And the light shines in darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it.

          I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. The Occasio and Winston families didn’t do so good. I saw in the news this morning that a Mr. Palacios, related to the Occasio’s, stabbed two family members, father and son. Perhaps it seemed a just revenge for being called to task for his bad manners after he used his fingers to snag a piece of turkey. Kevin Winston got the tables turned on him when he called the police on his disorderly daughter – she lead them to his stash of crack and weapons, getting him sent off in the paddy wagon instead of herself.

          As expected by the advent committee, this Christmas season we see a lot of evidence for the existence of darkness. For me, I need look no further than the last election. In Orwellian style, in states considering anti-gay marriage amendments, people voted with bigotry and hate, but claimed to be motivated by moral values. Darker still, ninety nine percent of those of us who proclaim our love for the Prince of Peace, voted for men of war.

          When Doug, Douglas, Joni and I picked our advent theme, it was before the election was held. But there was no doubt that this year peace would not prevail in our national culture: allow me to quote John Kerry by memory: “I will hunt down the terrorists and I will kill them.” His first claim to qualifications as the commander in chief was that he had been to war and had actually seen combat and killed the enemy. His opponent, our president, laid claim to higher qualifications for the office because he had actually commanded and presided over a war. In the mean time horrible poverty around the world persists, the gap between the rich and the poor widens and the Dickinsonian like stories of the Christ Child that we will hear during children’s time for the next few weeks are more reflective of our time and place than we would like to think. In the Advent planning committee there was no doubt that for most of us this Christmas season would be rife with darkness and that any glimpse of light would be much more than welcome, but, indeed, desperately sought.

          I don’t think we forget, but we do not often call to mind the darkness that was the world of Jesus time. This was not a moral time, nor was it free from terror. There was little, if any, abortion, of course. But if you wanted a baby, in Roman times, you need only wait around at the local dump. Unwanted infants were abandoned, not aborted, to be retrieved or to die as fortune would have it.

A family that needed an heir or, more likely, another slave, would be able to find exactly what they needed in the outskirts of town. In Roman times, as many of us have seen in movies like Gladiator, the value of human life was based on a rigid social scale reflecting wealth and social standing to the point of which the pain and suffering of individuals, even to death -- especially to death -- was used as entertainment. Roman occupying armies were not so concerned as modern armies were with collateral damage, either. When there was community insubordination, the Romans were likely to wipe out the whole town, or, in fits of mercy, move the population far away, replacing them with what was left of some other group of malcontents. The Roman’s rules of engagement were somewhat more lax than ours as well. War was war. It involved killing whoever was convenient to kill. Domination and intimidation - terrorism - was key and the lives of civilians were not valued. This was a time when a Roman ruler could order the killing of innocents without qualm or consequence.

          Jesus was born into this dire time, bringing the understanding of the value of human life he had learned from his Jewish heritage and putting it into a clearer light. His teachings and witness shown brilliantly in the midst of this inhumane darkness, a light that flamed so bright and strong, that it required death to put it out. But it was not put out.

          Even now in yet another time of darkness, Jesus light shines, renewing hope and renewing our energies in wrestling with our own struggles with the inhumanity and inequity that we see in our world. Jesus came as a new example for us, an example that stood in sharp and brilliant contrast to the hero’s and rulers of human history to that point.

          So, in this season where we struggle to celebrate the light, I would like to make a feeble attempt at offering a few glimpses of what Jesus has inspired, and to remind us why we celebrate Christmas.

          Do you remember the movie Hook? It was a remake of Peter Pan with Robin Williams as Peter Pan. It has been many years since I’ve seen it, but one scene stands out. Peter Pan, all grown up and running an arbitrage company, tries to explain to a character from his childhood - I believe it was Tinker Bell - what an arbitrager does. “I buy stock from a weak company and then when the time is right, I take it over. If I can make a profit, I sell it whole. If I can’t, I break it up to sell off in parts.” “Oh” says Tinker Bell. “You’re a pirate.”

          We’ve had more than our share of pirates recently. Enron, Haliburten, WorldCom, all of the cable companies. I won’t even go into what’s happening in the world of health care. Executives of these large companies, the moral equivalent of pirates, do what is best for their personal bottom line regardless of the human costs or even the future of their industry. Often, until they are caught, they are held up as hero’s to be emulated.

Don’t be like them. Be like Jesus.

          I have a buddy who is trying to be like Jesus. He would be annoyed with me if he were to know I was using him as an example in this sermon, so I will keep his name secret and doubt if any of you will ever know who he is. He runs a small business. Has a few employees. He could make a better profit in his business if he were to be less honest. It would be very easy for him to substitute cheaper, second rate materials, take short cuts in work orders, convince people they need more than they really do. He doesn’t do any of that. He operates on a margin so tight that one time, after he had complained about his lengthy hours and I suggested, yet again, that he might cut back a bit, he told me that if he cut back to 40 hours a week he would be out of business within months.

          It’s the last ten hours in his 60-70 hour week that pays his salary. Everything else is overhead. Yet he continues to offer honest service. Why? He is trying to be like Jesus. I doubt he would tell you that himself. He, like me, believes he is a Christian, though, also like me, he doesn’t think he is a very good one. Yet in his honesty and dedication to his craft he emulates the carpenter from Nazareth in ways that make him far more of a hero in my eyes than the captains of industry running the huge companies of our nation. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it. This is why we celebrate Christmas.

          Susan and I, for reasons that most of you know, have moved from the mixed income environment of East Falls and planted ourselves in the far more economically segregated neighborhood of Elkins Park. Looking out of my window, I see the signs of runaway American consumerism. Large upscale SUV’s, BMW’s, our own cars. The waits at the upscale restaurant on Friday and Saturday nights are generally very long and they usually don’t take reservations. I probably shouldn’t know anything about that. There is not as much noise on the weekends with lawn mowers and other machines as I expected in my neighborhood. It turns out a very high percentage of our neighbors hire a lawn service to take care of their lawns during the week when they are off at work. So we got one too.

          Consumerism is seductive. In many ways I have been seduced. While I attempt to assuage a guilty conscience by reminding myself that we live below our means and try to be generous with our giving, we also do not deprive ourselves. I have fantasies of living more simply, of getting rid of the big house, and lawn, selling the Audi, buying a used VW diesel and taking my big TV and wideband internet access to a place where I am more identified with the poor. Don’t look for any action in this regard. As I said, consumerism is very seductive.

          In a book called “Luxury Fever” Robert H. Frank points out the rampant nature of consumerism. The Smiths get a new car. The Jones’ find that they need a new car too. They are unhappy and feel deprived until they can get out the loan that allows them to also get a new car, preferably one that has a couple more extra’s than that of the Smiths. The research confirms this. One striking example, that may be a bit dated, is that women whose husbands make less than their sister’s husbands are far more likely to work outside the home than those whose husbands do better or just as well. Economic competition and success seems to define our self value in this world. It is this runaway consumerism that has this nation dangerously in debt at all levels. Ironically, Franks points out quite convincingly, higher levels of consumption do not make people happier. It is no different than it was in Jesus time.

          I’ve often commented that when one preaches, one is generally preaching to oneself. And in this vein I have one thing to say about runaway consumers: Don’t be like them. Be like Jesus.

          And here I get to another point where it would be embarrassing for someone that I know if I were to let her be identified. So let me speak very generally. I know someone who lives very simply. Already generous when she married, she knew her new husband to be unusually charitable. She did have to have a little talk with him about the new household budget, though. It seems that they couldn’t quite make ends meet while giving away fifty percent of their income. Twenty years later as a couple, they had to reduce their charitable giving further so that they could contribute to their child’s higher education. But it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if they were back up to giving half away again in ten or fifteen years, as their expenses dwindle and their earnings stay the same or grow. Why are they doing this? They are trying to be like Jesus.

          Another friend of mine chairs his congregations version of the Stewardship committee. A few years back he would say things that defended his purchase of items that many would consider frivolous, self indulgent expenditures. You know, like some of the things in my house. More recently we have had conversations about the fund raising he was doing. His job was to go around to different members of the congregation and ask for money. He went to one couple, a couple he described as having very modest means. He told me he was absolutely floored at what they pledged to the congregation. More than floored. He was humiliated when he looked at his own pledge in comparison. It sounds more than a little bit like he was confronted with a modern day experience of the story of the widow and her penny. As a result he increased his pledge even though he had to sell one of his cars to fulfill it. Why did he do this? He is trying to be like Jesus.

          This is not the first time I’ve heard of this kind of aberrant behavior. It is a striking witness against rampant and unbridled consumerism. I strongly suspect that we have a few such deviants here in our own congregation, but, along with this type of behavior goes another sort of behavior, which is called humility. Very unlike the religious exhibitionist who stands on the temple steps and thanks God that he is as good as he is, these folks are far more like the man at the periphery begging God for mercy. But trying to be like Jesus.

          The charity of people like these shines brightly all year ‘round, not just at Christmas. But it is part of the light that we celebrate this Christmas season, that the darkness will not overcome. This is why we celebrate Christmas.

          By the time November 2^nd rolled around, I was thoroughly sick of politics. I had my fill of both Bush and Kerry, but along with 49% of the people who voted, I was very disappointed in the result. For a while I had automatic signature on my email read, under my name, “War President’s should be ex-presidents.” In supporting Kerry I had to overlook a great many deviations from the values I subscribe to. Yes, Bush has been completely co-opted by the ideology of redemptive violence. He believes that with enough violent power, properly administered, justice will emerge and peace will come. He started a war because he believed that. I’m afraid my guy, Kerry, also bought that line. In fact, the vast majority of American voters buy that line. Kerry got close to beating an incumbent president only because he made it abundantly clear that he would pursue the “war” against terror. As if war will do anything other than increase terror in the hearts of both those on whom war is waged and in the one’s who wage the war.

          Bush and Kerry are the two recent big hero’s of our culture, one a hero because he started a war to avenge the destruction of the Twin Towers against all that constitutes “evil” in the world and the other a hero because he fought in an old war, met the enemy and killed them. Both promised to “hunt down the terrorists and kill them.”

My friends, don’t be like them. Be like Jesus.

          In Jesus time there were no great hero’s of Peace. But we have them now. Not just in history – people like Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr, or mother Theresa. We have hero’s of peace working presently in organizations that we ourselves sponsor. The men and women serving on Christian Peace Making Teams are presently not only in Iraq but also in Columbia and even in Cleveland, New York and Washington D.C. They put themselves, to use the popular cliche’ “in harms way” because they want to be more like Jesus. A group of women, members of the sister congregation of a Mennonite Church in Columbia, run a catering business. I’m afraid I don’t remember if it is our sister congregation of that of one of my email friends. When they discovered they were supplying a paramilitary group, they refused to serve them anymore, not only reducing their income, but putting their lives at risk. They do this in order to be more like Jesus.

In Vietnam, Mennonite Christian’s are currently in jail simply for gathering together with others like them who want to be like Jesus and say so. We have Mennonite Central Committee working around the world to provide relief and to provide a better way to live to thousands who have trouble keeping bread on the table. They are trying to be like Jesus. We here support this work sometimes with our donations, sometimes with our time and sometimes we do the work ourselves. We are trying to be like Jesus. Other groups from other denominations are making their own efforts to bring the light of our Lord to bear on the darkness that seems to surround us. Even those Christians who have been seduced by the myth of redemptive violence, often make contributions to efforts to make the lives of the poor better and more sustainable. I may think they aren’t very good Christians, but who am I to judge? They are also responding to the light. They are trying to be like Jesus.

          And this is why we celebrate the advent of our Savior. The meaning of his arrival is not clear. He spoke, sometimes, in riddles, parables, things that were hard to understand. His death and resurrection has been understood differently by myriads of different Christian groups, even within years of his death. Yet we are all, in our way, responding to this light. Seeing, perhaps as Paul suggests, through a glass, but darkly, we see nonetheless. Jesus light shines and the darkness will not overcome it. This is why we celebrate Christmas.

          Jesus said: “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, "Lo, here it is!" or "There!" for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you. (Lk 17:20-21) This is why we celebrate Christmas.

          Jesus said: “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if anyone would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Mt 5:39b-41"

This is why we celebrate Christmas.

          Jesus said: “For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for the sake of the Kingdom of God will save it. (Mk 8:35)”

This is why we celebrate Christmas.

          Jesus said: “But many that are first will be last, and the last first (Mk 10:31)”

This is why we celebrate Christmas.

          Jesus said: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you . . . (Mt 5:44f)” This is why we celebrate Christmas.

          Jesus came to earth and in the light that shown through him we saw the face of God. In his words, we heard the voice of God. In his actions we saw the actions of God. In his sacrifice we saw the love of God and in his resurrection we saw the power of God everlasting. Like the light. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it.

          And Jesus said “I am with you always, even to the ends of the earth”

And this is why we celebrate Christmas.

          Let’s pray together: Almighty God, Help us to be more like Jesus. Amen.