At Trinity, we've been doing a lot of worrying about the numbers...the financial numbers, the attendance numbers...it's stressing quite a few people out.
And that's not what should be happening in the church.
Yes, there are bills to pay and pay checks to go to staff members...and it's nice when we congregations are good examples of financial steward in the giving of benevolence.
But, the church is not a place where success is based off of money or the number of people in the pew on Sunday morning, and anyone who tells you otherwise is mistaken (and probably a televangelist)...or they're just in the ministry for the wrong reason (and possibly a televangelist).
On Saturday, I was part of a leadership retreat where we were reminded that Church is one of the few places where we SHOULD be saying "We get to..." rather than "We have to..."
And it was a much needed reminder.
The church should be a place of joy and struggle, of wrestling with what it means to be followers of Christ and how we live that out in our daily lives and how God works to recharge us for this work on Sunday mornings.
So what if we, the church, paused our financial stewardship drives for a bit and focused on relationship stewardship. A kind of stewardship where we say "we are not going to ask for your money, we're going to ask for you...because you are what's important, the rest will take care of itself."
I am a person born at the tail end of Gen X, I am also someone who values structure and finds comfort in the liturgy of the early church that has been molded and shaped throughout the centuries found its way into the Evangelical Lutheran Worship Hymnal that sits on my desk at church. I believe that liturgy is important and that the historic liturgy has amazing power because the liturgy in itself focuses on the one who we come together to worship. The historic liturgy says, through the Word and the Eucharist "Hey, God is working here in you and in a little bit, God is going to send you out into the world so that God can work through you," while at the same time connecting us with our brothers and sisters of other times and places. I can sit in church on Sunday mornings knowing that even though I am almost 1000 miles away from home, my family is doing just about the same thing that I am at that moment...And I know that at some point, my ancestors were a part of what I am a part of, and it helps center me in something that is much bigger than I am.
At the same times, however, as much as I hold the liturgy dear to me...there is an additional component that I think is missing from some churches that can, and maybe should, be attached to the annual stewardship campaign. It revolves around relationships...it says to people coming into the door for the first time "we are so glad that God has sent you to worship with us"...it says to people who are long time members "we are so blessed that God has been working through you in this community for so long"...it says to all who enter the doors, "we honor you because God brought you here and we want to know you and love you as a sister/brother in Christ"
What would it look like if relationship stewardship was the main stewardship program of the church?
But what does it look like? Who are the leaders that we need to ensure that this is successful?
I know the answer to both of the questions depends on the community. Many churches are already experts in relationship stewardship...and, from my limited experience, they tend to be smaller congregations (I'm not saying that all small congregations are like this, nor am I saying that larger congregations don't know how to do this well...it's just an observation).
This is also an observation:
Maybe we need more potlucks, just because...
Maybe we need more community activities to burn off the calories from the potlucks, just because...
Maybe we need to be better at being families in Christ rather than a random assortment of folks that wander in for Sunday worship and then go our separate ways afterwards...
The most memorable thing that Pastor Roger said at our leadership retreat on Saturday was this - "Jesus didn't die on the cross because he was wildly successful in the eyes of the world."
So maybe...we, the church, need to stop for a moment and look at our success in how well we build relationships, how well we do at being a family in Christ, instead of whether pledges for the year were more or less than the year before. Yes, the bills need to be paid. But getting to know people and have a relationship with them as a brother or sister in Christ, that is something we GET to do...and it sure is a blessing.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
A Letter to me at 15
A couple years back, Brad Paisley wrote a song "Letter to Me." It was a great song, one of his best, I think...because it's about looking back at all the great things that he learned over the years, even though he thought he knew it all. I would like to try my hand at that...not in song, but in a brief note.
Dear Jen,
This is your 28 year old self writing. I bet as you read this you are sitting on your bed in the basement of mom and dad's house sipping on a coca cola and waiting for Mary to pick you up for pep band.
I know that these past few years haven't been the easiest for you. At 28, I know that I wouldn't go back and relive what you are going through now. But you learned a lot from all that is going to happen in the next few years. You are going to have some amazing adventures as you get older...and I know that from my vantage point, the adventures are only beginning. So get ready for a great ride...life isn't just high school and people who said that High School and College are the best years of your life, well they lied to you. Forgive them, they knew not what they were doing when they put that platitude in front of you.
Boys have been the biggest part of your frustration in your teenage years. That's ok...when you get married, you still won't totally understand how your husband works, but you've got a whole life time to figure that out so don't worry about it.
But I do want to tell you something important. Don't let the boys in your life dictate who you want to be, and don't change yourself so that they will like you. If you have to change who you are so that a guy will like you, that guy isn't worth it. You are perfect as God made you to be. You are going to have your heart broken a few times, that goes with the territory of growing up...but you'll get over it and you will grow into a beautiful woman and you will do amazing things and be loved by great people, and one special man in particular (I won't give you details, otherwise I'm afraid you are going to miss out on some great life experiences and some wonderful friendships).
The next few years will produce some big struggles (remember what Mr Ciaravino used to say in Math class at Parcells? Improvise, adapt, overcome...you will one day make that your motto, so why not start now?) but struggles produce character and teach work ethic and endurance, and those qualities are helpful. So while in the midst of some of the most difficult years of your life remember the following:
God loves you more than you will ever know and made you perfect just the way you are.
Life isn't perfect, it never will be...and people who tell you life can be perfect are lying.
Live your life for you, not for anyone else. That way, you are living the best life for you that you can.
Don't take yourself too seriously...it's not good for you.
You're going to make it and you are going to have a better life than you ever imagined. Really, it does get better.
Peace,
28 year old Jen
Dear Jen,
This is your 28 year old self writing. I bet as you read this you are sitting on your bed in the basement of mom and dad's house sipping on a coca cola and waiting for Mary to pick you up for pep band.
I know that these past few years haven't been the easiest for you. At 28, I know that I wouldn't go back and relive what you are going through now. But you learned a lot from all that is going to happen in the next few years. You are going to have some amazing adventures as you get older...and I know that from my vantage point, the adventures are only beginning. So get ready for a great ride...life isn't just high school and people who said that High School and College are the best years of your life, well they lied to you. Forgive them, they knew not what they were doing when they put that platitude in front of you.
Boys have been the biggest part of your frustration in your teenage years. That's ok...when you get married, you still won't totally understand how your husband works, but you've got a whole life time to figure that out so don't worry about it.
But I do want to tell you something important. Don't let the boys in your life dictate who you want to be, and don't change yourself so that they will like you. If you have to change who you are so that a guy will like you, that guy isn't worth it. You are perfect as God made you to be. You are going to have your heart broken a few times, that goes with the territory of growing up...but you'll get over it and you will grow into a beautiful woman and you will do amazing things and be loved by great people, and one special man in particular (I won't give you details, otherwise I'm afraid you are going to miss out on some great life experiences and some wonderful friendships).
The next few years will produce some big struggles (remember what Mr Ciaravino used to say in Math class at Parcells? Improvise, adapt, overcome...you will one day make that your motto, so why not start now?) but struggles produce character and teach work ethic and endurance, and those qualities are helpful. So while in the midst of some of the most difficult years of your life remember the following:
God loves you more than you will ever know and made you perfect just the way you are.
Life isn't perfect, it never will be...and people who tell you life can be perfect are lying.
Live your life for you, not for anyone else. That way, you are living the best life for you that you can.
Don't take yourself too seriously...it's not good for you.
You're going to make it and you are going to have a better life than you ever imagined. Really, it does get better.
Peace,
28 year old Jen
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Let’s Go Fishin’
January 22, 2012
Epiphany 3
Mark 1:14-20
Four years ago, while I was serving as the intern at First Lutheran Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I became acquainted with Frank and Elaine, members of the church and grandparents of two of the members of the youth group. For a while after we met, Frank and I would chat between worship services about random topics…football, auto racing, the weather…then Frank found out that I enjoy fishing and have enjoyed fishing since I was a child. All the conversations we had after this revelation revolved around fishing. On February 4th, 2008, I took my first trip with Frank and Elaine to their cabin on Grand Lake and while Elaine stayed up at the cabin and watched birds, Frank and I took our fishing poles down to the dock and spent the day sitting by the water, fishing lines in the water, enjoying the 75 degree weather and hoping that we would maybe catch something.
I’m wondering if that is how Jesus felt when he came upon the four fisherman and invited them to follow him and become fishers of people. We don’t know if or how Jesus knew Andrew, Simon, James and John…or if Andrew, Simon, James or John even knew who Jesus was when he approached them in the middle of the work day and asked them to drop everything and follow him. But drop everything they did…and they did so immediately, Mark says. Simon and Andrew left the nets they had been casting into the sea…James and John left the unmended nets, their father Zebedee and the hired hands…and they followed Jesus, who would take their skills in fishing and use them with people.
When you think about it, it takes a certain person to be a good fisherman. For one, a good fisherman is patient...a good fisherman knows that they may have to wait a while to catch a fish…a good fisherman knows that sometimes the actual catch of fish might consist of fish too small to eat…a good fisherman knows that sometimes fish will get away (though not all the ones who get away are worthy of the big fish stories that are often told).
I wonder, if nothing else, if Jesus knew that when he came upon Simon and Andrew, and later James and John, the fact that they were fishermen told him all that he needed to know about them at that point…and so he called them to use their skills to assist him in the beginning of his ministry.
I also wonder what it was about Jesus that caused Simon and Andrew and James and John to immediately drop what they were doing and follow Jesus. As I mentioned in my sermon last week, Mark wasn’t very interested in embellishing his accounts…he gave the important information and moved on. And the important information Mark tells us is that immediately after receiving the invitation to follow, the four men left their nets, their families, their hired hands and their boats and followed.
You know, it’s tempting for us to ask the questions about why Jesus picked four smelly fishermen…and I will admit that I have preached a couple sermons on what unlikely candidates these four were to become the first disciples and, eventually, Jesus’ inner circle of confidants. But when you think about it…yeah, they probably were smelly, after all they were around fish a lot and seas are not always known for smelling too great.
But they also exhibited qualities that made them great candidates for the job Jesus had for them. First, we can assume that they were at least decent fishermen…sometimes we can take the story about them having a bad day of fishing as an indication that they were bad fishermen…but if they were bad fishermen, they wouldn’t have still been fishing…and James and John’s father, Zebedee, would not have been able to afford the hired hands that assisted them in their fishing endeavor. So the qualities of good fishermen would have been there…which is good, because much of the time, people require more patience than fish.
The other thing that made the four great candidates to be the first four disciples called is that God had equipped them and set them apart to be a significant part of Jesus’ ministry, even before Jesus spotted them in their boats and asked them to follow. Whether they knew it or not, Simon and Andrew and James and John had been given proverbial tackle boxes filled with every gift that they needed to be not just fishermen but also fishers of people.
Eventually, eight others would be called to become the core group of disciples that would assist Jesus in his ministry…these men also followed…and created a very strange conglomeration known at the disciples. In this group were fishermen, a tax collector, a zealot, and some other men that we know little or nothing about…again, Mark wasn’t too big on the little details. This was not a group that would be destined to hold hands and sing kumbaya in the evenings around the fire…and they would not have been like minded men, especially the tax collector and the zealot…and I’m sure there were arguments here and there among the twelve. But there was one thing that held them together, they had been all been approached by Jesus and asked to follow…and for reasons that Mark doesn’t share, all twelve of the men followed. The other thing that they had in common was that God had equipped all twelve of these very diverse men to be a part of Jesus’ ministry and had given them everything that they needed to do the work of spreading the Good News.
And just as Jesus called and God equipped Simon and Andrew and James and John and the other 8 disciples, so Jesus has called and God has equipped all of us to be a fisher of people in some way. And just like the disciples, we are a very diverse group of people who are not of the same mind…to some extent, we are a similar strange conglomeration that the disciples were…and that’s great because if we were all the same and all of the same mind, the church would be pretty boring and there would only be so many people that we could reach with the Gospel. But being that strange, diverse conglomeration of people, called and equipped to be fishers of people, we have the ability to reach more and more people with the good news of the Gospel, through the way that we live out the Gospel in our daily lives.
That day on Grand Lake yielded three fish…all tiny blue gill that quickly found their way back into the lake. But it wasn’t a day wasted, it was a day spent out on the water in the middle of nature. And that’s the reality of fishing, some days you are inundated with fish and other days you can’t get a nibble to save your life. And just like fishing for fish requires you to be equipped for the trip, so answering the call to be a fisher for people requires you to be equipped. But unlike fishing, you don’t need to run to the bait store and fill your tackle box with the latest gadgets in order to be equipped to answer Christ’s call to follow, God has already filled our tackle boxes and equipped us with everything that we need to be fishers for people…AND God has given teachers who help us to learn how to use our gifts and skills to be the best we can at what God has called us to do.
We’ve got everything we need, let’s get fishin’
Epiphany 3
Mark 1:14-20
Four years ago, while I was serving as the intern at First Lutheran Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I became acquainted with Frank and Elaine, members of the church and grandparents of two of the members of the youth group. For a while after we met, Frank and I would chat between worship services about random topics…football, auto racing, the weather…then Frank found out that I enjoy fishing and have enjoyed fishing since I was a child. All the conversations we had after this revelation revolved around fishing. On February 4th, 2008, I took my first trip with Frank and Elaine to their cabin on Grand Lake and while Elaine stayed up at the cabin and watched birds, Frank and I took our fishing poles down to the dock and spent the day sitting by the water, fishing lines in the water, enjoying the 75 degree weather and hoping that we would maybe catch something.
I’m wondering if that is how Jesus felt when he came upon the four fisherman and invited them to follow him and become fishers of people. We don’t know if or how Jesus knew Andrew, Simon, James and John…or if Andrew, Simon, James or John even knew who Jesus was when he approached them in the middle of the work day and asked them to drop everything and follow him. But drop everything they did…and they did so immediately, Mark says. Simon and Andrew left the nets they had been casting into the sea…James and John left the unmended nets, their father Zebedee and the hired hands…and they followed Jesus, who would take their skills in fishing and use them with people.
When you think about it, it takes a certain person to be a good fisherman. For one, a good fisherman is patient...a good fisherman knows that they may have to wait a while to catch a fish…a good fisherman knows that sometimes the actual catch of fish might consist of fish too small to eat…a good fisherman knows that sometimes fish will get away (though not all the ones who get away are worthy of the big fish stories that are often told).
I wonder, if nothing else, if Jesus knew that when he came upon Simon and Andrew, and later James and John, the fact that they were fishermen told him all that he needed to know about them at that point…and so he called them to use their skills to assist him in the beginning of his ministry.
I also wonder what it was about Jesus that caused Simon and Andrew and James and John to immediately drop what they were doing and follow Jesus. As I mentioned in my sermon last week, Mark wasn’t very interested in embellishing his accounts…he gave the important information and moved on. And the important information Mark tells us is that immediately after receiving the invitation to follow, the four men left their nets, their families, their hired hands and their boats and followed.
You know, it’s tempting for us to ask the questions about why Jesus picked four smelly fishermen…and I will admit that I have preached a couple sermons on what unlikely candidates these four were to become the first disciples and, eventually, Jesus’ inner circle of confidants. But when you think about it…yeah, they probably were smelly, after all they were around fish a lot and seas are not always known for smelling too great.
But they also exhibited qualities that made them great candidates for the job Jesus had for them. First, we can assume that they were at least decent fishermen…sometimes we can take the story about them having a bad day of fishing as an indication that they were bad fishermen…but if they were bad fishermen, they wouldn’t have still been fishing…and James and John’s father, Zebedee, would not have been able to afford the hired hands that assisted them in their fishing endeavor. So the qualities of good fishermen would have been there…which is good, because much of the time, people require more patience than fish.
The other thing that made the four great candidates to be the first four disciples called is that God had equipped them and set them apart to be a significant part of Jesus’ ministry, even before Jesus spotted them in their boats and asked them to follow. Whether they knew it or not, Simon and Andrew and James and John had been given proverbial tackle boxes filled with every gift that they needed to be not just fishermen but also fishers of people.
Eventually, eight others would be called to become the core group of disciples that would assist Jesus in his ministry…these men also followed…and created a very strange conglomeration known at the disciples. In this group were fishermen, a tax collector, a zealot, and some other men that we know little or nothing about…again, Mark wasn’t too big on the little details. This was not a group that would be destined to hold hands and sing kumbaya in the evenings around the fire…and they would not have been like minded men, especially the tax collector and the zealot…and I’m sure there were arguments here and there among the twelve. But there was one thing that held them together, they had been all been approached by Jesus and asked to follow…and for reasons that Mark doesn’t share, all twelve of the men followed. The other thing that they had in common was that God had equipped all twelve of these very diverse men to be a part of Jesus’ ministry and had given them everything that they needed to do the work of spreading the Good News.
And just as Jesus called and God equipped Simon and Andrew and James and John and the other 8 disciples, so Jesus has called and God has equipped all of us to be a fisher of people in some way. And just like the disciples, we are a very diverse group of people who are not of the same mind…to some extent, we are a similar strange conglomeration that the disciples were…and that’s great because if we were all the same and all of the same mind, the church would be pretty boring and there would only be so many people that we could reach with the Gospel. But being that strange, diverse conglomeration of people, called and equipped to be fishers of people, we have the ability to reach more and more people with the good news of the Gospel, through the way that we live out the Gospel in our daily lives.
That day on Grand Lake yielded three fish…all tiny blue gill that quickly found their way back into the lake. But it wasn’t a day wasted, it was a day spent out on the water in the middle of nature. And that’s the reality of fishing, some days you are inundated with fish and other days you can’t get a nibble to save your life. And just like fishing for fish requires you to be equipped for the trip, so answering the call to be a fisher for people requires you to be equipped. But unlike fishing, you don’t need to run to the bait store and fill your tackle box with the latest gadgets in order to be equipped to answer Christ’s call to follow, God has already filled our tackle boxes and equipped us with everything that we need to be fishers for people…AND God has given teachers who help us to learn how to use our gifts and skills to be the best we can at what God has called us to do.
We’ve got everything we need, let’s get fishin’
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Our Extraordinary God
Baptism of Our Lord
January 15, 2012
Mark 1:4-11
It started out as an ordinary day for the Baptizer. He had taken his place in the wilderness just along the bank of the Jordan and folks were flocking to him to be a part of John’s baptism, a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The folks had come to him from all of Judea and Jerusalem to be baptized, to confess their sins and to return home intending to live their lives anew, turning from their previous sinful ways. But then something happened that broke the ordinary nature of that day. John had seen it coming, he had even told people that it would happen one day…and today was that day. The one who was more powerful than John, the one who had sandals that John proclaimed he was unworthy to untie, had come to the banks of the Jordan to be baptized.
To the folks around him it may not have seemed like anything extraordinary…just a man from Nazareth who had joined the crowds in seeking out baptism from John. John was, after all, performing a unique form of baptism, different from the purity rituals of the temple…and his message of repentance that accompanied the baptism was unique as well. So for a man to travel from Nazareth to Galilee was no big thing to those who had also traveled a long distance to see what John was up to and to partake in his ministry. No, to the naked eye, this visit of Jesus to John the Baptizer was nothing out of the ordinary…Jesus approaches John, John baptizes Jesus, Jesus goes on about his day.
For Mark, there is a real sense of urgency to get right to the story of Jesus and his ministry. There is no birth story, no magi or angels or shepherds, no plot by Herod to destroy an infant, no teenage Jesus in the temple…The Beginning of the Good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God is Mark’s introduction to the Gospel and off we go meeting John the baptizer and witnessing the baptism of Jesus. So also for Mark, there is that same sense of urgency in the baptism of Jesus. It takes three verses to describe the whole thing from beginning to end…and only half a verse to describe the baptism itself. There is no argument from John about who should be baptizing who…Jesus goes, is baptized and goes on his way in three short verses.
But even in all the urgency of Mark, he knew to leave in the most important part of the story, the part that makes the baptism of Jesus so extraordinary.
There have been debates that have lasted centuries as to why Jesus needed to go to the Jordan to be baptized…as Christians, we confess that he was without sin, so why would he need to be baptized for the repentance of sins? Doesn’t that cause a bit of a scandal…that Jesus would need to be baptized?
But Mark is a very simple Gospel…he only wrote about what was truly important to him and his community when he penned his account of the life and ministry of Jesus. And so it seems that maybe, to Mark and his community, it wasn’t the baptism itself that made this event extraordinary. True, the baptism of Jesus was important…but when it comes down to it, it is what happens after Jesus comes out of the water, after his baptism is complete, that is the key moment in this part of Mark’s account of Jesus’ life and ministry.
“And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’”
For Mark, it only takes a half a verse to describe Jesus’ baptism, but it takes two verses to describe what happened afterwards…and it is in these two verses that Jesus’ baptism goes from ordinary to extraordinary. After Jesus was baptized, as he was coming up from the water, God tore open the heavens and came down in the form of a dove, claiming Jesus to be God’s son, the beloved. We don’t know who got to witness this part of the event, whether it was just Jesus, if it was just Jesus and John, or if it was the whole crowd who had gathered to also be baptized by John.
But we know this…at the end of the baptism of Jesus, God tore open the heavens and in doing so, God opened God’s self up to the world, letting God’s self loose in the creation that had been separated from God for so long by the sin that so strongly pervades the human existence. As God tore open the heavens and claimed Jesus as God’s beloved son, all the barriers that once separated us from God were shattered and we gained full access to the almighty through the one upon whom the dove descended and God’s powerful voice claimed as God’s own Son.
In the Old Testament, we hear about the creation that God made, a creation that was good and very good…about how humans fully relied on God for everything…but, not for long…soon, sin came into the picture when we stopped relying completely on God and began to rely on ourselves, thinking that we could do things just as well as God could. We see this in the eating of the fruit in Eden, in the building of the tower of Babel, in the creation of the gold calf, in the worship of idols by the kings of Israel. In our sin, a barrier is created between us and God, a barrier that…no matter how hard we tried…we could not and cannot of our own power or might overcome.
So God, in God’s mercy, love and grace, sent Jesus to come among us so that God could tear open the heavens and come down to us, breaking down the barriers that separated us from God. And when our sin blinded us to Jesus’ mission and crucified Jesus up on the cross, God tore open the curtain of the temple, rolled the stone away, and once and for all crossed that barrier that sin had created, allowing us to have full access to our God.
God is on the loose in the world, from the wilderness, to the suburbs, to the inner city…with the outcast, the downtrodden, the ill, the injured, the addicted, the poor, with all of God’s children…on the ready to bring light into the midst of the darkest places in our lives. God calls us by name and bids us to come to the font and to the table, giving us a place among God’s beloved children who have been granted full access to the love and grace of our heavenly father. This is why Jesus’ baptism was necessary, to break down any barriers that keep us from our God…because as hard as we can try, there is no stairway to heaven, but instead there is a God who comes down and brings his love to us. And THAT is truly extraordinary. Amen
January 15, 2012
Mark 1:4-11
It started out as an ordinary day for the Baptizer. He had taken his place in the wilderness just along the bank of the Jordan and folks were flocking to him to be a part of John’s baptism, a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The folks had come to him from all of Judea and Jerusalem to be baptized, to confess their sins and to return home intending to live their lives anew, turning from their previous sinful ways. But then something happened that broke the ordinary nature of that day. John had seen it coming, he had even told people that it would happen one day…and today was that day. The one who was more powerful than John, the one who had sandals that John proclaimed he was unworthy to untie, had come to the banks of the Jordan to be baptized.
To the folks around him it may not have seemed like anything extraordinary…just a man from Nazareth who had joined the crowds in seeking out baptism from John. John was, after all, performing a unique form of baptism, different from the purity rituals of the temple…and his message of repentance that accompanied the baptism was unique as well. So for a man to travel from Nazareth to Galilee was no big thing to those who had also traveled a long distance to see what John was up to and to partake in his ministry. No, to the naked eye, this visit of Jesus to John the Baptizer was nothing out of the ordinary…Jesus approaches John, John baptizes Jesus, Jesus goes on about his day.
For Mark, there is a real sense of urgency to get right to the story of Jesus and his ministry. There is no birth story, no magi or angels or shepherds, no plot by Herod to destroy an infant, no teenage Jesus in the temple…The Beginning of the Good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God is Mark’s introduction to the Gospel and off we go meeting John the baptizer and witnessing the baptism of Jesus. So also for Mark, there is that same sense of urgency in the baptism of Jesus. It takes three verses to describe the whole thing from beginning to end…and only half a verse to describe the baptism itself. There is no argument from John about who should be baptizing who…Jesus goes, is baptized and goes on his way in three short verses.
But even in all the urgency of Mark, he knew to leave in the most important part of the story, the part that makes the baptism of Jesus so extraordinary.
There have been debates that have lasted centuries as to why Jesus needed to go to the Jordan to be baptized…as Christians, we confess that he was without sin, so why would he need to be baptized for the repentance of sins? Doesn’t that cause a bit of a scandal…that Jesus would need to be baptized?
But Mark is a very simple Gospel…he only wrote about what was truly important to him and his community when he penned his account of the life and ministry of Jesus. And so it seems that maybe, to Mark and his community, it wasn’t the baptism itself that made this event extraordinary. True, the baptism of Jesus was important…but when it comes down to it, it is what happens after Jesus comes out of the water, after his baptism is complete, that is the key moment in this part of Mark’s account of Jesus’ life and ministry.
“And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’”
For Mark, it only takes a half a verse to describe Jesus’ baptism, but it takes two verses to describe what happened afterwards…and it is in these two verses that Jesus’ baptism goes from ordinary to extraordinary. After Jesus was baptized, as he was coming up from the water, God tore open the heavens and came down in the form of a dove, claiming Jesus to be God’s son, the beloved. We don’t know who got to witness this part of the event, whether it was just Jesus, if it was just Jesus and John, or if it was the whole crowd who had gathered to also be baptized by John.
But we know this…at the end of the baptism of Jesus, God tore open the heavens and in doing so, God opened God’s self up to the world, letting God’s self loose in the creation that had been separated from God for so long by the sin that so strongly pervades the human existence. As God tore open the heavens and claimed Jesus as God’s beloved son, all the barriers that once separated us from God were shattered and we gained full access to the almighty through the one upon whom the dove descended and God’s powerful voice claimed as God’s own Son.
In the Old Testament, we hear about the creation that God made, a creation that was good and very good…about how humans fully relied on God for everything…but, not for long…soon, sin came into the picture when we stopped relying completely on God and began to rely on ourselves, thinking that we could do things just as well as God could. We see this in the eating of the fruit in Eden, in the building of the tower of Babel, in the creation of the gold calf, in the worship of idols by the kings of Israel. In our sin, a barrier is created between us and God, a barrier that…no matter how hard we tried…we could not and cannot of our own power or might overcome.
So God, in God’s mercy, love and grace, sent Jesus to come among us so that God could tear open the heavens and come down to us, breaking down the barriers that separated us from God. And when our sin blinded us to Jesus’ mission and crucified Jesus up on the cross, God tore open the curtain of the temple, rolled the stone away, and once and for all crossed that barrier that sin had created, allowing us to have full access to our God.
God is on the loose in the world, from the wilderness, to the suburbs, to the inner city…with the outcast, the downtrodden, the ill, the injured, the addicted, the poor, with all of God’s children…on the ready to bring light into the midst of the darkest places in our lives. God calls us by name and bids us to come to the font and to the table, giving us a place among God’s beloved children who have been granted full access to the love and grace of our heavenly father. This is why Jesus’ baptism was necessary, to break down any barriers that keep us from our God…because as hard as we can try, there is no stairway to heaven, but instead there is a God who comes down and brings his love to us. And THAT is truly extraordinary. Amen
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Something new - progress report part two
I discovered something new this morning. After a night spent tossing and turning and fighting for sleep, I cursed when the alarm went off but dragged myself out of bed anyways...got ready and left the house at 7:00am on the dot for a 2 mile walk to church. I did stop at Einstein's for a 260 calorie breakfast of plain bagel thin and reduced fat cream cheese, and a black coffee...but STILL arrived at church at 7:40 (just the walk normally takes 30-35 minutes)...
Here is what I learned from this...I didn't drag for a moment all morning!! Well, I did drag a little after the second service, but then I walked home and was re-energized. It was amazing.
For the day, I walked 4 miles and I also bowled the equivalent of 1 game (I was bowling as part of a tournament fundraiser) and I no where near as exhausted as I normally am. I am totally loving this extra energy. And I'm a lot less hungry too, which is helpful with the whole trying to eat better thing.
So in the last 6 days, I've walked on 5 of those days and have logged 15 miles in those 5 days...and average of 3 miles a day...no weigh in until Thursday, though...so we'll see what happens then.
Rock on, my friends, Rock on!!
Here is what I learned from this...I didn't drag for a moment all morning!! Well, I did drag a little after the second service, but then I walked home and was re-energized. It was amazing.
For the day, I walked 4 miles and I also bowled the equivalent of 1 game (I was bowling as part of a tournament fundraiser) and I no where near as exhausted as I normally am. I am totally loving this extra energy. And I'm a lot less hungry too, which is helpful with the whole trying to eat better thing.
So in the last 6 days, I've walked on 5 of those days and have logged 15 miles in those 5 days...and average of 3 miles a day...no weigh in until Thursday, though...so we'll see what happens then.
Rock on, my friends, Rock on!!
These “so called” Kings
This sermon was only preached at the 8:30am service this morning. The children presented their Epiphany program at the 11:00am service and children are the best at preaching the Gospel. It was a marvelous program.
January 8, 2012
Epiphany of our Lord (transferred)
Matthew 2:1-12
It went missing from the hymnal…it went missing from the hymnal and we might not see it again in future hymnals, either. That good old Epiphany stand by, “We three kings of Orient are” is slowly disappearing from the Lutheran landscape as other hymns have taken its place. But why? It’s a decent song, catchy refrain, good rhymes throughout, tells a story that we all know and love…but how accurate is it? Were there really three kings, were they even kings at all? What do we know about these magi…the so called “wise men” from the east who traveled all the way from ancient Iran to ancient Palestine to worship an infant they knew nothing about? And what does their real story tell us about the wonder of God’s story?
If you take a look at the story from Matthew 2 and compare it with the song “we three kings,” we bump up against some issues. The first main issue is the number of folks who traveled. The song claims three, the church has claimed three…they have even gone ahead and named them, Caspar, Melchoir and Balthazar. But this didn’t happen until the Middle Ages…and even there are some discrepancies as the Eastern Church claims there were four, and various works of art throughout the years have claimed various numbers of magi, from 2 to 6. All depends on who you want to listen to…but if you listen to the biblical text, there is no number mentioned…our translation of the text just says “wise men from the east.”
So there’s that…
The second issue that we run in to…the folks mentioned in the song weren’t kings…they weren’t wise men either, as our translation of the text wishes to indicate. Oh, there were kings and wise men involved in this text from Matthew, but the kings in Matthew’s story are Herod and the infant Jesus…and the wise men in the story were the religious leaders and prophets that Herod summoned to find out about Jesus after the magi had originally arrived and inquired of the newly born King of the Jews. No, these folks were Magi…and that’s about it. According to ancient Greek and Persian sources, the Magi were followers of Zoroaster, who is considered by the ancient Greeks to be the founder of astrology and magic and, as such, the Magi would themselves have been astrologers and dream readers. They were very well versed in the meaning of stars, but they were also common people from ancient Iran...not royalty.
So if we take these two issues into consideration…we could re-write the song “we three kings” into “We Magi of orient are”…I guess it works but it’s just not as catchy and that cartoon music video from the 80’s Christmas special hosted by and starring the California Raisins would be obsolete…and we can’t have that happen, now can we?
But does this all even matter? Who cares if there are 3 or 6 magi, if they were kings or wise men or common folk…what does it matter in the grand scheme of things? What does it matter in the grand scheme of the Gospel?
It matters greatly, actually…
Well, the number of the magi might not matter so much, that’s just a nit picky detail that built things up to the whole they weren’t even kings, deal…but the fact that they weren’t kings…they fact that the magi were common folk from a distant land and a different religious tradition matters greatly. When we put the magi in the role of kings, we are equating them with the roles that Herod and Jesus play…which isn’t just a big deal at first glance. But when you think about it, and truly study Matthew’s gospel…it is the kings from whom the things of God are hidden…and it is the wise who are placed in a lower status than the infants. When Herod first heard about the birth of Jesus, the King of the Jews, his first response wasn’t to go and look for the Messiah to genuinely worship him. Rather it was to go and look for the child born King of the Jews so that he could destroy him and keep his place as “so called” king of the jews…a puppet king of Rome. As Jesus continues in his ministry, it is the wise who become blind to the light that Jesus brought into the world, healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, speech to the mute, physical ability to those who did not have it. And it would be these wise men, these religious leaders, who sought to destroy Jesus…and his Gospel…on the cross.
But it was the magi, the men and women from a different country and a different religious tradition who recognized the grand nature of this birth and wished to go and genuinely worship this child, the true King of the Jews. They didn’t come seeking fame, or recognition, but rather, to come to worship and give extravagant gifts, and quietly find their way back to their homes, and their lives and their own religious tradition.
Epiphany is a wonderful feast day of the church, it is a day worthy of being celebrated…but not with the pomp and circumstance of kings…rather, with the delight and humility of servants. Epiphany is the day that we celebrate that even from the beginning of his life, Jesus and his message of hope and of love wasn’t confined to the in-crowd…but rather it was spread first among the outsiders, those who didn’t fit in, those who were not versed in the religious tradition of the time and place where Jesus lived. But they still knew…they knew the importance of this child, without having heard of the prophecies of the messiah, without having known anything about this child…a simple star was all they needed to know that they needed to leave their homes and their families and go on a trip to see a child and worship him.
This is the power of the gospel of Jesus…we see it in the light of a star, in the voyage of the magi, in the most unexpected places we can imagine…the gospel cannot be confined to this space, it cannot be confined to a certain group of people, because the gospel will always find a way of getting out and in finding itself in the least expected places in the world.
And to think, I used to think that the 3 kings were pretty cool…
January 8, 2012
Epiphany of our Lord (transferred)
Matthew 2:1-12
It went missing from the hymnal…it went missing from the hymnal and we might not see it again in future hymnals, either. That good old Epiphany stand by, “We three kings of Orient are” is slowly disappearing from the Lutheran landscape as other hymns have taken its place. But why? It’s a decent song, catchy refrain, good rhymes throughout, tells a story that we all know and love…but how accurate is it? Were there really three kings, were they even kings at all? What do we know about these magi…the so called “wise men” from the east who traveled all the way from ancient Iran to ancient Palestine to worship an infant they knew nothing about? And what does their real story tell us about the wonder of God’s story?
If you take a look at the story from Matthew 2 and compare it with the song “we three kings,” we bump up against some issues. The first main issue is the number of folks who traveled. The song claims three, the church has claimed three…they have even gone ahead and named them, Caspar, Melchoir and Balthazar. But this didn’t happen until the Middle Ages…and even there are some discrepancies as the Eastern Church claims there were four, and various works of art throughout the years have claimed various numbers of magi, from 2 to 6. All depends on who you want to listen to…but if you listen to the biblical text, there is no number mentioned…our translation of the text just says “wise men from the east.”
So there’s that…
The second issue that we run in to…the folks mentioned in the song weren’t kings…they weren’t wise men either, as our translation of the text wishes to indicate. Oh, there were kings and wise men involved in this text from Matthew, but the kings in Matthew’s story are Herod and the infant Jesus…and the wise men in the story were the religious leaders and prophets that Herod summoned to find out about Jesus after the magi had originally arrived and inquired of the newly born King of the Jews. No, these folks were Magi…and that’s about it. According to ancient Greek and Persian sources, the Magi were followers of Zoroaster, who is considered by the ancient Greeks to be the founder of astrology and magic and, as such, the Magi would themselves have been astrologers and dream readers. They were very well versed in the meaning of stars, but they were also common people from ancient Iran...not royalty.
So if we take these two issues into consideration…we could re-write the song “we three kings” into “We Magi of orient are”…I guess it works but it’s just not as catchy and that cartoon music video from the 80’s Christmas special hosted by and starring the California Raisins would be obsolete…and we can’t have that happen, now can we?
But does this all even matter? Who cares if there are 3 or 6 magi, if they were kings or wise men or common folk…what does it matter in the grand scheme of things? What does it matter in the grand scheme of the Gospel?
It matters greatly, actually…
Well, the number of the magi might not matter so much, that’s just a nit picky detail that built things up to the whole they weren’t even kings, deal…but the fact that they weren’t kings…they fact that the magi were common folk from a distant land and a different religious tradition matters greatly. When we put the magi in the role of kings, we are equating them with the roles that Herod and Jesus play…which isn’t just a big deal at first glance. But when you think about it, and truly study Matthew’s gospel…it is the kings from whom the things of God are hidden…and it is the wise who are placed in a lower status than the infants. When Herod first heard about the birth of Jesus, the King of the Jews, his first response wasn’t to go and look for the Messiah to genuinely worship him. Rather it was to go and look for the child born King of the Jews so that he could destroy him and keep his place as “so called” king of the jews…a puppet king of Rome. As Jesus continues in his ministry, it is the wise who become blind to the light that Jesus brought into the world, healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, speech to the mute, physical ability to those who did not have it. And it would be these wise men, these religious leaders, who sought to destroy Jesus…and his Gospel…on the cross.
But it was the magi, the men and women from a different country and a different religious tradition who recognized the grand nature of this birth and wished to go and genuinely worship this child, the true King of the Jews. They didn’t come seeking fame, or recognition, but rather, to come to worship and give extravagant gifts, and quietly find their way back to their homes, and their lives and their own religious tradition.
Epiphany is a wonderful feast day of the church, it is a day worthy of being celebrated…but not with the pomp and circumstance of kings…rather, with the delight and humility of servants. Epiphany is the day that we celebrate that even from the beginning of his life, Jesus and his message of hope and of love wasn’t confined to the in-crowd…but rather it was spread first among the outsiders, those who didn’t fit in, those who were not versed in the religious tradition of the time and place where Jesus lived. But they still knew…they knew the importance of this child, without having heard of the prophecies of the messiah, without having known anything about this child…a simple star was all they needed to know that they needed to leave their homes and their families and go on a trip to see a child and worship him.
This is the power of the gospel of Jesus…we see it in the light of a star, in the voyage of the magi, in the most unexpected places we can imagine…the gospel cannot be confined to this space, it cannot be confined to a certain group of people, because the gospel will always find a way of getting out and in finding itself in the least expected places in the world.
And to think, I used to think that the 3 kings were pretty cool…
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Encouragement out of Discouragement
This morning was my first weekly weigh in. Instead of rewarding me for putting forth a decent effort to move more in the last week, the scale decided to inform me that it would be moving in the opposite direction I am desiring. What do you say when that happens...3 pounds up, 26 to go? -3 pounds down, 26 to go?
Oh well, it is what it is, I guess (I hate that phrase, but it fits my purpose here).
It was, though, the first time that I've felt this unhealthy while doing my best to take steps to get healthier...which is an entirely different feeling than having body image issues, which I have had since I was in middle school and I still struggle with from time to time.
So I took my frustration with me to the weekly bible study that I lead. I was originally going to walk to bible study this morning, but the snooze button got hit one too many times and...well, you get the picture. The first response I got was "well, then, let's walk tomorrow" and the second was "remember, you're doing good work, but muscle formation sometimes takes the scale in the direction you don't want it to go...your heart and your body are healthier, even if the scale doesn't say that" I was SO grateful for these words from my bible study cohorts and it made me realize just how close people can get when they study scripture together just about every week over the course of 2.5 years. We went from a group of folks who only talked scripture to folks who talk more about each others lives than we do about our text for the week. It's fellowship and family and church happening in a coffee shop on Mass St on Thursday mornings.
I left bible study feeling much better about myself and my fitness goals than when I walked into the coffee shop. I felt encouragement to get over the disappointment that the scale handed me this morning and keep doing what I'm doing, because it feels good to get out, breathe fresh air in my lungs and get my body moving. I have a lot more energy because of it...especially on a day like today when the temperatures will top out somewhere in the mid 60's (this is January, right? because it feels like we pulled a Monty Python and skipped winter going directly into spring).
Then I found out that the Lawrence Civic Choir, which I'm hoping to be able to rejoin, will be singing one of the most bad ass classical pieces EVER...that's right friends, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. I'm SO excited for that!! I've missed singing with the choir so I'm glad a possibility has arisen for the one meeting that kept me from being in the choir to be moved so I can use the gift that God gave me on a more regular basis.
And that's what made me realize that I've been letting myself miss out on a lot of the things in life that I love. Singing, nature, making friends. So I've added a goal to my current list...take more time to enjoy life's simple joys. Yes, things are looking good for 2012.
Oh well, it is what it is, I guess (I hate that phrase, but it fits my purpose here).
It was, though, the first time that I've felt this unhealthy while doing my best to take steps to get healthier...which is an entirely different feeling than having body image issues, which I have had since I was in middle school and I still struggle with from time to time.
So I took my frustration with me to the weekly bible study that I lead. I was originally going to walk to bible study this morning, but the snooze button got hit one too many times and...well, you get the picture. The first response I got was "well, then, let's walk tomorrow" and the second was "remember, you're doing good work, but muscle formation sometimes takes the scale in the direction you don't want it to go...your heart and your body are healthier, even if the scale doesn't say that" I was SO grateful for these words from my bible study cohorts and it made me realize just how close people can get when they study scripture together just about every week over the course of 2.5 years. We went from a group of folks who only talked scripture to folks who talk more about each others lives than we do about our text for the week. It's fellowship and family and church happening in a coffee shop on Mass St on Thursday mornings.
I left bible study feeling much better about myself and my fitness goals than when I walked into the coffee shop. I felt encouragement to get over the disappointment that the scale handed me this morning and keep doing what I'm doing, because it feels good to get out, breathe fresh air in my lungs and get my body moving. I have a lot more energy because of it...especially on a day like today when the temperatures will top out somewhere in the mid 60's (this is January, right? because it feels like we pulled a Monty Python and skipped winter going directly into spring).
Then I found out that the Lawrence Civic Choir, which I'm hoping to be able to rejoin, will be singing one of the most bad ass classical pieces EVER...that's right friends, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. I'm SO excited for that!! I've missed singing with the choir so I'm glad a possibility has arisen for the one meeting that kept me from being in the choir to be moved so I can use the gift that God gave me on a more regular basis.
And that's what made me realize that I've been letting myself miss out on a lot of the things in life that I love. Singing, nature, making friends. So I've added a goal to my current list...take more time to enjoy life's simple joys. Yes, things are looking good for 2012.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Progress Report
Since I wrote the post last week about resolving to be healthier, I've seen some success in the exercise area.
Friday morning my friend, Susan, called me up at 9:30am and asked if I had gone on a walk yet...I had just settled down on the couch with my book and, at that point, hadn't made plans to walk...but at 10:00am she pulled into our driveway and away Susan and I went on an hour long walk. It felt great. As did my walks yesterday and today. Yesterday, Ward and I walked back to church after lunch (I had driven there with Chris, he took the car home so he could go to work) and then I walked home from church. It was lovely. I had enough energy to clean the bathroom, take down the Christmas decorations and put them away, vacuum the living room and do a couple loads of laundry. I was actually a little disappointed when Chris said he would pick me up from work tonight so I didn't have walk home alone in the dark (which is good thing...but it means I'll miss out on my time on the 9th street hill). Oh well, I'll get to walk it tomorrow and Saturday...probably Sunday, too. This is far superior to staring at the white walls while tackling the treadmill.
Friday morning my friend, Susan, called me up at 9:30am and asked if I had gone on a walk yet...I had just settled down on the couch with my book and, at that point, hadn't made plans to walk...but at 10:00am she pulled into our driveway and away Susan and I went on an hour long walk. It felt great. As did my walks yesterday and today. Yesterday, Ward and I walked back to church after lunch (I had driven there with Chris, he took the car home so he could go to work) and then I walked home from church. It was lovely. I had enough energy to clean the bathroom, take down the Christmas decorations and put them away, vacuum the living room and do a couple loads of laundry. I was actually a little disappointed when Chris said he would pick me up from work tonight so I didn't have walk home alone in the dark (which is good thing...but it means I'll miss out on my time on the 9th street hill). Oh well, I'll get to walk it tomorrow and Saturday...probably Sunday, too. This is far superior to staring at the white walls while tackling the treadmill.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Wicked - a brief review
I finished Wicked last night. It was a wonderful book. Maguire did a great job taking the familiar Wizard of Oz story and adapting it to tell the story of the Wicked Witch of the West, or Elphaba (before she became the wicked witch). The way he described things made them easy to picture, which made the book really easy to get in to.
Throughout the story, throughout the transitions in Elphaba's life, the writing made it so easy to follow.
Glinda was annoying for most of the novel...I need to share that...if you haven't seen the musical before you read the book, be prepared.
I definitely am on the look out for the next time the musical comes to Kansas City...
Tonight I start book 2: Son of a Witch...
Throughout the story, throughout the transitions in Elphaba's life, the writing made it so easy to follow.
Glinda was annoying for most of the novel...I need to share that...if you haven't seen the musical before you read the book, be prepared.
I definitely am on the look out for the next time the musical comes to Kansas City...
Tonight I start book 2: Son of a Witch...
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Write your own...sermon???
Yesterday afternoon, I received a text message from my colleague, Gary, who warned me that if his voice didn't improve, I would be preaching this morning. So I went to work crafting what I could of a sermon for the Feast of the Name of Jesus. It didn't get finished and I didn't have to preach it.
Still, I leave it to you, with an opportunity to create your own ending, according to what the Holy Spirit would have you to hear and respond to. I welcome your comments :)
Note: If you haven't read my sermons before, I write them like I talk...just like I do in my blog...so keep that in mind, I'm not out for good grammar
January 1, 2012
Luke 2:21
The Name of Jesus
What’s in a Name?
When a child is born, it seems that the first question that is asked, besides is the baby healthy? is “what is the baby’s name?” In most cases, this also takes care of the question about gender, unless the child has a gender neutral name. Sometimes parents wait until the meet their child and spend some time with him or her before assigning a name. Others have names picked before the birth and go with their gut feeling. And the name itself is important. There is a weight that is carried with a name…one that the child will carry that name their entire life, whether they like it, or not…that is, unless they decide to run down to the social security office and change it. In many cultures the choosing and bestowing of a name is a very important task. In many European cultures, the custom used to be that a child was named on the day of their baptism and was given either the name of their godparent or of the saint on whose day the child was born, Martin Luther was born on the Saint. Day of Martin of Tours. In China, a child isn’t named until a month after its birth, and receives his or her name at a party in which eggs which have been dyed red are served. In the native Hawaiian tradition, a person’s name is considered their most prized possession, revealed to the family by an ancestral god through various signs that appear before the birth of the child.
In the Jewish tradition, a male child receives his Hebrew name on the 8th day after birth. This took place at the same time as the circumcision, where the child becomes a part of the covenant with Abraham. The female child would receive her name at the synagogue, a parent is called to the Torah and a blessing is spoken for the mother and child…it is during that time that the child receives her Hebrew name. In the Hebrew tradition, a name carries a lot of weight and really described who a person was. Jacob received his name because he was born grasping onto the heel of his twin brother, Esau…Jacob literally meaning “he who grasps the heel.” Their father Isaac received his name because Sarah laughed when she overheard the news given to Abraham by the angels that they would have a child in their advanced age…Isaac meaning “he who laughs.” Many people in scripture had different names depending on who they were with. Solomon is the name by which we best know the son of King David, who built the first temple in Jerusalem. But to his family, he was known as Jedidiah. Moses’ father in law, Jethro was also known as Reuel.
But what about Jesus? Today we celebrate the day of his naming…the 8th day of his life. But there was no pacing back and forth for Mary and Joseph…no compilation of lists of names…no “if it’s a girl, we name her after my third cousin once removed…if it’s a boy, we name him after you” There was none of that. Gabriel made it clear to Mary that on the 8th day, when asked the name of the child, the response they were supposed to give was Jesus. Yeshua in Aramaic, the language that Mary and Joseph spoke…“God-saves.” Perhaps they had heard about the fiasco that took place around the naming of Elizabeth and Zechariah’s son John, but all we know is that when asked the name of the child, “Yeshua” was their response. It wasn’t a very unique name…in fact, it was a very popular name at the time of Jesus. Wouldn’t you think that the son of God would have this totally cool, unique name…Bar YHWH? No, that wouldn’t have worked…devout Jesus never uttered the name of God. Bar Elohim? Bar El? Bar Adonai? Ehh…they don’t really roll off the tongue, do they…and they kind of give things away, when you think about it. And it would probably seem pretty arrogant if Mary and Joseph walked into the temple and said “hey, this is our son, the Son of God…you probably don’t know this, but he’s going to be a pretty big deal.” They probably would have gotten kicked out of there pretty quick, if not stoned for heresy.
No, if the son of God was truly going to become human, and live among humans God was going to make sure the whole thing was done well. The son of God was going to be a typical boy, with typical parents, growing up in a typical town, with a typical name, would make typical friends and lead a typical life for a male child living in Palestine under the puppet rule of Rome. Except, he wasn’t a typical male child living in Palestine. He was also the son of God incarnate…a man who, Paul wrote, was given a name above all other names. A name that would heal the sick, give sight to the blind, make the lame able to walk again, give hope to the hopeless, bringing light into the darkness and putting an end to death itself.
Still, I leave it to you, with an opportunity to create your own ending, according to what the Holy Spirit would have you to hear and respond to. I welcome your comments :)
Note: If you haven't read my sermons before, I write them like I talk...just like I do in my blog...so keep that in mind, I'm not out for good grammar
January 1, 2012
Luke 2:21
The Name of Jesus
What’s in a Name?
When a child is born, it seems that the first question that is asked, besides is the baby healthy? is “what is the baby’s name?” In most cases, this also takes care of the question about gender, unless the child has a gender neutral name. Sometimes parents wait until the meet their child and spend some time with him or her before assigning a name. Others have names picked before the birth and go with their gut feeling. And the name itself is important. There is a weight that is carried with a name…one that the child will carry that name their entire life, whether they like it, or not…that is, unless they decide to run down to the social security office and change it. In many cultures the choosing and bestowing of a name is a very important task. In many European cultures, the custom used to be that a child was named on the day of their baptism and was given either the name of their godparent or of the saint on whose day the child was born, Martin Luther was born on the Saint. Day of Martin of Tours. In China, a child isn’t named until a month after its birth, and receives his or her name at a party in which eggs which have been dyed red are served. In the native Hawaiian tradition, a person’s name is considered their most prized possession, revealed to the family by an ancestral god through various signs that appear before the birth of the child.
In the Jewish tradition, a male child receives his Hebrew name on the 8th day after birth. This took place at the same time as the circumcision, where the child becomes a part of the covenant with Abraham. The female child would receive her name at the synagogue, a parent is called to the Torah and a blessing is spoken for the mother and child…it is during that time that the child receives her Hebrew name. In the Hebrew tradition, a name carries a lot of weight and really described who a person was. Jacob received his name because he was born grasping onto the heel of his twin brother, Esau…Jacob literally meaning “he who grasps the heel.” Their father Isaac received his name because Sarah laughed when she overheard the news given to Abraham by the angels that they would have a child in their advanced age…Isaac meaning “he who laughs.” Many people in scripture had different names depending on who they were with. Solomon is the name by which we best know the son of King David, who built the first temple in Jerusalem. But to his family, he was known as Jedidiah. Moses’ father in law, Jethro was also known as Reuel.
But what about Jesus? Today we celebrate the day of his naming…the 8th day of his life. But there was no pacing back and forth for Mary and Joseph…no compilation of lists of names…no “if it’s a girl, we name her after my third cousin once removed…if it’s a boy, we name him after you” There was none of that. Gabriel made it clear to Mary that on the 8th day, when asked the name of the child, the response they were supposed to give was Jesus. Yeshua in Aramaic, the language that Mary and Joseph spoke…“God-saves.” Perhaps they had heard about the fiasco that took place around the naming of Elizabeth and Zechariah’s son John, but all we know is that when asked the name of the child, “Yeshua” was their response. It wasn’t a very unique name…in fact, it was a very popular name at the time of Jesus. Wouldn’t you think that the son of God would have this totally cool, unique name…Bar YHWH? No, that wouldn’t have worked…devout Jesus never uttered the name of God. Bar Elohim? Bar El? Bar Adonai? Ehh…they don’t really roll off the tongue, do they…and they kind of give things away, when you think about it. And it would probably seem pretty arrogant if Mary and Joseph walked into the temple and said “hey, this is our son, the Son of God…you probably don’t know this, but he’s going to be a pretty big deal.” They probably would have gotten kicked out of there pretty quick, if not stoned for heresy.
No, if the son of God was truly going to become human, and live among humans God was going to make sure the whole thing was done well. The son of God was going to be a typical boy, with typical parents, growing up in a typical town, with a typical name, would make typical friends and lead a typical life for a male child living in Palestine under the puppet rule of Rome. Except, he wasn’t a typical male child living in Palestine. He was also the son of God incarnate…a man who, Paul wrote, was given a name above all other names. A name that would heal the sick, give sight to the blind, make the lame able to walk again, give hope to the hopeless, bringing light into the darkness and putting an end to death itself.
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