Holy Disturbance: Breaking Through

In each of our Advent stories, a human being with a hurt in their heart reached out and sought after God. That hurt, that crying out, that hope-filled reaching and waiting for God to come close is the energy of Advent. On Christmas morning, however, the action flows in reverse. Instead of people reaching out towards God, God comes close to be with us where it hurts.

This is the energetic heart of Christmas. God loves creation so much that God couldn’t stay away from our wounded places. God became human to be with creation where it hurts. To come near us in our longings. To reach out and touch our wounds. To bring forgiveness to our regretful, grieving hearts. To speak words of life into our ears. To taste our tears. To join in our laughter. To listen to our voices. To touch our blinded eyes. To search for us in our lostness. To breathe air and taste bread and work wood and touch soil with us. To make a new home within creation. So creation could become a renewed home for life.

So much of religion puts the emphasis on our behavior. If we are or are not living up to some standard. If we are or are not reaching out and searching after God. Christmas reminds us, however, that God is always making the first move. God is always coming towards us. All our longing, all our hunger for the divine, all our cries for redemption, are simply mirrors of God’s profound longing for us.  This love is magnified for us on Christmas day.

It is important that we, people of faith, put our hope in this aspect of God’s character. A God who is perpetually moving towards us, doing something new, pressing in, breaking through, to be close to us. It is so important, in this last week of Advent, that we  keep our eyes and hearts open for the movement of God reaching out in love towards us. We are not waiting for a specific outcome. We are waiting in hope for a God who will be breaking through.

God’s coming will not happen in ways that we expect. The magnificent, universal energy of God’s love came into the world in an ordinary, hidden way. God broke through not with thunderbolts and lightning but with a baby’s cry. This is why we chose the image of a bird breaking through an eggshell as the symbol of God breaking through. Therefore, it is important that as we hurt, long, cry, wait, and watch for the coming of God, we look at the small and ordinary details of our lives. Things so ordinary we are tempted to overlook it as coincidence. Advent hope takes nothing for granted. 

The Christmas story tells us something else about how this God breaks through. God is collaborative. God breaks through, through us. Christmas happened because Mary and Joseph said “yes” to God. In the same way, God is breaking through as ordinary people—like you and me—open our hearts and say “yes” to God: “Yes, God, I hear your invitation. Yes, God, I receive the new life you want to plant inside of me. Yes, God, I want to be part of the great collaboration to bring healing and renewal to this earth. The incarnation of God’s love in the dimension of space and time involves us. It is important for we who are Christians to not only be waiting for God to come close TO us, but to be waiting for how God wants to come close THROUGH us.

As we hurt, long, cry, wait, and watch for God in the small and ordinary details of our lives, we also look for ways that God wants to move through us, love through us, give through us, in ways that are also small and ordinary, so small and ordinary we might not notice. Pay attention, the time has come—the coming of God is among us!

PS. Here’s the link to the children’s Nativity video shown at church on Sunday. if you haven’t seen it yet, prepare yourself for serious cuteness! Many thanks to Lily and Lynne for orchestrating this gift to our church.?

Traveling through Oregon late at night, Johanna and Brock stopped at a small grocery. It was empty but for the cashier who, taking advantage of his thimbleful of power, told them a “joke”. It was explicitly sexual and crudely objectified women. When they told me this story this week, I didn’t laugh. I groaned. 

Groans are powerful. Groans keep us from making peace with things that have no peace. 

Jaahnavi Kandula, a graduate student from India, was studying in Seattle. While crossing the street in January, she was hit and killed by a speeding police car. This week, the body cam video of the officer sent to assess the incident became public. He was vice president of Seattle’s police union. While speaking to the union president in the recording he confirms her death and then laughs: “Yeah, just write a cheque — $11,000. She was 26, anyway. She had limited value.” (NYT article link)

I heard these two stories on the same day. The “micro”—in this instance, something as small as laughter—is the expression of the “macro”, the ubiquity of misogyny.

Maybe groaning is having its day.

In Romans 8, there is groaning, too: Creation, every microscopic part of it, is groaning. Humans are groaning. God’s Spirit is groaning—an inexpressible groan, too deep for words. 

When we groan, our bodies and breath take over. Our bodies show us what is becoming intolerable, what is violating our deep values and convictions. A groan is prophetic. A groan dares to call out what must no longer be. 

Last week, a super storm dropped an unprecedented amount of rain—a year’s worth—in a single day near Derna, Libya. Both dams in the city burst, washing twenty percent of the town into the sea. Folk acquainted with war, dislocation, and hunger now face the grief of thousands missing. It feels like the whole earth is groaning these days. 

Despite all this, creation continues to hope. From Romans 8: “For the creation is waiting in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.”

Could it truly be, after all we’ve done, that creation has not given up on us? That it sees potential in us? Is waiting for us, the collective children of God, to step up and become kin? Could it truly be that we are the ones for whom the earth waits?

The groans are the deep work of the Spirit, birthing a new way of being. The grief breaks us open and builds momentum within us, pressing down with strength and conviction into us. Through our collective groaning, too deep for words, something is being liberated—born. A piercing cry: “It is time.”

Time to be connected rather than cut off from our power. 

Time to say, “You may not talk about my daughter, or anyone else’s daughter, or treat anyone’s body, including the earth, this way, any more.”   

No more laughing at and minimizing the harm being done. 
No more self-justifying and excusing the harm being done. 
No more numbing and distracting ourselves from the harm being done.

It’s time to feel the deep groans of the entire created order gathering strength and momentum inside of us. 

The flood in Libya was caused by drops of rain. Tiny, inconsequential raindrops joined together, became the force that broke dams and tore down houses. Raindrops did that. The micro became the macro as water gained momentum and sped down the hillside. 

Our tiny choices matter. If everyone stopped laughing at misogynistic jokes they would cease to be jokes. Patriarchy is made up of tiny raindrops. But so is the reign of God.

This is the season of creation. All over the world those who follow Jesus are figuring out how to be better kin to creation. Young people are protesting in London. Farmers are planting trees in Central America. Nuns are holding prayer vigils. Church leaders are signing treaties. The river is building strength, building momentum. 

“The Season of Creation fills us with hope, because we are many, around the world, celebrating in unity for our common home: every small action counts to make the river of justice and peace flow!”**

Deep peace and blessing,
Anne

Rev. Anne Baxter Smith
Pastor, Church at Southpoint

** From the Season of Creation website. 

PS. If you want to catch up before this Sunday:
(1) Forest Sunday
(2) Land Sunday
(3) Wilderness Sunday

Worship Calendar

Location & Zoom. We meet on Sundays at 15639 24 Avenue, Surrey. Zoom is offered if you cannot attend in person. If you have trouble with the zoom link, use: meeting ID: 831 1690 9977 with password: 753319

Sermons Are Podcasted
Catch up on Southpoint sermons by finding the podcast “Meditations from the Church at Southpoint” on Spotify, Apple and Google. They’re also available on our website: www.southpoint.ca.

Sun Sep 24 All IN Anne Baxter Smith
Season of Creation (4) Let Justice Flow in the Rivers
Amos 5:24, Isa 43:19, Rev 22: 1-5

Sun Oct 1 St Francis Sunday
Refreshing our Imagination
Joy Banks: introducing our four core images.
Isa 55

Sun Oct 8   Jake Tucker
Thanksgiving Sunday
The God of Small Things
Luke 13: 18-21

Sun Oct 15  Anne Baxter Smith
Well
John 4:1-42 (**v 13-14)

Sun Oct 22 ALL OUT  Service Opportunity TBA
No service in the Sunnyside building

Sun Oct 29 Fifth Sunday Brunches
No service in the Sunnyside building

Sun Nov 5   Anne Baxter Smith
Table 
Matthew 14:13-21

Sun Nov 12  Anne Baxter Smith
Net
John 21: 1-14

Sun Nov 19 Anne Baxter Smith
Seed
Mark 4: 26-29, Ps 26:5,6

New to Southpoint?

At Southpoint, it all begins with God’s love. Just as a plant grows, it receives sunshine, so we grow as we receive God’s love. At Southpoint, we are growing in our capacity to love God, ourselves, one another, and creation.

We seek to be a community of grace that is intentional yet organic, spacious yet authentic, grace-filled yet accountable. * We are fully welcoming. *

We encourage relationships rather than run programs, yet we recognize the importance of intentionality and structure as we nurture life together.

As a community, we seek to put our love in action. We value helping out on Sunday mornings, sharing food, and showing up in hard times. We keep our church life simple so folk have time to build relationships with family, friends, and neighbours. We encourage folk to serve in tangible ways within the wider community. We rent space rather than own a building, allowing us to do more with less, supporting missions at home and abroad.

Curious to know more?

These six slides express what motivates our ministry (best viewed on a monitor). Here’s the bio of our Pastor, Rev. Anne Baxter Smith.

If you’d like to really peek inside, sign up for our weekly Southpoint News (scroll to brown footer at bottom of page). The Southpoint News is a MailChimp distributed email—you can unsubscribe anytime and will not be added to our contacts list. Email us at office@southpoint.ca. Website: southpoint.ca.

CHRISTMASTIDE
Sun. Dec. 26, Boxing Day
NO SERVICE

EPIPHANY
Sun. Jan. 2, 10:00 am
Speaker: Brent Unrau

Sun. Jan. 9, 10:00 am
Speaker: Anne Smith A Glimpse of One Who Gathers Isaiah 43: 1-7

& same day: Newcomer Welcome Lunch
If you’re new to Southpoint, or still feel new, please join Anne and folk from the Leadership Team for lunch after the service to hear a bit about us and our history. Sign up here so we can order lunch for you! You are welcome to sign children up, too.

New to Southpoint?

At Southpoint, it all begins with God’s love. Just as a plant grows, it receives sunshine, so we grow as we receive God’s love. At Southpoint, we are growing in our capacity to love God, ourselves, one another, and creation.

We seek to be a community of grace that is intentional yet organic, spacious yet authentic, grace-filled yet accountable. * We are fully welcoming. *

We encourage relationships rather than run programs, yet we recognize the importance of intentionality and structure as we nurture life together.

As a community, we seek to put our love in action. We value helping out on Sunday mornings, sharing food, and showing up in hard times. We keep our church life simple so folk have time to build relationships with family, friends, and neighbours. We encourage folk to serve in tangible ways within the wider community. We rent space rather than own a building, allowing us to do more with less, supporting missions at home and abroad.

Curious to know more?

These six slides express what motivates our ministry (best viewed on a monitor). Here’s the bio of our Pastor, Rev. Anne Baxter Smith.

If you’d like to really peek inside, sign up for our weekly Southpoint News (scroll to brown footer at bottom of page). The Southpoint News is a MailChimp distributed email—you can unsubscribe anytime and will not be added to our contacts list. Email us at office@southpoint.ca. Website: southpoint.ca.