Working on Christmas

December 25

Anyone who has been around a newborn baby knows that the work doesn’t stop. Labor is aptly named—it is labor. And once there is this baby…the ―labor continues. The day to day-ness, the hour to hour-ness of newborns is a wonder and an obligation.

I’ve always wondered about those of us in churches. All the work, all the events leading up to Christmas—all the work to get the baby born…and then? Then, small numbers in worship, days off, a lessening of excitement and attention—even though we know, with real babies, the adventure has just moved to an even more urgent level!

So, with a hope that our attention does not wane, Christmas greetings to all! And a hope that we continue our work: our holy work to understand who we are as God’s children, and who this Jesus is to us.

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If you’re looking for a Christmas ―assignment, here is a Christmas gift from writer Frederick Buechner – ―Emmanuel.

"Christmas is not just Mr. Pickwick dancing a reel with the old lady at Dingley Dell or Scrooge waking up the next morning a changed man. It is not just the spirit of giving abroad in the land with a white beard and reindeer. It is not just the most famous birthday of them all and not just the annual reaffirmation of Peace on Earth that it is often reduced to so that people of many faiths or no faith can exchange Christmas cards without a qualm.

"On the contrary, if you do not hear in the message of Christmas something that must strike some as blasphemy and others as sheer fantasy, the chances are you have not heard the message for what it is. Emmanuel is the message in a nutshell. Emmanuel, which is Hebrew for "God with us." That's where the problem lies.

"The claim that Christianity makes for Christmas is that at a particular time and place "the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity" came to be with us himself. When Quirinius was governor of Syria, in a town called Bethlehem, a child was born who, beyond the power of anyone to account for, was the high and lofty One made low and helpless. The One whom none can look upon and live is delivered in a stable under the soft, indifferent gaze of cattle. The Father of all mercies puts himself at our mercy. Year after year the ancient tale of what happened is told raw, preposterous, holy and year after year the world in some measure stops to listen.

"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. A dream as old as time. If it is true, it is the chief of all truths. If it is not true, it is of all truths the one that people would most have be true if they could make it so.

"Maybe it is that longing to have it be true that is at the bottom even of the whole vast Christmas industry the tons of cards and presents and fancy food, the plastic figures kneeling on the floodlit lawns of poorly attended churches. The world speaks of holy things in the only language it knows, which is a worldly language.

"Emmanuel. We all must decide for ourselves whether it is true. Certainly the grounds on which to dismiss it are not hard to find. Christmas is commercialism. It is a pain in the neck. It is sentimentality.

"It is wishful thinking. The shepherds. The star. The three wise men. Make believe.

"Yet it is never as easy to get rid of as all this makes it sound. To dismiss Christmas is for most of us to dismiss part of ourselves. It is to dismiss one of the most fragile yet enduring visions of our own childhood and of the child that continues to exist in all of us. The sense of mystery and wonderment. The sense that on this one day each year two plus two adds up not to four but to a million.

"What keeps the wild hope of Christmas alive year after year in a world notorious for dashing all hopes is the haunting dream that the child who was born that day may yet be born again even in us. Emmanuel. Emmanuel."

Advent Advice

Among the single best advice I have ever received in ministry came from one of my first supervisors: “Never forget that people are different” she told me.

Simple, obvious, often overlooked or underestimated. Can this wisdom ever be more true than during Advent? For every household that fills these days with Christmas carols and the smell of baking, there is a family where the pain of loss still hangs so heavily that everything seems to be in slow motion. For each ad enticing us to consumption that reaches our mailbox or inbox, there is a village thousands of miles away where a mother is figuring out how to stretch 3 days of food rations to feed a family for a week or more. Advent under the tree at Rockefeller Center feels distinctly different than another December spent in a prison yard in Texas.

“Never forget that people are different.”

Advent offers a way through this. It offers a way with all these differences. Advent discipline – the quiet, the watching, the waiting – leads to joy. But it is a joy that is rooted in humility and in a sense of expectation that we cannot create that joy on our own. Sometimes the frenzy and busyness of this month seems to create the myth that if we work hard enough, shop long enough, bake diligently enough, we can create the joy we so desperately want.

“Never forget that people are different.”
 
If this Advent finds you in harmony with your life, thank God. If this Advent finds you disrupted or even shattered by where you find yourself right now, you too can thank God. The thanksgiving for the harmony is gratitude for a God who fulfills promises. The thanksgiving for the disruption is a greater challenge, but it is the gratitude that a God whose love was borne out on the cross will go to any length and plunge to any depth to give us a hope that will not fail us, even in the hardest times.

How is Advent going for you so far?

How is Advent going for you?

No, not how far along are you on your gift-buying list. Not how many cookies you have baked. Not whether your tree is up and decorated yet. Those can be wonderful things at the heart of any celebration. But, they are not Advent.

Advent is the gift of time we are given for watching and waiting. For being stretched in expectation that comes from the contemplation for what God may be doing today or may yet do tomorrow. Advent has always been meant (well, at least until that last century) to be the quietest, least frenzied season of the year.

Everything in life requires some compromise and accommodation. I doubt if we could shut down the Christmas machine of our culture even if we wanted to. So, how about this: one day in the next three weeks of quiet and contemplation with all the “to-do lists” put in a drawer for the day. Too much? How about 20 minutes each day the rest of the month where you do nothing but quietly take a walk or stare out a window.

The end of all this is not with ourselves. It is that we be given time enough to contemplate our place in God’s world and in God’s purposes of love and justice so that, having considered such important values, we can act on them. We can be the love, the justice, the peace, the comfort for which our world is so desperately hungry.

(Photo credit:  freefoto.com)

Health Care Discussion at church this Thursday

This Thursday – December 3 – from 7 to 9 p.m. at Grace Covenant we’re going to gather folks to talk about health care. What we’re NOT going to talk about is which current bill is the best or whether The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times editorial page as it right. What we ARE going to talk about is how we, as people of faith trying to follow Jesus, should participate in this national discussion. What theological, ethical, moral values are at stake here?

We’ve got seven members of our congregation working in different areas of the health care system to start us off by talking personally about their values and their challenges.

More information is on the web site (www.gcpcusa.org) under the “What’s Happening Now” tab. I hope you can join us for this important discussion.

Heath Care and Faith

I wonder how many column inches in papers and video minutes have been consumed in the last few months on the debate over health care in the United States?  With all the talk and all the opinions, the role of our faith in how we view this issue has been mostly ignored in the national discussion.  Much of what is being discussed - from every political perspective - has faith and ethics values quietly laced into their commentary. 

At Grace Covenant, we are going to gather on Thursday December 3 from 7 to 9 p.m. to discuss health care from the perspective of our faith and values.  Several of our members who are active in or related to the heath care field will offer their thoughts and we'll use their thoughts as a guide to discussion.  We will follow up with future meetings to get more focused on individual topics, but thought this was the place to start.  I hope you can join us.

A Mid-November Slice of Life at Grace Covenant

There are so many things bouncing around our community life right now.

This Sunday is Children’s Sabbath which is an opportunity to draw on our children and youth more intentionally for leadership in worship. That is something we’re trying to do beyond one special Sunday. Many of you commented on how meaningful it was to have our children bring the communion elements forward on All Saints Day. We are looking for ways to include children and youth more deeply and broadly as a regular practice.

There is lots of conversation going on in our community, partially led by Grace Covenant, about trying to do more with homeless women and their children during the day. Most shelters in town “empty out” early in the morning and don’t receive people until the evening. What those who are homeless do between morning and evening is crucial to their getting out of homelessness. There will be much more on this important initiative very soon.

Someone asked me this week if I “sweat out” stewardship pledge totals at this time of year. It’s been a challenging time, to be sure, but I am excited about everything Grace Covenant is doing both within our walls and out in the community right now. I am hoping and praying that we have the resources to do everything we need to do. I am grateful for how everyone has responded. Thank you.

Our Deacons-elect had another training/orientation meeting this morning. I am really looking forward to how this ministry will enhance our church life. Care-giving is happening everywhere at Grace Covenant and these deacons are not inventing caring nor are they “taking it over” from others. They will be there to help us go deeper and to give a breather to those who have worked hard to this point. They also have their eyes open for new opportunities to get all of us doing more in support of those who call this church home.

Defining "saints"

I don't find anything comparable to the magnificent beauty of a soul and its marvelous capacity.
- Saint Teresa of Avila

Every year for our All Saints’ Day bulletin, I pick a dozen or so pictures of people to put on the cover. Some are public figures, famous and well-known. Others are known only to a few. They are a random scattering of “saints.” But by what criteria to we identify saints? Rosa Parks and Mr. Rogers were on the cover a couple years ago. That seemed right. There was a piety and a striving for justice that seemed evident. This year’s choices provoked more thought and soul-searching. The civil rights crusader and singer Odetta is on the cover. She was inspiration for so many and for a movement. Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity is there. He started such an important enterprise, but also struggled with allegations of his personal behavior in the last decade of his life. Ted Kennedy? By his own words, Ted Kennedy considered himself a flawed child of God trying to do better over a lifetime. Eunice Kennedy Shriver is pictured. The Special Olympics. Enough said. And just to balance the political spectrum, Jack Kemp. He did more than most in government over the last 25 years to try to bring equality and dignity to the disadvantaged . Tammy Faye Bakker is there. If you haven’t seen “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” watch it and we’ll discuss. John Hope Franklin, an African-American scholar and historian died this March at the age of 94 and influenced multiple generations of scholars and students in understanding human behavior and oppression. And Norman Borlaug is there--the scientist, inventor, and humanitarian, whose discoveries are estimated to have saved one billion lives worldwide. Borlaug once said: “Almost certainly, however, the first essential component of social justice is adequate food for all.” Norman Borlaug died just a few weeks ago.

It’s an unlikely company, along with Walter Cronkite, Molly Ivins, Dith Pran and Mary Travers. Are they all saints? Do their lives shine with the light of God? I think nearly all of them would say: “some days, yes; some days, not so much.” Just like us. We try, we hope, we strive, we vow to do better, to be better. We live our lives in such need of grace. We also live confidently because though we may never found a movement that improves the lives of millions, or win the Nobel Peace Prize, or inspire throngs through song or word—we live as God’s children. We live halting lives of obedience, trying to be kind, just, peaceful, and loving. Our souls have the capacity for beauty. That’s sainthood.

People Like Her

You notice people like her.
You know what I mean – by how a particular person acts or how they react to situations, you realize without them having to explain to you, what is motivating them.

Several years ago, the church I was serving was having its Stewardship Dedication Sunday. That’s what we’re doing at Grace Covenant this Sunday, November 8. These Sundays normally follow a certain pattern: folks came forward singing a hymn and placed their offering and pledges in a basket. I noticed when this young woman came forward…she looked so joyful, so free. Later I asked her what was going on with her as she did that.

She said: “In the 1930's, my Mom lived in a large house west of town with her parents, siblings and her Aunt. Her father took odd jobs wherever he could find them, and her Aunt worked for the railroad as a secretary. They rented out rooms in the house for extra income. As many as 10 people could be living in the house, with one bathroom. Things were tough. There was no money, no privacy and no relief in sight. But they had a home. They had food. They knew, as trying as the times were for them, they had a lot.
“My Grandmother and Great Aunt would hand out sandwiches to anyone passing by in the alley behind the house on their way to look for work. No questions asked. No judgment. Everyone was hurting. Everyone was hungry. There was not much thought wondering if they should do this, they just did it.
“That's what I grew up with. It's the unspoken language of service. Stop talking about what you are going to do. Don't tell me your plans. Show me. Go into the world and do what you can with what you have and that will be enough.”

For me, that more than explained the freedom I noticed in her.
It more than explained the joy.

Saints and Stewardship

I find hope and support in the fact that All Saints’ Day falls in the middle of our annual stewardship emphasis. It’s not that I think saints are those who “paid their way into sainthood” with extravagant gifts. I see the saints of our lives—those who are “famous” and those who are known only to us—who lived their life with God in open and generous ways. Saints are those who lived life all out—loving, serving, giving, helping, befriending as if there was no tomorrow. Saints are those who devoted themselves to standing for justice and seeking peace as if tomorrow mattered in urgent and vital ways. Saints are those who lived a life with money and possessions that ranged from rich to poor, from well-off to struggling, but regardless of where they existed within that spectrum, they never forgot—not for one day—that life is a gift from God, and everything we have is a gift from God.

So we celebrate All Saints’ Day and we look toward stewardship. Stewardship can be a hard thing. Especially the way the economy struggles, stewardship can seem like such a challenge. The good thing—the best thing, really—is that we have models to help us along the way. You could even say that we are surrounded by a cloud of witness who are supporting us and cheering us on as we live completely and fully as God’s, cherishing every day and everything as a gift.

Purpose

Yesterday in worship, our liturgist Bill Rupp, led us in this prayer of dedication for our offering:
“Lord, these gifts we bring are not payment for services rendered. They are not dues for being part of this church. We know that you have made us with a purpose and we now freely give in our personal response to that purpose. Continue to work your purpose through us. Make us your hands, outstretched on purpose. Amen”

It really struck me that this is exactly what stewardship is all about. Of course the church needs money to operate and do all the things we are trying to do, but it’s really all about PURPOSE. God’s purpose. Our purpose serving God. We’re not trying to earn anything here. It’s about how we can serve.

Saints

Without a doubt, All Saints’ Day is one of the most important days for me in the church. It’s a day to remember those who have gone before us and showed us what means to live out a life of faith. From notable people known by many – Dorothy Day, Flannery O’Connor, Dietrich Bonheoffer – to those who were simply saints to me – Louis, Sybil, Ruby Nell – I think we all have people to whom we owe a deep debt. These are the people who by their public acts or private kindness showed us a live with integrity and grace in God’s world.

Frederick Buechner calls saints “handkerchiefs” that God drops in God’s continual wooing of the world. Graham Greene, in his novel The Power and The Glory, tells of a feeble priest in Mexico who goes terribly wrong with his life, only to realize at the end that the “only things that matters in all of life…is to be a saint.”

This Sunday, we will gather for worship. We will read the names of those in our church who have died in the past year. We will give thanks. We will gather around the communion table to receive the nourishment we need from God to continue on our own paths toward sainthood.

Mark Ramsey

More Motivation

What motivates you in your life?
Companies have made lots of money producing those posters which show Olympic athletes, mountain ranges, and soaring birds to motivate people to excellence. Likewise, bumper stickers have a whole enterprise built around motivation. (“Make it happen!” one announced to me at a stoplight last week. I also saw one, “My ferret can eat your honor student” though I’m not exactly sure what that is supposed to motivate.)
But deeper than that, what motivates you in your life to do or be anything significant? Jesus came to Jericho one day and encounters Bartimaeus, “a blind beggar” who wants Jesus to heal him. It may seem obvious what Bartimaeus wanted and what motivated him to seek out Jesus, but the more I read our text for this Sunday--Mark 10:46-52--the less obvious the real motivation becomes.
We’re tying motivation to stewardship this year—what motivates us to give. Motivation, however, goes to many places in our life, including stewardship. In fact, stewardship in church is about money to be sure, but it also goes to many different places in our lives.
What motivates you in your life?

Motivation

"What's your Mo(tivation)?" is the theme for stewardship/annual giving this year.  I'll be preaching on that on Sunday October 25.  So, what most motivates you to do the important things you undertake in your life?

Is hope a motivator?
How about fear?
Loyalty?

What most motivates you?

New Web Site

We're launching a new web site for the church early next week, probably Tuesday.  It will be updated often so it should be worth using regularly:  www.gcpcusa.org

Become what you receive

That's where we left the Lord's Prayer series that ended last Sunday:  Become what you receive.  If we receive forgiveness, we are to be those who forgive.  If we receive daily bread, we need to share bread with hungry people.  I'm all for habit--for praying something like the Lord's Prayer over and over and over again.  There's a lot to be said for that being a spiritual discipline.  

But to really embrace this prayer, we have to live it.  We have to strive to be the prayer we are praying.  Challenging as that may be, it's the only thing that keeps a prayer like the Lord's Prayer alive in us and in our community.

Thanks for all the great comments and participation through the five weeks.