Reflection on John 1:29-32

In American churches, most people would say that the two most important holidays are Easter and Christmas.  It is around these church holidays that people try to make it to worship; around these holidays that communities try to organize activities like Easter egg hunts and Christmas office parties; and around these holidays that families gather together to enjoy the company of one another around a big meal of turkey, prime rib, ham, fried chicken, or lamb depending on your region’s traditions.  But, did you know that these are not the most important holidays for all Christians around the world? 

Strange at it may seem, the most important holiday for Eastern Orthodox Christians is barely celebrated by us. 

What were you doing the evening of January 5^th and all day on January 6^th? 

Nothing. 

Nothing of religious significance anyway I venture to guess.  Many of our churches do not even have worship on the 6^th of January…one of the most holy of days for the Eastern Orthodox Church.  January 6^th, of course, is the celebration of Epiphany and the Baptism of our Lord.  The two celebrations are one and the same for the Orthodox community.

Sure, we celebrated Epiphany a day early during worship on the 5^th and got our star words for the year, but did any of us go to worship that evening and the next day?  Did any of us gather the family for a big meal?  I did not think so.  So, what is so special about Epiphany for the Orthodox community?  The hint is actually in our scripture reading about John the Witness (John the Baptist as we all know him). 

But, before we get to that, let us look at some of the traditions that come out of the Orthodox community on Epiphany. 

A big tradition is the blessing of the holy water.  Each family is given blessed holy water in a small jar that they take home.  The pastor uses this same water a few days later to bless each family’s home. 

When the pastors actually bless the water, many Orthodox communities gather on the shore of a body of water in a similar way that people did when seeking John the Baptist’s ministry. While on the shores of the body of water, the pastor throws a cross onto the water, thus blessing it. 

The men are invited in a swimming race to see who can retrieve the cross first.  The winner’s family will be specially blessed for the year.  It is kind of like an Easter egg hunt with all the pushing and shoving, but it is for grown men.  A few days later, that water gathered during that ceremony is sprinkled throughout each family’s home.  It is a watery blessing, reflecting the holy light of Jesus which pierces the threatening darkness of the world. 

Families have huge celebrations on the day their house is sprinkled, with everyone joining in singing Epiphany hymns while the children dance and giggle through the falling drops of water.

Speaking of those special Epiphany hymns, in an tradition similar to Victorian Christmas caroling, people go from home to home, singing these hymns and expecting some food or money in return.  The more religious types of people donate what is collected, giving it to people in need.  But, whether you donate or keep it as a holiday bonus for yourself, the story of the start of Jesus’ ministry is spread by song throughout the community and provides hope to all.

In one community in particular, the evening of January 5^th has a particularly poignant celebration.  After blessing the waters in the church, the pastors lights a singular candle. From that holy light, the congregation members light their own candles and then carry those candles throughout the entire community as they walk home.  As they spread throughout the community, they share that light with the rest of the people in town, lighting even more candles within homes (Christian or not) in a silent act that displays Jesus’ love for the whole world.  The light of the world has come.

Keeping in mind that image of light spreading to all corners of the community, we can see that everything done during these Epiphany celebrations is done in order to point to the one who saves: Jesus Christ.  Epiphany in no way celebrate John the Baptist, however, they do, in every way, try to model him. 

And, what exactly are they trying to model?  We can see clearly if we look at the gospel reading for today.  Throughout the gospel reading John continually points, not to himself, but to Jesus. 

"Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” 

“A man who ranks ahead of me…” 

"I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.” 

"He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” 

"Look, here is the Lamb of God!" 

In ancient works of Christian art, John the Baptist is always portrayed as pointing.  No, he is not pointing in condemnation like your Grandma used to point at you whenever you were caught with the hand in the cookie jar, (Why do I know that look so well?) rather John is pointing to Jesus.  His whole life is one that points to Jesus. 

That is what these Orthodox Christians find so important about Epiphany.  It is all about Jesus.  The light that banishes the darkness…that is Jesus.  The sharing of that light is the sharing of Jesus.  The haphazard sprinkling of water throughout the community is the haphazard sprinkling of Jesus throughout the community. 

It is all about Jesus.  In all we do, we point to Jesus.

I think it is kind of fun to see how other Christians point to Jesus throughout the world.  They have races through blessed water.  They sprinkle homes with the love and the ministry of Jesus.  They share the light with everyone until the whole community is bathed in Jesus’ light. 

This is so much more wonderful than knocking on a stranger’s cold door and asking the question, “Do you believe in Jesus as you personal Lord and Savior?” 

All of these community activities assume that Jesus is for everyone.  And, that is probably because scripture says that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.”  God loves the world.  Jesus' love is not just for believers.  And, all of these community celebrations points to Jesus and his love.  He is our light in the darkness.  He is our cleansing water.

There is one other phrase from this gospel story that I love.  The phrase upholds the importance of gathering together to celebrate Jesus.  It is a simple phrase, but it is also profound.  It is a phrase that can guide you when you want to share the love of Christ, but do not know how.  It is a phrase that points to Christ and relies completely on him rather than our own gifts or dazzling abilities.  It is a phrase that you can say to anyone who seems to be seeking more for their lives than a world of darkness.  It is a phrase straight from the lips of Jesus, so it has got to be good.

“Come and see.”

The first people who are pointed in the direction of Christ by John the Witness are invited to “Come and see.” 

“Come and see” where Jesus dwells. 

“Come and see” who Jesus is.

“Come and see” why Jesus is so important in our lives. 

“Come and see.” 

It is an easy phrase to remember; “Come and see.”  Try it out.  There are plenty of people in this community who would benefit from coming and seeing the love of Jesus.

In all the ways that you celebrate Jesus, may it all be an invitation for people to “Come and see.”  Because, when people come, they do see.  And, as the light spreads throughout the community, the people will see Jesus, the Savior of the world.

Reflection on Matthew 3:13-17

She entered the waters of the small, waterfall fed pool knowing each thing that needed to be washed away. 

Seeing her reflection as she felt with her feet for the steps below, she saw the woman who was once staying afloat by moving from couch to couch, bed to bed, in a quick succession of relationships that all left her worse off rather than better. 

As she put her hand in the hand of the pastor, which was offered to steady her in the stream of the flowing pool, she saw upon her hand the burn marks; leftovers from past indiscretions introduced into her body.  She felt a slight urge to pull back her hand and hide, but the pastor did not seem to care about the scarred surface.  He did not seem to even notice.  After-all, today was not about the past.  Today was about the future. 

Kneeling down into the waters, feeling the line of the water move up her gown and slightly covering her shoulders, she gave the pastor a slight nod, indicating that it was time.  He smiled. 

She held her breath as the pastor shouted, “I baptize you in the name of the Father…”  The water had suddenly enveloped her head.  Soon after she had reopened her eyes and she was soon gazing across the top of the waters.

 “And of the Son,” the pastor continued, and she felt the enveloping waters surround her once again.  She had forgotten to take another breath and she felt panicked for just a moment, a very long moment, in which she was sure the pastor was about to deprive her of her God given promise of air. 

It is weird though, somehow beyond the panic she was OK with the thought of death.  She was OK with it all being over.  There was certainly a lot in her life that needed to be over.  But, it was not over.  Soon she was staring into the eyes of the pastor once again.

“And of the Holy Spirit,” he announced once more.  She was ready this time, having spit out some water and taken another deep breath.  This last time she felt comfortable under the water, like it was somehow wrapped warmly around her by the hands of God.

She was soon standing once again, looking up at the hundreds of people who were looking on from all sides.  There was a slight moment of silence while the pastor poured some oil from a pitcher and rubbed it through her hair and then placed a little on her forehead, making the sign of the cross.  The silence was quickly shattered as hundreds of people raised their voices to the heavens and sang an angelic-like song, “You have put on Christ, in him you have been baptized!  Alleluia, Alleluia!”

A woman from the church who had been her friend from the minute she walked into the church doors that first day, all disheveled and alone, wrapped a towel around her, hugged her close and whispered, “Today is the first day.”

“Today is the first day.”

First days are powerful things.  In the first moments of life you are placed into your parent’s arms, and that action sets the tone for all life: the first day. 

The first day of kindergarten, the teacher smiles, takes you by the hand, shows you to your seat with your name carefully written on a tag, and that welcome sets the tone for the rest of the school year: the first day. 

And, when the waters of baptism wash away the stains of the past and fill you with the Spirit of a new life, you are given a new future: the first day.

Before Jesus’ ministry begins, before he heals anyone from their disease, before he teaches anyone a single lesson, before he forgives anyone their trespasses, and before Jesus utters much more than a single sentence, the waters fall down his face and the Holy Spirit descends like a dove.  For Jesus too, the waters were the first day of a new way of living…of a new life and a new ministry. 

Do you know what help you move through those first days of new life?  Being named. 

On my first day on this earth, I was named “Jira.”  It was the name of my father’s boss.  Perhaps, my Dad wanted a raise.  I do not know.  But, what I do know is that in Hebrew my name means “will provide” and is associated with what God provides.  I think that my parents had high hopes for me.  In some parts of the world my name means “enlightened one.” Oooooo!  In some African nations it means “related by blood.”  Now, before you start thinking that these aggrandizing definitions have gone to my head; just be aware that in Japanese “Jira” means “Godzilla.”  So, there is that.

“Jesus” of course is the Greek version of the Hebrew name, “Joshua” which means, “God’s salvation.”  That seems fitting enough considering the rest of Jesus’ story.  However, that is not the name that Jesus is given at his baptism.  At Jesus’ baptism, at the new start, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry God shouts down a new name.  It is the name that will shape all of those healings, and is reflected in those teachings to love your neighbors and even your enemies.  It is the name that Jesus bears to the cross as he dies for the sins of the world. 

When Jesus stands up from the waters, the heavens tear open and a voice declares, “"This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." 

“The Beloved;” that is the name Jesus is given as he sets out in his ministry. 

“The Beloved,” is the name that God uses to define Jesus.  It is the name that is dried permanently onto his very being after he emerges from the waters. 

“The Beloved” is the name that Jesus bears to all he encounters throughout his ministry.  Wherever he goes Jesus loves, and Jesus is love.  Love is who Jesus is. 

It makes me think of that short, short phrase from 1 John 4:16 in the Bible.  It is one of those confirmation phrases that boys choose to memorize because it is easy to memorize.  “God is love.”  Since God is love, then Jesus’ ministry naturally will be about “love.”

The verse continues: “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God.”  So that is cool.  Not only is Jesus all about love, but so too are all those who show love.  You too, when you were baptized, were given the name, “Beloved.”  You too had the start of your new life with God christened by love.

What would you do if today was your first day of a new life like that woman who was baptized?  What would you do if today you were given the name, “Beloved.” 

Perhaps, you would walk from those baptismal waters, wrapped in the arms of someone who loves you, and decide to be a nurse to teens who (like you) struggle through all their relationships.  That was what that baptized woman’s new life looked like as a baptized child of God.  That was her new beginning. 

What would you do if you were she?  Perhaps, you would do any number of things or go any number of places where love would lead, like a partner who knows you better than yourself. 

Of course, you do not have to be baptized again in order to live that new life.  Once is enough.  As one of Jesus’ baptized people, God gives you the chance to have that new life this day, and every day.  The name, “Beloved” has been permanently dried into your skin, a mark on your forehead that forever remembers God’s promise of forgiveness and new life every morning. 

In Christ every day is a new day.  Every morning’s splash of refreshing water on the face is a new start…a new opportunity to live as one of God’s “Beloved.”

Reflection on Matthew 2:1-12

Here you are. 

As you stand in the church, you realize that you have come once last time this holiday season to behold the Christ Child.  You are doing the same as the wise men did over two thousand years ago.  You have come to gaze at him, maybe to offer him some of your gifts, but most importantly, to behold him.  Maybe, you will even ask Mary if you can actually hold him, so that you and the baby Jesus can melt into each other and become one in love. 

There is something so wise in the notion of just holding the baby Jesus close.

Pastor Lonnie Lacy, from Saint Anne’s Episcopal Church in Tifton Georgia reflects on this very notion.  He says:

This may sound odd, but one of the most important things anyone ever said to me when I was still training to be a pastor was this:

“Honey, whatever that is you’re doin’, you gotta put it down and come hold this baby.”

“What?”

“Put it down, and come hold this baby.”

I was a brand new chaplain-intern at Children’s National Medical Center

in Washington, D.C.  I was all of 24 years old, just two years out of college.  I had just arrived and been told that the floor I would be covering was the neonatal intensive care unit.  I knew nothing.

So there I was on my first day.  My starchy white shirt.  My coat and tie.  My shiny new plastic badge.  A clipboard in my hands and a clueless expression on my face.

I had no idea what I was doing as I stood watching those nurses tending those babies who were fighting for their very lives.  So, I did what any of us would do: I tried my best to look very busy and very important.

By the way, if you ever want to look very busy and very important just carry a clipboard and flip the pages up and down while you glance up and side to side.

As a wise man once said, “60% of the time it works every time.”

But not on this nurse.  “Honey,” she said, “whatever that is you’re doin’, you gotta put it down and come hold this baby.”

“What?”

“Put it down, and come hold this baby.”

Let the record show, this nurse was no Virgin Mary meek and mild.

Before I knew it, she had physically yanked the clipboard from my hands, spun me around by my shoulders, popped me down into a rocking chair, and placed somebody else’s baby right into my arms.

“There,” she said.  “If you’re gonna be that baby’s chaplain, that’s what he needs you to do.”

“Uh okay,” I said, “But what else am I supposed to do?”

“Nothing!” she said.  “There’s nothing else you can do.  You just hold him.  And love him.  And pray.”

Turns out, she was right…

…It’s just true.  When you’re holding a baby, there’s not much else you can do except just hold it, and love it, and pray.  And honestly, the baby can’t do all that much either.

The two of you just sort of…melt into one another.  You just sort of…exist …together.

Whether you know it or not, you have come here…for one thing, and one thing only. You have come here to hold the Baby.

Whether you know it or not, he is the One who has brought you here…and really, there is nothing else you can do.  You just hold him.  And love him.  And pray.

And, I think that pastor Lacy is absolutely right.  The real reason we are here is so that we can hold Jesus, and love Jesus, and to simply pray.  In other words, we have followed the star that stands above all our churches so that we can behold the Christ child.  We are the wise men who come to worship as if nothing else matters, because when you hold the Christ child, nothing else matters.

Herod could not come and behold the Christ Child, because too much mattered to him.  Those who were under his influence and loved him as the king also could not come and behold this newborn king because for them also; too much mattered.  Herod’s rule mattered, and there was no room for the Christ Child in that picture.

So, you could say that beholding the Christ Child comes at great cost.  Some treasure might need to be set down, and given away.  As Pastor Lacy says:

To hold this Baby—this Jesus whom we proclaim…means you are going 

to have to put some things down.  When you hold this Baby, nothing else matters. Everything else falls away.

The pastor is right.  When you behold Jesus, everything else falls away.  Every other concern, every other thing that you hold important will suddenly become second place as you take Jesus into your arms.  All that previously needed to be done or was deemed vital in life, when handed the baby Jesus, is finally seen as…well…unimportant.

All of the important, heavy treasures will need to be set down.

All of the clip boards with their very important tasks will need to be set down.

All of the grudges and preoccupations will need to be set down.

All of your own self-serving desires will need to be set down.

All of our egos will need to be set down.

To hold a baby is to resign to setting it all down so that you and the baby can sit in the rocking chair and become one in breath, one in affection, and one in love.  So too holding onto Jesus is to set it all down so that you may become one in breath, one in affection, and one in love.

And, we are willing to do it; we are willing to set everything aside, because Jesus did it first. 

What does Philippians 2:6-8 say?  “…though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.”

We lay it all aside, because Jesus laid aside all the power and glory and might in order to come and be with us.  Jesus laid it all aside for the sake of us on the cross.  Jesus laid it all aside so that he could melt into one with us in redemption and love.

And, it all started with a star. 

It was a star that guided the Wise Men to behold the Christ Child. 

For Pastor Lacy it was a nurse who served as his star, guiding him to lay the clipboard down so that he might be the best chaplain that he could be to a tiny infant in need. 

And, it was a star above the church that guided you to behold the Christ Child one last time this Christmas season. 

Come.  Follow the star.  Be guided by the Christ Child.  Give it all up…all the ego…all the concerns…and listen to what he has to say.  Follow the star and explore what it means to melt into one another with the Christ Child.  Come hold Christ close in your arms because he most certainly holds you in his arms until the very end.

(To Read Pastor Lonnie Lacy's full sermon, follow this link: http://stannestifton.com/sermon/what-we-hold/#description-tab)