A Resolution List for 2025?

 

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Galatians 5: 22-23 NRSVue 

Are these actually items from Pope Francis's New Year's Resolution list? I've written in the past that I'm not inclined to make resolutions but these are mostly worthwhile, at least on a personal level. The one about marriage is confusing given that priests aren't allowed to marry. 

There is a part of me that wants to add:

Give back artifacts taken from Indigenous peoples and commit to reparations.

Be fully transparent about clergy abuse and settle lawsuits.

End patriarchy in the church and allow women to be priests. 

I realize that these are rather judgey so that probably means I've failed in adopting these resolutions before the New Year has even started. I would do well to take these to heart though. In some respects they are a practical embodiment of the "fruit of the Spirit" named in the apostle Paul's letter to the Galatians. 

This reminds me that I do want to read scripture more in 2025, from a bible with pages, not just on a screen. I also want to eat more fruit and vegetables, God being my helper!

"Be Happy" New Year everyone. 

What Would Jimmy Do?

 

                                                         

                                                                    Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter

Faith without Works Is Dead

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot save, can it?  

If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?  So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from works, and I by my works will show you faith. 

James 2:14-18 NRSVue

In the 1990s there was a widespread evangelical movement with the initials WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) Today we could offer the variation WWJD (What Would Jimmy Do)? Yesterday former US President Jimmy Carter died at the remarkable age of 100. There have already been many tributes and retrospectives -- Carter was ancient enough on the brink of death enough times that media obituaries would have been finely honed. 

I appreciated a well-crafted sentence from the CBC tribute: "A devout Christian who taught Sunday school at his local Baptist church for decades and whose faith-based politics were often championed as an antidote to the cynicism of the Watergate years, Carter unexpectedly ascended from the Georgia governor's office to the presidency."  Carter often named his Christian faith as central to every aspect of his life. 

"I am a peanut farmer and a Christian. I am a father, and I am a Christian. I am a businessman and a Christian. I am a politician and a Christian. The single most important factor in my own life is Jesus Christ."

One journalist who describes himself as an atheist went to one of those Carter Sunday School sessions which were attended by hundreds who lined up for hours to get in. He said that it was more of a philosophy of life session salted with scripture, and an inspiring experience. He noted that Jimmy notably drew on the small New Testament book of James, which makes perfect sense. Over the years I've come to appreciate James more and more and it is obvious from the lives of Jimmy Carter and his beloved wife Rosalynn that they took the message of this epistle to heart, every day through eradicating guinea worm globally and building houses for Habitat for Humanity and many other causes. 

I have never understood why so many conservative Christians in the States have such a low regard for Jimmy Carter as a president and person yet commit idolatry worshipping the Orange Menace. Certainly in the post-presidency years Carter was a fearless ambassador for peace and justice and wasn't afraid to support the Palestinian cause and criticize the US for its support of what he named as apartheid. He was made of steel but didn't have a steely heart. 

If there was a What Would Jimmy Do? bracelet I would be tempted to wear one in his honour and as a reminder of what it means to follow Jesus. The world was definitely a better place with him in it and his legacy as a Christian will endure. 

Christmas and the Independent Boy Jesus

 

                                                           Jesus Found in the Temple -- James Tissot 

Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival.

When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents were unaware of this.Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day's journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends.

When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him.After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.When his parents saw him they were astonished, and his mother said to him, "Child, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you."

He said to them, "Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" But they did not understand what he said to them.Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them, and his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years and in divine and human favor. Luke 2: 41-52 NRSVue 

This is the first Sunday in the Christmas season and today clergy everywhere have passed on worship leadership to someone else or, as is increasingly common, Sunday service has been cancelled. Many of us are literally lying down until the Christmas feeling goes away. 

We do miss out on some of the "Jesus as a child" passages in Luke's gospel as a result. Today's reading is about Jesus travelling with his family and other pilgrims from Nazareth in the north to Jerusalem for the celebration of Passover. It sounds as though all went well until the return journey when Mary and Joseph realized that twelve-year-old Jesus had gone AWOL at some point. 

Eventually they discover their precocious child in the temple, talking theology with religious elders who are saying "this kid is special." Mary scolds Jesus and says that she was anxious. 

For decades I read this as a reminder that Jesus was wise at an early age, not like "normal" children but now I appreciate his normality in that he likely hung out with a pack of other kids who "free-ranged" it on the road. There is nothing here about the other parents shaming Mary and Joseph or calling the Childrens Aid Society. I couldn't find a single art image of Jesus playing as a boy, un-supervised or outside with other children. Why hasn't that interested Christians? 

This brought to mind a recently CBC Radio The Current interview withJonathan Haidt, the social psychologist and bestselling author of  The Anxious Generation, How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness (I've touched on this book before.) Haidt doesn't like what cellphones are doing to kids' brains, nor does it feel that it's healthy to be over-protective of children as they develop as persons. This exchange with host Matt Galloway struck me: 

MG: You say that before we look at the evidence around kids living in these kind of phone-based lives, we have to, to step back and kind of define what childhood is. Is there a sense that we don't know anymore what it means to be a child?

JONATHAN HAIDT: I think we've forgotten the active role that we all need to play in it. We think that our job is to just keep them safe. We want to protect them from threats. But that's actually kind of wrong because they need to take risks. And so, we're over-protecting them in the real world. 

We're not letting them have the experience that is what drives development. Experiences of going too fast on your bicycle and being scared, but then recovering or climbing a tree or getting into a fight with friends or an argument with friends. Kids need a lot of independent experience, and that's what makes up childhood. That's how they develop. But at least, especially in North America, we have this ridiculous idea that, no, our job is to be the chaperone, the helicopter, the snow plough, to solve problems for the kids. It's exactly the opposite. 

As the story in Luke suggests Mary did get anxious but I imagine he was back doing kid stuff in no time. We had our 12 and 9 year-old grandchildren for a double sleepover and as always we wondered about how much latitude to give them. They made a great snow fort, with tunnels, and they lived to tell the tale. Thank you Jesus!

All of Creation offers Praise and Glory

                                   While not one of our feeders we are visited by cardinals and juncos

Praise for God’s Universal Glory

 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
    praise him in the heights!
 Praise him, all his angels;
    praise him, all his host!

 Praise him, sun and moon;
    praise him, all you shining stars!
 Praise him, you highest heavens
    and you waters above the heavens!

 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
    for he commanded and they were created.
 He established them forever and ever;
    he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed. 

 Praise the Lord from the earth,
    you sea monsters and all deeps,
 fire and hail, snow and frost,
    stormy wind fulfilling his command!

Mountains and all hills,
    fruit trees and all cedars!
 Wild animals and all cattle,
    creeping things and flying birds!

 Kings of the earth and all peoples,
    princes and all rulers of the earth!
 Young men and women alike,
    old and young together!

 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
    for his name alone is exalted;
    his glory is above earth and heaven.
 He has raised up a horn for his people,
    praise for all his faithful,
    for the people of Israel who are close to him.
Praise the Lord!

                                  Psalm 148 NRSVue

On Christmas Day we celebrated with family, in stages, with a departure mid-morning, an overlapping arrival, then more joining us early afternoon. There were newlyweds, a family with children, and a handful of senior citizens. We sang together with four of our gang playing instruments, including our nine-year-old granddaughter accompanying us on piano. It was fun.

These were the humans, of course, but there were birds in abundance as well, probably ten species arriving and departing from the feeders just outside our family room windows as we opened gifts and ate too much.  

I do love how so often in scripture, everywhere from the psalms to the prophets to wisdom literature (Job), there is a strong theme that all of Creation mourns and celebrates, not just humans. The daily reading psalm for the latter part of this week in the Christmas season issues a repeated call for praise from rulers to youth, as well as creatures of the sea and sky. What a powerful invitation. The heading in the New Revised Standard Version is "Praise for God’s Universal Glory" and it is apt  I wrote not long ago about Isaac Watt's hymn Joy to the World based on Psalm 98. There are intimations --overtones?-- of Psalm 148 as well in the chorus. " and heaven and nature sing..."

Wherever you are today, whatever youi're up to, allow some space for praise and glory to the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.  

Joseph's Dreamcoat & the Big Bad Wolf?

                                                     Joseph and Brothers -- Persian artist Mir Ali -- 16th century

I have been revisiting the marvelous story in Genesis of Joseph and his brothers -- you know, Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat?  It is an epic tale (12 chapters)  that begins with braggy Joseph, the jealous brothers selling Joseph into slavery, then ending decades later with tears of remorse, forgiveness and reconciliation. I'm speaking on the theme of forgiveness in January and this story is truly "gospel" in the Hebrew scriptures. 

As it happens, there is a recent RNS piece by Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin about the Midrash, or interpretation of this story out of the ancient Persian Jewish tradition. A poet from the 1300s by the name of Mowlana Shain-i-Shirazi wrote a lengthy re-imagining in which the brothers tell their father Jacob that Joseph has been ripped apart by a wolf. Jacob is highly suspicious of this explanation for Joseph's disappearance. Salkin is not Persian/Iranian in background but he is fascinated by these stories and here is a portion of what he offers:

Everyone knows that story, except the poet goes several steps further. He imagines Jacob’s lament for his son going on for pages upon pages. He imagines that Jacob suspects he was not hearing the whole truth from his sons.

The story of Joseph and the wolf is a lie,

Exceedingly brazen, a patent lie.

No wolf knows anything of Joseph;

the story of my darling sons is just not true.

Can a wolf burst into the midst of a flock,

Leave lambs behind and steal my Joseph?!

We can almost imagine the biblical patriarch interrogating his sons in the manner of Columbo: “There’s just one thing I don’t understand. You return with the entire flock intact and safe — and yet, the wolf goes after a young boy? You sure about that? You think you might want to change your story on that?”

The poet continues, imagining Jacob smells the proverbial rat. He looks at his son’s tattered garment, and he notices some things don’t make sense:

All that you are saying is a complete lie:

If by heaven’s decree Joseph fell captive

Into the clutches of a bloodthirsty wolf,

Where are the marks of the wolf’s claws,

The paw prints, and the traces of his bites?

And if the wolf ate him without his tunic,

Why is it thus drenched in blood?

And if the mad wolf ate him with his tunic on,

Where are the tears of his fangs on it?

How great is this? This Persian version would make for a wonderful illustrated childrens book.  I love that we live in a much more pluralistic society when it comes to learning of other religious traditions, including the diversity within various faiths. We need for the world of faith to get bigger rather than smaller. And hey, there just aren't enough wolves in biblical stories. We could use a few more -- move over Three Little Pigs!

Hannukah & A Light to the Nations

5 Thus says God, the Lord,
    who created the heavens and stretched them out,
    who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
    and spirit to those who walk in it:
6 I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness;
    I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
    a light to the nations,
7     to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
    from the prison those who sit in darkness.

Isaiah 42: 5-7 NRSVue

 It's not often that Hannukah begins on Christmas Day but that happened last evening. While Christmas is a fixed date, Hannukah can begin as early as November 28th, nearly a month before December 25th. It is a miracle of light celebration in Judaism, in some respects a lesser holiday, but symbolically meaningful. For some reason Christians are more inclined to notice Hannukah than other Jewish holidays and may even have a menorah 

Hannukah celebrates the rededication of the temple after the Jewish people recaptured Jerussalem in 167 BCE. According to the story, when they entered the temple and went to light the Menorah (the seven-branched candelabra) there wasn't sufficient oil. although they found enough for one day. This was enough to last for eight days until new oil could be pressed -- a miracle.

Today I think of Jews around the world who have been dealing with growing anti-Semitism, including vandalism and attacks directed toward schools and synagogues. In Canada some Jewish men, often on college and university campuses, have been reluctant to wear the kippah or yarmulke because of experiences of aggression. The war in Gaza has emboldened those who want to equate the actions of the state of Israel with the practice and identity of Judaism in all places. This is wrong and it's important for people of good will, including Christians, to speak against it. 

At the same time I am pondering the menorah in front of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem. It was a gift from Britain to the young nation of Israel, whose desire was to be "a light to the nations." We can emphatically decry anti-Semitism while also calling for justice for the Palestinian people of Gaza as the war grinds on there. While we must recognize that Hamas, a terrorist entity, began this conflict, the deaths of so many civilians, including children, is at odds with the message of scripture. 

Happy Hannukah to Jews around the world. May you experience peace and security, and loive the miracle of light in our midst. 

                                                Unveiling ceremony of the Knesset Menorah in 1956

A Canadian Christmas Carol "Stands Corrected"

I'll begin this Christmas morning by wishing all of you the best of this day, wherever you find yourselves. We will have a bunch of family around our table although this Christmas is something of a relay race as our gang comes and goes. 

In an earlier time I was grateful for the somewhat melancholy Huron Carol. I liked that it was a Canadian carol and had an Indigenous connection. Over time I learned that it was a romanticized version of an old song and while in Sudbury a scholar translated it from the  Huron, a language no longer used, and it didn't read at all like our version.

I'm more than willing to "stand corrected", as you'll read below. In this time when many of us are considering what Truth and Reconciliation looks like I found this story encouraging:

Three women from across Canada say they're hoping their re-imagined version of Canada's oldest Christmas carol, originally crafted as a religious conversion tool, will inspire choir singers and directors to be more curious about the songs they sing.

Under its Wendat name,  I esous ahatonnia' (Jesus, he is newly made, just born), and with new lyrics written by Wendat poet Andrée Levesque Sioui, the re-imagined "Huron Carol" tells the nativity story from a Wendat perspective. 

"I cried like a baby," said Levesque Sioui about the first time she heard her version of the song live at the PODIUM choral conference in Montreal in the spring of 2024. "It's a mix between pride, but not for myself, pride for our people. It was a pride that people will dare sing this — this decolonized version."

The project started over a decade ago when choral composer Sarah Quartel began reflecting on how to apply the ideas of truth and reconciliation to her own work. 

Growing up in Southern Ontario, the Huron Carol was everywhere, even in schools, she said. As an adult, she realized the song was long overdue for a revamp. "It just really struck me. I had worked with the Huron Carol, I had created [this] arrangement of the English Jesse Middleton lyrics. But I had no idea what I'd done," she said. "I didn't know the story behind the piece."

 From left to right: Jeanette Gallant, Andrée Levesque Sioui, elder Diane Andicha Picard, and Sarah Quartel in Wendake. The women lead a conference there in late October to present the piece to the community. (Julia Caron/CBC)

So she reached out to ethnomusicologist Jeanette Gallant, who had criticized the song and its origins in her work. Gallant went on to write the foreword for  I esous ahatonnia', explaining the piece's history. The song was reportedly first written by French Jesuit Jean de Brébeuf in the 1600s as a way to communicate new religious ideas to the Wendat in their own language. Over the centuries, it was translated twice into French and then English, losing some of its original meaning along the way.

The English lyrics make reference to Ojibwe language while using very few Wendat-language words. That version has "no relationship" to the original version of the song, says Gallant. "If you don't know these things, you look at the words and it's very pretty poetry; very, you know, romanticized, but that's kind of the point. It's romanticized. It's not the truth, right? So it white-washes the story of the Wendat people," she said.

I really appreciate that you read, you comment, and you provide the impetus for me to continue reflecting on Christian faith, spirituality, and the ways of our world. Again, Merry Christmas!

When Mary's Water Broke

 Early this morning Ruth shared this message from social media and we both laughed. As I shovelled snow later I thought about the fact that we celebrate the birth of Jesus with no birthin' o' babies allowed, in some respects. Of course we have endless images from the history of art depicting the manger scene, most of them wildly inaccurate. But we don't want Mary's water to break and we sure don't won't her to moan and groan giving birth. There is nary a mention of these human realities in carols or art. I mean, uck. 

It's weird that while Christianity is different than others religions in the centrality of "God with us" in the flesh we avoid some basic realities of Jesus actually getting here. In the early centuries of Christianity some streams of the faith wanted to work around the humanity of Jesus, both at birth and death. They were deemed heretical, so the uck factor is essential, even when it makes us skirm.

Earlier this year a Roman Catholic church in Austria displayed what became a controversial statue of Mary giving birth. Some parishioners labelled it as blasphemous and then vandals beheaded it, an ironic act of violence, wouldn't you say? I'm fairly confident that the perpetrator(s) were male. The Guardian newspaper interviewed the artist: 

The artist who created the “crowning” sculpture, Esther Strauss, also condemned the destruction, according to the Linz diocese statement. “Most portraits of the Virgin Mary were made by men and have therefore often served patriarchal interests,” she said, adding that in her sculpture, “Mary gets her body back”. 

“Whoever removed the head from the sculpture was very brutal,” Strauss said. “For me, this violence is an expression of the fact that there are still people who question women’s right to their own bodies. We have to take a very firm stance against this.”

As a father present for the birth of all of three children I was in awe of Ruth's stamina and strength pushing those three marvelous babies into the world. I would have understood if shed decide that enough was enough after the first one but the everyday miracle of birth happened again, and again.

Now, should we start in on "The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes, but little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes"?...

O Holy Night & the Scourge of Slavery

       Front cover of the 6th edition of "Cantique de Noël", 1852 (original name for O Holy Night) 

 3 Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother,
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we;
Let all within us praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! O praise His name forever!
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!

                                    O Holy Night verse 3

As anticipated, the Christmas hymn that won the Trenton United Clash of the Carols was O Holy Night -- decidedly not my choice. Rev. Isaac used the sermon time to talk about this carol and the runner up, In the Bleak Midwinter before we sang the winner. 

He explained that it was written by Adolphe Adam on request from the writer who had penned the original poem in the 1840s. I discovered later that the carol writer was an atheist which didn't sit well with the Roman Catholic establishment.There were Protestant churches which wouldn't sing it because it was perceived as Catholic.  It also included a passionate criticism of slavery which meant that the English translation version was embraced by abolitionists in the United States and rejected by those who were pro-slavery. 

Afterward I thought about the many ways of defining slavery, an evil reality to the present day. Both Trenton and Belleville are communities along the 401 highway corridor known as a conduit for sex trafficking, a sort of oppressive bondage that tends to be hidden in plain sight. From time to time there are news items from these two towns about young women who have been freed from this form of modern-day slavery. 

Fortunately we weren't asked to literally "fall on our knees" (first verse) as we sang yesterday. Our congregation is of a general age that many of us might still be there waiting for help to get back up. 

Despite all these hurdles, through the decades O Holy Night has been persistently popular, often with soloists who want to display their vocal chops. I'm grateful that it isn't in our worship resource, Voices United, but the history of the carol is interesting and the people have spoken!

Finding Shelter in the Bleak Midwinter

 

1 In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,

earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;

snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,

in the bleak midwinter, long ago.

2 Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain;

heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign;

in the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed

the Lord God almighty, Jesus Christ.

                                      Voices United 55

I mentioned along the way that Trenton United has been involved in Clash of the Carols just before worship begins during Advent. It gives folks the opportunity to vote for a favourite Christmas carol in an elimination format that's fun, although there are some who take it all fairly seriously. Two weeks ago our almost-12-year-old grandson was shocked that I hadn't chosen O Holy Night over In the Bleak Midwinter. His expression suggested that he was now convinced that dementia had set in. We were pleasantly surprised that he cared about the competition. I appreciate the poetry of Bleak Midwinter even if Jesus likely wasn't born in this season, as well as the tune. O Holy Night is so, well, melodramatic!

This morning it was -20C in these parts, our coldest start to a day since last Winter. I thought of those across this province who were "sleeping rough" last night in homeless encampments and on city vents. There are Warming Centres in a lot of communities now and when we arrive at church today the centre at Trenton UC will have closed for another night. While people can shelter from the cold they are officially not supposed to be places where they sleep or eat -- such a strange concept for an overnight arrangement. Our congregational volunteers do their best to make guests feel welcome. 

                                                 Homeless Jesus sculpture -- Timothy Schmalz

Yesterday Ruth and I did our monthly delivery of baked goods from Cobs Bakery and Metro to Bridge St UC. As we approached the church a fellow was meandering along the street wrapped in a sleeping bag carrying a big bag of worldly possessions. It was cold yesterday as well and as I awakened today I thought of him and others on the street. Earlier this year this stretch was the epicentre of news about drug overdoses in the province and the grim reality of opioid addcition. Intense cold adds the risk of injury or death from exposure. 

Today Rev. Isaac will reflect on these two hymns and I'll certainly continue my prayers for those who have dealt with the bitter weather overnight, In the Bleak Midwinter. 

                                                    In front of Bridge St. UC earlier this year

Winning the Winter Solstice Lottery

 

                                   

                                                                          Newgrange, Ireland 

A substantial crowd gathered at Newgrange in Ireland today to recognize the Winter Solstice. Newgrange is a 5,000+ year-old monument, perhaps a grave (bones were found here), older than Stonehenge and the pyramids of Egypt. There is a passageway that is aligned so that on this solstice of shortest daylight hours the wan sunlight will stream along it, providing that there is any "in the bleak midwinter." Unfortunately it was cloudy for most of the 17 minute window, as it often is, although there was a brief period of illumination.How did those who constructed this astronomical calendar figure it out so precisely millennia ago?  

Newgrange has become so popular amongst those desiring to get in touch with their inner Druid that tickets are sold for entry throughout the year. For this event most people  are gathered in the vicinity except for 16 who win the lottery to actually enter the chamber. 

While lots of Christians might be inclined to make the sign of the cross at this pagan recognition we don't need to feel this way. It's said that the success of the early Christians in Ireland, including Patrick, came from a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" reciprocity where the goodness of Creator and Creation was celebrated, establishing common ground. There are delightful legends for lots of the Celtic saints who lived as "Green martyrs" amidst the birds and creatures of the wild. The seasons and rhythms of the Earth were acknowledged and celebrated. 

It's unlikely that Jesus was born in late December but the early Roman Christians may well have celebrated his birth around the Saturnalia festival recognizing the beginning of longer dayss in order to avoid drawing attention to their Christ-mass. 

This morning we went for a walk along our Belleville waterfront to acknowledge the Winter Solstice. It was frosty -- -11C -- and a bit breezy but the sun was shining and ice was re-forming on the Bay of Quinte. It felt as though we had won the lottery and both of us were grateful for the world into which God the Creator entered in the person of Jesus, the Christ. Thank God for Creation with all its wonders. 

“In the infinity of night skies, in the free flashing of lightning, in whirling elemental winds you are God. 

 In the impenetrable mists of dark clouds, in the wild gusts of lashing rain, in the ageless rocks of the sea you are God and I bless you.  

You are in all things and contained by no thing.  You are the Life of all life and beyond every name.  You are God and in the eternal mystery I praise you.”

An Evening Prayer from Celtic Prayer John Philip Newell 

Wayfinders Searching for the Messiah

 

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, magi from the east came to Jerusalem,  asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.”  

When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him, and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah[c] was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet:

 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah,
for from you shall come a ruler
    who is to shepherd my people Israel.’ ”

 Then Herod secretly called for the magi and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared... Matthew 2:1-7 NRSVue

In recent weeks  Rev. Isaac at Trenton United (our son) has been exploring the story of the Magi, moving the journey theme forward into Advent. Many of us are aware of these astronomers/astrologers following a star to find the place of birth of Jesus, "King of the Jews." The evil ruler Herod wants to know the exact place of this star so he can dispose of this child he perceives as a rival. The word "star" is used four times to describe this heavenly body in the passage found in Matthew's gospel.

As it happens I have been musing a lot of late about the Wayfinders of other cultures who navigate by the stars, prompted first of all by a somewhat tangential theme in Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner, one of the celebrated novels of 2024. A character is fascinated by the Polynesians, peoples of the Pacific Ocean who were exceptional navigators across great expanses using star paths, along with knowledge of patterns of winds, waves, and currents. These "sailor priests" had no instruments such as astrolabes and sextants yet astounded explorers such as Captain Cook with the depth of their knowledge and skill.

 

Then came another wonderful novel, Playground by the great Richard Power. He too sets much of his story in Polynesia and muses about these navigators who were and are vaunted in their culture as almost mystical shamans. 

I went rooting around in the book of essays called --you guessed it - The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World, by the award-winning anthropologist Wade Davis. I have a sneaking suspicion that Rachel Kushner drew on this book for inspiration. 

Last but not least I watched, for the first time, the animated film Moana, the original rather than the sequel. Even though some Indigenous critics decry these films as the disneyfication of Polynesian culture and spirituality the story is of a plucky Polynesian girl who learns the way of the stars and constellations for the sake of her land-locked people.

This may seem like a far cry from our images of Wise Men crossing a desert on camels (there are no camels in Matthew), yet the combination of courage, ancient knowledge, and mystery resonate. 

We are all invited to set out from convention and certainty to be Wayfinders. I hope we can be Christ-finders in this season, no matter how familiar the stories may seem. 

The Ten Commandments...Priceless?

 

Then God spoke all these words, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;  you shall have no other gods before[a] me.

“You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.  You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

 “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

 “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work.  But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it. Exodus 20

A marble tablet containing the Ten Commandments was sold at auction yesterday and realized five million USD, far above the estimate of one to two million. Would Moses have been impressed, given that this wasn't an original?  According to Al Jazeera:

The tablet dates from 300 to 800 AD and is inscribed with the commandments in Paleo-Hebrew script — the only complete example of its kind from antiquity, according to Sotheby’s.It was unearthed during railroad excavations along the southern coast of Israel in 1913 and was not recognised as historically significant at first. Sotheby’s said the tablet was used as a paving stone at a local home until 1943, when it was sold to a scholar who grasped its significance.

There is a certain irony here given that the Ten Commandments are no longer posted in public places (it is important to separate church and state) and rarely referred to even in religious settings. I wonder when any of us have heard or preached a series on the Ten "Suggestions"? I wasn't sure if I ever did but a document search unearthed that I offered a series of sermons and a study series on the subject in days of yore (2010). 

There is a further irony that some conservative Christians and legislators in the US are insisting that they be reintroduced in courts and classrooms even as there has been a rash of #MeToo-style "outings" of evangelical leaders for sexual impropriety -- would they be posted with a fingers-crossed symbol in front of "thou shalt not commit adultery"? 

Let's keep the irony rolling with the thought of a passel of nomads wandering in the wilderness and their beleagured leader being called up a mountain so that Yahweh, the God of Israel, could provide them with a moral code. The story is remarkable when you consider it, regardless of what you think about the actual theophany aspect. While these commandments would be "priceless" for more than three thousand years they have been devalued in terms of their application in every day life. Now this tablet of questionable provenance has been commodified and sold to the highest bidder. 

We might keep in mind that Moses went up the mountain for the commandments and ended up smashing the first set because when he came back down the people of Israel had created the Golden Calf as an idol. Moses also destroys the idol made of melted down jewelry although after he calms down he ascends for the second set of tablets. Note that this cautionary story is in the Jewish Torah, the Quran of Islam, and the Christian scriptures. Maybe we should turn our attention to the importance of the commandments as an important element of our moral compass in a society that seems to be wandering in the wilderness. 

You are hereby cautioned not to covet or steal your neighbours' Christmas inflatables. 

 “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

 “You shall not murder.

 “You shall not commit adultery.

 “You shall not steal.

 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female slave, ox, donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”