Advent and Christmas: It's Not Just for Kids

Have you been around a while?   Have you seen both good and bad in the world?   Does it seem that the changes in the world seem to be leaving you behind?  Do you feel more isolated from others as time goes by?  Then perhaps the story of the coming of Jesus in Luke is just what you need to hear this season.

The Cultural Christmas 

In our culture, Christmas is supposed to be about the kids.   The common view is it is all about presents wrapped under the tree.  The family in well decorated home all gathered watching the children joyfully experience the grace of their parents, grandparents and extended family and friendships.  Much of the media we will view this season will be that that refers back to a lost mythic childhood.  From the old Christmas specials from the 1960's like A Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, and Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, to the comedies of the 1980's and 90's such as A Christmas Story and Home Alone,  kids take center stage.  The adults are the comic foil to the bright shining youthful main character (usually a blonde boy between the ages of 8-10).  The adults are portrayed mostly as clueless or or even evil.  As an old dude, this is not good news for me for obvious reasons.  By the way, neither was it when I myself was a young blonde boy 8-10 years old.  My memories of that time revolve mostly around beloved family members blaming me for ruining the perfect Christmas.   Our cultural Christmas celebrations can be fun, entertaining, and yes profitable. However the real Christmas story found in Luke's Gospel is something more.  It is trans-formative, life-giving, and most of all hopeful. 

The Biblical Advent and Incarnation 

In contrast to our cultural orientation, the biblical story of the coming and infancy of Jesus according to Luke is a lot about older people.   In Chapter 1, we first meet Zechariah and Elizabeth, an older couple, who like Abraham and Sarah are waiting for their first child.   Near the conclusion of Luke 2 at the end of the story, we meet Simeon and Anna, two older, possibly lonely people.  They are portrayed as those who go to the temple on their own each day and wait in prayer to see what God does.   For Luke, these older folks who have remained steadfast despite the ups and downs of life are at the core of the story.   They serve to remind us that God does answer prayer, works miracles, and most of gives reason for hope through the sending of his Son Jesus.  God comes to the aid for those who have been beaten down by the pressure of living in a sinful world. They are those who have their hope fulfilled by the coming of the Messiah.

By the time of Jesus birth, Zachariah, Elizabeth, Simeon and Anna would have witnessed, heard of, and experienced the brutality of living in a country occupied by foreign power and given over to the murderous sycophant puppet rule of Herod the (so called) Great.  They would have been privy to dramatic outrages and everyday slights.  It would have been enough for any person to give up and give in, but they didn't.  They kept the faith.  The words about Simeon are particularly powerful.   "He was waiting for the consolation of Israel" writes Luke. 

Luke affirms not only their hope, but their dignity as well.  For they are not mere victims to be rescued, God actually calls them to play a part in the salvation drama.  Zachariah and Elizabeth shelter the unwed probably teenage mother Mary from the tyranny of being the center of scandal in a small town.  Simeon and Anna help affirm the dignity of the Holy Family as they assist them in following the rituals of their faith community.  The older folks in Luke are part of the story; it is an affirmation of their value before God.  In a youth obsessed culture like ours, where everyone is supposed to look 25, this is certainly good news. 

The People of God 

I meet people like Zachariah, Elizabeth, Simeon and Anna all the time in my ministry.   I meet people who though they have experienced hardship and even tragedy, keep the faith and are part of the story of God at work in our world today.   They hold on to hope despite the evidence they read of in their newspaper or news-feed.  You will meet these people volunteering to feed the homeless, working the polls on election day, babysitting their grand-kids, checking up on their neighbors and  yes, keeping our communities of faith running.  I hate to break it to you, but God did not send his son to bring your child the hot toy for Christmas,  God did this to validate the hope that people like Zachariah, Elizabeth, Simeon,  and Anna (maybe even you?) who have placed their trust in Him. 

Right now, there is much going on that can serve to erode our hope.  I need not catalog it, for you probably have experienced some of it or know of it.  But the story we proclaim every December in the church during Advent is that we have a God who is worth waiting for.  So perhaps with Simeon we too can confess these words:

By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us, 
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, 
to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:78-79 (NRSV)

No matter what your age, I pray that the dawn from on high will break upon your life this Advent.  I hope that you too may be able to place your trust in God and become part of God's story for our time. For the story of Christ can give hope to people of any age.  Indeed, people of all ages can be part of this story, because the Bible shows us that they have been in it all along.

Be blessed

Pastor Knecht's Christmas Letter to the Congregation

December 2017

The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 NRSV

Dear Family and Friends of Holy Cross,

It is my great pleasure to wish you a merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.   I pray that you may know the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ as we rejoice in the message of his coming.

The verse quoted above is a traditional reading for Christmas day.  The Gospel of John has a very different Christmas story than we are used to.   The true meaning of Christmas is shared in a very direct way. His account begins at the start of creation and shows how God was working to save the world from the beginning of time.   Jesus is the light coming into our dark world.   He is the redeemer sent to bring home those who are in darkness.  He is our Savior, the true light, which comes into the world for all people.

This year many will find our world to be a dark place. Our comminutes have become divided over politics and culture.   Many may feel threatened or that their way of life is in jeopardy.   Now more than ever people need to know about Jesus who by his coming death and resurrection overcomes the divisions of our world.  They need to know that God dwelled among us and knows what we are going through.  Most of all, people need to know that Jesus has given people who have faith in him the gift of eternal life so that they are not held captive to fear, but free to live in hope.

We invite you to join us at Holy Cross this year as we celebrate of the coming of God’s Son.  Our Christmas Eve schedule is as follows.

Sunday December 24^th       10AM Sunday School Christmas Pageant

                                            11AM  Live Animal Nativity and Fellowship

                                            5PM Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion

I wish you and yours all God’s blessings this Christmas,

Pastor Knecht 

Showing up for Christmas

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. (Galatians 4:4-5 NRSV)

Incarnation

The saying goes, ninety percent of life is just showing up.   Indeed, showing up is a good way to explain what God has done in the story of the coming of Jesus Christ. God showed up to be with us in our world.  Jesus would be called Immanuel, Hebrew for the "with us" God. 

One simple thing that I have  through life learned is that people show up because they care. Some of the most powerful moments I have seen are when someone shows up to something important to me when I did not expect that person to be there. Likewise, some of life's greatest disappointments are when someone I counted on to be there for me failed to arrive. To show up or not, is a vote about whether we care or not. 

The people who really care are those who have the love to show up not only when they approve of things, or are comfortable, but those who show up when they are disappointed or know that arriving will bring mixed feelings.  This is the kind of showing up modeled in the coming of Jesus Christ through the miracle of the incarnation. This kind of showing up has a word to describe it, forgiveness.

Compassion

What compels someone to show up in situations that are not easy, or even dangerous? How can we forgive those who have hurt us? The Gospel clearly shows that the motivation of this kind of thing is always love. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." (John 3:16-17 NRSV) Love is that which bridges the gap caused by sin in our relationships with God and others.

I am asking you to consider remembering those who showed up in your life when times were bad, and especially those who showed up after your actions had hurt them. These are those that love you.  These are those who have compassion for you. Compassion in popular parlance is synonymous with empathy.  In theological terms, compassion is much more; it sticks to its root meaning in Latin, to suffer with.  To forgive means to accept suffering for love, the person offering forgiveness always suffers a bit to extend it.  So yes, forgiveness hurts. The bible reminds us there is no forgiveness without some sacrifice. "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins" (Hebrews 9:22 NRSV)

The word compassion is a great shorthand Gospel summary.  God has empathy and decides to come and show up to be with us in our time of need.  Even though our need has been created by our own failures, mistakes, and lashing out, God still shows up. This is love. This is the meaning behind the hope of Advent and the promise of Christmas.

Be blessed
Pastor Knecht

Tis the season to remember the homeless in our area.

What child is this? 

The old Christmas carol goes. The standard answer is given as the song continues is “this is Christ the King”, but if one takes the Christian Scriptures seriously there are other answers. In Luke chapter 2, we learn that Jesus was born in shelter for animals and placed in a feeding trough. This was because in an unimportant town far away from the rich, powerful, and entitled, there was no room for them in the local i
nn. So Luke gives another answer to the question of what child is this? It is a homeless one.

In Matthew chapter 2 we learn another answer to the question of what child is this? Joseph is warned in a dream to take up his young family and flee Bethlehem just in time to escape a political massacre with lots of collateral damage. This is known in church circles as the martyrdom of the innocents. So Matthew answers the question of what child is this? It is a refugee from violence.

Tis the season to remember the homeless in our area. Christmas celebrates the Christian doctrine of incarnation, which simply means that God comes “in the flesh”. What does it mean that God comes inthe flesh as a homeless refugee? It means that by meeting the homeless and the refugee you might just meet God. Centrist Christian teaching is clear; in Mathew chapter 25 we learn that besides worship, prayer and bible study we meet God in serving the homeless. This is because Jesus was homeless.

In our area the Elizabeth Coalition for the Homeless, Family Promise, Home First, and Monarch Housing Associates all work to end homelessness in our neighborhoods. By supporting and partnering with these organizations, you can not only help the homeless, but help your own soul as your work together with others to provide hope for our community.

With the high cost of housing in our area homelessness in Union county continues to be an issue for our families and communities. A minimum wage worker in New Jersey would need to work 108 hours a week to be able to afford a rental apartment in our region. We invite you to be part of the solution for your benefit as well as those we are called to serve.

The Union County Interfaith Coalition is sponsoring a Homeless Sabbath the weekend of December 16-18 where houses of worship of diverse faiths in Union County will offer prayers and raise awareness about the plight of our neighbors who need housing. The Coalition will also observe a homeless memorial vigil on the evening of Wednesday December 21 at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Springfield.

Please encourage your faith community to participate in these events. For if we remember a homeless family every Christmas eve, we should be able to remember our neighbors who live and work among us every day.

Worship: the Gift of Christmas

"Christmas" means worship, it contains the words Christ and mass.   Christians the celebrate Good News of God becoming one of us and coming into the world the same way we came into the world, through a woman.  We worship and give thanks to God because we know the end of the story that this baby would grow up to prove God's love and accomplish our salvation through the cross and resurrection.

Today we are living in oft broken world; a divided society, acts of terrorism, racial injustice, a changing climate, an inequitable economy and other seemingly intractable problems fill our consciousness with fear and loathing. With all the problems in our world these days perhaps you might wonder what worship can actually do?     Worship is the first discipleship practice; it turns our hearts toward God, renews our minds, resets our emotions and gives us proper perspective.  

Worship is central to the story of the incarnation found in the Bible.  We find Mary in the midst of all of her challenges of becoming a new mother in impossible circumstances singing:

for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him Luke 1:49-50 (NRSV)

Zechariah the father of John the Baptist celebrates the work of salvation that is only just beginning by singing these words:

"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. Luke 1:68 (NRSV)

The shepherds going about their normal work-a-day lives witness the angels worshiping so they can tell the Holy Family some Good News to help them through their challenges of being first time parents while far away from home.  The angels sang:

Luke 2:14
"Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!" (NRSV)

The Magi take an arduous journey and dodge a murderous middle eastern despot all to engage in a a brief moment of worship for the newborn Savior of the Nations.

On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Matthew 2:11 (NRSV)

All of these people and countless since have found, hope, promise, peace and inspiration through worship. This is all available to us through the gift of Christian community that gathers for worship.

We therefore invite you to worship with us at Holy Cross this Christmas Eve.  Our schedule is as follows:

Thursday December 24, 2015 
Live Nativity  3PM
Family Worship and Pageant 4 PM
Candlelight Worship and Communion 7PM

Wherever you worship this Christmas Mei, Beata, Paul and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.  May your hearts be filled with peace that only our Lord Jesus can give.

Be blessed,

Pastor Knecht

The Real Christmas Miracle: Pastor Knecht's Christmas Meditation 2014

Luke 2:1-2 (NRSV) In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

When we read the Christmas story this Christmas Eve, we may skim over these verses listed above. They talk about such mundane things, and we will gather to hear of the miracle of Christmas, yet if you miss the point of this reference you may miss the real Christmas miracle.  Luke wanted to make sure that we had an orderly account of who Jesus was and what he came to do.  So he would like us to know the context of his coming. Why at this particular time and and at this place did Jesus come was a point he wanted the reader to understand.

Luke 2:1-2 set the complex context of Jesus coming beautifully without any superfluous words. The early readers would have understood instantly, modern readers may need a little help.  The Roman Empire had just unified the whole of the known Mediterranean world under Octavian Augustus Ceasar, who ended a period of change and conflict within Rome that had been raging on and off for for about 200 years. A new imperial order had brought stability.  That stability ushered in a period of globalized trade and movement of people and ideas,  Basically silver mined in western Spain could end up in India and spices could end up in the other direction and all points in between.

Like globalization today this beta version came with a steep price. Order was maintained by Roman legions and allied troops raised in the conquered territories.  These troops were paid for in taxes levied on the occupied population.  Those who collected these taxes got their positions by bidding for them.  They made a bid to the state, and would basically get to keep for themselves any funds raised above the bidding price. The collector could raise as much as he liked as long as it did not spark a revolt.   The system is known as tax farming. It went all the way to the top. Quirinius would do the same, his goal was to fill his pockets with as much loot as he could before his term ended.  He could then live the rest of his life in luxury.  For the average person in the ancient Mediterranean world, this system was brutal and degrading.  The Christmas story begins with a family being pushed around because of a corrupt and oppressive system. The head of this system, Augustus, was being hailed as the world's savior.  I often think our manger scenes should include a small desk with tax forms on it to make the point.

This painful and messy point reveals the real Christmas miracle.  God chose to come into this world through a quite ordinary family who had to deal with the problems of living in a complex globalized world.   The idea of the Incarnation is not that we have to keep Christ in some special fantasy land, but that Jesus the Christ comes into our messy, mixed up and broken world, offering salvation, liberation, and life.  Christ enters into the world of Ferguson and Staten Island, Israel and the West Bank, Iraq and Syria, child abuse and divorce,  drug addiction and mental illness, unemployment and cancer, Aids and Ebola.  In Christ's coming, all who endure or fear these manifestations of sin have the hope of the gift of grace and a pathway to a new life.  The way to the Cross and Resurrection leads right through the broken world we actually live in.  God sent Jesus the Son to heal the world by his most merciful coming.  This gift is for us and for all people, and that is indeed a miracle.

Blessed Advent and Merry Christmas,

Pastor Knecht

PS-You are invited to celebrate with us at Holy Cross this Christmas Eve.  Our Living Nativity will start at 3 PM followed with our family worship at 4:30 PM  and conclude our Candlelight Communion at 7 PM.

Merry Christmas 2013

(Luke 2:10-11) But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid! for see--I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. (NRSV)

As we prepare for our Christmas concert "Adoration" this evening at 7:30PM I would like to extend my wishes that you have a Merry Christmas and a blessed and happy new year. I pray I can get to see you this season and give you this message in person.

The words of the angel "Do not be afraid", was the first step in the shepherds realizing the wonder of the good news proclaimed to them. It works the same for us in our own life today. The word of God still opens our hearts by first proclaiming the message that we need not be afraid. Once we can move beyond fear we can understand the true nature of things. Mary needed to hear these words before the angel announced her calling to bear the Messiah and Jesus often preceded his own messages of hope by first announcing that we need be afraid. Fear can often keep us from realizing the truth of things. Before God can restore, heal, and validate the human heart, God must remove the veil of fear. The story of Jesus the Christ that begins at Christmas reminds us of the ultimate hope we have in his resurrection so that we need not fear any situation but can be bold to deal with both our blessings and curses because the ultimate outcome is certain. The good news of Jesus means that we can always be courageous and embrace the truth. So I wish you all blessings and hope the Good News that we never need to be afraid will sink home into your heart this Christmas.

Would love to see you at our 10 AM worship this Sunday and the following events this Advent/Christmas season at Holy Cross:

 Tonight 7:30 PM Adoration Christmas Concert

December 24  Christmas Eve Schedule 
3:00 PM  Living Nativity
4:00 PM Family Christmas Service
7:00 PM Candlelight Communion Service

 Merry Christmas and keep the Faith,
 Pastor Knecht

Christmas Letter 2012

I wish you a Merry Christmas, as well as a happy and blessed New Year.  May the message of the coming Jesus Christ set your hearts at peace.  

 
Before she was in labor she gave birth;

before her pain came upon her she delivered a son.

Who has heard of such a thing?

Who has seen such things?

Shall a land be born in one day?

Shall a nation be delivered in one moment?  (Isaiah 66:7-8 NRSV)

There is the world that we wish for,  and there is the world that is.   The events of these past few months have shocked us into recognizing that the world in which we dwell is not how we would really like it to be.   The storm earlier this fall reminded us that even with all our advances that comfort and protect us, raw nature can wipe away what took years to build up in a few short minutes. The shock of children being killed in their school rooms reminds us that the world contains great evil that can erupt any moment.   Yet, in this mess of a world we live, we read:  “I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live;” (Ecclesiastes 3:12 NRSV)  For these events remind us that every moment is precious and comes by only once.  This Bible reminds us that this point is reason enough to savor the times and the seasons this Christmas, and yet if this is all there is, things may still seem bittersweet.  

But there is always more with God.   There is the true miracle of Christmas: the incarnation. God becoming one of us.   God out of love does not leave the world to its own devices, he enters into the mess, becoming as we are,  to tell us we are not alone in our suffering.  For Christ suffered as we suffer.  “Nails, spear shall pierce him through, the cross be borne for me, for you,”  writes William Dix in the hymn “What Child is This?”  Through the resurrection of Jesus suffering is always transformed into hope. Nikolaus Herman wrote:

He undertakes a great exchange,

puts on our human frame,

And in return gives us his realm,

his glory and his name.  

At both the manger and the cross, God transforms the mess of our world; at both, the Spirit comes to call people together into a community to support and be there for one another.   Likewise if the suffering we have witnessed these past few months is to have any meaning we must answer the Spirit’s call to come together, listen to each other, offer our tangible and emotional support in order to be with our neighbors in their suffering as God has shown to be with us in ours.  We have the power to give suffering meaning by demonstrating love in all its tangible forms.  One of the best ways to demonstrate our love and to start this process is simply just to celebrate with others so that we all get the message that we are not alone.  Yes this world is a mess, but we are in this mess together, I would rather be in the mess with you than be in the most perfect of worlds alone.   That is what Christmas means to me, that is what I have seen in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  So Merry Christmas and as always....

Keep the Faith,

Pastor Knecht 


PS: If you are around the Springfield NJ area come and celebrate with us this weekend.    

Saturday December 22,  5:30PM Worship & Christmas Carol Sing along (with cookies!!) 
Sunday December 23, 10 AM Worship featuring special guest artists.  

Monday December 24, 3PM Live Nativity,  
4 PM Family Christmas Worship, 
7 PM Candlelight Worship.