[Propertalk] Reflection - 15 January 2017 - Epiphany 2A

[Allison Dean]

Good evening List-sibs.
I don't post much anymore - normally too late in the evening (as it is
tonight in the UK) and often a short composite of thoughts and reflections
by others interspersed with my own words geared towards hospital patients
listening over hospital radio.  However, I thought that it was time I share
and give rather than always take as I do.  So a very rough draft of what I
will be doing tomorrow.  Hopefully after a good night's sleep I will be
able to smooth it out so it sounds more coherent.  Many thanks to Fr.
Robert Morrison for his homily today which provided not just a little
inspiration.

Allison

Allison Cline-Dean,
Lead Chaplain,
Colchester General University NHS Foundation Trust,
Colchester, Essex, UK


Think about the last time you were invited out to dinner.  Possibly it was
at someone’s home.  Normally the invitation, once accepted, is greatly
anticipated, especially if it is to be with friends.  You arrive at the
home or restaurant and you are warmly welcomed, the house appropriately lit
and maybe as you are seated at the table, candlelight brings a warm glow to
the faces around you.  You relax as you share conversation about common
interests and beliefs as well as those that are not in common.  It is a
time of light, of welcome, and of hospitality.
As I read through the lessons for this week-end, I was struck by a few
things.  One was the themes in the readings:  Epiphany, light, humility,
welcome, and invitation.  Another was something that had not struck me
until I read a commentary and that was the mention of the time of 4:00 p.m.
in John’s gospel.  Why so specific?  I’m not sure we can cover it all well
in a short period of time but let’s give it a try.

Let’s start with the themes:  light, humility, welcome, and invitation.
Both Isaiah and John state that the Israelites as well as the Christians of
John’s time are called to be a light to others.  If we included the Epistle
from Paul this morning there is also mention of people being a gift and a
light to others.  Isaiah states that he feels that God called him while
Isaiah was still in his mother’s womb.  In creating Isaiah as well as every
person on earth, God gives us gifts, talents, and skills so that we can be
a light, a window, so to speak, a channel of God’s creativity, God’s love,
God’s strength, and God’s grace to those around us.  God called Isaiah, God
called Paul, God called Andrew and Simon, and God calls us, to open the
door and invite people to “come and see”, come and experience what it is
like to live in the light of God’s grace.

However, it takes much humility to acknowledge that we cannot do this
proclamation on our own.  Even John the Baptist realised that his ministry
to prepare the people for Christ’s coming among them, to prepare hearts and
minds to receive Christ.  He knew that once Jesus arrived on the picture,
that John’s ministry would start to dissipate and that was a good thing.
He encouraged his disciples to go and learn more from Jesus which is what
we read in the gospel today.   It is here that the time of day is noted.
Why?

It was Karoline Lewis who noted the time of day – I had never thought of it
before nor had she until this year.  Why would the writer of John note the
time of day unless it was significant?  However, when we think about it, it
all makes sense.  All of us probably remember the time and dates of
significant events in our lives:  the time and date we were married, the
times and dates each of our children were born, the time that a significant
person in our lives died.  You may remember where you were when 9/11
happened or the 7/7 bombings, or the engagement of the then Prince William
and Katherine Middleton.

Karoline Lewis writes

"For these first disciples, about four o'clock in the afternoon was their
first time, by invitation from Jesus, to abide. Not just to come and see,
but to come and be. Outside of Jesus’ baptism in John 1:32-33 in reference
to the Spirit, 1:39 is the first occurrence of the verb meno in John. . . .
mean . . . abide. Used no less than forty-plus times in John it is the
primary word to describe the intimate relationship into which Jesus invites
us.
To abide is to belong. To abide is to be saved (John 4:42). To abide is to
be assured of a future with God (John 14:2). To abide is to feel a real and
committed relationship (John 15:1-17). No wonder you remember four o’clock
in the afternoon. Your first abiding with the Word of God can’t be some
generic memory.
Meeting Jesus was not just a generic memory to Andrew – it was significant
enough that the writer of John remembered that little tiny detail.  The
gospel says Andrew was excited enough to go and tell someone – his brother
Simon Peter.  “Come and see whom I have met – I have found the Messiah.”

For Andrew it had been a long journey to find the Messiah.  It started with
John the Baptist – we don’t know how long Andrew had been with John.  It
may have been months, possibly years.  Yet John, in great humility,
encouraged Andrew, when John knew the time was right, to go and find Jesus
– John the Baptist could do no more – he knew his time was limited.  One
afternoon of abiding with Christ was enough for Andrew to know that he
wanted to follow Christ.  It reminds me of the magi who for months,
possibly years, followed the light of a star which led them to the house
where Christ was living and they worshipped him.  Life would never be the
same for them.

And maybe that is why we have this season of Epiphany.  To think, to pray,
to discover, to find out how God would have us be lights to others, to lead
them in this season of darkness to the light of Christ where they too might
stay in his presence.  Suzanne Guthrie writes

            “The season of Epiphany draws the Christian through light,
perception, insight, from the star at the manger, to the theophany over the
Jordan to the theophany on the holy mountain to see the presence of God
(almost) 'face to face'. The story of the disciples, the story of Christ,
IS the story of the Christian experience from baptism to transfiguration
and beyond, into death and resurrection. This call toward our spiritual
destiny may come even within the most obscure circumstances. Always implied
is the message of Pentecost, the necessity of sharing the wisdom derived
from the encounter with the Holy.”

The magi encountered Christ in a humble refugee home in Egypt.  There were
no angels proclaiming Glory to God in the highest, no tourist signs
pointing “this way to Christ’s home”.  Instead they were probably met by an
amazed Joseph at the open door, Mary in a different room and possibly a
rambunctious two year old toddler who asked many questions about their
clothes, their camels, their gifts.  Yet the magi stayed, they abided, they
worshipped Christ as they presented their gifts.  It was a simple,
heartfelt encounter which remained in their hearts and minds – it was a
relationship that would last and could not be forgotten.  The magi
remembered the date and time when they met Christ.

Fr. Robert Morrison wrote yesterday “. . . encounters with the Holy DON’T
always, in fact, seldom come with a brass band, or a blinding light, or
anything beyond what’s around us every day – a man walking through the
Market; someone shopping on the same aisle at the grocery store; a person
sitting in front or behind us in a theatre. The Holy DOES sneak up on us
sometimes precisely because we aren’t expecting it. Suzanne describes the
way that we’ve been drawn into a relationship despite what could go wrong,
what could bring difficulty.?”

Do you remember the time and date when you said “Yes” to Jesus, when you
followed the start that led to Christ?  When you decided to accept Christ’s
invitation to come and abide, to enter an intimate, life-changing
relationship with him?  When was your Epiphany?
Probably someone invited you as you were sharing a cup of tea or coffee,
just as Andrew did, to come and find out about how that person dealt with
the stresses and changes of life.  “There is a small group at this church I
attend that I get a lot out of” or “I really enjoy the quiet space at ?
church/chapel.  Care to join me?”  It’s dangerous stuff but that is simple
everyday evangelism in Fr. Herbert O’Driscoll’s words.  That is being the
light of Christ, that is extending the invitation, that is being a channel
of God’s love and grace, that is being a disciple.

Fr. Mychal Judge was a Franciscan priest based in New York.  He was
chaplain to the firefighters and many people were drawn to him.  He was a
humble man known to many because of his generous acts, his humility and
just the way he was with people – warm and welcoming – children loved him -
he was a real channel of God's grace, love, and light.  He was declared the
first victim of 9/11 as he died giving last rites to someone.  However, he
had a prayer that he used to write out on the back of the cards he gave out
to people and which I will end with as a reminder of God’s invitation to us
and how we can invite and welcome others to abide in Christ as Christ
abides in us.

Lord, take me where you want me to go,
let me meet who you want me to meet,
tell me what you want me to say,
and keep me out of your way.  Amen
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