Category: Theological Rant
Edgy Advent
Here we are again at the edge of Advent. Like a power point on loop or your favorite song or album on repeat, the story of the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth is beginning. Again. Decorations go up and come down. There is a parable or two, a beatitude, a great commandment, a meal. Hope races toward Good Friday and a garden where there is an open tomb when Christ is proclaimed. Rather than epiphany, Jesus’ story can become background noise that is sentimental, but not transformative. Maintenance medication for the symptoms of all kinds of “isms” that will not go away no matter the execution of the cure.
Tense, nervous, irritable, unable to relax all describe what it means to be “on edge.”(1)
On edge. That describes my observation this year of our culture, our body politic, my neighborhood, the world, and my brand of Christian witness, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). I don’t think your politics, theological, or ideological perspective matter. Little has felt “normal” and maybe that is not a bad thing.
I am re-reading Borg and Crossan’s, The First Christmas. This quote has captured my attention.
The imperial kingdom of Rome — and this may indeed apply to any other empire as well— had as its program peace through victory. The eschatological kingdom of God has as its program peace through justice. Both intend peace — one by violence, the other by nonviolence. And still those tectonic plates grind against one another.(2)
I’ve been thinking that Advent is a bridge of some kind that spans a chasm from one kind of living to another kind of neighborliness, compassion or grace. You no doubt have better words that describe what the other side of Christmas is or is like. For me, Advent has become a bridge conceptual understanding of the great commandment (or Golden Rule) to a practice equipped for a diverse, pluralistic and simulcast connected/disconnected 21st century.
I know you will, as best you can, actively travel through Advent, winter Solstice, and the shopping season to go and see this thing which God has made known to you. I trust you are surprised by the Messiah that is birthed in your life.
Me? I need a daring, provocative, or trend setting “edgy” Advent experience of hope, peace, joy, and love this year.(3)
That’s the character of Jesus I read about in the gospel narratives and the good news of God that Jesus proclaimed.
Notes
- on edge. (n.d.) Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. (2015). Retrieved November 30 2017 from https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/on+edge
-
Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan, The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus’s Birth. HarperOne (New York) 2007. p 69-70.
-
edgy. (n.d.) American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. (2011). Retrieved November 30 2017 from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/edgy
Sermon Short
Every minister (pastor) has a process for creating the sermon. Mine includes study of the text through the help of biblical scholars, the context of the author’s experience, awareness of a 21st century context, silence, and holding the way Jesus of Nazareth made God knows as a compass for navigating interpretation. Then, I free write some paragraphs. Then, I come back to those paragraphs and start to sort and order into what becomes the finished text. Here are a few of the finished paragraphs that provides a sermon short.
The scripture text for the sermon is Matthew 23:1-12. Verse twelve drew my attention and was the focus of the sermon.
“All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
This is Year A in the Lectionary which is a resource that, if followed, would help us read through most of the entire bible in three years. During Year A, we learn about the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth through the Gospel of Matthew’s experience. It is often a ’salty language’ good news. Salty language is often thought of as vulgar, but I don’t think that is what Jesus had in mind. When I think about it, given the state of our world and particularly our Nation, the good news of God that Jesus proclaimed might sound like salty language to those that profiter from partisan-ism, and from the working poor and middle class of all races and religions. Salty good news shines light in our lives and in the lives of leaders: religious and political. Salty good news is exactly what Jesus preached and sometimes he even used words.
So, it is not surprising that the biblical story afflicts the comfortable as well as comforts the afflicted.
The gospel writers often put difficult questions into the mouths of the Pharisees, scribes, and others, seeking to test or entrap Jesus in wrong answers. Last week it was a question about paying taxes to Caesar. The 23rd chapter of Matthew should come with this warning, “Rant alert.” Jesus has been questioned by Herodians, Sadducees, scribes, and Pharisees since he entered Jerusalem on parade day. Matthew uses these groups like character actors playing the antagonists role opposite Jesus who Christendom casts as the protagonist. But, I think a fair reading of all the gospels shows us that Jesus of Nazareth was the antagonists, in his context and often in our own.
Jesus questions the motives and character of his questioners; and by extension anyone that takes on leadership.
Those two English words, humble and exalted, are not a part of our daily vocabulary. We hear or use the words humility or praise which are adequate alternatives, but these do not give us the clue we need to our practice of faith today. I quick review at Dictionary.com gave me these definitions.
Humble: courteously respectful, not proud or arrogant; modest.
Humble: who do you see in your mind’s eye that fits that word?
Exalted: to praise, but it can also mean: to stimulate the imagination.
Exalted: We live in a hyper-stimulated culture. I indulge in it, benefit from it, and am limited by it. We all are. The always on internet, instant news and information from the far side of the world, energy drinks, very realistic video games that simulate everything, video on demand, blogging, Facebook, YouTube, texting and tweeting, hey Siri or hey Google. Our culture stunts a part of the imagination, but, not enough to wall off the human heart. This is why the imagination can be puzzled and inspired by words and images.
Words like, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Images: strangers seeing neighbors when natural disasters and human made disasters happen.
The words and life of Jesus inspired Paul to have a moment of clarity and see in a mirror dimly, “Love is patient, kind, not envious or boastful, arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable, resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.”
Maybe that’s the best we can do: actions based in moments of clarity.
Jesus asks if we understand humility in our own time: the difference between living an open invitation and rounding up the perceived ‘D’ list folks for a party. The difference between Christianity’s “believe and be saved” invitation, rather than practice the ways Jesus made God known in the world.
Momentary clarity. I’m not completely sure, but I think this is how we experience exalted humbleness and maybe put it into practice.