Oh be Joyful

There are not many things worse than getting a phone call from a child who says, “Mom, I’ve got a problem with the car.”  It sucks the joy right out of my day! I can go from feeling fine, even optimistic to having a hard time breathing.

Thank goodness my child is smart and sensible.  Thank goodness it was something AMA could deal with easily.  Keys locked in a car is standard fare and something they deal with regularly.  Thank goodness for telephones and computers and call displays and credit cards that can sort things out in record time.

It got me thinking about how AMA is like Jesus.  It’s a bit of a stretch, I know, but bear with me on this.

John the Baptist has gone from the heights of fame and fortune, pulling in crowds that would have even modern-day politicians jealous.  Even temple leaders went to hear the prophet speak, and to be baptised by him.  But in today’s passage John is locked up, no chance of parole, wondering and waiting with no trial date, no defence lawyer and nothing to do with his time except overthink everything that is happening.  I can’t imagine that the jail back then was a nice place either, no Amnesty International to make sure he was getting decent treatment.

But he still has the ability to cut through the propaganda, the social niceties and ask the only question that mattered, not “when are you unlocking my prison cell”, but “are you the one we are waiting for or should we keep looking for another?”

Jesus doesn’t launch into some high-faluting explanation of how he was going to be crucified, buried and resurrected to prove he was the messiah to John or even tell John to repent and be saved, nope, he just said “Look around you and see that lives are changing for the better, that the people are continuing to be healed and transformed with new vision, new enthusiasm and new openness to hear what needs to be heard.”

In essence, Jesus told John that his efforts were not wasted, that the mission and ministry John had started was continuing, and his current suffering was not in vain.  He had prepared a way so that the people were ready for real transformation, and Jesus was taking it to the next level.

So how is Jesus like AMA?  AMA is very clear on its purpose.  The first thing you hear when you call is “are you safe?”  Their sole purpose is to make driving safer for everyone, not just their clients.  Even with a complicated problem like my kid being locked out of her car on a chilly Saturday evening somewhere near a Boston Pizza in Edmonton with the temperature in the minus teens and they stay calm and friendly.  They help with a few suggestions and tell you it’s probably a two hour wait and twenty minutes later, the car is unlocked, and your child is heading safely home.  That’s focus on their purpose in life, and they let their actions speak louder than words.

Jesus too knew his purpose and it was not to rescue people or enable them.  It was to empower them.  Because if he had just been wanting to rescue folks, he would have said, “John, I’ve been healing people and teaching people.  My record of success is great and I’m getting big crowds.”  He said, “People are seeing, moving and hearing, rejoice!”

Certainly, there’s a fine line between rescuing and empowering and I feel joy when I see people transformed and empowered as they come here.  Even in one week there have been great stories connected to this congregation.  Folks learning to stretch their food dollars and learn new recipes; folks struggling to find meaning and hope in life coming and having someone support them and listen to their story. 

People taking brave steps to break out of unhealthy thinking patterns or destructive lifestyles, government employees reaching out to us to ask about homeless individuals that are struggling with the cold snap, people working as a team to help refugees and addicted human beings.  And people struggling with the hardest thing of all, changing the way they look at the world and think about the world.

Yes it’s a tough time of year with cutbacks looming, self-serving politicians and global environment crisis, but there are also signs of hope!  Children calling for change and action beyond lip service.  New technologies developing to reduce our dependency on oil, paper straws in every grocery store, reusable beeswax cloths instead of saran wrap for food for sale at our farmer’s market, generous people donating some of their stocks to help with our congregation’s cash flow, dozens of scarves being churned out for our homeless population, people donating to Santa’s Anonymous and helping with community dinners, and people entering into treatment programs or getting the mental health counselling they need to deal with complex issues.  And people understanding the difference between enabling and empowering those they support.

What do we need to see with new eyes?  What are the things that make us limp along that we could deal with better?  What words of transformation do we need to hear that we’ve been avoiding hearing?  What are we waiting for?  Who are we waiting for?  Are we ready to see the changes and healings that are happening under this roof?  Are we ready to feel the joy of knowing that we are part of something larger than ourselves?  Are we ready to be part of a big mission of empowering people and the world?  May we wait this Advent with hope, peace and joy for that transforming new life that Christ opens in us!

Be prepared!

So it’s the first Sunday in December and instead of cute angels and shepherds, we get Jesus talking about Doomsday.  Fun?  Not likely, where’s the tinsel and shopping? Or maybe it fits more with the Black Friday student protests against excessive shopping?

Every time we come to Year A, the Matthew year, we don’t have a lot of stories of Mary and Joseph and there are no shepherds watching over their flocks by night.

It’s a reminder that we as Christians spend our weeks leading up to Christmas reflecting on what it means to prepare our hearts and minds for the Coming of Christ.  And this scripture is about being prepared for the tough stuff, the times when disaster strikes, when one will be taken as suddenly as the flood took Noah’s neighbors, and another will remain still doing their daily chores, work as usual, but in the twinkling of an eye, their whole world will be turned upside down. 

Interestingly enough, Jesus doesn’t say that his followers will be taken up while unbelievers will be left behind or even that his followers will be the ones left behind.  No bumper stickers here needed – you know, the ones that read, ‘in case of rapture, this car will be driverless’.  No certainty, no knowledge of when, even Jesus doesn’t know when. The focus is not on how to be saved or how to save others, it is only on being prepared.  Jesus doesn’t even tell us what to be prepared for.  He even, in the previous verse, said it would happen in his disciple’s lifetime, and woe to folks if it happened in the winter or to pregnant moms to be.  The key message for Jesus was to be ready, vigilant and alert at all times. 

What does that mean?  The only thing I can think of is to be ready to live out our Christian witness boldly when the going gets rough. 

I saw a play in New York last month, “Comes From Away’ that shows a good example of this.  It was based on real people, interviews two Canadian theatre students had with folks who had been in Gander Newfoundland on 9/11.  One moment it was a small town having casual chats in Tim Horton’s about the schoolbus strike.  Everyone knew everyone, and the police officer knew who would be speeding and where they worked.  The next moment everyone had the news on and were watching in shocked silence.  It brought back memories of my own moment, driving home after dropping off the kids, turning the radio on and sitting in disbelief thinking I was listening to a radio play. Like War of the Worlds.  I remember phoning Tim and saying I would meet him at the university Blood Donor Clinic as we both have O Positive blood.  Even the blood donor clinic didn’t know when I called to book the appointment and I told them to be prepared for an influx of people.  Sure enough, the place was bustling and crowded and there were even television cameras there to interview us donors.  What a hectic time.  But we went into action as did Gander, and we all helped where we could.  Just like the bystanders on the London Bridge who ran to stop a terrorist, we all did what we could to help our fellow humans.  We were prepared to care and help.

Or maybe an even better example is of the folks who helped take care of AIDS patients when everyone else was treating them like they were carriers of Bubonic Plague.  The name calling, the hatred, the fear, and the sense that ‘those kinds of people deserved such a terrible fate’.  And how it was a death sentence for anyone who came in contact with them.  But nurses, doctors and volunteers chose not to be afraid but to comfort and care for these people, some even contacting the disease themselves before we knew enough to have everyone wear gloves.

Thank goodness it’s not like that every day.  But I wonder what we need to be prepared for next. 

Whether it’s job lay offs of nurses and lawyers or protests by children or sightings of Canada Geese heading back to Baptiste Lake because of the snow storms in the states, we see signs that change is around us and we must be ready to act in Christian ways. 

Ways of courage and hope, that dream of a better world, where God’s will is done here on earth, where swords are beaten into garden tools and humans will give up waging war on each other.  I found myself watching the fireworks here on Friday and wishing that all the gunpowder in all the world could for once and for all be rounded up and only ever used again for fireworks and not for shooting humans.

Chances are I and hopefully you will never use a gun on another human, but instead we will be prepared to live in hope that every person will experience peace with their neighbor.  It’s hard work but it is doable.  People do change.  AIDS is now treatable and people who were first diagnosed are now able to live normal lives, if they get the medication in time.  We don’t treat them like criminals any more.  And the passengers in Gander thought they’d have a terrible time and ended up making lasting deep friendships.  The schoolbus drivers and the mayor didn’t solve their conflict overnight, but they worked together side by side for the common good.  The Muslims were treated with dignity, the foreigners with respect.  And the gratitude of people around the world keeps pouring into that little town, helping provide scholarships and inspiration the more their story is shared.  That kind of inspiration continues to grow and spread and help us all be a little more prepared, come what may, to respond to life’s challenges with courage and compassion, just as Jesus would have hoped.   This Advent let us prepare to love a little deeper and go the extra mile to be a community of hope and love.