This is my sermon from last Sunday,January 8, 2012. It was preached at Glebe-St. James United Church in Ottawa and is based on Genesis 1: 1-5, Mark 1: 4-11, and Acts 19: 1-7. I was inspired by a chapter in Joan Chittister's book, "Welcome to the Wisdom of the World."
by Rev. Dr. Christine Johnson
It’s an arbitrary distinction, I know,
but we have just moved from one year into the next.
Yes, it’s just one more sunrise and one more sunset,
but these time distinctions are part of our culture.
So, we’ve left 2011 and entered into 2012.
To further mark this occasion, we say Happy New Year!
So, as arbitrary as it may be, we feel that we’re leaving something behind
and starting something new.
This marker, this new year, this new date, gives us an opportunity for reflection.
It opens us up to our dreaming centre, our goal making, list making propensities.
Some of us call these resolutions, and some of us call these a nuisance.
Why should I reflect? you might quite rightly ask.
I’m okay the way I am, and I’m okay with other people the way they are.
And yet, are we?
When we look around our neighbourhoods, is everything all hunky-dory?
When we look around our world, is everything okay?
As Christians, we find it hard to be complacent with the way things are.
Our faith teaches us about the power of resurrection, the power of a new creation.
We hear this over and over again in our scripture.
Genesis 1 – God speaks the world into existence. Out of chaos comes God’s spirit creating day and night, light and dark. A new creation.
Acts 19 – Paul finds followers of John the Baptist. But as followers of John he reminds them of John’s words. “Remember,” he says, “when John told you about that one of whom he would not be worthy to tie even his sandals.” These followers of John knew about repentance but they didn’t know about the ministry of Jesus. And so, through baptism, Paul initiates them into the Jesus way. And in the process the Holy Spirit comes upon them and empowers them to speak in tongues, and to prophesize. A new creation, a new beginning.
Mark 1 – Jesus leaves his family and hometown and begins a new stage of his life. His baptism marks the beginning of his ministry. As a sign of the specialness of this sacrament, the Holy Spirit comes upon him in the shape of a dove, and he hears this affirmation from God – “You are my son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” A new creation, a new beginning, a day of affirmation and confirmation.
So, we too, are called to take these opportunities
to reflect on what it means for us to experience a new year, a new creation.
As I look out upon this congregation,
I am inspired by those persons who are healthy in their soul and spirit.
They give me food for the journey, and support along the way.
But they are not the ones who trouble me, and for whom I pray without ceasing.
I also see unhappy people who don’t know how to be happy.
I see uncertain people who feel there’s something more, but are not sure what that is.
I see confused people, who are wrestling with old demons.
I see people who are not at peace with their own gifts
and wish they were stronger, faster, higher.
I see people who thirst for righteousness, but don’t know how to satisfy that thirst
and so live in a conflicted, torturous state of being.
Jesus came, not for the ones who are well,
but for the lost sheep, the coin stuck behind the couch,
for the son who spends his inheritance and doesn’t know the way home.
Joan Chittister talks about this reality in a book called
“Welcome to the Wisdom of the World.”
She describes the brightest and most talented persons who are unhappy
and dissatisfied with life.
Her comment on this state of being goes like this,
“Failing to become what we want to be,
we refuse to be the best that we are.”(p. 80)
When we’re in the middle of this situation, there are a variety of responses.
Some of us wait to be rescued. And when that doesn’t happen, we’re resentful.
Some of us pretend to be more than we are. It’s called the Great Imposter syndrome.
So when we take on more than we can handle,
it’s like being on the high wire without a net.
Some of us are afraid we’ll be found out.
If we admit to our inadequacies, we think we’ll be judged.
But none of these strategies work, according to Joan Chittister,
for we cannot be what we are not.
She suggests, “We can only become the whole of what we are, and learn to accept it,
and learn to enjoy being it.”
So this is her wisdom on the matter:
Since life is not totally one-dimensional, if one aspect of life fails to work for us,
we can “take all of who we are and become what we must some other way.”
Some other way. Some other way.
A new creation, a new beginning, a day of affirmation and confirmation.
So maybe you don’t have the perfect job, with the highest salary,
but perhaps you could use your gifts and talents
to make a difference in the life of one person down at Centre 507.
So maybe you’re bored with being a retired person,
and you didn’t reach all your work goals,
but perhaps it’s time to learn a new language or a new skill.
So maybe you’re tired of being tired, and so you walk more,
dance more and raise your energy levels. Maybe you try a new food every week.
So maybe you’re torn apart by past abuse, or sins of omission,
and you buy a book and you start writing your deepest darkest secrets in it,
and you face your fear rather than taking it out on others.
I could go on and on.
Life is not one-dimensional.
When we’re not totally happy with where we are or what we’re doing,
(and that’s completely natural),
find some other way to be the person you truly believe yourself to be.
That’s the power of a marker called a New Year.
By simply stopping and taking stock,
we can go about life differently.
It’s reaching a fork in the road, and going by a different way.
As Genesis teaches us, God speaks the world into being.
And we too, are a new creation, laying once in our parent’s arms,
blossoming in God’s good earth.
As Christians, we are never stuck in the tomb of our despair.
God rolls the stone away so that the eighth day can be born.
Jesus suffers for the sake of the truth, but resurrection forms him into a new creation.
This is the glory of being a faithful and faith-filled person.
There’s always “some other way”
that can help us touch the healing power of God’s renewing spirit.
With this as our resolution and nuisance,
