“God Blesses”
“God Blesses”
Isaiah 61:10-62:3, Psalm 148, Galatians 4:4-7, Luke 2:22-40
Year B, First Sunday of Christmas
December 31, 2023
Pastor Andy Kennaly, Sandpoint, Idaho
Well, do you feel old? Most of the time on New Year’s Eve, the departing year, in this case 2023, is portrayed as an old person. Baby New Year is the name given to the coming calendar, in this case, 2024. It only takes a calendar year to go from a little baby to an old person.
In a similar way, the baby Jesus born in Bethlehem doesn’t remain an infant for long. The Sundays of Christmas get boxed away and by January 6 the season of Epiphany declares, “God with us” as a theme of incarnation, of Christ revealed in the life of Jesus. But the innocence of this birth doesn’t last long. Corruption is soon revealed, the violence of tyranny, the unsettling of political pressures upon refugees, the intermingling of an individual life with larger, cultural forces; these remind us of so many dynamics we know are still part of the world situation.
This morning’s passage about Jesus taken to Jerusalem to be presented to the Lord, with an offering sacrificed as part of the tradition; this story of Simeon and Anna give prophetic credentials to Jesus. We cannot leave the infant without recognizing this commission. If we do, we minimize who Jesus is and, if we ignore his prophetic call, our own lives are also minimized.
Brian McLaren reminds us in a recent devotional through the Center for Action and Contemplation that so often Christians focus on Jesus in many ways other than prophet. (https://cac.org/daily-meditations/jesus-as-prophet/).
But Jesus is a prophet and that should be a baseline of understanding that sets the framework and tone for all the mission and ministry in his life. In prophetic tradition, there needs to be a story about their call. Luke shares this story. Its Simeon who tells Mother Mary, “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 – and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” Another prophet, Anna, also came in “and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.” The section concludes this call narrative by saying, “The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.” God blesses Jesus, as nothing less than a prophet.
McLaren says, “In all the ways we talk about Jesus, I hope we can get back the understanding of Jesus as prophet and let that revolutionize us. The prophet is not just somebody who reads a book and repeats what they have learned. The prophet is somebody who goes deep into themselves to hear the message that’s being birthed in the midst of their pain and their burdens and their frustrations and their sufferings and their questions and their perplexity and their disillusionments. In the foment and ferment of that inner journey, something begins to emerge, and they bring it out and they say, “I can’t just say these words. I have to demonstrate them. I’ve got to find two or three other people who see what I see so that we can do something about it.”…
McLaren, and others, recognize that there’s a movement “happening in the world. It’s happening across religions. It’s happening with secular and religious people. It’s bubbling up in the hearts of people in pain. When people who are motivated by revolutionary love in the prophetic path of Jesus come together, knowing the pain of our planet and knowing the agony of the poor, to work for peace and against injustice and racism and hate, they can transform a broken world toward beloved community to the glory of God.”
This is what Jesus was born into, and this is who Jesus is, someone who lives this prophetic journey into the heart of inner experience. Jesus invites us to follow, into our own hearts, transformed by God’s Loving Presence discovered in our own soul, and sent to proclaim and embody a transformation.
Everyone experiences difficulties, pain, or trauma. The school of hard knocks has an all-inclusive membership. It is no mistake that hurt people hurt people. To go deep into pain is very often resisted, and our mind tries to disassociate from inner struggles. But for those who open themselves to the spiritual journey of inner healing, who enter the abyss and discover the Spirit in ways that inform a new understanding, then another saying becomes true. Transformed people transform people. Prophets, by their very nature, are wounded healers, who, in order to carry out their mission and their calling, learn to lean into trust and the loving embrace of God who is the only one with the power to define who they really are.
That would be quite a New Year’s Resolution, to embrace Baby New Year with a beginner’s mind, to learn spiritual disciplines that help us on the journey to our inner pain and back again, like walking a labyrinth with twists and turns and what seems like a meandering path, and yet sometimes it’s when you feel the farthest from a loving center that you’re actually the closest and there is no way to get lost on this path. With God’s help, we can take another step, round another corner, and trust the journey all the more because God is with us, Jesus is born anew, and we, like him, are nothing less that prophets who notice that important things need proclaimed and lived out in our calling to engage and transform the world.
This New Year’s Resolution needs full disclosure, that the path Jesus is on as a prophet, the Way we are invited to follow, does involve challenges. It is not an easy path. Jesus tells followers, “You’re going to be persecuted the way the prophets were before you. You’re fulfilling and falling into their movement. My movement is a prophetic movement. When you join my movement, you’re in that line of work.” (McLaren). But Jesus also promises presence and blessing, that those who follow him will even do greater works than he. My oh my, what does Baby New Year have in store for us?
As we take our first steps into 2024, as Christmas merges into Epiphany, as the Christ child grows and calls out our name, I’d like to share a closing prayer from Joyce Rupp. It is a Labyrinth Prayer. Remember a labyrinth? It is an ancient, spiritual, prayer path that has many designs but the same intent of a journey toward the center, a journey back out, all on a meandering path of connection.
As I lead this labyrinth prayer, we are reminded that we are included in the strength of our common humanity as the Christ-Consciousness lives in and as our life. We do not walk alone. Together, as we follow the baby Jesus, let us trust our prophetic calling as we pray,
“You are with me, Ever-Present Journeyer, as I stand at the opening to the labyrinth. Many times I have stood unsure at the entrance of an unknown journey in my life. Remind me that I do not make the passage to the center alone. You accompany my every footstep.
Encourage me to bring my entire life with me – whatever encumbers and inhibits, whatever enthuses and inspires. No part of my life can be left behind. Each particle is woven into my relationship with you. I bring all of it onto the path that draws me inward and forward.
Instill trust in me as I begin to walk the back and forth movements of the path taking me further and deeper into the mystery of you and into the unknown recesses of my soul. Assure me that I can walk without fear, knowing you are my guide. Whatever truth awaits, it will be given when I am available and ready to receive it.
Slow me with your stillness so I do not hurry the steps I take. Enable my patience and mindfulness to assist my focus on each step, as I join my breath to you, the one breath.
When I reach the center of the labyrinth open the portals of my mind and heart to remove anything that prevents me from seeing clearly. Grant wisdom to know what to leave behind in the center. Whatever keeps me bound, unbind. Whatever holds me back, release. Whatever yearns to be set free, liberate.
Before I begin the journey leading out of the labyrinth, place in my heart the gift that will support my being more truly yours. Restore what has been neglected. Refresh what has grown stale. Rejoice what has saddened. Reenergize what has drooped with weariness.
As I make my way from the center strengthen and deepen my commitment to personal and world transformation. May each step be a step of kindness, a step of compassion, a step of justice, a step of hope, until I reach the last step that moves me out beyond the labyrinth.
Wrap your peace around me as I go forth. May I move into what lies ahead with restored confidence, reassured of my desire and ability to be a person of great love.
As we conclude this prayer and begin to journey anew, we give thanks to the Living Christ and the prophetic purposes of God’s glory, now and always, Amen.