Growing in Faith – Walking in Love
Sermons by Reverend Stephen Garnaas-Holmes (Page 20)
To turn the other cheek is not to be a doormat: it’s to be with Christ in the vulnerable places in our lives and relationships. To establish justice we can”t just enact policies from a place of power: we have to be vulnerable and share our power.
Jesus sees the law not as a legal hoop to jump through but as an invitation to love. Justice comes about when we lovingly care for the other person as a person, not as an object of our feelings or opinions.
Justice is not merely a set of legal structures, but relationships in which we shine God’s light, and see God’s light in others.
Jesus, the “lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,” relieves us of our fear. To follow him means to live in such a way that others may be free from fear.
God, too, says, “I have a dream.” It’s what Jesus calls the “kingdom of heaven,” or the realm of God. It’s an Empire of grace and justice, shared equally by all people. We are called to follow Jesus in working for that dream, against all fear and hatred that will resist God’s dream.
The magi knelt and honored the child Jesus, acknowledging that he was greater than they. In Jesus’ baptism God bestows both love and also an assignment. When we renew our baptismal vows we submit our will to God as our “higher power,” and re-commit ourselves to carry out our calling: to live with love in this world.
The story of the magi and their faithful pilgrimage is also the story of Herod and the fearful resistance of Empire against the grace of God. It’s not pretty, but we need to hear it to get the Good News.
We love being together as a family on Christmas. Christmas is our celebration that this life is God’s “family time” with us.