Published on 03 Jan 2012

Sermon by The Rev. Alisdair Smith – Jan 1st, 2012

Sermon January 1, 2012
The Naming of Jesus
The Rev. Alisdair Smith
Christ Church Cathedral

To listen to an audio Mp3 version of this sermon, click here.

“Holy One, for all that has been, thank you, for all that will be, yes!”
Happy New Year! 2012?! Amazing. And how wonderful to be here, right now and right here! You know, I’ve been wondering, on my own and with other people, about a curious and certain hopefulness that seems to be breathing through the world. Some statistics to get us started: Between 1985 and 2010,

• Average life expectancy around the planet climbed from 64 years to 68 years
• Infant mortality worldwide has fallen from 70 deaths per 100,000 people to 40 deaths per 100,000
• The ratio of people living on less than $1.25 US per day declined from 43 percent of humanity to 23%.
• The number of actual wars dropped from 37 to 26.

We are seeing winds of peace and justice blow through the Arab Spring and the Occupy movements. In business, more and more attention is being paid to processes like Appreciative Inquiry and strengths based performance management. To pick up on Bishop Michael’s sermon from Christmas Eve last week, there is ‘hope’.

And, ironically, we are headed into a year that promises to be filled with talk of the end of time. Apparently according to the calendar of the Mayan people, this will be the last year for all of us. The end will be December 21, 2012, mark your calendars now! Now to be clear, I do not believe for a minute that some apocalyptic cataclysm will occur on the 21st of December. I know, as certainly as any of us, that there will be four services here at the Cathedral on December 24, 2012. That is not to say that we might not yearn for an end to “this world”, most especially the world where people are still starving, and where improvised explosive devices kill children. An end to a world where a little girl is spat upon because a man believes she is dressed immodestly. An end to a world where a family huddle in a garden shed around a fire to stay warm in a Ontario winter. An end to a world where there is literally “no room at the inn” in shelters on a cold and rainy night in downtown Vancouver.

Hope. Balance. There is good, there is bad, and that is real life. And as Micheal explained on Christmas Eve, authentic realism must include hope. Many scholars believe that the Mayan people would have marked the end of their calendar with a huge liturgy, honouring both endings and death, and beginnings and birth, and a new calendar, and new phase in their understanding of the universe would have commenced the very next day. Balance. Hope.

And I wonder then, what might we do, who might we be, starting right now to keep tipping the balance towards hope, towards the continuing growth of a world where people are fed, where boys and girls both go to school, and where housing and clean water are seen as a right and not simply commodities. What might we do, starting right now in 2012?

Recently, while on vacation, we were driving into the local town to pick up some groceries, the car radio was on, and it was a talk show. Listening with only one ear, I heard the host of the show ask her guest, “what are those things called, you know, at New Years, I always get them mixed up, are they, ‘revolutions’ or ‘resolutions’?” Revolutions or resolutions? I wonder if we might make revolutionary changes in ourselves and communities so that by December 21st, 2012, a hopeful revolution is in full swing. A hopeful and balanced revolution towards a safer world, a more loving world, a world where each and every one of us has a place to call home, a place where each and everyone of us has enough food, a place where each and everyone of us, female and male, brown and white, yellow and black, gay and straight, old and young, able and challenged, can go out in public without shame.

As much as these hopeful revolutionary yearnings and ideals have political and economic elements and implications, these hopeful revolutionary yearnings are also spiritual. There is a deep spiritual yearning in each and every person to be known, to be recognized for themselves. We know we are more fully who we when we are seen, recognized and acknowledged.

And so, thinking of that, and given that this year here at the Cathedral, we are celebrating the Spirituality of Sacred Writings, let’s have a look at our Hebrew Text this morning. We hear from what we call the Book of Numbers in English, while in Hebrew the book is called “Bemidbar”, which means “in the wilderness.” Not a surprising title given that the book is largely about the experiences of the Isrealites in the wilderness. And while in the wilderness, they are lost, they are confused, they are not fully themselves and a most amazing thing happens, God blesses them by seeing them, by recognizing them; “the Lord make his face to shine upon you… the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” (Nu 6:25-26) The blessing of God on us all is that God turns to face us, to know us, to recognize us as unique, distinct beings. This universal blessing is revolutionary, not only because it exists, but because of what it calls us to do. It is revolutionary because of whom it calls us to be.

You see, if we are created in the image of God, if we are infact to live a Christ like life, we are called to recognize each other, not as men and women, NDP or Liberal, black and yellow, gay or straight, able or challenged, but, as much as possible, to turn our faces to each other, to recognize each other as unique, beautiful and amazing individuals. In short we are called to bless each other with our attention.

What would the world look like on December 21, 2012 if we turned our faces to each other more often starting today? I suggest that the world would be that much safer, that much more just, that much healthier, that much more hopeful. And here’s why. You’ll likely have heard that we are all connected by 6 degrees of separation but interestingly, according to a recent study, with Facebook, we may be connected by only 5 degrees of seperation. In the words of William Coffin, “The world is now too small for anything byut truth and too dangerous for anything but love.” So for example, consider someone famous, like the Queen. You know a person, who knows a person, who knows a person, who knows a person, who knows a person who knows the Queen. And that is the longest strand, in fact, most of us are far more closely interconnected than that. It may be entertaining for you to know that I’m one degree away from the President of Russia; I know someone who knows him. I’m also one degree away from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, so if you know me, you are only 2 degrees from the President of Russia, and 2 Degrees from the Dalai Lama. So that may be entertaining, and fun at dinner parties, but what about the implications? It means too that you know a person, who knows a person, who knows a person, who knows a person, who knows a person, who died of starvation. It means too that you know a person, who knows a person, who knows a person, who knows a person, who knows a person, who was raped. It means too that you know a person, who knows a person, who knows a person, who knows a person, who knows a person, who was a child soldier. What might the world look like on December 21, 2012 if each of us in this sacred place turned our face to recognize, to acknowledge, to bless 1 or 2 new people this year, to expand our circle of love by 1 or 2. We will not alleviate all hunger, we will not rescue a particular girl from an angry and terrified soldier. But we will have begun; we will have started to consciously change the world, by paying attention to 1 or 2 new people. We will have brought some element of recognition, of acknowledgement to 1 or 2 new people. And sure, your two people may already have homes and be well fed and educated, but what of the ripple effect, what if their experience of you is so positive that they expand their own circle of attention and love? Simply because of the interconnectedness of the planet, by expanding our circle of love by 1 or 2 new people, by turning our faces to 1 or 2 new people we can help the hopeful revolution gain momentum.

And so, as God turns God’s face to bless us, and as we turn our faces towards each other, as our light shines on the lights of others, let us hold on to what is good. Let us show no one evil for evil. Let us have courage, let us strengthen the weak, and let us honour all life. And let 2012 be the year of a hopeful revolution for each and everyone of us, and for the planet.

Amen