[Propertalk] 1 after Christmas 2009

[Robert P Morrison]

Greetings, Folk!

This is my last Sunday in this Parish. What happens next isn't clear yet, but this was written as a way to lighten the mood somewhat while giving thoiught to the Gospel (in particular)

God's blessings as we journey on.

Bob

THE EPISCOPAL PARISH OF ST. JAMES, LINCOLN CITY            1 CHRISTMAS
ISAIAH 61:10 – 62:3		               27th DECEMBER, 2009
GALATIANS 3:23-25: 4:4-47	               PSALM 147:13-21
JOHN1:1-18

	Who gets in the last word? Is that better than getting in the first word – or, indeed, of getting a word in edgewise? …. Or how about a word to the wise?
	These proverb-type sayings all hinge on the fact that a word is important. ALL words are. They’re the basic symbols of communication. They pre-date computers, of course, but words can be taken as primitive, yet still fully-functional “zeros” and “ones’ which make up the electronic map used to communicate across the world in the flash of a keystroke. And, just as in errant finger flicking across a keyboard can produce miracles of garbage half a world away; just as some amoral brain can direct digits to tempt us with visions of economic splendour from some supposed African country, so can words be used to distract, or tempt, or enflame, or diminish us. But words are also full of hope and promise.
	It all depends on how words are used. This seems so obvious. Of COURSE an angry word, a frustrated word, a cajoling word, CAN be used to manipulate and distort reality. We all know, however – at least I HOPE we all know – the power of even one word to melt our hearts, and to inspire our imaginations, and to nourish love, and compassion, and joy within us.
	So when John picks up on the image of the spoken Word to describe God’s Christ, whom we now call Jesus; when John uses the metaphor of speech to represent the greatest – the only – truly creative force in the entirety of existence; the Gospel writer hopes that we’ll recognise the way in which God reaches across space to touch every single person individually. Word becomes Flesh and becomes visible, tangible, sensible.
	Let me flirt with heresy for a moment, though. Before there can be a word, there has to be imagination. The heretical whiff of this is the implication of micro-analysing God. But to the human mind it seems that there MUST have been something of this going on in God. What continues to amaze me, every day, is the wonder I experience as I come face to face with the imagination and humour of God.
	For instance, I don’t have pink bunny slippers – and this is NOT, I repeat, NOT a hint about something Santa failed to leave with me. But I see both the humour and the practicality these slippers represent.
	As God expressed creation into being, there was already a glimmer of humour present, a glimmer that recognized all the necessities.
	Animate and inanimate creation cannot exist without certain things and to some, I suppose, pink bunny slippers represent the peak of desire for comfort and joy. And the wonder of what we celebrate this season is the way in which we’re led to discover in this footwear how God has prepared for us. There has never been a time when God’s imagination hasn’t been at work. Yet even in the midst of God’s joy to the world, we wrestle with darkness which continues to threaten to break the human spirit of its desire to share and live into the light, to embody and to live in peace, to re-present God in Christ, and to raise awareness of the wonderful potential God has placed in us and every human being.
	THAT is the Word of God, present and in our midst.
	Paulette Schroeder wrote this week from Hebron, in the Land of Light, the Land of God’s Promise, on behalf of Christian Peacemaking Teams. Her report seems apropos in terms of the potential for such joy of which the Gospel speaks.
	“It strikes me as strange,” she wrote, “that in the midst of soldiers, guns, checkpoints, detentions, humiliations, in the face of the Occupation and all its flagrant dehumanization of the Palestinians, I have come to see the Occupation's spotlight as something that illuminates the beauty of Jesus’ Incarnation.  Call it a curious cause and effect.
 	“The Occupation degrades, pushes the vulnerability buttons in human nature: anger, rage, intense sadness, a temptation to hopelessness, a fierce need to survive, and to protect.           
 	“The Incarnation, on the other hand, celebrates life, lifts up human nature, elevates all that is possible for human beings: service, sacrifice for the welfare of the other, thinking well of oneself, and of ones’ body with all its amazing function – including its eyes that take in the world.
 	“The joyous proclamation of our Christian incarnational faith makes all that is truly human both beautiful and profoundly holy. Jesus experienced and preached about everyday aspects of life: the birds, the flowers, bread, wine, and sickness. He enjoyed his humanity and upheld the dignity of all. 
 	“I shall be here in the West Bank for Christmas this year,” wrote Paulette. “The contrasts I see intensify my desire to work diligently to undo Occupation through media, through friends, through writing (, through making God’s Word evident and purposefully powerful.) The reality here pushes me to celebrate passionately, to give generous thanks for Jesus, Emmanuel. This real Incarnational faith sustains, leads all Christians to live life abundantly, to work for justice and to open the doors for those denied their humanity.” 1
	The wonder of our celebration right now is that God never “occupies”, never degrades, never spawns anger, or sadness or disconnectedness. Instead, God “incarnates”, seems to slip into our consciousness silently, probably imperceptibly, until we suddenly come to realize that God is simply present, quietly, yet not wordlessly, waiting until we’re ready, and able, and willing to hear and to make Word into Deed, willing to act even if verbalising can be difficult for us.
	An intriguing article on the internet last week was entitled, “I am a closet Christian: At least, I was until now. Because in my circle, nothing is more embarrassing than being religious.”  2
	Ada Calhoun wrote, “It was Sunday morning in my scruffy Brooklyn, N.Y., neighborhood, and I was wearing a dress. Walking to the subway, I ran into a friend heading home from yoga class. She wore sweats and carried her mat over her shoulder. ‘Where are you going so early all dressed up?’ she asked, chuckling. ‘To church?’ We shared a laugh at the absurdity of a liberal New Yorker heading off to worship.
	“The real joke? I totally was.
	“Inside the church, it’s cool and quiet. I read the Collect of the day in the Book of Common Prayer, which urges us: ‘While we are placed among 
things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall
 endure.’ My recent layoff no longer seems like the end of the world. I take Communion and exchange the peace and listen to the sermon. As I’m walking back up the aisle, I feel reoriented and calmer, the indignities of the week shift into perspective.”
	A little further on she spoke to some of the situations we’re facing here, just as are others across the nation and the world. She wrote, “All of us need help with birth and death and good and evil, and religion can give us that. It doesn't solve problems. It reminds you that, yes, those challenges are real and important and folks throughout history have struggled and thought about them too, and by the way, here is some profound writing on the subject from people whose whole job is to think about this stuff.”
	THIS is why the Word became flesh and made camp among us, to show us how seriously God identifies with us and cares for us in the midst of illness, and un- and under-employment, and grief, as much as in times of exhilaration and joy.
	I can identify so strongly with what Ada Calhoun wrote. “The idea of an eternal community brings me comfort: I like the image of a long table extending backward and forward in time, and everyone who's ever taken Communion is sitting at it.” There can be a sense of connectedness through the way in which God’s Word continues to speak to each of us.
	God’s Word and our words ARE strange and powerful. They can come to mind at the most interesting and helpful times – they’ve spoken to people in the midst of great pain and loneliness, just as they come, often unverbalised, at times of most intense pleasure.
	Some people have the knack of being able to remember words and phrases that stick with them for a lifetime.
	For all I know, “pink bunny slippers” may be what sticks in your mind about this Sunday. And that may not be a bad thing. They’re a sign that God ALWAYS cares, even if it seems that God occasionally has questionable taste. But then, God brought you and me into being, so we MUST learn – I say this for me as much as for you – we MUST learn not to disrespect pink bunny slippers, no matter how worn, how threadbare, how gauche, how degenerate they may look. I might even go so far as to say that ALL the pink bunny slippers in the world, and who they represent, ALL the pink bunny slippers in the world are our friends. So perhaps we need to remember to say, from time to time, “I believe in pink bunny slippers.”
	One last story – this one’s for Jean.
	“One time on Hollywood Boulevard I saw a young girl with a baby. It was a crisp winter morning & her hair shone dark purple in the sun. She was panhandling outside the Holiday Inn & the door clerk came out & told her to be on her way & I wondered if anyone would recognize the Christ child if they happened to meet. I remember thinking it's not like there are any published pictures & purple seemed like a good color for a Madonna so I gave her a dollar just in case.”  3
	If I may leave you with one suggestion: If all of us, from time to time, saw purple people, saw purple on everyone; saw everyone, but especially the person whom we find difficult to understand or engage in conversation; if you keep open the doors of this building, and engage in practicalities to show people how much God loves and accepts everyone, then the imagination and vision of God which resulted in the Word WILL be made visible as a sign of hope.
	Better yet, if you and I WORE purple ourselves, people could recognize us as being living Gospel words, “robed in deliverance and arrayed in victory”  4 over all prejudice, and abuse, and indifference over fear and distrust; robed in God’s splendour of love, and reconciliation, and acceptance; who then would get the last word for the world? Just what are you and I going to make of that word?
	Pink bunny slippers – what WAS I thinking of!!

NOTES:
1	CPTnet  20 December 2009  HEBRON REFLECTION: The Occupation illuminates the Incarnation    by Paulette Schroeder  cptnet at mailman.cpt.org
2	MONDAY, DEC 21, 2009 20:22 EST I am a closet Christian  At least, I was until now. Because in my circle, nothing is more embarrassing than being religious BY ADA CALHOUN http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2009/12/21/closet_christian/index.html
3	StoryPeople	comments at storypeople.com 
4	Isaiah 61:10 

--
Robert P. Morrison
The Episcopal Parish of St James,
PO Box 789
Lincoln City, Oregon, 97367

541-994-2426 (Church)