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December 31, 2006
Anne Jensen - Dec 31, 2006
Isaiah 61:10-62:3; Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7; John 1:1-18
However, since we are not Quakers, but Episcopalians, I’ll share some of my thoughts. This gospel, the prologue of John’s gospel, is poetry: scholars believe that it is an early hymn, a song of praise. Like art, poetry is to be experienced as well as thought about. This passage is so familiar and so beautiful that we could well bask in it and love it for its beauty alone. Yet the richness of thought amplifies its beauty. As I prepared for this morning, I found myself pouring over different translations, examining their similarities and differences, absorbing the gift of the Word and words.
This gospel is a reminder of God's initiating the relationship with us -- God's movement toward us -- of God's choosing to be with us. This is God coming into our world and into the midst of our lives -- each of us -- whoever and wherever we may be.
This introduction to the Gospel of John takes us back to the very root of our existence, the foundation of our universe. Listen to the parallels we find in Genesis.
“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,
John’s gospel begins, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him and without him not one thing came into being…
In Genesis we hear, “And God said, (that is God spoke a word) ‘Let there be light; and there was light.’ The gospel says, “What has come into being in the Word is life, and the life was the light of all people…”
From Genesis, “And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness…”
This gospel says, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.” This Jesus that John is about to reveal in his gospel is the incarnation of the Cosmic Christ…the one present with God from the very beginning and who is the expression of God.
John is presenting the origins of the man those first Christians had come to worship, putting forth his birth story. “And the Word became flesh and lived among us.”
Why is this story so different from the other birth stories? As early as 60 years after the church was formed, there were 100,000 Greek Christians in the church for every Jewish born Christian. The first Christians were Jews, but the real growth in the early church was among Greeks. Paul understood himself to be called as an apostle to the gentiles, to the Greeks, and started many churches in Asia Minor and Greece. The story of John’s gospel is told to a church of Christians in Ephesus who had heard no stories of an expected Messiah or the lineage of David. This crowd had never heard the words of the prophet Isaiah.
Through missionaries they had heard the words Jesus spoke, witnessed the healing he brought, experienced the sacrifice in this death and the victory in his resurrection, but how would they come to understand his birth, his coming into the world?
By definition God cannot be fully grasped, but we have had glimpses of God. As our gospel says, “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.” Here we have a new revelation of who Christ was and is – a new explanation that would finally bring the story of Jesus’ origins to life for this community of believers and for other Greek communities, and ultimately for us as well. The great divide in the early church was between Greek and Jew. They came from different cultural and religious backgrounds. Yet for both Jews and Greeks the Word is important, and it became the bridge to a shared understanding of God’s revelation.
For the Jews words had an independent existence; they had power. They did things. God’s words created the world out of a void. God’s said “let there be lights in the vault of the heavens…let the earth bring forth living creatures…let us make human beings in our own image… God spoke creation into being through words. God spoke to Moses through the burning bush and on the mountaintop, and to Elijah in the still small voice. God spoke through the prophets.
For Greeks the Word, or Logos, was the principle that held everything in existence; without the order imposed by words, chaos would reign. The Word led to understanding; understanding led to right action. Right actions, in turn, led to virtue and piety, all of which were highly valued in the Greek culture. The Word made everything possible. Without the Word nothing would exist. and once there was existence the Word becomes the organizing and ordering principle.
John tells us “the Word was always with God; indeed, the Word was God.” What came into being in this Word was the life of the Son of God, and this life was the light of all people. It was the same light that dawned as the world took form. That light illuminates the darkness, bringing sight and insight and understanding. It is the Light that exposes evil for what it is, and opens the darkness in which evil hides. He is the light that illuminates the pathway ahead and guides stumbling feet. These were images which the Greeks could grasp and which still have meaning for us today.
Finally this story reveals a shattering truth to the Greeks. It was a scandal to the Greeks that God would demean Godself to become human, because for them the body was a prison, an encasement of the spirit. In this gospel we hear: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” The Word, Jesus, was born of a woman in a real flesh and blood human birth. He lived or dwelt among us. The word “lived” comes from a root that means “pitched his tent with us.” I like this idea because it is so graphic, so earthy, living with us at such a basic level. The purpose is so that we know God. As one translation has it, “He who is nearest the Father’s heart has made him known.” God has made it possible for us to know God, and perhaps almost as important psychologically, God has made it possible for us to know that God understands our human lives, our joys and delights as well as our pain and suffering. God is with us always.
This is good news for us, just as it was for that community in Ephesus. John says, “…to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God. My friends, we have only to believe in him, in this Word made flesh, to be adopted as children of God.
One writer puts it this way, “Since the beginning, God has paced the corridors of heaven, burning with the hope that we would see the world as God sees it. God made gardens…we did not get it. God sent floods…we did not get it. God sent prophets…we did not get it. God sent laws…we did not get it. Finally, finally, God sent flesh, God’s own flesh. Surely God thought that now, now we would get it.
John's Gospel account that we heard today is the story of how God became human so that we might rebuild a connection we once had but no longer acknowledge. So the Incarnation, this God becoming human, invites us on a new path so that we may become the very children of God and thus know how to be truly human, as God intended in creation.
In Advent we prayed, “Come Lord Jesus, be our light in the darkness.” Well, Christmas is here! Jesus, the Christ, the Word made flesh, is with us. He has pitched his tent with us. He is the light that illuminates and gives life to all; He is the light that exposes evil for what it is. He is the source of our salvation and our hope.
December 25, 2006
Fred Heard - Christmas Day 06
Christmas Day Sermon 2006
Trinity Parish - Father Fred Heard
This Christmas, 2006, I invite you to hear the words of Jesus again—the words of Jesus, the man, after he was grown. He said:
The king will say to those at his right hand,
"Come, you that are blessed by my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world;
for I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
I was naked and you gave me clothing,
I was sick and you took care of me,
I was in prison and you visited me."
Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord,
when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food,
or thirsty and gave you something to drink?
And when was it that we saw you a stranger
and welcomed you,
or naked and gave you clothing?
And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison
and visited you?"
And the king will answer them, "Truly I tell you,
just as you did it to one of the least of these
who are members of my family,
you did it to me."
So people say we should put Christ back in Christmas. Well Christ never left Christmas. More importantly, we should seek Christ in our lives. Is Jesus lost? No—are we?
This last Thursday, I was reading my newspaper and was really struck by the stories that made the news. Tens of thousands have left California because they can no longer afford to live here. Love story hinges on finding a lung donor. Three plead guilty to church arsons. Virginia lawmaker stands by anti-Muslim letter to constituents. Many Latinos lack access to healthy food, study says. Same sex marriage law goes to high court. Sign in controversial Iraq war memorial is vandalized overnight. Strippers pitch in tips to bring Christmas joy to children in need. High court may take up question of Scouts religious status. Girl, 6, victim of random shooting—hit twice inside home. Jury gets case of mom who killed sons.
Where would Christ be if these events had happened in his neighborhood last Thursday? Would he really care if an elected lawmaker took the oath of office on the Koran instead of the Bible or would he be more concerned about the housing and food issues? Would he be more concerned about the state marriage laws or would he be most concerned about the abuse and killings of children? Where is Christ this Christmas? His heart would break with this headline: Christians see little future in little town of Bethlehem. Palestinian uprising and Israeli security have reduced tourism and people cannot support themselves. Unemployment is at 60 percent. A generation ago Christians made up 80 percent of the population. That is now 15 percent.
You will remember Jesus’ anger with the money lenders. He would certainly not have patience as he sees his people starve—as he sees them ill and unable to afford medical care—as he sees them killing each other in war—as he sees religion fighting religion. Jesus loved the people and really did not distinguish between rich or poor or upper class and lower class or sick or healthy. He was there and he touched them and he let them touch him.
When I did Trinity chapel last Thursday—a little boy brought a baby Jesus that he had made out of some scraps of cloth to chapel and he brought a piece of cardboard and that was the manger. Most of the little kids were talking about the birth of the baby Jesus and they understand that is what we celebrate. We closed chapel after they heard and contributed to the story of the Nativity and we sang Jingle Bells and Rudolph because those kids have perspective…even at those tender ages of two, three, and four, they know where Christ is—they are not looking for him because he is truly in their hearts. And then as they came up quite spontaneously and gave me a hug and wished me a Merry Christmas, there were tears in my eyes.
Nobody was looking for Christ that first Christmas and nobody was looking for Christ in Chapel last Thursday on Trinity’s campus. The innkeeper wasn't looking for Christ. The shepherds weren't looking for Christ. They were just taking care of their sheep. The angels brought the good news—"Do not be afraid; for see -- I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people; to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.
It is easy to get caught up in lesser things at Christmas. We want so badly to get just the right presents for everyone—and to get the perfect tree and to have the house just so.
We run out of money before we run out of friends and we get tired.
Sometimes, we invite Santa to our homes for special family occasions at Christmas and that is all right—but do we invite Jesus to our homes every day of the year? Are we looking for Christ this Christmas? Or is Jesus just a two-thousand-year-old story? Has Christ just come and gone?
Where do we look for Christ this Christmas? The children gave us a clue. If we are doing Christ’s work and truly being his people—he will find us and bless us.
Merry Christmas everyone—Merry Merry Christmas!
December 24, 2006
Anne Jensen - Dec 24, 2006
Christmas Eve 2006
We are here, at last, gathered to worship God and to celebrate the Incarnation….God becoming human. I invite you to leave your anxieties at the door and to enter in the story of our salvation…how God chose to be with us and for us. I invite you to enter the mystery of the young woman Mary bearing a son….the one we call Immanuel, God with us. We call him Jesus, which means savior, and we call him the Christ, the messiah, the anointed one of God. I invite you to let the joy of this good news soak into you and soften your hearts, and I invite you to sing with joy, no matter whether you think you can sing or not! It doesn’t matter to God what you sound like, but it does matter to God that you open your heart to the joy God has in store for us.
I found a prayer that was written at Christmas almost 40 years ago and I want to share it with you:
Give us, O God, the vision which can see Your love in the world in spite of human failure.
Give us the faith to trust Your goodness in spite of our ignorance and weakness.
Give us the knowledge that we may continue to pray with understanding hearts.
And show us what each one of us can do to set forward the coming of the day of universal peace. -- Frank Borman, Apollo 8 space mission, 1968
This prayer was written 38 years ago…from a new perspective, outer space. It was written by Frank Borman when he was on the Apollo space mission, which spanned the Christmas season that year. It was the first Christmas after Doug and I were married. It was the year of the Hong Kong flu, which was rampant. The war in Viet Nam plagued us. Doug had just finished Navy Officer Candidates School, and we were on our way to Athens, Georgia. We spent Christmas with old family friends in Pennsylvania. There was a lot of snow on the ground and it was bitterly cold. Doug had to wear his full dress uniform to church because is was the warmest clothing he had. I remember coming home from the midnight service, where we had prayed for the astronauts, and listening to the latest report. The heavens, cold and clear, seemed so vast and so empty. I prayed those men would be able to find their way home. It was an anxious time-- both in space and on the earth. Being in space offered the perspective of how much greater creation is than just our planet and our concerns, and yet I believe Borman’s prayer came out of love for this blue planet and trust that God could change us and the world. The prayer was for a vision in which we can see God’s love in the world, despite our human failure.
There’s a great story about a preacher who bumped into one of his parishioners. She was coming out of the store with her hands full of packages. It was a good solid bump and she dropped all her packages. As the minister hastened to help her, he heard her say, “I hate Christmas. It turns everything upside down.” Well, you know what she meant: the daily routine is disrupted, the budget is stretched too thin, there are more people in the house than she’s used to….all the processes she has in place to provide stability and security are out the window. But she’s got it right! The birth of Christ changed the world….turned everything upside down. Remember the words of Mary and the reversal of the “the way things are.” “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly./ He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.” The Incarnation means change. It means God coming into our time and into our space and into our lives and into our comfort zone and shaking things up and making them be recreated in a new way and challenging us to confront change and to be active in doing something, working with God in the world around us.
Jim Mueller tells of one of his most memorable Christmases. He writes, “I was sitting in my church on Christmas Eve and in walks a man, a person I didn’t know well, but who later became a close friend. He sat down next to me. Throughout the service I felt a little weird. I sang out during the songs I loved – Joy to the World, Silent Night, O Little Town of Bethlehem. I felt weird because I could feel him watching me, what I did, how I did it. He was watching me “do” church. I realized something that night. He was relearning Christmas. He was trying to figure out what Christmas means when you have faith in Jesus Christ. The baby in the manger is more than a holiday decoration. Jesus was more real for him. Jesus became more real for me. That night I felt the presence of God come over that place. That night was the first time I ever heard my friend sing. Not all of the songs, not all of the words but a few that he knew, and very quietly. And he was singing about God coming into our world to change it forever. He was worshipping his savior.” Maybe some of you are relearning Christmas tonight. It is never too late to become like a child and take in this mystery of God’s love for each one of us.
In the months that followed Jim and his friend found themselves in deeper and deeper conversations, lives shared, tears shed. Jim saw this man change and grow.
Change has been a theme here at Trinity for the last eighteen months. We have not been alone, left to our own devices. Not at all. We have learned to “do” church in a new way. We have learned a new song. We have experienced God’s love and grace time and again. God-with-us, our Emmanuel is changing us, and we are singing a new song of joy, and a song of expectation. One of the most beautiful changes I’ve seen is how people who used to mistrust each other have come to a new appreciation and understanding. That, my friends, is reconciliation. Christ is in the world reconciling us to God and to each other. When we let Jesus into our hearts, and by that I mean the love of God made known to us by Jesus, his birth, his teaching and ministry, and his death, we begin to change. And when we change, or as St. Paul says, when we put on Christ, we are a new people. We are a people filled with hope, filled with energy, and fueled by a new kind of power. We are a people who have a vision of a restored world characterized by shalom, God’s peace as envisioned in creation.
The very heart of tonight’s gospel is the good news of the breaking in of a new time: “Do not be afraid; for see--I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” This day heaven and earth are brought together, joined by the presence of an infant who is both very vulnerable…of humble stock and born in a stable, and who fulfills that wonderful prophecy: “And he shall be called wonderful counselor, almighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.”
This is good news for you…and for all of us. Since God is breaking the news to the people on the lowest rung of society, the shepherds, we know that things are being tipped upside down. The shepherds were blessed with the radiance of heaven and a chorus of “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to t hose on whom his favor rests.” The symbolism is that his favor rests on all who hear and believe. Do you think the shepherds danced to this music, filled with joy and buoyed by the good news? I think they may just have waltzed and skipped and hopped all the way back to their flocks.
We still long for the peace that the angels proclaimed. Sometimes we get a little closer to it than at other times. We live in “in-between” times. The Kingdom of God has begun with this birth, but has yet to be fulfilled. We long for peace for all people, because each person is God’s well-loved child.
` Astronaut Frank Borman’s prayer is also a prayer for peace, not just by wishful thinking, but by asking God what each one of us can do to bring that day closer. It echoes St. Francis’ prayer, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace…”
There are so many areas of life where we can be instruments of change that may lead to peace. Do not be afraid of change. God is doing a new thing here. Very close at hand, this church in welcoming the stranger, has changed the lives of people who have found a home here. Christ in our hearts plays out by making us the kind of community where there is change…where Christ is known not only to us, but to the world. The signs are here: we are feeding the poor and hungry. Although the clothes closet has moved, we continue to support its work at the Opportunity Center. Through GAIA we are changing the lives of people affected by AIDS in Africa. This sense of mission of bringing God’s peace closer to fulfillment is more than the absence of violence, although such an absence would go a long way to creating peace in other dimensions, it also has an element of justice, where both sides in any conflict come out in a viable position.
The story that took place in Bethlehem so many years ago continues to inspire us. The stillness of that night long ago seems to have captured the possibility of a restored creation. We can put all our hopes and fears out to be taken up by the one who was born this night. For God has brought heaven and earth together in this child. God has given us this great gift. How do we respond? We hear the angels’ message and sing together, “O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!”
Now Christmas is here again for each and every one of us. The gifts of that first Christmas are as true today as they were on the first Christmas more than 2,000 years ago. Out of God’s constant and abiding love, God waits to give them to you through God’s best gift of all, the gift of God’s own Son, come to earth as a tiny babe born in a manger in Bethlehem. May God fill your heart with his love this Christmas, and may that love overcome your fears and set you free to accept the gifts God came to bring to each of you, gifts of light and hope and peace.
This is the night when heaven and earth are joined in a glorious way, with human beings at the center of the joint. This is the night when “the hopes and fears of all the years” are resolved by a stable and a star. This is the night when we can truly sleep in heavenly peace, because we know that God has entered our world to reclaim it forever. AMEN.
December 20, 2006
Anne Jensen - Dec 17, 2006
Advent 3C Zephaniah 3:14-20, Is. 12:2-6, Philippians 44-7, Luke 3:7-18
And then we get to the gospel and to the powerful words of John the Baptist, and the tone changes completely! “You brood of vipers!” You sons (and daughters) of snakes! “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” The implied answer is “I did…I, John.” John was in the line and tradition of the prophets, who have not been heard from in nearly 400 years. John is the prophet who lived to see his messiah, and even he wasn’t sure. Later when he was in prison, he sent messengers to Jesus asking if Jesus was the messiah, or if they were to wait for another.” (Luke 7:18)
Earlier in this chapter of the gospel, Luke writes that John was traveling all over the region around the Jordan River, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. In the passage for today, John’s angry at the people who have come out to be baptized; he accuses them of being baptized with no intention of starting a new, ethical life. If they think that by being baptized they will evade God’s judgment at the end of the era, they are wrong: they must also turn to godliness.
John is presenting the people with a choice: either respond to God’s offer of repentance and salvation by beginning a new way of living or face condemnation at the end of time. He implores the crowd, “Bear fruits worthy of repentance.” Faced with such a choice, they ask, “What should we do?”
There are only four words in that sentence, and they are all important. First let’s look at “do.” Our English translations miss a vital connection with this word in our texts. The Greek word translated "do" is the same word translated "bear" in! Like the good tree naturally "bearing" good fruit, so the "doing" by the crowds, tax collectors, soldiers, and others, grows out of having repented -- having a changed mind and heart and life (and "roots").
“Should”: We’ve all been told we should do one thing or another, and there’s a heavy load of obligation when it comes from an authority figure. This sentence might also be translated, “What would you have us do?” There’s an element of volition here.
The “we” can be understood as collective individuals, which is probably how we hear these words. We do an internal translation to “What should I do?” John is clear that an individual can make choices about sharing whatever one has: food and clothing for example. Most people had only two coats, which actually was the garment worn next to the skin, one for everyday and one for the Sabbath.
But then groups of people…even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked the same question. What’s notable is that in each example, John gives suggestions for ethical behavior that is in the realm of their lives…not to go out and change someone else’s system…change how you are executing your own life. If you are a tax collector, collect no more than the amount prescribed for you. If you are a soldier, forget the extortion, and be satisfied with your wages. Both the tax collectors and the soldiers were part of a system. One person making a change would probably just mean that that one person wouldn’t make a living that way anymore. But what if they heard John’s words collectively and acted collectively? Then they could make a difference.
What if we as a faith community took these words BOTH as individuals and as the collective WE? John was calling for ethical behavior that arises naturally out of gratitude for the gift of forgiveness and renewal. What does that look like in your life? Do you take God’s forgiveness for granted and go on about your life without making changes? What excuses do you make? I’m too old, too set in my ways to change? I’m too young to always be thinking about others—this is my time to live! Maybe your excuse is “I don’t have the time / the energy / the disposition to figure out another, more caring way to live.” “I just have to keep going.” You know, I think we’re talking about stewardship here…stewardship in the larger sense of making choices about how to use our resources…not just material resources, which is important, of course, but also our imaginations, our energy, our time, our spiritual strength. We’ve talked about stewardship being a year-round consideration, so my invitation to you is to use Advent, this time of preparation, to consider how you respond to God’s invitation to change direction, make a course correction, and in doing so, make a change that benefits not only you, but others, as well….others in your family, in your school, in your workplace, in the community, in the country and in the world.
Now about that WE….we have more trouble grasping possibilities here. Collectively we could extend forgiveness to each other for the times we have not trusted the motives of those with whom we disagree. We could ask forgiveness for the times we have not communicated clearly or fully. What should we do? We can be honest and open in our communications. I think we have improved in that area in the last year. Transparency has been an important word in the vestry. We’ve turned a corner, but we’re barely around the bend, and I’m afraid it wouldn’t take much to change direction again. Living into a new way of life takes time and practice, and it is almost always a way that difficult at times.
Theologically, the converted heart produces the new works. Doing good does not make one repentant; but true repentance produces the proper, good fruit. Sharing one's food and clothing, and living within one's means doesn't make one a Christian; but being a Christian should result in such deeds. However, practically and therapeutically, sometimes the order is reversed. Sometimes we advise: "Act your self to a new way of thinking." A similar saying is attributed to Jesse Jackson: "It is easier to walk your way into a new way of thinking -- than to think your way into a new way of walking."
Do we need to feel threatened or fearful of the winnowing fork or the fire? This passage assumes that we are either wheat or chaff. We are called to align ourselves with God’s justice. The reality is that the winnowing process is not done; we are still both wheat and chaff. Fred Craddock, an Episcopal priest who is both a highly esteemed preacher and writer (Luke, Interpretation Commentaries), offers this wonderful summary: "When repentance and forgiveness are available, judgment is good news (v. 18). The primary aim is to save the wheat, not to burn the chaff." [p. 49]
The one who is to come, the One who is more powerful than John has the power and the desire to refine us, to give us the power for the changes we cannot make on our own. John offers hope and new life for the tax collectors, the soldiers, and all sinners. We all can be gathered by Jesus into his kingdom.
Recent Sermons
- Anne Jensen - Dec 31, 2006
- Fred Heard - Christmas Day 06
- Anne Jensen - Dec 24, 2006
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