The Epiphany Of Our Lord
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VI, Cycle C
Object:
COMMENTARY ON THE LESSONS
Lesson 1: Isaiah 60:1-6 (C, RC); Isaiah 60:1-6, 9 (E)
Here it is again, a glowing promise which would never be fulfilled, at least not in earthly terms. And yet, we must be amazed at the unfailing optimism of the prophets. The people of Jerusalem had been through living Hell. Yet they were being told to "Arise and shine," as God is about to lift them up, to bring life-giving light into their darkness of the soul. True, Israel has never achieved the regional primacy for which she long has hoped. But in the hearts of the people, one by one, there must surely have been the rebirth of hope. Many a man and woman must have stood a little taller, faced life with added courage and hope, because of such a promise as this. There's the sermon, it seems to me. God never promises anyone a position of power in earthly terms, not political, or martial, or economic power. Those things shall be as they may. Jesus would translate such hopes as these, help us understand that the light will shine inwardly, and thereafter through us into the world. The "power" we can receive is the power of love, the life-changing capabilities of forgiveness, and kindness.
I was amused to read that when Purdue was playing Illinois in a Big Ten basketball tournament, the Purdue players were exhausted from a close fought game with Indiana the previous night. Coach Gene Keady saw his team slowly falling behind as their tired legs just weren't quite strong enough. But when Purdue was behind by eight points in the first half, Keady called timeout. He gathered his team around him and, as he reported later, said to them: "You think you're tired. But you're really not tired. Now get out there and play your game." Purdue won by more than twenty points. Someone whom those players admired and respected had told them what they needed to hear. That's a bit of what happened with the people of Jerusalem when Isaiah told them "Arise and shine."
Lesson 2: Ephesians 3:1-12 (C, E); Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6 (RC)
We do well to remember, as we read Paul's letters, that he was a man of action, not a man of letters. Also, he was in prison in Rome awaiting trial when he wrote the letter to the Ephesians. He wrote not so much an organized treatise on Christian theology, but a heartfelt report of his own inner spiritual life. He was glad to be imprisoned, given the fact that he dedicated his imprisonment to Christ. Through his inner experiences, he felt there had been revealed to him the secret of God's plan which was inaugurated in the life of Jesus. This included the fact that God's great gift of love and mercy was not only for the Jews. It was for everyone. And the Church is to mediate these great spiritual truths. One doesn't know exactly what Paul may have meant when he wrote of "the rulers and powers in the heavenly places." Certainly there is poetry and gracious symbolism in such language. To Paul, the secret is no longer a secret, God loves everyone, wishes each person to come to Him by accepting Christ, and charges the Church with the mission of spreading this word.
In preaching, there are several possible subjects. If I were preaching on this passage, I would emphasize the role of the Church, then discuss the fact that everyone must be welcomed into the Church, and its message must faithfully declare the Grace of God.
Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12 (C, RC, E)
The so-called Wise Men were, in fact, members of a religion which believed in two gods -- one good, one evil. Known as the Magi, a word whose root gives us magic and magician, these three men must surely have been motivated by more than mere religious interest in their search for Jesus. Records are sketchy, of course, but taking this story at face value, it seems the men must have been wealthy and possibly well-known. King Herod had questioned them, hoping that if they found the newborn child, they would reveal his whereabouts.
Wouldn't it be interesting to know what those men thought about during their long search? After their brief discovery in Bethlehem, were their lives changed in any way? Apparently the politics involved in reporting back to Herod was no longer important to these men. They used a route Herod would not anticipate in order to return home without being discovered.
For the preacher, there's power in the image of three men who seemed to have been leaders in their own religion seeking out the Christ child, then bowing before him as the full import of their encounter got through. What word might they have carried home?
The Magi were apparently Zoroastrians, believers in astrology. The significance of the special star they followed must have been great in their minds. This is still a subject for separate discussion, since many Christians are intrigued by what seems to be some correlation between personalities and astrological signs, whereas many other Christians are appalled at such thinking and somehow feel such speculations to be unchristian. For our purposes, we must respect both points of view except to note that it was, indeed, an astrological sign that led the Magi to the child. I would urge that the preacher's emphasis might be on the profound effect the vision of the baby Jesus seemed to have on those men. Also, following a star is a good figure of speech for us today when so many people follow "their star" in a wrong direction. The "stars" of success and prosperity are acceptable way stations, as it were, so long as they are pursued with integrity and respect, but too often we lose perspective, resort to methods not part of that bright dawn. Then we begin to be mislead. Jesus revealed the correct direction to the ultimate "star," the one which will lead to life's fulfillment.
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: "How Do You Affect Others?"
Text: Isaiah 60:1-6
Theme: Most of us influence people more than we think. A young high school football player had decided, when younger, that he would never be big enough to play. One day a well-known professional player was speaking to a group of boys, this one among them. He had said something like this: "I know some of you who want to play are afraid you're not big enough. Let me tell you something: the best players are the ones who are big on the inside. If you have heart, you have the most important single qualification to play this game." Bingo! That's what the boy needed to hear. It influenced him to try out for his high school team. He'll never be a pro, but that's not what he wants anyway. He wanted to play high school ball and he's good, really good. He's small but he has "heart." Maybe that was just another speech to the pro but it changed a young man's childhood.
Most of us preachers are surely aware that what we say from the pulpit, or in teaching, sometimes makes the difference for someone else. That can be a disturbing thought but we all know it's true. I don't think I would be a minister today had it not been for a former pastor of mine who role modeled a combination of spiritual vitality with the somewhat earthy kind of manhood which I did not, at that time, associate with the church or the clergy. He showed me that a man or woman can be a faithful messenger of the gospel and still be a well-rounded human being. He made me want to be like him.
My own wife received a call some time ago from a youngster who had been in her fourth grade class a few years earlier. His life while in this community had been unhappy, with much turmoil. His school experience had been troublesome also, with trips to the principal's office, conflict with peers, and he was unpopular with most of his teachers. My wife had taken him under her wing, as we used to say. Finally, he was sent away from his dysfunctional home to live with grandparents. He was on a return visit to our community. He called my wife, his former teacher, and she later learned she was the only person from his former life here whom he wanted to call. He came to visit, to see her again. It was obvious she had given him his only happy memories from grade school. Wise teachers are aware that they can be profoundly important to little children.
My point in all of this is to suggest a sermon in which we remind our listeners that each of us influences certain people in various ways. As Christians, it's important that we present to those people lives which are admirable and worthy. If you are one of those pastors using video illustrations in worship, you might look for scenes from Dead Poet's Society. I also recall an anti-smoking commercial of a few years ago showing a father and his small son walking down a country road. Dad picked up a stone and tossed it, his son followed suit. Every casual move of the father was emulated by the little boy. Finally, they sat down together under a tree, Dad and son, a heart-warming little scene. Then Dad took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lighted one. As the scene ended, it showed the little boy's hand reaching toward the package which Dad had put on the ground beside him.
Title: "The Household Of God"
Text: Ephesians 3:1-12
Theme: The Church and its proper place in our lives today. Our most difficult task as preachers today is to wed two dimensions of church life which easily become incompatible. First, and of infinitely primary responsibility, the Church is to call men and women into a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is the only institution in the world which can hope to change and redeem society. As such, it is unforgivable to water down the bold and at times offensive word of that gospel. The clergy who would falter in this calling, choosing to opt for a "career," choosing to think in terms of "my next appointment," fantasizing a grand station, an increasing salary, a position of public honor, are anathema to the gospel. Only through sacrificial devotion to our calling can we honor the calling which we have received. In preaching, let the clergy person confess this solemn responsibility. And, too, let us confess our falling short as all of us do. We have no right to criticize the so-called Christianity of another person until we have forthrightly confessed our own failure. But having done that, it is ours to declare with courage the commands of Jesus which can cut like a razor through the rationalizations and petty pretenses of contemporary society.
The other dimension of the Church is to provide the many services and ministries which can draw people, needy, sometimes hurting people, into its warmth and its caring love. Youth groups, counseling services, divorce recovery groups, newcomer clubs, support groups for families with Alzheimer's patients, groups for parents of teenagers, and so many other services. Only with a very practical, down-to-earth form of ministry can today's Church win people. As was once said of the newspaper game, so we can say about the Church: "We are to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."
1. The Church is divine. One professor, J. Coert Rylaarsdam, said it well: "The Church is first and foremost a divine reality. This distinguishes it from other realities ... For those who, by faith, affirm it and belong to it, it is the whole family of God in heaven and on earth, it is the work of God in the world." Let us disabuse ourselves of that old chestnut that the church is like any other business. That's nonsense. We're not in it for profit. We're not just in it for community either. A good Lion's Club meeting is often more fun than a church group. We are the one, the only, organization devoted to the Word of God. Let's lay that out for our wonderful, generous, loving but sometimes too "bottom line" oriented members. For years, I made it a practice to end the year by sending any leftover money in our church treasury to various charity groups like Wheeler Mission, Salvation Army, missionary societies, and the like. It drove some of my finance members up a wall, but they did, bless their hearts, understand.
2. The Church is the means by which Jesus Christ is made known. A congregation should insist that its preachers pronounce the word of God as contained in the Bible without flinching. That pastor may be right or wrong, inasmuch as there is much room for debate about the implications of many a passage of Scripture. But as he or she sees it, that word must be proclaimed. By the same token, the pastor must be willing to hear the response of a faithful congregation. A friend of mine announced some time ago that gay people are welcome to his congregation because he is convinced that Jesus would never turn them away, and that God loves gay people equally as much as people who are heterosexual. Two of that church's largest contributors left the church, their pledges unpaid. But by God, the rest of that congregation said, by their response, we may or may not agree with you but we totally support your right, nay, your obligation, to say what you believe about the gospel.
3. The Church is all of us working together for the Kingdom. The pastor might in some ways be likened to a professor of surgery in a medical school. That professor can't do all the thousands of needed surgeries. Her responsibility is to prepare fine surgeons so they can do the surgery. So if the work of ministry is to be done, it will be done by the members of the "Household Of Faith." This has at least two dimensions. One, we are to care for each other. One ancient Hebrew analogy said the members of the faith are like fingers on a hand. In one sense, each finger is separate from the rest, able to function independently. Yet, if one finger is incapacitated, the entire hand is thereby hurt as well. Likewise, if one of us suffers, the entire body of Christ is, in some way, affected as well. Madeline Albright said it well recently: "When something happens some place it matters every place."
The other dimension to this is outreach. John Wesley used to say, "The world is my parish." So it is. We are to find ways to care for people even though they give nothing in return. That thought shouldn't enter into our thinking.
Title: "Visions Of Sugar Plums"
Text: Matthew 2:1-12
Theme: A touch of wonder (that could be our title). The so-called Wise Men were changed forever by the Child, maybe by some strong Spirit, but maybe, too, by the burst of wonder as they beheld the One who might change them and their world forever. Something valuable, maybe even essential to human happiness, seems to have gone out of our world today: wonder. A sense of it. The marvelous inner feeling that splendid possibilities lie beyond our view. Michael Medved wrote: "Unless kids look forward to the future with anticipation and joy, the process of growing up will seem merely pointless and painful." Dylan Thomas, writing of the vanishing of childhood, wrote:
... it was all
Shining, it was Adam and maiden,
The sky gathered again
And the sun grew round that very day.
So it must have been after the birth of the simple light
In the first spinning place.
Minds allowed to speculate, to consider marvels of reality beyond the spoiling reach of computers and microscopes and telescopes. Miracle; redemption; innocence; imagination; laughter; resurrection; the sheer joy of living in this marvelous spinning place. Where have they gone?
Medved told of a little girl, four years old, who squirmed away from her much loved uncle when he tried to give her a hug. When asked by that puzzled relative what he had done, she explained that her nursery school teacher had warned against adults who "touch her too hard." The little girl broke everone's heart when she tearfully informed her uncle that if he persisted in hugging her she would have to call the police. That was in Philadelphia. In Salt Lake City, a first grader was discovered throwing all of her much treasured dolls away. It took her mother most of the day to learn the reason. Her teacher had told the class that the world was too crowded, that women should not have children, so the solemn little girl decided it was wrong to even pretend to be a mother.
Why must we "protect" our children at the expense of wonder? Of imagination? Of pretend? Oh, yes, there are dangers in the world, serious dangers, and children must be protected to be sure. But dare we no longer allow ourselves the joys of believing in the things which can never be and that are in order to be "protected"?
There's a place for a sermon about the risks of overdoing all of this effort to protect. Jesus once warned that unless we become as little children we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I believe that's what he meant. I believe he wanted us to keep our minds open to wonders beyond the reach of science and measurement and explanation.
I once asked my grandfather how he could still believe in Santa Claus, I being about six and much too worldly by then to believe such, even though Grandfather had me convinced that he still did. Grampaw proposed a little test to find out whether Santa Claus was real. He would write a letter to Santa Claus and ask him to fly his sleigh over our house and leave a bag of candy in the backyard. Clearly, explained Grampaw, if there is no Santa Claus there could be no bag of candy the next morning. But full of conviction, I awoke early and, with my five-year-old brother who was hoping I was wrong, we dashed out to the backyard and to our amazement, there next to the garage was a large bag of candy. So Santa Claus was real after all. It was another year before I tumbled to the fact that Grampaw had had a hand in that scenario.
How come I still remember that so clearly, and so little else of my sixth year? What do you remember from your early formative years when it was being determined one way or another whether you could ever be a really happy person in your later years?
1. Keep a place for innocence. We are all so knowledgeable these days. The media bear a lot of responsibility. People sneer at the television shows of the '50s, Father Knows Best, Leave It To Beaver, and I Love Lucy. Why? We knew it wasn't true, but they displayed a view of innocence, of kindness and happy endings. Have we somehow gained by shows like Beavis And Butthead and South Park? I think not.
2. Allow for Angels in your life. Oh, I don't necessarily refer to creatures with wings. Let me illustrate. Last year, a group of friends accompanied my wife and me to Ireland. We went for a walk in the Burren, a wild and desolate and incredibly beautiful area of the West country. Ten of us had walked what we expected would be a five mile walk to a lake hidden among the high hills. It was hidden, all right. After five miles, we could see it, some ten miles in the distance. There were no habitations in view in any direction except a farmhouse. We knocked on the door of that small home and there was no answer. My wife and a friend and I elected to climb a very steep hill which wound via a narrow road, up to the top where we were able to see for miles in every direction. Which way to go? But just then, coming through a gentle mist which had begun to settle over the landscape, came a young man wearing a green windbreaker with a hood which covered most of his head. We inquired of him which way we should go. He explained that each of the paths which led onward would require another twelve to fifteen miles of walking, and that we would be wise to retrace our steps to our cars.
We turned to go back down the hill. As we did so, I turned to thank the young man, but he was nowhere to be seen. The road was bordered by a low stone wall, perhaps two feet high, and there were no houses or other structures in view. We could see for at least a mile in each direction from the hilltop. He was not there. Logic? There must be an explanation, must there not? But the three of us walked in silence for several moments. Then one said, "An angel, perhaps?" I don't know. I only know there is a friendly Presence in this universe who wishes to walk with us. Be open to this. It will bring many blessings.
3. Be grateful. Remember R. L. Stevenson's happy words: "The world is so full of a number of things,/ I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." We should cultivate the art of gratitude, gratitude for what we have, for what we are, for what we can do and will see some day. The attitude of gratitude somehow opens us up to more in the way of expectation, of capacity for wonder and joy. One recent author wrote: "Anyone fortunate enough to be born in the United States, this blessed island of sanity and decency in the midst of the dark, bloody, turbulent ocean of historic human misery, should make every day Thanksgiving Day...."
Gratitude somehow makes us kinder, and better, and not only more loving but easier to love. Give thanks. Thanks to God, to friends, to loved ones who make our lives happy, to those beyond our circle who work to make this a better world.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
Dorothy Sayers, mystery writer and devout Christian, wrote: "The people who hanged Christ never, to do them justice, accused him of being a bore; on the contrary, they thought him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified him 'meek and mild,' and recommended him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies."
____________
One pastor told of visiting a newly-built church. In viewing the new sanctuary, he noticed a sketchy outline of the head of Jesus on the front wall of the chancel. A workman was putting the finishing touches on some other part of the sanctuary. The visiting pastor inquired when the painting of the face of Jesus would be finished. The workman replied that he had been told that it was finished. He said the people of the church were to be the arms and hands, the lips and eyes of Jesus in the world. "They are to be the body of Christ," he explained.
____________
Several years ago, a pastor's son was playing in a hard-fought basketball game. The score was close, the game nearly over, when this boy made an aggressive though legal move for the ball. The opposing player, thoroughly frustrated and having been outplayed through the game, turned the pastor's son around and hit him, knocking him down. Now I happened to know this boy. His father was a friend of mine, and the boy was big, a good athlete. He could have given more than a good account of himself in a fight. But instead, he walked over to the boy who had hit him, stood with his hands at his side and said: "You can go ahead and hit me again if you want to. But you have already lost this fight." In front of all those people, that took a lot more courage than it would have required to try to knock the other boy down.
____________
Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14 -- "Give the King thy justice, O God."
Prayer Of The Day
Keep us aware of the other people who look to us as examples, we pray. Grant that someone may not stumble because of our misconduct. Keep us aware, we pray, of the ways in which we can be examples to the young, to the innocent. Thank you, Lord. Amen.
Lesson 1: Isaiah 60:1-6 (C, RC); Isaiah 60:1-6, 9 (E)
Here it is again, a glowing promise which would never be fulfilled, at least not in earthly terms. And yet, we must be amazed at the unfailing optimism of the prophets. The people of Jerusalem had been through living Hell. Yet they were being told to "Arise and shine," as God is about to lift them up, to bring life-giving light into their darkness of the soul. True, Israel has never achieved the regional primacy for which she long has hoped. But in the hearts of the people, one by one, there must surely have been the rebirth of hope. Many a man and woman must have stood a little taller, faced life with added courage and hope, because of such a promise as this. There's the sermon, it seems to me. God never promises anyone a position of power in earthly terms, not political, or martial, or economic power. Those things shall be as they may. Jesus would translate such hopes as these, help us understand that the light will shine inwardly, and thereafter through us into the world. The "power" we can receive is the power of love, the life-changing capabilities of forgiveness, and kindness.
I was amused to read that when Purdue was playing Illinois in a Big Ten basketball tournament, the Purdue players were exhausted from a close fought game with Indiana the previous night. Coach Gene Keady saw his team slowly falling behind as their tired legs just weren't quite strong enough. But when Purdue was behind by eight points in the first half, Keady called timeout. He gathered his team around him and, as he reported later, said to them: "You think you're tired. But you're really not tired. Now get out there and play your game." Purdue won by more than twenty points. Someone whom those players admired and respected had told them what they needed to hear. That's a bit of what happened with the people of Jerusalem when Isaiah told them "Arise and shine."
Lesson 2: Ephesians 3:1-12 (C, E); Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6 (RC)
We do well to remember, as we read Paul's letters, that he was a man of action, not a man of letters. Also, he was in prison in Rome awaiting trial when he wrote the letter to the Ephesians. He wrote not so much an organized treatise on Christian theology, but a heartfelt report of his own inner spiritual life. He was glad to be imprisoned, given the fact that he dedicated his imprisonment to Christ. Through his inner experiences, he felt there had been revealed to him the secret of God's plan which was inaugurated in the life of Jesus. This included the fact that God's great gift of love and mercy was not only for the Jews. It was for everyone. And the Church is to mediate these great spiritual truths. One doesn't know exactly what Paul may have meant when he wrote of "the rulers and powers in the heavenly places." Certainly there is poetry and gracious symbolism in such language. To Paul, the secret is no longer a secret, God loves everyone, wishes each person to come to Him by accepting Christ, and charges the Church with the mission of spreading this word.
In preaching, there are several possible subjects. If I were preaching on this passage, I would emphasize the role of the Church, then discuss the fact that everyone must be welcomed into the Church, and its message must faithfully declare the Grace of God.
Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12 (C, RC, E)
The so-called Wise Men were, in fact, members of a religion which believed in two gods -- one good, one evil. Known as the Magi, a word whose root gives us magic and magician, these three men must surely have been motivated by more than mere religious interest in their search for Jesus. Records are sketchy, of course, but taking this story at face value, it seems the men must have been wealthy and possibly well-known. King Herod had questioned them, hoping that if they found the newborn child, they would reveal his whereabouts.
Wouldn't it be interesting to know what those men thought about during their long search? After their brief discovery in Bethlehem, were their lives changed in any way? Apparently the politics involved in reporting back to Herod was no longer important to these men. They used a route Herod would not anticipate in order to return home without being discovered.
For the preacher, there's power in the image of three men who seemed to have been leaders in their own religion seeking out the Christ child, then bowing before him as the full import of their encounter got through. What word might they have carried home?
The Magi were apparently Zoroastrians, believers in astrology. The significance of the special star they followed must have been great in their minds. This is still a subject for separate discussion, since many Christians are intrigued by what seems to be some correlation between personalities and astrological signs, whereas many other Christians are appalled at such thinking and somehow feel such speculations to be unchristian. For our purposes, we must respect both points of view except to note that it was, indeed, an astrological sign that led the Magi to the child. I would urge that the preacher's emphasis might be on the profound effect the vision of the baby Jesus seemed to have on those men. Also, following a star is a good figure of speech for us today when so many people follow "their star" in a wrong direction. The "stars" of success and prosperity are acceptable way stations, as it were, so long as they are pursued with integrity and respect, but too often we lose perspective, resort to methods not part of that bright dawn. Then we begin to be mislead. Jesus revealed the correct direction to the ultimate "star," the one which will lead to life's fulfillment.
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: "How Do You Affect Others?"
Text: Isaiah 60:1-6
Theme: Most of us influence people more than we think. A young high school football player had decided, when younger, that he would never be big enough to play. One day a well-known professional player was speaking to a group of boys, this one among them. He had said something like this: "I know some of you who want to play are afraid you're not big enough. Let me tell you something: the best players are the ones who are big on the inside. If you have heart, you have the most important single qualification to play this game." Bingo! That's what the boy needed to hear. It influenced him to try out for his high school team. He'll never be a pro, but that's not what he wants anyway. He wanted to play high school ball and he's good, really good. He's small but he has "heart." Maybe that was just another speech to the pro but it changed a young man's childhood.
Most of us preachers are surely aware that what we say from the pulpit, or in teaching, sometimes makes the difference for someone else. That can be a disturbing thought but we all know it's true. I don't think I would be a minister today had it not been for a former pastor of mine who role modeled a combination of spiritual vitality with the somewhat earthy kind of manhood which I did not, at that time, associate with the church or the clergy. He showed me that a man or woman can be a faithful messenger of the gospel and still be a well-rounded human being. He made me want to be like him.
My own wife received a call some time ago from a youngster who had been in her fourth grade class a few years earlier. His life while in this community had been unhappy, with much turmoil. His school experience had been troublesome also, with trips to the principal's office, conflict with peers, and he was unpopular with most of his teachers. My wife had taken him under her wing, as we used to say. Finally, he was sent away from his dysfunctional home to live with grandparents. He was on a return visit to our community. He called my wife, his former teacher, and she later learned she was the only person from his former life here whom he wanted to call. He came to visit, to see her again. It was obvious she had given him his only happy memories from grade school. Wise teachers are aware that they can be profoundly important to little children.
My point in all of this is to suggest a sermon in which we remind our listeners that each of us influences certain people in various ways. As Christians, it's important that we present to those people lives which are admirable and worthy. If you are one of those pastors using video illustrations in worship, you might look for scenes from Dead Poet's Society. I also recall an anti-smoking commercial of a few years ago showing a father and his small son walking down a country road. Dad picked up a stone and tossed it, his son followed suit. Every casual move of the father was emulated by the little boy. Finally, they sat down together under a tree, Dad and son, a heart-warming little scene. Then Dad took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lighted one. As the scene ended, it showed the little boy's hand reaching toward the package which Dad had put on the ground beside him.
Title: "The Household Of God"
Text: Ephesians 3:1-12
Theme: The Church and its proper place in our lives today. Our most difficult task as preachers today is to wed two dimensions of church life which easily become incompatible. First, and of infinitely primary responsibility, the Church is to call men and women into a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is the only institution in the world which can hope to change and redeem society. As such, it is unforgivable to water down the bold and at times offensive word of that gospel. The clergy who would falter in this calling, choosing to opt for a "career," choosing to think in terms of "my next appointment," fantasizing a grand station, an increasing salary, a position of public honor, are anathema to the gospel. Only through sacrificial devotion to our calling can we honor the calling which we have received. In preaching, let the clergy person confess this solemn responsibility. And, too, let us confess our falling short as all of us do. We have no right to criticize the so-called Christianity of another person until we have forthrightly confessed our own failure. But having done that, it is ours to declare with courage the commands of Jesus which can cut like a razor through the rationalizations and petty pretenses of contemporary society.
The other dimension of the Church is to provide the many services and ministries which can draw people, needy, sometimes hurting people, into its warmth and its caring love. Youth groups, counseling services, divorce recovery groups, newcomer clubs, support groups for families with Alzheimer's patients, groups for parents of teenagers, and so many other services. Only with a very practical, down-to-earth form of ministry can today's Church win people. As was once said of the newspaper game, so we can say about the Church: "We are to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."
1. The Church is divine. One professor, J. Coert Rylaarsdam, said it well: "The Church is first and foremost a divine reality. This distinguishes it from other realities ... For those who, by faith, affirm it and belong to it, it is the whole family of God in heaven and on earth, it is the work of God in the world." Let us disabuse ourselves of that old chestnut that the church is like any other business. That's nonsense. We're not in it for profit. We're not just in it for community either. A good Lion's Club meeting is often more fun than a church group. We are the one, the only, organization devoted to the Word of God. Let's lay that out for our wonderful, generous, loving but sometimes too "bottom line" oriented members. For years, I made it a practice to end the year by sending any leftover money in our church treasury to various charity groups like Wheeler Mission, Salvation Army, missionary societies, and the like. It drove some of my finance members up a wall, but they did, bless their hearts, understand.
2. The Church is the means by which Jesus Christ is made known. A congregation should insist that its preachers pronounce the word of God as contained in the Bible without flinching. That pastor may be right or wrong, inasmuch as there is much room for debate about the implications of many a passage of Scripture. But as he or she sees it, that word must be proclaimed. By the same token, the pastor must be willing to hear the response of a faithful congregation. A friend of mine announced some time ago that gay people are welcome to his congregation because he is convinced that Jesus would never turn them away, and that God loves gay people equally as much as people who are heterosexual. Two of that church's largest contributors left the church, their pledges unpaid. But by God, the rest of that congregation said, by their response, we may or may not agree with you but we totally support your right, nay, your obligation, to say what you believe about the gospel.
3. The Church is all of us working together for the Kingdom. The pastor might in some ways be likened to a professor of surgery in a medical school. That professor can't do all the thousands of needed surgeries. Her responsibility is to prepare fine surgeons so they can do the surgery. So if the work of ministry is to be done, it will be done by the members of the "Household Of Faith." This has at least two dimensions. One, we are to care for each other. One ancient Hebrew analogy said the members of the faith are like fingers on a hand. In one sense, each finger is separate from the rest, able to function independently. Yet, if one finger is incapacitated, the entire hand is thereby hurt as well. Likewise, if one of us suffers, the entire body of Christ is, in some way, affected as well. Madeline Albright said it well recently: "When something happens some place it matters every place."
The other dimension to this is outreach. John Wesley used to say, "The world is my parish." So it is. We are to find ways to care for people even though they give nothing in return. That thought shouldn't enter into our thinking.
Title: "Visions Of Sugar Plums"
Text: Matthew 2:1-12
Theme: A touch of wonder (that could be our title). The so-called Wise Men were changed forever by the Child, maybe by some strong Spirit, but maybe, too, by the burst of wonder as they beheld the One who might change them and their world forever. Something valuable, maybe even essential to human happiness, seems to have gone out of our world today: wonder. A sense of it. The marvelous inner feeling that splendid possibilities lie beyond our view. Michael Medved wrote: "Unless kids look forward to the future with anticipation and joy, the process of growing up will seem merely pointless and painful." Dylan Thomas, writing of the vanishing of childhood, wrote:
... it was all
Shining, it was Adam and maiden,
The sky gathered again
And the sun grew round that very day.
So it must have been after the birth of the simple light
In the first spinning place.
Minds allowed to speculate, to consider marvels of reality beyond the spoiling reach of computers and microscopes and telescopes. Miracle; redemption; innocence; imagination; laughter; resurrection; the sheer joy of living in this marvelous spinning place. Where have they gone?
Medved told of a little girl, four years old, who squirmed away from her much loved uncle when he tried to give her a hug. When asked by that puzzled relative what he had done, she explained that her nursery school teacher had warned against adults who "touch her too hard." The little girl broke everone's heart when she tearfully informed her uncle that if he persisted in hugging her she would have to call the police. That was in Philadelphia. In Salt Lake City, a first grader was discovered throwing all of her much treasured dolls away. It took her mother most of the day to learn the reason. Her teacher had told the class that the world was too crowded, that women should not have children, so the solemn little girl decided it was wrong to even pretend to be a mother.
Why must we "protect" our children at the expense of wonder? Of imagination? Of pretend? Oh, yes, there are dangers in the world, serious dangers, and children must be protected to be sure. But dare we no longer allow ourselves the joys of believing in the things which can never be and that are in order to be "protected"?
There's a place for a sermon about the risks of overdoing all of this effort to protect. Jesus once warned that unless we become as little children we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I believe that's what he meant. I believe he wanted us to keep our minds open to wonders beyond the reach of science and measurement and explanation.
I once asked my grandfather how he could still believe in Santa Claus, I being about six and much too worldly by then to believe such, even though Grandfather had me convinced that he still did. Grampaw proposed a little test to find out whether Santa Claus was real. He would write a letter to Santa Claus and ask him to fly his sleigh over our house and leave a bag of candy in the backyard. Clearly, explained Grampaw, if there is no Santa Claus there could be no bag of candy the next morning. But full of conviction, I awoke early and, with my five-year-old brother who was hoping I was wrong, we dashed out to the backyard and to our amazement, there next to the garage was a large bag of candy. So Santa Claus was real after all. It was another year before I tumbled to the fact that Grampaw had had a hand in that scenario.
How come I still remember that so clearly, and so little else of my sixth year? What do you remember from your early formative years when it was being determined one way or another whether you could ever be a really happy person in your later years?
1. Keep a place for innocence. We are all so knowledgeable these days. The media bear a lot of responsibility. People sneer at the television shows of the '50s, Father Knows Best, Leave It To Beaver, and I Love Lucy. Why? We knew it wasn't true, but they displayed a view of innocence, of kindness and happy endings. Have we somehow gained by shows like Beavis And Butthead and South Park? I think not.
2. Allow for Angels in your life. Oh, I don't necessarily refer to creatures with wings. Let me illustrate. Last year, a group of friends accompanied my wife and me to Ireland. We went for a walk in the Burren, a wild and desolate and incredibly beautiful area of the West country. Ten of us had walked what we expected would be a five mile walk to a lake hidden among the high hills. It was hidden, all right. After five miles, we could see it, some ten miles in the distance. There were no habitations in view in any direction except a farmhouse. We knocked on the door of that small home and there was no answer. My wife and a friend and I elected to climb a very steep hill which wound via a narrow road, up to the top where we were able to see for miles in every direction. Which way to go? But just then, coming through a gentle mist which had begun to settle over the landscape, came a young man wearing a green windbreaker with a hood which covered most of his head. We inquired of him which way we should go. He explained that each of the paths which led onward would require another twelve to fifteen miles of walking, and that we would be wise to retrace our steps to our cars.
We turned to go back down the hill. As we did so, I turned to thank the young man, but he was nowhere to be seen. The road was bordered by a low stone wall, perhaps two feet high, and there were no houses or other structures in view. We could see for at least a mile in each direction from the hilltop. He was not there. Logic? There must be an explanation, must there not? But the three of us walked in silence for several moments. Then one said, "An angel, perhaps?" I don't know. I only know there is a friendly Presence in this universe who wishes to walk with us. Be open to this. It will bring many blessings.
3. Be grateful. Remember R. L. Stevenson's happy words: "The world is so full of a number of things,/ I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." We should cultivate the art of gratitude, gratitude for what we have, for what we are, for what we can do and will see some day. The attitude of gratitude somehow opens us up to more in the way of expectation, of capacity for wonder and joy. One recent author wrote: "Anyone fortunate enough to be born in the United States, this blessed island of sanity and decency in the midst of the dark, bloody, turbulent ocean of historic human misery, should make every day Thanksgiving Day...."
Gratitude somehow makes us kinder, and better, and not only more loving but easier to love. Give thanks. Thanks to God, to friends, to loved ones who make our lives happy, to those beyond our circle who work to make this a better world.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
Dorothy Sayers, mystery writer and devout Christian, wrote: "The people who hanged Christ never, to do them justice, accused him of being a bore; on the contrary, they thought him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified him 'meek and mild,' and recommended him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies."
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One pastor told of visiting a newly-built church. In viewing the new sanctuary, he noticed a sketchy outline of the head of Jesus on the front wall of the chancel. A workman was putting the finishing touches on some other part of the sanctuary. The visiting pastor inquired when the painting of the face of Jesus would be finished. The workman replied that he had been told that it was finished. He said the people of the church were to be the arms and hands, the lips and eyes of Jesus in the world. "They are to be the body of Christ," he explained.
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Several years ago, a pastor's son was playing in a hard-fought basketball game. The score was close, the game nearly over, when this boy made an aggressive though legal move for the ball. The opposing player, thoroughly frustrated and having been outplayed through the game, turned the pastor's son around and hit him, knocking him down. Now I happened to know this boy. His father was a friend of mine, and the boy was big, a good athlete. He could have given more than a good account of himself in a fight. But instead, he walked over to the boy who had hit him, stood with his hands at his side and said: "You can go ahead and hit me again if you want to. But you have already lost this fight." In front of all those people, that took a lot more courage than it would have required to try to knock the other boy down.
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Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14 -- "Give the King thy justice, O God."
Prayer Of The Day
Keep us aware of the other people who look to us as examples, we pray. Grant that someone may not stumble because of our misconduct. Keep us aware, we pray, of the ways in which we can be examples to the young, to the innocent. Thank you, Lord. Amen.
