THE FUTURE IN OUR MIDST
Rev. Dr. Joyce Antila Phipps
Old First Church, Middletown, NJ
December 27, 2020
Texts: Isaiah 42:1–11; Luke 2:22–40
Many of you, I am sure, have the same experience, the same concern. We pick up our newspaper in the morning––those of us who still read newspapers rather than getting our news online or through television or the radio, and we wonder what kind of world our children and our grandchildren will inherit. The world seems to be going to hell in a handbasket. By the way, the origin of this phrase is curious. Originally, it was “going to heaven in a wheelbarrow,” which referred to the fact that it takes work to get there; however, as one commentator wrote, it seems easier to go the other way, a handbasket being easier to carry than it is to push a wheelbarrow. Be that as it may, we wonder what on earth possesses people to act as they do? And we worry about the future.
People have always worried about the future. As we come to the end of the year, we look back, make lists, and think about what could be different next year. And then, the New Year arrives. But what, if anything, will be changed? Time just seems to keep going. We will get older in the coming year; we will celebrate birthdays and anniversaries; we will laugh and we will cry. And we will wonder––indeed, we will worry about what happens next. The inescapable truth is that our future is connected to our past, and the future is in our midst.
Luke’s text sets the future in context. Apart from the fact that Luke seems to be a bit confused about the Jewish law on purification––Mary is the one to be purified, not the couple because, like many ancient societies, the rules set down in Leviticus reflect the fear of being contaminated by a woman's blood, this story has an important message for us today. We hold our children as symbols of our future, but they are intimately connected with our past. Just as children don’t just pop into our lives, our future doesn’t “just happen.” Our future will be the result of how we live today, the choices we make today, just as our present is the result of the choices we have made in the past. This is a message of hope, not one of despair for we have the power to shape the future through our actions today.
The question we face for the coming New Year is how we will shape the future. What are the principles that will guide us, what religious and moral vision will we use, and how will that vision help us––and give us strength––to stand fast when the world around us does not share our vision? As a people of faith guided by Scripture, certain core principles frame our approach to the world. They are reflected in our readings this morning.
We are called by God to live in righteousness and to dispense justice, to free the oppressed, to speak the truth that God is the reality in which we ground our lives. These themes of justice and mercy, of freedom and truth, are reflected not just here but throughout all the prophets. In the Gospel reading this morning Simeon states one of the themes that run throughout the Luke-Acts narrative, namely, that salvation is open to all, Jew and Gentile alike for there is no distinction between them, and that the Kingdom of God is here, in our very midst. We simply need to participate in it.
There are, of course, many ways to participate in the Kingdom that is here in our midst. And to each of us, the way we participate will differ. Thomas Merton, who lived as a contemplative Trappist monk, participated in the kingdom just as much as did his activist brother priest Dan Berrigan. As Merton put it, “We must begin by frankly admitting that the first place to go looking for the world is not outside us but in ourselves. We are the world. . . . The question, then, is not to speculate about how we are to contact the world––as if we were somehow in outer space––but how to validate our relationship, give it a fully honest and human significance, and make it truly productive and worthwhile for our world.“
Participating in the Kingdom of God is not easy. Just as Simeon saw that the baby Jesus would grow into a person who, when he called others to join him in participating in the Kingdom, would face rejection––a sword will pierce your soul, Luke has Simeon say to Mary, so we, too, must face the reality that our participation is not an easy road. The values of the world are different than ours. The world looks to the use and abuse of power to maintain its control over our lives. Sometimes, it’s so subtle that we don’t even realize what is happening around us, such as when we are led to believe that reliance on the material will save us and that we are powerless.
But we are not a people without power. As Paul says, we need to put on the armor of God and forge ahead. We can and we must shape our world. God calls us to do this by participating in the Kingdom Jesus came to declare to us. It is a kingdom where kings and presidents, where armies and violence will not rule. It is a kingdom where justice and mercy will rule, a kingdom of peace and reconciliation. The future is in our midst. We only have to live as if it is.
Let us pray: Indeed, O God, help us to shape the world as you would want it shaped: with kindness and mercy toward all and justice and peace for all. In the name of the One who shows us how to shape the world, even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.