2021.12.05 | Evoking the Best
“Evoking the Best”
The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring
Eden United Church of Christ, Hayward, CA
Second Sunday in Advent
December 5, 2021
Philippians 1:3-11 (NRSV) | [Español]
Our Advent theme at Eden Church this year is “Christmas Letters.” You will read about it in the e-Chimes. You’ll see images denoting it in our holiday decorations, and you’ll hear references made to it in the Christmas pageant video that will be posted online later this month.
Although this Christmas Letter theme may seem like an obvious one to you, the idea came to me in a roundabout way when I began studying the Advent lectionary a few weeks ago.
When one has been a pastor a long time, one sometimes wonders if anything fresh can be said about a passage--especially passages from the prophets and the gospels that are part of the lectionary for Advent and Christmas. This thought inspired me to branch out and preach on the epistles, and explore more deeply what light the early apostles might shed on these sacred seasons. So here goes!
II
The text for today’s message is taken from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi. It was written in the 40s AD. Paul wrote from his prison cell in Rome to his fledgling congregation in Philippi.
Ancient Philippi was an important sea port with a strong working-class population in the first century AD. It was located in eastern Macedon, which today is known as Greece. The archaeological site of biblical Philippi has substantial remains including a theatre and four basilicas and is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
Philippi flourished in the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Periods. It is situated between the Strymon and Nestos rivers, and was valued in antiquity for its nearby gold mines. Philippi prospered in the Roman imperial era and became an important center for Christian activity and expansion into Gentile populations outside of Palestine. In addition to it being the site of the first Christian congregation in Europe, Philippi is also the place where the Apostle Lydia, one of the best known early female apostles, held a major leadership role.
If you read Paul’s entire letter to the Philippians, you’ll see that the Apostle covers three topics in this epistle, including the following:
1) Paul tells the Philippians that he is sending his two best students, Timothy and Epaphroditus, to support their ministry.
2) Paul offers guidance to the Philippians for ameliorating the internal conflict about whether members must adhere to the Laws of Moses and Jewish customs in order to be received into full communion.
3) And, he exhorts the congregants to listen and act on their better angels.
III
Paul wrote to the Philippians from his prison cell in Rome. The letter was most likely written on a piece of papyrus, and then given to a messenger who ran 800 miles from Rome to Philippi to deliver it to church leaders by hand.
Given the distance and the rugged terrain, it would have taken the most fit athlete (or series of relay runners) three weeks or more to run from Rome to Philippi. Wrap your mind around that scenario, and note the irony of how we modern Christians complain when our local Internet provider throttles our WiFi speed so that it takes a whole minute for a trivial email to make its way around the globe. Paul’s mind would explode if he were alive today and aware of our modern ability to communicate at the speed of light.
Consider, too, that the creation of Paul’s letter was no simple act. He didn’t have access to a modern computer, much less a software application with autotype, spell check, or cut and paste tools. He didn’t even have a manual typewriter, onion skin paper, or whiteout.
Instead, Paul had, at best, papyrus and a pen in hand with which to write his epistle. The task of even signing his name would have been laborious, and the challenge of writing several pages of text--monumental. The very fact that Paul was writing from prison adds yet another degree of difficulty to the letter writing challenge.
Given that he was a prisoner one has to question whether Paul was able to write this letter with his own hand. Where, for example, would papyrus and pen and ink come from for prisoners? Would prisoners have been supplied with these precious items in jail? Probably not. And, even if they were brought in from the outside, think of the expense and effort required to procure these supplies.
All this leads me to imagine that Paul probably had to dictate his thoughts to a fellow apostle who then transcribed his notes onto papyrus, or the scribe would have had to find someone else with the skills and ability to do so.
I don’t know the particulars about Paul’s letter writing logistics, but I do know that the very act of writing and sending a letter such as Paul’s letter to the Philippians was in and of itself an act of love. The tone of the letter is also noteworthy.
The best term I can think of to describe the tone of Paul’s letter is “evocative.” According to the Oxford Dictionary, the term evocative is an adjective used to describe something that “...bring[s] strong images, memories, or feelings to mind.”
Paul’s style reminds me of the way that my mother’s parents used to talk to my sister and me when we were children--a tone that carried over into their letter writing to us when we were in college. Their comments were always complimentary and encouraging. Their words helped us believe that we could weather any storm. They pushed us to do greater things than we could have imagined. Their confidence and pride prodded us to be better people than we might have otherwise become.
IV
Reflecting on the way that our grandparents related to my sister and me, reminds me of the importance of the student-teacher relationship in school classrooms. A growing body of research and literature has shown that teacher expectations are critical to student success. (I.e., if my teacher thinks I am smart, talented, and capable then I see myself that way; and if I see myself that way, I can more easily become that person that my teacher thinks that I am.)
My twin sister, Marlene, is a great example of a teacher who has high expectations of her students, and who evokes the best in and from them. These days, Marlene teaches ESL at the college and graduate levels at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Prior to her move into the academy, she taught Middle School ESL classes at the local public schools.
Mar knocked herself out every day creating interesting lesson plans to motivate her students, who Professor Yvette Jackson, from the Teachers College at Columbia University in New York City would call “school-dependent children.” School-dependent children are students who come from circumstances marked by deprivation, and whose futures are almost entirely dependent upon what they can learn in school before they graduate, drop out, or get kicked out.
Marlene lost count years ago about how many of her students had parole officers, social workers, and school nurses following them. By many people’s standards, her students were not bound for success. But her students did succeed, because she evoked the best in them.
One student who presented himself as a particular challenge got on her last nerve and was sent to the Vice Principal’s office so that she could work with the students who were interested in learning that day. After class, Mar went by the VP’s office to check on that student. Turns out, the VP wasn’t quite finished with him. As Marlene approached the VP’s door, she overheard her saying to the student, “Son, you know what your problem is?” The student replied, “No.” The VP said, “Your problem is that Mrs. Schwerin won’t give up on you. Since she won’t give up on you, you just better start paying attention in class and doing your assignments, or you’re going to find yourself bored out of your mind sitting in my office.”
The VP was right. My sister wouldn’t give up on any of her students. And to their credit, they got with Mrs. Schwerin’s program, and every one of them walked across the graduation stage and picked up their diploma.
My sister is a force of nature and a true inspiration. She evokes her students to believe in themselves and their futures--because she does. Marlene has empathy for her students, but she won’t let them feel sorry for themselves. And she won’t accept excuses for under-performance. This is because she knows that excuses didn’t get her where she is today, and excuses weren’t what got all of her students across the graduation stage.
V
Mindful of the power of the pen and the correlation between expectations and success--in church, in school, and in life--I encourage each of us this Advent season to write one letter to a younger person or a younger group of people that emulates the tone of Paul’s letter to the Philippians.
I encourage us to introduce them to leaders who we deem worth following. I encourage us to help them find creative ways of reducing conflict in the world, and most importantly, I encourage us to evoke their God-given potential with our words and our prayers.
That’s our “homework” for this Advent and Christmas season. Rather than rushing to the mall to buy a new toy or the latest technological gadget for a youngster, let’s give a younger person or group of youngsters the gift of evocation--the gift of imagining and encouraging their God-given potential, so that they can see it, believe it, and fulfill it. Amen.