If You See Something
Our call is pretty simple: if we’ve seen the grace of God in Jesus, if this is life to us, we are asked by our Lord to tell others, to say “Come and see!” Even if we don’t think we’re that important to the enterprise.
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen, Second Sunday after Epiphany, year A; texts: John 1:29-42; Isaiah 49:1-7
Sisters and brothers in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
It’s interesting how much we Christians like the apostle Peter. It was one of his two feast days yesterday, the Confession of St. Peter. The Conversion of St. Paul is next Saturday, and then the two of them share a day, June 29. Peter’s the star of the twelve, isn’t he? Confesses that Jesus is Messiah, leads the twelve, along with James and John. Becomes, as tradition tells it, the first bishop of Rome. Two New Testament letters are attributed to him, even if it’s possible he didn’t write them, and even Mark’s Gospel has sometimes been attributed to Peter’s teaching and message.
We love his faults, too. Every time Peter stumbles, sticks his foot in his mouth, or doesn’t understand a word of what Jesus is saying, we rejoice a little. If even the great St. Peter can be such an idiot, perhaps there’s hope for me. Plus, Peter provides terrific comic relief in many of the Gospel stories. Peter’s great.
And then there’s his little brother, Andrew. St. Andrew only gets one feast day, not two, and since November 30 is almost always in Advent, it doesn’t get celebrated much. Overshadowed by a much more colorful and famous brother, Andrew is kind of one of the forgotten of the twelve. If he wrote any letters, none have survived, none have been attributed to him and made the canon. The three leaders of the disciples were Peter, James, and John. It might sometimes escape our notice, but the four Gospels do agree that the first four disciples called by Jesus were the two sets of brothers: Peter and Andrew, James and John. Somehow, Andrew slipped into second-rate status. He’s didn’t make the Big Three.
But did you see what happened in John’s telling this morning? There are two disciples of John the Baptist who take note of his witness to Jesus as the Lamb of God. Two disciples, Andrew, and an unnamed one, whom we assume to be John, the brother of James and the one from whom this Gospel finds its source. Andrew and John follow Jesus, and then, at the end of the story, Andrew runs and finds his brother Simon. He tells Simon that they’ve found the Messiah, and he brings his brother to Jesus. Jesus promptly changes Simon’s name to Peter, and the rest, as they say, is history. Andrew steps aside for his brother, probably not for the first time and certainly not for the last, and Peter assumes his starring role.
But do you know what sticks out to me in this story? The one who doesn’t stick out. I can’t stop looking at Andrew in this story, and in the ministry of Jesus. Because maybe we’ve been modeling ourselves after the wrong brother. Maybe we need to pay attention to the one who draws no attention to himself.
Maybe the good news of this story, and of the twelve, is that we are more like Andrew than Peter.
There are several things that we notice once we start looking at Andrew.
First, though he remains in the background, always, he’s also always an access point to Jesus. Today, he brings Simon Peter to Jesus, and starts the path of a deeply important disciple, someone Jesus needed very much. Andrew is the reason his brother believes. Because Andrew brought him to the One he saw, he recognized, as Messiah. Peter’s confession doesn’t happen without Andrew’s confession.
But when we look for Andrew in the Gospels we find him pretty much only on lists. Except in John’s Gospel, drawn from the teaching of the one of the twelve who apparently was Andrew’s best friend, John, John’s Gospel tells this one, and then two other stories of Andrew.
Do you remember the great sign Jesus gives, feeding well over 5,000 people with a couple fish and five barley loaves? Of course you do. Do you want to hazard a guess as to which disciple actually had made friends with a little boy who’d brought a lunch, and was able to tell Jesus they had at least a little food?
That’s right. It was Andrew. Maybe he didn’t make friends, but it sure looks like Andrew was the guy who paid attention to people; who, because he wasn’t dominating the scene, was able to see things others didn’t.
And a little later, there are these Greek-speaking believers who want to meet Jesus, so they talk to Philip. Philip is a Greek name, so presumably Philip was a Greek-speaking Jew, probably from a family of Jews who had lived in the diaspora. But Philip doesn’t take them to Jesus. Philip takes them to Andrew. And Andrew leads them to Jesus.
It’s becoming familiar, isn’t it? Andrew, whom we hardly think of, keeps on bringing people to Jesus. Andrew, who’s not important, is someone people can come to if they want to know Jesus.
Second, Andrew, according to John, is the first who recognized what he was seeing, who looked at Jesus and saw he was the Anointed One, the Messiah. He sees, in just one day, what Jesus is all about. At first he only calls him “rabbi,” “teacher.” But after he and John stay with Jesus for an evening, the next day he runs to his brother Simon and says, “We have found the Messiah!”
This is the first time Jesus is called the Messiah in John’s Gospel, and this confession of Andrew predates Peter’s by several years. Andrew’s encounter with Jesus causes him to see the truth.
And third, Andrew witnessed to what he saw. Just like John the Baptist. “Seeing” and “looking” are important themes in John’s Gospel. Again and again, people are looking for truth, looking for God, are invited to see.
But what is important here is telling others once you’ve seen. John sees something new about his cousin Jesus, so new he says he didn’t really know who Jesus was, he sees that he is, in fact, the Son of God. The Lamb of God. So he witnesses to it.
Andrew, not knowing Jesus at all before this apparently, also sees this truth. And tells his brother. Actually, he does more than tell. He brings Simon to Jesus. Just like he brings the little boy with a lunch. Just like he brings the Greek-speaking believers.
Andrew’s not content simply to know who Jesus is in his life. He needs to let others know, too.
This, then, is our model: if we have, like Andrew, seen something, it’s time to tell others.
We are made to be servants of God in our baptism, called to witness to what God is doing. To tell people what we’ve seen. All so God’s salvation, God’s light, can reach to the end of the earth, Isaiah says today. Which will only happen when those who have seen tell others to “come and see,” like Andrew did.
Like Andrew, our relationship with our Lord Jesus causes us to see who he is, to know his grace and hope in our lives. We gather here each week to meet the Triune God who has come to us in this Anointed One, and to be blessed and fed by the grace of God we have come to know.
That is what we have “seen.”
And it’s worth remembering that if we don’t share this, then others won’t see themselves. What would the Church be like without Peter? Well, without Andrew, there is no Peter. If Andrew had kept it to himself, what would have happened? If Andrew hadn’t been approachable, how many wouldn’t have known Jesus?
If people are to hear and believe, and know God’s saving love, then we, too, need to follow our call. We need to copy Andrew. Because how will anyone hear if we’re so involved in our own issues and lives that we forget to invite others, to say “come and see”?
How will anyone know if we act in our lives toward each other and in the world as if the coming of Messiah means little or nothing to how we speak and act in the world?
How will anyone see if we simply keep the Good News of our inclusion in God’s love and the reality that is in our lives to ourselves and don’t share?
If we model ourselves after Andrew, we find that this witness can happen in different ways. It can happen in our speaking, in telling the Word, as he did: we have found the Messiah, this is the Son of God! As believers, we have lots of opportunities to speak the Good News to others, to tell them of the joy we know from God. To tell them they are loved by God. To do Andrew’s work.
It can happen in our inviting to come, too, bringing people with us to worship, to meet the Lord in Word and Supper, in the community of faith. This happens around here, probably more than in many places, but we could all take a page from this faithful disciple and take it as our primary role, our call. We have the privilege of inviting people to come and see God in our midst, in Word, Meal, Community, and to know and see what gives us life.
And, last, like Andrew, our telling can happen in our lives of love and service, being the presence of the Messiah to others. Something about him led people to trust him and come, hoping to see Jesus. As we live in love toward each other, live lives of concrete and active love in the world, live transformed lives, we witness again and again, “come and see” what we have found!
Andrew’s greatest gift to us, though, may be the ability to see our importance in spite of seeming evidence to the contrary.
Andrew models faithfulness, not success. He is the first to confess the Messiah, but Peter gets all the fame, all the notice. Having grown up with volatile, exuberant Simon, surely he had to know what would happen if he became a disciple, too. Still, Andrew goes and tells his brother anyway.
Like John the Baptist, who loses disciples to Jesus once he points him out as Lamb of God, as they immediately abandon him, that’s Andrew’s way. Andrew brings Peter to Jesus, and immediately assumes second (or third, or fourth) place.
Our call is not to “success” in life, in faith, but to faithfulness. It’s hard to know, but it seems as if Andrew doesn’t mind. Maybe Andrew already understood what two others of the Big Three, James and John, had to be taught by Jesus much later. When they wanted honor and privilege and important seats, they were told that being faithful, even unto death, was what being a disciple was all about.
Maybe Andrew already knew that. Be that as it may, what matters for us is that we faithfully witness to all we meet that we have seen the Messiah. Not that we’re a success, whatever that means anyway.
It isn’t important that any of us are important. Because what Andrew knew was that it would be the Messiah himself who would take care of the giving of faith. You see, he just brought people to Jesus. Jesus took care of the rest. Like turning a small lunch Andrew found into a massive feast. He didn’t think he was a savior, he didn’t think he was a big deal. But he did know what he had seen, and that he wanted to share.
And that’s our path, too. It is the Spirit of Christ who will bring others to faith, to life. All we can do is, if we’ve seen something, tell someone.
It seems kind of simple when we think about it. Just tell folks what we’ve seen.
But from Andrew’s viewpoint, it’s a source of joy. He saw God’s Messiah. And he told people. And people saw him and trusted him, and through that, they came to Jesus.
And no, he didn’t make the Big Three. He’s hardly mentioned in the Gospels. But I suspect that’s what makes him the best model for us. We, who will likely never make the history books as the greatest evangelists of our age, we who think we aren’t very good at it.
If we follow the little brother here, we learn that’s not the point. If Messiah is come, that’s all the strength and talent we need, right there. Our job is just to point and say, “look at that!” “Come and see!”
It’s not a hard job. But it is critical. And all of us can do it. That’s what Andrew says, anyway.
In the name of Jesus. Amen
The Olive Branch, 1/15/14
Accent on Worship
What’s Next?
Come Sunday our worship life enters another quiet spell, Sundays with green paraments and no incense, Sundays where we don’t process the Gospel into the middle of the nave for the reading. It is the season after Epiphany, and it’s a little welcome after a run of festivals which began in November, with only Advent to break it up a little.
But what will these weeks be like for us when we don’t have feast days to celebrate, when we have a simpler Eucharistic liturgy? The season of Epiphany is one which focuses on vocation, on the call of disciples, on our call as disciples. It’s a season which begins at the shore of the Sea of Galilee and ends on the mountain of Jesus’ transfiguration. We have a long Epiphany this year, since Easter is so late, and that means we’ll also start getting into readings like the summer readings, Gospels which introduce the teaching of Jesus.
We’re in Matthew’s year, so after the next two weeks of call stories, we move into several weeks of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus will call us to be a light to the world, salt to season the world. He will challenge us to live by the spirit of God’s law, to follow the commandments to their fullest intent, to the thoughts of our hearts and minds. Jesus will command us to love our enemies and all who hate us. In short, we will be learning that this life as a disciple isn’t easy, that it asks a great deal of us. Alongside Jesus, Isaiah, Deuteronomy, and Leviticus will repeat both our call as children of God and what our lives of faith will look like, doing justice, caring for the poor, obeying God in all things.
This might seem daunting, but in fact we should be grateful. Were we only to hear of the call of the disciples and never what the life of the disciple is meant to be in God’s eyes, we’d be in danger of being misled. We will have ample opportunity to consider the “truth in advertising” that our Lord Jesus provides as we worship during these weeks. As we consider our call, our vocation, it will be good to hear what that will mean, lest we commit without true willingness to follow through.
But we also remember this: considering our vocation is the annual work of the Epiphany season, but the Epiphany season begins with, well, Epiphany. Our call as disciples, our life in Christ envisioned by Christ himself and supported by the prophets, all this begins and is centered on the astonishing Light God has shined into the darkness of our world, all this is grounded in our awareness that in Christ God has come to be with us. This life to which we are called, challenging as it is, is a life lived in light, not darkness, in love, not hate, and as such is a life lived in God’s grace and presence, where we’re given the power, the ability to become children of God ourselves. It’s life worth living, challenge or not. That’s the true grace of these green weeks.
Oh, and should any be missing our festivals, this year Presentation of Our Lord (Feb. 2) falls on a Sunday, so in the midst of the green we’ll put on the white once again and celebrate. But let’s pray that the green of this season truly signifies the life in Christ to which we are invited and which we most earnestly hope to see come to pass in our lives.
In Christ,
– Joseph
Sunday Readings
January 19, 2014 – Second Sunday after Epiphany
Isaiah 49;1-7 + Psalm 40:1-11
I Corinthians 1:1-9 + John 1:29-42
January 26, 2014 – Third Sunday after Epiphany
Isaiah 49:1-7 + Psalm 40:1-11
I Corinthians 1:1-9 + John 1:29-42
Stories for the Journey: Thursday Evening Bible Study Returns January 16
Starting January 16 and running for six weeks, there will be a Thursday evening Bible study meeting in the Chapel Lounge from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Pr. Crippen will lead a series on the parables of Jesus and how they provide us a vision of God’s reign. As with all these Thursday series, there will be a light supper when we begin. If anyone wishes to provide the first week’s meal, please let Pr. Crippen know.
Bible Study at Becketwood
Vicar Emily will offer a second run of the six- week Bible study on human suffering at Becketwood Cooperative on five Tuesday afternoons (January 7 through February 4) from 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm. This study examines the Biblical witness to suffering and who God is for us in the midst of that suffering. The meeting room at Becketwood changes each week, so announcements will be made at the study regarding the location of the following week. All are welcome!
Wedding Invitation
Because you welcomed us, celebrated with us, loved and encouraged us, we, Marty Hamlin and Cathy Bosworth, invite you to join us as we exchange our marriage vows.
The service will take place here at Mount Olive on Saturday, January 25, at 3:00 p.m. A reception follows immediately in the Undercroft.
Please, no gifts.
Neighborhood Ministry Position News
As previously announced, Mount Olive will hire an interim person to be the Neighborhood Ministries Coordinator from the time of Donna’s departure in March until a permanent replacement is hired in the fall. A position description for this interim position is being finalized and will be ready for distribution next week. If you are interested in the position or know of someone who would be interested, please contact the church office ASAP. Cha will take names and contact information, including email if possible, and then send out the position details next week. This is work that would be eligible for job-sharing. For any questions, contact Lisa Nordeen.
2013 Contribution Statements
Year-end contribution statements for 2013 are being mailed from the church office to all contributors this week.
If you do not receive your statement, please contact the church office and another will be sent or emailed to you.
Book Discussion Group
On January 18 (one week late due to Liturgical Conference) the Book Group will discuss Moon Tiger, by Penelope Lively, and on February 8, The Bell, by Iris Murdoch.
Church Library News
For many, a new year provides a new beginning, a new challenge or focus with many assurances that our Lord is there to guide and support us each step along the way. This means we can live with a sense of spontaneity and tranquility — what a blessing! However, there are others who do not find a new year to be especially happy or peaceful. They may be facing a myriad of difficulties, including illness, depression, loneliness, and for those who are long-time caregivers (I remember those days/years well) a very real sense of weariness. It is for those particularly that our newest display of books in the library was developed but everyone is encouraged to stop in soon to browse. Included are:
• Anatomy of An Illness (as perceived by the patient), by Norman Cousins
• Make Your Illness Count (a hospital chaplain shows how God’s healing power can be released in your life), by Vernon J. Bittner
• Christian Caregiving: A Way of Life, by Kenneth C. Haugh
• Caregiving for Your Loved Ones, by Mary Vaughn Armstrong
• Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired, by Philip L. Hansen
• Emotions: Can You Trust Them?, by Dr. James Dobson
• Living With Cancer, by Mary Beth Moster
• Journey Through Cancer (My Story of Hope, Healing and God’s Amazing Faithfulness), by Emilie Barnes
• We Lived With Dying, by Margaret Woods Johnson
• Meeting Life’s Challenges, edited by Ted Miller
• Being a Caring Father, edited by Ted Miller
The closing quote this time is by Rita Dover — “The library is an arena of possibility, opening both a window into the soul and a door onto the world.”
– Leanna Kloempken
Annual “Taste of” Festival to Be Held February 9
Mark your calendar for Sunday, February 9! This year’s “Taste of” will take us to New Orleans for a Mardi Gras celebration for Lutheran Volunteer Corps. In places like New Orleans, Mardi Gras is celebrated over the weeks ahead of “Fat Tuesday.” So let’s kick off Mardi Gras right with gumbo, jambalaya, slaw, dirty rice, and other fare. (And this event will be a good bookend for the Fat Tuesday pancake dinner, planned with our youth.)
We will celebrate and learn about the work of the Lutheran Volunteer Corps (LVC), one of the supported missions of Mount Olive through our congregational giving. Each year, the Lutheran Volunteer Corps provides opportunities for young adults and others to complete a year of full-time service work at select nonprofits in cities across the country, including Minneapolis and St. Paul. During their year of service, participants live in community and have opportunities to reflect on their commitments, their spiritual journeys, and the ways they hope to put their values into practice.
We will be joined during the adult forum by the Regional Director of LVC, the Development Director, and several current and past volunteers. Then after the second service, head downstairs for the Mardi Gras meal.
The Missions Committee is still looking for people to cook an item and bring it to church for the meal on Sunday, February 9, and we are still looking for help in decorating and setting up the day before “Taste of.” If you can help, please e-mail Paul Schadewald, at pschadew@yahoo.com
All are welcome at “Taste of Mardi Gras.” Bring friends!
Reconciling in Christ (RIC) Festival Worship
The RIC Team of Reconciling Works-Lutherans Concerned/Twin Cities invites all people to join with members of RIC churches across the metro area for our ninth annual Metro Area Festival worship on Saturday, January 25, 2014, 4:30 p.m. at Lake Nokomis Lutheran Church, 5011 31st Ave S., Minneapolis. The Rev. Jen Nagel will preach.
The RIC program rosters Lutheran congregations that welcome and affirm LGBT persons in their full sacred worth. Both the Minneapolis and Saint Paul Area Synods are RIC Synods along with dozens of RIC worshiping communities. Please join us in this Word and Sacrament celebration of the welcome we extend to the whole people of God. A light supper will follow the service.
All are welcome!
The Olive Branch, 1/8/14
Accent on Worship
The Baptism of our Lord
We begin this time after Epiphany in the same way in which we will end. This Sunday, the Baptism of our Lord, and again on the Transfiguration of our Lord, we will hear God say: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” God the Father only speaks two times directly in the gospel of Matthew, and both times God makes it clear to us who Jesus is: he is the Son of God, and in him, God is fully present.
These words, however, don’t only reveal who Jesus is; they tell us who we are.
Tara was one of my most influential friends in high school; her witness is always with me. At the age of 16, Tara’s father asked her to move out of the house because taking care of her meant that he couldn’t do the things that he wanted to do or live the way that he wanted to live. Tara’s mother agreed to take her in as long as Tara paid her rent. It was evident to Tara that she was not wanted, and she was sure that her parents weren’t the only ones who felt this way. If only she were sweet enough, generous enough, thoughtful enough, skinny enough, pretty enough, fun enough, then people might love her. She spent her adolescent life working to win this love.
One summer at Bible camp, she found what she was looking for.
At worship Wednesday night that week, the whole camp gathered at the lake. In remembrance of our baptisms we went to the water’s edge, and our counselor made the sign of the cross on our forehead, saying the familiar words, “Child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.”
At these words, Tara wept. That night at worship, Tara connected with her baptism in a way that she never had before. She whispered to me: “Now I know for sure that I am loved. I know who I belong to.”
Tara, like all of us, needed to be reminded. How often we seek meaning and identity in people and things that will not satisfy! Searching, hoping to find the affirmation for which we long.
We need look no further. In our baptism, God has claimed us as God’s own. God proclaims to us: “You are mine, beloved. I am pleased with you.”
As we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord, we hear again Jesus’ true identity, and we are reminded of our own. In life and in death, we belong to the Lord.
– Vicar Emily Beckering
Sunday Readings
January 12, 2014 – The Baptism of Our Lord
Isaiah 42:1-9 + Psalm 29
Acts 10:34-43 + Matthew 3:13-17
January 19, 2014 – Second Sunday after Epiphany
Isaiah 49;1-7 + Psalm 40:1-11
I Corinthians 1:1-9 + John 1:29-42
Conference on Liturgy: This Weekend!
By now you should have received the brochure for this year’s Conference on Liturgy, to be held January 10-11, 2014. The theme of this year’s conference is, “The Psalms: Humanity at Full Stretch.”
The conference begins with a hymn festival on Friday, January 10, at 7:30 p.m. Leadership for the hymn festival this year will be by the Mount Olive Cantorei, Cantor David Cherwien, and the Rev. Dr. Don Saliers. Don Saliers will be the keynote speaker for the conference this year, and will also be guest preacher at Mount Olive that Sunday for the feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, January 12.
Please note that the cost for Mount Olive members to attend this year’s conference is $35/person.
Hymn Festival, This Friday, January 10
Mount Olive is offering its annual hymn festival (connected to the Conference on Liturgy) Friday, Jan 10 at 7:30. This event is open to the public, and you do not need to be registered for the conference activities on Saturday in order to attend. The more singers the merrier! The program will be led by the Cantorei and Cantor Cherwien, with reflections by guest theologian Donald Saliers, Professor Emeritus at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
The theme is “Psalm Dimensions” and focuses on various aspects of the Psalter, singing a variety of Psalms (in a variety of ways!) and hymns around the same topic. Themes include praise, lament, comfort, narration, supplication, thanksgiving and hope. Well known hymns as well as some new ones will be sung – also in a variety of ways.
The hymn festival format was firmly established by Cantor Paul Manz, and is now a tradition practiced many places. Our continuing these events is an important contribution to the church and its song. Bring friends!
Stories for the Journey: Thursday Evening Bible Study Returns January 16
Starting January 16 and running for six weeks, there will be a Thursday evening Bible study meeting in the Chapel Lounge from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Pr. Crippen will lead a series on the parables of Jesus and how they provide us a vision of God’s reign. As with all these Thursday series, there will be a light supper when we begin. If anyone wishes to provide the first week’s meal, please let Pr. Crippen know.
Bible Study at Becketwood
Vicar Emily is offering a second run of the six- week Bible study on human suffering at Becketwood Cooperative on five Tuesday afternoons (January 7 through February 4) from 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm. This study examines the Biblical witness to suffering and who God is for us in the midst of that suffering. The next session will be in the West Dining Room at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 14. The meeting room at Becketwood changes each week, so announcements will be made at the study regarding the location of the following week. All are welcome!
It’s Cold! Think Warm!
The May Day Parade needs us! Add the parade on May 4, 2014 (first Sunday in May) to your calendar now and plan to come to the May Day Parade. Bring your wagon and water and join the rest of our neighborhood for a good time. We will walk Bloomington Avenue to Powderhorn Park. All of our neighbors will be there, so let’s plan to be there, too!
Every Church a Peace Church January Meeting
Every Church a Peace Church’s bimonthly potluck supper meeting will be held on Monday, January 13, 2014, at 6:30 p.m. at Spirit of St. Stephen’s Catholic Community, 2201 First Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55404.
The speaker this month is Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, and his presentation is entitled, “Maintaining Hope in Hard Times.” Pallmeyer is Associate Professor of Justice and Peace Studies at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. He is an activist academic whose life and work over the past thirty has been have focused on addressing the political, economic, faith, and foreign policy dimensions of hunger and poverty.
This event is organized by Every Church A Peace Church, and co-sponsored by Twin Cities Peace Campaign and WAMM End War Committee. FFI: Call 612-522-1861 and/or visit them online at http://www://groups.yahoo.com/group/MnECAPC/messages.
Neighborhood Ministry Position News
As previously announced, Mount Olive will hire an interim person to be the Neighborhood Ministries Coordinator from the time of Donna’s departure in March until a permanent replacement is hired in the fall. A position description for this interim position is being finalized and will be ready for distribution next week. If any member of the congregation is interested in the position, or might know of someone who would be interested, please contact the office ASAP. Cha will take names and contact information, including email if possible, and then send out the position details next week. This is work that would be eligible for job-sharing. For any questions, contact Lisa Nordeen.
Book Discussion Group
On January 18 (one week late due to Liturgical Conference) the Book Group will discuss Moon Tiger, by Penelope Lively, and on February 8, The Bell, by Iris Murdoch.
Help for Victims of the Cedar/Riverside Explosion/Fire
The Minneapolis Area Synod invites prayers for the Cedar-Riverside victims and the neighborhood as it recovers from the New Year’s Day explosion and fire.
Trinity Lutheran has been organizing ways in which help can be given. Donations of food and clothing can be made at the Brian Coyle Community Center at 420 15th Street, or through Trinity Lutheran Congregation, 2001 Riverside Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55454.
Financial donations may be made through the Brian Coyle Community Center online at http://www.puc-mn.org/donate – note “Cedar-Riverside Fire Disaster Relief”. Financial donations may also be made through Trinity Lutheran Congregation; write “Fire Disaster Relief” on the memo line. Donations will go to the survivors of the fire and their families and to the family-owned business that was destroyed.
For updates, check the Minneapolis Area Synod Facebook page.
Mount Olive T-Shirts
Gail Nielsen is selling Mount Olive t-shirts for $7 each. These shirts come in small, medium, large (red, black, royal blue, purple), and extra large (red, royal blue). These shirts will be sold until they are gone, at which time different colors could be ordered if desired.
If you are interested in purchasing a shirt, please contact Gail Nielsen (gmninmpls@hotmail.com).
Thank you
We would like to thank everyone for welcoming the extra visitors who came to witness our marriage at the Advent 3 worship. It was a joy to share Mount Olive through music, liturgy, and welcoming. We thank you for the deeply meaningful experience of being held by you on that day. And our thanks to everyone that helped with the food and organization that comes with a big crowd; it is especially appreciated.
– Randy Werner and Peter Tressel
Disaster and Refugee Support
Thank you to Mount Olive for supporting the ELCA’s call for contributions to support those affected by the typhoon and Syrians uprooted by war. Individual Mount Olive members responded by contributing approximately $2,700 toward the ELCA’s efforts to provide typhoon assistance and $150 toward the ELCA’s support for Syrian refugees.
Found by a Star
We, like the Magi, are called to seek Jesus in the world. We trust that the Triune God is leading us and knows us well enough to call us in ways that we can recognize.
Vicar Emily Beckering, The Epiphany of Our Lord; text: Matthew 2:1-12
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
All of the great wise men of history have made their discoveries. Here are a few: Sir Isaac Newton: the Laws of Motion and Universal Gravitation. Benjamin Franklin: electricity. Ibn al-Shatir—not Copernicus—planetary motion.
And there is a fair share of wise women, too. Marie Curie conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. Maria Mitchell discovered a comet and that sunspots were an independent phenomenon and not a type of cloud. Barbara McClintock: the technique for visualizing maize chromosomes and for microscopic analysis to demonstrate many fundamental genetic ideas.
And the Wise Men whom we hear of on this and every Epiphany? They are credited for discovering the Star of Bethlehem. These Wise men—or Magi—these astrologers are the only ones, it seems, who notice this star and pay attention to what it means: a king is born to the Jews. But they are not Jews; their questions to Herod convey this. Although they understand that a significant king has been born, they do not know where or comprehend fully what this king means for the Jews. What they do know is this: a king unlike any other king has been born and only one thing can be done: they must travel to meet this king for themselves.
It would have been easy for them, upon seeing the star rise, to celebrate their own cleverness. It would have been easy for them to take credit for the discovery of this star and use it to bring themselves glory and recognition by interpreting its meaning in front of kings and rulers in their land. It would have been easy for them to record this sighting and their interpretation of the rising star, and then move on to making their next discovery. It would have been easy—reasonable even—for the Magi to do any of these things. It would have made much more sense for them to record their findings and move on, or to rejoice among themselves, than it would for them to pack up and set out to find this king without knowing exactly where they were going or what awaited them along the way. It would have been safer—smarter according to most wisdom—to stay put.
But they do not. This revelation demands a different kind of response from them; they are not content to go on with their lives as usual. They must see this king for themselves. They are moved to make a journey, and a long one, most likely, in order to be with this king. They move toward this star even before they completely understand it, even before they know exactly where it is leading them or what difficulties they might face along the way. They go out, searching, trusting, and moving forward toward the sign given to them.
By responding in this way, these Magi, these outsiders show us insiders the way of discipleship.
They teach us that the good news given to us, the good news that we have heard throughout this Christmas—that God loves us, has come to live with us, to be with us, and has made us God’s own children—all of this good news cannot stop with our hearing it. We cannot be content with cherishing this news in our hearts, or with letting its only effect in our lives to be that it fills us up today so that we can return to business as usual tomorrow. The discovery of the birth of Jesus draws the Magi out of the comfort of everything that they know, and draws them toward Jesus. They realize that they really only have one option: they must trust the sign that they have been given and follow it. They must go where this king is.
The beckoning that God extends to the Magi is the same call that we receive. There is really only one option open to us as well: we must go where Jesus is. We, too, are called out of ourselves, called out of safety and security, called out to seek our Lord Jesus in this world, and to follow where he leads us. We do not live faithfully if we do not go out where we are sent or follow where God leads us.
As is true for the Magi, responding to God’s beckoning will lead us on a path that is not without danger. By setting out to follow the star, and seeking the newborn king, the Magi expose themselves to unknown threats: threats like the potential wrath of Herod, and the dangers of robbery and exposure in the wilderness along the open road. Certainly, if we are following where God leads us, then we will also encounter the dangers of this world because the way of Christ, as we know, is the way that leads to the cross.
But following this beckoning will also lead to joy that we could not have fathomed. The Magi would not have been able to experience the joy of being in the presence of God if they had not set out on the journey or if they had allowed obstacles along the way to deter them. If they had allowed the fact that the Jews in Jerusalem and Bethlehem—this king’s own people—did not recognize him, to make them doubt the star that they themselves had witnessed, they would not have beheld the joy of being in God’s presence.
If we learn any wisdom from these Wise Men, it is that in our life of faith together, we as a congregation must seek God in the world in order to be with our Lord, even when this seeking goes against our reason, requires us to make different decisions than business models would suggest, or calls us into uncharted territory. In order to respond faithfully to the Word that Christ has come into the world, we must go out into that world to be with him.
If we take this call on our lives seriously, then the question becomes: how will we know where Christ is or where we are being led? In response to this question, the story of Epiphany gives us very good news. The way of faith, the power to move forward and to follow Jesus where he is, doesn’t begin with us. The Wise Men were given the star as a sign: God was able to call them in a way that they could recognize.
In the history of Israel, it was not typical for God to communicate God’s will or Word through the stars. Instead, God most often spoke directly through people like Moses, King David and the prophets and preferred to be known in the context of relationship with them. By contrast, astrologers, diviners, and interpreters of dreams are often spoken against in both the Old and New Testaments. According to the whole of scripture, those who study the stars or dreams for meaning are not to be trusted, and God’s people are commanded not to participate in these practices so that they will not be led astray to worship false gods. Yet, for these Magi, these astrologers, God uses what they know to draw them to the One whom they don’t yet know. God uses the stars to reach these people who study the stars. God gives dreams to warn these people who interpret dreams. God speaks to the Magi in their own language.
These Wise Men might not have known God, but God knew them. God knew their ways and their hearts, and God knew how to get through to them. God saw to it that these people from the East were drawn in close to their king and savior so that they too might know and see and love the God who loved them. It wasn’t the Wise Men who made the discovery after all: they didn’t find God. When they saw the star, they were the ones who were found.
We, like the Magi, have also been found by God and drawn into God’s own family through Christ. Although we can never comprehend the mystery of God, and we might not yet know where God is leading us or what form our ministry in this city will take, we do know that we belong to a God who knows us. We also know from the prayer and discernment of our visioning process that God is calling us to work. We don’t have to have all the answers or everything figured out before we set out into this work because God knows us and God knows how to reach us.
This is not to say that this is all about us or that God feeds into our preoccupation with ourselves. Rather, in telling us this story and giving us this gospel, Matthew testifies that the Creator of the universe and all of its stars is also the God who comes to us as this baby, and the God who has the hairs of our head counted. This God knows us well enough to know how best to reach us. As God did for the Hebrews with the prophets and with the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, and as God did for the Magi with the star over Bethlehem, God will also lead us and call us in ways that we can recognize. We will know the sound of God’s voice.
God the Father is out ahead of us, ever-drawing us in, God the Son, our bright and morning star, guides us by his light, and God the Holy Spirit will give us both the wisdom to recognize Christ and the strength to follow him.
We do not yet know what the new year will bring for us here at Mount Olive or where we might be led. We know only that God is leading us, God’s love is supporting us and that our God goes out before us and with us. That is enough. With that, we can go out with courage.
Amen.
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