Dear friends,
Sometimes it helps to get outside and play in the snow. That’s my takeaway from this past week…and my prayer for you. May you have time for play in the midst of challenging days. May you have opportunities to draw on the creative energy the Spirit has given you. May you know joy.
Today’s worship service, in its entirety, may be viewed here:
If you’d prefer to listen to only the sermon, you may do so here:
Today’s sermon is based on 1 Samuel 3:1-10 and John 1:43-51.
1 Samuel 3:1-10
1Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.
2At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; 3the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4Then the Lord called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!” 5and ran to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. 6The Lord called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. 9Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
John 1:43-51
43The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” 46Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” 48Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 49Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” 51And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
Beloved of God, grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus.
Did you notice that the paraments changed from white to green this week? We’re in the season of Epiphany now, and the color the church has chosen to represent this season is green. Now, perhaps where you are, there’s green all around you. If so, I’d love to come visit you some year in January! But where I am, and where I imagine most of you are, there is not a lot of green to be found. There is brown. There is white. There is endless gray. It’s that time of year when apart from sunrise and sunset, everything kind of looks the same—earth and sky all blended into one vast, empty canvas.
But in the church, we claim the color of this season as green. The Word of God has come to dwell among us. The light of Christ shines for all to see. Jesus is here and his mission to save and to bless the whole world is green and growing, full of life and breath, producing fruit—manna for hungry people desperate for good news.
We see this in the gospel of John. Just before our reading for today, John the Baptist has pointed out Jesus to two of his own disciples: Look, he says as Jesus walks by, here is the Lamb of God.
John’s disciples immediately begin to follow Jesus and when Jesus asks them what they’re looking for, they call him Rabbi (Teacher) and then they ask Jesus where he’s staying. Jesus responds, Come and see.
With this invitation, Jesus begins to gather up the ones who will become his disciples. Andrew was one of the two disciples who remained with Jesus that first day. He went and found his brother Simon, whom Jesus named Peter. The next day, where our reading picks up, Jesus finds Philip and says to him, Follow me. Philip finds Nathaniel and issues the same invitation Jesus previously spoke, Come and see.
There’s no screening process. There’s no exam to pass. There are no requirements to meet, because Jesus already knows these beloved ones. He created them. He was the Word that fashioned them into being. He knows them. He knows their names. He knows their hearts. He sees them for who they are and now he invites them to see him. Come and see. Follow me.
And what does he show them first? What does he reveal in the first of his signs? Jesus and his disciples attend a wedding together—a new beginning, a place of hopefulness and celebration—and when the wine runs out Jesus makes sure there’s plenty. He turns water into wine. He turns shame into gratitude. He reveals himself as life, hope, joy that will never run dry.
Logan and I walked to the sledding hill the other day for the very first time. And after he had been sledding for a while, he decided to build a snowperson. I watched as he took a small handful of snow and began rolling it along the level field. It was an absolute marvel to me how that small bit of snow grew and grew and grew.
When he was done, and ready to start on the body of the snowperson, Logan picked up another small handful of snow. Think about it, Mom, he said, raising the little bit of snow and then gesturing to the large snowball he had already made. This little snow ball turned into that!
There is so much about this metaphor that I am eager to explore. But for now, I just want to rest in the beauty and power of that snowball’s growth. It didn’t rely on rolling downhill to gather up speed and momentum and to grow as it went. It needed only the hands of its creator and the determination of its maker.
I can’t help but view the events of that first chapter of the gospel of John—and beyond–as a growing snowball, an ever widening foundation for all that would come next in the creation of God’s reign of peace and justice. The dream of God for a world blessed and saved from itself doesn’t rely on anything other than the hands of its creator and the determination of its maker—the willingness of Jesus to keep pushing forward, to keep gathering up others into this growing circle, to keep inviting the ones around him to see him as manna for a world in need, to keep reminding them that joy is a sign of God’s presence.
There is work for us to do. In our benediction today, shared by Rev. Kelly Chatman and based on the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we will hear the challenge to go out and work as though the very answer to our prayers depended on us and not on God. Yes, God calls us to work in God’s kingdom AND we lean on our precious Lord to keep that snowball rolling, to keep opening our eyes to see Christ in one another, to keep creating us for life, to keep fashioning us for joy.
After Logan had finished building his snowperson, we worked together to fashion it for joy. And everything we needed was there. We had not come prepared. All we brought to the hill was a sled for sledding. We didn’t intend to build a snowperson. And yet, everything we needed was there. Curling leaves that made for dramatic eyes. Dried weeds that made for unruly, celebratory hair. Buttons and arms all gathered up from what had at first appeared to be an endless gray canvas. And when nothing seemed to quite stick when it came to that snowperson’s mouth, there was a mask in my pocket ready to make this snowperson one who witnessed to the time in which they were born and the need for all of us to keep on loving one another.
What we need is here, as Wendell Berry puts it so beautifully. He writes, And we pray, not for new earth or heaven, but to be quiet in heart, and in eye, clear. What we need is here. (Read the complete poem here).
In this green, growing season of Epiphany, Jesus is here—gathering us up into the work and the beauty and the joy of a communal, growing, foundational love that sees all creation as beloved, that speaks the truth, that refuses to give up, that recognizes joy, that rests along the way trusting that we are in the hands of our creator and all we need, in the end, is the determination of our maker.
I’m going over here a little bit, Logan said, as he pushed his ever-growing snow ball toward a vast expanse of new snow. You can follow me.
Follow me.
Speak, God. We are listening. Amen.
Pastor Stacey, this is a beautiful word to start this winter morning. Thank you – and thank Logan!
Thank you, Kris!