Grace Episcopal Church (Sheldon, VT)

Epiphany 2 (Year C Revised Common Lectionary) January 17, 2010
Isaiah 62:1-5
Psalm 36:5-10
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
John 2: 1-11

In our first lesson today, the prophet Isaiah is again speaking to a people who have been caught in exile, the people of God who have been trying to preserve their community life and their common faith in Babylon. At this point in their history, scholars tell us, the people have returned to Judah and they are facing the challenging task of rebuilding their temple and their lives. God will be with them through the rebuilding which happens with bricks and mortar, but God will also be with them as they rebuild spiritually.

God’s promise is cast in a particular image, the image of marriage. “Your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is In Her, and your land Married, for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your builder marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

Obviously, God is not literally going to marry the people, but the point is that God cares very, very much for God’s people. Our relationship with God, and God’s caring for us, are like the closest bonds, like marriage and family. God calls us into intimate relationship with God and God loves us and will not abandon us, even when we are in exile and losing hope. God will always bring us home.

This morning’s psalm reinforces the theme of God’s love and care for the human family.

The epistle builds on both of these to give us St. Paul’s powerful and inspiring image of the Body of Christ. “There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.” This lesson is the clarion call of baptismal ministry. There is such an array of gifts, wisdom knowledge, faith, healing, the discernment of spirits, administration, teaching, encouraging others, fixing furnaces, balancing the books, counting money, reading lessons, making coffee, singing, praying, all these gifts. They are almost staggering in their number.

And there are varieties of members of the Body of Christ. We have here the theme of unity in diversity. Christians do not come in one size, shape, or color. Christians are not just one kind of person. They are all colors, all ages, from all walks of life. Yet no matter how diverse we are in our gifts and our opinions, the one Spirit draws us all together. Our focus is on Christ. We are all trying to follow him.

All these wonderful gifts come from the same source, God’s loving and energizing Spirit, which allows the Body to come alive with the life of Christ and the presence and power of God. That’s the important thing, that, as we work together and realize our gifts and exercise all the many ministries in the Body, we remember that it is all coming from the same Spirit, and that Spirit makes us one.

Now we come to the gospel, the wedding at Cana. The wine gives out. Mary, the mother of Jesus, encourages him to remedy this situation. Jesus is quite abrupt. In John, the statement, “My hour is not yet come,” refers to the Cross. The full unfolding of Jesus’ ministry is not to happen at this wedding. And yet Mary knows that Jesus cares as much as she does about these people and about their celebration. And so the water is transformed into wine—the best yet—and the feast goes on.

This is Jesus’ first miracle. It is such a down-to-earth, caring celebrative thing. Jesus acts so that a celebration may continue which otherwise might have come to an embarrassing end. Yet he produces a huge amount of wine, and the steward does not even know what has happened. In other words, the whole event is full of ambiguity. Yet the entire life of our Lord is full of ambiguity as well. People fail to recognize him for who he is. They do not realize what he is doing, yet the full reality unfolds through the Cross and Easter. Jesus does a very human and loving thing in this first miracle, and, as always, he gives a gift of great abundance.

Jesus shares in the intimate things of life–weddings, celebrations, family joy. God cares deeply about us as God’s family. In the midst of the love shared among us and God is the outpouring of all these gifts for ministry. The Spirit gives us all the gifts we need to do the ministry we are called to do. There is such a diversity of gifts and people, yet, somehow, in a way which we will never understand, we are one, as Jesus and the Father are one, as close as family.

And so, at a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and in every gathering where there is love, in the outpouring of gifts in the Body of Christ, in every moment of human life, even the most ordinary and homespun, the light of Christ shines.

Amen.

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Epiphany 1 The Baptism of our Lord January 10, 2010

Isaiah 43:1-7
Psalm 29
Acts 8:14-17
Luke 3: 15-22

This morning’s lessons give us three powerful insights into the nature of our faith journey. In our lesson from the Hebrew scriptures, we hear the word of God spoken by the prophet we call the Second Isaiah. The people are in exile in Babylon. This has gone on for two or three generations. Some are losing hope. Some have given up their faith and melded into the surrounding culture. Others, the saving remnant, have taken the time to pray and to study the scriptures. Their faith has grown stronger. God speaks through Isaiah and tells them that they will return home, that God will guide them through every challenge–through the waters, through the rivers, through fire, through everything. And God tells them the most important thing–that God will be with them every step of the way, and God will protect them.

In our reading from the Book of Acts, just a few verses before this lesson, the apostles have appointed seven deacons to help them, and Stephen, one of those seven, has been stoned to death. It was a time when the new church was subject to persecution, a very dangerous time. Yet Philip, one of the first deacons, went into Samaria, preached the good news, and performed many healings. Many Samaritans flocked to the new faith. The apostles hear about this in Jerusalem. Peter and John go to Samaria. Obviously, this is very dangerous. They could be killed at any time. With great courage, they go to this land of Samaria, this land which is beyond the pale, this land whose people are despised. The Samaritans have been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. But when Peter and John lay their hands on these people, they receive the Holy Spirit. They are fully empowered to do their ministries. This new faith is for everyone, for all nations and all people.

In today’s gospel, once again we have a dramatic situation. John the Baptist has a powerful ministry. People are flocking to him for baptism, and folks are wondering whether he is the messiah. He makes it very clear that he is not. One is coming whose sandals I am not fit to untie, says John. Then, we learn that Herod the Tetrarch puts John into prison. At every turn, the new faith is in danger. But the text continues to tell us that after everyone had been baptized, Jesus is baptized, the Holy Spirit descends, and Jesus is identified as the Son of God. As theologian Beverly Gaventa states, “The inclusion of John’s arrest is important…for it recalls that the price paid by those who act at the behest of the Holy Spirit is often a high one.” (Texts for Preaching, Year C, p. 102).

The exiles are almost losing hope when the word comes, We’re going home! The messiah is coming. A new order is about to begin. The Church has just ordained seven deacons to serve the poor and needy, and one of them is killed. The persecution is increasing, yet Philip goes to the worst of the worst, Samaria, to share God’s love with the people and is received with great joy. As the persecution increases even more, the apostles discern that Peter and John are called to minister in Samaria, and the Holy Spirit moves mightily. Jesus receives the baptism of John and begins his formal ministry, and a cruel tyrant puts John in prison. John is eventually killed. Does any of this darkness and violence stop the new faith? No, it simply highlights how clearly, how courageously, how unfailingly, the light shines in the darkness.

By virtue of our baptisms, each of us has a ministry, and all of us have a ministry together. This year, like Philip, Peter, and John, we will be going into new territory. As we complete our tasks for Partners for Sacred Places, we will develop a deeper sense of our history, we will complete an assessment of our building, we will have a clear sense of the public value of our building, we will create a case statement which comprises our heritage, including our history of service to others far and near, our mission, and what we may need in order to carry out our mission.

This is going to take solid work, faith, hope, vision, prayer, and more faith. We will be called into a process of discernment, and this will involve getting expert help from Preservation Trust of Vermont and from Partners. Are we called to develop our undercroft? Are we called to design and build an addition, perhaps in the style of the horse barns? Are we called to leave things as they are? These are major decisions. Major decisions are scary. This is why I have tried to make it clear that the exiles and the new Christian Church faced some scary things, too.

We have received the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we have received the Holy Spirit. We have everything we need and all the gifts we need to carryout the ministry to which we are called. God is right here. God is with us, just as God was with them, every step of the way.

Baptism means that there is something new. “Behold, I am creating a new thing,” God says, “the former things have passed away.” Our Partners group is going to need to pray together, to work together, to envision together. We are going to need to steep ourselves in our diocesan mission statement—to pray the prayer of Christ, learn the mind of Christ, and do the deeds of Christ. I believe that we are now being called to let go of our preconceptions, if we had any, and to be open to new ways of seeing things, ways which I believe we will learn from our brothers and sisters from the Preservation Trust, from Partners, from our Ministry Support Team, and, most of all, from God. There may well be possibilities we have never thought of.

This is going to be a very important time. These are weighty decisions.

I believe that Grace Church is up to this process of discernment. Please remember, God is with you, God is giving you the gifts of faith, hope, and love. Pray for each other and pray for God’s guidance. But, most of all, please do what you do so well and with such grace—love God, and love each other. Remember, God is with us every step of the way.

Amen.

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Christmas 2 (Year C Revised Common Lectionary) January 3, 2010

Jeremiah 31:7-14
Psalm 84
Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-19a

Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

Our reading from the prophet Jeremiah is speaking to a people in exile, people who are finding it almost impossible to hang on to any hope, people who are finding it difficult to believe that God is still present. Of this passage, the wise biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann wrote, “In every season, including ours, the oracle of God breaks the dread of exile. Exiles are those who live in resignation, believing that no newness is possible.” God calls to the people, calls them home, tells them that everyone will be returning—the blind and the lame, those with child, everyone. All of God’s people will be restored in community.

So we see here two powerful themes—the theme of exile and the theme of homecoming. Perhaps some of us have experienced a sense of exile. All of us yearn for home.

Psalm 84 is a song that was sung by pilgrims going to the temple in Jerusalem. It is a song of homecoming.

The epistle this morning reminds us that, before the creation of the world, God was reaching out to us in love. The great gift of Christ is just that—a gift—nothing that we could ever have earned. And God is always working on our behalf. The writer prays for a spirit of wisdom and revelation for the people in Ephesus, and also offers that wonderful prayer that “the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened.”

In today’s gospel, we focus on one of the key figures of Advent and Christmas, and that is Jesus’ earthly father, Joseph. Joseph is an extraordinary man. He is very close to God. Earlier, when Mary found out that she was going to give birth to the Savior, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him that this new life was the work of the Holy Spirit. Now, after the Wise Men leave, an angel appears to Joseph and tells him to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt to escape Herod, who is searching for the child to kill him.

After Herod dies, an angel tells Joseph that he should take his family back to Israel, but, when Joseph finds out that Archelaus, Herod’s son, is ruling over Judea, he is guided in a dream to go to Galilee. And so he goes, and settles his family in Nazareth.

The word angel literally means messenger. Angels are messengers of God, and in those days, God often guided people through dreams. Joseph was a deeply spiritual man who lived his life according to the guidance of God.

Mary, Jesus, and Joseph began their life together as exiles. They had to flee to Egypt in order to stay alive. There are many people in that situation today, people who, because of tyrannical rulers, are subjected to hardships beyond description. Our Lord began his life on earth in that position.

As we continue to celebrate the Light that shines in the darkness, we are never far from the forces of darkness which would overcome that Light. As we celebrate the call to the exiles to return home, we also may become aware of ways in which we are in exile—paralyzed, cut off in various ways—perhaps from God or from our own best and truest selves, or from a full vision of what life can be.

God calls us into the light. God calls us back from exile. God calls us home, to our ultimate true home, with God. And God sustains us and has been sustaining us since before the world began/

May our lives and our life together be filled with that Light! Amen.

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