December 8, 2012
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Happy Holidays!
Malachi 3:1-4
3 “Look!I’m sending my messenger on ahead to clear the way for me. Suddenly, out of theblue, the Leader you’ve been looking for will enter the Temple—yes, theMessenger of the Covenant, the one you’ve been waiting for. Look! The One is coming!”A Message from the mouth of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
2-4 But who will be able tostand up to that coming? Who can survive the appearance?
This One will be like white-hot fire from the smelter’sfurnace, like the strongest lye soap at the laundry. The One will act as arefiner of silver, as a cleanser of dirty clothes and scrub the Levite priestsclean, refine them like gold and silver, until they’re fit for God, fit to present offerings of righteousness. Then, and only then,will Judah and Jerusalem be fit and pleasing to God, as theyused to be in the years long ago.
Philippians 1:3-11
3-6 Every time you crossmy mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is atrigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am sopleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaimingGod’s Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There hasnever been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this greatwork in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the veryday Christ Jesus appears.
7-8 It’s not at allfanciful for me to think this way about you. My prayers and hopes have deeproots in reality. You have, after all, stuck with me all the way from the timeI was thrown in jail, put on trial, and came out of it in one piece. All alongyou have experienced with me the most generous help from God. God knows howmuch I love and miss you these days. Sometimes I think I feel as strongly aboutyou as Christ does!
9-11 So this is my prayer:that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well.Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelingsso that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live alover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of:bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all,getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.
Luke 3:1-6
3 1-6In the fifteenth year of the rule of Caesar Tiberius—it was while PontiusPilate was governor of Judea; Herod, ruler of Galilee; his brother Philip,ruler of Iturea and Trachonitis; Lysanias, ruler of Abilene; during theChief-Priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas—John, Zachariah’s son, out in the desertat the time, received a message from God. He went all through the countryaround the Jordan River preaching a baptism of life-change leading toforgiveness of sins, as described in the words of Isaiah the prophet:
Thunder in the desert!
“Prepare God’s arrival!
Make the road smooth and straight!
Every ditch will be filled in,
Every bump smoothed out,
The detours straightened out,
All the ruts paved over.
Everyone will be there to see
The parade of God’s salvation.”There is a supposed war on Christmas going on. I really don’t understand it but apparentlysome people feel Christmas is under attack when another person wishes themhappy holidays rather than the required merry Christmas. I had someone send me a choral group singingabout how to respond if you enter a store with “Happy Holidays” posted or ifthe salesperson greets you with “Happy Holidays”. The singers sweetly sing about turning onyour heel and exiting the store while telling all that will listen that you won’tbe shopping where Christ is left out of Christmas. It would be easy enough to dismiss this asjust so much silliness if it weren’t for the reality that this level ofintolerance for those who believe different, act different, appear differenthas become increasingly militant. Thedeclarations in the past election about taking back our country were thinlydisguised assertions about not having a president who is a person of color, notwanting an administration that was sympathetic to the aliens in our nation, notwanting the country to be concerned about the health of its citizens or protectingthe pensions of its elderly and disabled. Just like the so called war on Christmas, there are those among us whofeel there has been a war declared upon their privilege.
What makes this particularly troubling is this backlash onthe war on Christmas completely disregards why Jesus came to the earth a couplethousand years ago. Jesus did not cometo assert the importance that people strictly observe Hanukah or show properdeference to the religious elite. Johnthe Baptist did not greet those who came to him in the wilderness with “MerryChristmas!” He greeted people to preparefor the coming of the one predicted in Malachi, the one who would be like thewhite hot smelter’s fire scrubbing us clean. We get all caught up in this image of a helpless baby in a manager andwe miss the Word of God came in flesh to disrupt the status quo, and to bringus back to God’s requirement that we not use our privilege to exploit others,that God doesn’t have favorites, and we have missed the point when we mistreatthe widows, orphans, aliens, and others we deem less than ourselves. I am quite certain Jesus would not beoutraged if someone greeted him with “Happy Holidays” if their intention wasgenuine good will. I am also certainJesus would be outraged if someone said “Merry Christmas” when they could careless whether your life was merry or miserable.
As we live into this time of advent, of anticipation, Ibelieve we are called to examine what we believe the coming of Jesus meant twothousand years ago and then anticipate what the coming of Jesus to us todaymeans. Are we prepared to encounter theOne God has sent to us as a messenger of God’s justice, God’s compassion, andGod’s love. Can we stand in front ofsuch a messenger, have we acted out God’s justice, compassion, love forothers? Can we stand in front of God’smessenger and say we have lived a Christ like life? Amen.
