Archive for December, 2008

Posted on December 21, 2008 - by Tim L

Visitors - God

6 For a child has been born—for us!
the gift of a son—for us!
He’ll take over the running of the world.
His names will be: Amazing Counselor,
Strong God,
Eternal Father,
Prince of Wholeness.
7 His ruling authority will grow,
and there’ll be no limits to the wholeness he brings.
He’ll rule from the historic David throne
over that promised kingdom.
He’ll put that kingdom on a firm footing
and keep it going
With fair dealing and right living,
beginning now and lasting always.
The zeal of God-of-the-Angel-Armies
will do all this.

Isaiah 9:6 – 7 The Message

The guests were starting to arrive for the centenary celebration, and the deaconess was standing at the door waiting to greet the new mayor. She wondered how she would recognise him, but was assured that other people wouldn’t be wearing chains round their necks. When a chauffeur-driven car pulled up at the specially coned-off area, she came forward and greeted the impressive-looking gentleman who emerged, and led him into the building. But after being introduced to one or two people, he tactfully informed her that he was not the new mayor! She apologised profusely, only grateful that she had not already ushered him to a VIP seat.
Meanwhile, however, she had missed the real mayor. He had passed her in the corridor, but how could she have known? Not only was he chainless; he looked so ordinary! Furthermore, he had walked to the church, and come in at the back door. It was the caretaker who pointed him out to her. ‘Yes, I know Bert,’ he said. ‘I used to do the soup run with him.’

They said, ‘John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, Are you the one who is
to come, or are we to wait for another?’”
Luke 7:18-23 The Message

Jesus, are you the one?
It is hardly surprising that people missed your coming when even John the Baptist wasn’t sure.
They were expecting such a different kind of messiah.
The unmistakable kind.
Chauffeur-driven, on a VIP throne, with a gold chain.
How could anyone be expected to know who you were when you came in at the back, looking ordinary?
There were plenty who did recognise you, of course:
the blind man who cried, ‘Son of David, have pity!;
the disturbed one who screamed, ‘Stay away!;
the woman who touched the hem of your coat,
the folk who knew you from the soup run.
But are you the one, Jesus? We still have to ask.
In a world of paths and promises, how can we be sure?
Your reply is your work amongst the sick and oppressed. ‘Decide for yourselves!’
you say- as if it isn’t the doctrines, or even the miracles,
but the company you keep and the priorities you hold
and the kingdom of possibilities and joy
you unpack amid our ordinariness.
So help us to be on the look-out for your coming,
as the people and events crowd in.
Open our eyes to see you in the guise of friend and stranger. Whatever the path,
wherever the place,
however you come to us,
may there be recognition.
And joyous welcoming.
Taken from Advent readings from Iona, Brian Woodcock and Jan Sutch Pickard, Wild Goose Publications, 2000.

Posted on December 14, 2008 - by Tim L

Visitor - the Sheepherders

Talk 1

I was trying to buy stamps during the week for the Christmas cards we send all over the country. I tried a number of outlets and post offices but to no avail. You see I was trying to buy the 2^nd class stamps with Mary and Jesus on them rather than the ugly sisters from a pantomime. My quest was unsuccessful. I had quite an interesting conversation at the 3 pots post office. They had sold out of the religious stamps and they would not be getting anymore in as the post office would not supply them. When you go into the post office and ask for Christmas stamps they will provide you with the panto stamps – you have to specifically ask for the religious stamps if you want them. That is of course if you can actually find a post office or store that stocks them. It was all a bit of a pantomime.

Do you have a dog?

Did you know that if you point at an object out to a dog it will look at your finger rather than the object that you are pointing at. There is something the way the dogs brain is wired that means it looks at your finger. It can be very frustrating if you are trying to get the dog chase a ball. The dog looks at your finger rather than chasing the ball. You even might have to go and fetch the ball yourself if you are not too careful.

In first century Palestine it was Augustus Caesar who had ordered the decree for the census. It was he who had turned a Roman republic into an all conquering empire with him at the head. He had a famous father, Julius Caesar, who had adopted Augustus. Augustus declared his dead adoptive father to be divine and styled himself as “son of god”.

⁸There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. ⁹Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them. They were terrified. ¹⁰The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: ¹¹A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. ¹²This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.”

¹³At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises:

¹⁴Glory to God in the heavenly heights,

Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.

¹⁵As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the sheepherders talked it over. “Let’s get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us.” ¹⁶They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. ¹⁷Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. ¹⁸All who heard the sheepherders were impressed.

Luke 2; 8-18 (The Message)

There are many things that are signposts in the Christmas story. We can see some of them here in the account by Luke, an angelic choir, a stable and a manger – they are all signposts. They are all pointing fingers, but they are not why the object is mentioned in the first place.

So, …dogs, stamps, shepherds, signposts, rulers?

There are signs today. Christmas cards, turkey, shopping, business, lights being switched on, Christmas trees, credit card bills, excited children, nativity plays, making mince pies,

But they are all signs. They are only signs.

The Shepherds were given signs. The angelic choir, the manger, the stable,…But they were all signs, they were only signs.

The shepherds were also told who this child was. This child is the Saviour, the Lord, the promised one, the King, the son of God, the re run of creation, humanity as it should be lived,….

How did they respond? They ran, .. they ran towards the sign, they ran towards the Saviour, they ran to the re-run of creation, they ran towards humanity as it is supposed to be lived, they towards it and visited the manger. But they did not worship the sign, they worshipped the baby. Seeing was believing for them.

But it did not stop at that visit for them. They visited the baby and were changed, hope had arrived, promises were being fulfilled on that day. Their response was not one of splendid selfishness, they did not just consume what they had seen and heard. Their visit changed them, they could not stay as they were. They told others, they told others that the Saviour had come, they told others that hope had arrived, the told others that salvation was here. They told others, Go and visit.

Can you see the signs?

Light a candle if the baby is the real deal

Can you be a sign?

Light a candle for someone you can tell about the baby

Candles and quiet

There are candles about for you to go and light. But don’t get confused they are a signpost, they are not the real thing itself. If the baby at Christmas is the real deal then light a candle. If you can get past the signs then light a candle. Visit, no run towards, the baby yourself. And the other pile of candles is the hope that you might tell someone else this Christmas to forget the signs but ……

Posted on December 7, 2008 - by Tim L

Visitors - Mary and Joseph

1About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. 2This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. 4So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David’s town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. 5He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant.
6While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.

Luke 2;1-7 The Message

I don’t know about you but I like my home comforts.  It is good to know where things are, it is good to be in your own home with your own things around you.  It is familiar, it is comfortable and in the middle of winter it is especially welcome.  Dark and cold nights, people are out and about but tend to be glad to be back home.
Unless of course home is an uncomfortable place.  Family disagreements, the weight of expectations, relationships struggling to communicate effectively, misunderstandings, external pressures.  Maybe home is about failure and disappointments, wishing things had turned out differently, wishing that you had not said and done what you have.  Maybe home is too quiet and you wish for the noise and hustle and bustle of how things used to be, if only those days would come back.
I think Mary and Joseph must have known exactly how you felt.  They would have liked home, the familiar, the known, to be surrounded by their friends.  But they also knew what it was to be uncomfortable at home.
Mary was pregnant, they were not married, she could hide it no longer.  People laughed and sniggered as she went down the street, she could feel the staring eyes on her back.  The net curtains twitched at the windows and heaven knows what they were saying on Facebook and MSN.  She didn’t go there is was too uncomfortable.
Joseph had tried.  At one stage it didn’t look like the relationship would make it.  He was unsure, he tried to do his best but somehow it never quite seemed to be enough.
And, now, now we have to go to Bethlehem for a silly census.  The Romans are never happy unless they are making life uncomfortable for us.  It is all about the money and taxes.  They had talked about her not going, she didn’t need to go but, but,..she did want to stay at home on her own  - it was simply too painful, too hard, maybe getting away for a while would be good.
It was an Angel that had visited her, a messenger from God and now look at what was happening.  It wasn’t what God had done it was the consequences of what he had done.  It was other people.
Mary and Joseph were visitors.  They knew what it was to have to make plans for the journey, to make sure they had everything, to check that everything was in order.  They knew what it was to have to be on the road.  They knew what it was to live out of suitcase.  They knew what it was to have the inconvenience of the a 3 day journey at the beck and call of someone else.  All for the sake of the taxes.
But more than that they knew the pain of home being an uncomfortable place, family disagreements, relationships strained, disappointments,
And into all of that, being visitors, strange places, and circumstances, being unsure and nervous about what will happen.  In all of that stuff of life, God himself visits.  Despite the mess and such inconvenience God visits.
Watch out this Christmas as you visit others, that God might be visiting you.  In the suitcase packing, in the making plans, in the journeying, have eyes and hearts to see and respond.  Despite the circumstances,

Meditation

She was thirteen or thereabouts,
pregnant,
still a child herself.
No vote, no rights, no husband,
no education,
in a small village in an occupied land.
So why would you,
the Great God of the Universe,
pick this peasant girl?
Why not some queen
dressed in blue and gold
like those statued madonnas?
I think we’ve had it wrong all along.
It’s not that she was so saintly,
so pure,
so serene, so special,
but that she wasn’t special at all.
Maybe she even had zits.
It was God picking someone mundane,
to show that we are all special,
God choosing what is simple
to confound the wise,
the banal
to shock the glitterati,
the castdown
to shame the exalted.
Mary understood,
Why has God chosen me, a handservant?
To pull the mighty down from their thrones,
and raise up the lowly,
to fill the hungry with good things
while the rich walk away empty-handed.
She could have been any downtrodden woman,
broken,
child of oppression.
In fact,
that is who she always is,
always has been,
and those peasant children of hers
have been messiahs,
but we  were too busy
with our census, our mutual funds
our wars
to notice.

Silence

We can scarcely believe it, God,
this story of love’s birth in the world.
We rationalise and reason,
we read the headlines and we doubt
and yet, oddly, we hope, desperately,
that it just might be true.
If we’ve come here disbelieving, God
unwrap our doubt to make a space for love
If we’ve come here despairing
unwrap our grief to make a space for joy
If we’ve come here angry
unwrap our resentment to make a space for peace
If we’ve come here nostalgic
unwrap our sentimentality to make a space for life
If we’ve come here cynical,
unwrap our scepticism to make a space for hope
Let your story be real in this space tonight.
Amen.