“Have You Seen the Word?”
January 2, 2022
Dear brothers and sisters, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Happy New Year, everyone! By a show of hands, how many of you were able to stay up until midnight on Friday night to ring in the New Year? How many of you got to watch the celebration on TV? By another show of hands, how many of you were able to celebrate New Year’s Day yesterday by watching the Buckeyes beat Utah in the Rose Bowl?
Here’s yet another question: now that you’ve celebrated the beginning of this new year, what are you looking forward to in this coming year? Take a moment, as we keep spending these next few minutes together, to think about that. What are you looking forward to? Not just what are you hoping is going to happen this year, but what do you know is going to be going on? What are you going to have to deal with? What are you going to have to have resolved? What are you still going to have to deal with from this last year that’s going to be carried into this year?
As we all look back at the last year, we see what kind of a mixed year it really was. In general, we experienced some victories. But we experienced a lot of struggle as we realized the coronavirus was here to stay, and we were going to have to keep adapting to it. We also dealt with change in other ways, whether in our personal lives, in school, in our jobs, or with our health. And we’re probably aware that this coming year is going to bring new changes and challenges all its own. Maybe as we go into this new year, especially with this only being the second day of the new year, we still remain stuck in a situation we’d been having to deal with last year, and wonder if we’re ever going to get out of it. We might even be looking forward to this coming year with a little bit of worry, as we wonder what else we might have to face.
Today, however, as we look back on the past year, and look forward to the coming year, however we may be feeling about it, we are reminded that, even though this coming year may bring, we are not alone: God remains connected to us. Even in the toughest of situations, God is still with us, and is moving us forward. Such a situation is actually taking place in today’s First Reading, in the book of Isaiah, where God, speaking through Isaiah, is talking to His people, who are stuck in a situation: they’re in exile. They’ve just been disconnected from their homeland, from life as they knew it, probably many of them from their families and friends. They are wondering if, although they’re God’s people, if they’re still connected to Him – or if He has disconnected Himself from them. We too, especially in this pandemic, have been disconnected from a lot of things, maybe even things we took for granted. But God has not disconnected from us, and we have not been disconnected from Him in any way. During the exile, God’s people were actually brought closer to Him, even as they struggled. It was their struggles that made them realize how much they really needed to be connected to God, and how much they needed to depend on Him. In the same way, if there is one important thing that has happened during this pandemic, it is that God has been showing us how much we need to depend on Him. He has been the one who has brought us through the most difficult experiences and ordeals of the whole pandemic, and He wants us to continue to stay depend on Him to bring us through whatever may be ahead in this coming year.
There is also an additional problem, one which was demonstrated all throughout the Old Testament: the fact that people kept on sinning, kept on turning away from God, and therefore kept getting disconnected from Him. In fact, because of our sin, we all deserve to be disconnected from God for all eternity, But that’s not what God wants for Him, or for us: He wants us to be connected to Him. Just as God’s people were hurt deeply by being disconnected from their homeland, it hurt Him deeply that we were disconnected from Him by sin.
So, God promised through Isaiah, and the other prophets, that He would re-establish that connection. He would save His people, and send someone to save them because they couldn’t save themselves. Not only did He eventually bring His people back home from their exile to the land He had originally given them to live in, He provided a way for all people to be connected to Him again, by removing the separation of sin: by sending His Son to be the sacrifice for our sins, dying on the cross, removing the disconnection, and rising again to promise eternal life. In fact, that was much of the reason He came as a human being: to make God’s promises real. As John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” To literally embody the promises, to make the promises of God real in His own body, and make everything God had promised to come true, especially to save us and reconnect us to Him.
Because Jesus came to be one of us, He remains with us. He remains connected to us. Even though it may seem like all we do from week to week is hear about Him, the whole purpose of hearing His Word is to be pointed directly to Him, to experience Him. Just as those among whom we walked two thousand years ago experienced Him in the flesh, we can experience Jesus in power here and now. He is still here with us in glory, and works His glory for us, often in unexpected ways. God also, as Isaiah prophesied, gave Him a new name: the name of Son of God, the name of Savior, the name of King. As we will talk about next week, we are connected to Him in Baptism, and so we share in many things He has now, looking forward to sharing His glory with Him in heaven. The new name, or, rather, the name we can reclaim for ourselves, is Christian, people who are connected to Christ, connected on the deepest level. We are given, as John 1:12 says, the right to call ourselves children of God. We can reclaim our true identity, those who, in being called Christian, are truly connected to Christ. Connected to Jesus. As Christians, we can experience Jesus every single day. We can also recognize any special things that happen to us as experiencing Jesus because we know Him personally, and we trust Him. Every single day of this coming year, every single day of the rest of our lives. Knowing, and experiencing, that we are connected to Jesus is going to help us get through any and every situation this year may bring. Jesus is going to remind us in many different ways this coming year that He is still with us. But the question is, are we open to experiencing Him? Are we going to try to deal with everything ourselves, are we going to try to go it alone this coming year, or are we going to let Jesus come and work His power in us? The more we are open to Jesus working His power, and working in us, the more connected to Him we’re definitely going to feel.
In fact, here’s another question for all of you: since this is also the time of year we set New Year’s resolutions, what are some ways you can think of to keep connected to Jesus? What are some things that have usually helped you keep connected to Jesus that you can do more of this coming year? Whether it’s setting aside more regular time for Bible reading, prayer, quiet time, or just simply being alone to spend time with Jesus, what are some things that can help you regularly stay connected to Jesus? Also, what are some things that have caused you to feel disconnected from Jesus, that have been harmful or hurtful for your relationship with Jesus, that you can ask for His help in removing? What has been keeping you from experiencing Jesus, experiencing His love, experiencing His care for you? Maybe you’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about a situation, about how your life should be, or just about worries in general. Maybe you’ve been struggling with a particular habit. Maybe you’ve been dwelling on problems related to a major life change. And all these things have made you think you’re having to deal with it alone, face it on your own, or maybe even that you can’t move forward. But remember – you’re not alone. Jesus is connected to you. If you ask Him for help, He will deal with, and even remove, all those things which have been causing you to think you’re alone, and you’re disconnected from Him.
As those who are connected to Jesus, we are also connected to each other. Our one common identity keeps us connected to each other. In this coming year, it’s important that, even as we keep connected to Jesus, we keep connected to each other. Feeling connected to other people, feeling connected with each other, especially with whatever challenges we may face in this coming year, is going to be one of the best and greatest ways we can get through whatever this year throws at us.
And one of the most important ways we can keep connected to each other, as well as to Jesus, is to keep coming to worship as often as we can. That’s really the best way we can stay connected to each other this year. We can still keep coming to keep connected with each other by checking in with each other, catching up with each other, and provide encouragement and support for each other. In fact, I encourage everyone watching this video, listening to the podcast, or reading the sermon at home today: if you’re not able to make it to worship for any reason this year, especially for a long period of time, feel free to check in with any of us to let us know how you’re doing. Give any of us a call, write us a note or an email, send us a text, just to let us know how you’re doing. And, let us know if there’s anything we can do for you to help you in any way. Even if you’re not able to keep regularly connected with us physically, keep connected with us in other ways – we want to keep connected to you!
In fact, just like with making resolutions to stay connected to Jesus this coming year, I’d also encourage all of you to think about ways you can keep connected with each other. Even though covid has changed the ways in which we communicate, and has maybe even still caused us to distance or even disconnect from family members and friends, now is a wonderful opportunity to reconnect and rekindle relationships. Now, especially in this “new normal,” we need each other more than ever before. If there have been ways you’ve wanted to reconnect with each other, or with anyone else, now is a wonderful opportunity to do so. This year can also be one where we reconnect with family members and friends, especially ones we haven’t really stayed in touch with for a while. We might even be surprised at the kind of love, help, and support we get from a family member or friend we reach out to just to catch up and say hello. We might also be surprised at the kind of love, help, and support we can provide to someone we reconnect with, in ways we don’t even expect.
This morning, we will also be celebrating one of the most important ways Jesus keeps us connected to Him, as we come forward in just a few minutes to receive Holy Communion. In Communion, Jesus will be giving us His true body and blood to eat and drink, we can experience Him and experience His power in us. Just as He came to be born as a baby in Bethlehem two thousand years ago, He still comes to us every single day, and is still with us. Communion also, as we talked about just a minute ago, keeps us connected to each other, by reminding us that as we are connected to Jesus, we are connected to each other by our connection to Him.. We ask, and we pray, as St. Paul does in today’s Second Reading from Ephesians, that we all would be given the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so we all may know Jesus better. We hope that in this coming year, we will find ways of getting to know each other better again as well, as we continue to connect and reconnect with each other. Let us make it our resolution for this coming year: to strengthen our connection with Jesus and stay connected to Him, and strengthen our connections with each other, and stay connected to each other. In this way, we can continue to experience the supportive power of Jesus, as we experience supportive connection with each other. We can not only hear about Jesus, but we can experience Him in a real way. This is something wonderful we can look forward to this coming year.
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment