Looking Forward to December 23, 2018 -- Advent 4 -- The Hope of Christmas Future

This week we come to the end of the Advent Season, and so to the end of our Advent worship series and the visit of the Ghost of Christmas-Yet-To-Come.

The Scripture Readings for this week are:

• Isaiah 2:2-5
• Isaiah 7:10-16

The Sermon title is Shadows that Can Be Changed

Early Thoughts: Are we locked into an unchangeable system? Are we such a product of our past and our present that our future is already preordained? That is Scrooge's fear. Having had a change of heart already he is terrified that the shadows he is shown by this last specter are things that must be rather than shadows of things that may be.

But we find out, as Scrooge does, that they are not set in stone. The future may well follow along a course set by our past and present but it is not immutable. Scandalous as it may seem sometimes people can change and in so doing change the punishment we may think they so richly deserve. One word for that is Grace. Another word is repentance. Or maybe redemption.

The life of faith is a life where all three tenses come together. In the life of faith we meet God in the past and the present and the future and recognize that God is active in all those places. This is why we speak of God as the one who is, and was, and is to come.  And because God was and is and will be active we rejoice in the knowledge that the future is changeable and changing.

God has a hope for the future. Isaiah shares one version of that hope in the passage from chapter 2 we are reading this week. There is a lot of evidence in the past and present of humanity that the hope is in vain. There is also evidence that the hope is slowly coming to fruition (although it does not get nearly as much press). As God leads (or drags or goads) God's beloved creation towards that hope God is active in the here and now. God continues to speak to us, sending us messengers to push us to look carefully and clearly at who we are.

For to US a child is born. To US a son is given. The angel message of Good News of Great Joy for all people continues to resound.  Because God loves the world God sends Christ's love and message. Because God loves the world the shadows of the future can be changed. But only if we, like Scrooge, are willing to take the hard look at who we were and are and ask who we want to be. Only if we are willing to let God lead (or drag or goad) us in a new direction.

Redemption and liberation and transformation ARE possible, are in fact happening all the time. Glory to God in the Highest. And on Earth Peace, Goodwill toward all.
--Gord

And as Tiny Tim said:

Looking Forward to December 9, 2018 -- Advent 3 -- Joy -- The Life of Christmas Present

This week our worship series takes us to the visit of the Ghost of Christmas Present

 

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Deuteronomy 15:7-11
• Luke 1:46-55

The Sermon title is See The World Today

Early Thoughts: Sometimes it is hard to trust in the Advent promises of Joy and Peace and Hope and Love. But that has always been the truth.

In Palestine at the time of Caesar Augustus and Herod the Great life was hard. Shepherds were often seen as lowest of the low (after all they probably stank of sheep). And to them angels appeared saying "behold I bring you tidings of great joy".

In the world of Victorian England, where Dickens writes A Christmas Carol, poverty and suffering were widespread, the gap between the haves and the have-nots was wide. Logically speaking the Crachits could see nothing to celebrate. Even Scrooge's nephew Fred, while better off than the Crachits had little reason to celebrate (at least according to his uncle). But on his journey with the Spirit Scrooge sees that they find deep joy in the season.

This week we sing one of my favourite Advent Hymns, Tomorrow Christ is Coming.One of the reasons it is a favourite is because it pushes us to acknowledge that the world is still full of darkness. But then it reminds us of where the Joy and hope of the season really lie: "but Jesus Christ is risen and comes again in bread. To still our deepest hunger and raise us from the dead."

It is sometimes tempting, in the midst of Christmas decor and music, to turn a blind eye to the hardships of the world, even if only for a couple of weeks. Christ calls to do the opposite. Christ calls us to see the world clearly. This means seeing the darkness but also seeing the glow coming from the manger. Christmas hope and peace and joy are not based on what fills the front pages of our newspapers. They are based in Love taking human form. They are based in the God who invites shepherds to the manger, who invites a miserly curmudgeon to be redeemed, who is made incarnate so that we too can be transformed.

Yes we need to see the world clearly. And that is not always pleasant. But we also need to see clearly the source of our hope and joy. Christmas, God coming into the world to offer redemption and transformation, is not only part of our past. It is also a part of our present. SO we can sing the words of Isaiah :

Looking Forward to December 2, 2018 --Advent 2 -- The Remembrance of Christmas Past

This being the first Sunday of the month we will be celebrating the Sacrament of Communion.

This week our Advent theme takes us to the 2nd Stave of A Christmas Carol and the visit from the Ghost of Christmas Past. As a part of marking Christmas Past we will take time near the end of the service for a Blue Christmas commemoration.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Isaiah 40:1-2
• Revelation 21:3-5
• Luke 4:17-19

The Sermon title is Carry Forward the Past

Early Thoughts: We are all a product of our past, for better or for worse. In our past we have been taught various things, various ways of being, various ways of believing, various ways of interacting with others. In our past we have been wounded. In our past we have been blessed. All of those things from our past have shaped who we are today.

This can feel like a trap. It can feel like we are doomed to be who we are because of who we were. It can feel that because of our past wounds we are forever broken, because of the sorrow in our past joy is harder to find now.

What do you carry forward from your past?

Here is the redeeming word of Grace. While our past has shaped us, it does not need to trap us. Isaiah speaking to exiles in Babylon and the close of John's Revelation while on the Island of Patmos remind us that God is actively easing our comforts and bringing our pain to a close. We can learn from our past but not let it control us forever.

Christmas is one of those times of year that often seems inextricably bound up with the past, with traditions, with having to do things the "way they have always been done". This can be difficult for many people. Sometimes we need to find a new way free of the past. Sometimes the past leaves us in unhealthy places. I have come to believe that God (who is and was and yet will be, who is past present and future) calls us to look at how we got here with both a nostalgic AND a critical eye.

What will you do with what you carry forward from your past?

Scrooge is led on a journey of his past. This journey helps him see how he got to be the man he is. That journey reminds him of some of the pains that live in his soul. As we continue our journey to the manger we do need to name those things that dampen our joyfulness. Some of those are in our present, in our recent past, or deep in the depths of time. We do that not to allow them to take over. Nor do we think that by naming them we can "get over them". We do it because we we trust in the God who offers comfort, who conquers death. This is the God who is breaking into the world again this Christmas, the God who redeems our past and helps us decide what we are going to carry forward.
--Gord

Looking forward to November 25, 2018 -- Advent 1 -- Bah Humbug

This year we are starting Advent a week earlier than usual to give us time to work through a resource called The Redemption of Scrooge. This week's chapter of the resource is "Bah Humbug"

The Scripture Readings for this week are:

• Galatians 6:7
• Luke 16:19-31

The Sermon title is Marley or Lazarus?

Early Thoughts: Do we really get what we deserve? Do we truly reap what we sow? Or is there a chance to change the path?

Those are some of the questions that get raised in the opening pages of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. By the end of the story we get an answer. But as people of Christian faith we already know it. At least I think we do. In Christ, God offers us forgiveness and a chance to repent.

But the story of Lazarus and the rich man seems to suggest an answer different than the one we find in A Christmas Carol and the one offered in Christ. Because the rich man can not convince Abraham to allow his agony to be eased or to warn his family to change their ways. It appears that there is no way out.

Marley offers a different message. Marley tells Scrooge (and us) that there is a chance, nay a requirement, for Scrooge to avoid Marley's fate.

Who will we believe -- Marley or Abraham and the Rich Man? Often we want others to reap what they have sown but we would rather have a chance to change. That is assuming that we are willing to change.

In Christ God offers the world a chance for transformation and redemption. At Christmas the annual cycle of transforming the world, of transforming the people of the world begins again. Abraham was sure that the family of the Rich Man would not listen to another messenger because they had ignored all the messages before that. Scrooge starts out wanting to ignore Marley or explain the apparition away "more of gravy than the grave". Which will we be? Will we accept the challenge of transformation God offers us in Christ?
--Gord