A Matter of Life and Death

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC on 12/28/14


Read Luke 2:22-40



(Image courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

When I read our scripture for this morning, my mind was taken back to one of my favorite movies as a child, The Lion King. The movie starts off with the sun breaking over the lands in Africa, and wild animals are all for some reason on the move. Finally, the animals stop at the edge of a great cliff, where a Lion is perched proudly atop. Then out of the crowd an old baboon named Rafiki climbs on top of the cliff and hugs this great lion, and then we are introduced to the reason for all the commotion, the Lion has had a son. Rafiki, who is clearly a priest of the animals performs some rituals over this little lion cub, and then grab the cub, walks to the edge of the cliff and holds the lion cub high for all the animals to see. There is then a loud cheer and animals start to bow before the one who will soon be their King.

            Our scripture for today is very much a similar celebration for the newborn King Jesus. It is a few days after Jesus’s birth, and now Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus have traveled to the Temple in Jerusalem for what was a Jewish custom of dedication and purity. This dedication and purity actually had three parts to it. First, because cleanliness and holiness were so important to Jewish customs it was a time for Mary to be deemed clean after the birth of her child. Secondly it was a time for Jesus to be circumcised. This was the covenant act given to the Israelites by God through Abraham. Through circumcision, Jesus became part of that covenant, part of the people of God. Finally, this time of dedication would be one in which a name was given to the child. Typically a Biblical name or a name with some theological significance was given to the child as a way to give thanks to God and to dedicate the child’s life to God. For Jesus though this act of dedication was a little different. Mary and Joseph did not come up with a name for their child, but they were told by the angel Gabriel that his name would be Jesus. So here Mary and Joseph are offering up their child, to the God who has already offered this gift to the world and has already named it Savior, which is what Jesus means.

            This dedication is a special time for Mary and Joseph to give thanks for their child, but also in dedicating this child to God, they remember the uniqueness and significance of this little babe. And just in case they had forgotten that this is no ordinary child, Mary and Joseph are interrupted by two strangers in the Temple. The first of these interruptions is from a man named Simeon. Scripture tells us that Simeon was a righteous and devout man; he was a man late in his years and wanted more than anything to see the time in which Israel would be redeemed. We are told that the Holy Spirit lead him to this Temple on this day, and upon seeing the baby child he started to sing for joy. He even takes the boy into his arms and as he cradles him he praises and honors the Son of God in which he holds. To me I can imagine this scene to be a lot like that of the Lion King. There is a  recognition that the one you hold is also your King and so you just want to hold him up for all the world to see and to adore.

              But the praise and adoration did not end with Simeon. There was at the same time in the Temple an 84 year old prophet named Anna. Anna had a husband for only seven years and then was left widowed for the rest of her life. Anna found home in the Temple where we are told that she would fast and pray day in and day out. Having practically lived in the Temple for at least 50 years, we can assume that Anna had seen her fair share of extraordinary events. She had surely been witness to some holy events, and most likely been in contact with some important people. But here is a little child is being brought for a dedication, something that she has probably seen on a daily basis, but there is something special about this child. Like Simeon, Ana comes forward to the child and begins to praise the child as the savior of the world.

            Something special is happening here at the Jesus’s ritual of purity and dedication, like the animals in the Lion King, those around this little child begin to bow and praise the newborn King. And just as the scene in the Lion King open with song proclaiming “Circle of Life” so too do we find in our scriptures a celebration of the complexities of Life. For our scripture for this morning is truly a matter of Life and Death.  I do not mean this in the traditional sense of that phrase, but simply our scripture speaks both to the joy of life and the fear of death.

            How does this scripture speak about death you may ask? I thought that this scripture was about the birth of the Jesus, and it is. The introduction of Anna and Simeon into the story however reminds us about the reality of death. If you noticed both Anna and Simeon are later along in their lives. Scripture makes it sound as though Simeon will soon die, and Anna is a poor widow that has lived alone in the Temple for years and years and is now in her later stages of life. These characters are in stark contrast to the baby Jesus and even to the young Mary and Joseph, and there is reason for it. Mary, Joseph and Jesus are young, the have the hope of a long life, (though we know for Jesus that would not be the case.) These youngsters have their whole lives ahead of them as we would say today.

            That is not the case for Anna and Simeon. They do not have a long life ahead of them, they do not look to the future in joy for what it might bring for their lives; they look forward in fear, wondering when their time on Earth would come to an end. It is truly a contrast between hope and hopelessness. To truly understand the despair that they faced we must first grapple with the understanding of the afterlife at that time for the Jewish people. While as is the case today, there were different beliefs about the afterlife at the time, one of the most prevalent of those times for the Jewish people was a belief in Sheol, also known as the pit or as the underworld. For the people there was no Heaven and there was no hell, just Sheol. It did not matter if you were a righteous person or the most egregious criminal, all who died went to Sheol. In the more recent years of Jesus’s birth there was an idea of a segregated Sheol where the wicked faced punishment, a lot like the modern understanding of Hell, but there was still no celebration for the righteous who died, the was no glory, Heaven was for God, not for the dead.

            Knowing this we can understand then why Anna and Simeon may be living in despair. This beautiful life that God had given them would soon be over, their souls would soon rest in Sheol, and for someone like Anna who was poor and widowed, it was not like she could look back and say at least I lived a life full of joy. But prophets had foretold about a Messiah who would come and save the people. One who would come and bring Israel back to glory, one who would bring salvation. So imagine the joy in their hearts when they encounter this baby in the Temple who is the Messiah.

            Simeon’s encounter sums up the experience the best. Simeon had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would see the savior before he died. As Simeon enters the Temple through the guidance of the Spirit, that moment happens. He sees that baby Jesus and knows, this child is the Messiah. And so holding him in his arms he sings a song to Christ and he begins his song by saying, “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation.”  All of the fear of death, all of the waiting and hoping is over, because here in his arms lies the savior of the World. Simeon is dismissed in peace, he can die in peace knowing that the one has come who brings life. The fear of Sheol, the fear of death is over, for Christ has come to bring eternal life.

            Anna can celebrate in this joy as well, for she knows that she too can die with hope of eternal life; but the presence of this savior is special to Anna in another way as well. As we have noted, Anna was a widow. Widows were not well taken care of in that society, in fact they were often rejected as being useless to society. It is why in the Book of Acts we see so much of the ministry of the early disciples was to the widows. Even Jesus when he grows up and is in the middle of his ministry pays special care and attention to the widows. In seeing the savior on this day, Anna is filled with hope that not only has Christ brought salvation through eternal life, but that the world itself may be saved. This little child would fight for the poor and the oppressed, would seek justice and peace for the world, and will usher in a time in which God reigns on Earth. Seeing Christ not only brought hope in death, but hope for life on Earth as well. Simeon and Anna realize that this moment with Jesus was a moment of life and death; for in seeing the savior they have seen hope in this life on Earth and in a life that conquers death.

            This first Sunday after Christmas day, after we have celebrated the birth of the dear savior, after we have opened our gifts and had our feasts, have we found hope in seeing the infant Holy?  Do we recognize in our hearts the true holiness of the season?  Do we comprehend that gazing upon the Christ child for us is a matter of life and death? Sometimes I don’t think we do. We are in hurry for Christmas day to get hear so that we can celebrate that good news, and then December 26^th comes around and that good news becomes old news. We prepare for Christmas, and then take no time to truly celebrate it. Many of us don’t even realize that the 25^th is just the start of Christmas, just the beginning of the season of joy and goodwill. In fact in the Christian calendar there are 12 days of Christmas, starting on Christmas day and lasting until we celebrate Epiphany. There is even the song about the twelve days of Christmas, that helps us to remember that the celebration goes on. And oddly enough, the song hints at our scripture for this morning, because what is it that Mary and Joseph bring forth as an offering on this day of purity and dedication, two turtledoves.

            While we celebrate Christmas with the joyful birth of Jesus and the announcement of his coming to the shepherds, remembering our scripture for today can help us to take to wrestle with and grasp what this savior’s birth really means for us. So often we as Christians want to jump straight from his birth to his ministry, as some of the other Gospels do, but Luke forces us to stop and honor this newborn King. Luke forces us to stop and think about what it means to have a savior; this scripture helps us to see this birth as a matter of life and death.

            Christ has come to give life to this world. Where anger and hatred reign, Christ is ushering in peace and love. Where there is pain and oppression, Christ is offering comfort and justice. Christ has established his Kingdom on Earth and our lives have been redeemed so that we can be part of its building until Christ comes in final victory. Today let us be like Anna the widow and celebrate that Christ is at work in the world. That this world is not destined for doom or destruction, but that through our savior all things will be made new. Let us think about what that means for our lives, and how we as Christians can be used by the holy one to participate in this holy transformation.

            And as we celebrate the way in which Christ is transforming our lives and all the world, let us also celebrate that when this life is over we shall no longer fear death. This is not a celebration of death, death is still and evil as the result of “the Fall,” but the presence of this baby child gives us hope, because through his death and resurrection Jesus Christ has claimed victory of death. That though we may die, we can have eternal life. During this season of Christmas, let us never forget why it is that we are celebrating. Let us like Simeon and Anna hold this child in our hearts, lift this child up as our King, and proclaim the good news that Christ has come.

Blessed

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC on 12/21/14



Read Luke 1:26-38





Image Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library

There is a word that has been in the Christian vocabulary for centuries, but recently has seem to become more popular and more frequently used. The word I am talking about is the word blessed. It almost seems as if this word is used on a daily basis by Christians now. We often talk about how blessed we are to have rain, or to not get sick when others around us are. We say we are blessed to have met that special person in our lives or that we have been blessed with children.  Sometimes we say we are blessed when we are just having a good day. There was nurse at a nursing home that whenever you asked her how she was, she would respond, “blessed and highly favored.”  While I love this phrase, and it certainly brought a smile to my face, it also clearly depicts what we think we say we are blessed. In essence we are saying that God has favored us, and chosen to make us happy.

            This type of thinking in our recent culture has spiraled out of control, and now instead of thinking that God has done something good for me, we take it to mean that any success or riches that we have means that God favors us. There is even a movement in Christianity that has been nicknamed the “Prosperity Gospel” that believes God will make us prosperous. If we send in $15 to the televangelist on the screen then God will bless us with even more fortune. There are pastors who have even become wrapped up in this notion of being blessed and instead of humility being the virtue that defines them, prosperity has become what defines them. If they are not driving a Bentley or Jaguar then they are not blessed. If they do not have gold and silver earrings and watches all over their bodies then it show that they are not favored by God.  It’s not just these pastor’s though, so often we look at what we have, how successful we are, and how easy our life is, to judge whether or not we have been blessed by God.

            When I hear people talk about being blessed in this way, it really reminds me of one of my favorite movies The Princess Bride.  In the movie there is a group of bandits,  the muscles played by Andre the Giant, the skilled swordsman named Inigo Montoya, and the short bald little man is supposed to be the “brains” of the operation.  Throughout the movie this mastermind keeps on saying this is inconceivable, that’s inconceivable, and he keeps saying this word over and over again until finally Inigo says to him, “you keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.” This is how I feel when many people today use the word blessed. “I do not think it means what you think it means.” Because it has been used over time to mean fortunate, that definition has crept into the dictionary, but it is far down the list. This first two definitions according to dictionary.com are more fitting of the words original intention. The first definition is “consecrated, sacred, holy or sanctified”  and the second definition is “worthy of adoration, reverence, and worship.” Nowhere in those definition do we hear prosperous or successful, or even happy. Instead the first word we here to define blessed is consecrated. Consecrate means to set aside for the use of service to God. In Communion we consecrate the bread and juice as we set something ordinary and mundane aside to become holy and worthy of reverence.  When we start to think about Mary, the blessed virgin, in these terms of consecration and reverence instead of fortune and prosperity; then we begin to understand the true nature of the mother of Christ.   

            Because so often we talk about Mary as being blessed, and in our heads it makes sense because most of the time in which we talk about her is as we prepare for Christmas, and as we anticipate the greatest gift the world ever knew, her son Jesus Christ.  And just Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights we like to think about Jesus as baby, there is something so cute, so special and so innocent about a baby. So in our scripture for today when we hear the angel Gabriel say to Mary, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” Or later when Elizabeth says to Mary, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear” it makes since to us, if only we were so lucky and so blessed as to the mother of Christ. But once again, “I do not think that word means what you think it means.”

            Is Mary really that fortunate, is she really that lucky? In the first chapter of Luke we actually find that there are two stories of Gabriel announcing the birth of a child. We are all familiar with Gabriel’s visit with Mary that we read earlier, but this visited was actually preceded by another visit, to Mary’s relative Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah. Elizabeth was an older woman and like Sarah was past the age where she should be able to have children. Sadly, it was a disgrace for a woman in that time not to produce a child for her husband; so I can imagine there was nothing in the world that she would want more than to have a child. And so when she finds out that she is going to be the mother of John the Baptist you can imagine the joy she has in her heart.  She cries out, “The Lord has done this for me…“In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

            While the Lord took away the Elizabeth’s disgrace of not having a child in her later years of marriage, Mary was in a very different situation.  Mary was not old; in fact she was a young girl. Mary was not married but was engaged to be a carpenter named Joseph.  Whereas not producing a child in marriage was seen as a disgrace for Elizabeth, having a child out of wedlock was an egregious crime. Having a kid before you were married would not just bring shame to you and your family, but it could possibly even cost you your life. So here comes the angel Gabriel coming to her and telling her do not be afraid, for you are going to bear the Son of God. Do not be afraid, yeah right, Mary had ever thing to fear. She had to fear others finding out, she had to fear what Joseph would say, she had to fear what  would happen if she was unable to protect the Son of God.

            When we hear these two announcement stories, Elizabeth’s and Mary’s, who seems to be more fortunate, who seems to be luckier, who seems to be blessed?  The correct answer is both, but over time Mary is the one who has been held up in the Church as one of the most blessed persons in history, but in reality doesn’t it seem like this announcement for Mary is much more of a curse for Mary than it was a blessing?

            Because even after the angel visits Joseph and tells him to stay with Mary, it is not like Mary’s life got any easier. We all know the Christmas story, we have even seen it acted out in plays or live nativities, and some of even have nativities of our own set up depicting the events of Jesus’s birth. Once again though, in the joy of the season we are quick to overlook the difficult circumstances of Mary and Joseph. Mary is pretty far along in her pregnancy when a decree is made that all had to go back to their hometowns to be registered for the census. Joseph is from the lineage of David and so he and Mary now have to travel to Bethlehem. Can you imagine a woman near childbirth having to travel not by car or bus or train, but by walking? I was trying to think about another mode of transportation like horse or camel that they could have taken, but then I thought of a pregnant woman trying to mount a horse, and it just seems unlikely. A pregnant Mary had to travel by foot. And when they get to Bethlehem the time comes for her to deliver, and there is no room in the inn for her to have her child. Mary has to have her child in a manger among the stench and company of the animals. Is this the type of childbirth that we would call blessed?

            As Jesus grows up Mary not only has the stress of taking care of a child, but she is responsible for the son of God. So imagine her panic at the missing twelve year old Jesus who stayed behind at the synagogue while she and her family continued on their journey. And then Jesus grows up, and she has to allow room for this little boy whom she had taken care of for so long, to begin his ministry. This certainly didn’t come without its share of heartbreaks. Jesus first sign of ministry must have been tough for Mary. She, Jesus and some of his followers are at a wedding when Mary informs Jesus the wine is out. She know was Jesus can do, and that he has the power to change it, and yet Jesus’s response to her is, “Woman, Why do you involve me? My hour is not yet come.” These are harsh sounding words to say to your mother, but it is a reminder that Jesus is special, and that he is more than just her son, but is the Son of God. Later in his ministry when Mary and her other sons come and visit Jesus a messenger goes to tell Jesus they had arrived and Jesus replies, “Who is my mother and my brothers?” Being the mother of the Son of God meant giving up a lot of the relationship and control that a mother has with her son. Does this sound like a blessing to us?

            Finally, at the end of it all Mary had to do what no parent should have to do, watch their child die. She and a small group of others stood at the foot of the cross watching as Jesus’s arms and legs were nailed to the cross. She watched as Jesus gasped for breath, as he became faint and thirsty in the heat and how the soldiers taunted him with sour wine. She watched as the soldiers cast lots for his clothing and mocked him as the “King of the Jews.” And she listened as he son said to her and the disciple whom he loved and said, “Woman here is your son” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And then she watched as her son breathed his last breath. Would we consider this blessed?

            None of these things in Mary’s life sound like what we would normally call blessed. There was no prosperity, there was no great fortune, there was even likely more pain than there was happiness. But if we think about blessed not as receive some great fortune but rather being set aside for the use of God,  then Mary’s life was nothing but blessed. What human, just like you or me, has ever been set apart by God to any greater work, to be the mother and protector of the Son of God?  There is a reason that Mary is known as the Blessed Mary, and there is a reason why she has been revered for centuries through poems and songs. Mary was set apart for God’s use, she is indeed blessed.

            The greatest testament to Mary maybe the greatest lesson that we can learn from her is the way in which she responded to the angel’s message. There is a beautiful song that most of us know that is sung at this time of the year called, “Mary did you know?” It is a beautiful song that asks Mary if she knew the joy and heartbreak that would come from bearing the Son of God. As we read our scripture for this morning the stunning answer to the question is yes, she knew. And despite knowing all that she would have to go through by having this child she responds, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”  The angel tells Mary of the hardships in which she will endure, and Mary responds here I am, let it be with me according to your word. In fact not only does she accept the responsibility, not only does she freely yield her life to the will of God, she goes on to sing a song of joy, that we now call the Magnifcat, my soul glorifies the Lord.”  Mary was certainly blessed, because through her God was able to do something spectacular and holy.

            Although being blessed does not necessarily mean being rich or having good fortune, when we as Christians say we are blessed we are not wrong. We are all blessed through the power of Holy Spirit and through the waters of baptism. Our lives too have been set apart so that we may be used by God to transform this world. We can follow in the example of Mary, by willing giving our lives to God, even singing for joy that we are able to be used for something holy by the Great I Am. This does not mean an easy life, it does not mean great success, but it does mean as Gabriel reminds Mary, “Nothing will be impossible with God.” So as Christmas fast approaches, as we have our family feasts and open the presents under the tree let us take time to sing for joy for we are blessed. Not because of what gifts we got or because of what we have, but because of Emmanuel, God is with us, and that God will use us to be messengers of peace, hope, joy, and love. We are truly blessed.

           

           

Like Those Who Dream

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC on 12/14/14


Read Psalm 126

Image courtesy of hermanoleon.com

Growing up in Richmond, I remember the excitement each year when the ballet performed the Nutcracker at this time of year. In fact all around the world this play is one of the most anticipated plays of the season. We love to watch the story of the little girl who is given a nutcracker on Christmas Eve and then at midnight is transported to a magical world. Everything around her seems to grow in size, the tree, the mice, and yes even the Nutcracker. My favorite scene growing up was the fight between the nutcracker and the Mouse King where it seemed as though the Mouse king was going to win, but thanks to the help of the little girl, the Nutcraker defeats the Mouse King. Because of her bravery the girl is taken to the land of the sweets by the Nutcraker who now turned into a prince. There she is offered dances from sweets all around the world, from China to Russia, from Saudi Arabia and France. This even includes a really weird scene where Mother Ginger is in a huge dress has all of these little kids come from out of here dress. The play ends however with the girl waking up and it all being a dream, and yet it all felt so real.

            Dreams can be funny like that; no matter how crazy, how wild, no matter how much it seems like science fiction or fantasy movie, it still feels so real. Have any of you had a dream like that?  Where something so amazing in the dream happens and then you wake up and it feels so real? Sometimes you can even wake up overwhelmed with the emotion of the dream, you can tell yourself it was all just a dream, but it doesn’t matter, it felt real. It doesn’t matter if there are fighting mice or dancing Sugar plum fairies, It doesn’t matter if a land of the sweets is something that never existed, once you experience it in a dream in part of your mind, in part of your heart it becomes real. There is something fantastic, almost magical about dreams.

            Occasionally something that happens in our lives can capture this awe and wonder that we feel in dreams. Something can be so real but feel almost as if it were a dream. The night you get engaged or the day you get married, the birth of your child, the promotion at work, or the new house you buy; in moments so powerful, so magical as these we will say if feels as if we are dreaming.  This time of the year as we prepare for Christmas seems to produce more than its fair share of these moments. The joy in the children’s face when they see snow for the first time on Christmas day, turning off the lights and lighting the Christmas tree and drinking egg nog while Christmas songs play in the background, going to church and lighting the candles and hearing our favorite hymns being played; sometimes these moments can put us in a dream-like state. For me, I have this experience each year at what has become a tradition for Heather and me of going to Busch Garden’s Christmas Town.  While it is always fun to go to Busch Gardens and ride the rides and see the shows, the magical moment happens when it gets dark outside and the park lights up with Christmas lights. Each country has its own theme, Ireland is decked out in beautiful green lights, France in a majestic blue and purple, and you can ride the little cable cars that take you through the air and just see the park lit up in celebration. The part that gets me the most is a part where and Angel is lit up over the water and as you walk over the bridge you are serenaded with a beautiful rendition of “Let There Be Peace on Earth.” Moments like these are magical, and we can feel like those who are dreaming.

            If you can, close your eyes and think of a moment or a time in which you had this dream like feeling. Think about what you saw, what you heard, what you smelled; and most of all think about how it made you feel. Hold on to that feeling now and try to imagine that feeling again as I read again part of psalm 126.

“When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.  Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them." The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.”  (you can open your eyes.)  Can’t you just feel magic in the words of our psalmist?  When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. These were people who were taken from their land and forced to live in captivity in Babylon. Many were separated from their families, and where exploited by the Babylonians for their skills and resources. Finally the day came when the Persians attacked the Babylonians and the Israelites were able to return home to Jerusalem.

            Our scripture for this morning was written a little time after this return home from captivity. The people had heard the promises of the prophet Isaiah of the coming Messiah and there was an expectation that Israel would once again rise to power. As time went on though this was not the case. Once again the Israelites began to fall away and disobey the Lord. The people were being tempted by the beliefs and the cultures of those around them. Israel was not prospering but instead was struggling, and many of the Israelites found themselves in oppressive and dire circumstances. It was in this moment that this psalm brought joy and hope to the people. Through this psalm the Israelites remembered the goodness of the Lord. “When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.”  The Israelites were able to look back at their past and see what God had done for them, freeing them from captivity, and even in there despair of their current state, they were able to experience joy. When they remembered the time in which the Lord restored their fortunes, they had that dream like experience. In their hearts they could experience the reality of God’s goodness, even when their current situation felt otherwise.

            This is what makes dreams so special; that though it is only a fleeting moment, though it is no longer your current reality, you felt something, you experienced something and even the harshness of reality around you can’t take that away. There may not be any dancing nutcrackers or land of sweets, but you felt that joy, you had that experience, you dreamed that dream, and you don’t want to let it go. It’s the same way with these real life dream-like experiences. You may be paying for a new furnace on your house now, but you still remember that feeling when the house was first yours. Marriage can be a daily struggle, but that wedding day captures all of the feelings of the commitment you make. There are day in which it feels like the kids are going to make you go crazy, but remembering the feeling of holding them for the first time reminds us of the blessing that they are in our lives. Even something like taking in beautiful lights and music can help us for just a moment to escape the stress and hardship of work and just feel at peace. These fleeting dream-like moments help us to experience and remember joy in the face of harsh reality.

            And our reality is harsh. After 9/11 our nation has realized in our own vulnerability and how real threats to our country are. Many of us watched the news as the Twin towers in New York fell and as smoke billowed from the Pentagon.  It was an experience unlike any other for Americans except for maybe the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Ever since that day, the men and women in our military have been risking their lives all around the world to try and make sure that nothing like that happens again. This is only a part of the harshness of our reality. Thousands of lives have been lost in West Africa because of the deadly Ebola virus, and almost half a million lives are lost each year from Malaria. Here in the states it seems like our nation is split almost every issue. Republicans and Democrats have become enemies rather than colleagues who just have differing opinions, so instead of working together for the good of the nation, its seems like nothing ever gets done. Not only are there national struggles, but there are struggles here in our own backyard as well. Even though our unemployment rate in this area is slightly better than the National average, 16% of people fall below the poverty line, that’s compared to  only 11% for Virginia as a whole. The average salary of those in this area is also half, I repeat half of the average for the whole state. That means that although most people in our area have jobs, they still may not be earning enough to get by. Many children get their best meal all day while at school. And if the reality of all that is going on around us isn’t enough, the United Methodist church faces its own harsh reality. Attendance and membership is decline, more and more churches are closing, and there is very real possibility the Church could split over ideological differences.

            Reality is harsh, and sometimes these dream-like states can help us to escape, just for a moment from reality. Dancing sweets and nutcrackers are preferred over death, poverty, and conflict. In the middle of these harsh realities, we too remember the high points of our life and of our faith like those who dream. It is no coincidence then that this time of Advent as we prepare for Christmas is a time that for many causes us to dream more than any other time. It is no coincidence that this time is filled with a feeling of peace, and joy and love. It is no coincidence that at this time we become like those who dream, because like the Israelites, we have something to look back and remember with hope. Just as the Israelites remembered the time where they were set free from captivity, we can look back with hope and remember when God became human, born in a lowly manger, in order to save the world.

            The beauty of this is that it is not an individual dream, it is not something I imagined in my head one night and hold on to a personal experience. It is not a special moment shared between just you and a couple others, a secret shared between just close friends. This dream is a dream that the whole world shares, because Jesus Christ was not born just for you or for me, but was born so that all the world may be saved. Christmas is so special, so dream-like because it is a dream that has been shared not just across different continents but even throughout different times.

            Christmas is like a dream that the whole world is able to share. The joy and hope of Christmas does allow us to escape from the harsh reality of the world around us; that for these for weeks of Advent, and for the twelve days of Christmas, the message of the world is drowned out, and peaceful songs of hope fill our ears and our hearts. But like the Nutcracker, there is a surprise to our dream. When Clara wakes up after her time in the land of the sweets, she is desperate to find her Nutcracker. When she finds it, she finds that the arm that was once broken was now good as new.

            When this time of preparation and celebration for Christmas is over, we do not return to our day to day lives as if nothing has happened, because something has happened, our Lord and Savior was born. Though he died and rose again almost two thousand years ago, through our celebration of Christmas, we are reminded that what was once broken has begun to be restored. We are reminded that though there are wars and battles and deaths all around the world, there are also Christians worldwide who work for peace and justice, and through initiatives like Imagine no Malaria work to save lives. Though there is division and bickering across our nation, we see Democrats and Republicans alike holding candles and singing Silent Night. Though poverty is rampant in our area, we see Churches reaching out through food banks for the hungry, bell ringing for the homeless, and Christmas gifts for the needy children. At Christmas when we remember how the Lord restored the fortunes of the world, we are like those who dream, for we know that the Lord who came and began this work of restoration in the world, will come again to complete it. As John Lennon said, you may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.” During this season, millions of Christians become like those who dream, and we live into the hope and into the joy of what it means that Christ has come, and that Christ will come again.