Christmas Eve meditation. 2014

Christmas Eve meditation.  2014

“Away in a manger, no crib for a bed.” Tradition tells us that after Jesus was born, he was laid in a manger because there was no room for him in the inn.

There are a lot of details left out of this story, because the details were not the important part of the story. For instance,

·        was the inn like a hotel, or someone’s house?

·        Were Mary ad Joseph  relegated to the stable, or were they just looking for some quiet and privacy?

·        Was the manger in a stable like we imagine, or in a basement cave where the animals were allowed to get out of the weather, or was it (as often was the case) outside up against the wall of the inn for use of the guests.   

·        Then there are details that we just get wrong. We picture a wooden feeding trough like the one in the nativity scene tonight, but more than likely it was a stone trough that they used for feeding animals.

Whatever the case, Jesus was born and then laid in a manger.

Of all things… the king of kings… the lord of Lords… not only humbled to be born in the flesh, but then to be laid not in a crib, or on a royal pillow, but in a trough intended for animals. But then, when you think about the humiliation of the cross, the humble birth does not seem out of character.

At Christmas, we tend to romanticize the manger. We turn it into something beautiful and heavenly – a first century birthing suite. But friends, a real manger just isn't like that.

If we went on a field trip to visit that manger, three things would impress you.

·        Firstly, a manger is cold. It's a damp sort of cold that chills your right to the bones. It is made of stone and it almost sucks the heat right out of you. The cows come up to feed and when they breathe, it makes clouds of steam, in the freezing air. It can be cold in the manger.

·        Secondly, a manger is dark . The spot where tradition tells us Jesus was born, is in a cave under the church of the nativity in Bethlehem. It is underground, maybe beneath the house or the barn. So even when the sun is shining, it's dark in the manger.

·        And third a manger is dirty. It's surrounded by mud, manure, dust and cobwebs and it smells of must and mold. As the cows eat, they slobber and drool. In the summer there are flies and spiders and insects, and swallows nesting in the rafters.

There's no such thing as a clean or hygienic manger: a manger is cold, dark and dirty.

The truth is that Jesus was born in a place that was

COLD … DARK….and DIRTY.

Every time Jesus comes into our lives, he is born in the cold, dark and dirty manger.

The human heart is like the manger, cold, dark and dirty .

The human heart is cold because without Jesus, we lack the warmth of God’s love.

The human heart is dark because without Jesus we do not have the light of Christ or the hope of salvation.

The human heart is dirty because we are sinners and our hearts are stained and soiled by sin.

 COLD … DARK….and DIRTY.

But the miracle of Christmas – the real miracle – is that Jesus is willing to be born into that manger and into our hearts!

The miracle of Christmas is that the Holy Son of God, who came to be born into the cold, dark, dirty manger, did it in order to be born into our cold, dark and dirty lives.

·        No matter how cold your heart is, Jesus is willing to be born there.

·        No matter how dark your heart is, Jesus is willing to be born there.

·        No matter dirty your heart is, or how sinful your life has been, Jesus is willing to come in, enter, and clean your heart.

So tonight as you receive communion, make your hands into a little manger as a sign of the manger that we make in our hearts. Receive the body and blood of Christ, and along with it the Christmas miracle that God wants to come into your heart, no matter how cold, dark, or dirty it might be.

Receive the bread and the juice, and let God work. Thorough the silence of the night, through the shimmering of the candles, through the joy of being surrounded by family, through the simple melodies of the carols, the well-known phrases of the story. Let God work. Let God work in the manger of your heart tonight, and who knows what kind Christmas miracle we may see.

AMEN

Love came down at Christmas #4 Messiah love 12/21/14 Reinbeck UMC

Love came down at Christmas #4 Messiah love

12/21/14 Reinbeck UMC

I suppose you have most of your Christmas shopping done? I’m getting there. But let me ask you a question? Do you kind of struggle to find just the right gift? In our culture where most of us have most of what we need, what do you do? Do you find yourself combing the on-line catalogs? Walking up and down the aisles looking for inspiration? Or do you just give up on the perfect gift and get the gift equivalent of a fruitcake?

Now, you may think I am a fruitcake for asking this question, but what are you giving Jesus on his birthday? Christmas is, after all, not your birthday or my birthday… it is Jesus’ birthday. So what are you getting Jesus for his birthday? What do you get the king of kings? What do you get the creator of all that is? What do you get Jesus for his birthday, and how do you wrap it- I mean does he have thumbs to untie the bow? I’m just kidding about that, but my question is dead serious. What are you getting Jesus for his birthday?

Let’s see what Jesus might want.

Our Matthew 25 passage starts out “When the son of man comes in his glory.” Now son of man is a strange phrase. On the one hand, everyone is a “son of man,” and the term is a general designation for all of humanity. But that is not the way it is used here, is it? “When the son of man comes in his glory.” Obviously refers to something quite different, or someone quite different. Jesus probably borrowed the title from Daniel chapter 7

Daniel writes;

and behold, with the clouds of heaven

 there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
 because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
 to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
 and release to the prisoners;
² to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,

Certainly, Daniel is referring to an eschatological messiah. One who would come at the end of the age to rule over the new heaven and new earth. Clearly, without saying it right aloud, Jesus is thinking of himself as the Son of Man in this sense, as the messiah.

Now messiah is also an interesting term. It is loaded with all kinds of different expectations. In Jesus’ day, most people expected the messiah to come and set them free from the oppression of the Roman Empire. They expected that he would drive the Romans, and their tax collectors, and their army from the land and reestablish the Davidic dynasty. David was promised that there would be no end to his kingdom and that the house of David would always rule over the kingdom.

Although the Sadducees seem to have little expectation of the messiah, to one degree or another the Pharisees, the Essenes, the Saccari, and the Zealots expected that someone if not literally, at least figuratively, would ride in on a white horse to save the day, and rescue them from the Romans. He would be sent by God to usher in a new era in which all humankind would worship the true God, warfare would be banished from the earth, and peace would reign supreme.

So here comes Jesus, not on a horse, but on a donkey- both on his way to be born and on his way to die. Not with a sword, but with healing. Not with an army, but with a rag tag band of fisherman and odd balls. Not talking of a kingdom greater than the Roman Empire, but of a kingdom of peace and love. Not waging war, but teaching love. What kind of a messiah was this?

I’ll tell you Jesus was a messiah that didn’t fit any of the expectations.

The Jews really thought that they would be freed from centuries of suffering under foreign occupation.

Let’s be clear. That was not Jesus plan. He was a completely different kind of messiah. He brought a completely different kind of love down to earth.

From his very first sermon, Jesus tipped his hand that he was not about that kind of work.

He stood up in Nazareth and read from the 61^st chapter of Isaiah, which we read today.

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

We don’t know if Jesus used the whole text in his teaching but Isaiah 61 continues talking about

·        Comforting those who mourn

·        Generous strangers caring for flocks and crops

·        Loving justice rather than robbery and wrongdoing.

·        Sowing seeds of righteousness and praise.

Nothing about Rome. Nothing about the occupying force. Nothing about political solutions.

Hmm, good news, bind up, proclaim liberty, release, jubilee, comfort, generosity, justice, righteousness… sounds good, it just isn’t what they expected. They expected power to come down. Instead, love came down at Christmas. 

Then add on to that the Matthew text.

I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.

Hmm, there we go again… good news, bind up, proclaim liberty, release, jubilee, comfort, generosity, justice, righteousness, feeding the hungry, welcoming strangers, clothing the naked, caring for the sick and dying, visiting the prisoner. Not at all what the people expected… but that is the kind of Messiah they got. That is the kind of messiah love that came down at Christmas.

I have to admit, it isn’t exactly the kind of Christmas we celebrate either. Where are the gifts, the excessive spending, the excessive eating, and the compulsive running around to make sure everyone is happy?

On the other hand, it doesn’t sound like it has much to do with the baby in the manger either. And that is exactly my point.

Our celebration of Jesus birth has become so materialized that we miss the point.

Even in the church our celebration of Christmas has become so romanticized with a friendly donkey, a warm stable, clean hay, talking animals, shepherds that don’t smell, and wise men who fall in love with the child that we almost miss the point.

We almost miss that Jesus came into an occupied territory. He was conceived in an unwed teenager. He was almost a child in a single parent family. The family was traveling because they were forced to pay exorbitant taxes. They had nowhere to stay and had to resort to borrowing a stinking animal stall. There is no way to clean up the animal stall it is what it is, dirty hay and all. The shepherds were the lowest of the low. The wise men were Zoroastrianist priests following their horoscopes.

Herod slaughtered the babies in Bethlehem trying to get rid of Jesus. The family fled to Egypt as refugees until it all blew over. Jesus did not meet the messianic expectations of any of the Jewish groups of his day. He consorted with gentiles, women, and tax collectors. He healed lepers, bleeding women and raised dead bodies- all of which made him unclean. He was not at all what they expected. The love that came down at Christmas was not the love that anyone in Jesus day… or frankly in our day expected… but it is exactly what we needed.

The Love that came down at Christmas was

·        For a world filled with bad news every hour of every day --there is  good news

·        For a world broken and divided, screaming at one another across minefields --there is the binding up of the broken.

·        To a world imprisoned by our own technology, greed, bureaucracy, and workaholism-- there is liberty,

·        To a people who feel trapped in addictions and disease, or dead end jobs, or unhappy families-- there is release,

·        To a people oppressed, in debt, worried, and alone-- there is the promise of jubilee.

·        To families filled with pain and hopelessness-- there is comfort.

·        To a greedy and stingy people-- there is the model of generosity.

·        To a world filled with police shootings, angry mobs, terrorists, beheadings, death rows, the lack of mental health care, the fear of tax collectors--- there is justice,

·        To a world where everyone does their own thing-- there is a call to God’s righteousness,

·        For a hungry world --feeding.

·        For a world where families are sometimes strangers to each other, and we teach our children that almost every one we meet is dangerous --There is hospitality.

·        To a world that stands naked, not just for want of clothes, but also for want to morals and values-- there is help.

·        In a world of ICU, HMO, ACA, CPR, EEG, and every other acronym that dehumanizes the sick and dying-- there is care and compassion.

·        In a world where people sit in prison for their faith, because they spoke out against the wrong leaders, because they didn’t have enough money for a good lawyer, because they got wrapped up with the wrong crowd-- there is hope for justice and mercy.

That is the love that came down at Christmas. That is the love of the messiah. That is the love that we are called to live out.

OOPS-- DID I OVERSTEP MY BOUNDS?

I’ll say it again- That is the love that we are called to live out.

And if you want to give Jesus a birthday present this year just go live that love.

Don’t worry about where to go shopping- he has put it in your heart.

Don’t worry about getting the right size, you can never love too much.

Don’t worry about how you will wrap it; it will burst through the tape.

Don’t worry about putting his name on the tag- he’ll know it’s for him.

Don’t worry about keeping it a secret until Christmas day… any day is a good day to give Jesus a present by loving someone.

There are a hundred ways you could show God’s love in an unexpected and wonderful way this week. That is the only appropriate response to the love that came down at Christmas.

Go-

·        Smile

·        Reconcile

·        Heal

·        Love your family

·        Be generous

·        Speak up for what is right

·        Think of others first

·        Eat a little less and give a little more

·        Trust

·        Take a stand

·        Visit

·        Pray

·        Donate

·        Share

·        Feed

·        Breathe

In other words, LOVE with the kind of love that came down at Christmas.

AMEN

Love came down at Christmas #3: scandalous love Reinbeck UMC 12/14/14

Love came down at Christmas #3: scandalous love

Reinbeck UMC 12/14/14

John was home alone with the kids while his wife Doris was at the beauty shop. John was a pretty engaged father and he loved the times when his wife was gone and he had the kids to himself.

The baby was kind of cranky, but who wouldn’t be if they had diaper rash? John was looking for the ointment. He couldn’t find it. He looked in all the logical places like the diaper bag, the changing table, the drawers in the baby’s room and the medicine cabinet. He was sure they had some around. He finally went to Doris’ closet because she had the other diaper bag in there.

That’s when he found the shoebox tucked behind everything else, filled with a whole bunch of letters. He couldn’t help but notice that they were obviously love letters… and they weren’t from him. Curious he read a couple of the letters.

They were from a man named Stan. Stan was writing love letters to John’s wife. The top ones were dated as recent as a couple of weeks ago. The bottom ones were dated 7 years ago, shortly after John and Doris were married.

What’s more, these letters were not from an admirer from afar. They were the kind of letters written from one lover to another. There was no mistake about it. Doris was having an affair, and she had been most of their married lives.

Tears started to roll down his cheeks. Anger started to boil up inside of him.

John was startled by Kortney, their oldest daughter, saying, “What’s wrong daddy?” But he didn’t know how to explain, and didn’t think it was for children’s ears anyway. Suddenly John realized that he couldn’t even be sure that the girl standing in front of him was his child. He mumbled something about going to check on her brother, but he himself couldn’t move. He was paralyzed.

His mind fixated on the letters. John couldn’t stop reading them.

One referred to her beauty in a particular red dress… that John had bought for his wife for a special occasion.

One referred to being in Aspen. Now he knew that she wasn’t really tired when she sent him skiing by himself that day.

Everything was a blur when Doris returned home and he confronted her. She didn’t deny it. The conversation turned from tears to yelling and screaming. Yelling and screaming gave way to threats to leave, until John packed his stuff and went to stay with a friend.

One day John and Doris went to his pastor and told the whole story.

The pastor listened intently and finally turned to John and asked, “What do want to do next.”

With tears in his eyes, and a lump in his throat, John replied, “I want to win my wife back.”[1]

My first reaction to that story is, “Really? You want her back?” And listen to what he said; “I want to win my life back”

In most circles, a story like this would become fodder for gossip and whispering behind John and Doris’ back.

This is the kind of thing that, if John and Doris were famous, would be snatched up by the National Enquirer and turned into a scandal. The story is disgraceful, it is shocking, and it is appalling.

Most people would say the scandal is that Doris had a 7-year long love affair. I say the scandal is John’s decision to “win his wife back?”

You might expect to see that story made into a hallmark channel tearjerker, but you wouldn’t expect to find it in the Bible. Hosea’s story, however, is a lot like it, and is no less scandalous.

Hosea was a prophet in the last years before the Assyrians invaded Israel. God often had the prophets do strange things to make a point. However, this took the cake. God spoke to Hosea,

 “Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”  So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

Now, I know that we are not used to hearing these kinds of words in church, but there is no nice way around this story. God tells Hosea to go to the seediest part of town, find himself a prostitute, and marry her. God send Hosea after a bimbo, or a floozy, or a woman of ill repute, or whatever you want to call her.

Hosea goes downtown and finds a prostitute names Gomer. When is the last time you knew someone who named their daughter Gomer? Maybe Gomer was a prettier sounding name in Hebrew.

Hosea courts Gomer and eventually pays the marriage price to her father who was only too happy to have someone marry his daughter who had gone down the wrong path. I don’t know if Hosea and Gomer were happy together or not. Unfortunately, Gomer didn’t just walk away from her lifestyle. She continued to have relations with other men, but Hosea didn’t divorce her.

Soon Gomer started having children- of course; no one could be sure who the father was.

The first child was a boy so God commanded that he be named Jezreel because “I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel.” Jezreel was a terrible bloody place where Jehu killed both the king of the northern kingdom and the king of the southern kingdom in order to take the throne himself. Jezreel is a very strange name for a child. It has been said that it’s like naming your child “Auschwitz.”

That was bad enough, but it gets worse. The next child is a daughter. Hosea is commanded to name her “Lo-Ruhamah” which means “Unloved.”

What a sad name for your daughter. “Unloved.”

But it gets even worse. The third child was a boy who was named “Lo-Ammi.” Which means “Not Mine.” God said this was because, “you are not my people, and I am not your God.”

That was Hosea’s family, his wife Gomer, and his kids, Auschwitz, Unloved, and Not Mine.

Even after the kids came, Gomer was more and more, turning her back on Hosea. In chapter three God tells Hosea to go down to the market again to get her back. “Go, love a woman who has a lover and is an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the people of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.” 

Therefore, Hosea goes to the market, finds Gomer, and, as if he was one of her customers, actually pays to have her back. “So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver, and a homer of barley, and a measure of wine.”

·        That’s just not right that Hosea would have to pay the prostitute’s price to have his wife back. That is scandalous.

·        That’s just not right that John has to feel like he needs to “WIN his wife back.” That is scandalous too.

A scandal is something that one person does that violates the expectations of how think they should behave.

Our culture is one that eats up scandals. People love to hear how the mighty have fallen. Think about the Kennedy assassination, Jim and Tammy Baker, Bill Clinton, or Bill Cosby.

Hosea’s story and John’s story are both as scandalous as any of those stories. I tell them, however, because they are parables of the divine scandal. Do you know the scandal about God? The Christmas story is a scandalous story. Let me tell you what I mean.

·        It just is not right that after everything we have done,

o   after all the sin people have committed,

o   after all of our unfaithfulness and

o   Running after other Gods- it’s just does not seem right that God would put on skin and move into the neighborhood. It is scandalous!

·        It just does not seem right that, that after everything we read in the Old Testament, God still loves us. It is scandalous!

·        It just does not seem right that after all that, God was still willing to pay any price necessary to get us back from our sin and guilt. It is scandalous!

The love that came down at Christmas was a scandalous love.

Jesus’ love was a scandalous love. Just think about the whispering in the corners and in the Sanhedrin.

·        “Look, he eats with sinners.”

·        “Look he is hanging out with tax collectors.”

·        “Look he is healing that leper.”

·        “Look at the way he says that sometimes gentiles see the kingdom of God before the Jews.”

·         “Look at the way he talks to those women.”

·        “Look at the way he argues with the scribes.”

·        “Look at the way he calls himself God.”

… The list could go on and on. To the people in Jesus day, it just was not right. It was scandalous.

Just as scandalous as John taking Doris back, or Hosea taking Gomer back, In Jesus Christ, God was making the move to get us back from our spiritual adultery.

·        Did we deserve it? Absolutely not.

·        Did we earn it? Are you kidding, no!

·        Did God have to give us any more chances?

o   No, but there is something about God’s character,

o   There is something about God’s nature, which made God want to give everything for you.

·        Why didn’t God give up on us and walk away? I don’t know.

·        Why didn’t John walk away from Doris?

·        Why didn’t Hosea have Gomer stoned for adultery?

I guess the only answer is LOVE. God’s love for us is such that there is

o   nothing we have ever done,

o   nothing we are doing now, and

o   Nothing we can ever do, that will keep God from loving us.

As I am fond of saying “Nothing, nothing, nothing, can ever separate us from the great love of God in Jesus Christ.”

And God will do Anything, Anything, anything, to have you love him back.

That is the scandalous message of the love that came down at Christmas.

SO… What does God’s scandalous love say to us?

It says that

o   If you feel like you don’t deserve God’s love.

o   If you feel like you can never do enough,

o   you are never good enough,

o   you are never strong enough,

o   you are always feeling guilty,

o   Or judged.

God’s scandalous love is for you.

The scandal is that you’re right-

o   you can never do enough,

o   you will never be good enough,

o   You will never be strong enough to earn God’s love. BUT GOD LOVES YOU ANYWAY.

That is the scandalous Love that came down at Christmas.

·        Emmanuel. God with us even though we don’t deserve it.

·        Emmanuel. God with us even though we don’t understand it.

·        Emmanuel. God with us even though we are sinners.

·        Emmanuel. God with us even though we are at times as unfaithful as Doris or Gomer.

·        Emmanuel. God with us always.

·        Emmanuel. God with us everywhere.

·        Emmanuel. God with us in the baby

·        Emmanuel. God with us in our lives today.

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[1] Adapted from a story at http://www.spencerhope.com/sermons/gods-scandalous-love-1