Free of Encumbrance

A Promise Kept 

(graphic used with permission from churchpowerpoint.com)

Scripture Focus – Luke 2, verses 1-20 (NRSV)

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled.  This was the first enrollment, when Quirin'i-us was governor of Syria.  And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city.  And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.  And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered.

And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.  And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.  And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!"

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us."  And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.  And when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child; and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.  But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.  And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Lectionary Reflection:

There’s a scripture from Isaiah 9:6 which uses the words “wonderful”, “counselor”, “prince of peace” to describe and promise that a special child will be born to us.  The scripture further promises that the presence of God will reside in this child.  For many Christians, Jesus was the fulfillment of such a promise.  And when Jesus comes again, he will usher in an era of endless peace and justice for our world.  Many Christians today wait in fervent hope for such a time to come.

I wonder though if my non-churched friends take seriously such hope and promise of endless peace.  Many of them ask quite skeptically, “When will this eternal peace happen?  It couldn’t come any too soon, you know.”

No doubt many churched persons reply with words like, “Have faith, accept Jesus as your personal savior.  Everything will work itself out.”  I can also imagine the un-churched being told to…..

• simply wait out the times,
• endure the injustices committed by the greedy and powerful,
• not be distracted by the ever widening gulf between “the haves” and “the have-nots”,
• regard everyone as the author of their own troubles and responsible for their own solutions,
• always avoid taking a stand on anything, or be so nuanced that no one will be made uncomfortable,
• make sure government and political leaders are always empowered to commit acts of war, acts of impoverishment, acts of domination, and crimes against humanity whenever they wish,
• lastly, make sure that the 10% of the world’s population controlling 85% of the world’s wealth gets all the advantages possible so they’re enriched even further and their wealth trickles down a bit to ease the sufferings of the poor.

In light of these realities, both today and millennia ago, there isn’t much reason for anyone to believe that a small child born into poverty and obscurity could be anything promising in terms of worldwide justice and endless world peace.

But what if the promise from so long ago meant something very different today, something other than waiting around for the sky to fall or the heavens to part?  What if all those events about Jesus from ages ago were actually signs of a promise to the world about you?

What if Jesus was merely the forerunner of you and what you, at your best, can be and do for the pursuit of peace, justice, reconciliation, and healing of the human spirit?  What if all that stood between you and the promise you represent for the world was simply your willingness to be the miracle you are?  Wouldn’t heavenly host sing of you, like they did about Jesus, that God is well pleased?  “No way,” you say?  Well, I beg to differ because that’s precisely what’s going on.

Over twenty years ago when I began to preach routinely as a minister and pastor, I would use a particular sermon illustration from time to time from Knight’s Master Book of Illustrations (1956).  For a long time, I never grasped completely why the story meant so much to me, but in recent years, I came to know why.  The story dates back to a medieval time in a small European village.  The village baker and his wife had a young daughter whom they adored and loved very much.  Next door to them lived the blacksmith who owned a large dog.  Both men had thriving businesses from their trades.

One day, villagers heard terrified agonizing screams from the baker’s daughter.  Everyone ran to her aid.  When they arrived they saw the blacksmith’s dog mauling the young child.  Quickly they pulled the dog off the child but unfortunately they were too late.  Severely injured, the girl died soon after the attack.  Devastated, the baker and his wife mourned the loss of their beloved daughter as did the rest of the village.

Racked with guilt and remorse, the blacksmith tried to makes amends with the grieving parents and village but his efforts availed him nothing.  Soon after, no one patronized his blacksmith business and the village shunned him completely.  With no resources and no where to go and no one caring if he lived or died, the blacksmith grew depressed.  Before long, he sickened into a shell of the man he’d been.  Even the field of crops he hoped to raise for food languished because he was too weak to plow the ground.

Seeing the blacksmith’s plight, the baker lay awake in bed night after night unable to sleep.  Something about the situation and everyone’s treatment of the man and the baker’s beliefs in a forgiving God conflicted with each other.

Finally the night arrived when the baker could stand things no more.  So he got out of bed and went to the blacksmith’s field.  There, by moonlight, he plowed the field completely and returned home.

When the baker crawled back into bed by his wife, she asked where he had been.  He told her what he had done.  Upset and wondering why he would do such a thing for the man responsible for their daughter’s death, the baker replied, “I did it so God might be.”

Whenever any of us does such things for such reasons, we are -- in that very moment -- a manifestation of God.  In that singular moment we have eradicated poverty.  In that singular moment, the distinction between “haves” and “have-nots” no longer exist.  In that moment, the powerful have no greater standing than the least and poorest person on earth.  In that moment, endless peace and healing occur.  In that moment a promise has been kept because an incredibly gifted child, whom God gifted to the world, came into the world with a calling to show us what it means to honor the God Presence who resides in each one of us.  And if we did so over time and as fully and completely as possible, this child of God affirmed to us a critically important teaching, “Greater things shall you do than I have done.”

So just as a village struggled so very long ago through a horrible tragedy and ultimately found its way to healing and peace because of a small prophetic kindness by one of its members, so also are you needed “so God might be” for others.  With enough of us getting beyond the ways in which we wall ourselves off from the world -- and yes that even means the walls of our churches – a promise is therefore kept and a time of endless peace approaches. 

When people have asked me about the changes in my life over the past several months ( My Recent Journey, My God Encounter) and why I have done the seemingly senseless things I have done and been so public about it, I can’t think of a better answer than to say with the baker, “I did it so God might be.”  Nothing carries more hope of a promise to be kept than what each of us does every moment of every day “so God might be” for someone else.

May the Blessings of God's Peace and Hope for God’s coming attend you always,

Pastor Brad Shumate, M.S., M.A., LMHC

Free of Encumbrance Ministries

Vancouver, WA

brshumate@comcast.net 

P.S. Mark your calendar for the first online gathering of "Free of Encumbrance" to be held Sunday, January 22nd, at 3pm (Pacific).  Details to be announced soon.