Isaiah 61:10 and 11; Luke 2: 33,34

New light

We talked about misconceptions earlier.  Our minds and our culture are full of them.  Whenever we get rid of some, we find some new ones.  Great architecture has a way of adjusting our misconceptions of space.  It breaks open the whole idea of what a building can and should look like and what it is supposed to be made of.  It lifts the spirit if done well.  One of the most exciting architecture firms these days is called Sanaa and they are based in Japan.  It stands for Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates.  They are responsible for buildings around the world and they are particularly loved in Europe.  They designed a branch of the Louvre Museum in Northern France.  They are known for opening spaces up. They do this in different ways: in the art gallery you can technically see all the art pieces, but they are hung against small walls or obstacles. The walls are made of a kind of glass that is neither see through or mirror but reflects back dimly, leaving the figures and the objects to your imagination.  They are masters of light and breaking open the divider between outside and inside. Open spaces are made appealing by various contraptions that change height and depth perceptions.  Sejima and Nishizawa are a woman and man team who challenge misconceptions of building.  As modern and groundbreaking as they are, they stand in the Japanese building tradition that can turn a wall that closes off into a large opening that invites nature in just seconds.  Some of that tradition is found in this church.  One thing that makes our social hall such a great space, other than the wood are these tall windows that open up the downtown office buildings.  At one point there was a plan to break down the east side wall of this sanctuary and put in glass door that open up to the courtyard.  It is the same concept that both celebrates the ancient and challenges misconceptions about what a church can look like.

We looked at the text.  In a way it does the same with the message.  It is the art of poetry.  It does with the message what architecture does with space and materials.  It lets us know that the reign of God can be like the most lovely and desirable things in life like jewels and gardens.  The poetry of Isaiah brings out the full lushness of God’s blessings.  It challenges the misconception that religious life is drab and boring.  Mary and Joseph, as Luke describes it, have not really seen what is so special about Jesus and they are amazed at what Simeon sees in the little boy.  It breaks open their conception of childhood and parenthood.  Both Isaiah and Luke both shine brilliant new light on the message of the reign of God and the Messiah.  As the song “In the Bleak Midwinter” says so eloquently:”Heaven cannot hold Him nor can earth sustain, heaven and earth will flee away when He comes to reign.”  The poetry, although it may not accept the exact claims the words make, it does widen our conception of our faith.

Friends, our faith changes our conception of life.  It puts the moments of our lives in a greater perspective of meaning.   If life is moments that come one after another and we have no faith, then they are just separate and not part of a greater picture. They just become moments of joy or sadness or exhilaration or accomplishment, the ones people put on the screen when they remember their loved ones during a memorial service.  As the baker’s wife sings in “Into the Woods:” if life is a series of moments, how do you know you had them at all?”   That’s a good question.  Is our life just a string of moments of different colors put together or is it a part of something greater.  If God’s grace is indeed at work in the world, then every thought and every act and every helping hand has a place within a greater structure of meaning. It can be used and is used by God.  So it may not seem that your faith changes what you have for breakfast or which clothes you will buy at the Macy’s after Christmas sale or that great tie you found to your surprise at Marshall’s, but in its own way it changes everything. It lights it up.  It takes all those moments, connects them and sticks them into a light socket and suddenly your life looks like Union Square in San Francisco which at Christmas time is probably one of the greatest places on this wide earth to be.

So today as we are the Church or a little part of it, let us look at these old walls of this comfortable building and wonder how we can open up this place even more than we have.  How can we let more light in, how can we make it light up more, so that people can get light from it?  This is something you will be talking about in this important year to come.  In order to do so, we will have to challenge our conception of what the Church is and who you are within this church.  It can’t be just filling in the blanks. We will have to think differently. May God bless our congregation and our mission in the New Year.