To Be Blessed

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Matthew 5: 1-12 (Epiphany 4A)

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

In these words, a part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, arguably the greatest sermon ever given, Jesus was laying before us an alternate way of being, a way that God calls us to be.  It was a reversal of the usual value system.  He was calling us to expect something different than what we see around us.  It can’t have been accepted all that well.  I mean, he was telling them that the way the world was was not really working, that the society that they had built was not the way it should be.  You and I both know–people don’t like that.

Each beatitude begins in the present and moves to the future.  So, start now but expect it to result in something different.  Expect that when God finishes this new creation, justice and righteousness and peace will finally and always prevail.  And in our seemingly small way, by living in this life now, by living a life of gentleness in this time of violence, a life of pure devotion to God in this time of competing allegiances, and a life in which we truly hunger and thirst for that day of expected justice and righteousness for all, we will become the future. 

No longer can Christianity be seen as a philosophy of life that would make us healthy, wealthy, and wise.  That whole prosperity gospel thing that is so prevalent right now, where if you pray and do right and say the right things and vote the right way, God will somehow reward you with a life of ease and plenty and you will come out on top is totally and completely debunked with this Scripture.  It instead shows us a way of walking that is different from what we know.  And we are expected to do something to make that happen. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said this:  Humanly speaking, we could understand and interpret the Sermon on the Mount in a thousand different ways.  Jesus knows only one possibility:  simple surrender and obedience, not interpreting it or applying it, but doing and obeying it.  That is the only way to hear his word.  He does not mean that it is to be discussed as an ideal; he really means us to get on with it.

The promise is not that being blessed means that our lives will become easier.  It doesn’t have anything to do with having a nice house or a good job or living a life of ease and plenty.  Being blessed means having a bless-ed relationship with God and with God’s people who share this planet with you. It means seeing yourself not as better or nicer than others, but as one who is a part of God’s bless-ed Creation. And from that standpoint, the beatitudes are meant to be not instructive but descriptive of that relationship.   They are not meant to be a checklist of what makes us a better person.  They are a vision of a community—an alternative community than the one in which we live.  Truth be told, being “blessed” has more to do with being used by God than it does getting stuff or having your life be easier.

Christ’s coming into this world as our Messiah brought about for us the conception of what Shalom is, the vision of what God’s full and final Kingdom looks like.  And even as the world groans with pain, we get a sense that perhaps some of it are the pains of birthing God’s Reign into being.  We are in the midst of a holy labor, a holy gestation as God’s vision comes to be.  And in our expectation of what will come to be, we find our faith.  And in the meantime, what part do we play?  What is expected of us?  How are we supposed to live as people of faith in this sort of chaotic world in which we find ourselves now?

We live in a time when people tell us to live well and do well.  But Jesus says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

We live learning ways to make our life the best we can. But Jesus says, Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 

We live in a society that tells us to stand up for ourselves, to put ourselves first.  But Jesus says, Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

We live trying to satisfy ourselves in every way. But Jesus says, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

We live in a place that teaches us to hold onto what we have and protect it. But Jesus says, Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

We live in a place that calls us to fill our minds and live within the morals we know and the rules we have designed.  But Jesus says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

And we live in a country that is trying so desperately to protect itself and its wa of life, so desperately to put itself first.  But Jesus says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

It’s hard because it’s not what our world looks like.  We live by expecting to be blessed not in this world but in the way that God envisions we will be.  We are blessed not because we draw close to God but because God draws close to us and because of where we are, we notice.

I won’t take no for an answer,” God began to say to me when God opened his arms each night wanting us to dance.  (St. Catherine of Sienna)

Grace and Peace,

Shelli

Just Go

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Matthew 4: 12-23 (Epiphany 3A)

12Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 13He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 15“Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 16the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” 17From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

18As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 19And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” 20Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. 22Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

23Jesus 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.

Simon got up early that morning.  No big surprise there…he ALWAYS got up early.  He was always the first one up in the morning, hurriedly dressing and then going behind the house to untangle the still-damp nets from the day before.  As he got them ready for yet another day of fishing, he smelled the fish cooking in olive oil and the fresh bread baking in the oven.  It smelled good just like it does every morning.   He began to hear stirring in the house as the children got up and began to help their mother. It was just an ordinary day.

After breakfast he made his way the mile or so down to the shore where he and his brother had left the boat.  It was a good, sturdy boat and they felt so fortunate that they were finally doing well enough to buy it.  He carried the heavy nets that still smelled of yesterday’s catch.  As he approached the boat, he saw that Andrew was waiting for him and had already begun to untie the boat and ready it for the day.  So without even saying good morning to each other, they together hoisted the heavy nets up to the boat, Andrew got on, and Simon pushed the boat into the water, walking into the lake until it was about waste deep.  He then pulled himself up into the boat as it moved toward the middle of the lake.

This was his favorite part of the morning—that quiet trip from Bethsaida down the shores of the lake.  They were headed toward Tabgha this morning, near the Capernaum side of the lake but it was usually not near as busy.  The fog was lifting and you could see all around the lake itself.  Then they slowed and, without speaking, Simon and Andrew put their nets down into the lake to see what they could catch.  Yes, it was just another ordinary day.  

After about two hours of a really unbelievable catch, Simon steered the boat back toward the shores below Capernaum.   He looked up on the hill and saw the synagogue at the top of the hill.  It made him feel good just to look at it.  He hoped that someday he would be able to make the trip to Jerusalem and see the temple that it faced.  As they neared the shore, they began to drop their net again hoping to snare some of the common musht fish that tended to congregate there at the shore.  As the net went down, he looked up.  There on the shore was a man, a man he had seen before around the lake, a man that he thought they called Jesus. He had heard about this man, a rabbi, he thought.  Just then the man spoke:  “Follow me.”  Simon turned around expecting to see the one whom Jesus was calling standing behind him.   But there was only lake.  He touched Andrew’s arm and they both looked up.  “Follow me,” Jesus said again, “and I will make you fishers of people.”

But something happened.  Simon and Andrew looked at each other in disbelief.  You want me to do WHAT? After all, they were fishermen.  They had nothing to offer and no real gifts.  But Jesus repeated his call.  They knew that he was asking them to join him, to join him in ministry.  And they both knew that they would go.  They lifted up the nets, now filled with fish—more fish than they had seen in the last two weeks combined.  They pulled the nets up out of the water and then tied the boat to the shore.  As they stepped into the water, the sun seemed to shine brighter than ever.  The synagogue on the hill was radiant in light.  It was just an ordinary day.  But life would never be the same again.  And they couldn’t do anything else.

OK, I took a little poetic license with the story.  But the point is that Simon and Andrew were not especially gifted people.  In the first century around this lake called Galilee, Simon and Andrew were pretty ordinary.  But Jesus asked them to follow anyway.  And they went.  In fact, the text says they went immediately.  They didn’t wait until they had enough money or enough time or enough talent.  They didn’t hold back because they thought they were too old or too settled.  They just went.

Simon would become Peter, the “rock”, one of Jesus’ apostles and ultimately would be made a saint in the tradition of the church.  Frederick Buechner says, “Our calling is where our deepest gladness and the world’s deepest hunger meet.”  Think about what that means.  God calls us.  Sometimes it’s pretty scary.  Sometimes we want to run away.  Sometimes we try to hide on the back pew hoping no one will notice that we’re there.  Sometimes it means that we have to leave the life we’ve built behind.  And sometimes it just means that we need to do something different.  But following wherever God leads means that we will truly find joy.  We will finally know what it’s all about.  So, what about you?  Where is God calling you?  We are all called but it usually means that we have to fish in different waters and look at things in different ways.  And, if we’re honest with ourselves, we will find that we can’t do anything else.  God is calling you.  So, what now?  Just go…

God…leads us step by step, from event to event.  Only afterwards, as we look back over the way we have come and reconsider certain important moments in our lives in the light of all that has followed them, or when we survey the whole progress of our lives, do we experience the feeling of having been led without knowing it, the feeling that God has mysteriously guided us. (Paul Tournier)

Grace and Peace,

Shelli

Come and See

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John 1:29-42 (Epiphany 2A)

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ 31I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.” 35The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”

37The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. 40One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). 42He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

So, last week, the Scripture led us through Jesus’ Baptism and the notion of God’s claim on his life. But you know what?  Jesus didn’t become who God called him to be when he was born.  He didn’t become who God called him to be when people began to flock into his presence.  He didn’t even become who God called him to be in that moment of his baptism. Jesus became who God called him to be when he stood, wet with the waters of baptism, and claimed it for himself.  Because in that moment, as he responded, his ministry began.

It is the same for us. It is the moment when, for each of us, God calls us and God reminds us that we are a son or daughter of God with whom God is well pleased.  So, what now?  What happens next?  What happens after we are baptized, after the Spirit descends into our lives.  I mean, we can’t go back to the way it was before.  So we have to go forward.  We have to do something.   So, what is it?  What is next?   

Come and see…

So, John the Baptizer comes with two of his disciples, points them toward Jesus, and then he sort of drops out of sight.  He’s still part of the story but we know that he had no doubt where the story was to go next.  So, the two that were with him wanted to know more.  They began looking for Jesus.  And Jesus’ response?  It wasn’t an interview or a test of who they were.  It was an invitation.  “Come and see”, come and experience what God has for you.  It says that they remained with him all day, no longer just hearing about Jesus, but getting to know who he was, and, in essence, becoming a part of the story themselves.  In those hours as they spent time experiencing the Christ, they became disciples.

The passage tells us that it became 4:00 in the afternoon of the next day and they wanted to know where Jesus was staying.  Many scholars think that that time of day and the fact that Jesus was apparently leaving to go stay somewhere implies that it was probably the Sabbath.   And that’s important.  Because, as you know, Sabbath was a practice that they did every week—not when the weather was good, not when they didn’t have something else to do, not when there was not a sports event.  It was their way of practicing to be an artist in their spiritual walk.

So, they ask Jesus where he was staying.  It’s a way of getting to know who he was, because Jesus would have stayed with his relatives or possibly some close friends for the Sabbath.  It’s sort of like asking someone who their people are.  And Jesus tells them to “come and see”.  In other words, come go with me, come experience what I experience, come enter my life, come encounter who I encounter.  Come be a part of my story.  But the clincher is that BECAUSE it was the Sabbath, wherever they went, they would have to stay there.  They couldn’t travel on the Sabbath so from sundown Friday evening to sundown Saturday evening, they would be, essentially, locked up with Jesus.  There was no going back. Once you’re locked up with Jesus, I’m pretty sure your life will dramatically change.

Come and see…

You know, years ago, the evangelism and church growth “gurus” came up with something called an “elevator talk”.  Their claim was that, as Christians, as those called to lead people to Christ, we should have in our metaphorical back pocket a 20 second “sound bite” that would lead people to Christ.  Really?  Are you kidding?  I also thought that was bizarre.  I mean, I’m not sure trapping strangers in an elevator and giving them your 20-min treatise of what you think it all means is the best method.  Jesus never told anyone to do that.  I mean, tell me what sound bite you’re going to use to capture the essence of all the Scriptures, all of Jesus’ life, and everything that God is.  Jesus didn’t do sound bites; Jesus did relationships.  Come my friend, come and see…

Come and see…

And then we are told their names.  So, why does that matter?  Because God doesn’t just throw a blanket over humanity to see who will pick it up.  Think about it.  Nowhere in the Bible does God really ask and wait for volunteers.  Nowhere do we read of God pointing at someone and yelling, “hey, you”.  Because we know that “hey, you” does not create relationship.  No, God is much more intimate with us than that.  God gives us a name, a holy act of creation, and we are called to live into that name.  Jesus called each of these people one by one.  And has done the same with us.  Each of us has a unique part of the story to tell. It’s all there.  Just come and see—all of you.

Come and see…

The Lord plays and diverts [the Godself] in the garden of Creation, and if we could let go of our own obsession with what we think is the meaning of it all, we might be able to hear God’s call and follow…When we are alone on a starlit night…when we see children in a moment when they are really children; when we know love in our own hearts…such times…provide a glimpse of the cosmic dance. (Thomas Merton)

[Verse 1]
Come and see
Come follow me
Back to the place where He’s staying
And He’ll not mind
For there you will find
All that your faith has been waiting

[Verse 2]
Come and see
Come follow me
To a road where believing is seeing
There’s work to do
And words of Truth
To find in your heart for the speaking

[Chorus]
Come and see
Come and see (ooo ooo ooo-oo oo oo ooo)
Come and see
Come and see (ooo ooo ooo-oo oo oo ooo)

[Verse 3]
Come see the Way
The Truth, and the Life
Come see the Light that is living
Come now and see
How the truth sets you free
Come live the life He is giving

Grace and Peace,

Shelli

From the Waters

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Matthew 3:13-17 (Baptism A)

13Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

This Sunday is Baptism of Christ Sunday.  On this Sunday every year, the Sunday following Epiphany Sunday, we remember Jesus’ Baptism.  We also remember our own since the two are inextricably wound together.  And many of your pastors will celebrate by tossing water at you.  I always loved tossing water.  It’s playful and I think worship should always have some remnant of play.  But, more than that, it’s joyful. 

The reading begins simply: “Then…”  It is such a common connector, that we probably sort of gloss over it.  But look a little more closely.  It wasn’t just the thirty years that Jesus had waited to commit to public ministry.  It was the centuries upon centuries and ages upon ages that all of Creation had waited for the dawn to break.  In essence, from that very moment when we are told in the first chapter of Genesis that God’s Spirit swept over the face of the waters, Creation has been groaning and straining for this very moment, the very moment when life would emerge from the water. 

Thirty years was, in fact, the traditional time that a rabbi waited to be committed to God.  In those thirty years, Jesus would have been caring for his mother, and making a living, and preparing himself for ministry.  I don’t really think that, contrary to what some may say, Jesus was confused about these roles.  He was always serving God.  But now…then…the time had come.  And as eternity dawns, Jesus is ready to begin.  And so, he goes to John at the Jordan to be baptized and for a very short amount of time was then actually a disciple, a follower, of John’s.

Because Jesus was from Nazareth, he would have had to make a trip of about 70 miles in order to arrive at the Jordan.  This was in some sense a sort of “mini-pilgrimage”, an intentional journey to be baptized by John.  Now, according to the Matthean version of the Gospel, John knew who Jesus was.  So, you can imagine, how uncomfortable he might have been at actually baptizing Jesus, at actually accepting this Son of God as part of his following.  But Jesus reassures John.  “Let it be so now.”  Now is the time.  It is now.  “And,” asserts Jesus, “this is the way to fulfill all righteousness.”  This is the way to fulfill the will of God.  At this moment, in an odd twist of events, Jesus and John become partners in carrying out God’s plan for salvation.  And so, just as each of us received the gift of water in our own Baptism, Jesus kneels in the Jordan and John bends over him and baptizes him.  And from the water, the work has begun.

From the water, the heavens are opened and the Spirit emerges.  And we hear what all the world has always been straining to hear: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”  Even though the writer of the Gospel has presented Jesus as the Son of God in the birth story, it is not until this moment that the title is actually conferred.  From the water, comes Jesus Christ as Savior and Redeemer of all of Creation.   From the water, comes life.

So, with this story, we consider our own baptism.  I don’t remember mine.  I was about 7 months old.  But I know it happened.  And, see, “remembering” your baptism is not merely a recounting of some hazy memory; it is rather remember who you are, remembering that from those waters came life.  It is not as important for us to remember the day of our baptism as it is that we remember that we were, that we or someone on our behalf affirmed who we were—a daughter or son of God, the Beloved, with whom God is well pleased.  That’s what it’s about.  Our baptism is not our becoming.  We were already there.  God had already imprinted blueprints of who we would be deep into our being.  Our baptism is when we begin that long and somewhat arduous journey of joining with God in living into who we are.

Caroline Westerhoff says that “at baptism we are incorporated into Christ’s body, infused with Christ’s character, and empowered to be Christ’s presence in the world.  [And then], ministry is not something in particular that we do; it is what we are about in everything we do.”[i]  In other words, our own Baptism sweeps us into that dawn that Jesus began.

Jesus was still wet with water after John had baptized him when he stood to enter his ministry in full submission to God.  As he stood in the Jordan and the heavens spilled into the earth, all of humanity stood with him.  We now stand, wet with those same waters, as we, too, are called into ministry in the name of Christ.  As we emerge, we feel a cool refreshing breeze of new life.  Breathe in.  It will be you always.  Something has happened.  Maybe we can’t explain it; maybe we don’t even understand it; but in the midst of the noisiness of life, in the midst of things that we don’t think can lend to our spiritual walk at all, in the midst of everything we know and everything we don’t, God takes ordinary, everyday water, wet, cold, nothing special and from the water, we emerge with new life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ:  through the sacrament of baptism we are initiated into Christ’s holy church.  We are incorporated into God’s mighty acts of salvation and given new birth through water and the Spirit.  All this is God’s gift, offered to us without price.

Remember your Baptism and be thankful…

The future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens.  (Rainer Maria Rilke)

Grace and Peace,

Shelli

[i] Caroline A. Westerhoff, Calling:  A Song for the Baptized, (Cambridge, MA:  Cowley Publications, 1994), xi.

We Are the World

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Matthew 2:1-12 (Epiphany A)

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” 3When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: 6‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’” 7Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”

9When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Happy Epiphany!  All the waiting is over.  The twelve days are behind us and we are set, ready to start our journey.  Are you packed?  I know, I don’t usually get around to posting beyond Advent and Lent, but I’m really, really, really going to try.  I’ll try to post once a week in line with the Lectionary passages and we’ll see what happens.  And then, for Lent…well, we’ll see what happens!

So, today is Epiphany.  Many of you probably read this passage for Epiphany Sunday this past Sunday.  But today is the day.  So, let’s read it again.  Because, now is the time.  What now?  What do we do after it all ends?  The truth is, “after” is when it begins, “after” is when it becomes real, and “after” is the whole reason we do this at all.

The text that we read is the one that our lectionary designates for every Epiphany Sunday, regardless of what Lectionary year it is.  It begins by setting us “in the time of King Herod”.  And in it, we find that the last question of Advent comes not at Christmas but afterward and is asked not by an individual but by a group.  They believe that the star (or, for some, an unusual conjunction of heavenly bodies that produces an especially bright light) marks the birth of a special child destined to be a king.  And they ask, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?

And so, Herod hears that a king had been born in Bethlehem.  Well, the formula is simple—a king is born, but a king is already here; and in Herod’s mind and the minds of all those who follow him, there is room for only one king.  The passage says that King Herod was frightened and all Jerusalem with him.  They probably were pretty fearful.  After all, there was a distinct possibility that their world was about to change.  It seemed that the birth of this humble child might have the ability to shake the very foundations of the earth and announce the fall of the mighty.  Things would never be the same again.  

So, Herod relies on these wisest ones in his court.  The writer of Matthew’s Gospel says that they’re from the East.  Some traditions hold that these wise ones were Magi, a Priestly caste of Persian origin that followed Zoroastrianism and practiced the interpretation of dreams and portents and astrology.  Other traditions depict them with different ethnicities as the birth of this Messiah begins to move into the whole world.  In fact, it was the early Western church that gave them names that depict this.  (No, these names are not in the Bible.)  But according to tradition, Melchior was a Persian scholar, Caspar was a learned man from India, and Balthazar, a scholar with a Babylonian name.  These three areas represented the known world at that point.  The Messiah had come to every nook and cranny of the world. 

But, regardless of who they were, somewhere along the way, they had heard of the birth of this king and came to the obvious place where he might be—in the royal household.  So, sensing a rival, Herod sends these “wise ones” to find the new king so that he could “pay homage” to him.  We of course know that this was deceitful.  His intent was not to pay homage at all, but to destroy Jesus and stop what was about to happen to his empire.  It was the only way that he could preserve what he had.

According to the passage, the wise men know that Christ was born; they needed God’s guidance, though, to find where Christ was.  When they get to the place where the star has stopped, the passage tells us that they were “overwhelmed with joy”.  They knelt down and paid the new king homage and offered him gifts fit for a king.  Even though later interpreters have often tried to place specific meanings on these gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, it is possible that the writer of the Gospel of Matthew simply thought that these gifts, exotic and expensive as they were, were gifts that would be worthy of a great and mighty king.  They were gifts of joy, gifts of gratitude, gifts of celebration. 

And then the passage tells us that, heeding a warning in a dream, these wise and learned (and probably powerful and wealthy) members of the court of Herod, left and returned to their own country, a long and difficult journey through the Middle Eastern desert.  But rather than returning to their comfortable lives and their secure and powerful places in the court of Herod, they left and went a different way.  They knew they had to go back to life.  But it didn’t have to be the same.

So they slip away.  Herod is furious.  He has been duped.  So he issues an order that all the children two years old and younger in and around Bethlehem should be killed.  The truth is that Jesus comes into the world as it actually is, not as we wish it to be.  Evil and greed are real and the ways of the world can and do crush life.

So, think about something.  This IS part of the Christmas story.  It is the final chapter that sets the stage for who this newborn King in the manger or the feed trough or whatever it was actually is for the world.  We know the story.  He was born to Mary and Joseph, the descendants of David.  He was born into a family that had always expected him, had always hoped for him, had always dreamed that one day, one day, the world would be a better place because he came to be. 

But, all too quickly, God moved.  God moved beyond this family, beyond these generations.  And the angel appeared to those shepherds, the untouchables, the ones with whom no one mingled because, frankly, they smelled bad.  They smelled like sheep.  I mean, who wants to smell like sheep?  (ACTUALLY, Pope Francis once said that a shepherd SHOULD smell like sheep if he or she is really a shepherd.)  But who wants to mingle with those in the bottom rung of society, those who everyone needs but who no one wants to be around?  But God was there.  And they came, these shepherds.  They responded to the call to come and see this thing that has happened.

First to the family.  Then to the ones in our community, whether or not we choose to accept them or love them.  And then God moved again.  God came to those Magi, those foreigners, the ones from the East.  They were not citizens.  They were interlopers.  They were visitors, maybe even immigrants, certainly not believers.  They were the ones that we typically would fear.  But they came.  And they changed.  They came and the world knew that this newborn King had come. 

Almost a century later, the writer of the Gospel According to John would write that “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16) Oh, you thought that was a new thought.  No, that was those shepherds.  That was those Magi.  That was us.  Because we are the world. 

So, what do we do with this?  We love.  We become the world.  We cut through all the imperialism happening right now, all the racism happening right now, all the fear-mongering being drummed up right now, and we just love.  Because, see, we are not individuals.  We are the world.  And when we see that, we also see that God comes.

Our God is the One who comes to us in a burning bush, in an angel’s song, in a newborn child.  Our God is the One who cannot be found locked in the church, not even in the sanctuary.  Our God will be where God will be with no constraints, no predictability.  Our God lives where our God lives, and destruction has no power and even death cannot stop the living.  Our God will be born where God will be born, but there is no place to look for the One who comes to us.  When God is ready God will come even to a godforsaken place like a stable in Bethlehem. Watch…for you know not when God comes.  Watch, that you might be found whenever, wherever God comes. (Ann Weems)

(Yes, amazingly, this was MORE THAN 40 YEARS AGO!)

Happy New Year and Blessed Epiphany!

Shelli

Become the Change

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John 1: 1-18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.

5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 14And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

15(John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) 16From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

The Light has come!  The Dawn is here! 

God created Light. 

And Light pushed the darkness into the shadows.

Light came and the world looked different, illuminated for the first time.

Light invited us to journey in a different way, to walk with Light.

But we wandered in the darkness, often mistaking shadows for Light.

The darkness sometimes made us afraid so we befriended darkness.

And then darkness taught us that we could see more clearly with Light.

So there, there in the darkness, we began to find Light.

Light began to flicker and shimmer over the waters and the earth and filled our space.

Light was like nothing we had ever known.

Light surrounded us and invited us into itself.

But we held back in the darkness, holding the Light at bay.

So, Light continued to shine into everything, even the dark and jagged corners of our world.

When we were lost, Light looked for us and we were found.

When we were grieving, Light held our hand.

When we were more comfortable in the darkness, Light waited patiently and beckoned us toward itself.

And when we could not find the Light, Light showed us our strength and our faith.

And then, undeterred, Light came, tiptoeing into our world, into even the darkness, without welcome or accolade.

And Light was laid aside.

So, quietly, oh so quietly, Light began to dance, filling the room, filling the world, filling us with Light.

Those who knew darkness suddenly knew Light.

Those who relied on shadows saw the way Light moves through them.

Light played.  Light danced. Light shimmered into the shadows of the world.

And Light invited us to join, to play, to dance, to shimmer.

And then we became part of the Light.

And even the darkness was filled with Light.

Light has dawned.  And Light asks us to dance—even in our darkness.  And we find that we are full of Light. 

The Light has come!  The Dawn is here! Go and be Light!  Merry Christmas! (SW 2021)

When the star in the sky is gone,

When the Kings and Princes are home,

When the shepherds are back with their flocks,

The Work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,

To heal the broken,

To feed the hungry,

To release the prisoner,

To teach the nations,

To bring Christ to all,

To make music in the heart. (Howard Thurman)

Thank you so much for joining me in this series! I know the world hasn’t dramatically changed while we’ve been reading and thinking and commenting. But I think it’s changed a little. Thank you! Keep waiting on the world to change…and working on it too!

All the Presents have been opened
I’ve been up since early dawn
Sharing calls with friends and family
Dear old Santa’s come and gone

As we gather around the table
Holding hands we bow our heads
I thank the Lord for all of you
And this is what I said

I pray for peace to shine on a world that’s torn apart
I pray for faith to comfort and heal on troubled heart
For hope to restore our spirits, when the hopeless lose their way
May His everlasting Love surround us
This is what I pray

As we celebrate thе season and all the love that wе embrace
I’ll make sure to count my blessings when I see my children’s face
When I think about this Christmas right before I fall asleep
There’s still one thing I’ve to do to make this day complete

I pray for peace to shine on a world that’s torn apart
I pray for faith to comfort and heal on troubled heart
For hope to restore our spirits, when the hopeless lose their way
May His everlasting Love surround us
This is what I pray

I pray for peace to shine on a world that’s torn apart
I pray for faith to comfort and heal on troubled heart
For hope to restore our spirits, when the hopeless lose their way
May His everlasting Love surround us
This is what I pray

May His everlasting Love surround us
This is what I pray

Merry Christmas!

Shelli

The Moment the Whole World Changed

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(part of the “Waiting on the World to Change” Advent Series)

Luke 2: 1-20

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3All went to their own towns to be registered. 4Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

8In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 14“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” 15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

It’s finally here, this night of nights.  The Light for which we’ve waited and journeyed toward peers into the darkness and the world is changed forever.  This is the moment when the world really did change.  We love this story.  Most of us could probably recite it from memory.  But the story may not be EXACTLY the way we think.  It’s not like there was someone with a video camera following them around that night.  Only two of the canonical Gospel writers even tell the story and they tell it very differently.  The non-canonical Gospel According to James tells it in more detail but the birth takes place in some sort of cave.  (But, in all honesty, where did you actually read about a stable?)  The same account also brings in a midwife, which, when you think about it, makes a whole lot of sense.  So, no, I’m not trying to tear down your much-beloved story.  The truth is, it’s not about the story; it’s about the birth.  It’s also about the Light.  It’s about the Light of God coming into the world, however that may have happened.

This is the story of Light.  It’s the Light that has always been there, the light that was created so long ago.  It’s the light that led people home over and over again.  But it was always a light that was hidden in a cloud or shrouded on a mountain or even set in the promise of a bow in the clouds.  In fact, there was belief that if you saw that Light, indeed, if you saw God face-to-face, you would die.  But this night, this story, tells of Light not shining onto the earth but coming into the earth, mingling with us and giving us life.  This is the night that our story becomes the story of Light.

The Bible is not about people trying to get to God or get to the Light; it’s about the story, the story of God.  And this part of it, this chapter that we read and relive tonight, this holy night is not the climax of the story; it is a new chapter, a new beginning.  19th century American author and pastor Henry Van Dyke once asked “And now that this story is told, what does it mean?  How can I tell?  What does life mean?”  And then he answered himself by saying, “If the meaning could be put into a single sentence, there would be no need of telling the story.”

This is the night of the story of God coming out of the darkness and out of the shadows and showing us what we could not see before.  The Light is beginning to dawn.  It’s not a new light.  But this time, the heavens themselves spilled into the earth so that the story would become ours.  This is the story of Light.  It’s also the story of us.  So, what comes next?  Go into the Light…and follow God to write your story.

And change?  HAS the whole world changed?  I mean, we’ve been waiting and hoping and trying to make this happen.  But the truth is, it did.  Think of it as a turn of a corner.  There was nothing wrong with the story before.  It’s how we got here.  It’s part of it.  It was our journey.  And now, we turn.  It changes.  That’s what stories do.  The truth is, the world HAS changed…over and over and over again.  We will change again, not when Jesus returns, but when we realize that we are the ones that are called to change the world.  THAT was God’s vision.  It’s happening, a little at a time, over and over again.  We are called to be the image of Christ, to be the change that the birth of Jesus brought to the world.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined. (Isaiah 9:2)

This text speaks of the birth of a child, not the revolutionary deed of a strong man, or the breath-taking discovery of a sage, or the pious deed of a saint.  It truly boggles the mind:  The birth of a child is to bring about the great transformation of all things, is to bring salvation and redemption to all of humanity.  As if to shame the most powerful human efforts and achievements, a child is placed in the center of world history.  A child born of humans, a son given by God.  This is the mystery of the redemption of the world; all that is past and all that is to come.  All who at the manger finally lay down all power and honor, all prestige, all vanity, all arrogance and self-will; all who take their place among the lowly and let God alone be high; all who see the glory of God in the lowliness of the child in the manger:  these are the ones who will truly celebrate Christmas. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

[Verse 1]
Every December, I stop to remember
The humble entrance of our King
An infant so precious
Makes men bow in reverence
I’m still in wonder when I think

[Chorus]
That in one night
The whole world changed
As the heavenly host proclaimed
Glory to God and peace on earth
In a manger our Savior lay
It was the moment the whole world changed

[Verse 2]
Sometimes I imagine
The way that it happenеd
When shepherds knеlt to worship Him
A love that was perfect
And no one deserved it
I’m still moved to tears when I think, oh, woah

[Chorus]
That in one night
The whole world changed
As the heavenly host proclaimed
Glory to God and peace on earth
In a manger our Savior lay
It was the moment the whole world changed

[Interlude]
Oh woah, oh, oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

[Bridge]
Jesus Christ, Emmanuel
Isn’t He so wonderful?
This is our moment to worship
Mighty God and Prince of Peace
Lord of Lords and King of Kings
This is our moment to worship

[Chorus]
Just like that night
The whole world changed
As the heavenly host proclaimed
Glory to God and peace on earth
In a manger our Savior lay
It was the moment the whole world changed

[Outro]
You changed everything, oh
Oh-oh-oh

Merry Christmas!

Shelli