Sermon - 2020-01-12
Today our gospel is short and to the point. Have no fear, our sermon is not because we have a lot to talk about. In those few words are a message that we need to hear every single day. A message that we long to hear and to know to be true. A message that we know but not one that we live out.
For the vast majority of us, we feel like John in this world. We are given a task, a purpose, a job that defines us. Something that would give us a name. Yet there comes a day in our work in which we question, should we still be doing this work. That someone comes along who is far more skilled, someone who delivers the same product but in a better way, and a person who we know, we are supposed to pass the torch so that the ministry of God may continue to a new people and have new life.
For many of us, this is where we feel stuck. Perhaps not knowing where that person will be, do we feel that the person is not yet ready to take over the work, or we are reluctant to let the work that has defined us to be passed on to the next person. We are longing and waiting for a clear message that it is time to pass it on. A message that we are longing to hear about our very self. The message that God delivers about His Own Son, “This is my beloved, my son…”
Oh, what a powerful message to hear. Not because it is delivered from the heavens in a booming voice that probably shook people like the bass at a concert, like the booming thunder that rolled through here just the other night, but rather because it was a message that the people had been longing to hear and to know it would be for them. This is a message that truly sets us free, giving us new purpose and a new calling to be within our life.
Now I realize that we did not stand on the rivers shore, that we did not hear these words from heaven. However, I see this every single day in our world, a people who are longing to be set free, a people who feel that their purpose is attached to their value, and a people who are fearful of what is to come next in their own life. A people who are longing to have a purpose and reason that is not an end in of itself but a purpose and reason that is everlasting.
For the vast majority of us, we feel like John in this world. We are given a task, a purpose, a job that defines us. Something that would give us a name. Yet there comes a day in our work in which we question, should we still be doing this work. That someone comes along who is far more skilled, someone who delivers the same product but in a better way, and a person who we know, we are supposed to pass the torch so that the ministry of God may continue to a new people and have new life.
For many of us, this is where we feel stuck. Perhaps not knowing where that person will be, do we feel that the person is not yet ready to take over the work, or we are reluctant to let the work that has defined us to be passed on to the next person. We are longing and waiting for a clear message that it is time to pass it on. A message that we are longing to hear about our very self. The message that God delivers about His Own Son, “This is my beloved, my son…”
Oh, what a powerful message to hear. Not because it is delivered from the heavens in a booming voice that probably shook people like the bass at a concert, like the booming thunder that rolled through here just the other night, but rather because it was a message that the people had been longing to hear and to know it would be for them. This is a message that truly sets us free, giving us new purpose and a new calling to be within our life.
Now I realize that we did not stand on the rivers shore, that we did not hear these words from heaven. However, I see this every single day in our world, a people who are longing to be set free, a people who feel that their purpose is attached to their value, and a people who are fearful of what is to come next in their own life. A people who are longing to have a purpose and reason that is not an end in of itself but a purpose and reason that is everlasting.
Now, this is something that we talk about every single week. At the beginning of our service when we go through confession and forgiveness. I want you to truly look at the words of forgiveness. “In the mercy of Almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for his sake, God forgives us all of our sins.” When God looks upon us, God sees His Own Son, this is what it means to be called Children of God.
So when we do hear these words from God, many of us view this as a decision that we must make, a choice of following God or continuing in the same path that we have been on. But rather, what if instead, it is an invitation to stop digging a hole into the darkness of giving us something to do but now is a chance to look up and enter into the light and life that God has been wanting us to be a part of for so long.
Today, may you hear that calling that invitation to live your life knowing that you are viewed by your Heavenly Creator as a beloved child and setting you free to be part of a mission that has no end.
So when we do hear these words from God, many of us view this as a decision that we must make, a choice of following God or continuing in the same path that we have been on. But rather, what if instead, it is an invitation to stop digging a hole into the darkness of giving us something to do but now is a chance to look up and enter into the light and life that God has been wanting us to be a part of for so long.
Today, may you hear that calling that invitation to live your life knowing that you are viewed by your Heavenly Creator as a beloved child and setting you free to be part of a mission that has no end.
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