Manger

from my message on 12/23/12 from Luke 2:8-20

Transformed.  That's the word that came to me.  We are going to transform these scraps of cloth into swaddling cloths as you pass them around and then tie them together.  This will give your hands something to do while I talk a little while.

We have been on a journey to the manger, to the birth of the Messiah, this Advent.  We have gone on this journey with the characters in the birth story.  I have given you hand motions to help you remember.  We saw Mary be transformed from a scared girl into the mother of the Christ, as she let go control, and unclenched her hands, saying, "I am the servant of the Lord.  Let it be to me according to your word."  We encounter Joseph, whose rough, calloused hands, were transformed into hands of mercy, going way beyond what the law required to do what love is, by accepting Mary as his wife, and her child as his.  We met Elizabeth who was transformed from being a relative into a friend, as she open her hands and her heart to welcome Mary.  The hand motion is that of cradling a baby.  Today, we have the manger.   Seems pretty cold, compared to these persons.  It will take a few minutes to get to transformation.

We start at Manger Square today in Bethlehem.  You see the outside of the Church of the Nativity.  You see how the doorway has been filled in over the centuries.  This close up shows just how small the door is today.  Military people will tell you it was done for a defensive purpose.  Everyone is slowed down, trying to enter.  The army could hold its postion much more easily inside.  Today, it is called the door of humility.  Everyone must bow to enter into the sanctuary.  It is a good posture to be in as we approach the manger. Here is a picture of the traditional site of the manger.  It is at the back of the sanctuary and underneath it.  You see the 14 point gold star in the marble floor and all of the canles hanging nearby.  It doesn't do much for my soul.  Especially when you are rushed through like a herd of cattle.  The last time I was here in 2007, I was  a bus captain, responsible for some 41 persons.  Our guide had me read the passage from Luke I just read for you.  The whole time, he was going, "This is taking too long.  Speed it up!"  Real worshipful, huh?

Most of the time we think of a manger like the one we have on the altar table here.  A wooden box, filled with hay, all clean and pretty, is our picture.  Most likely, it was more like this picture of a stone trough.  It was feeding trough, cold, hard.

Here's my point.  God takes a feeding trough and makes it into the entry point of salvation.  If God can transform a manger into the birth place of the Messiah, then God can  transform just about anything.  Here, we take some water, just ordinary water.  I say a prayer over it, and it becomes the water of baptism.  We say that sins are washed away, that we are claimed by God as God's own chidren, that our identity is sure. Here, we take some bread and some grape juice, and I say  a prayer over it and it becomes the body and blood of Christ.  We take his very self into ourselves.  We are what we eat.  Here, in the story, the shepherds, modern day equivalents would be parking lot attendants, become evangelists.  They return home shouting good news.  Here, in the story, ordinary people, like us, become the actors in a holy drama.  God is about transformation.

I was transformed this past Monday.  I started the day early, arriving at the office about 7:15.  I had a memorial service that afternoon.  Trust me on this:  you don't want any surprises at such a service.  People are in enough grief and pain already.  You don't want to further hurt them.  So we had 3 musicians to coordinate, a video element to work in, 5 members of the family to speak, a worship bullet to get printed with no administrative assistant, a caterer to welcome.  I also did my emails, blog, and my twitter account ( I am up to 49 followers on Twitter!).  I had some other appointments and phone calls.  The memorial service went well.  The reception was lovely.  I went downton at 5 p.m. to First Baptist Church to help with the Mobile Loaves and Fishes dinner for the homeless.  I was assigned table 15.  The people, our neighbors, our family who live on the street started coming in at 5:30.  They expected to line up to get their food, but we greeted them and seated them at tables of 8.  I used my line, "Help me with your name."  I met Aubrey, and Tony and Rabbit.  We served them salad with 2 choices of dressing.  They got turkey with green beans and a baked potato with all the fixin's.  Well, one gentleman chided me by saying, "What, no chives!"  They got their choice of dessert:  pumpkin, or pecan, or apple pie.  You could get whipped cream topping.  We served them their drinks:  water, tea, coffee, or hot chocolate.  You know the poor man's fancy drink?  One half coffee and one half hot chocolate.  After  2 hours of serving, I left to go home at the end of a long day....and you know I wasn't tired at all.  I wasn't hungry at all.  I had been transformed.

What does this have to do with the hand motion of cradling a baby?  Isn't it wonderful to hold a child in your arms?  Some of you have children, or now grandchildren, or nieces or nephews.  It is precious.  One woman who joined our church a few years ago took our spiritual gifts inventory.  She found that she wanted to work with children.  We tried to find her a place with our Sunday School or Vacation Bible School, but it wasn't the right fit.  We finally found it at the NNICU at St. David's hospital.  She would hold the little babies, the preemies, in her arms.  She was in heaven. 

Today, as we come to the manger, I want you to imagine that you are the one who is being held.  The manger is the place where you are being held in the arms of God.  We bring those swaddling cloths to the manger now.  You are the one who is being covered by God's grace, secure and safe.  You are covered, forgiven, welcomed, blessed, protected. 

This is the good news I have to share with you today:  you are held in the arms of God, and you will never be let go!

Whose birthday is it?

from my message on Christmas Eve, 2012, from Luke 2:1-20

We are celebrating a birthday tonight?  Is is the birthday of Santa Claus? (NOO!!)  Is it the birthday of Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer?  (NOOOO!!)  Is it the birthday of Frosty the Snowman?  (NOOOOO!!)  Well, who's birthday is it?  (It's Jesus' birthday!!)

Ok, then let's sing that "Happy Birthday" song.  (Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dear Jesus, Happy Birthday to you)

Thanksgiving holiday was coming up.  The teacher of the pre-school Sunday School class was trying to teach about this holiday.  She wanted to be playful in her style, so she said, "Let's see Thanksgiving.  That's the day when we think about all the stuff we have and how we want more than anyone else has and how we don't care about anyone else but ourselves and..."
"No!" the kids started to yell.  "NOOO!!!"
Then one little boy announced, "That's not Thanksgiving, Miss Michelle.  That's Christmas!"

I know we think that Christmas is our birthday, but whose is it?  (It's Jesus' birthday.) 

What else do you have at a birthday party?  You have presents, right?  Well, tonight we are going to offer gifts to Jesus.  How do we do that today?  We are going to take an offering for our mission home in San Antonio that works with mothers and young babies and families that want to adopt these babies.  Because whose birthday is it?  (It's Jesus' birthday)

What else do you have at a birthday party?  You have cake, right?  Well, tonight we are going to have the sacrament of communion, some bread and grape juice.  And because it is Jesus birthday, everyone is welcome, even little children.

A group of first graders got together and decided to write their own version of the nativity.  It was more modern than the traditional dama.  Oh, there was the familiar cast members:  Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men, the star, the angel.  But Mary was nowhere to be seen.  Suddenly, some loud moans could be heard from behind the bales of hay. Evidently, Mary was about to give birth.  Soon, the doctor arrived, complete with white coat and stethoscope.  Joseph, with a look of relief on his face, took the doctor straight to Mary.  Then he started pacing.  After a few moments, the "doctor" came out with a big smile upon his face.  "Congratulations, Joseph," he said, "It's a God."

Whose birthday is it?  It's Jesus' birthday.  A God born a human being like us.

What else do you have at a birthday party?  You have candles, right?  Well, we are going to have candles too.  We are going to watch as this whole room fills with the light of Christ. When we blow them out, we are going to be the light of Christ in the world.  It's Jesus' birthday, and we are going to keep telling the world that until He comes again.

Whose birthday is it?  (It's Jesus' birthday)

pastoral prayer

12/16/12 We had our annual Lessons and Carols service, so I did not preach on Sunday.  I did pray the following:

Gracious God, Merciful Savior, Ever Present Spirit,
Today along with the Christmas carols we sing, we also sing a song of lament.  We cry, we weep with the people Newtown, Connecticut.  Their tears are ours.  Their children are ours.

We weep with all of the innocent ones who get caught between the fighting sides of civil war, who get ground down by poverty, disease, famine, loneliness.  We join our voices with Adam and Eve, who from the very beginning wept when Cain took his brother Abel's life.

Today, our only hope, God is that the Christmas carols are true.  That you have come and are coming in Jesus, that you took on our flesh, that you join us in our vulnerability.  We sing and believe that you came as a baby--like us, a wondering child--like us, a suffering human being--like us.

Today, we hold our children, and all children near us, near you.  We weep....and we hope.  May the Christmas carols be true.

Amen.

Mary's Visit to Elizabeth

from my message on 12/9/12, from Luke 1:39-45

You've got a friend.  I can almost hear James Taylor singing it.  You've got a friend.

Today is the third message in the Journey series.  We are going with the characters in the Christmas story towards the birth of the Messiah.  We looked at Mary, whose hands were open, as she said, "let it be unto me as you have spoken.  I am the servant of the Lord."  Last week we encountered Joseph whose rough and calloused hands were full of mercy as he went beyond the law to do what love is in taking Mary as his wife and the child she was carrying as his own.  Each week, there has been a memory device with the hands.  Today, we encounter Elizabeth whose hands, whose arms are open wide in welcoming Mary.  Elizabeth is a friend to Mary in her time of need.

If you were in trouble, scared, didn't know what to do, whom would you call?  Especially, if you were a pregnant teenager, no husband, confused, lots of questions, to whom would you go?  Mary went to Elizabeth.

Today, we have with us Sarah Reiter from the Methodist Mission Home in San Antonio.  She happens to be an Aggie, class of '12.  The MMH deals with people like Mary, pregnant teenagers.

(Sarah then tells the story of how MMH got started as a madam at a brothel in San Antonio had a conversion experience at a revival meeting.  With the help of Travis Park UMC, she transformed her brothel into a home for wayward girls.  This was in 1895.  More recently a young woman was pregnant, in desperate need.  She had no mother, no spouse.  Her father didn't know what to do.  The young woman came to MMH where she got medical care, counseling, education, job training, and support.  The MMH found a family that was eager to adopt the child.  The mother had only one request and that was that she could name the child.  "I can't give this child anything else in this life, but I can give a name."

Then Sarah told a story of other services that the MMH provides.  A young man was about to graduate from high school.  At at pool party, he had an accident, and nearly drowned.  However, he went without oxygen long enough to severely impair him.  He was sent to the MMH.  Not much chance was given him to function well or even to speak.  He wrote, "I will walk across the stage at my graduation and I will give the speech."  Four years later, he did!  Not only that he gave glory to God. "This has been a blessing to me.  I was headed in the wrong direction, going with the wrong crowd, getting into drugs.  Now I have my life back.")

Do you feel the open arms that welcome and accept?  We will be taking an offering on Christmas Eve for the MMH.  Now you know how it will be helping real people.

Sometimes, we are Mary.  We are the ones who need help.  We need a friend.

Mary visited Elizabeth.  Elizabeth didn't judge or ask questions.  She simply welcomed her with open arms.  She was a friend.  She blessed her.

She blessed in loud speech.  The word in Greek is really "yelled."  She shouted out loud the word that Mary needed to hear.  Sometimes that's what we do as Elizabeth.  We yell our blessing.  A few week ago, Erin had an episode.  It was at our Wed. night supper.  Something wasn't right.  Erin couldn't speak.  Rich saw the problem.  He shouted, "Shannon!"  Shannon is Rich's wife.  They started getting Erin to the hospital.  Linda was there talking to her physician husband on the phone getting counsel as they drove Erin to the hospital.  I am happy to report Erin is with us in worship today.  She is fine.

Sometimes our word of blessing is quieter.  Many years ago I read a short story in a devotional magazine for youth the UMC did, called "Alive Now!"  The story was written by a chaplain who worked at a youth shelter.  Ruby had come in all tough, trash-talking, chain-smoking.  She had her walls up.  No one could come close to her.  One night Ruby came to the chaplain.  "I heard that Jesus loved sinners.  I heard that he even forgave prostitutes.  Is that right?"  The chaplain said, "I started to give her my sermon.  You know the one about how God hates the sin, but loves the sinner.  But this time I kept my mouth shut, and simple said, 'Yes.'"  Ruby cried.  Sometimes all we need is one quiet word.

Sometimes our inspired speech is actually silence.  You may remember I did my work in spiritual direction at Boston College, a great Catholic Jesuit university.  One of my teachers was  a world renowned spiritual director, having written books and given lectures around the world.  In class one day, she confessed the following:

I was giving spiritual direction to a man.  He was sitting beside me.  Maybe I was tired.  Maybe his story wasn't all that interesting, but I must have fallen asleep.  All I know is that I woke up as he was saying, "that what I needed to share today."  I felt so guilty, falling asleep on him.  I muttered some, "oh yes," or something.  Then he said, "Thanks for being so quiet today.  I really just needed to get that out uninterrupted.  Thanks for just listening."

We think it is about us, but the primary actor here is the Holy Spirit.  Elizabeth has inspired speech as she welcomes and blesses Mary.  But even the baby in Elizabeth's womb recognized the baby in Mary's womb and leaps for joy without a word!  May we be open to others and to the leading of the Spirit.

We can learn how to be more welcoming.  We can learn how to listen and to care.  We can learn how to bless.  We can learn how to become Elizabeth.  Stephen Ministers get training in exactly this arena.  Hear Stuart's witness.

Video segment of Stuart, who was an efficient, effective officer in an energy company for 35 years, who through Stephen Ministry training has had a sea change in learning not to give answers or counsel, but to simply listening and caring for another person, letting God set the tempo and letting Jesus be the cure-giver.

It is true what that old hymn says, "What a friend we have in Jesus."  But it is also true, "What a Jesus we have in a friend."  That's the good news I have to share today.

Joseph of Bethlehem

from my sermon on Dec. 2, 2012, from Matthew 1:18-24

(I have my Austin Habitat for Humanity tee shirt on.  I walk up to a plain wooden bench with some wood on it.  I start sanding a board.)

Do the right thing.  That's my creed.  Those are the words that I live by.  My name is Joseph.  How many words do I say in the Christmas story?.....not one, nada, zip, zero!  That's just fine by me.  Actions speak louder than words.  I need to use a few words to tell you my story.

Look at my hands.  They are rough, calloused.  They are working man's hands.  They are used to holding tools as I shape wood and stone.  People expect me to do the right thing.  When they have a leaky roof, I fix it right the first time.  When they need a door hung, I fix it right the first time.  When they have a farm implement that needs repair, I fix it right the first time.  People depend upon me to do the right thing.

So our families contraced together for Mary and me to become engaged.  That's how it was done.  My mom and dad talked to her mom and dad, and it was done.  I hardly knew her.  But it was the way things had been done forever.  It was the right thing to do.  She was in Nazareth.  I was in Bethlehem.  After a year or two, we would become married. 

But when she visited her kinswoman Elizabeth in a nearby town, I went to see Mary.  Something was different about her.  You could tell just by looking at her.  She told me that she had wonderful news.  She blurted it right out. She said, "I'm pregnant."  I was crushed....hurt, disappointed...angry.  I felt betrayed.  I knew it wasn't my baby.  I hadn't known Mary in that way.  Mary tried to calm me down, "It's alright.  I am carrying a child because the Holy Spirit came upon me and caused me to become pregnant."  I replied, "Right, I am sure that happens all the time."

I was so mad I wanted to hit something.  I wanted to hit Mary.  But I looked at my hands.  They are not cruel hands. 

But what is the right thing to do?  The law clearly says, I have taken my hand over the Torah, reading it many times, in Deuteronomy 22:23-24, "If there is a young woman, a virgin already engaged to be married and a man meets here in town and lies with her, you shall bring both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death."  By law, it is the right thing to do.

But I looked at my hands.  They are not hands that could kill Mary.  And then it hit me, they are certainly not hands that could kill a baby.  To kill Mary would mean that the child she was carrying would be killed also.

What is the right thing to do?  My hands  had held the holy scriptures which talked of a God who loved.  Even when Adam and Eve did the unthinkable, God did not destroy them.  He cast them out of the garden, but he also let them live, and even made for them clothes.  When Cain killed his brother Abel, God did not kill him Cain, but gave him a mark, so that others would not kill Cain.  God destroyed the earth by a flood, but saved a remnant, Noah and family on the ark.  It seems that God kept finding a way to show love and bring new life to God's people.  I remember what the prophet Micah said, "What does the LORD require?  But to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God."

The scriptures call me a righteous man.  You may think that righteousness means keeping the law, but what it really means is "right relationships."  Righteousness means goes beyond keeping the law to showing love.

I resolved to divorce Mary quietly.  That way she and the child would live.  All of the blame, all of the shame would be upon me.  People would see me as one who had gotten her pregnant and then deserted her.  I would be known as the one who did not keep promises.  No longer would I be known for doing the right thing.  Although before God, I knew it to be the right thing.  I had peace about it... shalom.  I was settled.  I could live with my decision.

It's funny.  I have always had dreams.  You would think that a practical person like myself who could look at wood and see the grain of it and fashion just the right implement would have nothing to do with dreams, but no.  I am like my namesake, Joseph of Genesis, who saved our people like ago, because he had dreams and could interpret dreams.  God spoke to me through an angel in my dreams.  God essentially said that I should take Mary as my wife, and that I should take the child as my own.  I was to name him Jesus, which means "the Lord saves."  That this child would be known as "Emmanuel," "God with us."  I knew that I had done the right thing.  I got confirmation from God.  I lived into the meaning of my name, Joseph, which means "Increaser."  I was increasing God's presence, God's love in the world.

Look at your hands.  I imagine that they are not rough and calloused like mine.  May they always be soft.  May they always go beyond the law demands to do what love is.    Who are the ones you hold in your hands?  May your hands always do the right thing.