Good News -- Christmas Eve Meditation 2023

Appearing to the shepherds, and terrifying them in the process, the angel says “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy which shall be for all people”. Over 2000 years later the angel still proclaims good news for all people.

Sometimes it is hard to hear and see the goodness. So often it seems like the bad news threatens to drown out the good.

In her poem Into the Darkest Hour Madeleine L’Engle writes:

It was a time like this,
war & tumult of war,
a horror in the air.
Hungry yawned the abyss –
and yet there came the star
and the child most wonderfully there.

It was a time like this
of fear & lust for power,
license & greed and blight –
and yet the Prince of bliss
came into the darkest hour
in quiet & silent light.

And in a time like this
how celebrate his birth
when all things fall apart?
Ah! Wonderful it is:
with no room on the earth,
the stable is our heart.

L’Engle wrote those lines almost 30 years ago. But don’t they seem to fit the world today? This year churches across Bethlehem are being asked to cancel their Christmas celebrations in light of the continued Israeli offensive in Gaza. One of those churches took a pile of building rubble, broken bricks and dirt, and placed their nativity scene on and amidst the rubble. Then we have the ongoing war in Ukraine. And other places like Yemen that don’t get the same sort of news coverage. War & tumult of war.

Or we could look closer to home. Multiple mornings this week CTV news was sharing the story of homeless encampments in Edmonton that were going to be dismantled, along with questions of whether there were in fact shelter spaces available for all those individuals. Here in Grande Prairie The Salvation Army has said that 20% of the population was served by the Food Bank and Community Kitchen this year. There is an ongoing opiod crisis. What is that if not an abyss, yawning, threatening to swallow us up?

Or we could talk about so many other things. A marked increase in both anti-Semitic and Islamophobic violence in the last 2 months. The flurry of anti-2SLGBTQ+ protests and legislation across Canada and the US this past year. Politicians in multiple countries who seem to want to score political points for short term gain at the expense of people at the margins or the long-term well-being of us all. There is an ongoing climate crisis. So much bad news. How do we find Good News in a world that threatens not just to fall apart but to tear itself apart at the seams?

Christmas Good News always comes at what seems like the wrong time, but maybe it is exactly the right time. The angel’s proclamation always comes into a time of war and tumult and horror. The carols are always sung in a world where there are people lusting for power, and others living in fear. The abyss of disorder and violence is always yawning somewhere in the world.

We could always use some Good News. We could always use some starlight and angel song. We could always be reminded to stand and listen for the silence of the Prince of Peace breaking into the world.

We need to hear some Good News this Christmas. Where do we look to find it? Can we be quiet enough to hear it We won’t find it on the front page. It won’t be the top-rated link on Google. It likely won’t come with trumpet fanfares and marching bands. If we aren’t careful we might miss it.

Because the Good News comes to and from people who others might not even see. In our story it comes to a poor peasant girl in a backwater town. It comes to shepherds on a hill side. Later it is shared with fishermen on a seashore. It seems to end in death on a cross only to be revealed again to women weeping by a graveside. God shares the Good News in ways that most of us would usually miss.

We won’t find the Good News coming from any of our major political parties. It won’t come from Hamas or the Israeli Knesset. It won’t come with big flashy marketing campaigns. It will continue to come from the sidelines. The Good News is brought forward by groups like the Mothers of the Disappeared in Latin America a generation ago. It showed up when everyday Irish people pushed for an end to the Troubles. It shows up when people ‘adopt-a-family’ and support Helping Hands here in Grande Prairie. The Good News is made evident when people with little or no power or status quietly share the hope and promise that change is coming – and work in their own small way to make it happen.

Here is the Good News that echoes through the ages: God is creating a world where all live in abundance. God is creating the Peaceable Kingdom. God is bringing healing and liberation to a hurting, chained up world. Love and Joy, Hope and Peace will win in the end. God LOVES the world.

It is Good News for all creation: from the tiniest one-celled organism to the mighty blue whale, from the smallest flower to the mighty Redwood tree, from the newborn baby to the centenarian. It is Good News for the person sleeping in a tent along the Bear Creek and for the CEO of the most profitable corporation. It is Good News for the poorest nations of the world and for the economic powerhouses like the US or China.

Tonight we remember that the Good News is being announced again. Tonight we remember that the hopes and fears of all the years are met in a baby lying in a manger. Tonight we remember that Hope, Peace, Joy and Love will win in the end – and if it looks like they have lost then it is not yet the end. Tonight we remember that birth changes everything.

In the song When A Child is Born Johnny Mathis writes:

A ray of hope flickers in the sky
A tiny star lights up way up high
All across the land, dawns a brand new morn
This comes to pass when a child is born
...
It's all a dream, an illusion now
It must come true, sometime soon somehow
All across the land, dawns a brand new morn
This comes to pass when a child is born

This is the Good News that the angel Gabriel shared with Mary. This is the Good News that an angelic host shared with shepherds on a hillside. This is the Good News that we still share today. For unto US a child is born – and our lives will never be the same again.

Throughout the Advent season we have been lighting candles. The flicker of a candle flame reminds us that light shines in the darkness. The candle flame looks so fragile, indeed a well-directed puff of air can put it out, but at the same time a candle flame adds light and heat to a room. With their flickering light these candles have reminded us of the power of Hope for a world that is being renewed and reborn; the promise of Peace based in abundant justice within that renewed world; the Joy of knowing that God is with us as we and the world are being reshaped; and the Love that takes shape in Jesus, the Word-Made-Flesh, the Love that provides the guiding principle for this new world.

Tonight we lit our fifth candle, the candle of birth. Tonight we proclaim that with the birth of Jesus that new world is here among us: a ray of hope, a tiny star, possibly an illusion, maybe a dream? Not a dream, not an illusion, It is real. It may seem hidden. It may be out at the edges of our awareness but it is real. There is a lot of bad disheartening news out there. It is loud and flashy and bright. It can fill the center of our lives. But out at the edges, a different light is quietly, dimly flickering.

Hear again the Good News of this day. Jesus is born! God has once again broken into our lives! The world is being changed! Listen for the quiet voices sharing their hope. Watch for the nobodies running in with joy in their eyes. See the places where peace is breaking out. Feel the love that brings us together and leads us to work for a better world. This is Good News for the whole of the world that God loves.

It makes no sense. It may be hard to see We have to look in the right places, with open eyes to find the evidence. But it is there and it is real. Will we focus on the war and tumult? Will we stare into the abyss? OR will we embrace the Good News over at the edges?

In another poem, The Risk of Birth, Madeleine L’Engle says:

This is no time for a child to be born,
With the earth betrayed by war & hate
And a comet slashing the sky to warn
That time runs out & the sun burns late.

That was no time for a child to be born,
In a land in the crushing grip of Rome;
Honor & truth were trampled to scorn—
Yet here did the Savior make His home.

When is the time for love to be born?
The inn is full on the planet earth,
And by a comet the sky is torn—
Yet Love still takes the risk of birth.

Indeed it is no time for a child to be born. It is certainly no time to expect hope, peace, joy and love to be born. But still it happens. It has been said that the birth of a baby is God’s way of saying that the world should continue. New life is a sign that there is still hope. There is still love. There is a place for joy. There is the possibility of peace.

God is still taking the risk of sharing Good News in unexpected ways and places. God is still in the business of transforming the world. God still loves the world, God has not given up on us. This is indeed Good News. We just might have to look in odd places to find it.

The angel still proclaims Good News which shall be for all people. For unto us is born this day a Saviour who is Christ the Lord. Glory to God in the highest! And on Earth peace, goodwill among all. Amen.

Looking Forward to December 24, 2023 (evening) -- Christmas Eve

The Call to Worship will be based in this passage from Isaiah.

The Scripture Reading will be Luke 2:1-20

The Meditation title is Good News

Early Thoughts: We could really use some Good News this year.

There is an adage in journalism "if it bleeds it leads". That tends to mean we hear a lot of bad news on a daily basis. But there is always Good News out there. We just have to look and listen carefully.

It strikes me that the good news stories often seem to come in from the sidelines, from the edges of the picture. They don't often seem to be front and center. That may be in part due to the adage I mentioned above. It may also say something about how God works.

In our Scripture stories it often seems that God is using marginal people to share God's Good News with the world.  We have Moses, a man wanted for murder and running for his life, who ends up being the liberator of his people. We have David, the youngest son, out with the sheep, thought to be unimportant, who is anointed as the next king. Multiple prophets were not from the center of society -- and even those who were often found themselves pushed to the side when their message was not welcomed. 

Then there is our Christmas story. We have Mary, a poor unmarried peasant girl who is chosen to bear a son. We have shepherds out on a hillside who are the first to hear this wondrous news. 

God seems to work at the margins, working inward to change the center.

So let us look out to the edges of our world and see what flickers of good news are out there.  In the midst of all the bad news that fills our news media, what Good News is out there? Where is God breaking into the world today?
--Gord

Looking Forward to December 24, 2023 (morning) -- 4th Sunday of Advent, year B

This week we light the last candle of  our wreath, the candle of Love.

The Scripture Reading this week is John 1:1-18

The Sermon title is Word-Made-Flesh, Love Enfleshed

Early Thoughts: In the beginning there was the Word....

I am often struck by good openings. I often wish I could create good openings. Some of the ones that stick in my mind are "Call me Ishmael" (which sticks even though I have never read the book), or "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit" (what is this thing called a hobbit? why does it live in a hole?) or "Space. The final frontier...", or those opening notes  of Beethoven's 5th. These are opening that stick with you, that draw you in.  I count the opening of John's Gospel as one of those good openings.

It may not look like it but this is John's Christmas story. I know there is no bright shining star, there are no angelic messengers, no shepherds, no Magi, not even a baby but still it is a Christmas story.  It is John's statement about who Jesus is and where Jesus came from. For John Jesus is the Word that was with (and part of) God from the beginning. Jesus is that Word which was essential for creation: "All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being" and indeed for life itself put into flesh: "And the Word became flesh and lived among us".

Still there is a part of me that always wonders, what was that word? If a word is a piece of language what was it? In one of her songs Linnea Good suggests that the word was laughter, a word the song suggest echoes through the faith story. I can see some logic in that suggestion. And maybe laughter is indeed a part of that original word. But I have another candidate, one I prefer.

Any guesses what it might be? It has 4 letters....

In chapter 4 of the Epistle of 1 John (probably not written by the same person who wrote the Gospel but almost certainly written by someone from the same theological/church community) we read: "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.".  For God is Love. Johannine theology constantly reminds us of the importance of love as we follow The Way of Jesus. WE love because God loves us, "for God so loved the world". People will know we are followers of Jesus because of our love. Not our words or our good deeds, not by the prayers we share or the hymns we sing, not by the way we dress -- by our LOVE.

Is it too much to suggest that the primeval, creative word that was with God and was God in the beginning is in fact LOVE?

The priestly hymn to creation found in Genesis 1 tells us that God speaks creation into existence. Despite the old lie many of us were told as children [Sticks and stones can break my bones but...] words have real power. They can create or they can destroy, build up or tear down.

In the beginning was the Word...
How might it change our view if we read that opening paragraph saying something like this:

In the beginning was Love and Love was with God and Love was God...All things came into being through Love and without Love not one thing came into being What has come into being in Love was life and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.

John is clear that Jesus, who Matthew calls Emmanuel -- God-With-Us, is the Word-Made-Flesh. John the Gospel writer and John the Epistle writer are both clear that love is a key part of God's identity, that love is a key part of the Jesus story, that God loves the world. Jesus comes to show that love.

It is a Christmas story. It is about love coming to wear skin and walk among us. It is about love abiding (John's Gospel likes the word 'abide'). In Jesus the primeval creative Word becomes visible. And I think that Word is LOVE.
--Gord

Looking Forward to December 17, 2023 -- Advent 3B

This Sunday we will light the candle of Joy.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19
• Luke 1:26-55

The Sermon title is Expectant Joy

Early Thoughts: Where do you find joy in this Christmas season? Where do you find joy all year long so you can follow Paul's instruction to rejoice always? Can you give thanks in all circumstances?

Could Mary give thanks after the visit from Gabriel? Was she rejoicing? Or did it maybe take a moment or two for her to get to the joy?

I have always wondered if Luke missed a bit in his description of that discussion. Did Mary really meekly accept the news or did she argue a bit?  I sort of want to ask her, as Roger Whittaker asked, "How did it feel?" Certainly later in the story we find that Mary is a bit of a prophet, one who sees the truth of what is coming (which, as many people point out each year, makes the song Mary Did You Know sound a bit out of touch with a reading of Luke 1). I think that is where her joy comes from, the vision of what God is doing through her and her son.

The joy of Christmas is not about parties and carols and gifts. It is not about gathering with family and friends. The joy of Christmas is found in the message of angels -- and I would point out that often when angels show up they have to tell the listener to not be afraid. The joy of Christmas comes in the expectant waiting for a baby who will turn the world upside down. The joy of Christmas comes in the promise that God is active in the world -- even if that might be a bit terrifying.

And really, maybe that is the joy we should carry with us always as we follow Paul's injunction to rejoice always, to pray without ceasing, and even to give thanks in all things.  

Theologically speaking I don't think Joy is not about being happy. Joy comes from a deep place of trust and hope and confidence. I do think joy is expressed in many different ways. I do think there are times when the fear and anxiety overpower the feeling of joy. But I think that joy is always lurking in the background, even when it feels like an unwelcome guest.

We are expecting a great thing to happen. We are expecting a baby (as wonderful and terrifying as that may be). We are trusting that God is active and will be active in the world to change it, to cast the mighty from their thrones and send the rich away empty. 

Sounds like a reason for joy to me.
--Gord

Looking Forward to December 10, 2023 -- 2nd Sunday of Advent, Year B

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Isaiah 40:1-11
• Isaiah 61:1-11

The Sermon title is Rebirth!

Early Thoughts: How do we celebrate the coming of the Prince of Peace when his birthplace is a spot of violence and injustice? Where do we see the possibility of Peace in a world that is so heavily broken? Is the God of Peace and Justice active in the world? Is God sleeping, distracted, inattentive? What is the promise?

Most of those questions are not unique to 2023. Most of them, or variations on them, could have been asked in many Advent seasons over the centuries. But still we ask them, still we look for peace, still we trust (or try to trust) in the promise.

Chapter 40 marks a turning point in the book of Isaiah. Scholars will tell us that chapters 1-39 are the work of one man, with chapter 40 we move into the life and work of another person -- either also named Isaiah or a disciple of the original. The earlier chapters are more about warning the people that bad times are coming. With chapter 40 we move toward the promise of return from exile and rebirth of the nation. [This is of course a generalization --- the early chapters of Isaiah also have promises and visions of a new world, they also include the promise that God is active to renew the world.] This new section of the book begins with explicit words of comfort for a broken people.

To people in exile God offers words of reassurance. God tells them that the penalty has been paid and that the road home is being prepared. What words of comfort and reassurance do we need to hear today? What highway is being laid through the wilderness of the world leading to the promised land, the promised time of peace? If the herald were to mount up to the city walls or the high mountain (Maybe the top of the Kleskun hills??) to announce Good News what would we hear today in 2023?

We would hear the old promise of the God who comes into the world. We would hear of the God who is reshaping and reforming God's people. We would hear about the God who continues to gather God's people into their arms. We would be reminded of the God who is in control -- despite the evidence to the contrary God is somehow in control.

Later in the book we come across chapter 61, possibly the work of a third person in the school of Isaiah. Here we are reminded of the vision of what the Reign of God, the Reign of the Prince of Peace, will be like. We are reminded that the reign of peace only comes with social justice. Indeed, that which we sometimes call peace is not true peace because so often it comes at the expense of full inclusive justice for all. For true peace to reign we need true justice to be a reality.

We need the world to be reborn.

Advent is a time of getting ready for a world to be reborn. Advent is a time of reminding ourselves of the God who offers both correction and comfort. Advent is a time when we plan for the birth of a baby who will transform the world. Advent is a time to remind ourselves of the promise -- and peace is a part of that promise.

It can be hard to look at the world, to read the news, to listen to the radio and believe that peace is anything other than a pipe dream. But rebirth and renewal is possible. God is still at work. Peace and Justice are the long term plan. It will happen.

Thanks be to God.
--Gord