Advent 2021 – The Jesse Tree: How to be a Hero

This is a series of reflections on daily readings designed for families during the season of Advent.  

 “We’re fools if we can’t see the fools, who fooled us all before… Except when I read books and dream, I don’t believe in heroes… anymore.”  I’ve been thinking about this line, (from an obscure 1980’s off Broadway musical) a lot recently.      

The last few years have been devastating to the “heroes” of the American Church.  Sex scandals, collusion with partisan politics, abuse of power, and financial mismanagement have coincided with testimonies of abuse from survivors of #churchtoo and conversion therapy contexts.  Books like The Color of Compromise and Jesus and John Wayne have testified to historical alignments between the church and racism, sexism, and militarism.  

What do you do when your heroes crumble and your community is revealed in its full compromise?  

Day Eight - Heroes

Exodus 2:1 - 4:20

Moses

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.”  (Exodus 3:11)

Moses is everything we want in a post-modern hero.  Rescued from a murderous plot as an infant, Moses grows up in the seat of intellectual and political power.  He is multi-cultural leader who will kill on behalf of oppressed Israel.  But, at just the point where you’d think the story would catapult Moses to raising up a slave rebellion, he flees for his life and spends forty years tending sheep in the wilderness.  

By the time the story picks up again Moses seems no longer interested in rescuing Israel.  His complaint is a variation on the theme, “I’m not qualified or capable.”  God’s response to Moses is also a variation on the theme, “I will be with you.”  

As I reflect on this story, I can’t help but notice how many of our American Christian “heroes” are highly competent, self-assured, and charismatic.  Moses complains that he’s not a good speaker, but our American Christian heroes are nothing if not compelling communicators.  Moses argued with God to remain out of public life, our American Christian heroes jockey for the most influential spaces.  

An Arab proverb says, “The further you go into the desert, the closer you get to God.”  I think this is because the desert is great at burning away our self-importance.  Forty years in the desert seemed effective in reshaping Moses’ character.  If I was an optimist, I might hope that the crumbling of our American Christian heroes is the start of a rediscovery of humility.  

How has God reshaped your self-importance?  

What might a humble hero look like in your context?