The Light We Need – 25 December 2016 – Christmas Day

Into our darkness comes a light brighter than we can withstand. The light shows us our inabilities to do what makes for wholeness and peace in every realm of our lives: social, economic, political, spiritual, psychological, and environmental. We are lost without the light.

In Christ, God confronts us with the veil that shrouds our vision, simultaneously sending us a savior whose death rent the curtain, tore open the heavens, broke all the rules of death, raised up out of ultimate darkness a new world, a new hope.

On this day of all days, we preachers must give this miracle its due.

Preach the true gospel: the darkness does not put out the light. God’s own body comes into our presence daily to mend our ways and our broken hearts and to fill our lives, instead, with joy.

John 1:1-14

The opening of John's gospel is not a birth narrative, but a proclamation of the preexistence of the Word (Logos), which was with God from “the beginning.” There is a deliberate echo of the opening of Genesis. John then brings in themes of light, darkness, grace, and truth that will serve as threads throughout the gospel. He will also make the contrast between those who do not know Jesus and those who believe in him. Particularly significant is John's statement that “the Word…lived among us.” The literal translation is “pitched his tent” and suggests the presence of Yahweh among the Israelites after they received the covenant (Exodus 40). – Mary Katharine Deeley

Isaiah 52:7-10

Isaiah 40–55 deals with the aftermath of the Babylonian exile. From its opening shout of “Comfort, comfort ye my people” (40:1), the unifying theme seems to be restoration and peace. Throughout the chapters, there are echoes of the “new thing” that God is doing and how God is bringing Israel back to the land and to a new era of prosperity. In Chapter 52, the theme of peace is echoed as the one who preaches announces, “Your God is King.”

The message of comfort, redemption and salvation extends not only to Jerusalem, but also to the whole earth. A key to the passage lies in the implication that peace comes only when we recognize and accept that God is sovereign over all. – Mary Katharine Deeley

Hebrews 1:1-12

While attached to the letters of Paul from the early second century, the Epistle to the Hebrews has no named author and the identity of its audience and type of writing have long been argued. Nevertheless, its beautiful poetry, noble language and message of encouragement (Hebrews 13:22, e.g.) make it a suitable choice for the Christmas liturgy.

The opening text (vv 1–4) introduces the culmination of God's revelation—[the] Son, Jesus—and places him at the right hand of God, a place of authority above even the angels. The rest of the chapter (vv 5–12) unpacks the meaning of the first four verses. . .  Take careful note of verses 8–12 in which the appellation “God,” once reserved exclusively for Yahweh, the Father, is now redirected toward the Jesus, the Son. – Mary Katharine Deeley

To all of our faithful readers: Joyous Christmas!

Mary Katharine Deeley is the director of Christ the Teacher Institute of the Sheil Catholic Center at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, the author of many books, a frequent speaker on diverse topics, and a pastoral advisor.

Homily Service 41, no. 1 (2007): 53-66.

Mercy for Exiles – 3 January 2016 – Second Sunday after Christmas

As Ephesians explains our faith: “In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of God’s grace lavished on us.” We are to know the great blessings of the incarnation.

Yet we are called to answer questions asked by this world: Who is Jesus? Really. A memory? A miracle? A metaphor? Is his role in our lives defined by history or philosophy, art or another kind of experienced feeling?

This Sunday gives us Christ in images of light. We are preparing for Epiphany. And somehow the light is described by the bringing together of exiles. Is Christ about mercy toward the stranger? Could this be a word from God specifically for our time?

John 1:1-18

Eugene Peterson in his The Message translation renders John 1:10 this way: “He was in the world, and the world was there through him, and yet the world didn't even notice.” And yet the world didn't even notice. It's an odd note to sound in the wake of a month-long celebration of the birth of Christ, but the reality is the world has noticed Christmas, while there is serious doubt as to whether it has noticed Christ.

Of course, that's what the church's witness has been about, ever since the day John the Baptist came out of the wilderness, especially since the day he pointed to Jesus as the Christ: “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me'” (v 15). Not many people got it then, and not many people get it now.

The problem is, because it is so difficult to get people to see Jesus as the Christ of the scriptures, we in the church are tempted to make it easier for them by presenting a more visible and palatable savior. This is not a fault simply of liberals or conservatives, liturgicals or evangelicals, mainliners or megachurches; we are all guilty. We all try to present Christ in a way that is attractive to our niche of the culture. Though somewhat necessary, we must be careful not to bend Jesus out of shape, not to turn the Gospel into something it isn't. This text is a reminder to us of the unlikeliness of the story of Jesus and of our call to tell it as it is, trusting God to use our telling to open eyes and change lives.

Let us endeavor only to be faithful to the vision set before us. Nothing that outstrips Jesus of the hard edges of his witness will feed us in the end. We must listen to John who tells us that believing in the Word is life, even though the words about the Word can be misconstrued.

Jeremiah 31:7-14

How are people of faith to find our way in this world guided by the Word?

Consistent with the deepest values of the covenant, God will include those in the community who are most vulnerable (the blind, the lame, and those in labor). God guides the people through the desert by brooks of water and along straight paths on which they will not stumble. To a people in a semiarid land, the reference to brooks signifies that God provides all that they need even in the face of threat. God becomes a parent to Israel. The community is no longer orphaned (as in the exile) but is a part of God's family: they have a place and a protector.

. . . . The people will be radiant in the presence of overflowing produce, “life shall become like a watered garden” (a new Eden), young women and young men will be dancing and exchanging mourning for gladness, and “satisfied with [God's] bounty.”

Ephesians 1:3-14

Today's reading is a berakah, a traditional Jewish form of prayer that blesses God. . . . God is acting through Christ to adopt the Ephesians into God's family in the coming new world (the realm of God). Indeed, God had planned this adoption from the beginning of history and is now bringing it about. . . . God has given the Ephesians the Holy Spirit as a seal of the divine promise.

We await the redemption of this world, freedom for those who suffer under tyrants, peace for those whose villages are assaulted by the ruthless, food enough and shelter for those who wander without a home. But we know, as well, that where the Word resides, compassion has found its home for the infinitude of the Alpha and Omega has come to dwell with us in our finitude. Alleluia!

Contributing to this commentary:

Ronald J. Allen, professor of preaching and New Testament at Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, Indiana. Delmer L. Chilton, assistant to the bishop of the Southeastern Synod of the ELCA in Atlanta. Aaron J. Couch, co-pastor of First Immanuel Lutheran Church, Portland, Oregon. Virginia S. Wendel, Health Care Coodinator for the Cenacle Sisters, Chicago, Illinois.  

Homily Service 43, no. 1 (2009): 74-81.

Being Found – 18 January 2015 – Second Sunday after the Epiphany

Once again, the lectionary passages are all about being known, prodded, claimed, and called by God in community with one another. God calls Samuel but only Eli recognizes the voice of God.  . . . Paul reminds us of God’s concern with the material and emotional stuff of our lives, with our bodies as temples and our choices as acts of faithfulness and love. Jesus sees, knows, and calls the unlikely, recognizing our stories even before we speak them. 

This is a good week to reflect on God as the hound of heaven and on our response to that relentless God who sniffs and barks through our world. It is a good week to consider where we are called to go and what are we called to be. Perhaps even more important is this: how we are called to help others hear the voice of God. 

At the Festival of Homiletics in Chicago several years ago Jana Childers described the experience of listening to the story of the call of Samuel as she was on the cusp of turning 40 and working with a group of youth. It suddenly dawned on her that her place was shifting in God’s story “from bright, promising young Samuel to fat old Eli.” It is a shift many of us need to make more gracefully as we age and mature, asking less about how our own adventures can be distinct and new, and more about how we can help beloved others hear God’s call and claim on their lives and future. This would also be a good Sunday to ask a congregation to find their shared place, to identify where God can use them in the work of calling disciples and painting new horizons of hope—to listen to the Elis and seek the Samuels in their midst. 

– Denise Thorpe

John 1:43-51

John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus had enigmatic words for those he called. To Nathanael, who quickly affirmed Jesus’ identity, John shows us Jesus responding with assurance that more marvels than can be imagined await us. To those who are called (including everyone), following Jesus means we will see things we could not have guessed.

“Angels ascending and descending upon the Son-of-Man”? We could talk for decades about what that means. And in that conversation we are knit together into a sisterhood and brotherhood not possible in other ways. We enter into a story that includes mighty metaphors such as “heaven opened.” The preacher can say: “What does it mean? Come and see.”

1 Samuel 3:1-10[11-20] 

Since the RCL lists verses 11–20 as an option, they should be included in the reading, or at least as part of the homily; for the subsequent verses offer an explanation for why Eli’s sons were not chosen by God to fill the prophetic role to which Samuel was called. The boy hears a voice in the middle of the night three times, and in response goes before Eli, the priest for whom Samuel is the understudy. Only after the third time of the voice calling Samuel does Eli perceive that it is none other that YAHWEH, the God of Israel calling Samuel. The old priest tells Eli to go lie down and should he hear the voice again, he should answer the Lord, “Speak, for your servant is listening.’’ 

YAHWEH calls Samuel. He hears and responds with obedience. He is the carrier of the news of change to Eli, the priest. The priestly system of sacrifice of which Eli is a part is corrupt. Eli hears the word. God brings about a new, different, ear-tingling way. 

– Eric T. Myers 

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

God’s call to any of us – whether in grade school or moving into middle age and old age – is a call to know that God's desire for us has changed us. The alteration is thorough, outside and in, top to bottom, head to toe, involving all our senses.

The preacher would do well to ask the assembly on this Sunday what this change means for each person individually and for the church as a whole. How do we – and will we – each and together manifest this God-given new life?

Denise Thorpe, a Presbyterian pastor (PCUSA), is the Project Director of the Race, Church, and Theological Practices Collaborative Inquiry Team at the Louisville Institute, Louisville, Kentucky.

Eric T. Myers serves as pastor to the Frederick Presbyterian Church, Frederick, Maryland and is a former church musician and adjunct professor of worship at Wesley Theological Seminary.

 Homily Service 42, no. 1 (2009): 97-106.

Word of Light – 4 January 2015 – Second Sunday of Christmas

Words have tremendous power, for good or for harm. I’ve seen a child on the playground reduced to a sobbing puddle of tears by the taunts and teasing of classmates, volunteers energized by inspiring words from a leader. Words have the power to create reality, which I suppose is why scripture pictures the whole of creation as the work of God’s word.

            – Aaron J. Couch

In Pastor Couch’s words from a 2010 Homily Service essay, I hear the whispers of a question that has haunted me: What is the origin of the imagery of Jesus as the Word? Is it God-inspired brilliant truth or hubris on the part of humans who like to write and had visions? Who chose the image? Word, logos, light, grace, glory––all filled with expanses of mystery.

Connecting Jesus with spoken language that creates universes is almost too gigantic to entertain. Surely this is one reason we can count on it being true.

John 1:[1-9] 10-18

In The Message, Eugene Peterson’s translation of the Bible, John 1:10 reads like this: ‘‘He was in the world, and the world was there through him, and yet the world didn’t even notice.’’

And yet the world didn’t even notice. It’s an odd note to sound in the wake of a month-long celebration of the birth of Christ, but the reality is the world has noticed Christmas, while there is serious doubt as to whether it has noticed Christ.

Of course, that’s what the church’s witness has been about, ever since the day John the Baptist . . . pointed to Jesus as the Christ . . . Not many people got it then, and not many people get it now.

. . . [B]ecause it is so difficult to get people to see Jesus as the Christ of the scriptures, we in the church are tempted to make it easier for them by presenting a more visible and palatable savior. This is not a fault simply of liberals or conservatives, liturgicals or evangelicals, mainliners or megachurches; we are all guilty. We all try to present Christ in a way that is attractive to our niche of the culture. Though somewhat necessary, we must be careful not to bend Jesus out of shape, not to turn the Gospel into something it isn’t. This text is a reminder to us of the unlikeliness of the story of Jesus and of our call to tell it as it is, trusting God to use our telling to open eyes and change lives.

            – Delmer L. Chilton

Jeremiah 31:7-14

Telling the story “as it is” can take many forms. For the prophet Jeremiah the story is about God’s promise in the future to gather the people who have been estranged from one another in exile. When this gathering comes, the people “shall become like a watered garden, and they shall never languish again.”

Ephesians 1:3-14

Likewise, the epistle to the church identifies us, along with the church of Ephesus, as people who are alone and estranged and in need of adoption. We will be gathered up, God’s word says, along with “all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth.

In these readings a spectacular consistency abounds: The word of God brings to all creation the joy of living according to a purpose that is beyond ourselves, beyond our ability to solve all ambiguities.

God is word and creator, savior and companion in the flesh.

Often, the word comes to us in words—the words of scripture that tell about Jesus’ teaching, and his command that we love each other. They picture for us his example of forgiveness and compassion, the stories of his ministry, healing the sick and feeding the hungry, how he suffered and died, and how God raised him to life on the third day. And the word still comes to us in the lives of believers who have an impact on us.

. . . Bill was a sponsor for the youth group; Ray, a professor who gave of himself, whether to usher or to paint the Sunday School rooms; Cole, the track coach at a rival high school, always had time to be interested in what I was doing. These adults, and others, gave me a glimpse of what a life of integrity looks like, what a Christ-like life looks like. Through them, the light of God’s love shone. It wasn’t that they were perfect people, . . . [b]ut their lives gave voice to God’s word, in the flesh.

            – Aaron J. Couch

Aaron J. Couch is co-pastor of First Immanuel Lutheran Church in Portland, Oregon.

Delmer L. Chilton is assistant to the bishop of the Southeastern Synod of the ELCA in Atlanta, Georgia.

Homily Service 43, no. 1 (2010): 74-81.