Flight into Egypt, by Gentile da Fabriano (1423)

VIRTUAL WORSHIP | The Second Sunday after Christmas, January 3, 2021

Sunday 01.03.21 @ 9:00 AM

Happy New Year to each of you!

Virtual Worship

Unfortunately there was an error uploading the taping of the video of the Virtual Worship for Jan. 3rd, the Second Sunday after Christmas. Sadly the file was not able to be uploaded; so we are not able to share the service. So sorry.  We have included the sermon from Rev. Jane. We hope you also read the Weekly Reflection letter from Jane as well.

Reflection Letter

Follow the link to read the reflection for this week: WEEKLY REFLECTION | The Second Sunday after Christmas, January 3, 2021

Sermon

In the name of the loving, liberating, life-giving God:  Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Merry Christmas!  Yes – we Christians are still exclaiming Merry Christmas!

We are at the ending days of Christmastide, our annual festival of celebration of the birth of our Lord.  Today, this Sunday, January 3rd, 2021 is the 10th Day of Christmas – in two more days the 12 Days of Christmas will be complete. Tuesday will be Twelfth Night; and then Weds we will celebrate the Feast of Epiphany.

So here we are – in the utter glow of the birth of Christ – of the holy infant – of the great and familiar narratives of Luke and of Matthew. A time of tenderness, joy and deep intimacy for the Holy Family……of nurturing and calm attentiveness.  

Of a certain silence and peace.  Here, together as a family, The Blessed Virgin Mary, the God-bearer ……..and Joseph, Jesus’ adoptive father…….and the infant Jesus.  Learning to be family together…..Mary learning how to be a mom…….Joseph learning how to be a dad, a dad who has adopted this baby Jesus…..coming into a deeper understanding of the blessedness of being this HOLY FAMILY.  

Yet, even now we are leaving this sublime scene, this scene of heavenly peace – we read in today’s gospel of the family going out into a world of danger.  In fact, a world of harrowing danger.

We’re told in the gospel of St. Matthew, that wise men from the east sought out the infant Jesus to pay him homage and came to Jerusalem thinking they may find him there……as it says in Mathew:

“In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him;

Herod was frightened because he felt immediately threatened – that there could be someone more powerful than he – holy or not…..it didn’t matter to him.  All Herod knew was a sense of raw power:  Might makes right power”  and Herod could not tolerate competition.

So, Our blessed Holy God incarnate, in the form of an infant, was in imminent danger……

As we know the Wise men did indeed find Jesus.  Herod demanded that the chief priests and scribes give out the information of where the child could be found.

Quote from Matthew:

……..and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

`And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
          are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
          who is to shepherd my people Israel.'”

When Herod heard the words “ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel, he must have gone into a rage……..but cleverly hid it.  He called the wise men in secret and said, once you have found him, come back to me and tell me where he is so I can also pay him homage.

So, the wise men set off on their journey……When the wise men found the child, they were in awe……as Matthew says they were overwhelmed with joy  and bowed down and worshipped him.      And, then, miraculously – they were warned in a dream NOT to return to Herod, and so they went home by a different road.

What nurture and protection Mary and Joseph were giving to the baby – how attentive they were. The few early days of peace had already ended and they were now maneuvering about in a hostile world.  A very hostile world,  A world full of sin and treachery.

Yet Mary and Joseph remained…..Nurturing…….attentive……..loving…..protecting.

Our reading from Ephesians underscores these precepts of nurturing and attentiveness.

Here the beginning of the Letter;

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ,

Can you imagine it?  Really – can you think of it…it’s almost too much to take it…actually, it IS too much to take in……….that God gave the gift of his Son Jesus AND then has adopted all of us as God’s children through Jesus Christ.  Chosen – loved – nurtured – shown attention as if we were an only child.

And this is the work of the Holy Spirit that unites us with our heavenly God through Christ.  

One writer has said that “The very core concept of the Spirit’s work is entailed in the imagery of adoption

the Spirit of adoption
is the Spirit who makes the believers fully aware of the significance
of their identity
as God’s adopted children
at the present and in the future,

God is telling us that the way things usually are just isn’t good enough

It’s almost like God is whispering to us something that deep down we know already but are afraid to admit, even to ourselves: these lives we’ve so carefully created, this world we work so hard to manage, are beautiful, precious, and wonderful … but also vulnerable, fragile, and ultimately insufficient.       In desperate need of nurture and of attention.

No. We desperately want a sense of meaning and purpose, we desire to believe that there is more to this life than meets the eye, we need to hold onto the hope that despite all appearances we are worthy of love.

And so God comes at the edges of the story and our lives to speak quietly but firmly through the blood, sweat, and tears of the labor pains of a young mother and cry of her infant that 

God is radically and completely for us,
joined to our ups and down, our hopes and fears, and
committed to giving us not just more of the same,
but something more.
Christ comes, that is, not just to give us more of the life we know,
but new and abundant life altogether

For in Christ we have the promise that God will not stop until each and all of us have been embraced and caught up in God’s tremendous love and have heard the good news that “unto you this day is born a savior, Christ the Lord.” No wonder we sing, “Let heaven and earth rejoice!”

God is our perfect parent – perfect nurturer – giving us total attention.

We are the ones not paying attention!!

This adoption by God is irrevocable.  

If we say we’re not a child of God, we are simply wrong.  If we leave God and turn away and say: you are not my parent, we are the one who abandons God – not the other way.

We say “All things are possible with God….and this is true.

However, there are things that are impossible:

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BE ABANDONED BY GOD……..it is Impossible to be REJECTED BY GOD.

God’s love is of CHOOSING, ADVOCACY, ENDORSEMENT, ACCEPTANCE, BEING NAMED, OF VALIDATION, OF EMPOWERMENT AND UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.

NOTHING IN ALL CREATION CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD.

JOY TO THE WORLD, THE LORD IS COME – MERRY CHRISTMAS THIS BLESSED CHRISTMASTIDE!      AMEN.