Happy Holy Days

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Happy Holy Days
Series: Happy Holy Days - Part 1
Sunday, November 27, 2022
John 1:1-5, 9-14; Romans 1:20; Psalm 19:1-4; 148:1-6

Ever since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—God’s eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, because they are understood through the things God has made.

Romans 1:20 (CEB)

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Craig J. Sefa

Happy Holy Days`

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As the light dwindled in the sky and the days grew shorter, the ancients wondered what was happening to the sun. Their shamans and storytellers supplied the answers.  Gods and goddesses were fighting for the survival of all life, playing games in the sky or battling each other for supremacy. 

Ancient peoples worked to be in balance with the forces of nature as they understood them.  Many cultures carefully watched the sun so that they would know when to plant, when to harvest and when to batten down the hatches for winter.

What people do not know or understand, they make up stories to explain.

What the ancients feared, they named so that they could understand it in some way.

There are common patterns with Deities representing the sun or the light as the central theme.  At latitudes where the tilt of the earth causes the sun to dip very low, tales are told where the threat to the sun is mortal so the people must come forward in the sun's defense. Closer to the equator,  we will sometimes see the sun as simply losing interest or a diminishing of its capacity to perform its duty so the festivals and ceremonies are to remind of, or bind it to, its task

These days, most people think back on the mythical explanations that forces of nature were gods and goddesses as quaint legends…

...We have forgotten what it is to huddle in a fire-lit cave while thunder splits the night sky with sound and shakes the earth around us, so we no longer need know the names of the thunder gods to assure us there is some kind of order in the universe.

Excerpt from Shaughna B. (AKA The Solstice Lady)

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While we easily chalk up solstice celebrations to ancient myths and legends, we must not forget that the ancient peoples who wrote our own religious history relied heavily on these stories to make sense of their universe.  It is no accident that the God’s first word in Genesis 1 is “Let there be Light,” nor is it any wonder that John begins his gospel with a declaration that Jesus, the Christ, is the Light of the World which came into the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it. 

The details and characters of the solstice stories vary by culture and historical period, but we cannot take Christmas seriously without acknowledging this history.  Long before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Paul tells us that God’s invisible qualities were clearly seen through the things that God had made… especially the Sun, which was almost universally worshipped by ancient peoples.  As St. Patrick taught the ancient Celtic people, the sun points us to an even greater eternal light. 

In whatever form or place light shines in the darkness this holiday season, let us sing forth the glory of God.

Joy of Heaven To Earth, Come Down

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Joy of Heaven To Earth, Come Down
Dreaming God’s Dreams: Part 5
Sunday, November 20, 2022
Zephaniah 3:14-20; Malachi 3:1-6; Revelation 21:10

On that day, it will be said to Jerusalem:
Don’t fear, Zion.
Don’t let your hands fall.
The Lord your God is in your midst—a warrior bringing victory.
He will create calm with his love;
he will rejoice over you with singing.

Zephaniah 3:16-17

"Who can endure the day of his coming?  Who can withstand his appearance?  He is like the refiner’s fire or the cleaner’s soap.  He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver.  He will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.  They will belong to the Lord presenting a righteous offering.  The offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in ancient days and in former years..”

Malachi 3:2-4

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Craig J. Sefa

Joy of Heaven to Earth Come Down

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Sleigh bells ring and carols sing as Thanksgiving quickly fades into our rear-view mirror and we move into Advent next Sunday.  In all honesty, today’s scripture from Malachi often shows up in the traditional Advent readings. It's difficult for us to hear the challenging words of the prophets in a time when all we want to think about is the cute little baby in the manger. 

Nevertheless, we must prepare for such a joyful season of celebration, and we have done so this year by learning to dream God's dreams for ourselves and for our world.  Advent is all about the anticipation and preparation for the coming of Christ.  As we celebrate his first appearance some 2,000 years ago, so we await his second coming when all the world shall be restored and the Kingdom of God will be fully manifest on earth as it is in heaven.

Who among us would try to decorate our homes without first vacuuming, dusting, and straightening?  What joy would there be in sitting down that first night under the lights of the Christmas tree with a mess all around?  How many of us would gather around a holiday meal with all of the trimmings simply piled on top of a month's worth of bills, children's homework, or junk mail still laying on the table?

That's why the prophets are so crucial to our "holiday" celebrations.  They remind us that this season is not merely a temporary distraction from the ordinary darkness we experience throughout the rest of the year.  We don't just hide all of our sin and darkness and mess under the wreaths and candlelight.  We have to clean up, or rather, allow God to clean us up.  The fire of the Holy Spirit is not only a light unto our path, she is a refiner of our souls.

This is God's dream for creation: that we are faithful, that we do justice, that we work for peace, that we extend mercy, and that all of this moves us closer and closer to the complete restoration of Eden, the New Jerusalem, the full in-breaking of the Kingdom of Heaven!

As we move into this Advent Season, let us live and work and worship together under an Open Heaven, here and now and for all eternity.

Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done... on Earth... as it is in Heaven!

Depth of Mercy

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Depth of Mercy
Dreaming God’s Dreams: Part 4
Sunday, November 13, 2022
Jonah 3:10-4:11; Matthew 9:13; Romans 5:8

God saw what they were doing—that they had ceased their evil behavior. So God stopped planning to destroy them, and he didn’t do it.

But Jonah thought this was utterly wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “Come on, Lord! Wasn’t this precisely my point when I was back in my own land? This is why I fled to Tarshish earlier! I know that you are a merciful and compassionate God, very patient, full of faithful love, and willing not to destroy…

…"But the Lord said, “You ‘pitied’ the shrub, for which you didn’t work and which you didn’t raise; it grew in a night and perished in a night. Yet for my part, can’t I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than one hundred twenty thousand people who can’t tell their right hand from their left, and also many animals?”

Jonah 3:10-4:2, 4:10-11

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

Craig J. Sefa

Depth of Mercy

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When I was a kid we used to play a game called "mercy."  I've also heard it called "uncle" and I'm sure it has gone by many other names in various places.  Basically two people interlock their hands and then try to twist each other's fingers until one person says "uncle" or "mercy", indicating that they can't take the pain any longer and they concede the match.  In some ways it's a simple test of strength like arm wrestling, except that it involves far more pain.

I haven't thought about that game in years, but as I consider the idea of mercy in our world, it speaks volumes.  Most often we are quick to want mercy for ourselves.  When life is tough, we pray the Lord might have mercy upon us, that he would put an end to our pain by whatever means necessary.  Sometimes we might even step in on behalf of a loved one who seems to have had more than his or her share of suffering and pray that they might find mercy.

"Blessed are the merciful," Jesus says, "for they will be shown mercy" (Matthew 5:7).

This idea is not dissimilar to the Lord's Prayer where we ask God to forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.  Show mercy upon us as we show mercy to others.

But that's where things get tricky.  What about those people who we feel don't deserve "mercy"?  What about the ones who brought suffering upon themselves?  What about the ones who are not merely innocent victims of circumstance?  What about the ones who would never show mercy to us if the roles were reversed?

This is where that whole, "Love your enemies" teaching comes into play.

But why?

It's not because they deserve it, because truth be told, we don't deserve mercy either.  Rather, we must extend mercy even to the least deserving because God created them in the Divine Image and God still loves them as God loves us.

The prophet Jonah never quite learns this lesson.  The people of Ninevah are evil. They are known for their brutality in war and they show no mercy to those they conquer.  They are the least deserving people in the world.  God should wipe them off the face of the earth without hesitation or warning.

Yet Jonah is sent to warn them.  He is certain they will not respond positively.  They are too far gone.

But to Jonah's surprise and dismay, the people of Ninevah do respond.  They repent of their evil ways and they cry out to God for mercy.

"Too late", Jonah thinks.  "Should have thought about that sooner."

But God's mercy is patient.  It's never our place to decide when it's too late.

And here is the great tragedy.  When we decide that someone else is undeserving of mercy, we become unable to receive God's mercy ourselves.  God has been as merciful to Jonah for his own rebellion as he was to the Ninevites, but  Jonah is never able to recognize it.  Instead he wallows in self-pity because somebody else got what he didn't think they deserved.

Perhaps this is one reason we are called to work for God's dream of extending mercy to all, for only in granting mercy to others can we receive mercy for ourselves.

When we don't get what we deserve
That's a real good thing, a real good thing
When we get what we don't deserve
That's a real good thing, a real good thing

- Newsboys, “Real Good Thing”, 1994

Swords Into Plowshares

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Swords Into Plowshares
Dreaming God’s Dreams: Part 3
Sunday, November 6, 2022
Micah 4:1-4; Romans 12:18-21

God will judge between the nations
and settle disputes of mighty nations,
which are far away.
They will beat their swords into iron plows
and their spears into pruning tools.
Nation will not take

Micah 4:3 (CEB)

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

Craig J. Sefa

Swords Into Plowshares

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Veteran's Day is coming up later this week and we rightly honor those who have served in military service for the protection of liberty and justice throughout our world.  There is much debate in our world, however, about the role and reach of our military.  Some are against war and any cost and others seem to thrive on war both at international and even local or personal levels.  We have a knack as human beings to create enemies even where there are none, just so that we can have something to fight against.  The drive to fight or to make war seems to be in our blood.

It's also amazing how unifying war can be.  People rally together far more quickly against a common enemy than they do to work toward a common good.  When that common enemy is defeated, we all go our separate ways and ultimately begin making enemies of each other over different issues.  The same person we may have fought with side by side in one battle easily becomes our enemy in another.  We might agree, for example, on issues around healthcare or education but disagree on immigration or refugees.  Are we friends or enemies?  It's amazing how quickly we turn the tables on each other depending on which issue we are talking about.  I have seen this turning on one another in recent years as groups of pro-life supporters rally not just against abortion, but also against the death penalty.  Other pro-life groups support the death penalty, and so on that issue, allies quickly become enemies.

The truth is that nobody can agree on every issue, not even in our own households, let alone on a national or international stage.  Some say war is the inevitable result, and even throughout the history of our own country, the pulpit has been used to defend both sides of almost every war we have fought.  Well meaning preachers, for example, declared God's will for both the North and the South to win the Civil War while demonizing the other side, but the truth is that there were people who loved God and loved their neighbor on both sides of the battle lines.  Even more true is the fact that in every battle, no matter how "evil" the enemy may be, that "enemy" was still created by God and is loved by a God who was willing to sacrifice his only son for them as much as for us.  Jesus' shed his blood just as much for Bin Laden as for Billy Graham, just as much for Joe Biden as for Donald Trump, and on and on we could go.  In the end, war at any level breaks the heart of God as much as siblings who cannot reconcile their differences break the heart of their parents. 

When we look at the scriptures on peace, people often say that it paints an idealistic picture of heaven, when nations will no longer fight and swords will be turned into farming tools.  But in the meantime, we must fight to protect others or even ourselves.  While it may be true that we will not see an absolute end to all war and fighting within our lifetime, this is a poor excuse for us to become complacent or worse, speak in ways that escalate the violence.

If I tell my daughter to start cleaning her room and I will come in an hour to help her finish it up, there is an understanding that it will not be perfectly clean by the time I get there.  On the other hand, it would not be acceptable for her to spend that hour destroying her room even more because in the end, daddy will help her clean it all up.

Yet this is too often what we do in our world.  Who cares if we blow up the earth ten times over.  In the end, God will get rid of the bad guys and clean up all of our mess.

This should not be the attitude of a follower of Christ.  We are called to work for peace at every level.  Even if we serve in the military or in other public service positions that may require violence, those actions should never be taken lightly.  A person can be called upon to use deadly force to save the life of an innocent, for example, but their hearts should not be filled with hate and vengeance when carrying our that duty.  There are no easy answers to the degree to which violence may or may not be necessary in bringing about God's Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, but it is clear that this is never God's primary means.

As a United Methodist Pastor, I will simply leave us with the official statement on war and military service from our Social Principles.  Regardless of our involvement or lack of involvement in the wars of our day, may we be unified in the prayer of the prophets, that all the world might forge our swords into plowshares and that we may not learn war anymore.

We deplore war and urge the peaceful settlement of all disputes among nations. From the beginning, the Christian conscience has struggled with the harsh realities of violence and war, for these evils clearly frustrate God’s loving purposes for humankind. We yearn for the day when there will be no more war and people will live together in peace and justice.

Some of us believe that war, and other acts of violence, are never acceptable to Christians. We also acknowledge that many Christians believe that, when peaceful alternatives have failed, the force of arms may regretfully be preferable to unchecked aggression, tyranny and genocide. We honor the witness of pacifists who will not allow us to become complacent about war and violence. We also respect those who support the use of force, but only in extreme situations and only when the need is clear beyond reasonable doubt, and through appropriate international organizations.

We urge the establishment of the rule of law in international affairs as a means of elimination of war, violence, and coercion in these affairs.

~ excerpt from the Social Principles of the United Methodist Book of Discipline - On the Military