23 December 2005

Another adventure in 2nd Isaiah with Walter Brueggemann in "Hopeful Imagination."

It was the peculiar vocation of 2 Isaiah to construct poetic scenarios of alternative reality outside the prosaic control of the empire. These fresh alternatives liberated Jewish exiles to think differently, act differently, speak differently, and sing differently. In the end Babylonian definitions of reality lost their absoluteness and their authority because this poetry served to subvert the absoluteness.

I read this piece again after I watched a brief segment on the national news about churches that are encouraging their people not to come to worship on Christmas Day. The focus was specifically on the "mega-churches." People could pick up videos or come to one of the shows (sorry) times of worship before Christmas so that they could stay at home with family. You remember, Christmas is all about family...no wait. That's not true. That's a part of the schmaltze that is too often cast as Christmas. Worship is at the center of the incarnation of our God - the nativity of our Lord. Worship is not a "family event," it is a community event. It is a counter-cultural event that is at the very heart of shaping the everyday lives of a counter-cultural people! It appears that - like business everywhere else in our consumer culture - numbers make up the bottom line. So, if it appears as though there may not be many folk taking the time to come to worship this Sunday (it happens to be Christmas Day) then let's cancel it. Let me get this right. If I (or let's say we as in family) have other things to do...that we think are family important...then, any Sunday...hell, every Sunday, is an opportunity to be with family. Isn't that what God would want - me and the family home making sure we are comfortable and having a special time with ourselves?!? The answer: No. Sunday we gather together with strangers, enemies, friends, neighbors, the good, the bad, and the ugly...and we praise our God...from whom all blessings flow. We have to sing differently than the culture even if the culture has come and bought up the soul of some of the places called "church" and turned them into feel-good places of individual piety. It is hard enough to build a community of love and mercy and kindness with a small bunch of people let alone have to deal with "church" being driven by the culture of numbers and money and empire...again.

Connection: Come and worship,come and worship, Worship Christ, the the new born king...this Sunday, December 25, 2005.

Now that you have called us to be set apart from the world, O God, give us the courage to live as though we have a different view of how we live and what bring life to the world in which we live as your saints. Amen.