New Year Benediction: Being Aware And On The Lookout (based on Matthew 13:9)

As we leave today, we head into an unmapped future. As we live it, may we have our eyes, ears, hearts, and minds open.  May we be aware of God's presence, which can be found everywhere around us as well as within us. May we be on the lookout for it in the parts of our lives where we could use more love and grace. May we pour it out into God's world, which yearns to be made new again.

May compassion and hope, which are found in God, be the road on which we walk, today and always.

New Year Reflection and Renewal: Give Us Awareness

God, for some of us, the forthcoming New Year brings feelings of excitement, empowerment, and anticipation. We look back and feel fulfilled in what we have achieved in the last year and look forward to what we will take on in the coming year.

However, for some of us, the passing of another year simply adds to the tally of days, weeks, months, and years of hardship. A New Year arriving reminds us of how long we've been in pain, of how long we've felt incomplete, of how long we've seen injustice, cruelty, prejudice, hate, and violence continue to do damage in your world, God; of how long we've been waiting for something good to come our way.

From whatever condition we find ourselves in God, hear our prayer.

If we feel fulfilled and at ease, give us empathy for those who are suffering and help us to be your hands and feet to them. If we are suffering, help us to notice where some answers to our prayers may already be waiting for us in the world you created and called "good."

Amen

New Year Call To Worship: Live In Awareness (based on Ephesians 4:1)

A new day has dawned. A new year is about to begin. Jesus, may we look to how you've showed us to live. As we move towards our hopes and dreams for the future, Spirit, may we listen for your voice. As we enter a new year with anticipation and excitement, and as we gather now to give thanks and praise, guide us God.

Holy Family 2x Fled Murderous Tyrants As Refugees

The Holy Family was twice forced to flee as refugees to get outside of a murderous tyrant’s jurisdictions. 

This fact debunks the common talking point that the Holy Family’s flight “wouldn’t qualify them as refugees” because they were “moving within the Roman Empire.”

2 years after Jesus was born, Herod the Great issued a command that all male children two years old and younger, in and around Bethlehem, are to be put to death (Matthew 2:16).

So Mary, Jesus, and Joseph flex from Bethlehem to Egypt, which was outside the jurisdiction of Herod.

After Herod died in early 4 B.C., they soon begin their travel back to Judea and Bethlehem. However, as Mary and Joseph approach Judea, it is discovered that Herod Archelaus, the eldest surviving son of Herod the Great, is the new ruler of the area (Matthew 2:22). Like his father, Archelaus ruled with tyranny and cruelty.

Joseph's fears about living within Judea are confirmed when God sent him a warning in a dream. The family continued their travels northward to their hometown of Nazareth (Matthew 2:22 - 23).

The city was part of Galilee, which was outside the jurisdiction of Herod Archelaus. Galilee was ruled by a another son of Herod the Great named Herod Antipas. This son had a slightly less violent disposition than Archelaus. (Citation: http://www.biblestudy.org/maps/the-journeys-of-mary-and-joseph.html)

It should also be noted that nowhere in Scripture is it indicated that Mary, Joseph, or Jesus were Roman Citizens. (Citation: https://historum.com/threads/is-jesus-christ-a-roman-citizen.134847/)

Incarnation = Embodiment In The Human Condition

Advent Reflection and Renewal: Radical Hope

God,

It may seem naïve to us, in a world that is still full of grief, to talk about the joy of good news; to speak of all oppression ceasing in a world that is still full of suffering and injustice. 

But Jesus came to bring joy into our grief and light into our darkness; to bring good news to the poor, and to fill the hungry with good things.

Help us to embrace the radical hope of your kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven; of peace on earth and goodwill to all.

Amen

Advent: Hoping, Crying Out, and Laboring for Peace and Justice - Do Justice

This Advent, let's cry out against suffering and injustice, let's keep hoping for the coming restoration and renewal, and let us work diligently to bring about as much of that hopeful vision as we can, as soon as we can. 

War, wildfires, violence, famine, people fleeing danger forced to be refugees, people fleeing death and violence forced to be asylum seekers. Oil spills and poisoned water and seas choked by plastics. It’s no wonder the whole of creation groans for freedom from bondage, hopes for glory and restoration.  It’s no wonder that we Christians too, filled with the Holy Spirit, long for full adoption into the family of God as we colabor in the redemption of all creation.

Romans 8:18-25 captures perfectly the sense of these times. As the earth literally burns around us, as people flee their homes around the world before the sometimes figurative, sometimes literal scorched earth of violence and abuse, we cannot help crying out.

And yet, we find that we must wait.

But waiting patiently is different from waiting quietly. Creation groans, and we groan. We cry out in our suffering, just as the creation in California cries out to God, dressed in ashes like Jerusalem in mourning. Refugees lament, and rightly so. Asylum seekers lament, as they should.

In our crying out, we are in the same boat as God. Jesus, “God with us,” arrived in a time of turmoil to an occupied and oppressed people, not a time of peace.

Waiting patiently is also different from waiting passively. Through the act of crying out, we learn the urgency felt by the people who are suffering. From lament we are called to action.

We are supposed to work diligently and urgently toward the peace, reconciliation, and restoration we hope for. We are to work to help all of God’s creation, and this is a means of displaying our love for God as well.

Throughout this Advent season, let cry out with the suffering creation and all who are living through hardship. Let us keep hoping for the coming peace, restoration, and reconciliation that will finally end all suffering and injustice. And let us work faithfully, diligently, patiently, for all of God’s creation to bring about as much of that hopeful vision as we can, as soon as we can.

The full article is available here

Jesus Was Born As One Of The Oppressed - Shelley Douglas

The Real Mary Was Seen As Dangerous By Powers That Be - Scot McKnight

Read The Bible For Discernment To Respond Decisively Here & Now - Thomas Merton

Advent Reflection: Who Exactly Is "God With?" - CRC Office of Social Justice

If the gospel of Emmanuel is to be good news to all things - then now is the time for that gospel to be proclaimed and lived like never before.

In Colossians, Paul writes that, in Christ, God is “pleased to reconcile to himself all things” (Col. 1:20).  All people, of course. But “all things” means a whole new ball game. The creation belongs to God, and he is reconciling all of it.

At this moment in history, this is good news like never before - and an unprecedented challenge. That’s because in less than 50 years, our earth has lost more than half of all of its mammals, fish, reptiles, and birds. They, who once flourished with their Creator’s blessing, have dwindled under the heavy hand of habitat destruction, pollution, and exploitation.

If the gospel of Emmanuel is to be good news to all things - then now is the time for that gospel to be proclaimed and lived like never before.

The full article is available here

4 Ways to Support Asylum Seekers at the US-Mexico Border - Do Justice

Many are wondering what Christians who are far from the U.S. southern border can do to seek justice and support the dignity of those who are migrating.

Here are a few ideas:

1) Contemplate/Meditate. If you’re wondering where you can find words to guide you in contemplation and meditation focusing on the “migrant caravan,”these words might help.

2) Learn. Watch and share this video, where CRC pastor Rev. Sandra Van Opstal interviews leaders who are on the ground in Tijuana (including OSJ’s mobilizer on the ground in Southern California, Vanessa Soltero Martinez).

3) Give. Organizations like Matthew 25 So Cal are working tirelessly to support leaders in Mexico and along the border. They’re seeking gifts that go directly to the migrants.

4) Advocate. Your voice is critical -- and it’s easy to raise it. Go to this action alert to learn more.

The full article is available here

Thoughts On Lauren Daigle and Wrestling With Being Affirming of LGBTQ - Jeff Wiersma

Sure, Lauren Daigle's recent statement might not be as fully fledged of a statement of support of LGBTQ people as I'd have preferred.  However, it is evidence of someone willing to wrestle with their faith out of a desire to have intellectual integrity; someone who isn't content to settle for what Fundagelicalism takes as a given and often demands rigid adherence to.  Doing so runs counter to the Fundagelical rip current, and anyone willing to go against that powerful of flow should be commended.

I've never been much of a fan of Lauren Daigle's music, but to be fair, I fastidiously avoid almost all "Christian Music." 

Though Daigle is undeniably talented vocally, her unmistakable singing similarities to Adele always struck me as a bit derivative.

That being said, I was intrigued by her recent comments on no longer being able or willing to say that homosexuality is a sin - due to the fact that there are people she loves who are homosexuals and she is not God. (I read about it on CBN's website, but there's NO WAY I'm linking to them from my blog, sorry.)

At first blush, I was disappointed.  I wished she had been able to be fully affirming of LGBTQ people. As a straight white person, I share her privileged position of not having my humanity questioned by moralizers, and to me it felt like her not being affirming was a missed opportunity by someone in that kind of privileged position.

However, I then thought back to the fear and cognitive dissonance I felt when my beliefs and convictions on this subject matter began to grow and evolve while I was still inside the cloistered Fundagelical world. 

Though I was in a position of leadership, I didn't have anything even remotely resembling the public persona that Lauren Daigle does - and I knew all too well how truly terribly the Fundagelical boundary police often conduct themselves.

I won't be surprised at all if major corporate interests in Contemporary Christian Music Industry seek to severely punish Lauren financially.  CD and record burning parties and vitriolic character assassination wouldn't surprise me in the least. 

As a veteran of the CCM industry, Daigle knew full well that she was risking a backlash, and yet she had enough courage and integrity to be forthright about where she currently finds herself in her pursuit of truth as regards LGBTQ.

Sure, Lauren Daigle's recent statement might not be as fully fledged of a statement of support of LGBTQ people as I'd have preferred.  However, it is evidence of someone willing to wrestle with their faith out of a desire to have intellectual integrity; someone who isn't content to settle for what Fundagelicalism takes as a given and often demands rigid adherence to.  Doing so runs counter to the Fundagelical rip current, and anyone willing to go against that powerful of flow should be commended.

5 Of The Most Problematic Christmas Carols - Bob Hiller

All I want for Christmas is you … to think critically about the songs you sing in church, even during Advent and Christmas.

This is the time of year where some of our weakest, most heterodox, and downright strange church songs get lots of attention. It is rather frustrating that these songs tend to be quite popular!

It's likely these songs will be sung in your church this season, despite the fact that they contain some significant flaws. Sentimentality and nostalgia are powerful emotions , but why can they be problematic in Advent?

Because a vital component of the story of Jesus' birth is that it wasn't all warm and fuzzy. It took place in the midst of real life pain, blood, poverty, imperial oppression, and discomfort. Jesus was fully human, and cloying fictional and sanitized stories can obscure or distract from this crucial understanding.

All I want for Christmas is you…to think critically about the songs you sing in church, even during Advent and Christmas.

(5) Do You Hear What I Hear? Here’s a song that is just trying too hard to be profound. Instead of propounding some penetrating spiritual insight, it merely creates a fictional game of telephone taking place on the night that Jesus was born.

(4) Away In A Manger. This song exemplifies one perpetual problem we find plaguing Christmas hymns: sentimental Gnosticism. There is something inside of us that doesn’t want to think of our Lord as being fully human. We want to clean him up. We think it impious and crass to speak of the holy infant as a baby who fills his holy diaper and keeps his parents up at night crying for milk.

(3) We Three Kings of Orient Are. Liturgically, this song doesn’t belong to Christmas either. The magi are men of Epiphany. In light of this, I am recommending that my church do an Epiphany Living Nativity. Only, in this one, instead of everyone standing around, reverently gazing at the baby Jesus doll, we’ll have six or seven overly costumed magicians chasing my two year old around our parking lot while Mary cooks dinner and Joseph has bad dreams.

(2) Little Drummer Boy. The story isn’t true, it's fiction. It also puts forth some works righteousness (do your best and then the baby Jesus will smile at you). But most crucially, it doesn't seem plausible that an exhausted, sore, and still pain-addled mother would let a drummer bang a snare drum for her newborn baby.

(1) Silent Night. The main idea of this song is not…well…true. The night when Jesus was born was not a silent or calm one, just as no human birth has ever been silent. Far from the Gnostic, sentimentalized picture of a baby with glorious beams of light shooting from his face, our Jesus was born into a loud, sinful, messy world in a loud, painful, and messy way. Mary gave birth next to a feeding trough.