Lent 2B

Mark 8:31-37

³¹Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³²He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."

³⁴Jesus called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. ³⁶For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?"

Celebrate! from Psalm 22:23-31

Shout Hallelujah and worship God;
give glory, sons of Jacob;
adore God, daughters of Israel.
God has never let you down, never looked the other way
when you were being kicked around.
God always has been right there, listening.

Down-and-outers sit at God's table
and eat their fill.
God has taken charge;
and from now on has the last word.

Shout Hallelujah, worship God;
give glory, you sons of Jacob;
adore God, you daughters of Israel.
God has never let you down!

from The Message (MSG), alt. Copyright 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson


Lent 2 Currents / Recently in Mark

Today is the second Sunday in (but not of) Lent; Sundays don't belong to Lent because every Sunday is a festival of resurrection, a "little Easter." Lent derives from lengthening days as the Northern Hemisphere moves toward spring. Lent is a season of repentance and re-orientation; Lent is a season of awareness that we receive life as a gift of God's grace and mercy, a season freely to offer grace, mercy, and life to others. Today's reading concludes the first half of Mark's gospel. Maybe surprisingly, it comes before the Transfiguration we studied two weeks ago in Mark 9:2-9.

For today for some reason the Revised Common Lectionary didn't include Peter's confession of Jesus as the Christ that immediately precedes today's reading in Mark 8:27-29… we'll hear it next autumn toward the end of the season of Pentecost.
• 8:27-28 Jesus asks his disciples, "who do you say that I am?" "Some say…" "But who do you say I am? 8:29 Peter answers, "Thou art the Christ."

In the same way Jesus insisted on hearing not the opinion of others, but who his disciples believed he was, although we need to listen to and consider what other people say, ultimately each of us needs to talk and walk our own testimony of Jesus' identity.


Today's Gospel Reading

Today's scripture portion opens with Mark 8:31 that's sometimes referred to as Jesus' first passion prediction of the three in Mark's gospel. Jesus then teaches his disciples about the way of the cross, about paradoxically losing their lives in order to gain life. The word for life is "psych" that we know from a wide range of English words. Psych implies psychological, emotional, volitional, relational, and every aspect of our humanity—similar to heart in Hebrew. Jesus doesn't say Zoë–life that brings us the name Zoë. As with most events in Jesus' ministry that made it into the gospel accounts, this teaching probably wasn't a one-time occurrence; most likely Jesus repeated it on several occasions so his disciples heard it more than once.

The Greek text says the cross, though some English versions read their (as in yours, ours possessive) cross. Jesus talks about taking up the cross and following him—about giving up our own druthers and preferences to help take care of the needs of our neighbors. Jesus' cross becomes our cross. For most of us, service to the neighbor begins where we find ourselves here and now; except for medical, fire, police, and some retail workers, for the past stay safe stay home pandemic year, being neighbors has been extremely local.

Jesus original context was the Roman empire that occupied his homeland and controlled every facet of existence. His ministry of love, healing, and compassion, his nonviolent resistance to religious, political, and economic powers was contrary to Rome's values and ultimately led him to the cross.


Where We Live – #Resist

As twenty-first disciples of Jesus baptized into his death (and resurrection), our contemporary context is Jesus' current setting: Jesus' cross has become our cross.

Some interpretations of this text have neglected Jesus' cross and ignored his clear charge to lose our lives for the sake of the gospel, for the possibility of God's reign in our midst. Denying our instinctual preferences and following Jesus means to recognize, to name, and to resist planetary and human suffering that happens because of neglect, indifference, empire, and exploitation. Pain and loss that's been going down in the wake of COVID-19. Denying-following means to embody God's love, mercy, compassion, and justice in the face of hatred, discrimination, enmity, injustice, and every dehumanizing force. In the contemporary vernacular, it means to #resist everything that results in death, desecration, and marginalization, etc. You can make your own long list. In alignment with our baptismal promises, along with nonviolent resistance, God calls us to act in ways that lead to justice and hope, that translate words into actions.

As Pastor Eugene Peterson says in his translation of today's responsive psalm, "from now on God has the last word – down-and-outers sit at God's table and eat their fill." Does that sound like Jesus? Does it sound like us?


Where We Live – 7 Marks

Martin Luther listed seven marks of the presence of the church—please take note of the seventh:

• the proclaimed word
• baptism
• Holy Communion / Lord's Supper
• keys and confession
• ordered ministry
• prayer—including the liturgy
• the cross

Lent 1B

Mark 1:9-15

⁹In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

¹²And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ¹³Jesus was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

¹⁴Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, ¹⁵and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

Collect for the First Sunday in Lent

Book of Common Prayer, traditional version

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted of Satan: Make speed to help thy servants who are assaulted by manifold temptations; and, as thou knowest their several infirmities, let each one find thee mighty to save; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Book of Common Prayer, contemporary version

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.


Lent 2021

Last week on Ash Wednesday the Church's year of grace segued into the season of Lent. "Lent," an old English word for springtime, refers to lengthening days. If you're a musician, you know the tempo lento is broad and slow.

Lent was one of the church's earliest observances, beginning with only a few days, gradually expanding into the current forty. Churches that observe the Three Days-Triduum – Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter – generally count Lent from Ash Wednesday through Wednesday in Holy Week; others go from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday evening. Because every Sunday is a festival of resurrection, Sundays are in Lent but not of Lent.

Lent emphasize repentance, with somber purples and lavenders Lent's typical colors. Lent also focuses on baptism; just as with baptism, the turn your life around, penitent aspect of Lent is about living bathed in grace as we confess sins and shortcomings, then move in a new direction. Traditionally Lent has been a time of preparation for baptism during the Easter Vigil on Easter Eve or very early Resurrection Sunday morning. Lent is a season for those of us already baptized to remember how in grace God claims us, names us Christian, and in the power of the Spirit sends us into the world to live as good news for all creation.


Today's Gospel Reading

Every lectionary year (A–Matthew, B–Mark, and C–Luke) the gospel reading for the first Sunday in Lent is Jesus' testing by Satan, who traditionally is the prosecuting attorney in Judaism. Every year! This event is that important!

This year's reading from Mark begins with Jesus' baptism we discussed on January 10th. We need to remember Jesus did not receive our trinitarian baptism into his death and resurrection, yet his baptism by John still related to repentance and newness and like our baptism, it signified (was a literal "sign") that affirmed his identity. Sounds like an excellent choice for opening up our journey through Lent!

Jesus goes from John baptizing him in the Jordan River wilderness into deeper, denser wilds. (By the way, Greek uses the same word for wilderness and desert.) Matthew and Luke both specify three of the temptations Jesus experienced; Mark doesn't provide details. Jesus refutes each challenge by quoting scripture.

After being baptized and spending about a month in solitude, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news." Mark 1:14-15 Jesus told them and then he showed them.


More for Lent 1

The first reading for today, Genesis 9:8-17, describes God's covenant with Noah, his sons, their descendants, and with "every living thing." This short passage says every living thing three times! God disarms, setting his weapon (rain-bow) in the sky as a sign of covenantal promise; surprisingly, Genesis 9:15-16 tells us the rainbow is so God will remember. As twenty-first century people, inside the church and outside, we often use rainbows with their full range of colors as signs of inclusiveness.

Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news." Mark 1:14-15

Mark 1:13 tells us Jesus was "with the wild beasts." Richard Bauckham, in The Bible and Ecology: Rediscovering the Community of Creation (new to me book I recently got on eBay!) points out that elsewhere in Mark's gospel "being with" is the language of love and conveys close friendship. Bauckham suggests Jesus’ presence evokes Isaiah of Jerusalem’s vision of messianic peace that encompasses all creation, with humans and animals living tougher in harmony, with animals neither predators or prey. This Peaceable Kingdom belongs to the many ways the Good News of God's reign comes near in Jesus—and also in us, Jesus' contemporary disciples.

Isaiah 11

¹A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
⁶ The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.
⁷The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
⁹They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Lent during COVID-19

Matthew's and Mark's gospels tell us Jesus answered the devil's challenges by quoting scripture he'd memorized—"knew by heart." How about us?

• What scriptures, prayers, hymns, do you rely on when the going gets rough and tough? When you're confused or uncertain about your next move (pandemic, anyone)?
• What scriptures do you recall when life is glorious and you want to thank and acknowledge God?
• Favorite Easter hymns?
• Have you started spiritual practices or service projects for this Lent?
• Are they the same or different from previous years?
• Jesus said, "the time is now, and the Reign of God has come near." The word here for "time" is kairos, and means an unrepeatable opportune moment. Chronos in Greek is linear calendar and clock time, as in "chronology, chronological." Are you thinking of brand-new or renewed ministries for return to campus?
• Has COVID-19 led to some unique moments and opportunities?

Transfiguration Year B 2021

God's Glory from Psalm 50

God, the Lord God, has spoken;
God's summons covers all the earth,
like the sun from its rising to its setting.
God has shone forth from Zion;
perfect in its beauty.

Gather to me my faithful ones;
the ones that make covenant with me by sacrifice.
The heavens declare God's righteousness
and proclaim, "God, the Lord God, is judge."

Psalm paraphrase from The Billabong, a lectionary worship resource by Jeff Shrowder, Uniting Church in Australia

Mark 9:2-9

²Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, ³and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. ⁴And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. ⁵Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." ⁶He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. ⁷Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" ⁸Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

⁹As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

Transfiguration?

Depending on how you structure the church's year of grace, opinions differ as to whether the Christmas season ends at the Day of Epiphany, at Jesus' Baptism, or at Jesus' Presentation in the Temple. But with Lent beginning next week on Ash Wednesday, without a doubt Transfiguration concludes seasons that specifically magnify Jesus as God incarnate and Jesus as light to the world. However, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and some Anglican churches observe Transfiguration on August 6th, and some Orthodox Christians on August 19th. The Roman Catholic calendar also schedules T-Fig on the Second Sunday in Lent. As we've seen, a happening in Jesus' life is a strong sit up and take notice when more than one gospel records it. All three synoptics that view Jesus' ministry in a similar way include Transfiguration:

• Mark 9:2-9
• Matthew 17:1-9
• Luke 9:28-36

Metamorphosis is the Greek word translated transfiguration; even if it's not in your daily vocabulary, you probably know metamorphoses from caterpillar to butterfly, a redecorated room, a transformed human life. It's essentially beyond (meta) the original shape, form, appearance or likeness (morphe), and strongly implies what people perceive with their senses.

In Matthew and Mark, six days later comes after Peter's confession of Jesus as the Christ of God. In Luke they've just celebrated Succoth, the Feast of Booths–Tabernacles–Tents when people re-enacted God's protection during the exodus (Leviticus 23:39-43). Those temporary structures provided shelter yet people remained somewhat exposed to nature, so it's possible Peter, James, and John imagined offering hospitality to Moses and Elijah because their memory of Succoth was fresh.

Scripture and our every days consistently reveal creation as the setting for God's activity. Mountains often were arenas of divine revelation; OT examples include Moses on Mount Sinai [Exodus 20:1-17], Elijah on Mount Carmel [1 Kings 19:12]. The NT brings us Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and God's ultimate self-revelation in the cross of Mount Calvary.


Transfiguration!

In this literal mountaintop experience Jesus appears with Moses and Elijah, who represent Old Testament law and prophets. Particularly in Mark and in Luke, Jesus' journey to Jerusalem and to the cross is focused and incessant. In Mark, transfiguration comes after Jesus' first of three predictions of his death and resurrection (Mark 8:31). With Transfiguration so closely following foretelling his passion, death, and resurrection(!), the way of Jesus begins to take the shape of a cross. But also—as the four companions descended the mountain Jesus ordered them "to tell no one until the Son of Man [Human One] had risen from the dead." For those first disciples and for us as twenty-first century Jesus followers, a cruciform life that resists death-dealing temptations and accretions of consumerism, empire, and violence also forms us into Easter people who testify to God's power to bring new life out of death.

Traditional and valid interpretations of this transfiguration event include:

1. You can't stay on the mountaintop forever.
2. The party needs to end because you need to go back to the daily rhythm of life with its public witness out in the world.
3. You can't contain God or put "god in a box." Martin Luther talked about a domesticated god.
3. God is not a place god of a single particular locale; God is God of all places, all people, everywhere.

Like Jesus' Baptism a few weeks ago, the Transfiguration famously brings us a Trinitarian theophany, a simultaneous revelation/showing forth of all three persons of the godhead.


Listen to Jesus


For Transfiguration the voice (from the clouds, (not "from heaven") charges us "listen to Jesus," not look at him, despite the resplendent glory and bling surrounding him. Listen to jesus, not to his antecedents Moses or Elijah, who didn't quite get everything right all the time. Ultimately we need to listen to and hear Jesus, the ultimate Word of God. "Listen to Jesus" and not to any other cultural, economic, consumerist, national, or ecclesiastical voice.


Into Lent

Unlike Advent that has become reflective and hope-filled rather than penitential, Lent remains a season to consider and repent of the countless ways all of us fall short of God's holy demands, to ponder our mortality as we anticipate the astonishment of Easter. Burying the alleluias in hymnody and prayer until Easter contributes to that somber mood.

Traditional Lenten practices include "giving up" something, often a favorite food like chocolate or desserts or eating meat—Meatless Monday extended to six weeks. People often "take up" something; pre-pandemic, service activities were super-popular. Food bank, clothing center, church food pantry, animal shelter, reading to kids, etc., all provide fulfillment for both giver and recipient. There are countless excellent Lenten devotional books, booklets, along with scriptural reading plans related to Lent's emphasis on Jesus and the written Word. At our church we're offering a special series on reading and discussing Mark's gospel together with a very small in-person group, two or three on Zoom.

Glancing backwards and looking forwards helps ground us in this here and now. You've heard "if you keep looking back, you won't see where you're going." But if you don't appreciate the past, you'll probably keep making the same mistakes and missteps.

• How do you interpret the appearance of Moses and Elijah with Jesus?
• Does this anticipation of Jesus' cross and resurrection inspire you? Lead to questions? Feel reassuring?
• How does God's "listen to Jesus" command relate to the church as a whole and to you as an individual member?
• How does the transfiguration story prepare you to journey through Lent?
• Or can you think of a better story to help get ready?
• Have you thought through your practices for Lent 2021?

Epiphany 5B

Praises from Psalm 147

Hallelujah!
Sing praise to our God!

God's the one who rebuilds cities,
who brings us home.
God counts the stars
and gives each star a name.

Sing to God a thanksgiving song,
play music to this God—
Who fills the sky with clouds,
preparing rain for the earth;
Then turning mountains green with grass,
feeds both cattle and crows.

Jerusalem, worship God!
Zion, praise your God!
God makes cities secure, and blesses our young.
God keeps peace at the borders,
and puts the best bread on our tables.

God spreads snow and scatters frost.
Then at God's command it all melts;
God breathes on winter—suddenly it's spring!

The Message (MSG), alt. | Copyright 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson

Mark 1:29-39

²⁹As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. ³⁰Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her at once. ³¹He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

³²That evening, at sundown, they brought to Jesus all who were sick or possessed with demons. ³³And the whole city was gathered around the door. ³⁴And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

³⁵In the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. ³⁶And Simon and his companions hunted for him. ³⁷ When they found him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you." ³⁸He answered, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do." ³⁹And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Continuing…

The church's year of grace still is in the fairly short ordinary time season of Epiphany. Epiphany means revelation or manifestation; it emphasizes the universalism of Jesus as redeemer, savior, sovereign for all people and all creation everywhere. Light is THE Epiphany symbol; we know how far into the dark a tiny candle shines. Scripture readings for epiphany also include stories of God's call to people who lived long before us; these accounts relate directly to places and ministries God calls us to so our light can shine. Not surprisingly, evangelism – reaching out to those around us with the Good News of Jesus Christ – is another focus of the epiphany season.


Resurrection

Today's gospel reading brings us a pair of Mark's ongoing emphases: resurrection and service. In 13 verses we get a tremendous amount of action, several changes of scene. Mark uses the word for "raised up" we find in 1:31 sixteen times in his gospel; it actually means resurrection to new life. In fact, the theme of resurrection from death pervades both Old and New Testaments.


Expectations

As we've noticed from reading the gospels, Jesus' followers, whose tradition believed God would send a Messiah, assumed God's chosen anointed (Christ and Messiah both mean "anointed") would be a military leader who'd violently zap all of Israel's enemies and restore the Davidic reign.

Partly a human doing, marginally a divine initiative, the people's pleadings for "A King Like the Other Nations" had been answered with the both-kingdoms (northern Israel and southern Judah) United Monarchy of Saul, David, and Solomon. Despite their conviction a Ruler like David eventually would come onto the scene, by Jesus' day they wanted and expected an updated, better, more effective version. On some level many were primed and ready to do military battle alongside the anticipated new monarch; even after Jesus called the first disciples with, "Follow me," they never expected to be asked to follow a servant God. The outrageous idea of a ruler who would wash the feet of his followers was way beyond their comprehension. They could not have imagined a divinity who would allow himself to be put to death without resistance. Their default image of salvation and sovereignty was a king who would fight with all his might—surrounded by fully armed troops, of course.


Service

Service is the second prominent biblical current in this passage. Diakonia/deacon with related nouns and verbs weaves a path through the New Testament; this includes Jesus' declaration he is with us as "one who serves."

In today's text, Jesus resurrects Simon Peter's MIL to new life so she'll be able to serve again. In the Acts of the Apostles, we discover the nascent church didn't first ordain the Ministers of Word and Sacrament that people tend to think of as the church's primary "ministers"; in the power of the Holy Spirit of Pentecost, the church first ordained the servant class of deacons. Early Christian communities followed Old Testament patterns of laying hands on and praying over a person to authorize them for a particular ministry.

Acts of the Apostles 6:1-7

¹Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. ²And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, "It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. ³Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, ⁴while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word."

⁵What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. ⁶They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. ⁷The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

Deacon

Deacons replicate Jesus's act of foot washing – towel and basin ministry – that many churches demonstrate during Maundy Thursday worship. As with all humanity, God first creates those individuals in the divine image; later God specifically calls them to neighbor-oriented caring love. Deacons – ministers of word and service – draw on Jesus' model to reflect God's own servant nature. Historically, the class or group or tribe of deacons has been world-facing: to the world the church is supposed to look like people who serve! Of course, that includes Ministers of Word and Sacrament/pastors when they're out in the world, although the Minister of Word and Sacrament's primary stance is facing the church.

As you've learned, all this is somewhat generic, because God's calls usually aren't so clearly demarcated. God baptizes all of us into lives of direct and indirect service; God calls all of us to spread the Word in a wide range of ways; God calls everyone to celebrate and share the sacramental holy ordinariness of creation.


Next Sunday

For Western Protestant churches, the Epiphany season concludes next Sunday with the Feast of the Transfiguration. Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and some churches in the Anglican tradition celebrate Transfiguration on August 6th, often for an octave of eight days. Lent, the season of lengthening, longer days that initiates spring in the northern hemisphere begins in ten days with Ash Wednesday on February 17th.

Epiphany 4B

Mark 1:21-28

²¹They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. ²²They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

²³Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, ²⁴and he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God." ²⁵But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" ²⁶And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.

²⁷They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, "What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him." ²⁸At once Jesus' fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

Prayer from Psalm 111

Hallelujah!
Give thanks to God with everything we've got—
Wherever good people gather, and in the congregation.
Splendor and beauty mark God's craft;
Divine generosity never gives out.
This God of Grace, this God of Love.
Remembered to keep the ancient promise…
And ordered the Covenant kept forever.
The good life begins in the awe of God—
God's Hallelujah lasts forever!

The Message (MSG), alt. Copyright 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson


Jesus' Inauguration Day

Each of the four gospels brings us a different perspective; even synoptic gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke with a "one eye" viewpoint have marked distinctions. Each gospel inaugurates Jesus' public ministry with a different event. Which was first? Most likely they all happened within a month or two after Jesus' baptism. Jesus Initial Public Offerings broadly set the style and stage for the rest of Jesus' ministry according to each writer. They also preview style and content of the ministries God calls us to in Jesus' name, lives of services the Holy Spirit of life enables.

• Matthew 5-7
Matthew presents Jesus as the new Moses; Jesus' public ministry begins with the Sermon on the Mount and parallels Moses receiving the Ten Words/Commandments on Mount Sinai.

• Luke 4:16-29
Luke's Jesus inaugurates his ministry by reading in his home synagogue on the sabbath. Via Third Isaiah and echoing his mother Miriam/Mary's Magnificat, he announces good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and freedom for imprisoned and oppressed: the Jubilee year.

• John 2:1-11
John's Jesus literally performs signs of his identity and mission to bring abundant life; he begins with a splash by turning ordinary water into best ever wine at a wedding.


• This Week: Mark 1:21-28

We're still in the season of Epiphany that particularly reveals Jesus as light for the world—not only for ethnic, religious, and geographical people like him. This is the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) year of Mark's gospel. In today's pericope (selection cut out from the surrounding scripture), he's in the synagogue after calling Simon-Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Jesus called those first disciples after John the Baptist baptized him in the Jordan River. You may remember the Trinitarian theophany, or revelation of all three persons of the Triune God at Jesus' baptism: the voice of God the Father; bodily presence of Jesus the Son; a visible icon of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus begins his public ministry in Mark in the synagogue during worship by battling forces that defeat life. This opening salvo is especially striking because when Mark asks where we tend to look for God and where we usually find God, his gospel generally shows us we don't most often discover God in conventional religious, economic, or political institutions. In Mark, we most often find God's reign of life in the wilderness, on the margins of polite society. You may remember Mark starts out at J-The-B's wilderness assembly and incessantly leads to Jerusalem and the cross, where Jesus dies outside the city limits, where a Roman Centurion identifies him as "Son of God." A foreign military officer and an agent of empire rather than an insider to God's people is the first to recognize Jesus.

The unclean spirit (demon in some translations) Jesus confronts and casts out of the guy in the synagogue (during worship!) contrasts with the Spirit of Life that at baptism identifies and calls Jesus and us into ministries of defeating death and resurrecting dead individuals, institutions, and ideas. The Good News according to Saint Mark begins by announcing, "The beginning of the gospel." The gospeled Good News of our baptism is life-giving, world-changing, society-transforming, creation-renewing death and resurrection stuff!


COVID-19 and Other Deadly Forces

Martin Luther reminded us all sin is idolatry; all sin violates the first commandment to have no other divinity than the God of life, love, truth, mercy, and justice: God whose Word creates out of nothing—God whose Word summons the New Creation out of the death of the old.

Despite still worshiping and interacting as church mostly online, the USA and many other countries continue battling a death-dealing triple threat of global pandemic, ethnic injustices, and political fragmentation. With micro and macro always closely intertwined, life-negating forces creep into cracks and crevices, sometimes when no one's paying attention, sometimes well-disguised. Are they in our own worship, in our committee meetings and scripture study groups, even when we gather virtually? Are our eyes open? Do we see them? Are we listening? Do we hear them? Are we in denial? Will our life together during this uncertain season and later post-pandemic confront and defeat them?


Questions This Week

Martin Luther reminded us all sin is idolatry; all sin violates the first commandment to have no other gods besides the God of life, love, truth, mercy, and justice.

• If Jesus ventured onto your church campus and into worship on a typical Sunday, what would he find?
• If Jesus happened into your homeowner's association, elementary school board, or neighborhood watch meeting, what would he hear?
• Can we easily discern deadly (demonic) forces within the church, in civic gatherings, in local and national politics? Or do they tend to hide?
• Can we easily notice life-affirming powers in church (local congregation, regional judicatories – presbytery, synod, conference, classis, district – national / global expressions), in not specifically religious gatherings, and in the world at large? Or are they mostly hidden?
• Mark's gospel narrative mostly discovers and uncovers God outside religious, political, social, and economic establishments. Can people find God in the mainline church and in mainstream society?

• Short Overview of Mark's Gospel

Epiphany 3B

Jonah 3:1-5, 10

¹The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, ²"Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." ³So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days' walk across. ⁴Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"

⁵And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.

¹⁰When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and God did not do it.

Pray for Today: Psalm 62:5-8

Wait calmly for God alone, my soul; for my hope is from the Lord.
Only God is my safe place; my strong place from which I cannot be shaken.
My welfare and worth depend on God, my strong rock; my refuge is in God.
Ever trust in God, O people, pour out your joys and your sorrows before the Lord;
God is our refuge!

Psalm paraphrase from The Billabong, a lectionary worship resource by Jeff Shrowder, Uniting Church in Australia


Epiphany. Jonah. Lovely Enemies.

We're still in the season of Epiphany that emphasizes God's love for all people and all creation, Jesus as savior and redeemer for all the world, not only the Jewish people. Because of this, during Epiphany we especially consider evangelism and other less formal ways of reaching out. We've celebrated the Baptism of Jesus that's a call – and identity – narrative, just as baptism identifies us as God's people and calls us to love, mercy, justice, and service. Last week we read in John's gospel about Jesus calling his first disciples to follow him.

The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) brings us a passage from Jonah only once in the 3-year cycle, and it's more of a small sliver than a substantial chunk. You might want to blitz read through Jonah; there are many summaries of Jonah online that summarize the historical situation.

The day and the season of Epiphany focus on God's inclusive embrace. Today's reading relates well to the divided USA with its different viewpoints, differing ideologies, an extremely wide political spectrum, and religious diversity. Please notice, the book of Jonah doesn't say anything about a whale—it talks about a Great Fish. (Not that every translation of every text always is word-for-word; besides, whales are mammals, not fish.)

From this section in the Book of the Twelve/Minor Prophets, we read about God calling Jonah to reach out to people he considered enemies; this Old Testament book also is about God's love for those Assyrian enemies. (For details, read the entire book and maybe some related history). As individuals, as a church, as residents of the USA or another relatively free country, do we have enemies? Are there people we try to avoid or (minimally) would prefer not to associate with? There well may be some on the perimeters who wouldn't be good to approach, but that's a separate concern. Only Jesus truly could be a friend to everyone.

Who are our enemies? Do we want to tell them about and show them them God's infinite, expansive love and mercy? Maybe telling them in words isn't too difficult, but how about showing them by inviting them into our circles and spaces? Earlier this week I read an excellent explanation of the buzz phrase "diversity, equity, and inclusion":

• Diversity means everyone is invited to the party.
• Equity means everyone gets to contribute to the playlist.
• Inclusion means everyone has the opportunity to dance (to dance or not to dance is their choice).
Attributed to Robert Sellers

We and they – us and them – ours and theirs aren't wrong at all! Each individual and each group has unique gifts and characteristics. Relationships would be impossible if everyone was an undifferentiated blob. The apostle Paul talks a whole lot about diversity, equity, and inclusion. He celebrates baptism incorporating everyone (the far-off and the near!) into Christ so everyone then can take part according to their abilities and desires.

• Diversity means everyone is invited to the party.
We might be okay inviting everyone, we might be fine if all of them show up to the (party, concert, committee meeting, worship, convention) event, because we want our organization to appear diverse to outsiders and to ourselves, and/or because we deep-down believe everyone needs to be invited.

• Equity means everyone gets to contribute to the playlist. Actually allowing and even encouraging everyone to contribute might be something else. Excuses? They're not our style, they don't understand our mission, we're mostly about something they're not very good at. Most individuals take time to observe and discern what's safe or not when they're new, so a newbie might or might not say yes the first time someone asks them to participate.

• Inclusion means everyone has the opportunity to dance.
"Everyone has the opportunity to dance?" Think about it, especially as we slowly prepare to return to church campus and reach out again to our neighbors.


Types of Christ

We sometimes refer to types or icons of Jesus Christ in scripture. For example, Moses as liberator and law-giver is a type of Christ. As ruler or sovereign, David is a type of Christ. Adam, the first human, is an icon of Jesus Christ, the new human. Jonah spent 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the great fish; Jesus spent 3 days and 3 nights buried in the earth. In addition to God's inclusive love, in Jonah we find death and resurrection. Sounds like Jesus!

We've studied many (many) passages from the apostle Paul. For Paul, the good news of the gospel is death and resurrection! For us as well, the gospeled good news is our dying in every way possible, God raising us to every possible kind of new life.


The Sign of Jonah: Lovely Enemies

In Matthew's and Luke's gospels, Jesus mentions the sign of Jonah; death and resurrection has become the most traditional interpretation of this phrase. Last week we discussed (I wrote about) signs and symbols that aren't actual objects or events, but point beyond themselves to something else: a sign on a street or freeway or shop; words on a printed page or on a screen; a product label; a rash, fever, or pain a clinician can interpret to make a diagnosis.

Matthew 12

³⁸Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to jesus, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you." ³⁹But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. ⁴⁰For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth."

Matthew 16

¹The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test Jesus they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. ²He answered them …"You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. ⁴An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah."

Luke 11

²⁹Jesus began to say, "This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. ³⁰For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation."

In these readings, the Sign of Jonah is death and resurrection, burial and new life. Isn't the sign of Jonah also God's love for everyone, followed by the love of God's people for all, when even supposed enemies become lovely?!

Epiphany 2B

John 1:43-51

⁴³The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." ⁴⁴Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. ⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth." ⁴⁶Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."

⁴⁷When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, "Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!" ⁴⁸Nathanael asked him, "Where did you get to know me?" Jesus answered, "I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you." ⁴⁹Nathanael replied, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" ⁵⁰Jesus answered, "Do you [singular] believe because I told you [singular] that I saw you [singular] under the fig tree? You [singular] will see greater things than these."

⁵¹And Jesus said to him, "Very truly, I tell you [plural], you [plural] will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

Prayer for the Season of Epiphany

God of revelation, you govern all things on heaven and earth; mercifully hear the prayers of your people, and guide the course of our days in your peace, through Jesus Christ, our Savior, who is alive with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God now and for ever. Amen.

From Bosco Peters' Book of Prayer in Common


Where We Are

Last week we heard about Jesus' cousin John baptizing him from the version in Mark's Gospel. All three synoptic gospels (Mark, Luke, and Matthew that view Jesus' life and ministry through a similar lens) tell us Jesus then spent forty days deeper into the wilderness than the wildness of John the Baptist's riverside assembly. Immediately after his month apart, jesus returns to community and begins his more or less formal public ministry. By contrast, although John's gospel also includes Jesus' baptism, immediately afterwards his cousin John the Baptist identifies Jesus as Lamb of God and Son of God.

From now through Transfiguration Sunday three days before Ash Wednesday we continue in the season of Epiphany with a short stretch of Ordinary Time that's about the work of the Holy Spirit alongside and within God's people. Stars and lights are primary symbols for Epiphany that means revelation, manifestation, or shining forth. Two Sundays ago for the day of Epiphany we read about the religious, ethnic, and geographic non-Jewish magi visiting Jesus. You may remember the magi found Jesus by following signs in the sky, by reading their own scriptures, and by interpreting their dreams.

Increasing light as days grow longer in the global north, recognition of God's revelation to and embrace of all people beyond the Jewish nation has made Epiphany a season to emphasize evangelism, or reaching out to others with the Good News of the gospel. Like stars in the sky, our lives and actions manifest, reveal, and shine forth the good news of God among us. It takes only a tiny light to show through the darkness.


Call and Response

Although we're in Mark's lectionary year, today our gospel reading comes from John (please see end of this post for brief distinctives about John's gospel). Like Mark, John writes about Jesus' call of his first disciples. They include Simon-Peter, Andrew, James, and John. John includes Philip in this call story (the other gospels list him among the twelve), but only John includes Nathanael anywhere.

In our live discussions we sometimes mention our sense of God calling us to a certain activity, ministry, or occupation. We've talked broadly about how (maybe especially) people in direct service professions such as teacher, pastor. nurse, frequently have a strong sense of call, though that doesn't exclude people who delight in balancing financial books or creating a beautifully presented succulently fresh dinner. Especially as we begin considering limited return to the church campus and outreach to our immediate neighbors, our call or callings probably will include smaller, shorter mini-ministries or micro-ministries.

Have you been thinking about some different from the past ways we can reach out to our immediate neighbors? We'll probably keep on with food and toiletries for the nearby unsheltered population, but in the Spirit of Epiphany Evangelism, there may be some newer ways or revitalized older ways to call and invite others to follow Jesus.

How do we determine long-term or shorter term callings Jesus gives us? Similar to Day of Epiphany Magi, by reading the signs around us (who where needs what) and within us (what are my own skills, interests, aspirations), by interpreting scripture (love your neighbor, feed the hungry, hydrate the thirsty), by heeding dreams God gives us when we're asleep and when we're wide awake.


Geography and Context

Last week we pointed out how all four gospels begin telling about Jesus' baptism with a physical, geographical, location: Nazareth, Galilee, Bethany, Jordan. Today's scripture references Galilee, the larger geographic area of Jesus' hometown Nazareth. These other guys were from Bethsaida. We've heard Nazareth was typical small-town; Nathanael's question, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" reveals more than a bit of dismissive snark. Hey, having relocated to Los Angeles from San Diego, I can tell you San Diego has a small town feel, tends to consider itself at least semi-backwater, has an inferiority complex from being in the shadow of megalopolis LA, has a border town sensibility in both wonderfully positive and disparagingly negative ways. Philip's "Come and see!" reply is basic invitational evangelism that pervades the gospels, that extends to "Come and see the stone rolled away" of Easter dawn, into the Acts of the Apostles, and then into our own twenty-first century.

The gospel accounts, all of history, and our own lives all take place in particular contexts or settings: geography; time of year; time of day; family; religion or none; workplace; friends; class/ethnic culture… As twenty-first century urban dwellers, all of us inhabit more than one context.


Sign and Symbol

John's gospel refers to Jesus' actions as signs instead of miracles. We talked about sign, symbol, and meaning almost as much in design classes as we did in cultural anthropology classes. Maybe it's no surprise that linguistics is a branch of anthropology—the study of human culture, artifacts, habits, and communication. Words printed on a page, spoken out loud, or communicated silently using hands, arms, face, and body – "sign"– language symbolize realities beyond and other than themselves. I've heard that most interpreters don't wear masks (though I've noticed two or three have) because facial expression is a critical aspect of re-interpreting the audible word.

A sign on a street or a freeway, a label on a product isn't the actual thing, but points beyond itself to something else. In short, signs and symbols lead to substance. We sometimes refer to Scriptures and Sacraments as the church's symbols. Theological traditions that include Lutheran and Reformed sometimes refer to their Confessions (Catechisms, Creeds) as symbolic books. As interpretations of scripture, they point beyond themselves to scripture and finally to Jesus Christ.

Jesus told Nathanael he had gotten to know him because he saw Nathanael under the fig tree. There's no historical or scholarly consensus about the meaning of this phrase, but figs were one of the seven agricultural gifts of the promised land [Deuteronomy 8]; the sycamore fig was Israel's national tree; and there was a tradition of studying Torah underneath a fig tree. Jesus cultural background would have told him a guy reading underneath the fig was a Jewish son of the Sinai Covenant


The Gospel According to Saint John

Although this is the year of Mark's gospel in the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), because Mark is the shortest gospel, we'll hear quite a lot from John that doesn't have its own year. John is the rogue, outlier gospel that brings a different perspective on Jesus than the three synoptic gospels Mark, Luke, and Matthew.

Scholars believe the community gathered around John the Beloved Disciple that compiled this version of the Gospel or Good News of Jesus Christ had at least two written sources: the Signs source and the I Am source.

(1) John refers to Jesus' signs rather than to his miracles.

(2) Jesus describes himself as"I Am," referring back to God's self-revelation to Israel as "I Am."

Baptism of Jesus B

Prayer

From A Lament in the Shadow of the Capitol by Pastor Roger Gench

We lament, O God, the tragic display of violence at the U.S. Capitol this week, and pray that the horror of it might open our eyes to the sins that are on the loose in our nation. We pray for a country so divided, so full of anger.

Help us, God of justice, for we have failed to discern and to name the myriad ways racism has warped our common humanity. Forgive us for the divisions that have kept us from really knowing one another across the lines of race and religion and class, making us oblivious to the pain, to the real-life struggles and joys of people who don't look like us or talk like us and who may live across town, but who are all God's beloved children. Yet we know that the Spirit of the crucified and risen Christ can help us to regain our sight. Empower us by your Spirit to become people who more fully live into the promise of our baptism and trust your assurance that in Christ the dividing walls of hostility have come down.

You have called us to be a beachhead of your new creation—a new community united under Christ's lordship in which there are no longer divisions and subordinations. Help us to name our own brokenness. Empower us to stand with all who are crucified by the power of institutional violence and discrimination, and to recognize our participation in all such inhumanity.

We lament what this week has laid bare; we ask for your strength and courage to be all you have called us to be and to participate in your reconciling work in all the world. Amen.

Mark 1:4-11

⁴John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

⁶Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. ⁸I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

⁹In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

Ordinary Time; Baptism of Jesus

We're in the season of Epiphany and we've moved into a short segment of Ordinary Time. You may remember Sundays after Pentecost stretch into about six months of Ordinary Time. In this context ordinary means ordered, arranged, organized, arrayed, planned more than it means common and conventional, yet with the Spirit of Pentecost filling the world, and the Pentecostal people of God freely at work in the world, Ordinary Time is common, conventional, and everywhere.

This week for the baptism of Jesus we continue in the short, energetic gospel according to Mark. Here's the summary of Mark I blogged when Advent started.

Very few events are in all four gospels; surprisingly, all of the gospels don't even have a birth story or a resurrection narrative. But we find Jesus' baptism in all four, strongly signaling us to take notice! Lots of "spilled ink" has asked why Jesus, the sinless Son of God would need baptism. However:

• John's baptism wasn't as much about individuals as it was a political, religious, and economic new beginning for Israel. Earlier on, before entering Canaan that was full of other gods and death-ridden claims, they had to cross the Jordan River. The Jordan formed a border and boundary between their old existence of Egyptian slavery, decades of exodus desert wanderings, and a new life of repentance, obedience, and grace in covenanted community. During their wilderness trek, God's people received the ten words or commandments of the Sinai Covenant.

• When the gospels were compiled, questions of Jesus' divinity hadn't yet started circulating. Those concerns belong to a century or two later, so no one would have drawn upon "our" baptismal theology and wondered why the sinless Son of Heaven needed to be baptized. The Definition of Chalcedon that describes Jesus Christ as fully human, completely divine, dates from 451.

• Although it has similarities to Jesus' baptism, our trinitarian baptism is into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus was not baptized a Christian.


Describe, Draw, Map, Picture…

Notice how all four gospels begin telling about Jesus' baptism with a physical, geographical, location: Nazareth, Galilee, Bethany, Jordan. Throughout the witness of scripture and in our lives, God acts at measurable longitude, latitude, and linear time. Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann talks about "The Word that Redescribes the World." Describe, inscribe, scribe, script, prescribe come from the same root. When we write, speak, design, or draw, we create a picture image of place, person, or event. When God's written Word the Bible, and God's living incarnate Word Jesus Christ Redescribe the World, they redraw and remake what's there with justice, mercy, love, grace, and newness.

"And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him." Mark 1:10

The end of Jesus' public ministry joins heaven and earth even more dramatically:

"Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom." Mark 15:37-38

In both passages "tear, tore, torn" is a rip or rupture that can't be mended. We've discussed how the Jerusalem temple had been modeled after temples of other religions because people wanted a place where their God (actually the name of God that in Hebrew Bible theology is God's identity) could reside and be kept safe. Ripping apart the temple veil that separated the holy of holies from the rest of the world revealed a God for all, God of all, who cannot be limited or contained. Tearing the temple curtain tore away distinctions between heaven and earth, sacred and profane. So here at the start of Jesus' public ministry and later at the end, an irreparable tear unites heaven and earth.


Doing the Word

Heaven opens wide to earth at our baptism and fills us with the Holy Spirit, literally equipping us to serve others directly in a plethora of ways, to advocate for justice, sometimes to challenge empire—directly and indirectly. In his small catechism, Martin Luther asks, "How can water do such great things?" It is not only water, but water combined with the Word of God…

This is the word that redescribes, redraws, and remaps the world into God's justice, love, mercy, and shalom. With the Spirit of Pentecost filling the world, and the Pentecostal people of God freely at work in the world, Ordinary Time is common, conventional, and everywhere, with the Word that changes fear into understanding, hatred into love. A Word to subvert injustice into justice, to transform poverty into shalom.

Moses read the book of the covenant in the presence of all the people, and the people responded with one voice, "We will do all the Words of the Lord." And we – or our sponsors – heard the words of our baptismal covenant and promised to renounce sin, death, and the devil, to work for justice and righteousness. When God's people doing the word Redescribe the World, we redraw and remake with justice, righteousness, love, grace, and newness. At our baptism, water and word unite heaven and earth in a way that cannot be undone.

Five weeks from now (on Valentine's Day!) in Mark's Transfiguration account we'll hear God announce, "This is my Son, the Beloved" and command, "Listen to him!" Listen to Jesus. Listen to God's Living Word. Do not pay any attention to all the confusing noise and conflicting claims that clutter our ears. Do. The. Word.

Epiphany 2021

Exclamation from Isaiah 60:1-6

Arise, shine; the light of the world has come, and God's glory shines on us! Darkness enveloped the earth, but now the light of Christ has become our glory. We will see someday—no, we have seen and we've become radiant. Our hearts rejoice with all creation as we live out God's splendid praise.

Matthew 2:1-12

¹In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, ²asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." ³When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

⁶'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.'"

⁷Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. ⁸Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage."

⁹When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising until it stopped over the place where the child was.

¹⁰When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. ¹¹On entering the house, household, etc, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage.

Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹²And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Epiphany: Day and Season

We sometimes announce we've "had an epiphany." Today we're having an epiphany and then we move into a several weeks long season of epiphany. Combining roots "epi" = upon and "phan" = manifestation, revealing, revelation, illumination, uncovering, an epiphany is a shining out, showing forth.

The day and the season of epiphany (Sundays leading up to Transfiguration, the Sunday before Ash Wednesday) focus on light, particularly the light of Christ. The Bethlehem-born Jewish baby Jesus is savior of all, Lord of all, king and shepherd for all cultures, social statutes, abilities, ethnicities, and religions. In the global north Epiphany arrives shortly after the winter solstice, making its symbolism of light especially full of meaning. Stars are THE epiphany symbol.

The twelfth day of Christmas? That must have come from someone who couldn't quite count. When January 6th doesn't fall on a Sunday, many churches celebrate epiphany on the nearest Sunday. Days after Christmas offer several possibilities. Last Sunday we discussed Jesus' Presentation in the Temple; the Circumcision and Name of Jesus on January 1st also would have worked well for today. January 6th was Christ's birthday until the 4th century, when Emperor Constantine moved it to after the solstice to correlate with the Feast of the Unvanquished Sun people already knew about. After that, January 6th became the baptism of Jesus, as it still is in Eastern expressions of Christianity. Next Sunday we'll observe Baptism of Jesus.


Visitors from the East / Revelation

The gospel reading for the day of Epiphany always comes from Matthew, because Matthew is the only gospel with the visiting Magi. On Epiphany we usually sing "We Three Kings of Orient Are," but scripture doesn't say the gift-bearing visitors were kings, and it doesn't say how many visitors from the east there were. However, it mentions three gifts, which likely is the reason the Western Church says three, though the Eastern Church says twelve. There are only two kings in this scripture: the Roman puppet King Herod the Great and King Jesus.

These visitors most likely were religious leaders, probably Zoroastrian priests who also were astrologers who studied and interpreted stars for signs and meanings. They well may have been astronomers in our sense of people with expertise about the heavenly bodies. In any case, they were from a different culture, religion, and ethnicity then the Jews; they were outsiders. This narrative closely relates to Matthew's genealogy with its many non-Jews and ethnic "others." Especially In Matthew's gospel, we find Jesus revealed to the non-Jewish nations.

• Revealed? How? Signs/stars in the heavens!
• Revealed? How? Scripture, especially Micah 5:2 and its reference to Bethlehem!
• Revealed? How? Dreams!

These wise persons based their decision to set out for Bethlehem…
• on studying signs in the skies
• on reading their own scriptures or holy book
• on heeding messages they received in a dream

God does whatever it takes to reach out to and embrace everyone: a star for people who knew the skies and the stars and trusted sky signs; a scripture passage for people who were biblically literate and trusted those texts; dreams for those who relied on less conscious, rational, cerebral information. Skies and scriptures and dreams all point to the same Bethlehem Baby.


Light / Revelation

Isaiah and Matthew both celebrate light. Isaiah 60 announces our light is here! It take very little light to blaze through a dark space. Without light there are no shadows. In the Ancient Near East (ANE) a star in the sky often signaled the birth and death of a great individual. Numbers 24:17 names stars as a Messianic sign.

Matthew writes about the star at "the rising" of the sun, at daybreak, at dawning. Stars are scattered all over the Matthew passage with east, east, star, star (and magi in the room, not back in the stable). "From the east" is anatolia—the rising of the sun. (Not Bruce Springsteen's The Rising!) Latin words oriens and orient mean the same as the Greek anatolia—the other side of the world from ours?

Because this story of persons from the East, from The Rising – the direction where the sun rises to start a new day – opens up questions of inclusion, of boundaries, of people who are like us and different from us, the season of Epiphany emphasizes evangelism beyond the ways we've "always done it." Especially during this lockdown when nothing continues as we've always know it, revealing Jesus with a star, a scripture passage, and a dream, enlighten our imaginations and our outreach.

Only one question this time:

• With COVID-19 vaccines getting on track, is it time for us to get on track for returning to church campus and reclaiming ministries we'd been doing, or exploring new ones?


Star Words to Light your Path

Some people make and soon break new year's resolutions. Some observe them quite thoroughly. Alternatively or in addition to, there's an Epiphany tradition of choosing a star word as a guide for the upcoming year. You can ask someone else, or in the Spirit claim a word to guide you the way a star led the magi.


Chalk House Blessing

Epiphany is the traditional day for announcing the date of Easter. Blessing your house with chalk is another historical practice for New Year's Day, Epiphany, or any time. An internet search will provide resources to make the blessing short and simple or long and elaborate. Chalk comes from the earth, it's a communication medium, it's often part of play. The inscription for this year is 20+C+M+B+21—the calendar year with CMB sandwiched in the middle. You can write above the door, beside the door, on the door, vertical or horizontal. You can bless the main entrance and/or separate rooms. If you have an office, workshop, or studio outside your home, you can bless those, too.

CMB can stand for traditional magi names Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, or it can be initials for Christus Mansionem Benedicat / May Christ Bless this House. Although the Latin house is similar to the English mansion for a huge dwelling or manse for the pastor's house, it doesn't imply large. It's simply a home or dwelling, a way station or stayover place. I got the blue door in my illustration from Pixabay with legal reuse rights. There's no reason not to write twice or more than once as I did.

Christmas 1B

The First Sunday of Christmas 2020   When all things were
wrapped in deep silence, and
night in her swift course
was half spent,
your almighty Word,
O Lord, leapt down from
your throne in heaven.

Wisdom 18:14-15

Presentation • Luke 2:22-32; 39-40

²²When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord", ²⁴and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."

²⁵Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. ²⁶It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. ²⁷Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, ²⁸Simeon took the baby in his arms and praised God, saying,

²⁹"Lord, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word;
³⁰for my eyes have seen your salvation,
³¹which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
³²a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."

³⁹When Mary and Joseph had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. ⁴⁰The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

O God, Our Help in Ages Past / Psalm 90

1 O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
our shelter from the stormy blast,
and our eternal home;

2 under the shadow of your throne
your saints have dwelt secure.
Sufficient is your arm alone,
and our defense is sure.

3 Before the hills in order stood,
or earth received its frame,
from everlasting you are God,
to endless years the same.


2020: God With Us

We've been there, already done that whole entire year 2020; we have experiences, memories, and hopes to prove it. We started this study with Isaac Watts' "O God, Our Help in Ages Past" that paraphrases Psalm 90. New Year's Eve/Watch Night Services that say a formal farewell to the outgoing year, a formal welcome to the incoming one often include this hymn.

Before the first Sunday of Advent that initiated a new year of grace when we'll be hearing mostly from Mark's gospel, it was Matthew's lectionary year. How incredibly appropriate for the year everything that could go wrong apparently did?! You may recall Matthew begins with Jesus' genealogy as the story of a new creation. Matthew's Jesus is God-with-us—from the angel instructing Joseph to name the baby Emmanuel (God with us), to the end of Matthew's narrative when Jesus promises to be with us always, and then sends his followers out as his presence in the world.


Presentation / Canticles

"But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive adoption as children of God." Galatians 4:4-5

We're still in the season of Christmas, but now time condenses to 40 days after Jesus' birth, when Mary and Joseph take Jesus to the temple to consecrate him to God. We've observed how most times the apostle Paul uses the word law he refers to sacrificial, ceremonial law—including circumcision. Here in Paul's only birth account, he tells us Jesus was born under the law. He'd been circumcised at eight days of age, and to further meet the demands of ceremonial law, Joseph and Mary dedicate him to God. Presenting infants or young children for baptism somewhat echoes this practice; in traditions that don't baptize until later, parents dedicating their babies or young children also is a parallel. Luke 2:39 says Jesus' parents finished everything the law required before returning home to Nazareth.

Luke is the only gospel that records three canticles that essentially are psalms or songs. "Canticle" comes from the Latin root for song or sing.

• Jesus' mother Mary sings the Magnificat [Luke 1:46-55], "My soul magnifies the Lord."
• John the Baptist's father Zechariah sings the Benedictus [Luke 1:68–79], "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel."
• Temple priest Simeon sings the Nunc Dimittis [Luke 2:29-32], "Now I can leave/be dismissed."

The liturgy of the canonical hours includes all three: Benedictus at Matins/Morning Prayer; Magnificat at Vespers/Evening Prayer; Nunc Dimittis at Compline/Night Prayer.


God With Us

During Advent we waited and prepared for Jesus' birth as God with us – "Emmanuel" – the name the angel told Joseph to name the baby. Simeon had waited in the temple a very long time because God had promised he would experience God's Anointed One, the Messiah. Martin Luther in his Wittenberg Reform and John Calvin in his Geneva Reform both included the Nunc Dimittis in their Holy Communion liturgies. Like Simeon, after we receive the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation we are ready for anything because we know the fullness of God's promised salvation. We know it because we've seen it, tasted it, touched it, smelled it, heard it – "splash the water, break the bread, pour the wine."

When the disciples asked the risen Christ if now he finally would "restore the reign of King David," Jesus replied, "The question is wrong. You need to wait here. You will be baptized with the promised gift of the Holy Spirit that will give you power to be my presence everywhere, and you will be the ones to restore the reign of heaven on earth." Acts 1:4-8


O God, Our Help in Ages Past / Psalm 90

4 A thousand ages in your sight
are like an evening gone,
short as the watch that ends the night
before the rising sun.

5 Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
soon bears us all away.
We fly forgotten, as a dream
dies at the opening day.

6 O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
still be our guard while troubles last,
and our eternal home.


2021…

As we finally say farewell to 2020 and welcome 2021 with excited anticipation, in the power of the Holy Spirit of Pentecost, may we continue to be Jesus' presence everywhere we go. Amen? Amen!

Advent 4B

The Fourth Sunday of Advent 2020   The Mighty One
has scattered the proud
in the imaginations of their hearts
and filled the hungry
with good things!

Luke 1:51-53 Intro

The Fourth Sunday of Advent! Four days to Christmas Eve, five until Christmas Day. We've been waiting to celebrate Jesus' birth; most of all we've been intensely waiting for an end to calendar year 2020 with its unstoppable pandemic, environmental devastation, ethnic brutality, political crazinesses, economic woes. You've seen the memes and you've said many hope-filled prayers.

• The church's central proclamation is God's incarnation in Jesus of Nazareth, crucified and risen.

• God calls us to live as Jesus' (incarnate, embodied) presence.

• Last March the church left the building. But after gathering around word and sacrament, the church always leaves the building to be God's presence in the world during the week. BUT! Last March the church left the building and has had to stay away since then.

2 Samuel 7:2, 4-7, 11

²King David said to the prophet Nathan, "See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent."

⁴But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: ⁵Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? ⁶I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. ⁷Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?" ^11bMoreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house.

A Dwelling for God

David's idea to construct a quality home (okay, we purchase or rent a house or apartment, then living there makes it a home) where God could take up residence was more than reasonable because other divinities of the Ancient Near East (ANE) demanded tribute, sacrifice, beseeching—goods and services. Despite his knowledge of the history of God's people with the God of the covenants, David went along with what he'd seen, as humans tend to do. As the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob reminds David's resident prophet Nathan, God has a long history of accompanying the people everywhere they went. God never has lived in a house because God fills heaven and earth, cannot be contained, cannot be located at specific longitude and latitude. Being on the move is God's nature.


Annunciation / Announcement: another Call Story

From the start, scripture reveals God's initiative and grace as God chooses, calls, sends, and equips people to live as God's presence.

Remember God's call to…
• Abraham?
• Noah?
• Isaiah?
• Jeremiah?
• This is Mary's call story
• Jesus' disciples?
• Us through baptism and then through where we find ourselves?

The Annunciation – Luke 1:26, 31, 34-38

²⁶The angel Gabriel came to Mary and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."

³¹"And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus."

³⁴Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" ³⁵The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. ³⁶And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. ³⁷For nothing will be impossible with God." ³⁸Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." …

Mary/Miriam

The Eastern church calls Mary Theotokos or God-bearer. Miriam is Mary's Hebrew name, the same name as Moses' sister. Coming out of the theological traditions of the Reformation, I need to remember Martin Luther had a great devotion to Mary; devotion and reverence toward a person or place is very possible without making it more central than Jesus Christ. Mary shows us how to trust and embody God's word. Mary carried Jesus, God's Word of promise, in her body (the literally em-bodied Word) with her wherever she went.

The Magnificat – Luke 1:39, 46-55

³⁹In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, ⁴⁰where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted her cousin Elizabeth.

⁴⁶And Mary said,
"My soul magnifies the Lord, ⁴⁷and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, ⁴⁸for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; ⁴⁹for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. ⁵⁰His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. ⁵²He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; ⁵³he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. ⁵⁴He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, ⁵⁵according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."

Speech, Song, Magnificat

Mary doesn't tell Elizabeth about her encounter with the angel Gabriel; she sings about how the unjust, impoverished, society ordinary people inhabit will be changed into a just and righteous place with enough for everyone, not too much for anyone. But notice she doesn't say she's pregnant or mention her baby's name? Like anyone telling a story, Luke didn't write down everything that happened, though Mary probably had told Elizabeth as soon as she got there. How different is song from speech? Simply saying "And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor Mighty God Everlasting Father Prince of Peace" is complexly inadequate once you've known the glorious musical setting in the Messiah. Singing magnifies and enhances speech.

Magnificat is Latin for making larger, magnifying, making greater, the way a magnifying glass enlarges. It has the same root as "magnificent."

We've discussed how everyone knew and memorized scripture two millennia ago. Mary's words reflect Hannah's song in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. Mary and her contemporaries would have been so familiar with large passages of scripture they'd have been able to recite and paraphrase them, making those texts their own. How about us? If we ever get back (when we get back) onto campus, it might be interesting for people to take turns preparing, reading, or singing a paraphrase of the responsive psalm to open our study time.


Word in the World, COVID-19

The church's central proclamation is God's incarnation in Jesus of Nazareth, crucified and risen. Advent waits for, hopes for, and expects Jesus! Martin Luther reminds us to know the fullness of God's power and reign, look to the Bethlehem manger, look to the Calvary cross.

Mary asks' "How can this be, considering everything?" Angel (Messenger) Gabriel explains it will happen because the Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Most High overshadow you.

When the disciples asked the risen Christ if now he finally would "restore the [Davidic] reign," Jesus replied, "The question is wrong. You need to wait here. You will be baptized with the promised gift of the Holy Spirit that will give you power to be my presence everywhere, and you will be the ones to restore the reign of heaven on earth." Acts 1:4-8

For nine months, pregnant Mary carried God's Word of promise (literally Jesus the Word) in her body everywhere she went. We have been baptized into Jesus the Christ, the one whose body he promised his followers would become. But we are not the word. Jesus is the Word. How can we be, speak, act and reveal Jesus? As God reminded David and Nathan, God always has traveled alongside the people. God calls us to be wherever the people are, in the 'hood, in the corporate boardroom, in the COVID ward, embedded in the world's hopes and plans for a future.

As always, the church has left the building. But the church has stayed out of the building most of 2020. Since the day we had to close the building how have we been out there alongside the people?

Like Mary, as the church we carry God's Word of Promise (Jesus!) with us wherever we go. Jesus of Nazareth, born in the Bethlehem manger, walked among doubters and outcasts, fed the hungry. Jesus of Nazareth, the one whose body his followers would become. The one whose body we, his followers have become among pandemic doubters and climate change deniers, as we feed hungry people in a dozen direct and indirect ways, as we stay safer at home when we can, as we mask up and keep our distance for love of our neighbors. Maybe paradoxically we know that probably at least through early January, staying put and going outside only for essentials is the best way we can testify to God's loving, merciful, care-filled reign on earth amidst this pandemic.

Advent 3B

The Third Sunday of Advent 2020  To bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the year of the Lord's favour!

Isaiah 61:1-2

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

¹The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; ²to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; ³to provide for those who mourn in Zion—to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory. ⁴They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.

⁸For I the Lord love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. ⁹Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed.

¹⁰I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. ¹¹For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

Gaudete! Rejoice! Invitation!

The third Sunday of Advent sometimes is called Gaudete or Rejoice Sunday from the opening of the entrance prayer in the Latin rite. Taking a joy-filled break originated when Advent was mostly penitential rather than our contemporary season of hope.

Assuming we'll be meeting together on campus by Advent 2021, would anyone like to research and present a history of Advent? Maybe we'll even meet in person for Lent. In that case, any offers to assemble a history of Lent in Western and Eastern hemispheres? Whenever we begin a new liturgical season I always provide a quick overview, but It's always about current Western churches—Roman Catholic, Mainline Protestant, and other traditions that follow the ecumenical calendar. I know that information well, but I know close to zero about non-Western churches and about the overall timeline of how the church year evolved.


Prayer

God of grace, God of unmediated presence, you don't need another news bulletin. You already know what's been happening on earth—you've been in the midst of it. Blue is advent's color for the hope of newness and rebirth; blue sometimes is advent's color because of sorrow. Grief. Loss. Hopelessness.

As we wait for daylight to increase and to celebrate Jesus' birth, we've considered scriptures that promise everything that hinders life will be turned around, upside down, redeemed, and restored. A planet beginning to heal? Ethnic and economic justice? The end of COVID-19? Food and shelter for everyone? The eventual death of death? All that and more!

God of the covenants, God of love, God of resurrection hope, please help us shine as your light your love and your hope for our neighbors who long for morning, our friends who yearn for resurrection.

In the name of Jesus, Light of the World, amen.


Isaiah, Prophets, Jesus

Again this week God speaks through Third Isaiah, offering challenge, comfort, and hope to the southern kingdom Judah after some exiles returned from Babylon to rebuild infrastructure, community, and traditions. He (it probably was a guy) also spoke to people who'd stayed behind and never left Jerusalem.

Prophets speak against the political, economic, social, and religious status quo. Prophets call people to repent, to turn around, to re-direct their lives. But more than anything, prophecy announces God doing a new thing, the inbreaking of the reign of heaven on earth, resurrection from the dead! This week's particular proclamation is exactly that: urban rebirth; rebuilding from ruins, blight and devastation; turning upside down the community's sorrow, grief, lack of initiative.

Does that sound like what we need right now?

in Luke's gospel, reading and affirming these promises initiated Jesus' public ministry.

¹⁶…Jesus went to [his hometown Nazareth] synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: ¹⁸"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, ¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." … ²¹Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Luke 4

Does that sound like something we need right now? Does it sound like the ministry God has called us to?

Fun feature: Isaiah 61:11 uses the word sprout three times: earth sprouts; garden sprouts; righteousness and praise sprouts.


Questions for Advent 3

In any other year, either Advent 2 or Advent 3 would be Lessons & Carols. On Advent 3 or Advent 4 during more normal years we've discussed favorite Advent and Christmas memories, music, and practices.

• Are you ready for Christmas music? Have you been listening to carols or singing them? I haven't yet.
• Have you "attended" any virtual holiday concerts, either mostly religious or mostly secular events? Or maybe you're waiting for closer to December 24th? I've enjoyed several semi-holiday themed TV specials.
• Are you ready with a list of favorite winter (since we reside in the northern hemisphere) holiday songs and traditions? On Advent 1 I listed some of my brightest and best songs and will add more next week.
• Has the release and approval of two COVID-19 vaccines given you hope? Or are you still mostly in the depressive blues aspect of Advent? I'm feeling both/and.
• Do you truly dwell in hope the new year 2021 will be different, better, and life-giving rather than life-negating? Or are you in wait-and-see mode?

Advent 2B

The Second Sunday of Advent 2020

Every valley shall be lifted up,
every mountain and hill made low,
then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together!

Isaiah 40:4-5
Psalm 85:8-11

Let us hear what God the Lord will speak,
for God will speak peace to the people,
to the faithful who turn to him in their hearts.

Surely salvation is at hand for those who trust God,
that God's glory may dwell in our land.

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.

Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
and make a path for God's steps.

Isaiah 40:1-5; 9

¹Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.
²Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord's hand
double for all her sins.

³A voice cries out:
"In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
⁴Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
⁵Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."

⁹Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good tidings;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,
lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah,
"Here is your God!"

Isaiah / Advent

At some juncture the three sections of the book we call Isaiah got assembled into a single volume. A single individual probably wrote each section; each also contains verses that don't match the rest, so most likely those were written by famous, prolific anonymous.

• First Isaiah, chapters 1 – 39: before the Babylonian exile. This writer sometimes gets called Isaiah of Jerusalem or the historical Isaiah.
• Second Isaiah, chapters 40 – 55: during the Babylonian exile. Chapter 40 opens with today's First Reading, "Comfort ye… every valley" we know from Handel's Messiah. Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann observes, "Second Isaiah funded Handel's Messiah."
• Third Isaiah, chapters 56 - 56: back in Jerusalem and Judah after the exile, trying to rebuild physical, community, and religious structures.

Because YouTube videos never are there forever, I've stopped linking to them, but for several years I've loved MIchael Spyres' Comfort Ye-Every Valley. It will be at the top of a search for Michael Spyres Messiah Comfort Ye Every Valley. This performance may be so wonderful because although audio is good, the video gives the impression they'd decided to record spur of the moment. Everything comes across as natural and close to spontaneous—though clearly tenor and orchestra were extremely well-prepared. Preparation and spontaneity feels like a good model for our going into 2021.

Last Sunday Advent began and the church opened wide another new year of grace; I love our starting a new year a month before the official civic one on January 1st. During this Advent season we wait and hope together for God's presence with us in the infant Jesus. Isaiah announces God's arrival (or more accurately God's presence in a way people can see and appreciate because God never had left); God then calls the people (Zion) to announce God no longer being hidden. In exactly the same way, God calls us to proclaim and testify to God's presence in the world today.


The Road Home / COVID-19

Although this short Isaiah passage contains enough substance for a very long book, for starters:

The road second Isaiah sings about is not for the exiles' return home; maybe surprisingly, the highway is for God's journey. During Advent we wait and hope together, whatever unusual cyber-forms togetherness may have assumed this year. This scripture tells us we all will experience God's glory together, too.

It's a street, a path, an avenue, and not a static location with coordinates we can cite. The scripture continues with talk about earth moving and feats of civic engineering: Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Easier to walk on and drive on than we'd expected or known in the past, probably quicker, too.

Exiles in the culturally and politically strange Babylon wanted to go home, though you may remember Jeremiah telling them to settle down and contribute to Babylon's greater good—the original Bloom Where You Are Planted.

I've asked at least once if this pandemic breakaway from normal is exile (a place and way of being away from a settled place we considered home, like the Israelites'), or sabbath (a period of not working productively while trusting the sufficiency of God's supply for right now), or winter (a however long time that may look inert, but life is preparing to bloom when it's ready and the setting is right).


This Week's Questions

Short list: so far in 2020 we've had pandemic, economic recession, high unemployment, unprecedented wildfires, hurricanes, racial injustice, climate crisis, LARiots2020, disputed presidential election results, COVID-19 surge upon surge…

• Besides not another calamity before the calendar year ends, what do you hope and pray for this Advent 2020? For the entire year 2021?
• Does this seemingly endless and increasingly severe pandemic qualify as exile, sabbath, winter, or something we can't yet name?
• This week brought great news of two highly effective vaccines ready for approval and distribution with a third well on the way. Still others are at an earlier developmental stage. Are you excited about a vaccine? Or maybe not?
• Is home a perspective or a location or is home both/and? Or does it all depend (that's my answer)?
• How would you describe homecoming or home?
• As an individual or within your church, workplace, or other group have you ever gotten an "aha" moment as inspiration from God related to your next move toward a goal you might even consider a type of settled situation or "home"?
• Do you have a particular attachment to your childhood home or homes, the city or town where you grew up, a grandparent's house or a vacation spot you enjoyed as a kid?
• Do you ever go back to your place of roots, desire to go back, or do you consider that chapter thankfully closed?