Thoughts going in, Sunday Dec 23rd

Luke 1:39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!" 46 And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me-- holy is his name. 50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors."

            Well, the Advent journey is almost over...Christmas is almost here. The collect for this Sunday is: Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come. With your abundant grace and might, free us from the sin that binds us, that we may receive you in joy and serve you always, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

            The traditional schema is that Advent 1 is about the 2nd coming, Advent 2 & 3 are about John the Baptist and Advent 4 is about Mary. Yet, I find it interesting that John the Baptist has 'snuck' into this year's Advent 4 setting. The prophet prophesizes even within the womb. A lot can be said about this... in terms of what I would call a 'healthy Marian piety.' For, it seems to me, a great many people have fallen overboard on either one side or the other when it comes to a proper veneration of The Blessed Virgin. Roman Catholics, for instance, have Mary immaculately conceived (conceived without the stain of original sin); they have her as 'Mediatrix' and even 'Co-Redemptrix'... meaning, she mediates on our behalf with God and she has contributed to humanity's redemption. Besides being biblically and theologically incorrect, these views do not square with the ancient (and highly venerating) views of Mary; they're innovations. And, sadly, they're innovations that detract from the glory and majesty that belong solely to Christ.

            Yet, if the Roman Catholics are guilty of falling over one side of the boat, 90% of Protestant Christians are guilty of falling over the other side. Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Mary joyously proclaims that all generations will call her blessed, yet all we've heard on the Protestant side is generation after generation of deafening silence. Sometimes worse, Protestants seem prone to go out of their way to "prove" that there was "nothing special" about Mary. This too, is UNBIBLICAL, theologically incorrect, and obviously not in keeping with the ancient church's veneration of this blessed saint.

            The Lutheran confessions are the only Protestant documents that come to my mind that actually do a good job with Mary. They refer to her as the Mother of God, which of course, she must be. There is no part of Jesus that isn't God. To proclaim Mary as theotokos (the ancient church's designation, meaning, God-bearer) is to guard the full divinity of Jesus. Mary is the first in stature and greatest of all of the saints. The Bible always portrays her as pointing to her blessed son; as engaged in acts of worship, etc. In seeing Mary we are pointed to Jesus, hence all of the best Marian art/statuary etc. depict her holding the Savior.

            And so we honor Mary; we venerate her; we put her on a pedestal. This is biblical. It's precisely what's going on in today's passage: the child leaps in honor (vs 41), and Elizabeth magnifies her (vs 42). We honor and venerate her for the favor that God has shown her and no one else... and we honor and venerate her for the example she is to us all.

            Consider:  she bore Christ into the lives of others (vs 39-40). Aren't we called to do the same....called to also be Christ-bearers into the lives of others? She also bore Christ openly even though it must've meant some degree of hardship. We're all familiar with what Matthew chapter 1 reports about Joseph and Mary: Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. The intervention of the angel is all well and good when it comes to Joseph and we readers of Matthew's gospel, but there's nothing to undo the fact that she was found to be pregnant. Undoubtedly she faced the same public disgrace and stigma that any unwed mother would in her day. Again, could we ask for a better example? Elizabeth also mentions Mary's faith: Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her (v45). Blessed is she who believed God's promises!

            The ancient church was correct to venerate Mary, and we do well when we follow their example. A more perfect template of Christian faith could never be found: she bore Christ into the lives of others; she bore up under the hardships of her faith made public; and she unwaveringly trusted God's promises.

cheers,

TM

Thoughts going in, Sunday Dec 16th

Luke 3:7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 9 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." 10 "What should we do then?" the crowd asked. 11 John answered, "Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same." 12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?" 13 "Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told them. 14 Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely--be content with your pay." 15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. 16 John answered them all, "I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." 18 And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them.

            This week begins the third week of Advent. This Sunday we light the pink candle, the "JOY" candle. The thinking behind this goes back to the days of the Latin Mass when Advent had more of a penitential (almost mini Lent) edge to it. But the first word of the Mass on the 3rd Sunday was "Gaudete!".... rejoice!... as in, rejoice.... the journey is nearly complete; rejoice, the Lord is at hand; rejoice, even in penitence, for what the Lord is doing. And so, even though the Mass in in English now and the readings aren't the same as they were under the old system, and even much of the penitential flavor of Advent has given way to other themes such as hope and expectation etc., the pink candle and JOY as the emphasis remains.

            All of which is fascinating when one considers the Gospel reading of the day....a continuation from last Sunday's intro to John the Baptist. In John the Baptist part 2 the last of the Old Testament prophets cries out... but one may be excused for asking, where's the joy? After all, John sounds like one angry dude.

            Even so, it seems to me that this passage (and everything surrounding it) has more than its share of joy to go around. First of all, There is joy in the fact that God's prophet is on the scene. This is the joy that says that God has not abandoned his people; God has not forgotten his promises; God has not gone on permanent vacation, just the opposite... his Spirit and his Word are active and moving among the people NOW. This is cause for joy.  Another cause for joy is that when the people are repenting and they ask what the signs/fruits of their repentance should be (vs 10 what should we do then?).... John does not instruct them to engage in some super-stringent lifestyle change. Remember who this is. He's the guy living out in the middle of nowhere; he's the guy dressed in funny clothes; he's the guy with the awesomely weird diet of locust & honey (how much honey would it take to make locusts yummy???). John NEVER SAYS... sell all you have and come out here and join me. Rather, his instructions are quite simple. Live generously; don't extort; don't use your position in society as a way of enriching yourself at someone else's expense (vss 11, 13, & 14). It's a combination of the commandments against stealing, coveting, and Jesus' ethic of loving your neighbor as yourself. Still another cause for joy can be found in the fact that John announces the nearness of the Savior. The main even really is almost here. One who is more powerful WILL COME...and when he does, he'll gather his grain into his barn.

            One last thought. Some of the modern commentators do a good job of separating the idea of JOY from our concept of HAPPINESS. The two aren't the same. Just because Christmas is coming doesn't mean that wars have ceased, that famines have ended, that cures have been found for diseases, or that people stop suffering and dying. We still walk through the valley of the shadow of death every day. Some of us can ignore it some of the time; or we can reach for the distraction of life's various numbing agents (drugs, alcohol, materialism, etc.), but none of us can ignore it all of the time.

            But as I stated in my December newsletter article, the glitter or lack thereof aside... our own particular personal 'merriment' or lack thereof aside... there is a sense in which we can say YES there is JOY to be found. It will be so because it is always so. It will be so because the one who will come in John's pronouncement, HAS COME; the Savior has been born. It will be so because the God of the universe is a redeeming God who out of sheer love has purposed not to leave us alone; who out of sheer love has purposed to come to us in our pain, our grief, our sadness, our loss, our disappointment, disenchantment, and disillusionment, and offer us new life in him. THIS IS OUR SOURCE OF JOY.

Cheers,

TM

Thoughts going in, Sunday Dec 9th

Luke 3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar--when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene-- 2 during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: "A voice of one calling in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. 5 Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. 6 And all people will see God's salvation.' "

            Advent week 2.  Regardless of which of the 3-year lectionary cycles we're on, weeks 2 and 3 belong to John the Baptist. The forerunner of Jesus and his prophetic message loom large in Advent.

            In introducing this, the last of the Old Testament style prophets, Luke in essence borrows a page from the Hebrew scriptures. Compare Luke's introduction of John with the introductions of these OT prophets:

1 The word of the LORD that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel (Hos 1:1)

1 The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah--the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. (Mic 1:1)

1 The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa--the vision he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel. (Amos 1:1)

1 The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. 2 The word of the LORD came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, 3 and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile. (Jer 1:1-3)

            Something pretty important is happening here. The introduction of the prophet and the details surrounding his call unequivocally state the God is acting in human history; that God is inserting himself and making our story HIS-story. Of course any study of mythology reminds us that every culture had stories about the gods or their gods inserting themselves into the human story, but in those cases the settings were always fantastical: Mount Olympus, or mystic islands, etc. etc. The prophets, however, have their story set decidedly in the real world... and that's precisely where Luke sets the story of John the Baptist. In other words, he does not begin by saying "once upon a time." He wants to stress to us that everything he has to say is REAL; it all REALLY HAPPENED; the word of God came to this latter day prophet just the way it had in the olden days.

            But speaking of the olden days, there's another fascinating thing to be said about the call of John the Baptist. The people of the day could be forgiven if there was some doubt or skepticism because it had been so long since a prophet had arisen in Israel. The previous prophet had been Malachi, whose prophecy ends with the promise that God will: send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes (Mal 4:5). In other words, Malachi implies that the next prophet to come will be "Elijah." What follows, however, is silence; 400 years of silence. During the period of the Maccabees, many questions arise--for instance, what to do with the altar that had been profaned by the Seleucids. It was decided that the best course of action would be to dismantle it, lay the stones aside, and WAIT for a prophet.

            Taken together, the picture that emerges is that YES God does act in human history, he intercedes and makes our story HIS-story, but he does so at his own time. The more I think about it, the more it seems to me that the people who maintained their faith during those periods of extended waiting (the Egyptian captivity, the period between Malachi & John the Baptist, etc.) are true heroes of faith.

            But the point Luke is making is that NOW THE WAIT IS OVER... or at least, nearly over. At long last, here's the prophet they've been waiting for. God is stirring; God will once again be found at work among his people, and this time will be the ULTIMATE... the CULMINATION... what the writer of Hebrews refers to as "these last days" (aka the final epoch).

            This Sunday's prayer of the day says: Stir up our hearts, Lord God, to prepare the way of your only Son. By his coming give to all the people of the world knowledge of your salvation; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. In the text, John comes onto the scene to "stir up" people's hearts; to announce the waiting is over; to announce the Savior is here; and to urge radical reaction on the part of his hearers. Nature, in his prophetic narrative, RESPONDS! Valleys rise up to see him coming; Mountains bow low in deference. Their hearts are stirred up. Are ours?

Cheers,

TM

Thoughts going in, Sunday Dec 2nd

Luke 21:25 "There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." 29 He told them this parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees. 30 When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. 31 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 "Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. 34 "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."

            This Sunday's Gospel reading is taken from the "apocalyptic" section of Luke's Gospel. Within the narrative, the setting is holy week. Jesus is in the temple precincts; he will soon be arrested, beaten, judged and crucified. His last meaningful public discourses are concerned with prophecies about the end of the 2nd Temple era (soon to come about) and end-times predictions. Study of the passage at hand could therefore concern itself with Holy Week matters, or broader end-times studies, but the fact that this Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent allows for yet another approach to this passage.

            The collect of the day for this Sunday states: Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come. By your merciful protection alert us to the threatening dangers of our sins, and redeem us for your life of justice; for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

            I mention the collect along with the Gospel reading because it strikes me that, at least among Christians I've encountered, 2 strange notions have taken root regarding the 2nd coming of Christ. Strange notion #1 is that belief in a physical, bodily return of Jesus really isn't necessary; that it was perhaps something those pre-scientific Christians believed in centuries ago, but isn't necessary now; it's all "metaphor." It was their way of speaking about what a better world we could make if the 'spirit of Christ' came upon all of humanity, etc. etc.

            Of course it's true that God's work in the world could and would go forward in remarkable ways if more of the world's population were practicing Christians, but that's somewhat beside the point when it comes to the biblical (and creedal) statements about the actual return of Jesus. Whether they have grown weary of 'waiting'... and have thus ceased to believe in a literal return; or whether such an event seems just too 'fantastic' for their belief system, some Christians have adopted this notion that it won't really happen after all.

            Strange notion #2 is that this event, in reality, would be horribly disappointing; something one would hope to avoid or delay if at all possible. It's seen, almost, in terms of the end of a 'good thing,' and the ushering in of something that cannot possibly compare. The image that comes to my mind when I sense this sentiment expressed is that of the "Risky Business" teenager whose parents have gone away for a week and left him home alone. While the parents are gone the teen can drink, smoke, party with his friends, play his music loud, stay up all night, and generally ENJOY all that unsupervised life has to offer. Carpe diem!! But if/when Jesus returns, the 'parental figure' will be here... and all of the good times will come to an end; no more fun; no more zestful living. The ushering in of eternity may set things to rights, but in the process it will remove MUCH of what we seemingly live for. It's not at all uncommon to encounter faithful Christians who believe in the 2nd coming of Jesus, but hope that it doesn't happen until they've lived a "full life."

            This is a strange notion given that whenever the bible talks of the 2nd coming, it does so from the perspective that THIS is the greatest, most longed-for event the believer could possibly imagine. It is the answer to all of his/her prayers; it is, finally, the beginning of life that can be lived to its fullest; and yes, it is the setting of all things RIGHT.

            A variety of themes are operative during Advent. HOPE... in a world that sometimes seems hopeless; expectation, anticipation, and a longing desire to see the ultimate triumph of goodness over evil.

            We've all known of situations where a friend or relative has undergone multiple surgeries to correct a problem; each doctor taking his/her turn to have a whack at the situation... but in the end, the person is no better off. Good intentions and best efforts are nice, but in the end they cannot solve every problem. This is our broader human story as well. Some don't care, and some are incapable of making a difference; others have good intentions and noble efforts, but it's never enough. But part of what it means to be a Christian--and its especially appropriate to emphasize at this time of year--is to firmly believe that when Jesus returns it will be better (in all ways) than it is now. Luke's gospel says: When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. This is the language of RELIEF; the language of FREEDOM; the language of VICTORY.

            Aren't you tired of endless wars and violence? Aren't you tired of innocent people suffering? Aren't you tired of seeing your loved ones grow old and die? Aren't you tired of scratching to make ends meet? Aren't you tired of circumstances always seeming to conspire against you? Aren't you tired of existing in a '1 step forward 2 steps back' world? Aren't you tired of not being able to make a difference? The message of Advent is that there IS SOMETHING BETTER TO HOPE FOR; and while we do our best in the here and now, we can eagerly look forward to that day when we can stand up, and lift up our heads, because our redemption is drawing near.

Cheers,

TM