A Deeper Dive On Epiphany

     For Sunday, we will share the first part of Matthew chapter 2, the story of the Magi-the Wise Men-coming to Jesus.  We will sing the hymn "We Three Kings" (most of it), but consider this.  We don't know if there were three gifters (only three gifts), we don't know if they were kings (that's an early translation choice into English), and, in God's great plan, we cannot say for certain that if they were all royalty, there might not have been a queen among the kings...    

    Now consider this.  God might be working at deeper levels of understanding in Matthew 2 than we realize.  "Wise Men", Magi, Wisdom came from the East, understanding in their Wisdom that the Star would lead them to the Messiah.  Not the first time 'the East' has Biblical significance.  The Garden of Eden, the beginning of God's creation of the world, according to Genesis 2 is 'in the East'.  The Father of the Jews (and the Christians and the Muslims), Abraham (initially Abram) is also called 'out of the East'.  Where God began Creation, where God called the Father of God's people, two examples of the same direction from which the Wise are coming to see the Messiah. Might be a thing...

    Now, consider this.  When the Magi asked where Jesus was to be born, King Herod was able to turn to the scribes and ask them flat out "Where?"  This Messianic King of the Jews was not just based in nebulous, abstract prophecies.  In Micah 5, the scribes could point out chapter and verse as to where the Messiah was to be born, in Bethlehem.  The geographic precision marks its historic precision.  We sing "Once in Royal David's City..."  The Messiah was in the lineage and the Spirit of David, Israel's greatest king.  Considering the line of David had not held the kingship in Jerusalem for generations, King Herod found this to be a political threat to his own authority.

    Now, consider what happens next (which is not usually part of our Epiphany bible readings). God sent Joseph and family to Egypt to avoid the terror that King Herod was about to unleash.  In the Book of Exodus, the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt-something that the Jews of the time of King Herod were living in themselves, controlled by the Romans through their puppet King Herod.  Thus, when Hosea is quoted, "Out of Egypt, I have called my son", in Jesus is echoed the liberation that begins in Exodus under Moses.  What do you think?  

    What follows next in Matthew 2 is the Slaughter of the Innocents, Herod's massacre to try and kill the Messiah.  Consider that there is a more implicit and a more explicit connection to be made to the Old Testament.  

    What Herod does is not the first Slaughter of the Innocents.  There is a slaughter of the innocents in the book of Exodus.  The Pharaoh of Egypt sought to systematically kill all the male children of God's people when they were born.  They were a threat to the livelihood of the Egyptians.  One survived the slaughter, who grew up and was called by God to lead his people out of slavery and to the Promised Land.  That was Moses.  Is there a parallel to be seen?

     More explicitly, Matthew quotes from Jeremiah 31, "a voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they were no more".  Jeremiah 31 begins with a remembrance on how the Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians (half the Promised Land and God's people gone).  It continues in lamentation on the Southern Kingdom of Judah going into Exile, conquered by the Babylonians (which Jeremiah was living through).  The political independence of God's people is extinguished in the Exile.  They return to their land but always under conquest, Babylonian to Persian to Greek to Roman.   

    But the conclusion of Jeremiah 31 is that, from this destruction, God will raise up the whole nation of Israel, North and South, once again and deliver them, renew them, save them, and fulfill the promises made to them by God's loving and strength.  Even as King Herod sought to kill the Messiah, God's promise will not be thwarted.  Out of death itself, God will lift us up.

    As God has done in Jesus.

    So consider this.  How deeply is the birth of Jesus interwoven into the entire history and prophecy of Jesus' own Bible, our Old Testament?  How much more is there to God's Great Plan is there for us to discover?

     

Peace,
Pastor Peter

Our Faith Begins and Ends in the Beauty of Perfection

    This is Day 6 of the Twelve Days of Christmas.  It is a time of contemplation, a time to come to the manger and simply enjoy the gift of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Not since the time of creation has the perfection of God entered into our world.  This is why we concluded our Christmas Eve service with a reading from John 1.  The Gospel of John does not include Jesus at the Christmas story, but it includes Jesus at the Creation story.

    Why beauty?  Why focus on the beautiful as the center of our faith?  It is a word that is more accessible than 'perfection'.  How do we, in this broken and sinful world, ever begin to measure up to perfection, to God?  But we can see what is beautiful, we can experience what is beautiful, we can approach God in what is beautiful.

    Beauty is more than simply an aspect of 'things'.  What Jesus has done for us, in his death (true ugliness) and his resurrection, has led to our redemption, our renewal, our salvation into God's own family.  It is the ultimate expression of love.  It is, can you guess what I am going to say?  It is truly beautiful.

    The New Year is the season of making promises and new starts and resolutions in all parts of our lives.  With the Season of Christmas, God prepares the way.  It is the season of Peace and the Prince of Peace (no matter how much the popular culture seeks to clutter it up with busyness).  

    When we describe our God, we use some really big concepts.  God is All-Loving (well, more simply, God IS Love), All-Knowing, All-Present, All-Powerful; to which I might suggest that God is All-Beautiful, not simply in appearance but in what God has done for us.  At Christmas, renewal comes in the simple adoration of the Baby in the Manger.  

    Pentatonix sings a version of "Mary, Did You Know", and there is a line in the song where they ask if Mary realizes that as she looks into the face of Jesus, she looks into the face of God?  There is a call there for us all, in the gift of Jesus, we too look into the love, strength, goodness, and beauty of God.  Upon that foundation is the stage set for us to enter the New Year.

Peace,
Pastor Peter

For the Beauty of the Manger

It is not the heart of the matter, nor is it the key to understanding all that God has done for us, but perhaps it is the doorway into something marvelous.  Something that binds the season of Christmas together is its beauty.

The sounds are beautiful.  It is not simply the familiar carols and songs of the Season, it is the special gift of music that arises in these days.  In our church, the highlight of music was our Cantata.  How many other performances and concerts are offered in these weeks?   We are preparing the bulletin for Christmas Eve and the insert with the words of Silent Night leapt out at me, so quiet, not exactly the definition of "joy", but with a beauty that will lull the world.

Then there is the visual.  How many people have a creche in their home or at their church?  Yes, the critics like to remind me that the shepherds AND the Magi did not show up at the same time.  But they did show up.  Our Pageant was a living nativity, narrating the story as all the elements of our Gospel Christmas account come together.  Seeing our young people, our children, our "Wise Guys" from the choir, I do not know how better to describe it than beautiful.

When we step out of church and into the popular culture, many will call it beautiful, some might call it 'over the top', others may speak of 'joy that exploded all over everything', but it is breath taking.  We may not hear as many Christian Christmas songs among the songs that are being broadcast, but we know the secret.  We know that the root of all the lights and glitz and glory is the moment of the angels shining over the shepherds.  We know the Good News of Great Joy they brought to the whole earth.

Not event the world can knock down the beauty of this Season.  Some seek to amplify it beyond recognition, but that's another story.

But here is where we begin.  Our faith is something of great beauty.  Our Lord Jesus is beautiful.  The world that God created is beautiful.  What Jesus has done for us to show the love of God to all humanity is...wait for it...beautiful.  Such grace.  Such joy.  Such wonder.

Merry Christmas.

Pastor Peter 

A Humbling Experience

    It is the Monday after the Sunday before. And what a blessed morning. 

    In 'rewiring' our Sanctuary bundles (those bits of paper in the slots in the pews), our focus is three-fold.  

    We Welcome, the expression of our love of neighbor to our guests and visitors and people who may be returning after some time away, to which we respond with joy and thanksgiving.

    We Pray, in communication with our God, but for those worshipping with us, this prayer is of a particular sort, our response to intercede in prayer for those who particularly ask via our prayer requests.   

    We Give, expressing our love for neighbor in action.  It is said that the true measure of a church's mission is to be found in its Budget, not its Mission Statement.  That is a bold accusation and a challenge to us to define the measure of our faith in terms of generosity.  Our response is one of thanksgiving and careful stewardship to maximize the benefits of giving in a complex financial world. 

    Yesterday, I spent a few minutes with the team that responds to the generous Giving of our members.  We are blessed with folks who take that work so seriously (and to our team, I think this is the moment that God was preparing for when He poked me to come see you).  

   This morning, I have before me a welcome paper and a prayer request.  This is the humbling part.  It is one thing to create an abstract system, to talk about names and connections, to live into the grace of expectation that the Lord has people He is ready to send into our midst.  It is something else to be entrusted by someone that people in this church will pray for them.  It is a blessing to have the privilege of reaching out to a guest in our midst, to thank them for coming, to invite them back.

    It is the Monday after the Sunday before. 

    Pastor Peter

PS-Anyone know the origins of or where we can get more of the postcards and cards with envelopes that have beautiful line drawings of the church on their faces?

PS to the PS-Next steps are Response Teams for our Sanctuary bundles, to welcome, to pray, to follow up on the generosity of our people. Right now, we have one person to respond in Welcome, one person to respond in Prayer (to these particular prayer offerings), and two people (to the best of my knowledge) to respond to the Giving to our church.  If doing something like this plucks a chord on the heartstrings of your faith, please let me know.

Peter  

     

Scriptures and Sermon from Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024

1^st SCRIPTURE LESSON: Luke 1: 26-38

2^nd SCRIPTURE LESSON: Matthew 1: 18-24 

Sermon     Dec. 15, 2024      Matt and Luke

            Jesus is born, for us.  This is the first line of Our Story (Capital S),  Jesus was born for us.

 Jesus was baptized for us.

 Jesus lived for us.

 Jesus died for us.

 Jesus arose for us.

 Jesus ascended for us.

 Jesus prayed for us.

  And where does God start with us?  In a season of peace and protection. For those of you who were with us for the Cantata last Sunday, wasn’t it amazing?  It was for me, a moment that I hope was not too different from that Mary and Joseph, from what the Shepherds, from what even the animals in the stable, when Christ was born that night.  The power of God shone around them.  It says the shepherds were afraid, but I hope that we were not.  I hope that we were able to revel in the divine presence, to let the language of worship sing to us, to feel God’s presence surrounding us.  What an amazing thing to simply come into the presence of God and wildly understate things by saying “Wow”.

            The fact of the matter is that this presence of God did not just drop down onto Bethlehem like some enormous inverted glass bowl of peace and delight.  It was set in motion long before, before Creation itself.  Neither did it simply drop into the laps of Mary and Joseph.  Promises were made to them of what was to come, promises that are made to us today.  Promises made by God through an angel.

            Notice first what Gabriel said to Mary after he informed her that she was not only going to be mother, but favored by God in this roll.  An unwed mother, favored by God.  But that’s another sermon.  No, Gabe looked to the future.  He said, He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ 

            Jesus will be GREAT (Wonderful, the Mighty God).  Jesus will be called the Son of the Most High, upselling the usual language of the Son of God.  It is a reminder of who God is, the power behind what is to come.  Jesus is to receive from the Lord God the throne of his ancestor David.  We could go on and on about David, the beloved of God, the greatest king, closing thing to an emperor, the symbol of freedom and independence in a world where God’s people have been conquered for the last fourteen generations.  Jesus will reign over the house of Jacob for ever.  This fulfills a promise made that there would be an heir to sit on the throne of David forever.  But best of all, for us at least, there will be no end to Jesus’ kingdom. Promise beyond that we are a part of the joy and wonder to this day. 

            So, dearest Mary, God is about to do something in your body that is going to rock the world.  But the words that Gabriel spoke are not simply for Mary, but for all of us as well.  This is the promise in the Dome of Wonder.  Why do we have Peace in this moment?  Because there is NO END to the kingdom of Jesus.  There is no end to the power of Jesus.  There is no end to the Peace of Jesus. 

            This is the promise of what is to come.  Has anyone here ever heard the expression that “It’s all about the process?”  I think that means something like it’s about the Journey and not the destination (I think).  Because what Gabriel offers to Mary (and to us) is not simply in the prophecy of what is to come, but in the process of what is going to happen on Christmas, in the present, in the here and now. 

Hear these words, Gabe said: ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.  So here is something for us to consider.  Before Jesus, God did not have children.  God had God’s people.  God had servants.  God had those He was in covenant with.  Keep up your end people and I will keep up mine.  But that all changed at Pentecost, which, in Our Story, is when Jesus prays for us.  The Holy Spirit came upon us, came upon the church.  The power of the Most High overshadowed us, overshadowed the church, and nothing was ever the same again.  In this moment, Gabriel tells Mary that the Holy Spirit will do the same, therefore the child to be born will be holy, he will be called Son of God. 

Follow me with this, in the coming of the Holy Spirit upon Mary, Jesus will be called, will be Son of God.  We already know He will be the Son of the Most High from the first part of Gabriel’s words.  But how about this?  In the coming of the Holy Spirit is the child of God made.  Maybe, just maybe, in that moment of the promise of the Holy Spirit upon Mary, the Holy Spirit upon us is that moment when we too became fully adopted children into God’s family.  Not God’s people, not God’s servants, not those God has covenanted with, but God’s family, a promotion from being God’s creation to the order of being God’s family.

Yes, Jesus has some more details to live into and prophecies to fulfill (spoiler alert, the Season of Easter), but in this moment, Jesus redefines the relationship with God for all people. 

This is Mary, but it not only to Mary that the angel of the Lord appears (although Gabriel is not named in the gospel of Matthew, but then again, Gabriel appeared in person to Mary, could be introductions are different when an angel comes in a vision).  Joseph is the man who will raise the Son of God on earth.  Compared to Mary, we know very little about him, beyond that he was a carpenter.  Much has been supposed about him, but what we do know is that, in this moment, he had the legal possibility to have Mary brought out to a public trial and execution for adultery.  Some might argue that under the law of Moses, it was his responsibility to do so.  But that was not his way.  He was going to ‘put her away quietly’.  Maybe send her to live with her Aunt Elizabeth whom Mary had just returned from.  But the angel of the Lord has other words,

‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ 

And that was it, the angel said it, Joseph believed.  This is all it took for Joseph to be convinced.  In verse 24 it says, When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife…  God said it, Joseph was good with it.  But, not forgetting his audience (us), Matthew inserts a piece for we who are reading this, clarification for what God has already spoken in the distant past-why Joseph believed. 

²All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God is with us.’  We gain the full sweep of history in these two promises.  With Mary, Gabriel looks forward to what Jesus shall accomplish, who Jesus shall be, how, in the power of God, Jesus is to achieve all of this.  With Joseph, so he will act in the present, the angel looks back, to the promises of the Old Testament, of the Messiah whom God promised from the earliest chapters of Scripture (Genesis 3 if you want to take a peek).

This is our story.  Jesus is born for us, from the promises of what came before to the fulfillment of what is to come.  This is God’s Word wrapped around us, protecting us, fulfilling us when we come together to sing of Jesus’ birth, when our children share with us the pageant of Jesus’ birth, when we join our hearts and voices in the family service of lessons and carols.  When we children of faith come to the manger in this season, we come in the promises of God’s protection that shines around us today.

            In one of my first sermons here, we considered the intersection of the law as given to us in Christ Jesus, that we love God, with how we are to carry out that law, with our very soul-strength, a place where our intellect, our emotions, our desires, all find root, the very place where God’s soul, the Holy Spirit, touches our own spirits. It is in that place where we contemplate.  We don’t ‘do for God’, we exist in the magnificent power of God. 

            That is the gift of Christmas, an intentional moment where a tiny baby, so vulnerable to a cruel and harsh world, is so protected by God’s gracious power.  It is a moment that I hope and I pray we can identify with, that we can see ourselves, vulnerable and otherwise lost in a sinful world, encased in the cocoon of love and hope, a place of joy unshadowed by the darkness that surrounds us in this world.

            A sidebar to our Deacons meeting this past Thursday.  Eleanor shared a devotional with seeking to do nothing, simply to be in times of overwhelming busyness.  We Christians are blessed with God’s dome of wonder to be able to find peace and comfort in Jesus to simply Be.

            I find myself thinking of the rather un-Christmas hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”, that God’s grace sets us above the busyness of the Holiday mayhem of this season.  In a season where goodwill spikes, so does it’s opposite, seasonal depression to a point where suicide rates are highest in these weeks.  If that was not a call to action for we who have been graced with the Peace of Jesus to be living it and sharing it and praying it out to our friends and family, it is now.

            The Seasons of the Church give us an interesting calendar.  We have the seasons of Advent and of Lent.  Now Lent is a season of preparation, giving something up as an active reminder to ourselves of what Jesus gave up, his very life, for our sakes.  It’s the time when we take on the struggles of the world, because we know what is coming.  We know that in Holy Week, Jesus will go the heart of that struggle, to the heart of sin and death itself and he will kick its can to rise up in glory.

            But Advent is a season of celebration.  In human terms, this may feel like we are putting the cart before the horse.  Should we not prepare ourselves for what Jesus has done for us before we celebrate what Jesus has accomplished at Easter?  Maybe if it were ever actually a struggle.  Maybe if the power of God were actually ever truly challenged by the powers of darkness.  Maybe if the results were ever truly in doubt.  That makes for a great human story, the cliff hanger, the nail biter, the stunning climax.  But the results of ‘good versus evil’ have always been a foregone conclusion, though the devil may work his hardest to convince us otherwise.

            So first, we celebrate.  Call it the foretaste of glory divine, to borrow from another hymn. The angels from the realm of glory have come out to take their stand.  Does God need them?  No, but God is doing this for us.  The angels we have heard on high are the living sentinels, proclaiming the Peace of our God.  That’s why we listen.

            Hark, the Herald Angels sing, “Glory to the newborn king”.

            Amen. 

Remember the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet To Come?

 So we aren't talking ghosts on Sunday, we are talking angels. At least one, maybe two. Because one is named in the text and the other is not. If this were the Christmas Pageant, "The Angel Gabriel" spoke to Mary while "Unnamed Angel #1" spoke to Joseph.

Through the angels, God sends word to the earthly parents of our Jesus.  His birth, his presence, his purpose and legacy will stretch out to eternity, of what Jesus brings, there "will have no end".  Yet word also reaches back to the promises laid down by God through the prophets in the Bible Mary and Joseph knew. As these words touched the immediate lives of Mary and Joseph, so their words touch us today.  

These words are the foundation of God's Dome of Wonder built over the Stable in Bethlehem on that Wondrous Christmas night, a Dome built of the choirs of angels.  

From this mightiest gift of God, our Lord Jesus, we are preparing, in Our Home Church, for another mighty gift of God, the gift of people. We have presence at Christmas as few other times during the year. Who are these people, these gifts of the Lord?

They are the guests that God has prepared to send into our midst. We have seen them in the pews in past weeks, someone or something touched their hearts and Our Home Church is blessed. These people are the blessings of our present, whom we must welcome with open arms.  Must?  Yes. Otherwise we are squandering God's gift.

But there is another gift of God that is already in our midst. Their names are known to many of us (I am still on a learning curve), their faces are known to many of us (I am still meeting people), but their presence with us, that has been curtailed for reasons some of us may know, some of us may suspect, but which most of us do not know. 

I fell into the trap of viewing "Welcome" as an eye to those who are new to our midst. But, at Christmas especially, our "Welcome" is doubly important to those renewed to our midst. To those who already call this church Home, we welcome them back to the Living Room of Our Home Church, our service of worship.

Then there are the people God has lined up and set to enter Our Home Church. Maybe people we have never seen before. Maybe people we thought we would never see again. God is an amazing gift-giver.

Are we ready?

Pastor Peter

God Has Folks Ready For Us, Are We Ready For Them?

 So, we posed a question last night in our Session meeting.  What do we want for the church?  Another way of asking, how do we see ourselves serving the heart of God?  More people, naturally enough.  We want to compete with the sports that pull away our kids.  We want more young folks.  We want to be out in the community more.  No one suggested that we should form a committee!  Or even worse, farm the question out to one of the teams we already had in operation.

This question comes on the heels of a double heaping of musical joy from this Sunday past.  I do not think there is enough I can say about the Cantata, the joyful music of God's Word in worship.  For those who were not able to join us in the evening for the chamber music (which I believe is how our own Sean Baker described it) performance, well, lets just say there is a tradition in the works there for our church (but don't tell Sean yet...wink, wink).

I think a good answer to the question of "what we want for the church" can be found in consideration of what God has prepared to give to us.  And God has people ready for us.  How has God prepared them?  Those possibilities are as vast as God is.  Could be as random as a hit on our website.  Could be an invitation they received from one of our folks excited about our Cantata.  Could be an interaction that seemed so random at first.  Could be an offer to pray on someone's behalf.  We may or may not be able to track how God worked to send people to join us.

The question for us to consider is how we are ready to receive them?  I was once told about the 'vampire approach', a church that was so desperately welcoming of 'fresh blood' in their midst.  I was, once in my earlier life, one of those people who was embarrassed yet peer pressured into standing up to be welcomed as a visitor to the church (I am grateful they did not have special VISITOR badges or T-shirts that we might have been asked to wear).

How do we receive new folks?  We take it upon ourselves to be intentionally welcoming, to delight in the special gift of everyone who comes through our doors.  For an example, consider how we greet our old friends in church, especially if we have not seen them for awhile?  That is the heart to bring to those God has brought to us.  

Take pains to learn people's names, and to give your own.  Be ready not simply to point out the bathroom, but to walk someone down the hall, because its a bit of a mystery.  Point through the sliding door toward the bathroom and people first find themselves in the chapel.  Ask folks if they have any questions about the bulletins.  Perhaps share that things are written down but also up on the screens.  Invite them to coffee and cake in the Hearth Room after.

Where we are going to need some help is in the support of these efforts?  We are big on prayer, to the point of a box for requests.  Our intent is to have 'Prayer Requests' in the pews for people to use.  We urge generosity, we are going to stock our pews with Giving Envelopes.  We would like to know who folks are to follow up with them.  We are revamping our Guest Cards as we speak.  

These offerings then require follow up.  I have a rule I try to follow, "Do not introduce a paper that you do not intend to use."  So, a Guest Card, follow up in the week to follow.  A prayer request, follow up even sooner, day of if things are urgent.  The thing of it is, none of this is 'new and untested' but these elements are already in our sanctuary.

Then we come to the boogyman of new ideas in the church.  "Someone" should do this.  We need "someone" to make sure the welcoming materials are up to date and replenished (and the pencils are sharpened...does anyone know where we have a sharpener in easy access?)  We need "someone" to follow up.  Then there is the bane of new ideas in the church.  Isn't that fill in the blank's job?  Name the role, name the committee, push it on them?  

God has folks ready for us.  Who feels, in their heart, that this is a place that God is calling for a response?  Have questions?  Wondering about the expectations?  That's good!  Let's talk and pray.  Our church offers the most amazing opportunity each week to worship the Lord with music and presence and community, who would like to share that with someone else?

Talk to me on Sunday, email or call me, I would love to tell you more.

Peace,
Pastor Peter