2011
Sermons
Dez 28 - Sorrow, Hope, and Fulfillment
Dez 25 - Et incarnatus est
Dez 24 - Extreme Humility
Dez 24 - Becoming Simple Gifts
Dez 18 - Annunciation
Dez 11 - Rejoice! Good News!
Dez 7 - Separated
Dez 5 - Greetings!
Dez 4 - Heralds!
Nov 27 - Look back, look ahead, look around
Nov 20 - Accountable?
Nov 13 - Encouragement of the Future Present
Nov 11 - Key Words for Veterans' Day
Nov 6 - To Pray without Ceasing
Okt 30 - The Spirit's Work Continues
Okt 23 - Holy Is and Holy Does
Okt 9 - Welcome to the Banquet
Okt 2 - Judgments Final and Otherwise
Sep 25 - Invitation to the Dance
Sep 18 - What kind of Life?
Sep 11 - Forgiven Living
Sep 4 - Debt-free
Aug 28 - Did Jesus say "Pick up your sox." or "Be who you truly are."?
Aug 21 - The Community of Storytellers
Aug 15 - Baptized into Hope
Aug 11 - Sacrifice
Aug 7 - Called and Sent through Water
Aug 5 - In Spite of Sorrow
Jul 31 - Extravagant Abundance
Jul 24 - Kingdom, Crisis, Opportunity
Jul 17 - It's God's Harvest
Jul 10 - Unexpected Results
Jul 3 - A Burden
Jun 26 - True Hospitality
Jun 19 - Gather in awe; go with resolve and joy
Jun 12 - Church Disrupted
Jun 11 - An Argument with God
Jun 10 - Abide with us, Lord
Jun 5 - Silent Action, Active Silence
Mai 29 - Hollow or Full?
Mai 22 - Stoned because of a Sermon
Mai 15 - Life Abundant
Mai 14 - And Jacob Was Blessed
Mai 13 - Fresh Every Morning
Mai 12 - Of First Importance
Mai 8 - Emmaus keeps happening!
Mai 1 - So Great a Treasure
Apr 24 - Easter Earthquake
Apr 23 - Storytellers
Apr 22 - Completed
Apr 22 - The Tomb, Jonah, and Jesus
Apr 21 - Anamnesis – Remembrance
Apr 17 - What Kind of King?
Apr 10 - Can these bones live?
Apr 3 - Nit-pickers, Wound-Lickers, Goodness-Sakers, and Arm-Wavers
Mrz 27 - Inside, Outside, Upside-down
Mrz 20 - More Contrasts
Mrz 13 - Contrasts
Mrz 9 - Stop...and Turn
Mrz 7 - We're So Blessed
Mrz 6 - The Fellowship of Fear
Feb 20 - Holy and Perfect
Feb 13 - Blessed, for what?
Feb 12 - Barriers Broken
Feb 6 - Salt and Light
Jan 30 - The Future Present
Jan 23 - Come and See, Go and Do
Jan 16 - Come and See
Jan 13 - Time
Jan 9 - Servant of the Most High
Jan 5 - Rise, Shine
Jan 2 - The World's No and God's Yes
Jan 2 - Word and words
Rise, Shine
Epiphany Eve - January 5, 2011
Arise, shine, for your light is come!
It is a commission.
Do we hear it?
Do we heed it?
Is it important that we do so?
Wise men from the east come to the young Jesus, bearing gifts.
We could speculate about the nature and usefulness of the objects in the hands of those persons, but they are not the most important gifts.
The key thing is
that these persons went themselves.
Sending objects by some ancient form of UPS would not be the same thing.
The wise men themselves came, and saw, and heard, and told, and responded.
And because they did so, others took notice and came to worship also.
Matthew tells the story, and because of that, outsiders all across the centuries come to understand
that there is room for them, a place for them in the company of Jesus.
They could not have imagined what effect their travel would have,
what a profound effect their gift of themselves would have on those who hear of them.
It is the same with us.
We come together week after week for worship,
and a few of us gather for prayer on this 12th night of Christmas.
Sometimes we get stuck on the old “What do I get out of it?” question.
But a far more important question is “What does God get out of it?”
How is God intending to use this gift of our time and our being here tonight,
and our time and presence Sunday after Sunday?
His plans will go much further than we imagine.
Who may be encouraged because we prayed?
Who among us here may be heartened because you and I were here, and we talked together in the name of Jesus?
Who may be inspired when they hear or see or come to know about what we say and do?
We just do not know!
God may have wonderful things in mind, great plans, plans that involve us, that demand our attention, plans that will benefit from our gifts of time and energy.
Some years back a woman wrote a little poem to a leader in a Chicago suburban church, a poem that caused him to realize that his being there was not his own private business, that his presence, activities or absence has an effect on others.
The woman wrote:
Do you know, do you understand,
that you represent Jesus to me?
If you care, I think maybe he cares --
and then there is this flame of hope
that burns inside of me
and for awhile, I am afraid to breathe
because it might go out.
Do you know, do you understand,
that your words are His words?
Your face, His face, to someone like me?
Please, be who you say you are.
Please, God, don't let this be another trick.
Please let this be real. Please.
Do you know, do you understand
that you represent Jesus to me?
Arise, shine, for your light is come.
Arise shine; the world is waiting for our witness that begins with the gift of time and being together.
The world needs to see in us the truth of what we believe.
Gold, frankincense, and myrrh...and a million other things. Yes, we use them, we need to give them all.
But the first thing, prior to them,
is the gift of ourselves.
Rise, shine!
As we quote Matthew in the service of Holy Baptism:
Let you light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify the Father in heaven.
That they, and we, may glorify the Father in heaven; rise, shine! Amen.
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Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him. |