Reading: Psalm 19, 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, Luke 4:14-21, Isaiah 43:16-21
Preached at First Presbyterian Church Baldwin, NY, January 27th, 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
Isaiah 43:18-19, “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”
These were words that the prophet Isaiah spoke to Israel at a time they were going through some stormy waters, struggling to know exactly how they were going to make it through. It wasn’t the first time they had been in such a situation, and it wouldn’t be the last.
I can identify with that! I’m guessing most of us can. Life seems to lead us from one thing to the next thing. We can identify that some of the situations we have got ourselves into are mostly of our own creating. We took a wrong turn. We spoke a word in haste. We omitted to take a course of action that would have brought about a more beneficial result.
My mum used to warn me that if I ate cookies in bed then there would be crumbs and it wasn’t washday in our house until Saturday. So if I stayed in bed Sunday morning and ate cookies instead of getting up to go to church there would be crumbs in my bed all week and I just had to live with it. You make your bed, you lie in it.
Israel had more to contend with than crumbs. Defeat. Exile. The loss of identity and loss of faith. This was serious. And they didn’t see it coming, just carried on as though they were immune to the sort of problems that were common to the rest of humanity. It’s not a new story; it’s sadly all too common.
Where was the remedy? What was the solution? What were they going to do now? That’s the situation Isaiah is addressing. And in that situation the prophet offers a startling answer.
It’s startling because I don’t think it was the sort of answer that people expected or were even ready to consider. Startling because it was an answer that in many ways was not rooted in any course of action that they could take for themselves but entirely dependent upon the initiative and action of God.
Let me take you through this passage and hopefully try and draw something good out of it that can help us deal with some of the things we face in our lives. Before God can really help them God has to shake them out of their complacency. Before God can really do anything for them they had to see that their way of doing things just wasn’t going to work any more.
The passage begins with God addressing the people and reminding them of events of their history. The events of the Exodus and their deliverance from Egypt. “I am the God, who rescued you from slavery, who carried you through the wilderness, who buried those fearsome Egyptian chariots in the depths of the sea, and snuffed out your enemies like they were a flickering candle. Now what do you think about that?”
I can imagine some of them thinking, “Excellent!. God has been good to us in the past. Maybe that’s what God is going to do again. I can also imagine many of them thinking, “O.K. Here we go again. It’s time for the “Remember the Exodus speech”. Every time we get in trouble some prophet comes along and says, “Now just remember God. Turn back to God and every thing’s going to be all right. Yadda, Yadda, Yadda”.
Is that where a lot of people in contemporary America are right now? The gospel isn’t being heard because people have heard it all before. It’s good news that people have already listened to time and time again. It’s good, but it’s not really news anymore.
The Exodus had become old news to the Israelites. The basis of their history and a life-changing event that defined who they were, but... nevertheless... old news. And it’s right here that Isaiah’s proclamation kicks in. Isaiah tells them that the God who delivered them in the past is now saying, “Forget about it”.
Isaiah 43:18 “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old”.
This is a message for people who have grown weary of the same old good news. This is a wake up call. I listen sometimes to some of the religious radio stations as I’m driving around. There’s often a stress on 'Old Time religion', on looking back to the days of some great period of history or to some particular preacher, and saying that’s what we have to get back to.
And now here’s the prophet saying “Forget about it”
But forget about it, for a reason.
And the reason?
Isaiah 43 19” “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth”
I like the way Eugene Peterson paraphrases this passage in the “Message”. “Forget about what’s happened, don’t keep going over old history. Be alert. Be present. I’m about to do something brand new. It’s bursting out!”
A new thing. I'm glad the passage says 'A new thing' and not 'The Latest Thing'. There is a huge difference between 'What's Trending' and the kind of new thing that is spoken of in this scripture. It’s a difference that comes from the One who is speaking the Word.
When God says, “I am” it’s an indication that there’s something coming, something that we need to take serious notice of. If I say, “Hey, here’s a new song to sing”, then the chances are that what I will offer you, may be new to you, but it won’t be anything that is going to change the face of the way music is perceived and worship is conducted for evermore afterward.
When God speaks through the prophet, about doing something new, then... take notice. Because this new thing is coming from the creative heart of God’s love. This is not something that’s coming down a line to us as the latest trend, but an eternal word to change the way we perceive our lives.
The theologian Paul Tillich writes; “Behold, I am doing a new thing. “I” points to the source of the really new, to that which is always old and always new, the Eternal…. The really new is that which has in itself eternal power and eternal light…. That which makes life possible again, in both our personal and historical existence, a saving new, which has the power to appear when we least expect it, and has the power to throw into the past what is old and burdened with guilt and curse.” (Paul Tillich in “The New Being”).
This ‘new’ is as fresh as the first warm day of spring and as startling as a clap of thunder on a sunny afternoon. This is the 'New’ that spoke time and words and creation into being. This ‘New” is a refreshing new, a revitalizing new, a renewing new
Have you noticed how many religious words (including the word religion itself) begin with RE- something? RE-newal, RE-conciliation, RE-creation, RE-formation. RE-birth, RE-storation.
I was reading of a man who had an oak desk in his study that had become the worse for wear. He decided that he would do what he could to put it back in good shape. As this was something he hadn’t tried before he decided to call an antique dealer to see what such a process would involve. He asked, “What does it take to make old furniture like new?”
The restorer answered, “It takes imagination. Creative imagination. You have to see past all the layers of paint and chips, past the mars and scars. You have to look past all the faults in the wood and the broken pieces. You need to be able to see the furniture in its original beauty. You have to get excited about the possibilities you see beneath the surface”.
“Then you need, not a little, but a whole lot of time and energy. It won’t happen overnight. It takes time. It takes disciplined energy. The miracle doesn’t happen with the snap of your fingers.”
“The skills aren’t that hard to learn. The skill of choosing the right solution to strip it down. The skill of choosing the right sandpaper. The skill of fixing a broken hinge. But love is far more important than skill. The skills are important but not as important as the loving possibilities you have in your minds eye as you start to work.”
I can hear echoes of Isaiah in that description. Forget what it was, forget what it has become, and picture what it can be. Renew it. Recreate it. Reform it. Redeem it. Restore it. Do for it what it cannot do for itself. We go through life and the older we get the more the chips and scars start to appear. It’s tempting to look back. It’s tempting to long for the good old days. We can become jaded and used and despondent.
Then along comes a word of God like this one. “Hey you know how great things were in the past, and how bad thing have become now? Forget about it! Don’t make that your focus. Listen up. I’m speaking a new word, a reconciling word, a forgiving word, and a recreating word. Do you want to hear it? Can you perceive it?”
God wants to go to work on us. God has a great imagination and sees the possibilities. God sees past the crud, sees past the scars, sees past the darkness, and sees past the brokenness. God strips off the old anger and hatred and fixes the broken pieces of our lives. It takes time. More time than we’d like.
But the more time we give to it, the more time we spend in prayer, in worship, in study, in service of others, the more time and energy we give to things that have lasting significance, actions reflecting love and being loved, then new layers replace the old layers, a new veneer of grace and peace starts to appears. Layers of joy and contentment and hope.
New things. Eternal things. Things that can only come to us through allowing the love of Jesus Christ to renew us and restore us on a daily basis. Things that the Holy Spirit gifts us with and inspires us to pursue.
Hear again the prophet’s word.
“Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing, now it springs forth,
Do you not perceive it?”
May God help us to live in a way
that reflects the new life of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Many Gifts, One Spirit
Reading: Psalm 36:5-10, Isaiah 62:1-5, John 2:1-11, Corinthians 12:1-11
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, January 20th 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
Our reading today, from Corinthians chapter 12, speaks about their being many gifts that are given to us as a church, but there being one Holy Spirit by whom they are given and whom should guide their use.
The church in Corinth were a very gifted group of people. Both in terms of natural talents and their ability to receive special abilities under God’s influence they showed great promise. But they had a problem, a problem that they had written to Paul about, and the section we read this morning was part of Paul’s answer to their concern.
Stated quite simply their problem was that although they were a very gifted people, they didn’t understand how they should use their gifts. Before they had come into the church some of them were already gifted people, and then it was obvious how they used their gifts and talents; for their personal gain and self-promotion.
Isn’t that how it is in the world? If people have a gift or a talent, they tend to use it for the benefit mostly of themselves. Our society positively encourages us to make the most of our selves, to use what we have to gain an advantage over others. This is considered a virtue.
Self-concern misguided the Corinthians about the Holy Spirit. So they used the Spirit’s gifts to compete and determine who was better, more loved and approved by God. That’s the way life had taught them to be. The one who had the most toys won the game. The one who worshiped the most powerful idol had an advantage over the one who worshiped a lesser god. This attitude of self concern so dominated their lives that they couldn’t think straight about the gifts they had been given.
So Paul starts laying down some basics. Let me paraphrase what the first part of the passage is saying. “You know” Paul says, “When it comes to spiritual gifts the last thing in the world I want is for you to be uninformed and ignorant. Some things you know already. For example you know that if somebody claims to be really spiritually gifted and is going around saying “Jesus? Who needs Jesus? Forget about Jesus, I’ve got my gifts from God, I don’t need Jesus” then they are not acting under the influence of God’s Spirit.”
“In a similar way if somebody is showing evidence of Jesus being in charge of their life, and demonstrating through the way they live that “Jesus is Lord” over them... that the way of Jesus has an influence on their thinking and doing... then you have the sense to figure out that God’s Spirit has been active in their life.”
In a round about way he reminds them that the way things worked in the world, wasn’t the way things were meant to go in the church; that Kingdom values were different to worldly values. They already knew this, because they already recognized that although there were a variety of different tasks that needed to be done, although there were different ways of doing the things that needed to be done and although everybody had different gifts to do the things that needed to be done, the motivating force behind it all was God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - One God, One Lord, One Spirit.
What had happened was that the Holy Spirit had emptied out the gift box on that Corinthian Congregation and in their eagerness to use the gifts, they had lost sight of the difference, between using gifts for God and using gifts according to the way of the world.
Paul then talks about some of the gifts they had been given. He does something that is very 'Paul' and very clever. One of the things that was dividing the church in Corinth was the matter of speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues was a form of ecstatic utterance, not unknown in pagan religions, manifested by the disciples on the day of Pentecost and a practice many Christians of different traditions today still view as having value.
The problem was that some of the Corinthians had this gift and others didn’t. And the ones who had it thought it meant that they were somehow more blessed and better than the rest. This attitude of ‘I’m better than you are’ was crippling their life and their witness. It was contrary to what God intended.
Although the matter of tongues and their interpretation was ‘The big concern’ to the Corinthians, when Paul makes his list of gifts, he puts the matter of ‘tongue speaking’ right at the bottom. At the top of his list, he inserts things that the Corinthian’s were in danger of losing sight of; ‘Wisdom’, ‘Knowledge’ and ‘Faith’.
In a later chapter, he says that even these gifts are dwarfed by something far more important. Love. The sort of love that Jesus was and that Jesus lived. If they didn’t have love, Paul will tell them, then everything else that they thought they had was actually completely worthless. Getting back to our passage, what sort of application should we make of this passage to our own lives? What can it speak to us in our time?
The first thing that the passage challenges us with is regarding the way we use our gifts. That we, like the Corinthians, need to recognize that if we are part of a Christian church or a Christian community we have to change the way we look at our lives and the gifts God has blessed us with in our lives.
We have to move from of position of thinking “How can my life be blessed by being a part of this church” to “How can my life bless others whom God is drawing to this community of faith”. For us, in such a self-aggrandizing and self-possessed society, that is a huge paradigm shift to make. To move from a ‘getting’ mentality to a ‘giving’ mentality.
Ever heard of Millard Fuller? By the time he was thirty years old Millard Fuller had made a million dollars. He had cars, house, and a fancy boat. Now I know some of you are thinking, “Wow, good going, what a guy!” Because that’s the way we are conditioned to think. That’s how similar our mind set is to that of the Corinthians. We have gifts and we use them to benefit ourselves. And well done, if we get rich doing it. That’s the way the world thinks.
But Millard Fuller was miserable. Money did not buy him happiness. So he decided to change his goals. His new goal became to build a million homes for people who had no decent place to live. He founded an organization called ‘Habitat for Humanity’. Now people all around the world are working with him to build thousands of homes every year. He says that he is happier now in his small house and building houses for others than he ever was in his fancy house.
Now here’s a no-brainer question. Which one sounds like the Kingdom way to you? The way of using his gifts to build his own house or the way of building homes for others unable to help themselves? This passage challenges us to use our gifts to make a kingdom kind of difference with our lives.
A second thing this passage reminds us is that we need our religion to be a matter of our heads as well as our hearts. When I served in West Virginia, I occasionally came across fellow pastors who told me that when they preached, they just got into the pulpit and let the Holy Spirit take over. They didn't need to spend time in study (or going through the discipline of attending Seminary). They just let the Spirit move.
Would you get on a plane whose pilot bragged about the fact that he had very little flight training but was allowing God to direct the controls? Would you be attracted to a dentist whose only claim to expertise in their field was that they knew a bit about drilling holes? Paul is quite clear that if we are to move towards spiritual maturity then it is not an either/or situation. That it is a matter of both the head and the heart, the human intellect and the Holy Spirit.
I am delighted when our Bible studies are well attended. I am encouraged by the fact that many of you are folk who want to go deeper in understanding your faith. Paul begins this section with the words 'I do not want you to be ignorant’. He challenges the Corinthians to ‘think through’ their actions and chastises them for not doing so. He lists the gifts of thought and intellect at the top of his list of Spiritual gifts. He gave himself heart soul and intellect to serving the gospel. We are invited to do the same.
A third thing that this passage challenges us to consider is that some of these gifts are strange and maybe uncomfortable to some of us. The Presbyterian Church has not historically been a church that has stressed such things as ‘working miracles’ ‘gifts of healing’ and ‘speaking in tongues’. Yet there are miracles that take place, there are some tremendous testimonies of healing, and there are folks, even Presbyterian folks, who use a whole variety of practices in prayer, as part of their regular devotional life.
We should not allow our stress upon everything being done ‘decently and in order’ to prevent us from experiencing God in unfamiliar ways, or in such a way as we restrain the genuine workings of God’s Spirit in our midst. Sometimes that may even mean receiving gifts from God that we hadn’t expected or or have yet to experience.
But to conclude - We are a gifted people. There are many gifts, but One Spirit. The question is; 'How will we use the gifts God has blessed us with in the service of the communities in which we live and move and have our being?'
Many Gifts, One Spirit. AMEN.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, January 20th 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
Our reading today, from Corinthians chapter 12, speaks about their being many gifts that are given to us as a church, but there being one Holy Spirit by whom they are given and whom should guide their use.
The church in Corinth were a very gifted group of people. Both in terms of natural talents and their ability to receive special abilities under God’s influence they showed great promise. But they had a problem, a problem that they had written to Paul about, and the section we read this morning was part of Paul’s answer to their concern.
Stated quite simply their problem was that although they were a very gifted people, they didn’t understand how they should use their gifts. Before they had come into the church some of them were already gifted people, and then it was obvious how they used their gifts and talents; for their personal gain and self-promotion.
Isn’t that how it is in the world? If people have a gift or a talent, they tend to use it for the benefit mostly of themselves. Our society positively encourages us to make the most of our selves, to use what we have to gain an advantage over others. This is considered a virtue.
Self-concern misguided the Corinthians about the Holy Spirit. So they used the Spirit’s gifts to compete and determine who was better, more loved and approved by God. That’s the way life had taught them to be. The one who had the most toys won the game. The one who worshiped the most powerful idol had an advantage over the one who worshiped a lesser god. This attitude of self concern so dominated their lives that they couldn’t think straight about the gifts they had been given.
So Paul starts laying down some basics. Let me paraphrase what the first part of the passage is saying. “You know” Paul says, “When it comes to spiritual gifts the last thing in the world I want is for you to be uninformed and ignorant. Some things you know already. For example you know that if somebody claims to be really spiritually gifted and is going around saying “Jesus? Who needs Jesus? Forget about Jesus, I’ve got my gifts from God, I don’t need Jesus” then they are not acting under the influence of God’s Spirit.”
“In a similar way if somebody is showing evidence of Jesus being in charge of their life, and demonstrating through the way they live that “Jesus is Lord” over them... that the way of Jesus has an influence on their thinking and doing... then you have the sense to figure out that God’s Spirit has been active in their life.”
In a round about way he reminds them that the way things worked in the world, wasn’t the way things were meant to go in the church; that Kingdom values were different to worldly values. They already knew this, because they already recognized that although there were a variety of different tasks that needed to be done, although there were different ways of doing the things that needed to be done and although everybody had different gifts to do the things that needed to be done, the motivating force behind it all was God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - One God, One Lord, One Spirit.
What had happened was that the Holy Spirit had emptied out the gift box on that Corinthian Congregation and in their eagerness to use the gifts, they had lost sight of the difference, between using gifts for God and using gifts according to the way of the world.
Paul then talks about some of the gifts they had been given. He does something that is very 'Paul' and very clever. One of the things that was dividing the church in Corinth was the matter of speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues was a form of ecstatic utterance, not unknown in pagan religions, manifested by the disciples on the day of Pentecost and a practice many Christians of different traditions today still view as having value.
The problem was that some of the Corinthians had this gift and others didn’t. And the ones who had it thought it meant that they were somehow more blessed and better than the rest. This attitude of ‘I’m better than you are’ was crippling their life and their witness. It was contrary to what God intended.
Although the matter of tongues and their interpretation was ‘The big concern’ to the Corinthians, when Paul makes his list of gifts, he puts the matter of ‘tongue speaking’ right at the bottom. At the top of his list, he inserts things that the Corinthian’s were in danger of losing sight of; ‘Wisdom’, ‘Knowledge’ and ‘Faith’.
In a later chapter, he says that even these gifts are dwarfed by something far more important. Love. The sort of love that Jesus was and that Jesus lived. If they didn’t have love, Paul will tell them, then everything else that they thought they had was actually completely worthless. Getting back to our passage, what sort of application should we make of this passage to our own lives? What can it speak to us in our time?
The first thing that the passage challenges us with is regarding the way we use our gifts. That we, like the Corinthians, need to recognize that if we are part of a Christian church or a Christian community we have to change the way we look at our lives and the gifts God has blessed us with in our lives.
We have to move from of position of thinking “How can my life be blessed by being a part of this church” to “How can my life bless others whom God is drawing to this community of faith”. For us, in such a self-aggrandizing and self-possessed society, that is a huge paradigm shift to make. To move from a ‘getting’ mentality to a ‘giving’ mentality.
Ever heard of Millard Fuller? By the time he was thirty years old Millard Fuller had made a million dollars. He had cars, house, and a fancy boat. Now I know some of you are thinking, “Wow, good going, what a guy!” Because that’s the way we are conditioned to think. That’s how similar our mind set is to that of the Corinthians. We have gifts and we use them to benefit ourselves. And well done, if we get rich doing it. That’s the way the world thinks.
But Millard Fuller was miserable. Money did not buy him happiness. So he decided to change his goals. His new goal became to build a million homes for people who had no decent place to live. He founded an organization called ‘Habitat for Humanity’. Now people all around the world are working with him to build thousands of homes every year. He says that he is happier now in his small house and building houses for others than he ever was in his fancy house.
Now here’s a no-brainer question. Which one sounds like the Kingdom way to you? The way of using his gifts to build his own house or the way of building homes for others unable to help themselves? This passage challenges us to use our gifts to make a kingdom kind of difference with our lives.
A second thing this passage reminds us is that we need our religion to be a matter of our heads as well as our hearts. When I served in West Virginia, I occasionally came across fellow pastors who told me that when they preached, they just got into the pulpit and let the Holy Spirit take over. They didn't need to spend time in study (or going through the discipline of attending Seminary). They just let the Spirit move.
Would you get on a plane whose pilot bragged about the fact that he had very little flight training but was allowing God to direct the controls? Would you be attracted to a dentist whose only claim to expertise in their field was that they knew a bit about drilling holes? Paul is quite clear that if we are to move towards spiritual maturity then it is not an either/or situation. That it is a matter of both the head and the heart, the human intellect and the Holy Spirit.
I am delighted when our Bible studies are well attended. I am encouraged by the fact that many of you are folk who want to go deeper in understanding your faith. Paul begins this section with the words 'I do not want you to be ignorant’. He challenges the Corinthians to ‘think through’ their actions and chastises them for not doing so. He lists the gifts of thought and intellect at the top of his list of Spiritual gifts. He gave himself heart soul and intellect to serving the gospel. We are invited to do the same.
A third thing that this passage challenges us to consider is that some of these gifts are strange and maybe uncomfortable to some of us. The Presbyterian Church has not historically been a church that has stressed such things as ‘working miracles’ ‘gifts of healing’ and ‘speaking in tongues’. Yet there are miracles that take place, there are some tremendous testimonies of healing, and there are folks, even Presbyterian folks, who use a whole variety of practices in prayer, as part of their regular devotional life.
We should not allow our stress upon everything being done ‘decently and in order’ to prevent us from experiencing God in unfamiliar ways, or in such a way as we restrain the genuine workings of God’s Spirit in our midst. Sometimes that may even mean receiving gifts from God that we hadn’t expected or or have yet to experience.
But to conclude - We are a gifted people. There are many gifts, but One Spirit. The question is; 'How will we use the gifts God has blessed us with in the service of the communities in which we live and move and have our being?'
- Will we use our gifts to serve self or serve God?
- Will we apply our mind as well as our heart to discipleship?
- Are we prepared to receive from God gifts we hadn’t considered and make life changes in the light of those gifts?
Many Gifts, One Spirit. AMEN.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Calling Your Name
BAPTISM OF THE LORD SUNDAY
Reading: Psalm 29, Acts 8:14-17, Luke 3:15-17, 21-22, Isaiah 43:1-7
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, January 13th, 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
A Boston minister was about to perform the sacrament of infant baptism. The proud parents came forward and presented their infant daughter to the minister, who took the child in his arms, turned toward the font, and suddenly realized he didn't know the child's name. He turned to the father and whispered, "What is the child's name?"
The father replied in a whisper, "Spin Donna." The minister thought this was a rather unusual name, but went ahead with the ritual, saying, "Spin Donna, I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." The father became furious and the mother burst into tears. They took their baby back and stormed out of the sanctuary. After the service, the couple was waiting in the minister's study.
The father glared at the pastor, saying, "How could you give our child such a ridiculous name?" The pastor looked at the man in disbelief. "I didn't make it up. I asked you what her name is and you said, 'Spin Donna.' " The father said, "You idiot, I said that it's pinned on her!" The father then showed the minister a small note with the name Elizabeth, pinned to the baby's baptism dress”.
Today in the church calendar is a Sunday that’s known as ‘Baptism of the Lord Sunday' when congregations that follow a lectionary focus on passages related to baptism. Our passage from the book of Isaiah contained the phrase “I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you”.
It’s no secret that different churches, even reformed Protestant churches, have different views regarding baptism. Actually they are not that different when you analyze them. They have more to do with disagreements about the right time and the right way of administering the sacrament rather than the actual meaning of it.
One thing the different traditions have in common is that Baptism is a sign of God’s claim upon our lives. The baptism of John, in the wilderness was for those who wanted to prepare themselves for the Kingdom, so that when it arrived, they would be ready. Through repentance they were entering in to what God was doing in the world.
At the baptism of Jesus, God’s ownership and special relationship to His Son is revealed through the Spirit coming down as a dove and a voice from heaven declaring “This is my beloved Son”. Both the dove and the voice were signs of the particular claim God had upon the life of Jesus.
In the baptisms that we read of in the Book of Acts they are united by the fact that in each case they include the recognition that God has a claim upon our lives. Be it an individual in a carriage like the Ethiopian, or, as in a number of cases, a whole household, again the sacrament is a sign of God’s claim on our lives and of the individual or communities willingness to live a life that shows signs of God’s ownership.
In the history of the church, be it family occasions of infant baptism when the child of a Christian family is marked with the water and named as a child of God, or be it an adult baptism in a river or baptistery that is accompanied by words of testimony and statements of personal faith, again a uniting feature is that through the waters of baptism, recognition is given to the claim of God upon our lives.
The naming part of the ceremony is important. The couple in the earlier story was right to be upset. Names are important. Names are a sign of belonging. When somebody calls us by name we know they are speaking to us. When somebody knows our names, even those funny stupid special names that we sometimes coin for each other, such names are a sign of relationship and intimacy.
In Johns Gospel Jesus, the Good Shepherd, speaks of His followers saying, " My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). The implication in the wording is that to be a disciple is to be a person who hears and recognizes the voice of God calling their name and responds through following the Masters lead.
When I had three dogs they did not have a huge vocabulary. They recognized certain words. Some phrases such as 'Biscuit', 'Dinner' and 'Walk' produced a response . Yet they also individually recognized when their own name was being called.
When I said “Lucy come here” it was not Harpo or Ricco that came running. When I said “Ricco come here” it was not usually Lucy or Harpo that came running. When I say “Harpo come here” then Harpo considers the request… but that’s another story! The point is that when a name is called it’s a sign of a personal claim upon a life.
God claims us as God’s own people. Baptism is a sign of God’s claim upon our lives. God calls us by name and wants us to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Baptism of the Lord Sunday is a day to remember that through your baptism the Lord has called you by name. It’s an occasion for you to claim your baptismal promises by accepting your identity as a precious and much loved child of the Lord. It’s a time to faithfully respond to the fact that God calls you to serve others in Christ’s name.
Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, South Ridge Village, in Alberta, tells this story in a sermon relating to our Isaiah passage.
”A rich fellow bought an old organ, which had been magnificent in its day, but now was dilapidated, banged up and hardly played at all. So he called in experts from all over the world, hoping they could restore it. When they had finished the organ looked like new. The little angels were shiny and clean; the ornamental carved leaves had smooth curves and corners. The botchy varnish was gone. The only problem was that the insides were sitting in boxes on the floor. The owner continued to advertise for organ experts to fix and restore his organ. But no one could do it. One day a little wizenly, half-blind old man knocked on the door. The Butler laughed at him saying, “What makes you think you can fix it? We’ve had experts here from all over the world!.”
But the owner overheard the discussion and answered saying that it couldn’t hurt to try. So the stranger set out to work. After several days, he had the organ operating like new. When asked how he could do this, he replied, “I made it.” "
God who made each one of us is the only One who can truly fix, restore and give new life to each one of us. It doesn’t matter how we may feel; God can and does and will lift us up.
What I haven’t told you about our text today is that Isaiah wrote his words at a time when Israel was going through the worst of times. A time of exile and feeling as though the judgment of God was upon them. Isaiah didn’t write this passage for a cozy service of baptism but for a time of turmoil and despair.
Last year following Hurricane Sandy we were in a mess. We had the stuffing knocked out of us! A New Year is a good time to be recalling our baptisms and the words that God speaks to those He calls His own. In that context listen again to some of those words from Isaiah as Eugene Peterson paraphrases them in “The Message”
“But now, God's Message, the God who made you in the first place, Jacob, the One who got you started, Israel: "Don't be afraid, I've redeemed you. I've called your name. You're mine. When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you. When you're in rough waters, you will not go down. When you're between a rock and a hard place, it won't be a dead end, because … I am God”
Baptism of the Lord Sunday is about remembering there is a God, the Great “I am” who calls us by name and claims us through the waters of baptism as His own. It’s a day to give our lives afresh into God’s hands and remember He wants to work in and through our lives.
I encourage you today to claim your baptismal promises. When you passed through the waters, God was with you and God remains with you. The Reformers such as Martin Luther talked to their people in terms of “Growing into” their baptisms. They spoke of baptism not as a sacrament of arrival, but as a sacrament of new beginning.
Every day lived in the presence of Jesus Christ is a day of new beginnings. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow are days that have our names written on them. Let us therefore go forward in faith, to the Glory of God, the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the strength of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Reading: Psalm 29, Acts 8:14-17, Luke 3:15-17, 21-22, Isaiah 43:1-7
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, January 13th, 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
A Boston minister was about to perform the sacrament of infant baptism. The proud parents came forward and presented their infant daughter to the minister, who took the child in his arms, turned toward the font, and suddenly realized he didn't know the child's name. He turned to the father and whispered, "What is the child's name?"
The father replied in a whisper, "Spin Donna." The minister thought this was a rather unusual name, but went ahead with the ritual, saying, "Spin Donna, I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." The father became furious and the mother burst into tears. They took their baby back and stormed out of the sanctuary. After the service, the couple was waiting in the minister's study.
The father glared at the pastor, saying, "How could you give our child such a ridiculous name?" The pastor looked at the man in disbelief. "I didn't make it up. I asked you what her name is and you said, 'Spin Donna.' " The father said, "You idiot, I said that it's pinned on her!" The father then showed the minister a small note with the name Elizabeth, pinned to the baby's baptism dress”.
Today in the church calendar is a Sunday that’s known as ‘Baptism of the Lord Sunday' when congregations that follow a lectionary focus on passages related to baptism. Our passage from the book of Isaiah contained the phrase “I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you”.
It’s no secret that different churches, even reformed Protestant churches, have different views regarding baptism. Actually they are not that different when you analyze them. They have more to do with disagreements about the right time and the right way of administering the sacrament rather than the actual meaning of it.
One thing the different traditions have in common is that Baptism is a sign of God’s claim upon our lives. The baptism of John, in the wilderness was for those who wanted to prepare themselves for the Kingdom, so that when it arrived, they would be ready. Through repentance they were entering in to what God was doing in the world.
At the baptism of Jesus, God’s ownership and special relationship to His Son is revealed through the Spirit coming down as a dove and a voice from heaven declaring “This is my beloved Son”. Both the dove and the voice were signs of the particular claim God had upon the life of Jesus.
In the baptisms that we read of in the Book of Acts they are united by the fact that in each case they include the recognition that God has a claim upon our lives. Be it an individual in a carriage like the Ethiopian, or, as in a number of cases, a whole household, again the sacrament is a sign of God’s claim on our lives and of the individual or communities willingness to live a life that shows signs of God’s ownership.
In the history of the church, be it family occasions of infant baptism when the child of a Christian family is marked with the water and named as a child of God, or be it an adult baptism in a river or baptistery that is accompanied by words of testimony and statements of personal faith, again a uniting feature is that through the waters of baptism, recognition is given to the claim of God upon our lives.
The naming part of the ceremony is important. The couple in the earlier story was right to be upset. Names are important. Names are a sign of belonging. When somebody calls us by name we know they are speaking to us. When somebody knows our names, even those funny stupid special names that we sometimes coin for each other, such names are a sign of relationship and intimacy.
In Johns Gospel Jesus, the Good Shepherd, speaks of His followers saying, " My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). The implication in the wording is that to be a disciple is to be a person who hears and recognizes the voice of God calling their name and responds through following the Masters lead.
When I had three dogs they did not have a huge vocabulary. They recognized certain words. Some phrases such as 'Biscuit', 'Dinner' and 'Walk' produced a response . Yet they also individually recognized when their own name was being called.
When I said “Lucy come here” it was not Harpo or Ricco that came running. When I said “Ricco come here” it was not usually Lucy or Harpo that came running. When I say “Harpo come here” then Harpo considers the request… but that’s another story! The point is that when a name is called it’s a sign of a personal claim upon a life.
God claims us as God’s own people. Baptism is a sign of God’s claim upon our lives. God calls us by name and wants us to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Baptism of the Lord Sunday is a day to remember that through your baptism the Lord has called you by name. It’s an occasion for you to claim your baptismal promises by accepting your identity as a precious and much loved child of the Lord. It’s a time to faithfully respond to the fact that God calls you to serve others in Christ’s name.
Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, South Ridge Village, in Alberta, tells this story in a sermon relating to our Isaiah passage.
”A rich fellow bought an old organ, which had been magnificent in its day, but now was dilapidated, banged up and hardly played at all. So he called in experts from all over the world, hoping they could restore it. When they had finished the organ looked like new. The little angels were shiny and clean; the ornamental carved leaves had smooth curves and corners. The botchy varnish was gone. The only problem was that the insides were sitting in boxes on the floor. The owner continued to advertise for organ experts to fix and restore his organ. But no one could do it. One day a little wizenly, half-blind old man knocked on the door. The Butler laughed at him saying, “What makes you think you can fix it? We’ve had experts here from all over the world!.”
But the owner overheard the discussion and answered saying that it couldn’t hurt to try. So the stranger set out to work. After several days, he had the organ operating like new. When asked how he could do this, he replied, “I made it.” "
God who made each one of us is the only One who can truly fix, restore and give new life to each one of us. It doesn’t matter how we may feel; God can and does and will lift us up.
What I haven’t told you about our text today is that Isaiah wrote his words at a time when Israel was going through the worst of times. A time of exile and feeling as though the judgment of God was upon them. Isaiah didn’t write this passage for a cozy service of baptism but for a time of turmoil and despair.
Last year following Hurricane Sandy we were in a mess. We had the stuffing knocked out of us! A New Year is a good time to be recalling our baptisms and the words that God speaks to those He calls His own. In that context listen again to some of those words from Isaiah as Eugene Peterson paraphrases them in “The Message”
“But now, God's Message, the God who made you in the first place, Jacob, the One who got you started, Israel: "Don't be afraid, I've redeemed you. I've called your name. You're mine. When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you. When you're in rough waters, you will not go down. When you're between a rock and a hard place, it won't be a dead end, because … I am God”
Baptism of the Lord Sunday is about remembering there is a God, the Great “I am” who calls us by name and claims us through the waters of baptism as His own. It’s a day to give our lives afresh into God’s hands and remember He wants to work in and through our lives.
I encourage you today to claim your baptismal promises. When you passed through the waters, God was with you and God remains with you. The Reformers such as Martin Luther talked to their people in terms of “Growing into” their baptisms. They spoke of baptism not as a sacrament of arrival, but as a sacrament of new beginning.
Every day lived in the presence of Jesus Christ is a day of new beginnings. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow are days that have our names written on them. Let us therefore go forward in faith, to the Glory of God, the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the strength of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Wise Gifts For a Great King
Readings: Psalm 72:1-7,10-14, Isaiah 60:1-6, Matthew 2:1-12, Ephesians 4:25-5:2
Preached at First Presbyterian Church Baldwin, NY, January 6th 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
A favorite seasonal hymn for many folk is "We three Kings". Did you ever stop to think about how the gifts the Wise men bought to Jesus were related to the life He would lead? That's what I would like us to think about on this Epiphany Sunday and I'm keeping at the back of my mind two bible verses; Ephesians 5:2 "Christ loved us and gave Himself for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" & Matthew 2:11"They offered to Him gifts; gold, frankincense and myrrh"
THE GIFT OF GOLD
"Born a King on Bethlehem plain, Gold I bring to crown Him again
King for ever, ceasing never,Over us all to reign."
Gold, in the time of Jesus - as it is today was the most precious metal. A golden denarius was the most precious Roman coin. The goldsmith in Israelite society was an important person. Only pure gold was used to make the ornaments used in the two centers of worship for Old Testament religion, the tabernacle and the temple.
Upon each of my hands, I proudly wear a ring. The ring is precious. It's made of gold. But its true value lies in what it signifies. I say that because I've also got three gold teeth in my mouth and whilst I'm sure the gold in my mouth is as materially valuable as that on my finger, one signifies the lack of care I've shown to dental hygiene, whilst the ring on my finger signifies the gift and commitment of love that my wife Yvonne made to me, when we were married. It's the significance of the gold and the ring that makes them precious. Gold represents a commitment of life. Gold represents love.
In the Old Testament Tabernacle the most precious ornament was the lampstand or candlestick. According to the instructions Moses had from God, he instructed the workmen that the candlestick was to be made only from the purest gold. It was the light that illuminated the Holy Place.
By this lampstand of pure gold the people were not only reminded that God gave of His best to them, but also that they were to give of their best to Him. So we read of visitors from the East bringing to Jesus, not only themselves, but also their gold; bringing Him the best of their lives.
Is not our calling to give our best to our King? Sadly, for many people, their investment in earthly joys far outweighs their concern for the gospel. It is just as well that God's concern for us is not so cheap.
Paul tells us that; “Christ loved us and gave Himself for us". In revealing His love to us, God has not been content to send gifts from afar. He, in Christ, brings His presence to the midst of life. He comes where we are, journeys to our homes, our families, our lives. The whole Christmas story is about the God who is with us - God Incarnate.
So we see, at His birth, a wise man offering Him gold, gold a symbol of love, coming himself to give his best to his King... "Gold I bring to crown Him again”
THE GIFT OF FRANKINCENSE
“Frankincense to offer have I, Incense owns a Deity nigh;
Prayer and praising, all men raising, Worship Him,God on high"
Frankincense is made of Olibanum, an aromatic gum resin. The highest quality Frankincense is that which has come from the clearest gum and makes the whitest powder. The name in Hebrew for Frankincense "Lebona" means "White, Shining". When Frankincense powder is burnt it provides a pleasant, penetrating odor. It was used as incense at various festivals and religious occasions.
In the book of Leviticus five offerings are outlined that the people of Israel were to make to their God. Frankincense was used in connection with the Meal Offering, the "Minchah". It was a voluntary offering, a gift made to God to maintain God's favor. Leviticus 6:15 gives these instructions: "The priest is to take a handful of fine flour and oil, together with all the frankincense on the meal offering, and burn the memorial portion on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the Lord'.
If you cook meat or flour in oil, it doesn't give off a particularly sweet smelling odor. But when frankincense was added, that changed things. The Frankincense released a strong smell that overcame all the other odors. (I wonder why no one has ever invented Frankincense flavored socks. Just think of the service they would provide to wash baskets throughout the universe.)
Think back to that text Paul gave to the Ephesians. The apostle Paul was a man who was very much a Hebrew of Hebrews, an ex-Pharisee who knew intimately the traditions and festivals and practices of the orthodox Jew of his day. He writes of a Christ who loved us and gave himself for us, as "frankincense", a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Two further things I'd like you to consider about Frankincense.
1). Frankincense is an offering connected with prayer and praise to God. If our lives are to be an effective witness for Christ then those strands of spirituality must be woven into them. The most prayerful life in the New Testament is that of Jesus Hmself. Time and time again He urged His disciples to become people of prayer for themselves.
2). In order for Frankincense to be used as an offering it had to be burnt. It needed fire. We use the expression about somebody who is excited about something that they are all "fired up". We need the fire of God's Spirit to burn in our hearts, that we may live lives of prayer and worship to God. Think again on the words of the carol, "Frankincense to offer have I, Prayer and praising, all men raising, Worship Him God on high."
THE GIFT OF MYRRH
"Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume, Breathes a life of gathering gloom,
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, Sealed in the stone cold tomb."
Like Frankincense, Myrrh was an expensive perfume. Whilst Frankincense had to be burnt to give up its odor, Myrrh either had to be beaten and crushed before it would give off its fragrance.
Myrrh was one of the ingredients that went into the anointing oil that was used to anoint the Ark of the Covenant, where offerings were made, and the golden lampstand we mentioned earlier, was placed. It was only after they had been anointed with sacred oil that they were considered as being set apart for a holy purpose. The same oil was used to anoint the priests for their work.
Myrrh was one of the ingredients with which the body of Jesus was treated by Joseph after His death on the cross. We also read in Marks gospel that before they crucified Jesus, "They offered him wine, mixed with myrrh”.
In the book of Revelation, the second of seven letters to the churches is addressed to the suffering church at Smyrna. The name of the town of Smyrna has its linguistic root in the word "Myrrh". The letter is an encouraging one to a church whose members were being crushed by persecution.
At a later date, one of Smyrna's bishops was a man called Polycarp. A writing that was extremely influential in the early church was the account of his martyrdom in the arena. Many times in church history, it has been when the church, like myrrh, had been beaten and crushed, that it has produced its most effective witness.
With the benefit of hindsight we can see how appropriate it was that one of the wise gifts bought to Jesus was that of Myrrh, a gift for one who would give his life in an offering of sacrifice, one who was anointed of God for an incomparable task. The challenge to us is clear enough. We are called to sacrificial living. We need the anointing oil of God's Spirit to be our comfort and healing when life brings us its "Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, and dying".
Wise gifts for a Great King!
Preached at First Presbyterian Church Baldwin, NY, January 6th 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
A favorite seasonal hymn for many folk is "We three Kings". Did you ever stop to think about how the gifts the Wise men bought to Jesus were related to the life He would lead? That's what I would like us to think about on this Epiphany Sunday and I'm keeping at the back of my mind two bible verses; Ephesians 5:2 "Christ loved us and gave Himself for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" & Matthew 2:11"They offered to Him gifts; gold, frankincense and myrrh"
THE GIFT OF GOLD
"Born a King on Bethlehem plain, Gold I bring to crown Him again
King for ever, ceasing never,Over us all to reign."
Gold, in the time of Jesus - as it is today was the most precious metal. A golden denarius was the most precious Roman coin. The goldsmith in Israelite society was an important person. Only pure gold was used to make the ornaments used in the two centers of worship for Old Testament religion, the tabernacle and the temple.
Upon each of my hands, I proudly wear a ring. The ring is precious. It's made of gold. But its true value lies in what it signifies. I say that because I've also got three gold teeth in my mouth and whilst I'm sure the gold in my mouth is as materially valuable as that on my finger, one signifies the lack of care I've shown to dental hygiene, whilst the ring on my finger signifies the gift and commitment of love that my wife Yvonne made to me, when we were married. It's the significance of the gold and the ring that makes them precious. Gold represents a commitment of life. Gold represents love.
In the Old Testament Tabernacle the most precious ornament was the lampstand or candlestick. According to the instructions Moses had from God, he instructed the workmen that the candlestick was to be made only from the purest gold. It was the light that illuminated the Holy Place.
By this lampstand of pure gold the people were not only reminded that God gave of His best to them, but also that they were to give of their best to Him. So we read of visitors from the East bringing to Jesus, not only themselves, but also their gold; bringing Him the best of their lives.
Is not our calling to give our best to our King? Sadly, for many people, their investment in earthly joys far outweighs their concern for the gospel. It is just as well that God's concern for us is not so cheap.
Paul tells us that; “Christ loved us and gave Himself for us". In revealing His love to us, God has not been content to send gifts from afar. He, in Christ, brings His presence to the midst of life. He comes where we are, journeys to our homes, our families, our lives. The whole Christmas story is about the God who is with us - God Incarnate.
So we see, at His birth, a wise man offering Him gold, gold a symbol of love, coming himself to give his best to his King... "Gold I bring to crown Him again”
THE GIFT OF FRANKINCENSE
“Frankincense to offer have I, Incense owns a Deity nigh;
Prayer and praising, all men raising, Worship Him,God on high"
Frankincense is made of Olibanum, an aromatic gum resin. The highest quality Frankincense is that which has come from the clearest gum and makes the whitest powder. The name in Hebrew for Frankincense "Lebona" means "White, Shining". When Frankincense powder is burnt it provides a pleasant, penetrating odor. It was used as incense at various festivals and religious occasions.
In the book of Leviticus five offerings are outlined that the people of Israel were to make to their God. Frankincense was used in connection with the Meal Offering, the "Minchah". It was a voluntary offering, a gift made to God to maintain God's favor. Leviticus 6:15 gives these instructions: "The priest is to take a handful of fine flour and oil, together with all the frankincense on the meal offering, and burn the memorial portion on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the Lord'.
If you cook meat or flour in oil, it doesn't give off a particularly sweet smelling odor. But when frankincense was added, that changed things. The Frankincense released a strong smell that overcame all the other odors. (I wonder why no one has ever invented Frankincense flavored socks. Just think of the service they would provide to wash baskets throughout the universe.)
Think back to that text Paul gave to the Ephesians. The apostle Paul was a man who was very much a Hebrew of Hebrews, an ex-Pharisee who knew intimately the traditions and festivals and practices of the orthodox Jew of his day. He writes of a Christ who loved us and gave himself for us, as "frankincense", a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Two further things I'd like you to consider about Frankincense.
1). Frankincense is an offering connected with prayer and praise to God. If our lives are to be an effective witness for Christ then those strands of spirituality must be woven into them. The most prayerful life in the New Testament is that of Jesus Hmself. Time and time again He urged His disciples to become people of prayer for themselves.
2). In order for Frankincense to be used as an offering it had to be burnt. It needed fire. We use the expression about somebody who is excited about something that they are all "fired up". We need the fire of God's Spirit to burn in our hearts, that we may live lives of prayer and worship to God. Think again on the words of the carol, "Frankincense to offer have I, Prayer and praising, all men raising, Worship Him God on high."
THE GIFT OF MYRRH
"Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume, Breathes a life of gathering gloom,
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, Sealed in the stone cold tomb."
Like Frankincense, Myrrh was an expensive perfume. Whilst Frankincense had to be burnt to give up its odor, Myrrh either had to be beaten and crushed before it would give off its fragrance.
Myrrh was one of the ingredients that went into the anointing oil that was used to anoint the Ark of the Covenant, where offerings were made, and the golden lampstand we mentioned earlier, was placed. It was only after they had been anointed with sacred oil that they were considered as being set apart for a holy purpose. The same oil was used to anoint the priests for their work.
Myrrh was one of the ingredients with which the body of Jesus was treated by Joseph after His death on the cross. We also read in Marks gospel that before they crucified Jesus, "They offered him wine, mixed with myrrh”.
In the book of Revelation, the second of seven letters to the churches is addressed to the suffering church at Smyrna. The name of the town of Smyrna has its linguistic root in the word "Myrrh". The letter is an encouraging one to a church whose members were being crushed by persecution.
At a later date, one of Smyrna's bishops was a man called Polycarp. A writing that was extremely influential in the early church was the account of his martyrdom in the arena. Many times in church history, it has been when the church, like myrrh, had been beaten and crushed, that it has produced its most effective witness.
With the benefit of hindsight we can see how appropriate it was that one of the wise gifts bought to Jesus was that of Myrrh, a gift for one who would give his life in an offering of sacrifice, one who was anointed of God for an incomparable task. The challenge to us is clear enough. We are called to sacrificial living. We need the anointing oil of God's Spirit to be our comfort and healing when life brings us its "Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, and dying".
- Let us be prepared to offer Him our gold. Let us give to Him the best of our love.
- Let us offer frankincense, come before Him with prayerful lives and worshipful hearts.
- Let us offer Myrrh . Be prepared to live sacrificially and seek for the oil of His Spirit's anointing to be on our lives.
Wise gifts for a Great King!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
A Savior has been born to you!
Isaiah 9:2-3; 6-7, Luke 2:1-15
First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, December 24th 2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
It has been quite a year hasn't it? Certainly a year filled with some joyful moments but also it's moments of darkness and despair. For myself the year started out in fine form. I celebrated last Christmas by surprising my wife with the unexpected visit of our son and his girlfriend from Maui to celebrate the holidays. In the Spring we managed to visit my homelands. I celebrated Easter preaching on Jones Beach for a Council of Churches Sunrise service. Seemed like it was going to be a fine year.
Things shifted gear around August time. I had a youth camp I helped lead in West Virginia. The last night a storm blew in that took out power from much of West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland. It was a gift that I managed to find gas and get home safely. I was attending another camp, in Pennsylvania a few weeks later, when I received news that my mum had passed away. This obviously meant another, not so joyful trip, to my homelands, to say our good-byes.
Then, just as the politicians were rolling out their closing speeches as to why we should re-elect them, along came Sandy. When she was a couple of days away people were saying, 'Ah, we've had hurricanes before'. Sandy arrived and proved to be more than we could cope with. Life has changed in her wake and our communities continue to rebuild. Folk have been using the phrase 'the new normal' to describe how we have to adapt and change in the light of visits of future storms.
A storm of a different kind erupted in Newtown, Connecticut as a lone gunman went on a violent rampage in an elementary school taking the lives of so many innocent young children and their gifted teachers. Such was the kind of unthinkable crime that we just never thought could happen. The debate needs to continue about gun ownership and security. For sure, for many folk in our area, it's a different kind of world that we are entering into in 2013 than we entered into in 2012.
As we reflect on the Christmas story there are many connections with our past year. The joy of Mary's pregnancy becomes the nightmare of having to travel to register their existence thanks to a government census. They find themselves homeless and the birth has to take place in the bleakest of conditions.
Shepherds on a hillside are astonished when, to them, of all people, comes an angelic message, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. “ Encounters like that and messages for the whole world, didn't usually happen in their neighborhood, or involve folk like them.
There is the account of travelers from afar, following a star, who come to proclaim a newborn King. In their aftermath, in accounts we usually consider after Christmas, comes the slaughter of innocents by the megalomaniac King Herod, and the need for the holy family to flee as refugees to Egypt before they can ever return home.
We find images of displacement, of bereavement, of suffering and mayhem, of folks being unable to return to their homes, of people from outside the area coming to worship and serve, even of the slaughter of innocents at the hands of a lunatic... all these are part of the Christmas story.
Yet the most important part is that far from being absent, these events mark the entrance of God's love into our striving, in and through the life of Jesus Christ. The technical term is 'Incarnation', giving rise to phrases in our Christmas carols such as we sang earlier in our service from 'Hark the Herald Angels:-
“Veiled in flesh the God-head see; Hail the incarnate Deity,
Pleased in flesh with us to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel.”
We do not proclaim a God who is far off and remote but One who comes where we are and enters into our lives. Nowhere in our worship is that more visibly expressed than around the table laid with bread and wine. At Christmas we celebrate God enters into our life. At Easter time we celebrate He also walks with us through times of abandonment, betrayal, suffering and death... all the way through to life eternal.
All of life, past, present and whatever comes after, is tied up with this God who reveals love through a child born at Christmas. We stand with the shepherds on that hillside and wonder what it can mean to hear declared; “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. “
The carol 'Silent night' includes a phrase that speaks of the birth of Jesus as being 'the dawn of redeeming grace'. That is what we should be seeking this year around the communion table. The redeeming grace of God.
The grace of God to redeem what we have lost. And many have lost much this year. Some have lost loved ones. Some have lost homes. Some have lost work. Some have lost hope. Some have been subjected to unthinkable acts of violence that have stolen their little ones from them. Life can not continue the same as it ever was.
We need the redeeming grace of God to guide us towards an uncertain future. We need the comfort of God's Holy Spirit to descend upon us and to be born afresh within us. We need the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to transform our lives. We need each other to rebuild our communities. We need to pray together and worship together so that together we encounter God's transforming, redeeming, amazing grace.
I invite you to come to the table this night, that love may be born afresh, so that hope may become an option and to commit your life, not to more of the same, but to entering the New Year with a commitment to service, in Jesus name. “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. “ Amen!
Adrian J. Pratt
First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, December 24th 2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
It has been quite a year hasn't it? Certainly a year filled with some joyful moments but also it's moments of darkness and despair. For myself the year started out in fine form. I celebrated last Christmas by surprising my wife with the unexpected visit of our son and his girlfriend from Maui to celebrate the holidays. In the Spring we managed to visit my homelands. I celebrated Easter preaching on Jones Beach for a Council of Churches Sunrise service. Seemed like it was going to be a fine year.
Things shifted gear around August time. I had a youth camp I helped lead in West Virginia. The last night a storm blew in that took out power from much of West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland. It was a gift that I managed to find gas and get home safely. I was attending another camp, in Pennsylvania a few weeks later, when I received news that my mum had passed away. This obviously meant another, not so joyful trip, to my homelands, to say our good-byes.
Then, just as the politicians were rolling out their closing speeches as to why we should re-elect them, along came Sandy. When she was a couple of days away people were saying, 'Ah, we've had hurricanes before'. Sandy arrived and proved to be more than we could cope with. Life has changed in her wake and our communities continue to rebuild. Folk have been using the phrase 'the new normal' to describe how we have to adapt and change in the light of visits of future storms.
A storm of a different kind erupted in Newtown, Connecticut as a lone gunman went on a violent rampage in an elementary school taking the lives of so many innocent young children and their gifted teachers. Such was the kind of unthinkable crime that we just never thought could happen. The debate needs to continue about gun ownership and security. For sure, for many folk in our area, it's a different kind of world that we are entering into in 2013 than we entered into in 2012.
As we reflect on the Christmas story there are many connections with our past year. The joy of Mary's pregnancy becomes the nightmare of having to travel to register their existence thanks to a government census. They find themselves homeless and the birth has to take place in the bleakest of conditions.
Shepherds on a hillside are astonished when, to them, of all people, comes an angelic message, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. “ Encounters like that and messages for the whole world, didn't usually happen in their neighborhood, or involve folk like them.
There is the account of travelers from afar, following a star, who come to proclaim a newborn King. In their aftermath, in accounts we usually consider after Christmas, comes the slaughter of innocents by the megalomaniac King Herod, and the need for the holy family to flee as refugees to Egypt before they can ever return home.
We find images of displacement, of bereavement, of suffering and mayhem, of folks being unable to return to their homes, of people from outside the area coming to worship and serve, even of the slaughter of innocents at the hands of a lunatic... all these are part of the Christmas story.
Yet the most important part is that far from being absent, these events mark the entrance of God's love into our striving, in and through the life of Jesus Christ. The technical term is 'Incarnation', giving rise to phrases in our Christmas carols such as we sang earlier in our service from 'Hark the Herald Angels:-
“Veiled in flesh the God-head see; Hail the incarnate Deity,
Pleased in flesh with us to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel.”
We do not proclaim a God who is far off and remote but One who comes where we are and enters into our lives. Nowhere in our worship is that more visibly expressed than around the table laid with bread and wine. At Christmas we celebrate God enters into our life. At Easter time we celebrate He also walks with us through times of abandonment, betrayal, suffering and death... all the way through to life eternal.
All of life, past, present and whatever comes after, is tied up with this God who reveals love through a child born at Christmas. We stand with the shepherds on that hillside and wonder what it can mean to hear declared; “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. “
The carol 'Silent night' includes a phrase that speaks of the birth of Jesus as being 'the dawn of redeeming grace'. That is what we should be seeking this year around the communion table. The redeeming grace of God.
The grace of God to redeem what we have lost. And many have lost much this year. Some have lost loved ones. Some have lost homes. Some have lost work. Some have lost hope. Some have been subjected to unthinkable acts of violence that have stolen their little ones from them. Life can not continue the same as it ever was.
We need the redeeming grace of God to guide us towards an uncertain future. We need the comfort of God's Holy Spirit to descend upon us and to be born afresh within us. We need the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to transform our lives. We need each other to rebuild our communities. We need to pray together and worship together so that together we encounter God's transforming, redeeming, amazing grace.
I invite you to come to the table this night, that love may be born afresh, so that hope may become an option and to commit your life, not to more of the same, but to entering the New Year with a commitment to service, in Jesus name. “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. “ Amen!
Adrian J. Pratt
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)