Sermon Blog
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Sermon Blog
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Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Greenwood, Virginia
The Rev. John Taliaferro Thomas Second Sunday of Christmas, Year B, January 3, 2021 Trust your gut. That may sound basic and cliché, but it is among the soundest advice I have ever received. There is something inside of us that is intuitive. There is something inside of us that guides us to see beyond the surface of things, to set aside mere self-centered things, and listen for the rhythm of what is good. That something comes when we are listening for the Word of love, for the Way of God, or the Wisdom that some just call our Higher Power. Trust your gut, but be sure to be plugged into the right power source. This gives us a better shot at deep listening, holy hearing, and faithful participation in God’s will. “An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him… When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child's life are dead… And after being warned in a dream. [not to go to Judea] he went away to the district of Galilee [to Nazareth].” That is three important and revelatory dreams in just one short Gospel passage. To be sure, Joseph is an enigmatic character in the Jesus story. Luke and Matthew talk about Joseph and what he does, but unlike John the Baptist, the shepherds, the wise men, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, we never hear him say or proclaim anything. He is a bit player in the Christmas pageant who has no lines. Let’s reflect on his predicament. His fiancé comes to him with a wild story about meeting and angel and being told that she is with child though a decidedly unheard-of method of conception. It is a tough story to believe. He knows that the child cannot be his for obvious reasons. In that day, a bona fide marriage happened when the two families came together, the bride was given from her family to the groom’s family, and the covenant between them was sealed in a ritual ceremony. Then, there was a feast, sometimes lasting days on end, and finally, the couple retired together, alone at last. Up to that point, they did not share much if any time together. In many cases, they hardly knew each other. As everyone knew the traditions, and as Mary began to show her expectant child, Joseph faced all kinds of shame and ridicule. By law, he could break the deal, and send her away. In Matthew’s telling, Joseph resolves to send her away quietly, and help her avoid public disgrace, though we are not sure how that could happen. At the last minute, God comes to him in a dream, yes, a dream before the dreams Luke tells us about today (that makes four!), and tells him that the child is of God, shall be named Jesus, and will be the Savior of the world. We hear nothing about what Joseph said, all we know is what he did. He just hung in there, stuck with Mary, and believed God. To be sure, there would be gossip, sideways looks, and all kinds of ridicule. It is phenomenal and intriguing that all of holy history, the mysterious and precarious birth of Jesus, and the faith fueled commitment of a precarious marriage commitment intertwine to change to world. A couple of poor, vulnerable, and relatively powerless people, align with God’s power and what happens changes the world forever. All of this comes about, comes from serious, gut trusting faith in action. It is hard for me to believe that a dream could inspire such bravery and faith. My recurring dreams are like the one where I have to take the SAT all over again and I arrive without my number two pencils. Or the one where I have to take a final exam in Organic Chemistry and I have never been to the class. I am not alone in having wacky dreams wherein the subconscious goes to work when all rationality is unconscious. It is pretty obvious to us what such things mean as more often than not, those kinds of dreams expose our worries and insecurities. The gospelers are not talking about those kinds of dreams, but it is the best language they have for mystic encounters with God. What that are trying to tell us is that when we listen for God, when we seek what God desires with and for us, when we are thoughtful and prayerful, God can and will lead us. Some call this God speaking to them. Many of us doubt that God can or will speak to us. But this is not the season of rationalization or logical explanation. As we consider the people of this world, and throughout history, who have followed God’s leading, generally, their actions are not self-serving. Standing for love, justice, and kindness, caring for the lost, lonely, and those who are poor in all kinds of ways takes guts. Doing so risks personal comfort, requires all kinds of time and energy, and can compromise one’s status and standing in the eyes of a material world. On the surface, following Jesus makes little sense, but as we do, we fill our empty places, and find unexpected joy. As we believe into to the whole of God’s story, from Genesis to Revelation, and in the person and work of Jesus, we join with a company of unlikely folks who hear the rhythm of holy happenings as we watch and listen for that which God urges, wills, and creates. This whole Christmas thing is not based on evidentiary propositions of assured outcomes. God choosing to come among us all comes through the ordinary us, choosing to welcome God’s working in our unlikely, vulnerable, and relatively powerless lives. Self-will is always something to check and filter when listening for God. It is good to seek God’s will with others who walk with us in faith. We can trust our gut as we see God acting, God speaking, and God moving as we go toward knowing in our knowing place what God desires. Listen. Hear. The reason we do church is to plug into God’s power source: remembering the stories of how God comes to humans like us, believing that God will use us for good, and following the Way of Jesus. As we do, we might lose the self we thought we were, but then, we will find the abundant life that God dreams for all creation. Amen. Comments are closed.
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AuthorThe Rev. John Thomas is Rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Greenwood Archives
October 2024
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