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  • "Spring Cleaning with Jesus" A Reflection for the Third Sunday in Lent, Year, B
    2021/02/27

    Jesus is in the temple and he means business. He has come to proclaim the New Covenant, even though he knows it will ultimately cost him his life. But Jesus is different…he is not a go-along-get-along guy. For openers, he won’t preach the good news surrounded by the corruption that permeates the house of the Lord. So he overturns counters, dumps the cash drawers and drives the merchants and their livestock from the temple. It seems straight forward enough, ‘til we realize that once again Jesus is operating on more than one level. The temple that he says will be destroyed and rebuilt is a direct reference to his own approaching sacrificial death and resurrection. And indirectly he is also telling us to get our spiritual house in order. That’s why there is a Lent… a time to take inventory… a time to repent… a time to get our priorities straight. As the disciples suddenly remember, Christ’s cleansing the temple was prophesized in Psalms: Zeal for (God’s) house will consume me. In fulfilling this prophecy, Jesus is not consumed with love of the temple’s architecture, its construction or even its sanctuary. When Joshua pledged: As for me and my house… he wasn’t dedicating bricks and mortar. The Greek word for house, oikus, means household. And it is for the household of God, his errant misguided people that Jesus laments. He calls on his people to recoil from sin, to purge themselves… to repent. This translation also reinforces Christ identifying himself as a temple that will be destroyed and rise again in three days. As a kid, hearing this gospel for the first time, naturally I identified with the good guy… the righteous Jesus. And I looked down on the bad guys… the money changers who were fouling the temple. Over time I came to realize a deeper meaning. The people that Jesus drove from the temple are the very same people he came to save. They are sinners. They are us. The people who mocked him are the same people he would lay down his life for. They are sinners… no different from us… especially when we mock him with indifferent lip-service and call it prayer… especially when we live proud, self-centered lives and call ourselves Christians. Jesus was not deceived by the faux piety of the money changers. He saw through them as he sees through us. And yet, even in his wrath, he loved them as he loves us. He died for us all: in our sins… in our pride, in our greed, in our neglect. Jesus does not love us for whom we ought to be. He loves us as we are… in our falls and in our resurrections. He does not drive us out. He gathers us in… to live in his love. Jesus uses this gospel to tell us that we have a lot of cleaning-up to do. Paul tells us: Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? Lent is set aside for each of us to give our temples a really thorough cleanup. Sure, we’re spiritually sprucing up all year round. But Lent is not here for light dusting. It’s time for heavy-duty scrubbing… purging the temple that God gave us, rededicating ourselves to God’s service. Start with a rigorous spiritual inventory: What are your priorities? How do you spend your time? Do you truly accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Is he at the center of your life or on the periphery? How and when do you pray? Are you in continuous conversation with Jesus or have you silently drifted away? What fences need mending? What habits need breaking? What strengths need building? What relationships need fixing? Who needs your help today? This isn’t a complete list. But it is a good start to putting your temple in order… to tackling your own spiritual spring cleaning. So, roll up your sleeves and pitch in. It will make your life healthier, happier… holier. Ask Jesus to lend you a hand… throwing out the guilt, polishing up the joy, making room for love. Spring cleaning with Jesus… that’s what Lent is for.

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    5 分
  • Gardening Tips for Lent
    2021/02/17

    Dear Friends,

    Once again Ash Wednesday inaugurates the season of self-examination and self-denial we call Lent -- a name derived from the Old English “lencten” which means “lengthen”, referring to the longer period of daylight in the transition from late winter to early spring. In recent years self-denial has become the more readily identified aspect of Lent, as in: “I’m giving up champagne and caviar for Lent.”…Or some other, more serious, expression of sacrifice. In our gospel for Ash Wednesday Jesus focuses on self examination. He does not ask us to nit-pick petty flaws. He asks us to take on the big one, the ubiquitous one, the invasive and pernicious one…Pride. Pride is the crabgrass in the garden of our souls. It produces no fruit while it overgrows grace and strangles goodness. And in this gospel, Jesus warns us sternly not to let pride choke the love out of our worship and generosity. As Jesus shows us, pride has the ability to make a pious fraud of our prayer. It can flip our charity on its head and turn it into self-aggrandizing cant. Ultimately, it threatens to transform our entire spiritual journey into a squalid little ego trip. What makes pride so powerful? The answer is amply documented in scripture and literature. And in an increasingly exhibitionist culture, it is in our faces every day. In Genesis, pride destroyed the innocence of Adam and Eve. They wanted to usurp God’s power. They got shame and banishment instead. In Exodus it drove pharaoh’s chariots into the sea. In Greek drama pride always leads to destruction. Avenging Nemesis always follows hubris. In Shakespeare pride haunts the histories and initiates the tragedies; while American literature is littered with proud victims from Ahab to Charles Foster Cain. Spend some time examining the pathology of pride and you begin to grasp its power. Pride springs from our primordial will to survive. We’ve all got it. Some of us learn to channel it. Others don’t. Healthy self-esteem is built on understanding our worth as beloved children of God. It‘s the cornerstone of well-being. Unbridled pride is the threshold sin to a host of iniquities. It destroys with a smiling face. Jesus is the antidote for pride. Humility permeates what he says and how he lives. Today we’d say that he’s comfortable in his own skin. He knows who he is and why he is here. He’s got infinitely more reason to swell and to strut than anyone who has ever walked the earth. But that’s not Jesus. His every word, his every move is a well-studied lesson in living the good life. Search the gospels for the proud Jesus, the vain Jesus, the self-centered Jesus… you’ll never find him. He’s not there. You’ll only find the humble, loving and gentle Jesus. Even in his wrath, he is humble; in righteous obedience to the will of the Father. Ask any gardener: What keeps the crabgrass at bay? There’s only one answer…constant vigilance. The same is true of pride. But rather being in a reactive mode, just watching for the grass to grow, Jesus wants us to be active, to live productive, fruitful Christian lives. He wants us to vigorously witness his love in the world. Live humbly for and in Christ. And the grass will take care of itself.

    God love you!

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    4 分
  • "Transfigurations" A Reflection for the Last Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B
    2021/02/11

    Dear Friends,

    Well, this is more like it. Brilliant lights… shining garments… a voice from the clouds… even Moses and Elijah on hand… this is what the coming of the Messiah was meant to be. No wonder Peter is ready to set up shop right on top of the mountain. Let’s get some tents up here and start the kingdom right now. Poor practical Peter, what else was he to think? In the face of the divine, his reaction is so very human. Jesus has come to redeem the world and build God’s heavenly kingdom. But all Peter can think about are the trappings of an earthly kingdom. Jesus is operating on a completely different… infinitely elevated… plane. While Peter is bound by the limits of his expectations, his experience, his senses. Once again, Peter is our “every man.” He stands in for all of us in our trivial, human frailty before the face of God. How like us he is. How would we behave before the transfigured glory of Jesus? It’s not a hypothetical question. In our final hour, it is a certainty that awaits us all. Surely, we’ll be in awe. We may be euphoric. We may be frightened. We’ll probably be both. But one thing we won’t be is confused. After a lifetime of Christian instruction and worship, we will finally, fully understand the message. By the grace of God, we’ll know the answers. All will be made plain. We will see the face of God. And since that rendezvous is certain, let’s take the little time we have here to get ready for it. Better to meet with an intimate friend than confront a neglected stranger. While Peter is a prime, first-hand witness to the wonders of Jesus, even for him the good news is just beginning to unravel. Where is this going? Where will it end? And then Jesus spoils the party. He tells Peter, James, and John to keep what they saw a secret: until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. If you think they were confused before, what’s this all about? After witnessing Christ’s glorious Transfiguration, they get hit with the message that he is facing death. Once again we have the advantage of perspective. We have been steeped in scripture. We know that Jesus will climb another mountain. And this time he will carry a cross. Over and over we have learned of the sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection of Jesus. We know that he is the love of God made flesh, here to take us home to the Father. But what have we done with that good news? Is it filed away somewhere for death-bed referral? Or do we live it? Does it shape our choices? Does it guide our decisions every day? Are the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus concrete, immediate imperatives that impact our lives? Or are they fabled abstractions… dusted off and taken out to lend texture to traditional holiday celebrations? That is the challenge of the Transfiguration… to live transfigured lives, right here, right now… with and in the love of Christ. In this gospel, Jesus gives a preview of coming attractions both for the apostles and for us. It is a brief peek into the awesome power he commanded… a power that he was prepared to set aside in sacrifice for us. He, who stood clothed in brilliant light in the company of Moses and Elijah, would soon lay himself down… beaten, naked and alone… for our salvation. In the words of the Father: Listen to him. In Jesus, we are saved. We are transfigured. Follow him to glory. God loves you no less than Moses or Elijah. He values you as a disciple no less than Peter, James, and John. Make loving, praising, and thanking him the focal point of your day. And you will be transfigured, too. God love you!
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    5 分
  • Learning and Loving: A Reflection for the 5th Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B
    2021/02/04

    Dear Friends,

    Sometimes scripture teaches us as much by what it does not say, as well as what it does say. This week's gospel is a prime example. Jesus is just beginning his ministry. And already we have seen him acclaimed as the Messiah. But the full meaning of that acclamation is unclear. Exactly who is this guy?

    As this gospel opens, it looks like dinner at Peter’s house is going to be canceled. His mother-in-law is desperately ill. Then instantly, Jesus cures her. And she’s back in the kitchen whipping up a meal for him and the disciples. After dinner, the whole neighborhood shows up begging for more miracles. And once again Jesus obliges them. And here’s where we must read between the lines.

    The next morning, Jesus rises earlier than usual. Was his sleep troubled? Was his human nature struggling with the full import of his divinity? Jesus looks for guidance in prayer to the Father. What were those conversations like? One thing we do know, in all things Jesus always sought the will of his Father. We know too that once having prayed, Jesus knew exactly what to do…not stay where it’s comfortable, but take his message of repentance and redemption on the road, far and wide. So, he sets out to proclaim the Father’s love for all Creation… and to build the faith we stand on today.

    As subsequent events reveal, Jesus is true God and true man. But for now, that has yet to be seen. And from what is said and unsaid in this first chapter of Mark, the fully divine nature of Jesus has yet to be understood, perhaps even by the fully human nature of Jesus himself. This is a vitally significant point in understanding the life of Christ as he begins his journey to Calvary.

    Over the centuries many, many well-meaning Christians have gotten lost in the theological weeds trying to understand this relationship between the divine and human natures of Jesus. The Gnostics, the Nestorians, the Arians… big chunks of the early Church… were never reconciled to the true nature of Jesus as totally and concurrently God and man. This is not a theological footnote. It is the crux of Christianity. The God, who created the universe, became fully human in the form of Jesus, the second person of the Trinity.

    Jesus is not a junior varsity version of the real thing. Jesus Christ is God… another aspect of the one and only God. In the words of the Creed: “He is one in being with the Father.” If the concept makes your head spin, you’re not the first and won’t be the last.

    Luke tells us: he grew in wisdom and age and grace. I suspect that process did not end with his coming of age. Rather it continued throughout his public life… right to the cross. His awareness of his divinity inexorably unfolded to the point where he could plead from the cross: Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.

    Obedience to the Father empowered the human Jesus to align himself with the divine. It gave him the power to do extraordinary things, like the miracles in this morning’s gospel. And ultimately it gave him the power to do the most extraordinary thing that has ever been done. It made him the vehicle of our salvation, the channel of God’s grace, our hope for eternal life.

    We are still in the first chapter of Mark. Like this early Jesus, we have far to go and much to learn. In previous Focus reflections, we concentrated on very behavioral responses to the gospels… love of God and neighbor This week we go deeper and wrestle with the nature of Jesus. The reason is simple: the more you study and think about Jesus, the more you learn. The more you know about Jesus, the more you love him and the closer you follow him. With Jesus, learning leads to loving; more learning leads to more loving.

    This is particularly true in our Anglican faith tradition. We allow for a wide latitude of conscience-formed theological conviction. As such, Anglicanism has been described more as a path to belief than an iron-clad theological system. And like Jesus in this gospel, we find that path through prayer. In theological jargon: Lex orandi, lex credendi. Praying shapes our believing. The fully human nature of Jesus evolved with his understanding of his divine nature and his divine mission. And that understanding was shaped by his constant prayer conversation…seeking always to know and to do the will of the Father. Our path is clear. Like Jesus, let us pray ourselves nearer and nearer to an intimate understanding of the will of the Father. Through prayer let us also grow in wisdom and age and grace.

    God love you!

    The Reverend Canon David F. Sellery

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    6 分
  • "No Room for Demons" A Reflection for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, Year B
    2021/01/30

    Dear Friends,

    In the gospels of the past three weeks after Epiphany, Jesus has been starting his public life. The messages have been about meeting Jesus, being open to him, listening to him… following him. With that in mind, what do we make of this very short, very curious gospel? Jesus amazes a small-town crowd with his wisdom. They are confused by the brilliance coming out of this carpenter. But the evil spirit living among them isn’t confused. The demon recognizes Jesus immediately… and in terror, it proclaims him: The Holy One of God. How ironic that of all those who were there, it was the unclean spirit who saw Jesus for who he was. Jesus responds by driving the evil spirit out of the man. And the crowd is stunned. Who is this guy? By what power can he literally scare the devil out of people? That is exactly the wonderment that Jesus wanted to produce. We are in the first chapter of Mark. And right upfront, he is telling us where he stands. He is not a prophet. He is not a scholar. He is not here to impress. He is here to save. As Mark tells us: They were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.

    Reflecting on the significance of this passage, C.S. Lewis writes: “The things Jesus tells us are very different from what any other teacher has said. Others say, ‘This is the truth about the Universe. This is the way you ought to go.’ But he says: ‘I am the Truth, and the Way and the Life… No man can reach absolute reality, except through me… Your sins, all of them are wiped out. I can do that. I am Re-birth… Eat me. Drink me. I am your food… do not be afraid, I have overcome the whole Universe.” To demonstrate his authority, Jesus drives out the unclean spirit… not by performing a ritual exorcism… but by simply telling the demon to shut up and get out. Jesus does not invoke a higher power… because he is the highest power. We have the benefit of two-thousand years of Christian tradition. Yet many of us still struggle with the divinity of Jesus. Imagine the folks in Capernaum getting hit with it in real-time, one-on-one, up-close, and personal. They are amazed. They are confused. And not all of them are happy. The concept of demonic possession and exorcism has always been difficult for me to relate to. I probably saw too many low-budget exorcist movies when I was a kid. But I have no trouble coming to grips with the fact that Satan stalks the world and evil flourishes around us… and too often, in us. The struggle with garden-variety inner-demons is very much closer to home. Start with the demon of addiction… the one we invite in to ease the pain, to pass the time, to fill a void. It comes in every form… from prescription drugs to single-malt Scotch… from gambling to pornography… from jelly donuts to ice cream. But whatever the form, we can easily become slaves to these demons… whether as genteel, high-functioning addicts or derelict “junkies” and everything in between. Yet as virulent as they are, addictions are not the most difficult demons to confront. They are so debilitating they make themselves obvious. They invite intervention. Demon pride is much more insidious. And we’ve all got a potentially deadly dose. It comes in a multitude of strains. There’s the “smartest guy in the room” variety… AKA “the know it all.” There’s the “resume-mouth” demon that drives us to impress. There’s the “snob” and its evil twin “envy”… both constantly appraising and comparing… finding fault, spreading malice. The demons are legion. But the underlying pathology is always the same: Pride is the soil that nurtures all other sin. It was Lucifer’s downfall. It was the curse of Adam and Eve. In Hell, it is still the specialty of the house. St. Vincent said: “Humility is nothing but truth, pride is nothing but lying.” A humble life is a happy life. A proud life is a tortured life. Pride and grace cannot occupy the same space. One or the other must go. But humility is not an end in itself. It is a manifestation of a soul at peace, filled with the love of Christ. As he amply demonstrates in this gospel, Jesus has the power to purge every one of our demons. If we have faith… if we ask him… Jesus will tell all our demons to shut up and get out. And so, we pray: Jesus Christ, my Lord, and my God, fill us with your love. Fill us to overflowing. Leave no room for demons. Only you, Lord. Only you.

    God love you!

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    6 分
  • "Martin's Greatest Gift"-From the Archives - A Special Martin Luther King Jr. Day Message
    2021/01/17

    If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it." -- 1 Cor. 12:26. Dear Friends,

    January is a very dreary month and we can all use a break.

    Over a decade and a half have passed and "Martin Luther King, Jr. Day" has slipped into the rotation of routine events that shape our lives -- smack in the middle of the NFL playoffs and right before Groundhog's Day. But Martin's greatest gift to us is not just a day off or another three-day holiday weekend of promotional sales to kick-start the economy.

    Neither is his greatest gift a seat on a bus or at a lunch counter for a minority of us. It's not even his wake-up call to a majority that was comfortable living in atrophied isolation, actively oblivious to the catastrophic rot around us. Behind it all, his greatest gift was to vividly lay bare the Body of Christ and challenge us to live in it.

    "For just as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of that one body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we are all baptized into one body …" 1 Cor. 12:12-13.

    Paul wrote it. Martin lived it. And he died for it.

    The message is simple. It has been in scripture for millennia. But we are "a stiff-necked people" and obviously need regular reinforcement: There was no ghetto in the Garden of Eden. No separate, but equal. We are of common stock. Children of Eve -- or Lucy, as the anthropologists prefer. There were no reruns of Calvary with separate white, black, Asian and Hispanic casts. Christ died once and for all. And in him we are all risen -- together.

    We are the Body of Christ, not the distant cousins of Christ with a polite nodding acquaintance of each other to be endured in quiet reserve at rare gatherings. Christ never commanded that we tolerate each other, much less mollify each other with mid-winter holidays. Jesus said it simply, "Love one another."

    Not the racist degradation of a Birmingham jail, nor his bloody martyrdom on a Memphis motel balcony could shake Martin's fidelity to Christ's message of love. Martin's immortal words inscribed on his memorial put a gentle message powerfully: "Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it…" What a legacy to take home to glory -- a life laid down in Christ as a witness to his enduring love. What a gift of brilliant insight and articulation on bonds closer than brotherhood. We are one -- the beloved of God, our Father, united in the Body of Christ.

    Martin's gift is the kind that keeps giving. For over 50 years it has guided our sense of civic justice. When, and if, that necessity ever fades, there is a more enduring lesson he left us that transcends perceptions of pigmentation and DNA. In valedictory, he summarized the power of truth, love and our human condition: "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."

    Thank you, Martin. We honor you. We rejoice in you. Happy birthday.

    God love you!

    The Reverend Canon David F. Sellery

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    5 分
  • From the Archives - "Dare to Open Your Heart"
    2021/01/16

    Dear Friends,

    As Jesus begins his public life, dozens, then scores, then hundreds of people come out to see him. Most listen and walk away. They have other priorities. But John gets the message right away. He instantly recognizes Jesus as the Christ… sent by the Father to atone for sin. And so, John proclaims Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice…the Lamb of God. John sees what others do not, because he has spent his whole life waiting for Jesus. Every day, he has been ready for Christ’s coming. His life’s purpose has been to anticipate and announce the coming of the Messiah. And now, he sees Jesus and he knows his waiting is over. Redemption is at hand. How about us? Are we open to Christ entering our lives… to living in us… to setting our hearts on fire? Do we answer his call… do we even hear it? Are we looking for Jesus or would we pass him in the parking lot? Is Jesus the focus of our lives or do we just have too many important things to get to first? 2018 is still new. And it’s a good time for resolutions… particularly for examining and adjusting our priorities. Here’s one that should be on the very top of the list. Like John, let’s leave ourselves open to Jesus. Let’s invite him into our lives each day. Let’s look for him in the commonplace… the usual and the unusual. Let’s engage Jesus in a running conversation of prayer as our day progresses. Wake up with him. Read his word every day. Listen to him with your heart. Ask his help. Give him thanks. Anticipate what he wants us to do. Take every opportunity to share him. Woody Allen had it right when he famously said that 80% of success in life is just showing up. For our lives to be successful… for us to serve God’s purpose… we must show up for Jesus. We must be present for him. We must be open to him. If your heart isn’t there yet, coax it along. Consciously commit to living an active life in Christ. Take the first step. Over and over, ask Jesus to open your heart. Over and over, look for him in those who love you and those who annoy you. As Paul tells us: I can do all things through God who strengthens us. Can’t find Jesus? You’re looking in the wrong places. Open your heart to the troubled, the outcast, the forgotten, the lonely, the sick and the poor. Open your heart to Jesus, he’s waiting there in everyone around you. Open your eyes. Open your ears. Your heart, your mind, your hands and your feet will follow. With Jesus, every chore can become a prayer. Every encounter can be an opportunity to love and be loved. Sometimes his love will seep in. At other times, it will flood in. Living in Jesus means living in love. You’ll get it. You’ll give it. You’ll rejoice in it. And in time, Jesus will gather you home in his love. That is far more than Woody Allen’s 80% chance at success. Living in Christ… following him to the Father… that is a 100%, guaranteed, ticket to success. And it all begins by showing up… by looking and listening for Jesus… by opening your heart to him as he presents himself in those around us. John opened his heart… so did Andrew… so did Peter… so did all the disciples. They all followed Jesus to glory. But it never would have happened if they did not actively look and listen… if they did not dare to open their hearts. It’s that simple… dare to open your heart… dare to be a disciple… dare to empty yourself and make room for his love. This prayer can help get us started: Dear Jesus, open my heart to you. I am yours. You are my Savior: The Lamb of God. Come live in me, so that I can live forever in your love. You know my frailties and my foolish pride. You know my doubts and my fears. Change my life so that it reflects your love in all I think and all I do. Make me your disciple, Jesus. Help me always to witness your love in word and deed. Then when you’re ready, lead me home, Lord, one loving step at a time. Jesus, with you, my heart is open. Take me. I am yours. God love you! The Reverend Canon David F. Sellery
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    6 分
  • "A Feast of Epiphanies" - A Reflection for the Feast of the Epiphany
    2021/01/06

    Dear Friends,

    These first verses from the second chapter of Matthew are among the most action-packed accounts found in the sixty-six books of the Bible. A Hollywood scriptwriter would be hard-pressed to match the intrigue, the triumph, and the tragedy. As a preacher, I’m swamped with the symbolic richness of this gospel. A single sermon doesn’t do it justice. But let’s try. The dictionary tells us an “epiphany” is: a sudden intuitive insight into the essential meaning of something. This week’s gospel for the Feast of the Epiphany is literally a feast of epiphanies. It is chock full of insights into the meaning of the coming of Christ and the transformation it promises. Start with the vision of the Magi. They had devoted their lives to studying the heavens. And then suddenly there was a brilliant light they had never seen before. For all their astronomical knowledge, they were baffled. They dropped everything and set out to follow wherever this strange star would lead them. For mile after mile, over mountains and across deserts, they fixed faithfully on this single, celestial signpost which led them to the newborn Jesus. The journey of the Magi raises some challenging questions for us: What star do you follow? Does it lead to Jesus? Or is it all about getting and keeping more stuff… filling the hole in your soul with things… a bigger paycheck, a bigger house, season tickets, the best table, the latest iPhone, the hippest sneakers? Sure, these are nice to have. But go to as many funerals as I do and they shrink to insignificance. The Magi got it right the first time. Follow your star to Jesus…his love, his way… they are all that endures. All four gospels have examples of the Messiah of the Chosen People gathering in all the people of God’s creation. Significantly, right from the birth of Jesus, God mobilized the heavens to reach all the way to Persia. Today, we walk in the footsteps of the Magi. Our home is further from Bethlehem than was the Magi’s home in Persia. But his call is just as strong. His star is just as bright. We follow Christ from across cultures and across millennia. The gates of heaven have been thrown open to us. No matter how humble our condition, we stand before the throne of God no less noble than the kings, no less beloved than the prophets, no less entitled than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Magi did not come empty-handed. And neither should we. Jesus, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, does not need our gold, frankincense, and myrrh. All creation does his bidding. But he does want us to give back for our own sake… to demonstrably express our gratitude, to get some skin in the game. Our gifts, our tithes, our charity, our service… all our good works… they don’t buy God’s love. They don’t buy redemption. Those are gifts outright. The Magi did not bribe the star to lead them to Jesus. They did not pay Mary and Joseph to see their child. Without claim or condition, they humbly laid their gifts at the feet of the newborn king in awe, in adoration, in gratitude… and so should we. And then there’s Herod. The world has seen his like so many times. In his self-centered soul, the Epiphany is all about him. It is his opportunity to eliminate a potential rival, no matter the cost. Deceit, deception, mass murder: these things afflict other people. To him, they are just an average tyrant’s way of doing business. Today the lands crossed by the Magi are plagued by a new slaughter of the innocents. And these new Herod’s are just as fiendish as the original. Canon Andrew White, the Anglican Vicar of Baghdad, reported on the beheading of four children who had refused to renounce Christ. With knives at their throats, they told their ISIS tormentors that they would always love and follow Jesus. And so, they did follow him… all the way home to the Father. While we are appalled by this horror… to be honest… haven’t we all got the tiniest touch of Herod in us? Too often, we tell ourselves that we are the arbiters of good and evil. What we see as good for us, we see as the obvious good. We don’t operate on Herod’s scale, but we do let our egos lead us around by the nose. Epiphany is a good time to alter that course. It is time to remember that only Jesus is the way, the truth, and the light. It is time to recognize that our star is the grace of God and it still leads to Jesus. God love you!
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    6 分