Keeping the Faith in the Face of Tyranny

 

I was only about half done with my sermon when I woke up Saturday morning about 6am to the news that our country was attacking Venezuela. And my heart sank.

The Venezuelean leader, Nicholas Maduro, is no angel. In fact, it's because of corruption and violence inflicted on the people of his country that so many Venezuelans have made the harrowing trip through jungles and swamps, dodging gangs along the way, to reach the United States in a desperate attempt to find freedom....only then to have ICE agents tackling them and deporting them back to their country or (worse) the CECOT prison in El Salvador. 

The timing of all of this in conjunction with one of the Gospel choices for the Second Sunday of Christmas presented an interesting challenge. Hopefully, I met it. See what you think.

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

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The Christmas season always presents us with highs and lows.

We have the joy and celebration of Christmas Day…while still remembering that each Christmas happens in times that are not necessarily bright and cheery.

In the church calendar…the birth of Jesus on December 25^th…is immediately followed on the 26th by the Feast of St. Stephen:

A day in which we honor St. Stephen as the first deacon who was stoned to death for professing his unwavering belief in Jesus as the Messiah.

Just in case we forget that to trust and believe in Love is a costly business.

And our Gospel reading this morning is another reminder that to follow God’s will and commit to being with Jesus is not a path to an easy and carefree life.

But staying on this journey…difficult and challenging as it can be at times…is still a better choice…and one that leads to freedom.

We see once more that Joseph is receiving divine messages through his dreams…giving him the wisdom and guidance of how to move his family to avoid the rage of an insecure tyrant…namely Herod the Great…the head of the whole Herod clan that we read about in the Scriptures.

This Herod started as the Governor of Galilee…and was a shrewd and capable manipulator as the Roman Empire clashed with the Parthians to the East in modern day Afghanistan. Caesar Augustus named him “King of the Jews”…a title his Jewish subjects found offensive as this so-called “king” was really more in league with their Roman oppressors.

He had ten wives…and there was constant turmoil…and jockeying for position of ascendancy… as often seems to plague those who claim supreme kingly power.

If any family member posed too much of a threat to his throne…Herod would kill them.

He tried to ingratiate himself to the Jewish population after the Romans made him king by rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem.

But his lust for power and supremacy over others was greater than his desire to win approval from the Jewish citizenry.

He added an emblem of an eagle to one of the gates to the Temple…as a nod to the Roman Empire.

The Jews saw this as pagan idolatry and when a group of them pulled it down…Herod the Great had them arrested and executed.

So much for making nice with the natives.

Herod’s brutality is best known to us in the story that our lectionary skipped over in the Gospel reading this morning…a tale that Matthew included and is the basis for another feast day during the Christmas season…the Feast of the Holy Innocents.

The way the story goes…King Herod…upon learning that there was a Jewish baby boy born to be king…decided to round up all the Jewish toddler boys in Bethlehem and had them killed.

This was the dire warning Joseph received in his dream…and why he moved the family with haste to Egypt.

It’s also a story only Matthew tells.

There’s no historical record to back up this tale of a mass murder of infants.

But historic accuracy isn’t really the point of that story.

Matthew wants us to see that Herod had a reputation for wholesale killing of anyone who dared to cross him.

And it also serves the purpose of once more drawing a distinction between an earthly king such as Herod…with his need for power over others through fear and violence…and the kingly power of Jesus…a small…vulnerable baby yet one who already commanded attention and awe by being the embodiment of God’s Love.

A child who will grow to be a man who sought to be with the people…not above them.

A leader who made his company with the poor…the sick…and the disenfranchised.

And a king whose survival depended on his impoverished human family being obedient to God and taking the risk of living as refugees.

This story of the Holy Family fleeing violence and moving from one region to another resonates with our current world crisis of those escaping from war and civil unrest.

The United Nations Refugee Agency reports that last year…there were more than 117 million people who had to flee their homelands due to violence…persecution...human rights violations or other types of conflict.

In most cases…they left for neighboring towns or countries.

But still many others had to seek asylum much farther away from places where war and gang violence made it impossible for them to stay.

We’ve all heard the stories of people coming to the United States seeking a better life…or at least one where they can breathe free and live without the fear of being assaulted or kidnapped.

And we have taken pride in the words of our national anthem…that we are the land of the free and home of the brave.

This is why the imagery of masked government agents grabbing men and women…sometimes pregnant women…and shoving them into unmarked cars…whisking them off to prisons miles from their homes…has shocked the conscience of a majority of Americans.

The reason Venezuelans have been coming here was to flee from chaos in their own country…a country that we’ve attacked …even as we are deporting people back there.

Violence and aggression have always been in the playbook of the tyrants and bullies of the world.

We’ve seen it with Pol Pot in Cambodia and the civil wars in Rwanda and Sudan…and even in Gaza..

For us as Christians…images of people fleeing oppression conjure up this picture that Matthew creates for us of the Holy Family trying to escape the terror that Herod was inflicting on the people of Galilee.

And it’s important for us to keep in mind that for every Herod that has ever lived…there have always been many more like Joseph.

People who have trusted in the voice of God…and kept hope alive in their hearts…stayed faithful to the cause of Love…as they struck out for a better life.

Joseph understood his assignment…that he was to listen to the command of God…even if meant taking a risky trip into Egypt…so that his family would be safe.

Because the child in his care…born into a nightmarish situation…was the fulfillment of God’s dream.

This portion of Matthew’s Gospel shows us what we know to be true.

Tyrants and bullies will die…but God’s Love will find a way and will lead us to freedom.

The name of Jesus…trusted by millions through the millennia…continues to be the foundational strength from which people draw upon to keep putting one foot in front of the other each day….whether it’s crossing a desert or the Darien Gap….or even crossing the street into a treatment center to seek help.

It is a power which rises like the breath in our bodies and helps carry us through the troubled waters and rising tides of our lives.

May we continue to stick to the source of Love which sets us free.

 And once we feel our burdens ease…may we use our freedom to bring peace to others.

  In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

The Light Shines in the Darkness

 

I'm the first to admit that I am much more of a low Christology priest. I like the Jesus who is closer to his humanity than the high Christology of John's Gospel which makes Jesus seem totally otherwordly. 

But I do love John's prologue...and after spending some time looking at it and considering it through the help of an online offering with Tripp Fuller and Diana Butler Bass...I found a way into this opening passage from John that gave me a deeper appreciation for his take on the life and ministry of Jesus.

How about you? What's your take?

Text: John 1:1-18

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The poet Allen Ginsburg once gave this description of poetry:

“Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It’s that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that’s what the poet does.” 

And that’s what our poet laureate of the Gospels…John the Evangelist…is doing here with his prologue.

Where Matthew and Luke have detailed stories about the birth of Jesus…John uses poetic language to tell a different birthing story.

As the writer and theologian Diana Butler Bass said recently, the whole Gospel of John is one very long birth narrative…moving us from the present age into an evolving age to come.

John takes us back to the beginning…being with God…in God…of God…from the start of all time.

It’s a remix of the story that opens the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament.

“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth…” becomes “In the beginning was the Word…”

Or…as it is written in the Greek…the  “Logos.”

And “Logos” conveys more than just a simply “a word” as we would understand it.

It’s more than a He or She or They.

The meaning of this Word…this Logos…is reason…a deeper understanding…a consciousness….the sense of that Wisdom or Sophia of God…all brought together.

This is a wise Word that was with God and is holding all things…all the created order…in itself.

For John…this is his moment of lying in bed at night and thinking through in poetic language a way of describing this incarnation of God…how and what it means that Jesus is “this Word became flesh and lived among us.”

It’s some of the most beautiful metaphorical expressions in our Scriptures.

And because it’s poetic in its style…it can either lift us up or for some…it can leave us utterly confused.

So let’s take some time to look closely at this passage…because I think there are some things that may be helpful to us in the 21^st century.

We see that through the Word  “all things came into being.”

All things…the whole of creation.

I think there’s a tendency for us that when we speak about “the creation”…we sometimes shortchange what that means.

We talk about the land and the sea…forests…hilltops…and maybe we’ll mention the animals and the birds.

Too often we forget that we…the human race…are also part of the creation story.

We also evolved from all of that creative activity of the birthing of the world and are interconnected with all the species and all life on the planet.

John asserts that “without him not one thing came into being.”

Without God and God’s Word…none of creation would have happened.

This isn’t about denying the science of anything like the Big Bang Theory.

But rather this is recognizing that God lit the spark and was in that creative mix.

“And what came into being in him was life…and the life was the light of all people.”

Take just a moment to breathe in that pronouncement.

“The life was the light of all people.”

Again…I think it can be too easy for us… a people who have the benefit of living in today’s world…to separate ourselves from the idea that there is a divine spark that is in all of us.

We tend to downplay not only our connection to the rest of creation…but we don’t see that connection as a line back to God…to Jesus…and to the Holy Trinity.

And yet…that seems to be what John wants us to see.

We are also bearers of the light…as adoptive children of God through Christ.

Remember what we prayed at the beginning of the service in our opening collect:

“Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives.”

 And that leads to another important part of this Gospel reading:

“The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.”

There is a lot of hurt both in our own lives and out in the world around us.

The end of the year holidays always seem to bring a mix of the joyful celebrations and sadness and grief about those whom we no longer see.

Dreams that were not fulfilled.

And we know that not all is right in the world around us.

But even in the moments of loss and when things look their bleakest…the light shines on and does not burn out.

No matter what may seem heavy and weighty…that light of Christ within us…doesn’t fade.

I think about the response this community made to the scare over SNAP benefits ending as proof of that enduring light.

When the government was shut down and those who depended on food stamps to feed themselves and their families was under threat…the people here responded and have continued to respond…with canned food goods.

And our contributions have been noticed and very much appreciated.

At a time of great need…the light from this community shined into the darkness.

Just as the Word became flesh and lived among us….the Word continues to live through the flesh and blood that is us.

And the more we live into the teachings of Jesus…the more we look to his ministry and the way he cares for people…the bigger and brighter the light of Christ will shine through us and cut through the darkest corners of our world.

John’s Gospel text is not only telling us how Jesus came into this world.

John is calling on us to see ourselves in a new way…and to transform our lives and live into this mission of Jesus…as God’s adopted children…understanding that it won’t be an easy life.

That’s not the promise.

In fact…John makes it clear that even though the Word is the light to enlighten everyone…not everyone wanted a part of that light.

Rejection…disappointment…even abandonment are still part of the story.

And yet…the light shines on.

The purveyors of fear don’t stand a chance when the people of light commit to the Work of Christmas…which happens to be a poem by the theologian Howard Thurman…and seems like the appropriate bookend to John’s poetic Word:

When the song of the angels is stilled,

When the star in the sky is gone,

When the kings and princes are home,

When the shepherds are back with their flock,

The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,

 To heal the broken,

 To feed the hungry,

To release the prisoner,

To rebuild the nations,

 To bring peace among others,

 To make music in the heart.

May we all continue to build upon the light of Christ and carry it in our hearts and into our communities and commit our lives to this holy work.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Be Like God: A Christmas Eve sermon

 

I know I gave this sermon a different title on our St. Barnabas YouTube channel, but it occurs to me this title fits better with my overall message. 

I used this same Grimm Brothers story in an entry on my Substack, and as I was writing that entry...and as I discussed the story with my spiritual director, I realized that this anti-fairy tale had a theological as well as a moral message for us. 

See what you think. And Merry Christmas!

Text: Luke 2:1-20

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As a child…I enjoyed being read to at bedtime.

And it was often my dad who would read me to sleep.

One of my favorite stories was by the Grimm Brothers.

It was called The Fisherman and His Wife.

It’s an anti-fairy tale… the story of two people living in abject poverty by the sea.

One day…the fisherman goes out to the water…and he catches this tremendous flounder.

The fish pleads with the fisherman to please let him go…he’s not just a fish but a prince.

The fisherman was pretty amazed to have found a talking fish…so of course he releases him…and the fish dives deep into the sea.

The fisherman goes back to his wife and tells her all about this amazing talking fish.

But his wife was wondering why her husband hadn’t thought to ask for something from this fish.

The fisherman shrugs and says he wouldn’t know what to ask for.

The wife looks around.

“We’re living in a pig sty. You could have asked for a nice cottage. Go back to the sea and ask for a cottage.”

The fisherman reluctantly goes back and he notices that the sea has become a strange murky green color.

He calls out to the fish:

“O man of the sea! Hearken to me! My wife Ilsabill will have her own will and hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!”

The fish comes swimming to the surface, “What does she want?”

The fisherman tells him she wants a nice cottage.

The fish tells him this request has been granted and to go home.

The fisherman goes home and finds his wife in a beautiful cottage with a couple of rooms…a nice kitchen…a garden with chickens and other animals.

This is a big step up from the pig sty.

His wife is delighted…..for a week.

But then she wants more.

She wants a stone castle.

She tells her husband to go back to the sea and ask the fish for a castle.

Again…he goes…even though he’s not really feeling great about all of this.

The sea is looking darker…and choppier. He gives the same bidding for the fish to hear his wife’s plea for a castle.

The fish again tells him to go home and he’ll find his wife waiting for him.

And sure enough…there’s now a stone castle and she has a throne with diamonds and gold.

But she’s still not satisfied.

Next she wants to be the Empress.

The fisherman is sent back to the angry sea…and the fish grants her the wish of being the Empress.

Certainly…that should satisfy her needs.

But no.

She wants to be the Pope.

The fisherman protests that she can’t possibly be made Pope…but she demands that he go to fish and tells him she wants to be made Pope.

The fisherman drudges back to the now very stormy sea…makes the request… and the fish makes her the first female pope in the history of Roman Catholicism.

She’s still not satisfied.

It only takes her a few hours to be bored with being Pope. It’s not grand enough.

She wants to be God….to rule over the Sun and the Moon.

The fisherman is really not wanting to go back and ask for this…but his wife thunders that he must go ask the fish to make her God.

So he goes back…to a sea with dark waters and lightening flashing everywhere as the waves are crashing onto the shore.

The fisherman makes his standard plea for the fish to come to the surface and hear his wife’s latest request.

“What does she want,” asks the fish.

The fisherman trembling tells the fish that she wants to be God.

So the fish grants this wish too.

And when the fisherman goes home…he finds that the couple has been returned to their lowly estate of living in a pig sty.

The Grimm Brothers story is one about the dangers of greed…and how it can consume and warp a person.

But I think if we consider the ending…it also makes an interesting point about God.

When the wife wants to be God…she assumes this is going to grant her powers beyond all powers…to give her more wealth and prestige than even stature of royalty and the papacy.

But to be like God in this story is to be poor.

Seems the Grimm Brothers not only understood the way greed distorts the human soul…they also knew something about the nature of God.

Because we know from our stories in the Gospels…when God enters the world through the birth of Jesus…it happens not in a grand palace to the super rich and famous.

God arrives in the form of a baby…a vulnerable child born to a carpenter and his very young fiancé.

And when the angels come to sing and trumpet the good news of Glory to God and Peace on Earth… they didn’t bring these glad tidings to the Herods of the region…or any of the other tetrarchs or even to the Roman Emperor…Caesar Augustus.

They found the shepherds…those who were among the lower working class…tasked with spending their nights watching over the sacrificial sheep belonging to the Temple…to hear this incredible news.

I think this is one of the important messages to us here in the 21^st century as we revisit this story and welcome this season of Christmas.

God loves and seeks out those who are on the margins of society…and God takes those who the rest of the world ignores and puts them into the center.

Because for God…borders are meaningless and people are not to be put into figurative boxes.

Each of us has a life that is important and meaningful to God…no matter who we are…or what labels we own.

And let’s face it: God isn’t about being tidy either.

Think about it.

Childbirth is risky and bloody…even in our modern world with sterilized equipment and trained medical staff.

And what we’re told is that Jesus was born amidst the hay and the animals because there wasn’t enough room for this poor couple to be lodged with other humans.

I read an article recently that described the terrain of Bethlehem.

That unlike our nativity scenes that make it look as if the Holy Family was in a farmhouse barn… Bethlehem is a lot of very rocky terrain and mountains and caves.

The “inn” would have been in the front opening of the cave…while the animals were kept in the back at night.

So in these cramped stony quarters…with the stench of animals in the air… and hay bales for a birthing bed…this is how Jesus…the God with Us…came into the world.

It is into a messy…dangerous…noisy and chaotic world that God meets humanity on our level.

And the ask is simply that we receive and allow God into the fray with us.

Allow God to meet us in whatever circumstances we’re in…whatever joys or sorrows we’re holding…whatever fears hang over our heads…and whatever hopes we have in our hearts…on this night we’re asked to take a pause to realize that God cares enough about all of it…that God trusted a vulnerable couple…and a ragtag bunch of shepherds to be the ones to tell the story.

God is still counting on us today to be the ones who are willing to share this wonder…to see that the true power to transform this world is not given to the the well-heeled and famous.

And true power isn’t about domination and diminishing others.

God gives agency and power to the average person…to  you and me…to be the ones who can meet the needs of this world…because God has met us and loved us on our level through the life and ministry of Jesus.

On this Holy Night….we look to this new life that we celebrate each Christmas…as the one who came to show us that Love…Mercy…and Compassion is the way to live our lives.

To follow that path is the way to peace…and joy…which we can share with others as our gift to the world.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

Hope Comes in the Darkness

 

I admit that I am playing catch up tonight with posting my sermon texts. I've been that busy this past week, and it isn't going to let up for at least another week or more. 'Tis the season.

And because it's that season...there are those for whom Christmas is not a happy time. And after the year we've been living in the United States with this horrible regime who have been grabbing people off the streets...with the blessing of the Roberts Court...this has been a really hard year. 

So we offered a "Blue Christmas" service, which included a time for healing prayers and anointing with oil. Here's the message I offered...in light of the Gospel reading from Luke. See what you think.

Text: Luke 2:8-20

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When I first proposed that we hold this Blue Christmas service…the members of our worship committee chuckled…thinking I was proposing some kind of Elvis tribute.

And while this isn’t a gathering we have traditionally done here at St. Barnabas…it’s one that many Episcopal Churches have come to provide to their communities in recent years.

Christmas…especially in this hemisphere…where the days are shorter and the nights are longer… is a time when some are feeling oddly out of step with the expectation of being joyous.

And I couldn’t help but notice that THIS year…more than at any other time that I recall…many of my clergy colleagues across the country seemed to have reached a similar conclusion:

That 20-25 needs a Blue Christmas.

Because 20-25 has been one very hard and difficult year for a lot of people.

Heck…just the past eight days has felt like a particularly trying time…with shootings and murders of Rob and Michelle Reiner…and the ugly words spoken and shared across social media about all of it.

The accusations and anger surrounding the murder of Charlie Kirk this summer got reawakened all over again.

And the prospect of rising costs of healthcare and groceries is lingering in the heads of millions of people.

That pall of sourness and meanness that hangs over all of us and only makes whatever personal struggles we each are wrestling with feel that much worse.

We are…unfortunately…a people sitting in darkness…and not just because this happens to be the shortest day of the year.

And yet…even in the darkest of times…it’s important to remember that darkness is a temporary occurrence.

The light is still out there if we keep our eyes open and searching.

We can hear that message in both the prophecy of Isaiah as well as our Gospel.

Both the prophet and the angel deliver a message to people who are feeling as though they are in a hopeless situation.

The people in Isaiah’s time were afraid of one set of enemies…only to be conquered by a different army.

Mary and Joseph...as well as the shepherds…were living under the thumb of an occupying Roman Empire.

And in both cases…in their troubled times…the promise was there that the future was brighter…and they’d be walking in the light again.

 

A time was at hand when they will be comforted by the presence of a wonderful counselor and prince of peace.

The fact that the angel made this known first to shepherds is that reminder to us today that God seeks out those on the margins for this good news.

Shepherds weren’t the ruling class….(they still aren’t today).

They were the working poor of the First Century…so low on the class strata that they were seen as social outcasts.

These shepherds were minding the sheep at night…in the dark as it were.

Regular sheep herders did their work in the day…so scholars think these shepherds were associated with the Temple…caring for the sheep that would be used for sacrificial purposes that would have needed round the clock observation.

It’s to this group of people…doing the unglamourous work others wouldn’t do for the benefit of the community…that the angel came to deliver the news of hope.

It was this group…not the political…religious or even economic leaders…who received a vision of a great light and saw a heavenly chorus singing of peace and glory coming into the world.

In the darkest hours…the promise of God is to meet those of us who are sitting in gloom and grief…be present with us.

And encourage us to lift up our heads…open our eyes and receive light…love…hope…peace…and yes: even comforting joy.

When things aren’t right in our lives or in the world around us…we have this Christmas story as our reminder that we are not alone.

Psalm 30 says “Weeping may spend the night…but joy comes in the morning.”

Keep the faith.

And may we all come to see the dawning of Christ’s light of Love for us and the world this Christmas.

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.

 

The Importance of Naming: A Sermon for the Feast of the Holy Name, Year A

Just because the Gregorian calendar says it's a new year, our lectionary decided it wasn't going to provide a new Gospel. OK, so this time we heard verse 21 from the pericope out of Luke 2. But my goodness this was the third service that we were hearing the story of Jesus' birth with the angels and the shepherds. 

Thanks be to God for verse 21...the only thing that links this Gospel to the action that would have been  happening in the Temple on the eighth day after Jesus' birth....

Text: Luke 2:15-21

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I imagine everyone here has a story about their name…whether it’s your first name, middle name (if you have one), or maybe even your last name…where your family came from originally.

The story my mom told me about my name is that she chose  “Susan” because there were too many “Lucys” in our family.

I had an Aunt Lucy…and then she had daughter…my cousin Lucy.

 I think there might have been yet another Lucy somewhere else on my mom’s side of the family.  

We don’t often hear people’s middle names…except when a parent invokes it… and that’s when we know we’re in trouble, right?

My middle name…”Chase”…came from my father’s side of the family.

Rufus Chase was my maternal great-great-grandfather.

He was a shoemaker in Haverhill Massachusetts…and died in 1865.  

I shared my middle name with my Aunt Helen…who was Helen Chase Gage. She would add a name… Miller… when she married my Uncle Arthur.

Women taking their husbands last names at marriage. That’s become something of a postmodern discussion point: A lot of women are choosing to keep their family names. Some couples decide to simply hyphenate both their last names.

Sometimes people change names.

We all know Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz as Judy Garland…who grew up with the name “Frances Gumm” in Minnesota.

People who are transgender often arrive at a new name… one that feels more fitting to who they are.

In massage school… we were offered the opportunity to choose a new name for ourselves. No one in my class did. But it made sense why the school opened that door for us. The experience of massage school education can be a very transformative journey especially for anyone healing from any type of hurts that come from living in a world where people are hurting each other all the time.

In many cultures…names are carefully chosen.

Shannon Crossbear…an elder in the Ojibwe Nation of Ontario Canada… says First Nation people have a naming ceremony where they choose a sacred name for a child.

Grandparents…who can be simply close friends of the family…spend time praying for the newborn…asking

“Who is this child?”

“What has this child come to do?”

When the name emerges from their prayers… they have a ceremony to announce the name…which serves as a life guide for that child.

Names… and naming things… is so important.

We can see that here in the last verse of our Gospel story.

The Holy Family is taking part in the Jewish ritual… called the brit milah… or bris milah…as the Eastern European Jews call it.

This ritual involves the circumcision of male babies and then giving them their Hebrew name.

It’s one of the important ceremonies in the life of any person in the Jewish faith.

And lest we forget Mary, Joseph and Jesus are Jews.

This naming ceremony is a sign of belonging to God and it brings the newborn into the tribe of Israel… and giving them a name to live by.

One source says that the reason this ritual happens on the eighth day is to signify it’s something that occurs beyond the bounds of the natural order of things. There are seven days in the week; the eighth day makes it extraordinary.

Tip the number eight on its side and it’s the symbol of infinity… the never ending…and ultimately boundless nature of God and God’s Love.  

Just as with the naming ceremony for First Nation people… Mary and Joseph give the name the angel told them to give to their baby…Jesus…the Hellenized version of “Joshua.”

His name means “God saves.”

How fitting for the life and mission of this one who has come into the world to reclaim and redeem God’s people.   

Sometimes I think there is such a focus at Christmastide on Baby Jesus that we don’t remember that the name given to him carries an extraordinary weight.

Baby Jesus is going to grow up.

And this God incarnate is going to experience all the trials and tribulations that are part of human existence… not because he has to but because he wants to.

By becoming one of us and joining with those struggling to breathe free in an occupied land… Jesus is bringing God and humanity closer together.

His persistence…and laser-focus on a mission to bring good news to the poor, sight to the blind, release to the captives and freedom to the oppressed…will be encouraging to some…and will irritate and anger many others.

The powerful never take kindly to being told that they should use their talents to make things better for other people.

And it is through Jesus… we… too… have that same adoption into the fold of God through His name.

When we’re baptized…our parents or sponsors announce our names to the whole congregation. They make a commitment to raise us in the Christian faith.

The people of the congregation offer prayers on our behalf.

And then we are baptized in the Name of the Holy Trinity…Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

We are anointed with oil…made one with Christ’s Body throughout the world as we are marked and sealed as Christ’s own forever.

We may not receive a Hebrew name…or a special sacred name…

But our given name has now been christened into a life of faith, hope, and love.

We have gained a relationship with God…as our Galatians reading says… which is so intimate that we are right to call out to God as if he is our daddy… our papa… or whatever name you would use for a loving father.

As children of God… we have gained an inheritance to do the work of love in our families and our communities.

We…like Jesus… have the power to lend our names… our hands and our hearts… to the mission of making this place where we live, work, and play a more just and merciful society than what has existed before.

We can name those things that are right, and good, and joyful…while also naming those things which need to change.

Because that act of naming is powerful and important.

In all that we do…may it be done in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.