A Word of Explanation

You may soon discover that I like to have "big ideas" -- changing the Sanctuary around, for example -- which seem random and unaccountable.  Rest assured, they only seem that way because I often forget to let people know WHY I've done the crazy things I do.

So, as for the sanctuary ...

I am grateful for the portability of furnishings in the sanctuary because of the opportunities this provides to create and craft something new.  In the run-up to Advent, I was thinking about the tradition of the Advent wreath and what it means to be the waiting people of God.  And I realized that, with the possibility of putting the sanctuary "in the round" we could visually and literally become the Advent Wreath.  The unlit Christ Candle is center stage, reminding us that what we long for is not yet fully arrived.  Each week a different individual or family has created their own Advent Candle display.  This way we see demonstrated the unique way God has crafted each one of us and that, for each one of us, the process of waiting may look different.

So, as we worship together on the coming Sundays, look around the sanctuary.  Remember that none of us is waiting alone.  Together we long for and praise the Coming King.  Together we prepare for and worship the Baby born in a manger.

We are the waiting people of God, Christ's own advent wreath.

For Your Sabbath

You may have noticed that I didn't succeed in finding a song for that last portion of our Isaiah 40 -- the dual images of a Sovereign LORD, ruling with a strong arm and bringing his justice with him & the Gentle Shepherd carrying the lambs in his arms, close to his heart.  There is no song I know that gives us both images in all their glory.

All I know is I long for that God to come again.  And that longing is palpable (click below):

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Commissioned

Even though, as Isaiah just got through saying, mortals are like grass and human kindness is like the flowers of the field -- destined to wither and fade -- we are still commissioned to the work of restoration.

You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain.You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice.Lift up your voice with a shout. Do not be afraid.Say to the towns of Judah, "Here is your God!"

I am stuck on the image of Christian witness as walking through life with others; gently prodding or stopping someone dead in their tracks and shaking them by the shoulders announcing: "Here is Your God!"  Or, "Look!  That was God right there. Did you see it? Do you acknowledge it?  Well, how awesome is this?!?"

We spoke in Bible Study this week about the Christian task of "evangelism."  Some take to it very naturally.  Others of us squirm in our seats and talk about how we can be silent witnesses, which, while true, also seems a tad too convenient.  Maybe we let ourselves off the hook too easily with that particular justification?  At some point people need to hear the words that connect the dots -- "Here is Your God!"  

Evangelism is a word that has it's root in the Greek, evangelion, meaning "Good News."  Those of us who are fearful of this task feel hesitation, I suspect, because we equate evangelism with fire, brimstone and judging others.  But what if we re-calibrated our expectation so that we put ourselves in the business of "Good New"-ing people.  Or, as the prophet Isaiah said it long ago, say to them, "Here is Your God!"

From the same band I used yesterday, Open Up is a song about accepting the commission that comes along with God's grace in our lives.  Take some time today to use it as your prayer.  Who, in your life, needs some Good News?  Who needs to hear, "Here is Your God!"?

Isaiah 40 (the hard part)

"A voice says, 'Cry out.'

And I say, 'What shall I cry?'

'All people are like grass, and all human faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.  

The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them.  

Surely the people are grass. 

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God endures forever."

Amid the comfort and release from sin and Glory of the LORD, there are these lines.  Difficult to understand not least because the Hebrew text does not use quotation marks so it is only with the help of scholars (who disagree among themselves) that we are able to reproduce who is crying out what to whom and why.

This is a sobering word about human limitations, frailty and, in a word, mortality.  Of course it ends with a twist as God's eternality reshapes our own lives.  Finding music that does all that was a trick.  I had to dig into an album entitled Lent to find it. But then, that is appropriate right?  What the season of Lent is to Easter so is Advent to Christmas.  It is a moment for reflection, for the cultivation of true wisdom.

True wisdom, as defined by John Calvin, "consists in these two parts: knowledge of God and knowledge of self."  This song captures that tension well.  And it is not an inappropriate meditation for this season.  As winter descend in darkness, we long for the coming light.

The Glory of the LORD

After yesterday's diversion into indie and classic rock, I now return you to your regularly scheduled appropriate and tasteful (if somewhat expected) musical choices.

And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed and all people will see it together.  For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Isaiah 40 ... the soundtrack continues

A voice of one calling, 'In the desert prepare the way of the LORD; makes straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.'

This text lends itself to the soundtrack of roadtrip.  Having driven out West a couple of times, I know that stretch of highway through Montana's Big Sky Country.  There is something so liberating about those roads after busting through the traffic around Chicago and the strange beauty of South Dakota's Badlands.  The ubiquitous Wall Drug signs are behind you now.  So you point your car toward the Rockies and you drive.  There is no song that captures that feeling for me like this one.  I admit it is a strange choice for a soundtrack of Isaiah.  I'm hoping that by being outlandish, someone will bravely provide a counter-offer in the comments. (hint, hint.)

Then again, you can never go wrong with U2 ...

Advent Playlist

With radio and Pandora stations dedicated to Christmas music, I often find it helpful to create my own playlist of particularly Advent-y music.  Of course, there is plenty of reason to enjoy Harking to Angels' Singing, and Gloria in Excesis Deo-ing. Christ has come!  And we are right to celebrate.  But we also know that Christ will come again.  And we are right to long for and prepare. All is not yet as it should be. What we see in part at Manger and Cross, we will someday see in full at Christ's Return and Kingdom Come.

Next Sunday we continue our examination of Gabriel's announcement to Mary.
Yesterday we focused on the proclamation that "The LORD is with you" as remarkably Good News, but not easy news.  That Jesus choose to belong to us in order that we might belong to God.
Next Sunday, we think of Gabriel's words, "Fear Not!" in conjunction with the Old Testament prophecy: Isaiah 40:1-11.  My challenge this week, should I choose to accept it (and I do) is this: to create a soundtrack for Isaiah's words.  Maybe you'll like my selections.  Maybe you will have your own to offer.

Comfort, comfort my people, says Your God.Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received double from the LORD's hand for all her sin.