This post is one of the monthly posts blog posts written by the deans of the conferences of the Minneapolis Area Synod.
By Pastor Sheryl Bousu
Lyndale Lutheran Church, Maple Plain
394 Corridor North Conference
*“It’s the weekend before Christmas, and Bobby, in Boston, gets a call from his elderly father in Pittsburgh. The father says, ‘Bobby, your mother’s making me crazy. I’ve had six decades of picking up after her. We’re getting a divorce. Don’t try to talk us out of it.’ Dad hangs up. Bobby immediately calls Geraldine, his older sister in Hong Kong, waking her from a dead sleep. Within minutes, Geraldine—ever the older sister!—telephones their parents in Pittsburgh. In a shrill, rushed voice she says, ‘Dad, you and mom have been together for sixty years! How much time do you think you have left? I will not let you waste your golden years in bitter legal battles. I don’t care what the issue is, we will work it out. Am I understood? Don’t do a thing. Bobby and I will both be there on the first flights we can catch.’ Geraldine hangs up. The old man smiles at his wife and gently kisses her hand. ‘Well, my love, looks like they’ll both be home for Christmas this year.’”*
At Christmastime, presence is so much more important than presents!
The pandemic taught us that presence is more important than presents. We had to try harder, be more intentional, be more imaginative, be more open to new ways, and be more patient in order to enjoy the gift of presence. And isn’t the Christmas story simply a (not-so-simple) tale of divine presence? A disgraced and pregnant teenage girl, a dreaming carpenter, a barnyard birth, and the earthy, simple claim that God is with us. God is not far off or beyond our reach. God is around and within. The message of Christmas is that God does not dwell in remote majesty and splendor, but becomes present in all our human struggle, sharing our indignities, outrage, and shame. God is equally present in our laughter and love. Emmanuel, God with us!
Always the first candle lit in Advent is the candle for Hope. All is never lost.
As a nation and a world we continue to struggle with division. The reports of detention, deportation, violence, inhumanity, and heartbreak are ever more numerous. The doctor’s news is bad. The telephone rings in the middle of the night. Someone you love is angry, bored, or frightened, and you don’t know why. There are no easy answers at such times. But we can do what God does in Jesus; we can show up in the flesh. We can remember we are called to show up and share hope. We can be the hope we talk about that first Sunday of Advent; the hope that gets its hands dirty. The hope that looks like showing up on a doorstep with a casserole (or a hotdish – my Montana roots are showing), making a phone call, marching in a protest, sending a text, or taking time to mail a card. All of this is a part of what we mean when we say that God comes to us in the flesh. It’s called “incarnation” — this idea that God’s presence somehow flooded Jesus’ humanity, giving us a glimpse of a human life filled with the holy. Christmas comes down to our belief that our amazing God willingly enters into all the shame, blame, and messiness of a beautiful and broken world. God is not far. God is nearby. God is the hope we are called to share. Incarnation means reaching out in love to the disadvantaged, sick, aged, young, helpless, anxious, sad, and the hopeless. We can show love for the animals, forests, plants, and oceans. Stand with them, for this is how God stands with humanity in Christ. Light one candle for hope. Peace and joy and love will follow.
Advent Blessings,
Pastor Sheryl
* story shared with permission from Pastor Joel Martyn, Kihei Lutheran Church in Hawaii