Title: "Putting on Christ"

Scripture: Isaiah 2:1-5, Romans 13:11-14

11/28/04 First Sunday of Advent, Year A

Rev. Joy R. Haertig

The season of Advent (the four weeks before Christmas) is a time when we can name what it is we wait for in our dreams, in our deepest hopes. It is a season in which we are inspired to check in with ourselves and see if in our waiting and dreaming we are active and creative or avoiding them. It is a season that cycles around year after year giving us another opportunity to consider what it might mean for Christ to be born in and through us to a world in need of Spirit; in need of hope, peace, joy and love.

The Medieval German Christian mystic, Meister Eckhart wrote: "We are all meant to be mothers of God, for God is always needing to be born." Surely that is a powerful image of one of his dreams and deepest hopes.

During this season I will search for a dream or two that I hear in the scriptures and bring them to you for our reflection, trusting that the dreams and deepest hopes of our foreparents will have something to say to us today in our dreaming and hoping.

In today's two scriptures I chose two dreams to reflect on. The first one is in Isaiah, a wonderful dream of a time when people will turn their whole lives towards God and will "beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

The second one is from Paul's letter to the Roman's when he dreams of our putting on the armor of light, to live honorably and to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

First, Isaiah's dream:

We know that war can be beneficial to an economy, it can create jobs and fuel capitol. We also know the other side of what war can do to an economy, to a people, to the environment. Isaiah's dream, fueled by his belief in a God that wills peace, is to see his people choose to take the weapons of war and make them into agricultural instruments. Instruments that can turn the earth and plant the seed that makes the grain, that is ground into meal, sold in the market and made into bread that feed all people as they gather at the table. Truly a creative process that involves everyone in transformation! Isaiah's dream is that God's people will refuse to fuel economies through war, that gives more wealth to the rich and exploits the poor and instead fuel an economy in a way that benefits the common good.

This week I discovered a nonprofit organization in San Francisco called "Swords into Plowshares" that has been serving veterans since 1974. (I know there are others like them in Washington as well.) Their mission statement reads: "War causes wounds and suffering that last beyond the battlefield. Our mission is to heal the wounds, to restore dignity, hope and self-sufficiency to all veterans in need, and to significantly reduce homelessness and poverty among veterans." They are doing amazing work with the veterans in the San Francisco area through their drop-in center, residential center at the Presidio, through direct training and job referrals and by providing free attorney representation to cut through the red tape of getting benefits. An organization like this one is vital as long as we continue to practice war. But it seems plain wrong to me that so many of our men and women that serve in this way struggle with mental health issues, homelessness, unemployment and family conflict after their return.

Does this really have to be the price of freedom? Isn't an economy created to serve the people rather than the people created to serve the economy?

The only way that Isaiah's dream can become realized is by believing it is not a fantasy, but a true possibility and to be willing to risk the creative process and cost of transformation.

General George Lee Butler was willing to risk his own creative process of transformation. Butler was the Commander of the US Strategic Air Command during the first Bush administration. A man of deep faith, he found himself in a process of personal re-examining and now calls himself a "nuclear abolitionist". At a time when nuclear capabilities are on the rise around the world it gives me a bit of hope to learn that this "nuclear abolitionist" is currently a consultant to the current Bush administration.

Isaiah's dream is one to ponder during this season of Advent – how does his dream speak or not speak to you? Could it be more than just a fantasy?

The second dream for today is from Paul's letter to the Roman's when he dreams of our putting on the armor of light, to live honorably and to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul likes to use "putting on" metaphors, which reflects his awareness of how dress impacted the cultures in which he lived and visited. The Roman's used their clothing, jewelry and hair to signify age, wealth and status. I had fun studying two web sites on Roman clothing and discovered the subtle but distinct differences in the togas which boys and men wore and the armor, which distinguished the common soldier from his commander.

Women's dress was fairly basic so they reflected their differences through their hairstyles and jewelry. Some of the hairstyles were incredibly elaborate and it would take a woman's slave many hours to get the hairpins and curls in just the right places. There was one style that if you looked at the woman from the front she might be 5 feet 7 due to the stacks of hair, but if you look at her from the back she would only be 5 feet 3.

When Paul writes that women should cover their hair in church and not wear jewelry, this was in response to how adorning was not just for fun or beauty but to distinguish between the "haves and the have not". Men as well adorned themselves with heavy jewelry, particularly rings made of gold and rare stones.

Paul believed that the church was a place of humility not for measuring status. Worship was a time to set aside those kinds of priorities for the priorities of the heart and soul thus the use of terms like "putting on Jesus Christ" or the "armor of light" like we heard in today's reading.

"Putting on Christ" or "the armor of light", are metaphors that can help us go from the outside in. (Unlike clothing which is all about the outside.) They are metaphors to help us dream about what it might look like if we were to live as Jesus lived, if we are to live in such a way that the living Christ is born in us.

To "put on Christ" is to reflect on and claim the freedom and the obligation that God's love imposes on our lives.

What is that freedom? In Christ we recognize that we are not the One in control – we are freed from the agony or the deception of trying to control what is uncontrollable. We are free from measuring our self-worth by those things that fade like beauty and wealth. We are freed from shame because we are made in God's image and deeply loved.

What has God freed you from?

To "put on Christ" is to also dream about what God's love has obliged us to. We are obliged to live out the two greatest commandments: To love the Lord our God with our whole heart, mind and body and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. What does that look like?

We are obliged to respond to another's needs in a way that is healthy for the one in need and for ourselves.

We are obliged to work for the common good. We are obliged to care for the planet and to recognize its vulnerabilities and protect its beauty.

To "put on Christ", as Paul says, is to live honorably as a citizen of the family of God and to influence others that they might do the same.

Troy Chapman wrote in a brief article in the Nov/Dec edition of The Other Side magazine that we must "trade our impulse to control for a desire to influence. We can't make life or people do what we want. What we can do is influence them. And nothing influences people more toward goodness then love." He continues: "If love seems impotent, it's only because we've starved it of our creativity, energy, and respect, choosing instead to pour these into [violence] and control."

Never underestimate your power to influence others towards goodness no matter who you are.

To "put on Christ" is a creative act of love when faith becomes a lived experienced.

How do you "put on Christ" in your life?

Isaiah dreamed of individuals and nations directing their minds, hearts and actions towards God; he dreamed of them choosing to creatively transform their weapons into instruments for the harvest of goodness and life.

The Apostle Paul dreamed of individuals and communities taking off their cloaks of vanity, status and power and putting on the cloak of Christ, the armor of light. Wonderful dreams that call forth creativity and action even while we wait for them to be fully realized.

Do their dreams trigger any of your own? What dream do you wait for in winter darkness that might call forth your creativity and action?