Sermon 20160103
St. John’s Church
Getty Square
2nd Sunday
after Christmas
Jeremiah 31:7-14
Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a
Matthew 2:1-12
Psalm 84 or 84:1-8
When we were decorating the church we got some of the
workers to help us put up the wreath.
One of them was named Jesus, and jokingly asked him whether his birthday
was Dec. 25th. To my delight
it is his birthday! and I came to understand that boys born on Dec. 25th
are often named Jesus in some countries.
I imagine this makes Christmas strange, it is both your birthday and the
birthday of your savior. It makes
Christmas into a hybrid celebration, half feast of the Incarnation, half
anniversary of one’s birth!
Today is a bit of a hybrid celebration. Today is the Second Sunday after Christmas,
it is also the 10th day of Christmas, and on this Sunday we usually
remember in some way the Holy Family. We
remember Joseph taking the child and fleeing to Egypt to escape the wrath of
Herod. Or we remember Jesus being taken
into the temple for his redemption from God being the first born male
child. We celebrate the reality that all
of us are not just individuals but that we are social creations greatly
influenced by the love we receive in our growing up, and this is not different
for the life of Jesus.
However, it is a hybrid celebration, because of the pastoral
accommodation to those who do not generally keep midweek feasts. You see this Wednesday is the feast of the
Epiphany, and we will have our Wednesday service at noon if you’d like to come.. Epiphany is one of the major feasts of the
year, yet people have fallen out of the habit of making a point to go to church
that day. The Roman church in this
country even celebrates Epiphany on this Sunday. Our church does not, but it gives us the
option of making today a hybrid service.
We can use the Gospel Reading for that Feast. Today’s gospel is about the coming of the
wise men, the feast of the Epiphany.
It is an important feast because it represents a major
spiritual development. The prophets
foretold that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Moses would become the God of all
people. That the nations would stream to
Jerusalem bearing gifts to worship the one true holy and living God. The psalms teach us that all people will say,
“In Jerusalem was I born” When the Magi from the East, probably Zoroastrians
from Persia, come, they bear gifts and they worship Jesus. Jesus is recognized by foreign wise men as
the fulfillment of prophecy, the fulfillment of a spiritual promise, as a new
step forward in the unfolding of humanity’s encounter with the divine. And the star which led them there indicates
that something within the fabric of existence points it out, shows it to be
true.
It is interesting also that humanity resists the unfolding
of this truth. Herod tries to use the
wise men to find Jesus so that he can kill him.
There are many people who have become so enamored, who have so learned
to draw some satisfaction from the divisions that beset humanity, the
individual grasping for power and wealth that overtakes and motivates them,
that they wish to resist the spiritual invitation of God for all humanity to
become one family where all are valued, all are cared for, all are
important.
As I prayed about today’s worship I was overawed by the
devotion of the wise men to follow this star to Bethlehem. They probably had to take leave from their
job. They had the means I guess to take
a few months off work to travel. The
baby was probably about two years old, so presumably the star appeared two
years ago. They then had to figure out
what the star meant, had to prepare for their journey, and had to follow that
star. Of course it is a fantastical
idea. How does one determine what house
a star stands over? Even the wise men
had trouble, which is why they had to go to ask Herod where the child was to be
born. But their determination to solve
this riddle, their willingness to follow this star, their desire to see the one
this star foretold is amazing to me. It
shows devotion and willingness and wisdom and courage.
How do we follow the star to find the incarnate Christ? How do we discover the birth of Jesus in our
own lives? What are the signs we look
for? Christ himself gave us the
clue. He said whenever you do something
for the least of these my brethren, you do it to me. When Christ was alive he
ministered to the needy, the hungry, the lonely, the outcast, the sick, the sex
workers, the enemy collaborators, foreigners, sinners. If we are to follow our star to find the
incarnate Lord we will go to these same people.
We will find the incarnate God wherever there is opportunity for us to
befriend those who are needy.
I have been amazed at how many groups of people there are
who are doing things to befriend people in dire situations. We had a group called the Alternatives to
Violence project meet in our church.
They run workshops teaching young adults and adults how to respond to
situations using alternatives to violence.
We have the Sharing Community next door which feeds people who are
hungry and it is great to have volunteers who helped there last Sunday. At the Yonkers Thanksgiving Celebration we
had a young man speak about his club
Youth Giving Back which writes letters to prisoners, does peanut butter drives
for the hungry, and engages in ways of helping those who are in need. Nearby we have Fessenden House which is a ¾’s
house for people struggling with various issues. It is run by two Episcopal brothers of St.
Gregory. Episcopal Relief and Development
is a wonderful organization because all of the relief work it does is
coordinated with the local church so that it is real relationship building.
One danger to charity, however, needs to be mentioned. Giving to the poor is not what Christ
means. It is not enough to try to “fix”
the needy, to alleviate their poverty
so that they become like us. First of
all, that is not possible. People are
often in dire straits because they have been deeply damaged. There are people who will never barring a
miracle be able to become so called productive members of society. We are not called as Christians to fix
people. We are called to befriend them. This is why Christian service is about
establishing relationships with those who are needy. It is not romantic. It is not easy. It has challenges. It causes us to look at ourselves deeply and
ask why do I find it hard to work with someone who is encountering such
hardship, who has such deep wounds? Just as the journey of the wise men was
arduous, so too is Christian service and relationship, when we take it seriously. It is not child’s play.
Yet it is also deeply rewarding. We come to see people as real four dimensional
people who exist. We come to learn their
stories. We begin go uncover their deep
beauty. We begin to truly understand
that when Christ took humanity he took the humanity of all of us, including
those who are deeply wounded.
I think it is important for every Christian to give to
support the worship of the church, to give also to the needy. But giving is no substitute for actively
putting our person in relationship with those who deeply need our friendship. I think there is no true way to discover the
Christ within us if we do not discover the Christ within those we are called to
serve.
The truth is by serving those who are in deep need we become
more aware of our deep need. By learning
to love those who are deeply wounded we can begin also to love the wounded dark
places in our own souls. We begin to see
that the star which leads us to those we are called to serve is also directly
over our heads, for Christ came to save us too, and as we minister to our
neighbor, Christ is ministering to us.
Why did the wise men meet Jesus and then go home after a
short stay? Because they understood this
truth I am talking about. Jesus takes us
to himself. The truth is all of us have a birthday on Dec. 25th. The truth is all of us are named “Jesus”. The
truth is he is with us always, even unto the end of the age.
No comments:
Post a Comment