The Wesley Covenant Prayer

This evening (December 31) many churches – though not nearly as many as once was the case – will be holding Watch Night services.  These gatherings mark the end of the calendar year and the beginning of the new.  Such assemblies may spend a little time reflecting on the year past, but their primary concern is what lies ahead.  The new year carries with it a sense of turning the page, of starting with a clean slate and undertaking a fresh, new set of hopes.  The opening of a new planner and the making of resolutions signal an opportunity for doing things a bit differently than has been the case in the past.

The Wesleyan tradition includes a bit of liturgical material known as The Wesleyan Covenant Prayer.  Although John Wesley did not compose this prayer, he adapted it for Methodists and printed it in a pamphlet called Directions for Renewing our Covenant with God in 1780.  In 1784 when Wesley issued The Sunday Service of the Methodists; With Other Occasional Services to be used by the Methodists in North America, he included this prayer as part of A Service for Covenant Renewal.  This service has informally become known as The Wesley Covenant Service.  At the heart of this observance is this prayer:

I am no longer my own, but thine.

Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,

exalted for thee or brought low for thee.

Let me be full, let me be empty.

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

thou art mine, and I am thine.

So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth,

let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

I offer this prayer as a word of hope for the days ahead.

Happy New Year!

No loving gift is insignificant

Yesterday I said a word about some of the lore and legend that surrounds the young child Jesus.  The passing of the Feast of the Holy Innocents reminds me of one of my favorite pieces of Christian mythology.  It seems that the Holy Family was fleeing the soldiers of Herod on their way to Egypt.  They needed to stop for a while, so they sought refuge in a cave.

In the corner of the entryway there was a small spider.  Now, the legends have it that the animals always knew who the baby Jesus was.  This spider mused, “I surely would like to be able to do something to bring some comfort to this baby.”  Then it had an idea.  “I will spin a web across the mouth of this cave.  It won’t be much, but maybe it will block a little bit of the wind, and perhaps hold a slight bit of heat where the baby lay.”  So, it got to work and spun a thick web at the front of the cave.

Soon after, the pursuing soldiers arrived.  One was about to search the cave when his commander said, “Don’t waste your time in there.  Look how thick that spider web is.  Nobody’s been in there for days.”  So, the soldiers moved on.  And through the efforts of this tiny arachnid, Jesus was spared.

As Mary and Joseph looked out of the cave the next morning, the web was covered with dew.  It sparkled in the morning light.  It is in recollection of this good deed that we adorn our Christmas trees and other decorations with tinsel in this season – because it looks like a dew-covered spider web.

Lost Tales

When Christmas falls on Wednesday of the week or later, there are two Sundays in the Season of Christmas.  That means that the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) in Cycle A will consider the narrative of the Slaughter of the Innocents today and the prologue to John next Sunday.  The provision for a second Sunday of Christmas is always John 1.  In Cycle B the first Sunday’s reading is the story of Simeon and Anna, and in Cycle C it is the boy Jesus in the Temple.

It can be a frustrating time for the church.  There is so little material available concerning the young Jesus outside of the Nativity itself. 

There is a lot of Christian legend surrounding the young Jesus.  There is an apocryphal story of Jesus striking dead a playmate at whom he was angry before restoring him to life.  (The Gospel of Thomas) That same document has a tale of Jesus molding pigeons out of mud at a riverbank.  When confronted by religious leaders, he tosses them into the air, where they become animated and fly away.  He thus eludes the charge of creating graven images.  There are legends that he traveled to England – some of the accounts say he went to the British Isles in the company of Joseph of Arimathea.  There are stories of the young Jesus learning magic while living in Egypt and using this knowledge to give the appearance of divinity when he returned to Israel.

But these things do not make for very faithful study.  They do illustrate the principle that nature abhors a vacuum.  These tales emerge in the absence of more genuine stories.

It wouldn’t really matter how much material we had about Jesus at age 1 or 5 or 10.  Jesus’ real work, and true significance comes a little later.  When he was about thirty.

The Feast of the Holy Innocents

Even though we count the Days of Christmas as our twelve-day celebration moves on, the Christian Calendar reminds us that the birth of Christ neither takes place in a vacuum nor does it occur without consequences.  I have heard it said, “One lights a candle, but casts a shadow.”  The story moves on, not letting the baby remain in the manger for long.  There are repercussions for the birth of a Savior.

December 28 is the Feast of the Slaughter of the Holy Innocents, alternately known simply as the Feast of the Holy Innocents.  We read their story in Matthew 2:16–18.  In a nutshell, King Herod instructed the Magi, the Wise Men from the East, to bring word back to Herod once they had located the new born king so that Herod himself could “pay him homage.”  This is undoubtedly Herod’s code for “so that I can kill him.”

The Wise Men found the child, gave him gifts, worshiped him, and “being warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another way.” –Matthew 2:12

But when Herod decided that enough time had passed for the Magi to carry out his orders, the king determined that he had been duped.  In an angry rage, he decreed that all male children under two years of age should be killed so that he could make sure and eliminate his rival.

Joseph, father of Jesus, received his own warning in the form of another dream, and he fled with Mary and Jesus and sought refuge in Egypt.  So, while an undetermined number of baby boys died at the hands of Herod’s minions, the target child was spirited away.

This is a dreadful story.  Yet it is not outside our understanding of Herod’s character.  He brutally killed his wife, brother-in-law, three of his sons, 300 military leaders, and many others, as recorded by firsthand sources (notably the Jewish historian Josephus).

It also recalls the story of the Hebrew children in Exodus1:15—2:4. Pharaoh attempted the murder of newborn Israelite boys, but Moses eluded that fate and obviously became the great leader and law-giver of the people.  Matthew portrays the infant Jesus as being in the same peril and experiencing the same deliverance.

The coming of Jesus into the world can have unforeseen fallout.  Sometimes pure evil, in its efforts to combat or eradicate faith, commits acts of unspeakable depravity.  Beyond that we can never fully explain such occurrences.  But this Feast Day reflects our resolve never to forget. 

The calendar reminds us that the consequences of the appearance of Jesus in the world are many and varied.  Some involve deep intentionality.  Others can appear absolutely random.  But Jesus is not a presence that we can ignore.  For good or ill, the world knows that.

The Feast of St. John the Evangelist

Today the church celebrates the life and ministry of John, brother of James, son of Zebedee.  His name has historically been associated with the Fourth Gospel, the three New Testament epistles that bear his name, and the Book of Revelation.

The Gospel of John never mentions the name of its author.  The term “the disciple whom Jesus loved” that we find there is traditionally understood as John, but he is never explicitly identified.

Tradition holds that “John, Apostle and Evangelist” was one of the leaders of the church at Jerusalem after the ascension of Jesus.  He remained in a position of prominence until the fall of Jerusalem in AD 72.  From there John went to minister in a variety of locations (traditionally) and settled in Ephesus, from where, again church custom holds, he did much of his writing.

Christian tradition holds that John was the only one of the twelve apostles who lived to an old age and died of natural causes.  The others, according to church lore, were martyred.   

Yesterday we meditated on St. Stephen, the martyr, who because of his faith died at an early age.  Today we ponder the long and faithful life of a servant of Christ who lived to be full of days.  We can never be fully certain where the life of faith will take us.  The calendar reminds us today that it could be, it could be, that it is possible for the disciple to enjoy a lengthy and abundant life.  It would be a disservice to the Apostle to claim that he was healthy and content every day of his life.  After all, the writer of the Book of Revelation did his composing while he was in exile on the island of Patmos.  But, overall, this life reminds us of the fullness of spirit (if not of years) to which Christ calls us.

The Feast of St. Stephen

December 26 is the Feast of St. Stephen, Martyr, the “Feast of Stephen” of the carol “Good King Wenceslaus.”  The song nowhere mentions Christmas or any of its accouterments

.  The first line marks the events of the music in time, but there are no other seasonal references (unless  you count “Ye who now will bless the poor Shall yourselves find blessing…” and that may be a stretch).

It might seem a bit of a downer after al the hoopla of Christmas to come to the next day and be reminded of the first Christian martyr.  Acts 7:54-60 tells of his death.  It is a sobering story.

The Christian calendar reminds us that Jesus does not come into the world in a vacuum.  He does not remain in the cradle.  Nor is his advent without consequences.  Christian history is filled with the tales of martyrs, both famous and anonymous.  Their story is part of the Christmas story, too.

The Nativity of The Lord Jesus Christ

 It is Christmas!  What a great day.  It can’t really be caught up in one word.  Even though Christmas – the Christ-Mass – is a wondrous expression, the day’s proper title is The Nativity of the Lord Jesus Christ.  That label is a virtual confession of faith in itself.  The Announcement that there is “good news of a great joy which shall be to all people,” and the response of the Heavenly Host, the wonder of the shepherds, the amazement of the onlookers and the pondering of Mary only begin to tel the story.

It is the First Day of Christmas.  The season will extend through January 5.  Then comes The Epiphany of the Lord.  But, just as we didn’t hurry to Christmas, we shall not be impatient about The Manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.

The faith significance of the day cannot be overstated.  Even in the part of our society that is not  particularly religious, there is still a sense of the unique about these days.

There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,' returned the nephew. `Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -- apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that -- as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!

-- Ebenezer Scrooge’s nephew, Fred

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

A merry Christmas to All!

Christmas Eve

Somewhere around noon today we will make the transition from the last Day of Advent to Christmas Day.  Tradition has held that the Christmas Vigil or Christmas Eve worship service begins at midnight, as we migrate from Advent to Christmas proper.  But, as practical or convenience influences have taken root, Christmas Eve services occur ever earlier in the day.  One congregation that I serve has a tradition of a 4 p.m. service.  It allows things to be just dark enough to be able to hold a candlelight service.

But we have tried so very hard since November 10 not to be in a hurry.  Let’s don’t give up on the season quite yet.

There’s still one more sleep ‘til Christmas.

If you don't know the reference, it is here.

The Seventh O Antiphon – O King of the Gentiles

O KING OF THE GENTILES and their desired One, Cornerstone that makes both one:

Come, and deliver us whom you formed out of the dust of the earth.

Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

Some translations render this opening line as “King of Nations.”  While we could spend a lot of time on this differentiation, the spirit in the Antiphons is the same.  There is an understanding that the several titles for the Messiah that the Antiphons employ up to this point have tended to hold their significance for the Hebrews alone.  “King of Nations” (plural) or “King of the Gentiles” affirms the proclamation that the good news is for all people.

The prophets foretold such: For a child has been born for us, a son given us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  This is an oft-quoted word from  Isaiah 9:6.  He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.  This foretelling is also from Isaiah.  It is Chapter 2, verse 4.  Among the plenteous others is Isaiah 64:8: But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

The Antiphons individually and collectively are a rich source of worship material and grounds for seasonal reflection.  It has meant a great deal to me to plumb their depths even a little bit in this season.

Emmanuel

Advent 7 – Emmanuel

Leader: As our nights grow longer and our days grow short,

we look on these earthly signs--light and green branches--

and remember God's promise to our world:

Christ, our Light and our Hope, will come.

Listen to the words of the gospel of Matthew:

“… an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said ‘Joseph, son of

David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is

from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he

will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what had been

spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear

a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’ which means, ‘God is with us.’”

(Matthew 1:20b-23)

Leader: Let us pray.

All: Eternal God, you do not abandon us in exile

but hear our plea for returning and rest:

Visit us, we pray, with your presence

and raise us to greet with hope and joy

the promised day of salvation;

through Jesus Christ, who with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns

now and for ever. AMEN.

The Gift of the Magi

I remember being required (compelled) to read The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry when I was in school.  It was OK.  It was a little moralistic.  It demonstrated that all happy endings do not look alike.  I did alright on the test.  I moved on.

Funny thing, though.  If I listed all of the pieces of literature I read while in school, the number would be quite high.  (Not nearly as high as some readers I know, but that’s another story.)   But, truth be known, I don’t think about most of those books and stories nearly as often as I think of O. Henry’s work.  It is not that I quote the book in every sermon.  I don’t reference it in each conversation I hold.  But I have never eluded it.  The gift is not the watch chain, or the combs.  It is love.

A lot of people classify this as a Christmas story.  I am not here to quibble with that.  But I observe that the action, the tension of the story occurs immediately prior to December 25.  So, I think of it as an Advent story.  And I read it again this year.

You can read the story here.

The Hanging of the Greens

It is the practice of many Christian congregations to place seasonal items in their sanctuaries in the Advent and Christmas season.  Some of these churches refer to “decorating the church.”  That is an accurate description for what they do and why they do it.

In United Methodist churches and in the sanctuaries of other liturgical denominations or congregations, what happens at this time of year is that our sanctuaries are appointed for Advent.  “Decoration” implies that something is arranged in the sanctuary because it is attractive, or for mere visual effect.  Liturgical churches place nothing in the worship space that does not directly involve the worship of God.  Now, certainly, these can be beautiful.  I am second to none in my appreciation of well-executed stained-glass windows or of worshipful tapestries.  Sappy quotations (no matter what the medium) or secular Christmas trees do not fall under the category of “appointments.”  I understand that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  And without going into detail, I assure you that I have worshiped in some sanctuaries that contained some of the most garish items you can imagine.  But, applying the above criteria, they had their place.

The Hanging of the Greens is a worship service during which the various seasonal appointments are either physically placed or – more often – are interpreted for the congregation.  These appointments include (but are not limited to) an Advent Wreath, evergreens, candles, a Chrismon tree, holly wreaths and garland, poinsettias, lights and bells.  The entire worship service can be a deeply meaningful time for congregants as their “ordinary” worship area is transformed into a seasonal wonder.

It is frequently the practice to call attention to a given appointment, to read a scriptural passage related to the item, to have the element interpreted and then to have a piece of seasonal music, either congregational or offered in some other fashion.

The Hanging of the Greens models a practice that we follow all too seldom: the regular and specific interpretation of sanctuary appointments – seasonal or permanent – for our churches.  Maybe we can embrace that paradigm more fully.

"Hail to the Lord's Anointed"

“Hail to the Lord’s Anointed” is an Advent hymn by James Montgomery (1771 – 1854).  It is his interpretation of Psalm 72.  In The United Methodist Hymnal and other places, it is set to the tune “Ellacombe.”  The tune is anonymously credited and dates to 1784 where it first appeared in a chapel hymnal for the Duke of Würtemberg.  I first knew the tune as the music for “Hosanna, Loud Hosanna” which is frequently employed on Palm Sunday.

The hymn text for “Hail to the Lord’s Anointed” is:

Hail to the Lord's anointed, great David's greater Son!

Hail in the time appointed, His reign on earth begun!

He comes to break oppression, to set the captive free,

To take away transgression, and rule in equity.

Hail to the Lord's anointed, great David's greater Son!

Hail in the time appointed, His reign on earth begun!

He comes in succor speedy to those who suffer wrong,

To help the poor and needy, and bid the weak be strong.

To give them songs for sighing, their darkness turn to light,

Whose souls, condemned and dying, are precious in His sight.

Hail to the Lord's anointed, great David's greater Son!

Hail in the time appointed, His reign on earth begun!

He shall come down like showers upon the fruitful earth,

Love, joy, and hope, like flowers, spring in His path to birth.

Hail to the Lord's anointed, great David's greater Son!

Hail in the time appointed, His reign on earth begun!

The tide of time shall never His covenant remove.

His Name shall stand forever, That Name to us is Love.

Hail to the Lord's anointed, great David's greater Son!

Hail in the time appointed, His reign on earth begun!

It is a truly joyful hymn-text that incorporates several Advent themes marvelously.  The list includes the Messiah as standing in the Davidic line, the glorious reign of the one who is to come, release to the captives, forgiveness of sins, comfort, care for the poor, the image of light, encouragement and the eternal sovereignty of the Lord’s Christ.

On the daily lectionary reading

The Gospel reading from the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) daily readings for this date is Matthew 8:14-17:

When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.  When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.  This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

“He took up our infirmities

             and bore our diseases.”

Some would look at these verses and write them off: “Well, that’s jut another healing story.  Jesus heals people every time he stops and sits.  Nothing special about that.  There are dozens, scores of healings in the gospels.”

Like that makes any one healing mundane. 

Whenever Jesus performs one of his healing miracles, he is not only demonstrating compassion, he is declaring who he is.   In this passage, Jesus fulfills prophesy.  In this past Sunday’s Gospel Lesson from the RCL (Matthew 11:2-11), John the Baptist sends some of his disciples to Jesus to ask him, “are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”  For a reply, Jesus offered a quotation from Isaiah 35:1-10 (the Old Testament lesson for Sunday) which says, in part,

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,

   and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

then the lame shall leap like a deer,

   and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.

For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,

   and streams in the desert;

the burning sand shall become a pool,

   and the thirsty ground springs of water;

the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp,

   the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

Each of Jesus’ deeds of power, no matter how relatively great or small, testifies not simply to what Jesus could do, but who he is.

God is with us.

Don't bail out on Advent!

Well, it really is growing near!  One week from today is Christmas Eve.  The end of Advent is steaming toward us.  It would be so easy simply to cash in the chips, to say, “We’ve been at this since November 10.  Let’s do Christmas already."

That’s the best reason to refrain!  Not that the world and its Christmas culture has worn us down.  But rather, there is still much to do.  Because, as we have said here repeatedly, this is not about pre-Christmas.  This is a wondrous, free-standing time that carries its own joys and its own blessings.  If it becomes difficult to focus on the season, perhaps it is time to create some NEW practices, to establish some NEW traditions.

I think this is a great stretch in which to explore the music dedicated to this time.  On November 21 this blog published a long list of Advent titles that appear in the United Methodist Hymnal alone.  What a great time to listen to them, learn them, sing them and even delve into them a bit.  Much of what is unique in Advent is explored at great length in these wonderful pieces of music.

It would be a terrific spiritual discipline to take some of the days we have left and immerse ourselves in the prophets who spoke so eloquently of hope and of the coming of God’s Christ.  We reduce these prophesies to single verses or carol-phrases often.  Instead of looking up the verse that contains “sun of righteousness” or “God with us,” what if we studied the chapter – or the book – in which the verse resides?

I would venture that there are representatives of other cultural expressions of Advent within easy driving distance of your own home.  You could visit these establishments or exhibits or even see how folks from different places decorate their yards and homes. “What is that?  Where does that come from?”  Write down a description.  Take a picture.  Go back home, conjure up some hot chocolate and Google what you have seen.  Marvel at how others "do Advent."

 I don’t know if there is enough time for it all.

The Sixth O Antiphon -- "O Dayspring"

O DAYSPRING, Brightness of the light eternal and Sun of Justice:

Come, and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

This Antiphon incorporates several references to Jesus.  The Dayspring reference is from The Canticle of Zechariah in Luke 1.  Zechariah speaks of his son John who will be the “prophet of the most high” who will make ready for “the Dayspring,” or Jesus. 

There are multiple references in the gospels to Jesus as “the Light” or “Light,” most noticeably in John.  In chapter 1, vss. 3-5, the writer proclaims, “What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”  

In Revelation 21 Jesus says, “It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

The Sun of Righteousness, or here rendered Sun of Justice, is part of the prophesy of Malachi 4: “See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.”

Light and its attributes demonstrate Jesus’ bringing clarity and accuracy of perception into the world.  It is difficult to see in the darkness.  But, when light is shed upon a thing, it is more clearly discerned.  And so, we hear the petition in the second line of the Antiphon:

Come, and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Morning Star

Advent 6 – Morning Star

Leader: As our nights grow longer and our days grow short,

we look on these earthly signs--light and green branches--

and remember God's promise to our world:

Christ, our Light and our Hope, will come.

Listen to the words of Malachi the prophet:

“See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all

evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of

hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who revere

my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall

go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked,

for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the

Lord of hosts.”

(Malachi 4:1-3)

Leader: Let us pray.

All: Lord Jesus Christ, in your resurrection

you appeared as the Morning Star that knows no setting:

Dawn upon the darkness of the human heart

so that the deathly orders of this world may be overcome

and your whole creation made new;

for with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

you live and reign,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

"Not on MY parade, you don't"

I was in a store check-out line a couple of days ago, and the cashier was talking to a customer whom she obviously knew.  The store worker said, “Well, are you ready for the holidays?”  The shopper’s reply was, “Ready for them to be over!”

Well, Mister Scrooge, to you I say, “Bah!  Humbug!”

Oh, I get it, at least in part.  First off, the shopper may have been a true pagan, to whom Christmas and its surrounding observances have no significance at all.  To some of these folks, Advent is just so much noise.

To others, no matter what their religious orientation, this season is a time of a lot of pressure.  They feel an obligation to purchase gifts, to clean, cook and entertain family.  The crowds in stores where they only want to buy a loaf of bread or light bulb frustrate them.  The holidays are a major disruption.  People view them as a headache.

And for some, these are days of great sorrow.  Occasions that used to be full of family gatherings and special time spent with significant others have eroded into some of the loneliest moments of the year.  And especially for those who are facing the season without certain loved ones for the first time, these days can be devastating.

So, part of what I would say to anyone in this time of year is, “Don’t do anything you don’t want to do!  Don’t let households or family or tradition force you into any activity that you don’t want to undertake.  It is not your job to explain or interpret or justify to anyone how you feel and what your desires might be.”  Do they call you “Scrooge?”  Let them.  Do they say, “You have no seasonal spirit?”  So what? 

Be you.  Don’t complain.  Don’t explain.  Be you.

Now, me, I’m doing it all: gifts and carols and crowded shopping and baking and family gatherings – and church – and I am enjoying every single moment of it.  Don’t try to hurry me through.  I am relishing every moment of it.  And it’ll be past all too soon.

God bless us, every one!

The Creche

There is a tradition that the first Nativity Creche or Nativity Scene was produced by St. Francis of Assisi at Greccio, in central Italy.  The story is that, even in that day, the festival of the birth of Jesus had been polluted by secular materialism and that the development of the creche was an attempt by Francis to bring the focus of the day back to faith.

“Nativity Scenes” come in all sizes and in a huge degree of elaboration.  Some are simple, unpainted one-piece representations of Mary, Joseph and Jesus.  At the other end of the scale are creches with large figures that depict the Holy Family, shepherds, Magi, sheep accompanying the shepherds, camels in the presence of the Magi, various barn animals associated with the manger of Jesus, angels and others.  I have a tree ornament that represents the central three figures in silhouette.  And I have seen creches in church sanctuaries that were ¼ scale of real-life persons and animals.  This does not take into account the so-called “living Nativity” that some congregations present with live actors portraying the characters of the story and real farm animals (and even camels) present to present an extra layer of pageantry.

Each of these arrangements serves to present a visual expression of the Nativity story.  Some are broken out in their entirety at the beginning of Advent.  Other have a barn structure to which other representations are added as the season progresses.  Mary, Joseph and Jesus make their appearance on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  The Magi are not inserted until Epiphany – January 6. 

Families, local congregations and even communities have long-standing traditions surrounding their “Manger Scenes.”  These extraordinary depictions of the events surrounding the birth of Christ hopefully serve the end St. Francis had in mind – to turn our hearts to God.

People, Look East

People, look east. The time is near

Of the crowning of the year.

Make your house fair as you are able,

Trim the hearth and set the table.

People, look east and sing today:

Love, the Guest, is on the way.

Furrows, be glad. Though earth is bare,

One more seed is planted there:

Give up your strength the seed to nourish,

That in course the flower may flourish.

People, look east and sing today:

Love, the rose, is on the way.

Birds, though you long have ceased to build,

Guard the nest that must be filled.

Even the hour when wings are frozen

God for fledging time has chosen.

People, look east and sing today:

Love, the bird, is on the way.

Stars, keep the watch. When night is dim

One more light the bowl shall brim,

Shining beyond the frosty weather,

Bright as sun and moon together.

People, look east and sing today:

Love, the star, is on the way.

Angels, announce with shouts of mirth

Christ who brings new life to earth.

Set every peak and valley humming

With the word, the Lord is coming.

People, look east and sing today:

Love, the Lord, is on the way.

“People, Look East” is an Advent carol authored by Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965). She is best known for writing the hymn “Morning Has Broken” (#145 in The United Methodist Hymnal and popularized by Cat Stevens – now Yusuf Islam – in 1971).  The carol was first published in The Oxford Book of Carols (1928).  According to Michael Hawn of Perkins School of Theology, “Key images of the season are abundant. "People, Look East" is the direction of the rising sun and, in the history of Christianity, the direction of the coming Messiah. In stanza two, the bare earth is waiting for the seed that will flourish in the reign of the Promised One. In stanza three, the stars that guided the Magi shape the "bowl" of the heavens, giving signs of hope beyond "the frosty weather." The angels' song, in stanza four, sets "every peak and valley humming," an oblique reference to Isaiah 40:4, "Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low. . ."

It is a thoughtful hymn text that draws its imagery from a variety of Advent sources.  Put all together it is a wonderful piece that deserves more prominence in our Advent repertoire.

The daily lectionary reading for today

The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) daily reading from the Old Testament for December 11 is Genesis 15:1-18.  It is the story of God’s covenant with Abram.  In it God pledges two things to Abram: Abram will have descendants as innumerable as the stars; and, his descendants will occupy Canaan from Egypt to the Euphrates river.

One of the extraordinary aspects of this covenant is that one would expect a deity making such an agreement with a human to grant them possession of land would result in the deity steamrolling the current occupants and bringing about the promise rather quickly and easily.

This is not so with God and Abram.  God speaks of setbacks.  God foretells in general terms the enslavement in Egypt and the fact that there will be difficulties in the work of Abram’s descendants to claim the land for their own.  The history bears out the fact that, at times, the taking of the Land of the Promise was a labor that took two steps forward, then one step back over the course of years.

It is a reminder to us of the Advent promise:

As our nights grow longer and our days grow short,

we look on these earthly signs--light and green branches--

and remember God's promise to our world:

Christ, our Light and our Hope, will come.

While some images of Christ’s coming have that event taking place “in the twinkling of an eye,” there are other metaphors that indicate that the timeline will be different.  God’s promise may be fulfilled over time, and in some ways that we don’t recognize until the entire thing has been realized.

As was the cased with the Advent of Jesus in Bethlehem, it may well be that our preconceptions about Christ’s return and the establishment of the true reign of God may look nothing like we anticipate.

That does not make the fulfillment of the promise incomplete.  Or invalid.  Or wrong.

Christ, our Light and Hope, will come.

It's (all) about time

In the 4-week Advent observance, things move along so quickly.  Or, maybe a more accurate reflection is that a lot of the season feels crowded.  It begins on the heels of the Thanksgiving weekend and St. Andrew’s Day.  By the end of the season, in spite of everything we might try to do, Christmas begins to come on hard and fast and it muscles Advent aside.

But I am finding that in this Extended Advent time that the season has its opportunity to do its work on me.  We have had several weeks of readings from the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) that have pushed worshipers to consider the return of Christ from a number of perspectives.  This past Sunday the Gospel Lesson was Matthew 3:1-12.  It is the appearance and preaching of John the Baptist prior to the baptism of Jesus.  In fact, Jesus is nowhere to be found in this reading, except by implication.  It is true that John’s proclamation, “Repent!  The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” from this lesson is echoed precisely by Jesus in chapter 4 after John is imprisoned and Jesus begins his public ministry.  But the lesson for the day is a foreshadowing of Jesus, nothing more.

But the reading, when coming in the middle of a seven-week stretch of time, gets an opportunity to present the intersection of the abstract idea of the advent of the Kingdom of Heaven with the practicality of the call to repentance in preparation for the appearance of Christ.  It is an appropriate time.  It is enough time.  I can still hear the echoes of the distant first days of the season, yet the end, the conclusion, is over two weeks away.  It is settling in a way that I have not experienced from Advent before.

Oh, I know that time still flies by.  And, I heard some Scrooge in a checkout line today reply to the question, “Are you ready for the holidays?” with the retort, “I’m ready for them to be over!”  Well, Bah!  Humbug! To him and his ilk. 

I am savoring every moment.

The peace of the Lord be with you.

the Key of David

The O Antiphon for this week is:

    

      O KEY OF DAVID and Scepter of the house of Israel, who opens and no one shuts, 

      who shuts and no one opens:

Come, and bring forth from prison the captive who sits in darkness

and in the shadow of death.

      Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

This is not the most familiar of references from the O Antiphons.  But the Old Testament has a lot of references to keys and what they represent.  It is simplicity itself at one level: one needs a key to attain something that is hidden or secured.  Likewise a key is frequently necessary to gain freedom from captivity.

Isaiah 22:22 reads: I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and no one shall shut; he shall shut, and no one shall open.

In like manner, Isaiah says in chapter 42:7."...To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

In some ways, while not the most transparent of titles, it may be one of the best.  Christ releases the people of God from their bondage to sin and unlocks the treasures of heaven to a poverty-stricken Creation.

The Key of David

The reading for our Advent Wreath lighting this week is:

Advent 5 – Key of David

Leader: As our nights grow longer and our days grow short,

we look on these earthly signs--light and green branches--

and remember God's promise to our world:

Christ, our Light and our Hope, will come.

Listen to the words of Isaiah the prophet:

“I will commit your authority to his hand, and he shall be a father to the

 inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. I will place on his

shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and no one shall shut;

he shall shut, and no one shall open.”

(Isaiah 22:21b-23)

Leader: Let us pray.

All: Gracious God, your Son Jesus Christ opened wide the gate of heaven,

making plain the way that leads to eternal joy:

Grant that we who have been buried with Christ in baptism

and raised to new life

may strive courageously for the freedom and peace of the world;

through your Son, Jesus Christ,

to whom with you and the Holy Spirit

            be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen

A new Wish Book

When I was a child, the time soon after Halloween brought a much-anticipated event.  One weekday afternoon in that stretch of time a flatbed truck would move slowly down our neighborhood street.  Some high school students would make their trips back and forth from the vehicle to the porches of all the homes.  They were delivering the most wondrous of publications, the Sears Christmas catalog – the “Wish Book!”  The front half of the catalog had clothes and appliances and seasonal trinkets.  But, from the index in the middle of the volume on to the back cover, there were toys.  There were toys of all sizes and prices.  Best of all, it was here that the NEW toys received their unveiling.  Treasures we did not even know existed awaited our desiring gaze.  It was a magical time.

As the years wear on, my emotions are still the same.  Oh, I don’t mean about toys (although I haven’t completely lost my appreciation for such).  I don’t even mean any of the other things that found their homes in that now-defunct catalog.  The stuff is not nearly so intriguing as it once was.  But I am still filled with desire in this season.  It is a desire that this may be the year that as a culture and as a Creation that we might turn the corner and pursue a different direction from the course we are collectively pursuing.  What we are doing to the planet, how we are approaching the plight of the poor, and even how we execute our faith has us headed down a slippery slope.  Maybe this year, maybe, we come to our collective senses and begin to desire more fully the ways of the Prince of Peace. 

That’s my wish.

"Blue" doesn't have to mean sad

The Sanctuary of First United Methodist Church, Bolivar, Tennessee appointed for Advent

The Advent Wreath of First United Methodist Church, Bolivar, Tennessee 

As I have noted in earlier posts, the current interpretation of Advent strives to separate itself from being a mere mirror image of Lent.  One of the visuals that the season uses in this differentiation is the employment of the color blue rather than the purple/lavender that was so long associated with this time.  Blue has  been used in church iconography in association with Mary the mother of Jesus.  Madonnas and other depictions of Mary frequently have her dressed in whole or in part in blue.  It is a fitting symbol of the season.

But blue is also representational of the quality of hope.  It is distinct from all shades of purple.  It is a hue that points to an anticipation of heaven (after all, the sky is blue – and according to ancient cosmologies, that’s where heaven is!).

Advent is a time of anticipation – isn’t that often another word for “hope?”  In this season we anticipate, we hope for, Jesus’ return in glory even as we look to a time of celebrating anew his coming into human history for the redemption of the world.  A season that points to these ends deserves its own identity.  And its own color.

O come, O come, Emmanuel

1 O come, O come, Emmanuel,

and ransom captive Israel

that mourns in lonely exile here

until the Son of God appear.

Refrain:

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

shall come to you, O Israel.

2 O come, O Wisdom from on high,

who ordered all things mightily;

to us the path of knowledge show

and teach us in its ways to go. Refrain

3 O come, O come, great Lord of might,

who to your tribes on Sinai's height

in ancient times did give the law

in cloud and majesty and awe. Refrain

4 O come, O Branch of Jesse's stem,

unto your own and rescue them!

From depths of hell your people save,

and give them victory o'er the grave. Refrain

5 O come, O Key of David, come

and open wide our heavenly home.

Make safe for us the heavenward road

and bar the way to death's abode. Refrain

6 O come, O Bright and Morning Star,

and bring us comfort from afar!

Dispel the shadows of the night

and turn our darkness into light. Refrain

7 O come, O King of nations, bind

in one the hearts of all mankind.

Bid all our sad divisions cease

and be yourself our King of Peace. Refrain

The lyric for this hymn dates to the 8^th century.  It was a poem used as a call and response in the liturgy of the church during evening worship services (vespers, compline, evening prayer).  The poem formed the basis of the O Antiphons that many churches use in Advent liturgy.   In the Latin it formed the “reverse acrostic” ero cras that translates to “I will be with you on the morrow.”  It came to be associated with the season of Advent from its very early days.  The opening line of each stanza identifies a different title for Christ.  The poem was originally a chant that became plainsong that came to be sung to the current tune Veni Immanuel (composed by Thomas Helmore (1811 – 1890).

Today's Lectionary Daily Reading

The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) Daily Reading for the day is Matthew 24:23-35, which reads in part:

Then if anyone says to you, “Look! Here is the Messiah!” or “There he is!”—do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Take note, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, “Look! He is in the wilderness”, do not go out. If they say, “Look! He is in the inner rooms”, do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

 ‘Immediately after the suffering of those days

the sun will be darkened,

   and the moon will not give its light;

the stars will fall from heaven,

   and the powers of heaven will be shaken.

Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see “the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven” with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

The reading is a reminder first, that no matter what the season, no matter what the observance, life goes on.  There are tasks to be done and responsibilities to be fulfilled and responsibilities to be discharged.  These do not go away merely because we are now well into December.

It is also an alert that the hope of Advent – the coming of Christ into the world – has its joys but also its caution.  Impostors and deceivers are ever a menace.  Throughout Christian history there have been “false messiahs,” those who claimed to be anointed of god and who caused significant numbers of people to stray.  Today we would call some of them cultists, and we don’t have to look back very to see what tragedy such figures can cause.

Be faithful.  Be vigilant.  Trust God.

The Chrismon Tree

The Chrismon Tree is a fairly recent introduction into the observance of Advent that has become quite popular in recent years.  That is especially so in local churches.  The object gets the name Chrismon from the phrase Christ’s Monogram.  The name refers to the symbols that adorn the tree.  The tree itself is evergreen, and usually quite large.  It has lights, but only white, symbolizing the coming of God’s Light into the world.  The emblems, the chrismons, are white and gold.  White is the liturgical (or Church) color for Christmas and symbolizes that Jesus was pure and perfect. Gold symbolizes His Majesty and Glory.  There are dozens of Chrismon designs, but they usually fall into six categories: prophesy symbols, nativity symbols, passion symbols, Trinity symbols, church (institutional) symbols and sacramental symbols.

The Chrismon Tree made its first appearance in Ascension Lutheran Church in Danville, Virginia in 1957.  As it is a more faith-based custom of the season than having a traditional Christmas tree in a church sanctuary, many local congregations have adopted the Chrismon Tree.  The monograms are usually home-made (though they are also commercially available).  Many local churches have ornaments that they exhibit with great pride as they were painstakingly produced by members of these churches.

The Fourth O Antiphon

O ROOT OF JESSE, who stands for an ensign of the people, before whom kings shall keep silence and to whom the Gentiles shall make their supplication:

Come, and deliver us and tarry not.

      Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

  

The Israelites looked forward to the coming of a Messiah who would restore them to a time of peace and prosperity.  Their thoughts naturally drifted to the nations's glory days: the time of the rule of King David.  The Book of First Samuel chronicles the emergence of David as a national figure and then king, first of Judah for seven years, then of all Israel for a total of forty.  David ruled wisely (for the most part) slew the Philistine giant Goliath, fought the battles of Yahweh, and kept the nation together in the face of tremendous outside threats.  A people that had later lived under the crushing heel of the Syrians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, Greece and Rome longed for independence, peace and prosperity.  That was the understanding of most of the people who anticipated the coming of God's Messiah.

So intense was this desire that Israel even came to believe that the Messiah would be a part of David's family tree.  As David was a sprig off the root of his father Jesse, so must the Messiah have David's blood in his own veins.

Isaiah, Chapter 11, Verses 1–3 read:

And there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;

In this season, we remember that the Infancy Narratives of Matthew and Luke have Jesus being born not simply in the “town of Bethlehem,” but in a population center known as “The city of David.”

It is not about wishful thinking; it is about hope.

The peace of the Lord be with you.

Root of Jesse

Our Advent Wreath Lighting for the Fourth Sunday of Advent

Leader: 

As our nights grow longer and our days grow short,

we look on these earthly signs--light and green branches--

and remember God's promise to our world:

Christ, our Light and our Hope, will come.

Listen to the words of Isaiah the prophet:

“A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of

his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of counsel and might,

the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of

the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears

hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for

the meek of the earth…. The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie

down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child

shall lead them…. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the

earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. On

that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall

inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.”

(Isaiah 11:1-4a, 6, 9-10)

Leader: Let us pray.

All: 

Almighty God,

you brought forth a royal branch

from the ancient stock of Jesse’s line:

Grant that we who have been grafted into this heritage

may bear fruit worthy of Jesus Christ;

who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns,

one God, now and forever. Amen.