Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Jan. 3, 2016

First Reading: Jeremiah 31:7-14

The Gospel story of Joseph, Mary and Jesus seeking refuge in a strange land offers us rich food for thought in our own troubled times, when refugees look for safe places around the world. Sunday’s readings offer comfort for those who put their faith in God as they face fear, poverty and oppression. Hear the prophet Jeremiah, speaking to Israel in exile. A people forced to migrate to the enemy’s capital, leaving behind the ruins of Jerusalem and the Temple, trust that God will lead them back home, turning their sorrow into gladness, their mourning into joy.

Psalm 84

In poetic themes and metaphors that closely echo Jeremiah’s verses, the Psalmist writes a hymn of trust and praise in a loving God who will protect the people and lead them back home. God will provide clear water in desolate places, protect them in the heights and serve as their shield against burning sun and raging enemy. And, home at last, they will know the joy of worshiping in God’s temple, lavished with God’s grace and glory.

Second Reading: Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a

Paul offers the people of Ephesus a promise similar to the one we heard in last week’s reading from Galatians: They – and all of us – are adopted as God’s children through Jesus, and in this way we are freely given God’s grace. Like migrants received with a loving embrace in their new land, we receive a glorious inheritance of great spiritual riches that gives us hope.

Gospel: Matthew 2:13-15,19-23

Surely we all remember the horrifying picture of the baby Syrian boy whose drowned body washed up on the Turkish coast. Now think about Joseph and Mary, terrified, running away to a foreign land to escape the threat of their own baby’s death at the hands of an angry King Herod. What parents would not go to such an extreme to protect their precious child? And what child, living through such an experience, would not forever remember to care for the widow, the orphan and the stranger?

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Dec. 27, 2015

First Reading: Isaiah 61:10-62:3

Christmas has come, joy fills the world, and the Word that was present at the beginning now brings us the light of God and dwells among us. These verses from Isaiah ring out the joy and exultation that mark the end of the people’s exile in Babylon and their return to Jerusalem. They go beyond triumphant celebration, though, to expressing hope that God will restore the city and the temple as a light of the world, a new Zion that will spring up like a garden to show God’s righteousness and justice.

Psalm 147:13-21

This is one of the last of the 150 Psalms, bringing the bible’s hymn book to a close in a triumphant climax of praise and celebration. The Psalmist echoes Isaiah’s song of triumphant celebration, thanking and praising God for restoring Jerusalem and bringing the exiles home. Using metaphors of grain and wool, warmth and healing, the Psalmist invokes God’s Word of creation and God’s Spirit wind that bring warmth and life and make Earth’s waters flow.

Second Reading: Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7

This early letter to the Christian community in Galatia, Asia Minor, reminds us that God sent Jesus, born of a woman and fully human, to make us all the children and heirs of God. In its broader context, Paul is giving advice to a community of Jewish and Gentile Christians torn between God’s free gift of grace through faith as opposed to the old law’s “discipline.” His arguments here, and in his later letter to the Romans, would ignite a great debate over justification by faith or works many centuries later in the Reformation.

Gospel: John 1:1-18

“In the beginning … ” Have you noticed that the first words of John’s Gospel are exactly the same as the first words of Genesis? “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth,” God’s Word, “Let there be light” opened up creation. The Word of God that brought the world into being now comes to us as Jesus, the light through which we can see God: The Word was with God, and now lives among us.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Jan. 4, 2015

First Reading: Jeremiah 31:7-14

We are still in Christmastide: The 12 days of Christmas continue through Epiphany, January 6, and our readings speak of thanksgiving, hope, and joy. Even Jeremiah, often called “the weeping prophet” for the dire warnings of destruction that fill his prophecy, resounds with shouts of praise and joy today. The prophet offers hope for all of God’s people, even those weeping in sorrow and pain. God will comfort all, turn our sorrow into gladness, our mourning into joy.

Psalm: Psalm 84

The Psalmist, too, sings a hymn of joy, and specifically, the joy of worshipping in the rebuilt temple whose destruction and restoration the Prophet Jeremiah had foretold. Even amid the joy of having the building restored, though, the real exultation is not bound by bricks and mortar but rests on the grace and glory found in encountering God.

Second Reading: Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a

Echoing in Ephesians the reassuring theme that we heard in last week’s reading from Galatians, Paul emphasizes that we are all adopted as God’s children through Jesus. Through this adoption we are freely given God’s grace, a glorious inheritance of great spiritual riches that gives us hope.

Gospel: Luke 2:41-52

The gospels tell us almost nothing about Jesus’s childhood and youth. This intriguing gap is filled only by this short, fascinating story that appears only in Luke’s Gospel. Twelve-year-old Jesus disappears while the family is in Jerusalem, to the horror of Joseph and Mary, who find him three days later in the Temple, impressing the elders with his intelligent discussion. The child reassures his frantic parents, declaring that his place is in his “Father’s house,” the Temple. In the next chapter, in Luke’s account of the baptism of the 30-year-old Jesus by John the Baptist in the Jordan, we will hear the voice of God announce that Jesus is God’s beloved Son.

Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12

One of the most memorable Christmas stories tells of the wise men from the East who followed a shining star to Bethlehem, the village that the prophets foretold as the birthplace of the Messiah. It might surprise us, though, to remember that Matthew doesn’t actually say there were three of them, or that they were kings. They came, following the star. They bore gifts. They knelt and paid homage to baby Jesus as if he were a king … and then they thwarted evil Herod’s plan by heading home by another road. How do we hear God’s voice? What leads us to Jesus?

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Dec. 28, 2014

First Reading: Isaiah 61:10-62:3

Isaiah’s great book of prophecy has reached its closing chapters, the people have returned from exile; even if there is plenty of hard work yet to be done, the mood is joyous and exultant. You may notice that this reading overlaps our Isaiah reading two weeks ago, repeating the appealing images of the people as a joyous bridal pair, looking forward to a new life together, and of God as a nurturing gardener. Now we celebrate the new Zion’s righteousness and praise for God as a example to all the nations.

Psalm: Psalm 147

God’s promises have been fulfilled! Praise the Lord, or in the original Hebrew, Hallelujah! One of the five Psalms of praise and triumph that complete the Psalms, the hymn book of the ancient Temple, today’s Psalm rings in harmony with our Isaiah reading, exulting in the people’s return from exile to rebuild Jerusalem with God’s help. And again we see an image of God as nurturing keeper of a divine garden, sending gentle rain for grass and crops and finest wheat, nurturing food for our flocks and herds and for us all.

Second Reading: Galatians 3:23-25;4:4-7

Note well that throughout his short letter to the Galatians, Paul is arguing in fierce conflict against some in the early church who demanded that gentile converts follow the strict Jewish law. We should be careful not to interpret these words as anti-Jewish or as suggesting that the new covenant abolishes the old. But we can all celebrate his ringing conclusion to this passage, celebrating our joy in being adopted without restriction as God’s heirs and children through Christ.

Gospel: John 1:1-18

While Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels start with the Christmas story of the birth of Jesus, and Mark’s begins with Jesus’ baptism, John’s Gospel is decidedly different. Poetic and spiritual, rather like a hymn, it sings the glory of God’s own word becoming flesh, living among us, lighting up the world. The Word that was in the beginning with God, when God said, “Let there be light,” is now, will be, and in God’s time always has been, incarnate as human flesh, Jesus, God with us.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, Jan. 5, 2014

First Reading: Jeremiah 31:7-14
Sunday is the Twelfth Day of Christmas! Wish your friends a very Merry Christmas one more time before we move on through Epiphany toward Ash Wednesday, Lent, Holy Week and Easter. In today’s first reading, we hear the Prophet Jeremiah in exile, dreaming of a beautiful future day when the people have returned to Jerusalem and are revived as a great nation, filled with prosperity; singing, dancing and feasting with joy. Centuries later, the evangelist Matthew will look back and interpret Jeremiah’s prophecies as promises of the resurrected Christ as Messiah.

Psalm: Psalm 84
Today’s Psalm echoes Jeremiah in its lyrical hope to find joy in God, urging the people to worship and pray for God’s favor, trusting that God will welcome the people home and will offer protection, favor and honor to those who trust in God.

Second Reading: Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a
Paul reflects today’s previous readings as he offers generous, expansive praise in the opening pages of his letter to the people of Ephesus, then a Greek city on what is now Turkey’s Aegean shore. Paul praises the Ephesians for their faith in Jesus and reminds them – and us – that knowing and trusting God through Jesus opens us up to hope in God and the glorious riches of God’s grace.

Gospel: Matthew 2:13-23
This is a hard reading to ponder during the joy of Christmastide; and we haven’t made it easier for you: We’ve chosen to retain the optional, horrifying verses about Herod’s slaughter of the infants in Bethlehem. This bloody event may not be historical, as neither Flavius Josephus nor other historians of the era mention it. But the terrible story, which evokes Moses and Pharaoh and the Exodus and provides Matthew a firm link between Jesus and Old Testament prophecy, also frames an important reality: Jesus’s call to bring in the Kingdom of God by delivering good news to the poor and the oppressed will not always be received with joy and approval. There is risk in following Jesus, yet we must do it all the same.

Gospel (Alternate Reading): Matthew 2:1-12
The Gospel gives us a preview of the feast of the Epiphany tomorrow, as we hear Matthew’s account of the wise men from the East (“Magi,” or literally “magicians” in the original Greek). Matthew tells the fascinating tale of astrologers summoned to the infant Messiah by a shining star; verses from the prophet Micah that seemed to foretell the future king’s birthplace in Bethlehem, and a suspicious, sneaky King Herod who plots to use the Magi to track down the baby. (You’ll notice that the Magi found the holy family in a house, not a manger … it is only Luke’s Nativity story, not Matthew’s, that places them with the shepherds, cattle and sheep.)

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, Dec. 29, 2013

First Reading: Isaiah 61:10-62:3
The Twelve Days of Christmas continue from Christmas through Epiphany. Still, it’s hard to resist the feeling that Christmas is past. We’ll return to work Monday, if we aren’t back already; soon we’ll pack the colorful lights, the Christmas gift boxes and the holiday CDs. Today’s reading, from near the end of Isaiah, finds the people getting back to work too. Returned to Jerusalem after years in exile, they rejoice in God’s righteousness as they face the hard work of rebuilding.

Psalm: Psalm 147
One of the half-dozen great songs of joy that conclude the book of Psalms, this memorable hymn begins with a mighty “Praise the Lord,” a shout of exultation that the ancient Hebrews sang as “Hallelu-Yah!” We praise the Lord who is near, who heals our hearts and binds our wounds; and we praise the mighty far-off God of all creation, Lord of stars and clouds, winds and waters, rain and the growing grass and all the animals and all of us, too. Praise the Lord!

Second Reading: Galatians 3:23-25;4:4-7
Our faith opens a world of grace and joy to us, Paul tells the Christians of Galatia, a group of Gentile churches in central Turkey. These words of Paul are said to have been strongly influential on Martin Luther, who relied on them in working out his theology of faith and works. But Paul doesn’t stop there! The beautiful, hope-giving verses that follow offer God’s Christmas gift to all humankind and claim us as adopted children and heirs of God through our sisterhood and brotherhood with Jesus.

Gospel: John 1:1-18
These spiritual and poetic words that begin the Gospel of John are so familiar that we may hear them without deep thought. But let’s stop to pay attention: Surely John had the creation story from Genesis in mind when he began with the very same words, “In the beginning.” Then he goes on to place Jesus, the Word, at the moment of creation, when God uttered the creative Word, “Let there be light.” He defines John the Baptist as the witness to Jesus’ divinity, and he echoes Paul’s point about Moses giving the Law while Jesus gives grace. Let’s reflect on this in the Christmas glow of knowing Christ as the Incarnate Word, the son of God.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012.

First Reading: Isaiah 61:10-62:3
The prophet Isaiah sings of joy and exultation in this week’s reading. The book of Isaiah, one of the major prophets, is divided into three parts that speak of the times before, during and after Israel’s exile in Babylon. These verses reflect the people’s return to Jerusalem with joy and hope that God will restore the city and the temple. As we celebrate the Incarnation now in Christmastide, we too pray that God’s righteousness and justice will spring up like a garden in the world.

Psalm 147:13-21
Here is one of the final group of songs that ends the book of Psalms with triumphant praise. Echoing the reading from Isaiah, it sings of gratitude for God’s protection over Jerusalem and its temple, and acknowledges God’s reign over all humankind. As we pray in this chilly winter season, we can appreciate the power of God’s word to melt the snow and frost, of God’s spirit to make the waters flow.

Second Reading: Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7
Paul’s letter to the people of Galatia, in what is now Turkey, gives us a glimpse of the early church when Christianity and Judaism were separating. Paul has heard that other evangelists came to Galatia after him and told its Gentile converts that they must follow Jewish law in order to be Christian. Paul reassures the Galatians that God’s spirit comes to them – as it comes to all Christians – directly through Jesus and gives us all we need to grow into spiritual adulthood.

Gospel: John 1:1-18
The words that open John’s Gospel are so familiar that we may feel we know them, but it takes thought to discern their meaning. The book begins with the same words that begin the Bible in Genesis: “In the beginning.” This is no coincidence. John wants us to know that the same Word of God that brought the world into being now comes as Jesus to bring us the light through which we can see God. Fully human now, but ever and always fully divine, the Word was with God, and now lives among us. And, the verses tell us, John the Baptist was sent ahead as witness to tell the world.