JOIN US TONIGHT AND TOMORROW MORNING

You are invited to join us for Christmas Eve Services tonight:

5:00pm: Candlelight Serve
10:00pm: Candlelight Service with Holy Communion

Christmas Day Service: 10:30am

God Bless You with a Happy Christmas!

Peace: The Fourth Advent Candle

                                

Last Sunday we lit the fourth candle on the Advent wreath—the candle of peace.  Few would argue with the assertion that peace is the most prized, yet one of the rarest commodities humanity has ever known.

We tend to think of war  as an exceptions —as periodic and brutal  interruptions of the usual peaceful state of humanity. But at least one historian and philosopher has noted that war is actually the normal state of affairs for  humanity, and peace is the interruption You might disagree with that, but if you look back over the course of the twentieth century, it must be admitted that this argument isn’t without basis, and that the nations of the world have, by and large, not been very good at peace.

But peace, true peace, is more than a lack of war.

Conflict seems to define human relationship at many levels, from the nation to the family, from the workplace to the school, to the roads we drive everyday.

What is the solution to this problem , this problem which has plagued humanity for generation upon generation upon generation?

Well. The bottom line answer—the biblical answer is that humanity is really helpless to do anything on its own and by its own power.  We see the evidence for that in history. In trying to fix the problem, human beings have, more often then not, made the problem worse.

 The answer to the problem of war has really been the same—develop better and more sophisticated weapons, so that if there is a war, the right people would win it. The problem with that is our perceived enemy does the same thing, which leads to an arms race. An arms race was at the root of the First World War. The arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union, led to a situation where total war would mean total annihilation.  Fear of nuclear annihilation may have prevented world war three but arms manufacturers have ensured that a stockpile of conventional weapons are available to reap a harvest of death and destruction around the world. 

The spiritual underpinning of all of that is sin, humanity playing God, humanity turning from God and devising its own means.  And its like that at all levels.  Any human conflict is, at  the root basic level,   a conflict with God, a contention about who is in charge.

 If we despise our neighbour, we are rejecting the commandment to love our neighbour. When we reject the commandment, we are deciding that God should not be in charge. Yes, I might think that this business about loving neighbour, that might be a good commandment when we are dealing with nice people, but maybe, in this case, with this guy, there ought to be an exception. I am going to institute a temporary suspension of the commandment and punch this guy in the nose.  That’s playing God, and human beings have been playing God for a very long time, and it hasn’t worked, and it has led to every single sin ever committed.  It has given rise to a world of horror and pain. After being expelled from the garden of Eden, it didn’t take the descendents of Adam and Eve long to start killing each other, as we read in the account of Cain and Abel.

The answer, the ultimate answer cannot be the simple application of a new method. Methods are bandaids. There needs to be a transformation, a fundamental transformation, of the human heart.   That  transformation must come from outside.  It must come from outside, and it has come from outside.

The message of Jesus is not “give peace a chance”, but rather, ‘I am peace,” Jesus became, and is peace, for us and for the world.

Jesus Christ came into this world, not to judge or punish the world, but to save the world, save the world from its destructive course, and to bring true and lasting peace.

The Prince of Peace came to rule over his peaceable kingdom.  Now, during Advent, we anticipate the arrival of that peaceable kingdom in its fullness. But that kingdom is here in a very real way, and the peaceful fruits of its harvest are available. Those fruits are found in the forgiveness and healing of Jesus. Through that forgiveness  a new life is made possible—a new life which transcends death and suffering, a new life where peace is available, peace which does not come from us, but peace which comes to us.

Today we read the story of Mary, the young virgin. Nothing about Mary would suggest that she was special or different from the girls around her. What made Mary special and different was the decision God has made about her. God had decided that she was to bear his child.

God had decided that Mary, young, humble, Mary would be the entrance point for the very incarnation of peace. Mary was a special person because she was made special by God. The specialness of Mary has been a point of contention between Catholics and Protestants. But you do not have to be Roman Catholic to uphold Mary, the blessed virgin, as a special person, a special person because she was the special recipient of God’s Grace, and  entrusted with bearing God’s peace. What an incredible honour—what a magnificent election. Today we read together the Magnificat  from Luke 1. 

This was Mary’s response to the Grace which God had showered her with, a Grace she struggled with, because at first, she didn’t understand why God would choose her. But in the magnificat we read that Mary had a real understanding of God’s Grace and God’s Peace--that it would not come through the mighty or the powerful or the strong or the proud, but in the lowly and the gentle.

Those who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord, are like Mary, like Mary in that they are the recipients of God’s Grace.  And like Mary,  they are called, to live in response to that Grace. Our worship is a response to God’s Grace. And in that Grace there is an everlasting peace, a gift of peace which surpasses all understanding. A peace which  the world cannot give.

Yet, there remains an absence of peace. The world is conflicted and hearts struggle. There is a lack of inner peace, even amongst those who confess Christ. External circumstances and internal storms and struggles define life for many—especially as we move into the heart of the holiday season. What is the answer to that?

The first answer is  Christ in community. Christ, and his peace, works through the community of believers, who help each other move through difficult times. The gift of peace has been entrusted to Christians to share with each other and the world. When we share the peace during worship, this isn’t  a  break  so folks have time to dig their wallets out for the offering. It’s a time to  share the peace of he who is the incarnation of peace. We, in effect, become that incarnation to each other. Peace becomes flesh and blood and not just an idea, or some abstraction. And that peace is carried through the worship service, into fellowship, and into the world. The storms of life may continue to rage, but they need not be endured alone.

Such accompaniment is important because in the minds and hearts of many people, storms rage and there is no peace. There is  often no peace because of intense and ongoing frustration. This frustration more often than not stems from relationships with other people, stems from the desire that others would be different—wishing that others would stop doing what they are doing or start doing what we think they ought to be doing.

We may somehow try to take steps to control their behaviour or lie awake at night ruminating and worrying.  But there is a real and fundamental problem in this approach, and the problem is that there is not one person in this world who we can control or change.  

 The illusion that we can change others springs from the age old problem of humanity—and that old problem is wanting to be God.  But the  illusion does not, cannot, bring the desired results.  Yes, we can persuade, we can influence. For children, adults can role model and provide safe boundaries.  But no amount of swearing or cursing is going to stop bad drivers from being bad drivers.  Even if someone really does need to change; we cannot change them. Only God can do the changing.

But ultimately the desire for others to conform to our expectations leads to a lot of distress, and most certainly a   great sacrifice of inner peace.

St Augustine, one of the great early church fathers  understood what this meant, because he lived it. He wrote his confessions, and in them he recognized the source of his bondage.

“I was bound not with the iron of another’s chains, but by my own iron self will.” That iron self will is incompatible with peace because the iron self will does not understand its own limits.  The peace restless hearts and minds so desperately need cannot be given by the iron will, on its terms, with its methods.

Most of you are fimilair with Charles’ Dicken’s classic, A Christmas Carol. When we think about the character Ebenezeer Scrooge, when we think abut his problem, it is easy to jump to the conclusion that he was just greedy, mean and miserly. But what is underneath that, is a misguided attempt to control reality and thereby achieve peace—a perverted attempt to maintain peace by blocking out the reality of a painful childhood, peace by blocking out the reality of the poverty which gripped industrialized London, peace by blocking out the reality of his own ultimate demise. Scrooge’s iron will kept him tightly bound, but there was no real peace in Scrooge’s heart.

In Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler upheld the human will, celebrated the will to power and the triumph of the will. History saw where that Triumph looked like. It was not peace, because peace, true peace,  comes only from one place—from the heart of God. When that peace is received, true peace comes.

True peace comes when it is received as a gift, not as something earned or achieved, or granted as reward. It is rooted in the Grace of God which is totally unconditional, a Grace which tells us that there is nothing we need so or can do to earn the love of God. This love is the foundation of our lives. The people around us might disappoint us, or anger us, or let us down, but what they can never do is remove the Grace God has given us. Jesus was crucified, but his status as God’s only begotten son did not change.

Yet,  even knowing this, we struggle. We struggle because that will keeps bubbling up and telling us that we have to earn God’s love, earn it, and get it through others, and on our terms.  The will tells us we have to do something to make God love us to give us peace. Maybe that something is being the perfect parent, child, spouse, teacher, accountant, sibling. Fill in the blank. Maybe we think that peace will come if we earn enough money, or have enough things, or make ourselves sound holy enough, or use the right religious words This is a sad illusion.

So again and again we need to hear the message of God’s grace. Again and again, we need to hear about the entrance point of this grace into the world. It is not in the strong or the most religious—it is in the meek and humble. This is the great truth we hear in the Magnificat. Mary tells us where this Grace and peace is found. It is found in he who entered this world as a humble infant. It is found in he who was crucified for the sake of  sinners. It is found in he who rose from the dead and has promised us a share in his resurrection. Now may his peace fill your hearts and minds today and for eternity. Amen.

Finding Joy this Christmas: Lighting the third candle

 Reading: John 1:6-8, 19-28

Today we have lit the third candle, the pink candle, of the Advent wreath, the candle which represents Joy. In two weeks “Joy to the World” will be sung by this congregation and by millions around the world. . But what is joy? And where can the joy of Christmas be seen, found, and experienced?

         Is the joy of Christmas to be found in the sugar-high of shopping, the last minute frenzy of party and dinner organizing,  the long, snaking lines to sit on Santa’s lap, the clogged parking lots, and boxing day blowouts? Most people have a solid answer to that question. Holiday stress has become an increasingly present reality for many in this part of the world—financial strain, high expectations, disappointment, loneliness. These experiences are, for many, part and parcel of the Christmas experience—pun intended. It’s no coincidence that the police find it necessary to step up drinking and driving patrol.  Yes, people get drunk when they’re happy, but surely, more than a few will turn to the bottle as a  means of escape from  the pressure and pains of the “holiday season.”

“So this is Christmas, and what have you done? Another Year Over and another just begun.” These words begin John Lennon’s famous Christmas ballad, often heard through the mall speakers between rounds of “Jingle Bells”  and “here Comes Santa Claus.”  It’s out of place, really, though, because unlike many Christmas songs, it alludes to, and alerts us to a reality not often acknowledged in the fun-filled lyrics of much Christmas music. It acknowledges that yes, another Christmas is here, and it will soon pass--that the world will go on, go on with its pain and problems.  December 25^th does not bring reprieve for the millions around the world caught in the grip of war and poverty. Indeed many people will not be happy this Christmas, many do not live in a “marshmellow world.”, many must endure present pain and relive past grief brought to the surface by the very holiday itself.

            “Why are you saying this, pastor? “ Some might ask “Why are you throwing  a damper on Christmas? Can’t you give a cheerful happy message? Seems like you talk an awful lot about the downers of Christmas! ”

       The simple answer to that is, this is the world we live in — a world where happiness can too often be elusive, even when we are bombarded with the message that we are supposed to be happy. Why is that the case?  Why can happiness be so elusive, even during Christmas? Well, happiness is elusive because it depends on external circumstances. The root word of happiness is  “happ,” and you have heard that in another word -- “happenstance”, which means “coincidence”. Happiness is therefore a feeling of well being based on events—things that happen to us. BC Lions fans were very happy when their team won the Grey Cup; Canucks Fans were not so happy last Spring.    

             People are happy at Christmas time for a number of reasons. Receiving and giving gifts is a huge one. A few days off is another. So is time spent together with friends and family.

            The problem with happiness is an obvious one. What happens if the external circumstances are not good? Or something happens to change things in a negative direction? Well under those circumstances, the happiness can diminish or disappear altogether. And unfortunately, in a commercial culture, Christmas has been presented and marketed in such a way that prescribes what ought to make us happy.  These messages come at us hard from television, and from radio in endless rounds of commercials. They are imbedded in film, certainly in much secular-based Christmas music.  Fad toys and fights over them are a sad symptom of the consumerism  which grips the holiday. There is indeed a dark side to Christmas  which the church must speak out against, and that is greed shown in unrestrained consumerism. Christmas Greed is sinful, and Christians must not be afraid to saying that.

            Pastor you are starting to sound a bit like scrooge! I plead guilty.  But there is a Grinch out there—a true Grinch. And what that Grinch has done has stolen  something from people—and that is the true meaning and joy of Christmas.

              The Grinch has taken the Peace of Christmas and substituted it with a calorie filled, sugar coated, candy cane, which may taste good for a while. But when you get to the bottom of it, its gone and nothing remains—except a big credit card bill, and a hangover from the sugar high.  That’s not good news.

           The good news is  that the true meaning of Christmas can be seen, and true joy can be found.

            Joy is different from happiness—happiness with its dependency on external circumstances. Joy, by contrast, does not depend on circumstances. Joy is rather, a state of being, which exists despite circumstances. Joy comes directly from the heart of God, which is unchanging.

            The message of Christmas is that the very embodiment of joy arrived to the world in the person of Jesus. The very embodiment, the incarnation of joy, was born in that quiet, humble, manger over two thousand years ago. There was no fanfare, no parades, no big sales, or extravaganzas in or leading up to that moment.  The nativity scenes many people set up in their homes communicates this idea—the quiet serene arrival of joy into the world, to a people whose hearts ached for comfort.

             Joy came into the world as a little light that shone in the darkness-- as the light whicht pushed back the darkness. That’s the joy of Christmas. It’s not that the darkness disappears.  We all live with the darkness in the background. Some live in the heart of the darkness. But true joy is knowing that God’s light of eternal promise shines into it—that the source of true and lasting joy shines into it, that the light of resurrection dawn shines into it, and the darkness cannot overcome it.

        The light that came into the world two thousand years ago is the light of God’s promise for a New Creation, where there will be no more war, or exploitation, or poverty. Indeed there will be no more darkness at all. This is the resurrection promise which we celebrate at Easter, but also burns in our modest Advent candles.

            It does us well to actually mediate on and contemplate the Christmas Hymns we sing every year. . What are they saying? What are they really saying?  Compare and contrast them to secular Christmas music. Do so, and you will notice a startlingly different theology—a totally different message. What is celebrated in those hymns isn’t good time cheer, but foundational joy—foundational joy gifted to us, foundational joy which can not or ever be taken away from us.  It is that joy that even a person who is physically dying, in the end stages of life, can experience. It is the joy in knowing the love of God, which has come to us in Jesus. This is the good news of Christmas. 

              It is time for Christians everywhere to share the real meaning of Christmas. That might sound like a strange observation. Don’t people just know this? You might ask. No. No they don’t. The conditional, ‘if you are good then you will be rewarded” theology of the red coated elf who comes down the chimney is well known. The theology of grace, the unconditional love of God come into the world through Jesus is far less well known.  Yet it was the “Good News” theology of Jesus Christ, which inspired St Nicholas, the real Santa Claus, to give to needy children  way back in the 3^rd century.  It was a time of great difficulty for the Christian Church, which was heavily persecuted under the Roman Emperor. In those dark days the gifts of St Nicholas represented the ultimate gift of Christ coming into a dark and painful world.

            If  this Christmas is a  happy time for you, count that as a blessing. But if it is not, keep the true meaning of Christmas front and centre, receive the gift which God has placed before you—and it’s not a new toaster. It’s the joy of knowing that you have a Saviour—a Saviour who has brought good new to the oppressed, who has bound up the brokenhearted, proclaimed liberty to the captives, released the prisoners, comforts all who mourn, who has given garland instead of ashes, gladness instead of mourning, a mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. This Saviour will raise up ancient ruins.  God has made a New Covenant Through this Saviour.           

             We are in the third week of Advent, and we are surrounded by all which has come to define the holiday season.  But we are also surrounded by signs of God’s in-breaking kingdom. We see people giving, not to get, but out of love. We see people testifying to the joy of Christ in the hearts through actions of love.

            There is much talk this time of year about the “Spirit of Christmas.” This is the explanation secular society has developed to push a more uncomfortable truth to the side--and that is that Jesus Christ is doing something in the world, that the Holy Spirit sent by the Father and Son, is doing something. God is moving in the hearts of people. They may not know it. They may not know why, and from where this  spiritual joy comes-- joy, not momentary happiness .They need to know—need to know that all of the generosity that we see, all of the incredible acts of charity we see this time of year come from one place, one person--and that person is he who gives light to the world. When people speak about “finding Jesus” it sometimes gives the impression that he is hiding somewhere. But the work of Jesus Christ, the person of Jesus Christ, is plainly visible, visible in the small, easily overlooked light which shines in the darkness. May the peace, and indescribable joy of Christ shine in your hearts, and be a lamp to your feet this season and beyond. Amen.

JOIN US THIS CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Carol Sing Along: Sunday, December 18th, 7:00pm
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service: 5:00pm
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service with Holy Communion: 10:00pm
Christmas Day Service with Holy Communion: 10:30am

Lighting the candle of Love: The Second Sunday in Advent

THE   SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Today on this second Sunday in the season of Advent we have lit the second candle on the Advent wreath, the candle which represents love. And on this, the second Sunday, in the new church year we read the first chapter in the Gospel of Mark, which will be the main source of the church ’s gospel lessons for the next year.

        The gospel of Mark is considered by most scholars to be the foundational text for the synoptic gospels, the primary text upon which the writing of Matthew and Luke was based. And in this gospel account  begins with bold words of proclamation: “ The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

            Where does this story of good news begin? It begins in a far off wilderness,  with the proclamation of John the Baptist.  There, in that rugged landscape, the message about Jesus was first proclaimed and heard—the good news  message that a  Saviour was coming into the world to make all things new and right; the good news message that  the love of God was arriving on the scene in the flesh and blood person of Jesus, the Messiah. In Mark’s account there is no back story, no explanation, no geneology of Jesus. Mark’s gospel hits the ground running with John the Baptisters new and bold proclamation.

            The message was new and bold, but it was borne our of an old promise, the ancient promise God had made to Abraham, and to Isaac and to Jacob, a promise articulated by Isaiah.  And Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet who told the Jewish people of the coming Messiah, tells also of the coming of John, the bold uncompromising voice in the wilderness who shouted God’s promise--the promise  which is the basis of Christian proclamation; the promise  which comes from the loving heart of God.

            Today, we have lit the candle of love to represent the love of God shining forth in a world which knows too little of love. And this begs the question: Why? Why is this the case? Why is there so much want and neediness, so much loneliness and conflict?. Why are there such massive gaps of need in the world today?  How can human beings who profess love as such a high value, such a lofty virtue, be so unloving toward one another? How can even those people who confess allegiance to Jesus Christ be so indifferent to the plight of the needy? How does that happen?

            The answer lies in the long and ancient struggle, the contention, between humans and God.  God has sent the world his love, and humans have resisted it. God has given commandments, but humans have rejected them. God has gifted people with a vision, but humans have ignored it—ignored it in favour of their own self-styled good-news, which all too often becomes an empty promise. Back in 1967 the Beatles sang, “ all you need is love.” But those words ring hallow when we see that human love can be so fickle, can be choosy, stingy,  exclusive and selfish.

This is not so with the love of God  which is  manifested, seen, in God’s great promise to the world—and that is the promise to make all things new, and not just in some future time, but in the present time. Where is the proof of God’s loving promise? It is found in the life death and resurrection of Jesus. The love of God, working in and through the resurrection promise, can transform that human narrow vision into the broad loving vision of Jesus. It is true: All we need is love— this is true. But we really need is the kind of love which has defeated death; the kind of love not bound by human limitation.

Creation itself was an act of love. Human beings create out of love. I am sure that any artist or artisan will tell you that it is difficult to create unless they love what they are doing. So it was and is with God as God creates. The love of God brought the worlds into being, created all there is, and is creating a new world—and the first step of that new creation was the resurrection of Jesus. If there is anything Christians need to understand, it is the proclamation of New Creation. It is very much at the centre of Christian Faith. Bishop NT Wright, who some of you had seen on our video nights, has done an excellent job of highlighting this truth. You see, it is very easy to adopt quite a flat interpretation of creation and eternal life: the common view of the afterlife as a place of pearly gates and harps and that the physical world we live in will simply vanish and no longer be relevant.  In fact this is not the vision which is presented in the pages of scripture. What is presented is a vision of reality transformed; what is presented is a vision of a new creation. We get a glimpse of this vision from the prophet Isaiah in today’s reading.

It is in this new creation  that real, and lasting, and ultimately significant love is found. It is the kind of love  which is not bound by death, or blocked by pain, or shut out by poverty, or dampened by indifference. It is the kind of love which shines through darkness, . This is why Christians celebrate Christmas—it is the celebration  of arrival, arrival of  he who leads us into the light of the new creation. During Advent we anticipate this arrival in memory, and anticipate Christ’s ultimate arrival to make all things right. The followers of Jesus anticipate in patience the fulfillment of the promise.

But in the meantime there is darkness. But the darkness cannot overpower the light of God’s love which radiates from his promise of a new creation.. When John first proclaimed the arrival of the Messiah, he did so in a very dark time. Those of you who joined us for the four part video series saw how the Jewish people were oppressed by the mighty and sometimes brutal Roman Empire. You saw how people were searching for answers, looking for a way out .

Well—this kind of situation continues as humans seek escape from  the strange and painful wilderness which life can too often be. People are hungry for answers and desperate for love. Yes, people are desperate for love in the romantic sense, of course. And many are looking in all the wrong places, as the song goes. But people are desperate also for a foundational love—a foundational love of their being, of their very being.  And many are also searching for that kind of love in all the wrong places.

But none of those places are the promised land. None of those places will lead you to where you really want to go.

God’s promise says that there will be escape—more than escape--. God’s promise says that there will be more than escape and relief, but that the darkness itself will disappear. You will perhaps find no clearer description of the New Creation, what it will look like and be like than what  we read in the words of Isaiah. And in that New Creation, there will no longer be separation between God and humanity. There in the promised land, in the New Jerusalem, there will be a great and ongoing agape feast, a feast of love, a feast of celebration, celebration of eternal life, no more death, no more pain, no more suffering, no more loneliness or pain or exile in wilderness, nothing but love. This is the world Christians anticipate; this is the coming Kingdom. Now that is a rich picture that puts to shame any popular caricature of what heaven will be like. But the good news is that the agape feast, the love feast, yes it will happen in its fullness in the future, but a part of it also happens in the present. There is a small porthole which lets us be part of that great celebration, and that happens in Holy Communion, the agape feast, the great foretaste of the eternal feast. In this small feast of wine and bread, God’s love becomes uniquely manifested in our lives.

 It is a sign of God’s love for us, just as Baptism is a sign of God’s love for us, just as God’s word of forgiveness to us is a sign of God’s love for us..  Such love breaks through the darkness and shines a light in our hearts like nothing else can.   The love present in the agape feast, of Holy Communion, the foretaste of the feast to come, is not boxed in and contained, it spreads out and through the Christian Community. The love present in the Word of Forgiveness and New Life, transforms us in the light of God’s New Creation, as we move through this old creation as children of the New Creation, as Ambassadors of God’s love.

Christ’s light has shone on us and we are called to reflect that love. The heart of  the Christmas celebration is not that the darkness of this age has been removed from our lives in the present, or that everything is okay in the world because  December 25   is around the corner.

The heart of the Christmas celebration is knowing that a Saviour came into the world to defeat the darkness--darkness which is here for a time, but will ultimately dissappear. May the light of God’s love illuminate your path, and the peace which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.