Sermon Reflections and More!
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The First Sunday of Christmas December 27, 2015

This Weekend's Readings (click each reading to view the passage)

1 Samuel 2:18-20,26; Psalm 148; Colossians 3:12-17; Luke 2:41-52

Pr. Steve's Sermon: In Between Times

Children's Sermon: Symbols of Jesus

Pr. Steve's Christmas Eve Sermon: Syria and the Census

Pr. Christine's Christmas Day Sermon: A Christmas Play

Christmas Eve Youth Music: There Was a Little Baby

Christmas Cantata - 2015

Christmas Pageant 2015 - 'Twas the Light Before Christmas

Sermon Notes from Pastor Steve...

The days between Christmas Day and New Years Day always seem like an "in between" time to me. There's nothing much going. Or at least, I hope there's nothing much going on so I can catch up on sleep and relax a little bit.

You may feel a lot like that, too. Many of us are on vacation. And even if we are at work, so few people are around or even paying attention to email, that we might actually be able to get caught up on projects we couldn't get around to!

So we need "in between" times - times that aren't consumed by the hyper activity that surrounds days like Christmas and New Year's Eve.

Even the appointed Gospel reading for this first Sunday during the Christmas season seems like an "in between" time. Jesus is no longer a baby, but not yet an adult. In fact, apart from the birth narratives, this is the only story in any of the Gospels about anything from Jesus' childhood.

And while the story of parents losing track of where their child is can be a scary story - particularly for those who have been in situations like this - it's an utterly "normal" story, like we might hear today. There are no angelic pronouncements; no miracles; and no heavenly voices.

Instead, Luke relates a very "in between" story that happens after the big festivities of the Passover have ended. Everybody is heading home, and since people traveled in big groups for safety, Mary and Joseph assume that Jesus is hanging out with his buddies somewhere in the group.

When they find this isn't the case, they carefully retrace their steps, finally ending back in the Temple in Jerusalem, where they find Jesus sitting around asking questions of the teachers in the Temple. Exasperated, Mary asks Jesus what could have compelled him to do this. And Jesus, showing himself to be fully human and fully 12, rolls his eyes at his dumb parents, and asks, "Duh, why didn't you know I was here?"

And with that, they all head back home, and we don't hear anything more about Jesus for almost 20 years.

In fact, all the years between Jesus' birth and his baptism by John at about 30 years of age, seem like "in between" years. Nothing much is reported about them, and even this story seems like a routine event in between big, cosmic changes.

So why did Luke even bother to include it? Some scholars think he wanted to make a point of Jesus' humanity - even by acting fully like a 12 year old. Some scholars think Luke included it to highlight Jesus' obedience to his parents - since he goes home with them and continues to be obedient to them, following that very important commandment to honor father and mother! And some scholars think that Luke wanted to use this story to show Jesus' commitment to God and God's word by his devotion to study and spiritual growth.

All of those things are possible. But I think there's also a message here about living and experiencing God in the "in between" times. For in fact, even for Mary and Joseph, the big "cosmic events" were few and far between. Most of their lives, like most of ours, often feel like "in between" times.

And yet, Jesus was living and growing in the midst of those "in between" times. And even if nothing miraculous seemed to be happening, God was at work, and calling Mary and Joseph and the whole world, into a deeper and more meaningful relationship with him.

So what does this story tell us about living and experiencing God in those "in between" times? It seems to me that, as utterly common and ordinary as some of the of the actions of Mary and Joseph were, they show us that living faithfully in the "in between" times is often about:

Keeping our eyes open and looking diligently for what God is doing in our lives - Mary and Joseph didn't just figure, "hey, Jesus will turn up eventually"; they looked around, they retraced their steps, and they didn't give up ... (sometimes, we're tempted to sit back and wait for God to show up in our lives, or show us a great sign that leads us to what we're supposed to be doing, and sometimes that happens. But in the "in between" times, we're often being called to keep our eyes open and look for the seemingly ordinary clues...)

Wrestling with what God is doing, even and especially when we can't quite figure it out - in a phrase that's repeated in today's Gospel reading from the birth story, "Mary treasured all these things in her heart." It's the same word that's used when we're told that Mary "treasured" the things that shepherds told her. But that word doesn't mean "stash it away as a beautiful memory, like a treasured Christmas tree ornament". It really means to "keep it with concern". That is, to hold on to something that you'd don't fully grasp so that you can continue to wrestle with it, re-examine it, and re-interpret it as you learn more. Faith, in the "in between" times, isn't about figuring it all out, but continuing to wrestle with what we're experienced and are continuing to experience in God's world around us ...

Going about our everyday "in between" lives - at the end of the story, there is no dramatic finale. Mary, Joseph and Jesus simply return home and go about their everyday lives. And it was in the context of doing what they did day in and day out that "Jesus increased in wisdom and years, and in divine and human favor." That is, God was working out his plan through people's everyday, "in between" lives, and that's often the way it is in our lives, too...

So today, we're in the midst of "in between" times. But often, that's exactly where God needs us to be. For God is always working in our lives, and calling us to be part of what he's doing. And even though being part of God's plan sometimes happens at unique and dramatic moments in our lives, most of the time, God is working in us and with us and through us precisely during those "in between" times.

Amen.