Here we are on the second Sunday of Christmas exploring danger. The baby Jesus is born, small, frail, tiny and here come the wise men. They stop at Herod's palace to get directions because they know they are lost. Surely he must know about all this and be rejoicing too. He's not, he's power hungry mad and willing to let all suffer for it. Every young male child is killed and Joseph escapes to Egypt. Taking refuge in distance and time.
See none of this is safe. The day to day of our world collides with the good news, the possibility of things being different, with hope and it is dangerous. Because even a small glimmer of hope in the darkest days is not what anyone wants to hear. If Joseph and Mary surrendered to impossibilities what might have happened to Jesus instead. Think of it, we don't have connections, no extra money, and we need to move where? This fast? With no tools, no furniture, no possessions, just baby and ourselves. What about all those left behind? Even if they had doubts we don't get them, even if they had fears we don't get those in this story.
We watched the movie Tomorrowland this weekend. In it the main heroine is exposed to this incredible place that disappears once the time has run out and she finds herself in the middle of the water wanting to go back. Later when she meets up with an older man who is supposed to help her get there she encounters his sense of doom. Even the story starts off that way. How bad this world is, what is going wrong, how we may self destruct. She interrupts him, even contradicts him, and the screens he watches about the destruction of the world suddenly are interrupted. He can't quite believe it yet he takes her to show the ruler of the other land because he believes she is the one who can make a difference in all the doomsday outcomes.
One seed of hope, one small baby, one family who keeps believing what the angels say. Just after the text in Jeremiah we have Rachel weeping for her children, because Jeremiah has parts of the seeds of hope scattered through, even though he predicts Israel's destruction, even through the sorrow, there is hope for things to become different. This is a part of who we are, who we have always been. Planters of seeds, small though they are, to light up a dark world. How will you plant your seeds?
See none of this is safe. The day to day of our world collides with the good news, the possibility of things being different, with hope and it is dangerous. Because even a small glimmer of hope in the darkest days is not what anyone wants to hear. If Joseph and Mary surrendered to impossibilities what might have happened to Jesus instead. Think of it, we don't have connections, no extra money, and we need to move where? This fast? With no tools, no furniture, no possessions, just baby and ourselves. What about all those left behind? Even if they had doubts we don't get them, even if they had fears we don't get those in this story.
We watched the movie Tomorrowland this weekend. In it the main heroine is exposed to this incredible place that disappears once the time has run out and she finds herself in the middle of the water wanting to go back. Later when she meets up with an older man who is supposed to help her get there she encounters his sense of doom. Even the story starts off that way. How bad this world is, what is going wrong, how we may self destruct. She interrupts him, even contradicts him, and the screens he watches about the destruction of the world suddenly are interrupted. He can't quite believe it yet he takes her to show the ruler of the other land because he believes she is the one who can make a difference in all the doomsday outcomes.
One seed of hope, one small baby, one family who keeps believing what the angels say. Just after the text in Jeremiah we have Rachel weeping for her children, because Jeremiah has parts of the seeds of hope scattered through, even though he predicts Israel's destruction, even through the sorrow, there is hope for things to become different. This is a part of who we are, who we have always been. Planters of seeds, small though they are, to light up a dark world. How will you plant your seeds?
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