The Third Sunday after Epiphany - 27 January 2013

But strive for the greater gifts.

• Paul outlines some wonderful gifts given to the church in his letter to the Corinthians. Many still exist in the church today, while some have faded out. They are worth taking a look at.
• God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues.
• In a number of his letters, Paul lists the various gifts of ministry found in the church. Here his list appears to be laid out in order to reassure the Corinthian congregation that each and every one of them were part of the body of Christ, even if all did not have the same gifts, something worth saying again today.
• The ministry of apostle is seen as first. Apostles were people “sent with a mission” and originally had been among the company who knew Jesus in his earthly ministry. “Apostle” means “sent with a mission” in its original language. The apostles were charged with spreading the Good News of God's grace in Jesus Christ to people who hadn't heard it yet. This title has been applied to various persons in the later years of the church as the Gospel was spread. Often the first to evangelize certain areas were termed apostles, like Boniface to preached to the ancient German people or the brothers, Cyril and Methodius who preached to the ancient Slavs. Some people feel that the ministry and gift of apostleship is no longer with the church.
• Prophets come next. We have to be clear here. A prophet is not a person who can predict the future; that is another gift. A prophet speaks the Word of God to a specific situation in the present. What they have to say is not always easy and it is not always pleasant. Nor is it easily accepted. The often speak the truth to power and that causes trouble. There are prophets in the contemporary church and they are still seen as trouble-makers even as they speak the truth.
• Teachers are considered the third most powerful and most valuable of the ministries appointed by God. It's interesting that in this list, the ministry of teaching is seen far above leadership. So you Sunday School teachers and Vacation Bible School workers, take heart! Paul values your ministry more than that of pastor or bishop! Teachers might even be seen as “apostles to the future”, taking the Gospel to a land and a people unknown – the future.
• The “deeds of power” and “gifts of healing” might have us stumped. Miracles of the Biblical style and miraculous healings are few and far between in our day. It's not that they don't happen; we just might not recognize them as such. Modern medicine does things daily that would be considered miraculous in Jesus' time, and we take those as commonplace. Maybe it's the same for “deeds of power.”
• Assistance and leadership are further down the list, but are on the list none-the-less. These are wide-open categories which can still be considered God-given ministries within the church. They could be almost anything from pastoral ministry through worship musician to property committee work, acolyte, pot-luck cook, and general helping-out.
• Lastly tongues are listed and at the end of the passage, Paul pairs the gift of tongues with the gift of interpretation, a pairing he encourages elsewhere in his letters. In the New Testament, it usually involves praying “in the Spirit” in some unknown language. Paul insists that it should only be used when someone can interpret the words, so that all present might benefit. If there is not interpreter, they should pray quietly There are some who would argue that this gift is no longer available within the Christian church and some would argue it is. Truth to tell, I don't know.
• Paul writes this list and expands upon it in order to assure the Corinthian congregation that no one is less a part of the church because their gifts are less dramatic. He uses the example of the human body and sets up an absurd argument where various body parts are concerned that they are not part of the body because they are not some other part. As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."
• No matter what our gifts or our contribution to the church's good or our calling within the church, it is the grace of God that makes us a part of Christ's church. Any one of us might be more noticeable or more publicly powerful, but none of us are unnecessary and indeed the hidden gifts might just be what makes a congregation exist and thrive. As I've said before, God has given us all we need to be his church here and now... even if we might wish we were something else.
• What are our gifts here? Who can say? It is important to say that God has given each one of us gifts and abilities and whatever gifts God has given each of us, they can serve the Gospel and the Kingdom of God. No one is left out.
• This leaves us with the final line of the passage from Paul's letter. That short phrase, But strive for the greater gifts. cries out for something more to be said. What greater gifts could there be than what Paul has listed?
• The answer could be very surprising. Many of you know the answer and really the answer is easy to find. It will be the epistle reading for next Sunday. It is one of the most well known passages in the New Testament... and it is one of the most powerful.
• Until then, take joy in the gifts God has given you and make use of them for the good of the entire Christian community. That's why they're there. You can never go wrong by offering, since the world around us needs them and needs us to offer them. In the final analysis, what we offer is nothing less than the grace of God.

The Second Sunday after Epiphany - 20 January 2013

"Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now."

• Every week, I write a short paragraph to place in the bulletin as a comment on one of the readings. Sometimes I preach on the same subject, sometimes I don't. (note: this week I asked a question: where would you rather spend eternity - in a worship service or at one of our congregation's potluck meals?) 
• The thought that came to me this week I believe is worth preaching about. As it should be, the passage in question is about God's grace and God's desire for salvation for us all.
• We've all heard of the wedding feast at Cana and what Jesus did when the wine ran out. The changing of water into wine certainly miraculous, especially since we're more used to wine turning into vinegar. Not so miraculous.
• Here Jesus turns water into wine for the good of the entire party. In Jesus' day, when a wedding feast would last all week, the best wine would be served first and the lesser vintages would be served later, when the guests were less able to tell the really good wine from the more pedestrian wines, let alone the stuff that should have been left for vinegar. The idea of the best wine coming last really is a comment on the Kingdom of God coming to full fruition with the revelation of Jesus.
• There is also the amount of the wine that formerly was water. The six stone jars together would hold up to 180 gallons of wine, which would be more than 720 litres of wine. There would be a super-abundance of wine! This would be an amount that no one could expect or maybe even imagine!
• You can imagine the conversation:
• “We're out of wine.”

“No, we're not. Here's some. Wait a minute! There's a lot! And it's GOOD!”

What Jesus does at the wedding feast is called a “Sign” by John the Evangelist. Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. Signs point to something, whether they are traffic signs or advertising signs, clues in a mystery story or hints in a puzzle. What does this sign point to? The Gospel of John is full of these “signs.” The first part of the book is called the “Book of Signs” and includes healings and the multiplication of loaves and fishes, ending with the last sign, the raising of Lazarus. The ultimate sign is the Resurrection So what do all the “signs” in John's Gospel point to?

What they point to is grace, pure and simple, yet powerful and profound. All of these things that Jesus does could be called miracles, but John the Evangelist calls them signs. If they were miracles, we might be tempted to stop at the event itself and not go beyond it. As signs, all these happenings point to what is beyond, what we call grace and grace embodied in Jesus Christ.

The signs found in John's Gospel are all very tangible signs. Take the sign at the wedding in Cana as an example. Six large jars of water become over 700 litres of wine in response to a request about the sad lack of wine at a feast. Could things be more tangible? Could things be more tasty?

The Scriptures often use the figure of a banquet or a meal to show us the Kingdom of God. It's no mistake that the highest form of Christian worship is the meal of the Lord's Supper. Yes, it is a minimal meal, but it is a meal and it shows us the grace of God in a very sensible and tangible way. When we eat it, we remember Jesus as he commanded and we celebrate his presence among us through the simple means of bread and wine and the presence of our sisters and brothers in the faith.

Meals are a good sign of God's Kingdom. That's why the Scriptures use meals and feasts to illustrate the Kingdom. At their best, meals include fellowship, conversation, sharing, and giving and receiving. The guests take joy in being together and take joy in the feast itself. The host takes joy in the presence of the guests and takes joy in the giving of self in the hospitality, the preparations, and the feasting. The meal does not have to be fancy to be a true banquet. One of the greatest feasts I've ever had in my life was at a friend's home with all his family (and cat) where we shared conversation and time over a sumptuous meal of freshly baked bread and soft, warm butter.

Jesus' signs don't tell us about the love of God; they show us the love of God. They don't tell us about God present and active in the world; they show us God present and active in the world.

That is our role in the present world as well. We as Christians are to show the grace of God to one another and to the world at large. We are the ones who show the Kingdom of God to the world in what we say and do. We are the ones who make the Kingdom of God real to the world around us.

Maybe this is why our activities outside of worship might be more apt to tell about God's Kingdom than our worship. After all, we spend maybe an hour here in these pews and the rest of our week elsewhere. Here is where we find the reality of the Kingdom in Word and Sacrament. Everywhere else, we are God's Word to the world and the sacrament of God's presence in the world.

So let's continue to pray and to worship and then let's continue to take what we become here into the rest of the world for the rest of our time. For all of that, remember the words of Jesus' mother, Mary: His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

The Baptism of the Lord - 13 January 2013

“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

• This is the festival of the Baptism of the Lord. We've come to that part of the Church year when the festivals of Christmas come to a close and the less festive but rather solemn season of Lent is yet to come. This year that comes rather quicker than we might expect.
• In this season, we return to a more sequential reading of the Gospel, and this year, of the Gospel of Luke.
• But first, our Christmas season ends with this festival of the Baptism of the Lord. It is John the Baptizer that does most of the speaking. His message sounds a bit foreboding to us. The talk of a baptism of fire and the burning of the chaff from the harvest in “unquenchable fire” would cause us some concern. I don't think that any of us are at all interested in having anything to do with unquenchable fire.
• According to John, it would seem that the coming of the Messiah – whom John not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. - would be a time of judgement and of separation. The image of separating the wheat from the chaff carries this message. In the Middle East of Jesus' time, the harvested grain was separated from the shell and the other uneatable parts of the harvest by throwing it into the air. The good grain seed, being heavier, would fall to the ground while the lighter chaff would actually be blown away by the wind. This was often done with a tool that let the worker throw the grain into the air more easily. Called a “winnowing fork” or a “winnowing fan”, it was often made of wicker and in many cases, looked more like a basket to a flat wicker tray than a fork or fan. I'm saying all this because the combine-harvesters do all this today, but the old way might be familiar to some here.
• In any event, the good seed would be gathered and saved while the chaff would be swept up off of the threshing floor and burned.
• John is speaking of the time of judgement and gathering-up that is to come with the presence of the Messiah. It will be a time of ultimate decision. There will be gains and losses on a cosmic scale.
• Now we could dismiss this and think nothing of it, calling it the ravings of an ancient prophet. We could take it to heart and end up living our lives glancing over our shoulder, wondering if we are wheat or chaff.
• Or we could accept it and look at it a different way. There will surely be a separation of wheat and chaff, but if we personalize this a bit, what it means takes on a different character.
• The separation of wheat and chaff is promised and why should it not take place in each of our lives. The Messiah, Jesus Christ, could well be doing such a separation in our lives right now.
• We know ourselves to be both blessed and sinful at the same time. That's basic Lutheran theology.
• For us, our own Baptism is not the end of our lives of faith but just the beginning. With Baptism, it becomes a daily thing, rather than a once and done experience. Our own Small Catechism tell us this about Baptism: What does such baptizing with water signify? It signifies that the old Adam in us should, by daily contrition and repentance, be drowned and die with all sins and evil lusts, and, again, a new man daily come forth and arise; who shall live before God in righteousness and purity forever.
• Holding this to be true, than the winnowing - the separation of wheat and chaff - is going on in our daily lives right now, often without our knowledge and more often without our complete understanding.
• In a grace-filled experience of what our lives bring to us, we are being purified. All that is worthwhile in us is being separated from what is less worthy. This can be a long process and is sometimes uncomfortable. It will vary with each person and, saint and sinner that each of us are, there will be set-backs. We might feel that we are covering known ground and not making progress. Yet, we can be sure that we are progressing. Our own perspective is rather limited. What might draw our attention constantly might not be the area that is being purified and might not even be the area that most needs purification!
• This purification may seem like a consuming fire. Indeed the Scripture uses the image of a fire, like the fire used to refine metal, burning off the less valuable alloys in the metal or consuming the less worthwhile parts of the harvested grain. This is not a bad thing for it makes what is left all the more precious.
• Now all this only makes sense in the light of the love of God, the love that will not leave us as we were, but reaches out to bring us to the One who loves us. The love of God changes us in ways we could not even imagine and changes us to the person God wishes us to be, a person we can't even begin to imagine... and the washing of Baptism is both the symbol and the beginning of that.
• Think of it as a process or a journey or a daily rebirth. Use whatever image you like or no image at all. We are being purified and God still loves us through-out our purification. If not, the purification would not have begun at all.

“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."