Readings for December 28, 2014
The First Sunday after Christmas

• Isaiah 61:10-62:3  
• Psalm 148  
• Galatians 4:4-7  
• Luke 2:22-40

Born in a Shopping Cart, by Rev. Kinsey
Nunc Dimittus!  I just wanted to say that.  Latin words can sound foreign and funny to our ears.  And even though this one’s been part of our liturgies, since at least the 4th century, not everyone recognizes, Nunc Dimittus!  

These are the first words of Simeon’s song in our Gospel today, which mean, “now you are dismissing…”  

As Simeon took the 5½ week old baby Jesus, and held him, recognizing the salvation for all people was cradled against him, he couldn’t help but thank and praise God.  “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples…”  Simeon had believed he would see the Messiah in his life time, before he died, and, he was getting very old.  All of Israel was looking for, and expecting the Messiah, to come.  Their faith was in, various stages of anticipation, but it had certainly been a defining theme in the people’s return from Exile and the years of rebuilding the 2nd Temple, which led up to Jesus’ birth.

In our story today, Mary and Joseph had returned to the Temple in Jerusalem from Nazareth, 40 days, after giving birth, to make an offering, and Present him, according to the law of Moses, that, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord.”  So, like all new parents, they expected good things for their child, and this was an important way to begin – important to follow the religious traditions, so that no opportunity for goodness from God, would be missed. 

But how could they have anticipated the blessing that came from the holy man, Simeon that day!  “For my eyes have seen God’s salvation, prepared before all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel,” he declared.  And “There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, …eighty-four.  She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.  At that moment she came [too], and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.”  

You know, if Mary and Joseph were, the Kardashian family, or the George Cluny family, or Kate & Prince William, they probably would have smiled appropriately for the camera’s, and said, ‘oh thank you.  We know.  How very nice of you to say.’  And then they would have went on to the next interview.

But this was Mary and Joseph, the hoy polloi, who, in their circumstances, had to make an offering with two, cheap, common birds, instead of the proper offering of a lamb, because they were so very poor.  Later Jesus would offer, himself, as the Lamb of God on the cross, of course.  But the point is well taken: Jesus came as one of us, a bringer of salvation, not just for the rich, but also for the poorest of the poor.  

In America right now, the richest country in the world, every fifth child, on average, is living in a household below the poverty line.  And the younger the child, the poorer they are.  And for the first time, a majority of American children under age 2 are now children of color — and in this demographic, 1 in 3 is poor, according to a rather disturbing new report, published by the Children’s Defense Fund.  “The State of America’s Children 2014” Report, cites “the neglect of children, as the top national security threat.”  

“A shopping cart was my first crib,” says Shanika, age 5.  “Our home was on the street.  Finally under a roof [we had] Two beds for six [of us].  Malnourishment, in these early years, they say, can carry a heavy toll in physical and intellectual development for the rest of their lives. 

Who are we – and who do we want to be, as Americans?  What do we value?  What values do we want to stand for and transmit to our children … where the violence of poverty and guns, snuff out the lives, and dim the eyes and spirits, of children and adults?

Mahatma Gandhi said, “Poverty is the worst form of violence.”  “If we are to teach real peace in this world, …we shall have to begin with the children.”  

The incarnation of our Lord Jesus, that is at the heart of God sending God’s son into the world at Christmas, a baby born in a manger, the Son of God, is our unique hope.  Can we pay attention to Shanika, born in a shopping cart, as much as we do to Jesus, born in a manger?  Do we know why this is happening, and what God is calling us to do today?

After Simeon blessed the holy family, he told Mary something else that day: “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed...”  The mission of the Son of God, Simeon knew, includes hardship and sacrifice, but also, revelation.  Jesus’ gift to us comes through his death and resurrection.  A gift that also will “pierce our own souls,” as Simeon had promised Mary.  But it is a miraculous gift, because it exposes, and reveals, to the whole world, the founding sin we all are complicit in: the lie of placing the blame on our neighbor, for our own faults, of creating enemies, near and far – “demonizing” them, as we say today – while all too often, letting ourselves, off the hook.  

And so we love the baby Jesus, but we blame those in poverty, believing the common lie, that they are lazy.  The truth today, of course, is that the many that have dropped out of the middle-classes, have become the working poor, often working more than one job.  Not lazy at all, just victims of low wages, and a huge revenue problem.  Or we feel sorry for the poor, but we continue to reinforce the privilege and structures that enrich ourselves, or at least keep us receiving a disproportionately unfair opportunity, by comparison.  

Who do we want to be?  What does the love of Jesus look like today?

St Paul said, “when the fullness of time had come, God sent [God’s] Son, born of a woman, born under the law,” – like us – “in order to redeem [us] who [are] under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.  And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of [God’s] Son into [y]our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’”  All of us are children of someone, even in our old age.  And God loves us all, offering us forgiveness, and a way out of blaming and demonizing. 

On this Commemoration day of The Holy Innocents, when Herod in his jealous attempt to blame and murder the baby Jesus, killed the young children in Bethlehem, it was a sobering reminder of the evil that led Christ to be born for our salvation.

But the Nunc Dimittus song, reminds us too, that the birth of Jesus was a foretaste of the salvation that was to come, and the redemption of family, at every level: our biological families, of course, but also our church family, the mother and brothers, as Jesus said, who hear the word of God and do it.  And, the whole human family, because through Simeon’s prophecy, Jesus is the light, even to the Gentiles.  And so God in Jesus blesses all families, and also challenges us to see beyond the bounds of what family is, to what it is becoming.  

So, whatever family we identify with, we all come to the table, holding out our hands, like Simeon did, when he received the baby Jesus.  We too hold the body of Christ in our hands, and we eat the bread of life, the one born in Bethlehem, which means, the House of Bread.  And around the table, we are all brothers and sisters, one family, dismissed in peace.

Readings for December 14, 2014 | Advent 3B

• Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
• Psalm 126
• 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24  
• John 1:6-8, 19-28

My Cousin's Coming, by Pastor Fred Kinsey
One of the memorable pictures in our extended family, is my brother and I with my cousin Mark, from about 1965.  My brother and I were about 9 and 10 years old, which would make my cousin Mark about 12 years old.  It was summer in Des Moines, Iowa, and we had just returned from shopping with our moms.  They had found, on sale, what they considered to be, adorable blazing-white suit jackets.  And the three of us were made to pose, shoulder to shoulder, in front of our grandparents red brick house.  My cousin Mark who is now about 6’ 5”, even then towered head and shoulders above me and my brother.  My brother Dave and I were exactly the same height growing up, though I’m a year older.  I don’t know why, but I still feel embarrassed just looking at that picture.  Maybe because, ‘us cousins,’ in our pre-teen innocence, look so clearly set-up, for “cuteness!” 

On Monday night, when Kim wasn’t home yet, and the Green Bay Packers were on Monday night football, I caught a bit of the game.  And one of the stories was about the Packers defensive leader, Clay Matthews, playing against his cousin on the Atlanta Falcons.  Clay’s cousin, Jake Matthews, is an offensive lineman, so the potential for them to face each other on the field had the announcers all a-twitter!  But in the game, it only happened, maybe 3 times, I’d guess.  And over all it looked pretty much like a stand-off.  Though once Clay did get around his rookie cousin Jake when their quarterback held the ball, way too long, and got an assist in sacking their QB.  But mostly they looked like they were trying not to embarrass each other!

In the Gospel of John, the story begins with John the Baptist being sent by God as one who could testify to the light, the coming Messiah, someone like Elijah, or another prophet.  But never once in our reading today does John mention the expected Savior by name, or that, it’s his cousin!  According to Luke’s gospel, anyway, John and Jesus are cousins, sons of Mary and Elizabeth, who are kinswomen in the Galilean hill country. 

John was only three months older than Jesus, but in stature, he was already, head and shoulder’s taller, than the coming Messiah.  It seems that, John the Baptist already had a thriving ministry of baptism before the anointed Savior would become so much more popular, and eclipse his older cousin.  And so we have, in this first chapter of John, the rather comical “I am not’s,” of John the Baptist, to the questions that come from Jerusalem’s intelligentsia!  

In John’s gospel, we know that Jesus identifies himself in the formula from Exodus that God uses in the very beginning, to identify God’s Name: I am, or, I am who I am; I will be who I will be.  Jesus says, I am the light of the world, I am the Good Shepherd, I am the Gate, and so on.  But here, when the authorities are questioning John whether he might be the expected Messiah, the coming Christ, John says: “I am not the Messiah; I am not Elijah; and No, I am not the Prophet!”  

The important party sent from the Temple thinks he, dost protest too much!  But they’re willing to give him another chance: Well then, who the heck are you, they ask? 

John came as a witness, he says, to testify to the light.  That’s who John is! 

As a college student in Germany, I remember getting to see the very famous Altarpiece painted by Grunewald in the Alsatian town of Colmar.  It portrays – especially for its time – a very gruesome but realistic portrait of Jesus on the cross, exactly 500 years ago, in the early 16th century.  But also there, in this massive triptych, is cousin John, just to the right of the cross.  John, the forerunner of the Messiah, is pointing, with an exaggeratedly long finger, up at his cousin.  Of course, long before Christ’s Passion, John was already executed, beheaded by Herod, at Salome’s request.  But that pointing, is forever John’s vocation for us, and is therefore, a perfectly appropriate anachronism, in this work of art.  

Two chapters later in the gospel of John, the Baptist remarks that, “[Christ] must increase, but I must decrease,” which also signals that cousin John’s mission is complete.  There is room for only one Messiah, and Christ, the anointed one of God.  John’s younger cousin, will be the one.  The coming Christ is like the light, created on the 3rd day of Creation.  John points to this one, the renew-er of our world.

At the time though, John was no doubt, much bigger than Jesus.  He had established himself as a serious prophetic reformer, with a unique ministry of baptism in the wilderness.  He was not only the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, as the prophet Isaiah had once declared, but he was a truth-teller, crying out against the immorality of Herod, the ruler of an occupied Israel.  Herod had illegally married his brothers’ former wife, while still being married himself, and John pointed that out, with his long index finger, no doubt, and with his sharp tongue.  So John was originally on the short list of possible Messiah’s to come, but – if you’ll pardon the expression – does not make the cut!

In God’s plan though, it all makes sense.  John was mostly, old world curmudgeon, a voice of ‘fire and brimstone.’  While Jesus was that, curious blend of prophetic truth-teller and stunning revealer of God’s Amazing Grace, just what the world needed, and continues to so desperately need, even now.  Both John and his younger cousin were martyr’s for their cause, but the coming Christ’s cause was not just a baptism of washing for the forgiveness of sins, but also a resurrection-renewal of the whole world, bringing a new light, and a new power, revealed in weakness, a new gift and way of non-violence that is stronger than death, and shines clearly in the blue evening sky of our lives, giving us reason to live, and to hope. 

The Episcopal Priest, Fleming Rutledge and her husband, tell of a Christmas Card they received in 1968, from the Catholic Interracial Council of the Twin Cities.  The outside of the card pictures a beautiful redish-orange sun on the horizon, and features the words of the Benedictus: “From on high our God will bring the rising Sun...”  When you open the card, there is a different, down to earth, sepia-colored image, of a small child, lit by a striking ray of sunlight, as he sits by himself in the courtyard, of a desperately poor neighborhood.  And printed there inside is the rest of the verse: “to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.”  The contrast between the outside and the inside, took our breath away, says Fleming, “and we still think it is the best Christmas card we ever received.” 

We are pointers, like John the Baptist, to the one who is the giver of light, who comes to us to take away the shadow of death.  Whatever it takes, whatever your personal style is – whether with a long index finger, or a strong and humble example of helping and joining in for justice – we are called to make straight the way of the Lord, and be ones who point to the Christ, who comes into our world, the bringer of life and light.  We are not Elijah’s, but we are John the Baptist’s.  We are all cousins, though we point to something greater than ourselves.  We point to our younger cousin, the light and the truth.  This is the joyful good news we are so privileged to share in Advent.  The Messiah is coming to enlighten us with grace, that we may serve our neighbors in need.  “Grant this,” we pray, “through Christ our Lord, whose coming is certain and whose day draws near!”  

And let the people say, Amen.

Reading for December 7, 2014 | Advent 2B

• Isaiah 40:1-11  
• Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13  
• 2 Peter 3:8-15a   
• Mark 1:1-8

Beautiful Fragile Chalice, by Rev Fred Kinsey
Two weeks ago our beautiful communion chalice for the wine had an unfortunate accident.  First, while being washed, the cup part, dislodged itself from the base it sits on.  As you know, this is handmade pottery, and it’s constructed that way, in two pieces.  After worship, I had no less than three offers to fix it!  Each offer seemed more intriguing, and the third was to actually re-fire it in a 500 degree oven and epoxy it back together, much like it had been made originally.  So, we went with that offer!  I’m not going to tell you who that was, to protect the innocent.  And, because, when they took it home to work on it, just before putting it in the oven, it was accidentally knocked to the ground, and broken beyond repair!  I’m just glad it wasn’t me!  

So, I got on the phone to call our friends in Ohio, a mom and pop business that makes this communion ware, with great love, individually, one at a time, the ole fashioned way, on a pottery wheel.  The husband answered the phone, who told me they only make the pouring chalices, like we use, in one style now, the Otoe, which, thank goodness, just happens to be the kind we use!  I told him how much we like their chalices, and about our unfortunate accident, and that we’d love to purchase another one.  And at first he told me it would take at least 7-10 days, and this was on Monday, but when I came into the office on Friday, there it was on my desk already!  They had shipped it 2nd day air for no extra charge.  I was touched, that we would have this homemade chalice, made with love and care, so beautiful, yet so fragile, in time for Sunday worship today!  This is the vessel, after all, in which is poured the blood of Christ, at the feast, for our nourishment, solidarity, and salvation.  This chalice contains the sacrifice of the one who has changed our world, and gives each of us a second chance, once again, every day. 

John the Baptist arrives on the scene today, on Advent’s Second Sunday, to prepare the way for us to be ready for this one, the one who’s coming, who is even more powerful than John.  “I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals,” said the Baptizer. “I have baptized you with water; but the Messiah who is coming, will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” 

Actually, John had a large following of his own.  So his modesty is not completely honest – [and, a bit tongue and cheek]!  John’s mission and calling was to appeal to God’s people, to wake up and be ready, as we like to say in Advent, because he was downright fanatical that the Messiah was on the way, coming soon, any day.  He was like Elijah in the desert, living off the land, the prophet who everybody expected to return, when the Messianic age was to arrive.  And if that was not enough symbolism, then his baptizing by the River Jordan was also a highly charged and symbolic gesture, suggesting that his ministry of baptism was not just about cleansing, but about the action, of the living God, who had once before brought Israel into the promised land, in just this way, under the leadership of Moses and Joshua, by way of – wait for it – the Jordan River! 

So this was symbolic, of a New Exodus!  This was the special calling and ministry of John the Baptist, which is pretty impressive.  But, as he said, even he was not worthy to be [a servant] to Jesus the Messiah, the giver of the Holy Spirit, the one who will infuse us with the new age to come, through his sacrificial life, like a Passover Lamb, his blood poured out for many – offered to us in the beautiful, yet fragile, cup of salvation.

So John was the appropriate one to announce, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight!” 

But just, how do we do that?  One way, of course, is by taking responsibility for ourselves, by confessing our sins and asking for forgiveness.  We can cleanse our hearts, relying on the promise of our baptism, just as Martin Luther’s Catechism teaches.  But the traditions of the church, as we know, come from somewhere, as Luther also taught.  The church is not infallible and must continually reform itself by going back to the scriptures, inspired by the Holy Spirit.  Or as that earlier reformer, John the Baptist said, “I have baptized you with water; but the Messiah will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” 

So John, with the whole people of Israel, was waiting in hopeful expectation for their nation to be renewed, freed, and restored, by the coming Messiah.  The good news of God was coming in the person of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.  And it was not enough that people were being cleansed with John’s baptism of water.  That was the sign of personal renewal, which was just part of a larger act in preparation for the living God’s redemption, or as Peter would later say, the one “we wait for [who will create] new heavens and a new earth,” and a home for righteousness.

To “Prepare the way of the Lord,” and “make his paths straight,” requires changing the injustices of our human made social structures.  The Messiah would free them up from every oppression.  Or, as Isaiah’s hopefully said, “Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together.” 

That their Roman occupiers could demand of Jesus’ disciples, or any of their survile Israelites, to drop what they were doing, at any time, and carry their military packs and equipment, for example, meant they were not free, and, regularly humiliated.  That they had no control over the oppressive taxes they were required to pay, meant they were institutionally impoverished.  The Messiah would, lift up every valley, and make low every mountain and hill, and establish God’s peaceful reign, and free them from such enslavement. 

Today, in America, we enslave people of our own society, by unjust laws and oppressive institutions.  The Emancipation Proclamation, backed up by a bloody Civil War, created freedom, unfortunately, on paper only.  Jim Crow laws, continued the injustice, and today, inequality is still silently in place in other, mostly invisible laws, based on racial bias.  It is so deeply imbedded in our culture, that we can’t even believe our eyes.  In a recent controlled experiment, for example, when a white person was shown a picture of a white man pointing a gun or a knife at an unarmed black person, still half the people got it mixed up and saw it the other way around. 

We still have a long way to go to straighten out and level the roads between us.  And so, I am heartened by the peaceful protests across the country interrupting us, again and again, to demand justice, for choking victim Eric Garner, for example, because surprisingly, these demonstrations have already continued long past the regular news cycle, and latest fading fad.  Even talking heads on the news from left and right, usually on opposite sides, are beginning to find some agreement on this one. 

Isaiah – who prophesied Israel’s Exile, and a way out – put it this way,
“3A voice cries out:
                "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD,
                make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
  4Every valley shall be lifted up,
                and every mountain and hill be made low;
                the uneven ground shall become level,
                and the rough places a plain.
  5Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
                and all people shall see it together,
                for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

The reign of God is a beautiful yet fragile vessel, a cup of blessing that we hold in our very hands.  It is filled with the sacrifice of our Messiah and savior.  It is an open cup for all. Let us drink deeply from it, and be filled with the life changing new creation we still long for, and know is coming, if we do not drop this opportunity for change, however fragile, a justice, that can lead to peace for all.  In this, is our Advent hope: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight!”