Sunday's Sermon: The Gospel According to Ollivander (read or listen here)

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There are lots of good stories - news stories, historical stories, made-up stories - about heroes, but the best stories are the ones that also make room for the sidekicks, oddballs, and the sorts of people that leave us saying “I want to know more about them.” If you’ve been watching the last month’s worth of bowl games, you may have found yourself confronted with two teams you didn’t even remember existed and yet by the second half of the game you were rooting for one over the other because the TV producers did their job well and found some unknown player whose backstory hit you right in the feels, or whose quirky style of play didn’t seem like it should work. 

Great storytellers know that it’s the characters who make the story, and some of the best characters don’t even have to stick around for very long. When JK Rowling wrote the first book in her world-dominating Harry Potter series, she created a character in its fifth chapter who was able, in fewer than 30 words, to set himself apart and add a new depth to the entire story. The hero of the story, of course, is Harry Potter, and up to this point in the novel, all that Harry knows about the magical world he has just discovered is that he is already famous in it for reasons he doesn’t understand. Strangers bow to him and give him gifts. He will soon discover that he is so celebrated because of how his family defeated a villain whom everyone fears and no one will name. But when young Harry wanders into the shop of the wandmaker Ollivander, he finds someone who treats him rather differently. Ollivander goes to great lengths to find Harry a suitable wand, and when the one he finds turns out to be very similar to the wand of the great villain Voldemort, Ollivander is not frightened by this. “Curious, most curious. I think we can’ expect great things from you, Mr. Potter - for he-who-must not be named did great things. Terrible, yes, but great.” 

Ollivander is not only an interesting character, he is interested. He is interested and intrigued by power, the part of us who admires those who seem able to make their own will into reality. He speaks for that part of us that will forgive almost any transgression except being boring. Curious. Most curious… That may as well have been the serpent’s first line in the garden. 

You know who I find incredibly fascinating? King Herod. I’ll be honest, I never thought much about Herod before I had the chance to travel to Israel several years ago. In the scriptures, Herod is kind of a one-note villain - murderous, jealous, fickle, impulsive and paranoid. And all of these things are consistent, not only in the scriptural accounts of him, but also in the other histories we have from that time period. But do you know what else Herod was? He was a baller. When I read scripture commentaries, I always wondered why the religious authorities were so willing to play along with Herod, and prop him up - I assumed it must have been straight fear that kept the Pharisees and Sadducees on his side. But when I went to Israel, I quickly discovered what everyone else learns when they visit — Herod built all the cool stuff. When you walk in the footsteps of Jesus, all that you see are grass-covered hillsides and walking paths, and you go to the lakeshore and say “Well, this might have been where Jesus stood, but it could have been a half-mile down the way.” Herod, on the other hand, left his mark everywhere he went. He built stuff on on a scale that people could hardly believe. The Western Wall of the Second Temple - the place where every Jewish and Christian pilgrim goes to pray - Herod built that. The fortress of Masada, built on top of a mountain that goes straight up on every side - Herod built that. He built an entire city - Caesarea Maritime -  and the ruins of it are one of the most spectacular things I’ve ever seen. Before Herod came to Caesarea, it was just a beach, exposed to the Mediterranean. But Herod built a massive wall that went right into the sea, it was the largest artificial harbor ever made, bigger than anything that even Rome had managed. In Caesarea, Herod didn’t just build his palace on the land. No, he wasn’t that basic. He built a jetty 100 meters into the ocean just so that he could have a palace surrounded by water, and so that the ocean itself could be routed to fill the Swimming pool that he built where anyone else would have put a courtyard. As we were driving away from Caesarea, I made this note in my journal. “If you were invited to party with Herod, you would do it. This guy lived large.”

So is it any wonder that the wise men — these curious scholars, people who searched the stars every night to try and see something new, something amazing — is it any wonder that they came to Herod when the star appeared in the sky and told them that a great king had been born. They went to see the most interesting man they could imagine finding in the otherwise pretty underdeveloped nation of Judea. But they did not find what they were looking for.  

One of the great Christian characters of the last century was a woman named Simone Weil, she was a genius, a humanitarian, and a charismatic worshipper of Jesus. She had a masters degree before most of her peers had their bachelors, she fought in the Spanish Civil war, she worked in an auto factory so that she would not be trapped in an ivory tower. She brought her family from France to the US and then died at age 34 while waiting in Great Britain to return as an agent of the French Resistance.  In her classic book “Waiting for God” Weil wrote this about what she had learned in the course of following Jesus - she said 

“Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating.”

The wise men found pretty quickly that they were more interesting to Herod than he was to them. They found that the mere rumor of a rival would send Herod into a panic. He was just another ruler like the others, as wealthy as they were, a little more fearful, a lot less curious than they were. They went on their way, and found something more interesting than anything Herod could build - they found that the sky itself was leading the way to a little house, in a little town, where a mother was holding her child. 

And they fell to their knees because they had finally found the one who was worthy of all their curiosity, all their searching, all their wonder.

There is something unsettling about Ollivander in the Harry Potter books, from the moment we meet him it is deeply unsettling in the curiosity he shows in he-who-must-not-be-named. And if I’m honest, there’s something challenging about these wise men, too. I mean, let’s call them what they were. They were astrologers. All through the Old Testament, the fortune tellers and stargazers of Egypt and Babylon are set up as the false prophets — when the one true God has something to say, the Word comes to the true prophets directly. If you leave here today and your take away is that you need to start reading your horoscope or reading the stars to make your own, then you have badly missed the point. 

The good news to be found here is that no matter how badly we misuse it, God has given us a capacity of wonder, and our ability to wonder, our longing for wonder, our deep, restless curiosity to discover something new, is not an obstacle to faith but it can be a three camel power engine of our faith. Herod heard about a new king and thought “How is this going to mess me up;” the magi heard about this king and thought “Cancel our plans, clear the calendar, we’ve got to see this.” And the king they found was more wonderful than they ever imagined precisely because he was nothing like what they had imagined. how marvelous, how intoxicating.”

Today we’ll come to a table set with the simplest of gifts; it’s not exactly what we would have chosen for a feast. It won’t ever be featured on the Food Network. But don’t be any less in wonder because of that. Christ is present in this holy mystery. 

Today, we’ll go into the world, and Christ will go with us. We’ll try to think the right thoughts and do the right things, and all the while Jesus will be inviting us to wonder. Could your way really be more satisfying? Could your glory really be more interesting than the picture perfect vision someone else taught me to envy? Could you really be right in front of me, not hiding, but overlooked because I was too easily impressed or satisfied. 

Of all people, the followers of Jesus should be curious, most curious. For he is most wonderful. 

Financial Base Camp on Sunday, January 14th

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9-10:45AM in The Crossroads Center
Get your finances on track and tackle the New Year with doable financial goals
Bkfst  will be served and childcare will be provided.
There is no scheduled Sunday School for this Sunday.
Everyone is invited to Financial Base Camp!
Joint service will be held Sunday, Jan 14 at 11:00AM in the Main Sanctuary,
therefore there will be no 8:30 or 9:45 services
Children's Ministry Schedule for Sunday, January 14

8:30 am - 12:15 pm   Nursery open for ages 6 weeks - 3 years

8:30 am - 10:45 am   Kid's Street open for ages 4 yrs - 5th grade.

*For children ages 4 - 5th grade, there will be breakfast (cereal, milk, donuts & juice) & activities until 10:45 am. Children will be able to eat as they arrive. Parents should pick up their children by 11 am for worship in the Sanctuary.

11 am - 12:15 pm     Children ages 4 - 5th grade will attend worship with their

                                 parents for Baptism of the Lord Sunday. There will be NO

                                 Chapel or Kid's Street activities at 11 am. 

2 Lessons & Carols Services Sun, December 31

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Come continue the Christmas celebration this Sunday at FUMC by joining us at two Lessons & Carols services, being held at 8:30 & 11:00AM.

Our Contemporary service will take place at 9:45AM.

The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is a service of Christian worship celebrating the birth of Jesus that is traditionally followed at Christmas. The story of the fall of humanity, the promise of the Messiah, and the birth of Jesus is told in nine short Bible readings from Genesis, the prophetic books and the Gospels, interspersed with the singing of Christmas carols, hymns and choir music.

CommUNITY Dinner & Kid's Street Movie Night Wed, Jan 10

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Everyone is welcome to join us beginning at 5:30PM in the Crossroads    Center for a hearty meal of roast beef, gravy, rice pilaf, veggies, salad & roll. A donation box will be set out to offset the cost of the meal.

Please bring a dessert to share if you are able.

Church Council meets after the meal, at 6:30PM.

Kid's Street Movie Night

Children ages 4 years - 5th grade are invited to a movie night on January 10th, taking place during the scheduled Church Council Meeting and CommUNITY Dinner. Check-in will begin at 6:15 pm in the Asbury Room of the Crossroads Center. Nursery care will be available for children ages 6 weeks to 3 years (Cry Room, Wesley Hall) beginning at 6:15 pm as well. Hope to see you there! For more info, contact April Hight (fumc.aprilhight@gmail.com).

 

 

Sunday Sermon: Come Down Home (from Isaiah 64)

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Yesterday was decorating day at our house. We pulled down the tree from the from the upstairs closet where it resides; we put it all together we hung the ornaments on it. We are a one tree family. Maybe there is someone here who has more than one tree or maybe someone who has a tree that's all decorated according to a single theme. When I was growing up we had these wonderful ornaments my grandmother would needlepoint for us, and one year, my mother decided these these ornaments were so distinctive and so special that they deserved their own special tree. She took a small tabletop tree and that's where we hung my grandmother's handmade ornaments.

I remember also many years afterwards going to the Biltmore house in Asheville North Carolina - which took the idea of a theme tree to another level entirely. The Biltmore house was at one time the largest private residence in all of America; it belonged to the Vanderbilt family, and now it's kind of a museum and tourist site, and Christmas is when they really do it up right. Every room has these 12 or 15 foot trees. One tree will be the blue tree and will have all these different ornaments and lights with everything on a particular theme. Another tree will all be toy themed, it's all unlike anything I had ever seen. And as I was reading this passage from Isaiah this week I just couldn't help but thinking what would it be like if Isaiah had theme tree...

That would be the most metal Christmas tree ever made.

Lord I know that you would come down you would tear the heavens open

So we've got storms - maybe we got we had clouds and thunder and lightning, it seems like the world is falling apart above us.

When you come down the mountains quake

Wouldn't that be a nice needlepoint scene - earthquakes and mountains crumbling into the sea, swallowed up in the ground.

Our righteousness is like a menstrual rag...

That's some pretty intense tinsel.

And then, I imagine the tree topper comes from the image at the end of Isaiah's prophecy:

our house, our glorious house is destroyed in fire

I have an image of just a tower sitting on top of the tree with cellophane flames crackling all around it.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Isaiah is the great prophet of preparation - we we quote him all the time during the season of Advent, and we oftentimes use the more hopeful parts of the put the passages from Isaiah. In other years as we get ready for Advent, we hear from the parts were Isaiah tells us that we are awaiting one who will be called by the Wonderful counselor, Almighty God, everlasting Father the Prince of peace.

But in today's passage, Isaiah's preparation looks very different, Isaiah prepares us for the savior by reminding us that everything is not ok. This is so different than how we usually prepare for Christmas - we usually prepare by trying to make everything look as if it is the most OK it has ever been!

I'm not casting stones here; I'm looking at myself on this one. I think that my house is going to be ready for Christmas there's a place for everything and everything is in its place. I feel like my house is ready for Christmas when it is ready for guests to come and be astounded and amazing to think that it is perfectly on point the garland is in the right spot, the Christmas tree has all the lights on carefully and perfectly. That's when I am ready for Christmas, but Isaiah says "We are ready, Lord, because we are falling apart. We are ready for you, and we know that we are ready because the world is going up in flames! We need you so badly that even if you cause an earthquake we are okay with it - just please, Lord, come quickly! Come and make this place your home.

We often tell the story around the time of Christmas about how it was that Jesus came into the world, and the world wasn't ready for him. We hear all the stories - how his parents go to the city of Bethlehem, and they find that there is no room for them in the inn or the guesthouse, or however you want to translate it - there's no spot for them in Bethlehem. We tell how wise men come to King Herod and say "Where is this new King and Savior that is born?" and King Herod is not ready. Herod sends them on as as his spies because he wants to do away with this new threat. And we seem to think that our job every Chrsitmas is to prove that we are not making the same mistake. We think we're gonna get it right. We think there's no way we would ever miss Jesus, we're gonna roll out the purple carpet; we'll have everything ready for you Jesus. We will build a picture-perfect scene where the only thing missing is that baby in the manger, and then when he comes softly, slowly, backlit as he floats down from heaven - Jesus will find a softlanding because we madewe lined the manger with the softest, pest-free synthetic hay. We aren't like those first century failures. We will be ready.

But Isaiah keeps saying the best way to be ready is to know how unready we are. The best way to be ready is to know how badly we need a Savior. But we spend most of our Advent trying to prove our home doesn't need one.

In Isaiah's time, Jerusalem was the spiritual home of the people of Israel. At least once a year, all the people of Israel expected to go up to Jerusalem — and that's how they always refer to it, "We are going up to Jerusalem." In the Hebrew language, Jerusalem had such an exalted place in people's minds but it was always up. No matter if you're coming from the north or from the south, or the east of the west - you still have to go "up" to get to Jerusalem. It didn't matter if you lived in the high lands on top of a mountain that was much higher than the Mount Zion where the Temple was built — you are still going "up."

But Isaiah looks up and he says our holy house, the temple on that mountain, is in ruins; it is burned with fire. Isaiah says we can't go up there anymore, and even if we do, there's nothing for us. And so, and now Isaiah says "Lord, oh that you would come down! Oh that you would tear open the heavens! We've given up on getting up there to you God; our only hope is for you to come down. We are not going to be ready for you.

The book of John gives us the the explanation of Christmas that is going to drive our next several weeks of this sermon series on the meaning of home. John tells us in chapter 1 that in Jesus Christ, "the Word became flesh and he made his home among us." We can't go up to him, so he made his home among us.

John thengoes on to say that "Christ came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him." It used to be when I read that passage, that I thought it meant most people just hated Jesus. They though they were better off without him. But the longer I live, and the more I talk to people about their faith and their struggles, the more I come to discover that for at least as many peoplae as there are who reject Jesus outright, there is an equal number who won't receive him because they think they're not ready.

"Oh Jesus, I would love for you to come by, let's break bread together! Just gimme couple weeks - I'm going to get my home together, get all the decorations in the right place. If we are going to do this, we are going to do it up right!" Jesus is knocking, and we save, "Give me just a moment." But the moment becomes two weeks, and then a month, and Jesus is still at the door, and we are still tidying up. The old spiritual says "Every time I feel the spirit moving in my heart, I will pray." But we say "Lord I'm just not in a good place for prayer right now. It's a little too chaotic around me right now. But I tell you what, tomorrow morning I'm going to get up really early, when it's nice and quiet and it will be just you and me. Jesus keeps knocking, the morning comes, and it's busier than we expected. Before we know it, our lives have fallen into CHAOS. You know what CHAOS is right? Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome.

CHAOS is you have such a lofty picture of what you ought to be presenting to other people or to Jesus that your big and beautiful vision becomes the reason that you're never ready.

Jennifer and I once had the unique experience of living in a parsonage, which is always a tricky thing as a pastor. You are living in a house, and everybody tells you to make yourself at home. The church owns it, but they tell you to live in it it as if it was yours, and they are lying. Someone knock on the door, they just want to ask a question but you see them looking over the shoulder, seeing what you've done with the place. It's an intimidating thing; it was especially intimidating at that church becausethe woman who was in charge of the parsonage committee was known throughout town for keeping the neatest, most beautiful home in all the city. But she gave us an amazing gift when she first met us. It was a bit of pastoral care advice as well as a bit of a relief from the burden about the home that we lived in.

She told us 'Preacher here's what you need to understand. If you're coming to visit me, you can drop in anytime. If you're coming to see my house, I need three days' notice. And I promise you, if I am at your house unexpectedly is because I want to see you, not your house.

Which one do you think Jesus from you? When Jesus says he wants to dwell with us, he'll take care of making the house. What he wants is to be with you. He came down to make his home in the middle of our mess because he knows the mess is the reason we need him.

In our own day and time our homes have replaced Jerusalem is the place a great pilgrimage. Some of you right now are planning for the pilgrimage you are going to make the hometown, to the parent's house, to the auntie and uncles - wherever it is you're going. Some of you are preparing for someone to make a pilgrimage back to your house. You're worried about whether everything will go just right; will it go as smoothly as the plan; is the food going to be all out at the same time; will it all be just as hot as it needs to be will I have every single decoration in the right spot to remind everyone of all those wonderful memories that we want.

And yet you know at the core of your being that when you're in the middle of it, the house will become a home when you are no longer paying attention to the things on the walls, or the temperature of the food, or the timetable you set for your perfect celebration. You know you are ready when you are able to receive the person who is right in front of you, and they are ready to receive you and you share with one another something more than just the pleasantries - when you share the fullness of your life, the back-and-forth, the good and bad. You share your hopes and your disappointments. that's what makes the house a home.

Our lives are no different for Christ. Jesus is not waiting you to get it all figured out, to have it all picture-perfect. Christ is already ready for you. And we get ready for Christmas simply by unlocking the door. If this morning you don't even know what you need to be ready for Christmas, then hear the good news: you're really ready.

Maybe the most faithful prayer you can pray on this first Sunday of Advent is to start at the very beginning. "God I don't even know what to pray for. Lord, come down. When we are ready to pray like that, then we are really ready for Jesus. And when Jesus comes it will be a glorious surprise to discover what sort of place and what sort of heart he can make into a home.

New Study Groups Beginning Jan 16th

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It will be here before you know it- our Winter Study Group Program! Below is the list of groups that will be meeting. You may sign up on Wed, Jan 3 here at FUMCrestview.com, at the Community Dinner Book Fair the evening of Wed, January 10th, or email April Hight at fumc.aprilhight@gmail.com. Books will be here Monday, December 11 if you'd like to pick one up early. Make plans to join us- it's a great way to begin the New Year!

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