The first time I tried that greeting on someone, I was quickly reminded that not everyone celebrates Christmas. And of the ones that do, many don't celebrate it as the birthday of Jesus.
So, to save face, I quickly adapted Dale's idea to simply say, “Happy Birthday!” After all, birthdays are something everyone celebrates (albeit some more quietly than others). One of my favorite quotes states, “We are all meant to be mothers of God for God is always needing to be born.” Having said this, Meister Eckhart went on to argued what good is Christ’s birth if it doesn’t take place within me? The same is true about grace, mercy, or love. In the age of chaos in which we find ourselves in today, it’s easy to forget that each day we awake is a new day to celebrate life. And that we'd do better to do so with great purpose. And what greater purpose do we have in life than to love one another. It doesn’t matter your age, whether real or made up, each day is a chance to celebrate anew the life God has given us. Each day is an opportunity to welcome one another, care of each other, to embrace and celebrate every life as if we are embracing and celebrating God. Years ago, I met a man from the Lakota tribe who began every morning with this prayer: "Great Spirit, thank you for my first breath today, and for entrusting me that each breath I take after is mine to do good in the world." Today might not come with cake and candles, but it does offer something just as delicious and bright – a chance to participate in the love and glory of the Divine. And we do that in the many ways we love one another. You may or may not share my faith or belief in my God, the One Creator of all life, but you can't deny that you have been given life - a chance to create something amazing. And so I hope that you will go and celebrate your birthday today in a way that makes love grow by doing good in the world.
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How many times a day do you make a decision based on a recommendation?
Your mom recommends you take a sweater in case it gets cold. A friend recommends a movie to watch or a show to binge. Your spouse recommends you cook your own supper if you don’t like what’s on the plate in front of you. It doesn’t have to be someone you know either. What made Amazon so great were the reviews posted by strangers who were able to talk about the product in real ways that advertising couldn’t. My kids make fun of me because I’m always writing reviews on Yelp. I love recommending restaurants and dishes I think others will enjoy. No matter how beautiful I craft a review, word of mouth is still the best way to get a person to try something. Combine that with an invitation to come and experience it firsthand…well then…you get today’s gospel reading. (Read all of John 1:43-51 here) The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” - John 1:43-51 -
Fresh from the baptismal waters, Jesus begins to gather his disciples. Unlike other rabbis, Jesus doesn’t pick from the best and brightest from the rabbinical schools, nor does he choose those who come highly recommended. Instead, he goes after ordinary people with unexceptional talents.
First comes Andrew, who was a student of John the Baptist. But when he learns who Jesus is, he tells his brother Simon, and the two decide to follow Jesus. After them is Philip, who, without witnessing any miracles or hearing any holy proclamations, runs and tells his buddy Nathaniel, “We’ve found the one Moses and the Prophets talked about.” This gets his friend’s attention. When Philip reveals the Messiah is from Nazareth, Nathaniel scoffs, “Are you kidding me? Nothing good has come from that place.” No matter how good the recommendation is, or who it comes from, we all come with our own biases and prejudices. I can write a stellar review about the teriyaki steak at the local Japanese restaurant, but it’s probably not going to convince a vegan to try it. We all have our preconceived notions that make us push back. This is true about individuals, communities, and even institutions like the church. But don’t take my word for it. Just start a conversation about religion or politics and see how people respond. I don’t think of myself as a bias person, but I’ve been guilty of dismissing someone’s opinion based on who they voted for? Today Nathaniel might say, “Can anything good come from Mississippi?” And Philip pointing to Elvis Presley responds, “Come and see.” The problem with having preconceived notions, outside of the fact that they show our ignorance, is that they cut us off from the gospel. Nathaniel’s first instinct is to reject Jesus because of some bias he held. Then again, most of Israel will reject who Jesus for the very same reason. They couldn’t fathom their Messiah and his apostles would come from some backwoods place like Galilee. Many in his own hometown will reject Jesus because he was the son of carpenter not the prince of a king. Nathaniel struggles to understand what Philip is revealing to him because he has some preconceived idea about people from Nazareth, just as many of us have about people who live in Red States or Blue States. Ironically, Nathaniel is from Cana, an equally unimpressive village. Nazareth was probably more popular because it was at the crossroad between Jerusalem and Lebanon. People had to pass through it to get to the Mediterranean Sea. No one ever passed through Cana. It was a side trip at best. (MacArthur) So perhaps Nazareth, being a more popular town, got the brunt of everyone’s prejudice whether deserving or not. There’s a good chance Nathaniel was just echoing the general contempt like people from Fresno often have about us in L.A. This passage makes me wonder how our own prejudices stop us from seeing Christ in our midst. How do they keep us from actually living out the gospel? Or serving the will of God? Tomorrow we will honor the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. who served the Lord, by exposing our bigotry and prejudices. He said, “One day we will learn that the heart can never be totally right when the head is totally wrong.” Fortunately, the prejudices Nathaniel had in his head, weren’t strong enough to stop him from following his heart. He takes Philip’s recommendation and goes and sees for himself. When Jesus sees the pair walking toward him (knowing what was said about his hometown) he welcomes the soon to be disciple by saying, “Now here’s a real Israelite, not a false bone in his body.” Notice it was Jesus who first saw Nathaniel, and it was Jesus who first recognized who he was, a beloved child of God. Our Lord looked at Nathaniel’s heart and put his belovedness above any preconceived notions that had been passed down through generations. What if we saw and welcomed people that way? What would it be like, if we removed the biases and opinions that blind us and keep us from seeing people the way Jesus sees us? Jesus’ action of making love the bar by which we welcome people not only change Nathaniel’s opinion of Jesus, but it also transforms his life from that day forward. That is the power of the gospel. That is the power of love. Jesus who looked at Nathaniel’s heart for who he truly is, a beloved child of God. By this simple action, Nathaniel, like his companions with him, instantly saw Jesus as the Christ, God’s unbiased, unprejudiced heart who comes from the most unlikely of places to surprise us with unconditional love. Dr. King understood the power of Divine love. He knew when we have Christ in our heart, we can love everyone without an obstinate belief that puts up a wall or pushes others away. We can welcome those who are different than us, without clinging to some the notion we’re better than they are because of our wealth, social status, or military strength. With Christ in our heart, we can help others without prejudice or obstacles and hoops to jump through. We can truly and faithfully love God, love others, and serve both without causing harm to anyone. Dr. King knew like Jesus did that, “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” When he spoke these words, there was intense racial tension tearing apart the very soul of America. Much of like what is happening today. Friends and family were fighting each other…and innocent people were being harmed and killed because of bigotry and prejudice. King knew the only way forward, the only way to our country’s healing and salvation would be though love. And not just any love, but the self-giving, unbiased love of God. Jesus gave us this command, “That you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends” (John 15:12-13). Jesus reminds us that love is the key to unlocking the space between human behavior and the will of God. Love is the way of peace; the way of justice and equality. In love, there is no room for biases, bigotry, or prejudices. “Love is the greatest force in the universe," said Dr. King. "It is the heartbeat of the moral cosmos. He who loves is a participant in the being of God." Therefore, love is not a recommendation, it’s an integration. It’s about making Divine love a part of your life so that people can come and meet you and me, they see Jesus in the flesh. It doesn’t matter where you are from, how you were raised, what color your skin is God looks at the heart and blesses it, so we can go and be a blessing of love for all. But don’t take my recommendation, come and see for yourself - in scripture and prayer - that you are a beloved child of God. From love you were made, and for love you are sent into the heart of Anamesa - to illuminate the light of Christ. To quote Martin Luther King one more times, “Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.” Work Cited Bartlett, David L., Barbara Brown Taylor. Feasting on the Word, Year B vol. 1. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008). MacArthur, John. Twelve Ordinary Men. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2002). Marsh, Michael. interruptingthesilence.com. Jan 16, 2012. (accessed Jan 13, 2018).
While this is both a baptismal and epiphany story, Susan Butterworth believes it’s also a Christmas story of sorts.
She argues “this moment by the Jordan River, when Jesus is called to ministry, his divinity affirmed by the Holy Spirit and God the Father, is Mark’s birth narrative. For Mark, Jesus’ baptism by the Holy Spirit, this proof of his divine nature, is the moment of birth.” Sure it’s not the nativity we honor at Christmas, but it is a birth story nonetheless when we consider what Jesus stated rather matter of factly to Nicodemus in John’s gospel. He said, “No one can see the kingdom of God without being “born of water and spirit” (cf. John 3:1-10). This is where the church got the idea that baptism has an eternal culmination in heaven, which of course, raises all sorts of questions. Most notably, “Why would the beloved Son of God need to be baptized?” Doesn’t his divine nature already come with eternal privileges? If we take the more traditional stance that baptism is for the repentance of sin, then what does that assume about Jesus? Did he need to repent for something? And if we take the more universal approach that states we are all loved by God, and if salvation is freely given to both the washed and unwashed, then why get baptized? Is it really a golden ticket that takes you to the front of the line into heaven? According to my faith tradition, “Baptism is an outward sign of an inward promise.” It’s kind of like getting yourself notarized - only the signature and stamp is our promise we make to God with our hearts. Does God need us to be baptized? I don’t know if God needs it. But we do. We need baptism because some of us are carrying the heavy burden of guilt and shame, and need to hear that the stain of sin has been washed away. Some of us live with so much fear and need to have that assurance that at the end we’ll see God in heaven. Some of us need to be anointed with water and oil, to have that physical mark on our life as a reminder to our commitment to faithfully follow Jesus. I don’t know if the baptismal font is some magical realm. But I know it has transformative power. I believe we all need baptism, if only because we all need to hear God call us beloved. If you’re going to move forward in life in God’s good pleasure, then it might be a good idea to have your heart sealed by the same divine Spirit that Jesus had. Baptism identifies us. It seals us. But more importantly, it sends us out into the world to live a new life one which mirrors the divine life of Jesus Christ. Soaked with living water, Jesus learns his true identity and his true purpose. And so does the world. He is God’s beloved Son, in whom God is well pleased. By definition, the word ‘beloved’ means dearly loved or dear to someone’s heart. So the way I see it, Jesus is the joy of God’s heart! If you heard you are the joy of God’s heart, how might that change the way you approach the daily struggles of life? How might knowing you hold space in God’s unconditional love transform the way you love yourself? Or welcome a new co-worker at your office? Or deal with a difficult roommate? Henri Nouwen wrote, “Jesus truly heard that voice, and all of his thoughts, words, and actions came forth from his deep knowledge that he was infinitely loved by God.” Everything Jesus did from his baptism onward began “from that inner place of love.” Despite the rejection, jealousy, and hatred that he constantly he faced, Jesus “remained anchored in the love of God.” With his new identity, Jesus moved from the wilderness into the very heart of Anamesa. In this space he healed the sick, raised the dead, fed the hungry, forgave the unforgivable and loved the unlovable. His baptism not only changed who he was, but it would go on to forever change the world. If, by our own baptism, we become beloved children of God then we too are also called to be the joy of God heart - to live out our Christlikeness by living into our belovedness. If baptism reveals our true identity, then our job is to live baptismally in all the ways we love God, love others, and serve both. Jesus made it clear that his ministry didn’t end with him. He commissioned and sent his followers to go into Anamesa proclaiming the good news, making disciples and baptizing all (Matthew 20:19-20). Which tells me the task of all who have been baptized in his name is to let the world know that they too are beloved children of God, called to love one another as God first loved us. The way Jesus lived his baptismal life set the bar by which we are all called to live. Standing “from that inner place of love,” Jesus embraced God’s desire for the world. One that opposed violence with peace, bigotry with acceptance, and hatred with love. When we stand in “that inner place of love,” we can turn the other cheek and set aside our personal needs to put others first. We can live a different kind of life that is set apart from the world even while we are very much a part of it. To paraphrase Henri Nouwen, “Once we accept the truth that we are God’s beloved children, loved unconditionally, then we can go into the world to speak and to act as Jesus did.” In other words, we can be who God created us to be – God’s Beloved. We all must ask ourselves, if I am God’s beloved, then am I living in a way that pleases God? Am I walking as Jesus walked? Loving as he loved? Am I caring for the least of these my brothers and sisters to the best of my ability? Because here’s the thing, if you’ve been baptized, either as a baby or an adult, you can no longer simply live as ordinary people in the world. Instead, you are called to a new life, to live as Jesus lived, both human and divine, striving for justice and peace among all people; and serving the Christ in everyone you meet. I don’t know if baptism gets you into heaven, but I believe when we live out our baptismal promise we brings heaven to earth. It's here, in this sacred space, we find ourselves in a covenantal relationship with God and one another. And so I will you with this, a baptized life is not a live it once-a-week kind of life or a part-time job. Nor is it an insurance plan or a guarantee first class ticket to heaven. It is a vocation, a way of life, meant to be lived out with every fiber of our being. Jesus has called us to follow him into space of life to fill it with the glory of God’s steadfast love. If you don’t want to follow him, if you don’t want to do what he has called each one of us to do, then what good is your baptism? God doesn’t need you to be spotless and sin-free. God just needs you, as you are, to show up to be and bring the joy of God’s heart to a hurting world. And there is no better place to start then at the water’s edge, with the Spirit of God upon you blessing you with this divine truth, “You are my Beloved child in whom I am well pleased.” Work Cited Adapted from You Are My Beloved on January 10, 2021. Bartlett, David L and Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word, Year B. Vol. 1 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008). Bates, J. Barrington. Christ’s Own Forever. January 7, 2018 (accessed no January 3, 2024). Jolly, Marshall A. Beginnings. January 4, 2021 (accessed no January 3, 2024). Nouwen, Henri. You Are the Beloved. (New York: Convergent, 2017).
When I’m with my wife’s family I get a kick out of watching the pecking order at work. Whether you are from a healthy family or a broken family we all have our social position (or birth order) in the family that defines who we are.
For example, my wife is number 5 of 9 kids. She is often seen as the fulcrum that balances the family dynamic. If you are a middle child, then I image you have some things in common with her and our middle daughter. I cannot speak to that, because I am the last of 4, the baby of the family. If you are like me, or Rev. Dawn, your siblings probably see you as the spoiled one who gets away with everything. That might not be totally accurate portrait. But I do think the last-born are our parent’s favorite because we’re their last chance of getting it right. Hierarchical patterns are found throughout our society. They always have been. Most corporations, governments and religious communities are set up in a way where each person has their own particular place of power and prestige. Despite the fact our constitution states, “All men are created equal,” our country’s story would suggest otherwise. The good news is no matter where you are born, in whatever order, or to whom your birthright belongs,…we really are all created equal in the eyes of God. Through Christ, God has blessed each one of us the same, even if our lives are radically different. Read Galatians 4:4-7 below But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir through God. Galatians 4:4-7
On Christmas Eve, I asked how many nativity stories were in the gospels? If you were watching, you might recall I got many different answers. Rev. Dawn was correct to say there was only one birth story, which we read from Luke.
But I would argue there are two when we count the Magi visiting baby Jesus in Matthew’s gospel. John also gives us an esoteric account of Jesus’ birth. And if you want to know more about that you can read my Christmas Eve blog post, Between Light and Dark, from 2022. Given our reading today, you can see that Paul also includes his own, albeit brief, story of Jesus’ birth, in his letter to the churches in Galatia. It is part of a larger argument that he’s making, comparing people who follow Jesus with orphans who are under the care of a conservatorship until they reach a particular age to inherit their father’s property. Paul isn’t talking about material wealth, but spiritual wealth that comes with sharing faith with Jesus. He wrote, “God sent his Son, born of a woman, to redeem us and adopt us as his own children. As a child of God, you’re also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance.” Some children inherit great financial wealth; others receive great debt. One might get their mother’s eyes, while the other inherits his grandfather’ high forehead. This is not the inheritance that Paul is talking about. He knows we’re all different and yet all the same. So, he points our attention towards our divine DNA. Scripture is pretty clear that we are all created in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27). I take this to mean we are all born blessed by God. That blessing, which ties us all together is Christ, who didn’t just come to redeem the world, or to save us from something we did. Christ is not God’s clean-up plan, but God’s original plan for us. Christ is the way God created the world, including us. Paul says it like this, “In Christ all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible…all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:16-17). No matter who our earthly ties are, we all belong to God because we all have Christ within us. The same DNA that is in the baby born in Bethlehem, is the same that has been given to you and me. Through this little baby, wrapped in swaddling cloth, every person in the world receives an equal portion of the same gifts and grace; the same love and forgiveness; the same salvation and redemption. Through him we share not only a name, but a heart; one love, and one forgiveness of all we’ve done wrong. This DNA makes us part of a process much greater than our parents creating a biological exchange. No wonder the church calls this the Good News. It might be hard to believe that little old you could be that special or important to God, let alone be made in the image of God. But you are. To think that Jesus chose to leave all his heavenly glory, emptying himself and taking on human flesh just to return us to our original state, our Divine goodness. His entire mission was to awaken us to our truth and reconnect humanity back to God. As John the evangelist professed in the prologue of his birth story, “And the Word of God 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.” Jesus took on our flesh and all the scars and awkwardness and pain that comes with it, to live among us so we would know the way. He showed us God’s glory so we could see who we are in God’s family. More than that, Jesus didn’t just become human for a minute or an hour or a day and then go right back to heaven. He lived among us for thirty-three years, enduring the messiness, the heartbreak, the inconvenience, the joy, and the pain of human life. Jesus entered our pain willingly because he needed to go to the darkest depths of human suffering to make sure everyone sees themselves in God’s incarnate glory, full of grace and truth. In that glory we experience God’s love for us whether we deserve it or not. Jesus continues to come to us into Anamesa, to meet us in those places we all find our self, some of us more than once. Rich or poor, black, brown, or white, male or female...the darkness of life does not discriminate. And neither does God’s Love that shines brightly through Christ, and through us. Because God made the choice to share God’s self with us in human form, we have not only seen God in Jesus Christ. Through him we have received new status and become a new family. A family built upon the foundation of God’s eternal love. As members of this family, we can claim the truth that we are loved unconditionally. “Nothing,” says Paul, “can separate us from the love that God gives through Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:38-39). Nothing - not death, divorce, or differences of opinions that cause us to turn on one another. God’s love is for anyone who wants it. So too is God’s family ready to welcome any and all who want to be adopted. As we linger in the Christmas spirit, and begin our journey unlocking the space between us, may we never lose sight of the truth that Jesus not only came to love on us but to teach us and send us out into Anamesa to love one another. DNA testing might tell you of some impending health issue, or help you better understand why you have brown eyes while everyone in your clan has blue eyes. But we don’t need to mail in our saliva to know who we belong to and from where we came. A true test, then, of our DNA is seen in the way we seek out God in the heart of every human being. As children in this divine family, we are all created equal, and we are all loved equally. We need not only to recognize this in our own life (with its faults and failures) but also in the follies and foibles of others. As Jesus showed us with his own life, the love God pours into us is the same love that must flow out of us into every wonderful or difficult space we find ourselves in. When we can see the Divine DNA in others, we can give freely and fearlessly of ourselves to others. When we recognize and realize that the blood of Christ is mixed with the blood of everyone around us, then we can share the gift by loving God, loving others, and serving both. As we move forward into a new year, let us not look back from which we came, but look ahead, to see the person right there in front of us for who they really are - brothers and sisters in God’s divine family tree. Work Cited: adapted fromOur Divine DNA from December 31, 2017. Rice, Whitney. In the Beginning. www.episcopaldigitalnetwork.com (12-30-17).
Tonight, at Anamesa, we continue the long-standing Christmas tradition of the lighting the Advent candles. The first candle is hope. The second is peace. The third is joy. And the forth is love. The last and final we candle is the Christ candle.
As we light it, we do so marking the of our season of watching and waiting. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. This is the light of the world, and the darkness cannot extinguish it. Light the Christ candle: As twilight veils the land, we gather in the ancient rhythm of Advent to ignite the light of Christ within us. Bound in this Advent wreath, hope’s ember, love’s warmth, joy’s melody, and peace’s stillness intertwine in flesh and spirit. In this light we are drawn closer to God through Christ Jesus who said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” As we gaze upon this light, his light, we are reminded that our Lord came to us as a lowly baby, that the world through him might be saved, and will join with him one day in glory. Our reading tonight comes from Luke 2:1-20 ...While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And 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 in the guest room. Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”... Luke 2:1-20
Like I mentioned early, we all have certain Christmas traditions that we embrace. For the first time in years, we broke tradition and went to see my parents before Christmas instead of after.
Likewise, my mom, who decorates her house as if she’s trying to woo Santa for a date, also broke from tradition. This year, she only has a dozen or so Christmas trees up. And roughly 40 nativity sets on display. That says a lot…because my mother has way too many of both. But I love her collection of nativities. They are from all over the world. They’re made from different materials and feature different styles and designs - from classic porcelain to abstract metal. Each one is completely different. Yet, the tell the same story about the same mother, the same father, and the same baby. In comparison to my mom, we’re not as prolific in our home. We only have seven nativity sets. One given to us for a wedding present. One that came from Peru. And another from Costa Rica. We also have two wooden ones my mom got the kids when they were little. In fact, the only one we bought is the one Kathleen picked up while waiting in line at CVS. Each one is different, but each tell the same story. If we look at any one of our nativity sets, you can see there are a lot of assumptions we added into the Christmas story that aren’t a part of the gospel story. For example, we assume there were three wise men, even though we’re not told how many actually came. Judging by the animals that came with our sets, one could assume the camels and donkeys are there because a very pregnant Mary rode one to Bethlehem, despite the fact neither are mentioned. In fact, one of our nativity sets included a lion which tells me someone assumed it would be good for the story to include a dangerous predator. We can assume there were sheep hanging around because Luke tells us some shepherds stop by to pay their respects. And where did the sheep go since there’s no mention of a barn or stable; only that there was no room in the inn for this holy family. This is not to say all assumptions are wrong. We can assume Joseph wasn’t happy being forced by a foreign king to take his unwed, pregnant girlfriend home to meet the family. We can assume Mary wasn’t too happy about leaving her family this far along in her pregnancy. We can assume that when it was time to have the baby, God was merciful to her, caring for her pain and making sure she didn’t lose a lot of blood in the process. After all, she was carrying God into the world. If we didn’t assume anything and only had the facts Luke gives us, then what would we have? A mother, a father, and their newborn baby wrapped in strips of cloth, sleeping in a manger. Many people have assumed a lot about this baby. But in that moment, in that space and time, the only thing the world knew about Jesus was what the angels of heaven proclaimed. In this child, God surprised the world - bring good news of great joy for all the people. And what a surprise it was. But then again, God is full of surprises. Bringing life into barren places. Using ordinary nobodies to fulfill divine plans. Coming to be with us, as one of us. More surprising than the incarnation is the fact that God trusted us, ordinary human beings, to care for him in his most vulnerable state. I think most of us here assume humans are not capable of caring for God. Yet someone had nurse him, wash him after he soiled himself, and soothed his aches and pains as he teethed. Just as God did for Mary, God still surprises us today in all the ways the divine enters into our lives to reveal God’s self to us; and to empower us to accomplish what we’ve been tasked to do. You see the incarnation was not a one-time event. It’s something that happens every day. To borrow from Meister Eckhart, we are all called to give birth to God every day, “for God is always needing to be born.” These advent lights are our reminder of our calling – with our hope, peace, joy, love all mingled together with Christ – to shine the light of God’s glory upon all the earth. As Saint Teresa of Avila so famously stated, “Christ has no body but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world.” One does not have to look far to assume the world needs the light of Christ now more than ever. Throughout advent we have looked to answer the question “How does a weary world rejoice?” For me, the answer is simple. We can rejoice because Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. We can rejoice because God is for us, bring us hope where there is only hopelessness. We can rejoice because God is in us, and wherever God is so too is God’s perfect peace. We can rejoice because God is with us, constantly replenishing the joy that the world robs from us. No matter how weary or run down we feel, we can rejoice because God is meeting us as one of us, loving us unconditionally in the messiness of life. God doesn’t assume we won’t stumble or mess up. Instead, God constantly surprises us with grace upon grace, illuminating the way for us to walk in the divine light of Christ. The problem with making assumptions is we assume other people are doing the work of the church, that you’re not needed to bring good news to the world. Nothing could be further from the truth. God needs you. Christ calls you. And the Holy Spirit empowers you to bring good news of great joy to the world. Tomorrow most of us will wake and be surprised with gifts and presents. And as you look at all the boxes wrapped in colorful paper and bows, think about how you are called by God to be a surprise for someone after the tree and decorations are put away? It doesn’t take a heavenly host of angels to deliver the good news of God’s love and mercy to the world. A smile or a kind word can bring hope to someone feeling hopeless. A willing ear can bring peace to a restless soul. Just the same, a gentle touch can kindle joy. A forgiving heart can spark love. As one little baby showed us, as those humble shepherds would discover, the smallest of gifts can have the greatest impact in God’s kingdom. And so I would encourage you to follow God’s lead and surprise the world bringing the gift of God’s light and love to all the world...the faithful and faithless alike. Your presence is the only present God needs to make heaven and earth one. May God bless you. May the Holy Spirit lead you. And may Christ shine through you, everywhere you go. Work Cited Bartlett, David L. and Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word, Year B. Vol 1. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008). There might be others, but it was a very busy period and I forgot to write out my citations. Thank you to anyone who inspired me or whom I may have borrowed from for this message. Please accept my gratitude and forgive me of my ignorance and lack of professionalism.
Of course, as we see from this psalm, this isn’t the Hebrew’s first trip to the rodeo either. While I can’t speak to what they witnessed firsthand, scripture is filled with stories of their ancestors constantly being blown away by God’s glory. The most famous happening as they wandered in the wilderness, for 40 years after their exodus from Egypt.
And now, once again, a large group of God’s people have found themselves wondering in a state of flux. After being exiled for 70 long years, they're finally allowed to go home only to find there is no home to go too. Their city and beloved temple were in ruins. The shops, houses, and infrastructure had been completely demolished. Everything was gone. Everything but God. Despite all that they had endured and the challenges they face to rebuild Jerusalem, these refugees were able to rejoice, if for no other reason but by their faith in God’s faithfulness. They knew what God had done for them in the past. And they knew God would do the same for them in the present…and all they could do was laugh. Their hearts were so in awe of God’s faithful love that the psalmist said their sorrow literally poured out of them as pure delight. Yes, they cried as they looked at their city in ruins. But they laughed because they knew this was not the end of the story. God is always up to something. Always moving heaven to earth and earth towards heaven. What this tells me is that we are never without an excuse to rejoice and be filled with laughter because whatever mountainous pile of rubble we find ourselves stuck on, we know God is there with us… moving, transforming, restoring. Just as God is busy in our lives, we too are needed to be here in this present space because there’s still work to be done. Now, the second half is this psalm makes it really clear that this isn’t a trip down memory lane. It’s not a call to return to the good old days… but a reminder that better days are about to come. Although their faith is in the past, the exiles stand in the present with their eye on the future. With tears mixed with sadness and joy, they shout, “Do it again, God. Bring rains to our dried-up lives so as we plant our crops in despair, we will be able to rejoice at the harvest.” Like Talithia Arnold notes, “Their seeds of joy were planted in sadness and watered with tears.” And this is where God meets them, taking their deepest and darkest despair and bringing new life. Their city and the Temple would rise like a phoenix from the ashes. And God’s glory shined so bright upon them that the world is taken by surprise. And God’s people became the talk of all the nations. In that space between our suffering and joy, God is hard at work; loving us and making all things new again. While this psalm might seem more fitting for spring or autumn, it is given to us in the darkest part of advent to remind us that in Christ, God is with us. God has not abandon us or left us to suffer alone in our pain. Instead, God hears our cries and comes to us in the flesh, to make us whole and new again. We can rejoice in our weariness because we know that when the world kicks the joy out of us God will kick it back in. God’s love can never be defeated. It always wins. Next week is a special Advent in that it falls on Christmas eve. And so we will not only light the candle of love, but we also light the Christ candle as a reminder of what God’s love can ultimately do. Bring hope when life seems hopeless. Bring peace when life is chaotic and restless. Bring joy into those spaces of our lives that have been joyless. In Christ, God’s steadfast love has redeemed our past and secured our future. But what we do with that love now, is up to us. As we spend the season of advent waiting for Christ, we are called to wait actively in all the ways we love God, love others, and serve both. We do this by being fully present in Anamesa, living our faith in God’s faithfulness; shining Christ’s light in all the ways we can bring hope, peace, joy, and love to someone who has none. As we wait, we participate in heaven here on earth, knowing what God has done, is doing and will do. God is up to something and has invited us to be a part of the surprise. Let us go out into the world, preparing our hearts and home for his wondrous birth, knowing whatever seeds we sow in Christ’s name will reap a harvest of God’s joy. WORK CITED Bartlett, David L. and Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting On The Word, Year B Vol. 1 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008).
As we wait for Advent to ends so Christmas can begin…we wait with hopeful expectation and peace knowing and believing God became incarnate in the baby Jesus, whose name in Hebrew means “Salvation.”
Although we are weary and worn down, we can rejoice because God’s salvation is with us and in us. We can rejoice because God has heard our cries and has come to us. We can rejoice because God gets us, and still loves us in spite of ourselves. And so, it is here in God’s house, true peace does not allude us. But instead embraces us, heals us, and fills us. No matter who you are or where you are, God is there for you. So come as you are and let us worship our loving God together. For most of the week, I had this earworm stuck in my head. Perhaps this has happened to you; a particular line in a song just keeps looping over and over again. I recently learned you can trick your mind to forget the loop by counting backwards from 100. I’ve also learned that earworms are not always accidental. Sometimes God’s uses them to get our attention.
Advent is a time we wait for the birth of Prince of Peace, in a world that worn down by war and violence. Families and communities are divided over ridiculous things. The lack of unity and harmony in government has stalled progress. The stress of all this is not very good for our physical, mental, or spiritual well-being.
We wait for Christ to come because we need peace more than ever. But we need more than just a veneer of calm and tranquility, or the absence of war and strife. We need the kind of peace portrayed in this psalm. A peace that comes not from humans but from heaven. This passage uses the Hebrew word, shalom, which it’s often translated as peace. But in actuality the word is better understood as “wholeness” and “completion.” It often signifies connectedness, righteousness, and justice to name a few. Which is why when we see the word Shalom in scripture, it’s always connected to God. Therefore, to possess God’s shalom or be in the presence of it, is to be made whole or complete with the very essence of God. Over time, shalom has become a way of blessing someone you meet or send off. But according to this psalm, it’s more than a blessing or a balm to soothe our spirit. In fact, God’s shalom is our salvation. It is the very thing that redeems and restores back to God’s steadfast love. If you were brought up like me, you might have been taught a different version of salvation. One that requires payment to God because of our sinful nature. And in some Christian circles the only way we can receive it is by believing the right things. If your belief is wrong, well then be very afraid. While there passages in the bible that describe Jesus as the atoning sacrifice for our sins, this psalm tells us that God’s forgiveness predates Jesus’ work on the cross by a few hundred years. It begins with the declaration that God has already forgiven our past transgressions. Moreover, it describes salvation, not as a blood sacrifice, but as God’s glory taking up residency in the world. The vision we’re given is not hellfire-and-brimstone, but the glorious indwelling of God’s love, faithfulness, peace, and righteousness upon the earth. This tells me God came not to “save us” from our sin but to bring salvation to “make us” whole and complete; to give us shalom so we have no need to ever sin again. Better still, we don’t get this kind of peace as a reward for reciting the right doctrine or creed, God gives this as a loving gift to anyone and everyone who turn their heart back to God. Like I’ve said before, when our hearts are focused on God then our actions can’t help but do what God wants us to do. And what is that? According to scripture, it’s “to seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6:8).
So, this raises a thorny the question. If salvation isn’t about our brokenness and sin, then where does Christ fall into this picture? After all, tis the season to make him front and center, right?
Well, the way I read scripture it seems somewhere along the way, we humans forgot where our hearts and focus need to be. So John’s gospel tells us, God sends the Son, the perfect and complete embodiment of God’s shalom that is fully realized in Jesus, the manifestation of God’s perfect love. While comforting his disciples before his betrayal, Jesus tells them “I am in the Father and the Father is in me. You have seen God, because you have seen me.” (John 14:7).This is more than clue for us to correctly identify Jesus as the Messiah. It’s an invitation to become one with God as Jesus is one with God. God is always inviting us. Through Christ, God took on human form so we could see God, know God, and follow God back to God’s heart. The way I see it, Christ Jesus leads us to our salvation because with him, and through him, and by his holy light, we are made whole and complete and one with God again. While the world offers chaos, warfare, division, and death – the very things that steal our peace and make us weary and incomplete – Jesus shows us the way of true peace and harmony which comes from our connectedness to God and each other. You see, our God isn’t distant or removed from us but has come to us to dwells with us. God wants a relationship with everything God creates. Not just humans but with all of creation. The psalms are filled with verses where nature offers praise and glory to God. Where trees tremble before the Lord; mountains and rivers bow down in reverence. Paul even writes, “we know God, through the things God made” (Romans 1:20). Our job is to always be on the lookout, finding ways to connect our hearts to God. One way we often connect is through our daily prayer. When we are in our most intimate and vulnerable space, or at the end of our rope, we know we can faithfully cry out and God will hear us and come to us. Of course, Jesus - who taught us how to pray - shows us how to connect with God in all the ways we welcome a stranger or forgive a debt or trespass. Each time we offer mercy or show compassion to another our hearts are drawn closer to God through them. When we strive for justice, seek unity where there is division, our hearts become one with God where we find our peace, our salvation, our completeness.“No one has ever seen God,” wrote John, “but if we love one another God lives in us and his love is made complete in us” (1 john 4:12). Shalom. Salvation. This is what Christ Jesus gives to us. He is the road, the truth and the life we are to follow because of where it leads. Advent is a time of active waiting, a time we get our hands in the messiness of life as little incarnations of God’s glory. It is a time to go out into Anamesa, that space between heaven and earth, to illuminate peace in all the ways we love God, love others, and serve both. To shine so brightly that others will be able to find their way back to God’s heart. If we want to see hope and peace and love and joy prevail in this weary world, then we need to be a part of the solution and not the problem. If we believe Jesus is the solution then we must imitate him, we must shine his light and love as he loved. We have to allow him to flow through us freely and liberally until “steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss.” When God’s steadfast love and faithfulness meet in our everyday, ordinary lives; when God’s righteousness and peace embrace in all our relationships, our business practices and nations policies; when we work for God’s justice, care for the widows and orphans; when we strive for equality and free the oppressed; when we are tender to ourselves and show kindness to one another we make way for God in our world. And wherever God is so too is God’s shalom, our wholeness, our completeness, and our salvation. Work Cited Bartlett, David L. and Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word Year B, Vol 1. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008).
Like I said, it's not unique, or flashy, or fast. But it can go forwards. And it can reverse. If you have ever driven a car, or been in one, you know that really isn't a groundbreaking mechanical feat. Every car, be it gas or electric or a hybrid in-between, can do that. Most of us drivers only focus our attention on those two gears, neglecting or overlooking or ignoring the gear between those two - Neutral. Neutral is a good place, I image, because it is the most present gear in my humble opinion. It is literally in the moment. It's like park, but you still have the freedom to move both forward and backwards; sometimes without having to do anything depending on the grade of the pavement underneath. Neutral isn't being stuck, it's being present, completely mindful of everything around us. It's in this space where we meet God, and are awaken with the awe that comes with such a gathering. This is not to say that going forward or backward is a bad thing. We need to know where we're going and where we've been. This is especially true when we set out on a spiritual journey. Henri Nouwen wrote this about it as a message of hope for Advent.
By looking back we can see the future and by looking forward we remember the past. But it's in the present state that we are able to do this, to fully realize what was and what will be. This is hard to do when we are worried about what happened or zipping off to whatever comes next.
Neutral is that Anamesa space where we can contemplate, meditate, pray, or simply be still and allow ourselves to be in awe of what God is doing right now. As Bruce Epperly noted, "Awe is more than an emotion; it is a way of understanding, insight into a meaning greater than ourselves. The beginning of awe is wonder, and the beginning of wisdom is awe." And Rabbi Abraham Joshua Herschel (1907-1972) said it like this, “Awe is a sense for the transcendence.… It enables us to perceive in the world intimations of the divine.... Just to be is a blessing, just to live is holy. The moment is the marvel.” If history tells us anything is that we know God is up to something because God has always been doing something. That's what reverse shows us. And we know because God is always up to something, then we can drive into the future knowing something greater is unfolding. If we are too busy speeding ahead, or trying to avoid our past in reverse, we lose our space in the middle where we meet God and discover who we are and where we are going. We need to take a moment each day to idle in neutral for a while just to be in the. presence of God - full of wonder and awe. Again, Rabbi Herschel, "Forfeit your sense of awe, let your conceit diminish your ability to revere, and the universe becomes a market place for you. The loss of awe is the avoidance of insight. A return to reverence is the first prerequisite for a revival of wisdom, for the discovery of the world as an allusion to God." Work Cited Bruce G. Epperly, Mystics in Action: Twelve Saints for Today (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2020); Abraham Joshua Heschel, I Asked for Wonder, ed. Samuel H. Dresner (New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1983, 2022) Abraham J. Heschel, Who Is Man? (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1965). Henri J.M. Nouwen. You are the Beloved (New York: Convergent, 2017).
That’s what we’re celebrating at Christmas, right? God, enfleshed in our humanity, comes to us in our weariness, to redeem us - to change the way we think, which in turn changes the way we act. We can acknowledge and embrace the weariness of our world rejoicing with hope knowing and believing that God in Christ Jesus has come to us.
We can rejoice with hope knowing and believing God knows the shape and form of our weariness. We can rejoice because God doesn’t just expect us to just survive and exist. God wants us to have joy and delight. And will turn the world upside down to ensure that happens. And so it is here in God’s house, we can be joyful. We can be grateful. We can be hopeful. We can be weary. We can be anxious. We can be grieving. In God’s house, we can be honest—inspired or tired; delighted or doubtful; connected or curious, and everything in between. This is God’s house. You are welcome exactly as you are. So come as you are and let us worship our loving God together. ...“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and plagues, and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify....You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls. Read all Luke 21:5-19 here
I find it a bit weird and troubling that the church calendar begins and ends with a similar theme. Not with a baby being born in Bethlehem, but with apocalyptic pronouncements like this chaotic stuff that could easily be found scrolling across our new feeds today.
But by paying careful attention, we can see how Jesus offers words of hope and encouragement in this passage. It may seem like Jesus is speaking of what many like to call “The End Times.” Personally, I don’t read it as the end but beginning of something new. You might see the conflict in Israel and Palestine as biblical proof that the end is near. Many thought that about the pandemic. And Y2K. And World War I. And the crusades. And the fall of Jerusalem by the Roman Empire. But again, scripture tells a different story. It tells us that Jesus did not come to destroy us but to build us up - redeem us and save us. And so, he tells us to “keep awake,” not with worry but with readiness. Remain active in your faith and “Not a single hair on your head will parish. By your endurance you will gain your soul.” Despite how horrific the world seems, despite however tired and worn out you feel, Jesus gives us hope in this promise. Of course, Jesus is not saying these things won’t cause you to suffer or grieve or feel a sense of dread. In fact, he said some of us will be killed for our faith. What he promises isn’t a good life, but life everlasting. If we live out our faith, testifying in his name, then we will not parish but gain our souls. If you ask me, this is where our focus ought to be preparing for his arrival by living out his gospel. How do we do this? If you’ve ever taken the opportunity to watch Rev. Bob’s Bible Study, you’d know that he sends us off each week with the same charge: Go and be a light in a dark world. This seems juxtaposed to those Christians hoping and praying for the Israel-Palestine war to ignite God into action. As if we can control God’s will to trigger the second coming of Christ. Even Jesus himself confessed he doesn’t know when that will happen. In this passage he seems to be saying, whatever you see happening out there is not to bring about the end of time. They are simply opportunities for us to proclaim the good news. In fact, he goes so far to warns us not listen to the false prophets crying for war. Instead, go be a light shining in the darkness. Go proclaim the glory of God by being God’s glory. After all, Christ did not come to inaugurate an apocalyptic cleansing. He did not come to make more suffering, but to eliminate it for good, by revealing the power of the powerless in his self-giving sacrifice on the cross. The birth in Bethlehem is just the beginning of the story. The way I see it, Christmas is just a gift God gives us. A gift we have to wait until Easter morning to unwrap. Melissa Bills reminds us that even the most apocalyptic scripture teaches us that “God’s final word will be one of resurrection, not of destruction. Beyond all other endings that we experience in history, God promises us a stunning bonus scene, a celestial final chord. We persevere through this world’s beginnings and endings because we have faith that God’s final ending will be a decisive victory for all that is good, beautiful, and true.” Christmas is merely the preface for what’s to come. When the world looks bleak, we find hope knowing restoration is coming because we have already seen what God has done - not just in the manger but in the grave. So, what does all this mean for us today? It means we can rejoice in a weary world because we are Easter people. But it also means we will have to wait. Advent is a season of waiting. This is not passive waiting, like waiting for a bus that is late, but active waiting like Jesus who saw the messiness of life as fertile soil to testify to God’s glory. Henri Nouwen wrote, “We are always waiting, but it is a waiting in the conviction that we have already seen God’s footsteps.” What we are waiting for has already been planted. Like a seed buried in the ground at winter… we can get through these tough times knowing that seed will produce fruit in the spring. Jesus tells us to keep awake. And he taught us how to do that. By being fully present in this moment, in good times and bad. If we truly believe God is up to something good, then we must be ready if we want to be a part of it. We must keep awake. And the best way to do that is by remaining present and active - proclaiming and participating in God’s divine glory. We can do this through the many ways we welcome God’s love in us. And allow that love to move through us. We only get one chance to live this life of love. Therefore, we must take every moment of our precious and short life as an opportunity for God’s love to become incarnate in us. To quote St. Teresa of Avila, “We are the only hands and feet, the only eyes and ears that Jesus has.” Jesus did not call us to sit around, crippled with fear. He sent us out into Anamesa, that space between now and then, to love God, love others, and serve both. Love is the antidote to the things that are destroying this world. So, “How does a weary world rejoice with hope?” By being the light that illuminates God’s love in the darkness. A light that brings hope to those who are tired, worn down and bedraggled. In the same way, if we want to rejoice in peace, we must be the light of peace. If we want joy to fill the world, then we must find ways to rejoice when others cannot. If we want Christ to come again, then we must let Christ come alive through us. To quote Meister Eckhart, “We are all meant to be mothers of God, for God is always needing to be born.” The moment you step outside yourself and love a neighbor, feed the hungry, or welcome a stranger, Christ is born again. We are God’s hope for a weary world, because we are Christ’s body. Easter people crafted from the promises of God’s eternal love. Like the Apostles witnessed and Paul professed, “Not even death can keep us from God’s love which is Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:38-39). Tired as we might be, that alone is reason enough to rejoice. Work Cited: David L. Bartlett, and Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word: Advent Companion. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2014). Bills, Melissa. The Christian Century newsletter November 28, 2023 (accessed on December 1, 2023). Nouwen, Henri. Bread for the Journey. New York:HarperOne, 2006).
As far as I can recall, this is the only time Jesus speaks directly about actual judgment from God. As a child, I was constantly told I was a sinner. Moreover, any joy I had in life would be the reason why I’d burn in hell for all eternity. This was my first introduction to God’s love. A lesson which taught to fear God, to be very afraid of God, especially come judgment day. Decades later, while watching the Olympics, it dawned on me that judgment isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A competitive gymnast welcomes it. Same is true with someone who works hard to merit a promotion at work. As long as it’s fairly decided, most of us have no issue with judgement. It’s when it’s not fair, when the playing field isn’t level or the scales of justice aren’t equal that things go wrong. Jesus pretty much tells us that we will all be judged equally and fairly, each according to the actions we take towards another human being. Which means, when it comes to judgment the onus is on you and me. It’s like God will judge us, but we get to decide the outcome by what we do now. In this passage, it’s pretty clear that judgement has nothing to do with what team you’re own, anymore than it is saying the right prayers or reciting the correct creed. It’s simply about acting out of faith and trust to the way Jesus showed us. That list of what to do isn’t that extensive. In fact, it’s pretty basic stuff. Feed the hungry, cloth the naked, welcome people, visit the sick and imprisoned. In other words, be the visible manifestation of God’s love in this space we call Anamesa. How you do that is up to you. Imagine what this world would be like if every person who claimed to be a Christian actually did what Jesus asked. No human would ever again suffer from food insecurity. Everyone would enjoy the benefits of quality health care. No one would die alone. I suspect wherever you are there is a way you can do what Jesus asks of you. I’m sure there are folks in your community who could benefit from your help. Because whatever we do towards those on fixed incomes, we do also to Jesus. When I was in seminary, a man would come every Wednesday and serve the most delicious curry chicken lunch to the students - free of charge. He made it his ministry to fed those training to feed the world. I can’t say if he saw Christ in us, but it was hard to miss the Christ in him. In fact, this single act of love taught me more about God’s generosity than most of my professors had. I took that lesson to a church I served in Michigan where I was reprimanded for being irresponsible by giving money to a notorious drunkard. I was told I needed to use better judgement. Never mind the fact Jesus said whatever judgment we give will be the measure by which we will be judged. The man was thirsty, and Jesus told me to be compassionate. Whatever we do for a drunk, or an ex-con, or dead-beat dad, we do also to him. Jesus gives us a choice. We can be a goat or we can be a sheep. Both have eternal consequences. And it all comes down to how we see someone in need and act to help. As tempting as it is to focus on the judgement aspect of this passage, we don’t want to overlook or forget what Jesus is actually revealing here. That in him, God has ushered in a radical new social structure. Every human being is worthy to enter into the presence of God where dignity and mercy are given to all. Any attitudes we have that lead either to apathy and neglect towards a person in need must be destroyed. They have no place in God’s kingdom. In this final warning, Jesus seems to be telling us that the ways we live out the gospel will always reflect the true relationship we have with God. That should make us pause, to think long and hard about what we say or do to anyone from the least to the greatest…because we say and do those things to God. If we want to see God’s glory, Jesus tells us to look no further than the face of your neighbor; in the eyes of the weak and vulnerable; in the laments of the ones crying out for help. This is where God is. And where God reveals to us and through us, God’s glory to the world. You see, Anamesa is more than a church, or a space to worship God. It’s a way to live out the gospel in real time, and in real ways that makes God glory come alive in the world. It’s a way to take our faith and trust in God and put it to good use in this kingdom - meeting our neighbors with love, and facing our enemies with prayer. It’s a way of living life in all its eternal glory by acting on our faith and trusting in God, who through Christ Jesus, came to be with us in the flesh, in all our messiness and ambiguity. Just as Jesus was judged by the way he loved us with his faithful trust and deeds, we too will be judged on how and if we show loving compassion towards one another like Jesus commanded us to do. Because here’s the hard truth about this passage: We can’t say we follow Christ and then completely ignore what he demands of us. We can’t say we have faith in God if we don’t trust God enough to act in such a way that reveals God’s glory in the world. We can teach children to be afraid of God. Or we can teach them to love God so completely that they can’t help but love others the same way. Throughout all of Matthew, Jesus has given us vivid descriptions of God’s kingdom. He has shown us how to throw open the doors of our hearts, our homes and churches to welcome everyone as if they were welcoming him. This was the heart of St. Teresa of Calcutta’s ministry. She repeatedly preached, “Whenever I meet someone in need, it’s really Jesus in his most distressing disguise. It’s him I help.” According to Jesus, if we can’t see him in the least of these then we are missing out on God’s presence among us in a crucial way. And so we are called out into Anamesa where we are to love God, love others, and serve both. This will require a little bit of faith, trust and action. If we take Christ into our hearts, then we must also take him into the world. He is the one God gave us so that we can enjoy the gift of a true, authentic life. Life where to live is to love. To quote St. Paul, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. Love never ends” (1 Cor. 13:7-8). Love is the measure by which God saves us, redeems us, and at the end, will judge us. If we love, then we have no fear of judgement. The Apostle John wrote, “there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love” (1 John 4:18). Faith. Trust. Action. This is love at work, redeeming us, saving us, and welcoming us into God’s open heart forever. Work Cited Bartlett, David L and Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol 4. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2011). Hansen, Rebecca D. Christus Rex. November 20, 2023 (accessed on 11-24-2023). |
Ian MacdonaldAn ex-copywriter turned punk rock pastor and peacemaker who dedicates his life to making the world a better place for all humanity. "that they all might be one" ~John 17:21“Prius vita quam doctrina.”
~ St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) * “Life is more important than doctrine.”
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