Poll time: Women in Ministry?

24 Tuesday Jan 2012

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Over the next few months I will be asking a series of pertinent poll questions.  Please take a few seconds to answer and feel free to elaborate with comments.  Following each week’s poll question there will be a synopsis and personal reflection.  These questions are coming theologically from my own faith journey and contextually from my new ministry context here in Paris.

This week’s question is about women in ministry.  Over two years I posted my personal reflections about the role of women in youth ministry.

http://emergingyouth.com/2010/10/26/role-of-women-in-youth-ministry/

Since this question is a bit more complex than at first glance, I tried to add a few “optional” responses that seem to come up in recent conversations with colleagues.

The Daily Examen…a new way to enter a new year

12 Thursday Jan 2012

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Perhaps by now, two weeks into the new year, the resolutions made on January 1 have come and gone.  As mentioned in previous posts, for many years I was troubled at my lack of resolve and will power.  The “check list” kind of resolutions never really worked for me.

For me, rather than attempting a new list (perhaps one more manageable), I am beginning to use this time of year to reflect and meditate upon where and how God is at work.

As I look back on 2011 and ahead to 2012, many questions arise, that I believe may be more important than whether or not my check list of do’s and don’ts is complete.

Have I grown in maturity, wisdom, understanding?

Has Faith, Hope, and Love increased in my life?

Am I willing to ask others to speak into my life and be honest with me.

Did I become more irritable?   Less giving?  Has compassion given way to apathy?

I realize the difficulty in trying to discern, but I have discovered that if I take time to sit and ponder (with openness and honesty) I am able to look back on this past year and see ways in which I have grown (hopefully) and other areas that I have not.

This past week I spent a few hours in various cathedrals in Paris.  I love the atmosphere of transcendence and mystery as I embrace the Spirit of Peace.  I gaze at the stained glass, dip my fingers into the baptism fonts to remember my own, and sit looking, praying, and reflecting.  Often I will light a cancel and ask for illumination.

These moments brought me back to an earlier time in my journey when I practiced an ancient spiritual tradition called the “Examen Prayer” or “The Daily Examen”

A practice that I was first introduced to during a course on Spiritual Direction in college referred to then as The Ignatius Examen of Consciousness.

This is a wonderful spiritual discipline from the early church, practiced and made popular by the Jesuit priest St. Ignatius.The prayers and methods of praying suggested here are based on nearly five-hundred years of Jesuit spiritual tradition. They could help you grow in intimacy with God and experience Jesuit spirituality first-hand. St. Ignatius believed that he received a gift from God that not only enriched his own Christian life but was meant to be shared with others. The gift was a “method,” a way to seek and find God in all things and to gain the freedom to let God’s will be done on earth. This way of praying allowed Ignatius to discover the voice of God within his own heart and to experience a growth in familiarity with God’s will. Jesuits call this prayer their daily examen of consciousness.

The Examen of Consciousness

This is a prayer where we try to find the movement of the Spirit in our daily lives as we reflect on our day. This prayer can be made anywhere: on the beach, in a car, on the bus or metro, at home, in the library. Many people make the Examen twice daily: once around lunchtime and again before going to bed. There are five simple steps to the Examen, and what follows is just one interpretation of these five steps in discerning the movement of God’s Spirit in your day. Through this method of praying you can grow in a sense of self and the Source of self; you can become more sensitive to your own spirit with its longings, its powers, its Source; you will develop an openness to receive the supports that God offers.

1. Thanksgiving

Lord, I realize that all, even myself, is a gift from you.

- Today, for what things am I most grateful?

2. Intention
Lord, open my eyes and ears to be more honest with myself.

- Today, what do I really want for myself?

3. Examination
Lord, show me what has been happening to me and in me this day.

- Today, in what ways have I experienced your love?

4. Contrition
Lord, I am still learning to grow in your love.

- Today, what choices have been inadequate responses to your love?

5. Hope
Lord, let me look with longing toward the future.

- Today, how will I let you lead me to a brighter tomorrow?

I have found that depending on the season of life, or simply depending on the mood I am in that day, some themes are more difficult than others.  Some years, Contrition is at the heart of what I need, Others times it is thanksgiving.  Hope is always there.

My professor of Spiritual Formation taught us a simplified version of The Examen, which focusses on the #3 Examination

As a prayer:

1) How have I experienced your love today?

2) How have I loved you well?

3) How have I not loved you well?  (this implies loving others as well. Love God = Love Others.)

This resolution and daily practice is worthwhile and certainly has the potential to transform this new year, for ourselves and those around us.  May we begin this year looking back in reflection to see Go’s love and provision and grace protecting and guiding us.  May we look ahead with anticipation and excitement and pray for God’s spirit to guide us in the upcoming year.
We have begun encouraging our youth and young adults to start this new year, new week, and each new day with these prayers.  During one of our weekly gatherings, we look at the life of Saint Ignatius and set aside time individually to do the Examen.
My prayer is for a renewal desire to be saturated in God’s Word each day and to have fresh eyes and ears to witness His grace all around us.
Take, Lord, and Receive Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory,
my understanding, and my entire will.
All I have and call my own.
Whatever I have or hold, you have given me.
I return it all to you and surrender it wholly
to be governed by your will.
Give me only your love and your grace
and I am rich enough and ask for nothing more.
-St. Ignatius, from the end of the Spiritual Exercises

an Epiphany Epilogue

10 Tuesday Jan 2012

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(the Epiphany mural above was photographed by yours truly at the Saint-Etienne-du-Mont in Paris)

I must confess that before I moved to Paris to work at The American Church, I did not know what Epiphany was, so if you find yourself wondering the same question…no worries!

In the liturgical worship of the Christian calendar, Epiphany is celebrated on January 6 to mark the arrival of the wise men or “magi” to worship the infant Christ.  Of course we do not know how many of them came to visit Jesus, but we do know that at least three signficant and symbolic gifts were presented.  We also do not know when precisely they arrived, but most scholars maintain it was probably a few months (or even over one year) after the birth of Christ.  Either way, it is important to celebrate their arrival of these first Gentiles to worship the Savior of the nations.

Epiphany also concludes the 12 Days of Christmas, which contrary to some, is the 12 days of giving gifts after Christmas, not before. Epiphany is celebrated among liturgical denominations and Orthodox Christianity. In fact, a number of students and young adults from ACP who are from places like Russia and Greece, wait until January 6th to give and receive their Christmas gifts.  Epiphany also marks the end of Christmastide and when the decorations are stored and festivities conclude, thus ushering in a new season of preparation for Lent.

The actual word Epiphany can be translated “manifestation”, “striking appearance” or ”vision of God”, and as mentioned  traditionally falls on January 6. It is a Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation of God the Son as a  human being in the person of Jesus Christ. Western Christians commemorate principally (but not solely) the visitation of the magi to the baby Jesus, and thus Jesus’ physical manifestation to the Gentiles. Eastern Christians commemorate the baptisms in the Jordan River, seen as his manifestation to the world as the Son of God. Many of the Eastern Churches follow a different calendar and so may observe this feast on January 19.

I rather enjoyed rethinking my normal Christmas traditions and assumptions and appreciate the continuation of the season and spirit into January. I was always one who wanted to keep up decorations at least through New Year’s day, but now I actually have a theological reason to do so!

Concerning the magi, we do not know much about their story (background, beliefs, or future faith journey), but we know that they were guided and lead by light.  They responded in faith with what they had.  a vision. a desire. a star.  hope

Many of us are on a similar journey.  We do not know where it will end up but we hope to encounter the Christ along the way.

As I reflect back upon the story, part of the beauty  for me is the journey of the magi.  People in biblical times were accustomed to rather long and tiresome journeys.  Hoping on a plane and traveling from Asia Minor to Bethlehem in 2 hours was not an option.

i  wonder what they were thinking during the day, week, and months of their pilgrimage.  These individuals were scholars, astrologers, and cosmologists.  They were intelligent, observant, and rational people I assume.  They were men of science…and faith it appears and God revealed himself to them in means they could understand and interpret.

A reasonable conclude from this story is that God worked, and works, in mysterious ways and we should not limited God to work only within traditional “religious” or even “Christian” parameters.

Many questions come to mind looking back upon this fascinating story

What the magi were hoping to find?

How much of God’s story did they know or understand?

Did they fully grasped what kind of Savior-King this would be?

Unlike some of our Christmas gifts, which I am sure were returned on “Boxing Day”, how much thought actually went into their gifts.

Did they really know that this baby would be a King unlike any other?  Did they ever come to understand or know that his baby ould serve as God’s High Priest eternally, and would die on behalf of the human race.

Did they know this on their journey towards Nazareth?

Did they leave their visit with this knowledge?

I suppose we cannot know.  But we do know that God spoke to them in amazingly clear and directive ways.

Is God speaking to you?

Might this new year be one of many “epiphanies”?

Are we prepared to hear the voice of God is strange and unusual ways?

At the same time ready to discover God in the commonplace, in arts, culture, and sciences.   It has become clear to me that God desires to be discovered in all and through all things.  He is self-revealing God and we should not limit him by our own expectations and limitations.  God will come to us.  The question is…we will let him on his own terms?

Dispersing the gloomy clouds of night, Putting dark shadows to flight, The Dayspring has come to cheer us. The Lord has come to be near us. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel has come to thee, O Israel!

Celebrating Saint Genevieve

03 Tuesday Jan 2012

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Today, January 3 is the Feast of Saint Genevieve, the Patron Saint of Paris.  Since my time here in Paris, I have spent many hours visiting cathedrals and learning much about the historicity and example of Saints.  There is much to learn from their life of obedience, sacrifice, and dedication.  Often, in the midst of great difficult and persecution, their faith remained steadfast and resolute.

These saints are certainly revered here in Paris, especially the French Saints.  True, some many lean towards worship of them, but in my experience that is not the case.  They are honored for what they accomplished on earth and admired as an ancestor of the Christian faith.  I am constantly being challenged and inspired as I read the writings and stories of many of these saints.

Here is a blurb about Saint Genevieve

Childhood and Calling

She was born of wealthy parents in Gaul (modern France) in the village of Nanterre, near Paris, around 422. Her father’s name was Severus, and her mother was called Gerontia. According to the custom of the time, she often tended her father’s flocks on Mt. Valerien.

When she was about seven years old, St Germanus of Auxerre noticed her as he was passing through Nanterre. The bishop kissed her on the head and told her parents that she would become great in the sight of God, and would lead many to salvation. After Genevieve told him that she wished to dedicate herself to Christ, he gave her a brass medal with the image of the Cross upon it. She promised to wear it around her neck, and to avoid wearing any other ornaments around her neck or on her fingers.

Years later, when she was fifteen, Genevieve was taken to Paris to enter the monastic life. Through fasting, vigil and prayer, she progressed in monasticism, and received from God the gifts of clairvoyance and of working miracles. Gradually, the people of Paris and the surrounding area regarded Genevieve as a holy vessel (2 Tim. 2:21).

Historical Involvement

In 451 she led a “prayer marathon”that was said to have saved Paris by diverting Attila‘s Huns away from the city. When Childeric I besieged the city in 464 and conquered it, she acted as an intermediary between the city and its conqueror, collecting food and convincing Childeric to release his prisoners.

When it was reported that Attila the Hun was approaching Paris, Genevieve and the other nuns prayed and fasted, entreating God to spare the city. Suddenly, the barbarians turned away from Paris and went off in another direction.

Shortly before the attack of the Huns under Attila in 451 on Paris, Genevieve, with the help of Germanus’ archdeacon, persuaded the panic-stricken people of Paris not to leave their homes and to pray. The intercession of Genevieve’s prayers caused Attila’s army to go to Orléans instead. During Childeric‘s siege and blockade of Paris in 464, Geneviève passed through the siege lines in a boat to Troyes, bringing grain to the city. She also pleaded to Childeric for the welfare of prisoners of war, and met with a favorable response. Later, Clovis I liberated captives and showed greater lenience to wrongdoers after Genevieve urged him to do so.

Spiritual Legacy

St Genevieve considered the Saturday night Vigil service to be very important, since it symbolizes how our whole life should be. “We must keep vigil in prayer and fasting so that the Lord will find us ready when He comes,” she said. She was on her way to church with her nuns one stormy Saturday night when the wind blew out her lantern. The nuns could not find their way without a light, since it was dark and stormy, and the road was rough and muddy. St Genevieve made the Sign of the Cross over the lantern, and the candle within was lit with a bright flame. In this manner they were able to make their way to the church for the service.

There is a tradition that the church which St Genevieve suggested that King Clovis build in honor of Sts Peter and Paul became her own resting place when she fell asleep in the Lord around 512 at the age of eighty-nine. Her holy relics were later transferred to the church of St Etienne du Mont in Paris. Most of her relics, and those of other saints, were destroyed during the French Revolution. I have included pictures I took at the church.

Saint Genevieve believed in the power of prayer, fasting, and charity.  She trusted in God for intervention and provision and certainly believed that the miraculous still happened.  An entire city (Paris) celebrates her life of piety, purity, and prayer and believed that it was because of prayer that the city was spared.

May that be believed today for Christians praying and seeking the welfare and salvation of towns, cities, regions, and nations.

Saint Genevieve Saint Etienne du Mont

A Peaceful Death….a new kind of New Year’s resolution

02 Monday Jan 2012

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(Rembrandt. Simeon with the Christ Child in the Temple. c. 1666-69)

This week, the Christian church wherever gathered celebrates the second Sunday of Christmastide.  Our decorations are still displayed throughout the church halls and sanctuary.  When most people are putting everything back in the box, we find ourselves in the midst of the 12 Days of Christmas, leading towards Epiphany.

In many Christian tradition, the Nunc dimittis (also Song of Simeon or Canticle of Simeon) is read or sung.  Unknown for many (including myself until this past week) is what the Latin actually means….”now dismiss”

The liturgical text for this Sunday is found in the later part of the second chapter of Luke’s gospel.

Jesus Presented in the Temple

22 When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.”

33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

There is much that can be unpacked in this section about Joseph and Mary, Jewish customs, and prophets.  However, the prayer of Simeon is extremely noteworthy and relevant for this particular season of the year.  This man was not one of the high officiating priests of the temple.  He was not part of the machine of ministry.  Rather, Simeon was a faithful, dedicated, and obedient servant of God filled with the Holy Spirit.  He had longed for and awaited God’s promised Messiah, and now upon seeing and believing that this young infant was indeed the Redeemer and Savior, Simeon was at peace and ready to be “dismissed.” His mind and heart were at peace and he was ready to die.

How does this fit in with the start of a New Year

This can be a great time to reflect upon the relationships in our lives.  Our relationship with God, with others, and with ourself.  Are we at peace?  Are we anxiously waiting for something to happen in our life or are we content.  As I read and listened to this passage, I discovered it afresh this year.  While I am not wishing for an untimely death, I do hope that there is peace in my heart and life

I remember hearing my older family members saying “If the Red Sox could just win one world series before I die….”  I vividly remember that cold autumn night in 2002 when the impossible happened and a collective exhale throughout New England could be heard.  I honestly believe that for many, they were now ready for death!

But what about you?  How are the relationships in your life?  Are you at peace and, as much as it depends on you, are you attempting to live peacefully with others…including your enemies?

Like Simeon, when our eyes have seen “the salvation of the Lord”, it changes everything.  When you look back upon last year, was God’s grace, kindness, faithfulness, and salvation evident?  Even in the midst of hurt, confusion, unanswered prayers, and silence…salvation was there.

Will we approach this new year like Simeon did each and every year..in hopeful anticipation and expectation of God’s promises being fulfilled in the in breaking of the Lord’s favor.

The word “dismissal” may conjure up various memories and meanings to you.  For some, it was the long-awaited words finally granting you freedom from a boring lecturer (or church service).  You simply could not wait to get out of there and anything else seemed like a much better option!

I remember back to my childhood school days and “dismissal” time.  Class was never so bad, and usually enjoyable.  However, the real highlight of the day was recess! As innocent and care-free children, we would run around and play and simply be full of life!

Simeon’s life of faith and obedience prepared him for the great dismissal. He was ready to enter into true life.  He was being dismissed into some reality far greater than the mind can imagine.

Hopefully our own eternal dismissals are well in the future.  But as we leave church services this weekend and leave the Christmastide mystery of the incarnation behind, we are dismissed into the world to run and play and be free as we invite others to experience the same.

T.S. Eliot
1888-1965

A Song for Simeon
Lord, the Roman hyacinths are blooming in bowls and
The winter sun creeps by the snow hills;
The stubborn season has made stand.
My life is light, waiting for the death wind,
Like a feather on the back of my hand.
Dust in sunlight and memory in corners
Wait for the wind that chills towards the dead land.
Grant us thy peace.
I have walked many years in this city,
Kept faith and fast, provided for the poor,
Have given and taken honour and ease.
There never went any rejected from my door.
Who shall remember my house, where shall live my children’s children
When the time of sorrow is come?
They will take to the goat’s path, and the fox’s home,
Fleeing from the foreign faces and the foreign swords.
Before the time of cords and scourges and lamentation
Grant us thy peace.
Before the stations of the mountain of desolation,
Before the certain hour of maternal sorrow,
Now at this birth season of decease,
Let the Infant, the still unspeaking and unspoken Word,
Grant Israel’s consolation
To one who has eighty years and no tomorrow.
According to thy word.
They shall praise Thee and suffer in every generation
With glory and derision,
Light upon light, mounting the saints’ stair.
Not for me the martyrdom, the ecstasy of thought and prayer,
Not for me the ultimate vision.
Grant me thy peace.
(And a sword shall pierce thy heart,
Thine also).
I am tired with my own life and the lives of those after me,
I am dying in my own death and the deaths of those after me.
Let thy servant depart,
Having seen thy salvation.

add a sprinkle of Wesley for good measure….

01 Sunday Jan 2012

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Wesley Covenant Prayer 1780
“I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.”

One of the unique wonders of serving at an interdenominational congregation is the intentionality behind honoring various Christian traditions.  Throughout the Church calendar, different prayers, ceremonies and services are incorporated in worship at The American Church in Paris, and I personally have deeply appreciated and been blessed by the richness in this. While it is true that the majority of our congregation does not come from a Methodist background, some families do.  In fact, in the spirit of ecumenism, our new visiting pastor of weddings is ordained in the Methodist Church. (We now have a Presbyterian (PCUSA), Lutheran, Methodist, and C&MA….sounds like the beginning of a bad joke!)

More importantly is the great influence that Wesley and the Methodist denomination has within Christianity. Therefore, like all traditions and denominations, we seek ways to learn and honor together.

Today, on the first Sunday of the New Year, we concluded The Sacrament of Holy Communion with a collective Prayer of Thanksgiving and Rededication. For the prayer, we used the Wesleyan Covenant Prayer, also known as A Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition. This is a prayer adopted by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism,

In his Short history of the people called Methodists (1781), Wesley describes the first covenant service; a similar account is to be found in his Journal of the time. Wesley says that the first service was held on Monday 11 August 1755, at the French church at Spitalfields in London, with 1800 people present. He reports that he “recited the tenor of the covenant proposed, in the words of that blessed man, Richard Alleine“. The words of that original covenant prayer are lost, but are thought to be reflected in the Directions for Renewing our Covenant with God which Wesley issued as a pamphlet in 1780.

For our purposes, we adopted and modified the Covenant prayer as a Prayer of Thanksgiving and Rededication following the Sacrament of Holy Communion.

What I so love about this prayer is how it resembles wedding vows and the covenant of love offered between spouses.  I think it would be great if couples once a year (or at every few years), rededicated their vows to one another. There is beauty and wonder if the retelling and reaffirming of love.

As Christians, the united family of God, we embark on a new year together. It is appropriate to rededicate ourselves as individuals and as a community to our loving partner.  Weekly, our worship services should be a place for us to hear and be reaffirmed of God’s promises and vows to us.  The various sacraments can serve as dispensers of grace and reminders of God’s covenant with us.  Hopefully, each day and certainly each time we gather for worship, we remind each other of our commitment to Christ and his Church.

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Rededication-

The American Church in Paris, Jan 1st, 2012 New Year’s Day

“Today, Gracious God, we give you thanks and praise for your goodness and mercy revealed to us in Jesus Christ.  As we have feasted with you here this day, we pray that you will sustain us in this new year, that we would be faithful disciples of our Lord.

I give myself completely to you, god. Assign me to my place in your creation.

Let me suffer for you.

Give me the work you would have me do.  Give me many tasks, or have me step aside while you call others.

Put me forward or humble me. Give me riches or let me live in poverty.

I freely give all that I am and all that I have to you.

And now, holy God-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

You are mine and I am yours.

So be it.

May this covenant on earth continue for all eternity.

Amen.

The Annunciation of Mary and Christopher Hitchens

23 Friday Dec 2011

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You may wonder how the historic announcement of the birth of Christ and the more recent announcement of the death of long-time atheist Christopher Hitchens connect.

Well, if you have 20 minutes, listen to this message from the Rev. Scott Herr preached at The American Church in Paris on the Fourth Sunday of Advent (December 18, 2011). It should be posted by Monday, December 26.

Below is a copy of the manuscript if you would rather read:

“Messengers and Miracles”

A Sermon by the Rev. Scott Herr Romans 16:25-27

The American Church in Paris, December 18, 2011 Luke 1:26-38

The gospel lesson today is an amazing account about Mary, the mother of Jesus. It sounds like fantasy, something out of the Chronicles of Narnia. But you know what C.S. Lewis once said? The more true something is, the less literal language can accurately describe it… Who knows? Something happened to Mary. Luke writes the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin named Mary. You can’t blame Mary for being “much perplexed” at the encounter she had with the God-sent angel Gabriel. Gabriel hadn’t made an appearance in a long time… Gabriel came to the prophet Daniel in a vision over six hundred years before. It’s interesting to note the meaning of Gabriel’s name: the power of God. In Jewish thought, Gabriel was the angel of judgment. But as he comes to Mary, he comes with a word of mercy for her.

It’s strange, but we are the ones who have problems with angels. If you pay attention to the text, it’s not the angel Gabriel Mary finds perplexing and causes her to be afraid, but the message this angel has brought! “Angel” in the Greek, άγγελος, is simply the word for “messenger” and is related to the word άγγελιον, which means message. The English word “Gospel” in the Greek is literally the ευ or “good” άγγελιον “message.” This is where the English word “evangelical” comes from…

I give you this background because it is this message that Gabriel brings that is perplexing and even causes fear in Mary. What does Gabriel say to her? He says basically three things: 1/that she is favored by God (literally that she has been [χάρι] “graced” by God); 2/ that God is with her; and 3/  that the Christ child will be born in her… The word “miracle” is not used in this text, but the whole virgin birth is indeed a miracle.

The English word miracle comes from the Latin mīrāculum, from mīrārī, “to wonder at.” The virgin birth is the gospel writer’s way to give us his Christology, or understanding of who Christ is: fully God (conceived by the Holy Spirit) and fully human (born of Mary). But for Mary it’s not even who is to be born in her, but the mechanics of it all that makes her wonder. The message doesn’t make sense. Her response to the angel is simply, “How can this be…?”

Mary can’t believe that she is favored by God. After all, she’s just a peasant teenage girl in some back-water village. She can’t believe that God favors her, and finds it even harder to believe God is with her! So her response is fear. Gabriel’s command to her, “Do not be afraid,” is in response to her perplexity and pondering. It’s interesting that the Greek word for ponder here is “διελογίζετο…” Dialogue. She’s having a dialogue with herself! She’s thinking: “…On the one hand, there is this person talking to me… and that seems real enough… but what he’s saying is incredible… At best, he’s got the wrong address. At worst, this is some cruel joke. Messengers and miracles happen over in Jerusalem where all the really important religious people are. Not here. Not me.”

In fact, Gabriel did show up in Jerusalem and gave a similar speech to Zechariah, the priest (father of John the Baptist, uncle of Jesus) but he didn’t believe the angel and so was punished with temporary muteness. Gabriel shows up to deliver the “good news” to Mary, and she doesn’t know what to think…

Now here’s what I’d like for you to consider with me: While this account describes the dynamics of Mary’s personal experience, I think this account describes the dynamics of what happens to any of us when we are confronted with the Gospel. Too many of us have missed the message of God’s grace and love for us, that God has come to be with us in Christ. God knows there are so many other messages we are receiving in life, whether through advertisements, news agencies, governments, families, school and friends… We miss the message of God’s love because we have been either afraid of the messenger (sometimes the church is the last place you’ll hear the gospel!) or simply couldn’t believe the message itself…  Some of us have preferred not to be converted at all… Or so we think.  We don’t want to be converted, especially by these wonderful stories in the New Testament around Christmas time… We remain skeptical and even cynical with all the political and economical messaging in the world, especially around Christmas…

The fact is, however, everybody is converted by some message… Christopher Hitchens died this past Thursday in Houston, Texas. He was 62. It was his 2007 book, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything that got my attention. He was a hostile proponent of atheism in the public eye in recent history.

I share this news of Hitchens not because I take any comfort in his death, but rather because he is the perfect example of how all of us are created to believe passionately in something! Even though he was baptized in the church of England and his name meant, “Christ-bearer,” he gave his life in the end to anti-faith. He was against a lot of things, including strangely, Mother Teresa, as he regarded her “as a proselytizer for a retrograde version of Roman Catholicism rather than as a saintly charity worker.” But this is the whole point… In the end, he turned out to be a rather pathetic and angry man. He was very clear about what he was against… He was a messenger, he said, who was against “dictatorship, religion, stupidity, demagogy, censorship, bullying and intimidation…”

As Douglas Wilson puts it in an obituary, Hitchens was committed to skepticism: “I think, therefore I am. I think.” He pulled out the stopper of faith, and the bathwater of reason appeared undisturbed for a time. But modernism slowly receded and now postmodernism is circling the drain.

And so the question lingers, where does one get their ideas of what is ultimate, or any authority to presume to say what is right or wrong? Hitchens showed that he could change his mind. One of the great ironies of his life was that he ended up agreeing with George Bush on the Iraq war, to the howling criticism of his politically left-wing cronies… Did he not lose any of his naïve hubris which allows one to think you can tell right from wrong all on your own?

William Willimon, former chaplain at Duke University, says this, “The dominant culture in which we live is that of expressive individualism since the Enlightenment. People like to say, ‘well, what the church says might be OK for some, but I think you have to determine right and wrong for yourself.’ But let’s be honest: people aren’t  thinking for themselves! They’re doing exactly what the cultural messaging tells them. In reality, they’re espousing the very way of knowing that’s been imposed on them by their culture… and a very white western individualistic one it is.” Hitchens seems to have thought that conversion takes away personal critical reflection and perspective, but that would assume that there are already unformed, untouched people out there, and that there are only religious zealots trying to convert them to their way of thinking… In fact, everybody is converted to some world view, some way of seeing and making sense of reality, looking through the lens of their own experience and epistemology…

A good question to ask yourself then is this: What story has converted my heart and mind? To what message have I given myself? …

God desires that we be overshadowed by and converted to the ultimate reality revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the one born of Mary, the One who came “full of grace and truth.” Just as Mary’s world was rocked, so our reality and our way of thinking is rocked when we receive the message of the Gospel. Mary is considered the first disciple because she heard the gospel and responded to it in faith…

This is the strange message of Gabriel to Mary: There’s nothing you can do to earn God’s favor. It just comes right out of the merciful heart of God for you. Too often we read the logic of this passage backwards. We think that Mary found favor with God because she said, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word…” Wrong! In fact, her pledge of loyalty to God, her willingness to serve however God calls her to serve, is the result of a transformed heart, a heart that has received the message of God’s loving kindness and grace. Not the other way around. Friends, God doesn’t love you because you serve God, or because you’re smart enough or beautiful enough or even good enough. God loves you because God is a loving and grace-filled God. And we freely choose to serve God because we have known God’s incredible love!

Today and in this last week before Christmas, I invite you to reflect again on Mary’s story and your own. In the busyness of these days, consider what messengers are speaking or have spoken into your life? What is the effect of those messages, of those words, those people or events, that have converted your heart? To what defining “reality” have you given your life?

The messenger God sent to you is not Gabriel, but rather Jesus Christ himself, God’s Word Incarnate; and that through him you may know that no matter what your station, condition, worldview or orientation, you are favored by God, that God is with you! The miracle of miracles is that Christ can be born in you as well. Perplexing as that might be, as we enter into the darkest week of the year, the light of Christ can overshadow you. We hear again the good news that Jesus is the Most High God, that his kingdom will not end, and even we can become messengers, angels of his miraculous (wonderful!) love and joy for all people… It all depends on what message we believe…

Friends, as you hear the fantastic message of Christ again, I pray that you will receive it as truer than any other message; that you will respond with the humble faith of Mary:  saying, “Here I am, servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN…

Prayer of Confession…the Sunday before Christmas

20 Tuesday Dec 2011

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Each Sunday at The American Church in Paris, part of our Call to Worship is a Unison Prayer of Confession (always followed by Words of Assurance)

I have had the privilege most Sundays of leading the church in these prayers, and often the Prayers of the People and something we do called “Lighting the Candle for God’s Global Vision of Compassion, Justice, and Peace”, followed by a Prayer for Illumination (which precedes the reading of The Fist Lesson)

Anyways…

I wanted to share this past Sunday’s prayer that I lead our congregation in. Although another member of our pastor team wrote the prayer, it personally moved me and I found it most appropriate and beneficial as we approach the narratives surround the nativity.

“Gracious God, thank you that you have come and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. Thank you that you are an astonishing God of mystery and miracles; that the messages you send us often come in surprisingly simple and subtle forms.

Forgive us for our cynicism and reductionism, for our managing and minimizing of reality.

Forgive us for shrinking what is truth into what our imaginations can grasp.

On this Sunday before Christmas, help us wonder again at the good news of the incarnation. By your Spirit, help us to expand our minds and spirits so that you might take us more fully into the goodness and beauty of your love.

(Silent prayers of confession)

In the name of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

I offer a thought for reflection in light of this prayer and the stories we shall read and hear this week leading up to Christmas:

The more true something is, the less literal language can accurately describe it.

- C.S. Lewis

François BOUCHER
1703, Paris. d. 1770, Paris
French painter

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