Advent 2016

During the month of December, we will be having some wonderful opportunities to come together as a community and worship in wonder and joy in the Advent and Christmas seasons.  Despite what the stores and the television commercials would have you believe, it isn’t Christmas yet.  In fact, the Christmas season doesn’t technically begin until December 25^th .  We are, instead, in the season of Advent. 

What is Advent?  Advent is something of an unusual time.  On the one hand it is the time of preparation for Christmas and the stories of the nativity, Joseph, Mary, Jesus’ birth and so forth.  On the other hand, Advent is a time of reflection and hope for the second Advent, or the second coming of Christ.  In that respect it is a time of not merely remembering Christmas, but looking forward in hope for the fully realized Kingdom of God.  In the middle of those two understandings of Advent, there is the tension of seeking to encounter the present reality of Christ.  In other words, we continue to seek the presence of Christ in our own lives, not merely looking back at what was and hoping for the future.  Advent is when we stop to reflect on the reality of the unfolding Advent of Christ in our own lives. 

This year, I am going to be reading specifically from the prophet Isaiah each Sunday in Advent.  Isaiah is the prophet for whom many of the promises and dreams of a messiah originate.  For the early church, Isaiah was of predominant importance and was, even for Jesus, the one who provided the fundamental description of the messiah (see Luke 4:17-19).

Picking up with the idea from November 13^th, where I talked about God’s vision of a new heaven and new earth, we begin our journey into Advent with a vision of God’s dream for the future of humanity.  What is it that God would teach us? 

In the following weeks, we will continue to hear from Isaiah and some other voices both Old and New. These might not be the usual voices  in the season leading up to Christmas, or at least not the primary words we hear.  They are, however, important parts of the larger Advent tradition, and provide different and often strikingly different glimpses to a season we might take for granted.

November 27^th – Isaiah 2:1-5       “Dream Sweet Dreams”

December 4^th  - Isaiah 11:1-10     “And All Shall Be Well”

December 11^th – Isaiah 35:1-10   “The Future in the Past”

December 18^th – Choir Cantata

December 25^th   - Christmas Day – John 1:1-14     “With You”

Come and be with us as we walk this journey towards Christmas.

Grace and Peace,

- Pastor Charles

The Missing Years of the Bible: From the Greeks to the Romans

When we left off, the Greeks had control of pretty much everything and in 200 BC Judea was conquered by the Macedonian kings of Syria (also known as the Seleucids) who were not at all as kind as the Greeks or the Persians.

The King of the Seleucids who controlled Judea was named Antiochus Epiphanies who would go on to desecrate the Temple, persecute Judaism and, by 167 BC, outlaw all Jewish practices.  In defiance, Mattathias the Hasmonean (a Jew) refused to offer a sacrifice to Zeus.  The incident, sparked the beginning of a guerrilla campaign against the Seleucids led by Mattathias' son, Judas.

Judas was also called Judas Maccabeus, or Judas the Maccabee (which means "the hammerer"), and with his brothers Jonathan and Simon, led the revolt.  By 164 BC, Judas had liberated the Temple and had it cleansed (both literally and spiritually) and rededicated.  That re-dedication is celebrated even today by the Jews in the Festival of Lights, or Hanukkah.

This story is relayed in the books of 1st and 2nd Maccabees, which most Protestant Bibles do not have.  Without these accounts, though, there would be virtually nothing written (remaining) conerning Israel's history from the time of Ezra (400 BC) to the time of the New Testament.

The war with the Seleucids would claim the lives of Judas, Jonathan, and Simon, but would achive a total political independence for Israel that would last from 135 to 40 BC.  This was known as the Hasmonean Dynasty.  After Simon, the rulers John Hyrcanus and Alexander Jannaeus led the dynasty, but following the death of Jannaeus, the dynasty began to weaken.

Backing up slightly to the year 63 BC, the Roman Empire ended the empire of the Seleucids.  That same year, Pompey, a Roman general entered Jerusalem and from that point forward, Israel was subordinate to Rome either directly or indirectly.

There were critics to the Hasmonaean Dynasty, mostly because they were not of the line of David yet they held the throne.  They were also not of the line of priests, yet they held the priesthood.  And though they sought Jewish independence, the Jews who were more ‘hard line’ saw the Hasmonaeans as usurpers. 

The Hasmonaean Dynasty came to an end in 40 BC when the Romans appointed Herod as King over the Jews.  He would rule from 40-4 BC.  During Herod’s time, he would rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.  He was hated by Jews, though for the fact that not only was he a puppet king to Rome, he built temples to Caesar while building the temple in Jerusalem. 

While Herod was a successful king, his sons were not.  When he died, the country was split into three sections, each ruled by one of Herod’s sons.  The one that was entrusted with the southern part of the kingdom was Archelaus, who was a total failure in the eyes of Rome and was removed from power.  He was replaced by a Roman procurator named Pontius Pilate. 

That name should sound somewhat familiar to Christians.

And with that we move into the era of the New Testament writings.

I hope this has been beneficial for you, even if it is a brief version of some tremendous events that took place between the Old and New Testaments.

- Pastor Charles

The Voting is Over

I want to take a short break from my series on the Missing Years of the Bible.  I will get back to it later this week.  Right now I want to focus on the fact that the election of the President of the United States of America has been completed.

The voting is over.  The reality of the post-election United States has yet to set in.  There is plenty of analysis to be offered, some of it might even be useful or insightful.  But if anything, what we have seen during this election campaign, besides lies, manipulations of systems, fear, and the worst mud-slinging for any campaign in years (possibly ever), is that we are a divided nation in many, many respects.

So this morning I would offer two prayers with the knowledge that perhaps had I and we all been praying like this over the last 16 years, we might be in a completely different place.  Never too late to start, though.

This is a prayer from Thomas Merton, who was a Trappist monk, a writer, and a mystic.  May we join our voices together in prayer.

O God, we are one with you.
You have made us one with you.
You have taught us that if we are open to one another, you dwell in us.
Help us to preserve this openness and to fight for it with all our hearts.
Help us to realize that there can be no understanding when there is mutual rejection.
O God, in accepting one another wholeheartedly, fully, completely, we accept you, and we thank you and we adore you, and we love you with our whole being, because our being is your being, our spirit is rooted in your spirit.
Fill us then with love, and let us be bound together with love as we go our diverse ways, united in this one spirit which makes you present in the world, and which makes you witness to the ultimate reality that is love.
Love has overcome.  Love is victorious.
Amen.

And the prayer of St. Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.  Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again into eternal life.
Amen.

The Missing Years of the Bible: From Babylon to the Greeks

In the Old Testament, one of the great calamities to befall the Jews was the fall of Israel and Judea to the Babylonians.  This occurred in 587 BC.  When the Babylonians conquered them, they hauled the wealthy, the political leaders, and the religious leaders off to Babylon beginning what was often referred to as the "Babylon Captivity."

While this was taking place, the second part of the book of Isaiah was written (Isaiah is comprised of three distinct and separate sections sometimes called 1st Isaiah (1-39), 2nd Isaiah (40-55), and 3rd Isaiah (56-66) which all take place at different times.  1st Isaiah was pre-exile, 2nd Isaiah was during the exile/captivity, and 3rd Isaiah focuses on the return from exile), as well as the prophet Obadiah.

During the conquest by the Babylonians, Solomon's Temple was destroyed and the Kingdom came to an end.  It was a trauma that shaped the theology of the Jews and is found in echoes throughout the Old Testament, not just in the books and passages that were written during the time, but in psalms that reflected on the loss, such as Psalm 137.

But the great empire that was Babylon was conquered by the Persians in 539 BC (and when we are counting in BC, we count backwards.  It can be a little confusing, but that's how it works).  Under the leadership of Cyrus of Persia (mentioned in the Old Testament several times; Isaiah 44:28, Ezra 1:4, and Daniel 6:28 for example).

Cyrus issued an edict that allowed the Jews held captive by the Babylonians to return home should they so desire.  Not all of them did, but those who did return returned in two waves in the 530's and the 520's.  This didn't mean that the Jews were allowed to return to self-rule.  They were still a part of the Persian empire, but Cyrus allowed them to rule locally while the government of the Persians was still in control and would have the final say.  Yet they were positively disposed towards the Jews and Nehemiah (of the book of the same name) was Persian.

During the Persian period, the Temple was rebuilt (eventually - it took a little motivation and time) and life returned to a semblance of normalcy.  This lasted for quite a while, but then came the Greeks.

Under the leadership of Alexander the Great, the Greek empire conquered the known world.  With this came Hellenization, which means 'Greek influence.'  Everything was Greek, especially the language which was the language of trade, commerce, and the general population (that will play a big part in a later aspect of this story).  After Alexander's death, his generals fought for control of the kingdom which ended up dividing the lands into smaller kingdoms.

Ultimately Judea would be conquered in 200 BC by the Macedonian kings of Syria (or the Seleucids) who were far less kind to Judea than the Persians or the Greeks.

So what this short survey details is that the end of the Old Testament tells us that the Persians were in control.  The New Testament has the Romans in power.  We haven't reached them yet, but we have entered the time between the testaments.

We will see how important the Seleucids were to the story of the Jews in the next section.  Come back and read some more!

- Pastor Charles

The Missing Years of the Bible

Good afternoon, everyone!

Last night we started a new Wednesday night study that focuses on the fact that when you turn the page from the Old Testament book of Malachi to the first page of the Gospel of Matthew you are, in fact, jumping a period of about 500 years!  Hard to believe, but there is a huge gap between the testaments that many of us just completely gloss over that answers some questions you may not have even realized were there.

For example:
In the stories of Jesus and during the time of the writings of Paul, Rome was the empire in charge of all things.  Yet at the end of the Old Testament, Persia is in charge.  What transpired that lead to the Romans having sovereignty over Israel?

In the time of Jesus there are groups known as the Sadducees and the Pharisees.  They are not mentioned in the Old Testament, but they have great influence in the New.  Who are they?  What did they teach?

The story of Hanukkah, the festival of lights, is an important one for Jews even today.  However, it is not a story that most Christians know.  Why not?  Because it is a story found in the book of 1st Maccabees (the first book of what?) that is not a part of our Bible, yet is a story that took place in the years between the Testaments.

So what did happen between the Old Testament and the New?  We are looking at that on Wednesday nights, so I invite you to come and be a part of that discussion.  However, since I know not everyone can make it, I am going to post a few articles over the next several weeks to offer some of the material we are covering.  So keep your eyes open this month as I bring to you some of the stories that fill in the gaps between the Testaments.

Grace and Peace,
- Pastor Charles