The Power of Bathsheba

Introduction

You may remember a time when the mayor of Toronto was famous - his fifteen minutes mostly spent smoking crack. It is weird, is it not, the way our world is devolving. The wider the gap between rich and poor the more the rich can get away with.

A marijuana story puts this in perspective from the non powerful side, and may be relevant in our newly legalized society... why legalize pot? Some cynics see it as a way for the government to make money - and it is.

But consider this. 99% of all people arrested and imprisoned for marijuana use in Canada and the United States are first and foremost poor - and at least in the states, black.

Smoking marijuana is something you arrest people for when they are undesirable and you have no other reason to arrest them. Thus legalizing it is actually a social justice issue. Poor people are getting in trouble constantly for something the middle class and rich people are not worrying about.

Donald Trump proves my point from the other side. Be rich and put in a position of power and .... well... is there anything Trump cannot do? It seems every day there is some moral or criminal line crossed.

The Ford brothers are even doing well for themselves...

Not only does power corrupt - but it creates impunity...

It is only when the outrage over the impunity begins to grow that anything actually happens. Look at the Catholic Church right now ... so many priests are in trouble for assaulting so many victims - but what really makes people angry is that they got away with it... that is was covered up... that the church believed they were above the moral and actual laws that protect the victims.

So let’s talk about God’s preferential option for the poor. This is what we too often forget, or pave over, in church. God stands on the side of the victim, of the little person, of the slaves, of the outcast, of the widow and orphan.

The heroes of God’s stories are not the rich and powerful but the carpenters and shepherds.

So which side are we on?

Going Deeper

Why did you do that?

That is a pretty innocent way of saying what I first thought this passage was about when I read it. Why did you do that? What the...

Let’s talk about David for a minute. Small town boy made good – defeated the champion of the enemy army, a giant no less when he was young – goes on to be king... and a really good one, way better than Samuel.

So David the king is hanging out at the palace one day while his army is off fighting a war. See, the opening sentence of this story should already make us say, what? Kings go and fight wars – they do not hide back in the castle. What is going on...

Then there is this woman who is doing absolutely the right thing – taking a bath in her own house – washing after her “time of the month” as her religion says she must – with every confidence that she is alone and innocent. When who should decide to spy on her but the King, who should be off at war anyway... and what does he do then – sends armed guards to get her, bring her to the palace, and rapes her...

What in the name of God was he thinking would be the end of all of this?

You know the other thing I cannot help but think of... Donald Trump. I do not want to, I know I should not care, but really... does this story not sound just a little bit like it is about him?

Then David conspires to have Bathsheba's husband killed and eventually makes her his concubine, she then presumably gives birth to David’s child. This is not the way things are supposed to go.

Bathsheba is a victim. She is innocent. There is no good, no reason, no blame for what happens to her that goes on her shoulders. Right then and there David has lost everything. In that moment he loses his credibility, his reliability, and his morals.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely...

So why is this story here? What about this tale makes it worthy of remembering thousands of years late, much less being part of something that we think of as a holy and sacred guidebook for our faith?

I think the answer to that is simple – and it is the prophet Nathan.

Nathan and David grew up together in the palace after David killed Goliath. They were best friends. One became the king and one became the prophet.

Despite friendship, despite being part of the royal court  - Nathan goes to David and says, you screwed up. This is not right. God is angry...

If you keep reading chapter 12 you will see that Nathan tells David God is so angry that something horrible is going to happen – and even after David please, repents, prays, fasts, says he will never do it again – Bathsheba's child dies seven days later.

You cannot do the wrong thing without repercussions. That is a very real moral of this story. Of course, it is awful all the way around – everything about this story is the subject matter we try to hide from our kids – rape, unwanted pregnancy, murder, violence, revenge and miscarriage... It is a horrible story from start to finish.

But remember the two things it says in no uncertain way – Bathsheba was blameless – David was wrong.

Faith speaks truth to power. Faith sides with the innocent. Faith stands up to the abuser. Faith is willing to call out sin  - no matter where, or when, or why it happens.

Conclusion 

In most Bible stories you can imagine yourself being one or another of the characters – sometimes we are like the poor man and sometimes the rich, sometimes like the vineyard worker and sometimes like the vineyard owner...
                                     
Not this one.

In this story there is only one person we are meant to be. Only one position we can take. We are Nathan. We are the ones who stand up and say – this is wrong! That is the only faithful response.

It is hard, this standing with the victim, this preferential option for the poor... When the church does it we do not make any friends. It was the Methodist church in the 1800’s that started the whole anti-slavery movement. It was the United Church in Canada that started advocating for equality of LGBTQ peoples. It was the United Church who first said we were sorry for the way we treated the aboriginal people of Canada...

We have always been the ones who are supposed to take the hard road of saying, that is not right, and doing something about it. I think the story of Bathsheba is a cautionary tale – that even the chosen of God can become someone who needs stopping. We just need to find our voice.

Salvation Through Work

Beginning the Story

 The long walk to freedom, to paraphrase Nelson Mandela, is frequently difficult and almost always confusing.

I don't know about the rest of you – but my life journey sure has had a few twists and turns. If you listen to the experts who talk about life stories – they all do. We find ourselves facing challenges, changing directions, starting over, choosing friends for the journey, killing them, hiding the bodies and choosing new friends…. There is, to say it a different way, nothing more constant than change.

So here we are, trekking through life, and the thing is – sometimes we get stuck. Who knows, we find ourselves stuck in a job, our house burns down, a bad relationship, we goi bankrupt – somehow we find ourselves not knowing which way to go – not capable of finding a way forward.

What then?

Sometimes we are lucky enough that the answer comes to us and we just set out in a new direction..

But that is certainly not usually the case. Most of the time we need something to happen, someone to come along, or some sort of kick in the proverbial can to push us out of the rut.

When I was in school this was often a daily occurrence. A teacher would have to tell me to stop daydreaming and do my work – or I would be stuck on a math problem and they would have to show me a different way to think about it. That is basically a teacher’s job – to show people a different way to move forward, a new way to think about things, and create a path forward

I have been lucky enough to have friends, teachers, colleagues, even enemies that have pushed me forward all the time. And in doing that I have always had those “aha”moments when I could say – oh… I see…. This is what I need to do!

I think that might be the easy part. I think most of us have someone or something show up when we stop dead. Life just has a way of moving around us and carrying forward.

Another bit of wisdom I heard once is that you can never put your foot into the same stream twice. So we may get stuck – but when we look up, the change we need will be there for us….
But there are always complications – right? That is life.

A Reading: Exodus 14:5-7, 10-14, 21-29

Then the Lord said to Moses: Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall camp opposite it, by the sea. Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, “They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has closed in on them.” I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, so that I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army; and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.  And they did so.
When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the minds of Pharaoh and his officials were changed toward the people, and they said, “What have we done, letting Israel leave our service?” So he had his chariot made ready, and took his army with him; he took six hundred picked chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt and he pursued the Israelites, who were going out boldly. The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, his chariot drivers and his army; they overtook them camped by the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lordwill fight for you, and you have only to keep still.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground. Then I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and so I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his chariot drivers. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained glory for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his chariot drivers.”

The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. At the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.

Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Seeing it Through Story

Mazes

The Story Unfolds

The psychologist Jung had a term for the ideas that matter most to us. He called them archetypes. Good and Evil, for example, are archetypes... we all understand what they mean instinctually. And they show up in every story from All in the Family to Little Red Riding Hood...

The way we understand the world is through story - and the way we understand story is by repetition of things we already know.

There is always a hero - there is always a villain - someone always has to go on a quest and someone usually falls in love. There are more - but I am hoping you see what I am saying... there are patterns and there are archetypes...

And the Bible is no different. It is a story that is told in the same way over and over so that the moral sinks in.

Well - not quite. The heroes and events have different names, they take place in different locals and involved different villains. But the idea is that we will get it one of these times...

This is the reason I chose to do the Narrative Lectionary this year - I want us to get a picture of the Bible as a whole - and see why it is what it is.

And September was Prehistory. The beginning. And the archetypes.

You might remember we have talked about Noah Jacob, and Abraham, and now we are on to Moses.

Anyone know what all of these characters have in common? No seriously, tell me some ideas of the point that Genesis makes over and over...

How about this... God gives us something, we do not entirely trust God, we are given a quest to test our faith, we do the right thing, life gets better.

That is the story of Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Jacob and Moses.

Each of them faces a different challenge, rebels in their own way, and accomplishes their quest in their own way.... but it really is the same story again and again and again.

You realize what that means right? It means it is a pretty darn important story!

So why is this the story that needs to be told in so many different words? The answer comes in today’s passage when we finally get to see how it works out in a crowd. In case you did not see yourself in ANY of the characters so far - YOU are the Israelites...

God says, follow this guy I sent to help you and I will lead you out of captivity to freedom and new life. The going gets rough and we realize that the journey is gonna be long and hard and we decide not to trust God. We were better off back there, weren’t we? What was so bad about Egypt that we need to spend our whole lives wandering around in a desert? Is God really involved in any of this?

That is right. The people of Israel, in the middle of being saved, stop dead and complain that they would rather go back.

Does that sound familiar to anyone?

Well - it should. It is the human condition. But these stories are also very clear about what happens if we have a little faith and keep going.

Ideas to Take With Us

I want you to see that these stories are all making the same point because it is an archetypal point, it is a foundational point, it is the point that underlies every other point and has to come first.

We need to follow where God is leading to get to a better place and we are not going to like the journey.

Translate that in any way you want - we need to love our neighbour in order to find out what true love is, but it is not going to be easy.

We need to open our hearts if we expect to have someone love us but it is going to hurt a lot.

We need to leave the past behind to find out who we truly are but the journey is going to be difficult.

To untangle what this whole faith thing is all about - we really need to start here.... none of us want to leave our comfortable nest. All of us have to. We will find something better.

Of course, I do not envy Moses. At least there was some food in Egypt. Water. Sure, there was the whole slavery thing, but you try and convince a hundred people that it is for their own good to leave home with nothing but the shirt on their back.

You would really have to have faith to do that....

Epiphany 2 - A

That Voice… I Keep Hearing that Voice

Introduction

Do any of you have trouble doing nothing? I know lots of people do. When they have time off they spend it doing chores. When they go on vacation they spend it frantically sight seeing or visiting long lost relatives. I know others who simply cannot stop talking. If you let a moments silence enter into the room they begin to fill it.

Part of that is reflex. We are a people who work hard at life, at surviving... part of it is old fashioned religious folk tales which we have somehow adopted, like “Idle hands are the devil’s playthings.”

But part of it, I am sure, is fear.

I don’t know what each person is afraid of – but we all have trouble just sitting and thinking. We all have trouble with silence. And there must be some deep seated reason for that. Perhaps we are afraid that we do not have any deep thoughts so we better not test the theory. Perhaps we are afraid other people will think we are lazy. Each of us might be different. And each of us might be better or worse at this... but we all suffer from it, at least a bit.

But here is the thing. If you are the one talking all the time, you are never listening. If you are the one doing all the time you are never being done for. Which means you are not learning, and you are not letting yourself be loved.

It is also true that if we are always active, if we are always moving, if we are always talking, then there is no room for God.

The Divine, the Spirit, God... that is what you find in moments of candlelit silence... that is what you find when you stand still at the edge of the ocean.... that is what you find lying on the grass at night watching the stars and fireflies... that is what you find when you listen to other people saying things you never imagined...

It begs the question... what are we filling our life with?

Isaiah 49:1-7

The Servant’s Mission

Listen to me, O coastlands,

pay attention, you peoples from far away!

The Lord called me before I was born,

while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.

He made my mouth like a sharp sword,

in the shadow of his hand he hid me;

he made me a polished arrow,

in his quiver he hid me away.

And he said to me, “You are my servant,

Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

But I said, “I have labored in vain,

I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;

yet surely my cause is with the Lord,

and my reward with my God.”

And now the Lord says,

who formed me in the womb to be his servant,

to bring Jacob back to him,

and that Israel might be gathered to him,

for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,

and my God has become my strength—

he says,

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob

and to restore the survivors of Israel;

I will give you as a light to the nations,

that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Thus says the Lord,

the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,

to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,

the slave of rulers,

“Kings shall see and stand up,

princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,

because of the Lord, who is faithful,

the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

Time for the Young at Heart:

A teacher walks into a classroom and sets a glass jar on the table. He silently places 2-inch rocks in the jar until no more can fit. He asks the class if the jar is full and they agree it is. He says, “Really,” and pulls out a pile of small pebbles, adding them to the jar, shaking it slightly until they fill the spaces between the rocks. He asks again, “Is the jar full?” They agree. So next, he adds a scoop of sand to the jar, filling the space between the pebbles and asks the question again. This time, the class is divided, some feeling that the jar is obviously full, but others are wary of another trick. So he grabs a pitcher of water and fills the jar to the brim, saying, “If this jar is your life, what does this experiment show you?” A bold student replies, “No matter how busy you think you are, you can always take on more.” “That is one view,” he replies. Then he looks out at the class making eye contact with everyone, “The rocks represent the BIG things in your life – what you will value at the end of your life – your family, your partner, your health, fulfilling your hopes and dreams. The pebbles are the other things in your life that give it meaning, like your job, your house, your hobbies, your friendships. The sand and water represent the ‘small stuff’ that fills our time, like watching TV or running errands.” Looking out at the class again, he asks, “Can you see what would happen if I started with the sand or the pebbles?”

Reading

John 1:29-42

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

Wrestling with the Texts:

Let me say my opening remarks a different way.... if we are the ones who are always talking and doing ... we are probably going to miss a lot.

Let me tell you a story... this man was going to a party where he would be meeting his wife’s coworkers from her new job for the first time. He felt anxious as the time for the party grew near, and wondered whether they would like him or not. He rehearsed various scenarios in his mind in which he tried in different ways to impress them. He grew more and more tense.

But on the way to the party, the man came up with a radically different approach, one which caused all of his anxiety to melt completely away.

He decided that, instead of trying to impress anyone, he would spend the evening simply listening to them and summarizing what they had just said. At the party, he spent the evening listening carefully to everyone, responding with phrases like, “I understand what you’re saying, you feel strongly that. . .” and “Let me see if I understand what you mean. . .” He also avoided voicing his own opinions, even though at times it meant biting his tongue to keep from doing so.

To his amazement, he discovered that no one noticed or remarked on the fact that he was just listening. Each person he talked to during the evening seemed content to be listened to without interruption. On the way home, his wife (whom he had not told about the experiment) told him that a number of people had made a point of telling her what a remarkable person he was. The word “charismatic” was used by one person to describe him, while another said he was one of the most “articulate” people she had ever met.

Interesting, no? When we take the time to listen not only do we become better people, but those around us start to think better of us. We have become open to other people and we begin to understand them.

So let me put this in the context of our Bible readings for today... there were in and around Galilee and Jerusalem a group of unhappy people who were looking for wisdom. They were followers looking for a leader. And they spent a lot of effort looking for a leader. They were used to following after people... asking them tough questions.... getting them to jump through hoops. Because they knew exactly what they were looking for.

So imagine their surprise when they are just hanging around, sitting with their master John, and Jesus just walks by. He seems a rather un impressive and un remarkable man. He seems like no one... just a local carpenter... and then John the Baptist says, look.... there goes someone really important.

Most of them ignore this. Most of them are so sure of what they are looking for they do not take the time. They are so full of wisdom and talking that they cannot imagine just sitting there listening.

But not Andrew. He decides to just go and see. To follow. To listen. Then he goes and finds Simon his brother and says, you better come... and they actually just spend the day with Jesus. They just relax and listen. And in the end, to their surprise. They have found their Messiah.

Conclusion of Theme:

There is a band that I really like called the Fray. I guess I really liked them because their songs were "interesting" in terms of the way they saw the world.

One of their first hits was a song called You Found Me... which was about God. And it presented God in a very non traditional way... Here are the opening verses:

I found God

On the corner of first and Amistad

Where the West was all but won

All alone, smoking his last cigarette

I Said where you been, he said ask anything

Where were you?

When everything was falling apart

All my days were spent by the telephone

It never rang

And all I needed was a call

That never came

To the corner of first and Amistad

Lost and insecure

You found me, you found me

Lying on the floor

Surrounded, surrounded

Why’d you have to wait?

Where were you? Where were you?

Just a little late

You found me, you found me...

I didn't say it was a happy image. But it was a surprising image about finding God hanging out alone on a street corner smoking his last cigarette.

This is not the first of last time someone wrote a song with God unexpectedly showing up. Back in 1995 Joan Osburne had a popular hit with What if God was One of Us... and the chorus went like this:

What if God was one of us

Just a slob like one of us

Just a stranger on the bus

Trying to make His way home?

The power of these images is that they break through our traditional conceptions about God and faith, and what it is all about... which is something we desperately need.

That is part of what Jesus came to do, right, to change people's conception about what religion means, what faith looks like, how to live in God's way.

And perhaps we find ourselves there again. So completely sure we have it right that we are not looking, we are not listening, and we are not expecting. ... what if we started looking for something new? What do you think we might find?

New Years

Ringing In

The Seasons of our Lives

Ecclesiastes 3:1–1

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to throw away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.

So...

Ali and I did an interesting exercise the other day - getting Facebook to compile the words we used the most throughout 2016. Luckily, they were all positive, hopeful words... with a few travel locales thrown in.

During the year, for the most part, we have tried to be positive and it seems we have succeeded, at least in social media.

But really, in more than that, we have worked hard to learn, to grow to start new jobs, to help our kids with their growing up, we even got married....

Of course, a lot of bad things happened as well. There were fights, there were cooking disasters, bad decisions, and a lot of stress.

Does that mean that the year was a right off?

I have seen so many people say that 2016 was a terrible year. So many beloved celebrities and musicians died. Some people were upset that Bob Dylan won the Nobel prize. More people were upset with the election of Trump south of the border.

But is it the worst year? Is it even close? No... it is just a year.

The deeper message in Ecclesiastes is not that good and bad things happen, it is that good and bad things ALWAYS happen. That is not exceptional, that is life. Nothing is black and white. You cannot have good without bad, pleasure without pain, sunrise without sunset.

Not only that, but each thing happens in its own time. In its own way. With its own season. To try and deny that it is happening, to try and force only happiness, to try and focus only on pain. This denies the reality, complexity and beauty of life.

This is a lesson I constantly need to remind myself of, a way of thinking that I find hard to do. That it is ok if things go wrong, it is ok if things go right. And both will happen.

All Things New

Revelation 21:1–6a

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

“See, the home of God is among mortals.

He will dwell with them;

they will be his peoples,

and God himself will be with them;

he will wipe every tear from their eyes.

Death will be no more;

mourning and crying and pain will be no more,

for the first things have passed away.”

And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.

A New Thing...

That is the promise of this passage. That is the hope Revelations promises. God will do a new thing.

We are used to hearing this passage at funerals - but really, the guy who wrote it had never even been to one of our funerals. He was a political prisoner. Rome seemed to be winning. The Christian Faith was in real danger of being wiped out. Jesus idealism was giving away to pessimism .... and so he wrote saying not everything was as it seems. That God really was here. That things really could change. That tomorrow would make all things new.

Now, this passage was not meant to superimpose Ecclesiastes. The author knew his scripture, he knew there was a season for everything. The problem, in his opinion, was that too many people, were forgetting the good things. Too many people were focused on the bad.

If I had a nickel for every time someone has said they will be glad 2016 is over... well, I am sure you have heard it too... and I am pretty sure you probably heard someone say it about 2015... 2014... 2013...

And each time, those people are looking backwards negatively, they are focusing on the death and destruction, and thinking that life would be better without it.

But again, to go back to wisdom that is only four thousand years old.... life would not be life unless it was full. Unless life included the good and bad and the seasons which bring richness and depth to our existence.

So I take these two passages as speaking about the same thing, both of them are about life and the way it is meant to be lived. Both of them speak of the negatives we encounter and say that they are a part of what is meant to be. And both of them suggest that we accept the way things are without falling prey to the negativity that would mean we have lost hope.

Life is meant to be lived, and we are meant to find God in each and every thing that happens, in each and every person we encounter.

Conclusion

"For Auld Lang Syne" means "for the sake of old times"

That's a rough translation. More literally, Auld Lang Syne means "old long since" or "long long time".

It is a song that is meant to evoke the sense that we should be looking back on old friends, on old times, fondly and allowing those memories, as bittersweet as they may be, to be present in our hearts as the year changes from one to the next.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And auld lang syne!

For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne.

We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,

For auld lang syne.

And surely ye'll be your pint stowp!

And surely I'll be mine!

And we'll tak a cup o'kindness yet,

For auld lang syne.

We twa hae run about the braes,

And pou'd the gowans fine;

But we've wander'd mony a weary fit,

Sin' auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl'd in the burn,

Frae morning sun till dine;

But seas between us braid hae roar'd

Sin' auld lang syne.

And there's a hand, my trusty fere!

And gie's a hand o' thine!

And we'll tak a right gude-willie waught,

For auld lang syne.

So, for everything there is a season. We once played in the fields and paddled in the river. But now we have loved and lost and still, it is ok, the days of old help us appreciate the new things that God is doing. This is what we celebrate today.

So this is my hope, that when 2017 comes to a close we will look back at all the good and bad that happens next year and not wish it away so easily, but realize that it is part of the bittersweet beauty of the life we live.

Advent 4 - A

A SIGN

Introduction

I cannot tell you how many times in my life I have looked for a sign. Some little signal from God to let me know that everything was going to be all right... I have prayed, I have hoped, I have bargained... I have even decided that the sign was there....

Sometimes I make it a 50/50 split with God. “Ok, God, if I drive around the corner and there is a tree still with leaves on it, I am going to take that as a sign that you want me to do this...”

Part of me knows full well that I am talking to myself – that a sign from God would not be leaves left on a tree randomly by the side of the road just when I wanted there to be leaves. I am talking to myself and justifying my decision.

But O for a sign. Some divine answer written across the sky in giant gold letters saying – THIS IS WHAT GOD WANTS YOU TO DO! - I think there are times we all wish the answer was a little clearer, a little more obvious, a little more black and white.

Times when we knew what was the right thing to do.

We have been preparing for Christmas throughout the weeks of Advent by talking about ancient prophesies and bits of wisdom that people were hoping for with the Messiah. We even got nine months out and talked about what Mary was hoping this birth would be.

Well – lets move a little closer now to the due date. Lets advance to the point where Mary is showing, obviously, that she is pregnant – and let’s take a moment to consider this all from a different angle – that of the fiance. I am pretty sure Joseph was looking for a sign. He wanted God to tell him what to do...

Because let’s face it. This was a tough situation. He had not slept with Mary, she was claiming no one ever did, the family and crowds were talking, Mary’s life was on the line, maybe his too... at the very least their reputation was on the line...

The easiest thing and best thing for him would be to cast her out, let her take her own chances, forget about this and move on. After all, it was probably an arranged marriage, it was not really about love yet. He probably hardly knew this girl.

What is the right thing to do for his family? For his reputation? For his carpentry business? Or for that matter, how did he feel about all this?
This is part of the Christmas story too...

With the Kids

- cards and feelings – getting in touch with who we are and what we feel about the season...

Wrestling with the Texts

Have you ever seen a family coping with some stressful situation that seems beyond your own ability? Like a child getting cancer, or a child being born blind, or the death of a ten year old in a tragic car crash...

Almost every time I meet these people my first response is always to say, wow... they are coping with things with such grace, they are being so strong, look at how much love that family has for each other even when things are tough...

I see it every day in other relationships as well. Students looking out for each other, adults struggling with their aging parents, sickness and death taking one spouse... and for the most part what I see is that we are way stronger than we think.

Still....

The other side is true as well. Perhaps, sadly, even more true. We see marriages end, we see kids estranged from parents, we see abused runaways on the street. We see mental illness lead to drug addiction and prison. Just as often as I see people being strong, I see people being broken.

And I know there is a there but for the grace of God moment in all of this.
I have been broken. I have given up. I know what it feels like.

...

Ok, so I want you to see this as very human, I want you to understand that we are made of strong stuff but that any one of us could find ourselves broken by the weight of the world.
Now, look again at Joseph. He is not rich, he does not live in a city where there are hundreds of prospects, he does not come from a high society family, and yet, miracle of miracles, he gets engaged, to a young, seemingly happy and bright women. Her parents have the dowry, it is perfect.

Then she becomes pregnant.

Pregnant because she sleeps around? Pregnant because a Roman soldier raped her? There really is no good possibility here. Think about how a rape victim is treated today. Think about what society thinks of High School students who get pregnant. Think about the rumours when a wife gets pregnant after a man has a vasectomy.

Imagine how bad it was 2000 years ago? There were no women's rights, there were no divorce laws. This was a society where if a man says out loud three times that he is divorced, then he is. A woman is property. A woman exists to serve the man and bear him offspring. Which, by the way, in the thinking of the day do not even contain DNA of the woman – just little versions of the man growing up to carry on the name.

By law Mary must be put to death. By custom Joseph needed to move on and forget about this marriage. By the thoughts going on in the average persons head he needs to get angry and leave her. Why should he raise another mans son? Why should he be with an immoral and untrustworthy woman. Who, by the way, is probably a lair or insane ... saying she has never had sex...

But... we are told... and angel appears to Joseph. He has a vision. This child is going to grow up to change the world.

One night, one vision, one moment in time.... and Joseph marries his young bride and raises this child from another father as his son.

What we often gloss over in these stories is that so many amazing things had to happen for this to work out, including picking just the right step father for Jesus. A man who would believe the ramblings of a crazy young girl and show love and compassion despite all wisdom and tradition telling him not to. A man who would listen to the voice of the angel in his vision and see the possibility that perhaps Mary was telling the truth.

Conclusion

An angel talking to you at night is a pretty convincing sign from God. You could take the story to be telling us that. But I actually do not think that is true.

Scrooge saw a ghost talking to him and managed to convince himself, for a minute or two, that it was only some bad food he ate the night before playing havoc with his thinking.

And we have all done that. Dismissed the sign as being a coincidence. Dismissed the vision as being a dream. Seen someone smile at us and thought to ourselves they really cannot be smiling at us. Had someone tell us they thought we could do it, and known in our heart that we could not.

Joseph could have woken up and forgot about the night before. He could have dismissed it as a dream of wishful thinking. He could have said that God is not real anyway or else why would I be in this situation. He could have done a million things to convince himself to put her away quietly, he even could have put her to death himself. It was within the law.

But he didn’t.

What Joseph did was look in his heart and realize that this person needed the love of God more than anyone in that moment, and he had it within himself to give it.

There are signs around us all day. God is speaking to you right now. And most of us have the ability to hear, if we just accept that life is never black and white and we move into the mystery of Christmas. God did the unexpected and it changed the world. Joseph did the unexpected and it changed the world.


So go out and do the unexpected. It just might change the world.