Christmas Blends 2009 Part 4: Will People in Darkness See a Great Light?

"The people living in darkness have seen a great light" (Matthew 14:16, quoting Isaiah 9:2)

There are many directions I could go with my reflection on Matthew 14:16. Each day brings me into situations that point to that truth: God is with us, There are so many avenues by which to draw near to him and be transformed; People in darkness see a Great Light and will be forever changed.

This will be an introduction for a series to start the New Year. Every day brings us closer to Spring and Summer, the seasons of increasing light. This series will focus on this question: Will people in darkness to see a great light?

Recently I created a Mission Statement for myself. It was for my Spiritual Formation class, but it meant a great deal for me as a way to focus myself around the voice of God in my life as a whole, beyond the assignment itself. As we were encouraged to do, I expect to adjust it as my life situations change. For class I used this book by Laurie Beth Jones. I recommend it for its easy to follow, and fun exercises to guide you towards creating you mission statement.

Knowing how God has created you and how you can intentionally invest in the world
intentionally, with purpose will help you answer the series' question for your life. How will you both experience and share Great Light in darkness? As Christians, we have a shared vocation (ie, calling) to be, and thus share, Christ. People are experiencing darkness, and we who bear the image of Christ, walk in light. But we are unique individuals so how we accomplish that will be equally as unique.

Let us challenges ourselves to examine what that Light looks like in ourselves, so that we can confidently proclaim from our being: "People living in darkness have seen a great light, for God is with us!"

Below are questions I ask to prompt my writing for the series. Please respond and add your thoughts on this question! I'll work them in as I write the posts.

How will that Light be experienced in relationships? In the activities of work and play?

Will that light be known for its attractiveness, warmth? Will it repel? Frighten?

What role does our passions, talents, Spiritual Gifts, etc play in experiencing Great Light? Sharing it? Reflecting it?

Are there practical routines, habits or disciplines that make us more conducive to experiencing and sharing Great Light?

How do we (or is it worth our energy) identifying shards of "Great Light" in our broken culture? Where do we find them?

How do I communicate my faith? That is, what is the tone behind the words? What am I really communicating?

Have I taken the time to have a meaningful conversation with someone at work? at the gym? In my family? Did I learn something about them?

How do I share my resources (what I own/am good at doing) in ways that bless others? In the neighborhood? At work? With someone new/forgotten/unpopular/difficult?

How much of my prayer life is devoted to others in comparison to myself?

Christmas Blends 2009 Part 3: Another Silent Night (Or, Why is He Away in the Manger?)

Here is our traditional picture of Christmas, sung so often on Christmas Eve, dark except for candle light:

Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace

The calmness and peace is comfortable for us. Like I mentioned in the last post, these lines are the typical "stuff" of our personal Christmas icons. The warm, joyous images of Christmas are the ones we  envision when we speak of "God with us". God is caring. God is Love. God is glad tidings of comfort and joy.

Yet we forget one thing: For many, their silent night is not a serene Thomas Kinkaid or Norman Rockwell. It is another silent night. Silent prayer become silenced prayers from fear of silence in response to prayer.

Christmas is cold and frozen. Dark and stormy. They are alone. Family and friends is dead or just plain absent. Sickness limits the ability to connect or enjoy the festivities. This time of year reminds them of what once was or what could have been.  No work, or slow work mean money and presents are scarce, so every commercial brings guilt and comparisons with the Jones is embarassing.

Where is God? Is God with these? Reality for them is different than ours. They sing that "All is calm, All is bright" and the words seem hollow, meaningless; false. 

 The stars in the bright sky
Looked down where He lay
The little Lord Jesus
Asleep on the hay

If they do sing that verse, they laugh to themselves. Where is God? I'll tell you, he's off somewhere sleeping like a baby. Not a care in the world. Some God. 

The cattle are lowing
The poor Baby wakes
But little Lord Jesus
No crying He makes

It is really hard for them to be convinced these lyrics describe Jesus. A stoic from birth. How could Jesus understand my pain if he didn't even cry like a baby?

What if Jesus cried at his birth, just as he cried other times? We read of this grown man later crying at the death of Lazarus, praying so hard that sweat turns to blood, crying out moments before his agonizingly slow, painful death comes "My God why have you forsaken me? A God moved by the reality of being human.

Be near me, Lord Jesus,
I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever
And love me I pray

What do these lyrics mean when they are sung in the middle of suffering, loneliness, loss? Jesus was indeed away when he was born in the manger,. Christ the King was born away from anyone's sight, away from extended family, born away from Nazareth, Mary and Joseph's home. Back home, many no doubt would see Jesus as the symbol of a controversial pregnancy. No doubt his parents raised him with a sense of abiding love, but did he endure any sideways glances from others?

I wonder if his parents' prayers ehcoed those lyrics to God as Mary gave birth, or even after as the reality of isolation from family, warmth and "civilization" set in? As they anticipated the trip home? As they heard the Angels' reports of Herod's edict?

Maybe this Jesus, who knows isolation, who has a quirky and embarrassing birth story, whose life was both a mix of the miraculous and the unendurable can identify with them.  Maybe they can pray to this Jesus, trusting they'll be heard, accepted, understood; even comforted, find joy, or heavenly peace.

 "Do not be afraid; 

for see I am bringing you good news

of great joy for all the people" Luke 2:10

What is the point of this somber twist of Christmas and these carols?

Let us remember the other silent night existing among us, even within us. Even more, let us know there is hope, for there is God.

The God of Christmas is Love. God is big enough, good, and caring enough to handle your pain. God is with us. God is among us. Though the silent nights impair our vision, God is with us. 

Pain and suffering are not inappropriate for Christmas.  They are an essential part of being human, no one is left untouched by some pain. And though it may obscure the "normal" sediments of Christmas, they can open the door to a new experience of Christmas.  

Deep pain mixed with faith can be transformational. Some people may never get over the pain, but God's work continues in them. Christmas of this nature can be a time when looking back upon the better times, or remembering hard times, even living amid a hard time can bring us to experience God. Through this we can discover the unexpected ways God is working or has worked in us. If we had suppressed this silent night with the noise of "saving face", we might have missed some very significant growth in our relationship with God.

Be Still and Know That I Am God.

 

Christmas Blends 2009 Part 2: "God With Us"

The Orthodox and Catholic churches both practice a tradition of Icons*. These Icons, to the outsider seem nothing more than esoteric paintings of dead, but apparently important Christians in history, the things that line the walls of museums, or cathedrals and give a nice atmosphere.

To those who understand them, they are much more than that. Believe it or not, each Christmas season you practice something much like these Christian traditions use Icons!

Icons are "written" as reminders, God with us. Where most paintings, and photographs have perspective that draw us, the viewer, into the frame, Icons are written with perspective that draws the painting outward, with the viewer. Thus, the written image is with us, the audience. (Now you can impress people at cocktail parties with that information. You'll thank me, and yes, you're welcome.)

Why is that significant?

Well, the purpose of Icons is to be the physical presesnce to the invisible "cloud of witnesses", the community of Christians that span across time and history. The individuals portrayed are often martyrs, those who died for the faith; saints, who's example and contributions have enriched the faith; they can also portray Christ, the very presence of "God with us". We are not alone in our devotion to Christ. We are members of a fantastic, rich family.

Icons help us worship God. The Christians with us in Icons share stories, memories from Christian history that are meaningful to remember how God continues to work on earth in ways great and humble. They mean to elicit prayer: praise, adoration, supplication, confession, thanksgiving all to God who has never left us alone.

They are not worshiped, they are not prayed to. They are not seen as magical. They are aids for us to experience and remember God.


So how do you and I already do something similar to using Icons?
In my last Christmas Season Thought I may have sounded somewhat puritanical in my challenge to "take away everything in our culture that pertains to 'Christmas' and see what remains. My intention was to "circle the wagons" and remind us of the core of the season and suggest that some battles aren't really worth our energy if we're striving to be Christ's presence in our daily lives.

I love Christmas decorations as much as everyone else, probably for much of the same reasons as everyone else. The memories, the pleasure, the atmosphere. Surely there is more to list. With each season and each holiday, the decorations and paraphernalia can help us remember "the core", they are symbols of the season, they're fun and meaningful reminders to us and others of those things that matter in life for everyone. They can set us apart too, as a group of people with a specific identity that is rooted in the subject of the holiday at hand. There is nothing wrong, with any of it when its used well.


As you read that last paragraph, were any images stirred in your mind of things that matter? Did memories come to mind that made you smile? Did you picture ornaments or figurines that mean something or that put you in a joyous, festive, or even sentimental, or reflective mood?

If so, you understand the significance Icons have for many Christians. 


Let's draw some parallels.

• Icons are like photos of family members joined together for Christmas celebrations.

• Icons are like the gathering of friends and family around the table, the Christmas tree, in the pew at a Christmas service.
• Icons are like ornaments that mark important milestones/events/memories throughout the year
  
• Icons are like Christmas lights and decoration that provide a certain atmosphere and meaning during this time of year.
• Icons are like Christmas songs and movies that communicate important messages.
  

Do those make sense?

So perhaps with my previous post's challenge, I add this challenge:

Make your Christmas decorations like Icons. Even more, Make your use of time, money and the people you are with all like Icons. May they be for you, God with us.

My prayer is that we can continue to be free to decorate each Christmas, because those things are God With us.  God is there in their beauty as much as their meaning. God is there in the unity they bring as we work to decorate, to enjoy and celebrate. God is there in the joy, the sense of hope. God is there in the tradition, the ritual. God is there in the mystery. God is there in the certainty. (There is another side of Christmas God is also in that is very real to many: pain, loss, loneliness... but that's the subject for next post!)

Praise be to God, who has, is and always be with us!

(Footnote:*I did my best to explain Icons as well as I understand them. Please correct or elaborate on anything I say here that will help me and others to understand Icons better.)

Christmas Blends 2009 Part 1: At The Core

I didn't realize how controversial Advent calendars could be, or that their absence could evoke deep resentment. This year Starbucks is not carrying their traditional Advent Calendars, much to the dismay of many expectant customers.

One customer expressed more than disappointment. With good intentions I'm sure, the individual gave my fellow baristas and I an earful on the dangers of taking "Christ" out of Christmas by removing merchandise that might have spiritual connotations. It's ironic, we were told, that our company keeps the Star of David mugs but not Advent calendars. Really, we've not been told why the Advent calendars were discontinued. Maybe it was an issue of being "PC", maybe it was for  a routine change in products. And as far as I know, there was nothing especially "Christian" or spiritual about the chocolate-filled calendars anyways.

But this encounter strikes at the core of Christmas. Let me ask this question:

If you take away everything we associate with "Christmas,” even those things unique to Christians, have we lost Christmas?

Take away nativity sets and advent calendars. Take away presents and trees. Take away carols and cards. Even the name Christmas and the date 12/25. Take it all away.

What is left?

For one, a lot less consumer driven madness and a lot less ambiguity concerning the holidays. Has keeping Christ really become about what we can or cannot buy? In our freedom as Christians in the U.S. perhaps we have allowed the broad acceptance of this Holy Day to marginalize the core meaning. Perhaps we can focus too much on the trappings rather than the core of the message.

What is left?

Christ, the Son of God, fully human, fully God born of a virgin in time and history. That is reality and Truth. That cannot be taken away. Nor can his life on earth for 30 years. He lived as one of us to make possible for us a way of life as God intended when he created and called it “good”. Nor that he died to free us from all that separates us from God. That he resurrected to proclaim that an even greater reality than we know now awaits us. He gave us hope, purpose, eternal life, reconciliation, forgiveness, joy and so much more.

Keeping the message of Christ in Christmas is a matter of how his followers bear His image each day. Freedom of expression does not limit that. Interestingly, where Christianity is illegal the Faithful still practice an exceptionally robust faith amid persecution. Perhaps these communities teach us something.

Don't expect society to support your faith in Christ. That's really our job as Christ-followers. No system this side of the coming Kingdom will bring Christ fully back into Christmas. For better or worse, there will always be the tension between the sacred and the secular. So grab an advent calendar or don’t. Give presents or don’t. They’re only helpful to the degree they proclaim, Emmanuel, “God with us”. And write “Christmas or X-mas, “X” is an old Greek symbol for “Christ “ used since the early church (see the Icon above). Both are fine.

Hope, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Self Control, Forgiveness, Simplicity, Generosity, Justice, Mercy... If you are keeping these things in your and your family's daily life, you have Christ! No one can take Him out of you. You, my sister, you my brother are the presence of Christ on earth. And nothing represents the core of Christmas better than you until Christ’s return.

For Reflection:

Have I spent too much time on the trappings of Christmas and not enough time on Christ?

How do we proclaim “God with us” in our family Christmas traditions?
If someone were to describe me, would the lists used above describe me?

A Little Old Testament Inspiration in Hollywood

The Coen brothers, the ones who brought us Burn Notice, No Country For Old Men, and O Brother, Where Art Thou? Have found inspiration from the Old Testament book of Job for their movie, A Serious Man, released on Oct. 2nd. Roger Ebert gives the black comedy four stars in that linked review.

I love it when Hollywood tackles Biblical texts. That doesn't mean I blindly think they'll do a great job (ha- I just saw the pun). I try to go in with a critical eye. In fact, Hollywood is notorious for not doing Scripture justice, not that it's a surprise. But they tackle it anyways, which suggests they are seeking for Truth and inviting others to join them.

I approach these sorts of movies critically and curiously. I think one complements the other. With a critical eye, I try not read in my own message nor assume there will be great exegetical works coming out of the screen. I let the movie tell its story, then I compare it to what I know of my faith. The curiosity is a sort of hope. Maybe God has something to say in the movie, whatever the size of nugget. I can only learn from the movie. Either there will be something good to say and share with people that will help them in their journey towards/with God. Or there will be nothing and it will still be a good conversation that can still help, just in the opposite way.

As you all see it, let me know what you think! Anything in there worth mentioning?

Community. Confession. Christ.

There is power in community confession.

I confess that it is difficult to put myself in a position to know this with experience. But as I do, I remember how much it is needed. It is hard in the moments to trust Christ is there because it is awkward, vulnerable and I am all to aware of my humanity. Still I do see Christ real and active there, perhaps because of the very reason's I find it hard to trust in the first place. There I recognize how dependent of him I am, how much I yearn to be like him. There I recognize Christ doesn't give up on his end of the deal. So in response, I do my best to keep showing up, trusting Christ's promise.

When an individual gathers with fellow believers in authentic community- whatever the size of group- and shares openly a weakness or wound from within, the power of Jesus Christ has an open door for healing.

We fear vulnerability. And that fear attacks us in two ways: First, creating a barrier between people so that community is stifled. Second, leads us to think that our culture's message of "rugged individualism" is safe and the best way to live. Alone we can ignore that we are as broken as we suspect and never get better. Together we can accept we are as broken as we suspected, and then confess it; and then get over it; and then allow God to overcome it. That process is messy. It can be painful. Oh, it is so rewarding in the end. Community is the hard road of real life individualism tries to shortcut towards mirage.

None of those steps can truly occur for a person apart from others. Other people must mutually be confessed to, help each other get over brokenness, and join together in God's power to overcome it, by God's power.

A person may try, with some sense of success, to try this on their own, outside of community. But it is the success of balancing a playing card on its edge while building a house of cards. There is no real support. "Surely I can confess my sins silently to God- for to God alone will I stand in judgment". Spiritually, yes, God will judge all. And we are to come to Him regularly to confess. But I believe this something Protestants have lost in their break from the Catholic church. The accountability for real transformation that comes from confession to others. And in fact, when we confess to our spiritual siblings, we are confessing to God, who we represent and in whose name we gather. Our confession to God in this way gives us the assurance that those people who hear us will not only watch our confession turn to repentance- a new direction- but they will most certainly encourage and be active in the process. They will know what we deal with and lovingly not let us alone to fall into our traps of sin again. Accountability. Encouragement. Celebration of progress. One cannot truly do this alone. Individual prayers are half the equation and can make us deceptively confident in our strength to avoid the sin we just confessed.

Only within community can this full healing of an individual occur. There Christ will be embodied in the group as they respond to the vulnerable person. When all is well, how they interact will echo Jesus with the Samaritan Woman, Jesus with the paralyzed man, Jesus with Peter on several occasions; Jesus with the Woman caught in adultery, Jesus with the young rich man, Jesus with Zaccheus, Jesus with scores of lame, sick and demon-possessed. Through others, Christ is no longer a moral concept or a Jimminy Cricket on our shoulder, nor mantra or vague sense of self-medication. Jesus becomes a person, actively speaking to us, guiding us, correcting us, accepting us and loving us without end. Jesus remains real and alive in the body of brothers and sisters 'doing life' through the thick and thin of life, never giving up on one another, forgiving sins and speaking hard truth with an embrace. Without this community an individual may never truly know Jesus, the God-man who made real life possible for us, humans, truly in this life now; much more so in the one to come.

Musing on Support for Pastors

In the 1800's, the church began experiencing the fervor for democracy already in the larger culture. This current of democratization in the stream of American Christianity brought certain trends into the waters: Individualism, power of the common man, deconstructing the power of elite/educated leaders as a group in charge of the masses, and the migration away from a few large denominations to the emergence of lots of other new, or sub-denominations. Nearly 200 years later we still have a culture that values people organizing themselves apart from larger networks: nondenominational churches, grass roots approach to ministry, post denominational movements, etc...

I wonder if in this trend the Unite States Christianity has accidently lost some important systems that were vital to health and well-being of people in ministry, espcecially the pastors.

When you're a pastor in a specific denomination, you have support and security from a larger governing body. The Catholic church is perhaps the most visible model of this system. The denominations can support clergy by helping them find (or assigning them) a congregation to lead; they can provide them with schooling options, retirement, and/or housing options. On the topic of teachings, they help clergy know what is acceptable teaching (more some than others). Administratively, there is a network to help connect clergy and congregations with resources, and with each other. I'm sure I miss other benefits and support, but the point is, they can be a big help!

I'm not familiar with nondenominational churches, but I feel safe imagining that they do not have as readily at hand the same network of support as a denominational church. No doubt Pastors have the responsibility to create their own networks. This is all well and good, but what if they never do? Who is there to come alongside them? Are denominational pastors better off over all?

Pastors face the same crises as everyone else: questions of purpose, calling, temptations, stress, family matters, job security, mid-life crises, financial matters, etc. Just because they are supposed to "be in tight with the Big Man Upstairs" doesn't give them teflon suits to wear against life's struggles. I'm thinking of big scandals like the sex abuse scandals that ruined pastors from every sort of church, catholic, protestant, denominational, or nondenominational. My suscpicion is, our cultural influence to "go at it alone" has helped us neglect the need to maintain support for our leaders as they face crises of well-being, spiritual, emotional, and otherwise.

How do pastors seek help if they struggle with something that could be damaging to their, calling, their faith, their family, their churches? Do denominations have people in place that are "Pastors to the pastors"? Counselors for pastors? Do they know they are not alone in dark hours of the heart, or that someone can help them avoid it? Do non-affiliated pastors have such a network in place to help them? Are they told to create one?

Are there people going into ministry with the calling to be a help for struggling pastors? That is, to work as counselors who are trained in spiritual and psychological matters to help afflicted clergy? There is a large market (i.e. need) for it, but is there a recognition of the need?

Will seminaries create a program, or help students create such a program? Will demoninations be willing to create those positions at regional/state/district offices? Will churches hire pastors on staff who can counsel their peers in this way?

Is there this big need as I see it or am unaware and without perspective?

Thoughts are appreciated.