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“Forget the Labels”
Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-42
Rev. Sandy Nuernberg
Oakland-Cambridge Presbyterian Church, Cambridge, WI
2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - 2nd
Sunday after Epiphany
January 20, 2008
Please pray with me;
Lord, you have come to us in the fulfillment of the prophets, as we read
sacred scripture, and in the flesh in your Son, Jesus Christ, the Word
Incarnate. We know you want to speak to us, and we ask for the courage now
through your Holy Spirit to listen and receive your twisting and turning our
lives toward you, that our eyes may be opened, our ears may hear of your
truth and our actions may become what your will is for us. AMEN.
My father was an engineer working
for the Wisconsin telephone company for forty-four years, traveling about the
state, before his retirement in 1983. Dad and Mom moved to Arizona and the sun,
and built a home one year later in a Del Webb retirement community. I remember
loving to visit them in the spring, and then two-three times a year after that
for many years, knowing they were a kind of ‘Chamber of Commerce’ for the area
and called Sun City West, AZ their ‘home.’ Mother rejoiced in calling it, and
rightly so for them, the ‘gateway to heaven.’
My folks lived a wonderful
retirement life in AZ for over twenty years, but in one area, Dad had such a
hard time of acceptance; answering machines and services. You see, they were
just coming of age at Dad’s retirement, and my father thought ‘personableness,’
connectedness, relationships on the phone were paramount for keeping people
happy. He was of the era of operators at keyboards (like in Lucille Ball
sit-coms!) plugging in person’s connecting conversations, politeness in getting
people’s questions answered personally whether it be from the yellow pages or
911 for emergencies.
Dad could not tolerate hearing on
the other end of the phone, “Thank you for calling; to complete this message in
English, press 1, to talk to technical services, press 2, to leave a message
with....press 3, or wait on the line for assistance....etc.” Nor could he accept
his children in WI using them and his having to leave a message! ‘Listen to me,’
he would say, ‘they are not personal’; Dad wanted to hear our voice! (well,
perhaps he had the time, then...!) He told me once, ‘his’ telephone company
would never be the same, as there was no ‘personal connection contact’ anymore.
I think of Dad often in my car cell-phone conversations, lately. Wow, have we
come a long way from those ‘80s, huh? Dad would shiver, I think, in today’s
world with text messaging, purple tooth, computer E-mail that for many, has
replaced what Dad knew as ‘land-line’ phones.
For me, in pondering today’s
readings, it seems there is a theme of personableness, connectedness,
relationships; our identity with God, God’s identity with us, and we with each
other. God’s personableness is part of our Epiphany theme; God being revealed to
us in person as the Light of the world, as Christ; the way to God! It is
this active, personal being that God is who created us, comes to us in Christ
who lives in us, and who leads and guides us through God’s Holy Spirit in us to
do God’s work for the whole world. We need no fancy labels or messages, as it is
God in the flesh with us.
Yet it seems those early
Christians are just like some of us today in not seeing, hearing or
understanding! How many names, identifiers, labels, titles do we hear in
Matthew’s text for Christ, the ‘personable’ God? I found at least eight, count
them with me; Lamb of God, ‘a man who ranks ahead of me,’ Spirit descending from
heaven like a dove, Son of God, Rabbi, Teacher, Messiah, Anointed. Yes, then as
now, there is an identity problem with Jesus, it seems. No wonder we have so
much trouble understanding who our God is today, just as those followers two
thousand years ago had; but one thing is sure. The God we have faith in, believe
in and can turn to at any time and place is the person of God in Jesus Christ,
God Incarnate; the ‘one and the same’ God who we try to be personable with every
Sunday (or more often, yes) of every year in our churches. Jesus Christ is God,
and Jesus Christ in our texts today forgets any labels other than the flesh of
God that talks, walks, sees, and challenges us often to understand who/where God
is in our lives along with understanding ourselves as God’s beloved.
Jesus wants us to hear him by
telling us, “Come and see” so that we find Him, that there is no need to guess
who He is or what He does or what His intentions are. You know what? Each and
every Sunday we are here, aren’t we, trying to get closer to God and each other
in understanding God and, importantly, God’s Word to us? After all,
John’s gospel begins similar to Genesis, “In the beginning was the Word and the
Word was with God and the Word was (my
emphasis) God.” In John’s gospel, the Word became flesh and lived among
us; the Word is the way God and who/what God creates are
related...connectedness. In the margin of my mother’s Bible in John she wrote
long ago; ‘my favorite gospel; it’s about God’s personality.’
Our adult education classes are
finishing this month with discussion of a wonderful book, “Three Cups of Tea”
(Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, Three
Cups of Tea, Penguin Books, New York, 2007) about an American former
mountaineer from Montana, Greg Mortenson, who built a school of education in
Pakistan in the early to mid-90s. He has added, in a decade, 50-something more,
all in his learning kindness, patience and personableness from the native
Pakistan people. In fact, I perceive the title of his book is from his ‘getting
personal’ with the Islam culture in northern Pakistan. Greg ‘came and saw’ from
these peace-loving people in rugged terrain, of their humanitarian spirit, their
persistence in accomplishing building bridges and schools in unheard of
circumstances. These Muslims learned of his American drive with American
dollars, determination, and mostly his humility. Greg Mortenson was making
relationships, long term, over three cups of tea; first as strangers, then
friends, finally as family!
We traversed to this book after
having a study group learning Islam religion, Muslim culture and having visitors
from the Islam Center in Madison with us. We learned of faith in God (Allah), a
religion similar but not like our own; we struggled with trust and reliability
in the working world; we admired Greg’s lack of ‘ego’ and his collaborating and
accomplishments with others to change and enhance children’s lives.
We went to Edgewood to hear three
women reflect deeply upon their faith in their new book, “The Faith Club”
(Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla
Warner, The Faith Club, Free Press-Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York,
2007) where an American Muslim, a Jew, and a Christian, all young
mothers of families, developed interfaith friendships that are envied by those
hearing them. I’m contemplating a ‘faith club’ here close-by to help us build
better relationships and get more personal in our faith with one another; asking
the tough questions, squelching stereotypes, sharing concerns spiritually,
promoting God’s deep love for one another.
It seems to me though, timing is
everything!! Methodist Bishop William Willimon says each Sunday, or the text
‘about 4:00 o’clock in the afternoon’ or temple time for worship back in ancient
days, is our attempt to ‘get personal’ with God; it is ‘when we tell God who we
are and, more importantly, when we find out who God is
(“God Gets Personal,” Pulpit Resource,
Vol. 36, No. 1, Year A, January-March, 2008, p. 15).’ The gospel’s good
news for us is forgetting the labels, titles, names, but getting personal with
God by coming to see who and where God is for us; looking for God. Jewish
theologian Martin Buber (born in Austria!)
said once, “When two people relate to each other authentically and humanly, God
is the electricity that surges between them.” Doesn’t this sound like the Holy
Spirit in action? I believe so, and where Jesus is staying is in God’s world as
one of us; seeing, hearing, acting, getting personal with us. God doesn’t label
us other than ‘God’s beloved;’ God identifies Jesus as God’s personification of
‘my Beloved,’ like us, not anyone other than God’s Son in the flesh to us. For
God so loved the world, God sent his only begotten Son, Our Lord, that the world
might be saved!
Thanks be to God. AMEN
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