Springfield Lutheran Church

How many “Wise Men” were at the manger, and when did they arrive? Christmas Eve? Christmas Day? Perhaps sometime later (Epiphany or even later than that?). What really was the Bethlehem “star”: perhaps a comet (like the current “Christmas comet Lovejoy” seen here). Or, maybe an astronomical conjunction of planets, combined with an astrological “reading” of meaning and prophecy. And, who got it right, Matthew’s account or Luke’s: did the Holy Family flee to Egypt, awaiting Herod’s death and a safe return some years after Jesus’ birth, or did they simply “settle down” to life in Nazareth and take part in having Jesus grow up like any other kid from that “backwater” town (Nazareth’s reputation: “can anything good come out of Nazareth?”–John 1:46).

Speculation about these things have circulated for centuries. Both the faithful and those who doubt–the genuinely concerned and even the “fringe” of the faithful and the skeptic, respectfully– mull over the Christian claims and speculations about the Incarnation. They are often used as platforms for supporting or debunking their own opinions. I find this all fascinating, and good fun, but not worth getting into what I call “theological rock fights” about what inevitably comes down to be side-shows to the main attraction of faith.

We may find it humbling to be reminded that God did all this “Jesus business” without anyone’s permission. Frankly, what we do with the angel’s announcement to the shepherds, “unto you (all) is born this day…”,  is the essential question to respond to. It is the “plural you” that first bids a response from us. And then comes the “individual you” that each one of us has to deal with. Lutherans generally don’t buy into the “personal Lord and Savior” appeal of “decision theology” that other evangelicals champion. Although, Luther himself made a pretty big deal about the “gurgling babe” born “for you,” the Bethlehem child apprehended by each believer’s heart as a life-saving encounter.

Ah well….Perhaps it is enough and proper to simply sit and wonder for a day or two that “unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.” –Isaiah 9:6

Merry Christmas to all. Really. Now and always.

“You shall conceive and bear a son…” 

So said the angel Gabriel to Mary. We are at the start of what I like to call “Christmas Week”; why wait till starting with Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and do the 12-Day routine? (I’ll do that too, but that’s another column).

Getting back to the angel and Mary. Artists have done their best to capture the event as seen in this rendering here. As an essential part of the Christmas story, we are invited into our own imaginative attempts to wonder what it would have been like. My own take is that when a genuine encounter with the Holy takes place, the first response is usually one of fear. Abraham and Sarah come to mind; Moses and his encounter(s) with Yahweh have that aspect; Elijah and his hiding in a cave certainly had that as a component, too. Fear (and disbelief) is there with Mary’s “kinswoman” Elizabeth (miraculously pregnant with John the Baptist) and her husband Zechariah. That the angel says for Mary not to fear confirms the  very human aspect of this event. 

I have never knowingly met an angel. Although the New Testament letter to The Hebrews says that we ought to be kind to strangers, for we may be “entertaining angels unawares.” Frankly, I would be scared spitless in the presence of such a creature, known or unknown; I think any of us would pick upon some sort of “vibe” if one popped by, don’t you think?

The movie/TV angels are great for what they are, with  Cary Grant, or Nicholas Cage, John Tavolta, or Della Reese acting those parts. Yet they are still limited. Especially compared to one that had a message like Gabriel had to deliver to Mary. 

Nonetheless, Mary gets over whatever fear she may have had: she listens, agrees, waits, and conceives. The whole “virgin birth” squabbles for centuries are beside the point for me; I’m content to hold it as a true matter of faith, yet ultimately unanswerable for many good reasons. What matters, anyway, is the main function of the idea that Mary was ready, and willing, to be the “God-bearer” (“Theotokos” in Greek). And further that we, too, can bear/bring God’s grace to others if we listen to what God wants done with us. We are all called to be “pregnant” (!), if you will, with such grace-full news: “God saves!” that is what Jesus’ “Emanuel/God-with-us” name means. Wonder about that with me during this “Christmas Week.”  Where can it also lead us, very similar to (and different from) the way it changed with Mary’s life forever?

During Advent we traditionally hear the texts from prophets that have been used, for example, to promote the arrival of Jesus, born in Bethlehem: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,  though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times”– Micah 5:2  

The “Wise Men” also perceived the place of Bethlehem as necessary for such a birth (Matthew 2). Other prophecies about what kind of kingdom would occur have been attributed to Isaiah. In Isaiah 9:2-7 is the famous “unto us a child is born…” passage, and the names for him as “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father”, and “Prince of Peace”.

Isaiah 11:1-9 picks up on this image of a reign of peace with “the peaceable kingdom” passages. These have inspired artists for centuries, including the outrageous and improbable scenes of wolf with lamb, leopard with goat, calf next to lion, cow cozying up to bear…. A “little child will lead them” (v.6), the infant “will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child will put his hand into the viper’s nest” (v.8). All “getting along” rather well!  

We don’t have any of those animals at home; we do have cat and dog, and, as these pictures show, it’s not quite the peaceable kingdom at our house.   Nonetheless, the imagination of such a rule or reign fits in well with what this season is supposed to bring about. In fact, one does well to get familiar with the  writings of  scholar Walter Brueggeman to have a beginning grasp about all this.  It serves us well enough now to simply say that the reign of the “Prince of Peace” has yet to fully take hold. Yet my wonderings, amidst all the anything-but-peaceful world we live in today, is to ponder what a horribly ruined world we would have if it weren’t for people of “good will”, spanning the centuries, motivated by the teachings and example of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. South African believer Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and most recently Nobel Prize winner  Leymah Gwobee from Liberia serve as examples of determinately following the peaceful lead of their Lord, against horrific odds and life-threatening opposition.

Our own day-to-day situations are seldom quite so despairing as those faced by (Anglican) Bishop Tutu and (Lutheran) Ms. Gwobee. Should they be that way? As faithful followers of Christ here in America where matters of faith and its applications are an option, an “elective” activity  for most of us–well, that is certainly a fair queston to ask. Here’s my “short” answer to that: the truth is that injustice knows no national or personal boundary. You and I, then, have our own situations, big and small, where an approach by peace, with mercy, grace, forgiveness, reconciliation, compassion–not violence or indifference – is a call to usher in the kind of peace that Jesus was born for, lived into, and went to the cross and accomplished for this whole world–cats and dogs included. Such is an Advent hope with some challenging “grit” placed before us; live into that kind of call.

“Watch…”

We are at Advent now, the four weeks prior to Christmas. It is a season set apart in its own way, and not simply a way to “countdown to Christmas.” The word means “to come”, as in actively waiting for Jesus to come into our world, not only by remembering his first arrival in Bethlehem; and, not only at the end of time to bring about God’s completion of the kingdom. We are right now to be engaged in “in the meantime” to bring forth God’s alternative kingdom of mercy, grace, and justice.   

Unlike the fading limitations of the popularly marketed “Purpose Driven” approach, it’s a time of deep reflection about matters of faith and service to others in His name that go beyond a ”40 day” mentality. Advent themes also have to do with Christ’s Second Coming, but not at all in the cheesy “Left Behind” series way (one of the best bumper stickers yet seen in this regard is “When the Rapture Comes, Can I Have Your Mercedes?”). That Christ will come again is part of the Christian claim, but it has much more to it than getting worked up about speculative nonsense regarding who gets to be in the kingdom, and who gets hammered by God–and the “Tribulation Force” malarky. Enough of that already.  

I can even understand how someone who has no interest or connection to matters of faith would think that any of this would be worth pursuing; I get it, and I’ve heard it too, and from some very thoughtful agnostics. Yet my own preference about Advent is the traditional one. And I maintain that even those who get sidetracked about matters of faith or non-faith can be drawn toward the richness of what many of us, throughout the world, traditionally pursue, if they really want to know what Advent is about.

Even so, the “Wondering” for this week is purposely evasive: “Watch.” Watch around for evidence of God at work, hopefully mimicked by and embodied within those who claim to follow Jesus. See the kingdom coming. Take time to explore what it means, starting here online, or better yet, at worship these crisp Sundays.

“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, in order to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” —Matthew 6:1

This part of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” is a favorite piece of scripture for many. The whole chapter deals with what I call “religious grand-standing” and its consequences: don’t ”show-boat” your generosity to those in need; keep your prayers between yourself and God and not to impress hearers by your supposed eloquence; and, go about your daily activities without calling attention to your own piety. The chapter ends (verse 20) with another famous quote: “For where you treasure is there your heart will be also.”

I bring this up not simply because the NFL quarterback Tim Tebow is in the current news cycle (usually two weeks, tops); his very obvious faith and expressions of it, mingled with a (so far) ”ho-hum” entrance into the wild world of professional football, have given him grief. Folks are taking sides with him, and against him. Don’t people have better things to do? (And the unfolding mess at Penn State puts this Tebow tussle into perspective). I will say, though, that it certainly appears that some of this he brought onto himself with his overtly evangelical Christian background, and, some of it is sourced from  a ”let’s find something–anything!–to gang up on a personality” mentality that occupies some folks’ point of view nowadays. In other words: if it wasn’t Tebow and this issue, it would be something and/or someone else for people like this to gripe about…. 

Back to Matthew 6 and my “grandstanding” bit, and an answer that is found on my office desk. Here’s how it reads (from CrossMarks Christian Resources):

An  Amish man was once asked by an enthusiastic  young evangelist if whether he had been saved, and whether he had accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. The gentleman replied, “Why do you ask me such a thing? I could tell you anything. Here are the names of my banker, my grocer, and my farm hands. Ask them if I have been saved.”

This response, it seems to me, goes a long way to answer our question about proper expressions of faith: see the humble acts of faith produced in a person’s life (and often done without expectation of a “reward” from God, or, any human). Another “proverb” along these lines goes like this: “you are the only Bible some people will ever read.” One more: “Walk the walk, don’t just talk the talk.”

Or, as Jesus said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

I hope you would agree that we need more of this approach and less of the other. It’s not going to make any news cycle. But it will likely show the proximity of what we treasure, where our hearts are located, and how God’s kingdom genuinely comes around.