Sunday, January 5, 2014 (full size gallery)
The predications of early morning ice did not materialize on this first Sunday in 2014. It was still wet for most of the morning but with some changing cloud formations normally part of winter.
This Sunday was Christmas 2. It is somewhat unusual to have Christmas 2- usually Epiphany occurs in its place. Thus, the readings have selections from Christmas 2 and Ephiphany. We chose the former since we are having Epiphany tomorrow night.
The attendance was lower than average at 34. We had 3 in Godly Play. The church was lit up with the Christmas candles with the weather changing from covercast and raining, then sunny and back again provided some interesting visual effects.
The tone of the service, a culmination of Christmas, was over struggle with the story of Joseph’s family fleeing to Egypt as refugees. It is the realization of the difficult road ahead for all. But it is also about the gift of "home" as described in the sermon. "When we are at home with God, we are “swimming in the ocean of love, eternally swallowed up in the infinitely bright….beams of divine love; eternally receiving that light, eternally full of it…and everlastingly reflecting it back again to the fountain of it.”
During the announcements, Ken talked about the relationship he is trying to develop with the youth in Port Royal as part of his stewardship leadership. It is a mentoring process that will take time. He did a good conversation with one of the parents over the holidays. Bill Wick began the organization toward Ladies Night Out. The entertainment will be a St. Peter’s version of "Jeopardy!". Over 11 years the event has raised $6,000. Finally we recoganized birthdays for Marilyn and Betty.
Coffee Hour was led by Susan and Elizabeth and was a marvelous spread of lentil soup (Helmut!), ham biscuits, sandwiches, raw vegetables cheese and a decadent desert tray. with trifle and pineapple pound cake or the like, Epiphany cookies shapes like stars and Elizabeth’s cookies with faces. People stayed for an hour and caught up from the holidays.
The Matthew reading comes after the Wise men visit. The latter is the lectionary for Epiphany. So we are looking at Part 2 first.
The Gospel focus here is on Joseph as obedient and faithful. This is in keeping with Matthew’s attention to Joseph in the birth narrative in our Christmas Eve service and maybe the reason for this passage "out of order." Matthew is less focusing on a historical account of the birth and more others reactions to the birth. Hence, the actions of Herod.
Three more times the angel of the lord (an Old Testament phrase for God in visible form) appears to him in a dream (2:13, 19, 22) and gives a command that Joseph follows exactly. God continues to guide the course of events through obedient believers. That’s the key for us – reliance on on God. God is leading us and with us even when events do not go our way. We are not alone. We have to look at the bigger picture, often difficult to see while we are going through life
Matthew intentionally interprets many events in Jesus’ life in the light of Old Testament prophecies, the fulfillment of those. The formula, “this was to fulfill…" (v. 15) in today’s reading demonstrates this literary characteristic. Verse 15 quotes from Hosea 11:1; verses 17-18 quote from Jeremiah 31:15; the reference in verse 23 is uncertain. Connecting these events in Jesus’ life to the Old Testament presents Matthew’s view that Jesus’ life was not an isolated phenomenon, but the completion of a story begun long ago.
This is a realistic story considering the Middle East. Recent fighting in Fallujah, Iraq will displace families and families migrating from Syria into Lebanon and Turkey. Considering North America’s background in Europe and Africa we are refugees
This section presents a stark contrast to the preceding account of the wise men’s worship. Here the divine child is forced to flee for his life. Scholars often point out parallels between the story of Israel, who took refuge in Egypt during a famine, and Matthew’s story of Jesus. Besides foreshadowing the persecution and rejection that Jesus was to encounter as an adult, the story is reminiscent of Moses, Israel’s great deliverer, who as an infant also barely escaped a king’s persecution. Jesus is already being interpreted in relationship to what was know in the Old Testament
So what does this say for us" The sermon relates this to Christmas gifts. "Throughout our lives, God is waiting to lead us to the gift God wants to give us, the gift of home, a home in the heart of God." Finding divine love which is part of the unfolding story of Epiphany. "But to reach this home, we all have to go on our journeys through life." Joseph’s trek from Bethlehem to Egypt to Galilee and Nazareth is a metaphor for our own. The journeys are not only physical traveling from place to place but can be any maturing and developing process.