“Moderation or the middle ground is not always the loci of righteousness.”
- Esau McCaulley, Reading While Black
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I am deeply saddened that some think what happened yesterday at the Capitol is in any way after the pattern of Christ.
There is no biblical justification for what we have just witnessed as a nation.
The kind of rhetoric we are hearing that emboldens and not-even-so-subtly condones violence is deeply immoral.
It is disturbing to see such blatant evil so widely accepted and even celebrated.
Meanwhile the pandemic continues to ravage our state.
So I was grateful to be with my church family yesterday evening, masked and socially distanced, but nevertheless together. We gathered in worship to celebrate the light of Epiphany, Jesus Christ himself, come to give true and lasting peace to all those that will receive it.
We prayed this prayer for times of social conflict or distress from the Book of Common Prayer together, and I commend it to you:
Increase, O God, the spirit of neighborliness among us, that in peril we may uphold one another, in suffering tend to one another, and in homelessness, loneliness, or exile befriend one another. Grant us brave and enduring hearts that we may strengthen one another, until the disciplines and testing of these days are ended, and you again give peace in our time; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
To this prayer I add: Come, Lord Jesus.
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2020 brought much about the Church in America into the light.
Turns out, we’re even worse off than we perhaps thought in terms of our continued tolerance and even embrace of various “isms” at odds with Christianity: racism, sexism, classism, nationalism, consumerism, and anti-intellectualism stand out to me.
As I see it, the above mentioned ideologies are far worse and more immediate compromises of the Church’s faithfulness than the mostly vaguely defined “cultural Marxism” and “Critical Race Theory.” (Nevertheless these are certainly not exempt from robust evaluation in light of the Gospel.)
That said, now that these things are out in the open, the discussion has deepened.
This can be the beginning of justice and change and healing.
Yes, it is hard, painful. Discouraging, even humiliating sometimes.
But we can say with confidence that the Spirit of Truth is at work in his people.
As we open ourselves to his leading, we will leave our previously held commitments to self-advancement and self-preservation behind.
As we keep our eyes focused on the Jesus presented to us by the Gospel of witness of the Church throughout the centuries, his image will become more clear in us and through us.
As we persevere through the discomfort of revelation and transformation, we’ll find comfort and strength and satisfaction in the promise of a prize much greater than the power that’s so intoxicatingly difficult to let go of in the present.
As our desire for union with God in Christ is renewed, all things contrary to him will fall away, because the fulfilment of this desire is the promise guaranteed by the Resurrection.
The gates of the “isms” will not prevail against the Church of God.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
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A meditation for Christmas Eve
There are few images as precious to me as Christ on the cross, the Creator King of the universe hanging, naked from two rough pieces of wood, crushed like a common criminal…
…Christ on the cross, defeating death by allowing himself to die while forgiving and loving even people like me that would do such a thing.
The mercy and grace and indeed justice for all people in that image defies comprehension.
But there is another image equally precious to me.It manifests when I realize in order for Christ to offer his perfect humanity on my behalf on the Cross, he had to live as a human.
He had to be born as a human.
So, the picture of baby Jesus, cradled in his mother’s arms, is indeed precious, its humility no less scandalous in our contemporary world—and perhaps more so—than the cross itself.
At the cross we are ever reminded that God would not, could not, does not die for something he does not love.
As we turn our attention this night to the baby in Mary’s arms we are rightly overwhelmed at the accompanying thought that God would not, could not, and does not live as something he does not love.
There, in a naked, nursing baby, we glimpse something of the deepest goodness of God.
This Christmas is so different, and even perhaps disappointing, when held up to what we wanted.
The first Christmas was no doubt the same.
No one wants to deliver a baby in the midst of foreign occupation, while obeying an inconvenient executive order, in the cold, among manure and far away from family.
Nevertheless the light of that night has never been extinguished, and it gives light to the world still, and the darkness of the pandemic, of isolation, of unmet expectations, and unspoken hurts, and years of selfish and self destructive mistakes cannot overcome it.
The light of Christmas is God becoming one of us because he loves all of us.The light of Christmas is the fullness of God entering the human family, and in so doing welcoming the fullness of humanity into the divine family.
The light of Christmas is God taking on, not human illusions of progress, power, and prestige, but the real substance of humanity itself, womb to tomb, in all its frailty and vulnerability and smallness.
The light of Christmas is Jesus Christ, God from God, living unrelenting love for every human, by becoming a human destined to die, so that his divine love would swallow death forever!
He was raised, vindicated and Resurrected, by the Spirit of love. He now gives us that same Spirit, his Spirit, God from God come again to dwell in and among his people now!
The light of Christmas is nothing less than true fellowship with God. This is something we can know and live and receive in and through and because of Jesus Christ and no one else!
This Light and Love that has come to us in, through, and by Christ, transfigures us finally into the very image of Christ, and imparts to us immortality and eternity.
It is the only gift we truly need.
And the good news is that it is ours!
Christ has come.
Christ is here.
Christ will come again!
Amen.
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A Culture of Unhealthy Silence
I reject the notion that the solution to any communal tension is to pretend it doesn’t exist by not talking about it.
As a pastor I have been explicitly discouraged on occasion from speaking about certain topics in the church because the topic itself–not simply the way or time in which in which it was approached–was considered inherently divisive.
Yet topics in themselves do not have the power to divide. Only our reactions and responses to them do.
And by not speaking about difficult topics openly and keeping each other accountable to loving, respectful dialog, we rob ourselves of the opportunity to actually resolve tensions in a healthy way.
We have already surrendered to the demonic spirit of division.
By fostering a culture of unhealthy silence, we sponsor a culture of suspicion that necessarily leads to fear, relational rejection, and pain.
Worst of all, we are behaving as if our mutual faith in Christ and love for Christ in one another is not truly enough to be the ground and glue of our relationships.
Either we can trust Christ and his Spirit with our whole selves and community (including disagreements and tensions) or we can’t.
I believe Christ is trustworthy.
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This Advent, those of us that claim the Name of Christ have an opportunity to–like John the Baptizer—point beyond ourselves, and cry out with joy and urgency the true story of God come to us in Jesus…
…The true account of God come to us in the flesh, his miraculous birth, his perfect life, his sacrificial death, his vindicating Resurrection, and his Kingly ascension…
…The true gift of God come to us now in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in and among us…
…The true testimony of God come to us in the preaching of word, in the sacraments, and in the fellowship of the saints….
…The true and only lasting hope of Christ coming again to finally renew all things.
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Dan Scott, writing at Facebook:
In the last few months, all sorts of prophets told us how the election would turn out, who was on God’s side and who was not, and so forth. These abusive claims were simply ways controlling others. They differed considerably from carefully constructed arguments from some man or woman of God saying something like, “after looking at this situation, or this ideology, or this person carefully in the light of our faith, I have come to the following conclusions and offer them for your consideration …”
Saying “thus saith the Lord concerning how God intends for you to vote” is abusive, deceitful, and ungodly. Such tomfoolery should be dismissed out of hand.
God has called his people to develop wisdom and discernment, He does not call his people to surrender their lives to some seer that stands beyond all accountability and common sense.
Amen and Amen.
