Matthew, Mark, Luke and Susan
We’re glad you’re here!
Welcome to the weekly blog for Burlington East Presbyterian Church.
First things first: feel free to fill in your name instead of Susan. John might already be taken.
Here, you’ll find a weekly reflection which I hope will give you an opportunity to stop for a few minutes, to see yourself in God’s story of our own lives, of the community, and of creation. We’ll be thinking about what it means to live in God’s love for each of us, to grow as disciples and to follow Christ. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at [email protected].
Looking forward to journeying with you.
Peace in Christ,
Susan
December 19, 2024
Advent 4 Love and Pizza
Luke 2:19
Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.
Mary’s been through a lot.
The pregnancy, the uncertainty before Joseph said he would protect her, the changes she feels in her young body. Thank God for her cousin Elizabeth who walked with her. Then a long, forced journey and no place to have her baby, away from family support.
It’s hard to imagine how exhausted she must have been, but many women and families all over the world go through this every day. The world doesn’t stop just because the Son of God makes an entrance.
I wrestle with this story about Mary and teenage pregnancy and why God wouldn’t have made things a lot easier for those who were supposed to be favoured. We have these pictures of angels and things look glorious, but the bottom line is that the world didn’t halt for a young girl who was doing what God wanted her to do, and her road was far from easy. Maybe that’s part of our lesson here: perhaps we as Christians are to work and listen for God’s presence in a world that isn’t easy, a world where we need to listen, think deeply and look around us because the love of God doesn’t just come in brilliantly lit Hallmark moments.
It’s more like pizza delivery.
Pizza delivery always seemed to be magic when I was growing up because the pizza people knew where you lived, and the pizza was so good and hot. For us, it was an unusual event. Everyone in the house knew it was coming, but when it showed up in reality, the smell and taste were so much better because we had been waiting for it for a whole–well–30 minutes. And inevitably, it would arrive just as we were doing something else.
Jesus’ arrival is like that. It’s not fancy, the world doesn’t stop, but for hundreds of years people were waiting for God to come, and when God came, it was so good to those who were ready for the delivery. There was joy. Jesus came when the world was busy doing everything else, through the people who were willing to work God the most to the people who needed to know God’s love the most.
There’s another side to pizza delivery. It’s not only like Jesus’ arrival, it’s the way we can keep God’s love going. At our church, the Sunday school kids decided where to put our nativity figures for church this year. They said Mary and Joseph should be in the kitchen because they would have been hungry. We keep a few pizzas in the church fridge for youth group or anyone who might need one, but Mary and Joseph sure could have used one. We’re not sure if they got anything to eat that night.
The world didn’t stop and put out a banquet just because the Son of God arrived, though the angels tried to at least launch a PR campaign. But there were needs in Jesus’ world, and God knew who needed to hear that news first. Mary sings about who those people are in Luke 1. Maybe we need to be more aware of who needs pizza. According to Luke, they are the people God is working through to bring God’s message to the world. There is not a whole lot of show in delivering pizza. It usually is the blessing in the middle of everything else that is swirling around us in the moment. We only realize how good it is when we stop, and eat, and think about it.
God does not wait for things to be convenient. God does not wait for grand moments on a stage, but comes where God is needed most, in the middle of everything else that is going on.
So let me ask a question Mary might have asked throughout her pregnancy (besides all of the other things she was dealing with):
What am I keeping in my heart as I wait for God to come?
What am I keeping in my heart when God does come, and I see what is changing around me?
This Christmas, may you know the love of God coming where you least expect it to be, and may that love fill your heart.
Peace in Christ,
Rev. Susan
Photo and content © Susan Kerr 2024. May not be reproduced or circulated without permission of the author.
December 11, 2024
Advent 3 Joy and the Big Scene
To think about: Luke 2:8-20
It would’ve been chaos.
Sheep falling over, dogs barking, bright lights, snoring shepherds stretching and yelling, angels singing. It has all the makings of a rock concert gone horribly wrong. One angel voice tries to get a message across and it seems the heavenly sound system isn’t working; the shepherds are still running all over the place, scared by the lights. Who knows what’s going on with the terrified animals?! Maybe it wasn’t just the sheep hiding behind the plants….
And out of this chaos comes some instructions:
Not “Please proceed to the nearest exit”.
Not “You are doomed!”
Not “You’ve won the lottery!”
Just “Don’t be afraid. I’ve got good news.”
How long do you think it took for that to sink in?
And while it did, what’s happening to the sheep, their livelihood? The animals probably didn’t even belong to them–usually shepherds cared for the animals of rich landowners, and if an animal was lost, they would have to pay back the owner with their own wages or go into debt. The animals had to be protected. But the shepherds weren’t always the most reliable characters in those days.
But the angels still speaks.
Don’t be afraid.
How often, when we are in the middle of chaos, or stress, or a multitude of choices, do we hear “Don’t be afraid” but just keep going and ignore what’s said after because we believe what we have going on in the moment can’t wait?
The instructions continue: Here is the next part in your story. Here’s where to find the baby, here’s the way you’ll recognize him. What’s interesting is the angel never says to the shepherds, “You have to go!” The angel never says “Stop what you’re doing, leave the sheep and listen to this!” The angel comes to the shepherds while they are working, and gives them information. The shepherds hear the angel chorus, all of heaven so pent up with excitement that they send the whole group to sing for the shepherds–and now the shepherds are listening.
They aren’t afraid. But they do need to talk about it.
I love the line “The shepherds said to one another”. They haven’t been told what to do with this good news—only how to recognize Christ. The invitation to meet Jesus in this kind of unrestrained joy isn’t a command. It’s an invitation. As we talked about in the first devotion with Philip and Nathaniel, God invites first. Come and see. And in this case, for the shepherds: Here’s what you’re looking for to find this news of great joy.
This week, we light the Advent candle of joy. A light that says joy is here, and joy is coming. Christian joy does not stop and gaze, and shut out what is going on in the world. Joy is given, but what we do with that joy is a choice. It’s the same for the shepherds. What happens next is one of the greatest moments in the story, I think. The shepherds choose what to do with God’s offered joy.
Welcome to shepherd strategic planning 101.
- First, they agree on a plan. Let’s go. (Apparently, they believe the sheep are going to be ok on their own. Or maybe the sheep are no longer a priority.)
- Second, they act on the plan. They go to see Jesus–to make sure that what they have been told about is real.
- Third, they talk about it. Market it. Share it. Unashamedly, enthusiastically, making the whole town buzz with the news, spreading it around the other shepherds.
And so the joy God sent grows.
I wonder what we would do.
Would we say “We’ll get to it tomorrow, have to take care of the sheep tonight. “
Would we want to stay out on the hills because whatever is going on in that manger is so weird we’ll have no part of it?
Would we just keep the joy to ourselves, knowing that the angel message is good, and we’re past fear, but there’s no rush? The kid is just a baby. We can see him later.
Would we go, and see the baby, and go back home? Or would we run, see, go and tell because this is just too good not to share?
The thing is, God often comes in the middle of our work, in the middle of everyday life, and sometimes that coming causes chaos before we settle into the joy. Sometimes God has to tell us, I’m interrupting, but look, don’t be afraid. This is good news. I need your attention here. I’m going to tell you what to look for that will bring you more joy.
Then we need to decide what to do with the joy that’s offered.
This week, may you be blessed with surprising moments of God’s joy in the middle of your work. And may you have the courage to share those moments with someone else.
Peace in Christ,
Rev. Susan
Photo and content © Susan Kerr 2024. Shepherd and Sheep finger puppets by Peruvian artist, unknown, Ten Thousand Villages. May not be reproduced or circulated without permission of the author.