Now What?
Really rough sermon I wrote -- with baby dog climbing all over my laptop -- this morning, and also, um, delivered this morning on supply (ie not at my home church.) I'm sure it would want much polishing before being delivered again -- at the very least, I'll go back and edit it to be closer to what I actually said, and to flesh out the stuff in brackets -- but in the interest of keeping all my manuscript sermons in one place:
Now What? Rough version. (Luke 2:41-52, Jeremiah1:4-8)
It was hard for them to believe it, but Mary and Joseph had been together for twelve years. In some ways it seemed like an eternity; but it also seemed like only the blink of an eye since an angel calling himself Gabriel had appeared to Mary and perplexed her by proclaiming, Do not be afraid, for you have found favour with God, And you...will bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and...He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.
Now it seemed almost like a dream. Most certainly it was a blur of activity, of Jesus' birth and James' and a passel of their younger siblings; a blur of family dinners and skinned knees and first steps and first words and family celebrations and a whole lot of hard work, but now it was hard even to remember a time before there had been a houseful of children to raise and teach and love.
And Jesus was twelve, almost a young man, so bright and confident, a good son, a good brother, full of youthful energy and ideas and yet obedient and studious and faithful: such a good boy for his parents to be proud of! Mary and Joseph had great hopes for him, and quite a few plans: Jesus would celebrate his bar mitzvah and live a good life obedient to the torah; he would be an excellent partner in his father's carpentry business; he would find a nice Jewish girl and settle down to the business of making some grandchildren. He would be prosperous and respected and happy.
Mary and Joseph wanted for Jesus what we all want for those we love: health, productivity, fulfillment, joy. But Jesus wasn't on the path his parents had planned for him. Nowhere in their plans for their twelve-year-old son did they intend for him to spend three days and nights alone in the big city. Nowhere in Mary and Jospeh's plans was Jesus to become an itinerant preacher and prophet. Nowhere in the planned trajectory of their precious son's life had they included provisions for a painful and ignominious public execution at age thirty. But God's plans for Jesus required these things.
Given the benefit of hindsight, it's not so surprising to me that even at twelve Jesus would remain at the temple in Jerusalem asking questions and discussing torah. I think what surprises me most in this story is that after the anxiety of frantically searching for Jesus, Luke tells us Mary treasured all these things in her heart. What did she treasure? Surely not the anguish of discovering that her eldest son was missing. Surely not the anxious trip back to Jerusalem, the three-day search for a child whom she feared was alone and frightened and maybe hungry or injured or worse. I think perhaps what Mary treasured was Jesus' clear sense of fulfillment, of following God's call. Luke tells us that Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favour: he lives into the promise of what it means to be himself, of what it means to be Jesus. This is what Mary treasures.
Society teaches us to think of the future: to plan and store and save, if not for ourselves, then at least for our children! Our businesses expect us to make "strategic plans," our financial advisors prod us to save more for retirement, and each generation teaches the next to "save for a rainy day." And so we plan, because it seems prudent to do so, and it seems downright negligent not to.
But the gospels tell a different story: Today's trouble is enough for today. ...Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them. Don't worry about tomorrow, Jesus tells us: we have enough to do to live as God would have us live today. No matter what society tells us, the scripture is pretty clear: our job is not making plans for the future: our job is to open ourselves for God to use us now, to perceive and follow the opportunities we see to serve God and God's people -- today.
[Schindler story: About seventy years ago in Germany there lived a businessman, an industrialist. He was not a good man: he was money-centred and power-centred. He cheated on his wife. He didn't think often of other people... [expand] ... and yet, he risked his money and his power and his family and his life to save thousands of people ... When it really mattered, Oskar Schindler heard God's call, and followed it.]
[If God can use a man like this, surely God can use you.]
Jesus is our Lord and Saviour; He is also our model for what it means to be truly and fully human. It is unlikely that any of us will hear God's call as clearly or open ourselves as fully to God's will as did Jesus of Nazareth. But God calls all of us to serve Him as well as we are able.
God knows who we are: he knows our gifts and our talents, our yearnings and our passions. Before [we] were formed in thhe womb [God] knew [us]. God called Jeremiah to serve him when Jeremiah was only a little boy, telling him you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. God called Schindler from his self-centred, money-centred, hedonistic life -- he called to the very best part of him, and used him to save thousands of people. God calls you and me. He calls us to action; he calls us to love well.
[resolution riff: I challenge you this New Year not to resolve to lose weight or to buckle down to work... I challenge you instead to resolve only to listen each day for God's will in your life for that day.]
Stop, breathe, and wonder at God's abundant grace -- today. Grab the opportunities you see to further God's kingdom -- today. Pray, sing, strive, and love -- today. Live in God's grace as well as you are able. What might God accomplish through you?
(Prayer, riff on: Guide us. Help us to see what we should be doing, and give us the courage to follow that vision.)
Now What? Rough version. (Luke 2:41-52, Jeremiah1:4-8)
It was hard for them to believe it, but Mary and Joseph had been together for twelve years. In some ways it seemed like an eternity; but it also seemed like only the blink of an eye since an angel calling himself Gabriel had appeared to Mary and perplexed her by proclaiming, Do not be afraid, for you have found favour with God, And you...will bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and...He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.
Now it seemed almost like a dream. Most certainly it was a blur of activity, of Jesus' birth and James' and a passel of their younger siblings; a blur of family dinners and skinned knees and first steps and first words and family celebrations and a whole lot of hard work, but now it was hard even to remember a time before there had been a houseful of children to raise and teach and love.
And Jesus was twelve, almost a young man, so bright and confident, a good son, a good brother, full of youthful energy and ideas and yet obedient and studious and faithful: such a good boy for his parents to be proud of! Mary and Joseph had great hopes for him, and quite a few plans: Jesus would celebrate his bar mitzvah and live a good life obedient to the torah; he would be an excellent partner in his father's carpentry business; he would find a nice Jewish girl and settle down to the business of making some grandchildren. He would be prosperous and respected and happy.
Mary and Joseph wanted for Jesus what we all want for those we love: health, productivity, fulfillment, joy. But Jesus wasn't on the path his parents had planned for him. Nowhere in their plans for their twelve-year-old son did they intend for him to spend three days and nights alone in the big city. Nowhere in Mary and Jospeh's plans was Jesus to become an itinerant preacher and prophet. Nowhere in the planned trajectory of their precious son's life had they included provisions for a painful and ignominious public execution at age thirty. But God's plans for Jesus required these things.
Given the benefit of hindsight, it's not so surprising to me that even at twelve Jesus would remain at the temple in Jerusalem asking questions and discussing torah. I think what surprises me most in this story is that after the anxiety of frantically searching for Jesus, Luke tells us Mary treasured all these things in her heart. What did she treasure? Surely not the anguish of discovering that her eldest son was missing. Surely not the anxious trip back to Jerusalem, the three-day search for a child whom she feared was alone and frightened and maybe hungry or injured or worse. I think perhaps what Mary treasured was Jesus' clear sense of fulfillment, of following God's call. Luke tells us that Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favour: he lives into the promise of what it means to be himself, of what it means to be Jesus. This is what Mary treasures.
Society teaches us to think of the future: to plan and store and save, if not for ourselves, then at least for our children! Our businesses expect us to make "strategic plans," our financial advisors prod us to save more for retirement, and each generation teaches the next to "save for a rainy day." And so we plan, because it seems prudent to do so, and it seems downright negligent not to.
But the gospels tell a different story: Today's trouble is enough for today. ...Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them. Don't worry about tomorrow, Jesus tells us: we have enough to do to live as God would have us live today. No matter what society tells us, the scripture is pretty clear: our job is not making plans for the future: our job is to open ourselves for God to use us now, to perceive and follow the opportunities we see to serve God and God's people -- today.
[Schindler story: About seventy years ago in Germany there lived a businessman, an industrialist. He was not a good man: he was money-centred and power-centred. He cheated on his wife. He didn't think often of other people... [expand] ... and yet, he risked his money and his power and his family and his life to save thousands of people ... When it really mattered, Oskar Schindler heard God's call, and followed it.]
[If God can use a man like this, surely God can use you.]
Jesus is our Lord and Saviour; He is also our model for what it means to be truly and fully human. It is unlikely that any of us will hear God's call as clearly or open ourselves as fully to God's will as did Jesus of Nazareth. But God calls all of us to serve Him as well as we are able.
God knows who we are: he knows our gifts and our talents, our yearnings and our passions. Before [we] were formed in thhe womb [God] knew [us]. God called Jeremiah to serve him when Jeremiah was only a little boy, telling him you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. God called Schindler from his self-centred, money-centred, hedonistic life -- he called to the very best part of him, and used him to save thousands of people. God calls you and me. He calls us to action; he calls us to love well.
[resolution riff: I challenge you this New Year not to resolve to lose weight or to buckle down to work... I challenge you instead to resolve only to listen each day for God's will in your life for that day.]
Stop, breathe, and wonder at God's abundant grace -- today. Grab the opportunities you see to further God's kingdom -- today. Pray, sing, strive, and love -- today. Live in God's grace as well as you are able. What might God accomplish through you?
(Prayer, riff on: Guide us. Help us to see what we should be doing, and give us the courage to follow that vision.)