2 Epiphany/Year B
January 17, 2021
1 Samuel 3:1-10; Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17; John 1:43-51
Its been awhile since I‘ve simply shared a story with you…
When we were meeting in the church in person, with the pews filled with young children and children of all ages….I often shared some stories whose message was geared towards young children. But mostly, even the stories geared for young children, had some important messages for all of us, beloved children of God, of all ages…
Today’s story that I want to share with you, is a Love Story…A love story written from the perspective of God, the artist, the creator of all, capturing the essence of God’s love for all of humanity, in the many different faces of God’s children…
It’s a story that transcends all time...and all places… It’s a story that captures that essence of The Rev Dr Martin Luther King’s Dream of a beloved community, where all God’s children would know their value and their worth, their belovedness, and would be set free to live and love and work and worship and raise a family, without the constant threat of hatred and violence seeking to extinguish their human dignity, their belovedness, and their very lives….
There are so many familiar quotes attributed to Dr King….but the one that comes to mind for me this morning, as I prepare to share this story, is the one about his dream for his children….“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
….“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” (MLK, Jr)
Our children, need to know, that like the boy Samuel, in our first reading today, God is calling their name…calling them beloved…Our children need to know, like the psalmist from our reading today, that God searches them out and knows them, and loves them, and that God will be with them on all their journeys, and in their resting places…Our children need to know that Jesus calls them, too…as he invites everyone…to “Come and See”…Follow me…follow me in the way of love….that leads to building up the beloved community, here on earth, as it is in heaven…
Our children need to be re-assured, through the words and actions of us…. in this time and place in history….a time of political unrest, a time of fear, a time of great hatred and division infecting the hearts of the human family….The children need to be re-assured….that there are people, right now…adults living among us right now…who are committed to doing the hard work of seeking justice, freedom, and equality for all God’s beloved…the work that Dr King, and so many others with him, and even those before him, in ages past - have begun, those who followed the sacrificial way of love that Jesus called them to, a way of love that would build up the beloved community, that God dreamed of, from the very beginning…
Our children need to be re-assured, in the hearing of scriptures, and in the stories we share with each other, that the story of God’s love, is for them…. that God’s love, Christ’s glory…is illuminated and shines so beautifully, in their Faces…
*Read Book: Faces, A Love Story by Roger Hutchison
*Closing Words/after the story/ before the hymn…
The work of building up a beloved community that the Rev Dr Mt Luther King, jr dreamed of, that God dreamed of, that Jesus calls us to, as a way of life that ensures ….all children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, by the content of their character.” (MLK, Jr)….will be difficult and discouraging and wearying… it will take all of us, to be united in Christ, in the interest of all God’s people, to do this hard work…It will take courage, and perseverance, holding on with hope and faith…
Do not be afraid…do not be discouraged….we are never alone to do this work on our own…
In the words of one of Mt Luther King’s favorite hymns, when he was feeling discouraged and needed a lift… these were the verses he sang often…
Hymn after Sermon: There is a balm in Gilead – (LEVS II) 203
Piano/vocalist - Ali Hosford
There is a balm in Gilead
to make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead
to heal the sin-sick soul.
1 Sometimes I feel discouraged,
And think my work’s in vain,
But then the holy spirit
Revives my soul again.
Refrain
2 If you cannot preach like Peter,
If you cannot preach like Paul,
You can tell the love of Jesus,
And say He died for all.
Refrain
Rev Julie Platson
St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church
Sitka, AK