Tuesday, December 30, 2014

First Sunday After Christmas 2014 -- John 1



                                                                 First Sunday After Christmas 2014
Father Adam Trambley
December 28, 2014, St. John’s Sharon

In the beginning was the Word.
In the beginning,
when God created the heavens and the earth,
            And the earth was a formless void
            And the Spirit of God hovered over the deep
In the beginning was the Word.
            And the Word was with God
            And the Word was God.
            He was in the beginning with God.
All things came into being through him:
            Everything made on the first day
            Everything made on the second day
            Everything made on the third day,
The contemporary Christian band Third Day,
            Everything made on the fourth day,
            Everything made on the fifth day
            Even everything made on the sixth day
            even we human beings
came into being through the Word.
And without him not one thing came into being:
            Not the sun, moon, or stars,
            Not the angels and archangels,
            Not even fallen angels,
            Not the plants and animals,
            Not even poison ivy and mosquitoes,
            Not one single human being,
            Not even the most mean, nasty, horrible individuals,
            Not one thing came into being except through the Word.
The Word is life, and that life was the light of all.
The light shines in the darkness
            And the darkness did not overcome it.

This great passage from the beginning of John’s Gospel
            Is called the Prologue to the Gospel,
            Since it tells the story leading up
                        To the life and work of Jesus.
Instead of the nativity story
            With Mary and Joseph
            Or shepherds and magi,
John fills out the story stretching back
            Not to the prophecies of the house of David
            nor to God’s deliverance in the Exodus
But to the very beginning of the creation of the Cosmos,
            To the first instant when still nascent humanity
            Encountered the life that would bring all things into being.
The Word, the Christ, the second person of the Trinity,
            the Son, the only-begotten of the Father,
            The one to be born Jesus from the flesh of the Virgin Mary,
This Word is shown clearly at the beginning of all things
            As the means by which the Almighty speaks
                        All creation into being.
God said, “Let there be light”
            And God’s Word brought forth light,
                        And there was light
                        And it was good.
God said, “Let dry land appear” and
            “Let the earth put forth vegetation”
            And “Let us make humankind
                        In our image,
                        According to our likeness.”
            And God’s Word brought life into being.
                        Making humankind in His image,
                        In the image of God,
                        Male and female,
            And it was very good.

We read this beautiful, expansive, hymn to the Word of God
            During Christmas
            To remind us that there is more to this story
            Than magi, mangers,
and shepherds watching their flocks by night.
The heavenly host starts singing
            And “Gloria’s” resound in the heavens
            Because the Word has come to his own.
            Because the Light shines in the darkness
                        And the darkness did not overcome it.
            Because the Life gave us power to become children of God
                        Who were born of God.
            Because from the fullness of Truth
                        We have received grace upon grace.
            Because the Son has made God known to us.

That Word became flesh and lived among us.
            The Word of God
                        becoming a human in the image of God
                        that the Word himself had formed.
The Word coming to us as the babe in Bethlehem.
The Word coming to us
            With the glory of the Father’s only Son,
            So that we might see the glory of God.
No one has ever seen God.
            The Father made us and sustains us
            Through the Son, His Word.
The Son,
            The one close to the Father’s heart,
            The one held in His Father’s tightest embrace
            Is the one who makes known the Father,
And who reveals his Father’s glory.

We desperately needed to see the Father’s glory
            Because we were walking in darkness.
Creation that had been created very good,
            Saw darkness creep in
            And cause it to dim.
Christ’s own had become so blind
That they could not recognize him
            When he came.
The people created through the Word of God
            In the love of God
            For the glory and pleasure of God
            No longer knew God,
                        And they declined his invitation
                        To get together for dinner.

But Christ came anyway,
            To allow anyone to accept him.
            To allow anyone to receive him.
            To allow anyone to invite him
                        Into their homes and
                        Into their hearts.
When we accept him;
When we ask Jesus to turn on the heavenly Light
            And dispel our own darkness;
When we beg the Word to speak truth
            Into the dishonesties and lies we tell ourselves;
When we steady our sights on the Son of God
            So we glimpse even a glimmer
            Of the Father’s glory;
When we come to his table
            And do what he commanded
 in memory of Him;
When we are baptized
            Not just with the baptism of John
            Who witnessed to the light
            But in the Name of the Father
            And of the Son and of the Holy Spirit;
Jesus Christ makes us children of God,
            Born not of blood
            Or of the will of the flesh
            Or of the will of man,
            But of God.

When we invite the Word of God who created us
            To come and take his rightful place
            As light and life in our lives,
            We become children of God.
We are born of God,
            And we are God’s.
Our identity is no longer in “our people”,
            Who are parents were
            Or who are parents weren’t.
Our worth is no longer
            Whether somebody wanted us
            or whether we felt unloved and unwanted.
Our destiny is no longer limited
            To what we have been told
And come to believe about ourselves
            Or the opportunities we have had
            Or the self-esteem we have developed
            Or the roles we have been prepared to play.
Our being is no longer based
            On what other people say about us.
Our being is based on how God made us as his children.
Our destiny is a place in God’s eternal kingdom.
Our worth is the image and likeness of God.
Our identity is beloved of God.
We are born
            Not for any accident or human reason
            But of God
            Because God wanted us and loves us.

As we,
            God’s children
            Enlightened by the true Light
            Accepting the Word
Grow deeper in the knowledge and love of the Son,
We come to know God.
Nothing else about the nativity means more than this:
That the human being Jesus
            Is the eternal Word of God
            And has made the Father know
            And we can now know Him.

We are here this Christmas to come to know God
            As he comes to us.
We come to his table,
            We hear the word of the Word,
                        And we care for one another 
Because when we do
            We encounter Jesus
And when we encounter Jesus
            We encounter the Father
And when we encounter the Father through Jesus his Word,
            We encounter him as Our Father,
            And we encounter ourselves as his children,
            and he hugs us close to his heart.

             

             

Christmas 2014



                                                                  Christmas 2014
Father Adam Trambley
December 24, 2014, St. John’s Sharon

Walmart aired an ad this year
aimed at the heart
            Of our anxious age.
The theme was “A Little More Joy,”
            And it perfectly hit the heartstrings both
                        of grandparents who grew up
                        without enough of the creature comforts
                        they now enjoy,
                        and which they want to pass on,
            and of Gen-X helicopter parents who are
                        seeing society slip and
                        stand scared that their sons and daughters
                        might be missing something they need for
                        a long, happy and successful life.
If losing a night of sleep to bake another dozen cookies,
            Or scouring store shelves
in search of a special lego set,
            or just a little more tinsel, or lights, or anything else
could bring a little more joy or a lot more love for Christmas,
heaven knows that we would do it,
and we often do.

It would be easy now to let Linus come in
            And talk about the true meaning of Christmas
            While walloping on Walmart
            And other contributors to our culture
                        Of crass consumerism,
But that’s not what we are here for tonight,
And, in fact, most of what happens
            For the holidays
Even outside of the more religious observances,
            Stems for a longing to share
            In the blessings of the babe in Bethlehem,
            Blessing deeply desired,
                        Even when inadequately understood.

Now I’m not substituting Sam Walton for Saint Nicolaus
            Or advocating excess –
And even Walmart is mostly tongue-in-cheek
            When suggesting buying nine wise men
            For the nativity
if your mantle particularly roomy
or that the doll-making uncle
should have brought two nutcrackers
to avoid a family fight
(and drastically shorten a ballet)—
But I do want to say this:

God’s coming into the world
In his Son Jesus Christ
Confirms everything good in creation,
And those good things in life
Are what we celebrate particularly
During Christmas.
If we had any doubts about God seeing
All he had made and
saying it was very good,
Then Jesus birth amid baby animals
With gifts of gold and incense,
And later his growing up to turn
Water into wine at parties
And being called a glutton and a drunkard,
Should tell us that
Somehow lights and tinsel and
Santa and snowflake cookies
Are appropriate for appreciating
The great gift of God’s Emmanuel
Coming among us.

Jesus, just like us, had five senses,
And was born into a culture with festive traditions,
And was loved by his family and friends,
And he didn’t stand on ceremony
Or refuse to enjoy anything that was good.
So, we also can celebrate the great
Reconciling act of the incarnation
when earth and heaven are joined,
With the measures of joy brought
By the sights of sparkling lights,
                        Of greens and reds,
                        Of silver and gold,
                        Of brown paper packages
                                    Tied up with string,
Of colorful costumes
for Christmas plays and parties
and the graceful, energetic lines
danced by ballerinas;
            By the sounds of choirs and carolers,
And maybe even angels, singing
                                    Songs both sacred and secular,
                        Of bells ringing,
                                    Either for the Salvation Army or
                                    on someone’s sleigh,
                        Of children laughing
                                    Or occasionally squabbling
                        Of stories shared from family
                                    Christmases long, long ago.
            By the smells of frankincense at midnight mass
                        Or of Uncle Val’s cigars on the back porch,
                        Of fireplaces burning
                        Of cookies baking
                        Of the traditional family Christmas
                                    Dinner wafting from the kitchen.
            By the taste of egg nog and wassail
                        Of snickerdoodles and clothespin cookies
                        Of chex mix and cheeseballs
                        Of fruitcakes and spices
                        Of meats and vegetables and
Special once-a-year Christmas treats
            By the feel of snow falling on our nose and eyelashes
                        Of splintery firewood and silky sweaters
                        Of warm fuzzy jammies
                        Of grandpa’s calloused hands and
                                    the baby’s smooth cheeks
                        Of family cuddles while watching
                                    Charlie Brown Christmas,
Of, the with the appropriate person,
                        Lingering, passionate kisses
                        When, baby, it’s cold outside.

We share these celebrations with
            And all God’s children,
men and women of goodwill
                        Throughout the world.
Because the baby Jesus, God’s Son,
became flesh to dwell among us,
            And beauty and delights do bring
a little more joy,
            when we are grateful to our God who made them,
                        and let them unite us
                                    to Jesus who enjoyed them.
           
But Christ also comes at Christmas
            In those times and places
            When joy and beauty are hard to come by.
When people are cold and hungry
            Lonely or afraid,
The same Jesus who welcomed shepherds and magi
            To his manger,
Also reaches out in welcome
Through foodbanks and community kitchens
            Through helping hands
                        And caring hearts
Through those who take time
                        To open their lives and their schedules
                        In a busy season
                        To offer warmth and love and companionship
                                    And maybe even a place
                                    At the Christmas dinner table
            To someone who needs a meal or a family.

Christ also comes at Christmas
            To those who have families
            That may not be quite the families they would want.
            To families that are estranged,
            Families that have hurt each other
            Families that have not loved in so long
                        That they have forgotten how.
When Jesus was in the womb, we remember,
            His parents went to Bethlehem,
Where his father’s family lived
            And no one had a room for him.
            Second cousins filled up guest rooms.
            No one really wanted somebody giving birth
                        On a sleeping bag
Under the dining room table.
            So Jesus was in the cave with the animals,
                        Who may have been better company.
Jesus knows the pain of family separation,
            And he knows the struggle and vulnerability
            It takes to overcome it.
His grace is in every stumbling step forward,
            In every reach for reconciliation,
            In every tentative Christmas invitation.
And his loving presence abides with us
            When we require something stronger
                        Than ourselves
            To bind us back together.

Christ also comes at Christmas
            Into a world racked by division,
                        By violence,
                        By racism,
                        By war.
Jesus was born in occupied Roman Palestine,
            A place at least as troubled as our time today.
As we yearn for a world of justice and peace;
As we stare into the darkness of the night,
            Hungering and thirsting for righteousness,
Christ the bright morning star,
            The wonderful counselor,
            The mighty God
            The Prince of Peace
            The King of Glory
Comes to us
            Opening up a future kingdom
                        Of righteousness and justice
            Showing us the cruciform path to its gates
And suffering beside us
                        Until it is finally ushered in.

Christ also comes to us
            As our celebrations are subdued
            By the absence of loved ones
            who have already gone into the near presence of God.
We had a funeral here yesterday,
            And one of the guest dancers
At the early service
Lost her great-grandmother today.
When we stare into that silent night
            Of sadness and despair
            It is Christ the morning star
                        Who shines into our hearts.
Christ Jesus who walked for days
            To comfort the sisters of his friend Lazarus.
Christ Jesus who reached out to mourning parents.
Christ Jesus who suffered death himself
            And came out the other side to new life
Christ who is the same yesterday, today and forever,
            Who made the world,
                        Who lies in the manager,
                                    and who broke out of the tomb.
Jesus Christ who is with us tonight as a newborn babe,
            And with our loved ones forever
as their Resurrected Lord,
Christ comes
so that this night we might hear the echoes
                        Of the eternal angelic host
                        In the harmonies of O Holy Night.
So that this night we might see the reflection
                        Of the Eternal light of the world
                        In the candles and colorful bulbs
                        Illuminating the darkness around us.
So that this night we might get a taste
                        Of the heavenly banquet
That those we love and see no longer
Are already enjoying
                        As we taste our favorite fudge
                        And come to the altar for our Christmas communion.

Christ comes to every one of us at Christmas
            In whatever way we need him to,
            If we are open to and wait for his coming.
Jesus is present with us in our celebrations,
            But he is also with us
            When the season is more blue than white.
So on this Holy Night,
take the time to look for him,
            With gratitude for the good things
            And with great longing in the struggles.
For Christ is coming,
And not just with a little more,
            But with the overwhelming abundance of joy
            For each and every one of us.