The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Us

“The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Us”


1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

Luke 4:14-21



It was one year ago this week that Barack Obama took the oath of office to become our 44th president. 1.5 million people came to Washington D.C. to watch his inauguration, and millions upon millions more watched it on TV. Whether or not we voted for him, we all wanted to witness this watershed moment in the history of our country, the day that the first African American person was sworn into the highest position of power in the United States. The culmination of the hopes and dreams of all who worked hard for the civil rights came to a head on this day. Indeed this day felt like our work and the work of our forebears in the work of justice making had been fulfilled as we listened to his inaugural speech. In his speech Obama laid out the themes for the next four years of his presidency. He talked of and I quote, choosing “hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord…to proclaim an end to petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics. We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: The God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.”(i)

This morning we are reading Jesus’ inaugural speech to his ministry. The setting of his speech was quite ordinary compared to the great gathering at Obama’s inauguration. After his baptism, after his temptation in the desert, after his swearing in so to speak, Jesus comes back home to his tee-tiny town of Nazareth. He goes to the Synagogue and is handed a scroll containing the scripture from the prophet Isaiah. He finds the verses that lay down the themes of his entire ministry, and begins to sing Isaiah’s song of good news for the poor.

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4: 18-19). And then he makes his audacious claim, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (v. 21)

This text is as special. Some have said that we have an “intuitive understanding of this reading, after listening to many inaugural addresses of leaders in the public sphere: What gets said here, today, will be the plan for the days ahead.” (ii) These verses are the center of Jesus’ teaching "to which we should keep coming back to this text to measure our work…the primary question is not so much, what does God demand for righteousness? It is rather, who needs attention and compassion…[w]hatever we take to be the heart of the gospel will be the central shaping force in our faith.” (iii)

Smalltown Congregational Church UCC has done much towards this end. Several years ago, this community of faith convenanted to become a “Church for Peace and Justice.” In your bylaws you “reaffirm [your] dedication to prayer, study and understanding of issues of peace and justice in [yourselves], [your] families, [your] community, [your] state, [your] world…to speak out and act to resolve words and deeds of injustice and violence in [yourselves], [your] families, [your] community, [your] state, [your] world.” (iv) This commitment to justice has been the foundation that has led you to become an open and affirming church, a child friendly church, a green church and a church that gives generously to such causes as Earthquake Relief in Haiti.

As good as it is to give ourselves a much deserved pat on the back, we must remember that heeding to Jesus’ ministry of justice is a continuous task. As we make decisions concerning the ministry of this church we must keep coming back to the gospel text that we read this morning. We must ask, how is our church called help the spiritually blind to open their eyes to the truth? How is our church called to release those who are captive to their addictions, their illnesses, their anxieties? How is our church called to set free those who are oppressed by poverty, racism, sexism, and homophobia? How are we called to fulfill the scripture as we heard it today?

In a little while we will be holding our 239th Annual Meeting. During this meeting we will celebrate the accomplishments of this past year and lay down the themes for our ministry into the next year. Most importantly we will be electing a slate of candidates to serve as trustees, deacons, officers of the church and our standing committees.

The apostle Paul reminds us that “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” (1 Corinthians 12:12) And that “God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as God chose.” (12:18) Within this community there is a rich diversity of gifts which all work together towards this church fulfilling its purpose to “worship God, to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, to celebrate the sacraments, to realize Christian fellowship and unity within this church and the Church universal; to render caring service to all people; and to strive for righteousness, justice and peace.” (v)

The work of the justice committee would not be possible without the work of the trustees, the work of the deacons would not be possible without the work of the church council, and my work as a preacher would not be possible without the work of the choir, the deacons, the sextons and most of all you who are sitting in the pews. For all of us “are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” (12:27)

Over 2000 years ago, using the words of the prophet Isaiah, Jesus gave his inaugural speech that laid down the themes of his ministry which was about justice, salvation, and living in shalom where all of God’s creation live in right relationship with each other, where all who hunger spiritually and physically are fed, where all who mourn are comforted and all who hunger and thirst for justice are satisfied. Yes my friends, the Spirit of the Lord is upon us. As members of Christ’s body let use our various gifts to strive for the greater gift of proclaiming the good news of God’s love for all of God’s creation to all people.

May it be so.

Amen.

i "Text of Obama’s speech for his inauguration as 44th president.” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28751183/ns/politics-inauguration//
ii Kathryn Huey, “Sermon Seeds: Good News, Good Ways.” http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/january-24-2010.html
iii Ibid.
iv. Smalltown Congregational Church Constitution and Bylaws (5th revision January 2004).
v. Ibid.