Sermon for the First Sunday of Christmas, Year B, December 28, 2008

First Sunday of Christmas
Year B
December 28, 2008
Resurrection Lutheran Church
Isaiah 61:10—62:3 Psalm 148
Galatians 4:4-7 St. Luke 2:22-40



In the name of the triune God who created us, who loves us, who redeemed us, and who cares for us.

Today our focus is on children. To me they represent a sign of innocence, beauty, and the presence of God among us. Today is the first Sunday after Christmas and so we remember particularly the Incarnation. And we celebrate again new life with the Baptism of another beautiful child of God. Today we welcome another child into the family of our faith in a formal way. It is always an exciting time for me.

But before we talk about new life with all of its potential before it, I want to talk about death. The other end of the spectrum of our lives. In the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer we have what is for me a very profound prayer in the service for the Burial of the Dead.

It goes like this: “Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive him/her into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints of light. Amen.”

It is a prayer so powerful in its truth that is brings my emotions right to the surface. I can barely say the prayer at a funeral without tearing up. A sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock. It is an acknowledgement of our belonging to God.

A number of hears ago Joan Armstrong wrote a song entitled “What If God Was One Of Us”. Part of the lyrics went like this:

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home

If God had a face what would it look like?
And would you want to see
If seeing meant that
you would have to believe
in things like heaven and in Jesus and the saints
and all the prophets (*)
Just trying to make his way home
Like a holy rolling stone
Back up to heaven all alone
Just trying to make his way home
Nobody calling on the phone
'cept for the Pope maybe in Rome

The song really appealed to me. If God had a face what would it look like? It is a great reminder as we celebrate the birth of a savior in a barn and the baptism of a child. God calls us to see God in each and every one of us. But that can sometimes be very hard. To see God, particularly in people in whom we can’t see ourselves.

A few years ago there was a show on TV called “Joan of Arcada”. Every week God would appear to Joan in the form of a person and give her some task which needed to be done. The person who was God changed regularly and it was a very cute show. One episode though God appeared as a young teen in Goth. You know a teen that wears all black clothing, often with pale makeup on the skin and dark features. Most definitely not what I see when I look in a mirror. I found myself very shocked at this. I was rather upset that God would be portrayed in this manner.

It took me quite some time to deal with all my thoughts after my initial reaction. I knew my reaction was wrong, but it was there. I had to do a lot of soul searching. In the end, that young Goth became my favorite character to portray God. I had learned the importance of seeing God in everyone I meet. I still fail at times to do so, but I think that in my life I’m now a lot more sensitive to it.

It seems to me that for most of us Christians it is very easy to see God in infants and children and it is usually easy to see God in people at their death. We seem to have the beginning and ending of life figured out pretty good. Where we so often fail is in that large stretch in the middle when people live life, make choices, make mistakes and generally try to make it though.

It is as this point that we are most unsuccessful at seeing God in others. We seem to love people when they are born and when they die but often it is easy to hate them or perhaps ignore them in the middle.

If God had a face what would it look like?
And would you want to see
That is the questions we all must ask ourselves. You see God does have a face. God has many faces.

The First Sunday After Christmas Day, December 30, 2007

The First Sunday After Christmas Day

Year A

December 30, 2007

Isaiah 61:10—62:3 Psalm 147

Galatians 2:23-25; 4:4-7 St. John 1:1-18

The collect for today calls our minds and our hearts to focus on the concept of light. We prayed about the light of Jesus as the incarnate Word. We pray that this light will be enkindled in our hearts to shine forth in our lives.

Light can be quite a powerful thing. The light of the moon on a quiet clear winter night is amazing. In a clear and empty sky, you see the powerful light of the moon. The red light of the bright sun on the snow covered mountains as the sun gets ready to rise gives hope of the end of darkness. Light can be bright or dim, but no matter how dim, always illuminates the darkness. If you have ever watched the beginning of a “Survivor” season, you learn something about light and its power. As the contestants are abandoned without matches or other tools to start a fire, their lives become consumed with creating this light. That first moment when a spark is created is always powerful and exciting. People rush around, the barely burning ember is cared for and cherished until it breaks forth with the flame. They at last have that flame that will enlighten and warm their lives and provide a light in the darkness.

The Gospel of John is filled with contrasts. One of the powerful contrasts the author of John uses over and over again is the contrast of the light and the darkness. The author of John speaks of the light piercing the darkness. In the mystery of the incarnation, God become man, Emmanuel, God among us. Emmanuel is the source of light in a world filled with darkness. God came on earth to drive the darkness away.

For thirty-some years the light of God walked this earth. The light of God was present physically on earth. Then it was thought that the power of darkness overcame the light. It was feared that this light was extinguished in the crucifixion. Snuffed out, just like the candles on the altar. Burning brightly one moment and snuffed out in the next.

But the light of God cannot be snuffed out as simply as a candle. The light of God has power within itself. Light overcoming even the darkness of death is what Jesus is all about. In our celebration of the incarnation, the death of Jesus can never be far away. Jesus death on the cross seemed like the triumph for darkness. I think Jesus disciples thought that as well. And yet, while by the world’s standards it seemed that darkness won. It was for this very purpose that God had sent Jesus into the world. The seeming victory of darkness over light in the death of Jesus was an illusion. It was an illusion broken in the power of the resurrection.

You don’t have to look very far to find a lot of darkness remaining in this world of ours today. Famine, murder, war, and oppression rear their dark and ugly faces on a regular basis. We seem live in a world full of darkness. Sometimes in the safety and light of St. Peter’s it can be easy to forget this. All can seem so safe and secure here that it lulls us into a false sense of security. But we need to remember that the darkness is out there. God calls us to be the lights in our own world.

Who will be the source of light in the world around us today? Someone certainly needs to be. Someone needs to be willing. John shared a story with me this week about himself. I may get a few details off, but I think I have the gist of it.

One day when John was at work, a long time ago in a place far away, he was sitting in the break room. Someone was using the microwave oven and it or something in it caught fire. John remembers sitting there thinking that someone should put the fire out. John kept on wondering why someone would not get moving and put the fire out. It seemed unreasonable to John that no one would take care of this urgent need. Finally it dawned on John that he was someone! And he got up and put the fire out.

Someone needs to be the light in our world today. But we cannot just sit around and think to ourselves that someone else should be doing it. When we are wondering who it is God is calling to work in the world and bring light to the darkness, it is important that we recognize that we are the someone that God is calling. We are the ones God is calling to be a light in the world around us.

What kind of light are you in the world of darkness around us? Perhaps you are as bright as the shining sun. Or just perhaps you are that ember, feeling so small, feeling so very insignificant. But no light is insignificant. All light is possessed of the same power, the power to drive out the darkness. Just as Jesus walked this world as a light in places of darkness, so too we are called upon by God to walk this world as light in the darkness. We have the light of God in us which we need to let shine forth.

It may feel like just a tiny ember at times and at other times it may feel like the blazing of the sun. But no matter how weak or power, it is the light of God and it drives out the darkness around us.

God can and will use each and every one of us as God’s lights in the darkness. While we might feel that our light is small and insignificant, nothing is insignificant when put to God’s purposes. So let your light shine bright in the world around you.

Sermon for Christmas Eve, December 24, 2006

Sermon for Christmas Eve, December 24, 2006

Peace on earth, good will to all. That is the message of Christmas and as we celebrate the birth of a baby who would become the savior of the world, I wanted to reflect on a Christmas Carol.

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Peace on earth, good will to men. That is the message of Christmas. Some of you may recognize the words of this Christmas Carol even though it is absent from our Hymnal. It was written by a man during the holidays several years after the tragic death of his wife. He was still dealing with his feelings of loss and wrote these words to try and help himself heal during the holidays. It was his attempt to try and recover the feelings of the holidays he was so used to experiencing with his wife.

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I can almost feel in my own being that the writer has truly begun to capture the spirit of the Christmas message. The message of peace and good will is a difficult one to reject. You feel this spirit building in each stanza. There can be no doubt that God has done an amazing miracle in the incarnation and that God continues to do amazing things in the world around us. Who would have expected peace on earth and good will to all from a child in a manger.

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn, the households born
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

These two stanzas may be unfamiliar. They are not found in most songbooks. They are a reference to the Civil War. The author wrote this carol during that conflict but because these two verses clearly don’t play well with the Christmas message they are usually left out. However I think it important that we face them. Then as now we are faced with the terrible reality that humanity has a way with ruining that which God created. We are willing to attack and kill those made in the very image of the creator. It is hard to share the message of peace on earth, good will to all in the face of this reality. How easy it is for the sound of battle, strife, and hate to drown out the message of the Christ child. Christians of good heart and intention are working all over in the world to try and alleviate suffering, starvation and death. And yet what do we hear on the new. Only the sounds of battle. The work of God in the world is drowned out. The next stanza (which is familiar to us and perhaps even better understood in the context of the preceding verses) is:

And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

These are strong and powerful sentiments. As Christians they are probably feelings we all can share. When we look out on the world and see so much hatred amongst people and so much apathy to the plight of the poor and the oppressed how can we feel any way other than that the message of peace on earth, good will to all is mocked by the world today. I say an item in the news tonight about a “Christian” game called “Left Behind”. In the game, you can get points for killing those who do not come to faith. What sort of message is that to send, The world is in bad enough shape without the image of Christians gaining points for killing people.

But our song ends in triumph and not defeat:

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

The message of Christmas is that God is not dead. The same Jesus who appeared in the manger as a child, who lived his life on earth and finally laid his life down on the cross is not dead. God is alive and well in the world today. We know that in the end wrong shall indeed fail and right will prevail and the message of peace on earth, good will to all will come true.

God calls on each and every one of us to do our part. God calls on us to work for the kingdom today. No matter how bleak the future looks, no matter how impossible the task seems, God calls for us to speak out, to take our place in the world today working to make this world a world where the message of peace on earth, good will to all can seem like a possibility.

As we celebrate the birth of a savior in a lowly manger and as we look forward to the new year to come, let us not give up hope. When people ask me why God allows this or that evil in the world today, my response is why do we? What evil in the world can you work on making right. Go out and do you part to bring peace on earth and good will to all.