O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

I found the picture above when I was preparing for an advent service we led for the first week of advent, this year. I used it in the powerpoint and have been wanting to write an advent piece ever since. I find the empty chairs sad and yet hopeful, perhaps evocative of people in exile looking to return. Waiting for someone to come fill them?

I have really been struck this year by the readings in the early part of the advent cycle. Christ's coming is promised in dark and troubled times of exile and oppression.

Oh come, Oh come, Emmanuel, 
And ransom captive Israel, 
That mourns in lonely exile here. 
Until the son of God appears.
Rejoice, rejoice! Emmanuel, 
Shall come to you, O Israel. 

 Isaiah 9: gives hope for victory over oppression and evil in the world:

 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. . . .The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.. . . You have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.

So the advent season starts in a time of Darkness but anticipating coming Light - the everlasting light shining in thy dark streets, O little town of Bethlehem. 

Advent is not unlike the season of Lent and Good Friday where, in darkness, we anticipate the Resurrection on Easter. Both of the seasons parallel our ongoing anticipation for the 2nd coming. (Is there a time in the liturgical year when we look forward to the second coming? If not, why not?)

I think part of the reason "O come, O Come Emmanuel" has resonated so much with me this year has been the rather dark times that are upon us in Mali, where I live. There have been 2 separate kidnapping incidents here in the past few weeks (see news report here), and we have had to call people from that region in to the capital where it is safer. In addition to the terrorism, banditry is on the rise, and there is famine in one area of Mali (details and giving options here).

The advent songs remind me, in a way, of the Negro Spirituals, which were written in a time of oppression and looking forward to hope in the life to come. For them to really ring true, you need to be first experiencing that oppression that so few of us can really imagine. 

I noticed another thing in musing over the Isaiah prophecies and the Christmas carols. Much of the language looks forward to a coming Messiah, but not so much as a personal, individual savior (as Christ is portrayed in Western evangelical circles), but as one bringing justice and banishing evil in the world.  Now we know that when Christ did come, he made it clear that his was not an earthly political kingdom, driving out the Romans.
But he did spend a lot of time talking about the Kingdom of God, which was not JUST for the world to come but also very much for now, in how we live in relation to each other. (cf. Sermon on the Mount)
Jesus comes to bring us life and restoration and justice and healing NOW, at least partially, but also in complete fullness in heaven. There is a tension between living out God's Kingdom in the NOW and waiting for what will not be resolved during this time of NOT YET. Until that day, we are called to love and serve people living in the midst of the NOT YET. (paraphrase of Adam Cox, Kansas City Boiler Room).

There is thus a tension between Jesus coming to be my personal savior (very western and individualistic) and Jesus coming to bring common good and "peace on earth - great joy for all the people". Between a Personal Gospel and a Social Gospel.  I'm reading a book, "Finding our way again: the return of the ancient practices". In it, the author suggests that this is not an either/or dichotomy. The Kingdom of God can be both of this world and the world to come. He says that we normally paint 2 opposing ways to live out the Christian life:
              Contemplative Way                      Activist Way
              Personal Gospel                              Social Gospel
              Seeking Private Piety                      Seeking Common Good
              Heaven-Centered                            Earth-Centered
              Sin-Averse (avoid sin)                     Injustice-averse (avoid injustice) (p.72-75).

Our typical evangelical take is to promote the Contemplative, individual-centered way, but the Christmas passages tend to point us to both sides of things:

"Chains shall he break [Yes, chains of personal sin]
For the slave is our brother.[and chains of real slavery]
And in his name, all oppression shall cease".

Certainly in our popular culture there is an idea that there should be Peace on Earth at least at Christmas time. The social aspect comes into play with soup kitchens were people are warm and eat well at least one day a year. And in sappy movies where we wish it was "Christmas all year round."
I think that people are just resonating with the side of the coming of Christ that seeks the common good, stamping out injustice.

And so in this advent time, 

Look forward in Hope to the Coming of the Christ child 
Look forward in hope to his second coming. 
And live to make his kingdom come, first in your heart, and then in the world around you. 

Stations of the Cross

I went downtown to the Catholic cathedral today and did the "Stations of the Cross".

I don't think I had even heard of the Stations of the Cross until I went overseas. I recall seeing Stations of the Cross at the Basilica in Yamassoukro, Ivory Coast, and the term sounded odd to me - kind of like "feeding stations" you might find on a bike race, or battle stations.

In his book, "Monk Habits for everyday people: Benedictine spirituality for Protestants", Dennis Okholm points out that we Protestants have the idea that spiritual things are real only if they are spontaneous. He asks why we will practice various physical disciplines like flossing and exercise, if the doctor or dentist tells us to, but not spiritual ones?

Until very recently, I was in a similar place and had little place in my life for liturgy and prayers that were already written down, etc. I have been reading a book called "Common Prayer: a Liturgury for Ordinary Radicals" (Shane Claiborne) and have found it very helpful. Likewise, my time in N. Ireland last year gave me a taste for Celtic prayers.

So anyway, one day while cycling around downtown Kansas City, I saw a sign outside the beautiful Cathedral advertising the Stations of the Cross and was open to giving it a try.

The setting was beautiful - Good Friday at noon. A beautiful sanctuary with pretty impressive stained glass. The pews were maybe 2/3 filled with people of various ethnicity and ages and dress. I had the sudden realization that I was wearing my "Bob the Tomato" T-shirt and thought it was perhaps inappropriate, so I buttoned up my jacket.

There were two priests who advanced in a circle around the sanctuary, stopping at wooden panels representing the 14 stations of the cross.
At each one, the priest read a paragraph and then the congregation kneeled and read a paragraph in response.
There was a sort of stanza that went like this:

Priest: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.

Congregation: Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.”

At the end of almost each station there was a part that read: "This is for me, so I express the feelings of my heart." I found this to be meaningful as it personalized Christ's action at that particular station for me, and then gave me time to respond in prayer. 

The Stations that we did are found online here. There are other versions that are perhaps better suited for protestants (see here), but I didn't have any troubles with the ones we did.

What struck me - and this should have not been a surprise really - was the big emphasis on Christ’s suffering: 

• his weakness, inability to even carry the cross alone. He understands my fatigue and defeats. In this he was “deprived of the satisfaction of carrying his burden alone”. He "enters the experience of all who must depend on others".(Stations 3 and 5)
• Jesus falls a second time: “I will never feel alone in my suffering or in my diminishment with this image of Jesus on the ground.”(7th station)\
• Jesus is stripped – the indignity of it, In this, Jesus shows the ultimate vulnerability of the defenseless. (10th station)
• Jesus experiences the pain and agony of the nails. Can there then be any pain or agony I would experience that he would not understand ?(11th station)
• The Tomb represents every tomb I stand before with fear, in defeat, struggling to believe it could ever be empty. (14th station)

I came away with the realization that the cross is not just about Jesus bearing our iniquities (which is so much the focus in Protestant circles), but also about Jesus enduring extreme suffering and pain and sorrow and weakness, and indignity and finally a cruel death and in so doing, identifying with us as we experience similar things and providing comfort to us as we walk through those things! Wow!

Looking at Isaiah 53, you certainly see all  of this. In verse 5, he is pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. The other side shows up in verse 3 where he takes our pain and bears our sorrows. The cross also brings healing (by his wounds we are healed). Our Western cultures are "guilt-based" so the first one speaks well to us, but for those from African and Asian "shame-based cultures", the fact that he was despised and held in low esteem (vs 3) speaks strongly to removing shame as well as guilt. 

Stand with me at Station 12, "at the foot of the cross, side by side with all humanity and behold our salvation."

Happy Good Friday and Happy Easter!