Central to the Incarnation

 This is the last step on our journey towards the incarnation and the celebration that we as Christians commit to on a yearly basis. It is not the Xmas of commercialism that has become the tradition. It is not the paraphernalia of expensive gift giving and rites that have been debased to a frenzy of anxiety and fearfulness in the eyes of many. Rather it is a gathering together of the faithful in a celebration around the Christ Mass in its simplicity and welcome that reveals at its heart love rather than division, anxiety, loss and hate. Today we celebrate that love and renew it in our hearts so that we may join together once more to celebrate the coming of Christ into the midst of a world churned by violence and divided by hatred.

Community is about accepting the other into our hearts with love

Love is an ideal or at least we idealise it for ourselves. However, we need to fathom what it is for ourselves and how we can make it an actuality within the lives of, not just ourselves, but also those around us so that we can form better communities. I do not know about you but I am dreading the coming Federal elections as much as I have been repulsed by the paucity of truth coming out of the current government. The reason I am dreading the coming elections is the total lack of respect and truth that will be peddled in our direction over a period of a month or two. It has inevitably kicked of early and brings a wet blanket to the joy we should be seeing this Christmas. If we are to have people lead us whether it is at local, state or federal levels then they should by rights reflect our normative behaviours and the community's from which they come from. At present most politicians, or at least the ones striving for leadership and renown, I would not have in my backyard as a result of the lack of love, righteousness and peace they exude. Most particularly if they claim any form of religious belief.

Paul in his letter to the Corinthians lays out precisely what love should be and how it is to be expressed in the community. If we cannot begin at the basic level of honest communication and honest reflection of our neighbours then we should not be representing any faith community. At the heart of all faiths is this key concept of respect and love for the other over and above ourselves. The issue is that we often interpret things to our understanding and not align ourselves with God's understanding. It becomes more and more important for us that what we think is right is right. Thus, when we consider love of neighbour there is usually a proviso tacked onto the end of the thought, "except...". No matter who we are we fall into this fallacy that love of neighbour means those that we consider worthy to be our neighbour. But as both Paul and Christ point out love is above our pettiness and covers all people made in God's image and all life made from God. How can we not include love for and protection for our environment if we love our neighbour?

If we lack the basic understanding that we need to both respect and acknowledge our neighbours point of view we also are unable to begin to express God's love for us. Even John in the womb recognised the other and leapt in joy and love when Mary entered the home (Lk 1:39-45). In preparation for next week we need to understand the basic fundamental of God's redeeming love is available to all despite what we, individually, may believe. Christ is incarnate as a human being not as a some extraordinarily different person or species. No God incarnate that we celebrate next week is a reflection of humanity as a whole. If  a single person in an age that was filled with violence and greed, just as today is, with petty politics and the grubbing for power, just as today is, can exhibit a love for each person they meet then so can we as human beings. It is not a hard thing to do but it is a hard thing to overcome the conditioning that the world has fed us over the many years of our lives. In our last week of reflection before we come before the Christ child to honour and praise God we need to understand this love that God has demonstrated to us in Christ. It is only when we can clearly demonstrate that love amongst ourselves that we can become a transforming community of God's love to the world. It is in that very community that we gather the strength to show love as without the support that each of us gives we will degenerate back into the selfish lives that we so often manage to demonstrate to the world.

Joy comes with love

 It may seem strange that we talk about joy in the face of the reading from Luke that seems to emphasise the evil in people with their reward of fire and brimstone (Lk. 3:7-18). Yet it is sometimes that out of terror we find joy in a world that is beset by pain. In the last two weeks we looked at our faith journey in terms of hope that springs from the darkest moments in our lives and the peace that is brought as we journey in the midst of the desert. In the face of adversity and the horrors of violence comes moments that transcend everything around us and bring joy pouring into our hearts. One such moment is when we see the incarnation and the joy that the Christ child brings. This joy stems from the expectation that we all have when there is new life in the offing.

For many of us we just have to think back to the joy we experienced with the birth of our children to imagine the joy that comes with new life. Yet, we are talking about scripture that speaks of winnowing and threshing both violent and separating events. If we superimpose this on the violent and caustic world in which we live we can begin to entertain some of the understanding that must go with these two concepts. If we have too much concern over the violence we will miss the opportunity to find joy in the beginnings of new life. Even in the worst of situations there is often an overabundance of joy. I can remember touring one of the impromptu residential camps outside of Pretoria. Created not only from an overspill of people from other areas but also as a result of continual development pushing people further and further from the urban population areas. Whilst there was a lot of political resentment, this was in the new South Africa, there was also a lot of joy in the camp. From the birth of new children to the organised chaos of the resident children running and playing after what schooling was available. Despite the poverty and the poor conditions there was joy in and around the life that was lived.

Relax and understand God in our hearts

It is the acceptance of what we have been given by God that allows us to fully experience the joy that is in life. This takes courage (Zeph. 3:16) to live up to and exceed, even in the toughest of conditions, God's presence in our lives. It is God's delight in our lives and acceptance of Christ within them that brings joy not only into our hearts but the hearts of those who are part of God's community. It is often at the bottom of our lives that we really begin to understand God's presence and it is at that time that we begin to dwell in the joy that God's love brings. This is where the peace we spoke of last week comes as we embrace the presence of God in the worst of conditions. Being human there is a draw back to all this lovely talk about joy and that is that we tend to be anxious over every small set back in life that we have (Phil. 4:6). No matter what the condition is that has created our state it only increases our own anxieties as we have no understanding as to what the future has in store for us. It is only when we have God's love in our hearts that we tend to find joy in our context and allow our anxieties to melt away into the wind of chance.

We are each and every day encouraged to indulge in our anxieties. To exaggerate them until such time as they overwhelm and defeat us. In doing so we lock out the joy that should be present in our hearts when we take up Christ's burden and love ourselves and our neighbours in God's presence. It is only in looking forward continually and listening to the voice from out of the wilderness that is our hearts to we begin to appreciate the joy that is ever present around us in creation. We seldom look beyond our angst and anxiety riddled life that we can experience the joy that is close to our hearts. In leaving the things that concern us behind we achieve the fulfilment of our hearts. It is like going on a long expected holiday and actually taking time out to relax. We take holidays but we seldom actually relax. Many will be going off at this season to be with family whom they have not seen for sometime. Yet, I know that that will not necessarily be a time of putting away the concerns that trouble us. Nine times out of ten there will be concerns raised over kids and grand kids that will add to the concerns and anxiety. Rather we need to let those disappear, let our families relax and not burden us with the pettiness of life that raises our anxiety so that we can truly let go and let God.

 

A cry from the wilderness

 We spoke last week of prophecy and prophets which move us on in the Advent cycle to the candle that symbolises faith, peace and the journey into a place of new beginnings, Bethlehem. John cried out in the wilderness to a people who had lost their faith and were living in a time of violence. A prophet at a specific time and place calling in a setting bereft of life to bring new meaning and new life into the lives of the people of the covenant. A call from the deserted places of our lives to incarnate a faith that glows with the power of love and peace. In moving towards the incarnation we recognise that our faith journey often ends up in the wilderness. The wilderness of disappointment and solitude. A wilderness that is founded upon our own deserted dreams and aspirations burnt to dust by the grind of daily life in an era that does not understand faith and its fulfilment in our lives. In looking at John's call from the wilderness there is a point where we need to understand that the call that comes from God often comes from a wilderness experience.

The present day is perhaps very similar to the Middle East at the time of the incarnation in terms of violence and division. The nations of the world are divided in terms of how or what peace means; on how to manage or support environmental change and other needs that affect all peoples. There is no possibility of dialogue within the true meaning of listening but rather a continual babble of wants and desires that affect the world's abilities to respond together as humanity; rather than individual needs and requirements for advancement or perceived progress in wealth and prosperity for a few. There are numbers that call from the devastation of their lives who live in deserts created by selfish others who look only to profit from the misery of others. We just have to look at the response to efforts to bring the world back to some semblance of normality in the aftermath of COVID to see how sense is a small voice that is besieged in the desert winds of denialists and those that are anti anything to do with ensuring health and well being. In many respects the faith groups of the world are just as divided and are unable to bring some sort of hope and peace to those who have been devastated by the ravages of COVID and war.

Future peace is brought with dialogue and understanding

In the deserted places of our hearts we have no peace and we yearn for something to fill the emptiness. Our hope that we carried over from last week is a nascent shoot in the middle of nothingness that we supply with our faith to help it to grow in a manner that brings peace rather than confrontation. God calls us towards peace not towards violence and as people who journey in faith we need to understand that our relationships need to be built on peace. Our current age allows and encourages us towards confrontation by giving us binary decisions to make rather than seeing new beginnings in an atmosphere of listening and understanding. The desert allows us to remove all the clamouring from our lives and allows us to listen for the persistent voice that is quietly calling us to freedom and peace.  A call that has resounded through the ages and is culminated in the incarnation of Christ who shows us the way forward through acceptance and dialogue.

We ourselves cannot be complacent when we hear God call to us and just accept the status quo. Rather we must actively seek God's blessing upon us so that we can embark towards new ministries and new ways of doing things for God's rule. Only when we manifest God's love in our lives and open the dialogue that is necessary to bring reconciliation and healing between peoples in our communities will we begin the enact God's call. It is all very well for us to pray and speak about how wonderful God is but without changing how we act in our lives we will be no closer to bringing God's peace and encouraging our faith to burgeon and lighten the load that is on the community in which we live. We face a new world out there, one that has been forged in the fires of COVID and denial of change. In facing that new world we need to place our faith in God's presence and listen to God's voice leading us towards God's peace.

The promise of a new beginning

 The liturgical year starts today in the Christian calendar. We are now four Sundays before the celebration of the incarnation entering into a period of solemnity and waiting for the event of Christ's presence. The Advent candle wreath is lit for the first time  and we are reminded that this Sunday is about the prophets who foretold the coming of the Christ child, much as Jeremiah does in the reading set for today (Jer. 33:14-16); a prophesy of hope. A prophesy that a new branch will come out of the the solid tree of David the king of ancient Israel, perhaps a new King that throws of the bondage of colonialism. This prophesy is made in a number of ways by several of the prophets in some form or another but what does it portend for us in this day and age when prophesy is no longer listened to having been fulfilled in the birth of the Christ child?

I think that we need to re-look at this purposively for ourselves and not as if it has been fulfilled but something that is constantly present as a nucleus of change in a chaotic world. It presents us with a challenge that is an invitation to prepare for something wonderful and fulfilling. All prophesy is an invitation to a new beginning and a new future as it displaces what we think is our future and introduces us to something unexpected. Perhaps what we need in the present time is to listen once more to a true prophesy from God and not the false prophets of the world of politics and entertainment. In looking forward to the incarnation we look forward to a moment of change as God's presence enters the world of creation. In the same way prophesy initiates that change by giving to us a glimpse of the future and what it could be like if we were to listen to God's voice.

Prophecy tells us what could be not what will be

Christ speaks about the idea of prophesy predicting the second coming as he turns to the parable of the fig tree (Lk. 21:29-31). The prediction of change which will interrupt our own world view so much so that we will find ourselves grasping for new life. It is always easier to see the expected changes that the world brings upon us. It is easy to see and forecast economic and changes to how government is going to work in terms of policies and the future. It is much more difficult to predict and make ready for changes in the heart of a community as these changes inevitably begin in the hearts and minds of people away from the public arena. Yet, those signs and those visions are often the first indication we have of a change in the way our lives are lived. Perhaps one such is the way we are seeing different people coming forward in local elections around the country. People we would otherwise not expect to be placed in positions of authority and trust. These are small yet definite signs of change within the political environment that may explode onto the bigger stage in the future. It is these and similar foretellings within our faith that we need to pay attention to determine God's presence and work in our communities.

In looking forward to the incarnation we are also looking forward to Christ's presence or second coming. In looking at this time to the birth of a child and the incarnation we perhaps need to realise that the signs of prophesy that were present in scripture were dismissed, in a manner of speaking, as the expectation was not the reality. For us, this is a reminder that our expectation of return is perhaps not what we conceive from our interpretations but rather what God conceives for us. We perhaps need to prepare without expectation of what we think is Christ's coming but by ensuring that our hearts and minds are filled with the love of God for each other and build our community so that we may become blameless before God's presence as Christ is made known to us (1 Thess. 3:12-13). We fully understand the way of the world and can read the winds of change within our normal processes and world but we rarely perceive the things connected to our faith in as certain a manner as we do the mundane. We rarely pay attention to the prophesies of God that tell of a future that is built on love. We cannot conceive in our world something that is simple as we look for the complex. Yet prophesy at the heart is a call to change which is small and yet makes room for a greater understanding than we have today.

Christ's reign precludes violence

 At the end of the liturgical year we celebrate what has traditionally been known as Christ the King or more recently the coming of Christ's reign. It is perhaps strange that as we give honour to those who have suffered as a result of violence within the home we use words such as king. However, we first need to understand that archaic world views and misogynistic interpretations of scripture has created many situations in the past. Much of this has been the result of a male orientated view of faith and the representation of God in terms of male genderisation. In looking at the history of the church it can be seen that around the time of Paul and shortly thereafter there was a concerted push towards male domination of the burgeoning religious movement founded on Christ. Much of today's celebration is around Kingship because the main ruler was conceived of being a King in earthly terms. Actually. a nuanced mis-interpretation of the word basiliea. This word has been interpreted in terms of physicality of a kingdom rather than the more nuanced understanding of rule or dominion. 

This is made extremely clear in the dialogue between Herod and Christ in John's gospel (Jn. 18:33-37) which we have heard read today. In the normal translation we hear Herod asking are you the "king of the Jews" this could and perhaps should be translated as a question as to whether Christ is the "ruler of the Jews". This is a very different content as Christ goes on in the conversation to say that his 'dominion is not of this world' (Jn. 18:36). He is not talking about something physical but something much more abstract and perhaps powerful. By speaking in terms of kings and kingdoms, we are speaking in terms of physical constructs that are often associated with violence and domination within their sphere of influence. We are legitimising the use of such violence and when we intrude on that the concept of the home being the man's kingdom we beget violence and cruelty. This is an inherited and archaic way of looking at our current concept of society and one that is perpetuated through time by our acceptance and reliance on tradition.

Dance to God's rule not kingship

Let us change that as we reflect this day on the concept of rulership and the concept of Christ's dominion in our lives. This is not a Kingdom but rather an authority which guides us and gives us the direction that leads us into a new way of doing things just as new growth occurs following rain and nutrients (2 Sam. 23:4). It is something we celebrate and not hide a way in shame as it rises above our worldly concerns and reflects God's love into the world. No matter what account we read of the life and teachings of Christ there is one thing that it characterises and that is the acceptance of women as well as a concern for the status of women in a predominantly male society. This teaching is continued into much of the early writings of the burgeoning church and it is not until later that a clear misogynistic view becomes increasingly apparent changing the course and theological understanding of human relationship. God and Christ's rule is clearly one that functions in love and peace rather than in violence and war. 

Christ's reign is not here as we well know from the abuse within the community and within families from all cultures and religious denominations. Our start as Christians is within the Gospel teachings of Christ that are based on God's love for all of creation and not on later theologising influenced by human society and world view. In our celebration of Christ's reign and rule we must be open to God's love and the dictates of the Spirit that tells us to love our neighbours as our selves. We cannot see our relationships in term of conquest or violence but rather in terms of love and building. It is not easy and it is not the common way of society because it means sacrifice of self over the other. A community that is built on this form of relationship, that is one based on the concept of God's love, is a community that is strong and freed of the necessity to hide its shortcomings and poor decisions as it learns through its mistakes rather than casting blame on the other for its own detriments. Such a rule as NT Wright has said is not an optional extra for those who believe in Christ but the essence of our community.

Speaking in honesty

 I wonder if we will ever really be able to speak with honesty in this day and age. I am certain that all of you that read or hear these words will have a problem and say "But I do!". Yes, I am sure many of you do speak honestly and some even speak bluntly about what they see, hear and feel irrespective of the feelings of those that hear. However, I am also pretty sure that you do not speak honestly all the time and in fact you probably do so in order to protect someone close to you. Also we often do not speak honestly because we are afraid of upsetting someone or it is against the norms of society. Just such an issue is death. We come up with all sorts of fake well sounding euphemisms for death. I remember my mother on the death of my father being told how sorry the person was that she had lost her husband so suddenly. My mother's response was "Madam, I would be foolish to have lost him but he is dead!"; much to the horror of the speaker. It is in these ways that we have all lost the ability to speak honestly in the company of those we are. It of course becomes worse the more we rise in prominence within society as we have to watch the p's and q's of political correctness.

Speak with the voice of the Spirit

Sometimes I feel that we in the church have lost our ability to speak strongly and honestly about faith and the journey of faith. We are sent out into the world to proclaim the Good News, the Gospel and this is what Christ asks of us. So it is interesting for us to listen with our hearts to what the Spirit is saying to us when we do that because I am fairly certain that most of us when speaking about our faith utilise theology, or our ability to talk about God. I am not saying we should not do that but what I am saying is that we have to take care that we are actually allowing the Spirit to speak (Mark 13:11) and not our own faulty understanding to speak. In hearing what others say to us we are equally guilty in disbelief especially when they say something contrary to what we believe. In doing so we may miss the spark of the Holy Spirit uttering truths to us which are contrary to our pre-conceived ideals and ideas (1 Sam. 1:13-14). It is only when we allow the Spirit to speak through us and we listen for the voice of the Spirit can we begin to truly discern what God wants from us.

One of the issues for all those of the Christian faith is that we are quite muddled in what and how we speak about our faith. I suggest that most people speak about theology and not about the Gospel or rather their perceptions of what theology suggests is the Gospel. The injunction to truth telling is throughout our scriptures and the injunction about the Gospel comes prior to any theological interpretation of Christ's ministry. We to often rely on our own understanding of what the Gospel means to try to convey the message of truth that is inherent in Christ's message. Christ clearly states that it is for us not to be concerned about what we speak but to rely solely on the Spirit as the Spirit is the one that has already prepared what we say. For us the uncomfortable fact is that we are much more comfortable with our own understanding of the Gospel than that which God wishes to pass on through the words of Spirit and truth. Our frailty and our own recognition suffer if we feel we depart from the words that we think are truth and the words or doctrine or message that we wish to convey.

All this may seem heretical or not what the Gospel is about but in reality we need to start to listen to the Spirit that God sent rather than to our own spirits. In speaking about our faith we have firstly to speak with honesty, not our own honesty but the honesty of the Spirit that thrives within us. We are asked to speak about our faith and our faith journey we can only do that when we allow God's Spirit to speak for us. It may seem that what we say or do is contrary to what we think we should say or do but then we need to have sufficient faith to rely on God's presence. It is not as if we need to be timid in faith but rather bold knowing that Christ has been and is our high priest offered and offering up for us the sin which is inherent in us but is no longer (Heb. 10:11-ff). Only in faith can we be assured that God speaks through our actions. The moment we let ourselves to be without faith and rely on our own strength do we fall and not speak the Gospel.

All the Saints

 In celebrating all the saints this year it is perhaps something of an impossibility to not first understand what we mean by celebrating all saints. I am sure that most of us can rattle of the name of at least a few saints, particularly as a number of us are probably named after such saints. Also when we refer to the saints more often then not we are referring to some old or not so old stuffy people who acted in a manner that was pleasing to the church, who left a legacy for us to emulate. Perhaps that is a bit harsh but there is a whole rigmarole around the manufacture of a saint in the eyes of traditional church. Much of it is to do with the proof of miracles and wonder working in their name. Not only that but within the jurisdiction of the Catholic church it sometimes takes years before a saint is recognised. Is that what this day is about, some stuffy old folk who have had the church recognise their deeds?  Are they all dead, as seems to be implied by our readings for today from the Wisdom of Solomon and the raising of Lazarus?

We revere those who are seemingly the saints of the church and more often then not those we revere are dead. It is only on rare occasions that we seem to suggest that someone is a living saint. Those that are labelled as such are often extraordinary in our eyes. Yet, in scripture especially when we look at Paul's letters the people of the way are often referred to as saints. Paul quite often states "Give my greetings to the saints" or some similar words. What in deed does the word actually mean over and above the attribution we give to it? Well saint comes from the Latin, sanctus, which means holy, so in this case saints are holy. If we remember from scripture and elsewhere we are asked to make ourselves a holy people acceptable in God's sight. We also at the end of each eucharistic service present ourselves as living sacrifices, i.e. make us living holy people. So who actually should we be honouring today is it those who have shown us exemplary records of behaviour or is it something simpler?

We are all the saints

If, we are to believe the writings of Paul and others we have to change our way of thinking and on All Saints day actually celebrate all the saints. We are so hung up with tradition that we neglect to understand that today celebrates the lives of those who follow the path that Christ has set. Once we understand this we can begin to celebrate our own paths to Christ as the saints of the present day. This does not mean that we neglect those who have gone before but rather to understand their meaning for us as the current saints of today. The descriptions and our scriptures that celebrate those who have been described as saints let us know how to behave and how to create community so that we with all the saints can celebrate God's presence amongst us. Nothing promises an easy life and nothing promises that there will be no hardship but what is promised is that at the end of the day we will be accepted with grace and peace such that we will shine as gold (Wis. 3:3b, 7). 

Like Lazarus our bindings will be undone and we will be set free (Jn. 11.44) even when we have been abandoned as if dead and destroyed (Wis. 3:3). It is when we accept the vision of God in our hearts and bring that glory into our communities because of who we are. We are reviled for telling the truth but in our truth telling we judge the nations or at least those who assume power. In accepting the cross of Christ we also accept the burden that comes with it. That burden is the burden of truth and love something that those of the current age have abandoned as we have seen so often in the recent political past. We are too often discouraged by not appearing to make any progress or we are too easily dissuaded by those around us who have committed themselves to a modernity that discourages our own community interactions as divisive rather than bond forming. Yet, the saints continue to form bonds that are beyond the ephemeral bonds of today. Bonds that last lifetimes rather than the few minutes of popularity that is the grasping of modern society and the drug of choice, instant fame or infamity to be forgotten when the next instant appears. Our bonds are bonds that last forever and are sought not for fame but for hope and love. Let us dedicate ourselves as saints of today's church who bring hope and truth into the world around us.