Lester Start’s Works

1Taking Stock of Ourselves

Lester Start

December 1979

The holiday season is rapidly coming to an end. Christmas is passed, but not its spirit I trust. The end of the old year, and the beginning of a new one is near at hand. This is the time for looking backward and looking forward, as is well symbolized by Janus, the god with two faces, one looking forward and one looking backward, the god who gives his name to the first month of the year.

This is a time of celebration, too. There is not the same religious reverence as in the celebration of Christmas. It is a time of revelry, and it is almost as if excesses in behavior are to be expected and condoned. Welcoming the new year seems to be an occasion for celebration in every culture - but especially where the change of seasons is well marked. One can see the reason for rejoicing when the winter solstice is passed, so that in spite of continuing cold, the evidence of a sun rising higher and higher every day gives the promise of spring and the return of life to the earth. The impulse for wild and frenetic celebration, however, is not so readily explained. It is not clear whether people are celebrating the end of a year they are happy to see go, or if they are really welcoming a new one with its possibilities of peace and prosperity.

At any rate, it is a time to stop and take notice. And this year, we are saying goodbye to an entire era, the decade of the seventies, and are welcoming the unknown eighties. If it is not a time for wild celebration; it is a time to stop and think and see where we are. It is a time when businesses take inventory and plan for the future. It is a time when individuals might well stop and take stock of themselves, to see who they are, where they are and plan on who or where or what they’d like to be. The New Year’s resolution is a symbol of this. This is a good time to turn over a new leaf, as the saying goes. The problem is that our resolve isn’t as strong as the resolution we propose, and in a short time the new leaf looks just like the old one. So many of us resolve not to make any New Year’s resolutions. There is one I am making, though. And that is to learn to proofread or take time to proofread the bulletin. For example, the offertory should read Wachet Auf, ruft uns die Stimme - German for awaken, the voice calls us. (Now this isn’t as funny as the Easter bulletin that reported the congregation following the Easter bunny instead of the Easter banner - that slipped by both Dick and Al). As written, it doesn’t make sense. Anyway, so much for my resolutions.

I don’t intend to take detailed stock of the past decade - magazines, radio, newspapers, and television are taking special notice of its ups and downs, mostly inflationary ups and political downs. Nor do I want to try to predict the mood of the eighties. I’ve already predicted a mild winter.

Seriously, I am more interested in analyzing the way in which we take stock of ourselves, the mood in which we do it. I have often thought that the reckless revelry with which many celebrate the coming of the New Year hides a kind of despair about the old one and feeling that the New Year won’t be any different. Yet some really seem to think that the New Year all by itself signals something wonderful and new. Our mood will obviously affect how we evaluate what is passed and what does to come.

The scripture lessons for today show a marvelous contrast in moods. The first is from Ecclesiastes - called Koheleth in the Hebrew - usually translated as the Preacher. (The word is odd, though, because it is feminine in form - so perhaps it means the wisdom of what is proclaimed.) The book is part of the Old Testament’s wisdom literature, along with Proverbs, and it is famous or notorious for not having any obvious or dramatic doctrine of redemption or picture of God’s saving power or grace. Its raises questions rather than giving answers.

This first chapter in particular seems a message of gloom. Vanity of vanities, says the preacher, vanity of vanities - all is vanity. Or as the new English Bible puts it - “emptiness, emptiness, says the speaker, emptiness, all is empty.” The world turns, the years go by, the sun rises and sets, and it is all a weariness. There is no meaning, no purpose, no direction to it all. What has happened will happen again - what has been done will be done again, and there is nothing new under the sun. Nothingness, emptiness, meaninglessness surround our existence. This is the pessimistic, existential voice of the preacher. Life is as Shakespeare said, a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing. Such a mood can never find anything of promise in the new year - there is no new thing under the sun - and as it has found no meaning in the past year, except meaningless toil, it can expect nothing different in the new year to come. As the preacher said all men’s deeds that are done under the sun are all emptiness and chasing the wind. What is crooked cannot become straight and you cannot count what isn’t there.

With such an attitude one cannot look forward with a sense of optimism or promise. People with such a mood and attitude expect the future to be as bad as the past, or perhaps worse. And perhaps these are the people who are at the noisiest revelers - because they cannot believe in a better world, a better self, a better situation.

The New Testament reading is quite the opposite in spirit. If the preacher can see no redemption anywhere, no chance of a new leaf, a new and happier year, a new world possibilities; the writer of Revelation sees a brand new world coming, one in which all the sorrows and evils of the old are overcome, and the godly are redeemed and saved in a new order under God. “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had vanished, and there was no longer any sea.” No more sea! The sea always symbolized for the Jewish people evils and terrors and suffering - it was the mysterious unknown which held all kinds of horrors in its depths. So the new age will be completely free from suffering and terror. God himself will dwell with men. He shall wipe away every tear - there shall be an end to death, even - to all mourning and crying and pain. All things will be new. Would that the new year might be like that!

Scholars tell us that Revelation or the Apocalypse was written at a time when Christians were being severely persecuted by Rome and it was intended to strengthen their hope in the ultimate triumph of God and the godly over Rome and the godless. It called attention to the promise of Christ’s second coming - the absolute end of the present evil age and its world - and the creation literally of a new heaven and a new earth.

Now this attitude of Revelation looks forward to something completely new and entirely good - quite the opposite of Ecclesiastes’ pessimistic view of the emptiness of all change. And in the context of Christian history this promise may well have kept the new faith from faltering. But apocalyptic hope unqualified carries with it a danger. It suggests that the future is inevitably to appear in all its perfection out of the blue, directly by God, without any act or aid of human intervention except faithful expectation and endurance. In the primary sense, of course, it is God who redeems us and the world. But unqualified conviction of this saving power can suggest and has suggested to many Christians that there is nothing they can or need to do but have faith and wait for the end of the world and God’s promise of a new heaven and a new earth. In every age there have been such Christians. We call them millenialists. They have a sense that the kingdom of God is at hand, that the second coming is near, that things are so bad the new Jerusalem is about to appear, and Christ’s new kingdom will begin. Sometimes, they predict a specific date, as the Millerites did in the last century. But it is devastating to such a group when the predicted date comes and the end of the world doesn’t.

Paul had his problems with such people in his churches. The end of the age was expected to imminently. Paul shared the conviction. But he made it clear that no one could know the time of the Lord’s coming and no one should use the hope of His imminent return as an excuse or reason for not fulfilling one’s duties in this life and this world until that day He arrives. So he warned, those who don’t work don’t eat.

As Christians have pondered this question over the centuries, more and more have come to believe that whenever and if ever this final day appears, it is clear that in some sense Christ already has returned in the spirit of the risen Christ, who lives in the hearts of all faithful followers, all fellow Christians. Consequently, one need not be pessimistic about the future and echo the sentiment that everything is vain, everything an emptiness and so look bleakly at the prospect of a new year of more of the same. Nor should one blindly and optimistically leave it up to the Lord to come and redeem the age if the time is ripe. Nor should one blindly and optimistically assume that the new year is bound to be good because it is new.

It seems to me that the constructive Christian view is that God does have a purpose for us and for this world. But that His purpose must work through us. Thus, we are agents of His will and work for the redemption of His world insofar as the Spirit of Christ dwells in us and we reflect His law of creative love. With this conviction, with this faith, one is inspired to look to the new year with calm confidence and expectant hope, believing that God wills good for His world, His creation, His people, and that the power of good, the forces for good, can work in us and through us to help make a better world in the areas that our lives must touch.

As we think back and look forward in terms of our individual lives, we can each see forces of good we can develop and enhance to make, with the help of God, a brighter, happier, better New Year. The Preacher was right - the world and its busy affairs seem empty and vain; and indeed they are, without God. But with a sense of God’s purpose and meaning, all is transformed. And as we look forward with a sense of God’s spirit guiding and strengthening us, the new Jerusalem need to not be a far-off apocalyptic hope, but progress in God’s purpose for our world and our lives becomes a real possibility with our labors of love.

It is good to look backward and forward to see what has been good and bad - what can be improved, to have hope for the new year. I don’t propose to do this in terms of the history of our decade. Each must plan the projection of his or her own life alone - in the light of God. One must evaluate himself prospects for the future, though, always in the light of the best we have achieved, not the worst. I advise students that it is not the best time to have an agonizing self-evaluation of one’s situation and prospects when one has just received back a paper or exam mark D minus. Don’t rate yourself when you are down.

This is a good time to take stock of ourselves as a church, too. [Annual meeting].

I cannot by myself do a good job of taking stock of ourselves as a church, looking backward and looking forward. Each of us as a part of that church, must do it by ourselves. But from my vantage point, I do want to say just this. The church has gone through a difficult period and is clearly alive and well. We are finishing the year well in the black. Thanks to our Provide Now drive the church buildings are in excellent repair. The new roof went on over the Church House corridor on Friday - and contrary to what some pessimists have said - now it will not leak and we can proceed to repair the ceiling - now to repair the organ motor. I am very proud of this church. I am proud of the talented people on the boards, the assurance of continuing able leadership. I am proud of the way we all pull together when the chips are down. I am proud of the genuine spirit of Christian concern and love for one another. More and more as I get around in the parish, I have become aware of the many ways many of you help others. And I am proud and pleased to have been able to serve as interim minister. Now for the future.

As a matter of fact, I have been so gratified by this experience that I am making arrangements with Kalamazoo College to teach part-time this next quarter so I can continue with you at least on a part-time basis. I will need some help - in addition to all the splendid help I am sure all of you will continue to give - but with this, and with God’s providential concern, I know we can move into the new year with a sense of confidence, in the conviction that God is working through us in this church to bring about that which will be good indeed.

Prayers.

Eternal God, on the threshold of a new year, we lift our hearts to Thee to thank Thee for Thy guidance and mercies in the past and to pray for Thy continued guidance and blessing for the future. The events of tomorrow are hidden from us - through Thy wisdom and mercy. But we would trust in Thee for the future and fear not. Open to us the gates of opportunity in this new year, that we may grow in wisdom, faith and love. We pray in Jesus’ name.

O God, Thou who art from everlasting to everlasting, ancient of days, yet ever new in the birth of new beginnings, unto Thee we lift up our spirits in prayer. All things wax old as garments, but we give thanks that Thou art the same yesterday, today and tomorrow in Thy steadfast love and sustaining power.

We pray, O God, for an enhanced sense of a Thy creative goodness as we look backward over a year past and look forward to the year ahead, so that we may have a proper sense of what is truly good and worthwhile and what is of lesser or little worth. Make us sensitive to the quiet acts of creative goodness at work in the world, help us to hearken to the quiet voices of moderation and understanding, when powerful destructive forces of terror or military power and strident voices of dissident and fanatic protest seem to dominate our days. Help us to know that Thy rule of love is sensed in all religions, felt among all people. May we believe in the power of love, the gentler forces of goodness, to direct the world in the year ahead, rather than the forces of hate, dissent, and terror.

As we face the uncertainties of another year, help us to prepare for the duties and the opportunities the year will bring. May Thy spirit enlighten our ignorance and strengthen our weakness. Help us to forget the sins and the sorrows of the past, but help us to remember the chastened humility and the cherished memories they have brought to us. Inspire us with new purposes; fill us with new hope, deepen our love of truth and goodness. Make us instruments of Thy will.

We pray Thou wilt in the year ahead bless this land we love. Counsel its leaders in wisdom and moderation. Bless Thou its peoples, and befriend those still in captivity. Lead us, Lord; lead us in Thy righteousness, that we may calmly walk forward, whatever light may shine or shadow fall in the fellowship of those who trust in Thee, and so may we live in the love and service of Christ our Lord.

1The Christmas Story

Lester Start.

December 23, 1979

First Baptist, Kalamazoo

I remember a December afternoon many years ago. I was in my room at the Divinity school preparing a Christmas sermon for a church in the Adirondacks. On my desk was a beautiful Christmas card with the manger scene vividly illuminated by the late winter sun coming through the leaded glass window. I had been looking at it, thinking about that traditional happy scene, and then I turned to my writing for several minutes. When I glanced up again, to look at the manger scene once more - it was serving as a nice background to my meditations - the sun had shifted, and now was shining across the mullions or leaded divisions of the glass window, so that now, in paler illumination I could see the manger scene - but across it cast from the leaded mullions was now to be seen the black shadow of a cross. The mark of the cross covered the manger scene. It bothered me. And I thought of the comment of the choir director at Old Forge, how much she loved Christmas, and loved to prepare Christmas music. It’s also happy and positive, not like Easter, you know.

And I have been bothered since by the way we separate Christmas and Easter and tend to value Christmas more because really it is Easter that lies at the center of our faith and Christmas has been a kind of afterthought. Much of its traditions are of pagan origin. The Pilgrims refused to celebrate it. The earliest Christians were filled with the good news of the risen Lord. It is only later that they began to look to his earthly origins. The earliest Gospel, Mark, has no mention of the Christmas story. John speaks of the pre-existent Logos, Word, as made flesh in Christ. But this is a mystical notion unrelated to the birth stories. Matthew and Luke alone tell of the birth in the manger. Luke has most all of the familiar details. Matthew tells the story of the wise men. (Current Newsweek magazine has an interesting article) But the important thing to remember, however, when they did look back upon the birth of Jesus, it was from the vantage point of the Easter faith, and the baby Jesus is seen against the context of the whole drama of his life and death and resurrection. We can not separate this early happy scene from later events. The shadow of the cross falls across the manger, because the cross symbolizes the kind of Messiah, the kind of Savior Jesus was to become, against all the expectations of the Jews and the Romans of the time. It is this contrast that the birth stories of Jesus are intended to point out and emphasize in dramatic and powerful symbols.

If we really appreciate looking at this event through the eyes of the early Christians at their pointed history, we will have to look at the events of the story in a new way. Instead of a sentimental scene of the “holy infant so tender and mild” we have a proclamation of the Savior, in the new Christian faith with important revolutionary social and political as well as theological implications. Roman and Jewish ideas of a Savior.

First of all, let us note the reference to Caesar Augustus at the very beginning of Luke’s account. “There went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.”. Caesar Augustus was emperor of all the civilized world. Caesar Augustus was Caesar’s nephew Octavius who, following his uncle’s murder and some fifteen years of grievous civil war, emerged as sole ruler after his victory over Antony. After this victory in the year 29 B.C. his first official act was to close the temple of Janus, the double faced god of war. He called himself “Augustus Divi Filius” - Augustus son of the divine - this was translated as son of God in the East. Earlier, the poet Virgil in his Fourth Ecologue - in 42 B.C. - announced the birth of a world savior. Was this a reference to Octavius who was to become the Emperor Augustus? At any rate, Augustus did all he could to appear as Savior, to realize a reign of peace. He began the famous Pax Romana, Roman peace - built the great Ara Pasis Augustae, the great Augustan altar of peace in nine B.C.. And according to a famous inscription found in the Greek city of Priene in Asia Minor, the good news of the birthday of the Savior and God who now appeared - Caesar Augustus - was proclaimed to the whole world. He was the Savior who brought to the broken world peace, prosperity, happiness, a new era.

And the Roman efforts were impressive. Aside from minor troubles with a minor Jewish sect, and growing troubles on the borders, the Roman peace was a fact for centuries. Some of you may have seen the current film, the “Life of Brian” a Monty Python comedy set in the days of Jesus. Some of it is offensive, but there is one funny scene, where a group of Jews are talking together, asking “What have the Romans ever done for us”. Well, there are the roads, - the streets are safe - aqueducts - sanitation - education. Yes, but aside from all that? The true point that underlies the comedy is that the Romans did do much for their conquered peoples; their road system was unequaled til railroads, but they could not bring true salvation. Caesar was not the Savior God - Caesar was not the Messiah - and there was good reason for the early Christians to refuse to acknowledge the emperor as Savior and good reason for them to face persecution for conscience’ sake. Augustus was not God. Much less where all of those successors including Caligula and Nero - those figures that the TV series “I Claudius” portrayed so chillingly, gods or saviors. Nor was Diacletian, the tyrant, who was probably ruling when Luke was written, a Savior, a god. He was busy persecuting Christians.

Now with all this in mind as a background, the Christmas story takes on vast dimensions and added meaning embracing the whole Christian message. Let us look at the familiar story again.

There is the star of hope and promise, the Star of Bethlehem. Everybody knew a star appeared when the great King was to be born. This was an old idea. What is new is that this star points to the baby in the manger, and a different kind of king and Savior - not like Caesar. The baby is born of woman. Then there are yet the shepherds the example of the faithful, nameless ones who follow the star of hope, to where the child who is to be Savior lies. This is in contrast to the powerful names of Caesar Augustus emperor, Cyrenius governor of Syria, and Herod procurator of Judea.

There is the symbol of rejection by his own people. There was no room for them at the inn. There is the evidence of Roman political persecution. Herod seeks out the innocents to slay them that he might kill the one born to be king. But the humble nameless ones come to worship. And the wise men of the East symbolize the spreading of the faith - which Paul already had begun -to all of the Gentile world - not just to the Jews. And the imagery of animals at the manger scene is, of course, a reminder of the prophecy of Isaiah - when the lion shall lie down with the lamb and - a little child shall lead them. All of this, together with the star, suggests that this King, this Savior, has cosmic significance. His world transcends the political world of Rome, embraces all of God’s creation and connects with the divine source that John identifies as the Word. This of course, is all promise. Immediately, there is the pain and privation of the manger crib, the symbol of suffering and need as opposed to Roman opulence and ease. But the promise is there.

What then is the good news, beyond this contrast of the true savior with false Roman gods? It is that Jesus as Savior fulfills the old covenant, appears as the new Moses. This is suggested by the flight into Egypt. The infant Jesus connects with the infant Moses. The annunciation stories to Mary, Zechariah, and Simeon all have the language of the prophecies of the Old Testament pointing to a Messiah, a leader, a king.

And the meaning of the new way of salvation shines through these documents. The humble shall be exalted, the hungry fed, the imprisoned freed, the lame and blind healed.

In the magnificat Mary exclaims -

He hath scattered the proud,

He hath put down the Mighty from their seats

and exalted them of low degree.

He hath filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he hath sent empty away.

He hath helped His servant Israel,

in remembrance of His mercy.

There will be a new order of life founded on the love of God and the brotherhood of man. “Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, good will toward men”. (That is the proper translation) Instead of an illusory Pax Romana, based on increased taxes, escalating armaments, false prosperity for a few, suffering for many - there is now the promise of the true peace of God based on devotion to God and His righteousness - not an earthly king, but a little child, whose way of life is to show us to God.

The Christian message shines all the clearer when we see it in contrast to the peace of Rome. And the message today is the same. We must trust in the power of love to triumph ultimately. This can and does involve suffering. But the way of hate is certain destruction. And there is evidence that in the tense world of today’s situations, the spirit of moderation, recognition of others and their right to be, a growing sense of the need for world cooperation based on human needs and possibilities is in the ascendancy. Terror is being seen as self-destructive and cannot long prevail. There is growing hope for moderation in Iran. There are those who remember that if the US supported the Shah, it was the removal of that support that removed him.

In the dark streets shineth the everlasting light. In the dark skies still shines the Star of Hope. Above all, it is love that will ultimately triumph - it is love that must rule on in our hearts. The shadow of the cross falls over the manger scene in that Christmas is fulfilled in Easter. But the cross then becomes illumined to show the power and triumph of God’s creative love. This is the promise of the Christmas story. Love came down at Christmas in a little child.

Eternal God, who has brought us once again to this happy season when we commemorate the birth of Thy son, Jesus - grant that His spirit may be born anew in us the day, that we may welcome Him into our hearts and lives. O holy child of Bethlehem descend to us, we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in. Be born in us today. We pray in the name of Jesus, our Lord.

Christmas prayer.

Eternal God, thou who art the creator and sustainer of life, we give Thee thanks for this holy season. We thank Thee for the star of hope and peace that shines brightly in a world filled with the darkness of hopelessness, violence and suffering. We thank Thee for the promise of something new, a baby born in the manger, destined to be Lord of all and Savior of us all. Give us the faith to know that it is with the gentler virtues of love and mercy that lies the ultimate triumph over suffering and sin.

We hear the message of Christmas with gladness - we pray that the promise of the angels - on earth peace, good will toward men become a reality. We pray that the Christian message will guide the leaders of our country, that the Christian promise of liberation through love be fulfilled in us all, but especially we pray for the deliverance of our fellow citizens held hostage. May the spirit of love and mercy we associate with this season break down barriers of hate and suspicion and unite men everywhere in a common respect for human dignity and decency.

May everyone everywhere feel the message of Christmas. Let every heart prepare room for the birth of Thy Son. May gladness shine in every home. May Thy light shine into every room, every hospital, every place of confinement. May it find every lonesome or lost person and banish discouragement or vain regrets. May we join the choirs of angels, sing in exultation - glory to God - Joy to the world - and may we feel in the quietness of our hearts as Christmas fades away to continual wonders of God’s love. We pray in the spirit of Christ.

1The Motherhood of God

Lester Start

December 9, 1979

First Baptist, Kalamazoo

The manger scene in Bethlehem recalled in the Scripture lesson draws attention to the focal point of the whole Christmas story - the birth of the baby Jesus, the Christ child. Where there is a baby there has to be a mother - so the manger scene should call attention to the mother as well. And indeed, this has been the case in the artistic portrayals of that manger scene in the long history of religious art. Pictures of the Madonna and Child are many. And the greatest artists have shown a sensitivity to the spirit of Mary, the depicting a kind of brooding tenderness and wonder - as if they were putting on canvas the mood of Mary reflected in the text, “and Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart”. But the focus of these paintings is always on the baby Jesus. Madonna and Child becomes Child and Madonna (isn’t it always the case that the baby gets more attention than the new mother). And properly so here because the focus is on the great event of the birth of the son of God. But in consequence Mary fades into the background, and theologically becomes less important than the Holy Spirit, and in spite of the fact, as the Catholic Church has stressed, that Mary is unique in giving birth to God in mortal form, the image of motherhood has tended to be de-emphasized, if not actually suppressed. We think of God the Father easily, God in masculine terms almost always, as Prince, King, Ruler, Master. And in spite of the Christmas story of the birth of Jesus, Christ, as the creed goes, the only begotten son of God; begotten not made, who was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary - the image of motherhood fades before the more dominant masculine image of the Holy Spirit. There is God the Father and a masculine Trinity with the result that the feminine aspects of personality seemed to be ignored. This is part of the basis for the charge that our religion has a sexist bias slanted toward male domination.

There is an interesting exception. If you were to attend a Christian Science service, you would hear as part of the service the Lord’s prayer, with a kind of responsive addition that is called its spiritual interpretation. After “our Father”, there comes the response “Father-Mother God”. Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science and writer of this spiritual interpretation obviously rejected the image here and elsewhere in her writings of a God exclusively male, exclusively Father. And this was done long before women’s lib - about a century ago.

Why is it that the feminine aspects of God are de-emphasized? One obvious answer is that God is clearly male - except that we all know such a response is too obviously guilty of picturing God in human terms, anthropomorphizing Him, instead of seeing him as a transcendent spirit. A better answer is that historically the female principle was associated with the pagan fertility religions that the Hebrew people found in the land of Canaan, where they settled after the Exodus. The early prophets, constantly fought the Baalization of their religion. Fertility magic with its focus on the female principle of generation was part of the new way of life of agriculture. It, and the female principle it represented, was rejected as evil.

From this, and in connection with this, it was easy to consider the female principle itself as evil, the masculine as, therefore good, and the woman as the temptress, the source of evil for man. This sounds and is sexist. But it was Eve, who after being tempted by the serpent, in turn tempts Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit.

Another reason would be the general male dominance of Oriental and middle Eastern society. When one looked for images and metaphors to express the greatness of God - Father, King, Ruler, Creator, suggested themselves. Female images would be unthinkable for the Highest in the spiritual realm when the male was dominant in the temporal order. It is this spirit to Paul reflects when he advises wives to be subject to their husbands.

Another reason for neglecting the female principle was the extraordinary notion that creation was essentially a male action, that the child was the result of the seed of the male, and that the woman served mostly as incubator, and did nothing to contribute to the nature or character of the offspring created. That is why, in the light of new biological knowledge, belatedly in the last century the Catholic Church developed the dogma of the immaculate conception of Mary - that by a special act of grace she was freed of sin. Otherwise, the taint of sin, would have been handed down to Jesus, even though he was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

But in spite of all the reasons to neglect and reject the feminine image, the female principle persisted and grew in the medieval church, especially in the cult of the Virgin, in the worship of Mary as the mother of God. An elaborate Maryology, a theology stressing the role and importance of Mary, was developed. And we can well understand that in the midst of war and cruelty and plague the maternal image of the Madonna with her promise of mercy was closer than the far off image of God on his throne - no matter how fatherly He might be and the church grew uneasy about the preference. But the Protestant reformers rejected Maryology entirely as Maryoloty, the idolatrous worship of a figure less than God. Calvinism taught a God of awful sovereignty and power. And the masculine images have dominated the Calvinist tradition, which we Baptists inherit.

This history may explain the dominant masculine imagery, but it does not justify it. And even though our religion emerges from a male-dominated society, we can find in the Scriptures plenty of examples of images applied to God that are clearly feminine and maternal. In Deuteronomy God is likened to a eagle watching over her nest, fluttering over her young, spreading broad her wings, and bearing them on her wings. And the Psalmists sing of abiding under the shadow of the wings of God, of being protected with the feathers of God’s wings. Both male and female birds tend their young, of course, but in Deuteronomy the bird is clearly a mother bird, and when Jesus says “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not” - the bird is clearly not a rooster and the loving concern of a mother for her brood is clearly the image Jesus is using as suggesting his concern. And in John, the last verse of the first chapter, Jesus is clearly said to be in the bosom of God. And Isaiah likens God’s undying love and mercy to a mother’s love for her infant. He asks, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?”

But perhaps the best example of the maternal image in the Bible is in Hosea, chapter 11. It reads: “When Israel was a boy, I loved him; I called my son out of Egypt. It was I who taught Ephraim how to walk, I who had taken them in my arms, but they did not know that I harnessed them in leading strings and led them with bonds of love - that I had lifted them like a little child to my cheek, that I had bent down to feed them.” And again, “How can I give you up Ephraim, how surrender you, Israel”.

The prophet is expressing a devoted love, a love that will not let go, even though the children of Israel are rejecting the God who led them out of Egypt. This is the kind of love we associate with a mother who continues her love and concern for children, no matter what. And the images here of bending down to feed them, teaching them to walk, lifting them, leading them with bonds of love are clearly maternal. It is this maternal solicitude that inspired Byron Bangert of Judson Church to preach in Stetson Chapel a sermon based on this passage entitled ‘God as a Jewish Mother”.

The maternal image is clearly in the Scriptures, not only in the manger scene of the Christmas story. And the maternal image is seen in other religions as well. Buddhism has its Kwan Yin, goddess of mercy, that has been called the Chinese Madonna. And Hinduism has a whole series of female deities associated with its gods. It would be strange if the attributes of God were to be exclusively masculine. Both principals masculine and feminine are needed.

This notion is illustrated in the ancient Chinese symbol of the Tao. The Tao represents the creative power that operates throughout all of nature. It is the power of life and creativity in nature. It is symbolized by a circle, but the circle itself is composed of two parts separated by a curved line - these represent the two cosmic forces that together form the creative spirit. They are called the Yang and the Yin. These represent among other things the male and female principles. These are not considered opposing in the sense that one is good and one is evil. They are rather complimentary: what is good is a proper balance of the two. The teaching is that both are required for creativity - both principles in proper balance are needed in every creation - in every person.

What should we conclude from this? That God is still male? That He has some female attributes? That He is both male and female? That He transcends these human qualities and is neither? These exhaust the possibilities.

It seems to me that in the profound sense, God transcends these distinctions and the ultimate mystery of His nature goes far beyond the qualities suggested by the these terms. Yet insofar as we approach God in terms of our own experience and attribute to Him those qualities we find most valuable in our experience, when we understand God as creative love, it is difficult to see how we can view Him without the images of mother as well as father - love. Creative love requires both the masculine and the feminine dimension. And the creative spirit of God reflects those loving qualities we associate with the maternal as well as paternal images.

The image of God cannot be sexist. God as father shares the maternal instincts of tender concern. The father of that prodigal son in the New Testament story loved his son with a mother’s loving devotion. And I like to think that the lost son came to himself, when he thought of how his actions were hurting his father, when he imagined the tears in his father’s eyes.

I think we should conclude, too, in terms of our own lives in an age concerned with sexist rivalries - that the masculine and feminine principle are not opposed, rather that both should be expressed in the complete person. Winston Churchill was intensely masculine, but he was easily moved to tears of compassion. A macho image is not ideally masculine, it is exploitive; nor is poor little helpless woman ideally feminine. Parental loving concern is a masculine quality and competent creative work is a feminine one. There are sexist elements in our religion, in our Scriptures. God the Father has dominated our thinking and Paul certainly regarded women as the second sex. But there are plenty of images of the motherhood of God - especially in the manger scene - and Jesus shocked everyone by treating women as persons.

The message of the manger is that of God’s creative love and this love is clearly seen in Mary as well as Jesus. It is the profound mystery of God’s creative love which unites all that Mary may well have been sensing - as she kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. So may we keep and treasure and ponder, the wonder of God’s love that passeth all understanding.

1Getting Ready for Christmas

December 2, 1979

L. J. Start

First Baptist Kalamazoo

Once again the Christmas season is upon us. And when we say this, so often it is with a sigh of despair instead of a sense of joy. It seems to be hard work sometimes getting ready for Christmas, because there are all those busy tasks to do. There is the preparing of Christmas lists - lists of family and friends for whom we must shop for gifts; lists of others to whom we must send Christmas greetings - decisions to make on adding to or subtracting from last year’s lists - decisions to make about entertaining friends, planning parties. And do we cut our Christmas tree or buy one cut or finally opt for an artificial one? Tramping through the woods or evergreen nursery sounds like fun, but the difficulty of deciding agreeably on what the best tree is has been known to cause disharmony and sour the occasion. Then there is the decorating of the tree and the inside decorations. And what about outside lights this year. And so it goes - one can get tired out before even wrestling with the hard question of what to get the really important persons on your gift list.

All of these activities can be joys or they can appear as real chores. It all depends on the spirit in which they are done, and the reasons for which they are done. What is essential is to keep in focus, the main point about Christmas. And that is, of course, that on this day Jesus was born in Bethlehem. How sad it is to be so busy getting ready for Christmas, that we forget what it is all for. Or if we don’t exactly forget, we don’t take time to remember what all the frantic preparations are for. We are like that innkeeper long ago on that first Christmas who was so busy taking care of the important guests and necessary tasks that he had no room for the carpenter and his wife. And so we, we must confess, neglect to open the inns of our hearts to the One who is the whole reason for Christmas - because we are so busy with what seem to be more important guests.

There is another reason why so many find it hard work, getting ready for Christmas. And that is, that after so many centuries since the birth of the Prince of Peace, the world seems no nearer to expressing that hope of peace on Earth, good will to men. Particularly today when half a hundred of our fellow countrymen are being held hostage by a hostile nation; when we see powerful interests of international oil companies and a cartel of oil suppliers manipulating world affairs, when the old slogan of an unpopular war, “Peace with honor”, seems now to be changed to “grease and dishonor”, when terrorist tactics appear more successful than diplomatic understanding, - when there seems to be a genuine possibility of war - when all this faces us today, how can we really believe in the message of Christmas? No wonder it is hard for so many to work up enthusiasm for the focus of Christmas.

So perhaps, in this advent season, it would be good to remember some aspects of that first Christmas long ago. We tend to idealize the scene. We think of the beautiful carols, Phillip Brooks’ “little town of Bethlehem - how still we see thee lie - above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by.” “While mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wondering love.” We see shepherds in the fields keeping watch over their flocks, hearing celestial music and seeing the angel of the Lord. As a matter of fact, though, at the same time we know this was a sad and cruel time in this fringe of the Roman empire. People were abroad because they were required to enroll or register for purposes of oppressive taxation. Romans ruled with an iron hand and dealt harshly with any threat to the peace.

This is seen in the scripture reading in the picture of Herod. Herod, responsible for the peace of the empire, is disturbed when he hears of the birth of one born to be king of the Jews. He counsels with the scribes and priests to assess the situation - secretly consults with the Magi, the astrologers recently come from the East following a star, asks them concerning the time the star first appeared - it is an old belief that a new star appears when one destined to be king is born - and then sends them forth to look diligently for the child, saying “When you have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also”.

But the wise men were warned in a dream about Herod and departed into their own country another way. And there is a tradition of the flight into Egypt of Joseph and Mary and the child to escape Herod’s plan to slay the one born to be king. Whether there really was a slaughter of the innocents or not, whether Herod actually had killed any little boys who were born at the time of the star, or not, such an action is consistent with the cruelty and severity of Rome in the treatment of some of her colonies when rebellion was feared.

As we think back on that first Christmas, then, we see that the Star of Hope that wise men followed shone against a world dark with hopelessness, cruelty, suffering and sin. Matthew carefully draws the contrast between Herod as worldly king for the empire and the Christ-child, born to be another kind of king of an empire not of this world. There is Herod on his regal throne and the baby born in a manger. There is the might of imperial power marshaled against a weak infant. There is the cruelty of one who commits infanticide against the spirit of gentleness and love that like an aura surrounds that scene at the inn. There is the craftiness of the political leader, pretending to want to worship, too, when he plans to kill - this pitted against the innocence of a babe and the guilelessness that was Jesus.

But the point of all these contrasts is to show that it is the goodness of God in Christ that survived and survives, and it is the cruel power of Herod’s Rome that declined and fell to judgment in the courts of world history. As Lowell’s hymn puts it, “Though the cause of evil prosper, yet tis truth alone is strong, Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne. Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown standeth God within the shadow Keeping watch above His own.” The light of Christ came into the world - a world of darkness - but the darkness did not put it out.

And that is still the hope as we prepare for Christmas today. The darkness of the world’s suffering, its terror, and techniques of terrorism, it’s exploitation, its conflict - all this darkness cannot extinguish the Star of Hope that shines at Christmas, the light of God that was in Christ, the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

This is the great promise of Christmas that we should cultivate with earnest expectation - a reaffirmation of God’s promise of the victory of love over hate, peace over war, gentleness over cruelty. This is what gives the true spirit of Christmas and confidence in its message.

The wise men of old, the Magi, - interestingly enough, they were probably astrologers from ancient Persia, later identified as Zoroastrian priests, priests of the ancient Persian religion - chose to worship and defend the child and to reject the overtures of Herod. Interesting and ironic in the present context. But this is still the hope of Christmas - that ultimately the light will be chosen, that the men choose darkness because their deeds are evil, but that God draws men to redemption through showing the graciousness of His love in Christ, and by showing how evil brings the fruits of evil, destroying itself.

If we look back at that first Christmas, remember the wise men and ponder who the wise men really are, we will note the following: The wise are those who follow the Star of Hope, and are not frightened by the darkness. The wise believe in the possibility of new beginnings, and follow the light of new possibilities. The wise reject the ways of terror of Herod. The wise believe in the power of God at work in the world, in small beginnings, in the gentle virtues of peace and goodwill. The wise believe in the triumph of good over evil - the wise are those who like the Magi of old after experiencing the Christ-child, go home by another way, live by another way in the spirit of God’s redemptive love.

Christ is born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem means the house or place of bread. And so Jesus of Bethlehem becomes the bread of life. Let us now in our service of communion, get ready for Christmas, by seeking His presence, His peace, His power in our lives as we join together in the Lord’s Supper.