Then shall the
young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry.
I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them
gladness for sorrow. [Jeremiah 31:13]
For the LORD God is both sun and
shield; he will give grace and glory; no good thing will the LORD withhold from
those who walk with integrity. O LORD of Hosts, happy are they who put their
trust in you. [Ps
84:10-12]
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ...may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation...so that, with the
eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know...the hope to which he has called
you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance...the immeasurable greatness
of his power for us who believe. [Ephesians 1:17-19a]
[A]n angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get
up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I
tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” [Matthew 2:13]
We are in an unusual space of time
having a rare opportunity to experience and celebrate a second Sunday
after Christmas. Normally we are taken over by the close-in-time celebration of
the Epiphany, and in fact, our Gospel reading takes place after the Three Kings
left for their own country by a different road.
In a dream, Joseph is warned by an angel that
Herod wants to destroy the child Jesus and so they flee to Egypt. Joseph had
many dreams of Angels guiding him as did another Joseph long before.
But
let’s take a quick look at the message of Jeremiah. The prophet spoke of the complete
hope that he trusted would come to pass, even though in his time the King and
chief citizens of Judah had been carried off to Babylon in exile, while others escaped
to Egypt. Yet God’s promise was fulfilled, the people survived the exile and returned
with their identity as a nation still intact.
The Psalmist’s message come to us from
before the Exile, yet, is a perfect Christmas message of hope – in the midst of
our own current exile from the usual “reality” in terms of this year of
pandemic, political angst, and turmoil. Will we recover our identity? As the Psalmist
says, Happy is everyone who trusts in you, O Lord. A wise person once said that faith
is something we have in varying levels or perhaps none, whereas trust is
something we choose to do, or not. While “happy” means a variety of things to
different people, the Psalmist is, I believe, referring to the spiritual
happiness of hope and trust in God. We can choose to trust, and even to work on
our level of faith.
Paul affirms the fulfillment of God’s
promise when he says that we are to have great spiritual blessings, not only
on earth but in heaven. These are the riches of [Jesus’] glorious inheritance…
God is always working in and through the circumstances of our lives. If we
allow and accept – or, trust – that God in Christ and the Spirit is always
within, our whole perspective in life can be changed. We won’t see magic but we
are inwardly strengthened and comforted when we are intentional, conscious, and
regularly attending to our relationship to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. We will
continually seek and recognize those “coincidences,” “synchronicities,” or “little
miracles” that suddenly appear. Another wise person once said, “There are no coincidences,
only minor miracles in which God chooses to remain anonymous.”
This
piece of the Gospel of Matthew gives us a reminder of the historical
significance of Egypt in the history of the Hebrew people. There were
atrocities there before the Exodus and now Herod was plotting another. Yet
amidst the pain and terror, just as the other earlier Joseph’s ability for
interpretation of dreams provided a means of redemption for him, so too, did an
angel in a dream provide the warning that saved this Joseph and his family, as
well as allowing them to return from their own exile, intact, to settle in
Nazareth.
The history of the Hebrew people is long
and interrelated, interconnected, and ultimately brings us to Christ, God’s
Eternal Purpose, to this very day and well beyond us. Hope, Trust, and Faith are
the hallmarks of our own life’s purpose and we are to pray, as Paul says, for our
hearts to be enlightened that we may know what is the hope to which we
are each called. Then we work to discover how to allow, accept, and live into our
inheritance in Christ. Yet we are forewarned that we are to listen and heed the
message of our better angels: Hark, the Herod Agents of our own time
Seek to undermine our hope, and our trust, and our faith. Yet God’s promise
will be fulfilled again and again and again, if we hope, and trust, and
have faith.
LET
US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY
Leader: ~
O God, our Sun and our Shield, guide us on the pilgrims’ way
with the eyes of our hearts enlightened, and gather us all as does a shepherd,
and defend us as Your flock.
O Lord of Grace and Glory
RESPONSE: We put our trust in You
~
O God, our Sun and our Shield, grant us a spirit of wisdom to turn the hearts
and minds of those who govern on this Earth, in this Nation, and in our
Community. Incline them to integrity in leadership
with compassion, justice, and especially the health and safety of all Your
children. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
O Lord of Grace and Glory
We
put our trust in You
~
O God, our Sun and our Shield, reveal Your presence and Your consolations
to all who are suffering in the desolate valleys of sickness, fear, and depression;
and lighten the hearts of all who give them care. We now join our hearts together to pray for
those in need… add your own petitions
O Lord of Grace and Glory
We
put our trust in You
~
O God, our Sun and our Shield, turn our mourning into
joy and our sorrow into gladness for all who now light up the high vault of heaven,
rejoicing in life everlasting. We pray especially for… add your own petitions
O Lord of Grace and Glory
We
put our trust in You
~ O God, our Sun and our
Shield, we
pause in this moment to offer You our
other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials… add your own petitions
O Lord of Grace and Glory
We put
our trust in You
~
O God, our Sun and our Shield, lavish special favor
upon the wise women and men who lead us in Your Church, as they prayerfully
bring us Your words, works, and the spiritual blessings in Christ on our
journey toward Redemption. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
O Lord of Grace and Glory
We
put our trust in You
The Celebrant adds: Most
Holy Christ, God’s Eternal Purpose, You call us to the
optimism of hope as the riches of our faith inheritance. Quicken our desire to
know and reflect the immeasurable greatness of Your Power and Presence, in
every facet of this mortal life, in all that we are and all that we do. We ask
through our Creator God, the Lord
of Hosts; and the Holy Spirit, Counselor to our Souls, who together with You
are One God, now and beyond forever. Amen.
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