Christmas Day

I read an article yesterday morning that cited a statistic that – although it left me shaking my head – didn’t really surprise me at all. Turns out that 38% of parents in the United States teach their children to believe in Santa, while only 28% of them tell their children the biblical story of the birth of Jesus at this time of year. Like I said, it didn’t really surprise me; statistics in Canada are probably the same.

There’s a certain unfair competition with Santa, isn’t there? For starters, Santa’s got pull with the most influential group of voters – those under four feet high. Santa’s Christmas is about getting what you want, being able to gorge on chocolate and all those naughty foods that mom and dad won’t let you have but that Grandma always seems to have in her purse. Kids respond to that kind of instant gratification.

And it works for parents, too – in the mall the other day I heard a stressed-out mom tell her kids “if you don’t smarten up and start behaving right now Santa won’t come this year because he knows you’re bad.” This, despite the fact she was pushing a shopping cart loaded with the kind of toys my boys would love. It helps to have that kind of power of manipulation, doesn’t it?

Santa’s useful to believe in at this time of year, because believing in Santa means that you can be in control. You can get what you want through a simple bargaining exchange. If you’re good, you’ll get what you want. Since Santa is a creation of our culture, Santa works the way we want God to work. Unfortunately, our lives don’t always work we want them to.

I think it’s fitting that Christmas comes right on the heels of the winter solstice, the longest night. It is the longest night for some people, knowing that this is the year that everything changed, that you lost your house, your marriage, your spouse, your job. This time of year - when you are surrounded by the most ridiculous kind of gross consumption - your own troubles are thrown into sharp contrast.

A long, long time ago God promised to the people of Israel that they would be redeemed. God spoke to them through the prophets, laid out for people the way that they could live in community with each other, and have life-giving relationships with those who surrounded them.

Yet it turns out that people don’t take kindly to each other. You can’t enforce a command to “love your neighbour” because a law can’t change people’s hearts. So the same people who desired to be closer to God dictated that it must be on their own terms. Trouble was, their terms were death.

Into this conversation God spoke the Word. It’s difficult to understand the importance that “Word” has for Christians, because the Word is not just an abstract concept.

But I can rely on the wisdom of a four-year-old to explain it. When my son Duncan brings myself or my wife a book to read to him, he asks us to “talk words to me”. For him, the words are real, and they are brought to life when they are spoken. They’re not just on a page, static – they are waiting to be heard.

God created the world through words – the first words, “let there be light,” and all the words that God has spoken since have carried out their creative task. So, it was God’s Word that took on frail human flesh, in order to redeem God’s own people.

So why do God’s people need redeeming? Can’t we just be nice to everyone, the way Santa wants?

Here’s a tip, beloved: next Christmas, or even tomorrow, go to West Ed Mall, find a bench, sit down, and listen to the music. It’s lovely: peace on earth, goodwill to all, love came down at Christmas…you know the songs. But then watch the people. People who want to believe that they can buy happiness find they can’t. People run looking for bargains on what they can ‘save’, but maybe don’t realize that they are saved. Not for who they are, or what they’ve done or bought, but through who God is and what God does. But for most people, life on December 26 looks just like life on December, which looks like September 9…you get the idea.

That’s a sticking point around Santa, have you noticed? Santa can be put away for 11 months of the year. We don’t sing “Santa Claus is coming to town” in August (although in my house we might hear it). Yet Christian hymnody reminds us of a God who is always present with us, who adores us, who died for us, to save us from the consequences of our own sin.

How many times have you sat in the midst of the destruction and chaos of Christmas morning – wrapping paper everywhere, the kids hopped up on chocolate trying to wrap the cat – and looked at all things you’ve been given and been on the verge of tears; just wanting to say “you don’t have to give me this much to show that you love me”?

That is the darkness that we face this season – that growing trend that says if you love someone you have to give them lots of stuff. Particularly, if you want to marry them, or stay married to them. Love needs big trinkets. Why just tell your girlfriend you love her, when for a mere $1500 dollars you can buy her a necklace? Or $3700 for the “ring she’s always wanted?”

Trinkets for love is not an exchange that lasts. Love for love always does.

There was a man, sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.

Christmastime is about a love so fierce that we can’t escape it. It’s a love so dynamic that when it was spoken, the very Word spoken took on frail human flesh and lived among us. Not for money and power, but for grace, and truth. God’s love is so strong that it burns like a candle in the midst of a dark, dark night.

Light is one of those things that we take for granted, but consider this: settlements in Israel at the time of Isaiah through the time of Jesus were about a half-days donkey ride apart, and they’re built on ‘tells’ – little hills that spring up when towns are built, destroyed, and then built again.

But it could be terrifying when an army invaded, because if you were on the highest hill, you could see the lights of each little town first flare up, and then go out, one by one. All that was left was deep darkness. In that kind of darkness, one candle looked like a torch.

I sometimes think that the forced glee and feely-goodness of Christmas covers up a much deeper, darker despair. Because love – love without conditions, without rules, without power - is hard to find in a secular society. But here, in this place, God’s love for the world is the reason we gather; for we gather as children of God, born through baptism, united in love.

If there is a gift that Christians give to the world at Christmastime and at every time, let it be love. Not condemnation, not judgement, but love. The great Christian calling is to bear witness to the love of God in Christ – and if absolutely necessary, to use words to do so.

And there were people, sent from God, whose names were Erann, and Ralph, and Frank, and Ruth, (their names are all the names spoken by the breath of God) -- all who were baptized into Christ Jesus. They came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through their witness. They were not the light, but came to bear witness to the Light. And their song was joyous, and their reward was everlasting.

Let the people of God say amen.

Christmas Eve

If you’ve ever picked a book off the New York Times best-sellers list for fiction, chances are you’ve picked up a mystery.

You know, we like mysteries. We like being able to put things together so that they make sense – often, if something doesn’t make sense we dismiss it out of hand, or in a tremendous feat of mental gymnastics we alter some the information we have available to make a conclusion ‘fit’.

But what do we about Christmas? In our own Christmas story, mystery at the heart of our own Christian faith.

There are mysteries of time. You may have heard of the debate that goes on as to when exactly Jesus was born – some authorities say about 5 BC; others state that his birth was around 4 AD. Most agree that it was NOT in the year 1. December 25 already hosted two other related festivals: a Roman one honoring the sun, and the birthday of Mithras, the Iranian "Sun of Righteousness" – who was popular with the common people.

The winter solstice, another celebration of the sun, fell just a few days earlier. Seeing that pagans were already exalting deities with some parallels what they knew to be true, early church leaders picked December 25 as the day to celebrate the birth of the everlasting God.

In the Christmas story there is a mystery of place. Luke records that Joseph came from Nazareth, to which his family had probably been sent as part of a forced resettlement twenty years earlier. He went to Bethlehem, because he was of the house of David, the royal house of Israel.

Luke records here that “there was no room for them at the inn” - but that’s a pretty curious event. How many here tonight have travelled to an ancestral place (even Edmonton) and called a relative out of the blue and been given a place to sleep? Our families now aren’t nearly as closely-knit as those of 2000 years ago. So why couldn’t Joseph find some lodging for himself and his very pregnant wife?

And in this story there’s a mystery of “space” – the ‘outer’ kind, not the ‘where are we going to put all this junk we got’ kind. There are angels flying around all over the place, buzzing shepherds. If the shepherds were terrified, it was probably somewhat tempered by the irritation that someone was disturbing their peacefully slumbering flocks.

It begins with one angel, to bring to them the good news of the Messiah’s birth, and right on their heels comes a heavenly chorus. Why all this fuss for a couple of illiterate bumpkins? Nowhere else in any religious text do we hear of the birth of a Saviour being told to a group of farm hands. It’s simply not done. Divine announcements usually come in the form of smoke and fire and shaking on the tops of mountains (read Exodus 19 for a good account), not choirs of angels serenading the salt of the earth, solely for their own benefit. So who are these people?

And the final mystery in this story is the central aspect of Christian faith. It is the mystery of the Incarnation. As the angel told to the shepherds, “to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ, the Lord”. Why? This is the ultimate mystery, the one that defines Christian faith. The word ‘incarnation’ itself means literally, “with meat.” Jesus, who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary – both fully human and fully divine - came to us in a stable, a Messiah covered in the blood and sweat of labour. And that’s not all.

The apostle Paul wrote to his friend Titus about twenty years after the Resurrection saying, “the grace of God appeared, bringing salvation to all”. To all people. God Incarnate was born to the poorest of the poor. If there was a baby born tonight, in the back alley behind the Bissel Centre, we may understand the revulsion of those circumstances. Why did this – why does this not capture the attention of everyone?

People then, like us today, simply ignored God when it suited, and when it didn’t, preferred to use the belief in God as a bludgeon to terrify and oppress those who held different opinions. Part of the mystery of the Incarnation is that that Saviour, Jesus, “gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds”. For all people – from those who are persecuted, even to those who are doing the persecuting.

True to the Lutheran tradition, we believe that we cannot by any effort of our own attain salvation from our sins for ourselves. But often, we still try. We take the Bible, which is the manger that cradles Christ, and fashion it into a cudgel that we then use to judge and scourge those we think are unfit. That’s not Christianity.

At Christmastime, God came down to us. There is nothing we do to accept that love – it is part of our lives, whether we recognize it, or want it, or not. That love was willing to bear all punishment and not just die for us – but to live again for us. Understanding that our relationship with God is made right through that baby whom we call the Messiah, we turn to the abundant life that benefits the whole people of God. This is what defined the early church, and what will define the church of our future.

Every year we gather together to celebrate this time. We try to blot out the tragedies that have followed us through the year. That’s our mystery of this time: why do we try to hide from God things that God already knows? Yes, that baby was born in a manger to the tune of a thousand angelic voices. But he was also born in pain, and in suffering, and in the midst of times of despair and death. Why?

Because we need to know that God is with us, and perhaps the hardest thing for us to understand is the love of God – the love that knows no boundaries, not even death, and never leaves us, even though we may try to leave God. We cannot choose to accept or reject God – it’s not an ‘either-or’ proposition.

God is with us, in our joys, in our sorrows, and through all of our days. The choice that we can make is to stop rejecting God in our lives, and then in surest faith to turn out to those in our communities who suffer and need and bring to them the message of the Christmas gospel – Fear not, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour who is Christ, the Lord.

This is the message that brings food and shelter to the hungry and poor, and comfort to those sick or in prison. One small child broke the yoke of sin that rested on our shoulders, as the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery.

That one small child became the man who hung on the cross, and died for us and for our salvation. Through the Christ child we are given new life, a life that isn’t defined by what we can buy, or give, or get, but defined by love: the love of God, surrounding us, filling us, and bringing us together in community.

May you who have gathered here tonight leave this place knowing the love of God for you. May you trust the mysteries of faith, content that you will never fully understand God – and grateful that you may abide in that love, and share it with your neighbours.

And maybe tonight, you don’t know why you’re here. You’ve come to hear some word that might bring hope into your life. Or, you’re listening for the ‘amen’ that will enable you to hope that the service is almost done.

To you then, welcome. And please understand – it was for you that God came. What happened on this night so very long ago, changed the world. Let it change your life.

Let the people of God say amen.

For Alexander and Emma

Occasionally I'm reminded that a tough day at the office for me is part of someone else's nightmare. May God be with Emma and Alexander, who were born at 21 weeks.

Grace and peace, to you in your time of sorrow, from God our heavenly Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

It’s a cruel coincidence that we gather here after the longest night of the year – a time when darkness takes over the majority of our waking hours and can leave even the hardiest person longing for light. We come together in the middle of your darkest night, as you mourn the death of Alexander and Emma.

Tyler and Jackie, I’ve talked with you before and I still can’t even pretend to tell you that your babies’ death is part of God’s ‘plan’ for us, that your pain is good, right, or just. It is none of those things. To say otherwise would be for me to deny your grief. Your grief is real – and you have a right to feel like you do.

Anger, guilt, pain, immeasurable sadness and all the other emotions you experience right now are warranted. Let your anger and grief work through, because they need to. If you need to be angry at God, be angry at God. When you weep, know that God weeps with you. God has known what it is like to lose a child.

Though some may tell you otherwise, your grief should not be blunted because Alexander and Emma’s life was so short. In reality, it probably hurts so much worse because of that. But I yearn for you to find something else in your grief. I want you to find hope.

Hope that Alexander and Emma now rest in the arms of God, who loves all of us. Hope, knowing that their memory will become holy unto you even as their life, too short, was holy. You mourn, and all creation mourns with you. But you are not abandoned by God, and neither are Alexander and Emma.

Like those children who came to be blessed by Jesus, your babies now rest with God who has known them from before the first time you felt them in your womb. Tyler and Jackie, you are children of God, and please know that this community is gathered today to support you and be present to you in your grief.

People brought children to Jesus, because they knew that in a world that could be horribly, terribly cruel Jesus loved their children. It is the will of God that they enter the kingdom of heaven, where they can rest in the arms of Jesus Christ. For in God’s love, they live forever.

And I know that you want nothing else in this world except for Alexander and Emma to be here with you – for you to hold, to comfort, and to see them smile again. We can’t make that happen today – there’s no power on earth that can. But I can promise that you will see your babies again. We are promised a time when our tears will be dry, and our sorrow will be over – the day of Resurrection.

On that day we will see our loved ones again, when we are reunited with them to sing the song that began when creation was new. On that day, Tyler and Jackie, the love that you sang out for your son and your daughter will flow again from your lips, and you too will feel the perfect love of God. You will be together.

Have hope in that. Have faith that through the cross – through death – Jesus shows us the way to everlasting life in the love of God. The Good Shepherd, who gave his life for his sheep, now watches over Alexander and Emma, and they are at peace. Let their memory be holy to you, as their lives were.

Tyler, Jackie, as you walk through death’s dark valley, know that God does more than walk with you. God carries you, as he carries your family and all of us, even as he carries Alexander and Emma. God has promised that he will not leave your children, and you can hope for that day, that last day, when our Lord Jesus Christ returns and you will meet your babies again.

And time will blunt your grief, though it will never go away. This is the longest night, and quite probably every fiber of your being is longing for your children. Yet, just like the days will get longer as the sun shines through the darkness, your grief will fade. One day, you will wake up in the morning and your thoughts won’t be of Alexander and Emma – but don’t feel guilty, because your heart will always remember them.

And then on that day, when all other things have ended, your new life will begin and you will be united with Alexander and Emma through the baptismal promise that you share.

And on that day you may be greeted by Alexander and Emma, who may speak those words that you so longed to say to them:

We love you. Welcome home.

Amen

Asking God

I asked God for strength, that I may achieve,
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health, that I might do greater things,
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.
I asked for riches, that I might be happy,
I was given poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power, that I might have praise of men,
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life,
I was given life, that I may enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for --
but everything that I hoped for.
Almost despite myself,
my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am, among all men,
most richly blessed.

-- attributed to an anonymous confederate soldier--

Advent 4a

So what is God’s plan for your life? I am an inveterate “googler” – and when I typed in “discover God’s plan for my life,” Google blessed me with over 500 000 websites devoted to that topic. “God’s plan for my life” is apparently pretty important, and if I’m really good and send my name, address, phone number, and email address I can receive weekly insights that will help me discover what God’s plan for my life really is – or at least, a close approximation.

Of course, I rather suspect there’s an unwritten assumption there – that if my life is in shambles, it’s because I’m not following God’s plan for my life.

But does it really work that way? If God has a plan for your life, does following it mean life is easy? Or is there the standard excuse – “no, it makes life harder but more worth it. I have to follow what God wants for my life.”

I’ll be honest, and tell you that I don’t put a lot of value on any literature, program, or presentation that promises to help me find “God’s plan for my life.” I don’t really care for them, beloved, because God is going to act out God’s plan for your life whether you like it, agree with it, follow it, or not. God doesn’t need your permission.

But let me talk about what God does expect from you, or maybe I can even tell you what I think God needs from you. But so far as I know, only one person was ever told what’s God’s plan for people was – and that was Joseph.

Joseph is really the reason I don’t like the ‘God’s plan for my life’ language. Because we often miss the man who Joseph is. He’s either a second-role player, relegated to the back of the line in the manger scene, or he becomes the hero, taking charge, taking Mary to Bethlehem, finding the stable, doing those things that heroes do.

Yet stop for a minute and consider the society Joseph lived in. Think of this particular community, fifty or sixty years ago. What happened when someone became pregnant out of wedlock? And what would have happened if that someone became pregnant before living her fiancé, and everyone knew that the baby wasn’t his?

Now imagine a society in which that’s punishable by death, or in the best case being expelled and shunned by the family. It’s called an ‘honour code,’ and it still exists in many countries in the Middle East today. Heck, it still exists in many “Christian” families.

Do you really that Joseph liked ‘God’s plan’ for his life? Oh by the way, Joseph, I’m going to publically shame you. When you’re engaged, she’s going to get pregnant. And people will talk, but you won’t do anything about it. In fact, you’ll marry her anyway. But you won’t do what comes naturally to young couples. Until I’m done with her.

What Joseph did had the potential to ruin his life.

That’s the kicker, isn’t it? There’s a fine line between following God’s plan, and being off your rocker.

I remember hearing in a sermon a story about a young woman who decided to follow ‘God’s plan’ for her life. Her plan included an MBA from a business school and a prosperous life. But then she heard a couple of stories about development work in Africa, and about becoming a minister.

And she gave up her expensive education. Went and worked as a volunteer. Took classes at a Seminary. Sold her car, stopped visiting the boutique stores, stopped martini lunches and girl’s night out.

Her family’s response was to prosecute her campus pastor, who they blamed for her transformation. Accusations of ‘cult leader’ followed, and the family enlisted a deprogrammer to get their daughter back.

So I think that the biggest reason I don’t like the language of “God’s plan for my life,” is that it’s usually conditional on two things: 1) that it agrees with what I want for my life, or 2) something horrible happens and there has to be a ‘why’.

But I’ll tell you what: I think that God has already revealed God’s plan for your life. A messenger of God revealed it to Joseph, and Scripture has given it to you. It’s not a ‘how to’ list. It’s not a not a ‘must do’ list.

God’s plan for you is revealed in a baby. Mary will bear a son, and he will be named him Jesus – Joshua in Hebrew – for he will save his people from their sins. ‘Joshua’ means simply “God saves” – so there is salvation in the name of Jesus Christ. God’s plan for your life is your salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

Because if there’s any one common denominator in the bible, it’s that God is sovereign. God reigns over all things, and really, I find it difficult to believe that God cares which financial planner you use, that you find ‘financial freedom’. I think God cares more that you use your blessings to care for God’s church and God’s people, and God’s creation than how much you hoard.

I think that part of the issue of “God’s plan” is that we tend to drastically overthink what exactly that means. Often, we tend to think of in terms of ‘predestination’ – the idea that God has elected chosen people since the beginning of time for heaven, and knows every choice we are going to make.

Over and against that, is the idea of free will – that we can act independently. We have free will, right? We can choose to do right, or wrong.

Wrong. Because beloved, your free will is bound to sin. You see, God doesn’t weigh everything on a scale – on August 13 you mowed the neighbours lawn (check) but on December 9 you yelled at the grocery girl for being too slow – God sees everything as a whole, and the bad always outweighs the good. You can’t save yourself.

So here’s the two simple propositions of God’s plan:

1) Jesus is Emmanuel, God saves through God with us; and,

2) God has saved you, because God acted.

This is the scandal of this time of year, beloved. That’s God’s incarnation in that little weak baby passes by entirely unnoticed. Everybody else is looking for the Messiah they want – the coming-on-the-clouds type – God comes into the lives of two ordinary people, turns those lives upside down, and they are forever changed.

Yet we’ll hear in the weeks to come that not even Mary and Joseph totally understood who – or what – Jesus was. And that’s fine. Because neither do we.

When we fall into the cycle of trying to see God’s plan for our lives, well, we come right back to the same self-centred, sinful position. God’s plan for MY life. How do I live better?

When you are engaged in the life of God – the church and the world – you begin to see that you are part of a picture that is so much bigger than yourself and your concerns. And you will begin to understand that God’s plan was your salvation through Jesus Christ.

What God expects – or what God needs from us – is faith. But God hedges his bets, and the Holy Spirit draws us into life with God. But faith is a game-changer, because when you find faith, you find a different kind of life.

A life that isn’t lived so that you can find God’s plan by being good, or doing good things that seem to be on the right track. Instead, because God has acted, life is lived because you know that God saved the world through Jesus Christ. Your salvation is joy – and your life becomes testimony to that.

The ancient Israelites waited and waited and waited for their God to be with them. Through times of prosperity it was easier to believe; in times of trouble it was harder yet they still waited. Looking for signs of God, that God truly was with them. God had promised, had laid out their salvation from the foundation of the world, and God would not – did not – forsake them.

Today we are a little bit more blessed to see a sign of the kingdom of God – of God with us – as we celebrate the sacrament of Holy Baptism, a visible sign of God’s presence in our midst.

Today we celebrate the presence of God in Wanda’s life; we rejoice that God has brought her here, called her through the Gospel and enlightened her by the Holy Spirit, just as God has called, gathered, and enlightened us all.

We who wait are blessed by “God with us,” and God alone is sovereign. As Wanda is baptized today, take some time to reflect on your salvation – know that God is with you, blesses you every day, and cherishes you as one of God’s own children.

Let the people of God say amen.

dancing lessons!

Advent 3

“Blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.” Isn’t that a bit odd? After all, Jesus is talking to John the Baptist – but if you remember, he’s also talking to his cousin. John’s mother Elizabeth was Mary’s cousin. John baptized Jesus in the Jordan river, and proclaimed the Messiah’s coming. But the end of Jesus’ declaration to his cousin’s disciple is defensive: “and blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.”

We live in a bit of a backwards world – have you ever noticed that? It’s a world where nothing seems to work like it should. For every child born happy and whole, there are some who are not, or not born at all. For every dollar that is made at our jobs, someone loses theirs, loses their home, their livelihood. The bad things seem so often to outnumber the good.

And that’s not all, of course. If you pay close attention to the media, and to ‘experts’ on our young people, they are taught to think that the worst things that can happen to them in their lives are getting arrested, getting addicted to drugs, or getting pregnant. Do those three sound alike to you?

Marriages crumble because of ‘irreconcilable differences,’ or worse, toxic relationships continue out of fear – fear of being alone, of being ostracized by friends and family. Parents leave children because they need to ‘find themselves’.

If Jesus calls those who take no offense at him ‘blessed’, then one of two things happens: either we see that Christ is in all of us because we are all sinners; or we begin to see ourselves in Christ. So, instead of becoming images of Christ – knowing that when we feel the sting of the law it is because of Christ’s presence reacting to our own self-centeredness; in our minds Christ becomes the image of us.

And it works in religion, too. The fastest growing religious traditions are those of the Law – fundamentalist Islam, and fundamentalist Christianity. Even the New Atheists are as much about their own law as the worst fundamentalist. They’re all about who’s good enough, who can be ‘themselves’ while at the same time being judged by how correctly they believe in the doctrine of their religion – and believe me, beloved, Atheists are as strict about their own doctrine as the most acidic holy roller.

And why do they grow? Because people are more easily united by things at which they take offence than those upon which they agree. Because religions of the law are about being united against a common enemy – those who don’t keep your law – than they are about united by those things you hold in common.

That’s a basic tenant of human behaviour, I would argue. After all, what are Edmonton Eskimos fans without the Calgary Stampeders? What are the Roughriders without the Lions? What are Vulcans, if not for Romulans? (and I promise that will be my last Star Trek™ joke). What is the Tea Party, without Barak Obama?

There’s a website I used to visit that offered ideas and discussion on how to “keep Christ in Christmas”. When I first joined, it seemed like a good thing – just a way of sharing ideas on how Christian families could help our children understand Christmas in light of all the advertising that they see at this time of year.

But after a few months, a certain kind of person had taken over the site. You probably know the kind – they’re the ones who forward those emails to you with “God” and “Jesus” and “Christ” and “the Bible” in BIG capital letters – you know, those emails that are actually based on the old chain letters. You remember them: Someone sent this letter to fifteen people and won the lottery; someone threw it out and got warts. Except the religious ones use the kind of guilt that would make an Irish mother proud – IF you have faith, send it on…

So the messages on the website became more and more reactionary. When people began posting about how “that socialist Obama” was part of a conspiracy to destroy Christmas, it was time for me to go. Because instead of blessing others with the wonderful gift of Christ, they were using the Word of God as a weapon to cause offence.

John and Jesus represent two fundamentally different approaches to the same faith. John baptized Jesus; last week we heard John’s proclamation that the Messiah was coming, “and his winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will separate the wheat from the chaff; and the wheat he will gather into his granary and the chaff he will cast into unquenchable fire.” This was the Messiah that John expected: a great conqueror, a warrior king of the sort that some of the juiciest Old Testament passages are made.

John proclaimed and believed in a Messiah who was going to overthrow the Roman oppressor, bless those who believed in him and damn those who didn’t, with the added benefit of eternal punishment.

And what he got was Jesus.

John and Jesus lived largely separated lives. Each had their own disciples, and each carried out their own ministry in their own way. John had watched Jesus for a little bit; had seem the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus in the form of a dove.

Yet when John’s steadfast and honest proclamation landed him in prison, he maybe wondered why. After all, he thought he knew who the Messiah was. But consider the text for today: “after he heard in prison what the Messiah was doing”. After hearing about what the Messiah was doing, John began to doubt. Because Jesus wasn’t being the Messiah John expected.

And Jesus’ own account of his actions probably didn’t do his case any good: “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”

Wait a minute! Who???? The blind, the lame, the lepers, the deaf, and the dead? It’s a good thing Jesus didn’t mention women, he’d have lost all respect! These are not the people John wants to hear about. He wants to hear about wheat and chaff, about kings and armies and power and might. He wants a messiah who is going to kick all things out of his way.

But Jesus doesn’t’ come as the saviour John expects; he comes and the saviour John needs. Because God doesn’t care about our expectations – God sees far more of us than our sinful selves are probably comfortable with.

I’ve come to the conclusion that there are three distinct approaches to Christianity in the world practiced by Christians themselves, no matter what denomination they are. The first are the “I did it my way,” Christians. While professing belief in Christ, their faith does not affect their lives, which they believe are lived well as long as they’re not hurting anyone. In a way, these people are ‘secular Christians’. They’re probably the majority of people.

But the other two are a bit more complicated. The second group are John the Baptist Christians. They want the Messiah they expect, and will do anything to get it. To them, the Messiah is about kingship, about power, and how they can get it and use it.

And the other group are Mary Christians. They are the Christians who, when confronted with the reality of God in their lives, don’t a) ignore it, or b) exploit it, but choose instead to praise God and be an instrument of the will of God in the world. They are the people who say “my soul proclaims your greatness,” instead of “your winnowing fork is in your hand.”

Maybe that’s why the early church venerated Mary, and why Christianity has continued to do so down through the ages. There’s something special about this young woman. She’s not divine, but nor is she just some chick God picked up one night. Mary seems to know that first and foremost, her relationship with God is about God’s love for her, not the other way around. Her heart sings her praises to God, because that is what God desires from us. Not our behaviour, not our judgement, not our power.

God became incarnate in the world, not to show us what it meant to be divine, but so that we would know what it was to be truly human. Thus the Messiah came restoring relationships, healing the brokenhearted, and letting creation know that God had not abandoned it. But rather that God loved it, and loved God’s people, and loved so fiercely that not even death could separate God’s children from God’s presence.

And it is in that love today that we celebrate the baptism of Jessica Jaelynn Gehlert. Today, she’s baptized not because of fear, but because of love. Today, she joins us in waiting for the Messiah, the Christ who comes into our midst. Today, God so loves the world that he will welcome Jessica into the family of God – not because of who she is or what she has done; but solely because of who Jesus is, and what the Messiah has done.

Let the people of God say amen.