CHRISTMAS EVE

December 24, 2010
Isaiah 9:2-7
Luke 2:1-10

EACH TIME A MIRACLE

When I was 10 or 11 years old, I used to find myself thinking about the nature of existence. Long before I had ever heard of Rene Descartes’ famous quote “I think therefore I am”, I was wondering about what it meant to exist. I still do.

The question that used to roll around in my brain was “Do I really exist? If nothing was here, what would that mean – would there be nothing, or would the emptiness still be something?”

I guess it was my own twisted version of the philosophical riddle: ‘if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?’

School had taught be that it is a big universe. I am so small compared to all that I know also exists. How could I possibly matter in the grand scheme of things?

I still think about such things.

In spite of the smallness of my existence, in my small corner of the universe there is so much detail, so much complexity, so much wonder that I am simply in awe of the fact that I am here – and perhaps even more amazing that I am able to think about stuff like this.

Life is a miracle. By that I simply mean, a full understanding of its origins are so elusive that I am forced to accept that I exist with understanding why or how.

For many of us this elusive source of life is called “God”.

Every time a leaf coverts sunlight into energy and reaches out a bit higher, it is a miracle. Every time a bacterium is nourished on some decay, it is a miracle. Every time a close-eyed little puppy finds its way to its mother’s teet and drinks in the milk of life it is a miracle. Every time a human child thinks its first independent, thought it is a miracle.

We exist. It is a miracle. I see it as the elusive work of God. God is in the world, in every breath and thought and instinct.

That is amazing and down-to-earth real all at the same time.

Is it really much more of a stretch to imagine that God slipped into the world in a special way through the womb of young Mary? The Hebrews have a word for it; we heard it in the Isaiah reading that started our time together this evening and we sang it in our first hymn: Emmanuel – it means ‘God-with-us’.

The birth of Jesus – God with us (Emmanuel) – what a miraculous thought! (#59VU) 

SOMETHING NEW

Every day it is the same routine. Oh, there can be variety, but caring for sheep is a limited experience.

There was never a night like that one before. I don’t imagine, I’ll ever have one like it ever again.

It’s hard to explain what happened. It all began with the light. We were resting, taking shifts to watch the sleepy sheep. And the night was sliced open by more light that staring at the sun on the summer solstice. Instinctively, I turned away from the light, but I realized that my eyes didn’t hurt to look at it. I was afraid, but I knew I had to stay. This was something important.

And then, I felt the voice. I know strange choice of words – to feel a voice. I’m sure I must have heard it with my ears, but it was in me as well. “Don’t be afraid.” And in that instant, I wasn’t. Those words lovingly warmed me right to my core. “Good News. The Saviour, the Messiah, is born. Like King David, the baby has been born in Bethlehem”; just down the road from here.”

Messiah – God’s anointed ruler. I felt singing too: “Glory to God. Peace on earth.” Did this mean the end of the roman occupation, I wondered? How long would we have to wait – sixteen, twenty years maybe, until the child was old enough to mount a revolution?

I now know that I had the idea a bit wrong – the revolution was not simply a political one, it was a revolution of the heart, of the soul, of the very essence of who we are.

The birth of Jesus was something new. A new way of living. A new way of believing. A new way of seeking peace on earth and giving glory to God.

And this continues to be new each day. Each wonderfully blessed day. Glory to God. Peace on earth indeed. (#38VU)

 

PONDER THE CHANGE

17 [The shepherds] made known what had been told them about this child; 18and all who heard it were amazed at what [they] told them. 19But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.

It seems that Mary was quiet. I wonder how she really felt about all of these visitors after she had just given birth. I guess that still happens today. There was lots of conversation about what the shepherds had said about this child being the Messiah. But Mary lay there quietly, with Jesus resting against her breast. I imagine, her looking down at him. At the miracle that every child is to her or his mother at that moment. She watched his little breaths; his small movements; his eyes opening and closing. And she was quiet. At least she was quiet on the outside. Inside, her mind raced.

She thought about the last year; engagement to Joseph; that strange messanger, telling her she would bear God’s child; the controversy over her pregnancy; Joseph’s compassion and honour – he had believed her unbelievable story, at least enough to stay with her. Now these shepherds, who she didn’t know, had gotten a similar message. Could this young baby, her baby – be that special?

This was going to change things. Not simply the way having children always changes things. But if this child is the Messiah, God’s anointed, even God’s child alive on earth, things are going to change.

While the others talked about the wonder of the moment, Mary pondered the changes that were coming.

//

What difference does this make for us? Does Christmas change us? Can we believe that God-is-with-us in Mary’s child?

Years later, Jesus would live and preach a radical love and compassion. He would speak against the practice of judging some as non-valuable. He would show, by example, that each life deserves to know love and forgiveness and wholeness. Jesus would ask people to follow his example.



What difference does that make?



If we are not simply alone in this exisitence. If God is that miracle behind the elusiveness of what we don’t understand and that this elusive God touch this world in the life of Jesus, what difference does that make?



I hope we’ll all ponder that question. And live out the answer we discover. (choir)

OH JOSPEH - WHAT A SOAP OPERA! LOVE, BETRAYAL, DREAMS AND A BABY!

Preached by Alexandria Bois-Bonifacio
Fourth Sunday of Advent - December 19, 2010

Do you know that you have only five shopping days before Christmas? Do you know that you only have five more days to spend five billion dollars? Do you know that during the twenty-five days of Christmas that we North Americans will spend twenty-five billion dollars? Do you know that this is the biggest spending binge of the year for the American economy? Do you know that many corporations make fifty percent of their profits during the lucrative Christmas shopping season? Have you heard the advertisements bark out the commercials: “Christmas toys on sale. Christmas toys on sale. How can you have a bright shinny Christmas unless you have a bright shinny new car? Hurry, hurry, hurry, down to the mall of your choice where there is plenty of parking. There is plenty of parking and plenty of places to spend plenty of cash. Hurry, hurry, hurry. You have only five more days to spend five billion dollars.”

Yes, we are in the middle of Christmas mania, aren’t we? It is that time of year when we are so very busy and there is so much to do. We are all doing similar things at this time of year. Let me see, how many of you have put up your Christmas Tree? So how many of you put up lights for Christmas, either inside the house or outside? Let’s see, who makes lists of presents you need to buy? Do you have a present-list? O well. ... Let’s see, how many of you baked some kind of Christmas cookies for the holiday? How many different kinds of cookies should you make? How many dozen? ...And, how many events do you go to during the Christmas season. The Sunday School program? The church choir concert? The high school Christmas program? Who sends Christmas letters or Christmas cards? When a two-paged single space Christmas letter arrives from a long-lost friend, do you really slowly read the whole thing? Yes, we do. We read the entire letter. Have you noticed how perfect all the families are in these Christmas letters? My family is always perfect in our Christmas letter; you wouldn’t recognize us. I wonder what Mary and Joseph’s winter festival letter would have looked like?

I could spend most of my time today telling you interesting facts about the birth of Jesus. Like how we place the birth between 6-4 BCE (before the common era) because we can historically date Herod the Great and when he died. It was Herod after all who slaughtered the baby boys in his region, two years old and younger, so we estimate that Christ was born within two years of Herod’s death – so 6-4 BCE. Or I could tell you that in 7BCE there was an unusual conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn. This unusual movement between the planets may be the cause for the star that had been seen by the magi. If you type Jupiter, Saturn and the birth of Christ into google you will find more than 10 000 sites dedicated to this astronomical research for the star of Bethlehem. I could even tell you how most of our Christmas traditions, like exchanging presents, or time off of work / school, or exchanging baking have historical references that pre-date the birth of the celebration of Christmas that do not necessarily pertain to the celebration of the birth of Christ. But I am not going to. Because what captivates me, more than these interesting facts and more that the 25 billion dollars that gets spent every year, what captivates me more than 2000 years after the birth of Christ is Mary and Joseph. Mary, Joseph and their winter letter to their friends and families.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

VST – Vancouver School of Theology – has a great table in the main lobby of the library. A few of us students found our way to that table and cracked open our commentaries nearing the end of the semester. We all had to write sermons with the text about Mary and Joseph and the unexpected pregnancy. We were in the middle of discussing the passage about Mary and Joseph, their engagement, Mary becoming pregnant, Joseph not being the father, and Mary having to have this delicate conversation with Joseph, trying to explain what happened.

We were imaging the human situation of Mary trying to tell Joseph that she was pregnant, not by him or another man, but by the Spirit of God. We were in this intense discussion, when the head of the Spiritual Directors came into the library. I called him over and asked him, “Are you a trained spiritual counselor?” “Yes, I am” was the reply a little confused. We both knew he was, but I continued. “I need some professional advice from you today.” My friends all had blank stares on their faces. They had no idea what I was getting at. “I need some advice and I can get it in front of my fellow pastors. I have this man who is coming to see me and he is engaged to this young woman, who is pregnant. This man is very upset because he knows that he is not the father, and he is asking me what to do. What is your advice, spiritual counselor?” By now my friends were snickering, knowing that I was playing on the Mary and Joseph story. The counselor was silent and didn’t say anything. Finally, one of the students chimed in, “The correct answer is, ‘They named him Jesus.’”

Joseph, Jesus and the virgin birth; the story of the virgin birth is at the heart of our Christmas celebrations, and often we tend to forget about Joseph. He seems like a back seat actor – not in the forefront of the story.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Virginity is not a hot topic in today’s world of conversation. We rarely if ever discuss if someone is a virgin or not. In our vocabulary today, the word, “virgin,” refers to someone who has not been sexually active.

In the Old and New Testament, there are two meanings to the word, “virgin.” There is a Hebrew bible meaning, and a New Testament meaning. A Hebrew meaning and a Greek meaning. The first meaning is this: the word, “virgin,” simply means “young woman.” Such as in the passage from Isaiah 7:14 that says, “a young woman shall conceive and give birth to a child.” The word simply says “young woman.” and the Hebrew word for young woman is “alma.”

But there is a second meaning of the word as well. In Matthew 1:23. “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and his name shall be called Emmanuel.” Highlight in your mind the word, “virgin.” The New Testament was written in Greek, and the Greek word means someone who has never had sexual relationships with another. Eventually, the Hebrew Bible was translated into the Greek language, and the meaning of the word changed from young woman to sexual virginity.

Today, we celebrate not simply the birth of Christmas, not simply the birth of the festival of lights, not simply midwinter festival. Today, we celebrate the birth of the Son of God. And the story of the virgin birth accentuates that Jesus was and is the Son of God.

Different cultures throughout history have valued virginity differently. That is, in the ancient Greek culture, virginity was not prized. In the ancient Roman culture, virginity was not regarded as precious. But in the Old and New Testament, we find virginity being appreciated and valued.

In the Hebrew bible, virginity was a highly prized value. A virgin was someone who was precious. Rebecca was not merely a young woman; she was a virgin. The Bible is very emphatic about that. There were several laws to protect the virginity of women. That is, parents made arrangements for their daughters to be married and they expected their daughters to be virgins. If their daughters were not virgins, their value went down by fifty shekels and that was a lot of money in those days. So fathers made sure that their daughters were virgins. … If a man raped a virgin, he would be punished by death. … If a woman was engaged and she had sexual relationships with another man, she and her lover were to be killed. Virginity was a very serious part of Hebrew bible culture and law, and there was great pressure to retain one’s virginity.

When we move to the New Testament, we find a similar emphasis and high value placed on virginity. The word is no longer the Hebrew word, “alma,” but “apathone” in Greek. It is translated purity. The King James Version of the Bible translates it “chastity.” Men and women were to be chaste; that is, they were to be sexually pure. A mark of a true Christian was that he or she was pure in their sexual relationships. Sexual purity became a defining characteristic in contrast to a culture of sexual promiscuity.

So, in both the Old and New Testament, virginity is a highly prized value. It is the expected behavior of Jewish men and women, of Christian men and women.

But then as we travel forward through history sexual values changed. In our culture, virginity is no longer held in such high value as the Old and New Testaments. That is, with the advent of “the pill” and a more permissive society, virginity became not so valuable anymore. The media and mass culture began to promote the idea that premarital sexual activity was normal and acceptable. Virginity became old fashioned. On TV and in mass culture, living together seemed totally acceptable. If you add all these up, there became enormous pressure against virginity in our culture, with the church often fighting a losing battle. Virgins may not admit that they are virgins because it may then be suggested that they are prudes or inexperienced, and no one wants to be a prude or inexperienced.

But in the Old and New Testament, virginity was highly valued. It was the expected behavior of men and women, so at the time of Mary and Joseph, it was expected that Mary and Joseph would be virgins.

At that time in Jewish history, their families had arranged the engagement and marriage of Mary and Joseph. Mary and Joseph were probably second or third cousins. Mary was very young, perhaps a thirteen or fourteen year old girl. The engagement was very serious and called a “betrothal.” They were engaged before two witnesses. The man would give the woman a present; her father would pay a dowry. If the man died, she would be called a widow. If the woman died, he would be called a widower. If the engagement broke up, it would be called a divorce. During the time they were engaged, they were called husband and wife. While they were engaged, they were to be virgins and they were to have no sexual intercourse prior to marriage. The engagement was to last one year and then they were to be married. If a woman became pregnant by another man, she could be stoned to death.

During that year they were engaged, an angel or divine messenger visited Mary. Mary was told that she was to become pregnant. She asked the divine messenger, “How can I become pregnant? I have no husband. I am not married yet. I am engaged to Joseph, and we cannot do that kind of stuff. How can I become pregnant?” The angelic messenger said, “The Holy Spirit will come over you, and the Holy Spirit shall cause you to conceive and give birth to a child.” Mary waited. And waited. And waited. She missed her first period. Her second period. She started to have morning sickness, and it was now time to have that important and delicate conversation with Joseph.

We have no Biblical record of that conversation, but we do have our imaginations, and we can imagine a delicate scene. This conversation was not at all pleasant. Mary said, “Joseph, I have something to tell you. I don’t understand it, and it is hard for me to tell you because there is no way I can comprehend what is going on.” … “Go ahead, Mary. Tell me. I can handle it.” … “Joseph, I don’t know how to tell you.” … “Tell me; we can handle anything.” … “I am pregnant.” …There was a long silence. Truly, a pregnant pause. This was an awkward moment between them. Joseph automatically assumed she was pregnant by another man. He had been humiliated. Their relationship had been humiliated. This woman had betrayed him. She had been fundamentally dishonest with him and he was upset. He knew the legal consequences. He knew the Old Testament law. She could die for this. So could the other man. … So he asked the question, “Who? Who got you pregnant? Whom have you been with?” … A divine messenger visited me and told me that this was going to happen. The Holy Spirit got me pregnant.” … “Sure Mary. Sure.” … The Bible said that he resolved to divorce her quietly. Look carefully at the text; it clearly implies that Joseph did not believe her. … “What do you do? What do you do when the woman you trusted is pregnant by another man? She can die for this. So can he. What should I do in this nasty situation?”

Joseph was a good man, a kind man, an honorable man. The Bible uses the word, “righteous.” Joseph was a righteous man.

Then we come to the next beautiful line, “Joseph was unwilling to put her to shame.” That line says mountains to us about Joseph. He didn’t want to hurt Mary. He didn’t want to destroy her. He was not punitive. He was not revengeful. He wasn’t out for a pound of her flesh. Instead, Joseph had these feelings of grace towards her, and so he resolved to divorce her quietly. Not tell her parents. Not tell his parents. Not tell the Jewish rabbi. Not to tell the Jewish court so he could get his money back. … So the first story about the birth of Jesus is a story of compassion, a story of grace, a story of a man who had been enormously violated by a pregnant woman and he vowed not to punish her. He had been deeply violated, yet he still loved her and took care of her. This is the gospel.

But the story continues. An angel or divine messenger appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Mary is pregnant by the Spirit of God. The Spirit hovered over her and she is now pregnant. You are to marry her and name the child Jesus for he will save the people from their sins. Call him Immanuel because God is always with us.” And so Joseph remained with Mary because he believed the dream and the message of the angel.

The story today does not only tell us that Joseph was religious or righteous. It tells us that Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus. Joseph was the legal father. Joseph was the adopted father. But he was not the biological father of Jesus.

Today, we celebrate not the birth of Christmas, not the birth of a festival of lights, not the birth of a tradition of exchanging presents, not even the birth of the Son of God. Today we focus on Joseph.

Joseph is usually a back seat actor in the Christmas story. I often forget about him and have never really considered his importance. Mary and Jesus take the forefront and I get caught up in their story that I forget all about Joseph.

I often think about Mary. Why her? I wonder. How did God pick her? Was she special? Was it her alone? Could no other due? Mary and Jesus give us reason each year to spend 25 billion dollars giving gifts to show our love to our friends and family at this time of year. Jesus, through his life, teaches us to love one another as he has loved us, but Jesus isn’t the only biblical character to teach us of love.

I considered Mary, Mary and Jesus as biblical witnesses to love and I forget all about Joseph and then this week I had to consider this story in Matthew, were Joseph is the primary character. Then it hit me, what if God did not pick Mary alone, but Mary and Joseph?

When I think about child development and what it takes to raise a child – let alone the son of God – I realized that God knew exactly what he was doing, giving this baby – that we still celebrate – to Mary and Joseph.

Joseph was a religious and righteous man, but he could not disgrace Mary. Not even after he felt so betrayed by her. It is Joseph who acts out God mercy and love even before the angel appears to him in a dream. Who better, less than a week from Christmas, to show us the trueness of God’s love? Joseph the back seat actor is now in the forefront showing us how to love one another, how to forgive one another. Who better to raise Jesus, to help us see Emmanuel – God with us, than Joseph?!

[1] Sermon adaptation from Rev. Edward F. Markquart, Sermons from Seattle.

THE SUNDAY OF JOY

Preached by Alexandria Bois-Bonifacio
Third Sunday of Advent - December 12, 2010

So today is Joy Sunday; the third week of advent. It seems only fitting that I tell you something joyful then. However, while I was looking over the text this week I was struck by them. The Psalm seemed appropriate for this week. This psalm begins the section of praise psalms and is the final sections of the book of psalms. I like that idea, don’t you, that the book of psalm goes out singing and dancing praises to God.


But it wasn’t the psalms that stopped me in my tracks this week; it was the Matthew text about John the Baptist. John seems uncertain that Jesus is the messiah. Stuck in prison he now starts to question whether all of his preaching and teaching about the Messiah – the one who is to come – has boiled down to doubt. Can Jesus really be the messiah?

It may seem obvious to us today. But we know the end of the story. We know what Jesus does through his lifetime and what he teaches his disciples. We know eventually Jesus rises from death, giving us that great piece of evidence toward his divinity. But John is stuck in prison. John doesn’t get to see Jesus work or hear Jesus preach at this point. All John has is word of mouth, uncertainties.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Action movies today have followed a formula for so long that they have created their own cinematic clique! It goes like this:

Ultimately the good guys find the secret hide out of the bad guys. The good guys gather together and someone says “so what the plan? Anyone got a plan?” to which the hero of the movie replies “you stay here. I’ll go around back and when I give the signal you come in the front.” Someone else then says “ok. So what’s the signal” and the hero replies “oh, you’ll know”. Then he runs off around the building out of the scene. The next thing you know is the hero is driving a cement truck through the side of the building or something big and dramatic like that. And all the other good guys in the front of the building go “there’s the signal – let’s GO!”

You just have to think of Bruce Willis in the ‘Die Hard’ movies or Eddie Murphy in ‘Beverly Hillbilly Cops’. In all these movies the action hero’s behaviour is always a big tada! which leaves no doubt in the other characters’ minds. Even the spectators could say ‘yup, that was obviously the signal!’

So maybe now John the Baptist makes a little more sense. He wants a really clear signal that leaves no room for doubt that Jesus is the ultimate action hero! Maybe the first century context equivalent would have been the Messiah coming in to save the day from all oppressors! Like driving a chariot through a Roman barricade! Or miraculously lifting every Roman solider into the air and throwing them out of the country! Who knows what John was looking for, but we can definitely say Jesus did not stand up to his expectations.

Instead of a big obvious signal or tada of some kind, John finds himself in jail hearing about a man who goes around preaching and healing folks. While this may look extraordinary to us, in the time of John, there were other prophets who could heal people and even raise the dead. Jesus wasn’t doing anything extraordinary at all, rather he was working quite subtly and john was left unsure.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Subtlety has lost a bit of its finesse in our day and age. Most of the time we are multitasking so often that anything subtle would most likely pass us by and we may not even catch what has past. With our attention span learning to move so quickly it becomes more difficult to slow down and pay attention to one thing at a time. At least that is becoming more and more true with every new generation. This latest generation can learn to operate computers at such a young age that Microsoft started to use 4 and 5 year old children in their advertisements to adults to show how easy it was to use their new programs and technology. So subtlety is definitely losing its place in our society as time goes on.

Generally speaking when we are asked to slow down and take in one thing at a time or the more subtle side of things we can get a little impatient. Each year at this time of year, we clergy, ask you to slow down from the Christmas rush and focus on what it means for us today to wait for the coming Christ child. We make you go through four long weeks before we ramp it all up on Christmas eve! And Like I said – we know the story... we know what is coming. So just imagine how impatient John could have been. Someone who knew the Messiah was coming but did not know what he would look like. It makes sense for John to have wanted that big tada. He was only human and God can work so subtly!

Even today we want a big tada sometimes too. Yes, it is true that we know the story of Jesus, but now over two thousand years later, we want to know how God is working in the world! We even get a little anxious when we can’t always figure out where God is or what God might be doing in the world today.

Anxiety is a funny little thing, don’t you think? Today is joy Sunday and that seems so fitting while we get ready for the Christmas season. I don’t think anxiety Sunday would have gone over very well as an Advent theme! But it may actually be more applicable sometimes. Think about it, around this time of year we start to worry about what presents to buy, who gets what and we have to make sure that no child get something more special than another, we have to be fair. And well who’s going to sit where for Christmas dinner, who is going to host Christmas dinner?! There are so many things to think about and figure out each year that naturally we get a little stressed this time of year. Interestingly Christmas is the time of the most generosity – the Christmas Spirit, and it is also the a time of the highest risk for family conflict!

I don’t know about your family, but my family every year gets together to trim the tree. We never think twice about coming to mom and dads house to decorate and every year we all seem so excited! But, every year it all goes to pieces too! Usually my brother or sister will volunteer to untangle the lights and string them on the tree while the other sibling and my dad start to unwrap the million glass balls they have for decorations. But without fail my dad will argue that the lights aren’t right and someone else will pick at this or that. And without fail one of us kids will what to limit the balls this year and before you know it my dad is in full argument with any number of people and those who aren’t being targeted will have slipped off into the other room, desperate to get away! Wouldn’t it be nice if someone would just stand up and say “I’ll take charge of the tree this year. No need to worry.”

It’s not just Christmas time that we worry. That funny little thing – anxiety – seems to creep around us in little doses all year. We just have to say, global warming or climate change and we can see a little anxiety start to stir.

If only we had the ultimate action hero for climate change! Someone to tells us what to do and to give us a really clear signal for when to do it! But the world just doesn’t seem to play its part. Instead the change is more subtly and only overtime do we begin to notice the changes. Wouldn’t it be easier to manage our anxiety if we could have a big tada one way or the other! Either the world is warming and we face definite change or it is not. Couldn’t nature just be clear about it!

I think that’s what John was saying to Jesus – “look either you are the messiah or you’re not. Let’s just get clear and straight forward about it!” But even in his answer, Jesus was being subtle. “go back to John and tell him all that you hear and see” I just get the feeling that Jesus answer may not have been quite the anxiety squelching answer John was looking for.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

You know there was a part of the Psalm for today that keeps drawing me in. This is a praise psalm but there are a few lines that seem to draw a parallel to more than just praise. There is a warning within this text. So that got me wondering how a warning could be alongside praise. Basically the psalm warns us not to put our faith, hope and trust in humanity. Saying if a person were able to think up a idea, the end of war, or the answer to climate change, then all of hope for a solution rests on them, a mortal. And when they did, all hope dies with them. Instead of this, the psalmist warns us to put our trust in God who endures forever.

The psalmist tells us to trust that God has a plan – that god is the ultimate action hero with a subtle twist. Instead of God being a cinematic clique, God works subtly, over time; teaching, preaching, healing as he goes changing one person at a time.

It is true that there will probably be no big tada! no obvious signal that “we’ll just know when we see it”. But God has a plan nonetheless and we are all little pieces that play little subtle parts in that plan.

In many ways we are a lot like John the babptist – who played his small part in God’s plan through Jesus Christ. And like John we want to know that God’s plan will work out in the end. We want that big tada so that we know God’s plan has worked out, so that we can squelch our anxieties.

And I wish my sermon today was giving you a clear signal about God’s work in the world. But truthfully, I think God has a different sense of time than we do. I cannot tell you how things turn out, simply because I believe it is going to take more than my lifetime for God’s plan to be complete. So what Joy is there for me to proclaim on this joy Sunday in Advent?!

Well, when i really think about things, I long for God’s cinematic clique so that I can calm down about the state of the world. I want to know that the world and all that is in her will be ok.

And when I think about it even more, I remember the psalmist’s advice to put my trust in God who endures forever. When I really think about it God’s got this in the bag!

God has a plan, it may take longer than I want it to, and I know through the experience of Jesus Christ that God works subtly. So I probably am going to miss some things along the way, but in the end god does have a plan. God’s got it in the bag. Whether I see the outcome or not, I know God’s got this. So there is no need to worry. Praise God!