The Light of Christmas

Even though I am usually pretty strict about “It’s not Christmas yet – it’s Advent!”, I had a very “Christmassy” week:

Muslim friends offered donations of Christmas pajamas and canned goods, wanting to help people in need have a happy Christmas. One of them also purchased a gift for our dove tree, organized by Northborough Helping Hands, collecting gifts for local families who cannot afford to purchase their own. I was deeply humbled and moved by their generosity, contributing to a religious holiday they do not celebrate.

Last Saturday, I was part of an Interfaith Celebration called “Light!” at Congregation B’nai Shalom in Westborough. Representatives of the Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Unitarian-Universalist and Christian faiths came together to listen to music and then broke up into small groups for discussions about their faith and ethnic traditions, and their personal experiences with prejudice. About 160 people attended, all seeking to find peace and understanding in these contentious, divisive times.

This is a photo of the Hindu group, Chinmaya Mission Metro-West, sharing some of their traditional songs about light.  

At the end of the concert, we all sang together Pete Seeger’s “If I Had a Hammer”:

If I had a hammer
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening
All over this land

And I'd hammer out danger

I'd hammer out a warning
I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land…  

I heard many people say, this is what we need right now. We need to come together, talk to each other, learn from each other, and give each other hope.

As we Christians get ready to celebrate what has become the biggest holiday of the year, let us focus on its small beginnings: a newborn child, a young mother, a refugee family – and the light that newborn child brought into all of our lives.

Quoting an old man, John the Baptist’s father Zechariah, as recorded in Luke 1:78-79: “By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”   

May it be so.

Comfort

The passage for the Second Sunday of Advent was Isaiah 40:1-11.

Read it here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/? search=Isaiah+40%3A1-11&version=NRSV

The prophet Isaiah is speaking comfort to his people after their holy city had been destroyed.

The congregation called out what came to mind when they heard the word “comfort”: Tomato soup and grilled cheese; a hug; a soft pillow; sitting in an easy chair on Sunday afternoon, watching football.

Nice….

I then pointed out that the comfort Isaiah was bringing was forgiveness for the sins of the Israelite people.

I also mentioned the “comfort zone” is not always the learning zone. We learn the most when we are not comfortable! When we face the reality that we live in constant tension between what we long for and what is, who we are and who we could be, what we want and what God wants – that’s very uncomfortable. But that raw and vulnerable, honest place is where we get closest to God.

We then read the first question of the Heidelberg Catechism together, written in 1563:

“What is your only comfort in life and in death?”

“That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. 

Therefore, by his Holy Spirit he also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for him.” 

That is our only comfort in life and in death: Jesus.

He is our way out of sin and its painful consequences, and out of our comfort zone, into a new, deep, purposeful life.

Someone said “comfort is a word with muscle.” I like that! Comfort is not just soft and warm and fuzzy, but strong and powerful. When you find comfort in Jesus, you can do anything Jesus wants you to. 

Advent is an opportunity for us to prepare ourselves for Jesus to come into our lives and change us. Advent acknowledges the fact that life is not all pretty and peaceful as we wish it would be – at least on Christmas! Sugarcoating and denying that life is tough and that we are not always the good people we pretend to be, does not move us forward. What will move is forward is facing that grim reality, that we are not always good and life is not always good, and trudging through it. With Jesus. Then we will fully get to experience the comfort and joy that Christmas brings.

Thanks be to God for comfort food, comfy furniture, and the comfort of a friend or family member’s love.

If you like music, listen to our passage from Isaiah, beautifully sung in George Frideric Handel’s Messiah:

https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=8dDjva1ecYo

https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=dnKItt9nSj8 

God Moments

Each Sunday, we ask people to share their God Moments: A time that they experienced God's presence in their lives; or a time that they wished they had; any time that they thought about God during the day.

Usually on Sundays I'm pretty busy leading worship, responding to members of the congregation, organizing last-minute details or making notes in my head of things I need to do for next week. So it's not always a very worshipful experience for me. 

There are always moments when I am deeply moved: when we pray, when we sing, when kids and adults openly share their thoughts and questions. 

Last Sunday I had three very powerful God Moments:

The congregation was sitting in small groups, sharing their highs and lows, reading a Bible passage, talking about it, and then praying for each other. Usually, the last step is uncomfortable and many try to avoid it so I walked around to the different groups, encouraging them to pray. Most of them had already done so. Some were in the middle of it and I didn't want to interrupt. I sensed a very deep, spiritual atmosphere. People were willing to be vulnerable with each other and trust each other. 

That's powerful stuff. I don't think I could ever create that kind of atmosphere, no matter how "well" I pray. This was God's spirit at work.

The second God Moment was when the kids collected ornaments that people had brought to be put on the Christmas tree, items that were meaningful to them. A few people brought photos of loved ones: a grandchild, and a mom who had recently passed away. That gave me goosebumps. The circle of life, and our love on that tree, beautifying the sanctuary for this special season. 

The third God Moment was a gift a church member made to a guest: Our guest asked for prayer for a lot of sadness that she was going through. Our church member had brought the altar flowers in memory of her brother who passed away several years ago. She gave those flowers to the guest to comfort her in her sadness. What an incredibly kind and generous gesture.

The other day in a meeting we were asked to share what we loved the most about the holidays. One person said it seems like people are just kinder to each other. 

I hope that's true. And I hope it will be true the rest of the year as well. 

Praying an ancient prayer for this season of Advent, the time of preparation for Jesus to come into our lives and change our hearts: "Come, Lord Jesus." Come. We need you. 

When Did You See Jesus?

Yesterday, we read the passage from Matthew 25:31-46 (read it here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/? search=MAtthew+25%3A31-46&version=NRSV).

Jesus tells his disciples: “When you feed a hungry person, give clothes to someone who has none, visit someone in prison or welcome a stranger, you are doing all of that for me.”

That’s how we get to meet Jesus: in the faces of those we serve. In the relationships we build with people who push us outside our comfort zone.

Jesus is giving examples, not a complete list of people that we get to meet him through. As a conclusion, he calls them “the least of these who are members of my family.”

And it made me think: Who is the least person in my eyes? Who is the last person I want to have to face? Someone who hurt or disappointed me? Someone who has political and moral views that are completely opposite to mine? Someone who gets under my skin or makes my blood boil? Someone who scares me because their mental or emotional state makes them unpredictable?

Each and every one of them is an opportunity for me to meet Jesus, and to grow in my faith.

How about you? Who is the least or the last person that you want to face and have a conversation with?

They are a chance for you to meet Jesus. They need you, and you need them.

As we are about to begin the season of Advent, actively welcoming Jesus into our lives, let’s keep an eye out for him.

Why and How

At a meeting last week we discussed what the “WHY” of Trinity Church was. Research shows that most businesses and organizations focus on “what” they do and “how.” What people really want to know is “why.”

The same applies to churches. Why do we do what we do?

Most of the answers given revolved around God’s love: We do what we do because we believe God loves us, and all people, and we want to share that love by making life better for people living in our community, by showing compassion and seeking justice.

That’s our “WHY.” Here is one of our “how”s:

On Saturday, we held a Dinner for the Transgender Day of Remembrance, to honor the lives lost to murder and suicide this past year (24 in the U.S. alone), and to educate ourselves about the struggles of transgender people in order to better minister to them.

More and more people are finding the courage to come out, and live into who they really are rather than who society thinks they should be.

One of those brave individuals is Rhon, whom our Trinity community used to know as Rhonda. Rhon painted the transgender flag shown in the photo below, as a gift to us, and a tribute to the courage of those who were born with a biological sex they do not identify with.

Most of us cannot imagine the pain they go through. Our speaker, Taj Smith, said it bluntly: “I came to a point where I either had to change my life, or end it.” He chose life. Many others, often teenagers, cannot bear the pain and choose to end it.

We want to show all of God’s children that they are loved for who they are. That God created them beautifully. One quote we heard in the film we watched was “God does not make mistakes. God created me transgender.”

As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, I invite you to give thanks for who God created you to be. Give thanks for the people who love and accept you as you are. And give thanks for those who are different from you, whom you may have difficulty relating to. They, too, represent the love and beauty of God.

If you would like to learn more, please refer to the following websites:

http://www.transfaithonline.org/

https://openandaffirming.org/issues/transgender/

You may also want to watch the film we viewed: “Voices of Witness – Out of the Box”

https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=QzCANWGsEdc&t=16s

Whom Jesus Is Sending, and Where

During my sermon yesterday, we had a conversation about Matthew 9:35 – 10:23. (Read the passage here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/? search=Matthew+9%3A35-10%3A1%2C+10%3A5-23&version=NRSV)

Jesus had compassion for the crowds because they were “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’”

We agreed that the “harvest” is the work of God, God is the “lord” of that harvest, and we are the “laborers”. But we need more people to do the work.

In the next sentence, Jesus “summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority.” A few verses later, Jesus tells them to proclaim the good news that the kingdom of God has come near, to cure the sick, raise the dead, and cast out demons.

We then talked about what “diseases” we, as his present-day disciples, need to cure. Surely, not physical diseases?

We came up with quite a list:

Poverty, hate, addiction, bias, racism, mental health issues, hopelessness, helplessness, loneliness, emptiness, stress, anxiety. Injustice. Violence. Fixation on material things and appearance.

What qualifies us, little old me and you, to cure those?

My personal opinion: Because we suffer from them (or some of them) ourselves, or have at one point in our lives. We are all “harassed and helpless”, and that’s what qualifies us to reach out to others who are.

Our lives aren’t easier because we have Jesus. None of us are immune to feeling hopeless, helpless, clueless or even worthless. We’ve all been there.

I’m not saying we can cure that for anyone else. But I am saying we can be there with them. We can offer hope and help, support and a sense of being worthy.

The harvest is plentiful. The work of God is a big job! But “harvest” implies there is something to gain. The work of God will bear fruit. And you and I get to be a part of that. We get to see it happen, we get to make it happen, and we get to enjoy the fruit: The unconditional, undying love of God.