OUR VULNERABLE GOD
by Joseph Holub

I'll never forget when we brought our infant son David home from the hospital. I remember the first time I laid him down on his changing table to do the diaper thing, and he looked up at me.  It was then it hit me, like a ton of bricks, that I was responsible for this tiny, fragile, vulnerable human life. 

This new little life that was before me wearing dirty diapers was totally vulnerable in every way.  Without us he could not survive.  His well-being depended on us, young parents with no experience!  Infant David was the epitome of vulnerability. Without the swaddling clothes of care, love, nourishment, touch, and protection the infant David would have perished.    

"And she gave birth to her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger…" Luke 2:7 

The Christian Faith has the audacity to claim, that the God of the universe chose to shed completely the prerogatives of power, prestige and invincibility and express himself in the complete vulnerability of a baby.   It's preposterous if you think about at all!       

We handle our vulnerability by spending a lifetime putting on protective armor, but it is not so with Jesus.  Like us, Jesus was born vulnerable, but unlike us for his entire life and ministry he lived without the protective armor we cherish.  He was the most alive and whole person that ever lived.  His love never turned cynical or bitter or condescending.  He never lost his unequivocal trust in God his father, even at his life's most difficult moments.  When he was betrayed and denied he responded with grace and forgiveness.  He never became numb and indifferent to the need and pain that existed around him.   

He remained open to those that all others had rejected and written off.  The lepers that everybody avoided and feared, he touched becoming ritually unclean himself.  The prostitutes and tax collectors that the community scorned, he went out of his way to pursue.  The sick and dying, beggars and blind that lay along the streets that most people past by without even noticing, he brought healing and acceptance.   In those last final hours when the whole world had turned on him, even his best friends, he was faithful to love's prerogatives to the end speaking the most remarkable words even to be heard, "Father, forgive them."

In the stories he told about himself, he was frequently the vulnerable character.  He is like the Samaritan who attended to the needs of the man who had been mugged and left to die along the side of the road; ignored by the priest and Levite. (or maybe he most resembled the man in the ditch)  He is like the shepherd who is willing to risk the dangers of the wilderness to find the one sheep gone astray.  He is like the loving father, who even after his son has left home and made a whole series of devastating sinful choices that yielded compound negative interest, still waits ready to embrace him.  

All of us have been wounded in some profound way by life, and we bear the marks of those wounds in our souls.   Every one of us struggles to cope with all that has happened.  We wonder if there is a love in this universe in which we can rest back, be accepted, healed and empowered.

         I'm here to tell you that there is a love like that that burns for you. There is a heart that beats passionately like that for you.  That love is lying in a manger in this vulnerable little child. 

         Don't be afraid.  Don't draw back. Come!  Take him into your very being!  Invite him into your soul.   Let him wrap his swaddling clothes of healing grace and forgiveness around your deepest wounds.  Lay him in the manger of your heart.  Let him love you, heal you, empower you to not be afraid to go and be in the world wrapping the swaddling clothes of His love around others.

Post Election Musing
by Joseph Holub

 Contrary to what some believe, I believe a political party cannot usher in the kingdom of God.  For a party to think it can is the mountaintop of mass self-delusion. 

 I wouldn't go so far to say that the republic was saved on November 7, 2006, but I do think the shift in the balance of power is potentially a healthy development that could change the course of  dangerous trends established over the past six years. 

 Since 2000, one party has had control of the executive and legislative branches of the government, a potentially dangerous thing if left unchecked.  Since 2000 I have seen  troublesome trends emerging.  We have record deficits.  There has been an epidemic of scandals, dishonesty and lack of truth telling.  The constitution, if anything, has been weakened and undermined.  The President has attached more "signing statements" to bills than all of the previous presidents combined.  Legislation for environmental protection has been relaxed and in some cases not enforced.  We have a quagmire of a war that is exacting a huge toll in human life and financial resources.  The number of people living in poverty in America, especially among children, has increased.  Many social programs have been cut in the name of saving money with total disregard for uncontrolled spending in other areas.  Salaries among corporate executives have increased dramatically while the earning power of the average worker has not.  We have seen thousands of jobs exported outside of our boundaries.  Health care costs are out of control. The country is more polarized than I have seen it since the 1960's.  We’ve seen an attitude of self-righteous indignation towards those who disagree with even the patriotism of those who disagree being called into question.  There has been a pervasive attitude among the party in power that could be expressed, "It's our way or hit the highway."   Even the outgoing Secretary of Defense got in one last shot when he said that no one really understands or appreciates the complexities of the war but he and few others.  How arrogant and presumptuous can one be? 

 I believe these kinds of trends are inevitable when one party is calling most or all of the shots over an extended period of time without a counter-balance of power to keep them honest.  Regardless of party affiliation, it is human nature to grasp for power, as much power as possible.  And, it is human nature to abuse power once power is attained. 

 What excites me about the results of the November 7th election is that the counter-balance has been restored.  What I discern to be dangerous emerging trends have a chance of being interrupted, and in their place an opportunity for more equal and honest dialog over the issues that will hopefully result in good public policy.   I believe  sound public policy that helps the most people arises out of honest dialog, exchange of differing ideas and compromise. 

 It seems to me that the post November 7th configuration of the executive and legislative branches of government might represent a higher percentage of the population and a broader spectrum of opinion on the issues than before November 7th.  The executive branch, being Republican and right of center certainly represents a huge number of Americans.  Likewise, the legislative branch with the slim majority being Democrat and more left of center also represents a huge number of Americans.

Three cheers for the republic!  Hooray for democracy!  Once again it self-corrected and counter-balanced dangerous emerging trends and has created a new possibility for meaningful dialog and relevant action among policy makers. 

 God does not reside with a political party, but God resides in a process when the two primary parties of this country commit to sit down together, look each other in the eye, become truly involved with each other and forge public policy that serves the most Americans, especially the poorest and weakest among us. 

 I am somewhat hopeful again, not because the Democrats gained power, but because democracy worked and better balance is restored. 

 I will pray that our elected leaders will put the inflammatory rhetoric away and begin to do some good, solid bipartisan work for the common good and the good of the world. 

JESUS TRAVERSED THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED
by Joseph Holub

 “’Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done.’  In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling on the ground.”   (Luke 22:42, 44)

I saw someone sweat blood once!  I was in high school P.E. class and we were in the midst of a wrestling unit.  There were two very strong kids in my class who were arch rivals.  The day came when they were to wrestle each other.  One of the kids had a very light complexion with platinum blond hair.   The two went at it.  It was more than merely a wrestling match.  It was a fight for self-esteem and bragging rights.  Towards the end of the match the platinum blond kid found himself in a hold that had almost pinned him to the mat.  To escape, he gave it one final mighty effort to loosen the grip of his opponent.  Perspiration was running off his face.  Then I saw it.  The sweat running down his face was pink!  He was exerting himself so hard that his sweat contained blood! 

 Luke tells us that Jesus prayed so hard that his “sweat became like great drops of blood.”  Jesus went to the Mt. of Olives that last night before his crucifixion to pray.  And this was no simple bed-time prayer.  This was praying at the deepest depths.  Before he even went to Jerusalem he knew what lay in store for him.  He knew that it was inevitable that he would be killed.   But he went anyway.  In the garden at the base of the mount of Olive, he prayed to his Father that if it was possible for this “cup” to be removed from him may it be so.  But in the end he yielded to His Father’s will. 

 Immediately following, Judas led the authorities to Jesus, and they seized him and took him away.  You know the rest of the story.  When I reflect on this story, I cannot help but think of Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Less Traveled.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood    And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood     And looked down one as far I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth    I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence     Two roads diverged in a wood

And I took the one less traveled by    And that as made all the difference.

 Jesus took The Road Less Traveled.  Jesus chose the road that “bent into the undergrowth.”   And it “made all the difference.”   It made all the difference for you and me.  His journey to the cross secured salvation.  His journey to the cross reconciled us with God through the forgiveness of sins.  His journey to the cross sets us free to be God’s people in the world.  His journey to the cross was the victory of love over hate, good over evil.

 Which road do you most often travel in your faith journey?  Do you most often opt for the beaten path, the road more traveled, the road that is free of risk and sacrifice?  Or, like our Lord, do you follow him down The Road Less Traveled, the harder road of love, sacrifice and risk all for His sake, the One who took the Road Less Traveled for you?

Bono's Remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast

click for an audio remark

If you're wondering what I'm doing here, at a prayer breakfast, well, so am I. I'm certainly not here as a man of the cloth, unless that cloth is leather. It's certainly not because I'm a rock star. Which leaves one possible explanation: I'm here because I've got a messianic complex.

Yes, it's true. And for anyone who knows me, it's hardly a revelation. Well, I'm the first to admit that there's something unnatural...something unseemly...about rock stars mounting the pulpit and preaching at presidents, and then disappearing to their villas in the south of France. Talk about a fish out of water. It was weird enough when Jesse Helms showed up at a U2 concert...but this is really weird, isn't it?

You know, one of the things I love about this country is its separation of church and state. Although I have to say: in inviting me here, both church and state have been separated from something else completely: their mind.

Mr. President, are you sure about this?

It's very humbling and I will try to keep my homily brief. But be warned - I'm Irish.

I'd like to talk about the laws of man, here in this city where those laws are written. And I'd like to talk about higher laws. It would be great to assume that the one serves the other; that the laws of man serve these higher laws...but of course, they don't always. And I presume that, in a sense, is why you're here.

I presume the reason for this gathering is that all of us here - Muslims, Jews, Christians - all are searching our souls for how to better serve our family, our community, our nation, our God. I know I am. Searching, I mean. And that, I suppose, is what led me here, too.

Yes, it's odd, having a rock star here - but maybe it's odder for me than for you. You see, I avoided religious people most of my life. Maybe it had something to do with having a father who was Protestant and a mother who was Catholic in a country where the line between the two was, quite literally, a battle line. Where the line between church and state was...well, a little blurry, and hard to see. I remember how my mother would bring us to chapel on Sundays... and my father used to wait outside. One of the things that I picked up from my father and my mother was the sense that religion often gets in the way of God.

For me, at least, it got in the way. Seeing what religious people, in the name of God, did to my native land...and in this country, seeing God's second-hand car salesmen on the cable TV channels, offering indulgences for cash...in fact, all over the world, seeing the self-righteousness roll down like a mighty stream from certain corners of the religious establishment...

I must  confess, I changed the channel. I wanted my MTV. Even though I was a believer. Perhaps because I was a believer. I was cynical...not about God, but about God's politics. Then, in 1997, a couple of eccentric, septuagenarian British Christians went and ruined my shtick - my reproachfulness. They did it by describing the millennium, the year 2000, as a Jubilee year, as an opportunity to cancel the chronic debts of the world's poorest people. They had the audacity to renew the Lord's call - and were joined by Pope John Paul II, who, from an Irish half-Catholic's point of view, may have had a more direct line to the Almighty.

'Jubilee' – why 'Jubilee'? What was this year of Jubilee, this year of our Lord's favor? I'd always read the scriptures, even the obscure stuff. There it was in Leviticus (25:35)...'If your brother becomes poor,' the scriptures say, 'and cannot maintain himself...you shall maintain him.... You shall not lend him your money at interest, not give him your food for profit.'

It is such an important idea, Jubilee, that Jesus begins his ministry with this. Jesus is a young man, he's met with the rabbis, impressed everyone, people are talking. The elders say, he's a clever guy, this Jesus, but he hasn't done much...yet. He hasn't spoken in public before... When he does, is first words are from Isaiah: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,' he says, 'because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.' And Jesus proclaims the year of the Lord's favour, the year of Jubilee (Luke 4:18).  What he was really talking about was an era of grace – and we're still in it.

So fast-forward 2,000 years. That same thought, grace, was made incarnate - in a movement of all kinds of people. It wasn't a bless-me club... it wasn't a holy huddle. These religious guys were willing to get out in the streets, get their boots dirty, wave the placards, follow their convictions with actions...making it really hard for people like me to keep their distance. It was amazing. I almost started to like these church people.  But then my cynicism got another helping hand.

It was what Colin Powell, a five-star general, called the greatest W.M.D. of them all: a tiny little virus called AIDS. And the religious community, in large part, missed it. The ones that didn't miss it could only see it as divine retribution for bad behaviour. Even on children...even [though the] fastest growing group of HIV infections were married, faithful women.

Aha, there they go again! I thought to myself judgmentalism is back! But in truth, I was wrong again. The church was slow but the church got busy on this the leprosy of our age. Love was on the move. Mercy was on the move. God was on the move. Moving people of all kinds to work with others they had never met, never would have cared to meet...conservative church groups hanging out with spokesmen for the gay community, all singing off the same hymn sheet on AIDS...soccer moms and quarterbacks...hip-hop stars and country stars. This is what happens when God gets on the move: crazy stuff happens!

Popes were seen wearing sunglasses! Jesse Helms was seen with a ghetto blaster!  Crazy stuff. Evidence of the spirit. It was breathtaking. Literally. It stopped the world in its tracks. When churches started demonstrating on debt, governments listened - and acted. When churches starting organizing, petitioning, and even - that most unholy of acts today, God forbid, lobbying...on AIDS and global health, governments listened - and acted.

I'm here today in all humility to say: you changed minds; you changed policy; you changed the world. Look, whatever thoughts you have about God, who He is or if He exists, most will agree that if there is a God, He has a special place for the poor. In fact, the poor are where God lives.

Check Judaism. Check Islam. Check pretty much anyone. I mean, God may well be with us in our mansions on the hill. I hope so. He may well be with us as in all manner of controversial stuff. Maybe, maybe not. But the one thing we can all agree, all faiths and ideologies, is that God is with the vulnerable and poor.  God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war.  God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them. "If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom with become like midday and the Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places."

It's not a coincidence that in the scriptures, poverty is mentioned more than 2,100 times. It's not an accident. That's a lot of air time, 2,100 mentions. (You know, the only time Christ is judgmental is on the subject of the poor.) 'As you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me' (Matthew 25:40). As I say, good news to the poor.

Here's some good news for the president. After 9/11 we were told America would have no time for the world's poor. America would be taken up with its own problems of safety. And it's true these are dangerous times, but America has not drawn the blinds and double-locked the doors. In  fact, you have doubled aid to Africa. You have tripled funding for global health. Mr. President, your emergency plan for AIDS relief and support for the Global Fund - you and Congress - have put 700,000 people onto life-saving anti-retroviral drugs and provided 8 million bed nets to protect children from malaria.

Outstanding human achievements. Counterintuitive. Historic.  Be very, very proud. But here's the bad news. From charity to justice, the good news is yet to come. There is much more to do. There's a gigantic chasm between the scale of the emergency and the scale of the response.

And finally, it's not about charity after all, is it? It's about justice. Let me repeat that: It's not about charity, it's about justice. And that's too bad. Because you're good at charity. Americans, like the Irish, are good at it. We like to give, and we give a lot, even those who can't afford it. But justice is a higher standard. Africa makes a fool of our idea of justice; it makes a farce of our idea of equality. It mocks our pieties, it doubts our concern, it questions our commitment.

Sixty-five hundred Africans are still dying every day of a preventable, treatable disease, for lack of drugs we can buy at any drug store. This is not about charity, this is about justice and equality. Because there's no way we can look at what's happening in Africa and, if we're honest, conclude that deep down, we really accept that Africans are equal to us. Anywhere else in the world, we wouldn't accept it. Look at what happened in South East Asia with the tsunami. 150,000 lives lost to that misnomer of all misnomers, "mother nature." In Africa, 150,000 lives are lost every month. A tsunami every month. And it's a completely avoidable catastrophe. It's annoying but justice and equality are mates. Aren't they? Justice always wants to hang out with equality. And equality is a real pain. You know, think of those Jewish sheep-herders going to meet the Pharaoh, mud on their shoes, and the Pharaoh says, "Equal?" A preposterous idea: rich and poor are equal? And they say, "Yeah, 'equal,' that's what it says here in this book. We're all made in the image of God." And eventually the Pharaoh says, "OK, I can accept that. I can accept the Jews - but not the blacks." "Not the women. Not the gays. Not the Irish. No way, man."

So on we go with our journey of equality. On we go in the pursuit of justice. We hear that call in the ONE Campaign, a growing movement of more than 2 million Americans...Left and Right together... united in the belief that where you live should no longer determine whether you live.

We hear that call even more powerfully today, as we mourn the loss of Coretta Scott King - mother of a movement for equality, one that changed the world but is only just getting started. These issues are as alive as they ever were; they just change shape and cross the seas. Preventing the poorest of the poor from selling their products while we sing the virtues of the free market...that's a justice issue. Holding children to ransom for the debts of their grandparents...that's a justice issue. Withholding life-saving medicines out of deference to the Office of Patents...that's a justice issue. And while the law is what we say it is, God is not silent on the subject. That's why I say there's the law of the land¿. And then there is a higher standard. There's the law of the land, and we can hire experts to write them so they benefit us, so the laws say it's OK to protect our agriculture but it's not OK for African farmers to do the same, to earn a living? As the laws of man are written, that's what they say.

God will not accept that. Mine won't, at least. Will yours?

[pause]

I close this morning on...very...thin...ice. This is a dangerous idea I've put on the table: my God vs. your God, their God vs. our God...vs. no God. It is very easy, in these times, to see religion as a force for division rather than unity.

And this is a town - Washington - that knows something of division. But the reason I am here, and the reason I keep coming back to Washington, is because this is a town that is proving it can come together on behalf of what the scriptures call the least of these.

This is not a Republican idea. It is not a Democratic idea. It is not even, with all due respect, an American idea. Nor it is unique to any one faith. 'Do to others as you would have them do to you' (Luke 6:30). Jesus says that.

'Righteousness is this: that one should...give away wealth out of love for him to the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and the beggars and for the emancipation of the captives.' The Koran says that (2.177). Thus sayeth the Lord: 'Bring the homeless poor into the house, when you see the naked, cover him, then your light will break out like the dawn and your recovery will speedily spring fourth, then your Lord will be your rear guard.' The Jewish scripture says that. Isaiah 58 again.

That is a powerful incentive: 'The Lord will watch your back.' Sounds like a good deal to me, right now.

A number of years ago, I met a wise man who changed my life. In countless ways, large and small, I was always seeking the Lord's blessing. I was saying, you know, I have a new song, look after it; I have a family, please look after them;. I have this crazy idea... And this wise man said: stop. He said, stop asking God to bless what you're doing. Get involved in what God is doing - because it's already blessed.

Well, God, as I said, is with the poor. That, I believe, is what God is doing. And that is what he's calling us to do.

I was amazed when I first got to this country and I learned how much some churchgoers tithe. Up to 10% of the family budget. Well, how does that compare with the federal budget, the budget for the entire American family? How much of that goes to the poorest people in the world? Less than 1%.

Mr. President, Congress, people of faith, people of America: I want to suggest to you today that you see the flow of effective foreign assistance as tithing.... Which, to be truly meaningful, will mean an additional 1% of the federal budget tithed to the poor. What is 1%? 1% is not merely a number on a balance sheet. 1% is the girl in Africa who gets to go to school, thanks to you. 1% is the AIDS patient who gets her medicine, thanks to you. 1% is the African entrepreneur who can start a small family business thanks to you. 1% is not redecorating presidential palaces or money flowing down a rat hole. This 1% is digging waterholes to provide clean water. 1% is a new partnership with Africa, not paternalism toward Africa, where increased assistance flows toward improved governance and initiatives with proven track records and away from boondoggles and white elephants of every description.

America gives less than 1% now. We're asking for an extra 1% to change the world. to transform millions of lives - but not just that and I say this to the military men now ¿ to transform the way that they see us. 1% is national security, enlightened economic self-interest, and a better, safer world rolled into one. Sounds to me that in this town of deals and compromises, 1% is the best bargain around.

These goals - clean water for all; school for every child; medicine for the afflicted, an end to extreme and senseless poverty - these are not just any goals; they are the Millennium Development goals, which this country supports. And they are more than that. They are the Beatitudes for a globalised world.

Now, I'm very lucky. I don't have to sit on any budget committees. And I certainly don't have to sit where you do, Mr. President. I don't have to make the tough choices.

But I can tell you this:To give 1% more is right. It's smart. And it's blessed.

There is a continent - Africa - being consumed by flames. I truly believe that when the history books are written, our age will be remembered for three things: the war on terror, the digital revolution, and what we did - or did not do - to put the fire out in Africa. History, like God, is watching what we do.

Thank you. Thank you, America, and God bless you all.

The Coming of Jesus in Our Midst
by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.”   - Revelation 3:20

When early Christianity spoke of the return of the Lord Jesus, they thought of a great day of judgment. Even though this thought may appear to us to be so unlike Christmas, it is original Christianity and to be taken extremely seriously. When we hear Jesus knocking, our conscience first of all pricks us: Are we rightly prepared? Is our heart capable of becoming God’s dwelling place?

It is very remarkable that we face the thought of God coming so calmly, whereas previously peoples trembled at the prospect.

We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God’s coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God’s coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable and forgetting the serious aspect; that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us. The coming of God is truly not only glad tidings but, first of all, frightening news for everyone who has a conscience.

Only when we have felt the terror of the matter, can we ever recognize the incomparable kindness of God. God comes into the very midst of evil and of death, and judges the evil in us and in the world. And by judging us, God cleanses and sanctifies us and comes to us with grace and love. God makes us happy as only children can be happy.

God wants to always be with us, wherever we may be – in our sin, in our suffering and death. We are no longer alone; God is with us. We are no longer homeless; a bit of the eternal home itself has moved into us.

One day, at the last judgment, he will separate the sheep and the goats and will say to those on his right: “Come, you blessed…I was hungry and you fed me…” (Matt. 25:34). To the astonished question of when and where, he answered: “What you did to the least of these, you have done to me…” (Matt. 25:40).

With that we are faced with the shocking reality: Jesus stands at the door and knocks. He asks you for help in the form of a beggar; in the form of a ruined human being in torn clothing. He confronts you in every person that you meet. Christ walks on the earth as your neighbor as long as there are people. He walks on the earth as the one through whom God calls you, speaks to you and makes his demands. That is the greatest seriousness and the greatest blessedness of the Advent message. Christ stands at the door. He lives in the form of the person in our midst. Will you keep the door locked or open it to him?

Christ is still knocking. It is not yet Christmas. But it is also not the great final Advent, the final coming of Christ. Through all the Advents of our life that we celebrate goes the longing for the final Advent of God.

Advent is a time of waiting. Our whole life, however, is Advent – that is, a time of waiting for the ultimate, for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth, when all people are brothers and sisters and one rejoices in the words of the angels: “On earth peace to those on whom God’s favor rests.” Learn to wait, because he has promised to come. “I stand at the door…” We however call to him: “Yes, come soon, Lord Jesus!” Amen.