Summers in Florida are longer than in other parts of the country….
It starts heating up in April and by this time each year, we are experiencing the highest temperatures of the year. And then as we move into August, the chances of hurricanes increase until the heat finally seems to die down in late October or November. I remember the first year I lived down here when on one Sunday morning in November John German asked me if I felt the fall that was in the air. I thought he was kidding but now know he was not.
So, we need a little Christmas in July each year…. We need that pick me up, that joyous holiday feeling to come and enter our souls. It is a magical time for us. A time of joy, of love, and of hope. And this summer as we think about the issues of our day, the challenges in our society, the growing racism which allows people to chant ‘Go Back Home’ at political rally, with threats of round ups of illegal immigrants, with one of the largest detention centers for immigrant children just south of us, with climate change making record breaking heat, and with an eroding of human rights for women and LGBTQ people and people who are different than ourselves. YES, we need a little Christmas, that time of peace and good will towards all and we need it not just in July but right this very second!
At Christmas we celebrate Immanuel… We celebrate God being with us. And there is no better time to wish for that than right this very second!
So, close your eyes and dream of Christmas. Create the dream in your mind of what the very best Christmas would be. Where would you be? Who would be with you? What would the smells be like? What would the sounds be like? What would you be doing? What would you be eating? What would the world be like if was God with us?
Have you lost yourself yet in thoughts and dreams? If you have, that is wonderful. Those are your dreams for a type of personal Shalom for you. When you will be at peace. When you will be at one.
Now leave that dream and think about the immigrant children in the detention center in Homestead. Picture them and think about what their Christmas dream would be. Where might they dream they are? With whom would they want to be? In their dreams of Shalom, what would the smells and sounds be like? What would the world be like if God was with us?
And my guess is that even though their Christmas dreams and hopes might differ in specifics, we all have the same dream. We dream to be with loved ones. We dream to feel safe and secure. We dream to be in places of comfort with smells and sounds we know so well. We dream of Immanuel. Of God with us. And now listen for another dream of shalom; a beautiful poetic vision of God with us that is found in Isiah 11:1-9. (read scripture lesson) The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Isaiah’s vision of shalom is a prophetic passage often read during Advent as we dream and prepare for Christmas. It is not a vision of the way things are but of a dream of the way things could be. Isaiah visions a new world…. he sees, you might say, the best Christmas ever! A new leader will come from the unlikely source. Not from royalty but from a shoot of a stump, a shoot from something that has not just been pruned but has but is a stump, the leader will come from the family of Jesse.
Isaiah describes how this person will not be a royal king. And our Immanuel was born in a stable and then was a refugee in a foreign land for the first few years of his life. That was and is humble beginnings for a leader, but this is the leader of God’s choosing. Isaiah describes the leadership style of this new leadership to be Spirit led, to be filled with wisdom and wise judgement, to have a love of equality for all, and to be a person of righteousness, and deep character.
Isaiah then paints this mental picture of what living under such leadership will create. This picture of Christmas, of Immanuel, of God with us is an amazing vision of the future. It is, without a doubt, the best Christmas one could imagine for God’s world. Lions, leopards, wolfs and lambs, cows and bears co-existing. Our present world is so at odds with Isaiah’s vision as it is filled with confusion, fractured relationships, and a general fear for our planet’s health. In our world where democrats and republicans can not join hands, imagine a world like Isaiah does. Amazing, right?
Isaiah’s vision is one of a sustainable planet. It is a utopia of peace and of justice for all. Righteousness and fairness and a sharing of resources is the norm. It is a vision of abundance and not scarcity, of generosity and love instead of greed and individualism.
And this vision of Isaiah’s has been accepted as our vision of a world under God’s new rule. It is the vision of Christmas, when God comes to tell us of a new order and rule. So…. dear Riviera family, it is not too early to start preparing for Christmas this year. (I don’t mean buying all the presents now even though I honestly wish I had done my shopping early each year. Did any of you take advantage of Amazon Prime day for discounts on Christmas presents. I hate you if you did! Just kidding but I admit, I meant too. And you know that by October, we will see our first Christmas advertisements for things we must buy along side the sales on Halloween goods. It is past mid-July and less than a half a year until Christmas 2019! See how early the Christmas anxiety begins!)
No, what I mean is that we should be working on ways that we will bring that vision of Christmas into a reality. We are, after all, Christ’s body on earth which means we better be Christ’s hands and feet making the Immanuel thing happen. How can we plan things that will make our holiday visions come true? Can we do little things to bring peace on earth? What can we possibly do that could be a small step in bringing justice to someone who needs a voice? Of bringing joy to someone who feels no happiness? I think in doing so, we approach that vision we have for Christmas in our minds.
Several weeks ago, before Trump’s tweets to the Congresswomen of color, Barbie came to work and told me she had been a victim of prejudice at the grocery store. As she was at the check out counter, she was talking to the woman in Spanish and the woman behind her in line told her to go back to where she came from. I felt so bad for Barbie. No-one should have to hear such hatred said to them. I immediately apologized for the very presence of bigoted Anglos everywhere. It isn’t in keeping with our vision of God’s realm, God’s love, Immanuel.
Some of us have been using the Christmas Jar as a part of our Christmas Holiday tradition for the last couple of years. You might have seen the video we posted of Stevie Padilla’s son Shane handing his jar to a man sleeping on the street that was on social media this week. My family participates in the Christmas Jar tradition as it brings Nonie, Bo and me joy to find a person alone on Christmas Eve and give our jar of coins and bills we have saved up during the year. It doesn’t change that person’s life or circumstance, but it lets them know that someone is thinking of them. They are not alone. Last year we sought out Samuel, the man in the painting in the Riviera Food pantry to give him the jar.
But if the Christmas Jar is not your thing, there are so many ways to celebrate Christmas. One year, when we were feeling the scarcity of our last recession which hit Cleveland pretty hard, Bo and I and a few of our friends served dinner at a shelter each Sunday afternoon during Advent. It made us feel the abundance and love we had while we shared it with others.
Five Christmas’s ago at Riviera we had a gift it forward program a few years ago when we handed out our gift bags with the church logo on them to people in a random acts of kindness manner. Gift cards were given to strangers. Christmas decorations were put on people’s homes. I had great fun imagining what the person must have thought when a stranger paid off a layaway account at Walmart.
Making Immanuel come true this year sounds daunting and overwhelming given the pain and anguish in our world. But it can happen and it can start with you. After all we are the ones that believe and celebrate Peace on Earth at Christmas. We can’t let ourselves be overwhelmed at the magnitude of the task. To do so paralyzes us from bringing about change. We must realize that little things can make change and even the smallest act of love makes a difference to the recipient. AND at Riviera, we have each other to lean on for support and our faith for guidance. Christmas is also in July. Immanuel means God is with us. Let’s make that Christmas Spirit, that feeling of Shalom and Peace, come alive by our hands and our actions this year. Amen.