Acts 9:36-43
 
36 Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas.[h] She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. 37 At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. 38 Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, “Please come to us without delay.” 39 So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. 40 Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. 41 He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. 42 This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. 43 Meanwhile he stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.
 
John 10:22-30 
 
22 At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; 26 but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. 30 The Father and I are one.”
 
The Word of the Lord.
 
 
Good morning! Thank you for having me. It’s always such a gift to be able to share in worship with you. And, of course, Happy Mothers’ Day!
 
This is a day when we are reminded of and get to celebrate the precious gift of life that each one of us has received. As a friend of mine likes to say, every single life is a miracle, and we can all be grateful and honor the women who gave us that tremendous gift. Today we also get to celebrate the many ways we have received nurture throughout our lives and been mothered, even if not necessarily by our own biological mother. It’s a day to celebrate the guardians, the angels, and the aunties in our lives. And it’s a day to appreciate the opportunities that we have had to offer nurturing care to others, whether they are our biological children, children in our neighborhoods, classrooms, or communities.
 
Certainly, after a week like this past one, which can leave many of us feeling weary, we can be especially appreciative of the role that nurture and care play in shaping us, reviving us, and spurring us on. This week was hard for a lot of reasons. A week where we experienced, for example, a critical incident that resulted in shutting down our only freeway for several hours and occurring in an apartment complex where one of our families lives, along with many other families. This was happening just as another school shooting was unfolding in Colorado. This was also a week where our neighbors north and south of us marked six months since the Camp, Hill, and Woolsey Fires and the Borderline Bar shooting all occurred on November 8th. This also was a week when popular Christian author, Rachel Held Evans died, after thousands of people fervently prayed for her recovery, and then, sadly, rather than honoring the sacred space of the first hours and days of death, fellow Christians took to social media to begin critiquing her writings and stances, and in doing so deeply wounded some of Rachel’s closest family and friends in their thoughtlessness. And, of course, this was a week when we all went through our own personal, family, or work related stresses, too. It was quite a week, and one in which we could all use a good amount of care.
 
What are some of the ways that you get care, or extend care, during or after a hard week. How do you revive yourself, or help to encourage or inspire others who may be worn down by various stresses in life. What helps pick you and your neighbors back up? Perhaps, especially when you or the people around you are grieving?
 
Apparently, one of the ways that Tabitha, the disciple we heard about in our Acts passage today, inspired those around her were through various good deeds and acts of charity, including hand-making clothes for widows. Not just any garments, but robes they wanted to show off as a sign of the fact that this woman is needed in the world. This woman not only gets what we’re going through, but goes above and beyond to lift us up. Imagine what it must have been like for these widows, trying to help Peter understand what Tabitha meant to them. Women who, in their culture, were entirely dependent on the charity of others. And Tabitha, not only gave them hand-outs, but gave them dignity. And apparently, she did it with a spirit in which she was known for her faithfulness and dedication to goodness. Imagine Peter, a fisherman from a small town, listening to this gaggle of women and men, chattering away through their tears about the incredible, caring woman Tabitha was. A woman where in her wake people felt inspired and enriched by what she offered them.  
 
Thinking about the widely ranging events of this week, as I approached our passages for today, I appreciated with fresh eyes what it might have meant to Peter to come into Tabitha’s community, especially after the many weeks that he had been having. See, when we meet Peter in this passage, he’s been having very challenging days for a while. His entire worldview has been shifting, over and over. The ways he understood who he was, what he was called to, how he should operate in the world, and why. As you may recall from the past few weeks, he suffered the pain of having Jesus prophesy and then witness him deny Jesus three times just before Jesus’ crucifixion. He suffered the pain and haunting of that being their final exchange before Jesus’ death. He grieved along with his family and friends throughout Holy Saturday. Then, he experienced the tremendous joyful stress – and joy is its own kind of stress – of the resurrection and Jesus’ appearances in the following days. Then, he experienced Saul’s murderous zeal directed at him, his family, and his friends, forcing them to live in hiding and to regularly move – the fear for their lives, and the heartache of watching his wife, children, and friends suffer. He experienced all eyes turning to him – the proclaimed rock on which the church would be built – for leadership and direction. And, then, to top it all off, just before this passage, still in chapter 9, one of the disciples, Barnabas, strolls into the elders’ circle with none other than Saul-now-Paul, testifying to Saul’s sincere conversion. Barnabas made a solid case, and, as we know, Paul was welcomed into the fold, but I can imagine, it may have been all a little too much for Peter. I can imagine he welcomed the chance to get out of town, tasked with visiting and connecting with believers in towns throughout the region.

As he went, he eventually came to the port town of Joppa, which is modern-day Tel Aviv.
 
And as we heard earlier, when he arrives in Joppa, several believers come to get him to say that one of their lead disciples, Tabitha, has died. Now, Tabitha as we were discussing just a moment ago, is special for many reasons. Many scholars believe that her name, which means Gazelle, may have represented who she was, too. That she would have been energetic, artful, and delivering her skill and strength in beautiful ways that captivated people and enlivened their spirits. Scripture says she was a devoted disciple, expressing her faith continuously through her generous good works and acts of charity.
 
So, even as Peter, too, is dedicated in his mission, and has been learning patience and kindness, nevertheless, there’s every likelihood that not far under the surface is a man who is very tired, is trying to hang on, and could use some nurture and care himself. And he suddenly finds himself surrounded by aunties and uncles – all the women and men under Tabitha’s care, who are grieving the loss of their beloved leader and friend.
 
As I read this passage, I couldn’t help wondering whether God brought Peter to Joppa, and allowed Peter to bring Tabitha to life, not necessarily in response to the community’s pleas, but possibly for Peter. The passage says that Peter went on to stay in Joppa for awhile, where he no doubt got the chance to luxuriate in the culture of care and blessing that Tabitha had be growing there.
 
I like to imagine Peter then begins a kind of spontaneous sabbatical in Joppa, in which he is nurtured and has opportunity to grow and learn even more. In fact, we’ll be discussing next week another huge lesson Peter learns while he’s staying in Joppa.
 
As good as all that sounds, heavens, I also really wrestled with this passage this week. I myself could not help wondering, Why does Tabitha get to get up and others don’t? Why not Rachel Held Evans, for example, a burgeoning theologian who was barely getting started, and was a mother whose second child is just turning one right now. Why does Tabitha get to get up, and not every child murdered at school in our country? Why not any of our loved ones who we are grieving? The list of people we wish could get up again, of course, goes on and on. Sadly, poor biblical scholarship through the ages has not helped us answer these really heartfelt and challenging questions. For example, in 2016, author for the Biblical Archeological Society blog, wrote that
 
Tabitha is so beloved and so essential to the life of her believing community in Joppa… that others cannot imagine life without her. Tabitha simply cannot stay dead. Her faithful community will not permit it.
 
That, of course, is not helpful interpretation. That certainly does not square with so many others’ experiences. Because, of course, communities throughout the world and throughout history all have felt that way about their beloved. It is not only our desire for healing or life that brings those things about, and not only our earnest prayers either. The pain we feel by what God allows or does not allow, chooses or does not choose, has been around throughout all of human history, and expressed throughout the Bible, including from the very first biblical accounts of Adam and Eve in the garden, and of how Cain felt about God choosing between his and his brother Abel’s gifts.
 
I know that for some Christians – or even former Christians – its incredibly difficult to stomach passages like this one and interpretations like the one I just shared. It feels to many like a tease. Especially, when the interpretation of the passage presumes it is the earnestness of the prayers that result in Tabitha’s resurrected life. And so, it’s important to clarify, it is not about whether they loved her enough or they asked in the right way.
 
What the Bible also says, throughout its entirety, is that us expressing our honest hearts to God in all circumstances matters. Us bringing these kinds of painful questions to God’s feet is good and faithful practice. This passage represents the tremendous complexity in life. That miracles go on, even while others around Joppa, throughout the region of Israel during that same time, and throughout our world today, were not receiving miracles, and instead were grieving. Not everyone in Joppa was rising again the way Tabitha did. And it’s good for us to wrestle with that tension.
 
And, really, that’s why I think this is a very meaningful passage for Mothers’ Day– a day when we are keenly aware of how some people are celebrating so much goodness today while others also are experiencing grief, sadness, anger, or sorrow.
 
Lastly, I want to share how, in the end, I find great hope in this passage. Not necessarily for how it may speak to resurrection, but in the truth that while going about his work – and maybe trying to avoid some of the difficult conflicts in his life – Peter encountered the hands and feet of Jesus in Joppa, through the men who first called for him, through the widows who greeted him and attended to him in the days following, through Tabitha and her inevitably sharing with him the caring  and inspirational culture she was growing in Joppa, and through Simon the tanner who hosted him. God provided Peter with a community dedicated to goodness, in a time when he undoubtedly needed refreshment. May we trust that God will provide for each of us, with refreshment when we need it, and may we be inspired to continue joining in and creating a community that Tabitha modeled for us, one that is dedicated to goodness, generosity, and hospitality. Amen. 

Leviticus 19:9-18  (NRSV)
9 When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God.
11 You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another. 12 And you shall not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God: I am the Lord.
13 You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning. 14 You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
15 You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. 16 You shall not go around as a slanderer[a] among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the Lord.
17 You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. 
Mark 10:2-16  (NRSV)2 Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3 He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” 5 But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. 6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
10 Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11 He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; 12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
13 People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. 15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
 
The Word of our Lord.
 

 
Thank you for having me. It’s wonderful to be a part of worship with you again in this way, especially as we consider together God’s Word for us today.
 
I admit, I gave this sermon kind of a ridiculous title. “Making relationships sacred.” Of course, they are sacred. Our actions do not determine the essence of their sacredness. But our actions can attest to the sacredness of relationships. And, we seem to need to keep reminding ourselves of that fact. Partly, as the passages today show us, because it’s just so easy to dismiss the inherent value of our neighbors – even neighbors in our own homes. It’s just so easy to be thoughtless, careless, unkind, disrespectful, or unjust toward one another. We are called to continually return to being intentional about sharing love with one another. So, let’s consider together, some more of how we do this.
 
In Mark’s Gospel reading for us today, the Pharisees pose to Jesus a trick question. It’s a trick because the answer is both yes and no. Yes, human law does allow for divorce. No, God’s law does not allow for it. And that’s because God’s law is rooted in the value of the relational humanity God created.
 
Now, right off the bat, we can get into a whole bunch of questions. Questions, unlike what the Pharisees pose, are not meant to be trick questions necessarily but ones that come from genuine desires to understand God’s will amid the real circumstances we’re living in. What about this kind of situation? What about that one? What if there’s abuse? What if you’re constantly disrespected? What if you’ve been betrayed? What if you can’t stop fighting?
 
Exactly, there are cases where divorce is the healthiest step to take for the well-being of both spouses. That doesn’t mean that’s what God intended or hopes for us. And, this both yes and no answer, is a reminder to us that the creation of a covenant and the dissolution of a covenant should never be made lightly or rashly, but with great respect and care.

For those of us tracking the headlines over the last few weeks, we’ve all had visceral reactions to what’s been displayed related to the latest nomination and confirmation for the Supreme Court. One phrase in particular has really stuck with me – a wish that Renate Dolphin made when she said she hoped that the daughters of Brett Kavanaugh and a bunch of his high school classmates were never treated the way they treated her, and her reputation, in their yearbook.
 
I think this stuck with me most because I’ve known men and women who deeply wish they had made better choices in the past about how they treated other people, and the lasting harm they created in people’s lives. How it never occurred to them how they would have to show up a social or work events down the road, and have to look those people in the eye again – if they had the courage – or shake hands and look their family members in the eye.
 
See Ms. Dolphin says she had no idea about statements made about her before now. At one point she says,
 
“If this report is true, I am profoundly hurt. I did nothing to deserve this. There is nothing affectionate or respectful in [this] … It is heartbreaking if these guys who acted like my friends in high school were saying these nasty, false things about me behind my back.”
 
It’s the kind of revelation that forces a person to rethink every friendship, every date, every interaction. In response Judge Kavanaugh said those statements really were poor attempts at expressing inclusion of someone they cared about. But it does not feel caring to her. And to underscore this, Ms Dolphin simply said I hope their daughters are never treated this way.
 
That’s a thing for all of us, isn’t it? Most of us, in junior high and high school, rarely if ever image some day having to recount or account for our past experiences with children who we teach, coach, or are raising. Unless we have adult mentors in school or church or our neighborhoods, coming alongside us and encouraging us to treat our peers in ways we stand by with integrity down the road, we’re left to our own imaginations and hormones. Without a caring community around us in our adolescence, encouraging us toward healthy choices along the way, it’s far too easy to make a lot of mistakes and cause a lot of hurt.
 
In ancient times, the law for harming another person in any way, according to God’s standard for valuing human life, was life for life. For example, in Leviticus 24:20, the Bible says, 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury. This is not about revenge, this is about value. The full godly value of what was taken needed to be honored. You take an eye, you better be prepared to give an eye. 
Goodness! Think about that for a moment. We’re so many years – millennia – from when these notions were first made, so far removed from the essence of what’s at stake here. It may take a moment to really take it in.

Imagine if every time you robbed yourself – in some way, you took away from the value of yourself – or your robbed someone else of their inherent value in any way, and you had to atone for it in equal measure of value. What would that mean? Could you truly account for every harm you’ve ever caused yourself or another person?
 
I’ll let you sit with that for a bit, and we’ll come back to it. First though, let’s look at the Book of Leviticus a little more. Essentially, is the book of the first priests or pastors of Israel. It’s a record of the ritual practices that assist a person in achieving forgiveness. So, for example, one of ways they tried to solve the challenge of how impossible it was to provide a tooth for a tooth, was to provide symbolic offerings of life to be sacrificed at the altar by the priests. So, birds, lambs, goats, were all given various levels of symbolic meaning. Then, depending on a trespass you committed, you could seek redemption by offering a measure of life in response to the trespass you made against yourself or others. So, instead of coming to the communion table today, you would be coming to the sacrificial altar to atone for any wrong you have made, or for any wrong you could possibly make, even by the germs you carry due to any number of types of activities you may have recently been involved.
 
Levi is the father of the Levite tribe, Moses’ tribe. Aaron, Moses’ brother, became the first priest and for many following generations, the Levites, particularly the Aaronites, served as the priests of the Temple.
 
It’s interesting that this is the family that becomes the priestly family. Levi knew well how hard it is to atone for the ways you have brought pain to others, especially to your family and your land. See, Levi is one of the twelve sons of Jacob. And he’s one of the three sons – he and two full brothers Reuben and Simeon – who Jacob did not bless before he died. Reuben had strongly offended his father, and Simeon and Levi had betrayed their father by massacring a town they had recently settled in. The brothers led a charge in killing all of the men of the town and taking the women and children and all of the livestock for their own. They did this in reaction, in a heat of passion, after hearing about a man who had slept with their sister Dinah. And, it’s noteworthy that the town they destroyed would go on to become part the future Samaritan community of the New Testament.
 
The Bible provides no details about how Levi went from being essentially cast out by Jacob to becoming the tribe of the priestly family. Some Rabbi scholars speculate that Levi, as opposed to Simeon, at some point recognized the great pain he had caused and worked to seek forgiveness, reconciliation, and repent. They believe that is how his family could become leaders in the activity of atonement.
 
We all know how difficult the work of reconciliation really is. In fact, I have a hunch that recognizing how difficult that work may be part of the epidemic rates of anxiety that permeate our society today. People are so fearful of failing, of somehow doing it wrong, or messing up – in their work and in their home, as a parent or as a caregiver of another person. Our society shares more publically about our fears of failure as well as our opinions of what ought to happen to anyone who fails in any way. We share these far more than we share examples and opinions about how to reconcile and repair brokenness. For example, what might Ms Dolphin’s peers do to atone for how they treated her in the past
 
In the pastoral counseling that I do, I often sit with people when they feel the worst has happened in their lives – their burnout caused significant problems at work or at home, there’s been an act of violence or abuse, there’s been an affair. I get brought in, in particular, when these events occur among the leadership of an organization. The work I do focuses on helping the remaining organizational leaders figure out what to do with all the brokenness and how to reconcile out of all the pain and hurt.
 
When I consider all the broken pieces that people I work with face, along with the standard the Old Testament holds for atoning for any wrong – life for life – it can feel impossible to meet that standard. Again and again I am so deeply grateful for Jesus’ saying, Enough. One more. There will be one more life, offered on behalf of every person who has caused destruction in this world.
 
The result? Not only our salvation, but this. We do not gather around a sacrificial altar today. We are not bringing symbolic life to be sacrificed on your behalf. It’s done.
 
We are called to live with this truth at the forefront of our lives. We have been forgiven. So repent. Go and sin no more. And if you sin, repent. Go and sin no more. Repent. Go in the other direction. If you were not about valuing yourself or the people around you, value yourself and the people around you.  
 
Keeping all this in mind, as we turn to our New Testament passage for today, you can almost feel Jesus’ exasperation talking to the Pharisees and the disciples, can’t you? You’re not getting it. It’s not about whether divorce is ok or not. It’s about, are you treating the human being in front of you with their God-given inherent value? Are you treating them that way, in your mind and in your heart, and not just with your words or actions? We might add, are you treating other people with value when they are not in front of you, when you’re in the locker room or with your girlfriends? When you’re on your computer.
 
Are you treating the children in front of you – whether they are your own or not – with their God-given inherent value?

See, receiving the Kingdom as a child is not just about taking on a childlike perspective of awe and wonder and belief. It’s also about actually receiving the Kingdom within the children in front of us. It’s recognizing that the Kingdom of God is at hand, right here among us. We are in the midst of creating it together. That’s the tremendous, incredible gift God has given us. That we get to co-create the Kingdom of God together, relationship by relationship.
 
Friends, this sermon, or the headlines, or any other way God may be prompting you, may be bringing up for you ways you have not valued yourself or others in the way that God calls us to, ways you need to seek forgiveness, participate in reconciling, or repenting. I encourage you, during our time for communion today, to take time to be in prayer. You may write some things down, or just quietly bow your head. And just to not call anyone out, if you’re not necessarily feeling prompted by anything in particular, you could go ahead and bow your head too if you wanted and just be in prayer for other things. If you are being prompted, go ahead and take time to confess, to acknowledge the hurt coming up that you may have participated in causing. Be grateful for the forgiveness that Jesus has already offered you. And ask God to show you how you can help to make things better or to go in a more healthy direction going forward. Above all, may you be blessed this morning. Knowing you are deeply loved by God. And the ways we trespass against ourselves and one another, thank God, are not the end of the story.  Amen.
 
 

Malachi - 3:1-6
 
See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?
For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; 3 he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
5 Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.
6 For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished.
 
Luke 1:68-79
 
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
    for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.
69 He has raised up a mighty savior for us
    in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71     that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
72 Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
    and has remembered his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
    to grant us 74 that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness
    before him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
    for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
    by the forgiveness of their sins.
78 By the tender mercy of our God,
    the dawn from on high will break upon us,
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
    to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
 

Good morning! Thank you for having me again. It’s good to be together for worship, especially in this Advent season of waiting together.
 
As we continue to set ourselves to intentionally wait together, we call one another to be on the look out, while we’re waiting, for signs of what is coming. Signs, for example, of Peace. And signs of those calling out in the wilderness.
 
We, of course, have the benefit of the story. We’re not just waiting for the first time. Many of us have come to this time of Advent for years and years. It’s a story, that we have heard throughout all of our lives, and that our parents and grandparents heard throughout their lives. It’s ingrained in us and in our family lines. For others of us here, though, it’s a new story. Or a story that’s only been heard in bits and pieces, or at a distance. Whether it’s new or old, it’s helpful for all of us to see how we can hear it fresh again, and consider just what it might have been like to be waiting especially back in the time of our Scripture readings.
 
We find ourselves this morning, in particular, hearing the words of the prophet Malachi and the words of the priest Zechariah.
 
Now, you might think, at the first hearing of Malachi this morning that he may have been talking to the general public. Perhaps, one of those prophets who sat out in the public square or at the gate of the city, calling out to passersby. But really, when Malachi first spoke these words, Malachi was speaking directly to the priests of the Temple – kind of like the pastors of that day, so to people like me, or Erik, or Marvel, or Anne, or Gordy. To the clergy. He may also have been one of them. In this case, the clergy of that time, had watched how the people no longer really cared much about how to practice their faith. They no longer really watched or paid much attention to how things went during the services and sacrificial practices. So, since no one was really looking and no one really seemed to care any more, the priests started cutting corners. For example, instead of a healthy first born animal required for a proper sacrifice, they would use a lame animal. And nobody knew any wiser. Except, Malachi says, God. God knew. And God became fed up with the lies and cheating and cutting corners. And so, directly before the words for us this morning, Malachi says to the priests:

Know, then, that I [God] have sent this command to you [the priests] that my covenant with Levi [your ancestor, your founding father] may hold… My covenant with him was a covenant of life and well-being…. A covenant of life and well-being. Now, if you were here when I preached last time, a few weeks ago, you may recall me talking about Levi then and the book of Leviticus. And you may recall how the essence of the law of God in Leviticus is life for life. That’s why there were animal sacrifices in the beginning – because we could never fully atone for the all bits of life we rob from ourselves and one another every day through all manner of intentional or unintentional carelessness. So, [This covenant, God says, according to Malachi] I gave [to Levi]; [and] this [covenant] called for reverence, and he [Levi] revered me and stood in awe of my name. Now, you may recall me also saying last time, that this is the same Levi from Genesis. The same Levi who did not receive his father Jacob/Israel’s blessing because he and his brother murdered all the men in an entire town. It’s in Genesis 34, you can read it. [Pause, curious] The same Levi. God says, according to Malachi, 6 True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in integrity and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. Levi. If this is not an example of hope for all of us, I don’t know what is. Take a moment, and take it in. What was the process Levi went through to move from a young adult, probably barely 20, who could be so incited as to manipulate and destroy an entire group of people, and take the women and children captive, and to transform into the person Malachi describes as so closely connected to God. What is the repentance and healing work that goes on there to bring such a transformation about? Really consider this. Because it’s what’s a part of the whole line, from Genesis to the Gospels. That transformational process – early on with Levi, and then through Levi’s descendants, like in Malachi, and then in the Gospel of Luke. It’s a big part of this whole season of waiting. We might even ask here . . . what is it that God is calling you toward, how is God nudging you toward refinement? Nudging you inside, or providing signs all around you. How is God encouraging your refinement? And it may not be just about what you’ve been doing wrong. It may be how God wants you to grow more, or expand more of what you have the potential to do well.  
 
See, I’ve been trying to figure something important out . . . in our Gospel passage, we hear some of Zechariah’s first words after having been mute for nearly a year. And he’s mute because the Angel Gabriel says he doubted Gabriel’s words. Now, that has always seemed really harsh to me, especially since Scripture says before that moment Zechariah was blameless. I also had mostly heard this part of Scripture preached as kind of a cautionary tale about how you need to be so careful that you don’t doubt God. But I don’t think that’s what’s going on here. Whether it’s a chastisement for not believing and obeying Gabriel’s words, it’s clear that Zechariah benefited from pondering quite a bit while waiting for the birth of his son. Pondering, perhaps, what it has meant to him to be a priest, or for he and his wife, and now John, to all be descendants of Levi. He would have had time to review the Scriptures he had been given in silence, including Malachi, and to remind himself about how God, according to Malachi, says, 7 The lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. Perhaps he was reminded about how Malachi warns how you [priests] have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi . . . you have wearied me with your words of where is God’s justice?
 
And this is the exact moment where we find our words in Malachi for us today: I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight [but have tarnished] —indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But can you endure it?
For he will purify you, clergy, Zechariah, the descendants of Levi, and refine you until you present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. I wonder, did it make Zechariah consider not only himself, but his fellow priests and Pharisees, and the whole community?
According to Malachi, God says, Then I will draw near… I will be swift to bear witness, to testify. 6 For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished.
 
If he did review these Scriptures, Zechariah would have heard the very sentiments of the Angel Gabriel echoed in them. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God, Gabriel said, and With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
Then, the Gospel says, the time finally came for Elizabeth to give birth. And on the eighth day, the day of circumcision, many neighbors and relatives were rejoicing at the birth of the baby and in their joy assumed the baby’s name would be Zechariah after his father. But Elizabeth said, No, his name will be John. They didn’t believe her. After all, they said, you have no John’s in your family. Why would you pick a name that’s not in your family. So, they asked Zechariah, who still could not talk and who motioned for a slate and he wrote the name John. And at that moment, his mouth was freed and he immediately praised God. And people became afraid and felt that surely the hand of God was upon this child. And Zechariah began to sing!
 
Blessed be the Lord!
 
He has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors and has remembered his covenant!  
 
That we might serve without fear.
 
After all that time waiting and pondering, what flowed from Zechariah was the reminder that priests are messengers and guardians of the knowledge of the forgiveness of sins, and a blessing for John to fulfill that mission too. A mission to deliver the message to all those who have ears to hear, eyes to see, and hearts to recognize that, by God’s mercy, the dawn breaks into the dark night . . . that sin is not the end of the story, and that there is light coming to all of those who find themselves sitting in darkness or in the valley of the shadow of death. Light that leads us all in the way of peace.
 
And now, hear this last word, as Protestants, we do not believe that any ordained person goes to the feet of God on any other’s behalf, but that we ourselves – each and every one of us, can have our own direct relationship with God. We believe only one person has the power to atone for another, and that is Jesus Christ. So, with Christ’s death and resurrection, we believe Christ made the way complete for what we call the priesthood of all believers. That he made the way for all of us to have the kind of relationship he had with Levi. A transformational relationship of healing. A relationship that embodied a covenant of life and well-being. It is not magic and it is not easy. But it is a covenant for all of us to claim, both with reverence and joy, especially as we, just as Levi, Malachi, Zechariah, and Elizabeth did before us, take time to consider the fullness of all that is coming. Amen. 

Psalm 148
 
Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
    praise him in the heights above.
2 Praise him, all his angels;
    praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
3 Praise him, sun and moon;
    praise him, all you shining stars.
4 Praise him, you highest heavens
    and you waters above the skies.
5 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
    for at his command they were created,
6 and he established them for ever and ever--
    he issued a decree that will never pass away.
 7 Praise the Lord from the earth,
    you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
8 lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
    stormy winds that do his bidding,
9 you mountains and all hills,
    fruit trees and all cedars,
10 wild animals and all cattle,
    small creatures and flying birds,
11 kings of the earth and all nations,
    you princes and all rulers on earth,
12 young men and women,
    old men and children.
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
    for his name alone is exalted;
    his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.
14 And he has raised up for his people a horn,
    the praise of all his faithful servants,
    of Israel, the people close to his heart.
Praise the Lord.

Colossians 3:12-17
 
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.


What a great time to consider again what’s most meaningful to us, to consider in what ways we want to be well, and where are the best sources for goodness. Perhaps, not entirely unlike our Colossian siblings in our passage this morning. The passage comes from a letter to one of the earliest churches in Colossae, a community about 100 miles from Ephesus, along the Mediterranean. Paul is writing to a church with whom he has a relationship and also has been hearing concerns about how they have been influenced by common practices of their day. They had come to incorporate rituals in their worship services and in their teachings that focused also on other types of gods than only on the Living God.

Paul is reminding them of what is true and good, and advising them on what practices will help them keep focused on their individual and community health and well-being. And these words continue to be helpful for us today, especially as we too can find ourselves distracted by many influences around us. Moreover, the passage that immediately follows the one for us this morning can sometimes cause people concern today, particularly when Paul says for wives to submit to their husbands. This one phrase too often has been taken out of context, used as a weapon to shame wives or husbands, or used as evidence of how unrealistic and harmful the Bible can be. I encourage you, especially after this morning, to consider the passage that follows about Christian households to be read within the context it was written. It not only was written to a church filled with people struggling to find order and goodness in their lives, but also within a chapter focused on cultivating Love within and all around us.

So, now, let us turn to our Word for us today. And, if you were looking for motivation to get New Years’ started off on the right foot, I’m not sure you could find a better encouragement than this one. I’m tempted to simply repeat it and end with an “Amen.” So tempted, that I think in fact, this nudging I feel to repeat these words a few times would be good for all us.

There is a beautiful form of Scriptural meditation, which some of you may be familiar with, called Lectio Divina. Lectio Divina is a Latin phrase which means Divine Reading. The Order of the Carmelites, a Christian brother and sisterhood founded many centuries ago in the ancient community of Carmel and still very active today, describes Lectio Divina as “a way of reading the Scriptures [in stages] whereby we gradually let go of our own agenda and open ourselves to what God wants to say to us.” It’s an intentional process of letting our internal stirrings, and the wide range of distractions all around us, fall away, so we can focus as best we can on God’s Word alone.  
 
The first stage is Reading, which we have done already. If you were to conduct this practice on your own, you might consider reading a small passage aloud once to yourself.  The second stage is Reflection. In this stage, we read or listen to the passage again, and this time “we think about the text we have chosen and ruminate upon it so that we take from it what God wants to give us.” In essence, you wait to see if a word, phrase, or sentence in particular stand out to you for any reason. Then, the third stage is Response, where we read or listen to the passage a third time and this time commit to leaving our thinking aside. We focus in this stage on letting our hearts, more than our minds, speak to God. What do we feel or sense from our Reflection? What is we want to share with God in Response to our Reflection?
 
The final stage of Lectio Divina is Rest. In this stage, we read or listen to the passage one last time and commit to let go not only of our own ideas, plans and meditations but also of what we think we should be thinking or saying from our religious teachings, upbringings, or assumptions. We allow the Word of God to wash over us and rest there. From the deepest level of our being, we listen to God-with-us, Emmanuel, who speaks within us in a still, small voice. Those who practice Lectio Divina regularly say that as we listen, we gradually become transformed from within and we then are encouraged to take what we read in the Word of God into our daily lives.

Those in the Order of the Carmelites remind us how these “stages of Lectio Divina are not fixed rules of procedure but simply guidelines” as to how this prayerful form of reading Scripture tends to develop. “Its natural movement is towards greater simplicity, with less and less talking and more listening.”
I wonder if, especially as we approach this New Year, or even as we consider the journey of the heart and soul the Wise Men took to enable them then to physically travel across many lands in search of what the Star might reveal, if we might conduct a version of Lectio Divina here this morning together. As we consider the New Year, the Wise Men’s journey, might we consider our passage today in a way that allows us to listen carefully to the Word of God together?
 
As we have already read the passage once, let us now reflect. I will read the passage once more, and as I do listen for what God draws your attention toward – perhaps a particular word, a phrase, or a sentence. Consider jotting it down or just letting it linger in your heart.
 
Hear the Word of God for you this morning:
Colossians 3:12-17
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
 
What has God brought to your attention this morning? Sit with it for a bit. Wonder about it. Does it seem fitting? Is it strange? Is it comforting? Or a challenge? How does it make you think of yourself, your relationship with God, or your relationship with others? In what way is the still, small voice of God speak tenderly to your soul this morning?
 
Now, even as you may still be reflecting on our passage today, and the word, phrase, or sentence that God has brought to your attention, hear this passage again. And this time, in a time of silence following this third reading, take time to prayerfully respond to God. You can do so quietly in your heart or by writing your response down. You are invited in this time of silence to allow your heart to speak to God based on your reflection. What did you feel or sense? Share that with God following this next reading. Hear now the word of God for you this morning from the Letter to the Colossians:
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
 
[Silence]
 
Hmmm . . . you feel your heart continuing to want to converse with God, I encourage you to continue the conversation throughout today and into this week. And I hope, whether you are familiar with Lectio Divina or this is a new practice for you, that you are reminded this morning of how we Christians believe that the Bible is not only the Inspired Word of God, not only a sacred text passed down through the faithful across the ages, but also is what we call the Living Word – in other words, God speaks to each of us, directly, through the Bible, and we are invited to listen, reflect, respond, and rest in God’s word for us now, today. We recognize, along with our forefathers and foremothers, how we do not need to simply accept the Word given, but that we, too, are invited to engage with God through this Word.
 
So, let us now come to the end of this practice this morning. Let us now allow distractions to fall away, put aside the pressures we feel or put on ourselves, and relieve ourselves of whatever expectations or assumption we may make for what it means to be Christian, and let us focus just on God’s Word of us this morning. Let us rest in this Word. Hear the Word of God for you:
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
 
This is the Word of the Lord. [Thanks be to God.]
Mmm, yes, thanks be to God. The God who loves you, as a dear child, the God who loves you and your household, the God who loves your church community.  With gratitude, consider what changes you experienced in attending to God’s Word this morning: what you thought about, how your spirit moved, what you felt, what was evoked in you, and the ways you sensed being called to respond and to rest. May you be blessed as you continue to encounter the Living God through God’s Word. Amen.