in time the snow will rise
in time the lord will rise
This story really begins about 50 years earlier. When God’s chosen people, Israel, were defeated by Babylon.
Babylon had sacked their capitol city and razed their national cathedral. In a final act of indignation, Babylon deported their leading citizens away into exile. Forcing them to live as foreigners in a foreign country…
…And the truth is, although we’ve never been led away by force, we CAN relate to this. Those times when we’re so down and out, it feels like we’re a foreigner, a stranger to our own lives.
Sometimes we especially feel like that during this time of the year.
…One of my favorite musicians, Sufjan Stevens, has released two, five album Christmas box sets! That’s a lot of Christmas music; 10 albums!
As fun and quirky as all the music is, the story behind it is even better.
For Sufjan Christmas was usually the time all the drama of his family life came out. He tells this story of getting his brother socks for Christmas. He got him socks because as a prank Sufjan cut all the toes off his brother’s socks, and now in the cold of winter he felt guilty about it.
But, as often happens when kids are cooped up too long, he and his brother started fighting.
His parents though, already on the edge, trying to get everything done and get all the gifts on a limited budget, were already on the edge. After a couple of days of this, his mom couldn’t take it any longer, and threatened them with no Christmas. To add teeth to her threat, she grabbed a gift from under the tree and threw it in the fire!
It just so happened to be, though, the socks Sufjan got for his brother! Sad as that was, the socks Sufjan bought were the cheap, mostly acrylic ones!
Before long the house was filled with noxious fumes of burning plastic! The family had to evacuate and spend a couple hours in the could, waiting for the house to fumigate.
For Sufjan, it was moments like that, that encapsulated everything that was wrong with Christmas. So, when he moved out, he swore never to have anything to do with the holiday. When invites came along, he’d ignore them.
…It doesn’t take much for us to feel like a stranger in our own lives. Does it? All it took for Sufjan was a few bad memories, and then every time Christmas rolled around, he became an exile in his own life…
…And that was the fate of God’s people for about half a century.
But then, in a stunning turn of affairs, Babylon, was defeated by Persia! And Persia allowed the Israelites to return home! Just like that!
They knew it wouldn’t be an easy journey back and that there was plenty of rebuilding waiting for them. But, they also knew if they could just put in the work, then they could get their life back on the rails.
…And that’s what we do, too. Isn’t it? When we’re in dire straights, we do everything we can to get our lives back on track.
…God’s people began humbly, pouring the foundation. With a little moxie they were able to ensure they were building on the original site of the temple!
After a little while, they even started up a little worship service!
As the whole enterprise began to pick up steam, a grand cornerstone laying ceremony was planned!
Church historians combed through the records to find the historic temple dedication ceremony. Denominational big-wigs were invited. The church musicians rehearsed for months.
It took over half a year of planning, but they managed to get everything ready! On the big day people came from near and far to witness the spectacle!
The service began right on time. On cue, the trumpets blasted!
The priest, decked out in their finest vestments, began the holy liturgy. “God is good,” they beautifully intoned. In one voice the congregation roared back, “God’s steadfast love endures forever.”
Then the percussion crashed!
And at that point, everyone knew what was going to happen next; God’s glory was going fill the place!
…Only, it didn’t.
What happened was, nothing! Nothing happened!
…Boy, can’t we relate to that, can’t we?
We’ve all poured time and energy into some project, certain it would fix everything. Only, when the moment of truth came, it was all too apparent all our efforts were for nothing.
…Well, the freshly minted priests tried to keep the service moving, inviting the congregation to sing an old, beloved hymn. But even that couldn’t hide the fact that something had gone wrong.
…As the congregation sang the chorus, another sound rose up.
The wail of grief was so loud, in fact, it nearly drowned out the chorus.
“Many wept with a loud voice when they saw this house, though many shouted aloud for joy so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping.”
…Ouch.
That’s us on any given Sunday. Isn’t it? We’re always a mixed crowd here. Some of us come on top of the world, some of us come here buried by it.
And it’s not just the congregation, is it? It’s also us.
We, ourselves; we are also a mixed bag, too. At any moment our voices can be filled with grief, just as easily as they could be filled with joy. And more often then, not the two mix so thoroughly you can’t even tell the difference; joy or grief. Grief or joy.
…So many had been so certain if they could just put in the work, then everything would be alright. That life would go back to normal.
Only, it didn’t.
…The hardest part of existence has to be the futility of our efforts.
The strange fact that cause does not always equal effect. That all too often the relationship between cause and effect seems to be altogether broken.
In Romans 8: 20 (p.150 NT) St. Paul says, “…for the creation was subjected to futility…” Futility!
Creation, this world, our lives; it’s all been subjected to futility!
The reason our efforts don’t always cause the effect we plan for, is because God has subjected the whole enterprise to futility! It’s not supposed to work!
As as you read on, Paul tells us creation has been subjected to futility, not in punishment, BUT hope! Hope!
Hope that we would be set free! Set free from the bondage of cause and effect. Free from the bondage of having to save ourselves, and instead obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God! (Rom. 8:21)
Sufjan’s story continues; he kept living as if Christmas were not a holiday through college and as he got his first job. When he roommates went back home for Christmas, he stayed behind and lived as if it were any other day.
One day he was making what young men on a limited budget know how to make, instant pancakes. Over the course of the meal, he got distracted and left his plastic spatula on the griddle!
After a while, the plastic melted, and then began to burn! In an instant his apartment was filled with the fumes of burning plastic!
And that smell brought him back to all those memories of Christmases back home. But this time, instead of reviling him, it comforted him!
Then and there Sufjan decided he wanted to celebrate Christmas with his family!
But he didn’t have any gifts! So, as a budding musician, he made his family a homemade Christmas album!
He recorded old Christmas carols, and there he found, story after story, not of perfects Christmases, but story after story of the God who meets us in the midst of our futility!
This is the hope of God! That hidden in our futility, we might receive salvation! Freedom from the bondage of cause and effect! Freedom from a burden we were never meant to bear anyway!
God’s glory did fill the temple that day. But it filled it in blessed way, through futility! And hidden in that futility was the unfailing hope of God!
Just like hidden in your futility is the hope of God.
When all your efforts come to nothing, you are finally free to receive EVERYTHING!
You have been subjected to futility. And hidden in that futility it the hope of God, Jesus Christ! Jesus, the one who looked like a failed messiah. But who, in his death, won salvation!
When cause doesn’t equal effect, you are closer to salvation than you know! You are closer to Christ than you know!
It’s the third week of Advent, and that means the margins are getting thin.
If you haven’t already bumped into the futility of it all, then it’s coming.
And that’s the Good News; the futility your life has been subjected to, not of your own will, but of the will of the one who subjected it in hope.
Hope.
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