Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Advent Two: a biblical vision vs. american melodrama...

NOTE:  Here are my worship notes for Advent II on Sunday, December 9, 2012.

Introduction
Have you ever realized – and embraced – the baffling fact that sometimes we can hold two opposing and even contradictory truths together in our mind at the same time?  Some call it paradox; others say irony.  In some spiritual traditions they speak of this as mysticism or a living encounter with the heart of the Lord; while others consider any such a notion as theologically absurd or at best highly inconsistent and irrational.

·       So let me ask you again:  have you ever realized – and then embraced – the fact that we often hold together two opposing and even contradictory truths at the same time? 

·       Think about it:  I love my dogs but sometimes want to kill them, right?  I cherish time with my children and also rejoice when they head back to their own homes, too.  I know I need to lose weight and still eat another pumpkin scone. 

·       Going deeper we might say things like:  I honor my country and its traditions but sometimes detest the things we do as a nation.  Or I am opposed to the wars of invasion in the Middle East but still support our troops.  Maybe you’ve even thought something like this: I celebrate the beauty and grace of the church but am saddened and angry when she acts stupid or cruel.

In the liturgy of Holy Communion we sometimes confess:  Christ has died – Christ has risen – Christ will come again.  The Bible speaks of the Word made Flesh, the marriage of heaven and earth, believers who are IN the world but not OF the world.  And it is always both/and – realizing and embracing the paradox – rather than demanding one or the other. 
 
·       Ok, what is it:  the Word OR the Flesh?  Come on, make up your mind and tell me the truth:  has Christ died or risen – and what are you talking about when you say he will come again? 

·       Well, in our own ordinary lives as well as our journey by faith we’re talking about truths and experiences that stretch us – that call us deeper – and invite us to live in ways that are more profound than the obvious.

On the second Sunday of Advent this is expressed in the challenge of the prophets – Malachi and the Baptist – who speak of having our impurities refined by God’s fire, living in ways that document our repentance and having our souls cleansed by the Lord’s judgment:

In the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
 the crooked shall be made straight and the rough ways made smooth…

And here’s the paradox:  most Americans believe that we can do this judging and sorting – this purifying and refining and changing – all by ourselves when, in fact, it can only come from God.   This is where we come up against the “realize AND embrace” part of Advent, you see; because no matter how hard we try, we can never heal or forgive ourselves.  Grace comes from the Lord, not our own efforts – and this contradicts and confronts almost everything we’ve ever learned as Americans. 

Insights
Most of us have been trained to believe that if we work hard enough – and act good enough – and do mostly the right things in life, then we will be rewarded.  We teach this to our children, it is what we learned in social studies and it is often how we evaluate our politicians.  At the heart of the American dream, you see, is the belief that not only do we control our own destiny, but that if we work hard enough – and apply enough reason – then good things will happen:  rags can become riches, Abraham Lincoln or Barrack Obama can become President, we can buy whatever we need to be happy, Dorothy will find her way home from Oz if only she has enough faith in herself, good can overcome evil and science will find a cure for cancer.  Am I being clear?

Just think out loud with me for a moment about some of the most successful movies and television programs in American culture:

·       The Sound of Music, Forrest Gump, Pretty Woman, Braveheart, Raiders of the Lost Ark and all the Disney movies old and contemporary:  they all are melodramas about how individuals triumph over harsh realities and make a new life for themselves by working hard and thinking right.  They all close with a happy ending where people live happily ever after. 

·       Most TV shows do the same thing:  Dallas, Desperate Housewives, NCIS, Grey’s Anatomy – as I child I loved Gunsmoke and Rawhide – and my young family always watched Cosby and Family Ties – and they were all melodramas, too.

Now hear me out:   I’m not saying that there aren’t more ambiguous and complex movies or television programs – clearly this year the Batman/Dark Knight film falls into that category as would tv shows like Mad Men and the Sons of Anarchy – and I’m not saying that hard work and clear thinking doesn’t matter because it does.  Rather, I’m talking about the dominant story of our culture and how it trains us into believing that we can control everything and fix whatever is broken.

·       I can’t tell you how many heart-sick people I have visited over the years who tell me things like:  I don’t know why this is happening to me – I’ve done everything right – eaten well, paid my taxes, loved my family and exercised religiously.  How come I got… cancer – or HIV/AIDS – or a heart attack two weeks after I retired?  How come I lost my job – my home – my children – my lover?  For the love of Jesus I’m a good person why is this happening to me? 

·       Well the truth of the matter is I have no idea why you are sick – or suffering – or terrified – or addicted.  All I know is that trusting just the American story isn’t big enough to deal with all the harsh, mystifying and complex realities of our lives.  No, for the fullness of our lives, we need God and God’s grace – because only God can bring understanding to our confusion – and only God can bring us the peace we need in our suffering.

Most of the time, beloved, we can’t fix what is hurting – that can only come from the Lord – and that is part of what this second week in Advent is all about:  it is an invitation to recognize and embrace those wilderness parts of our lives that we need God to make straight and plain and peaceful.  

·       The prophets for this day tell us to prepare a way for the Lord, ok?  They don’t say, “Try and DO the Lord’s work.  Make every effort to cleanse thyself of sin and purify thy own hearts of fear.”

·       Not at all:  That is neither what John the Baptist is all about nor Malachi either. They come to us as messengers challenging us to get ready:  open your hearts – recognize your broken places – own the fact that you can’t fix yourself and let go of your addiction to the American story long enough for God’s grace to wash over you with forgiveness.

That’s what it means to get ready in Advent – that’s why we’re taking one minute every day to be silent – that’s why we’re lighting a candle in the darkness – we are preparing ourselves for God’s grace by letting go of our control.  It is an act of trust that is quiet and gentle and deep.  It is preparing our hearts and minds for the Biblical story in addition to our American one because the Biblical story is much more nuanced and complex than the American melodrama.  The Biblical story takes sin – and forgiveness – seriously, acknowledging that both often reside in our lives, yes? The Biblical story trusts God as well as human reason – but trusts God more.  And the Biblical story trains us to see God’s grace breaking into the world in the most unusual places.  It is all about realizing AND embracing the paradox.

So think about it:  if we’re paying attention, the Biblical story in Advent invites us to open our hearts by faith to the birth of both John the Baptist and Jesus the Christ Child.  Two vulnerable children set down in the midst of Rome’s empire who are ignored by most of the world but who changed everything for ever.  Preacher David Lose puts it like this:

“(The Biblical vision and story tells of) two children who will grow up to change the world, it speaks of how an instrument of Roman torture was turned into the means by which God reconciles the world unto God’s own self… it is always something of the mustard-seed that creeps in, unawares, small and insignificant, until it grows and spreads, infesting whole fields and inviting all kinds of creatures to take refuge in its branches.”

So Luke makes the outrageous claim that God is at work in the weak and small – babies and barren women and unwed teenage mothers and wild-eyed prophets and itinerant preachers and executed criminals – who will change the world. And, to be quite honest, (the story goes on to say that) God’s not done yet. God continues to work through unlikely characters today – unpopular teens and out-of-work adults and corporate executives and stay-at-home parents and underpaid secretaries and night-shift workers and police officers and volunteer baseball coaches and even burned out preachers – all of whom can announce the news of God’s redemption…

…when God empowers us be grace to act in faith.

Conclusion
The discipline of the second Sunday in Advent is spend less – spend less money so you avoid debt, spend less on things you don’t need so you have more resources to care for those you love – and that’s the obvious part.  The deeper discipline is this:  spend less time trying to control things so that there is more room for trusting the Lord. 

Jesus once taught his disciples this truth in the Sermon on the Mount when he said:

You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule… You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you… and you’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

I am so grateful God comes to us in this unexpected, small and often irrelevant story that challenges the melodrama of my culture.  I don’t know about you, but I need this kind of God who loves what is broken and worthless and forgotten – it gives me hope – and maybe could be good news for you, too.

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