Sermon on Luke 2:22-40 (Candlemas and Holocaust Memorial Day)

Sermon on Luke 2:22-40 (Candlemas and Holocaust Memorial Day)
Originally given 28 January 2024 at St. Alban’s Church, Coventry

Audio for sermon

In today’s Gospel reading, we witness four generations come together: the baby Jesus, the young Mother Mary, Joseph who is of an age to be established in his career, and Simeon and Anna who are at the end of their lives on earth. This multigenerational meeting at the temple could be seen as a model for our multigenerational service here today. What can we learn from each generation gathered? I suggest the hope of youth, the courage of adolescence, the stability of adulthood, and the wisdom of age.

‘A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices’, is a line from one of my favourite Christmas carols. That thrill of hope it’s referring to is the birth of Jesus Christ. With the birth of a baby, there is always the birth of new hopes for the future. Maybe this baby will be the one to find the cure for cancer or bring peace to the Middle East. At birth, everyone has the potential for greatness. And the joy of youth is that they are not afraid to dream big dreams. We can learn from youth to hope for a brighter future, and have the confidence of youth to believe in our ability to create change.

Last week I mentioned that I’m a fan of Mother Mary partially because of her courage to say yes to God. She had the courage to step out in faith and follow what God asked of her even though it could have resulted in violence or death. I see that same courage in adolescents today who are unafraid to challenge destructive and unjust authority and who are unapologetically themselves. We can learn from these young people to live without fear and speak up for what is right even if it’s not popular.

Not much is known about Joseph of Nazareth, but we can make a few assumptions. We can assume he was much older than Mary as he already had an established trade. We know from Scripture that without Joseph, Mary would have been an unwed mother and therefore stoned under Jewish law; that the Holy family would not have known to flee to Egypt to escape Herod’s massacre; and that Jesus would not have learned a trade before he began his ministry. Joseph provided stability for his family, but also showed a stability in his faith that we can admire and learn from. He trusted God to guide his path and protect his family. This stability doesn’t necessarily mean a fear of taking risks – following God can be seen as a risk. Instead it’s a certainty, achieved from making mistakes as a younger person but still having enough life left to get things right.

The final generation is illustrated through Simeon and Anna. We are told that Anna is 84 years old, and the words of Simeon suggest he is also at the end of his life. Both Simeon and Anna are prophets, speaking with the wisdom of prophecy. We can learn so much from the wisdom of age, wisdom that comes from experience and mistakes. Wisdom that comes from a lifetime of relationships filled with love and loss. Wisdom from the perspective that this life is fragile and short, but nevertheless beautiful and worth living. Sometimes there is a desire to shut down or silence the older generation, but their wisdom of the past can help us form a brighter future.

It is truly a blessing to have the privilege of knowledge from a range of generations. But today I remind you that generations, especially the young and old, are not always valued. Yesterday was Holocaust Memorial Day, which marked 79 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. At Auschwitz the young and old were exterminated in gas chambers, judged only by their physical ability to participate in gruelling labour. I appreciate that not everyone wants to be reminded of these harrowing events. Some will say to leave the past and look to the future. But I believe the saying those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. So time and again I will remind people of the history we do not want to repeat, even if it’s uncomfortable. 

This year’s theme for Holocaust Memorial Day is the fragility of freedom. Today as we celebrate Candlemas, we can rejoice in the freedom we have to journey with Jesus from the crib to the cross. The cross where Jesus broke our chains, which we can proclaim without risk of persecution or threat of violence. But not everyone has that same freedom. There are people around who have been stripped of their freedom to worship, work, love, and live. Freedom is indeed fragile, and must be protected by all generations for all generations. Where freedom fails, the threat of genocide begins. 

The first stage of genocide is classification, the distinction of an ‘us’ and ‘them’ and not respecting those differences. Whether it be differences in generation, gender, religion, or race, it is vital we protect and respect all differences. Because all our differences give us a wealth of knowledge. Because when we are free to think and live differently, then we are free to be truly ourselves and to fully contribute to the world. And when we open ourselves to learning from the differences of others, then we thrive as a community and a society. 

There are nine more stages of genocide, the final stage being denial. After extermination, there is always denial from the perpetrators and others who refuse to believe the horrors of humanity. This is another reason we must remember what has happened, because denial gives strength to those who would repeat such atrocities. 

Toni Morrison once said, ‘If you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else’. Across the generations, it is our duty to free others, recognising the fragility of freedom and the necessity to use power for good and not harm. We have the freedom to learn from each generation, so let us never forget the power of freedom and the power of remembering.

Sermon on John 2.1-11 (wedding at Cana)

Sermon on John 2.1-11 (wedding at Cana)
Originally given 21 January 2024 at St. Alban’s Church, Coventry

Audio for sermon

‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’

Whenever I read this quote from Jesus, I find it somewhat confusing and, as a mother, slightly irritating. If Jesus says ‘my hour has not yet come’ then why does he end up performing the sign of turning water to wine? And does he have to get so mouthy with his mother about it? If it’s not time for the rest of the world to know who Jesus is, why does he end up fixing the problem of the wine running out?

Before answering those questions though, let’s back up a bit. Four weeks ago, we celebrated the birth of Christ, and in today’s Gospel reading, we heard about the beginning of Christ’s ministry…Kids really do grow up quickly, don’t they? Joking aside, I wonder what Mary must have thought about the start of her son’s ministry, and if she questioned his seeming shortness towards her. In John’s Gospel we don’t have the angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary, or the birth narrative, or the song of Simeon. The wedding at Cana is the first time we are told of the mother of Jesus, and she’s not even given a name. My time in theological college taught me that remaining nameless in John’s Gospel is meant to be an honour, so we shouldn’t take it as an insult that Mary isn’t named here. But I do find it interesting that she’s only mentioned twice in the Gospel of John: The first time in today’s reading, with the wedding at Cana being the start of Jesus’ ministry, and the second time at the foot of the cross, the end of Jesus’ ministry. And at that point, along with the disciple whom Jesus loved, she is still nameless.  

So we find the mother of Jesus at the start and end of his ministry. You could say she forms the bookends for Jesus’ ministry, and as a book lover I can tell you there is a foundational necessity for bookends. I admit, I am quite a fan of Mother Mary, partially because I view her as a raging feminist like myself. I don’t buy into the culture of Mary meek and mild, because I don’t think you could be meek or mild to say yes to God, facing the possibility of public shame or death. Another reason to celebrate Mary, besides the obvious that she is the Christ-bearer, is that we could say she was the first disciple. Of course she wasn’t called by Jesus like Andrew or Peter or Nathanael, but she was already a follower of Jesus before his time had come, before anyone else knew who he was. When Mary said yes to God in her Magnificat, she was saying yes to following God and yes to following Jesus. This would make Mother Mary a model disciple.

So what does a model disciple do? She tells Jesus the wine is running out. Mary identifies a problem, and then goes to tell Jesus the problem. She doesn’t instruct Jesus as to what the solution might be, she just observes there is a problem and tells Jesus knowing that he will have the solution. In fact, she is so confident that Jesus will have a solution that she tells the servants to do as he says. There is no doubt for Mary that Jesus will fix this problem. And the cheeky response doesn’t even make her bat an eye!

Some of you have heard me talk about my church dad who my boys called Uncle Tony. Uncle Tony was a faithful Christian and a model for my own faith. He once told me that when he was younger if he faced a difficult situation he would always sing to himself ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus’. This song says all our troubles can be taken to Jesus in prayer. So Uncle Tony and Mother Mary both knew that for any problem, Jesus was the solution. Or, as Karl Barth is claimed to have said, ‘Jesus is the answer, what’s the question?’

In any case, we know that we must bring it all to Jesus. We must tell Jesus the wine is running out. But where is the wine running out? Is the wine running out in your home? Is it running out in the Church? I think we can all see the wine is running out in the world. This week is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and it feels like now more than ever the world needs both prayer and unity. From natural disasters to war-torn countries, the world is desperately thirsty for Jesus. So what can we do? Well, like Uncle Tony, take it to the Lord in prayer, and like Mother Mary, tell Jesus the wine is running out.

Of course, Jesus may not respond how you’d like. He might say that it’s not yet time. This is hard to hear. They say the three answers to prayer are ‘yes’, ‘no’, and ‘not yet’. Anything other than an immediate yes is hard for us to hear, because we have our own time for things, what we think is the correct time. And our time is not always the same as God’s time, but rest assured, God is always in time. God knows when the time is right, even if we may feel a bit impatient. At the wedding at Cana, Jesus provided the wine at a time when the steward commented that the good wine was saved for the last, so Jesus knew when the most effective timing would be. As it is with all things in life. All we have to do is take our troubles to Jesus, and he will have the right solution at the right time.

Go tell Jesus the wine is running out, and he will make sure the best is yet to come.