Emily Schaming
We are restored by faith in other people…
I was once involved in a plot to steal a Christmas tree. It wasn't much of a plot, really. I was living in a student house and we were planning a Christmas party. The landscaping company behind our house had set up Christmas tree sales right in our backyard. I said to my housemates, "wouldn't it be great if we had a real tree for our party?" Ever ingenious and entreprenurial, the gentlemen of the household decided that they would take a tree from the lot during the night. A couple of nights later around midnight they set out to liberate a tree. Soon they came back looking sheepish. "We couldn't do it" they said, "what kind of a person would steal a Christmas tree anyway?" As I had been reluctant about the plan all along, I was happy to agree with them that stealing a tree wasn't the best idea. So I said, "I will get us a tree." The next morning I walked back to where the trees were being sold. I figured I could just spend the twenty bucks to get a tree for our party. I introduced myself to our neighbour and asked if we could get a discount on a tree. "Don't be silly," he said, "please help yourself to any tree on the lot, free of charge, it's great to meet neighbours." When I came back to announce my success, my housemates were impressed by my apparent charm and bartering skills, but I knew better. We had seriously underestimated the kindness and generosity of our neighbour. So often we are surprized when someone acts with unexpected generosity.
The refrain of the psalm we read this morning says, "Restore us, O God. Let your face shine that we might be saved."
What is restoration? To be honest, when I think of restoration I think of antique furniture or the people who clean the parliament buildings. It isn't a word that I usually associate with myself or with Christmas. However, the idea of restoring furniture is kind of a nice image for Advent. We are worn out by the year and by the season like an old table or chair that has been used for many generations. During Advent we have the opportunity to restore our faith, to polish the ideas and principles that we value. We can be restored through relationships with other people, our relationships with God and through our acts of faith.
Encounters that restore our faith in other people are much more common than CNN would have us believe. God can come to us at times we least expect it. God can come to us in ways we least expect. And God can come to us through connections with people that we least expect. Last week I was in New York City and trying to navigate the transit system. The New Yorkers I encountered were unstintingly friendly and helpful, making sure that I found the exact stop I was looking for. When a woman who only spoke Spanish needed change on the bus, everyone dug into their pockets to help her out. Our faith in other people can be restored so quickly when people are helpful and kind.
We are restored in our relationships with other people
Do you remember what Christmas felt like when you were very small? I just remember a haze of light from the Christmas tree as my brothers and I crept into the living room to see what was in our stockings on the hearth. I was so used to feeling that warmth and excitement that the Christmas that it didn't come felt awful. I was about 13 and Christmas was just…less exciting. My aunts who used to get me the best presents got me white tights with little hearts on them. This was the era of baggy plaid shirts and ripped jeans. White tights were definitely not on my list. Everything just felt wrong. But over the next couple of years I started to get the warm feeling back. I realized that there were other things that I valued about Christmas. The way the church looked when everyone lit candles and sang ‘Silent Night', the joy of spending a whole day at home with my family, how often does that happen? Singing Christmas carols at the piano after eating my grandma's Christmas pudding. The presents soon made their way to the periphery of my Christmas experience. Christmas was restored to me through the love I share with my family and the value I place on our relationships. God restores us through our relationships with our families and friends. The more we work to build good relationships with other people, the more we are building and restoring a good relationship with God.
A girl I knew in high school became pregnant. She was a regular church-goer, and when the elders of her church found out she was expecting she was made to stand at the front of her church and apologize for her sin. Being an unmarried young woman who finds herself pregnant is not easy in any generation. My classmate felt that no one was there for her, and especially the people she had been taught from childhood to depend on. Happily, once her daughter was born, she received a loving welcome in the church. Despite Joseph's kind reaction toward her, Mary must have felt alone and scared. Who would be on her side? Joseph received an answer to her question in a dream: God would be with her. Jesus, the angel said, would save his people from their sins. Salvation doesn't mean a "Get Out of Hell Free" card. Salvation is something much more, beginning with forgiveness of sins and restoration of fellowship with God and other people here and now. Mary wasn't looking for a reserved seat in heaven. What she needed was the assurance that someone would care enough about her situation, would care enough about her, to show her love and assist her in a time when she was desperate and frightened. And Joseph came through. He took Mary into his house and made her his wife, removing the shame that would otherwise attach to an unmarried woman in that community, and offered her his support for the future. Joseph is a hero in this story, but he wouldn't have acted as he did without prompting from God. Sometimes we want to do the right thing and show compassion for people, but we're worried about what others might say. I am sure that there are many times in our interactions with others that we should speak but are silent. We can choose instead be restored by God in our relationships with other people. Our faith shines through when we choose to deal with difficult situations in our relationships with God's will in mind.
Whether we enjoy spending time at Christmas with family and friends or find ourselves struggling to overcome life's challenges, it is through our connections and interactions with those around us that we are restored and given peace.
We are restored by faith in God's plan
Joseph got an announcement from God when he was going through a difficult time. This is not something we can all count on. It is unlikely that angels will tell us what to do every time we are having problems.
In God's call to us, as in God's call to Joseph, there is a challenge, a challenge that may go to the heart of the biblical call to justice. Very simply, somebody's got to say "yes" to God if the work of restoration and salvation are to begin.
It is a yes to God's power, to God's love working in us. It is God seeking our consent, as Joseph's and Mary's had been sought for the sake of the kingdom, the reign of God's love. It is perhaps a "yes" that God seeks because without our consent, God is powerless, and Advent becomes nothing more than preparation for eating turkey and unwrapping presents. We are restored when we say "yes", when we put faith in God's plan.
It's not always as extreme as it was for Mary and Joseph. Most of us aren't called to be parents of the son of God. But it is important for us to take time to absorb the idea that we must make a conscious decision to be a part of God's plan. It is not enough to float along thinking that we might be heading in the right direction. Instead we are truly restored and contented when we fully commit ourselves to God's love. The birth of love is often difficult and sometimes we must struggle for it but taking a leap of faith and following God's plan for our lives, even if it seems nearly impossible like it did to Mary and Joseph, is worth the effort.
We are restored by acting on our faith
There is a country song called, "The Dad That He Didn't Have To Be." The song is about a little boy whose mother kept dating men who would disappear when they discovered she had a little boy. Then a man showed up in their lives who even invited the boy go along on some of their dates, who became a father to him in every good sense of the word, and married his mother. A line from the chorus says, "I hope that I can be at least half the Dad that he didn't have to be." Joseph didn't have to be a part of the whole situation with Mary. He could have saved himself a lot of trouble, but he didn't. The Bible tells us that he was a righteous man. He accepted the scandal, and the gossip and was willing to act as a righteous man should.
A well known rabbi once said, "A Jew is asked to take a leap of action rather than a leap of thought. He is asked to surpass his deeds, to do more than he understands in order to understand more than he does." What God asked of Joseph was utterly beyond Joseph's comprehension, but Joseph "leaped" anyway. He married Mary. He was willing to listen and then act. He could take immediate action because he was already awake and waiting for God's call.
Acting on our faith is one of the most important ways that we can be restored by God.
We can be a part of the world as Jesus came at Christmas to be a part of the world. Faith can be paired with action so that we are equipped to do things that we do not yet fully understand. Anyone who has spent time volunteering knows what this means. We come to a place, thinking we can help, but come away having learned more than we could ever give. And so often what we learn is unexpected. I started my volunteer work at CHEO unsure of what I could give the families I see there. I soon found that most of what I do is receive. I have learned of the depth of love that parents can have for a sick child, the tenacity and humour of children who have cancer, the patience of children who come every week for kidney dialysis, grandparents who gladly spend hours entertaining their grandchildren while they undergo treatment. Every time I go to the hospital I must deal with more than I can understand. But every time I come away with more understanding about love and courage and hope. If we act on our faith, our faith is restored.
As we look forward to Christmas this week we can take stock of our relationships with other people and with God so that we may earnestly pray, Restore us O God. Let your face shine that we might be saved.
1 All quotations of Scripture, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version.