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Sermons – St. Brendan's Anglican Church
Hosted by Rev. Doug Floyd · EN
A circle of friends on pilgrimage for the love of God
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World Mission Sunday 2025
Feb 24, 2025Tap to summarizeRev. Doug Floyd Salvator Mundi by Titian (1520) World Mission Sunday 2025Rev. Doug FloydRomans 9:30 – 10:21 The Lord God is walking. Calling. Seeking his son Adam and his daughter Eve. He is calling, “Where are you?” His children hide from their sin, from their shame, from their good and gracious Father. His call, His Word, His question burns in their hearts. They must respond. Adam trembles, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”[1] They are broken, shamed. They are riven. That is, they are torn apart. Christian Wiman writes, God goes, belonging to every riven thing he’s madesing his being simply by beingthe thing it is:stone and tree and sky,man who sees and sings and wonders why God goes. Belonging, to every riven thing he’s made,means a storm of peace.Think of the atoms inside the stone.Think of the man who sits alonetrying to will himself into a stillness where God goes belonging. To every riven thing he’s madethere is given one shadeshaped exactly to the thing itself:under the tree a darker tree;under the man the only man to see God goes belonging to every riven thing. He’s madethe things that bring him near,made the mind that makes him go.A part of what man knows,apart from what man knows, God goes belonging to every riven thing he’s made.[2] St. Paul quotes Isaiah, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”[3] Jesus is walking. Calling. Seeking his lost children. They run from His light. They are broken, shamed. Riven. That is, they are torn apart. St. Paul writes, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart…”[4] From the creation of the world, the Word resounds throughout the lands, echoes in the valley, hovers over the oceans, burns in the human heart. It bursts forth from the belly through the throat and out the mouth, For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[5] This is the mission of God. As a people called by God, welcomed by God, we participate in His mission, declaring His kingdom, His redeeming grace is come to the nations. Each of us are missionaries. The Old Testament scholar Christopher J. H. Wright explains, “Fundamentally, our mission (if it is biblically informed and validated) means our committed participation as God’s people, at God’s invitation and command, in God’s own mission within the history of God’s world for the redemption of God’s creation.”[6] In Romans 9:30-10:21, Paul is telling us about God’s mission to restore the Jews and the Gentiles. He will restore His people by calling the Gentiles to Himself. He goes out into the highways and byways and compels them to come in. In Romans 9:30, we read, “What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith;”[7] Even today our Lord is calling people through proclamation, through story, and even through dreams and visions. It is not just happening overseas. It happens here. Fr. Les has told us his wonderful story of Jesus calling him in a dream. I have another friend who was in the middle of a New Age vision when Jesus ripped open the sky and said, “Follow me.” He did. And still does follow Jesus. The Gentiles have become children of Abraham by faith. They have heard the call of God, the welcome of Jesus and they have believed. What about the Jews? “Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” [8] Israel was called to believe and give thanks. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. [9] And, 14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, 15 and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.[10] Obedience was rooted in trust, in worship. Paul is grieving, crying out to God to redeem His people. They have zeal just as Paul had a zeal, which led him to attack the church. They have not seen that the end of the Law is the righteousness of Christ for all who believe. Sadly, many people who grew up in church and maybe even served in churches are like those Jews which fail to hear. They turn from the light. They are hiding from God. The Lord goes out walking, seeking His people. The Word of Christ has gone forth, and it will not return void. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”[11] St. Paul and Psalm 19 remind us that all creation echoes with the Word of God. “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” [12] Yet the people cannot, will not hear. God in His abundant grace will use the conversion of the outsiders, the aliens, the Gentiles to draw His people back to Himself. “I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.” [13] And again He says, “I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.” [14] God is on mission drawing the nations to Himself. We are missionaries in the home, in the school, in the store, at the coffee shop, and even on social media. We bear His Word and He is speaking through us even when we are not always aware. Our Lord God is reconciling the world to Himself. As He walks and calls, the sinner is coming, the rebel is coming, the hard-hearted is softening, and even His recalcitrant people will one day hear and come home. Let us follow our Lord, our God as He goes out to every riven thing he’s made. [1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 3:10. [2] Wiman, Christian. Every Riven Thing: Poems (Function). Kindle...
Transcribe →Epiphany 6 – Trust in the Lord
Feb 18, 2025Tap to summarizeRev. Dr. Les Martin Jesus Preaching in the Village, 1970s (Jesus Mafa) Epiphany 6 2024 – Trust in the LordRev. Dr. Les MartinJeremiah 17:5-10; 1 Corinthians 15:12-20; Luke 6:17-26 My blessing is on those…who trust in me, who put their confidence in me. – Jeremiah 17:7 (NET) In the Name of the Living God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen We are in the early days of Jesus ministry. He has just spent an entire night in prayer on the mountain, and named his 12 apostles. Coming down from the mountain, he encounters a large crowd: country folk from Judea, elites from Jerusalem, the coastal, compromised, and cosmopolitan Jews of Tyre and Sidon, maybe even some Greeks. In other words, a little bit of everybody have come out to see and hear Jesus. Why have they come? They have come for a word from on high, for hope, for healing, for deliverance from evil spirits. Verse 19 tells us that Jesus met them at their point of need- healing and delivering them all. We do well to remember that, in the Gospels, the miracles are never merely about themselves. They point to Jesus. To who he is. And today, on the plain, the Son of God speaks very plainly about who we are. He addresses the human condition. Echoing the Magnificat of his mother, the prophecy of Isaiah he had read in the synagogue of Nazareth, the words of aged Simeon concerning “the falling and rising of many,” Jesus speaks of God’s blessing upon the poor, the hungry, the reviled. Of God’s judgment on the rich, the satisfied, the comfortable. He is explaining what those proclamations mean in short, pointed sentences of blessing and woe. The God of the Prophets is speaking about the kingdom – and is creating a new, unsettling, and upsetting order. It just may upset us as well. It may upset us, citizens of this prosperous land, if we read Jesus’ teaching as a manifesto of politics or economics. But I would encourage you not to get hung up on that. Jesus is not teaching civics here, despite the real, profound, and inevitable implications of his teaching for our common life. The truth is, he is trying to upset us at a much deeper level. The new order of the kingdom cuts much deeper than politics and ethics – as Hebrews 4:12 would have us remember, the Word of God discerns “the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Old Simeon had also testified that “as a result of…[Jesus] the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.” Jesus, in teaching his disciples today, is addressing not so much the externals of human life as he is the motivations behind the externals. Despite how we might first hear it, the Sermon on the Plain isn’t a “Second-through-Tenth Commandment” teaching. It’s a First Commandment one. What Jesus is getting at today is a matter of the heart. Jesus is challenging the apostles – and us – to ask ourselves where is our heart? What do we put our trust in? Is what we trust in a blessing, or is it a curse? Let’s take wealth as an example. In my experience, that’s where what Jesus has said has the potential to offend so many of us in entirely the wrong way. Because, again, it’s not about the money, and if we miss seeing that, we miss where he really wants to mess with us. No doubt there were many economically stable people on the plain that day – maybe even some who were downright rich. It is true that some rich people have had a hard time following Jesus. The rich young ruler of Mark 10 comes to mind. And in Matthew 19:24, Jesus states it’s hard for the wealthy to enter the kingdom. On the other hand, there are success stories: Zacchaeus, Barnabas, Cornelius, Lydia, Joseph of Arimathea. So what’s the point? The issue is not money, but trust. In Matthew 6:21 we read “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” – and that’s what Jesus is getting at. Money, health, time – they all run out. They are not a place to put our trust. And yet our hands are so full of the things that we tightly cling to hoping for some sense of safety, that we can’t receive blessings from God. Our hearts are so anxious there is no room for the Prince of Peace. In his teaching on the plain that day, Jesus dissects the four key areas of life in this manner. He addresses: wealth, food, happiness, and reputation. And the choice is always the same: trust in them, or trust in God. The people who came to Jesus on the plain that day came because they had nothing to lose. They were ready to trust God, even if it was out of desperation. By contrast, the ones who stayed home that day must have been reasonably content. As the Anglican Archbishop of Jamacia, Howard Gregory writes: The poor and the hungry know the reality of their situation. They are totally dependent on God and therefore are disposed to entrust themselves to God’s care and mercy, which is the foundation of grace and a right relationship with him. The rich, on the other hand, are disposed to take comfort in themselves and their resources, thereby finding it more difficult to trust themselves to the mercy and grace of God. And in a similar vein, priest and theologian Jane Williams would have us consider that: Those who have nothing else in life to trust in, and so have to fall back on God, are the ones who are blessed, Luke tells us. The rest of us have had our blessing from what we chose to put our trust in. Trust. This is why verse 19 in our story today is so important. Why what Paul is saying in Corinthians today is so important. For if we are to trust Jesus, he needs to be who he says he is, and he better be able to deliver for us as he did for those broken people who came to him on the plain. Abstract faith is one thing, after all. Choosing to live out of that faith day by day, when it’s hard, when it’s very hard, well that’s another. Without getting sidetracked into an entirely different sermon, let’s just reaffirm this: the healings were real, and, yes, the tomb was empty. Jesus is who he says he is. The apostle John encourages us by saying: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched- we proclaim to you. (1John 1:1) As Presbyterian pastor Dr Lewis Galloway reminds us: The resurrection gives the faithful the freedom to live their lives in the shadow of the cross, as Jesus did. The hope of the church is not confined to this world. We can trust. And that’s a good thing, because we really need to. Life is hard right now, have you noticed? Our culture is unsettled, our faith is battered from all sides, the economy is fragile, there is political and military uncertainty. On top of that mere modern existence crushes us, bringing out our desire to cling to things, and luring us to put our trust in false idols as opposed to the Risen Christ. The prophet Jeremiah spoke in times of great change in transition. He said that those w...
Transcribe →Epiphany 5 – Our Vocation in Christ
Feb 11, 2025Tap to summarizeRev. Doug Floyd The Miraculous Draught of Fishes by Jacob Jordaens (1618-1620) Epiphany 5 2025Rev. Doug FloydJudges 6:11-24, Psalm 85, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Luke 5:1-11 Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. – 1 Corinthians 7:17I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. – Philippians 1:6 Each of us have been called into the family of God. In one sense, we are called from birth. In another sense, we awaken to God’s calling. Some people are called into powerful positions. Others are called to serve and live in the shadows. Yet, God is working in and through all His family. Today as we meditate upon our three lessons, we encounter stories of people called by God. At the same time, we meditate upon our own calling. Gideon first appears as a weak and cowardly young man, but the Angel of the Lord calls him a mighty man of valor. Peter is a bold and fearless fisherman, but God will rase him up to speak before the very powers of Israel. Paul is Torah scholar who will be sent to proclaim the grace of God to Gentiles. You might be surprised at the ways God will work in and through you to touch the lives of others. Today, I want to reflect briefly on God’s call as we meditate upon Peter and Paul. The Gideon story is a bit complicated and requires a longer discussion on the book of Judges. If anyone ever wants to discuss Judges, we could do that for a series of Sunday school classes. Simon Peter is a fisherman: a hard worker, an impulsive, passionate man who bursts into the scene with bravado and a ready heart to act. In some ways, he makes me think of my late father. If you told my father he couldn’t do something, he would prove to you why he could. He had a quick temper, but he also had a quick laugh and was quick to cry over the people he loved. Full of passion and fire. Once, my dad, Kelly’s dad, and another man were finishing our basement in our old house. This was to be a home dialysis center when I lost my first kidney. They put a wall up between the rooms downstairs and the garage. They tried to fit some French doors into a frame they had put in the wall, but they didn’t fit. Now, Kelly’s dad is a scientist. So, he wanted to study the situation and determine the best way to make adjustments. He always wants to do it right. Then one of the men grabbed a sledgehammer. This sounds just like my dad, but it could have been another man. He started pounding on the door frame. He was going to force it to fit. I think Peter would be like this. We need to get this done and move on to the next project. Just make it fit. Peter is the first disciple to proclaim to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”[1] He is ready to walk on the water to Jesus. To fight off the enemies of Jesus with a sword. To build tabernacles in honor of Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. We tend to love Peter even when he blusters into a situation. In today’s story, Jesus asks Peter to put out from the shore while Jesus teaches the crowds. When he finishes his talk, he tells Peter, “Drop your nets out here in the deep so you can catch some fish.” I can almost hear a tone in Peter’s voice, “Actually, we have been fishing. As a matter of fact, all night long. No fish.” At the same time, Peter already demonstrates a willing devotion to Jesus, and says, “If you say so, we’ll put out the nets.” Suddenly the nets are overwhelmed, and the boat is about to sink with so many fish. Peter falls to his knees in tears, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” He has encountered the Lord of glory who communicates to Peter in Peter’s language: fishing. Jesus penetrates the heart of Peter and draws him to Himself. In the Old Testament, people often fall in fear when they behold the Angel of the Lord. Here Peter falls down in fear and brokenness and Jesus replies, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”[2] If we follow the story of Peter, we see a bold, brash man rebuked or corrected again and again in the Gospels and Acts. Jesus even tells him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”[3] This strong-willed, fiery man will become weak and submissive and will reveal the very glory of God before thousands of people and even the priests and Sanhedrin. In many ways, Paul is very different than Peter. He is also Jew, but he is a Roman citizen. He is clearly familiar with the Greco-Roman culture, but he also studies under the top Torah scholars in the land. He is zealous for God. He is so zealous that he will hunt down those who walk in the way of Jesus and have them arrested and killed. Suddenly, Jesus will call Paul on the road to Damascus. This call knocks him to the ground, blinding his eyes while opening his heart to Jesus. Eventually, the Lord will call Paul to the Gentiles. This Torah scholar will spend his life reaching people who know little or nothing of Torah. In today’s lesson, Paul acknowledges his utter weakness in Christ. “For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.”[4] By their very lives, these two men help open our eyes to the call of God. Their skills and unique personalities do a play role in their service, but they are also brought to the place of utter weakness. Paul will come to realize that God’s call came before he was born. In a sense, he was called into life by the very grace of God. He writes, “[H]e who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles.”[5] This call was slowly taking shape throughout his life. He would make many mistakes and even cause the unjust death of others before his eyes are fully opened to the truth in Jesus Christ. We come to see that long before we were aware of God’s grace, He was forming us, preparing us, drawing us into His love. The Psalmist writes, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” [6] When we were born, our parents named us. Eugen Rosenstock Huessy used to say that we grow into our name. The name is a call from the parents to become that person. When we die, that name will be defined by the life we led. We are filling up our names with our lives. Before we took our first breath, our good and gracious Father called us to Himself, to His love, to reveal His glory. Much of life, we may feel as though we are stumbling through a series of experiences. Never fully sure of our purpose or our reason for being here. God has called us into being. He will bring us to perfection, to completion. He calls us to faith in Christ, he calls us from death to life, from darkness to light, from slavery to freedom. Over the course of our life, this call will take shape in different ways and in different vocations. Some people can be worried about discoveri...
Transcribe →Candlemas – Light from Light
Feb 8, 2025Tap to summarizeRev. Doug Floyd Presentation of Jesus at the Temple from Georgia (12th century) Candlemas The Presentation of the Lord Jesus Christ in the TempleRev. Doug FloydMalachi 3:1–4, Psalm 84, Hebrews 2:14–18, Luke 2:22–40 For the Lord God is a sun and shield. – Psalm 84:11a The sun in the heavens enlightens the whole world, energizing all things and revealing all things in glory. The glory is all-consuming. If we were to stare into the sun, we would eventually go blind. If we were to stand in the full light of the sun for too long, it would burn our skin. We can only bear this glory within limits. At the same time, we cannot live without the sun. If not for the sun, we would die in darkness. The glory of the sun is but an image of a greater light, the Creator of heaven and earth, who said, “Let there be light” and there was light. In him and his light we live and move and have our being. We cannot bear the full light of his glory or else we die. He is both sun and shield. He makes a way for us to draw near, to dwell in the light of His glory without being consumed. We behold our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made.” Gregory of Nyssa helps explain this phrase “light from light.” He writes, “We see that the radiance from the sun is integral to it and that the substance of the sun is not divided or diminished, but its substance is entire, and its radiance perfect and entire, and the radiance does not diminish the substance of the light but is as it were a genuine offspring from it. Thus we see that the Son is begotten not from without but from the Father and that Father remains entire, while the “stamp of his substance” exists always and preserves the likeness and image without alteration.”[1] In the face of Jesus Christ, we behold the full glory of the Father, and yet we do not go blind. We are not destroyed, but instead we grow from glory to glory. Just as Simeon beheld the glory of God in infant Jesus, we behold him and are changed. Sophronius of Jerusalem tells us that, “The true Light has come, ‘the light that enlightens every person who is born into this world’. Let all of us, beloved, be enlightened and be radiant with its light. Let none of us remain a stranger to this brightness; let no one who is filled remain in the darkness. Let us be shining ourselves as we go together to meet and to receive with the aged Simeon the light whose brilliance is eternal. Rejoicing with Simeon, let us sing a hymn of thanksgiving to God, the Origin and Father of the Light, who sent the true Light to dispel the darkness and to give us all a share in his splendour.”[2] Today as we observe the Presentation of the Jesus Christ in the Temple, we rejoice that Jesus is the “light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to God’s people Israel.”[3] From the early ages of church, candles have been lit at the altar and in the church as a sign of this joyous news. Today marks 40 days after the Feast of the Nativity, Christmas Day. According to Jewish law, a new mother must wait 40 days after having a child to return to the Temple for purification. As Mary returns to the Temple, she is not simply obeying law, she is fulfilling it. In one sense, Mary becomes an image of all Israel. She is the culmination of human longing and satisfaction in the coming of the Lord to His Temple. Mary bears the child who will fulfill the ancient promise to Abraham. From his offspring, God will bless all families of the earth. Jesus Christ, born of Mary, has come to restore Israel to the Father in Heaven. According to our reading in Hebrews, Jesus is the faithful high priest, who comes to make propitiation for the sins of the people. In the words of Simeon, we see hints that Jesus will be offered for His people. He is the great high priest, and he is the sacrifice. And according the words of Jesus, His body is the Temple. Even as the law is obeyed, the law is being fulfilled. Jesus is making a way that will restore His people to God that will lead them from death to life and from glory to glory. And as Simeon says, Jesus is a “light of revelation to the Gentiles.” Jesus will not only redeem His people, he will call Jew and Gentile into one new family, one new man, one holy communion before the Father in heaven. He will make a way through his very life. His life will be poured out unto death on the cross and even as He is raised from the dead, he will raise many to new life. With this in mind, I return to the image of Mary and Joseph presenting Jesus in the Temple. In this moment, we see but a glimpse of what is to be. Even as Mary presents Jesus, she is the one being presented, being made clean, and ultimately is the one being presented to the Father by Jesus. Even as Mary fulfills the ancient promise to Israel in the birth of Jesus, she marks the beginning of the church. Mary is often seen as the first disciple. She is the first one to follow Jesus and to suffer for his name sake. His suffering will be bound up with her suffering. But even as she suffers in his suffering, she also suffers in the pain of letting go. She must let of the baby born to her and offer him back to his father. The baby born to her is the Son of God, and her relationship will change from mother to child. She will become the child even as Jesus will make a way for her before the Father in heaven. Even as Mary must learn to follow and not to lead, we learn from Mary. We must learn to follow Jesus in the way where He is leading us. He is not our own personal Jesus who comes to fulfill our every whim. He is the Lord of Glory. He is light from light. We have not taken hold of him. He has taken hold of us and is leading us into the fullness of glory. Just as Mary will know the way of the cross in the sword of suffering, we will know the way of the cross into the fullness of His life. Jesus has come that we might have life and might have it abundantly. But this life is His life, the life of God, the life of the Father, Son and Spirit, the life that gives all and receives all in a communion of never-ending love. In the cross, we see a picture of life freely and completely poured out in love. For some disciples, that means physical suffering and even death. In the last hundred years, the church as a whole has experienced greater suffering and persecution than anytime in history. We must always remember our suffering brothers and sisters who know the cross in a physical way. At the same time, Paul shows us that the way of the cross that becomes a pattern of daily living. On this day of Candlemas, the Day of the Presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are also presented as God’s people. As set apart holy unto God in all our various callings. Whether we serve in business, in the home, in the school, in ministry, or some other varied expression of vocation and service, we are all being presented in Christ. Our varied vocatio...
Transcribe →Epiphany 4 – The Freedom of Jesus
Feb 3, 2025Tap to summarizeRev. Dr. Les Martin Ecce Homo! (cropped) by Mihály Munkácsy (1896) Epiphany 4 2025Rev. Dr. Les MartinLuke 4:21-32 Isn’t this Joseph’s son?. Luke 4:22b In the Name of the Living God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen Our Gospel reading today picks up where last week’s reading left off. Let’s just walk through it for a start. As you remember from last week, Jesus read from the prophecy of Isaiah about his messianic mission, and gave a very short and powerful one sentence sermon: “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled even as you heard it being read.” The people marvel at this proclamation of grace, and say the one thing they know for certain about Jesus: “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” They are correct, even if not biologically so, but that’s really about all they can say. It seems they have missed the importance of the “Today” that Father Doug reflected on last week. Jesus is Joseph’s son, we know him. But “Today”? The very fulfillment of the promise of God? Or even a prophet- as Jesus suggests in verse 24- they can’t really say that about him. If we think about it for a minute, we realize they can’t say much about him or about what has just happened at all. Only that he is Joseph’s son. After the service, Jesus takes his proclamation a bit further. There is grace, yes, but not perhaps in the way that the worshipers at Nazareth would have thought. Joseph’s son? I get it. I’m from here. Probably makes it hard for you to see just what’s happening when you can remember me as a little boy with smudges on my face. That’s how it was with the prophets, too. Elijah wasn’t listened to during the famine in Israel, the only one who got fed was that widow in Sidon. And although there were plenty of lepers in Israel in the time of Elijah, it was only a Syrian solider that saw the truth and got healed. In saying these things, Jesus is speaking the truth, but he’s also become very provocative- so much so that the people of his own hometown tried to kill him. His assertion is that the believers in Nazareth are missing the truth of God’s anointed one and the Kingdom because, well, he’s too familiar to them. He likens it to the all-too-easy and comfortable way that Israel ignored Elijah, and so relief during the famine was only brought to a foreigner, an enemy citizen who nonetheless had eyes to see. He reminds them of Naaman, the Syrian commander who was healed of his leprosy because he can perceive what God is doing through the hand of Elisha, when God’s own covenant people cannot. He is suggesting, none too subtly, that God’s covenant people can become so familiar with the God of the Covenant that they miss their “Today” altogether. He’s not just Joseph son, but they aren’t looking for anything else. The ancient Greek storyteller Aesop is often credited with coining the phrase “familiarity breeds contempt.” It express the idea that a close long-term relationship with a person or situation brings about feelings of boredom or lack of respect. I think that’s part of what’s going on here- the people present in the synagogue of Nazareth are so familiar not just with Jesus, but also with Isaiah’s prophecy, that they can see nothing new. Certain of their ethnic identity, their moral superiority, and the excellence of their religion, and so settled in their own interpretation of the Scriptures, they are missing the inauguration of the Kingdom in their midst. Familiarity breeds contempt- or if not contempt, at least a dulling of our sense of expectation. We can fall victim to it as well. When you’ve been a Christian for a long time, the wonders of our faith can begin to seem so ordinary, so routine. We know the stories of the Bible so well. The same liturgical pattern, year after year. Knowing how the story goes, it can become commonplace, the liturgy rote. Like a favorite song from our teenage years, we can listen with the ears of nostalgia for what we already know we will hear, muting even the possibility that what we hear might be something new. So this morning, I want to suggest some ways that we might see Joseph’s son with “fresh eyes,” ways that can hopefully shake off the familiarity that can breed an unwarranted level of comfort, control, and yes, contempt of our living and active God. We need to start with the most basic truth: God is a person, not an idea. Elementary, yet we forget it so easily. As Father Doug reminded us last week, “It is not my knowledge of this truth that rescues me. It is Jesus Himself.” By the time of the Second-Temple Judaism of Jesus’ day, the religion of the Israelites has become quite complex. In addition to the Torah, the Wisdom literature, and the Prophets, there is now a growing library of rabbinical commentary on the same. There are the synagogues, as well as the priesthood and the temple. And also many, many traditions and rituals. None of this is bad in and of itself- as Anglicans, we could hardly say that. However, what has been lost is the immediacy of the presence of a living God in their midst. The God who names himself “I AM ”, who personally delivered Abraham’s descendants from slavery in Egypt has, by and large, been systematized. This personal God- and a personal relationship with him- have grown to be less important than the ideas about that God and about that relationship. We can fall victim to this as well. For the first time in my life, we live in an age where the Bible and Christian culture more generally are experiencing a resurgence of interest. Formerly atheistic academics, looking at the chaos of the world and bemoaning the loss of our cultural foundations, are taking a fresh look at Christianity. Some are even going so far as to convert, although many are also being quite clear that what they are converting to is a project to reclaim Christian culture, not necessarily Christ himself. Popular media personality Jordan Peterson has been making waves with his psychological lectures on the Bible, using the texts as a means to talk about Jungian archetypes, our inner lives, and the implications for young men in our society. Let me be clear: all of this is fine. However, let me also be clear about this: it is not the same thing we are doing here. For practicing Christians, the center of our faith is a real relationship with a real person, neither an academic exercise nor a cultural restoration project. Jesus is not an ideology, he is a person. As Fr. Lincoln Harvey, Associate Dean of St. Mellitus’ College, reminds us: Because God is who he is in revelation, what you see in Jesus Christ is what you get… Jesus is really God addressing us. If, when we consider Jesus, we begin to understand that he is a person not an idea, we are also immediately confronted with the fact that as a person he is free. Uniquely free, despite living in occupied land under the yolk of Roman oppression, despite his suffering and death at the hands of the authorities. In John 10:17-18, Jesus says: For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. Authority even over death and life- now that’s freedom! Yet, it is precisely the freedom of Jesus that gets him in trouble in Nazareth today. You see, in referencing God’s saving action among not just the Gentiles, but the enemy Gentiles of the people of Nazareth, Jesus is saying that God’s freedom is not limited by human preference. And his hometown neighbors want to kill him because of it. The prophet Isaiah proclaimed in Chapter 55:8-9 that God would have us remember that: “My thoughts are n...
Transcribe →Epiphany 3 – The Year of the Lord’s Favor
Jan 28, 2025Tap to summarizeJesus Unrolls the Book in the Synagogue by James Tissot(1886-1894) Epiphany 3 2025Rev. Doug FloydLuke 4:14-21 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,because he has anointed meto proclaim good news to the poor.He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captivesand recovering of sight to the blind,to set at liberty those who are oppressed,to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”[1] There’s an excitement in the crowd. The hometown boy has come home. “Did you hear how beautifully he read?” “He’s become quite a young man!” “That’s Joseph’s son. Don’t you recognize him?” Even as they admire his speech, they fail to hear him. They fail to hear that, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in their hearing.” Even as we listen to these words, I would suggest that “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in our hearing.” The kingdom of God is here, is now. The rule of King Jesus is here, is now, is Today. Today is The Day of Salvation. Isaiah penned these words over 700 hundred years before by the inspiration of the Spirit. These words address the people of God, returning home from exile. Isaiah 61 speaks of restoring God’s people as a nation of priests, as the Beloved of God, as a people who will proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, as a people who will rebuild the ancient places. Jesus declares, “Today these words are fulfilled in your midst.” Let’s consider briefly these words. Our text opens with an image of the Triune God as work. Our passage opens with the phrase “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,because he has anointed me” I hear a Triune resonance in these words. The Lord God points to Israel’s covenant God, YHWH. He addresses his people by His Holy Spirit in the person of His Son, the anointed one that is the Messiah, the King. Jesus is the true king of Israel, but to the listeners in Nazareth, he is Jospeh’s son. In my History of Western Thought class, the students are reading “The Confessions” by St, Augustine. His conversion is a long, slow process. Though dedicated to God from birth he spends his youth in unholy escapades. As he becomes a respected teacher of rhetoric, he is well studied in ancient philosophy and is a rising star in the culture. He continues to struggle with sinful desires and actions while also exploring sects and ideas outside of the church. The Bible disappoints his aesthetic sensibility, and he finds the story of God becoming man in Christ as vulgar and unattractive. He wants to ascent philosophically and God comes down to our earthiness in Christ. He says, “To possess my God, the humble Jesus, I was not yet humble enough.”[2] God condescends to our human frailty, our human weakness. To follow this Christ, this one true King, we do not ascend a throne, we kneel, we humble ourselves, we embrace Him in His utter humiliation, the way of the cross. With this in mind, consider this anointed King who has come to save: the poor, the captive, the blind, the oppressed. His hearers do not actually hear what Jesus is saying. And I fear we can easily miss His words as well. This people who praise His eloquence, who delight in His return to the hometown, who speak of His father Joseph, fail to realize these words are being fulfilled as Jesus speaks. They are the poor, the captive, the blind, the oppressed. Think back to Isaiah’s prophecies. He is speaking to a people who are prospering under Uzziah’s reign. They are blessed. I can see them hanging little signs in their home, “Blessed.” Isaiah looks at Israel’s prosperity and says, The whole head is sick,and the whole heart faint.From the sole of the foot even to the head,there is no soundness in it,but bruises and soresand raw wounds;they are not pressed out or bound upor softened with oil.Your country lies desolate;your cities are burned with fire;in your very presenceforeigners devour your land;it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners. [3] He sees their true condition. They are keeping the Temple rituals, but their hearts are unfaithful. They are mixing idolatry with their obligations to the Temple. They are corrupt. They are blind to their condition and to one another. Therefore, they mistreat one another especially those on the margins: the poor, the oppressed. Though they left Egypt a long time ago, they are still enslaved and they are still enslaving others. Isaiah and other prophets will speak of caring for the poor, the captive, the oppressed and so on. He is literally emphasizing the responsibility of God’s people to take care of those on the margins, but at the same time his words ultimately expose the people who think they are fine as poor, oppressed, and enslaved. We are part of this story. When we come to worship, we might do well to remember Augustine’s words, “To possess my God, the humble Jesus, I was not yet humble enough.”[4] We come in desperate need of His provision, His healing, His deliverance, His love and restoration. In fact, when we come, we bring our successes as well as our failures. In our weekly and daily confession, we recognize that we fail to do what we should, and we often do what we shouldn’t. The Lord can heal our blind eyes and help us to see areas where we live and act far from His love. We also must come to terms with our successes. Some of our successes reveal how God’s gifts are taking shape in our lives. Other successes may reveal areas where we have grown strong to compensate for other weaknesses. The thing is, we can’t always sort this out. We offer it all back to God. And oddly enough, He may reveal His glory through us in the strangest ways. I have sometimes thought that my primary vocation was to serve as God’s fool. Back in 1989, I was counselling a police officer who was in deep depression. As he talked, I was paying intense attention while I also rubbed my eyes and forehead. Somehow, I didn’t realize that ink was on my hand, so I was covering my face in ink. In the middle of his sad story, the officer burst out laughing. He said that absurd picture of me was what he needed. In a weird way, my foolish display was a grace to him. My wise words were trumped by my gentle humiliation. We lay our wise words, our accomplishments, our financial blessing, our struggles, our sadness and grief, our failures, our forgetfulness, our blindness to God and our neighbor: we bring all that we are to God. And Jesus declares, “Today these words are fulfilled in your midst.” It is not my knowledge of this truth that rescues me. It is Jesus Himself. I read Luke 4 and Isaiah 61, realizing Jesus is addressing me, is addressing us. He says to all of us, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,because the Lord has anointed meto bring good news to the poor;he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,to proclaim liberty to the ...
Transcribe →Epiphany 2 – Epiphany 2 2025 -The Wedding
Jan 22, 2025Tap to summarizeMarriage at Cana, Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen (c. 1530) Epiphany 2 2025 -The WeddingRev. Dr. Les MartinJohn 2:1–11 “You have kept the good wine until now.” – John 2:10 In the Name of the Living God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen There’s something wrong at the wedding at Cana in Galilee. Things go wrong at weddings. I’ve been a priest now for 30 years and the stories abound: there’s the shock of no flowers at the service because although they were ordered in the hectic run up to the day, no one remembered to pay for them. There’s the truly bizarre, like the spectacle of an ex-husband entering the church and rolling a bowling ball down the aisle toward the couple about to be wed. The stories are so great in number that they could derail our reflection on this passage from the start. Early in premarital counseling, I try to address the issue head on, telling the intending couple that things go wrong at weddings, and that whatever happens, it will all turn out ok. They never want to hear it. I think it’s that in our culture, we have now replaced the celebration of the wedding with “wedding as performance art,” which means that the truth that things go wrong is too unpalatable to consider. This is also perhaps why the two hardest people for me to deal with as a priest going into a wedding were always the wedding planner – whose livelihood depended on things not going wrong – and the mother-of-the-bride- who having learned that things go wrong at a wedding when she experienced her own, often has developed over the years a rather controlling desire to relive her wedding dreams through the person of her daughter. God bless them, their efforts almost never work. Their efforts, however, do point to the high-anxiety, low-stakes world we have made for ourselves: from posting photos of our meals and our workouts to everything being turned into a joyless routine geared toward excellence- meditation, travel, raising children, home decor- we have sacrificed the living of life for the management and curation of it. Living “Your Best Life Now,” demands it. So we strive and strive and strive, even as we fail and fail and fail. Anxiety and fear skyrocket, as do stress-related illnesses, that nagging sense of emptiness, pharmaceutical hacks, and self-help cures. But our human reality means that, try as we might, we’ll never get it right. Not really. Things just go wrong at weddings, and everywhere else. And so it shouldn’t surprise us that there’s something wrong at the wedding at Cana of Galilee. Jewish weddings of that time were quite different affair then what we’re used to. There was a formal betrothal celebration, with a contract between the families, a bride-price, and several rituals. The betrothal was, in some ways, more important than the wedding itself. For the wedding proper, friends and family would come from near and far for a 7-day live-in party, not just a service and reception. It’s in the midst of the multi-day party that we join the Cana wedding in progress today. As the festivities have run on, it seems they’ve run out of wine. Here is a failure of planning, a loss of honor, a sense of shame that dwarfs all my wedding tales. Everybody knows what’s expected- a seven-day party. How could you possibly allow the event to run out of wine? Further, in an age without a nearby Sam’s Club, how can this mistake possibly be fixed? On the surface, the story we have today is simple enough: despite an initial pushback towards his mother- because Jesus is the Messiah, and not a caterer- he nonetheless intervenes and in the midst of potential embarrassment, performance expectations, and uncertainty, he provides a stupendous amount – we can estimate it at about 2160 standard glasses – of not just wine, but the very best wine. The wine flows, the party continues, the steward is impressed, the bridegroom is praised, and Mary and the disciples gain faith in Jesus. “The end.” That’s the story as we have it. But the meaning? The meaning goes deeper, for it connects to a deeper story, and a deeper performance anxiety. John tells us that what happens at Cana is Jesus’ first sign, which means it’s not about the wine or the party. It’s about him. It’s about his work. The wedding and the wine are simply pretext and context for a deeper story and a deeper issue. See, there’s something else wrong at the wedding at Cana in Galilee. It has everything to do with the jars Jesus uses to hold the wine. Those large water pots are for the Jewish rite of purification. They are a reminder that, at the most basic of levels, all is not well and that there is a need greater than that of a further supply of wine. Water from them is used for the washing away of sin. It is used, but it doesn’t work. Saint Augustine muses that it is tasteless and colorless and joyless, and it doesn’t take away sin. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, we hear that religious rituals “can never … make perfect those who draw near.… In these sacrifices [these purifications] there is a reminder of sin year after year” (Heb. 10:1–3). The water in the story represents all our human attempts, and especially our religious attempts, to make things right. For the whole history of their existence as a people, the Israelites have tried to live up to the covenant, to fulfill the requirements of the law: sometimes devoutly, sometimes half-heartedly, sometimes with their fingers crossed behind their back, but they have tried. It has gotten them nowhere, not really. Slavery, idolatry, sin and exile have been the result. In our Isaiah reading today, in verse four, we read: You shall no more be termed “Forsaken,” and your land shall no more be termed “Desolate,” but you shall be called “My Delight Is in Her,” and your land “Married;” for the Lord delights in you and your land shall be married. What Isaiah is prophesying is this: the day is coming when God will no longer abandon his wayward bride. He will delight in her and marry her. And wine? In the Old Testament, both Jeremiah and Amos use the symbol of sweet wine as a sign of deliverance from exile. The prophet Joel links an abundance of wine with prosperity. Simply put, a marriage feast with plenty of sweet wine is what God‘s people have waiting for. In Jesus, their longings find fulfillment. He takes the jars of water that are used for purification- jars that speak of sinfulness and separation from God, and of a cleansing that simply does not work, jars full of performance anxiety- and by his pleasure transforms them into jars that speak of celebration, of God-with-us, revealed in the midst of human life. He fills them with grace and love. Fleming Rutledge writes What has Jesus done? Twenty-one hundred glasses of the finest vintage for one little wedding party in a backwater village! What does this mean? It is the Gospel of John that gives us Jesus’s words, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (10:10). Our weddings may be simpler than the one at Cana, but our lives have become more complex. As I mentioned above, the pressures of our technological life combined with the same old moralisms, have driven us to new levels of despair, anxiety, and broken living. If there was something wrong at the wedding at Cana of Galilee, the fact is that there’s somethi...
Transcribe →Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Jan 16, 2025Tap to summarizeRev. Doug Floyd Baptism of Our Lord Jesus ChristRev. Doug FloydLuke 3:15-22 Aert de Gelder paints a most unusual image of Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist. The image is dim, and the only light is on Jesus as the heavens open and the Spirit descends, and the Father speaks. De Gelder’s style follow his influence: Rembrandt. Though he was considered a lesser artist, I found this image provocative. The beams of light shining down from heaven made me think of icons and the luminous darkness as we look up to the mystery of God. I tried to find some commentary on this painting. What I discovered was a variety of online prognosticators suggesting that this painting depicts a UFO in the heavens. The disc above with lights shining down is somehow a confirmation of UFOs. Well I didn’t think that. But I did think that this painting captures the mystery bound up the revealing of Jesus Christ. We are so familiar with the Bible, I don’t think it strikes us as odd, as mysterious as it should. This is an unexplainable event. Based on other times when the Father speaks, it would seem that some people hear a voice and others possibly hear thunder. They clearly don’t grasp the significance of this moment. We read it in light of our theology of the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Think of a first century Jew who recites the Shema, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”[1] What is this voice? Who is this Father? Why a dove? Who is this Son? The mystery simple stands. There is no side voice commentating, “Ok this is what is happening here.” It simply is. Our lives are full of mystery. In fact, our existence is a mystery. Augustine said that we don’t even know fully who we are. We learn our real self from God and the church (the saints around us). We are learning who we are. And who we are will be revealed fully when we behold Jesus as He is. Think of the mysteries of your own life. There is the mystery of birth and death. Both holy moments in our existence. Or what about the mystery of dreams. I dream every night, and I have had dreams that seemed to be guidance from the Lord about specific situations in my life. I have also had many dreams that seemed to be fun and entertaining with no apparent meaning. Then I’ve had dreams that seemed so real, so significant but no clear idea what they meant. A mystery. The novelist Charles Williams felt like some of the odd coincidences or mysteries in life were places where heaven intersected with earth. His novels explore these moments. As we reflect on the baptism of Jesus, we see a moment not fully clear. Why is He entering to the ritual of cleansing from sin? John the Baptist cannot understand this. Yet, Jesus steps into the lines of sinners seeking a cleansing to start anew. In the words of JG Hamman, “Jesus condescends.” He leaves His visible glory behind, he condescends to become human and eventually to a death that bears the sins of the world. This baptism anticipates the coming death. The immersion into human sin and death. This is a new story. It is rooted in the ancient stories of Israel, and yet it is also opening a new horizon. When Jacob and family enter Egypt, they enter a place of refuge where his son Joseph is beloved by the Pharoah. Hundreds of years later that memory is gone. The children of Israel have descended into Egypt and in one sense, into the watery grave of death. The Pharoah in Exodus literally has the Hebrew boys drowned in the River Nile. This is but a reflection of the people who have descended into a death. They’ve lost their name, their identity, their future. God sends Moses into this watery grave to call His people back to life. After casting down the gods of Egypt, the children of Israel follow Moses out of Egypt. To emphasize their new life, they pass through the waters of the Red Sea whereas Pharoah and his army drowned in that watery grave. A thousand years later, the children of Israel will drown again in the waters of Assyria and Babylon. Their Temple is destroyed, their land is taken away, their identity is threatened. God has issued a certificate of divorce to his people, and they seemed to be consumed by the nations. Ezekiel will tell another story. Forget the old story. The story of being called out of Egypt and being led to the promised land. That world is gone. But there is a new story of dry bones coming to life, of a Temple being rebuilt and the glory of the Lord filling the Temple; a vision of God sitting on His throne. He sees a vision of a river that flows out of the Temple eastward. This sounds like the river that flowed through the Garden of Eden and out to the world. The river in Ezekiel’s vision brings life wherever it goes. The trees that grow on either side of the river bring food and healing to the nations. Ezekiel tells a new story that gives the people hope. The story is a mystery and yet it points forward to the grace of God be revealed among the people. Now Jesus comes to be baptized. He is telling a new story in word and deed. Luke tells the story of the baptism right before he tells the genealogy of Jesus. While Matthew’s genealogy starts with Abraham and points to Jesus, Luke’s genealogy starts with Jesus and goes backward all the way to Adam. Jesus is telling a new story that will ultimately encompass all humanity: Jew and Gentile. Even as the Jews are restored, the pagan nations will come home to Jerusalem and worship the last king of Israel. We’re here today as the Gentiles who have come home. As we hear this story, we come to see that Jesus is immersed into the story of sin and death. As the same time, we are swept up into the story of resurrection and glory. Pope Benedict XVI puts it this way, “The family tree goes back to Adam, and so to creation, for once Luke comes to the name Adam, he adds: “Son of God.” This is a way of underscoring the universal scope of Jesus’ mission. He is the son of Adam—the son of man. Because he is man, all of us belong to him and he to us; in him humanity starts anew and reaches its destiny.”[2] When we gather in worship, we put our words and bodies together. When we name Jesus or the Father, Son and Spirit, we bow. We sit to hear God’s address. We may lift our hands in worship. Jesus is immersed in the Jordan. His body and his prayer for the peoples of the world are joined. As he descends into the watery grave, he acts out his life’s mission to rescue humanity dying in the watery grave of sin and death. As he comes up for the water, the glory of God descends on Him, anticipating the resurrection and the promise for humanity to be raised to newness of life in Christ, to a new story. We follow Jesus in baptism because we know that our story is bound up in His story. As I thought about the mystery of this story and the glory of God retelling our stories, I remembered a poem I wrote around 20 years ago. I knew I saved it, but files formats have changed, and I almost gave up on finding. Then suddenly, it appeared. I’ll end with it. Baptism Plunge mePlunge me into the dark deep,cosmic chaos.Bury me in the watery grave. The dark diluvian wavesBatter my flesh.Struggling to breathe, struggling to survive,My arms and legs burn in heated exhaustion.The water wins.The great I falters and crumbles and dissipatesUnder the relentless assault.I am undone. In the darkness, there is nothing,No, this, no that.The dark waters cover all.The great dreams we dreamed,The great thoughts we thought,The great deeds we did,All gone.All failures and successes,Every sadness and every joyVanished, gone.Only nothingness.Only absence.In the dark there is only the formless and the void. <...
Transcribe →Epiphany Eve – Receiving the Gift
Jan 13, 2025Tap to summarizeThe Adoration of the Magi by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1488-89) Eve of Epiphany 2025Rev. Dr. Les MartinMatthew 2:1-12 …they departed to their own country by another way. – Matthew 2:12b + In the Name of the Living God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Today is Epiphany Eve. The Feast of the Epiphany- a word meaning “a revelatory manifestation”- is one of the 7 principal feast days on the Christian calendar. It is also a fixed day—the twelfth day after Christmas—so that it migrates through the days of the week. We are observing it today, on its eve, to give this major feast it’s due, as we can’t really understand the fullness of the mystery and promise of the Incarnation without considering what this feast teaches us. When contemplating the infant Jesus who is the Incarnate Word, Epiphany gives us a wider perspective than merely the manger and the shepherds and the angels. It says to us “But wait, there’s Myrrh! ” (If you’ll pardon the pun.) In many parts of the world, Epiphany is a bigger holiday than Christmas, with rituals of gift giving tied to treasure-bearing wise men instead of old Saint Nick. Today is the day of gifts. In some places, children leave shoes filled with hay outside their homes. The hay is for the camels of the wise men, who leave gifts for the children in the shoes as thanks before resuming their journey to Bethlehem. The wise men. Tradition gives us three, corresponding to the three gifts. It also gives us names, legends about where they were from, possibly that they were Babylonian sages or Zoroastrian priests, or maybe even kings themselves based on the cost of the gifts. There’s not much else. What we do know is that Scripture tells us they come from the east, are involved in the study of astrological and astronomical signs, and that they have left behind their home, the security of their lives, and all that they have looking for a new king. They are seekers, who fulfill the prophecy from Isaiah that we have today: that nations and even kings would come to the light revealed in Israel, that sons and daughters would come from far away. They also, of course, confirm what we hear from Paul in Ephesians 3:6, that through the Gospel, even the Gentiles are fellow heirs of the promise. That the Magi are willing to leave everything behind is explained in the prophetic description of Jesus in Psalm 72: unlike the tyrants and despots of their own lands, the king that the star promises is one who judges fairly, defends the oppressed, and provides peace, so that the poor and the godly alike may flourish. This king is one who merits the huge undertaking of such a pilgrimage. Jesus is worth leaving behind what we think we know, leaving behind the familiar. And so, full of hope and promise, the Magi leave as seekers of something better. We live in a seeker culture today. Statistician Vera Korhonen, in a 2017 study found that 30% of people in America aged 30-49 identified as “spiritual but not religious,” which is to say that they believe in something beyond mere materialism and are looking for it, but outside the bonds of traditional religious faith and communities. Methodist pastor and author Stephen Bauman writes: We live in a time of great spiritual agitation; our culture is rife with seekers of every sort, who attempt to make their way to the most fulfilling destination as they respond to deep interior longing. Many follow or dabble in myriad spiritual approaches, including ancient esoteric traditions like astrology and psychic phenomenon, as well as amalgams of Eastern practices and Western science. Every variety of religious expression is as available as a click of a mouse or a meeting with one’s next-door neighbor. Seeking, however bespoke or even misguided, should be encouraging to us in the church. At least people are looking. Bauman continues: any seeker, whether by chance or authentic pursuit, can find his or her way to the manger. Now, if the Magi are good news for the seekers of today, it’s because they prove that this is true. However, there’s a catch: they also show that we have to leave what we know and where we’ve been. We have to find another way. See, the star gets them only so far: to Herod’s palace, in Jerusalem. At that point, they have to leave the astrology behind. It is only by turning to the Scriptures that they find that the infant king is not in Jerusalem, but rather Bethlehem. Scripture takes the Magi – and us – beyond our spiritual dabblings and uncertainty to a certain knowledge of where God is to be found. Scripture leads to Bethlehem, and to Jesus. There these wise men find, in the words of St Basil of Casearia: God is on earth, God is among us, not now as lawgiver…but as one gently and kindly conversing in a human body with his fellow men and women. God is in the flesh… He is bringing back to himself the whole human race, which he has taken possession of and united to himself. By his flesh he has made the human race his own kin. The surprise here is this: they thought they were seekers. Whereas, in fact, they were the ones who were sought by a God who is making a people for himself. That is the good news for seekers today, and for those of us who have loved ones who do not know the Lord as well. Our God is on a rescue mission. Now, the story of the Magi also has something to say to those of us who know Jesus, as well. It concerns the matter of the gifts. Whatever the economic worth and the symbolic value of the gold, frankincense and myrrh, in truth, they were worthless. However grand the gesture, these gifts could not blot out the frustration, the confusion, the weariness- and yes- the guilt and sin that are what the Magi brought to the infant king along with their gifts. This is what all humans ultimately bring before God. Which means, if we’re honest, it’s what we bring as well. The great reversal is this: just as the magi thought they were seekers and found out instead that they were sought, so they thought they were giving gifts when in fact, in Jesus, they are receiving one. Outside of the church, it’s New Year’s season in the world, not Christmastide. Which, of course, means that it’s also the season of resolutions. Of promises to “do better.” What it really is, is the season of the Accusing Law. Culture says: not good enough, not skinny enough, not productive enough, not happy enough. Church culture sometimes adds: not praying enough, not having a Quiet time, not patient enough, not holy enough. The truth, however, is that this annual frenzy always ends the same: forgotten plans, self-condemnation, and general discouragement. As Pastor Ryan Crouch says: While the law is good at showing you those areas that need attention, it can do nothing to transform your heart. At our core, we are broken, and no amount of self-control or effort to change will fix that. We are so good at deceiving ourselves into believing we can, with enough resolve, transform ourselves into something new and better. Still, we persist, year-after-year. We fall victim to the temptation to “give Jesus a gift” during resolution season. In addition to trying to get back in shape or to be better spouses, we buy that new devo...
Transcribe →Christmas 1 – The Word Became Flesh
Jan 11, 2025Tap to summarizeFlight into Egypt by Rembrandt (1627) Christmas 1 2024Rev. Doug FloydJohn 1:1-18 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”[1] Grant Osborne writes, “In my opinion, this is the single greatest sentence ever written in the history of the human language, the deepest theological statement ever written.”[2] Now let me repeat that verse: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”[3] If we could but grasp the glory of this event, we would bow in speechless worship. This passage tells the story of God’s glory moving beyond the Tabernacle and Temple to the person of Jesus who lives and walks among the people: the broken, the sinful, the weary, and those living at the margins of society. As Osborne reflects on this event, he writes, “In Jesus as the Word, the Shekinah walked planet Earth; he was a walking holy of holies. I guarantee John was weeping with joy as he wrote this![4] This revelation is so familiar to us that we often fail to see, fail to hear, fail to worship. Have mercy Lord! As I read, John 1:14-18, I think we might hear the impact if we think of it in light of Psalm 50. It is a Psalm of God’s coming. He comes to judge His people. Listen to the opening verses, 1 The Mighty One, God the Lord,speaks and summons the earthfrom the rising of the sun to its setting.2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,God shines forth.3 Our God comes; he does not keep silence;before him is a devouring fire,around him a mighty tempest.4 He calls to the heavens aboveand to the earth, that he may judge his people:5 “Gather to me my faithful ones,who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!” [5] In the babe Jesus, He comes into our midst and reveals our hearts. Rowan Williams says, “Christmas is the moment of recognition, the moment when what we have always secretly known is set out in plain and fleshly terms. And at the same time, ‘Woe unto you who desire the day of the Lord’ and ‘Who may abide the day of his coming? For he is like a refiner’s fire.’”[6] Listen to the words of Simeon when he beholds Jesus, “And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” [7] The thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. In just the initial stories of the birth of Jesus, we see this burning babe revealing hearts and passing judgment. The Biblical Theologian James Jordan has suggested that judgment is in the very fiber of all creation. Every day, each of us judge in seemingly mundane matters. We pour a glass of sweet tea and taste it. Then we pass judgment. “It is good.” If we judge it good, we offer to those around us. Think of our Christmas feasts this week, quite of few people judged their meals as delicious! Sometimes the cook will say to themselves, “This dish doesn’t taste quite right. Let me add a little salt or a little garlic.” They make adjustments based on their judgment, and when it is deemed ready to serve, they offer it. This can help us think more deeply about Fr. Les’s definition of God’s judgment, he says “that it always has a curative intent.” God reveals our hearts and passes judgment. In Ancient Israel, he determined his people were unable to serve as priests and kings for the nations. He will cure them and in the process, he will cure the Gentiles as well. What does John’s Gospel tell us, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” [8] He comes to judge but not with a baseball bat and an angry scowl. He comes to heal, to redeem, and to restore humanity. The baby Jesus reveals the hearts of those in power. Yesterday was the Feast of the Holy Innocents when Herod tries to kill all the children of Bethlehem so he can remove a threat to his ill-gotten throne. At the same time, those mothers and innocent babes were judged as holy unto the Lord. The Feast of Holy Innocents is a feast day. A day of rejoicing. How could such a tragedy be a feast? The church honors these innocents as the first martyrs who didn’t choose to die but who ultimately laid their lives for Jesus Christ to live. Let’s quickly consider many of those who were judged by this baby Jesus Christ. Mary yields entirely to the Word of the Father and bears the child who is her Lord. Joseph risks his life to protect Mary and the child. He obeys the word of the angel and names the baby Jesus and follows the angel out of Bethlehem and into Egypt. Simeon and Anna are the faithful Jews who have watched and waited, and the Lord honors them by revealing His glory to them in the baby Jesus before they die. Think of the marginalized in the culture such as the shepherds. At the time of Jesus’ birth, shepherds were no longer the idealic figures of Israel’s past, like under King David. Shepherds were often considered untrustworthy and even dangerous. Yet, the Lord chooses to reveal this miracle to the lowly and forgotten and not to the high and mighty. He judges them worthy of redemption. Or consider, the magi who travel from a pagan world, following the star to the baby. This alien man with alien gods are given grace to behold the glory of the only begotten Son. They are the first witnesses from the Gentiles to the birth of Christ. Consider the mystery of Egypt. Joseph and Mary leave Bethlehem and seek refuge in Egypt. This once great empire enslaved the ancient Hebrews and eventually was judged and found wanting but was not abandoned. God still had plans for Egypt. Listen to the words of Isaiah, In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border. It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt.[9] And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them. In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”[10] Israel, Egypt, and Assyria would be seen as a blessing to all the earth. When Joseph and Mary seek refuge in Egypt, we see glimpses of this great promise coming true. Throughout the life of Jesus, He will bring judgment and healing ever...
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