NOTE: Here are my worship notes for this coming Sunday, December 30th 2012 on the Holy Family. And after a nice walk in the woods, I added some more inclusive words about ALL types of parents and families.
Introduction
In some of the high church traditions of Christianity, this
Sunday is known as the Feast of the Holy Family: a quiet and gentle time offered to us for the
consideration of family life from the perspective of Jesus, Mary and
Joseph.
· I like that idea – a lot – so while I revere and
treasure our Reformed wisdom, I also think something of value was lost when we
discarded so much of the oral tradition back in the 1500s.
· Time and again I have come to realize that like
theological adolescents who are dead certain of our own integrity and convinced
beyond reason that everyone else is corrupt, we Prods threw a lot of the baby
out with the bathwater back in the day – and we’re suffering for it now.
· We lost
mystery and so many of the practices of contemplation – we gave up using our
bodies in prayer – and most of our senses in worship. We lost touch with the wisdom of Mary and the
list goes on and on…
So I would like to retrieve a little bit of the Feast of the
Holy Family with you this morning because, you see, in the year that is to come
– 2013 – we’re going to be spending a LOT of time reclaiming some of the
forgotten, lost or even discarded practices of authentic Christianity. Not only will they help us grow closer to God
as both individuals and a congregation, but they will give us something
important to share with those who aren’t here every week.
Insights
Throughout Advent, for example,
remember that we vowed together to take one minute in every day – with our
loved ones if possible – and rest quietly in the loving grace of the Lord? That simple practice of taking one minute
every day and setting it apart as holy is part of the ancient contemplative
tradition. It not only brings us inner
refreshment, but also teaches us to wait in a culture that is already too
self-absorbed and busy.
· In the poetry of Isaiah – chapter 40: 31 – there
is a beautiful verse that someone put to music.
It goes: They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they
shall mount up with wings as the eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they
shall walk and not be faith: teach me,
Lord, teach me, Lord, to wait.
· Do you know that one? When you sing it – and spiritual masters have
known this for a long time – the music helps you remember it, right? Would you try that with me? And you have a copy of the music so don’t let
that be an excuse – we handed them out at the start of worship – so take a
listen to the tune and then give it a try…
Integrating music and the wisdom
of Scripture – beauty and prayer – is one of the ancient but too often
forgotten practices – or spiritual disciplines, if you will – that we’ll be
playing with over the course of the new year.
And let me share with you why I have come to believe the time is right
for us to do this:
· All throughout Advent – and into the season of
Christmas feasting – I received a variety of emails and notes from you about
how important taking that minute had become.
Some of you sent me poems you had written born of that silence. Others told me that you had quietly
encouraged your wider family members to join in the practice, too.
· And I even found out that people well-beyond our
walls were joining us in this simple, daily practice – they were gathered with
us in silent thanksgiving in places all around the world – because they
realized that they needed to slow down and be still.
· How does the Psalm put it: fret not… be still and know that I am God?
And if I’ve learned nothing in
the past year, I have discovered just how important slowing down and letting
the unforced rhythms of God’s grace nourish us are for our families – older
folk, too – but especially our families.
So let me tease out a few
insights for you from today’s Scripture about practices that healthy and holy
families might learn to share with Jesus, Mary and Joseph, ok? These are important for those without
families, too – and those whose families have moved away – so it is ok for you
to listen in, too.
First, there is the fact that the Holy Family regularly worshipped
together. It wasn’t just Jesus being
sent off to Hebrew school – or Mary going to prayers – it was the whole family
making pilgrimage to Jerusalem: Now every year
his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was
twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival.
· Why do you think worshipping as a family is
important?
· If dad - or mom or one partner - doesn’t go, what does that teach our
children? If the parents just ship the
kids off to Sunday School what does that communicate?
Children model the behavior,
values and ethics they see reinforced everyday; it doesn’t work to tell
them: do as I say, not as I do. If intimacy with God is really important for
you – if you want your children to have values deeper than the market place –
if you believe there is more to life than rugged individualism and grabbing all
you can get for yourself: you will make
worshipping with your family a priority.
Second, you will also do this on a regular basis – not just on
Christmas and Easter – but with enough regularity that your children will grasp
how much you value worshipping together as a family. The Scripture tells us that Jesus, Mary and Joseph went up to the temple
as was usual for the festival.
· Earlier in Luke’s gospel we read that Christ’s
parents presented him to the priests in the Temple, had him circumcised as was
their tradition and then regularly attended to honoring the feasts and fasts of
Judaism.
· Preacher Kate Matthews Huey puts it like
this: for Jesus and his family the
Temple had become a home to them – a resting place of wisdom and renewal – a
center for quiet prayer and deeper conversation about the things in life that
really matter. Is that true for us when
it comes to this church?
How much do we see the church
as our home? Is church a place where we can… "talk together about things
that matter"? And are we paying enough attention to the young people in
our midst who may have gifts and thoughts to share with us, and who need the
church to recognize what their parents might miss in an everyday, close-up
relationship? Are we helping our young people to discern God's gifts in them,
and God's call to use them for the sake of the reign of God? Barbara Brown Taylor
says that "Jesus grows sturdily from his religious roots, not in spite of
them," and comes to understand himself as "Sophia's child – that is a
child of spiritual wisdom – as well as Mary's, whose first awareness of his
parentage comes to him in his Father's house." What sense of identity does
the church give to our children? What roots do they have in the church?
What do you think about
that? What does that say to you about
how we care for and nourish the spiritual lives of our own children and
families?
And here’s another thought: the church in our day, like the Temple in the
days of the Hoy Family, is an inter-generational, inter-cultural place unlike
most of the rest of the world. Most of
our children spend their days in schools – and lessons – surrounded by other
children and young adults. But in the
Temple, Jesus encountered both Simeon and Anna – two ancient prophets filled
with wisdom but close to death in their old age – who shared blessings and
insights with the Holy Family in ways that helped them both and gave them
hope. Same is true here – if we take the
time and nourish the relationships – and do it together intentionally, yes?
Conclusion
Let me cut to the chase: I believe we live in a time when in spite of
all the blessings of our free market and democracy, our souls have become sick
– in some cases sick and tired – and in many cases sick and filled with fear
and despair. I also believe that neither
the market place nor our politics or educational system have an antidote for
this sickness.
But we do… if we take it to heart – as do some
of our cousins in the other spiritual traditions. Only the way of the Lord brings healing to
the heart and hope to souls filled with fear.
St. Paul made it clear when he told his small congregation back in the 1st
century that those who follow the way of Jesus are to live:
As God's chosen ones, holy and
beloved, (people who know how to) clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness,
humility, meekness and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a
complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven
you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which
binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule
in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body… be thankful
and let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another
in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and
spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in
the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Our world – our era – needs
women and men and children – families and congregations of all shapes and varieties – gay and straight, blended and traditional - who know how to live
as a holy and beloved alternative to the status quo: you see, we have been called by God not only
to bring comfort and joy to the walking wounded, but also to offer them another
way – a better way – the way of Christ’s peace.
· I do
not believe that the massacre in Newtown is what it looks like to be created in
the image of God.
· I
refuse to believe that the cynical posturing of our politicians is what the Lord
had in mind when we were invited to love one another as Christ loves us.
·
And
having tasted something of God’s grace I cannot believe that the status quo of
fear and greed is either inevitable or in any way connected to the kingdom of
God made flesh in Jesus Christ.
We are to live – and embody – and share what it means to be God’s holy
and beloved. Just as Jesus increased in
wisdom and grace as he matured, so must we; for this is where the good news
will be found for those who have ears to hear.
