Share The Light

 

The Pridgen-Bennett Family shares the Light of Christ in the Christmas Eve service

 

© Seth Olson 2020
December 27, 2020—First Sunday after Christmas

Isaiah 61:10-62:3

Psalm 147 or 147:13-21
Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7
John 1:1-18

You may watch a video of this sermon by clicking here (sermon begins at 12:20).

God Incarnate, dwell here among us, let my words illuminate your Word and when my words do not illuminate your Word, let your people be cunning enough to know the same. Amen.

Merry Christmas! No matter what time of year, we in the Church love to REMEMBER! We say remember your baptism, even though those who were baptized as infants have a hard time actually having any memories of that day. We pray in words that Christ Jesus said on the night before he died, “Do this in remembrance of me.” One huge reason for the Church’s very existence stems from us coming together to re-member or put back together the Body of Christ. We love remembering! Today though, I want you to forget—at least for a moment.

I ask you to forget if you can everything you know about God. Everything you know about Christmas and Easter, God Incarnate and Our Risen Lord, everything you know about our doctrine, discipline, and worship. Everything you learned in Holy Scripture, Tradition, or Christian Formation (the Atrium, EYC, EfM, or other classes). I need that machine from the Men in Black movies that makes us forget. I know you aren’t really going to forget all of this, but let’s pretend—it’s Christmas time and we use our imagination well at this time of year.

So now that you have forgotten all that you know about God, let’s go back—way, way, way back to the beginning. No, it was not back in February—even though it might feel like that was the dawning of time—I want us to go back to the time before there was time and space and matter.

Millennia ago, millions, even billions of years ago, eons ago there was… nothing? Maybe. But, then there wasn’t nothing. Okay, that’s a double negative… So, really there was; there was something. How did it happen?

If we could not use our normal words (that God created)… if we could not use the familiar pieces of our religion and culture, how would we tell this story? Do we resort to some other mythology? Some alternative fable to explain the way the vast expanse of interstellar space came into being? What about science? It pursues the truth just as our religion does but using different language.

If you were to Google images of the universe you would see some spectacular photos. The entirety of what we have been able to capture from satellites like the Hubble Space Telescope shows a still evolving picture. Science uses the evidence and a process to tell the what, how, when, where, and why of it all. And, this information is supremely useful. It can take us all the way back to the beginning, but what about before the beginning?

Before the ages when all things burst into being what was? Nil? Utter obscurity? Complete nothingness? It is hard for my feeble mind to do that sort of calculation—trying to take everything away—then somehow produce a source for all that was, is, and will be. This sort of balancing the equation mathematics using quantum physics is not my forte. However, deep in my being something cries out—even if I forget everything that I have ever known—there is something that lets me know that before there was—God was (I know I told you to forget all that you know about God, so we can use some other name for God if you want, like Fred? Before there was… Fred was… That doesn’t sound right.)

Still, if we were to seek the truth about how all things came into being, one place we might not look is within ourselves. Our interior lives, the still center of ourselves, the quiet place, which resides at our deepest point can be like a compass, which guides us toward a true north. The more I speak with people about the challenges of 2020 the more I hear a common truth about this compass within us. Many are observing a reliable data point that tells the story of our beginnings. This year has taught us that our very origin is community.

In talking with some care providers who have made the shift to virtual programming I have heard that their patients are struggling. Not because the caregivers have been lacking in offering passionate service. No, it is because previously these patients were having communal time together on a regular basis.

What happens when we take away the gift of community? We suffer. People with dementia have more memory issues. Those with mental illness become more symptomatic. Even seemingly healthy people with substantial means are feeling the weight of isolation, disconnection, and loneliness. We see this here at Church. So, these issues point to the truth that we know if we listen to that inner compass within us. We are made to live in community, but why? This is where it gets a bit heady and theological and to be honest fun!

We are made to be in community because we are made out of community. Yeah! All those times you hear Mary Bea, Charles, or someone else closing a prayer with “through Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you (Father/Creator) and the Holy Spirit, as one God forever and ever” we are essentially saying, “God you are community!” So, if we use this data point to understand the very beginning of everything, what we can see is that before there was… there was community.

Another bit of information this year has given to us is that we are not just made to be in community, but we are also made to love each other in that community. This year has been rough! Understatement of the century. And, even with everything being so challenging so many of you have reached out to care for your neighbor. Many of you are healthcare workers who have sacrificed so much to love your patients. Others are teachers or front-line workers or local small business owners or you have supported these neighbors in large and small ways.

Those sacrifices, those small acts of kindness, those instances of stopping what you would be doing to help your neighbor are what Mary Bea on Christmas Eve described as “Shards of light,” which “stream into our ordinary lives [so that] hope arises anew.”

We are made to be in community and to love in community, and when we are we are given hope. All of this helps us to say something more about our very origin. Before anything was there was community and before there was there was love within that community and that gives us hope! You may be having a harder time doing that forgetting that I asked you to do about 7 minutes back. Perhaps now is the time you can forget forgetting (even though with the mental fog of this year that might be tough), but instead of forgetting now I want you to remember.

Remember a time when you were so loved that you felt as though you were wrapped in warmth and light and a peace that defies our cognitive ability. Do you have that memory? Now remember for a moment a time when you were part of a community where you were appreciated, where you mattered, where you were accepted for who you are and whose you are. Got it? These data points help us to understand something so very powerful—this information tells us about our genesis—where we originated, where everything originated.

In the beginning within Godself—within the magnificent Divinity of Our Triune God was the unity of a community woven together in self-giving, unconditional, and limitless love. And out of that a Word was spoken. That Word was with God and that Word was God. Nothing came into being without God, nothing comes into being without God, and nothing will come into being without God. As the universe continues to expand God still speaks. Any moment of creativity or charitable love or community is us co-creating or speaking with God’s Word. You didn’t know we had that power, did you?

This is the life of which the Evangelist John wrote. This life was most clearly illuminated in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. This life was pure light. Light which we so desperately crave right now. I do not know what was before the universe but I sometimes think that what was was not light. And, right now we have a lot of not light—we have a lot of darkness.

Last Monday night was the longest night of the year. Did you see the Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter? Back on the 21^st it got dark at 4:43 PM and the sun did not technically rise until 6:48 AM. That’s 14 hours and 5 minutes of darkness. But it’s not like it the next night was much shorter. Even tonight we get 14 hours and 3 minutes of darkness. It may not have been completely opaque or obscure before creation was created, but if it was, then we have a good chunk of time every 24 hours right now to dwell in the bleakness.

I do not have enough time to unpack all the many, many things we throw onto darkness, like we are throwing unwanted things into a darkened closet, but often we associate darkness with sin, evil, and all things fearful. But, these associations make it so that we fear darkness instead of learning from it. This year has been so filled with other sorts of darkness—uncertainty and change, loss and depression, despair and death.

In the darkest nights of our souls, in these actual nights that are so long, in this year, which feels so hopeless we wait in the dark. Like potential creation waited to experience God’s Big Bang explosion, like Israel waited for a Savior, like Mary waited for her baby’s birth, we wait not in the light, but in the dark—hoping for the light. Yearning for the word, which is coming to bring new life and light to all people.

This time of year, when it gets so dark so early and stays so dark so long, I get so upset when so soon after Christmas everyone packs up their lights and decorations. Is there a sadder sight than a deflated blow up Santa Claus? Or, even worse an inflatable manger scene all flattened out in a puddle of plastic on a lawn? You may have already taken down your lights and that is perfectly fine.

 However, in these long nights I ask that as we wait in the darkness for the light of Christ coming to fully illuminate our lives that you remember those times when you have already been given Christ’s light when you were loved in community. Remember you already have that light within you, keep it lit, and share it like we are passing candlelight on Christmas Eve. As St. Francis of Assisi said, “All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish thelight of a single candle.”

If you feel the light of hope—hope in a Creator who dwells in the imaginative work of mass-producing vaccines—share that light. If you feel the light of community—in all the beautiful ways the Spirit has birthed new fellowships this year—share that light. If you feel the light of love—that sacrificial kind of love, which Christ Jesus incarnated—then please share that light.

Yes, there is so much darkness right now, but our God who is the source of community, love, and hope comes right now to meet us here. All the darkness of the world cannot quench the light of a single candle, for the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it. Amen.

God's Home With Us

The World now tells us it is not enough that we succeed the other side must also fail.

In today’s Gospel lesson we find Jesus the night before he died, teaching his disciples. That night he gave them one final masters level teaching that would encourage them to carry on their sacred mission long after his death, resurrection, and ascension. In the midst of this discourse, Jesus’ followers asked some of the most powerful questions that we in the Church still rely upon in moments of doubt, denial, and death. Thomas’ curiosity about the path to the Father led to Jesus saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Philip’s desire to see the Father led Jesus to promise the gift of the Holy Spirit. And, Judas (not Iscariot)’s question—well, what did it give us? Remember this in not the Judas who handed over Jesus to be put to death, but a guy with the same name. It might be nice to know what this Judas asked in the first place, but the folks who crafted our Reading Cycle failed to give it to us.

So if we go back to right before today’s Gospel lesson, Judas (not Iscariot) asked Jesus, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” On the surface this question seems innocuous enough—we might think there’s nothing outlandish in it. And yet, in this question Judas (not Iscariot) revealed a subtle sort of sinfulness that laid within him (and us), and it was there in this question about how Jesus revealed himself to this group of disciples and not the world. This is the sort of query that falls into a category I call “the humble brag.” Do you know what I mean by this term?

Let me give you a few examples of humble brags. It is like someone posting a poll to social media wondering, “Which of my Rolexes should I wear today?” or telling one’s friends how enlightened one is because “I meditated today!” or even publicly patting oneself on the back after completing some charitable act. Back in the Gospel according to John, Judas (not Iscariot) asked his question essentially wondering, “Why are we so awesome that you came to us? Why did you choose us over them?” So before we even get to Jesus’ response, we are off to a disheartening start.


Maybe this is why Jesus didn’t answer the question being asked. Perhaps this is why the formers of the Lectionary decided to omit Judas’ inquiry altogether—making the start of today’s lesson sort of clunky. Even with these shortcomings stated, if there is ever a time we need to dig into the secret arrogance and either/or combativeness hidden within this Judas’ question, it is right now.
We need to hear the egotism of this question because we live in a world of artificial distinctions, my group vs. your group, a world that is black or white, gay or straight, male or female, Pro-life or Pro-choice, Republican or Democrat, “Who’s in?” and “Who’s out?”

Judas (not Iscariot) beat us to the proverbial punch 2,000 years ago, but make no mistake, we all too often ask the same type questions of Jesus. Maybe we don’t say them out loud, but we think, “Jesus, how is it that you revealed yourself to us Episcopalians, but not the Baptists?” “Jesus, how is it that you revealed yourself to us on this side of the abortion issue, but not the ones on the other side?” “Jesus, how is it that you gave us the summer off from Church to go to the lake, the beach, or the baseball field, but you didn’t do the same for the Presbyterians across the street?” More simply put, “Jesus, aren’t we just so awesome that we’re your favorites?” The trouble is not only that we live in a defensive, divided, and discordant world—it’s that we are so well convinced that our side is on the right side of whatever divide is the topic of debate for the talking heads today. We would rather be right than be kind 11 times out of 10, or perhaps it is worse than that. Let me give you an illustration to help make my point.

Back in 1997 Leo Cullum, New Yorker cartoonist, depicted two dogs in suits sitting at a bar with a martini and a beer in front of them. The caption beneath read: “It’s not enough that we succeed. Cats must also fail.” This is what it’s come to—not just our success, but someone else’s failure at the same time. We’ve raised the question from “Jesus, why’d you choose us instead of the world?” to “Jesus, we know we’re awesome, but tell us how terrible those miserable sinners are!” It’s not even really a question anymore is it? And, as I imagine the next 526 days until the 2020 Election I cannot see a path to healing that emerges from the echo chambers of social media or the silos of cable news stations. So what do we do? How do we go on as people and politicians argue issues of climate change, health care, reproductive justice, immigration, basic human rights, and which lives matter? How do we keep going when in our own homes we feel divided struggling with transition, mental health, divorce, a suddenly empty nest, losing a job, or a legion of other challenges? Well, what did Jesus say when Judas (not Iscariot) asked his question?

In not so many words Jesus responded, “My Father and I will come not just to a few but to all who love me and keep my word. And not only this, we will not just come to them, but we will make our home with them.” What a beautiful phrase! God will make a home with those who keep God’s word. But, what do we mean by keeping God’s Word? Good question, I’m glad you asked. Let’s talk about God’s Word in two ways:

First, back in the opening of John’s Gospel account, we heard about the Word. “Through [the Word] all things were made. Not one thing came into being without the Word.” Everything exists because of God’s Word. And, I don’t think that’s something that happened in the past. At this very second, everything is being created! We are being made. We are being formed in God’s image. God continuously participates in the expansive moment of Creation. Every second of every day of every life in this universe is crafted by God. And the way that transpires is through the Word, the Christ. So, first we are made through, even out of God’s Word—sounds like it’s natural for us to have God make a home with us.

And, second, there’s another aspect of keeping God’s word. In this final teaching, this last pep talk that Jesus gave to his disciples he was building to an ultimate point. His new commandment for his followers. This Word was simply put by Jesus: Love one another. Love each other, like I loved you. Love each other by emptying yourselves into one another. Love each other like I loved Creation into being. Love each other to the point of foot washing, to the extent of being betrayed, and even as far as laying down your life for one another.

So, as we face all this divisiveness around us it’s helpful to remember that the person whom opposes you, that pig-headed one that doesn’t agree with your opinion… Well, that arrogant jerk is made in God’s image too. That selfish piece of... work is a child of God. And, as soon as we think we have it figured out about who’s on our team and how God’s definitely on our side, that’s the moment when God usually has some way of surprising us to say, “Guess what?! I’m making my home with that group as well because I make my home where people love each other, as I loved you.”

[Sigh] Ugh. This can feel so infuriating, right? Wouldn’t it be easier if Jesus just told us we were right and we didn’t have to change? But, he doesn’t! I think that’s why Jesus responded to Judas (not Iscariot) the way he did. Right when this Judas thought he had it figured out—right when he had to be thinking, “I’m doing so much better than that other Judas”—Jesus told him, I’m bringing peace in a way you do not expect that is not possible through the world’s means and I’m asking you to believe in me even when you can’t see the path forward. And, that is the gift that Christ offers to us as well: not assurance that it will all work out like we want it to work out, nor that our team will win it all, nor even that the downtrodden underdogs will pull the upset in this lifetime… BUT, rather when we love others as Jesus loved us, then God’s home will be with us no matter what happens.

God wants to make God’s home with us. Jesus tells us all it takes is us keeping his word to love one another. And, while that may not be the response from Jesus we want, it is the answer that brings us home to God.

Mouths of Soap and Mouths of Gold

When I was five years old I could not get enough of Super Heroes. Whether in cartoon form, live-action TV show, or movie format when my parents let me watch something it was predominately focused on mutants or people with superhuman abilities. Near the top of the list of my favorites was Batman.

The Michael Keaton version of the film was released around this time. I can recall watching the VHS copy of it over and over again until it skipped and was blurry in spots. One of the most distinct scenes of the film involved the Joker, played by Jack Nicholson, shooting down the Bat-plane. The accompanying dialogue, which is not fit for a church setting, is something like, “Come on, come on you son of a gun,” but it is not gun in the movie version. I really loved this scene.

At this time my parents were both college professors, and so one day I thought it would be good to play out this scene with my Nerf toy bow-and-arrow aimed at one of my mom’s students riding along on his bike. He would in my imagination play Batman and I would play the Joker. Well, needless to say when I let loose the very colorful language within earshot of my mom, I was snatched up very quickly and later given a mouthful of soap as a sure and certain reminder that mouth need be clean. This is about as close as I ever came to the saint whom we celebrate today.

Today we remember a man whose name is associated not with a soapy mouth, but instead with his shining and glimmering speech. John Chrysostom, whose name translates to John the golden mouth, had a way with words, and not like my five year old self did. The Patriarch of Constantinople, the center of the Eastern Church in those days, stood out as one of the best preachers that the entire Church has ever seen, and perhaps more importantly he inspired all around him to know the Word more fully.

For six years John spent his life in the desert practicing intense spiritual disciplines; however, after the grueling life of an ascetic, John became ill and had to return to Antioch where he was swiftly made a priest. When he was later made a bishop his shimmering tongue got him into a heap of trouble. Chrysostom felt the sting of the Empress Eudoxia after he allegedly called her “Jezebel.” Remember Jezebel was the wife of King Ahab, and she seduced her husband away from worshiping Yahweh. Needless to say this got John Chrysostom into more trouble than some soap in his mouth. Twice he was exiled. His fearlessness in the face of persecution gives the connection to the Gospel lesson for today (Luke 21:12-15).

John Chrysostom did not occupy his episcopal residence except for ten years, and still he left for the priesthood of all believers a road map to life in Christ. His own preaching was memorable enough that people would flock to hear him; however, more importantly he challenged those in his charge to speak to the needs of their congregations. If a priest does not have the ability to preach the Word effectively, those souls in his charge “will fare no better than ships tossed in the storms” (Holy Women, Holy Men, 578). We who follow after this golden mouthed bishop are challenged to keep alive the Word of God who guides us through the choppy seas.

Additionally John Chrysostom helped the laity to know and feel that the liturgy, especially Holy Communion, was their service, not just something a priest does. Some priests cut off the lay person from the rites because they thought too much of themselves, but Chrysostom offered a different approach. The Holy Mysteries are heaven and earth joined as one, which cannot possibly be understood or experienced through the might of one man. All of us gathered by God most certainly must marvel at the heavenly banquet to which we all are invited.

We are gifted in the Church by John Chrysostom’s life and ministry. Perhaps most commonly we know him through a prayer included in our Morning and Evening Prayer:
“Almighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one
accord to make our common supplication to you; and you
have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two
or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the
midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions
as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of
your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen.”
(Book of Common Prayer, 102).

John Chrysostom helped us to know God calls each of us to the Holy Table. God invites each of us to eat the bread and wine, Body and Blood. God charges each of us to make alive the Incarnate Word. Some of us may have mouths of soap, while others have mouths of gold, regardless we are all to have mouths full of the Word of God. Let us be like this golden mouthed saint and share with all the living Word of God.

John 1:1-18: Let's Play "Guess the Present!"

Merry Christmas! I have a confession to make to you this morning. This is only the second time in my life that I have ever been to church on Christmas day. Yes, I know. It’s strange. A priest has only been to church one time on Christmas day. Well, my family custom on this day was to wake up, check out our stockings, eat our traditional breakfast, and then tear into our presents. Typically by this time in the day, as a child, I was well on my way to playing with whatever toy or game I had received. In that spirit, I actually want to play a game with you all this morning. I know. It’s strange. Playing a game in church on Christmas day. This is not why you came, but I think you might enjoy this.

Now, this game is actually an adaptation of another game. My friend, Nathan Carlson, a member of St. Thomas down in Birmingham, taught me his game a few years ago. Nathan is a teacher and soccer coach at Homewood High School. He’s creative, he’s funny, and he’s caring. The game he plays is called, “Guess What’s Underneath My Shirt!” As baffling as it might be, the game is simply played by guessing what is underneath Nathan’s shirt. He might hide a toaster oven and the objection of the game is to guess toaster oven. Maybe you get to keep the object, but probably you just get the satisfaction of knowing you were right.

Well, this morning I want to play the Christmas version of this game entitled, “Guess the Present.” I imagine you might already be pretty good at this. We all tend to look at the presents underneath the Christmas tree and we make a guess at what’s underneath the wrapping paper. Well, the game is played in much the same way. I will hold something up and you guess what is held within the packaging. If you guess correctly, then you have the satisfaction of knowing you were right.

Round:
1. Lamp shade

2. Clock

3. Mystery Present

In this third package it could really be anything. It just looks like a box. Who knows what it could be inside this mystery present? While we are thinking about what is held within this paper, I wonder why it is that we give one another presents at this time of year. Why do we give gifts at Christmas time?

Perhaps it has something to do with St. Nicholas. He was the 4th Century Christian bishop of Myra who supposedly would go around to poor families and pay their daughters’ dowries leaving money and sometimes food in a family member’s shoes that would have been left on the outside of the house. Some still celebrate the tradition in early December as they put their shoes out and wait for presents to fill them up. Actually if you leave out a stocking you are in some way celebrating St. Nicholas. Still I don’t know if this is the real reason why we give each other presents now. I wonder what is in the mystery present.

But why do we give each other presents? Maybe it is because we like each other. We appreciate one another, and we want to show that gratitude in giving one another a gift. Perhaps… Really, I have to know what is in this mystery box! If it could be anything, what do you wish it is? A picture of a beloved relative? A gift card? Keys to a new car? A check for a million dollars? Alright, I cannot stand it anymore… I am going to open this present!

There is nothing inside, just some gold paper. I wonder why there’s nothing in it. Sometimes we cannot sense with our sensory perception the gifts we are given. We may not be able to see, touch, taste, smell, or hear a gift, but that does not mean it is not given to us. I believe this is the case with the gift that we receive in today’s gospel.

The good news of John opens with a mysterious song that focuses upon the Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness comprehend it not.”

God, in His infinite abundance, goodness, and love created all things by speaking things into being through the Word. All of this that we see, touch, taste, smell, and hear has been made and made good through the Word of God. Yet, like a mysterious present that we cannot figure out, sometimes we do not understand this present that we have been handed. “He was in the world and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him,” John says. I believe that we give each other gifts at this time of year to take part in God’s abundant gift giving. We attempt to show one another our appreciation by participating in God’s gifting.

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” The gift that we have been given is that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. When God came into the world through the Word of God we were given the clearest gift of God’s abundant love for us. Through God becoming incarnate all of creation and we ourselves were made holy vicariously.

God’s Word also brought true light into the world. “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” This light was brought into the world through the Word of God. It enlightens us all. In this the darkest time of year for us in the northern hemisphere we are reminded that the true light enlightens us all. We have this light within us. Each of us has this light within us. The Christ light burns inside.

So as we go forth from here celebrating Christmas, celebrating the Word of God made flesh and dwelling with us, let us also take with us the light of Christ. When we meet our family, our friends, and our neighbors that light burns within us, and it burns within them as well. Remember that all whom we meet have been made holy by God’s coming to be with us. Remember that God has given us all the gift of coming to be with us. Remember that we all possess Christ’s light within us. Amen.