The GIFT Reflection for Christmas 2015

Isaiah 9:2-7       Psalm 96   Titus 2:11-14      Luke 2:1-14, (15-20)

We’ve reached that amazing time of year once more.  The day that we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  For most, this is simply the day that is set aside to celebrate the birth of a great historical figure.  For Christians what we celebrate is so much more and yet so hard to fully comprehend.

Our first reading begins in the reality of an historical time describe by Isaiah as “Darkness”. 

From Isaiah 9:2 “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness on them light has shined.”

We are no longer experiencing any “deep darkness”, are we? 

That was a rhetorical question because the people that I know, are experiencing some pretty deep dark this year.  There are at least three people, I know personally, who are to “celebrate” Christmas this year for the first time without their significant other alive.  Many more will be “celebrating” amidst the _-heartbreak of separation for so many other reasons.  Many in this area are struggling because they are out of work, sick and then there is also the deep dark that our society is in globally. 

We are living in a crazy contradiction of life, because Jesus Christ, the saviour, the messiah, has come… why are we in such deep dark?

This celebration of Christmas is one that we cannot afford to let pass without it being born in us, and while that may be a metaphor, if Christmas is nothing more than an ideology we really have missed the mark… and to “miss the mark”  is the literal definition of sin.  We don’t need to stay “in the dark” and in sin.

The birth of any great leader is often celebrated, but none more than this.  The reason being that Christians believe that this was no ordinary person who was born.  This was God made flesh.  The immortal creator and ruler of the universe, becomes the fragile and vulnerable creation.  He who is light and life is willing, for the love of humanity, to submerge himself into that world of deep darkness.

Our readings do not do not continue to focus on that deep darkness.  Even in that first line the sentence ends with light shining.  The coming of Christ is heralded as a time of great joy because there is an acknowledgement that they were in great need of a saviour.  The message before Christ’s ministry was to repent.  To repent, is essentially to reflect on the reality of your situation and acknowledge the darkness of your life and your need for change.  Is your world in need of change?

If you have already acknowledged the darkness in your life and tried to change it you will know what comes next.  Can you guess what it is?

Deeper darkness……!  Memes abound over social media promoting self-help and self-change.  These are great sounding to sound true to the naive… just as naïve as were Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when the Serpent convinced them also that they could better their life….  Do we remember what happened there?

The reason for this deep darkness is fallen humanity and all the earth subject to decay because of it.  Just look around.  Are you concerned about the environment and climate change?  Humanity has not been a good steward of the earth and we could well say that fallen humanity has put greed above the good of the earth and caused our environmental problems. 

It certainly isn’t too big a jump to blame fallen humanity for so many other woes in our dark world.

So we’ve acknowledged the darkness and tried to change it, but due to the nature of fallen humanity, changing the darkness is beyond our ability.  We can try to change ourselves, but many of us even fail at that and at best might have some temporary success.  Honestly, this has been my experience.  We all do it. We try hard and sometimes see signs of light, but in the end you will be exhausted.  I am.

Thankfully God knew all this and had a better plan.

Titus 2:11 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all,” 

We need to understand that “the grace of God”, means the undeserved favour of God.  We have salvation because of nothing that we are or do, but simply because God loves us.  It can best be described as the love a parent has for a favoured child who always does the wrong thing – everyone else might see the faults, but the parent looks with the eyes of love at something wonderful that only they can see.

But this unconditional love of God is wisdom also and it comes with the gift of the Holy Spirit bringing the presence of God, which affects change in the individual and then change in the community like ripples in a pond.  As Christians, we are anointed by our baptism to be an effective body of Christ in the community.

Titus 2:14 “He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.”

The result in us, of Christ’s coming, dying and rising, will be that we are people who are changed and eager to reflect God’s love.

I was wondering why the Angel announced the Good News about the birth of Christ, to shepherds.  I think the explanation given over years gone by was that these were the poor people and so it was God’s way of showing His love for all.  While this is true, I believe there is more to it.

Throughout the Bible, the image of the shepherd is used to describe how God cares for his sheep and also it illustrates the “Good” shepherd and compares this with those shepherds who scatter the sheep.  The Good News is given to the Shepherds, and we are now those shepherds.  The sheep are those in the world around us who God cared so much about that he died for them…. But they may not know it.  Will we be like the shepherds in the story and respond to the Good News by making a search for the saviour and by passing on the Good News?

Apparently there is more to these shepherds of Bethlehem.  From an article online; http://www.jesus.org/birth-of-jesus/shepherds-and-angels/why-did-the-angels-announce-jesuss-birth-to-shepherds.html

“Somewhere deep in Jewish tradition (revealed in writings called the Mishnah), a belief had arisen that the Messiah would be revealed from the Migdal Eder ("the tower of the flock"). This tower stood close to Bethlehem on the road to Jerusalem, and the sheep that pastured there were not the type used for ordinary purposes. The shepherds working there, in fact, took care of the temple-flocks, the sheep meant for sacrifice.

We can trust that God had a specific purpose for this shepherd audience, and the work they performed suggests the reason. These men who watched the sheep meant for the slaughter received a divine message about the ultimate Lamb who would take away the sins of the world through His death and resurrection.

(Adapted from The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah by Alfred Edersheim (Book II, Chapter VI).)

For those of us aware of the dark and longing for change, this message that the Angels bring, tell of a lamb that will take away sin.  This is no ordinary lamb, but the Lamb of God whose sacrifice is once and for all.  The Lamb of God is also the light of the world who stepped down into darkness.  He gives us eyes that can see in the dark, he can change our heart and most importantly he has restored

our fallen humanity, but we are like he was when he walked the earth – we live in a place of darkness.  Within us now we have the light – the light of Christ.  Just like Christ when he walked the earth, we hurt and we grieve, but like him, we can learn to walk in unity with God in a new reality of light.

 As Jesus said, in John 5:19 “Jesus gave them this answer: "Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”

We live in a dark world, but we can walk in the light.  So… let us rest from our labours and vain attempts to manipulate others, ourselves and the world that is, and accept the gift that Christ gives us this Christmas.  For so many years I have thought that Christmas was a time of thinking like the carol of the little drummer boy and pondering what gift I could give to God.  I have had it all back to front.  The message of Christmas is that God gives us himself. 

Will we receive the gift He gives?

From little things... Reflection for 4th Sunday of Advent

Year C   Fourth Sunday of Advent   20 December 2015

Michah 5:2-5a   Psalm 80: 1-7 OR Luke 1:47-55     Hebrews 10:5-10    Luke 1:39-45, (46-55)

From Psalm 80 we hear a cry that might resonate with many of us:

Psalm 80:4 -7 “O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?   You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure. You make us the scorn of our neighbours; our enemies laugh among themselves.  Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.”
 

It’s been quite a while since I last wrote a reflection.  Advent began and, to me, it is like a New Year’s Day and time for re-commitment – and getting back into writing.  However, I had a school Christmas concert to organise and so many other things.

Many times throughout 2015 I could relate to these words from Psalm 80.  It seemed like so many were against me, and being human, I wondered if I was being punished and sometimes, with my music and difficulty in getting gigs after being told I was one of the best that the venues had, I wondered if some of it was because I was out there on the streets of Mackay as a Street Chaplain and openly associated with church.

Sadly, as I’m sure you can imagine, rejection doesn’t just come from the secular community.  It has been there in the church also.  What I’ve discovered is that it doesn’t matter what you do to be accepted, some people will simply not accept you.  However, this is only the beginning of our readings for this weekend.  This is the reality that we start with.  Like the psalmist, we bring our feelings of inadequacy, rejection and hurt and we call out to God and say, “How long?”

Like the Psalmist, we may be at the end of our ability to press on, but here we are calling out to God for His intervention.  And there is hope…..

The first reading comes from the prophet Micah and offers a prophecy of hope:  Micah 5:3-6 “Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labour has brought forth; then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of Israel.  And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth; and he shall be the one of peace.”

The prophecy is about the coming of Jesus.  He was to come from Bethlehem, which is described as one of the little clans of Judah.  In fact there is a theme running through the readings about the small, the poor, the little, the overlooked, the rejected…. This is how God shows that He is concerned about all.  He doesn’t chose the by the worlds standard.  In the world, it seems that the most influential are those who make the most noise, have money or fame and somehow seem to fit right in as everyone’s ideal person.  They are the kind that you can imagine on the talk back shows where everyone is nodding and laughing. 

From the Gospel of Luke we notice that God’s way of choosing is different.

Luke1:46- 55 “And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.   He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."”

The fact of the matter is that right here and now we may have a reality that is far from what we would like and we may feel that, being just one person, we are completely unable to affect any change or to have any influence, but this is the very circumstances where God likes to show up.

God delights in comforting His people and causing those that are of seemingly no significance to become incredibly significant.  This is part of our message for Advent as we prepare for Christmas.  Of course the other part of the message is that “God is on His way”.

How do we make sense of the fact that God has already been here and yet is on his way? 

By His Holy Spirit God is always with his people.  Just as the unborn child within Elizabeth leapt for joy at the sound of Mary’s greeting, acknowledging Jesus within her, so too there are those who will notice something within them and others and respond to the Holy Spirit of Jesus within us, and within circumstances.

Why do I tell you all this?  In our readings there is a thread that ties them all together and it is about little things that become big things.  We, like the rest of humanity, tend to overlook the subtlety of God’s presence.  It was certain characters like Elizabeth that recognized God without any announcement from Mary.  How can we be also be attuned to the presence of God?

There have been many wonderful people who genuinely sought to be in tune with God and got it wrong.  The reading from the letter to the Hebrews tells us the truth about this change from operating under a system of sacrifice and offerings to the New Covenant of living in grateful acceptance.

Hebrews 10:8-10   “When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law) then he added, "See, I have come to do your will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second.  And it is by God's will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

This reading speaks about the Old Covenant which prescribed certain sacrifices and offerings be made in order to come into God’s grace and presence.  But what does this reading tell us? 

Firstly and most importantly is states that all have been made holy through the offering of Christ… ONCE AND FOR ALL.  God does not require any other offering or sacrifice.  The reality that we fail to Grasp is that God IS present!  To the early Christians this concept sounded like Heresy. 

Many of the early followers of Jesus were “followers of the law”.   They kept the law of God to the best of their ability and they comprehended that Jesus was God incarnate who died because they couldn’t perfectly keep the Holy law of God, but what were they to do now? 

Surely it is for such people that this letter is written with the words, “He abolishes the first in order to establish the second.” 

Jesus put in place a New Covenant.  What are the terms of this covenant?  What sacrifices are we to make?  There is none…  Christ was offered once and for all.  What offering are we to make?   There is none…. Christ was offered once and for all.  So what are we to do?

Ever heard the phrase, “Good News”?  This New Covenant is Good News! How we will respond to the Good News is as individual as each person is, but generally there will be some degree of firstly acceptance or rejection of the gift that is given.  If acceptance, then we are to enjoy the unhindered gift of God’s eternal presence.   God is always there, and with our thanks to God for His presence comes the awareness. 

From little things, big things grow.  A tiny bit of trust that God is there.  A hope that this Good News is real.  A tiny step of faith and suddenly the world becomes four dimensional and joy can be found in the knowing that there is a greater purpose and plan for our existence.