Expectations

Index - Posting 09 & 16 January 08 Vol. 1.2

…I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation…Psalm 5:3 NIV

Vicaring has its challenges. Often I am assumed to be a “bog standard” vicar, conforming to the traditional stereotype with a conservative theology. My colour becomes invisible and my culture submerged into what passes for normal in southern England. Rarely do I encounter people who do not carry some basic assumptions, even among clergy. I often find folk who profess to having no faith or non-Christian ones to be less rigid in their thinking and more appreciative of difference and diversity. Perhaps it is not surprising then, that whilst the Christmas message is swathed in images that are counter to the prevalent religion and culture of the day, they are often underplayed, silenced or ignored in many church traditions.

My previous Posting mentioned the Magi from present day Iran. Prophets from a different religion who today would be considered non-Christian, even pagan. Yet their attendance at Christ’s birth is a central theme of the Nativity. Or the presence of the shepherds, who were lacking in societal status even within the peasant class. Let us not forget Mary. She was “under-aged” in contemporary terms, perhaps fourteen years old and pledged to a man, old enough to be her father. Like many of us, she conceived out of wedlock and her child, again like many of us, did not have a legal father. In those days, she and her child would have been viewed with disgust and socially ostracised as some of us may be today. The stigma attached to her circumstances could have meant her being stoned to death, such was the level of disgrace. So Jesus was born into a highly stratified society with strict gender roles and complex codes of conduct, with severe penalties for those who transgressed. For some his birth was shameful and for others, a threat to the political and religious establishment. For others he was a beacon of Light and a symbol of God’s love for us. How can a single event provoke such contrary images and expectations? Why did God behaviour so unexpectedly and out of character by violating the required social and religious codes of the day? It would have increased the probability of Christ being accepted as the Messiah, if the circumstances of his birth had met the normal requirements of acceptability. What had God to gain by going outside the box and acting contrary to all expectations? Are all miracles dependent on the unexpected? I am reassured to know my God doesn’t do “normal” and that we are, in all of our diversities, well within the boundaries of being made in the image of God. No social or religious stereotyping of who is, or is not acceptable to God, can rob us of our spiritual lineage with Christ. Nor can our “unexpected” behaviours separate us from the love of God. The impartiality of the Divine covers all of us, whether we fit in or not. We should follow our hearts and never be afraid of being different or of acting contrary to what is expected of us. We cannot love ourselves if we deny who we are, and live for others, including church folk.

Scripture is full of characters who failed to fill the prescribed roles assigned to them based on their gender, culture, sexual or emotional orientation or social status. Christ embodied them all through his character, his upbringing and his relations with others. He refused to treat women as mere property, he healed everyone regardless of their culture, orientation and faith. He touched those considered to be ceremoniously unclean through hardship or disease. Yet there were pious folk who saw him merely as an illegitimate child, born of fornication. Again we read in John’s gospel that he was even accused of having a demon and being a Samaritan! So why do we worry about what others think? The radiance of Christ’s light is still within us, shining brightly. God continues to caste a reassuring mantle over us – protecting our freedom to be ourselves in Christ.

In this freedom Christ has made us free and completely liberated us; stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery which you have once put off…For we, not relying on the Law but through the Holy Spirit's help, by faith anticipate and wait for the blessing and good for which our righteousness and right standing with God our conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action, causes us to hope. For if we are in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love. Galatians 5:1, 5-6 Amplified (edited)

May the Holy Spirit of God continue to honour your requests by actions of unexpected abundance.

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