Let me to take you on a little journey to a Big, Busy, Shopping Mall. Let me introduce to you someone.
He caused quite a commotion among the shoppers at the mall. Many dismissed him as annoying nut. He was dressed in a tattered flannel shirt and jeans. No one knew where he spent the night, but he was seen rummaging around the dumpsters for scraps of food from Orange Julius and McDonald’s. Every day he could be found by the beautifully lighted fountain near the mall’s food court. Despite his ragged appearance and that slightly “off” look in his eyes, there was a kindness and sincerity about him that drew people to him.
He would ask them why they would spend so much money for Christmas, why they would allow themselves to become so obsessed and stressed out over this tinseled holiday. “We like our Christmas with a lot of sugar, don’t we?” he would tease. But Christmas is about hope and love, he said – and that can be a struggle. Give gifts of kindness and compassion to each other. Seek forgiveness from family and friends who may be lost to you. Let the spirit of the Christ Child embrace every season of the year, not just December.
Those who listened would nod in agreement as he spoke – even as they tightened their grips on their shopping bags. Some were moved to quit shopping and go home to be with their families, others would go off and buy an extra toy or piece of clothing for charity; a few would even be moved to escape to a church or chapel for quiet prayer.
Sometimes he would rail against the insipid music and the gaudy decorations. When the mall Santa would walk by, he would make fun of him, asking the embarrassed Santa pointed questions about the real Christmas story.
Soon, though, the storeowners had had enough of his distractions. The mall managers had security escort him from the premises.
He wasn’t really hurting anyone, they realized.
But he had to go, they said.
He was ruining everyone’s Christmas.
“He Had to Go”. John the Baptists. They come in all ages, sizes, shapes, colors, sexes and backgrounds. What do they do? They tease, they challenge, they poke us, and they point us to Jesus. To Jesus’ way of life.
Pray with me today, Advent 2011, that we will not be blind to the John the Baptists that come into our daily lives. Believe me – they will come. Watch, Listen, and Believe.
Archive for the ‘2nd Sunday’ Category
Watch, Listen and Believe 12-6-2011
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011A Disciple: A Loved Sinner 1-16-2011
Sunday, January 16th, 2011The character of John the Baptist is someone we usually meet around Christmas but over the last two weeks he has played a major role in launching Jesus on his three-year mission. Some scholars say John the Baptist’s role was to point people to Jesus… “Look! There’s the Lamb of God…Look! God is in our midst.” Pointing people to Jesus and then getting out of the way and letting Jesus work in people’s lives.
I believe that this Sunday reminds us that as baptized Christians it is our role to point people to Jesus and to get out of the way like John the Baptist. We may do this in very different ways than John the Baptist, but we need to do it each in our own way.
I firmly believe that the biggest obstacle to this actually happening is when we get overwhelmed by our sins, our faults, our weaknesses, and our brokenness. And then we start saying, “Go away! Not me! I can’t do this! I’m just too imperfect.”
Sometimes as a priest I get a strong dose of this. My shabby humanness seen by many people and those parts of my life that I find very embarrassing and shameful hit me right in the face. And boy, do they hurt!
I think if we consider where we fit in as disciples of Jesus in 2011 there is one very important thing to remember. Jesus has the ability to look past all of our rough edges, our weaknesses, and our sins. He sees our hearts, our potential, our possibilities and the great news is He is willing to work through our weaknesses and humanness, our brokenness, our shameful parts if we are open and willing to try.
I would like you to keep this seasonal analogy before you as you reflect on being a disciple. A disciple is translated by some as a “loved sinner.” (Ron takes a football out of a bag)
God has given us the ball to run with. God knows that occasionally we will fumble, call a bad play, and throw an interception. But God has promised to help us recover. If God wanted things taken care of on this earth perfectly, some super colossal computer or robot would have been created. But God wants us to take care of God’s business. To be a living, breathing presence of Christ today. Married, single, priest, nun, brother, woman, man, teenager, kid, senior citizen, young adult… no one gets off the hook.
I close. I would imagine that if God were to give us a half-time speech, we, the team, would hear something like this:
We are in this together. Go for it! Do the best you can with what you’ve got! Don’t give up trying because you think you don’t make the grade. Don’t quit because of your mistakes. Put your heart in whatever you do. I am with you always! I will work with what you give me!
“Look! There is the Lamb of God! Look! God is in our midst. Keep pointing!!
The Nature Of True Giving 12-5-2010
Sunday, December 5th, 2010Our Christmas shopping is well underway; we spend more time than we should searching for that perfect gift, never quite sure if the gifts we buy are things that the recipient will use or even want.
In the midst of her Christmas shopping for her children one year, Marian Wright Edelman realized that the best presents she received as a child were not wrapped in pretty boxes nor found under the tree on Christmas morning.
From her father, she remembers, she was given her love of reading. Buying books to improve the minds of his five children was an indisputably higher priority than buying a toy or nonessential clothing.
From her mother, she was given her concern for children without homes and parents unable to care for them. Ms Edelman, founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund, still feels ashamed when she remembers her resentment and jealousy when her mother asked her to share her room with a homeless child her mother had taken in—one of nearly a dozen foster brothers and sisters raised by her mother.
From a neighbor, “Miz Tee” who lived down the street, young Marian was given the gift of courage not to be afraid of anything when something important or good or just needed to be done.
And from her high school teacher she was given an appreciation of her black heritage. Ms Edelman will forever remember the day her teacher arranged for the great poet Langston Hughes to come to her school to meet with her students and read from his poetry.
Ms Edelman writes in autobiography, From Lanterns: A Memoir of Mentors:
“Like many of us, I no longer have or even remember most of the presents I found under the tree as a child. But I carry with me and treasure the lessons in living I was given throughout my childhood by my parents and by concerned and loving community elders. May these memories give me the strength to stop shopping, and instead give a child a true gift—time spent with a caring adult, time spent sharing some of the great lives and spirits of mentors who have enriched, informed and helped shape my life.”
Advent challenges our whole attitude and approach to, among other things, our holiday shopping and gift giving. The hope expressed by the prophet Isaiah, the pleadings of John the Baptizer, and the words of Jesus, God’s own Word-made-flesh, all call us to realize the preciousness of this time we are given: that our lives are but a momentary prelude to eternity, that the things of God cannot be charged to our credit cards and conveniently contained in beautifully-decorated boxes. The true gifts of Christmas, that Christ gives us and enables us to give others, transform the hearts and lives of those we love: gifts of teaching, of listening and supporting, of sharing our time and experience, of compassion and reconciliation, of forgiveness and affirmation.
