You are called

1/19

Neil and Pam lead us with music

It's a cold but sunny day as I head to Good Shepherd Faith for worship. (But not as cold as yesterday!) As is their style, most prayers and readings are communal. There's always been a strong strain of horizontal at GSF.  And they do share their gifts. Neil always sees the church is decorated and today he and Pam lead us in music with Doug at the piano. After a communal reading of John1:29-42, it's time for my reflection, or "prompting" as they say here.....

Good morning. And since this is the first tine I’ve seen you this year, I’ll say “Happy New Year.”  Still time to be thinking about new beginnings. Although we’re still  dragging a lot of stuff with us into a new year. We’ve got tension with Iran and we're not sure how that’s all going to turn out. And we’ve got an impeachment trial opening up next week. Yesterday in the freezing cold and new snow women in New York City and around the world marched for the 3rd consecutive year. And it was a day no one wanted go out.

So where are we? As interested as I am in resolutions, and I actually think they’re good things, I’m more interested in something else. Have you ever thought about  the fact that the two words we use to describe our work, namely profession and vocation are both religious in nature? Now I know we use the word professional to describe getting paid to do something. I was really excited the first time I got paid for playing music. I thought, “Hey, now I’m a professional!”  But at the root of professional is profession, as in what is your profession? As Christians, we use the word in the context of profession of faith, saying what you believe. So the implication here is that your profession, what it is you do, is in some significant degree a statement of what it is it believe. Take that home and think about it awhile. 

The other word we use is vocation, as in what is your vocation? And at its root, the word vocation means calling. As if our vocation is in response to an inner voice speaking you, calling to you, leading you on. And that’s what I’m interested in today. One my mentors, and my predecessor at West Park as its interim minister, was Philip Newell. The title of his memoir was “What is Your Calling?”  and the beauty of his book was that it was his argument that this this is the central question for all Christians, not just those of us who serve as ordained professional ministers of word and sacrament. That’s what I’d like to reflect on this morning. 

Seems to me that our gospel this morning  is about calling. For John. And Jesus. Andrew and Simon Peter. The setting  appears to be Jesus’s baptism. Like the first verses of John1 are John’s unique take on the Christmas story, these verses are John’s take on the Baptism story. Last week’s gospel was the baptism story in Matthew. Baptism of Jesus Sunday in the Roman Catholic tradition is the final end of Christmastide. (OK, you can take the trees down now.). Just before this in John, the leaders in Jerusalem have sent people out to find out who this wild man in the wilderness is. The Messiah? Elijah? A prophet? John tells them he is the one who was sent to be, called to be “the voice of one crying in the wilderness make straight the way of the Lord…” John understands his calling to be that of the one who prepares the way. And he does so by baptizing, a version of the Jewish mikve, or cleansing used to become ritually clean again, or for new converts. And he baptizes Jesus. 

One small note about the gospels…they’re all different. Here John says “he didn’t know him”….but in Luke, they are cousins…their mothers quite close. So why doesn't he know him? Well, maybe it's been few years…

Remember…Jesus was not baptized as a  baby but as an adult. As a child he had a bris, a circumcision ceremony. As an adult, he goes to John to be baptized. Why? To show complete and total identification with and solidarity with us human beings of which, even if he is John’s cosmic Christ, he is one. 

And from John, Jesus receives his calling. And he will baptize with the Holy Spirit and from that baptism will flow more calling.  Andrew and Simon Peter start “following” Jesus just because John calls him the lamb of God. Jesus calls them, he says “Come and see…”. I think we worry way too much about what we believe or don't believe. I feel vocation is more important than profession. I ‘ll be blunt…to follow Jesus is more important than to believe in Jesus. Or to put it another way, if you start by following, believing will take care of itself. They say with him and know, just by being with him, that he is the anointed one. They’re ready to roll with no idea of what that might mean. What follows in John is more stories of calling and following. And brings us to us. John, Andrew, Peter….each had their own unique role to play. 

Likewise  each of you here today has your unique role to play, you own unique calling. It is part of our calling as Christians is to help each other discover our own unique callings, not just elders and deacons but each and every one of us, a calling received not with ordination but with our baptism. And beyond that, to discover our calling as a community.

Tomorrow is the day we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. day. One who heard and answered his calling. No matter where it led. We came and saw. And we became a better people because of him.

Let me be clear. I am not saying w need to be more like Martin Luther King,Jr. There’s a great story about a man who came to see his rabbi worried  that when he came to die and meet God, God would say, Why couldn’t you have been more like Moses?  The rabbi shook his head and said, No the question is, why couldn’t you have been more like you?

So as we leave here this morning, your take home question is, what is your calling? And what is your calling as Good Shepherd Faith church I this year of our Lord 2020? 

Let those with ears to hear, hear…..

My prompting seems to inspire some conversation. Doug wonders what it's like to hear a calling. If God has a distinctive voice or it can be just a thought. And how he had asked for guidance and came up with a thought that seemed crazy but was just the right thing. Pam's been wondering about the difference between a call and temptation. Something we all struggle with. But also gets into the importance of community in helping us with discernment. 

Our worship time is over. I am off to do a winter wedding in the park, thankful it's today and not yesterday......

Gospel John 1:29-42

29The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ 31I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

35The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” 37The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. 40One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). 42He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

Epiphany

1/6/19

(Note Biblical scholars generally agree that the Magi were Zoroastrians from Persia)

I have no lyrics tonight

If I could I would rewrite ‘We Three Kings of Orient Are….’

Tracing the journey of the Magi, los Tres Reyes Magos,

From their homeland across the desert where their eyes

Scan the skies in search of a star 

Or death bearing drone

Until they reach the streets of el barrio

Accompanied by their camels

Like refugees from a Radio City Music Hall spectacular

Bearing gifts for the holy children of Spanish Harlem

Magos heavy of heart thinking of family and friends

Back home waiting anxiously for the next shoe - or bomb - to drop.

Wondering if  before their journey is complete

Their heavily accented Spanish will draw the attention of ICE

Detaining and deporting them back to danger or

Rather well schooled by centuries of mad kings

Insecure in the full awareness of their own illegitimacy

Striking out at children, our magi will, as they say,

Go home by another way.

El Santo Nino waits at border with his parents.

A sixty foot razor wire topped wall confronting them

Wanting  only to make their case for asylum

Seeking shelter among the tents of refugees on the side streets of Juarez

Parents fearing that el Nino Jesus will be separated from them

And put in a cage 

While Jose and Maria are sent back to waiting agents of death.

I am waiting for that moment 

When clear as a shooting star or heat lightning in a summer desert sky 

Or tracer rockets shot across the horizon

That moment of Epiphany comes

When in an instant we get it

We get it

I am waiting for Epiphany 

This January 6

The year of our Lord 2020.

Second Sunday after Christmas: A New Beginning. Again

1/5

The 12th day of Christmas

As I walk up Beverley Road, the wind is gusting so strong it almost takes my hat off. I stop at El Panaderia JPM so I can pick up a fresh rosca de reyes (Kings' bread) for after the service at Beverley.

Los roscas are ready

They are stacked high filling the bakery in preparation for the celebration of Three Kings Day: El dia de los tres reyes magos.  As I near the church, I'm happy to see Christmas decorations are still up. Inside, Preparations for worship are underway with Geraldine and Irina reviewing the service

Irina and Geraldine

and Evgeny as always doing any and everything needed. He feels a personal call to do what he can for this small faithful community.

The table is all prepared for communion.

The service begins and I am ready to preach. 

ready to preach

This was my reflection:

The table is ready

When I was growing up, Christmas was over on January 1st. We’d get up and watch the Mummers’ Parade from Philadelphia and later the the Tournament of Roses Parade from Pasadena. There were of course college football bowl games games, there were only 4 back in those days. We’d have dinner with my aunt…the last of the holiday cycle of meals fro my family. It was alway a pork roast and Latvian sauerkraut and applesauce. Then around halftime of the Rose Bowl, my dad would  start taking down the tree and that would be it. Thats a wrap, as they say. A week  or so later the local  paper would share its annual brief op ed reminding us of “Russian Christmas.” (Irina and Evgeny seem to enjoy that reference.)But January 1st, that was it for us.

In my life, I’ve tried to encourage others to celebrate all 12 days of Christmas. The frantic build up of what goes on in the world around us, the secular Christmas season, we might call it, has finally passed and I like the idea that we can hold on to the church’s celebration even as the stores are already moving on to Valentine's Day hearts. 

My world was pretty crazy the December. I usually have a tree trimming party the last week before Christmas. But not this year, I’d just about given up. But Christmas Eve I picked up a small tree and last night I had friends over for a “11th night of Christmas Party.” 

So that makes today the 12th day of Christmas, as the song says the for true loves to be giving and receiving "12 drummers drumming" and you know the rest…winding up with a "Partridge in a Pear Tree". And of course there's the the famous Shakespeare play…12th night used to be a major event in England. It used to be a big night for parties…with servants honored and masters serving...So today, maybe there’s one gift left for us to open.

First…what’s going on? Well a President who’s just been impeached has decided to up the ante with Iran by taking out the second most important political figure, Sort of the Iranian VicePresident  and military chief of staff all rolled into one. And we sit, holding our breath, not sure what is going to happen next and praying for peace. During the Hanukah season on three occasions there were deadly Anti-semitic incidents as people feel now freed to say and do the acts of open hatred they could not before. (Today at this very hour there’s a solidarity march across the Brooklyn Bridge…and Monday night there’s a rolling candlelight boil for peace beginning at 5 PM.) And of course we each have our own challenges in our own lives and families. 

And so we have this opportunity to begin. Again. You know the whole idea of NewYears’ resolutions has come under criticism as raising false expectations, etc., but I kind of like it. It's not a bad thing to review your life and decide to change some things, it might actually work. We should write  our list down and bring ft to church with us a year later and see how we did.

So I mentioned one more gift to unwrap. I’m talking about out gospel this morning,. The first chapter of John. And if you think about it, it’s John’s version of the Christmas story. John’s Jesus origin story as it were. And it starts not with a little baby, but with a Christ who is  there and has been there since the beginning of time and will be there until the end of tine. The very source and content  of the light that started shining at creation and continues to shine with, for and in us, even in the darkest times…for the darkness has not overcome it. 

So Christ’s time on earth is an interlude, for us a critically important time, but for him, just part of his reality. But there is this….And the Word became flesh and lived among us,….and from him we receive grace upon grace and grace and truth. Grace, because as it says... who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. Not our will, not our actions, not any decision, we are saved by God’s grace….

And he is truth. We live in a time when truth is an elusive quality that seems to change depending on who’s saying it and what they want. So if we want to know what is true, it has to come as seen through the lens of Christ. What would he see? What would he do? 

That last is important. We don’t do what is right to try and save ourselves. We do what is right because it is right. Because it is true. And just, as John tells us, we know God by what we see in Jesus, others will know Jesus by what the see in us.

So let us make our resolutions.  Let us continue to shine the Christmas light every day. Let us see the face of God in others and seek to show the face  of Jesus to those who see us. Let us take this opportunity for a new beginning, 

All the blessings of Christmas ..and a happy new year to you….

We share our communion together. There are announcements. the woman who we were going to visit with communion has died. We have two visitors from the nearby shelter. They'd like to have a Bible Study to come to. 

The service concludes and its time to go downstairs for another breaking of bread. I will share the Rosca.

Cutting the rosca and looking for Baby Jesus

And it turns out it's me who gets the baby Jesus in my piece, which I am happy to give to Geraldine. Christmas continues. Soon I will be back in the cold blustery wind again heading back to Manhattan. 

Christmas continues

Gospel John 1:(1-9) 10-18

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

10He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 1314And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. 15(John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) 16From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

El dia de los inocentes.....

Sermón 12/29 Así que es el quinto día de Navidad. ("Cinco anillos de oro!”) Soy uno que cree en celebrar todos los 12 días. Hemos terminado con toda la sociedad secular construir. Ahora es el momento de celebrar la Navidad de la iglesia. Litúrgicamente, este es el primer domingo después de Navidad.  Litúrgicamente, tambien tenemos la "Fiesta de los Santos Inocentes." Esta historia más oscura dentro de nuestras narrativas navideñas. Ha habido apenos tiempo suficiente para desenvolver los regalos de la visita de los sabios cuando Herodes vuela en cólera, creyendo que está surgiendo una amenaza a su trono, un niño con más legitimidad que su reclamo.  Así que envía a sus secuaces para asesinar a todos los niños menores de dos años en la región de Belén.  Siempre hay debate sobre la historicidad del evento. Pero la conclusión es algo como esto ...este tipo de comportamiento era tan típico de Herodes, que incluso asesinó a su propio hijo, como para ni siquiera llamó la atención, especialmente en un pequeño pueblo insignificante como Belén. Todo bien y bien, pero ¿qué significa para nosotros? Creo que empieza aquí….vivimos en un día en que en otro mundo, más personas están en movimiento justo no que en cualquier otro momento de la historia. Tal vez algunos de ustedes aquí esta mañana han venido aquí desde otros lugares. Y el hecho es que la mayoría de las personas que están en movimiento lo están haciendo porque sus amores se han vuelto inhabilitables donde están. Puede ser por razones políticas: * Como un musulmán en Cachemira o * Un Ambazoniano en el Camerún o * Un Rohingyan en Birmania O personas amenazadas por su gobierno como un nicaragüense o venezolano que protestó por tener que huir O porque alguna combinación de agronegocios y cambio climático y degradación ambiental ha hecho imposible la agricultura de subsistencia. La gente sale de casa cuando el hogar ya no es viable. La Navidad se trata de la encarnación ….Dios quiere estar en medio de nosotros, Dios quiere ahora nuestras vidas íntimamente. Desde dentro de nuestra carne, por así decirlo. Así que Dios en la forma de un bebé humano vulnerable es con una familia que tiene que huir por sus propias vidas a otro país. Conducido desde su casa. Sin papeles. Indocumentados. Ilegal. Buscando asilo. Como va la narrativa bíblica , encontrar asilo en Egipto. Y la comunidad cristiana en Egipto está muy orgullosa de esta tradición. Te mostrarán lugares donde ocurrieron varios incidentes a la Sagrada Familia. La casa donde vivían, acerca de la calle desde donde Moisés estaba abajo del río. Están orgullosos de haber protegido al humano, al santo, al niño santo. Qué diferente habría sido si hubieran encontrado una pared de 30 pies rematada con alambre de afeitar en la frontera con Egipto. O se habían visto obligados a dormir afuera en la calle durante semanas esperando la oportunidad de contar su historia con un 2% de posibilidades de recibir asilo. O sido forzado a salir a la parte más peligrosa del Sinaí sin siquiera un burro. O tal vez separados con José y María deportados de nuevo a una muerte segura en Israel y Jesús puso en una jaula en el desierto.  El punto es, Dios está experimentando nuestras vidas en este momento. En medio de nosotros. Nuestro desplazamiento, nuestro exilio, nuestra falta de vivienda, sea lo que sea, sea cual sea su historia, Immanuel, DIOS ESTÁ CON NOSOTROS.  Veamos el rostro de Dios en los que nos rodean en este círculo. Y que nosotros, a su vez, mostrar el rostro vivo de Jesús a cada uno que nos rodea. Al recibir la Eucaristía este día, seamos nosotros los que somos transformados en el cuerpo vivo de Cristo resucitado, uno al lado del otro. Emmanuel. Dios es con nosotros. Feliz Navidad. Amén. Evangelio Mateo 2:13-23 13 Y después de haberse ido, un ángel del Señor se apareció a José en un sueño y dijo: "Levántate, toma al niño y a su madre, y huye a Egipto, y permanece allí hasta que te diga; porque Herodes está a punto de buscar al niño, para destruirlo.14Entonces José se levantó, tomó el niño y su madre por la noche, y se fue a Egipto,15y permaneció allí hasta la muerte de Herodes. Esto fue para cumplir lo que había dicho el Señor por medio del profeta: “De Egipto he llamado a mi hijo.” 16Cuando Herodes vio que había sido engañado por los sabios, se enfureció, y envió y mató a todos los niños de Belén y sus alrededores que tenían dos años o menos, según el tiempo que había aprendido de los sabios. 17Entonces se cumplió lo que se había dicho a través del profeta LEA LE: 18“Una voz se escuchó en Ramah, wailing y fuerte lamentación, Rachel llorando por sus hijos; ella se negó a ser consolado, porque ya no existen.” 19Cuando Herodes murió, un ángel del Señor apareció repentinamente en un sueño a José en Egipto y dijo:20“Levántate, toma al niño y a su madre, y ve a la tierra de Israel, porque aquellos que buscaban la vida del niño están muertos.”21Entonces José se levantó, tomó al niño y su madre, y se fue a la tierra de Israel. 22Pero cuando escuchó que Arquelao gobernaba Judea en lugar de su padre Herodes, tuvo miedo de ir allí. Y después de ser advertido en un sueño, se fue al distrito de Galilea. 23Allí hizo su hogar en una ciudad llamada Nazaret, para que lo que se había dicho por medio de los profetas se cumpliera: “Será llamado Nazoreo.” Install the app on your smartphone and use it offline ReplyForward

Fifth day of Christmas Holy Innocents

12/29

The Ecclesia worship crew

It's a mild winter day as I head to the Marcus Garvey Park Drummers' Circle for the weekly gathering of the Ecclesia congregation for eucharist and breaking bread with te homeless. More intense scrutiny by the NYPD has had a negative effect on people coming out, but still a congregation gathers and still there are conversations to be had. During prayers, one congregant prays  that his son may avoid the fall into homelessness he has endured. We tend to forget that most who are homeless once had homes. We assemble the alter and prepare for worship. Sing  "Joy to the World" and "O Come All Ye Faithful." Read the Gospel and it's time for reflection....

So it’s the 5th day of Christmas. (“Five golden rings!”) I am one who believes in celebrating all 12 days. We’re done with all the secular society build up to Christmas.  Now’s the time to celebrate the church’s Christmas. Liturgically, this is the first Sunday after Christmas.  Liturgically, we’ve got the "Feast of the Holy Innocents.” This darkest story within our Christmas narratives. There’s been barely enough time to unwrap the presents from the visit of the wise men when Herod flies into a rage, believing a threat to his throne is arising, a child with more legitimacy than his claim.  So he sends out his henchmen to murder all children under two in the Bethlehem region. 

There’s always debate over the historicity of the event. But the bottom line is something like this….this kind of behavior was so typical of Herod, who even murdered his own son, as to not even drew attention, especially in a small insignificant town like Bethlehem. 

All well and good but what does it mean for us?

I think it starts here….we live in a day when across our world, more people  are in motion right now than at any other time in history. Maybe some of you here this morning have come here from other places. And the fact is, most people who are in motion are doing so because their lives have become unlivable where they are. It can be for political reasons:

* Like a Muslim in Kashmir or 

* An Ambazonian in the Cameroun or 

* A Rohingyan in Burma

Or people threatened by their government like a Nicaraguan or Venezuelan who has protested having to flee

Or because some combination of agribusiness and climate change and environmental degradation has made subsistence farming impossible.

People leave home when home is no longer viable.

Christmas is about incarnation ….God wanting to be in our midst, God wanting to know our lives intimately. From inside our flesh, as it were. So God in the form of a vulnerable  human baby is With a family that has to flee for its very lives to another country. Driven form their home. Sin papeles. Undocumented. Illegal. Seeking asylum. As the Biblical narrative goes , they find asylum in Egypt. And the Christian community in Egypt is very proud of this tradition. They’ll show you places where various incidents happened to the Holy family. The house where they lived, right up the street from where Moses was drawn from the river. They are proud of having sheltered the human one, the holy one, the holy child.

How different it would  have been if they had encountered a 30 foot wall topped with razor wire at the Egyptian border. Or if they had bene forced to sleep outside in the street for weeks waiting for a chance to tell their story with a 2% chance of receiving asylum. Or been forced out into the most dangerous part of the Sinai without even a donkey. Or maybe separated with Joseph  and Mary deported back to certain death in Israel and Jesus put in a cage in the desert.  The point is, God is experiencing our lives right now. In our midst. Our displacement, our exile, our homelessness, whatever it is, whatever your story is, Immanuel, GOD IS WITH US. 

Let us see the face of God in those around us in this circle. And may we in turn, show the living face of Jesus to each around us. As we receive the Eucharist this day, may it be we who are transformed into the living body of the risen Christ, standing side by side with each other. 

Immanuel. God is with us. Happy Christmas. Amen.

Eucharist is shared. Then the meal is laid out. Turkey sandwiches. Salads. Peach pie. And festive egg nog. More conversation. the police stop by to check things out. Are offered sandwiches. Slowly the circle disperses. People off to their separate directions.  Until next week. 

Gospel Matthew 2:13-23

13Now after they had left, 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.” 14Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, 15and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”

16When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. 17Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:18  “A voice was heard in Ramah,
          wailing and loud lamentation,
     Rachel weeping for her children;
          she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”

19When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 20“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.” 21Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. 23There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”

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Christmas Eve 2019

12/24

Christmas Eve  2019

Merry Christmas from the West Park family...

Walking up the street towards West Park, I see the glowing farolitos on the steps giving a welcome and invitation to all who pass b to join us for our  Christmas Eve celebration. Leila and Dion have decorated the church. A  team of volunteers is getting the shared meal together and Andre is rehearsing with John the pianist.  Soon it is time for the service to begin.  After reading the Christmas story in Luke 2: 1-20, I lead a call and response version of "Mary Had a Baby..."

                                                        Bruce Cockburn

Farolitos

Then it is time for my reflection:

Silent night, holy night

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon virgin, mother and child

Holy infant so tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace

Sleep in heavenly peace.

And so it’s here. Christmas Eve at last. The days of  hustle and bustle and planning and shopping and light up nights and holiday parties and ….have you noticed Christmas cards have all but disappeared?…all come to an end....and if you’re like me, you’re not quite done yet…but there comes that moment when you just take a breath and let it be…and let it be….

I realized this afternoon that this makes the 25th anniversary of my first Christmas at West Park…and every one of them different…from full churches with choirs to me and my boys and two homeless people to singing carols on the steps of a church locked behind gates to the gates coming down and  us all coming back again.  And we are still here…

I’m thinking about the holy family tonight. Just where they might be. 

There are images on the internet….the artist Banksy, you know the boy with the hammer on the wall on 79th street?

Banksy on the Upper West Side

…has an installation in a hotel in Bethlehem…a traditional manger scene in front of  a concrete block  wall…the wall has been pierced by a mortar shell leaving a Christmas star shaped  hole …he calls it “Scar of Bethlehem…”( https://www.huffpost.com/entry/banksy-scar-of-bethlehem-nativity-christmas_n_5e031970e4b05b08babbc5ad) Then of course there’s the manger scene without Jews, Arabs, Africans or migrants…it of course is completely empty of human beings. Wondering where the holy family is tonight. I think of scenes from my recent travels. And another wall. And in the streets of  Juarez tonight people camped out on the side streets in tents. Looking for a room in the inn. Or at least chance to tell their story and seek asylum. And tonight in the Sonora desert, in the most hostile part of the desert where the night winds blow cold, what holy family makes its way seeking shelter? And tonight in New York City, what holy family seeks shelter, in this case, over 65000 people recorded as “homeless” in this city of riches.  Where is the holy family tonight?

Silent night, holy night

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon virgin, mother and child

Holy infant so tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace

Sleep in heavenly peace.

You see Christmas always comes in context. A very human context. It is ever so. And we’ve got all the context we could ever need right now. And that is the point and that is what it’s about and why we are here. And this, this congregation here tonight is a holy family too. It’s not a Marvel superhero origin story where Kal El comes down from Krypton to land in Smallville and save us all or Dr. Manhattan strides boldly across the earth. Or Jesus comes down from heaven to fix everything.  No. It’s deeper than that . It’s about God…the nameless one, the creator the force of creation the  spirt that blows across the waters and through our every breath…it’s about God wanting to get up close and personal with us. To know us in the most intimate of ways. To understand what it is to be us. To be in our midst and in us. Immanuel, God with us. Incarnation, in the flesh. God in us.  In the total fragility  of a baby in the most vulnerable of circumstances. And in that baby, we see the face of God. And the baby, the human one looks out to see how we welcome such children.  In God’s own image we were created…and we celebrate that incarnation tonight….

Silent night, holy night

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon virgin, mother and child

Holy infant so tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace

Sleep in heavenly peace.

Thia is a season of light.  From time immemorial people close to the earth celebrate the solstice and the the coming back of the sun. The darkest day is past already…Our Buddhist brothers and sisters celebrate Bodhi day…I have participated in the celebration in Riverside Church with hundreds of  monks passing the lotus lights from one to the next until the whole sanctuary glowed. In these days our Jewish brothers and sisters celebrate Hanukah, a celebration of liberation from cultural oppression and dominance, with a light that grows each day as the light should aways grow brighter.  Likewise, in the Christian season of  Advent, we add a candle each week until we come to tonight and light the Christmas candle, the Christ candle. 

A word about light….when I was a kid, we did this ritual like making the whole church dark with only the Christ candle burning. Then as we sang Silent Night, we would dramatically light each other’s candles until the sanctuary glowed. The symbolism was clear. Before Jesus, all the world was dark. And then Jesus comes, and like cousin David in “Merry Christmas from the family,” he “..throws the breaker and the lights come on and we all sang Silent Night, O Holy Night.”….But, well, not really. You see from creation on, the light is always there. Sometimes we can’t even see it, but it’s there. The Biblical narrative is clear, whenever the darkness seems so deep, the 

Prophets come to light the way.  Eloquent court prophets like Isaiah and working class prophets like Micah and Amos. And sometimes in the form of  a teen age girl named Greta who comes from Scandinavia in a boat. The light keeps shining. Keeps on shining. 

I think of my friends in Chile tonight. As summer comes on. Feeling their light grow after decades. Seeing a new beginning. And tonight Light is shining here  for us too.

So tonight when we light our candles, look into the face of the one who passes it on to you. See the light of the holy one in our midst. And let our light shine back. And take it out back into the street so the light will shine brighter.

Silent night, holy night

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon virgin, mother and child

Holy infant so tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace

Sleep in heavenly peace.

Immanuel. God with us. Incarnate. In humanity. In our very midst. Tonight.

Let us all receive heavenly peace. Tonight

.

Amen.

Then Andre comes forward to share with us "In the Bleak Midwinter" as only he can.
Then we light our candles and pass them one to another and sing "Joy to the World" . and the service is over. I feel I am home.  People who mean so much to me. Andre. And Martin and Soledad and Martin's mom. And my friend and frequent singing partner Rabbi Steve Blane.  And Dion and Berik and Leila who did so much work. 

We all shared a pot luck meal together and then Dion opened the evening's sharing of music and comedy. Later Mandola Joe will grace us with a dramatic recitation of "'Twas the night before Christmas..." And there will be a very full night. 

We've created something good and valuable here. After two years, it begins to feel like this could become a tradition. There are neighbors. And visitors. And tourists from China. Musicians. Comedians.  Couples and singles. People from condos and people from SRO's. People with no other place to be and people who'd rather not be any place else because this is community. Despite all, after all, a flame still burns here. And we are home for Christmas...

Our manger scene

Mandola Joe

Dion  opens

Dion and Leila

with Rabbi Steve

Soledad, Martin and Luli

Andre

Andre sings "In the Bleak Midwinter"