Weekly Lessons and Sermon
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be always
acceptable in your sight, oh Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
acceptable in your sight, oh Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
Every so often:
A modern day prophet: Makes the news, Crying that Jesus is coming back soon. And throughout church history: Generations of people have been anticipating the Second coming. In fact, after Jesus’ death and resurrection: His followers thought that his return to earth was imminent. Even Saint Paul thought that Jesus was going to return in his generation. Yet here we are: 2,000 years later: And still awaiting the coming of our Lord. The Church continues to be filled with these expectations: Not unlike those who listened to John the Baptist in today’s Gospel: Wondering if the coming of the Messiah is soon. Humans have this kind of longing: For someone to come and deliver us from all that is wrong with the world. And so it’s easy to see why the people gathered around John the Baptist: And mistook him for being the long-awaited Messiah. He was a great preacher: Boldly proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom of God: Warning people to repent of their sins in preparation. And the people had such a longing: For the redeemer to arrive. On this day: The first Sunday after Epiphany: We are like the people in the Gospel reading: Filled with expectation: With questions burning in our hearts: still waiting for the Messiah to return. And It seems weird: Because we just celebrated Christmas. We were waiting in advent: We celebrated the birth of the baby: And now suddenly, Jesus is a thirty year old man: Getting baptized: And we’re here in Church talking about waiting for Jesus to come again. It’s kind of jolting. But remember at the beginning of Advent? When I told you we were going to pray for the light to come: To guide us: and renew us? And remember that I told you it wasn’t going to suddenly end with Christmas? It seems to really fit with where we are today in the life of the church. Because even though the Christ child has arrived: We still long for and wait for the coming of Christ: The second coming at the end of time, And the coming of the holy spirit to renew and revive us in this time. Today we specifically remember that Jesus baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and fire. The holy spirit: that empowers us to carry out the work of Jesus in a real and tangible way. And it’s our job to welcome that holy spirit in: To listen to it: And to let it change us. As I told you at the beginning of Advent: There’s a lot of darkness in the world. A lot of despair. Raging fires destroying peoples lives: right here in our own country. Debilitating disease: Loss, and grief. And it’s easy to give into that despair. But this reminder of Jesus: baptizing us with the Holy Spirit: Is exactly what we need to cling to: So that our hearts are not hardened: And so that our human fears don’t overwhelm us. Fear, despair and hardness of hearts: Becomes a prison: If we allow them to hold us hostage: We end out shutting out others: Denying mercy: And hoarding resources. Life without the holy spirit: Pushes into this fear, despair, and hardness of heart: Where we distrust our neighbors: And have no hope for a better tomorrow. But this baptism in the Holy Spirit does exactly the opposite: It sustains us: It gives us hope: It opens our heart, rather than hardening it. But it’s also not magic. We have to long for it: With a deep, and holy longing: We have to ask the Holy Spirit to open our minds and hearts: To guide us in the way of justice and truth. We have to welcome that spirit: Into our lives: Our bodies: And even our church. And we have to be willing to let that spirit change us and transform us. We prayed our prayer throughout avent: Inviting the holy spirit to do just this. And now: I want to continue that. Keep praying: Maybe even begging: The holy spirit to fill us: To relieve our fears, our desperation, To refuse a hardening of heart. Inviting the holy spirit to renew and revive us: To change and transform us: In the way that is God’s will, and not our own. Because when we’re following God’s will: Empowered and transformed by the holy spirit: We have nothing to fear. The story of Jesus’ life proves fear wrong. Jesus: The one God calls beloved: Conquered fear on the cross. The perfect love that casts out all fear: Through the power of the Holy Spirit. And when we’re open to the holy spirit: We can hear god more clearly: Speaking to each of us: Just as he spoke to Jesus on his baptismal day. Saying: When fire and water come: I will be with you. When it gets cold and painful: I will be with you. When life seems more work than joy: More struggle than peace: I will never abandon you. And I need YOU to be my presence for others in this way. It will be a hard path at times, But do not fear: I will be with you. Jesus has come into the world: To set us free from fear and despair: And he WILL come again as promised. But until that day comes: We call out to the holy spirit: To comfort us: To relieve us: To revive us: Refusing to give into despair: Refusing to let our hearts be hardened. Come, Lord, Jesus. Come, Holy, Spirit. And together let us pray: Holy and Gracious God, Maker of all things: You alone are the source of light and life: And for that we are supremely grateful. Send us your light and your truth. In the name of Jesus: Dispel the darkness covering us, Destroy the darkness around us. Drive out all evil: And bring us your eternal flame of light. We cry out for you and your great light. Come Lord Jesus: Come heavenly light: Come celestial brightness. Renew us. Enlighten us. Revive us. Send us your Holy spirit: And bring us into being. Create in us something new: All in the name of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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