Wednesday, December 19, 2018 (for Advent Four)

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”  (1 John 4:7)

(The Unconventional Baptist is going to take a two-week Christmas break. See you in January!) 

                There were times when I was in pastoral ministry that during Advent and Christmas I would wonder what, if anything, I could preach about the baby Jesus which might sound fresh, new and creative. Not that the Nativity Story, itself, is boring but there is only so much that one can say about Hope, Peace, Joy and Love before I feared that it might become too repetitive and people begin to tune out.  We’ve heard this before. There is nothing new here to see or hear.

It’s a wonderful story, but so what? What does it really got to do with you or your world or your life except it is a pleasant distraction for a few days of the year – at least, if one can afford it, or get along with family over turkey dinner or manage the stress and worry.

It is all too easy to gaze into a manger and become blasé about this curious event in Bethlehem.

How many hundreds of times have we sung the same old Christmas carols over and over again?

How many Christmas pageants have we, as parents and grandparents, attended and seen the same old dressing gowns, baby Jesus doll and shepherds’ costumes?

How many candles have we lit on Christmas Eve?

How many times have we heard Luke 2: 1 -20 be read?

Here is an incredible, wondrous and highly imaginative and inspired Story which tries to bring the Love of God down to earth, just for us. Let us not take this Story for granted or assume that there is no relevant, current, contemporary   message that could renew, re- animate, and re-introduce the themes, the majesty, the glory of Christmas for each and every one of us.

Paul wrote, “But when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother and lived under the Jewish Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might become God's children.” (Galatians 4: 4 -5, Good News Bible)

When the right time came – I would suggest that our present time too - today, this Christmas -  is especially also the right time for the Love of God to be seen and felt and to engage the world in which we live.  There is no more appropriate time than right Now for the fresh Word of Love to become flesh and blood and bone to bring a message of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. Heaven knows that we could use this Message, especially in this day and age.

I haven’t done the homework about who chose them or when these themes were chosen for Advent. But I know that as I observe the world in which we live I am struck as to how critically important these four themes are for the times in which we live. I am not prepared to sentimentalize these themes into cozy, warm, Christmas-y feelings. They are deep-seated, tough themes for hard times as they challenge the political, secular, worldly drift that, as surely as Caesar Augustus’ decree, treats us as commodities and political bases to maintain power and coercion.

Ignore them at your peril.

Perhaps, that doesn’t sound very Merry Christmas-like. But what I am trying to say is that the Birth of Jesus is a sweeping venture by God to re-engage humanity in the Work of God’s Love and Grace, which we name as Redemption.  This Birth is highly imaginative, creative, lively, all-encompassing even in its simplicity and mystery. Don’t underestimate the sacred power which permeates its core and purpose.

Find yourself in embedded in the lives of Elizabeth and Zechariah, or Mary and Joseph or the shepherds’ field, or the innkeeper or the magi or even Herod. Find yourself swaddled in the dynamic of the imagery and subtle overtones of God taking on the arrogance and pride of the Roman world with a message of all things, Love.  

Blows your mind!  Have a truly wonder-filled Christmas!

Dale

Wednesday, December 12, 2018 (for Advent Three)

“So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.” (John 16:22)

 We have been watching a lot of what I call sappy, romantic, Christmas TV movies this year. I have even suggested doing so some of the time. It shows how desperate I am – OK, I will confess that I actually have enjoyed one or two, but don’t tell anyone!

The plot for almost each and every movie is pretty much the same – a pretty, unsettled woman who is usually in an unrewarding career in the big city, as well as in an unhappy and unsatisfactory relationship with a nice but work-driven man goes home for Christmas, (usually  a warm and fuzzy, friendly small-town, USA) to think things out, but gets caught up in some local, altruistic Christmas cause and in so doing meets another man whom at first she doesn’t like but who is always charming, understanding and compassionate. (Well, I didn’t say these movies were realistic, did I?) There is some crisis of misunderstanding between them but by the end of the movie they are madly in love, Christmas is saved and we are to presume they will live joyfully ever after.

Wouldn’t it be lovely if our lives could be a Christmas TV movie? We would all live happily ever after! With all hearts’ desires. With love in the air! With peace on earth and goodwill to everybody! Joy to the world, indeed

Although there is a co-relation between pleasure, happiness and joy. All three can be good but the concept of biblical joy stands out above the rest, I think.

When our dog, Kramer, ate the huge chunk of Christmas cake which he had stolen off the kitchen counter, I’m sure that he took momentary pleasure out of the feast. But he could have had a severe stomach ache and the pleasure was only temporary. He’ll be looking for what he can scarf next.

Susan and I were very happy last week-end when we took William and Henry to see the movie “The Grinch”. It was 3-year-old Henry’s first movie and it was fun, pleasurable and satisfying. But the experience quickly becomes a pleasant and happy memory and we move on, while treasuring it in our hearts.

Joy is a spiritual, emotional, transformative, redemptive experience which lasts throughout one’s whole life, no matter what happens or how it happens or when it happens. You can’t take it away because it has been absorbed into our spiritual DNA. It colours how we see the world and interact with it. For example, when the women found the empty tomb of Jesus they were filled with great joy and the resurrection experience changed their lives forever.

Joy is one of God’s gifts to lift us out of the depths of our lives and throw us into God’s Grace and Love and enable us to hurry towards Bethlehem and see this thing that has been promised to us. “Don’t be afraid! I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.” (Luke 2:20)

It is not something so much we can create but that which is given. We open up our minds, hearts and souls to allow this Joy to shape and condition our whole being. It comes to us as we put our trust, our hope, our faith, our being into God’s hands.

This Joy is about Good News. We are not forgotten nor abandoned by God. We are not alone to face our sorrows and losses. We are not lost or surrendered to Evil in any form. We are not deemed to be worthless or insignificant. Note the parable in which the angels themselves rejoice every time when God rescues one of his children, every son of Adam, every daughter of Eve.

This Joy gives us confidence to meet the predators in our lives, to resist the temptations and desires that do not satisfy or complete us. This Joy fills in the gaps with the creative laughter of the Spirit who stands with us in the hard times so that we are never overcome or overwhelmed. This Joy brazenly promises New Life even when faced with death.

 “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4)

Dale

Wednesday, December 5, 2018 (for Advent Two)

“They don’t know where to find peace.”   (Romans 3:17, New Living Translation) 

                What is your idea of peace and quiet? How would you define a sense of well-being or what it would mean to have a spirit of tranquility? What quiets your soul? When do you stop and smell the roses or the coffee or whatever it takes to enjoy life and rest easy in the moment?

                My notion of being in that peaceful space is sitting in a big Muskoka chair on a deck facing a large body of water and just watching the clouds go by and listen to the birds or watch for fish jumping and doing absolutely nothing but swat away the occasional fly or mosquito.

It doesn’t sound like much but maybe that is the genius of perfect peace, sometimes. Not striving; not doing; not accomplishing; not scurrying around; not busy-ness; not being driven by agendas and timetables and spread sheets.

But there are people who don’t know how or where or when to find peace.

For one, there are a lot of us Martha-type personalities – can’t sit still for a moment, always on to the next thing to be done, work ethic up to the wazoo, always on the phone or off to the next appointment, the kind of personality of whom Jesus gently chastises, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details!” (Luke 10:41)  Most Marthas whom I know take some offense at this uncomfortable encounter, just a little.

Christmas can be associated with stress and anxiety over all the details that need to be finished by December 25^th. Shopping, baking, decorating, cleaning, entertaining, wrapping, concerts, special church events, and the list goes on. High Christmas expectations and lofty goals of wanting a perfect Christmas can drain a person and by Christmas Eve one can be too pooped to participate or enjoy the fruits of all their labours. Christmas has become an endurance test or a race to the finish.

There is also another way to cloud peace.

Paul is stringing together biblical concepts to underscore his estimate of human sinfulness. It is not a pretty picture – not so much as an ounce of kindness, compassion, truthfulness or morality. They are as far away from peace (shalom) as they possibly can get. Their lives are hectic, frazzled, chaotic, exhausted by sinfulness and selfishness and the way of peace they have not known.

But Advent carries the weight of peace in its spirit and breath. The Christmas angels sang of peace and goodwill. It is a poignant message given to an oppressed people in a land which had very little peace, except for the “Roman Pax” or Roman Peace, administered at the end of a spear or  by a slave collar or the threat of a cross. Yet God’s Peace breaks the impossible burdens of power and oppression. We are no longer slaves to sin or need to earn our freedom or salvation by works and deeds. We are given Peace, not as the world gives, but as God chooses to freely give.

Do not let this Peace get buried under all the Christmas buzz and activity.  Make yourself a cup of tea, cut a slice of Christmas cake for yourself, ask Google to play some quiet Christmas music, put your feet up and breathe deeply. Think on this – God loves you and cares for you; God has your well-being close to his heart. God once stirred the heavens so that you and I might cherish the creative beauty and wondrous sanctity of our lives and the world around us.

Have a silent night and find some calm. You just might discover the Christ child… the Prince of Peace!

Dale