January 28, 2007 4th Sunday after Ephiphany

See also: [2004]

 

Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71:1-6
I Corinthians 13
Luke 4:21-30

The season of Epiphany proclaims the ubiquitous revelations—yes, revelations—of God. The omnipresent and omni-active God actively reveals Godself to persons in every nation, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and season of life. Divine revelation is multi-faceted and polyvalent in nature. The source of diversity in religious experience, God is also the fabric that holds our diverse spiritual journeys together. The whole earth, and every moment, is full of God’s glory. The universal God is universally personal, varying the intensity, shape, and scope of revelation from person to person, culture to culture, and moment to moment. Revelation is never general or uniform, but intimate in its transformative power. Epiphany reminds us that God’s activity can be enhanced and energized by our willingness to say “yes” to God’s revealing in our lives. God wants us to be active partners in transforming the world.

Jeremiah describes God’s intimate present in our lives. While process thinkers may object to the passage’s suggestion that God knows and calls us before our birth, we can affirm that God’s plans are longitudinal as well as moment by moment. Like ourselves, God may have a vision of future possibilities that God may aim toward in the course of a lifetime of a person, community, or planet. Like a good parent, God can dream of our potential future before we are born. Although God does not plan the essential aspects of our lives without our input (Rick Warren’s Purpose-Driven Life), God presents vocational possibilities that shape the orientation of our lives, while yet supporting and expanding our creativity and freedom.

Following your vocation is both adventurous as well as risky. When he hears God’s call to speak words of justice and challenge, Jeremiah protests both his age and experience. “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.” God, however, does not accept Jeremiah’s excuses as disqualifying him from his vocation—“you shall go to all to whom I send you . . . Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you.” In touching Jeremiah’s mouth, God gives him the inspiration and energy to proclaim God’s prophetic vision to a wayward nation.

None of us is fully prepared to embody God’s aim for our lives. Yet, God works in each moment’s experience to inspire us to take the next step forward and say “yes” to God’s passion for our lives. We can risk new adventures and behaviors because God is faithful and creative, and will not abandon us as we face the future.

I Corinthians 13 is so familiar that the preacher may feel there is nothing more to say to her or his congregation. The “love chapter” has been the centerpiece of countless weddings, even though its focus is the broader community of “the body of Christ.” Interdependent love, giving and receiving, sacrificing and blessing, is the heart of any enduring and creative community, whether it be two persons, a congregation, or a planet. We are bound together within the body of Christ. Our actions create one another’s experience and contribute to the health or disease of the whole. Accordingly, within the body of Christ or the human body, what is most important is healthy interdependence rather than individualistic power, influence, or performance. Even the charismatic spiritual gifts can be destructive if they do not take into consideration the overall well-being of the body, that is, the larger community of faith. Accordingly, if our gifts lead to schism or alienation or destruction of the planet, they no longer reflect the highest wisdom of God.

Love is patient and recognizes its limitations of knowledge and experience. As Paul notes, “we see in a mirror dimly.” We cannot fully fathom the unfolding of another’s life or our own spiritual journey. Each of us remains a mystery, for we are all more than meets the eye. Martin Buber described the mystery of life in terms of “I-Thou” relationships. To claim to know the totality of another person is to reduce her or him an “It.” We can take heart that our lives are incomplete, in process, and open to new possibilities.

Luke’s Gospel describes the potential costs of proclaiming theological universalism. When Jesus suggests that persons of other cultures can respond faithfully to God’s call, his listeners are filled with rage. To his listeners, the suggestion that divine revelation is universal or that God inspires and loves our personal, political, or military adversaries is akin to heresy.

As I child, growing up in a conservative Christian congregation, one sign of faithlessness was the affirmation of God’s universal love. According to the implicit theology of my childhood congregation, those who believed God loved all persons and would eventually save everyone were perceived as infidels, bound for hell themselves. Somehow they missed Jesus’ universalism in their quest for creedal and doctrinal orthodoxy. They missed Jesus radical revelation – and extravagant welcome – to all persons. God inspires and wants all creation to experience abundant life and creative community.

Today’s scriptures challenge any attempt to limit revelation, salvation, or relatedness. Anyone can say “yes” to God because God says “yes” to everyone. That is the spiritual message of epiphany for our pluralistic and polarized age.

Bruce Epperly is Professor of Practical Theology and Director of Continuing Education at Lancaster Theological Seminary and co-pastor of Disciples United Community Church, a progressive and open and affirming congregation, in Lancaster, PA. He is the author of twelve books in the area of spirituality, theology, and healing. He can be reached at bepperly@lancasterseminary.edu or www.ducc.us.

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