Getting Ready
November 29, 2009
November 29, 2009
Rev. Susan E. Gilbert Zencka
Frame Memorial Presbyterian Church
Texts: Malachi 3:1-4; Luke 3:1-6
Black Friday was two days ago – the iconic and ironic kickoff to the holiday shopping season. We are beginning Advent today, the church's season of preparing to celebrate Christmas. I'm not sure that there is a better example of the contrast between faith and culture than this time of year. And most of us will have one foot firmly in each camp, and we may wonder why, exactly, Christmas doesn't “work” for us as it used to – back before we were doing all the work of Christmas, that is. And believe it or not, I think that is a key piece of the puzzle.
Let's look at the way most of us spend the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas: it is a steady acceleration of activities – especially for those folks with school-aged kids. We rush from store to store, from Christmas program to Christmas program, in an increasing frenzy of doing and getting. We throw Christmas parties, we find the perfect Christmas presents, we rearrange our furniture and our décor to create a sense of Christmas – a sense, by the way, that is more about snowy fir trees, a fire in the fireplace, and “I'll be Home for Christmas” than about the Biblical message in which there was no family gathering at home amid a bounty of gifts and a feast, but Joseph and Mary having no place to stay even when she was giving birth, and strangers coming to celebrate with them. And we listen to commercials that tell us that this, that, or the other purchase will make a different in Christmas, and we're told that Christmas is about family, Christmas is about children, Christmas is about tradition.....
And while I may be expressing my opinion in a way that seems somewhat judgmental, let me hasten to say that I am not speaking as someone who has succeeded in rejecting the cultural model. I have spent the weeks before Christmas going from the nursery school Christmas program to the elementary school program, and later the Cub Scout program and the band program. I have gone from store to store failing to find Peter Venkman and the other Ghostbusters, I have stayed up all night Christmas Eve, wrapping all the Christmas presents so that the transformation of the tree and what lies under it would happen all at once while others were sleeping – in order to produce that magic. I have, in the past, gone into debt to give people really special gifts. I have gotten more and more in an attempt to keep it even among the boys, each pile getting a little bigger until they were all equally excessive. I have cleaned and cooked and decorated so that we could invite church members in Indiana to a pre-Christmas Open House (which, by the way, our whole family really loved, so this year we are doing the holiday open house again...but to preserve all our sanity, you are all invited to our home on the Wednesday AFTER Christmas). The point is, I have done all of this, too – and I've done it while prayerfully reflecting on the theology around Christmas, and perhaps that is why I have come to believe that this time of year, way beyond all other times of year, is when culture and Christianity really clash in almost irreconcilable ways.
It's not even so much the consumption at Christmas – which does create certain ethical issues for thoughtful Christians. What really creates the sense of disconnect, I think, is the sense that Christmas depends on us. For those of us who are adults, anyway, Christmas has become largely about our own efforts to spin a magical experience for our children, our family members, our guests, our members – so that their experience of Christmas will be one that has included the right emotional experience...a kind of blend of wonder, delight, connection, and indulgence.
For so often, Christmas becomes about our efforts to create the perfect Christmas. And in that, the Christmases I have planned have had nothing whatsoever to do with the Christmas that God planned so very long ago, because that Christmas was so NOT about perfection, and was even less about what we make happen.
Today is the first Sunday of the church year – Happy New Year! We will be leaving behind the Gospel of Mark, which we've read throughout the last year, and will be turning our attention to the Gospel of Luke. The opening verses of the third chapter of Luke's Gospel do a wonderful job of describing that same tension between the culture and faith – The story begins by describing the power structures at the time, in the Roman Empire, and then narrowing to Judea, Galilee, and even the religious power figures in the temple in Jerusalem. And in the telling of these power structures, we understand the irony that it is John, in the wilderness – far from the seats of political or religious power – who heard the Word from God. In Luke's Gospel, in particular, we have an ongoing theme of contrast between the power of human institutions and the power of God.
And John the Baptist who is far from the locations and experience of human institutional power is experiencing the power of God, and sharing the message he has received. He is proclaiming a message of baptism for the repentance of sins – Luke will end up using the word for repent or repentance about ½ the time it is used in the New Testament – it is a significant theme for him. In the Greek, the word for repent is “metanoia” which literally means, “After mind” that is: a changed mind. The Hebrew for repent meant “to turn around” -- in both cases, we aren't getting the sense of tweaking something, but rather making a complete change. What is the new mind, the new understanding that Luke is pointing toward? It is the point of the contrast that he draws so clearly – he is pointing people away from power in human terms and toward the power of God. This also means turning away from relying on our own virtue, our own good acts as a way to righteousness, and realizing instead that we don't work ourselves into a relationship with God, but that this relationship comes at God's initiative – and our response. The change of mind that Luke will write about throughout his Gospel is a change from a human-centered to a God-centered life, that is, away from a life that is about our own accomplishments and toward a life that is about God's activity in the world. And so it is with the stories of Advent – the Word of God comes to John this week, the angel comes to Elizabeth and Mary in coming weeks, Jesus comes into the world not because of what we do, but because of what God does.
Luke's Gospel is about turning away from faith in human power structures and turning toward an understanding that God's power is the central power in the world. Luke's Gospel will talk a lot about the Kingdom of God, a re-ordered vision of reality, a different way of experiencing life.
When Corey was in the 4th grade, in his Sunday School class they made a prayer can out of a large can. And on the outside, they decorated it to read “I can't...but God can.” They were invited to put their prayers into the God can – and it was a powerful reminder to the adults who saw these that God's power is beyond our own and that, ironically, through letting go of our own tenuous grasp on self-control, and managing our lives, we enter into God's kingdom. I can't, God can.
And so John is preaching a message of repentance – of entering into a larger life by recognizing that there is more to the world, and even more to our own world than what we can control. We shift from a controlling attitude toward life – what can I initiate? What can I accomplish in this situation? How can I manage this better....and we undertake a receptive stance toward life – how is God at work here? What is God already doing? Life isn't about expanding my kingdom – it's about participating in God's Kingdom. And that's what the ministry of Jesus was about. And that gives us the key, I think, to what might allow us to receive Christmas in wonder and delight again.
When we were younger, the special sense around Christmas was largely, I believe, because of the magic that was created for us by adults in our lives – our response was utterly receptive, and contained elements of both wonder and gratitude. As we grow up, many of us work very hard to re-create that magic, that sense of awe and wonder that is at the heart of our Christmas experience. And yet, ironically, our efforts in this fly in the face of the wonder that is at the heart of Christmas – that God should take such initiative to enter our world is amazing! That God still takes initiative and still enters our lives is wondrous! That the Love which overflowed into creating the world is not just for the world as a whole, but also and very particularly for us is amazing! That God invites our prayer and participation is miraculous!
Let me try a little heresy out on you – while there are some very important spiritual experiences to be had in giving to others, caring for others, and providing hospitality, perhaps we seek some balance and be open to the ways that Christmas is about receiving, too. Because ultimately and essentially, Christmas IS about receiving – about receiving the love of God, about receiving our own sense of self not through our own efforts and ambition but through God's love for us, about receiving not only a tender, cute little baby Jesus but also that challenging, justice-seeking, truth-telling Jesus who not only stilled the waves but also made waves, who not only brought the light of God to us, but challenged us to understand ourselves as the light of the world.
That the man John in the wilderness should receive the word of God was improbable – that we ourselves should be called into the mission of God is equally improbable, and equally true. Our significance doesn't come through our own effectiveness, but through who we are called to be and how we respond to that call.
During this Advent, take time to do two things: to read the entire Gospel of Luke and get a new perspective on Christmas in that way – it is not just just about the baby Jesus, but about the mission of Jesus that we are called to join. And take time every day to do a little less. Take time for a little silence, a little waiting, a little space for God. Advent is about preparing for Jesus – but it is not about all the arrangements we make, it is about being awake and alert to what God is doing. Advent isn't about remembering the past so much as being open to a new future, and being ready to be part of how God will bring that future to pass. It's not about us, and the magic we can produce, but about God, and the wondrous ways in which God has come, and the ways that God still comes into the world. Amen.
Rev. Susan E. Gilbert Zencka
Frame Memorial Presbyterian Church
Texts: Malachi 3:1-4; Luke 3:1-6
Black Friday was two days ago – the iconic and ironic kickoff to the holiday shopping season. We are beginning Advent today, the church's season of preparing to celebrate Christmas. I'm not sure that there is a better example of the contrast between faith and culture than this time of year. And most of us will have one foot firmly in each camp, and we may wonder why, exactly, Christmas doesn't “work” for us as it used to – back before we were doing all the work of Christmas, that is. And believe it or not, I think that is a key piece of the puzzle.
Let's look at the way most of us spend the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas: it is a steady acceleration of activities – especially for those folks with school-aged kids. We rush from store to store, from Christmas program to Christmas program, in an increasing frenzy of doing and getting. We throw Christmas parties, we find the perfect Christmas presents, we rearrange our furniture and our décor to create a sense of Christmas – a sense, by the way, that is more about snowy fir trees, a fire in the fireplace, and “I'll be Home for Christmas” than about the Biblical message in which there was no family gathering at home amid a bounty of gifts and a feast, but Joseph and Mary having no place to stay even when she was giving birth, and strangers coming to celebrate with them. And we listen to commercials that tell us that this, that, or the other purchase will make a different in Christmas, and we're told that Christmas is about family, Christmas is about children, Christmas is about tradition.....
And while I may be expressing my opinion in a way that seems somewhat judgmental, let me hasten to say that I am not speaking as someone who has succeeded in rejecting the cultural model. I have spent the weeks before Christmas going from the nursery school Christmas program to the elementary school program, and later the Cub Scout program and the band program. I have gone from store to store failing to find Peter Venkman and the other Ghostbusters, I have stayed up all night Christmas Eve, wrapping all the Christmas presents so that the transformation of the tree and what lies under it would happen all at once while others were sleeping – in order to produce that magic. I have, in the past, gone into debt to give people really special gifts. I have gotten more and more in an attempt to keep it even among the boys, each pile getting a little bigger until they were all equally excessive. I have cleaned and cooked and decorated so that we could invite church members in Indiana to a pre-Christmas Open House (which, by the way, our whole family really loved, so this year we are doing the holiday open house again...but to preserve all our sanity, you are all invited to our home on the Wednesday AFTER Christmas). The point is, I have done all of this, too – and I've done it while prayerfully reflecting on the theology around Christmas, and perhaps that is why I have come to believe that this time of year, way beyond all other times of year, is when culture and Christianity really clash in almost irreconcilable ways.
It's not even so much the consumption at Christmas – which does create certain ethical issues for thoughtful Christians. What really creates the sense of disconnect, I think, is the sense that Christmas depends on us. For those of us who are adults, anyway, Christmas has become largely about our own efforts to spin a magical experience for our children, our family members, our guests, our members – so that their experience of Christmas will be one that has included the right emotional experience...a kind of blend of wonder, delight, connection, and indulgence.
For so often, Christmas becomes about our efforts to create the perfect Christmas. And in that, the Christmases I have planned have had nothing whatsoever to do with the Christmas that God planned so very long ago, because that Christmas was so NOT about perfection, and was even less about what we make happen.
Today is the first Sunday of the church year – Happy New Year! We will be leaving behind the Gospel of Mark, which we've read throughout the last year, and will be turning our attention to the Gospel of Luke. The opening verses of the third chapter of Luke's Gospel do a wonderful job of describing that same tension between the culture and faith – The story begins by describing the power structures at the time, in the Roman Empire, and then narrowing to Judea, Galilee, and even the religious power figures in the temple in Jerusalem. And in the telling of these power structures, we understand the irony that it is John, in the wilderness – far from the seats of political or religious power – who heard the Word from God. In Luke's Gospel, in particular, we have an ongoing theme of contrast between the power of human institutions and the power of God.
And John the Baptist who is far from the locations and experience of human institutional power is experiencing the power of God, and sharing the message he has received. He is proclaiming a message of baptism for the repentance of sins – Luke will end up using the word for repent or repentance about ½ the time it is used in the New Testament – it is a significant theme for him. In the Greek, the word for repent is “metanoia” which literally means, “After mind” that is: a changed mind. The Hebrew for repent meant “to turn around” -- in both cases, we aren't getting the sense of tweaking something, but rather making a complete change. What is the new mind, the new understanding that Luke is pointing toward? It is the point of the contrast that he draws so clearly – he is pointing people away from power in human terms and toward the power of God. This also means turning away from relying on our own virtue, our own good acts as a way to righteousness, and realizing instead that we don't work ourselves into a relationship with God, but that this relationship comes at God's initiative – and our response. The change of mind that Luke will write about throughout his Gospel is a change from a human-centered to a God-centered life, that is, away from a life that is about our own accomplishments and toward a life that is about God's activity in the world. And so it is with the stories of Advent – the Word of God comes to John this week, the angel comes to Elizabeth and Mary in coming weeks, Jesus comes into the world not because of what we do, but because of what God does.
Luke's Gospel is about turning away from faith in human power structures and turning toward an understanding that God's power is the central power in the world. Luke's Gospel will talk a lot about the Kingdom of God, a re-ordered vision of reality, a different way of experiencing life.
When Corey was in the 4th grade, in his Sunday School class they made a prayer can out of a large can. And on the outside, they decorated it to read “I can't...but God can.” They were invited to put their prayers into the God can – and it was a powerful reminder to the adults who saw these that God's power is beyond our own and that, ironically, through letting go of our own tenuous grasp on self-control, and managing our lives, we enter into God's kingdom. I can't, God can.
And so John is preaching a message of repentance – of entering into a larger life by recognizing that there is more to the world, and even more to our own world than what we can control. We shift from a controlling attitude toward life – what can I initiate? What can I accomplish in this situation? How can I manage this better....and we undertake a receptive stance toward life – how is God at work here? What is God already doing? Life isn't about expanding my kingdom – it's about participating in God's Kingdom. And that's what the ministry of Jesus was about. And that gives us the key, I think, to what might allow us to receive Christmas in wonder and delight again.
When we were younger, the special sense around Christmas was largely, I believe, because of the magic that was created for us by adults in our lives – our response was utterly receptive, and contained elements of both wonder and gratitude. As we grow up, many of us work very hard to re-create that magic, that sense of awe and wonder that is at the heart of our Christmas experience. And yet, ironically, our efforts in this fly in the face of the wonder that is at the heart of Christmas – that God should take such initiative to enter our world is amazing! That God still takes initiative and still enters our lives is wondrous! That the Love which overflowed into creating the world is not just for the world as a whole, but also and very particularly for us is amazing! That God invites our prayer and participation is miraculous!
Let me try a little heresy out on you – while there are some very important spiritual experiences to be had in giving to others, caring for others, and providing hospitality, perhaps we seek some balance and be open to the ways that Christmas is about receiving, too. Because ultimately and essentially, Christmas IS about receiving – about receiving the love of God, about receiving our own sense of self not through our own efforts and ambition but through God's love for us, about receiving not only a tender, cute little baby Jesus but also that challenging, justice-seeking, truth-telling Jesus who not only stilled the waves but also made waves, who not only brought the light of God to us, but challenged us to understand ourselves as the light of the world.
That the man John in the wilderness should receive the word of God was improbable – that we ourselves should be called into the mission of God is equally improbable, and equally true. Our significance doesn't come through our own effectiveness, but through who we are called to be and how we respond to that call.
During this Advent, take time to do two things: to read the entire Gospel of Luke and get a new perspective on Christmas in that way – it is not just just about the baby Jesus, but about the mission of Jesus that we are called to join. And take time every day to do a little less. Take time for a little silence, a little waiting, a little space for God. Advent is about preparing for Jesus – but it is not about all the arrangements we make, it is about being awake and alert to what God is doing. Advent isn't about remembering the past so much as being open to a new future, and being ready to be part of how God will bring that future to pass. It's not about us, and the magic we can produce, but about God, and the wondrous ways in which God has come, and the ways that God still comes into the world. Amen.