WAR IS OVER

December 24, 2015

Christmas Eve

Luke 2:1-7

Titus 3:4-7

(prayer)

We have to endure it every year.

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Around the time that Halloween passes and we move into November, our society starts to promote the economic potential of the Christmas season.

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I am sure many of you are like me and you mutter under your breath (at some point) saying: I can't  believe that 'they' have Christmas stuff out already!

But, even as we annually complain about the commercialization of Christmas, there are some who get their longjohns in a knot when some companies don't market Christmas enough in the way they expect.

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Remember this pseudo-controversy? 

Oh, the horror.

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The precise examples change each year, but equally as inevitable as seeing coloured lights for sale on November 3rd, in the weeks leading up to December 25th, there will be news stories and social media memes proclaiming that we are experiencing a War On Christmas.

I had some fun on my Facebook page a few weeks ago posting a picture of my morning Tim Horton's cup pointing out that (unlike Starbucks) it had 'snowflakes and reindeer - just like in the bible'.

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Donald Trump said a week ago yesterday: "If I become president, we are going to be saying Merry Christmas at every store... You can leave Happy Holidays at the corner."

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Every year, we have to endure the hawkish Christian soldiers onwardly fanning the flames on the War on Christmas.

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Personally, I have always been a bit puzzled as to why Happy Holidays is so bemoaned as a un-Christmas-y phrase.

Holidays is a shorthand way of saying "Holy Days".  It is a word with obvious and explicit religious meaning.

Even Seasons Greetings (which has no etymological connection to religion) can be heard as an affirmation of Christmas when we remember that, (traditionally) Christmas is a twelve day 'season' going from December 25th to January 5th.  In the church, certainly, we call the period starting on the fourth Sunday before Christmas as the Season of Advent - and that period from Christmas to Epiphany as the Season of Christmas: followed by the Season after Epiphany, the Season of Lent , the Season of Easter and the Season after Pentecost.

If you go to a church that marks the seasons of the church year, you may even notice that (often) specific colours identify the different seasons.

So, to church-folk, it should always be appropriate to say Seasons Greetings.

And yet every year, hundreds of modern day wannabe prophets pen new blogs lamenting the absence of an explicit "Merry Christmas" greeting from the guy in the drive-thru.

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Let me add my two cents to the conversation:

THERE IS NO

WAR ON CHRISTMAS

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I don't just say that because I detest the misuse of the violent battlefield language (that rolls of some people's tongues far too easily) to describe literally hundreds of efforts to comment on aspects of our society.

I detest the "war on..." language because it serves to dilute, distract and desensitize us from what are truly 'wars' being experienced in our world.

My main disappointment is that people (even so-called people of faith) seem to be botheted less by real war than red coffee cups in December.

There is no war on Christmas.  It is a made-up conflict espoused by those who are not interested in taking ownership of their own beliefs and religious observances in a 21st century world where (moreso than at any other time in history) we aware of the diversity of the human experience.

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It's not that the world's diversity and variety has significantly changed, but with the ability for people to travel and understand the globe (through physical movement and through learning from increasing accessible media and shared knowledge), we have become more aware of the diversity that has always existed.

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It is only those who can't admit that they were living in an isolating bubble who feel like their world has changed.

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The 'war on christmas' language is nothing more than a realization that - as we have matured and progressed as a species - we cannot rely on the officialdom of our society to maintain a false bubble of isolation.

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When I was in theological college a quarter century ago, I remember reading about the death of christendom.  Even through the middle of the 20th century, in North America, our (officially secular) governments protected and sanctioned the practices of Christianity as societal norms.  This was in spite of the fact that the internationally recognized bordered nations of North America have never been 100% Christian.

As we moved through the latter half of the last century, our societies have be coming to terms with the false (and ironic) nature of the assumption that societies that proclaim a freedom of religion should be expected to promote one particular religious expression.

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Here is my message for this Christmas Eve: if we truly - and honestly - care about the place of Christian faith in our lives; if we authentically desire to celebrate the birth of Jesus, we should declare the War on Christmas, over.

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Let us surrender the idea that our story is the responsibility of anyone else to share.

I am prepared to risk insulting some people by saying that I think it is a 'lazy faith' that would expect a government or store or public school or non-religious person to promote your spiritual story.

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It is Christmas, Christians... take it upon yourselves to celebrate the story of a time when...

·         Augustus was Caesar of the Roman Empire,

·         when Quirinious was Governor of Syria,

·         when Herod the Great was the King of Judea,

·         when a pregnant teen gave birth to a baby in ancient King David's hometown called "The House of Bread",

·         when the first earthly breaths were drawn by one who would grow to inspire dozens to join him on the road, sharing in his vision of God's compassion and justice.

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This baby, whose name - Jesus - literally means the 'Salvation of God' (Yehoshua: Yahweh Saves) famously encouraged his followers to proclaim the good news they had come to believe - but, if there were those who did not share in their enthusiasm, to clean off their shoes and move on to another place and proclaim the good news there (cf. Mark 6:11).  Jesus knew that was good news to his followers would not appeal to everyone, but the focus was not to be on the rejection or apathy of some, but on the message that was the disciples to share.  'Shaking the dust off of one's saddles' was an old pious hebrew practice to declare that one was removing the negative residue from a place of rejection. 

To allow ourselves to be mired in a War on Christmas only serves to take our focus off the goodness of God's compassion and justice that was embodied in Jesus.

As people of this story, our goodnews includes that proclamation from the letter of Titus: we are inheriters of the gift of God's hope through the richness of our spirituality founded in Jesus.

That's our story.

The absence of a Christmas tree in the public square nor a corporate Merry Christmas along with our economic consumption does not take our story from us.

Feel free to Go Tell it on The Mountain.  Share your gifts in the world.  Pause in grateful prayer by the manger.

It is the story of the goodness and loving-kindness of God.

It is "your" story if you want it.

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Let us pray:

Teach us to sing your praise, O God as the angels of old.  Your glory shines in our world and we are changed.  Amen.

#38VU

“Angels We Have Heard on High”

THE LONGEST NIGHT

For some people Christmas is not 'all comfort and joy'.  

This Longest Night or Blue Christmas Service strives to allow people to begin to experience hope.

A CLOSER LOOK

December 20, 2015

Advent 4

Luke 1:39-55

Shortly after Mary discovered that she was pregnant, she went to live with relatives a long way away.  Mary was from Nazareth in Galilee; Elizabeth lived in the remote hillsides east of Jerusalem, where her husband, Zechariah, served in the Temple.

Sometimes we are told that Elizabeth was Mary’s cousin, but clearly they weren’t close to the same age.  Mary was a young woman in her teens and Elizabeth was much older - “getting on in years” is how the gospel of Luke puts it.  Maybe Elizabeth was Mary’s mother’s or father’s cousin.

We might wonder why Mary went to stay with Elizabeth.

Well, in spite of her advance years, Elizabeth was also pregnant.  In fact, it was the first time for her.  She was even teased among her neighbours because she had never been able to have children. 

People can be so cruel.

Elizabeth getting pregnant at this time of her life was nothing short of a miracle.

Speaking of people being cruel, sometimes when a young person (like Mary) unexpectedly becomes pregnant, people in the family worry about what other people might say.  They worry about the rumours that gossipers will share.   Did you hear about Mary?  Yes, and apparently they don’t even know who the father is. 

They might even have called her the Aramaic version of the S-word or the W-word.  Quite the scandal.

It is sad to imagine that people could be so cruel - to both Elizabeth and to Mary.

Hopefully, the reason Mary went away was to allow her to support Elizabeth and to learn from her about what to expect in the months to come. 

Hopefully, if ‘worry’ was a motive that it was to protect Mary from the cruelty of the rumours and not that her parents were embarrassed.  The bible doesn’t say.

Mary stays with Elizabeth about three months.  The way the Bible reads, it sounds like the teenager stayed until just before Elizabeth had her baby.  It might have made sense for Mary to stay for the actual birth, but it doesn’t sound that that is what happened.

But it does sounds like these three months were good and helpful for Mary.  She must have been surrounded by family support and the promise of motherhood.

If Mary was worried and scared when she arrived, she was able to feel better by realizing that she was not alone. 

She knew the love of family.  And she knew that God was with her.

In Luke chapter one, verses forty-six to fifty-five, we read that ⁴⁶Mary sang, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, ⁴⁷and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, ⁴⁸for the Lord has looked with favour on the lowliness of this servant.  Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; ⁴⁹for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is God’s name. ⁵⁰God’s mercy is for those who fear the Lord from generation to generation. ⁵¹The Lord has shown strength and scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. ⁵²The Lord has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; ⁵³The Lord has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. ⁵⁴The Lord has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of holy mercy, ⁵⁵according to the promise God made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.’

Mary saw herself as being part of a long line of those who were included in the loving promises of God.  She knows that - in spite of her age; in spite of what people might say about her; in spite of all of the worries she might have about the future - she is loved by her God.  And that is a blessing.

When Mary looked deep inside herself, she knew that God was alive in her.  “My soul magnifies the Lord” she said.

God is made brighter and more visible through Mary and her faith.

Like a magnifying glass, through Mary, God can be seen by others in this world.

When we look through a magnifying glass, whether it is one of those cheap ones you can get at a dollar store, or a microscope, or a telescope, we are able to see details that we can easily miss with just our naked eyes.

One of the neat things about looking through a magnifying glass is that there is always more to see.  If we turn up the magnification - if we look deeper and farther - we discover amazing details.

These details were always there, we just weren’t able to appreciate them.

And once we have seen with new eyes, we can’t ignore the discoveries that have been made.  They change us.  We are never the same again.

In the story of Jesus’ life, Mary is the one constant.  She is there at the beginning.  We hear of her being with Jesus during his years of ministry.  And she is even with him on his fateful, final Passover pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

Mary’s soul magnified God.

Jesus learned of God from his mom.

And as we look deeper into the life and ministry of Jesus, we can be changed.

The world will never be the same again.

Let us sing together #134 from More Voices “There Was a Child in Galilee”.

I WILL BRING YOU HOME

December 13, 2015

Advent 3

Zephaniah 3:14-20

Philippians 4:4-7

(prayer)

Last week, Patti and I went and saw the new Christmas movie, Love TheCoopers. 

Anyone else see it?  Not surprised.  It is not destined to be a classic, but it was 'okay'.  Was only in Leduc for the one week and only one screening per day.

It was a pretty formulaic flick of several generations of a family, coming together for Christmas dinner.  Of course, as is usually the case in these kind of movies, there are a few skeletons in the various closets.  Some relationships were strained (a few newly, some with long standing problems), people had their personal problems and were going through life changes.

In summary: members of family were doing their best to hide their problems from each other. 

Diane Keaton (the character who was hosting the dinner) wanted it to be a stress free, perfect gathering.  Of course, that was not to be - but, as expected, the happy ending was that the difficulties, once openly admitted, didn't really matter.

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Have you ever had that experience (?) - when you are getting together with a group (family event, reunion, etc.) and are a bit hesitant about being your authentic self.

I know I have.  I've put on the good face and faked it.

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Why do I [we] do that?

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I think it has something to do with our advent theme for this Sunday: Joy.

People (quite reasonably) desire to have joy in their lives.  In fact, when the absence of joy manifests itself in the form of depression, the lack of happiness can be one of the most debilitating of human conditions.

//

Joy often shows itself to the wider world around us.  It takes a lot of discipline to keep a lid on joy - joy is hard to hide.

But - many people are resident to share their sadness.  We may be very open to expose our joy, but not so with our anti-joy.

There is a tragic irony in all of this because sadness is often made worse because of isolation.  Isolation had the impact of convincing ourselves that others don't (or can't) understand us.

Even if we believe that others might be able to understand us, we might be further blocked by the believe that we would be burdening others with ours  problems.

And so, we bury the sadness - and we present a false joy to those around us.

That is what the Cooper family was doing in the movie.

Realistic or not (true or not), we convince ourselves that the goal is always the perfect home where only JOY exists.

//

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But... the common experience (when it is given a chance) is that our capacity for understanding and empathy is greater than we sometimes assume.

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I believe that within most human hearts is the natural desire -when we see sadness in the life of someone - we want to bring them into a circle of care where joy might increase: to nurture and massage the sadness until it can give way (bit by bit) to joy.

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The perfect family, the perfect home is not the one that knows only joy, but the one that works on the edges of the joy that is possible.

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An experience of ample joy is a common goal in life.  And yet, it is also common to experience times when joy is elusive.

And so, we seek 'authentic' joy.

//

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Both of our scripture readings today call for people to express joy - to rejoice.

The prophet Zephaniah, writing to the people of Judah in the late 7th century BCE, invited them to "sing, shout, rejoice and exult with all your heart" because they had no need to "fear disaster" anymore.

The Apostle Paul, writing to the early Christians living in the Macedonian city of Philippi in the mid 50s of the 1st century CE, invited them to set aside all worry and continually "rejoice" because the understanding peace of God was "guarding their minds and hearts".

//

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At first glance, we might be tempted to assume that Hebrews (living in Jerusalem during the time of Zephaniah) and Christians (living in Philippi during the time of Paul) were experiencing great joy - that life was good and relatively care-free.

Exploring the history a bit and we discover that exactly the opposite was the case.

Zephaniah was a contemporary of (the more well known Jerusalem prophet) Jeremiah.  The late 7th century BCE was a time of expansion for the Babylonian Empire - Judah was on the Empire's imperialism wish list.  Judah (modern southern Israel and Gaza) was physically located in a very desirable location: it has a lengthy coastline access to the Great (Mediterranean) Sea; it is on the crossroads of three continents (Asia, Africa and Europe) and, as such, was deeply important for any power wanting to control trade routes.

By the time Zephaniah and Jeremiah were offering their versions of God's opinions for the urban people of Jerusalem, the Babylonians already controlled much of the rural areas of the southern Hebrew kingdom.  The city walls buffered Jerusalem from the impact of the Empire in the short term, but it was a tense, worrisome time for the people who lived near the great temple of Solomon.

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Similarly, twenty years after the lifetime of Jesus, the movement of faithful followers was still figuring out its purpose and vision.  It was a new expression of spirituality that had some roots in the grand Hebrew faith, but was discovering that it needed to grow beyond those roots.  It may have not be commonly called Christianity yet, but Jesus as the Risen Christ was central to this emerging faith.  The followers of Jesus were struggling with each other about how this faith was to impact the their life.  As well, how they fit into the wider culture was a on-going issue for the early church.

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It actually makes sense (if you think about it) that if rejoicing was coming easy to Zephaniah's and Paul's audiences, they probably wouldn't have to encourage it so forcefully.

You don't need to preach the value of joy to a happy people.

It was - in fact - a climate of worry and fear that gave rise to these messages to the Hebrews of Jerusalem and the Christians of Philippi.

//

The Babylonians are on the doorstep.  Yet... God is with you too.  And God will not let you disappear; you will flourish and be renowned in all the earth.

The Babylonians are on the doorstep.  Yet... God is with you.  So, do not be afraid; instead rejoice as you do during festivals.

The Babylonians are on the  doorstep.  Even, if the advance and overcome you, it will not last.  You will be re-gathered,  returned home,  restored.

Sing loud.  Rejoice.

//

//

The believers in Philippi were part of one of the founding churches in Europe.  Paul was, obviously, very fond of this community - as they were with him.

The content of the letter is largely encouraging - as opposed to a more condemning theme we see in some other letters.  Paul's overarching encouragement is for the Philippians to humble, so that they can find unity with each other and with Christ.  That implies that there may have been some struggles and differences within the church.

But the larger worry that undergirds this correspondence is the fate of Paul himself.

While the Apostle wrote this letter, he was a prisoner of the Roman authorities.  Paul spends a fair amount of time in the letter trying to ease the church's worries for him.

He proclaims his own confidence in God's love and compassion as an example for the Philippians to follow.  More so, Paul uses the example of Jesus' own grace as he suffered as a model to be emulated:

Let the same mind be in you

that was in Christ Jesus.

Yes, there may be some worry and even suffering in our present and future.  Yet... still, be humble and find hope enough to rejoice.

//

//

The prophet and the apostle knew that when joy comes easy, we don't need to be reminded to rejoice.  When joy comes easy, we do not need to be given examples of how joy is possible in difficult and worrisome times.

//

I appreciate the subtle message that the readers of Philippian letter probably noticed in the words Paul chose.

In the Greek of the letter, the word for 'rejoice' is xairo (kah-ee-ro), which is related to xaris (kar-eece) - the word for 'grace'.

To rejoice - in the midst of worry - is a gift of God.

//

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Unlike the Cooper family in the movie, a faked joy - intended to hid the true self - is not what is being encouraged in our readings today.

It is not enough to simply come together and pretend that a sense of belonging and home will just emerge.

Joy sometimes takes work.

//

Paul preaches humility:  which is an honest embracing of our needs and deficiencies.

Zephaniah proclaims a long-term holy promise that sees beyond the worry of the moment: the promise that home will not be lost in the long run.

As we look at the history that followed Zephaniah' time, we know that Jerusalem was overrun and many of the people were forced into exile for three-quarters of a century, but that a later generation did return to Judah - where home was restored and experienced a new.

It was not as if they had no home while in exile, but that they created a home-away-from-home.

The prophet said that the promise of a feeling of belonging and home was cause to rejoice now.

//

//

As we are progressing through this advent season, the candles of our wreath do not simply give us a new theme for each new week.

Today is not about 'joy' alone.

The candlelight is intended to be a cumulative image for us.  Today, is not just about joy - but about joy that can emerge within the contexts created by hope and peace.

Even when joy is hard - especially when joy is hard, we want to experience joy: which as the etymology of the word Paul used reminds us of the gift of God's grace know in a peace that is beyond our best understanding.

It is in this context the both Zephaniah and Paul are encouraging us to embrace an authentic hope for joy.

As we are humble enough to trust in God's presence, we can be purveyors of a joy-filled story.

And we might just find that sense of home where there is joy possible in the midst of worry and fear.

//

Let us pray;

O God, show us the way to your heart - where we can feel at home.  Amen.

#5VU “All Earth is Waiting”

PREPARE AND PROMISE

December 6, 2015

Advent 2

Luke 1:67,78-80

Luke 3:1-6

(prayer)

I have not researched any actual statistics, but I would guess that... many (if not most) people in our culture - even if they are not active in a Christian church - are (at least minimally) aware that Christmas is (at its core) the celebration of a birth.

At the heart of the joy of Christmas is... baby Jesus.

//

//

The Christ Mass - celebrating the birth of Jesus - has been celebrated on December 25th since the fourth century CE.  Although this is a long tradition, it bears noting that there is nothing in the bible to indicate when Jesus was born: not even what time of year.

The two main theories as to why December 25th was chosen are that:

1.    The bible is quite clear that Jesus died in the spring (during Passover week) around the time of the first full moon after the vernal equinox.  Early Christian theologians (like Irenaeus of Lyon) in the 2nd c. CE, who liked balance and perfection, assumed that Jesus might have begun his life (been conceived) around the same time.  The traditional date for the Feast of Annunciation (the Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary) is March 25th.  Add nine months and you have the birth of Jesus in late December. 

2.    A far more likely and practical reason for why Christians began celebrating Jesus' birth around the winter solstice is that - within the Roman Empire - it was already a time to celebrate renewal and birth:

                                                   ·      The Roman festival celebrating the God Saturn always coincided with the return of longer days after the winter solstice  -  which was known as the birthday of the unconcerned sun (s.u.n);

                                                   ·      The Persian sun god, Mithra, is said to have been born on a Sunday around the solstice  (coincidentally, which is why we call that day of the week 'Sunday');

                                                   ·      In Hebrew culture, around the same time of year, the festival of lights (Chanukkah) was held.

The followers of Jesus may have adjusted the cultural renewal and birth celebrations of the time of the winter solstice to meet their own needs.

Makes sense to me.

//

For whatever reason, we follow this lead of our tradition of the last 1700 or so years and set aside a special day at this time of year to remember our saviour's birth.

//

//

It may come as a surprise (to some of you) how little attention the birth of Jesus actually gets in our bibles.  Two of the four (50%) canonical gospels ignore Jesus' birth entirely. 

Matthew focuses more on Joseph's pre-fatherhood worries than Jesus' birth.  Luke devotes a bit more space to the details the hows and wheres of Jesus' birth, but only after devoting more space to focus on how Mary reacted to becoming pregnant.

Truth be known, the start of the gospel of Luke does devote a lot of attention to a birth story - only it is not about Jesus.  Luke starts with the circumstances surrounding the birth of John - who would later be called "The Baptist".

//

//

Zechariah was a priest in the Jerusalem Temple during the time of King Herod the Great of Judea (who reigned from 37 to 4 BCE).  Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, lived in the Judea hill country east of Jerusalem.  Luke's gospel begins by telling us that they were an elderly couple and that (for whatever reason) had never had children.

The first story in Luke is not about Jesus, but of a time when Zechariah was performing an incense-offering in the Temple: he was visited by an angel of God named Gabriel (the same angel that would later visit Mary).

Gabriel told the priest that Elizabeth would become pregnant and give birth to a son - who would be named Yohanan (graced by Yahweh or Yahweh [God] is gracious).

Zechariah's first reaction was fear - angels appearing at the Temple altar was not a normal occurrence.  And, as is almost always the case in the bible, the first words spoken by the heavenly messenger are "Don't be afraid!"

Over and over again, angels do not want fear to be the predominate emotion.

Zechariah's second reaction was a logical, practical disbelief in the angel's proclamation of a child in his future: "How can this be?  I am an old man and my wife is getting on in years."

Zechariah could not focus on a future with a child because nothing in his past allowed him to grasp that hope.

//

When Zechariah finally left the inner sanctuary and joined the rest of the congregation, he tried to address them, but discovered that he was unable to speak.  The best he could do was arm movements and facial expressions.

Rumours quickly spread that the priest must have experienced something mysterious in the sanctuary - perhaps a vision.

//

Although, Elizabeth hid news of her pregnancy until it was physically impossible to ignore, the fact that the 'barren wife of the priest' was with child gave credence to the notion that something miraculous must have happened to Zechariah that day in the Temple.

Months later (after the child was born), Zechariah would be able to explain what had happened - people learned that an angel announced the birth of his child and that Zechariah was made mute during the pregnancy.

It wasn't until the child's naming ceremony and circumcision that Zechariah regained his voice.

//

That is where we picked up the story in today's reading.  After nine-plus months of being limited to gestures and writing tablets, Zechariah had some things to say.

He praised God - recounting a holy history of mercy and promise.

And then the new father spoke directly to his eight day old child: you will be a prophet for the Most-High-God; you will prepare ways of salvation and forgiveness for the Lord.  We will know light not darkness, peace not strife.

//

//

For thirty years, John grew strong in the spirit until he began to proclaim a call for people to turn back to God.  He invited the crowds to accept a ritual washing - a baptism - as a sign of dying to an old way of living and giving birth to a new life.

The author of Luke and the other gospel writers would be reminded of God's saving actions at a time when the people of Judah journeyed across the wilderness and returned home after two generations of forced exile by the waters of Babylon.

John the Baptist (as he became known), like the prophet Isaiah of old, spoke of God's commitment to reconcilliation: God has created a straight and sure road for us to return to our faith.  The 'saving grace of God' is our destination.

//

//

 This is all consistent with what the angel Gabriel had told Zechariah: that John would turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

But Gabriel also described John's mission another way - that he would turn the hearts of parents to their children.  (Luke 1:17)

Turn the hearts of parents to their children.

Think about that for a second - what does it mean for parents to 'turn their hearts' to their children?

//

//

For me, this adds a whole new dimension to what John the Baptist is all about.  For the most part, John's seeks to redeem the people one heart, one soul, one mind at a time.  His baptism is an invitation to the individual - to look inward and seek a personal turn-around.

Although it sounds like crowds came to see John and responded positively to his call - each baptism was a unique personal event.  I can picture a line of people waiting their turn to go in and out of the water with the man in the camel skin tunic.

Each pilgrim had their own moment in the river.

That is deep and powerful.

We follow that same pattern in our 21st century church on baptism Sundays.

Even when there is more than one person to be baptized - even if they are from the same family - the ritual and the liturgy is repeated for each individual.

Baptism remains a celebratory act  of God's love and mercy for the individual who is doused with the water.

//

Yet, the holy message was... that John would also turn the hearts of parents to their children.

That goes beyond the personal individual experience to a communal one.

It takes us out of the moment at hand and invites us to consider the days to come.

Turning the attention of our hearts to children naturally gets us thinking about the future.

//

When we turn our hearts to the children of our age, we are allowing ourselves to care what kind of future they will live into: what kind of world we will pass on to them.

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Luke tells us that John proclaimed a baptism of repentance.

The language of repentance is that of making changes - of choosing new and better paths.  "Repent" literally means to re-regret: to be so impacted by our past actions that we are prepared to make changes as we move forward.

Using the travel metaphor, to repent is to turn onto a new and different path.

//

Based on the angel's promise we can say that John the Baptist's baptism of repentance was intended to also including turning our hearts to the children.

If we consider - in the most caring and compassionate parts of our hearts - how the path we are on will affect the generations to come, we can be motivated to adjust our course if the future is not bright for those who will inherit it.

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Sadly, people are far more likely to adjust the direction of their lives when the current situation is damaging to them on an immediate,  personal level.

Experience and observation tells us that if a person's life is not directly affected by some damage, they may not be all that motivated to be part of a 'change movement'.  And experience and observation informs me that is even true when it comes to potential future danger to the world's children.

//

I am a life-long city boy, so I cannot speak with any authority to ranching or farming life.  But I have to admit that I am a bit baffled why it appears that our Alberta hearts are resistant to turning to the health and safety of our children and agricultural workers in the same way that the rest of Canada has.  Why wouldn't we want to see the kind of favourable statistics that BC enjoyed since they changed their laws?

As I said, I haven't lived in that world, so I may be missing something.

I mean, is it just an economic argument?

It is amazing to me how easily fear of a negative economic impact gets in the way of what otherwise might be a greater good.

//

As a general rule - my heart longs to see a better future... more than it desires to live in the nostalgia of a good past.

//

As we gather today, over 150 world nations are in the midst of discussing the future of humanity's impact on the earth's climate with a ‘degree’ of seriousness we have not seen up to this point.

This is in spite of decades of prognostications that this is an issue the world would ignore at its own peril.

As strange as it sounds, it does  seem that we need to become directly afraid in our present before we are motivated to act for the future.

As a late night comedian quiped a few months ago:

we have proven that we cannot be trusted with the future tense.

//

Of course, now that Climate Change is evident, we are open to change - not because our hearts have finally turned to our children and their future, but because we are feeling the direct effects of geographically uncharacteristic droughts and floods; of changing agricultural seasons; and of 100 year storms that happen with ironic frequency. 

It is as the comedian said, We have been repeated asked 'don't you want to leave a better world for your grandchildren' and we have collectively responded, 'nah, [forget] em'.  We have proven that we cannot be trusted with the future tense.

Sadly, in lots of situations, present fear has a habit of trumping future hope.

//

It is still happening.

//

The facts are still emerging, but it seems that just a few days ago a California couple (who were making obvious grand jihadist plans for mass death and destruction) moved up their plans when something personal set one of them off at a work holiday party.

Even the hard emotions of the present may have trumped the sadistic terrorist hopes of Ms. Malik and Mr. Farook to follow in the guiding footsteps that Mr. Dear walked (just five days earlier), when he entered a Planned Parenthood Clinic bent on forcing his kind of change.

Of course, nationally-inspired domestic Christian terrorism is not viewed the same way as internationally-inspired domestic Islamic terrorism. They rejected an attempt on Friday, but maybe in the near future, the NRA-loving US legislators might may (at long last finally) restrict gun sales (at least) for those on terrorist no-fly lists.  But... we all witnessed how the death of 20 children and 6 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School only motivated thoughts and prayers, but no action.  So, let's not be shocked if 'present fear' wins out over 'future hope'... yet again.

//

//

As challenging and impractical as it may be, to me, our world needs to embrace the angelic promise of Luke chapter one, verse seventeen - that we turn our hearts to the children.

This means we need to repent of the knee-jerk lifestyle that is only motivated by present fear... and open our hearts, minds and souls to future hope for a more peaceful world.

“Hope” (not fear) is the first candle on our advent wreath.

//

Two weeks ago, I preached that Jesus lived and preached a peace through compassion over the empire's preference for peace through the threat of violence.

It would have served Jesus' immediate, selfish needs to give into governor Pirate's worldview and embrace the fear, but - as Jesus said - his kingdom was not of this world.

The attitude of...

Just walk away.

Nothing to see here.

It doesn't affect you.

has dominated our action-choices for far too long.  We must consider a bigger picture!

//

Zechariah hoped that his child would point to the one who could guide our feet in the way of peace. (Luke 1:79)

Jesus is that guide - the one whose commitment to a peace through compassion would not yield in the Empire's context of fear because the future's path is at least as important as the one we are walking right now.

//

It will not be easy to convince the world of the value of more open minds, hearts and souls.

There are already ample voices loudly proclaiming that the needed response when dealing with fears of the moment is to create higher and wider barriers; to build walls and dig trenches around ourselves, hoping that passive thoughts and prayers and empty rhetoric will be enough to change things. 

We will need to lead by example.

// [end] //

We honour a God who calls us into action: a God who does not hold our feet in place, but guides them in the ways of peace.  We are called to move forward on that hard road.

//

We follow a Christ who desires us to react to walls and trenches with the tools to make straight paths - to smooth out the rough places, not to reinforce them.

//

We are inspired by a Spirit who enables us (to not just inject our spiritual energy into the universe through our thoughts and prayers but also) to allow that collective spiritual energy to change our hearts so that we are able to be answers to the prayers of others through tangible and world-impacting actions.

//

As Jim Strathdee wrote and sang:

We are the hands

and feet of Christ

serving by grace

each other's needs.

//

Let us turn our hearts to the path before us and let our feet be guided in the ways of peace.

Let us pray:

Holy One, give us hope in the midst of fear to continue to live in the heart of Jesus.  In the name of the Prince of Peace, we pray.  Amen.

***offering***