Sometimes it is such a challenge to decide what is the appropriate thing to wear.  Like some many things, I think it was easier when I was young.  On Sunday morning the men all wore suits, white shirts and a tie and the women wore dresses and most wore hats.  Even the children had fairly standard uniforms to wear.  Schools had strict dress codes that limited our options.  Social invitations would come with guidance as to whether the event was formal, business formal or casual dress.  And then came the sixties and all of the rules were thrown out.  It was all about freedom of expression and coloring outside of the lines.  Interestingly, this also led to clothing norms.  It was considered bad form to show up anywhere wearing what would have been required before.  The challenge then was to wear clothes that were counter-cultural and considered cool by your peers.  Without the guidelines there was much greater potential for being mocked by others.  Another challenge to dressing appropriately was knowing when you had aged out of a particular style.  I remember going to my ten year high school reunion and wearing my jeans and polo shirt and everyone else was wearing their business formal.  We are expected to change our clothing choices as me mature.  I have matured to the place where my clothing choices are based on what fits and what is clean.

Paul uses the way we pick our clothes to wear as a way of understanding how we choose to live as children of God.  The analogy is good over time.  There was a time when the people of God didn’t think about what was the right thing to do.  There were the laws and the interpretations of the law that told them exactly what they should or shouldn’t do.  Their wardrobe was dictated to them by the religious authorities.  The problem was the religious authorities lost sight of why the laws had been given.  They had the people putting on the same things everyday without a thought as to what might be more appropriate with changing times and circumstances.  Just like the missionaries that went to tropical areas of the world and forced the people to wear clothing that was created to survive harsh climates.  The missionaries gave the clothing importance beyond its intended purpose of protecting the body from the weather.  The religious leaders in ancient Israel had given the laws importance beyond its intended purpose of guiding people into compassionate and just ways of living together. 

Along came Jesus and the rules were reinterpreted and the people were taught to understand and relate to God in new ways.  Jesus taught before we put on a rule or try to put the rule on someone else we need to consider how doing so is in keeping with the two basic rules of loving God and loving others as ourselves.  There was nothing loving in the missionaries trying to force people in the tropics to wear heavy woolen clothing.  Many people, including missionaries, died trying to wear clothing that wasn’t appropriate.  People die today when others try to force them to live their lives in ways that are not appropriate for them.  Some people die spiritually, emotionally, and physically because they try to force themselves to live a life that is not right for them. 

Choosing the right outfit is part of our maturation process.  Infants can’t dress themselves so their caretakers dress them and start the process of teaching them the importance of dressing and the basic of how to do it.  Small children need a lot of help understanding what clothes are appropriate in what setting and wise parents help the child understand why they are suggesting one outfit over another.  Adolescent years are when children assert their own style and children who have been instructed in the fundamentals of clothing selection my choose very different clothes than their parents would select but they are likely to choose clothing that does what clothing is intended to do.  As we mature in our faith we start out needing someone to tell us about God and tell us what God requires of those who want to be children of God.  Then we are encouraged to think about what God is saying to us so we make our own choices.  When we mature in our faith, we may have a different understanding of God from our spiritual parents but we will have a solid understanding of the basic intent of faith.  We will understand how God desires for us to live with compassion and justice for others.  The story of Jesus in the temple suggests to me that even Jesus was required to gain some maturity in what it meant to be child of God.  His actions seemed right to him based on his relationship with God but he also discovered he had caused his parents worry and pain.  The passage says “Jesus matured, growing up in both body and spirit, blessed by both God and people.”  He learned better how to live with others and still live out the life God had planned for him.

I do not believe God expects all of us to live cookie cutter lives any more than we would want to wear the same clothes as everyone else.  God loves the diversity of clothes we choose to put on as our lives as long as they are appropriate for bringing love, compassion, justice, and peace to the world.  Amen.

The people in darkness have seen a great light.  The joy in this statement is not the elimination of darkness but the existence of a great light.  The Bible often uses darkness as a metaphor for confusion, evil intent, or ignorance.  Because of this, we have come to associate the dark with something to be avoided.  God is as responsible for the dark as for the light.  There is value in darkness as well as light.  Darkness can be quite comforting and refreshing.  Who would want to live their life only in bright light?  One of the biggest complaints of people in the hospital is the absence of darkness so they can sleep.  On a hot summer day, we seek out the shade for relief from the bright sun.  A poem by Jan L. Richardson from her book, Night Visions searching the shadows of advent and Christmas.

When you have thrown the cloak of evening across me,

And when you have drawn your midnight hand across my face;

When you have made my soul as dark as the night time sky,

And when the shadows are my only companion;

Then, O God, turn my face upward,

That I may know the grace of stars and give myself to rest.

The night can be very beautiful, usually because of the contrast of the dark and lights of the night, stars, moon, and even manufactured light.  I have had the experience of being in a very deep cave when the lights were shut off and I found it to be a very disturbing experience.  All frames of reference were lost to the point of not even being sure about up and down.  We should not fear the absence of light; the truth is there is nothing in the dark that is not there in the light.  The real fear in darkness is ignorance.  We cannot see what is around us, or where to go and it makes us frightened. 

The Light was sent into the world to dispel our ignorance and our fear.  The people were afraid because they did not know how to please God; they were frightened of the judgment and demands of God.  They had been taught to fear God by those who gained power by controlling the people by using their fear of God.  The Light came into the world to reveal to us God’s love and grace.  The Light came into the world so we would not be afraid of the darkness because we can trust there is nothing there to harm us.  The only thing we have to fear is living in ignorance, or allowing ourselves to be confused by what the world tells us is important.  The Light comes to drive out our fear and confusion.

I believe we celebrate the birth of Jesus in darkened rooms, lit by candle light because it helps us to focus on the light.  The darkness, rather than being evil, actually helps us to ignore all the business around us and focus on what is really important.  Just as people who meditate close their eyes to eliminate the distractions, we come here in the darkness to center ourselves on the importance of God being born in us.  Coming of God in flesh is not just about a baby born some two thousand years ago.  We celebrate God being born in each of us.  We celebrate the light of God’s wisdom, justice, and love being born in us over and over again.  We come to celebrate what it means for us to live in God’s light.  Amen.

At this time of year there is much made of being home for the holidays.  We hear the songs, “There is no place like home for the holidays” and “I’ll be home for Christmas”.  People often ask if we are going home for the holidays.  There is an interesting clash between this expectation of being home for Christmas and the original Christmas.  On that first Christmas, Mary and Joseph were far from home and the Christ had left heaven to come and live on earth as Jesus.  None of the main characters in the Christmas story were home.  I am at a point in my life where I am reconsidering where home is.  The house I grew up in and was owned by my family for over fifty years was sold last summer and I doubt the people living there would welcome me home nor would it feel like home if they did.  Some of us have had the experience of going to our family home and not feeling welcome there because someone there makes us feel unwelcome, perhaps a family member, perhaps an in-law, or step relative judges us and makes us feel unwelcome.  I wonder if this wasn’t a concern of Mary when she traveled to the home of Elizabeth and Zachariah.  Some families in that time, and even today, would have believed Mary had brought dishonor on the family by being pregnant and not married.  It was acceptable for families to stone a family member who dishonored the family.  Elizabeth and Zachariah had a prominent position in the temple and they might well have judged Mary and sent her away.  She must have felt great joy at the warmth of Elizabeth’s greeting and her blessing.  Coming home is about coming to that place where you are welcomed, not judged but blessed.

Coming home is also about coming to the place you are supposed to be.  There is a Shaker hymn that says, “Tis a gift to be simple, tis a gift to be free, tis a gift to come down where we ought to be,”  Coming home is coming down where we ought to be.  My family home is not where I belong; even my house in Kalamazoo is occupied by someone else and is not where I belong.  I have learned home is where I am content, where I am supposed to be.  I do not need to be in any particular place to be home.  I think Jesus was home on the first Christmas because he was where he was supposed to be.  The Word of Creation had become flesh and dwelt among us because that is where The Christ was supposed to be.  It is not so important that Jesus was born in Bethlehem fulfilling some ancient prophecy; it is important that the Word was made flesh so that we can better understand our relationship with God.  God came and dwelt amongst us so we could understand this world is as much our home as heaven will be one day.  I am not a fan of the idea that this world is not my home.  It gives us the freedom to distance ourselves from this world and our stewardship of it.  I do not believe God put us here to just bide our time until we get to go home.  This world is our home and we are to be engaged in making it a home, safe and welcoming place for all of creation.

This church is our home also.  Not in the sense that we own it and we can do what we want here because it is our home.  It is our home because God welcomes us here as part of God’s family.  We can come here and not be judged and not be made to feel unwelcome.  This is our home because this is where we come down where we ought to be.  It is important that this place feels like home to us, and it is equally important that we make this place feel like home to others who come here seeking a home with God.  Each time we gather here should be a holiday homecoming for everyone.  Happy Holiday Homecoming to you all.  Amen.

Party invitations can be a mixed blessing.  Sometimes an invitation brings us great joy and other times an invitation may bring us sorrow or anxiety.  Being invited to appear in court or to come to your supervisor’s office may create anxiety.  An invitation to a funeral or memorial service may cause us sorrow.  Even some party invitations cause us concern, maybe we don’t have the right clothes to wear, or we  can’t afford a required gift, or maybe we are not comfortable is such social settings.  More often party invitations cause us sorrow when we do not receive an invitation to a party and we know most of our friends have been invited.  Invitations can be used as a way to punish or put people in their place.  We tease about who is an “A” list guest and who is not.  Very often invitations are issued to let people know who is in favor and who is not.

Zephaniah’s invitation to the nation Israel to rejoice can be read as that kind of invitation from God.  God invites the people of Israel to a party restoring their homeland and sending their enemies away uninvited to the party.  Zephaniah is reassuring the Israelites that they are still on God’s “A” list and they will be invited to God’s party in the land promised them by God.  God was to them a warrior God ready to avenge any affront to God’s chosen people.  Some people today still have this idea that God invites only certain people to God’s party and others are unworthy of the invitation.  Some Christian faith groups speak of who is invited to God’s table, who is worthy only for the scraps that fall from the table, and who is not worthy to receive anything from God’s banquet.  They want to believe God has chosen people and that they are God’s chosen people.

John the Baptist was also issuing invitations to come to God’s party but John challenges the notion that some are chosen by God based on their lineage.  God’s invitation to the party isn’t based on whether you can trace your ancestry back to Abraham, God’s invitation is to all to come to the party but to enjoy the party you have to be willing to accept the party requirements.  To come to the party you must be prepared to share your gifts with others.  You must live a life of compassion and justice.  You must not seek to use your position to exploit others and you are to share from your abundance with those who do not have enough.  God’s invitation to the party is very much like our community dinner last night.  All are welcome; those who have an abundance are invited to share it with those who have little.  Those with power or position are not favored over those who have little.  We ask only that people come with peace and charity toward all.

There was a custom in ancient Israel that guests to a wedding party would be given robes to wear at the party.  It is believed the reason for this was that no one would be judged by the clothes they wore, all would be equal at the party.  Jesus says that God’s party is like that, we are all issued robes of grace when we come to God’s party and we are all equal.  Those who refuse the robe of grace and justice will not be allowed in the party.  We must be willing to surrender that which we think makes us special or superior if we wish to be included in God’s party.  It is not a matter of making your party costume, or earning your party costume.  When I was in high school, we had what were called “come as you are” parties.  The idea was you were to come as you were dressed when you received the invitation or you would be picked up and taken to the party with no opportunity to change into your party clothes.  God’s party is a come as you are party.  You cannot dress yourself to make you party worthy; you cannot do anything to make yourself worthy of being invited to the party.  God wants you to come to the party just as you are and willing to grow into the party person God desires you to be.

God has given us the task of inviting everyone to the party.  How wonderful to be able to tell others about God’s party and invite them to join in the celebration.  How will they know of God’s invitation if we do not tell them?  I forgot I was supposed to invite Rev. Elaine to the dinner last night so we could honor her.  Fortunately Jane reminded me and I was able to extend the invitation.  How sad it would have been if she had missed the celebration because I failed to invite her.  We need to extend the invitation so others know there is a celebration going on and they are included.  Our responsibility is not to decide who should be invited to the party; our role is to tell everyone there is a party and God wants them to come without condition.  We can leave it up to God to supply the party robes of grace, the party food of love and forgiveness, and the party games of justice and peace.  We just need to show up ready to party!  Amen. 

I assume we have all had the experience of being in conversation when a small child has come up all excited and demanding attention and, when the conversation stops to listen to them, they realize they don’t have anything to say or they have forgotten what they were going to say.  I can empathize with this more now that I experience those senior moments when I can’t recall what I wanted to say.  I think it is quite forgivable in children and seniors to seek attention only to discover they have nothing to say.  I, however, have little patience from politicians and other prominent people who demand attention and then have nothing to say.  It seems to me leaders today are afraid to speak clearly and directly to issues.  The current tactic is to appear sincere and say many words but never make a clear statement as to what you believe to be the situation and what you intend to do about the situation.  I sit and listen expecting to hear something important enough to draw me away from my regularly scheduled life only to end up with no clearer idea of what is going on and what is going to happen.  I am equally annoyed by the person who demands my attention and then spouts off ideas without foundation and which run completely counter to my experience.  I am particularly annoyed by those people who use their fame from one arena to make proclamations about stuff totally unrelated to their skill or expertise.  Really, why should the opinion of some athlete be persuasive in a debate about same gender loving people getting married?  What makes an actor’s thoughts on transgender people news worthy?  How does the fact that someone is a church leader equip them to debate whether gays and lesbians should serve in the military?  I also question the validity of elected individuals telling faith communities what they should do and believe.  We should not confuse our admiration for someone’s talent with respect for everything they say and do.  The fact that Tiger Woods has some domestic problems has nothing to do with the amazing skill he has with a golf club.  The lesson to be learned from Tiger is no matter how much talent and fame you have, you still have to keep yourself grounded.  The fact that Joseph Ratzinger served the Roman Catholic church faithfully for many years and was elected Pope does not mean I accept his understanding of a Christian life as being absolute.  The lesson Pope Benedict the XVI teaches me is that a life of study of and service to God does not mean you have a close relationship with God.  Not everyone who gets our attention has something important to say.

It is also true that not everything we chose to share with others is important.  Too often what we chose to share with others is not only not important, it isn’t even appropriate.  There are some people who feel the need to avoid silence at all cost and they will babble on about nothing just to avoid it.  Many of us will deal with tension by filling the space with chatter.  What is said isn’t important, we may not even be able to remember what we said.  There is a saying, “It is better to remain silent and appear uninformed, then to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”  We should not be afraid of silence.  Some of the most profound messages we receive come in silence.  Silence is not only the opportunity for us to hear what our mind, body, and spirit is telling us.  Silence is also where God’s Spirit speaks to us.  The other problem with avoiding silence by filling the air with chatter is the very likelihood of saying something you don’t mean and something hurtful.  Often we fill our conversation with words that are meant to make us look important or superior to others.  We send out the wrong message when we share things we shouldn’t share or when we criticize others who are not present and do not know our criticism of them.  Too often our messages really aren’t important.

There is no reason for us, as people of faith, to be sharing unimportant or hurtful messages.  Like John the Baptist, we have been given God’s Good News of God coming to dwell in us.  We have the privilege to share with others that God wishes to dwell in them.  Like Isaiah and Jesus, we have been anointed to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives, release from darkness to the prisoners of darkness, to declare God’s reign and justice in the world, to comfort those who mourn, we have the message of God’s desire to bring peace and hope to this world.  When we have such important messages to proclaim, why would we waste our time sharing gossip, rejections, hurtful words, or foolishness?  We can bring the message of joy to all that God desires still to be born in us Emmanuel!  Amen.

We have entered the season of anticipation.  Children anticipate the coming of Christmas; retailers anticipate increased sales; some anticipate the parties and family gatherings, and some even anticipate significant snow events.  Some are anticipating weddings and some are anticipating the arrival of a new life into their lives.  We all need to have something in the future to anticipate.  Anticipation is hope and people without anticipation are without hope.

Jeremiah was a prophet in Judah over a span of time that went from the nation believing its future was secure because they were the chosen people of God through the time when Judah was conquered by Babylon and the people driven into exile.  The leaders of Judah despised Jeremiah because he predicted the fall of Judah because they had lost sight of God’s purpose for them.  They only wanted prophets who told them all was well and they could place their confidence in God’s protection no matter what they did.  The people anticipated the future with false hope and they were disheartened when what they anticipated did not happen.  When the destruction of Judah came, Jeremiah predicted that the Jews would come back to the promise land and God would restore them because God is faithful to God’s word.  Jeremiah anticipated the future with confidence because he placed his hope on that which was true.

It is easy for people of faith to think they have no responsibility for the future because it is in God’s hands.  There are religious leaders who insist we have no need to worry about global warming or any other environmental issue because God will take care of the earth.  Some even anticipate the destruction of the earth as a sign of the imminent coming of Jesus.  Some people of faith similarly have the attitude toward taking care of themselves and planning for their future that they don’t have to plan because God will provide.  Some churches also approach the future as if they don’t have to work to keep the church open because it is God’s church and God will take care of it.  These people are like the people of Judah who anticipated the future with a false hope and they will be surprised when the future turns out different than what they expected.

We, as people of faith can anticipate our future with greater confidence and with joy if we are intentional about being about the work required to bring about God’s desire for us.  As a community of faith we can face even an uncertain future with the confidence God is in that future and will guide us in the way we should go.  We know even in the bleakest part of winter, life is going on in the earth and in the plants and with patience and faith we will see the earth burst forth with abundance.  As a people of faith we are not called to sit like spectators waiting for God’s dominion on earth to suddenly appear.  We are called to be active in the work of preparation to birth God’s dominion upon the earth.  Jesus tells us the dominion of God is closer than we imagine.  I don’t believe Jesus was talking about the splitting open of the eastern sky and Jesus descending to usher in the dominion of God on earth.  I think Jesus was talking about the splitting open of our lives and God reigning over our lives in this world and in this time.

In this season of the church year and in this season of this church, we are invited anticipate the future.  To anticipate the coming of God into the world in new ways and bringing the dominion of God to us in ways we have never imagined.  We anticipate God birthing something new in this church.  The challenge for us is not to miss the real joy of this season because we are insisting on the gift coming in one particular way.  Most the world missed the joy of the first Christmas because they thought they knew how the Messiah would come and a poor child born in a manager to an unwed mother was not what they anticipated.  We too can miss the joy of what God is birthing here if we insist it be born the way we want instead of allowing the gift of God to come to us in God’s way.  Amen.

I have had the experience of living in two different dominions.  Prior to coming to Canada, I had lived all of my life in the States, in fact, I had lived all of my life in Michigan prior to living in Halifax.  I have learned that while our two nations are very similar there are definite differences.  I cannot assume that I know the laws of the land.  I frequently have to check myself before I make assertions about what one may or may not do.  In Michigan, pedestrians enter a cross walk only when they have the traffic light or when there is no vehicular cross traffic.  Pedestrians, who do not wait for a break in traffic, are known as road kill.  The exception to this is the City of Ann Arbor where pedestrians wander into the streets heedless of traffic but that would be because they are University of Michigan students who are pretty much clueless anyway.  I had visited Canada many times prior to moving here and had spent several days on some of my visits but I did not get to know the differences in the laws and the system of government on those visits, there seemed to be no need, I was just visiting.

It is very likely that many people who claim to be people of faith in God enter the dominion of God the same way I entered Canada.  They realize they are in a place where the rules are different but they don’t plan to stay long enough to make it necessary to learn the rules or change the way they behave.  They come to God’s dominion more for a vacation than as their permanent residence.  They enter on Sunday mornings, or when there is a family celebration or crisis or when they have time to do charitable work.  They intend to stay only as long as they need to take care of their God business and then they will return to their real home, where they are more comfortable with the rules and expected behavior.  We have a passing knowledge of life in God’s dominion from hearing the Bible stories, reading the words and actions of Jesus, and hearing The stories of people who have lived under God’s reign but our exposure is like a travel log about some place we want to live eventually.  We have to live in the “real” world now so we just dream about living in God’s world some day.  It isn’t really practical for us to live as if God ruled our world.

Each week we sing, “Your Dominion come; Your will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.”  Are we serious about that?  Are we asking God to impose God’s will upon us?  Are we praying for the wisdom and determination to live as God would have us to live?  These are very important questions about how we see the Dominion of God happening on earth.  It seems to me most people who pray these words or words like them are expecting God to do the work while we set back and watch it happen.  They don’t want to take responsibility for the changes they would have to make in their lives to bring about God’s Dominion.  We would have to care for the widows, the orphans, the aliens, the prisoners, the poor, the hungry, and the thirsty.  We would have to treat our neighbors as ourselves.  We would have to speak out for justice for others who have no voice.  We would have to care less about the comforts the secular world tells us are essential and work for a world where everyone has clean water, clean air, sustainable income, and the right to live without fear, the right to live in peace.  Living in God’s Dominion would mean treating others the way we want to be treated and not as a means to our personal gratification or advancement.  We would have to be willing to give up our personal power over others.

My experience convinces me that most of us would find it easier to sacrifice comforts, work for the marginalized, and become champions of good stewardship of the environment than to surrender personal power.  We want to feel powerful, we want to be important.  We have the stories of the disciples who are concerned about how much power they will have in Jesus’ dominion.  They are argue among themselves about who is the most important and worry whether one of them might be getting more recognition than they deserve.  The disciples cannot understand why Jesus does not call on the forces of God to defend him and place him on the throne of the earth.  Jesus answers them by telling them not to fret over who will have what position in the coming dominion and to worry more about whether they will be able to live the life dominion citizenship requires.  We would do well to worry about how much personal power we can wield in the church or in the community and worry more about whether we will have the wisdom and determination necessary to live as citizens of God’s dominion.

The worst abuses of religion have been inflicted upon the world by those who assert that their relationship to God gives them the right to tell others what to believe, how to live, and whether they have a place in God’s dominion.  I can find nothing in the sacred writings, in the actions of God in the world, or in my life that supports that God has designated me, or anyone else to rule anyone else in God’s name.  I do find support for the assertion that God calls each of us to rule over our own lives, to live in accordance with the standards God has set for citizens of the dominion of God.  I don’t know about you, but I have found ruling my own life has taken all the wisdom and strength I have.  Amen.

In a general sense, the word sanctuary means a safe place.  One of the oldest references to sanctuary in the Judeo-Christian sacred righting refers to cities of sanctuary or refuge.  A person who killed another person could be killed by the dead person’s avenger unless the one who was accused of killing the other went to a city of refuge.  In the city of refuge the one accused of killing another could not be put to death until there was a hearing or the one accused of murder left the city of refuge.  In medieval times this idea of sanctuary was expanded to any altar of the church.  Anyone pursued by authorities could not be harmed or imprisoned if they could reach the church and touch the altar.  Eventually the area around the altar was referred to as sanctuary.  In modern times, some churches and communities have adopted the concept of sanctuary and provide safe places for persons who are pursued by immigration authorities to be sent back to their country of citizenship.  These churches and communities believe some people deserve to be protected from their governments due to the government’s policies of oppression.  We have also applied the word sanctuary to other parts of God’s creation.  We have created wildlife sanctuaries and plant sanctuaries where endangered species are provided a safe place to live and reproduce.  While not everyone who believes in creating sanctuaries, has a belief in a divine presence in the world, the root meaning for the sanctuary is the same as for sanctify, or to make sacred.  Sanctuary, at its core, means a safe place due to the presence of the Divine.

Over the course of human history, sanctuary became associated with particular places.  People and animals found sanctuary by reaching a designated place where they would be safe as a result of God’s decree.  The Temple became a place of sanctuary where the faithful would come to seek God’s protection and favour.  The alien, the outlaw, the childless, the marginalized of all sorts came to the temple to seek God’s protection, guidance and favour.  Because the temple was understood to be the access point for God’s care, those who managed the Temple became very powerful.  The temple priests controlled the people by controlling their connection with God and thereby their peace of mind.  Some priests, being humans, would abuse this power and would exploit the people.  The temple became not a safe place but a den of thieves.  Jesus came to change the understanding of sanctuary.  Jesus said the temple would be destroyed as a brick and stone structure and would be replaced with his resurrection.  His death would tear the current in the temple and all would have free access to God and therefore to sanctuary.  We are able to find our sanctuary anywhere, as long as we sense we are in the protective embrace of God.

I had a conversation this week about church growth and what needs to be done to attract young people to the church as they are our future.  I was asked where MCC was having the most success attracting youth.  I responded we are seeing the greatest involvement by people under thirty years old in Eastern Europe, Haiti, The Dominican Republic, South America, and Africa.  The primary reason for this youth involvement is because we are seen as the church who speaks out against hatred toward same gender loving and sexually fluid people.  We are seen as the church that is willing to speak truth to power and particularly to the power of the church.  MCC stands in direct opposition to the political and religious authorities.  It has been true throughout history that the church has been its most powerful and effective in times of persecution.  One of the most effective ways to diminish the impact of the church is not to ban it, but to co-opt the church into sharing power with political authorities.

It is clear to me God never intended for the people of God to find their strength in political, commercial, or social organizations.  God grants the Israelites a monarch only because they want one to be like the nations around them.  God warns them a monarch will demand much from them and they will lose many of the freedoms they enjoy as a people ruled by God.  Governments almost always create classes of people, citizens and non-citizens, aristocrats and servants, leaders and followers, those in power and those out of power.  Some have said one of the worst things to happen to Christianity was when Constantine declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.  People were required to call themselves Christian if they wanted influential posts in the government.  Conquered people were forced to convert to Christianity.  Christian leaders became political leaders and the church functioned like a political organization.  People were forced to support the church, the leaders of the church controlled information and members of the church were forced to obey church orders or sacrifice their freedom and often times their lives.  Instead of bringing God’s word of liberation to the people on the margins of society, the church became one of the persecutors of the marginalized.

This is in direct opposition to the way God has been revealed throughout the Judeo-Christian sacred writings.  God has repeatedly spoken in defence of the marginalized, the aliens, the widows, the orphans, the poor, the ill, and the imprisoned.  In the story today, Ruth is an alien, widow, and poor.  She has come to Israel with her mother-in-law Naomi and they have survived on by gleaning in the fields of Boaz.  Some see this as a story of Boaz’s generosity and it is true he is kind to Ruth, but, by Jewish culture, Boaz owes Naomi and Ruth much more, he is their kinsman redeemer.  It is only when the marginalized Ruth uses her sexuality to prompt Boaz does he do what he was morally obligated to do when Naomi and Ruth returned to Israel.  We are like Boaz when we share with the marginalized out of our abundance and fail to recognize our real obligation to care for our sisters and brothers who cannot provide for themselves.  Real ministry to the marginalized occurs when we recognize their worth to God and our connection to them as children of God.  We are their kinsman redeemers.

The story of the widow’s might is also a story of a marginalized person, a widow with no apparent means of support.  She is recognized by Jesus as the one who has given her all, more than what the others have given.  For people who do not live at the margins, it is very difficult to understand why the widow would drop her last two coins into the temple treasury.  Surely Jesus wasn’t suggesting we should throw all we have into the collection plate.  It wouldn’t make any sense for everyone to just give all of their money to the church, it isn’t practical.  However, the marginalized widow realized she could not place her confidence in the coin of the realm.  Hanging onto those two last coins was not going to make or break her future.  She, like many marginalized people, realized her future was dependent upon the grace and mercy of God and God’s people.  She gave her future to God and did not trust in the symbols of the world.  Those of us who have sufficient resources to meet our basic daily needs find it difficult to surrender our futures to the grace and mercy of God.

There is much for us to learn from the faith and lives of the marginalized.  They very often live much closer to what they believe, they have determined what they can count on, and they have stretched themselves to survive in ways almost beyond our understanding.  To paraphrase Edwin Markham, the powerful drew a circle that shut the marginalized out, lazy, mentally impaired, criminal, heretic, different, a thing to flout, but God had the wit to win, God drew a circle that took the marginalized and the powerful in.”  Amen.

I did a little research on how different countries give allegiance.  I was surprised to find only three countries give their allegiance to their flag, the US being one and the Philippines and South Korea being the others.  Most countries that have an official allegiance call it an oath and not a pledge and quite generally it is to a monarch.  The majority of countries have an oath of allegiance to Queen Victoria and her heirs and successors, these would be commonwealth countries.  Ireland is a notable exception; the Irish swear their oath of allegiance to the constitution of Ireland and offer faithfulness to King George V and his heirs and successors.  So what?  You might well ask.  I hate to let research go to waste and I think it is interesting to look at what nations have chosen to give their allegiance to and why.  The US started out as a British colony and probably had some oath of allegiance to King George III prior to the revolution and sought something to replace it and chose the flag to avoid the appearance of a monarchy.  The Philippines may have chosen a pledge of allegiance to their flag as a result of being very much a colony of the US and following that example.  The Irish, being the independent lot that they are were unwilling to give allegiance to anything not Irish so they compromised and pledged faithfulness to the monarchy but reserved their allegiance for the constitution of Ireland.  There is great value in knowing to what you have given your allegiance and why.

In the story of Ruth and Naomi, Ruth gives here allegiance to Naomi.  I take great pleasure in knowing that for centuries, opposite gender couples have included the pledge made between women in their marriage vows despite the laws and church traditions that would prevent two women from saying these words to each other in a recognized marriage ceremony.  Ruth pledges her allegiance to Naomi and as a result she pledges to be loyal to Naomi’s people and her god.  Nothing in the story tells us whether Ruth and her husband had kept a kosher home in Moab.  It is quite unlikely they did.  Most households kept the religious tradition of the wife in that time and that is why it was prohibited in the Jewish faith for a man to marry a non-Jew.  Both of Naomi’s sons married Moabite woman so one could guess they weren’t strict Jews.  None the less, Ruth has seen something in Naomi that makes her want to be with her and she is willing to adopt Naomi’s people and religion to do so.  I would guess that many, if not all of us, came to our faith in a similar way.  We were led to an understanding of God through the words and actions of someone else.  Today, on All Saints Day, we celebrate the cloud of witnesses that impacted who we are today and who continue to influence us today.  It is good for us to remember and honour them.  It is also important we remember they were guides in our lives and not the destination.

Ruth loved Naomi as a result of what she saw in her while they lived together in Moab.  Ruth lived in Israel and practiced the Jewish faith because she love Naomi but her faith and her identity went beyond that.  Ruth developed her own relationship with God and, in some ways her trust in God exceeded Naomi’s.  Eventually it was Ruth who restored Naomi’s happiness and her joy in God.  It is critical that we go beyond admiring someone else’s faith.  The Jews did this when they began to worship God’s laws rather than living in direct relationship with God.  Jesus came to teach them and us that our allegiance is to God not to the laws that were meant to guide us to God.  In many ways, we have done the same thing in our worship of Jesus.  Jesus never asked for, expected, or even accepted worship of him.  He continuously pointed to people to God, his parent and the one deserving of our worship, our loyalty, our allegiance.  It is always dangerous when we lose sight of the true object of our worship.  It is dangerous when the messenger means more than the message.  We have all known of good religious ministries that went horribly wrong when the people and the leader lost track of their purpose and the object of their worship.  As we remember the saints of the past, it is important that we remember them for what they taught us and not exaggerate their importance beyond that of guide and mentor toward a greater and more perfect understanding of God.  We may make oaths or pledges of allegiance to flag, monarch, or constitution but our spiritual allegiance must always be to the living God as we have come to know and understand God.  Let it be so and amen.