Wagging Tongues

Proverbs 1: 20-33  James 3:1-12 

I picked these two passages a month ago, not knowing how portentous they would become because of events that have transpired this week. James is cautioning us against the way we use words and how much power the tongue holds when it is used. We can either speak blessings or we can speak curses. We can cause division or we can create reconciliation with our words. 

James warns us that teachers should constantly watch their words because there are always people listening and learning from them, and therefore, they can cause more damage than others. Who are the teachers of our church? An obvious one is the Sunday School teachers, another obvious one is myself. But are we truly the only ones that teach others the way to act and talk as a Christian – especially when we consider our youth who listen avidly to the words we speak and the things we do? 

When new people come into a church, who do they look toward to show them the way, whom do they question to ask what they should say or do at certain times in worship? The elders and deacons are teachers in those instances, the organists or choir director are teachers, but so is everyone else. When we go out into the world, it is not like it was 50 or even 20 years ago. We’re not sure if our neighbor is a Christian or our co-worker either. We may be the lone Christian in a group more often than we think. Therefore, every person that believes in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior have become teachers in recent years. 

We tell the world who Jesus is and based upon our actions and words, we show them the love of God or the judgment of humans. Last week, I spoke on some controversial topics and I did so aware that there would be people that did not agree with me on some or all points. That’s okay. The point of a sermon is not always about telling you the way you should be, but to generate discussion on topics that sometimes we like to avoid. However, we cannot afford to ignore these topics when they are directly affecting us and the world around us. 

I brought up a woman’s right to choose because we have a supreme court nominee that believes even birth control is a form of abortion when we have finally lowered accidental teen births by dramatic numbers by offering birth control to anyone who needs it. I brought up criminals and the recidivism rate because millions upon millions of dollars go into housing people that keep going back when instead, if we took some time to educate them and help them with their mental and emotional problems – maybe they would become productive members of society and that money could be used to help feed our homeless and make sure every veteran gets the health care they deserve instead of waiting months or years for treatment.  

I brought up the refugees because despite the public’s negative viewpoint on holding the children, there have been reports than more than ever children are being held at detainment centers and reuniting them with their parents has become a serious challenge. Another waste of our valuable tax dollars not to mention morally reprehensible to cause such hurt in a child.  

I don’t have all the answers to these social issues, but I do want us to speak of them and speak about them in the light of Christ. I want us to look to the Bible, and pray to God, and listen to the Holy Spirit for guidance on these very hard issues. I am hoping that we can work together, acknowledging we don’t always agree with each other, but through respecting each other’s opinions we may come to a compromise that makes life better for everyone. It is not all black and white in this world. It doesn’t have to be if you believe one thing you cannot see the reason someone believes differently than you.  

I saw a cartoon once that showed two people standing on opposite sides of the number 9. To one person, it looked like a 6 and they said so. The other disagreed and said no it’s a 9. Based on their perspective, based on where life had led them so far and the experiences they have had – they were both right. The glass is both half full and half empty.  

I have never meant to cause anyone any harm. I became a minister because God kept pushing and I finally gave in. Sometimes, I fight against the call God has placed upon my life. I am not perfect. I am a sinner. I need Jesus Christ to save me. I’ve always been aware that as a pastor, my life would be analyzed and dissected by others, that I would be judged for the things I do and say. It’s not easy living in a goldfish bowl. And it's really not easy to ask someone to live in that goldfish bowl with me. 

That became even more clear this week when someone left an anonymous note that basically threatened the life and longevity of the church by telling Consistory that people would not tithe as long as I was the pastor here. They believe I am a terrible example for our youth and that my sermons are not biblically based.  

It also became obvious that gossip is a rampant problem in our church and whether the things we are speaking of are true or not, it is still gossip and James cautions us against this because words have power.  

James tells us that the tongue is a small thing that can cause huge problems. He cautions us against using our tongue to speak thoughtlessly, without consideration of others, and to use it to spread lies or even the truth. He considers it to be a sinful behavior because it does not take many words to cause a raging fire of doubt and fear in other people. 

James cautions against this kind of speaking because this is where the devil thrives. I ask you to pray and to search your heart because I feel like there is an unhealthy force at work within the church and we cannot let it win. We cannot let the devil win because it is him that seeks to divide us when God constantly calls us toward love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. 

I am using myself for this sermon, but there are others in this church who have suffered because of unruly tongues spreading gossip. Again, whether it is true or not, James does not discriminate – it is all sinful. The letter also stated that no one new has been coming into the church while some people have left. This has been true for longer than me being here and it’s hard to bring in new people when people feel judged.  

The people of this church have the ability to be extremely compassionate, kind, and giving. I admire many of you and the work you do for God. But there is division in this church and it is not all caused by me. There is an element of judgement in this church that makes people feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. I’m not sure you even mean to do it, but it is there. I have been told repeatedly from many sources that that’s the reason they do not attend here. 

This is fixable. God gives us the Bible to show us how to heal every wound. I want us to fix it together. I want us to work toward making our church warm, welcoming, and an environment where people feel loved and accepted, not judged. We can only do that if you are all willing to work with me rather than against me. I pray that you will take these words to heart, and work on the issues in this church. Jesus warns us that a house divided cannot stand. 

God is with you. Jesus will help you through this if you let him. Listen for the Holy Spirit for she will speak in your hearts and guide you to the right path and decisions. May God bless each and every one of you. 

Amen.  

Our Darkest Prayers

Matthew 26: 6-12
Matthew 26: 36-46

We rarely talk about the hours before Christ was delivered into the hands of the ones that were going to kill him for his popularity with the people, for his ability to heal as well as divide, and for his ability to be authoritative without the schooling and years of diligence the other chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees had put in to be where they are now. Because that’s why he was killed. The ugly, awful truth is they were jealous and afraid of all that Jesus was and did, and how he had the power to make people believe in him.

At the bottom of the Mount of Olives, there is a short road that leads to the Garden of Gethsemane. There are the few surviving olive trees that some believe are the very ones that sheltered Jesus on that fateful night. Carbon dating has placed them to be at least 900 years old, but the ones that seem the oldest cannot be tested because they are too gnarled. The olive trees have a fence around them and no one is allowed to touch them, but you can walk the paths and admire these old, majestic trees and picture Jesus standing amongst them. The smell of rich earth and dried leaves is strong.

Off to the side is a church and it is unlike most of the churches that are built on historic places that Jesus had been in Israel. Because when you walk into this church you are not greeted with light and candelabra and lots of gilding. It is dark. Painfully dark. There are beautiful, quite large stained glassed windows but they do not shed the rainbow of colors you’d expect from stained glass for the colors are dark purples and blues. The color of pain, of passion, of agony and despair.

We like to think of Jesus as riding on the donkey with hosannas ringing in his ears. We like to think of the Resurrected Jesus that we will shout with joy over on Easter Sunday. We can even handle thinking briefly about the Last Supper during a Maundy Thursday service and the fact that he dies the next day. We forget about that night. After the supper is over, the last meal he will ever eat with his friends, his loyal followers that have become like family to him. And after it is over, what then?

The night stretches out long and bitter before Jesus for he alone knows what is coming. When we know we have an important day the next day, how many of us sleep? When we have something we are dreading, how restless is our mind and heart? What if you knew what Jesus knew? Think about the agony of the hours ahead and the silence of the night that at times offers us peace but on nights like this makes us the loneliest and saddest we’ve ever been.

Jesus took three disciples with him. Peter, James, and John his trusted three. He goes to the garden and he prays to His father in heaven. He prays and he prays and he prays, and when he comes back to see the disciples sleeping. He knew this was his cup to bear alone. He knew that this was something only he could do, but he depended on these three men. They were not his family by blood, but they were family of his heart and they were sleeping during the longest, darkest night of his life.

He wakes them, “Keep watch! Pray with me!” and for a puzzled moment they glance at each other and watch him stumble away, weighted down by his fears and his concerns and his responsibilities. “What’s wrong with him?” one asks. “It’s Jesus,” another answers, “it could be anything, but maybe we should pray.” And for a while they do, but their eyelids grow heavy and they begin to fall asleep for they have no idea the weight that Jesus is carrying upon his shoulders this night.

This night is the night that Jesus is the most like us that we ever see illuminated for us in the Bible. This night where he shows how the human body is frail even when our will is strong. This night where his friends abandon him to blissful slumber while he struggles not to fall on his knees crying. This night where the devil comes to mock him with images of what is to come and he allows himself to get caught up in fear for a brief moment. This night where all he can do is pray, “I don’t want to do this! Don’t make me do this! Please, Father! Please God! Do not make me suffer in such a way. Take this cup from me!” Then you can hear the pause, you can hear him gather his strength and courage, and find a bit of calm to finish his prayer, “But not my will, always yours be done.”

I have no doubt that many if not all of you have had a night like this where fear has kept you up all night worrying and praying and wondering what the coming day will bring. That night where there is no rest, there is no peace, there is no comfort to be found. The utter loneliness you feel in those wee hours. The hurt and pain that seems to seep out of your pores. Jesus understands those moments better than anyone else ever will. His worry and fear had him sweating great drops of sweat like blood as it fell to the ground. He was wracked with tremors and you can see him rocking himself in a vain attempt to comfort himself - just like we do in such times.

We do not have a distant and angry God that seeks to punish us for our mistakes. We have a God that entered time, felt what we felt, suffered what we suffer and helped us to keep the covenant by shedding his blood on a cross for us. The most humiliating way to die in those times, and Jesus did it for you. You are covered in his blood and you are made clean by his sacrifice.

When the next dark hour comes in your life, and when you find yourself on your knees rocking yourself in an attempt to keep the pain at bay while you pray to the Lord, I want you to remember this. I want you to remember you are not alone. That God’s arms surround you in those moments. That your tears are mingled with his tears. Remember that you are precious and beloved and no matter what tomorrow holds, Jesus will be right by your side and you can do this. You can face it all and you will be okay.

Amen.

Treasure

Isaiah 58:1-12

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Treasure

Are we God’s people? Have we committed ourselves to being the ones who follow God despite it not being cool and sometimes we have to sacrifice what we want for what He wants? Isn’t that what we are here for today? We remember that we are created from dust and to dust we shall return. We remember that if God had not breathed the breath of life into us we would be nothing at all.

In Isaiah, God is pretty disappointed with his people over their fasting rituals, but more than that it is their lack of love and appreciation that has God shaking her head and saying, “If only you would listen to my commands I would give you everything”. But the people do not do that. Instead, they pretend to follow the fasting rituals, pretend they are interested in God’s ways, but then they follow a different path entirely. They choose to go their own way rather than God’s way. God is disappointed in their hypocrisy.

It is like when the United States government begins to finally consider cutting spending and one of the ideas is to change the dollar bill to a coin because it could save us $5.5 billion dollars, Americans who were yelling about overspending all of a sudden gripe about pockets jingling and how they prefer the dollar bill to a coin. We’re hypocrites. Instead of embracing an idea that would save us money, we cling to the old dollar bill that is no longer economically healthy for us to keep.

It is the same thing when Christians talk about loving their neighbors and welcoming everyone who comes through the church door, but when someone very different from the congregation walks in, the people become uneasy and cold toward the person. They forget that God tells us to love everyone. Not everyone who is easy to love or everyone who is just like us. We are to care for every single person – especially those people who are hardest to care for.

A young widow with her three children wanted to attend a Christmas Eve service and so she dressed up her two sons and daughter and headed to the nearest church. When she went to walk inside, the pastor stopped her and began to speak to her. At first, she thought he was merely being friendly until he pointedly looked around and asked, “And where is your husband this evening, Ma’am?” When she said it was just her and her children attending the service the pastor told her, “We don’t welcome your kind here”. She hadn’t mentioned she was a widow because it was still so fresh of a wound that she knew she would have cried and tonight was about enjoying Christ’s birth. Not that it mattered to this man who felt he had the right to judge her and turn her and her young children away.

These passages we read today deal mostly with fasting practices, but behind the fasting is the point that we allow ourselves to become hypocrites in our religious practices. In Matthew, it warns us not to allow people to see us giving to the poor because it is no one’s business but God’s and our own. When you call attention to things like that, you do not give your money to help the poor or to be a good steward, you are doing it to bring yourself glory.

The same is true with fasting. If you show yourself as worn out and hungry, you will generate sympathy and admiration from those around you and Jesus says that will be your only reward. Instead, he says that we should put on our best clothes and act happy when we fast because then no one but God will know our sacrifice and we will be rewarded.

We fast not to bring attention to what good Christians we are, but because we are showing God our faithfulness. We are trying to relate to what Jesus has gone through. We are relating to our fellow human beings who go hungry at night, who do not have a roof over their heads and are persecuted for their beliefs. We fast not to show people what a great person we are but to remind ourselves that we are nothing but the dust of the earth that God has given life too. It is not about us, and it never has been.

We need to get over ourselves. We are to remember that the only treasure we require is what we have been given through our Lord Jesus Christ. Treasure is not gold or a house or a car. It is not a big diamond ring or a fancy office space. The real treasure in life is a family that cares about you, friends who would give you the shirt off their back if they knew you needed it. Treasure is knowing that just as Isaiah said, “You will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.” It is knowing that God is there for you. It is knowing that Jesus Christ became a man who lived, died and was resurrected so that you might have eternal life.

Treasure is knowing that Jesus became sin so that we may be forgiven for our sins. Ash Wednesday is about remembering we are nothing without God. We are nothing without Jesus Christ who sacrificed himself for us. We are nothing without the Holy Spirit who guides us and molds us into new creations. We are nothing without the God who loves and cares for us, the God who has breathed life into us and has forgiven us more times than we can count because we mean the world to our Creator. We are precious in God’s Sight.

During this Lenten season, take the time to fast and pray. Take the time to remember how little you would have if God was not with you. Give thanks that God remains faithful no matter how often we turn away and ignore his commands. Give thanks for Jesus Christ and for the blessing of a God that cares enough to bring suffering upon himself. Thanks be to God the Father, to Jesus Christ and to the Holy Spirit! Amen.

A Seed of Hope

Jeremiah 31: 31-34

Hebrews 5: 5-10

When the Babylonians razed the temple in Jerusalem and dragged King Zedekiah off in chains, they destroyed the twin symbols of God’s covenantal faithfulness. The people of Judah faced a crisis! Not only had they lost power and prestige, freedom and security; they had also lost God – or at least the assurance of God’s faithfulness which perhaps is the same thing.

Because an unfaithful god is no better than no god, and maybe even worse!

These were the consequences of Israel’s disobedience to the law of God. The consequences of their wickedness were the overthrow of their nation, the leveling of the walls of Jerusalem that kept everyone feeling safe, and the destruction of the temple the very place where God rested, and to top it off they were then banished to Babylon! Their situation was extremely bleak and the prophet Jeremiah laid the blame squarely on the shoulders of the suffering people.

Sometime in our lives, we will know suffering. Some of us will suffer greatly and others of us will suffer less. In our bleakest of days, the worst knowledge we have is that sometimes we cause our own suffering. There are times when we have done nothing wrong and have followed all of the rules and yet we are punished for imagined sins. But the worst moments of our life is seeing the ruined rubble of that life falling down around us and knowing that we caused this destruction all by our self.

This is what the Israelites were experiencing. Jeremiah was not letting them off the hook. YOU caused this. YOU knew better for I have been preaching to you for years that this was going to happen and YOU ignored me!

Just when Jeremiah is really about to get on his high horse and flog everyone with his “I told you so’s”, God’s voice steps in and changes the whole tone of what happened to the Israelites. Yes, they are suffering because of what they have done, but, God promises that the day will come when God will make a new covenant with the people and it will be completely different from the past covenants! God promises that his covenant will change the way every one of us interacts with each other.

God promises to write the law not on stone tablets that can be written down and ignored, but on everyone’s heart. He promises that once again he will be their God and they will be His people. Even better, God promises that no longer will people talk about knowing God, but instead every person from the least to the greatest will know God intimately in a relationship unseen by one before this time! God promises to forgive them their every sin and promises to never remember those sins the people have committed.

What we read here is a prophecy that will come true hundreds of years later in the form of Jesus Christ. Jeremiah is predicting Jesus to the Israelites who have just had their freedom and rights taken away, and in this promise he tells them they will have a freedom and relationship with God unlike any they could have imagined. Jeremiah is bringing hope back to the people in the most unlikely of times.

He is reminding us that even the darkest moments of our lives have transformative moments if we give them to God. If we trust and believe in Jesus Christ, even the moments of suffering we bring upon ourselves can become a way for the greatest of miracles to begin. That is what happened here. In Israel’s darkest and most hellish of historical moments, there was birthed the seed of hope that would become our Messiah, the one we call our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who would offer us more than we could ever deserve.

In Jesus Christ, we are given the ability to know God deeply and truly. In Jesus Christ, we are given not just a second chance but a million second chances to make mistakes and learn and grow, and be forgiven for bumbling around like fools in the dark that have forgotten a light switch is right above us waiting to illuminate our path. In Jesus Christ, we are given the greatest inheritance, we are not just God’s creation anymore, but we are God’s children. We have the same rights and privileges that Jesus Christ has because we have been adopted into that relationship and through the Holy Spirit we are always and forever connected to God.

Take a moment to let that sink in. You are forever connected to God. Nothing you do wrong will ever take away that connection. Nothing anyone else does to you may take away the connection you have to the Lord. Through trials and tribulation, through your joys and exultations, through your moments of boredom and routine God’s heart and your heart are forever linked by the power of the Holy Spirit through the faithful sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

The world may think you are a petty and an insignificant ant of a person without power or prestige, but to the Lord you are worth dying for. The world may think you have nothing to offer, but Jesus sees someone worth loving forever. The world may not have time for your heartaches and pain, but the Lord Jesus cries with you and shares in your suffering.

Lent is about a timeout in life, whatever may be going on in it, and assessing our relationship with Jesus Christ. It is about reminding ourselves of our purpose and destiny. Lent is about hearing that although we are in darkness now, the light of Christ reaches out to us and will save us from ourselves. We may fall and we may struggle and we may lose the battle now and then, but Jesus is by our side through it all and will bring renewal and hope back into our life when we need it most.

The beauty of our Savior God is that our hope never dies because it rests in Jesus and Jesus defeated death. Since we share Jesus’ inheritance that means we will defeat whatever would try to keep us away from the Lord and the peace we have in knowing we belong to God. Whatever burdens you carry; whatever heartaches keep you down; whatever stresses and anxiety keep you up at night may seem powerful and impossible to win. But this is the surety we have – Jesus Christ is by our side and that means these stresses and burdens are not carried alone.

We are called to give them to God and walk free of the burdens the world would place upon us. We are called to remember the words of Jeremiah that remind us that even the darkest and bleakest of moments give birth to hope when Jesus is by our side and in our hearts.

Amen. 

Chicken Alfredo & Artichoke Lasagna Rolls

I JUST INVENTED THE MOST AMAZING FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chicken Alfredo & Artichoke Lasagna Rolls

9 Lasagna noodles (boiled until almost al dente)
1 can (drained & chopped) Artichoke hearts
1 (6 oz) chicken breast (boiled and shredded)
1 cup of shredded Italian blend cheese
1 cup of 2% cottage cheese
1 jar of Alfredo sauce (I used a Roasted Garlic Parmesan one)
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and parsley flakes

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Mix cottage cheese with salt, pepper, onion & garlic powder and parsley until creamy (all lumps may not be gone).

Mix the artichokes and chicken together, add some salt and pepper to it.

Take a lasagna noodle, spread 1 TB of cottage cheese on it, add a TB of the shredded cheese, then add the chicken mixture. Roll up carefully and place in an 8x8 pan. Repeat until the pan is filled. Pour the alfredo sauce over top of the rolls.

Cover and bake for 40 minutes.

Each roll is 267 calories, 27 carbs, 19 grams protein, and 2 grams of fiber.

Notes: If you wanted them to be extra cheesy, add more shredded cheese to the top of the rolls after you put on the sauce. I was looking to keep the calories down, but I was very tempted!

The Ultimate Love Story

GENESIS 1: 1-5

MARK 1: 4-11

Did you know that biblical scholars like to debate if the first 12 chapters of Genesis truly happened or not? Actually there are whole books of the bible that are debated if they really happened as it was written or if they were taken from other religions and reworked as a part of our theology.

For some, knowing that one part of the Bible may not be completely accurate somehow makes the whole of the Bible less in their minds. For others, they do not look at the bible as a historical or scientific document and so it doesn’t matter if everything happened in that exact way.

The point of the Bible is not to tell us how long the earth has existed or how it was created. The point is to tell us that God had a hand in it all and that God cared enough to make this world a livable and beautiful place where we have dominion over the birds of the air as well as the animals on the land and in the seas. Does it matter if what we call one day in Genesis is 24 hours or a couple million years? Human beings only consider a day 24 hours because that’s how long it takes us do a full rotation as we revolve around the sun. God created the sun, therefore, what is a day to God? I don’t understand how that kind of minute detail takes away from what the Bible is trying to tell us.

God loves us. God created us. God created the world. God saw how lost we were and so God created a covenant first with Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob. When even that was not enough to help us along he showed us His power through Moses and gave us the Ten Commandments and gave us the Promised Land. When we still went astray, God finally decided to take matters completely into God’s own hands and became a human being for us.

God humbled God’s self and took on human flesh for US. That’s the point of the Bible. It is a divine love story that shows us how important and beautiful and significant we are to the most powerful being in the universe. If we quibble over details like if Jonah was truly swallowed by a fish or if the Magi got there when Jesus was a baby or a 2 year old or since the Bible is only so many thousands of years old then the earth can only be that old – we diminish and overlook the true point of it all. We also limit the power of our Lord and Savior and why would we ever want to do that?!

The point of the Bible is that it guides us closer to God. It shows us when we are at our darkest moments that we are not the only ones that suffer and hurt. It shows us that God knows the pain we feel intimately through Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit who is there with us and experiencing it all over again because God loves us that deeply. God wants to be our parent and guiding force in this world. God wants to have a deep, intimate, unending relationship with every one of us and if that is not the most amazing thing you’ve ever heard then I need you to get up here and share what could be more amazing!

God, all powerful and all loving, cares SO MUCH about you – insignificant and disobedient and sinful you – that God lived and died for you so that you may join God in heaven and live forever in peace and happiness.

That is a miracle, my friends. It is the greatest miracle we will ever experience and we each get that miracle. Every person that believes in God gets to be with God.

Next week, I'm going to be baptizing a father and a son. There is such a special relationship between a father and his child. There is a bond there and next week it will be strengthened even further because on the same day we will make a promise to them and the father will make a promise to his son to walk this journey of faith with him every single day. The same way God sent Jesus to us and was with Jesus every step of the way, experiencing the pain and frustration and struggles of a human being so that God may truly understand who we are and why we do the things we do.

Baptism is an outward sign of an invisible event. Baptism is a recognition that God is with us all of our earthly days and lives inside us through the Holy Spirit. It is a welcoming into the family of Jesus Christ, we are adopted sons and daughters. In baptism, God becomes our parent and guiding light. Jesus shares with us his birthright and saving grace. We are welcomed into the bond between Father and Son – the ultimate love they have for each other - and we get to be smack dab in the middle of it!

The next time someone starts trying to debate the accuracy or empirical truths of the Bible with you, I want you to look at them and say it has nothing whatsoever to do with facts and everything to do with love. The love a parent has for their child. The love God had for Her creation and the love it took for the Son to do the Father’s bidding to save this world that had gone astray. The love Jesus had for us and for his Father to give up everything so that WE may receive everything. In that moment that Jesus hung from the cross, dirty and bleeding and gasping for a breath that wasn’t filled with pain, he cried out in a broken, ragged voice, “Father, why have you forsaken me?”

In that moment, as close as Father and Son had always been and will always be, Jesus had taken into himself every sin and disease and awful thing we have done and will do and he became those sins and took that awfulness and became UNRECOGNIZABLE to his own Father. In that one moment, there was no longer a communion between the two. And then Jesus died.

He went through all of that for us. God did that for us. The bible has nothing to do with science or history. It does not matter if you believe every single word or just most of what is written. What matters is that you understand the whole of the Bible is the greatest love story to ever be written. It is about sacrificial love and redemption for a world that did not deserve to be redeemed. No matter how dark our world looks at times, no matter how far off course it seems we may get – God will not let the darkness extinguish our light. God will not let us go.

Through Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we will always have a place with God as long as we want it.

The question is – do you want to be with God? Then show God’s love to everyone you meet because that is all God asks of us for this beautiful, amazing, and miraculous gift!

Amen. 

Searching for Epiphany

John 1: 1-18

Luke 2: 22-35

Epiphany

After the craziness of the Christmas season, it is tempting to take the next few weeks and just relax. To no longer think about schedules already overloaded with work, family, and friends and how we managed to squeeze in time to shop and wrap and decorate as well as worship. Christmas can be exhausting physically, but it is also mentally and emotionally draining on everyone. So it is tempting to forget what comes right after Christmas, which is Epiphany.

Epiphany is the time after Christmas where we celebrate the visiting Magi, Jesus’ incarnation and baptism, his transfiguration, as well as his first miracle at the Wedding in Cana. In other words, Epiphany shows the world how God came to be with His people through Jesus Christ.  This is a very special time for Christians, but because so many are exhausted from the holidays we often do not take time to appreciate the way God came to be with his people. Jesus Christ is not a figurehead for God. He is not the poster child of the Divinity although some people like to think of him that way.

Jesus is God, made flesh. That means everything he experienced when he became a human being, God the Father also experienced. When Jesus was thirsty, God was thirsty. When Jesus was a child, he had a child’s frustrations of learning how to tie his shoes, write his name and read the scriptures just as our children have to do. Jesus became dirty and was probably yelled at by Mary when he did something she didn’t like.

When he became older, perhaps he had pimples and oily hair like a teenager. Maybe he tripped a lot because his feet grew faster than the rest of him just like other teenage boys. And as an adult, he struggled with his spirituality and humanity and the way they seemed to war against each other, just as we do. Jesus was tempted by the devil just as we often are tempted. Jesus is like us, but Jesus IS God.

And that means everything he went through, God experienced as well which brings a whole new meaning to the words, “God with us”. One of the best scriptures that describe the Epiphany of God being with us is in Luke2: 22-35 when Simeon finally sees the Messiah.

When Joseph and Mary presented Jesus to the Temple of the Lord, there was a man there named Simeon. Simeon was a faithful Jew who had been promised to see the Messiah before he passed from this life into the next. It does not say so in the passage, but perhaps Simeon was tempted to worry that he had been mistaken about God’s promise or that he had missed the Messiah because Simeon was now an old man. He had seen his family raised in the Jewish faith and now they were busy having their own children. A lot of time had passed and still the Messiah had not come. Sometimes when God makes a promise to us, we are tempted to rush the promise into fruition. We want things now rather than later. This is a human trait that comes straight from Adam and Eve. We want what we do not have and we often feel we deserve everything that God has to give, rather than being happy with what we are allotted.

So it is not inconceivable that Simeon was perhaps worried that he would die before seeing the Messiah. But finally, one day the Holy Spirit moved him to go to the courtyard of the holy temple. This part of the story is also interesting because it does not say that the Spirit tells him why he is to go there or even what the Messiah looks like. Isnt that often the way the Holy Spirit works with us as well? God often does not speak in a discernable voice that an ear can hear, but instead we feel the Lord speaking to us.

Sometimes we feel the need to call a friend we haven’t spoken with in over a year and when we do, we find out that he lost his job and feels bereft. Sometimes the Spirit will tell us not to take the shortcut we always take and later we find out there was an accident on that road. And there are other times when we feel the Spirit telling us something and we never know why. Those are the easiest times to dismiss the idea of God talking to us, because we do not see why God would tell us to do something even though we were sure at the time.

So there is Simeon, standing in the temple courtyard, unsure of why but hoping that this time he will get to see the Messiah. What do you think he thought the Messiah would look like? If God suddenly appeared in front of us right now, how would you picture God? Is God a man or a woman? Is he Caucasian, African American or Asian? Tall or short? Does God have a commanding, royal air about him or her or is God kind and compassionate looking? What does God wear? Pricey clothes from a designer boutique or faded Levis and tennis shoes?

All of these questions would have been going through Simeon’s mind as well. It makes us ask the same question of how will we know when we see Jesus? Simeon saw a young couple with a small child. There were probably many such couples. But he unerringly picked out Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. He followed his heart, he followed the Spirit where it led and even though Jesus was probably different in every way that Simeon had pictured the Messiah, he found Jesus and knew he was seeing the Messiah.

Sometimes God works in ways that are completely opposite of the way we would work. Many of us like to think that God is logical and rational, but if you ask an atheist God is anything but logical and rational. God does things differently from us so we need to work with God. We need to be open to new ideas or since the season is upon us, small epiphanies that take us where we need to be. This is a new year with new goals.

Not every thing that will happen this year will be good, logical or happy. We are going to see violence, war, natural disasters and the death of innocent people. Through all of those things, God is working. Our every day life filled with endless routine and the constant demand of time and energy from us, God is working. Simeon stayed faithful through the good as well as the bad and he was rewarded with seeing the Messiah with his own eyes before he died. We too are rewarded with glimpses of our Messiah in our life.

It is up to us if we believe what we see. It is up to you to decide what you believe. It is up to you to have faith in God’s promises as Simeon had faith. The Lord has promised us many things, not the least of which is salvation through Jesus Christ. But the Lord also promises us new bodies and new life just as Jesus received a new body and life. The Lord promised that death is not the end, that this life we live here is merely the beginning of our time with God. And that is what the Epiphany season is all about - our time with God. It is about how the Lord has come to be with us, and our response to Jesus Christ.

You do not live and die alone as many people have said in the past. You live and die with God. Take time this Epiphany season to see what God is up to. Take time to see where God is in your life, but remember, you can only see Jesus if you are looking and listening for him.

Amen.