6 Epiphany, 2025-C: With God's help

Lectionary: Jeremiah 17:5-10; Psalm 1; 1 Corinthians 15:12-20; Luke 6:17-26

 

En el nombre de Dios que es nuestra fuente, nuestra luz, y nuestro sustento. Amén. In the name of God who is our source, our light, and our sustenance. Amen.

Our Collect today talks about putting our trust in God. It also acknowledges that we are weak and can’t do anything good, that is, pleasing to God, without God’s help.

We tend to resist the idea that we are weak or helpless or that we can be misled, yet we know we are, and we can – not often, but it’s possible, especially if someone is willing to lie, manipulate, or threaten us and those we love.

In our Baptismal vows we repeat this phrase over and over, “I will with God’s help.” 

We are asked, will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers… will you persevere in resisting evil… will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ… will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself… and will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?  We reply: I will with God’s help. 

It isn’t easy though, is it? And it seems to be getting harder.

I spent quite a few hours these last couple of weeks in conversation with people burdened by pain, fear, betrayal, and a sense of helplessness. My counsel was for them to remember that we are God’s beloved, our hearts are united to God’s heart, so when we feel pain, we are sharing what God is feeling.

God knows the pain of a child being abused by its parent who should be loving and caring for them. God knows the grief of a black mother whose unarmed son was killed because he reached for a pack of Skittles. God knows the fear of a refugee being terrorized, mistreated, and degraded as “aliens.”

God also knows our frustration and grief at our own helplessness to stop someone from continuing to do harm to others. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor who attempted to assassinate Hitler and was exterminated in a concentration camp for his crime, comes to mind here.

God knows all this because God is with us, within us. Emmanuel. 

Our Scripture readings today help clarify what we’re up against and illuminate our path forward in faith. Reading the gospel in the context of the other lessons is important, as I hope you will see.

The first word in today’s reading from the prophet Jeremiah is “Cursed.” Many of us read that as if God is punishing someone. But that’s wrong. Jeremiah isn’t talking about what God is doing, but what we are doing.

In the original Hebrew, this word means “ill-speaking” and “devoted to destruction.” I’ll restate the first verse using original language translations. Please follow along in the bulletin to see where the original language deepens our understanding. 

“Ill-speaking” are those who trust in mere human beings. Their words are hostile and do harm. “Devoted to destruction” are those who depart from God and instead look to political or military force for their strength.

Our psalm clarifies this even further. I’ll restate just the first verse using original language translations. Again, please read along to see how the original language deepens the message for us. “Blessed are those who have not acted according to the advice of the criminal, nor stood with those who don’t keep their promises, nor made their home with the pernicious criminal, the dishonest mocker.

I have to admit, when I researched these texts in their original languages, as I always do, I found the idea of preparing this sermon daunting. I know I can do nothing good without God’s help.

Then I remembered Jesus and his beautiful teaching from Luke in which Jesus shows us what the path of God looks like and does. In the end, we are the ones making the choice of which path we will follow: the path of God or the path of the false prophet.

Our gospel story begins with Jesus coming down from the mountain. Remember, “mountain” is Bible-speak for the place where God is encountered. Jesus spent the night on the mountain in prayer. With him were all of his followers. In the morning, Jesus chose 12 from among all his followers to be his apostles. He chose them all at once, apparently having been guided in prayer on whom to choose.

Side note: an apostle is one who is sent. We are the ones sent now.

Back to the story… Together, Jesus and the newly chosen 12 went down to a level place and stood in front of a multitude of Jewish people from Jerusalem and Judea, and Gentile people from Tyre and Sidon. The “level place” is Bible-speak for how Jesus approached the crowd, treating no one as above or better than the other. Jesus approached them with equity, which the dictionary says is “being fair and just, in a way that takes account of and seeks to address existing inequalities.”

Again, we hear that the crowds were pressing in to hear Jesus, for as we heard last week, the word of God came from him. They pressed in trying to touch Jesus and have him touch them because they knew power came out from him power that could heal them; and Jesus did heal them - all of them - Jewish and Gentile - physically and spiritually. What a brilliant description of the inclusive love and care God has for all of us.

Then Jesus looked up at his disciples and taught them. This teaching, in Luke anyway, wasn’t for the gathered crowd. It was for his newly chosen 12. Again, I will restate this with original language translation. Please read along from the bulletin.

Blessed the poor (meaning them) because yours (meaning the 12) is the kingdom of God. Blessed the hungry now because you will satisfy them. Blessed the weeping now because you will laugh them. Blessed are you (meaning the 12) when men hate you and separate you, revile you, cast you out, and name you evil for the sake of the Son of Man. Rejoice this day and leap for joy. Then your reward in heaven is abundant, then they do to you as their fathers did against the prophets.

Nevertheless, grief and public condemnation, you (meaning the 12) the rich because you are receiving your encouragement.  Grief and public condemnation you who have been filled now because you will be hungry. Grief and public condemnation you the laughing now because you will mourn and weep. Grief and public condemnation you when all men speak well of you then they do to you as their fathers did to the false prophets.

Jesus is teaching a lesson for us all on how to be his apostles. We are the ones making the choice of which path we will follow: the path of God as Jesus taught it, or the path of the false prophet.

When we follow Jesus’ teaching, we do not seek wealth or a wealthy lifestyle, we are not haughty, and we don’t seek public adulation for proclaiming the Good News of God in Christ. Those who do are false prophets.

We do connect with the poor and share the good news we know with them, remembering to feed them first when their bodies are hungry, so they can receive our spiritual gift. We do sit with those who weep for whatever reason and embody the joy of the Lord for them, knowing it isn’t for us to fix the problems others have but to be available to God to hear and act in the ways God asks us to in the moment.

We do take criticism of our compassion as an honor knowing the world hates it, but God loves it. In fact, God requires it (remember the Great Commandment). We do love and care for all of God’s beloved ones who suffer. We are those presently standing in a long line of faithful folks who were denounced and censured for embodying God’s abundant, inclusive love in the world.

When people ask me, what can I do in the face of so much pain and fear, I say: love and pray. Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Love as Jesus loved. Love so that the haters criticize you. Love until the hungry are satisfied and the weeping are laughing. 

Pray for our enemies and bless those who persecute us. Our prayer opens a path of grace into their souls.

When we love and pray like this, then we’ll know we’re on the right path. Then we’ll know we’ve chosen the path of God over the path of the false prophet. 

 We aren’t left helpless and we don’t have to fix the problems of the world. We are a people chosen, empowered, and sent by God to bear the kingdom of God onto the earth. Every step we take on this path of God we take with God’s help. Amen.

5 Epiphany, 2025-C: The great encounter

 Lectionary: Isaiah 6:1-8, [9-13]; Psalm 138; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11 

En el nombre de Dios que es nuestra fuente, nuestra luz, y nuestro sustento. Amén. In the name of God who is our source, our light, and our sustenance. Amen. 

Dutch priest and theologian, Henri Nouwen, once said, "It is a mystery that the heart, which is the center of our being, is transformed by God into God's own heart, a heart large enough to embrace the entire universe. Through prayer, we can carry in our heart all human pain and sorrow, all conflicts and agonies, all torture and war, all hunger, loneliness and misery, not because of some great psychological or emotional capacity, but because God's heart has become one with ours."

Today’s readings offer us the opportunity to consider the process of our own spiritual development from obedience to a transformed heart, a heart that is in unity with the heart of God. This process moves us from thinking up our own solutions and plans to hearing the call of God upon us, within us, and responding to that. This process works in us both as a faith community and individually since we are the body of Christ, and individually members of it.

Here's how it usually works: God calls to us and says, I want you to do this… Who me? No, I can’t do that, as Moses said. Or… no thanks, God, I don’t want to do that, as Jonah said. Or… that’s impossible God, as Mary the Mother of God said. Or… as we heard Isaiah say, Not me God, for I’ve strayed from your path of righteousness. Like others around me, I say and do unloving things.

We have lots of very rational “not me” responses when God calls to us: I/we don’t have enough time, talent, or treasure to do what you ask, God. It’s pretty much our knee-jerk response, isn’t it?

As our psalmist reminds us, God has a purpose for each of us and all of us, and God will strengthen and empower us to accomplish that purpose. God’s enduring love and presence with us assure us of Their divine protection, guidance, and provision, every step of the way.

This is exactly what Jesus is demonstrating in our gospel story. As we ponder this story, I ask you to listen prayerfully, with your hearts as well as with your heads, because this story is full of symbolic imagery and action.

The setting is the northern portion of the Sea of Galilee near Gennesaret. The timeline, in this gospel anyway, begins with Jesus claiming his identity as the Messiah having read from the scroll of Isaiah in his homeetown synagogue in Nazareth, angering some who heard him. From there Jesus goes to Galilee where he drives an unclean spirit out of a man in the that synagogue. Then he goes to Simon’s house where he heals Simon’s mother-in-law of a debilitating fever. As a result, people came to Simon’s house from all around, seeking spiritual and physical healing. Jesus layed hands on them and healed them all. Then he went throughout Judea to teach in the synagogues and the people heard the word of God come from him. Jesus’ reputation for wisdom and healing spread like wildfire in the region.

This explains why the crowds were pressing in on Jesus in today’s gospel story. To serve them well, Rabbi Jesus plans to use the geography of the area to amplify his voice by going out a little way into the lake to teach.

Jesus goes to Simon, whom he wouldn’t have known yet, and asks Simon to take him out in his boat so he can teach the gathering crowd. Simon, who has just returned from an unsuccessful night of fishing and cleaned his nets, is tired and probably ready to go home to sleep.

Poor Simon Peter. He’s tired, frustrated, and has no food to bring home to his family or to sell after a long night of practicing his trade. Yet, he takes this rabbi on his boat so he can teach the gathering crowd. This puts Simon Peter up close to Jesus as he teaches. I can’t even imagine how transforming that would be!

When he had finished teaching, the rabbi, who is not an experienced fisherman, told Simon (notice he didn’t ask this time) to go out farther and let down his nets to catch fish. We’ve just got back, Simon says, there are no fish out there. But if you say so, I will let down the nets. I will obey.

The fish are so plentiful that the nets begin to break. Another boat is called in to help haul in this incredible abundance of fish. Both boats are so loaded up they begin to sink. What a vivid illustration of the abundance of God!

Luke says that when Simon Peter saw this, he fell to his knees before Jesus confessing his sinfulness. Whenever we become aware that we are in the presence of God, we also become keenly aware of how weak, insignificant, and broken we are by comparison.

Jesus comforts Simon Peter saying those words that always come from heaven right before a call is issued: “Do not be afraid.” Then Jesus issues Simon his divine purpose: “from now on,” he says, “you will be catching people.”

I need to point out that in Jesus’ time, that phrase was used to talk about teachers gathering students. Jesus is anointing Peter to become a teacher of so many people that his proverbial nets will break and boats will sink from the numbers of them. Turns out, Jesus was right!

The story ends with Simon - and others – devoting their lives to this newly revealed purpose. Luke says they left everything else behind to follow Jesus. And there it is… the movement from obedience to a transformed heart, a heart in unity with the very heart of God.

As I often say: thank God for Simon Peter! He’s so like us. He doesn’t get it, then he gets it, then he doesn’t again. Yet, God stays with Simon Peter, forming him, guiding him, and making him ready to serve. Simon Peter wasn’t successful because he was so smart or skilled. Clearly he wasn’t. But as Brother Andrew once said, “God does not choose people because of their ability, but because of their availability.”

Simon Peter’s availability to God transformed him and his mission, and the outcome was an abundance of transformed hearts in numbers so large no one could have imagined it. This, my beloved family of God at Emmanuel, is our call too: to be available to God knowing that if we answer this call, we and our mission will be transformed.

The world is now and always has been, as Henri Nouwen said, filled with pain, sorrow, conflicts andagonies, torture, war, hunger, loneliness, and misery – but we believe that our hearts are united to the heart of God, and through prayer, we can not only survive the pain and misery, but serve as lights of Christ in it. Without prayer, I don’t know how we’d even survive.

Nouwen also said this about prayer: “Prayer is standing in the presence of God with the mind in theheart… where there are no divisions or distinctions and where we [and God] are totally one. There God's Spirit dwells and there the great encounter takes place. There heart speaks to heart...” ("The Way of the Heart: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers")

Our prayer, whether alone at home, or together in our worship, keeps us aware that we are always living, walking, and serving in the real and powerful presence of God who protects us, guides us, and provides for us in every step we take. And when we stray from the path of righteousness, as Isaiah did, God acts to restore us. And when we humbly surrender, as Peter did, we are empowered to serve in unity with the very heart of God. Amen.

3 Epiphany & Annual Parish Meeting 2025-C: Our identity and our anointing

Lectionary: Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a; Luke 4:14-21 

En el nombre de Dios que es nuestra fuente, nuestra luz, y nuestro sustento. Amén. 

In the name of God who is our source, our light, and our sustenance. Amen.

The Annual Parish Meeting, which we will have following this service, is an opportunity for us to gather as a parish family, strengthen the bonds of our unity, and dream our path forward together for the next year. As God usually does, God has provided us guidance on this path through our Scripture.

It’s the year, 538 BC, in the reading from Nehemiah, and the King of Persia, Cyrus, has issued a decree that allows the people of Israel to return from their exile in Babylon and rebuild their temple which had been destroyed. More than 42,000 people returned.

The transition wasn’t easy, though. They lost their unity, breaking into factions. One local group went to the authorities saying that some of those Jewish people were planning a rebellion against King Cyrus. The king immediately halted the temple rebuilding.

Enter the prophet and priest, Ezra, bringing with him the law of God as given to Moses. Ezra went against Jewish tradition, however, reading from the Torah to a crowd of people assembled at the Water Gate, outside the temple precincts - a crowd that included women, children, and others who would have been excluded from temple worship; people who had never been allowed to hear the story of God’s love for them.

After reading the Torah, Ezra said to them, "Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

In our New Testament reading, Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, is addressing the people in the cosmopolitan city of Corinth. The Corinthians were of so many diverse descriptions that they struggled to find their unity as followers of Christ. Paul, a Pharisee, shared with the Corinthians the strength of the law of Moses coupled with the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ, using a brilliant metaphor everyone could understand. “Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized.”

Paul taught that each member of the body, though different, is important, and the body is incomplete and can’t function properly without all of its parts present, respected, and honored, saying “...God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another… Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”

Both of these stories present unity in diversity as the will of God. In the world, the transition to the fullness of this kind of unity isn’t easy for us to accomplish. We tend to devolve into factions of “us” and “them.” We judge the factions: we are good, they are bad. Then we feel justified when we alienate, oppress, or imprison “them,” withhold lifesaving food, medicine, or community from “them,” and even outright kill “them.”

Thankfully, God has always provided us with presence and guidance enabling us to find our path to harmony. First, the Mosaic law was given to our forebears, the people of Israel. Then God themself became incarnate in Jesus Christ and lived among us showing us how to live in unity and love in all our diversity - breaking bread with women, sinners, and outcasts, healing those culture claimed were obviously cursed by God with illness or poverty, forgiving sin, and calling us to treat everyone with respect and dignity. As Jesus said: We are to love God with all our heart, mind, strength, and soul, and love our neighbor as ourselves.

In the gospel story, Jesus reads from the scroll of Isaiah, claiming his identity and mission as the Messiah, which means, The Anointed One. To be anointed is to have a divine or holy purpose conferred upon you, to be chosen for a special work and filled with the Spirit of God to accomplish that work.

Jesus claims to be anointed “to bring good news to the poor; to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, [and] to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." In his identity as Messiah, Jesus’ focus is on being in loving unity with and caring for everyone, including the poor, the captive, the blind, and the oppressed.

What are we, at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, anointed to do in the name of God in Christ? Where is our focus?

It’s important to acknowledge that we are richly blessed. Our parish family continues to grow in numbers, gifts, diversity, and joy - the joy of the Lord truly is our strength. As we prepare to gather in our Annual Parish Meeting, we re-affirm our identity as members of the body of Christ in the world, and our anointing to serve faithfully in the name of God.

Let us pray: God of all, we love you. We thank you. We trust you. We humbly and intentionally open ourselves to you, God, letting go of our plans and ideas, and making space for you to fill us anew, so that we, the part of the body of Christ chosen for this moment and time, may live as one body and walk together in the will of God. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

1 Epiphany, 2025-C: The cosmic truths in Baptism

Lectionary: Isaiah 43:1-7; Psalm 29, Acts 8:14-17; Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 

Video of this sermon can also be found HERE. The sermon begins at 9 minutes, 15 seconds.

En el nombre de Dios que es nuestra fuente, nuestra luz, y nuestro sustento... In the name of God who is our source, our light, and our sustenance. Amen.

The stories of Jesus’ baptism in our four Gospels vary widely. Let’s take a minute to look at them.

The Gospel of Mark, believed to be written first, begins by introducing John the Baptist (JB), who is baptizing people in the Jordan River. In the 2nd paragraph of this gospel, Jesus arrives and is baptized by John. The Spirit descends upon Jesus and a voice from heaven, speaking directly to Jesus says, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” There is no indication that anyone else was there or heard it.

In the Gospel of Matthew, which drew from the Gospel of Mark, the baptism of Jesus is found at the end of the 3rd chapter. John protests at first but is convinced by Jesus to baptize him. The Spirit descends upon Jesus and when the voice from heaven spoke, it was to John the Baptizer saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” There is no indication that anyone else was present, though it is implied.

Near the end of the first chapter of the Gospel of John, JB sees Jesus approaching and proclaims to his disciples who are present, “This is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” John the Baptizer goes on to claim his own prophesied purpose: to reveal the Messiah. Jesus’ actual baptism is not described in this gospel - only John’s proclamation bearing witness to having seen the Spirit descend upon Jesus, identifying him as the one who baptizes with the Spirit.

The Gospel of Luke, which we read today, begins with the story of the birth of John the Baptist, moves through Mary’s Magnificat and the Nativity, to our story today. This gospel also does not describe Jesus’ actual baptism. In this version, JB’s disciples are filled with expectation about John’s proclamation of the coming of the Messiah. John prophesies that the Messiah will baptize with the Spirit, clear away evil (the chaff) in the world, and purify everyone in the unquenchable fire of God’s love.

Luke says that sometime after the people and Jesus had been baptized, Jesus was praying. That’s when the heavens opened and the voice from heaven, speaking to Jesus, says, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” John the Baptizer is not even present. 

For some reason, our lectionary leaves out the verses in the middle of this account – verses that explain why John wasn’t present: he had been locked up in prison for publicly criticizing Herod for marrying his brother’s wife, Herodius. 

So, in Luke’s version, JB isn’t present when the voice of heaven speaks to Jesus. There’s no indication that anyone else was there either.

So, which is the true and correct version? They all are.

Our Holy Scriptures preserve the story of God’s love affair with us. Each of the gospels offers us a perspective on that story. Each one reaches us differently and reaches beyond us to invite others into this love story. All bear witness to the Good News of God in Christ.

In these four versions of the story of Jesus’ baptism, there are four points of complete agreement: 

1. JB, Jesus’ kin, proclaims the coming of the Messiah; 
2. John baptized Jesus; 
3. John baptized with water, but the Messiah will baptize with the Holy Spirit; 
4. the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus. 

Taken as a whole, however, the gospels give us a beautiful picture filled with cosmic truth.

We remember that John leaped in his mother Elizabeth’s womb when Mary, pregnant with Jesus, came near. Not only were JB and Jesus kin, but their relationship began before they were born.

It might help us to remember that we are all kin in the family of God, who created us in all our diversity of style, race, gender, location, and time. Like JB and Jesus, our relationships began before we were born. We all come from and return to the same source: God.

JB baptizing Jesus demonstrates our need for ritual as a means to see and experience, in a manifest way, the union of humanity and divinity as a reality in our earthly experience. The overwhelming, incomprehensible gift of God being in us, with us, in every moment of our lives is so difficult to grasp and even harder to maintain. Our rituals, which we repeat throughout our lives, helps ground us continually in this cosmic truth.

Jesus baptizing with the Holy Spirit assures us that by our ritual, the outward sign, we can share the experience of receiving the grace of the Spirit of God, made manifest in the person of Jesus, and given to us to dwell in us.

The Spirit of God descending on Jesus shows us how that gift is given. Jesus demonstrates how gently and intimately the Spirit of God connects with us and co-exists within our human bodies.

Now we, who continue to practice the outward sign, do so in the blessed assurance that God in Christ is, at the same time, descending upon us. It is a cooperative, symbiotic relationship between humanity and divinity.

In his earthly ministry John the Baptizer (JB) heralded the path to righteousness to us: repentance. Then he explained it as we discussed a few weeks ago on Advent 3. 

JB was urging his followers to repent, to change the way they were living their lives. When they asked JB how they should repent, he said, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise."

JB further proclaimed that all who stray from the path of righteousness, will be thrown into the unquenchable fire. Despite what you may have heard, this isn’t a threat. It’s a promise, and while I preached it only a few weeks ago, it’s worth repeating.

God is love. Fire is a common symbol in Scripture for the presence of God. That this fire is unquenchable should comfort us – God’s love for us can never be snuffed out or used up. When we enter this fire, we enter the presence of God who created us and recreates us continually so that we may grow in wisdom and grace all the days of our lives.

The Baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry. As JB’s followers shifted from following John to following Jesus, their understanding of Messiah was also transformed as they grew in relationship with Jesus.

Isn’t that true for all of us? This is another cosmic truth. Whatever version of Jesus we were first taught, the Spirit of God given to us in our Baptism continues to grow us and transform us – from glory to glory, as the saying goes. Throughout our lives our understanding and experience of Jesus deepens, broadens, and strengthens because his Spirit dwells in us.

We’ll never have it all or know it all, but that isn’t the goal, is it? The goal is to be who God made us to be, that we might accomplish the part of God’s plan entrusted to us. We are created to be living manifestations of God’s love in the world - beloved, honored, treasured of God, and to proclaim the cosmic truth of that to everyone, as often as we can, by our words and our deeds.

This week our nation collectively mourned the loss of President Jimmy Carter. Whatever you thought of his politics, President Carter demonstrated this cosmic truth in his commitment to living as a true follower of Jesus. As just one example, President Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, worked with Habitat for Humanity for over 35 years. He was 95 years old at his last Habitat build. Serving wasn’t what Jimmy Carter did. It was who he was.

He wasn’t perfect. Neither is any one of us. Again, that isn’t the goal.

Our goal is to be just as God created us to be and to use every gift we’re given to be living manifestations of God’s love in the world, letting everyone know that they too are beloved, honored, and treasured of God. We do this in a world where that is mightily resisted, ridiculed as irrelevant, and even punished as offensive.

That’s OK. So did Jesus. He knows what we face and because his Spirit dwells in us, he faces it with us. We are not alone.

Plus, we have each other. Our love and friendship will carry us through the rough times and the joyful times, as we figure out together how to love Jesus and love as Jesus loves us. Amen.

Christmas 2024-C: Real love

Lectionary: Isaiah 9:2-7; Psalm 96; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-14(15-20) 

En el nombre de Dios: creador, redentor, y santificador. Amen.

In the name of God: Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. Amen.

Love is born today and it’s truly something to celebrate. What is it about Christmas that excites our souls with renewed joy and hope? Why do we collectively gather with family, sing carols, and decorate our homes for this holy day?

As a priest in the church, I rarely have time to decorate my house for Christmas. This created dismay among my children almost 20 years ago when I was ordained. One year, they put the decorations up themselves. I felt guilty but was too busy and too tired to do much about it.

This year, even though my kids are grown and have their own homes, I was compelled to challenge the liturgy police and put up my Christmas decorations during Advent (gasp!) I needed the joy. I needed to sit in my sweet, little St. Louis brick home and look at the tree with its twinkling lights covered in all the ornaments my children and I made through the years. I needed to see their preschool pictures in Santa hats, and the red and green sachets they made in kindergarten placed just so on my bookshelves.

I needed to see, touch, and smell joy in my home this year. It needed to be more than in my head and my heart. It needed to be real in my world.

That is exactly what Christmas is - the coming of God into the world. It’s the historical moment when God took on flesh and became a reality for us, and this isn’t just a theological or religious concept. The beauty of this is, that what started as a historical moment, became an eternal reality - our eternal reality: Emmanuel, God with us.

It’s a reality we need because another reality for us is suffering. Suffering is part of our earthly experience and it takes many forms: the parent of a child who is sick or has died; those experiencing the ravages of war; those whose furry family member has been lost or stolen; the soul on the edge of suicide; the parent who lost their job and the child abused as a result.

Amid all of the suffering in the world, Love is born again and it is truly good news of great joy as much today as it was when the angels announced it to the shepherds in the fields on that first Christmas.

The good news is that God, who created us, redeemed us, and sustains us is with us - Emmanuel - in every moment of our lives. God knows our suffering, shares our heartbreaks with us, and heals us continually, every moment of every day for as long as it takes.

That’s the key: for as long as it takes. In our finite thinking, we seek resolution. We want an end to suffering. We want it like we want the resolution of mysteries or crimes in TV shows. We want the story to wind up after 60 minutes or at the end of a series, and we apply that same expectation to God’s reconciliation of the world.

The thing is, that isn’t what God promises us. We created that concept out of our need. What God promises is constant presence and provision, steadfastness to us, and eternal life. God promises to stay with us no matter what, for as long as it takes. 

The prophets in our Scriptures speak of God’s continual faithfulness to us even in the face of our unfaithfulness to God. That is the steadfast, unwavering loyalty of God to us. It is the promise of the unquenchable fire, of God who never gives up on us but is always there to purify us and give us new life.

Today we celebrate the day God’s steadfastness to us opened a new way for us - a way that enabled us to go beyond God as a concept to seeing, hearing, touching, and loving God as an embodied reality in Jesus. In Jesus, we witness how God relates to the world and how we should relate to God and one another, and until we get that right, God will stay with us, showing us the Way of Love, which starts for us as it did for Jesus: in humility.

Jesus began his human life in poverty, the son of an unmarried peasant child. As he grew into his purpose, Jesus became an itinerant preacher (hardly a respected profession). Going out to the people in the margins: the poor, abandoned, outcasts, and the sick, Jesus healed them, opening to them a new life - a life set free from their suffering.

We know that suffering isolates us. It makes us feel unheard, unloved, and alone. Jesus heard them, loved them, and restored them to their communities, their healings being evidence of what divine love does. Then he told us to do to others as he had done (think Maundy Thursday).

By giving up his own life for our sake, Jesus showed us what divine love requires (think Good Friday). Then he exhorted us to love another as he loved us for “there is no greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13)

Does that mean we have to die like Jesus did? Maybe, but more likely for us, it means laying down our priorities, our plans, our need to control, and giving someone else’s needs our priority, even if that means going against earthly systems that benefit from their continued suffering.

Then Jesus demonstrated just how unstoppable, how unquenchable God’s love for us is. After we (humanity) responded so unfaithfully and killed Jesus for threatening the status quo of earthly and religious power, Jesus rose from the dead, showing us that not even death can stop God’s steadfast love. In Jesus, death is simply a doorway to new life (think Easter).

But wait - there’s more! After his resurrection from the dead, Jesus promised to be with us always, to the end of the ages (Mt 28: 20) and he breathed his own Spirit into us (think Pentecost), to dwell in us. Jesus is literally with us, in us, right now - for real. How amazing is that?

So you see, Jesus who came to earth on that first Christmas Day is with us still, just as he promised. In fact, all of God’s promises: constant presence, provision, steadfastness, and eternal life are found in Jesus, then, now, and always. This isn’t a concept or a theological idea. It’s as real in our world as the Christmas decorations are in our homes.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Joy to the world! Amen.

4 Advent, 2024-C: Our turn as Godbearers

Lectionary:“Miracle”  by Eric Lane Barns (see the service bulletin, p 5), Canticle 15 (the Magnificat), and Luke 1:39-45 

En el nombre del Dios: único, santo, y vivo. Amen. 

In the name of the one, holy, and living God. Amen.

Our readings today tell one of the most powerful, intimate, and feminine in all of Scripture. It’s the story of two women chosen by God to be partners with God as God ushers in Their plan of salvation.

Elizabeth and Mary are kin of some sort, maybe blood, maybe just dear friends. Elizabeth is an old woman. Mary is a young teenager. Both are miraculously pregnant.

Upon learning she is pregnant, Mary goes “with haste” to visit Elizabeth. It makes sense that Mary, as young as she is, would need the help and guidance of an older woman in this moment. She also may have needed to get away from those in her village who wanted to stone her for her infidelity.

When Mary comes near, the baby within Elizabeth moves and Elizabeth experiences it as a joyful moment. Only a woman who has shared her body with a baby can know how this feels, but there’s more to this than sharing pregnancy experiences because the baby within Mary is God Incarnate - and that changes everything.

God, who is Love, is preparing to be present on earth in a way that has never happened before, taking on flesh and fulfilling God’s plan of salvation as Emmanuel (God with us), and that changes everything.

It changes Elizabeth’s shame into joy. It changes Mary’s seeming infidelity into the ultimate example of faith for all time, but it also changes Mary from a child into a radical, powerful prophet and priest (yes, priest). Mary was the first sacramental priest of the Christian universe because as the God-bearer, Mary literally gave the body of Christ to the world.

Medieval priest and mystic Meister Eckhart once said that we are all called to be God-bearers. We are all called to grow Christ within us - in our bodies, our souls, and our lives – and give him to the world. This is the ministry of all the baptized, not just the ordained. We are, after all the priesthood of all believers.

Mary’s Magnificat issued forth from her when she finally spoke about what was happening. It was her prophetic proclamation of her theology, grounded in her tradition. Let’s make a couple of connections: 

• that God is merciful, strong, and protective (Ps 103) 
• that God brings down the mighty from their places of power and lifts up the lowly (Isa 40)
• that God feeds those who hunger (Ps 23) and sends the self-satisfied away empty (Deut 8:14)
• that God helps God’s people (Ps 121, Isa 41)
• that God keeps God’s promises which are handed down through the prophets (Isa 23, Jer 49)

Think about it, this is the woman who raised Jesus, and this is the theology he learned from her and from his Jewish tradition. If we are God-bearers in our time, then isn’t this our manifesto too?

I give thanks for this prayer as we confront the discomfort of our current cultural narrative. As uncomfortable as it may be, I’m thankful that racism, sexism, violence, selfish hoarding and exploitation of resources, and a blatant lack of compassion for the suffering are being raised up into our awareness in undeniable ways right now. It’s uncomfortable because it causes us to confront our self-satisfied opinions about who we are as a nation and a people of God, and sends us away feeling empty.

But it is in that emptiness that our faith assures us that by God’s great power, bountiful grace, and promised mercy, everyone and everything that is out of step with God’s will, is already being reconciled; that justice and peace are already being restored in our hearts, in our relationships, and in our world.

It’s our turn now to be faithful, radical, and prophetic. Consider the question asked in the Anthem, “Miracle” we heard earlier: 

“To a land where profit takes the place of Spirit, To a land where even children carry guns, To a land where there’s no memory of a time before the violence; Tell me: how could such a Miracle come?” 

The answer is: this miracle comes when God comes among us as one of us. God, who is Love, is about to be born again only now, we are the God-bearers, called to grow Christ within us - in our bodies, our souls, and our lives – and give him to the world.

Let us pray… Most merciful and powerful God, we welcome you and the love you are birthing in our world. Deliver us from all our current barriers to your Love. Strengthen us to be like Mary and grow Christ within us, that we might give him to the world in an eternal holy communion. Amen.

3 Advent, 2024-C: Purified and set free

Lectionary: Zephaniah 3:14-20; Canticle 9; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:7-18

En el nombre del Dios único, santo, y vivo. Amen. In the name of the one, holy, and living God. Amen. 

Today is the third Sunday of Advent, known as Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is Latin for “rejoice,” but it also means 'to welcome.' On this Sunday then, we make an intentional choice to welcome the joy God is waiting to give us – joy that anticipates the redeeming love of God; joy that trusts that nothing is impossible with God.

Our Collect today is an intriguing one. It reminds us that there is power out there that can set right whatever has gone wrong. That power is love. That power is God.

When we talk about God as Almighty, that’s what we mean. We may use metaphors of earthly power, as Zephaniah did, calling God a “warrior who gives victory” but let’s not overlook how God then describes what that victory is. Speaking through the prophet God promises to rejoice and exult over us and renew us. God promises to redeem disaster, deal with our oppressors, save the lame, gather the outcast, and change our shame to praise. That is what divine victory looks like and it’s why we rejoice.

Paul affirms this in his letter to the Philippians saying that when we stay in relationship with God, we are assured that all will be well, as Dame Julian of Norwich famously said, and our assurance feels like peace – peace in our bodies, our minds, and our spirits. Peace that often makes no logical sense.

What, then, do we make of the Gospel reading from Luke? How does this story fit the Gaudete imperative to rejoice? How did John the Baptist’s listeners hear his words as good news? How do we?

John, who was sent to prepare the way for the Messiah, is teaching everyone, those who have power, and privilege, and those who don’t, urging them to change the way they live their lives, to get back on the path of righteousness, that is, right relationship.

John tells the tax collectors, who were notorious for getting rich by exploiting the poor: Be honest. Take no more than is required. To the soldiers, John said, don’t use your power to extort others.

Using apocalyptic language, which was familiar to his listeners, John proclaims that those who have strayed from the path of righteousness, including some from the family of Abraham, will be cut off at their roots and thrown into unquenchable fire.

Good news, right? Actually, it is.

Since fire is Bible-talk for the presence of God, John is describing a kind of spiritual do-over. The fire is unquenchable – just as God’s love for us and desire for our redemption is unrelenting.

The fire of God’s love will consume us, purify us, and make us new. That’s exactly what the River Jordan, where John was baptizing people, represents: a place where new life begins. It is the place where the Israelites left their 40-year exile and crossed into the promised land, and their promised new life.

Because of John’s apocalyptic style, however, the people were afraid of being cut down and sent into eternal suffering. The Church has been guilty of making this same kind of threat for generations – something the Church needs to repent of.

God is love – and doesn’t use threats to accomplish Their plan of salvation. And as former PB Michael Curry used to famously say (say it with me): If it's not about love it's not about God.

When the people asked John how they should repent, what they should do, he answered them: "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise."This is Good News on so many levels when we hear John’s words like a prayer.

John opens the people up to a world in which they are not the center of attention. Being the center of your own or others’ attention is a way of life that seems attractive, but it is actually a trap that soon becomes an obsession: my reputation, my money, my rights… John’s words enable them to close the ‘us vs. them’ gap by building in them empathy, respect, and a willingness to enter into relationship with people they otherwise wouldn’t have – the coatless and the hungry.

John’s teaching also frees them from their attachment to things. We all have to ask ourselves: how much is enough?

Currently, there are 2,781 billionaires in the world, and most of them have hundreds of billions of dollars. (Source) If a billionaire were to spend $1,000 a day, it would take them 2,740 years to spend just one billion dollars. (Source) And there are nearly 3,000 of them representing hundreds of billions of dollars each.

Is there enough to lift everyone in the world out of poverty? Yes, but only if whoever has two coats and enough food shares with those who don’t.

Imagine also what Good News John’s proclamation is to the weak, the poor, the exploited, and the hopeless. They would receive the coats and food no longer being held from them. Let’s say that again in prayer language: the ‘have-nots’ will receive the protection and basic sustenance that is being withheld from them by the ‘haves.’

These have-nots are also at the river and are hearing John tell the ones who have been exploiting and harassing them, to change their ways. They know that would set them free from their suffering and lack.

Good News, indeed.

In this story, John clarifies to his listeners that he is not the Messiah. He is baptizing with water and calling for repentance. The Messiah, who will come after him, will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Holy Spirit, which is from the Greek word, ‘pneuma’ means ‘wind’ or ‘breath.’ The Messiah will baptize with the breath of heaven – the very breath that gives life to all. The Messiah will also baptize with fire, which, as we know, is the presence of God.

Muslim poet and Sufi mystic, Rumi, once prayed, “I have one drop of knowing in my soul. Let it dissolve in your ocean.” It is our awareness of our connectedness with God and one another, and our choice to live that way, that will transform the world. Then the will of God will be made manifest on earth as it is in heaven.

For that to happen, however, each of us and all of us must look honestly at ourselves and notice where we’re acting like the tax collector and soldier who needed to change their ways. In what ways are we giving ourselves and our comfort priority over others, especially those others who have no protection and lack the basic necessities of life?

What is the chaff in ourselves we need to be set free from in order to be made ready to receive the transforming love that will come again at Christmas? We all have chaff that needs burring off - and God, who loves us so incredibly much, knows we can only deal with so much truth about ourselves at once, so God reveals it to us in small doses, enabling us to repent a little at a time, year after liturgical year.

It’s a kind of controlled spiritual burn of our souls. It looks destructive and we worry that it might get out of control, but our faith assures us that God has it and us in hand, and this process will create in us a more favorable environment for new life, just as it does for crops in the fields.

On this third Sunday in Advent, may we all faithfully enter the unquenchable fire and be grateful it is unquenchable because it means that God never gives up on us. May we trust that this process will purify us, set us free, and make possible new life in us. May we drown in the ocean of God where we find the peace that surpasses all understanding, and may we rejoice that the bountiful grace and mercy of God will deliver us again and again from death into life. Amen.