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.