another sermon.

i don't know how i feel about this sermon.
it was a bit angsty to write. i realized that i have a sermon writing process. and that i managed to totally bypass it. crap.
so...whatever this is, it is. i found out that i was going to be preaching this sunday on tuesday. switched sundays due to some events in the congregation.

so here it is.
mostly i am putting it here since it is my sister's birthday this week and i won't get to see her. this is one of the few ways i can do something for her.

Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

My little sister (who is not so little anymore) will be 25 on the 24th of this month. That is in two days. Does anyone know what saint’s feast day we celebrate that day? It is John the Baptist’s feast that day. We celebrate his birth and feast that day because it is near the summer solstice. It is near the longest day of the year and the shortest night. It is the time of light beginning to leave the world and darkness coming back into the world.

Nice story you think...why is vicar talking about her sister, John the baptist and the solstice?

Just wait.
St. John said that he must decrease so another may increase. He must become smaller so that another may become bigger. The light decreases so that we can prepare for an increase in light. Christ is the light of the world. Christ is born during the shortest days of the year. The light comes back when Christ is born. When John is born the light decreases so that we can prepare for the light to be welcomed. We can prepare for God incarnate. God in human form. God gave us a natural phenomena to help us remember that Christ is our light.

Now, my older brother and my sister were born profoundly handicapped. They both have the same disabilities. However, my sister is more severely handicapped than my brother. She is unable to care for herself in anyway. She cannot walk or talk. She is most certainly the meekest of the meek. She was born on St. John the Baptist’s feast day. She was born on a day that a saint said he must decrease so that another may increase. My sister became humble and low so that we could see Christ.

Light is in the world and so is my sister. The Gospel is here and St. John points the way. So does my sister.

For much of history folks with disabilities were hidden away in secret. They were the shame of families and communities. My brother was at the beginning of the movement to make folks with disabilities whole. To engage these folks with communities. I watched my parents fight to have my siblings “mainstreamed.” I watched them fight to have my siblings given the chance to be treated with respect and humanity. I grew-up believing it was normal to include folks with disabilities in all tasks. It wasn’t until later in life that i realized this was not the norm.

“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known.” Families have for so long borne the shame and fear of children that are less than. Fearful that friends and neighbors will find out their secrets. Christ is telling us that families are not a secret. The church is not a secret. God is not a secret.

Christ then says that sparrows will not fall to the ground without the heavenly Father knowing. Sparrows were the cheapest form of food in the ancient world. The meekest of sustenance for humans. Sustenance for the meekest of people. Yet, the Father knows all that happens to these little sparrows! That is how precious they are to Him. Christ goes on to teach that the Father knows the number of hairs on each person’s head. This is how much God values each human.
The littlest ones of creation are so valued by God that nothing in their lifespan is not known by God. Humans are valued so much by God that each hair is known. This is why we can trust that we can walk in the light. We can proclaim from the housetops. No matter what the repercussions are, God will know our story.

I trust that God knows all that my brother and sister have experienced. I trust that God knows all that my parents have done for my brother and sister.

I also trust that my sister’s birth on St. John’s birthday reminds us that we are not to work for ourselves, but for Christ. Yes, we do come back to works. And as Lutherans that makes us a bit nervous. But remember dearly beloved, works come from faith. When we trust that, as St. Paul says, “we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” That newness of life is speaking in the light. It is proclaiming from the housetops. It is humbling ourselves to be like the teacher. It is acknowledging the one that gives us life.

Christ does not say that this is easy. Faith is not always pleasant. It is not always delightful to be one of the followers of the Way. This is an alternative lifestyle that is 2000 years old. Just as God acknowledges the littlest ones, so must you. You are to be like the teacher.

My little sister is the most handicapped person I have ever met. I also can’t imagine anyone more perfectly made than her. We could have hid Martha from the world. We could have kept her in the dark. We could have kept her a secret. God does not want her kept a secret. John was sent to proclaim and prepare the way for Jesus. Jesus tells us to proclaim so that we can be acknowledged to the Father. Martha has taught me love. I believe that she has taught many others to love. Perhaps it is others who have in their caring for her, taught me love. We are commanded to love one another. In this way we point to Christ. It is in helping us to love that Martha has been like John the Baptist and pointed towards Christ.

The prophet Jeremiah wrote of being enticed to speak. God enticed Jeremiah and Jeremiah had no choice but to speak God’s words. There was no hiding from God’s call. My brother and sister can not hide their disabilities, nor can they hide from the world. I wonder if they feel that God has overpowered them, the way Jeremiah was overpowered. When I look at my brother and sister I am sometimes overpowered by God.

The lessons today are messy. Jesus is not warm and fuzzy. Jeremiah wants his opponents destroyed. The psalmist is estranged from their family. Only St. Paul seems to have much hope. There is conflict. There is struggle. There have been secrets. The questions are: what will the conflict be, what will the struggle be, and will there be secrets?

There need not be secret family members anymore. There need not be darkness drowning people. There does need to be work done. Proclaim Christ from the rooftops. Proclaim the good news of Christ crucified and risen. When we do this, dear ones, than we can live into the light. Than we can claim, as my sister does a st. John baptist birthday.
So, begin your life again. pick-up your cross this week again. celebrate your st. john the baptist birthday. let it be yours. amen.