 The Christmas Story in Luke ADVENT 18, 2017 Well, I have to admit that things have been a bit stressful lately. I bet they have been for you, too. as you know, I have been worried about the Christmas and Christmas Eve stuff. However, I am also concerned about the future of the church--Eliot Church and the church at large--and more than a little stunned by the state of the world. Maybe that is why I made last night the time to read the first chapter of Luke in The Tyndale Bible. I will probably move on to another chapter tonight and then to Matthew so as to get the whole story (at least in the scriptural sense) covered. Actually, reading it isn't that hard if you use one of the contemporary "translations" of this first translation of the Christian scriptures into English. Those have standard modern spelling and punctuation. We use that version at the 7pm service on Christmas Eve so we don't get lost or confused. What I read last night was the facsimile of the 1526 edition. I bought it years ago when I first got into Tyndale. I am a nerd and get super-enthusiastic about certain things. Every once in a while I crack it open. Reading it turns out to be a challenge. For starters an "s" looks just like an "f" and sometimes a "j' will be rendered as an "i". Words change their spelling in the midst of the same paragraph. Then, of course, there is a different vocabulary and sentence structure. Oh...and there is the font. My modern and aging eyes have trouble figuring out certain differences so "houffe" (house) looks like "bouffe". Also my brain tries to fill in words too fast so that the fairly straightforward "bleffed" (blessed) comes out as "baffled" when I read. Baffled is, of course, my condition in those moments...not Mary's. That said, I like to do it sometimes. It requires concentration. The Advent/Christmas story is pretty familiar to me at this point and it is easy to stop paying attention to the words. Bending over this thing, puzzling it out, keeps me focused. There is also the history of the document. This would be the first book many people encountered in their lives. Certainly in 1526, it would be the first Bible they could read themselves. They would have had to puzzle it out, too. Literacy wasn't widespread. They also would have taken it very seriously.  It is portable (the orginal was slightly smaller) for practical reasons. After all, their actions were illegal. In 1535 the authorities caught up to William Tyndale. In 1536 he was strangled and burned for the crime of this translation. Turns out these hard words have power greater than their use as "lessons" between carols on Christmas Eve. Those who actually had their own power worried that if anyone could read it, their power would be diminished. When I read this translation I cannot help but wonder--as its original readers must have--what it was that made the church, the governments, and the rich so scared. When I read this version, concentrating on getting every word correct, the answer is obvious. Jesus so clearly sided with his fellow poor and oppressed. He claimed lordship from his lowly post and said that the world we move through does not belong to the ownership class. Nor does God's world. Back then the Bible was viewed--at least by those whose position was threatened--as a document for the purpose of revolution. It was dealt with in the ways the rich still deal with such things. It was repressed. Today we would say that people were granted "unequal access" to it. We see the same strategy in action when the concept of equal access to money, education, employment, healthcare, housing, marriage, and compensation (among others) is challenged, Even more recently, we can add the internet to this list. Just as with the Bible, deregulation is an attempt to restrict the flow of information. To believe in these things--that all people should be able to have their fair share of the resources and that equal access is the same as equal opportunity--is to mark yourself off as part of the fringe, a dreamer, a progressive. To believe that the wealthy and powerful need to surrender their wealth and power sounds downright unchristian to contemporary ears. Yet that was what Jesus, his family, and his friends were all about. Over the centuries there has been a concerted effort to declaw Jesus' actions and teachings. It saves wear and tear on the furniture. There is a feeling in many parts of Burbania that to live by your faith in the public sphere is somehow rude. The problem is, the public sphere is so large that this idea reduces faith to a thought exercise. We are expected to generate happy thoughts at certain times and sad thoughts at others. No wonder people don't go to church! So much of the season is about warm fuzzies, joy and light, Jesus would be a Grinch at his own birthday party. I am pretty sure I don't agree with Tyndale theologically on some points (quite possibly many). Also, a modern Bible scholar could debate his word choice in a number of places. Still, there is Jesus, for the first time in accessible English, laying the groundwork for a massive upending of the social order that has yet to be fully realized. Today some churches fear stirring the pot and appearing as something other than pillars of the established way. In the Evangelical world there is much soul-searching about how some (but certainly not all) people in that community have abandoned long held beliefs to stand in the current political "winner's circle". Others--both individuals and congregations of many theological stripes--do step out and speak out. Sure, there are penalties for that. However, this has been quite a year for the Religious Left. On Christmas Eve in this country we will probably think we are reading a nice religious story that will reassure us. In fact, it probably will provide solace in a difficult time. It does, in fact, contain a personal meaning. Yet the radical message is still there, too. I, at least, will be praying that it enters our hearts in such way that on Christmas morning we feel that call to build a just a peaceful world. I pray we build (using today's words, not Tyndale's) the Commonwealth of Heaven. 
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 I need to do tasks today. Some are Advent tasks others are "so we don't starve" tasks. I try to front load this month as time becomes its own precious commodity the closer we get to the "big day". This is true for everyone. However church is one of the places we see this pressure the most. Whether we are members of some sort of congregation or not, we want some religious and spiritual element to the holidays. For those of us who celebrate Christmas, we want to feel it, not just buy it. There aren't a lot of places left where you can do that anymore. Therefore, people bring these desires with them to worship. Some people--just as with Christmas shopping--wait until the very last moment. The first and only time we see them is at Christmas Eve. That is OK. Still, it poses a challenge for the church. Frequently, the ones for whom this is true carry unrealistic expectations about what can be done in 50 minutes on one December night. On the 22nd of December we usually start getting calls from people "shopping" for a Christmas Eve service. They always ask the same question. It isn't theological. It isn't even expressly religious. What they say when we pick up the phone is "Do you light real candles and sing Silent Night?" The answer of course is "yes." It would be like Springsteen--after three hours of every song he knows--forgetting to play Born to Run. We love the candles. We love how they make us feel. It is a favorite moment of many members in the church. Yet members aren't the ones calling the office. They already know the answer. The ones who call are searching for something in their season that they haven't found yet. Many of them aren't entirely sure what it is. To them church--any church--might be the sort of place that will have it in stock.  I don't mean this in a bad way. We love to have visitors in church any old time. In fact we would love to have them cease to be visitors and become friends. Besides, why wouldn't you ask about the candles? It's an important part of our holiday experience. I mean it as an observation of the simple fact that there is something...lacking in the lives of many people. There is a quest for meaning that is with us all year. However--for some folks--it is only in the crazy mixed-up holiday season that they can recognize it. We recognize it by it's absence. On the one hand there is a story of a poor baby born to an unwed mother under trying circumstances. This child and his parents are part of an oppressed minority. Strangers in a strange town, they are repeatedly rejected by people who could help them until, finally, they settle for the corner of a barn. On the other hand we are told to mark this moment by buying sparkly things, toys, and food. We commemorate their suffering by engaging in our conspicuous consumption. Whether you believe the literal truth of the story or not, the contrast is jarring. I am just going to say it. The Christmas Eve service--as lovely as it is--is a strange part of church life. It is where religion slams right up against consumer demand, creating a tangled mass of emotions and desires for people. There are competing constituencies. Partly we are a religious community gathered for a service of religion. Partly we are putting on a show for the secular holiday that dominates the culture. The people who call are sincerely interested in the religious and spiritual dimensions of the season. They merely using the language of the season, which isn't religious. It's transactional. "Do you have the thing I want?" Make no mistake about it. Christmas is mostly secular. One of the two major stories is religious but in that "Jesus vs. Santa Claus" battle, Santa dominates the series. There are plenty of folks who will tell you that it is the "holiest day in the Christian year". If they tell you this, it is a sure sign that they aren't paying attention. As a church holiday, Christmas is in the first rank of the second raters. Easter is number 1. What comes next in the holy-day importance varies by sect and personal preference. However, in the clergy parlor game of holiday ranking, Christmas rarely gets higher than 6. That's OK, though, right? Of course it is! Solstice celebrations pre-date Christianity for a reason. We need a party. It's all good. Yet, it is also important to know what we are looking at. Christmas is a Hallmark event. It's like Valentine's Day. Someone figured out you could boost the economy while singing carols, lighting candles, and putting a tree in your house. Essentially there are two holidays on December 25. They use many (but not all) of the same symbols. One is spiritual. One is commercial. Each of us has to do the math as to how much of each we will participate in. I engage in the commercial holiday, of course, and I often enjoy it. That said, I am also firmly "team Jesus". After all, Ol' Nick is considered a saint because he punched out a proto-unitarian (look it up). This is why the holiday I like best right now is Advent and not Christmas at all.. Advent is harder to monetize, so of that is your holiday, you are pretty much left alone. It has an added benefit, too. Since Advent is explicitly religious and minimally co-opted, I can prepare my self for actual Christmas (which begins--but doesn't end--on the 25th). That is, I can stay spiritual on Christmas Eve. I love it. However, I try not to make too many demands on it. Part of the reason that my own tradition didn't really start celebrating holidays--including Advent and Christmas--until the 19th Century was because they believed (and still believe) that every day is equally holy. So, as with other holidays, Advent is a practice for me. It doesn't usher in a more sacred time but helps me to see the sacredness that is always there. Christmas Eve is also a practice, one made more effective because I do not require my spiritual life to come at me in one big dose.  Those callers, though. Sometimes they get me down. We do, in fact, have the thing they want. The problem is, we don't get it from a one-off worship service. It comes from years of walking a path of discernment in a community of fellow travelers trying to live their ideals. Are houses of worship the only places these communities can be found? No. However, at least at Eliot Church, that is what you find. It is what we do every single week. The spiritual or religious experience doesn't come from a holiday. It rises from a practice. Sometimes, however, these calls excite me. As I have already said elsewhere this Advent, we are on a journey that starts with a single step. Christmas Eve is an awesome first step to have. We gather together--friends and strangers filled with a vast wealth of experience and stories--to push back the dark and bring our own warmth in the midst of the cold. So yes, of course there will be candles and Silent Night. Please come join us for that sacred and holy hour. Then--if this is the only time you ever visit--maybe after the New Year, when life returns to somewhat more mundane pursuits, you might want to drop back in. We will still be here to help you find what you seek.   I am running a Facebook "Advent Calendar". You can find it by searching for "Burbania Posts". many of them don't translate well to this format, but when they do I will post them here... ADVENT DAY 5, 2017 The tree at the parsonage is finally up. It isn't decorated or anything, but baby steps have been achieved, which is a relief. Today I will search for lights and decorations in the attic after I get back from the office. Yesterday, while I was kicking around the kitchen post-tree, I put on some Frank Sinatra. Most of the time when I listen to Christmas music it is from Sufjan Stevens or the somewhat less "high concept" Trekky Yuletide Orchestra (that is Trekky Records, not Star Trek). In both cases the work is set against a backdrop of our conflicted and anxious era...our own. Of course, Old Blue Eyes calmly crooning in his smooth, effortless style surrounded by the chaos of the Second World War fits this same theme nicely. At Christmas time we talk about peace like it is here, even though evidence points to the contrary. Sometimes it feels like we are being aspirational. At other times it feels delusional. In the comments section I will put a video here from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It is an arrangement of "Carol of the Bells" they call "Christmas in Sarajevo". There are smoke bombs and lasers. It is discordant in places. What did you expect? TSO began their career as the prog metal band Savatage. As a long-time fan I can say that this discord is intentional. They are placing a big, fat question mark on one of the major themes of the season. How much can we celebrate peace if we do not work for it? How much do we truly want to live in harmony with the earth and our fellow humans? Right now it isn't all that clear. I am putting another song here before the comments. It is from that 9:30pm Christmas Eve Folk Service of a couple years back. Walker and I are playing a Frank Turner song. Turner is a well known atheist and has written some beautiful songs that can really only be considered hymns. This is one that we like to pull out sometimes. It addresses (perhaps more quietly and with--at least on my part--reduced technical talent) the same question. What does this holiday mean for us in our own doubt and our failure to meet it's lofty goals?  I am running a Facebook "Advent Calendar". You can find it by searching for "Burbania Posts". many of them don't translate well to this format, but when they do I will post them here... ADVENT DAY 2, 2017 Advent finally began yesterday. Before that--on Saturday night--a bunch of youth groupers gathered to decorate the sanctuary and the parlor for the upcoming season. We also cast the pageant and rehearsed for the annual Advent 1 "Sanctuary Lighting". Then we projected a Phineas and Ferb XMas special on the wall of the sanctuary and ate pizza and snacks. Good. Times. I am grateful this season for the chance to work (and celebrate!) with the youths. :-) The picture is of our "Charlie Brown Tree". The tags are for presents we purchase for people we do not know but who will appreciate the presents when they receive them. The kids did a pretty good job, right? The link is for yesterday's (very short) reflection. It is about honoring Advent this year rather than rushing straight to Christmas Day... |
Adam Tierney-EliotThis is my old weblog of many years. I will probably post here from time to time is there is a subject that does not fit WWG. However WWG is the more active page at this point. Archives
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