I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I am delighted to read our church’s annual report each year. Look at all this great stuff we’ve done together! An average of 38 of us gather each week, some on-line and some in-person, to pray, learn, sing, and eat together. People who live in Winthrop and people who live part of the year in Arizona and people who live in Germany and people who live in Lisbon, Monmouth, Sidney, Augusta, and Readfield (among other places) commit week in and week out to being the Body of Christ together. This body does not consist of one member, but of many.

     Those who choose to be a part of this community by worshiping and serving with us regularly allow us to follow the lead of the Spirit to serve this world. Within this body are teachers, pray-ers lawn mow-ers, garden planters, wall-patchers, window fixers, readers, singers, instrumentalists, writers, bakers, phone-call makers, and drivers. Some of you are good at counting things, so you make sure that our finances are in order and that we have clearly written reports stating how we use the money entrusted to us. This body of Christ includes creative minds who find new ways to raise funds and new curricula for the youngest ministers among us. Within this body of Christ are the diligent, who call the oil company over and over again to make sure they clean up their messes, who work to makes sure all of our board slots are as filled as they can be, and who know where are the Christmas decorations and table cloths are stored away until we need them.

     We have some glorious organizers who have found their way to our doors. You gather up our band members for practice, volunteers for our church fairs, community members for singing, and figure out fun fellowship outings to theaters and museums. You have paid close attention to our commitments to be good neighbors and found ways for us to support people who need help. And, you make sure that our denomination’s summer camp has our support, both through donations and in allowing our youth, for the second year in a row, to attend a conference-wide confirmation retreat there.

     When people in this community have a hard time paying for heating and housing, you make sure we have funds set aside to help. At the risk of stealing Lacey’s thunder later in the service, I want to make sure to lift up that we gave away $5, 450 and 16 cents to programs and people who needed it. The Deacons’ Love Fund is 3,530 of those dollars. The Winthrop Center Friends even chipped in to our deacons’ fund this last year. That’s a lot of money for a church that is made up of about 90 active parish and covenant members, and the small congregation we host. I am consistently heartened by the ways you care for each other and care for strangers. When I read Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, and see him helping that community learn to appreciate each other’s gifts, I am grateful to see our part of the Body of Christ living his hopes out.

     This last year has been full of rich worship, good music, sincere prayers, and hard work.  It’s important that we set aside time to give thanks for the ways we have been church, in hard times and in good times, over the last year.  It is also wise to remember that the annual meeting is intended to be a time of forward thinking as well. A question Christians must continually ask ourselves in “What are we called to do?” Here in the United Church of Christ, where we understand that Jesus Christ as the sole head of the church, it is wise to return to his mission and ministry as we look for guidance on how to shape our own.

     Our reading from Luke starts in Galilee, and will eventually get to Nazareth. As we read about his actions in Nazareth, we should remember that the story just before this one is important. It’s Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. As Mitzi Smith notes in her commentary on this text, Jesus’ time in the wilderness confirms that he is the Son of God who had the opportunity to accept  “unbridled power, authority, wealth, and risk (4:1–12).” But, he didn’t. In the texts just before today’s reading, we see that Jesus refused, repeatedly, to take power that is offered to him in exchange for loyalty to Satan. An allegiance with evil will be worth nothing to him. We who would follow him must similarly resist access to power that comes wrapped up in a deal with the devil.

     Having clarified his commitment to God, he went home to declare his commitment to his community. Bolstered by his good reputation as a teacher, Dr. Smith notes that Jesus’ actions (reading the scroll and offering an interpretation and response) are very much in line with what is described as common practice for respected speakers in Luke and Acts. Dr. Smith also notes that all kinds of people could be present in the synagogue. Most people in attendance would be Jewish, though Gentiles could be there as well. Regular old lay people, leaders within the synagogue, including Pharisees and scribes, adults of all genders and kids might all be there. Most people were quite poor, but there might be some wealthy people. There were would be people who were healthy and people who were ill, either with diseases or those considered possessed, as well as enslavers and the currently and formerly enslaved. And, importantly, Smith notes that the synagogue might also be a place with leaders were asked to render judgement on a conflict. I am grateful for the reminder that synagogues could be full of diverse kinds of people and also sites of struggle.
Jesus picked out the scripture he wanted to read: “The Spirit of God is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of site to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” He looked right at the people listening and they looked at him, and said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Had he stopped there, he might not have made them mad.

     He didn’t stop, though. He knew that when you are granted the right to speak, you better make good use of it, another lesson we who follow him should learn. The people in the synagogue said “Is this not Joseph’s son?” I’m not sure if it’s better to understand them saying this in joyful amazement at the hometown boy all grown up or with disdain, as though they thought he was getting too big for his britches. Smith indicates in her commentary that she reads in the first way. And, she reads his response to that statement as, as something like “since you know me so well, you might ask why I don’t use my power for my own good, and also do the good works here that I’ve done elsewhere.” Then, he goes on to say that a prophet is never accepted in their hometown, pointing to examples of Elijah and Elisha. God didn’t have them fix every problem in the places where they lived.

     The people in the synagogue didn’t want to hear this at all. They didn’t want to imagine that Jesus wouldn’t prioritize them or that God might have something else in mind for Jesus to do. Turns out, lots of folks get mad when you tell them they are wrong about God. This group of people who had known Jesus his whole life grew so enraged with what he said that they drove him out of town and tried to throw him off a cliff.

     Jesus’ mission came with priorities: care for the poor, release for the imprisoned, healing for the sick, and freedom for the people ground down by Empires. He is reading this in the synagogue just after his cousin has been imprisoned by the terrible king. Jesus knew clearly that there was a cost in holding powerful people accountable. He had been offered immeasurable power and declined it, knowing it came at too high a cost. God did not call him to torment of the sick and poor. God did not call him to imprison people. Jesus shows us clearly that Divine Power is for mercy and healing, not terrorizing. And, it is to be used for the people who need it, not just the people who have known us the longest or lived the closest proximity to us. Jesus doesn’t work through cronyism. He works through justice and love. And, so should we.

     Our mission is to follow Christ’s lead. And, this will prove daunting, as is already clear to those with eyes to see it and ears to hear it. I can think of at least one pastor and church currently fielding threats of violence for preaching much more gently than Jesus did in today’s scripture. Jesus never said following him was without risk. There will be much to do in the coming year. May we not be overwhelmed by the enormity of the work ahead. Our annual report shows us what amazing things the Spirit can empower us to do. I am certain that Spirit is with us right now as we discern how best to use the gifts that are inside us. May we be confident that God will show us a still more excellent way .
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Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Our church’s annual report, which can be found here, under the “How We Live Out Our Mission” section: http://www.wccucc.org/our-mission-and-what-we-do.html
Mitzi Smith: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/third-sunday-after-epiphany-3/commentary-on-luke-414-21-6
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     Once, I saw a llama inside of a nursing home. Yes, inside the nursing home. Not outside in the yard where you might imagine running into livestock. Inside, in the dining hall that looked a lot like an elementary school cafeteria. I’m not sure if the nursing home accrediting bodies would have loved having farm animals in the dining hall, but the person who ran the petting zoo that provided them kept them as clean as possible and the residents seemed to love it... or at least be delighted by the novelty of it. You never know what you’re going to see in a nursing home. Sometimes, it might even be a llama.

     This same nursing home is the one where I heard “Roll Out the Barrel” live for the first time. Though some of my ancestors were Bohemian and German-speaking Midwesterners, I didn’t grow up in the region and missed out on learning the most beloved polka in the area. While I grew up singing “Rocky Top” at ball games, the people who lived in this facility in Illinois learned “Roll Out the Barrel” (also called “The Beer Barrel Polka”). When the lady who volunteered to play piano came every other week, the residents and staff would gather in the same dining room as where they brought the llamas, and rock out to all the standards in a homemade songbook. Just about every time I managed to be there when she was, she’d finish with “Roll Out the Barrel” and everyone would sing along.

     It wasn’t always easy for the people who lived in that facility to be there. Some were quite ill. Some would have much rather been home. And yet, in the midst of what wasn’t always the most desirable living situation, the lady who played piano brought them some joy and helped them feel a little celebratory. When they had the opportunity to sing, they sang out! The first time I heard this glorious ruckus, I learned that there’s no party like a piano lady nursing home polka party.

     We are in the church season that follows Epiphany. If a preacher opts to preach on the suggested Gospel readings on these first couple Sundays after the arrival of the Magi, as I will, we’ll have multiple opportunities to explore the earliest epiphanies people had about the nature of Christ as he began his ministry. Last week, we saw a teacher unafraid to go to someone else for a blessing, who is empowered in the course of that act to do what God is calling him to. This week, we see how people beyond his disciples first encountered his power. It is interesting that they encountered it at a party.

     The party that Jesus is attending is a wedding. He’s there with his newly minted disciples and his mom. In her book on John, Karoline Lewis notes that, across religious cultures in ancient Palestine, you can expect a wedding to take three whole days. There would be lots of food and lots to drink, all provided by the families of those who were getting married. They wouldn’t have had barrels, but they would keep the wine in giant jars that held twenty to thirty gallons of liquid. We should remember that water often wasn’t safe to drink, so wine was the primary beverage for both practical and celebratory reasons.

     Also, as Eliseo Pérez-Álvarez notes in his commentary on this text, not everyone who attended the three-day festivities got the same food and drink. People of high status got better food and better wine. The people of the lowest status might even be offered the same kind of bitter wine Jesus was offered on the cross. It was a mixture of wine, vinegar, and water. Still relatively safe to drink, but not delicious. And, the hosts would often try to save a little money by serving the best wine they had at the beginning of the party, and then, once people had over-indulged and grown less picky, serve lower quality wine to everyone. It is not easy to host a bunch of people for multiple days, especially if you don’t have a lot of money. People did what they felt like they had to do to meet the expectations of their community.

    Imagine what would happen, then, if you ran out of wine? People might gossip about you being a bad host. Irritable drunks might get mad and cause a scene because they’ve been cut off. You might be embarrassed because running out of anything could mean that you didn’t have enough money to do what was expected of you. Then, as now, too many people decided if someone is poor that they must be immoral or foolish. No one wants to be the people who have a party that they can’t properly host. No one wants to be embarrassed and not provide for their friends and family.

     I love that Jesus’ mom has to force him into his first miraculous sign in John. Karoline Lewis points out that he’s going to do seven great signs in this book, six by his own volition. This first one, though, his momma makes him do it. Lewis also notes that Mary only appears twice in the whole book of John and they actually never use her name. She is simply called Jesus’ mom and shows up here, at the wedding, and at the foot of the cross when Jesus is killed. His mother will be both witness and catalyst, helping him start his public ministry, and, as Lewis notes, abiding with him as he dies. The one who offered him his first sustenance at her breast will be the one who encourages him to provide sustenance to the people at this wedding.

     As an elder to Jesus and one who might have been called to host family gatherings, it makes sense that Mary would feel a measure of empathy for the family that has run out of wine. Lewis wonders in her commentary, what about this moment inspired Mary to push her son to use his power? And, what did she even know yet about who he was that led her to be confident that he could help? Neither of those questions is clearly answered in the text. Mostly what we have is an empathetic woman confident that her son can help, who is willing to boss him around a bit so he will. When he says, “Mom, this is both not the right time and not my problem,” she promptly ignores him, telling the head waiter to “do whatever he tells you.”

     Jesus has apparently either learned not to argue with his mother or been convinced that this is the moment to use his power publicly in the service of others. In the grand scheme of things, this would seem like a lower-stakes miracle. He’s not healing the sick or raising the dead. And yet, this sign is a great symbol of generosity and communal care. Pérez-Álvarez points out that in making only very good wine, Jesus renders moot the hierarchy that says the high-status guests are the only ones who get the good stuff. Every person there will have access to the same unexpected and wonderful gift. And, everyone will have something safe to drink. It is particularly gracious to go above and beyond for a family that may not have had the money to throw the kind of wedding the community expected. They really needed the help in a way that a wealthier family wouldn’t have.

     Lewis also argues that in this first sign, John reveals to us that the nature of Jesus is abundance. Jesus’ will not dole out grace as a miser pinches pennies. Jesus will have grace that is practically overflowing into the hands of those who need it. Both of the scholars that I’ve mentioned today did some math to show just how much wine Jesus made in those six jars. Pérez-Álvarez says, in today’s money, this could be 120 gallons of expensive wine, which could total $135,000. Karoline Lewis calculated it to be about a thousand bottles of wine. She said the opulence of this gift at a wedding of two everyday people would have been unheard-of. Regular people don’t have this much good wine, and they don’t serve it at the end of the three-day party.
The epiphany of this story is that austerity is not a key feature of the divine. Celebration, surprise, and generosity are. Jesus won’t be handing out the good stuff to the rich and the bitterest stuff to the poor. Jesus will provide amply for those who need it the most, while also assuring grace is available to everyone, without hierarchy. As we consider how we will follow his example in this world, may we remember the generosity offered to us when we were in greatest need. And, may we turn around and offer it someone else. Let us roll out the barrel. The gang’s all here!
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Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Eliseo Pérez-Álvarez: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/second-sunday-after-epiphany-3/commentary-on-john-21-11-5
Karoline Lewis, John: Fortress Biblical Preaching Commentaries (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014)
Some history and current context about the belovedness of "Roll Out the Barrel": https://americansongwriter.com/how-a-drinking-song-the-beer-barrel-polka-became-a-wisconsin-sports-anthem/
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​Today is the last Sunday of the Christmas season and tomorrow is the celebration of Epiphany, so we have some important business to finish. First, I think we should make sure that the creche is finished. Will someone come and look? Who all is in there now (baby Jesus, his parents, shepherds, animals, an angel)? Is there anyone missing who you think should be there? Yes! The Magi and their camels. Will someone go get them in the back of the church for me? It might take two people.

OK, you all can go back and sit down. Does anyone remember what Magi means? Yes! It is a Greek word that means “wise men” or even “wise ones” because we don’t actually know many details about the group that came. How many Magi do we have in our creche? Three! Christian tradition talks about three, but the Bible never says that there are three. Because we understand God as three-in-one, Christians like threes, so we decided there were three at some point. The Wise Ones weren’t just regular smart people. In his notes on today’s readings, Andrew Overman describes the Magi as scholars and political advisors to the royalty in the area that we now call Iran, or maybe Armenia. It’s not totally clear. But, what the Bible is clear about is that they were experts in astrology, which is paying attention to the stars to learn more about what is happening all around you.

Does anyone remember why they came to see Jesus, who was probably a toddler by the time they got there? He wasn’t a rich and fancy toddler. People who work for kings and queens don’t usually show up at poor people’s homes for a visit. Do you remember what they saw? Using all of what they learned about the stars, they were paying attention to the stars on the night that he was born. The stars showed them that he was special, a leader even! And, these scholars did what they would do to celebrate the birth of any new leader: they showed up with presents! 

They went to the current king, a mean-spirited and weak-willed man named Herod. Herod cared more about protecting his power than leading his people. He would always make the choice that protected his power rather than what would help others. When representatives of another country showed up talking about a new king, he knew immediately that he wanted to hurt the child so the child could never replace him as king. Remember: some grown-ups will hurt kids on purpose. It isn’t right and it’s our responsibility when we know that could happen to protect the kids. The Magi make the choice to protect the toddler.

In 2019, two days before Christmas, I finished this cross-stitch. Does anyone know who this is? 

It’s a baby... well, a toddler named Grogu. Before people knew his name, they called him “Baby Yoda.” He was a character in a tv show called The Mandalorian. The Mandalorian is a man who so committed to his spiritual community that he wears a special mask and helmet so that people can tell he is a member of that community. He never takes his face-covering off. On the other hand, he has a job where people hire him to do things that are kind of sketchy sometimes. In season 1 of the show, he takes a job where he ends up taking care of a baby and is supposed to take the baby to a powerful man. The Mandalorian realizes that the man who hired him will harm the baby. Rather than give the powerful man the baby, the Mandalorian chooses to save him. That choice will have repercussions across the whole empire.

Sometimes stories that aren’t in the Bible can help us learn more about stories that are in the Bible. I don’t know if the people who wrote The Mandalorian were thinking about the Magi when they wrote their tv show. To be fair, the Mandalorian and the Magi aren’t very much alike other than that they are people with a measure of power, who, inspired by their faith, opt to take care of a child who has an adult who wants to hurt them. When we remember the bravery, wisdom, and kindness of the Magi, it helps to have another example to hold up beside them that reminds us that we can be brave like that, too. We don’t have to be scholars in a queen’s court to take care a child that needs it. We can just be a faithful guy with a job who realizes that the job isn’t more important that the child that is right in front of him.
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The Magi do make it to Jesus’ family home and pay him homage. They give him three gifts. Do you remember what they are? Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Some people make jokes that the frankincense and myrrh, which are perfumed spices and sticky sap from trees that are used as incense, aren’t very good gifts for toddlers, though Jesus’ family could definitely use the gold. Dr. Overman reminds us in his notes on this story that expensive perfumes and gold are the kind of fancy gifts that you give a king or queen. These gifts show us that the Magi were serious about believing that Jesus was a leader. And, I wonder if they came in handy in the next part of the story.

First, the Magi learned through a dream that Herod planned to hurt the child. So, they went home a different way so has not to alert him to the little family’s whereabouts. Then, an angel showed up to talk to Joseph, saying, “Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him.” That’s in the verse immediately after today’s reading. Joseph, Mary, and the toddler left. If you’ve ever heard the testimony of modern refugees, you know that they often need cash or things they can sell to survive, and they often need them quickly. The Magi may have ended up financially sponsoring Jesus’ family as they became refugees in Egypt.

While I don’t want to give away more details about the toddler named Grogu, I will note that his is a story of escape, as well. Sometimes you have to leave a place to find safety and family. Jesus and his family would return home eventually when God lets them know that Herod has died is no longer a threat, though Herod’s son was in power. God would lead the family to settle in Galilee, in Nazareth. Important things will happen in Nazareth. They can only happen wisdom of the Magi, who chose to stand with the vulnerable one who was full of promise. May we follow them, first to Jesus, and then in protecting those who need it the most. 
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Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
J. Andrew Overman's notes on Matthew in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)