Pastor's Message

There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity. Yet, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:7-8

Have you read the memo about holiday festivities this year? The party has been cancelled. And, by the way, don’t expect a year-end bonus either. In a month of layoffs, cutbacks and more government bailouts, it just wouldn’t be right to spend company (or tax-payer) money to celebrate with the remnant of co-workers.

At home, the picture looks just as somber. Even for those of us for whom nothing has really changed – our situation in life, our income remains as it was or as we expected – we have to admit that everything has changed. Our mood this season seems chilled by what is going on in the country and the world around us.

The first lesson we will read together in worship on the first Sunday in Advent this year (read it in Isaiah 64:1-9) is a lament over God’s apparent absence. The prophet laments, “you have hidden your face from us.” Commentator Scott Bader-Saye writes that “God hides in order to deconstruct a distorted set of beliefs and practices, thereby opening Israel to receive again (as gift and event) their calling to be God’s people. Hiding is a form of divine judgment that ultimately serves divine mercy, a “No” that clears the ground for a more profound “Yes.”

Year after year, it seems we suffered through a holiday season we habitually lament as too commercial. This year, the old year-end ritual, based on a distorted set of beliefs and practices, has broken down. A resounding “No,” to the values of consumerism echoes throughout our world. Painful as it may be, I believe God may be clearing the ground to a more profound “Yes.” In this holiday season, God may be opening up our lives to once again hear and receive God’s call to walk as disciples of Jesus Christ.

God’s revelation in the Christ child is a revelation hidden from the world in a stable, tucked away from obvious sight in a manager, an unnoticed baby, a human body and blood. In that way, the Christmas gift and event is God’s “No” to the powers and the status quo, No to domination, money, and violence. Instead of tearing open the heavens and coming in fire and fury, God comes to us as baby Jesus, grows up among us and lives with us in humble service – healing the sick, raising the dead, preaching the good news of freedom. God embraces us as loving Father, grabs hold of us as passionate artist, suffer with us and for us in faithful patience, dies with us, for us in faithful love, and on the third day rises again as God’s promise of new life. Jesus is God’s more profound “Yes.”

What surprise from God awaits us this Advent and Christmas. Perhaps by losing everything – the bonus, the parties, the presents, the broken down values and distorted rituals – by God’s grace we may gain everything – reconciliation, new life, salvation, a renewed sense of meaning and call. Now, that would finally be a holiday bonus to celebrate. If that’s the case, prepare a new memo and gather the family around the table because “The party’s on!” (read Isaiah 65). In Jesus name. Amen.



Here’s a simple prayer for a simple Advent and Christmas: God show us yourself -- your heart, your character, your intention for us -- in the Christ at the center of our holiday. By your grace, claim us again as your children, and with your hands, mold us into your new creation through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.