A Tiny Box of Pain

I recently was called upon to conduct the graveside funeral service for a six-month-old baby, a relation I had never met. I was particularly moved by the small size of the child's coffin - little bigger than a shoebox - such a tiny box, and filled with pain.  There is so much pain and sorrow and hurt floating around in this child's family, and I've been thinking about the nature of pain. 

The following paragraphs are from the homily I shared at the funeral.  Ultimately, our pain and sorrow in the midst of death and tragedy can remind us of the reason for our hope and faith, and might be the impetus for others to claim faith in Jesus for themselves.  A tiny box of pain can inspire the faith that leads to eternal life, and joy.
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As I’ve been praying and reflecting on the events that have brought us together today, my heart keeps crying out: “why are we here?!”  Six months old babies are not supposed to die, so why are we here?  If God is so good, then why are we here, with all this sorrow and grief ?   Why must we be here and live through this hard thing? WHY?!

Why, indeed…. 

Since there have been people, “Why” has been the cry of the human heart in the face of tragedy and suffering and death.  Christians proclaim to the world that God is good, God is love.  But the world answers back and says “oh yeah? How good is a God who lets little babies die?”  That’s a tough charge to answer because Christian hearts, too, are wrestling with the cry of “why”? 

But the plain fact is that suffering of all sorts exists in the world and our good God allows it.  In the beginning, Adam and Eve would not trust God’s good intentions for them and so they chose to eat the one fruit that God had forbidden.  And ever since, suffering and sorrow has been part and parcel of the human experience. 

We suffer because sin has been released into the world, and the effects of sin are evil and death and suffering and sorrow and pain.  So why are we here? Why are we here to bury a baby? Because sin is loose in the world.

But God didn’t leave us here, living in a world of suffering and without hope.  God loves us, and ever since Adam and Eve, God has been working to get his children back – to get us back.  And to make a way for us, he sent his own son, Jesus.  Jesus, who was fully and completely God, but he was also fully human.  He felt all the things we feel.  He felt joy, but he also felt grief; he felt pain. 

When his friend Lazarus died, Jesus wept in sorrow for him even though he knew he would raise Lazarus from death, bring him back to life, in just a few minutes.  And before he was crucified, Jesus prayed to God his Father and begged him to take away the betrayal and the horrible death he would die.  But in obedience to his Father, and for the love of humankind, he suffered and he died. 

Friends, we are in good company in our sorrow – God knows what we’re feeling because he has felt what we have felt and more.

So I say again why are we here?  Our hearts are already breaking and broken for this child and her parents, but in the middle of this sorrow and pain, our hearts might also be broken for God, for Jesus, who went through so much for our sakes. 

For those of us who have already put our trust in Jesus, we can be reminded today of the reasons for our hope and faith in the loving goodness of God.  We can hope to experience the great mystery of knowing joy even in the face of overwhelming sorrow. 

And for any who don’t believe, well, today might be the day your broken heart begins to soften toward God and the great love he has for each and every one of us.

And now I’ll circle back one last time to the question of the day: why are we here?  We are here to bring this little child to Jesus.  The Gospel contains a story of people who were bringing little children to Jesus.  These were little children, too young to bring themselves, too young to know why they might want to be with Jesus.  Little children like the one we remember today. 

People brought these little children to Jesus and he welcomed them!  “He took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.”  Today we lower this child's tiny body into the earth, …for now.  But we are also here to lift her soul to the arms of Jesus, where he will bless her and love her while she, and we, await his final coming.

Sanctuary

(A little something I wrote back in October 2014 and forgot to share here!)

Art and architecture in the presence of God’s praying and worshipping people take on a special quality, and a thinness develops where some of God’s transcendence can be detected.  Even a humble school auditorium, when used for worship long enough, can become imbued with holiness.  And with ears to hear and eyes to see and souls open to notice, you can sense the properties of heaven – the unseen that overlaps the seen – wherever the Church worships.  As though the building itself takes delight in this special service, and finds some way to show forth its joy in serving.

The worship space of my own church community is an airy, high-ceilinged space, with large clear windows to let in light, and a stained glass behind the altar that does amazing things to the light that enters.  And that is where I usually feel I can detect God’s presence alive in this space.  But other worship spaces have other qualities – different ways of transmitting light – or sound – or texture – or fragrance – or mood.  What qualities of your worship place convey for you God’s unseen presence?

“Sanctuary…”

How delightful to wait in the quiet nave,
to settle… then to simply be. 

Alone - does no one long to share this quiet pause? 
The world, it seems, is all awash in sound and fury,
even “the country” succumbing to the din!

Ah, but here, this blessed place - 
space -
capturing and marking out a quiet void, 
filling it with light and Peace. 

Such a lovely quality to this light,
made heavy by its delicate lack,
absence lending weight to light.

Light enlivened by colored glass, 
reflections,  
refractions,
and unheard echoes of other worlds....

Air that is alive with stillness! 
In a world gone mad with sound,
a gentle balm for the soul,
and sanctuary…. 

Sermon: A Debt Like No Other

(a sermon for St. Peter’s Church, Purcellville, VA, July 20, 2014)
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost:  Romans 8:12-25

Let's start with a show of hands (once your hand is up, just keep it up there!) Who here has now or has ever had: a mortgage?  a car loan? a student loan?  made a purchase on store credit? gotten a payday loan? a personal loan?  or carried a balance on a credit card?  Look around and see that this list covers just about everyone except for kids!

The hands prove that we all know what it's like to be in debt, to be debtors.  Household debt in America is high and growing every year.  We have a LOT of debt, and how do we FEEL about all this debt?  Or rather, how do we feel about our various creditors?

Surely not like this:  "how compassionate of Bank of America that they loaned us this giant pile of cash so we could enjoy this great house!"  "I am just so GRATEFUL to Capital One Auto Finance for helping me buy a newer safer car."  "I can never thank Great Lakes Financial enough for loaning my kids money so they could go to college."

No!  Nobody feels that way about their creditors!  Most of us are ambivalent at best, or fearful, angry or resentful at worst.  That's because financial debt is kind of slavery - we sell a big chunk of our time and freedom in order to have a house or a car or an education.  Or frivolities we can barely recall.  Or food, medicine, or clothing when times are tight.  

We are all debtors - we all owe something to somebody else - and it's not an uplifting experience.  And our experience of financial debt colors our experience of other debts as well, which is where we're starting in our passage from Romans.

"So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh - for if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."  So there it is - debt.  We're debtors.  We owe someone.  But what do we owe? to whom do we owe it?

The "So Then" that opens this passage tells us that what follows it,  is the result of what came just before it.   We are debtors because of the promise given in Romans8:11: "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you."

It's that promise of resurrection life that puts us in the position of being debtors - and although Paul doesn't say it in so many words, it is clear from the context that the debt we owe is owed to the Holy Spirit.  

So here we are:  debtors.  people under an obligation.  We OWE......

And as a society of debtors, we know how we feel about our creditors, and it is not good.  We pay our debts because we said we would.  We pay because we made a deal.  We pay because our creditor is going to take something from us if we don't pay.  We don't pay as a free offering from our love or gratitude.

And because we, and all the people around us, are so steeped in this sort of attitude to our other creditors, it can easily creep into our spiritual lives as well, and we wind up living a faith-life of drudging obligation.

The thought process might go something like this:  "I believe in Jesus as my savior who paid the debt for my sins, so I shall go to heaven when I die.  Therefore, I owe God for that.  What I think I owe is to go to church and give some money, and maybe take my kids to Sunday School.  And I'm going to do "just enough" to keep this creditor satisfied; just enough to meet the minimum required payments.  Because unlike my car loan I can't actually pay off this debt, let alone pay it off early - it continues until the day I die.  In fact, I wouldn't pay this debt at all if I didn't feel a little nervous about losing that promise of "heaven when I die." "

Certainly, we all probably know people who seem to view God and their faith this way.  Perhaps  you yourself are someone who views God and faith this way.  And certainly, any of us, at one time or another, might find that we've slipped, unwittingly, into this view of God and faith for a time.

So there's the problem - we treat our legitimate debt to God as a balance due, and consider God as just another account we keep paid up by means of our religious observances.....

How, then, do we get right with God?

Paul goes on in verse 15 to remind us that "you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption."  So the Spirit - who's presence in us creates the debt we're talking about - this Spirit also makes us adopted children of God.  Children of God!  Oh, wait... but that's just one more thing we "owe" God for, right?  Wrong!

You see, adoption in Paul's time and in Roman culture was a serious thing.  An adopted son became heir to the father, and co-heir with the father's natural-born sons.  And.. any debts or obligations the adopted person may have had to his family of birth were wiped away as if they never existed.  As if he had always and only been a member of the adopted family!

This idea of severing all ties with the past can be difficult grasp in our society where adopted children often feel they need to seek out their birth parents to understand who they really are; in our society full of divorce and reblended families where both parents, and step-parents, hold sway over the children involved.  In our time, being adopted, or being made part of a new family, is rarely the complete and radical transformation of identity that Paul is talking about when he speaks of adoption.

So the notion of just settling into a new family position as "child of God" with all the rights, duties, and privileges thereof,  can be hard to comprehend and accept, because we have no good model of what this sort of transition might look like.

The best we can do, I think, is to look to the example of young children.  Young children just know that they have a special relationship to their parents.  Parents are the people they live with, who are there all the time.  Children presume upon their parents, show both their best and their worst to their parents, make spontaneous gifts to their parents, rail and wail at their parents, ask of their parents  -  and all without any self-conscious notion of being in debt to their parents for their very life and well-being!  Little children do not approach their parents as slaves or servants, begging an indulgence.  They don't ask with any sense that they must repay for what they receive.  They walk right up and say "I want a cookie!"

Simply put, the parent-child relationship is NOT a debt-based transaction!  It is NOT like a mortgage or a loan.  We don't have an obligation to give to God any particular service.  There is no contract, no fulfillment terms.  Once we proclaim our faith and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we become (like him) children of God, and we enter a new relationship, not a new contract.

Any sense of duty-bound obligation we may feel, is our own - it springs from our desire to remain our own person, beholden to no one except by our explicit request and agreement - to keep God at arm's length and subject to our will instead of the other way around.  It comse from our desire to limit what we "owe" to God, to boundaries of our own choosing, rather than accepting and enjoying that we owe every fiber of our existence to an Almighty Creator who loves and cares for us and has adopted us as his very own children.

And what, then,  shall we do when our relationship to God has been overwhelmed by duty and obligation, by a sense of debt and payments owed?  We must remember that the "debt" we owe to God is a debt like no other:  we must simply "be" as young children in relation to God - confident in his love and patience, asking anything, sharing everything, with no fear, no doubt, and offering ourselves to him in love.      Amen

Tokens

Recently, I was quite delighted to receive a token.  It was an actual token: a metal disk about the size of a poker chip, stamped and enameled with the organization's logo on one side, and motto on the other.  It was given, unexpectedly, as an acknowledgement of service.

Receiving this particular token was a highlight of my week, because of both the recognition (especially because it was completely unexpected!), and because of the nature of the token itself.  It's pretty, it's weighty and feels heavy in my palm, it's marked with words and symbols to evoke the essence of the organization, and it's small enough to keep among my possessions for as long as I am in this world to have such things: practically perfect in every way!

This delightful token got me to thinking about other tokens we receive, and I got to thinking about the ultimate token in Christian faith: the sacrament of Holy Communion.  Christians of different denominations believe different things about what the bread and wine (or grape juice) actually "are" after they have been consecrated during the Eucharist. Here is what Wikipedia has to say:

"While all agree that there is no perceptible change in the elements, some believe that they actually become the body and blood of Christ, others believe the true Body and Blood of Christ are really present in, with, and under the bread and wine (whose reality remains unchanged), others believe in a "real" but merely spiritual presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and still others take the act to be only a symbolic reenactment of the Last Supper." 

That is a wide range of belief, but at heart, Communion serves a similar function as the token I received.  My metal token is a tangible reminder and symbol of the reality of my part in a group, and that I have served.  Even if I were to forget about the organization, my part in it remains as real as the token I received.

And all that is also true of the elements of Communion, wherever you may fall on the range of Christian belief.  You receive real bread and real wine, elements that you can taste, smell, see, and feel.  Those elements are taken into yourself, and become part of you.  The reality of bread and wine doesn't disappear at times when you forget about God or are struggling with faith.  The reality of bread and wine remains a "real" physical thing, a thing that can help draw you back when you wander.  A thing that can strengthen you when you feel weak.  A thing whose taste will remind you of the love of God and the power of Jesus to heal and save.  A physical thing that is food for your intangible soul.  God's unique and mysterious token of eternal life.

"Pens with Name Tags," or "Different Ways to Love Your Neighbor"

I work in a church office, which makes my desk a very public space.  There are always people coming in and wanting something from it: a pen, scissors, some tape, and such.  And since people also look for these things when I am not here, I long ago got in the habit of putting my personal supplies away each day.  But people still need pens, right?  And they are the people who pay my salary and those whom I am here to serve - so I keep on the corner of my desk supplies for others, always there and ready for use.  Except… when the users carry them off and don’t bring them back!  Arghh!

And so, prolific labeling has ensued.  The pens have name badges, the scissors are adorned with little flags, and the tape and staple dispensers are tattooed – all in the hopes of reminding the users to bring these items back to the office.  On the surface it may seem the silly antics of a control freak.  But at heart, this labeling is not about some compulsive need I have to control the whereabouts of the office supplies, but rather an attempt to love my “neighbors” as myself:  I want them to have readily at hand the things they need, and to do that things need to come back to their proper places.

The dark side, though,  is to judge those who take and abandon and inconvenience the next person as careless individuals, unconcerned for anyone’s welfare but their own.  But if you think about it, you’ll realize as I have that that is not necessarily true.  We are all wired differently – fearfully and wonderfully made, knit together by our Maker in our mothers’ wombs.  And knit together as the Body of Christ, we all serve different functions.  All cannot be an eye.  All cannot be trackers-of-pens.  For some, it is that very ability to freely abandon an office pen any-old-where that allows them to serve others in ways that someone with different gifts and passions cannot. 

So be of good cheer!  We are all different and we all have different gifts and different ways we serve.

"For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."  Psalm 139:13-14a

Sometimes, however, we deceive ourselves.  Sometimes the “pen nametags” in our lives are not really for the benefit of others (even though we tell ourselves they are!), but rather to satisfy our own preferences and desires.  Sometimes labeling supplies becomes my passive aggressive attempt to shame others into complying with my sense of order and what is right and good.  Sometimes leaving things lie is merely carelessness, or thoughtlessness, or preferring to move on to the next thing rather than finishing up the last one first. 

As long as we do our best to use our gifts for God, though, it’s all good.  The key is to be attentive to what we do, and why we do it, and make changes as necessary.  And when considering the actions of others, it is imperative to give their motives and intentions the benefit of the doubt, assume they are actively intending for good (unless proven otherwise), and remember that they, too, are fearfully and wonderfully made - just different!.

What irritations do you experience from others that you need to re-evaluate?  Which ones may actually be caused by another person’s unique or different way of loving their neighbor, rather than just being an irritating habit? What actions of yours might others misconstrue as thoughtless instead of servanthood? or vice versa?)

Do All Dogs (and Cats!) Go to Heaven?

Last month, my dear little cat, Brownie, reached the end of her life.  She was always a very friendly little girl, and in her old-lady-hood (she made it to 17 years old) sometimes was downright pushy in indulging her affectionate nature.  It was Brownie and her affections who primarily inspired the notion of "cat gravity" in my household.  (You can read my post on that topic here.)

Not real, but still amusing!

Needless to say, her absence has been very noticeable.  And since Brownie is the first pet I've lost since coming to faith in Jesus, I've been thinking about what has happened to her, now that she has died.  Is she simply gone from existence or is her cat-soul in some sort of "kitty heaven" awaiting the new heavens and the new earth at the end of the age?  In a quickie survey of the internet for the opinions of Christians on this question, I found two principal positions: 1) pets don't have souls (or don't have souls of the kind that need to be saved) and so clearly won't  go to heaven; and  2) maybe... it's hard to say based on what is attested in the Bible.

I don't know about you, but as a person who has loved a pet, I find both of those answers inadequate.  The love and affection we feel for our beloved pets makes position (1) feel cold and heartless.  The love and affection we feel for our beloved pets makes position (2) feel simply not a good enough answer.  But why?  Why are those answers so unsatisfactory to us?  Why do I hope I might be reunited with Brownie one day, but I don't care whether I'll ever see again the computer or car or refrigerator or furnace or water-heater that just "died"?

It comes down to relationship.  Human beings are creatures created in God's image in a way that makes us intrinsically different from everything else God created.  We are created for relationship.  Mostly we find those relationships with God and with other people, but our relational nature also draws us to our pets, and we create relationships with them.  And because there is positive, loving relationship, we desire that relationship to be eternal.  It's only natural for us to desire that "all pets go to heaven," so that we can continue the relationship.

But what about you?  What about your family members? What about your friends and colleagues?  Will they (and you!) be in heaven?  For people, at least, we know that they might go to heaven.  There is no question as to whether it is possible - when people die, they "go to sleep" until the final day of judgement, at which time they are judged and either live out eternity in the presence of God (Heaven), or separated from God (Hell)..  The only question is whether a particular person has confessed Jesus Christ as  their Savior - that is the only thing that determines whether a person goes to Heaven.

Despite my short-comings and sins, I am confident that I have confessed Jesus as Lord and will spend eternity in the presence of God.  If, while living in the awe and splendor of God's presence, I have any capacity left to remember and long for my lost pets, then I trust that God will have preserved them and will restore them to me.

It is, however, much more worrisome to think about certain friends or family members or even acquaintances who may be choosing to live eternity separated from God.  My remembrance and longing for their presence in Heaven will not restore them to me then.  God will not override a person's free choice to live separated from God.

God will do what is right for Brownie (and Terra and Rosie and Blackjack and Barney and Angus and Bear and Kojack and Missy and Mikey and Cindy and Bessie and King and Nellie all the other pets that any person has ever loved....).

You and I need to do what is right for the people in our lives: pray for those you know who may not be saved, let your words and deeds and lifestyle show forth as a model worthy of imitating, and talk to them about your faith when God gives you the chance.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."  (John 3:16-17 ESV)

A Perfect Tulip?

 For Valentine's Day, my husband got me a pot of beautiful red tulips.  Because they are potted, and were in full bloom when he bought them, they are already "overblown:" the blooms are no longer the classic tulip shape, but have spread open into a sort of starburst shape.  As I was admiring those overblown blooms this morning, I realized that even though flower professionals would consider them past their prime, nevertheless they were not wilted and were quite beautiful in their own way.

"Perfect" Tulip?  Maybe not...

It occurred to me that this state, considered overblown and past its prime by most observers of tulips, is actually what these flowers are supposed to become.  It is the ultimate destination they are meant to reach, just before they begin to droop and wither: wide open, fully mature, doing everything in their power to attract pollinators to perpetuate their kind.  That is the ultimate purpose of a flower bloom.

Our culture has done a similar thing with people - holding up as the most beautiful, the ultimate, and the best, an "immature" state of being.  Young and dewy, tight-skinned, well-muscled, with a full head of (not in the least bit gray) hair: these are the characteristics to be maintained at all costs, an artificial definition of handsomeness and beauty chosen (rather arbitrarily  in my opinion)  from a narrow range along the path  of what God has meant us to become.

But I contend that so long as the spirit is lively and bright, it gives light to the whole person, and makes beautiful and handsome those badges of living that worldly standards may consider merely old and ugly, imperfect, undesirable  -  overblown.   Silvering and thinning hair, sagging and bagging, lines and wrinkles, stretch marks, scars, and everything of that sort serve as badges of honor - proof that the person sporting them has LIVED!

As creatures of God, what then is our ultimate purpose?  To live our lives from seed to bud to bloom and yes, even to overblown, as flowers in His garden, rejoicing in each and every stage of our being, not yearning either forward or backward to live in just one brief stage.  Ultimately, we each shall be cut, and gathered in God's arms, a riot of color and beauty to decorate God's throne room until the final coming of His kingdom.

"There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens" (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Until my gathering, I shall strive to keep my face turned to Jesus to reflect God's glory, so that I go to him a beautiful flower, mature and fulfilling my intended purpose (no matter if I appear overblown or past my prime to the world at large).  And that is my prayer for you also, my friend!

Some beautiful blooms  (Happy 50th Anniversary, parents!)

A little something to chew on:  what aspect of yourself do you consider less than perfect, but which may, in fact, be a beautiful aspect of the particular life journey God has given to you?  Try to make peace with that something; try to see it as God may see it!

Christmas Presents for Christmas Presence

(The following is adapted from the sermon I preached for St. Peter’s Church, Purcellville, VA, on Dec 30, 2012)

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I always used to enjoy without question all the facets of Christmas: the giving and receiving of gifts, decorating the house, the special church service with all the great carols, gathering with family for a special meal, and doing all the other things that we only did at Christmas.  And did I mention getting presents?  I have always been particularly fond of getting presents....

But in the last five years or so, after I finally found and embraced a saving faith in Jesus and had some time to really think about all the things we do at Christmas, I've become rather conflicted over most of the traditional Christmas festivities we engage in. Faith made me feel rather Grinch-y: looking down from the great height of Mount Crumpet at those foolish Whos, engaging in the sound and fury of their pointless Christmas revels (Jing Tinglers and Pan Tookahs, indeed!).  As a Grinch who already knows and understands that the “Spirit of Christmas” isn't tied to the stuff, the “stuff” seems pointless!  So why not just let Christmas come WITHOUT boxes or ribbons or tags?  Why bother? 

After all, the presents I love are just consumerism and greed, encouraged in our hearts by marketers and advertisers, right?  Decorations and lights and travel and family gatherings and parties and presents are just reasons to spend money we wouldn't spend otherwise, and all to benefit the bottom line of stores and other businesses.  Have you ever felt this way about Christmas?  Have you ever considered going to that extra worship service at Christmas and skipping all the rest?

As I struggled to make peace with our typical Christmas observances, especially the gift giving part, I finally reached an uneasy truce: at Christmas God gave us the gift of Jesus, so we give gifts to each other;  it’s Jesus’ birthday, so we give gifts to each other because we can’t give them to him;  the Wise Men brought gifts to Jesus, so we give gifts…  Those seem rather trite and flimsy reasons (or should I say “excuses”?) for our American-style Christmas Extravaganza, but it’s the best I could come up with… 

Then earlier this week I read an interesting article called “Putting Mary Back in Christmas” by Robin Philips.  The article was primarily about finding an appropriate middle ground between what many consider the Catholic extreme of an all-but-deified Mary on the one hand versus a common Protestant attitude that is so very careful to keep Mary a mere ordinary human being as to make her (Mary) even less important than any other ordinary Christian. 

In his article Mr. Philips says this: “Mary is the supreme example of God’s grace reaching us through the stuff of the created world. By saying “yes” to God, Mary’s womb became the means by which the God-man could come to earth and rescue us from the curse of sin and death.”  What that statement is saying is that God works through “means” (of stuff) to convey his grace to us; He uses the world to act for Him; He uses creation to bless His people.  And God’s use of creation is not simply a matter of miraculously manipulating inanimate objects, but also of using the actions of people. 

Of course, it shouldn't surprise us that God uses creation to bless.  In our reading from John, we heard this: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.”  (John 1:1-3)
God MADE all the “stuff” and substance that we call the world.  The Earth, the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, all of these things from the very beginning of creation are “stuff” and that stuff is God’s. 

We fell because of stuff (that whole unfortunate incident with the apple that we heard about), but we are also blessed through stuff.  Israel was a nation made of stuff – people, land, houses, possessions.  And from Israel came King David, and from David’s progeny came Mary, and from Mary came Jesus – who is both God AND “stuff”, and the ultimate blessing upon humankind. 

God blesses through stuff – not mere ideas or thoughts or words.  God acts by means of stuff, for example plaguing Pharaoh with actual frogs and locusts, feeding Israel in the wilderness with real food, giving Israel actual land as a home, and being born into this world of stuff as a baby to act here for the benefit of his people. 

God created the stuff, and then created himself within that stuff through the cooperative womb of Mary.  And from that life as stuff came our salvation!  Now salvation itself is certainly an intangible “idea” - a “concept” - but it was got for us by means of stuff… a human body born from a woman, living in the world, then dying on a wooden cross, pierced by iron, and wrapped with linen and spices in death and placed in a rocky tomb.  And that’s all stuff, stuff, and more stuff!  (and all this talk of stuff reminds me of the comedy routine by George Carlin on “stuff”….)

So how can all this “stuff” make sense of our Christmas celebrations?  It goes back to Mary, who is not merely to be remembered as the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, but who also serves as the supreme example of God’s grace entering the world by means of His people, who are stuff he created.    And we also are means God uses to bless others.  None of us is likely to bless the world so richly and universally as Mary did when she obediently allowed God’s Son to enter creation through her.  But we – both individually and as The Church - are just as important for conveying the Good News of God’s saving grace, and serving as a conduit of His Blessings. 

Because think about it: when is the last time you felt richly and compellingly blessed by a mere thought or idea?  I couldn't come up with anything for myself….  But when have you felt richly and compellingly blessed by someone’s actions or gifts or presence – by those things that rely on actions within the “stuff” of the world? 

Now there is fertile ground where I can think of all sorts of examples in my own life:  unexpected gifts large and small, acts of service, kind words, a smile, an acknowledgement, and just the warm presence of another person beside me.  All of these things rely on the activities of another person to convey blessings from God.  Because you know that ultimately, all those blessings are from God, no matter what person may physically provide them to you.

And that, I think, is our basis for all we do at Christmas.  Of course, we remember and honor God and Jesus and what has been done for us.  But that’s history and ideas – intangible concepts.  It gets real when it becomes flesh and dwells among us; when our thoughts and feelings become actions and gifts and service to one another; when we make it real by representing it in the stuff of creation, here and now.

Our Christmas Presents become a way of demonstrating and paying forward God’s Christmas Presence.  The gifts we give one another – whether wrapped in paper and bows, or consisting of the acts of love we perform for others - are a way of making Christ known.  And that is a perfectly wonderful reason to continue to keep Christmas well.

Our Christmas “Presents” show forth Christ’s Christmas “Presence,” and in that way God blesses us, every one.  Merry Christmas!

Viral Compassion

You can always tell it's been a slow news day when all the media outlets are reduced to reporting on the latest thing that's gone viral on the internet!  Of course, that's the only reason I heard about the NYC police officer who got his 15 minutes of fame by being "caught" giving a new pair of boots and socks to a barefoot homeless man a couple weeks ago.  A photo of the incident went viral, becoming so popular the news media felt compelled to jump into the fray, reporting the "story" and asking people's opinion on what the officer did, how to help the homeless, and so on.

Now the man is shoeless again!  When people noticed the man some days later, barefoot again, he said he didn't feel safe wearing such expensive boots, and hid them so they wouldn't be stolen.  Further investigation revealed that the man was not homeless, and has an apartment paid for by various benefits he receives.  He just has a history of refusing help.

Where does this sort of story leave us when we are  asked - especially at this time of year - to help the needy?  The Pollyanna optimists believe they can give a shoeless man a pair of boots (or put a dollar in the red kettle or give a tot a toy...) and change his life.  The Scrooge-like cynics see just another person unwilling to take care of themselves and expecting a handout in the name of Christmas.  The story of this shoeless man shows that neither end of this spectrum is true in this case; neither Pollyanna nor Scrooge have got it right.

Where, then, does the middle ground lay?  How should we orient our hearts to those in need?   Helping others in order to feel good about your own charity will most often lead to disappointment when your gift does not yield the anticipated transformation and/or gratitude from the recipient.  Refusing to help others so that they must learn to help themselves will most often lead to being cut off from humanity and with a withered capacity for compassion.

We can't expect to permanently "fix" poverty.  Jesus himself states that the poor will always be with us (Matthew 26:11).  But neither can we ignore the poor.  Jesus expects us to help them (James 1:27).


The solution is to keep our eyes on Jesus when we serve others.  Give chiefly because compassion for humanity demands it, and with no expectation of any reward  (whether in the form of gratitude from the recipient or the form of satisfaction at doing a good deed).  That, after all, is what Jesus would do!  God's compassion for Humanity is, after all, the reason for the season.

An epidemic of "viral compassion" is what I want for Christmas!  Can you help?

Get Some Help!

The image that comes to my mind when I'm feeling over-worked is that of a busy waiter working a crowded, noisy dining room, bringing orders to the diners from the kitchen.  This server is carrying a large tray, heavily laden with plates of food, hoisted high and carefully balanced.  When another waiter approaches and says "let me help," the answer is always "Thanks, but I've got it."  Why?  because it is more effort to lower the tray and try to balance it on one hand to pass some of the load to another, than it is to just press on and finish the job yourself.  At least, that's how I often feel!  The things I most need help with are the very things that seem to require MORE effort to hand off than to just complete on my own.

And then there are all those other reasons for not taking help: pride (can't let others think I can't do this myself!), perfectionism (no way can someone else do this the way I want it done!), distrust (she's only helping so she can try to take my place!), and so on and so on....  We are some seriously broken people, aren't we?

But we don't have to be!  I heard a very striking sermon last month reminding us that Jesus wants to help us. In all things.  At all times.  Jesus is a helper and his desire is to help us.  He watches us in our self-imposed struggles, trying to catch our attention so he can say "I will HELP you!"  The help he offers is not help that we have to direct, either.  Unlike the well-meaning waiter trying to offer help but needing action on my part for the help to be effective, all we have to do to receive Jesus' help is to ask for it.  He is God, after all, an he can do anything.

Right now, take a moment to close your eyes, and bring to mind an area of your life in which you need help. Now imagine Jesus has entered into the room.  He is looking intently at you, his desire to ease your burden is clearly written on his face.  He speaks, saying "let me help you."  Say yes, my friend, say yes!

And you don't have to figure out HOW to "let" Jesus help you.  My waiter may find that the restaurant has gotten less crowded so the trays are lighter and easier to manage.  Maybe the management has hired more waiters.  Or bought lighter plates!  Perhaps the next diner he serves will offer him a job somewhere else that doesn't involve balancing heavy trays.  Or perhaps the same trays with the same plates for the same diners just doesn't feel like such a difficult load any more....

Just say "Jesus, help me" and watch with confident expectation for something to change.

I look up to the mountains—
    does my help come from there?
My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth!
     (Psalm 121:1-2)

Just say yes and Jesus will do the rest.