Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Epiphany

January 28, 2007


Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71:1-6
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Luke 4:21-30
Year C
I.N.I. (In the name of Jesus)


If there is a single phrase that can be applied to today's gospel reading, it might be "familiarity breeds contempt," or "change is unsettling."

The hometown folks knew Jesus. He was brought up in their little enclave in Nazareth. Current-day excavation shows as few as seventy families who all lived in that hilltop community. People knew Jesus as the carpenter Joseph's son. Doubtless those long in the tooth remembered teaching Jesus the stories of the prophets like the one he quoted in his reading in the synagogue. Now that he was back from his youthful adventures, folks may have wondered what will become of Joseph's boy. Will he follow his father's trade? Will he marry someone within the clan? Or will he be a rabbi, one who teaches halacha, that is, interpretations of scripture, and show us the path?

We could all benefit from such ideas as dreaming of the future for our youth. We could all benefit from giving time to the children of our congregation and community. We could all benefit from sharing stories of faith together, projects and programs that build relationships, and include in our conversation discernment of gifts for ministry. Wouldn't it be great for a son or daughter from our congregation to enter seminary? Wouldn't it be great for many of us to be engaged in promoting and bringing to life ways for youth and adults to connect with one another?

Some years ago, the Search Institute in Minneapolis produced a paradigm-shifting list that is now used all over the United States in communities and congregations. Rather than naming risk behaviors, things that youth and children are prone to, or things to avoid, the Search institute instead used results of an extensive survey to publish 40 Developmental Assets. These 40 ways of being healthy, caring, and responsible are positive and attainable behaviors. All of them are worth looking at and discussing. I'm just listing five:
1. Family life provides high level of love and support.
2. A young person receives support from three or more nonparent adults.
3. A young person spends one or more hours a week in activities in a religious institution.
4. A young person places high value on helping other people.
5. A young person places high value on promoting equality and reducing hunger and poverty.
Search Institute studies show that a majority of youth have 20 or less assets, and that growing them leads to healthier youth, and healthier communities. I am grateful for our Confirmation ministry, which involves five adults on a regular basis with fifteen youth. I am grateful for this weekend's Quake event for 6th through 9th graders, where 15 of CtK's youth participate in large and small group faith and fun activities, accompanied by three CtK adults. Next weekend is the Zone event for 10th through 12th graders, where 8 youth will be accompanied by two adults, including me! I am grateful that 10 youth and 1 adult (so far) are making plans for a week of service in Reading PA, and asking for our support.

Here's the rub. Engaging with youth takes effort. Focusing on creating a healthier community means careful listening and planning. And listening and responding to youth might lead to change.

Jesus spoke to his hometown congregation. He showed that he remembered the Bible stories he was taught, and used them to draw those same Sunday School (or Saturday School) teachers out of their comfort zone. Jesus referenced the stories of prophets who cared for widows and lepers outside the safety net of Israel, as if to say that his own people might be narrow, parochial, and insular, as if they might consider looking outward rather than inward. Just like that, pride in the young man turned hateful ("who does he think he is?") and the story ends with the congregation poised to waste Jesus by pushing him off a cliff, only at last minute Jesus escaped.

I have been pastor at Christ the King for almost seven years. By now, we are quite familiar with one another. Here in Nashua, I have stayed put for just about the longest amount of time I have lived anywhere. We have grown together, sharing love and laughter, births, deaths, marriages, graduations, and confirmations. My children were five and three when we arrived.

By God's grace, with a bit of effort and planning, and a generous grant, I was privileged to take a three-month hiatus from ministry last summer in a sabbatical. This break, after six years, provided refreshment and a leaving behind of the stresses of ministry. Coming back, I find myself in a renewed commitment to lead and to share a healthy model for faith-building.

I am planning a weekend retreat in May at Calumet for adults to focus on spiritual nourishment, and loving relationships. I plan to bring some of my learning and experience at Holden Village to this retreat, even as we have begun a monthly Sunday evening contemplative Prayer Around the Cross here at CtK.

I was also delighted to visit the Holy Land, and to engage with the people and geography of the world where Jesus lived. Two peoples lay claim on that land, Israelis and Palestinians. Israelis are now in power, claiming statehood in 1948, with international support. At the same time, Palestinians who have lived in that land for millennia also have a right to it, again with international support. There have been proposals for how to divide the land, with the development of the so-called green line marking Palestinian and Israeli territory. With the building of a wall and fencing at the West Bank, the internationally recognized green line has been rerouted at points to benefit Israelis settlers and to prevent Palestinians from access to roads and to farmland. I believe that the moderating Christian witness of those like Bishop Younan and the small band of Lutherans need our support and prayers, in order to be a leaven for justice with peace. The land can be shared, as Jerusalem can be shared. Two peoples can live in a land that is rooted in holy encounter. With dialog and compromise on all sides, strangers who listen to each others' stories can become friends.

I invite your prayers for justice with peace, and to learn more about the witness of Lutherans in Palestine. I intend to make another two-week trip there this Spring, at the invitation of Bishop Payne to make a Pilgrimage with others to learn and dialog, and to pray. This trip is called Stations of the Resurrection, guided by Pastors Michael and Susan Thomas, and is a call to hope in the midst of so much despair.

Your pastor has returned home only to invite you to look both within and outside the walls of CtK to care and to connect. I am taking my cue from Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth, who challenged his own community to change and to widen the circle of God's people.

I don't know if an outcome measurement of speaking the truth is being thrown off a cliff. But I do know that Jesus Christ, nailed to a cross and risen from death, expanded the reach of God to forgive and heal, and to invite to the kingdom. We would do well to bless youth and adults who continue in that mission.


I.N.I.


The Rev. Timothy J. Keyl, Pastor
Christ the King Lutheran Church
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