Sunday, January 1, 2012

Sermon for January 1st, at St. Petri


Gospel: Luke 2:22-40
            Where the gospel reading starts today Mary and Joseph are surely still recovering from the unusual events surrounding of Jesus’ birth and they are probably anxious to get home to Nazareth, but before they can do that they have to present their firstborn to God at the temple and offer a sacrifice of two doves or pigeons according to the law of Moses.

            Mary and Joseph are new parents trying to figure out how to raise a child while away from home, not to mention still coming to terms with the incomprehensible fact that their baby is the son of God.  Mary and Joseph are navigating the temple when a guy takes Jesus into his arms and starts praising God.  Simeon speaks of God’s provision and how in this child he sees the salvation of all people.  My bible's translation states that Mary and Joseph “marveled” at what Simeon said, no doubt proud to be the parents of this extraordinary child, but I imagine they were also quite taken aback. Because Mary and Joseph did not get the introduction we get at the beginning of this reading.  They probably didn’t know that the Holy Spirit rested on Simeon and that God had promised him that he would see the consolation of Israel before he died.  And just as quickly as Simeon had grabbed Jesus he returned him to Mary’s arms and blessed Mary and Joseph, then left them with these disconcerting words: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.  And a sword will pierce your own heart too.”   These words do not encourage Mary and Joseph, they tell of a future where their son will bring change that won’t be well received, that Jesus future is sure to have pain in it and that Mary and Joseph are by no means exempt from this suffering, a sword will pierce their hearts too.  When reading those words I recall the story of Jesus on the cross where Mary looks on watching her beloved child die, how in that moment Mary’s heart is surely breaking. After this encounter with Simeon I bet his words swirled around in Mary’s head as she wondered when Simeon’s foretelling would come true.

            The reading goes on to talk about Anna, a prophetess, who has spent the better part of her at the temple.  She worships God night and day praying and fasting, every moment dedicated to her heavenly father.  And then, as if one strange encounter at the temple for Mary and Joseph isn’t enough, Anna comes up to them and looks as the baby Jesus and starts thanking God and telling anyone who will listen about the child and the redemption he would bring.  This reading concludes by saying Jesus grew strong, was filled with wisdom and the grace of god rested upon him.  This is all we really know about Jesus young childhood.

            This reading from Luke calls us to pay attention, to not just listen,   but to hear this story.  God called ordinary people to raise his son.  He did extraordinary things through the unsuspecting betrothed couple of Mary and Joseph, people serving God and living the plan they thought God had led them to until one day when it all changed.  He called them from the commonplace to something much more difficult but something also more beautiful and exciting than they could have planned for themselves.  

            This last semester I took a general Microbiology class.  It was an extremely interesting class and I learned a lot about bacteria, fungus, and microbiological testing.  One of the most fun experiments we did in the lab was evaluating water samples.  Every group got a water sample from different places around Ames: Ada Hayden, The pond at Research Park, Lake LaVerne, and college creek, among others.  We did dilutions of the samples and added a small amount to tubes with specific media, after a couple days we evaluated the tubes for growth and then used some statistical analysis to assess the samples for their presumptive contamination.    We came to the conclusion that all the water sources had too much bacterial growth to be potable, which is, of course, to be expected being that they are open water sources, but one body of water was extensively worse than the others.  The pond at the ISU Research Park scored almost the highest rating possible for contamination. 
            My professor talked about how this is because the water doesn’t go anywhere; there is no incoming our outgoing stream of water from the pond.  The water is stagnate and cannot support much life beyond some particularly disgusting microorganisms.  Now I can draw a faith reference out of anything so what my professor said about the pond water got me thinking about our baptismal waters.  In baptism God claims us as his children and calls us to new life as members of the body of Christ.  The parents, sponsors, and church family vow to raise the newly baptized to faithfully worship, learn the Lord’s Prayer, Apostles Creed, and Ten Commandments, to read the bible, pray, and care for God’s creation.  These baptismal waters contain so much hope, so much love, and so much promise.   But often times despite good intentions our baptismal waters stagnate.  We can get lost going through the motions.  We say the Lord’s Prayer from memory without thinking about the words coming out of our mouth, we take communion without being humbled by Christ’s sacrifice, and we leave our faith at the doors when we walk out of the church building.  

We can get complacent, coming to church because we have to or just because it is what we have always done.  Mary and Joseph may only have taken the 8 day old Jesus to the temple to fulfill the Law of Moses but whatever their reasoning God did something extraordinary there.  He blessed Anna and Simeon with seeing the savior of the world and showed Mary and Joseph a glimpse of the glory of their son.  Even if we don’t have an “ah ha” moment every time we come to worship, God is here.  The Holy Spirit is in the familiar liturgy, calling us from complacency to new life.

A few years ago Lutheran Brotherhood sent St. Petri some magnets that had Martin Luther’s Morning Prayer on one side and one of his quotes on the other side.  I think there may still be a few somewhere around the church and we have one at home on our refrigerator.  The quote from Martin Luther says “When you wash your face remember your baptism.”  Every day we have the chance to be washed and renewed in the waters of baptism.  We can read our Bibles, pray, serve others, have fellowship with the body of Christ to bring refreshment and perspective.  By God’s grace we also have the opportunity to let go of our struggles, sins, and burdens by giving them to Christ.  Just as Mary and Joseph were called out of the ordinary so are we.  God has blessed each of us with unique qualities and abilities to bless the world around us and he has called us here in this sanctuary for fellowship and worship to be challenged and encouraged.   May we remember our baptism and go to our families, community and the world ready to follow God’s lead.  Amen.

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