Archive for December, 2012

Light Shining…Magnificence and Splendor…Grace Appearing…Glory All Around

December 24, 2012

 

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness on them has light shined.” (Isaiah 9:2)

“Oh the majesty and magnificence of his presence! Oh, the power and the splendor of his sanctuary.” (Psalm 96:6)

“…the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all.” (Titus 2:11)

“Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them…” (Luke 2:9)

 

Light shining…magnificence and splendor…grace appearing….glory all around.

All of our Lessons from Holy Scripture tonight seem to emphasize Light! And it’s easy to see why anciently the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrated Christmas on January 6 – or what we call the Feast of the Epiphany. Because the word “epiphany” means a “shining forth” and surely the birth of Christ was a “shining forth,” an epiphany of God’s purposes in ways the world had never seen before!

Even in evening celebrations of the Christ Mass, like this one, there is an emphasis on candlelight and “candle light services”. We’ll sing Silent Night by candlelight at the end of this service. And our homes are filled with Christmas lights of all kinds. Why all this emphasis on “light” at Christmas? Well, what does light do? It “reveals”, doesn’t it? It makes things known that would otherwise be hidden. And that is exactly what the birth of Jesus Christ did for the world. It revealed, made known, manifested, something of what God is really like.

You might think that would have been unnecessary for the people of Israel who had worshipped God for nearly 2,000 years before Jesus was born. But there were still differences of opinion about what God was like. There was a Priestly understanding of a God who approved of cult and temple and sacrifice. There was a Prophetic understanding of a God who desired justice and righteousness above all else…and was quite suspicious of the sacrificial system.

There were those who saw God as vengeful and capable of destroying entire nations if they opposed the Divine Will. And others who saw God as tender and compassionate, One who brooded over this world like a mother over her children.

To this day, people have all kinds of ideas about God. Some believe in a God who sanctions violence of the most extremist kind. On the other hand, some Eastern religions have a very peaceful, tolerant view of the Divine, but don’t say much more than that about God. Seems to be a more of a Force, or a Divine Mind, rather than a Personal Being for them.

But our claim as Christians is that we know a bit more than that about what this God is like. Without wanting to say that we know everything there is to know about the Creator of the Universe (we certainly do not!) we do believe that something of the very nature of God has been revealed to us in the Person of Jesus Christ. We have been “enlightened” to some degree about that very Nature.

For example, we know that God is not callous or cruel. God does not willingly afflict or grieve human beings. We know that God is not distant from us or from the affairs of this world. For all God’s power and majesty, there is a certain vulnerability and even the possibility of being “hurt” – like a baby in a manger, our God can be vulnerable…and even wounded.

We know that God is not static and predictable by our rules and regulations, but is perfectly capable of surprising us, like the twelve year old boy in the Temple once surprised his parents by being about his Father’s business instead of being where they thought he ought to be. God “shows up” in un

We know that God cares very deeply about what happens to us and so reaches out with a Word of wisdom and with healing, like that itinerant rabbi who once went about preaching Good News and backing up his words with actions like the healing of a paralytic, and the restoring of sight to one who had been born blind.

We know that God is capable of being betrayed by us, and delivered into the hands of sinners, for even less than the thirty pieces of silver Judas once got for betraying his friend.

But, in all this, indeed because of all this, God reigns! With all the vulnerability and unpredictability and deep compassion, God remains the creator and sustainer of the Universe, the ultimate source of all life and all that is. And this God is able and willing to bring good out of evil, and life out of death at every turn. Just as he once split open the grave and won the victory over death and hell on Easter morning.

How can we say all this? How can we believe all this with such passion? Because we believe in the essence of the Christmas story… because we believe in the “good news of great joy for all the people (for to us) is born this day in the City of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

We know something of what God is like because we believe that the meaning of the Christmas story is what St. Luke said it was, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.”

We believe that Jesus Christ is “the grace of God…bringing salvation to all…” And his name will be called, “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Light shining…magnificence and splendor…grace appearing…glory all around.  That’s what we celebrate here tonight, dear friends. Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

Posted in Blogroll, Church Life, Ecumenical, Emergent Church, Religion, Scripture, The Episcopal Church, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Advent Anwers The Question, Why?

December 17, 2012

ADVENT ANSWERS THE QUESTION, WHY?

Had to scrap the sermon I prepared for Advent 3. I’m just so aware that we are all in grief and mourning the loss of all the young life in the horrific shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. We’ll be offering our Eucharist today with special intention for the souls of the victims and for comfort and healing for the families…and for all of us. It’s the most important thing we will do today.

So many people are asking “Why did this happen?” And “what can we do to make sure it never happens again?” Advent gives a stark answer to the “Why” question. This is a very serious season, Advent. It’s not just a four-Sunday countdown to Christmas. Advent reminds us that this world is broken. The kingdom of God has not yet come in its fullness. Violence and evil and sickness and danger are realities we have to face every day in some way. And it does no good to deny that.

Christians believe that Jesus was born into this world to inaugurate the kingdom of God, to usher in a time when tragedies and violence like this will be no more. But we’re not there yet. And until that kingdom comes in its fullness, Advent teaches us that we must wait for it – with patience and hope and expectation.

But that’s not all we can do. We can also cooperate with God in the building of that kingdom. We can work to make this world a better place, a place which There will be many discussions, and there already are in the media and in coffee shops, about what we can do to keep this kind of thing from every happening again – from gun violence to mental health services to school safety. And Christians should be part of those conversations. We have a contribution to make there.

But the most important thing we can do, dear friends, is to recommit ourselves to the mission of the Church, to what we’re doing here today. Our diocese has a simple mission statement: we are “to grow the Church…form the faithful…and change the world.” A pretty lofty goal, but it begins simply. “Growing the church” means more than just getting more people in the pews. It means reaching out with the message of God’s love.

What if Adam Lanza had been part of a community like this one, what if his mother had? Could it have made a difference? We don’t know, but it might have. We need to reach all people with the Gospel.

“Form the faithful.” We are to teach our children, and ourselves, that violence is never the answer to any problem! And that’s God’s will is for peace and forgiveness and healing for all. That’s “forming the faithful.”

And it’s only when we have done those things – growing the Church and forming the faithful – that we will be able to make our contribution to “changing the world.”

Let’s rededicate ourselves to that on this sad Sunday, my friends. It’s the least we can do…and the most.

Posted in Blogroll, Church Life, Ecumenical, Emergent Church, Interfaith, Religion, Scripture, The Episcopal Church, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »