Indexed by Date. Sermons for Epiphany Year B

January 8, 2006

Genesis 1: 1-5
Psalm 29
Acts 19: 1-7
Mark 1: 4-11

About the Darkness ....

I don’t have to tell any of you about ‘darkness’. Even if there is none in our own lives at this time, everywhere we look we can locate it. For many days and weeks, not all that long ago, we turned on the TV and saw the stories of devastating floods in New Orleans. Recent stories tell us of how little progress has been made, in some areas, getting life back to normal. The same is true in relation to the stories coming from Banda Aceh, in Indonesia and other areas devastated by that massive underwater earthquake a little over a year ago. The aftershocks of the tsunami that took hundreds of thousands of lives are still being felt, both literally, ecologically, economically and emotionally; that tsunami is still a dark and fearsome reality.

We turned on the TV last week to see the story of an explosion in a coal mine in West Virginia and many of us remembered the Westray explosion. In fact Bruce MacKinnon’s ‘political cartoon’ in yesterday’s Chronicle Herald Chronicle Herald made the connection explicit for anyone who had not seen the relationship; industry cutting corners to make a profit and workers resigned to the dangers of their profession because they needed jobs in order to support their families. The last word concerning the lone survivor of that recent explosion is that he was only minutes from death when rescued and may have suffered permanent brain damage from lack of oxygen. Even though he has been ‘rescued’, darkness abounds for him and for his family.

On Boxing Day in Toronto an innocent teenager was caught in the crossfire between two rival gangs and a city is in mourning; not because all that many people knew her, but many more people have finally had to admit that their city was long past being “Toronto the Good”!

In addition to the personal circumstances of illness or breakdown in relationships, every day, it seems, freak accidents, carelessness, drunk drivers, and other criminal activity forces us to come to terms with the brokenness in our world, with the evil that lurks within humanity and the seemingly random tragedies that can come upon anyone at any moment.

When people of faith reflect on their lives, we look for a ‘word from the Lord’ . We look for our God to, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, ‘tear open the heavens and come down’. In today’s scripture readings we have such a word; we have such an action. Our reading from the Hebrew Scriptures begins in chaos, formlessness and darkness; but everything changes when God speaks. This is the speech of light. The words used are few, but oh, so powerful: “Let there be light”. It is, as if the power of the living God has driven back the forces of darkness and the light has appeared. Without God there can be nothing but chaos, just as without light there can be nothing but darkness. We all know the rest of the story: as the days progress the stories tell us of the formation of land and seas, the stars and planets, plants and animals and the rest of life as we know and experience it. It is important to remember though, as we read this soaring piece of prose, that it is not history or science, as we now understand those terms, it is a work in praise of divine speech and action. The writers of Genesis are setting the scene for all that comes afterward: God is at the beginning; God is the cause and author of all that is. When everything seems to be falling apart around you, it is good to know that there is purpose and meaning to the universe. It is ESSENTIAL for all to know that we have not been abandoned to the chaos; for at the end of this section of the creation story we are told that God looked at all that had been created and God proclaimed that it was ‘very good’.

Just before Christmas I took some time, between trying to get rid of that cold I came down with, to do some scrapbooking. One of the pages was of my niece’s “First Christmas”. She was eleven months old then; she could sit and crawl but could not walk. At the end of this month she’ll be 13 and she plays soccer and hockey. Of course that’s the way it is supposed to be, but oh my, how time seems to fly.

Similarly, it was just a few weeks ago that we celebrated the birth of baby Jesus in Bethlehem. Yet, today, our reading is of his baptism. Where did all those intervening years go? By some calculations, there were about 30 of them. I find it interesting that while only two gospels mention Jesus’ birth, ALL of the Gospels, as well as the books of Acts and Romans, mention his baptism. Despite our emphasis today; to the early church it was his baptism that was most important. Why?

The connection between the Hebrew Scripture reading and the gospel is found not only in the presence of the water, but also how the action of God and God’s Spirit brought life from that water. In essence, baptism is a re-creation as once goes under the water, dying to the old way and then coming up from the water and rising with new life. Additionally, at his baptism Jesus was affirmed as God’s beloved, and at every step, God affirmed that creation was GOOD.

But, as always we need to ask what the message for us in all of this.

Martin Luther was the 16th century reformer that is remembered as a leader of the Protestant Reformation. At various times in his life, when he felt that the difficulties and hardships of his life were overwhelming, he would to say to himself, “I am baptized” and that gave him great strength. I find it very interesting to note that he did not say, “Jesus is my saviour” or “God’s loves me”, proclamations which he most certainly believed, but it was his baptism which gave him comfort. It was in his baptism, in God’s actions at baptism that all of the rest of his faith was enacted.

It was at his baptism that Jesus received his calling, his ordination, as it were. After his baptism, which is told of in today’s gospel reading he goes the wilderness to struggle with the form and details of his ministry. We’ll deal with that during the season of Lent. The most striking aspect of today’s reading is the action of God. We are told that Jesus, at least, “saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.” and that a “ voice came from heaven, (saying) ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Jesus’ baptism experience becomes a model for our own; for at our baptism it was, and is, as if, God laid a hand on us, sent the dove-like Spirit upon us and proclaimed each one of us a “beloved child.” We all know how important for early childhood development, and indeed for all of the ages and stages of human life, it is to know that we are loved. We know how important it is for parents and grandparents to tell a child, “I love you” and to act in ways that support that statement.

When I look at the story of Jesus’ baptism, the actions of the Spirit remind me of the story of creation, with the wind from God hovering over the waters. The word from God transforms the formeless void and creation springs forth. The word of God comes upon us at our baptism and transforms us, if we let it and continue to let it. We are transformed from earth-bound creatures to creatures whose spirits can reach for the stars.

We can allow God’s power to help us to transcend our earth bound existence and to transform it into a life where we recognize God’s presence and can rely on the power of the Spirt to make os us a new creation.

No, of course it won’t stop us from experiencing darkness, tragedy and pain. It won’t solve all of our problems and make them ‘disappear’ but it will give us a companion for the way; it will put our struggles into perspective and it will help us to seek the goodness of creation that Almighty God desires for each one of us.

God looked over creation at the end of each day, even as the work was in progress and proclaimed it good. God proclaims each of us a beloved Child, even though we are a work in progress and not perfect. God’s proclamation can be to us bread for the journey and strength for the way.

We have many journeys ahead of us this year. We can go with our spirits lighter and our hearts filled with the love and support of the one who names us and gives us the power of the Spirt. Who could ask for more?

Amen.

January 15, 2006

1 Samuel 3: 1-20
St Andrew’s Psalm 139
1 Corinthians 6: 12-20
John 1: 43-51

Remember Ebenezer Scrooge? Who can forget him; especially as portrayed by Alister Simm in the Christmas special broadcast each and every Christmas season in living memory!!!!!! Ebenezer Scrooge detests Christmas because it takes people away from business and he refuses to be charitable because people who can’t fend for themselves might as well die and, in his words, ‘decrease the surplus population’. That is at the beginning of the story! His former business partner, the late Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of “Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future” disturb Scrooge’s sleep once Christmas Eve and once he realizes that it’s not just an ‘undigested bit of beef’ and that he cannot escape these ghoulish messengers he knows that they speak a horrible truth. Yet there is hope for he finds out that he has the opportunity to change. The experience transforms him utterly and completely.

The reading from the Hebrew scriptures opens with similar unpleasant news. The writer begins by telling us that people didn’t see a lot ov visions; and that ‘the word of the Lord was rare’. Not many people listened to God. The behaviour of the sons of Eli was disgraceful and Eli was powerless to do anything about it. Things were in a terrible mess. LISTEN: The word of the Lord was rare and visions were not widespread. Perhaps God had stopped talking or maybe the people didn’t listen. g At least, God was not getting through very often.

(Pause)

Enter Samuel. Remember Samuel? He was born to parents who had given up hope of having a child and in gratitude his life was dedicated to God, even before he was born. As a young child I always felt sorry for little Samuel whose mother only came to visit him once a year to bring him a new outfit. He looked so sweet in all of those children’s Bible story books. He would have been so lonely. (sigh)

Even though he was just a child, it is Samuel that hears this rare word of the Lord; before this time Samuel did not even know what God’s voice sounded like. When he hears God calling it is understandable that he goes to Eli’s room. Wouldn’t you? Eli has to teach him how to listen and to respond. The NEWS? God has seen all the disgraceful things that the sons of Eil, Hophni and Phinehas, had done. They were supposed to be priests who respected God and protected the people. Samuel was told that God was going to bring about change in Israel and in the morning he reluctantly passes the message on to Eli who accepts his family’s dishonour and punishment.

Yet, as always the purpose of the scriptures is “Good News”, the purpose of God’s message to the child Samuel is to offer hope and the opportunity to follow the God of life and love.

Now we fast-forward hundreds of years to a time when the Roman army held the land of Israel in its cruel grip and the people had long since given up hope that God would do anything for the people. For many generations since the fall of the nation of Israel in war they had expected a Messiah to restore the country to its former glory. They had waited so long though that they had come to believe that it was just talk. Most folks just got up, worked till they dropped from exhaustion, sustained only by a meagre meal, paid their extremely heavy taxes and tried to escape the notice of the authorities. The things of God were just another demand on many.

Until one day a man from Nazareth began to preach and to draw crowds. He had some connection to another odd character, John, the Baptizing One. Word began to spread that this man was THE ONE spoken of by their prophets. Word spread that those ancient hopes had come to life. It was as if this man not only talked about God but knew God. Word began to spread and one person told another and that person told some others and so on. In our reading for today, a man named Nathaniel was told of this man Jesus but he scoffed and said, “Can anything good come from Nazareth”. Apparently Nazareth was a ‘poor cousin’ to the place where Nathaniel came from. Perhaps Nathaniel would have liked some of the “Newfie” jokes that are popular in some circles! That might be a good parallel.

Yet the call to Nathaniel was persistent enough and the Good News was able to be spread to one more.

Maybe we are living in similar circumstances. We certainly have a number of issues that threaten our normally complacent outlook. We are in the middle of a federal election so we have plenty of competing ideas and sides to almost everything. We are told we should be worried about the economy, or the environment or health care or the expected Flu Pandemic or university tuition or nuclear weapons or gun violence or (the list does go on!) We too may have come to believe that God is silent, or that the life of faith is primitive and for weaklings from the backwater of somewhere. We may have come to believe that the biblical story has nothing to say to all of the very complex issues I just mentioned. Besides, how could God be calling; God doesn’t have a phone or email or anything like that!

Yet the message for us is just the same. GOD DOES call. God has a word of life and hope for us. God seeks for us and for all of humanity the best of what we have been created for.

God’s message talks about the grace of beginning again, of having another chance, of listening to the wisdom of the aged but also embracing the hopes and the visions of the young.

The problem is that often we shut ourselves off from God’s message of hope and life. We assume that ‘nothing good can come from Nazareth’ (and substitute for Nazareth whatever place or situation you would like) We assume that God’s word is outdated. We assume that the seemingly small acts of charity that used to be so important are not any longer. Or we find that we don’t have the time or resources anymore to see beyond our own group, our own community, or the people with whom we have some affinity. We can’t find God and God can’t find us if we have given up, if we have stopped looking, listening, caring or if we have given up.

A little over a week ago I received the following story in an email from a woman in one of my former churches in Nova Scotia. It may seem a little simplistic and even corny but I think there’s a message in it just the same.

“A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of Root Beer and he started his journey.

When he had gone about three blocks, he met an elderly man. The man was sitting in the park just feeding some pigeons.

The boy sat down next to him and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the man looked hungry, so he offered him a Twinkie.

The man gratefully accepted it and smiled at boy. His smile was so pleasant that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered him a root beer.

Again, the man smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.

As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave, but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the man, and gave him a hug. The man gave him his biggest smile ever.

When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, "What did you do today that made you so happy?

"He replied, "I had lunch with God." But before his mother could respond, he added, "You know what? God's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen!"

Meanwhile, the elderly man, also radiant with joy, returned to his home. His son was stunned by the look of peace on his face and he asked," Dad, what did you do today that made you so happy?"

He replied, "I ate Twinkies in the park with God." However, before his son responded, he added," You know, he's much younger than I expected."

God is reaching out to us. So let us listen. Let us be open to the message of life and love and hope that is coming to us - no matter what the source may be. Let us not discount the guidance offered by the younger or the older members of our community; in fact most of the biblical story would tell us that we cannot do it on our own. We test our visions and messages within the context of our community and we live them out in the world, rooted in the strength of our community of faith Just because we have to make changes does not mean that it’s not good news. The message of ‘same old, same old’ may no longer be the good news it once was, but what is always the same is that God is with us and God will accompany us on all of our journeys this year.

Amen.

January 22, 2006

Jonah 3: 1-5, 10
Psalm 62: 5-12
1 Corinthians 7: 29-31
Mark 1: 14-20

In the summer there is nothing I love to do more than to walk down to the ice cream stand by the Jardine Inn and order a Smarties and Crispy Crunch Flurry. As far as I know the mixture of soft ice cream and chopped up sweet stuff was invented by Dairy Queen; they call it a “Blizzard”, but I gather they have a trademark on the name. Jack and Jean’s are just as good and cheaper too!

I get a great kick out of the Dairy Queen Blizzard commercial narrated by the little girl with the assistance of her drawings. She has a dire warning about putting a Blizzard inside of your tummy: wait 2 hours before you go in the ocean or you may be eaten by a whale. I don’t know who thought up the combination of lessons on water safety and the popular version of the Jonah story, but it’s a cute commercial; it sticks in your mind and I’m sure it brings lots of folks to Dairy Queen.

The story of Jonah and his adventures with a large sea creature is one I have known since I was a small child; as have most of us. In my Sunday school, we also learned about the three men in the fiery furnace and Daniel in the Lion’s Den, among others. I’m not sure what those stories are supposed to teach children but all I was taught was that Jonah lived for three days inside a whale. Somewhat later in my life, I read the whole book and I learned that the part about the whale is only a small part of the story and it’s certainly not the point of the story. Oh, and by the way, it’s not a whale at all, but a big fish.

So if the story of Jonah is not about a guy in the belly of a whale, or even a giant fish, what is it about? Clearly, the book of Jonah is a folk tale; a story full of irony and exaggeration told to make a point about God’s actions in the world. It uses a real-life prophet from their past to be the character of this story which is designed to show the people something they had forgotten about God and to challenge them to greater faithfulness.

Basically, for the purposes of this story Jonah was a prophet of God who was told to do something and didn’t want to do it. He was told to go and proclaim the destruction of Nineveh, at the heart of the mighty Assyrian empire. But he didn’t want to, and not because he didn’t want to bring them bad news, but because he was afraid that they WOULD hear the news; that they WOULD listen; and that they WOULD change their ways; and that God WOULD change his mind and bring blessing upon them rather than curse.

Jonah wanted them all to die. We don’t need to know any more about the complex political interactions between Israel and Assyria than to state that Assyria was a much feared and very powerful enemy.

So Nineveh was the enemy and in his mind they deserved everything they got. When you have countries who have been overrun in war or are in danger of being overrun, the people don’t tend to like each other very much. Because of their defeat in war, the people of Israel had good reason to feel this way. If Jonah had his druthers God would just annihilate them all, without warning, without opportunity to repent. But Jonah knew that God was just a “softie” and would forgive them if they gave him half a chance. So instead of doing what he was called to do, Jonah ran in the other direction as fast as he could and as far as he could. He boarded a boat and when a storm came up he was cast into the sea, at his request, because he knew he was the one responsible for the storm that threatened the lives of all aboard. This is where the fish comes in because it is the fish who rescues Jonah from drowning. I think that the only point of part about the fish is about giving Jonah a place to cool his heels and think for a few days. In the end he does follow God’s call to be a prophet. We are told that it took him days to walk across the city delivering his prophetic word. It seems to me that when many people are doing something they dread the task seems much larger than it is. There is no way the historical Nineveh was that large, but the description as we have it is a perfect indication of just how reluctant Jonah was.

As Jonah feared, the destruction is called off, but Jonah’s attitude does not improve; you may say that it gets worse! He is still sulking and pouting as we finish the story. However, that’s just a synopsis, go home and read the whole thing for yourselves.

So what conclusions can we draw from this story?

The FIRST thing I need to say is that I think that it is highly ironic, at this point in our history to note that the ruins of the ancient city of Nineveh are near Mosul, in modern day Iraq. We all know that Canadian - American relations are a little on the rocky side because of our differing positions on that war, but even in Canada, it wouldn’t be hard to find folks who, like Jonah, who would be quite happy to see large portions of Iraq destroyed. It would solve one more ticklish international problem and save the lives of lots of westerners.

The SECOND thing I see when I look at the prophecy of Jonah is must be the shortest sermon in history: 40 days more and Nineveh will be overthrown.’ There wasn’t any GOOD NEWS in it. Jonah wasn’t giving them any out. There was no “God will destroy you, UNLESS ......” BUT the power and grace of God were at work and the king of Nineveh was not willing to take the prediction of destruction as God’s last word: he took the risk that repentance would do some good, even though it was not offered as an option.

It seems to me that God’s options are always kept open and that God is not willing to be bound by the pigheadedness of his servants.

What was Jonah’s problem? Imagine being in a dispute with a neighbour. You don’t like that neighbour very much. Maybe he shot your dog or maybe he drives his skidoo through your perennial bed. Doesn’t matter. Imagine leaving home very early one morning and seeing flames shooting out of his roof. It is clear that they are all home and presumably still asleep in bed. But since you don’t like your neighbour you go on your way saying to yourself, “Serves them right!”

(Pause)

I don’t think I know anyone who could do that! But essentially, that’ what Jonah tried to do. Why?

Someone once said, ‘Jonah hated evil more than he loved God’. I think this was Richard Fairchild He had a very high sense of righteousness. He followed the ten commandments. He always followed the letter of God’s law. He avoided wrongdoing at all costs. He was a truly GOOD and GOD FEARING man. Perhaps he believed that the people of Nineveh were thwarting God’s plans for the success and safety of Israel. Perhaps he loved to speak about evil perhaps because it made the people of Israel look so much better.

Jonah made one false assumption that we often make. We have to realize that God’s values are not our own; God’s love and care knows no national or ideological boundaries. In short: God is not the enemy of our enemies.

God calls all nations to a life of justice and righteousness; God offers love to all peoples regardless of their ethnic heritage. The people who first read Jonah had to realize that God loved more than just Israel. In all of the political difficulties and the need to keep their worship free of devotion to foreign gods, they forgot that God cared for the other nations as well.

Often we get so wrapped up in our politics or our national identity or our social issues and we forget that the power of God’s love, care and transforming power transcends all human boundaries and artificial barriers.

It’s a message that is hard to hear in war time; it’s hard to hear during a heated election; it’s hard to hear when we are going broke and we are cutting corners and various social programs are the first to go; it’s hard to hear ANY time we think of life as divided into US and THEM.

It’s not that we can’t have serious disagreements; and it’s not even that armed conflict is ALWAYS wrong; it’s simply that GOD is not caught up in our battles. We need to hear what Jonah resisted with all of his might: God seeks life and justice for EVERYONE. We don’t have a corner on God and God’s love and care.

I guess what it comes right down to is that we don’t deserve God’s love any more than anyone else. Our call is to show that love that has been showered on us to all those with whom we come in contact. In the end God’s desire for life and health and justice will be accomplished: the question is: In a time when whales are endangered these days and fish are getting smaller what will God have to use to try and teach us the lesson that Jonah refused to learn?

Let us go forward in faith and love caring for all of God’s children.

Amen.

January 29, 2006

Deuteronomy 18: 15-20
Psalm 111
1 Corinthians 8: 1-13
Mark 1: 21-28