What is the Christian Year?

Christian year no images copyright issues from remythedog

This is how I teach the Christian Year. Feel free to use it in your church settings. All of the images are from microsoft office.

Content? Advent 3 C Zephaniah 3:14-20 Philippians 4:4-7 Luke 3:7-18

 ^vs 

^{Philippians 4 10}

I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned for me, but had no opportunity to show it. ¹¹Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. ¹²I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. ¹³I can do all things through him who strengthens me.(NRSV)


These words were written by the Apostle Paul during one of his imprisonments. Most believe it was during his last incarceration: in Rome. 
I remember reading this as a child wondering how anyone could be content in any circumstance. But as a 40-year-old I can now say with Paul , I know what it is like to have little and I know what it is like to have plenty. Thankfully I've never been in prison as a prisoner, only to visit. And it is horrible place. If you have never visited someone in prison, you should.

If Paul was in Rome, he was under 'house arrest,' probably not so bad as when he rotted in a prison in Ephesus, chained to the wall, his back having been flogged. But even then he would have said the same: I know what it is like to have little. 

I know what it is like to have little. I have never been homeless. But as a child my family lived without a phone, or car, many times. We had barely enough; often there was one choice for food; beans or macaroni or potatoes. I know what it is like to dig down the couch hoping for a enough change to buy a box of macaroni and cheese. I know what it is like to be ridiculed for poverty.

I know what it is like to have little. One Christmas my dad was out of work. My brother and I were 6 and 7. We had just returned to church after years of being away. Our church family heard we were in need and multiple times we opened the door and found food on the porch; left by a nameless Good Samaritan. 

I know what it is like to have little. 

Paul knew what it was like to have plenty. He was a Pharisee; he was a Roman Citizen. He had privileges and he had used them to persecute people; as one of power. But since meeting Jesus he had used the power to preach; before being booted from the synagogues he showed up in his Pharisaical robes and was asked to speak. He used every chance he could to tell of this Risen One he had encountered on that Damascus Road.

I know what it is like to have plenty. I sit in a comfortable recliner in soft clothing inside a snug house with a warm puppy curled at my feet. I have multiple choices of food in my fridge; I just downed an orange juice and a grilled cheese. There are wrapped gifts under my tree. I have a car; I have a smart phone; I am typing on my own laptop. 

But do I know what is like to be content? Contentment is not as easy as 'little' and 'plenty.' Contentment is a choice. If I have little, as a healthy American I can work for plenty (yeah I know the economy is going you know where in a you know what but you get my drift). Contentment is something that I must choose. And there is always more out there.

 MY CULTURE DOES NOT WANT ME TO BE CONTENT. To be content would mean not consuming; and of course, our economy depends upon my consuming what I do not need. 

^{Luke 3 10}And the crowds asked him [John the Baptist], “What then should we do?” ¹¹In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” ¹²Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” ¹³He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.”
What kind of a tax collector would do that?

 ¹⁴Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”

Satisfied? Is that the same as Content? What do you think?

Advent 4B Luke 1:39-56 The Magnificat

I once read, "What if God had sent  Gabriel  to many women before he came to Mary many times and they had all refused?"  Was he giving Mary a choice? She seems to voice consent. What if she had said no?

Mary said, "Let it be to me according to your word." Wow. What faith it took to say that. She had no idea what she was getting into. None of us who sign up for parenthood, or have it thrust upon us "surprisingly," really know what we are getting into until we experience it. But Mary has more ahead of her than just parenthood. She has the potential disgrace of being unmarried and pregnant. She has the prediction of Simeon, "A sword shall pierce your heart." She has the pain of watching her son leave for ministry; and then the unspeakable horror of watching him die a tortured death.

Christmas Eve Luke 2:1-4 Year B

Today my family & I delivered groceries, something we do once a month with the local Catholic worker house. It is a chaotic sort of crazy event, esp. the Christmas delivery. About 30 people fill over 200 bags of groceries & then we divide up and deliver them all over the city.

We are given lists of people who have requested food. Today we approaced a door that had a padlock on the outside. The mail was overflowing from the mailbox. Obviously there was no one home. What to do? The next delivery was a duplex. I knocked on the wrong door. "They are over there." She pointed. Four tiny children ran outside, one a 3 year old boy in only a shirt & underwear. It was 38oF. I asked her if she needed food. She said yes. We brought the bags we had left.

The grateful thank yous from the children break my heart. Last month some kids came screaming to the door when we delivered, so glad to see us.

Our leader calls this organized anarchy. It's called Food Equality and redistribution. Whatever it is, it feeds hungry children at Christmas.

So different, the two views I've had this weekend. Last night I shopped at SuperTarget with the rest of the city. Lots of last minute runs for toys and stocking stuffers. I saw no tree or lights at the house where the hungry children lived.

I ask, which is closer to the stable where Jesus was born? What child understands Christmas better, the one receiving food in their hungry belly, or the one seeing a pile of gifts under a fancy tree? Don't get me wrong, I love giving & receiving gifts...but my heart is breaking today. Because I saw Jesus with a runny nose and bare legs run out in the cold, so glad to get a box of Rice Krispies 5 days before Christmas.

What I want for Christmas

1. No more hurting children. When will adults learn that children are the most treasured gift anyone could ever receive? When will we learn to treat children as people with feelings? When will we learn to take our children to church when they wake up and cry Sunday morning to go to Sunday School?
2. No more hatred. Jesus talked about murder beginning in the heart with hatred. If people learn to forgive and control their feelings by giving them to God, there would be no more violence.
3. No more hunger. According to the United Nations World Hunger Program, every 3.6 seconds someone in the world dies of starvation. I see my Christmas wish coming true when I see a community willing to help its hungry people.
4. No more gossip. Nothing can be more destructive to a church or community than idle words that spread like wildfire. This Christmas have a deaf ear and a mute mouth. If you don’t hear it you can’t spread it. If you do hear it, don’t spread it. If you hear an item of concern about an individual, ask that person, not everyone else in town. Give people the benefit of the doubt.
5. No more alcoholism.
Don’t buy the liquor this Christmas. You might drink too much, get angry, hurt someone you love—even your child or your spouse. It’s not worth it. Drunk driving accidents go way up around the holidays. We don’t want anymore tragedy. Leave the alcohol alone.
6. True Peace. The biblical idea of peace is found in the Old Testament concept of shalom. Much more than an absence of war, this peace permeates into the very heart of humanity. It means more than serenity, more than calmness, more than safety. It is the idea of complete harmony between God and humanity that leads to complete harmony within oneself, with creation, and with others. As we continue to read the Bible, we find the only way to shalom is through God’s Christmas gift to the world, his Son Jesus Christ. If you search for this peace, ask Jesus to forgive you of all wrong and to come into your life. Contact a local pastor for spiritual guidance.
7. An optimism of grace. This optimism tells me that my list is not just idle wishes, it is the hope of Christmas, the desire of a God who sent his only begotten Son into the world to make all these wishes come true.