The Circle of Life

“IN THE EYES OF A CHILD”
Luke 2:21-40
Faith United
December 28, 2008


When Sarah was a baby in Tilden, Nebraska
we took her faithfully to the Catholic Church basement
in Norfolk to get her immunizations
One of those times, we weren’t able to get to the scheduled day
at the Catholic Church,
So we had to take her to some community building
in a remote part of Norfolk where we’d never been
It wasn’t the nicest part of town
in fact, it was quite the opposite
it was a very old building on the “other” side of town
It was crammed with all kinds of people
most of whom didn’t speak any English…
We took our seats among the mass of mothers and children --
across the aisle, we saw a woman who was there
with her grandchildren, of which she had many
She was holding an infant, while all around her children were climbing,
playing, chattering, and running back and forth
It was pretty chaotic and noisy, and there was a variety of smells there too
We blamed that on a room full of babies…
Sarah, being a baby,
started to cry one of those crying spells that never seem to stop
We tried everything, but she screamed,
her face was all red, she kept kicking,
her whole body seemed upset….
I walked with her, pacing back and forth,
bouncing her, humming to her, putting her on my shoulder
laying her in my arms, singing into her ear…. nothing worked
Larry and I passed her back and forth,
but nothing would make her stop crying

Suddenly I heard a yell--
actually it didn’t sound like words to me,
but excited noises
Startled, I whirled around and saw the old Hispanic woman
reaching out her arms toward me, shaking her hands insistently
exclaiming something in Spanish quite energetically
She motioned one of her granddaughters toward me
the little girl approached me and simply said, “She wants your baby…”
Oh, really…
My first instinct was panic, of course,
I wasn’t too comfortable in my surroundings to begin with--
and the old woman nodded, gesturing insistently
that I give her my baby
I looked around, looking for a way to escape,
but we did have to get the shots
and the place was packed with people
The old woman grunted again, loudly, shaking her hands at me
like why wasn’t I just doing what she told me to do??
and the girl said again, “she wants to hold your baby…”
Against my better instincts, I thought at the time,
I made my way over to this stranger, this old woman
and handed my screaming child into her arms
Immediately the woman’s face brightened up into a toothless smile
as she held Sarah gently in her arms
She began to sing to her,
in Spanish, softly, so softly I could hardly hear her above the noise
And in the midst of that noisy, crowded place,
she acted as if it was only her and my child in the world
Sarah stopped crying and stared into the old woman’s eyes
as she sang to her,
until her eyelids began to droop and she fell asleep

The old woman kept singing for a little while, rocking Sarah in her arms
and then she just looked up at me and grinned again
without a word, she nodded to me
got up slowly from her chair,
and gently placed my sleeping child back into my arms
She sat back down in her chair and pulled one of her own grandchildren
into her lap
she smiled and nodded at me as if I’d already said “thank you”
I was astonished…
for a moment the room seemed quiet,
or at least I didn’t notice the noise and the chaos
I was embarrassed at my own panic and mistrust of the old woman
I nodded back at her and simply said, “gracias”
but she was already yelling at one of the children near her…

I think of that day when I read this story
I can imagine a little bit of what Mary might have felt
coming all the way to Jerusalem
for the ritual of purification and of dedicating her child to God
Coming out of her quiet little town
into the big city, still scared and a little bit shaken
at all the uncertainties of being a mother for the first time
Moses’ law commanded that the mother go through a period of isolation
after giving birth,
and then after a certain period of time,
she was to present herself to the priests
make an offering to God
to be declared clean again
The law stated that every firstborn male
was to be designated as holy to the Lord…

It was their tradition, like our baptism
something you did, something that was expected
There was even a clause in the law
that allowed for poor people to make their humble offerings
Those who couldn’t afford a lamb
could bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons…
So they ventured into Jerusalem with their little boy
sticking close to each other,
a little awed by the crowds, and protective of their child
They saw the temple, and came forward to the outer courts,
looking for the proper authorities
to whom they could make their humble offering…
Before they were inside the court, they were startled --
by an old man who seemingly accosted them
he didn’t even seem to know that Mary and Joseph were there
his eyes were shining, and his face was bright with joy
He wasn’t dressed like a priest
or he wasn’t well-kept, so they knew he wasn’t a leader
but without asking permission,
he simply took Jesus right out of Mary’s arms before she could protest
I can imagine her panic, who is this man
and what is he doing with my child??
He was very, very old
His long white hair was wiry
His hands were very wrinkled,
you could see the skin hanging off of his bony fingers
That old, wrinkly, blue-veined skin looked so odd
against the new skin of Mary’s baby

On the one hand,
He looked to be right at death’s door,
on the other hand, there such fire in his eyes
a joy, a life, a passion that seemed so young, so hopeful…
in that moment, he had much more energy
than Mary felt in her tired body
Mary tried to reach out to take him back,
but Joseph put his hand on her arm
to stop her,
and put his finger to his lips and smiled
as if he knew that something special was happening
the old man seemed to dance where he was
to a music that only he could hear
but when they listened closely, he was humming softly
Mary looked around self-consciously,
but in the temple courts in Jerusalem
there were so many people,
such a disturbance went unnoticed
Was the old man crazy?
Was he suffering dementia?
His eyes were closed as he clutched the baby to his chest
praising God, and swaying to his own music…

Suddenly he opened his eyes
and he looked toward the skies
and he began to speak toward the heavens
while also gazing back down into the child’s face
“Master,” he said, “now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel…”
Mary just stared at the old man
The last six weeks had been so ordinary
so typical, just getting to know her baby
knowing his quirks, his schedule
Losing sleep from frequent feedings during the night
Hardly sleeping herself, as she listened closely to his breathing
always making sure he was still breathing….
It had been six weeks
since anything extraordinary had happened
since strangers acted so…. strangely…
around her child…
The shepherds, their story that night,
the smells, the animals, crazy stories
about angels and heavenly hosts
it all seemed so long ago…
she wondered if it all really happened
or if it was just a dream….

What was the old man saying? What did it mean?
The old man blessed the child
with his thin, wrinkled, claw-like hands
and for the first time he looked at Mary
His light-filled eyes narrowed and grew darker
the joy in his face seemed to melt away
he swallowed as if he had terrible news
“This child,” he said solemnly,
“this child is destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel,
and is to be a sign that will be opposed
so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed…
and a sword will pierce your own soul, too..”
Mary gasped
and was frightened by the sudden darkness in the man’s face
But just as suddenly the old man’s eyes softened again
as he stroked the baby’s chin, then his cheek
It wasn’t the kind of thing you’d want to hear
about your child
The words didn’t feel like a blessing
the words were confusing
her son would make people face themselves?
face truths that they didn’t want to face?
He’d cause strife? Division?
But what about what the angel Gabriel had said to her
in that dream…
that he would be special,
the one that her people had been waiting for?

Deep down we all know
that babies are a wonderful blessing and gift,
but they also cause us pain
Besides the screaming, the loss of sleep
and the worry they cause,
They cause us pain just by the fact that we love them so intensely
our hearts are made vulnerable in a unique way
when it comes to loving our children…
They’ll grow up to make mistakes of their own
they’ll choose paths we may not agree with
there will come a time that they will have to find their own way
and we just have to pray that we gave them everything we could
Whenever you love someone, whenever you give your heart over
to another,
there is always the risk that they will break it…

But we know what Simeon is talking about
we know what Mary can’t know yet
and it’s best that she doesn’t
We know the rest of the story
we know that Mary will bear the awful burden
of having to bury her own child
We know that when he grows up,
He will claim a difficult calling
and leave his mother to worry daily about his sanity and safety
We know the bad news that comes with the good news
that for the promise to be fulfilled,
this child will suffer
and consequently break his mother’s heart
For as long we live in this crazy world,
things are not one-sided
Jesus is the incarnation of God himself
the incarnation of pure holiness,
of deity, of the goodness of God
In the face of that goodness and holiness,
all things and all people are revealed for what they really are
and it’s not always pretty
we’re not always ready to deal with truth
Jesus is the Truth
and the Truth is not always welcome
The truth that Simeon had to share
was unpleasant
He would have preferred to just bless the child
to give glory to God and celebrate
but he was called to tell the whole story
that to be the bearer of truth,
the incarnation of holiness and righteousness
This child will scare, offend and anger many people
who don’t want the truth revealed
This tiny, 6 week old baby has a difficult calling
already this child bears the weight of the world
and so his mother’s heart will bear it too
But though we know the rest of the story,
we also know the end of it, as well
that nothing will be able to hold this child back
not even death itself
And his mother’s grief will once again
burst into rejoicing
her tears will become joy in the morning

It was enough for Simeon to see the baby’s face
Just a baby,
a speechless newcomer to the world
The story will not unfold for many years yet
long after Simeon’s own life ended
This is just a glimpse of the future
a hint of what was to come
But for Simeon it was enough….
enough to make his life complete…

While Mary clutched her child with relief
staring at the back of the old man
as he disappeared into the crowd,
There was a woman
suddenly beside her,
Anna-- very wrinkled, and very old
Many would say that she was just waiting out her days
that she had nothing to offer
She’d lived a lonely life,
a long life full of loss and grief
They felt sorry for her, all alone
And yet on this day,
she, too, saw through the ordinary to the holy
and she praised God like a crazy woman
and told all who cared to listen that the redemption of Israel
had come…in this child
It’s crazy,
She just got a glimpse
so much could happen between now and when the child was grown
but she saw the potential in that baby’s face
She, like Simeon, touched the future
and she would end up telling everyone about this baby
that she only saw for a few minutes
and yet would spend the rest of her days celebrating…
It was a holy interruption
Mary and Joseph were just coming to fulfill the Church law
to do the appropriate rituals expected of the church
And in the midst of it they experienced the Spirit of God
the profound, surprising, sometimes scary Spirit
The Spirit that disrupts, challenges, and haunts our lives --
At first, it was frightening, confusing-- this interruption
yet it turned out to be a blessing,
a story they would share with Jesus when he was older
Words that Mary would keep in the scrapbook of her heart
A memory, a moment that they’d remember as they fell asleep
a memory they’d think about when they doubted
or were afraid for their son….

The name Simeon means “to hear”
and the name “Anna” means “grace,” or even, “the face of God”
Do we ever expect to see the face of God
in our daily lives?
Out there, in the rituals of our day,
the sometimes boring schedules we keep?
Simeon didn’t seek out the face of the Messiah
in the church building,
but he found him on the street
out among the people
in the midst of real life….
Do we look for the face of God out there?
Do we keep our eyes open for a holy interruption?
Do we expect to be surprised?
To experience something new amidst the familiar?
In the faces of people we see every day?
In the face of someone at the nursing home,
in the hospital,
in the grocery store, or on the street?

Simeon and Anna were two very old people,
Just a part of the scenery at the temple
quiet, yet very faithful
full of greater wisdom than anyone suspected
They didn’t stand out,
they weren’t famous until that moment late in their lives
and even then, it was just for a moment….
And when the moment came,
they cried out in prophecy
of who this tiny, ordinary looking baby
from a poor family
would grow up to be…
and that was enough
Simeon didn’t need to know the rest of the story
to see the rest of Jesus’ life unfold
It was enough to see his infant face
the fulfillment of the promise
the warm weight of the future in his arms
Now, he could die in peace,
knowing, seeing for himself,
that the world was in good hands
and his faith had not been in vain…
For he had the enviable pleasure of holding the Christ Child in his arms
feeling his warmth,
seeing the future in his eyes…
So don’t be afraid--,
We don’t know what we’ll see in ourselves
if we get close to Jesus, if we take him seriously
if we commit our lives to him
We may discover things about ourselves and our world
that are disturbing, because Jesus always reveals the Truth
no matter how difficult it is to bear
And yet in his eyes, we will also see the light of eternity,
God’s future, God’s hope and promise for the world
It’s always risky, it often opens our heart to deep and passionate love
that makes us vulnerable…
but don’t be afraid…to take Jesus into your arms…
For he will reveal the truth…
and the truth… will set us free…..

A Baby Changes Everything

"A BABY CHANGES EVERYTHING"
Luke 2
Faith United
December 24, 2008


My first year out of seminary in 1993
was a terrible year
I was serving my first appointment
which consisted of three churches
all pretty far apart
My churches were mad at me because I wasn't living in their parsonage
so they were pretty unpleasant
from the very beginning
I wondered a lot why I even chose this profession!!
It was a very discouraging first year
One thing after another
it seemed like I was always putting out fires
dealing with unpleasant people all the time
But In the fall of that year,
I got pregnant (on purpose)
It didn't make the congregations any nicer
but every day I sensed that new life growing inside of me
and that gave me hope
It gave me reason to keep going, to keep trying
not for myself, but for the life inside of me

Many of you have heard the story
of how Sarah was supposed to be born AFTER we moved
to Tilden
but she decided to come early
and so Sarah was born three days before we moved
Now the people in Tilden were mad already
because we were bringing changes to their parish
right at the beginning
we were making their three-church charge
into a four -church charge and adding a UCC church to the mix
This was the Conference's idea,
but the churches didn't care whose idea it was
We heard they were angry

But you know,
we came into Tilden
with a three-day old baby
and somehow the people's anger was dissipated
There's something about a baby
Part of it, I was told later,
was that all the women of the parish were so impressed
that I was rugged enough to give birth
and move three days later
that they had to give me credit,
that I must be someone worth giving a chance to

There's something about a baby

All those angry parishioners who didn't want any changes
and some who threatened to leave the parish
many of them came to our house
bearing gifts of food and baby clothes
and even stayed to watch Sarah
so I could take a nap amidst the boxes
And in the weeks to come
church members signed up to take turns holding Sarah
during church while I preached
There's something about a baby…

The other day, I heard a woman talking about why so many bad things
happen around Christmas
Bad things are happening all the time, of course
but somehow it seems unjust when they happen
around Christmas

I went to see Kassidy Kenning in the hospital the other day
Kassidy is the newborn daughter of Tag and Sandy Kenning
and it was such a relief to just sit and look at the baby
while the wind was howling ungodly temperatures outside
and crazy people were storming Walmart
for the perfect gift
for a moment, all was calm, and all was bright

I remember in 2007, a hard year for our church
I remember the day I was with Sharon Gard
when she passed away
and a day later I was holding Brooke Sell
who had just entered the world
on the same day that Sharon left it
There's something about a baby …

Or the end of last year, when Chris and Adam Miller
announced that they were expecting
this news coming just a couple of weeks
after we lost Lee Boelter and Karen Trindle
By that time, we were all ready for a little new life…
Life and death, death and life,
what comes around goes around
and with God, it's not a straight line
that ends with death
but it's a circle, life and death and life again
all turning, changing, always renewing, always starting again…
There's just something about a baby …

It was a dark time, a hopeless time
people were in despair
they were afraid and anxious
always wondering what bad news would come that day
The government was unpredictable
never in touch with the needs of the people
as if they even cared about those people
and now this silly decree
this foolish order from the government
to count all the people in their jurisdiction
causing thousands of people to travel
overcrowding inns, causing unnecessary expense and stress
hardship on the poor
it was unjust and cruel for many
It was a dark time
a time of unrest
a time of violence and tension in the world
life was difficult for many
And so, it seemed, the whole world was on the road those days
for fear of being arrested if they didn't comply,
or worse,
because the authorities seemed to have no regard
for human life

It was a dark time
People were weary, hopeless, afraid
And then there was Mary and Joseph
coming into the overcrowded town of Bethlehem
nobody paying attention to them
they were just two more faces in a faceless crowd
Everybody was tense, rude, weary
Vying for the last room in the inn
No room for a pregnant woman and her husband
Sorry
Then the shepherds out in the field
who didn't have much of a life themselves
they just watched sheep
they lived with sheep, they ate with sheep
It was just another night for them
nothing special
they didn't have to travel
people knew where to find them….
They were away from the chaos in town
and they preferred it that way
they didn't go into town much at all anyway, ever
they were never welcome
people were always steering a wide circle around them
because they were pretty ripe
But then, it was out in the field,
away from the craziness in town
out in the darkness of the fields
where a strange man approached the shepherds
"do not be afraid," the angel said
as the shepherds raised their rods to fight off the stranger
"do not be afraid, I bring you great news, news of great joy!"

Joy was not something they experienced out there in the fields
Joy was not something they ever expected to experience
But they weren't so different than the townsfolk in that regard
Joy was a commodity then
Joy was not a regular part of their hard lives
Joy was rare, a fairy tale
"I bring you good news of great joy for all the people--"
and this stranger told them of a baby
a baby they'd want to meet
a baby born in a cave in town
amidst the animals, laying in a feeding trough
And then for a moment
the whole sky was filled with these angels, singing
singing so beautiful, it was unearthly
it was not human… it was beyond words
and the shepherds fell back
and stared, gaped at the sight…
And they went
they entered the chaos of town,
they followed their guts
and found the cave,
they apologetically entered the cave
shouting their story ahead of them,
"don't be afraid!" they said to Mary
who instinctively covered up her newborn child
and shielded him with her arms
"don't be afraid!" they said,
"but we gotta tell you something!"
and behind them, other curious townsfolk
had followed these guys to the cave
perhaps they'd been out looking for a drink
or just walking to think, to walk off the tension of the crowds
and they heard it
the good news
the wild story of the shepherds
and many of them moved forward,
cautiously, shyly
and saw him
There's just something about a baby…

The sight of the baby made them smile
Nobody even noticed the smell of cow manure
or the body odor of the shepherds
as they just looked upon the scrunched
but beautiful face of that little baby
born in the midst of the chaos and tension
born in the midst of the darkness and fears outside
Mary forgot to be self-conscious
about how she must have looked
or how exhausted and sore she must have felt
when she heard the crazy story of the shepherds
and watched the faces of the townspeople
who were out looking for a miracle
There's just something about a baby

A baby changes everything
a baby disrupts our lives
turns them topsy turvy
A baby born to a teenage unwed mother
is not always good news
it changes the future
often limits the future
it changes the relationships in a family
it causes some to turn away
and brings the stronger forward with unconditional love
Sometimes it makes for lifelong rejection

A teenage couple who were in love
are suddenly faced with an overwhelming responsibility
sometimes, all too often, they can't live up to it
A baby changes everything
There are couples who can't have babies
no matter how much they try,
something in their bodies betray them
and sometimes relationships are broken
because of the tension and disappointment
A baby changes everything

In a world of death and sickness
of ongoing war and economic uncertainty
in a world of family tensions
and enduring grief over many losses
In a world of lost jobs
and hospital stays and bills that don't get paid
Christmas still comes
families get together
some of them love it, some of them hate it
but we get together
and we come here
we turn out the lights and remember the darkness
all over the world
it's not hard to forget the darkness
because so many things keep reminding us
but for tonight, just for tonight
we willingly sit in the darkness
and we light our candles
and we use the light of each other's candles
to light our own
we help the little kids beside us light their flame
and we all sing into the darkness
"all is calm, all is bright…"

We do this no matter what shape we're in
we do this no matter what awaits us out there again
we do this whether our hearts are broken
or bursting with joy
We light the candle because we believe
that the darkness will not overcome this light
that no matter how dark it gets
there will always be the light of the candle,
the one that reminds us of Jesus
We sing, we hug, we give, we love,
we keep lighting candles
all because of this night
all because of one birth centuries ago
and we look into the face of the babies in our lives
and we smile
because there's just something about a baby
new life in the midst of death
new life in the midst of darkness
new life in the midst of broken hearts
A baby changes everything
it reminds us that we can always begin again
that we can keep praying for peace
while we hear the soundtracks of war
It's a baby that gives us hope tonight
a baby that will grow and blossom
whose light will only grow brighter and more brilliant
a baby who hears our prayers even now
and assures us the circle is not complete
until the Light of the world comes to stay forever
and the darkness will be vanquished
and the weapons of war will finally be put down
all because of this baby
we light our candles, knowing that we have entered the story now
and the story goes on
giving us our own parts to play
our own light to shine
stars in our eyes
and heavenly music sustaining our hearts
Sing tonight
for peace
for tonight, all is calm and all is bright
and will be again someday…. forever

Mary: Not Just For Christmas Anymore

“BEARERS OF GOOD NEWS”
Text: Luke 1:26-38
Faith United
December 21, 2008


When I was little my favorite show was “Little House on the Prairie”
I watched it faithfully
and felt like I grew up with the Ingalls family
Even though I loved the show,
I hated Laura Ingalls
I didn’t admit this out loud
but she was just too good to be true
Whenever she did make mistakes, like punching Nellie Olson
on the playground
she always learned a lesson
and gave a little speech at the end
that was just way too wise for a girl her age
I didn’t fall for it
Mostly, I think, because I couldn’t live up to her example
I wanted to be like her, but I couldn’t be that good
Everybody loved Laura
All the adults in the story wished their kids could be as good as Laura
Just once I wanted her to really mess up
but she never did
And her family was also too good to be true
Truth be told, I wanted to be a part of the Ingalls family
even though I knew that Laura and I would never get along
But they were always happy
when they were unhappy, it wasn’t for very long
and then they cried and hugged
and everything was wonderful again
Everybody loved each other
everybody got along,
except Nellie, of course, but everybody hated her anyway,
and everybody was always pretty happy
Any crisis that came up was always taken care of
usually by Charles Ingalls
who tended to be the superman of Walnut Grove
Charles, or Pa, could take care of any problem, it seemed
and it always got teared up when he looked at his daughters
It was all too good to be true, nobody could live up to that
but it was a good show

And I tend to think of Mary that way, don’t you?
I mean, who can live up to Mary?
What do you think of when you think of Mary?
A statue in someone’s yard, with a blue robe
and her head covered,
a hand peacefully extended, reaching out to bless
the squirrels that run through the yard?
Or a Christmas card picture
where her face is glowing with holiness
and even though she had just given birth,
her hair is perfect, her makeup is not smeared
and she’s not even sweating….?

After Christmas, we Protestants don’t pay any attention to Mary
we might think of her again when Jesus dies
because we know how awful that must have been
But in the 30-some years between his birth and his death,
we don’t pay too much attention to Mary…
Who can relate?
I don’t know about you, but I rarely glow …
and I guarantee you, that if I had to give birth in a barn
full of animals in a strange town
because of some stupid decree by the government
I wouldn’t be feeling too holy
much less looking holy….
We sometimes accuse Catholics of thinking too much of Mary
while at the same time, Protestants hardly pay any attention to her at all
Which is a shame, because really,
she is a major player
No Mary, No Jesus….
If she said to that angel that night
“No way, I don’t know what you’re talking about
but if you don’t get out of here right away
I’m going to scream….”
Yeah, if she said that,
there’d be no Jesus
I know, if she had said no, God would have probably had a contingency plan
but we’ll never know that, will we?

I don’t think we really know what to do with Mary,
this too-good-to-be-true Mary
We’ve whitewashed her, I think
we’ve forgotten she was human
we’ve forgotten she was a teenager!!
We’ve forgotten, I think, that she lived on the poor side of town
where other folks didn’t go if they had to
She lived in Nazareth,
and as someone would say many years later,
“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
Mary was just a kid
I believe she was just an ordinary teenager
whatever that was in those days…
dreaming of being married someday
because she figured that was the way things went
she wouldn’t have much of a choice
Her parents would have worried about her choices
since being poor, there wasn’t much they could offer someone
seeking to marry her
They were nobody
Nobody spectacular,
nobody impressive
nobody that anybody gave a second glance to
Just people living their lives in a quiet corner
of some Podunk town
minding their own business
just trying to live a good life
and be faithful to God
Mary may have been a little precocious
she may have been smarter than other people her age
maybe, maybe not
But I think we’ve made her so unbelievable
that nobody can relate to her
so we just push her off into our box of Christmas decorations,
pull her out once a year
and put her safely away again for another 11 months

Church traditions vary on Mary
The Catholic tradition insists that she was a perpetual virgin
that she never slept with a man
and that the brothers and sisters of Jesus
that are referred to in the Gospels
were really his cousins
Protestants like us, don’t really think about it
nor do we really care if she was a normal human being
and conceived children with her husband
but all those glowing pictures of her
usually blue eyed with light brown hair or even blond hair
give us a vision of someone we can’t relate to
Too good to be true
But this middle eastern teenage girl,
who probably didn’t walk around with a halo of light on her head
or rosy cheeks and blue eyes,
was just hanging out in her bedroom one night
when this weird looking guy suddenly appears
I would imagine her first thought was how did he get in
and what would her parents say if they caught him there?
They’d never believe her that she didn’t know how he got in!
Anyway, while she’s thinking about this,
he says some weird things…
“Don’t be afraid, Mary, for God is impressed with you!”
Right…
And while he rambles on about the Son of the Most High God
and the throne of David,
I imagine she’s looking for a way to get around him
and run screaming from the room…
“Mary??” the man asks her, trying to refocus her attention
“How??” is all she can say…
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you….”
Well, what do you say to that?
Maybe she was so curious by now, that she calmed down
and stopped looking for an empty space to run through….

The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you….
I do remember back in seminary,
talking about the traditions surrounding the story
what is known as the Immaculate Conception
How was Jesus conceived?
For centuries,
theologians have thought about just how this came about
because they just can’t let it go
they want the details
how did this work?
and in the early church traditions,
there were some who seriously suggested
that the Holy Spirit entered Mary’s ear
when the Angel Gabriel whispered to her
that she would conceive
and that through her ear,
the Holy Spirit somehow got from there to her womb
and created Jesus…
So Mary was impregnated through her ear
I trust that this theory came about long before anyone
had much of a clue about anything
when it came to where babies come from…
The Church has always had a bit of a hard time
dealing with the mechanics of reproduction….

Fortunately, the through-the-ear theory didn’t last….
The Holy Spirit will come upon you…
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you…
These words are similar to the words at the very beginning of the Bible
when the earth was a formless void
and the darkness covered the deep
It said a wind or the spirit of God
swept over the face of the waters….
and creation began….
There was nothing, and then because of the wind of God
there was something
just a little spark, a little something
that grew and grew and unfolded into creation…
And so, it would seem
the Holy Spirit, again, is creating something new
something miraculous, something world-changing,
something too unbelievable for words
Only this time, God is using a human being
to bring forth the good news of God
God is using the body of a woman
as a temple of the Holy Spirit
as a natural, beautiful instrument of creation
to initiate the drama of salvation and hope
Not too shabby, huh?

Mary is just an ordinary human being used by God
to bring about extraordinary things
She didn’t glow anymore than the normal pregnant woman might glow
She wasn’t holier than holy
she was human and strong and wise beyond her years,
perhaps
But she didn’t disintegrate
when she is confronted by God in the form of a man
and told she would be blessed
She would be blessed with having a child out of wedlock
who would later be executed as a criminal
Fortunately, she didn’t get the whole story that night
when she was suppressing the urge to scream for help
If she knew what all was ahead of her
in the even that she said “yes,”
none of us would blame her for refusing the blessing

I like Mary
I’ve been paying more and more attention to her
through the years
as a woman of profound strength
She’s the first disciple of the child in her womb
She is an example of faith acted out in response
to the words of God
She would suffer a whole lot before the story is over
She would suffer humiliation, grief, powerlessness
being widowed at a young age
not knowing who exactly her oldest son was
Never knowing where he was, really
or what he was getting into
She watched him cross the line again and again
he always seemed to look for trouble
It made her heart nervous all the time
And then she suffered the worst humiliation of all
watching her son die as a common criminal
knowing he was innocent
feeling like God had abandoned them all
and turned his back on the whole world

How would she feel about God after that?
How could she trust God after that?
She, of all people, had a right to shake her fists at God
and complain that he’d not kept his side of the deal….
What did she expect, I wonder?
When her belly started to bloat over the coming weeks?
When she started to feel that sensation of a living person
growing inside of her?
What did she expect?

What do we expect?
I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately
how often it is our expectations that get us in trouble
We expect God to give us what we want
We expect, I think, that if we’re good, then God will give us a good life
free of tragedy, maybe
free of pain
We expect God to take care of all the horrible things in the world
What do we expect of other people?
Sometimes, I think, we have ideas of what other people should do
what they should be,
how they should act
and if they don’t, we get mad
Others should know what we need, and offer it
They should know why we’re mad and they should apologize
At Christmas, I think much of the sadness and depression that occurs
is because of expectations
We see images on TV of people who are happy because it’s Christmas
or families that all get along and are thrilled to be together
no problems, no fights, no resentments
And on TV, everyone has enough money to buy everything they want
they have perfectly decorated homes
lots of food, really nice clothing
and the people kind of glow around the table
But that’s not real life
and when real life doesn’t live up to our expectations,
we can cause ourselves a whole lot of grief
What do we expect?
I love Mary
because she’s real and she was alive
and she suffered deep, deep grief
and lived to tell about it
She experienced profound miracles in her life
but that didn’t shield her from experiencing the very real pain
that life often brings
I bet she got disappointed with God a lot over the years
as she worried over her son who wouldn’t let her keep an eye on him
who went and got himself killed
when it really could have been avoided
I bet at the foot of that Cross her hair wasn’t perfect
her makeup probably ran
as she wailed in grief at the horror and injustice
of the death of her innocent son
and I bet, too, that maybe she finally did glow just a little bit
when she experienced that last miracle that we know of
when her son showed up at the door
looking just as much alive and beautiful as ever

I bet if someone got to interview her in her old age
after the rest of the town went on with their lives
and forgot how special she was
I bet she would have said she had a good life
filled with it’s share of pain and grief and horror
but even as she contemplated her own inevitable death
she would take with her those memories
of the things that were just too good to be true
That strange night when an angel appeared to her
and her life was changed
when God chose to use her body as a landscape of creation
that would shake up the world
and never let it go

Meister Eckhart, a theologian that lived in the 14th century
once wrote that all of us are meant to be mothers of God
now, I guess some of you guys might not like that image
but I get his point
All of us, are meant to be bearers of good news
landscapes of creation
temples of God in which God can do crazy things, really
in which God gives us a choice
about whether or not we want to smuggle God into the world
inside our own bodies,
just like Mary did

What we expect
has a lot of power in what happens in our lives
Do we expect to see miracles happen?
Do we expect to be bearers of such miracles, wonderful good news?
Co-creators of God’s grace in the world?
Do we expect that we can be that special
or that surely it’s reserved for someone else more holy
someone that glows,
someone whose hair is always perfect?
This Christmas, look into the candlelight
and remember the Light of The World that just keeps coming
that flame that dances before our own eyes
teasing us, calling us to join in
and be bearers of light
be agents of miracles
to be quiet messengers
of a profound new creation
that is already unfolding as we speak and live

Garden to Garden

"THE FUTURE IS PEACE"
Isaiah 55:1-13
Faith United
November 30, 2008



I've been thinking a lot this week about hope
We start the season Advent today,
and Advent is about Hope
So I was thinking about all the things that give us hope
the things we rely on, the people we rely on
I stopped at McDonald's yesterday to get a coffee
and I read the headline on the Omaha World Herald
which said:
"Shoppers Provide Reason For Hope"
I found that intriguing
so I looked closer
beneath the headline was a picture of a mob of people
rushing through the doors of Nebraska Furniture Mart
the picture was blurry
as people were literally running into the store
and I remembered just having heard
about the young man in Manhattan that was trampled to death
by shoppers at WalMart on Friday morning
and all the others who were injured
I looked at the headline again to make sure it really said
what I thought it said:
"Shoppers Provide Reason for Hope"
and I laughed out loud

I wondered-- what kind of hope do they provide?

I realize, of course, that the more shoppers shop
the better the economy
the better the economy, the happier the people
but here was an image of crazy people sprinting into a store
before the sun came up
while others in Manhattan did the same thing
and in the process killed an employee
All for a flat screen TV..
This is hope?
The image did not fill me with hope at all
It kind of depressed me, actually….

What do we hope in?
what do we turn to for security?
Sure, we can say quite piously that we hope in God
and in the good news of Jesus Christ
but what do our actions say about us?
As they say, you know, actions speak louder than words

When we are afraid, what gives us hope?
What do we reach for?
When we are in despair, what do we reach out to
to fill that despair?
In America, it would seem that we hope in things, in toys
we hope in having the strongest military power
we hope in guns
we get afraid, we buy a gun
we hope in the stock market
we put all our hopes in one person
and if that person lets us down,
we don't respond well

"Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread?
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?..."
Isaiah asks us…
"Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
delight yourselves in rich food…
listen so that you might live…"

In the article in the Omaha World Herald,
it says that people who have maxed out their credit cards
and have exhausted their lines of credit
are now turning to cash …
This is hope?
That people who are crushed by debt
are still spending that which they don't really have?
On things that don't ultimately satisfy?
On things that are not bread?

What do you hope in?
What gives you real hope?
Or do you even have hope?
I saw the book title many weeks ago,
"The Audacity of Hope"
and that phrase has stayed with me
The AUDACITY of hope
I looked up the word audacity
and it means "shameless boldness, daring…"
In other words, who are we to hope?
What right do we have to have hope
in a world that seems to have gone crazy?
Too often, we steal each other's hope
if someone has hope, we tend to think them naïve
clueless, they don't have all the facts
But we have no right to take away anybody's elses' hope
because sometimes that's all anyone ever has
without hope, we are dead

Jim Wallis said, "Hope is believing despite the evidence
and then watching the evidence change…"
Joan Chittister says
that hope is a choice
we can't choose what happens to us,
but we can choose how we respond to what happens
She writes that memories can be the seedbed of hope
we can look back on how God has worked in our lives
in the past,
how God got us through a terrible tragedy
and then we use that to believe God will do it again
God, she says, has blessed the world with good things,
but all of them take working at…
relationships need work and attention,
beautiful flowers or vegetables don't grow on their own…
we need to till the soil, pull the weeds, water the ground ….
Children need nurturing and guidance and love
food needs to be prepared,
nothing happens without our involvement
Hope takes life on its own terms
Life happens, death happens
now what are we going to do about it?
We can curl up and suck our thumbs and say poor, poor me
or we can get up off our butts and face the darkness with faith
we can light a match, carry a light into the dark
and keep going ….
That takes a certain kind of audacity…
shameless boldness
to stand up to the dark, and light a candle
Even when we're terrified of the dark--
because we are a people of faith,
we walk into that darkness that terrifies us
knowing that the light of Christ goes with us
This message was given to the Israelites
when they were in exile in Babylon
they'd been captured, Jerusalem, their holy city destroyed
Everything that made them who they were had been taken from them
all they had was what was inside of them
and the Prophet Isaiah is saying to them,
don't give up,
don't forget who brought you this far
Just because evil and darkness happen
that doesn't mean that God is longer faithful
and we are still a people in exile
WE DON'T BELONG HERE
We're living in a world that works by different rules
and we have to always keep in mind who we are
who God is, and what God wants
that means that we don't play by the rules of the kingdom
in which we are bound for now
Because we follow a savior that told us
not to return evil for evil
not to take an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth
because all that only ends in death and devastation

The psalmists wrote during the Babylonian exile
about singing the Lord's song in a foreign land
The people had hung up their instruments
on the willow trees
and stopped singing
because they were captured by the enemy
They lost their song
they lost the music
and so they began to lose their very souls
But the prophet is saying, don't give up your song
the song inside of you
that gives you hope and light
that gives you the audacity to go on
Sing your song in the dark….
sing when you don't even feel like singing
sing to remember who you are
and to whom you belong
Sing to remember who will finally deliver us all
and bring us home

I don't know how it started,
but at some point, I started singing at the bedside of people
who were dying
I didn't want to, someone just asked me to once
and so I kept on doing it
It's hard to sing when you're crying
it's hard to sing when your heart is broken
it's hard to sing when a life is literally slipping away from you
right before your eyes
but since I started doing it, it's felt like God reminds me then
that the best time to sing is when we don't feel like it
Because singing the songs of faith
remind us what will get us through
Singing reminds us who we are and where we really come from
Frederick Buechner writes about whistling in the dark
bringing music where there is none
bringing a small light into the dark to move us forward

These are scary times
with the economy the way it is
wars going on and on and on
with no end in sight
people dying in the doorway of WalMart
over a flat screen TV?
It is very risky to hope
it is so much easier to join in with the crowd
and say, yeah, it's all hopeless,
we're all doomed
it's the end of the world as we know it…
It's scary when people act crazy
it's even scarier when people act crazy
and own weapons
We've learned FEAR well
ever since 9/11 FEAR has been a very popular commodity
and we all jump on board
Fear motivates us to do and say crazy things
Fear makes us justify nasty and evil things
Fear makes otherwise good people into monsters
Fear makes us forget who we are
Fear shows us up and reveals to us what we really believe
Do we really believe all this God-stuff?
That God will deliver?
That God has the last word?
That God has hope for our world,
for all God's people?
Then why are we so quick to believe a lie?
Why are we so quick to jump on the bandwagon
and lose ourselves in the chaos?
Why is it so easy for us to say we believe in the God of hope
and yet act like a people of darkness??
We can't see the work of the Holy Spirit
in our lives or in our world
if we allow ourselves to be consumed by fear
and madness….

The prophet Isaiah says that God has a plan
and it's not OUR plan
The Bible begins in hope
and ends in hope
there's a whole lotta mess and pain in between
but we begin and end in HOPE
But hope is not easy
We've been hurt, all of us have
We've lost a lot
We've suffered various tragedies
various traumas
and it's easy to switch into self-preservation
Maybe we don't expect much anymore
because we've had our hearts shattered
It's easier to lay low and expect very little or nothing at all
to NOT hope in anything good
so we won't be disappointed yet again
But Isaiah says that God has a plan
Come, he says, he invites us to the Banquet, the feast
telling us that God's grace is free
Come and drink, you who are thirsty,
come and eat, you who are hungry, starving
And aren't we all??

WHY???
WHY do we spend our money and energy on things that
don't' fill us?
WHY do we go after things that not only do not satisfy
but things that can even destroy us??
Come, Isaiah says,
Come and eat what is good,
delight yourselves in rich food
Listen…. that you might LIVE
We think we know what's going on
we get all worked up
we easily fall into a mob spirit sometimes
or we react to life out of our emptiness
out of our desperate hunger and thirst
and often say and do things that are not of God
and are certainly not Christ-like
God' s thoughts are not our thoughts,
and God's ways are not our ways
God is not who we make him out to be
We have only clues to who God is
and to act like we know the entire mystery of God
is dangerous and arrogant

The Twelves steps begin with admitting we are powerless
over whatever it is that makes us sick
The second step is to come to believe that a power greater than ourselves
can restore us to sanity
Isaiah seems to believe that God CAN and indeed WILL
restore us all to sanity
We are insane-- there is no doubt about that, is there?
And we know, time and time again,
that when we try to do it ourselves
when we try to bring sanity to ourselves
on our own power
we royally mess it up
and bring more chaos, more darkness into the world
Turn it over to God,
all of it
Your despair, your grief, your fears, your doubt,
your insanity
God is the only one who can and will restore us to sanity
The story of the Bible, the story of creation and redemption
begins in a lush garden
and it ends in a lush garden
Restoration, renewal, resurrection
All of creation will be redeemed
All of it will be renewed and refreshed
All the world will praise the Lord
all of creation will be healed
That is our hope, that is our destiny
In the meantime, we hope in what we cannot see
we know that God has gotten us through before
and God will get us through again
In the meantime, we will sing into the darkness
even when our hearts are breaking
even when our voices are shaking
We will pray to have our eyes opened
so that we can SEE differently,
so that we can SEE sacredly, hopefully
SEE the light in the midst of the dark
See the flowers in the midst of the tiny seed
SEE the huge tree in a tiny acorn
SEE the potential and power in a newborn baby
SEE the peace that will finally reign
after all the weapons are put down
after the smoke has cleared
after all the mothers have wept for their children
after it seemed like no end was in sight
Look carefully
Look prayerfully
and look yet again
Look for signs of life and hope and eternity all around you
No matter what happens
Even when your eyes are full of tears
keep your eyes open
Keep your heart open
Resist the control of darkness and hate and destruction
in words or actions
Let your lives speak of hope
let your lives tell the gospel
let your lives be a crazy, hopeful, dancing sermon
to the hope we have in Jesus Christ
that nothing can every destroy
no human or institution or human force
can take away
It is our God-given destiny
We are people of the Garden
of the New Jerusalem
of the Kingdom of God
that is a kingdom of peace
and endurance and everlasting hope and faith
So, come,
all who are thirsty,
all who are so empty and hungry
there is bread for us all
and Living Water
from a well that never runs dry….
EVERYONE… .is invited.