Finding Jesus in the Crowd: A Sermon for 1C Epiphany

I did not actually preach this sermon. I wrote it. But I have come down with "the Tallahassee crud" and have been coughing and blowing my nose for 48 hours. It started with that tell-tale sign of the scratchy throat...and then blossomed into this...crud. 

Rather than getting up early to drive to Georgia and push myself to lead the service, I put out word to our retired deacon and asked her to lead Morning Prayer with Communion using our reserved sacrament (of which we had a lot of wafers so I knew we would be OK). I emailed her my sermon and told her to simply tell everyone that these were my words. That way she wouldn't have to dream up a sermon in less than 24 hours. 

See what you think. Cough. Cough. 

Texts: Isaiah 43: 1-7; Luke 3: 15-17, 21-23

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Before I start…I have to acknowledge that the references to fire in our lessons this morning have given me pause because of what’s happening in California.

I have several friends who live in the Los Angeles area…including my best friend from my childhood. I was able to reach her through a text message, and while she and her family and home are safe…it’s very much touch and go for them as there are fires on two sides of where they live.

We all know the trauma of natural disasters and can appreciate the worry and panic many of our fellow citizens are experiencing right now. So many in Los Angeles have lost their homes and businesses and places of worship. So please keep them in your prayers.

Images of water and fire are fairly common in Scripture…and our daily lives.

We hear the prophet Isaiah promising to those who have been traumatized that God is with them…helping them “pass through waters” and not letting the “fire burn them.” God is the protector and the shield from the dangers and horrors that the people have had to endure.

These are people who have suffered a hostile take over and exile from a foreign empire.

And Isaiah is now serving as the prophet of comfort to the faithful survivors…reminding them that despite all appearances to the contrary…God is still with them so keep going.

It’s important for us to know this background because it is this history that is in the DNA of all those people coming out to John to be baptized in the Jordan River.

There’s a reason we hear Luke say that “the people were filled with expectation.”

All of these people…including the ones that John was probably shocked to see…the tax collectors and soldiers and even some Pharisees…they all have this shared history of having been conquered and uprooted and threatened by tyrannical forces.

They are the descendants of that surviving cluster from centuries earlier.  

The ones Isaiah was comforting.

They’ve heard the stories of their ancestors…the promises that all in this life is not in vain if they keep hoping…hope beyond hope…that there will be a Messiah.

They’re looking for that one sent to save them from their current misery living under the Roman Empire.

But John isn’t it.

And he knows it’s not him.

But even John isn’t without hope. Because he has faith and trust that there is someone coming who will be that great one. And that’s what he promises to them.

Now…once again…the crafters of our lectionary have decided to drop some verses from this Gospel reading…and so I am going to add them back in for you.

Because…just like with the story of the wise men and Herod…it’s critical for us to know that in the middle of this scene of lots of people seeking to turn their lives around and heed John’s message to basically “get right with God”…John is doing all of this with some serious risk.

When Herod sought out John…John took that opportunity to speak the truth to the powerful ruler.

He told Herod that his marriage to Herodias…who had been married to Herod’s brother Phillip…was both immoral and illegal…and that as Jewish leaders go…Herod was a brute and an abusive jerk.

This Herod comes by his immorality honestly.

 He’s the son of the King Herod who wanted to find the young Jesus so he could kill his rival.

Folks: The Herods are not a nice Jewish family.

The truth hurts…and for John…it would cost him first his freedom…and eventually his life.

That’s what happens to the one who announces that there’s a greater person coming…that one who would threaten the power structures in ways that should make them sit up and take notice.

Why does this matter?

Because it is the reminder that this time of Jesus was not a tranquil time.

And in times of threat…when we feel a sword of Damocles hanging over our heads…that’s when Jesus shows up.

And interestingly….not in a grand way…with a fanfare of trumpets or riding in on a white horse to save the day.

Luke’s description makes us see that Jesus was one with all the people getting baptized on that particular day.

In the midst of all these people…with their expectations…driven and sustained by the hope that someone…oh, please God…someone will see them…

know them…

recognize them…

and remember them in the middle of this time when the powerful seem to have the upper hand on everything…

there is Jesus…already with them.

The one praying.

The one on whom the Holy Spirit descended as a dove…the one that voice whispered, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

He’s there!

He was not called Messiah.

He was called Son. Beloved.

This one.

This child of God…has had his own epiphany. His own understanding of who he is and whose he is.

And for us…it’s a reminder not only that God is with us at all times…especially in the times when we are feeling the outside pressures of the world getting us down.

It also speaks to the message that I think we are sometimes reluctant to accept.

That the God who…in Jesus has drawn earth and heaven closer together…can be found with us and in us today.

It kind of reminds me of the Joan Osbourne song from the mid-90s…where she contemplates “what if God is one of us…a slob like one of us…just a stranger on the bus…trying to make his way home.”

The lyrics challenge us to think about the God incarnate….and to consider our understanding of God’s close relationship to humanity.

So close that God might be standing with us in the crowd…and we might not even know it.

If we take our faith seriously…and not literally…can we imagine that through our baptism…we are made siblings by Christ…and with Christ…and in Christ?

That being brought through those waters we are carry a piece of Jesus in us?

Jesus is part of our story…our tradition…our way of seeing the world.

And he shows us how to be family…a human family.

When look at the stranger…we are to seek and serve them as if they are part of our Christian family…whether we know them to be or not. 

As we move into this season of Epiphany…our Scriptures will continue to challenge us to both look for that light of Christ in others…while also seeking to find that same light within ourselves.

Because it’s there…waiting for us to keep the oil filled…

trim the wick…

and let it burn brightly…

for justice…for mercy…and to keep us walking humbly with God.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

  

Dreaming: A Sermon for 2C Christmas

 

I've been having a LOT of dreams lately. Many of them I would classify as nightmares. 

I'm being chased, hunted down, by agents of the state. Or I am frantically trying to get others to places of safety as if I am some kind of 21st century Harriet Tubman. 

I associate all of this with the sword of Damocles hanging over the head of the country as we prepare for the sequel to the first DJT administration (I purposely do not use his full name as naming has power). I am dreading this administration, especially since I live in Florida where we have been experiencing the trial run of much of the MAGA agenda. It promises to be punishing, and the further one is away from the 'accepted norm' of heterosexual white male with money, the more painful it is going to be. 

We've already seen version one of this administration, marked by cruelty and chaos. It ended with a violent coup attempt on January 6, 2021, to stay in power. Don't let anyone tell you that the thousands who marched on the U.S. Capitol armed with bear spray and flag poles sharpened into bayonets were just typical tourists on a peaceful visit to the seat of our national government.

It is into this stark reality that I, and every priest, pastor, and preacher who attempts to follow the model of the Jesus found in the Gospels of the New Testament, find ourselves. 

My seminary taught us that we must "Seek the Lord, come whence it may; cost what it will." That's the inscription on my class ring that I wear every Sunday as a reminder that I am part of a community without borders with my classmates as we labor in our particular vineyards. I know that, for me, I am tasked with both speaking the truth of the Gospel, teaching not only the context of its story but finding in that story something that resonates with our current times. And when the current times are feeling uneasy I must return to the Gospel, go back to the Jesus who knew trouble and terror and bullies and tyrants...and still stood for the hope and the love that is beyond the reach of anyone to tear it down and destroy it..unless we give in to our fears. 

There's a reason the phrase, "Do not be afraid" gets said so often in both the Old and New Testaments!

How's that for a set up for this particular sermon? See what you think.

Text: Matthew 2:13-15; 19-23

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How many here dream?

And how many of you remember your dreams?

Dreams and dreaming are fascinating.

Scientists who study dreams say that when we dream…our brains are on fire.

While the rest of our body is relaxed and regenerating for the next day…our brains are whirring and stirring and processing bits of information that we have taken in during our waking hours and creating ways to deal with emotions or whatever is going on in our inner world.

For me…I know the dreams that I remember are usually the ones that feel super real or are profound in sometimes good and challenging ways.

I remember one dream that I had some years ago that I turned into a short film for one of my seminary classes.

I was sitting outside somewhere in Tallahassee.

The scene quickly shifted and I was transported to one of the courtyards of St. John’s Episcopal Church.

Suddenly…I saw a flash of light…and images of faces began popping up in my vision in rapid fire succession.

They were of people of all genders and colors and ages and animals of every kind.

And…as it often happens in my dreams…there’s some narrator voice that wants to direct my attention to something important.

So as these faces kept coming at me…the dream narrator intoned, “This is the face of God.”

When I woke up…I felt deeply moved by what I had seen and heard.

I had a profound sense of the reality that God was in the face of every being…every creature.

And that…in the words of Jonathan Myrick Daniels…”we are indelibly and unspeakably One.”

Today…we heard about a set of dreams that Joseph had…visions that guided him to keep Mary and the newborn Jesus safe from a jealous and ruthless King Herod.

Our Gospel picked up at verse 13 of the second chapter of Matthew.

Fortunately, you do have verses 1-12 in your insert as well.

To give you a very quick synopsis: some wise men come to Jerusalem from the East looking to pay homage to the “King of the Jews.”

Scholars believe that…despite the popular hymn “We Three Kings of Orient Are”…these men from the East were more likely scientists…astronomers specifically.

There’s a reason they’ve become enchanted by following this very bright light over Bethlehem.

This star piqued their interest and somehow, they knew it signified someone important had been born.

King Herod the Great is not happy to hear that there is some rival out there in the hinterlands and asks these Gentile strangers to please let him know where to find this newborn king so he could pay his respects.

They go.

They find Jesus and Mary and Joseph.

They’re in awe of Jesus…give him gifts…gold, frankincense and myrrh.

And then…they dream.

And their dream narrator tells them…don’t go home through Jerusalem because Herod is a bad guy.

There’s a LOT of dreaming in Matthew’s story about Jesus’ birth.

And the dreams seem to function as interventions…ways to avoid catastrophes.

The dreamers are receiving premonitions.

Jospeh seems to have had a dream similar to what the wise men experienced.

The angel who appears in Joseph’s dream lets him know that there’s serious trouble brewing and he needs to get the family out of the country and do it now.

It’s a good thing he listened to his dream angel.

Our lectionary portion decided to spare us the next gruesome part, but I think it’s important that we don’t gloss over what happens next.

Because the missing verses….Matthew 2:16-18…tell of the vengeful campaign the jealous King Herod waged on the families of Bethlehem.

Herod was angry that the wise astronomers didn’t spill the beans on the location of Jesus…so he decides to take drastic action to hunt down his rival.

Not knowing exactly which boy under two years old had attracted the wise men’s attention…Herod ordered all the Jewish boys two years old and younger to be killed.

The church marks that day on the calendar…December 28^th…as the Feast of the Holy Innocents…a remembrance of the reported 20-plus baby boys killed in Bethlehem.  

Children killed because of a tyrant’s petty fears.

Historically…there’s no evidence that this massacre really happened and…even if Herod did order such a mass killing…his overall record is full of indiscriminate brutality toward the Jews so this would have been just another bad deed by a terrible man.

But it speaks to the real dangers that existed in the world in which Love came down at Christmas to dwell with us as one of us in the person of Jesus.

It’s still speaking to us in the world in which we are living today.

Violence…especially violence against children…is still with us.

We have all seen the images from the war-torn areas of the world…Gaza…Ukraine…Syria…Sudan…with indiscriminate killings of civilians and children being the most vulnerable victims.

And even closer to home…we know that school shootings are becoming an all-too frequent occurrence.

In the same way the birth of a child represents hope…the death of a child can feel like a devastating blow to hope.

It’s into times and places and moments such as this that Jesus enters the world…and depends upon the faithful actions of human participants to pay attention to the messages in their dreams.

Joseph did follow the dreams…and did so despite it being a risky proposition.

They left their homeland…the familiar.

They were immigrants…refugees…on the run into a foreign land.

In fact… it was the land from which their ancestors had escaped from another tyrannical figure so many centuries earlier.

How strange that must have been to seek refuge in Egypt!

We might imagine the stress of this situation and how terrifying it must have been to have to flee from their country of origin.

I’ve listened to many reports about the dangerous trek of people fleeing gang violence in Central America to seek refuge in our country.

Just trying to get through the area called the Darien Gap…which is both a swampland full of snakes as well as jungles and mountains…where marauders hang out waiting to attack people running for their lives…is harrowing experience.

That anyone makes it through there is truly miraculous.

The holy family’s experience isn’t as well documented…but we get the idea that like today’s refugees…they too had to could never fully rest because there was always danger around the corner.

Even after Herod’s death…Joseph was still listening to his dream narrator telling him not to go back to Judea.

And so the family settled in the Galilean village of Nazareth.

This story reminds us of how much it takes sometimes to keep hope alive.

But that fragile and vulnerable hope is the Jesus that lives within each of us who have been brought through the waters of baptism and marked and sealed as Christ’s own forever.

And this Jesus…born in us…is the hope that we bring out into the world…into our homes…our work places…everywhere we go and encounter those faces of God seeking meaningful connection.

This hope is what fuels a dream of a world where there is health, healing, and hope with unconditional love.

As we enter into the season of Epiphany…a time of many great “a-has”…may it be a time where the Christ light in us grows brighter each day as we keep that fire of hope burning in our hearts.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

The Light that Shines in Darkness

During the winter months in the northern hemisphere, when we are experiencing winter and long nights and short days, light becomes an important symbol synonomous with hope. I am keenly aware that many are sitting on pins and needles right now because we know that the incoming presidential administration is hell-bent (and I do mean hell) on revenge and retribution because there were those people who stood in the way of grift and greed. There are presidential advisors who harbor hatred toward foreigners, LGBTQ+ people, and anyone who is seen as "non-Christian" (although their version of Christianity is a far cry from the Jesus of the Gospels and Epistles). 

With these thoughts in mind...I wrote this sermon based on the opening of John's Gospel. See what you think.

Text: John 1:1-18

(n.b. we learned of former president and Georgia favorite son Jimmy Carter's death later in the afternoon. May the light he lit in the hearts of many remaining burning and not allow the darkness to overcome it.)

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It’s not every year that the Jewish Festival of Hanukkah lands on our holiday of Christmas.

In fact…the last time that happened was almost 20 years ago…in 2005.

It will happen again in 2035.

Hanukkah is one of those many moveable feasts…and is dependent on the solar and lunar cycles…and not our Gregorian calendar; so all of the Jewish holidays tend to fall within a date range.

Since my wife converted to Judaism…we have had double celebrations in our house…marking both Christmas and Hanukkah.

Chrismakkuh is a regular happening in our home.  

The main ritual of Hanukkah is the lighting of the menorah.

The holiday celebrates a bloody victory in the second century BCE over an oppressive Greek regime that had tried to force the Jews to adopt pagan beliefs.

When the Jews recaptured the Temple in Jerusalem, they found only one vial of oil to light the menorah…but miraculously…that vial kept the eight lights burning until they were able to get more to consecrate.

We light one candle…called the shamash or “helper” …which is then used to light the others.

We say a prayer as we hold the shamash:

“Blessed are you, Adonai, our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to kindle the Hanukkah light.”

And then we light the candles…and open the window blinds across from our fireplace mantle so that the light might shine out into the world.

With each night…with each candle…the light grows…piercing the darkness.

Similar to our Advent wreath…we can think of the light being passed…one candle to another…as we grow that light for the world.

Humans need light in order to see their way through the dark.

We aren’t like cats with their large corneas and pupils that allow them to see enough to hunt prey at night.

And so it makes sense that when our evangelist John talks about the inbreaking of God into the world…the birth of Jesus…he uses the language of light.

If Luke is the Rogers and Hammerstein of the Bible…John is the Poet Laureate.

Besides the apostle Paul…John is one of the biggest contributors to the writings of the New Testament.

He is the only apostle of the original twelve to have lived a long life and died of old age instead of martyrdom or in the case of Judas…suicide.

His Gospel was the last of the four in our canon…and the one that makes the strongest case for his community of followers in 100 CE that Jesus was God incarnate.

His opening prologue that we heard this morning is a lyrical remix of the First Creation story from the Book of Genesis.

Instead of “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth…” we learn that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”

And this Word came down and took on human flesh to live and dwell with us… as one of us.

This Word will grow from a tiny infant…totally dependent on human parents to raise him…filled with Holy Spirit from his first breath…and committed to a mission of Love that would challenge the bullies and tyrants of his day.

John tells us this Word is the Light of the World.

This light represents life.

In this case…the life is very specifically Jesus.

This is John’s way of telling the same birth story we heard on Christmas Eve from Luke.

It’s a reminder for those of us who gather to worship here…

That we, too, are incorporated into this light…and life.

Each time we profess our faith…every time we come to this altar to receive the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ… we are becoming one with this light and life.

We are re-ignited with that light of Christ…that light of God…within us…to go back out into the world…and be like that shamash on the menorah…passing our light to others.

We…. as people who put our faith and trust in God…have lives and light that are important to God no matter what we might think of ourselves or what others may have said or done to try to diminish our light.

As long as we stick with that source of the Great Light that has come into the world… we can withstand and shine through any darkness that tries to snuff it out.

That theme of “light” is an important one for John.

As I’ve said…he has a number of writings in the New Testament…including three relatively short letters written to his community.

The First Letter of John…which actually reads more like a sermon.. has a lot to say about this idea of “light.”

Very early on …John writes…

“God is Light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness…we lie and do not do what is true, but if we walk in the light as he himself is the light, we have fellowship with one another.”

So what does this mean for us…walking in the light?

John wants us to think about the way we treat each other.

Further into that same letter…John says we can’t claim to love God…who we have not seen…while we hate other people…the very people who we do see.  

We can’t say we’re following Jesus…walking in “the light”…while we add hardships to others…figuratively flipping off the light switch on them and leaving them hopelessly in the dark.

For us to “walk in the light” we have to be willing to be changed…at the heart level.

Because when we open our hearts to God…we are saying “yes” to allowing God to strike the match and light the wick…or put in the new lightbulb…pick your metaphor...and accept the values of Jesus.

And that assignment?

We work to free the captives…liberate people from their oppression…love people without coercion or demands.

When we decide to live into this way of Love it will change us…and our whole outlook.

And it will expand us in ways that are loving…and life-affirming…and in that process liberating for us and for others.

We aren’t going to be perfect at doing that all the time.

There’s a reason we say that Confession of Sin every week.

But when we find ourselves becoming uncaring or callous…we are invited to once again…add a little more oil to our inner lamp and shine on and meet and greet one another with love.

Because God loved us first…from the start.

Why else would the Word that was with God and is God have taken the risk of becoming a human baby…gone through the trouble of healing, teaching and preaching, and dying at the hands of an unjust system… if not for the enormous love for us?

And that way of love…that light…which came into the world is meant to be passed on…so that no darkness can take it away.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

Keep Hope Alive

 

I don't think this sermon needs much of introduction really. I will share that what shaped it is the impending doom I am feeling and sensing that is out there amongst my friends and many of my congregation as we prepare for "President Trump 2.0." 

The country has enjoyed some version of stability and normalcy for the past four years under the Biden administration. But even Biden could not accomplish some ambitious goals when the Republicans in Congress...assisted by Senators Joe Mancin and Kyrsten Sinema from the Democratic Party...nixed important pieces of legislation. People decry "illegals" entering the country through the border with Mexico, and yet when there was a bipartisan bill that could address many of the problems at the border, one phone call from the aggrieved and unhinged president-to-be stopped the bill from being passed. Afterall, the leader of MAGA needed an issue to harp on for the campaign.

I bought gas on the way to Valdosta tonight. It was $2.74 at Costco. I only report that since so many people seem to think that the president sets the gas prices (presdients don't wield that sort of power). Still, for those of us steeling outselves for what's coming, we're taking note of all the petty complaints about an otherwise robust economy we had to read on our social media feeds. It will be entertaining, and really sad, when those who believed the president could set the price of eggs and gas discover that they don't do that. However, their economic policies can make markets either stable or chaotic...and the markets don't do well with chaos.

With all that in mind, I look to the readings for Christmas I and came to the conclusion that it is on us to keep hope alive. See what you think.

Texts: Isaiah 9:2-7; Luke 2: 1-20

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“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness on them light has shined.”

These opening words of our First Reading from Isaiah tell a story of a people living in a time of tremendous turmoil and upheaval.

The Bible isn’t a history book…but these writings of the prophet were reflective of actual historical events.

There had been wars…and rebellions…and invasions in the 8^th century BCE that had resulted in the Assyrian Empire conquering and oppressing the people of Israel and Judea.

Not long after that…less than a hundred years later…the Babylonians would take over Assyria…further scattering and depressing the people.

The terms “darkness” and “light” are metaphorical.

“Darkness” is about oppression and fear.

“Light” is about relief from such circumstances.

And the words of the oracle that Isaiah is speaking to these beleaguered people are about hope.

A hope that stands on the horizon…if they can hold on through these desperate and troubled times.

Many of them could not. But for the remnant that remained…that glimmer of hope became the great light that delivered them out of captivity.

For Christians…we see this hope as a signal that crosses time and space many centuries later in a bright star in the sky over Bethlehem…signaling the birth of the Christ child.

And just as it had been during the rule of the Assyrian Empire…the Jews of that Palestinian region found themselves under the thumb of another empire…this time the Roman Empire.

We hear Luke tell us that Augustus has put out the order for everyone to report to their town of origin for the census.

And so miles around the countryside…obedient people are making their way back to their hometowns.

Think of it as if that were to happen today…it’s as if the President told everyone to go back to the places where they were born…it would be like the Thanksgiving or Christmas travel seasons…only on foot.

Joseph and Mary get to the inn…but everybody else has beaten them to this place.

There was no place to go.

Even the guest rooms were full.

So they end up out in the barn…with the animals.

To make this situation more dramatic…Mary goes into labor.

She gives birth to Jesus…outside of the inn…amidst the animals.

Lowing cows…braying donkeys…baahing sheep.

Meanwhile…in another corner of this landscape…the shepherds are also outside in the fields tending their flocks.

Shepherds are not romantic figures in this society.

They’re the working poor and the disenfranchised…living on the outskirts of Bethlehem.

In our own time…we might think of them as the undocumented workers who fix our roofs and work on our bridges.

It’s to this group that the angel appears…telling them…the unclean and the unknowns…that there is good news…happening right now…in Bethlehem.

Good news for all the people.

“To you…yes, to you…the poor and powerless…the forgotten…the marginalized… a Savior has come into the world.

To you…you people out here in the deep darkness…a great light has come…wrapped up in swaddling clothing. Go…see for yourselves.”

And if one angel saying all this wasn’t enough…Luke brings out a chorus line of heavenly beings…singing and trumpeting:

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

This is definitely NOT a silent night!

Between the animals and the angels…the mad rush of shepherds showing up in the manger…an exhausted Mary with her bone-weary Joseph…are tending to this newborn…wrapped in cloth to keep him warm now that he is outside the womb…and in the outside world.

The Savior…the promised Messiah…is not born in a palace.

There are no rose petals.

Even as an infant…Jesus is with those who don’t enjoy the benefits and privileges of the well-connected and well-heeled.

From the very beginning…Luke shows us that Jesus…who is part of the tribe of Israel…is embedded with four-footed creatures and the working poor of his people.

And that is good news for them…and us.

Because…as we all know…this baby will grow up…

And Jesus and his ministry of love isn’t going to be received as “good news” to those who enjoy status and prestige in the Roman Empire.

This good news is for the ones who have been waiting for someone to tell them that their lives matter and are not forgotten.

This is the God with us…who will know human suffering with us.

These thoughts and these messages…are part of Mary’s pondering as she considers this new life she is tending to in an animal’s trough.

I was recently reflecting upon the experience of greeting one of our congregation’s favorite babies… Avery’s son Sayler.

I remember I was having a really rough week…one of those where it feels like nothing is going right.

That’s when I got the text that Sayler had been born at Archbold Hospital in Thomasville.

I was happy to be invited to visit and come up to this sweet and sacred space where the family had gathered to marvel at this beautiful little boy.

And it was when I was handed Sayler and got to hold hm that I felt all the weight of my troubles fall away.

Here in my hands was life…and hope.

Babies are such fragile and utterly dependent beings.

Their tiny bodies rely on us…the adults…to be careful and nurturing.

Babies need attention and love to grow and thrive.

In fact…studies done at the University of Miami confirm the importance of babies being touched and lightly massaged to help stimulate their cells.

So…when we think about the events of this Holy Night…the cacophony and the joy of angels and animals…the excitement and the exhaustion of the people…all placed against a backdrop of living under the thumb of a Roman Empire…we can see how this child…the Son of the Most High…this Prince of Peace…represents a hope that requires care and attention.

That hope today rests with us to not only be seekers of the light…but to be bearers of it as well.

 

Because even as we sing of peace on earth and good will toward everyone…we know that not all is peaceful.

And there are still those with the power who do not necessarily work for the common good of all people.

And so we revisit this story every year…a way to remind ourselves that hope comes as the gift from God to us in the Christmas season.

That hope…even if it feels fleeting at times…is given to us to handle with care and grow it larger and into something greater…because the world still needs a great light of Hope…Peace…Joy…and Love to shine in the deep darkness.

May we…like Mary…ponder these things in our hearts…and commit ourselves at this Christmas to keep hope alive.

In the name of our one Holy and Undivided Trinity.

Merry Christmas.