January 29, 2012: Fourth Sunday After Epiphany

January 29, 2012: 4^th Sunday after Epiphany

Mark 1:21-28

Preacher:

Pastor Carrie B. Smith

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Oscar nominees for Best Picture were announced last week, and it came as no surprise to anyone that The Devil Inside wasn’t included on the list. In fact, the only award this little horror flick has earned is having achieved the second largest drop in popularity in the week after its debut. It dropped 76.2% in one week, second only to the demise of Jonas Brothers: the 3-D Concert Experience. The Hollywood Reporter said “The Devil Inside proves as scary and unsettling as a slab of devil's food cake - only considerably less satisfying”; and Slate magazine declared it to include “the worst movie ending of all time.”

The Devil Inside is just the latest of many movies dealing with a favorite cinematic topic: demon possession. Ask anyone on the street what possession and exorcism look like, and they’re likely to cite the 1973 film The Exorcist. This is where we get the idea that demons speak in tongues, holy water burns the skin, and heads can spin completely around. At least The Exorcist was a well-made movie—the stream of exorcism movies that followed can best be described as appealing only to our fears and our appetite for exploring the power of evil in the world.

These movie images have become such a part of our culture that we hardly know what to do when we encounter Bible texts like Mark 1:21-28. When we hear the words “Just then, a man with an unclean spirit was in the synagogue, and he called out in a loud voice, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?’”; when we hear Jesus rebuke that spirit saying, “Be silent! And come out of him!”; when we learn that the unclean spirit makes the man convulse on the ground as it vacates his body—suddenly the Gospels are transported to the realm of cinema. The man with the unclean spirit becomes Linda Blair, and Jesus becomes the exorcist with his bag of holy water, crosses, and special prayer books.

As interesting as this mental movie experience might be, the problem is now this biblical account is so easy to dismiss. Because our minds are filled with Hollywood demons and pseudo-religious exorcisms, this powerful story of Jesus asserting his authority over an unclean spirit becomes just another unbelievable script, good only as a plot for a B-movie, and perhaps a spot on the Rotten Tomatoes list of Worst Movies Ever.

Demons, possessions, and unclean spirits seem very far from our everyday lives. And yet—chances are everyone in this room knows someone possessed by an addiction to alcohol, drugs, or gambling. Chances are you know someone whose inability to forgive has completely taken them over to the dark side. Perhaps you even have personal experience with being possessed by an unclean spirit of negativity, or judgment, or despair. These are not Hollywood scripts. These are everyday, true stories of powers and principalities claiming to have authority over us. Whether it’s alcohol or food, depression or grief, mental illness or fear—any spirit that takes hold of our lives and claims to have more authority than God is a demon. Demons make us say and do things that aren’t true to who God created us to be. And demons deserve to be cast out.

Now in the movie version of a typical exorcism, the priest comes carrying his bag of tricks and special prayers, desperate to rid the poor possessed soul of the unclean spirit. Often, in the end, there’s some kind of proposition that must occur:

If the exorcist believes in evil, then he can believe in God, and can cast out the spirit.

If the possessed person says the right prayers, then the spirit will leave.

If the other people in the room confess their sins, then the spirit loses its power.

But in Mark chapter 1, Jesus enters the scene, and he requires no such bag of tricks or propositional theology. There’s no mention of the other people in the synagogue saying prayers for him or participating at all. And the man with the unclean spirit? He didn’t have to do anything but stand there and be unclean! There was no show of special courage, no confession of sins, no sign that he was a particularly faithful person. There he was, in the synagogue, face to face with Jesus, and he just let it all hang out—crying out in a loud voice, mocking Jesus, and even stating “I know who you are!”

But Jesus, speaking with authority, said simply: “Be silent.” The Message Version of the Gospels puts it this way: Jesus shut him up: "Quiet! Get out of him!"

And that unclean spirit, pitching a fit and causing a scene, left the man’s body. The spirit left his body because Jesus spoke with the authority given to him through God the Father. The spirit was exorcised, cast out, and sent back to the devil because, as Bishop Desmond Tutu once proclaimed: “Goodness is stronger than evil, love is stronger than hate, light is stronger than darkness, and life is stronger than death.” Jesus of Nazareth, son of God, crucified and risen, speaks with authority over every power and principality, and even over sin and death! Amen!

Though our lives may not resemble a Hollywood horror flick, we love these movies because the so-called demonic powers and unclean spirits that appear in them are recognizable to us. We are hungry for a cure for the spirits that plague us. We need healing as badly as the unclean man in the synagogue. All we need is for Jesus to enter the scene.

And the Good News is—he always does! It’s just that Jesus rarely looks like a movie exorcist. In fact, he may not be recognizable to us at all. Sometimes, in the midst of our possession or in the throes of our despair, Jesus enters the scene unexpectedly through a doctor, or a friend, or even a stranger on the street.

In the case of my friend Sean, Jesus entered the scene in the voice of his ex-wife.

Sean was a high school classmate of mine. He found his calling early on as a disc jockey for a local radio station. He is funny and smart, well-known in the area for his good humor and big personality. What most people didn’t know was that Sean had struggled his whole life with food addiction and morbid obesity. From the safety of the radio station studio, where no one could see his downward spiral, he gained more and more weight. In 2008, he weighed 505 pounds.

And it was then that his wife came to him and said, “I’m done watching you kill yourself. I love you, I do, but I can’t stand by and witness your slow suicide any longer. I want a divorce."

Now this may not sound like the voice of Jesus, but it was. This was the voice of the Holy One of God—the God who created Sean and loved him—speaking truth and demanding that the unclean spirit be cast out. Sean tells me that this moment (along with a “come to Jesus” talk with his employer”) is what set him on the path to where he is today.

Today, Sean has lost over 270 pounds. He did it without surgery or fad diets. He did it slowly, blogging about it every day, chronicling with painful honesty the process of becoming a new, healthy, man. He learned a new way of eating. He exercised. He faced long-held beliefs and fears. These are things which seemed impossible before—but once that unclean spirit was named, rebuked, and cast out, he was free to start on a new path, a path he calls “The Transformation Road”. In fact, Sean just celebrated the publication of a book with the same name: “Transformation Road: My Journey to 500 Pounds and Back.”

Jesus entered the scene and made Sean’s transformation possible. But let me be clear: the unclean spirit that was cast out of Sean was not morbid obesity. He wasn’t possessed by fat, and Jesus didn’t take the pounds off for him! Sean did that, through hard work and perseverance—but only after he was cleansed of the lying spirit which had whispered to him for years: “You’re not worth it.” “You can’t do it.” “You are nothing.” “You are not lovable.”

This is an unclean spirit many of us can recognize. It’s a demon that enters our lives in various ways—through an abusive household, a violent relationship, a racist community, or unjust systems of oppression. It’s a spirit that holds us back, keeps us down, gives us excuses and stops us from experiencing joy. This is a demon, and demons deserve to be cast out.

But thanks be to God for Jesus of Nazareth, son of God, who always shows up! Thanks be to God for the ways in which Jesus’ life, death and resurrection speak truth to power and cast out demons from our lives. Thanks be to God for Jesus, the holy one of God, in whom we find healing, wholeness, and a perfect love which casts out fear. In spite of our demons—and perhaps because of them—Jesus always enters the scene and helps to re-write the scripts of our lives. God is good! Amen.

January 22, 2012: Five More Minutes

Third Sunday after Epiphany: January 22, 2012
Mark 1:14-20
“Five More Minutes”
Preacher: Pastor Carrie B. Smith

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Five. More. Minutes.

These are perhaps the three most frustrating words in the English language.
When I was first married, these were the words that greeted me many mornings, when I would casually mention to my new husband that now might be the time to wake up and go to College Algebra. “Five more minutes,” he would groan, to which I would frequently respond, in five of his favorite words: “I. Am. Not. Your. Mother.”

But then, one day, I was someone’s mother! And soon I heard those three words almost nightly when it was time for bed. “Five more minutes! I’m almost done with this level! I just need to save my game! Just five more minutes, PLEASE?!”

There was one—and only one—time when I truly enjoyed hearing those three little words. It was a school day morning, and my younger son was sitting on the floor of the living room, jacket on, backpack already strapped to his back, trying to finish a particularly good book (The Hunger Games, I think). When I told him it was time to hurry on to the bus stop, he looked up at me with teary eyes and pleaded, “Five more minutes! Please?”

How could I refuse? Five pages and five minutes later, I happily drove him to school.

Five more minutes—it’s a seemingly simple request, but it’s also a very convenient (and much-loved) avoidance technique.

All of which makes me consider the immediate response of the fishermen in today’s Gospel reading from St. Mark, the first chapter. Jesus walked along the Sea of Galilee, calling out to Simon and Andrew, James and John, and the scriptures tell us they “immediately” left their nets and boats and followed him. Not in five minutes, but now.

And this is how we know they weren’t Lutherans.

Lutherans would have held some meetings first. Lutherans would have tabled the discussion for awhile and formed a task force. If a decision couldn’t be reached, they would have split into a few synods, each claiming to be more faithful than the other. If those first disciples had been Lutherans, I’ll bet they would have found a way to bring their boats with them—or at least their favorite seats in the boat!

Meanwhile, Jesus remains on the shore, calling out with his simple invitation: “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Softly and tenderly, Jesus is still calling us to new life, new opportunities, and new ways of being in the world—and we put it off until later, determined to attend to our own agenda first. Rather than responding immediately like those first eager disciples, our answer is often something like “Five more minutes, Lord.”

“Just five more minutes! We’re happy here in our boats, with our nets, catching fish. It’s comfortable here! After all, this is the way we’ve always done it. Fishing for people sounds interesting—but not today.Following you sounds like a good opportunity—for someone else. But I tell you what: give us your cell number, Jesus, and we’ll call you later.”

To be fair, we have lots of practice at putting things off for later, because time is always an issue. With iPhones and iPads,professional organizing services and automatic bill payments, we should have more time than ever. But when are you going to actually read that story to your kids? When will you have dinner with those friends you haven’t seen in ages? When are you taking that vacation, or taking your spouse on a date? When are you going back to school for that degree? When are you finally going to say you’re sorry?

“Five more minutes. Just five more minutes is all I need.”

To which Martin Luther once replied, “How soon NOT NOW becomes NEVER.”

And his namesake, Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday we celebrated this week, famously wrote, “The time is always ripe to do what is right.”

Dr. King wrote these words in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, and you might be surprised to learn they weren’t directed at the racists and bigots who were opposing the fight for civil rights. Instead, these strong words were intended for well-meaning Christians (some of them
pastors) who thought King was moving too fast. He wrote:

“I received a letter this morning from a white brother in Texas which said: "All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but is it possible that you are in too great of a religious hurry? It has taken Christianity almost 2,000 years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth."
Dr. King’s letter continues:

“I am coming to feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than the
people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people. We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”

When we respond to the call of Jesus with “Five more minutes, Lord”; when we stay on the boat;
when we put off for later what God wants done now—then we contribute to the appalling silence of the good people. We remain fence-sitters and pew-warmers rather than co-workers with God.

And so today, when we hear this familiar Gospel lesson about Jesus calling the first disciples, it both inspires and convicts us. When we hear about those fishermen who immediately got off the boat, it’s easy to recognize the ways in which we, time after time, have missed the boat because we stayed on the boat!

And perhaps I could end the sermon here, while we pass around sign-up sheets for the various ministry and service opportunities at Bethany Lutheran Church. We could be overrun right now—immediately!—with volunteers for PADs and Sunday School and the Green Team! Let’s get out of the boat and fish for people! Amen?

But wait: there’s more!

To be sure, this Gospel lesson is focused chiefly on how—and when—we respond to the call of Jesus. It’s a story about time, and how we use it. But this story also teaches us about how God uses time.
Scripture tells us that Jesus came walking along the Sea of Galilee at a certain moment in time:
his friend and mentor, John the Baptist, had just been arrested. This was a difficult time to be a prophet, and laying low might have been the wiser choice for Jesus. But Jesus instead went to Galilee, boldly proclaiming the Good News and calling out to anyone who would listen (even fishermen on their boats).

And the Good News of God that Jesus was proclaiming, the message that he would not let be
censored or suppressed, went something like this:
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near.”

Other Bible translations put it this way: “The time has come!” or sometimes “The right time has come.”
But my favorite, from the Message Version of the Gospels, goes like this:

“Time’s up! God’s kingdom is here!”

Time’s up! No more waiting for the Messiah! No more living in darkness! No more struggling to
gain God’s approval! No more reaching toward the unattainable goal of perfection! For, as it is
written in Galatians chapter 4:
“When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.”

In the fullness of time—at just the right time--we received the gift of Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Redeemer, our healer, and our brother. The God who loves us saw fit to end our waiting and make us adopted children of God. This happened at just the right time—and this is the Good News! This is the message Jesus calls us to join in sharing with the world.

Not in five minutes. Not when we’re comfortable or when we’re sure everyone will agree with us—but NOW.

When we get out of the boat, Bethany Lutheran, when we leave our nets behind, we are free to join Jesus in proclaiming to the world: “Time’s up!”

For racism and bigotry, wherever we find it: Time’s up!
For poverty in our backyard and around the world: Time’s up!
For hatred of those who are different: Time’s up!
For apathy, greed, and indifference: Time’s up!

Time’s up, sisters and brothers, because the kingdom of God has come near. Jesus calls us
to follow him, and the time is now. Amen.

January 8, 2012: Baptism of Our Lord

Baptism of Our Lord: January 8, 2012
Mark 1:4-11

Preacher: Pastor Carrie B. Smith

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Happy New Year!

You may have noticed that this week, we’ve entered Soap Opera Time.

Now I’m not talking about time travel, or a new season of the church year—when I say “Soap Opera Time”, I mean that phenomenon which allows us to enter the world of “The Bold and the Beautiful”, where one week, Ridge and Brooke are giving birth to a baby daughter—and just a few days later, Brooke is married to Thorne, Ridge is in jail, and that baby daughter…is 16 years old and dating her sister’s cousin’s brother, who is actually her uncle from her mom’s second marriage.

If you recognize this scenario—then you’re already familiar with Soap Opera Time. The way these daytime stories are told is decidedly disorienting and non-linear—and yet we keep tuning in, week after week, and somehow we follow along.

This is one of those weeks in the lectionary when we also seem to have launched into Soap Opera Time after a relatively normal chronological period. Just a few months ago during Advent, Mary was pregnant, and we joyfully awaited the birth of the long-expected baby. At Christmas, just two weeks ago, we gathered around the manger where the newborn baby was laid. And it was only last Sunday that the baby, 8 days old, was taken by his parents to the synagogue and was given his name: Jesus.

And now, here we are, just one week later, and we see Jesus, a fully grown man, beard and all, hanging out with a questionable character in the woods and being baptized…how did this happen? How did we get here?

Yes, this feels a bit like soap opera time.

And of course, some of you, because of the holiday season and school vacation, have skipped directly from the pregnant Mary or the baby Jesus in the manger to this bearded Jesus in the river Jordan!

But then, the scriptures don’t tell us much about Jesus as a child, either. We can read about the flight into Egypt and how Jesus was found teaching in the synagogue as a young boy—but that’s it. And so it is that the Gospel writers and the lectionary compilers, who drew us in with the more linear, chronological Christmas story, have now just launched us into Soap Opera Time for the season of Epiphany. Today, just fifteen days after Christmas, Jesus is no longer the infant lowly, infant holy. He’s now Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee, who has come to be baptized by John in the Jordan.

But this is exactly where Mark would want us to start the new year. We heard this reading already at the beginning of Advent, and you may remember that the way Mark tells it, the story doesn’t start in the manger in Bethlehem. Mark launches right in with the beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, telling how the prophet Isaiah foretold it, how John the Baptizer prepared the way, and most importantly how Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan. We often overlook the Baptism of Jesus (perhaps because we're not sure what it means?), but the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ is so important that it begins one of the four Gospels. Soap Opera Time or not, it’s clear that this is an event worthy of our attention.

Of course, we know baptism is important—that’s why we buy special baptismal gowns, invite relatives to church, and take special care for this day. The congregation knows it’s important, too! We get excited when there's a baptism during worship, and today, we are blessed to celebrate the baptism of Alice Mary Helms, and we will have the opportunity to make promises as a community to pray for her, teach her, and welcome her into the body of Christ.

It’s especially fitting for us to baptize on this festival day, the day we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord, even though our baptisms differ from Jesus’ baptism in a few important ways:

Jesus, of course, didn’t need baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus’ baptism wasn’t part of his reception into a church!

And John, of course, didn’t even want to baptize Jesus. John knew that Jesus was the one greater than him, who would institute a baptism quite different from the one he was proclaiming.

But our baptisms and Jesus’ share one very important feature—in baptism, we hear God’s voice and receive our new identity as children of God.

In Mark, chapter 1, after the heavens are torn apart and the Spirit descends like a dove on Jesus, a voice from heaven says:

“You are my Son, my beloved, with you I am well-pleased.”

And in that one sentence, we learn something very important about Jesus. We learn that he’s not just a baby in a manger. But he’s also not just a man. He is the Beloved Son of God. He is both human and divine. He’s the one we’ve been waiting for, our Savior and Redeemer. And that's why, today, even though it feels a bit like we've entered soap opera time, suddenly moving from the manger to the river Jordan, we need to hear this reading.

For now...we know who he is. Now, as we launch into the season of Epiphany, when we will hear the stories of the many ways God is made manifest in our lives through Jesus Christ—we know who it is who is healing, who is preaching, who is suffering on the cross. It is none other than the Son of God, the beloved, with whom God is well pleased.

And in the same way, we learn who we are when we are brought to the water. Whether it happens at 9 weeks or 90 years old, baptism is the moment when, through water and the Word, we receive our true identity.

Today, Alice Mary and her parents will hear the words: “Alice Mary, child of God, you are sealed the Holy Spirit and marked by the cross of Christ forever.” Alice may not remember this day. But her parents will—

They will remember that it is Alice Mary, child of God, who graduates from kindergarten.
It is Alice Mary, child of God, who will drive them nuts in Middle school.

It is Alice Mary, child of God, who will go to prom, will choose a college, and will argue about coming home for Christmas.

And hopefully Alice Mary, child of God, can cling to that identity when times get rough, when a bully gets in her way, or when someone else tries to tell her who she is.

For no matter what anyone else says, God’s voice from heaven is always the loudest, and God says: “You are All My Children!”

Even if you’ve been the Young and the Restless, you are All My Children.
Even if you’ve had more than One Life to Live…you are All My Children.
Even if you’ve been to the Edge of Night and back…you are All My Children.
Still, our baptismal identity stays the same: Through baptism we are children of God, washed in the water, saved by the blood, and called by name.

Now I invite you to turn to your neighbor in the pew and call them by name..." ________you are a beloved child of God!" (This is a good opportunity to introduce yourself to your neighbor, if you don't know her!)

It’s important to know who we are---and whose we are---because the Days of Our Lives are not always easy. We will have detractors and alligators; powers and principalities at work against us; trying to define us; others always attempting to slap a new name-tag on us.

But sisters and brothers, for the sake of Jesus Christ, and through water and the Word, you have been claimed by God as God’s own. And because you are all children of God, you are empowered to live the baptismal life. You can be who God created you to be, beautifully and wonderfully made. With God’s help, you can live out your baptismal covenant, standing with the poor and the voiceless and working for justice and peace in all the world. You, child of God, can live boldly for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You, brothers and sisters, are the Bold and the Beautiful--you are beloved children of God. Amen.

January 1, 2012: The Festival of the Name of Jesus

Name of Jesus: January 1, 2012
Luke 2:15-21
Preacher: Pastor Carrie B. Smith

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Happy New Year!

Today is the first day of the Year of Our Lord, 2012. It’s also the 8th day of Christmas—and therefore, in spite of the Valentine’s Day paraphernalia cropping up around us, it is still completely appropriate to greet one another with a hearty “Merry Christmas!”

Chances are that outside of the famous (and somewhat annoying) song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, you haven’t thought too much about the 8th day of Christmas. But it just so happens that this is also a feast day in the church year—a feast we rarely have the opportunity to celebrate on a Sunday—and it has nothing to do with “eight maids a-milking”! Today, at least in the church, is known as the Festival of the Holy Name of Jesus.

It’s true that the name of Jesus was on our lips last week on Christmas Eve, when we joyfully sang “Away in a manger, no crib for a bed. The little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head.” But in Jewish tradition, a baby boy would not actually have received his name until the 8th day of life. On Christmas Day and for the next seven days, that tiny baby in the manger was known only as the son of Mary and Joseph—until his ritual circumcision, when his parents would speak his name—Jesus—for the first time.

I admit that after the over-the-top celebrations for Christmas and the New Year, it may seem a bit strange to have an entire day set aside to honor the Name of Jesus. But then, names do matter, don’t they?

When I was pregnant with our younger son, we had chosen the name Micah Carlyle—Micah because of my favorite Bible verse, Micah 6:8, and Carlyle for my brother. But in the middle of the pregnancy, Robert started his seminary internship, and it just so happened that the 14 year old son of Robert’s supervisor was also named “Mikah”. Right away, I should say that Mikah Meyer has grown up to be a delightful young man—but at the time, he was a professional 14 year old pastor’s kid! (Use your imagination here.) One day, I came home from church and said to my husband, “I can’t do it. This baby cannot be a Micah! We need to find a new name.” And so it was that Zion Robert was born.

Names matter.

I wonder if Robert Zimmerman would have been the icon that Bob Dylan is? And could Queen Latifah have made it as a successful rapper and actress if she had remained Dana Marie Owens? Names have power, affecting how others see us and even how we see ourselves. This is why parents agonize over naming their children. Women about to be married—or who are going through a divorce—struggle with which surname to use in the future. And this election season, comedians are having a great time with the fact that Americans who struggled over having a president with a name like “Barack Obama” are now choosing between a “Mitt” and a “Newt”!

Names matter.

It matters that this tiny baby, born in Bethlehem in the middle of an occupation to an unmarried girl and laid in a manger, was named Jesus. It matters because this name didn’t come out of a book of “1,001 Things to Name the Savior” or a list of the “Top Ten Jewish Boy Names of the First Century.” Rather, it was the angel Gabriel, appearing to Mary, who announced that his name would be Jesus. In Luke chapter 1, we read how the angel came and said:

“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

This was more than a suggestion. This was more than a friendly bit of baby-naming advice. In fact, this wasn’t the first time the angel Gabriel had used his baby-naming talents! Just a few verses before this, at the very beginning of the Gospel according to Luke, Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and announced that his wife, Elizabeth, already in her old age, would conceive and bear a son named John. And for his hesitation in believing this astounding news, poor Zechariah was struck mute, unable to speak anyone’s name at all, until the baby John was born.

Names matter—and in particular, names matter to the story of the birth of the Messiah, the Lord. The way Luke tells it, it’s clear that this baby is someone special, for his birth was foretold by the prophets. His name was given by an angel. Even more angels announced his birth. From the first sentence to the last, it is understood that this child, named Jesus before he was even conceived in the womb, is a gift from God, the fulfillment of a promise, and the hope of the whole world. “For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6) Amen!

It matters, in a biblical sense, that this baby was named Jesus, as it was foretold to Mary. But does it matter to us today? If a rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet, would a savior named Fred be as beautiful?

Or perhaps it can be said in this way: Does it matter which name we give to Jesus?

Consider what it means to celebrate the Name of Jesus on the first day of a new year. As we contemplate how we want to live our lives in the year ahead, many of us are resolving to eat better, to exercise more, to go back to school, or to fulfill long-abandoned dreams and goals. And while many of these lofty goals are soon forgotten (someone recently described New Year’s resolutions as a “To-Do List for the First Week in January!), the process of making them is in itself important. Making resolutions is about fixing our priorities. It’s about naming for ourselves—and often for friends—what and who is important in our lives.

And so here we are, on the first day of this New Year, the first day of living out these new priorities, and the church tells us that today’s priority is the Name of Jesus. Perhaps this is an opportunity. Perhaps our number one resolution this year could be to decide who Jesus is. What would happen if Christians, on this day, resolved to give Jesus a new name?

I’m not suggesting we should re-name him Fred, or Bob, or Cynthia! But if Jesus has, in the past, been known to us as “that guy we hear about on Sunday mornings”, or “a generally good man, someone I can look up to” or even “a mythical character that I really only think about at Christmastime”, then maybe, in the New Year, it’s time for him to receive a new name. What will we call him in the year to come?

Will we call him the Lord of Life and Healer of our Soul?

Do we know him as a good example to follow and a great role model, or do we call him Redeemer and Savior?

Is Jesus just a name we drop at the end of a prayer, or is his the name at the top of our contact list?

And in the New Year, will Jesus be called the chief cornerstone of the church, or will we reserve that name for old habits, stale structures, and “the way it used to be”?

There is power in the name of Jesus.

For St. Paul tells us in Philippians that “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:10-11)

Again in Romans, we hear that all those “who call upon the name of the Lord” shall be saved. (Romans 10:13)

And of course our brother Martin Luther encouraged Christians to practice "pure faith and confidence, and a cheerful meditation of and calling upon His holy Name". (Treatise on Good Works)

Names matter.

And that’s why, today, on this Festival of the Name of Jesus, your name also matters. Hear the Good News: No matter what priority the name of Jesus has had in your life in the past year, your name is always top priority for God. Whether Jesus has been on the mainline this past year—or if he was dropped from your contact list—he is still Emmanuel, God with Us. This is our Christmas joy and our hope for the New Year—that God so loved the world (including you!) that a baby was born in Bethlehem, and was laid in a manger, and his name was Jesus. He is the Messiah, the Lord. He is the light that shines in the darkness. And no matter what we call him, he is the same Christ—yesterday, today, and forever. On this day, the babe in Bethlehem received his name. And because of that gift, you can be confident in your name, which is Beloved Child of God. Amen.