Sunday, December 31. 2017 Dr. Jan Rivero preaching
Will you wait with me in prayer? O Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us this day. We hear the Christmas angel, the great glad tidings tell. O come to us, abide with us, our Lord, Emmanuel. Amen.
“Everyone has a family and every family has a story.” That is the opening line on the website that describes the TV hit series “This Is Us.” The description continues, “This grounded, life-affirming dramedy reveals how the tiniest events in our lives impact who we become, and how the connections we share with each other can transcend time, distance and even death.” As we come to the end of 2017, as we close what was in many ways a very difficult year for our city and our country, these words are an important reminder to us of how essential our relationships are. These words also prompt me to ask again the questions, “who are we? and who shall we become?” I believe the scriptures assigned for today provide at least a couple of answers. So as we bid farewell to the old year, I invite you to consider with me who we are as members of the family of God and imagine who we will become in 2018.
After a year of readings from the prophets that were harsh and hard and challenging, we come to this refreshing change of pace. “I rejoice in the Lord; my heart is joyful because of my God… As the earth puts out its growth and as a garden grows its seeds, so the Lord God will grow righteousness and praise before all the nations… I won’t keep silent… I won’t sit still until Zion’s righteousness shines like a light, and its salvation like a torch… Nations will see your righteousness… and you will be called by a new name…” After exile, in the wake of terror and displacement, in the aftermath of violence and disorientation, this is us! The heart is joyful because of God! Joy to the world, indeed! Such hope — that a wasteland created by human neglect and brokenness, that a vineyard planted by God that produced only sour grapes, that a people who had forgotten who they were created to be could, nevertheless, find reason for joy and hope. WOW! This is us! We are a city in recovery from assault. We are a nation divided more by fear than by ideology. We are a people who have been tempted into despair. So Isaiah’s words poke us. They prod us to see the other side of our reality. As we begin a new year, what is the source of your deepest joy? What is the ground of your hope? What will be the product of the garden that is your heart?
In Galatians Paul lays out for us his “theological center,” that is, in Jesus God has rescued the Galatians from spiritual slavery and adopted them as God’s children, and as adopted children they — and even we — are heirs. We are the beneficiaries of God’s realm, God’s reign, God’s kin-dom, God’s own family. This is us!
Two years ago a dear friend of mine and her husband received into their home an infant boy as a foster child. After lengthy litigation, just two weeks ago, they finally adopted Peter. He never really knew his birth parents. Pretty much out of the box he knew himself as Joe and Jessie’s son and Virgie’s brother. Now it’s official and real. He has a new name, a new family, and there are Christmas family photos to prove it. They show a two-year old who is clearly loved, embraced, included. He is an heir and the Schneider story is now his story.
That is how we are with God. We don’t really know our full identity at birth. But we grow up to call God “Abba! Father!” We have a new identity — different from the one we had before we fully came to understand what it means to be loved by God. We lean on God. We count on God to bring us through the trials and tribulations of our earthly existence. We are no longer bound by law but by love. We are not slaves, not people oppressed, We are heirs, people who have standing and status. This is us.
We are part of God’s family now, a family that began with Adam and Eve. We are links in a chain of descendants from Israel to the present and into the future. Like Simeon and Anna, many of us are up in years. Yes — this is us too! But also, like Simeon and Anna, we eagerly anticipate the next new thing that God is doing all around us as we watch new partnerships develop, as we see new models for sustainable living emerge, as we observe new relationships taking shape to alleviate hate and transform the world.
In Jesus, Simeon saw God’s salvation come to earth. He held in his arms the light to all the nations. He beheld the glory of God for the people of Israel. He acknowledged on the day of Jesus’ circumcision what would take decades to be revealed and thousands of years to be completed: that this infant would be the reason that many would fall and many others would rise, and that he would be a sign to generate opposition, so that the deepest, most inward thoughts of all, both good and evil, would be revealed. As The Message translates it, “His rejection will force honesty, as God reveals who they really are.” We are inheritors of the light of truth, the light that shines in darkness, the light that uncovers lies and deception, manipulation and wickedness to reveal the true light that is God. This is us!
In Anna, God was a story-teller. She could hardly contain her excitement as she told everyone who was ready to hear her, that this baby, this eight-day old Jesus, would restore the people of Israel to God. He would set things right. Like Anna, we are story-tellers, sharing with generations to come the activity of God in the world from creation to redemption to salvation. This is us!
This is us! We are followers of this baby, this salvation come to earth. We are disciples of this one whose rejection means all are included, all are welcome. We are story-tellers, keepers of the family heritage, a history of light and hope, praise and promise. Everyone has a family and every family has a story. We live a grounded, life-affirming story where the tiniest events impact who we become, and the connections we share with each other transcend time, distance and even death. This is who we are. This is who we claim to be. This is who we hope to become. This is us!
In the name of God the creator, Christ the redeemer, and the Holy Spirit sustainer. Amen.