Homily
by The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
Francis' Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC; Holy Name of Jesus, 1 Jan.
2017
Year
A RCL: Numbers 6:22-27;
Psalm 8; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:15-21
Garfield
the cat [in
Dec. 26, 2016, edition of Goldsboro News-Argus]
bemoans “Christmas is over already?!”
Obviously he's not an Episcopalian! We are celebrating the 12
days of Christmas!
Garfield
protests he's not yet “done being merry...” Lazy as he can be, he
shows us he's ready for more action. Our
scriptures today give us action
verbs:
- The Lord speaks to Moses & gives him a job to do.
- Galatians tells us God sends his Son so we get adopted & can cry out to God “Abba!” [Daddy / Papa]
- Our Gospel says the angels go back to heaven. The shepherds go quickly to Bethlehem to see this baby. They tell Mary & Joseph what they experienced. Mary listens, treasures & ponders what she hears. The shepherds leave, glorifying & praising God. After 8 days Jesus is circumcised & receives his name.
Like
many of us who are called by names in addition to our given names, we
call Jesus “Son of God”, “Incarnate Word”
[as
we say in one Collect for a Sunday after Christmas].
The
Spanish version of “Incarnate Word” has a more immediate sense
of action.
Instead of “palabra” [which
means “word”]
our Collect uses the word “Verbo”1,
which is the word for “verb”
&
the word defined as the 2nd
person of the Holy Trinity2.
[I
am intrigued to see my Spanish dictionary/encyclopedia has as its 1st
definition for “verbo” the reference to Jesus & lists its 2nd
meaning as an action word.3
I
wonder if some cultures are quicker to see God active in the world.]
How
readily do we see God active in our lives? How often
are we like Garfield & miss God's blessings & love active in
our lives?
Dense
as I can be, God has helped me recognize God's love in action when it
would be so normal for me not to see! For example, enjoying people
watching in Washington, DC, I noticed love & unity of families of
different cultures, 2 races who not long ago hated, conquered,
imprisoned & killed each other. Yet the several generations of
these 2 families radiate deep respect, love & great joy,
laughing, playing & taking plenty of photos.
Their
love surrounds us. You can almost feel it in the air. These families
witness the truth: We dwell in the World of
God's love. These families shine
the Light Jesus brings into the world.
The
next morning my husband & I stand on a street corner waiting for
the traffic light to change. I just realize
I have forgotten to bring cash. I don't usually carry cash, but I
like to when we go to DC so I have something for homeless beggars.
Feeling
sad about my forgetting, I notice something move in the breeze: two
$1 bills wave in the base of a tree.
Now
I have something to give a homeless person. As we walk a few blocks,
I wrestle over the gift: Do I give both dollars to the first person?
Give one & save one for the next person? Suddenly
we encounter a beggar.
I stop, look him in the eye & tell him I
don't usually carry cash. “God has blessed us this day,” I say,
holding out the 2 bills & explaining how I have them.
“You
have a choice,” I say. “You can keep both bills as a blessing or
you can keep one & leave the other to bless another person who
needs it. What do you want to do?”
The man returns my gaze. His eyes tear up. He smiles & says: “I'll take
this one. Please bless another person with the other.”
I
put my hand on his shoulder & assure him I will & will tell
the other person that he
has shared God's blessing. Then I ask God to bless him. He grasps my
hand & holds it, looks me in the eye & asks God to bless me.
We shed tears.
Together
we have entered the World of Blessing.
Together we experience unmerited grace & the truth of God's
blessing: Love
that surpasses understanding.
God's love is
for each human being.
Suddenly
I realize Jesus never just drops a coin or a healing into someone's
outstretched hand without looking at them4.
Jesus always interacts with those seeking help, always engages those
seeking his blessing [even
the woman who tries to sneak up behind him just to touch the hem of
his coat].
God's
Love lights the world & breaks through
our
darkness to bless us.
Darkness
cannot overcome the Light of God's blessing.
A
few blocks on sits a toothless, lame man, extending the cup he holds
to receive cash. I stop, look him in the eye & repeat my story,
adding the detail of the blessing from the other man. With my hand on
his shoulder I tell him the generous man down the street is sharing
God's blessing. As I give him the dollar, I ask God to bless him.
He tears up, clasps my hand & reaches up to touch my head in
a blessing. In this moment, we dwell in
the World of Blessing, the World of Unmerited Grace.
This
is the world God creates in the beginning. We corrupt this world with
self-focus. Jesus restores this world on the cross. Jesus relies on
us to continue his work, shining God's Light in the darkness.
Jesus
relies on us to work with God in the on-going work of transforming
the world.
If
two simple pieces of paper can unintentionally
bless people, what can our
intentional evangelism do?5
Bibliography
Bacon,
Ed. 8 Habits of
Love: Open Your Heart, Open Your Mind.
New York: Grand Central Life & Style. Hatchette Book Group 2012.
Dios
Habla Hoy: La Biblia.
2da
Ed.
Nueva York: Sociedad Bíblica
Americana. 1983.
The
Four Translation New Testament.
Minneapolis: World Wide Publications. New York: The Iversen Assocs.
1966.
Handy
Dictionary of the Bible.
Gen. Ed: Merrill C. Tenney. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House.
1973.
Holy
Bible with the Apocrypha.
New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press,
1989.
Jewish
Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation.
New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Larousse
Diccionario Usual.
Novena edición.
Ramón
García-Peleyo y Gross. México, DF: 2003.
El
Libro
de Oración Común.
New York: Church Publishing. 1989.
The
New American Bible for Catholics.
South Bend: Greenlawn Press. 1970.
New
Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha.
Herbert G. May, Bruce M. Metzger, eds. New
York: Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 1977.
2
Larousse
Diccionario Usual.
Novena edición.
Ramón
García-Peleyo y Gross. México, DF: 2003. Pj. 690.
3
Ibid.
4
Note: Influenced by presentation of Robert J. Voyle, “An
introduction to Appreciative Inquiry”. 2013 Clergy Leadership
Institute.
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