The Fourth Sunday after the Ephiphany: Epiphany Moments

January 31, 2022 Andrea Schmid

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.

Luke 4:21-30

Jesus began to speak in the synagogue at Nazareth: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph's son?”

He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.'“ And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”

When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

Let us pray:

Holy God, give us wisdom to perceive you, intelligence to understand you, diligence to seek you, patience to wait for you, eyes to see you, a heart to meditate on you, and a life to proclaim you, through the power of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

We’ve just prayed the simple but powerful prayer of St. Benedict. And it speaks beautifully to what happens in the gospel today which is “the rest of the story.” Last Sunday we heard about Jesus reading in his hometown synagogue from Isaiah. His closing affirmation last week is what opens our reading this week.

Jesus tells them stories to remind them that that they were the people chosen by God to live their lives in a way that shows the faith, hope, and love that God desires for all people. What he is saying with all these stories and proverbs is, in effect, “Get with it. Be a companion of those who are brokenhearted. Give hope to those without vision. Work to free the oppressed. Forgive people from their debts. Live that kind of life. You are already God’s people called to do God’s work, just like me.”

The wonderful thing about these Epiphany gospel lessons is that they don’t paint an entirely pretty picture for us. They also take into account the pitfalls we encounter on our own epiphany journeys. Luke does not want us to believe it’s a simple and painless process - even for Jesus Christ. He even begins with those famous cautionary words, “no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.” Preaching to the people of Nazareth, his own hometown, Jesus tells of the work of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, and of how they were able to help isolated sufferers, but by no means all of the people who were in need. These were not stories the folks in the synagogue that day wanted to hear – especially from one of their own.

They cannot see beyond the little kid from the neighborhood who is grew up playing with their kids. Now one of their own is enjoying fame as a beloved rabbi, healer and miracle worker. That’s all they want to see and hear from him. But as it happened, there was no Epiphany moment for those people in that place.

I wonder if you have every felt an Epiphany moment of understanding who you are and who you are called to be in spite of how others saw you – or couldn’t see you? I hope so. I think many of us have. It’s almost like getting a new pair of glasses that shows you secret things that are really happening so that you finally understand your true promise and potential, the truth of God’s dream for you. And once you’ve looked through those lenses – whether it’s an epiphany about yourself or someone else - your life is transformed. You can relax into the way forward that is so clear. And you just don’t go back.

I’ve told this story before about my own Epiphany. Please forgive me if you’ve heard it before. I was Assisting Chaplain at a retirement community while I was in seminary. Understandably, we did many memorial services. At one of these, the chaplain and I greeted the friends and family as they. One of them was a priest who sat down in the family section. He was in collar and black suit. The senior chaplain didn’t recognize him.

At the reception after the service, I eagerly went to talk to him. In the conversation we talked about chaplain work and I told him I was a postulant for the priesthood. He scoffed and looked down at me. He was quite tall. And said “you cannot be a priest.” In my naiveté, I thought he just didn’t understand the ordination process and so I said “well yes, I’m a postulant and God willing will be ordained in a couple years.” He cut me off, looked down his nose at me and said with great disdain. “As a woman, you cannot possibly consecrate the sacrament. You are improper matter for priesthood.”

I was so shocked. In my mind I ran through possible explanations… he’s joking… he didn’t hear me… he doesn’t understand the process… And then the last and correct one, he can’t see me. He’s set into archaic and rigid ideas about who God calls to ordained ministry. No Epiphany moment for him. But the start of quite a big one for me.

After absorbing the shock wave of his words, the meanness of what he said set in. He was a priest. And I started to question my call. Was he right? Was he some kind of messenger with a truth that I needed to pay attention to? Up until that time, everyone I knew supported me and was cheering me on. But was he right?

I spent considerable time in prayer and reflection, talking to my mentor and my spiritual director. And I came to understand the depth and certainty of my own call to ministry and what it was going to take in a way I never had. I grew so much closer to God. I understood with crystal clarity that God had called me, was with me in the process no matter what, no matter who. My response to him if I could have a “do-over” would be simple. “And yet, I’m here. I’m called by God and I’m here.” As Brene Brown says so well “don’t puff up, don’t shrink back. Stand your sacred ground.” My Epiphany was in standing the sacred ground of the knowledge of God’s love and support for me.

Photo by **Burak Kebapci** from **Pexels**

The Epiphany moment is not the end of the story for any of us. Just as Jesus passed through the crowd in the power of God’s protection to move forward with his ministry, epiphanies are a process through seasons of understanding. It’s thrilling to recognize them and continually call on their lessons to empower our lives.

They come in all sizes. We remember most vividly the “burning bush” moments but it’s really the small epiphanies that mean the most. Because the things that reveal God are woven seamlessly into the fabric of ordinary life. One of our Soup Hour guests who gets his mail here asked me one early morning if he could have his mail. I should have told him to wait until 2:00. That’s the rule. But I had an Epiphany moment when I realized how great his need was compared with the minimal effort it would take me to go look in his mailbox. Mail is hope for meaningful connection with others. How could I deny him that? I also saw my own privilege. I can go get my mail any time. I can walk out to my mailbox at midnight if I want to. But for him it’s Monday through Friday 2 to 4. That’s all he has.

In this time of on-going conflicts among nations, among families and groups of friends, where people are slow to imagine that they might listen and learn from someone who acts or speaks differently than they do, what if we were open to hearing the spirit’s voice in the words and actions of others? Would we see scripture fulfilled right in front of us? Could we go beyond the boundaries just like Elijah, Elisha, and Jeremiah did? If we did, perhaps we would could answer our call to being good news.

May God grant us wisdom to perceive, intelligence to understand, diligence to seek, patience to wait, eyes to see, and a life to proclaim God’s love, through the power of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

The Third Sunday after the Epiphany: Seeing Clearly

January 23, 2022 Andrea Schmid

by Fr. Bill Garrison

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

Luke 4:14-21

Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

Here’s a funny I haven’t shared in quite a while and this quick story seems like a good place to start our conversation this morning.

Late one night a police officer saw a young fellow intently searching the ground near a lamppost and pulled over to ask him what was he looking for? Had he lost something? The you fellow replied that he was looking for his car keys. So, the officer decided to help him out and searched with him for a few minutes without success. Then, having not found them, he asked his new young friend where exactly he had dropped them.

The young man replied, “oh about thirty feet that way down the block.”

“Then why are we looking here?”, asked the officer.

“Because the light is much better here than it is way over there.”

Now we laugh at this joke and what makes it funny is how dumb this young man appears to be. But I wonder. Is he so different from most of the rest of us? Do we too spend a lot of our time looking for important things in places that make no sense? Hmmm. Let’s think about that for a moment as we review today’s gospel.

Jesus was visiting his home town, maybe his home synagogue. And since he was visiting the leaders asked him to read and teach a little bit. So, he opened the Isaiah scroll and read. Let’s hear it again.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”

Then Jesus handed the scroll back to the attendant and spoke these words. “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Now think about being a person sitting in the room and witnessing what just happened. “What did he just say? Does he mean what I think he means? This guy is a carpenter’s son. We have known him since he was a kid. Now he thinks he’s the messiah? What? I don’t know if I am angry with him, or fearful for his sanity.”

And so, if we read the various accounts of this story, we find the crowd is not pleased with Jesus in any way, shape, or form.

Twenty centuries later we recognize the hometown folks missed the boat. Jesus was exactly the person being described in the Isaiah scroll. He is God’s great gift to the world. This fact he said was confirmed in their hearing. The folks in the room couldn’t accept it.

Let’s think about those in attendance. I am quite sure their goals in life were much as ours are. They wanted to live in a nice home with someone they loved. They wanted to have children and set their children up for successful lives. They looked after their parents in older age. When they went to their place of work, they wanted to be successful at what they did. Whatever appliances were available at the time to make their lives easier were something they hoped to have. They wanted good health and a rapid recovery from any illness that befell them. They wanted to be safe from harm. They wanted to know that the next day’s food wasn’t going to be a problem, that it was available. Friends were important, I am sure. Keeping the government and the police at bay was probably a priority, and not falling behind on their taxes was as important then as it is now. And most important of all they were looking for a system for living that would insure them of all of their necessities, hopes, and dreams.

This all sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Have you noticed how loudly people are promoting their particular panaceas for living today? Whatever issue you may have there is someone ready to tell you how to solve it or how to avoid it in the future. There are plans for everything I mentioned that concerned the people twenty centuries earlier and still concern the people of today. Just check out the billboards as you drive by, the ads as you watch television, the beliefs shouted at you from the radio, the self-help books in the stores, and the professionals for hire that promise to lead you down the correct path to their version of nirvana. Yet we, like those folks of old, struggle with the question of to whom to listen.

When I was a chaplain at St. Margaret’s some years ago, I was preaching a sermon to the high school kids and their teachers. I made the following statement during my chat which sent a few folks over the edge. Here is what I said. “I don’t care what name you use for God; every religion is worshipping the same God.”

Man, some people were mad at me. The idea that we all worship the same God, but sometimes in radically different ways, was just too much to accept. Most even went so far as to say there were different gods. I wonder what would have happened if I had mentioned that Jesus was always a Jewish male and never a Christian. In fact, Christianity didn’t even exist until well after Jesus’ lifetime.

But I digress a little bit. Here’s my point. A huge majority of the planet has some way of worshipping God. We Christians are lucky in our worship because Jesus gives us such great insight into the nature of God, and through Jesus we have eternal life. Yet we must also remember that every other major religion in the world thinks they have the best understanding and path to God too. And the common point? A huge majority of the world is worshipping the same God.

And so, as we move through our lives constantly bombarded by folks telling us how best to live those lives, do we realize we too are missing the obvious point? Jesus was in front of his hometown folks who could not see him for who he was. We seem often to have the same problem, a problem the entire planet seems to share. God, the creator of everything that exists, is seeking to be in relationship with every one of us. But perhaps God seems too familiar, just as Jesus seemed too familiar to the folks in his hometown, to be taken as seriously as God should be taken. So perhaps I will borrow the words of a fellow I used to coach football with. Perhaps once in a while we need to shake our heads a few times and get our eyes unstuck and recognize what’s right in front of us.

The Second Sunday after the Epiphany: Sharing Our Gifts

January 20, 2022 Andrea Schmid

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.

John 2:1-11

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now." Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says "Let Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

I’ve always thought that this gospel would be just perfect for the second Sunday in May because that’s Mother’s Day. That usually falls during Easter season and this isn’t an Easter kind of story. But this interaction between Mary and Jesus – with God at the center - is so true to life and so relate-able, reveals both the human and the divine story in both of them. So forgive me if I spend a little time on Mary and her part in this. Just as we heard in Advent, this Epiphany moment is largely here because she nudges it into being. Jesus ministry starts in an unlikely time and place with her not-so-subtle prompting that we can safely assume came to her from God.

Those of us who were fortunate to have someone in our lives who was proactive in mothering us – whether it was our actual mother or someone who took that role – can understand Jesus’ reaction to Mary’s prompting. Did you have a mom who pushed you to get out on that stage, or that athletic field, or join a debate club, or a church choir, enter the science fair or go out and play with the new kid in the neighborhood? Moms do that. Moms tend to be partners with God in many ways. Of all the people in our lives, mothers tend to see us as God sees us – through eyes and hearts brimming with love and confidence and pride and joy.

Jesus reacts to her the same way we might respond to our pushy mothers. Whatever timing he has in mind, this isn’t it. He’s abrupt with her: leave it alone, don’t push me. Maybe even don’t embarrass me in front of my friends by telling me what to do. I’m not ready.

Mary pretty much ignores that and assumes that Jesus is going to be a good son and listen to his mother-and he does. Why wouldn’t he? It’s safe to assume that Jesus knows the circumstances of his birth, has heard how angels visited both his parents. How God clearly favored them and called upon them to accomplish great things. And they said yes, even though it wasn’t a good time or place to do so. Perhaps initiating the revelation of the glory of God on earth right then in the pantry of a country wedding with a few servants looking on was one of those great things. Mary is a woman we can trust to be connected to God and pay attention to God’s promptings throughout all time.

Now, this story is not about the bride and groom or the needs of the wedding guests. It is about Jesus. This first time that Jesus made his full self known, even to his disciples, he did so in response to real and important human need. To run out of wine in the middle of a wedding celebration would have been so shameful the couple never would have heard the end of it. And Jesus responded to that human need with the simplest of things – water, clay jars, a ladle. He created something new, created wonder, taking them out of their places of common understanding.

Jesus revealed himself for the sake of others. Who he was and what he had was not for him. It was always and only for others from the very beginning.

Keep that in mind as we think for a minute about the Epistle. The verses we heard today from Paul address peculiar things that were going on in the church in Corinth in the first century – things that were selfish and unkind. They were a religious community gone far from The Way of Jesus Christ. Clearly they were not invested in the idea of doing the loving thing. There was a strong sense of who is best and who is the rest.

And they appear to have been having different spiritual experiences and encounters with God - which is not a bad thing - but they were getting possessive and competitive about it. They were saying things like, “this gift is mine, this way of doing things is mine, this spirituality is mine.”

What Paul says to them is what Jesus made real when the wine at the wedding gave out. Paul tells the Corinthians, “what you have is simply not for you. What you have is for others.” To each is given the presence of the spirit for the common good. This is a fundamental spiritual truth about the nature and purpose of God and God’s dream for God’s people. Then and now.

The gifts we are given – the ones we like and the ones we don’t especially like – are not for us. Maybe even not about us. All that we have has been gifted to us by God. It is given us so that we might be givers, so that we might build up, so that we might help, so that we might be a part of something greater, so that we might serve our neighbors and build up this place in this time for the Kingdom of God. In one way or another, that is the purpose of our lives, and everything in them.

The church members in Corinth couldn’t possibly get their community aligned with God’s dream for them until they realized that what they had was not for them or about them. It was given to them so they could use it to give, and to build, and to help, and to create.

What Jesus had that made him special, and unique was not given to him for his own sake. It was given so Jesus could choose to give all of himself for all of us.

At the wedding in Cana of Galilee, Jesus chose to abandon his own plans and his own schedule, and to reach out. And because he did there was plenty of wine for the guests of the wedding couple. There was an absolute deluge of excellent wine. One expert believes that based on the number and size of jars of water, he created 600 bottles. From simple clay jars, from water. God through Jesus took what seems simple to us and made it into a sacrament.

We are invited in this gospel to trust in God’s generosity and abundance. To rejoice in it. To search endlessly for it. No better example of the gift of abundance in our lives than air – so complex but so simple. These last few days since our rain storms the air has been sweet and clear. Those of you who are knowledgeable about physical sciences – and that would be virtually all of you here compared to me – know that air is made up of many chemicals mostly nitrogen and oxygen and dozens of lesser and trace chemicals. But when we take it in, it is so simple. It’s a complex gift given to us in a simple accessible way. Just go outside. Just breathe. I only understood this through the eyes and experience of my friend Phil.

Phil suffered from a lung disease that at times would be so severe that he would end up in the hospital. He needed help of machines to be able to breath. After one particularly serious episode we talked about how he now treasured the simple gift of air, of the ability to take a deep breath that he had taken for granted most of his life. Now her understood it as a sacrament – an ordinary thing made holy when seen through new eyes. “When I can fill my lungs with air, he said “it extinguishes fear. And I understand how completely God holds me.”

Rabbi Abraham Heschel said that “Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. To get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually.”

So, how do we do this? Listen to Mary. Do whatever Jesus tells you. Jesus gives us simple, straightforward things to do. There are lots of verbs in the gospels that really aren’t hard to understand when it comes right down to it. Jesus tells us to love, share, give, serve, listen, learn, worship, pray. The mundane becomes miraculous. When we do these things, the old inferior wine is forgotten. It‘s all good wine now. God’s Kingdom increases by and through each of us.

This is not magic. This is the true connection to the Creator – God in Jesus, Jesus in God. Every Epiphany is a moment of creation, even for us. An uncovering that shows us that our hour has come to follow him. As simple and pure and accessible and uncomplicated as a long deep in-take of breath.

Mary gives the answer: do whatever he tells you. Seek life at its source. Seek joy at its source. Seek to know what Jesus Christ asks of you. This is the key for joining Jesus in his new way of being in the world. Take a deep breath today. For yourself, in empathy with those who cannot, to take away the fear and instead live in amazement of the simple gifts we’re given. Amen.

The First Sunday after the Epiphany

January 14, 2022 Andrea Schmid

by Fr. Bill Garrison

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

Today is the first Sunday in Epiphany. The word Epiphany tells us what the season is about. It’s the coming of a new understanding. It is seeing things in a new way. It is becoming aware for the first time. I want to chat with you about Epiphany, but before we get serious here is one of my favorite stories which I haven’t told in a while about seeing things in a fresh way.

John Smith was the only Protestant to move into a large Catholic neighborhood. On the first Friday of Lent, John was outside grilling a big juicy steak on his grill. Meanwhile, all of his neighbors were eating cold tuna fish for supper.

This went on each Friday of Lent. On the last Friday of Lent, the neighborhood men got together and decided that something had to be done about John, he was tempting them to eat meat each Friday of Lent, and they couldn't take it anymore. They decided to try and convert John to Catholicism.

They went over and talked to him and were so happy that he decided to join all of his neighbors and become a Catholic. They took him to Church, and the Priest sprinkled some water over him, and said, “You were born a Baptist, you were raised a Baptist, and now you are a Catholic.” The men were so relieved--now their biggest Lenten temptation was resolved.

The next year's Lenten season rolled around. The first Friday of Lent came, and just at supper time, when the neighborhood was setting down to their tuna fish dinner, came the wafting smell of steak cooking on a grill. The neighborhood men could not believe their noses!

They called each other up and decided to meet over in John's yard to see if he had forgotten it was the first Friday of Lent? The group arrived just in time to see John standing over his grill with a small pitcher of water. He was sprinkling some water over his steak on the grill, saying, “You were born a cow, you were raised a cow, and now you are a fish.”

The gospel today speaks about the baptism of Jesus. Let me quote the last couple of lines. “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Jesus, the man John indicated was coming had arrived. The eyes and ears of those present were opened. In that moment their image and understanding of Jesus was permanently and irrevocably enhanced. And for us we understand this was the beginning of a series of Epiphanies during his time with us on earth. The New Testament is full of his teachings and miracles, each an epiphany that opens our eyes to new realizations about God and each other.

I think this might be a helpful metaphor for what we are discussing. Think about getting out of bed in the dark. The ambient light and your memory allows you to get around without running into things, and so you go wherever you intended to go, and do so safely. But perhaps while you are up you have a need to find something and you are not entirely sure of its location. You have to turn on the light, and when you do it’s blinding at first. You really can’t see at all. But as your eyes adjust the room looks entirely different than it did in the dark. It’s almost as if you are in a different place altogether. It’s an epiphany as you see things in the light that were impossible to see in the dark. Is it any wonder that the contrast of light and darkness is so often used in scripture? To finish the metaphor, we live in the darkness and get by day in and day out with the ambient light. Then when the lights get turned on we find things as a result that we hadn’t seen before. This is our epiphany.

And, interestingly, if there is a mirror available, we see ourselves more clearly, in a way we never could have before. Sometimes we approve of what we see. Sometimes we don’t. Epiphanies come in positives and negatives too, but either way we learn something we didn’t know beforehand.

As an example, I remember when my understanding of people and how folks view things changed in an instant. My favorite seminary professor introduced myself and the class to the idea of social location. Basically, if you are unfamiliar, social location concerns the influences that form each of us. Here are a few of those influences as an example. What is your gender, age, financial status, geographical location, race, religious persuasion, height, weight, community, parents, etcetera? Get the idea? Each of these helps to form us. And these examples are just the start of all the things that influence our development.

So as an example, how I view the Virgin Mary will be completely different than a little, barefoot and pregnant 15-year-old native girl in Bolivia will view her. She has a lot more in common with Mary than I do. But until I learned about social location, I had never considered her viewpoint. I had seen Mary from a theological viewpoint only. She probably sees Mary as a compatriot, one with whom she can personally relate.

Since that epiphany I have never observed any other human being the same way as before. Including myself! I was changed in an instant.

So where did this learning come from? Well, we might say my professor. And that would be true. But I would submit to you it’s more complicated than that. You see I found myself in that class with a man that had the knowledge to impart to those attending. Then I heard him speak and understood what he had to say. But most important of all, at least it seems to me, the information came to me highlighted in some way I cannot understand unless I credit God for turning on the lights in the room so to speak, to continue the metaphor.

I have since gone back and reviewed my class notes. I must admit there is much that I have forgotten. It’s almost embarrassing. But I have not forgotten the important concept of social location. Simply put, God turned on the lights in the room and I discovered and internalized this most important concept.

It helped me to overcome my life up to then of a white male who had never been challenged to consider or even understand that there could be multiple viewpoints in life. I had assumed that others saw the world around them in the same way as myself. And I could not have been more wrong about that. This epiphany had set me free to see and experience as I had been unable to do prior.

Thank you, God.

The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany: Learning through Living

February 7, 2021 Andrea Schmid

by Fr. Bill Garrison

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

After Jesus and his disciples left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

—Mark 1:29-39 (NRSV)

There was a fellow named Dave who was a single guy living at home with his widowed father and he worked in the family business. He knew that he would inherit a fortune once his ailing father passed away.

So, Dave wanted two things:

To learn how to invest his inheritance.
To find a wife to share his fortune.

One evening while attending an investment meeting, he spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her natural beauty took his breath away. He was unable to pay attention to the speaker or take his eyes off her. At the break he sought her out.

“I may look like just an ordinary man,” he said to her, “but in just a few years, my Father will die, and I'll inherit at least $20 million dollars.”

Impressed, the woman requested his business card.

Two weeks later, she became his Stepmother.

Have you ever noticed the difference between the person that starts and grows a business and those that follow, people sort of like Dave in the story? Those that follow don’t have the same kinship with the organization that the originator does.

Whenever I am in Oklahoma, I see a brand of commercial we don’t seem to have much here in California. Featured in the commercial are the owner’s kids. This seems to be especially true in the car business back there. I admit I can hardly watch the kids parading around talking about what a fantastic organization they have grown up in. I can’t help but think about the employees of the business, often stakeholders in the business of long duration I am sure, who deserve to be making the commercials instead of the kids. I wonder how those employees feel. It just can’t be good for company morale, I would imagine.

You see those kids cannot possibly understand the business in the way the founder does. The founder took the big risks. The founder put in the hours, the sweat and blood, the sleepless nights, to begin and build the business. Unless you have been through the experience you can’t possibly understand the process or truly appreciate what has been created.

And when the kids take over more often than not the business fails shortly thereafter. There are exceptions of course, but historically I have found this to be true. They just don’t truly understand the ethos of the business, nor do they have the deep feeling of protection and care for the organization that the founder had.

You see we human beings learn through doing. We learn through our failures, our pain, and tough times probably more effectively than we do our successes.

I remember when one of my daughters was about two or three. She kept trying to stick her finger in the flame of a candle. I kept telling her no, hot. It didn’t matter. She just kept trying to stick her finger in the flame. So, please forgive me I probably failed as a father; I said ok, go ahead. She did and from that moment on she kept her fingers out of flames. It didn’t really hurt her, and she had learned a valuable lesson. By the way she gave me a really dirty look.

I think the gospel passage today alludes to this human reality. We learn through doing and are taught through the pain and suffering that comes with the experience. I know in my lifetime I have learned almost everything the hard way. I keep thinking I will start learning another way, but I don’t seem to. How about you?

Now this gospel is so rich with information I want to mention a few things quickly as I move toward the point. We learn that Jesus lives in Capernaum as does Peter and a couple other disciples. We learn that Peter (Simon) is married. We learn that his mother-in-law has a fever. Then as soon as Jesus heals her, and he does so on the Sabbath against the law as understood at that time, she does what women were supposed to do in the first century. She began to serve them. And then in the evening, when it was no longer the Sabbath the sick was brought to Jesus and he healed them.

And now we get to the point. Thanks for putting up with my digression. The next morning, really early, while it was still dark, Jesus want out to pray. His disciples found him and told him that folks were looking for him. Where had he gone? But, on hearing this information, instead of going back to town he said “Let’s move on to other towns and proclaim the message in those places. Let’s not go back.”

Now imagine how those in Capernaum felt. The guy that could heal them had left town with no warning. That same person who could also feed them had left town. They were getting used to having him around to take care of things. Why would he leave? What kind of loving fellow was this? He talked a good game but obviously didn’t love us the way we thought he did. Now we are on our own and we are going to have to figure things out for ourselves. What’s up with that? Some might have remained angry for the rest of their lives.

The answer I think lies in the relationship Jesus was hoping to have with us. As we discussed earlier, we learn through living and doing. We find wisdom in the pain encountered in life. We learn to appreciate the life we build just as the entrepreneur learns to care for the organization she builds. Depending on Jesus for our welfare would disrupt that growth process. Instead of doing everything for us God gives us the gift of God’s self. God partners with us in our struggles. Meanwhile we grow into the people God is creating us to be.

And so, we ask one more question as we close. What would have happened if Jesus had stayed in Capernaum? Each day the crowds would have grown and the decision to leave would have become tougher to make. And if Jesus never left there would be no Passion Week, no Good Friday, no Resurrection Sunday nor Day of Pentecost. All that would have been left might be a small booklet on the teachings of Jesus and the acts of his healing. Ultimately Jesus came to do more. He came to build the road to eternal life. He had to get up. He had to move on. There was work to do elsewhere.

The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany: What has Jesus to do with Us?

February 2, 2021 Andrea Schmid

by Rev. Carole Horton-Howe

Jesus and his disciples went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

—Mark 1:21-28 (NRSV)

The members of a small neighborhood church had gathered for the memorial service of a beloved church member. The priest who was officiating had only been there a couple weeks and was not yet familiar with members or their families. So when a man she didn’t know came up to the altar at the end of communion she thought he must be a friend of the family.

Suddenly he threw himself on the floor in front of the altar and began to sob uncontrollably. It was one of those moments that life just made an incredible pivot. The church was shocked. The priest was shocked. Even the men from the funeral home - who had probably seen it all - were shocked. And he kept sobbing. It was the kind of moment where you’re not sure if you should interrupt such grief or watch and honor it.

After what seemed like a long time, two ushers gently helped him up and to the back of the church.

This priest had never seen such profound grief and looked for him after the service. She found him in the parking lot with a few concerned parishioners. One of them handed her a note that he had pulled out of his pocket. It read. “My name is Martin. I live in Claremont. I don’t remember my name or where I live most of the time. If you are reading this, I am lost. Please call my wife Lucy. And it listed a number.

The police arrived and asked him what brought him to the church that day. It was a real mystery because he would have had to have walked many miles or taken a series of buses to get there. He told the police he came because he was looking for a woman named Patricia. He asked each of the women in turn, “What’s your name? Are you Patricia?” And finally he came to the priest whose name actually was Patricia although she goes by Pat. “Hello” he said brightly, “I’ve been looking for you all my life.” Then calmly and quietly he got into the police car and they drove him home.

Pat and her parishioners were left wondering what was that? What just happened? Whatever the name Patricia meant to him he went on his way from there calm and collected – healed in some way. She had no explanation but she knows in the midst of a collected group of compassionate community, it happened. God’s care happened.

It’s like Jesus in our gospel story today. He shows up at the synagogue and begins to teach not by quoting prophets or Rabbi’s as the scribes did but from his heart about God with whom he is intimately connected. This leaves them amazed. The encounter with the unclean spirit is sudden and unexpected. His authority to dispatch it causes more than amazement. What a sight the healed and whole man must have been when the evil spirit left him. Jesus’ reputation as a healer increases exponentially.

The healing ministry of Jesus is important in Mark. A few interesting statistics: in Mark’s short gospel of just 16 chapters, there are more miracles than any other gospel. And of the 18 miracles recorded, 13 involve healing and 4 of those are exorcisms like we hear today.

Hearing this story, we are taken into a world that is far from our way of thinking. In the world when Jesus lived, belief in demons as actual beings was real. And terrifying.

I hear the voice of this unclean spirit as a taunting one, tightening its hold while denigrating Jesus. “What have you to do with us?” Like it’s saying, “I’ve been working this patch for a long time spreading pain among the vulnerable and the innocent, you whippersnapper. Who do you think you are?” Faith healers were not uncommon at that time. This ugly spirit might have already faced down some pretenders to the kind of power that Jesus actually brought to bear. And as all in the synagogue watch, Jesus knows where his power is from and that he brings relief through love and life to all – including those suffering under the weight of disease. He doesn’t back down. He tells the spirit to be quiet and be gone.

The unclean spirit’s obedience in effect recognizes that its power over people is ended. Jesus has indeed come to destroy the powers that threaten and demonize that which is more precious to God than any other bit of creation – God’s beloved children, each one of us. This is the second teaching of Jesus. He and he alone has the authority to be at the head of God’s kingdom to say what will bless God’s children, to declare what will endure for them and what will not, what is goodness and what is love. And he demonstrates it with an act of compassion.

In our world of today, in which many forms of sickness are a growing and terrifying concern, these stories of Jesus’ command over sickness seem magical or bizarre to some. When it comes to conquering illness, our default setting is science and what can be accomplished in laboratories and surgical suites.

This morning I heard disturbing news: it is one year ago today that the first case of COVID was identified and diagnosed in the United States. We all know what’s happened since. Hundreds of thousands of people have suffered and died. I also received an email yesterday from a friend who is a chaplain in a large hospital who described what it’s like in a COVID ICU. She said that outside the door of each ICU rooms are the stands that are hung with bags of medications ready to try to bring healing. There isn’t much noise other than the sounds of machines as they cycle or the hurried footsteps of doctors, nurses and therapists moving quickly between the rooms. There are no visitors, no TV’s on, no conversation. It’s quiet. But there’s a lot going on. There’s the compassionate presence of Jesus at work.

I remember in my own days as a hospital chaplain I came to understand that hospitals are like cathedrals. They are sacred space. There are as many prayers launched from hospitals as churches - from the staff, from the patients, from the families - calling on Jesus, asking for his presence and power to summon out the illness and dispatch it. And he is indeed there. In every IV stand, every bag of medication, every bit of equipment embodies Jesus saying “be still and be gone.” Every nurse and doctor bending over a patient and working with skill and wisdom is Jesus saying “be still and be gone.” Every chaplain sitting with a patient or talking on a cell phone with a family to calm them or read scripture to them is Jesus present and saying “be still and be gone.” These are all moments of healing. It is Jesus’ presence in the most compassionate way through those called to the healing arts.

The outcomes are not what we always want. We’ve all seen video of folks leaving the hospital after weeks or months of fighting this monster, in a wheelchair, a little weak but flashing a peace sign or giving a thumbs up. Not all outcomes are what we want. The body can’t always recover. And here I’m remembering our beloved friend Marilyn Summersett. It is then that Jesus is most present, is offering healing by holding them close and saying to the evil presence, “Be still and be gone. He’s with me now. She’s with me.” This is the ultimate healing that God through God’s son Jesus offers us.

Nowhere does the flame of God’s love for us burn more fiercely than in the miracle stories. Nowhere do we see the depth and intensity of God’s compassion for us more clearly than in these stories of healing. God is with all who suffer in whatever ways that might be. God in Jesus steps right into our suffering and serves as a barrier of hope against despair.

What if we ask that question of ourselves and each other, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?”

This question is like a door in this Epiphany season. We go through this door with his followers. In the gospel last week Peter, Andrew, James and John answered “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” by leaving everything behind and following him. What are we willing to leave behind? Jesus, what do you mean to us? Are you at the heart of everything that happens in our lives? Does this question move us forward and invite us to consider who we are with our families, our friends with our God and one another, with strangers who wander into our lives. How does your teaching shape the way we live? How does the demonstration of your compassion to those in need shape our response to the people and situations crying out in need of our response?

As we read through Mark’s gospel and especially this passage today I think we are on notice that God’s call to us in God’s boundary-breaking, law-transcending, demon-dispatching, and compassion-showing Son asks us for our continual amazement. Amen.

The Third Sunday after the Epiphany: Answering the Call

January 24, 2021 Andrea Schmid

by Fr. Bill Garrison

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

After John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

Photo by Emre Kuzu from Pexels — Photo by **Emre Kuzu** from **Pexels**

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

—Mark 1:14-20 (NRSV)

There’s a lot of talk about leadership these days and I am quite certain that one of the things great leaders are constantly seeking is good information with which to make decisions. Here’s a quick story about that.

A man was driving around the backwoods and he saw a sign in front of an old, shanty style house that said “Talking dog for sale.” So, he rang the bell and the owner appeared and told him the dog was in the backyard.

The guy went into the backyard and saw a nice looking Labrador retriever sitting there. “You talk?” he asked.

“Yes I do,” the Lab replied.

After the guy recovered from the shock of hearing a dog talk, he said “So, what's your story?”

The Lab looked up and said, “Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA. In no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping.”I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running. But the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't getting any younger so I decided to settle down. I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals.

“I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired.”

The guy was amazed. He went back in and asked the owner what he wanted for the dog.

“Ten dollars,” the guy said.

“Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?”

“Because that dog's a liar. He never did any of those things.”

I have had the opportunity to preach about today’s gospel many times. It has always concerned me that these four fishermen were willing to just jump up and follow Jesus. “Follow me”, he said, and they did. Really?

Now I have theorized many things. I have wondered if this was some sort of miracle. I have thought perhaps they already knew Jesus and were just waiting on the sign from him that things were about to start. I have wondered if Jesus was just that charismatic and people automatically did what he suggested. Unfortunately, the gospel writer doesn’t bother to flesh the story out. He just tells us that immediately they got up and followed Jesus with absolutely no explanation why. It has always bothered me since it makes little sense that they would do that.

But then I recently had a new thought. Perhaps that’s the point. Perhaps we are called by Jesus, our leader, and asked to do things without all the information. And Jesus hopes we will respond to the call based strictly on his request and our trust in his leadership. And sometimes we do.

And sometimes we don’t.

So why don’t we? Well, it seems there are many good reasons. Perhaps we are unsure the request is real or that it is truly coming from Jesus. Perhaps we are concerned with lifestyle questions. What might we have to give up or take on? Perhaps the request doesn’t make sense to us. Maybe we don’t feel we have the time. Perhaps it’s just something we don’t want to do. Perhaps we feel incapable.

Now we often envision huge issues when we think about a call from Jesus. Does Jesus want us to become an ordained leader in the church? Does Jesus want us to become a monk? Does Jesus want us to take on lay leadership? As part of the call, do we need to go back to school or jump through various hoops? What will be required of us?

Or is the call from Jesus something less onerous. Is it something we are being asked to do in place, right where we are? Is it something just for today? Is someone standing in front of us with a need we are being asked to fulfill? Are we being asked to drop everything we planned for the next couple hours and do something else? Not all calls are huge, but often they may feel like they are in the moment.

Ok, of primary importance of course is discerning the reality of the call. Is it really from Jesus? Does Jesus really want something from me? From me?

As we think about the reality of the call, we have a huge decision to make before going any further. We need to decide who is in charge if it turns out to be a real call. Is it us or is it God?

Here is a term we may have discussed before that applies to the situation. “Holy Indifference”. This means we want to know what the call is and we want to know if it is real, and most importantly, we have decided that we are personally indifferent. We are only interested in doing what God is asking, whatever it may be. We are going to maintain a state of “Holy Indifference”, waiting on God to make God’s wishes apparent.

We will pray about the call. We will visit scripture. We will share with our brothers and sisters as needed. And we will wait.

My experience is that life changing calls take time to discern. Little calls are pretty obvious. The other day I was walking up to the grocery store. There was a mother there with a small child and they had a sign telling the world they needed financial help. God clearly told me in that moment I was being called to help them. So, I did. It was an obvious call, quickly understood, and quickly followed.

The truth is God speaks pretty directly to each of us, rather regularly. Often, we aren’t listening, and even more often we say no. But this I am sure of: the more often we answer the call the better we become in discerning the voice of God as opposed to the noise that surrounds us. Try it out a little more often if you haven’t already. See if I’m right.

The Second Sunday after the Epiphany: God isn’t Simple

January 17, 2021 Andrea Schmid

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 decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

—John 1:43-51 (NRSV)

I watch the news these days as I imagine do most of you. I can’t seem to take my eyes off the news channels. I would like to but I can’t seem to. They say people experience the same thing at train wrecks. And I have never seen so many experts on television before. Have you noticed? Know-it-alls are everywhere we look and they seem to be shouting at the top of their lungs. So, there is a little story I have always wanted tell and this Sunday seems like the perfect time to tell it.

A small-town prosecuting attorney called his first witness to the stand in a trial--a grandmotherly, elderly woman. He approached her and asked, “Mrs. Jones, do you know me?”

She responded, “Why, yes, I do know you Mr. Williams. I've known you since you were a young boy. And frankly, you've been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you're a rising big shot when you haven't the brains to realize you never will amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you.”

The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do he pointed across the room and asked, “Mrs. Williams, do you know the defense attorney?”

She again replied, “Why, yes I do. I've known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster, too. I used to baby-sit him for his parents. And he, too, has been a real disappointment to me. He's lazy, bigoted, he has a drinking problem. The man can't build a normal relationship with anyone and his law practice is one of the shoddiest in the entire state. Yes, I know him.”

At this point, the judge rapped the courtroom to silence and called both counsellors to the bench. In a very quiet voice, he said with menace, “If either of you asks her if she knows me, you'll be in jail for contempt within 5 minutes!”

I have only one question to ask. Where can we find that woman?!

Speaking about know-it-alls last Sunday morning I got up at the normal time, about five thirty. After a few minutes I walked out into the living room to find the television on. And what did I see? I saw my least favorite televangelist. I don’t know if this program was done to punish me or what. What a way to start Sunday morning.

You ask why he bothers me? Here is why. This guy, who will go nameless, knows everything. And what is really cool is he claims that if you do as he says your life will be just dandy. I guess I’m jealous, because I don’t know much at all apparently. I certainly can’t tell you what to do to make yourselves happy, rich, beautiful or handsome, and famous. Apparently, according to my television friend God is just waiting to shower what we desire upon us.

Somehow, I appear to be missing the boat.

In the gospel read a few minutes ago we heard a question being asked in reference to Jesus. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” And then we heard an invitation. “Come and see.”

Today let’s think about that invitation. Let’s go and see. And it’s the Epiphany season, a time for looking at things in a new way, seeing things as perhaps we haven’t before. So perhaps that will happen today.

I am a Christian and as such I look to Jesus to discover the nature of God and what our relationship with God truly is. What was Jesus like? What did he believe? How did he live his life? There are a ton of questions to be asked and just as many answers to be sought.

Yes, something good came out of Nazareth. And Jesus was real, not an idea, not a set of quotations. He was three dimensional, not two dimensional; complex, not simple. I believe we have a tendency to see Jesus, and God, as two dimensional and in doing so we tend to simplify God and God’s nature.

When I was in seminary I learned to beware of overarching narratives. What I mean by that are simple answers for complex situations. The one size fits all concept. If this, then that. We do this to God all the time. We attempt to put our understanding of God in a box, or on a piece of paper, so that we can say to ourselves and others that we understand God and can predict God’s actions.

By doing so we cheat ourselves in our relationship with God. Here are some examples of simplifying God if in our daily speech and beliefs.

If I am spiritual enough things will go great for me.

Everything happens for a reason.

You are exactly where God wants you to be.

Certain lifestyle choices are rejected by God.

I just need to give it to the Lord.

God helps those who help themselves.

If I change my behavior I will grow spiritually and God will like me better.

If I have God, I don’t need people.

Or let’s ask ourselves a question. Let me quote something attributed to Jesus. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those that mistreat you.” Is Jesus asking us to be doormats for others to walk on?

Every example I have just mentioned springs from a simplified, two-dimensional concept of God. When we allow God/Jesus a third dimension we immediately understand that the guidance God gives also requires our common sense to interpret in the moment and the situation.

Why were the Pharisees always upset with Jesus? Because he was constantly reinterpreting the scriptures by applying common sense to them, Sabbath observance and who Jesus hung out with being the most obvious examples. He was letting us know that compassion and love guide the use of the rules. Check it out. Every miracle Jesus performed came out of his love and compassion for the person or people being aided.

So, let’s consider. Let’s think about Jesus’ common-sense approach to the rules for living as represented in his love and compassion. It challenges us and reforms our approach to scripture and what we find there. Everything we read and think about God becomes three dimensional, rather than just words on a page.

Now it’s easy to understand God’s call to love others and have compassion for them. But for most of us it’s not as easy to understand God’s love for us and God’s hope that we will show ourselves that same love and compassion. If we think about it for a bit though doesn’t it seem that God wants that for each of us too?

So, here’s our invitation. Let’s try to think about God as three dimensional. God’s rules have some give and take in them, and are designed that way. Jesus proved that for us in his life and actions. The rules require the application of our common sense as we add love and compassion to the rule and the situation in which the rule is being applied. Try it next time when you come upon an oversimplification and see what happens. I guarantee it will open your eyes.

The Sixth Sunday in Epiphany: Jesus Interprets the Law

February 18, 2020 Andrea Schmid

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.

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.

The Fifth Sunday in Epiphany: Our Relationship with God and the World

February 9, 2020 Andrea Schmid

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.

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.

The Presentation of Our Lord: Trusting God’s Promises

February 3, 2020 Andrea Schmid

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

January 26, 2020 Andrea Schmid

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!"

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.

Photo by Lukas from Pexels — Photo by **Lukas** from **Pexels**

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"

January 25, 2020 Andrea Schmid

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.

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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

January 19, 2020 Andrea Schmid

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

January 19, 2020 Andrea Schmid

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)

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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.