February 5 - An Evolutionary Community

February 5, 2012               An Evolutionary Community

Anchor: We are a community of Artistic, Evolutionary, Revolutionary Christians

Frame: How are we an evolving community? Are we ready for evolution?

Thread: Deep in Our Hearts, Never Place a Period

Matthew 13:31-33

Jesus presented another parable to the crowds: “The kin-dom of heaven is like the mustard seed which a farmer sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all—it becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come to perch in its branches.”

Jesus offered them still another parable: “The kin-dom of heaven is like the yeast a baker took and mixed in with three measures of flour until it was leavened all through.”

The images that Jesus chose to describe god’s activity in the world are not static. They are images of life and growth. The kin-dom of heaven is like a growing mustard seed, starting tiny but growing and growing until evolves past a shrub and becomes a tree. The kin-dom of heaven is like the living yeast that leavens the flour, making it rise and rise. Jesus grew up in a rural setting and turned to agrarian images that he and his audience knew thoroughly. And just as they knew that the needs of life grew like grain and fruit, Jesus showed that God’s activity involved growth, too.

If we believe that in some way we embody a corner of God’s kin-dom, then we too should expect that we are growing and evolving. We are that mustard plant, the yeast leavening the world around us. Do we really expect that we are evolving as a faith community? The question facing SCUCC is not if we are evolving but in what ways are we evolving?

It is my hope and belief that we have a perspective that others are looking for. There is no reason that our congregation cannot grow.  I believe we can double, maybe even triple in size. I am not saying that we need to rival the Crystal Cathedral. But in order to grow into saying that we A-R-E Christians (artistic, revolutionary, evolutionary), we need to grow. I can’t believe that the people already here at SCUCC are the only people in our area that are seeking spiritual freedom, nurture, and passion. That evolution is uncharted, because as people find us and join us on the journey, they will become a part of our character. We will continue to evolve.

Evolution is a funny thing. It doesn’t go as planned. It goes as life needs it to go. A fish crawls on land and develops lungs. And legs. A few millions years and it becomes T-Rex. A few million more years and T-Rex becomes Foghorn Leghorn. We have no idea how today’s chickens, still carrying the recombinant DNA of its T-Rex ancestors, may yet evolve. Our DNA comes from the Pilgrims, from Abolitionists, from Suffrage activists. But what we will yet be is still open to us. We will evolve as life needs us to grow. Taking some time to imagine ourselves as a congregation in ten or twenty or a hundred years might be a great exercise of creative prayer.

A video of how people become a part of a movement is one from a music festival where one guy starts a goofy dance, and in a few minutes a whole crowd joins him. You can see it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA8z7f7a2Pk&feature=related

It’s a good parable about welcoming others into your joy. For us, it’s all about inviting new people to join our dance.

            Another look at evolution would be to go back to original concept drawings of our campus. That vision of the future never developed, but other things have grown. We could look at a bunch of old “life in the future” pictures (you know, with flying cars and ray guns) and then flash on the concept drawing (it kind of looks like that old future vision!). We could do a skit about a message from the future, telling us now how to get ready.

            I’m also thinking of giving away some kind of invitations, so that our people can invite other to join us on this A-R-E adventure.

            A side thought, back on the dinosaur-evolution mode: Many today think denominations (including the UCC) are dinosaurs and on their way to extinction. But the dinosaurs never completely disappeared. They evolved. The huge, plodding, slow-to-react dinosaurs did die off, but the soaring, fast-to-change-direction smaller but more agile dinosaurs exist today. We call them eagles and sparrows and nightingales. At SCUCC, we are in the process of exchanging our scales for feathers.

Jan 29 an Artistic Community

January 29 – Hybrid service  10:00

Anchor: We are a community of Artistic, Evolutionary, Revolutionary christians

Frame: How are we an artistic community?

Thread: Deep in Our Hearts, Never Place a Period

Exodus 35:20-29

Then all the congregation of the Israelites withdrew from the presence of Moses. And they came, everyone whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and brought the Lord’s offering to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the sacred vestments. So they came, both men and women; all who were of a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and pendants, all sorts of gold objects, everyone bringing an offering of gold to the Lord. And everyone who possessed blue or purple or crimson yarn or fine linen or goats’ hair or tanned rams’ skins or fine leather, brought them. Everyone who could make an offering of silver or bronze brought it as the Lord’s offering; and everyone who possessed acacia wood of any use in the work, brought it. All the skilful women spun with their hands, and brought what they had spun in blue and purple and crimson yarns and fine linen; all the women whose hearts moved them to use their skill spun the goats’ hair. And the leaders brought onyx stones and gems to be set in the ephod and the breastpiece, and spices and oil for the light, and for the anointing-oil, and for the fragrant incense. All the Israelite men and women, whose hearts made them willing to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done, brought it as a freewill-offering to God.

                We have completed the first round of exploring the new vision statement. This first round looked at our individual aspects of being artistic, evolutionary and revolutionary. Now we begin a course of exploring how we as a gathered community live out those characteristics.

                And while we did not discuss a fourth term in our vision statement series, it was very intentional that the phrase says, “SCUCC is a community of Artistic, Evolutionary, Revolutionary christians.” It is the gathering together, the creating of a safe place to engage the Spirit, to live life fully that we can experience the dynamism of what Jesus called living abundantly.

                We begin by looking at how we are a community of artists. The scripture from Exodus is an example of how the people came together to create a beautiful place to worship God. Some were artisans, while others artfully brought what they could give. The Tabernacle was not the creation of any one person. It was a community work of art. In the film Billy Elliot, a boy from a coal-mining family in Britain discovers ballet.  His very blue-collar father finally comes around and supports him by bringing Billy to an audition at a prestigious dance academy. At the last moment of the audition, Billy is asked how he feels when he dances. He struggles for words but finally talks about flying, soaring, fire, and electricity. (The clip can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0tTT_87Hh8 ) His response is as good a description of a spiritual experience as I know. Our calling as an artistic community is provide a safe place (sanctuary?) for people to truly experience the spirit in all its energy and abundance. Artists need a place to create art, and the name of that place is a studio. It was a wise choice that at SCUCC we name one of our worship experiences “The Studio.” It is a place to practice the art of Spirit.

               

                Because of the Annual Meeting, we are hybridizing the 2 services, and I think it would be good to include a little flavor of each. The combined service is a good symbol of community. Though we have 2 different approaches to worship, we are still one community. I know that the choir will be prepared to sing. I also know that Shea will be out of town and that he was thinking of asking Leon to be with us.

                We could begin with a procession of cloth and candles, people from both services to create a beautiful space around the altar. I’d like to run the Billy Elliot clip, and maybe have a couple people from either service talk about worship times when they really experienced God showing up. I also think it would be a could time to have some kind of act of dedication to making our community the sort of place where it is safe to play and create and be artistic with the Spirit.

January 22 Evolutionary christians

January 22    Evolutionary christians

“Only when we have become nonviolent towards all life will we have learned to live well with others.” 
― César Chávez

“When the man who feeds the world by toiling in the fields is himself deprived of the basic rights of feeding, sheltering, and caring for his own family, the whole community of man is sick.” 
― César Chávez

If God can work through me, he can work through anyone.
--Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
--Francis of Assisi

“To you who hear me, I say: love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you, Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.  When they slap you on one cheek, turn and give them the other; when they take your coat, let them have your shirt as well. Give to all who beg from you. When someone takes what is yours, don’t demand it back. “Do to others what you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit does that do you? even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. If you do good only to those who do good to you, what credit does that do you? even ‘sinners’ do as much.  If you lend to those you expect to repay you, what credit does that do you? even ‘sinners’ lend to other ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full.  Love your enemies and do good to them. Lend without expecting repayment, and your reward will be great. You’ll rightly be called children of the most high, since God is good even to the ungrateful and the wicked. “Be compassionate, as your loving God is compassionate.
--Jesus of Nazareth  (Luke 6:27-36)

Anchor: We are Artistic, Evolutionary, Revolutionary christians

Frame: Christ invites us to transform and heal our world

Thread: Never place a period

Question: How am I changing the world for the better?

To be artistic means bringing passion to what we do; we reflect and engage the image of the Creator in which we are made. Being evolutionary means trusting that we are growing and developing and that our (scientific) understanding of the world is reliable and accurate as we know it today. To be revolutionary does not mean taking up arms, it means acting in our own life in ways that bring love, compassion and justice into the world. How we live, the choices we make, the energy we put into the world affects the world. Jesus’ teaching had an emphasis on this reality. the Kin-dom of god that Jesus proclaimed was about how this world would look if we really let God be in control. I, for one, follow Christ because I hope to help make the world a better place.

My thoughts for the studio experience are about Fair Trade products. We could start by making a pot of Fair Trade coffee up front. Later, after the coffee is brewed, we can talk about Fair Trade coffee and how the choices we make do make a difference in the world. Here is a link for a rather lengthy video about Fair Trade and how it affects the lives of real people. I’m sure the video can be edited down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ7G66vStx4&feature=player_embedded#!

These days there are many fairly traded products, giving us a positive option for our consumer choices. There is chocolate, clothing, houseware items, tea, and more items every day. SCUCC has supported this in the past with the Christmas WHEAT store and using fairly traded coffee (I do not think our current coffee is FT).

The point of this discussion is that we have each have even small choices whereby we can help change the world for the better.

The quotes by Cesar Chavez, Francis of Assisi, and yes even Jesus point to how we each participate in the transformation of the world. As we evolve as christians, we pray that the changes we participate in are transformations of healing and grace.

Song idea – Revolution by the Beatles

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
All right, all right

You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We're doing what we can
But when you want money 
For people with minds that hate
All I can tell is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
All right, all right
Ah

Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah...

You say you'll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You better free you mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
All right, all right
All right, all right, all right
All right, all right, all right

January 15 - Being Evolutionary christians

January 15 – We are Evolutionary christians

By naming ourselves as “Evolutionary” christians, we are hoisting the progressive flag. Not only do we believe that life is a process and that we grow our whole lives long, but to say that we are evolving puts us squarely in a non-literalist camp. It is a deliberate choice to use a word form of evolution. One layer of this conversation is specifically about how we read the bible.

                By and large, we do not read Genesis 1 literally. We do not see that poetic text as a literal description of how God made the world in six twenty-four days. We do not see a controversy between Genesis’ six days and the physicists’ estimate of 14 billion years. We are able to hold together spiritual truth and scientific evidence. I said something like this one in a sermon. Actually I intentionally said, “I do not believe that the world was created in six days.” After the service, this ninety year old man was heading my way with that “I want to talk to you” look on his face. I held my breath and steeled myself for a confrontation. He leaned his head toward me in a conspiratorial way and almost whispered to me, “I believe that, too!” I wonder how long he had waited to be able to say that in church.

                Three ideas speak to me about being evolutionary this Sunday: 1. Being bible based but not bible bound, 2. Having evolved past some of the bible’s limitations, and 3. Our evolving understanding of our relationship as part of the human family. Number three lives large this Sunday because of the Martin Luther King holiday.

                We are bible based because the testimony about the life of Jesus informs and forms how we live our lives. It speaks to us of God’s untamed, unconditional love. We understand that the bible is the written testimony of human beings speaking about their faith and relationship to God. As human testimony it is as flawed as any human endeavor. Nonetheless God uses this flawed human construct to continue speaking to us and transforming lives with love and hope. Recognizing its limitations, we are not bible-bound. The bible is not the only source of our understanding, knowledge or experience of God.

                Our evolving understanding has moved us past some of the constraints of those writers. We approach human sexuality differently. We see gender-roles in a vastly transformed way. We conceive of the community faith based on evolving assumptions. The UCC (and SCUCC) does not limit the role of women in leadership, does not prescribe a dress code for appropriate worship, or set limits on acceptability for membership in the faithful.

                MLK was an eminent example of humanity’s evolving edge specifically in terms of race relations, though he clearly saw it in the larger picture of peace, justice, and God’s emerging kin-dom. If Darwin is right that natural selection allows the stronger (more evolutionarily successful) animals to survive, then ideas like MLK’s (and Gandhi’s, and Jesus’) are truly evolutionary. They are the ideas and concepts that survive and beckon us to grow into a better humanity.

                And I think that is the crux of what being evolutionary christians is all about: evolving into a better humanity. It is growing into our divinity.

                I imagine one scenario of bringing the “bible-based but not bible-bound” idea to life is having a woman with braided hair and lots of jewelry and make-up stand up and start reading scripture. I would interrupt her and quote 1 Timothy 2:8 (“women should dress themselves modestly and decently in suitable clothing, not with their hair braided, or with gold, pearls, or expensive clothes”). Then someone with a tattoo, and I would quote Leviticus 49: 28 at them (You shall not make any gashes in your flesh for the dead or tattoo any marks upon you: I am the Lord.) Then another woman could begin to speak and I’d quote 1 Corinthians 14:34 (women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says.) About then somebody else gets up and asks me if I’ve read 1 Corinthians 11:14 (Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair, it is degrading to him). The point being that none of us can measure up to all those human standards imposed by a literal reading of the bible, and we haven’t even broached issues of sexuality here.

                Another thought I have is that it was one year ago that the beat poet made his appearance (I remember because it was an MLK poem). Mr. Beat Poet could do a lot with “bible-based but not bible-bound.”

                And of course when I think about evolution I think about this clip from the Simpsons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faRlFsYmkeY I think we have used this before, but Homer always makes me laugh. Also, Mr Deity wades into this, too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9P09Sj4-Xs&feature=g-all-c&context=G2a3bd1dFAAAAAAAAAAA

                So, our question for this week is, “How are we evolving? (physically, intellectually, spiritually…)

                Anchor: We are a community of artistic, evolutionary, revolutionary christians.

                Frame: evolution

                Thread: Never place a period.

I am struggling for one solid scriptural base for this Sunday. Any thoughts?

Vision Series – January 8

Week 1: How am I an artist?

                Mudpies and dirt people.

                “The opposite of war isn’t peace. It’s creation.” Lyric from La Vie Bohem from RENT.

                Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist when you grow up. –Pablo Picasso

Genesis 2:4-7

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

                At the time when Yhwh made the heavens and the earth, there was still no wild bush on the earth nor had any wild plant sprung up, for Yhwh had not yet sent rain to the earth, and there was no human being to till the soil. Instead, a flow of water would well up from the ground and irrigate the soil. So Yhwh fashioned an earth creature out of the clay of the earth, and blew into its nostrils the breath of life. And the earth creature became a living being.

                To call ourselves “artistic Christians” is not to try and make painters or writers or pastry chefs out of people who are inherently uncreative. Rather, it is to reclaim the God-given creativity that each of us was born with. Each of us is hard-wired for creativity. It’s right there in our DNA. Our culture mistrusts creativity and the artistic and as such has worked every day of our lives to squash the artistic impulse. In our SCUCC vision statement, saying that we are artistic is to embrace God’s desire and dream for us. It is to reclaim who we truly are

                A workbook that saved my life at one particularly dry time is “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron. Cameron does not believe that creativity and spirituality are two separate things, they are expressions of the same thing. In her book, Cameron offers 10 principles of Creativity:

                1. Creativity is the natural order of life. Life is energy: pure creative energy.

2. There is an underlying, in-dwelling creative force infusing all of life -- including ourselves.

3. When we open ourselves to our creativity, we open ourselves to the creator's creativity within us and our lives.

4. We are, ourselves, creations. And we, in turn, are meant to continue creativity by being creative ourselves.

5. Creativity is God's gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God.

6. The refusal to be creative is self-will and is counter to our true nature.

7. When we open ourselves to exploring our creativity, we open ourselves to God: good orderly direction.

8. As we open our creative channel to the creator, many gentle but powerful changes are to be expected.

9. It is safe to open ourselves up to greater and greater creativity.

10. Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source. As we move toward our dreams, we move toward our divinity.

The scripture from Genesis is the picture of a child playing in the mud. The dirt is moist from the primordial springs. The playful God scoops up a handful of the damp soil (in Hebrew the word for it “ha-adamah”), and sculpts a form from it. Pleased with the sculpture, God then blows the spirit/breath into its nostrils and bring to life this earth-creature (in Hebrew, literally “adam”). So, the name of the very first human being is “Dirt,” or “Mud.”

I find it disheartening to see an adult scold a child for playing in the mud. I don’t think the aphorism that “cleanliness is next to Godliness” actually came from God. Playing in the mud is next to Godliness.

For this first week of the Vision series I envision (ha!) a few pieces:

·         hand out cards with the vision statement on it

·         focusing the Studio on the 10 principles, possibly breaking them into chunks

·         interrupting the flow at irregular intervals with creativity quotes (both spoken and visual)

·         a possible threshold moment of making mudpies, or finger painting or some such messy play

·         we need to announce this year’s Artfest (Feb 19)and invite people to get started

Advent 4 - Gathering Light December 18

Advent 4 – Gathering the Light   December 18

Luke 1:26-38

Six months later, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a young woman named Mary; she was engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. Upon arriving, the angel said to Mary, “Rejoice, highly favored one! God is with you! Blessed are you among women!”

Mary was deeply troubled by these words and wondered what the angel’s greeting meant. The angel went on to say to her, “don’t be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God. You’ll conceive and bear a son, and give him the name Jesus—‘deliverance.’ His dignity will be great, and he will be called the only begotten of God. God will give Jesus the judgment seat of David, his ancestor, to rule over the house of Jacob forever, and his reign will never end.” Mary said to the angel, “how can this be, since I have never been with a man?” The angel answered her, “the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you—hence the offspring to be born will be called the holy one of God. Know too that Elizabeth, your kinswoman, has conceived a child in her old age; she who was thought to be infertile is now in her sixth month. Nothing is impossible with God.” Mary said, “I am the servant of God. Let it be done to me as you say.” With that, the angel left her.

Genesis 1:14-18

Then God said, “Now, let there be lights in the expanse of the sky! Separate day from night! Let them mark the signs and seasons, days and years, and serve as luminaries in the sky, shedding light on the earth.” So it was: God made the two great lights, the greater one to illumine the day, and a lesser to illumine the night. Then God made the stars as well, placing them in the expanse of the sky, to shed light on the earth, to govern both day and night, and separate light from darkness. And God saw that this was good.

                On Christmas Eve we will sing “Silent Night’ and light a single candle. The flame of that candle will be passed to other candles, which will in turn pass their light down the pew until our sanctuary will be filled with the light of more than a hundred flames. It will be a light that will push back the darkness. It would be far less impressive if we all stayed home and lit that single candle there. But when we gather together, when we gather the lights in community the glow can be spectacular.

                I have to confess that I am not entirely sure what we were thinking when we chose this week’s them of “Gathering Light.” Its counterpoint darkness we named as loneliness. That loneliness, I assume, is the single candle, isolated from other flames. Gathering light is the gathering of community, and in this specific context of Advent as we await the coming of Christ we anticipate the gathering of the Christ community. There is a family for all of us, even if it is not complete yet. We are gathering the light of Christ to illuminate the growing hope that is that family.

                Our culture is very good at isolating us as individuals. The powers that be tell us that we are small and weak and nothing we do will ever make a real difference. Jesus was born in the most powerless circumstances imaginable, at least as Luke tells the story. Mary was an undistinguished young woman. Engaged (betrothed) to a certain, she receives word that she will be pregnant with a baby that is not that man’s. In most circumstances like this, that young woman would be isolated in the extreme, especially in first century Palestine. Her illegitimate pregnancy would have been seen as a dishonor for her father’s family, and an insult to her betrothed. It is not exaggeration to say that this was a life-threatening position. She must have felt all alone. One tiny candle against a sea of shadows.

                Yet she did not believe she was alone. She had the vision to see that God was going to be with her in this perilous journey. And somehow Joseph himself got on board. Somehow they gathered enough light to push back the shadows of fear and hopelessness. They gathered enough light to believe that God was doing something even more than positive in the midst of this outwardly disastrous event. The gathering of light in community, even a small community, allows us to see our situation and our world differently than the way the world tells us they are. Gathering light empowers us to have hopeful vision.

                Brad Wishon posted this thought about the loneliness some feel in this season: “via Steven Charleston: It is that season again. The time for being invisible. I do not share these words to darken truly happy hearts, but I speak to all those for whom holidays are but a burden. I speak to those who feel some private hurt that keeps them from the joy they see in others. To any who understand my meaning, I offer a gift, small, but radiant in power. I hear your silence in the midst of singing, I see you unseen in the crowd. Not because I have what you do not have, but because I have stood where you stand. You are not alone. You are not invisible. You are not forgotten. A single star shines above you, guiding love to where you are. It is that season again, your season, when God seeks the lonely place, to shelter hope where few would expect to find it.”

                So I am sensing that our task of “Gathering Light” is a little like the Hubble telescope. All this random light is shining throughout the universe. The Hubble physically gathers some fo that light in its barrel, focuses it so that we can see with new clarity what is invisible to the naked earthbound eye. TO gather light is not to collect it or contain it, but to see it in a clearer way. Early mariners gathered the light of the stars to chart their course across the dangerous oceans. Frederick Buechner uses that metaphor for the difficult times in life that become lodestones for life’s journey: “The fearsome blessing of that hard time continues to work itself out in my life in the same way we’re told the universe is still hurtling through outer space under the impact of the great cosmic explosion…. I think grace sometimes explodes into our lives like that—sending our pain, terror, astonishment hurtling through inner space until by grace they become Orion, Cassiopeia, Polaris to give us our bearings, to bring us into something like full being at last. (Telling Secrets)”

                How does Christ become the light by which we get our bearings? How can we gather lights to help give others, or our world their bearings? When the thousands of chintzy Christmas lights drown out all true light, how can we gather it in?

Anchor: A Light in the Dark

Frame: Gathering Light

Thread: More Light, more trugh is breaking from your word.

Advent 3 - A Light on the Path

Advent 3: A Light on the Path

Exodus 13:14, 20-22

So God led them through the desert toward the Sea of Reeds … After they left Succoth, they traveled to Etham, at the edge of the wilderness, where they camped. Yhwh guided them with a pillar of cloud in the day, and with a pillar of fire to give them light after dark. They were able to travel by day and by night, and neither the pillar of cloud nor the pillar of fire failed to lead the people.

Psalm 119.105

Your word is a lamp to my feet

   and a light to my path.

Matthew 1:18-23

This is how the birth of Jesus came about.  When Jesus’ mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her husband, an upright person unwilling to disgrace her, decided to divorce her quietly. This was Joseph’s intention when suddenly the angel of God appeared in a dream and said, “Joseph, heir to the House of David, don’t be afraid to wed Mary; it is by the Holy Spirit that she has conceived this child.  She is to have a son, and you are to name him Jesus—‘Salvation’—because he will save the people from their sins.” All this happened to fulfill what God has said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and give birth,  and the child will be named Immanuel”   —a name that means “God is with us.”

                When we are lost on the path of life, how does God bring light to guide us?

 The Hebrews were literally headed into unknown territory. None of them had traveled before. None of them had been free before. None of them had any idea what it meant to be God’s people, and not Pharaoh’s property. This was not entirely a journey of joy and giddiness. Many longed for the harsh but predictable life of slavery. Not a few didn’t have faith in Moses as their leader. Most of them didn’t have a clue who God was or what God would expect of them.

                Verse 13:22 tells us that “neither the pillar of cloud nor the pillar of fire failed to lead the people.” Biblically, fire smoke, and clouds are symbols of God’s presence. The pillar of fire and cloud tells us that it is God in person leading the people. It is God who never failed to lead the people. It was God who set them free when they were lost in slavery. It was god led them in the confusion of the trasition into free people. It was god who brought them into the Promised Land.

                The people were able to travel by both day and night. The pillar of fire and cloud lit the way.

                I threw in Psalm 119 simply because it is the obvious verse for our theme.

                When Matthew tells the story of Jesus’ birth from Joseph’s point of view. I often think that Joseph was the kind of person who liked the predictability of life: you work hard, take on your father’s trade, marry a good woman, have kids and that’s what life is all about. But in the midst of his journey toward predictability, Mary gets pregnant. He is lost in the unpredictability of life. He is feeling his way inch by inch in the dark. The light on his path comes in a dream. The angel (a being of light?) tells him to trust the twists and turns, that is the kind of path God leads us on.

                The other thing about a light on the path is that it does not illumine the whole route. Author Anne Lamott has this insight: “E.L. Doctorow said once said that 'Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.' You don't have to see where you're going, you don't have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you. This is right up there with the best advice on writing, or life, I have ever heard.”  That’s all we need is light for the next few steps.

                In this Advent season, we are calling Christ the light that shines on the darkness of our paths. We may long for the bright of noon-day to illumine the whole route of our lives but all we really need is the next few steps. The Quakers describe a process of discernment in which they seek a sense of a “way opening.” I think that is what the light on the path does for us. Christ is a light that shows us a way opening out of the gloom of our lostness.

                The movie “Black Snake Moan” focuses on two people seriously lost. One is Samuel L. Jackson’s character who is lost in his anger and despair about the death of his marriage. the other is a young woman lost in life, suffering from the after-effects of an abusive father and an ongoing sex addiction. In this clip from the movie, they are both lost on a dark stormy night, lost in their own darkness. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btWODqt8kEw&feature=related 

This is not evident in the scene, but the light that comes to them comes when they begin to share the path (not romantically, but in deep friendship). This is a gritty film, and it offers no easy answers, but this scene really crystalizes being lost in the dark.

                Our lanterns make a natural connection. Pubs in ancient Ireland were required by law to keep a lantern lit by the door throughout the night just in case someone was lost. Christ is the light that shines to guide us out of our lostness. Whether it is a glimpse of light out of the corner of the eye, way opening from a trapped place, the pillar of fire int eh trackless wilderness, or the supporting hand of someone just as lost as me who is willing to step forward together, the light on the path helps us move out of the dark. How does the light of God come to us in the midst of our lostness?

Anchor: A Light in the Dark

Frame: A Light on the Path

Thread: More Light, more truth is breaking from your word.