Posts

Showing posts from 2012

Reflections on the Gospel – Luke 2:41-52 - Christmas I

Image
Read the text here: Luke 2:41-52 --> We do not have much information about Jesus’ childhood.   In fact the Gospel lesson for the 1 st Sunday after Christmas – Luke 2:41-52 – is about all.   Of course we would be curious about what Jesus was like and what kinds of experiences he might have had when he was a child.   This natural curiosity prompted the creation of a book called The Infancy Gospel of Thomas in the 3 rd or 4 th centuries.   The book pretends to have been written by the disciple Thomas, but is a rather fantastic set of stories that make Jesus sound more like the pre-Hogwarts Harry Potter who didn’t know how to use his power and ended up causing all kinds of havoc as a result.   As fun as this book is to read, we can glean nothing about Jesus from it.   So we really only know two things about Jesus’ childhood for certain.   The first is that Jesus grew up in Nazareth that at that time was a small village.   Nearby, within sight, since Nazareth is on a hi

Christmas Eve – 2012 - Luke 2:1-20

Image
Read the text here:  Luke 2:1-20 --> Holy Time “In those days…” begins the Gospel story.   “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus”   Luke is very specific about those days.   Which days are those days?   They are days marked by those who hold absolute power – Caesar Augustus and Quirinius the Roman Governor in Syria.   “In those days…” daily life is lived – both at the time of Jesus and in our own time.   “Those days…” are marked with successes and failures, joy and sorrow, loss and grief and most of all fear.   “Do not be afraid” says the angel first to Zechariah then to Mary and now to the Shepherds.   “Do not be afraid!”   Why is it that every proclamation of the angels in the story that takes the first two chapters of Luke is prefaced with these words – “Do not be afraid”?   Because fear defines and governs “ those days .”   Fear is what prompts decisions and shapes relationships.   And this is true for us as well, isn’t it?   Fear continues to s

Advent IV - The Magnificat - Luke 1:46-55

Image
Read the text here: Luke 1:39-56 Singing of the Promises In many ways the opening two chapters of the Gospel of Luke is a lot like a great musical.   Every time you turn around someone is bursting into song.   There are a total of 4 songs within the first two chapters.   It is as if the joy is too great to be conveyed in words and the various characters have to resort to song: 1.      Mary’s Song - The Magnificat, 1:46-55; (Sermon for Advent 4) 2.      Zechariah’s Song – The Benedictus, 1:68-79 (Sermon from Advent 2) 3.      The Angel’s Song – Gloria in excelsis, 2:14 (Sermon for Christmas) 4.      The Song of Simeon – Nunc Dimitus, 2:29-32 (Sermon for New Year’s Eve) We begin with the elderly priestly couple Elizabeth and Zechariah.   Elizabeth is barren, but hopes for a child. Zechariah is visited by an angel who declares that he and Elizabeth will have a child – John – who will be a prophet and prepare the way for the Lord’s anointed.   Zechari

Advent III - "Rejoice?"

Image
On Saturday I completely re-wrote my sermon for Advent III in light of the horrific tragedy in Newtown, CT.  The sermon attempts to address this shooting in the context of Advent III and the lessons appointed for the day: Zephaniah 3:14-20; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:7-8. You can listen to a recording from the Saturday evening service here:   Listen to Advent III Sermon The sermon makes mention of an Altarpiece from the 15th century artist Matthais Grünewald - 1475-1528.  Here is a digital copy of that beautiful artwork - please note how John the Baptist is pointing his finger towards the cross. Here is a link to an article that I found very helpful for answering the question about how to relate to those who are experiencing this kind of pain and grief: Dealing with Grief - 5 Things to Say and Not to Say   Finally - let us pray.... "When aimless violence takes those we love, When random death strikes childhood’s promise down, When wrenching loss becomes our daily

Reflections on the Song of Zechariah – Luke 1:68-79

Image
Read the text here: Luke 1:68-79 Promises – Ancient & Modern On this 2 nd weekend in Advent we receive two gifts: 1. We are introduced to John the Baptist in the first of two weekends devoted to him during Advent; and 2. We get to sing the song which John’s father Zechariah sang when John is presented in the temple.   The song, the 2nd of 4 beautiful songs that appear in the first two chapters of Luke, is known as The Benedictus, after the first word – Blessed (be the Lord God of Israel) – and has been a part of Christian worship since the early church.   The song focuses on promise .   In fact, one could almost make the case that the entire opening of Luke’s gospel focuses on promise – the promise given by God to God’s people and the promise brought to fulfillment in the birth of Jesus. What is this promise?   For the answer to that question we need to turn to the story of Abraham and Sarah in Genesis.   Right in the very first few verses of the entire adventure of

Reflections on the Gospel – Luke 21:25-36

Image
Read the text here: Luke 21:25-36 Hope: Waiting and Watching Patience!   How are you with patience? Do you mind waiting for things that you want and enjoy?   How long can you wait?   It seems as though we Americans in particular do not deal well with waiting.   We are an instant gratification people.   We want what we want now!   So for some of us waiting in line at a store or at the movies, or waiting at the doctor’s office, or sitting in traffic can be a very, very stressful experience.   We want to get on with it already! We want to get into the future, and consequently many of us are very impatient with the present. The result of this is that we end up missing the present.   We live in the future, never the present.   The present becomes then only a path to the future that is always in the process of becoming, but we never quite get there.   As we wait impatiently and anxiously for the future, we completely miss the present. This tendency to live in the future is not

Reflections on the texts for Reign of Christ

Image
Read the text here: Revelation 1:4-8 Read the Gospel text here: St. John 18 & 19 Who is Lord? In many ways our festival today – The Reign of Christ the King – is a little antiquated.   There was an intense discussion on the ELCA clergy Facebook page about whether or not we ought to even continue to celebrate this festival, as for most of us the whole idea of Kingship is something from the deep historical past and not really a part of our experience.   Quite frankly, even if you look around the world at the various Kings and Queens who continue to rule in some way, none of them holds the kind of absolute power which was held by (for example) the Roman Emperor during the time of Jesus.   When Pilate says to Jesus, “Do you not know that I have the power to release you, and power to crucify you,” this was true according to the political structure at the time.   Pilate acted on behalf of the Emperor and his word was consequently absolute, and since Jesus was no

Reflections from the Pastor – Mark 13: “The Little Apocalypse”

Image
The the text of the Gospel here: Mark 13:1-8 God’s Revelation: Jesus When you think of the 2 nd coming of Jesus – “The Apocalypse” – what imagines come to mind?   Are they images of death, and terror and destruction?   Does thinking about this provoke fear, or confidence?   Or do you just try not to think about it?   The prevailing popular attitude about the “last days” or Jesus 2 nd coming seems to be death and complete destruction.   Just think of any number of movies or books which have the end of the world as its setting – “Cloud Atlas,” “The Book of Eli,” even “WALL-E.”   Death, destruction, terror, fear, suffering – these are all the impression many of us have of the coming apocalypse.   And to this we add (taken out of context from the book of Revelation) images of judgment and the (completely unbiblical, but yet very popular) belief in a “rapture” and what we end up with is something that is indeed very terrifying.   But the central question that all of this rais

Reflections from the Pastor on Ruth – Part II:

Image
How Big Is A Corner? Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you!   Where you go, I will go; Where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people and your God my God…   Ruth 1:16 And with these words Ruth commits herself to her mother-in-law as they travel, poor and destitute to Bethlehem, leaving the loss, sorrow and misery they experienced in Moab behind.   Naomi is bitter but her young former daughter-in-law is determined.   And finally Naomi gives up trying to send Ruth away and they travel together to Bethlehem.   Bethlehem is Naomi’s former home, the home where Naomi grew up, where her family lives, where she has old friends.   But for Ruth, Bethlehem is a foreign place in a foreign country.   Bethlehem is even a potentially hostile place for Ruth, after all Israelites and Moabites don’t like each other very much and the Old Testament recounts much animosity and violence between them.   Nevertheless Ruth is committed to Naomi a