Thoughts going in, December 28th, Christmas +1

Luke 2:22 When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord" ), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: "a pair of doves or two young pigeons." 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: 29 "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel." 33 The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too." 36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then had been a widow for eighty-four years. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. 39 When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.

On the three year lectionary, the Year B (our current year) gospel reading for the first Sunday after Christmas is the same reading that is appointed every year for the "Lesser Festival" of The Presentation of our Lord, also known as Candlemas (Feb 2nd).

The term Candlemas came about because of an ancient tradition of blessing all the candles to be used in the church in the coming year at the mass celebrated on that day. It was a way of underscoring the truth of Simeon's confession that this baby Jesus was "a light for revelation to the Gentiles" and a light for glory to Israel. Let the light of every candle in church be a little epiphany of the love of God for all people in the person of God's son, Jesus, the light of the world.

I love all of the rich themes of this reading, though I confess that I've always found it difficult to *choose when it comes to which one to explore for the day. On the one hand there's the idea of taking the infant Jesus to the temple. This is the ancient ritual known as Pidyon Ha Ben.  From the internet:

The ritual of Pidyon Ha-Ben ("Redemption of the Son") is grounded in the Jewish concept that the first and best things belong to God: in Numbers 8:17, God declared: "Every firstborn among the Israelites, man as well as beast, is mine." The God of Judaism has never asked for child sacrifice, but rather required firstborn sons to devote their life to service in the Temple. Parents may "redeem" their sons from this obligation by paying a small sum of money to a kohein (a member of the priestly family). Pidyon ha-Ben takes place on the 31st day after birth, but may not be performed on a Sabbath since it includes the exchange of money. The ceremony begins with the father bringing his son before a kohein, and announcing that the child is the firstborn son. The kohein asks if the father would prefer to give him his son or redeem the child for five shekels, and the father answers that he would like to redeem his son. He recites benedictions and hands the kohein five silver coins (the Bank of Israel mints silver coins just for this purpose; in America, silver dollars are used).

While I'm fully committed to the historically Christian doctrine of infant baptism, there are times when I miss the Baptist emphasis of "child dedication"...which was probably invented as a substitute practice for baptism, but has some grounding also in this idea of Pidyon Ha-Ben. In that sense, there is much that could be discussed along the lines of children being a heritage of the Lord, asking God's blessing upon them, and parents seeing their "redemption" of their children as their call to raise them in a godly manner.

On the other hand, I am just as taken by the fact that this passage contains the Nunc Dimittis, the song of Simeon. Finally, at his ripe old age, the promise of the Spirit has come to fruition for him and he has seen with his own two eyes, and held with his own two hands, the Redeemer of the world. When he says (in the old KJV) Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, he is literally saying "now I can die." Our traditional liturgy has included singing the Nunc Dimittis as a post-communion anthem because WE, like aged Simeon, have beheld our Savior with our own two eyes and held him in our own hands, as he is present in the Sacrament. By singing that canticle when we do, we are saying 2 things: #1 the Lord **really** is present in the consecrated communion elements; it really is a personal, repeatable "epiphany." And, #2....whether or not we fully contemplate it, at that moment we really are as prepared as ever to depart in peace and meet our maker.

In my first parish I had an especially tragic set of circumstances happen that led me to emphasize this truth. A son of the congregation had gone off to college during the years of vacancy prior to my arrival. I had met his mother and his brother, but had only heard about him. One Sunday he was in church. And, given that we were an every-Sunday-Communion congregation, he received the blessed sacrament. I chit-chatted with him after the service, ...all small talk... "how's school going" type stuff, and that was it. Late that night around midnight the phone rang. This young man had died in a tragic accident.

In the old liturgy, we sang the Nunc Dimittis every time. We don't so much anymore, but one thing is certain... as the Scriptures say... it is appointed unto all once to die. As one parishioner says, "we ALL have an appointment with death." It is inescapable. So the real question becomes, are we always ready? There is no better way to answer that question than to KNOW that you are because you're living the baptized life; you're in worship.... hearing God's word of absolving forgiveness for all your sins, singing the praises of the one who left heaven's throne in order to be laid in a manger and later die for you on Calvary's cross. And, receiving him PERSONALLY into your life in the sacrament of holy communion, you can KNOW that like Blessed Simeon of old, you really are ready.

Cheers,

TM

Thoughts going in, Sunday December 21st, Advent 4

Luke 1:26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." 34 "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" 35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail." 38 "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me according to your word." Then the angel left her.

            In this fourth Sunday of Advent, the drama is noticeably heightened as the clock ticks closer to Christmas Eve and the birth of the Savior. Yet, as the drama intensifies, it's also true that the readings become more familiar. Even people who spend very little time in church are familiar with the annunciation story. And familiarity always lends itself to missing key phrases.

            Take, for instance, the phrase in vs 30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. The word translated "favor" is charis in the Greek. It's also, often, translated as "grace." Thankfully, with the exception of the Douay-Rheims version (an archaic Roman Catholic translation) all popular translations of the Bible translate charis as "favor" in this verse (even the modern Roman Catholic New American Bible translation). The point being, "grace" is a term that has taken on theological weight. Grace is what the repentant sinner finds when s/he turns from their sin and embraces the love and forgiveness of God. The old Anglican Prayer of Humble Access says it best "We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy..."  This 'property' of always having mercy is called God's grace. But the problem with translating charis as grace in Luke 1:30 is that in the story Mary is not being presented as a repentant sinner. Mary is just being Mary. In a lot of ways the verse reminds me of Genesis 6:8. In that story, God has become so fed up with humanity that he decides to destroy all that he has made, but then:  Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord (6:8). Not because Noah was a repentant sinner looking for forgiveness, but because Noah was being Noah.

            Back to Mary, it's interesting to note what impresses God. And while a lot could be said about the "Church Lore" that has grown up around Mary over two millennia, enough stuff is included in this Sunday's reading to keep us busy. There is, for instance, her humble origin. There is no shortage of high-born Jewish maidens, but God is drawn to this humble maiden from a backwater village that no one has ever heard of. And then of course there are Mary's famous words of willingness to be used for God's plan: "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me according to your word." (v38). As Luke unfolds his story, one of the main points seems to be that verse 38 is Mary being Mary. That willingness to center her life around the will of God; that willingness to literally welcome the Lord into her life; and that willingness to re-vector her life in a way that would have been unimaginable just one day prior to the angel's visit is what made Mary Mary. And this is what God found so favorable.

            As I've stated many times in the past, the Protestant wing of the church has Mary-phobia. We're not comfortable with some of the things the Roman Catholic Church has said about here, and we're mostly ignorant of what the older, more traditional Orthodox Church has said. And so in that fear and ignorance, we tend not to speak about her at all. THANKFULLY, we have the fourth week of Advent which forces us to spend a little time with this great hero of the faith, this great saint of the Church, this blessed virgin who was willing to be a part of God's greatest gift to all creation.

Cheers,

T.M.

Thoughts going in, Sunday December 14th, Advent 3

John 1:6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 19 Now this was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not the Messiah." 21 They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" He answered, "No." 22 Finally they said, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself ?" 23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.' " 24 Now the Pharisees who had been sent 25 questioned him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" 26 "I baptize with water," John replied, "but among you stands one you do not know. 27 He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie." 28 This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

            This Sunday marks the THIRD week in our Advent journey, and there are some fairly neat things going on this week. First, while some may find it a little confusing, I want to mention that the gospel reading we have for this week includes portions of the HISTORIC gospel of the day. What I mean is, for several hundred years the church was on a 1-year series of readings, but since the 1960s we've been on a 3-year series. It's generally thought that the 3-year series is superior because it allows for more of the Bible to be read in the worship services of the church. Regardless, the gospel for the old 1-year series for the 3rd Sunday of Advent was John 1:19-23...and in year B of the 3-year series (our present year) the gospel selection is quite similar.

Ok, great. What else? Well, since the gospel reading is about the same, it's interesting to look back at some of those themes and markers that were present in the old 1-year series. For instance, the collect of the day: Incline thine ear to our prayers we beseech thee, O Lord; and enlighten the darkness of our minds by the grace of thy visitation. Who livest, etc. Concerning the historic collects of Advent, the 3rd week's was the only departure from the "stir up" collects.

            Ok, again, great... what else? Well, this is also "pink candle" Sunday. The kids are usually pretty quick to notice that one of the candles in the Advent wreath is a different color from the rest. Pink. Why pink? Well, it makes the day stand out among the rest. It was called Gaudete Sunday--again, from the old series--because the introit of the day was taken from Philippians where St. Paul begins: Gaudete in Domino semper...or in the English REJOICE in the Lord always. So, Gaudete Sunday was REJOICE SUNDAY. Why rejoice? Because the somewhat penitential season of Advent is now HALF OVER. There's a light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. We're almost there.

            But to build on this a little... it's not a "rejoice because this unpleasant experience is almost over" sort of thing. It is rather a matter of rejoicing over our present circumstance as well.

Back to the gospel reading, John makes an interesting statement in vss 26-27. He says: I baptize with water," John replied, "but among you stands one you do not know. Let that one percolate in your mind for a bit. According to the scene in this gospel, John the Baptist is addressing a whole group of people; Jesus is among them right now; this very day, but they don't realize it and they don't recognize him for who he is. Enlighten the darkness of our minds...the old collect says.

            It's a sad fact of our sinful state that the Lord could be standing right in front of us and we'd miss him because our minds are so darkened with other stuff that we either don't care or just aren't looking for him. Thankfully God has not left us helpless. The original forerunner, John the Baptist, was sent... in the spirit of Elijah & Isaiah and all the prophets of old. And today we have God's word which is "living and powerful, sharper than any 2-edged sword" to point the way for us.

            This Advent may we be reminded to LOOK FOR CHRIST in all of the areas he's told us he can be found: among the children; with the sick and dying; in the Divine Service, the worship life of the Church; in his Word the Bible, and in the holy sacraments. HE'S THERE among us, just as he was standing there among the crowd that day on the banks of the Jordan. And let us REJOICE at the fact that 2000 years has already gone by, the end of all things is closer now than ever. He could return today! REJOICE!

Cheers,

TM

Thoughts going in, Sunday December 7, Advent 2

Mark 1:1-8 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Look, I am sending My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way. 3 A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: "Prepare the way for the Lord; make His paths straight!" 4John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were flocking to him, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins. 6 John wore a camel-hair garment with a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He was preaching: "Someone more powerful than I will come after me. I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of His sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

Our Advent journey continues this week with the 2nd week readings and emphasis. In week 1 the emphasis is the "Advent of our Lord," not 2000 years ago when he came first as a lowly infant, but at the end of time when he will come again to judge the living and the dead. In weeks 2, 3 and 4 of Advent, the emphasis shifts back to his first advent/coming. Weeks 2 and 3 feature John the Baptist. The historic collects of the day help us focus our attention. Week 2's collect says: Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the way for your only Son. By his coming give us strength in our conflicts and shed light on our path through the darkness of this world; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

So, as I ponder Mark 1:1-8 this morning something worth mentioning is the way the passage begins:

"The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah..."

In very few words (Greek or English), the Evangelist is communicating something profound to us. On the one hand, we are to sit up and take notice that something new and dramatic has taken place--the evangellion ("good news") of Jesus has begun. Scholars point out that this use of the word evangellion--we could almost say this 'appropriation' of the word--was new for the Church. The word had had more of a political meaning...typically being part of the propaganda machine of the day. An announcement that the emperor was coming to visit; an announcement that a rebel province had been subdued; an announcement that an heir to the throne had been born; THESE were typically phrased in terms of 'evangelion' ("good news"). "GOOD," in other words, was basically in the eye of the beholder, and typically from the perspective of the ruling empire.

But when that word is applied to the coming of Jesus the Messiah, the goodness of the evangelion is NOT subjective. It is truly good news, both from the perspective of God....who longs to save His people, and from the perspective of humanity...who is incapable of saving itself.

The other fascinating thing about this little 1.5 verse section is that Mark wants us to understand that while this evangelion has BEGUN....it's nothing new. For no sooner does he tell us that the good news is off & running than he mentions the prophet Isaiah. The point being that TIME is in the hands of God. The plan of redemption is nothing new. It unfolds throughout human history according to the design of the Creator.

Surely, our hearts can get "stirred up" when we think about this!

Cheers,

T.M.