Courage to confess 1/26/14

Courage to confess

Week 12 a THE STORY        

Reinbeck UMC

A year ago last thanksgiving, Robyn and I went to Chicago for a little weekend getaway. We saw a show and went to the Holocaust Museum in Skokie, which I highly recommend. On the way out of town, we set the GPS for home and started following it. We didn’t really care which way we went as long as it was toward home. We got to the West suburbs and the GPS said very politely, take the next exit on the right. So I did. As soon as I did, it came back “recalculating.” By the time I got to the top of the exit it said, take the next exit to the right. So I did realizing that that would send me right back to Chicago but still wanting to believe that the GPS knew where I wanted to go.

As soon as I took the exit, it came back again “recalculating.” By that time, Robyn was laughing uncontrollably, and I was getting frustrated. Then… you guessed it “take the next exit to the right.” Now you have to picture a cloverleaf to realize that every time I take an exit it is turning me 90 degrees and after 4 exits, I would be right back where I started. There I was, following the GPS in this infinite loop and telling Robyn “Get the map out, just get the map and tell me where to go.” All she can do is laugh. Let me tell you, we are lucky we aren’t still on that cloverleaf taking the next right over and over again.

I can’t explain what the GPS was trying to do, or why it was off track. I can tell you, however, that this was not the first time in my life I have been off track. It was not the first time in my life I have been caught going the wrong way. It was not the first time in my life that I seemed to be stuck going nowhere. Nor was it the last.

Unfortunately, each of us has a tendency to get off track and be stuck in an infinite loop of sin, excuses, lies, and more sin to cover up the first. Trying to cover our sin with more sin is futile.

I read a story from a preacher this week explaining how she learned that our own cover-ups don’t really do a very good job. It seems she had a grandmother who was quite a large lady. So large in fact, that it was hard to buy clothes. So she made her own clothes. This lady would cut a bed sheet in half, sew the edges together so there was still a hole for her head and arms and that was her cover-up. It was crude, but served the purpose, sort of. One day when the preacher, at that time a little girl, was visiting, her grandma got up to put another log on the fire. As she bent over she discovered that Grandma’s sewing skills apparently weren’t as good as they needed to be. The preacher said that the age of 6 is a tender time to discover that grandma didn’t know how to sew herself any underwear.

Usually our cover up jobs are no better than grandma’s. Somehow, we always end up being exposed, at least to God, but often times to the people around us.

·        I don’t suppose Adam and eve’s fig leaf fashion statement was any better at covering them than grandma’s bed sheets. We know that God saw right through them.

·        Cain’s excuse “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Didn’t cover up his sin of murder.

·        No matter how much Noah’s cohorts made fun of old Noah for building the ark, there was no covering up their persistent sin.

·        Then there was Abraham and Sarah’s servant Hagar trying to make up for lack of faith having a child. That didn’t turn out as Abraham hoped.

·        Joseph’s brothers tried to cover their sin by putting the animal blood on Joseph’s favorite coat in order to convince Jacob that Joseph had been killed by wild animals, when in fact they had sold him into slavery. It worked for a while, but eventually (years later) their sin was exposed.

·        Moses fled to the desert to cover up his sin of murdering the Egyptian slave master.

·        When Moses came off the mountain with the 10 commandments and found the people worshipping the golden calf, Aaron tried to cover up by claiming that the calf sprung from the fire all by itself.

·        During the conquest and time of the judges, the people had 101 explanations for worshipping other gods. But God saw right through every single excuse.

·        Saul was disobedient and saved some of the best cattle and sheep from the Amalekites, and tried to cover it up by saying that he intended to keep the best as an offering to God. God didn’t believe that did he?

As we saw in today’s story, even Good king David had a problem getting off track and tried to cover it up.

I say good king David because he was. David was essentially a good king. He won many battles over Israel’s enemies. He expanded the territory. He united the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. During his reign, there was more security, more prosperity, and more faithfulness than there had been for a long time in Israel. David was really a pretty good king.

 UNTIL. Until one spring. When he didn’t go to war with the troops. It doesn’t say why but it is clear even as the story begins that David should have been in the field with the Ark of the Covenant and his generals and army. But he wasn’t. That is the first clue that something is wrong here. Then David is not sleeping well. For whatever reason he gets up in the middle of the night and goes for a walk on the flat roof of the palace from which he could probably see the whole city, including Captain Uriah’s back yard. That is important because in that back yard was Mrs. Uriah. Bathsheba.

I don’t blame her. It was the middle of the night. It was dark. Everyone was supposed to be in bed. I don’t think she was doing anything wrong. She was just purifying herself, minding her own business when David got a glimpse of her. If it would have ended there, there would have been no harm and no foul. But David didn’t let it end there. He crossed into lust, which crossed into covetousness, which crossed into kidnapping or stealing Uriah’s wife. Before he ever crosses the Adultery line, he has committed at least three big sins, two of which are on God’s top ten list.

So before he ever crosses the line to adultery, David is already in trouble. Then he finds out that Bathsheba is pregnant and you would think it doesn’t get any worse than that. But you would be wrong because that is when the cover-up starts.

First his guilt says take the next exit toward manipulation, recalculating. Then take the next right toward lies, recalculating. Then take the next right toward plotting to murder, recalculating, and take the next right toward actual murder. Recalculating.. And finally Uriah is dead and David is caught in an infinite loop of sin and lies.

After a respectful week or so, that’s what the traditional mourning period was; David took Bathsheba as his wife. Probably “as a favor to his good friend Uriah.” But really to cover up his sin.

The good and faithful king had become a bad husband, bad friend, bad neighbor, bad commander, and bad king.

And so I goes for all of us. We would like to say that we don’t intentionally set our GPS for sin. We kind of accidentally step in it like stepping in dog poo as we mow the grass. That’s what we would like to claim. It happens on accident. But the truth is that is happens by decision. Temptation is temptation and sin is sin and the line between is a big bold line called decision. Only by deciding to give in to temptation, or at least not to fight it, are we lead into sin. So really falling to temptation is less like accidentally stepping in it, and more like following the dog around and doing it on purpose.

 There is a story about a father and son and temptation. "Son," ordered a father, "Don't swim in that canal." 

"OK, Dad," he answered. But he came home carrying a wet bathing suit that evening. 

"Where have you been?" demanded the father. 

"Swimming in the canal," answered the boy. "Didn't I tell you not to swim there?" asked the father. 

"Yes, Sir," answered the boy. 

"Why did you?" he asked. 

"Well, Dad," he explained, "I had my bathing suit with me and I couldn't resist the temptation." 

"Why did you take your bathing suit with you?" he questioned. 

"So I'd be prepared to swim, in case I was tempted," he replied. 

What props do you have just in case you want to sin? Get rid of them. What settings are you in when you fall? Avoid them. What tempts you to sin? Eliminate it. What people are you usually with? Don’t hang out with them. The biggest lie Satan wants us to believe when we are being tempted is “just once won’t hurt.” But surely, it does.

But surely, once we have sinned we don’t intend to stay there and sin again. Maybe we don’t intend to, but we don’t often intend not to. Every excuse we make, every rationalization, every justification, or explanation digs our hole just a little deeper. A little self-deception here and a little white lie there. A trick here and a deception there. A little manipulation of the facts here and suddenly we are trapped in a hole so deep we can never get out.

Or can we?

The Zulus of Africa have a wonderful way of catching howler monkeys, which are notoriously hard to catch. Their trap is nothing more than a melon growing on a vine. The seeds of this melon are a favorite of the monkey. Knowing this, the Zulus simply cut a hole in the melon, just large enough for the monkey to insert his hand to reach the seeds inside. The monkey will stick his hand in, grab as many seeds as he can, then start to withdraw it. This he cannot do. His fist is now larger than the hole. The monkey will pull and tug, screech and fight the melon for hours. But he can't get free of the trap unless he gives up the seeds, which he refuses to do. Meanwhile, the Zulus sneak up and nab him.

Because we refuse to give up our sin. Because we refuse to let go of the satisfaction, or pleasure, or benefit, of sin we are trapped.

Unless… unless we are willing to let go of the seeds of sin. If the monkey would just let go it would be free. If we would stop justifying, and excusing, and explaining, and rationalizing, and defending our sin we too could be free. But we won’t. Just like David, we can never dig ourselves out of the pit of sin. We can only emerge by using the ladder God provides. The cross shaped ladder provided through the ultimate forgiveness of Christ’s death and resurrection is the only way out of the pit of sin. And if we just turn around we’ll see it right there behind us.

We all know Romans 3:23 all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We treat that as a done deal that we will sin. But look again it is in the past tense. All have sinned. It is describing where we are now not providing an excuse for tomorrow. We all know Romans 3:23, Do you know 3:24? They are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. 

They are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

I am now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

YOU are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Thanks be to God for the forgiveness that comes through grace that is a gift through the redemption of Christ Jesus.

Next time you follow your internal GPS and find yourself in sin, turn around and run as fast as you can -- not toward sin this time, but toward Christ who is the gift of salvation given to each of us.

Let us pray

“Courage to be different” RUMC 1/12/2014

“Courage to be different”

RUMC 1/12/2014

Think for a moment of a time when you were rejected.

·        It might have been a phone call to that special person asking them to the dance… and the answer was, “no thank you.”

·        It might have been the day the divorce papers were delivered... saying, “I don’t love you anymore.”

·        Have you ever put in a job application and really had your heart set on a particular job… then you wait and wait… to discover that they hired someone else?

·        Maybe you have been on a team when a better player came along and suddenly you are warming the bench.

·        It might be when the lady at the DMV says, I’m sorry you can’t have a drivers license this time.

·        It might be that you were part of a group of friends, but something changed. Someone changed and you don’t get invited anymore.

We have all felt rejected at one time or another. It is a sad, lonely, embarrassed disappointment.

Rejection is like a kick in the stomach… in fact many of us would rather be kicked in the stomach than be rejected because rejection is an emotional kick in the stomach is much harder to take.

That’s how God felt in First Samuel. Along with the Genesis remark right before the flood, that God was sorry he had made humans; this is one of the saddest chapters in God’s upper story.

Remember when we talk about the upper story, we are talking about God’s perspective over salvation history. We are talking about what is happening in heaven.

When we talk about the lower story, we are referring to what is happening to people in the biblical story. What is happening on earth. It is the history, the people, places and events that make up our lower story lives.

So let’s start with the lower story today as we dive into chapter 10 of THE STORY. You may remember the time of the judges as a rollercoaster for Israel. God would raise a great judge and the people would be raised to be faithful to God, but then they would fall away. God raised another judge and the people would come back to God, and then they would fall away. So up and down went their relationship with God.

Samuel is the last of the judges. He came into the picture when the people had fallen away from God. The Bible says, “The word of the lord was rare in those days.” The priest at Shiloh, named Eli had two sons to take up his footsteps, except they were both corrupt. They took more of the offering for themselves than they deserved. The Bible says that they would stick a three-pronged fork into the offering and take everything they could get. They were greedy and did not have the best interest of the people or God in mind.

Here comes Samuel into the picture. Early in chapter 10, we read the story of Samuel’s birth to Hannah. It is one of those stories we have seen before with a woman being apparently barren until God intercedes and in this case it says he, “remembered her prayer” at the temple when she was weeping and praying to God for a child.

As promised, at about the age of three she brought Samuel back to the temple to offer him to the service of the Lord. He was to be a servant of the priests. There is that great story about God calling Samuel and Samuel thinking it was Eli. Until both of them realize it was the voice of God. That is the night that Samuel became a prophet, who would soon become a judge over Israel. While Samuel judged Israel, there was a revival. People came back to God in droves. Samuel called them to task for worshipping other God’s and they heeded his warning.

When Samuel was getting older, he started thinking about a successor. Who would take over the job of Judge? His sons (the logical candidates) were corrupt taking bribes and perverting justice. Therefore, the people came to Samuel asking him to appoint a king. They say you are old and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us. (P135)

That was the first reason they gave for wanting a king: that Samuel’s sons were corrupt. And there would be a leadership vacuum in Israel. But I think that was an excuse. The real reason is revealed in the next few words when they say, “Give us a king such as all the other nations have… Then we will be like all the other nations with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” (p136)

That’s the real reason they want a king. They want to be like all the other nations. They felt different. We might even say they felt left out because they didn’t have a king like everyone else. They just wanted to fit in, and not be rejected.

One of the best examples of fitting in, in our story is fashion, particularly clothes in High school. When I was in High School in the late 70’s there were some very… shall we say “distinctive” styles. Those multicolored silk shirts with the wide collars and no buttons from here up were in style. Also in fashion were bell-bottom pants, necklaces for men (Think like Mr. T) and long hair.

So, I had it all. I dressed just like everyone else, with my hair down to my shoulders, and my ahnk necklace hanging around my neck. I was cool… NOT. But I was like everyone else.

We are tempted every day to be like everyone else.

·        The commercials tell us that everyone has this kind of phone and you’ll be rejected if you don’t have one.

·        They tell us that all the cool people are driving around in this kind of car and if you don’t have one you are just a reject.

·        Whether it is conscious or not, if one friend gets a boat, or a new RV, or a new car, or a cabin on the lake we want to be just like them and have those things so we are not rejected as being different.

I just heard a story this week about a man who has quit drinking which wasn’t hard for him. What was hard was facing the family at Christmas time for fear of rejection. But he had the strength do to it without judging others. Many of us do not.

It goes to our values too. When you are around people who think one way are you tempted to talk that way even if it goes against your values. It might be politics, it might be homosexual marriage, it might be family values, or your religious values. If you are around people who say bad things about the church, do you tend to join in so you won’t be different? Maybe you keep quiet, which is the next best thing to joining in.

Are you kind off a chameleon turning into whatever the people around you expect you to be? Way too many Christians are chameleons. Way too many of us fail to stand up for our values and our faith when confronted with a situation in which they are afraid they might be different or even rejected if they speak up. The consequences of that spineless faith are dire. Let’s jump up to the upper story to see those consequences.

What is God’s response to Samuel’s request for a king on behalf of the Israelites? God says, ‘they are not rejecting you Samuel they are rejecting me as they have rejected me ever since I lead them out of Egypt to this day.” OUCH!

God had always provided the leadership they needed in Moses, and Aaron and Miriam, and Joshua, and the judges. The people just couldn’t trust God enough to provide the leadership this time. God had never let them down, yet they couldn’t trust God one more day and were demanding a king. Actually, they already had a king… God… and they were demanding a new king. In effect they were saying, “Any king but God… give us any king but God because we don’t want to be God’s people any more… we want to be our own people… actually we want to be like those people.

And God’s heart was broken … again.

No one likes to be rejected, not even God.

But isn’t that what we do when we place other kings on throne of our lives? Isn’t that what we do when we allow other things or people to get in the way of following God?

The Israelites cried, “Give us a king,”

·        In our story, we cry give me more stuff because things is my king.

·        We cry give me popularity because being liked is my king.

·        We cry we don’t have to stand up for our Christian beliefs, because being like everyone else around me is my king.

·        We cry give me more money because the almighty dollar makes a mighty fine king.

·        We cry don’t ask me to serve on anything in the church because I want to be king of my own free time.

·        We cry don’t ask too much of me preacher because you’ll mess up this fine balance I have of looking like a Christian for an hour a week, but being my own king the rest of the week.

·        We cry don’t ask me to serve because I’d rather fish.

·        We cry don’t ask me to teach because I’ve done my part- in other words I’ve retired from God’s kingdom to be my own king now.

·        We cry don’t ask me to give because there is nothing I love more than having money in the bank.

·        We cry don’t make me join a small group because time is my king and I won’t give any of it up.

Do you know what God’s answer was? God’s answer to Samuel was, "OK give them a king." I won’t stop them. But they need to know that the king will conscript their children, steal their servants, take their land, and tax them to death. The king will soon be their master, and they will be right back to being slaves as they were in Egypt.

In OUR STORY … To those of us who have been saved by God over and over and over God says, "OK have your own king.” I won’t stop you. But you need to know that

·        your king will take over your lives,

·        your king will not love you as God has loved you,

·        your king won’t forgive you as God forgives,

·        your king won’t protect you or

o   heal you or

o   give you a thousand chances like God has.

·        your king will soon be your master, and you will be right back to being slaves as you were before you knew God.

God says, you can have your king but any king but Jesus will leave you empty. Any king but Jesus will leave you directionless. Any king but Jesus will leave you without purpose. Any king but Jesus will leave you without hope. Any king but Jesus will leave you without a relationship to the one who will never reject you. It will leave you without a relationship to the one who has always accepted you, always loved you, always forgiven you, always lead you, always guided you, and always cared for you in every way you can imagine… and always will.

On the other hand, accept Jesus as your king, and you might have to live differently from others. You might have to stand up for what you believe. You might have to show your true colors even if it means risking rejection.

But it also means that King Jesus will fill you with good things. King Jesus will give you direction, and purpose, and hope, and relationship, and he will never reject you. King Jesus will always accept you, always love you, always forgive you, always lead you, always guide you, and always care for you- no matter what. Let Jesus be your king.

AMEN

“What is keeping you from seeing God working in your life? RUMC January 5, 2014

“What is keeping you from seeing God working in your life?

RUMC January 5, 2014

Looking back on the first 9 chapters of THE STORY, there are a number of things I think we can say.

•             We can say that this is a story of God’s love. God in the upper story is constantly seeking that close communion love that was lost in the Garden of Eden.

•             We can say that this is a story of persistence. No matter how many times it failed, God did not tire or give up on his upper story plan.

•             We can say that God is a jealous God. He does not put up with his people worshipping anything besides him.

•             We can say that people were no smarter back then than they are now. Similarly, We can say that we are no smarter now than our ancestors were 5000 years ago.

 More than anything, however, the thing that stands out to me is that God worked in the everyday lives of his people persistently and regularly. God’s activity in the lives of people was the rule rather than the exception. There was no time when God was NOT working in the lives of his people.

•             Not that God is like a chess player moving his pawns about.

•             Not that God is like an owner trying to train his new puppy.

That is not at all what I am seeing.

•             I am seeing God lovingly and gently shepherding or parenting his people. Occasionally shepherding meant a poke or prod to get the sheep going, that’s what the shepherd’s rod was for. Occasionally parenting requires a real good swat on the rear end, and frankly, between you and me I think the people of Israel were lucky they were not swatted more often

But overall, God is shepherding, parenting, guiding, coaxing, directing, and steering the people of Israel back into the kind of relationship they were created to have; Back into intimate relationship with God.

Another thinkg about God working, I notice that God is working in the lives of individual people. Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Deborah, and Gideon, all obviously had God encounters. But your average Joe in the desert had God encounters too.

•             Noah’s sons were just the children of that crazy guy when they became the fathers of all humanity.

•             Hagar was just a servant when God provided life saving water in the desert.

•             Pharaoh’s daughter was just another girl when she started raising Moses,

•             Pharaoh was just another unbeliever when God started working in his life.

•             Don’t you suppose the Passover was a very personal experience for each and every one of the Israelite slaves.

The truth is that God is constantly working in the lives of people throughout scripture. In fact, not just in scripture but in all of history right up to us. I am convinced that God is working in your life and my life each and every day, just like he worked in the lives of Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Deborah, and Gideon. God is working in our lives just like he worked in the lives of the ordinary people of the Bible. God has been working in the lives of people throughout history, and is working in our lives today.

But, you say, “not anymore.” God doesn’t work like that anymore. I don’t see God in my life.” You might be right that you might not see God in your life. For a large part of the culture, and a frighteningly large portion of the church God seems completely absent from their day to day living. When I ask, “Where have you seen God this week?” I’d like to think that even if you don’t say anything, you are taking inventory, but I know better. I know that for a large percentage of you God has seemed conspicuously absent since the last time you were in church. IF you let that lead you to the conclusion that God is not working you would be wrong. WHY? God has not changed, God still works in each and every one of our lives.  I think our perceptions have changed. We are “sophisticated” and “independent” to rely on God.

The truth is God was there in the desert intimately involved in people’s lives. God is here too. Intimately involved in each of our lives. God is here, but I think there are several good reasons we might not notice.

 First, some of us see God and ignore him. Like the child who doesn’t want to hear what the parent has to say we spend our lives going (cover ears and say) “lalalalalalala, I can’t hear you.”

Somehow we believe that if we ignore God he’ll just go away.

•             That seems to be what Adam and Eve thought; “If we just ignore the rule about eating this fruit, the rule will go away. “

•             That’s what the Israelites thought after the ten commandments, “If we ignore them maybe he’ll go away.”

Just like ignoring a bill or ignoring our pain we can only get away with it for s period of time before it starts to get to us. Maybe it is a day, maybe a year, but eventually we have to face reality.

The reality: God is working in your life . Now and always God is working in you if you just stop ignoring him.

 Second, besides ignoring God, sometimes we overrule God because we think we have a better idea. Frankly, may I ask, “who do you think you are?”

We live our lives thinking, “If I were God…” Hello you’re not!

Abraham had an idea, “I’ll get my pretty little servant girl to bear a child for me.” Good idea or bad idea.(BAD)

Or remember when Moses was on the mountain getting the 10 commandments. Someone had an idea. “Hey I have an idea, let’s build a golden calf and worship it.”. Good idea or bad idea. (BAD)

Or Achan, “I have an idea, I’ll overrule God and just keep a little of this loot from the destruction of Ai and I’ll retire in comfort.” Good idea or bad idea. (BAD)

How about this, I have an idea, I’m going to drive on the left hand side of the road. Good idea or bad idea. (BAD)

Our modern culture seems to be built on some bad ideas, lust, gluttony, greed and envy even though God says otherwise. Good idea or bad idea. (BAD)

When God is acting in our lives, we always seem to have what we think is a better idea so often we go another direction. Good idea or bad idea? (BAD)

 Third if not ignoring God, or overruling God, sometimes we don’t see God working because we think it is too good to be true.

Why would the God of all heaven be working in my life? Why would the God of all creation care for me? How could Jesus love me enough to die on the cross for me and make a way for me to get into heaven? And instead of being thankful and accepting God’s care, we turn it down because it is just too good to be true.

The Israelite spies make their way through the promised land and then come back saying yes it is all true It took two of them to carry the grapes back. it is almost too good to be true. . So maybe we shouldn’t go.

Sara laughed thinking that God’s promise of a child was too good to be true at her age.

Sometimes when we see God working we think “He can’t be doing that for me.”

But would you turn down the best job offer you have ever had because it just seemed too good to be true? NO

Would you turn down the proposal from your dream sweetheart because it seemed too good to be true? NO

Neither should we let the fact that it seems too good to be true stop us from seeing that God is indeed working in our lives.

 I can’t hear you

I have a better idea

I don’t deserve it

Those are three of the thing we say as we deny God’s working in our lives. We ignore it. We overrule it. We don’t believe it.

YET…YET that doesn’t change the fact that God does work in our lives. Like many of these Old Testament characters, we find all kinds of excuses for ignoring, overruling, or denying God’s work in ourlives. We are no different.

This week. When you hear God talking stop and listen.

This week when you see God moving, be quiet and watch.

This week when you see the hand of God moving in your life, or around you, open your heart and let God move in their too.

As we receive communion today. Watch.

As you receive bread, listen.

As you receive the juice be aware

God is working whether you notice or not. Be ready.

Let heaven and nature sing RUMC CHRISTMAS EVE

Let heaven and nature sing

RUMC CHRISTMAS EVE

⁷ Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
    the world, and all who live in it.
⁸ Let the rivers clap their hands,
    let the mountains sing together for joy;
⁹ let them sing before the Lord,
    for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
    and the peoples with equity

That 98^th Psalm inspired Isaac Watts to write the words

“And heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing.”

Watts was a pastor in the congregational church in England at the turn of the 18^th century with a love of rhyme and poetry, and a dislike for the traditional church hymns of his day. His father dared him to come up with something better so he started writing what he hoped would be the Contemporary Christian Music of his day.

The problem: no one in the church wanted Contemporary music.  Watts was condemned as a heretic and a tool of the devil because he rewrote the words of the psalms in modern verse. Refusing to give up he wrote no less than 600 hymns. 15 of which you would recognize as being in our hymnal.

50 years later a music prodigy named Lowell Mason, who loved the classical music of George Fredric Handel wrote the tune we love and paired it with Watts' lyrics.

Joy to the world, one of our most beloved Christmas carols was not originally a Christmas carol at all. There are no angels, no shepherds, nor is there a Baby Jesus anywhere in the text. The only reference to Christmas “The Lord Is come” was in Watts mind actually a reference to Jesus Second coming, not his first. That was until Trinity Choir recorded it in 1911 and it climbed to number 5 among the hits of 1912.

Intended to be Christmas or not, the words that caught my attention are “And heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing.”

To us Christmas is a human celebration of an earthly baby born in an all too earthly stable.  We talk of stables, and mangers, and shepherds, and little drummer boys, but that is only the Lower story. The incarnation of God in Jesus at Christmas is so much more than that. The Psalm describes the sea, the rivers, and the mountains breaking forth in song.

Psalm 55 is similar

You will go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
    will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
    will clap their hands.

You see the coming of the messiah is not just an earthly event. It has an upper story  element.   Christ is a gift to the entire universe. The word of God becoming flesh and living among people The upper story includes angelic visitations, the stars breaking forth in light as never before. (Think star of Bethlehem) Angels breaking out in glorious song (Think heavenly choirs of angels) and all creation bursting forth in glorious celebration that as the message Bible says, “God put on skin and moved into the neighborhood.”

The upper story that started with creation and Eden, moved past the flood and Noah, Abraham and Isaac, Moses and the exodus, judges and kings and prophets, All in order to call people into relationship with God, has taken a completely different route. God, the creator, heavenly divine power, sustainer, king of all, melody of Zion has come to be one of us- as a baby born to two peasants in a stable in a little corner of the world called Bethlehem. The God who spoke through kings and prophets, the God who said I will never forsake you has come to love us, teach us, heal us help us and call us to repentance. The ever merciful and slow to anger judge of all the world has himself come to die on the cross for us.

For that, we and all of creation break forth in joyous song. We and all the earth offer worship and praise to the one and only God, who is born as a baby this very night. We and the entire universe sing praise and glory to the king who is come this night.

And heaven and nature sing,

and heaven and nature sing,

and heaven, heaven and nature sing.

The reality of incarnation Reinbeck UMC 12/29/13

The reality of incarnation

Reinbeck UMC

12/29/13

As I walked through stores this year, I saw Christmas decorations of all kinds. Of course, there were the standard stars, angels, bells, Santa’s and others. Then there were Star Trek, Scooby Do, and smurfs. And even bud bottles, hoola girls and shot guns. There was one decoration that was obviously missing. No matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find a bucket of dirt. I looked everywhere and couldn’t find an ornament of a bucket of dirt. Of course, a real bucket of dirt would be even more appropriate. Not the kind of sterilized dirt that we get from a garden shop, but real, earthy, organic, rich, maybe even smelly dirt.

Why in the world, you might ask, was I looking for a bucket of dirt ornament? Because the bucket of dirt is the most appropriate ornament I could think of for the real meaning of Christmas which is incarnation.

Incarnation is the idea that the divinity of God took on flesh and became human in Jesus Christ. 100% God, 100% human. Customarily we don’t think of God as getting his hands dirty. He spoke creation into existence. God works through people, especially, kings and prophets. But the almighty God becoming fully human is almost incomprehensible. The God of the universe lowering himself to become one of us and get his hands dirty is just unfathomable.

Unfathomable but true.

The incarnation means that Jesus had to grow up just like everyone of us. As he grew, he experienced all the sorts of things that we experience. No doubt, there were other kids who played tricks on him. He probably skinned his knees playing the sorts of games that boys play. He no doubt banged his thumb with a hammer when he was helping his dad in the workshop. And as he got older we have recorded for us his experience of all the intensity of Satan’s temptations; far more intense than anything we experience, yet without failing the way we do. One of the things you discover as you read through the gospels is that Jesus was indeed 100% human.

Do you remember the incident when he stilled the storm? Do you remember what he was doing when the storm blew up? He was asleep in the back of the boat, wasn’t he? He’d been teaching the crowds all day and he was so tired he fell asleep on a hard bench at the back of the boat. Well, after Christmas I know just how he felt. 

And do you remember the way he occasionally expressed his frustration at the thickheaded responses of his disciples? Like when they’d just come down from the mountain of transfiguration and there’s a boy who his disciples can’t heal and what does he say? "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me." You can hear the frustration in his voice can’t you? He knew what it was like to be frustrated with the people he’d chosen to follow him. 

Christ’s humanity is clear as we read the gospels. That humanity is a reminder that Christmas is a dirty business. Incarnation is a filthy process.

In the dark of the night, a young girl screams in pain and fear. There is the smell of animals, wet hay, bodily fluids, and then the smell of a newborn baby. A new baby that does all the messy thing new babies do.

Christmas is a dirty business. Incarnation is a filthy process.

The baby would see sin and brokenness, temptation and resistance, sickness and pain.

Christmas is a dirty business. Incarnation is a filthy process.

The baby that came at Christmas would see disease and death, broken promises and persecution, broken hearts and crucifixion.

Christmas is a dirty business. Incarnation is a filthy process.

I can’t think of a better decoration to celebrate the incarnation than a plain old musty, real, grubby, crumbly, and perhaps a bit smelly, earthy bucket of dirt.

Our passage from Hebrews, however, gives us a little insight into the work of incarnation. Let’s see if its four images can help us to understand what God was trying to do in the incarnation. Those four images are: Pioneer, brother, liberator, and high priest.

First, the author of Hebrews uses the image of the incarnation as God providing a pioneer for us.

A pioneer is a groundbreaker.

Imagine an explorer cutting his or her way deep into the jungle. Nobody has ever been this way before; there are no paths, no trails, and no signs that say it’s possible to go this way. Yet they go on, forging a way through impossible terrain, until they reach the new land, the ocean, the other side of the continent, or whatever the goal was

Once the explorer has done that, others can follow. Explorers do that kind of thing for lots of reasons: fame, fortune, and sheer curiosity…whatever.

Jesus did it out of love!!! The jungle is the whole world of suffering, pain, sin, and death. Nobody had ever gone through there before and come out the other side. But wait a minute!!! Jesus did! In his incarnation, God faced suffering, pain, sin, and death. And he faced it with the same limitations we have as human beings because Jesus was really 100% human. And because of this, Jesus has opened the way for us to come out the other side as well!!!

Notice the title he’s given here, in v10. He’s the pioneer of our salvation. Later on, in ch12, Hebrews refer to him as the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. Jesus is the one who goes before us to show the way. He’s the one who blazes the trail, who clears away the obstacles so we can follow in his footsteps. And he does it as one of us. He can bring us to perfection because he is one of us. And so he brings us to the goal, God, as his brothers and sisters, children of the same flesh and the same heavenly father. 

The second image to help us understand the incarnation in Hebrews 2 is to think of Jesus as our brother. Verse 11 says, “¹¹For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,.”

Isn’t that cool? We could also say, that the one who saves, and those who are saved are of the same family. We sing, "I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God,

Families are funny things. We are all probably keenly aware of that as we move through the family celebrations of these holidays. Families are wonderful things, but let’s just say every human family tree has some sap in it?

But this family of God of which we are a part is different. Hebrews says Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters. As much as I love my brother there have been times through the years that each of us has had his turn at not really wanting to claim the other. Jesus, however, has no trouble claiming us. No matter what he looks out for us.

This incarnation means that Jesus is part of our human family. And because of that, we can be part of God’s family.

The third image in this passage from Hebrews comes from verses 14-16

^“14Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. ¹⁶ For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham. “

The key there is to “Free” those who were held in “slavery.” Slavery to what? Sin.

This third image reminds us that God didn’t become incarnate just for the fun of it. He didn’t do it because Christmas would be a neat holiday. He didn’t do it for any reason but to set us free from sin. God loves us so much that he came to emancipate us from slavery to sin. As John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son”… that is not just giving him in death but giving him in life. Giving him in incarnation to suffer the struggle with sin and death.

The human condition is that we are subject to sin. We are subject to temptation. We are born in sin and we die in sin. There is no way around that. EXCEPT. Except that God sent Jesus to free us from sin a death. By his death on the cross and resurrection (Which would mean nothing if it weren’t for the incarnation -- if it weren’t for the fact that he himself became subject to sin and death by becoming one of us) By his incarnation, perfectly sinless life, death and resurrection we are set free… healed of this disease we call sin…and offered eternal life with him. We are no longer bound by the chains of death, but are gifted with life beyond anything we can imagine here and now. A life that has an eternal quality- not just having no end, but having a quality that we can’t even imagine in our finite universe of sin and death.

Jesus is our liberator, our savior.

Finally, Hebrews uses one more image. Jesus as the high priest. Verses 17 and 18 say,

“¹⁷Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. ¹⁸Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.”

He had to become like us… in every respect. He had to face sin. He had to face temptation. He had to face fear. He had to face trials. He had to face sickness. He had to face death in order to be one of us in every respect. Why?

Well, we have to understand the role of the High priest. The high priest was appointed to stand in the place of the people. He represented the people before the almighty God…especially on the Day of Atonement.

Atonement, spelled at-one-ment, is the day when the sins of the people were brought before God to be forgiven so that they could be “at one” with God again. All those things that separated the people from God... All those sins that drove a wedge between the people and God would be offered up for forgiveness. Actually, the process included a goat, called a scapegoat, on whom all the sins would be placed and then he would be driven into the wilderness and off a cliff.

The High Priest, therefore, had to have a sympathetic understanding of the nature of the struggles and sins of the people in order to place all of the sins on the back of the scapegoat. So that as Hebrews says he could be “merciful and faithful.”

Of course to drive the imagery to its logical conclusion, Jesus is not only the perfect high priest, he is himself the perfect Lamb of God, or scapegoat sacrificed for the sins of the whole world.

By the incarnation, he knows exactly what we are experiencing. He knows exactly how hard temptation is. He knows exactly what a struggle sin is. He knows exactly what it is like to be human because he is 100% human as well as 100% God. Making him the perfect high priest.

To celebrate the incarnation is messy business. It helps us to understand Jesus as the pioneer forging a way for us in the jungle where we have never been before.

It helps to understand Jesus as a brother willing to claim us as his own, love us, and accept us as family.

It helps us to understand incarnation if we think of it as Jesus as our freedom fighter coming to free us from sin and death.

It helps to think of Jesus as our perfect high priest. Taking away the sins of the world on his own back to the cross and the grave.

But incarnation is still dirty work. It has to do with sin and death. It has to do with disease and destruction. It has to do with the almighty God taking on skin and moving into the sin slum we have created here on earth so that he can move us out into a new hope and a new home in God.

Incarnation is dirty, but because of that first dirty Christmas, there is a reason to smile, to brush aside the tears and sing a Christmas carol!

Because of that first dirty Christmas, there is reason to live, to push back the things that rob us of life and live in Jesus Christ.

Because of that first dirty Christmas, there is reason to celebrate- to celebrate that God has come to be our pioneer, our brother, our savior, and our high priest.

But let us never forget that Jesus was born in a smelly, dirty barn in Bethlehem, next to the animals into a world of sin and guilt and pain and death. Let us never forget that God wasn’t afraid to get dirty for us and for our salvation. So when we go home and see out beautiful Christmas tree in all its glory, let’s remember the dirt!

Who knows?

You might even want to put a pail of dirt under your tree to remind yourself why that Christmas tree is so gloriously decorated at all!!!