Thinking differently
20/12/14 05:23
Sometimes I think that my brain works backwards from others. At least I often find my ideas to be different from those of the people who surround me. It isn’t that I disapprove of the conclusions others reach, though sometimes I do, it is that my process of thinking seems to be quite distinct from that of many others.
Christmas is one example of how I see things differently from others. Up and down our street are lots of houses that are covered with lights and decorations. The decorations in our neighborhood started to go up before Thanksgiving and some of the houses had their lights turned on by Thanksgiving weekend. Our house, by contrast, has no outside decorations. A simple tree with a few white lights sits in the living room window, so folks passing by can see it, but they rarely notice because, compared to the neighbors, our home seems dark. I’ve never gone in for outward displays.
We like to give gifts and we have gifts for children and grandchildren under our tree. Some are wrapped, but we may not get around to wrapping all of them until December 25. After all, Christmas is a 12-day holiday and we won’t be with our family until around the time the rest of the country is celebrating New Years. For the most part we avoid shopping and stores as much as possible during all of the holiday sales and shopping sprees - it just isn’t the way we like to celebrate.
I am a minister, and I enjoy the services of the church very much, but my favorite service of the year isn’t one of the ones when the church is full. Our 7 pm Christmas Eve service is one of the largest we have in terms of the number of people who participate. The parking lot will be crowded and the pews will be full. And there will be a lot of activity with all of the candles and the moving star and the actors and pageantry.
At 11:30 there will be about one tenth of the number of people. We will gather quietly, sing a few carols, tell the story from Luke’s gospel, light candles, pray, share communion and toll the bell at midnight. I absolutely love that service. My attention is not on the size of the crowd or the managing of the cast of characters or the timing of the music. My mind is focused on the incredible gift of incarnation.
I am probably a poor evangelist. But it seems to me that the central focus of Christmas is quite different than the thrust of popular Christianity.
Before I go any farther, I hope you won’t think that I am opposed to church or to gathering for worship. Nothing could be farther from the church. Worship services are important and participating in worship with other people of faith is a critical element in living as a Christian.
Prayer is central to my life and to the life of every person of faith. It is a discipline that requires time and attention and energy. I am not opposed to prayer.
Reading the Bible is another love of my life. And I recommend serious Bible reading and study for all people who want to understand more fully, connect more deeply and live lives of faith.
But the central message of Christmas isn’t about worship or prayer or Bible study.
Christmas is the season when we celebrate not our motions toward God, but God’s coming to us. God enters our daily life. God is a part of our relationships, our work, our emotions, God comes to every dark corner of this universe with hope and peace and joy and love. It seems to me that the story of Christmas is the simple truth that there is no place where God is absent.
I often see this simple truth. Sometimes I am sitting on the lake in my canoe watching a sunrise and I say, “Wow! That is so beautiful!”
For me there is nothing that makes God seem more present in this world than when someone hands you an infant. I remember the sensations from the first time I held our son and the first time I held our daughter as clearly as any memory I have. I have nearly identical reactions to the times I spend with our grandchildren. And I see it every time a child is brought to our church and his or her parents trust me to hold the little one. “My goodness!” I think, “Where are these overwhelming feelings coming from?”
The answer, of course, is God.
God loves us so much that we don’t have to go to God, or seek God. God comes to us in ways that we cannot ignore.
No matter how crazy this world gets, no matter how secular our society seems, no matter how far we drift away from the lives we are called to lead, God appears. Hand someone an infant and they cannot escape being swept up in wonder.
It isn’t that I don’t want people to come to church. I do.
It isn’t that I don’t want people to read the Bible. I do.
It isn’t that I don’t want people to pray. I do.
Beyond those things, what I want for Christmas is for people to open their eyes and see how much God loves them - and how much God is present in everything.
Incarnation is the union of the divine and the human. God becomes human so fully that there is no distinction. That is the Christmas miracle. God isn’t distant and inaccessible and hard to find. God is the essence of everything - present in our work and play, in our relationships with others, in the people we like and those we don’t like. God is sleeping under the bridge with the homeless and seeking to be known by those we have labeled enemy.
Tomorrow is the fourth Sunday of Advent preparation. In our tradition, we turn our attention to Mary and her acceptance of God’s call to the task of bearing God to the world. Her song is in the past tense - she doesn’t speak of what God is about to do, but what God has already accomplished.
God has come with good news and justice and everything we need.
Our role is to recognize what has already happened. And to greet God in every part of our lives.
Christmas is one example of how I see things differently from others. Up and down our street are lots of houses that are covered with lights and decorations. The decorations in our neighborhood started to go up before Thanksgiving and some of the houses had their lights turned on by Thanksgiving weekend. Our house, by contrast, has no outside decorations. A simple tree with a few white lights sits in the living room window, so folks passing by can see it, but they rarely notice because, compared to the neighbors, our home seems dark. I’ve never gone in for outward displays.
We like to give gifts and we have gifts for children and grandchildren under our tree. Some are wrapped, but we may not get around to wrapping all of them until December 25. After all, Christmas is a 12-day holiday and we won’t be with our family until around the time the rest of the country is celebrating New Years. For the most part we avoid shopping and stores as much as possible during all of the holiday sales and shopping sprees - it just isn’t the way we like to celebrate.
I am a minister, and I enjoy the services of the church very much, but my favorite service of the year isn’t one of the ones when the church is full. Our 7 pm Christmas Eve service is one of the largest we have in terms of the number of people who participate. The parking lot will be crowded and the pews will be full. And there will be a lot of activity with all of the candles and the moving star and the actors and pageantry.
At 11:30 there will be about one tenth of the number of people. We will gather quietly, sing a few carols, tell the story from Luke’s gospel, light candles, pray, share communion and toll the bell at midnight. I absolutely love that service. My attention is not on the size of the crowd or the managing of the cast of characters or the timing of the music. My mind is focused on the incredible gift of incarnation.
I am probably a poor evangelist. But it seems to me that the central focus of Christmas is quite different than the thrust of popular Christianity.
Before I go any farther, I hope you won’t think that I am opposed to church or to gathering for worship. Nothing could be farther from the church. Worship services are important and participating in worship with other people of faith is a critical element in living as a Christian.
Prayer is central to my life and to the life of every person of faith. It is a discipline that requires time and attention and energy. I am not opposed to prayer.
Reading the Bible is another love of my life. And I recommend serious Bible reading and study for all people who want to understand more fully, connect more deeply and live lives of faith.
But the central message of Christmas isn’t about worship or prayer or Bible study.
Christmas is the season when we celebrate not our motions toward God, but God’s coming to us. God enters our daily life. God is a part of our relationships, our work, our emotions, God comes to every dark corner of this universe with hope and peace and joy and love. It seems to me that the story of Christmas is the simple truth that there is no place where God is absent.
I often see this simple truth. Sometimes I am sitting on the lake in my canoe watching a sunrise and I say, “Wow! That is so beautiful!”
For me there is nothing that makes God seem more present in this world than when someone hands you an infant. I remember the sensations from the first time I held our son and the first time I held our daughter as clearly as any memory I have. I have nearly identical reactions to the times I spend with our grandchildren. And I see it every time a child is brought to our church and his or her parents trust me to hold the little one. “My goodness!” I think, “Where are these overwhelming feelings coming from?”
The answer, of course, is God.
God loves us so much that we don’t have to go to God, or seek God. God comes to us in ways that we cannot ignore.
No matter how crazy this world gets, no matter how secular our society seems, no matter how far we drift away from the lives we are called to lead, God appears. Hand someone an infant and they cannot escape being swept up in wonder.
It isn’t that I don’t want people to come to church. I do.
It isn’t that I don’t want people to read the Bible. I do.
It isn’t that I don’t want people to pray. I do.
Beyond those things, what I want for Christmas is for people to open their eyes and see how much God loves them - and how much God is present in everything.
Incarnation is the union of the divine and the human. God becomes human so fully that there is no distinction. That is the Christmas miracle. God isn’t distant and inaccessible and hard to find. God is the essence of everything - present in our work and play, in our relationships with others, in the people we like and those we don’t like. God is sleeping under the bridge with the homeless and seeking to be known by those we have labeled enemy.
Tomorrow is the fourth Sunday of Advent preparation. In our tradition, we turn our attention to Mary and her acceptance of God’s call to the task of bearing God to the world. Her song is in the past tense - she doesn’t speak of what God is about to do, but what God has already accomplished.
God has come with good news and justice and everything we need.
Our role is to recognize what has already happened. And to greet God in every part of our lives.