When I was a student at
seminary (theological college) in the late 1980s, near the end of my second
year of the four year Master of Divinity degree, I participated in the
customary "mid-term review".
To the best of my memory,
it involved sitting down with the principal, my faculty advisor and the United
Church chaplain to discuss how I was progressing through the program with a
view to seeing if I was on track to complete my studies when anticipated. It was more than an academic discussion -
more than whether I would be ready to graduate in two years, but was I also
developing skills that would be necessary for the practice of ministry in the
church.
At the Vancouver School of
Theology, mid-term reviews had a reputation of being stressful critical times,
so I was quite nervous going into it, but for me, it was such an encouraging
experience. Maybe it was because I had a
good sense of where I was in my academic plan that the faculty had little
advice for me in that regard.
Regardless, what stuck with me from that time was that they encouraged
me to not become isolated in the world of study... to spend time outside the
bubble of the seminary and stay connected to the real world.
//
I remember being at the
(same) principal's home for a new students' welcome get-together a
year-and-a-half year and seeing that one room was completely rimmed with floor
to ceiling bookshelves filled with mostly paperback books - many of which were
double-stuffed with novels in front of novels.
So, I was not surprised
when Rev. Dr. Martin suggested that I escape into fiction on a regular
basis. Read and enjoy things that have nothing directly to do with your studies.
Someone else pointed out
that, as a minister, I would find myself reflecting theologically on the themes
of the stories embedded in fiction.
The problem was that I was
never much of a novel reader... after a four year undergrad degree followed a
year articling in an accounting office, then by two years at the Vancouver
School of Theology, I was reading all of the time... only it was limited to
books directly relating to my studies. I
had no time or energy to read just for
fun.
But I did escape into fiction. I just enjoyed my fiction in the form of
movies... usually at the $1/show in the students union building at UBC.
And so, my midterm
reviewers encouraged me to theologically reflect on what I watched on a screen,
rather than words on a page
I still do that today.
People who know me, know
that I love movies of all genres.
You may have experienced
that, on more than one occasion, I have made reference to some of my favorite
movie scenes in sermons I have preached.
//
You saw the trailer to Bill
Forsyth's 1983 movie called Local Hero.
Has anyone seen it?
It is hard to find...
almost never on TV and it is not on Netflix or CraveTV in Canada at least. I think it is on iTunes.
[I have DVD and VHS copies]
When people press me to
name my 'favorite movie', Local Hero
is usually my answer and I like "lots" of movies. Local
Hero is a simple story with interesting characters, but not amazing enough
to get much attention even with 70 year old screen legend Burt Lancaster on the
marquee. Bill Forsyth won the British Academy Film Award for Best
Director, but 1983 was the year of Scarface,
Return of the Jedi, Flashdance, Risky Business and The Big
Chill, so Local Hero was not
noticed much on this side of the pond. Film Critic associations liked it
(giving it a couple of Best Screenplay awards), but it was completely ignored
by Oscar. Terms of Endearment won the
Best Picture Oscar for 1983.
//
And yet, I loved Local Hero when I saw it at The Princess
Theatre when I was at the UofA and it touches my heart and mind everytime I get
a chance to watch it again.
As you might have gotten
from the trailer, the story centres around "Mac" McIntyre of Knox Oil
and Gas who is sent to negotiate the purchase of all of the land in and around
the fictional Scottish seaside fishing village of Ferness so they can build an
oil refinery and deep water port. Mac
assumes that it will be a little tricky to convince these people to be uprooted
from their little town, so he treads lightly at first. However, things are not as they appear:
[video of scene where all
the towns people are secretly meeting trying to get the maximum amount of money
from the sales]
//
//
News
tends to travel fast
around
here.
//
//
//
Jesus' birth barely
noticed. With the exception of his
parents, a midwife and a few nosy locals, most of the world spun along on its
axis without any special excitement on the first Christmas.
Even in the years
afterwards, news didn't even travel that fast.
Letters: (50s) Paul shared
no Christmas Story only saying that Jesus was born of a woman, born under the law (Galations 4:4).
Gospels: (early 70s)
Nothing in Mark - starts with 30 year old Jesus being baptized by John that
Baptist. (mid 70s) Matthew and Luke did tell Christmas stories, knew different
birth traditions - and Matthew's gospel barely mentions the birth of Jesus
closing instead to focus on a story that takes place when Jesus is as old as
two years of age. (by 90s) John didn't care about Christmas at all other than to
proclaim (in a poetic opening chapter) that the Word [of God] became flesh and lived among us (John 1:14).
It is only Luke's gospel
that paints the common images of baby Jesus lying in a manger that we see on
our Christmas cards.
That is why churches almost
exclusively read (as we did tonight) from Luke, chapter two.
//
What really got Jesus
noticed by those who wanted to share his story was his mid-life career as a
travelling preacher-healer.
Had Jesus not made an
impact with words and actions as a thirty year old, no one would have wasted
anytime trying to imagine what might have happened on the day he was born.
As a baby, Jesus was a local hero at best.
And that puts him in the
same category of every newborn - devoutly loved and appreciated by those around
her or him, but ignored by almost everyone outside the room.
//
//
News about Jesus' birth may
not have traveled very fast, but it did make an eventual steady journey that
leads us all to this place tonight.
//
//
And so, here we are...
//
//
None of the biblical
traditions about Jesus' birth were ever intended to stand on their own.
This is true whether we
hear the oldest tradition: stating the basic biology and context that Jesus was born of a woman, born under the
law or the latest biblical tradition: making a poetic statement that (in
Jesus) the Word of God became living
flesh.
Even when we hear the streams of tradition
talking about Jesus as an infant and a toddler, "Christmas" is never
meant to be heard as an isolated story.
Celebrating Jesus' birth
has to be more than just thinking about shepherds visiting a baby lying in a
manger or traveling astrologers bringing odd
gifts to a toddler in his home.
A meaningful Christmas
Celebration will always invite us to address the impact of whole life of Jesus
and not just his first breaths.
//
Early Christians (coming to
terms with Jesus' untimely death as an inconvenient opponent to Roman imperial
rule) found helpful language in old words of the Hebrew tradition that stemed
from seven-plus centuries before Jesus' lifetime.
Several decades after
Jesus' death, the spiritual movement which he initiated had not faded away (as
Pontius Pilate envisioned would happen after Jesus was crucified) but had grown
and evolved to include a much more diverse discipleship that could have been
imagined while Jesus walked the earth.
That new generation of
those who followed Jesus' Way heard the words of Isaiah, chapter 9 with fresh
ears. In their original context those
words spoke about an 8th century BCE son of a Judean king. For early Christians of the 1st century CE,
the 750 year old words also described what they had come to believe about
Jesus:
A
child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his
shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace.
(Isaiah 9:6)
The early Christians did not come to
that conclusion because of Luke's Christmas tale, but because of what 30 year
old Jesus did and said.
Those who walked and talked with that
Jesus heard and saw a vision of how the world would look if God was caesar: if
they lived under the Realm of God and not the Empire of Rome.
Sometimes, Jesus spoke about this with
words, explicity:
·
The
Kingdom of God is like a tiny seed that grows into a large tree.
·
The
Kingdom of God is like a woman who refuses to accept that a valuable coin is
lost and painstakingly cleans the house until it is found.
·
The
Kingdom of God is like an employer who pays all of the employees enough to feed
their families for the day, no matter how many hours they worked.
Sometimes, Jesus spoke about the Realm
of God with implicit words:
·
Don't
return violence with violence, instead meet the needs of the moment with peace
- turn the other cheek, feed the hungry, visit the sick and imprisoned, give
warm clothes to the cold.
·
Even
if you are poor or thirsty or oppressed, you are loved and blessed by God.
·
Loving your neighbour as yourself means acting like a neighbour to
someone you might not want to consider as your neighbour.
Sometimes, Jesus mentored the Realm of
God in his actions:
·
He
went against common practice by inviting children to mill around with the
adults, even when important discussions were going on.
·
Jesus
did not turn his back on those who wanted to get closer to Jesus - even a tax
collecting Roman collaborator or a woman labelled as a sinner who everyone else
had learned to shun or another woman considered untouchable and certainly less
important that the sick daughter of a respected religious leader.
·
When
armed soldiers came to arrest Jesus because one of his own disciples had tipped
them off as to a good time and place, Jesus insisted that his more loyal
disciples not draw their swords to try and stop them.
//
It was because of what
Jesus said and did (as told to new generations of believers) that the early
church was able to see Jesus in the prophet Isaiah's words: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Furthermore, they believed
that the ideals which Jesus espoused did not die on the cross - that the spirit
of a risen christ continued to guide them along a sacred way of living in each
new age.
Like Jesus did, for Jesus'
followers, even decades (or millenia) later, the hope and possibility of the
Realm of God was made real in words and actions.
To deeply celebrate
Christmas, we also seek to live out what was centrally important to Jesus'
teaching: to move the focus from the
minimal impact of a barely noticed local hero to a world changing prince of
peace
And so, this night, as we
are reminded of The Way of Jesus began Away in a Manger, let us each consider
how (in the daily routines of our lives, here and now) we can...
Love
our God with our whole
heart,
soul and strength
and
love
our neighbour as ourself.
(Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus
19:18)
This might just make real
the words "Joy to the World" and "Heavenly Peace"
//
//
Prayers of the People
Let us pray:
Gracious, loving and merciful God, on
this Christmas Eve, as the light of your Word penetrates our hearts, as we are
reminded of the gift of life and faith, as the glories of the heavenly hosts
are echoed in our church, we open ourselves up to your Spirit and give you
thanks. We are grateful, Lord Jesus,
that your story has become our story, and we celebrate your birth.
Continue, we pray, to instill in us a
profound sense of your abiding presence, and help us to take to heart the
wonder of your love, that we may walk in your ways and delight in your will.
Help us, Lord God, to be the faithful,
gracious, loving, giving and forgiving people you would have us be.
And so, we embrace your world and all
of its people as our sisters and brother, whether they believe as we do or
not. We pray that peace will be known by
those who live in the midst of war and terror; we pray that comfort will be
known to those who are grieving; that calm will be known by the worried, and ease
will be experienced by the sick; we pray for those whose lives are dictated by
fear or a love of money or power; we pray that the hard hearts of the greedy
will be softened; we pray that the resourceful will live out a just gratitude
with generosity so that no one, any where, is denied the dignity and safety of
a warm bed and a full belly.
In these ways, use us, O God, to be the
hands and feet and heart of Christ in the world.
Finally, hear us as we join together in
a modern paraphrase of Jesus' family prayer:
Abba God, you are beyond us
and so we call you holy.
Govern our lives here
just as you rule in heaven.
May we live as would have us live.
Meet our most basic needs,
day by day.
Do not hold our bad choices
against us.
Teach us how to let go of wrongs
done to us by others.
Help us resist hate, greed
and many other temptations
and evils.
Return us to your goodness.
In you is glory, power
and our true home.
Amen!
Giving Our Offerings:
(remain seated)
#74VU
“What
Child is This?"
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