Dear friends,
I’m grateful for your accompaniment as we enter into a new year together.
Here is this week’s worship service in its entirety:
If you’d prefer to listen to only the sermon, you may do so here:
The sermon is based on the assigned readings for this day:
Jeremiah 31:7-14
7Thus says the Lord:
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say,
“Save, O Lord, your people, the remnant of Israel.”
8See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here.
9With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back, I will let them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble; for I have become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
10Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say,
“He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd a flock.”
11For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. 12They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall become like a watered garden, and they shall never languish again. 13Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow. 14I will give the priests their fill of fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty, says the Lord.
Ephesians 1:3-14
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight 9he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. 13In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.
John 1:1-18
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
10He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
14And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. 15(John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ ”) 16From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
Beloved of God, grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus.
What is there to look forward to now?
We’re still in the season of Christmas, but it feels like it has already come and gone. The light displays have been dismantled. The remaining Christmas candy is 75% off. The snow that fell in time for a white Christmas is just a nuisance now.
Christmas, it feels, has come and gone…and without, for many of us, the opportunity to gather with extended family, without the gift of a hug from a friend. It’s a new year, but somehow it feels as though nothing has changed. 2020 took us by surprise. We enter 2021 with eyes wide open to what is necessary, but somehow still contentious, in this pandemic time. So what is there to look forward to now?
I keep returning to the words of Jeremiah this week—God’s promise to a people who wondered, in their own fatigue and despair, what the future held for them. See, God says, I’m going to bring you home. I’m going to gather you together. I’m going to be your protector and your provider. You are my child.
God says, with weeping you shall come.
With weeping you shall come.
Even in the returning, even in the fulfillment of God’s promise, God’s children weep. I so appreciate this acknowledgment, because we weep too. Even in the returning, even in the fulfillment of God’s promise that we so look forward to, we weep. Because nearly 2 million beloved ones worldwide are dead. And because employers have been forced to make impossible decisions. And because relationships have been damaged. And because there is so much suffering, we weep.
With weeping we come…and with supplication, with prayer, with honest, vulnerable begging, Save, O Lord, your people. Show us what we have to look forward to now.
And God, acknowledging our weeping, says, My children, you will sing aloud. You will be radiant over my goodness. You will be like a watered garden and you will never languish again. You will dance. You will be merry. Your tears will turn to joy. Your grief will turn to praise. Your sorrow will turn to gladness, because I am your God and I will comfort you.
It may not sound like much in a world where so many other words compete for our attention, demand our allegiance, press on us until we feel like we can hardly breathe. But there is a word that breathes for us, that enters into our sorrow with every ragged breath.
There is a word that has been constant since the very beginning and will remain with us until the very end.
There is a word that the world has failed to know, to trust, but that comes to the world anyway and loves the world still.
There is a word through whom we have all received grace upon grace.
There is a word who knows you, who continues to create you day by day, who shines on you, who illumines your worth.
There is a word who calls you beloved, and who promises you a future with hope.
This word became flesh and lives among us now—creating, redeeming, leading, gathering, taking our sorrow upon himself and offering us a future with hope: the joy of the empty tomb, the joy of a baby born, the joy of a new year in which every day is filled with God’s presence, every space is sacred, and every moment leads to that fullness of time in which all things, in heaven and on earth, are gathered together in Christ—the Word made flesh, this world’s Savior. Amen.