The Seventh Sunday after Epiphany

The Ven. Richard I. Cluett

The scriptures this morning seem to have a couple gotchas in them. In Leviticus, which is pretty much a mirror and unpacking of the Ten Commandments, we hear the injunction, the commandment, “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy”. And if that is not enough to bring us up short on a Sunday morning, we also hear Jesus say in his Sermon on the Mount, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

The question for this day for each of us and for the church is “How are you doing on that perfection and holiness thing? How is it going for you? Feel like you are on top of it?”

Or do you prefer to pretty much ignore it, because in your heart of hearts you know, “Its just not gonna happen. No way can I live up to that. No way. So thank you very much, I think I will just get on with my day, get on with my life, doing the best I can day-by-day.”

Let me see if I can help a bit here. I think most of us tend to hear these words from a punitive God, pointing his finger at us and saying, “You shall be holy, you shall be perfect!” We hear it as an imperative, as a command with a built in failure waiting for us.

We know that we are not going to be a Mother Theresa, or a Desmond Tutu, or a Billy Graham, or any of the giants in the faith. Although, truth be told, none of them reached full perfection in God’s holiness either.

One of my icons of holiness has been Mark Dyer, our former bishop. He has lived as intentionally close to God and God’s way as any living being that I have known. And I have loved him for it. But because I lived with him and worked him, I know that he would fail any perfection test. He is a living, believing, doing the best I know how, mortal human being with personal flaws and blindness just like all the rest of us, including Mother Theresa and all the holy band of holy saints.

Even St. Paul said in Philippians 3 writing about this call, “¹Beloved, I do not reckon to have got hold of it yet; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”

And that is living in the holiness and perfection that we know as God, and which has been shown to us in Jesus who calls us.

How about if we hear these words as St. Paul did, “If you try to love your God with your whole heart and soul and mind and strength and your neighbor and yourself, you will be living a Godly life, you will be living in the reign of God, the kingdom right here, right now. And you shall be holy in the way your Lord God is holy. And you shall be working toward being perfect in the way your heavenly father is perfect.”

And you shall be witnessing to the world that it is God’s world, and God is present and available in it to all God’s people no matter who they are or where they are or who they have been or where they have been. This is God’s world and they, too, can live in God’s holiness and be nurtured in God’s way.

See, this is about simple things, about how we live daily, how we align our lives with God’s way daily, how we witness in God’s world to God’s world day in and day out. Here is an example of living that way from social media about Valentine’s Day.

The man brought the three cards, the three boxes of candy, and the three sets of flowers up to the cashier for checkout. The cashier rolled her eyes at him as she looked at his wedding band and mumbled..."these guys make me sick." This caused everyone else to look at the man funny too. So the man responded..."one set is for my mom because my dad passed away and he used to do this for my mom...and he taught me how to give love. The next set is for my wife because I love her and she teaches me how to receive and treasure love. And the last set is for my daughter...because it's up to me to teach her how she should be treated and who she should give her love to. Have a blessed day."

A little slice of daily life. A little window into God’s kingdom in the here and now. A little peek at God’s holiness alive and walking around and being true to himself and to God’s self. Being willing to stand up, speak up, and witness in just a little thing to the way God calls us to live.

God knows us. God knows true perfection is not an option. It’s not going to happen. Pure holiness is beyond almost all of us mortals. And yet God still loves us and seeks us. Jesus still loves us and calls us. The world still needs us and our love.

What is happening here is that we are being asked to take stock of our lives, not always an easy thing. We are being invited to go deep, looking in, under, around and through each aspect of our lives, asking honest questions about how we live and care for ourselves and those we love and those we live with, as we exercise our gifts and powers, as we share our love.

God does not stop the process of creating and redeeming us. The Holy Spirit is ever at work in a process some call sanctification, others call it, formation. The Spirit’s task is to unify, integrate, heal, strengthen, equip, renew us.  And that’s the work God asks us to actively take on.

And in the words of author, Anne Lamott, God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – God is militantly and maternally on our side. Calling us, urging us, leading us, encouraging us, and empowering us to live in God’s way, to live in God’s reign here and now, to work toward being the person God made us to be, perfect in God’s sight, and to be signs of God’s love to a hurting world, to bring a little holiness wherever we go; and that we can certainly do.

Epiphany 6A

The Cathedral Church of the Nativity Sermon: Epiphany 6A February 16, 2014 The Very Rev. Anthony R. Pompa Matthew 5:21-37 I know a man who on one occasion having visited with him in his home, I left with an overwhelming sense that I had just been graced by pure goodness. There was nothing out of the ordinary about this visit, in fact just knowing and being known by this particular person, one experiences this goodness absolutely in the ordinary. Onc I have come to believe that this sense of goodness comes not out of this persons following a law or rule where he knows how to behave or not behave because of what is dictated as right or wrong, but rather this pure goodness flows it seems from his very being; as if his very being has taken on the meaning of goodness and grace and it shines like the light of day on any who are fortunate enough to stand in that light---stand in it and you might even find yourself stronger, less afraid, even warmed at heart. One could say he is graceful; that is full of grace. Our gospel lesson for today comes from a section of the Sermon on that Mount that traditionally has been called “Antitheses,” because Jesus’ teaching in reference to Mosaic law is presented in the following pattern: First, Jesus says, “you have heard that it was said ”; then Jesus follows with his own magisterial statement, “but I say to you”. Though scholars have labeled this section of Jesus teaching as “antithesis” it is important to remember the earlier claim by Jesus that he has come to “fulfill” not “replace” the law. As Jesus makes reference to the law, for the listener being invited to participate in the Kingdom he enfleshes, one must hear not a new rule or directive to follow or obey for behaviors sake, but an invitation to be move to a higher principle in heart, mind, and soul. In other words, what Jesus offers is not a new Law to follow, but a new life to be formed and found. A life so well practiced that one’s very being shines light, regardless of any circumstance that may challenge. The Antithesis begin when Jesus says; “You have heard that it was said to those in ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment.” Jesus knows that may who are listening will behave in such a say as to not kill. But a heart formed in the Kingdom will beat in knowledge that even relationships can be killed by anger, resentment, jealousy and sin. If your heart is in such a place you best quickly get on with reconciling it because it is deadly to the heart. Or as author Anne Lamott wrote,” the inability to forgive is like taking rat poison and expecting the rat to die.” The greater Kingdom’s heart calling is to love others as we would have them love us, even when wronged. The commandment is given not just so that we won’t kill each other, but so that our “life position” who will be to seek reconciliation. Jesus continues; “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” And “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no.’” Jesus teaches that the Kingdom heart goes beyond the obeying of law to refrain from an act of adultery or from swearing falsely; to a higher plane that considers beating beyond objectifying another human being; rising above the temptation to mislead or harm others with words. At the end of the day, a new Kingdom life found oozes integrity, goodness, honesty, fidelity, reliability, that no oath even need be taken. Those who see the Kingdom heart will be warmed by the light of integrity, strengthened by it, be a little less afraid, warmed by the certainty of yes to the good, and no to other. Jesus teaching today invites us to see the “fulfilling of law” as an invitation to a new life “full of grace”. A life that goes beyond an understanding of following a code of do’s and don’t’s of behaviors to a life whose Being IS Grace itself. Like a ballerina who practices her entire life and the do’s and don’ts of her technique get lost in thought and memory as the passion of her heart explodes into a movement that leaves her audience in tears! Today we welcome Costas Michael Vasilliadis into the household of Christ’s Church. By the waters of baptism we pray he be invited into a Kingdom’s heart. A heart and life filled with integrity, goodness, honesty, and fidelity, faithfulness. And by God’s grace, may he be someone whose heart full of Christ, may shine this grace ordinarily or extraordinarily, where others my find themselves strengthened by it, be a little less afraid because they know him, warmed by him. Amen.

Epiphany 5A

February 9, 2014 The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany Dn. Rodney Conn As Rick mentioned last week, I was ordained right hear on these steps six years ago. I gave my first sermon as an ordained minister the following Sunday. During that sermon I quoted from a Grateful Dead song – “What a long, strange trip it’s been.” I some ways I naively thought that the trip was over. Boy was I wrong. At Grace Allentown I was involved in the food bank that operated out of the basement of the church feeding nearly 1000 people a month. By June of that year I had been assigned as Bp. Jack’s chaplain that started a travelogue around the diocese for the next four years. I had the opportunity to see parishes large and small. From St. Stephen’s Pro-Cathedral and this Cathedral packed to a chapel sized church where those vested nearly outnumbered those in the pews. All the time trying to live out the ministry of a deacon by example in the liturgy – proclaiming the Gospel; attending at the Altar; sending people out into the world to do God’s will. And all this time, I was trying to determine what God was telling the deacons of this diocese to do for this ministry. It was during that time that I thought that the Cathedral was the most obvious place to have a deacon. If the diocese wanted more deacons, why wasn’t there one there? When Fr. Malloy decided he could no longer be a Rector at Grace and a Professor of Liturgy at General Seminary, the transition time allowed me the time to examine my own ministry and where or what I should do. And the rest, as they say, is history. So now I’m here. Each deacon is different, some will say quite different but in another context, and each ministry is different. Who the deacon is; what their background is; what they do to support themselves and family influence that difference. In the secular world I have been in the chemical industry for 27 years as a quality control technician, a research chemist and now as director of environmental, health and safety at a small chemical company in Easton, soon to be Lower Macungie. Anyone who has a scientist in the life knows there’s an element of obsessive-compulsive disorder. It comes with the territory being able to conduct experiments in orderly manner, to arrange and analyze the data, to draw conclusions about what you are trying to discover. I’m no different, though our household problem is that Sarabel and I are both chemists. My OCD is not her OCD – thus the fun. So I sat down with the Scripture readings, pencil and paper ready to analyze, quantify, and place in an orderly fashion thank you very much. To continue my long, strange trip. I always say that God has a great sense of humor. And She showed that in today’s Gospel reading. Salt becoming not-salt; cities that can’t be hid on top of the hill; people hiding lamps under bushel baskets; and Jesus telling us he’s not here to change anything but to fulfill something that seems to be broken when reading the Gospels. That’s when I started praying for lots of snow today. But I suspect I’m not alone in trying to line all this up and make sense of it. These verses are taken out of the larger Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has a crowd and he’s beginning his ministry of teaching to as many people as he can reach. In Matthew we have just heard the Beatitudes – blessed are the poor, those who mourn, the meek, those that hunger and thirst, the merciful, the pure of heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted. Jesus goes on and so do we… Salt – well that’s in my proverbial wheelhouse. As a chemist I know that salt is made up of one atom of sodium and one of chlorine. Each is dangerous on its own. Sodium metal will react with water with enough violence to cause a fire and possibly an explosion. Chlorine gas was used in the First World War in the trenches causes death and suffering for those that survived. Yet combined together they make salt vital to human life. The bond between the two is called a covalent bond in chemistry and is the strongest bond in nature. But place salt in water and it readily dissolves and the atoms separate from each other readily to allow it to support life. In the context of Jesus’ time, salt sustained life and was even used to pay Roman troops. The root of salary comes from salt. The people of this time would not have appreciated the deeper mystery of the chemical nature of salt, but we can with further knowledge gained over the centuries. This encourages me that God continues to speak to us through these Words written so long ago. Salt could lose its saltiness if broken into its individual components becoming violent and dangerous. So if we lose our saltiness, we degrade to the violent and dangerous and become a danger to the goodness of God. And light – important to light the way, to show where safety lies, to light the good things of life. Jesus tells us not to be afraid of showing the light, not bragging, but showing what the life of a Christian is truly like. Jesus tells us to not lose our life-giving nature, to the hard things of caring for the poor, those who mourn, the meek, those that hunger and thirst, the merciful, the pure of heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted. And we shouldn’t hide it. It has struck me the number of people that I have come into contact with that has commented on our ministries, our steadfastness to the community past and present. We keep at it whether it is in partnership with New Bethany, housing homeless during the coldest months of the year, providing space for ShareCare Faith in Action, the Thrift Shop, Homework Club and others. We have not lost our saltiness and we don’t hide our light. But then the Lectionary adds on this bit about Jesus and the Law. Jesus says that he didn’t come to cause change, but rather to complete; not to abolish, but to fulfill; not to destroy but to build up, build on to. And what is the root of the Law according to Jesus? That answer doesn’t come until Matthew Chapter 22. So be here on October 26 to find out. But Jesus is simply setting the stage at this point. Early in his ministry he is planting seeds in the hearts and minds of the faithful to come and the hard-hearted that will conspire against him. In all this Jesus has set himself up to challenge the authority of the day. It has always been dangerous to do so. Repressive authoritarian regimes will take deadly action to silence those challengers. Even in free democracies, a challenge, a question can result in great discomfort. Congress recently passed a trimmed down 5-year Farm Bill that has an average budgetary figure of $191 billion compared to the Department of Defense budget of $673 billion, about 3 ½ times larger. When the Pentagon decided to mothball the aircraft carrier USS George Washington to reduce spending as was asked of it by Congress, the same Congress pressured the White House to cancel the plan and proceed with the mid-life refurbishment needed for a nuclear vessel. This was because several Congressional districts had the navy yards used for refurbishment and not building. You see the plan was to get rid of older ships and simply replace them with the newer Ford-class vessels for $13 billion a ship. So we’re going to build three more and refurbish the older ones now. The current argument over the Affordable Care Act is the recent report of the Congressional Budget Office. The CBO estimates that 2.3 million fewer workers will be in the labor force in 2021 as a result of the benefits of the ACA. The interpretation of the who/what/why will spill you into a massive argument concerning socialism versus free market societies; big versus small government; the 1% versus the 99. But I think Jesus is calling us to consider the hard questions. What does it mean to be a Christian today? How do we not lose our saltiness? Shed light in the darkness? To help Jesus fulfill the Law?

Sunday ~ January 26, 2014

Sunday ~ January 26, 2014

The Cathedral Church of the Nativity
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Michelle Moyer
Epiphany 3 Year A; Mt 4:12-23

There is a story about a minister who noticed a home in his neighborhood that kept Christmas lights on well after Christmas and Epiphany.  Each time he drove by this home he would grumble and complain to his wife that Christmas was over and it was time for this family to take down the lights.  All through January and into February the multicolored lights flashed and blinked and he became more and more irritated.  Until one day in the middle of March he noticed a sign outside the house that explained it all.  In the front yard was a sign that said – Welcome home Jimmy.  The family had a son who was returning from war and in anticipation of his return; they had intentionally left the lights up.  They wanted their home to be a beacon of light in the dark neighborhood when he returned and to joyfully announce to their friends and neighbors the gift that their son was home at last. (illustration adapted from Rev. Robert Russell, Southeast Christian Church)  

The readings on this third Sunday of Epiphany send a similar message.  In today’s gospel, we hear Jesus proclaim “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  This is not an unfamiliar verse.  John the Baptist issued this exact same command to the crowds who came into the wilderness to see him and now he is in prison.  But the news of John’s arrest causes Jesus to retreat, regroup and move from Nazareth to a new town, Capernaum, which is located in the region of Naphtali.  Moving to Capernaum is now the fulfillment of the sixth prophecy already presented in these four short chapters.  Matthew has established for the reader that Jesus is without a doubt the one for whom the Jews have been waiting and so he points to each prophecy that Jesus has fulfilled. 

Capernaum was located on the Sea of Galilee.  It was a relatively small agricultural and fishing village but still cosmopolitan.  It had people coming and going through the region bringing trade and foreign cultures.  Capernaum was once a predominantly Jewish town until it was conquered by the Assyrians.  With that invasion came an influx of gentiles.  This influx of different gentile cultures would continue as the region experienced successive conquests with the Romans being the dominant power during Jesus’ life.   And so to the Jews, they were living in a region of darkness which had been repeatedly conquered by outside forces and infiltrated by new gentile cultures as they waited for a deliverer- the Messiah.  The Messiah, who would come to make everything right; the anointed one who would re-establish the Jewish reign.  A Messiah, who was expected to destroy and defeat the enemies of Israel and be their conquering king and hero.

This is the setting in which Jesus established his ministry.  And he initiated it by repeating the words of John the Baptist, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  When Jesus’ listeners heard that the kingdom of heaven had come near they understood that God’s kingdom was about to be ushered in.  It meant that the Messiah had arrived and with the Messiah would come war, revolution, and the restoration of Israel.  But that was not what Jesus was saying because he also said something else – He began by saying – “Repent.”  Repent which means to stop and change direction; to turn around. 

And Jesus demonstrated exactly what this meant when he called the first disciples.  Jesus called these men with authority and they followed. He chose ordinary everyday, run-of the-mill fishermen.  Men who had a trade that produced a sufficient livelihood for their families.  And yet when Jesus called, these men were compelled to leave everything behind and follow. Matthew provides no record of them asking any questions.  Questions related to their future or what following Jesus would involve.  Simply – “Follow me” and they go.  “Repent, the kingdom of heaven has come near. Follow me and you will be fishers of people.”  With that, these fishermen are the very first to be caught by Jesus.

Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is at hand and in order to see it, you must stop and change direction.  And then Jesus did something revolutionary, but not by leading a military revolt.  Instead, Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and he cured every disease and sickness among the people.  Jesus demonstrated God’s love and peace.  He brought hope to the oppressed and lowly. He taught his followers to view the world differently – to look on humanity with eyes of love and compassion rather than judgment. Jesus taught his disciples how to change a world not by conquest but by catching people through healing, feeding, and forgiving.  The abundance of Jesus’ love and grace will in time transformed this unlikely group of fishermen.  Men who would ultimately die to self and who through the power of the Holy Spirit, would ultimately bring the same message of love and grace to the world.

How many of you here today have ever watched a parent try to convince a child to jump into deep water for the very first time?   When the child is in the shallow end and their feet can touch the ground – they are confident and assured.  But try to talk a child into jumping into the deep for the first time and the reaction can be quite different.  I have observed many a parent try to lure a frightened child into the pool and into their waiting arms. Sometimes the persuading seems endless.  Cold and shivering the child stands with feet planted on the cement while the parent treads water and calls – “Come on and jump, I am right here, I will catch you.”  But still reluctance, fearing that Mom or Dad will not catch them and they will plummet into the deep water. 

We are often the same.  Our loving God caught each and every one of us at our baptism and continues to call us.  God yearns to be in relationship with us.  And yet we often stand with our feet firmly planted, finding all sorts of excuses why we don’t have the time or the talent, or the resources to jump in.  God attempts to direct our path and we rebel and go the way of our own desires.  God calls us to stop, change direction and follow; to die to self and be transformed so that we can be fishers of others - but we are afraid the water is too deep and God wants too much - even though time and time again God has provided loving arms to catch us. 

But, through God’s word, through the sacraments, and through communities such as this one which offers love and grace, God assures us that we have nothing to fear.  That God is always right beside us and so the water will never be too deep. 

Like the first disciples, we are called by God.   And just as Jesus went into the darkest regions of Galilee to shine his light on the poor and the oppressed, we are called to bring the same message of love, hope and grace to those who live in darkness today.  Our baptism calls us to share in the life of Christ; to see humanity as he did; and to work to usher in the kingdom of heaven.  Today’s gospel lesson challenges us to ask ourselves how God is calling each of us to do just that.  Are there people we are being called to see differently? Are we being called to begin a new ministry, or participate in an existing one?  Perhaps God is calling us to transform a part of our life where sin or past wounds persist.  Perhaps it is our finances.  God’s call may be different for each of us, but we are each called nonetheless. 

May we each demonstrate the courage and trust necessary to answer God’s call.  To be fishers of people shining the light of Christ into the dark places of the world, long after Christmas and Epiphany are over.

The Feast of the Presentation

A Sermon by the Ven. Richard I. Cluett

Luke 2:22-40

Mary and Joseph, now with the newborn baby named Jesus, travelled once again to Jerusalem, this time to perform the ritual purification required by the Law for a new mother. Although that could be done anywhere, the decision to make the long journey on foot to Jerusalem was made so that they could present this first-born son to God at the Temple in Jerusalem. It was the depth of their faith and their desire to honor both God and their child that strengthened them to make that rigorous journey.

As they arrive in the temple they see an old man on the steps of the temple, as if he was waiting for them, and the old man sees them – this young woman, her husband and the child. Simeon had been waiting most of his life to know that God would redeem Israel, that God would bring salvation to all people, and that God’s peace would reign in this world.

As he saw the family approach to present their child to God, God’s spirit moved in him and he moved forward to hold the child in his arms and to recite the words God’s Spirit had written on his heart.

 Lord, you now have set your servant free to go in peace as you have promised; For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, whom you have prepared for all the world to see: A Light to enlighten the nations, and the glory of your people Israel.

This child you present, this child is the One for whom we have waited so long. He will bring salvation, and reconciliation, and consolation, and the Peace of God into the life of the world and into the lives of all God’s people. And it will bring sorrow to his mother.

There is also an old woman, a prophet named Anna, praying day and night in the Temple who also saw and knew that this child being presented before God was the one who would bring redemption, the possibility of new life for God’s people, the child would bring it into the world.

And when all had been done according to the Law, Mary and Joseph took Jesus home. They walked the 60 miles from Jerusalem to their home in Nazareth in Galilee. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation, the presenting of Jesus before God, the dedication of Jesus to a life in God and to the Mission of God.

I ask each of you to take some time today and in the week ahead to think of the times when you have been presented to God or when you have presented yourself before God. At your birth did your parents quietly place you in the hands of God for protection and God’s Grace? At your baptism, you were presented before God and declared to be God’s beloved child – forever. At your confirmation, you stood before God on your own to declare yourself a disciple of God’s Son, Jesus the Christ – the one who had been presented to God in the Temple so long ago. At your marriage, if you were given that blessing, you presented yourself before God with your betrothed, seeking God’s blessing. And so many other times.

I call upon you, O Lord, in the morning, and in the evening I give you thanks for the day that is past. We present ourselves before God upon rising in the morning as God’s beloved child, and we seek God in the night watches when doubts and cares and fear assault us. We present ourselves before God when our hearts are overflowing with joy and thanksgiving.

Psalm 63: O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you…

We present ourselves before God today, Sunday, and many other days to receive God’s absolution for our sin, feeding and strengthening at God’s table, and the blessing of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for the days ahead. And we also present one another and ourselves to God to mark important events on our life’s journey.

Today is such a Presentation day. Today two young people, Anna Wescoe and Julian Savage, (will) present themselves before God and God’s people. Surrounded by their parents and peers and priest and teachers and the assembled people of God, they come before God seeking for themselves God’s blessing as they mark their journey from childhood to adulthood. They will commit themselves to living according God’s way as shown to us in Jesus, and they ask for God’s presence in their lives all their days.

In their weekly prayer together with their Journey to Adulthood classmates, Julian and Anna pray seeking “to follow the example of Jesus, using their creative powers to shape the world according to God’s purpose, and they seek to be AWESOME”, as they live out their prayer. And their prayer is already answered, because they are indeed awesome in the sight and love of God and of those who know and love them.

It is also important to note that their priest, our dear dean Tony Pompa, on this Feast of the Presentation, 23 years ago, presented himself before God and the Church to be ordained a priest in Christ’s holy, catholic church. And God blessed him, ordained him, and empowered him to serve as priest. And the Church has been blessed with that ministry, for low these 23 years. So today we present him, too, to God with love, gratitude and thanksgiving.

So know this: presenting ourselves to God, standing before God, praying to God, living in God’s way as shown to us in Jesus – that is the fabric of our lives. God is woven in and under, and through and around all that we are and all that we do. We are ever and always before God. Never forgotten by God. Never rejected by God. Always sought by God. And in our living and in our doing, we are named as God’s child, we live as God’s beloved, we claim our heritage and our service as God’s people.

So in presenting ourselves before God, whether it be for service, or petition, or intercession, or for a sign, or for strength, or for wisdom, or for direction, or for pardon, we are already God’s beloved. There is no need to fear or tremble before Almighty God. The child presented so long ago in the Temple has prepared the way for us. God is waiting with a welcome. Indeed God is waiting with a welcome that one day will involve angels and archangels and all the host of heaven. We are not ready for that yet, but rest assured that when we do present ourselves before God that final time, it is Jesus who will stand with us, as His Spirit does now.