Spiritual Hiccups - Pagans at the Party

Growing up in the church, I knew all about the 3 Wise Men (although the Bible doesn't actually say how many magi were there).  But I'm not sure I had every heard of Epiphany.  Like a lot of people, we just had the Wise Men show up with the Shepherds at Christmas.  They're still there with those shepherds at the manger in the Nativity set on display in our living room.

But of course the Nativity story is in Luke and the Wise Men in Matthew.  While tradition and convenience has joined the two stories together, the point of Epiphany sometimes gets lost in the process.  Matthew doesn't actually tell any of the events at Jesus' birth.  There's a pregnant Mary and an angel visiting Joseph and then a mention that a baby was born and named Jesus.

Sometime later, perhaps as long as two years later, magi from the east come because they have seen a sign in the heavens.  These magi seem to be astrologers of some sort.  Perhaps they are Zoroastrians.  But one thing is certain.  They are Gentiles and Gentiles who follow the stars to boot.  And so in Matthew's gospel the first people to visit the young Messiah, the first to worship him, are about as far from a good Jew as you can get.  They are pagans, outsiders extraordinaire.  And their appearance in Jerusalem as they search for a new king frightens the religious insiders, not to mention the person currently claiming the title of king.

In Matthew, Jesus' birth is welcomed by outsiders, by pagans, and it instills fear in those who are heavily invested in the religious status quo, the political status quo, or both.  But all these years later, Jesus seems not at all a threat to insiders, while we insiders still often look down on outsiders.

I'm happy to keep the Wise Men a part of the creche at my house, and it doesn't bother me at all if we sing "We Three Kings" at a Christmas service.  But I think we would do well to take the time to embrace the unsettling message of Epiphany, where outsiders find it easy to accept the new day Jesus heralds, and insiders fret because they are more or less happy with things as they are.

May the joy and promise of Epiphany touch you and inspire you to give your all to the King.

Click to learn more about the Daily Lectionary as well as the Revised Common Lectionary from which today's Wise Men reading comes.

Spiritual Hiccups - Losing Our Identity

My older daughter was home over the Christmas holidays from her Teach for America assignment in New Mexico.  She is teaching elementary students in a very small town just outside of the Navajo reservation.  Most all the students at her school are Navajo, and my daughter mentioned to me that although they are fiercely proud of being Navajo, most of them seem to know next to nothing about what that means.  They know very little about their own history or Native American culture.

At first this struck me as odd, but then it occurred to me that something similar can be observed in other places.  Most Americans are proud of their nationality, but many of them cannot name the most basic events from US history or the fundamental concepts of our government.  A number of years ago a study presented sections of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution to people on the street, and a great many of them identified these as some sort of communist propaganda.

This sort of problem is even more acute in many churches.  Most Christians revere the Bible, but a large majority of them almost never read it.  And so their definition of "being Christian" is often something cobbled together from a variety of sources, and this definition is often at odds with what Scripture says.  Not only to people presume that popular proverbs such as "God helps those who help themselves" are to be found in the Bible (the saying is by Benjamin Franklin), but they presume behaviors endorsed by the society at large must be compatible with the Bible.  And so Tucker Carlson could say just the other day that he is Christian and believes in "second chances" but that Michael Vick's killing of dogs was unforgivable and he should be executed. 

That is only one, highly publicized example.  Many Christians seem to think that their faith is a purely personal thing with no political or societal implications, this despite the fact that Jesus speaks regularly in political terms about a society where God's will is done, where the poor and the oppressed have good news brought to them.  And many have combined their faith with American individualism as though there were no tension at all between the two, this despite Jesus' insistence that true life comes, not from claiming our own rights and privileges, but from being willing to give them up for the sake of others.

I could go on and on, but I hope my point is clear.  We cannot become Christians simply by absorbing some vague sense of it from the prevailing culture.  We must sit at Jesus' feet as disciples, learning from him.  And there is simply no way to do this without engaging the Bible.  We cannot be Christian in any real sense of the
word if we do not do as God commands Joshua in today's Old Testament reading.  ^"Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it."

Many of us American Christians are facing an identity crisis.  We have lost our biblical identity, and so we not only are prone to being misled by anyone who speaks with what seems an authoritative, religious voice, but we haven't a clear enough sense of what it means to be a Christian to share our faith with anyone else. 

But the good news is that all it takes to correct this situation is for intentional faith communities to take seriously their call to follow Jesus, and to begin studying and discussing together what this might look like.  And when people starting letting their encounter with Jesus change them and change the faith community they are a part of, then they start to become something that others will notice.  Then they start to be the Church, the body of Christ in the world, living out the ways of Jesus for all to see.

Click to learn more about the Daily Lectionary.

Spiritual Hiccups - Beyond Comfortable Routines

I'm back in the office today for the first time since December 26.  I had wonderful visits with family down in the Carolinas, but it is good to get back home.  It's nice to sleep in your own bed and to get back to regular routines.  That's true in my life at church as well.  Today I return to comfortable, well rehearsed routines of staff meetings, preparing sermons, getting bulletins ready, committee and governing board work, and so on.  Some parts of the routine may be more enjoyable than others, but on the whole, they constitute a familiar, comfortable pattern where I know how to act and what to do.  Maybe all's not right with the world, but my life is under control.

I wonder if Moses felt that way when he settled into his life as a shepherd.  Those of us who learned about Moses in church know that he isn't destined to be a simple shepherd.  But Moses doesn't know that.  After being raised in Pharaoh's house but then having to flee Egypt to escape a murder charge, he is probably quite happy to settle down into a comfortable routine.  He's gotten married.  His father-in-law, who seems like a nice fellow, has welcomed him into the family and given him meaningful work to do.  Surely Moses thinks he is set.  His life may not be grandiose, but it is good, and it is comfortable.

At least it is until God shows up.  When Moses turns aside to see a "burning bush," he is simply indulging his curiosity.  He has no way of knowing that God is about to turn his life upside down as a part of a plan to rescue Israel from slavery in Egypt.  Wouldn't a divine snap of the fingers be sufficient?  Why does God need Moses?  But in the strange ways of God, nothing seems to happen without humans joining the story.

Very often in congregations and in the work of a pastor, comfortable routines become revered treasures.  "Gimme that old time religion," says the song.  "Church like you remember it" read the billboard I saw from the highway.  It's as though something already established is where we should be.  But what if God has other ideas.

A lot of congregations in America are struggling these days.  And very often the reaction to such struggles is to cling to what we know, to what is comfortable.  We want to hang on to "Church like we remember it."  But what if God wants to take us beyond what we remember, beyond our comfortable routines, to become a part of the divine plan for salvation?  What if helping God take creation toward a new day when God's will is done "on earth" means upsetting our routines and our comfort?  What if it calls us to take risks and head out in uncertain directions. 

That is precisely what God will ask of Moses.  It was what God asked of Abraham and Sarah before, and it is what Jesus will ask of those fishermen he calls to follow him.  And it is what Jesus still asks of all who would become his disciples.  Jesus asks us to trust him when he says that letting go of those things we cherish and giving ourselves over to God and neighbor will lead to something more wonderful than any life we can build for ourselves. 

Life had finally settled down and become something Moses could count on and enjoy.  Then God showed up.  It's not too hard to understand why Moses begged God to find someone else for the job.  But I guess it's a pretty good thing Moses finally said, "Yes." 

Click to learn more about the Daily Lectionary.

Spiritual Hiccups - Is That New?

Today's meditation from Richard Rohr begins, "We do not think ourselves into new ways of living.  We live ourselves into new ways of thinking."  Newness is a recurring theme for Christians.  We speak of the portion of Scripture beginning with the gospels as a "New" Testament.  And in today's epistle reading Paul writes, "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!"

At Christmas, we celebrate the new thing God does in the Incarnation, God's love taking on flesh in Jesus.  But while we marvel at what God does, while we love to remember and retell the stories connected to Christmas, sometimes we seem content simply to believe in and worship God's newness without actually joining it.

I think this can be especially problematic for folks like myself who grew up in the Church.  Always surrounded by the elements of the faith, it is sometimes difficult for me to think of that same faith making me over into something new.  Faith can seem to be mostly about tradition and status quo, not about the radical newness that Paul says comes to us in Christ.

And my personal difficulty with being made new in Christ has ramifications for the Church's ability to share the faith with others.  The newness Paul has found in Jesus is the most exciting thing he has to share with others.  But if I do not experience any newness in Christ, what do I have that I can share?

It might be a useful exercise for all Christians to occasionally ask themselves, "What is different about my life because of Jesus?"  And I do not think anything having to do with one's status after death is an appropriate answer to this question.  Not that this status is of no concern or importance, but it does not speak to the new quality of life that both Paul and Jesus speak of constantly. 

As the recent celebrations of Christmas are slipping out of view, what new thing emerges for you out of its message of hope and newness?  As we celebrate the fresh slate of a New Year, how does the remarkably new thing God does in Christ continue to work its newness in our lives so that we can share its joy and hope with the world?

Click to learn more about the Daily Lectionary.

Spiritual Hiccups - The Bible Tells Me So

I saw an opinion piece in the newspaper the other day discussing the "truth" of the biblical Christmas story.  The author, who argued for the historical truth of the Luke nativity story, seemed unaware of the conflict between Matthew and Luke regarding Jesus' origins.  (Both writers say Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but Luke has the family come to Bethlehem because of a Roman registration while Matthew assumes they are residents of Bethlehem who end up in Nazareth only because of the threat from Herod.)  But of more concern to me, the opinion piece seemed not to appreciate some basic problems inherent in "believing" the Bible.

Such problems are on display in today's reading from John.  Jesus' opponents use Scripture to buttress their argument that he cannot be the Messiah.  "Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee."  Like many modern day arguments that end with, "See, it's right there in the Bible," the religious authorities of Jesus' day find proof positive right there in the Bible.

I've always loved the ordination vows my denomination uses for pastors, elders, and deacons.  The first speaks of Jesus as Lord of all and Head of the Church, and the one through whom we know the triune God.  The second speaks of the Old and New Testament as "the unique and authoritative witness to Jesus Christ..."  These vows call me to follow Jesus as I see him revealed in Scripture.  And that is a bit different than simply believing the Bible or using it as a proof text.

My Reformed/Calvinist tradition has also seen idolatry as one of the more fundamental human problems.  We are forever substituting things other than God for God.  And sometimes Christians do this with the Bible.  We can use Scripture to confine God within the limits that we find comfortable.  We can use Scripture to create God in our image.

This is a temptation for all of us, regardless of denomination or religious leanings.  And there is no easy solution.  But fighting this tendency requires a much greater knowledge of the Bible than most of us have.  It requires us to listen to the larger witness of Scripture so that we get the best possible picture of Jesus as he is witnessed to there.  And it requires a real humility about our own certainties, so that are open to the surprising and amazing ways in which God comes to us.  Otherwise, we could find ourselves rejecting the living Christ just like the religious leaders in our gospel today.  "Oh, that can't be God.  See, it says so right here in the Bible."

Click to learn more about the Daily Lectionary.

Spiritual Hiccups - New Beginnings

The world is slowly returning to “normal” following Christmas.  There may yet be a few after-Christmas shopping excursions, but it feels less and less like Christmas to many.  Never mind that for the Church, the season of Christmas runs to January 6.  Christmas is over.

At least it is for those who look for Christmas to inject a bit of momentary magic into their lives and then fade away.  Don’t get me wrong, I love a little Christmas magic as much as the next person, but this seasonal lift is only vaguely connected to Christian faith.  The sparse treatment of Christmas in the Bible reminds us that it is but the beginning of a story, the start of a new chapter in the story of God’s love for humanity.

But of course God’s love in nothing new.  It is on display in today’s reading from Isaiah.  The people of Israel look at their desperate situation and conclude that God has forsaken them.  But God responds, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb?  Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.  See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.”

From its opening, the Bible continually tells us that God will not give up on humanity, that despite human foolishness and waywardness, God reaches out to us, God moves towards us.  The newness that Christmas reveals is the demonstration of just how far God will go in this work of reconciliation and healing.  Not only will God become fully immersed in the pain and suffering of humanity in Jesus, but God invites us into the work of healing and reconciling. 

Christmas begins a story that calls us to trust the promise of Isaiah, that God cannot forget us.  And when we can fully trust ourselves to that love, we can become more and more like Jesus, able to live out God’s love for the world, even when it is costly for us.  And this new beginning of Christmas is never “over.”  It is still making all things new.  It is still calling us to become new creations in Christ.  And it is still working to move the world toward the coming rule of God.

Click to learn more about the Daily Lectionary.

Sunday Sermon video - Not What We Got Ready For

Sunday Sermon audio - Not What We Got Ready For

Not What We Got Ready For - Dec. 26.mp3

After all our preparations for Christmas, the gospel reading from Matthew 2:13-23 drags us away from Christmas joy to Jesus in danger and babies killed by Herod.  Not what we might want to hear so close to Christmas day, but perhaps a voice calling us to embrace the season of Christmas and join in the new Exodus story that begins here.

On a day when we had a single, less formal worship service, this sermon was "off the cuff," and so there is no accompanying text to post.

Christmas Eve Children's Pageant - Jesse, the Little Shepherd

Check my YouTube site to see a little higher video quality.

Spiritual Hiccups - Hope Is Born

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing... Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the  tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in  the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall  become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water.

On Christmas Eve, the Daily Lectionary doesn't say much about Christmas.  The gospel does report the birth of John the Baptist, but nothing about a baby Jesus.  But the words of Isaiah speak the hope of this night.  The barren desert shall break forth in vegetation.  The blind shall see and the lame leap and run.  Death will turn to life, brokenness will be healed, and none will miss out on the fullness of life.

Tonight, as we remember a Savior's birth, we say that promise has arrived, and we celebrate.  Oh, we know that there is still much brokenness.  We know there are many who are denied anything close to full life.  But if, as Jesus himself insists, the Kingdom of God has drawn near with the Messiah's birth, then history is already being bent toward the end of brokenness and woundedness and death. 

As Christians, we do not for a moment deny the darkness of the world, the darkness into which comes the light.  We know that this light shines in the darkness, in the pain and brokenness of our world.  But we also know that the darkness cannot overcome the light.  We know that death cannot overcome the hope born tonight.  In Jesus, we see God at work in our world, moving history toward God's end. 

And so, even though we see the darkness, we see even more clearly the hope.  And so, no darkness can diminish the joy and celebration we experience, as we sing praises for the light, for Hope born this night.

Click to learn more about the Daily Lectionary.

Spiritual Hiccups - Salvation Comes

In one more day, church pews will swell as people gather to celebrate the birth of a Savior.  It is easy to understand why the promise and hope of Jesus' birth draws lots of folks.  The notion of God with us, God for us, is incredibly compelling.  And the nativity story from Luke's gospel is so well known - even if you never have been to a church, you've at least heard in from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" - that many people don't feel like it's Christmas without hearing those words once more.

But as wonderful as those Christmas Eve services are, they are not without some difficulties for people of deep faith.  As an interesting piece in the New York Times, "A Tough Season for Believers," pointed out, Christmas Eve can be a troublesome reminder of how the Christmas story has become just another piece of seasonal entertainment for many Americans, along with going to the Nutcracker and watching "Miracle on 34th Street."

But some of the trivialization of Christmas may be our own doing.  We celebrate the birth of a Savior, but we often have defined salvation so narrowly that it's no wonder it doesn't carry much freight with the culture.  For many of us, salvation means little more than getting our tickets validated for heaven.  But this spiritualizing of salvation doesn't fit well with the biblical witness or with Jesus' own words.  Jesus speaks of a kingdom where God's will is done on earth, a rule that he insists has "drawn near."  Matthew's story of Jesus' birth takes pains to connect Jesus' story to that of Moses, to portray Jesus as a new Moses who rescues us. 

And today's psalm gives a good picture of what God's rescue and salvation looks like.
   I love you, O LORD, my strength.
   The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
         my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,
         my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
   I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
         so I shall be saved from my enemies.
   The cords of death encompassed me;
         the torrents of perdition assailed me;  
   the cords of Sheol entangled me;
         the snares of death confronted me.
   In my distress I called upon the LORD;
         to my God I cried for help.
   From his temple he heard my voice,
         and my cry to him reached his ears.
   Then the earth reeled and rocked;
         the foundations also of the mountains trembled
         and quaked, because he was angry.

The Christmas story is about a God who takes decisive action to save, to bring the world back to its senses, to restore and set right.  It is not simply a moment of warmth to cheer us at this time of year.  It is the promise that God is active in human history, that God will bend human history to God's desire.

We modern people have become used to relegating God to a narrow, spiritual sphere that does not hold sway over large portions of our lives.  But Christmas insists that God comes surprisingly into the day to day.  It insists that God's salvation will stop at nothing short of a redeemed and restored world for all.

Click to learn more about the Daily Lectionary.

Spiritual Hiccups - "Singing Ahead of Time"

In yesterday's gospel, Mary appears as a model disciple who willingly answers God's call.  But today Mary is a prophet, singing ahead of time (to borrow the title of a Barbara Brown Taylor sermon).  Mary is barely even pregnant, but she sings that God "has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts... has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly... has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty."  Not that God will do these things but God has done these things.

As Barbara Brown Taylor notes in her sermon, prophets are forever getting their verb tenses wrong.  Biblical prophets generally do not predict the future in the mode of psychics or crystal ball gazers.  Rather they have a clearer sense of what God is up to, a better feel for the ways the world operates at odds with God's plans, and so a better sense of where that all leads.  And since Mary has already experienced God acting through the baby growing in her womb, she speaks of where this will end up as though it has already happened.

As much as many of us love Christmas, I'm not so sure we like where Mary sees things headed.  We're fine with the lowly and the hungry being helped out, but not so sure about the powerful and the rich being brought down.  We're not as sure about this reign of God that Mary experiences as already present in some way.

I know that I do not like to think that the abundance I enjoy is in any way a factor in others being kept down, in others being poor, powerless, and hungry.  I don't like to contemplate the possibility that I need to be brought down a few notches for the things to be set right.  And so I'd prefer to celebrate the joy of Christmas without seeing where it leads.  I'd rather not sing ahead of time with Mary.  I'd rather sing "Glory to God in the highest" along with the angels, visit the manger with the shepherds, say I'm glad that God is at work in the world, and leave it at that.  Jesus is simply a lot less trouble if all he ever does is get born and the rise from the dead at Easter.

I've said this before but think it bears repeating.  I think the Church lost its bearings when way back in the days of Constantine, it made an alliance with the powerful and the rich that required relocating the reign of God Mary sees to some heavenly bliss after we die.  But Mary doesn't say, "In heaven things will be different."  She does not speak of us going to a better place.  She speaks of God transforming this place by radically reordering things.  She says it is happening even now, but apparently God's Spirit must already be at work in us if we are to see it.

Click to learn more about the Daily Lectionary.