Pastor's Notes

Most of you who know me well, are not aware I was once a Girl Scout. Yes, I am serious, a proud, card-carrying member of the Girl Scouts of America. This was long before any scouting organization even thought about integrating genders in their scouting organization.

I had been asked to serve on the Board of Directors for the Zia Council of Southern New Mexico of the Girl Scouts of America. They officially made me a member of GSA right down to cookie selling privileges. As a young pastor, my time on this board taught me a great deal.

Mostly what I learned was about sexism. The Boy Scouts in my town had a nice newish facility for meetings and events. They also did not have to sell cookies to pay for it. The Girl Scouts had what can kindly be described as a large shed with a few hanging light bulbs from the ceiling. I had never been to a Southern NM Boy Scout camp, but had heard many fine stories from those who had. As a Boy Scout alum, I do remember camping in winter at Camp Rotawanis in Pennsylvania…a wonderful, fully equipped, camp. The Southern NM Girl Scout camp was a bit more austere…..many of the “cabins” were actually lean-tos with an open “wall”.

It was easy to see who controlled a lot of purse strings to direct the way charitable donations would go. Why did girls not receive the same value as boys? Too many Dad’s had walked only in their son’s shoes. Really, there was nothing scary about trying on those of their daughter…even the high heels could be learned, just take careful steps. It is not as big a risk as we might think.

Had I not had this experience, I am not sure I would have the awareness I have concerning many of the observances I make now that are remaining vestiges of those days. I was glad to be able, if only very superficially, “one of them.” Certainly the experience made me one with them. Yet today while the gap between genders may be smaller it remains still a gap.

Imagine! At Christmas we receive a God who does more than walk in our shoes. This God walks in our very bodies. For those unable to walk, this God wheels, lays, or sits in our very bodies. The point is, not only does this God, come to us in the baby Jesus, know what it is like to be us; this God was us. God did not pretend to be us, but went the gamut of human life even to death. What a risk!

With God the lean-tos and buildings of hanging light bulbs and leaking roofs were kept for God’s self. I don’t know if God would sell cookies, but I do know God provides the ingredients and is with those who sell them.

Those of us who will worship this baby come to earth that first Christmas can take heart in the God who came to be among and to be one with and of us. We are understood! We are known! We are loved by this God birthed in a feed trough! We can take heart and we can use that heart to try on another’s shoes…to be one with and of them. We need not agree with or be like those whose stilettos or penny loafers we don. (After all, God who walked in ours continues to call us sinners) Understanding is what we may gain, and respect for another as a fellow human can result. Difficult, yes. What has not understanding cost us?

(As an aside: Just to be clear, I have great respect for the Boy Scouts, having been one. Also because of so many who have been or are students here, my respect has grown. On a recent Wednesday night during dinner I looked around and there were only 7 male students present: all 7 were Eagle Scouts. I mentioned this and almost in unison, they just shrugged.)

By now we are all used to seeing people interviewed via Zoom, Skype, Cisco or other electronic means on television news, late night TV, and other such shows. Don’t we all, like most of the interviewers, find it interesting to see the backdrop for the interviewees?

Some speak from their bedroom, others their kitchen, a few speak from attics or basements, and still others in family rooms or living rooms, and of course, from an office or study. Over time we begin to anticipate where some will be for their interview. We may even have names for some of these folks. One frequent commentator I call Pineapple Man. He is always posed in his kitchen with a fresh pineapple on the counter forming his backdrop. Then there is Carnation Lady, for the woman who always poses in front of a large bouquet of said flower.

Well, I am a bit different as these folks are speaking. I thoroughly enjoy those who have bookshelves as a backdrop. When this is the case, I stand up, go over to the television, turn my head sideways, parallel to the floor, and begin to read the book bindings. I am always interested in what they have read. Sometimes I strike gold….that is, I discover a book I didn’t know existed, and put it on my list to read. Other times I hit silver….a book I already have read. It doesn’t do much for new insight on my part, but it can give just a small shot into the ego: “Oh, President Obama read that book too,” or “Look! Presidential historians Michael Beschloss and Jon Meacham have read that book!”

I sometimes learn something about the interviewee I did not know by spying on their books. With one woman I noticed a book, with her as author, on the subject of being a parent of a child with autism. Her picture and a young man I presume to be her son are on the cover. Rocket scientist that I am, quickly, I come to the conclusion she must be the parent of a child on the spectrum, and this young man must be her son.

Mostly what I have learned with my book binding espionage is that there is a tremendous array of knowledge out there. Name a subject, and there are books on it; generally books aplenty. I once had a church member, Frank, who taught forestry at Colorado State. In the history of the world at that time something like five books were ever written on mistletoe….not the Christmas hanging/kissing kind….the parasitic kind that kills trees and harm forests. Frank had written three of the five, them as I recall.

I am guessing I am not the only one who has ever walked through a bookstore, discovered a book on something I was not searching for, bought it, read it, and was more informed, perhaps even changed in perspective or outlook, because of it. This is what concerns me about “E” books. E books are found by searching for a particular topic or author. They don’t find you, you search for them. I must say Amazon with its algorithms does a great job of recommending books to me. Yet never do they recommend a book outside of my usual interests varied as my interests may be. It is in libraries and bookstores the books seem to call out to me, “Pssst! Over here! Check me out!” And I become the book’s obedient servant and do so. I find this a big downside to our electronic world. We go after the news we want to hear, the books we want to read, and, it would seem, the affirmation we wish to receive.

There is something theological here too. Too many times you and I search for God in a way to affirm what we already think and believe. Too often we resist God’s efforts to break in and change our perspective. We tend to love the Bible quotes that affirm and confirm some already held belief. When is the last time something in scripture spoke to you and you had to do a “180” from where you had once been? Remember, scripture is a Living Word….it does such things.

Looking for a Christmas present? Give yourself one. Walk through a library or bookstore; go to areas in those places where you normally would not travel. Look for something quite different from your usual read. Either buy or check out the book and read it, or at least read the inside of the book jacket to get the gist of it. If what you read there challenges you, take that as the book calling you to read all of it. Oh, and if you decide to crank your head sideways to read book titles during interviews….you might want to have plenty of Bengay handy. Just saying.

We study the past, which we call history, in order to prevent making the mistakes made in previous times in our own time and in the future. At least, that is the theory….too often it would seem we may study the past, we just refuse to learn from it.

What about you and I…do we look at our past to learn from it, or to try and live in it? For many the past is a time of great nostalgia. Many others see their past as difficult and seem to want to wallow in it and often try to drag the rest of us into their self-pity. Still others work hard to ignore their past and struggle to break free from it.

It appears to me that many life lessons for today can be learned by looking at our past. How have major events perhaps impacted us to shape just a bit of who we are now? As I write this, it is the 80th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. What an impactful event for millions! Just the shock and fear alone had the power to impact people. The lives of loved ones gone to war following December 7 piled on the emotional baggage carried from that day.

Later generations had the assassination of President Kennedy and/or the tragic day of 9-11 to touch them. I think of most of our students here now, born right before or after 9-11. The emotions of the day did not impact them directly. Yet if parents had become more fearful, may it have changed how they raised their children? The children, then, could have been impacted by something beyond their personal awareness. We can only wonder what forces have been unleashed by the COVID 19 pandemic that will affect todays and future children and adults.

Each of us have our own histories to add to those outside forces at work on us. Some are joyful and happy stories. Others might be sad or even tragic. We are a collage of people and events that have been part of the “some assembly required” that has been and is at work molding who we are and who we are becoming.

As people of God, what we see in our past need not be something we now fear to review. It is past. It’s time of shaping us has passed. We can look at times, people, and events that are over and learn from them. Part of that learning can be to work hard to avoid somethings in the present and future. Part of that learning can be to keep going with the good things from our past that are still working. And part of that learning can be that somehow, we have worked through a number of these things and they no longer are a threat to our being. We are free to be a new person, not held back by our or any past.

One of John the Baptist’s cries in Advent is repentance. Repentance is expressing sorrow for some things in our past and present. It is an effort to literally fight to turn around and learn from our ways of sin in hopes of having learned something and committing ourselves to no longer sin these sins again. Not repeating is a form of repentance.

This same John who calls all to repentance proclaims of One who is coming. The repentant John is not even worthy to tie this One’s sandals. So much for perfect repentance even for the preacher of repentance. Maybe, as John looks at his own past and present his humility is because he is a preacher of repentance and thinks he ought to do better.

Looking back to learn so as not to repeat but repent is a healthy form of spirituality. It is only unhealthy when we decide to stay in our past to either glorify it or wallow in it. Either way we are stuck there. Repentance is a hopeful act, appropriate for Advent’s hopeful time and spirit. It is the hope of not being stuck but instead being free to move ahead. Allow the past to speak. Learn from its lessons. Move away from it and move ahead into the future, into God’s future. Work to create a new and better past.

What if you are the one who is to come? When is the last time, if ever, you have put before you this thought: “What kind of person will I be 5/10/? years from now?” Perhaps we want to pad our pension, savings, and investments for those future years. Maybe get the kid(s) through college or get ourselves through college and/or grad school.
The movie, “City Slickers” dealt with male friends becoming middle- aged and struggling with a mid-life crisis, I think they had it all wrong. They kept looking back at what they had lost and were losing. Billy Crystal’s character in the movie said he would never look this good again, feel this good, or be able to do in the near future the kinds of things he could now do. Looking ahead at his future was based solely, it seemed, on the past he was losing.

In Advent we prepare for the baby Jesus, indeed the One who is to come. We prepare in our hearts, we prepare in worship with hymns, sermons, an Advent Wreath and Advent scriptures. Even in the midst of our cultural preparations for Christmas, we also occasionally see ourselves preparing for the arrival of the infant Christ child.

Might this season of Advent teach us something? Might it teach us preparation is good and necessary for desired outcomes? Baseball Hall of Fame manager, Casey Stengel, frequently said to be more lucky than good, was fond of saying, “Luck is the residue of design.” An overstatement to be sure. Yet a statement that affirms preparation.

While this pastor is fond of saying, “If you want to make God laugh, tell God your plans”, preparation generally speaking, delivers better results than no or little preparation.

So, can the One who comes push us a bit to look at our own life which, while it is happening, is also, at the same time, coming? What preparations do we need to make? What kind of person do we hope will be the one we become? Exercise and diet, among other healthy activities can prepare us to be a healthy person. What might help us become the better kind of person whom we hope to be? With what, and with whom, must we surround ourselves to become that person?

Personally I am a reader. If it has print, I read it. However, I must be careful with my choice of reading materials. Left on my own without much reflection, I continue to read the same kinds of books, periodicals, internet readings, and newspapers. All this can do is make me more of who I am. I need to go outside my interests and, at times, even outside my own values. I need to have my readings do more than reflect who I am, I need them to shape and impact me. Some of that impact needs to be an understanding of how those quite different from me think and react. What kind of different person might God want me to become?

What if you are the one who is to come? Prepare. Quoting the old Advent hymn, “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord”, such needs to be paramount in our preparation. What kind of person might God be calling us to be? If Advent makes us look to the future both near and far, might we include ourselves in that future? Might we see the God calling us into this future is one who will be there both in our travels and in our arrival? Prepare ye! The God of Jesus knows something about coming.

Imagine! Martin Luther had a problem with religion and with being religious! Writing in 1538 on Psalm 51 (A psalm for cleansing & pardon: “Create in me a clean heart O God…”) said “A person may be pious and not Christian.” In a sermon on Matthew 21:1-9 he warns against “too much religion” lest we “lose Christ.”

What might Luther mean here? Luther’s point is in synch with his theology of grace; a theology that says our faith is all about Christ, not us. Any kind of saving done is by Christ and Christ’s work, not ours. Not our deep emotions, not our pious and even good works, not our right belief, but God’s grace granted to us in Christ….not even our right stances on important issues of life and living.

“Too much religion, but no Christ.” What does that mean in 2021? It means, to paraphrase author and professor emeritus of Boston University, Carter Lindberg, we too often use our feelings of faith to “baptize” other areas of life we affirm. Our country becomes a godly country never in need of repentance. Protestantism is never in need of reformation. You and I are “all right” after all. Often there is little to guide or correct us other than our feelings, intuition, politics, or tradition.

Luther himself asked he be judged not on his person. If you have read very many of Luther’s works you would be glad of that. He asked to be judged by his writings, many of which in his later years, are also problematic to say the least. Luther hoped others would be able to say of himself, “Whether Luther is a rascal or a saint I do not care; his teaching is not his, it is Christ’s.”

Perhaps the first step to shedding our religion and pious ways is to come to accept a level of comfort with this same wish Luther had for the judgement of his followers. Can we come to not care if others consider us rascals or saints? Can we hope instead in some of what we do and what we leave behind others catch a glimpse of Christ?

Pieties are interesting. Growing up where I did I was able to witness a vast array of ethnic groups: Italians, Germans, Slovaks, Poles, Ukrainians, Hungarians, Russians, and even quite a gathering of Tiroleans. All of the same Roman faith but with such different and differing pieties! I also noticed those Lutherans and German Reformed more recently descended from Germans had entirely different pieties than those called Pennsylvania Dutch who had been settled in this country far longer. German piety, for example, said, “No swearing, ever!” Pennsylvania Dutch were known to swear freely in church.

There are reasons for piety, our heartfelt, sincere response to God and God’s grace. Many of us have our own unique individual acts of faith. Perhaps a special prayer or action before or after receiving Holy Communion. For some, crossing oneself is a personal piety, for others refraining from doing so is such. In themselves they are not the issue. Luther left the safety of the Wartburg Castle where he had been hidden, to chastise his followers for destroying church artworks including stained glass, crucifixes, and statues. He demanded to know why someone would destroy something that might aid in the expression of a person’s faith.

Our pious expressions are not the issue. The problem is too often we hide behind them so we don’t have to deal with the real “me”. The one God knows and sees and the one we try to cover up a bit before others if not before God. In the midst of all our faithful feelings we need to also remember not to lose Christ in the actions. The sign of the cross is about baptism….into Christ’s death and resurrection. Standing for the gospel is not simply ritual, but a sign of honor and respect for Christ, proclaimed in the gospels. Repentance is not a quid pro quo; it is trust that Christ is who Christ said he is and God’s forgiveness is as promised.

So, bend, bow, repeat certain words, cross or not, stand, kneel, close your eyes in prayer or keep them open; do your own thing or not. Fight for your just cause, but remember it is not about us…it is about Christ, the one who calls not for our religion but for our faith and trust.