Looking Ahead to December 22, 2024 -- 4th Sunday of Advent -- Love Candle

 

The Scripture Readings this final Sunday of Advent are:

• Psalm 146 
•  Luke 1:39-55

The Sermon title is Jesus Is Coming, Sing Justice, Dance Love

Early Thoughts: Mary was not, it appears, meek nor mild. Mary had a vision of how was God was at work to transform the world -- ands wasn't shy about sharing it.

I think I like the story of Mary and Elizabeth's meeting as much as the Christmas story itself. Elizabeth, pregnant when it was well past the time that such thing should happen (to quote a play I was in 30 years ago "when a women who shops the Co-Op on Seniors day is about to have a child the world is not out of surprises yet") meets her cousin Mary, pregnant too soon. As Luke tells the story, the child Elizabeth carries will be known as John the Baptizer, he will predict the coming of the Messiah. The child Mary carries will be seen as God living among us, the Word-Made-Flesh, Emmanuel. Two special children and two bold mothers.

When they greet each other Elizabeth feels her child leap for joy (which can't have been too comfortable for mom in her last trimester), some might even say John was dancing in his mother's womb. At that instant one of the women (generally seen to be Mary but some sources say Elizabeth) is moved to song.

But her song is not a lullaby. Her song is not about the worries and wonders of impending parenthood. Her song is a cry for change, a manifesto for a just new world, a proclamation that God ahs something grand in mind. Mary sings of justice, of a world turned upside down by the God who created and loves the world.

I believe that working to create a world where justice reigns is what it means to put "love your neighbour" into action. The Christmas story is not just a sweet story about angels and shepherds and a baby in a manger. The Christmas story is a story of the world being changed. It is a story of God breaking into the world to live among us and start the avalanche of justice called for by the ancient prophets "But let justice roll down like water and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." (Amos 5:24) Mary sings a song of justice to help us dance the dance of love.

Both the children who are in this story today (albeit in utero) will carry forward the song of justice and the dance of love. John will preach a baptism of repentance and encourage folk to change how they live (se Luke chapter 3 for how he does that), Jesus will call attention to the way the world could be and invite us all to live into a new way of being. It is an old song, an ancient dance -- it's rhythms can be felt from the days of Moses right through to the new heaven and new earth in Revelation and on through wise ones, prophets, and teachers to this very day.

We are invite to sing and dance too. Are we ready to lift up our voices, faltering as they may be at times, and try out the steps, even when he may have two left feet? Can we join Mary, Elizabeth, John and Jesus in hope and joy, working for peace love and justice -- a world reborn and renewed?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to December 24, 2024 -- Christmas Eve Celebration.

 

Nativity Scene at St. Paul's

This year we are going to reflect on the story of the night.  We will in fact hear it 4 times:

1. As set for children in The First Christmas
2. from the King James Version of the Bible
3. form the First Nations Version of the New Testament
4. from the GenZ Bible

Stained Glass from St. Paul's

The Reflection title is The (N)Ever-changing Story

Early Thoughts: In her Advent song Hope is a Candle United Church musician Linnea Good writes: "For we are a people of a Story. Of stars that sing and love that cries". In his book The Truth About Stories Canadian writer Thomas King says "The truth about stories is that that's all we are". Hearing and telling stories is one of the biggest ways we learn about and find meaning in  life.

At Christmas there are lots of stories we tell -- we have a rather heavy (as I remember each year as I haul them up from the basement) collection of Christmas books in our house. Some of them are stories about a jolly old elf who lives at the North Pole and flies around in a sleigh pulled by magical reindeer. Some of them are stories about families gathering together for song and merriment. And then there is the story that lies under the season...

From Riverview United in Atikokan

In the age-old special A Charlie Brown Christmas Charlie spends most of the episode trying to figure out what Christmas is all about. Finally he lets out an anguished cry "Can anyone tell me what Christmas is all about?!?". At this point his friend Linus steps in, calls for the spotlight and shares an ancient story about shepherds and angels and a baby lying in a manger. That is the story we tell tonight.

I have learned that one of the wonderful things about truly great and timeless stories is that they can be told in a variety of ways. We can change the setting (either in time or in geography). We can tell it from the point of view of different characters. We can tell it in song, in poetry, in narrative, in drama, or through pictures -- maybe even interpretive dance. We might find new and innovative ways to tell the story and yet it remains the same story.

Found on Facebook

This is, I have found, true of the Nativity story as well. We may be used to hearing it in one way [Though I have heard and read it in many different ways over the years to this day there is a part of me that always hears it in Linus' voice using King James language.] but it can and has been retold many different ways. This picture recasts it in a more modern setting (and there are lots of references to the Biblical story hidden in the picture.  How many can you find?). 30+ years ago I was in a musical that set the story in rural Saskatchewan during a farm credit crisis.

My daughter loves Nativity scenes.  We have a living room full of them -- when she eventually sets up her own house and takes them all away we might have to find new Christmas decor. We have sets with South American imagery, or Little People, or one called a Canadian Nativity. But despite the wide variety of art and style they all tell the same story. They all tell about a baby born in a less than ideal place. Most of them include angels and shepherd or Magi, unusual visitors for a newborn child.

I happen to think that the story actual gains meaning when we find new ways to tell it. When we use our imagination to re-tell the story in new ways we might notice something we never have before. Or maybe changing it from 2000 years ago in a far off land to be a story about a young homeless family on our downtown streets will bring it home in a new way, make it more relevant to our lives today. Or maybe using language and slang and idiom of a new generation will open it up to that new generation. The story doesn't change -- how we tell it does.

Found on Facebook

On Christmas night we tell a timeless story. We talk about God breaking into the world in a different, unexpected way. We talk about a baby born long ago and far away. At the same time we tell the story of a God who continues to break into the world and live among us. We tell a story that happened long ago and continues to happen today. God's time works in a cyclical fashion, God's time moves forward by pulling us into a story that keeps flowing.

The story never changes and the story always changes. Join us on Christmas Eve to reflect on the ongoing story.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to December 15, 2024 -- 3rd Sunday of Advent, Year C -- Joy

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Zephaniah 3:14-20
• Isaiah 12:2-6
• Philippians 4:4-7

The Sermon title is Jesus is Coming, Relax Into Joy

Early Thoughts: What does Joy mean to you this year? Where does joy fit into the chaotic world in which we live?

I think that when defined in a faith sense joy is not about being happy. I think it is about trust.  Earlier this fall I saved this quote with the thought it might come in handy this week:

We are called to be joyful not by ignoring the chaos of the world but despite the chaos of the world.

Our Joy rests in the knowledge that we are not alone. Joy comes with the promise that God is at work transforming us and transforming the world. Joy comes with the reassurance that the powers of death and destruction will not have the final victory. Joy, as one of our Easter hymns tells us, comes with the dawn, with the morning sun, with the empty tomb.

All three of our passages this week talk about rejoicing, about being joy-filled. And in each of the presence and work of God is a key part of the call to rejoice.

As we go through Advent, as we move closer to the day when we will listen for angel song and eavesdrop and the angel says to the shepherd "I bring you Good News which shall be for all people" we await God breaking into the world yet again. When God breaks into the world, when God acts decisively in our lives we are called into joy.

Can we trust in God's presence and action enough to allow us to relax into Joy in the midst of a broken world?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to December 8, 2024 -- 2nd Sunday of Advent, Peace Candle

The Scripture readings this week are:

• Malachi 3:1-4 
• Luke 3:1-18

The Sermon title is Jesus Is Coming, Be Refined for Peace

Early Thoughts: We all Jesus the Prince of Peace. We share the promise of a transformed world where peace will be the norm. How will we get there?

I think this weeks passages hold a clue, or at least part of the answer. But first a song. Whenever I read this passage from Malachi I am reminded of a song that I learned many years ago in my late teens.

Now back to the idea of peace. Certainly peace comes from structural, systemic change. We can not have a reign of peace unless the rules of how we live together (as individuals, communities and nations) are changed. But it also means that we ourselves have to be changed. We need to be refined.

This week we hear from John the Baptist, who Luke tells us is a cousin of Jesus. John is an interesting character in our story. From what Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell us it seems he was wildly popular. People flocked out into the wilderness to hear him and be baptized by him in the Jordan (Jesus himself will be baptized by John a bit later in the story). But John's message is not warm and fuzzy. He is not in this business to make friends. John is in the business of calling people to repentance -- his is described as a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (which makes for some interesting questions when Jesus gets dunked) -- and he is not shy about telling them how they have fallen short of the target.

Source

John's vision of what the promised Messiah will do is not different. He envisions a Messiah who will be big on judgment, on separating out the wheat from the chaff, of getting rid of the dead weight. Such a nice message to hear as we prepare for Christmas. "Joy to the World! You are all terrible people"

Then again, maybe some self-reflection is in order as we prepare for God to break into the world yet again. If we are honest with ourselves we know that we could probably do better, live better, love better. Using imagery like brood of vipers, chaff fit to be burned, or a tree that needs to be cut down might be a bit over the top but it does not hurt to be reminded that personal change is needed.

Historically Advent, like Lent, has been described as a penitential season. To repent means more than admitting where we have made wrong turns, it means to change directions. In Lent we are called to change directions in preparation for the story of cross and tomb, when God will break into the world and change the world through the Resurrection. In Advent we are called to change direction so that we are ready for God to break into the world through a baby in a manger. And our lives will never be the same again.

I actually like the imagery used by Malachi, of refining and purifying. It reminds me that each of us has the final product (gold or silver) inside us already. Refining ore removes the overburden and dross so that the pure  (or purer) product gets released. Each one of us is a diamond in the rough, a chunk of ore being refined to draw out our true essence.

As the years have passed some folk have felt uncomfortable seeing Advent as a penitential  season. Repentance language is not always comforting or joyful. There has been a desire to spend Advent in a mode of joy and celebration, to focus on Good News, to keep it all light and cheery. I get that. I understand the need to counter the dark news that fills our world. But I also don't think it is being honest.

If we are to be peacemakers in a troubled world we need to be prepared for the job. If we are going to be labourers for the Reign of God we need to be prepared for the task. Jesus is coming. God is going to break into the world yet again. It is time to let the dross get melted away, to toss the chaff into the air to blow away, to be refined and cleansed and purified. Thanks to God who continues to refine us to be who we are meant to be.
--Gord