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We hope you enjoy this archive of sermons preached at Christ Church in Needham, Massachusetts.

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Sunday, January 20, 2013

Epiphany II - Suzanne Colburn

God is Able

May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be always acceptable in Thy sight, O God our Strength and Redeemer. In the Name of the One, Holy and Living God, Amen.

Good morning, and welcome to any of you who may be new to Christ Church.

Welcome also to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend. As we know, Martin Luther King, Jr. was a preacher as well as a larger than life figure in our Nation’s history. In one of his sermons, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote,

“At the center of the Christian faith is the conviction that there is a God of power who is able to do exceedingly abundant things in nature and in history. This conviction is stressed over and over again in the Old and New Testaments. The God whom we worship is not a weak and incompetent God…This ringing testimony of the Christian faith is that God is able.”1

God is able. Where we cannot, God can. Where big and little events in our lives prove us out of control, God is able. Where we are frustrated, tired, perplexed, stuck, God is able. Where we are heartbroken, angry and withdrawn, God is able. Where we are bored, uninspired, confused; God is able.

The Apostles and Prophets knew their message was to tell people just how able God was. Paul’s letters, the earliest descriptions we have of Jesus other than the Gospels, speaks of Jesus as being the human face of God’s Glory; of God’s able-ness.

If this is the case, as we continue to ponder the revelation of Jesus in his public ministry, what do we see of God in the narrative of the Wedding at Cana?

First, a little background.

Wine is a very ancient and complex metaphor in the Bible. From Old Testament times, the Israelites and YHWH portray an ambivalent relationship with wine.

On the one hand, positive and on the other hand, negative.

On the positive side, wine is an expression of God’s delight in God’s people. Like all signs in the Bible, wine points to a reality that is larger than itself, and in this case, wine points to the Coming of the Reign of God in a Joyous, abundant new age.

Wine also, from the earliest times, reflected God’s wrath. When YHWH was displeased with how the Israelites were behaving, their behavior was characterized as excess, drunkardness and impurity.

This ambivalence, or really, dual symbolism, makes its way right into the New Testament. New wine is God’s in-breaking into our world in a way that transforms old, painful realities. But new wine also demands “new wineskins…” as Jesus tells us.

We must change our thinking to be able to receive the abundance of God. We cannot fit the new reality of the Kingdom of Abundance into an old reality constructed with concepts of fear, lack, competition and greed.

In the Bible wine is sometimes just called, “the Cup.” The Psalmist speaks of God as his or her portion, “my Cup.” Wine as “the cup” appears in the Last supper, and the texts that we base our Eucharistic prayers on.

“The Cup” figures large in The Garden of Gethsemane, and symbolizes Jesus’ anguish as he struggles to follow the Father’s will even to the grave.

One can see how many different levels and interpretations there are to this one word, “wine.” Perhaps the most transcendent meaning of wine is that it represents the fact that God’s love “extends beyond the known boundaries of heaven and earth.”2

Theologian NT Wright would put it this way: “It is about transformation: the different dimension of reality that comes into being when Jesus is present.”3

Now we know a lot more about the context that informs John’s Gospel of The Wedding at Cana. If we were hearing John’s Gospel as contemporaries of Jesus, we would know how loaded this text is.

We’d know that the first hint is that the narrative begins with “On the third day…” We’d know that something surprising was about to happen. We’d remember that Jesus rose on the third day. We’d know that on a very human level, God was about to do a new thing, and we’d know that there would be both moments of delight and moments of challenge.

What a setting for a great story! God is a God of surprise, and there are several surprises at this wedding (like there often are a most weddings, one might add).

So we have a wedding. We are told that Jesus’ mother is there first, and then Jesus and his disciples arrive. Something surprising does happen. Jesus’ mother notices that the wine ran out. Jesus doesn’t notice, his mother does.

Then there ensues one of those all too human tugs of war between a mother and her eldest son. (We remember that before at Jesus’ Baptism, in the version in Matthew, John and Jesus have a “moment,” where they struggle, too, about who is going to baptize whom.)

In this early stage of Jesus’ “coming out” into public ministry, we glimpse these unformed moments of entirely human interaction. Whether it’s Jesus and his mother or Jesus and John at the Jordan, there is a minor struggle about whose authority is going to win out.

Why Jesus’ mother thinks it’s her son’s responsibility to help the host family “save face,” socially, we’ll never know. Why Jesus is a little bit ornery, claiming that “his hour has not come,” we can only speculate.

Perhaps Jesus doesn’t want to be at work spiritually; maybe he just wants to enjoy the wedding. Perhaps Jesus doesn’t think he’s ready. Perhaps Jesus isn’t even sure what he’s supposed to be doing. Perhaps he thinks to himself, “ What can I do to help these people?”

Perhaps Jesus is still getting used to his own dual nature as the Son of God and the Son of Man. Being fully human Jesus would not have just appeared as a completely formed, perfect, human being. Despite his divinity, he would have had to develop just like the rest of us.

Like the Baptism of Jesus at the Jordan, we have a miracle, the divine intersecting of heaven and earth where the needs of other’s are met by the compassion of God. We also have another surprise: the revelation of just how human this God, who is able, really is.

In this moment between Jesus and his mother we glimpse a very familiar dynamic.

A mother is still being a mother to a son who is growing up; who is trying to claim his own identity apart from his family. Jesus needs to discern for himself the need at hand and the action to follow. This may be why he says, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not come.”

To us in our time, Jesus sounds a little cruel, calling Mary simply “Woman.” In Jesus’ time, though, and in his language, calling his mother “woman” is a way to de-personalize the relationship; a way for Jesus to gain the detachment, the separation he is seeking.

Like John at the Jordan, Mary acquiesces. She steps back from a potential argument and turns to the servants acknowledging her son’s authority by saying, “Do whatever he tells you.”

We have another amazingly human moment in John’s Gospel that we can all relate to. It is these rare glimpses of Jesus the son that make us love him so much. Now we know how familiar Jesus really is with the dynamics of human life. We can trust that when we come to him in prayer with our own very human problems and needs, Jesus really is able to help us.

Jesus knew (and probably his mother did too) that he would have to develop a stronger relationship with God his Father, than with his human mother if he was going to be as able as God his Father, is able. Jesus knew that he would have to have a strength within that would lead him unerringly to do his Father’s will.

Even so, it is Jesus’ fully human mother who teaches him to become aware of the needs of others, even if those needs are simply saving face for a young couple at a wedding.

Psychologist Carl Gustave Jung talked about the role of Mary in the church. He applauded the Catholic Church for elevating Mary to the level of the Trinity through the human construct of the Assumption.

In Roman Catholicism, Mary is still the one who is most sensitive to the needs of others. She is the one closest to us; she is the great intercessor. Jung saw this feminine principle of awareness as a healthy addition to an otherwise male Godhead.

Like many of us, Jesus had parents who taught him well. Like us, Jesus had to become his own person, understand his own spiritual nature, and discern his own call.

Once again, this morning, the true miracle at Cana is the miracle of the Incarnation. It’s the miracle of how intimately our God, our Lord and our Savior understands us, loves us, and offers us new life in a new context. Our task is to dare to let Jesus be near to us, even if just for a split second.

“When Jesus is present, a different dimension of reality comes into being,” and surprising things happen.

And today, right now, Jesus is present.

Whether millions of molecules of H2O, a mother and a son at a wedding, or all of us in our own particularly human lives, nothing in Creation can resist the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Nothing can really resist the best wine; the best that God always offers.

Amen
__________
1 “God is Able.” A Sermon by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. edited by Charles Henderson. Online God Web. Charles Henderson. 2013

2Brown and Bartlett, Editors. Feasting on The Word. Year C, Vol. 1.Westminster John Knox Press. Louisville, Kentucky. 2009. p260-265

3NT Wright. John for Everyone. Vol. 1. Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, 2009.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Epiphany I - Suzanne Colburn

“You Are Mine,” says The Lord (Isaiah 43)
In the Name of the One, Holy and Living God. Amen

Good morning and welcome to all of you who may be visiting Christ Church today, or, who like me, are newcomers.

I am The Rev. Suzanne Colburn, your new Interim priest and you can read all about me in the bio in your bulletin. I look forward to getting to know all of you and I bring you greetings from St. James Episcopal Church in Amesbury, Ma. where, just like Skip, I did my final service last Sunday.

Since we are at the beginning of a new relationship, let me say thank you to the Wardens and Vestry for calling me to be your Interim Priest. Having been the person in charge of several parishes, I know how bittersweet it is to say good bye to a parish and how bittersweet it is to welcome that new clergy person. I am very glad to be among you and look forward to getting to know you all.

Today we begin a new journey filled with new relationships, new beginnings, new thoughts and fears, needs and excitements.

Today (at the 10 o’clock service) we will celebrate Christopher Jonathan Day’s new beginning as Christ Church’s newest member. In a few minutes Lynn will baptize Christopher into the household of God, using that wonderful three-fold formula, “In the Name of the Father, and of The Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Like the Trinity Itself, Baptism is a love story- it’s about the love between God and us and God and the world. The birth of child is a love story and how fitting it is on this day of new beginnings that we remember Jesus’ own baptism that is filled with words of love.

Knowing that I would begin with you on The Feast of The Baptism of Our Lord, and that we would have a baptism today, I began thinking about Jesus and his baptism, and how easily it might be mis-interpreted as only a sign of his divinity.

When we think of the story of Jesus’ baptism, I’m sure some of us have thought, “This is kind of far fetched; I highly doubt any dove from heaven came and descended above Jesus’ head, or that a voice from heaven came and declared him God’s favored son.”

We tend to be a little skeptical because in our day, these things simply don’t happen, or if they do, we’d think the person was crazy, to say the least.

We do not live in an age where invisible spirits are part of our reality. We don’t have angels wandering among us at least that we are aware of.

Whether we believe that a voice declared Jesus a Beloved Son or not, we need Jesus’ baptism because Jesus’ baptism is his “coming out” story.

Baptism is a Rite of passage for Jesus just like it is for us, too. Jesus is “coming out,” into his public ministry and is revealing himself as a fully human being, not as some supernatural deity.

By coming to John to be baptized, whether he needs it or not, Jesus is coming out as “One of Us.” Jesus is being just like any other human being hearing John the Baptist’s announcement that the kingdom was at hand.

Relevant for us is how much Jesus wanted his ministry to be down to earth- to be the Son of Man, as the Bible would say.

There’s that famous hymn from Paul, the one that describes Jesus’ humility as one who was equal to God, but chose to descend and live like one of us so that God’s Divine Love could actually be seen and felt and heard and touched.

This is the importance of Jesus’ Baptism at the Jordan. The importance is not the divine flashy lights, it is the fact that this man, who could have been so special and removed form the people, insisted, on being one of us.

It’s a love story and it begins with the prophet Isaiah’s pronouncement that we heard in the first lesson:

“Thus says the Lord…who created you…who formed you…who redeemed you…who called you…”You are mine”…and I, The Lord …your Savior… say, I love you.” (Is. 43:1-7)

From the beginning, God’s Voice is a voice of undying love for humankind.

If the Father is well pleased with Jesus, or any of us, it is because we choose, despite all odds, to live fully as the human beings that we are.

The birth of Christ into human history signals an elevation of being human to the status of Beloved. This is why we are baptized into Christ. We are baptized into the One who helps us to become more fully human than we could ever be without Him.

It’s a Mystery of Love- that only through the Son of God and Son of Man can we become the most fully human beings we can be.

In our becoming more human each day by living our lives in Christ, we draw the Father’s affirmation to us just as Jesus, choosing to be fully human, drew the Father’s love to himself.

One would think it would be easy to be fully human. We are human beings after all aren’t we? Doesn’t being human come naturally? Isn’t it odd that we need the Christ of God to show us the way?

And of course, that’s what we love about Jesus. In all ways he shows us what it’s like to be fully human, even to the point of going through the experience of dying when he didn’t have to die any more than he had to be baptized.

But Jesus’ love for us is such that he and the Father and the Spirit want to be part of every single one of our human experiences.

God has an agenda!

It warms my heart to remember the baptisms I‘ve witnessed or done.
The quiet, sleeping babies, the terrified ones, the nervous parents, the curious toddlers, the matter-of-fact older children, the godparents and sponsors, family members and friends, and yes, the congregations too.

All these people would have been standing around John the Baptist and Jesus at the River Jordan, too.

It warms my heart to know that we have help in becoming human, that when we get stuck at any particular point in our life’s journey we can say to Christ, “how did you do this?” “How am I to live this particular human being that is me?”

Relevant for us is the fact that living out one’s destiny as a human being was no easier for the Son of God than it is for any of us.

We all have had near misses in our own lives; moments of fate, or decision, or simply coincidence when things could have gone just as easily one way as another. Yet, something appears to intervene. Later in life we are able to look back and see how the events of our lives really all do fit together in one, meaningful, human journey.

In the story of Jesus’ baptism Jesus receives special acknowledgement from God, but Jesus does not ask for special treatment from his fellow human beings.

Jesus did not need to be baptized. Jesus did not need to repent of his sins, he was the arrival of the Kingdom of God in the flesh, and John the baptizer knew this. Yet for Jesus, it was crucial that all who were standing by see him, as he knew himself to be, as the Son of Humankind.

This is what is so Beloved about Jesus, that the Son of God knows himself to be fully the Son of Man as well.

The Father’s response to Jesus is one of pure love; love for this incredible human being, who, though he could pull rank over any other human being, chose, as he always did, to understand himself more as a son of the flesh than as a son of special privileged.

John may have single Jesus out publicly as someone special. Perhaps someone to be revered or even worship or stood in awe of. Yet Jesus, prevailed over John, because being singled out as someone special was exactly what Jesus of Nazareth did not require.

For Jesus, it was all about brining us and God back together; it was never about Himself. The Father’s response purely was one of love for his son who had spoken and acted so beautifully, so humbly, so perfectly in terms of knowing how to wear his humanity and not exalt his divinity.

Like many of our Baptisms, Jesus’ was a very intimate moment between two cousins, a father and a son.

We recognize how much Jesus chose to be in solidarity with the rest of us. We recognize how much it meant to him to join his kin and not to be over against them or above them even when he could have been.

When we remember the baptisms we’ve been to, the Godparents we may be, the parents or the siblings or cousins, we realize that what we are baptized into is this remarkable opportunity to be as fully human as Jesus was himself.

John the Baptizer was a good guy he just didn’t quite get who his cousin really was. Jesus is God and God is one of us. The Baptism of our Lord is about how much God loves us just like God loves his Son. God clearly has a thing for human beings.

In our Baptism, in Christopher’s baptism, we receive the same acknowledgement from Our Father in heaven as Jesus did. We are sealed and marked as Christ’s own forever. And like Jesus, and Christopher, I think it’s a beautiful way to begin a ministry together, don’t you?


Amen.