December 25, 2023
Christmas Day – George Yandell
C. S. Lewis always liked to say that God has a way of making straight paths into crooked lines.
Sometimes when meeting folks who are unfamiliar with the life of the church or its ministry, it might help us to repeat this mantra: “You know—most of us are just not able to schedule a crisis.” That seems so true of our lives, whatever ‘crisis’ we might face- a crisis of illness and death, or the crisis of unexpected joy and good fortune; we simply cannot schedule what eventually shapes a great deal of our lives. Our life of faith is about seeking and accepting the unseen hand of God when it moves, and accepting the uncertainty of where it may lead us.
I imagine ‘crisis’ was very much on the minds of Joseph and Mary as they fulfilled their state obligations of census and taxes on the road to Bethlehem. Has it ever been easy to schedule the birth of a child? (Unless you plan an induced delivery).
In those weeks that would become our first Advent, on that night that would become our first Christmas, I’d guess that Joseph and Mary might have thought or uttered the word “crisis,” either under their breath or in the depth of their hearts. “What in God’s name is going to happen next?”
The unseen hand of heaven was moving through their lives, all the tables turning, and they had no way of knowing how or where things might end.
December 24, 2023
Christmas Eve – George Yandell
I saw this logo in Advent a few years ago, on the sign at Grace Presbyterian Church in Dawsonville- I think it most appropriate for the season: “A long, long time ago in a Galilee far, far away…”
Have you ever had any disruptions at Christmas? Any family mistakes? I can remember when I was 10, my uncle Larry came up missing just as 14 of our family members sat down around the festive dinner table. He always cut the turkey while it was still hot, standing at the head of the table. My aunt said, “Where’s Larry?” My cousin Nancy said, “He’s taking a shower.” Turns out my uncle had had a libation or two, and lost track of time. We all laughed while the turkey got cold and we waited for his shower to end. Any of you have any other mistakes or disruptions at Christmas?
You just heard the story in Luke of how Mary and Joseph had major hurdles and disruptions in getting to Bethlehem. They had to obey the decree of the Roman Emperor to go to the husband’s hometown to be registered in the census. It is @ 70 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem, through mountainous territory, and around or through Jerusalem, the major city. Nazareth was up in the hill country, away from culture and high living. We’d call it the sticks, the backwoods. Sort of like Jasper is to Atlanta. Mary was very close to giving birth.
December 24, 2023
Advent IV – George Yandell
As you heard the gospel reading, it sounded and felt most familiar, didn’t it? Nothing new here- Luke’s story has been adapted into millions of Christmas pageants over the centuries. Many of us have been in those pageants. Boys wearing bathrobes, girls with scarves draped over their heads. Baby Jesus in a straw-filled imitation manger.
Reading Luke’s birth narrative beside Matthew’s, a number of differences and features become clear:
Luke barely mentions Joseph- he is almost invisible. Mary is the central character. Women play much more prominent roles.
Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah are childless. She conceives a child late in life, John the Baptizer. As wonderful as her conception is, her role when she sees her relative Mary is that of a prophetess. She understands and celebrates Mary’s secret. She praises Mary, blessing her because of her child to come and because Mary responded with faith to the angel’s message. [Adapted from the New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, volume 2.]
Divine conceptions in the ancient world were fairly common- great figures were often spoken of this way- Caesar Augustus was called the son of the Divine Julius Caesar, thus Son of a God.
Gabriel was sent by God the Creator to Nazareth- a small Jewish settlement of @ 200-400 residents. It was atop an upward climb on winding footpaths. The slopes approaching Nazareth were ideal for growing grapes and olives.
December 17, 2023
Advent 3B – George Yandell
“Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us.” This is the beginning of the collect for the third Sunday of Advent in our prayer book. It dates from the late 8th century. John the Baptist is the great stirrer, the great agitator in the gospel reading today.
There were two movements in Galilee in the 3rd decade of the 1st century. Both were intensifications of Jewish belief and practice. First came the baptizing movement of John the Baptist, then came the Kingdom movement of Jesus. Some would say they together make up the hinge point in the history of salvation.
John was possessed. Possessed by God’s wild urging to say it all before time ran out. He knew in his core that God was coming. He felt deep empathy with God and rage at everyone’s insensitivity to God’s prophetic word. As he stood knee-deep in the Jordan, he railed out, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” People came from far and wide, heard and believed John. Some scholars state that it was through John’s ministry that Jesus perceived the nearness of the kingdom of God and Jesus’ own relation to it. For Jesus, John is the beginning of the Good News, the Gospel.
John’s legacy of powerful confrontation is dimmed now by our hearing and re-hearing his call to repent.