Walking Together and Building Bridges

The Western Wall, Temple Mount and Dome of the Rock - Jerusalem

Recently, I had the opportunity to travel throughout Israel and Palestine with a really good friend.  It was my first time there, and it was overwhelming. This trip had been a dream of mine for an incredibly long time. In fact, my father, grandfather and I had dreamt for years that we would take this journey together. They are two giants in my life. They are my mentors, my teachers, and people who continually called me into deeper water. They both entered the real presence of God several years ago.  Therefore, I went on this trip carrying them with me in my heart and my mind. Their teachings and example have played a huge role in bringing me to this moment in my life. Their presence and memory impacted the way in which I experienced much of what we call the Holy Land.

Many of the experiences in Israel and Palestine were transformative.  However, one moment in particular continues to haunt me three weeks after my return.

One late afternoon, as my friend Tave, an additional traveling companion, and I departed the Western Wall and Temple Mount, we witnessed something that could only happen in Jerusalem, and it stopped us in our tracks. 

Jewish families were heading toward the wall to pray in one of their most sacred locations as the setting sun marked the beginning of their Sabbath.

Simultaneously, the Call to Prayer was sounding all across the third most holy Muslim city in the world beckoning all Muslims to prepare for their evening prayers.

Above our heads hung twinkling Christmas lights reminding the Orthodox Christian pilgrims, who had begun to fill the streets, that Friday, January 6 was the eve of the birth of the Christ Child.

All the while, the marketplace continued to buzz with foot traffic and shop owners pleading the people to come into their stores for one last purchase to close the day. 

There was something absolutely beautiful about this scene.

The people of the three dominant Abrahamic faiths have converged there.

The people of the book, the people of these three faiths, call this city of Jerusalem, this "city of peace", holy.

The people of these three historic and often misinterpreted faiths live life there in the midst of one another.

Yet somehow,

tragically,

the beauty of this moment has gotten lost in a political and inter-religious maelstrom that leaves nothing but destruction, uncertainty, and misunderstanding in its wake. 

There must be a way through this labyrinthian via dolorosa, this tangled way of sorrow.

It will not be easy or convenient.

The way may be complicated and confusing.

But the walk will indeed be worth it, and it is happening every day in Jerusalem among the everyday people of faith.

Dome of the Rock, the Temple Mount - Jerusalem

Let us walk this way together building bridges of hope and reconciliation.

As Christians, we are commissioned to do so...

For we are what (God) has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. So then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth, called "the uncircumcision" by those who are called "the circumcision"—a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands—remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. (Ephesians 2:10-14)

For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:14-21)

Shalom, salaam, peace be with you...

The Scandal of Christmas

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la, la-la.

‘Tis the season…

for lights,

for trimmings,

for boxes,

and bows,

for presents wrapped under the tree,

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la, la-la.

‘Tis the season…

for parties,

for eggnog,

for fudge,

and pumpkin pie,

for family we see only once a year.

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la, la-la

‘Tis the season…

for hustling,

for bustling,

for to-do lists,

and wish lists,

for calendars packed with special events.

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la, la-la

‘Tis the season…

for shopping,

for sales,

for commercials,

and traffic jams

for stores overcrowded with holiday cheer?

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la, la-la

‘Tis the season.

Yes, we may laugh. But often, we arrive at this night overwhelmed, fatigued and perhaps even frazzled wondering where the season has gone.  Many of us love this time of year, but somehow, somewhere along the way it can become little more than a nuisance and a hassle to our everyday lives.  If pressed, others of us would admit that we do not like or maybe even dread when the calendar approaches mid-November.

When the season is finally over, we find ourselves wondering what happened? Where exactly did the joy of the season go?

Where was the mystery?

That for which we had been preparing and building toward for months is now passed, and we are left living our ordinary lives once again.

It is so easy; it is so easy to become distracted by the lights, the trimmings, the boxes, the bows, the preparation…

It is so easy to become distracted by the story itself… the angels, the shepherds, the kings, the manger, the virgin with child…

It is so easy to become distracted by the burdensome unrealistic expectations of the season or the familiarity of the story, that we run the risk of losing sight of the scandalous news of Christmas. 

What is this scandalous news? The scandal is the prophecy that led a king in the 8^th century BC to make an unholy alliance in order to avoid its message.  We heard this news, this prophecy, tonight in the words of the prophet Isaiah when he spoke to Ahaz the king of Judah, the southern kingdom, which stood on the brink of annihilation and captivity.  The prophet told him of a coming sign. He spoke of a child who would be born and was to be named Immanuel – which meant “God with us”.  This child was to be a reminder of God’s promise and covenant with God’s people.

The scandal is that which caused a nervous first century leader, named Herod, to commit heinous crimes in a vain attempt to eradicate the truth of God’s real presence in the flesh.  We heard it a second time tonight when Isaiah’s message was repeated some 900 years later by the author of the Gospel of Matthew.  He understood the prophetic words, the scandalous words, to speak of a child to be born into his own first century world of occupied Israel where the Temple had been destroyed once again and the identity of a people hung in the balance. He heard the prophet's words anew and they spoke directly, emphatically into his world.  The author of Matthew wrote, “an angel of the Lord appeared to (Joseph) in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill,” the author says, “what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ – which means, ‘God with us’ ” (Matthew 1:20-23). (PAUSE) This is the scandal of the season.  This is the scandal of the manger.

“God-with-us” in a time of uncertainty, in a time of war, in a time of captivity, even in a seemingly God forsaken time: God with us.

Of the incarnation, God made flesh, theologian Shirley Guthrie wrote, “In a weak, helpless baby lying in a cradle in a barn!...What an inappropriate place to meet ‘Almighty God’! How unspiritual! But hidden in this peasant baby…there is God…personally present.  God is not a (child), but this (child) is God-with-us” (Guthrie, 58). Immanuel – the scandal of Christmas.

It would be simpler if God would just stay at a safe distance from the world – from us. It would be more comfortable if God would remain predictable. It would be far easier if the manger were a fine resin display that could sit on a shelf in the living room only to be dusted off occasionally.  At times, we would prefer a distant, predictable and plasticine god if we could have our choice.

However, the God of Christmas, this scandalous God has a different way. God, the God of the Nativity, is a God of intimacy, the unusual, flesh and blood. This God of the manger is convicting, convincing and constantly calling us to something more.  This is the dangerous nature of the Nativity. This is no sanitized simple faith. In fact, the cradle beckons us to remain in this same messy and wonderful world into which Immanuel was born proclaiming “God-with-us” through the manner in which we live.

Again, Guthrie writes, “The Christmas story is anything but a sentimental, harmless, once-a-year occasion for a ‘Christmas spirit’ (or fa-la-la-la-las) that last only a few days before we return to the ‘facts’; of the ‘real world.’ Christmas is the story of a radical invasion of God into the kind of real world where we live all year long – a world where there is political unrest and injustice, poverty, hatred, jealousy, and both the fear and the longing that things could be different.” And because of the Immanuel, things are different.

Speaking Immanuel into our world is making a proclamation – a present tense declaration of reality, God is with us. 

Speaking Immanuel into our world is declaring a promise – a statement on which our faith and hope stand. It is a yet to come. Our uncertain futures, our doubts, our fears, our dis-ease – God with us.

Speaking Immanuel into our world is a prophetic utterance – it is the call into which we are to live.  It is the challenge to live courageous lives as if Immanuel – God with us – just might be true.

Christmas is dangerous, powerful and risky. For at Christmas, God did not come near. No, God became flesh. This is the decisive disclosure of God.  Immanuel is the ultimate expression of the covenant of God with God’s people.

Immanuel – God with us…here – right here, right now.

And that is the scandal of Christmas. Amen.

Expecting

I have a wonderful friend who will deliver her first child any day now. The months of expecting are about to come to a close. Her doctors have said that the little one for whom she and her husband have been hoping for years is about to arrive and completely transform their home and their lives. The blessed event may even happen today!

I have known this amazing woman since she was a young teen, and I could not be more excited for anyone! This has been an incredibly long journey for her and her loving husband full of twists and turns, joys and sorrows. They are tremendous people and will be incredible parents.

Could there be a better season to welcome a new child into the world than Advent - the season of expectation; the beginning of the Christian year?

For during this season we are "all pregnant," as one of my colleagues recently put it. We are all, much like my friend, anticipating an event that has the power to change our homes and our lives. We are about to be transformed by the birth of a child. And this child will indeed change everything.

"Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." (Luke 1:30-33, NRSV).

This leaves me with one question. How will I birth this child into the world?

Remember, "nothing will be impossible with God." (Luke 1:37)

"O come, O come Emmanuel!"

The Parable of the Climber

“Get me out of here!” The beginner shouted.  “Get me out of here!”

“Calm down!” the guide replied.

“Calm down?!  Did you hear that?  Calm down he said,” the rock climber announced to an imaginary audience.  “Calm down?  I am going to die!  I am stuck on this mountain and cannot move.  There is no way out but to climb, and I can’t do this!” The novice exclaimed.  “So, what on earth do you mean, ‘Calm down?’!  Can’t you see that this is it?!  Can’t you see that it is all over?!  I can’t do this!  Can’t you see?  Calm Down.  Yeah, right!”

The leader replied, “Do you want to make it?  If so, then you must calm down.  If you do not, you will never make it out of here with me.”

“Then just leave me here to suffer on my own,” cried the mountaineer.  “I can’t do this.  I can’t go any further.  I just can’t do this.  Do you hear me?  I...can’t...do...this,” he said choking back his tears.

After a long silence, the guide calmly said, “You are right.  YOU can’t do this!  YOU can’t make it out of here!”

Looking up, the climber said, “What?!  Oh, thanks for the vote of confidence!  Thanks for cheering me up.”

“Listen to me,” the leader said sternly, “YOU can’t make it out of here on your own.  YOU don’t know the way.  You don’t know how!”  The guide continued, “If you were here all by yourself, then all would be lost.  But YOU aren’t here alone.  Remember, I am here with you, and there is no way that I am bailing out on you!  There is no way that I am going to leave you stranded out here by yourself.  But you are going to trust me.  If you do, we will make it through this together.  The choice is yours, but I am never going to leave your side.  So, what’s it gonna be?”

After a long pause, the amateur said in a quite voice, “But, I am scared.”

“I know,” said the wise leader.

“I am afraid that I may die,” said the nervous climber.

“ ‘I am’ here,” said the leader.

“I can’t do this,” said the frightened man.

“You can if you trust me,” the guide answered.  “Look at me.  Look at me.  Move how I move.  Place your hands where I place mine.  Step where I tell you to step.  I know the way from here.  I have been through it before.  It will be difficult, but we will make it together.  But this will only work if you are willing to follow me.”

The leader stretched out a hand and the climber grabbed on…

Turn and Live

Ezekiel 18:1-4 and Ezekiel 18:25-32

You come in the house and there to greet you in the middle of the living room is your only child.  Right next to her tennis-shoed feet is the antique lamp that once had a place of prominence in her great grandma’s living room and now is found on the floor shattered into a thousand tiny pieces.  After quickly scanning for any evidence of blood or bodily harm you gather yourself and ask what appears to be the most logical question. 

“Honey,” you say in your forced tender grown-up parent voice, “what happened in here?”

With the biggest, saddest eyes ever seen your precious only child says with all the sincerity she can muster, “I…I don’t know.”

Reminding yourself to be calm while you feel your blood pressure continue to rise you say, “Well sweetie, how did the antique lamp break?”

After a moment of painful and pitiful silence and a couple of false starts, she finally says, “B…B….Baxter Bunny broke the lamp when I left the room.”

And there it is.  Your precious, apple of your eye, only child, has just blamed her invisible yet very real friend, Baxter, for her indiscretion. 

Yet, in spite of the absurdity of such a claim you somehow understand.  Baxter the bunny has always been full of mischief.  (Pause)

Your understanding goes beyond knowing your child’s habits, accidents and proclivity to pass the blame.  You genuinely understand.  After all, you too have a Baxter.  We all do, don’t we?  Sure, they go by different names and may not be invisible bunnies, but we all indeed have someone or something that receives the blame for many of our mistakes and foibles.  Our parents, our siblings, our boss, our professors, our government, the media…and the list could go on and on. 

There is a different way.  God calls us to break away from our old familiar patterns.  God calls us to repent, to turn, to take personal responsibility for what is ours so that we might truly live.

In the text from Ezekiel above, we hear the voice of the prophet who is living with his brothers and sister in exile in Babylon.  It is from this exile and then back into this exile that Ezekiel speaks. 

Scholars have said that the book of Ezekiel can be divided into two parts.  In the first section, God uses the voice of Ezekiel to speak about the potential reasons for the captivity of the nation of Israel at the hands of the Babylonians.  Then, by contrast, in the second part of the book we find Ezekiel speaking of the hope that can be found in the Lord and in the future restoration of the kingdom. 

Today’s text from Ezekiel 18 comes from the first portion of the book in which an explanation for the exile is given.  Chapter 18 begins with the voice of God decrying a popular saying that was found in Israel.  The saying goes, “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are blunted.”  This phrase, this saying, was a way of claiming that the sins of the parents would be passed on to the children.  According to Ezekiel, God decrees that this saying must not be heard any more in Israel. 

Now why would God use the voice of the prophet to say such a thing?  This saying was not an appropriate explanation for the exile and the pain of the nation. This saying had become a crutch; an excuse for the people.  It had become a way for them to hide themselves from personal responsibility.  It had become, if you will, their Baxter Bunny. 

Through the voice of the prophet, the Lord speaks and says that each person is loved by God and is responsible for their actions.  God is calling the people of Israel into and toward personal responsibility. This message was not easy to hear then neither is it easy to hear now.

In the verses that follow this passage, Ezekiel illustrates his point by speaking of several different generations who each bear the personal responsibility for their decisions, some for better and others for worse. 

Then we come to these important words, the climax, where the point is driven home. Again God speaks and says, “Repent and turn from all your transgressions; otherwise iniquity will be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and make (receive for?) yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live.”  God calls Israel, the covenant community, yes, but also the individual to repent, to turn; to take personal responsibility for their actions. 

There is corporate culpability, of course.  However, you see, there is also individual responsibility. 

Now, I must confess that this was and continues to be a difficult passage for me.  As I read, I found myself wanting to shout, “But what about the child who is abused?”  The sins of one generation do impact another.  “What about the drunk driver who kills a mother and her two children leaving behind a single father and their six-month old?”  The sins of one generation do impact another.  “What about slavery?”  “What about the treatment of the Native Americans?”  “What about….”

Yes.  Yes.  Yes.  Indeed the sins of one generation do have an impact on the next.  And, our passage of Scripture is not denying the truth of this statement. 

However, this passage of Scripture is challenging us to change the way we think and the excuses we make.  We, along with exiled Israel, are being called to live a life characterized by repentance.  We are being called by this prophetic voice from over 2500 years ago, to step away from the status quo of our easy excuses.  We are called to be honest with ourselves and our God. 

Why should we live a life characterized by repentance?  We should we live such a life because by turning – turning from our sin and familiar ways and turning toward something new – we turn toward life. To be sure, this is not an easy venture. However, it is one to which we are called to become more familiar. We are called to leave the old, the familiar, the safe behind and turn toward transformation and renewal.

Sitting in your favorite chair reading your favorite magazine, you feel a little tap on your leg.  There she stands in front of you once again with those same beautiful big eyes now filled with tears – your wonderful only child.

“Honey, what is wrong?” you ask.

Looking down at her sparkly tennis shoes and shuffling her feet back and forth she says, “Um…Baxter Bunny didn’t break the lamp.  I…I broke the lamp.  And I am sorry.”  And the tears that once filled her eyes now spill down her cheeks.

You reach down; scoop her up in your arms and into your lap.  You look deep into those big eyes and quietly say, “Thank you. It is okay.”

And somehow you are thankful; you are thankful not because she is feeling guilty; you are thankful not because of her pain.  You are thankful because she had the courage to come to you.  She came not to earn your forgiveness. She came because she knew she could find forgiveness in your eyes, acceptance in your arms and love in your presence.

Friends, let us turn.  Let us all repent.  God’s ways are just.  God’s ways are fair.  God desires that all should live.  Forgiveness is offered.  And only in turning can we receive. 

Let us “turn, then, and live.”