December 13, 2017 - Advent Dinner Study, Holden Evening Worship

Who are you? Asked three times of John the Baptizer I find I have The Who song Who Are You running through my mind. I was particularly focused on who is asking the question within the song. In John's gospel the question comes from those in authority challenging John's authority to act as he has chosen to act.

In the song Who Are You it is not clear if this question starts off as a challenge from someone other than the singer, or the singer is simply asking this about himself as he remembers the actions he has engaged in during the past day.

Tonight the Advent Study tonight focused on power - God's power and power seen manifested in the world.  We all agreed that John did not have power in traditional terms but rather, like the Isaiah reading in Sunday's First Lesson, from the spirit of God being upon him.

As Pastor Ray led the discussion. He observed many of us were attempting to process and put into words how God's power manifests itself versus the world. Alison responded with her conviction that God protects us when we are the most  honest and make ourselves vulnerable.

Vulnerability made me reflect back on Who Are You  lyrics again, this time late in the song where a vulnerable moment is conveyed that changes the whole arc and topic of the song. He moves beyond the daily concerns described in the first verses and, instead, talks about a place that is removed from those concerns:

I know there's a place you walked
Where love falls from the trees
My heart is like a broken cup
I only feel right on my knees
I spit out like a sewer hole
Yet still receive your kiss
How can I measure up to anyone now
After such a love as this?


When human hurt and pain or human suffering or human possibility is recognized the irreducible reality revealed is undeniable. This reality moves us from individual beliefs and ideologies to the causes and remedies of that human hurt. As we stray away from that fundamental reality we unleash the possibility that we will be motivated by other concerns like greed or apathy. We are also encouraged to fear and distrust the beloved communities that must be built in this world.

Is the place in the last verse of the song, and / or a beloved community, truly the place where God's power is recognized?  God's vulnerability is an essential dimension of the Christmas story. God comes into the world as a vulnerable baby in a family that holds no political importance and, throughoput his life, shows that vulnerable engagement transforms everyone,

So we are back to our discussion of worldly power. The associations our group came up with were definitely different from how God manifests power through the people. Personally this led me to a deeper exploration surrounding the ramifications of what I wrote about in the last blog entry:

God more often works through the small things in life instead of where God's work is often sought, namely in great miracles or displays of worldly power.

There is a power in truly understanding our identity through our relationship with the world. In our talk around the table Paul defined power as the ability to change things in the world, which does define worldly power well. Now God's power works through us as well to change things in the world. Working through us becomes the key. Jesus provided the example of how this differs from worldly power. The change does not happen from our vision, our faith in Jesus, or in action but rather when the spirit of the Lord is upon us.

There is a deep challenge in exploring our relationship to the world as citizens of an empire. We benefit from our country’s domination of the globe in both the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first century. America does change things in the world. It is so easy to forget how we benefit from this both in our own time and historically. Connecting to the power of the confrontation leveled by Jesus when it is against empire in the gospels is not easy.

In today's gospel John answers the "Who are you?" question with different answers that cluster around identity. He first answers by confessing he is not the Messiah or Elijah. He then roots himself in the cultural history he and his questioners share though scripture. Finally he proclaims what he is doing and drawing attention to the importance of someone who is greater than he. In this statement he demonstrates the living in faith that Jesus came to embody. Jesus acts, not from himself but through his relationship with God and men.

This echoes how Jesus will answer John's question about whether he is the messiah as written in Luke:

Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard--the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.

Holden Evening Prayer's Magnificat this evening highlighted and emotionally connected and rooted our Advent study in our souls as we worshiped together:

My soul proclaims your greatness, O God, and my spirit rejoices in you, You have looked with love on your servant here, and blessed me all my life through. Great and mighty are you, O Holy One, strong is your kindness evermore. How you favor the weak and lowly one, humbling the proud of heart.

You have cast the mighty down from their thrones, and up lifted the humble of heart, You have filled the hungry with wondrous things, and left the wealthy no part.  Great and mighty are you, O Faithful One, strong is your justice strong your love, As you promised to Sarah and Abraham, kindness forevermore.