Bake It at 350 Degrees
Service of Worship
Eastern Parkway United Methodist
Church
December 27, 2020
Rev. Natalie Bowerman, Pastor
Let us
pray:
“At the
start of each day, help us to recognize you above all else. Enlighten the eyes
of our heart that we might see you and notice how you're at work through our
lives. Give us the wisdom to make the best choices, fill us with a desire to
seek after you more than anything else in this world. Let your Spirit and power
breathe in us, through us, again, fresh and new. Thank you that you are greater
than anything we may face in our day. Thank you that your presence goes with us
and that your joy is never dependent on our circumstances, but it is our true
and lasting strength, no matter what we're up against. We ask that your peace lead
us, that it would guard our hearts and minds in you. We ask for your grace to
cover our lives this day. We love you Lord...we need you. In Jesus' Name,
Amen." - Debbie McDaniel
Luke 2:
22-40
Jesus
Presented in the Temple
22 When the time came for the purification
rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in
the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”[a]), 24 and to offer a
sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves
or two young pigeons.”[b]
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem
called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the
consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It
had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had
seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he
went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do
for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon
took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have
promised,
you may now dismiss[c] your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in
the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.”
33 The child’s father and mother
marveled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon
blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to
cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will
be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many
hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
36 There was also a prophet, Anna,
the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived
with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and
then was a widow until she was eighty-four.[d] She never left the temple but worshiped night
and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them
at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all
who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
39 When Joseph and Mary had done
everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their
own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and
became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.
A Message
“Bake It
at 350 Degrees”
I’ve been in
the ministry for nine years now, and I have a tradition: the last Sunday of
every year, I Google this year’s most popular New Year’s Resolutions. Keeping
with tradition, here you have it: the most popular New Year’s Resolutions going
into the year 2021—
· Spend less time online
· Learn a new skill
· Go on vacation
· Be more confident
· Buy less
· Get in shape
· Enjoy every moment
· Cook new foods
· Get more sleep
· Start a new hobby
· Spend more time outdoors
· Work on your relationships
· Eat better
· Stop procrastinating
· Celebrate little victories
This little
tradition of mine has never disappointed me. There are classic resolutions on
this list that will be there every year until the earth stops
spinning—something about better money management, something about losing
weight, something about the ever elusive eight hours of sleep. But every year,
some resolutions drop off this list because most people perceive them as
unimportant or irrelevant in light of the current state of the world. Case in
point: this is the first year since I started collecting these lists that “stop
smoking” didn’t make the cut. With so many of us cooped up at home and stressed
out to the max this year, maybe our smoker friends have been gentler with
themselves? Or, conversely, with a virus ravaging the world that wreaks havoc
on your lungs, maybe a lot of us already quit smoking? Similarly, every year I
see new goals added to this list. After a solid year in quarantine, we’re
burning with desire to shake things up, so “get outdoors”, “go on vacation”,
and “cook new foods” all made the list. I was most intrigued by two additions
to the very bottom of this year’s list: “stop procrastinating” and “celebrate
little victories”. These two goals say so much about our human spirits. This is
a year when so much that we took for granted was suddenly taken away—church,
school, work, income, social opportunities, concerts, festivals, graduations,
weddings, memorial services…this list goes on and on. And then over 300,000
Americans died. We learned the hard way to enjoy what you have now, to reach
out to your loved ones now, to explore the road right in front of you now,
because tomorrow it could all be gone. While the luckiest among us spent most
of 2020 on our couches binge watching our favorite shows, and the least lucky
among us spent our time in the ICU on a ventilator, we learned this year that
maybe we need to completely reevaluate the standards by which we judge
ourselves as “successful”. Maybe a “big year” for you didn’t have to include
traveling the world, or learning a new language, or getting that big promotion
at work, or getting married. Maybe “success” should never have been measured by
personal accomplishment, but rather by what we’ve all learned together, and
maybe what we learn will only ever come a little bit at a time, frustrating
though that may be. Aside from the coronavirus pandemic, 2020 was a year of
devastating violence: wildfires in Australia; the killing of many unarmed
people of color by white people; the rise of the Black Lives Matter protests,
and then white supremacist counterprotests; and, of course, the most tumultuous
Presidential election I’ve ever lived through. Maybe we all need to celebrate
that we’re here, and that we’re a little wiser than we were yesterday.
Indeed, this
morning’s Gospel story lifts up two minor characters that grew a little wiser:
Simeon and Anna. Two people who, like bread baking in an oven (I’m still on
this bread kick) grew more and more ready one degree at a time, until they were
“ready”. Simeon, a devout man of faith, waiting for the big sign from God, meets
Jesus at the Temple and declares that he has finally seen what he has been
waiting for. Then Anna, an elderly widow who has been quietly serving the
Temple for years, meets Jesus and thanks God. We never hear anything about
Simeon or Anna again, and because of that their moments may seem unimportant.
But both these people teach us about the power of acting on your faith when you’re
ready.
Fast forward
to this present moment, beginning the year 2021. Many of us have made new year’s
resolutions over and over, and no matter how much we believed in them on
December 31, they seemed to be DOA by Valentine’s Day. Maybe that’s because we
weren’t really listening to our hearts, we weren’t listening to God, and we
weren’t acting upon what we were really ready to do. By all means, if losing
weight or saving money will make you healthier this year then do that. But
weight and wealth are not the attributes that God values about you. Your most
valuable contribution to this world isn’t your bank account, your waist size,
your job title, your smoker status, or the number of stamps on your passport.
Your most valuable contribution to this world is your voice. Will you speak to
the majesty of Jesus like Simeon and Anna did? After a year of quarantine, will
you stand up for the lonely and visit the sick? After a year of bloodshed and
injustice, will you help make room at the Table for our BIPOC friends? Or if
you are my BIPOC friend reading this, will this be the year that I can speak to
your sacred worth after far too many years of white complacency? Will this be
the year that your gentle, compassionate heart will warm another person?
Because if that happens, even in the smallest way, you may not check off any of
the resolutions on your personal list, but you will help to make 2021 better
than 2020.
Amen.
I invite
you to receive the benediction:
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