Will Rice - Sermon #55 - "Christmas Light"

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

Christmas Eve 2007

What has come into being ⁴in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

I contend that even if we didn’t have Christmas, we would have Christmas lights and we would probably put them up about the same time of year. There is something about the end of the year. There is something about the cold (the little we get of it here in South Texas). There is something about the dark. There is something about the end of the year that has the tendency to plunge many of us into an emotional and spiritual darkness.

There is something about a tiny, twinkling light that has some temporary ability to pull us back out of that darkness. My wife and I love to take our little boy and our two not-so-little dogs out walking at night, especially when there is a little chill in the air. The other night we were out around 7 o’clock and it was already very dark. We were on a street with no functioning street lights. I have to tell you with a toddler in a stroller and two dogs, walking in the dark is a little tricky. I was having trouble keeping the whole caravan together when we rounded a corner and found our path lit by about four houses with enough lights to bring a bit of daylight to our journey.

For those of you who are new to us tonight, I have to be upfront, this is only my seventh Christmas since becoming a practicing Christian. I grew up in a home where we did not go to church on Christmas or Easter or any other time for that matter. But we did put up Christmas lights. My Dad hung them every year from the roof of our porch. We did have a tree, we bought it in town, a different child got to pick it each year. Of course we had presents and stockings and candy canes.

Some people like to differentiate between this idea of a “secular” Christmas and the real Christmas. But, in some ways they are the same thing. Whether we are hanging Christmas lights, buying a tree, hanging stocking, buying presents, or coming to church, most of us are doing it for the same reason. We are doing it for some light in the midst of darkness.

The world we live in can be a scary place. As a pastor, I get to walk with people into some dark and scary places and I get to go to some on my own. This year I have watched people stand by the graves of mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, spouses and even children. I have watched people struggle with finances and addiction, divorce and troubled children. And on this night of nights, people in our country and in our world are dealing with really frightening things. Homes are being foreclosed upon in America and lives are being threatened in Africa and the Middle East. Some of our very own brothers, sisters, sons and daughters are in harms way in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We all need a little light in the darkness. So when December comes, we put up lights.

But for all of us, those who call ourselves Christians and those who just like the ritual of celebrating Christmas, the light is more than just light. It is a light that represents hope.

We all put up lights because we are all looking for the same thing.

Here in the Christian church we know what that thing is. We know that the hope, the promise, the life and the light comes to us in Jesus Christ. We believe a very important truth about this dark and scary world. We believe that God is so in love with it and with us that he came into it. True God of True God, decided to be born, in poverty, in a stable, in a world where people suffer, where people die and where people are frightened. We celebrate at Christmas that God came into this world in Jesus Christ. We celebrate that this miracle grew into a young man who loved God’s people so much that he hung around with the poor, the outcast, the sick and the mourning. We celebrate that in Jesus, God lived with us, not to condemn us, but to save us, to bring some light into the darkness.

I have been preaching for a few years, but this is my very first time preaching Christmas Eve. I now understand the temptation that leads many preachers to try and preach the whole Bible on Christmas Eve. There are so many faces, many I know, many I don’t. I want to be able to tell you the whole story. I want to tell you the full meaning of the incarnation, God’s coming to us in Jesus. I want to tell you everything Jesus said and did, especially how he loved people so much, especially those who were hurt, sick, mourning or outcast. I want to tell you how his love for us didn’t end when we nailed him to a cross. I want to tell you how, in Jesus, God would not allow death to have the final word and gave us our other major celebration we call Easter. I want to tell you all about all of this, but you are here to celebrate.

But on this night of nights, I want to offer you an invitation. God is with us in Jesus Christ. The miracle of Christmas is that the creator of all there is came to be with us. I want to invite you into the journey of discovering what that means. Some of you here tonight have been Christians all your life, some may be sitting in a church for the first time tonight. To all of you I make the same invitation: I invite you, starting tonight, to really enter in to the journey of discovering what it means that God came to dwell with us in Jesus. What does that mean about God? What does that mean about us? What does that mean about how we are called to live our lives?

What has come into being ⁴in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

In just a couple of weeks, my wife and our little boy and our dogs will take that same walk in the dark on that same street and the Christmas lights that once lit our way will be off and packed neatly back in people’s garages and attics. I will be reminded that while the light has come into the world and while the darkness did not come overcome the light, the darkness is still there. As we celebrate the coming of God into our world, I remember the world God came into. I remember that next year, I will again walk with others to scary places. That until that day that Christ comes again in final victory, there will still be death and despair and addiction and brokenness. All that stuff is still here and that is exactly why we so badly need Christmas, we so badly need Jesus and we so badly still need our Christmas lights.

Will Rice - Sermon #54 - "Patience"

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

James 5:7-10

“Patience”

Christmastime, for me, is the most ironic time of the year. There is something about this time of year that brings out the absolute best in us and the absolute worst in us. While Christmas comes loaded with amazing amounts of generosity and love and kindness, it also comes wrapped with rampant consumerism, greed and impatience.

I was reflecting with my small group the other night that, for me, Advent, which gives me a chance to prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas, is at its heart, counter-cultural. The consumerism, greed, impatience and other ugly stuff of the holidays is what culture has made of the season. It is our job to prepare for Christmas by centering on the radical message of love that is at the heart of the Gospel.

So, we are looking today at a rather odd passage from a book we don’t spend much time in, the Letter of James.

Before we look at it, let’s think about what it is. Scholars argue about this but what we may have here is a letter written by the brother of Jesus Christ. This seems to be a general letter, not to one individual but to Christians in general. It is a letter of encouragement and direction. So, practically speaking, this is a letter as much to us as it was to its original readers, except that they read it in Greek and we have to read it in English.

7Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.

Some more background. It is hard to get an exact date of when this letter was written, but we might guess around 60 A.D. Anyway it is some years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The earliest Christians lived with the belief that Jesus would come again and very soon. In fact, the Gospel accounts give us some clues to this. Jesus says before his death in Matthew 16:28:

28Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

And speaking of his triumphant return in the second coming in Matthew 24:34, Jesus says,

34Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.

Now, around 60 A.D. the generation is starting to pass away and Jesus has neglected to return and people are getting impatient and this is what James is writing about.

7Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.

I mentioned the original hearers of this letter heard it in Greek and we are
listening in English so let me try to make this clearer.

7Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.

Be patient (makrothumia) – remain tranquil. Literally the word means big spirited. So this sentence conveys more than the limited sense of the word patience we commonly consider.

The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.

I love this example. One writer proposes that the opposite of patience is panic. Have you ever been sitting at a traffic light waiting for it to change and you are late for something? Either to yourself or out loud you are saying, “Come on, come on!” Think about it for a moment, no one tries to be impatient, right? Think back to a moment when you have just felt that impatience brewing inside of you, sort of taking over control. What happens in the moment, which feels an awful lot like panic is that you are trying with all your might to gain control of a situation you have no control over.

The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.

I love that example. It sounds kind of ridiculous to think of a farmer out in his field saying “Come on grow!” Just as if my impatience will get the signal light to turn green faster.

This is such an interesting time of the year to talk about patience because this is the time of the year when it is often most lacking. The reasons for a lack of patience are pretty real. Most of us live these lives that are already over-taxed and the Christmas season can just push us over the limit. It is a though throughout the rest of the year we have had all this free time and finally we can use it buying a tree, hanging lights, buying presents, wrapping presents, mailing presents, signing cards, mailing cards, planning parties, going to parties, etc. And everybody is doing this same thing at the same time so it builds.

I am not the most patient person on the planet around Christmas, especially this year. Through amazingly good planning, the month of December for me is just crushing. Between the church, my ordination process, our efforts to adopt Joshua, it seems every day had a form to turn in or another meeting to go to. I was not particularly patient picking out our Christmas tree. I was not particularly makrothumia, tranquil, big spirited.

The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. 8You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.

“Strengthen your hearts” kind if misses a bit of the idea. Sterizo! It actually means fix or establish.

Let look at the word used in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 9, verse 51:

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set (sterizo) his face to go to Jerusalem.

Jesus fixed his sights, he set his face, he put Jerusalem clearly in the crosshairs.

8You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.

How do we do that? It is really easy to say, “be patient.” But it is harder to be patient. But the answer is right in there. Strengthen, fix, establish your hearts. Fix, establish your hearts on what? On the prize on the coming King. That is what James is telling his readers. Don’t be impatient, fix your eyes on God and wait for it. I tell you, preparation for Christmas is a wonderful parable for Advent.

We get impatient because we have lost control and we are in an unconscious panic to regain it. “Come on light, turn green!” Here is the thing: in Advent, as we are trying to be patient for the coming of the King, by setting our eyes on God, we are actually preparing ourselves to be able to handle not being in control.

When we become impatient, we try, with little avail to control something beyond our control. We do that in line, but we also do that waiting for God to act. Remember, James is writing to a community waiting for Christ’s return and they are growing impatient. What are they doing? They are panicking, trying to regain control of something they can’t control. Just like us, that panicky attempt to regain control manifests itself in improper behavior. As is evidenced by what James writes next.

9Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors!

The preparation surrounding Christmas is a perfect parable for Advent. We are trying to be patient, big spirited, which is the opposite of panicked, trying to gain control of something out of our control.

And who is coming at Christmas, who is it that James audience and we are waiting for? Someone who will ask us to totally let go of our lives to give control over to someone else.

Jesus says in Mark’s Gospel, 8:35-36

35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?

At the heart of the Gospel message and contained in nearly every sermon I preach is this idea that our relationship with God is about letting go, trusting in the abundance, trusting in the grace, trusting in the promises of God, letting go of control.

We need to be patient. I am not a counselor or guru, so I am not going to give you techniques. I am not going to tell you to count to ten when you feel impatience bubbling up inside you. I am not going to even tell you to let go and let God. I am just going to say, that during this time of Advent, as we try to patiently await the coming of the Christ child, that we need to try to strengthen our hearts, set our hearts toward God and live in the promise of Christmas.

Will Rice - Sermon #53 - "A Revolution of Love and Grace"

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

Luke 23:33-43

The Christian calendar is a little different than the secular calendar. As the world begins seriously winding down the year we, as Christians are starting a new one. This week marks the final week on the Christian calendar. We start a new “liturgical” year next Sunday as the first Sunday of Advent. As Christians, there are certain ways we set ourselves apart from the world and our understanding of time is one of those. As the world is still counting down to the end of the year, we will already be beginning a new one. But like the rest of the world, as we come to the end of the year, it is good to reflect on the year that has passed. That is sort of what Christ the King Sunday is all about.

Over the years, I have learned to love Christ the King Sunday. Here is why: It has become, for me, a Sunday of reflection about the Christian year that is ending. Next week is the first Sunday of Advent. In Advent, we prepare ourselves for the coming of God into our world in Jesus Christ.

While television and retail outlets are telling us it is time to sing “Joy to the World.” While we will still be singing “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” and “O Come O Come Emmanuel.” Advent is the time when we prepare our heart and minds, our churches and our homes for the arrival of the new born King.

Before we enter into a time of looking forward, as we end this one year and prepare to enter another one, have we yet figured out who this king is? During another Christian year we will celebrate the birth and sing,

Hark the herald angels sing, “glory to the new born King”

But what does that mean? We will see Jesus praised by the wise men and treated like royalty,

Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain. Gold I bring to crown Him again, King forever, ceasing never, over us all to reign.

But why?

We will stop thinking in kingly terms when we hear of him calling his disciples and teaching and healing. He will look more like the leader of a rag-tag revolution as we are led up to his confrontation with authority and his arrest and crucifixion. Then the kingly image will seem more appropriate as he is raised from the dead. Royal yes, but king implies a kingdom to rule over. His resurrection will cause us to look back at what he said and did. His ascension will remind us of that he reigns with the Father and Holy Spirit now and always. And then we will end up right back here, at the end of the year, ready again to prepare our hearts for the promised coming and will we yet know what kind of king we are expecting?

So today, we look at a piece of scripture that may seem to belong closer to Easter than Christmas and reflect on Christ the King. This scripture may seem out of place and time, but it is right on because as we question the passage questions and, in doing so, reveals a lot of what we may seek.

The passage begins:

³³When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

What a way to start, but what a clue! We will call this clue number 1: the crucifixion. Today as we reflect on what it means to worship Christ as King we see that we that our King is a crucified King. What kind of king is crucified?

³⁴Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

It is beyond the scope of today’s message to really go into what Jesus is saying here, but let’s consider this clue number two: Jesus is asking forgiveness for those who are hanging him on a cross. What kind of king does that?

And they cast lots to divide his clothing.

Clue number three. This is one we might miss. It is clearly a reference to the Old Testament and shows us an understanding of the author of Luke’s gospel that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Old Testament, foretelling the coming of a deliverer for God’s people. Psalm 22:18 reads, “they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.” This King is part of a larger plan.

³⁵And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!”

Clue four. No one comes forth to save this King and the leaders scoff at him. What kind of king is ridiculed and questioned? Kings are powerful.

³⁵And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” ³⁶The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, ³⁷and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” ³⁸There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” ³⁹One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

Clue five: Listen to these words being thrown around, “King of the Jews,” “Messiah,” “Chosen One.”

Let’s look at those in order of appearance.

Messiah - o` cristo.j – one who has been anointed

Chosen One - o` evklekto,j

King of the Jews - basileu.j tw/n VIoudai,wn – basileus means one having royal authority over something. Jesus was one with authority over way more than just the Jews. But it is interesting that kings were anointed. They were anointed as a symbol of their taking office.

Here is the clue: Even the ones who are making fun of Jesus are getting it right. He is King. He is anointed. He is chosen.

⁴⁰But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? ⁴¹And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.”

Clue six: Even the criminal next to him sees he has done nothing wrong. This King has ended up in the gallows for doing things like healing, forgiving, loving and teaching.

⁴²Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” ⁴³He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Clue seven: The criminal knows the reach of Jesus’ rule as King. Jesus reign will not be endedon the cross!

So, let’s add up the clues and see where we are. When we say Christ is King, we are talking about a crucified king. If we think of a king as one who is empowered over us, this doesn’t work for most of us. Think about it: next year is an election year. One of the things candidates need to prove is that they are powerful, that we can trust them to keep us safe from our enemies. Jesus is different. Jesus is a crucified king. Can we accept that kind of king?

When we say Christ is King we are talking about a king who is crucified for what? For doing what is good and pure and true. Jesus ended up in this place by creating a movement that made the religious and state rulers of the day nervous. The religious rulers were nervous because he was messing with the status quo. The rulers of the state were nervous because he was starting a movement. There was some confusion at the time over what kind of movement. When we are talking about a king who is a messiah some were thinking a military deliverer. That would have been bad for Rome. But truly, with Jesus, a much more powerful movement was afoot.

When we say Christ is King we are talking about a king who forgives his enemies even as they are still doing things that make them enemies. Wouldn’t most of us be “happier with a powerful King who got even with his enemies, rather than forgive them?”[1]

When we say Christ is King we are talking about a king who is part of God’s plan of redemption of God’s people. Most of us can go along with that. Though it might cause us to consider the rest of what God has in mind. Especially when we reflect and consider what I just said, that this King was crucified, for doing what was good and pure and true and that his response was to forgive. If that is part of God’s plan to save God’s people what are we going to have to do? And what is being saved and redeemed going to look like?

When we say Christ is King we are talking about a king who rules this world and beyond and a king whose reign did not end on the cross.

When we say Christ is King we say a lot. When we say Christ is our King, we say even more. We are saying that the Lord of our life, the ruler of our existence is a crucified, forgiving, redeeming, appointed one of God who came to change the world, accepted the punishment for such action and whose reign never ends.

When we say Christ is our King, we need to reflect on what that means for us. Does that mean we are ready to follow him to the cross? That we are willing to accept punishment for doing what is good and pure and true? That we are willing to forgive even those who harm us? Are we willing to react to those who are against us with compassion and love rather than violence and retribution? I mean are we really ready to accept all that? We really need to think about that because we are about to start a new year that will get us ready for the birth of a savior. We will be decorating and singing and sharing presents and all that stuff leading up to the birth of a little baby King who will call us to follow him in a revolution of grace and compassion.

I have tried to say it in a many different ways, but Jesus is coming to save us, but not just as individuals, not just to ensure our safe trip into paradise upon death, but to bring a revolutionary change to the world. This whole scene that we read on this Christ the King Sunday just doesn’t even make sense if we think of Jesus as simply our own personal ticket to salvation. The scene could have been shorter. He could have simply said from the cross. “Don’t forget to believe in me so that you get to heaven.” But that is not what we have, we have this complex interaction that shows us the depth of this Christ we call King.

So, what are we supposed to do? I have two homework assignments this week. They are different because it depends who you are.

Perhaps, you are someone, who needs to know that this is the King of kings who is coming at Christmas. The holiday season is not a joy for everyone. There are always those among us who are struggling, struggling with loss, depression, loneliness, financial burden, anything that hurts and makes it hard to live in a season that is seemingly so much about family, prosperity and joy. For you, your homework is to spend some time this week just realizing that King Jesus is coming and is already here for you. King Jesus is leading a revolution of love and grace and compassion. We are in the midst of a season that seems to be solely about joy and family and presents and shopping and money, but it is really about King Jesus who is here to walk with you through your loss, bind up the wounds of your depression, give you comfort in your loneliness and even, in the word Jesus reads earlier in Luke’s Gospel, “Bring good news to the poor,”

Maybe that is not you. Maybe you love this season. Here is your homework. I want you to, this week, consider one thing you can do as we end this Christian year and begin another year with our time of preparation for the coming of the baby King one thing you can do that will start this new Christian year off on the right foot following the King that leads us in a revolution of love and grace. What might that look like? I don’t know. I do know that Americans spend a lot of money this time of year. What if we diverted some of it away from material objects that give us a quick fix of joy and then just fill our homes? What if some of our money went somewhere else? Let me give you a couple of examples. One, today is Harvest Sunday. You can give in the envelopes in the bulletin or at the rail and that money will go to feed hungry people in the valley, in San Antonio, in Palestine and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Some of you are still praying over your estimate of giving cards for 2008. What a way to enter into a new Christian year, knowing that you have already committed to be a part of the revolution of love and grace here at this church. You will be committing to support ministries that reach out into our community to say that Christianity is not about judgment and wrath but about the abundant, unmerited gift of love in God’s grace.

How about something completely different? Alisha and I have really struggled over the years about how to handle Christmas gifts. We want people to know we love them and care about them but we also want to remember what this is all about. A number of our friends over the last couple of years have starting receiving gifts from Heifer International. All my friend Tina got last year was a card but the card said that the money I would have spent on her bought a flock of baby chicks that was shipped to a poor village in South America, Africa, Russia or even here in America along with the training to teach someone how to raise and care for those chicks to create a sustainable food supply that will allow a family to bring themselves out of abject poverty. One good hen can lay up to 200 eggs a year. We have been mostly sending chicks and ducks but we are working our way up to sheep and cows.

These are just some ideas, but how you complete the assignment is up to you. Just think of one thing you can do that will start this new Christian year off on the right foot following the King that leads us in a revolution of love and grace.

And have a happy new year.

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[1] Brian Stoffregen, “Luke 23.33.43, Christ the King Sunday – Year C”, Brian P. Stoffregen Exegetical Notes at CrossMarks Christian Resources, online at www.crossmarks.com/brian/luke23x33.htm, accessed 21 November 2007, internet;