S T R E T C H E D

January 25, 2015

Epiphany 3

1^st Corinthians 7:29-31

Psalm 62:5-12

(prayer)

Today, I find myself thinking about significant influences of my past.  When we have influential and inspiring experiences, we hold them dear - and often, we look forward to repeating them again sometime.

This past Wednesday, I was forced to accept that there were two things I will never be able to do again:

·        I will not get to attend anymore events at the Naramata Centre, and

·        I will not be able to learn from Marcus Borg, directly again.

On Wednesday morning, the American modern theologian and author, Marcus Borg, passed away at the age of 72, after a prolonged illness.

That afternoon, the Board of Directors of the Centre at Naramata announced that (after 68 years) the Center was closing immediately. 
I had heard that Marcus was not well, but I did not know that he was gravely ill.  I use his first name (not because we were friends) but because he was a great influence on who I am and how I am able to think

and speak about what I believe.  I was blessed to attend lecture series he gave on five different occasions over the past 20 years.

I knew that Naramata Centre has struggled for many years and that this past year has been particularly challenging as they could no longer avoid the realities of what it takes to be a conference-retreat centre like that now-a-days, but I had been hopeful that some new version of Naramata Centre would emerge.  I was blessed by the numourous workshops and conferences I attended there, highlighted by the time my whole family were there for a week of their summer program.

I am not experiencing a gut-wrenching grief at these losses - like the loss of a close loved one (like the family of RCMP officer Wynn in St. Albert or the Tremblay family here in Leduc) - but I am grieving in a way.

My mind knows that no one and nothing lasts forever, but my heart is melancholy.  To be facing the future with Naramata Centre and Marcus Borg lectures as things of my past is not what I expected when this week began.

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I am far from unique - we all have these kind of experiences: forced to move into a future we aren't sure we are ready for.

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There is an issue obvious tension behind the psalmist's words this morning - the author of Psalm 62 feels pushed into a lonely corner.
When the passage uses the confident words my soul waits in silence for God - from God is my hope - God is my mighty rock, my refuge, we can imply that there is a worry in the psalmist's view that other means of hope and stability are an illusion and will not serve us the way that trusting in God will.

The specific example that Psalm 62 uses is an obsession with accumulating processions and wealth - whether within the societal norms or by less-than-reputable means (extortion, robbery): do not set your
heart on increasing riches. 

This is a message that we don't like to hear because we have convinced ourselves that nothing short of perpetual exponential growth is a failure.  This view makes us obsess about rising GDP levels, ever widening profit margins and the latest upgrade and new toy.  We are thrown into a loop, when commodity prices take an unpredicted drop, or annexation plans run into opposition, or time simply runs out quicker than we had hoped.

The text of Psalm 62 has it's own version of the modern proverb "you can't take it with you": those of low estate are but a breath, those of high estate are a delusion - in the balances they go up, they are lighter than a breath. 

To quote the 70s rock band Kansas "all we are is dust in the wind".

Or these words from Marcus Borg: "Imagine that Christianity is about loving God.  Imagine that it's not about the self and its concerns, about ' what's in it for me', whether that be a blessed afterlife or prosperity in this life."

My own mantra is "to try and live each day so that, on my last day (whenever that will be), I have minimized my regrets".

The psalm writer is urging his audience to set aside the goals and means of selfish living and to live lives of humility that entrust ourselves to the steadfast love and grace of God - and to do that now, not just set it as a goal to be worked on in the future.

Jesus may have been thinking of Psalm 62 when he famously said (in Mt 6:24, Lk 16:13): no one cannot serve two masters, you cannot serve both God and 'mammon' (often translated as money, or wealth, or greed).

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This is easy to say.  But how do we make it practical in a world whose socio-economic structures are the way we are?

The choices we face about faithful living can stretch us.
How much is enough?  Not only do we have enough basic resources, but are we using our time and energy to the best of our abilities and potential.  How much is enough?

Too many of us feel stretched to the breaking point.

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A few decades after Jesus' life, the Apostle Paul struggled with the ways of the world and the Way of Jesus.  He was stretched between the world he encountered everyday and the world the resurrected life made possible.  In one breath Paul seems to describing a battle between the power of God and the powers of the world, but he also seems to be speaking with a tense confidence (similar to the psalmist) that a new era has begun because of the love of God made manifest in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

The love of God (in Christ) changes the way we approach everything - everything is influenced; nothing is left untouched: the love of God informs how we look at joy, sorrow, commerce, relationships... everything!

Paul wanted the readers of his letter in Corinth that all of the old patterns are up for review.

Just because a past experience seemed to work, there can not be an assumption that it will endure or repeat.

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It is a challenging time to try to be a spiritual person now-a-days.

A faith component to life has a lot of competition.

We are stretched.

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It is easy to profess one's trust in God.  Even for the most pious among us, it is another thing to face the tensions that come from the competing loyalties for our time and energy.

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Perhaps, there is wisdom from another context - the first step is to admit that we have a problem - to admit that we do not have the perfectly,  balanced solution figured out.  But to claim some solice in that we can live
(in this moment) with hope and trust that we do not struggle alone - that in God, there is refuge, and hope and promise.

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Along the journey of my life and faith, I am indebted to one particular course I took at Naramata Centre called "Leading from Within" - it gave me the experience of being honest with my faith and doubts and to be open to the possibility (the fact) that there is mystery beyond what I know know, even about my own abilities and potential.  My times among the sand hills of the southeast Okanagan taught me to appreciate
that God's love shines within me and that I am never alone. 

It is a gift to be able to build out from the inner strengths that I discover and to offer that to the world around me.

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The first Marcus Borg book I ever read (before I ever saw him in person) was "Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time".  It was Borg's response to the desire to understand the historical Jesus (the earthly carpenter from Nazareth) alongside the cosmic Christ (that Jesus came for the church after his death).  Borg was one of the scholars of the Jesus Seminar that discerned the nature of the historical Jesus in the 1980s and 90s.

I so much appreciated the permission to explore an experience with Jesus in a way that Jesus' disciples did - this teacher and healer, so obviously full of the mystical presence of God, that they would stretch their lives in a new direction, to follow him; to be able to step back an get to know the pre-Easter Jesus.  It profoundly allowed me to find a deeper understanding to all that we have come to profess about the post-Easter Christ.

"Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time" was not the first book that Borg wrote, but it began a relationship for me with the insights of Marcus Borg that will endure within me. 

This week, when I learned that he had passed away, I realized that it was one of Borg's older books "Meeting God Again for the First Time" that has shaped my approach to faith and ministry, more so than any other modern text.

I plan on re-reading it very soon.

I am particularly impacted by the reminder that it is essential that I must always seek the relevance of my faith in this present moment of my life.  My spirit is enlivened when I am able to trust that God matters to me, right know - that I am more that the carrier of an old, old story, but a vessel for a living faith.

Marcus Borg helped articulate for me that a contemporary faith does not need to conflict with reason and science; that I can challenge traditional walls of exclusion - even those (especially those) erected by my own faith and cultural traditions - in favour of the radical holy love that enabled Jesus to include the excluded and inspired the NT letter writer to pen "Let us love one another because love is from God.  Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God... for God is love" (1 John 4:7-8).

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This basic profession is the heart of Jesus' ministry and the soul of the gospel of Christ.  I have come to believe that no matter how hard I find myself pulling in another direction - no matter how thin I stretch the grace of God, that God's compassion for me will not break - that (even when I have trouble knowing it) I do not journey this life alone. 
Steadfast love belongs to God. 

Because that is who and what God is.

Jesus knew this and tried to show that truth to others.

I am learning that I can admit there is a lot I don't know, but that touching the truth that God is Love might just be enough to face all that is stretching me out today.

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Among the many social media tributes to Marcus Borg that I have seen in recent days has been his own words from his book Speaking Christian: :

"So, is there an afterlife, and if so, what will it be like?  I don't have a clue.  But I am confident that the one who who has buoyed us up in this life will also buoy us up through death.  We die into God.  What more that means I do not know.  But that is all I need to know."

Given that, I really appreciated this David Haywood cartoon.

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Let us pray;

God, our rock and deliverer, help us to stand on the sure footage of your love. May the power of your love be, for us, a fortress against all of the things that distract us from you. Amen.

#660VU “How Firm a Foundation”

CALL DISPLAY

January 18, 2015

Epiphany 2

1^st Samuel 3:1-10

John 1:43-51

(prayer)

About a month ago (14Dec2014) - during a sermon - I mentioned the social media hashtag 'firstworldproblems'. 

A first world problem is something that doesn't typically bother 60% of the people on this sphere. 

They include the issues that we (in the first world) are bothered by, like: when one of the kids has an exorbitantly long shower and there is no hot water left for you (unless you are willing to wait for twenty minutes); or when the cable goes out for two minutes right in the middle of that Seinfeld episode you love and have seen a half dozen times before; or when the steak comes to the table closer to medium-well than the medium you had ordered; or when you have to wait for the plane to be de-iced in January when you really want to be on the way to Cancun.

#firstworldproblems

As I said in December, first world problems are funny and sad at the same time.

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I don't mention this to heap judgment on anyone - not to preach that we should all throw away the iPads and wallow in perpetual guilt.  I include myself among the privileged elite of the world - I did not earn this; it was the chance circumstances of the location of my birth.  The path of human history already had created this divide among people.  I did nothing to deserve this lifestyle.  I am simply here.

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You can see by the image on the screen and the title for my message today, that I have chosen a decidedly first world metaphor with which to explore today's scripture readings.

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I suspect that quite a few of us have a call display feature on our phone - where we are able to see the phone number (and sometimes even the name) of who is calling us.  And I will boldly assume that everyone of us with call display has heard the phone ring, looked at the name and number, and chosen not to answer.  We are by the phone, we could answer - and was prepared to answer... until we saw who was calling.  Yes, I know that we have all 'screened' a call here and there.
Let's admit it.

And, at the same time - we should accept the inevitable fact that, at sometime or another, someone we know has chosen to ignore our attempt to call.

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We have our reasons for doing this.

·        We might be tired.

·        We might be busy with something else.

·        And hey, we are allowed to unavailable if we want to be.  There should not be the expectation
that we must respond instantly to people's beck and call.  Afterall, usually included in the phone add-on with call display is voice mail - 'if it's important leave me a message'.

·        Maybe the number looks like it is a telemarketer - we may not want to be a ‘consumer’ in that moment.

·        And… let's face it we all have that friend with whom there cannot be a short conversation.  Maybe you're that friend.  That's okay, but we need to make sure the moment is right; when we have enough time and energy to take that call.

Yes, #firstworldproblems.

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What are we doing when we screen our calls?

We are saying a pre-emptive "no" before we even know what the question is.

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Today, in our bible readings, we heard about three separate 'calls' and how the recipients chose to answer.

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Samuel's mother had placed her son in the care of Eli in the Temple.  By the time our story today takes place, the old priest had lost his ability to see and relied on young Samuel to assist him in his duties.  So, when the boy heard his named called in the middle of the night, he assumed it must have come from Eli.

After being woken up by Samuel, the priest assumed that his young aid was hearing things.

They both made the same assumptions when it happened again.

'Here I am for you called me.' 

'I did not call you.  Go lie down.'

When Samuel woke him up for the third time, Eli set aside his intial assumption in favour of a new theory: 

Although mystical, spiritual experiences were rare in those days, perhaps it was God calling the boy.  Eli told Samuel how to respond if it happened again. 

It did.

When God first called Samuel, he never answered and so the conversation never got started.  Samuel assumed that the old trusted patterns were repeating themselves, so he couldn’t understand the call to learn something new.

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The gospel of John relays Jesus’ gathering of disciples slightly differently from the other gospels, but some familiar names appear - the first to be called is Andrew and an unnamed person (who are said to be disciples of John the Baptist).  Andrew (like in the other gospels) is said to be the brother of Simon (later called Peter), who is also introduced to Jesus.

Today’s reading picks up the story right there:  The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee [and] found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’

Apparently he answers the call.  The text implies that Philip knew Andrew and Peter, so it is fair to assume that they had recruited Philip.  Philip does the same with Nathanael.

But this new potential recruit is a little more cautious - especially when he learns that Jesus is from Nazaeth: “Nazareth!?  Nothing good can come out of Nazareth!”
Apparently, there was a Boston-NY or Edmonton-Calgary kind-of rivalry between Bethsaida and Nazareth.

Nathanael has screened the call and he’s not sure he wants to answer, yet.  He’ll take a closer look.

Then, we get to read about a characteristic of Jesus, we don’t talk about very often - Jesus becomes the schmarmy salesman.  When Nathanael comes to Jesus, Jesus pipes up - “wow, I can tell you are truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”  Jesus throws an exaggerated compliment Nathanael’s way like an oily used car sales man - “I can tell that you are someone who knows a good deal when you see one.  What do I need to do to put you in this car today?”

I can’t believed it worked.

“No deceit?  Yeah, that’s me.  Hey, how did you get to know me?”

“I was watching as Philip was talking to you over by the tree.”

In fairness, maybe Jesus had overheard Nathanael’s comment about Nazareth and Jesus was simply sharing and appreciation for his honesty.

Either way, Jesus saw something in Nathanael that he liked.
And Nathanael liked that.  He answered the call and joined the group of Jesus’ followers.

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At the moment, we get the call we make certain assumptions about what it might be about.  Whether our assumptions are based on our past experiences, or rumours shared by others, or our own intuition, we cannot know for sure where the conversation will go unless we answer.

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Being open to new spiritual experiences requires a level of vulnerability that we are not always comfortable with.  It is a risk to say “Here I am”.

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When Samuel listened for God, he was told that God was about to do amazing things - if we had read a few more verses in 1^st Samuel 3, the phrase is I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle.

That sounds a bit like Isaiah 43: I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth.

Or from today’s reading in John: You will see greater things than these.

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I know that we all lead busy lives and we look for what is safe and comfortable. 

It is a question for each of us to wrestle with: do we have time and energy to be open to a deeper relationship with our God?

That may call us to examine past assumptions and begin new journeys.

It can be quite exciting to ignore the call display and just listen for the Spirit.

Who knows what we will learn?

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Let us pray:

God, you, who see us more completely than we know, give us the capacity to see the beauty in all people and all creation. Enable us to trust the power of your transforming vision for our world, so we might be disciples of your love and justice. Amen.

#581VU “When We Are Living”

PERSPECTIVE

January 11, 2015

Epiphany 1

Genesis 1:1-5

Mark 1:4-11

(prayer)

"Perspective" (as a noun) has several meanings. dictionary.com lists seven different denotations.  I would pare that down to three - (1) perspective as an art technique where things are shown in such a way to trick our eyes that two dimensional image is three-dimensional - some things appear closer than others [refer to image on screen]; (2) perspective is also the comparing of items or facts - noting the similarities and differences [refer to creation of light in Genesis 1]; (3) perspective can also be a catch-all word to describe our way at looking at things/ideas - we have a certain perspective on life, our worldview.

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Understanding our perspective about life, faith and our-place-in-the-world is important. Because a person's 'perspective' impacts the choices she/he makes. We develop a particular perspective over time based on what we are taught, what we experience, what we discover, what we come to believe.  To sum that up more simply and more specifically, our perspective is born out of what we what we have learned over the course of life... so far.  Because, we are all life long learners, naturally how we look at the world - what we hold as important - is fluid.  If you are like me - what you view as important today is not the same as it was at different times in your past.  That is a good thing to notice and accept.  Most everything is contextual.
To bring this conversation into church-y language: it is a valuable spiritual discipline to explore the changes (the evolution) of thoughts, feelings and beliefs that have occurred over our lives and... as importantly, why shifts have happened.

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When Jesus came down to the river with John, he was not a young man.  The gospel of Luke (3:23)says Jesus was about thirty years old, which would be well into middle age for a male Galilean peasant of the 1st century.  He had already had half a lifetime of experiences that gave him a particular perspective on life and faith. 
There is some biblical evidence (also in Luke) that Jesus and John were related.  Although, since John grew up in the Judean hill country and Jesus was from Nazareth, we should not assume they knew each other very well.

What we can say is that (at some point), Jesus found himself among the crowds that went out to listen to John in the Jordan River valley. Was it their family ties that brought Jesus there, or was he interested in John's message? We don't know.  There are some biblical scholars who argue that Jesus may have been a disciple of John the Baptist - part of his regular crowd who sought to learn and be inspired by John.

The encounter between Jesus and John the Baptist is one of those unique stories that is told is all four gospels.  Although, the fourth gospel doesn't specifically describe baptism, there are other parallels between the gospel of John and the other narratives.

Because we are in Year B of the Revised Common Lectionary, we read from Mark today.  It is the shortest (and likely the oldest) of all the John-Jesus passages.  What Mark lacks (that the others have) is more of a hint about what John was preaching about.  In Mark, it says that people came out to him as part of some act of contrition (confessing their sins). Mark reports that John pointed to another person who was to come, who was more powerful than he (also in Matthew and John).

In Matthew and Luke (the Q tradition), John uses some violent imagery when talking to some in the crowds: You deadly snakes, a wrath is coming, try and get away if you can!  If your life were a tree it would be cut down because it bears no fruit. 
It is fair for us to assume that the violent rhetoric of John part of Jesus' experience.  And yet, as we go on to look at the totality of Jesus' ministry, his perspective changes - the Rhetoric of Jesus becomes non-violent: turn the other cheek - that distinction is worth wondering about.  John compartimentalized: the snakes and the forgiven; fruit bearing trees and the ones to be cut down. Jesus (on the other hand), over and over again the boundaries between people: let the little children come to me; John called the Pharisees 'broods of vipers' - Jesus went over to Simon the Pharisee's house for supper.
Even though they share some common experiences, Jesus and John held different perspectives.

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It is hard for me to think about different worldviews and not find my mind being drawn to the events in France this past week: the targeted assassinations at Charlie Hebdo; the killing of police officers and the hostage murders in the kosher grocery store.  Clearly, there is a wide gulf among people as to what is important.
Whose life has value.  How do we exact justice.  The place retribution and revenge has in influencing our actions.

There are so many things I could talk about, but I will try to focus my comments somewhat.

I have really noticed while watching all of the news reports how prevalent the rhetoric of violence is.  Now I believe that language matters - the words and phrases we use reflect our perspective, our worldview, which comes from our collective learnings.
Additionally, I believe that our languages (consciously and unconsciously) reflects what we hope will happen.  Violent rhetoric often leads to violent actions.  Certain it is true in the other directions - behind violent actions, we will always find violent rhetoric.

Every time events like this week's happen, we deconstruct the perpetrator's motives - what made them capable of such violent acts.
It is almost universally true that violent rhetoric precedes violent actions.  Was a person radicalized by
preaching that endorsed the violence?  Was the quiet, lonely attacker obsessed with violent video games? For me, I worry not only about the violent rhetoric in the lives of those who murder and create terror, but also how easy this rhetoric roles off of our tongues.  Try this little experiment: for one hour some day, take note of how often you or someone else uses violent metaphors in everyday conversation: battling an illness, defeat the Calgary Flames, kill the light, would you, the war on______...

I would assert that the more disciplined we are with our language, the more obvious our perspective will be to other. 

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After Jesus was baptized, the language that comes out of the cloud is encouraging and affirming.  You are a beloved child.  I am pleased.

Language matters.  It reflects our true perspective.

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As I said, the perspective we bring to life and faith is based on our past learning.  Jesus of Nazareth (and John the Baptist for that matter) were surrounded by 'disciples' - learners.  The word disciple is related to the word: discipline.

Too often, we use the word discipline interchangeably with punishment, but they have very distinct meanings. 

Punishment relates to the consequences of the breaching of some norm or standard - it is the language of sin and atonement - punitive.

Discipline is about learning.  Discipline involves practicing better behaviours.

Parents, teachers and corrections officers know that the best punishments are also disciplinary.

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If we seek to have our worldview impacted by the disciplines of following Jesus, we can be inspired by the way Jesus treated others - especially those who were outcast in the perspective of others.

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As we reflect on the new hope and promise and commitment that is enveloped in our actions of baptism and the story of Jesus baptism, what might we be learning about being a follower/disciple (learner) of Jesus?  Of sharing Jesus' perspective for the value of life and faith? 

And perhaps most timely: 

Is your faith strong enough to not need violence to express it? 

Do you have enough depth to your faith that it can withstand a multiplicity of opinions
around it?

And… are you open to learning even more about the mysteries of God, so that you can allow what and how you believe evolve as you discover more in your own spirituality?

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Food for thought.

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Let us pray:

Holy God, as we continue to learn along Jesus' Way, we see to bring your love into all we do and say.  Amen.

#100VU  “When Jesus Come to Be Baptized”

GRACE ON GRACE

January 4, 2015

Christmas 2

Sirach 24:1-12

John 1:10-18

(prayer)

You may be familiar with the phrase 'Biblical Canon'.  Canon comes from a greek word that means 'measuring stick' or 'rule'.  It has come to refer to a collection of books or other artistic works that are held together by a common theme.  It is usually reserved for significant collections.

The biblical canon is a phrase that refers to which books are included within the Bible.  The word Canon was first used by Christian scholars to refer to scriptures, but the concept of a set collection of sacred writings is much older - certainly, it existed in pre-Christian Judaism.

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The Christian Canon includes the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), which was "Scripture" for Jesus and his disciples.  For the first generations of Christians and most certainly for the Apostle Paul and the other New Testament authors, the Canon of the Old Testament was the Greek language translation of the Hebrew Bible known (later) as the Septuagint.

The traditional story is that Ptolomy II of Egypt commissioned the translation for the benefit of greek-speaking Jews living in Alexandria, where there was an extensive library.

Whatever the actual origin of the Septuagint, it is known that references to it were being made by the 2nd Century BCE.  By the time that Jesus was born, the Hebrew Bible was fairly accessible within the greek speaking world.

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We can easily appreciate that, since the books of the New Testament were written in greek, that the Septuagint was used by the writers of the various works of the NT.  In fact, it is quite obvious in some instances that when the NT quotes passages from the OT, they are from the Septuagint.  Christian leaders of the first few centuries after Jesus when determining the official canon of the Old Testament used the Septuagint as their guide. 

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There was more dispute about what should be considered the scriptures of the New Testament.  This process took centuries - as some writings were considered canonical and others heretical.  It was as early as 393CE that the current books of the New Testament were being used by the Christian Church although it became part of the official Catholic Canon in 1546, (The Council of Trent), the Canon of the Church of England in 1563 (Thirty-Nine Articles), the Canon of the Calvinist traditions in 1647 (Westminister Confession of Faith) and the Eastern Orthodox Canon in 1672 (Synod of Jerusalem).

These Councils didn't end the debates.  Martin Luther - for example - tried to remove the NT books of Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation but that never even caught on with his followers - although he moved them to the back of his German bible translation.

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With the exception of the Protestant traditions, the OT Canons not only included the proto-canon of the Hebrew Bible, but also several deutero-canonical books (that were also in the Septuagint), most of which date from the last couple of centuries before Jesus, but are not generally included in the Jewish Scriptural  Canon.  In the Protestant Traditions, these books are referred to as 'The Apocrypha'.  Luther said, that "although not equal to sacred Scripture, they are nevertheless useful and good to read." Luther moved these books into an appendix at the end of his Bible - a tradition that was later followed by the compilers of the King James Bible.

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It all comes down to where we find our authority!

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Unfortunately, most modern publications of Protestant Bibles do not include the Apocrypha - as is the case with the blue New Revised Standard Versions we have in the pews here at St.David's.

But within the Revised Common Lectionary, there are the occasional invitations to include a reading from the Apocrypha.

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You may have noticed that (when Marion was reading earlier) that there was no page number on the screen for the first reading.  The book of Sirach is a deuterocanonical (apocryphal) book.  It is not part of the official protestant canon of the OT.  But it is nevertheless useful and good to read.  And so we did!

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Sirach chapter 24 contains a very similar theme to the canonical book of Proverbs, chapter 8: it speaks about "Wisdom" - personified as female - as being with God 'in the beginning' as the first creative act of God. 

·         Sirach 24:9 - Before the ages, in the beginning, [the Most High] created me.

·         Proverbs 8:22 - The LORD created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts long ago.

'Lady Wisdom' is a wonderful an ancient tradition within our faith.

I absolutely love the image that - within the Hebrew Tradition - all of the subsequent creative activities of God were done within the context of wisdom - that behind creation there is a wise perfection that is hinted at in all of the ways we imperfectly relate to the world.

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There is a similar way of speaking that is found in greek stoic philosophy dating from about three centuries before Jesus - it was referred to as the Logos.  Logos could be translated as ‘grounding’, ‘speech/word’, ‘reason’, etc.  The concept of ‘logos’ is much older and was developed by philosophers like: Heraclitus and Aristotle.  It was also incorporated into Plato’s teachings on ‘forms’ first described by Socrates.  Plato envisioned that everything we experience and know is but an imperfect representation of some ‘ideal form’.  Plato’s argument was that behind what we are able to learn from words and our ability to reason was an ideal ‘logos’ - a perfect 'reason' or 'word'.

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Appreciating that the early Christian church was made up of people from Jesus’ own faith tradition (Judaism) and people from the non-Jewish world (who were much more familiar with Greek than Hebrew culture.  [Remember: all of the NT books were written in greek].

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The gospel of John begins with words that parallel both the first creation story in Genesis and the wisdom traditions that we find in places like Proverbs and Sirach - but he uses language that would resonate with his greek speaking audience:

¹In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

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The fourth Gospel goes on to say that John the Baptist was not this logos-light, but came to testify to the true light which was coming into the world.  As we heard this morning, ¹⁰[the logos-light] was in the world, and the world came into being through him.

You can see the parallels between the Hebrew wisdom tradition and how the gospel of John uses the Greek logos tradition.

Using this poetic language, the early church was being taught that there were some universal things about what they believed about Jesus that transcended any of the traditions they may have grown up with.  They were emerging into a 'new tradition' - a new authority - because this word-wisdom-light became flesh - in Jesus of Nazareth.

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The platonic thinkers within the early church would see how Jesus allows the world to see the fullness of God.  “No one has seen God”, John (chapter one, verse eighteen) says, “it is Jesus who has made God known”.

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The gospel reading describes Jesus as being full of grace and truth and how this supplements what the people have learned through the laws of Moses.

And it is from Jesus’ fullness that the people experience the constant gifts of God - ‘grace upon grace’ they text puts it.

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On this 11th day of Christmas, we continue to celehrate the central gift of the season: that the human and divine worlds intersected - that the Word became flesh.  That - in Jesus - God touched the human experience in a new and unique way.  From that, the gift is that we (too) are given a new means by which we can connect to God... through Mary's child: Jesus' life, his death, and life beyond death.  The gracious gift of Christmas is new reminder that we are not alone.

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Two days from now (January 6th) is the Day of Epiphany - it always falls on the 12th day after Christmas and marks the start of a new season of the church year.  The season of Epiphany will take us right up to the start of Lent - which, this year, begins on February 18th.

The central theme of Epiphany is an illumination of the loving grace of God.  It starts with the most familiar part of the Matthew Christmas story: young Jesus being sought out by the wise ones and being lavished with regal gifts.  There (again) we see wisdom and grace along side each other.

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As we start a new calendar year, it is a natural time to take stock of where we are in the midst of our life: how connected to the grace and wisdom of God do we feel?  To paraphrase the old hymn: is it well with our soul?

I would hazard a guess that most of us would appreciate a fuller experience of spirit and purpose in our lives.  I think that there is great hope in our scripture readings today.  Wisdom is given by God as a gifted presence in the world - taking root in God's people.  Within us (at some level) dwells the Wisdom of God, Most High. 

Holy Word taught and mentored among us for a while - and through that teaching and inspiration we have received grace on grace.

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Connecting to Spirit always fall short - it is always an imperfect quest.  That is not to be viewed as negative.  It is simply a reality.

Having aonging for a deeper spirituality is not a result of weakness or a lack of faith on our part.  We are made to always be able to discover more about God, no matter where we are at a particular point on our faith journey.

Wisdom and Word may be eternal, but we are flesh; even the flesh that is our mind (that enables us to learn and think and feel and seek understanding to our experiences) has limits.  Longing to know and feel God more is a sign of a healthy faith.

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Grace is known to us in this: God reaches into our imperfect spirituality and finds us and welcomes us as kin.

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This is a time of transition.  As the hymn says...
When the kings and the shepherds have found their way home, the work of Christmas is begun.
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Grace upon grace.

Thanks be to God.

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Let us pray:

Gracious God,  bless and keep us in your love united.  Amen.

***Offering***