Christmas morning

CHRISTMAS DAY                                                Luke 2:40

Jesus,

whose birth we celebrated last night,

did not stay a child forever.

He grew up,

found favor with God,

touched the lives of others.

He touched so many --

the lame,

the blind,

the outcasts,

those whom no one else would love,

those who could not love themselves.

He reached out

and touched them all . . .

healing,

caring,

loving,

accepting.

The baby Jesus grew up;

walked through the sands of Israel,

walked through the times of history,

walks right into our hearts.

The wonder of Christmas morning is that

the Life we celebrate

lives on -- here and now --

                     and will lead us safely into God’s eternity.

Great and wonderful God:

We thank you for the Gift you have given us in Jesus Christ our Lord.  We thank you that your Gift to us will never get broken, or lost, or have to be returned.  Help us live every day as if it were filled with the wonder of Christmas morning, for Christ is truly with us.  AMEN!

Christmas Eve

CHRISTMAS EVE                                       Habakkuk 2:20

Christmas Eve . . .

holy quietness.

Even the animals are hushed,

watching in awe

the divine story unfold

before their eyes.

Quietness,

but not restfulness.

Labor is happening here:

struggle,

pain,

blood and sweat.

The world is stilled,

holding its breath

until the Divine Son breathes.

At last!

The cry is heard!

Relief,

joy,

tears,

laughter,

thanksgiving!

Joy of joys!

Wonder of wonders!

What creation has long awaited

is there in the Manger,

              is here in our hearts!

God:

Thank you for this most holy of all nights of the year, for this time in which hope and joy and promises seem close at hand.  Thank you for your love which is born anew within us this night; in the name of Jesus, the Christ Child, we pray.  Amen.

4th Monday of Advent

4th week in Advent -- Monday                     Matthew 2:10-12

                                    The Wise Men

Astrologers, of all people!  Astrologers were the first foreigners to visit Mary, Joseph, and Jesus.  Whatever was God thinking?  Didn’t God remember that we are told not to dabble in such things?

And yet the Wise Men -- those holy men from the East -- have been remembered for the lavish gifts they gave to the Holy Family, gifts which most likely subsidized the Trio when they fled to Egypt for protection from Herod’s madness.  Why are the Wise Men so remembered in our Advent/Christmas stories?

The Wise Men were signs of two things.  First, God’s ways can be made plainly visible even to the “pagans” in our world.  Indeed, the whole of creation reflects God’s glory.  Second, the coming of the Messiah would not just affect Jews, the chosen people.  Even us Gentiles would be welcomed in God’s holiest act of redemption.

So, the Wise Men were there, to represent us, to give their most precious gifts to Christ.  What gifts do we bring to the Manger in our hearts?

O God:

Like the little drummer boy, we sometimes feel as if we don’t have a gift good enough to bring to the Christ Child.  Help us to find within us the gifts you have given us, and then help us to return them to you with joy, gratitude, and gladness; in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord we pray.  Amen.

3rd Saturday of Advent

3rd week in Advent -- Saturday                        Matthew 2:1-9

                                         The Star

It was a star,

just like any other.

Countless thousands fill the night sky.

And yet . . .

this star was different.

It glowed.

It shone brighter.

It beckoned, this beacon of

divine light.

It called,

invited,

demanded attention.

But where did it lead?

Or to Whom?

To this child,

crying in the cool night.

This child, focus of the shining beam

that split the night’s darkness

and breathed hope into humanity

once again!

O Lord:

You constantly put signs of your love in the dark recesses of our world.  For those signs around us and within us we offer our thanks; in Christ’s name.  Amen.

3rd Friday of Advent

3rd week in Advent -- Friday                                 Luke 2:1-7

                                    The Innkeeper

Alas, the poor Innkeeper.  This hardworking businessman always seems to get the short end in the re-telling of The Story, doesn=t he?

AAh, the Innkeeper,@ people say with a sneer, with a tone of barely concealed contempt.  ASo busy, so taken with his paying customers that he hardly gives second thought to the woman in labor and the husband concerned for his wife and soon-to-be child!@  If this were a silent movie, we would hear the Avillain music@ as the Innkeeper enters the scene.

What were his motives?  What was going on in his head that Star-filled night?  Was he a cruel man, hardened by years of being ripped off by con artists Ain need?@  Was he just too busy, or too greedy to care?  Was he a kind and benevolent man who was really troubled by his ANo Vacancy@ sign?  Whatever the situation, whatever his insides said, at least credit the man for figuring out some way to help.  He may have helped out of compassion, or perhaps only begrudgingly.  But the point is clear . . . he helped!

Despite the fickle nature of our feelings, may we help those in need at least as much as did that Innkeeper.

O God:

We sometimes serve you with joy and gladness.  Other times we serve you because we know we Ashould,@ even though we might not feel like it!  Help us to remember that your love for us doesn=t just come to us when we feel we deserve it, but it comes to us always.  In the same way, help us to remember to serve you, even when we don=t feel like it; in Jesus= name we pray.  Amen.

3rd Thursday of Advent

3rd week in Advent -- Thursday                   Matthew 1:18-24

                                          Joseph

Joseph . . . Contrary to the place that Mary has firmly etched in history, Joseph has been relegated to oblivion; forgotten, except as a figure needed to make the Nativity Set look complete.

This rough-hewn carpenter must not have had an easy role to fill.  He married a girl perhaps half or a third his age.  She soon announces that she’s pregnant!  What does he do?  What are his options?  He could publicly humiliate her by breaking their engagement.  He could have dragged her through the streets and had her stoned to death for her presumed infidelity.

But he chose instead to believe her.  Moreover, he chose, despite all human symbols to the contrary, to believe God.  His trust in God’s mysterious ways of working is a patient quality of faith that we all could use in our lives.

O Lord:

We sometimes think that, unless we are “important” in the eyes of those around us, we cannot serve you as we should.  Help us to remember the “Josephs” in our world -- all of the people who serve you, who trust you, who follow you without thought for what anyone else will say or do or remember; in Christ’s name we pray.  Amen.

Another voice on God, prayer, schools, and violence

I don't know that I have any exceptionally perceptive insight on the tragedy in Connecticut and where God is in all of this, but I keep hearing other Christian voices espousing things that make me cringe and that, I believe, are unbiblical, their claims to the contrary notwithstanding.  More and more people in our society seem to have nothing but disdain for the Christian Faith, and maybe it's just because they are only hearing one perspective.  I thought I would add a different voice.

Regarding prayer in schools... There always will be prayer in school!  You cannot take prayer out of school. In addition to the legality in most schools of student-led prayer gatherings, anyone can pray... any time... in any place.  No one can stop that.  In terms of public, teacher-led prayers in classrooms, all I can say, I guess, is that I'm an increasingly-old man, and there were never prayers offered in my classrooms when I was growing up.  So, I'm not sure where such prayers were offered and where they weren't in the 1950's, but they didn't happen where I was, and it seems to me that my faith in Jesus developed fairly well despite no "prayer in school."

And more, regarding prayer in schools... A very close friend and colleague of mine several years ago told me about his pastoral work in a church-related school in Utah.  That community had organized, daily prayers in the public schools.  His sons were in that school system.  His comment to me about that?  "I have a different experience about prayer in schools from having my sons being led in prayer by Mormon teachers.  Don't tell me that students aren't negatively affected by public prayers led by someone of a different faith tradition than your own!  And don't tell me that such prayers are 'voluntary!'  Students are mercilessly shunned if they don't fall in line and pray 'appropriately' during that daily time in the classroom!"

Regarding some people's claims that we've "taken God out of schools"... I don't have words strong enough (or appropriate enough!) adequately to express my feelings about this.  Folks... we can't control God!  We can't "take God out of schools," because we don't have that much power... we don't have any power over God!  Psalm 139 reminds us that there is no place where God is not already there... including schools, even though we no longer can have teacher-led prayers there!

Finally, regarding God and tragedies... As in the paragraph above, I don't have words strong enough to express my reaction to "Christians" who imply that any tragedy is somehow the result of our faithlessness, and of God's subsequent action/judgment on us for that!  Are tragedies sometimes the result of our actions or inactions?  Undeniably so.  Are all tragedies the result of God's judgment?  Absolutely not!  That's not only cruel to suggest, and a slam on God's character and nature, but it's not biblical!  Jesus was asked who sinned that caused a certain man they met to be born blind.  Jesus said that sin had nothing to do with it.  Jesus was asked why God's judgment was meted out when a tower fell in a nearby town, killing many people.  Jesus said that God wasn't behind the fall of that tower and the resultant deaths of those people.  Sin has consequences, and sometimes tragic things result.  But, since we live in a broken and fallen world, sometimes bad stuff just happens, with no discernible cause and effect... other than perhaps shoddy workmanship... or mental illness... or easily-available ammunition that is manufactured with the intent of killing people.  The question about why bad things happen is certainly at least as old as the biblical book of Job... and Job never got any answers to his questions about "why."  So I don't think we will find such answers either.

And whatever answers we develop, they certainly ought not be simplistic... or without compassion... or presumptive... or unbiblical.

3rd Wednesday of Advent

3rd week in Advent -- Wednesday                      Luke 1:30-38

                                           Mary

Mary . . . Mary holds the most unique place in human history -- the mother of the Messiah.  Human beings historically have reacted to Mary in one of two general ways.  We have either idealized and romanticized Mary into some sort of inhuman feminine “ideal” -- meek, quiet, submissive, unobvious; and made her into a semi-divine being.  Or else we have ignored her, not wanting to deal with the excesses given her by others.

But Mary will not be ignored.  She stands at the juncture of the divine/human encounter, in that mysterious place where “God became flesh and dwelled among us.”  Neither will she be relegated to obscure submissiveness.  It took a lot of faith and courage for that 14-year-old girl to announce to her fiancé, her parents, her friends, her community what she believed God was doing in her, with her, through her.

Mary thus provides for us an incredible model of faithfulness to God, of yielding to God’s will, of following God’s ways.

O God:

You chose a young girl in a small country to be the bearer of your Love for our world.  Help us to believe that you can do all things through us; as we live and pray in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

3rd Tuesday of Advent

3rd week in Advent -- Tuesday                                Luke 2:16

                                      The Manger

Scenes from the Manger --

crude wood

splinters

left-over straw

cobwebs

cold and barren.

Manger --

scene of cow=s lunch,

donkey=s brunch.

Yet this Bethlehem Manger --

this quiet place off of

the bustling streets --

Became, of all things, a cradle:

a cradle for life itself,

the cradle for Life Himself.

Wonder of wonders;

Immanuel, in a manger.

God with us, here and now.

O Lord:

There are lots of quiet, out-of-the-way places in our world and in our lives.  Help us to look for signs of your love and presence in the unusual corners of our days, for we will surely find you there; in Christ=s name we pray.  Amen.

3rd Monday of Advent

3rd week in Advent -- Monday                           Luke 2:15-20

                                   The Shepherds

If the Wise Men were the wealthy, world travelers of their day, the Shepherds lived at the other end of the economic spectrum.  They were poor, uneducated, simple people.  They kept their flocks, protected them from the wild animals.  They fed their sheep, found them shelter in storms, searched the wilderness for water holes, slept near them at night.

One night, the unexpected and unimaginable happened:  bright lights, angels, heavenly anthems, divine message.  They hurried to Bethlehem, and what did they find?  More sheep ... and some cows and a donkey ... a woman and a man ... and a newborn baby.

Suddenly, they knew -- they KNEW -- that they were the first human witnesses to God=s greatest Gift.  And what did they do?  They went out and told their story.  They didn=t thump Bibles, harangue on street corners, buy time on TV.  They simply told other people the Story -- God has come to us, Immanuel!

Good News is hard to keep quiet.

O God:

We so often think that we have to do GREAT things for you, or we should do nothing at all.  Help us to remember to be faithful in the little things in life, like sharing your love and Good News with those around us; in Jesus= name we pray.  Amen.

A prayer after the school shootings

This was the prayer I offered during this morning's worship service at Central Presbyterian Church in Omaha, NE...

Gracious, Loving, Compassionate, Grieving, Hope-giving God; we come to you this day, and we bring to you everything that we are, everything that we are feeling.  We bring to you our sense of outrage.  We bring to you our despair.  We bring to you our unanswered and ultimately unanswerable questions.  We bring to you our compassion for those who have suffered loss… and especially for those who have had the lives of loved ones ripped away from them.  No words are adequate, O Lord.  So we simply bring ourselves here, and open ourselves to an awareness of your presence.  Remind us, gracious God, that there is no place where you are not present.  You are in the midst of our times of joy, gratitude, and celebration.  You are in our midst in our times of our doubts, questions, and despair.  You are with us in our times of anger, frustration, and helplessness.

Throughout human history, you have stood with your people.  You were with Adam and Eve, and even with Cain, after the murder of Abel.  You were with the Hebrew people during their enslavement in Egypt.  You stood by the Jews when they were taken into Exile in Babylon and other places.  You were with early Christians who were tortured and martyred for the Faith.  You were with innocent Arab Christians who were killed during the Crusades.  You marched with the millions who were sent to prison camps and to their deaths by the Nazis.  You are with Palestinian Christians who are caught in the struggle between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Muslims.  You are with the congregation in Pennsylvania… with those who grieve in Oregon… with those who grieve in Connecticut… with all who suffer and grieve this day.

Remind us, loving God, that you never, ever abandon us… despite how we sometimes feel.  You are faithful to us, even when we are faithless to you.  You love us, even when we do not feel loving towards others.  You grant us peace, even when we are most in turmoil.  You birth hope within us, even when we most despair.

As we mark the observance of your birth in Jesus, be born anew in us… this day, and every day.  Hear these and all of our prayers, gracious and compassionate and loving God; for we offer them, our lives, our fears, our hopes, our entire world to you, in the name of Jesus Christ our Redeemer and Lord.  Amen.

2nd Saturday of Advent

2nd week in Advent -- Saturday                           Luke 2:8-14

                                       The Angels

What strange creatures these angels must be!  Singing in choirs . . . making a frightening announcement to a little girl named Mary . . . coming to Joseph in a dream saying, AGet up and go.  Time to leave.  Hope you like Egypt this time of year!@

Angels -- startling poor shepherds with earth-shattering, ear-splitting news: AGOOD NEWS!  A baby -- God=s Baby -- is born!  Hurry and take a look!@

The word, Aangel,@ literally means Amessenger.@  They were God=s first attempt at communication -- before fax machines, before e-mail, before computers, before books.  God=s messengers they were.

Aren=t we called to be Amessengers@ sometimes?  Aren=t we called to add music to someone=s life, to comfort them when frightening news comes, to help people understand and realize their deepest dreams, to share good news in depressing situations?

I believe there are heavenly angels, but I also believe we can share their work -- being God=s messengers to those around us.  And we don=t even need wings or haloes!

O Lord:

Help us to be angels for those whom we meet and greet each day, sharing your love and grace with them; in Jesus= name we pray.  Amen.

2nd Friday of Advent

2nd week in Advent -- Friday                             John 1:12-14

                             The Word Made Flesh

Words sometimes drive me crazy!

I’ve learned to use them,

to communicate thoughts,

feelings,

emotions,

ideas.

But words can be so misused,

and so noisy.

Television blaring,

radio blasting.

Commercials which insult our intelligence,

assault our contentment,

assail our values.

Whoever said,

“Sticks and stones may

 break my bones, but

 words will never hurt me,”

lied!

Yet what did God do?

Came to us,

“Word made flesh,”

John said.

Jesus came,

in the midst of our wordiness,

to utter the single Word most needed in our lives:

the divine “Yes!” to our very existence.

O Lord:

Words fill up our time, our lives, our space.  Yet words are so often empty, or hurtful, or filled with loneliness.  Help us to be open to your Word of life and love in our lives.  Refill and renew us, we pray; in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

2nd Thursday of Advent

2nd week in Advent -- Thursday                            John 1:1-5

                            The Light of the World

I once went “spelunking.”  Don’t worry about rushing to your dictionaries.  I’ll tell you what it means.  It means “cave exploring.”  This was not a guided tour of Meramac Caverns or Mammoth Cave.  My venture in spelunking was in a real cave -- to which you hiked, where you got down on all fours to crawl inside, where you tied a rope at the cave’s mouth so you could find your way out again.

By best estimates, we meandered about three-quarters of a mile back inside the cave.  We were about out of rope, so we sat down.  Then, just to see what it was like, we turned off our flashlights.  The presence of the darkness was overpowering.  You could almost feel its cloak.

After what seemed like an hour (but was only probably 30 seconds!), flashlights popped back on.  We all -- collectively, instinctively -- took a deep, cleansing breath.  LIGHT!  We could see where we were.  We could feel safe and secure.  We could find our way out.

Jesus is the Light of our world.  And as St. John put it so well: “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  Thanks be to God!

God:

We see it all around us . . . hatred instead of love, hurt instead of healing, doubt instead of faith and trust, despair instead of hope, darkness instead of light.  Help us to be instruments of your Son, our Lord, in shining a ray of light into the lives of those around us; in His name we pray.  Amen.

2nd Wednesday of Advent

2nd week in Advent -- Wednesday                       Isaiah 9:6-7

                          Justice and Righteousness

The world is not always fair.

I think someone forgot to tell me that.

I expected that

if you are good, you’ll get good in return;

if you are nice, people will be nice to you;

if you smile a lot, people will like you.

So who wanted to hear about

injustice?

intolerance?

bigotry?

hatred?

No, those were ugly words used to describe

even uglier deeds;

and no one knew what to do about them.

Except God.

Along comes a Child,

who will usher in a kingdom

demonstrated by what we most want:

justice and righteousness,

to make things fair.

The kingdom of God is yet to come

in its fullness and richness . . .

but it’s already begun here,

whenever we pray

“Thy kingdom come,

 Thy will be done.”

O Lord:

We long for fairness in our world, and are both saddened and angered when people act unfair or unkind.  Keep us hopeful that your kingdom has already come in Jesus Christ, and that your kingdom will someday come in its fullness; for we pray as Jesus taught us:  Our Father, . . .

2nd Tuesday of Advent

2nd week in Advent -- Tuesday                               Isaiah 9:6

                                   Prince of Peace

Prince of Peace:

How we need you in our world today!

Families are broken,

relationships are endangered.

Come, Prince of Peace!

People live in ghettos,

yet we are surprised when they riot.

Come, Prince of Peace!

Nations teach warfare,

and preach with weapons of destruction.

Come, Prince of Peace!

Peoples’ bodies are hurting,

their souls need healing.

Come, Prince of Peace!

We’ve not learned to share our abundance,

so people starve while we go on diets.

Come, Prince of Peace!

Lord Jesus Christ,

Divine Prince of Peace:

We need you now in our world.

Do not tarry much longer.

Amen!