A YouTube Advent Calendar: December 18

On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on the one who struck them, but will lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. For though your people Israel were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. For the Lord GOD of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in all the earth.

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: O my people, who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they beat you with a rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. For in a very little while my indignation will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. The LORD of hosts will wield a whip against them, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb; his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. On that day his burden will be removed from your shoulder, and his yoke will be destroyed from your neck.

-      Isaiah 10:20-27

There’s no use denying that the Bible is full of images of God destroying things … and people. God’s anger burns hot, then abates. God punishes, then forgives. This was the experience and interpretation of the people of Ancient Israel, and it has come to us through the generations. Whether or not we believe it today, it’s right there in the books we treat as Holy Scripture, divinely inspired.

We can choose to write it off, or we can take it as part of the package and find it helpful. We all remember the experience of our own parents’ anger and forgiveness. It may seem silly to attribute these wild emotional swings to God: aren't these frail human emotions beneath the Creator of the Universe? Yes, in a way, they are. But when we’re talking about God, metaphors are all we have. And we also believe that God understands us so intimately that, between us and God, there isn't really a between.

That leaves us understanding very little. But I hope we can all agree that life as human beings is both messy and wonderful.

I don’t believe God throws anyone onto the fire whole. I do believe God will and does burn away that which is useless and destructive in us, and that may well feel like punishment. To have our toys taken away and destroyed is no fun. But if those toys are destroying us, can we blame the divine parent? It turns out, rather, that our pain and frustration lead to our salvation.

One of my favorite Christmas albums is John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together. On it, John Denver sings a duet with Robin, the little nephew of Kermit the Frog. Far deeper than anything you would expect on a children’s album, the song gives us images of hope and justice, perfect for an Advent season that still is not over. The song also promises that someday we will finally understand the mysteries that plague us today. Here’s “When the River Meets the Sea.”

A YouTube Advent Calendar: December 8

Then I said, "How long, O Lord?" And he said: "Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is utterly desolate; until the LORD sends everyone far away, and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land. Even if a tenth part remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak whose stump remains standing when it is felled." The holy seed is its stump.

-      Isaiah 6

Disaster is all around us. Where is our deliverance? Where is justice? How long must we wait?

We lose the ones we love—to disease, to violence, to natural disaster.

Advent is a time of waiting—waiting for the Messiah, waiting for the one who will save us and be our king. The king who was coming into the world is still coming … a deep mystery. How long must we wait?

In 2006, U2 and Green Day teamed up for an anguished anthem about Hurricane Katrina: “The Saints Are Coming.”

And way back in 1971, John Lennon urged us to “Imagine” a different world.

Too many people live their lives trying to get to heaven, as if anything they did could earn them a ticket. Too many people try to avoid hell, as if they could avoid God’s judgment completely. Ironically, this excessive focus on the afterlife often leads to fear, hate, and the mistreatment of others -- whether it's Al-Qaeda or Fred Phelps. What if we took heaven and hell out of consideration? How would we live our lives then?

Religion can be defined not simply as all human dealings with God, but more narrowly as the useless systems we create to try to "get right" with God ... not realizing that God already loves us infinitely, and that nothing can change that. What if we really believed this? How would it change the way we act toward God and toward everyone else on the planet?

John Lennon was assassinated thirty years ago today. Remember him in your prayers. Remember the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Remember Elizabeth Edwards. Pray for all those God is calling you to pray for.

The holy seed is its stump. Something new will grow from the ashes of our lives’ disasters. How long will it take? Wait for it.

A YouTube Advent Calendar: December 7

But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labor among you, and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you; esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the faint hearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.

-      1 Thessalonians 5

One of my favorite cartoons shows a group of European Pilgrims arriving at Plymouth Rock only to discover that the Native Americans are constructing a giant wall to keep them out. The explanation? “They say we won’t learn their language or assimilate into their culture.”

In September, the Episcopal House of Bishops met in Arizona for their annual meeting. During their time there, the bishops took a trip to the Mexican border. Bishop Mark Beckwith of Newark wrote this reflection.

I learned a lot about these issues myself on a 2009 pilgrimage to Skagit Valley, Washington, where migrant workers live right in our backyard in third-world living conditions. These conditions are allowed to continue because those who live there are afraid to speak out for fear of being deported. They want to feed their families. They want to give their children a chance for a better life. Many people in our country illegally were brought here as children, unable to determine their own immigration status. Many people have also been lured here by false promises from corporations that offered them work in exchange for a green card--then reneged and had them deported before they could be paid.

My friend Jackie Grove submitted a song idea for this Advent calendar, and I think it’s most appropriate for reminding us of the aliens who work among us, whom both our Old and New Testaments urge us to respect and embrace. Here are Queen and David Bowie, together in 1982 with “Under Pressure.” “Splits a family in two … puts people on streets … Love dares you to care for the people on the edge of the night, and love dares you to change our way of caring about ourselves … This is ourselves, under pressure.”

It is time to extend social justice to at least some of those who, for one reason or another, are in our country illegally. It is not a simple, black-and-white matter of lawbreaking. Read here about the DREAM Act, which could come up for a vote in the Senate and the House soon. This is a very timely way you can defend from injustice those who cannot defend themselves.

A YouTube Advent Calendar: December 3

O my people, your leaders mislead you, and confuse the course of your paths. The LORD rises to argue his case; he stands to judge the peoples. The LORD enters into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: It is you who have devoured the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor? says the Lord GOD of hosts.

-    Isaiah 3

The Bible shifts back and forth in emphasizing judgment on those in power and sustenance for those who are oppressed. One clear message handed down to us by our ancestors is that God expects us to take care of each other rather than exploit each other. When God is portrayed as angry, it’s almost always because this isn’t happening.

The #1 sign of a godly society is not a government-mandated faith … not radical individual freedom … not the Ten Commandments posted on government property … but social justice lived out every day. The people are free, but the people choose to use their freedom in service to those who have less. They hold themselves accountable to God and to each other.

The ancient heroes, like Moses and Noah, are heroes because they did God’s will. They had their doubts and struggles, but they put God’s wishes ahead of their own.

In 1985, a new band called the Hooters released a strange, compelling song about Moses and Noah … and zombies. Who are the zombies in this song? I think they are those who doubt, who fear, who hurt, and who suffer. The singer shouts to them: “You don’t have to hide anymore! All you zombies, show your faces.” Here are the Hooters with “All You Zombies.”