Love all

Before Thanksgiving a group of department stores ran an ad saying that, "the four-letter word that defines the season is L-O-V-E and not S-A-L-E".  They slipped in a message that they have everyday low prices, but I appreciate the fact that they purposely closed their stores on Thanksgiving Day instead of following the recent trend to start "Black Friday" sales on Thursday.

The Advent Conspiracy theme for the final Sunday of Advent is "love all".  Of course we love our families.  But instead of buying expensive gifts to prove our love, we are being challenged to show our love to those who are in need throughout the world.  I may not consider myself to be wealthy, but being a part of the middle class in the US means I have much more in material possessions than I need.  According to the Wall Street Journal online (Oct 13, 2015), one of the fastest growing industries in the US is self-storage: Americans have too much stuff.  I may think of myself as one of “the 99 percent” but If I have 2 cars, I am part of the "1 percent" relative to the rest of the world (93 percent of the world doesn’t own a car).

So it makes sense for Christians in the US to help alleviate poverty.  Richard Stearns (the president of World Vision) points out that the total income of American churchgoers is $5.2 trillion.  Imagine what a tithe of that income could do!  In fact, just a little over 1 percent of that could alleviate extreme poverty worldwide.  The problem is that most American Christians don’t consider extreme poverty in the rest of the world to be our problem.  Giving by the American Church is down to about 2 percent, down from 3.3 percent in 1933… the height of the Great Depression.  And most of that giving is spent on ourselves.  Only 2 percent of the 2 percent is spent on the rest of the world.  Giving in general and giving to global efforts especially is counter-cultural.  The Advent Conspiracy is calling us to be counter-cultural.

But going counter-cultural has a cost.  The stores probably lost some money.  And I will have to invest some time to find some good organizations for my giving.  Some family members may be miffed that they didn’t get the expensive trinket they had put on their Christmas list. But let Santa worry about Christmas lists.  God’s call to the Church is to “love all”: "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40)

Good news

This Sunday is the "joy" Sunday of Advent.  The angels told the shepherds that they had "good news of great joy".  Good is relative.  Do we think the angels’ news was good?  And joy is relative, too.  How much joy we experience depends on how good we think the news is.  

In Rom 10:15 says, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news."  But what is good news?  A messenger's feet aren't generally thought of as beautiful, so their beauty really depends on how good we think the news is.  

What makes something good news to you?  Which of these links would you click to find out more: "Delicious holiday recipes", "Stay fit into your 70s", "Best bargains for your house", "Guaranteed career satisfaction."  How about "Tips on how to pray” or “Getting closer to God”?

In Rom 10 Paul also quotes Isaiah’s complaint, "Who has believed our message?" (Isaiah 53:1)  By the time Isaiah wrote this he was pretty frustrated.  He had answered God's call in Isaiah 6, but no one wanted to listen.  (God warned him about this in Isaiah 6:9-10.)  Apparently, the good news wasn't so good to the people that most needed to hear it.

Paul tells us the good news in Rom 10:13, "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."  But that's not good news to those who don't think they need to be saved.  There are a lot of other things that we turn to for security, for belonging, for a sense of worth: money, possessions, abilities, knowledge, appearances, whatever.  When we feel stressed or worried it’s not our tendency to “call on the name of the Lord”.  And so true joy is in short supply these days.

"Who has believed our message?”  Good question.

Peace on earth

How do you change a society's consciousness about race?  That was the topic of conversation around our dinner table last night.

My kids offered various methods for changing the dominant social perception of young black men like Laquan MacDonald, who was shot 16 times in the back as he walked away from Chicago police officers.  The police officer who shot him said that he feared for his life.  Why is a young black man perceived as a threat?  To put the question a different way, why aren't all young white men who look like Dylan Roof suspected of being mass murderers capable of killing nine people at a prayer meeting?

I don't have any easy solutions to this problem and no one that I know is offering one.  But it's obvious that American society needs to put in whatever effort is needed to work on the problem.  I commend my fellow Covenant pastors, including Michelle Dodson, Shaun Robinson and Phil Jackson, who addressed over 200 people this past Monday on a rainy night in Chicago to call for justice and understanding.  (You can read about the prayer rally here).

Advent is about social justice.  Virtually all of the prophecies regarding the Messiah look forward to a just society where wrongs are righted.  Mary's song, the Magnificat that we said together this past Sunday, says that God "lifts up the humble" and "fills the hungry with good things."  Jesus declared to a packed synagogue that his mission was "to proclaim good news to the poor... to proclaim freedom for the prisoners... to set the oppressed free" (Luke 4:18).

Advent candles and calendars are appropriate for this season, but can draw too much attention to themselves rather than helping us to glimpse the greater glory of the Kingdom of God that Jesus brings.  He is the Prince of Peace, not merely for me as an individual, but for this world.  "Shalom" means that all relationships are made right again, including between leaders and the governed.  Let's declare ever more boldly and insistently, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace."