Trinity Episcopal Church

January 24, 2010

In today’s gospel (Luke 4:14-21) we get a glimpse of Jesus in the synagogue. This was the beginning of His ministry and you might say this was His first sermon. It was concise; clear; to the point. And the people were amazed at His words. I remember my first sermon as a young student. I nervously stood before about 50 people and spoke on the subject of the Holy Spirit, and baptism, and heaven, forgiveness, love, and the end times. The sermon lasted 4 minutes! I guess I needed a little more experience and maturity.
     Jesus found God under the open sky; on a hillside, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee; on the side of a mountain; on a country road. Jesus found God everywhere! But isn’t it interesting that even though God is everywhere, the gospel says Jesus first went to the synagogue, what we would call “the church.” This is the place where Jesus learned about God as a little boy, in the house of worship, in His small village among His people.
     And just like the synagogue then, the church now is a place where revelation and tradition and story telling and service and friendship all help form us into strong followers of Jesus. Christians are always stronger when we are together. The person who wanders around alone in the woods in search of his or her own spirituality, as romantic as that sounds, is like a coal in a stove that will eventually grow cool and gray and lose its fire.
     As coals tightly piled together in the stove, each one of us, even if we are only partially glowing, will turn into flipping flames of fire. (Sounds like a Johnny Cash song doesn’t it?) The point is those who claim to have “church” by themselves in the forest would do well to look at the example Jesus sets---
He went to church!

Fr. Rick

Trinity Episcopal Church

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January 24, 2010