Grace to you and peace from God and Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
Please pray with me. Lord, we are named as your children and we ask that you be with us now. Open our minds and hearts so that your word may be made clearer to us. Help us to hear the message of love, peace, and unity. Amen.
The second reading today is familiar to many people and looks at how the body of Christ is made up of individuals, yet still is one body. When we are baptized, we are named as a child of God and welcomed into the body of Christ. We do this as a celebration of the unity we have in Christ and that we are fully welcomed and are part of the body of Christ through no action of our own, but through God’s grace.
We don’t question people before they are baptized as to what they will bring to the church, who they are, what plans or goals they have, who they plan on loving, or anything. They are baptized into the body of Christ exactly as they are, a child of God. Since, in our tradition, people are usually baptized as infants, we have no way of knowing what “qualifications” they have or gifts they’ll bring to the church, because it isn’t important. We know that they are part of the body of Christ and that is all that is important and we know that they are a valuable part of the church.
Turning to today’s Gospel, we find Jesus starting to visit synagogues and teaching. Last week we looked at the events that took place just before this, when Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness. Pastor Ryan Chaddick from American Lutheran Church in Burbank, a fellow RIC congregation, where I worshiped last week, gave an interesting perspective on the temptations. So often, we view that passage as the temptation coming from an external devil like being, but based on the root of the word, it can be viewed more as an internal struggle. I found this more relatable as I am often tempted by my own thoughts and doubts. “Am I good enough?” “Am I doing the right thing?” “If I do this, no one would know.”
With our busy world, we often forget that we do need time alone to recharge and clear our minds and thoughts. It can be viewed that is what Jesus did for the 40 days alone in the wilderness. He went to be alone, have a sabbatical if you will, so he could wrestle with the thoughts in his head and clear his mind before starting to visit synagogues and teaching. He wanted to be certain of who he was and his place in the world before coming out into the world. This is shown in today’s gospel by stating that he was filled
with the power of the Spirit.
Jesus is going around the area, visiting synagogues and teaching in them. Word is getting about about Jesus and his popularity starts. Then he goes to his home town where people would have been familiar with him and his parents. Most people probably already had ideas about who Jesus is and what he is all about. He is the son of Mary and Joseph, a good Jewish family. He attends the service, as is normal for their family. He reads a passage from Isaiah, nothing out of the ordinary so far. This was all common in a service. When he sat down, it wasn’t because he was done. It was common after a reading for them to sit down and teach about the passage just read. It was when Jesus said “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” that people probably started wondering, “Who is this Jesus?” “I thought I knew him” “I don’t believe who he says he is” Coming out as someone that doesn’t fit into other’s preconceived ideas of who you are can be very challenging. And as we’ll find out as this story continues next week, spoiler alert, it doesn’t end that well for Jesus either.
While it may seem that Jesus is simply saying that he will bring good news to the poor, release captives, give sight to the blind, and let the oppressed go free; there is a lot more going on in this passage. It is thought that the reference to the “year of the Lord’s favor” is referring to the Jubilee Year.
In Pastor Roy Harrisville’s commentary on this Gospel, he states: “The Jubilee Year was to have occurred every fifty years in Israel when the land was to lay fallow, all debts forgiven, and all slaves freed. However, Jeremiah 34:14 suggests that the Jubilee Year had not been followed and that when King Zedekiah did try to institute the practice, it was circumvented by the people. Confusion abounds as to whether or not the practice was ever truly instituted. Yet, the Jubilee Year has influenced such practices as the statute of limitations in our day.”
Pastor Harrisville continues, “Such pronouncements of authoritative [generosity] by kings and rulers had been commonplace among the ancients. The Caesars were often portrayed as grand liberators and generous benefactors. For Jesus to read this message from Isaiah and proclaim its fulfillment is therefore an indictment of all politicians who claim to bring release and freedom. True freedom does not consist in money and possessions or in the ability to do as one pleases.
Americans are used to the idea of freedom as license to do as one wishes. Jesus, however, understands freedom differently. It is a release from captivity to death, the will of others, and the will of the self. Jesus will preach the freedom of slavery to God's will and service to the neighbor (Luke 22:24-27). Such a definition of freedom can only be grasped from the way Jesus will fulfill the words of Isaiah's prophecy.”
(http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=502)
Wow. Not only is Jesus saying that the freeing of people is being fulfilled in him, by saying this he is claiming more power and authority than the government. He is starting to turn the world upside down from how people have known it for years. That power and authority come from God and that is where true freedom comes from.
Just as Jesus wrestled with who he was and took the brave step to come out as a messenger of God’s radical power of freedom and forgiveness, we, as individuals, often face similar challenges, especially those people who go against the norm.
Whether we do it on purpose or not, like it or not, we often form snap judgments about other people and who we think they should be. In our society this often starts with very young children. As soon as children are born, we assign a gender to them. “It’s a boy!” or “It’s a girl!” are often the first words spoken after a child is born, or now even before they are born. We have gender reveal parties for these unborn people. Based on that alone, society starts to make many decisions based on that. The color pink, flowers, frilly dresses for girls. The color blue, cars and trucks, and rugged pants and shirts for boys. Whether we mean it or not, we start making decisions about who these newborns are before they get a chance.
For the most part this turns out fine, however, for some, it creates many challenges for them in life. Especially as we continue with the assumptions as they get older. Society often talks about how girls will bring home boys someday or boys will find the right girl. When offering career suggestions we might even give different lists to people based on our assumption of their gender instead of based on their skills or interests. All this time, we are building up an image of who we think the person is, just like the people in Jesus’s hometown had in their minds built up an image of who they thought he was.
This then makes it hard for people to be their true selves, and if they differ from what society has determined they should be, they have the difficult process of coming out and having to state who they really are. They have to go against the cultural norms that have been built up around them so they can be true to themselves.
During the time leading up to coming out, we wrestle with who we really are. Am I right in who I am or is society right? We can feel like we are in the wilderness alone being tempted to become something we aren’t. Some are strong and make it through the temptations like Jesus did and end up being filled with the Holy Spirit and being sure of who we are and have the strength to step into the world and come out as our true selves. Unfortunately, many can’t make it through the temptations and succumb and end up living a life not based on who they really are, but who others think they are. Or worse, they might not survive the struggle and end up taking their own life so they don’t have to struggle anymore.
And this is where we as Christians, and fellow children of God come in. We are called to recognize all people, ALL people, for who they are - children of God. Named by God as their children and loved for the special and unique person they are. This is why we are an RIC congregation - we took a stand in this crazy world to say to our community, God’s love is for all, we are not here to judge you based on what makes you unique, we aren’t here to make you fit into an image of who we think you should be. We are here solely to share God’s love with you and journey together to better understand God’s and Jesus’s teachings and how this world should be - full of grace, love, peace, and harmony.
We have all been named by God as God’s children. We belong in the body of Christ. As we heard in the 2nd reading, all parts of the body of Christ are needed. We need hands and feet, eyes and ears. We need teachers and leaders and learners and healers. None of us are complete without everyone else. Not only is being part of the body important, the role we play can change over time and remains just as important.
Sometimes people get around by means other than walking with their legs and feet. When people lose one sense, often other senses become stronger. People themselves can change as they grow and learn more and their personality and wants in life change. For example, someone might start out as a church musician and be fully part of the body of Christ using those skills, and then later decide to become a pastor and still be fully part of the body of Christ in a slightly different way. No matter who we are today, or become tomorrow, we are fully important as children of God in the body of Christ.
We, as different and unique children of God, have to remember that while we are all different in so many diverse ways, we are all still so much alike. How many here have ever laughed? Ever cried? Ever have hope for something? Ever have any fear? Ever smile? Yes, I was just at Disneyland and my favorite ride brings me to tears, since it reminds me that all in this world are God’s children, no matter our differences, because our differences are very small compared to what we share. As the words to the famous song go:
It's a world of laughter, a world of tears, It's a world of hopes and a world of fears,
There's so much that we share, that its time we're aware, It’s a small world after all.
There is just one moon, and one golden sun. And a smile means friendship to everyone.
Though the mountains divide and the oceans are wide. It’s a small world after all.
So as we reflect on Jesus and how through his life he constantly challenged the world and had to come out to people as someone they weren’t expecting, we remember that people around us have the same struggle. Society makes assumptions about people and expects certain things, and when people don’t fit the societal norms, they have to come out themselves to be who they are and fully free. Our call as an RIC congregation is to work to not put labels or preconceived ideas on people and simply accept everyone for who they are. Accept them for who God named them to be. Accept them as Children of God and share God’s endless grace, love, and blessings with them.
May our hearts and minds be opened and fling the church doors open wide. Let us make room enough for everyone inside. For we know in God there is welcome and we all belong. Help us proclaim that welcome as an RIC congregation. Amen.
This is a special musical presentation of Speak, O Lord by the Chance Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.
This is a special musical presentation of a violin solo of Bouree by Handel presented by Rachel Ngasala
This is a special musical performance of Joy & Elation by Dobrinski by the Faith Bells at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.
This is a special musical performance of The Light of the World by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan with soloist Chris Lewis.
“I will not keep silent. I will not stop talking, proclaiming or preaching…. I will not pause. I will not rest, for the sake of the precious city God loved and left, and I will keep this up until every nation and king can see that Jerusalem has been declared innocent and lifted up to a place of glory and honor.” (Working Preacher, Anathea Portier-Young)
These are the words of the prophet Isaiah as he boldly acts as intercessor for Jerusalem. Following the exile, the Babylonians may have been defeated, but when the Jewish people returned to their land, they found it decimated. It looked rather like a desert. The restoration and rebuilding of Jerusalem met countless obstacles and delays. The people had been full of hope, but now they are battling deteriorating morale caused by broken dreams and crumbling faith. Their very identity had been battered by loss and they could no longer understand that God delighted in them. They felt God had turned away in indifference.
So, the prophet Isaiah laments and boldly protests, interceding on their behalf. Seeking justice for his people, Isaiah will not remain silent as he holds God accountable. Now, the notion of “holding God accountable” probably tends to make many of us squeamish. But, the prophets did this. Elie Wiesel, in “The Trial of God,” accuses God of being absent from the horrific genocide of the Holocaust. And, the biblical writings we have been given suggest that what the Jewish people had experienced was something like the Holocaust. In the depth of their despair, a place where they deeply feel the absence of God, the prophet speaks. He names their despair and holds God accountable. Then, the prophet promises newness, transformation and even new names signaling joyful union for Jerusalem and all the land around her. He proclaims the dream of God for his people and promises there will be change and transformation. The prophet proclaims the abundant life God desires for the people and says God will rejoice over you!
In today’s gospel reading, John gives us a story that presents significant need and emptiness in the midst of what is to be a grand party. Jesus and the disciples are attending a wedding. And, on the third day of the festivities, over in the corner of the room a nervous silence sets in. There is the alarming discovery that the wine has run out. Wine was a vital component of any wedding in that day, the sign of the harvest and the sign of God’s abundance for God’s people. But, the wine has run out and the party is far from over!! There are still four days of partying left to go!! We can imagine the tension in the air. For the groom’s family, this is not just an embarrassing situation, this is a major social faux pas.
Well, Jesus’ mother sizes up the situation and swings into action. And, like the prophet Isaiah, she will not remain silent. She tells her son about it. The implicit command is: “Fix it!” Mary is a prophet who will not take no for an answer. In fact, she says to the servants, “Do whatever my son tells you.” Mary speaks and acts as intercessor for the wedding party and all the guests. In Mary’s persistence, she provides the leadership for the miraculous sign that takes place in this story by observing the problem, naming it, and taking action to help. Then, when his mother tells the servants to do whatever Jesus says, Jesus performs one of the most understated, yet mighty acts in John’s gospel.
There were six large jars for water to be used for washing according to various Jewish purification rites, each jar holding 20-30 gallons of water. Jesus tells the servants to fill them to the brim and then he tells them to draw some out and take it to the man in charge of the feast. When the steward tastes the wine, it turns out to be the best wine at the party. Not only is it the best, but there is an abundance of wine, an amount equal to an additional thousand bottles of wine!
People, in Jesus, Immanuel – God with us, God made flesh, there is abundance. On the third day, a reference by the way to the resurrection, Jesus provides abundance. And, in this first miracle in the gospel of John, Jesus provides more wine, joy, and blessings than the people could possibly have imagined or deserved.
As we gather today for worship, I am very aware of the reality of deep need and despair in our world, even within our own country. Many in the world go hungry. Many in our own community go hungry. And, as we gather together on this day, we cannot ignore what is happening in our present culture, the growing need people are experiencing from this government shutdown, and the growing need and pain of refugees seeking asylum. We need a tangible miracle of God’s abundance. In light of today’s gospel reading, we cannot help but come face to face with the creative word of a living God and we do not take no as an answer. Today’s reading invites us to trust so much in God’s generosity and abundance that we, like the prophets of old and like Jesus’ mother, nudge God with our observation and our protest: they have no wine! Like Mary, and in the face of insurmountable need by so many people around this world, we too cry out and lift our voices in intercession for the hurting and powerless as we say to God, “Fix it; heal this land and bring comfort to the people!” In the words of scripture, we find words that address the timelessness of human need and human tragedy. And, we also discover that we, like Mary, can become God’s servants as God uses us to help fill the needs of the hurting. Quite frankly, when we pray such a prayer, we are also called to action, which is something we are doing as we take noisy offerings to help those who are furloughed, to help any who are now without necessary government assistance, and to help our refugee project.
On this weekend, we celebrate the life of another prophet who would not remain silent, Martin Luther King, Jr. He would not remain silent in the depth of people’s despair. And, his speaking out brought about change. Speaking out and seeking justice is a form of prayer. As we honor Martin Luther King, Jr. and remember the many prophets who have gone before him, we too, as people of faith, are called to cry out to God as we seek justice and change and renewal in our lives and this land. That form of prayer also causes us to respond and act in ways that help bring about the newness of God’s promises and dream for all people. Like Isaiah, like Mary and like Martin Luther King, Jr., we cannot remain silent in the face of injustice. As we remember and celebrate King’s life and work, one of the best ways we can honor him is by remembering what he proclaimed as he called the church to work for justice. In fact, he said, “A Church that has lost its voice for justice is a Church that has lost its relevance in the world.”
On the third day, when the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother, like Isaiah and like Martin Luther King, Jr., would not keep quiet. Jesus addresses the problem and he turns scarcity into abundance. In Jesus, the one who provides enough for all people, we see a God who is deeply responsive to human need. In Jesus, we experience a God who is so responsive to human suffering that he entered the very depth of our need to suffer with us, even to the point of being nailed to a cross. And then, on the third day, hope was born, and the new wine flowed freely! Hope is deeply embedded in the Resurrection. May we, like the prophets, continue to cry out and work for justice, and live into the hope of God’s dream for all people!
Life at times seems filled with hard places. There are few among us who have not experienced hard times, hard challenges in life. This past week, I have experienced one of those hard places. On Monday, it was the first anniversary of my father’s death. And, on that morning, my son Andrew called me to tell me they had just gotten back from seeing the doctor and the baby Natalie was carrying had died. I know, there are few among us who do not know what it feels like to be in hard places, or to be overwhelmed and even underprepared for life’s hard places, especially those that hit unexpectedly. And, during those hard times, in those hard places in life, I think we long for and want to hear the words, “Do not be afraid.” I think we want to hear words of comfort, and I think we long to hear a sure and certain word from God. So, I find it heartening that the lectionary readings for this Sunday focus on these things as God’s message to us on this day tells us we are God’s beloved.
On this day, we begin with these marvelous words from Isaiah – words that are strong and gentle, unsettling yet comforting, revealing and deeply passionate. Listen to them as I use my own words while imagining God speaking to each of us today.
But now, listen to a message from God, the God who made you in the first place. I am the very One who made you; the one who knows your desires and longings. I know your hopes and dreams. I know all your disappointments and failures. I am the One who knows your every secret, all your thoughts and actions that go unheard and unseen by others. I am the One who knows your inner most thoughts and feelings. Yes, I am the One who created you, the one who formed you in your mother’s womb.
Don’t be afraid, I have redeemed you. You really need not fear because you are mine. You need not worry about being good enough because you are deeply loved just as you are. And, whatever you do or don’t do, my love for you is constant and it will never go away. No one can ever take it away. And, you don’t have to try and earn what you have already been given. You cannot become worthy because you are already worthy. Don’t ever be afraid that I may not love you. I already love you and my love is unconditional and steadfast. When you are unable to feel it, my love is still there. It is real, it belongs to you and you belong to me. I am the One who created you, the One who formed you, and I am the One who knows all of you.
I have called your name and you are mine. You – Ellen, Natalie, Andy, William, Ken, Deb, Walter, Isaac, Julianna, John, Maddie, Bruce, Katie, each and every one of you here, you are important to me. I know what brings each of you joy and sadness. I see your hope and despair. I understand your fears and your dreams. I hear all of your secrets and I see who you are. I am with you in the depth of your struggles and all your questions. I love you and my Spirit holds you close.
When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you. When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it will not be a dead end. In those times when you cannot feel my presence, I am with you, closer to you than the air you breathe. In all of life, I am there with you. When you feel lost or unfulfilled in any way, when you face great disappointment and grief, when you don’t feel worthy of love, when life seems to fall apart, when you can’t pay the bills, when your marriage is challenged, when your parents don’t understand, when your children disappoint you, when your health fails you, when your church lets you down, when you have more questions than answers, when you are afraid, angry, lonely, uncertain, I am there with you and very present to you – loving you, holding you and protecting you.
For I am your God, I am the Holy One, I am your Savior. You see, I am far bigger and greater than all your worries and fears and hurts. I am the One who sustains life itself, and I am the One who gives peace. I am the One who deeply desires for you to have joy and abundant life. I am all that you know about love and truth and I am the mystery of love and truth. My love for you offers wholeness and fulfillment, meaning and authenticity. My love for you offers salvation.
You are precious in my sight. You are honored, and I love you. I see you for who you really are, in all of who you are, I love you. I respect you and I value every part of your being – the good and the hurt. I even love you in the brokenness. I adore you and I long to be part of your life.
Now, I ask you. Can you begin to imagine what our lives would be like if we really believed these words? If we allowed them to really be absorbed into our being and direct how we live? Can you begin to imagine what our world would be like of we could live with and relate to one another as God’s beloved? It is so easy to read these words, to hear them spoken, and it is so hard to let them into our hearts and live into this identity. Can you begin to believe these words for yourself? Can I believe them for myself? Can you believe that God is speaking these words to you, today? That you are good enough, worthy enough to be God’s own beloved? That you don’t have to be perfect and that God welcomes you just as you are? Just what would it mean for each of us if we were to live the life of the beloved? How would our lives and our living be different if we lived from a place of knowing that we are precious in God’s sight; honored and loved?
Today, we also hear the story of Jesus’ baptism. Luke tells us that when Jesus was baptized and was praying, the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. A voice came from heaven, saying, “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.” When we were baptized, we were told that we have been named and claimed as God’s beloved child. Yet, for so many of us, it takes the rest of our life to even begin to understand it, let alone live it. Saying yes to a life of faith and living into our baptismal journey is a matter of becoming who we really are and discovering that we are, indeed, God’s beloved. The words, “You are my Beloved, with you I am well pleased,” are not words intended only for Jesus. They are words for every single one of us. And, every single one of us needs to hear them again and again. “You are God’s beloved. You are deeply loved. You are loveable.”
Theologian and Franciscan priest, Richard Rohr, suggests that for people of faith there are three fundamental questions. The first question that the gospel sets out to answer for us is “Who are you?” It is the question of spirituality. And Rohr says that right at the beginning, on our baptismal day, we are told, “You are beloved.” He writes,
All our life we hope to raise up our eyes and see someone looking at us and speaking that answer to our basic spiritual question… All of our lives we hope for that to be repeated and for someone to tell us what our soul of souls and our heart or hearts knows: I’m special, I’m good, I’m a beloved somewhere.
Rohr says the second question the gospel asks is, “Can we love?” Can I be a loving, intimate person? Can I walk through those doors of fear into intimacy? Can I reveal my true soul to at least one person? Can I take the big risk and somehow discover who I am in another’s eyes?
Finally, Rohr suggests, the gospel helps us ask: “Can I create?” He writes, “We’ll never discover that place of [God’s] passion within us until we find our creative place, that place where we can create life and love in another, in the world, in our backyard.”
Living the life of the beloved requires knowing who you are: that you are God’s beloved. Living the life of the beloved also requires risk and that risk is all about loving others—walking through those doors of fear into intimacy. Living the life of the beloved means responding to God’s call to create a world where we understand one another and treat all others as God’s beloved. God’s word for today is clear: You are good enough. You are worthy. God is with you in all of life. You are God’s beloved!
Oh, yes, I deeply needed to hear these words this week in one of the hard places of my life.
This is a special musical performance by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan of Holy Spirit, Flame and Fire.
On this Sunday, we get to experience something that seldom seems to happen on a Sunday. We get to experience the Feast Day of Epiphany. You see, the day of Epiphany is one of those fixed days in the church calendar which usually seems to fall on a week day and not so much on a Sunday. Therefore, we rarely get this gospel reading in the Sunday lectionary. But this year, the day of Epiphany is actually today, so we get this marvelous reading from Matthew’s gospel.
The word “Epiphany” refers to something “made manifest” or “revealed.” When you come up with a brilliant idea, you might say that you’ve had an “epiphany moment.” Today, the word “Epiphany” communicates to us the “showing forth” or “the revelation” of Christ in the world. Epiphany takes its themes from the journey of a group of pagan magi who left familiar territory to find the Christ child and explore this child’s authenticity for themselves. And, as Barbara Brown Taylor says “today’s [reading] from Matthew offers a rare opportunity to rescue the magi from their fixed places in the annual Christmas pageant and restore them to their biblical roles as key witnesses to both the threat and promise of the Christ child”: the threat and the promise that comes with God entering into the world, the threat and the promise that comes with the light of Christ being revealed to the world. (Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 1, p. 213).
To further emphasize the importance of the needed “rescue” of this story, I would like for you to think about the opening hymn we first sang and what has probably always been your understanding of today’s reading. Now, let’s take a realistic look at Matthew’s account. The story of these wise men is only found in the gospel of Matthew. And, Matthew does not say that there are three wise men, nor does he call them kings. Lutheran pastor, Nadia Bolz-Weber, writes, “We Three Kings of Orient Are…Not in the Bible!” She says, “Three kings from the Orient bringing gifts to Jesus in a manger is a charming story, but it’s not actually the one we find in the Bible. A closer reading of Matthew shows that we have no idea how many people were there, and we don’t know how far east they came from. Was it the Orient? Was it New Jersey?... And most importantly, they were definitely not kings…..They were Magi, as in magicians, and not the cute kind you hire for your kid’s birthday party. Yet history made them out to be kings, maybe because the reality that they were magicians is too distasteful, since no one really wants the weird fortune-teller lady from the circus with her scarves and crystal balls to be the first to discover the birth of our Lord. So, the story has been nicened up into an idealized picture of multicultural diplomacy. But the Epiphany story of Herod and his infanticide reveals a God who has entered our world as it actually exists, and not as the world we often wish it would be.”
In Matthew, the emphasis is on the universality of Jesus’ mission, entering into the deep brokenness of this world. Among Matthew’s Jewish community, they were finding it difficult to accept that God came for all, and not just a few. They were clinging to the idea that if you want to follow Jesus, to be one of his disciples, you had to first be a Jew. And if you were male, then you had to be circumcised; then if you were to become Christian, you had to continue to fulfill all the rules of the law. So, Matthew, right at the onset, includes this unusual story. And, this is the mystery – that God, this infant King, is now revealed to all nations, and God has come to transform all of human history, all peoples of all times.
The wise men represented in today’s gospel reading, who came to seek the baby, were the epitome of Gentile idolatry and religious hocus-pocus. They were not models of religious piety. They were magicians, astronomers, star-gazers, pseudo-scientists, fortune-tellers, horoscope fanatics; but Matthew makes them the heroes in his first story following the Savior's birth. The wise men should not be there. They are heretics. They don't worship the right God. They are the wrong race, the wrong denomination, the wrong religion. They don't know how to worship correctly. Certainly, they give the child gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, but those are elements used in their magic. They would have been much better models of unbelief and false trust than models of faith, trust and worship. But, Matthew wants to make it very clear that Jesus came for all people in this very broken world and that is why these wise men are found in this gospel. That should give us pause as we continue to share God’s inclusive love with all others and practice hospitality and welcome.
In her book Accidental Saints – Finding God in All the Wrong People, Nadia Bolz-Weber tells of this remarkable experience she faced on the Sunday after Christmas in 2012. Christmas that year was not an ordinary Christmas. It was the year that Adam Lanza decided to get up and kill his mother, then go to Sandy Hook Elementary School and kill 26 students and teachers, then commit suicide. And, on the Sunday after Christmas, a Sunday many clergy take off as I did last week, Nadia knew it was a Sunday when she really had to preach and proclaim the Good News of the living Word. She had to preach to give people hope and light in the midst of their hopelessness and darkness.
On that Sunday, even though it was not yet Epiphany, Nadia chose today’s gospel reading for her sermon. As she began to prepare, she knew she wanted to talk about the unexpected gift of Jesus Christ, who God sends into the world for people just like the wise men, for people just like you and me. She also wanted to make it clear that the violence and evil spirit of King Herod is just like what we have in our world today. But it is this world that God chose for God’s fragile child Son to live in. God takes the risk for God’s Son to become flesh and blood and dwell in this kind of world.
As she planned with her staff for worship, she decided during the prayers of the people that she would read the names of Adam’s victims and their ages. And after each reading, there would be a bell that rang out, much like we do on All Saint’s Sunday. The staff all agreed that would be a great idea. But, it was her intern who spoke up saying, “Shouldn’t Adam’s name be added to the list?” She said, “Oh NO!” There was no way she was going to include him. This young intern continued to press her on this. She knew he was right, but she couldn’t make herself go there. Yet, she kept hearing him ask, “Nadia, wouldn’t God want this?” She finally gave-in shouting, “Fine! But, I want it to be known that I am in opposition to God’s grace!” His response was, “I am sure God is hurt!” (Accidental Saints – Finding God in All the Wrong People; by Nadia Bolz-Weber; Convergent Books; 2015) And, there it was! She had almost forgotten the most important part of the message. God not only sent his Son into the violent and faithless world to live in it but also to save it! God comes into the world and shines a brilliant star for all people…the wise men and the ordinary people like you and me. But here is the extremely hard part, God also comes into the world for the Herods, the Adam Lanzas, the terrorists, even for our enemies! For every single one of us, God comes to shine a light that no darkness will overcome. It is how we accept and share that light that matters. And as Christians (dog gone it!), we have to share and reflect that light.
So, on that Sunday, Nadia read the names. As she came to the last one, she reached down into the very core of her being and with all her strength said, “And in obedience to God’s command to love the enemy and pray for those who persecute us” and then she uttered “Adam Lanza.” The final bell rang. (Accidental Saints – Finding God in All the Wrong People; by Nadia Bolz-Weber; Convergent Books; 2015; p. 74)
God enters a world that is deeply broken and definitely not filled with peace but enters a world that is deeply loved by God, a world that God finds worthy of saving, and the love of Christ is revealed. The wise men who journeyed to Bethlehem exposed God’s intention and desire to welcome all into the joy of God’s presence. May we continue to be transformed and reflect the light of such inclusive love.
This is a special musical performance of The Magi Who to Bethlehem Did Go from the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan with a solo by Tammy Heilman.
This is a special musical performance of Gesu Bambino, a Trombone Solo by Drew Kipela performed at the 10pm Christmas Eve service at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.
This is a special musical performance of He Shall Be Called performed by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan during the 10pm Christmas Eve service at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.
This is a special musical performance of Joy of All The Earth by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan with a solo by Ryan Thompson at the 10pm Christmas Eve service.