"The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me"

 

The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde preaching at the Washington National Cathedral.

What a strange...sobering...and utterly horrible week it has been. 

The inauguration of the 47th president was on Monday...which coincided with the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Given the former's attitudes and campaign rhetoric...that just seemed like the cruelest of ironies.

And it didn't take long for the new old president and his cronies to begin his shock and awe campaign on the nation. They immediately took down the Spanish language translations of the White House website, have stopped processing passports of transgender individuals who refused to identify as either male or female, begun raids in certain cities to arrest and detain people who are immigrants, and have announced that churches and schools are no longer protected spaces for people seeking sanctuary.

Oh, and he pardoned all of the insurrectionists who attacked the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overthrow the government and prevent the certification of the 2020 votes confirming that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had won that election. Five police officers who defended the Capitol died from that incident. Another 140 officers were badly injured.

Suddenly now, the Fraternal Order of Police is upset with the president. A little late folks.

On Tuesday, January 21st, the Washington National Cathedral held its traditional Prayer Service for the Nation. The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, diocesan bishop of Washington, DC, was the preacher. And Bishop Budde took that opportunity, preaching on a text from the Gospel of Matthew, to speak of unity and the pieces that are needed to be in place for us to heal and become a more unified nation. One of those keys was that vulnerable people need to feel that they are protected, something that they are not feeling right now because....well...please see all of what I have already written. Bishop Budde looked at the president and vice president as she made her plea for him to have compassion and show mercy. It was bold, and it was on point. 

And, as one might imagine, the backlash against her has been intense. Some Republican members of Congress have demanded that she, born in New Jersey, be deported. The president called her a "so-called bishop" and that her message was "nasty." He demanded an apology. She refused.

Because Jesus' teachings are good...and require no apology.

The uproar from this service filtered down to all of us who work in the vineyards of The Episcopal Church. There was concern about what might happen on Sunday: will we see new people who want to be in a church based on compassion, mercy, and justice? Or were we going to have some troublemakers come in to disrupt our worship?

And what were we going to preach in the wake of all of this and as we enter into these times?

Here's what I had to say. See what you think.  

Text: Luke 4:14-21; 1 Cor. 12:12-31a

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“The spirit of the Lord is upon me…”

All this week…as I have been preparing this sermon…this phrase that has been lingering in my head.

Morning, noon, and night…this phrase has been on repeat.

I have a vivid memory of when I encountered this passage in Luke’s Gospel.

It was on a sunny October morning in Washington DC.

I was sitting quietly in the nave of St. Monica and St. James-Capitol Hill…the place where I was assigned to do my field ed.

The light was streaming in through the windows casting purple and yellow shadows over the baptismal font.

I opened my Bible to the Gospel of Luke…and began reading through this portion.

And as I did…I remember being overcome with a deep and profound understanding not only of my own call to be a priest…but what this passage means for all of us who claim the mantle of Christ.

Because this passage is basically the crux of the Jesus movement…his mission statement…the bass note of Jesus’s call.

We’re going to be hearing a lot of “call” stories during this season of Epiphany.

Epiphany is really all about being called….having that great “A-ha!” or “Eureaka!” moment…when we realize what we’re meant to be doing with this one precious life we all have.

Epiphany is a time for considering those gifts of the Spirit Paul has been talking about…and what and how we use those skill sets we have to making this a better church and a society where we can all breathe free.

In this case…we’re witnessing the crystallization and Jesus’ public testimony of his call…his purpose.

How the Spirit that is upon him is moving in him…through him…and out of him to accomplish God’s purpose in the world.

It all began with his baptism at the Jordan River…when the Holy Spirit descended upon him as a dove.

From that point forward…the Spirit becomes the life blood pumping through his veins.

It’s the Spirit that drives him from the Jordan out into the wilderness for forty days.

That time…alone in the dessert…helps to shape and refine him….and the Spirit is there…giving him the power to resist the tempter as he tries to steer Jesus away from his life’s purpose.

The Spirit then guides him home…back to his hometown… to the synagogue where he grew up.

He’s now a young man. A very faithful…and faith-filled young man.

But in this space…this synagogue…he is with the people who remember him as a little boy.

I think we all might relate to what that’s like…when you go back to some place…your hometown…where they knew you when you were young…and maybe even a little stupid?

They know your mama and your papa and your siblings.

It can be so hard to break free of the preconceived ideas of who you are and what you’re all about in those situations…and it’s no different for Jesus here.

Still…he’s the hometown boy.

So when he comes into the synagogue…the community honors him by calling upon him to read from the scroll of the prophets.

He unfurls the scroll…and finds in this passage in the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah:

The spirit of the Lord is upon me…

I wonder how that must have felt coming out of his mouth.

Indeed…the spirit of the Lord is upon him.

It’s in him…

It’s on fire in his heart.

This spirit is upon him to bring good news to the poor.

Yes indeed.

It’s on him to heal…teach…and touch people who are the powerless and those feeling hopeless under the iron fist of the Roman Empire.

The spirit has sent him to proclaim release to the captives.

All those same weary people who are feeling hemmed in and cut off…including cut off from their own hearts. Jesus has come to release them and regather them.

The spirit is giving him power to give recovery of sight to the blind.

We’re not just talking about physical blindness.

The spirit is giving him the power to open the eyes of those whose status have kept them comfortable enough that they fail to see the suffering around them.

He’s here to open the eyes of everyone…to see each other more clearly as children of God.

Everyone is of equal importance and value to God.

The spirit of the Lord is upon him to liberate the oppressed…those on society’s margins…those being “othered”…and bring them out from the edges and into the center.

With this Holy Spirit-inspired mission…Jesus is accepting this assignment…and when he accomplishes all of this…it will truly be the Jubilee Year of the Lord’s favor.

He takes his seat.

Now all these folks who’ve known the little boy Jesus are looking at him for a word.

A message.

The synagogue didn’t have a clergy person…so they want to hear from Jesus.

“Tell us, O wise one, what shall we make of this passage?”

And…in this moment of his own Epiphany…sitting in his childhood synagogue…Jesus looks around the room at all of them:

“This scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Full stop.

This is Jesus’ mission.

The mission will be accomplished when those who have heard these words of the prophet Isaiah accept that this is their mission, too.

They have the power to make these things happen.

They can help bring about a truly peaceful and prosperous world by reaching out to one another…treating each other with respect and dignity…refusing to treat people as “others”…as objects of scorn and derision…and helping to free people from the devils that plague them…those internal and external forces that belittle them and tell them they don’t matter.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon them.

It’s also upon us in this hearing.

The mission statement of Jesus is also the mission statement of anyone who says they are a follower of Jesus.

We are all called to be a friend to those who are living in fear for their financial security…their healthcare…their safety.

We are all called to help free people from captivity…whether that’s encouraging the addict to get help in recovering from an addiction…or aiding a person escaping some kind of abusive and dangerous situation.

And we are all called to recognize our own prejudices and to do our best to see Christ in all people…and not just the people who look like us or talk like us or worship like us.

These ARE the core values of our faith…and our following of Jesus.

If we have been baptized into his life…death…and resurrection…then we are bound to the basic principles of having compassion for those who are scared…showing mercy for those who are vulnerable…and seeking a world where everyone is treated with fairness and equity.

These principles don’t make us popular.

They never have.

But they will always put us on the path toward God.

Jesus didn’t read those prophetic words of Isaiah out loud to just let them evaporate into the ether.

And we shouldn’t let them fade away or refuse to hear them either.

To be a Christian in this time…and in our country today…is to remember that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was not one of the powerful rulers of this world.

And he didn’t want to be.  

He was one of the disenfranchised…living and moving and having his being among the outcasts of society.

In this time that we’re in…we need to read…mark…learn…and inwardly digest this message.

Take these scriptures home and read them again and again.

And then…with those gifts that we’ve each been given by the Spirit that is in us…whether we are teachers…listeners…healers…or helpers…use those gifts to give back love into this world to those who need it most.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon us.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

Setting Sail in Love: Homily for a Wedding

 

Texts: Ruth 1:16-17, Ps. 148, Luke 6:32-38

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Today is truly a happy and joyous day.

Katie and Houston are getting married!

I am honored and blessed that I get to be a part of making this happen and to be with you on this day.

You’ve been on quite the journey to get here.

There was friendship and bonding over D-and-D…living with others as roommates…

And then…when the roommates moved out…and after making it through the COVID lockdown…you came the realization that you were falling in love.

You’ve gone from Knoxville to Valdosta…back to Knoxville…lived together…lived apart…New Mexico…Iceland.

There’s been break ups and make ups….friends and trusted advisors assuring you…”Y’all are gonna be good.”

You’ve tested all the waters of your relationship…and found them to be clean and clear.

And now it’s time to set sail.

And the good news for both of you is that you aren’t on this journey alone.

All of us here…and even some who could not join with you today…we are all with you on this ocean.

Supporting you and this relationship that you’ve nurtured and brought together.

Now some of you might be thinking that it was a bit strange to hear a reading from Luke where Jesus is talking about “loving your enemy” when we’re celebrating a marriage!

But this reading speaks to a core value about the true meaning of what love is and should be all about.

Because the basic idea is that love needs to be shared....and spread around liberally and not kept under lock and key.

It’s so easy to become self-absorbed…and even myopic when we think about love.

We can get into defining it by material things…flowers and chocolates at Valentine’s Day.

And we can make love something to possess.

I think that’s something couples often need to be wary of as they grow together.

 If there’s too much focus on one’s own relationship…and too much reliance on that one other person to meet all the needs and wants…it can lead to resentments within the relationship…while also pushing away other people.

But love…and I mean “Love” with a capital “L”…is always seeking for us to take love out…let it be seen.

This Love is about kindling the love that is within each of us…and then sharing that kindness to people who aren’t our partners or spouses…and make connections across differences.

That Love gets energized by seeking and serving our neighbors…lending support to those who need an empathetic ear or just to have someone even notice that they exist.

That’s the kind of Love that we all need to share with each other…and it is this Love that exists in both Katie and Houston.

Through all of that testing of your relationship…you’ve found that you are capable of not only loving each other…you’ve found the love that is within you.

And that love within you…that comes from that Great love that is God…is the love you share with the world.

Even in that very short time that you were with us at St. Barnabas…we felt your loving presence.

You cared for our garden beds…helped us with the annual pumpkin patch and shared in making music and theater that brought life and joy.  

You gave of yourselves…the talents that you have…and encouraged happiness in our congregation.

And that brings me to one other part of this Gospel passage that I think is important to take to heart.

It comes at the end when we hear Jesus say, “the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

That’s really true of all of your relationships…especially your marriage.

What you bring into this…whether it’s the thrill and exhilaration of hiking to the top of a mountain or just hanging out at home… cooking dinner…and watching a movie…the people that you are individually…your dreams…your interests…when put together…shaken up and stirred about…will produce and pour out a greater gift of love.

Love that is so abundant that it’s overflowing…and getting shared.

Marriage won’t always be free of pain or hurts. That’s not in the promises you’re making to each other.

But what you are promising is that you will bring who you are…the full measure of yourselves…into this marriage.

And the more you put into it…God who is love will guide you when the tempests come and rock your boat…and get you back to sailing on calmer seas.

Bon voyage and anchors aweigh as you embark on this next part of your life’s journey.

Blessings to you on this day and always.

And let the church say…Amen.

 

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.