Advent 4: Magnificat

In churches this morning, we remember Mary’s visit to Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-55) and the joyful Song of Mary , the Magnificat. The first part of Mary’s song praises God and talks about what God has done for her; the middle of the song describes God’s inversion of the economic and political order – casting down the mighty while lifting up the lowly, filling the hungry with good things while the rich are sent away empty -- and it ends with a reminder of God’s promise of mercy. It’s a song about God creating something that’s very new and yet grounded in God’s eternal care and love for God’s people.

Our Daily Office lessons yesterday included Christ’s clear call in Matthew 25 to care for people who are poor, sick, powerless, or lonely. Whenever we do something to serve “the least of these” we are serving Christ; whenever we ignore the needs of the least of these, we turn our backs on Christ. It was in many ways a fitting lesson for the end of the Copenhagen climate conference. The politics of the conference dictated an outcome that keeps the nations in conversation about climate change and leaves the door open for a significant agreement at some unspecified time in the future, but it also leaves people in poorer nations that are already feeling negative effects from climate change where they were at the beginning of the conference. The wealthier nations like the United States, aware of the lack of political will back home to do the hard work of making deep cuts in carbon emissions, negotiated this the way we do other issues.

Compromise is a grand thing, and a few tentative first steps can be claimed as a political victory on many issues, but the physics of climate change doesn’t leave any room for political expediency or compromise. Just as not making a decision is a sort of decision in itself, so declaring ourselves favorable to the idea of making some undefined cuts in carbon emissions without making the commitment to deep change that science tells us is necessary is a decision to turn our backs through our inaction on those who are harmed first and worst by climate change.

One dynamic of this conference was that President Obama did not have a clean energy bill from our Congress to show a real commitment from Americans. The Senate will be debating this legislation in coming weeks and months. Today’s Omaha World Herald has an op-ed piece signed by several of us Nebraska clergy that articulates why climate change is a faith issue that calls for our attention.

In Mary’s song, we hear her joyful faith in God’s mercy and in God’s love for the least of these. Where is our merciful and loving God in the news from Copenhagen, when the needs of the least of these were sacrificed to the agendas of the rich and powerful? God’s promises endure; God calls us back again and again to live in harmony with God’s intentions for our world. Reports from Copenhagen talked about the crowds of people from all over the world who gathered every day and every night outside of the Bella Center, bringing the needs of the poor and vulnerable to the ears of those in power, and giving encouragement and support to the delegates from less powerful places. God is working through these people and through all of us whose words and actions bring the needs of all people – and all species – to the attention of the rest of the world.

This may not look like a success, just as Mary’s baby in the manger didn’t look like a king. God works with whatever is available, and what is available are people of faith who are willing to look at the science of climate change, and look at God’s children who will be most severely affected by climate change, and then do what we can to help. Mary had no power or influence, and yet because of her faith, God was able to use Mary to become Incarnate and change everything for all of us.

The weather in central Nebraska today was sunny and warmer than it has been in several days. With beautiful snow cover still on most of the fields, a big blue sky, and the sound of running water from melting ice and snow, our souls might well magnify the Lord out of sheer joy in God’s creation. Climate scientists tell us that this is a critical time for the future of our climate, and of the planet to which human life is adapted. This is the time for people of faith who find joy in God’s creation and comfort in God’s promises to listen carefully, watch carefully, and see where God is calling us to speak and act.

Advent 2: Wilderness, Joy, and Light

Wilderness
Today’s Gospel lesson, Luke 3: 1-6 , begins by placing the story of John the Baptist in a very specific time: the fifteenth year of the Emperor Tiberius. It’s further anchored in time by information about other rulers in power at the time – Pontius Pilate, Herod, Philip, Lysanius – and the high priests Annas and Caiphas. When it comes to place, the passage is much more vague: “the word came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness”. It goes on to tell us that this part of the wilderness is the region around the Jordan River, it doesn’t get any more specific than that. This is, after all, a true wilderness, a place without roads or place names.

What’s going on with Tiberius and Herod and all the rest is less important in the wilderness than it is in the villages and towns. Perhaps that’s why John was in the wilderness: away from all the activity and historical concerns, he could hear God’s voice and become prepared for his prophetic role in the life of Jesus, a role that eventually took him out of his wilderness obscurity and brought him squarely to the attention of Herod.

Throughout the Gospels, there are times when Jesus goes out of the towns and villages to get away and pray. He doesn’t stay there forever, but comes back refreshed and ready to resume his work. There is the temporal element of Sabbath in this, but also a spatial element. Getting away, going into the wilderness, is a spiritual necessity. Having wilderness of some sort, places where we can get away from lights and the noise of machinery, places where our feet can touch the ground instead of concrete, where we see things in natural light, and where we can hear the sounds of birds and insects, of the wind and water is not a luxury. We know now that such places are necessary to the health of our planet, and especially important to the health of our atmosphere. Today’s lesson reminds us that wilderness is also necessary to our spiritual health, to our being whole human beings who desire to be in relationship with God.


Joy
Our parish’s Christmas Eve children’s pageant will be based this year on the Godly Play curriculum. During each of the Sundays of Advent, the children are presenting one of the four pieces of the pageant. This morning’s Godly Play story was about the Holy Family. Joseph talked about feeling the weight of his responsibilities, and Mary said she thought the baby would be born soon and admitted to feeling worried. Then the angel appeared, a very confident angel whose words brooked no dissent: “Don’t be afraid, but be joyful!”

This is also the message the angels will bring to the shepherds, and that an angel will give to the women who go to the tomb after the crucifixion. It’s a message that can keep us from despair as we work to heal the damage we humans have done to our planet: Don’t do this work out of fear, but out of joy in God’s wonderful creation. When we stay focused on the wonder and beauty of creation, we have both motivation for doing the work and nourishment for our souls.

Light
A story today from Associate Press writer Arthur Max shines a light of hope into the gloom that seemed to surround the Copenhagen climate talks as expectations were lowered and the U.S. Senate failed to get a climate bill passed before the talks. The story, " UN says climate finale may have happy ending” notes several recent developments that indicate that the nations will be able to reach agreements that will allow us to keep global warming under control. One of the very hopeful signs is that President Obama is now planning to attend the conference at its end, when other heads of state will be present to help decide on any agreements, instead of at the conference’s beginning. This indicates that there is some sense that there may indeed be something substantive for heads of state to consider as the conference is ending.

It seems especially fitting to find signs of hope during this season of Advent, as we prepare to welcome the Christ and “let heaven and nature sing”!

All God's Children

One last unexpected summer trip for me coming right up against the beginning of fall semester has delayed this post a few days. It’s been an unusual start to the transition from summer toward fall for many of us given weather that is cooler and rainier than our usual, and a flu virus at the beginning of the school year. However, somehow we find ourselves at the beginning of September. Sitting here on my porch in Hastings, I’m already seeing monarch butterflies stopping by my coneflowers on their way south, and squirrels burying winter food. It’s time to transition to fall whether at school, in the parish, or at home.

Climate bill

I had thought my summer travels were all done when I got an invitation to a White House briefing on energy. This was a regional briefing for people from Midwestern and mid-Atlantic states. It was an opportunity for us to hear from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, and others from the administration about their energy agenda and the expected outcomes for consumers, agriculture, commerce, and the climate if the Senate approves HR 2454, the climate bill, this fall. Secretary Vilsack said that he has not seen this sort of opportunity for rural America in his lifetime. A preliminary analysis from the USDA’s Chief Economist of the economic impacts of HR 2454 for agriculture seems to bear out this optimism.

Copenhagen climate conference
Looking beyond fall into December, there is hope that a climate bill will be passed before President Obama goes to the UN climate conference in Copenhagen; it will be difficult for the United States to be in a leadership role at this conference if we don’t have some sort of significant legislation in place. More seriously for people of all nationalities, if this conference gets stalled and cannot reach a significant agreement among the nations that share this planet, it may be difficult or perhaps just plain too late to stop climate change before it reaches the point of having devastating effects on all living things on Earth.

More evidence of climate change
A study of the Arctic climate in yesterday's issue of Science magazine shows the magnitude of the response of the Arctic climate to global warming. An article by Andrew Revkin in the New York Times quotes Dr. Jonathan Overpeck, one of the study’s authors and a climate scientist at the University of Arizona: “The fast rate of recent warming is the scary part. It means that major impacts on Arctic ecosystems and global sea level might not be that far off unless we act fast to slow global warming.” Time is growing short to get serious about climate change.

The Christian response
Our readings from the Revised Common Lectionary for this Sunday, though, suggest other reasons for Christians to advocate for changes in energy technology, transportation, agricultural practices, and many other areas of our lives so that the effects of climate change can be minimized. While every living thing on earth will be affected by climate change, among the human community the earliest effects and the most suffering will be experienced by the people who already are the poorest people in the world.

This Sunday’s reading from Proverbs reminds us that “the rich and poor have this in common: the Lord is the maker of them all.” The poorest people on our planet are God’s children just as we are; their lives are more precious than our convenience. James, talking about the folly of dishonoring the poor, says that there is no good in our saying we care about others – in telling them to “Go in peace” – if we aren’t willing to make sure others are clothed and fed. The passage from Mark’s Gospel is a turning point in Jesus’ ministry, when Jesus recognizes the depth of the faith of a Syrophoenician woman, someone from a different culture who claims her place in God’s kingdom.

When our brothers and sisters who live in Arctic villages or on Pacific islands, in easily flooded places like Bangladesh, in Africa where famine and malaria will increase with global warming, are living increasingly marginalized lives as climate change accelerates, we Christians are called to take notice and do what we can to prevent their suffering. We are all on this planet together. Ultimately, all of humanity will suffer if climate change cannot be stopped. But in the next half century or so, it will be the poorest people who bear the brunt of the burden. Per capita, the United States has the largest carbon output of any nation; we are the rich people in this story. As Christians, we know how Christ would have us treat the poorer people who share our world.

We have much to gain for ourselves by turning to new energy technologies and capping our carbon output, and, just as importantly, we have much to gain for the poorest people with whom we share the Earth.