What drives your greatest fear? On a personal level, do you worry about not having enough money, enough love, enough security? On a broader scale, do you worry about the global financial crisis, global warming, escalating nuclear capabilities? And, what impact do the familiar words of the Christmas angels have on your fear? “Fear not ... for behold I bring you tidings of great joy which shall be for all people ... Glory to God ... and peace for all people on earth.” It is my firm belief that if the Good News of Jesus Christ is to be more than some sanitised Christmas jingle; if the essential story of Christmas is to have any bite at all; it must address those deep fears we hold.
So, let’s try and place our feet in the shoes of our faith ancestors, with their particular hopes and fears. To do that, let’s first not go back – but allow our imaginations to enter some future time for this country. Imagine, if you will, the army of China – or America – Indonesia or Fiji taking Aotearoa New Zealand into their Empire. Imagine our country being ruled not from the Beehive, but by the Pentagon, or by the President of Indonesia, the Emperor of China, or Chief of the Fijian military. Imagine our army and police, our city councils, stock exchange, reserve bank and media, our health and education services being in the control of a foreign power. Imagine how leadership might be exercised by people probably not English speaking, certainly not NZ enculturated, not seeking to make NZ a better place for its people – but foreigners whose interest is in maintaining and growing the power of their Empire – powerful foreigners building their kingdom. Imagine, on top of city and regional council rates, on top of income tax and GST, there’s another hefty tax for maintaining the US army, for building Indonesia’s border protection programmes, or developing Fiji’s nuclear capability, or supporting China’s infrastructure. Imagine, no elections, a ruling elite making all the decisions and acquiring most of the wealth – and many church leaders supporting the foreign government – even declaring the structures to be ordered according to God’s will....How would you feel? What fears would you experience? I guess it would depend where you sat within the hierarchy. Do you have friends in high places? Is your investment portfolio secure? Do you speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Indonesia, Fijian or American?
This imagined future is something like the reality of those living in the Ancient Near East in the time of Jesus In that world, only 1-2% of the population were in the ruling elite – so, if we were there, most of us would be experiencing political and economic oppression, often religiously legitimated. In his Gospel, Luke locates the story of Jesus’ public activity very specifically within this context:
- It’s the 15th year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius
- during Pilate’s Governorship of Judea
- while Herod ruled Galilee
- and Annas and Caiaphas were high priests.
At that time “The collision between Roman imperial...domination and the Jewish social world led to a variety of Jewish responses...from active collaboration to resigned and often resentful acceptance. Some harboured hopes for an imminent dramatic divine intervention: God would soon act and set things right. Others – and these responses often overlapped – were determined to preserve Jewish identity in spite of the pressures to assimilate. Still others followed the path of violent rejection, ranging from social banditry to armed rebellion.
This is the world that shaped Jesus – the world in which he grew up and the world that he addressed.” [1] A world long on fear and short on peace.
Although it is a very different world from the one in which we live – there are enough echoes to invite comparison: Like our ancient faith ancestors, we too are confronted with decisions about economic injustices and abuses of power (in our country and beyond our shores). Will we collude with, or be resigned to, oppressive structures? Will we sit back and hope God will act – will we resort to violence and hatred? Or will we take up the challenge of the Gospel – to live and act as Jesus did: filling up valleys of poverty with hope and bringing down mountains of oppression into peacefulness? The cry of Isaiah, the cry of John “prepare the way of God” is every bit as urgent today as it was 2000 years ago. Out of the wilderness, out of the desert, out of the dungeons of life, we are called to join in bringing about God’s salvation.
We can listen to the familiar biblical words, we can sing along Tuesday night with the City Choir: Every valley shall be exalted, the crooked straight and the rough places plain – and all flesh shall see it together – the mouth of the Lord has spoken it – this salvation of God is at hand. Hallelujah!
But singing along is not enough – we have to live the song. And, oh this is where we can so easily get caught into old familiar and unhelpful models – assuming salvation is about a “wretch’ like me being saved from my bad deeds – assuming that after I’ve died, if I’ve been good enough, I will go to a heavenly place in the sky. Such a view of salvation is escapist, selfish and a travesty of the Gospel.
God’s salvation comes from walking the path walked by Jesus, the one we name as saviour. It’s a path of lived-out compassion, justice and peace. God’s salvation – saving us from personal and communal fears– comes when we cooperate with God to bring about peace.
I can’t stress this enough: this salvation happens in the here and now – as a result of what you and I do in our everyday lives – about how we respond to the fears which surround us. Peace on Earth will not come, while we live out a scarcity mentality – fearing we don’t have enough money, enough love or enough security. No matter how much we experience oppression, abuse or injustice in our own lives, Peace on Earth will not come, if we respond to those who hurt us by way of violent actions or violent thoughts. We follow the one who calls us not just to love God, not just to love ourselves, not just to love our neighbour, but to love our enemy. If we do not practise loving kindness to all people on a day to day basis, there will be no peace on earth and God’s salvation will not come.
And this is not an easy task – Christianity has never been for the faint hearted, or for the ones who grasp to themselves, or desire riches, benefits and privilege.
And so I want to speak personally for a minute – because I know this call to live as inhabitants of God’s salvation, God’s shalom is challenging – it’s counter cultural – but when we live this way, the joy and blessing we give and receive is nothing short of a miracle. I have found that making small changes can make huge differences. Recently, I’ve been following a little spiritual exercise in loving kindness – it might be one you find helpful – in releasing fears and offering compassion, as you seek to cooperate in the bringing about of God’s salvation. I often do this while I’m walking – or driving – or waiting for traffic lights to change. First I offer myself a blessing: May I be happy and healthy, safe and at peace. I then bring to mind those whom I love – and offer that same blessing to them – may you be happy and healthy, safe and at peace. I then extend that blessing to those I see around me – a young Mum struggling with a crying baby, a cyclist in the midst of busy traffic, or a person who comes to mind (far too often) because of the perceived hurts they have inflicted on me – may you be happy and healthy, safe and at peace. And finally I shift my attention to people I don’t know – people in many parts of the world who struggle; people in armies, those in hospital, those struggling to make a living, those on whom we focus for this year’s Christian World Service Christmas Appeal in India, or Haiti, in South Sudan, or Palestine – may you be happy and healthy, safe and at peace. And I find as I offer blessing, my heart and mind turn away from fear towards compassion and understanding ... and almost miraculously, as my focus shifts away from my own personal stuff, I find the people around me also change – and my own focus becomes much clearer about how my day to day living and giving helps bring about God’s salvation for all people. Of course, it doesn’t always work, sometimes my own painfulness or self-centredness gets in the way. But the echo of the angel’s song and the voice of the one crying in the wilderness summon me – and summon us all – to continue preparing the way of God so that the miracle of Peace on Earth might be known to all people.
In the silence, which follows, I invite you to consider how your life in these present days, might contribute to God’s salvation, God’s peace, God’s shalom, The words Shirley Murray’s hymn – printed on the front of your Order of Service – may be helpful
“Let there be a moment held, as in one breath, when all the earth turns away from death, peace nursing creation, peace spreading her wing, O that we could know what Christmas is meant to bring”
[1] “The shaping of Jesus” from Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teaching and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary by Marcus Borg, 2006
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