Let Christ be revealed in us

A wife noted for her husband that their 10^th wedding anniversary was coming up and that she thought that was an important milestone. Then she politely and firmly suggested that his gift to her should reflect the importance of such an occasion and that the gift should be something befitting this important occasion. She then suggested politely that it should be able to go from 0-200 in about 3 seconds. What did the husband go and find for that special gift? A new set of scales.

Revelations can be a scary thing. And perhaps that makes Epiphany a scary season of the Church. Things are revealed. Maybe it is something new that we have never seen before. Maybe its that we have seen before but have not seen it or understood that thing we have known in this way before. After all every knows about parties and no one likes to run out of their favourite beverage. No one wants to make that late evening dash to the store because they are out of chip dip. Everything is supposed to be done decently and in order. Yet this season should disturb us at least a little. We are getting glimpses of God on his way to the cross and to resurrection.

Much is made of how much wine there was at that feast. First of all the wedding planner blew it because the feast was ongoing and there wasn’t enough wine – perhaps not even enough to last the night. In urgency, Mary goes to Jesus and tells him, “They have no wine.” Jesus responds with a cryptic tease by telling his mother that his hour had not yet come. Mary could be any person, even you or me, complaining that there is little time left because the life of the party will soon run out and so the party will end. After all as a song from my childhood state, “We are here for a good time, not a long time. So have a good time… the sun does not shine every day.”

In a sense, Jesus came not only to show us how to celebrate but to change the reason for us to celebrate.  So what did Jesus come to show exactly this Sunday? He came to give us a sign of his glory in the midst of everyday celebrating. Some will worry about how much wine was made – what we need to know is that there was an abundance of what was needed to sustain the party. God will sustain the life of his people. And in the process Jesus did something that most were not aware of. He took something (the large pots) that was empty and inadequate and gave it a new purpose and a new meaning, bring it to life. He allowed something to point to the glory of the Lord almighty so that those who knew could put their trust and faith in. The Law had failed to give life and so God comes to us to restore and to renew the life he put in us. In essence, because of Jesus there is a new measure, a new scale and we need to be aware of that. And thus we discover that God’s agenda and our agendas are not always the same thing. We desire the party of our own making while God comes and reveals to us that the reason for the party is about to change. The party is not about us anymore; its about Jesus and the God given desire to bring forth new life.

We seem to live in the Church in the same way these days: thinking that there is little time left until the Church fails and falls and we will need someone else to turn out the lights and lock the doors. We worry about there being no life left in us. Why haven’t we as individuals and as Church asked God to fill us with what we need to live that abundant life. And it s does not matter how old we are – young or old – will we not live the life that is within us to the fullest extent? Remember the words of Mary to the household servants: “Do whatever he tells you”. There are moments and perhaps this is one of them when we need to move from just being prayerfully aware bemoaning the circumstances around us into prayerfully doing whatever it is we are led by the Spirit to do. We don’t always have the answers, the magic words, the map, the program or whatever it is we think we are supposed to have to get knew people into the Church. We need to be at all times that people whom God calls by name. It is time to listen and to do what the Master says. It is okay to have questions, worries and concerns. Yet we need to keep walking, praying and doing that his Light might shine in us and that people might see the face of Jesus in us. Let Jesus Christ be revealed in us this way in this week.         

Why did he do it? So you could go and live it!

Have you ever wondered why he did it? Why did Jesus allow himself to be baptized? For certain he wanted to identify with us, to be like us in every way that he could and so he did something totally human: he was washed. Luke’s Gospel does not talk about how things happened nor does it mention explicitly John being the one who does the baptism. It is possible that in our post Christendom age of the Church that we are still pushing the idea that we need to deal with sin and that we need to get clean. This is still both true and real. We need to be made holy. We need to be made clean. But if that is where we leave this passage of Scripture and our understanding of what baptism is all about, then I believe we do both God and ourselves a great disservice.
    

Why did Jesus submit to baptism? Here is a list that I considered so that I might know my own self.  These are in no particular order but are interrelated:

•         Jesus wanted to be with us and because he wanted us to be with him. His desire for us is that we be united in community. Baptism is the level ground on which we meet with him and with one another in community. Baptism makes him the focus of our community and of what we do as community both when we are together and when we are apart.
•       Jesus submitted to baptism so that we might join him in his submission and humility to the Father. He chose command us to baptize so to draw us in to his life that we might be like him: in his death and so that like him we can know his resurrection. 
•            Jesus entered that moment that there might be the possibility of a life directed towards God. Baptism is more than a sweet little moment. It is a precious moment – a great and costly one. Jesus came because we are worth something to God – we are his precious ones.  
•      Jesus came to his baptism to show that God was about to do a new thing that would supersede what had come before without nullifying the past. The past is important because in the past God has told us what he thinks about us: “I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine.” He told us about hearing the Father when he was baptized so that we could stop and listen for the Father to tell us: “You are my child, my beloved, with you I am pleased!”

·         Jesus wanted to so us what to do when we discover that we separated from God that we know how to respond. Jesus knows that people need salvation so he took it all on and did it by honouring God at the start of his ministry that would make it possible for him to offer us salvation. A new person lives a new life directed towards God – we can live like him.

How then should we understand our own baptisms? Like so many others that have been baptized as young children, I do not have that moment to draw upon. There have certainly been other moments, like confirmation, being commissioned as a Church Army Captain, being ordained as a deacon and as a priest. All of those moments though, as great and as important as they are in my life,  are subordinate to that moment when I was washed and recognized as being precious to God. No Christian has a greater, more important moment in one’s life than that moment when we are washed and recognized as precious, both to God and to the Christian community.

Baptism is about living out the life as a Christian person. It is not about avoiding judgment and a fiery hell. Baptism does not make you anything but someone who is a member of the household of God who confesses Christ crucified, waits for the resurrection and shares with the rest of God’s household in Christ’s eternal priesthood. A person is not “saved” or redeemed simply because they get wet or “dedicated”. People are not safe because of how they are baptized or because they have prayed a particular prayer in a particular place.  God is active in the life of his precious people. They are his and he calls them by name. It is God who judges and God who redeems and saves his people. It is not about us but about God.

Baptism is about living a life that refuses to live in solitude, only living for and caring about one’s self. Baptism is about living a life that is totally in love with the Savoiur and completely in service to one’s neighbours. Baptism is about living out the promises made to God concerning renouncing evil and accepting and serving Christ every day of your life. How will you live out your baptism this week? Will you participate in the breaking of bread and in the prayers? Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbour as yourself? Will you will you treat people with justice and peace, respecting the dignity of every human being (even the ones you don’t like)? How will you honour Christ this week?

Living out the name of Jesus

What’s in a name? Any name? Let’s take the name “McDonald” as an example. What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the name “McDonald”. Hearing that name makes me think of at least two things. First it makes me want to sing “ei, ei, O!” Second it makes me think of that hamburger chain that I used to love to go to when I was a child. It was a decent hamburger back then and it wasn’t the merchandising machine it is now. But we certainly do recognize the things that are associated with a name.   Another would be a group of Lutheran churches named “Grace” in the U.S.

There was a Grace Church in Texas that heard about the plight of a “Grace Church” in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The building that Grace Church was using was destroyed by the hurricane leaving them without worship space. The Grace Church in Texas wanted to help their namesakes in Louisiana so they got involved. They could see how they were related, at least by name and that these relations needed to be cared for. As a result, a network of Grace Churches grew up to help those affected by Hurricane Katrina- they wanted to live up to their name and live out the grace poured out on them. 

Then there are people and their nicknames. For example I have a number of nicknames from my time in the North. Clergy are given “nicknames by the elders out of the clergy’s personality and a common understanding of who the person is. So, to some of the elders in the Tahltan nation, I am known as liptlaidda (spelt phonetically) which means “preacher” or “storyteller”. To one elder in Old Crow Yukon I am gii hii inzi – the kind one who speaks the Truth. Some people in a congregation in another parish called me gii sill cho which I would translate as “little bishop” because of an incident with a bridge that got broken. All of us have our tags and labels that we wear – some by choice and others by imposition of others. Some of the tags are pleasant and others not so pleasant.

What is in the name of Jesus? It is important to know that Jesus is not a Hebrew name first of all but a Latin one. Jesus is from the name Hebrew name “Joshua” which means “God saves” or “God is salvation”. In this case it bespeaks the efforts that God is going to make to reach out and save his people through is only begotten Son. God is going to act and is going to heal and save his people. In naming their son Jesus, Mary and Joseph have accepted who their son is and they put their faith in God precisely because God has done what he said he would do. Having faith and belief answered makes them more devout and aware of their faith and the need to live it out.

On top of this, they had people coming to them for weeks after the child was born to see him and to then go and speak about him to others so that they might come and see him for themselves and praise God for what he is about to do in and through this child. The shepherds came and told what they had seen and heard and by doing so, surprised and encouraged Mary and Joseph after months of turmoil, fear and pain. The shepherds – outcasts in the rest of the society are the first humans to welcome the Christ Child into the world. Later on, the Magi came, bring their gifts and Simeon and Anna were in the Temple to welcome him when the matters of the Law came into play.    

How does this impact on us? We as his Church as the Body of Christ, we need to bear his name, to tell of the deeds of Christ and live out the promise of God in his name. Mary and Joseph were faithful to live out what they had seen and heard. They named the boy Jesus. And through their faith and willingness to follow, they worked with God to enable salvation for all people. Others like the angels and the shepherds, the pilgrims including the Magi came to see the boy and left proclaiming the greatness of God and the wonders he is going to perform to save his people. We need to continue to do this, to bear the name of Christ faithfully in our own lives and tell people of the deeds God has done in Christ so that they might come home to God.   As Church we need to live as people who know that God is faithful to his promises and will lead is people into health and salvation. God is faithful to his promises and he calls us to be faithful to our promises to him that we might live out our lives as witnesses to his grace and glory.

As we begin another year, let us take up his name, tell of his deeds and live into the promises that God has made to us and let us do so in Christ’s name.  

Where did that kid go?

There is a story told of two brothers who were in a word “scallywags”. Both boys were considered to be reprobates and scoundrels and their parents and their teachers were at a loss as to what to do with them, Finally, ,one day they called in the local clergy to the principal’s and it was decided that the clergy was going to scare these to misguided youth straight. They brought the younger boy into the office and invited him to sit in a nice chair. In a loud, menacing voice the clergy asked the boy, “Where is God?”  The child squirmed in his chosen seat but said nothing. So the cleric got closer the boy so that he towered over him and said again in a thunderous, threatening voice, “Where is God?” the boy’s eyes opened wide in obvious fear. He suddenly exploded out of his seat and burst through the door. Grabbing his elder brother by the hand he exclaimed, “We’ve got to get out of here! The adults have lost God and they are trying to pin it on us!”

It was Jesus’ first Passover as a man – he was all of twelve. He was now a son of the law and there were expectations on him now. He had been to the City before but had now been allowed to participate the way that he was now. He was openly listening and questioning and learning from the very people who would later question him and declare him to be a blasphemer. Jesus was an avid student learning and listening and questioning – learning about life from our very human point of view.  But in the process he was missed and left behind by his parents.

Mary had started out with other female relatives to the camping spot where the family would eat and take their rest while Joseph and other male relatives waited for morning prayers at the Temple before setting out. It was not until that night when Joseph found Mary in their tent that they discovered that they did not know that Jesus was missing. They immediately backtracked to the City wondering what had happened to Jesus. Was he hurt or sick? Had someone taken him? Why hadn’t he left the city with them? What had become of him? One cannot help note the similarity of this moment with the one that Mary Magdela had the morning of the resurrection – “Where have you put my Lord? Tell me and I will go get him.” Mary must have had it run through her head – I have had the Lord and Saviour and now I cannot find him – where did that kid go!

Three days the searched lasted. And when they found Jesus he was still listening, still talking and still learning.

His mother brings him up short by asking him, “Did you not realize that your father and I were looking for you” as if to imply that he was unaware of the search and the stress of the loss that had been place on them. Jesus answers in a manner that seems to be – at least me at any rate – more than a bit flippant: “Didn’t you know that I had to be about my Father’s business?” His response makes it clear to the reader that Jesus knew who he was from a very early age. He knew who he was and why he was here and what needed to be done. The discussions that he was participating in, where not only of a theological nature, they were also about everyday problems that the nation faced. The older men around him were amazed at his grasp of the situation as a young man.  Jesus knew that he had a relationship with God that was like no other and yet he was not rude or arrogant about it – he chose to be obedient and follow Mary’s instructions as they started the journey home to Nazareth.

In some sense this is the other half of Christmas. The world thinks that the Holidays are all but over. And that Christmas is so week – last week. It is time to pack up and put away for another year while the Church is just getting started. The media are worried about their top ten and top fifty and top one hundred lists. For most of our North American culture we are only worried about how Christmas helped the economy and whether or not we bought enough stuff. And while the world is packing up and putting their Christmas away and awaiting the dreaded credit card bill, the Church is watching the boy grow and mature both as a man and with God. Christmas is not about buy or getting, it is about giving. And giving implies you know what you are getting and more importantly who you are getting that something for. Giving is not just a moment, it is a process. Gifts are meant to not only be given but also to be used/shared/worn. It takes time to learn how to use some gifts so that it benefits us and those around us.  And we are called and drawn to worship with the rest of creation because we can see our redemption coming in the person of Jesus Christ. It is time to make room under our trees for the gift that is going to count the most when it comes to Christmas – our lives. Giving is more than just the gift it is the connection between the giver and the receiver. God knew we needed Jesus and so Jesus is what God gave to us. And instead of standing back watching and observing and maybe being judgmental about the whole thing we call life, he is actively engaged and participating in the real struggles and troubles we face. This should remind us that we do not choose him, he chose us. And he has loved us with an everlasting love. And if he is in the middle, then where can we expect to see him? By the Christmas tree as well as the cross? On the side of the road as well as in the middle of things, facing life’s struggles and giving them his dignity?

Where will you see Jesus in 2010? Where will you find him and where do you think he will surprise you? We have seen his glory and he has made his dwelling with us… now are we going to go and look for him?

On the side of the Road

We call him Emmanuel, “God with us”. We claim that we have seen him and his glory, the glory of the One and Only.  And yet we did not praise him or give him any glory. He came to the stable on the roadside of a Judean town. He did not come to a palace, not to a mansion or a castle, not even to a crowded and unwelcoming inn. He came to a roadside stable. He didn’t come to the rich and the powerful. He didn’t come to the intelligent and the wise nor the popular or the religious of heart. He came to those who were in the margins and in the wilderness to draw them to himself. He came to an unremarkable couple with a simple gift of faith in God and he drew them to that roadside stable with only the hosts of angelic fanfare to announce his arrival.

God came to us and we did not recognize him. We saw the light of glory and we ignored him, thinking that he was of no account. We refused the outstretched hands that had molded our bodies in the depths of the earth and flung stars out into space. He made his tilt amongst us and made his presence manifest on earth so that his light might shine through earth (through us) so it can be seen throughout the earth. The Word was made flesh, going forth from God and he cannot be nullified or voided. He came to that which was his own to accomplish the purpose for which he was sent. There was no one and nothing like him in the entire world but we ignored him. He came to us in flesh and blood that we might learn to be with him and he with us.

The witness of each Christmas that we celebrate is that God had his advent, his coming amongst us. We were driven from the Garden and now he seeks us out on the side of the road. Many are surprised at the nature of the Word and his mission. The joy of the green tree and the presents will soon turn to the grief and sorrow of another tree, rude and bare. The only gift offered will be the life that is needed to make amends. We will be drawn from the lights of the Christmas tree through the darkness of those hours to the light of the first day of the week and the Resurrection.

The witness of each Christmas that we celebrate is that God had his advent, his coming amongst us. We were driven from the Garden and now he seeks us out on the side of the road. Many are surprised at the nature of the Word and his mission. The joy of the green tree and the presents will soon turn to the grief and sorrow of another tree, rude and bare. The only gift offered will be the life that is needed to make amends. We will be drawn from the lights of the Christmas tree through the darkness of those hours to the light of the first day of the week and the Resurrection.

God came to us and we did not recognize him. We saw the light of glory and we ignored him, thinking that he was of no account. We refused the outstretched hands that had molded our bodies in the depths of the earth and flung stars out into space. He made his tilt amongst us and made his presence manifest on earth so that his light might shine through earth (through us) so it can be seen throughout the earth. The Word was made flesh, going forth from God and he cannot be nullified or voided. He came to that which was his own to accomplish the purpose for which he was sent. There was no one and nothing like him in the entire world but we ignored him. He came to us in flesh and blood that we might learn to be with him and he with us.

So this Christmas, take a moment to consider carefully what it is that God has offered you. He has come to you to offer you grace upon grace and has proven in his Son, his Word incarnate what he will do to draw you home again. He was born through the pain and the blood, the joy and the surprise into the muckiness of this human life. And the Word made flesh did it to be completely with us in our humanness and so that he could guide us on the journey home to God. We are invited to return to the stable and to the Garden. Let us make that journey together that we might be with him and he with us, our Emmanuel.  

What Christmas means to me

What does Christmas mean to me? A great many things! First it means that there is a lot to do and to be done. There are services to be done all over the Peninsula, taking communion to those who belong to the churches but cannot get out to services, visiting people who are sick in hospital and in the homes Christmas programs at the schools and helping to feed families that are in need this time of year.

Christmas is a time to stop and think about Christmases past: how things used to be and about family and the times that we have shared over the years. I think of the Christmases when I used to so look forward to watching my favourite television specials like “The Grinch who stole Christmas”, “Frosty the Snowman”, “Rudolph the Red nose Reindeer” and my absolute favourite, “A Christmas Carol”. I don’t mean the newer ones. I mean the classic, black and white one with Alistair Sim as “Ebenezer Scrooge”. I think of the old family traditions like the pictures in front of the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve and getting ready to go off to Church for service late in the evening. I recall the smell of the wafting incense as the teenaged server passed by, the ringing of bells, and the singing of traditional Christmas Carols. I recall the early morning surprises and the joy at an unexpected gift would bring. I hark back to the pleas of my parents to either go back to bed or to go and play quietly until a more suitable hour of the morning. I remember the smell of the freshly perked coffee emanating as we waited for my mom to come in from “throwing a flake of hay to the horses”. I remember the twinkling lights and bright decorations on the tree, the vibrantly coloured packages under the tree and perhaps the thrill of finding a bit of snow on the ground.       

This moment is a moment to stop and recall Christmas present: the day previous has been a busy one. And it had been a late night trying to get the house settled down a least for a time. Early in the morning the family rises and settles in our appointed spots around the tree into open presents. There will be the flipping of pancakes and the sizzling of bacon for breakfast and the sweet order of the turkey as it cooks in the oven. There will be joy of watching children with their new found treasures. There will be the demands to put something together so that it can be played with or the need to put batteries in a toy that has already used up its first set in rigourous play. There will be a meal to look forward to with a moment of thanks for all that has been given and received and lots of eating.

But why do this at all – the meaning of Christmas comes to us from something that happened in the life of a couple more than 2,000 years ago. God came to a roadside stable, he made his tent with us and we have seen his glory. He came not only that we might know him but that he would also come home with him. Let the first gift of this Christmas be the one God desires to give to you: himself. Christmas means that God has come to us to be with us and that he will show us the way home.

Share, be fair and don't be a bully...

As the child who had never before been to a Christmas service said when asked what he though of the service, he replied, "I want some of that `umphant!'" "What's that?" the child was asked. "You know, it's what those people were singing about--`O Come all ye faithful, joyful and try ‘umphant' I'd like to try some of that `umphant.'"

“Umphant” must have been what John had when he preached. The word of the Lord sought him out and he went all around the region of the Jordan preaching, calling people to repentance, to baptism and to do something about it. Let’s keep in mind that John is regarded as the latest and the last of the prophetic line in Israel. In a sense this is the final warning before the Savoir comes. It is kind of like the warning that athletes get when the time on the clock is running out; something like, “last minute of play in the period”. John is telling the people that the One that was promised to come is coming and the time is at hand. We need to straighten out and straighten up our lives because he is coming and we will be judged by him we need to be ready.

It used to be that judgment was to be feared or what I now call the “God of Maude”. God will seek you out and will get you for what you have done, just because someone disagrees with you. John is not talking about that kind of judgment. The judgment of God is not like that – not at all. John tells the people that listen to him that they cannot rely on who they are (in terms of their heritage and ancestry) or what they have (position, power and authority) when it comes to judgment – what will matter is how one has lives out their life.  And if you take a moment to consider who John is talking to – he is taking not just to the religious and the lawyers, he is talking to the poor, the tax collectors and the soldiers. He is preaching to everyone who is in the nation. Without judgment, there is no presence of justice. After all, all flesh will see the judgment of God.

As a response to what they have heard people ask the natural question “What shall we do?” How can we respond to the fact that judgment is coming. John’s preaching points to the need for repentance and a need to live a life that is worthy of such an act towards God. And how do we live a life worthy of repentance and mercy? We need to share, we need to be fair and we need not to bully. Sounds almost too simple does it? Faith and fidelity aren’t just for heroes; the fortunate and the few. It is for everybody. All of us can share what we have because we have something that God has given us to share with others. We need to be fair in our dealings with everyone as well as honest and true. We are not able to always control what happens to us we are always in control of how we act and react when things happen to us. That’s where the ‘umphant’ comes from: the willingness to stand up and stand firm and to speak with grace and with courage. We are called to stand for those who are in need and who have fallen and have walked away from God. We need to do good (not just be good)  for their well being and because we are also responding to the love, the grace, the mercy and the call of God in our own lives. We know how to share, be fair and not bully. And while its sounds like stuff we learning in kindergarten and Sunday School – it can be some of the hardest and roughest things we do. Stand in for someone else is not an easy thing. And yet with the ‘Umphant’ we are enabled to overcome.

Moving towards being an overcomer, trying the ‘umphant’ thing can also make one fearful and yet we are encouraged by Scripture to “Fear Not”. Fear is numbing and therefore is corrosive to the human spirit. Courage is the willingness to walk into the gloom of these days of Advent not because we are fearless but because we know and trust the One with whom we enter into it. So as we wait for the King to come with the dawn of his day, let us seek out the sacred and the extraordinary in the everyday goings on in life and do the things to which we are called with enthusiasm. Let us share, be fair and not bully. Let us live a life that is worthy not only of repentance but of the life that was offered for us. And let us do so in the name of the King.