From Jim Harnish, retired pastor of Hyde Park United Methodist in Tampa.
The Christmas tree business is booming! It’s evidently one way people are finding joy in this strange, COVID-infected season. The New York Times reported:
This year, with parties and vacations largely cancelled, one source of holiday cheer remains in tact: Christmas trees. Americans are buying the trees in droves and the farms that produce them are struggling to keep up.
So, what’s your “source of holiday cheer”?
Each year the Fourth Sunday of Advent always tells part of the story that just precedes the birth of Christ. In this year, 2020, come Sunday we will hear the story from Mary’s experience. These familiar episodes set the stage for one of the Bible’s best-known passages, the story of Christmas. In today’s readings, we hear the story from Joseph’s experience.
As part of his dream, the words of the angel of the Lord to Joseph are explained: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” (Mt 1:22-23) The prophet of whom the evangelist speaks is Isaiah. The specific narrative is the prophet’s interactions with King Ahaz of Judah (Isaiah 7:10-14)
The gospel for today is the genealogy from Matthew. I have proclaimed this gospel for many years, and truth be told, I can see eyes glaze over a bit, people yawn, shift in their seats. It is certainly not an action-packed narrative. We are familiar with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but “Ram the father of Amminadab” – not so much. There are 40 names over 27 generations. I think most people might know 6 or 7 of the folks. If you know 10 names, you’re doing very good! If you know more, you should be leading Bible Study at your church!!
And Matthew starts out his narrative with the genealogy: Matthew 1:1-17. If this were a text, I think most people are going to “swipe left” and move on. Clearly, he did not have a modern publisher.
We are familiar with the story of John the Baptist as the herald of the coming Messiah – it is the story that introduces and highlights the Advent season. But Advent’s proclamation of Christmas is not the end of John’s story. He remained a man faithful to God’s calling.
After Jesus began his public ministry and the spotlight refocused, John continued baptizing and calling people to repentance. He continued calling people to remember they were a covenant people. He challenged kings, even if it meant being imprisoned and being killed.
These days I have been reading and thinking about compassion, sympathy and empathy. The words all share a linguistic root in the Greek pathos (emotion or feeling). Sympathy shares a closer linguistic root with empathy. Sympathy comes from syn + pathos, to have common feelings or emotions. Compassion’s roots pass through Latin, com + passio, to bear with or to suffer the passion of another. They are similar words, but not exact synonyms. Compassion is the broader word: it refers to both an understanding of another’s pain and the desire to somehow mitigate that pain. Sympathy implies that there is already an existing relationship of some nature that draw people together that to share the same emotion or feeling. Empathy is that capacity to understand the emotion or feeling of another even without that already existing relationship. It seems to me the human quality of empathy is foundational to all the others.
We often forget that the season of Advent speaks to the betwixt and between of the Birth of Jesus and his Second Coming. So, we shouldn’t be surprised that our first reading is from the firebrand, no-holds-barred prophet Zephaniah. He makes no bones about it. Judgment is coming upon Jerusalem. The Lord will be cleaning house: “And you shall no longer exalt yourself on my holy mountain. But I will leave as a remnant in your midst a people humble and lowly.” (Zeph 3:11-12) All seems a little unfair, don’t you think? For Jerusalem to be sure, but us too. Not exactly joyful here just a new days after Gaudete Sunday.
A little bit of fun this morning….
Today’s psalm refrain asks: Teach me your ways, O Lord. Did you know that the psalm is chosen as a response to the first reading? In today’s first reading we hear about the pagan prophet Balaam. The reading is from the Book of Numbers, part of the narrative covering the Hebrew people in the wilderness between Egypt and the Promised Land.
The Amorites, Ammonites, Moabites and Midianites – all feared the Israelites. “Now this horde will devour everything around us as an ox devours the grass of the field.” So they summoned Balaam to curse the Israelites. Balaam sets up his sacrificial altar, prepares everything, raised his arms to begin the curse, but what comes out is a blessing. He tries again, same thing – blessing.
Teach me your ways, O Lord
Even if I am not asking
Teach me your ways, O Lord
Guide me in truth. Teach me you are my Savior. Guide me in humility. Remind me to be compassionate.
Show me the way of salvation
Let me always know the authority by which You do all things that your will be done.
Teach me your ways, O Lord
Even if I am not asking
Recently wrote about forgiveness. I started out the column as a reflection on the readings for Advent sometime do not seem to fit the mood of Christmas coming. But then Advent is a time of waiting and reflecting; and to think about gift giving. Forgiveness is one of the great gifts you can give. The end of the post I mused: “What ‘Christmas gift’ comes along with this life of forgiveness? Lower blood pressure, restful night, sweet dreams, peace, no longer being a victim, uninterrupted prayer, a new experience of God’s love… and so much more. Your gift is waiting right there under the tree, the cross of Christ. Go ahead, open your gift. `Tis always the season.’” Continue reading
Earlier today I posted my homily for this 3rd Sunday in Advent. I noted that I like words, especially know their etymology, that is, their origin and development. I gave two examples (“peruse” and “egregious”) of words that have an original meaning, but human uses and circumstances change how we perceive and use the words. I went on to describe the word “joy” in that same context; how smush “joy,” “happiness,” and other synonyms into a generic sameness. But how Christians are to understand and live joy is different that “happiness.” How different? I will leave it to you to read the earlier post.
