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"Filled with Expectation"

12/19/2018

Zephaniah 3:14-20; Luke 3: 7-18
        It’s less than two weeks to Christmas and the countdown has begun. Presents to buy and wrap. Parties to attend. Stockings to fill. Cookies to bake. Poor Santa has to deal with these last-minute requests:

“Dear Santa – please just text my dad – he has the whole list. I love you TE. DK sent the following reminder to Mr. Claus: “Dear Santa, if you’re going to bring toys with batteries, please bring batteries.” Here’s a little lady who knows what she wants: “Dear Santa: For Christmas this year I want a smartphone 10 from Verizon. I have been very good at school. And please bring my brother whatever he wants. Love Yzette.” Or better, here’s Lucy’s list “ Dear Santa: please bring me a big fat bank account and a slim body. And don’t mix them up like you did last year.” You said it, Lucy. Finally, this letter writer took a sinister tone to get what they want. This letter came in a box with a red reindeer collar. Dear Santa: I have Rudolf. This is proof. Bring me these toys or I’ll send you the rest of him. Don’t try anything funny. I want DanceDance Revolution.   All the dolls in the world. New red Bike. Anything else I want ever.” How lovely. Now Santa’s going to need to carry a can of mace, the reindeers will need body shields, and perhaps replace those cookies with a dose of Xanax to make it through the night.

Yet throughout the season Andy Williams croons, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” Brenda Lee encourages us to be “Rockin around the Christmas Tree.” Frank Sinatra implores us to “have ourselves a merry little Christmas, ..because from now on our troubles will be miles away…” What a contradictory mess Christmas has become. The best of days, longing for those golden days, the most disappointing of days, with sales galore crammed down our throats, and no time to meditate, to understand, and to reflect.

We valiantly try to make Christmas special. According to Forbes, Americans spend an average of nearly $800 on presents at Christmas, and we spend an additional $1800 on other items, which we tend to forget in our Christmas calculations, like Christmas trees, decorations, food, Christmas cards and travel, for a total of more than $2600 a year. Stacey Powell, who is an accountant and financial coach, says the most common feelings about Christmas she hears from her clients are shame, regret, anguish and embarrassment. Mental health professionals and clergy know this is true. This isn’t the most wonderful time of the year, for a lot of people. There’s no money for all those amazing gadgets and decorations. There’s no family or friends to spend the holidays with. We can’t keep up with the Kardashians. The spell consumerism casts upon us leaves us feeling guilty for not having enough, being enough, doing enough. We are filled with expectation, but for what? We are left with emptiness, a yearning for something different. We want the loneliness to stop. We want the violence to stop. We want to be touched by the birth of Jesus, by love and joy. We want this Christmas to be different. Presents don’t bring us joy. Parties don’t bring us joy. Sometimes, sometimes for some people, coming to church doesn’t bring us joy. So what are we to do -- because God wants us to be joyful. What does it mean to be joyful in the face of tragedy and consumerism?

These yearnings tug at us as we enter our third week of Advent – the week we are invited to reflect on joy.   This we know: Joy is not happiness. Happiness comes from the world around us. Happiness is conditioned by and often dependent upon what is "happening" to us. Happiness is dependent upon our circumstances. Happiness is like the moon, waxing and waning.   Happiness is, born in mind, like exchanging Christmas presents. Joy however is not affected by external happenings. Joy is a state of mind characterized by peace, a spiritual anchor that grounds us despite life’s inconsistencies. Joy cannot be found in pleasure or in wealth and riches, or in prestige or fame. Joy doesn’t mean we’re always going to be perky and smiley full of cheers. Joy is found however in the fabric of relationship. Joy flows on the eternal love of the Lord. Joy is like the sun, always shining even when night falls, clouds cover it, or we are tilted away from it. Joyful people – aren’t consumed by negative thoughts. They encourage, and build up each other. Joy is perhaps the greatest gift we can ask for ourselves and give one another, when days are dark, and spirits confused.

We know this: Joy is both an outcome of our relationship with God and our source of strength for our obedience of Him. (John 15) The Joy of the Lord is our strength. (Nehemiah 8:9). Interestingly, the Hebrew language has ten words for joy. We might well ask why would Judaism would need ten words for it, especially since Jewish history was and is so often marked by suffering, pain and upheaval? Why would Judaism need ten words for joy? The answer given in the tradition is that it is God's expectation that we will have joy; that we deserve joy in such measure that we will need at least that many different words to capture the fullness of the experience.

When it comes to joy, we need only open ourselves to the experience. To anticipate it without expectation, to expect it without entitlement, and receive it with humility. Joy doesn’t come from the burdens and expectations we place on ourselves. For we can never measure up. We will always feel empty. There are always sorrows. That’s why many of us get the Christmas blues. Joy comes when we let go of expectations, but are filled with expectation, filled because we have been touched by God’s word, God’s presence, God’s love for us – so who can be against?

        Joy is here with us, not primarily because we are anticipating the birth of Jesus, but because God is already in our midst. That is what the prophet Zephaniah shares. Rejoice and exult in your heart, daughter Jerusalem.   God will rejoice over you with gladness.   The prophet is speaking these words of encouragement to a people who have been burdened with war and destruction and displacement. Their lives have been assaulted and their hopes have been dashed. And yet, joy is alive. It hasn’t erased the past. It spite of painful memories, Joy has not been erased.

     No where do we see this than in the life of John the Baptist. For Catholics, John the Baptist is the patron saint of spiritual joy. He leapt for joy in his mother’s womb at the presence of Jesus and Mary (Luke 1:44).  And it says that he rejoices to hear the bridegrooms voice (John 3:29-30).   “My joy is now full.  He must increase and I must decrease.” He embodied joy even though he lived in the wilderness, with a camel hair coat and eating locusts and honey. He was joyful even as he spoke his first words in Luke are “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” As the forerunner of the Messiah, he challenges us to build the foundation of our lives on joy. John was different. The people ask John: “What shall we do?” We might expect this ascetic to make radical demands: Leave everything and join me in the desert; adopt a life of fasting and penance. But John does not make such demands. Instead, he calls people to fidelity in the very circumstances of their lives: Those who have more than they need, share with those who have less; tax collectors, be honest; soldiers, do not take advantage of the vulnerable and be content with your wages; parents, cherish your children; spouses, be faithful; neighbors, live in peace. That’s the foundation of joy. Joy is not a feeling, but a way of life.

     John models an attitude of mind and heart that is needed in today’s world. Bear fruits that your life will be different. Show this by being content.   Live in peace. Be honest. Cherish one another. From these practices we grow the fruit of the Spirit, joy. Let us start practicing Joy.

What is Joy?   It is knowing the difference:
Santa lives at the North Pole. JESUS is everywhere.
Santa rides in a sleigh. JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.
Santa comes but once a year. JESUS is an ever present help.
Santa fills your stockings with goodies. JESUS supplies all your needs.
Santa comes down your chimney uninvited. JESUS stands at your door and knocks, and then enters your heart when invited.
You have to wait in line to see Santa. JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.
Santa lets you sit on his lap. JESUS lets you rest in His arms.
Santa has a belly like a bowl full of jelly. JESUS has a heart full of love.
Santa says "You better not cry." JESUS says "Cast all your cares on me for I care for you."
Santa's little helpers make toys. JESUS makes new life, mends wounded hearts, repairs broken homes and builds mansions.
Santa is a "jolly old self." JESUS is the King of Kings.

While Santa puts gifts under your tree, JESUS became our gift and died on a tree. So let us recapture the joy God promises us as we approach with anticipation the birth of the Holy Child, Jesus, Joy of the World. Amen.

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"Voices of Peace"

12/11/2018

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Luke 1:68-79, Luke 3:1-6
Freeport and Merrick:

How many people here like snow? I’m not talking about that wimpy dusting on the grass snow, but the majestic drifts that come up to your waste and turn your eyebrows into icicles. I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, (any other Ohioans here?) where comedian Jeff Foxworthy describes accurately the four seasons of my home state: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction. I recall my favorite sights: the vision of the trees and ground coated in untouched new-fallen snow. Despite the hassles that snow can bring, I still feel moved to peace and tranquility that a snowfall represent. As corny as this sounds, I think of the symbolism of snowflakes in this holy season: they remind of what religious writers describe: That the exquisite uniqueness of each snowflake -- so intricate and small -- reminds us that Christ sees the individuality of each and every person. God calls every creature each by our own name. Does not the prophet say, “Fear not for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name?” As snowflakes blanket the world in white the scriptures again declare that “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”

Unfortunately, nowadays there is nothing peaceful or tranquil about the use of the term snowflake. Back in the 1860s, a “snowflake” was a person who opposed to the abolition of slavery—the implication being that such people valued white people over black people. Lately the term “snowflake” has transformed into another slang insult. It is used against young people who came of age in the generation of the 2010s — they are considered weak and vulnerable as a speck of snow. They are known as the “snowflake generation.” Furthermore, some parts of our country now frequently call liberals and progressives “snowflakes” as a put-down. They insinuate that such people are delicate, fragile, sensitive and melt at the moment heat is applied. I will never think of my beloved image of a snowflake entirely like I used to. Even snowflakes have become politicized.

However, today is the Advent Sunday of peace. Our readings this morning lead us further to images of creation to give us another under-utilized image of peace: the peace and comfort discovered as every mountain and hill is brought low. The peace of every valley filled. The peace of every crooked path made straight. Dawn from on high breaks upon us, shining on the unsullied snow drift.

Our texts show us the power of one, the power of the weak. The prophet Simeon praying over the newborn John the Baptizer. What can a baby do? What can one man do? Yet he was chosen by God as a child, to be a prophet who would prepare the way of the Lord, to bring people knowledge of salvation and forgiveness of sins. Through this dawn will break on the land and give light to those in darkness. One helpless baby with develop the powers to bring peace.

Our second reading shows the fulfillment of John’s destiny to prepare the way of the land, and lift up those valleys, bring low those mountains. . Mountains and valleys exist in our hearts. The mountains and valleys exist in the collective heart of humanity. Each of us has a life of highs and lows. Each of us know the gulf created by mountains of pride or greed. We also know the valleys of depression and defeat. Furthermore, we find ourselves in a huge global gap between human predators of all stripes and shapes and the preyed-upon. Between the higher-ups and the lower downs. The haves and have nots. The hawks and the doves. The self-styled strong and the snowflakes.
Wealth is not necessarily bad. The issue is that the extent of one’s wealth should not condemn others to homelessness, illness, and suffering. Advent reminds us there cannot be peace when humanity allows a minority in live lavishly on the mountains and the majority are consigned to valleys of woe. The prophets Isaiah and John call us to the holy task of peace, to bring down the mountains and hills, to raise the valleys. To make the crooked way straight. Mary the mother-prophet of Jesus, in her great song that proclaims the holy leveling of God in Christ: “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly (Luke 1:52).”

Peace is the spiritual tool to bring down those mountains. To raise up the valleys. To straighten what’s been made crooked. This of how peace permeates our Christian life.
When we say, “Peace be with you” in the passing of the peace, aren’t we actually saying, “May you live well?” When the carol extols us to “sleep in heavenly peace” don’t we pray for respite that has conquered the mountains of worry or strife? When we wish for the “Peace on earth” that the Christmas angels proclaim, don’t we confess a world free of conflict and war?

Wait, there is more. Don’t the scriptures teach us that this is just the tip of the iceberg? Peace envisions a better world for everyone. We recall that the Hebrew root of peace means "to be complete" or "to be sound." Peace proclaims that it is God’s desire that all people get to live in a state of wholeness, health, safety, tranquility, prosperity, rest, harmony; free from agitation or discord, a state of calm without anxiety or stress. That’s how we bring down the mountains. That’s how we raise the valleys.

The New Testament adds another layer to this. Peace in the gospels can also imply, "to join or bind together something which has been separated or divided." That is why Jesus is called the Prince of Peace, or as Paul says, “he is our peace (Ephesians 2:14).” Jesus before his death could’ve blessed his disciples with anything, but he told them “Peace I leave unto you, my peace I give you (John 14:27).”

Through the peace that Jesus leaves us, we come to understand that peace on earth is much more than the dismantling of nuclear weapons and cessation of war. It means building up and binding up the broken. It means promoting reconciliation, creating goodwill and friendship where there once were enemies. Jesus underscores the importance of pursing peace when he teaches in his beatitudes, “blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God (Matt. 5:9).” The task of peace is to bring wholeness to earth. Bring low those mountains, raise those valleys.
This is the work of God’s peace. It is our task. To bring down the mountains of pain and hurt. To fill in the valleys of despair and sorrow. To make straight the crooked paths that lead us to sin. This is what we are called as the body of Christ to do. Listen to this following story.

“Tell me the weight of a snowflake,” a sparrow asked a wild dove.
“It is nothing,” was the answer.
“In that case, I must tell you a marvelous story,” the sparrow said.
“I sat on the branch of a fir, close to its trunk, when it began to snow. Since I did not have anything better to do, I counted the snowflakes settling on the twigs and needles of my branch. Their number was exactly 3,741,952. When the 3,741,953rd dropped onto the branch, nothing more than nothing, as you say-the branch broke off.”
Having said that, the sparrow flew away.
The dove, since Noah’s time an authority on the matter, thought about the story for a while, and finally said to herself, “Perhaps there is only one person’s voice lacking for peace to come to the world.”

You know what? I may sound silly, but I reclaim the power of the snowflake. The power to wear down the mountain. The power to fill the valley. The power in unity to straighten the path. The power together to break the branch.
The power to bring wholeness and safety. The power to bring tranquility and rest. To bring peace of newly-fallen snow. And when those mountains are finally worn down, when the valleys are finally filled, when the branch has finally broken and the path straightened, may we know peace on earth.
Peace in all our hearts.
Thanks be to God.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/economic-inequality-it-s-far-worse-than-you-think/
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/01/07/5-facts-about-economic-inequality/
http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/19/world/wealth-inequality/index.html
Read more: Are You in the Top One Percent of the World? | Investopedia https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/050615/are-you-top-one-percent-world.asp#ixzz50bPBYFMW

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"Lift Up Your Heads"

12/4/2018

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1 Thess. 3:9-13; Luke 21: 25-36

          When my children were in their middle school years, they devoured the comic strip of Calvin and Hobbes. Do you remember Calvin and Hobbes? Calvin was a precocious six-year-old named after, who else? Our dearly beloved John Calvin, father of Presbyterianism. Hobbes was a stuffed tiger, named after Thomas Hobbes, the 17th century political philosopher, who believed in absolute monarchy and that “Life in the state of nature is "nasty, brutish and short". Can you imagine what a real dialogue between these two esteemed men would be like? Anyway, in an old Calvin and Hobbes comic strip - this conversation takes place. In the first frame Calvin tells Hobbes “Live for the moment is my motto! You never know how long you got.”

          In the second frame Calvin explains: "You could step into the road tomorrow and WHAM, you get hit by a cement truck! Then you'd be sorry you put off your pleasures. That's what I say - live for the moment!"

          And then Calvin asks Hobbes:    "What's your motto?" Hobbes replies:             "My motto is - Look down the road."

          In today’s lesson, Jesus is talking about cultivating the practice of “looking down the road.” Being alert to all that is happening around us. Raise your heads. Look! Jesus is here.

          It seems strange that here we are sitting in this beautifully decorated sanctuary, in the first week of Advent, at the beginning of our church year, -- we’re discussing passages that describe the end of days, the apocalypse.    Apocalypse describes – often in symbolism and code – the second coming of Christ, the triumph over evil and the enemies of God, and destruction of the old world. Apocalyptic writings, end of time writings, contain depictions of natural catastrophes, war, demons and angels and other larger-than-life creatures. It’s a lucrative field that has spawned best-selling books, movies; the creation of luxury underground bunkers, popular games about post world “zombies.” For Christmas why not consider, the nine-book thriller, “No Time: 180 days and counting” or the six book set, “End Times,” or my favorite -- that you might be able to still get for 11cents on Amazon -- “Apocalypse How: How to turn the End Times into the Best of Times.

          Jesus speaks starkly about the end times: “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place.”

          Every age since Jesus has walked this earth has felt it was in the end times, because of the misery and oppression that exists. And there’s been a lot of suffering and oppression throughout human history. In the New York Times Magazine today there’s an article about the insect apocalypse – the destruction of insects, bees, that has dire consequences for the rest of life.

          Oddly enough -- at the root of Christian apocalypse is not doom and gloom, but hope. Hope in God to deliver when everything else has failed. Remember what Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica about their loss of faith during times of persecution and hardship: “We want to restore what is lacking in your faith” he said. So, the end-time images we hear today are about rediscovering hope.

          To nurture hope-- our advent task for this week-- Jesus says, – raise your head! Or as Hobbes puts it, “Look down the road.” See the signs of difficulty around you as a call to hope, a call to action, and to persevere in faith. Hope is a confident expectation of something not yet accomplished.   Hope orients us toward the future while grounding us in the present. It motivates us to positive action. Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible.

          Each of us must find hope. Hope is also a collective virtue that we develop together. Because of this, we had the thanksliving giving challenge for the youth of our church. They, along with their families, discussed what it means to give. They discussed the pain in the world. What spoke to them. So, Josh and Baily gave turkeys to hungry families. CJ and Alyssa donated to the Oceanside Scholarship Fund. Nia gave to Bobbie and the Strays Pet Shelter here in Freeport. Devin and Shannon gave to Island Harvest. Jayden Watkins chose a GoFundMe page for an accident victim at his school. Ella and Dillon gave to Taliyah’s journey, a schoolmate of Ella who is battling brain cancer. Ella also made two Christmas cards for veterans. Many families met the challenge with their own added funds.

          Can we give these kids a clap offering for their choices? Their actions give us hope. They saw serious, painful, needy situations and they did not turn away. That’s where hope begins.   In spite of the hardship, in spite of the suffering we will not give in.We will not give into the idea that natural life is just nasty, brutal and short.   Life is transformed by hope and creates a new future full of caring and compassion.

          Like in Calvin’s fantasy, we’ve been hit indeed by the cement trucks in life – wham! There goes cancer striking someone we love. Wham! There goes our faith. Wham! There go our dreams. Wham! There go more children tear-gassed. There go more children going into deportation court still separated from their parents. Wham! There goes that precious relationship. Wham! There goes hope. But wait a minute. Hope insists on the final word.

          What’s important than all that is to remember-- as we begin Advent -- is what we really long for is hope. That God is in charge. That change is possible. Didn’t not our youth demonstrate this? With just ten dollars. Think what we can do together. What we can say, however, is how God wants us to love this old world into a new heavens and earth. Be alert, Jesus says. Raise your heads. I’ll show you how it’s done, he tells us. Look down the road. Act in hope.

          So, advent is our time to embrace and practice hope.   Are we weighed down by worries in life --- health, employment, the economy…what kind of world are we leaving to the next generation? War, climate change, disease. Stop. Let us pause. Lift your heads, God says – see Jesus— who brings a love that heals and restores. A love that can flow through our hearts, take root, and acts. Just like our Sunday School magnificently showed us.   There’s hope. Hope because God is leading us to Bethlehem, to discover redemption in Jesus.

           Jesus loved through the agony of the cross – and loves us in whatever apocalypse we find ourselves in. The amazing poet Maya Angelou wrote:   In the sweet shadow of Thanksgiving I am giving forgiveness to everyone I thought had ill-treated me. I want to enter the Christmas month with a clean slate.”

        That’s practicing hope. Remember, as we practice raising our heads and look down the road- Just like our youth: our hope bearers: they teach us that every small act of love enkindles the flame of hope to light the way out of the darkness, and find our way to Christ the Newborn, Hope born anew. Amen.

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"Filled with Expectation"

"Voices of Peace"

"Lift Up Your Heads"

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