12-9-12 - Get out of the dark!

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. ⁶⁹He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, ⁷⁰as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, ⁷¹that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. ⁷²Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant,⁷³the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us ⁷⁴that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, ⁷⁵in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.⁷⁶And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, ⁷⁷to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. ⁷⁸By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, ⁷⁹to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

            “By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”  How often is it that we can see ourselves sitting in darkness, in need of a light in our lives, in need of God? 

            It’s easy to see in some of our darkest moments, such as with the loss of a loved one.  This week we buried Betty Wolf, and for those who knew her we will be in a dark place for a while, even though she may have been prepared for this we still mourn her loss and our inability to talk with her and share our lives with her anymore.  In a time like this, we know that we need God and God’s promises to get us through and to see the light.  And when we are going through physical or mental pain in our lives, we can feel as though we are in the darkness.  I know that when I had Mono during my internship, and was banned from the congregation for fear of getting others sick, I was in a great darkness and I needed God in order to get through it, to stave off depression and self-pity. 

At the breaking of a relationship, we can also be stuck in darkness as well.  Whether it be a high school romance, or a marriage, or loss of a best friend, or moving away from home for the first time, the world can seem pretty dark without that light we had in our lives.  So in those times we can begin to focus on God again and the light that He brings to our lives, a light that is greater than any other.
            Those are very concrete and clear times when we are stuck in darkness.  And they are times that we are used to calling upon God to be with us.  But what about those other times in our lives when we are truly in darkness and we may not even realize it?  For each day we are in darkness, whether it be the darkness of Sin or of pain.  Each day we are in need of God’s guidance, but because everything becomes so ordinary and mundane we begin to fail to even realize that we are surrounded by the dark.  We can become lost in the darkness of this world, in its call to focus on ourselves, on the worries that the world brings, in the passions within us.  In our Sunday School class, we have been talking about different spiritual gifts and one that keeps coming up is deliverance, which is aiding Christians in their fights against demonic powers.  And demonic powers is not just possession, but instead is more focused on those mini-obsessions in our lives that draw us into darkness instead of seeing the light of God.  Mini-obsessions being those things that keep drawing our attention, things that might be beneficial but that we take just too far.  Things like organization, which is very valuable skill to have, can lead us into darkness when we begin to focus too much on it, when we focus on having everything in the right place at all times, even things that don’t belong to us but we might believe ourselves to know the best way to set up everything and to boss people around.  Very quickly this can take over our worldview, where everything has its place and nothing can be changed or adjusted or left a mess, and we lose God.  We can also become with obsessed with prayer or the Bible.  One could find the best way for themselves to pray, perhaps in mediation, and then decide that the only true prayer is through this type of prayer, because if it changed my life, then it must change everyone elses instead, and once again we become in control of things, as we insist that everyone prays that same way that we do, or reads the Bible the same way that we do, and then our interpretation or our experience leads us into darkness instead of light, because we forget where our experiences and where our understanding comes from. 

The same goes for our ministries, as we focus on our specific ministries and groups within the congregation, we can begin to create divides where we want to make sure that our thing has the most space and the most resources and don’t understand when other ministries need space and resources too.  All of this, all these things though, end up with us wrapped into ourselves, which is where true darkness is.  The darkness in our lives is that we keep looking at ourselves for the answers, ourselves for the inspirations, and caring for our own wants and desires.  And when we do that, we are never truly satisfied and all we do is end up arguing with each other over who gets to win and who gets what they want, everything is a competition and every perceived slight a person does becomes a devious wound.

And Christ calls to us and tells us that life doesn’t have to be that way. We don’t have to walk around trying to defend everything or trying to always be on top, be the best. We don’t have to keep separating ourselves with boundaries of our own creation or taking pain at every opportunity.  Instead, Christ calls us to a life that is filled with unity, with compassion, and with healing.  There is a reason that we have an advent candle besides the counting to Christmas.  It is because we are looking at Christ’s ever growing presence in the world, in the light that pierces the darkness and brings sight to our eyes and warms our bodies and spirits.  For Christ is the light that helps us to see beyond ourselves, that gives a liberating word to those are bound by the constraints of society and by poverty, who helps us to see the pain in each other and the ways that we might be able to help instead of seeing the ways that people pain us.   So praise the Lord, the one who breaks the darkness, who helps us to support and love one another, that we may have a joyful life instead of one filled with misery  and filled with friends and family, instead of enemies, and filled with hope instead of despair.

Amen.

12-2-12 - Be Prepared! aka Pastor Sean compares Jesus to a Disney Villian

²⁵“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. ²⁶People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.²⁷Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. ²⁸Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

²⁹Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees;³⁰as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. ³¹So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. ³²Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. ³³Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. ³⁴“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, ³⁵like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

               When I read this passage, I think about two things, the Boy Scouts Motto, which is Be Prepared, and the Lion King, when Scar sings “Be Prepared!”  While Scar may be the villain who is throwing a coup, his words still ring true for Christ as well. “So prepare for a chance of a lifetime/Be prepared for sensational news. A shining new era/Is tiptoeing nearer.”  For we are preparing and staying alert for a time that is brighter than the one we are in now, a time when Christ is truly present and where hearts are all united into one, when we are redeemed from our sinful natures and live in peace and love.  

               Today we pray and we hope for a taste of this redemption, a glimmer of the world that is to be with Christ’s reigning, where tears will be brushed away and pain will no longer be known.  Today we pray for healing, in all of its aspects.  We pray that healing may come upon our bodies, that disease may be forced out, that our parts may be mended, and we may find wholeness.  For we know that our bodies are not these evil things that we need to cast off, but instead are God’s creation, and have been named as good by our loving creator.  And thus God cares for our bodies and cares about our bodies, and gifts us the gifts of doctors and nurses and researchers who are the hands of God, working to bring about healing.

But healing is not something that just affects us physically, but instead it is something that works within us to bring about completeness and wholeness.  For instance, in the cases of the lepers who were healed, they were healed of more than just a skin disease, they were healed of the stigmas that were placed upon them and they were able to return to their homes instead of being forced into exile.  Healing brings about the opportunity to be in community again and to have one’s identity restored.  And it is this restoration that is the real emphasis of healing in the scriptures.  Not the physical healing, but the healing that it brings about spiritually and relationally.  What matters is that we are able to be close to God and to one another, that we can find forgiveness and that we and find commonality and identity beyond what ailments we may have or stigmas that are placed upon us.  So we pray for healing, not just for our bodies, but for our place in society and for our relationships.

Relationships are a hard thing to heal though, especially when the people are not interested in having relationship.  It is often said that Hatred is the opposite of Love, but that is not true, for when one has hatred in their heart they still care enough about the other person in order to dislike them, there is still relationship.  The real opposite to love is indifference, when the person matters so little that they are completely ignored and disengaged. 

And our calling to is be the hands of God, showing love instead of hatred and instead of indifference.  In this way we may be a force of healing in this world, healing every aspect of our lives.  When we show compassion to our brothers and sisters, when we seek and give forgiveness, we are truly living out our calling as Christians, as the Body of Christ, and we glorify God’s holy name.  Forgiveness is possibly the hardest part of the Christian life and call though.  It is hard to admit fault and to as for it, and it is also hard to let go of the anger that can serve as a driving force in our lives. It is far easier to belive in God than it is to forgive, and yet God’s love for us gives us the strength and the courage to ask for and to give forgiveness.

As we gather to be healed, and to be prayed over, I hope that we may have some time to reflect on healing, on the hope that it brings, and the promises that God has for us that shine through that healing.  I pray that each of us may experience healing in our lives, in our bodies, our spirits, our minds, and our relationships, that we may grow ever closer to the will of God and the Hope and strength that He brings and the redemption that he gives us each day. 

Amen