Trinity Presbyterian Church of Bethesda
01.20.08; Rev. David Williams
Scripture Lessons: Psalm 40; John 1: 29-42
Life, some say, is like a rollercoaster. There are those moments when you soar upward, pressed back hard into your seat by a couple of Gs. There are those moments when you plummet downward, feeling the touch of near weightless free fall before you scream gleefully into a juddering, banking turn. It’s gleeful fun, a carefully tested state-approved measure of utterly safe adren-o-tainment.
But as much as we’ve heard that metaphor crushingly and relentlessly overused, life really isn’t anything like a rollercoaster. On a rollercoaster, you know pretty much exactly what’s going to happen. Right out there in front of you stretches a track, a perfect set of over-engineered rails which your car and the cars behind you will follow every single time. You know when you’re about to dive. You see that huge first near vertical plunge coming from your choice position in the very front seat. You raise your hands higher in the air than a sleep-deprived Pentecostal after three straight hours of really kickin’ praise music, and start your shrieking just a second before your stomach tries to push it’s way into your throat. You know exactly what’s coming.
Life isn’t like that. Those plunges come when we least expect them. Those rises suddenly snatch us up. We have no idea which way the track is going. Sometimes, as our downward acceleration increases, we’re not even sure if there’s a track there at all.
Any of you who’ve been following the stock market over the last few months will know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s up and down, it’s banking wildly, one day soaring, another day dipping even further downward. The market these days resembles nothing more than a flock of starlings who’ve eaten their fill of fermented blackberries, a great drunken cloud squawking and stumbling aimlessly through the sky. It’s not an easy time for those of us who have pension or retirement funds, or those of us who have investments, or those of us whose churches still rely on the returns from their endowments to keep their doors open. Who knows what will happen next?
The answer to that question, of course, is that none of us know. The market could come down in a blazing kamikaze death spiral, finally cratering in a depression that will leave us all living in the boxes of our 61 inch HDTV’s and once weekly treating ourselves to Micky D’s new McWatery Cabbage Soup. Or it could turn around. Or it could do...nothing. We just don’t know.
We human beings know nothing for certain about what lies ahead, and for many of us, that uncertainty is so terrifying that we can become paralyzed by cynicism, or become frightened and easily manipulated, or become angry and bitter. But if we want to live lives that are not defined by the chaos of the world, then we have to be rooted in something deeper.
At the very beginning of the service, we all read together from the 40th Psalm. It’s an interesting Psalm for a couple of reasons. First, it’s one of what I like to call the FrankenPsalms, which are made by stitching together two different songs of praise. Verses 13 through 17 of Psalm 40 are, in fact, nothing more than all of Psalm 70, which has been cut and pasted in.
Second and much more importantly, it’s a song of rejoicing at God’s deliverance, a deeply personal song of salvation and security in God’s embrace. What has God delivered the Psalmist from? In verse two, our New International Versions tell us it’s “the slimy pit.” My New Revised Standard Version says “the desolate pit.” But if you translate directly and literally from the original Hebrew, it’s “the pit of tumult” or “the pit of chaos.” God delivers us from that devouring quicksand place where everything is chaotic. That rock, that firm place on which God has us stand, is nothing less than God’s own self, God’s law written by the Holy Spirit into our hearts.
We also heard today from John’s Gospel about the gathering of Christ’s first disciples, about Andrew and Simon. Andrew brings Simon to Jesus, who promptly renames him. Naming is a powerful thing in the Bible, and it helps define a person’s role and what they are to become. Simon’s new name, as Jesus would have spoken it in Aramaic, is Kepha. In the Greek of John’s Gospel, that becomes the word Petra. Both of those words simply mean “Rock.” In these two passages, we’ve heard about both what we should seek from God and what God intends us to become as disciples of Christ Jesus.
First, no matter what the world throws at us, faith grounds us in something that goes well beyond the whirlwind craziness of this life. Whether it’s markets that go haywire or life just throwing you an unexpected curve, that connection our faith gives us to our Creator allows us to experience those things and be unshaken. Our feet are set on a rock, and the tumult can’t move us.
Second, Christ’s renaming of Simon tells us that as our faith calls us to discipleship, we’re not supposed to think of our journey as something that effects only us. Just as he was renamed, and his calling in life was redefined, our faith is not something that is for us alone. We’re called to be a rock for others, to share the strength we have been given with those who have been shaken or broken by the world.
In the face of the world’s uncertainty, in the face of so much chaos and confusion and doubt, it is that basis upon which we can stand with certainty. But it isn’t simply the rock on which we stand...there solid footing on that rock for all of us.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
See and Be Radiant
Trinity Presbyterian Church of Bethesda
01.06.08; Rev. David Williams
Scripture Lessons: Isaiah 60:1-6; Matthew 2:1-12
So how’d you make out this Christmas?
If the folks from the National Retail Federation are to be believed, the average American family of four will have spent $6,200 this last holiday season. Six Thousand Two Hundred Dollars. That’s one thousand, five hundred and fifty dollars in gifts per person. Suddenly, I’m feeling well below average, and to be honest, I suspect that’s exactly the way the National Retail Federation wants us to feel. You’re all below average! Gotta spend more, people!
Let’s pretend for a moment that the retailer’s association number is real. Against that rather excessive standard, how would Jesus have made out this year? When those three kingly figures showed up at the door of the equipment shed behind the overbooked Bethlehem Motel 6 and presented their gifts to the itinerant family that was taking shelter there for the night, what did that mean in terms of cold, hard cash value?
We all know the gifts. He gets gold, he gets frankincense, he gets myrrh. Let’s assume he gets a half-pound of each, and talk dollars here, two thousand and eight dollars. We’ll go in reverse order, and start with the myrrh.
Myrrh, as many of you may know, is a perfumed resin that was used in the ancient world to embalm the dead. Back then, it was pretty valuable. Today, though, it’s not in much demand. If you do a little internet searching you’ll find that a kilo of Yemeni myrrh goes for forty eight bucks American. That means, if you do the calculations, that a half pound of myrrh is today worth eleven dollars and four cents, not including tax, shipping and handling.
Frankincense is another perfume, a form of incense that would have typically been used in religious rituals. In the first century, it was seriously rare and among the most expensive things one could buy. But we don’t live in the first century. Here in the twenty-first century, frankincense just isn’t on people’s gift lists. It’s still produced in some middle eastern nations, and the best stuff comes from the Sultanate of Oman. Omani frankincense retails for $78 a kilo, which translates into $17.94 a half pound. So far the blessed Lord Jesus asleep in his bed has only raked in $28.98. So far, the National Retail Federation is very, very disappointed in the Wise Men. But we’ve got one gift left.
And it’s Gold. Shiny warm blingtastic Gold. Back in the time of Jesus, it was among the most precious of metals. Here in 2008, with the stock markets flailing around wildly, the dollar’s value in a nose dive, the real estate markets collapsing and a major recession possibly right around the corner, gold is suddenly in major demand. At the beginning of 2007, gold was selling in the global market for under $640 per troy ounce. Yesterday, gold was at $861 per troy ounce. At the close of commodities trading on Friday, that half-pound of gold would ring in at six thousand eight hundred and eighty eight dollars. Add in the frankincense and myrrh, and you’ve got gifts worth six thousand nine hundred and eighteen dollars and ninety eight cents. The National Retail Federation approves. Almost seven thousand bucks in gifts, and they’re only a family of three! For 2008, the Holy Family is definitely above average...from a retail perspective, that is.
As insane as that might seem, there are large portions of American Christianity that seem to view faith through that same retail lens. The purpose of coming to church and the purpose of being part of a congregation is to insure that you materially prosper. It’s known as Word Faith Christianity, and it’s practitioners are many. They include folks like Creflo A. Dollar, Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn, and there are a few core themes that run throughout their brand of Christianity.
The first and most essential idea pitched by these folks is the idea that material prosperity is the certain end result of faithfulness. If you are faithful, then you will get a bountiful repayment from God. It isn’t just that you do well spiritually. If you show your faith, you’ll get a return that typically can be measured in terms of cold, hard, cash.
How do you show God your faithfulness? For that, these purveyors of prosperity ask only that you be sure to “sow a seed.” They tell you that to get God’s blessings in return, you have to give first. How can you expect God to give something to you if you’re not giving to God? And what easier way to give to God than to support their ministries? Preferably to their ministry. They take Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, and you don’t even have to get up off the couch to begin planting the seeds that will lead to your blessings.
If you want to get a gift, you’ve got to give a gift! It’s a bit like the cheesy necklace I had the pleasure of watching Benny Hinn offer up on cable recently in exchange for your $1,000 donation.
Of course, as we heard the Epiphany story read this morning, one thing that should strike all of us is that if you really listen to that story, the gifts...the gold and frankincense and myrrh...are really not important at all. Yes, talking about what they mean has launched a thousand sermons. Gold for kingship, frankincense for worship, and myrrh for Christ’s death...I think I’ve even preached a sermon or two just like that. We might even sing a song about it in the very near future.
But the wise men don’t set out on their journey so that they can bring Christ gifts valued at nearly 7,000 2008 dollars. The purpose of their long trek across the Ancient Near East is to pay him homage, to honor him, and to rejoice in his presence. Having observed the radiance of his star, they come to bask in it’s light. There’s absolutely no mention in that passage of having their gifts valued based on their worth. What is highlighted is that they rejoiced, and they honored him.
It is that joy and that honor that are the most important gifts we can offer up...and not because we expect anything significant in return. If we’re to really rejoice in Christ’s presence, to really celebrate him and share ourselves with him, we can’t approach him with a transaction in mind.
Instead, we’re called to do what the prophet Isaiah proclaims in Isaiah chapter 60, as he describes a vision of God’s fulfillment to a people who have been broken by years of exile and hopelessness. We are to see the brilliance of God’s promise, and be overjoyed. From that joy we radiate our own joy into the world, giving to all those around us a reflection of how God’s light has touched our lives.
Material blessings may come. Or they may not. They’re not the point. We’re not here to see how much we might receive.
01.06.08; Rev. David Williams
Scripture Lessons: Isaiah 60:1-6; Matthew 2:1-12
So how’d you make out this Christmas?
If the folks from the National Retail Federation are to be believed, the average American family of four will have spent $6,200 this last holiday season. Six Thousand Two Hundred Dollars. That’s one thousand, five hundred and fifty dollars in gifts per person. Suddenly, I’m feeling well below average, and to be honest, I suspect that’s exactly the way the National Retail Federation wants us to feel. You’re all below average! Gotta spend more, people!
Let’s pretend for a moment that the retailer’s association number is real. Against that rather excessive standard, how would Jesus have made out this year? When those three kingly figures showed up at the door of the equipment shed behind the overbooked Bethlehem Motel 6 and presented their gifts to the itinerant family that was taking shelter there for the night, what did that mean in terms of cold, hard cash value?
We all know the gifts. He gets gold, he gets frankincense, he gets myrrh. Let’s assume he gets a half-pound of each, and talk dollars here, two thousand and eight dollars. We’ll go in reverse order, and start with the myrrh.
Myrrh, as many of you may know, is a perfumed resin that was used in the ancient world to embalm the dead. Back then, it was pretty valuable. Today, though, it’s not in much demand. If you do a little internet searching you’ll find that a kilo of Yemeni myrrh goes for forty eight bucks American. That means, if you do the calculations, that a half pound of myrrh is today worth eleven dollars and four cents, not including tax, shipping and handling.
Frankincense is another perfume, a form of incense that would have typically been used in religious rituals. In the first century, it was seriously rare and among the most expensive things one could buy. But we don’t live in the first century. Here in the twenty-first century, frankincense just isn’t on people’s gift lists. It’s still produced in some middle eastern nations, and the best stuff comes from the Sultanate of Oman. Omani frankincense retails for $78 a kilo, which translates into $17.94 a half pound. So far the blessed Lord Jesus asleep in his bed has only raked in $28.98. So far, the National Retail Federation is very, very disappointed in the Wise Men. But we’ve got one gift left.
And it’s Gold. Shiny warm blingtastic Gold. Back in the time of Jesus, it was among the most precious of metals. Here in 2008, with the stock markets flailing around wildly, the dollar’s value in a nose dive, the real estate markets collapsing and a major recession possibly right around the corner, gold is suddenly in major demand. At the beginning of 2007, gold was selling in the global market for under $640 per troy ounce. Yesterday, gold was at $861 per troy ounce. At the close of commodities trading on Friday, that half-pound of gold would ring in at six thousand eight hundred and eighty eight dollars. Add in the frankincense and myrrh, and you’ve got gifts worth six thousand nine hundred and eighteen dollars and ninety eight cents. The National Retail Federation approves. Almost seven thousand bucks in gifts, and they’re only a family of three! For 2008, the Holy Family is definitely above average...from a retail perspective, that is.
As insane as that might seem, there are large portions of American Christianity that seem to view faith through that same retail lens. The purpose of coming to church and the purpose of being part of a congregation is to insure that you materially prosper. It’s known as Word Faith Christianity, and it’s practitioners are many. They include folks like Creflo A. Dollar, Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn, and there are a few core themes that run throughout their brand of Christianity.
The first and most essential idea pitched by these folks is the idea that material prosperity is the certain end result of faithfulness. If you are faithful, then you will get a bountiful repayment from God. It isn’t just that you do well spiritually. If you show your faith, you’ll get a return that typically can be measured in terms of cold, hard, cash.
How do you show God your faithfulness? For that, these purveyors of prosperity ask only that you be sure to “sow a seed.” They tell you that to get God’s blessings in return, you have to give first. How can you expect God to give something to you if you’re not giving to God? And what easier way to give to God than to support their ministries? Preferably to their ministry. They take Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, and you don’t even have to get up off the couch to begin planting the seeds that will lead to your blessings.
If you want to get a gift, you’ve got to give a gift! It’s a bit like the cheesy necklace I had the pleasure of watching Benny Hinn offer up on cable recently in exchange for your $1,000 donation.
Of course, as we heard the Epiphany story read this morning, one thing that should strike all of us is that if you really listen to that story, the gifts...the gold and frankincense and myrrh...are really not important at all. Yes, talking about what they mean has launched a thousand sermons. Gold for kingship, frankincense for worship, and myrrh for Christ’s death...I think I’ve even preached a sermon or two just like that. We might even sing a song about it in the very near future.
But the wise men don’t set out on their journey so that they can bring Christ gifts valued at nearly 7,000 2008 dollars. The purpose of their long trek across the Ancient Near East is to pay him homage, to honor him, and to rejoice in his presence. Having observed the radiance of his star, they come to bask in it’s light. There’s absolutely no mention in that passage of having their gifts valued based on their worth. What is highlighted is that they rejoiced, and they honored him.
It is that joy and that honor that are the most important gifts we can offer up...and not because we expect anything significant in return. If we’re to really rejoice in Christ’s presence, to really celebrate him and share ourselves with him, we can’t approach him with a transaction in mind.
Instead, we’re called to do what the prophet Isaiah proclaims in Isaiah chapter 60, as he describes a vision of God’s fulfillment to a people who have been broken by years of exile and hopelessness. We are to see the brilliance of God’s promise, and be overjoyed. From that joy we radiate our own joy into the world, giving to all those around us a reflection of how God’s light has touched our lives.
Material blessings may come. Or they may not. They’re not the point. We’re not here to see how much we might receive.
Friday, January 4, 2008
No Shame
Trinity Presbyterian Church of Bethesda
12.23.07; Rev. David Williams
Scripture Lesson: Matthew 1:18-24
I’m not sure that there’s even such a thing as shame any more in America.
I’m talking about actions or decisions that tear at the fabric of our society. Shame is a social thing, something that experienced when a person has close connections with the people around them. But I’m not sure that those connections even exist in our culture any more. With our emphasis on personal freedom and individuality, you do what you do, without linkage to any other people.
In many ways, that’s a good thing. Sometimes what everyone around you expects you to do...is wrong. Being ashamed of yourself and of who you are is profoundly counterproductive, and a society that is constantly judging and hammering down it’s members can be a crushingly oppressive place to live.
But somewhere between the good of the many and the good of the one there has to be a balance. Our society seems to have utterly forgotten about the idea that sometimes there are things you do or say that you should feel genuinely embarrassed about. I’m not talking about those moments when you make yourself look epically, America’s Funniest Home Videos stupid, like stalling out and falling off your motorcycle at a stoplight in front of a carload of attractive young women, or showing up at a church event and having your children throw themselves through windows. Not that those things have ever happened to me.
I’m talking about taking actions that are so utterly self-serving, so completely and blindly oblivious of the well being of anyone but yourself. You couldn’t care less about the consequences. What consequences? You’re living in a universe that revolves so totally around the wonder that is You that even the thought that there might be more at stake than your own blessed ego doesn’t even cross your mind.
The best example of that blindness to shame that I’ve seen in a long, long while was served up this last week by corporate America, by the executives that run Circuit City. I used to shop at my nearby Circuit City all the time. The prices were competitive, and the Best Buy that had been built just three hundred yards away has a parking lot that deserves a mention in Dante’s vision of Hell. But back in March of this year, as sales began to slump a bit, the leaders of Circuit City made a decision that caused me to personally commit to never shopping there again. In fact, I take every Circuit City ad circular I get and recycle it without even looking at it. Why?
To cut costs, they fired all of their most experienced long-term salespeople, over three thousand men and women. It wasn’t that those salespersons weren’t doing their jobs. It was that they’d made a career out of sales, and that they...having worked at Circuit City for years, had gotten small raises every year for their commitment and performance.
So for their dedication and professionalism...they got canned, and were replaced with new, inexperienced workers for much less pay. Experience and dedication weren’t important. After that decision, for some reason sales crumbled and their stock price tanked. The story doesn’t end there, though.
This week, the same group of Circuit City executive leadership decided that the most important thing for the business was to insure that they have an experienced, long-term executive leadership team. So they decided to award themselves huge bonuses if they continued to work there through 2011. Every senior vice president would get a $600,000 cash payment. Every executive vice president would get a $1 million bonus. They’d already promised their CEO a $2.9 million bonus if he stuck around.
If I tried to engage in this sort of brazen hypocrisy, I think I’d blush so hard my face would explode. But apparently, a sense of honor is not a part of the corporate culture at Circuit City.
That wasn’t the case 2,000 years ago in Judah. Hebrew society in the first century was deeply defined by family and tribal blood honor. Adhering to the social codes of that society wasn’t just a matter of personal embarrassment. It was a matter of life and death. That’s just what Joseph was struggling with in the Gospel message this morning. His young bride-to-be was pregnant...and he wasn’t the father. Back in Deuteronomy 22:23-24, the penalty for getting knocked up out of wedlock was pretty clear. The woman was to be stoned to death.
By the time of Jesus, the Pharisees...the early precursors of today’s rabbis...had tried to make this a little less brutal, but if a husband-to-be wanted to press the issue, you could be pretty much assured that the woman would become socially ostracized for the rest of her life as a shame to her promised husband and to her own family. She and her child would likely become impoverished, isolated beggars, with no place in the culture around them. It would guarantee them a life of misery and struggle. If the husband-to-be pressed the issue, that is.
Joseph, who was a righteous man in all the right ways, wasn’t about to do that. He didn’t want her hurt or shamed, and was ready to call it off gently and quietly. In a society where dishonor could mean death or ruin, it was the gracious thing to do. But God had other plans.
Joseph was called to act in a way that went far beyond the graciousness he had already expressed. By choosing to act upon the angelic message he heard in his dream, Joseph completely shattered the expectations of his culture. He redefined honor. He took it deeper than his culture could comprehend.
In being faithful to what God was calling him to do, Joseph was showing us one of the most important things that our faith does for us. When we base our actions in trust in God, and not in the dominant values of our culture, we are able to step beyond the biases and flaws that too often corrupt our lives together in this world.
We’re able to defy expectations that betray the essential foundation of selfless, open-souled love that defined what Jesus lived and taught. We’re able to step out of the prisons of oppression or egotism, and to participate in the love that God is.
Though Joseph’s society called him to obey it’s standards of honor and shame, he saw that the love of God commanded him to act in ways that went far deeper. He accepted his wife, and he accepted the child that was growing inside her, and in doing so he played a vital role in a story that we’re all living out as Christians.
Though we’re living out that story in a radically different American society, each of us are asked to do much the same thing in our own lives. As Christians, we’re called to defy the hypocrisy and greed that can so often turn us away from the reality of human need around us. As Christians, we’re called to break from that me-first, getting-all-we-can ethic that defines life in a corporate consumer culture. Instead, we’re to embody the love that was made flesh in that little child.
There’s no shame in that.
12.23.07; Rev. David Williams
Scripture Lesson: Matthew 1:18-24
I’m not sure that there’s even such a thing as shame any more in America.
I’m talking about actions or decisions that tear at the fabric of our society. Shame is a social thing, something that experienced when a person has close connections with the people around them. But I’m not sure that those connections even exist in our culture any more. With our emphasis on personal freedom and individuality, you do what you do, without linkage to any other people.
In many ways, that’s a good thing. Sometimes what everyone around you expects you to do...is wrong. Being ashamed of yourself and of who you are is profoundly counterproductive, and a society that is constantly judging and hammering down it’s members can be a crushingly oppressive place to live.
But somewhere between the good of the many and the good of the one there has to be a balance. Our society seems to have utterly forgotten about the idea that sometimes there are things you do or say that you should feel genuinely embarrassed about. I’m not talking about those moments when you make yourself look epically, America’s Funniest Home Videos stupid, like stalling out and falling off your motorcycle at a stoplight in front of a carload of attractive young women, or showing up at a church event and having your children throw themselves through windows. Not that those things have ever happened to me.
I’m talking about taking actions that are so utterly self-serving, so completely and blindly oblivious of the well being of anyone but yourself. You couldn’t care less about the consequences. What consequences? You’re living in a universe that revolves so totally around the wonder that is You that even the thought that there might be more at stake than your own blessed ego doesn’t even cross your mind.
The best example of that blindness to shame that I’ve seen in a long, long while was served up this last week by corporate America, by the executives that run Circuit City. I used to shop at my nearby Circuit City all the time. The prices were competitive, and the Best Buy that had been built just three hundred yards away has a parking lot that deserves a mention in Dante’s vision of Hell. But back in March of this year, as sales began to slump a bit, the leaders of Circuit City made a decision that caused me to personally commit to never shopping there again. In fact, I take every Circuit City ad circular I get and recycle it without even looking at it. Why?
To cut costs, they fired all of their most experienced long-term salespeople, over three thousand men and women. It wasn’t that those salespersons weren’t doing their jobs. It was that they’d made a career out of sales, and that they...having worked at Circuit City for years, had gotten small raises every year for their commitment and performance.
So for their dedication and professionalism...they got canned, and were replaced with new, inexperienced workers for much less pay. Experience and dedication weren’t important. After that decision, for some reason sales crumbled and their stock price tanked. The story doesn’t end there, though.
This week, the same group of Circuit City executive leadership decided that the most important thing for the business was to insure that they have an experienced, long-term executive leadership team. So they decided to award themselves huge bonuses if they continued to work there through 2011. Every senior vice president would get a $600,000 cash payment. Every executive vice president would get a $1 million bonus. They’d already promised their CEO a $2.9 million bonus if he stuck around.
If I tried to engage in this sort of brazen hypocrisy, I think I’d blush so hard my face would explode. But apparently, a sense of honor is not a part of the corporate culture at Circuit City.
That wasn’t the case 2,000 years ago in Judah. Hebrew society in the first century was deeply defined by family and tribal blood honor. Adhering to the social codes of that society wasn’t just a matter of personal embarrassment. It was a matter of life and death. That’s just what Joseph was struggling with in the Gospel message this morning. His young bride-to-be was pregnant...and he wasn’t the father. Back in Deuteronomy 22:23-24, the penalty for getting knocked up out of wedlock was pretty clear. The woman was to be stoned to death.
By the time of Jesus, the Pharisees...the early precursors of today’s rabbis...had tried to make this a little less brutal, but if a husband-to-be wanted to press the issue, you could be pretty much assured that the woman would become socially ostracized for the rest of her life as a shame to her promised husband and to her own family. She and her child would likely become impoverished, isolated beggars, with no place in the culture around them. It would guarantee them a life of misery and struggle. If the husband-to-be pressed the issue, that is.
Joseph, who was a righteous man in all the right ways, wasn’t about to do that. He didn’t want her hurt or shamed, and was ready to call it off gently and quietly. In a society where dishonor could mean death or ruin, it was the gracious thing to do. But God had other plans.
Joseph was called to act in a way that went far beyond the graciousness he had already expressed. By choosing to act upon the angelic message he heard in his dream, Joseph completely shattered the expectations of his culture. He redefined honor. He took it deeper than his culture could comprehend.
In being faithful to what God was calling him to do, Joseph was showing us one of the most important things that our faith does for us. When we base our actions in trust in God, and not in the dominant values of our culture, we are able to step beyond the biases and flaws that too often corrupt our lives together in this world.
We’re able to defy expectations that betray the essential foundation of selfless, open-souled love that defined what Jesus lived and taught. We’re able to step out of the prisons of oppression or egotism, and to participate in the love that God is.
Though Joseph’s society called him to obey it’s standards of honor and shame, he saw that the love of God commanded him to act in ways that went far deeper. He accepted his wife, and he accepted the child that was growing inside her, and in doing so he played a vital role in a story that we’re all living out as Christians.
Though we’re living out that story in a radically different American society, each of us are asked to do much the same thing in our own lives. As Christians, we’re called to defy the hypocrisy and greed that can so often turn us away from the reality of human need around us. As Christians, we’re called to break from that me-first, getting-all-we-can ethic that defines life in a corporate consumer culture. Instead, we’re to embody the love that was made flesh in that little child.
There’s no shame in that.
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