Ash Wednesday, Year ABC

Prayer

At this, the acceptable time, O God so rich in mercy, we gather in solemn assembly to receive the announcement of the Lenten spring, and the ashes of mortality and repentance. Let the elect, exulting, to the waters of salvation; guide the penitent, rejoicing, to the healing river; carry us all to the streams of renewal. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Matthew 6:1-21

"In Jesus' prayer we are connected and bonded with each other. We find our health, our integrity, and our righteousness; that is true piety."

"Preaching on the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:1-8)," Irving J. Arnquist and Louis R. Flessner, Word & World: Theology for Christian Ministry, Luther Northwestern Theological School, 1990.

"What are we praying for when we pray for God's kingdom to come?"

"Thy Kingdom Come: Living the Lord's Prayer," N.T. Wright, The Christian Century, 1997.

"That piety should be a private matter is a radical not to say revolutionary idea. It goes totally against the cultural grain. For traditional piety is something performed for others to see. In Roman culture, pietas referred to the public veneration of the gods. Without such a display from prominent citizens, what would happen to the traditional values that were associated with the gods? Pietas was the cultural glue, holding all things in place. How could there be law and order without it?"

"The Call to Secret Service (Matthew 6:1-18)," John C. Purdy. Chapter 4 inReturning God's Call: The Challenge of Christian Living. At Religion Online.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

If we were reading along in the scripture and we arrived at our passage for this Ash Wednesday we would see the continued conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders of his day. The religious hierarchy have set themselves above the faith and have become, if you will, arbiters of piety. They are the intermediaries between God and God's people.

Jesus has been expanding and expounding on the nature of the law revealed by the messiah and now he turns to talk a little about how Christians should live with one another. What we have in our passage are the characteristics of a Christian community according to Jesus; and they are contrasted with the practices of these other religious leaders. Of course we are doomed to exhibit the same tendencies at our very worst but we have here some outlined behaviors that should at least set our trajectory.

Don't get in other people's faces about how you are better than them when it comes to prayer, believing, and the rest of it. After all, living a Christian life benefits God and others. Here are a couple of examples of what not to do...

Example One: Just be a good steward and don't brag about it.
Example Two: Don't be verbose in your praying. It is a real turn off to God an others.
Example Three: Please pray privately and sincerely.
Example Four: God knows what you need so you don't have to always be telling God out loud.
Example Five: Don't look dismal and sad. Look happy and enjoy your relationship with God.
Example Six: Remember that what matters is the love of God, the love of neighbor - these are the treasures worth having.

All of this is because good works are done for God and on behalf of others. This service is purely for the reward of doing what is good and well in the eyes of God and not for a community's lauds or glory.

What we have in our reading today is very good and it is the parenthesis between Matthew's teaching on the Lord's prayers.

I say this because in my mind it helps to frame what Jesus is teaching about prayer. The reality is that Jesus' prayer is very powerful when seen through the eyes of the overall passage and its meaning is much greater than the by rote version we say without thought most Sundays. So, here is a meditation on Jesus' Prayer with an eye to Matthew's Gospel and to the passage for Ash Wednesday.

Jesus’ Prayer
In the Episcopal Church, the Lord’s Prayer--the prayer Jesus taught his disciples--is central to our common life of prayer. It is present in all of our private and corporate services of worship, and is often the first prayer children learn. With the simplest of words, Jesus teaches those who follow him all they need to know about prayer, as they say:

“Our Father”: Our Father, because we are to seek as intimate a relationship with God as Jesus did. We are can develop this intimate love with God, recognizing we are children of God and members of the family of God.

“Who art in heaven”: We are reminded of our created nature as a gift from heaven. Life is given to us from God, who is quite beyond us. We recognize in this short phrase that we are not God. Rather, the God we proclaim is a God who makes all things and breathes life into all things.

“Hallowed be thy name”: In response to the grace of being welcomed into God’s community, bowing humbly and acknowledging our created nature, we recognize the holiness of God. We proclaim that God’s name is hallowed.

“Thy kingdom come”: We ask and seek God’s kingdom. The words of Jesus remind us that, like the disciples’ own desires to sit at the right and left hand of Jesus, this is not our kingdom. The reign of God is not what you and I have in mind. We beg, “God, by your power bring your kingdom into this world. Help us to beat our swords into ploughshares that we might feed the world. Give us strength to commit as your partners in the restoration of creation, not how we imagine it, but in the way you imagine it.”

“Thy will be done”: We bend our wills to God’s, following the living example of Jesus Christ. We ask for grace to constantly set aside our desires and take on the love of God’s reign. We pray, “Let our hands and hearts build not powers and principalities but the rule of love and care for all sorts and conditions of humanity. Let us have a measure of wisdom to tear down our self-imposed walls and embrace one another, as the lion and the lamb lay down together in the kingdom of God.”

“On earth as it is in heaven”: We ask God to give us eyes to see this kingdom vision, and then we ask for courage and power to make heaven a reality in this world. We pray to God, “Create in us a will to be helping hands and loving hearts for those who are weary and need to rest in you. May our homes, our churches, and our communities be a sanctuary for the hurting world to find shelter, to find some small experience of heaven.”

“Give us this day our daily bread”: In prayer we come to understand that we are consumers. We need, desire, and just want many things. In Christ, we are reminded that all we need is our daily bread. So we pray, “O God, help us to be mindful that you provide for the lilies of the field and you provide for us. As we surrender our desires, help us to provide daily bread for those who have none today.”

“Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”: Sanity and restoration are possible only because God forgives us. Because of that sacrificial forgiveness--made real in the life and death of Jesus--we can see and then share mercy and forgiveness. Then we can pray, “God, may I understand your call to me personally to offer sacrificial forgiveness to all those I feel have wronged me. I want to know and see my own fault in those broken relationships. May I be the sacrament of your grace and forgiveness to others.”

“Lead us not into temptation”: As Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge and replaced God with their own understanding of reality, we need help turning away from our own earthly and political desires and turning toward the wisdom of God in Christ Jesus. So we ask, “We are so tempted to go the easy way, to believe our desires are God’s desires. We have the audacity to assume we can know God’s mind. Show us your way and help us to trust it.”

“And deliver us from evil”: Only God can deliver us from evil. There is darkness in the world around us. We know this darkness feeds on our deepest desire: to be God ourselves. That deceptive voice affirms everything we do and justifies our actions, even when they compromise other people’s dignity. It whispers and tells us we possess God’s truth and no one else does. We must pray, “God, deliver us from the evil that inhabits this world, the weakness of our hearts, and the darkness of our lives, that we might walk in the light of your Son.”

“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen”: Without God, we are powerless. So we devote our lives to God, resting in the power of God’s deliverance. We humbly ask, “Help us to see your glory and beauty in the world, this day and every day. Amen.”

Using prayers like this one, Jesus modeled a life of prayer as work, and work as prayer. The apostles and all those who have since followed him have sought a life of prayer. They have engaged in prayer that discerns Jesus’ teachings and then molded their lives into the shape of his life. We can take up the same vocation and become people whose lives are characterized by daily and fervent prayer. Indeed we reflect and acknowledge the centrality of prayer and work in our own commitment to God when we say, “I will, with God’s help, continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers.” [This is an excerpt from Unabashedly Episcopalian.]

Some Thoughts on 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:20

"First, what does Paul mean about reconciliation in this passage? How does the church today demonstrate in various ways the practice of reconciliation -- including liturgically, ethically, practically and theologically?"

Commentary, 2 Corinthians 5:20b-16:10, Susan Hedahl, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"When we receive the cross on our forehead on Ash Wednesday, we are invited to remember that it is in Christ (5:17, 19) and through Christ (5:18) that reconciliation is possible. Yet, we are also invited to remember that as we leave the church with the seal of the cross of Christ, we are Christ's ambassadors of reconciliation."

Commentary, 2 Corinthians 5:20b-16:10, Karoline Lewis, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text 

One of the things that has happened to us in our culture is that we think not about whom we represent.  Yet, we represent (as Christians) Jesus Christ to the world.  This lack of mindfulness is complex; yet for the world in many respects God in Christ Jesus is not the problem for Christianity but rather it is his followers that create the stumbling block.  This passage is about the life of Grace which transforms the Christian first.

We are ambassadors for Christ.  In Paul's setting this would have meant that we are the oldest and wisest of Christ's children.  We represent Christ but not in the worst way but on behalf of him in the very best of manners.  This is difficult to do if we are always at war with ourselves.  It is hard to be Christ's representative if we can't represent Christ to one another; which means forgiving one another and offering Grace.  We are the great law givers rather than the donors of grace.  So what do we do?  How do we get there? How do we make room for the other?

We like Christ must give grace, make room for grace, and offer grace.  However, before we can do this we must receive Grace.  This is easier said than done.  We must really and truly receive the saving Grace of Christ; this means allowing God to love and save us in our mess and not waiting for perfection.  We are truly saved and perfected through the grace we receive. We are made a new creation by God if we will but let him.  Instead of performing for God or hoping that God will deliver us out of our "labors and sleepless nights" we are invited instead to live under the umbrella of God's Grace; within the saving embrace of God.  When we do this Paul believes the other things will fall into place.

We don't become the new creation and then we get grace.  Instead we allow ourselves to receive God's Grace and we become new.  We don't live and so we don't die.  We die to our desire to be perfect and so we live in the Grace of God who takes us just as we are.  It is this reversal of the world's economy of salvation that enables us to be alive, joyful, satisfied, and content.

When life is lived with the mantle of God's Grace upon our shoulders then we are beautiful and resplendent ambassadors of Christ to the world.  When we live in Grace we give grace freely, we share life freely, we embrace the other freely, we see there is enough and offer plenty of good things freely.  This is the life lived as a new creation, this is the life of Grace. This is the life of ambassadorship.

Some Thoughts on Isaiah 58:1-12

"We've been hearing about incarnation and God-with-us throughout Advent and Epiphany. Lectionary passages during Epiphany tell us something about this God who has been revealed in Jesus Christ."

Commentary, Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12), Amy Oden, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.

"Given that the Gospel Lesson for this Fifth Sunday after Epiphany reminds us that Jesus did not come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets, we might consider one of these ancient, Hebrew Scriptures for our ...."

Commentary, Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12), Tyler Mayfield, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2017.

Oremus Online NRSV Old Testament Text 

Remember, that we have this passage from Epiphany 5A. Here are my reflections on the passage, now adapted for Ash Wednesday:

This passage is written while the Israelites are divided, most in exile in Babylon and a few in the homeland. The prophet invites, and God invites the people to remain faithful. God is faithful and God will move on behalf of God’s people.

While the people see faithfulness as turning inward and to God by fasting, God and Isaiah offer these words:

“[God desires a fast that] looses the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?” God offers a mirror to the people an is clear – when you do none of these things you are most unlike your God and the people you are meant to be.

Remembering Jeremiah and other prophets over the past months, we know that God see righteousness not as simple religious faithfulness but as acts of bounty where people take care of the oppressed, loosen the yoke of another, help with food for the hungry, roofs for the homeless, and clothing for the naked. Here Isaiah prophesies that these are the kinds of true fasting and sacrifices that God declares as righteousness.

When this happens Isaiah tells the people: “Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.”

God desires that people, “remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.” Light is the light of God’s actions through his people. Light comes by means of work of the faithful for the other.

When nations forget their most vulnerable they shall lie in ashes and sackcloth. When the vulnerable are cared for light, life, and the rebuilding of community are the results. Foundations of generosity will lead to generations of strength among the people.

The Luke writes in his Gospel that this release of people who suffer is key to the very nature of God and especially to the person and mission of Christ Jesus. When in chapter 4, Jesus opens the scroll to read in the temple it is Isaiah 61 with the addition of this passage. What is made clear in Luke’s analysis and use in the narrative is that God has been about the work and care of the poor, oppressed, homeless, helpless, and most vulnerable. God in Christ Jesus continues this mission of righteousness (the caring of others). The jubilee promised to the slaves in Egypt, and the jubilee promised to the people in Babylon is the same jubilee promised for all people under the yoke of Christ. (Richard B Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, 224ff)

Release is not only for prisoners (Isaiah 61) but release for all people who are broken and burdened (Isaiah 58). This is a freedom bought on the cross and given through the Holy Spirit to all people. As we smudge ashes upon our foreheads it is to remember deeply the gift of the Holy Cross and the gift we are to be for others in bringing release. The promise to Abraham and the of Moses and Isaiah now is to be fulfilled in ministry of Jesus and the inclusion of the whole world. Moreover, that the disciples in the wake of Jesus’ ministry are to continue the work of release – this same faithfulness and righteousness will be the hallmark of the every continuing body of Christ in the world.

Some Thoughts on Joel 2:1-8

"Judah has been crippled by an agricultural drought sent by God through locusts. So, they need literal rain. However, they and we need spiritual rain much more. This is the greatest gift that we can receive in spite of all of our other perceived needs."

Commentary, Joel 2:12-17, Martha Simmons, The African American Lectionary, 2010.

" We, like Israel in the time of Joel, are in need of repentance, for their lives and ours are far from the paths that God has established for us.

Locusts and Lent, Reflections on Ash Wednesday from Joel 2:1-2, 12-17, John C. Holbert, Patheos, 2011.

"Joel has confidence that ritual repentance can change the course of the history of God's people because he believes the old confessional formula: [God] is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, And relents from punishing. (2:13)."

Commentary, Joel 2:1-12, 12-17, Rolf Jacobson, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2008.

Oremus Online NRSV Old Testament Text 

Some of you may chose to go a different route and preach on Joel this Ash Wednesday. Let us remember that Joel, while not mentioned any where else, is a prophet and is one focused on the centrality of the Temple. There is a lot of conversation about when he wrote among scholars, but most think it was after the Babylonian captivity and during the rebuilding of the culture of Israel.

In our passage today Joel introduces himself, then immediately calls the people into a time of repentance - priests and all.  The end is near, he says, sound the alarm, and repent. Joel reminds his hearers that god is gracious and merciful but if their evil ways continue God will not hold back the end that is coming. Signs, plagues, locusts...these should be a warning that God is not happy with what has become of his people.

There is a real sense here that when the world is good to a few, God will judge against them. The history of Israel is one that has repeatedly reminded the chosen that God requires of them mercy and to do good works. The society, the community, is to take care of the least and lost. When it does not do this it will bring its own destruction down upon them. This is an underlying theme here in this passage. The judgement of the reign of God will not fall kindly upon those who have had theirs in this life.

This is a good lesson if you intend to really bring down the fire and brimstone upon the heads of the congregation. And, yet there is a piece here we don't want to forget.

Joel's warnings often get the highlight. Read again God's invitation, God's desire, God's want for his people to be in relationship with him. Hear again, how God wants amendment of life so that the community will be well and within God's embrace.

Joel prophesies:

Yet even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart,
rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love,
and relents from punishing.

While Joel's invitation on God's behalf to repent takes up a lot of space in this passage. I also find these words, nestled amongst the plagues, weeping, and fasting) some of the most beautiful and touching words of scripture. Words worth memorizing in fact. Words to be heard and whispered in the good times and in the bad. Words, themselves which might very well bring us to our knees in gratitude for the mighty things God has done.

The Work of the People

Please follow the link here at TWOTP to resources for Ash Wednesday and Lent.

Previous Sermons For Ash Wednesday

You Know, I Know, God Knows: Ash Wednesday Sermon St. Thomas College Station, 2016


Welcome to Humanity: Ash Wednesday sermon preached at Episcopal High School Houston, and Christ Church Cathedral 12:05 Service

Dust, Ashes, Dry Bones, and God's Whisper: Sermon preached at Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, Tx on Ash Wednesday 2014

Learning to Pray with Jesus: Ash Wednesday Sermon, Christ Church Cathedral, 2013

Epiphany, January 6, 2026

Prayer

This week I am including for my prayer before preaching one of my favorite hymns: Brightest and Best of the Stars of the Morning by Reginald Heber (118 in the 1982 Hymnal).  It was first sung in 1827 and is normally sung to the tune of Star of the East.

1. Brightest and best of the stars of the morning,
dawn on our darkness, and lend us thine aid;
star of the east, the horizon adorning,
guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.

Refrain:
Brightest and best of the stars of the morning,
dawn on our darkness, and lend us thine aid;
star of the east, the horizon adorning,
guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.

2. Cold on his cradle the dewdrops are shining,
low lies his head with the beasts of the stall;
angels adore him in slumber reclining,
Maker and Monarch and Savior of all. (Refrain)

3. Shall we then yield him, in costly devotion
odors of Edom, and offerings divine,
gems of the mountain, and pearls of the ocean,
myrrh from the forest, or gold from the mine? (Refrain)

4. Vainly we offer each ample oblation,
vainly with gifts would his favor secure;
richer by far is the heart’s adoration,
dearer to God are the prayers of the poor. (Refrain)

5. Brightest and best of the stars of the morning,
dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid;
star of the east, the horizon adorning,
guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.

Some Thoughts on Matthew 2:1-12

"The story of the magi foreshadows later developments in Matthew's narrative. Even in infancy Jesus inspires both worship and hostility, responses that are repeated throughout the story."

Commentary, Matthew 2:1-12, Mark Allan Powell, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2008.

The narrative of Epiphany is the story of these two human communities: Jerusalem, with its great pretensions, and Bethlehem, with its modest promises. We can choose a "return to normalcy" in a triumphalist mode, a life of self-sufficiency that contains within it its own seeds of destruction. Or we can choose an alternative that comes in innocence and a hope that confounds our usual pretensions. We can receive life given in vulnerability. It is amazing -- the true accent of epiphany -- that the wise men do not resist this alternative but go on to the village. Rather than hesitate or resist, they reorganize their wealth and learning and reorient themselves and their lives around a baby with no credentials.

"Off By Nine Miles," Walter Brueggemann, The Christian Century, 2001.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

This week is unique because Epiphany falls on a Sunday and we are able to celebrate and preach on texts which normally stay hidden amongst the twelfth night celebrations. The Feast of the Epiphany has a wonderful history and traditions which are many and varied around the world. You can see some of these in the Wikipedia article on the Feast of the Epiphany - which isn't too bad.   When we lived in Mexico we remembered the feast by placing our shoes outside our door with straw in them.  Then the wise men would leave little gifts as a trade for helping them get on their way.  It has also always been our household tradition (since I was a child) to bring the wise men to the nativity scenes which were scattered around the house, and we would take down our Christmas tree.

My father always loved to ask us questions about the bible at dinner. It was like a little test. Actually he probably only had about 20 different questions but they were always enough to keep us busy thinking and figuring out the answers.  Recently I ran across an article which talked about Brent Landau's book Revelation of the Magi: The Lost Tale of the Wise Men’s Journey to Bethlehem, the first-ever English translation of an ancient manuscript that tells the famous story from the Magi’s perspective. In it he shares five things you didn’t know about the Magi - this is exactly the kind of stuff my dad loved to use to trip us up.  So here are the five things Landau offers:

"1) The Gospel of Matthew doesn’t say how many Magi there were. Three became the most popular answer because of the three gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But some paintings in Christian catacombs have two or four, the Revelation of the Magi has a list of twelve Magi with names, and other Christian writings imagine an entire army of Magi!

2) Early Christians didn’t agree on where the Magi were from. The most popular answer was Persia (modern Iran), but others thought they were from Babylon or Arabia. In the Revelation of the Magi, they come from a land called Shir, which, because it is located at the eastern edge of the inhabited world, is probably equivalent to China.

3) Nobody knows what the Star of Bethlehem really was. Some early Christians thought it was an angel or the Holy Spirit, and more recent theories include a comet or a supernova. In the Revelation of the Magi, the star is none other than Christ himself in celestial form.

4) Opinions differ about how long it took the Magi to reach Bethlehem. Based on Herod’s asking of Magi when the star appeared, coupled with his subsequent command to kill all male infants under the age of two, many Christians thought it took them two years. Some imagined a much faster journey of twelve days, based on the “twelve days of Christmas” between December 25th and the celebration of Epiphany on January 6th. Their journey is even faster in the Revelation of the Magi, since the star “carries” the Magi to Bethlehem in the blink of an eye.

5) A number of answers were proposed for how the Magi knew that a star signified the birth of the King of the Jews. Many Christians thought that they knew the prophecy of Balaam, a prophet who predicts in Numbers 24:17 that “a star shall come out of Jacob.” In the Revelation of the Magi, the Magi are descendants of Seth, who learned about the prophecy of the star from his father Adam -- since the star used to stand over the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden."

So, let us now turn out attention to the actual text for this Sunday's Gospel.  Not unlike Luke, Matthew gives us a time frame for Jesus' birth. We are told that magi or some kind of astrologer or dream interpreters were paying attention to the night sky and so they understood from their studies that a king had been born.  This, of course, takes us back to both Isaiah 60 and even further back to Numbers 24.  Numbers 24:17-24 prophesies that “... a star shall come out of Jacob, a scepter shall rise out of Israel”, and that this ruler will conquer surrounding nations.

So we see in this birth a new reign of God is revealed, a new king coming into the world. This king will draw many to him, even wise men and the nations will bow down to him.

This is certainly cause for alarm if you are the local earthly king and so Herod's fears and anxiety are woven into the tapestry of the story.

It foretells the reality that this God-king is not found in high places, or among the royal families of the day, rather he is found in the lowliest of places. He will threaten the mighty not with great armies and power but with peace and love.  It is the lowliest place Bethlehem, it is the poor family, it is the barnyard stall and the poorest of means that reveals the lordship of Christ.

In seminary, I learned a wonderful word: Heilsgeschichte. It is a German word that means salvation history.  One of the things I love about Epiphany is the many levels in which the passage from Matthew is working.  The first is the tradition found in Numbers, the Psalm, and Isaiah.  These are the ancient heilsgeschichte prophesies which reveal something to us about the person of Jesus.  Then there is the context of the story in which the signs and symbols are presented and God in Christ Jesus is revealed to the magi by way of a language and imagery which they can understand.  Then there is the first community to hear or read Matthew's good news of salvation. The narrative is reinterpreted again and reveals to them the nature of this new community founded upon the Christ; who will draw to him a varied people.  Then there is our community today.

So, we ask ourselves how does the church present the revelation of the good news of salvation today?  How are we revealing Christ and his work? We are challenged I think to continue the sharing of the story in a contemporary form and through contemporary images.  We are to use contextual narratives to reveal the reign of God.  We are to remember that the kings were not fooled by the aristocratic means of Herod nor his court or majestic realm, but rather the integrity of the message of God's lordship was found in the humblest of places, the poorest of families, and the weakest of citizens - a child.  Our preaching and teaching of the salvation history of God will always be measured by the parallel life of our church's mission in the most marginal of settings with the weakest of people.  AND vice versa, our mission will always be measured by the presentation of salvation history through the unique offering of God in Christ Jesus through the eyes of our own church's tradition.

It is a both-and proposition. We are about the work of revealing this God and the uniqueness of Christ, to do this in word and work, in such a way that both the shepherds and magi of our day may be drawn to him.

Some Thoughts on Ephesians 3:1-12

"The need for unity and equality continues to paralyze both the human family and the Church."Commentary, Ephesians 3:1-12, Israel Kamudzandu, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2019.

"The writing style of the author of Ephesians seems at first glance more sing-able than preach-able. Set it to music and let the organist have at it!"
Commentary, Ephesians 3:1-12, Sarah Henrich, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.

"The great celebration of the Incarnation, according to Paul, flows into the great celebration of the church."
Commentary, Ephesians 3:1-12, Amy L.B. Peeler, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"'Mystery' is the term that runs throughout this passage from Ephesians. It fits the day in the liturgical year because an 'epiphany' is a manifestation of something. And in this case what is revealed has been a mystery."
Radical Gratitude, lectionary-based stewardship, Northwest United Methodist Foundation. (.pdf)
Commentary, Ephesians 3:1-12, Craig R. Koester, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2008.

"Here is no cringing model of humility before a God who is looking for people on which to put his feet. Rather here is a theology which sees God wanting us to be bold, confident and forthcoming."
"First Thoughts on Passages on Year C Epistle Passages in the Lectionary: Epiphany," William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

A cave painting of Paul found in Ephesus in Turkey.

We find in the letter to the Ephesians that Paul's ministry to the Gentiles and his belief that God had called them into the family of Abraham as equal members of the church has led to his imprisonment.  In our passage, this Sunday Paul is telling the community about his work.  His words tap into the revelation that is also present in the Gospel for Epiphany.  Paul writes, "In former generations, this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel."

Like Paul, the community at Ephesus is invited to participate in the sharing of this revelation.  Paul talks about how God was revealed to him.  And, he repeats his conviction that both Jews and Gentiles are to be at work in the saving activity of sharing the good news of salvation; of Christ and his kingdom.  Paul does a little work in translating the salvation history for the church at Ephesus, the heilsgeschichte, he talks to them about the revelation of old and God was at work to draw other nations to him.  The prophets of old and the apostles of his day offer a vision that all are invited to be co-heirs, co-members, and co-partners.  (In Greek each word begins with syn as in synchronous.)

It is here that we find something unique and important to the Gospel in our tradition as Christians who are Episcopalians.  Paul was an unlikely choice, he offers, to be an evangelist of this gospel.  But that is the point.  The good news of salvation is that all are invited into the work of evangelism (sharing the good news in words) and mission (sharing the good news in work).  More importantly, this salvation story has always come to the least likely people, the most unexpected persons, and the ones to whom the powers of the day never expect much of anything - other than remaining in their place.  The newcomers to the family, in this case, the Gentiles, are always to be integral members of the family.  

Of this gospel I have become a servant according to the gift of God’s grace that was given me by the working of his power.⁸Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ,⁹ and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things;¹⁰so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.¹¹This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,¹²in whom we have access to God in boldness and confidence through faith in him.

Paul, a Jew, has become an unlikely evangelist to the Gentile.  His work is to share the abundant "riches" of Christ with whoever will listen.  He is to tell the salvation story, that from the beginning God's plan was established, those who are outside of the family of God now have a place as an integral part of the ever-evolving family of God - the new community - the new Israel.  The work of the community, the church at Ephesus, the work of the Christian community today, the work of the Episcopal/Anglican church is to share the good news of salvation (all are welcome and included) and the uniqueness of Christ (he is a light to the world and a challenge to the powers of this world).  

Whenever I read Paul I am constantly challenged to wonder who are the gentiles in our context?  It is not us! We are more like the Abrahamic family, the Jews in Paul's letter.  So, who are the ones who this day stand outside the family of God, who are we being challenged to invite in? Who are we to offer the story of salvation history - a salvation history that includes them?  I think this is the most challenging aspect of our faith. You and I are the most unlikely of evangelists, yet you and I have been given the revelation and offered a vision of God's unveiling salvation history.  As unlikely as we are, we are the ones to carry the banner today and to invite the most unlikely of recipients into the family.  I find that is always good news for them, the "other", and rather challenging news for us.

Some Thoughts on Isaiah 60:1-9

"We often call it the 'bridge' We look at the gap, or chasm, between the text and the contemporary situation, while wondering how we can leap from the inspiring words of scripture to the present reality."
Commentary, Isaiah 60:1-6, Charles L. Aaron, Jr., Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2019.

"As we celebrate this festival, affirming the message that God’s presence is fully manifested in Jesus, whom Matthew pictures being born in Bethlehem, and to whom the nations gather bearing gifts, what forms of darkness do we confront?"

"Gathered at the Light," Bob Cornwall, Ponderings on a Faith Journey, 2019.

"Preach it, talk about our hope in God's ability to remake our fractured world, and to reconcile on earth what has already been reconciled in heaven"
Commentary, Isaiah 60:1-6, Michael J. Chan, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.

"Every prophetic oracle is spoken within a historical context. I believe that, as preachers, we must always begin from this simple but poignant realization."
Commentary, Isaiah 60:1-6, Dirk G. Lange, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"Bleak midwinter seems a fitting stage for this lectionary text that likely dates to the early days of Israel's return from Babylonian captivity. Those days are cast easily in hues of grey..."
Commentary, Isaiah 60:1-6, Christine Roy Yoder, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2008.

Oremus Online NRSV Text

Here are the words from the passage that stands out so clearly to me on this day:

Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. 2For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you.

This is just a beautiful and amazing passage of hope. It is a passage that reminds the hearer of God's presence and God's ultimate design of embrace. It is a passage of worship and glorification of God. It is a passage of beauty with a rich woven tapestry of images.

Isaiah is offering an image of the future. It is an image that suggests that once again the people who return from Babylon will have a great city. It may not be a shining city on a hill presently, but it will be in the future. Isaiah is casting an image of a city at the center of trade and power. 

Writing about the same time as Jeremiah was...this part of Isaiah is speaking about the return of the people to a city ravished by war and left with a small population. Isaiah is prophesying in line with Jeremiah, that God will have the last word...not the conquering Babylonians. God imagines Isaiah continues, a great city restored beyond its original glory and so too a people restored.

Walter Brueggeman plays with this image of the great city and the difference of nine miles between Jerusalem and Bethlehem when he writes,

"Matthew is not the first one to imagine three rich wise guys from the East coming to Jerusalem. His storyline and plot come from Isaiah 60, a poem recited to Jews in Jerusalem about 580 b.c.e. These Jews had been in exile in Iraq for a couple of generations and had come back to the bombed-out city of Jerusalem. They were in despair. Who wants to live in a city where the towers are torn down and the economy has failed, and nobody knows what to do about it?"

and..

The narrative of Epiphany is the story of these two human communities: Jerusalem, with its great pretensions, and Bethlehem, with its modest promises. We can choose a “return to normalcy” in a triumphalist mode, a life of self-sufficiency that contains within it its own seeds of destruction. Or we can choose an alternative that comes in innocence and a hope that confounds our usual pretensions. We can receive life given in vulnerability. It is amazing—the true accent of epiphany—that the wise men do not resist this alternative but go on to the village. Rather than hesitate or resist, they reorganize their wealth and learning, and reorient themselves and their lives around a baby with no credentials. 

Bethlehem is nine miles south of Jerusalem. The wise men had a long intellectual history of erudition and a long-term practice of mastery. But they had missed their goal by nine miles. It is mind-boggling to think how the story might have gone had Herod’s interpreters not remembered Micah 5. 

Our task is to let the vulnerability of Micah 5 disrupt the self-congratulation of Isaiah 60. Most of us are looking in the wrong place. We are off by nine miles.(See his article here: Brueggemann, Walter, "Off by Nine Miles," The Christian Century, 2001.)

What is interesting about Matthew's use of the text that it is more than a prophetic link to the past. It is more than a story lifted from one part of scripture into another part. It is more than a simple analogy...the wise men are looking in the wrong place...so too we are looking in the wrong place...

Let me pause to say that Brueggeman is brilliant here. He is tapping into one of the key Gospel paradoxes. The king does not come as a king just as his victory will be defeat and life will come from death! Jerusalem our happy home is not a restoration of a past projection but a complete turning over of the past ideas about the centrality of religion and where God resides. 

But there is more here. Matthew uses this part of Isaiah to point out that Jesus' mission is to the gentiles. This is an expansive move on Matthew's part. (See Richard Hays, Echoes, p175ff.) The Gospel author is setting the stage firmly in these first passages that Jesus has come not only as a messiah for the people of Israel but that Jesus' mission is cosmic in scope and meant for all people.

The Gospel author does this by tying in Isaiah 9:2 and 42:7 with 60. He draws in this story from the servant passage (42:7) and the fulfillment of light for the gentiles (9:2).

The passage is not merely about where we shall find our spiritual home but where the world might find its deliverance. The Gospel is good news for the whole world and it challenges us to see that our transformation is linked to the poor, the lame, and the dying. It is linked to the small town of Bethlehem - the least of outposts. The world's deliverance is linked to the restoration of people who today find themselves enslaved by powers, principalities, and systems. It is linked to children. 

We will often seek to find our light and our deliverance in many places - most of which are connected more to the powers of the world's corrupt machinations. We are challenged not only to look in a different place but that such a different place is itself meant for the whole world. 

Christmas Eve/Day December 24/25

Prayer
Abiding with you forever in glory, O God, your only-begotten child is born among us in time..  May we ever welcome your Son to the warmth of an earthly home and so open for all earth's children a path that leads us home. We ask this through Christ, with whom you have raised us up in baptism, the Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Luke  2:1-20

"This holiday familiarity is a particular problem for preachers. We must keep in mind that for some, the Christmas story has been regularly heard since childhood. And yet, these annual rehearsals have failed to reveal to contemporary audiences the jarring display of ancient culture the episode describes."

Commentary, Luke 2:1-14 [15-20] / Luke 2[1-7] 8-20, Joy Moore, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.

"Nonetheless, it is to these unlikely and unworthy shepherds that the first news of the birth of Jesus is given, and not to the Kings, Caesars, and Governors mentioned at the beginning of this passage."

Holy Textures, Understanding the Bible in its own time and in ours, Luke 2:1-20, David Ewart, 2010.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

The mystic Abu Hamid al-Ghazah once wrote, “Human perfection resides in this, that the love of God should conquer the human heart and possess it wholly, and even if it does not possess it wholly, it should predominate in the heart over the love of all things.”[1]  And so, the incarnation comes in Christ Jesus to conquer the human heart and to possess it wholly.  In an eternal return to the garden, God comes in Jesus to find us, once hidden on the eve of the day, amongst the flora of our garden world.  The goal, as in last week's epistle to the Hebrews, is that we might be about the work and will of God.

Today, we pause, we think, and we ponder.  What is the world around us like? What are our lives like?  We live in a time when we want to know God is present. We desire to be rid of our fear and our anxiety.  We hope, and we wish for a sign.  We don't know who to believe anymore because everything is relativized.  There seems no assurance that we won't hurdle off the fiscal and mental cliff of our time.  We feel shame and unworthiness, which we hide behind consumption and business.  We still long for some kind of love, acceptance, forgiveness, and understanding.  And, we offer our sacrifices to the God of our day, hoping perhaps this year will be different. 

I am most certain that this is not the same time and nor are these the same issues that faced the shepherds.  They were probably cold, hungry, and without shelter in the desert at night.  They were most likely a lot like most of the rest of the developing world that exists far beyond our concerns and thoughts this Christmas.

Yet into this ancient world and our world, today comes the message that the prophecy is fulfilled. God is in our midst. Do not be afraid. In fact, rejoice and be glad.  Look for God in the least of these, in the form of a child.  Here you will find him.

Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people:11to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.12This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”

And so all over the world, we gather on this holiest of nights to celebrate the mystical union of God and humanity in Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us, Savior, Messiah, Blessed One, Son of Man, Jesus the Christ Child born of a woman called Mary – Miryam of Nazareth.

I have for a long time been touched by this mystical poem from Ann Johnson’s collection of sacred poetry Magnificat of the Stable:

My soul rests confidently in the animal warmth
     And the lantern light of the simple place, Yahweh,

     And my spirit rejoices in the privacy of this time of birthing
     We share with you, O God of Creation,
     For you come alive again tonight
     In the blood and water of your people.
Yes, this is the time we have waited for.
     This is the moment of blessing.
Holy is birth,
     And you shall show yourself from age to age
     In those who enter into creation with you.
You have shown the power of a dream enfleshed
     And we are humbled.
You have pulled down all our strivings
     And lifted up this simple, common moment.
This stable is filled with good things,
     New life and happy people.
     Are those in the inn rooms as satisfied?

You have come to Israel,
Mindful of our shared nature,
     . . . according to the promise of Eden. . .
     mindful of our nature to seek the wisdom of new life together
     as long as we walk the earth.[2]

Rehearsing our sacred story reminds us of God's presence in our lives.  We are invited to this holy feast to remember that this God we believe in enters the world in human form and comes to the margins of life, to Mary and Joseph, who are essentially homeless and wandering.

We are invited on this day to retell the story of the nativity so that we may rehearse the beginning of the reign of God, where people without a coat are given clothing, where people with no roof over their heads find shelter, where people with nothing to eat are given good things.  We retell the story to remind ourselves that the work of Christians is kindness, gentleness, and hospitality, like the innkeeper.

We are invited to retell the story on this day so we remember what it means to discover a living God and how we, like the shepherds, will search for him wherever he will be; so tenacious is our hearts' hunger for God.

We are invited to retell the story so that we might be reminded of our work to be heralds of good news and glad tidings for our family, our friends, and our neighbours.

And, we are invited to retell the story because, in it, we are reminded that the child wrapped in linen and laid in a manger shall be our saviour wrapped in cloth and lain in a rock tomb.  

This is our God; this is our Messiah.  In this Christmastide, may we be aware that God has come and that we are his followers.  

For those who intentionally choose to remember, we recognize that the birth of Jesus was a prophetic challenge to the world order and that those who find they're being in his sacred story and follow his way are to challenge the world order with ethical and moral sensitivity.  We are to speak the truth and act in a world hungering for deliverance from greed, poverty, oppression, malnutrition, abuse, illness, war, and all the other dark and evil powers we have created and come to know.  It is not to Caesar Augustus or Quirinius that this God comes to, but the God we believe in comes to the lowly.  So it is that we are to open our hearts to this God that our own lowliness and shame may be transformed. So it is that we are to open our hands and lives to those around us.  We are like the angels, the shepherds, the innkeeper, and the holy family to make room for this God in our lives and, in so doing, to make room in the world for the kingdom of God.

---

[1] Quoted by Kabir Helminski in Knowing Heart, p. 4.

[2] Johnson, Miryam of Nazareth, p 81.

Some Thoughts on John 1:1-18

"If last week we met the camel hair wearing, locust and honey eating John the Baptist, this week we do a 180 degree turn and meet a whole different John."

Commentary, John 1:6-8, 19-28, Karoline Lewis, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011. 

"Much of the pain and suffering around us comes from people imagining that they are the light themselves. In psychological terms, my mind turns to Carl Jung when thinking about light and darkness within us. Jung warned of the dangers of trying to live only in our light. The shadow within is dangerous when ignored."

John 1:6-8, 19-28, Rev. Todd Weir, bloomingcactus.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

As I walked out on the streets of Laredo, As I walked out in Laredo one day, I spied a young cowboy all wrapped in white linen Wrapped in white linen as cold as the clay. I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy; I see by your outfit you are a cowboy, too; We see by our outfits that we are both cowboys. If you get an outfit, you can be a cowboy, too. (listen to it here)

I grew up listening to the Smothers Brothers, and this was their version of The Streets of Laredo.  I have always loved it.

Who are you?  I can tell you who I am by telling you my life story. Ultimately, you will guess it by my clothes and by my car and by my house...the rings on my fingers and bells on my toes.  Today's Gospel lesson asks, who are you?

To get to the bottom of this, we must take a good look at what is going on this week in the Gospel Text, especially since we have taken a dog leg into John's Gospel from Mark!

This week's Gospel reading is really in two parts. Those of you preparing a sermon (if doing so on this text) will find that it is really two different parts of John's introduction.  The text for Sunday is 1:6-8 and 19-28.

The first piece falls well within what many scholars believe to be the greatest part of the New Testament.  Raymond Brown, in his first volume, writes this about the prologue, which stretches from 1:1-18.

"If John has been described as the pearl of great price among the NT writings, then one may say that the Prologue is the pearl within this Gospel.  In her ccomparisonof Augustine's and Chrysostom's exegesis of the Prologue, M. A. Aucoin points out that both held that it is beyond the power of man to speak as John does in the Prologue." (18)

I think it is important to think of these first verses well within this first piece of writing which has both a form and a purpose. Brown breaks it up this way...  The first section is 1:1-2, This is the Word of God section which offers a poetic vision of God's very being.  The second section, verses 3-5, reveals the Word's work in creation.  It is the light shining in the darkness, shining through man's sinfulness, shining in the birth that flows from the fallen woman Eve in Jesus.  Then, and only then, do we arrive at our piece, which is nestled quite nicely here.  The third portion is verses 6-9 and is John the Baptist's, witness.  As Brown points out the second part is about the Word's work throughout creation, here that comes to fruition in the proclamation of God's incarnate Word Jesus. (Brown, John, vol 1, 18-17)  Many bloggers this week noted the difference between the John of Mark and the John of this Gospel.  I think the reason for the striking difference is primarily this Gospel's tightly focused presentation of God in Christ Jesus. The only reason to even have John in this section is to make clear he is preparing the hearts of humankind for the incarnation, and proclamation of the Word made man.  Brown tells us that following this proclamation, we return to the fourth section (continuing the ancient hymn outlined in the text), which is about the Christ of God working his mission in the world.  This is followed by the community's response.   The last of the five sections is another few words by John the Baptist, but here in 14, 17-18, is John's proclamation that the Word spoken before time is this Jesus.  He is the pre-existent one.  A radical, revolutionary, and prophetic revelation is being offered in this last section, for in this time, the common person would have understood that God is invisible, so it makes sense that the Word spoken, the Son is the only one who has seen this God.  The unique relation between Son and God not only helps with the contemporary thought of the day but it gives rise to our common understanding of who Jesus is: God's only Son.  (For my theological followers, there is a great discussion in Brown's Vol 1 on pages 35 and 36 about this last section, and it is well worth reading.)

To summarize then, we have in the first two verses of our reading a very clear focus on God in Christ. Jesus is the Word, Jesus is the Word made manifest, and the Word at work in the world.  As if marching to a drum, we hear for the first time in these very first words what we have faithfully memorized as Christians and Episcopalians who have a Common Prayer Book, and that is that the only Son of God has come into the world to save the world.  Such comfortable and hopeful words. Everything in this first section of our reading verbally illustrates that John the baptist is someone they knew but now is so transparent to the Gospel that all they see now is the coming of Christ.

On the first day of John's ministry in the Gospel, he disappears as the living Word and Jesus take centre stage. On the second day, he offers a vision of who Jesus is; he is the transparent vessel of a living Christ - of light in the world.

In this third week of Advent, a number of things are going on in our context here in the U.S.  One is what I would call the holiday breather.  We began the holiday with a Thanksgiving mad dash to fill our bellies and our shopping carts.  We redoubled our efforts to get to church. And we are now in the slump; it is the week-long Wednesday between Holiday and Christmas Day.  Unfortunately, preachers are in the same predicament.

Into this slump, we re-read a passage about John the Baptist. Now, you and I both know that is not precisely true. This Sunday's passage is very different from the last.  Brown and practically all modern scholars recognize that John the Baptist in John's Gospel is completely different from the one portrayed in the Synoptics.  He looks different than the previous version we preached on last week.  This week he is the transparent vessel of God's grace - Jesus Christ. He points only to God and to Jesus.

Just as John the Baptist in John's Gospel, you and I are, as Christians, intimately tied to who we say God is.

You might remember Stephen Colbert's radical statement that caused so much attention recently:

"If [America] is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it."

I will tell you that not being who we say we are is a crippling missionary stumbling block in a world that is seeking some kind of authentic view of God and Grace and hoping someone will be a true voice of transformation and life in a world of gifts and purchases whose shimmer and shine will fade a few weeks after their delivery.

The truth is that as Christians, we proclaim and reaffirm that the pre-existent Word of God is Jesus Christ, who is God's only son.  And that we are, as a people and as individuals (as is proclaimed in the Isaiah passage for this Sunday), inheritors of a divine relationship with the unseen God through the waters of baptism.  And, that we DO believe we are related as brothers or sisters of God's family.  And, therefore we are to treat people in a certain way, with special attention to God's most intimate friends - the poor.

We say and affirm as a defining part of who we are that we, as Christians, believe we meet God in the text of scripture and in the faces of our neighbours.

We meet God in John's proclamation. We meet this unseen God in the very speaking and retelling of the story of the incarnation of God offered here on the other side of the Jordan, just as it is offered from the ambos and pulpits of our churches.

Moreover, like John, we meet God by venturing out across the doorway of our church onto the other side of the sidewalk, where we have the opportunity to meet the living Word in the storied lives of the people we find out in the world.  We encounter God and his Son in the words of scripture, which helps us to hear the same living incarnate God spoken in the story of our neighbour.

This week we did a bible study with this passage at our meeting of the governing board of the diocese.  A friend and fellow clergyman said he had been praying and thinking about this passage. He realized and offered to the group that, quite frankly, we were simply to be at work being witnesses to Christ (like John the Baptist and John the Gospeller), and if we were not, then we were being witnesses for something or someone else.  In the latter, he had in mind those folks who travelled all that way to meet John the Baptist in the desert and to shut him down for not bearing witness to what they stood for.

This religious stuff is a dangerous thing.  The world right now is taking a breather from its holiday consumption. It is quiet before the holiday storm.  We have an opportunity to tell the truth.  The truth is that how we live out our holiday will reveal if we are bearing witness to God in Christ Jesus, or if we are representing something else.  Yes, what we say and what we do are incarnational symbols of the living God or something else entirely.

Religion on a Sunday like this is dangerous because when we don't tell the truth about the world we live in (the addictions we have, the way we attempt to purchase our belongings, and how we are stewards of God's things), we sell a little piece of our corporate soul to the secular world; creating a consumer faith.

How will the church, how will you, the preacher, how will the people answer the essential question asked on the shore of the Jordan River so many years ago, and which is still relevant today: "Who are you because you look like someone I once knew?"

Some Thoughts on Titus 2:11-14

"Living zealously, wisely, righteously, godly, and expectantly may, in some situations, appear as gentleness and align with the general mores of the wider society. At other times, however, that way of life may manifest as boldness and challenge to the narrative of the good life the present culture embraces."
Commentary, Titus 2:11-14, Amy L.B. Peeler, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"This passage stands out as a theological gem in the midst of the moral exhortations of Titus."Commentary, Titus 2:11-14, Elisabeth Johnson, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

In the Epistle lesson from Titus, Paul is writing about the household code, a moral code by which the church is to live. They are to be a community. This community is to be acceptable to the society around it, and most scholars see parallels between Paul's code for community and the code for community espoused by the philosophical leaders of his day. In other words, much of what Paul offers is a reflection of basic ethics for individuals and morality for a community that is at work within a wider social construct.

That being said, there is an underpinning theology that is important and separates how the Christian community is to live from other communities.  Paul's prevailing theology looks back at God's acts and sees that our God is defined by his one saving act - the Exodus and the Sinai revelation. God is holy and we are to be God's people and God's people will be holy.  Moreover, the way of this community is defined at its foundation by God's commandments, which marks the group as special and of a higher household standard than the prevailing notion of such codes in Paul's day.  Paul adopts this saving action and the nature of God's people to the emerging Christian community.

In our passage appointed for Christmas day, we see this clearly. God in Christ Jesus has appeared in the incarnation.  Christ Jesus, in his own actions, has modelled a higher way of being in the world.  We, like the ancient ancestors of Israel, are to be formed by his example.  We are to "renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly.   God in Christ Jesus is himself redeeming us even in our failure to live this life.  We are given Christ, for he gave himself fully.  Christ is redeeming us, and we are being purified by his grace.

I would add then that we are to do the same.  We are to give ourselves over to the other, we are to give ourselves over to God and to our neighbor.  The very basic and essential work is to be "zealous for good deeds."

Paul's list (which comes above and below this passage)is filled with directions for the household code.  It is true that some we would agree with and some we would not.  Yet they offer us a challenging view of a life lived in the shadow of God's saving embrace.  Most of all, we are to live no longer for ourselves but for God and for God's people.  We are the gift to this world.  As followers of Christ, we are the gift to a world in need, and we are to be about our father's work: good deeds. 

A Christmastide bereft of giving to others and, most of all, to the poor, of eating while others go hungry, of warmth and merry cheer while even more are cold, lonely, and remorse is no Christmastide at all.  

Some Thoughts on Hebrews 1:1 - 2:12

"In the city of Macon, Georgia, the Harriet Tubman African-American Museum honors the memory of the 'Black Moses,' the best-known conductor on the Underground Railroad..."

Commentary, Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12, Pentecost 18, Bryan J. Whitfield, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.

"...Hebrews holds together a profound image of Jesus as God's very reflection with a very earthy and human figure just like us. That reinforces also our understanding of God and of the spiritual life not as something from or in another world, but as something which fully enters the here and now of flesh and blood."

"First Thoughts on Passages on Year B Epistle Passages in the Lectionary,"Pentecost 18, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

"The concept of incarnation is an affirmation that Jesus really and truly does show us what God is like. When we look at Jesus, we see him embracing the ones nobody else would embrace. We see him confronting the religious people with the falseness of their self-righteousness. We see him forgiving sinners and restoring people to their right mind. And we see him freely and joyfully playing with children!"

"We See Jesus," Alan Brehm, The Waking Dreamer, 2009.

Oremus Online NRSV Text

In seminary, we were taught that there is no such thing as a God of the Old Testament and a God of the New Testament. Yet, Christians have struggled to always put into context the reality of violence throughout the scripture, including in the New Testament. Somehow we have never really quite figured out how to deal with the various rules, covenants, demands, and variety of things God wants or doesn't want for us. Even Walter Brueggeman, when asked about such things, says something like, "I like to think God is getting over his use of violence." 

The author of Hebrews is certainly trying to figure out how to speak of these things and to parse clearly the trajectory of a God who is both alpha and omega while at the same time exhibiting different behaviours and desires. 

God communicates to Israel, and God communicates to us. We believe, as theologian Ben Johnson once remarked, a God who raised Jesus out of death and raised Israel out of Egypt. 

What is clear for the author of Hebrews and for Christians is that all is to be defined now through the words and actions of God through Christ Jesus. It is his work and words that are to define and radically focus our attention across the great expanse of God's communication with his creatures.

The Incarnation of God in Christ Jesus is a particular vision of God - revealing to us God's intent to be with us and to bridge the chasm between heaven and earth.  Sin and death will not be victorious over this divide. Moreover, this person of Jesus is a forerunner of our humanity.

We are in some miraculous and mysterious way to become like Jesus in this world making here heaven on earth - just like we pray in the Lord's Prayer. We are to make here God's neighborhood.

What is an interesting part of this passage is the unique and important reality that the author offers a special place for humanity within the cosmos. Using the words of the psalmist (Psalm 8:4-6), the author reminds us, "What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them? You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honor..." I once mentioned that the angels are jealous of humanity for what we have in Jesus and in the holy communion and how special this is for us in the order of things. We are blessed as humans to experience God in and through Jesus in this world and through the inbreaking of God in the incarnation and in the bread and wine. I really got skewered online when I said this. People thought it was heresy. I am of course in good company with the psalmist, the author of Hebrews
and the Polish Roman Catholic St. Maximilian Kolbe, who once said, "If Angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion."

We are to see who God is and how God is moving in the world through Christ Jesus, as is present in scripture and in the communion itself. And what do we see? We see a God who lowers God's self and breaks God's self-open for the sake of those other than God or even godlike. God becomes one with the other and so raises the other up into the community. Here is the Gospel.

Some Thoughts Isaiah 9:2-7

"As far as I know, there is only one good reason for believing that he was who he said he was. One of the crooks he was strung up with put it this way: 'If you are the Christ, save yourself and us' (Luke 23:39). Save us from whatever we need most to be saved from. Save us from each other. Save us from ourselves. Save us from death both beyond the grave and before. If he is, he can. If he isn't, he can't. It may be that the only way in the world to find out is to give him the chance, whatever that involves. It may be just as simple and just as complicated as that."
"Messiah," sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.

"Over the next couple of weeks leading from Christmas to Epiphany, the three readings from Isaiah come from all three sections of 'Isaiah' -- First Isaiah, Second Isaiah, and Third Isaiah. All three readings speak out of vastly different contexts.
Commentary, Isaiah 9:2-7, Dirk G. Lange, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"This commentary will explore the interpretive history leading to its presence at this powerful moment of the Christian year."
Commentary, Isaiah 9:2-7, Patricia Tull, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

The beginning of Isaiah is not all sweetness and light, but this passage holds within it a spark of hope that is to be brought to God’s people in Babylon. Here, Isaiah prophesies that in time, that which is dark will be filled with light. That those who struggle and suffer will have the mantle of slavery lifted from their shoulders. The season wherein the powers of this world continue to inflict suffering upon God’s people will come to a close. This will all be brought about by a continuation of the Davidic royal line.

This passage is particularly important to Matthew in his gospel. He does something interesting with it. Matthew weaves this passage with Isaiah 42:7. He changes the “walking” (in the original passage) to “sitting” (from 42). By doing this, Matthew links the two passages. What he is doing is reading that the light is Jesus, that Jesus is the one to continue the Davidic line, that all the nations will know and bear witness to this light, and that God’s people (all people – universally speaking) are to be brought into the light by Jesus.

What originally was read as a prophecy about the Northern Kingdom of Israel and God’s deliverance of his people enslaved to foreign powers now is read through the eyes of the Gospel as identifying the work and mission of Jesus.

In other words, the passage is about revelation - it is about the mission to the Gentiles. The light that comes into the world is the brightness of the Christ who will draw not only the people of Israel to him but the light that will, in fact, draw all people into the embrace of God.

Christ in this way is not simply a Christ for Israel, or even for Christians in our own day...but a Christ that is present in the world as ruler of all, as king of all, as lord of all. His kingdom is marked with love, mercy, kindness, and peace for all who enter and become its citizens.

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