January 2022!
We will be coming upon a new year once again. Many have pondered how time flies by. Oddly, the pandemic seems to be speeding things up, rather than slowing things down. Chances are you have folded up the Christmas decorations already. For whatever reason, we are met by Christmas in late September in stores and online. I will become my parents and gripe that when I was a child, there seemed to be an agreed upon rule-of-thumb that stores didn’t haul out the Christmas stuff until after Thanksgiving. We didn’t even think to put up a Christmas tree until at most two weeks before Christmas. The tree stands where I grew up would still be well-stocked even days before Christmas. This year, the tree farm we usually go to was completely out of Fir and Spruce Christmas trees the first week of December. But things change over time. Time appears to be the most valuable commodity we have these days. It used to be that people were most careful about their money (from a worldly perspective), but time has overtaken that. And we use that time. I know very few people (including myself) who “take their time,” unless it is a permission they grant themselves (or carved out from an imposed schedule) on an occasional basis. But I have a proposal for you, one that will need a little time, but one that I ask you give (or take), either in the last days of the old year, or the first days of the new year. There are 12 Days of Christmas. You might remember the repetitive song (a Partridge a Pear Tree). Dec. 25 is the first day of Christmas. The days are celebrated all the way through Epiphany, which is Jan. 6. A look at a variety of cultures over the centuries suggests that taking time to celebrate Christmas was common. So here’s the proposal: take some time over the next few days — maybe in between the Bowl games that many of us will enjoy; or during a family vacation; even in the midst of taking down all the decorations that maybe you had up before Thanksgiving — take some time to do one or two things: First, sit and read Luke chapters 1 and 2 in the Bible. You can read it online. There are two great websites I use: Bible Gateway, which allows you to choose from over 60 translations; or Oremus Bible Browser, which allows you to easily look up any text. The reasons to read Luke 1 as well as Luke 2, are it contains the full story of the birth of Jesus. Usually we just read Luke 2:1-20. But that’s sort of like reading the last five chapters of a suspense novel. We need Time to get some backstory. We need time to hear all that God has to say about why the birth of Baby Jesus is important. We need time to hear how much a part of the stuff — both the drama and the routine of life — the presence of God is. If it’s true for Mary, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Simeon, Anna and the shepherds, what does that say about the presence of God in our lives, about looking for how God is working, not necessarily on TV, or the computer, or on our to-do list, but on the journey, in the times of routine or worry or perplexity, or in the face of a neighbor we don’t often stop to greet? Then read Matthew 1:18-25. It’s the second Christmas story, not nearly as familiar. But it has a lot to say about how in the mess of life, God is found, using the mess in ways we might not otherwise understand. Is that not an incredibly important possibility to recognize in our lives, which are often messy? Then, one final thing: do you love those Christmas carols? Joy to the World, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Oh Come All Ye Faithful, What Child is This, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear? Take the Time to look at what these hymns — especially the verses after the first verse — have to say. Don’t put those carols away so quickly. They are beautiful to listen to. Even if you’ve heard some of them interspersed between the 228 times you’ve heard The Chipmunk Song or Jingle Bell Rock in the store or even the gas station, look these hymns up on the computer, or take out the old hymnal on the bookshelf. Take the Time to do so. Martin Luther 500 years ago said the hymns are second only to the Gospel in importance, because they put in clear language the Good News of Jesus, and why our faith is important in this fast, complex, routine, messy Time we live in. On a personal note, take a look at the third verse of five of It Came Upon a Midnight Clear. It’s interesting that we rarely see this verse in hymnals. Find it online. It’ll make you think; about time, taking your time to listen to what the angels sing, and to look for the God who is at work even now in this world. A blessed and hopeful 12 Days of Christmas — and New Year — to you all!
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The end of November is a time of Thanksgiving in our nation. I remember when I was young the scene and situation I was taught about in school; the picture of Pilgrims and Native Americans around the table, a visual to us children about what happened long ago.
Historian Nathaniel Philbrick in his book Mayflower, describes the scene that likely transpired on that first Thanksgiving. Pumpkin, cranberries and mashed potatoes were not served on the tables that were brought out of the rough hewn Pilgrim homes put together a mere 11 months after their arrival. Turkey and deer were the meats on the table; turkey provided by the Pilgrims, five fresh deer brought by the Pokanoket tribe of the Wampanoag people. There was no silverware; they ate with their hands and hunting knives. What is amazing in the description is a review of the first months of the Pilgrims in the New World. They had survived not by keeping to themselves, but by engaging the residents of the land they landed on. They made mistakes, and they made amends. The Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people recognized that, at least in the early years around that first Thanksgiving, they were better together than they were separate. Often during Thanksgiving meals there is a tradition shared by many; people go around the table to share something they are thankful for. Often the thanks are oriented to those around the table. We give thanks for our families, or our friends. If someone has experienced healing from a surgery or from an illness, it is a joy to give thanks for that. We give thanks for good food, thanks to God for many blessings. Someone might slip in a sports reference, for a victory, or a championship or a surprisingly good year. Some might go the route of politics to give thanks for a recent victory in an election — in a family with divided loyalties this can call out the sighs or the eye rolls. I would like to offer an additional challenge, I guess you would call it, for the thanks that you offer this year. It’s a call for Thanksgiving inspired by the first one: thanks offered beyond one’s self, beyond something gained, beyond the “low lying fruit” that are easy to give thanks for. The people gathered at the first Thanksgiving found they needed to be thankful for the others that were there; the Pilgrim for the Native American, and vice versa. Both viewed the other as strangely different. There were still suspicions by one side about what the other wanted, in addition to learning what each other needed. And yet here they were on a sunny fall day, together. Thankful for the life they had — together. Thankful for the “other” that they were sharing a meal with, the same gathering place. This can happen even at a family gathering; the arrival of the family member whom everyone turns their head to see. It can happen in the neighborhood where we might pass by each other every day without a word, but then find ourselves walking down the same side of the street. Or at church, parked side by side, or in the same hallway with someone we haven’t agreed with, or never really got to know. It is worth our time to consider, to name: what am I thankful for, how can I be thankful for this “other?” Such are the times we live in that the memory of this first Thanksgiving becomes all the more valuable. At the heart of this earliest of American holidays is a Thanksgiving that requires us to look beyond our first reaction or judgment, and to take the time — and the risk — of seeing what is good and worthy of thanks of whoever we find ourselves eating with, and living with, not just for your or my benefit, but for the good of us all. A blessed and happy Thanksgiving! As I have talked with congregation members, neighbors in the neighborhood and with family members over the past few weeks I have heard a consistent refrain.
People are weary.And at times they are angry. Whether talking about politics,the coronavirus or daily life, I hear a whole lot more, “I’m hanging in there” or “I’m doing what I can” than “I’m doing really well.” It doesn’t matter where you stand, whether you “lean” left or right. People are weary. Many times they are angry. This past week I was forwarded an article by four different people — from church, from family,from the community — about an unfortunate trend in evangelical congregations.Apparently when some members in various congregations have not agreed with their pastors in their preaching, or their leaders in their decisions, there have been campaigns to discredit pastors or lay leaders through social media, by email, letter or phone calls. The efforts have looked a lot like political smear campaigns that seem to have gained ground in recent years, whether by TV, social media or other means. Alan Jacobs, a professor at Baylor University interviewed in the article, points to a trend in our technological era; more and more we are consuming — and being consumed — by media. We live in a time when there are many different choices for receiving news content from a viewpoint that agrees with our own, and we’re keeping the TV or talk radio on for more and more and more of our day, so for four, six, eight hours or more per day — even if it’s in the background as we are involved with other activities — we are held captive to the perspective of those who want us to listen to their way of looking at the world. With people bombarded with programming for dozens of hours every week, as opposed to an hour or two of worship on Sunday, and perhaps another hour or two for Bible Study,Jacobs asks, “Who do you think is going to win out?” For those who call themselves Christian, it is time to return to Jesus, and what Jesus has to say about anger and weariness, and about the way we live with one another. Especially when we disagree. “Come to me all that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” Jesus says, “and you will find rest for your souls.” “You have heard it said you shall not murder, but I say to you if you are angry at a brother or sister you will be liable to judgment,” Jesus challenges, and further instructs his followers to “love your enemies.” We are not instructed to stuff down our ability to disagree or debate with one another, but our marching orders for life are not from the information overload we are tempted to be swept away by each day, but from the one who desires for us life that really is life, not only for ourselves, but for our neighbors as well. The other day I met a friend for coffee at one of our local coffee shops here in Waynesboro. He had come in a few minutes before, and he was masked as he came into the shop. Another guy, dressed in black motorcycle leathers was heading out, and was unmasked. He scowled at my friend as they passed one another. The first temptation of my friend was anger at this minor confrontation. The next temptation was to ponder some judgmental thoughts against the man. My friend looked outside and saw the guy getting ready to get going on his motorcycle. It was a classic, older bike that was one of my friend’s favorites. He went back outside to ask about the bike, and soon both guys were talking in friendly, animated terms about what was so great about the classic bike, and sharing stories of great rides and places they had in common. Weariness gone, anger extinguished, a good memory for the day, even if they still disagreed about masking as the motorcycle drove away. It won’t make the news or the latest media post. And in a weary, angry world, that’s probably the point. |
AuthorPastor Paul came to Grace to serve as our Pastor in October 2012. After a first career in product and graphic design, he was ordained in 1993, and has served as a parish pastor in Virginia and South Carolina. He is married to Jill and they have two daughters, one at Roanoke College and one at James Madison University. Archives
December 2021
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