What's In A Name?

Luke 2:15-21

A few days ago, I stopped to pick up some groceries at a local store.  When the checker saw the name on my card she smiled broadly and said, “grrrr-ling-house...  Is that right?”  

I smiled and nodded.  “Yes.”

“I like trying to say long names.”  She explained.  “Yours is pronounced just like it’s spelled!” 

“It is.”  I confirmed as I picked up my bags.

As a child, I hated my name.  I took a lot of very unkind teasing about it.   Some of the bullying I experienced was directly related to it.  Now, as an adult, I have come to appreciate the uniqueness of my name.   It stands out.  People remember it.  But, even more, it says something about who I am and where I come from.  It is connected to the place my German, immigrant ancestors came from.   It connects me to a culture, a family tradition, and a way of being in the world.

Names are important.  In the ancient world, they were even more important.  The naming ceremony for Jesus we hear about in this week’s reading was no small matter.  Circumcision connected males to the covenant community of God’s People.  The giving of a name said something significant about who a child was or would be.

The name “Jesus” or “Joshua” means “The Lord saves”.    That name, along with the names “Immanuel” (“God with us”) and “Christ”  (“anointed” or “chosen one”) sum up the mission and ministry of the child born in the manger to Mary and Joseph. 

The salvation Jesus brings to the world is more than just the promise of eternal life (though it is that).  Jesus came to bring healing, wholeness and reconciliation to a world broken by death, injustice, violence and evil.   Jesus came to reconcile both the world to God, and people to one another.   His whole ministry, from the first day he came out in Galilee proclaiming the Reign of God to the day he emerged alive from the tomb, embodied the saving love of God.  Jesus saves us --  that is, frees us from our brokenness, heals us and makes us whole --  so that we can join him in this holy work.

Those of us who name ourselves, “Christians”  (“Christ followers”) are called to participate in God’s ongoing work of reconciliation in the world.   As the old Sunday School song says,  “Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love!”   More than ever, the world around us needs Christians to live up to our highest ideals and values as followers in the Way of Jesus.   More than ever, the world needs us to live reflecting the compassion, kindness, forgiveness and mercy of our Lord.  More than ever, we need to be compelled by the love of God, which is a love big enough to include all people. 

As we begin a new year, we have our work cut out for us!    But, the promise of the Christ Child is that God is with us, and that God promises to be with us, both now and to the end of our days.

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Thanks for reading!  May God bless you in 2017! 

The Only Thing That's Real

Luke 2:1-20

This Christmas marks the 20^th anniversary of my father’s sudden death.  He died of a heart attack at the age of 61 on the Sunday before Christmas as he was getting ready to go to church with my mother.  When I got the news, I was getting ready to go and lead worship at two small, rural congregations where I was filling in for the local pastor.  I went.  I didn’t know those people well, but they surrounded me with Christ’s love and mercy and promise as a brother in Christ.  They ministered to me more than I ministered to them that morning.  They were the Church for me.  My father’s funeral was held on the afternoon of Christmas Eve in my hometown church in Wisconsin.  The women of the church served a dinner for us following the service.  I will forever be grateful for their willingness to do that on short notice, on Christmas Eve, no less.  After the dinner, we went to the early Christmas Eve candlelight service as a family. 

Throughout those surreal days, as I was overcome by the shock and grief of my father’s death, that candlelight service was the only thing that seemed real to me.  The story of the birth of the Christ anchored me.  The familiar story of Mary and Joseph, the angels and shepherds and the baby in the manger grounded me.  But it was more than just the familiarity of the carols and candlelight that gave me a solid place to stand.  It was the hope for me and for a world shattered by death contained in that story that carried me through those awful days.   It was the same hope that moved those small congregations to embrace me, even though I was, more or less, a stranger, and allowed those hometown women to set aside their Christmas plans and serve my family dinner.  It is the same hope that has carried disciples of Jesus and the children of God through thousands of years of history filled with shock and grief, sadness and sorrow, suffering and struggle. 

The Christmas story is real.  Sure, it’s been glossed over by stories of Santa, holiday sales, and a host of other traditions that seem to have little or nothing to do with the baby in the manger.  But something about this story keeps bringing people back to congregations all around the world year after year.   I believe that something is hope.  Hope is something we all desperately need.  Hope is something we all desperately crave, especially in a world filled with uncertainty and terror and tragedy and fear.   I believe that a part of all of us is looking for something to believe in; a faith that matters.  

The Christmas story is real.  But, its staying power is not ultimately grounded in a manger in Bethlehem, but on a cross and in an empty tomb in Jerusalem.  It is in Jesus’ death and resurrection some thirty years following his birth that the hope born on Christmas came to fruition.  It is in the promise that, in Christ, death will never, ever have the last word that the true meaning of Christmas can be found.   It is there that we hear the good news of great joy that the Savior, the Messiah, has come for you, for me, for the people in those small, rural congregations, for the women who served us, for my father and for all peoples everywhere who live in the shadow of death. 

Peace and Blessed Christmas,

Bishop Mike

Share the hope and promise of the Christ Child with someone this Christmas!   Thanks for reading.

The One

Matthew 11:2-11

“Are you the One, or should we wait for someone else?”  (Matthew 11:3)

For many, December is the season of waiting and preparing.   For many children, it is the long, long month of waiting before the presents arrive under the tree.  For many adults, it is the season of shopping to find just the perfect gift for everyone and prepare for parties and family gatherings.  For many, it is a month spent just wishing it all would be over.  A season of sadness, depression and struggle.  In many Christian traditions, it is the season of Advent.  A season to reflect on the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, and what his coming means to us and to the world.

Just who the child born in Bethlehem around the year 4 BCE was and is for the world has always been a matter of debate.  Even in his own time, people wondered.  Sure, he drew crowds.  He did wondrous works.  Some followed. Some did not. Some found him offensive and worked for his downfall.  As we hear in today’s lesson, even John the Baptist had his doubts.

Today, people relate to Jesus in a whole variety of ways.  Savior.  Liberator.  Teacher.  Prophet.  God in the flesh.  Historical figure.  Symbol.  Myth.  Swear word.   Theologians write and debate about who Jesus is.  Preachers and evangelists call people to follow him.  People gather to worship him, praise him and give him thanks.   Others, with John the Baptist, ask, “Are you really the One?”

I have spent my whole life, as a believer and as a leader in the Church, working out my own understanding of my relationship with Jesus and his meaning for my life and the life of the world.  It is and always has been a work in progress.   I believe that the Holy Spirit has guided me along the way through the stories of scripture, and through teachers, mentors, guides, preachers, friends and sometimes even through total strangers.   But, all along that twisting way, I keep coming back to the same thing:

Jesus is the One who fully embodies the God of steadfast and enduring love who created and sustains me and the universe.   Even more, Jesus invites me to live in that love and to live out of that love every day of my life. 

For me, Jesus’ answer to John’s servants makes that clear.  You want to know what Jesus is about?  Look at the compassion, healing, mercy, forgiveness and expansive welcome that characterized his life and ministry.  But, beyond that, look at how, in love, he died on a cross at the hands of all human hatred, brokenness, suffering, sorrow, depression, cruelty and violence.  Look at how God raised him up three days later, proving that the power of God’s steadfast and enduring love is stronger even than death.

That is the gift that I celebrate each Christmas, and on every Sunday as I gather with others to rejoice, give thanks and pray that God would use me and the Church that bears Jesus’ name to transform the world.  

Peace,

Bishop Mike.

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