Divine Naivete
Sermon
Hope Beneath the Surface
Cycle A First Lesson Sermons for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany
Object:
If you ask a child for his favorite Christmas carol, you'd better be ready! He just might say, "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town." Well, you do know it, don't you?
You'd better watch out, you'd better not cry
Better not pout I'm telling you why:
Santa Claus is coming to town.
He's making a list, checking it twice,
Gonna find out who's naughty or nice
Santa Claus is coming to town.
He knows when you've been sleepin'
He knows when you're awake
He knows when you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake.
Oh, you'd better watch out, you'd better not cry,
Better not pout I'm telling you why:
Santa Claus is coming to town.
Some Christmas carol, right? Does anyone disagree with the fact that there are some secular songs which have snuck into our Christmas carol repertoire which only too accurately reflect the secular contamination of the Christian faith? "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" is just one. I'll mention another in a moment.
Today is the first Sunday after Christmas and the last Sunday in the year. All of these are good reasons to clear our minds of at least one contaminant which is polluting our holy Gospel.
We have been plumbing the depths of the rich book of Isaiah the prophet and today I want us to look at chapter 63. One of the characteristics of Isaiah, as well as other prophetic literature of the Old Testament, is that on the one hand God is quoted as being ready to destroy the people of Israel for their disobedience, and on the other hand God is there to save them and love them.
This is because of the close relationship between God's hatred of evil, no matter who commits it, and God's unending love and forgiveness of those caught up in such evil.
In chapter 63 is a marvelous verse, verse 8: "Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely."
Listen to that verse! Just listen to it. "Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely." After centuries and centuries of idolatry and unfaithfulness, after centuries of turning their backs on anything holy, after centuries of going through the motions of religion without carrying it out in their lives ... after all that, the holy God, who knows all, sees all, from whom nothing escapes notice, says something like this, "Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely." Who's the Lord trying to kid? Hasn't the Lord checked out recently what the people of God have been up to and into? What an incredible divine naiveté!
I love the story about the man who found his way into church one day for the first time. He had a long police record; he was on drugs and was on a downward spiral. He plopped himself down in the back of the church to see what it was all about.
The theme of the service that day was conversion and forgiveness and the pastor asked people who had stolen things in the course of their lives to stand; then he asked people who had been on drugs and people who were recovering alcoholics to stand. The pastor went on and on listing a whole variety of sins till virtually everyone in the sanctuary was standing. The man in the back told someone later that he thought to himself at that point, "Boy, these are my kind of people!"
After all those members and friends in that congregation were standing, confessing these many and various sins, would their pastor have said to anyone, "... these are my people, children who will not deal falsely, people who will not sin"? Of course not. He might truly forgive them and rejoice at their repentance, but he would be, well, naive, to suggest that these folks would not sin. Who could trust his judgment again if he made such a claim, knowing full well that they could not be trusted to walk the straight and narrow?
Compare if you will the difference between our song about wonderful Santa Claus, before whom one must be perfect or tremble, and the Lord God, who embraces imperfect creatures, acting as though they had done nothing wrong.
The parable of the Prodigal Son might better be called the parable of the Loving Father. It was Jesus' way of communicating the amazing love and forgiveness, even apparent naiveté, of a loving father, a God-like father. He surely knew his son would waste his precious inheritance, yet was willing to give it to him, and more amazing still was waiting with open arms to receive him when he came home, destitute, ashamed, and broken.
Don't you see? Don't you hear? The world knows nothing of this. The world only knows of Santa Claus, who doles out gifts to those who are "good."
It's time to sing our second song. I'm sure you know "Rudolph, The Red-nosed Reindeer."
Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer, had a very shiny nose;
And if you ever saw it, you would even say it glows.
All of the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names;
They never let poor Rudolph, join in any reindeer games.
Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say:
"Rudolph, with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"
Then all the reindeer loved him, as they shouted out with glee:
"Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer, you'll go down in history!"
A man by the name of Bill Kincaid of Ann Arbor, Michigan, had this to say about this song: "Did you know that one of the most morally dangerous and damaging songs is a Christmas tune?" Guess which song he was referring to? You got it: "Rudolph, The Red-nosed Reindeer." Now you probably want to know why. Here is what Mr. Kincaid said:
"Then the other reindeer loved him," the song says. Not until Rudolph was approved by the authority figure Santa, not until Rudolph had proven that his disability could actually be useful, not until he had done something heroic was Rudolph, with all his differences and disabilities, accepted!
Quite a thought, isn't it? Love and acceptance in this world tends to be conditional, and the terrible thing around Christmas time is that that ungodly secular tendency has crept into our Christmas songs. You won't find it, though, in our carols. And you won't find it in the heart of God.
Judgment is a part of the divine equation, but we are reminded by Jesus himself that it is not for us to judge (Matthew 7:1f). It is only for us to love. Even the church has gotten into the Santa Claus and Rudolph mentality sometimes. "Look out for the scary God who will get you if you're not good." How different from, for example, Saint Paul's words in Romans, chapter 5:8: "But God proves his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us."
God sent us Jesus to express the Lord's amazing divine naiveté, which loves us so much that sins are overlooked enough for us not to get stuck in defensiveness and guilt, so that we might have the heart, the self-esteem, and the motivation to keep trying and keep growing in our walk with the Lord and our neighbor.
Christmas, the birth of Jesus, and the Gospel he came to live and teach is, indeed, good news. It's the result, the fabulous, unbelievable result, of a love beyond our comprehension. A divine naiveté that saves and heals us. Thanks be to God!
You'd better watch out, you'd better not cry
Better not pout I'm telling you why:
Santa Claus is coming to town.
He's making a list, checking it twice,
Gonna find out who's naughty or nice
Santa Claus is coming to town.
He knows when you've been sleepin'
He knows when you're awake
He knows when you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake.
Oh, you'd better watch out, you'd better not cry,
Better not pout I'm telling you why:
Santa Claus is coming to town.
Some Christmas carol, right? Does anyone disagree with the fact that there are some secular songs which have snuck into our Christmas carol repertoire which only too accurately reflect the secular contamination of the Christian faith? "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" is just one. I'll mention another in a moment.
Today is the first Sunday after Christmas and the last Sunday in the year. All of these are good reasons to clear our minds of at least one contaminant which is polluting our holy Gospel.
We have been plumbing the depths of the rich book of Isaiah the prophet and today I want us to look at chapter 63. One of the characteristics of Isaiah, as well as other prophetic literature of the Old Testament, is that on the one hand God is quoted as being ready to destroy the people of Israel for their disobedience, and on the other hand God is there to save them and love them.
This is because of the close relationship between God's hatred of evil, no matter who commits it, and God's unending love and forgiveness of those caught up in such evil.
In chapter 63 is a marvelous verse, verse 8: "Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely."
Listen to that verse! Just listen to it. "Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely." After centuries and centuries of idolatry and unfaithfulness, after centuries of turning their backs on anything holy, after centuries of going through the motions of religion without carrying it out in their lives ... after all that, the holy God, who knows all, sees all, from whom nothing escapes notice, says something like this, "Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely." Who's the Lord trying to kid? Hasn't the Lord checked out recently what the people of God have been up to and into? What an incredible divine naiveté!
I love the story about the man who found his way into church one day for the first time. He had a long police record; he was on drugs and was on a downward spiral. He plopped himself down in the back of the church to see what it was all about.
The theme of the service that day was conversion and forgiveness and the pastor asked people who had stolen things in the course of their lives to stand; then he asked people who had been on drugs and people who were recovering alcoholics to stand. The pastor went on and on listing a whole variety of sins till virtually everyone in the sanctuary was standing. The man in the back told someone later that he thought to himself at that point, "Boy, these are my kind of people!"
After all those members and friends in that congregation were standing, confessing these many and various sins, would their pastor have said to anyone, "... these are my people, children who will not deal falsely, people who will not sin"? Of course not. He might truly forgive them and rejoice at their repentance, but he would be, well, naive, to suggest that these folks would not sin. Who could trust his judgment again if he made such a claim, knowing full well that they could not be trusted to walk the straight and narrow?
Compare if you will the difference between our song about wonderful Santa Claus, before whom one must be perfect or tremble, and the Lord God, who embraces imperfect creatures, acting as though they had done nothing wrong.
The parable of the Prodigal Son might better be called the parable of the Loving Father. It was Jesus' way of communicating the amazing love and forgiveness, even apparent naiveté, of a loving father, a God-like father. He surely knew his son would waste his precious inheritance, yet was willing to give it to him, and more amazing still was waiting with open arms to receive him when he came home, destitute, ashamed, and broken.
Don't you see? Don't you hear? The world knows nothing of this. The world only knows of Santa Claus, who doles out gifts to those who are "good."
It's time to sing our second song. I'm sure you know "Rudolph, The Red-nosed Reindeer."
Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer, had a very shiny nose;
And if you ever saw it, you would even say it glows.
All of the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names;
They never let poor Rudolph, join in any reindeer games.
Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say:
"Rudolph, with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"
Then all the reindeer loved him, as they shouted out with glee:
"Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer, you'll go down in history!"
A man by the name of Bill Kincaid of Ann Arbor, Michigan, had this to say about this song: "Did you know that one of the most morally dangerous and damaging songs is a Christmas tune?" Guess which song he was referring to? You got it: "Rudolph, The Red-nosed Reindeer." Now you probably want to know why. Here is what Mr. Kincaid said:
"Then the other reindeer loved him," the song says. Not until Rudolph was approved by the authority figure Santa, not until Rudolph had proven that his disability could actually be useful, not until he had done something heroic was Rudolph, with all his differences and disabilities, accepted!
Quite a thought, isn't it? Love and acceptance in this world tends to be conditional, and the terrible thing around Christmas time is that that ungodly secular tendency has crept into our Christmas songs. You won't find it, though, in our carols. And you won't find it in the heart of God.
Judgment is a part of the divine equation, but we are reminded by Jesus himself that it is not for us to judge (Matthew 7:1f). It is only for us to love. Even the church has gotten into the Santa Claus and Rudolph mentality sometimes. "Look out for the scary God who will get you if you're not good." How different from, for example, Saint Paul's words in Romans, chapter 5:8: "But God proves his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us."
God sent us Jesus to express the Lord's amazing divine naiveté, which loves us so much that sins are overlooked enough for us not to get stuck in defensiveness and guilt, so that we might have the heart, the self-esteem, and the motivation to keep trying and keep growing in our walk with the Lord and our neighbor.
Christmas, the birth of Jesus, and the Gospel he came to live and teach is, indeed, good news. It's the result, the fabulous, unbelievable result, of a love beyond our comprehension. A divine naiveté that saves and heals us. Thanks be to God!
