First Sunday After Christmas 2014 -- John 1

                                                                 First Sunday After Christmas 2014

Isaiah 61:10-62:3; Ps147; Gal 3 and 4; John 1:1-18

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

Isaiah 9:2-7; Ps 96; Titus2:11-14; Matt 1:18-25

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.                          

           

Curly, Young People, and the Parable of the Talents

                                                                Proper 28A 2014

                                 Judges 4:1-7;Ps 123; 1 Thess. 5:1-11; Matthew 25:14-30

Father Adam Trambley

November 16, 2014 St.John’s Sharon

This morning’s gospel is Jesus’ parable of talents.  The word talent here means a huge chunk of ancient Roman money – usually about a seventy pound piece of silver or gold.  One scholar said it would be approximately equivalent to what one person would earn over their entire life. 

The story is familiar to us.  The wealthy master calls in three slaves to take care of portions of his huge fortune while he goes away on a trip.  One slave gets five talents, another two and a third one.  The first two slaves work with the money and both of them double it.  The third one buries it in the ground, which might have evoked a chuckle among the farmers in Jesus’ audience who knew how to grow things and knew you couldn’t plant silver and make a silver tree come up.  When the master comes back, he commends the first two slaves, saying, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave,” or, in the older translations, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  Then he promises them that they will be in charge of many more things and they should enter into the joy of their master.  The “joy of their master” is another metaphor for eternal life or life in the Kingdom of God.  We’ll talk about the many things they might end up in charge of in a few minutes.

Then the third slave, who for simplicity’s sake we’ll call “Curly,” comes forward and says some harsh things about the master, who upbraids him for not at least giving the money to the bankers for a little bit of interest, and then casts him into the outer darkness.  This rather unsympathetic interaction with the master and Curly raises a few questions.  We might hope that Curly would at least get credit for not losing the money.  He returns what was given him.  There were no FDIC insured bank accounts in those days, and the people who offered interest on borrowed money were generally money-changers, shop keepers who were buying inventory now in hopes of selling it for a better price later, or the kind of charlatans, con-men and other scoundrels that make great villains in Western movies.  Curly could have been commended for avoiding them and keeping his money intact.  But instead he is punished, and not just because Moe and Larry made better investments in matzo futures.

The key to understanding this parable comes as we translate the master’s highly-valued money into what is actually of value to our Divine Master in real life.  If the increase is all about buying power and we are just talking about greedy acquisition, then this story should bother us.  But if Jesus’ point is about using everything we have to invest in the Kingdom of God and to get good returns, then Curly’s lack of initiative is appalling.  Given the state of the world, we can’t justify sitting on our hands and keeping safely to ourselves.  We have to invest whatever we have and use it to obtain the best return possible.  Moe and Larry both get a good return, and God rewards them for going out, taking risks, and finding a way to increase the wealth of his Kingdom, a wealth that for us means helping people turn their lives around and live into the Kingdom of God.

Now given the framework of the parable, I have what may be some bad news for us here at St. John’s.  We have been given a lot of talents.  We have beautiful buildings that many people, including many of you, have kept up over the years.  We have held onto to a liturgical heritage that still touches lives in a sanctuary that has been filled with years of prayers.  We have financial resources and community connections and clergy with strong seminary training and a tradition of doing things well for large groups of people and perhaps a millennium’s worth of combined experience in this sanctuary with prayer and outreach and sharing our faith.  We are at least the five-talent servants of the Lord.  What we are called to do is what we have been trying to do: throw everything we can into any investment we can find that could increase our yield for the Kingdom of God. 

We are directing our investments in the avenues described by our strategic directions: creative, passionate and beautiful worship; building loving relationships; strengthening youth and families; meeting people’s basic needs; and participating in the revitalization of our wider communities.  St. John’s collectively is using many different resources including building space, our time and our expertise for a variety of initiatives, and as individuals we are also committing much of what we have to offer.  I would take a minute here, though, just to highlight a few resources that I think we are always tempted to bury and protect rather than to invest expecting a return. 

One of our often underutilized talents is our family, and especially our children.  What I mean here is that I think we often view our young people as fragile, vulnerable entities who need to have church stuff poured into them until they grow up.  Yet our children are some of the best ministers we have.  Children’s compassion, energy, acceptance and love can be huge gifts to other children and to adults.  Our young people are actually on the front lines of ministry with their peers, many of whom are facing unbelievable struggles.  They are proficient with new technology that connects them and the world in new ways, they are looking for a purpose worthy of their lives, and they have the energy to create new life-changing ministries.  Our job is to lift them up and send them out to do the work God gives them to do.  We are called to recognize the importance of their unique ministries, coach, encourage, equip, and support them, and find a valuable place for their work within our church community.  What I’m talking about is more than just a youth group or Sunday school, or even getting youth together to do something, as important as some of those activities are to lay a foundation for them.  We also need to expect them to bring light into all parts of their lives in creative, dynamic and loving ways, especially in those parts of their lives that seem to have little to do with church.  This is not the way we have always done things, but it is likely the way we will need to help our children and youth in the future.  And to you young people listening, I am serious.  You have an important work to do for God right now, with the people you know and spend your time with.  Be a friend.  Get your buddies together and make a difference.  Change the world.  Ask God for the guidance and courage to do what he is calling you do to, and let us know how we can help.

Another underutilized resource is prayer.  So many people and so many places receive much less prayer than they need. Our time and attention and desires and imagination are all pieces that we can either dedicate to prayer or allow to run amok along avenues of fear, gossip and hysteria.  The more we pray that troubling situations are turned into beachheads for the coming Kingdom of God, the more we will see our invested talents reap significant returns.  I can’t think of a single thing we have accomplished here over the past five years that did not happen after focused and often sustained prayer.  We can learn to develop habits of prayer for ourselves so that whenever we feel anxious or afraid or hear about depressing or bad news, we lift it up to God.  By asking for God’s peace and love in the midst of a difficult situation, by thinking about God’s presence descending and God’s light shining where it hasn’t been realized previously, we begin already to make a difference and open the path for other practical forms of problem-solving and assistance.

I’m sure all of us can think of many other contemporary correspondences to the talents of the parable.  Whatever our resources, the important point is to deploy them for the growth of the Kingdom.

Then our master says to us, “Well done good and faithful servant.  You have been faithful with little, so I will put you in charge of much.  Enter into the joy of your master.”  On one level, the increased responsibilities and rewards can be immediate in this life.  Once we know how to help a few people in some way, we can teach and oversee others to help many more people in the same way.  We also can know the joy of being used by God for fruitful ministry and see the Kingdom of God expanding.  But on another level, this reward is also part of the eternal reward of the Kingdom of God in ways we may not usually think about.

A number of people were talking about this idea in the lounge last week after church, so I think it is worth mentioning.  Before the fall in the Garden of Eden, human beings were placed in the Garden to till the soil.  Our natural state is to be productive, working on worthwhile things.  We are to engage in good work that helps us build community, that includes proper time for Sabbath, and links us more closely with God and one another.  We might almost think of it as playing in the garden, but the fruit of the labor does indeed matter.  Since we were working before the fall, there is no reason to think that after the resurrection we won’t also have work to do.  Again, that work will be good work, work that doesn’t hurt our backs or dull our senses or alienate us from our labor.  But the Kingdom of God is not described as an eternal golf game or lying around on cloud pillows watching reruns of “Touched by an Angel.”  The new, eternal Jerusalem is described as a heavenly city about the size of half the continental United States with a vibrant, dynamic life.  When we die there may be a time of peaceful rest, but the eternal resurrected life will be much more creative and fun and fruitful in all the best ways.  If God says that we will be put in charge of much, we can probably expect our post-resurrection life to be engaging and amazing indeed.  We can’t really say much more specifically, but don’t expect the good work we are doing now to end because we die.  Instead, it is likely to get much better, with increasing returns on the talents we invest.

So invest your talents well on behalf of the Kingdom of God.  May all of us someday hear, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”