The theme for this Second Sunday after Christmas is "If I Could Make One Thing Happen . . " The texts are from the Prophet Jeremiah: "Watch what comes next! I will bring my people back They will come weeping for joy as I take their hands and lead them-lead them to fresh flowing brooks, lead them along smooth, uncluttered paths." And, from the Gospel of John: "The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into our neighborhood!"

Let us pray . . .

If I could make one thing happen in this New Year, if I could have one wish fulfilled, it would be that everyone could be made to be their true selves, their child-of-God selves, as the author of the Gospel of John puts it today. As we know from this season of Christmastide, the Word has become flesh and blood, and has moved into our neighborhood. We have seen this glory with our own eyes-and we know fully the generosity of Jesus' ministry-a generosity that scattered the proud in the imaginations of their hearts, a generosity that brought down the powerful from their thrones, a generosity that lifted up the lowly and challenged the arrogant, a generosity that filled the hungry with good things and healed the hurts of the broken and the bruised, a generosity that flowed from inside to those who had been told they were outside, a generosity that was true from start to finish!

Here before us is a life that entered a world of pain, and dysfunction, a world of brokenness and bloodshed, a world of wayward plots and political oppression. Here before us is a life that was born an outcast, a vagrant, and a refugee. Here before us is a life that reminds us day after day and year after year that human judgments are not the last judgment, that human justice is not the last justice, that human power is not the last power, and that human hurt and hate will not last forever-for here before us is a life that calls us to be our true selves, our child of God selves, in the very midst of our daily lives-here and now!

But here is the problem for me-and maybe it's a problem for you as well. For you see, I don't feel very much like my true self most of the time-whatever that self really is! I don't feel very Child-of-God like-not blood-begotten, not flesh-begotten, not sex-begotten. No-if the truth be known I need a long list of New Year's resolutions to deal with my "begotted-ness"-my fears and my failings, my anger and my doubts. Besides-as most of us were taught from a young age, all this "Child-of-God" stuff is really reserved for Jesus alone-born of a virgin, free from sin, never spanked or shhhh-ed or sent to his room! And to make matters worse all we need to do is to turn on our televisions to see in vivid images that the world itself is going to hell in a hand-basket-from tsunamises to Suni-triangles to subversive political policies and practices. Maybe, just maybe we should raise our voices and cry aloud with our fundamentalist brothers and sisters in Christ, "Come, Lord Jesus, come! Do not dilly-dally or delay!"

But here is a fascinating thing! For to utter such a cry points out a fatal flaw in our lives of faith! For too often and for too long we have turned Jesus into some sort of Super-Christ-a Holy-Hero. Yes--we have allowed Jesus to move into our neighborhood-but we have placed him in an elevated palatial palace rather than in a common track-home right next to ours. We have left it to his mighty-arm to scatter the proud, and to pull down political tyrants, and to heal the sick, and the hurt, and the banished. We expect him to leap across the chasms of our brokenness to rescue us in a single bound. But hear me on this! Because we have elevated Jesus in this manner we have not only separated ourselves from his humanness but we have shattered the very mirror of his ministry-a mirror in which we are shown what our own humanness can divinely become and be! Ultimately, we miss the invitation and the opportunity to be as Jesus-filled with God-given generosity and over-flowing with grace-filled love !

For you see, sadly enough, it is far easier to make Jesus something else--of some other substance-than to grapple with the fact that WE are his flesh and blood body here and now, in this place and at this time. It is far easier to make Jesus something else-angelically conceived and virginally born-than to grapple with the reality that that he could, in fact, come again this day in us and through us to scatter the proud. It is far easier to make Jesus into something else-sinless and pure-than to grapple with the notion that he could, in fact, come again this day in us and through us to bring down the powerful from their thrones! It is far easier to make Jesus into something else-a lamb for our sins or a lightening rod for God's wrath-than to grapple with the actuality that he could, in fact, come again this day in us and through us to fill the hungry with good things and to heal the hurts of the broken and the bruised worldwide.

You have heard me say it now for nearly a year-and-a-half in the midst of our Communion liturgy-that when we come to this table of radical welcome and inclusion we remember Jesus' death at the hands of the powers-that-be, we celebrate Jesus' transformation, and we await his coming again in his body the Church! That coming again involves us-it involves you and me-for it will happen when we embrace and embody our true selves, our Child-of-God selves. It will happen when we stop killing each other, and starving each other, and brutalizing each other-both in the world and in the church. It will happen when we meet people where they are and as they are-without trying to fix them or indoctrinate them or save them. It will happen when live equitably, and listen truly, and care about the common good of all rather than the controlling ambitions of a few. It will happen when the generosity and grace of Jesus' very being in fact becomes our own.

You remember that I said earlier that I don't feel like my true self, my Child-of-God self very often-but one such person who did was Morrie Schwartz. In his book Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom writes about his beloved teacher who shares, as Mitch puts it, the generosity of unembarrassed and unfettered love. "Here was a man," Mitch observed, "who, if he wanted, could have spent every waking moment in self-piety, feeling his body for decay, counting his breaths. But instead he could say to me that he would rather put his energies into people. He did this better than anyone I'd ever known. Those who sat with him saw his eyes go moist when they spoke about something horrible, or crinkle in delight when they told him a really bad joke. He was always ready to openly display the emotion so often missing from other people's lives. We are great at small talk-"What do you do? Where do you live?" But really listening to someone, really being present to them without trying to sell them something, pick them up, recruit them, or get some kind of status in return-how often do we get this anymore? I believe many visitors in the last few months of Morrie's life were drawn not because of the attention they wanted to pay to him but because of the attention, and love, and grace, he shared with them."

Mitch Albom concludes his book with these words.

"Have you ever really had a teacher? One who saw you as a raw but precious thing, a jewel that with wisdom could be polished to a bright shine? If you are lucky enough to find your way to such a teacher-you will find a miraculous thing. You will find your way back to your true self "-your "Child-of-God" self.

Thanks be to God for Jesus our Teacher-and thanks be to God for the journey now before us toward our true selves-our Child-of-God selves-in this new and needful time.

AMEN