Darkness and Light

Darkness and Light

A sermon delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson

December 28,  2014

at Gordonsville Presbyterian Church, Gordonsville, Virginia

Genesis 1: 1-5

John 1: 1-14

Let us pray,

Help us to see despite our eyes

Help us to think outside of our minds

Help us to be more than our lives      

For your eyes show the way

            Your mind knows the truth

            Your being is the life.

Amen.

^1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ^2 He was in the beginning with God; ^3 all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. ^4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ^5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

^6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ^7 He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. ^8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.

^9 The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. ^10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. ^11 He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. ^12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; ^13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

^14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.^[1]

I know that we've read and heard this passage, this opening passage from the Gospel of John again and again this Christmas season. I chose it last week for the Gospel Passage, and then again I read it during the center piece of the Christmas Eve Service. I just love it, The Word, the Darkness, the Light, the poet in me is drawn to it, maybe it is the light from it drawing me like a moth to a flame, but as many times as I've read it, I don't think I have ever actually preached from it, never have I delved into its depths. Instead I've had it stand on its own, and then preached on Christmas in general, the Word made flesh, Immanuel, Jesus the Christ, the entire story, rather than details here. I chose it though this morning because I feel called next to preach from the Gospel of John for the next few months, and thought it important to start here, to really look at this passage, as it is prologue to the rest. It sits at the beginning to put the rest into some sort of perspective. Having just written and published my first book, I had to write my first "Preface" my first introduction, and I thought, what is it that I need my reader to know before they start reading this book? What frame of mind do I want them to have? How do I want to set the scene? What background information do I want to evoke? What do I want them to bring to the table? You know, thoughts wise, wisdom wise, ideas wise? What do I want my readers thinking about before they go forward? This is what I think Johns poetic prologue seeks to do. It seeks to connect Jesus, the story, the incarnation, in its place historically, theologically, and philosophically, because for John, it seems that Jesus is the coming together of cultures, the coming together of ideas, and the final result, the culmination of culture. And that is really what the Gospel writer John seems to be doing here.

To get at what I mean I want to take a look at two of the concepts that he brings together here. I want to take a look at the word we translate as Word, which is the Greek word, "Logos" and then I want to look at how that is related to the idea of "Light and Darkness," all culminating in a Theological conclusion about what John may be saying about Who God is and Who Jesus is going forward with the rest of the Gospel. It will give us an introduction to where we go from here.

So this Logos, idea has a ton of history by the time that it is used here by John. It has some baggage that comes with it, that is lost in the English translation of "Word." First off if we want to get a greater glimpse we can look at how the root, Logos, has entered into our language in other ways. . . words like biology, sociology, geology. . . the study of life, societies, and the Earth. Things like Logistics, how it all is ordered together to work. . . or logic, which is something like ordered thinking, or syllogisms, which is connected to logic, a rhetorical device often used for getting at general truths, things like Christmas is a Holiday, all Holidays are joyful, therefore Christmas is joyful. It is commonly used in Philosophical writing for getting at how ideas are interrelated. So in this way we get the idea that logos, which is the root for all of these terms is related to how we think, it is related to what we study, it is related to how we form arguments, how we get at the truth, and all of that. Perhaps it make sense that it would be translated as Word because the verb form of it "Logo" in its first person singular form means "I say." But it also has a great connection to Greek Philosophy. . . and I don't want to get too far into the weeds here, but I've always been one to see the story, the development of an idea, when I was in math class, I'd always understand the formula better if I saw it derived for me. . . so I want to give you a glimpse of some of it. Heraclitus, whom you probably haven't heard of, was first to use it extensively, and he used logos to describe "the principle order of things. . . the source of knowledge." Aristotle used the word to describe the process of an argument, he grouped it with ethos and pathos, which ethos was appealing to someone's reason to convince them, and pathos to their emotions, logos was the art of doing it with words themselves. But probably my favorite would be the Greek Stoics, who used the term to describe the persistent all pervasive order of the universe. . . to them the Logos was the deal that all people had to find to then become in line with. To the Stoics this Logos was nature itself, completely passionless, non-caring about things that are being, just the basic objective laws of the universe, that could be understood through logical contemplation. To the Stoic the world was a logical set of laws, all connected, and completely apathetic to the plight and endeavoring of human beings. . . and so life was then a struggle that is to be endured. Now the connection goes even further beyond this, but I don't want to bore you with all the Philosophical jargon, I probably already have enough, but keep in mind the Stoics, because there are real connections between a Stoic Philosophy, and some of the Theology that John is espousing, with one major distinction that I will get to in a bit.

But the other cultural aspect that John is trying to bring out and appeal to is not just the Greek, but the Jewish. Logos was an important word in the Greek influenced Jewish communities leading up to the time of Jesus, often called Hellenized Judaism. Remember that before the Romans came through and occupied Palestine, the Greeks had, and like the Persians before them, they had much influence on the culture, really both ways. One of the great achievements of the cross culturalization is the Septuagint, which is the earliest Hebrew, what we call the Old Testament, translation into Greek. As you can guess "Logos" has an important role in such a work. There are obviously the fact that God speaks things into existence, which takes all the uses of the word, Logos, that we have discussed and brings it all into focus. God setting the laws of the universe, like the Stoics believe, God beginning all argument, God putting out the very truth that wisdom seeking philosophers have dedicated their lives to finding. Probably the most prominent place where Logos is used is in Psalm 33. . . talking about the creating of the heavens. . . "by the word of the Lord the heavens were made." It is there "Logos" with all of its Greek meaning, like we've been talking about.

So I want all that going through your heads to some extent, while we talk about the next major point, which is "light" because light is very prominent in this text too. And of course they are connected in all those phases. Biblically and of the Hebrews it is connected because the first thing that God speaks into existence is light. He speaks it and it is, and it is good. But Light is also important in Philosophy and Understanding, because light is and always has been a symbol for knowledge, think about the picture of the human head with the lightbulb coming on, think about the phrase, "bring this to light" or "He's really bright",  think about the prayer for Illumination that we pray before we read scripture. . . Light is an important symbol for knowledge and wisdom, too, just like "Logos." It is very much the same with Greek culture again, the god Apollo, was the god of the Sun, but also the god of wisdom, poetry, philosophy, why because as the sun, he brings light to the world, and therefore understanding and knowledge to the world. He was the patron god of the Oracle at Delphi, because he was connected to this idea of seeing and wisdom and light,  the future is dark and unknowable, but he could bring it to light. Now I don't bring up this to look at the connections between Christian notions of God and some mythological character like Apollo, but instead to show the connection between "Logos" here and "Light" because the connection is strong and all pervasive.

Now I'm at that point, where like a story teller or a joke teller, I can say, I told you that story so I can tell you this one because the individual details of all this are not important but instead that they are being connected together, and that connection together being founded in the coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the culmination of all these ideas at once, and that seems to be the claim that John is making. He is making the claim that Jesus is the answer to the Jews, that he is connected to the Creation, that he is the very words that God speaks, that he himself is the light that was spoken and declared good, and that he does for the world anew in our hearts, in our midst, like us in flesh, the same thing that he did on that very first day, bring light into the world. That as the Messiah, the Christ, he is more than just a historical figure, but one who transcends all of time being there at the beginning, and now, and even we believe in the future, Alpha and Omega. But, not just as light, but also as the Logos, the beginning of all argument, the primary argument, the beginning of all ideas, the first primary mover, and the truth that connects all things together. . . the stoic notion of truth, by which the world functions, but of course there is one major difference here, and it is huge, it is transcendent, and it speaks to the very nature and size of God. . . that it is bigger than any other notion, big enough to bridge the gap between Aristotle's arguments. He is at once the Logos, Ethos, and Pathos, and since he is such it says something different about the world than what the Stoics had believed. . . that it is caring, that it loves, that it is not indifferent. . . John's gospel is a gospel of Love, think of the famous parts like John 3:16, for God so loved, that the concept of all this is love. Love is also a major part of the three epistles of John. And so seeking to make an argument with the Philosophies of the time, as culmination, that Jesus shows us that this universe is connected by this notion of love. . . and that then Love is the light of the world, but this is the beauty, that love is also in the darkness. That God is big enough to encompass both, and will endure the darkness just to bring light from it because that is the amazing things that God does. Again and again, bringing light from the darkness. But why do people choose the darkness. . . because they don't realize that God is there too, completely in control of the darkness as much as in the light. We think we can hide, we think that our truth is our own if we hide it in the darkness, that the darkness can be our fig leaves of control, but Jesus shows that God is the God of the darkness, too. . . and that notions of the darkness being outside of God are merely illusions caused of our sin. There is no darkness at all the night and the day are both alike, and it's all here in this gospel.

So this is only the prologue, but what a set up. John has set up the idea that Jesus is the cause of everything in the universe, that Jesus is the culmination of every idea ever thought, every argument ever made, that Jesus confirms the very order of the universe, but shows that it is truly connected in love.

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^[1]The Revised Standard Version. 1971 (Jn 1:1). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Christmas Morning

Christmas Morning

A sermon delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson

December 21,  2014

at Gordonsville Presbyterian Church, Gordonsville, Virginia

Micah 5: 2-5a

John 1: 1-14

Let us pray,

Help us to see despite our eyes

Help us to think outside of our minds

Help us to be more than our lives      

For your eyes show the way

            Your mind knows the truth

            Your being is the life.

Amen.

 ¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² The same was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

⁵ And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. ⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. ⁸ He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. ⁹ That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. ¹¹ He came unto his own, and his own received him not. ¹² But as many as received him, to them gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: ¹³ Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. ¹⁴ And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. ^[1]

I've been excited about this sermon. When you preach a series, you always look forward to the final one, and when you preach messages parallel to Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" this final scene is always front and center because that story is about redemption, and the redemption of Scrooge is so powerful. So many forces work together to save him, and really what saves him is the Truth of What Christmas is, and what Christmas means. God comes into our world, and changes our world forever, and if we remain unchanged by this wondrous event, we are greatly missing something, missing everything, missing out, and Scrooge is a good example of missing, but we find that despite how extreme he is, there is no way to avoid, when reading novel, how much more like him we really are than like Bob Cratchitt. The movies are different, Cratchitt is like us, and Scrooge is so utterly not, but I reread the original novella this week, hoping to gain some insight from the story, and was overwhelmed at what I found, how much more human Scrooge is, very much mean and miserable, but very much human, and how tightly Dickens' words fit into the context of what I've been talking about. So much is missing from the text, when all you do is see one of the many movie versions. As great as they are, there is some really poignant parts that are missing. . . and as I was reading it this week I kept coming across them.

For instance when the Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge the scene when he loses his sweetheart. . . when he chooses his money instead of her. . . it is quite a heart wrenching scene because it is not his choice, she comes to him, and says "Ebenezer your love for me has been supplanted by a new love, and I can't compete." He tries half heartedly to deny it, but she knows him so well, and she is not thinking of herself, but rather for him. She says to him, that "Fear of the world" is the great cause of his grief. I had no idea, but that is exactly what I have been preaching our great trouble is, the world's great trouble is fear. . . fear of so much, to which faith in the Christmas world is such a remedy for. Those Christmas Angels beckon us to "Fear Not" though the shepherds were sore afraid.

But the most important thing that I found in my reading was this moment of conversion, that moment when Scrooge wakes up a changed man. . . I kept thinking what a model for us, what a perfect model of how Christmas should affect us. . . and we have to wonder if it doesn't, how much more could it, should it, would it mean to us. If it was all new to us. If Christmas was something new and fresh and different, and a real new experience. . . like it is for Scrooge. Check out that scene. . . I put it in the bulletin.

Best and happiest of all, the Time before him was his own, to make amends in!

"I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!" Scrooge repeated, as he scrambled out of bed.  "The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.  Oh Jacob Marley!  Heaven, and the Christmas Time be praised for this.  I say it on my knees, old Jacob, on my knees!"

He was so fluttered and so glowing with his good intentions, that his broken voice would scarcely answer to his call.  He had been sobbing violently in his conflict with the Spirit, and his face was wet with tears.

His hands were busy with his garments all this time; turning them inside out, putting them on upside down, tearing them, mislaying them, making them parties to every kind of extravagance.

"I don't know what to do!" cried Scrooge, laughing and crying in the same breath. . . "I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy.  I am as giddy as a drunken man.  A merry Christmas to everybody!  A happy New Year to all the world!  Hallo here!  Whoop!  Hallo!"

Look at that reaction. Time is such a big factor in the novel. . . one of those things often missed. Time. . . originally the ghosts are to come three nights in a row, each night at 1:00 a.m., but that would miss Christmas, and so instead for some reason, some idea of time stopping for Scrooge, he doesn't realize that its all happened in one night until he wakes up, and realizes that he hasn't missed Christmas. He realizes he still has time. . . so not only does he get redeemed, but he gets a few days back. . . more than he thought he would, and that makes him even more excited. He's gained time. It's like for him, something like when you wear an old coat you haven't worn in years, and it just happens to have a twenty bill in.. . totally unexpected. . . that's time is for Scrooge. He has time, he says, to make amends. The best time for making amends is now. . . it always is. Once you decide you want to make amends, that you need to make amends, wouldn't it be great to be also able to turn back that clock and do it yesterday. That's where Scrooge is. There is that movie "When Harry Met Sally" where Billy Crystal says to Meg Ryan at the end. . . when you spend  your entire life trying to find someone you want to spend the rest of your life with, you want the rest of your life to begin as soon as possible."

Then there are the Spirits themselves, and Scrooge says he's going to live in them Past, Present, and Future, that each will live in his heart. They will "strive' in his heart. . . always working through him, what a great word "strive." And of course we're to think, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit there. It is a set of three in a Christian context. The Trinity is very much alive in the time scenario of past, present, and future. . . just like a God completely timeless, living I am, then, now, and always. And then you have Jacob Marley's name, Jacob, no coincidence that Dickens chose the name of the father of our faith, Jacob, Israel, that trickster who did all kinds of bad things, but never succeeded in separating himself from God's love. . . it's a great subtle message about the great steadfast love and mercy of God, shining through this redemption story.

But then look at how it affects him. He's "fluttered" he's glowing" all with "good intentions" his voice is broken, he was sobbing violently and his face was wet with tears. He's trying to get his clothes on, but he can't focus on them. He puts them inside out, upside own, he tears them, mislays them, and he is becoming "extravagant." Extravagant the very opposite of a hoarding miserable miser, knowing only the comfort of cold hard coins, now he is filled with unkempt extravagance. He proclaims, "I don't know what to do." The man who had always been in such control, every action and thought coldly calculated, emotionless, and cold, now laughing and crying. . . he doesn't know what to do. He's light as a feather. . . he's happy as an angel. . . he has reclaimed the merriness and joy of his youth, back at old Fezziwig's. . . he is giddy, like a drunken man. . . and out of him flows Merry Christmas. . . to everybody. . . happy New Year to all the world. . . his world has grown from simply himself. . . now outward. . . and not just to a few but to everyone. He can't contain his love. . . his excitement. . . all control he had is gone. . . and he is living completely in the moment. . .caught up in the moment. . . for he has no fear of the future. . . no regret of the past. . . because all of it is being made right, right now, in this moment. . . the entire world. . . the entire creation. . . everything. . .every minute. . . every single momentary idea is caught up right now. . . flowing out of him without any thought. . . he is caught up and living completly changed. . . completely outside of his former self. . . now alive, and now his true God Made Self, and is ready to share with the world and save the world, and love the world. This is what Christmas does for Scrooge.

Does it do it for us? Does the rest fall away? Are we so caught up in it that we lose ourselves completely? Truly. . .probably not.  I mean we like Christmas. We all like Christmas. It makes us feel special, feel warm and fuzzy inside. . . we get to see the joy on Children's faces. . . we get to remember the joy we felt as children. . . new toys. . . special decorations. . . waking up at 4 just to start it all off. We were driving home from the Nativity at the Norton's farm the other night, and I was pointing out the lights to Clara and Coralee on either side of the road. . . and Clara said, "It truly is a magical world." And it is. . . it's new to them. . . like it was to Scrooge. . . kids feel it, everything is so special and so new.

That is where we need to get because that is what Christmas is. . . newness, the world is made new, and we are made new. It changes us. . . it has to, or we've missed it. John's gospel starts so beautifully talking about what Christmas really means. The Word. .. . becoming flesh. . . light shining through the darkness. . . the darkness trying to overcome it, but not being able to. .. people in their confusion choosing the darkness over the light, because they know no better. Is it possible that we have become so used to Christmas that it is shadowed, that the light is not shining brightly, because it has been shining for so long and we're used to it, we have become accustomed to Christmas. . .hear that word "Accustomed?" Have our customs become dead and routine? What can we do to shake things up?

I have tried in this series to get us to look at Christmas a different way, by looking at the world in a way we rarely do. A way that takes into account the past and where we've been, to bring into greater focus, where we are and where we are going. . . Christmas fits into that, because no matter how many times we've celebrated Christmas. . . it's new. . . it always comes with the possibility of newness and life. . .and if it isn't new for  you. . . then there is nothing like now to make amends, and you'll find that you have all the time you need if you start now. If you let this Christmas be  the one where God's covenant is really written into your heart forever, the spirit can strive in your heart, your energy an amass, overflow out of you. O to dream for that kind of experience? Please God, let it be so for us today, on this Christmas Morning.

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^[1]The Holy Bible : King James Version. 1995 (electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version.) (Jn 1:1-14). Bellingham WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

The Prince of Peace

The Prince of Peace

A sermon delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson

December 20,  2014

for the Blue and Gray Christmas Service

Sesquicentennial Celebration

at Gordonsville Presbyterian Church, Gordonsville, Virginia

Isaiah 40: 1-8

Luke 2: 1-14

Let us pray,

Help us to see despite our eyes

Help us to think outside of our minds

Help us to be more than our lives      

For thine eyes show the way

            Thy mind knows the truth

            Thy being is the life.

Amen.

 2 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

² (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

³ And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

⁴ And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

⁵ To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

⁶ And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

⁷ And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

⁸ And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

⁹ And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

¹⁰ And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

¹² And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

¹⁴ Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And so it was that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was born into this world, the Word made flesh, Hosanna, a Messiah, the Lord, in Excelsis Deo, and the like. The Magi, and Herod all were seeking him, too, they called him the King of the Jews. . . Ezekiel the Prophet foretold of the coming of a Son of Man, Jeremiah foretold of a Righteous Branch, even further back, there was the need of a sacrificial lamb to take the place of Isaac, having been spared, that father, Father Abraham, would not be asked to complete the task of sacrificing his own son, that job would be reserved for God himself, for since the beginning, way back in Genesis, after Eve, and then Adam had partaken of the fruit, falling us completely into sin and darkness, it was said that Satan's head must be struck, a battle against sin and darkness had begun. . . but the prophet Isaiah called him, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, and of course Prince of Peace, and it is this name, Prince of Peace that I would like to discuss today, for Peace is something we sorely need.

Here we stand in the midst of the war that has raged on and on, seemingly without end, but war is nothing new, since the birth of Christ, the coming of this Prince of Peace there has always been war, before the Prince of Peace there was war. No, war is not something that is limited to just our time, nor to only our shores, even now war rages across this world, though most of us are so consumed and rightly so, that we often lose the perspective of history, but one thing has been surely the case so far in this conflict, is that on Christmas, if only for a brief season, the cannonballs cease their flying, and the night sky is cleared of the smoke of war, and we can see the skies, we can see the stars, and if we were looking up at the sky on a night like this, what would it be like if it was to us that those angels appeared? What would they sing to us? Would their song be the same? Would they Sing of Peace on Earth and Goodwill to all men? Would their message be that same message of Peace to us? And if it was, how would we respond? What would it look like? What is this peace they sing of? What is it and when does it begin? Dear God, open our ears and our eyes that we may learn your Peace. . .

Our Old Testament speaks of peace often, those heroes of the Biblical story, the Hebrews spoke of peace often. . . their word for peace was shalom. It makes up the second half of the name Jerusalem. . . the king's peace. . . It was a greeting, it was a well wishing, like our God Gi'de'en. It encapsulated health, happiness, comfort, and most importantly being in the right relationship and balance with God. And to them the beginning of faith, the beginning of relationship with God, was remembering who God is, who we are as his people, and what he has done in this world. What he has done for His people. . . carrying them by hand, delivering them from their bondage, and giving them a land flowing with milk and honey, a land for all time. . . and yet squandered because they forgot. . . they were to write it on their fence posts, and wear it on their faces, they were to teach it to their children, reciting it at the beginning and end of each day. . . The Lord of All is One, Love the Lord with all thy Heart, all thy Soul, and all thy Might. But they forgot. Prophets came to remind them. Jeremiah spoke of a new covenant. . . one where this would be written on our hearts, when that messiah would come. . . but here it is, and we have forgotten again.

The Prince of Peace. . . what would we think if those angels were to come to us today, bringing us those good tidings, here to our world? Would they send us running towards Bethlehem to worship the new born king, the messiah, the Lord, or would they have us running in shame, in fear, away. For we have forgotten, and we know it. We are not the first to forget, but to be reminded in a blinding light of glory, breaking up the night, filling up that quiet, comfortable, dare I say peaceful, darkness with light. . . that would probably send us running to hide ourselves back in the darkness. Because the Angel of the Lord coming in glory, with the glory showing all around us would be frightening, it would change our world. It would make us think twice about what we have been fighting for, and against. It certainly would make us all think twice about what we are fighting for and against. For in the light we can see ourselves, there is not blessed darkness where we can hide. . .it  is all out there in the open, full disclosure, complete, and whole. . . and the problem is we find that we are broken. We fear that we are broken. We fear that we are not worthy. We fear that we must hoard, and fight, and claw, and scratch, all just to find our way through this world of darkness.

But wait, this isn't darkness at all, this is the light. This is not the darkness. The angels are singing. . . and they say, "Fear Not!" These fears that you feel are just the shadows of the darkness. . . they are the remnants of what you are so stubbornly clinging to. Let go. . . Fear not. . . for behold. I bring you good tidings, of great joy, for the world has changed. The world is not a world of darkness, but has been claimed by this light. There is nothing to fear, for fear is just a remnant of that dark and dead world of yesterday. I bring you Peace. . .the Prince of Peace has come. Peace. . . your wholeness, your health, your happiness, and your rightness with God, remember again, remember what God had done, is doing, and will do, what that baby in the manger means for us.  . . the manger that begins his humble life, and the cross that ends it, but neither are what they seem, for the light just overcomes the darkness again and again, in him there is no darkness at all, the night and the day are both alike. For what happens on that third day, yes the son rises. . . light again shining out of the darkness.

Do you have darkness in you? Do you have brokenness? Are you afraid? of the future? of your past? of this moment? Yes we do, of course we do, but Isaiah, he through whom, God first coined this descriptive epithet, Prince of Peace, also said:

"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people saith your lord! Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished. The grass withereth, flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever."

Even in the midst of war and unrest, God's word comes to us, giving us comfort, telling us to not be afraid, and bringing us good tidings of great joy. . . Peace on Earth and Good Will to all men. Are you broken? maybe. . . not enough. Do you have darkness in you? maybe . . . not enough. Are you afraid of not being worthy? Or not worth it? Is there something you could have done to earn all this that you failed to do? maybe. . . never enough? Enough, no, nothing is enough to separate you from this light. You didn't earn it, and it won't be taken away, fear not, remember, and be at peace. For the Prince of Peace has Come, "in him is life, and the life is the light of men. and the light shineth perpetually in the darkness. . . the darkness comprehends it not. . .  the darkness forgets it, but for us. On a night like this, clear, quiet, and dark. . . let us let, the herald angels sing for us anew. . . and then may we be filled, not with fear, but with great joy, so much so that we run, to worship the king, who is in the manger, written forever on our hearts.

The Ghost of 1st Christmas Future: Then to Now

The Ghost of 1st Christmas Future: Then to Now

A sermon delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson

December 14,  2014

at Gordonsville Presbyterian Church, Gordonsville, Virginia

Isaiah 2: 1-4

Hebrews 12: 1-12

Let us pray,

Help us to see despite our eyes

Help us to think outside of our minds

Help us to be more than our lives      

For your eyes show the way

            Your mind knows the truth

            Your being is the life.

Amen.

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, ² looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

³ Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. ⁴ In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. ⁵ And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children—

“My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

or lose heart when you are punished by him;

⁶     for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves,

and chastises every child whom he accepts.”

⁷ Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? ⁸ If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children. ⁹ Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? ¹⁰ For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness. ¹¹ Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

¹² Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, ¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. ^[1]

So we've now been visited by the first two spirits. The Ghost of Christmas Past whisked us through the Before Christ world, showing us a world of darkness, controlled by might and power, all fueled by fear. And then we looked at the Time of Christ, the Roman Empire, the Pax Romana, Herod, the differing Jewish Communities that were in existence when Christ was born. And now we look to the future at the first Christmas, the time that was from then until now. Before Christ the world was mired in fear and control. The powerful controlled the truth, proclaimed whatever they wanted as truth, and used that truth to control the people of the world. And even though there were major breakthroughs leading up until the Roman Empire, the Axial Age, to name one of them, Greek Democracy, Roman Republic, but only a few years before the birth of Christ, that flickering light of freedom was replaced as it had always been by Empire. . . law was replaced by the dictates of one man, this Augustus - The August one - The Great, Power, Control, Fear, Force. Augustus did more than just make himself the Emperor, he proclaimed himself a god, and since he said it, it was. That was all it took to become a god, just say that you are, and you can if you have legions and centurions at your command. That is all it takes in our world to proclaim truth. And such is what the ghost of Christmas Past and Present have shown us, always in juxtaposition with the truth of Christmas.

At this point in the Dickens' story, Scrooge is beginning to show some remorse. He is saddened by the past, the choices he has made, the times that he chose money over relationships, the times that he chose money over happiness. He saw the joy of others and he gave it all away. Then in the present he sees the Cratchit family,  poor, destitute, young sickly Tiny Tim, so sweet, yet riddled by the disease that could cost him his life. They have nothing, but the love they have for each other, the fact that they are facing their trials, and are not broken apart and divided by them, but are joyously celebrating through them, this begins to melt Scrooge's cold heart. But now when the third spirit beckons, Scrooge is overcome with, not regret, or pity, but overwhelming fear because not only do his actions have real cost to those around him, and have led him to this miserly miserable point, but they go forward into the future, and if he were to remain unchanged, his life would continue on a very sad, lonely, and tragic trajectory, toward his death, abandoned and alone, perhaps even to wear the heavy chains of Marley's ghost, or worse, the flames at the bottom of the grave.

So we, as the world, like Scrooge, have been shown in the last few weeks the missteps of the world, that have brought us to this point at the time of the Original Christmas. And in the manger we see the baby savior of the world. We see hope coming into the world. We see a child who is the fulfillment of a promise, and we ask, is it enough to change us, enough for us to seek another way? If we were to look at the future from the Birth of Christ, from the perspective of the first Christmas forward, we would see the world that has created our own. We would see the history of the world from Christ to now. What I want us to do today, is again pretend we are like Scrooge. We are not looking back at the past, but are living in the time of Christ's birth, the first Christmas. . . and we are looking forward. We have seen the past, we have seen the baby in the manger and now we look to what the future looks like to us, if we weren't changed by this first Christmas.

One question that should come to our minds before we begin is, would the vision of the world looking forward from Christmas forward look any different from the world that is? In other words, would Christmas change anything? Has Christmas changed anything? Let's think for a moment that Christmas did change something. There certainly would be no thing called the Church, no Saints, no great poetry and music of the Christian Tradition, we could ask ourselves, would there have been a United States of America? Would there have been a Declaration of Independence? A Constitution? Would there be any such notion of things like Equal Rights? or Rights at all? Would there be any notion of freedom? Charity? Christmas traditions, like giving gifts? Would there be a dream of peace on Earth without Christmas? Would there be Joy? Because we do experience Peace, Hope, Joy, and Love. We do. Christmas has made a difference in our lives. It just has, but the question is how much? and how lasting?

Because there are certainly aspects of the world that did not change. So the Ghost of Christmas future comes to the world and shows it a picture of the Baby Jesus, grown now, betrayed, tried, beaten, flogged, and now hanging on a cross to die, while the Roman governor washes his hands of the deed, the people demanded it, it seemed they were afraid of what it all could mean. It seemed they were afraid of upsetting the Romans, upsetting the status quo, giving people false hope. It seemed that Jesus had messed with the wrong power brokers. But then the ghost whisks us forward, and we see a Roman Emperor becoming baptized as a Christian. We see the mixing of the movement with the Empire. We see power and might makes right, wielding the cross. We can't help but wonder if these powerful men are really converting to a Jesus centered faith existence, or are simply converting in name only, that Jesus has supplanted Zeus, supplanted Jove, and is now just the most powerful god, small "g". Zeus had always worried about being overthrown, now it has happened. The ghost whisks us forward and we see a Germanic chieftain, a Frank named Clovis, and he is being baptized and crowned by the Pope. . . is he a new convert? Is he a new Christ follower, or is he just the latest to wield the cross? The latest, but there are many to follow. Popes, priests, kings, they all use the cross to rule, but we don't see them teaching love, we see them teaching fear, we see the threat of persecution, we see forced conversions and torture, we see the threat of Hell, promises of healing, salvation, positions of prestige within the church, riches, health and happiness, all not at the cost of faith, but based on the cost of the coin. Give to us and control your future. We see soldiers, knights, men at arms, armed with swords, but not the sword of truth and the armor of God, but armor of iron, with the symbol of the cross, off to fight the infidels. We see superstition and fear, the remnants of the old BC pagan religions, ritual and magic, wielded by regular people trying to gain some control on their own in a world that is so out of control. We even see reformers, making great strides in the push towards creating a more authentic Jesus following movement, but they include destroying art and musical instruments, and more wielding of power, division, and more warfare. We see the Christian world spread to every corner of the globe through exploration and mission, but always with the Bible comes the sword, the gun, the bomb, always with the teaching comes the impelling, the force, the fear. We see Christianity make slaves of people, excuse slavery, wielding the Bible again to serve whatever purpose was the most powerful. We see nations going to war with each other. We see men rising up as strong leaders threatening to take over the world. We see Wars not fought just between two countries but between all people, the entire world at war, not once but twice, we see a weapon of mass destruction, a holocaust of people, genocide, Communism, fear, control, Debt, Division, Power, Decline, Fear, fear and more fear, and the constant offer of strong and smart men to take it all over for us and give us real answers and real tangible salvation, only one election away. . .

. . . and if we are honest with ourselves we ask if any of it has made a difference. . . for if Christmas is a light shining in the darkness, if it is a hope we have, a hope of peace, a source of joy, then it is merely a flicker. . . and we desperately need more. We need more Christmas, and we need more light. If we think of Scrooge, and his overwhelming transformation on Christmas morning, we know that the glimpse of his future was the big thing that changed him, paired with his regret and his pity, it all changed him. . . but has it changed us. . . we see it, partial change, right. We get a little hope. We get a little peace, and a little joy, but it is always tempered with those old enemies, Fear and Control - - The need for security, safety, our way. . . but Christmas is about faith, and faith lets go, faith believes, faith can look outward. Imagine Dickens story with Scrooge only partially changed. He goes from Bah Humbug to giving Cratchit a small raise and the day off, but come a week later, he is back to his old miserly ways? It certainly would lack the power. . . Scrooge instead flies from his room, rights all the wrongs he can, is filled with the spirit of Christmas, and that spirit is Joy! He is filled with Joy because he has seen the future and he was creating, but had his eyes opened to a Christmas reality and a Christmas future, where storing up treasure just has no place, and the misery of being a miser has no place.

Next week we will look at how our world can change. . . for after looking at the past, present, and future of the first Christmas Time, we get to wake up in our world, in our time, on Christmas Morning, like Scrooge, and be filled with the lasting Christmas Joy, the kind that sends you out running in your pajamas to give to your fellow man, to love, to serve, to sacrifice, looking beyond yourself, beyond what you can control, stepping out in faith not fear. That is what real Christmas conversion looks like. . . do we have it?

I chose an interesting passage for the New Testament Lesson today. It is not a normal Advent Passage. We don't usually talk about the "cloud of witnesses" and "running with perseverance the race," at Christmas time, but in my Bible this section was subtitled, "The Example of Jesus" , Jesus, who is the "pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of "Joy" endured the cross." There it is "Joy." Joy, Joy, Joy, praise be to God in Heaven on High. It was for our Joy that Jesus endured the cross, and so we face trials, we will since forever human beings have faced trials, it is a part of what being human is all about, what being a follower of God is all about.

“My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

or lose heart when you are punished by him;

⁶     for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves,

and chastises every child whom he accepts.”

One thing that the message of the Ghosts of 1st Christmas Past, Present, and Future all showed us, was/is people trying to avoid trials. . . it is our fear of the trials of life that make us seek to control them. But these words from Hebrews and so many other Biblical stories show us that the trials are where we become strong. . . that the trials are not to be avoided, but endured. . . and that we will not be forsaken through them. It is not that we avoid trials through our faith, but that we make it through, avoidance is where we go astray.

Today we lit the candle of Joy, the special candle, the pink one. Today we have wonderful music from the bell choir. We have great and exciting things going on this month all around us about Christmas. It is a time of great Joy. It is often easy to be joyous on days like today, but real Joy is tested by the fire of trials, tested by faith through fear, and tested by the cross we are called to carry. Can we find Joy in those trials? Can we be made strong in our faith by them? Can we persevere and run the race, all the while, keeping our Christmas Joy, empowering our hearts with Joy. The Hebrews passage ends with this line:

"Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, ¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed."

Christmas is supposed to change us, supposed to raise us up, suppose to heal our weakness, our lameness, our crookedness. It is supposed to free us from Fear and Control, filling us instead with Joy, real, lasting, all encompassing, light all up in the midst of real darkness, kind Joy. Christmas Joy, let heaven and nature sing it.  So may it be. Amen.

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^[1]The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. 1989 (Heb 12:1-13). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

The Ghost of 1st Christmas Present: 0 A.D.

The Ghost of 1st Christmas Present: 0 A.D.

A sermon delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson

December 7,  2014

at Gordonsville Presbyterian Church, Gordonsville, Virginia

Isaiah 40: 1-11

Luke 2: 1-7

Let us pray,

Help us to see despite our eyes

Help us to think outside of our minds

Help us to be more than our lives      

For your eyes show the way

            Your mind knows the truth

            Your being is the life.

Amen.

 2 In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. ² This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³ All went to their own towns to be registered. ⁴ Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. ⁵ He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. ⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. ^[1]

So last week we took a look at the ancient world. The Ghost of Christmas Past came and whisked us through history, showing us a world that was formed around oppression and control. As the world, we took a look at ourselves in the past, before Christ, seeking to reveal how Christmas Day should change us, how we like Dickens', Ebenezer Scrooge, should find remorse, should find redemption, and should repent from those ways, but much like Scrooge the past is not enough for us. There are three spirits, and so this week we get visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present. He is going to show us what kind of world Jesus was born into. It is very much still a world of oppression for most. It is a world of Empire. It is a world dominated by Romans, at least in the little town of Bethlehem, and the country that surrounds it.

The Biblical account of Jesus' birth, especially that of Luke's Gospel, goes out of its way to make sure we know the exact historical timeframe for Jesus' life. Luke tells us who the emperor was, Augustus, and who the governor of Syria was, Quirinius. The Roman world is very much a character in the Christmas Story, just as it is a character in the Easter story. So it is the time of Augustus, but what was that like? Before we go there let's take a look at a little backstory.

In the Advent Study this past Tuesday, I introduced the group to an idea called by some historians, and first coined by the Philosopher Karl Jaspers' just 60+ years ago. Much like "The Renaissance" or "The Enlightenment" this "Axial Age" is a historian's description of a time period that seemed to fit into a category of idea. . . that there is a series of events and actions at the time that have enough of a common thread to warrant being thought of as a group, with a name. Axial, in this sense is a time where the world makes a pivot, like on an axis. The phenomenon that Jaspers was noticing was that most if not all of the Philosophies and Religions that have shaped the modern world, all found their origins in the same period of time, and that within this trend there are many common threads. If you've heard someone say that all religions are the same, with some minor details, you have an idea of what I'm talking about. Jaspers and others would say, though I don't completely agree that religions are the same, but I do agree, as they would say, that there are certainly many common threads. Jaspers noticed that between around 800 BC and 100 AD if you include Christianity, some date it to 200 B.C. Zoroastrianism in Persia, Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism in India, Taoism and Confucianism in China, The Prophets of The Old Testament, and The Greek Philosophers, like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and others all found their origins. And basically, not to go into too much detail and confuse  you, this Axial Age marked a shift from the Conflict/Oppression Polytheistic religious ideas of the Ancient World, like we talked about last week, to a much more Ordered, some may call Monotheistic ideas that would shape our world. The big difference in seeing an Ordered World instead of a world shaped by conflict, is that you can study that world, that reason rather than might become a real method for discerning truth, and that truth is something that is connected to the Created Order of the Universe, rather than just determined by the most powerful. Political systems, Morality, and the natural patterns of the world were all starting to be seen as connected, and seekable through reason and revelation directly from God, rather than filtered. There is a common thread of these factors in all of those Religions and Philosophies, though they differ in some of the details, some large differences and some very small differences. I have been captivated recently by this idea. It is intriguing, especially if you see it as laying the framework for the coming of Christ, and the message that Jesus brings. There is a sense that God's Providence was working, laying that foundation. Could that be why those Wisemen come to seek out Jesus from the East? It's a cool idea.

I bring this up today, though, to show that there was more to the Ancient World, leading up to the Roman Empire than just the darkness we talked about last week. Out of the Political Philosophies of the so called Axial Age, came the Democracy of Athens, and the Roman Republic. The Roman Republic is important for us today because at the time of Jesus' birth it had just recently died, replaced by Imperial Rule. Augustus is the first Roman Emperor. He was the adopted heir of Julius Caesar. His original name was Octavius, and with Mark Antony, and Lepidus ruled Rome as a Triumvirate. Lepdus and Mark Antony were eventually dispatched, leaving Octavius, who renamed himself, Augustus, or the Great, and Caesar. Kings and Emperors alike throughout the future kingdoms of the world would follow his lead and use the term Caesar as a title, think Kaiser or Czar. The month of August is also named for him, as July is named for Julius Caesar, putting them both on par with the gods which make up the other names.

Augustus' rule marks a real golden Age in the Roman Empire. Some of the real influential works of the Roman Empire are coming to be. Virgil writes his Aeneid telling the legendary story of the founding of Rome out of the ashes of the Fall of Troy. Ovid writes his Metamorphoses, which is a retelling in Latin and Romanization of many Greek Myths. Though they are certainly very Polytheistic and Conflict oriented, there are some Axial Age influences, but there is much more ease in ruling through fear than through reason. This is something we should always remember. . . one of the points the Three Ghosts are seeking to communicate to us. . . This is the time of Aqueducts and Roads, great architectural and artistic advances. He once said, "I found a Rome of bricks, I left it a Rome of marble."

But possible the biggest irony about Jesus birth coming during the Reign of Augustus Caesar is that it is right in the heart of a period of history called the Pax Romana -- or the Roman Peace. How strange that during a time of supposed peace, there was such a need for a lowly carpenter's son from Nazareth to be born as the Son of God, and Prince of Peace. Augustus' reign, beginning with his defeat of Mark Antony at the Battle of Agrippa in B.C. 31 is known as the official beginning of the Pax Romana. It is amazing that a mere 31 years later Jesus is born. Perhaps the Roman Peace was not all it was cracked up to be, or more likely that peace for the Romans depended on a lack of peace for others. And that leads us to life in the Roman Province of Judea.

At the time of Jesus' birth the Romans had control and use of a puppet named Herod, who had sold out his people to become king. He has been described as "a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis", "the evil genius of the Judean nation", "prepared to commit any crime in order to gratify his unbounded ambition" and "the greatest builder in Jewish history". He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea, including his expansion of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. But the Bible remembers him for his massacre of the Innocents in his attempt to find and put an end to the Birth of a Rival "King of the Jews." So with this kind of king in place, and the always practical Roman occupation you can imagine the oppression that was felt by the Jewish people. Though there were infrastructural improvements in the area, most poor Jews, did not get many of the benefits of them.

There is a great scene in Monty Python's "Life of Brian" movie, depicting some of the issues in Judea at the time of the birth of Christ. The movie shows many of these "Front" resistance groups. There is the Peoples front of Judea, and the Judean Peoples Front, and the popular front. All of them are in competition with each other as they resist the Romans. One of them says, "The only thing we hate worse than the Romans is the Judean Peoples Front. There is a part when Brian wants to join one of them, and the leader says, "If you want to join the PFJ, you have to really hate the Romans." Brian says, "I do," and the leader says, "O Yeah, How much?" "Alot","Okay, good you're in!" But after that they are debating how much they hate the Romans, and they are like, "What have the Romans ever done for us?" and one guy says, "Well there are the roads, and the water, and the schools, and the security." And the other guys is like, "yeah well, other than all those." "Nothing!" Progress is always a difficult thing isn't it?

Much like the PFJ and the JPF, there were many different classes of Jews at the time of Jesus' birth. There were the Sadducees and Pharisees, as we all know. There were also revolutionaries called Zealots, and also many diverse religious almost monastic communities, for instant the Essenes, which have become famous from the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls. All of them were waiting for a Messiah of some kind. And all of them had a different kind of Messiah in mind. You can imagine Jesus may not have fit their agendas so well. It is easy to imagine that many of them were seeking a conflict, powerful, and mighty challenge to the Roman oppression, someone to take the conflict, and let the Jews be on the winning team for once, someone to right the wrongs that the Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, Macedonians, Greeks, and Romans had all taken turns doing to them since the Exile from Jerusalem.

Instead, in the time of Caesar Augustus, to a Virgin betrothed to a Carpenter in Nazareth of all places, a place from where nothing good comes, a child is born, in a stable, in Bethlehem, because they could not even find room at the inn. It is hardly the military might, conquering, Empire shaking kind of Messiah most may have expected. No fanfare, just a star, no army just some shepherds. . . and some kings from the East. Is it possible that this child was bringing a much more Axial Age like era of connected truth to the world, one that was foretold by Isaiah and the other prophets, one that demands our worship, and care, and one that invites us, to open our hearts, to join hands, to come humbly, and to share a table. . . a simple table of Memory, remembrance, Remembrance of Christ, in his time, and forever.

The Ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge to the house of Bob Cratchit, poor, yet filled with love, having a meal together, and the sight begins to warm his heart. We now gather around the Communion Table, would the love that we have here assembled warm the heart of the world. God Bless us every one. May it be so. Amen.

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^[1]The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. 1989 (Lk 2:1-7). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.