View Archived Sermons\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/font><\/font><\/p>\nTexts: Luke 1:47-55; James 5:7-10<\/font><\/font><\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/p>\nEncounter with the Divine<\/strong><\/font><\/font><\/p>\nI love traditional Christmas carols!\u00a0 I confess to feeling a little guilty in saying this. The theology and historicity of the lyrics in the carols can be suspect, and the \u2018schmalziness\u2019 of some can be off-putting.\u00a0 Yet, I like the sentiment behind them; and, the \u2018schmalz\u2019 can be very effective.\u00a0 The \u2018Hallelujah Chorus\u2019 from the Messiah<\/em> and the Bach Christmas oratorio<\/em> are absolutely wonderful.\u00a0 But, how can you beat the sheer warmth and joy \u2013 and sense of unity of spirit \u2013 on hearing<\/em>, or better yet, singing<\/em> together with others, carols like \u201cAngels we have heard on high\u201d or \u201cMary\u2019s little boy child \u2013 Long time ago, in Bethlehem\u201d or \u201cSilent Night\u201d?\u00a0 <\/font><\/font><\/p>\nThere is something ethereal about singing \u2018Silent Night\u2019 at the end of a Christmas Eve service.\u00a0 One of my favorite memories is from here at TUMC, years ago \u2013 outside, the snow gently falling; inside, the sanctuary lit only with candles \u2013 voices joined in rich harmony in a slow cadence of: <\/font>
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<\/font><\/p>\nSilent night, holy night, <\/font><\/em>
All is calm, all is bright\u2026<\/font><\/em><\/font><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\nIn the second verse a high soprano voice tentatively starts in descant, and then gains confidence in soaring over other voices, soon joined by a tenor \u2013 then a deep bass voice in a subterranean harmonic \u2013 our voices blended in splendid harmony as an echo of the Angels in song.\u00a0 It was a magical moment \u2013 as if time stood still \u2013 all of us \u2013 together \u2013 as we sing \u2013 sensing Godly love for all humankind through the gift of the Christ child.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/font>The song comes to an end, as it must.\u00a0 Everyone sits in silence, entranced in the after glow.\u00a0 After a while, a few children start fidgeting.\u00a0 Their parents quietly rise, and then others, as the congregation gradually takes its leave for home \u2013 embracing one another with wishes for a blessed Christmas.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font><\/p>\n<\/font>Left unsaid \u2013 perhaps because we couldn\u2019t find the words, perhaps because we were only sub-consciously aware of it \u2013 is that we\u2019d just had an encounter with the Devine.<\/font>
<\/font><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\nA Commitment for the Ages<\/strong><\/font>
<\/font>In a small way that and other experiences of today provide a glimpse into what Mary must have felt when she burst into the song of our first reading:<\/strong><\/font>
<\/font><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\nMy soul magnifies the Lord,<\/font>
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior\u2026<\/font><\/em>
<\/font><\/div>\nI don\u2019t know what Mary\u2019s song sounded like to Theophilus. Theophilus was the early Roman Christian to whom Luke was seeking to explain the life and meaning of Jesus. But, to my ears, there is no sentimentality, no schmalz.\u00a0 In fact, I find it difficult to imagine a song so eloquent coming from the lips of anyone, let alone those of a young woman of whom nothing like this would have been expected.\u00a0 Yet, there it is \u2013 a song of great joy \u2013 sung from the heart \u2013 a song in praise of God\u2019s faithfullness to the people of Israel in the past, and the possibilities of the \u2018great things\u2019 now unfolding before her.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\nFor behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed,<\/font>
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.<\/font><\/em><\/font><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\nMary\u2019s song echoes that of Hannah from ages before when she “lent” Samuel back to God (1 Sam 2:1-10), but also has links to others in the Jewish Bible tradition, showing a connection between the events Mary experiences and those of God\u2019s great acts of the past.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font>
<\/font><\/div>\nThe song picks up another theme \u2013 that those who are powerful and secure by human standards are not really powerful and secure by God\u2019s standards (e.g. Amos 6:1-3, Hab 2:6-20, Isa 14); and, like earlier ones, the affirmation that God hears the cries of oppressed people, and that the lowly and powerless are more likely to be open to hearing and seeing and experiencing God\u2019s work in the world.\u00a0 In spite of God\u2019s self-revelation as a God of justice and righteousness who calls people to “let justice roll down like water, and righteousness like an everflowing stream” (Amos 5:24), the world, and even God\u2019s people, do not yet reflect that justice and concern for the powerless. <\/p>\nAnd, Mary anticipates that the coming of the child she carries is part of God\u2019s plan to reverse things \u2013 to bring about a world ordered in God\u2019s terms rather than on human terms \u2013 a future in which God\u2019s reign over the earth will be fully established in justice and righteousness \u2013 when the wolf and the lamb will eat together, and the lion eat straw like the bullock (Isaiah 65:25) \u2013 a child of God who promises the \u2018turn, turn, turning \u2018til we get it right\u2019 that Marilyn spoke of last week \u2013 a turning that will pass \u2018\u2026from generation to generation\u2019.\u00a0
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As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen<\/font><\/em><\/font><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\nThe second reading,<\/strong> from the Epistle of James, picks up where Mary\u2019s song leaves off \u2013 and introduces the theme of today \u2013 that of \u2018patience\u2019<\/em>.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/font>It\u2019s late in the first century, and there now exists a community of believers.\u00a0 It has become apparent that becoming a people of justice and righteousness is complicated.\u00a0\u00a0 James is concerned about some of the same issues Mary\u2019s song raises, except in this case he is concerned about divisions amongst Christians \u2013 between rich and poor.\u00a0 In the verses before our reading, James warns against favoritism towards rich members, and against commitment of slander, greed, violence and fraud by the wealthier amongst them.\u00a0 <\/font><\/p>\n<\/font>Then, beginning in verse 7 he exhorts the poor to be \u201cpatient\u201d.\u00a0 Rather than a life of grasping and exploitation, patience makes
\n makes possible a life of deferred gratification he says, waiting for fruit to ripen before harvesting it \u2013 be patient until the coming of the Lord \u2013 in other words, until the coming of the \u2018promised land\u2019.\u00a0 <\/font><\/p>\n<\/font>There are many sayings about patience.\u00a0 One heard most often is: \u2018patience is a virtue\u2019 \u2013 a statement that can be traced back to to at least Cato the Elder more than 150 years before Christ.\u00a0\u00a0 The Dutch have a proverb: \u201cA handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains.\u201d There are many others.\u00a0 In Christian church tradition, patience is one of the most valuable virtues of life.\u00a0 Increasing patience is viewed as the work of the Holy Spirit.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/font>But, try to imagine a more countercultural way to live in our materialistic, fast-paced society.\u00a0\u00a0 I grew up with snail mail.\u00a0 Then e-mail came along, and I\u2019d get impatient if someone didn\u2019t respond within a day.\u00a0 Since retiring, I\u2019m a little more relaxed.\u00a0 Then came texting, and I notice others around me who seem impatient if a response takes more than a few seconds.\u00a0 <\/font><\/font><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\nAt a grander scale, our society is filled with people who want to make their corner of the world into their<\/u> version of the \u2018promised land\u2019, and they want it NOW!\u00a0 We know the costs of such impatience are enormous \u2013 our gluttony for oil, our degradation of the environment, radical inequalities in the distribution of the world’s goods.\u00a0 No wonder James, concerned for the welfare of the \u2018have-nots,\u2019 counsels patience.\u00a0 <\/font><\/p>\n<\/font>God hasn\u2019t said these issues will be overcome easily.\u00a0 But, James refuses to indulge a spirit of hopelessness.\u00a0 Patience is not a passive state.\u00a0 Gripped by unpleasant experiences that can\u2019t be easily changed, there is a tendancy to confuse helplessness with lack of hope.\u00a0 James says that as long as we can breath, there is room for hope.\u00a0 Like the patient farmer (v. 7), we can discard the discomfort of helplessness by looking for new, outside-the-box ways of helping ourselves and each other.\u00a0 Patience leads to hope, and hope drives life forward even in the most difficult of situations.<\/font><\/p>\nMyth and the Mystery of God<\/font><\/strong>
<\/font>It is now some 2000 years since Mary\u2019s \u2018boy child\u2019 was born, as the Calypso carol says, and the challenge continues.\u00a0 Patience, an active patience, is needed. The \u2018promised land\u2019 is not yet here.\u00a0 The church has been an imperfect instrument over the centuries.\u00a0 And, yet, God continues to work within and beyond us to address the challenges of the day.\u00a0 <\/font><\/p>\n<\/font>One we currently face is that our society has raised several generations of people who are largely Biblically illiterate.\u00a0 There are many contributors; but, like the congregation James addresses, some of them are of our own making.\u00a0 My generation, and those just before and after, in our attempt to get away from what we perceived as the narrow religious dogma of our parents\u2019 generations, introduced a new problem \u2013 a willingness by many to reject the essential truthfulness of the Biblical story.\u00a0 We\u2019ve pursued historical veracity and scientific accuracy, and raised questions about various aspects of the Biblical account.\u00a0 <\/font><\/p>\n<\/font>Now, of itself, to question is not wrong\u00a0 \u2013 and, pursuit of knowledge is a good thing.\u00a0 But, if we raise doubts about matters of faith in a way that is not replaced by substantive planks on which the next generation can place their feet in belief, then we invite disbelief.\u00a0 A colleague of mine, raised in a church, once said of her young adult children, somewhat ruefully, that she had raised two \u2018heathens\u2019 \u2013 fine people, but with little belief in a higher power or in the possibilities of the Christ child.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/font>When it comes to the birth of a child, all of us are romantics.\u00a0 A new life, a new hope, innocence coming into a jaded and weary world.\u00a0 If there is beauty anywhere, surely it is here.\u00a0 And, in Christmas, it is hard even for the unbeliever to not believe in something \u2013 peace on earth; goodwill to all; a dream of innocence that it is good to hang onto, even if only a dream; the possibility of hope.\u00a0 Small wonder that Christmas has been adopted as a tradition around the world, though often in the form of a benevolant Santa Claus and elves.\u00a0 Even so, for a moment or two, the darkness of enchantment, cynicism and doubt draw back a little, and the usual worldly witcheries lose something of their power to charm.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/font>But no moment lasts forever.\u00a0 It is not for twelve months that \u2018the bird of dawning\u2019 \u2013as Shakespeare in Hamlet called the rooster crowing through the night before Christmas \u2013 it is not for twelve months that the \u201cbird of dawning sings all night long\u201d.\u00a0 The normal hurried nature of life returns, with all its demands and ambiguities.\u00a0 And, old questions of faith return in new ways.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/font>Amongst these, the when, where and how of the Nativity have been the subject of endless questioning and conjecture.\u00a0 Over the years there have been debates about the date of Christ\u2019s birth, of the \u2018how\u2019 of his birth, and an immense amount of poetry has grown up around the entire story \u2013 about the wise men and the star, the shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night, and the hymn the angels sang.\u00a0 God gave humankind the gift of questioning, and we\u2019ve used it to the full.\u00a0 Basically, the question asked has been: if someone had been there with a camera, would it have recorded the story in the same way as passed down to us?\u00a0 Whatever the answer is, it can only be by faith.\u00a0 The kind of objective truth a camera would have recorded is buried beneath the weight of 2000 years.\u00a0 <\/font><\/p>\n<\/font>There is, of course, another kind of truth \u2013 that the particular details scholars dig up, while informative, don\u2019t really matter \u2013 what matters is that, when the child was born, the course of human history was changed.\u00a0 It is difficult to conceive how differently things would have turned out if that birth had not happened.\u00a0 And, a further truth is that for untold numbers of people who have lived since the birth of Jesus, that birth made possible not just a new way of understanding life, but a new way of living it. And, untold numbers continue to be grasped by the child who was born, so caught up in the message he taught and the life he lived, that they have found themselves profoundly changed by their relationship with him.\u00a0 What the birth meant \u2013 meant to them, to the world \u2013 was the truth that mattered to them most; and, when all is said and done, is perhaps the only truth that matters to anyone.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/font>It is here that the mystery of God\u2019s works shows itself.\u00a0 It is not so much in science, though that is not to be dismissed; rather, it is in the truth underlying the stories handed down through the generations \u2013 the realm of \u2018myth\u2019.\u00a0 The word \u2018myth\u2019 has come be understood in the scientific era as something that is false.\u00a0 But, there is an older and deeper meaning I refer to \u2013 one that a myth speaks to a world-view that is important. <\/font><\/p>\n<\/font>Some scholars\u00a0 have spoken of myths as a particular kind of narrative, characterized by truth and reality
\n, which exceed more scientific accounts of historical reality because of their ability to answer the deeper questions of life. In this sense, myths are a way of understanding truths underlying such existential questions of the human condition as: Who am I? What does it mean to be human? What is it about me that God relates to?\u00a0 What does the birth of Jesus some 2000 years ago mean to me?\u00a0 Myths understood this way, more than science-based evidence, can help one discover the underlying sacred truths otherwise not revealed. Science may help clarify our understandings, but not replace them.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/font>What I take from these arguments is that part of our task as a community of believers is to embrace Mary\u2019s song, to celebrate with her the stories of the birth, and to accept James\u2019 admonition to work patiently in interpreting these to others. <\/font><\/p>\nBack to the Beginning<\/font><\/strong>
<\/font>So, I enjoy the traditional Christmas carols.\u00a0 Some may embody mythical elements \u2013 but, to me, these myths unfold a world-view that is important. <\/font><\/p>\n<\/font>When we left TUMC that evening years ago, after the singing of Silent Night, we rapidly returned to the rational, hurly burly world of every day life.\u00a0 It was Christmas Eve, after all. We live in a time of abundance, and there were places to go and things to do.\u00a0 <\/font><\/p>\n<\/font>Yet, the memory traces of that experience stayed with me \u2013 long past the actual event \u2013 not only the mental, factual part, but also the emotional, feeling part. It was when time stood still.\u00a0 It was when the poetry of Christmas became intertwined with our lives, nurturing our spirits, giving hope \u2013 to pursuing the commitment of the ages \u2013 to seek the support of the Holy Spirit in working patiently for a place and time when all people can live in peace and justice, when wolf and lamb eat together.<\/font>
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<\/font><\/font><\/p>\nEndnotes: <\/font><\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n1. E.g. Joseph Campbell, Mircea Eliade, Langdon Gilkey, Wm. Losito.<\/font><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 View Archived Sermons\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Texts: Luke 1:47-55; James 5:7-10 Encounter with the Divine I love traditional Christmas carols!\u00a0 I confess to feeling a little guilty in saying this. The theology and historicity of the lyrics in the carols can be suspect, and the \u2018schmalziness\u2019 of some can be off-putting.\u00a0 Yet, I like the sentiment behind them; and, the \u2018schmalz\u2019 can be very effective.\u00a0 The \u2018Hallelujah Chorus\u2019 from the Messiah and the Bach Christmas oratorio are absolutely wonderful.\u00a0 But,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons-a-worship-audio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1239"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3987,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239\/revisions\/3987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}