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"Sing Gloria"

12/10/2019

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Isaiah 11:1-10, Luke 1:26-38
 
 We are in our second week into our Advent journey to Bethlehem. Last week we reflected on the place of stars, particularly the Bethlehem Star, which lit the path for  the three kings to find their way to the Christ Child. We explored how this special star lights our advent journey as well. Today we celebrate the role of the angels, their message, their song and the role they played in the birth of Jesus. It is hard to imagine the Christmas story without our celestial friends. What do they have to teach us as we prepare to receive the newborn Jesus in our hearts?
First question on our minds is what are angels?  A panel of young theologians were asked to described who or what, angels are. Their answers:
· My angel is my grandma who died last year. She got a big head start on helping me while she was still down here on earth. Amber, 9
· Angels work for God and watch over kids when God has to go do something else. Mandy, 8
· My guardian angel helps me with math, but he’s not much good for science. ~Harry, 7
· Angels talk all the way while they’re flying you up to heaven. The main subject is where you went wrong before you got dead.  Ronald, 10
· Everybody’s got it all wrong. Angels don’t wear halos anymore. I forget why, but scientists are working on it.  Oliver, 9
· Angels live in cloud houses made by God and his son, who’s a very good carpenter.  Jacob, 6
· I only know the names of two angels. Hark and Harold.  Gregory, 5
     Unlike popular theology that tells mourning families that their loved one died because God needed another angel in heaven -- Angels are pure spirits created by God, not human spirits who somehow have been promoted. I heard our relationship with angels best put this way:  Angels are spiritual beings who are invisible except when they choose otherwise; we humans are visible beings whose spiritual side is invisible until we choose to let it show.   Angels like us, worship God and carry God’s will.  Angels have a special role in guarding and guiding humans. The word angel means “messenger,” and throughout the Bible we see them playing key roles at key times in human religious history.  It is a bouncer-like angel that God set to bar at the entrance to paradise – to keep humans from being able to return.  Angels are thought by some to be the disguised visitors who appear to Abraham and Sarah, and then convey the prophecy of a son to this long-barren couple (Genesis 18). It is believed two angels appeared to Lot and then rescued him before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19).  Hagar, a servant who Sarah expelled, was saved in the wilderness along with her son-- by an angel. God sent an angel to free the Apostle Peter after he was jailed by King Herod (Acts 12:7-11).  And of course, angels abound in the nativity and death of Jesus: The mighty angel Gabriel appeared first to the priest Zechariah with the message of the birth of a son, John the Baptist,   Gabriel next appeared to Mary, to announce she would be the mother of Jesus.  The angel hosts appeared to the shepherds, the night of Jesus’ birth; and they are present with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, and stood at the empty tomb, to announce the resurrection of the Lord.
It is the sole desire of an angel to give glory to God, and to guide us to Jesus.  What does Jesus say in Luke 15: I love this translation: “count on it: the angels throw parties every time a lost soul returns to God.”
      What is your image of an image of an angel?  Is it a smoldering Gary Grant or the handsome Denzel Washington, in “the Bishop’s Wife,” the bumbling Clarence Odbody who needs to earn his wings in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” or as the “heavenly social workers” Monica and Tess in the old TV Series, “Touched by an Angel,” or the troubled but devoted angel Seth in a “City of Angels?”  Which do you prefer: Chubby little Cherubs or warriors with armor, swords and spiky wings? Take your pick.   Popular faith teaches us that angels are indeed all around us, we are even appointed guardian angels to help us choose the right and turn to God.
       Those of us who went to Catholic schools were told in our tender years to move over in our seats – to make room for our guardian angel to sit next to us. One of our nighttime prayers is the following:
Angel of God, my guardian dear, 
to whom God's love commits me here;
Watch over me throughout the night,

keep me safe within your sight. 
      It is good to remember the angels and to call upon them at this pivotal time in our lives.  Will this be just another ordinary Christmas, filled with obligations, busyness, and overspending and overeating?  How do we turn this holy season into a song of praise, how do we sing Gloria, along with the angels, when every day we find ourselves choking with deadlines that have nothing to do with Jesus’s birth?  Let’s hear the angels today.  Perhaps in spending time listening to their voices, blended in with the human voices that proclaim good news, perhaps we can reclaim our souls, strengthen our spirits and follow the trails of the melody, until it leads us to the holy places of this holy time.  Dare we sing Gloria?  Dare we let ourselves be touched by angels, who bring us messages of encouragement and comfort, unsettling messages to set us free from misconceptions and to refocus our hearts on the matters of God, and God’s love and purpose for our lives rooted in Jesus Christ?
We see angels at work in those two powerful Christmas movies: “It’s A Wonderful Life,” and “The Bishop’s Wife” were produced on the tail of the Second World War, both set in the season of Christmas. They spoke to a generation that saw the horrors of two world wars, a world now capable of self-destruction with nuclear weapons.  The angel bumbling Clarence, in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” arrives as his charge, George Bailey, contemplates suicide.  Clarence helps George to see what the world would be like without him; that values of community service, sacrifice and family and faith that make the world a better place to live.  George’s eyes are open, he is embraced by the love of his family and his community, and Clarence earns his angel wings.
Dudley, the angel in “the Bishop’s Wife,” helps the bishop see that people are more important than building campaigns, our love relationships need to be nurtured as a priority and form the basis from which we live and interact in the world with integrity.  All the interest in angels during the recent decades, in one way or another call us to be true to ourselves, to see the value in our lives as we love and serve as God calls us to.  It also speaks to our yearning to know that our presence in the world makes a difference.  Nelson Mandela, the South African political leader and anti-apartheid activist, put it this way: “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”   That is what the angels work for us to see and do.
It is the difference that we make in the world that calls us to share in the life and teachings of Jesus, that calls us to be companions to the angels. That is why the angels sing. That’s why they delight in our knowledge of forgiveness and being true to our authentic spiritual beings. Sing Gloria, they are here to tell us, because that is our soul’s purpose, to sing glory to God through our actions in this world.  Sing Gloria, they proclaim, because we too are Christ bearers in the earth.
So scout over, and know there’s an angel sitting next to you. A angel seeking to guide you in this Advent season.  An angel that wants to help you see, like Clarence did, what a difference you are in God’s world.  An angel like Dudley that wants to open your eyes to cherish the people around you.  An angel like Gabriel that wants you to warm to the new spiritual life developing in your heart.  Angels like Hark and Harold, who give us a voice to proclaim truth, to sing Gloria to a world enveloped in noise and nonsense.
Sing Gloria, to bring good news to those who live in the shadow of darkness.  Sing Gloria, to help other harried, distracted friends gently recover the focus of Christmas. Sing Gloria to proclaim the primacy of love, the duty of love, the courage to love, as Advent beckons us. Whenever you have a chance, sing Gloria, practice it these next few weeks along with the hosts of heaven. Together we are guiding our hearts to be ready, to sing with all creation, seen and unseen, together to shine our light  on Jesus, to proclaim the age old song, Glory to God, Glory to God, Glory to God in the highest heaven, peace on earth and goodwill to all, because Love is born. Love joins the song this second week of Advent of peace and sings to each person, here, to you and me, Gloria, Gloria to you, Christ-bearer, messengers of the good news, let us work with the angels and be the difference the world needs to open its heart to the Gloria of Christmas this year.
 



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Armor of Light

12/3/2019

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​Isaiah 40 1-5, 25-26; Romans 13:8-14

 
As we gather today, some 55 million people are inching their way home, some through horrific weather, just in time for Cyber Monday sales. 
        Today happens to coincide with one of the busiest travel days of the Christian year. Only our travel doesn’t’ require tickets and gas and lead to long lines and traffic jams. Our travel is not recorded in miles but in a shift of attitude in the heart. Today is our first Sunday of Advent, preparing us for Christmas.  The next four weeks will lead us on a journey of dark, uncharted territory as we cross the rocky terrain of our souls. The wilderness places and the desert places.  The well-traveled places and happy places.  Through the Advent guides of hope, peace joy and love we embrace promise and repentance, expectations and welcome. We are on a journey to Bethlehem to a stable where the Christ Child waits to be born anew in our hearts.
        Each week through Advent we will be assisted by different aspects of the Christmas story.  We will hear from the stars, the angels, the shepherds and creatures.  All of them will teach us, help us toward our destination. Today we hear from the Bethlehem star, the star famous for guiding the Magi to Bethlehem. A star famous for setting us off on our journey these next four weeks.
        One of the greatest tragedies of modern life is that we have cut ourselves off from the stars.  Normally at night about 2,500 individual stars are visible to the human eye without using any special equipment.  But because of light pollution-the artificial light we create to move around at night—we actually see just 200 to 300 from today’s suburbs, and fewer than a dozen from a typical city.  It is said only one in three Americans can see our own galaxy, the dazzling Milky Way, with the naked eye. Those lucky ones live far away from the lights of big cities, office buildings and shopping malls.
        So many stars in so many galaxies. Astronomers estimate there are about 100 thousand million stars in the Milky Way alone and 70 sextillion  (that’s 7 followed by 22 zeros) stars in our universe in over 10,000 galaxies. The speed of light in a vacuum is 186,282 miles per second.  There are stars so far away that the light we see today left the star when Jesus was born.
        Out of the stars arose myths and legends from all around the world, still powerful today. Stories of bears, Orion and his hunting dogs, eagles and rams scorpions, kings and queens and crowns. And a star, out of 70 sextillion stars, a star, the Bethlehem Star, chosen by God, to light the 800 mile journey to the son of God, the word made flesh, found in a stable in Bethlehem.
        Whatever the Star of Bethlehem was, some say a planet, others postulate several stars in conjunction or a super nova we don’t know, and it doesn’t matter.  What matters is that the first task in this Advent season is to embrace the same Bethlehem Star that first led magi to Jesus finds us today and leads us too to Jesus.
        Jesus would have us first discover our kinship to this amazing star.  Jesus put it this way:  Let your light so shine so that people will give glory to God in Heaven.  Jesus said, “I am the light of the world, those that follow me shall have the light of life.”   So, we too bear this star light, beacons to point the way to goodness and truth.  The apostle Paul in one of his letters reminded the Christ followers are to “shine like stars in the universe” (Phil. 2: 14-18). Our light is not the brilliance of the sun on a bright cloudless day, or of thousand florescent lights that can keep a ballpark lit for a night game.  Our light is a spiritual light.  A light perceived by spirit that shines through our words and actions consistent with God’s will. Paul reminds us that the root of our light is love.  So put on the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul directs us, who is our armor of light.
        Unlike human-made armor, that seeks to camouflage us into the landscape and make the wearer less visible in dangerous and hostile situations, light forged in the nature of stars, is radically differed. The armor of light keeps darkness and sin out and shields us with love and truth.  Light’s armor enables us to face both inner and outer darkness and guides us  to find hope, to find peace, to find love and joy to find Jesus, in midst of the busy, hectic and materialistic holiday season, by following the same journey as the Bethlehem star.
        This first week of Advent we are called to repent, straighten our paths, in order to rediscover the light within, our star heritage, to realize that our story, like Jesus, is written in light.  Our story is star stuff in our blood and bones – for truth of the matter is, according to astronomer Carl Sagan, 93% of the mass of our bodies is star matter.  So, we are points of light – Christ matter – to the galaxy of nations on our own earth.  To some people, we are the only starlight, the only Bethlehem star pointing them to Christ, that they will ever see.  For some people our light is the only light they will find to lead them to good news. Don’t be afraid to shine. To Be comforted. To renew our ability to love. To put on the Lord Jesus Christ. To live honorably in the light. To adorn the armor of light, the spirit of Christ.
        A native American tale tells of a hunting party that roamed so far from home that it became lost. While holding a council to decided what to doa little being, like a child, appeared and said she would guide them. After days of traveling through unfamiliar lands the hunting party finally met the chief of the little people.  He pointed to the North Star and told the hunters to follow its light which would guide them back to their own village. It did- and it continued to guide the Iroquois on their nighttime journeys from then on.   In this world of ours it is easy to become lost.  Our journeys take so can detours, twists and turns.  But as the story goes there is help.  Today we are pointed to the Bethlehem star, covered in an armor of light, we will find our way to Jesus, no matter where we are.
        So let us prepare for our Advent journey.  If we cannot gaze outside and take in the grandeur of the night sky – let us recall that there is a star o hope that rises in our hearts, faithfully, truthfully, calling us home. It calls us to shine out, with all goodness and love. It reminds us, we are kin to the Bethlehem star that will guide us safely and surely until we reach the holy newborn, Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
       
        

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    Moirajo is a minister, social worker, wife, mother, writer and animal lover. That's just for starters. Join the story, there's so much we can share together! 

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