The Short Version

 The Christmas celebration continues

         And today’s sermon is about God’s adoption plan.

 

From the Epistle reading for today, Galatians 4, we read:

4   But when the fullness of time had come, 

         God sent his Son, born of a woman, …

5   in order to redeem those who were under the law, 

         so that we might receive adoption as children. 

6   And because you are children, 

         God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, 

         crying, "Abba! Father!" 

7   So you are no longer a slave but a child, 

         and if a child then also an heir, through God. 

 

And this brings me to the Gospel reading for today.

 

The first Sunday after Christmas Day, 

the Gospel is always what is called the Prologue of John,

         the first 18 verses of John’s Gospel.

 

It is also the Gospel for the 3rd set of readings 

                  that can be read on Christmas Day, 

as well as showing up 6 times  [count them à 6 times!]

         as the assigned reading in the Daily Office lectionary!

So you can get the idea of its significance just from the frequency of its use.

 

The first chapter of the gospel of John 

has been significant for me personally

         in my own understanding of who Jesus is 

         and all the reasons I feel such love for him 

         and am devoted to him as teacher, savior, Lord, Truth, and Life itself.

 

It is a passage in which I am always finding new depths, 

and about which I could easily spend an hour or more preaching on, 

although I will spare you that today.

 

In this profound passage is the heart of the mystery of our faith

         in regards to creation, incarnation, death, resurrection, salvation,                            and life in Christ.         Wow!  All that in one passage

In these few verses we are told how everything has been taken care of.

 

In the beginning…

in the same words of Genesis 1:1…

in the beginning, the origin, the source…at the source of it all

         there is always God, the Divine Self,

and this Divine Self is continually expressing, giving expression, 

                                                                                 that is, creating.

So the beginning or origin point, the source is always present here and now, 

         as creation continually comes into being.

You see, God did not just create at some temporal beginning point 

         and then leave it all to evolve on its own.

Creation is continuing to happen moment by moment,

                           continuous Divine Self-expression.

         Is it not self-evident?

 

 

The whole passage then becomes more and more rhapsodic 

         about the l/ogos, the Word, becoming flesh, 

that is, entering into the created order, 

         a one-time begetting by the Father, 

so that all living beings, all of us can see for ourselves 

         the glory, the richness, 

         the weightiness of abundance, honor and splendor,

the fullness of one grace after another

         showered upon us,

revealing to us the very essence of God manifested in this Only-Begotten Son.

 

In the whole passage the only thing we have to attend to is receiving, 

         owning for ourselves what has been provided for us – 

                  our adoption as children of God.

 

The adoption done for us is what brings us into union with God through Jesus.

The Resurrection Spirit of Jesus fills us, 

         envelopes us, 

         swallows us up, 

and we live and breath and have our being within the Heart of Christ.

 

All we have to do is receive, take the Word, lay our hands on it,

         the Logos, the Life, the Light.

How do we do that?         by having faith in his Name.         his Name.

 

Verse 12: “As many as received him, who believe in his name, 

         to them he gives power to become children of God.”

 

Quoting from a commentary on the Prologue of John,

         [written by my meditation teacher]:

 

“…faith is not belief in doctrines, 

         is not about ideas held with conviction, 

         is not even fundamentally a self-generated trust in God 

                  for the sake of one’s own ultimate well being. 

No. Faith is the wakeful potency of the Word in us and as us. 

Faith is the power of our being as divine life.” 

                                                                        Ponder that.

 

Faith is a participation in the creative power of God,

         the ability of God’s creativity in us.

Faith is fundamental and essential to our being human;

                  we are beings of faith.

 

But it is God who empowers faith in us;

         there is a huge potency of faith in us, 

                  maybe latent, 

         but definitely possible as a great strength within us.

And Jesus is the One who lived that potency of faith as light for all of us.

 

Again verse 12:         “As many as received him, who believe in his name, 

                           to them he gives power to become children of God.”

 

It isn’t until the 17^th verse that the Name in whom we are to place our faith 

                           is revealed: Jesus, in Hebrew: Yeshua,

         a Name that means salvation, to deliver, to make wide, spacious, 

to be or live in abundance, freedom, liberty.

That’s what the Name Jesus means.

 

So you can see the Name Jesus, as we are graced to experience it, 

         incorporates within it tremendous depth,

                  the Name through which we are adopted into the family of God.

 

You see, adoption into the family of God is only the beginning.

There are the benefits of adoption 

                  – salvation, resurrection life, union with God – 

but there is also the rest of what goes along with that

         when one belongs to a family when one is adopted:

there are the obligations and the way of life and the work of the family.

 

And – note this – 

the work is the same work that Jesus had to do 

                  – the will of the Father.

The way of life is the same as the way Jesus walked 

                  – the way of the Cross.

Discipleship is the way of life in this family for those adopted into it.

 

And the Word became flesh and lived among us,

         and we have seen his glory…

                                    full of grace and truth.

 

Glory, that is, expansive presence, radiance of life,

         that which is primary in importance and of greatest worth.

Full of grace and truth

         Grace – the spontaneous flow of unbounded generosity,

                  the very nature of divine creativity

         and Truth – actuality, what is finally and fundamentally real.

 

Jesus the Word, the Logos, is full of grace and truth,

         whose whole being expresses the very nature of divine creativity,

         who is Living Truth.

 

Now here is the main point:

The whole passage, the Prologue of John, is about the primacy of Jesus, 

and that who he is, we also are meant to become,

         to actualize, 

         to act the way we truly are, God-begotten, just as he was.

 

So the context for your life together at St. Stephen’s

         is faith awakening and ever burgeoning within you,

                           as light shining in the darkness

         as ever increasing awareness of who and what we are.

 

Coming to see this, 

coming to greater understanding of this,

coming to grips with this

         is the spiritual work before each of us

                  now at the end of this year

                  and as you enter a new year and a new chapter 

                           in your life together as the faith community.

Ode to Mary on a short Advent 4

 Occasionally I have had a dream so vivid that I wrote it down 

         in order to ponder it and see what it was saying to me.

Let me share one of these dreams with you

         because there is that liminal space between sleeping and waking

         where mystical things can happen.

In this dream I saw the figure of an angel, 

          much like the angel of the annunciation in the fresco by Fra Angelico.

It was in the crouching position of a genuflection 

                  in a swirl of flowing robes with arms crossed over the chest.

         The angel said, “Open the door.”

And then I awoke.

 

“Open the door.”

 

These words are simple, but also pregnant with so much meaning.

 

So today, since the focus of the Gospel is on Mary,

                    who opens the door to the Angel Gabriel,

         I will say a few things about the Mother of our Lord.

 

Throughout a couple thousand years of church history

         the ecclesiastical institution has made assertions about her

                  that have been devotional in nature, or theological, or political

         in order to emphasize one agenda or another

                  in a struggle for control, influence or power.

 

People respond or react to Mary.

It’s hard to maintain neutrality about her.

 

Protestants may be reactive to anything they see 

as ascribing too much devotion to Mary 

as “theotokos,” the God-bearer, Mother of God.

Or there may be reactions between one ethnic group and another,

         such as suspicion about the attachment of Mexicans 

to their strong devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe.

 

For much of the time the male hierarchy of the Church 

has instructed the faithful about Mary in such a way 

that she has been used to perpetuate 

submission and subservience among women.

 

Although more recently in history 

with a renewed engagement in biblical studies, 

Mary has become an example and champion of liberation theology.

For instance,

         in some Latin American countries her song, the Magnificat,

         is considered to be subversive, revolutionary literature.

 

You see, everyone has to come down one way or another 

in reflection about Mary, 

all dependent on individual situations, cultures, and life experiences.

Mary is a lightning rod.

 

So saying all that, let’s look at this key text about Mary 

and notice our own reactivity 

and what that may say to us about our Lord and our relationship to him.

 

First, 

        the angel messenger was not sent to just any woman of child-bearing years.

There was an openness in Mary to God, 

to receive what God was saying to her.

She was fertile ground 

where the seed of God’s Word could sprout and flourish 

and produce 30-, 60-, 100-fold,

                  or just one, but the One who would give life to all.

 

Open the door to God –  

where there is openness to God, 

then transformation and healing can come.

This is a spiritual principle I see at work all the time. 

 

But what is it that brings the openness to God?

because as logical and as practical as that may seem, 

I encounter great reluctance for opening the door to God.

 

For good reason, I think.

If you open the door to God, then watch out.

Things are going to change!

If things are going okay in our lives

         I may not want that disruptive change.

But it’s when things aren’t so fine 

         then one is more likely to open the door for divine intervention.

We actually have a spiritual opportunity here.

 

Now, you need to realize 

that Mary was not just some sweet, innocent, pious girl

                  disconnected from the realities of the world around her.

She lived during a time of despair for her people,

         stuggling under foreign rule, 

                  oppressed and without the freedom of self governance.

 

For these people the biblical stories of the past seemed distant,

     the biblical promises of the prophets hopeless to be accomplished.

And in this context as a woman in a patriarchal culture, 

                  which itself was subject to domination by a stronger power,

         Mary was lacking in any significant political or social influence.

 

So where could Mary go for any sense of hope?

Perhaps the only appeal she could make was to God.

After all the message of the prophets emphasized 

God’s preferential favor for the disadvantaged, 

the widow, the orphan, the poor, the alien living among us.

And so her heart was open.

 

When there is pain and suffering, 

         when there is violence on any of various levels, 

         when there is war and natural disasters and famine and contagion,

         when there is death and loss and grief, 

         then, in the midst of acute suffering 

the heart in desperation breaks open to God.

 

So when the angel came to Mary,

         the greeting it gave changed everything in her life

         - and not just everything in her life,

                  but everything was changed for the whole world.

Mary, and what she would do, was key to all that would follow.

 

She would give her body, her whole being to be at God’s disposal, 

and within her the very Word of God, 

the One who was in the beginning with God and who was God, 

through whom all things were created, 

including Mary herself, 

this very Word of God would become himself subject to creation.

 

And so the Spirit of God, who brooded over the waters of the deep at creation

now came to Mary and enveloped her in the same creative brooding. 

And the waters of Mary’s womb welcomed their own Creator.

 

If we were to give special rank or place 

 to any of the saints whom we hold up as Christ-like examples for us,

         Mary would deserve the place of highest honor,

and it would be not just for being the mother of our Savior,

                  as significant and important as that is,

         and certainly not because she is some sort of benign role model

                  for holy, submissive, gentle girls.

 

But it is for Mary’s obedience,

         her willingness to take great risk as an expression of faith.

Mary looked at what the angel was offering her,

         and we do not know how long she pondered the situation

                  before she said, "Here am I, the servant/the slave of the Lord;

                           let it be with me according to your word."

 

She looked at the risks and the danger, the potential and promise, 

         and she said yes - with an obedience to match Abraham

                                    poised with his knife raised at Mount Moriah;

 

Mary's agreement to being a partner with God

         is our perfect example of obedience,

and, of course, this kind of obedience 

                                             is what God is asking of each of us.

This is not a matter of heroics.

 

For Mary from that moment of conception 

the Holy Spirit was hovering over her, and her life was graced.

And so it is with us.

 

Open the door.

 

Mary opened the door and her body became a mansion,

         and what emerged from that open door in Mary 

                  was the Light of the world.

 

Open the door.

 

The Holy Spirit, the Resurrection Presence of Jesus, the Holy Divine

         whispers to us, “Open the door.”

And we too become a dwelling place for the Divine

         and our humble bodies too can grow into mansions.

 

And from our open doors Light pours in 

         and Light can stream forth.

 

Leonard Cohen sang of this:

         Ring the bells that still can ring
         Forget your perfect offering
         There is a crack, a crack in everything
         That's how the light gets in

 

This whole world is cracked.

It’s been a rough year for so many.

But here is the hope.

That crack in your life and in mine is the door.

Let it open, even with the pain and grief and sorrow.

And the light that gets in is a healing light

         that turns a hovel of a stable into a mansion

                  and gives birth to new life to fill the world again with Light.

Increase and Decrease - Advent 3

 Third Sunday in Advent, 

and this Gospel, we might say, is John the Baptist, Part 2.

 

In John’s Gospel, John the Baptizer was sent by God as a witness to the Light.

         This is the testimony given by John 

         when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him,          “Who are you?”

 

Yes, John, who are you?  

         Certainly not what was expected of the son of Zechariah, 

                  priest in the Temple,

         You did not follow in his priesthood, 

                  not performing the liturgies of the sacrifices,

                  not wearing liturgical vestments, 

                  not even keeping kosher,

         but throwing that all aside 

         and emerging out of the wilderness at Jordon.

                  

John answers no to all their expected answers:

         not the Christ, not a prophet, not Elijah reincarnated,

just a voice.

         John claimed no status in relationship to Jesus.

         He was only a voice.

 

I want to add a little something to the Gospel reading for today.

         I want to jump ahead into chapter 3 of John’s Gospel.

John is still around.

         He had not yet been arrested by Herod,

         and Jesus was now fully engaged in his ministry. 

 

John was still hanging around the Jordan River, 

still preaching and baptizing, 

and still with his own set of disciples.

But his ministry was soon to end.

 

John’s disciples ask him what’s up with this other guy, Jesus.

         They remind him that he had told them about Jesus,

         and now everyone was flocking to him.

And John replies, “Yup, I told you that I am not the Christ,

         and now that Jesus is on the scene, my joy is complete.

         He must increase and I must decrease.”

John knows his day has come and gone. 

 

And therefore John the Baptist is depicted in so much sacred art 

as the one pointing away from himself and toward the Lamb of God.

 

John prepared the way and pointed beyond himself.

 

“He must increase and I must decrease.”

         As I think about his statement, I can see that applying to myself as well,

                  the clergy person who stands before you and preaches.

 

I really do intend to preach Jesus

         and have that be predominately the message you would hear,

                  rather than anything that would point to me personally,

                                                      and my marvelous preaching skills.

 

But what about all the rest of us 

         who are serious about claiming that identity of Christian,

         saying we are followers of Jesus?

Let me ask you a question:

         For others who know you or who encounter you,

                  do they see you as the kind of person you want to project

                                                                                 as your public persona,

         OR are they able to catch something of what models Jesus?

 

Modeling Jesus means that the “I” decreases,

         that “I” that is our ego driven tendencies of self-aggrandizement, 

                  self-indulgence, self-promotion.

Rather, be like John the Baptist pointing to Jesus and saying,

         he must increase and I must decrease.

Do you remember that old saying that was popular a few decades back?

         What would Jesus do?  

                  You could wear a bracelet with WWJD on it as a reminder.

If that were a little gate that we walked each action through,

         each word before spoken, even each thought through that gate,

what we would present to the world would be like John’s words,

         “He must increase, and I decrease.”

         

That’s good advice for each of us.

The service and ministry we are all called to is not about me or you, 

but about Jesus, not our own personal agenda.

How we are as a faith community, a congregation 

is also not about me or you or any one of us individually, 

but about how we serve one another 

and follow Jesus’ commandment to love one another.

 

Even Jesus operated out of this pattern of “increase/decrease.”

And he especially and intentionally did so.

It was always and completely the will of the Father 

that he did all that he did and lived 

         throughout all his life and his dying and his resurrection.

He was the servant son of humankind.

A number of his parables brought out this spiritual principle 

of “it’s not about me.”

Being worthless servants, only having done what we were told to do,

is the one from Luke 17(:7-10).

Our role is to bear fruit, not for ourselves, but for Someone Else, for God.

 

Jesus poured out his life completely.

Even in the Resurrection he doesn’t hold back 

within limits of self definition, self-defined boundaries, 

but he now fills all of Creation.

The Resurrection Spirit of Jesus fills the whole world, 

is accessible to all, with loving mercy and grace for all.

 

This is the key thing, the central focus, the prime directive 

for me in “my” ministry – 

to point to Jesus, 

to express my devotion to him, 

and to live out what John the Baptist said, 

“He must increase, and I must decrease.”

 

I say all of this to you for the sake of the world,

         and specifically for those around us,

                           those with whom we will interact today,

         and for our own sakes, for ourselves,

                  in helping us get over ourselves,

                           get stretched beyond ourselves,

         so that we can discover more of ourselves

and come to the realization that our basic identity 

                  is to be in union with Christ.

 

…until you discover that all the light within you

         is greater than all the Christmas lights around you.

 

That Resurrection Presence of Jesus, implanted in us in baptism,

         that Holy Spirit infused in all of us,

when we allow, when we invite that to increase in our awareness,

         then we become who we are meant to be

                                                               to the glory of God.

 

So something to think about today,

         and to help in your reflections reread the Epistle lesson for today.

I Thessalonians, the words of Paul to the faith community in Thessalonika.

 

Rejoice always, 

pray without ceasing, 

give thanks in all circumstances;

         for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 

Do not quench the Spirit. 

Do not despise the words of prophets…

hold fast to what is good…

 

That’s a good action plan.

 

And, Paul continues, may the God of  Peace 

                  (peace which is the same as completeness, wholeness)

         make you completely holy in all aspects.

This is a call for each of us,

                  each of us for whom the whole-hearted  intention

                  is engagement in living out our faith

                           and accepting the spiritual challenge of John the Baptist.

 

He must increase, and I must decrease.