I've been doing a lot of decorating for Christmas this past week. I've got a white-and-gold color scheme going, with lots of glitter. For two days in a row, my face twinkled with gold glitter -- so much so that my 5-year-old granddaughter, Harper, called it to my attention. Harper loves glitter, and apparently, so do I. At the same time, I've been battling whatever allergy gunk is in the air, alternating between reaching for a Kleenex when I'm draining and reaching for the Afrin to decongest. My head is filled with an extra five pounds of excess fluid, and I'm not sleeping well. It's been an "Afrin and Glitter" sort of week.
What's an "Afrin and Glitter" sort of week? It's when you are almost to the brink of despair, overwhelmed with darkness in the midst of something wonderful and marvelous. Here it is the Advent season, when we prepare our hearts to again celebrate God breaking into our world through a baby in a manger. I should feel hopeful! And even if I can't get excited about re-celebrating the birth of the Christ Child, I should at least be looking forward to the joy of being surrounded by the love of family -- not to mention vicariously participating in the anticipation of my three grandchildren younger than 10.
But the fog of the Afrin has me missing the sparkle of the glitter. I seem to be stuck in the muck. The divisiveness in our country exhibited through the election, and the polarization of the American people has me depressed about the future of our nation and concerned for those already marginalized. And the Razorbacks losing to Missouri didn't help my funk any.
So where do I turn for comfort or direction when the love and support of my family just isn't enough? The first place I should turn: To God, and God's word.
Luke is my favorite Gospel, and in preparing for a Bible study a few weeks ago, I read the entire book in two sittings. The intensity of Luke's interpretation of Jesus' ministry is striking when read without interruption, and it was immediately obvious to me why it's always been my favorite of the four Gospels. In Luke -- more so than in any other Gospel -- Jesus came, so God could heal God's people. It makes sense when you think that Luke himself is reported to be a physician and is the Gospel writer who names Jesus as "the great physician."
The Jesus in Luke's gospel aligns himself with the poor and marginalized against the rulers of both the government and church. It is a dark time in the history of the people of Israel, and Jesus the Christ came to bring light through a radical new alignment with God. Jesus chooses to befriend the outsiders and outcasts of his time: women, those outside the faith (Gentiles), repentant sinners (tax collectors), the poor and those long-suffering with illness who were avoided by "all the decent people in town."
Only in Luke is Jesus placed in a manger (Luke 2:7). In Matthew, the angel of the Lord speaks to Joseph (Matthew 1:20), and Magi come to pay Jesus homage (Matthew 2:1-12). In Luke, the angel speaks to Mary (Luke 1:26-38), and it is shepherds who come to worship him (Luke 2:8-20), while Mary ponders all of these things in her heart. Jesus' message in Luke repeats that of the prophets who had foretold him: He invites the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind (Luke 14:13), chastising the governmental and church leaders caught up in their own power. Luke is the only Gospel writer to share Jesus' parables of the "The Prodigal Son" (Luke 15:11-32) and "The Good Samaritan" (Luke 10:25-37), which emphasize God's immeasurable love and grace and how broad we are to interpret who we are called to love.
The message of Luke is fairly simple: (1) We are a broken people in need of God's healing -- which we cannot get through governments, pious living or the structures of church rules. (2) Through the power of the Holy Spirit, and embodied by Jesus the Christ, God reaches out to us in love to transform the brokenness of the world. (3) God's priorities are not what we experience as priorities n the world around us -- which is the brokenness Christ came to heal.
Luke's Gospel speaks of an "Afrin and Glitter" world. We are broken, in need of some type of medicine to heal us, and Jesus heals and shares the glittering glimpse of the Kingdom of God. Yes, it is often depressing to look around this world and see so much brokenness -- not just within the electoral college or the rest of our political system and nation, but also in the food insecurity, poverty and homelessness in our own community and in the world; in the centuries-long bitter hatred between peoples, and in the self-centered, constant desire for more in the human heart that drives us to belittle and push down others so we can have more and feel better about ourselves.
When I washed the glitter off of my face this week, I was sad to see the sparkle swirl down the drain -- as the bottle of Afrin sat close on the bathroom counter. I give thanks to God that the ever-lasting sparkling light that is Jesus Christ is not -- and will not ever be -- overcome by the darkness of this world, only obscured. This Advent, I pray all of us will be filled with the hope of Jesus Christ and the glittering transformation that is possible through God's message of healing love.
NAN Religion on 12/03/2016