Home Sermons Sermon Matthew 2:1 - 12

Sermon Matthew 2:1 - 12

(preached at EM and DC on January 3, 2010) So the January blast of cold air has arrived as expected and Christmas trees are starting to come down. But I know that Christmas is just beginning in some of your homes with Ukrainian Christmas coming up this week. And that’s wonderful because Christmas is not just a one-day event on December 25th. Contrary to what the world will claim, there are really 12 days to the Christmas season and we’re only in day 9 of those 12 days. Christmas ends on January 6th which is called The Epiphany. And not only are we in The Epiphany but we just celebrated the arrival of a new year 2010, and a new year that came from a blue moon and begins with a blue moon, something that only happens every 19 years I’m told (perhaps there is something interesting in the stars this year). And we also just celebrated the beginning of the 2nd decade of the 21st century. And today is my last Sunday with you at Valley Pastoral Charge. So today feels like an intersection of sorts where quite a few things are happening at once. It took me some time to figure out how I was going to say what I need to say today. I knew I needed to say something about our ending. But I also wanted to say something about our beginning. I discovered as I read more and more of the scriptural story of the three wise ones that this story is also our story. So that is how I want to begin. The story of the Wise Men is such a wonderful story. 1. A band of scholars begin on a long journey after they notice a special star in the sky, and they follow it to Jerusalem. And the first thing they do is ask for directions, to the Child who is born King of the Jews. King Herod consults the smart intellectual people who go and search the Bible and they find the answer in Micah 5:2 and Herod returns to the wise people with the answer: The child is in Bethlehem. And so the Three Wise Men pack up all their stuff again and follow the star to Bethlehem where they watch the star come to a full stop over a stable. Their journey comes to an end when they see the Christ child. That is the journey part of the story. 2. And God is in the story too, but God is never mentioned. God seems to act mysteriously in the background flinging stars into the sky and directing them to move and to stop. 3. And then there is the leaving part. After the Wise Men see the Christ child, and worship the child, and offer gifts they begin their journey home, changed and transformed, leaving a different way than they came. This Story is Our Story Too 1. The story of the Wise Men is our story too because we too have begun on a long journey of faith. I have had the privilege of sharing 2 ½ years of your journey with you, as your minister. And they have been my first 2 ½ years of ministry. You have given me the amazing gift of work that has been meaningful, important, challenging, and faithful. Settlement is a unique calling for a congregation and it demands a lot from a congregation. Thank you! Today that part of our faith journeys come to an end and our paths separate. After today you are under the loving care of Bob and Myrna, who will love you and care for you (as they have done). And that makes my leaving so much easier. 2. The story of the Wise Men is our story too because just like God is present with the Wise Men, God is here with us too, who knows--perhaps flinging stars into the sky as well or else placing burning bushes in our paths, for someone to notice. God has blessed me in spades these 2 ½ years. There were times when doubts crept in and those were the times God sent people to remind me of my calling as the minister I was becoming. I received a beautiful card from someone right at the exact time I needed a boost. I remember one week when guilt was creeping in because I wasn’t given the time I needed to visit someone at their home and I found this note on my desk: “Barbara: Guilt-free tea for you!” This person had no idea of my trouble that week, but God sure did and God moved in with God’s beautiful steadfast love through this person. Some of you have given me a soft place to fall. There have been times when Bob and Myrna have offered their soft pastoral shoulders to cry onto. And God sent children. I wish you could see what I see when we sing Halle Halle Halle in the worship service. It’s like God’s Holy Spirit hovers in the sanctuary and is poured out in gushing streams over the children and they sing every single word of that glorious song (adults too). I could go on. 3. The story of the Wise Men is our story too because we too are leaving today changed. Someone said to me that Valley Pastoral Charge has had so many ministers. We leave our mark on them and they leave their mark us. I can’t tell you if or how I have left my mark on you but you most surely have left your mark on me. I am leaving today by a different way from when I arrived here 2 ½ years ago. Being at seminary has formed me as a minister, But being in my first settlement charge here at Valley has formed me even more as a minister. I leave with greater confidence in my role as a minister among ministers of Christ. I leave with more of a sense that I don’t know much about anything, and there’s great wisdom in that. Although I have a ways to go, I find that I now assume less and less, which allows God to move more freely among us all. I leave with a clearer road ahead. Although my experience as a minister will continue to shape and change me, it is clear that some of the fog has been lifted. I have discovered that I want to work with youth and with struggling congregations, (but with one congregation at a time). I leave with gratitude and a feeling of being tremendously blessed by these past 2 ½ years. I will not stop loving you, but I have to by necessity stop our relationship. I believe Bev Ward made it very clear to you when she left, that when a minister leaves, a minister must leave! And as I take my leave, I’d like to begin my journey home by leaving a blessing for you. A Blessing to Valley Pastoral Charge May the hand of a friend always be near. May the stories of your ancestors be kept alive in you, by telling and retelling them in places where friends, neighbors, and families meet. May there always be work for your hands to do. May the spirit of youth continue to energize your church Board, and enliven your worship service. May God continue to lift you up when you stumble, and may you know deeply that God’s glory and grace come to you in the trying, not in the finished product. May your porches always hold pickling salt for icy days. May your dike continue to keep floodwaters away from your doorsteps. May the Manitoba winters bless you, even when they are followed by an ice storm, a snowstorm, a second snowstorm, a flood, a crest, ice jams, and a second crest (especially then!) May you continue to love all manner of people, even the grumpy ones. May humour and laughter continue to bless you, even when you discover soft brown bananas leaking in your purse (p.s. ask Bev Kirkpatrick). May singing and lusty piano playing continue to raise the glory of God in your sanctuaries. May the blessing of pot luck dinners never be far from wherever you are. May the Sunday morning bells of your churches continue to call all saints and sinners near and far to fill up your sanctuaries. May the vocation of farming bless you through its living-out-in-faith, even when the prices of grain and beef remain unfair. May God who dwells among you, make love visible in all places of your homes and your town. May pilgrims who meet you on your journey of faith hold a candle for you, to lighten all your dark places. May 2010 be for you, a year of hope, peace, joy, and love! With great love! from Barbara