You Are The Person Of The Year
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The new year -- this is a good time for taking a few steps back seeking to discover our place in God's world. This week's article by Scott Suskovic focuses on "you" as a symptom of our culture's self-centeredness. Paul Bresnahan writes the response more positively. It's always up to us to decide for or against God. Happy New Year!
YOU Are the Person of the Year
by Scott Suskovic
THE WORLD
Did you see it coming? Did you guess correctly? I bet not. No one saw it come. I'm referring to Time magazine's "Person of the Year." YOU! You are the Person of the Year. The Person of the Year is the one who has made the greatest impact during the year. This could be a good thing or a bad thing. Remember, Hitler also made that esteemed list one year for infamous reasons.
So when Time selected you as the Person of the Year, was it a compliment or a complaint? Obviously, from their perspective, you should feel very flattered. They write this:
... who actually sits down after a long day at work and says, "I'm not going to watch LOST tonight. I'm going to turn on my computer and make a movie starring my pet iguana? I'm going to mash up 50 Cent's vocals with Queen's instrumentals? I'm going to blog about my state of mind or the state of the nation or the steak-fries at the new bistro down the street? Who has the time and that energy and that passion?
The answer is, you do. And for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, Time's Person of the Year for 2006 is you.
Like I said, is this a compliment or a complaint? This week for the writings, you will have to very different approaches. This one will look at this selection by Time from the dark side -- the self-centered, egotistical side of selecting YOU as the Person of the Year. However, to even out the score, the Response will look at this selection from the more complimentary perspective. As the people of God, inspired by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, if there is any hope for this broken world, it will start from the likes of me... and YOU.
Take your choice.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Is it just a favorite complaint or have we become more self-absorbed over the decades? Look at the progression for magazines. In the 1950s, we had LIFE. It covered just about everything around us. In the 1960s, we narrowed that scope down to PEOPLE. We weren't too concerned about other forms of life, just our own. In the 1970s we had US. We narrowed our focus to cover just US, not them. In the 1980s we started buying TEENS, ACTIVE LIVING, and WOMEN's, MEN's magazines. We further narrowed the gap. In the 1990s, we read SELF. And today, TIME is narrowing that scope even further -- ME. I'm the Person of the Year. I'm the one who has made the greatest impact on society. I'm the one who out to be celebrated, affirmed, and awarded. It's all about me.
Is it? Nicholas Copernicus in the early 1500s was a Polish astronomer who put forth a radical theory that rocked both the scientific and theological worlds. He said that the sun and not the earth was the center of the universe. The earth was just one of many small planets circling a larger heavenly body. The implications were enormous. Suddenly, we were not the center of the universe. Suddenly, the sun and moon didn't rise and fall on me. Suddenly I felt so insignificant.
The Church fought him on theological reasons -- we are the pinnacle of creation, designed in the image of God. Science fought him on empirical reasons -- we are the top of the food chain and called to have dominion. But Copernicus held his ground and literally put us in our place causing not only a stir but a revolution.
Max Lucado in his book, It's Not About Me, coins a phrase that might be helpful in light of Time's Person of the Year. He says that we need a Copernicus Revolution of the heart. It's not about me. It's about the one who created me. It is for his purpose and his glory that we have our life and breath and being. Luther said it a bit differently but it has the same meaning. Luther called for us to die daily in our baptism and to remember that it is not about me but about Christ who dwells in me through faith. And if it were left to Luther, he prayed, he would bring it all to ruin.
The concern, of course, is that we have become more and more self-absorbed over the years -- not just with our selection of magazine but the way we live and think. From embezzlement within the corporate world to an insistence that our style of government is correct even to the use of governmental "entitlement," we have asked first, "What are my needs, what is in it for me, what can I get out of it?" Such self-absorbed thinking has even permeated into the church where pastors think that they must offer a mega-mall congregation with options and programs to fit every need to the consumer who is church shopping and asking, "What do you have to feed me?"
Time's selection of YOU as the Person of the Year feels good. In fact, if the truth be known, it's about time someone recognized me as the most influential person of the year. But it is to this self-absorption that the gospel turns our world upside down and comes to us as a surprise.
If you want to be first, you must get in back of the line.
If you want to be great, you must put on an apron.
If you want to live, you have to die.
Because this is not about you, it's about the One who came to save you.
THE WORD
It is a reoccurring nightmare -- losing a child. As a parent, when I'm in a large crowd with my children, I can't relax. One eye is always on them. And when I've lost them from my sight, if even for a moment, my heart skips a beat and my mind races.
I can't imagine losing my twelve-year-old son for three days.
Mary and Joseph were returning from the festival in Jerusalem with the other thousands of pilgrims. Presumably, they traveled in a large caravan where aunts and uncles and friends kept a look out for each other's children. But somewhere in the chaos and crowd, they missed Jesus. Everyone assumed that someone else had their eye on him. In fact, no one did.
It was only in tracing back their steps did they find him in the temple -- not afraid but fully aware, fully in control, and fully engaged in the listening and questioning of the faith. When his parents found him, they asked what I would have asked, "Where have you been? Don't you know we were worried sick? Don't you think of anyone else but yourself? Do you know what you have put your mother through?" It's all about me. But Jesus reminded them in his precocious twelve-year-old voice that it's not about you. This is where I belong. For this reason I came. This is where I belong: in my Father's house.
But then here is the twist. Here is where the gospel continues to take us by surprise. The Copernicus Revolution of the heart reminds us that it is not about you. The sun and moon do not rise on your needs and wants. Your pleasure, your happiness, and your way do not dictate the spinning of the earth. Get over yourself. "Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Colossians 3:17).
When our hearts accept this humbling reality and put Christ in the center, it is only then that we can finally hear the gospel take us by surprise. "You are God's chosen one, holy and beloved" (Colossians 3:12). And you realize it really IS about you. Christ's death and resurrection was all for you. YOU are not the Person of the Year; YOU are the Person for All Eternity for whom Christ died and now goes to prepare a place so that where he is, you will be also.
Luther use to say that of all the words spoken, read and heard, the most important ones are "for you." This body broken, this blood shed "for you." This Christmas season we are reminded that it is really about you.
For to YOU is born this day in the city of David, a savior, who is Christ the Lord.
ANOTHER VIEW
You
The Person of the Year
by Paul Bresnahan
My "semi-retirement" coincides with an article in Time magazine that named each of us "Person of the Year." So when I read that you and I had received this award along with everyone else, I wondered about my significance in life and with all the others of God. I received the "Man of the Year" award from the mayor of Saint Albans, West Virginia, for work that I have done with the poor and the homeless in the area.
Perhaps my life has had an impact and perhaps yours has, too. The Time magazine article points out that the technology of the World Wide Web democratizes and empowers the individual as nothing else has. So I accept the accolades that seem inevitable as a good term as a church pastor concludes. But I also notice that I am not alone in who I am and who I have become.
I am among other things a child of God living under the mandate of scripture: so when I read today's letter from Colossians, I realize that I am an individual but I am also much more. "As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."
The scriptures put us into context with God and with other human beings and with the creation as well. I am therefore a composite of all who have come before me all who are with me and those yet to come. I think of my mom, my dad, my grandparents, my teachers, priests, bishops, and all the parishioners and friends who have been my companions along the way in this pilgrimage called life. My own moral agency in life is not mine alone to claim. It can never be. I am rather a thread knit into a fabric of relationships that reaches not only throughout my church and community but also far beyond as well.
The Renaissance poet and Anglican clergyman John Donne (1572-1631) noted this very fabric years ago in these words:
All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated... As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness.... No man is an island, entire of itself... any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
I am never truly alone either when I prosper or suffer. We are community even if we stick glued to our computer screens or television sets. Jesus notices this simple fact as well. When he thought of his Abba, his Father (more literally his dad) he used the plural form of the pronoun when teaching us to pray: "Our Father, who art in heaven."
Think of it, Jesus is referring quite literally to the family when he thinks of God. He talks not of a theological construct, but of someone as familiar as dad. The one who loves, teaches, corrects, scolds, and plays with you. The one who gives you security, and somehow makes you feel better when things look so bleak. One who knows just the right things to say, whose soothing voice, whose twinkling eye, and whose no-nonsense honesty is the very core of growing up in this unsteady world. Abba.
And so it is when I say "Our Abba" I cannot help but stop short and call to mind of all those special people. There really are so many people to think of when I remember my family. My family is so much more now than parents, brothers, sisters, aunt and uncles, and wife and children. It is a much larger family that now reaches around the world. For me when I hear Jesus tell me to pray to "Our Abba," I hear him talking of the whole human family.
So if I take a long, long look at the mirror of my soul in a Time magazine article, and if I do so within a biblical context, I find that I am drawn into a matrix of relationships as Jesus was. Jesus is much more than a word that contains two syllables. Jesus is a way of life under the authority of Our Abba. In announcing his ministry among us Jesus made that clear, didn't he?
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:18-21).
Perhaps I am the Person of the Year. If I am then so are you. And it falls to each of us to be so aware of our personal moral agency that we also become aware of the cultural context in which we live. That's what allows us to become Person of the Year! So then you see we are the Good News of God made flesh and blood. And the Good News we bring is the Love of God that we proclaim to ALL people in a dark and dangerous world. Today the scripture is fulfilled in our own hearing! It is fulfilled the more so the more we become the Good News of Jesus in this world.
ILLUSTRATIONS
"It is always surprising how refreshing it is to come upon New Year, how vital the idea of starting over always is. Of course there is no starting over, not really. But the promise of the new year is not merely a metaphor or a delusion. We are creatures bound by our habitation on this planet to live by the inevitable circularities of light and season, no matter how abstracted or urbane our lives have become. And we are no less habituated to the cycles of promise and renewal. To live without a sense of promise is barely to live at all.
There is some strange genius in New Year. The turning of the calendar does nothing to cauterize the past. But here in the dead of winter -- with most of winter well in front of us -- New Year comes as a reminder of how much regeneration lies ahead. The sun will roll northward again, and the soil will warm, and whether we care to know it or not, the earth will do its best to rejuvenate itself."
-- "The House Of Time: The Comfort Of The Turning Year," New York Times editorial, January 1, 2006
***
In his book, God Is Closer Than You Think, John Ortberg reflects on all those moments, in a typical life, that could be labeled "the greatest moment." He lists some candidates:
"You may remember the moment you fell in love, the moment your child was born, the moment God became real to you, or the moment you discovered how he had gifted you. But I want to offer another candidate.
I believe that the greatest moment of your life is this moment right here. This tick of the clock.
This beat of your heart. The greatest moment of your life is now.
Not because it's pleasant or happy or easy, but because this moment is the only moment you've got. Every past moment is irretrievably gone. It's never coming back. If you live there, you will lose your life.
And the future is always out there somewhere. You can spend an eternity waiting for tomorrow, or worrying about tomorrow. If you live there, you likewise will lose your life.
This moment is God's irreplaceable gift to you. Most of all, this is the moment that matters because this moment is where God is. If you are going to be with God at all, you must be with God now -- in this moment."
***
Anne Lamott writes of an argument she had with her teenag son, Sam. She sought out Father Tom, a Christian friend, for advice. When she asked him what Jesus might have done with a troublesome thirteen-year-old, Father Tom quipped, "In biblical times, they used to stone a few thirteen-year-olds with some regularity, which helped keep the others quiet and at home. The mothers were usually in the first row of stone throwers, and had to be restrained."
This leads Anne to wonder what Mary did when Jesus was thirteen:
"Here's what I think: She occasionally started gathering rocks.
If we take the incarnation seriously, then even good old Jesus was thirteen once, a human thirteen-year-old. He learned by doing, as we have to. He had to go through adolescence. It must have been awful sometimes. Do you know anyone for whom adolescence was consistently okay? But in his case, we don't know for sure. We see him earlier, in the Bible, at twelve, when he's speaking to the elders in the Temple. He's great with the elders, just as Sam is always fabulous with other grown-ups. They can't believe he's such an easygoing kid, with such good manners. In the Temple, Jesus says things so profound that the elders are amazed. "Who's this kid's teacher?" they wonder. They don't know that Jesus' teacher was the Spirit.
But at the same time he's blowing the elders away, how is Jesus treating his parents? I'll tell you: He's making them crazy. He's ditched them. They can't find him for three days. Some of you know what it's like to not find your kid for three hours. You die. Mary and Joseph have looked everywhere, in the market, at the video arcade. Finally they find him, in the last place they thought to look -- the Temple. And immediately, he mouths off: Oh, sorry, sorry, I was busy doing all this other stuff, my father's work. Like, Joseph, you're not my real father -- you're not the boss of me. I don't even have to listen to you.
And what is Mary doing this whole time?
Mary's got a rock in her hand."
-- Anne Lamott, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith (New York: Riverhead, 2005), pp. 95, 98-99
* * *
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor martyred by the Nazis during World War II, and whose birth in 1906 we're commemorating this year, wrote the following regarding our Colossians text for today:
"Teach and admonish one another" (Colossians 3:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:11, 14). Such admonition must also include encouragement of the faint-hearted, support of the weak, and long-suffering towards all [people] (1 Thessalonians 5:14). This is the only form of protection against our daily trials and temptations, and against apostasy within the congregation.
-- Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, Macmillan, 1969, p. 326
* * *
Bonhoeffer also wrote:
Now we can understand why the New Testament always speaks of our becoming "like Christ." We have been transformed into the image of Christ, and are therefore destined to be like him. He is the only "pattern" we must follow. And because he really lives his life in us, we too can "walk even as he walked" (1 John 2:6), and "do as he has done" (John 13:15), "love as he has loved" (Ephesians 5:2; John 13:34; 15:12), "forgive as he forgave" (Colossians 3:13), "have this mind, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5), and therefore we are able to follow the example he has left us (1 Peter 2:21), lay down our lives for the brethren as he did (1 John 3:16).
-- Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, p. 344
* * *
And he wrote:
It is only because he became like us that we can become like him. It is only because we are identified with him that we can become like him. By being transformed into his image, we are enabled to model our lives on his. Now at last deeds are performed and life is lived in single-minded discipleship in the image of Christ and his words find unquestioning obedience.
-- Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, p. 344
* * *
We adopted our son when he was 18-months old, an active little boy. I'll never forget the first time I took him out with me to the mall. I had made sure he was comfortable in the stroller, was proudly pushing him around, having a great time. When we stopped in one store, I paused for a moment to look at one of the displays in the counter. It had to have been ONLY a moment, honest! Certainly not more than thirty seconds. But when I looked down at my son -- he was gone! The stroller was empty.
He, of course, had gotten out to look at something shiny and nice in the display just around the corner. I found him, by following his laughter. But those painful, heart-stopping moments of panic, and loss, are still fresh in my mind, even though he is now 21.
That experience has always given me a fresh perspective on the feelings of Mary and Joseph when they couldn't find Jesus when he was twelve years old.
* * *
In the Harry Potter series, the mother of Ron Weasley always knits new sweaters for her children, and for Harry, as well. Of course, they always seem to be too big, or ill-fitting, or not the sort of sweater any child would want to be seen wearing in public. Yet, it is obvious that the sweaters are a gift of love for her children, and Harry, by Mrs. Weasley.
I hope the new robe that Hannah made each year was not to big, or ill-fitting, or an embarrassment for Samuel. After all, a gift of love is never something to be embarrassed about, but to be embraced, and even worn proudly.
* * *
now what
now what will you do
with those gifts?
now what will you do
with that love
God has given to you --
to share with those
you don't like?
now what will you do
with that hope
God put under the tree --
can you pass it on
to a despairing neighbor?
now what will you do
with that joy
you didn't expect --
hoard it all for yourself
or hand it to a grieving widow?
now what will you
do with that grace
God stuck in your stocking --
leave it there
or find the stranger who needs it?
now what will you do
with all that forgiveness
God has given to you
in the Babe --
throw it out
with the wrapping paper
or offer it to the one
who has hurt you so much?
now
that Christmas is over,
what will you do?
WORSHIP RESOURCE
by Thom Shuman
Call To Worship
One: Praise God! Praise the Lord,
all creation!
All: Stars glittering with grace,
humpback whales singing of hope:
all praise our God!
One: Praise God! Praise the Lord,
all you people!
All: Twelve year olds, and eighty plus,
wise and those learning to walk:
all will praise our God!
One: Praise God! Praise the Lord,
in every moment, in every place!
All: Here in church, and relaxing at home;
in a classroom, and at the doctor's office:
we will praise our God!
Prayer Of The Day
Wonder of wonders, God of creation: you choose us to be your people, continuing to clothe us in holiness, even when we drag the garment through the mud of our lives; you call us "Beloved," even while we speak words about others, that would make the Evil One blush.
Wonder of wonders, Humble Jesus: you ask questions about our so-called wisdom, revealing how foolish we are; you wear your heart on your sleeve as you reach out to embrace us with you compassion.
Wonder of wonders, Spirit of the old and the new: every year you take the old, stained clothes of our silly lives, and dress us in kindness, humility, patience, and meekness, that we might be grow in your love and grace.
May everything we do, and everything we say, be in your name, God in Community, Holy in One, even as we pray as we have been taught,
Our Father...
Call To Reconciliation
We like to think we are wise beyond our years, but when we look at our lives as God's people, we discover we still act too often like little children. Let us confess how we always want our way, rather than following God's.
Unison Prayer Of Confession
You set boundaries for us, Holy God, yet we continue to cross over them into sin. Believing we are wiser than you, we are amazed that you would question our actions and lives. Offering us the warm sweater of love, we would rather slip our lives into the sleeves of bitterness and anger. Challenging us to carry one's another's burdens, we complain about how heavy and uncomfortable they are.
Forgive us, Searching God, and clothe us with your gifts of compassion, humility, patience, and hope. Then, dressed as your graceful people, may we go forth to live as sisters and brothers of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
(Silence is observed.)
Assurance Of Pardon
One: The good news is simple: God loves us
so much, we are forgiven and granted new
life.
All: Praise God! As forgiven people, we will
go to forgive others, and share God's
grace with them. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Learning like Jesus learned
Object: books
Good morning! Some of you are in school, aren't you? Who here goes to school? (let them answer) Do you have books in school? (let them answer) Why do you have books? (let them answer) Books help us learn and grow. By studying and learning we discover how to read and do math skills such as addition and subtraction. The purpose of school is to help us learn and grow in knowledge.
This past week we celebrated Jesus' birth. He was born, and then the Bible doesn't tell us much about Jesus. We don't know what he was like at the age of five or seven or ten. The Bible story skips ahead to when Jesus was twelve. Can any of you tell me what happened when Jesus was twelve years old? (let them answer) He went with his parents to the capital city of Jerusalem. When it was time to go home, his parents thought he was with other people. But they found out that he was really still in Jerusalem. And what was he doing in Jerusalem? (let them answer) He was learning! He wanted to learn everything he could about God and about the Bible. So Jesus was in the temple listening and learning and asking questions.
That reminds me of our Sunday school program. In our Sunday church school, we want everyone to learn about Jesus and the Bible and God -- just like Jesus. The schools we attend to learn about math and reading are important, but our Sunday school is perhaps even more important than regular school because we learn about God.
Dear Lord God: Teach us and help us to learn like Jesus learned. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, December 31, 2006, issue.
Copyright 2006 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
YOU Are the Person of the Year
by Scott Suskovic
THE WORLD
Did you see it coming? Did you guess correctly? I bet not. No one saw it come. I'm referring to Time magazine's "Person of the Year." YOU! You are the Person of the Year. The Person of the Year is the one who has made the greatest impact during the year. This could be a good thing or a bad thing. Remember, Hitler also made that esteemed list one year for infamous reasons.
So when Time selected you as the Person of the Year, was it a compliment or a complaint? Obviously, from their perspective, you should feel very flattered. They write this:
... who actually sits down after a long day at work and says, "I'm not going to watch LOST tonight. I'm going to turn on my computer and make a movie starring my pet iguana? I'm going to mash up 50 Cent's vocals with Queen's instrumentals? I'm going to blog about my state of mind or the state of the nation or the steak-fries at the new bistro down the street? Who has the time and that energy and that passion?
The answer is, you do. And for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, Time's Person of the Year for 2006 is you.
Like I said, is this a compliment or a complaint? This week for the writings, you will have to very different approaches. This one will look at this selection by Time from the dark side -- the self-centered, egotistical side of selecting YOU as the Person of the Year. However, to even out the score, the Response will look at this selection from the more complimentary perspective. As the people of God, inspired by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, if there is any hope for this broken world, it will start from the likes of me... and YOU.
Take your choice.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Is it just a favorite complaint or have we become more self-absorbed over the decades? Look at the progression for magazines. In the 1950s, we had LIFE. It covered just about everything around us. In the 1960s, we narrowed that scope down to PEOPLE. We weren't too concerned about other forms of life, just our own. In the 1970s we had US. We narrowed our focus to cover just US, not them. In the 1980s we started buying TEENS, ACTIVE LIVING, and WOMEN's, MEN's magazines. We further narrowed the gap. In the 1990s, we read SELF. And today, TIME is narrowing that scope even further -- ME. I'm the Person of the Year. I'm the one who has made the greatest impact on society. I'm the one who out to be celebrated, affirmed, and awarded. It's all about me.
Is it? Nicholas Copernicus in the early 1500s was a Polish astronomer who put forth a radical theory that rocked both the scientific and theological worlds. He said that the sun and not the earth was the center of the universe. The earth was just one of many small planets circling a larger heavenly body. The implications were enormous. Suddenly, we were not the center of the universe. Suddenly, the sun and moon didn't rise and fall on me. Suddenly I felt so insignificant.
The Church fought him on theological reasons -- we are the pinnacle of creation, designed in the image of God. Science fought him on empirical reasons -- we are the top of the food chain and called to have dominion. But Copernicus held his ground and literally put us in our place causing not only a stir but a revolution.
Max Lucado in his book, It's Not About Me, coins a phrase that might be helpful in light of Time's Person of the Year. He says that we need a Copernicus Revolution of the heart. It's not about me. It's about the one who created me. It is for his purpose and his glory that we have our life and breath and being. Luther said it a bit differently but it has the same meaning. Luther called for us to die daily in our baptism and to remember that it is not about me but about Christ who dwells in me through faith. And if it were left to Luther, he prayed, he would bring it all to ruin.
The concern, of course, is that we have become more and more self-absorbed over the years -- not just with our selection of magazine but the way we live and think. From embezzlement within the corporate world to an insistence that our style of government is correct even to the use of governmental "entitlement," we have asked first, "What are my needs, what is in it for me, what can I get out of it?" Such self-absorbed thinking has even permeated into the church where pastors think that they must offer a mega-mall congregation with options and programs to fit every need to the consumer who is church shopping and asking, "What do you have to feed me?"
Time's selection of YOU as the Person of the Year feels good. In fact, if the truth be known, it's about time someone recognized me as the most influential person of the year. But it is to this self-absorption that the gospel turns our world upside down and comes to us as a surprise.
If you want to be first, you must get in back of the line.
If you want to be great, you must put on an apron.
If you want to live, you have to die.
Because this is not about you, it's about the One who came to save you.
THE WORD
It is a reoccurring nightmare -- losing a child. As a parent, when I'm in a large crowd with my children, I can't relax. One eye is always on them. And when I've lost them from my sight, if even for a moment, my heart skips a beat and my mind races.
I can't imagine losing my twelve-year-old son for three days.
Mary and Joseph were returning from the festival in Jerusalem with the other thousands of pilgrims. Presumably, they traveled in a large caravan where aunts and uncles and friends kept a look out for each other's children. But somewhere in the chaos and crowd, they missed Jesus. Everyone assumed that someone else had their eye on him. In fact, no one did.
It was only in tracing back their steps did they find him in the temple -- not afraid but fully aware, fully in control, and fully engaged in the listening and questioning of the faith. When his parents found him, they asked what I would have asked, "Where have you been? Don't you know we were worried sick? Don't you think of anyone else but yourself? Do you know what you have put your mother through?" It's all about me. But Jesus reminded them in his precocious twelve-year-old voice that it's not about you. This is where I belong. For this reason I came. This is where I belong: in my Father's house.
But then here is the twist. Here is where the gospel continues to take us by surprise. The Copernicus Revolution of the heart reminds us that it is not about you. The sun and moon do not rise on your needs and wants. Your pleasure, your happiness, and your way do not dictate the spinning of the earth. Get over yourself. "Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Colossians 3:17).
When our hearts accept this humbling reality and put Christ in the center, it is only then that we can finally hear the gospel take us by surprise. "You are God's chosen one, holy and beloved" (Colossians 3:12). And you realize it really IS about you. Christ's death and resurrection was all for you. YOU are not the Person of the Year; YOU are the Person for All Eternity for whom Christ died and now goes to prepare a place so that where he is, you will be also.
Luther use to say that of all the words spoken, read and heard, the most important ones are "for you." This body broken, this blood shed "for you." This Christmas season we are reminded that it is really about you.
For to YOU is born this day in the city of David, a savior, who is Christ the Lord.
ANOTHER VIEW
You
The Person of the Year
by Paul Bresnahan
My "semi-retirement" coincides with an article in Time magazine that named each of us "Person of the Year." So when I read that you and I had received this award along with everyone else, I wondered about my significance in life and with all the others of God. I received the "Man of the Year" award from the mayor of Saint Albans, West Virginia, for work that I have done with the poor and the homeless in the area.
Perhaps my life has had an impact and perhaps yours has, too. The Time magazine article points out that the technology of the World Wide Web democratizes and empowers the individual as nothing else has. So I accept the accolades that seem inevitable as a good term as a church pastor concludes. But I also notice that I am not alone in who I am and who I have become.
I am among other things a child of God living under the mandate of scripture: so when I read today's letter from Colossians, I realize that I am an individual but I am also much more. "As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."
The scriptures put us into context with God and with other human beings and with the creation as well. I am therefore a composite of all who have come before me all who are with me and those yet to come. I think of my mom, my dad, my grandparents, my teachers, priests, bishops, and all the parishioners and friends who have been my companions along the way in this pilgrimage called life. My own moral agency in life is not mine alone to claim. It can never be. I am rather a thread knit into a fabric of relationships that reaches not only throughout my church and community but also far beyond as well.
The Renaissance poet and Anglican clergyman John Donne (1572-1631) noted this very fabric years ago in these words:
All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated... As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness.... No man is an island, entire of itself... any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
I am never truly alone either when I prosper or suffer. We are community even if we stick glued to our computer screens or television sets. Jesus notices this simple fact as well. When he thought of his Abba, his Father (more literally his dad) he used the plural form of the pronoun when teaching us to pray: "Our Father, who art in heaven."
Think of it, Jesus is referring quite literally to the family when he thinks of God. He talks not of a theological construct, but of someone as familiar as dad. The one who loves, teaches, corrects, scolds, and plays with you. The one who gives you security, and somehow makes you feel better when things look so bleak. One who knows just the right things to say, whose soothing voice, whose twinkling eye, and whose no-nonsense honesty is the very core of growing up in this unsteady world. Abba.
And so it is when I say "Our Abba" I cannot help but stop short and call to mind of all those special people. There really are so many people to think of when I remember my family. My family is so much more now than parents, brothers, sisters, aunt and uncles, and wife and children. It is a much larger family that now reaches around the world. For me when I hear Jesus tell me to pray to "Our Abba," I hear him talking of the whole human family.
So if I take a long, long look at the mirror of my soul in a Time magazine article, and if I do so within a biblical context, I find that I am drawn into a matrix of relationships as Jesus was. Jesus is much more than a word that contains two syllables. Jesus is a way of life under the authority of Our Abba. In announcing his ministry among us Jesus made that clear, didn't he?
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:18-21).
Perhaps I am the Person of the Year. If I am then so are you. And it falls to each of us to be so aware of our personal moral agency that we also become aware of the cultural context in which we live. That's what allows us to become Person of the Year! So then you see we are the Good News of God made flesh and blood. And the Good News we bring is the Love of God that we proclaim to ALL people in a dark and dangerous world. Today the scripture is fulfilled in our own hearing! It is fulfilled the more so the more we become the Good News of Jesus in this world.
ILLUSTRATIONS
"It is always surprising how refreshing it is to come upon New Year, how vital the idea of starting over always is. Of course there is no starting over, not really. But the promise of the new year is not merely a metaphor or a delusion. We are creatures bound by our habitation on this planet to live by the inevitable circularities of light and season, no matter how abstracted or urbane our lives have become. And we are no less habituated to the cycles of promise and renewal. To live without a sense of promise is barely to live at all.
There is some strange genius in New Year. The turning of the calendar does nothing to cauterize the past. But here in the dead of winter -- with most of winter well in front of us -- New Year comes as a reminder of how much regeneration lies ahead. The sun will roll northward again, and the soil will warm, and whether we care to know it or not, the earth will do its best to rejuvenate itself."
-- "The House Of Time: The Comfort Of The Turning Year," New York Times editorial, January 1, 2006
***
In his book, God Is Closer Than You Think, John Ortberg reflects on all those moments, in a typical life, that could be labeled "the greatest moment." He lists some candidates:
"You may remember the moment you fell in love, the moment your child was born, the moment God became real to you, or the moment you discovered how he had gifted you. But I want to offer another candidate.
I believe that the greatest moment of your life is this moment right here. This tick of the clock.
This beat of your heart. The greatest moment of your life is now.
Not because it's pleasant or happy or easy, but because this moment is the only moment you've got. Every past moment is irretrievably gone. It's never coming back. If you live there, you will lose your life.
And the future is always out there somewhere. You can spend an eternity waiting for tomorrow, or worrying about tomorrow. If you live there, you likewise will lose your life.
This moment is God's irreplaceable gift to you. Most of all, this is the moment that matters because this moment is where God is. If you are going to be with God at all, you must be with God now -- in this moment."
***
Anne Lamott writes of an argument she had with her teenag son, Sam. She sought out Father Tom, a Christian friend, for advice. When she asked him what Jesus might have done with a troublesome thirteen-year-old, Father Tom quipped, "In biblical times, they used to stone a few thirteen-year-olds with some regularity, which helped keep the others quiet and at home. The mothers were usually in the first row of stone throwers, and had to be restrained."
This leads Anne to wonder what Mary did when Jesus was thirteen:
"Here's what I think: She occasionally started gathering rocks.
If we take the incarnation seriously, then even good old Jesus was thirteen once, a human thirteen-year-old. He learned by doing, as we have to. He had to go through adolescence. It must have been awful sometimes. Do you know anyone for whom adolescence was consistently okay? But in his case, we don't know for sure. We see him earlier, in the Bible, at twelve, when he's speaking to the elders in the Temple. He's great with the elders, just as Sam is always fabulous with other grown-ups. They can't believe he's such an easygoing kid, with such good manners. In the Temple, Jesus says things so profound that the elders are amazed. "Who's this kid's teacher?" they wonder. They don't know that Jesus' teacher was the Spirit.
But at the same time he's blowing the elders away, how is Jesus treating his parents? I'll tell you: He's making them crazy. He's ditched them. They can't find him for three days. Some of you know what it's like to not find your kid for three hours. You die. Mary and Joseph have looked everywhere, in the market, at the video arcade. Finally they find him, in the last place they thought to look -- the Temple. And immediately, he mouths off: Oh, sorry, sorry, I was busy doing all this other stuff, my father's work. Like, Joseph, you're not my real father -- you're not the boss of me. I don't even have to listen to you.
And what is Mary doing this whole time?
Mary's got a rock in her hand."
-- Anne Lamott, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith (New York: Riverhead, 2005), pp. 95, 98-99
* * *
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor martyred by the Nazis during World War II, and whose birth in 1906 we're commemorating this year, wrote the following regarding our Colossians text for today:
"Teach and admonish one another" (Colossians 3:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:11, 14). Such admonition must also include encouragement of the faint-hearted, support of the weak, and long-suffering towards all [people] (1 Thessalonians 5:14). This is the only form of protection against our daily trials and temptations, and against apostasy within the congregation.
-- Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, Macmillan, 1969, p. 326
* * *
Bonhoeffer also wrote:
Now we can understand why the New Testament always speaks of our becoming "like Christ." We have been transformed into the image of Christ, and are therefore destined to be like him. He is the only "pattern" we must follow. And because he really lives his life in us, we too can "walk even as he walked" (1 John 2:6), and "do as he has done" (John 13:15), "love as he has loved" (Ephesians 5:2; John 13:34; 15:12), "forgive as he forgave" (Colossians 3:13), "have this mind, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5), and therefore we are able to follow the example he has left us (1 Peter 2:21), lay down our lives for the brethren as he did (1 John 3:16).
-- Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, p. 344
* * *
And he wrote:
It is only because he became like us that we can become like him. It is only because we are identified with him that we can become like him. By being transformed into his image, we are enabled to model our lives on his. Now at last deeds are performed and life is lived in single-minded discipleship in the image of Christ and his words find unquestioning obedience.
-- Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, p. 344
* * *
We adopted our son when he was 18-months old, an active little boy. I'll never forget the first time I took him out with me to the mall. I had made sure he was comfortable in the stroller, was proudly pushing him around, having a great time. When we stopped in one store, I paused for a moment to look at one of the displays in the counter. It had to have been ONLY a moment, honest! Certainly not more than thirty seconds. But when I looked down at my son -- he was gone! The stroller was empty.
He, of course, had gotten out to look at something shiny and nice in the display just around the corner. I found him, by following his laughter. But those painful, heart-stopping moments of panic, and loss, are still fresh in my mind, even though he is now 21.
That experience has always given me a fresh perspective on the feelings of Mary and Joseph when they couldn't find Jesus when he was twelve years old.
* * *
In the Harry Potter series, the mother of Ron Weasley always knits new sweaters for her children, and for Harry, as well. Of course, they always seem to be too big, or ill-fitting, or not the sort of sweater any child would want to be seen wearing in public. Yet, it is obvious that the sweaters are a gift of love for her children, and Harry, by Mrs. Weasley.
I hope the new robe that Hannah made each year was not to big, or ill-fitting, or an embarrassment for Samuel. After all, a gift of love is never something to be embarrassed about, but to be embraced, and even worn proudly.
* * *
now what
now what will you do
with those gifts?
now what will you do
with that love
God has given to you --
to share with those
you don't like?
now what will you do
with that hope
God put under the tree --
can you pass it on
to a despairing neighbor?
now what will you do
with that joy
you didn't expect --
hoard it all for yourself
or hand it to a grieving widow?
now what will you
do with that grace
God stuck in your stocking --
leave it there
or find the stranger who needs it?
now what will you do
with all that forgiveness
God has given to you
in the Babe --
throw it out
with the wrapping paper
or offer it to the one
who has hurt you so much?
now
that Christmas is over,
what will you do?
WORSHIP RESOURCE
by Thom Shuman
Call To Worship
One: Praise God! Praise the Lord,
all creation!
All: Stars glittering with grace,
humpback whales singing of hope:
all praise our God!
One: Praise God! Praise the Lord,
all you people!
All: Twelve year olds, and eighty plus,
wise and those learning to walk:
all will praise our God!
One: Praise God! Praise the Lord,
in every moment, in every place!
All: Here in church, and relaxing at home;
in a classroom, and at the doctor's office:
we will praise our God!
Prayer Of The Day
Wonder of wonders, God of creation: you choose us to be your people, continuing to clothe us in holiness, even when we drag the garment through the mud of our lives; you call us "Beloved," even while we speak words about others, that would make the Evil One blush.
Wonder of wonders, Humble Jesus: you ask questions about our so-called wisdom, revealing how foolish we are; you wear your heart on your sleeve as you reach out to embrace us with you compassion.
Wonder of wonders, Spirit of the old and the new: every year you take the old, stained clothes of our silly lives, and dress us in kindness, humility, patience, and meekness, that we might be grow in your love and grace.
May everything we do, and everything we say, be in your name, God in Community, Holy in One, even as we pray as we have been taught,
Our Father...
Call To Reconciliation
We like to think we are wise beyond our years, but when we look at our lives as God's people, we discover we still act too often like little children. Let us confess how we always want our way, rather than following God's.
Unison Prayer Of Confession
You set boundaries for us, Holy God, yet we continue to cross over them into sin. Believing we are wiser than you, we are amazed that you would question our actions and lives. Offering us the warm sweater of love, we would rather slip our lives into the sleeves of bitterness and anger. Challenging us to carry one's another's burdens, we complain about how heavy and uncomfortable they are.
Forgive us, Searching God, and clothe us with your gifts of compassion, humility, patience, and hope. Then, dressed as your graceful people, may we go forth to live as sisters and brothers of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
(Silence is observed.)
Assurance Of Pardon
One: The good news is simple: God loves us
so much, we are forgiven and granted new
life.
All: Praise God! As forgiven people, we will
go to forgive others, and share God's
grace with them. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Learning like Jesus learned
Object: books
Good morning! Some of you are in school, aren't you? Who here goes to school? (let them answer) Do you have books in school? (let them answer) Why do you have books? (let them answer) Books help us learn and grow. By studying and learning we discover how to read and do math skills such as addition and subtraction. The purpose of school is to help us learn and grow in knowledge.
This past week we celebrated Jesus' birth. He was born, and then the Bible doesn't tell us much about Jesus. We don't know what he was like at the age of five or seven or ten. The Bible story skips ahead to when Jesus was twelve. Can any of you tell me what happened when Jesus was twelve years old? (let them answer) He went with his parents to the capital city of Jerusalem. When it was time to go home, his parents thought he was with other people. But they found out that he was really still in Jerusalem. And what was he doing in Jerusalem? (let them answer) He was learning! He wanted to learn everything he could about God and about the Bible. So Jesus was in the temple listening and learning and asking questions.
That reminds me of our Sunday school program. In our Sunday church school, we want everyone to learn about Jesus and the Bible and God -- just like Jesus. The schools we attend to learn about math and reading are important, but our Sunday school is perhaps even more important than regular school because we learn about God.
Dear Lord God: Teach us and help us to learn like Jesus learned. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, December 31, 2006, issue.
Copyright 2006 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
