When the primaries are all over, and all of the bad things the candidates have been saying about one another are brought to a close, it will be fascinating to see what they will do to repair the damage. I’m sure there will be some amusing backtracking!

President Lyndon Johnson told the story once of an old judge he used to know in Texas. He had been on the bench for thirty years. One day the chairman of the Judiciary Committee called and said , “Judge, I’ve got bad news for you. There was a bill introduced today that would eliminate your job.” The judge said, “I’m sorry to hear that, and shocked. Who is behind it?”

The chairman said, “Well, there’s Bill Small.” The judge said, “Him. Why do you listen to him? A week doesn’t go by but what we get in small claims court 6 or 7 cases of shoddy merchandise sold by him. If it weren’t for my long loyalty to the party and the fact that he was a member I would have come down on him a long time ago. Who else?”
“Well, there’s Ed Crawford, the editor.” “Him and his yellow journalism. If he weren’t a friend of yours I would have banned his reporters from the courtroom on a dozen different occasions. Who else?”

“Well, there’s Gordon Manning, the lawyer.” “You and I know that shyster should have been disbarred on a dozen occasions. I’m shocked that you would let people like that operate on your committee.”

The legislator said, “Well, judge, I also have good news. I had the votes and we voted the bill down, and your job is safe.”

The judge said, “Well, darn you (The language was a bit stronger than that, actually). “Why darn me? I just saved your job.” “Darn you because you just made me say some very unkind things about three of the finest men this country has ever produced!”

Don’t ask me why, but for some reason that story came to mind while I was thinking about the Presidential race.

All of the candidates want to be King. All want to be the Messiah, God’s anointed, to save the people in these perilous times. To do that they have to win the peoples’ favor by convincing us that theirs is the true saving message. Is it beginning to sound religious? Of course, it would sound even more religious if they could show us God is on their side. If they could heal a few people along the campaign trail, that would help.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is on a kind of campaign trail as well. He is travelling throughout Galilee to get his message to as many people as possible. He is the Messiah, God’s anointed one. In fact, he is God himself in the flesh. He wants to get the message out that he has come to save his people from their sins. Along the way, however, he encounters people who are sick and who have various diseases. He has the power to heal. It is his nature to heal, and so he heals them.

One of these persons is Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, who lays sick with a fever. He heals her, and her healing is so complete that she immediately begins to serve them. One commentator says that “the word translated ‘serve’ is the same as that used when the angels ‘waited on’ Jesus in the wilderness. Later Jesus himself will use that same verb to describe himself as one who comes to serve. Here Simon’s mother-in-law embodies the ideal of discipleship as service to others, and foreshadows the actions of the women who later ministered to Jesus at the cross.”

Jesus’ healing of Simon’s mother-in-law really brings out the crowds. Persons suffering from arthritis or who had toothaches; people with gout, hip problems, digestive ailments, as well as more serious diseases, all heard about the healing, so that the whole city showed up at Simon’s doorstep, wanting relief from their maladies. They were not there to have Jesus tell them about God’s saving grace, which was really what Jesus wanted to communicate to them. But he was compassionate; in fact, he embodied compassion. So he couldn’t turn them away. He healed them, from the one who was nearsighted to the one with inoperable cancer, to the one who had an evil force in his life that he couldn’t overcome.

Our Lord Jesus had two major challenges with which he had to deal. The first was the prevailing notion of what the Messiah would be. The Israelites expected the Messiah to be a political ruler who would free Israel from Roman rule. When he went about preaching salvation, they thought that ultimately would result in establishing an earthly kingdom in which God would truly rule. Even the disciples suffered from that misconception, up to the very end. The other challenge was what Jesus encountered at Capernaum. They wanted him to cure their earthly woes.
Jesus had the ability and the power to do both, and his temptation was to be what the people expected. Ultimately, however, he would not be diverted. He must stay true to his calling, as real as those other needs were.

In order to do what the Father called him to do, our Lord had to stay focused. How did he stay focused on his mission? He prayed. Over and over again we see Jesus going apart and praying. After all of those healings in Capernaum, the next morning he got up, long before it was light, and went to a lonely place, and prayed. His disciples searched him out, told him people were looking for him, presumably for more healings, and he told them that he had to move on. His mission, after all, wasn’t to be a miracle worker, but to get the word out.

I wonder what his thoughts were. Was he disappointed that he had to disappoint the people in Capernaum? We aren’t told that. We’re merely told that he moved on to fulfill what the Father had called him to do.

If the Son of God used prayer to stay focused, how much more do we need to pray, so that the cares and challenges we face don’t rule over us? We have at least one mass here at the church every day. We have Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer every day. And yet, rarely do we have any more than half a dozen people at mass, and we’re lucky if we have any participants at Morning and Evening Prayer other than the person scheduled to officiate and read the lessons. I’m mystified that our people don’t feel the need to pray in this manner. Some might say, I don’t have to go to church in order to pray. Those who say that probably don’t pray alone either. Each of us needs to pray, fervently, in order to keep our focus on God and his will. Do it at home. Do it here at church. But brothers and sisters, pray.

While on vacation, driving in the town I grew up in, Derby, Connecticut, I was negotiating an intersection of two multilane roads.

I entered the intersection on a green light, but because of turning traffic, got caught in the middle of the intersection when the light changed.

Everyone stopped at the light saw my predicament and did not move. But there was one lane on the far end of the intersection that was open, and a fellow in a pickup truck blasted through the intersection and met me broadside. No one was hurt, thank God, though we did take an ambulance ride to the hospital to be sure.
It was at the hospital that a policeman handed me a ticket and charged me with the accident. I was stunned.

He was absolutely deaf to my argument that I was already in the intersection when the light changed. “I’m sorry sir the law is clear”.

The guy that hit me was speeding, and was pumped up on pain killers. He ran a power saw across his hand that morning and was on his way to the hospital a second time to see the doctor when he hit us. “I’m sorry sir the law is clear”.

I did not take this well. I felt a grave injustice had been done, common sense notwithstanding. And I told him I am going to challenge this. I had enough restraint not to push this further with the policeman: I therefore avoided being shot or arrested.

So I planned that I would just fly back up there and defend myself in court; the judge would see things my way. The law couldn’t be that blind.

My brother, in his infinite wisdom and his knowledge of his big brother, recommended that I see his lawyer – and I did.

So when I went to court and stood before the judge I had a mediator who knew the law and could present my case.

But the amazing thing was, when I met the lawyer at the courthouse before the hearing, he told me that the day before, he had been at that very intersection, and the exact same thing happened to him! What are the chances?

I had a mediator who knew the law, knew what was expected by the judge and communicated it to me. And he knew the facts of my case to present them to the judge, but most significantly: He knew my very experience, he went through everything I went through exactly as it happened to me. He was the perfect mediator, the perfect bridge between the judge and me, between the law and me.

In the same way, that was the great hope that occupied Israel for most of its history: to have a perfect mediator.

They hoped for the prophet, one who could perfectly bridge the gap between God and man. Someone who knew God so intimately that he could make God’s mind and heart known to his people, at the same time intimately familiar with their own circumstances and could fairly represent them before God.

That was the promise made by God through Moses to the Jewish people.

We hear it this morning in the Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy: the Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst,…..and will put My words in His mouth and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. One like Moses, who would bridge the gap – that’s what Moses did – make God’s will known to the people, and God’s power to lead, provide, and deliver at the same time he represented Israel’s needs to God. (vv15-18)

That was the hope, the promise that Israel awaited through their history, to have someone represent them to God and God to them; someone with real authority and power, like Moses.

And they waited and waited. And the reality was, as is stated in Deuteronomy 34:10, since then no prophet had risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.

Even at the time of John the Baptist’s ministry, the Jewish leaders asked John: Are you the prophet? (John 1:21) And he said no but he pointed at the one who was.

And that is what we see in the gospel lesson this morning. As Jesus taught in the synagogue his listeners were astonished because he taught the word of God as one who had authority. He taught the word of God as if he had the power to act on it. He taught it as if it was his own.

Then he plainly demonstrates that authority; taking authority he frees a man from an unclean spirit. He commands it to go and it goes. He frees a man of a powerful force that had bound him, oppressed him, and crushed him, a force no man had the authority or power to defeat. But Jesus knew his problem – he knew his need – and he did something about it.

The people are astonished. This Jesus has taught the word of God with authority and demonstrated that authority by exercising power over forces man has no ability to overcome on his own, liberating man of the things that bind and break and crush our lives and spirits.

It was this kind of evidence, a demonstrated intimate knowledge of God’s heart and mind, and God’s power mediated to man, freeing him from things he could not free himself from including death itself ultimately, that led some to recognize that the promise made by the Lord to Israel – that I would raise up a prophet like Moses (one who knew God face to face) – was finally fulfilled in Jesus.

Peter in a sermon proclaimed at the temple in Jerusalem proclaimed to the multitude there that Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise. (Acts 3: 22)

St. Stephen gave his life, testifying that very same thing to the Council of Elders in Jerusalem. (Acts 7:37) Jesus is the prophet for whom we were waiting.

It is a truth the church has proclaimed ever since: Jesus is that one, the prophet who will make knows the word of God, who knows God face to face, who knows his people and brings their needs before the judge. One who has the authority to plead their case, and to win their freedom from every consequence of sin, death, guilt, even evil spirits, and powers.

Do we as Christians today, live our lives in light of that truth? Have we come to Jesus seeking to know God, know his heart and mind for our lives? Do we seek to hear him speak to us in scripture, in prayer? Do we trust that what he has said in scripture, and says to us, is true and dependable?
And do we trust in his power to enable us to live that life?

What things do we bring with us today that weigh us down, that separate us from knowing and experiencing God’s presence and joy? What doubts, guilt, accusations, un-forgiven sins, condemning thoughts, destructive behaviors, do you carry?

Jesus alone has the authority to plead your case, to represent you personally, and he alone has the power to break those powers that bind. He alone can declare you innocent and free. He alone is your mediator, your bridge between yourself and God.

As we continue our worship this morning, as we seek God’s face in word and sacrament, turn to him; give Him your case today. Trust him this day for your life that you may know his presence and peace.

Let us pray: Almighty and everlasting God, our Father and our judge, you govern all things in heaven and on earth, mercifully hear the supplications of your people as we lift these burdens to you, and through the mediation, the power, the love, and the cross of Jesus Christ, grant us your healing, your forgiveness, your deliverance, that we might live in your peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Presbyterians decided the problem was predestined and that they shouldn’t interfere with the squirrels, so of course the problem didn’t getter any better for them. The Methodists decided the squirrels were a part of nature and should be returned to the woods. But the squirrels came back.

The Episcopalians had the most creative solution. They said, “Let’s baptize them. That way we’ll only have to deal with them on Christmas and Easter!”

That’s kind of a cynical view of what happens at baptism, don’t you think? Our hope, of course, is that those who are baptized today will be fully immersed in their life in Christ, which begins today with their baptism.

Baptism is important in the life of a Christian. In fact, it’s what makes a Christian a Christian. Before you’re baptized, you’re not a Christian; after you’re baptized, you’re a Christian. Francis Hall, in The Church and the Sacramental System, in speaking of baptismal regeneration, says this: “Regeneration has often been confused with conversion. Conversion is a change of disposition and aim, and is moral; whereas regeneration is a change in level of being and capacity by the involution of a supernatural vital principle, flowing from the Body of Christ. Described by physical analogies it is a biological change. For this reason, it can be, and frequently is, accomplished once for all by the Spirit in unconscious infants, before they are able to make any moral response…It means that they come to the task of working out their salvation as having the vital capacity and status as members of Christ’s Body and children of God by adoption and grace.”

In the midst of pretty technical language, did you hear what he said? Baptism is a biological change. Through baptism we are grafted onto the Body of Christ, made children of God by adoption and grace. That change in being takes place through baptism by water and the Spirit.

In the first reading from Genesis we heard how God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was covered with water and the Spirit of God moved over the surface of the water. Later on, the other parts of creation were able to take place once the water was moved so that dry land could appear. Thus, water in the very beginning was a symbol of chaos. Still later on, when God decided to destroy his creation, he used water. The flood was a return to the uncreated chaos.

Obviously, we need water to live. It’s basic to life. Yet it has a tremendous power to destroy as well. When John the Baptist prepared the way for the Messiah, he did so with baptism by water for repentance of sins. This time, water was used to destroy the effects of sin. The destruction is a good destruction. That is part of what happens to us in our baptism into thje Body of Christ. We are given the forgiveness of sins. Water thus becomes a powerful tool for good. There’s a sermon in that somewhere, too. God can use even those forces that have the power to destroy for good.

In the second reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we heard that when those who had been baptized by John were baptized later on by Paul in the name of the Lord Jesus, they received the Holy Spirit. That is another aspect of what happens to all who are baptized. We receive the Holy Spirit, God present with us through his Spirit, to give us strength, and to guide us into all truth.

Finally, in the Gospel, we see Jesus presenting himself to John for baptism for the repentance of sins. The question many have asked ever since is, “If Jesus was without sin, why did he need to be baptized?” Jesus’ baptism is a sign that his ministry is to and for all humankind. He came to this earth to take the sin of all people upon himself, ultimately to die as a sacrifice for that sin. Jesus’ baptism is a foreshadowing of his death on a cross. His going down into the water symbolizes his death and burial, and his coming up out of the water symbolizes his resurrection from the dead. St. Paul tells us that we are likewise baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ. Our baptism symbolizes our death to sin and our rising to new life in Christ.

Yes, we are made Christian through our baptism, but our life continues to be a process of conversion into the people God created us to be. That means a daily dying to self that Christ may live in us. While I am a Christian, I still have far to go in that process of conversion into a person who is totally Christ-centered. That is the goal for each of us as Christians—to be totally Christ-centered. That’s why I continue to receive the Sacrament as often as possible. That’s why I continue to pray daily and to read the Holy Scriptures. That’s why I give of my time, talent, and treasure for the spread of the Kingdom of God. And yet, as that conversion takes place, it is not me, but the Spirit of God working in me, enabling that conversion to take place. And so, whatever little progress I make toward that goal, I cannot take credit for it, for it is God himself, through his grace, working through me.

For those who are to be baptized, we pray that they won’t be like those pesky squirrels baptized in the Episcopal Church so they’ll only come to church on Christmas and Easter (Of course, we know squirrels can’t be baptized anyway!). We pray that this will truly be the beginning of a life of conversion into the holy people of God.

The horse is literally airborne – charging ahead at full speed, legs outstretched. The general has his sword out pointing skyward toward the enemy, but he is looking back over his left shoulder at a soldier who seems to be a bit confused as to just what direction he will be moving; ahead or to the rear!

This painting commemorates the events of the battle of Cedar Creek on October 19 1864, when the Union army in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia was surprised by a sudden, unexpected and violent morning attack by a Confederate army under the command of General Jubal Early.

The Union forces were caught for the most part surprised and unprepared; defenses were overrun and soldiers began running for the rear. It seemed that this army would again suffer defeat at the hands of the confederates. But…..

About 12 miles away, the short, feisty Union general Phil Sheridan was near Winchester, returning from a meeting in Washington, DC. Upon hearing the sounds of battle he began giving orders leapt upon his horse and galloped to the sound of the guns.

Arriving suddenly on the battlefield he roused his routed and defeated army, turned them around and attacked. His powerful and sudden presence on the battlefield completely changed the situation, and he led his troop to not only win the battle but so defeated Early’s army that they were never again an effective fighting force.

Sheridan’s sudden, unexpected, almost magical appearance on the field immediately changed the situation, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

This captures the meaning of the word Epiphany: The sudden unexpected appearance of someone or something that completely changes the situation.

This is why we celebrate a feast known as Epiphany because Jesus appeared suddenly and unexpectedly in a realm of spiritual warfare and he changed everything ensuring victory to all who would follow him.

At different times and in different places in the Christian church this feast focused on different elements or evidences of Christ’s Epiphany. There has been an emphasis on Jesus’ birth, his baptism, his transfiguration,

but ultimately it has come to rest on the revelation to the Gentiles as the culmination – or better – the beginning of the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy that all nations and all people will come to know the God that revealed himself through his work, in and through the Jewish people, to the entire world.

Isaiah proclaims: “Arise shine for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and a thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”

Words which intimate that Israel will be the locus of a revelation, a light, which will dispel the thick darkness of sin and oppression and to this light nations and kings from outside Israel will come.

Paul’s talks about the mystery of Christ; that which has not been revealed in the past has now been revealed by the spirit, that through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Gentiles – non Jews – have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, partakers in the promise.

The light has indeed come, the Messiah has been born, the word had become flesh and dwelt among us. The

Epiphany of the lord has been realized. But how do we respond?

Like the soldier depicted in the painting, trying to decide -does he continue to run or does he turn around and follow his general – how will we respond to the sudden appearance of Jesus in our midst? Do we follow our base instincts and run our own way? Or, do we turn and follow him?

The Gospel illustrates this very choice: Two very different responses to the birth, the Epiphany of the Son of God.

First there is Herod’s response. Herod was troubled. All Jerusalem was troubled. We later discover that when Herod finally discovered where this king of the Jews was born, he sent out soldiers to kill this child, and since they didn’t know exactly who he was they killed all the male babies two years old and under.

Herod wanted no part of this Epiphany, he was king of the Jews; more significantly he was king of himself, and he would have no rivals to his thrones so he would attempt to eradicate this claimant to what he claimed as his.

On the other hand there are the three Magi. Three men from another culture and another land: Gentiles. As students of the stars they followed a stellar sign that indicated to them a unique birth, the birth of the king of the Jews.

They sought after the truth of this revelation. They followed this star for a good bit of time over a good bit of distance until it led them to a fenced-in cave in which a baby lay in a manger and they worshipped him, presenting him with their treasures: Gold, frankincense, and myrrh, gifts whose meaning were certainly more significant than their value: Gold, that which is most worthy of a king; frankincense, an incense used in the temple to worship God, worthy of God, worthy of a priest, and myrrh, a fragrance used to embalm; a gift worthy of a sacrifice. In their simple act of worship these three gentiles reveal the very nature and mission of this newborn king, this Epiphany, king, priest, and sacrifice.

The Epiphany has happened. There are two ways to respond to that reality.

We are here today in the lineage of those three wise men, gentiles who have responded to the Epiphany of

the Son of God, the king of the Jews, by turning to follow him by coming before him to offer him our treasures not as a one-time event, but by hopefully living a life of continual worship and acknowledgment of he who is our king, our priest, and the sacrifice gaining our forgiveness and life.

But let us also remember the others, those who choose to run or, like the soldier in the painting, are undecided. May we remember to pray for them to pray for their turning around for their coming to worship the King.

May we pray that our lives, lived in the reality of the Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ in us, with the brightness of his light shining in us, may be like that star that led the Magi, leading others to turn around, to follow their general, to come to Bethlehem, to know the glory of the Lord.

My nephew Matt and his darling wife Laura were in a hospital as I wrote this sermon, giving birth to their first child – actually Laura really did all the work – I am not sure what Matt did; he was there and remained conscious through the ordeal, but in the months previous to this event they spent hours poring over books and talking to family about what to name this precious, little, new soul.

They finally decided on the name Lily. I don’t know if there are family connections to the name or what the significance is but it is extremely significant to them. And she will forever be known as Lily.

Most likely each of us was the subject of the same kind of momentous enterprise when we were yet to take our first breath. Parents take naming their children as a serious endeavor. Do you know of anyone who just arbitrarily named their children: boy number 1, girl number 2?

I was named Richard after my father; I carry his name and many of his qualities, some contributing to Gail’s periodic consternation. It is a name of French/ Germanic origin, brought to England by the Normans, and it means strong or hard leader. Gail would agree that I live into my name though she reinterprets that to strong-headed, stubborn.

Gail’s name is derived from Hebrew origin – remember David’s wife Abigail – and it means father’s joy. I think her parents named her right.

We are all given a name, identified by a name, and that has great significance for us. Maybe in some ways it does shape our personalities.

That would seem to be the thinking in most of our culture. Consider how names are used. Remember the seven dwarfs in Snow White? Each was defined by his name: Dopey, Grumpy, Sleepy, and the rest. Aren’t we all glad we were not born to the guy who wrote that script!

And I just saw the three Jason Bourne movies again, based on a series of books by Robert Ludlum, about an assassin named Jason Bourne who had amnesia and was trying to discover who he was. Ultimately he finds that he was not Jason Bourne the assassin, but David Webb, a patriotic young man who was transformed into Jason Bourne. He finds his real name and he finds his real self.

Names are important; that is certainly the scriptural reality. Remember in Creation; God gives creation its reality calling it into being. He has Adam name the creatures defining his relation to them, and Adam calls the unique creation made as his counterpart, Woman – bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh – defining her relation to him, and later names her Eve: Mother of all the living.

Abram, being obedient to God’s call to leave his own land and go where God leads, is given the promise that he will be the father of many nations, and God changes his name from Abram which means exalted father, to Abraham which means father of a multitude.

Jacob, son of Isaac and junior brother to Esau; his name means grabbing the heel because he was born second grasping Esau’s heel. He is later renamed Israel, one who wrestled with God or champion of God, after his grappling encounter with the angel.

Today in church we celebrate a feast day remembering the giving of a name.

Not many weeks ago we heard in the gospel about the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary and saying to her: “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. “

This last week we celebrated Christmas, the birth of this unique child, God Incarnate, and today, eight days from his birth, the traditional day that Jewish males would be circumcised according to the law, we celebrate his naming as Luke relates: “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.”

The supernatural events and angelic encounters preparing the way for, and then surrounding this birth, certainly manifested the reality of a heavenly work that this child was destined to accomplish.

But it his name that revealed the nature of that work: Jesus, Yeshua, Joshua. It means God saves.

Originating in the mind and being and purposes of the father, it is conveyed to mere mortals Joseph and Mary, by angels, and assigned to this child by those mortals to authenticate and inaugurate a wondrous plan to make God personally known to us, and to invite humanity into a personal relationship with God through a work of self-sacrificing salvation saving men’s souls by suffering and dying at the very hands of those he came to save.

In his incarnation, God becomes man to fulfill God’s plan, his destiny given in his name to give his life in place of ours, to pay the price for our sin and rebellion that we might be saved, as Paul describes this; “being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.”

It behooves us therefore to treasure this name, to love this name Jesus because this Jesus is God’s ultimate message of love to us, his gift of salvation to those who believe in him, who have confessed their need for him, who count him as their God, Savior, Lord, and friend.

Do we have that relationship? Have we trusted in he who is highly exalted by God, who has the name that is above every name, a name to which every knee in heaven and earth will ultimately bow, and every tongue confess the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord?

Have we bent the knees of our heart and will at the manger of our own lives to worship him and invite him in?

And doing that, do we live into that reality? As followers of Jesus do we live into the name given to us as sons and daughters of the king? What do we make of our names, our identities as Christians?

A story was told of a young man in the army of Alexander the Great. Not a great soldier, he shirked and avoided responsibility when he could, was disobedient as far as he could push the envelope. At one point his misbehavior and inattention to duty was brought to the attention of Alexander himself.

He commanded this young soldier be brought to him personally. Considering what discipline he would impose, Alexander asked the soldier for his name. The young man sheepishly replied: Alexander.

Alexander the Great looked shocked then horrified. He regained control and then stared gravely at this young man and commanded him: You either change your behavior or change your name.

Two questions this day, the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, raises for us:
First, what has the name of Jesus made of us? Has it humbled us, saved us, transformed us, have we accepted him who is named Jesus as our lord, our savior, our most precious and trusted confidant and friend?

And having answered that, what have we made of the name of Jesus? Does our life bear witness to the reality that we are Christian, followers of Jesus?

Let us pray together the collect for today found in the bulletin: “Eternal Father, you gave to your incarnate Son the holy name of Jesus to be the sign of our salvation: plant in every heart, we pray, the love of him who is the Savior of the world, our
Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.”

May we make this collect our personal prayer this week that our lives always and everywhere will proclaim our love, our hope, our trust in the precious and powerful name of Jesus.

The practice of gift giving at Christmas hasn’t always been universally accepted. The Puritans forbade the observance of Christmas and everything associated with it. And while Charles Dickens helped to popularize the giving of gifts at Christmas, others from time to time have tried to dampen the practice because of its obvious materialistic dangers. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, thought it best not to give gifts but to sit still and think about truth and purity until her friends were all the better for it. Can you imagine the reaction of your family and friends if you were to tell them that instead of giving gifts this year you are just going to meditate on their behalf? You could put it in a nice card that says, “Dear, and then put your wife’s or husband’s name, in your honor and for your good, I have spent one hour in meditation thinking about truth and purity. Merry Christmas from your loving husband or wife.” It’s a nice gesture, and certainly we could do with a lot more of it, but it would most likely not be greatly appreciated!

As we find ourselves on Christmas Day, that is, the day after the evening on which the wondrous birth of our Lord occurred, it is good to reflect on the meaning of that event that brought all of our celebrations about. The Gospel that is read on every Christmas Day is the first 14 verses of the Gospel according to St. John, and its placement on the day after the evening on which Jesus was born is precisely for the purpose of reflection on the meaning of Christ’s birth.

In these verses that have come to be known as the Prologue of John, John is seeking to answer the question, “Who is Jesus?” And before we examine what John says, I would like for you to imagine what you would say if someone who knows absolutely nothing about Jesus were to ask you who he is. How would you respond?

Some might say Jesus is the Son of God. I watched a television program in which Jesus was referred to by one of the characters as the Great Communicator. Some folks would say that Jesus was a great teacher or a great moral leader. Some would say he is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy concerning the awaited Messiah. The apostle and evangelist St. John, in beginning his account of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, says he is the Word. Being familiar with the Hebrew scriptures, John starts his account of the Gospel in the same way that the book of Genesis starts: “In the beginning.” But John’s story of Jesus actually begins before creation, when nothing existed but God himself. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” So when John says “In the beginning was the Word,” he is speaking of much more than a mere utterance of speech; he is speaking of God himself.

In speaking thus of Jesus, John is using a concept of the Word that was familiar to both the Jews and the Greeks of his time. For the Jew, a word was something in itself; it was an event, an action, and it had a kind of power. Genesis proclaims “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. Each part of creation came to be through God’s uttering a word. Words had a kind of life of their own. When Isaac gave to Jacob his words of blessing, even when they were to the wrong person, the person not intended by Isaac to receive his blessing, they could not be taken back. The event had happened through the utterance of words. The prophet Jeremiah records of God’s words: “Is not my word like fire, and, says the Lord, like a hammer which breaks the rocks in pieces?” By around 100 B.C., because the name of God was considered too holy to be said, whenever the scriptures were read in public, when the reader came to the name of God, he would substitute “Word” for Yahweh, and that practice was in use at the time John wrote his account of the Gospel. In calling the Word God, John is not doing anything surprising to the Jew of his day.

Likewise, for the Greek, logos, which is the Greek word for word, means reason. It suggests the order that characterizes creation, and ultimately, it is the mind of God. And so, to the Greeks, for John to call logos God is no surprise.

What is a surprise to both Jew and Greek is what John goes on to say, for he says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.” This Jesus, who was born as a baby in Bethlehem, at a particular time in history, existed from before all time, and is God himself.

We hear a lot about keeping the true meaning of Christmas, and this is what Christmas really means: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” God taking flesh in a particular human being at a particular time in history has at least two profound theological implications. First, it means that God is intimately acquainted with human nature, from the inside. He knows what it is to be hungry, to be anxious, to be rejected, to be tempted. The incarnation shows us the extent of God’s love for us and the fact that there is nothing that we experience that is beyond his compassion, his concern, his forgiveness. Jesus wasn’t born in a church and reared in a protected, insulated environment. He chose and continues to choose to be involved in every aspect of human life—our relationships, our businesses, the tough decisions we have to make. God is not aloof from life, but is intimately involved.

And second, the incarnation gives to the Church the model for faith. We are called not simply to think good thoughts, not just to say our prayers, as good as these things are, but to live out our faith in our deeds. And so we build hospitals to care for the sick, schools to educate the young. We organize food drives, build homes to help the poor break out of the cycle of poverty, provide counseling for a host of problems. Wherever there is a human need, there is the Church, incarnating our belief that God is intimately involved with our every need.

That is the meaning of Christmas. So keep giving gifts at Christmas as tangible signs of your love for your family and friends, but don’t let it stop there. Let us continue to make giving a way of life, modeling ourselves after the self-giving love of God, who became flesh and dwelt among us.

As some of you may know, my preferred form of exercise is racquetball. Every morning at 5:30, Monday through Friday, you will find me at the Y playing racquetball, sometimes singles and sometimes doubles. Four guys in a little racquetball court when we’re playing doubles can seem a little crowded at times, but in 33 years of playing I’ve only had to go to the hospital for stitches one time, but a couple of weeks ago I got hit in my mouth with a racquet. The result was that my upper lip hurt a little and I could feel my front teeth, which worried me a little. So after we had finished playing I went to my dentist, who told me one of my front teeth was a little loose and that I shouldn’t use it for a couple of weeks. By Christmas he told me we should know if the tooth would survive. Consequently, this year I have a new favorite Christmas song: “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!”

We have received many Christmas cards this year, as always, and we thank you for the many messages of good will we have received. Many of the cards use words like love, peace, and joy. They are wonderful messages, and what they convey is the result of God taking flesh and becoming a human being in the Babe of Bethlehem. When people talk about the “spirit” of Christmas, these spiritual fruits are what they are referring to—things like love, joy, and peace. Add to them qualities like forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control and you have the complete list of the fruits of the Spirit, that is, the fruits of the Holy Spirit of God. Next year you might try to find an unusual Christmas card to send, using one of the fruits of the Spirit other than love, joy, and peace. Maybe you could design your own. Something like: “May the forbearance of Christmas be yours.” Or “May you be blessed with self-control this Christmastide.” Oh well, maybe designing Christmas cards isn’t my strong suit. But when God is present in a person’s life, the result is a manifestation of that presence breaking forth in joy, peace, love, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Thus when we receive messages on Christmas cards with these words, we are reminded that when God comes into our lives, the result is these things. The history of the people of God that we read about throughout the entire Bible is a history of almighty God, who created all things, seeking a relationship with his people. The culmination of that seeking is his taking the flesh of the Virgin Mary and becoming a human being in Jesus of Nazareth. In other words, what we celebrate at Christmas is God, who is pure spirit, intangible, immortal, invisible, and all powerful becoming tangible, mortal, visible, and in the weakness of a helpless infant.

Thus, we need to be careful in talking about the “spirit” of Christmas, lest we miss the point. Christmas is all about all of those spiritual elements—things like love, joy, and peace—and finding them, in their ultimate perfection, in a person, the person of Jesus.

“But does that really make a difference?” you might ask. “All the difference in the world,” I submit. We Christians worship a God who is involved in his creation, for whom this life is intended to be good, and who wants us to have life that is full. We don’t believe that to reach union with him we must remove ourselves from the cares of this world, but the contrary. Just as God involves himself intimately with us human beings, we, too, must be fully involved if we are to fulfill the purpose for which we were made.

And so, Christians have always, when at our best, been involved in the tangibleness of life. Wherever human beings are in need, we seek to meet those needs. We feed the hungry, clothe the naked; we build hospitals for the sick, schools for the young, daycare centers for the homeless. When we take the Gospel to other places, we also do what we can to improve the quality of their drinking water, their care of the sick, and their education of the young. It all goes back to our belief that the God who made all things and pronounced them good, seeks a relationship with us, and became one of us in Jesus. To talk about the intangible without regard to the tangible would be a distortion of our faith at its most fundamental level.

As you and I celebrate Christ Mass, let us also remember the poor and lowly, the young and the helpless, the widow and orphan, and any who are in need; and let us in that remembering reach out as the loving arms of the God who loves us enough to become one of us.

The rest of the prayer goes like this: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death. Amen.”

That is known as the “Hail Mary.” For some of us the Hail Mary is a forward pass in football that doesn’t have much going for it other than a prayer. For others, it’s a prayer that is an important part of our daily regimen of prayer. Is there anyone here who says it regularly, or even just once in a while?

The first part of it comes right out of the Gospel according to St. Luke and consists of a combination of the words spoken to Mary first by the Archangel Gabriel and then by her cousin Elizabeth. When Gabriel told Mary that she would conceive and bear a Son, he also told her that her cousin, Elizabeth, who was an old woman and who had never been blessed with a child, was also pregnant with John, who would become known as the Baptist.

If you had been Mary and had just received the amazing news that she received, and that there was someone else, in fact, a relative, who was also experiencing a miracle pregnancy, what would you do once the angel had departed? You’d go and talk with that relative and compare notes, which is exactly what Mary did. Luke puts it this way: “In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.” A popular new translation called The Message puts it this way: “Mary didn’t waste a minute. She got up and traveled to a town in Judah in the hill country, straight to Zechariah’s house, and greeted Elizabeth.

Advent is a time when we prepare for the coming of Christ, whether we’re speaking of the first coming, as we prepare to celebrate the Feast of the Nativity, Christ-Mass; or whether we’re speaking of the coming of Christ at the end of time, to judge the living and the dead. There are three major figures in the season of Advent. The first is Isaiah, whose prophecies of the coming of the Messiah are well-known. Handel used Isaiah’s prophecies liberally in his Messiah, and we always hear from Isaiah in the scripture readings in Advent.

The second prominent figure is John the Baptist, who was the one sent by God to prepare the way for the Messiah. The second and third Sundays in Advent are devoted to John the Baptist. He was such a powerful preacher that some believed that he was the Messiah. Yet, John always pointed beyond himself to Jesus. “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.” “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

The third figure of Advent, of course, is the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the fourth Sunday of Advent is always devoted to her. Of all of the saints of the Church, the Virgin Mary, mother of our Lord, is by far the most controversial. Known in the Eastern Church as the God-bearer, Theotokos, and in the West as the Mother of God, she has been venerated from very early times as the mother of our Lord, and as the centuries wore on she became more and more important in the piety of the people of God, so that in the late Middle Ages devotion to Mary often exceeded devotion to Jesus, the Savior of the world. Protestant reformers rightly sought to change that piety, so that Jesus would once again be worshipped as Savior and Lord, but in doing so many of them discarded the Virgin Mary completely, doing away with all Marian devotion and piety.

Anglicanism didn’t follow that path, however. She remains a prominent figure in our theology and piety, being mentioned by name in the creeds; she is a central figure in several feast days, with one feast day devoted solely to her (the 15th of August, which is the same day upon which Roman Catholics observe the Assumption of Mary into heaven); and her canticle, the Magnificat, is the primary canticle in daily Evening Prayer. And it goes beyond that, in that many Anglicans hold to the doctrine of the Assumption, and even the Immaculate Conception. Anglo-Catholics also include the Hail Mary as a part of daily piety.

Wherever you are on the spectrum of Marian devotion, the Blessed Virgin Mary deserves our respect and veneration, for it was through her response of faith that the Savior of the world was able to take flesh and become a human being. When the Angel Gabriel announced to her that she would become the mother of the Son of God, the Mother of God, she could have said, “Thanks, Gabriel, but no thanks.” In saying yes, she was assenting to becoming pregnant out of wedlock, which could have led to her being stoned to death. As it was, she was opening herself to all of the pain and grief that would come eventually in seeing her beloved Son die a torturous death on a cross.

In her response to the angel, Mary becomes the greatest example of faith for the Church for all time. “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me according to thy Word.” In other words, “Whatever this means for my life, whatever consequences, good or bad, that come to me from this, I accept it, for God is the center of my life; I have given myself to him to be used for his purposes.

As people of faith, we seek to follow her example. May God grant us the grace to say yes to him this day, and all the days of our lives. “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death. Amen.”