Epiphany 3 A

In our old testament lesson today the Prophet Isaiah proclaims that the people who walked in deep darkness have seen a great light. Isaiah, called by God to speak the words of the Lord, devoted his life to proclaiming the good news that the Lord loves, cares for, watches and saves each of his Children.

Paul tells us in the epistle lesson that he understands his call from God in exactly the same way. It is not his job to create a church based on himself or his own teachings. Nor is he called to make mandates. He has heard the good news of Christ and his call is to proclaim that news to all who will listen. Both Paul and Isaiah knew that what they needed in order to follow the call of God were disciples. People who could hear the word of the Lord and speak it truthfully to all of the children of God.

Jesus knew this same thing and so one of the very first things that he does as his ministry begins is call people who will listen and learn to speak. He finds, by the seaside, Simon who was to be called Peter and his brother Andrew. He tells them the story of God's promise to the people. They listen and decide that they can follow and learn to speak the same words. Next they see James and John. Jesus calls them and, together with Andrew and Peter, he tells them the story and James and John decide that they can follow and learn to tell the story too.

The story of the church goes on in much this same way. As Jesus traveled and taught, as he healed and prayed with all those who stopped to listen he kept gathering people, disciples, who could listen and follow and learn to tell the story by words, actions or simply their presence.

As you might have guessed this progression doesn't stop. It stills happens that people hear a story about the promises of God and they decide to follow. As they follow they learn, in many different ways, how to share the story themselves. Even just by being a person that knows God's love as they go about their daily tasks; working, playing, doing chores, meeting neighbors, eating, drinking and above all else living, Jesus' modern day disciples tell the story.

I'm going to tell you all a story now. In many ways it the story of why I am here though I'm not sure I understand exactly why that is true. When I was ten years old my mother and I got up on Sunday morning I want to say that it was in the Spring time and we went to the local Lutheran church. Emmanuel in Cheney, Washington(my first time really attending a worship service). It was a U-shaped church that was originally built in the late forties. all wooden with a lovely courtyard in the center, the sanctuary off to the right and the offices off the the left. We walked in the front door, me in my little dress shoes, my mom wearing makeup and a coral colored sweater and we were greeted by Cliff Greshem. A man at least 20 years older than my mother (ancient to a ten year old). He took one look at me and asked what school I went to, we had five elementary schools in our district. I told him and without even asking my age, he said oh, your teacher must be Mrs. Dourghty! I was mystified and have loved Cliff ever since. He was the first to know where I was headed to college, then that I was getting married, then that I was going to Seminary and finally he helped with my ordination. Cliff took us up the stairs to the narthex (the back of the sanctuary), pointed out some people we might want to sit with and we found a Pew. I was amazed as service started that my mother knew all the words to the songs and most of the prayers. She knew them and they seemed to mean something to her. The only other clear memory that I have of that day is looking back from my pew to a glass cross shaped window above the choir loft. It was made of those clear glass blocks and set into the brick of the building and sparkling in the morning sun.

I remembered that so clearly the first time I stood up to preach in the pulpit of that church, I was nervous but the cross caught my eye, it was beautiful and I really couldn't see anything else for the rest of the sermon. I had a picture of that cross on my wall all through college and seminary and as I worked in Philadelphia and as I was interviewing for a call. It became a symbol for me of a community that prayed for me and of the promise that God was with me.

Now to get us all in the mood to work at the annual meeting as disciples and workers in the church I would like for us to take a minute to tell each other a story. So with someone near you in the pew take a minute to talk about the first time you remember coming to Trinity. Just what you remember, who you saw what happened while you were here, why you came in the first place. What were your first impressions. Like my story it might not seem too significant but it is part of the history of your discipleship. Part of the story for your faith. So take a second to really think about the first time you walked through the doors of this building (or the first time you remember if you were raised here)...and go ahead now, tell a story to your neighbor. You'll have about a minute apiece.

So as I was telling you, the first memory I have of Emmanuel was being lovingly welcomed by Cliff and the last clear memory I have of that morning was the cross. I have no idea how hard Cliff had to work to always be a cheery and loving greeter who knew a little something about everyone who came through the door. I have no idea what kind of debates took place over whether or not there would be a cross window in the choir loft. And I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that from the moment I saw that cross it was easy to be a member of that church. There were certainly ups and downs. But our epistle this morning says that the message of the cross is both foolishness and the power of God. How true this seems when trying to parse out the ways that God works. I'm not sure how that first morning when I was ten years old led to that morning years later as a stood in the pulpit speaking God's words with the cross shining down on me but I know that it had everything to do with the disciples who had been called from that congregation to tell their stories and to listen to mine. May we all be blessed in the work of discipleship that we do as we conduct that business of the church here in this place and as we move outside these walls for the rest of the week. Amen

Epiphany 2 A

There is a theme for our gospel text today and that theme is come and walk with me.

John tells the story of how Jesus calls his disciples in a different way than the other gospel writers tell it. What is important to John before anything else is that, for those who are going to follow Jesus, those people who will eventually be leaders in the new church, spend time walking with him. Spend time getting to know and understand him. And then being ready to stay with him.

When Jesus meets Andrew and the other disciple they ask where he is staying. What a funny question. John tells them that Jesus is the Lamb of God anointed with the spirit and they ask him where is staying. Then again his response is a bit strange too. He says come and see and so they do and, according to the text, they end up staying with him there. I can't say that when I first meet someone this is the type of exchange I have but that in part goes to something that is lost in translation here.

When the text says that the disciples remained with Jesus the actual word is a little weightier than that. It wasn't just that they needed a place to stay. They found a sort of home with Jesus and so heart and soul they remained with him.

This come and see and then stick around phrasing in used a lot in the gospel of John. But most notably it is used here at the very, very beginning of Jesus' ministry and then at the very end after the resurrection. Mary says come and see, Jesus is risen and the other disciples went with her and saw and this led to their finally understanding that Jesus was indeed the messiah.

I like the idea that nobody asks what is going on and is given some kind of explanation. No ones sits them down and says read this brochure, it will explain the whole thing. It is almost as if they are just too caught up in what they are doing for that to be an option so instead they say just come along, you'll see.

Come walk with me and talk with me and you'll figure it out. There are a few things that I like about this approach. I like that it isn't asking too much. We aren't making a big commitment right up front. Just taking a walk and a look, it seems manageable. So often we feel like there is so much to faith, so much we have to believe and understand and do and control. We have to constantly be improving, be working. And there is value to strong belief and to understanding some theological principles. But really all Jesus says when he calls his disciples is come, walk with me.

I also like the idea of movement in this text. Jesus doesn't stay in the same place doing the same thing and so there is no reason to expect that we will always find faith in just the same place and the same way. Faith is dynamic, it moves and changes and grows and so we have permission to move and change and grow too. Nowhere does the bible say stay rooted to just where and how you are in order to remain faithful. Jesus walked and traveled and preached and taught and ate and prayed and healed and went to the temple and sat in the marketplace and in each of these places people encountered him in different ways. Perhaps we can too. Perhaps we can even be the ones through whom other people encounter Jesus in some of these places.

Now the final thing I like about this approach and maybe my very favorite thing is the invitation to be part of a community. Jesus and later the other people who speak words of invitation don't desert those whom they are inviting for even a little while. Instead they say walk with me and they stay there to make sure that the walking works out.

Our Synod adopted a motto a few years back that they are trying to use to frame all synodical work and decisions. It includes three action statements, Pray first, Walk together, and Change lives. This is just how all the disciples operated. They spent some time talking to Jesus. (that is the praying part). Then they walked with Jesus and each other. Always together. Always in community and in so doing lives were changed.

One of the greatest gifts that we have from God is that of community. Of people to walk with. People who change our lives and let us change theirs. We get the great joy today of celebrating our community. We are celebrating the reception of Janice as a new member. A long awaited event here as Janice has been walking with us for quite some time. But I urge you all to realize that while she is making a commitment to us to be part of our community here, really we are making a much bigger commitment to her. We are saying all at once We have prayed with you, now walk with us, be part of us and we promise lives will change.

It is a busy day today too as we are also installing some very important leadership. We are installing our new council members as well as our Sunday school teachers. What great news. Surely these people being leaders like they are, they are the ones making the promises to us. But again that isn't how it works in community. They are promising to prayerfully help lead this congregation but even more so we are promising to pray with and for them and to walk ever faithfully by their sides. And we're promising them that through this lives will change.

Starting with what we do today new relationships will begin, ministry will grow, people will learn things and forget woes and our community will strengthen. Through that we will be blessed and those around us will be blessed and lives will change.

Now it is pretty intense to promise that lives will change, especially to be making that promise to so many people all at once. But I assure you it is true because whenever we walk in community here as a church or outside these walls we know that we are walking with he who first called Andrew and Simon and all the other disciples with an invitation to come and see and walk with him. And we know that the nature of the Holy Spirit is one that moves and grows and is constantly walking with us, changing lives. Amen

Baptism of Our Lord A

Have you ever noticed that water is something over which we have very little control? As much as we would like to have control of it, as we build dams and dig canals and reservoirs often water is beyond our control.

Sometimes we have great intentions to drive to visit family but it is cold out and there is water resulting in a sheet of ice covering the cars and the roadways or several feet of snow blocking our path. So then we resolve to ski and it warms up and that darn snow turns back into water leaving the slopes bare but causing flooding in all the valleys and lowlands. Some parts of the midwest are in terrible shape right now, whole towns having to evacuate because of flooding, recently a levee broke in Nevada flooding a place that is known more for droughts than flooding. I think one thing we can agree on is that as well as we plan a picnic sometimes it rains and we just can't control it. Water is not ours to control.

But we also can't live without water. We need to drink it, we need to water our crops with it, we need it in the atmosphere to help regulate the temperature. On a slightly less dire scale we need to it to keeps the streets clean and the lawns pretty and even to bathe ourselves.

Water is essential to our survival and beyond our control. It can be life-saving and breathtakingly beautiful. It can be hugely destructive or it can bring life to the driest dessert. Maybe this is part of the reason that water has always been used by God as a sign and as a promise to us. In the stories of the Old testament water is a huge part of the faith story of God's people.

The creation story says that in the beginning the very beginning there was God and there was water. It says that the first thing that God did was to separate water from water. The very basis of the whole world is God and water, the very basis of each of us is God and water. The promise that we are made in the image of God, specially loved by a mysterious creator is a promise that begins with the stirrings of water.

Again and again as biblical time goes on water is a promise. In the stories of the old testament there is a point at which the world has been destroyed by people, ruined somehow by sinful and lost humanity and so God gathers up his child Noah along with Noah's family and he puts them safely in an ark while water washes the earth clean. It isn't the happiest story and it is certainly full of mystery but it is a promise that water will save the children of God.

Then as God's people are enslaved in Egypt a child is found among the reeds on the river. This child, Moses, Moses whose staff could bring life giving water from the very stones, grows to lead all of the enslaved Israelites to freedom. But as they left the emperor changed his mind about letting them go and sent the army after them. So Moses put down his staff and parted a sea, leading God's people to safety again. Again in this story we hear the promise that water will save the children of God.

All through Advent and Christmas we heard the wonderful peaceful prophecies of Isaiah promising that the justice and mercy of the Lord would flow like streams that there would be peace and abundance framed in the promises of God and with water.

Skipping ahead to today's gospel we find John the baptist calling people to be baptized, to be dipped in the water of the river jordan to be cleansed and called. And Jesus walks to the riverbank with all the penitent and asks to be baptized as well. Asks to be washed in the loving promises of God the father. John is taken aback but finally does as Jesus asks and when he does a voice calls from heaven and a dove descends and the water stirs and God utters his promise to Jesus and to all those gathered around. The voice says: This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.

This is the son of God who has been sent to you, who is revealed to you in the waters of baptism who asks to be washed clean with all his brothers and sisters, all the children of God and who will be with you always to the end of the age.

It is interesting that John is baptizing already before Jesus even starts his ministry. There is evidence that Jewish people at the time had baptismal pools and structures similar to fonts in their homes and outside of the temple where they would baptize and be baptized in order to be ritually clean. Baptism was a way to make themselves worthy to be in the presence of the Lord this is something like what John was doing or at least what John thought he was doing.

But then Jesus came along and asked to be baptized John was confused and kind of insulted and very troubled. He was the one who knew about baptism of course and also if you remember the one who knew about Jesus and so he knew that there was absolutely no reason for the Christ to baptized by him. John figured that really if anyone should be baptizing now that Jesus was around it was Jesus. Maybe even the people who John had baptized would need another dip from Christ.

Now this is where the problem with controlling water or having no control over water comes back in. John thought that he was controlling that Jordan river. He knew just what specific role the water was playing. It was making people clean and ready to meet Jesus. But Jesus had news for John. He told him that he wasn't in control. That water, especially when it meets up with the power and promise of God, is almost impossible to control.

He might have been declaring a cleansing from sin but we find out once Jesus is baptized that that cleansing spills over into an anointing with the Holy Spirit which spills over into the voice and call of God which spills over into the power to heal and a ministry to all people.

Water runs and moves and flows and evaporates and condenses and sometimes it falls in the strangest places and sometimes it fills up the most unlikely of spaces and we believe that through the great mystery of the Holy Spirit, God does too. In, with and through the water of our baptisms.

I mentioned before the flooding in Nevada that was so intense that it caused a levee to break. I was born in the Nevada desert, we moved away when I was young I only have a few memories of the place but my parents would fascinate me when I was small telling me about rain storms in the desert.

They said that the first thing that happened was a loud sound almost like drums beating, the rain falling onto dry, dry cracked, dead earth.

Next would be floods, flash floods. The land was unaccustomed to water and so it wouldn't soak in, it would just sit there a layer of water on top of baked earth.

Then it would start to flow. It would fill river and creek beds that had been dry for so long they had forgotten that they were rivers and creeks. The water would remind them what they were, what they were meant for all along.

Finally after the storm with its great drum roll and unreal theatrics the water would sink in and thats when the real show started. Dead dry land would come to life. Flowers would spring up and grow where nothing had been. Animals would come out, some who traveled to be where the water was and others, frogs mostly who live in something like a state of hibernation from one storm to the next, stretched there legs and began to hop around the desert turned oasis.

This is how baptism is. You can't control it but you can't live without it. Not really. We pour water with great ceremony, almost like drums beating and it stands there for a while before it flows And then it begins to move, as we learn what it means to be children of God, as we gather together with other children of God and then it flows like rivers and streams, reminding us of what we really are of what we are created to be. It spills over and finds its way into the driest parts of our world and our lives.

And that is when the real show starts. When we all remember and know that we are baptized children of God and that that baptism made us who we are. Then flowers begin to bloom in deserts. Miraculous and wonderful things happen. And like in our gospel lesson today we feel the spirit of God and we hear a voice saying, you are my child with whom I am well pleased I have promised you salvation through water and it is yours now and until the end of the ages.

I would like for us all to stand now and take a moment to remember our baptisms. This is the prayer of thanksgiving that is part of our baptismal rite:

Blessed are you, O God, maker and ruler of all things. Your voice thundered over the waters at creation. You water the mountains and send springs into the valleys to refresh and satisfy all living things.

Through the waters of the flood you carried those in the ark to safety. Through the sea you led your people Israel from slavery to freedom. In the wilderness you nourished them with water from the rock, and you brought them across the river Jordan to the promised land.

By the baptism of his death and resurrection, your Son Jesus has carried us to safety and freedom. The floods shall not overwhelm us, and the deep shall not swallow us up, for Christ has brought us over to the land of promise. He sends us to make disciples, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Pour out your Holy Spirit; wash away sin in this cleansing water; clothe the baptized with Christ; and claim your daughters and sons, no longer slave and free, no longer male and female, but one with all the baptized in Christ Jesus, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Epiphany A

Matthew 2:1-12
The gospel today is a familiar one. The story of the three wisemen or magi or kings, were they kings...No, they weren't really kings but there is a lot of legend around this story, part of being so familiar, so today I have a first hand account from the perspective of one of these wise men, of how the whole thing could have gone, hopefully it will clarify things a little bit.

The story of the Journey of the Magi, by Magi #1:
Ah the story of how I came to the cradle side (you know at first it was a feed trough side) of the infant called Jesus:

Well, it started like this...I was sitting around the marketplace with some of my colleagues. I am what they call a magus, though I wish they wouldn't call me that. It isn't really the nicest name, not anymore. People call us that because they don't take us seriously as counselors of the future, readers of the sky, knowers of the prophecies. They say that we just practice cheap magic (our name is where your word for magic comes from) and get lucky with fortune telling sometimes. Well that was how people thought of us but we seemed good enough for your God to send us a sign to see the newborn Messiah, the personally invite us to his nursery!

Anyway, like I said I was sitting with the other Magi in the marketplace as the sun went down and suddenly we saw this star rising in the east. We make it our business to know about all the stars that rise and all of the ones that are scheduled to rise and I have to admit, though please don't repeat this to anyone, that this particular star was a bit of a surprise and mystery to us. But we could tell because of its placement and brightness that it hailed the birth of a king. A Jewish king and so we did what any sensible person might do.

Really we thought we were doing the right thing, though we regret it now. We went to the current King. King Herod the Great. His family had ruled for many years so we assumed this new birth must have been in his family. It could have meant something great that a star had risen for someone in the house of Herod, we thought it signaled a turn in the way the family would deal with the Jewish people because for being Jewish themselves I can't say I ever thought that they did that good of a job representing their people. Herod did rebuild the temple which meant a lot but he also built a lot of fancy palaces for himself. Maybe this new king would be even better, with a little more of a mind for the people.

We showed up ready to share our congratulations and to learn what there was to know about this new king but the only king there was Herod and he wasn't thrilled by what we had to say. He had this funny look on his face, half amused and half, scared I guess, maybe more than half scared. He called together some priests and scribes and they all talked for a long time. We heard them throwing around quotes from their Holy texts, we heard Jerusalem and Bethlehem over and over again like there was a debate about where the king would be,

Jerusalem or Bethlehem. Bethlehem was close by, a few hours by camel but it wasn't much of a birthplace for anyone. Either way it was pretty clear by the uproar that we caused that the king was not anywhere near Herod's court and we magi could have thought of many places that might have been more comfortable for us to be during that time. Really any place would have been more comfortable so Bethlehem sounded just fine. We were relived, to say the least, when we were finally allowed to leave that royal court!

But there is more to it than that, they didn't just let us leave. Herod asked that we come back with news once we find this baby king so that they could all offer their gifts and praise as well. Some of the other magi thought that this sounded nice, how wonderful that the king would be so humble and loving but I knew better I was sure that they had something other than gifts in mind for the child and I was sure we wouldn't come back to lead him there.

Either way we were bound to travel and find him then and all the more anxious and curious with this new information. Perhaps he was an entirely different kind of king, that would explain why the star had appeared to us lowly gentiles.

So off we went and as we were traveling the star stopped. That's right it stopped. It had been moving across the sky from the east since we first saw it and all of a sudden it didn't appear to move at all anymore. This meant we were close, very close. So we found a house that it had stopped over, a humble thing but not as bad as the barn we heard tell of later. Inside was a lovely young couple with a baby that looked just like every other baby we had ever seen but then people started to tell us stories. Lots of folks were coming and going. We learned that shepherds had also come to see the baby before we got there. They had been told by an angel to travel to where the baby was. They seemed pretty sure that he was God's son because they went off and told the whole town and lots of people in the surrounding towns and now everyone wanted to see the baby Jesus.

I was amazed at how much faith people were placing in someone who couldn't even speak yet but I think that faith must nourish faith because it was hard to be there and hear everyone's story and not believe. I guess that is why we were led there. It takes a lot to make someone who has always been on the outside believe that God came to walk with them. We aren't even allowed into the temple but here we were touching God, holding his hand and asking his mother if we could help her, and doing little tasks around the house for his father. Anyway listening to all of their stories we were sure that this was indeed the son of God, of their God.

And after telling our own story we were sure he had come for us as well, so that we would know, as different as we all seemed, that their God was our God too. It was amazing to watch all kinds of people realize that same thing about themselves everyday as we were there. I guess this is why you all call today Epiphany. Many people came to understand who God is because of journeys like mine. Like I say, faith nurtures faith, new or old.

After staying for as long as we felt we could we packed up our things and bid Mary and Joseph goodbye. They were wonderful to welcome us into their family for a time. We bowed to the baby Jesus one more time and we headed home but we took a different road than the one we came on. And not just to avoid Herod and his murderous ways. We no longer needed to pay homage to a king in Jerusalem nor did we need the grand temple he had built. We had given praises to a new type of priest and offered the sacrifice of our love and faith at the alter of the prince of peace.

So this new way we took home was anything but a road and our journey was in service to a very different kind of King. Amen