Mark 8: 1-10; Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand

Luke 13:31-35; Jesus’ Sorrow for Jerusalem

Message: Excuse me, did you know him?  Levi’s Song!

Here we are at the second Sunday in Lent; this time in Lent will be a time of getting to know Jesus’ humanity, for only a human can suffer as he did on the cross and it is on the cross that we see the transition from humanity to a person filled with the spirit of God.  Throughout scripture we see Jesus himself alternates from being human to being divine.  Our faith tells us that Jesus is fully human and fully divine.  In Lent it is only too clear that Jesus is being human so let’s get to know him through the story of Levi.

Levi hummed his favourite song as he walked toward home from the marketplace.  The tune to the psalm matched his mood on this wonderful sunny day.  The breeze was warm, but not too warm.  The sun was bright, but not too bright.  The air was scented with the aroma of the marketplace.  Three copper drams and mother is very precise; barley bread and dried fish.  As Levi walked toward home, he looked up against the hillside and he saw him.  He watched as family after family; one man after another; women and children, all walking toward him as they journeyed to Jerusalem for the Passover, trying to get to know him on that hillside.  Levi isn’t sure who he is but a man said, come on, boy, come along.  So, Levi with his basket of bread and fish climbed the hill to listen.

Meanwhile at home his mother was very agitated and angry but knew behind the emotions was a dread too deep for words.  She said under her breath, please let him be safe.  On the hillside Levi sat enraptured by this teacher.  Never, never ever had he heard the will of God put so beautifully, so simply. The adults were hanging on every word.  This rabbi taught that God was as close as your own father not far away.  Levi kept moving closer and closer to Jesus as he talked, gathering a peace as he went.  You see, his father had died recently.

Luke tells us another story, a short story about an encounter, a warning on this same road to Jerusalem, the road out of Galilee, where the petty tyrant Herod runs roughshod over the people. Herod Antipas, successor to the evil Herod of the nativity stories and equally ineffective as that Herod was at hindering God’s plans, is motivated by fear and a deep hunger for power and security. His vision of how things should be obviously clashes with the things Jesus is saying and doing as he travels around, right there, on Herod’s own home turf!  The tension is this; Herod’s plans to conform the people to the values of the Roman Empire, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the mission of Jesus, who called the people not only to repent but to remember, and be faithful to, the ancient promises of God. Here, on the road to Jerusalem, the same road Levi walked with his basket of bread and fish.  Jesus brushes aside the warnings about Herod’s evil scheming as only so many words (which they are, of course), futile efforts that are not significant in the big picture, the plan of God. God’s word has power; Herod’s words are useless.

Still, the powers that be, whether it’s Herod in Galilee, Pilate in Jerusalem, the religious leaders there and scattered throughout the land, the wealthy and prestigious, or the mighty Roman Empire itself, can cause havoc in the meantime. So, Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem fully aware of the awful danger that lies ahead.  These are all powers of one kind of another, some of them admittedly dependent on those more powerful than themselves, all of whom dislike Jesus’ talk about the first being last, and the last being first. Indeed, that’s what Jesus was talking about right before this encounter happened.  Of course, this is not the first time a prophet has stood up to the powers that be in Israel. The language and imagery in this short text recall not only ancient promises of God’s tender care, but also God’s holding Israel to a high standard of faithfulness to a covenant carved on their hearts.  Jesus stands as a prophet with the faithful of Israel and holds the promised of God within his heart.  It’s important to remember once again that on this day Jesus is a self-proclaimed prophet in a long line of prophets in Israel who proclaimed both God’s mercy and God’s judgment.  The scattered children of Jerusalem are being gathered together to speak of God’s unwavering love for Israel. The image of Israel finding shelter under God’s ‘wings’ occurs naturally with Jesus’ cry of anguish in this passage. In this story about Jesus’ firm determination to face what lies ahead in Jerusalem – for our sake, not only for the sake of his people, in his own time – we hear a call to stand firm ourselves, no matter what, Juanita and I stand in solidarity, as we condemn the terrorists attacks in the two Mosques in New Zealand this past week in her letter to the editor. Forty-nine of these committed individuals were killed, they knew their God of peace was with them.

Jesus doesn’t back down or run away, not because he knows that he is “safe” from the cross (quite the opposite), but because he knows who God is, and what “the plan” is. This is the Jesus who accompanies us on our Lenten journey, and on every path of risk and faithfulness, no matter what we encounter along the way. And so, we say, Excuse, me, do you know him? as people wonder what this Lenten journey is all about. It is about walking every step of the way to the cross with Jesus who was treated very badly and sinfully…

Levi sat on the tree stump oblivious to the fact that his mother was frantic about his whereabouts.  He was living life anew.  He didn’t know how to explain what happened to the food and the basket; the food was eaten and eaten, and now he had a full basket of food, although broken by Jesus and that was why he was sitting on the tree stump.  How was he to explain?  His mother was crying when he opened the door; Levi explained what he had heard and what Jesus had done and what happened to bread and fish; broken and shared. But his mother in her anger did not believe.

It seems to me that getting to know Jesus happens with our personal experiences of faith and hope and determination to be God’s people.  To know Jesus on a personal level, I think, we have-to know the human Jesus who shares our pains and our sufferings. We need to know that God is at work for our own well-being and during this Lenten season we see who God is and what it is that God wills and works for. And perhaps as we devote ourselves to doing God’s will, we find the freedom that allows us to live without fear and into the fullness of life that God intends for us.  Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sermon, February 17, 2019

Living in the Light – Many Blessings

Luke 6:17-26

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” I want to talk to Jesus and say, that sounds great, but when I weep, I don’t see laughter as helpful to hear at that moment. Perhaps I am in a space where I truly wonder when I will laugh again?” Today, we are promised that weeping and sorrow are healed with laughter.

Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain” begins the same way as the Gospel of Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount, by painting a picture of a world turned upside down. Remember, at the start of his ministry, when he read from Isaiah in his hometown synagogue, Jesus promised that the poor would receive good news, the captives would be released, and that the blind would see. That crowd turned pretty-ugly that day attempting to push Jesus over the cliff. But here on the plain, this is a different day and a different crowd. The great multitude gathered around him are exactly the kind of people Jesus came to proclaim favored by God. And here is Jesus, not high on some mountain talking down to them, as he does in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, but he is right there among them; in-the-midst of their pain and suffering, promising laughter.

As a matter of fact, he might even be below them. The one detail in this passage that has always intrigued me is that even as he is busy healing the crowd’s diseases, Jesus literally must “look up” to see his disciples before he can teach. Are they somehow above him, for Jesus had to come down? Have they removed themselves from the seething mass of suffering? Is this why Jesus must make sure that the disciples really take notice of these poor, sad, discarded folk? “Don’t you realize these are the blessed of God,” he seems to say, “This is where we should focus our attention because it is these people who have God’s attention. God sees them even when no one else does.”

To be blessed, after all, is to know that you have God’s attention. To know that wherever you go, you will not be alone. To be blessed is to know that you are valued and important simply because God has made you priceless. And suddenly the separation between the disciples and the crowd is removed. Everyone is connected because the only possession anyone really has is the blessing of God.

In Luke, Jesus is also clear that wealth and privilege are real dangers that have the power to separate one from God and from the human community. Jesus spells out the “woes” of which the comfortable and wealthy better beware. The kingdom of God belongs to those who have nothing except God. There seems to be two categories here, the blessed and the woeful.  The warning is this; when we sit with wealth and comfort and priviledge, we might ignore our brokenness.

After all, we are all broken. Some of us have lost health or lost relationships or lost jobs. Our brokenness is personal, it’s unique, it’s truly ours, it’s no one else’s. And yet it connects us with one another because we are all broken in some way. But when Jesus says blessed are those who weep, he’s pointing out that this sadness is also a sign of something deeper, that all of us mourn because the world is so far from God’s purposes. Instead of separating us into some kind of hierarchy of need, we are brought closer in our shared weeping over this world; thus we are all blessed.

We look around, we see injustice, we see exploitation, we see violence, and the faithful cannot help but mourn. I think that includes all of us, no matter our economic status, our gender, or our ethnic background, we are all mourning. We hear of borders closed and walls being built and we know, we know this is not how God works. We hear of Hispanic and Islamic brothers and sisters living in fear, and we mourn. We listen to spiteful words coming to us from all sides, and we wonder from where is our comfort to come?

Well, here’s the good news. Blessed are those who weep. God hears you. God knows you. God comes close to you. And God will not let you go. We all deserve to weep, we are all blessed. We are not alone. How would we look at our neighbors if we saw them as both broken and blessed? Would we see our brother or sister more than a nuisance, not a threat? Would we hear Jesus say, “Come, you are blessed!. Join me here on the plain.”

There’s a wonderful little video that I came across years ago that I keep thinking about. It begins with a businessman going about his usual day, except the day isn’t going very well. It seems as each minute passes, the day gets worse and his frustration level rises. He starts to pull out of the driveway, and almost runs over a child on a bike. He gets to his favorite coffee outlet, but a woman steals his parking place. The man in front of him in line places an order for his entire office building. When he finally gets to the counter, he’s told that it will be a few minutes because they need to brew a fresh batch of coffee.

Sitting in a corner, seething in frustration, a man walks up and hands him a pair of sunglasses and then disappears. Confused, he puts the glasses on and all of sudden little bubbles, like in the comic strips, appear above everyone’s head. Instead of dialog however, he can read what is really going on in everyone’s life.

The woman who cut him off is distracted because her child is sick. The man who placed the huge coffee order is worried about a medical diagnosis he just received. The server in the coffee shop is struggling with addiction. And finally, returning home a bit shaken, he sees the child again with a bubble above his head which says, “Just need someone who cares.”

The man gets out of his car and walks over to help the boy fix his bike.  How would we treat each other if we could really see what was in everyone’s bubble? I believe that all the walls and all the distance we place between ourselves and others would disappear.

After all, we worship a God who was not content to look down upon us from some safe haven, light years away. We follow a savior who gets down, right down on the same plain with those in the deepest pain, with those who have nothing left.

He looks up, at us, his disciples, and invites us to join him there. He reminds us that this is where God is looking. And by the way, we are not so different. We are broken, too. We yearn for a world turned upside down.  And we all are blessed.  Amen.

 

 

Sermon, Jan 27, 2019

1 Corinthians 12: 12-31a – Members of the Body

Luke 4: 14-21 – Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth

“Living in the light – As One Body”

Come into the garden of God, for there you will find peace.  Come into the garden of God, for there you will find rest.  Come into the garden of God, for there you will find hope.  And we come as one body with many members just as a garden is one body of creation with many flowers.  We come from our busy lives, to join in this time of quiet.  We come into the garden seeking God’s presence and we pray for wholeness of mind, body and spirit.

Many people work very hard to create gardens around their homes and in their communities. A garden is a wonderful place of flowers and greenery; a place where butterflies float among the roses and soft breezes carry the delicate scent of lilacs.  The song of birds and the lazy drone of insects is music in the garden and belong as members of the garden.  Bubbling water in a fountain adds life and sparkle.

This gentle peaceful scene is one that beckons us in many ways.  In our complex world we might long for a beautiful refuge where life seems simple and serene.  We carry in our hearts and minds the ideal of a life that is less stressful and not filled with so many pressures.  We might feel that if only we could live in a garden all would be well.  There we could be patient and kind; we could forgive our enemies and we could make life worth living.  So, I ask if this might be why be seek sanctuary right here from the stresses of daily living knowing in our heart acceptance as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many are one body.

It would be easier if we lived in a gentle world, but we live in a world that is neither gentle nor tranquil.  Sometimes there is little peace or harmony. And so we come into the garden of God, for here you will find hope…..

 

I wonder what it means for you to feel you really belong that you are part of something.  When Paul was writing to the new Christian community in Corinth, he writes to a fragmented group that was struggling for a sense of identity and had problems with division.  There were members of the community who did not feel like they belonged whilst others claimed a stronger sense of belonging and so deliberately excluded others.  In many ways this behaviour reflects the nature of many community groups and even churches today.  All gatherings would do well to live out this scripture as a community of faith.  We gather as an inclusive community where the foot is as important as the eye; the hand as important as the ear; we all belong; are included.

This invitation to all of us, to invite everyone to the party is a challenge because of different denominational beliefs and people living in a consumer culture.  Paul was encouraging the Corinthians to see beyond their ethnic bias and welcome all. (Jews or Greeks, slaves or free).  You, belong, you and you and them, belong – we are the body of Christ.  We can borrow the words of Jesus and say, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in our hearing.”

As we continue to explore the garden and look deeper into its shadows, we can see, along with the comfort and ease, the other side of the picture. In the midst, of the garden is a snake.  One of the many meanings the snake has is to remind us of the struggle of life and the temptations that are ever with us.  There is evil, pain, and discord in our garden-world and struggles come to each of us in various forms.  Children become ill, life gives us life-changing punches; there are glorious hills and dark valleys.  The thorns and thistles in our garden beds come to us slyly.  We cannot give up when pricked by the thorns of life but must have hope to try to change things.  Each one of us can make a difference in how another, responds to the pricks of life.  Our garden, our church needs to be a place where we walk in harmony with God and with each other as we seek peace in our lives.  We need to gather with others who are struggling to keep our garden a place of beauty and wholeness.  God is our gardener.  If we keep our eyes and our hopes on the good gifts of the garden, we will be at home there, and to be at home in the garden is to be at one with God.

I am reading a book called “The Language of Flowers” written by Vanessa Diffenbaugh.  She has inspired this message on gardens and flowers, inclusion and exclusion, and just maybe a bit of spring fever also.  The book is set in Victorian time. The language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions in the Victorian era.  But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating mistrust and solitude.  After an isolated childhood spent in the foster-care system, her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings.  Now eighteen and emancipated from the system with nowhere to go, Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them.  But an unexpected encounter with a mysterious stranger has her questioning what’s been missing in her life.  And when she is forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it is worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.

Victoria literally lives in a garden where she steals and transplants flowers in a wooden portion of a park where she lives after leaving a group home, demeaned unfit for adoption and reaching the age of 18.  As I read on, I want to discover how an excluded child could become an included, gifted adult.  Exclusion is a terrible disease in lots of ways.  I have felt it and perhaps you have also.  Whether it is living in a garden like Victoria or being a member of a community of faith, inclusion is paramount for peace and hope and for love to thrive, for each of us.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could make our garden world green again and replace the thorns and thistles with flowers and fruit?  May this be our prayer so all might live in the light.  Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sermon, January 13, 2019

Luke 3:15-17; 21-22

Acts 8:14-17

“Living in the Light begins with Living Water”

To live in the light of Christ is our calling in this season of Epiphany.  Baptized with living water is our first-gift from God that leads us in a life towards a path of discovery of many God-given gifts.  Activating the gifts of the Spirit is through understanding how our gifts are inter-related to the gifts of others here.  We are called to stay true to the heart of our God-given gift; the love of God in Jesus.  Each Sunday through Epiphany we will explore the gifts of the Spirit; the first being living water that gives us a start on our faith journey.  For most of us, our faith journey started at our baptism.

Sometimes we need a reminder that baptism is an epiphany kind of moment; a manifestation of Christ in our lives.  Epiphanies are not subtle.  Yes, we can look for God in all kinds of people and places, but sometimes God comes crashing through the clouds and stops us dead in our tracks.  So, this is where the heavens opening really matters for me; it is when there is an inability of God to be separated from whom God loves, you and I, whether we like it or not.  You see, I have this inability of being able to stop going to church; I cannot not worship our God. My baptism was at the age of 14 years old, so I remember my baptism/confirmation as a time of unmerited love of God for me.  The very words of God’s desire to make us God’s children is saying God chooses to be in Christ, in our lives.

Adult baptism is also confirmation in our church; it is a boundary crossing, a risk, bringing God close to us.  The living water of baptism is about promise; the promise of God’s love and forgiveness.  The season of Epiphany brings us closer to the fact that God will be present in our suffering and joys; our death and new life; our pain and our healing.  This season also brings us closer to the fact that God will also be seen in the rejection and suffering, death and denial, pain and injustice of Jesus passion. We, all, need awesome moments in our lives, moments of gratitude, moments of re-discovery of who God really is, moments when we look to the heavens and see the heavens being opened and every-thing changes.

Let us go for a moment to the banks of the River Jordan where Jesus is being baptized.  Here he makes his first public appearance and begins his ministry.  John the Baptist has prepared the people for a Messiah who would baptize with the Holy Spirit. And here he is, Jesus, going under the water and coming up out of the water.  Suddenly, heaven opens, the Spirit descends like a dove, a voice comes from heaven and speaks to Jesus so all can hear; You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well-pleased.  What an awesome moment for all who witnessed this event.

This reading from Luke begins with a crackle and buzz, “As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning…” It’s a fluid situation that Luke presents here – Jesus’ baptism amongst an energized and wondering people. There is expectation about John which he quickly redirects to Jesus. What is important here is the mindset of the people who witness the baptism – their hopes and expectation. John’s explanation is equally vibrant with the Spirit, the winnowing, the gathering, and the chaff burned in the fire. All of this surrounds the national quest for the Messiah – what will this Messiah be? Who will be this Messiah? John brings the question down to earth, down to sandals and threshing floors, down to the ordinary.

Luke’s baptism happens in a flash, almost a sidelight in this buzzing scene of expectation. What the people are seeking, Jesus also seeks. However, what the people are hoping for will be radically changed by this Jesus who comes to the Jordan. Here in Luke the vision is shared with the people, the Spirit descends in bodily form, and the voice is heard. Is the creation story here as well? That possibility broadens Luke’s rendition of the Baptism of Jesus. All are involved, all are witnesses.  A creation is upon them.

January is an exciting time. It is the beginning of a brand-new year. Some people like to make New Year’s resolutions or promises to themselves about what they plan to accomplish in the new year. The number one resolution that people make is, “I am going to lose weight.” I don’t think too many people succeed, since it seems to be the number one resolution year after year. I know that it usually makes my top ten list of things I would like to accomplish in the new year.  Even if you don’t make any New Year’s resolutions, this is an exciting time. It is a time that we can forget our past mistakes and look forward to new opportunities that lie ahead of us. It is a time of new beginnings.

Jesus experienced times of new beginnings in his life too. One of those times was when he was baptized. Up until that time, he had not performed any miracles, but with God’s stamp of approval and with the spirit of God upon him, Jesus began to perform great miracles. From this new beginning, many people began to understand that Jesus was truly the Son of God and they began to follow him.  New beginnings — God gives us opportunities for new beginnings. Let us make the most of them as we live a new life in Christ through the power of his Holy Spirit and Living Water.

Here is a story to sum up what I am trying to say: it’s called the “Goat’s Hair Monk”.  First, I must tell you, the Goat’s Hair Monk wasn’t a monk and he didn’t wear a goat’s hair monk’s robe like John the Baptist.  He was just one of the poor street people who roam the shabby streets of any decaying inner city.  He got his name because he walked around muttering, “Goat’s Hair, Goat’s Hair”.   The monk part came from his visits to an old church several times a day.

He was not your typical pan-handler with his hand out for charity, instead his hand was out giving things away to the poor. Reaching into his old, battered canvas bag he carried everywhere he went, he would pull out a pair of socks for a street-walker who had none, a pair of gloves for a disoriented bum whose hands were blue from cold, or a couple of sandwiches for a hungry old bag lady.  With each gift he would mumble in his German accent, Goat’s Hair, goat’s hair.  The Goat’s Hair Monk was living in the light.

A local street gang was convinced this monk was a millionaire with loads of money in his bag.  One day when he was sitting in this old church, a beggar was given his cloak.  Then praying, the street gang member snuck up and was confident he was sleeping and with hands out went to grab his bag.  With a karate-like blow the monk grabbed the street kids arm and with a voice of thunder, yelled, God’s here. Wise up kid! Rob others and you yourself will be robbed of what’s precious to you.  As the kid ran out of the church, he realized that the old man hadn’t been saying “Goat’s Hair” but “God’s Here”.  The street kid began to realize that after his attack from a rival street gang that the comment, God’s here, filled his empty life and he became baptized and when the old man went into the church to pray, he went with him and soon became his body guard helping the poor on the streets.  This little story sums up what living in the light can be.  The Light of the world manifest in any of us who care.  To live in the light of Christ is our calling in this season of Epiphany.  Baptized with living water is a first-gift from God that leads us in a life towards a path of discovery of many God-given gifts.  Our renewed self from the Living water, in this New Year gives us an opportunity to do something awesome this year.  Amen.

 

Advent IV, December 23, 2018

Luke 1:39-56

“Blessed are we who Believe”

In the New Testament, there are these two equally obscure women, Elizabeth and Mary—one quite old and barren, the other little more than a child around thirteen—who are both nobodies and both chosen by God to bear great children. “He has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.”

And Mary is “betrothed” to this other little kid named Joseph, who is just as unknown and obscure as she is. And when he finds out that she’s pregnant, he plans to cut and run, but an angel comes to him and says, “whoa, stop, the baby in Mary is not yours,” and he says, well, um, I kind-a knew that part,” and the angel says, “no, no, what I mean is that the baby came from the Holy Spirit (a.k.a., “God”). The little guy in Mary’s womb is the son of God, so go on back to her now and play like you’re the daddy because that’s what God wants you to do,” and to give Joseph credit, the story says he does that.

When Mary hears from an angel that she is to give birth to a child, what she does is run away. Quite possibly she ran for her life, because there is some historical evidence that when unmarried women were found to be pregnant; they were stoned to death. She runs to Judah to another obscure town to talk to her cousin, Elizabeth, about the whole mysterious and strange occurrence. Elizabeth is evidently pretty-old and had been barren for good many years and thought she’d never have a baby of her own. But as it happens now, she’s gotten pregnant herself with a little baby she’ll name John who, as it turns out, will later baptize a gaggle of people (including Jesus), threaten the state, and get himself killed for it, but that’s getting ahead of the story.

When Mary gets there and the two of them greet each other, John jumps up and down in Elizabeth’s belly and Mary breaks into song (don’t we mothers always jump up and down and break into song), with this incredible magnificent; a song both and political and radical, about what her coming son is going to be doing in this messed up world.

⁵²   He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

and lifted-up the lowly;

⁵³   he has filled the hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away empty.

This is an ancient love story that warms our hearts again this Advent Sunday of love. Blessed are

we who believe…in love.

 

Remember the story of Susan Boyle who looked and dressed plain and dumpy and was way passed her prime; a nobody some thought, but she had a voice that angels would be jealous of. Simon Cowl, the host of the show who introduced her sneered at her in the beginning, but then later publicly apologized for his behavior.  Susan became Canada’s singing sensation.  Canadians love her music; our Love story; blessed are we who believe…in love.

 

We often overlook the most important things in life. And the Christmas Season encourages us to do that. The season encourages us to put everything we’ve got into busy preparation so that the true meaning of Christmas gets lost. If we don’t keep our eyes open during the hustle and bustle of Advent, then we might miss a true love story such as Shane and Dave found. However, my Christmas love story.  My love story was the reunion of Dave and Shane and it was magic.  Blessed are we who believe…in love.

This busyness forces us to look the other way. It does that in two ways:

First, the commercialization of the Christmas season works very hard to keep us from realizing that there really is supposed to be something important going on inside this season. We get a lot from the media about how this is a season of caring or giving, but very little about what that is… the rebirth of a gentle babe in Bethlehem.

Second, the Hustle and bustle of Christmas. We get so tied up in the many tasks of Christmas, that we might forget to experience Christmas.

 

Did you hear about the woman a couple of years ago –true story—who forgot to do her cards until the last minute and rushed out to buy three boxes of cards and brought them home and filled them all out and addressed them and sent them off and when she got home she was exhausted and she relaxed in her chair with a glass of wine and listened to music, and she picked up one of her cards and said, that’s nice, I’ll actually get a chance to read what I sent to people, so she picked up the first one and it said: “Just a little card to say…a special gift is on its way.”  I laughed as you might be that she made a horrible mistake.  She might have thought oh no, but if you think about it…a special gift is on its way in the name of Emmanuel.  God with us.

I once got so stressed out in shopping at the last minute that when I had finished the day (rushing from store to store, beating back other purchasers, and fighting for elevators and escalators in Ontario malls), and had gone out to my car, I put my presents on top of the car and drove away and left them behind…(Perhaps it’s because “God looks out after preachers and fools” but someone I knew saw what happened and called me later to tell me he had my gifts.)  Ever done that or almost done that?  That was when I made a conscious decision to put Christ back into Christmas and divorce myself from the hustle and bustle of Christmas.  I have stream-lined and simplified my gift giving with special gifts not abundant gifts.  My love story for Jesus…

Sometimes a little child will lead us to “know” the important parts of the season. There is a story of the parents who were in a big rush to get Christmas all done up, and they told the kids that under no uncertain terms were they to get out of bed until daybreak on Christmas morning. Then they snuck around and placed baseball bats, and bicycles, etc. under the tree, and went to bed. About four in the morning their little, seven-year old rushed into their room saying “Mommie, I saw it. Quick come quick.” The parents grumbled but got up, deciding that the surprise was ruined, so they might as well get all the kids up so that some could see their toys since one had already done so. So, they hustled all the others up and brought them down stairs. But the little boy ran right passed the tree and went over to a window and said, “see, see, there it is in the east. It’s the star. I saw it.”  Blessed are we who believe.  Amen.

 

Luke 1:39-45, the gospel reading for the 4th Sunday in Advent in the Year of Luke, continues the extended story of John the Baptist which we have in this gospel, albeit now with another character added – Mary.  It is striking that the long opening chapter of Luke’s gospel (80 verses) is almost entirely devoted to the pre-birth, birth, and introduction of John the Baptist.  It is easy to overlook the fact that of these 80 verses, nearly 60 of them have to do with John, and most of the rest of them have to do with Mary, and only a few have to do with Jesus.  This year of Luke, then, gives us a rare chance to explore this story in depth, and ponder why John’s story was deemed so important by this gospel writer.

(The following questions are designed to unearth some of the key issues for Law/Gospel preachers.  For a further look at this type of preaching you are invited to purchase my guide to Law/Gospel preaching by clicking the image of the book on this page.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  The Word here functions as pure gospel.  It is a scene of great joy.  This visitation, and the announcement that God’s divine favor has been visited upon God’s people is a scene of hilarious joy.  The people of God are no longer forgotten, no longer in exile (as it were), no longer sitting in anticipation of the Lord’s coming, but the Word of the Lord has been fulfilled.

2. How is the the indications of joy in the text hint at the oppression under which these women have been living, but nothing in the text points directly at their own need of a saving Christ.  Mary’s song of praise in the verses that follow this text (46-55) point out the context of these women and their fellow citizens – “lowly”, “hungry”, living under “the powerful” and “the proud.”

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  Elizabeth, the one who says, “And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” is the one to whom the Word comes.  She is the one with whom we can most easily identify, not Mary.  We too stand agape as the Christ is sent to us to proclaim freedom, to forgive, and to bless.

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  The call to light of the announcement that Christ has come for us, will have to come from different texts.

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by the text?  We need to take our cue from Mary’s song to answer this:  lowly/raised up, hungry/filled with good things, oppressed/delivered, forgotten/remembered.

6.  Exegetical work:  It is especially important in this text to read the verses that precede this account.  In earlier verses we see that John was said to be filled with the Holy Spirit even before his birth.   when Mary calls out her greeting to Elizabeth, the unborn John gives witness to the Christ’s presence even before his mother does. And then, as if John had passed on the Spirit to his mother, Elizabeth cries out in a loud voice, “Blessed are you among women!”  It is telling to note that the redundancy present in the Greek text gives voice to the excitement of Elizabeth, when it says, literally, “She cried out loudly with a great shout.”  The joy present was deafening!  It is also worth noting that Gabriel’s appearance to Mary was only days before this visitation.  Luther surmises that the Christ was only 4 days in the womb when Mary reached Elizabeth’s home!  Clearly it was not Mary’s outward appearance that signaled the presence of the Christ, and even less her identity as “the mother of my Lord.”  The presence of the Christ could only be signaled by the Holy Spirit.  It is perhaps worth pondering the question, “What signals for us the presence of the Christ amongst us?”

Blessings on your proclamation!Luke 1:39-45, the gospel reading for the 4th Sunday in Advent in the Year of Luke, continues the extended story of John the Baptist which we have in this gospel, albeit now with another character added – Mary.  It is striking that the long opening chapter of Luke’s gospel (80 verses) is almost entirely devoted to the pre-birth, birth, and introduction of John the Baptist.  It is easy to overlook the fact that of these 80 verses, nearly 60 of them have to do with John, and most of the rest of them have to do with Mary, and only a few have to do with Jesus.  This year of Luke, then, gives us a rare chance to explore this story in depth, and ponder why John’s story was deemed so important by this gospel writer.

(The following questions are designed to unearth some of the key issues for Law/Gospel preachers.  For a further look at this type of preaching you are invited to purchase my guide to Law/Gospel preaching by clicking the image of the book on this page.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  The Word here functions as pure gospel.  It is a scene of great joy.  This visitation, and the announcement that God’s divine favor has been visited upon God’s people is a scene of hilarious joy.  The people of God are no longer forgotten, no longer in exile (as it were), no longer sitting in anticipation of the Lord’s coming, but the Word of the Lord has been fulfilled.

2. How is the Word not functioning in the text?  There is no word of Law here at all.  There is no word that lifts up the need of humanity for the saving action of God.  All of the indications of joy in the text hint at the oppression under which these women have been living, but nothing in the text points directly at their own need of a saving Christ.  Mary’s song of praise in the verses that follow this text (46-55) point out the context of these women and their fellow citizens – “lowly”, “hungry”, living under “the powerful” and “the proud.”

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  Elizabeth, the one who says, “And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” is the one to whom the Word comes.  She is the one with whom we can most easily identify, not Mary.  We too stand agape as the Christ is sent to us to proclaim freedom, to forgive, and to bless.

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  The call to obedience, the Word that says, “Follow Jesus” is not present here.  That word, which gives us guidance on how to live in light of the announcement that Christ has come for us, will have to come from different texts.

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by the text?  We need to take our cue from Mary’s song to answer this:  lowly/raised up, hungry/filled with good things, oppressed/delivered, forgotten/remembered.

6.  Exegetical work:  It is especially important in this text to read the verses that precede this account.  In earlier verses we see that John was said to be filled with the Holy Spirit even before his birth.  And so when Mary calls out her greeting to Elizabeth, the unborn John gives witness to the Christ’s presence even before his mother does. And then, as if John had passed on the Spirit to his mother, Elizabeth cries out in a loud voice, “Blessed are you among women!”  It is telling to note that the redundancy present in the Greek text gives voice to the excitement of Elizabeth, when it says, literally, “She cried out loudly with a great shout.”  The joy present was deafening!  It is also worth noting that Gabriel’s appearance to Mary was only days before this visitation.  Luther surmises that the Christ was only 4 days in the womb when Mary reached Elizabeth’s home!  Clearly it was not Mary’s outward appearance that signaled the presence of the Christ, and even less her identity as “the mother of my Lord.”  The presence of the Christ could only be signaled by the Holy Spirit.  It is perhaps worth pondering the question, “What signals for us the presence of the Christ amongst us?”

Blessings on your proclamation!