The Light of the World - Sermon for Christmas Eve 2021

The Light of the World

Christmas Eve

December 24, 2021

Good Shepherd, Wells, MN

Luke 2.1-20

At our staff meeting Wednesday, for devotions Andy asked us to think of a childhood memory from Christmas. That was easy for me since I’d been thinking about that subject for tonight’s message. I remembered that we got to open a present before dinner on Christmas Eve, had dinner and then went to church, and then we opened the rest of our presents when we got home. Furthermore, my parents were scrupulous about equality for each of us four siblings so much so that one year we all got identical clock radios. (I still had mine until it died a few years ago.) I recalled how my bachelor Uncle Floyd was always invited but insisted he would come “only if you don’t get me anything.” Of course, there was always a present for him under the tree. I especially remember one year I artfully disguised a gift for my sister Cheryl. She wanted a record album, but knew she would know it immediately if I wrapped it as is. So I made a cardboard tent over the album and then wrapped it. She had no idea and I took great pleasure in seeing her baffled several days before Christmas.

Simple memories from a simpler time. I’m guessing you all have your own memories. But I’m also guessing that the most cherished memories are the simplest. We don’t need to overly dramatize wonderful events because the best stories tell themselves, like the Christmas story. Though there are marvelous elements to the Christmas story, heavenly hosts that appear in the night sky for example, the power of the story is in its simplest form. Love in God-form comes down and takes on human-form to be with us. That God does so in the simplest of places to the simplest of people makes it a simply powerful story for all people.

As we have prepared for the celebration of Christmas, we have simply noted the themes of Advent leading to tonight’s story. During the first week of Advent, we noted the Signs of Hope that are present within us even as darkness grows. In the second week, we have trusted in Jesus as the Way of Peace in the wildernesses of our lives. Then in week three we have declared the power of Joy at Jesus’ coming to transform our lives. Finally in the fourth week we have seen how God’s Ordinary Love does the extraordinary. All of these themes come to focus tonight on Jesus as the Light of the World, the Light that no darkness can overcome.

Even so, we need to acknowledge that there’s a shadow that falls across the manger at Christmas time. We must admit that there are Christmases that aren’t as full of Hope, Peace, Joy, Love, and Light as we’d like. I remember the Christmas that my sister received her last doll. She knew she was getting too old for dolls as did my parents. It was time for that to end, yet it was bittersweet even as it was necessary. That may be a smaller shadow than some of you are experiencing this Christmas. There’s a shadow for some of you whose Christmas is blue. Perhaps it’s the first Christmas without a loved-one or maybe it’s the inability to gather with family due to Covid. Some of you may have gone through a divorce or are dealing with illnesses. No doubt there are others. Yet, the shadow present among these other shadows comes from the cross, the babes’ ultimate destiny.

That part of the Jesus story, simple and profound as it is, is not tonight’s story, even as it lurks in the background. For tonight it is enough to proclaim that Jesus is the Light of the World, the light that no darkness can overcome. We rejoice that Jesus is a light that shines into the darkest areas of our lives and declares to us this night that we are not alone in the shadows. So, rather than cursing the darkness we will celebrate the Light by lighting candles, turning off the lights, and singing that song written during one of the darkest times in human history, “Silent Night.”

I echo the thoughts of our synod Bishop Regina Hassanally who, in her Christmas letter declared that if we only had the one Light it would be enough. Even so, that Light multiplies in every one of us. And so we pray that there is someone who bears that light for you this Christmas and that each of us would in some measure shine with the Light of Christ burning in us. Merry Christmas, God’s Beloved. May the simple story shine brightly within you and may you make good memories as you bask in that Light, for God is with you. Amen.

My written sermons often preach differently "live." To watch the video, click here.

Ordinary Love - Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Advent Year C

Ordinary Love

Advent 4C

December 19, 2021

Good Shepherd, Wells, MN

Luke 1.39-55

As I was reading the last part of the Gospel, I could barely keep from singing Marty Haugen’s version of “The Magnificat” from the beloved Holden Evening Prayer worship. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t want to clear the sanctuary. The Gospel of Luke is a veritable treasure trove of song: Mary’s song here. The song that Elizabeth’s husband, the priest Zechariah, sings after John the Baptist’s birth. And there’s Simeon’s song at the Presentation of Jesus in the temple eight days after his birth. It makes you wonder why Luke’s Gospel hasn’t been made into a musical (though Jesus’ story has). (Point of fact, all three have been set to music in our worship liturgies throughout the ages. Those of you who remember the first red hymnal may remember Simeon’s song as the Nunc Dimittis, the Latin for the first few words of the song, “Lord now let your servant depart in peace…”)

The songs are sung in the midst of extraordinary events: angels visiting Zechariah and announcing his wife Elizabeth’s pregnancy well beyond her child-bearing years and Mary’s pregnancy through the Holy Spirit. Yet, it’s the ordinariness of Mary as God’s chosen vessel for Jesus that has had me thinking. There is absolutely nothing about Mary that indicates God’s choice. She’s a young woman from an ordinary town engaged to an ordinary man, Joseph, who has “good prospects” as a craftsman as they say, but unremarkable nonetheless. And aside from one or two remarkable but isolated incidents, her life as a mom raising Jesus is pretty typical. Feedings, changing diapers, kissing skinned knees, snuggling at night.

Yet Mary is blessed, named by Elizabeth and future generations of Christians, but not because of anything she does but because God chose this ordinary woman to do an extraordinary thing. It’s easy to get swept up in the sensational parts of this story, for they are marvelous. And we typically look for God to work in marvelous ways because those are the ones that catch our attention. But we forget that more often than not, God works in, with, and through the ordinary, everyday things in our world.

Last week Jaxton was baptized in the name of the triune God. In baptism,, we claim that God’s Word through the Holy Spirit joins with ordinary water to wash us clean and make us beloved children of God in a whole new way. Today, we will claim that ordinary bread and wine will become the body and blood of Jesus and by taking those things into our body we will take Jesus into our very selves. As we do we claim with Martin Luther that we receive forgiveness of sins and where there is forgiveness of sins there is life and salvation. Furthermore, we dare to claim that this humble gathering of ordinary people in an ordinary building of brick and stone becomes a place of God’s presence and blessing.

In all of these cases, and more, God’s extraordinary love is poured out in ordinary places and ways. We enjoy a good love story, especially one that is exciting, dramatic, and “against all odds.” (That’s why Hallmark has two cable TV channels instead of one.) Yet, I think the extraordinary love is the ordinary kind that happens day in and day out for years. The parent who does hundreds of acts of ordinary love each to help their children be good people and the spouse who cares for a failing loved one, wherever that might be, are but two examples. I’ll  bet you can think of more.

This week, as you prepare to celebrate God’s gift of love in Jesus, I invite you to look for examples of God’s ordinary love and then savor them for a moment. Not if you see them but when because they will be there. You may not burst out into song (or you might), but you will be blessed as much as Mary. Amen.

My written sermons often preach differently "live." To watch the video, click here.

Transforming Joy - Sermon for the Third Sunday of Advent Year C

Transforming Joy

Advent 3C

December 12, 2021

Good Shepherd, Wells, MN

Luke 3.7-18

Several years ago, while listening to a Christian radio broadcast, the speaker related a true story. I know it’s true because the speaker was there when it happened. The speaker was the best man at his best friend’s wedding, and they were standing together at the altar railing waiting for the bride. Just before the bride was to walk down the aisle, the speaker leaned over to his friend. He whispered, “Wouldn’t it be great if Jesus came back right now?” The horrified and panicked look on his friend’s face spoke volumes: he did not want to be denied his matrimonial joy, even for the coming of Jesus. That was not a joyful thought.

It’s hard to find joyful thoughts at the coming of Jesus in today’s Gospel reading. Today is the Third Sunday of Advent and so we reflect on the theme of the third candle of the Advent wreath: joy. Down through the years as the Advent tradition has evolved, church folk decided that the reflective and ofttimes somber mood of Advent, along with the diminishing light of December, warranted a break on the third Sunday. Thus the theme of joy was attached to the third candle and some Advent wreaths have a pink candle to set it apart and note its distinctive character. Now, our readings from Zephaniah and Philippians ooze joy, but what about the Gospel from Luke?

It’s hard to see how the message from John the Baptist of Jesus’ coming is good news. John the Baptist calls the people a “brood of vipers” and talks about the “wrath to come.” Then there’s the image of fire, often a sign of judgment. John also tells them that their identity as descendants of Abraham will not help them at all in their predicament. Yet remarkably, Luke tells us that John is proclaiming good news to the people, and they agree! So, what is it about John’s message of Jesus’ coming that makes this joyful news to them and to us?

It helps to remember that John the Baptist was offering a baptism of repentance, but that repentance means more than admitting our brokenness and saying we’re sorry. The Greek word for repentance literally means to change your mind. Thus it came to have the sense of turning around and going the other way. It stands for a change of direction in life. In other words, repentance means there is a transformation that takes place in you and in your life. The chaff John talks about that gets separated from the wheat can refer to the parts of ourselves that need healing. That transformation, however painful it might be, ultimately provides joy at the “new you” that is more in line with who God wants you to be.

It is helpful to remember that most of the book of Zephaniah is an oracle of judgment for sin and that Paul is writing to the Philippians while he is sitting in prison. In spite of those circumstances, we have these words of joy. The prophet Zephaniah assures the people that God’s salvation is at hand in their repentance. And Paul urges the Philippians to trust God with their worries and gives them a blessing of peace and joy. Again we are reminded that joy is different from happiness. As Frederick Buechner reminds us, happiness is generally where we expect it to be, but joy comes in those unexpected places where God shows up.

We also need to remember that Christmas is more than a cute baby, a vulnerable God with Us, though it is that. Advent is a time to remember why we need Jesus to come in the first place. We admit that we are broken, fallible creatures who cannot, no matter how hard they try, make our lives right. I trust that the young groom who was horrified at the thought of Jesus’ coming came to realize Jesus’ coming into his marriage as joyful, no matter the circumstances. So, I pray that all of you, God’s Beloved, experience the transforming joy of Jesus this Advent and beyond. Amen.

My written sermons often preach differently "live," but today's was more so than usual. To watch the video, click here.

The Way of Peace - Sermon for the Second Sunday of Advent C

The Way of Peace

Advent 2C

December 5, 2021

Good Shepherd, Wells, MN

Luke 3.1-6

Before Cindy and I were married, we were at my parents’ house, and I was helping my Dad. I think we were moving a piece of furniture. It wasn’t going well and my sister, Cheryl, turned to Cindy and said, “Scott’s the one with patience in the family.” Cindy’s eyes got big because she knew how little patience I had. In fact, she had given me a plaque that says, “Lord, give me patience, but I want it right now.” She was also the one who told me that I should never pray to God for patience because God doesn’t give you patience, God teaches you patience. It is difficult for one who walks the way of impatience to also walk the way of peace.

Peace is the theme of the second Advent candle, a difficult road in both our time and that of John the Baptist. Notice in the first few verses of our Gospel reading how Luke sets the stage for John the Baptist’s proclamation. The word of the Lord doesn’t come to the power brokers in the world, the “A-list of earthly powers” as Audrey West says. Nor does the word of the Lord come in the seat of power like Rome. Rather, it comes to an eccentric prophet in the wilderness of some supposedly insignificant country. The Pax Romana, the so-called “Peace of Rome '' was an illusory peace. It was a peace wrought by military oppression and subjugation and therefore no real peace at all.

John the Baptist’s call for us to prepare the way of the Lord, the way of peace, comes into a world that is just as chaotic as his was. It’s also a world that seems just as incapable of the ruling powers to do anything about it. Trigger alert (which means I’m going to say something that might upset some of you): I’m going to get political because Luke makes both a political and religious statement. So here it is: with some notable exceptions, our government and religious leaders seem more capable of sewing discord than traveling the way of peace and do so by playing power party politics. 

In 2005, Jim Wallis wrote a book called “God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It.” The book was mostly about how our two major political parties interact with religion, but the subtitle could also be a general statement about their situation today. The Right continues to get it wrong whereas the Left still doesn’t get it. Full disclosure (because you deserve to know where I’m coming from): I’m not a member of any political party and have voted for candidates in both major parties and some other ones as well.

If some of you are emotionally or psychologically on a ledge right now, I’d like you to take a deep breath, come down, and hear me out. Although I despair of the ability of our national and state governments to govern meaningfully, I see today’s reading as good news for us, just like Gospel-writer Luke and John the Baptist. Just as God chose a nobody in a desert wilderness to usher in the way of peace, so too God can use ordinary people like you and me in obscure places like Wells, MN to do the same. In fact, God insists upon it. 

Yes, we should still vote for candidates and be involved in the political process, but our biggest contributions to the way of peace begin with us, both in us and within our spheres of influence. Yes, we can be passionate about our beliefs, but can we do so with respect and humility, bringing more light than heat? I was at a meeting recently where there was a wide divergence of ideas about how to do something and although it may be a stretch to say that we went at it hammer and tongs, the discussion was lively. Yet, at the end of it all we said, “What a great meeting!” There was an honest sharing of viewpoints and each of us respected the others’ voices. Respect and humility are a way of peace.

It’s taken me most of my adult life to realize that my impatience comes out of my gifts for planning and thinking ahead, to come to peace with it, and to use seasons like Advent to remember to be in the moment. So, how are you hearing the voice of John the Baptist to prepare the way of the Lord, the way of peace, today? What wilderness that you inhabit is God entering to encourage you to be the way of peace? Thank you, beloved sisters and brothers, for listening and heeding the call of John. Amen.

My written sermons often preach differently "live," but today's was more so than usual. To watch the video, click here.