Advent week 4: Peace

We have spent the last four weeks looking for Christ. Our verse for the time has been: "Keep watch, for you do not know on what day your Lord will come." Matthew 24:42. During this particular Advent season, while feeling called to really look for Jesus, so much not-Jesus has been shoved in our faces. Tragedies of various kinds have affected our country and our congregation. Yet the word is still the same: Keep watch for Jesus. He could show up anywhere, at any time, whether for His second coming or for his visits into our daily lives. We look for Him to come.

So today, we are going to spend some time looking for Jesus's peace to come. Following is a reading of the story of God bringing peace to earth that goes from the Old Testament, through the life of Jesus, and after Jesus left us with His spirit. Through all time, God has been bringing peace on earth.

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Isaiah 54:10
Though the mountains be shaken
    and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
    nor my covenant of peace be removed,”
    says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

Psalm 34:14
Seek peace and pursue it.

Isaiah 52:8,7
Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices;
    together they shout for joy.
When the Lord returns to Zion,
    they will see it with their own eyes.
How beautiful on the mountains
    are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,

Luke 2:14
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…And He will be called…Prince of Peace.

John 16:33
[Jesus said, “…I]n me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

John 14:27
^“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

John 20:21-22
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” ²² And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

2 Thessalonians 3:16
Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.

2 Corinthians 13:11
Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

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To these, I would only add a couple of verses that have encouraged me this week as I have been thinking about Peace. 

Isaiah 32
¹⁶ The Lord’s justice will dwell in the desert,
    his righteousness live in the fertile field.
¹⁷ The fruit of that righteousness will be peace;
    its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.

That phrase, "quietness and confidence forever," is what I want to lay hold of. The righteousness of God is what ushers it in. And I can be confident in Him. Who he is replaces the turmoil in our souls with quietness. I can be confident in his unfailing love and can be sure that nothing can take that away form me.

Also over this time of Advent, I have seen those in our midst who have been affected by the darkness of this world letting Christ's light shine through them. I have seen a girl badly wronged turning to Christ for her way forward. I have seen those who mourn claiming Jesus as the center of their joy. These things are great sources of encouragement to me. They help light the way for us all. And so the next verse comes to mind. It brings me peace because I can see the truth of it coming to be right before my eyes as I look around at all us messed up people finding God right where we are.

Philippians 1:6
[I am] confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

And so we know that those of us He has begun forming into His children, He will keep forming until He is finished. That brings me quiet confidence today.

Lastly, let's observe a time of quiet today. After a time of silence, we will have a prayer.

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Heavenly Father,
The same God who created peace in the beginning and who has ever since promised its return,
The same God whose gift to a power-hungry, sin-occupied world was a baby
who remained just as innocent as the day He was born,
who promised to share with us His peace.
You are the God we need.

Prince of Peace,
We have been looking for you for a long time.
We love you because you have overcome the troubles in this world.
Thank you for enduring violence to share with us your peace.
We ask you to bring peace to our hearts
and to our land.

Spirit of the Living Christ,
Helper, Comforter.
Live in us.
Help us to find your peace in our world.
Let it grow in our lives.
Give us the beautiful words that proclaim its coming
to a world that needs to hear.

We want to see you with our own eyes.
We want to shout for joy.
We want go running with the news.
Make us beautiful as we shout it from the mountains.
We want to live at peace with each other,
to be fully restored.
In you, we have peace. You yourself are our Peace.
Be with us, Jesus, both now and forever.
 
Amen. 

Advent 2012: Joy

Reading from Psalm 30

LEADER:
Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people;
    praise his holy name.
 For his anger lasts only a moment,
    but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may stay for the night,
    but rejoicing comes in the morning.
To you, Lord, I called;
    to the Lord I cried for mercy:
Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me;
    Lord, be my help.
Weeping may stay for the night,
    but rejoicing comes in the morning.
 For his anger lasts only a moment,
    but his favor lasts a lifetime;
Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people;
    praise his holy name!

READERS 1&2:
You turned my wailing into dancing;
    you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.

READERS 3&4:
You turned my wailing into dancing;
    you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.

ALL:
You turned my wailing into dancing;
    you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.
    Lord my God, I will praise you forever.

I am here to talk to you about joy. This week, we have learned about senseless tragedies in our nation and perhaps in our own lives. I know many of us are in the nighttime of sorrow. On this very week when we are to come together to talk about the Joy that comes in the morning, talking about Joy may feel like salt in the wound.

Perhaps the timing for this Advent is off. Or perhaps this is the best time. Because this is a time when we know we need Joy. We need to know that this night won’t last forever. We come empty-handed and asking to be given something we don’t have and can’t make for ourselves. We know the only One around who can give it to us is Christ himself.

Especially during Advent, we look forward to Jesus coming, because we know He’s not the only one who has come into the world. We know we have an enemy who has shown up as well. In John 10:10, Jesus tells us that our enemy “comes to steal and kill and destroy.” We can see joy stolen. We feel robbed. But John 10:10 doesn’t end with the news about our enemy. We don't have to hang on there long. Jesus goes on to say, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” And THAT is the final word on the situation. Jesus came to give us just those things we cannot get or maintain for ourselves: Hope, Love, Joy…Life.

Last week, I spoke about how we oftentimes find whatever it is we’re looking for. I don’t necessarily think we should look for truth on social media, but sometimes it is found even there. A picture was going around the internet yesterday that I had to share then and I think is fitting to share now. It’s a quote from Fred Rogers – Mr. Rogers – who was a pastor before he was a children’s television creator. He said:

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, especially in times of 'disaster,' I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers - so many caring people in this world."

I’m not trying to be a humanist. It’s not that I think there are more good people in this world than bad. I just don’t know. But God has left us His spirit – in people – and so we can always expect to find helpers. So this morning, we are looking for our Helper. Those around us may be focused on the chaos and the horrible, but in the middle of it all, we are as children in the middle of a disaster, looking only for our Helper. We know for sure we will find Him here. He comes bearing the gift of Joy to people overcome with sadness. 

These are the words Jesus used when He told us why He had come:

Isaiah 61
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,
² to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
³     and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of his splendor.

If God has called us to be oaks of righteousness, there is nothing that can keep us from becoming who God will make us to be. No ugliness can keep us from displaying His splendor. Our Helper and is coming with just the gift we need! We need joy. And we’re looking for Him. We’re focused on finding Him. We can praise Him right now because He is here. He is the unshakable center of our Joy and nothing and no one can ever take Him away from us. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! 

Shameka encouraged us with a dance to this song by Richard Smallwood. (This page sites the wrong artist.) I wish I had thought to have someone film it, because she has a gift of encouraging others through her dance. But here is the song for those who would want to hear it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPG-EBdVWpU

Advent 2012: Love

 

This year, we are looking at the traditional themes of Advent: Hope, Joy, Love, and Peace. However, to prove once again my imperfection, I accidentally switched the weeks of Joy and Love. Traditionally, Love is the third week of Advent instead of the second, but I'm a rebel like that, so we're going ahead with the second week of our Advent: Love. Our verse for this entire Advent season is: 

"Keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come." from Matthew 24:42.

Our reading for this week is from Psalm 13:

 ^“1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
² How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
    and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
    How long will my enemy triumph over me?
                    _  _  _  _  _  _  _ 
                  

⁵ But I trust in your unfailing love;
    my heart rejoices in your salvation.

⁶ I will sing the Lord’s praise,
    for he has been good to me.”

Because the Lord has been good to me,
I will sing His praises.

My heart rejoices in your salvation.
I trust in your unfailing love.

Love
When I was in college, I went through a time of being really disillusioned and disappointed and angry with God. I was out from under the shelter of my parents’ faith and trying to figure out why it seemed the world was such an ugly place to live. Did God really love everyone? It didn’t seem like it. Why did so much evil happen in the world? Was God really going to hide His face forever? The enemy of my soul had triumphed over me for so long that I was trying to switch sides. I wasn’t asking God “How long?” anymore; that seemed too childish. I had moved past that to anger that He hadn’t showed up yet, that He didn’t love as well as I’d hoped, and that injustice seemed to rule the day. I wasn’t looking for Him anymore. I was done with waiting.

So often in life, we find what we’re looking for. I was looking for reasons to blame God for everything wrong. And I found them. I was looking for hate in the world. And I found it. I was looking for hypocrisy in the church. Yes. There it was. I found what I was looking for. I wasn’t really looking for love in the world, but at the same time, I was angry that I wasn’t finding it.

But, happily, Someone Else was doing some looking, too. That Person was named Love. He had always been there, even though I wasn’t really trying and couldn’t see Him. He had been a good listener to all of my angry outbursts during my times alone with Him, and just so I could see it, he put on the flesh of friends in my life to show me His heart towards me. One night, after hours of listening to me accuse God of being unloving, one of them said, “Lezlie, if love doesn’t exist, then what are we doing here?” And so Love had found me.

We can trust in God’s unfailing love. We rely on it. Even when we are fumbling around in the darkness, we can trust that God will find us. This time of year especially, we remember how he put on the flesh of a Friend so we could all see just how far Love will go to pursue us.

I’ve asked the little children of our church to share with us, because the truth of this morning is simple and we should never try to outgrow it: God is Love. We look for Jesus as little children – trusting He is there – or we don’t find Him at all. In this season of Advent, let us set aside the troubles we’ve encountered as we’ve grown older. Not that those troubles aren’t real; they just aren’t as eternal as God’s Love. Let us focus instead on the Light of the World making his Love known to us. “Keep watch, therefore, because you do not know when the Lord will come.”

Today, we can praise God even now because of his Love that never fails. We may fail, but God’s love is perfect. Praise Him, because He is love, though others are not. Praise Him, because He is love no matter whatever else may happen.

The Bible says, “Seek and you will find.” Look around you, because God is everywhere. Look around you, because even though we may live in dark times, God has us living where we do “so that [we] would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’” We are swimming in Love. Look around you and take hope, because God is Love! His love will not fail.

Look around you, because God’s love is still in the business of taking on flesh. If you can’t see Love around you, pray that you will have Him in you.

For those who look – and even, perhaps, for some of us who don’t – we will see Him coming! He is coming for us! Through faith, we can even see it now. See Him coming! There He is – and there – and here. We can all look back or around or ahead and see Love’s presence showing up in our lives. He has not left us. He is here with us now. He will come and rescue us. See Him coming! God is Love!

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
Ephesians 3:17-19

Advent 2012: Hope

I cherish Advent. I get to share this love of the season at my church each week as we observe the season together. Since I have a blog, I thought I'd also share it with you. I am late posting the first week's observance, but it's always better late than never, right? Besides, keeping you waiting was perhaps only a means of reinforcing one of the main ideas of the season. :) Enjoy this time of reflection and meditation.

- Advent means coming.
- We set our minds on Jesus, the light of the world who came into the world to change the world forever.
- We let that change begin with us.
- During Advent, we set aside time to think about what Jesus’s coming means. We think about what it must have been like to wait for the first Advent, when Jesus came as a humble baby. We feel the anticipation ourselves as we look forward to the second advent of Christ. We think about how much our world – and we ourselves -- need Jesus to come right here, right now.
- There are many ways and traditions within the church to observe Advent. This year, we are observing the traditional themes of advent: the light of hope, of love, of joy, and of peace. Each candle around the outside of the Advent wreath represents one of these lights. The reason we are able to have any of these, of course, is Jesus, represented by the Christ candle in the center.
- Our theme verse this year comes from Mt. 24:42: “…Keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” Our Lord is coming; we believe and are looking for Him.
- Let’s start by letting the word wash over us as we begin celebrating the first week of Advent: HOPE.

In service, several people quoted these verses. Read them over several times so their words wash over you.

But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
- Micah 7:7 
But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you. - Psalm 39: 7
 

Hope

Often in the Psalms and in the prophets, we read the words of people who see all kinds of darkness in the world around them. They record injustices, troubles of all kinds, their own struggles with sin, the evils of their leaders, the sicknesses of the chosen people of God themselves. I have times like that. Sometimes, I feel like all I see around me is dark. Sometimes, I feel like all I see in ME is dark. I think there’s a lot of truth there – hearts are full of darkness and the world is fallen and broken.

But I love how the writings of the prophets and the psalmists never end there. Because we are not left without hope. Both talk about how the Savior of the world is coming. Writing from a dark place, they talk about the Light that is coming. We can read passages that promise every tear will be wiped away, that the Lord himself will teach us the way of Life, that wars will end, that every sickness will be healed, that justice will be done, that mercy will win, and that all will be made new.

          When Jesus told His disciples about his second Advent, he told them it would be like the coming of a wedding party. 
(From Matthew 25)
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ² Five of them were foolish and five were wise. ³ The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. ⁴ The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. ⁵ The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

⁶ “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

⁷ “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

⁹ “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

¹⁰ “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

¹¹ “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’

¹² “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’

¹³ “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

This image of being ready to wait for the One who is coming stuck with me this year. I want to be one who is ready to wait, however long it takes, to see my Savior’s face when he comes. Watching for the coming of the Bridegroom means we, just like the prophets and the psalmists, have to hold out the light of hope.           
            Andrew, our pastor, often talks about how we’re not here to run a sprint; we’re running a marathon, here. If I’m going to make it, I need to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I need to see people carrying the light around me, encouraging me on. We have these things. We even have Jesus’s own Spirit burning inside us.
              Even as we are in the middle of whatever dark circumstances are around us, we know He’s coming. Therefore, since we have hope, we don’t sit around asking, “Are you coming?” If we have hope burning within us, we ask, “How long, O Lord, until you come?” We aren’t looking for anyone else to cure the sin of the world. “How long, O Lord, until YOU come?” Our world has only one Hope. So we wait, looking everywhere to find Him. We do not know exactly when to expect Him, so we look for Him everywhere. We know He is coming; we just don’t know how long He will take. 

You can follow this link if you'd like to listen to the song we covered as a backdrop to a time of meditation. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvO1d3RBSiY&feature=related

to santa or not to santa...?

So, this year, Israel is not old enough to know the difference. Next year, though, the issue will have to be addressed in some manner or other and some trajectory will be set for Israel's relationship with the most perfect being ever to not exist: Santa.

When the hypothetical parenting discussions between friends took place years ago, my approach was to brush off the "Santa" issue as not a big deal and not worth really thinking about. After all, I can tend to over-think things and that was one thing I didn't want to over-think. I really enjoyed Santa as a kid. And I don't think my whole "I don't believe in God anymore because God is just something my parents taught me to believe in" time of life would have been avoided had they been bluntly honest with me about Santa's non-existence. I don't think Santa is evil and I don't think celebrating Santa coming at Christmas means a person can't or doesn't also celebrate Jesus coming at Christmas. That said, we realized this year that even if we say nothing about Santa, the question will come up for Israel and we will either give him presents from the jolly old elf or we won't. Here are some of the pros and cons we talk about.

Pros:
- We both REALLY liked Santa growing up. We liked the surprise element of the presents. We liked his character and we liked the adventure of trying to catch him at his work. I liked the mystery of putting out cookies and "witnessing" him having eaten them in the morning, though I slept through his visit.
- Neither Pat nor I had traumatic experiences figuring out that Santa wasn't real; in fact, neither of us remember "the" Christmas when it happened. We don't remember anyone breaking the news to us, though I seem to remember one year finding out that my older cousins didn't believe in him. I don't think I ever had a direct conversation about it with my parents. I preferred to figure things out for myself and put the question to the big guy himself one year in my letter to him, which he answered satisfactorily enough.
- We don't want to have that kid who tells all the other kids Santa isn't real and we don't want our kids to think kids who believe in Santa are stupid.
- We don't like the idea of well-meaning adults asking our kid what Santa brought them and our young child answering, "nothing," or, "We don't believe in Santa." At Christmas time, that is cultural suicide. And we don't want people to think that we miss out on fun because we celebrate Jesus's birth and not Santa during the season.

Cons:
- My first inclination not to teach Israel that Santa is real was that I just didn't feel like it. I don't feel like trying to find out exactly what the kids want each year and buying that "best" present only to give the credit for that work to "Santa." If I'm going to get my kid the bomb present, I want him to know that I did it because I love him, not think that Santa brought it to him because of how good he was the previous year. Along those lines, I don't want to be stuck giving my kids the second-best present every year.
- As a kid, I did not like that, contrary to the news spread about the situation, bad kids got presents at least as cool as mine. I don't want my kids to hear that they had better be good to get presents only to have that mean kid down the street get the latest version of Nintendo. Though perhaps it is an accurate picture of the way things are on earth, it is a screwed-up version of justice, since Santa is supposed to know how everyone behaves and reward accordingly.
- The idea of a fat, bearded man knowing when I'm sleeping creeps me out.
- I don't want to have to reinforce an idea that is not true. This is strange, because I don't think it's unethical to tell your kid Santa exists and have absolutely no problem with parents playing the "Santa" game with their kids. However, I don't want to ever have to tell my child to believe in Santa. And I don't want to be put in the awkward situation of admitting, after years of reinforcing Santa's existence, that it was all a hoax and I had led my kid to believe an untruth. Even now, I like being able to ask kids in my life whether I have ever lied to them and them having to admit that I have not. I want my kids to be able to take me at my word, even though this is kind of a trivial matter in our culture. (You don't think a person is a liar just because they say Santa is real.)
- I don't want to wait in long lines places to have my kid tell Santa what he wants for Christmas or to get pictures with Santa. I haven't even paid to have Israel's pictures taken with me, for goodness's sake! Besides, Santas are scary-looking unless they have real beards.
- We want to really be able to celebrate Jesus's birth at Christmas. There are MANY distractions and obstacles to this besides Santa. We may or may not be able to overcome all of them as we look to set our family Christmas traditions. But Santa is one distraction that is pretty easy to eliminate if we want to.
- I don't like that all the magic of the season is summed up in Santa in our culture. I know we don't have to pass that aspect of Santa on to our kids even if we play the game. But it's a whole lot easier not to send the message that Santa represents all things good and right and hopeful about the world and those in it if we teach our kids that he is not real, but that God is. Santa plays a role in our culture that is a little too close to God's rightful role for my comfort. Of course, all Christians would rather our children know God as the one who knows everything, gives good gifts to people near and far, has the grip on the scales of justice and is able to do things that are physically impossible (a fat man going down the chimney? really?) or miraculous than to think that those traits are embodied in Santa. Perhaps it is not an either/or situation, but as a kid, it was a lot easier to get excited about Santa, who adults said had those traits, than it was about God, who adults said had those traits. And even if all we do is put gifts from Santa under the tree, it puts us in the awkward place of having to validate all the stories other people and the songs and all that say about him. I don't want my kids thinking Santa is the best thing ever when he doesn't even exist!

But then, there is a strong pull toward Santa and we really mean that part in the "pro" section of not wanting to be spoil-sports at Christmas. We want our kids to be excited about it and to have the same sort of magical feelings about Christmas time that we had growing up. Can that be done without Santa? Of course, it should be able to be done. We're thinking through how we could go about it. Christmas is supposed to be a celebration and Jesus certainly enjoyed those as much as the next guy when he was here. God even mandated that the Jews celebrate many holidays a year -- more than I celebrate in a given year. So a full-out celebration is in order. We have trouble figuring out how to make a celebration about Jesus, though. Things about Jesus tend to involve silence and prayer and scripture-reading and all that. They are somber and contemplative. But that is part of what Advent is for. This is Christmas we're talking about!

Some of our ideas for solutions have been:
-Writing thank-yous to Jesus in place of letters to Santa. Or even having the kids write requests to Jesus instead of to Santa (though letters like, "Dear Jesus, please bring me a Wii," would be problematic).
- Throwing a party, with presents and good food. This is already done somewhat, with the gifts and elaborate meals at Christmas time, but it could be built upon.

What is difficult is that Christmas is spent, not at church, but with family. For some reason, living rooms and sanctuaries are completely different spaces and we don't do the same things in one as we do the other. As you read in my previous post, the Christmas celebration at our church was great and I'm sure some people (kids in particular) broke a sweat in their celebration. And that time was certainly about Jesus, as celebration and worship combined. It seems odd to think about doing such a thing with extended family, though, since we never do anything spiritual together besides utter a prayer before a meal. I don't see most people's families coming together, playing great music, worshiping, and dancing in the living room before preparing and eating a feast. That is the sort of thing (some) churches do.

Now, I know that most of the people in our particular families will probably celebrate together with us in Heaven. In that way, being with blood family and being with brothers and sister in Christ has the potential to be the same thing here. But doing church at family gatherings is just...awkward. And forced. It's not what people around us do and we're not into trying to make people do things or say things or pretend things just because it's Christmas and that's as true for belief in Jesus as it is for belief in Santa. Religious topics are so divisive and somewhat taboo in families -- even Christian families -- and it's hard to think of a non-awkward way to bring religious practices into family life. But Pat points out that, though this is part of our "how do we do Christmas now that we have children" conversation, it is a digression from Santa. And we can't digress from Santa.

We left the conversation pretty open-ended this year. Maybe it will be a little less open-ended next year. Maybe we will make some decisions based on our ideas of what would be the ideal way to celebrate Christmas; maybe some of these decisions get made for us by way of convention. Maybe some of you do things you have found to be great at Christmas time that we have not thought of and will share them with us. (Maybe we'll use your ideas and maybe we won't.) Maybe we should pay closer attention to the kids, who are really good at celebrating on their own. Maybe, we'll just put gifts under the tree from "?" and when the kids ask if Santa is real, we'll say, "Maybe."

advent: we will celebrate.

I wish I had taken my camera to church this morning. During advent, I have planned this small part of the service: I pick a passage, ask someone to talk about it, prepare a responsive reading, and ask someone to read it. I sit back and watch what happens. This Sunday the theme was the angels and celebration. I know you hope for this to happen every Sunday, but there are some services, such as this one, when you can sense keenly that God must've organized the time.

For starters, the children were all in service for worship this Sunday, ages 1 month and up. The band played "Go, Tell it on the Mountain," to start and it was the most celebratory rendition of the song I have ever witnessed. The kids from the neighborhood added stomps and hand-clapping. Little girls in dresses, jeans, and pink camo pants spun in circles, holding each others' hands. Adults danced with babies on their hips and a 9-year-old boy clapped and sang loudly while sitting on someone's shoulders. Teenagers were smiling. The celebration took over the front part of the room, just inches (at times) from the guitar player. Normally, I would be the first to jump up and try to corral the kids off to the side, but it was clear that though they had not been asked to, they were leading worship.

The nursery (ages 1-4 at our church) sang "This Little Light of Mine" and "He's God the Whole World in His Hands." These are not Christmas songs, per se, but light is definitely one of the themes of Advent. Particularly beautiful about the time was watching one of our youth, the third of eight children in her family, holding her youngest sister. The little girl, who is less than two, pointed her finger high during "This Little Light of Mine" and stood up straight while her older sister moved her hands along to the motions of "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." Sometimes I despair that these particular children are raising themselves and each other in so many ways, but today the scene of the older teaching the younger brought me to joyful tears.

...As did the scene of the black children and the white children, the middle-class children and the poor chidlren, dancing together without realizing what a powerful image they were making.

...As did scanning the congregation to see adults making circles with their arms above their heads and smiling during "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands."

...As did the older children taking over the song the Sunday School workers were teaching them and doing their own stomp and clap version of "Joy to the World," complete with hip-hop echoes of each line. Only one of the children singing had parents in attendance, but we all cheered when they finished because they are all our kids.

Maybe I'm a bit more emotional than usual because I'm pregnant, but I cried off and on through nearly the whole service. It was the best celebration I have seen in quite some time...most of it impromptu.

I asked one of the "older" couples in our church (they would not be labeled such in most any other church they could attend) to lead the advent time this week. They are a zaney couple and the wife in particular is one of the best celebrators I've met. The characters for this week were the angels. I think they had quite a great job, bringing all the great news to the earthlings. Eric, the husband, read in Luke 2 of the angels making the announcement to the shepherds. Brenda spoke about the other times in Advent that angels made announcements. When Gabriel showed up to Zechariah and told him he and his wife would have a son, Zechariah did not celebrate the good news with the angel; instead, he asked for proof. That lack of belief led to Zechariah being silenced for the next many months. When Gabriel showed up to Mary and told her she would bear God's son, Mary submitted and that submission lead to a time of celebration with Elizabeth that even included Elizabeth's son in utero, who leapt for joy from his place in the womb. When the angels showed up to the shepherds, they joined the celebration and worshipped. When confronted with our good news, do we spread it by celebrating or is our joy silenced by cynicism?

We have been given so much to celebrate. Not only do we have the good news of Christmas, but we also have the good news of the cross. We have gifts in this life and milestones that are to be celebrated. We are unconditionally accepted as God's own children and loved with a love that is not affected by our bad behaviour. Brenda listed many things she is celebrating this Christmas and others, including children in the congregation, took her up on her invitation to verbally list some things they celebrate today as well. We all have many reasons, both universal and individual, to celebrate.

In the absence of a youth to read today's reading, I had my friend Lauren do it. She came up with her one-month old daughter and led us through the reading. She's the only person I know who can do justice to a reading with exclamation points in it without sounding staged. And tears streamed down her face and mine we were reminded of all the joys given and promised to us as Children of Light.

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The angels received good news from the throne of God. Their joy at the news turned into a celebration that was brought to the shepherds. As we come today, let's join in the celebration that began at God's throne and will go on into eternity when we all gather at that same throne. After I read each line, please respond by saying: “We will celebrate!”

There is good news for all the people.

It is good for the poor, young, unmarried mother.

It is good for the well-dressed, old priest.

It is good for us.

The angels brought good news.

We will bring good news.

The Light has come to the world!

Children of Light, nothing is better than this!

Come, let us dance in the light of the Lord.

He gives us peace with God.

He gives us peace with each other.

We are different.

We are one in Christ.

On the street to the new Jerusalem,

On the streets of Muncie,

We will lift our voices together.

With each other,

With those around the world;

With those who have gone before us,

With those who will come after us,

With the angels;

The Spirit and the Church say, “Come!”

If you hear the invitation, say, “Come!”

When you come, Lord Jesus,

Because you come, Lord Jesus;

advent: we will worship.

This week's reading was Luke 2:8-20, the story of the shepherds and the angels. Our characters for the week were the shepherds. It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted the theme to be. On the one hand, I love what this part of the Christmas story has to say about our humble God showing Himself to humble people. However, when I read the story, worship is what stood out to me.

When Luke picks up the scene, the shepherds are just going about their work. It's quiet and still, except for maybe a sheep stirring here or there. And out of nowhere comes this spiritual being (who knows what it looked like; I hate the way angels are pictured as just really beautiful people with wings) who has to first calm their fears before making the crazy announcement: God has shown up in a human body that is hours old and wrapped up in the feeding trough at one of the local inns. The shepherds leave their important work and go to pay a visit to God. They leave, excitedly talking about it and praising God for this great thing He has done in coming, and presumably thanking Him for letting them in on the whole thing.

The man who shared in our church today pointed out that it is God who initiates these encounters. We don't initiate these intimate times with God; He does. Really, what did the shepherds do to deserve witnessing the heavenly hosts' announcement? Nothing. God decided to share the time with them. Of course, they eagerly accepted the invitation to the manger scene and left all the richer for it. God has given us an invitation to an intimate scene with Him as well. In John chapter 1, John says that anyone who accepts the Christ who showed up in the world this way is given the right to become a child of God. We are invited to join God's family. Talk about God initiating an intimate time together! This intimate time is to include the rest of our lives. Of course, we are more intimate with God at some times than at others and we have certain times set aside as "worship times," but our ability to enter into God's presence is much more dependent upon Him than it is on us. We merely accept His invitation, join in the time, and let Him change us through our time together.

I like the shepherds much more than the wise men at this point in my life. When I was in college, I preferred the wise men because I was sick of hearing about how God chose ignorant, inept, people to "shame the wise." I was happy for the example of the people who found God because they had done their homework and followed the conclusions of their studies. They brought fitting, even prophetic, gifts to the little child. They knew their stuff. Now, of course, I am still glad the "wise people" don't miss out on the chance to get to know their Saviour. However, this year, I love that the shepherds did nothing to be invited to the manger and they took no gifts with them when they went. They were not "prepared." (Chances are they did not show up looking like people I would want to handle my ordinary baby, much less put their grubby hands on God Incarnate.) But God, knowing this, was still happy to invite them. That's comforting to me as I'm feeling a little less sophisticated these days and would have to go pay my visit to God -- if not empty-handed -- at least with a second-hand gift. Seeing the shepherds lets me know that God mostly just wants people to come who will appreciate the opportunity to be with Him. This year, let's be people who leave what they'd otherwise be doing because we realize we've been extended an invitation to something really special. Let's worship our God.

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The shepherds wasted no time when invited to the presence of God. They found him just as promised and left the manger praising His name. We are also invited to the presence of God to worship Him and leave with his praise on our lips.

Lord, you have made yourself known to us.
We will worship you.
You come to us even though we are not worthy to see you.
We will worship you.
If you announce your arrival with angels, as you did for the shepherds,
We will worship you.
If you announce your arrival with pain, as you did for Mary,
We will worship you.
No matter how your arrival greets us,
We will worship you.
Because when you show up, we're found empty-handed,
We will worship you.
We have nothing else to give you, so
We will worship you.
We have seen the great things you have done.
We will worship you.
We find you humble, just as you said we would.
We will worship you.
We find you mighty to save, just as you said we would.
We will worship you.
Because being in your presence leaves us with joy;
We will worship you.
We cannot keep these things to ourselves, God.
We will worship you.
In the quietness of our homes,
We will worship you.
In the streets of our city,
We will worship you.
With our voices when they sing,
We will worship you.
With our voices when they speak,
We will worship you.
With our thoughts when we are silent,
We will worship you.
With shouts of joy,
We will worship you.
With tears of pain,
We will worship you.
With our whole lives,
We will worship you.
Because of all you are,
We will worship you.
We give you all we are.
We will worship you.

advent: we will forgive.

If you missed my first advent post, you may want to scroll down and become acquainted with this year's ritual. This week, the scripture reading was in Luke, Chapter 1, where we find Mary's song after the angel Gabriel tells her she is to be intimately involved with bringing forth the Hope of the world. We then flash forward to Chapter 2, where we find Christ being born and put into a feeding trough. Were Mary and Joseph prepared for his birth? Were they really?

When I was preparing to give birth to Israel, there was to be no traveling long distances close to the time of this arrival. Instead, I was to be found doing what most mothers do: nesting. There were showers where many people (you may have been one of them) gave gifts to help me prepare for his coming. We ran pretty close to the wire, but Israel's room was ready for him when he arrived, even though he wouldn't sleep there until a few months after he was born. We had blankets galore and little outfits waiting for him. We had a bathtub especially for his little body and special soaps. We had cloth diapers stacked in the bathroom along with little washcloths and towels. We were prepared. But were we really?

In some ways, I could look back at Mary and Joseph and wonder how they ended up having to put Jesus in a feeding trough in the first place. Didn't they know to expect him any day? Could they not have been a little better prepared? Not even a cloth to use as a hammock or anything? Come on. Maybe they had no choice but to travel at the time they did, but everyone knows to pack for a baby when you get to be a certain size. We are supposed to be prepared for those sorts of contingencies.

However, Mary and Joseph must've had one (or more) up on me. Mary is told she is going to have to carry a baby that will be seen as illegitimate and Joseph is supposed to still go through with marrying her? If an angel told me I was going to have to go through all that, you can bet you would not find me having my own song of gratitude to sing about it. I would be too busy worrying about all the contingencies. At best, my song would be about how great a sacrifice I was making for God. But not Mary. Her song is about the mercy God is having on the world. She praises Him for exalting the humble and scattering the proud. There isn't much in the song about her or what she is going to have to go through. Now, maybe she was like me and had days of grumbling or worrying, but scripture (which typically seems quick to point out people's flaws) doesn't mention anything about it. She was grateful that she was chosen to be the conduit of God's mercy to the world. In some very important way, Mary must've been prepared.

So we come to advent. We think about welcoming our Saviour into the world. Just as when we are expecting a baby, there is much preparation to be done. We need to get his room ready. And where is it that He has decided to come but into our very hearts? We look around and see some serious cleaning needs to be done. There are some old fixtures that need to be replaced, clutter to toss, and excesses to purge. When I see messes like that, it is hard for me to know where to start. Ack! The dust...the clutter...the pile of clothes that no longer fit...the un-made bed with dirty sheets...and the pieces of things meant to be useful that have accumulated everywhere, unused! What's the worst of the mess? I don't know.

When I looked over Mary's song, I noticed the word "mercy" a few times and thought that would be a good place to start. I know the root of Christianity is love and that without love for those around us who we do see, we cannot claim to love God, whom we have not seen. But making a resolve to love more feels pretty ambiguous to me. I often think on it too much and throw my hands up at the mess, saying, "I don't know what it means to love this person right now." If I'm going to really begin cleaning out the mess in my heart, I need some concrete step to take. Mercy is a little less slippery to define in my book and seeing that attribute of God praised in Mary's song reminds me that it is an attribute meant to be mimicked. So this week, in preparation for Jesus's advent, I invited our congregation to begin there by getting rid of that unforgiveness in the corner. Even if it's got a good reason to be there, it's really one of those things that just needs to be thrown out.

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There were many ways in which Mary and Joseph were unprepared for Jesus's coming. However, they did not look over the most important preparation: the preparation of their hearts. Mary was grateful to extend God's mercy to the world. So we, too, can prepare for His coming by extending His mercy.

God, because you have had mercy on the world,
We will forgive.
Because you lift up the humble,
We will forgive.
And because you scatter those who are proud,
We will forgive.
We will be humble;
We will forgive.
Because we made your stay in this world difficult,
We will forgive.
When others make our stay in this world difficult,
We will forgive.
When we don't get the treatment we deserve,
We will forgive.
Those who always find fault,
We will forgive.
Those who are always at fault,
We will forgive.
Those who mistreated us when we were young,
We will forgive.
Those who mistreat us now,
We will forgive.
Those who will mistreat us tomorrow,
We will forgive.
Our parents who mess up,
We will forgive.
Our children who mess up,
We will forgive.
We, who mess up,
We will forgive.
Extending your mercy is hard, but
We will forgive.
Because our hearts are like noisy, dirty stables,
We will forgive.
You chose to dwell in Mary; you choose to dwell in us.
We will forgive.
We will do our best to make our hearts a home for you.
We will forgive.
We recognize your mercy, Lord.
We will forgive.
Help us prepare for your coming. We begin by saying,
We will forgive.

advent: we will have hope

This marks the first week of advent. Sunday was the first Sunday of the season, so you aren't too far behind if you've missed it.

We greatly appreciate the season of advent each year as it helps us focus on the reason we have something to celebrate this time of year. By the time Christmas comes, I feel as though I have been waiting for it a long time and am ready to burst. Though, to be honest, Christmas always feels like a let-down after Advent because I'm not at some great party where we all sing songs and dance because Jesus came to earth. No, more likely than not, I'm looking for so-and-so's present and eating food I didn't even have the joy of making. (Pat and I are strange people who actually LIKE the idea of hosting large meals, except for the dishes.) Advent, however, is more what I want out of Christmas...just lacking in full-out celebration.

I love advent because of its paradoxical nature: we look both backward and forward at the comings of Christ. Both comings give us reason to hope and reason for great longing. We see so much wrong in the world and ourselves that the "then and not yet" of Christ fills us with a yearning akin to that of lovers apart. On the one hand, it is wonderful to have as your own a person so worth missing. On the other hand, to know the thing that you miss is more difficult perhaps than not knowing what you were missing to begin with. At this time every year, we take the chance to fully miss Jesus not being here while being entirely grateful that he came in the first place and looking forward to seeing him again.

This year I am in charge of the advent proceedings at our little church. After doing a bit more research online, (if you'd like to see what I saw, go here for a bit of history and here to see a newer take on the church tradition.) I decided to write responsive readings for our youth to lead after an adult shares what that week's theme and character mean in his or her own life. The character for this week was the prophets (we read Isaiah) and the theme was hope. The couple who shared their thoughts are our friends who were able to adopt a little girl this year. They had felt for years that God wanted them to adopt a little girl through no conventional means and they spoke about how being given a promise by God can make you feel crazy and going for years without seeing the promise fulfilled makes you feel even crazier for believing it in the first place, bringing up all kinds of questions about the Promise Maker and the believer alike. However, seeing one of God's promises fulfilled is an unbelievable gift -- much better than you would have dreamed based on the words of the promise alone. God gave us the promise of His Son to the prophets long ago and when we look at the world, we can still have hope because of those same promises. And we know from particular instances (such as theirs) that the way God keeps His promises doesn't tend to look the way we would imagine it to, but is instead a better fit than we could've imagined. If I am ever able to get a copy of what they wrote to share, I will happily share it with you, as it's better written than I can do justice. However, I will share what I wrote on the subject and invite you to read along with our congregation in the coming weeks of Advent.


God has given light to the world.
We will have hope.
We live in a world full of darkness.
We will have hope.
When we see problems we can't solve.
We will have hope.
When we see a problem solved.
We will have hope.
When we don't understand why.
We will have hope.
When the bad guy wins.
We will have hope.
Because the bad guy will not win in the end.
We will have hope.
When our friend has failed us again.
We will have hope.
When we have failed again.
We will have hope.
When we see the evil in the news.
We will have hope.
When we see the evil in our hearts.
We will have hope.
Even though the world is broken.
We will have hope.
We know someone who can save the world.
We will have hope.
We know someone who has saved us.
We will have hope.
We know someone who will keep saving us.
We will have hope.
Because we are broken.
We will have hope.
Our Savior has promised to come again.
We will have hope.
Advent happens more than once.
We will have hope.
Like the prophets, we look forward to His coming!
We will have hope.