0121 Reflection -- 1 Corinthians 7:29-31

                     Sunday 21 January 2018
The Third Sunday after the Epiphany

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1 Corinthians 7:29-31 (NRSV)
I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

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It feels like this reading ought to be in Advent and not in between Epiphany and Lent. And yet there is a message that is always good to hear in this reading. Paul is challenging our priorities. This reading is stressing a focus on the eternal things in the midst of things temporal. It reminds me of the reprimand of Jesus following the feeding of the multitudes in John 6 when he teaches: "Strive for the bread that lasts." What are we focused on and striving for that which lasts forever?

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                                          Fr. Timothy Alleman

0121 Reflection -- Jonah 3:1-5, 10

                     Sunday 21 January 2018
The Third Sunday after the Epiphany

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Jonah 3:1-5, 10 (NRSV)
The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

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I love the whole book of Jonah. This reading is wonderful. But this is not going to be a Sunday to even think of Jonah as a preaching option given the fact that the following week I will be starting a preaching series on a whole list of Old Testament Easter Vigil readings as Lent and the old pre-Lent are days of preparation to keep the Paschal Feast. So Jonah will appear soon!

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                                          Fr. Timothy Alleman

B18 First Sunday of Christmas [31 Dec '17]

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                    •••••••••• John 1:1-18
                    •••••••••• Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7
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John never refers to the child Jesus, but he does speak of Jesus as Son of God. But the Evangelist does speak of children. And who are these multiple children? John tells us they are those who are born of the Spirit of God, out of the will of God, to be children of God. They have received the gift of the true Light of the World, Jesus Christ, God among us!

We are the children of God. This light has claimed us and revealed us as who we are according to the will of God. Paul speaks powerfully of this truth in the Epistle for this Sunday. He speaks of "the fullness of time" when the unique Son of God was sent by God into the world, born of a woman. And through this holy birth, the apostle proclaims, we as Christians have been adopted as children of God by being joined to Christ.

I absolutely love this imagery of adoption. Part of the reason why this speaks so powerfully to me is because even now as an adult, I cherish the memories of being adopted as a young teenager. The power of that experience is enhanced all the more by the realization that I am basically the same age now that my adopted parents were when they claimed me as their own. I marvel these days in that adoption from both the perspective of a child and of an adult.

The piece of this in which I marvel at the most as an adult is the aspect of grace. It's an element of our adoption as the children of God that often we forget, but never should forget. As sons and daughters of God, we loose sight of the fact that before God we remain as children. What is interesting, though, is that we don't forget this that easily when we think of our human families. I recently saw a television show in which one of the main characters, when faced with the illness and possible death of her mother, made the comment that "when it's your parent, no matter how old you are, it's like you are 6 all over again."

In these Christmas days, I tell you that when we are faced with the reality of being a child of God, it's like we are a newborn child all over again. And when we place ourselves in that manger with Jesus, we encounter something absolutely powerful.

This is powerful because we know that such ones are completely dependent upon parental help. And the beauty of this is found in remebering that God has not failed us. God has not chosen us because of who we are but rather because of who God longs to be for us. God gives us everything that we need to grow day by day as the children of God.

There is great comfort in this. But what do we do with this comfort? Today we find both John and Paul sharing the good news of the adoption of the sons and daughters of God through Jesus. They share this as ones who know keenly that they have been adopted by God and called to share the Light that is Christ with the whole world. They share this light both with those in the faith to encourage the faithful as well as with those who have not yet encountered the light or those who have wandered away from the light and lost their bearings and the identity that God desires for them to embrace. And as they share this light, we are called to share Christ with the faithful, with those who have no faith, and with those who have lost their faith.

We pray for all these ones. The Prayer Book's Prayers of the People Form 5, which we are using at this Mass, include this petition:

       For those who do not yet believe, and for
        those who have lost their faith, that they
           may receive the light of the Gospel, we
                                            pray to you, O Lord.

It's a challenging petition! Simply put, to pray this makes us anxious. If we are honest, the anxiety about this petition is fear that when we pray thus, God will send us to be the ones who spread the light of the Gospel, the awareness of the loving presence of Christ, to these ones who have never heard the faith or who have lost their faith. How often we wish that God would simply send someone else.

But, my friends, where would we be today if we had not received the faithful witness not only of the saints whose names are recorded in Scripture but also those whom we have known face to face in this life who have in word and deed reflected the Light of Christ for us and so many others? Without them, our lives and our identity would be markedly different than they are today.

We know this to be true, and yet all too often we feel utterly unqualified and inept to witness to Christ and share our faith and the difference that Christ has made in us. Remember today that God really does give us everything that we need, especially what we need to be faithful to the will of God.

I have shared this with you many times, but it is worth repeating again. The very reason that I stand before you as a priest of the Church is because at a time when I had rebeled as a teenager and lost the faith, a new friend, another teenager, shared with me her love of her Church and her pastor, both the love she felt and the love she received. She did not intend to draw me in by her sharing, but Jesus did! And so by that faithful witness enabled by Christ the Light of the World, I was drawn to that light and amazed by the warmth and the grace I found in that light.

Friends, there are people all around us in dark places who need to receive the light, who need to be drawn to the awareness of a loving God who longs to adopt them also as children of God. And how shall they be drawn if we are not willing to invite and share.

These ones really do exist right here in Wilkes-Barre. Just a few days ago I spoke with a friend and colleague who is a pastor in a young church here in this city that has intentionally sought out those who have no faith or who have lost their faith. When I became your rector, this church did not exist. Today they average 350 people in worship!

That ought to inspire us to go into the world with confidence and boldness. We should rejoice in this growth even when it happens elsewhere. We should trust that Christ can accomplish this even in our midst. And then we should step out in the world to be the Light of Christ, for we are the children of God who right here and right now are the hands, the feet, the voice and the very heart of Jesus who loves and longs for all persons without exception.

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             ...  Father Timothy Alleman  ...
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NHL at Christmas Day

If the Stanley Cup Playoffs began TODAY...

EASTERN CONFERENCE
New York Islanders vs Tampa Bay Lightning
New York Rangers vs New Jersey Devils
Boston Bruins vs Toronto Maple Leafs
Columbus Blue Jackets vs Washington Capitals

WESTERN CONFERENCE
Anaheim Ducks vs Vegas Golden Knights
Dallas Stars vs St. Louis Blues
Winnipeg Jets vs Nashville Predators
San Jose Sharks vs Los Angeles Kings

Oh, wow!  How exciting would these matchups be!

Just for giggles, my predictions...

Series 1
Lightning over Islanders in a long series...

Series 2
Devils over Rangers in a tough 5-6 game series...

Series 3
Maple Leafs outlast the Bruins...

Series 4
Blue Jackets shock the Capitals...

Series 5
Vegas gets a Series Win over the Ducks...

Series 6
Blues over Stars in a long series...

Series 7
Predators over Jets...

Series 8
Kings outlast Sharks...

SECOND ROUND
Lightning over Maple Leafs
Blue Jackets over Devils
Kings over Golden Knights
Blues over Predators

CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Lightning win Prince of Wales Trophy
Blues win Clarence Campbell Bowl

NHL CHAMPIONSHIP
Blues win Stanley Cup

B18 The Nativity of Our Lord [25 Dec '17]

The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Christmas Day

Homily Text ……… John 1:1-14

I love the First Chapter of John's Gospel. For me, this is the true Christmas Gospel. The Evangelist John portrays a vision of the Christ that so wonderful and beautifully proclaims the identity of the one whose birth we celebrate on this holy day. And what is interesting is that John does this without any mention of the birth itself. For John, nothing is of greater importance than who Jesus is and why he has come among us.

Today I want to focus on a portion of this Gospel as proclaimed in this context of the Feast Day of the Nativity of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ that quite frankly I have never pondered on much until recent days.  In the midst of my reading and preparation to preach, I encountered the question, "Why does John the Baptist appear here in today's Gospel?"

We encounter John as Forerunner who prepares the Way for Messiah in Advent. After these Twelve Days of Christmas are complete, we shall encounter John as Baptist, or rather as Baptizer, who brought Jesus into the waters of Jordan and played a key role in the revealing of Jesus as the unique and eternal Son of God. But today we encounter John in the celebration of the First Advent of Messiah. Only today we are not faced with the Forerunner or the Baptizer. John has a different role on this day.

What then is this role? We encounter John as the Witness who points to the Christ and reveals him for who he is, has ever been, and will be forever. John the Evangelist does not mention the Christ child. And the reason he doesn't, I believe, is because the Evangelist and the Witness both known as John know that the infancy of Christ is but a piece of the story. They each remind us today that in Jesus, the child and the man, we are encountered by God who desires to be known and loved by us even as God has known and loved us long before anyone else.

I thought of John as Witness to the Christ, I could not help but think of the words of the prophet Isaiah that we have heard this day. Isaiah proclaims:

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation..."

Isaiah is speaking of witnesses. The Evangelist John presents us with one such witness. And when these two passages are placed side by side, I cannot help but think that each of these men known as John are those beautiful feet. As witnesses, each of them stand among the people, on the place where the Scriptures of the Old Covenant speak again as the meeting place of God and humans; the mountain. Only this is no longer an actual mountain. The mountain is the whole world into which God the Word has been revealed as God clothed in our humanity, inviting us to enter into the Kingdom of God and rejoice in the nearness of God.

Only, dear friends, John the Evangelist and John the Baptist are not the only witnesses of this Gospel. They are not the only ones who have beautiful feet that take good news, the Word of God, throughout the world. Today these two legends of the Gospel are reminders for us that we who have received both the Gospel of the Birth of Jesus and the Gospel of the Eternal Word of God made flesh, are called to run with them and proclaim them for the sake of the world in our own day and generation. They challenge us to go forth into the world, guided by the Holy Spirit, to make Christ known in all the world, not just today but every day. They call us to share not just the child whose birth we celebrate but also the risen Lord of Lords and King of Kings who is still among us, and ever shall be. We are not merely to keep Christ in Christmas. We are to keep Christ in the world, not only on Holy Days and Sundays, but even on the most ordinary of days when the world might just think our daily celebration of Christ is proof that we have gone mad.

And how we need to speak that daily presence in the most ordinary of days. The celebration of the world, the occasional celebration, all too often leaves many wanting and empty. Perhaps I think of this more than most because again this year the final days of Advent leading up to Christmas have been days in which I have stood beside those overwhelmed with grief and loss, who find it difficult to embrace what the world calls the joy of the season.  For too many, that joy is unattainable. It is unattainable for these ones as long as what is meant by joy is blind happiness that ignores all other emotions and those who cannot express such a facade that is emotionally empty.

But today we do well to remember that Jesus has broken into our midst to be with us always, to laugh with us when we laugh, to cry with us when we cry, to lift us up and to hold us close to the heart of God. We are to witness to this presence of Christ. Our sharing is not merely about a child born to us. Our sharing is chiefly about a God who has come to us, to be with us always, in a way that mirrors the vows taken by a husband and a wife:

"in sickness and in health."

And true joy comes to us, no matter what other emotions may be found alongside it, when we remember that:

"nothing shall separate us from the love of God, not even death."

The Incarnate Word, God of God, Light of Light, True and Very God of True and Very God, holds us in his arms, and will never let us go. Today and every day, may our words and deeds, indeed our very presence in the world, point to this Jesus, witnessing to the love of God that transforms all into what God has imagined that we and they should be before him today and forever.  And when we make that witness, how beautiful are our feet that take the Gospel into the world!

Father Timothy Alleman

B18 Vigil of Christmas [24 Dec '17]

The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Christmas Eve

Homily Text ……… Luke 2:1-20

But the angel said to them,

“Do not be afraid; for see — I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people..."

These are the words with which the angel who appeared to the shepherds watching their sheep began the announcement of the birth of Jesus. Tonight, we gather in the darkness of this night to hear again the announcement of this birth, not as shepherds in the field but rather as sheep in the world.

There is something rather interesting in this greeting that we could easily miss. The Evangelist of this Gospel from which tonight's Gospel is rather unique. The other three Evangelists were beyond any shadow of doubt of the Jewish people. The Church has traditionally said that Luke was in fact a Gentile and not a Jew. And if in fact he was not a Jew, it seems that perhaps Luke might have some agenda for referring to the news of the birth of the Savior of the world as good news.

Luke paints for us a picture in which the power of God is made known in the birth of the Messiah precisely at a time when the Roman Empire was showing its power by demanding a count of all in the region whom they had forced to be under their authority. The Romans did not want the people of Palestine to forget who was in authority.

And here is where things get interesting. Perhaps Luke knew that the Roman Emperor, Caesar, was referenced as "the Savior of the World." The Roman Empire and Caesar spoke of their presence among the people that they had conquered as the salvation of these lands and peoples, and attempted to convince them that they were better off because of the Roman presence among them. So firmly was this believed, in fact, that any proclamation made by Caesar was first heralded as "Good News for All People."

Only, in fact, that proclamation was even stronger. The word used of Caesar's proclamation is the word, "Euangelion." This is the word that is translated in the Scriptures as "Gospel." The Romans truly believed, and wanted all others to believe, that the words of Caesar were Gospel truth from the Savior of the World.

Tonight the Evangelist Luke invites us, as in times of old when the angels invited the shepherds, to behold the true and sole Savior of the World; Jesus.  This invitation is the reminder that the true Gospel is always and only the Word of God known as Jesus, God Incarnate in human flesh, dwelling among us and calling us through his birth, life, death and resurrection, into the one Kingdom that never shall pass away; the Kingdom of God. And how we need to hear that reminder. We may not be under the same set of circumstances as the generation into which Christ was born. And yet tonight, let's be honest with the fact that even today our world is filled with persons who are acclaimed with various titles and praises that sound eerily like Caesar being proclaimed as the Savior of the World. And whenever their proclamations are ascribed to be Good News for the world in a way that sounds like what we say of the Gospel, we need to ask these ones the question of Jesus, who once asked, "Why do you call me good? God alone is good."

Indeed, the Gospel for this night reveals the goodness of God. I say that because this birth is the revealing of God in the flesh. If the son of Mary were just the human son of Mary and of Joseph, dare I say this world in which we live 2,000 years after the birth of that child couldn't care less about this child and wouldn't take the time to commemorate his birth. And whenever we find ourselves as Christians among those who couldn't care less about the Christ even as they rant about the "War on Christmas," we do well to remind them, as Linus did for Charlie Brown, that everything hinges on the birth of Christ, the true Savior of the World.

Only, we need to go even further than Linus. I say that because by this time tomorrow, the world around us, even those who have only a sentimental recognition of the birth of Jesus as a child, will have forgotten everything and put Christmas behind them. But the birth of this child, Jesus, is only the beginning of the Good News. The heart of the Good News lies in the fact that in his birth, life, death and resurrection, Christ fulfills the Law. And what is even more important is that Jesus did not do this for himself. Jesus is the one and only one born of woman who alone is without sin and is in fact not merely good but perfect.

So why did Jesus come to fulfill the Law? He came among us to do what we have never been able to figure out how to do ourselves, and to do it in our place. And remember what the fulfillment of law entails. Jesus himself beautifully and powerfully explained what this fulfilment looks like in the Summary of the Law. Our Prayer Book reminds us of this:

"Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith:

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

Jesus actually did this! In the fullness of the Gospel, we find that at all times Jesus who loves God and neighbor perfectly, even when that neighbor is one who hates him, who mocks and rejects him, who nails him on a cross and puts him to death. Jesus sets for us an example, knowing that without his help we will never be able to do so ourselves, and that without his assistance we will fail. And then Jesus, who is boundless mercy, calls us to go and do likewise, offering us the strength to do so and the forgiveness needed when we fail to do so.

As we give gifts to one another, marking these days of celebration, remember that charge: “Go and do likewise.” Show love for God to God by giving the gift of the love of God to neighbor, no matter who this may be. And when these Twelve Days have passed, keep giving in that way, remembering that our faith is not set on a child but on God. And if we are so bold as to do this, as Jesus has first done in the world and for us, we will be reminded again and again that the Good News of this Night is that Jesus is the Savior of the World, in whose words and presence are found Good News, Gospel, that changes us and the world forever!

Father Timothy Alleman

B18 IV Advent [24 Dec '17]

The Fourth Sunday of Advent

Homily Text … The Gospel

Luke 1:26-38

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “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.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

This Gospel always reminds me of the “story” of a Protestant who died and went to heaven.  Upon his arrival, Jesus greeted the man, presented him to God the Father with the words, “I know you have met my father,” then turning slightly, said, “but I don’t think you have met my mother.”

The final word of Advent points to the Blessed Mother, Mary.  Of all that divides Christians, there is perhaps no greater point of division that separates Christians.  Oh, how well I know this!  I grew up in a very Protestant family in which to be called a “Catholic” was like being cursed at with an appalling, even offensive, degree of vulgarity. At the heart of this was the belief that “those Catholics worship Mary.”

As an Anglican, I know better now than I did then.  We who identify as Catholic don’t worship Mary.  We honor her.  This Gospel contains the very reason we honor this woman.

In these days of Advent, as we prepare to greet Christ at his second coming, we have heard weekly the prophets who foretold the first coming of Messiah.  In today’s Gospel, the message of the prophets reaches the beginning of fulfillment when the Archangel Gabriel pays a visit to Mary.  In this visit, and Mary’s embrace of the angelic message, she becomes the mother of Messiah.  This is the Gospel not only for this day.  It is the Annunciation Gospel, the feast kept on the 25^th day of March, 9 months prior to the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We honor Mary because she embraced the will of God in this moment.  And how incredible it is that she embraced the will of God.  There are plenty of reasons why Mary could have chosen not to accept the message.  Mary, we are told, was probably about 14 at this moment.  In addition to her youth, we are told that she had little that made her worthy of such an honor.  If we read on in the first chapter of Luke, we will find Mary list a whole litany of things in her song of praise while in the home of her cousin Elizabeth that could easily have made her respond with doubt to the angel’s message.  And yet despite all this, Mary did not doubt, but believed, and embraced the message, pondering it in her heart.

This embrace is even more amazing when we read on in this first chapter of Luke and encounter the priest Zechariah, husband of Elizabeth.  Like Mary, he too received a visit and a message from the Archangel Gabriel.  Unlike Mary, his first response was to question how this could be.  And we should note that the message he received should have been more believable that that given to Mary.  Zechariah was told that his barren wife would give birth to a child.  This priest surely would have known well the stories of Sarah, Hannah and other barren women in the Scriptures whose wombs were opened by God who made them mothers in such a way that no other explanation could be given than that this was the work of God.

But the point of this, my friends, is not merely that we would honor Mary for her amazing faith and her willingness to embrace the will of God and ponder the Message of God in her heart.  We honor Mary chiefly as an act of faith through which we are inspired to go and do likewise.

We likely have not received such a grand visitation, but make no mistake about the fact that we have all been given a message and a mission in our own day and generation from God.  In these Advent days, we have been reminded that we are to prepare both ourselves and the world around us for the coming Christ.  We have been called to embrace the truth that the best is yet to come, that the suffering of the world and all that seeks to distract us from God will someday pass away and be no more.  And as we hear these Gospel promises, we need to remember that for many in the world around us, these promises of eternal life free from suffering, sin and death seem to be a fairytale that is as foolish as the thought that a virgin would conceive and give birth to a human child who is both fully God and fully human.

Truly there are those in the world who think we are as foolish as Mary, maybe even more so than her.  Mindful of this, are we bold enough to embrace the wisdom of God that often appears to the world to be foolishness?  Are we courageous enough to step out in faith, pondering the ways of God in our hearts and believing that the promises of God will not fail, even if we have no idea how these things can happen?  The Blessed Mother’s witness should inspire us to embrace the Word of God and the promise of our salvation with her affirmation of faith:

“Here am I, the servant of the Lord;

let it be with me according to your word.”

It might seem difficult, even impossible, to embrace the will of God in our lives as did the Blessed Mother.  And the truth that we need to accept is that this will always be difficult for us as it was for Mary.  Today we look at the Annunciation and the Visitation to Elizabeth.  But remember when we honor Mary and seek inspiration from her living the faith and trusting in God that we look far beyond these moments.  The Gospels present Mary always as one who ponders deeply in her heart what she sees with her eyes and her soul.  We find her reflecting in this way as the shepherds adore her newborn son, as the Wise Men give gifts to the child, as her son sits with the teachers of the Law in the Temple when he is 12, as her son ministers to the multitudes.  We find Mary at the foot of the cross.  We find her among the witnesses of the Resurrection and Ascension, among those who wait for the descent of the Holy Spirit.  We find her as the mother of the apostles whose presence always points others away from herself to Jesus.

Mary could be present at all these moments and ponder all these things because she knew in her heart that God gave her the strength for such moments as these.  And the wonder of our faith is that God has not done this for the Blessed Mother alone.  God gives us the strength to embrace with faith what the world calls foolishness, to ponder the work of God, believing that God never fails us.  Today, as we honor the Blessed Mother, and as we continue to prepare our hearts and those around us to greet Christ with joy, let us point others to Christ and keep our focus on him.  And when we are so focused on Christ, we too will be able to embrace God always, accepting the will of God and moving forward by faith until that day when we shall believe no longer by faith but with sight restored and perfected by him who has trampled down death by death and who bestows upon us his own eternal life.

Father Timothy Alleman