Saturday, December 24, 2022

Sermon: Holy Disruption


          Disruption seems to the be word of the week…

         The giant winter storm sweeping across the country has disrupted folk’s travel plans, disrupted power… disrupted… it would seem… Christmas.

 

         Here in the church, we had all five bulletins printed ahead of schedule, 
our secretary and her family had headed out for vacation.

         It seemed like we had things in order… 
I’d even had time to send a thank you note to the Synod for the Fund for Mission Grant that paid for three ministries here at Spruce Run…

         Then folk started to come down with Covid, 
this included both our Bell Choir Director and our Director of Music.
We had to do a sort of Musical Chairs with Ushers, 
Assisting Ministers, 
the whole works.

 

         These last minute audibles are one more example of how we’ve had to do things these days
—and I’m not just talking about the Church, 
but our lives in general:
“Hold all plans loosely, and be ready to pivot.”
An attitude that can be exhilarating in small bursts… 
but three years in… 
it’s getting heavy.

         So heavy that the basic Christmas message: 
“Jesus turns the world upside down! Disrupts the status quo.”
might feel like bad news
instead of good news

 

         We’ve been turned upside down enough… 
we’ve held our plans so loosely we’ve lost ‘em, 
and pivoting yet again feels like the spinning of a helicopter rotor.

         Whenever any new disruption erupts, all we can say is, “Oh no, not again.”

         

         And we’re not alone in this… 
the Holy family had their lives turned upside down because 
the powers that be decreed, 
and so everyone in the empire was tossed into turmoil, 
including pregnant Mary… 
traveling at an inopportune time, 
a dangerous time, 
her and Joseph’s feet slapping against pavement and sand 
in order to arrive in Bethlehem. 
Arrive like uninvited guests, 
their room mean and low, 
complete with a rough manger.

         So too the Shepherds have their world turned upside down, 
or perhaps inside-out or outside-in
—heaven piercing the cold night sky, 
a messenger of God among their lambs
what is this? 
Not “oh no, not again,” but a panicked and terrified, “Oh no!”

 

         But, this panic gives way, Thank God. 
The travails of travel are overwhelmed with the cries of a new baby born, 
the mean estate of the manger transformed into a crib of joy. 

         The shock of an Angel’s arrival is replaced with the words, 
Be not afraid!”  
The proclamation of Good News. 
“Savior, Messiah, Lord.”

 

         A figure unlike those you’ve experienced, 
the Augustuses and Quiriniuses of the world, 
they disrupt for disruption’s sake, 
dehumanizing for the sake of ego… 
“Not this one,” the Shepherds are told, “as His sigil, 
that is His sign of authority
—will be soft strips of cloth and a meager manger.”

         You see, the kind of turning Mary sings about in the Magnificat, 
the kind of upside down Kingdom Jesus brings
—it’s the Prophet Daniel’s promise of a Humane Kingdom, 
instead of a Monstrous one… 
-instead of force, coercion and cruelty, 
-creativity, wooing, and peace.

         That’s what this Kingdom of Heaven stuff we’ll be reading about this year in Matthew’s Gospel is all about
—when folk are close to Jesus they know what real authority is, 
they know what God’s Reign is like, 
they experience God making all things right.

 

         They get to go and see this thing God is doing, 
this uncontainable story
—Christmas.

         And we do too…

         You see, the point of the “God conversations” we’ve been marking with marbles moved from container to container, is as much about listening as talking

         As Lutheran Theologian and Martyr to the Nazis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “We do God’s work for our brothers and sisters when we learn to listen to them. So often Christians, especially preachers, think that their only service is always to have to “offer” something when they are together with other people. They forget that listening can be a greater service than speaking.”

         It can be hard to do, 
but we get to ask our neighbors what God is already up to, 
because we know, like the Shepherds, that God has already arrived, 
we get to rush out and see the sight
—manger and cloth. 
We get to go and find out how we can be part of the Kingdom of God 
in our own back yards. 

         When done right, God conversations can be a kind of mutual proclamation of the Gospel.

 

         This good news, God’s gentle rule, the Kingdom of Heaven, 
can seem impossible
—it is after all so different from our ordinary experience of the world, 
it can be jarring, 
it can be like going directly from a battle field to a birthday party…

         For that reason, Mary ponders it
—picks apart the proclamation she has heard, 
and puts it back together again, 
hearing it afresh and making it digestible and meaningful to her.

         The shepherds too, 
they have to go and see Jesus for themselves, 
experience the good news the angel told them about.

 

         And, as the Pastor of this congregation, I am privileged to see how those connections get worked out in our community. 
-An all age Christmas pageant putting a fresh spark into an old story, 
-gentle music and silence making the Christmas promise relevant in the midst of mourning,
-receiving Holy Communion for the first time in a long time,
-nursing home residents remembered
-hungry folk fed…

         I could go on, 
but you see my point, 
the Kingdom of the Christ Child, the reign of God, 
is found in small mundane moments made holy by God
—the Son of God born among us, a vulnerable baby.

 

         And so, celebrating God’s holy disruption among us, 
Jesus Christ born in our world of tumult and turmoil…

like the shepherds let us praise, the Prince of Peace,

like the angelic hosts let us sing Glory to the Newborn King. 

Amen and Alleluia.

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Sermon: Jesus Wept

         Jesus Wept is a Christmas Verse, 

a central message of the Christmas story.

         Yes, these verses are placed at the moment of Mary and Martha’s grief for their dead brother, Lazarus… 
The miracle to come is Lazarus called out of the tomb, 
but the first miracle is already there, Jesus wept

         Jesus wept, he wasn’t there for the sisters, 

         Jesus wept, he is late to the public period of mourning, 

         Jesus wept, outside the tomb.

         It’s about Jesus being there, 
even in his absence
even when late
even face to face with death
Present in disappointment, sorrow, the grave…

 

         Jesus wept… a Christmas story… 
It is the story of a baby experiencing the chill air outside the womb, 
and wailing in response.

         The doctrinal statements of the Church, 
that Jesus is fully human, 
takes on a fleshy poignancy there in the manger.

         God enters into this beautiful/awful world, 
fitting into our space. 
Wailing with us.

 

         The Christmas story is about God’s presence, 
and solidarity, 
with humanity… 
it is an ongoing reminder that you’re not alone. 
We’re not alone. 
Not alone in our tears, fears, worries, or losses
—God enters into them all… Jesus wept.

 

Prayer

         Do you know what tears do? 
Firstly, they lubricate our eyes and remove grit. 
They also remove stress chemicals, and… 
weeping is a social signal of empathy.

Empathy
—having compassion for… 
suffering with… 
tears tell us the other person is suffering with us

         Jesus wept—signifies to us that God has empathy for us… 
God is com-passionate
—suffers with… 
God suffers with us. 

 

         Yes, the baby who wept at the manger was the man who wept along with Mary and Martha for Lazarus… 
but not only that.  

         -at the desolation of Jerusalem written of in Lamentations, 
a beloved city experiencing widowhood, abandonment, and exile.

         -With the Psalmist in the darkest valley and before the most frightening of enemies.

         -at the world’s groaning, joining us with sighs too deep for words

 

         Jesus wept… 
that reality is what makes Christmas so hard for those with tender hearts, 
and hearts tenderized by the weight of this world… 
God born among us, 
means among us as we are
as we live and as we die… 
but that doesn’t make for a good Christmas special
that doesn’t fit well on a Christmas card

That doesn’t feel like the stereotyped “reason for the season” 
but it is.

Jesus wept

 

         Jesus wept
         With and for a young local poet I know who took his life this year.
         With folk who’ve lost their job, folk suffering from hunger.

 

         Jesus wept

-Alongside people abusing substances and those struggling to escape addiction.

-With people in physical and mental decline.

-Standing between abuser and survivor.

 

         Jesus wept

In the midst of changed lives
—even good change, that’s the weird thing about being embodied human beings

—even good change causes us to experience grief… 
that’s why I’m so glad God is embodied and experiences those tears too
—God can fully be with us in our griefs, 
even if they seem irrational, embarrassing, or even goofy…

         Jesus weeps with us in the darkness of the Longest Night, 
as a not insignificant subset of human beings experience a sort of collective sun downingthis time of year…
In fact, cultures around the world respond with blow out festivals and lights galore, to keep back the night.

 

         Jesus wept

While holding our isolation, uncomfortable memories, overscheduled lives, 
and excessive expectations.

At every disappointment and all the comparisons that we make with other people, 
because we’ve not internalized the truth that comparison can be a type of self-injury.

 

Jesus wept

Cries, 
compassion, 
suffering with, 
empathy, 
God in the flesh, crying

 

         Jesus wept

A child born in this world of ours.

A world that weeps.

A world that groans.

A world whose groans are labor pains, like Mary’s… birthing a new world.

With us.

 

         Jesus wept… weeps, 
with us.

Right here and right now.

Candle light in the night.

Community gathered, 
lifting up names, 
naming experiences, 
holding out hope.

 

With us

In the complexity of our grief

Out of our unsaid or weakly spoken words

Hidden in the small things we often miss 
or disregard as unimportant

In our impulses to reach out 
and as kindness to one another.

 

Jesus wept is a Christmas message. 
It takes seriously that God comes to dwell with us. 
Takes seriously too all our experiences of this world. 
I pray God meets us in this long night. 
Amen.