THE FIRST SUNDAY OF CHRISTMAS
December 31, 2006

THE DIFFICULT CHILD
Luke 2:41-52

          41Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. 42And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival.  This morning I would like to consider the challenge of raising Jesus.  Except for the beloved narrative of His birth and a glimpse at His naming we only have these few verses from St. Luke to consider some 29 of his 33 years.  What was the child Jesus actually like?  Some early Christian literature, which was not accepted into the canon or the official books of the Bible, offers some very exotic images.  To quote one of the commentators, “there were apocryphal gospels floating around in the earliest days of the church. Some of these books, later judged to be inauthentic by the church, are filled with tales purported to be from the childhood of Jesus. Mostly, though, these are silly stories that hardly rise above the level of an old episode of that TV series Bewitched. Jesus is shown as the Wunderkind who does funny things with his supernatural powers like turning some mud pigeons he had made into real birds. Other of these tales show Jesus turning a bunch of children into goats after they had teased him or performing a little household razzle-dazzle to help Mary get the cleaning and cooking done in record time.”  But what was it really like?  Today’s Gospel is the one accepted family snapshot we possess.  So what can we learn from it.

          For the very beginning, being a part of Jesus family was complicated.  To quote St. Luke, 44Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. 45When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him.   Jesus’ parents were really worried about Him.  Where could He have gotten to?  And we must never forget that it is not easy for us to be a part of Jesus’ family as well.  Just when we think we have Him all figured out and are convinced that His will and ours are perfectly aligned, He travels to an unexpected place and calls us to follow Him there in our search to find Him.  Growing up in a good Norwegian family, Inger LaManna never expected to be actively involved with an predominantly African American congregation, but you will find her almost every Saturday morning at Second Baptist Church helping with the Meal at Noon program.

          We also see that we must set priorities.  I am sure that Mary and Joseph were anxious to get back to their home after the journey to Jerusalem.  Joseph had work to be finished for impatient customers.  “Where is that dumb carpenter?  He promised to have that chair repaired two days ago.”  Mary also would have been impatient to get back to the quiet and safety of their house.  And yet five days were lost, one traveling back, three searching and another to get to where they first started.  But they had a firm priority and that was finding Jesus.  Come to think of it, this is not a bad priority for us as well even though it is He who actually finds us.  But to insert a bit of law into this sermon, how often do actually make this search?

          Yet when the right priorities are set, everything starts to fall into place. 48When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” 49He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”  The story of this difficult child has a happy ending.  Of course, on occasion we see just how wrong things get when we set the wrong priorities.  Saddam Hussein wanted power above all else and look how he ended his life.  And sometimes a resolution is not so quick in coming.  But when we place God first in our lives, eventually it does all work out.  He sees to it.  This is the great promise of our faith.  I came upon a wonderful summary of the work of the 12 step programs that assist so many people who struggle with alcoholism and the range of other compulsive afflictions.  This seems like a good summary of this message.  In “Alcoholics Anonymous Twelve Step program, we really stop trying to find our own way out, and we open our lives to simply being found by that One who can truly find us and set us on the right path again. We admit our powerlessness, our lostness, and we turn our lives over to God, so that we might truly begin to find our way again.”  To quote Charles Dickens, “May this be said of us all”.  Amen.

 

January 11, 2007

THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD
January 7, 2007

GOD’S A GOIN’ A TROUBLE THE WATER
R 159
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

          When I recently heard a traditional spiritual whose refrain reads, “God’s goin’ a trouble the water,” I knew I heard a sermon.  On this day, when we not only remember the Baptism of Jesus but also offer special prayers for those who have been baptized at Reformation over the past year, it seems appropriate to consider our own Baptisms.  This African American hymn provides a provocative perspective on the sacrament.

For it is a reminder, first of all, that Baptism shakes things up.  Reformation can be described in many fashions.  One of these is that we are constantly changing community.  In the almost three decades through which it has been my privilege to serve as your Senior Pastor, I have seen so many changes unfolding.  The physical expansion and renovation of the building is perhaps the smallest piece of it.  We have gone from the Red Book to the Green Book and are soon to enter the Cranberry Book era of worship.  We have gone from a congregation that was primarily German to an increasingly Italian congregation.  Italian Lutherans, who would have thought it?  We have seen internal organizations grow from perhaps 25 to over 70 and the number of outside organizations who use our facility increase ten fold.  And who would have thought back in the ‘70’s we would be feeding nearly 70 families a month except through the Willing Workers dinners.  The waters of Reformation have certainly been troubled, that is to say shaken up.

 But because we were willing to pay the price of change to stay dynamic and Christ centered, we have become an ever more effective life changing community.  Reformation has changed many lives.  Nick Keaproth comes to mind.  We stood with Nick through some difficult times growing up but a rather socially inept teen went on the Annapolis and now serves as an dynamic young officer aboard a submarine in the Navy, not bad for a young man who said he much preferred to company of a computer above human companionship.

          This spiritual and the Baptisms it celebrates, reminds us that our faith walk requires just that, faith.  The song does not say God is a goin’ to smooth the waters, but trouble them.  I think we sometimes forget this part.  Being made one with God means that from now on we attempt to use the gifts granted at Baptism to follow God.  And we must never forget that God delights in taking us to unknown places so He can grow us.  We have a dramatic reminder on this weekend, as we commission most of the participants in the servant trip to Slidell, Louisiana.  Our team has tried to prepare as much as possible, but there are a great many unknowns that confront them.  But then again, isn’t that true of all of our lives as Christians.  I know that as a Pastor of the church, I am one phone call away from having my whole week radically changed.  But obviously, I am hardly alone.

                      Finally, let me suggest there is a strong element of grace in this troubling of the waters.  Listen to the third verse of the hymn.  “Look over yonder, what do I see?  The Holy Ghost a coming on me.”  Yes, the waters of our lives are often troubled.  But God knows what He is about.  Ultimately, God troubles the sinful old Adam so we can be raised in Christ’s own image.  Weeping may linger for the night, the psalmist writes, but joy comes with the morning. To this St. Paul adds we know all things work for the good of those who love God.  We may not ever fully realize just how God uses some of those upsets in our lives to grow us in faith, but He does.  And so when our personal Baptismal waters grow troubled let us remember that the presence of the Holy Spirit is almost always signaled by some kind of upheaval, just as the Spirit descended on Jesus at His Baptism and led Him out to the trials of the 40 days and nights in the wilderness and the tongues of fire falling on the Apostles during that first Pentecost led them to lives full of uncertainty.  Sometimes, the waters may be troubled, but curiously enough it is in the troubled waters of our own Baptisms that we find our Baptized Lord.  Amen.

 

January 19,2007

THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
January 14, 2007

DARING TO ASK
John 2:1-11

          Today I would like to consider the whole question of asking.  It seems appropriate enough given our Gospel, the famous miracle at the wedding feast at Cana.  After all, this first miracle of Christ would not have happened had Mary not asked Jesus to intervene when the wine had run out.  3When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” No shy mother she.

Now here is the curious thing.  We Lutherans will never be accused of being shy.  A shy Lutheran is an oxymoron.  There is not such critter, except when it comes to God.  We will hound our families ceaselessly.  When it comes to making suggestions to our Pastors, forget about it.  We are perfectly willing to make our requests known to our co-workers.  But when it comes to asking God for something in prayer, suddenly the famous Lutheran mouth falls strangely silent.

          So let me first suggest, we have to learn to dare to ask.  They have no wine,” His mother says.  Being a good Jewish mama, she knows how to ask her Son to get something done.  She is subtle, but the message is clear.  “Can you help out here?”  How often have we been in a situation where we desperately desired help for others or for ourselves, but never dropped to our knees or raised our voices to God?  God is our heavenly Father.  Most of us were quick enough to go to our earthly father or mother when we needed help.  Our parents may have complained, but deep down they wanted us to ask them, just as those of us who are parents or grandparents still wait for those invariable phone calls, “I know this is asking a lot but could you…” Our heavenly Father also wants to hear from us.

          Of course this business of asking God is a tricky one because God is God and His ways are often not ours.  Sometimes the answer will be one we cannot understand at least not at first.  Well do I recall my final four months at Seminary.  Twice congregations on my native Long Island interviewed me and twice I was declined with close friends receiving the call.  Week followed week and call after call was extended, classmates moved out, often with my help until I alone remained, the professional orphan of the class of ’71.  Did I ask God to help me here?  You bet I did.  But when nothing happened I began to ask increasingly hard questions.  “Why me Lord?”  “What have I done to tick you off so royally?”  Only after a number of years, did I understand God was simply causing me to wait for the right place and the right time to begin my pastorate.

          Sometimes the answer will be one we do not want to accept.  These are the most challenging responses.  Frankly, this is probably why we don’t ask God for more.  We are afraid he might say no.  And sometimes this is exactly what He does.  Sometimes we understand the no.  But sometimes we never do get a good answer to why God refused us.  It is here that we especially have to ask for the gift of faith.  There is a twin promise involved.  The first promise is that God knows best even though we often haven’t the slightest idea how this can be.  The second is that one-day all mysteries will be revealed.  Having buried two 19 year olds in the last three months, this is one conversation I am anxious to have with God.  Would that our faith journeys could be easier at points yet on occasion they are not.

          But to end with the Gospel, the good news, sometimes the answer will be one that far exceeds our expectations.  5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. 9(And) the steward tasted the water that had become wine, Mary keeps on asking, actually ordering and look what occurs.  Where once there was no wine, suddenly the wine overflows.  And sometimes this happens in our lives.  We ask God to find someone with whom we can spend a little time, and receive a wonderful spouse for life.  We ask God for a healthy child and gain one that brings us joy after joy.  We ask God to get us through a time of unemployment and suddenly find ourselves in that perfect professional situation.  Today as well, we see the process begun at the wedding feast of Cana transformed into a miracle of unimagined proportions.  Mary asked Jesus to help out with a little wine and all the wedding guests received wine overflowing.  How much greater is the wine and bread that we will shortly receive which brings not only sustenance but also Christ Himself, hence life everlasting.  Amen.