True Callings

January 26^th, 2014       “True Callings”         Rev. Heather Jepsen

Matthew 4:12-23

          Our reading for today from the gospel of Matthew is a familiar one to many.  Prior to this reading, Matthew tells us that Jesus was baptized and then was led out into the wilderness for a time of trial and temptation.  Following his 40 day sojourn, Jesus hears the news that John the Baptist has been arrested.  He immediately takes up the mantle of the prophet and begins to preach the same message that John did, saying “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

          Last week we read the gospel of John’s version of the gathering of the first disciples, and you may remember that in that story Jesus’ followers began from John’s own flock.  Looking for a new teacher, two men left the ranks of John, followed Jesus to where he was staying, listened to his teaching, and began to share the news of what they had found. 

          Matthew tells a different version of the story of the first disciples.  Rather than people actively looking for a teacher of the faith, Matthew presents a teacher actively looking for students.  Jesus appears to be simply out for a walk when he happens upon Simon Peter and Andrew busy fishing.  He calls to them with the famous line, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” in the Greek.  Our version, the NRSV has the politically correct “fish for people” which I like because it includes me, but I also don’t like since it lacks the great play on words that the original has.

          Strangely, these men simply look up at Jesus and drop everything.  Matthew tells us that immediately they leave their nets behind to follow after Jesus.  As the three are walking, Jesus spies two more people, James and John who are working with their father Zebedee mending nets.  Jesus calls to them too, and they also drop everything and walk away from their lives, even leaving their own father behind.

          These are amazing stories of men following the call of God in their lives and there were several aspects of these stories that I was drawn to this week.  The first thing that struck me was the power of the call of God on these people’s lives, and the power of the call of God on our own lives today.

          In my studies this week I came across a great story about this issue told by Professor Rodger Nishioka in the commentary Feasting on the Word.  He writes about watching nature programs with his father who was a Presbyterian minister saying . . .

“One episode I remember fondly was about the elephant seals of Argentina.  The show focused on a mother and her seal pup, who had just been born.  Soon after birthing her baby, the mother, now famished, abandoned the pup on the shore so she could go feed in the rich waters off the coast.  After feeding, she returned to a different part of the beach and began to call for her baby.  Other mothers had done the same, and all had returned at a similar time; I remember thinking they would never find one another.  The camera then followed the mother as she called to her pup and listened for the response.  Following each other’s voices and scents, soon the mother and pup were reunited.  The host explained that, from the moment of birth, the sound and scent of the pup are imprinted in the mother’s memory, and the sound and scent of the mother are imprinted in the pup’s memory.

This fascinated me especially when Dad turned to me and said “You know, that’s how it is with God.  We are imprinted with a memory of God, and God is imprinted with a memory of us, and even if it takes a lifetime, we will find each other.””

I love this idea that Rodger presents, that the memory between God and us is what draws us together.  It is a beautiful explanation of why the first disciples would have responded so strongly to the call of Jesus.  It was a call from a voice that they knew, even if it was only a memory buried deep within their souls.

          Another striking thing about this call narrative is that the disciples were willing to leave everything behind.  They walked away from jobs, from investments like boats and nets, from security and livelihood, and even from family.  Jesus called them, and they simply walked away.  While Matthew presents this as if it were nothing, I don’t think it was.  I imagine it was painful for Peter and Andrew to look back at those nets and boats, I imagine it was painful for James and John to say goodbye to their father.  To assume that this was an easy task is to misread the text.  Yes, the call was strong enough to make them go, but it was not so strong as to wipe out the pain and truth of leaving.

          Not everyone experiences loss like this in responding to God’s call.  For some, the life of faith, the role that God calls us to, is one that can be walked alongside our current jobs and families.  For others, the call to follow is more dramatic and wrenching.

          It would be a lie for me to tell you that my own path to service of the Lord was easy.  I fought the call of God on my life in many ways.  My own story of following God looks a lot more like a blind, wandering, angry Saul then it does like Peter and Andrew dropping everything and skipping off after Jesus.  For many years the call of God on my life was a painful thing.  And yet here I am, happy and fulfilled.  I feel so blessed and I can’t imagine my life any other way.  It was interesting for me to realize this week that I hardly feel the call itself any more.  Living for and serving God has become such a part of me that it is like the air I breathe.  I have become the call, rather than the call being something apart from me.  It wasn’t an easy road by any means, and yet given the choice, I would have and could have gone no other way.

          I don’t think we are all called to such dramatic upheaval.  Many of you here probably have not experienced a call so strong as to make you leave your job and home and family.  Rather, you may have felt a smaller quieter urge, to live your life in a manner suitable to one who is following Jesus.  Sure, it can create dramatic rifts at the office and at home if we are talking faith or politics, but in general, the call of God on your life has not separated you from others.  It has been more like that story of motherly recognition.  You know you are beloved, and you respond to the voice of the one who loves you.  You recognize something familiar in the call from God, and so you follow where it leads.

          The last thing that really struck me about this passage this week was that famous phrase “fishers of men.”  So often we hear sermons about how we are all called like Peter and Andrew to be fishers of men; we are called to go out into the world and fish for people.  That’s a great interpretation of this text, but I’m not a fisherman.  I wasn’t a fisherman before I was called, and I’m not one now.  So what does this text mean to me?

          I think Jesus used that particular language because Andrew and Peter, James and John, really were fishermen.  I think Jesus’ true call on us, would more likely reflect who we are when we are called.  Like Jesus used particular language with them, Jesus uses particular language with us.  Some of us were teachers, and the Lord doesn’t ask a teacher to fish, God asks a teacher to teach.  “Follow me, and I will teach you to teach the way.”  Some of us were in finance and God says, “Follow me, and I will show you the checks and balances of the kingdom.”  Some of us were homemakers and God says “Follow me, and we will make the world a home for all.”  Some of us were painters and God says “Follow me, and we will paint the world with God’s vision.”  Personally, I was a harpist, and God said “Follow me, and I will teach you to pluck heart strings instead.”

          The calling of God on our lives is a calling to become our true selves.  Like our reading from Isaiah, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.”  Before the call of God on our lives, we walk in darkness, a shadow of who we are meant to be.  After God calls and we respond, we become fully our true selves.  The light of God shines on us and in that light we become who we were always meant to be: fishers of men, teachers of the way, painters of God’s vision, and those who can pull heart strings. 

          And so, as we think on these stories of Jesus calling the first disciples, I want to encourage you to reflect on God’s call in your own life.  Are you like the disciples we read about last week, looking for a teacher to follow?  Or maybe are you like the disciples we read about this week, dropping everything to follow where God leads.  Regardless of the particular call you hear, it is my prayer that you know and recognize the call of God in your heart, shining a light in your life, to be the true person you were made to be.  It is my prayer that you answer that call to serve God and those surrounding you with love, in your truest form, whatever that may be.  Amen. 

What are you looking for?

January 19^th, 2014   “What Are You Looking For?"      Rev. Heather Jepsen

Isaiah 49:1-7 and John 1:29-42

          The lectionary, or readings for Sunday morning, flows in a three year cycle.  This year is cycle A which began in Advent.  Unlike year B and C which focus more on one gospel, this year we will jump back and forth between two gospels, Matthew and John.  That is why we had a reading from Matthew last week and now suddenly find ourselves with a reading from John.  We do have a nice tie though, as our reading begins with the Baptism of Jesus which Matthew told us about last week.  Unlike the narrated scene from Matthew’s gospel, the writer of the gospel of John lets the character of John the Baptist tell the story of Jesus’ baptism in his own words.  It is a first person reflection of the event.

          John the Baptist states that Jesus is the one that he knew was coming but that he was not able to recognize.  He says, “I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.”  Unlike our reading from Matthew last week, John is not able to recognize Jesus immediately upon sight.  It is only after John baptizes Jesus that he is able to testify that this is the Son of God.

          What follows the account of baptism is the calling of the first disciples who will surprisingly come from the ranks of John’s own disciples.  The day after the baptism, Jesus is still hanging around and John points Jesus out to two of his followers saying “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”  These followers of John then begin to follow Jesus.  Jesus asks them, “What are you looking for?” and they reply “Teacher, where are you staying?”  The disciples are looking for a teacher, and where the teacher is staying is where learning is happening.  They are in essence saying, “Teacher, where are you teaching?”  Jesus’ reply is simple, “Come and see.”  The students follow Jesus and remain with him that day.  Then one of them tells a friend about Jesus and this is how the community of disciples begins to grow.

          What John is giving us in these verses is a pattern of discipleship.  First the disciple seeks.  These men are looking for something; they start as followers of John and they become followers of Jesus.  After seeking, the path of the disciple is to follow.  In this story the two disciples literally follow Jesus to where he was staying and teaching.  The disciples then stay with the teacher, giving of their time and their self for learning.  And finally in this story, the disciples tell others what they have found.  Here, Andrew tells his brother Simon that he has found the Messiah.

          In our reading from the prophet Isaiah we also find a call to discipleship.  This is the second of what has come to be called the Servant Songs of Isaiah.  In these texts of Isaiah the Servant of the Lord is described, or spoken to by God, or is the one who does the speaking like in our reading today.  Here we find the servant calling the people of the coastlands and far away to worship the Lord God. 

What connects this reading with our story from the gospel of John is that here too we find a discussion of the traits of discipleship.  Here the disciple, or servant, is marked before birth.  The prophet says, “The Lord called me before I was born, while in my mother’s womb he named me.”  In Isaiah’s telling, the disciple is given words as weapons, to bring about change for the nation of Israel.  That is why he says “God made my mouth like a sharp sword.”  Similar to the example in the gospel of John, the work of the disciple is the work of words, the disciple is to go and tell, to spread the news of the God of Israel throughout the land.

We can make some interesting conclusions about the role of discipleship from this morning’s readings.  I think the clearest thing for us to notice in our modern setting is that the disciple is active.  In our reading from John the disciples are taking action, following Jesus not only in a spiritual manner but in a physical manner as well.  In our reading from Isaiah, the disciple speaks powerful words to the nation of Israel.  In both of these passages, disciples are shown out in the world being active, spreading the good news, and following the Lord.  Not a job for those just sitting around, the disciple of the Lord is one who is willing to get up and do something.

          Another interesting thing these passages teach about discipleship is that the disciple does not have to be a good person to become a disciple.  When we look at the gospel lesson, Jesus does not tell the potential followers to go and pray first, to be baptized first, to repent first, or to do penance first and only then they will be ready to follow him.  Instead, Jesus tells them to “come and see.”  There is no moral pre-requisite for discipleship.  The same is true in the Isaiah passage.  Isaiah presents a disciple chosen from birth.  The disciple is marked and named before he is born.  Again, this disciple does not have to work to earn discipleship; it is given by God to those who seek it.  In our modern setting we could say that a disciple follows first and then becomes a Christian later.

          I wonder how we ourselves reflect these images of discipleship.  Do we take action for God throughout the week or is it only about Sunday morning?  Are we looking for some sort of moral pre-requisite for ourselves before we will call ourselves disciples?  What kind of pre-requisites do we place before those who would join our church community?  In our scripture passage Jesus asks the potential disciples, “What are you looking for?”  That is the question I want to ask you this morning, “What are you looking for?”

          What are you looking for right now, in this very moment?  What did you come here to see?  Are you looking for God, for worship, for answers?  Are you looking for friendship, social time, or a sense of belonging?  Are you looking for a model for discipleship or simply the end of this sermon? 

Jesus’, question to those first disciples challenges us to consider what we are looking for in our own lives and at church on Sundays.  If Jesus were to ask us each, “what are you looking for?”  How would we respond?

          The disciples in John said they were looking for a teacher.  In one way they got it right, Jesus was a teacher of sorts.  But, in another way they got it wrong, John the Baptist just told them Jesus was the Lamb of God, but they don’t seem to be able to hear that.  What is remarkable is that even though they got it wrong, Jesus told them to “come and see” what he had to offer.  Jesus always invites us to come, follow, see, and learn. 

I think Jesus tells us the same thing this morning.  It doesn’t matter if we have it just right, or if we are a bit confused.  It doesn’t matter if we are looking for a teacher when we should really be looking for a Messiah.  No matter why we came or what we are really looking for, Jesus’ answer to us is the same, “Come and see.”  Come and participate, be active, delve deeper into your life of faith.  And don’t pressure yourself to be perfect before you will join Jesus, or before you dare to call yourself a disciple.  Just come as you are, and see what our Lord has to offer.  No matter what it is that you are looking for this morning; Jesus’ invitation is always one of welcome, “come and see.”  For only after we take the first steps to come and see, will we be able to become his true disciples.  Amen.

Experiencing the Sacraments

January 12^th, 2014     “Experiencing the Sacraments”     Rev. Heather Jepsen

Matthew 3:13-17 with Psalm 29

          You know me, I don’t ever like to get stuck in a rut, in life or in worship.  I like to do new things, shake it up a bit, make you a little uncomfortable.  There’s no sleeping in my pews.  So today we are going to mix it up a bit.  Today we are going to experience the sacraments during the sermon rather than afterwards as separate events.

          The opportunity for a worship service like this today has come about because of the liturgical year.  Today is “Baptism of the Lord” Sunday, a day when we always remember and honor the Baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan.  It is a special Sunday to have Baptisms in the church, and to honor and remember our own Baptisms which we will do today.  Today is also the second Sunday of the month, the day this church has set aside to celebrate the sacrament of communion.  So, we are going to do both. 

          Personally I love the sacraments because they are so different from everything else we do here at church.  As Presbyterians, we spend a lot of time talking about God.  The majority of our service is talking about God.  We pray, we sing, we read Scripture, I babble on; it’s all basically experiencing God in words.  And we like to use really big words like Christology, Exegesis, Theophany, Parousia, Incarnation, Eschatology, and Perichoresis.  That’s great, if your brain works like that and if big words help you understand God.  But that’s not so great, if you don’t know what those words mean and frankly you don’t care because that sounds really boring.  Heck, even if you can pass the test of defining all those big words, talking about God that way is pretty impersonal.

Presbyterians have a lot of great ideas about who God is, but sometimes, words alone are not the best way to get there.  That’s why I love the Sacraments.  In the Sacraments we can put words aside and experience God in other ways.  Sure the sacraments have meaning, and value, and even specific words that go with them.  But they are also sensory experiences involving sight, touch, taste, and smell.  Suddenly God is more than an idea in your brain; God is a piece of bread in your hand or a drop of water splashed on your face.  In the Sacraments God becomes something you can touch and know.

We’ll start today with Baptism.  In our reading from Matthew, Jesus comes to the river Jordan to be baptized there by John the Baptist.  The gospel of Matthew is written late enough for the writer to feel the need to address the issue of authority.  If Jesus is greater than John, shouldn’t he be the one doing the dunking?  Matthew’s John asks “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” and Jesus replies “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”  Both agree to the activity, Jesus is baptized, and then the heavens open, God declares his love for the Son, and the Holy Spirit lands on the Christ, preparing and blessing him for his ministry.

Baptism is a really cool thing we do, and there are a lot of great words we can say about it.  In Baptism we are reborn; we die to our old lives and begin new lives in Jesus Christ.  In Baptism we are washed; our old dirt of sin and guilt is removed and we are made fresh in the Lord.  In Baptism we are sealed; God places a mark upon us and we officially join the covenant family of faith.  In Baptism we experience God’s power; the waters of Baptism are the waters of chaos, tamed and controlled by our God.  So too, God has the power to tame the chaos we experience in our world and lives.  Baptism is awesome! 

Baptism is also very powerful, and that’s why Presbyterians only do it one time.  Presbyterians believe that any and every Baptism is a Baptism by God.  If you were ever Baptized in a Christian Church with the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit than that Baptism stands for all time and we won’t redo it.  That’s cool, one Baptism is all you need.  But it’s also not cool, because you only get to do it once.  Sometimes folks feel like they have missed out, especially if they were baptized as children.

So today, right now, we are going to remember our baptisms.  And I’m going to splash you with water, so you can feel it.  Open your hymnals to page 21 and joining me in reaffirming the covenants we made at Baptism.  If you haven’t been Baptized you can join us as well, consider this a practice run.

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I can’t think of a better way to start the New Year!  Now, to become the people of faith we have been called to be, sealed in the waters of Baptism, let us turn to God for nourishment for the journey.

Just like with Baptism, in communion or the Lord’s Supper, there is a lot more going on than just bread and juice.  Never at a loss for words, Presbyterians have a lot to say about what we are doing together here at the table.  When the church gathers at the table, we are renewed and empowered by the memory of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.  Similar to baptism, we are sealed in God’s covenant community as we partake of the self-offering of Christ.  In taking the elements of bread and juice, we share in the body and blood of Jesus, remembering and honoring his sacrificial death.  When we come together, we bind ourselves with Christ and with each other as the community of believers.  And not only that, but we join with the greater church, all believers in every time and place.  Communion is also about looking ahead, as we anticipate celebrating with the Christ and all believers in heaven.  Like Baptism, the Lord’s Supper is Awesome!

Plus, it’s not just words.  It’s an experience of God that we can touch and feel and that we can smell and taste.  And it’s an experience of God as we come forward, humbling ourselves, sharing the elements, and finding God in each other and in this gathered community.  So let’s do it.  We will follow the service which begins on page 8 in your hymnal and get ready, because we are going to do it “old school” style and sing!

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          Both of our scripture readings for today talk about the power of God.  In the Psalm, we hear a call to worship a great and marvelous God who has glory and strength.  A God whose very voice has power over the chaos of creation, a God who sits enthroned over all. 

          In the reading from Matthew, we hear of a God made flesh, a man who was like us.  Even though he was of God, still he consented to be Baptized, to join fully with us on our journey from darkness to light, from sin to grace, from doubt to faith.

          It is my prayer and hope, that today’s experience of the sacraments, has been an experience of this great and wonderful God for you.  May we leave this place today, people renewed in Baptism, people nourished in Communion, God’s people ready to love and serve our Lord in this world.  Thanks be to God for these awesome experiential gifts!  Amen.

 

Epiphany Mash-Up

January 5^th, 2014         “Epiphany Mash-Up”    Rev. Heather Jepsen

Matthew 2:1-12 with John 1:1-18

         I am hoping this morning that you are all familiar with the popular term “Mash-Up”.  Mash-up is the word for something created from combining two different things.  In pop culture there are music mash-ups where two different songs are combined into one song, and there are also movie mash-ups where characters or situations from two different movies are combined into one movie.  Today we are having a liturgical mash-up, combining the texts for the second Sunday after Christmas with the texts for Epiphany which doesn’t officially happen until tomorrow.

          We will start today with our text from John.  This is the text for the second Sunday after Christmas and this is the third time we have visited this material in the past few weeks.  Unlike the gospels of Matthew and Luke that focus on the details of the birth narratives, John begins his gospel from a bigger perspective.  Like the beginning of the popular movie Gravity, John begins with a wide lens shot from the far reaches of space.  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  Only after setting this grand stage does John begin to zoom in on the details like the role of John the Baptist.  John’s approach to gospel writing here is one of the most beautiful pieces of Scripture ever written, but it can be hard for us to relate it to our everyday human experience.

Our second text for today, from Matthew, is the classic text for Epiphany.  Here we find the familiar story of the wise men coming to visit Jesus.  Practically all of us here know how this story goes.  The wise men see the star in the east, inquire of Herod, are sent to find the child, come bearing gifts, and then return home another way after being warned of Herod’s treachery in a dream.  While not exactly part of our everyday lives, this story is much more relatable, for many of us have gone on journeys, hosted guests, or even searched for the light of the Christ child in our world.

As you may have guessed from my children’s sermon, this week I was really struck with the idea of hosting guests.  The ancient epiphany ritual of writing the traditional initials of the three kings over the doorway is basically a house blessing.  It is a way to bless not only those that dwell in the home, but to welcome in any visitors that may come throughout the year.  Just as the young holy family welcomed the visiting Magi, so too we are called to welcome those that visit our homes.

The idea of celebrating visiting guests was really interesting to me at this particular time in the modern American calendar year.  Show of hands – how many people hosted guests during the past few weeks?  And honestly – how many people were happy to see those guests depart for their own homes?  Seriously, having company can be a trying experience.

I am in the same boat as you.  If you came to worship these past few weeks, you may have noticed that my family had an extra member.  My uncle Chuck, who has no family of his own, was at my house for a week at Thanksgiving and then two weeks this Christmas.  Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great guy, but that is a long time to have any house guest.  Needless to say, there was a part of me that was happy to get my house back to normal (at least what passes for normal at the Jepsen house). 

So, to tell you the truth, I was surprised, and perhaps not quite ready to turn around and pray for the blessing of more visitors this week.  But that is the nature of the gospel isn’t it?  The gospel is always calling us to welcome the stranger, to share our food and drink, to give all that we have, including our time and energy to the service and welcome of others.  The visiting wise men, looking for the good news, are not so different from anyone who may visit us at church or at home.  As followers of Jesus, we are called to continually welcome people into our lives, even on days like this when we may be tired and just need our own space.

The wonderful thing about viewing this text in the light of John 1, the wonderful thing about our Epiphany mash-up, is the combination of welcoming strangers and the cosmic stranger within our midst.  That was the Epiphany “a-ha!” for me this week.  John writes of Jesus that “He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.  He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.”  The infinite cosmic God is present in the person of Jesus Christ, and yet we miss it.  Just as we might miss the chance to be a good host, folks miss the chance to recognize Jesus in their midst. 

The wonderful thing about a Christmas Epiphany mash-up is the realization that this cosmic God, this great Jesus from before time, is present in all our everyday interactions with each other.  When I host company in my home, I am hosting the Christ.  When I host company in my home, I become Christ-like in my giving and sharing.  The “aha!” of Epiphany is that Christ is in all the details of my interactions with others.

I was thinking this week of a more literal mash-up, combining the traditional birth narratives of Matthew and Luke with the cosmic beginnings of John.  I think this might give us a better idea of what I’m talking about, the grandness of God entering into the simplicity of everyday experience.  Listen to the Word of the Lord to you this day:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Then Mary said, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

He was in the beginning with God.

And of his kingdom there will be no end.

All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.

Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.

Wise men from the east came to Jerusalem asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising.”

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

Having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us,

She gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

And we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

For the child to be born will be holy, he will be called the Son of God.

From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

You are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

And they shall name him Emmanuel, which means, “God is with us.

The whole miracle of Christmas is the divine in-breaking into our world.  It is the cosmic story of creation and love played out in the minor details of our lives.  It’s the infinite in the finite, the extraordinary in the ordinary, God in the little things.  The Epiphany of Christmas is this cosmic activity in the daily lives of people, including us.  Suddenly everything I do and say matters on a grand scale for all my interactions with others are interactions with the divine.  When I host a guest in my home, I host the Christ, breaking into my world.  Suddenly the whole of beyond time and space exists in my own space and time.  It’s a miracle, and it’s beautiful.

          As we begin a New Year in this nation and world, I invite you to consider this idea.  The story of Christmas is a story of the divine in the details.  Look for the divine in the details of your own life.  On a big scale, perhaps you can volunteer more in the community.  On a little scale, perhaps you can notice the person working at the cash register next time you are in the store.  From pouring a cup of coffee for the literal guest in my home, to calling the clerk helping me by name, opportunities for me to host the divine in my life are infinite, and they are for you too.

          As the church moves into Epiphany, the season of light, may we remember to welcome the stranger, family member, acquaintance, or friend that we find on our doorstep.  May we recognize and honor the miracle of the divine power of our eternal God, present in the everyday mundane details of our lives.  And may this Christmas/Epiphany mash-up continue throughout the year as we say “aha!” to all the opportunities we have to participate in the reconciliation of our world.  Amen.