FIRST SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS DAY Year A January 1, 2017

   

Isaiah 63:7-9  •  Psalm 148  •  Hebrews 2:10-18  •  Matthew 2:13-23

Our readings begin with praise, but as we end 2016 and begin a new year, are many of us really feeling this inner joy about the goodness of life?  It has been a hard year of strong and varied opinions.  The world seems divided into so many factions and each is adamant in their views.

Strange as it may seem, though our reading sing of God’s praise, that ancient world was also divided into many factions and danger was on every corner. 

We continue the Christmas story and read about Herod’s reaction to the birth of Christ and his inability to locate and kill Jesus meant the death of all the babies in that area under 2 years.  Can you imagine the panic?  Fortunately for Jesus, the Angel had warned Joseph in a dream and they were able to escape into Egypt, but what of those who had no such warning?

It seems that even in our Advent readings there were these two sides of the story; God doing something amazing and worth singing praises about, and the darkness of the circumstances around.  The moral to the story is that even though we see all this crazy, and horrible stuff around, God is still doing things. But where ?

Isaiah 63:9 “in all their distress. It was no messenger or angel but his presence that saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.”

We are always on the lookout for a messenger or an angel.  Come on, admit it, how many of you have clicked on those facebook links that randomly spit out your phrase for 2017, or your personal colour, or the link that defines you as an “Earth Angel”? 

The one about the Earth Angel basically says that an Earth Angel is distressed by the state of the world…. Hmmm… well is anyone not distressed?  Hmmm fancy that… now we all think we are Earth Angels, but we are still searching for the messenger and we click on the next link….

I used to often attend a Bible Vacation school at this time of year - Capernwray conventions, with international speakers presenting the Good News that “Christ in you is the hope of Glory” – And actually, there is the key!!!  But more on that later….  I remember also, going home and hearing a friend say, “if only we could have these speakers all the time”. 

There is a major flaw in this way of thinking.  If we are looking for a “messenger” or “angel”, we will miss what is right in front of us.  We miss the truth because we forget that God has not sent a “messenger” and neither has he sent an “angel”.  God saves us by HIS presence.  And His presence is always with us.

Mind you, Angels and messengers are still used by God, but they come to us “Suddenly”.  (not where or when we expect).

Matthew 2:19,20  “When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child's life are dead."

When we are looking for some “special” messenger or angel, we forget that God’s presence is always with us and he speaks through the ordinary and everyday.  It could be the homeless man or the intellectually impaired lady, the very simple young girl or even a child. 

It doesn’t feel very special at the moment.  It is just the turn over of another year with dreams unfulfilled, frustrations compounded and disappointments abounding, not to mention the grief that seems relentless.

Like in the time of Jacob, where the whole people went into slavery in Egypt, Jesus was sent into Egypt, and then called out. But still there was danger.  There is rescue, but still there is darkness. 

This is the story of our life and of our faith.  There is no fancy answer with mystical trappings of glowing Angels and messengers with auras of light, but the reality of the Gospel, co-incidentally is “Christ in you, the hope of glory”…..  And it is worth singing praise about.

We forget that by our Baptism we are alive in Christ and Christ is in us.  He is always in us and with us, and in our darkness his presence is continuing to save us.  I often think we would do well to learn from the Sanskrit practise of namaste or namaskar.  This is where each person is greeted with a bow to acknowledge the divine within them.

My prayer for myself and for us all for 2017, is that our eyes can be opened to see God’s presence amidst all that we experience, and that we can see and understand this saving Presence of God.