May we always be open to love over law

Sermon by Pastor Nelson

First Sunday of Christmas

December 31, 2023

Isaiah 61:10-62:3

Galatians 4:4-7

Luke 2:22-40

Because I am preaching this sermon at St. Peters, Ottawa, Ontario and the three lessons, in the lectionary I follow, other than the gospel for this Sunday, seem to vary so much I will try to stick with just Luke 2:22-40. If you have read or heard my sermons before you know that is against my DNA but…In many ways, Luke 2:22-40 is the after story that is rarely shared during the advent season.

For many churches the dramatic presentations of the nativity, [such as at a bus stop presented by St. Peters.] Stop at the scene of baby Jesus in the manger surrounded by angels declaring, “glory to God in the highest.”

We all take pictures and beam with pride and sometimes laugh in delight, the play ends and everyone disburses. But today’s lesson reminds us that there is more to share about the birth and purpose of Jesus in the world than simply the nativity scene, no matter how creative we have been in showing it.

Our gospel today, reminds us that there is yet more to share about the birth and the purpose of Jesus in the world, than simply the nativity scene. In Luke we encounter features in a story-line that are not in Mark, Matthew, or John.

We find similarities between John’s birth announcement to Zechariah and Elizabeth, Jesus’ birth announcement to Mary and Joseph, and Simeon and Anna’s reactions in today’s gospel. There is no marital connection between Simeon and Anna but they have parallel responses. The gospel of Luke forms most of the theology for our church year and here we get part two with circumcision and presentation being interpreted by Simeon and Anna.

This story is unique to Luke. This story and Luke 2:40-47 portray Jesus as a person of Israel. There leaves no doubt that this Jesus is an observant Jew, even at his birth and into his youth, indeed his Jewish identity is reinforced even by his mother’s observance of purity laws related to childbirth. How “good” Christians can ignore all this and become “Jew haters” is beyond me. Luke also makes clear where Jesus’ identity and origins of piety are at. Yes, Jesus’ family exists among the poor. When Jesus talks about the poor, he is talking about himself. Jesus was a part of that economic margin in his own community.

If we are honest, we have to ask ourselves, where did we decide to glorify Jesus with our exorbitant buildings, stain glass windows and the like? Where did the idea of golden creche’s come from? How many of you grew up on a farm with real animals and all the dirt and smells that went with it. Not the sterile hog farms or dairy cows of today. Did I open another “can of worms?” Now Luke’s gospel does not dwell on the issue of poverty for Jesus’ family but let us always keep it in the back of our minds.

Luke now has Simeon and Anna serve as external interpreters of the significance of Jesus’ birth. Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph were insiders, now we have outsiders, Simeon and Anna added to the witnessing. Simeon spoke of Jesus as destined to be the glory of God’s people, Israel.

We have moved beyond angels now.

We now must move beyond the manger as well.

We now must make room for women and men, young and old, poor, disappointed, and unsuspecting.

The good news of Jesus’ birth is that insiders and outsiders of our immediate communities and families can carry the good news of God’s salvation, liberation, and acceptance, not just to others in the world, but to us as well.

Like Mary pondered the words of Simeon we need to be reminded of what else God can do. This is again what the rest of the church year will do, beginning with epiphany and then the Sundays in ordinary time.

Yes, this holy family is the ideal family, if we understand there is no such thing as an ideal family. The stories of Jesus in the temple, the birth stories of John and Jesus, enable Luke to provide constant reversal of expectations of what a “holy family” is like. I have to confess I grew up in that “ideal family.” One mother, one father, one sister and me.

But Luke uses his stories of the “holy family” to do away with those stereotypes even though the church in some circles continues to peddle it. In a few verses Luke shows a disconnection for Jesus from his earthly parents. Not in a disobedient way but in fact Jesus does not abandon his parents’ teaching, but fulfills all that is required of the law.

We hear many criticisms that Jesus lays against the empty traditions practiced by religious leaders and the empty rituals they held in high regard. When Jesus, as an adult, evaluates the practices of the religious leaders, he assumes reciprocal expressions of love of neighbour and love of God.

The tension that Jesus had with the law was never that as an outsider, but as one who had faithfully observed the rituals and figured out which ones did not work.

When I went to St. Paul’s, NFO, I had some credibility because I had 20 years in ministry, with 12 of those in my last parish. The pastor before me in NFO had been there 40 years. He had been a tremendous mission pastor but he had never taken them beyond “kindergarten.”

Dare I say, “a few years ago,” “I think here at St. Peter’s you had some of the same struggles.”

Anyone who ever raises a child has the same issue. How do we allow them to grow up and still protect them? Basically we can learn from Jesus that the practices of the law that subvert the command to love are unacceptable. Jesus repeatedly condemned those who attempted to flaunt their holiness before God, without hospitality toward neighbour.

Yes, Luke, some 2000 years ago, depicted a temple open to all that seek the presence of God, distinguishing between pausing to worship and honour God from practices that oppress and dishonour others. We in the church have continually struggled with the same issues.

I had the pleasure of starting my ministry when John the 23rd was doing something. Now Pope Francis seems to be stretching the boundaries again.

May we, as a group called Lutherans, always be open to love over law.

As we sift through all the early stories of Jesus, may we always realize what the stories tell us of the fulfillment of the promise is that God is indeed with us.

The bottom line in our gospels is that they are not meant to be biographies but they are seeking to undergird and strengthen our faith in God.

Both Simeon and Anna in our story today, reveal to Joseph and Mary theirs and Jesus’ future legacy. In doing so they are revealing ours.

Jesus was to be the hope of Israel – the Messiah and the long-awaited one—but as Simeon pointed out, Jesus was destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel and was a sign that would be contradicted again and again.

Furthermore Mary and Joseph suffered terribly because of their son’s mission. I would hope and pray that we, as parents, will never have to suffer for or over our children as Mary and Joseph did. But we know it happens to parents every day.

For Joseph, Mary and Jesus, joy, conflict, and pain laid ahead as a result of those who accepted or resisted God’s saving initiatives through Jesus’ mission and ministry.

Such is the legacy bequeathed to all who dare embody life through our lives,

Those of us who are willing to live as a part of “God’s family.” If we choose to live in love with one another, please do not feel that you will not suffer. Living as/in families, in fact, just living life, is and will always be a challenge. Though life had many different cultural values, then versus now, we realize that life interwoven with faith is never easy.

We do not know much about Jesus’ family, but we hear that they followed the laws of the day. We tend to think of them as very different from our own lives, from our own families, but just like us, they would have struggled to understand what they were called to be and to do.

In the face of all this mystery the human heart can only sing with gratitude. We live in the presence of God, and this sustains us through whatever seems impossible.

Let us live in thanksgiving which will open us to receive God’s promise and God’s gifts.

Let us pray,

God of life, we are all members of families, often struggling and imperfect.

Help us to remember Mary, and Joseph, and Jesus who lived together in faith and love.

Show us how to love, accept, and be grateful for our own families.

Teach us how to forgive family members who have wounded us.

And finally, grant us the grace to be the people you call us to be.

[...]

Amen.

Christmas ~ A story about Light

Sermon by Pastor Joel Crouse

Christmas Day

December 25, 2023

Isaiah 62:6-12

Titus 3:4-7

Luke 2:1-20

Have you ever noticed that when you get together with your family and start telling stories about when you were growing up, or what happened years ago, the same events sound very different as different people tell the story? Depending on who's describing it, the guy who used to live across the street was a scrooge or a saint; or moving from one town to another was either a disaster, a wonderful escape, or a thing indifferent, hardly noticed: same event, different points of view.

Try thinking about this very human business of memory and storytelling in light of the wonderful poetry of the first 14 verses of John's Gospel that we have just heard. This is the Christmas Story, the third time the Bible tells it. It is the same story we heard last night; the story of the manger and the Shepherds and the Angels -- and the same story Matthew tells in his Gospel, with Joseph's dreams and the wise men. But the point of view is different, and John's Gospel sounds strange to ears more accustomed to descriptions of crowded inns and Angel Choirs. That's because different folks in the family are telling the same story.

You see, Luke, who wrote the familiar story we heard last night, was a bit of an historian. He was very concerned with getting the dates and rulers right and locating everything in time and space. He was also likely a gentile and was very concerned about the role of people who, like him, were considered outsiders. So, he is more concerned with shepherds -- who were social outcasts -- than about kings. And Luke tells the story from the perspective of Mary -- a radical move in itself, since women were even lower on the social ladder than shepherds.

Matthew is more traditional. He was certainly a Jew and may have been a scribe. He was very concerned with making it clear that Jesus fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies as Messiah, King of the Jews. So. shepherds didn't interest him as much as royal wise men; and he cared much about the flight to Egypt and parallels of the Exodus in Jesus's return from Egypt to Israel. Also, the more conservative Matthew told the story of Jesus's birth from Joseph's point of view.

Then there was John. John knew, in one way or another, about the stories in Matthew and Luke, and he assumes that we know about them, too. But John is a theologian, and a mystic. So, since he (and we) already knew the "historical" details of Jesus's birth, John writes of its meaning, and he writes from his theology, and from the holy imagination of his prayers. But it is the same story -- all three are talking about the same birth – all three are saying the same thing.

John does begin the story earlier -- he reminds us that Christmas really begins just before where Genesis begins -- before the beginning with God in creation. So, using language evocative of Genesis, John begins by talking about the Word of God -- the Word of God here is God in action -- God creating, revealing, and redeeming. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. Then he tells the Christmas story -- in nine words (in Greek and in English). "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." He who was with God at creation, the one who is God at work in history and human life, this one became a person, became flesh -- as completely human as you and I. Not God with a "people-suit" disguise on; not a really good person whom God rewarded and made special, not a super angel God created early and saved up for Bethlehem.

But a person, who was the Word -- who was God's own self. Soaring words for the most down-to-earth thing that ever happened. But still the Christmas story, still the story Luke tells, and Matthew tells: the story of the birth of Jesus.

In addition to telling the same story, Matthew, Luke, and John share one special way of telling it -- there is one image, one symbol, and only one, that they all use to talk about Christmas. (Can you think of what it is?)

They all talk about light -- the light of the star, the light that shone around the shepherds, the true light that enlightens every human person. They all continue Isaiah's vision of light shining on those who live in darkness.

Where Christ is, people who understand talk about light. They have to -- there is no better image of what is going on. The light shines in the darkness -- John proclaims. And somehow we understand this, and we understand that this truth cannot be fully expressed in any other words.

In large part, we probably understand because we know about darkness-we know what it is like to live in and with darkness. Remember what it is like to try to walk through an unfamiliar room that is in total darkness -- or wake up confused in the middle of the night -- trying to get somewhere? We know what it's like when we don't know where things are, and when we don't know what we have just bumped into, or whether we're going where we want to go, or if the next step will be OK or if it will break something and make a mess. We know how easy it is to go in circles in the dark, and to get turned around, and to stub a toe and get angry and hit whatever is handy.

And we know what it is like to live like that in broad daylight.

What John and Luke and Matthew all say about Christmas is that a light begins to shine: suddenly, quietly, but absolutely certainly. And by that light we can begin to see. By that light we can begin to see who we are and who we are created to be. For it is in the person of Jesus that what it means to be a human being is finally made clear. In the Christ Child we see that our lives are made whole as we surrender them in love and service; in the Christ Child we see that really being alive means risking everything for-and because of – the love of God and the Reign of God. In the Christ Child we see that hope need never be abandoned -- never -- and that we contain possibilities beyond our imagining.

Also, by that light that has come into the world we begin to see God really clearly for the first time. "No one has ever seen God," John reminds us. But God is made known to us in Jesus. So, all that we thought about God, all we had figured out, all that we were sure we knew about God -- all of that is put to the test in Jesus. Who God is, in relationship to us, is fully revealed in Jesus. Not in one saying or one parable, or one miracle – but in all of Jesus -- in his life, death, and resurrection -- we finally have the light to see God.

The light of Christ, the word made flesh, comes among us at Christmas – and we celebrate its coming into the world. God had revealed God's love to us in Christ. That first Christmas, the stable stank, and the light shone – and it continues to shine -- and continues to allow us to see, and to show a world living in darkness what we have seen. For by that light we have been given power to become children of God -- and to take our places with the light. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

Amen.

Do we also see the angels?

Sermon by Pastor Joel Crouse

Christmas Eve

A Candlelight Service

December 24, 2023

Luke 2:1-20

John 1:1-14

Of all the fully human characters in our nativity story, Mary is the most celebrated, and the most complicated. Venerated as a Saint, she is often depicted in art as beatific, peaceful, the perfect, loving mother.

But can this be the extent of it? Or even the truth? The first Christmas did not happen to saints. It happened to real people. People with their own ideas of how their lives would go, and their places in the world. And that was surely just as true for Mary, who was a young girl when the angel paid her a visit. Not a famous person. Not someone already extraordinary.

I know one thing my modern thinking struggles with is Mary’s agency in all this. This baby happened to her. It was a gift, but the angel presented it as a done deal. This is happening, the Angel says, you are going to be the mother of God. It’s not as if she was given a lot of time to think about it. And just like that, Mary accepts: Here I am, she says in the gospel. Let it be with me according to your word.

So where does Mary fit in for women today, and the people who love them? The mothers I know are struggling hard to live up to an impossible standard – to have careers, to raise overachievers, to be awesome partners, and good friends. All while still conforming to a certain idea of what a woman is supposed to look like. It is a heavy load, and one most men still cannot fully appreciate.

I imagine some women will feel similarly conflicted about Mary and her lack of choice in this whole story. Mary was chosen by God. But she did not choose, as Joseph would. As I will discuss more tonight, this change in her circumstances was forced upon her, as it would have so often been for women of her time. And her role as mother and dutiful wife, in the end, was also the one most acceptable to the society in which she lived.

But consider this: life throws all sorts of burdens upon us. Twists from which we believe we will never recover. Turns that will forever change us. And we recover, and we go on. Mary’s story is one of courage and strength, and faith that God would help guide her.

Of all the people in our story, her burden is the heaviest: She found herself pregnant at the wrong time, with a new husband in her life about whom she must have still been uncertain. Everyone else gets to celebrate the birth. She actually has to give birth. And what then? According to the angel, this is not a son who will always be with her. This is a son with a destiny she cannot control, and at some point, she will have to accept his fate, and be there when he dies.

We don’t hear a lot of about how Mary felt about all those things. We are told that she was “troubled.” But we move quickly to hear her accept what the angel says. Surely, there must have been a great many thoughts – before and after – that spoke to Mary’s anxiety and fear about what was happening. Our scripture lesson makes short work of the many months of pregnancy when Mary had time to wrestle with what was happening.

Maybe, in this modern time, what we learn from those early days that Mary faced is to note how far society has come in gender equality and how far it might still have to go. Indeed, as history has shown, of all the rules that change, it has often been the rights of women – and of minority women in particular – that were the last to change.

But let us remember as well: this was only the beginning for Mary. She found her agency. She raised her son as best she could, imparting strength of character and resilience. She did not leave his side, and became a stalwart presence for him during his ministry. When Jesus died, she was still at his side, so special to him that among his last acts was to make sure that, in her old age, she would be cared for. She found a way to have a voice in the story.

And so, we have many qualities to celebrate about Mary, and the example she sets before us. Not only that she was chosen by God and accepted that choice. Not only that she gave birth to Jesus, despite the most trying circumstances. But also that she gave life to Jesus. And for all the pain it brought her, she stood with him at the cross.

This is what God must have seen in her: the strength of character to do what needed to be done, however frightening, and the will to see it through until the very end, however difficult. That is Mary’s power. And it is hers alone.

We are encouraged to embody these same gifts. This Advent we have heard the voices of Jesus, John the Baptist, our youth, and Mary urging us to know with certainty that we are not alone. That God goes with us into the messiness of life to help us through and find that hope and peace that know no ending. May we heed these voices in our lives for the sake of the world in which we have been called to live. May we live the life that we have been given with courage and conviction. And may we use what God has given us to herald the One who brings freedom and good news to all people. That is our power, and it is ours alone.

Amen.