Sunday, January 15, 2017

Moving WHILE Abiding*

January 15th Homily given at St. Stephen's, New Harmony, Indiana
(click here for video)
2nd Sunday after Epiphany
Isaiah 49:1-7, Psalm 40, 1 Corinthians 1:1-9, John 1:29-42


This gospel reading from John
I have to say it has an almost physical effect on me
Perhaps you felt it too

There is a lot of movement going on
…a lot of feet are moving around
‘from here to there’

And Its not only movement in the Gospel
But in the other readings too

In Isaiah
I hear God ‘coming towards’
Before I was even born
God came close enough to call me
Close enough to my ear for me to hear.
While I was still in the womb
God named me
He gave me a specific identity…gave me a destiny

In the Psalm
Again we hear God
Moving towards
‘he stooped to me and heard my cry’
the psalmist sings
he came towards me
lifting me and setting my feet…planting them
coming towards me so that I might be pointed in the right direction
coming towards me to put a song in my mouth
what a beautiful image
giving me a song
that my speaking…my singing
like my feet
might also be set and grounded

And in the letter to the Corinthians
“…Grace to you and Peace…from God
God again, comes towards
But now this ‘coming towards’
Has become the vocation of all Christians
Through the Body of Christ…through us
         God continues to come towards

In the Gospel
this sense of movement
This ‘coming towards’ starts right away

-John the Baptist saw Jesus coming towards him
-then JTB’s juggling around of 
who comes before and who comes after…again movement
-then the movement of the Spirit descending
-Then Jesus walks by…John witnesses,
         and the two disciples follow
presumably they are now          
walking with Jesus
-then a quick question and answer
         they are on the move to ‘come and see’
- Andrew finds Peter…
he didn’t stand around and wait for Peter to come by
…Andrew is on the move
-and he physically ‘brought’ Simon Peter to Jesus

Trying to picture this
How might I I act this out?
…to stage it…put little marks on the floor indicating
         the progression of my steps

In the midst of all this dizzying movement
John…The Gospel writer John
With careful deliberateness
Uses the word MENO
Over and over again
MENO
5 times in 4 verses
It is a favorite word throughout John’s Gospel
It has layers of meaning
To remain, stay, rest or my favorite…abide

I feel a bit like a yo-yo
You know that yo-yo trick
‘walking the dog’?

you go up and down a few times
and then you make the yo-yo stay down
spinning all the while
Until…with a slight move of the wrist
It comes zipping back up
On the move
AND staying at the same time

So what is it Jesus?
Being on the move
Or
Remaining, abiding, resting?
And if it’s both
How does that work?

I certainly feel that same tension in the world around us
BONO, the lead singer for U2
Has a famous refrain
“and I still haven’t found what I’m looking for”
He gets at a pretty universal angst
But how do we find it?
In the music video everyone is
         Dancing around…constantly on the move
Looking…can be exhausting

That’s when the ideal of the contemplative life
Seduces me
That’s what I need
I need to learn how to sit still
Sit still and listen

I want to find all the answers
Before I can move out and invite someone into my world
My guess is we can all get stuck
… in the preparation
Decisions to Marry
To begin a family
To switch jobs
To retire
Will I ever get on with it???

And getting stuck
staying-remaining in that place
not moving
is weirdly exhausting too
So what is it?
Do I stay
Do I move on
Do I do both

The Gospel offers something to us about living
Both ‘on the move’
And all the while…’abiding’

God is always coming towards
Our Christmas season is
The celebration of God With Us
…Immanuel
A celebration of God relentless ‘coming towards’
In human flesh
In time
In history
In particularity
In Jesus of Nazareth

And this season of Epiphany
Continues to celebrate
God coming towards
Bursting in on us
…into on our world

In this first chapter of the Gospel of John
Jesus comes towards
We catch a glimpse…physically and spiritually
There is something magnetic going on
Jesus comes towards
The disciples have just a morsel of knowledge
Most likely they are more bewildered than anything else
But they follow

Even as they follow
I get the sense that Jesus is always facing them
Like a tour guide
He turns around and walks backwards
We always get to see his face

Okay gang
Glad you are following
Checking to make sure you are on the right tour
What is it you’re looking for?
Oh
That will cost you;)
Come and See

And the disciples begin their trek with Jesus
They begin their move by abiding with him
They begin their trek
Their search to ‘find what they are looking for’
By being BOTH ‘On the Move’
AND abiding

And we…those who are reading the Gospel of John
From this side of the cross
Who have been hearing the gospel for years
We know
We know where Jesus abides
He abides in the Father
He and the Father are one

We abide in Christ
And to the extent that that is true
We can move and abide at the same time

I like the way St. Paul says it in Galatians (2:20)
I live now
No longer I
But Christ lives in me

How liberating that must be
It is what JTB is doing today…isn’t it?
He’s always pointing to Jesus
NO…don’t look at me…at least don’t stop there…
See my finger…follow my finger
Look through me…See Jesus…he’s the ONE

A little over a year ago
I came here…I was invited here…to St Stephen’s
I came to see
And what I saw
And what I continue to see
Is a small and alive community of people
Who abide

It is an authentic abiding
One that gets and keeps moving
To the Kuntzfest
to the food pantry
to Jacobs village
to the soup kitchen

I can’t possibly remember all
the moving done around here
It is evidenced in the weekly announcements…
They are your story

My observation
Is that your abiding
And your moving
points beyond yourselves
And is grounded in the Body of Christ
At work in the world

But I wonder if we too polite?
Do we find it hard to invite others into our communities of faith?
I know that I am
I want others to just come
And then, oh then…for sure…
I will be so so welcoming

Today, I sense in the Gospel
a renewed call to take on
A bit more of that movement ‘towards’
I feel a bit of a push to turn around
And act a bit more the tour guide
And Walk backwards…facing people
Saying…‘Come and See’

The Collect prayer has us pray:
Grant to us your people
Who have been illumined by your Word
Grant that we may shine with radiance

YOU
Fine people of St. Stephen’s
You can say
…Shout even
‘Come and See’
because you shine
…there is plenty to see
…plenty to come to know
from abiding here
with all of you
here…at 512 Granary Street


Thanks be to God!

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