We are coming to the end of the Season of Christmas. Wednesday, January 6, is The Epiphany when we remember the arrival of the Magi, and the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. During Epiphany I am going to journey through the familiar words of Isaiah 61:1-4. This is the citation Jesus read in the synagogue at the beginning of his ministry as recorded in the Gospel of Luke (4:18) I invite you to come along on this journey.
The opening phrase of Isaiah 61 says, the spirit of the
Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me: The same can be said
for each of us. The Epistle from last Sunday reminds us that we are adopted
children and beloved by our Abba/Amma. Paul says we have received adoption
as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his
Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” (Galatians 4:5b-6)
Therefore, God’s spirit is within and upon you and on me. Br.
Curtis Almquist of the SSJE stated in his December 29, 2019 sermon, “If…you are
asking the question, maybe desperately, whether God is with you, the answer is
“yes, absolutely.” The question is not whether God is with you, but how
God is with you? “
We can all agree that 2020 was a difficult year with lots to
grieve and many times to ask ‘where is God?’ The answer is, God is in and
around and through all things and all times. Even in times of difficulty
and fear, we can, as Br. Curtis continues, “Take the risk of being as
adventurous and as courageous as the Blessed Virgin Mary, Blessed Joseph,
Zechariah and Elizabeth, the shepherds, the Magi to believe it be so that
God is with you in both the night and the day. Bear the beams of God’s light
and life and love with extravagance, wherever you can. There’s more where
it all came from: God’s light, to lighten the way and give you delight…
which is very good news, indeed.”
In the tender retellings of the Christmas story, it can be easy to forget the reality for Mary and Joseph was hardly easy. The Rev. Megan E.Thomas reminds us, “we still commemorate the moment that the God of creation chose to enter human history, in a time and a place that held its fair share of loss, of poverty, disease, death and oppression. We hear again the stories of Jesus’ birth as told in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. We remember that Joseph and Mary traveled far from home because the emperor wanted a census. We remember that there was no room for an expectant mother in the inn at Bethlehem, so she gave birth among the livestock and placed the Baby in their feeding trough…This Christmas season, we remember that in the midst of loss, all is not lost: God is with us. You see, unto us the Child was born, unto us the Son was given.”
There is another quiet moment in the Christmas story that is
often skipped over. The Child and his mother arrive at the Temple for purification
according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him
to the Lord (Luke 2:22). While there, they encounter Simeon (Luke 2:25-32).
Michelle Thomas-Bush notes in the December 29 D365 devotion,
[we] “want to take a peek at the baby Jesus and then head on home. Simeon
lingered. Simeon held the baby Jesus in his arms. Holding a baby is a
holy experience. Imagine it. You are gentle and awkward until the baby settles
right into the crook of your arm. Then the whole room goes quiet and you can
hear your heartbeat and every movement of that sweet little one. Things could be
out of control around you but in that moment, holding the baby, there is a deep
breath of peace. Maybe we need to be like Simeon and hold the baby Jesus and
open our eyes to see the possibilities and promise of this Christmas.”
What might happen if we enter 2021 knowing that the Spirit
of God has anointed, and indwells, us?
How might we live if we really held and beheld the face of God in the Infant
Jesus?
Would it make a difference in our day-to-day lives if we knew that we are each
named as Beloved?
Br. Curtis suggests that we would “Mirror that light into the face of others...Presume that the reason you are yet alive, for as much as one more day, is to participate in the life and light and love of God. You are a living mirror. Bear the beams of love. Look upon others and be radiant with God’s love for them. They may otherwise never know in this life – or at least not know in this day – how much God loves them. And what shame to go through a day without being reminded how much God loves you. Mirror that light into the face of others, and with the extravagant generosity of God. You need not speak; simply be a mirror of God’s life, and light, and love upon the face of others.”
This image, grabbed from Facebook says it another way:
