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John 1:43-51 • January 15, 2012

Brothers and sisters in Christ grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus. Amen.

I’ll admit it. I like Facebook . I also admit that I watch YouTube videos on occasion and even post a video or two once in a while. I admit that I feel a little lost if my phone is not connected directly to my body in some way. I’ll admit that I enjoy posting random thoughts and sermon manuscripts on my website. I actually feel that its part of how I live out the ministry I’m called to serve. On my Facebook and Youtube pages, I have no problem with being identified as someone from North Dakota. And as I post things to my website, I have no anxiety about what someone who reads my thoughts in another part of the world might think when they find out that my family and I call this city on the prairie – Bismarck – our home.

In the time of Jesus’ encounter with Philip and Nathanael from our gospel reading in John today, where you were from was important and a significant part of your identity. Saying that you were from Nazareth on your Facebook page or in a text message or posted on your website would not have been a good idea. Nazareth was not a place to be identified with. It was kind of a dump. Nazareth was nothing. Nazareth was nowhere.

Jesus was from Nazareth.

In today’s text, Philip comes to Nathanael and says that he has found the one whom Moses wrote about. Jesus of Nazareth. Our text doesn’t give us a clear picture of what Nathanael’s facial expression may have been, but I can almost see the sneer that his statement seems to reveal, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

Can you relate to that? Aren’t we all like that from time to time? We sit back in the shadows of our individually created self image with a sneer on our face and say, “Can anything good come from ______?” You can fill in the blank. I know for myself, it’s pretty easy to fill it in at times. Nathanael’s take on people from Nazareth isn’t much different from our own thoughts today, is it?

I’m an Oakland Raider fan, it’s easy to say, “Can anything good come from a Denver Broncos fan?” I have a job and think I work pretty hard to do the best I can in my vocation, it’s easy to say, “Can anything good come from that unemployed person who I don’t think wants to work anyway?” If I’m a Republican, it’s easy to say, “Can anything good come from a Democrat?”

Many of you have probably heard this story before. I know it’s an old and overused story, but I think there is a lot for us to think about in it today, so I want to share it with you. There are four men who were neighbors that all went to the same church. Fred Everybody, Thomas Somebody, Peter Anybody, and Joe Nobody.

Fred Everybody went fishing on Sundays or chose to stay home and sleep in since it was his only day to do so during the week. Peter Anybody wanted to go to church and worship, but he was afraid that Thomas Somebody would talk to him. So, guess who went to church and worshiped on Sunday – that’s right – Nobody. Actually, Nobody was the most engaged neighbor in this group.

One day in the church bulletin there was a call for help with an upcoming Vacation Bible School event. Everybody thought Anybody would answer the call; Anybody thought Somebody would answer the call. So, guess who answered the call to assist with teaching the youth of this congregation about their faith at Vacation Bible School? Yep – Nobody.

In his book Finding God in Unexpected Places, author Philip Yancy tells a story about a time when his family visited Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park. They were having lunch at the Old Faithful Inn, watching the digital clock count down the minutes until the reliable geyser would do its magical water dance again. When the clock reached one minute, everyone quickly left their table and rushed toward the windows of the Inn to see the big event. As Old Faithful erupted and all of the tourists were ooohing and aahing, Yancy couldn’t help but notice that the busboys and waitresses were descending upon the tables to refill water glasses and clear the area of garbage and dirty dishes. He was struck that not a single employee who worked there made any effort to look out the windows with the tourists. They had become so used to this spectacular display of God’s good creation, that it no longer impressed them. It no longer held their attention.

These stories that I’ve shared – are they reflections of how we receive the invitation to “come and see”? Do we sit in the shadow everything that consumes us and say, “Can anything good come from this?” Do we see ourselves more often like Fred Everybody, Thomas Somebody, or Peter Anybody – instead of Joe Nobody? Or has the presence of Jesus in our life become so boring and so routine that we no longer care enough to stop and look around at the amazing things that God is doing right in front of us?

When Philip invites Nathanael, he doesn’t try to defend his claim about what he has seen or found. He doesn’t make sure that Nathanael has passed all the right theological tests or asked Jesus into his heart. He just says to his friend, “Come and see.”

Nathanael sees Jesus for himself. And he is changed forever. Nathanael now knows that something good can come from Nazareth; Nathanael now knows that life in Christ is not about waiting around hoping someone else will do what needs to be done; Nathanael now believes that life in Christ is never boring or routine.

In a reflection this week on this gospel, Pastor Alyce McKenzie wrote this, “Jesus already knows us, even if we have no recollection of many of our prior encounters with him, even if we do not name or recognize his presence and efforts at the depths of our lives.”

Brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus already knows you. And thankfully Jesus never gives up on any of us. After all, it’s Jesus who offers us words of assurance today in verse 30 that we will “see greater things than these.”

As you and I seek to follow this Jesus in the days and months that lie ahead – we are not called to be children of God who are waiting around for somebody else to show up and serve our neighbors for us; we are not called to be apathetic in our faith to the point that we no longer see the great things that God is doing in our lives. You and I are being invited each and every day to “Come and see.” Take time this week to do just that. And while you’re doing that, maybe you can even extend that same invitation to someone else just like Philip did. Amen.

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Luke 2:22-40 • January 1, 2012

Brothers and sisters in Christ grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus – the light of the world. Amen.

There’s a great cartoon from an old New Yorker magazine that I came across this week that may say it all for many of us today. In the middle of the living room floor is a dried up, withered, Christmas tree. The calendar on the wall reads December 26^th. Dad is sitting in his chair with an ice pack on his head and glass of Alka-Seltzer in his hand. Mom is in a bathrobe and her hair is in rollers and looking almost as rough as her husband. The floor is a mountain of torn wrappings, empty boxes, and bows. Their child is reaching deep inside his stocking to make absolutely sure there is no more candy. In the background you can see a table with what appears to be the remains of a large feast or at the very least a large explosion of some kind had taken place in the dining room recently. The caption on the cartoon simply reads: “The morning after.”

In some ways, that’s the way many of us probably feel today. I know I sure have felt that way this past week. We rush through Christmas at light speed only to push it aside just as quickly as it came so we can move on to the next important thing in our life. I was at a local retail store this week. They already have Valentine’s Day stuff out and on sale.

Do you know that the season of Christmas for Christians doesn’t actually begin until Christmas Day and isn’t supposed to end until the Feast of Epiphany on January 6^th? For followers of Jesus, the days leading up to Christmas Day are not part of the Christmas season – they are part of the season of Advent.

Is it possible to lose Christmas that quickly? Either before it even happens or not giving the story of Christmas a chance to linger beyond the morning after?

So – it’s New Year’s Eve/Day. A day plastered with images of an old frail worn-out person fading off in the distance as a new fresh faced young person in a diaper comes forth to take over and usher in the New Year. A new beginning. Let’s forget about 2011 and celebrate something new that is about to happen. Welcome 2012 – we are so glad you’ve finally arrived!

There’s a similar image in our gospel today in Luke, isn’t there? The prophets Simeon and Anna are old. They have spent years waiting and hoping and praying that the Messiah would come. They are tired. Worn-out. Waiting for death to come. The Holy Spirit has told Simeon that they will not be able to welcome death not until the Messiah comes. Now – they hold in their arms the infant Jesus. The Messiah is here.

Simeon takes Jesus in his arms and sings praises to God, saying,

“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, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”

Simeon believes that in this child God has kept God’s promises. God has acted once and for all. In this infant child, God has addressed our questions of pain and suffering and struggle and death that every part of God’s creation will experience – with the promise of life.

There is something that I always find striking about the images in today’s gospel. Birth – new life – and death are closely and intimately connected. Simeon and Anna have been waiting for the Messiah to come in order that death may also come to them.

The author of the gospel of Luke is presenting a stark reminder for all of us that Christmas is the beginning of the death of Christ. Animals are slaughtered, the infant son is brought to the temple in observance of Jewish law, and two old people are ready to die. [Professor David Lose from Luther Seminary goes a lot further with this idea in his reflection this past week. You can find the entire article here – http://www.workingpreacher.org/dear_wp.aspx?article_id=540]

As Professor Gail Ramshaw so boldly proclaimed this week, “When we celebrate Jesus’ birth, we remember his death.”

But this word of death is the very light of the world.

One of my favorite theologians and pastors, N.T. Wright, reflected that, “in this passage, we have the old man and woman, waiting their turn to die, worshipping God night and day and praying for the salvation of his people. Luke wants to draw readers of every age and stage of life into his picture. No matter who or where you are, the story of Jesus, from the feeding-trough in Bethlehem to the empty tomb and beyond, can become your story.”

The story of Christmas, this story of Jesus – draws each of us, you and me, into the story of God who is seeking us and reaching out to us. God seeking to enter into our lives in order to give us life. God’s invitation to you and me in this story is not reflective of the way we may feel the morning or week after the rush of Christmas. Nor is it dependent upon whether or not we keep any of the resolutions we make for ourselves in the New Year.

As these two old saints, Simeon and Anna, revealed to everyone in the temple, this child was the one sent by God to bring light to all the world. And this light was not just for Israel, or for the gentiles, or just the Germans or Norwegians, or only those who exerted a little extra effort today and made it to worship even though it’s a long holiday weekend. This story is for all of us – even for those who, for whatever reason – didn’t make it to worship this weekend!

As we enter into this New Year with all of the hopes and expectations that it brings, I think it’s appropriate to offer a thought that is part of every Christmas sermon I have ever preached or probably will ever preach.

Usually when a baby is born, we like to hold the little one. This baby, this child whom Simeon and Anna recognize in the Temple as the Messiah, came to hold us. To embrace us with a love that wakes us up and makes us new each day in order for light to shine in the shadows of this world.

As brothers and sisters in Christ alive in the shadow of Christmas – the revealing of God’s light in the world. I think it’s only appropriate that we stand together and sing – “Joy to the World, the Lord has come!”