New Rector Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Marlborough, MA

Isaiah 60:6,9

Psalm 72:1-2,10-17 (or Psalm 72)

Ephesians 3:1-12

Matthew 2:1-12

January 6, 2008

Feast of the Holy Epiphany

Sermon

Jesus Christ has come. He is our King, our God and our Savior.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Today we celebrate the great feast of the Epiphany: the appearance of God in the flesh, the coming of the Savior, the promised one, the Messiah, into the world, God’s revelation of Himself in the person of His son, Jesus Christ. Hundreds of years before the coming of Christ into the world, the Holy Spirit moved the prophets to prophesy that indeed not only would a savior come, but that he would come to be the salvation of the world. What is in part in the Old Covenant, was to become full in the New Covenant. For in the Old Covenant, those who were of God’s people, who were born children of Abraham, were called God’s people. In the New Covenant, all who come to faith in Jesus Christ, who receive him as their Lord, are called the children of God. And so the prophets prophesied that one day all of God’s people would be called into covenant with God. God Himself would send a savior who is Himself, Emmanuel, ‘God with us.’

From the first reading assigned for this morning, read at morning prayer, the prophet Isaiah, moved by the spirit of God, proclaims: And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising…They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord. Also in Isaiah, 49:6, I will give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation unto the ends of the earth. And then Malachai, the last of the twelve minor prophets, a testimony bringing to a close the Hebrew Scripture of the Old Testament, writes: From the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. And in every place, incense shall be offered unto my Name, and a pure offering, for my Name shall be great, even among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts. (Malachai 1:11).

So from the time of the Old Covenant, it was made known that salvation was coming for all the world. And this is what we celebrate today: that we who are Gentiles, have been welcomed-in to a right relationship with God through the blood of the everlasting covenant in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, that salvation has indeed come to us: He who was born King of the Jews, is King of all. He who came as Lord of the Jews, is Lord of all. He who came and laid down his life for the Jews, has laid down his life for all. Salvation has been offered to us. And this is the great celebration that we have this day in the Epiphany.

As Malachai prophesied, Every place, frankincense shall be offered unto my name, a pure offering. My name shall be great even among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts. Some 430 years later, we see the beginning of the fulfillment of this prophesy in the coming of the Wise Men from the East.

There are many symbols in the gospel narrative today. And when I say ‘symbols’ , I do not mean to imply that the story that we are hearing is untrue; but rather that the symbolism that is present within the truth of the Gospel brings us even more fully into the revelation, into the epiphany of God in Jesus Christ. The ‘Wise Men’ themselves are symbols in that they are not Jews; they are Gentiles and they have come and traveled far to worship the Lord, to receive him as King. Now, it is interesting that they appear in Matthew. Matthew’s intended audience was the Jews. Matthew intends for the Jews to understand that indeed, Jesus is the Messiah, the promised one who has come into the world; that he has fulfilled the prophesy, that he is the son of David, and that they should receive him in order to truly receive the covenant which began with God’s promise to Abraham. It was Luke who wrote to the Gentiles primarily, not to the Jews. And yet, here we have the Magi in Matthew’s gospel narrative. This is because Matthew intends for Jesus to fulfill all the prophecies. Indeed it was prophesied that he would come for the salvation of the world. And so they come from the east, non-Jews, and they say, “We are looking for the one who is King of the Jews, that we too may worship him.”

The star that shone forth from the heavens, is also a great symbol that creation itself is bearing witness to the very identity of this child: that indeed this child born in Bethlehem is the son of God, the King, the Savior, the Lord, as the star itself bears witness. Only one other time in the gospel narratives does a star in the heavens bear witness to the identity of Christ. Here, in the coming of the Magi, the heavens cried out the identity of this child. Not again, until the crucifixion, would another star, the sun, would hide its face, and darkness would fall upon the earth, to bear witness to the identity of the crucified Savior. Just as the Magi came saying, “We come seeking the King of the Jews,” so we would not again hear this title refer to Jesus until the time of his passion, when Pilate had nailed to the top of the cross in Greek, Hebrew and Latin, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.”

The very city in which he is born, Bethlehem, is a symbol of who he is. For Bethlehem, in Hebrew, means ‘House of Bread’. And Jesus tells us in the 6^th chapter of John, that he is the living bread, which has come down from heaven. Thus Bethlehem becomes the first tabernacle of the living God following the birth of Christ. We too are called to become the living tabernacles of Christ. We are to become Bethlehem, the recipients of Christ within us. And then, even the manger itself, is another symbol. When we talked about Christ as the living bread, which has come down from heaven to Bethlehem, (the house of bread), the manger itself, which held the infant child Jesus, was the very feed trough (or hayrack) that the animals would feed from. Jesus, the living bread to be received by us, is placed in a manger, that is, to be our nourishment, which is come down from heaven.

And of course, the gifts themselves are also symbols. The gift of gold is the gift that proclaims Jesus as King. The gift of frankincense is a gift offered to God, and the fulfillment of that prophesy by Malachai, that all kings and nations shall offer incense to God. Then the strangest of all the gifts, the gift of myrrh, a burial oil, was to prophesy that our king and our God is coming to the world to die for the life of the world.

So much we celebrate this day on the feast of the Epiphany: Jesus Christ, our living bread; Jesus Christ, our King; Jesus Christ, our God; Jesus Christ, the only sacrifice for the sins of the world, our Savior, our Redeemer. Amen.

Isaiah 42:1-9

Psalm 89:20-29 (or Psalm 89:1-29)

Acts 10:34-38

Matthew 3:13-17

January 13, 2008

Baptism of Our Lord

Sermon

When Jesus went up immediately from the water, behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him; and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)

This day we celebrate a great feast, the feast of the baptism of our Lord, Jesus Christ. On this day we celebrate and give thanks to almighty God for the gift of salvation in His Son, Jesus Christ. For he is the promised one, he is the King, he is the Lord, he is the Savior of all mankind. On that day, when he entered into those waters, he took all of us into those waters with him. Our sins he bore upon his shoulders, our suffering and our death through the baptism of Christ participates - finds its fulfillment - in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And so when Jesus went into those waters, all of us who are in Christ by faith, died with him, and when he came out of those waters, we were raised to a new life, no longer to live according to the ways of sin or the desires of the flesh or the wisdom of this world, but to be born again to live in Christ. What Jesus did on that day would find its fulfillment in his passion and in his resurrection. The Holy Spirit descended upon him and upon the waters. Just as the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters of the old creation in the beginning, so the Holy Spirit hovered over these waters, revealing the waters of baptism to be the waters of a new creation.

Baptism is something radical. For to be baptized into Christ is to place one’s faith and trust in his death and in his resurrection for salvation, and in him alone, for as Mark 16:16 says, He who believes and is baptized will be saved. But he who does not believe shall be condemned. For what is it, to be baptized if we do not place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ and in him alone? So for us, our baptism finds fulfillment in the gift of faith, which is born out upon us. The Holy Spirit descends upon us, and the angels hear the voice of God, saying about you, me, “This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.” He sees us no longer in our brokenness or in our sin or our human frailty, but He sees us through the lens of His own Son, Jesus Christ, and He pours out upon us the love He has for His own Son. He pours out His Holy Spirit upon us that we too may be anointed by God. We become God’s anointed ones, which is what the word Christ means. We become the bearers of His love, of His Spirit and of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

We do not receive this gift in order to keep it to ourselves, but to share it with others. For entrusted to you, not just Bishop Barnum, not just Bishop Harvey, not Father Michael or Father Terrence, but to you has been entrusted the Good News of Jesus Christ. You also are God’s anointed ones.

In many surveys, at least when I was in seminary, they taught us the top four things that a good church needs in order to grow. Does anyone want to guess what number 4 was? To my chagrin, coming in last place, # 4: sound Biblical teaching and preaching. Anyone want to guess what # 3 is? (“Sunday School.”) A strong music program is # 3. Anyone want to guess what # 2 is? Accessible bathrooms. And # 1: a parking lot. Those are the four things that draw people to a church! I believe there’s some truth to that. I try to provide Biblical preaching and teaching. We have a wonderful choir that seems to get better by the week. I know where the bathrooms are, and I hope your car is not parked in the parking lot!

Do you know what I believe will truly grow a church? I believe you can have wonderful programs and wonderful ministries, a wonderful catechesis of the Good Shepherd, great music, but it the Good News of Jesus Christ and the joy of faith does not overflow from the people, the church will one day close its doors. I believe, despite all these studies, that the number one way for the church to grow is for us to understand that we are God’s anointed people, that to us has been entrusted the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that we must look for opportunities that God provides, to share that Good News: with spouses who are not here, children who are not here, parents who are not here, friends, neighbors, co-workers who are not here.

Since I know all of you read The Messenger J, you’re all aware of what today is, aren’t you? (I see a few of you nodding.) Today, I am going to have Christine hand out these sheets of paper to every single person in the church including the choir. And I’m going to ask you to write down five names – family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers who do not have a church home, or who are not happy in their church home, or, more importantly, who do not have a personal relationship with the living God, Jesus Christ. And then, first, these persons will be prayed for regularly by our prayer ministers in 2008. For confidentiality, I will give only the first names of these people to our prayer ministers and they will be praying and fasting regularly in 2008 for these people for their hearts to come to Jesus Christ, and to find a church home here, that they may share the joy that we have as a church family in worshiping Jesus, in hearing his Word and receiving the Holy Sacrament. Secondly, these names will be placed in an envelope, which will be placed on the altar at every celebration of the Holy Eucharist: Saturday night, Sunday morning, Tuesday night, and Monday March 3^rd, (when you’re all here for Bishop Barnum.) And I will say this prayer:

Heavenly Father, we beseech thee, send thy Holy Spirit to stir the hearts of those whom we lift before thee with the gift of faith. Lead them into the Church of thy Son, that they may know thy love, receive thy Word, and be nourished with The Sacrament of thy Son Jesus Christ. In whose holy Name we pray. Amen.

And then, lastly, and even more important than the prayer ministers praying regularly and fasting for these persons, even more important than having these names in the envelope and placed on the altar, these persons are to be remembered by YOU in your prayers every day in 2008. And then you are to look for the opportunity to share the Gospel or your faith, and to invite them to come to church. And God will provide those opportunities. If the prayer ministers are praying and fasting, if we are asking God’s blessing for these persons in every Eucharist, and if you are praying daily, is there anyone here who does not believe that God will not fail to provide an opportunity to invite them to know Him, to be loved by Him, to know His Word, to receive His Sacrament? God will not fail to provide those opportunities. Sometimes the opportunity is very subtle, like: “Would you like to go out to brunch on Sunday morning?” “Every Sunday morning I go to church and I love my community. Why don’t you come with me next Sunday and then from there, we’ll go out to brunch.” (Mike and Suzy can tell you where the best restaurants are for brunch. They go all the time.) God will provide these opportunities. And so now Christine – you thought you were done but you were not – they need their prayer. Here’s that same prayer that I read to you. Each of you will have one so that you can pray for these persons every day. And then trust in God that He will provide those opportunities. And believe me, our prayer ministers are faithful and we are faithful and if you are faithful, I give you my word that at least one of those people will be sitting beside you sometime by early 2009, because God’s Word will not fail. God will bless them. He will move within their lives, because we are lifting them up to His throne. We are lifting them up to a God who longs for them, who loves them, who calls them. God will do it. Now, stand up if you believe God won’t do it. Well apparently everyone believes He will! So the church will grow. May it not grow to our honor and glory but to the honor and glory of Almighty God, as we remember this day the gift of our salvation in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Amos 3:1-8

Psalm 139:1-11 (or Psalm 139:1-17)

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Matthew 4:12-23

January 27, 2008

Third Sunday After the Epiphany

Sermon: A Heart of Forgiveness.

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light and for those who sat in the region of the shadow of death, light has dawned. (Matthew 4:16)

Glory to God who has given us salvation. In the Name of the Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

There is Good News for us this day, Good News entrusted to us, that we may entrust it to others.

Let us look together at the Gospel. John the Baptist came preaching repentance. The Kingdom of God was coming in the person of Christ and John was the forerunner. He told people literally to turn their lives around and to prepare themselves for the coming of salvation. At the beginning of today’s gospel lesson, john’s time for proclaiming the coming Kingdom was over. Jesus, the promised one, had come. John had been imprisoned, and soon would be beheaded. His vocation, to proclaim the coming of Christ, was now completed. Christ had taken up his public ministry, proclaiming that the Kingdom of God had now come. The time was at hand. The reign of sin and the darkness of death would soon come to an end, for the righteousness and light of God had come into the world.

Jesus goes to what was known in his day as the Galilee of the Gentiles. And we hear those words that I began with, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light and for those who sat in the region of the shadow of death, light has dawned. Why was this known as the region of darkness? Perhaps because many Gentiles lived in this area. They were not among God’s chosen people, the Jews. Perhaps because it was separated from the temple in Jerusalem. This is known as a place of darkness. And where does Jesus go? He begins his public ministry and he goes into the darkness to be the light. He goes into the darkness. He goes into what is called the region of death to be light in the midst of darkness, and light in the midst of death.

What about the darkness of our own life? What pains and trials and tribulations, our struggles with temptation and sin do you bear upon your shoulders or hide away within your heart? At times we try to walk with grace and yet we fall into the ways of the world. We give in to desires of the flesh. We say, as Paul did before us, “Why is it that I continually do the things I do not want to do?” It’s into this darkness that Christ comes. It’s into your pain and your darkness, whether it is that you have been betrayed by someone, whether you have been forsaken, whether someone abused you, tore you down, whether someone, when you were just a child, hurt you. It’s into that darkness, it’s into that pain, into the sin and darkness that you bear or encompasses you, that Christ is coming; that Christ has come, to be the light, to pierce that darkness, and to set you free.

Something I learned again, new, this past weekend at this conference, is this: the light of Christ shines so bright that healing will come if we forgive. If we forgive that person who hurt us. when we say, “I no longer will hold them in my judgment; I will no longer hold them in captivity; I no longer stand as judge over them and I give them to the Lord. I wish only the Lord’s will for them, not mine. I wish only the Lord’s judgment, not my judgment. And so you see that person for the first time through the lens of Christ, (through the eyes of Christ), so you can begin to forgive. For it is in forgiveness that the light begins to dawn.

I attended a healing liturgy this past week during the conference led by Judith MacNutt, and I was sitting there in prayer and I felt y name, suddenly felt the presence of someone sitting beside me, and the person called my name, “Hi Michael”. I turned and there was Georgette Forney, who is the President of Anglicans for Life. I said, “Where did you come from?” She said, “I’ve been here all week.” I guess that with 1700 people, I didn’t see her. It was nice to know that as I sat there in prayer, in a room filled with hundreds of people that I didn’t know, that suddenly someone was sitting beside me that I did know and prayed with me for a moment, even though I was unaware that they were there. And so it is, when we come to the cross, we do not come alone. We come with those who are around us, whom we can not see and they have their hands upon us and they are praying for us to forgive, that the power of the cross, the healing power of the cross, and the light of Jesus Christ can heal us, deliver us, from the power of darkness.

Jesus comes to be the light, the dawn in the midst of death. And whenever we hold on to unforgiveness, we are embracing death. For unforgiveness blocks out the grace of God and hardens the heart against the light of Jesus. It places us in the position of judgment over others. Unforgiveness brings death. But a heart of forgiveness opens the heart to the life of Christ. I know it’s so hard to forgive. It’s so hard to forgive those who hurt us when we were young, and when we were older. What has that pain done for you? What has carrying that unforgiveness in your heart all these years done, except oppress you? Except be a crushing weight that weighs down upon your shoulders, much heavier than the cross of Christ. The cross of Christ shall raise you up, but unforgiveness brings you down and crushes you. The cross of Christ brings you into light, delivering you from darkness, but unforgiveness hardens the heart, brings only darkness. The cross of Christ brings life, and into the midst of this pain, a new dawn comes, but in unforgiveness there is only death.

How many years, how many months, how many decades have you carried some of your pains? Are you better off today? Am I better off when they solidify my heart? Have I ever been able on my own to overcome them? Have I been able to cast off the pain? Have I been able to heal myself? No, only Christ, only Jesus, can heal us. We must cry out, ”Lord, help me to forgive as I have been forgiven, that truly your light may come, that truly the dawn may rise within my heart, that truly I may have this crushing weight lifted off my shoulders by the crushing weight that was placed upon yours.

Jesus comes to the place of darkness, he comes to the valley of the shadow of death, not to sit beside you in your pain, but to deliver you from your pain. If you want to be delivered from pain, forgive. Forgive as you have been forgiven, that healing may begin, for there is no greater obstacle to the life of Christ than unforgiveness. And if you are in need of forgiveness, seek that forgiveness. Deceive yourself no more. Justify your hurting another whom Christ loves no more. Stop saying, “I’m justified in doing this, because that happened to me forty years ago.” Christ is now. Christ is in your heart, in your life, now. Allow his grace to be far more powerful and far greater than what someone did to you thirty, forty, fifty years ago. Allow Christ to bring healing into your heart. Stop the justifications. Ask for forgiveness and walk by the Word of God. Allow Him to heal you if you are an abuser. Allow Him to heal you if you have been abused. Ask for forgiveness. Seek forgiveness. Grant forgiveness. And then the light will come and no more will you have a heart of darkness.

In forgiveness we will find for the first time the heart of Jesus, who forgave us – we didn’t deserve it, who loved us when we had turned against him, who rose for us when we had crucified him. That’s our Lord. John the Baptist is gone now. Now is the moment of Christ. Now the Kingdom of God is at hand. Is your heart open to receive him this day? Amen.