Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Advent Stinks!

I have a problem with the season of Advent. I imagine that you, too, might.

Not a single Advent season passes that I do not get at least a small handful of well-meaning suggestions that we in the Church ought to get with it and begin celebrating Christmas as soon as Thanksgiving is over. What is wrong with celebrating Jesus' birth, after all? What is wrong with Christmas Carols? Who nominated you and the Church as our corporate Scrooges or Grinches? Let's have some fun!

Well, fine; except for this one, small thing. It is not yet Christmas. Liturgically, at least, Jesus has not yet been born. He is still anticipated, hoped for, feared and promised. Therefore, the Church observes Advent. Advent is the season of preparation that precedes the birth of the Christ Child. It is intentional readiness for the policies and practices of Christ Jesus, a time of "making his paths straight." Those paths can look radical and seem dangerous, even unorthodox. They call us beyond some simple assumptions about Jesus' life and death.

My problem with Advent in the Church is that it is so contrary to the practices of the world around the Church. Everywhere we look and hear, there are Christmas sales, Christmas carols, wrapping paper, Christmas lights, Christmas parties, and, God forbid, glitter. So much glitter! The world moves to Christmas in mid-to-late-October, even before Halloween. By the end of November, even on Thanksgiving Day, the stores are open and ready for those Christmas, Black Friday sales. Cyber Monday takes place before we even reach December.

Advent is about the authentic Jesus, not about some characterization of him that traditions have created. The authentic Jesus comes as a corrective to traditional faith, that which falls too simply into categories of black/white, good/bad, in/out. He comes as a sign and symbol of God's inclusive will and tolerant acceptance. He comes with a concentration on those who had been excluded, rejected, despised and feared. He comes for others, not for himself. He does not care about life after death, but about the state of living on earth. He cares less about our sins than he does about our capacity to practice heavenly virtues in relationship with our brothers and sisters, helping those who have been victimized and oppressed.

The Church has a lot of work to do to "make these paths straight." The Church has a great deal to prepare. We have to move the accent of our words about Jesus to a completely other syllable. We have to rewrite sentences where we have been the subject, and see, finally, that others receive Jesus' emphasis. We have to empty ourselves of ourselves. Jesus was not about himself. Neither may we be. To put it bluntly, Advent is a way for us to unlearn many of the traditions that we have blindly accepted and the assumptions that we have been fed. It is a four-week period of re-acquainting ourselves with the real Jesus, who demonstrated the true Christ.

So, we in the Church cling to Advent, a season about the coming apocalyptic that Jesus brings. We remain in a time of serious preparation, even as the world sings of grandmas who are run over by reindeer and hippopotamuses for Christmas. I don't like it, but there you have it. Advent is about the birth of the genuine revelation of God's will, even if that looks nothing like what the world around the Church is celebrating.  

Monday, November 21, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving!

The people of Israel had returned to their ancestral homeland after spending some fifty years in Babylonian bondage. They had been freed by an edict from a warrior king who thought it an ultimate insult to Babylon to send their former slaves back to their own lands. The former slaves certainly supported the policy.

Some of the Israelites remembered the former glory of their homeland, the Temple, the buildings, the roads, the public squares. They left Babylon, eager to return home. Many made the arduous trek, while others remained behind and established themselves as Judaism-in-diaspora. Those who returned were overjoyed as they approached what had once stood as the gates to Jerusalem. What they found, however, was utter devastation. No stone remained upon another. No Temple stood. There was no palace. There were no passable roads. Everything lay in ruin.

It took decades for the priests and prophets to inspire the people into any semblance recovery. They had been immobilized by hopelessness and immovable in their victimization. They were bitter at the fates that had brought them back to their own ancestral land. They blamed their leaders. They blamed the nations around them. They blamed God.

After some time, however, the priests and the prophets broke through the solid veneer of Israel's hopelessness by reminding them that they had been brought out of Babylon. Their freedoms had been restored. Their sovereignty was renewed. The only thing that was keeping them from restoring the splendor of the nation was the attitudes and perspectives of a broken people. The priests and prophets began to sing songs of celebration and thanksgiving. They began to paint pictures of hope and possibility.

Eventually, the people heard the songs of the priests. They envisioned the possibility that was promised by the prophets. A thankful heart slowly replaced the bitter and resentful one. A grateful attitude shaped a perspective of potential and possibility. They placed stone upon stone, and there was soon a building. They laid them, one against another, and there was a road. They built one structure at a time, one neighborhood, one vital element of their relationship with God. Within a century or so, the Temple was rededicated. The people of Israel had genuinely returned home.

The spirit of gratefulness and thanksgiving changes everything. You who read this are likely not the citizenry that is disenchanted, weighed down, frustrated. Instead, you are the priests and prophets who need to sing for the people songs of hope, possibility and promise. We are the harbingers of thanksgiving. We envision the new day.

Sing, friends! Shout! Let the people hear of God's love and forgiveness. Let them know that God's Spirit is within them and upon them, that nothing is impossible if we rely on the strength of that Spirit. Let them see the deliverance, the hope, the embodiment of God's will on earth. It is just out of our reach. An attitude of thanksgiving and a perspective of praise allow us to reach it.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!  

Monday, November 14, 2016

Safety (pins)

It is undeniable. Since last week's Presidential elections, some of our brothers and sisters are running scared. Those who had formerly been on the periphery of inclusion and acceptance, those who had been working their way into cultural acceptance, feel that they are now being pushed outside of access and participation. Whatever our politics, and whatever our systems of belief, we must acknowledge their fear.

Some homosexual persons are afraid that their recently-granted right to marry is now in  jeopardy. Some women in hijabs fear being attacked and assaulted. Some Black Americans worry about a return to segregationist America. Some Muslims fear religious intolerance and discrimination. Some Latinos sense an approaching cultural backlash. Some women fear that their rights to decide the fate of their own bodies is under attack. For many, these are tense times, whether or not others of us think the fear is warranted. Our brothers and sisters live in fear and worry about what is to come.

What can those who call Christ "King" do?  What are those who refer to him as "Master" offer to those who are in dread these days?

Maybe we can do as Christ did. Maybe we can offer safety and acceptance to those who are in fear of being excluded, rejected, even assaulted. Maybe we can do even more. Maybe we can offer welcome and acceptance to those who may be seen as potential sources of exclusion and rejection. Maybe we can see past the politics of the fear to the simple fact that lies beneath and above it. In Christ, we are all one. No race, kind, clan, sexual preference, economic or political status, religion, color, creed, gender or gender identity is naturally better than any other. We are unified in Christ. We are one.

At Shiloh Church, we offer you this opportunity to express the notion that you are a person of safety, both for those on the periphery and for those in the cultural core groups. Some of our crafty population will make available special "safety" pins, starting this coming Sunday. These pins are not anti-anything. They are pro-safety, pro-acceptance, pro-tolerance and pro-love. Some of the pins will bear the UCC Comma, some will have rainbow beads, some will be plain. The differences mean very little.

Wearing the safety pins may be very meaningful, however. They may mean that someone who had been in fear feels a sense of support and acceptance. They may mean that someone who feels pressure in our culture to believe or think in certain ways are accepted by people of faith. The safety pins are a sign and symbol of support and acceptance. Pick yours up from the green table on Sunday. They are free for the taking.

One other note. Even if you do not wear one of our safety pins, treat persons with the respect and honor due them as children of God, brothers and sisters in Christ. Reject no one. Exclude no one. Love every one. Everyone. This is what it means to call Christ "King."


Tuesday, November 08, 2016

Election Just the Beginning

I admit it. I care who is elected today as President of the United States. While I have not yet, I will vote today. For whom I vote is not your business. I do not care to attempt to convince anyone that my vote is the correct one. I will vote for what I think is the best course for the country that I love. I trust that everyone is doing the same.

My concern comes on the days, weeks, months and years that follow election day. For the sake of the nation, whichever party wins the presidential election will have to work with whatever party loses. In order to address the problems that we face, and in order to make us an even better nation, we will all have to put aside petty party politics, anger, fear, suspicion and doubt and focus our unified energies on the issues that had divided us. Obstructionism has to become a thing of the past. Intolerance has to pass. Vitriol and hate speech have to be erased from the national dialogue. We have to care so deeply about our fate moving forward that we are willing to bend our opinions and our convictions, many of which are fostered by a media machine that cares more about sensationalism and profits than it does about reflecting truth and reality. We have to learn to work together, even if we had disagreed.

Thus, my pledge. Even if the candidate who I favor, for whom I will vote, is defeated in this election, I will do everything I can in moving forward productively and positively. My work will not be misdirected in opposition to or obstruction of the work of whatever candidate wins. I will accept the presidency of the winner. I will support the work of moving forward from the contention of this election cycle to a more unified national hope, vision and direction.

I will not disrespect those who voted differently from me. I will not disrespect the candidate for whom they voted. I will not use accusatory or inflammatory language in conversation with or about them, their preferred candidate or their stances on the issues. I will not, however, tolerate such language or treatment of those who voted the way I did, or with the winning candidate, whoever that may be. If we are to be unified in our directions and actions as we move forward, there is no place in the process for foul, ugly epithets, or judgmental action or language. Even if the opportunity should present itself, I will refrain from such action or language.

Now, who will join me in this pledge of civility and respect? Who will join me in promising to do everything we can in channeling our communal energies toward a positive and productive direction for this nation? Who is tired of it all and ready to set a higher standard for dialogue and resolution of the challenges that we face?