Homily - Feast Days, DEC 26, 27, 28th 2014

Children getting ready for the Christmas Service

In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Usually in most churches, the Sunday right after Christmas is a “low key” kind of day.   As you all can see, the Choir and organist have all taken a much needed breather.

And so for today, rather than giving a sermon, I think a HOMILY is more in order.    

You all know what the difference between a sermon and a homily is, right?  A homily is a very short sermon.

And homilies and sermons can be done a number of ways, not just with words.  For example, the children re-enacted the Christmas story on Christmas Eve.  All dressed up, bringing the nativity statues forward to the crèche.  The story was read, with Christmas songs and all.

And one the great things about the Orthodox, the Catholic and the Anglican / Episcopal traditions is that we have feast days & saints days.

Much overlooked are the Lesser Feasts and Fasts , especially the feasts right after Christmas day.

DEC 26^th is the feast of??    Yes, the feast of St. Stephen, Deacon & martyr.  Who was St Stephen?  He was in fact, the first martyr of the early Christian church.

And DEC 27^th is feast of St John the Apostle and evangelist. According to tradition, after Jesus’ death he travelled to Asia Minor and settled in Ephesus and was exiled to the Greek island of Patmos.  It was here he had visions & dreams, which he wrote down. This became the book of Revelation.  It is said that John lived to a very old age, and was the only apostle to have been spared a martyrs death. 

And today, DEC 28^th is the feast of the Holy Innocents.   This  commemorates the slaughter of children as ordered by the ruler Herod around the time of Jesus’ birth.  Now, why would he order such a horrible thing?  Herod lived in constant fear that his throne would be overtaken.  And when it was told by the wise men that a “king of kings” was about to be born, Herod was even more afraid.  To keep his throne from being supplanted, he ordered the slaughter of all male children under the age of two in Bethlehem.   The good news is that this event is not recorded in the secular history of the era.  It makes us wonder, why then, did the writers of the New Testament include such a story?  Hmm.

What are the spiritual lessons and nuggets from these lessons & feasts?    I leave it for you to contemplate & pray on these things…

And I know that so many times, at the end of every year, we see the recap of the year.  But I say, let us look forward.  Go forward and don’t look back.  What wonderful things await?  A new year is almost upon us!

Amen.  

"What's Your Song?", (Advent 4, Winter Solstice, DEC 21, 2014)

Sunrise, Winter Solstice, DEC 21, 2014

In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

Good morning everyone.  Today is a day fully packed with many meanings.  First of all, it is the 4^th Sunday in Advent.   And today is the first day of winter!  So, happy winter everyone!   Yes, for those of us here in the desert, yes winter is a joyful thing!  Seriously!

And today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day and longest night in the year, that is for those of us in the northern hemisphere!  This morning as I drove from Phoenix to Casa Grande I watched the sunrise, and it was just beautiful!  The shortest day.  I snapped this photo with my iPhone as I drove down I-10.

If we were somewhere in the southern hemisphere, today would be the longest day of the year.  And if we were in Antarctica right now, it would be just another 24 hour period of daylight!    And if we were up north above the Arctic circle, just another 24 hour period of total darkness!

When I was down in Antarctica, the Sun did not rise in the east and set in the west like it does here.  It moved SIDEWAYS, counterclockwise across the horizon!  It was really freaky to see & experience at first!    The sun never set, it was 24 hour daylight...the sun just spun around in the sky!   I never knew what time it was!

Seeing the Sun spin around in the sky made me wonder, why does the earth spin?  I mean, not all planets spin.   I remember learning this stuff as a child, but when you see this in real life, it really makes you wonder!

It is all so amazing, isn’t it?   Our planet, the cosmos, the stars, galaxies, time, space…and how it all works.    We live on a giant ball that is tilted 23.5 degrees, and spins… and orbits a star, our star the Sun!  

And time does not stand still.    As the earth spins, we in fact are moving right now at 1000 miles an hour!   And God knows what the speed of the earth is as flies thru space orbiting the Sun!    Anyone know?    (I know, just what you were wondering this morning.)  OK, so I looked it up…(runaway brain here!).    The earth’s orbital speed is 67,000 miles per hour, that's 18.5 miles per second!  So in one blink of an eye, we all just zoomed through space nearly 20 miles.     

All so amazing!  

Yes, amazing things are happening every day!   Do we take the time to see & experience them?  Such amazing things right here in the ordinary!

Amazement is related with wonder, and wonder is related with joy!

And joy is one of the main themes of Advent.   In the Reformed tradition of Christianity, (you know, Presbyerian, Congregationalism, the UCC),  there is a tradition of different spiritual themes each Sunday in Advent.  The first Sunday in Advent’s theme is “faith”.  The second Sunday is “hope”.   The third Sunday in Advent, is “love”.  And the fourth Sunday, today, the theme is, what?  You guessed it,  “joy”!

Today in our gospel Mary is visited by the angel Gabriel who tells her, "Greetings favored one, the Lord is with you."  We know the story, Mary is with child, a special, holy child.  And when she visits her cousin Elizabeth, who is six months pregnant with...who?  Yes, John the Baptist.  Jesus' cousin!   It was said that when Mary visited Elizabeth, the child 'leaped in her womb (with joy)!'

And the canticle we read today tells us of a young pregnant woman who sings a song of joy … Mary sings her song,  “My soul magnifies the Lord…my spirit rejoices in God…”,  and we know this very famous song, the Magnificat. 

Yes the story of Mary and Elizabeth is a story of hope and joy. Both women rejoice and sing! 

But it is not adequate to just talk about joy, or any emotion, we need to feel it, experience it, express it.  And what helps us do this?  Music!

 

Mary’s song, the Magnificat, has been sung through the centuries.  Countless musicians have played it.  And how many voices have joined in with Mary, singing her song through the ages?  

Yes there is just something extraordinary about music.   It helps us get out of our heads and feel.  Music can change our moods and give us energy.   Music is very powerful and helps us experience and feel the spiritual, the Holy. 

Music really is the language of the soul!

It is always wonderful to watch how even babies respond to music and singing.  Have you noticed that?  

For many years I played electric bass and percussion. One time I was playing a “gig” at a coffee house.  I played the conga drums and my friend was singing and playing guitar.  Two young mothers came up with their babies in their strollers to watch and listen to us.  The babies had pacifiers in their mouths, and I noticed that as I played the rhythms on the drums, the babies moved their pacifiers in unison with the beat!  When I stopped playing, they stopped!  When I started again, they started!

But not only were they keeping rhythm, I could see joy in their eyes as they experienced the music!  It was pretty amazing to see!  Those babies had rhythm!

And how many of you have an early memory of your mother, or father, singing to you when you were young?   And how many of you mothers, and fathers sing or have sung to your babies and have seen that love, that joy in their eyes?

Music is in all of us, no matter what our age or where we are in life!  I think all of us have a song somewhere deep within us, in our souls.  

Mary’s song says, “My soul magnifies the Lord!!!   And my spirit rejoices in God!!!...”  

Think about this… what might your song be?   What do, or would you sing about?  What emotion might your song express?

Perhaps some of us are singing or playing the blues. Perhaps some of us might have one of those annoying commercial jingles blasting in our heads….you know, the kind that plays over and over and refuses to go away?   Or perhaps some of us sing a tune of anger…Hmmm…

When deployed to an airbase in the deserts of Arabia…I may have been a bit out of my comfort zone leading the “Gospel Service”, a style of worship very different than a liturgical style of worship.  

Predominantly African American, high spirited & spontaneous with foot stomping, hand clapping music, lots of “Amen’s”, “Praise the Lord’s”, and “Alright now’s”!    In one word, they had such joy!

And I will tell you… I learned something from them!  With their coaxing and support, I learned a lot from them!  Most importantly, what I learned from them was feeling and experiencing God’s joy through their music, prayers and worship!  

Of course we may not always be singing a song of joy.   We may be in a strange, unfamiliar territory in our lives, a spiritual desert, or in exile, even though we may be physically at home.  

But perhaps with a little effort, daring to step out of our comfort zones now and then, and a little nudging and coaxing occasionally from each other… just as those people in the Gospel service did with me, we may just find the strength, courage, joy and hope even when in unfamiliar territory.

We all need hope and joy!   Our world needs it too.

And with each others' and God’s help, may we share in Mary’s hopeful, courageous and joyful song, and sing the Magnificat with our lives!   

Amen.