Due to concerns regarding COVID-19, this year's Lenten potluck series has been cancelled, effective today, March 12. Please continue to follow Saint Matthias here and on social media for the latest updates.
Our Children and the Child Within
by Fr. Bill Garrison
“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.’ And he laid his hands on them and went on his way. ”
This quote from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter nineteen, rings in my ears loudly and often. When I see the children gathering here at St. Matthias I am glad for their presence, and Jesus expects us to take good care of them. St. Matthias offers something for all children on the Lord’s Day. The youngest children have a nursery available to them run by our very capable nursery school teacher, Victoria. Sunday school is provided for kids from 4 to 18. Our classes are divided into K through second grade, third grade through fifth, and grades six through twelve. I design the curriculum each week, which follows the lectionary and is presented in PowerPoint format. Our parents are also intimately involved in every aspect of our ministry to the kids, including many valuable extra-curricular events. For further information, please see me or Dana Medina.
Photo by JoEllen Moths from Pexels
But this is only part of the story. In each of us exists a child, the child that has never changed; the child that has been with us since each of us was young. This little girl or boy knows God in a way that the adult can never know God. This little child can’t wait to talk with God, spend time with God, play with God, laugh with God, and this little person trusts in God in a complete and innocent way that an adult cannot.
I have mentioned before, and will again, how much God loves us and how God sees us. God sees the child within us all and God loves us as if we were still that little innocent.
I remember when I was small how excited I was when my father arrived home from work. I would run to him knowing I could share my day with him, all of my day, and I knew for sure how much he loved me. I would run and jump into his arms, never once concerned that he would drop me or reject me.
God will never drop us either when we run to him as a child would run to his father. So as we think about the care of our children, please remember the child that exists within us all. We are invited to reintroduce that little him or her to God, and then let’s all run and jump into the arms of God and feel the incredible love God has for each of us.
The Second Sunday in Lent: On Rules
by Fr. Bill Garrison
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.
There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
“Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
—John 3:1-17
We are going to spend some time studying this morning and perhaps for some of us learning some new things, so I thought I would start off with a Sunday school funny.
One morning a Sunday school teacher decided to try to encourage her young preschool students, who might be a little confused about Jesus Christ, to think a little bit more about him. So she decided to ask them some questions about Jesus. Her first question was, “Where is Jesus today?"
Steven raised his hand and said, “He's in heaven." Mary was called on and answered, “He's in my heart." Johnny, waving his hand furiously, blurted out, “I know, I know! He's in our bathroom!!!"
The whole class got very quiet, looked at the teacher, and waited for a response. The teacher was completely at a loss for a few very long seconds. Finally, she gathered her wits and asked Johnny how he knew this.
He answered, “Well... every morning, my father gets up, bangs on the bathroom door, and yells, “Good Lord, are you still in there?!"
I took a class a couple of years ago about spirituality. There were a few of us there from St. Matthias. Carole Horton-Howe was one of them. In fact, this is the class in which we met for the first time. Anyway, I was introduced to a concept for the first time in one of the books we read. I am sorry to say I cannot give the author credit. I wish I could.
Here is that concept in a nutshell. When we study the life of Jesus it is as if he has his back to us. On the other side of Jesus are people facing him, and facing us at the same time. These are people who knew him. They are the ones that speak to us. We hear about him from them. We have nothing that comes directly from him, no writing and no first hand words. Everything we know we learn from those that encountered him.
So as we think about those that report his life we are reminded of the New Testament writers. We hear about him from the gospel writers, from Paul, and from other writers who fill out the books of the New Testament. There are few sources outside of the New Testament for information about Jesus.
Today I would like to present a new viewing angle into our understanding of Jesus and see where it takes us. I want to consider the viewpoint of the Pharisees. How did they see Jesus? What did they think of him? What can we learn from their experience of him? Why were they interested in him?
Now I recognize that some may think me nuts for doing this. I have been accused by the folks in Bible study of having a bromance with the Pharisees. I keep refusing to accept the box within which most people place them, the polemic about them if you will. But let’s try this viewpoint out and see where it leads.
In today’s gospel we are introduced to Nicodemus, an important Pharisee. At least that’s what the gospel says about him. It says he was one of the leaders. The story says he went to see Jesus at night. Why we wonder?
Let’s talk about Pharisees in general before we go on. In first century Judaism there were three main sects. One was the Essenes, the famous writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls. They had removed themselves from society so we don’t really need to consider them. Then there were the Sadducees. These folks were important leaders and associated with the Temple and the life of the Temple. They read their scripture literally, what it says is what it means, and did not believe in eternal life. They were sad you see. (Note the joke?) Anyway if it said you should die for an offense in scripture they thought that death should be your fate.
The Pharisees were different. They did believe in eternal life and they were far more liberal in their interpretation of scripture than the other groups. They read some scripture as metaphorical rather than literal and thought punishment as an example should fit the crime. Born from their theological thinking was the Mishnah, the first writings and theology concerning scripture found in the Talmud.
The idea of the Oral Torah was born. Torah in a close definition is the first five books of the Bible. The Oral Torah is the interpretation of those books in ways that are not literal in nature. Torah is the law for living. The Oral Torah helps to make sense of the law in ways that literal understandings cannot.
As an example we think about the Sabbath. What does it mean not to work on the Sabbath? The Pharisees attempted to answer that question specifically. What was work? What was acceptable to do on the Sabbath and what was not? They constructed a list of do’s and don’ts as a result.
The Pharisees took Judaism out of the Temple and brought it to the Jewish people. Their goal was to infuse scriptural truth into every home so that people would and could live according to God’s laws on a daily basis. They asked the people to be responsible for their lives.
We think there were about 6000 Pharisees at the time of Jesus, a relatively small percentage of the population. They were made up primarily of Scribes and Sages, those immersed in scripture, often knowing every word and many interpretations. They kicked the ball forward through argument. Different teachers would advance their own understandings of specific scriptures as would others doing the same. Understandings would coalesce over time. This was the beginnings of Rabbinic Judaism.
And so along comes Jesus. What would the Pharisees have known about him? First of all Jesus was smart. He could read and write, something only about 10 % of the population could do. He was also extremely well educated in the scriptures, certainly as well versed as any Pharisee.
He was also famous for having radically different interpretations for many of the most important scriptures. It would have similar to Einstein coming along and debunking the physics of Newton. Einstein showed Newton was wrong. Jesus was in the process of upsetting the apple cart of first century scriptural understanding in the same way.
Let’s take Sabbath observance once again as an example. The Pharisees believed one shouldn’t work on the Sabbath and had arrived at many rules about Sabbath observance as a result. Jesus openly violated their Sabbath rules and asked a most important question. “Was the Sabbath created for humankind or was humankind created for the Sabbath?” Oh my goodness. One question undermined everything they thought to be true.
And so Nicodemus went to see Jesus. I have no doubt he had great respect for Jesus and his intellect. He wanted to understand where Jesus was coming from. He wanted to understand the teachings of Jesus. He wanted to compare his own understanding of scripture to that of Jesus. He wanted to kick the ball down the road if you will. Note that in the conversation Jesus even calls Nicodemus a teacher of scripture. This was a conversation between one who had the standard understandings and another who had broken through into an entirely new and more correct understanding of Torah, the laws for living one’s life.
Now let’s spring forward a couple thousand years. Have things changed all that much? Don’t we today have lists of things that are acceptable or not for every conceivable circumstance? Aren’t we especially that way when it comes to church and our ways of being in relationship with God and each other? I would submit to you that we are a lot like those Pharisees of ancient times.
They had the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Essenes along with some other groups I am sure. We have the Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox and the Liturgical worshipers along with the Evangelicals. And each of us is pretty sure we are right in our understanding of scripture and worship and everybody else is wrong.
Don’t you wonder what Jesus thinks about our current mores of life with God?
And so I have a suggestion. What if we mimic Jesus when we make our determinations of right and wrong action or thinking? Why don’t we ask a question to flesh a controversy out? Was this, whatever it may be, created for us or were we created for it? Another way to put it might be this. Is this, whatever it might be, here for our benefit or are we here just to follow a rule?
Think about it. What might we ponder first?
Response to COVID-19
COMMUNION
Per Bishop Taylor’s instructions, at Saint Matthias and all Episcopal churches in the Diocese of Los Angeles:
“Communion wine may not be offered […] either for sipping or by intinction, until we can be confident that the danger of mass COVID-19 infections has abated.” Bishop Taylor reminds us that, “according to our theology of Holy Eucharist, the work of the sacrament is complete when taken in only one kind.”
“…All those touching communion wafers [should] wash their hands vigorously with soap and water immediately before their work at the altar begins.”
“Ministers distributing the host should drop it onto the communicant’s palm rather than placing it on their tongue.”
In situations where we might ordinarily stand in a circle and pass communion to each other, we should instead “appoint Eucharistic ministers to serve the consecrated host.”
SOUP HOUR
For now, Soup Hour meals will be distributed as sack lunches.
ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS
Wash your hands frequently with hot, soapy water for at least 20 seconds.
Sneeze or cough into the crook of your arm rather than into your hand.
During the passing of the peace, respect the wishes of those who prefer not to touch. Consider waving hello or giving the peace sign instead.
If you think you may be getting sick, stay home. You can watch the 10:00 a.m. service live on Facebook. (Note: You may be prompted to create a Facebook account, but one is NOT required in order to watch the videos.)
The First Sunday in Lent: The Voices of Temptation
by the Rev. Carol Horton-Howe
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.
Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
‘Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”
Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
Matthew 4:1-11 (NRSV)
When I told a long-time friend that I was serving at St. Matthias, she surprised me by responding “Oh, Matthias! He’s the one that stumped us!” She went on to explain an early memory of Sunday school when they played a game called Shield. The teacher would ask all the children to sit in a circle with their Bibles in hand. She would say “Everyone hold up your Shield!” And all the children, would grasp their Bible in both hands and hold them out in front of them. Then the teacher would call out the name of a someone in the Bible, or a story or parable or verse. All the children would get busy looking for it. The first to find it was rewarded with the chance to stand in the circle and read to the rest of the class. Matthias is only mentioned in a couple verses in the Book of Acts so my friend had had a hard time finding him. That memory of Shield was still with her. This idea of the Bible as our shield would be an interesting idea to hold onto today as we look a little deeper at the gospel.
We are in the first Sunday of Lent. Lent always begins with Jesus in the wilderness. Jesus has just been baptized by John and is immediately led into the desert. The euphoria of the voice of God may still be ringing in his ears – “This is my son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” The lush riverbank is a memory, the vast expanse of desolation stretches out before him. Is Jesus wondering what exactly this means for him? He had been ordained by God in the river, but his ministry had not yet begun. And now we watch to see how God’s beloved will react to harsh extremes. Will it be like we as humans would? Or in some divine way beyond our understanding? How does Jesus deal with starvation and thirst both physical and spiritual? And what can we take from this for our own wilderness experience?
There’s something about the desert that can suck all the self-confidence right out of us. So empty and quiet, you can’t help notice how small you are. If you find yourself there, a life that seemed so certain just a short while ago is now just a big question mark. You feel so alone, wishing you had someone who understood you that you could talk to about it. Have you ever felt this? Has it gone on so long that you started to question God’s care for you and about you? That in spite of what you’ve always believed about God loving you and caring for you, you question why God doesn’t just fix everything and make the pain go away as God most assuredly is able to do.
Survivors of 9/11 suffering the effects of their injuries long after the day of the attacks were interviewed years later and expressed feelings of abandonment by God – where was God, they asked? “I’ve looked for Jesus. I’ve longed for Jesus since that day just like I’ve longed for air.” One man said. “And I’ve struggled with anger. I’d like a little of that Old Testament God right about now – punishing the evildoers, destroying their cities, their towers.”
Whether you’ve experienced a high level of trauma as he had or not, I know you’ve had your wilderness too. And a longing for God to just send a rescue team. Why doesn’t God just fix all our problems for us? I wonder if this what Jesus experienced. Notice that all the temptations that the devil offers Jesus are along the same theme – that Jesus deserves better than what God is giving him. Why should God’s beloved go hungry?
The voices of temptation don’t sound like a serpent hissing or a harsh demonic bullying. When they come, they will sound like the perfect thing to seduce you personally. They’ll appeal to your greatest strengths and seduce you in moments of profound weakness.
Temptation speaks to us in a language that is natural, that we understand, that is us. I hear temptation in “Carole-speak.” You hear it in your own language. If you are a linear person you will hear it as a series of building arguments. If you are a left brain person you will hear it as a logical, analytical thought process. If you are a right brained person you will hear it as creative thought that will tug hard at your heart strings. And it will sound oh so perfect.
So how can we test these messages? How do we figure out if they are life giving? The only true test is how it effects our relationship with God. If these ideas are based on love and draw us closer to God they are to be trusted. But if they put distance between us and God, if they have no basis in the words and teaching of Jesus, if they do not encourage us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength they are not of God and will destroy us.
This is where we see what being children of God truly means. The temptations we face day by day and at critical moments of decision and vocation in our lives may be very different from those of Jesus but they have exactly the same point. They are not simply trying to entice us to commit one sin or another. They are actually trying to get us to turn away from God and the path of servanthood.
God’s word will uphold us. That is the best defense that we have. When we come face to face with temptation, we go to the word that empowers us, that gives us grace. We go to God who created us and gives our lives meaning.
Just last week, a few of us finished meeting together in a group called “Traveling with God.” We showed photos and memorabilia from our travels and told stories of adventures. In all the stories I noticed that what we found was usually not what we expected. And that was the best part. Without actually naming it, we were describing for each other the experience of pilgrimage.
Tourists go from place to place, sight to sight finding satisfaction in collecting those sights until they reach a final destination or a concluding sight. They have some firm expectations and what they’ll see.
Photo by FAICAL Zaramod from Pexels
But a pilgrimage is different. It’s more than a standard trip or journey. While some go on pilgrimage with a sense of adventure, it almost always begins with a sense of call or a deep yearning, sometimes even a great urgency to get up and go. Often the pilgrim is called to undertake physical travel although for some pilgrimage is about traveling inward on a journey of the heart. All call on us to be willing to try, to fail and try again. No two pilgrims have the exact same experience. But all pilgrimages call on us to be open to moving out of our comfort zone.
You may have a certain Lenten practice in mind or maybe you’ve already committed to a certain regimen. If that resonates with you, embrace it. But if along the way life happens or it loses its appeal, I hope you will be gentle with yourself. I promise you will not be the only one on Palm Sunday with a journal half completed or a book of devotions partially read. They’ll still be there for you when you’re able to pick them up again. But please be a pilgrim. Those life interruptions are precious chances to find God at work in ways that might transform you. They are chances to ask ourselves what God is inviting us to do, how we might lean on the word of God to respond to the startling and the mundane.
We know our destination with Jesus. In little more than 40 days from today it is Jerusalem, arrest, suffering, death on the cross and the resurrection that will change the world and everyone in it forever. Integral to pilgrimage is the journey home and the pilgrims’ need to integrate the life they have lived with the new insights gained as they return as changed persons.
The survivor of 9/11 put it this way: “Ultimately I want a safer world. I want a more competent God. Then I remember that God's power is not a controlling but a redeeming power and the red blood of belief begins to return to my veins. I have faith. I lose faith. I find faith again, or faith finds me, but throughout it all I am confronted with the certainty that I am in good hands; love girds the universe; God will have the last word and that word is “love” in the form of his son Jesus.”
Allow God to speak tenderly to you, lead you, reveal God’s self to you. Remember you are called to bring God’s light into the world. Hold on to your shield. And say a firm “no” to the voices that want to lure you out of the light and into darkness.
Amen.
The Last Sunday in Epiphany: Inside-Out Thinking
by Fr. Bill Garrison
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
—Matthew 17:1-9 (NRSV)
When last I visited with you I talked about catfish. I also talked about the cacophony of noise we endure daily, all the advice and direction we are given to help run our lives. Some of it is well meaning and some not so much. I called it outside-in thinking.
But then I introduced the idea of inside-out thinking into our conversation. Inside-out thinking emanates from our very being, our very essence or soul if you will. This is the part of us that is in constant relationship with God, ever in communion with our creator. And I posited last time to all of us that inside-out thinking is far superior to outside-in thinking since it takes into account who we are, and whose we are.
Here is a story that builds on that idea, one I haven’t told in a few years.
This is a story is about a little boy and his father. They were walking along a road when they came across a large stone. The boy looked at the stone and thought about it a little. Then he asked his father, “Do you think if I use all my strength, I could move that rock?"
Photo by Yogendra Singh from Pexels
The father thought for a moment and said, “I think that if you use all your strength, you can do it."
That encouragement was all the little boy needed. He ran over to the rock and began to push and pull on it. He pushed so hard. Little beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. But the rock didn’t move — not an inch, not half an inch, not even a little.
After a while, the little boy sat down on the ground. His countenance had fallen. His whole body seemed to be just a lump there on the earth. “You were wrong," he told his dad. “I can’t do it."
His father walked over to him, knelt beside him, and put his arm around the boy’s shoulder. “You can do it," he said. “You just didn’t use all your strength. You didn’t ask me to help you."
When we are using inside-out thinking we are including God in our efforts to move the stones we encounter so very often, the ones we and our culture believe we can’t move no matter how hard we try.
I have had the honor of being the rector in this place for a good chunk of time now. We will be holding our 9th Annual Meeting since I arrived after this service. Together we have accomplished a lot in these last few years. We will be outlining some of those accomplishments in the meeting. But now is not the time to talk about accomplishments.
Now is the time to think about how to move the rocks we think are impossible to move.
It took me thirty years to follow God’s call to priesthood. And I had good reasons to resist. I had done a great deal of outside-in thinking on the subject. As a result I knew clearly what some of my many deficiencies were. You see I am not holy enough to do this job. I am not smart enough. I don’t have enough patience, understanding, or compassion. My prayer life is not up to par. Sometimes I can be lazy. I certainly don’t have the right sort of background since I avoided church as much as possible as a kid. And I have been around experienced a whole lot of clergy in action and I knew for sure I didn’t stack up to their standards.
But somewhere along the line I started thinking inside-out. I got over the fear of wearing a collar around my neck. I got over the implications of becoming a priest as I understood them to be. I stopped over-worrying (yes I still worry some) about what everyone else thought about the fact I was going to be a priest and about other people’s expectations of me.
Instead I turned inward to my being and my God. From that point everything began to change. I saw the world about me in a different way. I saw the process to ordination in a different manner and from that time on had a wonderful time enjoying the road I traveled. And I have learned since that outside-in thinking gets me in trouble and inside-out thinking never does, but in fact is my most certain source of information.
Transfiguration, Duccio di Buoninsegna - Web Gallery of Art
I suppose the Apostles are the best examples of this transformation in thinking. Considering specifically about today’s gospel we heard Peter suggest during the Transfiguration that they build booths for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. You see he was intellectually and spiritually lost and had no idea what to do with what he was seeing. So he did what the world might have suggested. Build some dwelling places for these incredible men. Inside-out thinking would never have brought him to the same idea.
I join with many Bible scholars who suggest that the transformation the disciples made from wild men to Apostles is one of God’s great miracles. As we think about it we realize the miracle happened along the way as they walked with Jesus. They were transformed in their thinking from outside-in to inside-out. As a result the door was open for them to be changed fundamentally.
We here at St. Matthias have experienced a renaissance of sorts over the last few years. There’s a lot of life here and a lot of new Christ Centered programs. It didn’t just happen. Like every person and organization we do our share of outside-in thinking. We can’t help it and it’s necessary. But we also spend a lot of time inside-out seeking guidance from our partnership with God. This is when the growth, the life, happens.
And so I think our invitation is to continue to consider from whence we receive our most important and effective guidance. Where do our clearest ideas about who we are come from? I submit they are from within. It doesn’t mean we stop listening to those around us. But it does mean we be more aware of who and whose we are, listening to the inner voice that speaks our own truth, a truth we cannot receive any other way.
What to Expect from the Saint Matthias Annual Meeting
by Andrea Schmid
Like many of us at Saint Matthias, I didn’t grow up in the Episcopal church.
The church I grew up in had a congregational structure—one in which all major decisions were made by a vote of everyone in the church. Business meetings in my tiny small-town church could be tedious. They were held quarterly on Sunday evenings and sometimes went on for hours. Coming from such a background left me frankly unenthusiastic about attending anything that sounded remotely similar.
But that same small-town church also left me with a strong sense of responsibility toward my faith community, so after attending Saint Matthias for about a year, I found myself dutifully settling in for my first annual meeting. I was pleasantly surprised—for several reasons!
There was only one major vote, and it was unanimous.
Instead of voting on every issue the church faces, Episcopal congregations elect a vestry to handle most of the church’s business. The vestry typically includes twelve members who serve three-year terms, with just a few people at a time rotating on and off. At Saint Matthias, we elect our new vestry members as a slate. Well in advance of the annual meeting, the rector and vestry nominate people, speak to them regarding their interest in serving, and publicly post a list of names. That means that at the meeting itself, the only remaining step is to elect them.
Rather than focusing on business decisions, the meeting focused on helping parishioners get an overview of what was going on in the church.
Since the vestry handles business decisions at its monthly meetings, the annual meeting is more of a “state of the church” event. It includes an overview of the budget as well as reports from the parish leaders involved with the Soup Hour, communications, women’s ministries, senior ministries, youth ministries, and small groups. It’s also an opportunity for members of the congregation to ask questions and share ideas.
As a newer member, participating in the annual meeting helped me feel more connected to Saint Matthias and helped me put faces to names that I’d been hearing since I first started attending. It also gave me a chance to see how the check I put in the offering plate each month was being spent.
There was an atmosphere of celebration.
A major part of the annual meeting is thanking the vestry members who have completed their three-year terms and welcoming those who are just beginning theirs. There are gifts and applause. The celebration continues as Fr. Bill and the representatives of the various ministries report on what has been accomplished over the past year. Overall, it is a positive, encouraging experience.
It was short!
I really didn’t know what to expect from my first annual meeting, but I was prepared to have a very late lunch afterward. I was pleased to be out in about an hour. This year’s meeting should be even shorter. It will follow an abbreviated service and take place right in the sanctuary. Fr. Bill tells me he hopes to keep it to around thirty minutes.
If you’re uncertain about whether to participate on Sunday, I encourage you to give it a try. Not only do I think you’ll find it far less tedious than you might expect, but I think you’ll come away with a stronger sense of your place in our community and a deeper understanding of how Saint Matthias strives to be, as Fr. Bill often says, an address for the Kingdom of God.
The Sixth Sunday in Epiphany: Jesus Interprets the Law
by Rev. Carole Horton-Howe
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.
The Sermon on the Mount - Carl Bloch
Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.
“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
“Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.”
—Matthew 5:21-37 (NRSV)
UCLA School of Law Library Tower - Photo by Coolcaesar at the English language Wikipedia
The Law School at UCLA has an extensive library. It’s three stories tall with a basement and takes up about a city block. It’s impressive and overwhelming. It contains, according to their website, 600,000 print volumes and over 35,000 electronic titles. I’m going to estimate that maybe 10% of these are books that law out the law whatever it might be -- laws of the state of California and Federal law but all specialties of civil law: local regulations, criminal law, maritime, insurance, real estate, education, non-profits, absolutely everything. And everywhere in the world. And the rest, the other 90%, are court cases with decisions and opinions about the application of those laws. From lower courts up through the Supreme Court. Some saying to lower courts you got this right or you got this wrong or partly right or partly wrong.
Every word of every sentence of every document is focused on one thing and one thing only: the answer to the question – how are we to live together?
The legal system is filled with passionate, well-meaning people, highly skilled at what they do. There seems to be a natural pull towards figuring this out, a yearning for truth and justice. The problem is this: they are trying to answer the question of how are we to live together without application of the teachings of Jesus. But there is no provision in the laws of the land for the stirrings of the heart.
In the gospel today, Jesus addresses some of the laws given through Moses, possibly the ones that were of greatest concern in the lives of those listening to him. And almost 2,000 years later we struggle with them as well. In last week’s gospel, Jesus sets the stage for what he’s about to say, for the epiphany that ah-ha! moment that can only come from him.
In the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us a description of the character of disciples fit for the Kingdom: those who mourn, who are meek, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who are merciful, who are pure in heart, the peacemakers and those who are persecuted so that virtue, integrity and uprightness win the day.
It’s important to understand that in each of these teachings Jesus is not contradicting the earlier statement. Jesus came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. Jesus came to call and form disciples in a community devoted to the higher righteousness. He’s not instructing anyone to set aside the law. What he is doing is clarifying its true meaning.
Jesus says: “You have heard that it was said to those in ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment.”
Jesus isn’t contradicting the commandment against murder, he is opening it up for us. He knows that even if we keep the commandment not to kill, we can still hate and despise others. We can follow the law, we can walk away from the actual act of ending another person’s life but if our hearts have not changed we still kill our relationships, still treat people as if they were dead to us.
The prospect of committing murder is pretty remote for most of us. But anger is not. Anger is something we fall into more often that we would like. Or if we look back at some of our relationships with others we recall the intensity of being angry.
Jesus tells us that following this commandant against murder means we stop hanging onto the anger that also kills. 1 John 3:14-15 says “we know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death.”
To nurse anger is to kill divine love. To kill love is to kill our human capacity to love. When our hearts are clenched in anger they are shut tight against God and the healing God provides. The fulfillment of the commandment not to kill is the formation of our hearts and minds so that we look at others not with anger, but rather with love.
And even more is asked of us than that: the commandment is given not just so that we won’t kill each other, but so that we will be the type of people who will seek out someone who has wronged us and work to be reconciled with them. This is not just a passive attempt to let anger go, it’s an affirmative decision that we make to be in love. Even when they are our enemies. Even when there is no chance that our love will be returned.
Let’s look at what Jesus says about adultery: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Again, Jesus isn’t contradicting the commandment, he is opening up for us. He knows that even if we keep the commandment not to commit adultery, we can still demean and belittle others. The lustful glance, the undressing with the eye, treating others as objects and taking advantage of the fragility of another person, even if it’s done at a distance. The true fulfillment of this commandment is a faithful heart that cherishes our partners and respects everyone we come into contact with.
Jesus says: “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no.’”
Jesus isn’t contradicting the commandment against swearing falsely, he is breaking it open for us. Jesus knows that even if we can keep from those overt and not to overt tall tales, we can still manipulate others with our words. We can make frivolous oaths in the name of heaven and belittle God’s holy name.
The command is not just about following the rule, but it is also about the formation of an honest character. The rule is followed not just for the sake of following it, but because by repeated attempts to follow the rule in our ever-changing circumstances, we become people who are disposed to act honestly.
Jesus shows us that the fulfillment of the law is not just to refrain from saying things we know are not true, but that the things we do say ought to be so reliable and honest. The better choice is to say “yes” and mean “yes” or to say “no” and mean “no.” Speak whatever you mean in truth and in love.
God gave us the commandments as guides and exhortations for the formation of our character, so that we might become people who are pure in heart and apply our hearts to all that we say and all that we do; so that we might love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind, and that we might love our neighbor as ourselves.
I spent 15 years as a paralegal. I went to the paralegal program at UCLA Law School which is where I got acquainted with the library. I, too, had that pull towards finding truth and searching for justice. And as a paralegal, I found that there is a lot to be had from the legal system, but there just isn’t much overlap between the legal system and justice. The only true justice we’ll ever get is from God. That’s not to say we should throw out all those thousands of volumes of laws. Not at all! We need those to keep a well ordered society. But it can’t end there. We can’t be satisfied with that. The letter of the law will never get us to the heart of God, will never shape our own hearts or offer the life that God desires for us.
A loving parent would say to a child “I love and cherish you. Every good gift that I know how to give is yours. I promise that nothing will ever change my devotion to you. Now go out into the rough and tumble of the world and live out your life with the knowledge of this love.” This is the Epiphany light that Jesus gives us – making plain that the good gifts that come from loving God are a life where anger has no place and destructive human relationships cannot endure. And then he says “Now, go out into the world and live this truth of love about me and about you.”
Amen.
Senior Warden's Report on the 2019 Diocesan Convention
by Tim Adams, Senior Warden
I hope all of you had an enjoyable and memorable holiday season, rejoicing in the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ!
Photo by Stan Jamieson
A couple of month’s ago, I promised that I would give you an update on participation in the Annual Diocesan Convention in November. I was sidetracked by the holidays and now I will share a bit of our experience with you. The convention was held at the Riverside Convention Center, last November 15 and 16. Our official delegation included Kathy Adams, Doug Overstreet, and me. Barbara Khan and Stan Jamieson attended as alternate lay delegates. Ellen Mykkanen was also in attendance and shared responsibility for Convention Altar Guild duties in addition to participating in the Convention Choir. Fr. Bill Garrison and Rev. Carole Horton-Howe were present as our clergy delegates.
The theme of the convention was “The Lifelong Way of Love”. The program focused on three components to this theme. Presence - Quieting the Self to Hear the Other; Kindness – Being the Peace of Christ in Anxious Times; Wisdom – Forming Well Educated Christians. Bishop Taylor opened the two-day program with a nod to St. Stephen’s parish in Santa Clarita which only the day before found itself in the midst of a community tragedy that claimed the lives of three Saugus High School students. During his opening address he proclaimed his “reckless optimism” about our church and its future.
Bishop Taylor was followed by equally inspiring presentations from Bishop Suffragan Diane Jardine Bruce and Canon to the Ordinary Melissa McCarthy. Bishop Bruce cited the Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s Way of Love practices – turn, learn, pray, worship, bless, go, rest – to factor into every aspect of our common life. Canon McCarthy shared her goal to visit as many churches as she can, because knowing our congregations makes her a more effective administrator.
There were speakers from a number of ministries within the Diocese. Dolores Huerta, our biannual Margaret Parker Memorial lecturer, gave a rousing presentation, and we closed Saturday afternoon with a beautiful Eucharist including over 800 participants.
I can’t find words to give the convention the credit it deserves. It serves as an opportunity to learn so much about other Episcopal congregations, the workings of our Church at large, and it opens the doors to so many ways in which we can become personally involved with those efforts. The convention is open to everyone. I hope you will consider attending next year. It will be held November 13-14, 2020, again, at the Riverside Convention Center.
If you are interested in attending the next diocesan convention, see Fr. Bill Garrison (bill@stmatthiaswhittier.org) or Mary Jean Christian.
The Fifth Sunday in Epiphany: Our Relationship with God and the World
by Fr. Bill Garrison
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.
Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
—Matthew 5:13-20 (NRSV)
Do you ever wonder why we love other people? I want to talk about that today if you don’t mind. We may have a number of reasons that come to mind as we answer the question inwardly but I wonder if what we are thinking is entirely accurate. Let’s find out together.
I want to start off with a story from my childhood if you don’t mind. I hope you will find it entertaining. I haven’t told it for a few years so maybe if you remember it you will enjoy it again.
Have any of you ever been fishing for catfish? More specifically have you ever been limb-lining at night for catfish? We used to do this all the time whenever I went back to Oklahoma. It’s not for the faint of heart. Let me describe the process for you.
Limb-lining is just what it says. You tie fishing lines to limbs and brush sticking out of the water or off the bank, put a hook on the end of the line, and put some bait for catfish on the hook which ends up a couple of feet below the surface of the water. You need a boat, a white sheet, fishing line, a bright light, some pretty large hooks, and some bait, along with all the other normal stuff you need to go fishing such as insect repellent.
You need to get to the fishing spot before sundown because this type of fishing is done on a river, or where a river empties into a lake, and there are a lot of old trees and brush in the water. Normally about thirty to fifty hooks are put out and this needs to be done while it’s still light.
Now anywhere you put a line with a hook on it you need to put a “flag” so you can find it after dark. This is what the sheet is for. You tear strips of sheet so that you can find the lines after dark when a strong light is shined on it from the boat as it cruises along.
Now let’s think about insect repellent. I have seen grown men lose their minds because of mosquitoes. I mean lose their minds. First they begin to beat at themselves, then they begin to dance around, and finally they begin to holler and curse and run up the bank if they are not in a boat. The mosquitoes come in swarms and they begin to look huge, sort of like buzzards. There is an old story about two mosquitoes talking to one another. “Should we eat him here or take him home?” Going limb lining without insect repellant is not a good idea.
So at this point you are getting the idea. This is not like other things you do in life. And it all comes down to the bait. What are the catfish in the mood for tonight? Everyone has a favorite and most folks will insist it is the best. Some like stink bait. This is just awful stuff. Some like minnows. Some like crawdads. There are all kinds of favorite baits.
Well one afternoon we were getting ready to go and my uncle was insisting on minnows. He was positive they were the best. I like minnows too. I hate stink bait although some swear by it. Sherry said, “How about some frozen shrimp?” Both my uncle and I looked at her as if she had lost her mind. We didn’t even bother to discuss it with her. Whoever heard of such a thing? Frozen shrimp indeed! Well we bought a bunch of minnows and Sherry bought a package of frozen shrimp.
And off we went. Well you already guessed the end of the story. We tried minnows for hours and caught nothing. Finally, desperate for our luck to change we tried the shrimp. The catfish loved them. We could have used a couple more boxes. My uncle and I had egg all over our faces. We were both a lot more ready to listen to suggestions in the future will tell you.
Now I went limb-lining with both my uncles, my dad, and a couple times with Sherry. Sometimes we caught fish. Sometimes we didn’t catch any or very many. One time my uncle lost the catch by dropping it in the water. But whether we caught a lot or none at all we always had a great time. Our success or lack of success had nothing to do with whether we had fun or not. What mattered was that we were together. We enjoyed being together whatever we were doing. Why? Because we loved each other and the reason was just because we did. Our love was not earned because somebody did something. Our love for each other didn’t need to be earned. It just was because we were, we existed.
If you were listening to the gospel read by Kay a few minutes ago you heard some diverse passages. I want to address the first two. Jesus said we were the salt of the earth and Jesus said we were like light. These are great images.
Salt in the first century was used for a number of things. It made a fire brighter. It was in some places used as money. It was used to season food. I am sure there were other uses. We still use it today.
But Jesus didn’t say we were like it. Jesus said we were it. There’s a difference. In one way of thinking, salt as a metaphor, we are being asked to become something, to be useful. When we recognize we already are the salt of the earth we see that we are already the seasoning of the planet, we only need continue to do what we already are.
Jesus also said to let our line shine. Nobody covers up a light with a basket, you let it shine. Jesus is telling us we are already a shining light. We don’t need to become anything other than what we already are. Just let it shine. Don’t cover it up. Be who you are. Be who you have been created to be.
We listen to so many voices shouting at us in our lives, telling us how we should function. The voices come at us from every direction. We all hear them. It seems to me they boil down to telling us what to want, what to have, and what to do. They are giving us instructions about living from the outside-in and asking us to internalize these instructions as our belief structure.
There’s a huge problem with outside-in thinking. It doesn’t take into account who we are, our individuality, our very being. Inside each and every one of us exists our very being. Down below everything else is that person we have always been and always will be, our very essence created by God and in partnership with God.
Photo by George Becker from Pexels.
When our interaction with the world begins from inside-out, things change in a dramatic way. What emerges is who we are, the salt of the world, the light that should never be hidden under a basket. That doesn’t happen outside-in.
And so I think our invitation is to recognize that the joy we find in loving others is to recognize that we see their light shining no matter whether we catch any fish or we don’t. We love them for who they are, not what the world would have them be. We love their very being. Isn’t it time once again for each of us to seriously consider our being, the essence of who we are that is in partnership with God?
And recognize once again that we are the salt of the earth. Let the light shine. Uncover it. Just let it go what is already there.
Prayer
by Fr. Bill Garrison
We soon will be heading into Lent and it’s probably a good time to think about prayer. I recently had lunch with the Reverends Carole Horton-Howe and Carolyn Estrada and we were talking about possible subjects for our upcoming Lenten Series. Reverend Carolyn had previously sent me some of her notes about prayer and I had lost track of them, so she sent me those same notes again. They are the basis for this article and some of the words I use, and heartily endorse, that follow are hers and not my own. Also please know we will be forming a prayer study group in the near future to study and experience prayer in its many forms.
What is prayer? It is the intentional bringing of oneself into the presence of God. Prayer can be spoken or silent. There are categories of prayer. Yet there are no rules concerning prayer and no judgment attached to how we pray.
Prayer space can be important. These are places where we can go and leave the world behind. Specific times to pray are helpful for some people too. The Episcopal Prayer Book is a great aid for individuals and families in ordering prayer life.
One form of prayer you may have heard of Contemplative Prayer. It’s prayer without words. The idea is that we bring ourselves into God’s presence to listen, to hear God in the silence of our lives.
Another is praying with Icons. This comes from an Eastern Orthodox tradition and is very sacred. The Icons are viewed as windows into the divine. When a person prays with an Icon they generally kneel or are seated comfortably while focusing on the icon and feeling drawn into the scene.
Lectio Divina is related to contemplative prayer through the use of scripture. Whereas previously we talked about using an icon to focus in this form of prayer we use scripture in Lectio Divina.
Body Prayer is another way to come into contact with the Holy. One might use a Rosary, or a labyrinth, or take a trip to a holy site to facilitate the movement into the Holy.
There are many other ways we can pray. Some are formal and some are spontaneous. I often suggest people use everyday experience to prompt prayer. For example pray in the shower or when you touch the door of your car.
However we pray it’s important. It’s a little like exercise. The more we do it the healthier we become and the better able we are to weather the storms of life that inevitably come upon us. Besides that being with God can be just about as good as it gets.
Please keep your eyes and ears open for upcoming opportunities to learn more about this important subject.
The Presentation of Our Lord: Trusting God’s Promises
by Rev. Carole Horton-Howe
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.
Andrea Celesti, Presentación de Jesús en el Templo, 1710
When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, the parents of Jesus brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord"), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,
“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel."
And the child's father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed-- and a sword will pierce your own soul too."
There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.
—Luke 2:22-40 (NRSV)
Today is a day of celebrations and rituals. I’m talking of course about Super Bowl Sunday which has evolved into a national celebration. Even those who don’t care for the actual game or the teams that are playing look forward to gathering to share friendship and food and marvel at the ritual of that all important first commercial break and ponder together was it really worth the millions spent on it?
For us in the church it’s also a special day. It’s Candlemas or The Feast of the Presentation. Candlemas is celebrated 40 days after Christmas Day. It recalls how Jesus was taken to Jerusalem by his parents to the Temple, the most holy of all places of his religious faith, and dedicated to God in an ancient, sacred ritual. And it’s a story of two people who have spent their entire lives waiting for the light that is the Messiah and, after years of patient devotion to God, finally seeing that light.
Maybe because it’s secular and holy feast day, the story of the Holy Family’s encounter with Simeon and Anna reminds me of a story about a young man and his experience, along with his dad, and his lesson in trust and patience. In 1958 the NFC play-off game was between the New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts featuring their incredible quarterback, Johnny Unitas. Stephen’s dad managed to get 4 tickets for their family but at the last minute his sister became ill and his mom stayed home with her. So they had two tickets to sell with a face value of $8 each.
So they arrive at the stadium and the place is crazy busy, packed with fans and noise and excitement. His dad gets a lot of interest about the tickets but he’s looking for just the right buyer. This goes on for a while and Stephen’s getting impatient. They can hear the band play, the announcement of the teams coming onto the field. Why doesn’t dad just sell the tickets especially when we can get a lot of money for them so they can go in? But his dad waits. Scanning the passing crowd for just the right face. Finally Dad sees just who he’s looking for – an older man, who seems by his appearance to be a working man, with a little boy at his side. Dad approaches him and asks if he’s looking to buy tickets. Yes, comes the answer, and asking how much. “Just looking to get my money back, $16 for the pair,” dad tells him. The older man reaches in his pocket, pulls out a $5, some singles and some change. They all go into the game together.
Stephen says he gained two things that day. First – a friend. The old man’s grandson became a lifelong fast friend as a result of meeting that day. And he gained appreciation for trust with patience - trusting that just who you’re looking for will be there if you have the patience to trust and, drawing strength from that trust, to persevere.
And so it is for the Holy Family in today’s Gospel passage, moving through the crowds of Jerusalem with an infant in arms and sacrifice in hand, headed to the Temple to fulfill a ritual obligation. Imagine the sights and smells of dust and splattered mud, market stalls and incense. Livestock sounds and oven smoke. Voices laughing, arguing. How different from their home in Nazareth it must have been.
Then, as they enter the temple, a man steps into their path. A stranger but with an air of trustworthiness and devotion, of wisdom and hopeful expectation. Eyes locking, Mary places her precious child into his arms as the business of the temple goes on around them. There must have been many couples with baby boys there that day and like every day. But this child and this mother were the answer to Simeon and Anna’s prayers.
Old Simeon, a regular sight at the temple, who has been waiting and waiting for this moment, is rapturous. He’s joined by another elder, Anna, equally so. Mary can tell from Simeon’s expression, though: he knows. He knows this is not just any child. He knows her son is someone truly special. She sees that he sees that her son is light.
Simeon, and Anna too, know who Jesus is not because they happen to be in the right place at the right time but because the Holy Spirit in them allowed them to see that God was at work in this family and this child. Both of them recognized that, in this moment, what Malachi promised had come to pass: “The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.” And thus, God had fulfilled God’s promise to Israel; the King of Glory had come in and redemption was at hand.
There will be pain, it’s unavoidable. Those haunting words must also be said, “a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
For Mary the pain and the gladness are interwoven so very tightly, forming a sort of textile whose pattern is not yet clear. There is only this moment, this encounter of blessing and dread, a promise of hope amid endurance, as the city goes about its business.
So we are left a little confused about the Feast of the Presentation. Is it a joyful occasion? A somber one? Can we ever fully separate those two experiences in our lives as followers of Jesus?
Ancient though this encounter might be, the scene is could still seem familiar to us, rushing as we do through the crowded marketplace of 21st-century life. Whether we live in a city or not, we know what it is like to go about our business, focusing on the task at hand. And just when we start to get lost in our own narrative, a stranger bumps into us and tells us something we need to hear -- something true, something that jolts us back into understanding that our God can be trusted to bring us the light we need. It may not be in the time and place and way we expect. But we can live confidently, hopefully that it will come. And we will be drawn into a greater story than ourselves if we look for it and allow it to become part of us.
We had a small group here at St. Matthias last year that read together Krista Tippets’ book “Becoming Wise.” And in it, she tells the story of a Detroit neighborhood that had suffered for years as the economy of the area became worse and worse. Families that were scraping by with both parents working 2 or 3 jobs found themselves devastated and wondering how they would survive when those jobs dried up. Neighborhoods were decimated. Many blocks had more homes abandoned and collapsed than occupied. So folks who were left began to plant gardens and raise their own food in vacant lots.
At first this was for their very survival. But something very tangible and holy happened: they rediscovered real food. Tippet interviewed residents Myrtle Thompson and Wayne Curtis about their experience. They talked effusively about growing three types of kale, tomatoes, bell peppers, squash, strawberries, raspberries – and herbs for seasoning like basil, cilantro and parsley. The news of corn and okra thriving there brought people from all over. A bountiful eggplant crop brought people from Indian culture into the garden and they got recipes. “Along with food we’re growing culture, we’re growing community, we’re growing things to make sure our existence is no longer threatened. Watching people come, watching the kids and seeing stuff grow,” Myrtle said “I didn’t know it would look like that.”
Wayne told her, “It’s not just a garden that gives you the warm fuzzies. When we come here we can see hope pushing up out of the ground. Our identity is no longer connected to Del Monte. We’re part of the whole ecological system that has existed since the beginning. And that changes your relationship with the earth and with another person.”
Planting, harvesting and welcoming gave them a glimpse of the holy revealing the love of God and the truth of the Gospel, that we are made to struggling together in joy and sorrow in community.
As followers of Jesus, in fact, we gain so much by pursuing these hard and surprising encounters, following the Christ Child into the temple, as it were, and seeing who we might find there to tell us about ourselves. When we do, we are placing ourselves in a vulnerable position that risks colliding with strangers and places and ideas. But we know that if we don’t, the Simeons and the Annas of the world will never find us. We will never rejoice with them; we will never see what they see; we will never understand ourselves through them.
And so, on this day, on a feast that contains both joy and sorrow, in a temple that contains both blessing and burden, we learn this:
Every so often, someone of them will stop us in our tracks and change our story forever. Let us look for Simeon; let us look for Anna – enduring the darkness in confident hope of seeing God’s promises to us fulfilled. Let us see the light in each other. It is as simple as this: two strangers in the same place, eyes lock from afar. And the world is never the same.
Amen.
The Third Sunday in Epiphany: Jesus' Call to Us
by Fr. Bill Garrison
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.
Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
“Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people who sat in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death
light has dawned.”
From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.
—Matthew 4:12-23 (NRSV)
As a reminder we are still in the season of Epiphany. It is the time of the year when we expect the unexpected, and that which was not visible becomes so. We look at things from a different angle and see things from another perspective. This week we are going to look at being ready when the moment comes. Here is one example.
The strongman at a circus squeezed the juice from a lemon between his hands. He then said to the audience, “I will offer $200 to anyone in the audience who can squeeze another drop from this lemon. A thin scholarly looking woman came forward, picked up the lemon, strained hard and managed to get a drop. The strongman was amazed. He paid the woman and asked, “What is the secret of your strength?" “Practice," the woman answered. “I was the treasurer of an Episcopal Church for thirty-two years!"
Photo by Almog
The gospel this morning is one with which we are familiar. It’s the story of Jesus beginning to call his disciples. He has returned to Galilee after his time in the desert and his baptism and is walking beside the Sea of Galilee close to his new home in Capernaum. The Sea of Galilee, by the way, hasn’t changed much in the last two thousand years. It’s the lowest fresh water lake in the world at seven hundred feet below sea level, and it is thirteen miles long and eight miles wide. In places it is a couple of hundred feet deep.
Walking along Jesus came upon two sets of fishermen working on their nets. Without any preamble he asks them to follow him. He promises to make them fishers of men. Immediately they do so. Game, set, and match; it’s the end of the story.
Well, obviously Jesus is pretty charismatic. I imagine we have a number of politicians in this country that wish they could do the same trick Jesus just accomplished. Tell people to follow them, and so they do.
Today, I want to look at this story from the fisherman’s perspective instead of the perspective of Jesus. I want to spend some time thinking about them and why they might have been so ready to jump up and follow Him.
Let’s set the stage. This is the first century and Rome is completely in charge of everything. They have their fingers in every pie. Herod, the local Hebrew King, is an awful man. He would have you executed for looking at him the wrong way. The back of the average person was breaking under the Roman yoke. To make matters worse the Temple Priests were in cahoots with the government as were some of the Jewish people who had become tax collectors. For the average person it was a matter of survival every day.
One of the tenants of prayer at that time was that if you hadn’t prayed for the messiah to come, you hadn’t prayed at all. Everyone was hoping and praying for the savior, someone to lead them out from under the weight of The Roman Empire.
And so we see these men sitting there mending their nets knowing this was their prayer too. They were simple fishermen. But please note they may not have been poor fishermen. When they left Zebedee in the boat, they left him with the hired help. You don’t hire employees if you are broke. The point is you could make a decent living as a fisherman at the time and they were probably up to date regarding the world around them.
Now let’s speed ahead into the Gospel of Luke for a moment. Do you remember when Jesus was arrested? I’m sure you will remember that Peter cut the ear off one of the Roman guards. So we know they weren’t pacifists.
Let’s think about Galilee. What sect of Judaism was based in Galilee? Well there were four sects for the most part. The Sadducees were the Temple priests in Jerusalem. The Essenes had given up on society and moved out of town to write the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Pharisees were trying to figure out how to live a Godly life correctly. That just leaves the Zealots. They lived in Galilee primarily. They were the ones that started a war with Rome that commenced thirty years after the crucifixion of Jesus. They were a wild bunch, ready to fight, impetuous, and really tired of Roman rule.
If you listen to the descriptions of Jesus’ disciples you find men who are violent, impetuous, wild, and ready to do things on the spur of the moment. I submit to you, as do many scholars, that if they weren’t Zealots.
And so when Jesus beckons them they are ready to go. Perhaps they already knew him. Personally I think they did. The point is that they think they have found their leader, the messiah who was going to throw Rome off their backs. They were ready to follow him.
You see Jesus was telling everyone that the Kingdom of God had come close. The time was here. God was in charge of the cosmos, not Rome. This was music, a war cry, to their ears. Never mind that the messiah they expected was not the messiah they got. That came later. For the moment they were ready to go to war with him.
I have heard it said that the transition of the disciples from the band when Jesus met them to the Apostles that led the early church is the final and greatest miracle of Jesus. I think there is a good case to be made for that.
We too have heard the call of Jesus, calling us to follow him, and we have chosen to do so. Perhaps our decision isn’t as dramatic as the stories of the disciples, but we have been called to follow never the less.
We ask ourselves, can a person follow Jesus without leaving everything behind as the disciples did? Should we become priests or join a holy order or work in a soup kitchen? Simply put can we be Christians in place without changing our basic lifestyle?
The answer I think is yes and no. Yes we can remain where we are, doing what we do. But we will not remain the same people from the inside out as we were before we started consciously following the example Jesus has set for us.
You see the Holy Spirit resides within each and every one of us. Where we were when Jesus called us, and where we are today are not the same place. The spirit of God within us changes us slowly into the people we are becoming, the creations God intends for us to become. This is the very best of the grace of God; God working within us as an answer to God’s call.
So I submit to you there is another miracle going on we might not be aware of. The disciples followed Jesus and became different people, the early apostles of the church. We too are just such a miracle as God changes us within as we answer God’s call and learn to live life from the inside out with the Holy Spirit rather than outside in as the world would have us believe we need to do.
The Second Sunday in Epiphany: “Come and See"
by Fr. Bill Garrison
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
—John 1:29-42 (NRSV)
I want to remind you that we are in the second week of Epiphany. We are looking for what we have not seen before or perhaps examining what we have previously seen but with a new understanding. Maybe we will see things with new eyes.
On June the 3rd of 1998 I had a heart attack. Now at one time I would have told you that it was a minor heart attack. I think I used to tell myself that to make myself feel better. But the truth is there are no minor heart attacks. There are those that arrange our meeting with God and those that don’t. Some may leave us here waiting to meet God but somewhat debilitated. But however you have one there are no minor heart attacks.
For me personally I would say mine was minor since I was left to live out my life in a pretty normal state. They say it could have killed me but it didn’t. As a result of this health scare I have a stint on the artery called “the widow maker”.
After three days in the hospital I was sent home. I will never forget the drive home as long as I inhabit this mortal sphere and that’s the point of telling you this story. The world had changed in three days time. The sky was bluer. The flowers were awesome, the colors being brighter. There were birds everywhere. Clouds were sailing along in the sky. People were more important to me. I noticed everything, animals, people, signs, stoplights, the softness of my bed, everything.
I swore to myself I would never let go of this new reality I was experiencing once again. I had been given a second chance and I wasn’t going to blow it. The little things that had always bothered me were going to be ignored. The beauty in people and the world were going to be what I paid attention to.
And of course it didn’t last for me. Today I can only catch moments of this heightened awareness. I am grateful when these moments occur and wish they occurred more often.
Some people I have known seem to naturally have a more heightened awareness than the rest of us. They are a wonder to me. Yesterday we celebrated the life of John Maidlow, a man dear to the hearts of many of us. He seemed to be such a man. He saw what others did not. He was aware of color and style and beauty. His sense of humor was well developed and always on display. As a designer he did some amazing things. By his office door there is a display of a home he designed the interior of. Each room of the home was designed around a moving theme. In the entry is a ticket booth. I have seen pictures. The design and completion are just amazing.
It seems that people like John are often referred to fondly as somewhat child like. Nothing negative is meant by this. It’s a description that implies we too would like to be more like them. Their imaginations and their awareness of surroundings remain sharp much like the rest of us remember experiencing as children. For the adults in the room, do you remember using your imagination in your play and being fascinated by nature?
Every so often I encounter a song that almost always causes me to tear up. It’s Puff the Magic Dragon sung by Peter, Paul, and Mary in 1963. It’s about a little boy named Jackie Paper and an imaginary dragon named Puff that love each other and play together every day. I want to read a few lines to you now. I hope I make it through as the song tears me up every time I encounter it.
A dragon lives forever but not so little boys.
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.
One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more,
And Puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.
We change as we get older. We become “mature”. And I suppose we must, but along the way most of us lose something huge, the ability to be childlike, the ability to see all the magic in the world around us. And I think that is where my tears come from when I hear that song. I feel that great loss and lament its passing.
In the gospel today Jesus invited two of John’s disciples to follow him. “What are you looking for”, he asked? “Come and see.” He gave them a great invitation. Come and see what I have to show you.
When my kids were small they were constantly asking me to come and see something they thought was important or wonderful. It was an invitation to me to enter their world of magic. Come and see this huge bug. Come and watch me run or catch a ball. Come and see the picture I made in school or Sunday school. Come and see the grade I made on my paper. Come and see me play sports. Come and see the hole I dug. Come and see this big bird, or that big dog, or some wildlife in the mountains. Come and see dad! Come and see!
Jesus too invites us. Come and see! What are you looking for? Come and see!
I think we would be wise to stop and ask a question, an important question. Why did God create the cosmos? Is it a big test for us? Is it pass or fail? Do we get a grade? Bill, if you get at least a 70 you may move on to heaven, anything less and I am sorry you don’t get to go on.
Really? Is this really what it’s all about? A big test? I am sorry folks but I refuse to believe that. Jesus leads me in another direction. Come and see!
Again and again in scripture Jesus irritates those in power by breaking the rules. He is constantly breaking Sabbath rules by “working” on the Sabbath. We find him helping others again and again on the Sabbath, meanwhile driving the bean counters crazy. We find him spending time with “sinners”, again driving the bean counters out of their minds.
Was the Sabbath made for man or was man made for the Sabbath? That’s the question he asks. Is Sabbath a test and a straight jacket for conduct or is Sabbath a day of rest and refreshment? It’s a simple question with far reaching answers.
I would like to ask another. Was everything that exists created by God as a test for us or was the world created by God for its own beauty and as an Eden for us to live in?
I think you already know the answer to the question. As a big test makes no sense whatsoever does it? As a thing of beauty, including ourselves as beautiful makes a lot more sense. We and the world are beautifully made. We are already complete. God already passed the test, if one even existed, for us, on our behalf.
Our job then is not only to be mature and handle ourselves as adults, but to also free the child that exists within each of us. Jesus invites us to enter the Kingdom of God as little children, innocent, seeing magic, enjoying beauty, using our imaginations, asking questions.
Jesus asks us, “What are you looking for?” Come and see. Climb out of that rut. Open your eyes. Find your dragon you left behind. He misses you.
The First Sunday in Epiphany: Seeing with New Eyes
by Fr. Bill Garrison
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
—Matthew 3:13-17
Epiphany begins today. Epiphany is when the hidden becomes evident. Something might have been in plain sight but for the first time we become aware of its presence and truly discover what it is as opposed to what we previously believed. We have an “epiphany”, if you will. Here is an example.
A honeymoon couple was in the famous Watergate Hotel in Washington. The bride was concerned about security as anyone might be in that hotel and asked, "What if the place is still bugged?"
The groom thought about and wondered about it himself. "I'll look for a bug."
He looked behind the drapes, behind the pictures, under the rug. Finally, he said, "AHA!" Under the rug was a disc with four screws. With a big smile on his face he got his Swiss army knife, unscrewed the screws, and threw them and the disc out the window.
The next morning, the hotel manager stopped by the room and asked the newlyweds, "How was your room? How was the service? How was your stay at the Watergate Hotel?"
The groom replied suspiciously, "Why are you asking me all of these questions?"
To which the hotel manager said, "Well, the couple in the room under you complained that the chandelier fell on them.”
Today we heard the story of the baptism of Jesus. He was about thirty years old when it occurred. I am sure lots of people had known him pretty well and had known him for a long time. Yet it wasn’t until the moment of his baptism that they began to get a glimpse of who he truly was. Until then he was just a carpenter, a man with brothers and sisters in the little town of Nazareth in Galilee, son of Mary and Joseph. Nazareth was no big deal and he probably wasn’t thought of as anybody extraordinary either. As Nathanial famously said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
But that day witnesses saw him baptized by John, saw the Holy Spirit light upon him somewhat like a dove, and heard the voice of God. "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
And they looked at him with new eyes. They might not have recognized him as the long awaited messiah, but they knew he was way more special than they previously were aware.
Have you ever come to know someone as more than you had previously thought? Perhaps it might have been a boss or an associate? It has happened to me and I think the most dramatic example is my maternal grandmother.
I have spoken about her a few times. I hope I am not overdoing it now, but here we go as I talk about her again. Growing up she was just my grandmother. She was a lady, and adult, that I can’t say I knew particularly well. She was always nice to me. She cooked a lot. She made cakes and candy. She lived on a farm and obviously didn’t have a lot of money. She fired up the pickup truck on Sundays and went into town to church and taught Sunday school. She took great care of my granddad, a person who appeared to be somewhat helpless without her. I remember she liked to work crossword puzzles and chat with other people. I can’t say I ever heard her raise her voice. I know I never heard her say a mean word to or about anyone.
But she was just my grandmother, nothing more and nothing less. And it stayed that way all my childhood and well into my time as an adult. I guess truthfully I didn’t have my epiphany about her until I entered seminary and started studying the life of Jesus Christ in detail.
And then it hit me like a ton of bricks. In my entire life I then realized I had never met another person like my grandmother. I recognized for the first time that she was the best example of what Jesus was probably like that I would ever encounter. I still feel that way. I have crossed paths with a number of holy people in my life as an ordained person. Not one has approached the sanctity of my grandmother.
You see the things I took for granted about her were the very things that made her special. She listened. She cared. She loved. She was not judgmental in any way. She had time if you needed it. She had sympathy and patience. She was smart. She was insightful. And I finally realized this was God’s gift to me. Her presence in my life was a seed that would grow and sprout much later. I became aware that this Jesus I was studying was a lot like my grandmother. In an important way I had already encountered Jesus. That was my epiphany. She remains a shining example of the holy for me to this day.
Now I am hopeful I can help each of you have an epiphany today just as the crowd did when Jesus was baptized or I did when I was able to see my grandmother for who she was.
I would like you to think about God and your relationship with God. And then I would like for you to recognize that you did not create God. You did not create your relationship with God. God created you and God reached out to you and that is why you have a relationship with God.
One of my favorite theologians, Karl Barth, reminds us that there is a fixed chasm between us and God. Had God not been willing to make God’s self known to us we would never have known about our creator or even of God’s existence. We only know God exists because God reached out to us.
And so I am going to suggest something perhaps a bit radical to you. God made us. We came out of the mind of God. What we are is what God created. Whatever each of us may have done, good or bad, does not change God’s love for God’s creation. Please remember what God said at the baptism of Jesus. "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
God said that about Jesus before he had done a thing. His ministry hadn’t even started yet. He was already the beloved just because he was God’s. Just as the father forgave the prodigal son before he could even as for forgiveness God loves God’s creation no matter what.
So I am going to ask us to sit quietly for a couple of minutes and think about it. God created you. God forgives you before you can even ask for forgiveness. You are God’s beloved. Just ponder that for a bit.
"This is my child, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Second Sunday in Christmas: A Lesson from the Wise Men
by Rev. Carole Horton-Howe
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising and have come to pay him homage." When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
`And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.'"
Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage." When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
—Matthew 2:1-12 (NRSV)
Photo by Jonathan Meyer from Pexels
Today is the last day of the Christmas season or Christmastide. The arrival of the Magi complete the story. So many Christmas decorations and Christmas cards include images of the Magi or Wise Men that it’s easy to forget that they wandered the desert for months before arriving at the place where the star led them. So it’s appropriate that on this 12th day of Christmas we hear a story about following the light of a star and the forces of darkness that tried to smother it. Tomorrow we’ll begin the Epiphany season – shifting from rejoicing at God’s coming among us to reflecting on what it means to us and to the life of the world.
Matthew’s is the only gospel that talks about the Magi’s visit. This story gives us a level of reality that jolts us in a way that Luke does not. Luke’s gospel is full of lovely images of angels singing and shepherds with lambs kneeling before the newborn baby. Matthew’s story, though, has all the intrigue of a Hollywood blockbuster -- rampant ambition and greed, fear and lust for power. Herod, a puppet ruler of the Romans, was so insecure that he executed his mother, his wife and three sons because he feared that they were plotting to take his throne. His encounter with the Magi on their quest to find the infant king triggers Herod’s cruelty streak yet again. And so he has hundreds of baby boys murdered in a futile effort to destroy the one little boy predicted and destined to grow up and rule Israel.
The Epiphany gospel story illustrates something critically important in the development of our faith – want it means to a community united in belief as God intends us to be. This embodiment of community instead of “us” versus “them” does not come easily, however.
Christmas is a traditional time for expressions of unity. Even during world wars, combatants often stopped fighting and sang to their enemies or even walked across the battle line to share gifts with them. At the local level, Christmas is a time when we do seem to embrace the idea of peaceful community together.
But Christmas has passed. The cards and banners proclaiming “peace on earth goodwill to all” have been put away or discarded. And if we are honest, we understand that the spirit of peace that seems to come to easily in the lead up to Christmas is fading and will continue to fade with each passing day as we return to our regular routines. If we are honest, we will admit that no assessment of the current world and national culture is clearer than the realization that people everywhere seem willing to tolerate a deep ideological divide. We live in a time when compromise is often seen as weakness and party and tribal purity, the classic duality of “us” verses “them” thinking, is commonplace.
“They” constitute a threat and everything about “them” is suspect. Emotionalism, blaming and scapegoating are no longer shock us. This is a time of believing that if you do not agree with us, you must be wrong. It may go so far as a conviction that only “we” have the right answer or access to God.
This is a time when the list of “us” verses “them” seems almost endless: whites against people of color; liberals against conservatives; Westerners against Middle Easterners; Muslims against Christians; rich against poor; male against female; native against foreign. “Us” against “them.” These aren’t easy concepts to talk about or to hear. But none of us are strangers to them, to walking on eggshells around family or friends or co-workers that we know or perhaps suspect have different views than the ones we hold. Falling into “us” versus “them” is all too easy to do. And it couldn’t take us further from being the community that God wants us to be.
The good news in today’s gospel story of honoring the Christ child is that it marks the beginning of the new understanding of peace, cooperation and unity. It recognizes that God is the God of all people, a God of unity, a God who moves God’s people beyond the trap of “us” against “them.” Jesus, born in a small town in a totally Jewish environment, was visited by learned scholars from another world. These foreigners came into the midst of the chosen people to remind us once more that our task is to embrace and teach the view that no one is so different that we dare treat them with less love or less respect than we would show those whom we know as brothers and sisters.
Paul’s letter to the Galatians reminds us of this: “In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” No “other” who exists beyond God’s love. It reminds us that divisiveness like we experience so often is not consistent with the values of God.
The reality of God is the unity of all people – Jew and gentile, Christian and Muslim, conservative and liberal, rich and poor, male and female, black and white and red and brown, married and single, gay and straight, young and old – “us” and “them.” Through a unifying God, we are related to all people – and not just related in a common humanity but related in a much more profound way – through the Christ honored by the wise men and acknowledged as Lord of both Jew and gentile.
These "wise men from the East" were Gentiles, who saw the star -- a sign from God -- and followed it. They followed it across deserts and mountains and across natural and national barriers -- even across their own scholarly barriers of skepticism and disdain and fear -- and came at last to the place where the newborn King lay. And when they saw him, they knelt down before him. In other words, they committed themselves to follow him. And they were welcomed.
How do we know they were welcomed? Their gifts were accepted. They were given shelter. They were given safe passage back to their homes. Their story has been told through the centuries. In fact, their gifts are prophetic symbols of the whole life of this newborn King. The gold, which represents wealth and royalty, was the sign that he would be king. The frankincense -- incense, which was burned daily in the Jerusalem temple as a holy offering to God -- was the sign that he was holy, our "Great High Priest," as the letter to the Hebrews calls him. And the myrrh, a bitter spice used to wrap the bodies of the dead, was the sign that, royal and holy though he was, he would die.
And what about us? We are the gentiles, called to be part of the covenant of love and peace, heirs of the promise of God given through the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are called to transcend all the barriers to come. Not very many of us actually have to cross vast deserts on camelback. But we do have to transcend our own barriers: our skepticism and prejudices, our self-centeredness, our pre-conceived ideas, our pride -- whatever we find in the hard work of discernment separates us from the love of God. We are called out of ourselves and into Christ, to praise and worship the one who is God’s love come to earth.
And we are not alone. There are still strangers and sojourners in our world, people seeking light and truth, the love of God and the peace of Christ. The stable door is always open to all. And those of us who have arrived earlier, are called upon to welcome the stranger and traveler to the stable, to the Eucharistic table, to our hearts, and to life in Christ.
Having worshipped at the manger, the Wise Men carried the light of Christ out into the world with them, as they returned to their homes. So we, too, are called to rise from our worship at the manger and with celebrations in our hearts move steadily into the world, bearing the light of Christ -- to the places we work, the places we study, the places we play.
At the close of Christmastide in one church, a priest tells the story of one young member who was fascinated by the crèche they kept in a side chapel. More than once he found this young child in front of the figures, gazing intently and turning them over in his hands. On the day of Epiphany he got a frantic call from the child’s mother who started by stammering an apology. “What’s the matter?” the priest asked. The mother explained that her son had asked at church the previous Sunday what would happen to the crèche and figures now that Christmas was over. His mother, trying to reassure him, said that everything would be packed away safely until Christmas Eve next year. To her surprise she found the figure of the baby Jesus on her son’s nightstand that morning. He had taken it home, he told her, because he didn’t want Jesus kept in a box. “I brought him home,” he told her. “He’ll be safe here with me.”
We are called to go from this place keeping the baby Jesus safely with us.
The Light of Christ!
Thanks be to God!
Amen.