Readings
Year A
December 19, 2004
The
Rev. Karen Siegfriedt
The Rev. Mary B. Blessing
The Rev. Robert Hansen
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino,
CA
Last week, a friend of mine participated in an outreach event, ministering to teenagers who are at risk. Ten adults came together with ten teenagers to have fun and to discuss issues regarding the festivities surrounding Christmas. Each person was asked to talk about the meaning of Christmas and what he/she expected from this holiday. Out of the 20 people who gathered together, only one person spoke about the religious nature of Christmas. The remainder of the group was concerned only about holiday cheer and opening presents.
As a society, we have moved our gaze from the centrality of Christ at Christmas and have focused instead on materialism and merry making. While there is nothing wrong with merry making and receiving presents, there is something very alienating and dangerous about turning one's gaze away from the source of Life and Love.
In today's reading from the book of Genesis, we read the story about Adam and Eve. This is an early myth that is filled with great insights about many different issues. Different biblical scholars have interpreted this text to address or defend a variety of issues such as: The origin of human consciousness regarding good and evil, the turning away of creation from God's purposes, the loss of innocence, the alienation between humanity and God, disobedience, the vilification of women, the beginning of original sin, an explanation of hardship and suffering on earth, an examination of the nature of temptation, the propensity to blame someone else when something goes wrong, the power of passion, and the inability of humanity to be able to clearly discern what is best and life giving. It is this last insight that I want to reflect upon.
Every parent knows that often what a child needs is not what she wants. For instance, a parent knows that her job is to help her children recognize that junk food, though tasty, is harmful in the long run. Helping children make the switch is tricky business since it means delayed gratification on the part of the child. The dynamic between us and God, is not any different. God longs for us to choose life and to have life more abundantly. But because our desires are so strong and our insights are distorted, we often satisfy our senses at the cost of abundant life.
For me, the story of Adam and Eve, points to a common reality that is played out today. People are turning their gaze away from God and focusing instead on satisfying their wounded, hungry, and demanding ego. As a result, there is tremendous pain, suffering, depression, and unrest in the world today.
Holiday cheer can be a welcomed relief in the busyness and stress of our daily lives. But turning our gaze away from God in order to satisfy only the self, will ultimately lead to emptiness and darkness. The story of Adam and Eve is a gentle reminder to choose God's will rather than our own.
Advent IV, Lessons and Carols, December 19, 2004, St. Jude's, Cupertino
"The Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14
It is almost impossible for Christians to hear Isaiah's prophecy of "a young woman with child", and not think of Mary, mother of Jesus. But just for a moment, let us step back in time.
Let us imagine a time, about 700 years before the birth of Jesus, when the people of God yearned for a King faithful toYahweh. It is a time of uncertainty. Ahaz, King of Judah, of the House of David, ruler of Jerusalem, is threatened by the neighboring King of Assyria, threatening to encroach. He attempts to buy him off with portions of the temple treasury, and to appease him by replacing the Lord's altar with one copied from Damascus. Isaiah challenges Ahaz' faithfulness. Isaiah knows that the only true security is faith in God. Compromising God's altar, turning away from God, will not bring peace.
Isaiah proclaims from the temple steps the importance of a King who is an anointed ruler and a servant of the Lord. Based in a culture where theocracy was what one expected, there would be no question: the King must be a holy man, the King must be God's spokesperson, the King must be guided by "the will of God." The King must first and foremost have faith in the One God, in Yahweh.
Because he comes from a place of fear rather than a place of faith, King Ahaz asks the prophet for a sign of God's faithfulness to him. Without skipping a beat, the prophet points to the closest sign of God's amazing creative power, saying 'the sign you seek is as close to you as this young woman', perhaps a woman known to the community, perhaps even the prophet's wife, who is pregnant. It is this amazing creative power of God, the ability to make a human being that Isaiah uses to show the King that he must put his faith in God and no one else. For this child is a sign that "God is with us", as his name, Immanuel, proclaims.
As any of us who have witnessed the wonder of a newborn baby can attest, God is with us in the creation of new life. The marvel of a perfectly shaped ear, the joy of watching those "star fish hands" spring open, the peaceful sigh of a deep sleep after a full feeding-these are all signs that God is with us. Each and every one of these little miracles of God can be a child who grows to refuse the evil and choose the good, if, we as the adults who lead them, put our faith, completely and without compromise, in God.
So here's our reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah.
"Comfort, O comfort my people" begins this text.
But, wait a minute. This isn't really Isaiah, you know. This is not the son of Amoz. This is not the prophet who went to great lengths to tell his people of how angry God was with them, the people of Judah, for their corruption and injustice in the midst of their oppression by Assyria.
This part of the book attributed to Isaiah, from Chapter. 40 thru chapter 55, has been called " Second Isaiah" or The Book of the Consolation of Israel." It is set historically about two hundred years after the first Isaiah held forth. This Isaiah is speaking to a captive people. They've been in the Babylonian exile for a long time. And then Israel's Babylonian captors have been conquered themselves by Cyrus of Persia. Conquerors have a tendency to gloat over the conquered and Cyrus was no exception. In his case, however, he celebrated his victory by releasing the peoples who had been conquered by the Babylonians. So when this Isaiah spoke of comfort and the glory of the Lord being revealed, captives celebrating their release could readily imagine a return to the better days of their history when God had felt closer. Isaiah says God is asking the people to return to Godly ways. As they return to Godly ways, God will comfort them and care for them like a shepherd cares for lambs, gathering them in his arms (40:11).
Then he tells them to get ready. Shape up! If you're going to be successful in the quest to return to your homeland, you've got a lot to do.
This Isaiah says that God tells him to let the people know that they are grass that withers away, but that the word of God is eternal. This is not to belittle them. God is just letting them know that God is God and they are not. God is telling them that they are to put their hope and trust in God and they will find comfort and rescue in their time of need. And------and that they have responsibilities. They have the responsibility to make sure in their hearts that God is God and they know it.
Clearly, John the Baptist uses this Isaiah's words in his message to the people of his time? John, however, is different from the images Isaiah calls to mind. In his own time he was something of an eccentric. In today's culture he would have been a genuine curiosity. His wardrobe was the extreme of the natural fibers fashion trend. Imagine how he must have looked with the roughly textured camel's hair, thrown over his body and belted with a strip of leather. His diet of locusts and wild honey surely conveyed some significant message to his culture. For us, familiar with diets ranging from high to low carbohydrates, the grapefruit diet, liquid diets, high and low protein, vegetarians of various descriptions, and a host of others, bugs and honey still sounds very strange.
If his dress and habits have a rough texture to them, listen to his message. John speaks of repentance rather than comfort. He preaches more baptism for the forgiveness of sins than God's exaltation. John is quite clear that one greater than he is coming. He is the prophet, not the fulfillment. Just as in Isaiah, It is the time to get ready.
In this time of the global economy, for us, the answer to who needs to be prepared is the whole world. It is everyone included in the instruction to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations..."
Now, consider this question. Who will prepare the way? Isaiah and John have become the stuff of legends. The disciples are history. But we are gathered today as a community of believers. We say we believe that God so loved the world that he sent his only son that we might have eternal life. We say we believe that all who choose to truly repent will be forgiven. We say we believe that nothing of this earth can separate us from the love of God.
Like John, we are not the way but we know the way. It would seem, therefore, that we are today's prophets. We are the ones who can give voice to the good news that Christ has died. Christ has risen. And Christ will come again. We know what we are getting ready for, don't we? If we do not share that, who will?
You will have a few thoughts about how to do that but here are a few to get you started:
Remember those persons who introduced you to Christ and the love of God. Remember how they did that. Was it the Bible stories they told, the example of their lives, or something else altogether? Are there places in your life where you can do similar things? Offer a prayer of thanksgiving for their work in preparing you for your place in the kingdom of God.
Invite a friend to experience the Christ in Christmas at a church event. Special music, a social occasion, or special worship services are just a few possibilities. Tell a child the Christmas story. Be patient with salesclerks and checkout people. Wish them Merry Christmas. Tell them one of the things you most enjoy about Christmas is that it reminds you of just how much God loves each of us. Have a family conversation about what life in the kingdom of God is like. Think of ways we can help make our lives more like that. Pray for a world ruled by the Prince of Peace.
The gospels according to Matthew, Luke, and John, each report a different story about the birth or origin of Jesus. While the details and images vary, they all come together on one theological point: In the person of Jesus, God became enfleshed. Exactly how this happened is left to the imagination. There are no specific biological statements in the gospels that point to divine or human copulation. The gospels do say however, that in the person of Jesus, God dwells and is fully alive. In Jesus, we now have access to God in ways that (before hand) were inaccessible.
Today's Christmas story [from the gospel according to Matthew] is told from Joseph's point of view. Joseph and Mary were engaged but not yet living together. Betrothal in the ancient world was tantamount to marriage. It was a common practice in the ancient world for a woman to be legally given in marriage to a man but then to remain in the house of her father until the man paid her dowry in full. It was only then, that she would leave her father's house and consummate the marriage. Thus, when Joseph learns that his new wife is pregnant, he naturally suspects her of infidelity. Since Joseph is a righteous man, he does not want to expose her to public disgrace so he makes up his mind to divorce her quietly.
But then he has a dream and learns that the Spirit of God is intimately involved in this birth. Joseph demonstrates an incredible posture of righteousness and faithfulness by listening to the voice of the Spirit of God and taking Mary to be his wife.
Is this story fact or fiction? The answer is yes. The literary character of the gospel stories is not written to be historically factual in the literal sense. The gospel stories are written "so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name." [Jn. 20:31] So, what about this story is life giving?
For me, what is most life giving about this story is the presence and power of the Holy Spirit to transform lives. Can you imagine a man, in 1st C Palestine, being able to overcome his sense of disappointment, anger, and shame in finding his future wife pregnant when he had not yet slept with her? This is the kind of transformation that happened to Joseph when he was willing to listen to a deeper voice of love; the voice of the Holy Spirit. Through this experience, his fear and anger was transformed into love.
Whether it is through a dream, through inspiration, conversion, spiritual discipline, or gradual enlightenment, the Holy Spirit working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ever ask or imagine. The Holy Spirit leads us into all truth & enables us to grow into the likeness of Christ. It is through the Holy Spirit that true transformation happens.
"Deep in the darkness of a silent night and quietly in the secret of your soul, the Mystery of God, continues to be born." Listen!
| Updated 12/31/04 |
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