Advent and Repentance

 

1 There's a voice in the wilderness crying, a call from the ways untrod:

prepare in the desert a highway, a highway for our God!

The valleys shall be exalted, the lofty hills brought low;

make straight all the crooked places where God, our God, may go!

Through my decades of ministry I faithfully observed the beginning of the Christian year in the season of Advent because I felt it was important to have a time of contemplation and reflection for the coming of Jesus, both as an infant and as the resurrected Christ. I did so even though some folk got on my case for not hurrying toward Christmas.

I will admit that I was thoroughly done with John the Baptist by the time I retired because he takes up space on two of the Sundays during the season. He just seemed too grumpy -- who wants to hear about repentance and broods of vipers? I would choose one of the other readings for those Sundays and avoid an Advent hymn such as There's a Voice in the Wilderness Crying. 

I had to chuckle, though, when I saw the cartoon above, posted by Flemiing Rutledge, a retired Episcopal priest and author. She is now 88, and during her illustrious career she wrote about Tolkien as well as penning a book with the title Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus.

Rutledge can get testy about what she considers the diminishment of Advent, complaining that the message of repentance has been undermined by themes such as joy and fun. She must have a sense of humour because she seems to have got a kick out of the Advent calendar from which a scary John the Baptist emerges. 

Fleming Rutledge

@flemingrut

As long as John the Baptist continures as the central character of the 2nd and 3rd Sundays in Advent, it's clear that the season is focused on radical repentance and apocalyptic expectation, not joy and fun. It's a counterweight to premature celebration. That should be a comfort.

While I roll my eyes at this and generally disagree with her characterization, wishing she would lighten up a tad,  we might give J the B a more careful heaing in these deeply troubling times.Repentance in Hebrew and Greek can be translated by such words as “turn,” “return,” “seek,” or “restore.” You often see it in phrases such as "turn to the Lord with all your heart.”

 It too many settings today Christianity has been commandeered by a brood of snakes for purposes that are truly not the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are in the wilderness, it would seem, and so we need clear, powerful voices to awaken us, to help us make a U-turn in so many matters of the heart and mind. 

Michael Buble & a Vatican Concert With the Poor

Six years ago the late Pope Francis began a tradition of hosting a seasonal musical event with the title Vatican Concert With the Poor, Francis had a heart for the marginalized going back to his days as a priest and felt that the concert was one way of honouring those who are often left out of Christmas festivities. The 3,000 guests have been mostly the poor, refugees, others from vulnerable communities and they are seated in places of prominence. 

Pope Leo is continuing the tradition and this year the featured performer was Canadian crooner, Michael Buble. Years ago a parishioner practically squealed as she gushed about scoring tickets to a Buble concert and I'm afraid my efforts to feign enthusiasm were tepid. Still, he was a big star and still is for many. It turns out that he and his wife share a Christian faith and he was honoured to have this role. 

I saw a couple of interviews in which he was emotional about meeting Pope Leo and offered that he says a prayer before every concert. He considers music to be a form of prayer, and who can argue. They have four children and spoke about seeing homeless people on the streets when they are out and about. He reminds them that Jesus respected and loved poor people and humbled himself by washing the feet of his disciples. 

Buble spoke about faith being light and wondered why some are surprised to hear that it is important in his life: “We are living in a very interesting world. There’s a lot of things that you can say, they don’t shock people. The language we use, the things we do. They don’t shock people. But when you say you have strong faith, this is shocking to people.” 

Here is what Pope Leo had to say about the December 6 concert: 

If we concretely love those who are hungry and thirsty, those without clothing, the sick, the stranger, the prisoner, we are loving the Lord," Pope Leo told the artists, including members of the choir of the Diocese of Rome and the Nova Opera Orchestra.

"This is the Gospel," Pope Leo said, quoting from his exhortation on love for the poor: " This is not a matter of mere human kindness but a revelation: contact with those who are lowly and powerless is a fundamental way of encountering the Lord of history. In the poor, he continues to speak to us."

"The dignity of men and women is not measured by what they possess," the pope insisted. "We are not our goods and belongings, but rather children loved by God; and this same love must be the measure of our actions toward our neighbor."

"For this reason, in our concert, the most vulnerable brothers and sisters occupy the first places," he said.

This really is the gospel, Christmas crescendoing into Easter. 

 “I feel like faith is light, literally a light,” Bublé told journalists ahead of the concert over the weekend. 

“We know times are difficult for many people, and there’s a lot of darkness,” he continued.

“When you have faith, you have your own pilot light. And the lights can go out everywhere, everywhere. But if you have that faith and you have that light inside you, you can find your way,” Bublé said.

The Vatican’s “Concert with the Poor” took place on December 6 and, according to the Vatican, more than 3,000 guests of honor included homeless people, refugees and other vulnerable groups. Pope Francis began the tradition, and Pope Leo said the event came out of the late pope’s heart and his love for the poor.    

Bublé called the experience life-changing and said faith is something that’s always been a part of his life.

 “All I can do is live that way and hope that the actions and the things that I do are things that my children can learn from, and they keep that faith inside to keep them strong,” he said. 

Syrian Freedom & Syrian Refugees

 

It has now been a year since the terrible regime of the dictator  Bashar al-Assad was toppled in Syria. For years Syrian resistance groups attempted to make headway against the regime in a civil war. Then Assad was ousted in a matter of days by a faction associated with Al Qaeda. This happened with such speed that Syria's allies, Russia and Iran were caught off guard, as was the rest of the world. 

It is estimated that more than 600,000 Syrians died in the conflict. The new government has now disavowed connections to terrorist groups and has established diplomatic relations with many nations. Since December 2024 an estimated one million exiled Syrians have returned to the country while 2 million displaced internally are attempting to rebuild their lives in their former towns and cities. Many citizens who made other countries their homes, including Canada, have been able to visit family members they haven't seen in years.

                                                          Public Photos of the Missing in Syria

There is still factional fighting and revenge murders, as well as concerns about human rights violations. The Christian community of Syria, one of the oldest in the world, shrank during the years of the civil war from 2 million to 300,000 and there is justified fear of persecution even though the new government has promised religious freedom.

On December 7, 2015, a decade ago, the first of the Syrian refugees sponsored by our wonderful Belleville coalition of sponsors arrived in the city. They had fled in Lebanon and were living in a refugee camp. The family of five was eventually joined by 18 more family members, including three other families of five and three grandparents. Most of them have thrived here, grateful for  peace and the opportunity to be educated and work. 

A couple of years ago I drove the grandfather to Kingston for cancer treatment in the same hospital in which I was born. I was surprised that the English he couldn't speak when he arrived in Canada was good enough that we could have a conversation. I asked if he would consider returning if the al-Assad regime fell. He shook his head and said that Canada is his home. I believe he has become a Canadian citizen along with most of the rest of the extended family. Perhaps some of them will choose to return to Syria  but Canada has been a refuge. 

We were two Canadians travelling together, one born here, the other in his adopted home. 

                   The Belleville sponsorship group welcoming the Al Mansour family, December 7, 2015

Here is the transcript from an interview with the father of the first family, a year after their arrival in Canada:

Ahmad Al Mansour, Maysoun Mansour and their three sons were completing their first year of life in Canada in December 2016. 

We fled our native Syria in 2012 to go to Lebanon. As long as we had money, we lived in a barn with animals, near a UN refugee camp, where there were tens of thousands of other Syrians. Then, we received our "Naam," our yes, to go to Canada.

On December 7, 2015, our plane landed in Ottawa. We had only one suitcase and a cardboard box, but a ton of worries and anxieties. Would our three sons be okay? How would we eat? We didn't even know how to say "Hello" or "Thank you."

In Belleville, our "family," whom we didn't know at the time, supported us in learning English, adapting to our new life, and maintaining our faith in the future. In Ontario, we were given a second chance at life in a safe world.

To our family in Ontario and to the Government of Canada, we thank you. Shookran. Maa-sha-Allah.

Spock was Jewish...pass it on...

The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

                                     Numbers 6: 24-26 NRSVue

When I was an undergraduate student at Queen's University during the mid-1970s it seemed that the campus came to a virtual halt as the student body watched reruns of the Star Trek TV series. There were only three seasons with 79 original episodes but there have been multiple  films and an animated series to keep Star Trek alive. 

When I was at St, Andrew's United Church in Halifax the chaplain at Dalhousie University, a huge fan, joined us to make a presentation on the spiritual and religious themes in Star Trek, even though creator Gene Roddenberry rejected religion and described himself as a humanist. 

Canadian William Shatner was Captain James Kirk of the Starship Enterprise but it was Leonard Nimoy as the Vulcan First Officer, Spock,who gave us the iconic phrase "live long and prosper", a salute usually accompanied by the split fingered hand gesture. 

Did you know that Spock was Jewish...sort of? According to a recent Collider piece:

Besides being the main speaker and keeper of those words, Nimoy applied his own sense of alienation to the role through his performance and by improvising the Vulcan salute. He based the sign on the Jewish Priestly Blessing, a benediction performed by the Kohanim upon their congregation. "[Director Joe Pevney] had me approach T'Pau and I felt a greeting gesture was called for," Nimoy reflected in a 2012 guest blog post for Star Trek.com. "So I suggested it to Joe, who accepted it immediately."

After Nimoy's parents, both Ukranian Jews, immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, the household spoke fluent Yiddish and actively attended Orthodox synagogues. In the same blog post, Nimoy shared how strongly the blessing ceremony affected him once he witnessed it as a child:

"I still have a vivid memory of the first time I saw the use of the split-fingered hands being extended to the congregation in blessing. [...] I was entranced. I learned to do it simply because it seemed so magical. It was probably 25 years later that I introduced that gesture as a Vulcan greeting in Star Trek and it has resonated with fans around the world ever since. It gives me great pleasure since it is, after all, a blessing."

So, live long, prosper, and mazel tov!

Is the Tree of Jesse an Olive Tree?

                                                                       West Bank Olive Grove

A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. 

He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 

Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. 

They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

 On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

                           Isaiah 11. 1-10 NRSVue 

This is the Hebrew scripture passage for the second Sunday in Advent or at least it's the reading for those who still follow the common lectionary. It is a passage that inspired the Jesse Tree an Advent tradition that goes back a thousand years. Originally this Tree of Jesse traced the lineage of Jesus beginning with Jesse of Bethlehem, the father of King David. Through time the tree has been progressively adorned with various symbols representing the season. In a couple of the congregations I served we would create a Jesse Tree with symbols created by the children of our Sunday Schools. It was an altenative to jumping into erecting a Christmas tree weeks before we arrived at the Nativity, although lots of people chafed at the delay. Come Baby Jesus, and make it snappy!

Reading this passage caused me to ponder what species of tree this might be in the Year of our Lord, 2025. Should it be an olive, the fruit-bearing tree vital to the economy of ancient Israel and still cultivated today?

                        Jesse Tree Bas Relief in the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem -- Czesław Dźwigaj 

I've shared a number of times the distressing assault on olive trees in the West Bank, home to more Palestinians than the Gaza Strip. There is plenty of evidence that olive orchards have been destroyed by Iraeli settlers and soldiers while other groves have been rendered  inaccessible to their owners. It has become dangerous to harvest the fruit because of physical threats and many have been injured or killed in the attempt. 

According to the Isaiah passage the "shoot of Jesse" who we recognize as Jesus, the Christ will be a signal of equity for the meek of the Earth, those who are poor and oppressed. This is our desire as Christ-followers for all peoples, everywhere. There is a Jesse Tree in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, a city of the West Bank. It could be an olive tree. 

This passage is also the inspiration of many Peaceable Kingdom paintings which include creatures improbably next to each other, such as the Lion and the Lamb (my blog name). May peace come to pass. 

4 O come, O Rod of Jesse's stem, 

from every foe deliver them 

that trust your mighty power to save, 

and give them victory o'er the grave.  

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel 

shall come to thee, O Israel.

                                          The Peaceable Kingdom -- Edward Hicks

Mezuzahs & a Hate Crime

 

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.[You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

 Deut 6: 4-9 NRSVue 

 My morning prayers are with a group of residents in a North York seniors' building who have experienced what is likely a hate crime. Roughly two dozen of these seniors woke up on the weekend to discover that the small containers called mezuzahs had been stolen from the doorframes of their apartments. These mezuzahs are a symbol of faith for Jewish people and hold parchment scrolls with verses from the book of Deuteronomy (above and below).

As hate crimes go this might be considered low level yet this would have required planning and figuring out how to gain access to the building for this cowardly theft. The mezuzahs were a few metres from the places where the residents carried out their daily lives and slept. Who could be so warped as to do this? Of course, that's what hatred does to the soul. 

Volunteers help Jewish senior residents replace their mezuzahs on Monday, Dec. 8, after about 20 were stolen over the weekend. The police are investigating along with the hate crime unit.

The mezuzahs have already been replaced, which is helpful. It's more of a challenge to restore peace of mind to those who feel violated. 

I hope that the perpetrator is caught and charged but that doesn't change the heart. Teaching each generation to be accepting of all and to respect different expressions of faith is essential 

 “If you will only heed his every commandment that I am commanding you today—loving the Lord your God and serving him with all your heart and with all your soul— then he[b] will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, and you will gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil,  and he will give grass in your field for your livestock, and you will eat your fill.  Take care, or you will be seduced into turning away, serving other gods and worshiping them, for then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will not yield its produce; then you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you.

“You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and fix them as an emblem on your forehead. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise up.  Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,  so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.

 Deuteronomy 11: 13-21 NRSVue

Frank Gehry's "Cathedrals"

 The legendary architect Frank Gehry died last week at the age of 96 and his fame and Canadian roots warranted the front page of the Globe and Mail newspaper on the weekend.

 I discovered that Gehry began life as a Goldberg and his family was orthodox enough in its Judaism that as a boy he discussed the Talmud with his parents and grandmother with the give and take of exploration of the texts.

His family emigrated first to Northern Ontario and then California and experienced anti-semitism in both places. His first wife convinced his to change his name to Gehry because it sounded more gentile. 

                                                        Guggenheim Art Museum

Gehry wanted to be an artist but became an architect who infused his work with sculptural artistry. His early designs were more conventional but as the years went by he ventured into the astounding wave-like and fish-like structures that can now be found around the world. 

His two best-known projects are probably the Guggenheim Art Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Canadians may have experienced his work through the redesign and expansion of the Art Gallery of Ontario with its wonderful staircase. There are many more worth seeking out online 

                                                                       Disney Concert Hall 

These galleries and concert halls have a soaring, cathedral-like quality and I wondered if Gehry had ever designed a place of worship. From what I can gather he did design a modest chapel and bid on a cathedral but didn't receive the commission. That's unfortunate from my perspective and we can only imagine how he would have addressed a greater building dedicated to the glory of God. 

There is an interesting Frank Gehry connection within our family. Our daughter Emily was quite involved in the sales aspect of the Gehry-designed Forma condominium project in the entertainment district of Toronto, where the first tower is still under construction. She met him several times through her work and then was rewarded with a trip to Los Angeles where she visited his studio and the Disney Concert Hall. While Gehry was known for being somewhat tempermental through the years she says he was sweet and charming to the team and delighted in the fact that he was a character on the Simpson's animated show. He had a still from his episode on the wall of his studio (see below.)

                                 Daughter Emily with Frank Gehry in Los Angeles 

                                                      Frank Gehry in his Studio