"What has 2016 been if not apocalyptic? And I mean that quite literally since Greek for un– is apo and the Greek for cover is kalupten. Apocalypse literally means to uncover. To uncover what is already there. And the racism and violence and xenophobia and sexism we have been devastated by in this country was not created this year – it was just uncovered this year. But that uncovering has been devastating and I, like so many of you am having a hard time staying present"
Yes, there appears to be an encroachment of politics on our biological and spiritual lives that many of us feel uneasy to embrace and there is a particular apathy to this that comes from a majority of our society. This apathy may actually perpetuate the problem, helping to embed the prioritization of political and corporate motives over our biological and primordial/spiritual needs as the status quo.
Despite a yearning for it to be otherwise, our attention has been on this to varying degrees during worship since November. This is an area where we need to grow and feel comfortable with our response to our larger community.
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| Image by Parker Fitzgerald |
Long ago, when God’s people were weary of warfare, bruised and broken, and walking in the darkness of an inhospitable land, God spoke to them through the prophet Isaiah and made an incredible promise: God promised to break the yoke and rod of their cruel Assyrian oppressors, and set God’s people free….
All the muddy boots used to trample God’s people and all the bloody rags in which they’d been forced to wrap themselves would be gathered as fuel for a great bonfire: a fire that would finally bring warmth and light to God’s people.
But God’s promise came with an unexpected twist: Evil would not be overcome through a great military victory, but through the birth of a child, who was a gift from heaven,sent to bring new life to the people of God.
Some time later— about 750 years after Isaiah’s prophecy!— when God’s people were once again
walking in the darkness of an inhospitable land, bruised and broken, and staggering under the weight of Roman oppression this time (!), God spoke to them in a whole new way and unveiled God’s incredible promise: Under cover of darkness, while the king and his henchmen lay sleeping on beds of ivory high up in Herod’s Tower, a teenage girl gave birth to a baby boy and laid him on a bed of straw in a lowly cattle stall.
The newborn was named “Jesus,” a name meaning “he will save,” because God had poured a mega-dose of God’s Spirit out upon him and sent him to set God’s people free: free from sin and death; and free for love and abundant life. In this child, Jesus the Christ,God revealed God’s very self to the human family. God, who is Love, revealed God’s love for us by sending us…a baby!…
The Word of God became flesh for us, because God knows nothing gets under our skin and nothing cracks open the human heart quite like…a baby! (Am I right, or am I right?! Can I get an “Amen?!…”) And yet the story of our Lord’s birth among us as a human child Is NOT just some sweet, sentimental story to be reenacted once a year by adorable children dressed up as shepherds and angels and wise men…. Far from it!
The story of our Lord’s birth among us as a human child is the radical, revelatory, revolutionary story of God’s undying love for this whole dying world…. And in this day and age, when so many grave threats are rearing their ugly heads all over the world, THAT, my friends, is some seriously Good News!…
God’s love revolution was born…in a barn and laid in a manger, but you and I know it didn’t stay in that manger, because God’s love refuses to be confined by any of the “boxes” we humans construct to try to contain it! Our God is always working “outside the box!…”
Before you could say “Caesar Augustus,” Jesus was sitting at Mary’s knee, listening to his mama sing the protest songs of their people: “The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name…. He has cast the mighty down from their thrones and lifted up those who were down and out!…”
Jesus grew up well-steeped in the songs and stories of God’s people. He made those songs and stories his own, and they would sustain him through many hardships and much suffering on his journey through the wilderness of this world….
My friends, in all that Jesus did and said embodied God’s love for the whole human family and for all creation. And yet, while many people in his day were impressed by Jesus’ healing power and by his wisdom, most didn’t really “get” what he was all about….
They’d been hoping for a mighty warrior who would lead them into battle and overthrow the greedy, ruthless tyrants who were robbing and killing them…. But instead, God gave them—and us— a most unlikely Messiah: a baby!… And not just any baby… but a brown-skinned baby boy, a Palestinian Jew, whose parents were forced to travel to Bethlehem to register with the Roman authorities…. (Hmm…registering… Does that ring any bells for anyone?!…)
There, in Bethlehem, a town far from his native Nazareth, Jesus was born in a barn, and, not long afterward, he was forced to flee with his family as a refugee to Egypt, in order to escape the sword of King Herod who had ordered that all baby boys born in and around Bethlehem be killed….
And yet against all odds, our God, who looks with favor on the lowly, raised Jesus up to be a compassionate and courageous witness to the invincible power of love….
You and I, who know the rest of the story, know that in time Jesus and his ragtag band of stumbling, bumbling peasants would dare to take on the corrupt priests and politicians of their day. We know their revolution of love would pose such a threat to the status quo that the wealthy and powerful would join ranks in condemning Jesus and putting him to death on the cross….
Little did they know that you can’t kill love, and you can’t kill God’s love revolution!… God would later show this by raising Jesus from the dead and by sending the Spirit of the Risen Christ inspire his followers—including you and me!–to live in light of God’s love….
My friends, just as the prophets and angels had proclaimed, the Babe of Bethlehem grew up to lead a love revolution– a revolution that would turn the world upside down!… (I wonder: Have you ever noticed that the word “revolution” contains the word “love” written backwards? I just noticed that while doing my sermon prep this week, And I think it’s pretty cool, because it seems a love revolution is just what we need to begin to turn things around in this world: to turn us toward each other and to turn us back toward God….)
Sisters and brothers, the love revolution that was born in a barn some two thousand years ago lives on today by the power of the Holy Spirit working through ordinary people like you and me…. It lives on when we kneel at the manger in awe of all that God has done for us. It lives on when we sit at Jesus’ knee, listening to his teachings and making them our own.
God’s love revolution lives on in and through you, dear friends: when you feed the hungry at Clackamas Service Center; when you visit a friend or neighbor who is sick or suffering; when you welcome immigrants and strangers into your home and into your heart, embracing them in their rich rainbow diversity as fellow human beings created in the image of God….
The love revolution lives on when you and I dare to look deeply into each others’ eyes and see ourselves reflected there…. The love revolution lives on because God’s new creation isn’t finished yet….
Today the people of God are still walking in darkness, in an inhospitable land, longing to see a great light…. Our hearts are bruised and broken, and many of us are quaking with fear at what is to come…. Across the street and around the world –
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| Image by Scott Erickson |
from Ankara to Berlin,
from Aleppo to Cameroon,
from Moscow to Washington, DC,
from Flint to Standing Rock,
from St. Paul to Dallas,
from Charlotte to Orlando,
from Bethlehem to Clackamas,
The children of God cry out for help and for hope…. And yet…at the very same time, tonight the people of God all over the world are gathering to defy the darkness by lighting candles, singing songs, saying prayers, and telling the stories of God’s promise and presence… because tonight is Hanukkah, as well as Christmas….
And so, sisters and brothers, let us join our voices with the voices of our sisters and brothers around the world as we pray:
O God, our Creator and Redeemer, “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight….” In our cracked and broken hearts there is “room at the inn” for your Son. May the gift of Christ’s love be born in us, and may we bear light to all who walk in darkness until that day when all your children turn toward each other and see that you are in all and all are one in your love; through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.
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