This is a special musical presentation for the song For Everyone Born at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan

This is a special musical presentation for the song Footprints in the Sand at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan

Grace to you and peace from God and Jesus, our advocate, Lord, and Savior. Amen. Please pray with me. Lord, we are called to be advocates for all your children especially those who are vulnerable in society. 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, so that we may be strong advocates for your kin-dom of wholeness on Earth. Amen.

Imagine for a moment that you are at your daily job. Just sitting or standing doing your daily work - teaching, working on a computer, driving around, whatever it is you do on a daily basis. Then, out of the blue comes this strange man, maybe a little rough looking, someone you haven’t seen before. He stops you in what you are doing and tells you to follow him and he’ll give you a new job of working to make people’s lives better. He wants you to drop everything, your job, your family, your friends, your whole life and just follow him to do something strange and new. Do you? Do you suddenly upset your whole life simply because a stranger asks you to? If you are anything like me, I’m sure you are thinking - “No way! I’d never do that!”

This is apparently what happens in the second part of today’s Gospel reading. A story that is well known to most people. Where Jesus starts calling his disciples to follow him to be fishers of people. The story clearly states “immediately they left their nets and followed him” (Matthew 4:20) and “Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.” (Matthew 4:22).

For many people and many interpretations, this is clear cut for people. If we truly want to be followers of Christ we must give up our lives and completely devote them to following Christ and God. Even if it means leaving everything we know and love and changing our lives completely. I don’t know about you, but this seems quite hard for me to believe, that we would be expected to uproot our lives like that for the sake of the Gospel. I mean, why would God give us our lives we already have if we are just supposed to push them aside and leave everything to devote ourselves solely for God? I’ll get back to this later.

Now, let’s take a look at why Jesus was calling them in the first place. In verse 23 of the reading, we hear that “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.” At a quick glance, it sounds like he did three things: taught, proclaimed, and cured people. But are they really three separate things? Or are they really just one? Could it be that they are all forms of advocacy?

The Oxford dictionary defines an advocate as “a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy”. Well Jesus certainly did things publicly and encouraged others to do so as well. His particular cause or policy? Simply that the good news of God’s love, is for all. All of Jesus’s actions were around this. He wanted to bring the wholeness, the completeness, that only is fully realized when we know that God’s love is here and now and for all people, that everyone gets to experience a full and complete life. Without people being able to have a full and complete life, then God’s kin-dom isn’t fully realized.

In the Old Testament there is the focus on God’s chosen people and a lot of laws that were set down for these people. At the time, these laws made perfect sense to ensure that people could lead full and complete lives. Over time these laws became so ingrained in the faith that people believed that the only way to be saved and be right in God’s eyes was to follow these laws (created for a certain time and place) to the exact letter. One might even say they worshiped the laws more than God, since in their eyes one could only get to God through the laws. Often times these laws were even changed or given more detailed rules and rituals that had to be followed to be considered meeting the letter of the law. This left people not being able to “access” God anymore because this access was being controlled by the church and all their laws and rituals. Jesus came to advocate for these people to show them that there is a different way. A way that allows “access” to God for all.

How does advocacy tie into when Matthew says that Jesus taught, proclaimed, and healed? First, Jesus’s teachings. He knew that the way to reach some of the people is

to meet them where they were most comfortable. With the old testament, the history and the laws. He met them in the synagogues where they were comfortable. However, he then took their readings they were so used to hearing and challenged them to think about them in new ways. Ways that would help them see there is a new way that God is working, a way that opens up God’s love and wholeness to all by looking at the laws in a new way and understanding the reason the laws were created in the first place. Next, Jesus proclaimed the good news. He did this in his everyday life with everyday people around him. Making sure that everyone would hear his message of a new way of life with God. A way that is open to all. For example, in several cases Jesus was accused of working on the Sabbath which people viewed as being against the commandments. He healed several times on the Sabbath and also allowed his disciples to pick corn on the Sabbath. According to the strict interpretations of the laws that the religious leaders created, Jesus was sinning. From a commentary by David Pratte: “The Pharisees criticized the act, not as stealing, but as a violation of the Sabbath. This was the first of a whole series of conflicts between Jesus and the Pharisees about the Sabbath. Two things must be remembered. (1) The Pharisees, as they had done with other things (Matthew 15:1-14), had added a whole complex system of traditions about Sabbath observance. Much of this was intricate and detailed; but above all it was based on their own ideas, not on what God's law really said. (2) They were motivated in their criticisms, not by sincere concern for the Sabbath, but by a desire to trap Jesus (v10).” ( https://www.gospelway.com/topics/bible/jesus_sabbath.php )

So Jesus is working to show people that our actions must be done in a way that shows forth God’s kin-dom, not by other motivations or human made laws and customs. Jesus’s whole life was about proclaiming this Good News that our connection with God, is just that - a connection with God, not one that has to be made through laws and sacrifices and that if we don’t do something “just right” that connection is gone, but instead that connection is made by God and is permanent and unbreakable.

Now the third activity that Matthew says Jesus did - healing people. The biggest part of this isn’t that Jesus healed, but who he healed. As Matthew says in verse 23, Jesus was “curing every disease and every sickness among the people.” Nothing about “the deserving people” or “people who go to synagogue every Sabbath” or “people who have followed every law perfectly” or “people who have been deemed by society to be male” or “people who have a certain skin tone” or “people from certain countries”. Nope, none of this - he healed everyone who needed it. And most of the time these people that needed healing were the lowest of the people in society at the time. The people who were lacking food or money or status or were shunned by society once they became ill.  None of this mattered to Jesus - he healed all.

Wow - he was a busy person! And - he is asking us, as individuals and as the church body, to follow him and do all this? To be advocates for everyone in society? To publicly support this cause? To make sure that God’s love and fullness of his kin-dom are available and accessible to all? Those are some big sandals to fill.

Yes, it is a lot to do, but that is what we are called to be, to be advocates for all of society, especially those most vulnerable, those fleeing persecution, those who are shunned from society, including members of the LBGTQIA+ community, those who are hungry or poor. Anyone who does not have the means to live their lives fully and freely to experience the true wholeness and love of God. It is hard work. But yet, we are called.

Many times, people say church and politics shouldn’t be mixed, but that simply can’t be, if we are to fully live into our call to be advocates. Just like Jesus challenged the religious and governmental system of his time, we need to challenge our system. If that means teaching others so they better understand the minorities in society by holding community forums and movie screenings, do that. If it means spreading the good news of God’s love for all at Pride events, do that. If it means healing or helping people in need by providing shelter in our parish house and taking care of all their needs, do that. Writing letters to elected officials, protesting, signing petitions to amend state law so that people can’t get fired for simply being gay, do that. And, hopefully we don’t need to, but if it calls for some rage and throwing over some tables and demanding change, as Jesus did in the temple with the money changers, then maybe we do that.

No matter what form our advocacy takes, we are called and cannot sit silently in our chairs inside these walls and do nothing. We must publicly support God’s call for us to share his kin-dom of love and wholeness for all. How can we fully feel God’s love in us knowing that others are prevented from living fully into their lives? To share the Gospel, the Good News of God’s love for all, we must be strong advocates for all.

Now, back to panicking that to do all this we must drop everything, leave our jobs and families, and follow Jesus immediately and uproot our lives, as we heard in today’s Gospel. Well, here is the Good News - that isn’t what the Gospel says. Without getting into too much detail (more info at https://www.answers.com/Q/Did_disciples_know_Jesus_before_being_called), remember that in Jesus’s time, the world population was a lot smaller, and that the disciples had certainly heard about Jesus before he came up to him, in fact many were most likely related to him. So it wasn’t a complete stranger, it was someone they knew and most likely already had a personal connection to. It would be like asking your friends and family to join you in a project of yours that you find valuable, to sign a petition, to march in a parade or rally, to build a house, and more.

Also, again without getting into detail (more info at http://blog.michaelhalcomb.com/2007/07/did-disciples-know-jesus-before-he-them.html ) the disciples didn’t drop everything and never return to their lives they were living. There are stories in the bible where they still met with their families and they still had their boats, etc.

So instead of a stranger asking people to completely drop everything in their current lives and do new work, this story is about advocacy. About hearing God’s call to be an advocate for ensuring that God’s kin-dom is available for all, and then using your skills and talents God has given you, so that you can do the needed work, and then get your friends and family, and maybe a stranger or two, to do the work with you.

Wow! This is so much better - and much easier to say “Yes!” to. Yes! I can work with you to create some cards to make a senior’s life a bit better. Yes! I can work to take some actions at home to reduce my carbon footprint or release some butterflies. Yes! I can go march in the pride parade this summer. Yes! I can donate to help provide for the needs of the young people living in our parish house.

And since God’s grace, love, and forgiveness is freely given to all, we don’t have to focus on how to “win God over” and be right with God, since Jesus ensured this is already done for all of us, we can focus on doing the advocacy needed to bring God’s kin-dom to fruition.

We, as individuals and as a community of Faith, are currently doing advocacy all the time. Is there more we can do - certainly, but we need to celebrate what we have and currently do, learn from it, and then work to do even more in this broken world that for many fall way short of being whole and complete, so that God’s love, hope, and dream for all may be made fully known, so that His kin-dom can truly come to us and God’s will be done on Earth. Amen.

This is a special musical performance of Psalm 19 from the Faith Bells Bell Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical performance of Be Thou My Vision by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

I am technologically challenged.  Just ask Katie, our secretary.  Or, better yet, talk to my husband.  In fact, just last Sunday, I wanted to play a video for the Confirmation class in the evening.  So, on Sunday morning, I had to ask my husband to SHOW me how to do it so I would be prepared for Sunday evening.  While technological understanding comes very naturally to some (my husband for example), I always find myself befuddled and cannot seem to make sense of what needs to be done.  I have always been one of those people who needs to learn and verify things experientially.  I am an experiential learner and I usually must seek out someone to show me what to do, how to do it and thereby, through that experience, finally understand.

         Because I am an experiential learner, I appreciate the sequence of events described in today’s gospel reading.  Today we are told of John the Baptist who has the experience of baptizing Jesus.  John has the experience of seeing the Spirit descend upon Jesus in the form of a dove, and then he is able to confidently point to Jesus as “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”  John’s experience gave him insight and he could then assuredly proclaim who Jesus is.

         Because of John’s experience, two of his disciples decide to follow Jesus to try and learn more about this unusual man.  As they begin following, Jesus turns to them and we hear the very first words Jesus speaks in the gospel of John.  What is so fascinating is that Jesus’ first words appear in the form of a question as he asks, “What are you looking for?”  Jesus, as he frequently does, uses a question to draw these two men into relationship, into the experience of relationship with him.  It is helpful to look at the original Greek when listening to what Jesus asks.  Jesus’ question would be better translated as, “What are you seeking?” or “What do you hope to find?” or “What do you long for?”  And, what I find so captivating is this – Jesus speaks these same words to each one of us as we meet him.  Jesus asks a question that goes directly to the deep yearnings of our hearts.  Jesus’ words invite us to look into the depth of our being and ask, “What is my deepest longing, what is it I hope to find in this one called Jesus?”  As a Faith community that desires to engage the greater community, I believe there are many seekers around us who are asking the same questions.  There are many in our greater community who are longing for something more, something deeper in life.  As we work to connect to those beyond these walls, I have to ask each one of you, what is the hallmark of this Faith community that we can lift up so others may see who we are, see whose we are, and what we offer in this place?

         It is interesting that the disciples reply to Jesus’ question by asking where he is staying.  Again, it is important to look at the original Greek as we try to make sense of this experience.  The disciples’ question to Jesus goes much deeper than simply asking about a geographical, physical location.  The Greek word used implies they are really asking about where he is dwelling, where he is abiding (a word we find used over and over again in the gospel of John).  The disciples are asking Jesus where he is remaining, abiding and indwelling.  This question takes us to a deeper place.  They want to know where they can come and simply experience being with him.

         We live in a culture that is all about doing.  Our lives are all about what it is that we do or must get done.  I intensely feel this doing aspect of life every single day, and I am very aware of it every time we gather for worship.  Quite honestly, the plethora of focal points that demand intense doing in people’s lives takes away from participation in the life of the Faith community.  Each focal point attempts to demand ultimate concern in people’s lives, and a life of faith no longer fits in that ultimate concern slot.  Furthermore, in a culture where more and more of us have our faces buried in our phones or tablets, simply being with, abiding with, intentionally remaining with and being present to someone is increasingly rare.  So, what does it mean for us to reply to Jesus’ question by desiring to come and simply be with him?

         It is intriguing that Jesus does not offer an answer to the disciples’ question.  Instead, drawing them ever more deeply into the experience of relationship, Jesus’ response is a simple invitation to “Come and see,” an invitation that is profoundly relational and experiential.  His invitation is non-threatening, simple and very clear.  Jesus’ invitational response is so beautiful because it is open ended and does not require any prior pre-judged concepts of Jesus. And, isn’t that the miracle of the Jesus journey?  Despite the countless layers of encrusted doctrine, dogma and varied identities that the church has put onto Jesus, as well as the requirements so many communities put on prospective followers before they even begin a faith journey, Jesus does not do this.  His invitation is simply to come and experience.  Come and see.  It is an invitation to unprejudiced, undetermined encounter and relationship.  It is an adventure where the disciple and the teacher live together in relationship.  It is an invitation to come and participate in this Jesus reality and it is the pathway to life, eternal life, which means life that truly matters.

         Living in relationship is what this faith journey with Jesus is all about.  When we respond to Jesus’ audacious invitation to come and see, we begin an experiential journey of continual discovery as we learn that this God of whom Jesus speaks is all about relationship and love.  We will discover more about our very selves, and we will grow in ways we never before thought possible.  We will discover true life that is always relational, life that is all about a flow of love and a dance of grace. 

Jesus' answer, "Come and see!" is an answer that captures a primary message of John's Gospel:  If you want to know the Word made flesh, come and see Jesus. If you want to know what love is like, come and see Jesus. If you want to experience God's glory, to be filled with bread that never perishes, to quench your thirst with living water, to continually be born anew, to abide in love, come and see Jesus.  If you want to behold the light of the world, to enter into life everlasting and to experience life that truly matters, come and see Jesus.  If you want to know God, come and see Jesus!

On this weekend the greater church begins highlighting a week of Christian Unity, and we also remember Martin Luther King, Jr.  We remember the work he did, work which brought transformation to culture.  He was able to do that work because he answered Jesus’ call to come and see.  He was a person who abided in Christ’s love, abided in Christian community, and helped to live into Christian unity.  And, that abiding enabled and brought forth necessary change in culture.  It

happened because all kinds of people came together and experienced living in relationship as the body of Christ. 

I said at the beginning that I am an experiential learner and I deeply want to live a life that truly matters.  As I long for this in life, I cannot think of a better learning experience than responding to Jesus’ invitation to come and see and experience the joy of living in relationship with Him.  And, that is something that one richly experiences when you live in relationship to others in the Faith community, when you participate in the life of the Faith community, and when we live together as the Body of Christ in this place.  Andy Root, the professor who is coming to talk with us about youth leadership, when talking about living together in relationship as a community of Faith, writes:

“Relationships of persons encountering persons are the very way that we encounter Jesus Christ…..[We live together and go through life together], sharing in the humanity of each other as the very joyous journey of sharing in the life of God.”  Let’s be intentional about making this journey together.  Come and see, experience what the body of Christ has to offer.

This is a special musical performance of Rain Down by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos Michigan.

I want to confess something to you this morning.  I have a tattoo.  Yes, many years ago, when I was much younger, I got a tattoo on the inside of my ankle.  Now, there is something I know about people who have tattoos.  If you ask them for the story behind their tattoos, most people are very willing to share their story because it usually says something about their identity.  So, I will share my story.  Two things I absolutely love are butterflies and music.  I love the fact that butterflies symbolize new life and freedom.  I feel that my life has always been a process of living into the new life and freedom God has given me as a baptized child of God.  And, I also love music.  In fact, for me, music is a form of prayer because through music I can express the deepest longings of my heart, those things that cannot be expressed through words alone.  So, my tattoo is a butterfly surrounded my music notes.  It is so old that one can no longer recognize it as such but, nevertheless, that is what is on my ankle.

I share that story because on this day, I think it is important to remember that we each have an important story to share about our identity.  You see, there is a sense in which we each have our own tattoos, an identity given us in baptism.  As we remember and give thanks for our baptisms, we remember these words that were spoken over us, “You are marked with the cross of Christ in your lives – forever.” 

Think about that!  Wow!  What a story that is to tell! 

Today, our gospel reading gives us the story of Jesus’ baptism.  Now, quite honestly, John did not know what to do with the fact that Jesus came to him to be baptized.  And, from the time Jesus first presented himself for baptism by John until today, Christians have puzzled over why Jesus had to be baptized. At that time, the act of baptism was understood to be an act of repentance and the cleansing of one’s sins.  So, John does not understand why Jesus, whose sandals John is “not worthy to carry” should seek to be baptized. Instead, John declares to Jesus, “I need to be baptized by you.”  Why should the Son of God need to be baptized?

Theologian, Frederick Dale Bruner, says that he considers Jesus’ first miracle to have occurred at his baptism. The miracle is that Jesus was humble. The divine Son of God humbles himself by allowing John to baptize him. This act of humility is an act of obedience to God and an act of pure love as Jesus begins his ministry, an action through which he enters into solidarity with all of humankind and all of creation. Jesus did not need to be forgiven. However, for us, he goes down to the river of repentance with all the other sinners to be baptized. He enters into the depths of human life and is baptized.  And, Jesus’ baptism, his first adult act as recorded in Matthew’s gospel, gives us a clear indication of how he will act for his entire life. The Son of God, out of love for human beings and all of creation, comes down to us and with us, on our level, identifying with our needs and our brokenness. His baptism, then, foreshadows how his life will also end, on the cross. In his death, Jesus experiences the worst we could ever experience as mortal humans. But, because Jesus united with us in baptism, we are united with him in both his death and resurrection. Through his humility, Jesus comes down to us in the depths of our humanity and shows us that we are beloved!  He shows us that God loves us!

Yes, there definitely is a story to tell about baptism.  I love what Richard Rohr says when talking about this aspect of Jesus’ ministry.  He writes, “Jesus did not come to change the mind of God about humanity. Jesus came to change the mind of humanity about God.”  Just think about that.  “Jesus did not come to change the mind of God about humanity. Jesus came to change the mind of humanity about God.”

 Yes, Jesus came to proclaim that we are God’s beloved!  You see, it is all about what God in Christ has done for us!  Remember, when Jesus had been baptized and the Spirit of God descended upon him like a dove, a voice from heaven said, “This is my son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”  That word “beloved” is such a beautiful word.  To be beloved is to be adored.  To be beloved is to be cherished and to be treasured.  And, this is also the promise given to us in our baptism.  You see, baptism is first and foremost an act of God.  It is about God claiming us as God’s very own, as God’s beloved children.  It is all about God declaring to us that we belong to God.  And, because we belong to God, baptism is about God telling us that God is well pleased with us!

Now, I don’t know about you, but I think that is a story each one of us should be proclaiming from the mountaintops.  It is a story about our identity!  We no longer need to work so hard to justify ourselves or our existence because we have been given this priceless identity.  We are beloved by God and God is pleased with us!  I am beloved by God and God is pleased with me!  And, it is all because of what God has done!

Yet, that is not always the story we tell ourselves.  Quite honestly, many of us have another story that runs in our head. Sometimes we call this storyteller the inner critic, that one who reminds us just what a failure we are or how people may only be pretending to like us.  You know, if they really knew the truth about us, they would run away. That inner critic sometimes tells us we are not attractive enough or talented enough or clever enough or intelligent enough to be beloved, let alone have someone be pleased with us.  I know this because I have experienced that inner critic far too often.  And so, in our brokenness, we desperately do all kinds of things as we attempt to justify our existence, just so we can measure up! 

That’s why we need to tell this baptism story over and over again – to counter the story of the inner critic, and to counter the story the world often tells.  You know what that story is, the one that says to be truly beloved you have to possess something: money, house, good looks, power.  Yes, we tell our baptismal story over and over to counter the story, or stories, that you don't measure up or that you don't belong.  Yes, we need to remember our true identity, remember how deeply we are loved, and we need to hear that story told to us over and over again and celebrate this precious gift! 

But, friends, there is yet more to celebrate about this gift of baptism!  The story of baptism is not only that we belong to God and are beloved by God; it is a story that we belong to each other, that we are a part of a community, that we are part of a larger story of God's presence in the world.  You see, we, who sometimes feel rejected because we just don’t measure up, are chosen to be a part of something big and beautiful.  Just as God had chosen us in our baptism, God has also made us members of God’s family!  We are part of God’s kingdom.  So, it is important that we come together in worship, not only because we need to hear over and over again that God loves us and has claimed us as beloved children, cherished and treasured.  We also need to come together in worship because our wells sometimes have run dry and we need to feel those refreshing waters of baptism trickling over us again.  Quite honestly, sometimes life is just so hard we have no words to pray or no songs to sing; we are just that empty. Sometimes it's the community of the baptized that sings those hymns we can't always sing, and sometimes it's the community that prays the prayers we can't always pray, and sometimes it's the community that speaks the words of faith that we might have trouble speaking ourselves or even believing ourselves.  And, we just deeply need to let those words and songs and prayers wash over us, reminding us of God's love, reminding us that in the waters of baptism, God has called us and claimed us as God's own, beloved, delightful and cherished children! 

Jesus entered that baptismal river to become one with humanity and to tell us we are beloved.  That is the story of baptism and the story of our baptisms. That is the mark we carry, and it is our identity.  That's a story worth living in.  And, that is a story worth telling, over and over and over again!  Thanks be to God.

Today, is not only the first Sunday of the new year and the first Sunday of a new decade.  Today is also the twelfth day of Christmas, and it is NOT about twelve drummers drumming!  No, today is all about newness!   And, as we enter a new year and a new decade with all that is going on in this world, including yet more war that seems to be looming on the horizon, we deeply need to hear the message of John’s gospel.  On this day, we need to hear John’s telling of the Jesus story because, in this gospel, we find a daring, audacious, bold message that tells of a whole new beginning for humankind, a whole new beginning for the world.

The writer of John’s gospel is a big picture person.  The gospel writer begins presenting the Jesus story in a very lofty, grand manner.  And, in doing so, he is so gutsy in his telling of this new beginning through the person of Jesus that his first words to us are “In the beginning….”  If we have any understanding of Biblical literature, we will recognize that these three words are also the beginning words in the book of Genesis.  You will remember that in that first book of the Hebrew Bible we read, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  John’s use of these three words is very intentional.  John wants his readers to know that in Jesus, we live into the beginning of a whole new creation.  The writer of John’s gospel is intentionally connecting us to the book of Genesis because, in the person of Jesus, he sees a new beginning of history, of humanity and of God’s involvement in all of creation.  In John’s telling of the Jesus story, he wants us to understand that, through the incarnate Word, Jesus the Christ, the Word made flesh, we will find a very living, breathing promise of new life.  Theologian, David Lose, suggests that “John’s story about Jesus is designed from beginning to end not just to tell us, but to evoke for us, the living, breathing promise of a new beginning to all of human history in and through the incarnate Word, Jesus the Christ. That’s why he patterns his opening after Genesis. That’s why John’s gospel records seven signs – [remember seven days as articulated in the first Genesis account of creation]?  John records seven signs or miracles in his Gospel and then culminates with the eighth sign of resurrection as the eighth day, the start of a new week, chapter, and epoch. That’s why – only in John’s Gospel – the resurrection happens in a garden, to remind us of the Garden of Eden so that we might see the resurrection as the new creation.”

Yes, John wants us to know that a new creation is what God is up to and that new creation is happening through the enfleshed, living Word, in the person of Jesus Christ.  By connecting the Jesus story to Genesis, John is stipulating nothing less than this:  God poured God’s own self into human form.  “This eternal Word was God’s proactive agent in the creation of all things – even life itself – and in a paradoxical condescension took form as a baby of the most humble of origins.” (Stephen Bauman – Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 1) 

For all of us, as much as we want and deeply desire to see God, we cannot literally do so.  And, our inability to literally see God seems much more apparent in times of great need, in times when the darkness of life seems to overwhelm life itself.  That darkness might come to us personally through experiences of illness, death, job loss, depression, loneliness, tragedy, and even war.  At times like these, we are keenly aware that we are simply unable to literally see God.  As our communities and the world experience horror through terrorist actions, violence in our city streets, racial injustice and the many forms of hatred espoused upon others, we collectively experience darkness and are keenly aware of our limitations when it comes to seeing God.  So, because of our limitations, God – the eternal, universal Christ who brought all of creation into being – becomes human in the person of Jesus.  God becomes human that we may see God.  In the person of Jesus, God becomes accessible to us.  In Jesus, the eternal God becomes finite and vulnerable, all for our sake so that we may see the very heart of God.  No longer is God a disembodied voice from some distant place.  The incarnation enables us to see that not only is Jesus like God, God is like Jesus, and has always been.  God loves us so deeply that God is lovingly and graciously present to us even in the darkest places and times of life.  And, all of the darkness that ever existed, that is present now, or that will exist in the future is unable to overcome the light of the universal Christ, the eternal Word, the Word made flesh, the very life force that continually animates and breathes into the entire created order – even into you and me. 

Oh yes, John wants us to fully understand that, in the person of Jesus, God is doing something very, very new.  In days of old, God gave the law and the prophets to speak for God, to express God’s will.  But through Jesus, God goes even a step further.  God is actually speaking to us directly and personally in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  God is not separate from our fleshly existence.  No, God is profoundly and intimately present to us.  We, each one of us, deeply matter to God and Jesus is God’s love letter to humanity, God’s love letter given in flesh and blood for the whole world, as God in Christ shares in our human experience.  God is as close to us as our next breath, bearing the pain we bear, enfleshed in our struggles, working with us for justice and peace, and celebrating in the joys we share.

And there is more.  The coming of the Word made flesh has enabled those who follow Jesus to embody God’s word as well.  Jesus is not alone in this word made flesh business.  The creative, living Word is still at work in and through us.  Because of God’s decision to come to us in a form we recognize, in Jesus the Christ, we are empowered to reach out to those around us.  In fact, God is at work putting skin on God’s Word through us.  By the grace of God and, through baptism and the work of the Spirit, we are called to bear God’s creative and redeeming Word in this world and carry God’s Word of life and love to others through all that we do and the way in which we live.  In the person of Jesus, God has invaded this broken, hurting, warring world and God is working through God’s people, shining the light of God’s presence even in the darkest places of this world.  The living Word, the God of love, the Word made flesh has moved into the neighborhood, and that is what we are called to live.

So, on this first Sunday of the new year and on this twelfth day of Christmas, we celebrate the universal Christ, the living Word of love that has taken on flesh and moved into the neighborhood so that we can be made new.  Theologian, Thomas Troeger, has written a poem about that Word and how it changes us.  He writes:

How do you spell the word?

Where do you search and look –

amidst the coos and cries you’ve heard

or in a well-thumbed book?

Hold back the swift reply,

the pious, worn cliché

that softens how the child will die

when violence has its way.

Instead, let all you do

embody truth and grace,

and you will spell the word anew

in every time and place.

(Feasting on the Word, p. 193)

         It is my prayer that, as we enter a new year and a new decade, we continually spell that living Word of love anew in all the times and places of our lives – wherever life takes us!

This is a special musical performance of When the Angels' Song is Silent by the Chancel Choir from Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.