Stand before your people with your hand on a Bible.
Today’s message corresponds with the political activity of this week.
We inaugurated Barack Obama for the second time.
The oath of office was recited, hands on not one Bible but two, linking this moment, this time with what has come before. Martin Luther King Jr. used one of the Bibles. Abraham Lincoln the other. The lives and vision of these two men shaped our present reality. The next four years may shape a new reality for our nation, the effects of which we will not know, perhaps, for another generation.
What comes next?
The speech. President Obama proceeded to tell the world how he intended to live up to his oath, honor the legacy of the office and his campaign promises.
Jesus is doing the same thing. He has returned to his hometown. He attends his home temple. He reads familiar words and then he puts himself inside those words.
Compare the good things Jesus intends to do as fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy with the types of promises leaders make today.
1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26 • Psalm 148 • Colossians 3:12-17 • Luke 2:41-52
Today’s object is a GPS tracker.
This is an occasion to talk about trust in God’s plan for us.
Once upon a time, part of growing up was running free in the neighborhood or the nearby countryside. “Be home for dinner” was the only parental warning.
Fewer and fewer modern parents can remember the days when we didn’t know where our children were every minute of the day.
It was a mere ten years ago that cell phones became affordable and pocket-sized. Soon every caring parent was making sure their child had one — emergencies and safety were the parental excuses. But whatever the excuse, the tether between and child and parents is stronger today than ever. It might not be until the child is away in college that he or she finds the will and the power to ignore the phone call from Mom or Dad.
It is hard for today’s parents to imagine losing track of your child for three days or allowing a man of the temple to take charge of the welfare of a son as Hannah did in the Old Testament (especially a man who had as dismal a track record with his own sons as did Eli!).
We’ve lost the sense of trust in our religious bodies, in our communities and even in our children. Sadly the loss of trust has been earned in many cases.
Both the Old and New Testament stories for today’s readings demonstrate parental trust. Hannah and Mary relied on God’s intervention in their roles as mothers.
In the early church or medieval era it was not unusual for the first son and daughter in a large family to be relinquished to a monastery or nunnery. We are actually living in the tail end of that custom today.
What does that say to modern parents? How much do we trust our churches? How much do we trust God’s will in our lives?
Both Hannah and Mary were parents before God’s gift and sacrifice of his Son.
We don’t need a cell phone to talk to God. Do we think to use the direct connection allowed us?
Mary and Hannah were left to ponder similar questions.
26 Dec 2012
Undercover Bishop: A Parable for Today’s Church
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Redeemer’s Prayer
We were all once strangers, the weakest, the outcasts, until someone came to our defense, included us, empowered us, reconciled us (1 Cor. 2; Eph. 2).
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On Isaiah 30:15b
Be calm. Wait. Wait. Commit your cause to God. He will make it succeed. Look for Him a little at a time. Wait. Wait. But since this waiting seems long to the flesh and appears like death, the flesh always wavers. But keep faith. Patience will overcome wickedness.
—Martin Luther
