A Wee Blether

I don’t usually post sermons before I preach them, but I respect those who do.  Posting a manuscript prior to preaching is helpful both because you can receiving suggestions for changes and it can help others in their sermon prep work.  Honestly, I usually don’t post because I’m not confident enough in the product, and I figure it’s weird for folks to read the sermon before they hear something similar later.

At Hallock, there’s no Christmas Eve sermon which is fine by me.  Our congregation is used to a simple service of carols, candlelight, and communion (for polity wonks, don’t worry, there will be some proclamation of the word, just not this longer version).  Fine by me.  I am preaching, though, at Adams Mountain Lutheran Church at an earlier service, and I don’t think many Adams folks read this blog.  This manuscript below requires some more work, but here it is for perusal.  I went with the peace and boots theme from Isaiah which was fun — and not just because ski boots are on my xmas wish list

Adam J. Copeland

December 24, 2009

Adams Mountain Lutheran Church

Christmas Boots

Isaiah 9:2-7

Luke 2:1-20

Tonight, thousands of miles away from us here, pilgrims having gathered in Bethlehem at the Church of the Nativity. There they worship God at the site traditionally marking Jesus birth. Some will have traveled many miles to attend a Christmas Eve service at the ancient church. Some Palestinian Christian will just have walked a few blocks from their houses.

Parts of that church in Bethlehem date back to the 4th century, so it’s fascinating to think of the variety of Christmas Eve services celebrated within its walls over the years. From monks to knights, peasants to kings, the church has seen it all.

If you were there tonight, though, and were feeling a little playful I’d suggest playing a game. It’s called, “Spot the American.” My friends and I played it sometimes when I was studying abroad in college. To play you just sit back in a tourist hot spot and try to pick out the Americans. No listing to accents, that’s cheating. You have to do it by sight. After a few trips, it’s actually pretty easy.

You can almost always spot Americans tourists in one of three ways. One, they have their money or passport around their neck on a cord. Have you seen that type of travel wallet? Americans love them, nobody else seems to carry their money so close to their hearts. Another way to spot Americans while traveling is by looking for fanny packs. Yes, we invented the fanny pack so we claim it near and far. Finally, the easiest way of all to spot Americans while traveling is by their shoes, their footwear. I don’t know what it is about the American shoe manufacturing business, or Americans’ feet, but our shoes stand out. There’s the white sneaker that’s almost uniquely American, the black Reebok which makes many trips abroad, and the sensible brown travel shoe. I’m telling you, after a little practice you can spot American footwear a mile away. If you were playing “Spot the American” at the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem tonight, you’d have no problem at all if you focused on the feet.

In that prophetic passage from Isaiah 9 tonight, we hear:

The people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness–on them light has shined…For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire.

Perhaps this passage strikes us even more pointedly this year as 30,000 more troops head to Afghanistan. Isaiah writes that in the day of the Lord all the boots of the tramping warriors will be burned as fuel for the fire.

A few years ago now, Jim Webb ran for the U.S. Senate in Virginia. As a Democrat, he needed to appear especially strong on national security issues, especially considering he was running in the state home to so many who work at the Pentagon. For these political reasons, or just because of where his heart was, Jim Webb wore some very unusual footwear while he campaigned. Jim’s son was just back from a tour of duty in Iraq, and was returning soon. Jim wore his son’s combat boots every day of that campaign, whether now-Senator Webb was wearing jeans or a suit and tie, those combat boots made a statement that he supported his son, and he supported the troops.

Isaiah writes of a time when combat boots are no longer needed, for the enemy has been vanquished. Their boots are thrown into the fire and the people can rejoice for a child has been given to them called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah knew all those names, but he didn’t call him Jesus. Not until a few hundred years later did the world welcome God incarnate by that name. And even then, his birth was not what we might have expected, not the glorious loud triumphal birth of a king, not at all.

Technology these days changes many things, even the way a birth of a baby is announced. Megan and I have a friend whose due day was last week, but we don’t call her to check how things are and instead just look on her facebook page for updates. We have another friend who narrated the entire 30 hours of his wife’s labor — from the first contractions to the birth, on his facebook page. He was updating the page from the delivery room with his cell phone, and boy, you wouldn’t believe how many comments and visits his facebook page was receiving. Hundreds of people commented on the labor, as we all refreshed his page multiple times an hour to see if he had updated it again.

Jesus’ birth was much less of an event. There were no heart monitors or cell phones, we don’t even know if there was anyone present to help Mary but Joseph. And the surroundings weren’t exactly great either — a stable, a manger, some inquisitive animals, some hay. This is not the type of birth you’d expect from the King of all Creation, this is not what humanity had in mind to mark power and success.

But that’s the story, that’s our story, our savior born in a stables. No pomp or trumpet fanfare, just two scared young parents and some lucky animals.

We Christians see Jesus’ birth as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. Now the boots of the trampling warriors weren’t immediately torn off the enemy soldiers and thrown into the fire the minute Jesus was born — Isaiah’s prophecy isn’t a strictly literal one. But Jesus did establish a whole new world order in which the enemy was struck down. Injustice and war, poverty and disease, hunger and hate has been defeated because Jesus, God with us, has been born to show us true love.

Years ago, Nancy Taylor says, while serving as a chaplain in a juvenile detention center she heard a 17 year-old confess that he acted particularly badly when he was wearing his big, heaving hunting boots [story in Feasting on the Word, Year C, Vol 1, pg. 102]. He really loved his boots, but when he wore them he turned into a bully. The boots trapped the part of him that was ugly, aggressive, cruel, and domineering. He told his chaplain and his peers, one day, that when he was not wearing his boots he acted more gently. And as soon as he said that out loud and arrived at that self-understanding, he began to change. Confessing the power of his boots led him to paths of another sort entirely.

Unfortunately, there aren’t “Jesus boots” we can buy at the store that make us more peaceful and just. (Although there might just be Jesus fanny packs for sale at some tourist store somewhere.) In fact, the Church of the Nativity made the news a while back for fights among the different sets of priests in charge of overseeing the cathedral. But there are glimpses of that peace, there is hope, for Jesus is born. After that night in the stable, nothing will ever be the same.

In Hallock, there’s a local store called Bakken’s Boots. If you want a Carhart jacket, or a set of snow boots, or a some work boots, it’s your best shot for many miles around. Rocky Bakken sells any type of boot you’d need in these parts, and he even repairs old boots if you prefer that. But Rocky doesn’t just sell boots, his shop is part boot store part art studio. On the art side of things he sells beautiful prints of local landscapes and wildlife, but his speciality is really religious prints. His most famous depicts a lamb and a cross with a crown of thorns; a boot store selling prints of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is born tonight. The boots of the tramping warriors have been thrown into the flames. Peace on earth and goodwill to all.

image by Renaudeh