Servant King based upon John 18:33-37 preached at Keswick-Ravenshoe Pastoral Charge November 22, 2015

Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”  Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?”  Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

(Play) Hallelujah Chorus

Today is known as Reign of Christ, or Christ the King Sunday.  This is the final Sunday in the church liturgical year, the one in which we return to the picture of Jesus immediately prior to the crucifixion, and examine what it means to use those words.

All today’s lessons carry images that speak of the kingship of God. King David’s final words are God’s beginning words, that God will keep a long-standing promise to send Israel the ideal King. The Psalm reminds the people of their part in keeping the Covenant.  The Epistle leaps all the way to the projected end of history to see this King returning amid shouts and choruses, adulation and coronation.

Then there’s the Gospel lesson. Ouch. Surely there’s a better Gospel text for the celebration of a King, isn’t there? And I will be honest, I resist the words Christ, King and Reign. You will notice I don’t use the words very often, and even when I do a part of me responds quite negatively. For me they are a vestige of Empire in which a faith promotes violence and coercion, and every time those words are used in liturgy – for me it reinforces that image of violence and oppression in our Christian history.

Since this was a long week away in studies, I cheated a little on sermon writing, and drew from a sermon by Rev. Thomas Hall. He reminded me of theologian Frederick Buechner and his writing. So drawing from Tom’s example, let me sketch the Gospel text in a more contemporary way.

Close your eyes for a few moments, and imagine yourself in a room with a man who stands in front of a desk with his hands tied behind his back. He has been roughed up quite considerably, his upper lip puffed out, one eye swollen shut, bruises and cuts on almost every visible part of him. You are almost sick from the stench, realising he has not washed for some time. His feet are bare - big peasant feet, though he himself is not big. He stands bent in an awkward way, because of the way his hands were tied.  If there were just the two of them, Pilate thinks, he would give him bus fare and a couple of bucks for a hamburger and fries, and send him back to the boonies; but you and the guards are watching, on the wall sits the official portrait of Tiberius Caesar, his fat, powdered face and rather disgusting imperial smile, so Pilate goes through the formalities.

"So, you’re the man, the king of the Jews," Pilate says.

The man says, "My kingdom is not of the human world," but the combination of his strong accent, which Pilate barely understands – combined with his swollen mouth and broken teeth, makes it almost impossible to understand.

Pilate turns to the side behind his desk and crosses his legs. A pigeon flutters off the sill and floats down toward the cobbles, a rustle of wings. Standing by the door, one of the guards is surreptitiously scratching his nether regions, the other picking his nose and staring at the ceiling. Smoke from Pilate’s cigarette drifts across the desk - the picture of his wife, the gift from Caesar, the clay plaque with the imprint of his first son’s hand on it. Pilate squints at the man through the smoke and asks his questions.

The scruffy homeless man has said he came to bear witness to the truth. Pilate says, "What is truth?” The man with the split lip doesn’t say a blessed thing. Or else perhaps his not saying anything is the blessed thing. The soldiers stopped their fidgeting, not a sound in the room, just Tiberius grinning down from the wall like a pumpkin, and the smoke from Pilate’s cigarette drifting across the desk and into the face of the scruffy man.

“Are you the king of the Jews?”

“Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me? Are you actually speaking for yourself, or as usual, have others told you what to speak?”

Pilate, trying to control the conversation, responds “Am I a Jew?”

Jesus says “My kingship is not of your world.”

“So are you really a king?”

Jesus says “You are the one who keeps saying that I am king.”

I think Pilate realises that in fact he is not really in charge…the scruffy homeless guy is in charge. When Jesus says that his kingdom is "not of this world," he isn’t talking about heaven or some other time. He means now, that his kingdom, unlike that of Pilate or Caiaphas is not dependent upon the methods and means of Caesar’s world.

And notice that there is a second kind of trial going on outside at the same time.

"You’re one of them, aren’t you? His followers?"

“Who me? Not a chance."

"But I remember, you’re the one who tried to defend him."

"Listen, I’ve never laid eyes on him."

Out there the disciples’ courage suddenly fades, and in the end Peter finally denies the truth of Jesus, and loses control. On the inside the one who is in a formal trial is asking the questions, is in control. What a contrast! Outside in the darkness, the followers of Jesus are being questioned about the truth of their lives and their world is falling apart, coming unraveled. (Open eyes)


Well, that’s the Gospel lesson for the day. Christ the King in a setting that offends us -  a bedraggled, half-naked former refugee, his back still bloodied from a nasty whipping, and now standing before the Roman authority. Some soldiers in mock, have forced a crown of thorns down upon his head. And now the question: "Are you King?"

So why this passage? What is it about this trial that makes it the best portrayal of Christ as King?
 

I think part of my resistance to using those words – King, Reign, Lord – is how they have been separated from the person of Jesus in modern culture. Particularly in North American culture. There was a time when the word ‘christos’ hadn’t come along – that was a somewhat later development in the history of the movement…the followers were simply “People of the Way”. Eventually the figure of Jesus the Meshiach, the ‘anointed one’, acquired the title Christos, which in Greek also meant anointed one. He became Jesus the Christ. Yet he did not ever claim any of those titles for himself. Along the way, as Jesus became the Christ and Constantine made Christianity the ‘state religion’, in a convert or die kind of way, Christianity became associated with Empire, not  only throughout Europe, but all over the world – and the church always went into the other countries first, ahead of the military or hand in hand with them.

In recent years, it seems to me there has been a shift again, a divergence of Jesus and Christ. As the influence of Christendom and the Constantinian model of Empire wanes, the strident voices calling themselves followers of Christ get louder, and they are the ones who least follow the Way of Jesus. So my faith is undergoing a shift and that’s why I avoid the words. But perhaps I need to reclaim them, even briefly in a different way for this Sunday.

In the Hebrew understanding, a King was also a Judge, and the early Hebrew word for Judge, shofet, meant the ‘one who makes right’, the one who restores the balance of right against wrong. So it helps in working through my own theology to equate King and Judge in the sense of making something right.

I believe, as one who tries to follow the Way, that the person and teachings of Jesus do contain truth  - not a truth that only we can claim, but universal Truth. In the presence of this Truth we can only stand in silence, because his gaze beholds us, judges us, sees us through and through. There is silence. Because we also know what is right, even if we fear to do it. In the Lord of the Rings stories, by J.R.R. Tolkien – a strongly Christian writer – there is a point where the young hobbit Frodo realises what his task is – that it leads to the most fearful of all things, the loss of his life – and he says to the Queen of the Elves “I know what I must do. It’s just that, I’m afraid to do it.”

Jesus does not give a truth to Pilate; he doesn’t talk about the theology of salvation; he simply stands there as the embodiment of Truth. Pilate knows what is right and wrong, but he is afraid to do it. Jesus knows what he must do, and he does it. He doesn’t do it with great fanfare, he hands himself over to those who are weak, and offers his answer, not with words, but in an Act of love. He claims nothing for himself as a King, he claims no titles, yet he makes right. Faith and Truth meet in a Roman execution. There, Truth is laid out before the world.

So we live our lives as if Jesus is the king of the Realm which we choose to create together with him. No matter how frightened we are, no matter how small we may think we are. We are people of the Way, followers of Jesus, known as the Christos, the King.May it be so.

Sources:

1.      The Truth About Jesus The King a sermon based on John 18:33-37
by Rev. Thomas Hall

2.      Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring  J.R.R. Tolkien.

“For Just a Cup of Coffee” A sermon based on 1 Samuel 2:1-10, Mark 13:1-8 preached at Keswick-Ravenshoe United Church November 15, 2015.

1 Samuel 2:1-10  Hannah prayed and said,

“My heart rejoices in God; my strength is exalted in God. I am laughing at my rivals, because I rejoice in God’s salvation. There is none holy like God, there is no rock like our God. Don’t talk so very proudly, don’t let arrogance come from your mouth; for God has knowledge, and by God actions are weighed.  The bows of the mighty are broken, and the feeble put on strength.  Those who had plenty of food have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry are now filled and hunger no more. The barren woman has borne seven children, but she who has many children is forlorn.  God kills and brings to life; God brings down to the depths of darkness and lifts up again. God makes poor and makes rich; he brings low, he also exalts. God raises the poor from the dust and  lifts the needy from the ash heap; they sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth belong to God, and the world stands on them.  God will guard those who are faithful;  but the wicked stumble about in the dark, for not by might can anyone live. God’s adversaries shall be broken to pieces; God will thunder in heaven. God will make right of all things;  strength will be given to God’s king,  the anointed One will be set above all.”

Mark 13:1-8

As he walked away from the Temple, one of his disciples said, “Teacher, look at that stonework! Those buildings!”

Jesus said, “You’re impressed by this grandiose architecture? There’s not a stone in the whole works that is not going to end up in a heap of rubble.”

Later, as he was sitting on Mount Olives in full view of the Temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew got him off by himself and asked, “Tell us, when is this going to happen? What sign will we get that things are coming to a head?” Jesus began, “Watch out for doomsday deceivers. Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities claiming, ‘I’m the One.’ They will deceive a lot of people. When you hear of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don’t panic. This is routine history, and no sign of the end. Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Earthquakes will occur in various places. There will be famines. But these things are nothing compared to what’s coming.”

Yes, this is my red Starbucks cup. It is going to sit on my desk as a reminder of a few pertinent truths.

Over the last couple of weeks, there has been a firestorm back and forth on Facebook, about – get this – the colour of the new Starbucks cups for the Christmas season, and how they don’t represent Christmas. The fanatic pseudo-Christian pastor who started this stated that Starbucks is part of the War on Christmas. He said the cups don’t have any snowflakes or Christmas designs, they aren’t Christmas-y enough. He said they are “taking the Christmas out of Christmas”. Some people have gone into the stores and insisted that servers write “Merry Christmas” on their cups. 

In response, a whole lot of people, me included – have been responding with a defense of Starbucks as a business, not in the work of promoting any faith stance, but a general holiday; that Starbucks cups have never had any kind of Christian motif on them anyway; that Starbucks DOES sell Advent calendars, and Christmas coffee. Starbucks has also been collaborating with local charitable organisations in different places, providing food. Now, Starbucks food is pretty classy – I can recommend the cranberry dream bar, for those who love gooey frosting-y things.

The fuss was started by Josh Feuerstein, a video rant from a self-described “disciple of Jesus”. He’s been doing things like this for years. In this case, he claims that Starbucks hates Jesus. How Jesus has become associated with snowflakes and reindeer and Santa and all that other stuff isn’t clear. Starbucks "hates Jesus," Feuerstein ranted, because the multi-billion dollar international coffee conglomerate decided to change its Holiday cups from red with winter logos, to red. Just plain red. Which makes Jesus cry.

He is also the guy who phoned a Florida bakery to order a cake with the message: “We Do Not Support Gay Marriage.” When the bakery refused to fill the order, he and his followers cried discrimination and harassed the small business until it was forced to close temporarily.

Feuerstein’s extremism is part of his public persona. Appearing on CNN last week, he says he knows America is a Christian nation because Barack Obama had to pretend to be Christian to get elected. He is a sometime pastor, strongly anti-gay, a racist, and a gun nut. And it’s clear he has no idea what the Gospel message is.

Just a couple of examples of the lash back at Feuerstein:  three Starbucks cups, and a photo of a homeless man sleeping on a bench, and the caption says “If you’re more offended by these, (pointing to the cups) than by this (pointing to the man), then you’re part of the problem.”

Then there’s one of someone giving an African child a simple cup of clean water, and the caption is “Yeah, that Starbucks cup is a real problem.”

So how does this in any way connect to the two texts this morning?  

Hannah is a woman who has been unable to have a baby. She is married to Elkanah whose second wife, Peninnah, has children. Hannah is ridiculed by Penninah, and even though Elkanah loved Hannah, he gave her lesser gifts on the days of sacrifice in the temple because she had no children.  Hannah sits in the temple and prays and prays to God to give her just one child. And the miracle happens. Hannah becomes pregnant. 

And we hear Hannah sing, a song which we will hear again in Advent, when Mary learns she is pregnant, when Zechariah sings of finally having seen what had been foretold. And we hear it again when Jesus talks about how the realm of God will be.

The last will be first and the first will be last. Now, we tend to read these things as if they are all carried out by God with no human interaction. So we have to put Hannah’s song into context – the God of the early peoples was a God who made things happen for good or ill.  But that isn’t what I hear in this text at all. What I hear is a text about complete reversals of fortune. Hannah is speaking about God’s realm, where those who are hungry are fed, and the rich have nothing; where those who are considered the dregs of society are lifted up, and those who pushed others down and oppressed them are now in a different position.

I’d like to read you some of that text again, but a different version: “The weapons of the strong are smashed to pieces, while the weak are infused with fresh strength. Those who were well-fed are out begging in the streets for crusts, while those who were hungry are getting second helpings. God puts people on their feet again, and rekindles burnt-out lives with fresh hope, restoring dignity and respect to their lives.”

Three years ago there was a statue called Homeless Jesus, designed by Timothy Schmalz, a Canadian sculptor. It depicts Jesus as a homeless person, sleeping on a park bench. His face and hands are hidden under a blanket, but crucifixion wounds on his feet reveal his identity. The statue has been described as a "visual translation" of the passage from Matthew in which Jesus tells his disciples, "as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me". The first casts were offered to St. Michael's Cathedral in Toronto and St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, but both churches declined, citing issues of restoration on their buildings. In 2013 the original sculpture was installed at Regis College, the Jesuit School in Toronto School of Theology.

In 2013 the first cast was installed in the United States, at the St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Davidson, North Carolina. The rector, Rev. David Buck, says "This is a relatively affluent church, to be honest, and we need to be reminded ourselves that our faith expresses itself in active concern for the marginalized of society". In an interview he said "We believe that that's the kind of life Jesus had. He was, in essence, a homeless person.”

For me, this is where the hoopla over a red coffee cup collides with both texts. What is really important is not whether a secular business organisation opts for a plain red cup; what is really important is not the big fancy buildings which eventually will be gone. What is really important is what we do to others and the world. What is really important are those people on our streets, in our cities, homeless and hungry; drowning in a frantic run to get away from war, lining up to come to a place where they can just have a life. The texts are both about complete reversals of what we think the world is to be, an upside-down version of how we define our world. In the Mark passage Jesus says “You have no idea what’s coming.” And it’s true this is a piece of apocalyptic literature as we read on. But it’s with a point – that for all that humanity tries to do to hold power, it will be turned upside down.  The realm of God will come, where the hungry will be fed, the thirsty given good clean water to drink instead of sewage, where women don’t go missing, where homes and work can be found so that all people have some dignity; a place where the human worth of every person is the first and most important thing; a place where people don’t end up living on the streets, or needing food banks, or handouts; a place where there is no bombing or killing.

It’s too easy to get sidetracked by things like the colour of a cup, and then persecuting people out of our own fear. It’s just too easy – and maybe that’s why it happens. Really turning the world upside down, tearing down the walls of injustice and oppression, and treating all people as if they have value and worth – is really really hard work most of the time. But it is the realm of God.

And Hannah sings that it happens, that somehow the wrongs inflicted on the world are reversed and put right; she offers a caution about making judgments, of ridiculing others, because we don’t know when fortunes will be reversed, when one who is wealthy will lose all, or when one who has been poor and homeless will be able to make a start again. We don’t know, we can’t know. Through Hannah’s song the imbalances of the world are put to rights.

Well, I got really worked up over this one, because there is a side of me which does make judgment; I read the trash about the cup and the war on Christmas and think “Seriously??? Really??? Is that all you have to worry about??? Why are you so afraid??? Why don’t you get out and really follow Jesus, even in the simple act of offering a cup of coffee to someone who really needs it, and yes even in a red cup.”

A cup offered to someone who needs. A simple thing, but it can be so much.  In ‘A Christmas Carol’, the Ghost of Christmas Present offers Scrooge a cup – filled with the milk of human kindness. Instead of seeing the cup as a war on something, why not see it as the opposite – the very thing which Hannah sings about, the very thing Jesus makes reference to – a reversal of what is now, a reversal of all those things we consider permanent. Why not see the cup as the vehicle of making change?  Offer someone who could really use it, a simple cup of coffee – and go from there.

Author Maren Tirabassi, whose books I read and who has become a friend via Facebook, is a gentler soul than I, less harsh in judgment. She has written a poem, and I believe catches in it the needs of many people, and how a cup of coffee can be a catalyst for change.

“This is my Christmas cup of coffee.
Yes, it is in a red cup and I like it rather strong
so I can make it very sweet and light and I want to sip it slowly
because today someone is willing to listen to me,
and hear any loneliness, any grief, any sorrow.

The star shines in kind eyes, not really in either
the brand name of the store, (though I smile)
or the words of a story, told out in pageant, sermon,
or so-called live nativity.

And the stable is this coffee shop –
for it always happens in some latte or manger
where no one ever expects something holy to be born.

There are so many people
watching over their laptops by night,
and, while my friend listens to me,
I eavesdrop on all their angels.”

May it be so.

Sources:

1.      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeless_Jesus

2.      Rev. Maren Tirabassi, Pastor, Union Church of Madbury (United Church of Christ), New Hampshire.

"For Such a Time as This" A Sermon based on Ecclesiastes 3 and Mark 12 Remembrance Day November 8, 2015

Ecclesiastes 3

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Moreover I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, wickedness was there, and in the place of righteousness, wickedness was there as well. I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time for every matter, and for every work. I said in my heart with regard to human beings that God is testing them to show that they are but animals. For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over the animals; for all is vanity. All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knows whether the human spirit goes upward and the spirit of animals goes downward to the earth?  So I saw that there is nothing better than that all should enjoy their work, for that is their lot; who can bring them to see what will be after them?

Mark 12 As he taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRg9NkIdjVs

One of the pictures in my head, which has never gone away – as fresh today as it was then, and still brings tears, was sitting on the organ bench in the chapel at Tan Son Nhut airport in Saigon, watching a young man crying his heart out, calling for his mother. My guess, from the looks of him was that he was barely 18. He had signed up convinced that there was an enemy which threatened the US, only to find that it was all a sham. There was no threat to the United States. Like many young men who went over there, the only way to survive his year of duty was drugs, mostly marijuana, and often cocaine. He didn’t survive Viet Nam. One Sunday when I came for church, he was no longer there. He had been sent home, in a body bag.

There were many times in those years that I went home and hugged my own sons – whether it was from chapel, or from the refugee camps – secure in the knowledge that I was covered by at least four embassies, and would be taken out if there were serious trouble.Most families in Viet Nam were not so fortunate.

The book of Ecclesiastes is part of a genre of writing in the Hebrew Scripture known as Wisdom Literature, which also includes Job, Proverbs, Psalms are other examples. This particular passage is most often read at funerals, but the more I hear it the more I wonder if we are hearing it with the right pair of ears. We tend to hear it as if everything is preceded by “God has ordained........” as if everything is out of our hands, as if it’s going to happen no matter what we do - and I am not convinced that’s what the passage means.

It turns out that Ecclesiastes is a pen-name which means ‘preacher’ or ‘teacher’, and he was entirely pessimistic about life, politics, God, pretty well everything; and that piece of information leads to my questions: Does God do these things? Is this something God will do without us? Or is this something God will do together with us, when we have the will to do it. Does planting just happen by itself, and harvesting? Or is it something we have to work at? Does loving and hating happen by itself? Does God make us hate? Does peace just happen? Is it just the absence of violence? Or is it a collective choice? I think peace will only happen when people have such a collective desire for war to be ended that there will be no other option, and there will be the will to make it happen. It is not that the differences between nations cannot be overcome - it is that we make choices, and get so attached to believing in the rightness of our way, that we cannot see beyond those things to a different way of being and doing.

It seems to me that this passage is a perfect description of the human condition, and I suspect that was at the root of the pessimism in Ecclesiastes. For each of us there is a time to be born and a time to die - and there are times between birth and death where we have a life to live; when there is death we mourn and where there is new life we celebrate. But we also make choices in the life we are given..” The book of Deuteronomy says - “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.

Look at the second part of this reading – wickedness present even in the places of righteousness and justice. This is another comment on the human condition – that the wealthy, the powerful, the politicians will manipulate even processes of righteousness. Is this something God makes happen, or is it choices made by human beings who know their choices are wrong? Jesus says beware of those who go about in long and fancy robes, praying in public and giving huge gifts to the synagogue, while the ordinary people who struggle from day to day give everything they have without complaint, even if it means giving their life. Extrapolating from that, one can read politicians and military leaders who are hypocrites in their search for greater power, at the expense of the ordinary people whom they govern.

So let’s re-read Ecclesiastes now - but read it this way -

*we* choose the time to plant and the time to uproot,

*we* choose a time to kill and a time to heal,

*we* choose to tear down or to build up,

*we* choose to weep and to laugh,

*we* choose to search and to give up,

*we* choose to embrace and to refrain from embracing,

*we* choose to keep or to throw away,

*we* choose to love or to hate,

*we* choose to be silent or to speak,

*we* choose war, and *we* choose peace..

As I wrote this I had in the back of my mind the phrase “history repeats itself”, and a kind of niggling memory that it has its roots in Ecclesiastes. What has been described is precisely the case of humanity now – memory does not exist, and lessons have not been learned. Sure enough, in the very opening passage of the book, we read Ecclesiastes 1:9-11

“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look - this is something new?’ It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who come after them.”

In Viet Nam I saw enough of war to believe that if we spent as much time and effort on making peace as we do on making war, we would have had real lasting peace a long time ago. As I watch the news, and people who have become so obsessed by power and control that they will crush others, it becomes almost too much to bear. It seems as if people never change, the possibility for change is not there. There are days when I understand how the writer of Ecclesiastes felt, because some days it becomes too much to bear, the thought of such things happening to my grandchildren or great grandchildren.

And yet, the Revelation of John tells us that God creates a new thing, God can do something new, and will bring about a time when there is no more suffering or sorrow, no more pain, only peace and fulfillment for humanity. The question for me is, again, does God do it alone? Or are we the ones who make choices to work for those things, and God strengthens us. As human beings there are lessons we need to learn, and choices which only we can make. As long as we choose hatred, or tearing down, we will not find love, or the building up. As long as the memories are erased, the textbooks sanitised, the leaders who would take us back to a more oppressive and destructive time are not checked and stopped, there will always be evil, violence and war.

The birth of Jesus, and the life and teaching of Jesus, were a statement that it *is* possible to choose love over hate; it *is* possible to choose peace instead of war; it *is* possible to speak out instead of choosing to remain silent. The question for us is, do we take the birth, life and death of Jesus seriously? If we do, we have to believe that life and death, blessings and curses - are ours to choose - and that God wants us to make the right choices - but make no mistake, the choices *are* ours. And we want to make sure that the generations which follow will remember those lessons, instead of repeating the cycle, as we have been doing. Doing nothing is also a choice we make, and with every choice there are consequences.

It seems to me that this passage is a perfect description of the human condition, and I suspect that was at the root of Ecclesiastes’ pessimism. For each of us there is a time to be born and a time to die - and there are times between birth and death where we have a life to live; when there is death we mourn and where there is new life we celebrate. But we also make choices in the life we are given..”

For such a time as this, I turn you to the words of the writer of Deuteronomy – God says ‘I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life, so that you and your children may live.” Choose life. May it be so.

Great Pumpkins! Hallowe'en and the Church (and All Saints) Hebrews 12:1-2 November 1, 2015 Keswick United Church

Hebrews 12:1-2    

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”     

This sermon is dedicated to my Dad, Rev. Russell Vickers, who died at the end of January 2004. In going through Dad’s sermons, I found one specifically about Hallowe'en, All Hallows and All Saints. The sermon is also dedicated to my mother, Kay Vickers, whose birthday was November 1, All Saints Day.

The sermon grew out of several things. Back in 2004, I saw an item in the news about one family which was not celebrating Hallowe'en because they considered it 'un-Christian' - they claimed dressing up as witches and goblins is a 'pagan' thing, not suitable for Christians. I was a little bemused, but then a couple of days later overheard a conversation at the check-out counter in the grocery store, about the non-Christian aspects of Hallowe'en. Just recently I saw an article about an evangelical church group in the US which is celebrating “Jesus-ween” as an alternative to Hallowe’en. Again this year there have been all kinds of articles about the evils of Hallowe’en, and how good Christians should not observe this time, as it promotes evil.

It was and is clear to me that people simply don’t understand where Hallowe’en even originated - so they have an opinion, based in a lack of knowledge of anything outside their own personal experience, and try to put Christianity into a festival where it has been, one way or another, for hundreds of years anyway.

So, I have two thoughts to begin with - and of course a few more after that. First, in our scramble to be 'right', without even knowing the background of where our holidays come from, we can surely suck a lot of the joy out of life. To me, life would be flat and stale without at least one witch on a broomstick, or a ghost or small-sized devil out collecting plunder at the door! And costumes can be much more creative these days. My sister one year created a costume called the Sugar Plum Fairy, from the story of the Nutcracker. A few years ago one of my granddaughters was a firefighter, one was Xena the Warrior Princess, and my grandson was a knight. Their choice of character was fascinating. They had a wonderful time, and so did Grandma.

Second, Hallowe'en is as Christian a celebration as any we have. Christmas and Easter also incorporate elements of what we call "pagan" faiths. The Advent wreath was originally a huge wagon wheel hung from the ceiling of a meeting hall, decorated with evergreens and lit with candles. The Christmas tree was purely a Druidic symbol, and the Hebrew Scripture contains the admonishment never to cut green trees. The Yule log, and the word Yule, is an old Viking addition. The egg at Easter was originally a pagan symbol, yes, but it denotes rebirth and new life. The same holds true of the Easter bunny. The early missionaries to what are now called the British Isles and the Celtic peoples, used those existing Celtic Druidic festivals as a vehicle for conversion to the new Roman faith.

For the Celts, November 1 marked the beginning of a new year and the coming of winter. The night before their new year in the old calendar, they celebrated the festival of Samhain (Saween), in which the god of the earth died, to be reborn in the spring when new life returned. At the spring solstice, called Beltane, the god rose again, the days lengthened, and life returned to the earth.

With the rise of Christianity, the festival of Samhain was changed to Hallowmas, or All Saints, to commemorate the souls of the blessed dead who had been canonized that year. The night before became known as All Hallows Eve, or Hollantide. November 2^nd became All Souls Day, when prayers were to be offered to the souls of all departed and those who were waiting in Purgatory for entry into Heaven. Throughout the centuries, pagan and Christian beliefs intertwined in celebrations from October 31st right through to November 5^th. - but in the end Hallowe’en - All Hallows -  and All Saints, became the lasting Christian celebrations.

During this festival of Samhain, the Celts believed that the barrier or veil between this world and the next, were at their thinnest, hence the souls of the dead could return to mingle with the living. Coincidentally, Christians believed the very same thing. Candles were placed in windows, to light the way for spirits to return to their homes. An extra place was set at the dinner table in case the spirit came. In order to scare away evil spirits which might cross over, people wore masks and costumes, lit bonfires, and carved out turnips and rutabagas, and put a candle inside, as a lamp to light the way.

When the Romans conquered the Celts, they added their own touches to the Samhain festival; they made centerpieces out of apples and nuts for Pomona, the Roman goddess of the orchards. They also bobbed for apples and drank cider. Sound familiar?

Let's jump back a little in our Christian history. In 835, Pope Gregory IV decided to move the celebration for all the martyrs (later all the saints) from May 13 to November 1. The name “All Hallows Even” or 'All Holy Evening’ was contracted into our more modern word Hallowe’en. It coincided perfectly with the Celtic celebration of Samhain and the Roman festival of Pomona - and the similarities of the coming of the dark, and the rise of the light in the spring, were not lost on the early missionaries.

On November 2, the Church celebrates All Souls Day. These were feast days in the church, and their purpose was to remember those who have died, whether they were officially recognized by the Church as saints or not. It is a celebration of the 'communion of saints,' which reminds us that the Church is not bound by space or time. But while the church creatively substituted its own celebration, it also retained some elements of the pagan faith, which fit in with the superstitions of the time. Bear in mind that in the early medieval church, witches and warlocks, imps, goblins, and evil souls were all part of the lore. Dressing up in costume to scare these 'evil' things became a part of the whole, from the Christian perspective as well as the Druidic.

The modern view of death derives in part from Pre-Hispanic times, notably the Aztecs, who believed that after a person died, the soul would pass through nine levels prior to their final destination, Mictlan - the place of the dead. They also believed that a person's destiny was founded at birth and that the soul of that person was dependent on the type of death rather than the type of life led by that person. How a person died would also determine what region they would go to. Once they arrived in their specific region a person's soul would either await transformation or linger, awaiting the next destiny. The tenth month of the Aztec calendar included a great feast for dead adults. The Spanish Conquest of 1521 brought about the fusion of Catholic attitudes and indigenous beliefs. All Souls Day in Central and South American churches became the Day of the Dead, and it is a result of amalgamation of Pre-Spanish Indian ritual beliefs and the imposed ritual and dogma of the Catholic church.

So the three days - Hallowe'en, All Saints and All Souls - are just enough of a mishmash of different pieces of history and elements of many belief systems, that to eliminate any one of them is a foolish and useless exercise. We cannot separate our Christian faith and its non-Christian roots, and I don’t think we should. I think we need to look at them in their context.

But we can look at the Christian meaning that was once given to Hallowe'en - that we are an imperishable community from all across the ages. Hallowe'en in its Christian meaning is a source of courage and strength. Do we find it hard to stand up for justice, fair treatment, truth? Let's not forget that we are not the first generation of people to face such issues. Others have walked this same road in some way, in another time, and with the grace of God have come through it.

In the mid twentieth century, there was a great revolution in Hungary. Crowds gathered in the square named for the poet Sandov Petofi, who in 1848 launched the revolution against the Hapsburg monarch. A voice in the crowd shouted out "we vow we can never be slaves" - a line from one of his poems. Two hundred thousand marched to the statue of Josef Bem, hero of 1848 who fought for freedom. Surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, they found courage.

In my mind, that parallel between a belief in a God of the earth who dies in the fall, only to rise again in the spring, is a strong one. Yes, we believe Jesus rose on the third day - but once again, clearly the parallels of dying and rising were not lost on the early missionaries to the Celtic peoples. They creatively found a way to use existing practices in the new country, to explain Christianity and make new converts.

Finally, I want to tell a story of a little boy named Linus, from the Peanuts comic strip. Linus believes in a strange hybrid of a jack-o-lantern, Santa Claus and prophetic saintly God-character named "The Great Pumpkin." Linus believes the Great Pumpkin will arise from the most sincere Pumpkin Patch on Halloween night and deliver toys to all the true believing children. Of course, Linus actually wants to be in the garden when the benevolent giver of Halloween toys rises from among the pumpkins. What's important, I think, is that Linus believes. He's never seen the Pumpkin, yet he believes that this saintly and benevolent character exists - he goes into the Pumpkin Patch every year, hopeful - and never gives up.

We have those saints who have gone before, to dispel the darkness and light the way - call them Great Pumpkins if you like - they light the way and they help us to keep in our sight the light of the world, the author and perfecter of our faith, Jesus Christ. By understanding the origins of Hallowe'en, we also find ourselves invited into the grandeur of the community of the cloud of witnesses which will never perish and which is never touched by death.

The early Christians, first dispersed by fear and the loss of Jesus, soon found themselves coming together again, a community of living saints bound by faith and a vision - a light in the darkness, the light of faith and commitment. When we come together as a community - yes, to celebrate Hallowe'en or All Hallows, and All Saints, we remember that we are surrounded here in this community, in this church, by the witness of those who have gone before, who support us unseen.

And let’s enjoy the fun and frolic of Hallowe’en, the little faces at the door, the funny costumes - and the joy children get from it. Let’s not try to put meanings into it which were never there, those excesses demonstrated in Hollywood movies. Let’s not take the fun out of our life, and out of our faith, because we are afraid of something which really holds no threat at all. Remember that those carved and lit pumpkins are the remnant of a belief in lighting the way; they are to dispel the darkness, banish fears and give courage and faith when all seems dark.

And so today, we celebrate the souls of all those who have gone ahead, the great cloud of witnesses which stands all around us. We celebrate the joy of faith, knowing where we came from, and believing in where we are going. May it be so.

Sources:

1. “Hallowe’en and the Saints” a sermon by Rev. Russell K. Vickers

2. “Great Pumpkins! Hallowe’en and the Church” (or How to Take All the Fun out of Life). A sermon by Rev. Fran Ota, October 2004.

Original paper published in the book “Treat or Trick: Hallowe’en in a Globalising World” , Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007.