The First Sunday after Christmas + Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church December 28, 2014

Transcription

1 The First Sunday after Christmas + Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church December 28, 2014 Did you see it? Last Sunday night ABC televised the Sound of Music I think it happens every year, but what I noticed different about this year is that it was a Sing-along Sound of Music. Whenever someone broke out in song, the words appeared on the screen so you could sing or hum along. I was imagining millions of homes singing along with Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer and many more in this epic film. In the Bible, people are singing a lot. A good example is the first two chapters of Luke s Gospel. It s a musical of sorts. It seems as though everyone is singing. The sound of music is interwoven through the unfolding story of Jesus birth. Angels sing. Mary sings. Elizabeth sings. Zachariah sings. Simeon sings. Anna sings. And these songs have become a big part of the Christian repertoire of song. Mary learns that she will give birth to Jesus. She shares the news with Elizabeth and amazed by the angel s news, Elizabeth sings to Mary: You are blessed among women and blessed is the babe in your womb! Then Mary sings: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. and in the rest of the song praises God who has and does and will turn the world upside down. The priest Zachariah sings too. Earlier in the story an angel meets him the temple and announces that he and Elizabeth, his wife, will give birth to a child even in their old age whom they are to name John. When he doesn t believe a word of it, he falls mute, but when Elizabeth gives birth and he writes on a tablet that the child is to be named John, his tongue loosens, his mouth opens and he sings too! Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; who has come to set his people free, just as God promised. And then he speaks to his child, You will be the great prophet who will prepare the way for the coming of the Savior. His newborn would be John the Baptizer. The angels sing too. On Christmas Eve we heard the story. Once they deliver the news to the Savior, they sing out, Glory to God in the highest and peace to God s people on earth. 1

2 Then we come to the Gospel for this day where we meet Anna and Simeon. Forty days after Jesus birth, Joseph and Mary present the child in the Temple according to the law. They bring with them their sacrifices of two pigeons or turtledoves. And there they meet old Simeon. Simeon has been waiting a very long time. The Holy Spirit promised to him long ago that he would not die until he had seen the long awaited Savior or Messiah. Finally, the promise has come to past. Simeon takes the child in his arms and begins to praise God: Lord, now you let your servant go in peace, according to your Word. With my own eyes I have seen your salvation. A light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel. Anna, a prophet who spends all of her time in the temple praising God, day and night, sings too once she hears the song of Simeon. In this great drama it seems as though everyone is singing! Listen closely to these songs. Sing along with them. Listen closely to the carols of Christmas and the hymns we sing. They are songs of praise filled with gratitude to the God who has and does and will act. For Mary and Zachariah and Simeon and others, the song is a kind of reflexive response to God s amazing deeds. And the songs themselves describe the saving activity of God. The Song of Mary says that God is in the business of lifting up the lowly, humbling the proud, sending the rich away empty, filling the hungry with good things. For Zachariah, the song of praise describes the compassion of God fulfilled just as God promised. And for Simeon, now he could die in peace because finally, he saw with his own eye in the child Jesus the gift from God that would lighten up all the world. Our sisters and brothers in the Presbyterian and Reformed traditions say in their The Westminster Catechism that the chief end of women and men is to glorify God. That s a pretty good description of the Christian life. And glorifying God is something we have been doing here at Phinney for 100 years. 2

3 As part of our 100 years Anniversary celebration, you will see from time to time, notes in the margins around hymns that we ve used here. Some will even be reproduced from one of the older hymnals. This is something I ve come to appreciate about being here at Phinney. Worship is at the very heart and soul of our community and everything from forming disciples, to serving neighbors, to embarking upon mission and ministry, flows from the worship and praise of God. It s been abundantly clear to me and over these Christmas days even more so. The sound of the organ, the music of the choirs and hand bells and instruments, and the hymns we sing. This is what shapes Christian living. Liturgy shapes life. Worship forms behavior. Singing unites heart and voice. Singing together makes us one. In fact, God uses singing, even our songs of praise to God, to touch us, shape us, and form us as followers of Jesus. In the preface each week at the Table we pray, It is indeed right, our duty and our joy, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks and praise to you That translates into lives of praise and thanksgiving that finds us serving and loving our neighbors. I m not sure there s a more effective way to teach the things of God. Lectures and lessons have their place, but worship itself is our primary teacher. There are plenty of church experts who will want to uses other means and jettison worship as a means of spiritual vibrancy with this program or that program, but invariably we fall short because, dare I say, we tend to trust in our own cleverness or ingenuity when, in fact, the great treasure is already laid before us in the assembly worshiping and praying and giving thanks around God s Word and God s Meal. And when we sing, we get lost in wonder, love and praise and we find ourselves caught up in the very work of God who is busy healing the world. As the song of Mary echoes in our hearts, we will find ourselves lifting up the lowly, speaking truth to power, filling the hungry with good things. Like Zachariah we will sing of God s mercy and compassion and so extend these gifts to the neighbor in need. Like Simeon we will speak of God s promises fulfilled and let our light so shine before others that they may see the works of God. What does it mean to be a Christian? Maybe a fitting response is to say, Sing! 3

4 For the inquirer or the person new to the Christian faith or seeking out a spiritual home, I ve found that definitions of what a Christian is fail me. What I have discovered over the years is that the invitation to come and see proves more fruitful so that folks can experience for themselves the mystery of God in worship. And for the seasoned, long-term Christians, steady reflection on what happens in worship is a pretty good discipline. For you see, in our singing, our praising, our worshiping, our thanking, the one to whom we offer these gifts is at work shaping and forming us. That s the great paradox of Christian worship. We come to make Eucharist and to glorify God and at the same time, God is busy touching and speaking to us! Sometimes all we can do is sing breaking out in exuberant song over the birth of a newborn, a new or restored relationship, a special gift; or sing when words fail us when we keep vigil with one who is dying or in the aftermath of a tragedy. They aren t the most joyful songs of praise. They may be filled with lament and sorrow but are songs of hope and still songs of praise to the One to whom we go when we have nowhere else to go. Some of you may remember singing the Song of Simeon on a regular basis. When I was a kid using the red book, the Service Book and Hymnal, you may remember that every time Holy Communion was celebrated, this was the post-communion song and when the green book arrived it wasn t sung as frequently but still designated as a post-communion song. This is one of those songs that stuck with me. It s in my bones and in my heart. You know how a song can be that has shaped or formed or taught you is something you never forget and once in a while it naturally rolls off your lips when you sing or hum or whistle? The Nunc Dimitis was one of those songs for me. I remember it being a kind of fitting response to the meal since we sang it after communion. It was a kind of musical version of the words of dismissal, Go in peace and serve the Lord. Echoing Simeon of old, we sang our praise to what God had one for us. I learned the song before I learned the story. Later, when I learned that the song was the Song of Simeon, who held the child Jesus in his arms and was now ready 4

5 to depart life, I kind of scratched my head at making the connection until a wise person put it together for me when he explained that we sing like Simeon because just like Simeon we, too, have held the child in our hands at the meal. In the bread broken for us we have held the child in the cradle of our hands. We have seen the light that enlightens all people and have taken God into our very bodies. God has done this and will continue to do this every time we gather at the Table. We, too, sing like Simeon that we may depart in peace for our eyes have seen and we have touched, tasted, and received the one that lightens all people. No wonder we sing! How could we not sing? Sisters and brothers: We have a great legacy of making music to God here in this place for 100 years. And it will be a big part of our anniversary celebration. Let s keep at it singing for many more years to come. Making music to the God who has loved us, saved us and will cone to touch us a teach us and form us even as we sing God s praises. Amen. 5