December 31, 2000
First Sunday After Christmas

LECTIONARY READINGS
from the Revised Common Lectionary

1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26
Psalm 148
Colossians 3:12-17
Luke 2:41-52

[ Read the texts at the Vanderbilt Divinity On-Line Library ]
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"On Growing Up"

Well... here we are again!

We made it.  Another hectic holiday season and for good or for bad, lots of people are happy to see it all over with.  And then there's the not so funny television news reporter who quipped the day after Christmas, "Only 364 shopping days 'til Christmas!"

We've also arrived at another New Year. This particular New Year's Eve finally brings all the Millennium views together.  Those who held out for the year 2000 as the last year of the old millennium will now  join the folks who thought last New Year's Eve was the threshold of the Third Millennium.

There's a question that begs asking when we've been through the Advent and Christmas season.  We should probably ask it every year.

So what?

Now that Christmas is over, T'was the night before Christmas," has been shelved for another year and the children's shepherd, angel and sheep costumes have been packed up and put away in the Sunday School closet or church attic to await the next Christmas Pageant.

Where to from here?  What has it all meant?  On the one hand there is a somewhat deserved, "Whew" on our hearts and on the other hand there is a legitimate need to ask where this leaves us in our spiritual lives.

What are the implications of Christmas.  The promised Messiah has been born to Israel, the glad tidings of great joy have been announced and the prophetic words of Simeon, "...my eyes have seen your salvation..." have been spoken.

How does all of this translate to our lives?

***

The first clue comes in Luke's gospel just before our lectionary gospel reading for today for today.  The words of Luke 2:39-40 are a fitting prelude to everything that follows and point to the implications of the Christmas story for our lives.

When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

The birth of Jesus was just the beginning.  He has to mind his parents, grow physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually.  He needed to mature.  The birth has no meaning unless he grows and matures and becomes everything the promises of God said he would be.

The position of Christmas in our calendar year coming just one week before the New Year suggests somehow, even if unconsciously, that Christmas is the end of something.  We, "get back to normal, after the holiday season.

But just as the birth of Jesus was the beginning of something, so also the celebration of Advent and Christmas for we Christian people is the beginning of something.  Just as Jesus grew and became strong, filled with wisdom and enjoyed God's favor - so we are called to grow in spiritual wisdom and in favor with God.

Jesus grew to become a transformer.  To be around him was to be transformed.  He was a transforming force.

The Christian community -- the church -- is to be for Christ the transforming community in this world.  If we are not a transforming force in the corner of the world we inhabit, we miss the whole point of Advent and Christmas.  The ancient message, "Joy to the world, the Lord has come," is to be lived out in the church, both in our life together and in our relationship to those who have yet to discover the whole point of Christmas.  We are called to bear the character and quality of Christ in our life together.

***

When Jesus grew in wisdom, stature and in favor with God, he became a model of everything God designed you and me to be -- a pattern for the church to embrace and grow into.  We are to grow into or mature in the character of Christ.

That pattern is spelled out in a clear way in our epistle reading from Colossians as Paul talks about the characteristics we as individuals are to develop and then about the pattern for our life together as the Body of Christ.

[1]  The characteristics we are to develop

Having come to know the love of God, we are to clothe ourselves with particular qualities. The term for "clothe" is the same term we would use when we talk about getting dressed for the day.  That is you are to "put on" these characteristics.

As Christ, we are to be compassionate and kind.  Compassion goes beyond sympathy.  Sympathy is a good quality, but compassion goes beyond sympathy.  Compassion means we actually enter into the other person's sorrow, misfortune or difficulty. Kindness denotes both attitude and action.  It is the heart that reaches out to meet the needs of others.

The quality of humility can best be expressed as having a realistic assessment of who I really am in the eyes of God.  It does not mean a negative view of myself or to be void of self esteem in the best sense.  Humility recognizes my limitations, but with a strong reliance on the power and greatness of God.  Meekness has to do with unwavering trust in God even in the face of difficulty and patience which recognizes that God will finally be victorious and the right will prevail in the end.

[2] The pattern the Body of Christ is to follow

There are four clear principles here which the church is called to integrate into its lifestyle.

i. "Bear with one another" has the sense of gracious forbearance of each Christian person toward other Christian persons. If there is a reason to find fault with someone or to take offence with another, the apostle says we are to forgive one another.  In fact, we are to be imitators of Christ who forgave all who would seek forgiveness. The thought here is that none of us could ever be in a position where the wrongs that might be done toward us could compare with the wrongs we have committed against the Lord.

This is actually a very encouraging part of the apostle's teaching.  There is no illusion that the church will be a community of perfect persons.  To the contrary, there will be difficulties between persons and the grace of forgiveness will be essential to allow the community to function properly.

ii. Love is what perfects the church.  The number one quality Christians are to have toward each other is love.  "Clothe yourselves with love,"  recognizes that the love we need comes from beyond us and is not indigenous to our hearts.  This is the love of Christ that comes to us from the heart of Christ. There is a recognition here that we are not capable of the kind of love Christ requires of us, but we are able to receive or "clothe ourselves" with it.

There is a richness to the concept of love binding the whole of the community in perfect harmony. The language is that of the church as the place where the divine life may be experienced in full in a Body of Christ which is committed and obedient to the injunction of Jesus Christ to, "...love one another as I have loved you."

iii. Peace and praise are the daily bread of the church's soul.  The peace of Christ is that peace which can be found in no other place and gained in no other way than to live together in the love of Christ and grant to each other the forgiveness Christ grants to us.  "And be thankful," the writer says.  It is in thanksgiving and praise that we open our lives up more fully to the vision of God and the reality of spiritual things.  Other, troublesome issues will begin to recede into the background as Christian living becomes more fulfilling.

iv. It is the word of Christ living within us that causes the church to grow.  The word of God is frequently referred to as "bread" - the bread that feeds the individual Christian and the Church.

The lesson closes with a note of profound joy and thanksgiving -- almost a hymn of praise for God's design for our living together in the community of faith.  There is no more powerful witness to the reality and the love of God than a fully functioning Body of Christ where the life of God is evident in the life of the people.

And -- there is no more devastating damage that can be done to the good news of Jesus Christ than a dysfunctional church where the love of God is scarce and bitterness overwhelms the grace of forgiveness.

***

What a wonderful thing it would be if we were to allow the Christmas season be a beginning of a time of committing ourselves to growing up in the love and grace of God!

Connections in the Texts

There is a correlation between Samuel and Jesus who both "grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with the people."  Both are given to service to the Lord.  The epistle takes the issue of growing in stature and favor with God in terms of the qualities we as Christian people are to reflect.  We are to put on the qualities of those who are given to God's service.  The Body of Christ matures as it grows in the character of Christ.  Samuel and Jesus are models for every Christian person.  All of us, by virtue of our baptismal commitment and calling are given to God's service and to growing in spiritual wisdom, and in favor with God and the people.

1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26

The parallels between Jesus and Samuel are apparent as both are growing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and people.  Both are ministering in the temple even as children.

As Samuel will be the first prophet to bring God's message to the kings and people of Israel, so Jesus will bring the word of God to all people as the final word.  As the "Word become flesh," Jesus Christ is the last word or the Omega of God.

There is also an interesting connection to be made between Mary and Hannah.  Both women are to God and will surrender their children to the Lord's service.  Mary and Hannah are models of obedience to the divine will and inspire us to recognize God as the Giver of all life and the One to whom all life belongs.

Luke 2:41-52

There is one line in this passage that stands out as a call to all of us.  When Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem to, "...be in his Father's house," he brought much of consternation to his parents who had been searching for him and could not find him in the journey to his home in Nazareth. (Committed Jewish persons made trips to Jerusalem to the Temple for major feats and to present their children to the Lord - the trip would be made by family groups and in this case it would have been assumed that Jesus was with other's in the entourage that was headed back to Nazareth.

The three days in verse 46 would include one day's Journey out of Jerusalem, a day of searching and a day to return to Jerusalem.  Mary reflects the very natural anxiety of parents who go through the trauma of a missing child.

In this case, Jesus is so given to his relationship with God and the theological/spiritual discussions with the temple priests and teachers that his relationship with the things of this world fade to the background.  He has still to mature, go through adolescence and young adulthood - as a twelve year old, he is totally captivated by the spiritual and captivating of those who hear his questions and comments.  This short passage provides the solitary glimpse at the life of the young Jesus and it points to his already developing sense of unique relationship to God and to a world in need of redemption.

Then comes this observation, "The he went down with them {his parents} and was obedient to them."  This is critically important.  Jesus did not inform his earthly parents that he had this very special relationship to God which superseded his relationship to them.  He was model of obedience to caring, nourishing parents who were doing their best to keep him in the center of the community's life of faith.  His relationship with them would become the vehicle by which he learned obedience to God.  This is a critical lesson for contemporary parents.

Our children learn obedience to God from us!  We model a proper relationship with the community of faith - the Body of Christ.  Our children eventually transfer their obedience to our family commitments and to us to their relationship with God.

Colossians 3:12-17

The characteristics which were evident in Jesus are the characteristics that must become those of the Body of Christ. The themes of growing in favor with God and the people in the 1Samuel and Gospel lessons are expanded here for the people of the Church.

As the prophetic ministry of Samuel and the prophets and the redemptive ministry of Jesus Christ were God's way of reaching the world - so now it is the ministry has been given tot he Body of Christ.  This passage could be used to make gains in teaching the awesome nature of every person ministry.  All of us are now called to be given to God in obedience and ministry.  Whatever we do, we are to, "...do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

 Worship Helps

A Call To Worship  (From Psalm 148)

L:  Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise him in the heights!
P: Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his host!
L:  Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth!
P: Young men and women alike, old and young together!
L:  Let us praise the name of the LORD,
P: For his name alone is exalted; his glory is above earth and heaven.

A Prayer of Confession

O Holy and righteous God, you have made our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of all and we have not given ourselves to him in all that we do and are.  We are slow to allow his reign in our hearts and quick to hear the call of the world.  In your great mercy, we ask that your Holy Spirit give us a new heart of obedience even at the beginning of this new year that we might worthily bear the name of Christ.  Amen

Assurance of Pardon

Beloved in Christ, the One who gave his life that we might have life is the One through whom we have forgiveness of sins and new life.  Believe the Good News that in Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen.

A Prayer of Thanksgiving

We give you thanks and praise O Great God of all things, because you have given us your Son, the One who was despised and rejected, so that we might have life in his name.

Help us to embrace the victory of resurrection in the whole of our lives; vision to see through the darkness of this world, courage to follow Christ through every barrier of evil, hope to look to you in every discouraging circumstance, and faith to cling to your promises in every time of crushing defeat.

You, O Lord are the joy and gladness of every believing heart and the source of strength to overcome every trial.  Your goodness to us is more than we can think or speak and you love for us beyond the heights of our imagining.

We give you all praise and thanksgiving in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

A Prayer of Dedication