The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany ---- 28 January 2018

Mark 1:21-28

21 [Jesus and the disciples] went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
23 Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24 and he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God." 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, "What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him." 28 At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

… and he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?”

·       Don’t think for a minute that what Mark writes of in the Gospel today was normal. Don’t think that it happened every day. This is not how worship in a synagogue goes.

·       We’ve all experienced disruptions in worship. I’ve seen and heard infants crying, people fainting, dogs running around, and birds dive-bombing the altar and later singing while sitting in the organ pipes in the balcony. Ball lightening hit the church during one service. I was present for one Christmas Eve service where the hydro went out 30 minutes before the scheduled start and came back on 5 minutes after the end. I’ve heard a person stand up during the distribution of Communion and read a “prophetic” statement. I’ve even experienced members of the congregation dying during the service… on two different occasions.

·       These are out of the ordinary and I laughed at some of them. Others I simply had to endure or find a way to handle. What Jesus encountered in today’s passage from the Gospel of Mark is entirely separate.

·       The congregation in the synagogue is surprised at the “authority” of Jesus’ preaching for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Often the scribes taught by retelling what had been taught by other scribes and rabbis, saying nothing new and rarely adding any different interpretation. It was the rabbinical style of the time.

·       Jesus, however, showed himself to be different. He taught with authority, an authority that was decidedly different from that of the scribes. This was something unheard-of. Because of that, Mark wrote that the people were astounded. We may not be able to comprehend what this means. Unlike the scribes, Jesus spoke a fresh message and backed it, not with canned or stale examples or arguments, but with an authority that could not be contradicted.

·       Contradicted… no. Opposed… yes. Jesus’ authority was shown in his preaching and his teaching. That alone would attract both those who needed to hear his message and those who would oppose it.

·       This opposition manifested itself in a confrontation with a possessed man and an exorcism was came next. The evil that had possessed the man threatened to tell everyone who Jesus is, which would go against Mark’s way of telling the Gospel.

·       Jesus’ mission was to proclaim the Good News to the poor and the suffering. It was not to rid the world of evil. He didn’t have to search out evil and evil things; they were exposed by his presence and his teaching.

·       Jesus didn’t seek out evil; when it surfaced it found him. Sometimes the evil in the world showed itself in the raving of a possessed person or in the suffering of the sick. In those cases, the rather stern command to “Come out!” or the gentle touch of healing would do it. In today’s Gospel reading, the command to be silent and leave was enough to leave the man whole and to astound the congregation.

·       Other evils would take more. The evil found in the entrenched power of those who opposed Jesus would be what led to his death.

·       However, Jesus’ authority, teaching, and life goes beyond death. His mission was to tell and to be the Good News. The evil of the possessed man threatened to tell the world who he was in a way that might well have led to more oppression than to freedom for the human spirit. The evil of the entrenched and self-righteous powers – whether in the religious officials of the time or in the brutal political power of the Empire – refused to accept what Jesus had to say or who he was because it went against their power and privilege.

·       Jesus’ authority is with us today, in the freedom proclaimed in the Gospel. Any authority claimed by the Church or its ministers is derived from the teaching of Jesus and nowhere else.

·       Today, it is still our mission to proclaim the Gospel with all that it means. That message will be opposed, by forces outside of us and within us, for we still struggle to live as disciples. Thanks be to God that the authority behind our discipleship is real and true and powerful, for it is nothing less than the teaching, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

·       "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” Actually, just about everything in our lives.

The Third Sunday after Epiphany ---- 21 January 2018

Jonah 3:1-5, 10

1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, 2 "Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." 3 So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days' walk across. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"
5 And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.
10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

Mark 1:14-20

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news." 16 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

·       I have to admit that I am terribly torn this morning. I am faced with two of my favourite reading from the Bible.

·       First of all, I love the book of Jonah. It should be an “illustrated novel,” a fancy up-scale term for “comic book.” Jonah is called to preach repentance to Nineveh, the capitol of Israel’s enemy, the hated Assyrian Empire. Jonah says “No way!” and catches a ship to Spain, which is as far as you can go before monsters run the show… out beyond the Gates of Hercules, beyond Gibraltar. (Remember the old maps with the inscription “Here there be monsters.”?) Long story short, God sends a great fish to gobble up Jonah when the sailors throw him overboard during a storm. The fish spits up Jonah back where he started and he preaches repentance to Nineveh… which repents in record time. From the king to the lowliest beggar, everybody puts on sackcloth and ashes and fasts in repentance. Even the animals are decked out in scratchy old burlap. God relents on destroying Nineveh and Jonah is angry since he wanted to see Nineveh go down in flames. There’s more to the story, but that’s the thumbnail sketch. Read it yourselves; the book is only four chapters!

·       Now I also love the call to repentance that Jesus preaches in Mark. These are in fact the first words Jesus says in the Gospel. This has been important to me for a number of reasons.

·       Repent… is not a word we love. It calls up images of burlap shirts, gritty ashes, wild-eyed preachers, tears, sadness, and suffering. It also involves admitting we’ve done something wrong, and I don’t know anyone who enjoys that.

·       Repentance may involve any of those things, but what it really involves is turning around. The word in the original language literally means “to turn around.” At its simplest, it could mean to make an about face and go in a different direction. Taking it further, it can mean reform things or do things differently. The old phrase – “Do penance” – is often seen as a recommendation to be involved in penitential actions, like fasting, wearing sackcloth, or whipping oneself. There are so many negative ideas and images that come to mind from that and it clouds the whole picture.

·       The emphasis on the practices and the “doing” misses the mark. The turning around, the change of heart and of mind is the point. Jesus points out that “the kingdom of God has come near” and because of that, people should change their ways. In the story of Jonah, the Ninevites repent of whatever they were doing and turn to God almost as soon as Jonah begins his preaching. In the Gospel, it is the presence and nearness of God’s Kingdom that leads to repentance and a turning-around.

·       Jesus does not say what the people are to repent of nor does he say how they are to manage their repentance. The message is ultimately simple: God is near and things can’t be the same as they have been. Reform your lives! Realign yourselves with the Kingdom coming. When we think of “turning around”, we turn away from something, but we turn toward something else. In this case, we turn from what leads us away from God to the Kingdom of God with all that means in our lives.

·       There is the balance point. We don’t reform our lives in order to be better people; we reform our lives in order to take on the values and directions of the Kingdom of God. Such a reform is not once-and-done, but an each and every day thing.

·       In taking on what the Kingdom of God offers, we are assured that the forgiveness of God will be ours. Such forgiveness is part and parcel of the Kingdom. We can learn more about it. We can tell others about it. We can model it in how we live it out. Mostly we can be a people who have turned around… reformed… repented, turning to a life that reflects the Kingdom, its values, and ultimately, the life of Jesus Christ himself.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

The Second Sunday after Epiphany ---- 14 January 2018

John 1:43-51

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth." 46 Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, "Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!" 48 Nathanael asked him, "Where did you get to know me?" Jesus answered, "I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you." 49 Nathanael replied, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" 50 Jesus answered, "Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these." 51 And he said to him, "Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

"Follow me”…"Come and see."

·       Simple phrases, yet our lives are often made up of simple phrases – “I promise.”, “I’ll do it.”, “I have an answer.”, “I love you.”

·       Such phrases carry the strongest messages and convey deepest meanings. To add modifiers and extra words might enhance the statement, but might just as easily complicate and confuse things. In many cases, the simplest answer is the best.

·       For Christians, the phrase “Follow me” is the ground of discipleship, the base on which everything else is built. Grace has been offered to all of us and grace is always an invitation to go further. In many ways and possibly in unexpected ways, we have heard that call. In fact, it could easily come to us every day… and should. We are called to follow and that call is constantly renewed.

·       The other question, the one Nathanael puts to Philip about whether or not anything good could come out of Nazareth, sounds a bit snide, but the answer is grace-filled: “Come and see.” In a way, Philip gives the only answer he can. There is no explanation for Jesus and only the experience of Jesus will answer any question. The invitation to “Come and see” sounds almost like an invitation to seek your own answers in the experience you have. To encounter Jesus may not answer each and every question, and that encounter may not answer our questions the way we’d like. It may even cause new questions to arise. The only way to answer any of those questions can be found in the continued experience of Jesus. This something we work out in faith.

·       We will all have different questions. We’re not all looking for exactly the same thing. What we might find depends on what we might be looking for. The experience of Jesus could well be different for everyone. The invitation to follow may take different forms and might sound different to each of us. Still the final result is meant to be following, or to use a more “church-y” word, discipleship.

·       One of the questions that comes up about discipleship would be “Why are you Christian?” And there could be any number of answers to that. For some, it could be cultural or because of family or because of a specific and singular experience. For another person, it could be far more gradual. The bigger question – the real question - is why do you remain Christian as opposed to some other spiritual path? What is that keeps you a disciple of Jesus Christ?

·       It is the experience of Jesus Christ that keeps us there. Whether in the Scriptures, the sacraments, or in church members, it is there that we constantly encounter the Lord… even if we do not recognize him at first.

·       From that encounter, we reflect, think, and come to some sort of understanding of what is going on between ourselves and the Divine. This is probably the simplest understanding of theology that we’ll find.

·       I don’t think that it is theology that draws people. There is a lot of interpretation possible there and very few people spend time comparing theologies. It appears that the experience and how it meets us is primary. The experience, whether single or repeated, whether arriving with lightening-like clarity or gradually coming into focus, appears to be the point. Theology is written from the experience as a way to explain or make sense of it. It is written to relate “What happened then?” to “What’s happening now?” and “What’s happening to me?” That’s what Samuel was doing in our first reading. A theology that does not lead us back to the experience is troublesome. Good theology can be as deep and thoughtful as Luther’s collected writings – all 42 volumes. And good theology can be as deep and simple as “Jesus loves me; this I know/ for the Bible tells me so.” Theology is always done from the inside since it reflects and ponders the experience.

·       The call “Follow me” continues for each of us. The call to “come and see” is ours as well since in that we’ll see what following means for our lives. In this way, a Christian cannot separate thought and action. Interpreting the experience is engaging in theology, one way or another. Living the experience is discipleship. 

The Second Sunday after Epiphany ----- 7 January 2018

Mark 1:4-11

4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11 And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.

·       Have any of you had the experience of opening a bag of pasta or cereal or snacks in such a way that the bag tore open and the contents jumped out? It’s a real mess and it’s frustrating because first, you have to clean up all the corn flakes or noodles or pretzels that ended up everywhere and second, now you have to find a new container since the bag is ripped up. It’s a bit of a joke, but I’ve done it and I think some of you might have as well.

·       It’s interesting that Mark uses the phrase “torn apart” to describe what Jesus saw as he came up out of the water: he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.

·       Mark uses this phrase again later in his Gospel when recounting the Crucifixion of Jesus. He says the curtain of the Temple in Jerusalem was torn in two. The curtain in question here stood between the inner sanctuary and the Holy of Holies, the place where the presence of God was most found.

·       So both the heavens and the curtain of the Temple were ripped up at these two important times in Jesus’ life. We might well wonder what that means.

·       If things are torn open/torn apart/ripped up in such a way that repair is impossible, something really new is going on. If the heavens are torn apart as Jesus is baptized by John, the separation of the heavens and the earth is done away with. They can’t be separated any more… and God is not far, far away. If the curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the world is torn in two, God is loose in the world… and who knows what might happen. There’s more to all this than meets the eye at first.

·       This is not the gentle and cute baptism of a young child that we’ve all seen at our font. This event is a world-changer… and so it the baptism of a child, were we to look at it with the eyes of faith and no expectation of visible heaven-tearing and dove-descending. What we don’t see with our own eyes might be more important here.

·       There is more to this event. Something else happens here that happens again at the Crucifixion: Jesus is proclaimed the Son of God. Here it is done through a voice from heaven that accompanies the descent of the Spirit. Later in the Gospel, it is the voice of the centurion who commands the detail of soldiers who have crucified Jesus: Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was God’s Son!’ (Mark 15:39)

·       This is why the Baptism of Our Lord is linked to the Epiphany. Most dictionaries say that an epiphany is “manifestation of the divine.” The Christian festival of the Epiphany celebrates the nations and peoples of the world, represented in the Magi, accepting the revelation of the child Jesus as the Word made Flesh. The Baptism of Our Lord celebrates the same thing, although in a more historic way.

·       Please don’t think I’m denying the visit of the Magi; I’m not and I like those fellows. Only Matthew, with his emphasis on the Good News to the Gentiles, even mentions the Magi. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all report the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan by John the Baptizer and John assumes it without reporting it. For all the Gospels to include this event, it has to be very important to the story of Jesus and the story of our salvation. The other powerful incident included in all the Gospels is the Crucifixion. As John’s Gospel relates: Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe^* that Jesus is the Messiah,^* the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.  (John 20: 30-31) The importance of Jesus’ baptism cannot be denied. It is here that Jesus is revealed to all who might see. It is here that his mission begins. It is here that a new chapter in the story of the love of God for us and for all creation starts.

And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.

The First Sunday of Christmas --- 31 December 2017

Luke 2: 22-40

22 When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, [Joseph and Mary] brought [Jesus] up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord"), 24 and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. 27 Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, 29 "Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel." 33 And the child's father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed 35 so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too." 36 There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. 39 When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40 The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.

·       Simeon appears and disappears quickly in Luke’s Gospel and is seen only in Luke’s Gospel. To many, he represents the faithful is Israel who waited for the revelation of the Messiah. It had been revealed to Simeon that he would see the Messiah before he’d see his death.

·       Years ago, a television movie portrayed this Gospel event in a way that has stayed with me to this day. The child Jesus is brought to the Temple by Mary and Joseph. Of course, the baby is crying; that’s normal. An old man, played by a rather famous actor, is sitting in the Temple, listening to another man reading from a scroll of the Scripture. When he hears the baby’s cry, he sits bolt-upright as if he’d been hit by lightning, stops the reader, and gets up and goes to the family. He takes the child in his arms with a look of joy and relief and says the prayer we heard today.

·       It meant the world to Simeon to know that the Messiah was coming while he lived. Then to see his hope fulfilled! This would be beyond his imagination.

·       With that, Simeon disappears from the story. It doesn’t really matter that Simeon is no longer seen in the Gospel narrative; the story isn’t about him. He has played his part and he has seen the promise fulfilled. He was faithful and God was faithful to him and to the promises made to Simeon and to Israel.

·       When we read the Scripture, we can focus on all the negative things and all the things that don’t fulfill our more modern expectations. We can apply our modern sensibilities to the people, ideas, and events found in the Scripture. It might be best if we took a step or two back and realize what the Scripture is really about.

·       It is a history of how God has remained faithful to God’s people despite all that has gone wrong, all that was misunderstood or misinterpreted, and all that might seem either normal or strange to us.

·       From the creation stories with their side story of sin and rebellion through the saga of the kings of Israel and Judah to the words of the prophets and into the joyous revelation of the Word made Flesh, the faithfulness of God is celebrated. God’s constant work to renew and uphold the Covenant made with the people of Israel is the real story of the Scriptures.

·       This story continues in the Gospels, in the letters of the New Testament, and even to the book we call the Apocalypse, a story of God’s mercy and faithfulness to a persecuted community couched in some of the strangest illustrations we might find anywhere.

·       How does the Bible begin? In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth… What is said near the end of the book of Revelation? See, I am making all things new.

·       If we were so moved, we could echo Simeon’s words, for what has happened, has happened according to your word… With the eyes of faith, we too have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.

·       That light, Jesus Christ, the light of the world, has been the revelation to all the nations and peoples of the world and is the glory of God’s people, to whom we have been grafted.

·       God’s faithfulness lets us make Simeon’s Canticle our own.

·       Now, Lord, you let your servant go in peace; your Word has been fulfilled. My own eyes have seen the salvation you have prepared in the sight of all the peoples; a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people, Israel.

The Festival of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Christmas Day) ---- 25 December 2017

(This brief sermon was preached on Christmas Morning at Trinity Anglican's 9:00am service.)

John 1: 1-18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. ⁹The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. ¹¹He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. ¹²But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, ¹³who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵(John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’) ¹⁶From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. 

 And the Word became flesh and lived among us

·       When I was part of a monastic community (before I married and began ministry in the Lutheran Church), the passage I just re-read was part of a prayer that was said every day at the evening meal. When the community got to the words And the Word became flesh and lived among us, we all bowed at the waist.

·       In a way, this was a real prayer for the posture of our bodies can be prayer. When we kneel for prayer or stand for the reading of the Gospel, in a very real way we are praying in the attention we pay to what is going on around us by how we stand or sit or by any respectful positions we take up.

·       We are people with bodies. We are not souls that inhabit a body, for unless we are body and soul together, we are something other than human. Angels are said to be pure spirit. Sad to say, they can get the joke but can never laugh, for you need a body to laugh aloud.

·       Christmas is the festival of the Incarnation of Christ. We celebrate a God who simply didn’t come to visit, but to say. In the original language, the passage say “He pitched his tent among us.” The “tent” is the same word as the Tent of Meeting or the Tabernacle where the Ark of the Covenant was kept during the Hebrew’s desert wanderings. Quite a connection.

·       Jesus came to make this world his home like all of us other bodied humans. He is the meeting place or link between Heaven and Earth – Son of Man and Son of God.

·       Jesus knows us for in a particular way he is one of us while still divine. This knowledge is not for our condemnation but for our salvation.

·       Now, do you all know the Christmas Carol “O Come All Ye Faithful”? It think I’ve run across a new, unpublished verse, one I want to remember, for it goes right to the heart of the matter of the Incarnation and the Word becoming flesh.

·       I won’t sing it:

·       Oh, come, ye unfaithful

Broken and polluted!

Oh, come ye, Oh, come ye,

To Bethlehem.

Come and behold Him,

Born the Friend of Sinners.

Oh, come let us adore him,

Christ the Lord.

The Eve of the Festival of the Nativity ----- 24 December 2017

(This sermon was preached at both St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church (7:00pm) and Trinity Anglican Church (11:00pm), Aylmer, ON)

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to their own towns to be registered. 4 Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5 He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

8 In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger." 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!"

[15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." 16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.]

But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.

·       For so many of us, the Christmas season has been a special time and very often, and especially busy time. There is so much to do, so many things to take part in, so many chores, traditions, or duties to fulfill.

·       We forget to take the time to “ponder” or maybe there just isn’t time, as we see things. We’ve heard the Christmas story so many times it hardly makes an impression on us. So many things have been attached to the story that we have trouble sorting through all of it to see the original story. I didn’t say the “actual” story, for what happened that night can be debated and argued about. The “original” story as we have it is about a birth, an announcement, a visit, and remembering.

·       A birth in a place without comfort - because there was no place for them in the inn. If we were to modernize the story, the birth would take place in a parking garage, or on a roadside textstop on the 401, or some other inhospitable place. The birth took place in Bethlehem, the city of David, for the child would be of the blood-line and royal line of David… as God had promised.

·       The announcement of this birth wasn’t made by mail or the internet. It came in person to the last people you’d expect – the rejected and the poor. Birth announcements are made to the relatives and people who will celebrate ‘properly’ (whatever that means.) Such an announcement is usually something that is looked forward to. This one, however, is a surprise. It is unexpected… and it is terrifying. Simple shepherds, the poor of the land, are confronted with a multitude of the heavenly host. The announcement to them is accompanied by more than just a brigade of angels; it is prefaced by words of comfort: "Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people…

·       The place where the manger could be found was soon crowded. The shepherds came after deciding, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." They didn’t come to congratulate the family or to join in the festivities surrounding the birth, for there weren’t any. They came to see for themselves and to confirm what the angels had said with their own eyes. They didn’t come for the baby; the baby came for them.

·       Through all of these rather confusing events and happenings, Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. Did she know what it all meant? Who knows?

·       She may have thought about this all this her whole life long, a life rarely remarked on by all who wrote down the story we retell tonight. Mary treasured and pondered what was said and what had happened. Maybe it took her all those years to understand what was happening. Even in that, what was said and what she knew never lost its value to her. We see her again in the Gospels, often wondering and sorrowful, until her care as mother was given to the Beloved Disciple. (Is John the ‘beloved disciple’ or are we?) We finally hear of her among the disciples in the earliest days of the Church and quite possibly on the day of Pentecost.

·       As it has been for so many years, Christmas is a time of celebration. At home, meals, gifts, and family traditions take the spotlight. Here, in this place however, in our celebration, we remember, we ponder, we treasure. Some may be moved to tears; some to action. Word, sacrament, song, and symbol aid us in our remembering. What might count more is the hope that this pondering and remembering and treasuring will lead all of us both to the new life we’ve been promised and to a new way of living out the Gospel every day.

·       May the Christ Child be born anew in each of us tonight and may we wake tomorrow in his risen life!

·       Fröhliche Weihnachten, alles!

·       Nollaig shona dhaoibh!

·       Merry Christmas, everyone!