Happy Birthday, Jesus?

My wife's family on her mom's side, the Plott side of my mother-in-law's family, my wife's Nan's family used to hold an annual Christmas party at the Bainbridge fire hall.  It was a family reunion/Christmas party.  It included a ham dinner, lots of desserts, a penny toss, and a visit from "Santa". A penny toss or scramble is just what you think.  An adult throws pennies and kids scramble to collect them.  There were other antics that I will not mention.  I married into this.  We went every year the Saturday before Christmas. It was an obligatory event. Not that we didn't enjoy it. These people were funny and knew how to have a good time.  Every year my wife and I would rehearse who belonged to who and who was related to whom.  Changes in relationship status and the additions of children made this a continuous endeavor.  Since Nan's death in 2002, it hasn't been the same. Last year was the first year that there was no party.  We buried Aunt Ann instead.
Aunt Sis, the eldest of the Plott siblings always said the blessing and hosted a birthday party for Jesus.  We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and ate cupcakes.  There were even candles. I remembered that in my church growing up, we had a birthday party for Jesus too.   I suspect a lot of churches did this near Christmas as part of the celebratory cheer.  Why not add a birthday cake to the table?
Here's the thing: December 25th is not Jesus' birthday.  The church does not celebrate his birthday. We don't know his birthday.  We are not told. It was not known or it did not matter to the writers of his story. December 25th was a Pagan festival celebrating the winter solstice.  Christians adopted it for their celebration of the Nativity and Incarnation of Jesus the Messiah. It was an idea festival to adopt because it explored the themes of darkness and light, rebirth and renewal, and the anticipatory hope for the sun's return.  These themes were also Jewish themes and fit well with their notion of Messianic hope.  "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light,"wrote the ancient prophet Isaiah.    
We don't celebrate his birthday, but we do celebrate his birth.  There is a difference. Because His birth points to the bible's claim of the incarnation; that is, the bible claims that the God who made the earth and the heavens descends into human flesh; the eternal and immortal puts on a mortal human body. And that personal expression is found in Jesus of Nazareth.   God comes near by showing up in the person of Jesus, a man whose birth becomes important precisely because his death and resurrection identified him as the Son of God, the physical embodiment of the invisible God.  Mark's gospel is concerned in telling the story of his ministry, death, and resurrection.  Matthew and Luke are concerned with telling about his special birth as a fulfillment of ancient scriptures and prophecies.  The story of Christmas comes from Matthew and Luke.  Mostly from Luke chapters 1 and 2.  
The Gospel of John proposes that Jesus' earthly presence, his humanity, points to the greater truth of his divinity.  God is the Word made flesh in Jesus.  Jesus is God in human form.  That is who and what we celebrate at Christmas.  And Jesus' tells us that his flesh and blood are available for consumption, so that he might get inside our own flesh and blood.  He is in bread and wine, when we remember that he promised to be in bread and wine for us.
So you can eat birthday cake for Jesus.  But, if you want to celebrate his birth and life and death and resurrection; if you want to celebrate who he is, the man of God, the God in the flesh,the embodiment of the Good and gracious creator and giver of life come to the table and dine with his church, who gather to eat the bread and drink the wine to remember the one who carried the power of God in his body--a power that overcomes darkness and death.  Christmas is not a birthday party.  It is a celebration of the presence of God in the body of Jesus Christ, as a baby boy and a crucified man. God is born and dies and is raised from the dead.  That's what we celebrate.  God is with us.  God is not invisible, unknowable, far away.  God has come.  God is Jesus.  Jesus is God.  This is the bible's story and why we celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord, the Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. The best place to celebrate this is in a fire hall with some crazy relatives or in a church.  Make sure you eat a cupcake or too.          

the one about adultery

Human sexuality is a gift from God.  People share a level of vulnerability and intimacy that binds them together.  Through sexual relations, we can participate in the creation of life. Sexual intimacy is an expression of a loving relationship between two consenting adult partners. It is not the only expression or even a necessary one.
There is an underside or dark side that we all know.  Unwanted pregnancy.  Rape.  Exploitation of children.  Prostitution.  Sexual violence and abuse.  Sexual activity can be a criminal act, as much as it can be an act of intimacy and love.  Is there another human activity or behavior that is both so desirous and so dangerous, so good and so bad, so affirming and so destructive?  I suppose it is like the difference between someone who shares a glass of wine with a companion and someone who drinks a bottle of vodka and gets behind the wheel of a car. Not only about moderation and social responsibility, it's also about the content of human relationships and the biology that drives our behaviors. But I am not speaking as a biologist or a psychologist.  I speak as a theologian.
How might we come to grips with sexuality and the human condition that can often turn something beautiful into something scarred and ugly?

the one about the prophets and our voices

Icon of John the Baptist

A message inspired by Isaiah 40 and Mark 1 (lectionary readings for Sunday, Advent 2, December 7, 2014).  

A voice cries out.  Prepare yourselves.  God’s arrival is imminent, near.  God is about to invade the earth.  His invasion will change everything.  God’s coming will surprise us, even though it is coming in the nick of time, at the right time, when needed the most, when the crisis is at its most serious.  Today we hear from two prophets.  The prophets’ voices announce that the day has come.  Because the prophet has a divine Word, pointing us to God’s activity among us and for us.  The prophet is not a predictor.  We are interpreters.  We tell the truth when people have abandoned faith and hope and taken matters into their own hands.  After a long wait, a period of silence, several generations in exile and captivity---God comes to rescue and liberate and redeem Israel.  This is the story we hear in Advent.  From Isaiah to John, the fulfillment of hope in a divine promise begins…

Today is Pearl Harbor day—a date which will live in infamy.  73 years ago today, Japanese aircraft attacked the American Navy base on Oahu.  From Malaya to Midway Islands, the Pacific was under a surprise attack by Japan.  It signaled the beginning of U.S. engagement in World War II.  500,000 American soldiers, sailors, pilots, and Marines died over the next 4 years.  The global political and economic landscape was forever changed.   All told, over 52 million people were killed in the war.  From 1946 to 1964, there were a total of 74 million American births.  Called the baby boom.   You were born at the end of WWII.   You brought the world rock and roll; computers;  Bill Clinton; the Fonz; Elvis; hippies; Coca-Cola; Mary Tyler Moore; Star Wars; outer space; Oprah; the environmental movement; divorce; church camps and youth groups; Civil Rights; health care; the cold war; Vietnam; Steve Jobs and Bill Gates; globalization; The Muppets; feminism; Levis; I could go on.  Post-war boomers have had a major impact on American life. The last 3 presidents were baby boomers. I suspect the next one or two could be.  Retiring in droves; raising grandkids; boomers are between ages 50 and 68 years old. They preside over a lot of money and power—most if it really. They are the me generation.   They have accumulated wealth and will eat up social security.  They left church.  Found Yoga and yogurt and other things to do.  They are the last generation who will care about church buildings and organs and stained glass and pews and hymnals.  Because they have witnessed massive cultural shifts in every aspect of American life.  They have participated in change and resisted it.  This last half century has brought tremendous change and technology we could not have imagined.  We fancy ourselves more independent and more capable than ever before.  Masters of our own domain.  Rulers.  Problem solvers.  We have survived the threat of mutual destruction by nukes; only to be threatened by terrorists who behead. John the Baptist will be beheaded because of his voice crying out in the wilderness.  We are in the wilderness too.  In exile.  Lost.  Adrift.  Afraid.  We can’t buy our way out of it or fix it. Science and technology will not save us.  Our government and our military cannot keep us safe and provide for our needs equally and fairly.  You know it.  You know we are in crisis on so many levels.  Wealthiest nation on earth with hungry children and the largest prison population.  Race relations and class relations and how we treat aliens and refugees and immigrants are all in question right now.  Cities are erupting in protests.  A crisis of biblical proportions is occurring and we cannot remain neutral, uninvolved, and unconcerned.  Who dares to cry out gospel truth in this selfish and frightened and wealthy generation?   

Nearly two hundred years passed between Isaiah chapter 39 and chapter 40.  The first 39 chapters speak to Israel’s poltical and social realities of the 8^th century BC, around 740 BC.  Chapter 40 to 55 were written during the period known as the Babylonian exile. Ancient Jews assembled these anachonristic writings into a single text called “Isaiah”  But, between first Isaiah and 2^nd Isaiah, there was nearly 200 years of divine silence.  And the first word, the new word that is spoken in chapter 40 is “Comfort, comfort my people.”  It is a word of promise; Israel has paid for her sins and will be liberated from captivity, forgiven, and restored. The prophet interprets current events.  And this chapter tells us about the end of the Babylonian exile.  Despite the inconstancy of the people, God is faithful.  Despite their weaknesses and vulnerability, God is strong and will strengthen them like a shepherd leads the sheep.  Therefore, as they travel along the God’s homeward highway they are all called to shout out; “Here is your God.”  The relationship between God and His sheep is beginning again.  After an age of suffering. God comes and sets them free.  

The prophet announces a new beginning.  The beginning of the good news is John the Baptist.  The wilderness prophet.  Paying homage to his ancestors.  His food and clothing, a reminder that he belongs to the earth, lives close to the ground, and resembles the prophets of old—pointing ahead to God’s promised future. He has abandoned the world and its comforts.  He is an ancient-looking creature with a future-oriented message and a powerful voice.  He is sent to enact a journey in the Judean hills, across the Jordan.  His baptism is about an end to the way of sin and the beginning of the way of life.  It is a ritual coming out, a drowning in and rising up.  It is Noah’s ark and Moses’ sea and Joshua entering the promised land by crossing that same river.  And yet, John points beyond himself. This is not John’s religion or John’s gathering.  It is not a personality cult.  God is about to act. To come.  To arrive. In the heart of a man.  A leader.  A prophet.  A Savior. 

The prophets remind us that our voices matter; our voices are desperately needed in a world that is often silent in the face of destructive evil and wicked injustices.  Our voices matter when despair threatens to destroy people, communities, nations.  Our voices matter when abuse and shame and pain and violence and prejudice devour our attention and overwhelm our senses.  Our voices matter when the truth is drowned out by the noise.  Our world is noisy.  What we need is not more noise. But a voice to cut through it.  A voice that announces the coming of the Christ, the King, the Savior.  A voice that says, “You are not alone. I am with you.”   Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in PA is a ministry of our church that recognizes that a Lutheran voice in public debate and conversation is an important voice, because we are not politically one-sided and we are theologically concerned about the poor, the disenfranchised, and the vulnerable.  We speak for and with those whose voices are silenced by more powerful voices.   

Two 20^th century prophets speak to us:  “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil; God will not hold us guiltless.  Not to speak is to speak.  Not to act is to act.” Bonhoeffer.  King, “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people but the appalling silence of the good people.” May we lift up our voices and announce, “Here is our God.”  He has come to save us.  Amen.