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.
Good Morning!
And welcome to our annual meeting Sunday! The annual meeting is just what it sounds like: The yearly meeting of the whole congregation to do any “business” that is required of us by the church canons. Last year, at our annual meeting: I encouraged you all to consider and pray about where God might be guiding us. You might remember: that the word “cultivate” came up. We spent a good amount of time exploring that word: What it might mean, And where It might be leading us. We didn’t fully answer the question of what it meant for us And what it looks like for us. And that’s okay. Actually: It’s more than okay. Because it struck me recently that cultivating is primarily about preparation: (Like cultivating the soil: getting it ready: preparing it for planting) The more I’ve thought about it and prayed about it: It’s clear to me that our year of cultivating was preparing us for a new moment: A new movement: Or more specifically: a revival through the Holy Spirit. There have been a lot of changes and transitions for us: And I truly believe that a new day is dawning. The first big change and transition is our new diocese. This past July we officially became the Diocese of Wisconsin: As the three dioceses joined back together as they were at the beginning of the Episcopal Church in Wisconsin. We have the same bishop: And not much has changed in our day to day operations: But we are now connected to Episcopalians across the state in ways that we weren’t before: As we are now a larger united body of the Episcopal Church in Wisconsin. Not only that: But this unification has provided greater resources to local congregations. We have already benefitted from this, As we recently received a grant from the diocese to help support our food pantry and thrift store. And speaking of that: The thrift store has also experienced some big transitions. Pam Obrien stepped down as the manager this summer, Although she continues to volunteer her time. We are so grateful to her and all of the hard work she has provided to this important ministry. Linda Behm, (who you’ll likely see if you stop in) continues to keep things running: and a few new volunteers have done an amazing job of sorting! The thrift store is always in need of volunteers: So please help us spread the word that any help is most welcome! The building that the thrift store is in, also has a new owner! The new owner took on the building in December, And he has plans to do some improvements on the building. Its wonderful to have a new owner, who is happy to have us remain in the building. The food pantry has similar transitions. Due to a new owner (who is not as receptive as our new owner of the thrift store) We are currently discerning and keeping our eyes open for another location. I trust that God will provide the right place at the right time, if only we keep our hearts and minds open. As always, a huge thank you to LuAnne Nelson who gives tirelessly to continue this ministry. She also has an amazing team of volunteers who keep things running smoothly. Without these generous volunteers; these two ministries of ours would not be able to survive. 2024 brought us as a congregation: Some changes that also carried intense grief. We lost some significant members: And that absence is still present among us. The loss of Joe and Dave were particularly difficult this year: Yet we place our hope in the promises of Jesus: That death never has the last word: And that all things are being made new. This is a reminder to us that Transition, Change, and even death are inevitable. But none of it is the end. There is always something more: And I think It’s time that St. John’s seriously consider the “more.” This congregation has been through a lot: And I don’t just mean the changes in the past year. I mean all of the years that you waited for a priest. And the devastating pandemic that changed everything: for many churches across the world. I have spent nearly four (FOUR!!!) years with you, We’ve “cultivated” a post-pandemic church: We’ve continued our ministries with the food pantry, thrift store, and healing ministries. We’ve been more involved with our Christian friends here in New London: Through our Thanksgiving, Ash Wednesday, and Good Friday services together. We’re cultivating community beyond the walls of our church building. I truly believe that we have cultivated the soil: And that we’re ready to welcome whatever sprouts from that soil. But I don’t know what’s going to sprout. Just like last year: I didn’t know what we were cultivating. But suddenly, that part is very clear to me: We were told to cultivate: Because we needed to prepare: Prepare our hearts, our minds, our souls, our bodies, and our church: For something new to sprout. But here’s the thing: And I’m going to be super honest: That something new is not a program: It’s not a marketing plan: It’s not a strategy to get more people into our church. It’s a trust: and a longing: For the Holy Spirit to renew and revive us. Which is why I want to declare the upcoming year: The year of Revival through the Holy Spirit: And that’s going to take some HARD, DEEP work from every single one of us. In the past: At the annual meeting, I’ve asked for your ideas. (I still welcome your ideas: at any time!) But this year, I want to ask you to listen: Listen to the murmurs of God’s spirit in your hearts: Not just for this place: But also for you as an individual. We’ve cultivated the soil: And now we need to listen: For the soft, subtle sound of the seeds sprouting. Remember at the beginning of Advent? When I told you we could BEG and PLEAD and LONG for something more? I’m pleading for you to join me: To pray for a revival through the holy spirit: To pray it not just here: When we’re gathered for Sunday Worship: But also to pray it when you’re at home alone: or with your family: Or driving down the street. Our revival is going to take all of us: Praying, and listening for the Holy Spirit. We’ve cultivated the soil: And I can feel that we are on the cusp of something new: And the timing is no mistake: St. John’s will celebrate 150 years in 2026! Isn’t that amazing? We have done the preparation: And I think we’re ready for a revival: Just in time for our 150 th anniversary. Join me this year in paying attention to the Holy Spirit: Welcoming the spirit in to renew us, Revive us, And create in us something new. Amen. Prayer for Revival 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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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. While most people have put away their trees,
And turned off the lights: In the Church : It’s still Christmas! We are still celebrating the fact that God unites God’s self to humanity: In the person of Jesus. At the very heart of this celebration is the birth of Christ, the Lord: The Word made flesh. As Christians, we actually believe that the Son of God, Took upon himself the fullness of our human nature: Receiving a human body of flesh and bone, A human heart to love, And a human mind to reason and think. The Scriptures affirm that Jesus is like us in all things except for sin. And Theologians call the belief that God became flesh: “The Mystery of the Incarnation.” We affirm it every week in the Nicene Creed when we say: “For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, By the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate and was made man.” Today’s reading from Matthews Gospel: Is the story of the flight to Egypt. It’s a story that we don’t hear very often. And a story that doesn’t seem to fit with Christmas. It doesn’t seem to fit with all of this talk of God incarnate. But it’s an important story for the Christmas season: Because it shows us some of the ways in which Jesus, in his humanity: Identified himself with us. This is a story about how Jesus: God incarnate: becomes human in all its fullness: In moments of rejoicing, and in moments of hardship. This Gospel story might sound a bit familiar: Because it reminds us of the story of the Israelites in Egypt. And there are many parallels between Jesus’ flight to Egypt, And the Old Testament stories of hope for the promise land. Just as there is in the book of Genesis, Here there is another man named Joseph: Who sees visions in his dreams: And who leads the people to refuge in Egypt: This time, this Joseph: Leads Mary and Jesus into safety. And like the story in Exodus: There’s another Miriam: or Mary. There is even a Joshua: or Jesus: Just like we find in the book of Deuteronomy, And in the story about the return to the Promise land. Even Herod’s wrath and seeking to kill the Holy Child: Has echoes of pharaoh’s cruelty toward the Hebrew children. Here: The Messiah: God incarnate: God in flesh: Is identified with and parallels the old stories that many cherished. Matthew was intentional when he wrote this Gospel story: To connect Jesus to the story of the salvation and covenant of the Israelites. He demonstrates how Jesus’ life and story are one with the life and story of Israel. Jesus: The savior of the world: living in real human history: Living in real human experience: In real human flesh: experiences the hardship of Exile. And the fear of death. Yet even with all the parallels: It’s important to remember that Jesus: and what he represents is even bigger than the people of Israel. Jesus identifies himself with the promise to bring all nations into God’s kingdom: Not just the Israelites. When God becomes flesh, there’s no national borders. God looks upon the whole world and upon every nation and people. There’s an irony here: That this newborn Messiah was rejected by King Herod of Judah: And yet welcomed by Gentiles in Egypt. For Jew and Gentile alike: God has become flesh. And there’s more: With the Flight into Egypt: Jesus: who later teaches “blessed are the poor” Identifies himself with the poor and marginalized of the world. We can’t forget that the Holy Family: With the king of kings: Were on the run: Fleeing their homeland as victims of political persecution. At a very young age: Jesus knows firsthand the experiences and trials of the marginalized, seeking safety. From the beginning: Jesus’ story is not all gold, frankincense, myrrh and angels. It’s also a story of fear and oppression: The fullness of the human experience: In which even God in flesh experiences. This part of the story is a good reminder of the teachings Jesus later brings: That whatever we do for the least of his brothers and sisters: We do for him. Because he has made himself one with the marginalized: Even as a young child. Feeding the hungry, And clothing the naked are things Christians rightly do to honor God. Christians must identify with the poor and exiled: Because Christ himself was counted among them. All of this is to say that God made flesh is truly just that: God made flesh. Jesus identified himself with the joys and struggles of human life. And In Matthew’s telling of the flight into Egypt: Jesus does not only suffer the hardship of exile. He also experiences the joy of coming home: The joy of returning to one’s homeland is also a continuing theme in the Old Testament: And we see it in today’s lesson from Jeremiah who says: “He who scattered Israel will gather him…for the Lord has ransomed Jacob from hands too strong for him. They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion…and they shall never languish again.” This is a joyous celebration that God brings God’s children home. The return from exile in Egypt reminds us that even God is not above human suffering: And that God also understands the human need for celebration. We rejoice in God’s blessings. We rejoice in hopes fulfilled. The desires to sing and to dance, to laugh and to rejoice are not foreign to Jesus. After all, these expressions of joy and happiness are a powerful part of what it is to be fully human: Just like Jesus In the mystery of the incarnation, God shares this human joy in all its fullness: Even when it also has some tinges of fear and pain. The incarnation provides us with a powerful reason to celebrate. Not only that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us: But by becoming a full human being: And experiencing all that it means: Christ has united himself to all of humanity: Making us members of his own family. Today the Church rejoices, as we hear in Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, that: “We have been adopted by God the Father as children through Jesus Christ to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.” As the Christmas season continues: We celebrate that we, too, have become sons and daughters of God: true brothers and sisters of Christ. We rejoice that God’s grace has been lavished upon on us and that the same love that fills Jesus’ heart has been poured into our own hearts to give us new life. We rejoice that our sins have been forgiven: That we are made worthy to stand before him: Just as he stands before us: As one of us. Amen. |
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