Second Sunday of Christmas
January 3, 2010
Text: John 1:10-18
To welcome in the New Year can be either a simple exercise or a complex one. This past Thursday night, some people went to bed at their normal bedtime, as they would on any Thursday night. Getting up Friday morning, they had their morning coffee and maybe the usual breakfast they would have on any weekday. After breakfast they may have put up a new calendar on the kitchen wall or in the den. Since it was the first of the month and some bills had to be paid, the only unusual thing was that one had to write 2010 instead of 2009 for the date. Later on in the day company came to visit, a meal of sauerkraut was enjoyed and there was some watching of football or other sports on TV. Other than that, the welcoming in of 2010 did not require too much preparation or attention. Without the sauerkraut, the calendar change and that you had a day off of work, last Friday would just have been another Friday.
Just three days into 2010, much is the same as it was in 2009. The church is here, just as you knew it in 2009. Tomorrow your place of employment will be there, as will the schools, the banks, the stores, the malls, the restaurants, and the borough of Carlisle and the surrounding townships. One could generalize and say that the only thing different today from last Sunday is that our church envelope and bulletin indicate that this is the year we number 2010.
However, the transition from one year to the next is not always a simple one. The New Year can turn out to be a complex one. I attended a Christmas party last Wednesday evening at a friend’s house. In the course of the evening, she told me that a couple of weeks ago, she was diagnosed as having acute leukemia. The New Year greets her with admittance to Hershey Medical Center for chemotherapy treatments. Consider the names we added to the prayer list this morning. 2010 will not be a simple transition for many people. There are members of our congregation who have surgeries scheduled for this month. Some families will be facing 2010 without their loved ones who died in this past year. The economy, unemployment, the fear of down-sizing, the shaky real estate market, the uncertainty of health care reform, the volatility of our investments all make for a complex, anxious and uncertain transition into 2010. 2010 can be a complex and anxious year for those contemplating a career change, a transfer out of state, the move to independent living or to a assisted living, or a major change in one’s home life – the moving in of a parent, the moving out of an adult child, or the possibility of divorce. Sometimes a New Year can be a simple transition; other times it can be terrifyingly complex.
The transition into 2010 for our congregation will be a complex one. In the past number of years we simply changed the date on the bulletins and kept doing things as before. 2010 is going to present First Lutheran of Carlisle with some new challenges we have not faced before.
On January 11, a mailing will go out to each family unit on the mailing list. The mailing will include the complete consultation report as the council has received it from the Alban Institute. This report was written by Dan Hotchkiss who led a retreat of congregational leaders on October 31. There is a cover letter from me in the mailing that explains the procedure and invites your response to the report.
In 2010, our congregation will be involved in a “holy conversation.” The purpose of the conversation is that all members of the congregation will contribute in answering the question, “What is God calling our congregation to be and to do in 2010 and in the years to come?”
To put it bluntly, we no longer have the luxury of just turning the page on the calendar and transitioning into another year. First Lutheran Church, like many of our neighboring churches, faces some complex and terrifying challenges as we enter 2010 and the years following. We need each and every member’s unbiased participation. I encourage you to read carefully the mailing you will receive and be an active participant in the process.
As we begin 2010, whether as individuals, family members or church members we cannot possibly know what the year will bring us. Who, what, or where we will be at this time next year remains to be seen. There isn’t much we can be sure of right now – about our health, our investments, our employment, our relationships, and about our church.
However, through it all, the one thing that we can be sure of will be God’s promise that He lives with us in Jesus Christ. Our text from the Gospel reading from St. John this morning gives us this assurance. “The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” This can be our confession of faith as we head into 2010.
The future is challenging and unpredictable. Its uncertainty frightens us. We try to prepare, but we sometimes do not have the power over all things. There are some things we just can’t do for ourselves. God’s presence in Jesus, however, gives us two things we need the most – His truth and grace.
The truth – be it about our individual lives or about our church is something we don’t want to be revealed at times. We rather deny it than expose it. But the truth revealed by Jesus is what sets us free. God knows the truth about us, both the good, and the bad. Yet, God still chooses to send His only Son, Jesus that through Him God will love the world with complete forgiveness and eternal life.
Because of the truth, God’s grace, His unconditional love, is what we need. God’s grace is the forgiveness of our past. God’s grace is the power to have new life in the present, and God’s grace opens all the possibilities of who we can be in the future.
Truth and grace, who we are, and who we can be, these are promises we have from God as we enter in 2010. God became flesh in Christ that His divine presence can be with us no matter what challenges and opportunities come our way as individuals or as a congregation. Though our transition into 2010 will be complex and threatening, let us trust in our confession of faith that in Jesus God lives with us, full of all the grace and truth we for ever need.