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| "Blessed be the Lord God
of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people
and redeemed them. He has raised up a mighty savior for
us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through
the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we would
be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who
hate us. Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our
ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, the
oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant
us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness
before him all our days. And you, child, will be called
the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before
the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation
to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. By the
tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break
upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and
in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way
of peace." (See also Malachi 3:1-4) |
|
| Luke 1:68-79 |
| Heads up! Usually when someone yells this phrase we look
to the sky to see if we are about to be hit by a flying object.
Is a baseball, football or hockey puck hurling towards us?
We turn toward the sound of the warning and yet we also freeze,
not knowing which way to turn or what to do. In a split second
our minds anticipate being struck and our hearts are pounding,
pulses racing. |
| Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, knew a thing or
two about heart pounding anticipation. He was visited by the
Angel Gabriel while serving his turn as priest in the temple.
Gabriel appeared to him and told him that he and his elderly
barren wife, Elizabeth, would have a son that they were to
name John, who would “make ready a people prepared for
the Lord.” Zechariah froze. Unable to grasp his place
in God’s “head’s up,” unable to take
all the news in, he said to Gabriel, “How will I know
that it is so?” Unlike a heads up to look out for a stray
ball, God’s heads up, God’s call out to us, God’s
look here and pay attention, is intended to call us to prepare
the way for God’s reign. |
| So the angel struck Zechariah mute. It doesn’t seem
fair, he just asked a question! Zechariah was unable to speak
until the day of his son’s birth. When Elizabeth bore
their son, the neighbors wanted to name him Zachariah Jr. Elizabeth
said his name was to be John. They didn’t believe her
so they questioned Zachariah and he wrote, “His name
is John.” That moment he regained his speech. The man
who had only been able to question Gabriel now sang the message
he couldn’t understand a year before! Filled with the
Spirit he sang of his son, “And you, child, will be called
the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord
to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his
people by the forgiveness of their sins. By the tender mercy
of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give
light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Zechariah prophesied
what Gabriel proclaimed and from his own experience, he knew
the darkness of the shadow of death. He, a priest of the temple,
had been unable to accept the God’s news of the child
he and Elizabeth had always longed for. Now his son would cry
out to all people “prepare the way for the Lord.” John
proclaimed that we must live new lives because the dawn from
on high has broken upon us in Jesus Christ. The Most High has
come to give knowledge of salvation, forgiveness, mercy, light
and peace. |
| Erin Dunigan, one of my friends from Seminary, included
me in a group email this fall. “I am here in the West
Bank and Israel as part of [an international and ecumenical
conference, representing many continents and all major branches
of the church including Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and many
flavors of Protestantism]. We are meeting with a group called
Sabeel who work with Palestinian Christians (yes, there is
such a group) specifically in issues of suffering, justice
and peace [in this region]. Today we visited Bethlehem. At
the risk of ruining a favorite Christmas carol, the phrase
'how still we see thee lie' is…true today. ….
Bethlehem is a Palestinian community, about 75% Muslim and
25% Christian. It is now surrounded by the Separation Wall.
The people of Bethlehem cannot leave the town without a permit,
which is very difficult for them to obtain. Bethlehem is about
10 minutes from Jerusalem and has traditionally been a suburb
of it, with its residents working in Jerusalem. Its other economic
livelihood has been tourism. Both have come to a near standstill
due to the Wall. As I saw the Wall and heard stories from Palestinian
Christian leaders about the plight of their people, I struggled
as to how I could possibly communicate the direness of the
whole situation to you. …. At the least, I would hope
that if you find yourself singing ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ this
year, you would remember to pray for the people of Bethlehem
and the struggle of all those in Palestine and in Israel who
are seeking peace.” |
| Erin said she was finding herself “less and less 'neutral'
on the situation. There are definitely two sides to the conflict
here, but I would say that the two sides are NOT Israeli and
Palestinian, but those who are seeking peace and those who
are resorting to violence.” Her email ended “Peace,
Salaam (Arabic), Shalom (Hebrew).” |
| Like Zachariah and Erin, we must envision and hope for a
different future beyond the limits of what we now see. We are
not waiting for the dawn to break as Zachariah was in the beginning
of his story; the dawn from on high has already broken upon
the world! Our heads must be up in order to see the dawn, the
light that has emerged to guide our feet in the way of peace.
Zachariah’s song calls us out of reactionary stances
to the darkness of our lives and the shadow of death. We live
and move and have our being through hope in the way of Christ,
which frees us to serve God without fear and to live in peace,
now and to the completion of God’s salvation plan. |
| Sister Karen Klimczak’s life shows us the dawn from
on high, and that the light breaks upon those who sit in darkness. “While
eulogizing Sister Karen -- who was killed on Good Friday, allegedly
by a parolee living in the halfway house she founded and ran
for almost two decades -- Father Roy Herberger asked not for
vengeance or even justice, but mercy. “If there was one
word synonymous with Sister Karen, it would be 'forgive’.
And she would be the first one to say that about Craig (the
man who murdered her) -- 'Father, forgive him for he doesn't
know what he's doing, because of the crack cocaine.'" … "There
have been talk shows on the radio filled with bitterness and
hatred," Father Herberger said during his eulogy. "That's
totally a contrast to what Karen's life was about." |
| “…White paper doves, hand-printed with…, ‘I
leave peaceprints,’ decorated the church and overflow
tent. Karen’s sister, who is also a nun, talked about
those words while sitting in the kitchen of Bissonette House … less
than 18 hours after Sister Karen's body was found. "She
said to me, 'You leave your fingerprints on everything. We
need to be people who leave imprints of peace wherever we go….
That's what she was about and that is what she challenged others
to do." Karen created the phrase “I leave peaceprints” before
her death and wanted to unveil the words as a project in the
future. Her funeral turned out to be the place she was looking
for, the place where her idea for peaceprints was unveiled.” |
| “Karen’s memorial service included young and
old. Black, white, Hispanic and Asian. Men and women. Corn-rows
and crew-cuts. A middle-aged white man in a monk's robe and
a young black man in a Los Angeles Lakers jacket worked their
way through the crowd in the tent, lighting small candles held
by mourners. More than a thousand voices opened the Mass by
singing "How Great Thou Art," and ended it with what
had to be one of the longest "Peace be with you" handshake-and-hug
sessions in religious history.” (1) |
| The dawn from on high has broken and will continue to give
light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.
Jesus guides our feet in the way of peace. |
| Heads up! “Your Redeemer is, even now, drawing near.” (2) |
| Amen |
| Beth E. Godfrey - December 10, 2006 |
| Central Presbyterian Church, Geneseo, New
York |
| (1)Sister Karen’s Hopeful Legacy Lives On, by
David Staba, Niagara Falls Reporter, April 25, 2006.
Used with changes, editing and omitting parts. |
| (2) I am grateful to Joanna M. Adams for this very last
line and for the “Heads Up” concept which she used
in a different context, that I used throughout this sermon. Living
the Word “Change Agent” in the Christian
Century, November 29, 2006. |
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