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"To See Face to Face"   January 31st, 2016

1/31/2016

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1 Cor. 13: 1-13; Luke 4:14-30, Jeremiah 1:4-10
CCLN Jan. 31 2016 “To See Face to Face”
 
For better or worse, a growing number of people have taken to expressing themselves on their receipts. There was a whole “tips for Jesus” movement a while back that tried to spread the gospel as well as generous tips.  One Steak –n- Shake waitress received a $446 tip on a shake costing $5.97.  Other servers haven’t ended up so lucky.  Remember the pastor who created a huge backlash on Reddit when she left a note on a St. Louis Applebee's restaurant bill refusing a gratuity to a server.  The pastor scratched out the tip on the receipt and included the words, "I give God 10 percent, why should you get 18?”   Others have left comments, with no tips, advising their servers to get real jobs or lose weight.  Servers have gotten into the act, and hot water for nasty comments about children or attitudes, or other slurs against customers. 

Whatever you think of tipping, the comments and actions of the server, we leave in an age where our actions or words, with the slightest provocation, can go viral. Receipts or pictures meant for private viewing are shared for millions to oogle at. Microphones pick up words that politians later regret. Jobs are lost, reputations ruined (or enhanced, depending how you look at it). Images, both good and bad, go viral.  Remember the police officer who once bought boots for a homeless man? Or the waiter from Houston who refused to serve a table of customers who were being rude to another down’s syndrome customer?  Both were proclaimed heroes thought the efforts of social media.  What about images and comments left on social media pages that have driven youth to commit suicide? 

So what do we do in this this world of instant comments, pictures, and sound bites?  We see only what the social media site, the news channel, the stockholders, want us to see.  We see dimly, because it is hard, and takes integrity, to capture even the complexity of one simple story – or even one person’s life.  As my grandmother loved to say, there’s always more than meets the eye, and there are three sides to every story - your view, my view, and then there’s the truth.   

Our passages from Luke today tells of Jesus’ first sermon, his first public encounter of Jesus in the synagogue as told to us by Luke.  Jesus selected a reading from Isaiah 61, which harkens back to the Law of Moses, the law of Jubilee, when rest and restoration was ordained for the land and society every 49- 50 years depending how it was calculated. God had anointed Jesus to bring good news to the poor, proclaim release of captives, recovery of sight of to the blind, let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. So in this special year, land allowed to rest, land returned to the original owners, the enslaved set free.  It is a remarkable law, an impossible law, the law that has never been completely followed. Yet Jesus chose this humanly impossible law, and said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your midst.”  Jesus asserts his ministry will be a ministry of Jubilee, a ministry of restoration, recuperation, favor, healing and hope—to see people face to face.
 
Yet the people of Jesus’ home town didn’t see this clearly.  Jesus, the enactor of the Lord’s favor?  Jesus, a prophet?  This Jesus -- Joseph’s son, a mere carpenter? Is he deluded or what?  From the gospel of Mark, we know that the people of Nazareth heard the rumors on the grapevine, all the wonders Jesus performed in Capernaum. The miracles. The healings.  Now that’s what they came out to see. Not this fantasy nonsense that not even the great prophet Moses was never able to enforce.  Wake up, Jesus. 
Instead of making nice with the neighbors, Jesus raises the stakes.  Look at the prophet Elijah he says.  There was severe famine in the land, in his day. But Elijah was sent to the widow in Sidon, a foreigner, not to Israel’s widows.  Jesus adds,  despite all the lepers in Israel, Elisha was sent to cleanse the Syrian, Naaman- a foreigner and enemy to boot.  Why did God favor non-neighbors, his chosen people?  Because, Jesus teaches, God’s blessings are for all people. 

That was not a message the people of Nazareth could accept. How dare Jesus insinuate they lacked faith.  That their vision was dim.  That Jesus could accomplish what no other prophet or politician ever had. That the messianic scriptures were fulfilled in their midst. What a tizzy Jesus created.  Enraged, they drove Jesus out on his first day home, and would have thrown him off a cliff if he hadn’t escaped.

Paul talks us today in his famous passage on love, the problem of seeing dimly.   In the ancient world, mirrors were made out of polished metal, and the image was always unclear and somewhat distorted.  The city of Corinth was in fact famous for producing some of the best bronze mirrors in antiquity. But at their best, they couldn’t give a really clear vision. And that’s what happens with us.  Our prejudices, presumptions and judgments, our emotions cloud our vision.  So none of us have 20/20 spiritual vision.  There are no glasses, no laser surgery that can give us the vision we are created to obtain someday.  However, Jesus is that corrective lens that can bring our sight more in alignment with the divine vision.  Through Jesus we can see more clearly, face to face, the kingdom of Love God has laid down, in the law of Jubilee, in God’s favor seen Jesus’s ministry and sacrifice on the cross.

Paul uses this term of seeing God face to face to describe complete, unhindered fellowship with God, only accessible through the practice of love.

Seeing face to face means an intimate relationship where each side becomes fully known to the other – inside and out. We know each as we truly are.  Not through twitter, facebook, reddit, or instant messaging, but direct, in the flesh.

It is not surprising that Paul’s words about seeing face to face crowns this beautiful passage on love.  Because love is the polish that burnishes our lives. Love perfects how we see the world around us, to bring our sight, millimeter by millimeter, into alignment with the vision of Jesus.  Love carefully polishes away the judgments we hold which get in the way of caring. Love removes the stains and dust that distorts the image of God, so that we can live as love dictates and mirror the attitudes and actions of Jesus.  Seeing each other face to face chips away at presumptions we make until we can take in the whole person – just who they for, for whom they are.

When William Montague Dyke, the son of one of the most prosperous barons in England, was ten years old, he was blinded in an accident. Despite his disability, William graduated from a university in England and while there, he fell in love and became engaged.

       Not long before the wedding, William had eye surgery in the hope that the operation would restore his sight. If it failed, he would remain blind for the rest of his life. William insisted on keeping the bandages on his face until his wedding day. If the surgery was successful, he wanted the first person he saw to be his new bride.

       The wedding day arrived.  William's father, Sir William Hart Dyke, and the doctor who performed the surgery stood next to the groom, whose eyes were still covered with bandages.

       As soon as the bride arrived at the altar, the surgeon took a pair of scissors out of his pocket and cut the bandages from William's eyes.

     Tension filled the sanctuary. The congregation of witnesses held their breath as they waited to find out if William could see the woman standing before him. As he stood face-to-face with his bride, William’s words echoed throughout the cathedral, "You are more beautiful than I ever imagined!"

       One day the bandages that cover our eyes will be removed. When we stand face-to-face with Jesus and see His face for the very first time, His glory will be far more splendid than anything we have ever imagined in this life. Yet Jesus wants us to have a taste of this gift now.    We see Jesus face to face when we love one another as he commands.  Let us stop and think for a moment, just of the people sitting around us and who we meet day to day.  If we remove the bandages, the judgments and opinions that blind us, what would it be like to say, “you are more beautiful than I ever imagined.” What would it be like to hear this, and take it in.

         This is what love does.  Jesus chose to see people face to face, sinners, outcasts, the blind and lame, up close and real.  Jesus calls us to extend ourselves, especially when it’s hard.  To see that caring transcends language, nationality, or any other barrier that could be put up.

So will we push Love away, drive it out, enraged at the challenge?  Or will embrace it, even if we see but dimly what is being revealed, but through the loving, come to see plainly, face to face?

 Let us take the bandages off.  Let us put on the corrective lens of Jesus. We are called like Jesus, like Jeremiah was, to be a people of restoration.  To bring good news to the poor.  To work for release of those held captive or oppressed. To work for sight for the blind.  To proclaim God’s favor.  To meet each other face to face.  As we do this,  we see Jesus, in our midst. 

​And it is more beautiful than we can ever imagine. Amen. 

          http://josiahaudette.com/2015/03/08/love-the-church/

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"Fulfilled"   January 24, 2016

1/23/2016

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Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; Luke 4:14-21
UCBR January 24, 2016, “Fulfilled”







A new preacher was about to deliver his very first sermon to the congregation and was extremely nervous. The senior minister caught up with him just prior to going out in front of the crowd and offered some tips and advice on how to ease his anxiety.

          "Here is an old minister’s trick that I am going to pass on to you. What you do," the senior pastor said, "is dump the pitcher of water out and fill it with gin, vodka, or some other alcohol that looks like water. You can sip it as you go through the sermon and that will help ease your nerves and you should get through the sermon with no problems." [Never one that I’ve used!!]

      So the new minister pours out the water and fills the pitcher with vodka. As he gets up to the pulpit and looks out over the congregation his nerves start to get the better of him, then he remembers the pitcher. He immediately downs a full glass and then fills it up again. As he proceeds through the sermon, continually sipping his vodka, he starts to relax and cruises though the remainder of his presentation.

       After he is done, the senior pastor that offered the advice came up to him and said, "That was a . . . very . . . interesting sermon you gave today. I have a few things that you might want to correct for next time though:
-you take little sips, not gulp the vodka.
-There were 12 apostles not 10, and 10 commandments not 12.
-Jesus Christ and his disciples should not be called "J.C. and the boys"
-The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit should not be referred to as "big daddy, junior and Casper the friendly ghost!"

The first sermon is a memorial and pivotal moment in the life of a newly-minted preacher.  You have been educated up. Call by God to proclaim the word.  You have spent hours praying and studying the text.  More study and pray time is poured in the actual preparation of the sermon – some estimate 1-2 hours for every page. Some gifted preachers are able to commit the sermon to memory. Others slave over a manuscript, making sure every “t” is crossed and “I” is dotted. We perseverate whether the message is too long, if it is appropriate, or will be well received. We practice, pouring our hearts into the words and praying the spirit will transform them into living message that touches the congregation’s heart.  I have preached numerous sermons but I still remember my first: on those yellowed, now brittle pages are still hand-written notes to myself to breathe, relax, even a note to smile – all to encourage myself that very first time I preached.

       Then we have the example of Jesus, who comes forth filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, after spending a time of discernment and temptation in the dessert.  He prepared for forty days.  He is a living word and he returns to Galilee teaching in the synagogues and is well received. 

         Then Jesus comes to his home synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath.  He is given the scroll from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 61, to read, and deliberately selects the text proclaiming “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me..” then proceeds to announce a mandate: 
  • To bring good news to the poor
  • Release to captives and prisoners 
  • Recovery of sight to the blind
  • Freedom for the oppressed
  • The proclamation of the year of the Lord’s favor – the Jubilee year, which according to Leviticus 25, a Sabbath of Sabbaths, was to occur every 49 or 50 years.  In the year of the Lord’s favor slaves were set free.  Lost lands returned. Debt cancelled. Farms and fields get a Sabbath rest.  
 
       The Year of the Lord’s favor, the Jubilee, was never successfully, fully implemented. There were minor attempts, here and there throughout history.  Yet it is this very law that Jesus hones in for his first sermon at Nazareth.    Eyes fixed on him in anticipation; Jesus gives what must be the shortest sermon in recorded history:  “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

       The unobtainable mandate, the living out of God’s favor in human relations, social systems and in creation, is fulfilled in Jesus.    Jesus certainly fulfilled George Burns notion of a good sermon, when he quipped:   “The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible.”

       Still, it must have been electrifying to hear Jesus’ words, as electrifying as we are told the exiles who had returned home to Jerusalem felt when they gathered to hear the scriptures read by Ezra, and heard the interpretation of what it meant to be a covenant people returned to their home. Both Nehemiah the governor and Ezra the priest told the people, who were bowing and worshiping upon hearing the Law of Moses, not to weep.  But the people wept because their heard their heritage read to them.   God’s promise to be faithful was fulfilled on that day.  It was a new day.  They could now start over.  Remember, Ezra told them, “the joy of the Lord is your strength.” 

        So Jesus, like Ezra, preaches a word for the people to understand and for which their hearts long for.   Like the exiles who had returned home to rebuild the ruins, to resume life, to reclaim their spiritual heritage, the people in Nazareth are being called by Jesus to join him to fulfill the word Jesus spoke – messianic words from an ancient prophet, building on the Law of Moses.   The year of God’s favor that has not never been achieved – ever.  The unfulfilled law, now in Jesus is fulfilled.

        Jesus could have chosen a triumphal text, a fire and brimstone text, but he didn’t.  Instead he chose an unattainable text, at least unattainable by human means.  Everything else about Jesus, his death, his forgiveness of sins, his healing ministry, his miracles, only makes sense in light of the knowledge that Jesus fulfills God’s favor.  Everything Jesus does is to fulfill God’s favor – to restore the reign of God on earth – just as Ezra and Nehemiah worked so hard to restore and rebuild the Jewish community in Jerusalem, upon their return from Exile.

        Jesus’ first sermon was his vision for his entire ministry, and what he wants for us.   Jesus is preaching to us today – to be fulfilled.   For all of us are captives to one thing or another.  All of us are blinded – by our ignorance, by apathy, by hate even -- to parts of the kingdom of God that Jesus would have us see.  All of us are oppressed in some fashion – by our upbringing, our education, our lack of knowledge of the word or the world, by health or financial conditions --- why, we are probably even blind to the ways our lives are oppressed or held captive to either sin or conditions that would leave us unfulfilled.  Jesus proclaims he is here to fulfill.  Enable us to see.  To become free.  To hear good news.  To know God’s favor.  This is a message for each of  us and all of us.

        We are only a few weeks from the first presidential primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire.  For months we have been feted by Republican and Democratic hopefuls.  Everywhere we turn we see their faces and hear their soundbites.  We have seen each of their visions for the country; how they understand the problems we face and have their assurance that they will lead us back to greatness and glory.
 
        Perhaps as we prepare to vote, it would do well to measure the grand statements of our politicians against the simple but powerful message of the carpenter Jesus.   To bring good news to the poor.  To proclaim release to the captives.  Recovery of sight to the blind.  To let the oppressed go free.  To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, not just for one class of people, for but all.  To fulfill God’s vision for the world, not a mere human one that might exclude or favor one group over another.
 
        Jesus’ first sermon, spoken in the first century, echoes timeless themes that our hearts can still grasp and pray for.  They ring true for the conditions of oppressed and refugees clamoring for help around our word. 
​
To the ongoing blindness to another’s suffering or the blindness to see other’s struggle, when there is plenty in this world for all to have a simple, decent life. 
 
To strive for a world that is truly free – not just freedom of speech, worship, movement, to assembly,  of the press, to equal justice,  and yes the right to bear arms and have private property – but what about the freedom from worry from how you will feed or educate your children; keep them safe from gangs and street violence. 
 
How about the freedom from having to choose between paying the rent or eating?  Or the freedom to go to a doctor and be able to afford to see a doctor or dentist or a hospital stay, or pay for medicines without having to wipe out a life’s savings. 
 
The freedom to have a fulfilling life, with a social and spiritual structure that supports us instead of working against you.      
 
These are freedoms that Jesus laid out in his first sermon.  A vision that all peoples could be fulfilled.  This is a sermon worth pondering, re-reading, holding on to and signing up with.  This is the sermon to measure the words of our presidential hopefuls against.  
 
It is a sermon Jesus lived, died and rose to fulfill.  May we live for it too, and for its unfolding to be fulfilled in our time. Amen. 



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"Wedding Signs"    January 17, 2016

1/23/2016

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Isaiah 62:1-5; John 2:1-11
UCBR January 17, 2016
“Wedding Signs”
 
A cartoon has been making its way through cyberspace that depicts stacks of bottles of wine, underneath is the caption: Jesus was here. Out of all the miracles of Jesus, or “signs” as the Gospel of John prefers to call them,  the miracle of changing the water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana has lent itself to more jokes than we can imagine.  For example:   Jesus walks into a bar with his disciples and tells the bartender, “"Thirteen glasses of water, please!

Satan walked into the same packed bar a week later and shouts, “I'm fed up with hearing all about the wonders of Jesus turning water into wine so I'm going to spoil the fun and turn it all the alcohol into water."  There was a blinding flash and all at once everyone’s drinks turns into water.   "Cheers Satan,” a voice piped up, "I was drinking a bud light, so this is much stronger."

        Finally there’s a modern version of Jesus walking into a Starbucks and turning the lemon water into a soy latte.

        So this miracle, or sign, has gotten a lot of mileage over the years.  According to John, it is his first miracle of his public ministry.  From the sounds of the story, it wasn’t even a planned intervention.   Jesus is an invited guest at a wedding in Cana, with his disciples, and his mother, Mary, is also there.    
        Weddings were huge social events in the ancient world, just as they are now, but then they involved not just the immediate family and friends, but the entire village. In dreary, grueling, monotonous village life a wedding was a break from hardships of routine living.  So there was an expectation that the family would provide appropriately for the guests who had come to celebrate this marriage. Accommodations along with the best food and drink the family could afford signified not only the importance of the event and but conveyed the value of hospitality, the highest code of conduct people lived by.  It was a matter of family honor to pull off what was often a week-long celebration. Families then as now saved for years, sold the prize cow, to afford a proper wedding.

But then an unthinkable emergency happened.  Somehow, at some point during the celebration, the wine ran out. An unheard of miscalculation. A social catastrophe in the making.  Even today we can imagine the embarrassment of a modern wedding couple if the liquor suddenly ceased to flow at their reception. No more booze?  Let the wedding cake topple over, let the chicken be dried out, let the Let the DJ not show up,  let the flower girls throw a tantrum, but friends, at a wedding, the alcohol must flow.  
It is not Jesus, but Mary, his mother who notices the predicament. Recall that Mary once declared, in the song we call the Magnificat, “he fills the hungry with good things.”  Out of this sense of goodness for those who would face great shame in their community, shame from which they would not recover, she turned to her son, says, “They have no wine!”  Jesus is respectful but hesitant.   His hour has not come, Jesus says. How often we seek the right timing or wait for just the right moment to make a pronouncement or take a desired action.  Jesus, fortunately, realized like Dr. King once said, “the time is always right to do what is right.”  So Jesus instructs the servants to fill the six huge stone water jars with water and take it to the chief steward. Upon tasting it, the steward declares it to be the best wine ever – the best saved for last.  
Mary took a stand against humiliation and for compassion, and this interchange between Mary and Jesus reflects the encouragement for action between Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr.  By refusing to give up her seat on the bus on that ordinary day, December 5, 1955, in Montgomery, Parks set the stage for King’s entry into that civil rights moment.

        In their joint action, his ministry to the nation was opened.  She declared that the moment was at hand.  Dr. King was the relatively unknown but rising force at the Dexter Street Baptist church, when he was called upon to head the Montgomery Improvement Association.  Under Dr. King’s leadership the historic Montgomery bus boycott, which lasted 381 days, resulted in a Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional.   Did Dr. King know his hour had arrived?  Surely he had his qualms and indecisions.  But he responded to the situation brought forth by Rosa Parks, and others before her. 

“While Martin Luther King, Jr did not change water into wine, he did change a movement into the new wine of commitment.  Thousands gathered to hear him.   He did raise those whose lives were decaying in death, he led the sanitation workers strike in Memphis, TN.  King proclaimed to the educated of America that they needed to born again in mind and spirit to see the sin of racism and poverty.  Writing an unforgettable letter to white clergy in a Birmingham jail, King lifted up the dead daughters of Birmingham, killed in a bombing at 16th Street Baptist Church.  Yes King lifted up a cup of living waters, transformed to the wine of justice and compassion and we drink from it still."

“From his studies and years of activism, Dr. King further developed the concept of the Beloved Community as a global vision, in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth. Citing King’s papers, in the Beloved Community, poverty, hunger and homelessness will not be tolerated because international standards of human decency will not allow it. Racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood. In the Beloved Community, international disputes will be resolved by peaceful conflict-resolution and reconciliation of adversaries, instead of military power. Love and trust will triumph over fear and hatred. Peace with justice will prevail over war and military conflict.”

[We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. . . .
The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace, and brotherhood.  MLK,Jr.“Strength to Love”]

Our scriptures lift up for us the wedding feast of Cana, the restoration of the land in Isaiah where the redeemed people are renamed, “My Delight Is in Her,” your land Married, so shall God rejoice in God’s people.  These are the seeds of the Beloved Community.  The scriptures abound with signs of marriage, culminating in the book of Revelation with the New Heavens and the New Earth as an image of the marriage feast with the Lamb, which will last eternally.   So this most intimate covenant between a couple, their family and clans is now a sign of loving care among humanity.  The first sign of this heavenly wedding is manifesting under the aegis of the Beloved Community, at which Jesus is at the center and prime mover.  

The task has been laid before us.  Sören Kierkegaard, the 19th century philosopher, once commented: "Christ turned water into wine, but the church has succeeded in doing something even more difficult: it has turned wine into water."  By our inaction, turning a blind eye to sin and injustice, by actively participating in evil, we have turned the wine, the first fruits of the kingdom, the glory of Jesus backed into water.  We have disgraced the wedding banquet.  We have toppled the cake, ruined the dinner, ran off the DJ, and stopped the flow of the precious wine. 

However it doesn’t have to be this way.  Our celebration of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, and Rosa Parks, and through them the civil rights movement shows us the signs of the wedding are everywhere.  They are there whenever we say no to oppression and yes to love and justice.  They are there when we are invited to take action to help others, and we say yes, even if we are not ready.   The signs are there whenever we take delight in what is right, good and just.     

So let us be the signs of wedding by forging the Beloved Community wherever God plants us.  Turn water into wine through our caring, our joy, our commitment to turn wrongs into rights, the tragedies and complications into celebration.   This way, the glory of God will be revealed and God will take delight in us—and we as signs of the wedding feast – will be a delight to the world.
Amen.
​

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/biteintheapple/cana-an-unexpected-time/
http://www.thekingcenter.org/king-philosophy#sthash.NQCtbq8q.dpuf
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/martinluth106169.html

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"Like a Dove"  January 10, 2016

1/16/2016

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Isaiah 43:1-7; Luke 3:15-18, 21-22
UCBR, January 10, 2016  “Like a Dove”
 
We are still early enough in our New Year to entertain platitudes and wise sayings to guide our journey into the months ahead.  Consider this story:

There is an old legend of a swan and a crane. A beautiful swan alighted by the banks of the water in which a crane was wading about seeking snails. For a few moments the crane viewed the swan in stupid wonder and then inquired: "Where do you come from?"

"I come from heaven!" replied the swan. "And where is heaven?" asked the crane.

"Heaven!" said the swan, "Heaven! have you never heard of heaven?" And the beautiful bird went on to describe the grandeur of the Eternal City. She told of streets of gold, and the gates and walls made of precious stones; of the river of life, pure as crystal, upon whose banks is the tree whose leaves shall be for the healing of the nations. In eloquent terms the swan sought to describe the hosts who live in the other world, but without arousing the slightest interest on the part of the crane.

Finally the crane asked: "Are there any snails there?"  "Snails!" repeated the swan; "no! Of course there are not."    "Then," said the crane, as it continued its search along the slimy banks of the pool, "you can have your heaven. I want snails!"

Besides the debate about snails in heaven, our story reminds us that it is a new year, a new beginning, the start of new possibilities.  We are reminded of the potential that lies ahead for us. We are asked, what do we search for and apply ourselves to: Heaven or stay stuck in the mundane matters of life:  seeking snails.  Here at Union there are great goals to accomplish – growing in faith, as a church community and finding a settled pastor.  In each of our hearts are dreams, a 2016 bucket list. We need vision and encouragement to help us recall why we are here and what we are called to do.

        Just last week, we read the story of the child Jesus receiving the affirmation and gifts of the wise men, as he began his life. Now, today we encounter Jesus as an adult ready to embark on a new phase of his life journey –   his step into public ministry.  In an account captured by all four gospel writers, Jesus enters public life through baptism at the hands of his cousin John.  As he enters the Jordan River, and allows himself to be immersed, Jesus identifies as one of us – as a members of the loved, but sinful human community in need of redemption. 

The Gospel of Luke tells us  that as Jesus was praying in the midst of his baptism, the heavens opened to affirm him as he embarks on his public ministry of preaching the good News and the gospel of reconciliation – to mark this time as sacred and significant.  A Heavenly voice affirms Jesus:  “You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”  Powerful words to mark Jesus as he begins his work.  These are Words to carry him through the trials and joys as he lives out the ministry of healing, teaching preaching, serving, confronting, forgiving and restoration.  Jesus is given one more precious gift to mark the beginning of his public life.  That gift is the Holy Spirit who descends upon him in bodily form like a dove.   (Matt. 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32).

    Why a dove?   Out of all the birds whose shape the Holy Spirit could have assumed, why a dove?   Why not an eagle, the king of birds and ruler of the sky?  Why not hawks or falcons, which vigilantly criss-cross the length of the Holy Land many times a day? Why not an owl for wisdom?  A pelican as symbol of  sacrifice?  An ostrich whose eggs were placed in tombs and graves, as symbols of resurrection or immortality?  Or a swan which symbolizes grace and purity?   Or even the common sparrow for that matter – all birds people would have recognized? 

   Why a dove?  And what does that message have for us as we begin our new year, and embark on deepening and exploring ministry here at Union Church?

    If you recall, the dove is one of the two birds mentioned in the story of Noah’s flood, which begins in Genesis 6.  As the waters began to slowly recede, Noah first sent a raven from the window in the ark, and the raven flew back and forth until the waters were dried up, and it did not return.  Next Noah sent a dove, but the dove returned to the ark after finding no place to rest its feet (Gen. 8:7-9). What’s worth noting here is that a raven will eat the bodies of dead animals, but a dove will not.  When the dove went forth from the ark, it returned because doves will not rest on a carcass or eat decaying flesh.

Noah sent the dove out a second time and the dove and the dove returned to the ark with an olive leaf in its mouth. Of the hundreds of possible tree leaves to reappear after the earth was covered with water, the dove found the leaf of a tree created by God to produce olives. Olives produced a thick yellow oil, which was used to anoint the national and spiritual leaders of Israel (Ex. 30:25, 31). The olive branch in the ancient world has long been a symbol of peace, so the dove is the conveyor of  the symbol of peace, a new start in a sin-ravaged world.

   Finally Noah waits another 7 days and sends the dove out a third time – and this time the dove doesn’t return - signifying it’s safe to leave the Ark.  So it is the dove that signals when the journey to a renewed earth, cleansed of sin.

   Doves bridged the peace between humanity and God in another way. Turtledoves or young pigeons, was the sacrifice for sin in the Old Testament within the reach of the poor, who could not afford a lamb, or a ram or bull to sacrifice (Lev.1:14).  Doves were a special offering for purification after a woman gave birth to a child (Lev. 12:5-6), a law about which Luke makes a point to detail that Mary and Joseph complied (Luke 2:22-24).

        There are other traits about doves that give us insight why the Holy Spirit chose to identify with this specific bird.  Doves are not predatory. They do not attack other birds as hawks and many other birds do. A dove will withdraw from a fight if at all possible. Doves will not steal from other birds as ravens and other birds do.

  Doves are faithful creatures: they mate for life. Baby doves get their milk from both its’ mother and father. Both genders create milk to nurture babies. The dove is the only male bird that creates milk.  The cooing of turtledoves has been translated as the language of love, and not surprising the Song of Songs mentions doves seven times.  The image of two doves has become a standard symbol for love, commitment and fidelity in marriage ceremonies. 

        When most birds hover in the air, their wing tips point toward the back, in the direction of their tail feathers. On a dove, however, the wing tips point toward the head. This is unique and not lost when how the anointing oil was poured upon the heads of the kings and priests and prophets of Israel. The oil was poured from one ear, across the front of the head, to the other ear. It was poured in the form of a Hebrew letter kuf, whose shape is similar to a dove’s wings when it is hovering and its wings are opened. Just as the oil descended upon the heads of priests, the Holy Spirit manifested as a dove at Christ’s baptism and descended upon him, anointing Jesus to service and sacrifice.
     
     Those who really get into dove symbolism love to note that there are nine main feathers on the left and right wings of the dove – as there are also nine gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:7-10) and nine fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23.   So our lowly dove in its very body reminds us of the fullness of faith whose journey began in our baptism, and of the journey we embark on this day.  

     It is not surprising that the Holy Spirit chose to take the form of a dove to affirm Jesus of the ministry that lay ahead.  It was a symbol to all who witnessed Jesus’ baptism, and is a witness to us, that Jesus too comes to bring peace & reconciliation in the midst of the floodwaters of sin.  It is a symbol that Jesus is loving, faithful, lowly, non-predatory, as Jesus himself would extoll  when he said:  (Matt. 11: 28-29)"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  "Take My yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS."   Yet like the dove, Jesus would be the anointed sin-offering accessible to all humankind.

        Though one of the lowliest and most common of birds, the dove reminds us that the Holy Spirit loves us, is committed to us and anoints us for service – just like Jesus was.  In our walk of faith in 2016, the dove reminds us to seek out opportunities to serve, and to be harbingers of peace and reconciliation.  The dove reminds us of our forgiveness found in Jesus Christ, so too we can start over and bring the olive branch of good news of forgiveness to others. 

    The dove reminds us, through its common cousin, the pigeon, which is spread worldwide and everywhere in the city that God’s is also everywhere; and even when we fall, God is faithful.  Today as we explore the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges of Union Church, and by extension, of our own lives, the dove reminds us that God’s love and mercy are  always present to us even minute of this year.  God’s anointing is on us will accompany us wherever we do.  The dove points to a vision that will safely guide us through the months ahead.

    The dove reminds us we are called, anointed and equipped for ministry.  We are capable and we have work to do – that only we can do.   It is one of our most precious possessions. It is a gift from God, like time, this gift of the Holy Spirit, symbolized by the Dove, is a part of our life. 

    So be peaceful, like the dove.  Be faithful and loving, like the dove.  Be a conveyor of forgiveness, like the dove.   Seek out the fruits of the spirit and the gifts of the Spirit as the dove reminds us.   Be an anointer and enabler of good works, as the dove symbolizes. Use time well, so that the Holy Spirit may descend upon you in all you do, in every minute, every hour, every day every week every month.. and create a year of service, love and peace.  Like a dove.  Amen.

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"Gifts that Endure"   January 3, 2016

1/16/2016

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Picture

Matthew 2:1-12
UCBR, January 3, 2016 “Gifts that Endure”
 
        Before there were decked out Christmas trees with twinkling lights, before there were boxed CD sets with your favorite Christmas carols, sung by Glee or Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber; and before there were lawn decorations of glowing Santas and reindeers, candy canes and life sized nativity sets, and before there existed after-Christmas sales with 40% off for early bird shoppers, we are reminded once more  there was the original story of the Word made Flesh. There was the original journey and there was those first gifts. The original gifts to Jesus that have meaning for us as we deal with gifts that have already been eaten, broken, stashed away to be re-gifted.    The original gifts given once more to us today to prepare us on our journey into the New Year.

        The visit of the Wise men, or “magi” from the east is one of the most exotic and mysterious stories of our Christmas narrative, that usually falls on Epiphany, January 6, the official end of the Christmas season.   These magi were the scientists, priests, astronomers/astrologers, the philosophers of their culture, advisors to their kings and people in power.  Legend even tells us that they came from Asia, Africa and Europe – the entire known world at that time – signifying the fulfillment of the messianic prophecy in Isaiah 2 that all nations shall stream to the house of the Lord. 

    So the Wise men, or the wise ones, as I prefer to call them, are here to advise and teach us in our New Year.  They share their wisdom with us and they guide us as we struggle to name and claim our gifts to bring to Jesus and we seek to set our course for the New Year.
Our lesson begins when the wise ones, following the star, find Jesus and after a journey of about 1500 miles, finally found Jesus.  As the wise ones offered their joyful worship to the Child Jesus, they presented gifts, unusual, practical and yet symbolic gifts, to him:  Gold, frankincense and myrrh.

     Gold has always been symbolic of wealth, beauty, power and roy­alty. The most essential item to any king or queen’s wardrobe is a golden crown on his or her head. In the book of Exodus, God instructed that the most the most sacred articles of the Tabernacle including the Ark of the Covenant,  to be made of gold, overlaid with gold, or interwoven with gold (Exodus 25:10-40; 28:6-30; 30:1-10).

    The same was true on an even larger scale in the temple, which King Solomon later built in Jerusalem to re­place the tabernacle.  Solomon himself took a liking to gold.  It is said:   All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; silver was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon. 2 Chron 9:20. Many monarchs and extremely wealthy surely find gold an easily acquired taste. 

    Even today we have a saying, “As good as gold,” or “worth their weight in gold,” implying that someone, or something, is solid, outstanding, tried and true.  Gold, which doesn’t rust, is considered enduring, eternal even.  Although gold has been used in currency since at least 700 BC, it’s not its monetary value that the Wise Ones want us to focus on.  They brought gold to Jesus not just because his family would need it one day, but because Jesus was, in their estimation, King of the Jews, the foretold messiah.  They brought a gift worthy of a king.

     Most of us do not have much gold, per se, to offer.  However, the wise ones would ask us, what is precious to us?  Is it our actual wealth?  What is of the greatest value in our lives?   What of the gift of our life itself?   Are not these things, these people, these activities, like gold before the throne of God?  To worship well, to experience to the joy of the wise, all the gold of our lives must be first dedicated to God as we journey into 2016.  Everything.   In turn, God must become the golden standard against which all we do is measured.  What is the gold in our lives?   Let us name it and dedicate it to God to start our journey into 2016.

    The wise ones offered a second gift; the gift of frankincense, a very expensive gift having a wonderful fragrance. It was used for a variety of purposes such as incense and worship (Ex. 30:23, 34), medical treatment, and as perfume (Song of Solomon 3:6; 4:14).  God commanded the use of frankincense as a chief ingredient of the incense which was to be kept burning in the taber­nacle and also in connection with the grain offering.  (Exodus 30:34-38, Lev. 2)  Thus this specially made incense was placed in front of the Ark of the Covenant within the Tent of Meeting in the Tabernacle.  Incense produces an aroma, and an aromatic smoke when burned, that rises up into the air. It is thus seen as a symbol of prayers and offerings that are pleasing to God.

   When the wise ones gave the infant Jesus a gift of frankincense, it symbolized the gift of our devotion, prayers, and our thanksgiving.   Our words are powerful.  The wise ones advise us that the gift of frankincense is a gift of pleasing, praying words and praise that build up one another; a sacrifice of devotion, and a continual giving thanks to God.  This is the sweet frankincense God seeks from our lives.  To be praying people. An encouraging people, that buildings up one another, nothing is sweeter to God than this.  That we proclaim as the psalmist does: “May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice. Psalm 141:2”  
​
     Frankincense was traditionally seen as a gift that signified Jesus as a High Priest who offered the sacrifices, and who himself made the greatest sacrifice of his life. However as we see, the gift of frankincense, asks us this and more:  our journey into 2016 needs to include an active prayer life a life that daily builds people up with the words we have to offer.  Do we pray for one another?  Do our words build up?  Do we make the sacrifices of praise and support that we can offer? This is the Frankincense the wise ones would place in our hands in 2016.

     The Wise Ones gave Jesus a third gift called myrrh—like Frankincense another tree resin.   In Exodus (30:22-33) God directed that the priests were to be "anointed" with a divinely-designed oil, the main ingredient of which was myrrh. This sacred oil was used in anointing the Tent of Meeting and the sacred articles in it, as well as to anoint Aaron and his sons for service to the Lord as priests. This use of myrrh points out its symbolism of consecration to active service to the Lord.

    This type of special ritu­alistic anointing was also applicable to kings and prophets. For example, Samuel anointed Saul and later Da­vid to be king over Israel (1 Samuel 10:1; 16:13; Psalm 89:20). Myrrh also was used for a variety of purposes, such as: a perfume (Song of Solomon 3:6; 4:14), an anesthetic, burial embalming, and as a cosmetic used by women. The gospel of John (19:39)  records that myrrh was used in Jesus' burial.
   
    It is commonly believed that when the wise ones gave the baby Jesus the gift of myrrh, it was foreshadowing his death.  Perhaps this is true.   However, the Old Testament evidence would have us consider that gift of Jesus being anointed, as Aaron, as Samuel was, and David was, to a life of total service to God, as King, prophet and priest.
   
    So when the wise ones gave the infant Jesus a gift of myrrh, for us it symbolizes the gift of our willingness to serve Jesus actively in our lives by living according to the truth that Jesus teaches.  Myrrh asks us: how will we dedicate our lives to God in 2016?  What is your gift or gifts of service?  How has God anointed us to serve?    It isn’t a question of has God called us to serve, but to what has God called us to serve.   Each of us has gifts and talents. Each of us has gold.  Each of us has sweet-smelling frankincense to offer up. This is what our Mission Review Team and our Stewardship season calls us to discern – how shall we best serve God through the ministries of Union Church through our time, our talents, and our financial gifts?    Now it is time to use the myrrh to fully dedicate everything we have and who we are to the active service of our Lord.

  Perhaps, like for Jesus, will this myrrh of dedicated service will entail some suffering as it will some joy?  The wise ones ask us to name our gifts, the gold of our lives, the frankincense of the deepest prayers and words of encouragement we have to offer, the myrrh of the suffering and joy of our service.  As we lay our gifts before God today:  are we also willing to open the gifts of the gold, frankincense and myrrh that God has to offer us?  God wants to give us his very self.  God prays for us, God gives us His Holy Spirit, and anoints us for service.  Our Cup runs over.

​   We remember as we prepare to pray and come to the Lord’s table, those wise ones, the example of their giving, the giving not just of their gifts, but of their journey and their worship.  These wise ones could travels so far on star beams, to encounter Jesus bearing gifts with joy and worship, they avoided the danger of Herod through attention to a dream and they go home a different route.  The same is true for us – in the dedication of our lives in this New Year, we accept that these gifts will take us on journeys never before imagined – and new roads, and new dreams by staying open to the gifts and the Great Giver.

​    Let us dedicate our lives like the wise ones: who although we never hear from them again, their story never ceases to touch us:  to follow the star beams to Jesus no matter how long it takes.   To bring forth our gold, all our devotions and prayers and words, to dedication our lives, with all its sorrows and joys to God.   Our gold, our frankincense and our myrrh – original gifts from that original journey – a journey that now has become ours to continue this year.
Amen.

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    Moirajo is a minister, social worker, wife, mother, writer and animal lover. That's just for starters. Join the story, there's so much we can share together! 

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