Sermon preached on January 15, 2017 – 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany                           [Isaiah 49:1-7; I Corinthians. 1:1-9; John 1:29-42]

© David B. Batchelder – 2017

What is it you’re looking for . . in your life? . . from God” . . a church? . . this church? January brings us face to face with a year we cannot predict, with more than the usual turbulence leading into it. How have the events of this past year influenced what you are seeking for your spiritual, emotional, social, and physical well-being? Are you able yet to put it into words?

 
Many of us – perhaps most of us – will need something from God, and each other, we could not have named a year ago. In the world now unfolding, the question of today’s gospel is a timely one: “What are you looking for?”

 
Three and one half weeks ago, Seattle’s Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church (where I’ve worshiped a number of times) put into words what it believes people will long for in this new year. It may not be true for everyone, but for those wanting a world with more love, justice, mercy, and peace, St Mark’s is prepared to offer the following; listen as I read a portion of their statement and ask yourself, is this what I’m looking for from God and from a church community?

Saint Mark’s Cathedral Parish reaffirms its commitment to respect the dignity of every human being, strive for justice and peace among all people, and seek and serve Christ in all persons. . . . We believe our nation can do better, and we pledge to work toward that better vision here and now. We commit to being a network of activists, in God’s name, joining others who similarly pledge to actively pursue justice. Here’s how we will engage this work:

(What follows are 12 commitments; here are 5.)

We will listen.
We will listen to those with whom we may disagree as we seek safe and sacred spaces for hearing each other’s stories, pains, fears, and hopes. We will foster such dialogue so that our children might learn the meaning of the diversity and pluralism that is America’s best future.

We will lift up truth.
We will strive to replace fear with facts when it comes to public discussions about immigrants, refugees, Muslims, racial diversity, and national security. Our times require a moral compass, and truth-telling is an important part of this.

We will reject White Nationalism.
We will name racism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia as sins. We believe all people are made in God’s image, and we affirm diversity as a gift, blessing, and opportunity for our nation.

We will love our neighbors by protecting them from hate speech and attacks.
We will identify, report, and confront hate speech and behavior — against all ethnic and religious groups, women, LGBTQ people, immigrants, people with disabilities, and all marginalized groups. Our church stands as a sanctuary and safe haven for people threatened by those who would attack them.

We will defend religious liberty.
We embrace Muslims as fellow Americans and stand with our local mosques in congregational solidarity. We will denounce the defamation and banning of Muslims, and will seek to disrupt any attempt to require registration of Muslims.

My question is simple: is this what you are looking for? Let me also ask, does this sound like the Jesus we meet in the Gospels? And, if it does, are we prepared to follow him?

 
At the Inauguration this coming Friday, we will hear a vision of our society and the world. I invite you to think about the world you’d rather live in. There is the world as envisioned by Jesus of Nazareth and the world being squeezed into existence by fear and paranoia.

This year, we will have choices that will ask us to wrestle with values, commitments, loyalties, and fundamental principles. So what are you looking for? The path to the world of God’s imaginating and Jesus’ empowering is what we are presented with today in John. In this time following Epiphany, Jesus is calling his disciples – all disciples – to a path and pattern that is distinctively like him in all that he is: his life, loyalties, and allegiances.

 

In the Prologue of John’s Gospel, read here a couple of weeks ago, we heard this:
“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”

Having set forth this relationship in poetic verse, the Gospel now begins to reveal it in narrative. We watch as Jesus emerges from the background and steps into the lime light. The “true light which enlightens everyone” comes out of John the Baptist’s shadow to begin building his community of disciples.

Notice how the Baptist takes great pains to point beyond himself to the coming one who ranks ahead of him, the one upon whom John sees the Spirit descend.

Evidence points to an early time when John, not Jesus, was believed to be the Promised One. Today, John goes on public record with some astounding claims concerning Jesus. So we are not surprised when two of John’s followers transfer their spiritual interest to Jesus -particularly after John declares Jesus to be the “Lamb of God.”

Such a title as this would not be lost on readers of this Gospel, especially since – in this Gospel – John (not Matthew, Mark, and Luke) places Jesus’ crucifixion on the very day Passover lambs were sacrificed.

Jesus presents us with an invitation to discipleship that is makes its appeal at a deeper level than mere curiosity. What are you looking for? is a “gift” in the form of a question. And – this question – calls us to take a step in grace. It is a step in grace because it raises our consciousness about what’s going on deep inside us. Immediately following the question is an invitation – “Come and see.”

With these simple words – “come and see,” grace beckons us because what will come about (should we accept) is a shifting of our attention through a practice I like to think of as “pondering.” In pondering, we become more spiritually self-aware of ourselves, but not in a kind of self-absorbed obsessive kind of way that becomes narcissistic.

We become more aware of ourselves as creatures with whom God is earnestly engaged, desiring for us the rich life for which God made us, and for which God redeemed us in Christ.

One piece of advice for us all this year: be prepared to struggle. Our text from Isaiah reveals the prophet’s wrestling with God’s call. In Isaiah’s poem, we hear the servant express doubts and raise questions. The “call” to come and see engages us with who God is and what God is doing in the world. It means embarking on a path we have not been before. But we are never alone. In Isaiah, God responds to the servant’s doubt, not with answers, but with presence, with the assurance of God’s strength: “Do not worry about the future, I will bring it about.”

To be a member at Seattle’s St Mark’s is such an calling to come and see, and wrestle with the God who loves us and will never let go of this world. The very first commitment made in st. Mark’s statement sounds like it was inspired by today’s Gospel:

We will go deeper in faith.
We commit to read, study, and live the words of Jesus. The prophet Micah’s words provide a mantra for us as people of faith: “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.” We must seek both courage and humility as we respond.

May God grant West Plano Presbyterian Church to do the same in response to the God who desires to give us life that really is life.


0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Avatar placeholder