For
the last two Sundays I’ve been taking you all on a metaphorical van ride toward
Christmas. We’ve assessed where we are and where we’re going, and we’ve made
sure we didn’t overstuff the van with… well stuff…
Now
it’s worth looking and seeing who our fellow travelers are.
Look
to the person next to you.
Interesting…
they’re people you know—people you care for and who care for you—friends from
close by or maybe far away, or maybe they’re family—people who have shaped your
lives, people you’ve traveled with for a long time, or maybe a new
acquaintances.
You’ve
already spent two Sundays with these fellow travelers—you’ve already honored
them with your presence—honored them by giving some of your time to them, by
being with them here in this place.
And,
on this journey toward Christmas, that’s what I want to talk to you about—last
week I talked about spending less,
this week I would like us to consider giving
more… more of our time—being fully present with those who are on this
journey with us.
Prayer
This
time of year is filled with tons of obligations—obligations which tax our time and obligations toward our friends and
family.
From
Thanksgiving to New Years we have opportunities and obligations to congregate
with our loved ones more often than we do the rest of the year.
And
that can be wonderful thing, or a missed opportunity. It can be filled with superficial small talk while looking
at the clock, or can be a time dedicated to a deepening of connections and
exploration of our inter-dependence
with these people.
Remember
for a moment the gospel reading for the day—that long list of names, that
Genealogy of Jesus.
It’s main point is to remind us
that Jesus is a child of the promise—the promise God made to Abraham, and that
Jesus is also in the line of King David—that while his kingship is radically
different that that of King David—as those of us who just finished up our 23
week journey through the Books of Samuel can attest—Jesus is in the line of
David.
That
is the primary message of this genealogy—Jesus is the Davidic child of the
promise—but there is another, subtler message going on.
Jesus’
family tree is not only filled with in-laws, but outlaws as well. Interesting
folk who shape his story and his heritage—
The rage of Jacob’s sons,
Rahab without whom Jericho would not have fallen,
Boaz and Ruth, who transformed widowhood into welcome,
the unnamed Bathsheba the wife of
Uriah who was taken by David and forged a dynasty out of his defilement of her.
The tragedy of the deportation and
the smallness of the return from Exile…
all there in these familial
connections.
All these just under the surface
—all these people who shaped who
Jesus was and is and will be.
What
I’m trying to point to, is that Jesus’ genealogy, and our own as well, is like
a Mangrove Forest.
Mangrove
forests are forests in name only
… you see they are a grouping of
what appear to be trees growing in marshy areas—hundreds of them sometimes, but
the thing that you don’t notice unless you go under the surface, is that all those
trees are in fact the arms, the branches, of one great tree.
All
these individual trees are connected to one another—they are interdependent to one another—they
shape each other and form each other, receiving nourishment from the same roots.
I
know at least some of you have a passing familiarity with the website
Ancestory.com—well you are not alone, millions of people are on that website…
with good reason I think…
its not just that they want to find
out about people in the past
—they are in fact, finding out
something about themselves.
They are looking for their roots
—they are peering down into that
brackish water to see how all these mangrove trees are connected
—how they are connected. How we are connected.
As
you know lately, I’ve been doing more funerals and memorials than is the norm,
and as I visit with people, and listen to Eulogies, and all of that, I have to
say, the things people remember about one another is the gift of time,
of being with one another,
not idle chit chat or small talk or
gifts,
but the meaningful time they spent
with each other that shaped each other’s lives.
And
in this season of Advent and this season of Christmas parties and Christmas
cards and all kinds of extra time with others, it’s worth using that time well.
It’s worth giving of your time in
such a way that you cultivate family trees and friend forests.
It’s worth learning the stories you
never knew, and hearing with fresh ears the stories you hear every year.
Yes,
as we journey on this Advent road, we should get to know our fellow passengers.
So
today, as we reflect upon Giving more of ourselves, I would like to leave you
with a few questions and some time to sit with those questions.
1.
Who would you like to spend time with?
2.
What would you like to learn about them?
3.
What would you like to do with them or for them?
