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Streams of Living Water: The Charismatic
Stream
Rev. Nancy Gowler Johnson
Puyallup First Christian Church (Disciples
of Christ)
December 24, 2006
The sky was dark… not the kind of darkness
you and I are used to here nowadays, when
the glow from all of our modern day lights
keeps the dark sky from ever being truly
dark. No this was deep darkness; all of the
lights of the village had been put out for
the night… and up in the sky the stars
twinkled against their ebony canvas.
In the stillness of the night, the sounds of
the shepherds keeping watch over their flock
by night could be heard.
A fire crackles and flickers… as they pass
the wee hours of the night together.
We tend to romanticize shepherds, maybe it’s
our years of experience with young children
dressed in bathrobes holding shepherds
crooks in countless Christmas pageants. But
these guys are not to mess around with.
They’re a tough lot… living out in the
hills… along the edges of the wilderness…
Always on alert for danger, facing constant
threats from wild animals and bandits…
Shepherds would have to be quick with a
weapon… ready to defend themselves and their
flocks against all sorts of predators.
They were looked down upon as a lower class…
often viewed as nothing more than
irresponsible thieves who grazed their sheep
on the land of others…
The job was hard, with long hours and little
pay. Family responsibilities were difficult
to manage. Because they were away from home
both day and night most shepherds would have
been unable to protect their wives and
children, and this lapse of defense would
have only added to their dishonor in
society.
Shepherds were legally considered outside
the law… disreputable… they were not allowed
to hold any office… the testimony of a
shepherd was useless in court because of
their stereotypical dishonesty….
In other words, they were not angelic choir
boys, but rather the bad boys of the
Palestinian countryside. Rough fellows,
none too pleasant to be around… a rowdy
group much more likely to be blaring an old
Merle Haggard tune like “Mama Tried,” than
being caught dead listening to a symphony of
Beethoven or God forbid, Handel’s Messiah.
Why do you think the writer of the gospel of
John refers to Jesus as the Good Shepherd?
‘Cuz most of them weren’t!
It was a hard life, with few comforts,
little money and virtually no respect.
And in the darkness they sit, half asleep,
still on alert for signs of danger,
surrounded by the sounds of the night, a
blinding light from the heavens broke into
the midst of this unsavory collection of
ragamuffins. In confusion they fall to the
ground. What could it be but the very glory
of the Lord? These rough and tough grown
men are rooted to the ground, shaking with
fear.
In the bright light an angel of the Lord
spoke to them saying, “Do not be afraid.”
Easier said than done, they must have
thought. As if sensing their uneasiness,
the angel continued, “Look, I’m bringing you
good news of great joy for everyone! In the
city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah,
the Lord, has just been born. Go and see.
You will find a child wrapped in bands of
cloth and lying in a manger.”
Before they could ask for directions, or
even just a name, or an address, a whole
choir of angels filled the skies singing
praises to God. As the darkness returned
and the harmonies faded, the shepherds
rubbed their eyes and shook their heads.
“Did you see what I just saw?” they asked
one another. As the meaning of what had
just happened to them sunk in, they began to
run… until they reached the village and
found the newborn baby wrapped tightly in
swaddling clothes just as their mysterious
visitor had told them.
It was a night of all nights… the shepherds
were amazed at everything had happened to
them… and they glorified God on their way
back, telling everyone they met what they
had just seen and heard.
It was a night of wonder and awe, joy and
amazement.
The gospel of Matthew makes no mention of
shepherds. There are no stories of angelic
pronouncements to working class
sheepherders. No sounds of glory to God in
the highest and on earth, peace goodwill to
men. It is only the gospel of Luke that
offers us this striking turn of events.
Only in Luke would the first outside
witnesses to the birth of the Messiah be
shepherds - whose testimony would be tossed
out of any court. Only Luke would transform
weather-hardened men into heralds of the
good news of the birth of a baby boy.
For you see Luke sees the coming of God to
the world in Jesus as a topsy-turvy event.
Everything we have come to expect in this
world will be transformed, turned upside
down. God is coming for God’s people, Mary
sings after the angel’s pronouncement to
her, and the rich will be made poor, the
mighty will be brought low, and the lowly
will be exalted.
The shepherds would dance and sing and the
revelation of God’s love because they never
could have imagined in a million years that
God would come and bless, of all people,
them. Unexpected. Unimaginable. Surely
the angel of God would visit a great poet or
songwriter… someone who could craft the
message in such a way that the whole world
would want to sing along.
Angels we have heard on high, sweetly
singing o’er the plain.
Or if not to a poet, at least to a great
ruler, one who could make a mighty
proclamation, share the news with the world.
Or if not to the mighty Caesar, at least to
a good religious man, someone whom everyone
would trust and believe…
No, the angels of the Lord came with all the
glory of God surrounding them, to sing for
shepherds… the lowest of the low, the
discounted and disorderly.
Today as we anticipate the hushed silences
of Christmas Eve, we turn our attention to
the charismatic tradition of Christian
spirituality. The word charismatic comes
from the Greek word charism, which
means gift.
Now when we hear the word ‘charismatic’ all
sorts of things may pop into our minds: out
of control folks rolling in the aisles and
jumping over the chairs, folks falling on
the floor slain by the spirit and speaking
with strange sounds and groans. But the
ecstatic worship of the Pentecostal or other
charismatic traditions is only one
expression of charismatic spirituality.
Richard Foster calls the charismatic
tradition “a life immersed in, empowered by,
and under the direction of the Spirit of
God.” The gift of God sent to the church.
Think of charismatic as being gifted by God.
Charismatic spirituality is rooted in the
profound understanding that all we have and
are and hope to be is but a gift from God.
In the book of Acts Luke writes of Paul
speaking to the people of Athens and quoting
a popular Greek poet, Aratus, who spoke of
God as the one “in whom we live and move and
have our being.”
Charismatic spirituality at its best
expresses itself with deep joy and a blessed
sense of freedom. We experience the grace
of God as a gift, unmerited and yet freely
given. The awareness of the gift opens up
the possibility that our lives may be a
reflection of God’s limitless mercy. The
illusion of control over our lives is
broken, and we can rest on the grace of God
that recognizes not our shortcomings but our
blessedness as beloved children of God.
Hildegard of Bingen, the great medieval
mystic and songwriter, imagined her life
lived in awareness of the gift of the spirit
as “a feather on the breath of God.”
On this Christmas Eve morning, we can
rejoice. The message of God’s in-breaking
in the world comes not to the high and the
mighty, but to the very least of these in
the world. To shepherds… the discarded of
society - God has come to bless. To those
on the edges, God gives grace. To those who
feel unworthy, God embraces. To those who
are brokenhearted, God will bring healing.
Emmanuel, God is with us, has come to
earth. And all heaven and earth rejoice.
The charismatic tradition flows as the gift
of love waters the deep rivers of joy in our
lives. You can’t have a life lived in the
presence of the spirit of God without
experiencing a joy that cannot be
diminished. Can’t do it. You have to feel
sorry for those folks who have only
experienced Christianity as a system of
rules, or as merely a get-into-heaven-free
card for the next life. God comes to bring
joy, now. Not short-term giddiness or
happiness that only comes when things are
going well, but true joy that stays with us
through times of wilderness and times of
plenty.
Good tidings of great joy they bring. Not
just to a few, but to all people.
I pity the sour-faced Christians, don’t
you? The judgmental, bean-counting,
lifeless souls who wouldn’t recognize joy if
it jumped up and down in front of them.
This September, I went with a group to the
fair. We’d gotten free tickets to a
Christian concert… I can’t even remember the
name of the headlining band. I must confess
I’m not a big Christian music fan. Oh, I
listen to good ole gospel music now and
then, but that’s about it. But the tickets
were free, and it got us into the fair… so I
went. Even if the concert was bad, I could
at least grab a fair burger and a scone or
two on the way out.
But I must confess to you, I was truly taken
by one of the bands. I’d never heard of
them before: the David Crowder Band. Their
lead singer sports a long bushy goatee and
inexplicably frizzy auburn hair.
They started playing, and I thought, “Well,
they’re not half bad.”
And then, as their set went on, the music
was good. The band was fun, upbeat, not in
the least bit preachy. And I felt a sense
of joy fill the concert stands. The lyrics
of the songs flashed on giant screens on
each side of the stage, and the stands
reverberated with people singing along.
The lead singer introduced the next song,
“We’re gonna sing like we’re saved.” Ugh, I
thought. The music wasn’t half bad, but
“sing like the saved?” Here comes the
preachy, Christian music I was afraid of
hearing.
But as the song picked up momentum, the
music took on a little funky groove. And as
the crowd began to sing along, something
happened. The drummer and bass player kept
the beat in the background, David Crowder
told the crowd, “For this next part, we’re
going to need a little audience
participation. We’re going to sing, ‘A
joyful noise we will make,’ and then we’re
going to do that. In Psalm 98 verse four it
says, ‘Make a joyful noise all the earth,’
and in the King James it says ‘colon’ make a
loud noise. I love that.”
And with that explanation, he began to sing,
“A joyful noise we will make,” And a great
roar rose up from the crowd. “A joyful
noise we will make.” And again another
great shout rang out in the night sky.
We’re gonna dance like the saved.
If you’ve seen the cross….
If you’ve seen mercy…
If you’ve seen the love of God…come to earth
If you’ve heard the good news of great joy….
then you can join your voice with the voices
of all of those living in God’s love
throughout all the world and down through
the centuries.
then sing with joy…for our God has done
great things…
sing for joy because the poor are blessed.
sing for joy because the meek will inherit
the earth…
sing for joy because those who mourn will
be comforted…
sing for joy because Emmanuel, God with us,
is coming.
How great our joy….
How great our joy…
How great our joy… |