An Advent Reflection

As some may already be aware, a decision has been rendered in the Ohio 3rd District Court of Appeals regarding our case. For more information, you can go to www.stjameskansas.org. What follows below is a reflection for our weekly prayer service, delivered on Sunday, December 21st.

As we light the fourth candle on the Advent Wreath this morning, I wish that I could stand up here and talk about how we would be back in the St. James building for Christmas. Advent means the coming or arrival of something important; and this is an advent for the next phase of our church life. I’ve received some messages of condolence from several people this last week, and what I have stressed to them is that as far as I’m concerned, this doesn’t change anything for our church community. Our remaining a church family didn’t hinge on whether we had our building returned to us; but it was one of the most paramount missions that we had taken on as it was symbolic of our desire to make the Catholic Church honest in how it conducts itself. I’ve told people that we will continue to have missions, and will remain a church family as those missions come to fruition.

Sometimes Goliath wins. I have no regrets about that; I would only have regret if we never tried. In this case, the Catholic Church has only become more solidified in its determination to commit suicide by a thousand cuts. If that is what they want, we can’t change that for them. What we can do is remain supportive of others who face the same predicament, or face a future without a church in their life. We can stay focused on the truth, and continue to be a community in the body of Christ. I’ve called several different church buildings my church home in my life, and several different congregations have been my church family as well. But the same God was with me no matter where I was worshiping, and God is here with us today.

With the lessons surrounding Advent and Christmas, we are reminded that life was never easy for Jesus either. Even his birth was filled with hardship. Physical hardship, being born in a stable out in the cold, with an animal feeding trough for his first bed. Political hardship, with King Herod sending his minions to find the baby Jesus who was a threat to his political power, and bring him to Herod to be killed. Refusing to die, and choosing to live while faced with hardship is part of following Christ’s example. If we choose to live on, than I don’t understand how we lose; and I don’t see how the Catholic hierarchy in their failure to uphold viable parishes comes out as a winner, or a victor over the St. James Parish. The Catholic Hierarchy has put itself in a strange position; for even if they win this kind of battle, they really haven’t won anything other than their right to lose things or give up on them. If that is what winning looks like, than I don’t want to be on the victorious side in that fight.

Jesus was not a member of the “why bother when we’re just going to lose” crowd. He was a member of the “I’ll do it out of love even though I will be killed for it” crowd. There aren’t very many people that are cut from that cloth. That is a powerful kind of love, the kind that makes sacrificing everything ok, because it makes a difference and it matters. A famous movie once used a line that said “love means never having to say you’re sorry.” John Lennon later amended that to say “actually love means having to say you’re sorry every 15 minutes.” But the kind of love that Jesus showed didn’t have anything to do with being sorry or not being sorry. How many people when they think of the people that they love center their thoughts around whether or not they ever feel sorry? When you love someone, that might mean that you are willing to let that person hurt you, because the prospect of not being involved in this person’s life is worse than severing ties because the relationship is sometimes painful. That is the kind of love that Jesus had for us, and He has absolutely nothing to apologize for.

The love for this church can sometimes be painful. If it were easy, it might not be worth having it at all.

I don’t have a lengthy reflection for you this morning that provides a lot of answers, but I want to provide some of my thoughts on the questions that I’ll be pondering this Christmas. Jesus’ entry into this world was difficult, then followed by an even more difficult life and a horrific death; only to be made alive again, a legacy which is carried by congregations like this one who continue to fulfill the truth of the Gospel. Long after many of us are gone, I want to know that there will be a church where people named Ethan, Eva, Bryceson, Abbey, Noah, Alex, Grant, Allison, Cheyenne, Morgan, Erica, Yanel, Erin, Kelsey, and others whose names we don’t yet know will be filling these seats with their families and friends, carrying on the legacy of Jesus in the St. James tradition. What will I do, and what will we do to make that a reality? What role will I play? What talents do I have that I am not using to make this a reality? And most importantly, what am I waiting for?

And to put my own twist on another well known quote I’ll end by saying, “Merry Christmas to all, but I’m not saying good night.”