And having been warned in dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

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When the magi (most likely astrologers from Babylon) came to Judea to look for “the child who has been born king of the Jews,” they went to the place most likely to find a royal child – they went to Jerusalem, the capital city. But they were redirected by scholars who triangulated two passages from Hebrew Scriptures (Micah 5:2 and II Samuel 5:2) and sent them to Bethlehem. Finding Mary and the child, they are overwhelmed with joy. They kneel down in deep reverence and present lavish gifts to the (undoubtedly) equally overwhelmed mother. Their mission accomplished, the logical thing would be to return to Herod as directed. But they are warned (by whom?) in a dream to take another way home.

What happens when the way forward is blocked? When danger lies in the road ahead? When the path you thought was the right one or the only one is no longer viable? There is a saying heard frequently in sermons in the Black church: “God made a way where there was no way!” One of the many biblical stories behind this powerful word is the Exodus – the escape of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt through the waters of the sea. There was no way there until God made one.

Similarly, God made a new, safe way for the magi to journey home. When your way seems blocked or dangerous, when we come to a dead-end, pray and trust in the God who has always made a way where there is no way for God’s people.

Prayer

By the light of Christ, lead us into this new year confident that you, gracious God, are with us to make a way. Amen.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

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Are you surprised by the sense of accompaniment in this passage? In John 1:14-18, we have God’s accompaniment in the person of Jesus – in person! Yes, the Word became flesh! And dwelt among us! God accompanying us!

Accompaniment ushers one back to the Exodus where God’s presence came in the cloud by day and in the column of fire by night. As John says, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” Cloud by day and column of fire by night. We have seen his glory! John tells of signs of Jesus. We have seen his glory!

I have the opportunity to learn about the Presbyterian Accompaniment Program and the Christian Peacemaker Teams from Columbia and Palestine. There, accompaniment is provided. Visibly, those accompanying are not Columbian or Palestinian, therefore, their presence provides protection, for example, in their accompaniment of children to and from school.

God’s “accompaniment” in the Ten Commandments parallels the grace and truth in the person, words, and actions of Jesus Christ. Accompaniment.

No one has seen God. God was present in the cloud by day and in the fire by night. Jesus accompanies us, in our hearts, every step of the way.

Prayer

Gracious and truthful Jesus, we stand in awe that you choose to live in our hearts. We thank you for accompanying us along our journeys, individually and corporately, every step of the way. Open our hearts to welcome you more and more on our journey, we pray. AMEN.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

Give us the Hemingway-esque Mark telling Jesus’ story in spare prose complete with warnings to the disciples not to say anything. Give us the cerebral Paul elaborating the intricacies of salvation by faith. We do not quite know what to do with a saint on fire. We are not used to having our souls so stirred.

Except, if we merely think our way into faith, we can as easily think our way out of it again. Perhaps we have been inoculated with such a mild form of religion, we are immune to the passions that have set our author alight. And unless we open ourselves to his sort of contagion, we will remain unwarmed by the Spirit that would set the church ablaze with a passion for the promised realm of Christ.

Prayer

Cast us off our poise, O God. Discomfort our settled routines. Surprise us with gifts of energy and urgency, so that we are no longer content to merely know your Good News, but irrepressibly demonstrate it by living your love and proclaiming your justice.

When the men had come to 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?” ’ …And he answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.’

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We seminary professors, it seems, are always messing with your Jesus. We give you “the historical Jesus” that challenges your Christ of faith, your “Jesus, meek and mild”, your personal Lord and Savior! I know, we’re jerks!

Advent is about divine expectations. Moreover, Advent is about debunking false expectations. Luke’s Jesus is clear to us: he is about healing, deliverance, preaching to the poor. Yet according to John’s disciples, Jesus is not about what they expected of “the one”: gain political power, smash the Romans, liberate the Land.

“Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

Maybe seminary doesn’t “mess with my Jesus”; maybe it messes with our (false) expectations of Jesus. On TV, we hear a prosperity gospel promising us wealth, but the incoming reign is about good news to the poor. We preach, “There’s power in the Name,” but here we learn that Jesus demonstrated power by relinquishing all power on the Cross. We’ve been coddled into thinking Jesus “meets our needs.” When in fact, he desires to change our needs, so that we need to intercede for the sick, and confront deathliness, and stand with the ones whom the rock band Rage Against the Machine calls “the wretched of the earth… the people of the sun.”

“Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

We may be offended by this—may not be what we expected— but yes, he’s the One! And to find him, all we need to do is go to the sick, the weak, and the powerless. He’ll be there. We can join Him if we need to.

Prayer

Risen One, show us who You truly are, so that we may truly represent You in the world. Amen.

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets …

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The anonymous author of the Letter to the Hebrews was writing to people who had experienced much persecution. They had been imprisoned and had their property taken away from them as a result of their faith. The author was attempting to assure them that despite these hardships and obstacles, their ultimate hope is in the one who has come among them in human form, miraculously and mysteriously bearing the imprint of God’s very being.

The good news is that in whatever trials we face today, however burdened or persecuted we may feel at times, we are not alone but have been embraced by the God who came among us, and who continues to act and speak in new and surprising ways. Just as God was faithful in guiding and nurturing our ancestors in faith through their difficult times, God is no less faithful today. I love the lines of continuity and assurance in the prayer that is a part of ordination services, “We are grateful for ancestors in the faith who followed without fear, placing their trust in you alone. In every age you have called forth leaders to serve you and equipped them with your gifts.”

Having just celebrated once again God’s coming among us in the person of Jesus the Christ, may we enter this new year filled with hope, straining to hear the various, fresh new ways God is speaking to this generation.

Prayer

Dear God, who came among us as an infant bearing the imprint of your very being, we give you thanks for a new year and for the mission of McCormick Seminary. Bless the future leaders who are being raised up to serve the church and bear your imprint in the world. Amen.

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One week after Christmas and W. H. Auden, in his “Christmas Oratorio,” For the Time Being catches the essence of it:

Well, so that is that.
Now we must dismantle the tree,
Putting the decorations back into their cardboard boxes -
Some have got broken – and carrying them up to the attic.
The holly and the mistletoe must be taken down and burnt,
And the children got ready for school. There are enough
Left-overs to do, warmed-up, for the rest of the week -
Not that we have much appetite, having drunk such a lot,
Stayed up so late, attempted – quite unsuccessfully -
To love all of our relatives, and in general
Grossly overestimated our powers. Once again
As in previous years we have seen the actual Vision and failed
To do more than entertain it as an agreeable
Possibility, once again we have sent Him away,
Begging though to remain His disobedient servant . . .
Those of us who insist that Christmas is and can be more than an exercise in self-indulgence are left, in its aftermath, with the question, “Now what?” What exactly are we to do, having welcomed the child and knelt at his manger?

The prophet Micah puts it squarely: “He has told you . . . what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Within those ethical imperatives is an idea of God that is fully reflected in the birth in Bethlehem: a God who cares. God has a heart. God is involved with human life. God cares particularly about and wants justice for the small, the weak, the vulnerable, the widows and orphans, the children and the stranger and the prisoner. It is a new and amazing idea of God, a God who cares, and that idea, is spoken in an eloquent and ultimate way in an event we have just celebrated, the birth of Jesus Christ, God’s love and compassion and caring and justice born among us.

What God wants from us is that the weak and vulnerable ones will receive justice, which means simply not being exploited or marginalized or discriminated against but being treated equitably and fairly and compassionately and cared for.

Those few sentences from a Hebrew prophet who spoke and wrote 2,700 years ago forever change the way people see God and the way they view religion and its purpose—and one thing further. They forever change the way we think about our own lives. Micah’s question was reflected in a question Jesus was asked one time: “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” It’s a variation on “What does the Lord require?” And Jesus’ answer is as simple and elegant as the prophet’s: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” “Do this and you will live,” Jesus said.

God intends to transform the world into a place of justice and kindness and humility, and God has made us responsible for the project during our lifetime. It has gone on before we arrived, and others will take up the task when we have gone. But for now it is ours.

And God intends to transform you and me—to bring us to life, to full and deeply satisfying and fully human life. God wants that for you and me so much, so desperately and strongly, that God sent Jesus to show us what it looks like.

Prayer

Thank you, dear God, for the gift of yourself given in the birth of Jesus. Grant that we who have welcomed him in all the lovely customs of Christmas might continue to celebrate your incarnation by doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with you and with our neighbors every day in the year ahead. In his holy name we pray. Amen

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples, but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

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As the New Year readies to dawn, we may find ourselves a little weary – weary of the busy Christmas season or weary of relentless work, weary of our worries or the fragile nature of the world. The darkness covering us can feel “thick” indeed. And it is not a figment of our imagination.

Yet it is not our job to pull off the mantle of darkness, any more than it was our job at the opening of Creation. It is God’s good work to do: to separate the darkness from the light, and breathe new life into the world.

Nor is it our job to shine with enough brightness or glory by which the powers andprincipalities can see clearly. It is the glory of the Lord, made clear in Jesus Christ. It is his star by which wise men and women find their way.

So this New Year, perhaps instead of steeling ourselves with resolutions to make ourselves thinner or smarter – which always makes us wearier – let’s resolve to open our eyes and lift up our heads to see the light.

After all, it does not take much light to lift the darkness: a candle of hope, a glimmer of justice, a sliver of sunrise at the dawn of a New Year.

Prayer

Dear God, as I prepare for the New Year, help me to let go of the desire to fix myself and the world. Open my eyes to your light, which no darkness can ever overcome, and help me see your glory that dawns anew each day. Amen.

His Mother treasured all these things in her heart.

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I truly can’t imagine the horror a parent must experience when she or he cannot find their child. But, clearly, this story has a happy ending. The “lost” is found and all is well. Sadly, for us, however, one needs only to tune into the daily news to realize how differently things turn out for far too many of our children. It is therefore with a hope-filled heart that I wonder, “Do you see what I see?”

Foremost, during this Advent season, this passage points to the power of unconditional love, the kind of love we witness over and over in interactions between Jesus and his beloved mother, Mary. This young woman who embraced the mystery of God’s penetrating love resulting in her teenage pregnancy. Unconditional love … This young woman who endured the judgment and scorn of her community for the courageous decision to bear proudly the evidence of God’s passion in the fullness of her belly. Unconditional love … This young woman who married a man well beyond her years so that God’s most powerful self-expression of making love (visible) to the world would be forever with us (Emmanuel) in the world. Unconditional love … Like Mary, Jesus’ beloved mother, let us also treasure all these things in our hearts, finding our peace in the unconditional love of Jesus as we watch and wait expectantly for his return.

Prayer

Loving God, bless us to know the peace of your unconditional love as the treasure within our hearts that both confounds and comforts us beyond anything we should expect to understand. Amen.

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Verb tense is everything. The gentle yet firm apostolic imperative populates the New Testament, particularly with respect to love. “Love one another …” “You shall love …” “… clothe yourselves with love …” What an odd juxtaposition it is, love and duty. Is the joy of loving not preempted by my responsibility to do so? What could be more death dealing to the vitality, the power, and the freedom of love than to discover it a mandate?

New Testament love: Perhaps it is an alien to us all, for why would we be asked to “clothe” ourselves with what we, presumably, are already wearing? Unless, of course, our love is but a pale reflection of that to which the Creator calls us. Turning inward, I see how I squirrel away my best self and save it for people who affirm and admire me but perhaps do little to help me grow. Love is an attractive prospect when you are its master, rather than it yours.

But consider the priest’s sobering counsel in Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov:

“Never be frightened at your own faint-heartedness in attaining love … for love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams.”

And so where does that leave us? Where do we find hope and grace against the backdrop of our feeble nature, our proclivity for “love in dreams?” Where we first thought we had lost it: in the command to love. This is the easy yoke and the light burden spoken of in the Gospels. We’re set free from negotiating our competencies and our self-serving desires, as though apart from God we could “attain” love. Rather, God’s love is a garment, perhaps fitting awkwardly around our shoulders for a time until we, the body of Christ, grow into it. Sometimes becoming is so unbecoming, isn’t it?

Prayer

God, show us the grace and the freedom in obedience to you, who alone can teach us to love. Amen.

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his host! Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth! Young men and women alike, old and young together!

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When my husband and I moved to Glen Ellyn in 1982, we found celebrating the holidays – the holy days – the most difficult time of all. That first year we knew no one in town. And even though we were thankful for the spiritual lift and the brief respite from loneliness that worshipping in the local Presbyterian Church provided that Christmastide, we dearly missed the comfort of family and friends.

By the next Christmas, we were happily ensconced in the church and the community. So when we received a call from another local church inviting us to a “Blue Christmas” worship service, we declined. But the caller was persistent. She explained that although the Blue Christmas Service was designed for people who were coping with loss or struggling with sadness during the holidays, many people in her congregation attended to show solidarity with those who were “down.” We remembered how miserable we had been the year before,
and we decided to go.

We often talk about how that experience changed us. In that sacred space, as we worshipped God together with those who were openly weeping and those who were rejoicing we felt, in a way we had not felt before, the powerful unity of the body of Christ. This was truly a “holy day.” Those who were able sang, “O come, let us adore Him!” Even
through their tears, others nodded their affirmation. “Praise the Lord,” the psalmist exhorts.
But what if you’re too sad or too angry or too ill? That’s when being the collective body of Christ is especially sweet. Young men and women alike, old and young, those who are happy with those who are blue, “Praise the Lord!”

Prayer

Holy God, remind us that for many, this is a very difficult time of year. Encourage us to pray for those around us even without being asked. May we share your love with all those we encounter and, in that sharing, may they be blessed and may you be glorified. Amen.