior which is Christ the Lord.”

Many people have become upset with the word Christmas not being used to describe the trees or the wreaths or the lights that we have at this time of year. Many emails and buttons and signs go up that say, “Keep CHRIST in Christmas”. I love that idea. Keep Christ in Christmas. It is what we are celebrating for and it is what we are supposed to be preparing for right now. But I challenge the idea that the trees, or the lights, or the wreaths are Christmas-y. Where are they in the story? When did Christmas become the things we hang on our walls or the music we sing as we decorate? When did Christmas become the many gifts under the tree or the eggnog we drink at the parties? When did Christmas become the wrapping paper and the tinsel?

Jesus is Christmas. Jesus is the gift. Jesus is the light that shines brighter than any we could decorate with. Jesus is the one who died on a tree for us. Jesus is the one who wore the crown of thorns on his head in a mockery of his birth status. We get all caught up in the word, and not caught up enough in the meaning behind the word.

It’s okay if others call it a holiday and we call it Christmas. Christ doesn’t disappear just because the word isn’t used. Jesus will still be a gift for all who are willing to accept him as Lord and Savior. Our job, during this Advent season, is to be willing to share that good news to anyone who wants to listen and then invite them to become your brother or sister in Christ. This holiday versus Christmas debate was won 2000 years ago and no matter what we call it, the meaning stays the same. Fear not, they cannot take Jesus from us.

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field.. and an angel of the Lord appeared before them and said, “Fear not, for I bring you tidings of great joy for unto you this day born in the city of David is a Savior which is Christ the Lord.”

Amen. 

A Richer Faith

Ruth 3: 1-5, 4: 13-17

Mark 12: 38-44

The month of November is often Stewardship month for many churches. This passage in the lectionary is a dream come true for a pastor searching for a way to inspire his or her people to give. However, I have never had any desire to preach a stewardship sermon in my life. It is not for me to tell you how much you should give to your church or to chastise you for not giving. That is an issue between God and yourself. Only God and you know what you can afford to give in both time and money toward your church.

Some of you are probably asking, “Then why are you bringing this up, Pastor Audra?”

Good question! The reason I bring it up is that this passage is not about giving money to a church or synagogue. It is Jesus commenting on people’s faithfulness to God. Jesus first looks at the teachers of the law. He commented to his disciples that these men appear to be the most righteous of people while secretly they were the worst sort of sinner.

The teachers of the law were men that had been given a lot of advantages in life. They could read and write and cipher. They had power in the synagogues and in the political arena. Everyone wanted to be their friend and everyone wanted to be in their good graces. These men had a lot of power and influence.

As it often happens, such power and influence may corrupt a person. They began to dress to suit their new station in life, and they began to pray with loud voices and long winded prayers to show how holy and righteous and important they were to God. They sought out the admiration of their fellow human beings and took what was not theirs to take. Someone had to finance their good lives and it was often the very people they were meant to protect.

These teachers of the law went from seeking the approval of God to seeking the approval of humanity. It is a fatal mistake and we are all prone to do it. The admiration of our peers is instantaneous unlike the admiration of God. Often God feels distant and elusive to us when we are down in the trenches of life. It can feel like we are constantly trudging uphill in our walk of faith as we seek to do good things and earn God’s approval and love.

I’m hoping some of you caught what I just said about earning God’s approval and love. The truth is that we do not need to earn anything when it comes to our Lord. Jesus did that for us. But society teaches us that nothing comes for free and if we want to be loved and accepted, then we need to be worthy of love and acceptance. This idea is so ingrained in our culture that it is hard to not try to seek God’s approval and love.

There are so many people in the world who think that they are these dirty, sinful people and that God could never love them. I’m not going to tell you that you’re not sinful. I’m not going to stand up here and lie to you. What I will tell you is that it is not your sinfulness that is a stumbling block to God’s love. The only thing that keeps you out of the Father’s arms is your own unwillingness to let go of your sin. The moment you accept that you are not perfect and that you have done wrong, and ask God to forgive you is the very moment you get to walk into God’s waiting arms, and feel the love and approval we all so desperately want. That is the gift Jesus Christ gave to us the day he offered himself on a cross for our sins.

But the world would tell us differently and so we fall for this trap. The teachers of the law fell for this trap of receiving admiration from those around them instead of seeking God. The moment we stop asking what God wants for us and what God thinks we should do is when we are in the most trouble, and risk being the greatest of hypocrites. Jesus is deeply disgusted with the teachers of the law who should know better than to seek others approval rather than God’s.

Then he turns to those who are giving to the local treasury and he watches these ostentatious displays as people give out of their abundance. We’ve all seen this kind of giving where a rich person hands a huge check to a hospital and gets their picture in the paper. Jesus is more impressed with the widow’s offering which is a mere pittance compared to what others are throwing in the offering bowl.

Perhaps because this woman does not march up in grand, flowing robes with her head high and her face shiny and clean. She does not make sweeping gestures that call attention to her. She does not announce loudly that she is about to give all that she has to live on to God. She does not say anything. She does not call any attention to herself. Instead, she humbly walks up to that bowl with money overflowing it, and she offers her two small coins and in that offering is a faith unlike any being offered that day. She was offering her very life to God because those two coins were all she had to live on.

Not twenty feet from her were the teachers of the law in their grand robes and loud voices, praying for the widows, the orphans, the resident aliens and the poor. They prayed for God’s mercy and Spirit to be with them, but they ignored the one that stood before them.

As a church we are called to take care of the widows, the orphans, the resident aliens and the poor. Not just to pray for them. Not just to offer a check here and there. We are called to invite them into our homes and our lives. We are called to suffer with them, to love them as Jesus loves them – by caring for their needs and listening to their stories.

Jesus asks the church not to be a place overflowing with beautiful windows and rich tapestries. Jesus calls the church to be his presence in the world. He calls us to invite those who are hurting to come inside and be comforted. He calls us to share our stories with each other, to share our lives, and pieces of our soul with those who have no one else to care for them.

It’s easier to pray in a loud voice. It’s easier to write a check. It’s easier to come on Sunday and forget what we heard on Monday when we see someone hurting. It’s easier to get caught up in church politics where this family is fighting with this family and Morty doesn’t come because we don’t sing the old reformed songs anymore. It’s easier to say, I’m busy or the church hurt me or if church was at a different time I’d come. We can pretend that the church is not worth our time because of the hurts we’ve experienced or the people that come to it.

Faithfulness is that old widowed woman who probably had a million excuses why she shouldn’t give her two coins, but did it anyway. Faithfulness is the teacher of the law who resists the power and influence, and continues to seek God’s face instead of the approval of those around him. Faithfulness is Jesus who will soon offer his body and soul for those that are not worthy of the sacrifice. You see, Jesus had more reason than any to offer up an excuse to not give to this unworthy place and these unworthy people. Perhaps that is why he feels such a connection to the widowed woman.

She offers her very life to God, puts it into his hands for an institution she knows is corrupt as the leaders pray nearby, but ignore her plight. Jesus offers his life and his relationship to God the Father for all of us who admit we are sinners and corrupt and unworthy. And because Jesus did that, we are made worthy. The church is not a perfect place and I will never be a perfect leader, just as all of us will never be perfect followers. But God calls us to worship Him, to care for one another, and to protect those who cannot protect themselves.

There is no excuse that will satisfy God for why we have not done His will, and there should not be an excuse that will satisfy us either.

Amen.

An Alien in Our Midst

Ruth 1: 1-18
Mark 12: 38-44

Ruth’s story is one of trials and adversity and begins with her mother in law, Naomi. Naomi and her husband were living in Bethlehem when the city that actually means “house of bread” had no food to offer its people. They decided to pack up their things and move to a land that was considered a place to be avoided at all costs – Moab. Nothing good ever came from Moab. And yet, in this strange land Naomi, her husband, and two sons not only find food and shelter there, they also find wives for their sons. Moab was the enemy and yet Naomi’s family found a home with that very enemy.

Then the unthinkable happens like it always does in life. Tragedy strikes. Naomi’s husband falls ill and dies. Ten years later, both of Naomi’s sons also die; leaving three widowed women which at that time in the world could be a death sentence because women had no way to provide for themselves. Being resourceful, Naomi begins to pack up the home she has made in Moab and decides to head back to her homeland which is now doing better economically.

Her two faithful daughters in law help her pack up their things and they head down the road. Naomi must have been scared, but she sees her two daughters in law, and she loves them so she turns and says, “Go back. Go back to your families and may the Lord bless you with new husbands and children.” But this story is about relationships and how God’s hand is deep within our relationships even when we do not realize it. These two women have come to see Naomi as a mother and they love her deeply so they do not want to leave her side.

But Naomi also loved them and she insisted they go back and so Orpah kissed her goodbye and headed back to her family. Ruth, however, is not going to be dissuaded from her mother in law’s side. She had accepted this woman as part of her family and believed deeply in the vows she had made to her husband. Ruth forsakes all that is familiar, all that is known to her to enter the enemy’s land and make a home there with her mother in law.

What we do not know yet in the story is that Ruth, this enemy woman from a land that nothing good ever comes from, will be the saving grace of a nation that hates the blood that runs in her veins. They hated her because she was different in every way. She looked differently from them, she spoke with an accent, she dressed in different clothing and even her gods were not the same. She was foreign; an alien. Ruth knew it was not going to be easy to leave behind the comfort of home, but she also knew that her place was with Naomi.

The promise Ruth makes to Naomi is one she fulfills. She tells Naomi, “Your people will be my people, your God my God. Where you die, I will die.” Ruth comes to Bethlehem with Naomi and begins a life there that has many consequences for the nation of Israel. From this foreign, alien, enemy woman came the line of descendants that give birth to King David, and consequently, the line Jesus was birthed from.

America is considered the great melting pot out of all the nations of the world. We tell ourselves and the world that immigrants are welcome to come and be a part of our society. We tell them that their ideas will be heard, and their differences will be accepted, even their religious differences. But then, the country of their birth will do something that negatively affects our nation and all of a sudden we look at these people not as immigrants, but as foreigners - different, strange, and perhaps our enemies.

Every generation in America has their own biases against people different from them. Many people who experienced WW2 still have a hard time accepting Japanese people as friends rather than enemies. The people who grew up in the 50’s and 60’s know what it is like to experience segregation and the terror of now having to integrate your life with people who you were sure hated you. Whether black or white, the fear was hard to fight. Those who experienced the terror of the Cold War look at Russians with distrust and fear. Then with what happened on 9/11 many people fear Muslims or anyone with darker skin or a turban on their head, assuming they must be Muslim or a terrorist.

Ruth’s story reminds us that not every foreigner is our enemy. Not every alien from a land we distrust is someone we must look on with fear. Ruth’s story reminds us that human beings are to be treated as individuals, that God has a far greater plan for each of us than we may ever know, and it reminds us that even when God is not directly mentioned in our life, that God’s guiding hand never leaves us.

The love Ruth felt for Naomi allowed her to face the fear of rejection, the certainty of isolation and discrimination all so she may help her mother in law reestablish her life with dignity in her old age. She could not in good conscience leave this woman to travel her new path alone and so she walks with her in faith and courage. From the enemy of Israel a new nation is birthed. From the homeless foreigner comes a home without equal. From the alien, widowed woman Jesus Christ our Savior is born.

As Christians, we all know intellectually that we should be like Jesus. Jesus who was as accepting of foreigners as he was of his fellow Jewish people. Jesus who understood a person may sin, but that does not make them evil. Jesus who loved each person on their own merits and not by what the world would say about them. In our heads, we understand this perfectly, and I think most of us even try to follow it.

It is when our hearts get caught up in our passion that the cool logic goes out the window. We all know that not every American is a good person just as we aren’t all bad either. We all know there are good Japanese people and bad Japanese people. We all know that there are good black people and bad black people as well as good white people and bad white people. We all know that there are good Russians and bad Russians and good Muslims and bad Muslims. But when a nation attacks us and kills those we love, that logic goes out the window as our hearts burn with vengeance, fear, and wounded pride.

It would be so easy to give in to our fear and hurt and pain. But in Ruth we are given a powerful reminder that God’s ways are not our ways. When we allow fear to rule us we make bad decisions. When we allow hate to cloud the facts, we inevitably do things we will regret. When we allow ourselves to only see a person’s differences we are never given the chance to find what we have in common. Ruth may have looked and spoken and even prayed to a different god than those in Bethlehem, but her heart was as pure as any to be found in that city. Her loyalty and love for an old woman saved a whole country and it saved all of us.

Through Ruth, we encounter the grace of God. Through that grace we have been given a second, a third, a hundredth chance to make it right. We need every single chance God gives us. It is time for us to start giving the same chances to those we deem different or strange or alien. It is time for us to remember God’s love is what makes it possible to be here today. It is time to remember that fear and hatred only take us farther from Jesus, and if Ruth had allowed fear and prejudice of those who were different from her to rule her actions, then our lives would be very different.

Amen.