union avenue christian church |
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God Said It! It Happened! Genesis 1:1 – 5; Psalm 29 We are now eight days into 2006. How many resolutions did you make? How many have already been broken? How many have been forgotten? How many will begin…well, next week? The great opportunity of Christians is that we have so many times to ‘begin again.’ It is a part of the fabric of our faith. Late in November we began the liturgical year with Advent. Easter is our wondrous celebration of new life. Pentecost marks the beginning of the church. And, then, because we are not outside of the culture, we celebrate the calendar year beginning January 1. Our congregation and Board mark July 1 as their leadership beginning. And every week we go the Lord’s table for the promise of new life. So, we can honestly ‘begin again’ many times. If you didn’t quite get prepared enough during Advent, there will be more opportunities. If you have broken all those New Year’s determinations within the last 7 days, well, I have a deal for you. Today we are celebrating Epiphany – which actually was on Friday – the Twelfth Day of Christmas. Epiphany is a season of the church year beginning on January 6 and extending up to Ash Wednesday and Lent. This is a whole season of beginnings…a season of newness…a season of light. The beginning point is marked by the celebration of the magi finally reaching the Christ child. Having been led by a very bright star, they laid their worldly gifts beside this one they thought would become some sort of international power. Epiphany – the word itself – means an appearance or manifestation of the divine; although has often been watered down to mean merely a great thought, a new idea, a revelation, an a-ha that might or might not include God as source. I think it would be good for us to use this day – an Epiphany celebration – to open our eyes to the light that is leading us, and make resolutions about our future together. This past week, I spent an afternoon on the couch (trying to rest from the cold or flu) and turned on the last few minutes of Dr. Phil (the only daytime t.v. I am ever tempted to watch). He talked about New Year’s resolutions and cautioned his viewers not to set themselves up for failure. Make a plan, he said, remembering what has brought you success in the past and build on it. Make your resolutions reasonable, achievable, and create an environment in which they can be fulfilled. AND – get support from others! Wishing doesn’t make things happen. Saying we are going to do something doesn’t make it happen. Even creating a plan and getting support doesn’t always create success. It is hard to change, to do things differently, and to resolve for newness of life. Then we come up against a scripture like the one from Genesis this morning. And know that as foundation to our faith is this God who speaks and things happen. God said: let there be light…and there was light! There was no plan, there was no support, there was no determination of past successes or failures (because after all this was in the beginning.) To go on in this short passage – when God saw the light (that was created just because God spoke) God then saw that the light was good, which means that it reflected God’s self. Then God separated the light from the darkness – imposed some order within what had been created. This activity of God is fundamental to our faith.These are, of course, the initial words of our book of faith,which would emphasize how our forebears considered their truth. As foundational to our faith, we best consider their importance, and I sincerely believe we can do this outside the foolish arguments between faith and science that swirl in popular culture and religious fundamentalism. IF God speaks and things happen, and IF we are heirs of God (created in the image of God), and IF we are called by God to work in and minister to and be stewards of this world of God’s, then there is an amazing amount of power available to us. That’s a number of IFs, but we have to come to the place of believing those before we can proceed. The real clincher is that we have to remember which way the power flows. There is no where in the foundation of our faith that says: “Suzanne said: let there be light, and there was light,” or “Suzanne said this and this should happen today and God made it happen today.” No, God makes things happen and we are privileged to be a part of that experience when we get into the power line and flow of God’s activity. Much as I enjoy Dr. Phil’s no-nonsense approach to life (and his good advice), if we really intend to be involved in life-changing experiences, we have the best opportunity by checking into the ways in which God is still acting, speaking and loving this creation of God’s. The Epiphany experience for us could be just as amazing as those magi traveling hundreds of miles – all during the darkness of night, so they could follow that star – when we make the commitment to listen to, look for, and feel the presence of God leading our energies and our lives this year. With the light of Jesus Christ as the power source, imagine what God’s power will do in this community that would wrack havoc with the wheels of injustice. With the light of Jesus Christ as the power source, we would be led in God’s ways to stand with our neighbors in bringing city services to them and getting code violations cared for and any number of other needs that God identifies. With the light of Jesus Christ as our power source, God would show us many more ways to develop relationships with the children and staff of Clark, Mitchell, Ford and Soldane schools so that the real needs of these children and youth can be met (needs that we might not have previously considered). With the light of Jesus Christ as our power source, creative and new ways to use this incredible building as an honor to God will be opened unto us and we will be able to let go of territorial fears. With the light of Jesus Christ as our power source, our board and departments, committees and staff won’t be creating goals they know they can meet this year, but will be enlightened about the incredible possibilities way beyond their own minds and hearts. It is not that we can achieve anything because God is on OUR side. It is that God can and has achieved whatever God has chosen, and we best find out how to move into that source of power and creation. May this day of light – this season of newness of life – be a beginning, a time of true prayer and attuning ourselves to what God has in mind. For when we know that, all will be in place and all will happen as God’s desire. SW |
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