Thursday, December 27, 2012

Sisterhood of the Holy Spirit


December 23rd, 2012            “Sisterhood of the Holy Spirit”            Rev. Heather Jepsen
Luke 1:39-56 with Micah 5:2-5a
          Our gospel reading for this morning is one of my absolute favorite passages in the whole of Scripture.  As a young woman serving the church, I used to struggle to find a place in the scriptures that spoke to me.  So much of our Biblical writing is oriented towards men; the scriptures can be an unwelcoming place for women.  In my life I have had plenty of folks tell me that a woman’s place is in the pew, not the pulpit, and there are plenty of Scriptures to support that view.  But not today’s reading; today’s lectionary passage is all about the power and the voice of women.
          Our two characters in this morning’s reading, Mary and Elizabeth, have a lot in common, most obvious being their pregnancies.  The two times that I was pregnant during Advent, reading these scriptures from the pulpit, was a gift to me.  Now I am not saying that being pregnant is the be-all-end-all of being a woman, but being pregnant is a pretty amazing thing. 
          There is something about pregnant women that draws other women to them.  When I was pregnant with Olivia, I was astounded at how many ladies would look at me, start a conversation, or even touch my belly.  Their forwardness seemed like a strange thing.  There is no other time in our lives when we think it is OK to stare at or even touch someone else’s stomach.  Now that I am done having my babies, I suddenly understand the urge.  I won’t have that magical time in my life again, so I am drawn to others who are.  Now I’m not out touching tummies, but when someone is pregnant I notice.  I look, I smile, I think good thoughts and send up a prayer for them.  Being pregnant is blessing and a gift, it’s just cool.
          Now, as much as non-pregnant women are drawn to pregnant women, those who are actually going through pregnancy are really drawn to each other.  Ladies am I right?  Think back to when you were pregnant.  It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.  When you are pregnant, especially the first one, it is so wonderful and exciting.  And yet, chances are, you feel like crud.  It’s great to have a person growing inside you, and it’s not so great.  You feel sick, your feet swell, you get sciatic nerve pain, you can’t sleep, you can’t eat, you need a drink and you can’t have one, you’re crying, you’re eating.  You’re scared and worried and nervous and trying not to be.  Basically you’re a wreck.  And no one understands this better, than another pregnant woman.  Pregnant ladies are drawn to each other.
          So it’s quite natural to find in our gospel reading, these two pregnant ladies drawn to each other.  If you’re going to have a baby, you need friends and you need help.  Mary is pregnant and unwed, an outcast in society.  Basically she is all alone.  She needs the help of other women.  Elizabeth too, is doing this for the first time.  She is older, perhaps more patient; but she too needs help, she needs a friend.  Luke tells us that the women spent three months together.  It will be together that they survive and enjoy these pregnancies.
          Now we remember earlier in this passage, Mary is speaking to the angel Gabriel and asks how she can be pregnant and he replies that the Holy Spirit will come upon her.  Mary is full of the Holy Spirit.  Now, when Mary arrives at Elizabeth’s Luke writes that Elizabeth was also filled with the Holy Spirit.  It is the Holy Spirit that is moving between these women, drawing them together, in one of the most important times of their lives.  They are enjoying a sisterhood of the Holy Spirit.
          This got me to thinking, are we not all filled with the Holy Spirit when we are drawn to each other in empathy and care?  Women who see other pregnant women are drawn to them because we have been there.  We know that great joy and great fear and great power.  Can’t that connection of empathy, of care and emotion, be the working of the Holy Spirit?  Is this not a sisterhood of the Holy Spirit, the working of God; that draws us together and calls us to care for each other?  To see ourselves in the other, to love our neighbors as ourselves, is the Holy Spirit.
          Elizabeth, full of the Holy Spirit, calls out the truth before her.  This woman and friend, this Mary, is pregnant with the hope of all people.  She is the mother of the Lord.  And Mary, full of the Holy Spirit, opens her mouth to preach.  We often think of the Maginifcat as song, and it very well may be, but Luke writes “Mary said” and I read “Mary preached!”  Mary preached these words of hope and power.
          Mary preaches about the God who favors the poor, looks to the lowly, and lifts up the role of women.  Mary preaches about the kingdom come, when the poor will be filled and the rich go away empty.  Mary preaches about when the powerful will fall and the weak will be lifted up.  Mary preaches the word of God, the word of Advent; Christ is coming, and the world will change.  It’s very exciting.
          I’ve been thinking a lot this week, about the connection of people, and the working of the Holy Spirit.  As you know, I was at a loss for words last Sunday, and I give thanks to God for the youth who spoke when I could not.  But in this past week, I have seen something, something that gives me hope, something that has started a sermon brewing inside my heart.  This week I have seen a sisterhood of the Holy Spirit.
          We the people, of this church, of this community, of this nation, and of this world have been connected by tragedy.  Suddenly those who are parents of young ones look at each other differently; together we know that it could have been our kids last Friday.  And those who are grandparents look at each other differently, thinking of their grandkids last Friday.  And those who are teachers look at each other differently, wondering what they would have done, what more they can do to protect kids. 
As a nation and as a people, we have been connected empathetically by this tragedy.  And I would say that as a nation, as a people, we are connected now by the Holy Spirit.  This tragedy has formed us, and bonded us together.  And through that sudden rise of empathy and emotion, of caring and love the Holy Spirit is present.  I see it in the prayer vigils held in communities here in the United States and I see it in signs of sympathy from around the world.  We have been drawn together by this experience; those kindergartners have become our kids.
          In this working of the Holy Spirit, I find hope and I find the Spirit of Christmas.  This week, a good friend of mine from seminary, Aimee Moiso, who currently serves as a university chaplain, posted this statement on Facebook and I believe this is something we all need to hear.  She gave me permission to share with you.  She writes, “Friends: if you're feeling overwhelmed and exhausted by the news out of CT, know that it's okay to turn off the news.  It's okay to not know every detail, to not follow every new piece of info, to not hear every speech and memorial.  It's okay to conserve your emotional energy for the people around you who need it.  It's okay to continue with your Christmas preparations.  God needs us to be salt and light where we are, not because we are avoiding or denying tragedy, but because we know it will not be the last word.”
I loved this because I think for many of us, including me, we need permission to move forward.  We need permission to stop crying.  And most of all we need permission to celebrate Christmas.
The reason that we light candles is to celebrate hope, to celebrate the promise of peace, to celebrate the light who comes into the darkness.  God is among us and as the prophet Micah says, a day is coming when we will live secure.  A king is coming who shall be the one of peace.  We need to hear these words now more than ever, and we need to celebrate that promise now more than ever.
          As we celebrate this coming week with family and friends, we will experience a bonding of the Holy Spirit.  Together we have considered and mourned tragedy, and now together we rejoice in the birth of new life.  Now is the time to gather as the community of hope.  Now is the time to raise our voices and preach about the coming kingdom of peace.  Now is the time to join the sisterhood of the Holy Spirit and proclaim the work of God in our world.
          Today I give thanks for this church, for you, and for Christmas.  May we go forth from this place to be salt and light to our own community.  May we go forth from this place to preach the Good news of Christmas.  And may we gather together tomorrow night as Mary and Elizabeth gathered; in hope and expectation. 
Now is the time to celebrate the miracle that was that first Christmas night, and to look forward to the day when Christ returns, the prince of peace.  May God continue to bond us in the sister (and brotherhood) of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Advent


December 2nd, 2012       “Advent”          Rev. Heather Jepsen

Jeremiah 33:14-16 and Luke 21:25-36
          Welcome to the season of Advent and the start of a new church year.  We begin the church year with our season of expectation and hope.  Advent means coming and it is a season in which the church looks forward to the coming of the Christ child and our Christmas celebrations.  But it is also the time when the church looks forward to the second coming or return of Christ into our world.  Our scriptures this morning address both of these forward looking views.
          In our Old Testament lesson we hear from the prophet Jeremiah.  He is writing during the time of Judah’s exile in Babylon following the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.  This destruction of the temple is extremely significant – much more so than would be the destruction of one of our modern churches.  Following the time of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit we believe that God can be present with us outside of a specific holy space.  But before Christ, God was not believed to be present everywhere and with all people.  Rather God was only present in the temple, residing in the physical space.  So, the destruction of the temple would be the destruction of God’s presence with the people.  People would believe that God had abandoned the people of Judah.
          So, we find the prophet Jeremiah, anticipating a new kind of relationship between people and God.  “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.  In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.  In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.  And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”
          Jeremiah is anticipating the first advent, or the first coming of Christ into our world.  This is what we most often associate with the advent season; preparation for the Christ child in the manger, the babe wrapped in swaddling, the righteous branch who has sprung from the line of David.  More importantly, Jeremiah is anticipating a new covenant which happens for us in Christ.  In Christ, we are no longer bound to only experience God in a physical location such as the temple; rather we can have a personal relationship with God through Christ wherever we may be.  This first coming of Christ into our world and into our lives is half of what we celebrate during the advent season.
          The anticipation of Christ’s second coming is the other half of our advent season which we sometimes forget in the hustle and bustle of Christmas.  It is this second coming that Christ speaks of when we find him in the temple in Luke’s gospel.  Luke sets this speech in public in the temple; it is a message for all people, not just the inner circle of disciples.  Christ offers us a startling vision of the future.  “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves.  People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory.”  Jesus speaks to us of cosmic signs and unnatural phenomenon, he is moving beyond the second destruction of the temple in Jerusalem which he just predicted and into the end of all history. 
This is a classic piece of apocalyptic writing which we most often associate with the book of Revelation.  In this genre historical events, such as the destruction of the temple are given symbolic meanings.  These writings represent the hope and vision of minority groups that stand outside the mainstream culture.  Oppressed groups have no hope in the world improving without divine intervention so they inject their writings with these dark images of the future where God will intervene and make everything right again.  That is why we find Christ saying, “Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” 
The oppressed Christians that Luke is writing for are looking forward to this dramatic future; but what about us today?  How does this vision apply to us?  Are we, a people who are not an oppressed minority, still to look forward to Christ’s return? 
“Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near.  So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.  Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”
“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap.  For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth.  Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Christ tells his followers that they will not pass away before these things have taken place.  But as we know, that generation has passed away for surely all alive at the time of Christ have long since died.  Yet, we are still a people of faith looking forward to this return, with strong beliefs that these words apply to us as well.  It is my view that every generation since Christ has lived in what we call the end times.  We have all lived in such a way as to believe that we will not pass away before these things come to pass.  And I believe that this is the way Christ wanted us to live.
Christ tells us to be on guard; to not be distracted by dissipation, (which by the way is a translation of the Greek word for nausea caused by drunkenness) or distracted by the worries of this life, but to always be watching for the in-breaking of Christ into our world.  As Christians we are well aware that things are not always what they seem.  That despite whatever is happening in our world, we have faith and hope that in the end God will make all things right.  That is what the Second Advent is about.  It is our expectation of divine intervention into the way the world is, God holds our future no matter what is happening now.  And as a people of faith, we anticipate the actions of God breaking into our lives at any moment in time.
Studying the texts this week I found a wonderful Advent poem that I really want to share with you this morning.  It’s called The whole earth’s a waiting room and it is written by Joseph Nolan
We wait – all day long,
for planes and buses,
for dates and appointments,
for five o’clock and Friday.

Some of us wait for a Second Coming,
For God in a whirlwind.
Paratrooper Christ.

All around us people are waiting;
a child, for attention;
a spouse, for conversation;
a parent, for a letter or call. 

The prisoner waits for freedom;
and the exile, to come home.
The hungry, for food;
and the lonely, for a friend.
 
The whole earth’s a waiting room!
“The Savior will see you now”
is what we expect to hear at the end.
Maybe we should raise our expectations.

The Savior might see us now
if we know how to find him.
Could it be that Jesus, too, is waiting
for us to know he is around?
 
Gathered here today, we look forward to Christ’s return.  We wait, a people with bated breath, for God to break into our world and to bring healing and change.  During this advent season, as we are tempted to be distracted by our many Holiday tasks, let us be watchful for God’s activity in our lives and our world.  Let us remember that Jesus himself may simply be waiting for us to notice him.  And let us anticipate not only the coming of the Christ child, but the return of Christ triumphant.  Amen.