Not a bad way to begin a new year

O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.

This morning we heard a portion of the "Christmas Story" that we do not hear as often as the rest. Beginning from the worship of the Shepherds and the naming of the child, we heard what happened when, in accordance with the law of God, Mary and Joseph presented Jesus at the temple.

The scriptures tell us that on the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.

Then we are told that:

When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took Jesus to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord"), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: "a pair of doves or two young pigeons."

And we are told that when this latter occurs, two persons in the temple, Simeon - an old man who had been told that he would not die until he saw the consolation of Israel appear,and Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, a prophetess, who was 84 years old, blessed God and the child - and spoke over him - to Mary and Joseph - and to the temple crowd - the word of God concerning what had occurred and was occurring and would occur through the life of the babe called, as the angel had commanded, Jesus - Emmanuel..

I don't want to go into the meaning of those prophecies this morning, other than to note that both Simeon and Anna were blessed with visions, that they were touched by God, and that they spoke of what God put upon their lips and their hearts.

Some of their words were sweet to the taste, but sour in the stomach speaking as they did of a time of suffering, And others were of pure joy and elation - for despite the suffering - and indeed - perhaps only through the suffering - the Messiah would take his throne and the people Israel and the nations beyond would be blessed beyond measure.

Rather I want you to think today with me of the obedience and humility of both Mary and Joseph, and of how they resolutely began their life with Jesus and his life with them - and with us with worship and prayer - with obedience and thanksgiving, with sacrifice and joy.

Which is not a bad way to begin a life - nor to continue it. To begin a life - or a new year.

In the first 40 days of the life of Jesus among us Mary and Joseph did four things with and for Jesus, four things that bound them, with him, closer to God, closer to the people of God, and closer to one another.

The first thing is that they named Jesus in the manner God had commanded through the Angel Gabriel. They gave him the name "Saviour" for through him God would redeem his people. They believed in what they had been told in their dreams and visions - and obeyed the giver.

This bound them closer to God - closer to Jesus - and closer to one another.

Sharing a vision draws us into a special intimacy and living by that vision - creates a special community.

As you go into the new year - consider how you name one another. Do you call others what God asks you to call them? Do you name as your brother or sister the person next to you? Do you see in their face the face of Christ?

The first thing Mary and Joseph did at the beginning of the life of Jesus was to name him as God asked them to name him.

The naming ceremony was done on the eighth day - the day when the male children of those born to Abraham and Sarah were, in accordance with Covenant God made to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, circumcised - and thereby became identified as the children of Israel and heirs to the promises made to him - the promise of a people, a land, and a God who cares - a God who would deliver and vindicate his people.

That is the second thing Joseph and Mary did - they made Jesus a part of the family of God. They said to God - look he is a child of promise - this baby is meant with all who call on your name - to inherit your kingdom. He is your servant - he is one of us - the ones you gave yourself to after the time of Noah - the ones you said to Abraham and to Moses would be a nation of priests and kings to serve you and bring everlasting glory to your name amongst all the nations.

Do we make those God has given us a part of the household of God?

Do we extend to them the privileges and responsibilities that we have received from the Lord?

I do not speak of mere circumcision or baptism here - I speak of the living faith that claims the power of God's love upon the lives of those in our care, upon the lives of those for whom we are called to care by the Spirit of the Lord and the words of the prophets.

The second thing Mary and Joseph did with Jesus was make him a part of the family of God, and this bound them closer to God - and closer to God's people - and closer to one another.

Not a bad way to begin a life - or a new year. Not a bad way to live.

The third thing that Mary and Joseph did was, when the time of purification was over was present Jesus, as their first born, to God at the temple.

This is a very special thing to do - a thing that is related to all the commands regarding things that are first. Each of them - from the first fruits of our gardens to the first born of our loins and wombs - belong to God. And God asks that we present them to him where he abides. And name them his.

By this act Mary and Joseph recognized that their child was not their child. Rather he was God's child - and that the purposes of his life should be, would be, determined by God, and that as parents entrusted with God's child, they should seek the wisdom and counsel of God each day, so that they might raise him as God asks.

The first child is a Hannah child - and if truth be known - every child after. But the first is special because it is first. And what is first goes to what is First. Our best, our finest, our hopes and our dreams - belong to God - God who is first in our lives.

So yes - Joseph - this child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.

And yes - Mary - A sword will pierce your own soul too.

And that is the way of it - for this child is God's and God will accomplish his work in him and his love will redeem his people.

This is the third thing Mary and Joseph did as they began their life with Jesus - they gave him to God and recognized that God would raise him in God's own way and in that recognition - they bound themselves to loving Jesus in accordance with the counsel of God, in accordance to the law and to vision that God gave Moses and gave them.

Not a bad way to begin a life - not a bad way to begin a year.

We too have people - and plans - that belong to God - and need to be given to God.

Time will bring sorrows that pierce our hearts - but it will bring too the consolation we all seek, consolation for us - and for all the people of God.

The fourth thing Mary and Joseph did - they did on the day of Presentation. Mary made sacrifice - the sacrifice of the poor among Israel - she sacrificed two doves or pigeons for her purification.

And so Mary and Joseph show themselves as seekers of holiness, and as ones who possess it - for what they do is set apart - dedicated - to God.

Not a bad way to begin a life - not a bad way to begin a new year.

Mary and Joseph did not simply begin it as they might have - with an anticipation of great and wonderful things to occur - some with the pain that pierces the soul; nor did they begin simply with an awareness of their own poverty and inability - the kind of poverty that is represented in offering in sacrifice two pigeons instead of a two year old lamb - and the inability that every new parent - and indeed most every person - feels deep in their hearts when faced an unknowable future and holding in one's heart the desire to love perfectly.

They began with these most surely, but they began in those things with God, and in humble obedience to all that God has promised, all that God has commanded.

They began with God, they named their child as the Angel told them they made the one in their care a part of the people of the God - joint heirs with them of the promises, they gave him into God's care - recognizing that he was God's, - not simply theirs and they sought holiness - to live in it and by it - they set themselves, as they set Jesus, apart for God.

And us as we enter the new year? Us as we raise up a family? Or take under our care - under our love - those God asks us to care for and love? Will we name people as God wants us to name them?

Will we make them - will we treat them - members of God's family - members of our family? Will we let them be God's and heed God's counsel as he tells us how to be his stand-ins? Will we seek holiness? Will we allow the lamb of God - sacrificed for us upon the cross - to proclaim that we are clean?

There is a time for everything. This is a time to begin with what should always come first. May God be praise day by day. Amen.