4 Epiphany, Year B

"EVIDENCE"
Deuteronomy 18: 15 – 20; Psalm 111; I Corinthians 8: 1b – 13; Mark 1: 21 – 28
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at St. Mark’s Church, West Frankfort, IL; St. James’ Church, Marion, IL; and at The Church of the Redeemer, Cairo, IL (by Mr. Eugene Sandow Myers, Lay Reader); Sunday, January 29th, 2006

We use evidence of things that happen in our lives everyday to learn how to deal with problems, to learn how to live better lives and avoid problems, and to know how to help others. Sometimes, the evidence is very evident (sorry for the pun!)…for example, when the balance in our checking account is higher than we’d expected, we can look into the situation, and see that our bills were lower than we’d expected. Sometimes, the evidence is less noticeable…for example, if our bank decided to give every account holder a free deposit of One Hundred Dollars, but let that gift be a surprise which will be discovered when we get our monthly statement (well, we can hope, at least!).

When we go to the doctor, the evidence of our condition might be very plain to see, such as a broken arm. Or, it might be less easy to understand, such as when we complain of having a fever, or aches and pains in certain areas. In that case, the doctor will have to do some investigating to determine the cause of our problem.

Teenage drivers (I am reminded of this because of the story in the news this past week of a bill that’s being proposed to raise the minimum driving age) have to learn how well the car they are learning to drive is running by the evidence the car is presenting to them as they drive. For example, if the car has a flat tire, the evidence is clear as to what the problem is. On the other hand, the young driver might come home and say “the car did such and such when I was driving it today”, which will most likely prompt a look under the hood or a trip to the mechanic.

Evidence is direct and indirect.

Our Gospel reading for today from Mark, chapter one, verses 21 to 28, offers direct evidence of Jesus’ identity and Jesus’ power. It also offers indirect evidence of Jesus’ identity. Let’s look more closely at both types of evidence….

Before we do, we ought to remind ourselves of some basic characteristics of Mark’s Gospel account…..

1. Mark’s writing is concise and to-the-point: Mark generally gives us “just the facts” (with all due apologies to Sgt. Friday of the TV show “Dragnet”). The effect of Mark’s direct style is to deepen the impact of Jesus’ life on his readers.
   
   
2. Mark’s Gospel is full of action: we often read the word “immediately”, as in last week’s Gospel, where we read that when Jesus called Peter and his brother, Andrew, to become disciples, “immediately, they left their nets and followed him” (Mark 1: 18). In today’s Gospel, we read that those who saw Jesus cast the unclean spirit out in the synagogue at Capernahum that day were “amazed”. “Amazed” is a word that Mark often uses to describe the reactions to Jesus’ work. “Astonished” is another word that appears in Mark quite frequently, and we find both words in today’s reading.

Now, let’s return to today’s reading…

Notice the direct evidence, the direct witness, to Jesus’ identity…It comes from the unclean spirit which has taken up residence in the man who cries out “what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” So, this witness to Jesus’ identity comes from His adversaries, which are the various powers of evil that tested him in the wilderness just before His ministry in Galilee began, and which will attempt to gain control over Him again at His crucifixion.

Next, Jesus offers direct evidence of His power over those various forces of evil….He says to the unclean spirit, “Be silent, and come out of him.” And the spirit obeyed him. Mark is setting the stage for Jesus’ final victory over evil, that victory which occurs on Easter morning by recording this account for us at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry.

Now, let’s turn to the indirect evidence of Jesus’ identity and power. It comes from the witnesses to Jesus’ teaching, and to Jesus’ casting out of the unclean spirit (which, by the way, is the first of four exorcisms that Mark records)….Mark records the crowd’s reaction, saying that, “they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them with authority, and not as the Scribes” (Verse 22). Those who heard Jesus that day knew there was something different about Jesus’ teaching, for it had power and an impact, an authority (as Mark describes it) that the teaching they’d heard before didn’t have.

Next, Mark tells us that Jesus’ hearers begin to piece together the indirect and direct evidence about Jesus, as they exclaim, “What is this? A new teaching! With authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” (Verse 27)

Now, let’s turn our attention to the direct and indirect evidence that we have available to us, so that we may know who Jesus is….

The direct evidence is Holy Scripture itself….It is the “Word of God” (as the Book of Common Prayer puts it the ordination service – page 538), or as we say when we finish reading the Old and New Testament readings, “the Word of the Lord”. It is God’s direct revelation, God’s direct evidence through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, of Jesus Christ, and His work in revealing God to us. Everything that we know about Jesus Christ stems from Holy Scripture as the source, the primary source, of God’s work in Jesus Christ.

The indirect evidence often comes from the changes that result in people’s lives as they give themselves to the Lord in a personal relationship….When that happens, we can see the evidence of the change that the Lord can make in people who give up dangerous addictions (like my father did at age 72, with the Lord’s help), who surrender selfish and self-serving ways that distort their own lives and that make others who share life with them miserable, and who turn from self-destructive behaviors to a life that seeks after God. Such persons begin to live lives that are filled with joy, peace, and a sense of identity and purpose, even when life’s difficulties crowd in and threaten to overcome us. Life lived in the Lord holds Jesus’ victory over evil and over death in view, realizing that God did not spare Jesus from life’s heartaches and troubles, its pain and abandonment. Instead, we have a Savior who willingly embraced all those hardships, in order to take them up into Himself and to offer them to God. If God is able to conquer all of life’s problems and trials in Jesus Christ, then we, through Christ, can claim that same victory.

Finally, what do we make of today’s reading for ourselves? What direct evidence can we look to for hope? What indirect evidence do we have to investigate?

I think the direct evidence is Holy Scripture….to it we look to see God’s working in people’s lives down through the ages…..In it, we see Jesus Christ revealed to us as the Son of God, the “Holy One of God” (as today’s reading puts it), the perfect image of God the Father.

The indirect evidence is found in the changes in our lives….People we come in contact with might not know that we have an inclination toward God that enables us to see life differently, and to behave differently at first glance. But, if they dig into the evidence they can see, they should be able to put together the fact of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection with Jesus’ presence in our hearts.

One last thought….one main reason the Church exists is so that we can put the direct evidence of Jesus Christ as we read it in Holy Scripture together with the indirect evidence, as we live and worship alongside one another. Seeing God working in each other’s lives is one way we learn to recognize how God works in everyday life to bring our lives more and more in line with the image of God as we know it in Jesus Christ.

AMEN.

2 Epiphany, Year B

"WHERE IS GOD?"
I Samuel 3: 1 – 20; Psalm 63: 1 – 8; I Corinthians 6: 11b – 20; John 1: 43 – 51
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, Given at Church of the Redeemer, Cairo, IL; and at St. James’ Memorial Church, Marion, IL (by Mr. Leslie Boyer, Lay Reader); January 15th, 2006

“Where is God?” Have you ever asked yourself that question? “Where is God” in the sense of “where do we find Him?” Do we find Him in a special place, like a church or a pilgrimage site, or can we find Him most anywhere (best of all, in our hearts)?

This sermon will attempt to look at the question of where we find God, first in church architecture, and then in our Gospel reading for today….for that is a central question which underlies Jesus’ encounter with Nathanael, recorded for us in the Fourth Gospel.

We begin by looking at church architecture, and we’ll use both the Church of the Redeemer in Cairo and St. James in Marion as examples (since this sermon is being given in both places today). Fortunately, as examples, they are very similar.

A word of introduction is in order before we begin….In the Summer of 2003, I took a week long course at the Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania which dealt exclusively with church architecture and artwork. The professor (a Norwegian by the name of Christianson) took the class on a virtual tour of Europe and the Near East, focusing in on church buildings from the fourth century forward to the present day. It was an additional treat to know that most of the slides shown to us were taken by him personally over the course of many years as he traveled to various locations, so there were often personal commentaries that accompanied the visual displays we were seeing.

Two words kept cropping up during our study that week….One was the Latin word Domus Dei, which means “the House of the Lord”, and the other word was Domus Ecclesiae, which means “the House of the Assembly”. These two terms would define the two major types of churches we studied.

So, turning now to our church building as we see it before us this Sunday morning, we look and we see a level area for the congregation to sit. Then, there is a step up (or two, as in the case of Redeemer – St. James has one step) to the chancel area. Approaching the altar area a little closer, we come to more steps (one in the case of Redeemer, and two in the case of St. James). At St. James, we are finally on the level of the high altar. At Redeemer, to reach the High Altar, we have to do another step or so upward.

Clearly, the entire focus of the building is the High Altar….Our eyes are drawn to it, and it seems as though we are ascending a ladder as we approach that space. This elevation in height is not simply a matter of making it possible for everyone in the congregation to see the action that’s taking place during the Eucharist. The design is deliberate, and has deep historical roots, in the Roman Basilica.

During the Roman Empire, a royal person often had access to, or had constructed, a building whose main purpose was for that royal person to receive guests and subjects. The design of the basilica was deliberate: a level entrance area and gathering space, leading to successive steps upward toward the throne upon which the royal person sat to receive guests at the opposite end from the entrance. So, the effect was of magnified power and prestige, combined with a sense of difference (due to the difference in height) and distance.

When Christianity became legal within the Roman Empire, many basilicas were transformed into churches, thereby setting a precedent in which God was the royal person who received guests. Where the throne had previously been, now there was often an altar. But the difference in height was maintained, generally speaking.

As time went along, the distinction between God’s presence in the holy space around the altar and the “ordinary space” of the level gathering area became greater and greater….By the Middle Ages, a wooden screen (called the Rood Screen) or even a solid wall separated the level gathering area (the Nave) from the chancel and the altar. Only ordained persons were allowed access to the chancel and the altar area, meaning that lay persons went their whole lives though, oftentimes, having never seen a Eucharistic celebration, much less having actually been a part of one. Bells announced to the faithful out in the nave when something especially “holy” was taking place beyond the rood screen or the wall. (Have you ever wondered where the Sanctus Bell that we ring during the “Holy, Holy, Holy” came from?) That was the signal to the faithful to put down their Rosary beads or their Litanies (which they had been using for private prayer during the Mass) and to pay attention to the action that was going on beyond the dividing wall.

The priest faced away from the congregation, masking the Eucharistic action even more. The east wall of the church behind the altar began to be regarded as the very gate of heaven, its windows pouring in not only sunlight, but the light of heaven.

God had been put into a box, a box that got more and more tightly closed around Him….the building we have been describing is called a Domus Dei, a “House of the Lord”, for it was there (and often only there) that one encountered God. The separation between the holy and the mundane life of the world was complete….one did not affect the other, it seems like.

But this Medieval arrangement was a betrayal of the early Church’s practice….For the early Church often met in someone’s home, and oftentimes, the meeting place within that home was the dining room or a courtyard, where a simple table had been set up in the midst of the assembled believers. There, people would bring bread, or wine, or other gifts to present to the Lord, and they were all laid on this table/altar. Everyone had equal access to the table, both for bringing gifts to enhance it and the community, and to receive the benefits of the Eucharist which was celebrated in the midst of all. The “give and take” between the world and God was free and frequent. This church is called the Domus Ecclesiae, the “House of the Assembly”.

Hold these two concepts in your mind for a minute now, as we turn our attention to the Gospel reading for today…..Nathanael’s journey in discovering where to find God is very much like the differences between a Domus Dei and a Domus Ecclesiae.

Although Jesus describes Nathanael in very positive terms (calling him “an Israelite in whom there is no guile”), Nathanael exhibits a very common attitude about the geography of the Holy Land in his comment “can anything good come from Nazareth?” As different as Nathanael’s heart was in comparison with the Jewish leadership that would eventually be responsible for Jesus’ death (that’s probably the reason Jesus called him “an Israelite” and not a “Jew” – for the Jewish leadership is portrayed in John’ Gospel account as being corrupt and set against Jesus’ message), Nathanael shares with the Jewish leadership the notion that Nazareth is the “wrong side of the tracks”. Probably both Nathanael and the power elite of 2,000 years ago would agree that Jerusalem was “where it was ‘at’”, and certainly, Jerusalem was the place where God was to be found, in the Temple.

So Jesus has a “hurry-up” training session on his hands in dealing with Nathanael. Jesus begins by telling Nathanael that he had seen him under the fig tree before Philip called him…..As readers of John’s Gospel, we know that such foreknowledge is John’s way of telling us that Jesus is fully divine, all-knowing even as God the Father is omniscient…..But Nathanael seems to sense that, as well, proclaiming that Jesus is “King of Israel” and “Son of God”. But Jesus needs to take Nathanael a step or two further, and says, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.”

What greater things? Nathanael has already come light-years in his understanding of who Jesus is, from a son of Joseph from Nazareth to one who sees and knows without a visible means of coming to such knowledge. Nathanael is right to believe that he is in the presence of someone who is intimately familiar with God, at the very least.

Jesus then makes this comment, “Very truly (the Greek is actually “amen, amen” – a characteristic feature in John’s Gospel) I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

What could this statement possibly mean? Nathanael, being the good “Israelite” that he was, knew instantly that Jesus’ language, “the heavens being opened” and of “angels ascending and descending” was an allusion to Jacob’s dream, recorded in Genesis 28: 10 – 18, in which he dreamed that there was a ladder extending into heaven, upon which the angels of God ascended and descended. Genesis records that, when Jacob arose the next morning, he said “surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”

Jesus seemed to be telling Nathanael that the encounter with Jesus that was taking place that day was “the gate of heaven”, as Jacob described it, and that God surely was “in this place” in the person of Jesus Christ, and Nathanael “did not know it”.

Jesus’ point seems to be that God can be found in a backwater place like Nazareth, and not just in a glorious place like Jerusalem. God is to be found anywhere and everywhere…..God’s blessings are available to all who seek Him in Jesus Christ. (Jesus will go on to reiterate this point in his encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, in Chapter Four, when he will tell the woman at the well that worshiping on a particular mountain, or in Jerusalem, won’t matter, but worshiping God in “spirit and in truth” will matter.)

Now, let’s go back to our discussion of our church buildings, and tie the concepts we discussed there into Jesus’ encounter with Nathanael…..

We began with the question, “where is God?….where do we find Him?” Is it necessary to have a special place set aside, where our devotions can be aided by the character and layout of the space we use for worship? Or, can we encounter God in most any surrounding, meaning that a church might look much like any other space we use for ordinary purposes?

Perhaps the answer is that a special place, set aside for holy use, and different in its appearance and design, serves to remind us through our senses of sight, smell, hearing and taste that we are in a different sort of endeavor than we would be if we were going to the movies, or to the store, or to a sporting event. As a side note, it’s interesting to notice that many times, when a Domus Dei building is renovated, the altar is moved out closer to the congregation, often finding itself right in the middle of the assembly, where it all began 2,000 years ago. Sometimes, the High Altar is also maintained, giving a dual reminder of God’s presence with us, both as the God who is removed from us and different from us, and the God who comes among us in the person of Jesus Christ as we experience Him uniquely in Holy Eucharist.

In the final analysis, it seems like both focal points are necessary, for the image of the ladder that Jacob dreamed about and to which Jesus alludes today reminds us that a ladder is designed to connect two different places, without losing the distinction of the one place compared to the other.

So may God enable us to connect our holy encounter with Him in this holy space with the holiness of everyday living, that the first encounter may transform the second.

AMEN.

1 Epiphany, Year B

“GOD BREAKS INTO OUR HUMAN EXISTENCE”

Isaiah 42: 1 – 9; Psalm 89: 1 – 29; Acts 10: 34 – 38; Mark 1: 7 - 11
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at St. Stephen’s Church, Harrisburg, IL; January 8th, 2006


“And just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on Him….”

This morning, we celebrate Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. As the recall this event, which marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, let’s look at Mark’s account, keeping in mind the Epiphany theme of the light of Christ breaking in to the world.

Before we look more closely at the text, we should remind ourselves of a couple of key features of Mark’s writing, since we will be spending a good bit of time in Mark’s account of the Gospel in this liturgical year….

1. Mark is brief: notice that Mark gives only the barest of details of Jesus’ baptism….There’s no conversation between Jesus and John about John’s unworthiness to baptize Jesus, as Matthew records,[1] though Mark does record John’s remark that he is “unworthy to stoop down and untie Jesus’ sandals”. Mark does record the fact that John was offering a “baptism of repentance for sins”.[2]
   
   
2. Mark’s Gospel account is full of action: notice the verb “torn apart” (and compare it to Matthew’s choice of words “at that moment, heavens was opened”,[3] for example)….we will come back to the words “torn apart”…..Notice also that Mark is full of urgency: he says “and just as He was coming up out of the water”. Mark uses the word “immediately”, or “just then” quite frequently. In the verses which follow today’s reading, in verse, 12, Mark tells us that the Spirit “immediately drove” (another action verb) Jesus out into the wilderness to undergo forty days of temptation and testing.

Today’s reading is linked in Mark to three other episodes in Jesus’ life. The links are framed by the references to Jesus being the “God’s Son”, and the use of the words “torn apart”. Let’s look at these two links, and then try to draw some conclusions from them for our interaction with God, as we come face-to-face with Jesus Christ.

We begin by looking at Mark’s use of the verb “torn apart”….(By the way, the Greek verb is the same word from which we derive the English word “schism”.) Mark uses this verb only twice, here in describing the heavens being “torn apart”, as if the veil which separates God from human beings has been removed, and again when Jesus dies, and the veil in the Temple which separated the Holy of Holies, God’s presence, from the ordinary areas where people gathered.[4]

Next, we should look at the three references to Jesus as being the Son of God (or of the Father):

1. “And a voice came from heaven ‘you are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased’” we read in today’s Gospel.[5]
   
   
2. Next, at the Transfiguration on the mountain, Peter, James and John heard a voice coming from the cloud which had surrounded them, saying “this is my Son, the Beloved, listen to Him”.[6] Notice the similarity in the words. (We observe the Transfiguration event two times during our Church Year: on the last Sunday in Epiphany, and again on the Feast of the Transfiguration, celebrated on August 6th.)
   
   
3. Mark’s last reference to Jesus as Son of God (or of the Father) is found in chapter 15, verse 39, when the Centurion in charge of Jesus’ crucifixion exclaims after Jesus had died that “truly, this man was God’s Son”.

Mark’s use of the verb “torn apart” is deliberate, it seems to me….Far from trying to inject some action into his account to liven up the text for his readers, Mark is describing God’s action in Jesus Christ: For in Christ, the barriers that separate God from us are removed. In Christ, we see God most clearly. In Christ’s death, we are able to stand in God’s presence, covered by Jesus’ atoning death on the cross in our place. That’s the symbolism of the tearing of the veil.

Naturally, the question then arises: “why then, did Jesus agree to be baptized by John, when John’s baptism was a repentance for sins?” After all, Scripture makes clear that Jesus was without sin….we read in II Corinthians 5: 21 that God “made Him (Jesus) to be sin, who knew no sin”. Hebrews 4: 15 also reiterates this point, saying “for we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.” This verse from Hebrews offers the clue…Jesus came to take on our humanness in all of its fullness….Far from being a conquering Messiah, riding in on a white horse with all of the trappings of a warrior king, Jesus came in a humble birth, being willing to submit himself in every way to the will of the Father in order to remove the barriers that separate us from God.

Jesus assumed the nature He came to save….without doing so, our sins could not be washed away. By undergoing His temptation in the wilderness, Jesus passed the first test of His humanity, claiming victory over the powers of evil. In His death, Jesus passed the final test of his humanity, by His rising from the dead on Easter Sunday morning….Just as the fullness of God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, was present in Jesus’ baptism, as the voice of the Father, coming as the Spirit descended on the Son, so too were the forces of evil unable to break apart the Holy Trinity of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They tried on Good Friday and failed on Easter morning. God breaks through, into our human condition, tearing apart the barriers that separate us from God!

In the two great Sacraments given to us by Our Lord, we are provided the means of coming face-to-face with God….In Holy Baptism, the barrier of Original Sin that separates us from God is removed, as God acknowledges those who come to Him in faith as sons and daughters of God. In Holy Communion, we are able to confess those sins committed following our baptisms, and then to approach the Holy Table, there to remember Jesus’ death and resurrection – how often do we think of Holy Communion as a great Godly drama? – the tearing of the veil that allows us to commune directly with God, as we say “this is my body, this is my blood”.

Our understanding of this face-to-face encounter grows, little by little, just as the understanding of Jesus as Son of God grew, little by little….In Mark’s Gospel account, only Jesus heard the voice that said “you are my Son, the Beloved” that day as He came up out of the waters. But then, a little while later, on the Mount of Transfiguration, three key disciples, Peter, James and John, heard the voice that said “this is my Son, the Beloved”. And then, following His death, even the Gentile Centurion exclaimed, “truly, this man was God’s Son”.

May God’s Holy Spirit enable us to see, little by little, Jesus as He is the revelation of the fullness of God, that we nay come face-to-face with Our Lord, and be transformed into His likeness as a result.

AMEN.

[1] Matthew 3: 14 - 15
[2] Mark 1: 4 - 5
[3] Matthew 3: 16
[4] Mark 15: 38
[5] Verse 11
[6] Mark 9: 7

The Feast of the Holy Name, Year B

“WHAT’S IN A NAME?”
Exodus 34: 1 – 8; Psalm 8; Romans 1: 1 – 7; Luke 2: 15 – 21
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given by Mr. Eugene Sandow Myers, at Church of the Redeemer, Cairo, IL; and by Mrs. Linda Nelson, at St. Stephen’s Church, Harrisburg, IL; January 1st, 2006


It’s interesting to see how new parents name their children….Sometimes, they give them very unusual names that they have a hard time living down as life unfolds, like the person I heard of once whose last name was “Uta” (pronounced like Utah)….His parents gave him the first name of “Northern”. So, I imagine that he went through life telling people he wasn’t from Northern Utah, but that he was Northern Uta.

Names can become very trendy, and get applied to many people who were born at about the same time, while some names disappear almost completely from common usage…Compare how many newborns today are named “Nancy”, as compared to “Melissa” or “Tiffany” or “Jessica” today. It’s even possible to tell to some degree in which generation a person was born by the first names they bear that were common about the time they were born.

In our society, the name we go by is often simply our “handle” (if we may borrow a term from the CB radio world).

We rarely ever think of the meaning that might be behind our names…for example, a person with the last name of “Cartwright” probably had some ancestor who made carts.

But in Biblical times, a person’s name meant something….For example, John, in Hebrew, means “God has been gracious”. “Nathaniel” means “gift of God”. Many, if not most,
Biblical names have meanings.

Jesus’ name means “God saves”, and His name describes very well just exactly what Jesus came to do, to save us from our sins….Matthew, in his Gospel account, records this fact very well…In chapter one, verse 21, the angel says to Joseph in a dream “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him ‘Jesus’, for He will save his people from their sins.”

In addition to having meaning, in Biblical times, speaking a person’s name had almost the same power as a person’s actual presence, even if they weren’t physically there. The connection between a person’s name and their identity and their presence was much stronger than it is in our culture today.

Our service of Holy Communion ties together the two strands of the meaning of Jesus’ name and his presence among us: for whenever we celebrate communion together, we remember Jesus’ saving acts, His death, burial, and resurrection. In the opening prayer of the communion, right after the “Holy, Holy, Holy”, the prayer recalls God’s saving acts down through history, which reach their climax in Jesus Christ. (The prayer found on page 368 of Eucharistic Prayer B, at the top of the page, is an excellent example of this prayer, which recalls God’s saving acts down through time.)[1]

So, we remember Jesus’ saving acts on Good Friday and Easter morning.

Then, we also know that Jesus is present with us in some unique way whenever we celebrate the Holy Communion together…Jesus is present whenever “two or three are gathered together in my name”,[2] and is especially present in the Communion itself. Jesus’ presence is often called the “Real Presence of Christ” in the Eucharist.

We also remember that Jesus’ name is holy, and so many people can be seen bowing their heads slightly whenever Jesus’ name is spoken during the liturgy. This simple action is a tangible and physical reminder of just who Jesus is, as “Immanuel”, that is, “God with us”.

Finally, God calls us into a new community in Jesus Christ….St. Paul’s opening sentence from Romans, chapter one (by the way, it’s interesting to note that, in the Greek, all seven verses we read today are also one sentence…Paul could write some very long sentences!) reiterates this calling…Paul says, “including yourselves, who are called to be saints.” God, in Jesus Christ, is calling us into a new community.

The first letter of Peter (chapter two, verses 9 – 10) states this another way, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you might proclaim the mighty acts of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

So, how might we reflect on the meaning of God’s calling our names, by name, each one of us individually? What about the meaning of God’s calling us by our names?....What do we mean to God when God calls us by name? What difference would it make to think that we are somehow especially present to God whenever He calls our name? There are some thought provoking questions to ponder as we begin this New Year.

The reading from First Peter seems to indicate that God’s invitation to us is very intentional. In God’s call through Jesus’ name, we are given a new name, the name of “Christian”, in the sense of being a “disciple of Christ”. As we bear Jesus’ name to the world, Jesus, as our High Priest, bears our names to God, mediating between God and us.

Thanks be to God for the holy name of Jesus Christ, by whom we have salvation, and mediation before God.

AMEN.

[1] By the way, the technical term for this prayer (in Greek) is the anamnesis, which simply means the “not forgetting” (= remembering). You can see the root word for amnesia in this Greek word.
[2] Matthew 18: 20