Awkward Advent

(A sermon on the First Sunday of Advent, Year C, preached at All Saints' Episcopal Church 11/29/2009)

I am fascinated by popular culture. I think that it’s essential to be as aware and in tune to it as one can be.

There are lots of definitions and in-depth studies of what accounts as popular culture, but I prefer a simple one found in the online dictionary Wiktionary:

Popular Culture: The prevailing vernacular (or everyday) culture in any given society, including art, cooking, clothing, entertainment, films, mass media, music, sports and style.

(note that Wiktionary is the lexical companion to Wikipedia, which has a greatly expanded entry on "popular culture" that I highly recommend reading)

I like this definition a lot, I think, because of the ambiguous words “culture in any given society.” Through most of the last 30 years, “pop culture” usually refers only to American trends, so one could argue that finding what is the popular culture is a search to find what is prevalent in America as a whole. The Wiktionary definition not only allows for views beyond America, but in the many sub-cultures as well. For example: popular culture for those who live in America as a whole may be different than considering only people of New Hampshire, which is CERTAINLY different than what is popular for people in the North Country. Sure, there may be commonalities and overlap, but what is the popular culture in, say, winter mountain sports may even differ slightly by the means: skier or snowboarder, or even the location (Bretton Woods or Cannon Mountain.) Factor age, gender, race, economics, or a host of other things into the equation, and what is the popular culture may change yet again.

Popular culture is an intriguing study not just for its complexity. The more we know about popular culture as a whole, the more we can transcend barriers and find places for discussion that reach beyond our differences. When something reaches beyond a particular segment of the population, we have the opportunity to explore things in common. That’s why the Harry Potter books and movies, for example, have been such a wonderful place of exploration. Beyond the good storytelling are a wealth of ethical questions that can bring different generations into dialogue with common language and subject matter.

So, as a whole, I’m very much for recognizing the prevailing wave of culture, and using it as a place of intersection and dialogue.

Advent, however, is problematic. For four weeks, we are to hold off the coming of Christmas, sticking to “preparing.” It’s hard enough in today’s world to hold off the Christmas season until after Thanksgiving: I witnessed my first Christmas commercial this year on Wednesday October 28^th during the World Series broadcast (actually, someone posted on Twitter that they saw one, leading to my Tweeted response: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"). After Thanksgiving, it’s pretty much a lost cause. Christmas talk and preparation is the dominant prevailing way.

The season of Advent is not only forgotten by most, but is awkward in its content. It would be one thing if Advent consisted only of setting the stage: the time and climate of 1^st century Judah that Jesus was born into.

That sort of happens with the Jeremiah passage, our opening text of Year C in our lectionary:

¹⁴The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. ¹⁵In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ¹⁶In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.” (Jeremiah 33:14-16)

The Jeremiah passage is used to point to Jesus as God’s righteous Branch. What we then get, however, is not the opening of the Gospel of Luke, but the 21^st chapter, and Jesus saying:

“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. ²⁶People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ²⁷Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. ²⁸Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (The whole excerpt is Luke 21:25-26)

It’s clear that the message of Advent is more than preparing for the birth narrative. The coming of God’s vision for the world, then and now, is Advent’s dominant theme.

That message is REALLY counter to the popular culture.

We have to be careful, at this point. Counter-culture is different from oppressed status. It is very easy to attempt to slip into a minority viewpoint of ourselves as Christians, and attempt to shun all that is not in line with our way. This can have disastrous consequences that isolate and put down instead of unite and build up. For example, consider this statement:

“We’re living in a broken world, we are to be faithful while the world spirals out of control, and then we’ll be justified by God at the end.”

This statement would resonate with those for whom Jeremiah and Luke were written. We must remember, however, that the Book of Jeremiah speaks to the time of Babylonian exile and captivity. The Gospel of Luke speaks not only to a group of Jews viciously persecuted under Roman occupation, but a group of people who were a despised minority among their own people. That’s a far cry from our realities as Episcopalians (and for most of us in the United States).

The brokenness of the world is real today, but not necessarily just as it was then. Perhaps the best way to understand is the idea that we currently live in the midst of the fulfillment of the promise of God.

This leads us into the question of how can we keep Advent.

Wesley White, a United Methodist minister asks, “What would it meant to live in the midst of a promise being fulfilled?” He quotes the theologian Stanley Hauerwas: “Advent means being Patient...God has made us a people of promise in a world of impatience." Hauerwas suggests that we have, as a whole, failed to live the way Jesus taught us: specifically, non-violent in a violent world. (This all comes from a video on the website The Work of the People: Visual Media for Mission and Worship called "Recapturing Advent" The whole video is very 4 minute video is very thought provoking.) White concludes: "Nonviolence is not to be a strategy to rid the world of war, but as a living within a larger promise. We are to find righteousness by continuing to live as though the promise were already true."

Advent points to God’s vision. The kingdom has come near, and will continue to do so. We are to be active participants in this vision, loving God and neighbor as ourselves, striving for peace and justice, and seeking to help reconcile one another and ourselves with God.

Amen.

The Muppets Do Queen

As in, Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody...

Youtube Muppets Studio

Momma! Momma? MOMMMMMMAAAAAAAA!!!!

Belonging to Each Other

(A sermon on John 18:33-37, preached at All Saints' Episcopal Church 11/22/2009)

We all belong to God's Kingdom.

This is illustrated by an observation by Rodger Nishioka:

"Most children at some time in their childhoods get frustrated enough at their families that they decide to run away. This decision often happens in some dramatic fashion. Pronouncements are made. Important items are packed, and some food is gathered for what will no doubt be a long and arduous journey. For many years, the prevailing wisdom offered by specialists recommended that parents and caregivers engage in conversation with the children, acknowledging their frustration and then discussing with them logically where they would go and how they would live, eventually dissuading the children from running way. This advice, while certainly reasonable, has given way lately to an alternative response. Now it is recommended that parents and caregivers simply tell children, “No,” explaining that they may not run away because, “we belong to one another’ and that when persons belong to one another, even when they are frustrated and upset, they stay with one another." (Feasting on the Word, Vol. 4., Ed. David Bartlett & Barbara Brown Taylor, p. 332)

Now, I’m compelled to acknowledge that with human relationships, one of course must allow for situations of abuse or neglect that warrants intervention or even leaving, but you can see Nishioka’s point concerning our relationship with God and with the community as a whole that we are belong to each other.

Belonging might seem like a strange theme for this morning. After all, the final Sunday of the church year, “Christ the King”, or “The Reign of Christ” often points people towards what they think is the end of the world, marked by Christ’s second coming.

This often gets understood, throughout the ages, as the destruction of the world. In modern times has manifested in the Left Behind series, and with “documentaries” like the History Channel’s 2012 that I mentioned last week.

The theology behind these examples, however, is not biblical. Our readings today point not to God’s destroying the world, but of God’s abundant love for the world.

And it’s all about belonging...

Pilate’s question to Jesus “Are you the king of the Jews,” is asking whether or not Jesus is claiming to be the king of the Jewish nation...a nation that in theory might replace the Roman leadership. “Whom do you belong to?” questions Pilate. Jesus explains that his nation, his kingdom, is a theological reality, not a political one. Jesus does not seek to replace Caesar with himself or another leader more to his liking. Instead, Jesus is advocating belonging to God’s kingdom, where we all belong and all share responsibility.

This is the end of the world, of sorts: the end of political systems of people lording over people: whether the ruler is wise and kind, or rules with an iron fist. My friend, Sarah Dylan Brauer wrote: 'End' means the passing away of what is. It means a transition so pronounced that we can say, "Things will never be the same." Facing 'the end' means that we must finally acknowledge our attachments to what is, and our limitations in perspective and power as mortal human beings. 'The end' means that we will no longer be able to deny or dodge them, and we will -- we must -- let go. This is frightening for us -- and the more we cling to illusions that what we know is all there is and can control all we know, the more frightening 'the end' will be .”

Bruce J Malina writes that one of the greatest challenges for Americans in reading the Bible is to understand the difference between the US emphasis on the individual and the Mediterranean emphasis on the community. Malina explains that in the world of the New Testament, a person did not think of himself or herself as an individual who acts alone, regardless of what others think and say. Rather, the person is “ever aware of the expectations of others, especially significant others, and strives to match those expectations. This is the group-orientated, collectivistic personality, one who needs another simply to know who he or she is.” (Feasting on the Word, Vol. 4., Ed. David Bartlett & Barbara Brown Taylor, p. 336)

When Jesus tells Pilate that all who listen to Jesus’ voice belong to the truth and are part of this kingdom, he is saying, in Mediterranean fashion, that belonging is less about individual decisions and more about collective participation in a community that transcends the self. Jesus understands that his role is to testify to the truth. (FOW, , Vol. 4., Ed. David Bartlett & Barbara Brown Taylor, p. 336) What happens to him…whether Pilate has him killed or not…does not change the fact that the reign of God is at hand.

Sarah Dylan wrote: “Jesus is coming. Each time two or three of us gathers, Jesus is come. Each time we proclaim the Good News of the prophets and apostles that the world of empires is passing away, and God's dream for Creation is breaking through it even now, Jesus is come. Each time we proclaim Jesus the Christ and not any worldly power or principality as our Lord, Jesus' kingdom breaks through that much more.”

Nishioka concludes that the kingdom is present wherever Jesus is present. It is present wherever we experience the reign of God through God’s invitation, healing, and restoration—but our belonging is not up to each one of us alone. Our belonging is up to God. That is the new reality that Jesus proclaims. That is the new truth to which all of us---the community of those invited, healed and restored--belong. (FOW, Vol. 4., Ed. David Bartlett & Barbara Brown Taylor, p. 336)