Thursday, December 27, 2012

Christmas Message 2012 -- Bethlehem

Below is my Christmas message, with the addition of some relevant photos that didn't make it into the oral sermon.

This summer,
I was in Bethlehem.
The journey was by air-conditioned coach,
            From Jerusalem, four-miles away,
            Not the long donkey ride from Nazareth in the north.
Nevertheless, we were stopped,
            At a military check-point,
            And told to enter the city by another route,
            For there was no place for us on the main road.
We saw security fences encirlcing the city,
            Barbed-wire ensuring no-one entered or left David’s city
                        Without proper paperwork.
Bethlehem, a place precious to pilgrims,
            Now isolated,
            its ancient Christian community dwindling
            from economic strangulation and political persecution.
Bethlehem Christians are a double minority—
            They are Palestinians in an Israeli state
            They are Christians among Muslim Palestinians.
            They are in great need of our prayers and support.
Early on that morning we came to a church
            Marking the site of the Word made flesh
                        Dwelling among us.
Actually we came to two churches atop
            Subterranean chapel caves
                        Commemorating Christ’s coming into the world.
The newest, a Catholic church filled with light,
            Was renovated by the Emperor of Austria in 1881.
It sits beside an Orthodox sanctuary
            Dating to Crusader times,
            Whose icons, mosaics, walls and ceilings
                        Are blackened by a millenium of smoke
                        From candles and thuribles,
            built above a fourth-century chapel
                        That Constantine’s mother constructed,
                        Of which only mosaic floors remain.
            On the outer church walls,
                        Bullet holes commemorate clashes
Mosaic from Fourth Century
                        Where soldiers strafed those seeking
            sanctuary and sustenance
in the birthplace
of the Prince of Peace.
Underneath these soaring sanctuaries sit a series of small caves.
Stairs down lead to an ancient children’s crypt,
            Perhaps where Herod’s holy innocents were interred,
And to the study of St. Jerome,
            Where the unwashed hermit studied and
Translated ancient scriptural texts.
 Also under the Orthodox church altar is a small chapel in a cave
Site of Jesus Birth (Green photo)
            Where maybe fifty can stand,
            near the spot where was born to us
            a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.
An altar, owned by the Greek and Armenian Orthodox monks,
            Sits above a golden star placed on the ground
            Marking the place of the birth of
                        The son of Mary who is
The only-begotten son of the Father
A few feet from the place of Jesus birth,
            Was the manger
            Where they lay the newly swaddled Savior.
            A site a Roman Catholic altar marks,
Site of Manger (Greene photo)
And where we joined an Italian Franciscan priest,
            Saying mass for us in English,
            Hearing the same gospel we just read,
            And having sung songs we sing today.
There we heard the good news of shepherds
            In the spot where Mary, Mother of God,
Marveled at the same message.
There we shared in the Body and Blood of the one
            Who came into the world where his own did not accept him,
Where people loved the darkness.
There, in the midst of the darkness of division, discord, and death,
            Light shone and the darkness did not overcome it.

Bethlehem two thousand years ago was not the same
            As Bethlehem this summer;
The Stars and Bucks coffee shop did not exist,
No one sold olive-wood nativity scenes,
And soldiers carried spears instead of semi-automatic weapons.
But much remained the same.
God’s people were divided:
            Pharisees and Sadducees, Zealots and Essenes.
A thousand years earlier,
            King David came from there and united Israel.
But at that time someone else ruled them:
Romans,
            Willing to bring Caesar’s peace with a sword
            Utterly ignorant of the peace passing all understanding.
But demanding a census of the whole world,
                        Collecting taxes and containing troublemakers.
 In the midst of big picture economic anxieties and political problems
            Two travelers borne on a burro bring burdens.
Joseph seeking shelter,
            Stops in a cave where animals could be kept.
During the night watches, his new wife gives birth.
Like all good parents of the day,
            They wrap the baby in swaddling clothes,
            So he feels safe and secure.
Then, having no beds themselves,
            They lay him in the only safe place they can set him down,
            A manger serving as a crib,
                        So perhaps they can sleep.
But their dreams are delayed
As astonished shepherds arrive announcing
            Good news concerning baby Jesus.
Angels appeared. 
The Glory of the Lord shone in that place
            To herald the arrival of the Messiah, the Lord.
The Word become flesh
            Immanuel, God-with-us,
                        The Life that is the light of the world.
            And the angel said:
                        Be not afraid!
But now what?
The shepherds return.
The baby nurses and sleeps and needs to be changed.
And mother Mary ponders in her heart.
Much remains – miracles, healings, and beatitudes
            Passion, suffering and death
            Resurrection!
But everything already is renewed.
The creator of the universe
            Is no longer apart from it,
            But has jumped directly into
                        The jumble of injustice, injury, and despair
            Re-creating from within all things that came into being
joy, love, peace, and life
                        For all who receive him
                        And believe in his name--
The name announced by angels
                        Shared by shepherds  
                        And disclosed to us.
            The name by which all under heaven are saved.
                        Immanuel, God-with-us,
The Son of David, the Savior who is the Messiah, the Lord,
Son of the Most High,
Jesus.

Bethlehem two thousand years ago is not the same
            As the Shenango Valley today,
            But we’re not that different.
We have the occasional census
            And the not so occasional taxes.
Our stables are scarcer, but our inns are emptier.
Young mothers too often have no safe place,
And petty Herod’s senselessly slaughter our children.
But today we know the story of the Babe of Bethlehem,
            If not announced by angels
            Then narrated by Linus. 
We’ve heard the story,
            We’ve sung the songs,
                        We’ve celebrated the season.
And yet we still struggle to live into it
            Because we can’t quite believe
            How unfathomably immense
                        Is God’s love for us.
We can’t conceive the celestial radiance
            Concealed for a season in human flesh
            So we can share the spark of eternity.
We can’t consider the cost of trading the courts of heaven
            For the cross of Calvary.
We can’t fathom the faithfulness of God
            When we lack it ourselves.
But mostly,  
            We want the darkness gone
            And we don’t understand
                        Why it lingers.
Our lives hold so much pain and suffering,
            Darkness seems so strong.
Two Thousand years later,
            Shouldn’t Jesus have fixed everything?

The promise says
            The light shines in the darkness
            And the darkness did not overcome it.
As long as people choose darkness,
            And all of us do sometimes,
            Darkness does doggedly dig into our existence.
Darkness does not however,
Have the last word.
Since Jesus was born in Bethlehem,
            Light is always shining into the darkness,
            And darkness must give way.
In every avenue of our existence,
            At least a glimmer of divine light shines
            And shows us a way out.
No matter how dark,
            No matter how painful,
                        No matter how sinful the situation.
Even if we are trapped in a darkness
            Of our own damning decisions,
            The dayspring from on high
                        Drives away the final despair
                        if we will only deign to open our eyes.
When families fail,
When dear ones die,
When we hate ourselves for hurting others,
Jesus offers an emergency exit arrow
            Pointing to a place of peace.
For our salvation comes not with a warrior’s sword,
            Nor by imperial edict,
But with a baby,
            Born in Bethlehem,
            Where all should be well, and isn’t,
                        Just like in our own lives,
But where Christ comes anyway,
And can’t be kept out.

Christmas Eve Procession to Church of Nativity, Bethlehem
Halfway around the world this night,
            Past patrolled check-points and barbed wire fences,
            Beneath vaulted basilicas and bullet ridden facades
            Aware of a world awash in the power of darkness,
            In an underground cave,
            People have crammed themselves together
because on this day,
                        In the city of David
                        Is born a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.
In this place, we have come tonight,
            With our own struggles and burdens,
Nativity Icon (photo Scott Gunn)
            With our own weariness and wants
            To receive glad tidings of great joy,
                        For a child has been born for us,
                                    A son given to us;
                        Wonderful counselor, Mighty God
                        Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
For tonight the Word became flesh,
and we would have him live among us,
so that His light shines always into all our darkness
So come to Bethlehem and see
            Him whose birth the angels sing.
            Come adore on bended knee
                        Christ the Lord the newborn King.   

Monday, December 17, 2012

Preparing for Jesus...in Sharon, PA

Santa Descends at Sharon's Night of Lights
This post is from a "From the Pulpit" column that appeared in the Sharon Herald on Friday, December 14.



A few weeks ago, Santa came to downtown Sharon.  People lined the streets.  They celebrated with Christmas carols and dancing, with hot cocoa and kettle corn, and with the lighting of the Christmas tree.  Parents and grandparents were sharing their children’s wonder while reconnecting with friends and neighbors. Local businesses and community groups offered what they could to make the evening special.  Everyone knew where to wait for Santa – they read it in the Herald.  The right preparations were made, the crowd was gathered and, as he descended from rooftop to State Street, Santa was smiling.   

December is a time when we await someone bringing greater gifts than Santa Claus.  Jesus is coming.  While we celebrate Jesus’s first coming as a baby in Bethlehem, we also wait for Jesus to come again.  Our challenge is to figure out how to wait well.  Twiddling our thumbs and hoping he shows up during a commercial is probably not the best approach.

Scripture says to prepare the way of the Lord and make his paths straight.  These instructions are not easy, even if we have a bulldozer at our disposal.  Two questions immediately come to mind.  Where do we make these straight paths, and how do we do it.

The easy answer to where the Lord is coming is in our hearts, and we need to prepare them.  But that is not the only answer.  We should also wrestle with the question of where we could expect Jesus to be coming if we read his Facebook post that said, “On my way to see my peeps in Sharon, PA.”  Would our first impulse to run to church and get all the lights on?  Do we honestly think that would be Jesus first stop, especially if it wasn’t 10:00am on Sunday morning? (And which church would he go to, anyway?)  Jesus certainly came and spoke in the synagogues of his day, but he also spent much of his time outside of them. 

Judging by the folks he liked to visit, we might expect to see him any number of places.  Maybe at a school Christmas concert (where we know Jesus would be smiling).  Maybe at Joshua’s Haven, or West Hill Ministries, or Community Counseling Center, or a local food pantry.  I wouldn’t be shocked to see him at Artie Gras or Bike Night at the Lube.  Jesus seemed to go where people were – even to places that religious folk tended to avoid.  He was called a drunkard and a glutton, after all.

To make a straight path for Jesus, we start where we think he might be coming.  We spend time on the same roads we expect him to travel.  In those places, we prepare the way of the Lord.

Isaiah talks about filling in every valley and making every hill low, yet I don’t think our primary task is to take all the dirt from the East and West Hills and fill in downtown Sharon.  Our real work of preparing the way is to do what Jesus did when he was with people.  We talk to people.  We listen to their stories.  We pray for them and do what we can to meet their needs.  We love them and live alongside of them until we see each other as part of one extended family.  These steps help us bring good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, release the captives, give sight to the blind, let the lame run, and renew ruined cities (see Isaiah 61:1-4).  

When the way is prepared, we can expect Jesus to show up.  When he comes, people will be ready to celebrate his coming. No one will think he is a stranger or someone who doesn’t belong.  They won’t avoid him.  Where he goes, excited people will celebrate his coming just like little children waiting for Santa.  They will have experienced the beginnings of his love in the love we have shown, and they will be ready to have Jesus love them more completely than they have ever been loved before.

Jesus is on the move.  Determine where he might show up and prepare his way!