Epiphany 4C RCL January 31, 2010
Jeremiah 4:1-10
Psalm 71:1-6
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Luke 4:21-30
Since we have Annual Meeting today, this sermon will be brief.
In our gospel, Jesus goes to the synagogue in his home town of Nazareth, but the people cannot recognize that he is the Messiah because he is too familiar. They know him as the son of Joseph the carpenter, and that is the only way in which they can see him.
In our opening lesson from the Hebrew scriptures, God tells Jeremiah and us that God has known us before we were formed in the womb and has called us to minister in God’s name. God tells Jeremiah and us not to be afraid.
In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul describes to us the core of our ministry and of our life together in community: love.
In Christian community, we know that God cherishes the familiar, the ordinary, and the humble. God has come to us in a stable, not a palace, and in that stable, God is surrounded by animals and shepherds, not by armed legions. As God cherished and nurtured the prophet Jeremiah, so God cherishes and nurtures each of us and all of us as a community. Indeed, God cherishes the whole human family. When we look into each others’ eyes, we look into the face of Christ.
Be not afraid. God has called you. You are the apples of God’s eye. God loves you more than you will ever know or understand. Share God’s love.
Amen
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