Scripture
Luke 2:17-21 (Today’s New International Version, ©2005)
17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.
Let us pray: God, go with us as we journey into Your word. Go with us as we are. In the name of Jesus. Amen
Scripture
Luke 2:17-21 (Today’s New International Version, ©2005)
17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.
And when they had seen him, they spread the word. We love a good story! And this was just about the best story around—it had everything, a humble beginning, unexpected heros and heroines, miraculous appearances, great visual effects, and a feel good ending…who could ask for more? So now what?
Here we are, the day after Christmas—so where do we go from here? I believe that our scripture passage today tells us everything we need to know. On Christmas Eves past, we tended to end the story with the great line “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart”—the lights dimmed, the candles were lit, and “Silent Night” rang out. And we all went home to Santa and stockings, and years ago, to trying to figure out how to put together the toys that seemed like a good idea at the time. But, in reality, these words are just the beginning of the story.
Let’s take one more trip to Bethlehem before we move on this year. These little verses answer my “Now what?” question in 3 very important ways. Let’s look at each of them. First, the shepherds spread the word—they tell the story and all who hear the story are amazed. Mary, on the other hand, keeps the story in her heart—treasures it, and ponders it, perhaps for years to come. And finally, the shepherds return to the fields and glorify God—they give credit for the story where it is due—to God who fulfills the words of the angels in every way.
And so here we have it—tell, treasure and praise. It’s really quite simple... And quite profound. It’s about the priority of story, God’s story, Jesus’ story, Mary’s story, our story. Nothing takes the place of story and it is from story that share our truths with those who need what we have found and harvest what we need from the stories of others.
Here is what I think: I think that we do not celebrate our stories enough. I think that we move so fast that we speed right past the precious stories of our friends, our neighbors, and the strangers who meet us at every turn. Christmas is about story—the importance of story—the importance of remembering.
Hear an age old story from Jewish mysticism. Bal Shem Tov was a beloved rabbi and mystic at the middle of the 18th Century. It came to the time of his dying. He sent for his disciples. He told them, “I have acted as a go-between between you and God. And I am dying. Now when I am gone you must do this for yourselves.” He asked them if they knew the place in the forest where he stood when he went to talk to God. He told them to go there and to stand and call to God. He told them to light the fire as he had taught them and to say the same prayer as he prayed. He said, “Do all this and God will come.”
After he died, the first generation did exactly as Bal Shem Tov had told them and God always came. But by the second generation, the people had forgotten how to light the fire in the way they had been taught. Even so, they stood in the same place and prayed the prayer and God came. By the third generation, the people had forgotten how to light the fire and they forgot how to get to the place in the forest. But, they remembered the prayer. They prayed and God came.
In the fourth generation, everyone had forgotten how to build the fire, no one knew the place in the forest, and the prayer itself could not be recalled. But one person still knew the story about it all, and they told it aloud. And God still came. Now Jewish mysticism may indeed not have the same understanding of God’s revelation that we have today, but the emphasis on story is just the same. And in this focus on stories, we find some basic truths about ourselves.
We are a people of stories. We come together every week and we share where we are in our stories—we are sad, we are at peace, we are frustrated, we are relieved. But one thing remains constant—in the telling of our stories, we are human—reaching out to share who we are and to have who we are received and treasured, if you will, with love and compassion.
This is an interesting week—it is the week between hearing a very, very old story and exploring how that story is going to impact the “newness” of the year ahead. It is a week, where some of us wrestle with resolutions, and while most of us may have given up the formality of resolutions years ago; most of us, in one small or large way or another use this time to at least reflect on how the next year may be better or, at the very least, different. I would suggest that it is a perfect time to reflect on our stories—our stories personal and our stories communal. It is a grand time to hold our stories in our hearts, to treasure them, to ponder them, if you will…to see how our stories have evolved over the last year… and to chose to give God free reign over where our stories will travel in the year to come.
And it is in the end of the story told in our brief scripture story that gives us the clue to where our stories fit with God’s. All these things happened—journey, birth, angels, and shepherds—God came to earth as a tiny baby. At the end of it all, his parents followed faithfully what they had been told was God’s plan. At the time of circumcision, he was named “Jesus” just as the angel said even before he was conceived. Mary and Joseph were faithful, just as God calls us to be faithful to this story and to ours.
My very good friend in New York shares my love for reading and always goes out of her way to send me books that she somehow knows will speak to me. This Christmas was no different—so being the brat that I am, I didn’t wait for Christmas, but opened her present and dove right in. This year’s book is the story of Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson. This is what he has to say about story—God’s story and our place in it: “the Gospel story is our story. We belong right in the center of things, and that is very good news. But we don’t get to stay there. We have to go out in the streets and find all the people who still think they’re not worthy, who still think God couldn’t possibly love them, and bring them inside the temple. We need to learn to run and leap and dance and laugh and sing as one of God’s own and invite others to dance, too.” And he continues, and I continue with him: “As ministers of the Gospel, ordained and lay, we’re all called to make the Gospel story—the Good News—our own and then to take it to people who don’t have the blessing of knowing and believing.”
And so, we move on in the right direction in the year to come. We talk and listen to our stories and to God’s story. Many of you heard the story of Open Circle—of what is happening out there in the Temple every Sunday—months before you came to see for yourself—we have all seen—we have all seen what it looks like when we come together to hear and celebrate God’s story of redemption, acceptance, and healing. We know what it is like to feel the love of God wrap around us and hold us just the way we are. But, our stories do not end here—just like the Christmas story—this is only the beginning! We have work to do—our stories will continue and grow in places we never thought possible. 2011 will be an historic year for each and every one of us and for Open Circle Metropolitan Community Church. Just as we spent all of Advent preparing for God’s first story, let us spend this week and next preparing our hearts and our hands for what is to come. “Emmanuel, Emmanuel, His name is called Emmanuel—God with us, revealed in us—His name is called Emmanuel!” God, You loved us and You came into our world and into our hearts—let us go forth with Your story and with ours. Amen and amen.
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