Sunday, December 15, 2024
Bethlehem Lutheran Church
Los Alamos, New Mexico
From the Bulletin for this Sunday:
Welcome to our annual service of “Lessons and Carols”. The author of Nine Lessons and Carols was The Rev. Eric Milner-White, a graduate of King’s College who was appointed chaplain at the college in 1912, four years after his ordination as a priest. He wrote this service because he wanted to grieve the loss of young men in WW I from the city, and especially from his own college and he wanted to reform liturgical practices so that the simple beauty of Christian worship would shine through and attract those who had lost their faith in the horrors of the war, whether serving in it or watching it take place. It is our prayer that you too are inspired with God’s word and the music that accompanies each reading in this challenging time in which we live.
+ In nomine Domini. Amen.
The task this morning is to provide a Reflection for this morning’s Service of Lessons and Carols.
Being who I am [I love to read dictionaries], I consulted my Webster’s New World COLLEGE Dictionary (Fourth Edition) to find a good definition of the word.
Reflection comes from two words in Latin: re meaning “back” and flectere meaning to “bend or turn”. There are several meanings of the word offered.
Meaning #1 reads: a reflecting or being reflected. Nice but not all that helpful.
Meaning #2 states: the throwing back by a surface of sound, light, heat, κτλ.1 I know I do not have to elaborate upon this meaning here among those living in a scientific community.
For the artists among us (myself included, when I have a chance), Meaning #3 offers: anything reflected, specifically, an image or likeness.
Thinking about this for the last two weeks, I thought maybe what I would do this morning would be to hold up a mirror from the Pulpit so that you could see yourselves — what I might call, “the Church Reflected.”
But that thought itself brought to mind a TV commercial (for those of us of vintage category) from 1977. There was a wonderful commercial about the dish-washing liquid called Joy™ and there was an often repeated commercial where three women were doing dishes after a huge dinner party (of course, why would men do the dishes in 1977‽ Except I did, because I like to do dishes, among other things it gives one a sense of achievement! So, the women are doing the dishes and they hold up before themselves a clean dish, pulled right out of the sink. Each woman sees their own reflection in that dish. It has been washed in this miracle liquid. They exclaim, “Look! You can see your face!” And then the commercial ends with the voice-over “What a nice reflection on you!”
Well, it makes sense, doesn’t it? The Candles of Advent are often given names: Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. This being the Third Sunday of Advent, this is JOY!
[I realize that from now on whenever this Sunday comes around, next year, the year after, and so on — you will all think of that TV commercial and Joy ™ Dishwashing Liquid. So it is.]
Well, in some ways that takes us far afield from where we should be; But — in another way it takes us right to the very heart of the Season, right to the beating-heart of the followers of Jesus who gather these weeks to watch and wait and prepare for the coming of Christ (as a child in Bethlehem, as the King of Kings at the end of all the ages, and as the one who lives in and through us, right now).
The 4th meaning of the word reflection is this: the fixing of the mind on some subject; serious thought; contemplation and the result of such thought, the idea or conclusion, especially if expressed in words.
Here we are. That is exactly and precisely what we are doing together now, in this Moment, this Worship, this Church, this Congregation, this Liturgy. Because, you see the word liturgy comes from the Greek language, and it means literally “the work of the people” — and that means what we do here is not a noun, but a verb; not something passive, but active — it is work, something we do, something we all do together — all of us, we are all participants, we are not an audience, we are all actors in the play.
That means what I say from this pulpit this morning is a living thing. It has life and takes shape and meaning here in this moment, in this congregation. It means that what you say in the prayers and responses and creed is a living thing; it means that the hymns we sing together are living things; it means that when babies cry, and children squirm and ask questions, and adults check in and out of the drama because we all bring to this worship, to any worship the “changes and chances of life” (as we say in Evening Prayer) — we each of us bring into this sacred space the “hopes and fears of all the years” (as we will sing rather soon) — we bring here ourselves, our bodies, our minds, our spirits — all of us placing ourselves into the action, into the drama that we call this morning Lessons and Carols — it means that when this happens, we plunge into a sacred pool of meaning, this past, present and future, we immerse ourselves (like a baptism again) into the Story — and in doing that we find again our place, our voice, our song, our hope. This is Advent.
I think it was the great Frederick Buechner (of blessed memory) that magnificent author, Minister in the Presbyterian Church, Preacher and Theologian who once said that “every preacher has the complete and rapt attention of everyone in the congregation in the 3 seconds before she or he opens the mouth to speak.” In that brief amount of time we sit here asking ourselves, wondering, “maybe this time, it will happen; maybe this time there will be the answer I need; maybe — ”
And that is what Advent is all about.
+++
I cannot imagine being a Chaplain during WWI — I only know that war from stories, and as a child watching veterans, survivors of battles in Europe as they marched past me in Memorial Day Parades. Those soldiers were gaunt, withered, often empty shells of humanity (like the empty shells I found along the beach deposited by the tides) — interesting, fascinating, often intriguing, but somehow void of complete wholeness.
War had done that. The image left in my mind was permanent, even from that early age.
The Rev. Erick Milner-White was a British Priest of the Church of England, and a decorated military Chaplain. He served as an army chaplain during the First World War both on the Western Front and in the Italian Campaign. He went with the troops, ministering to soldiers in the heat of battle. He brought comfort and hope in the midst of terror, a bit of light in the all-encompassing darkness.
And when it was all over, he returned to England and composed the Liturgy which we have been doing this morning — Lessons and Carols.
If you have not done so already, read the introduction at the beginning of your bulletin. The last sentence: It is our prayer that you too are inspired with God’s word and the music that accompanies each reading in this callenging time in which we live.
This is the meaning of Advent.
What we sing and read and say this morning is but a foretaste of the Feast to come. There are not that many days remaining until the Celebration of the Nativity of our Lord, Christmas. There is but one more Sunday of Advent, next week, when we read and remember the sweet story when Mary (the mother of Jesus) and Elizabeth (the mother of John) meet one another. Indeed it is a sweet story and I’ll leave it there to entice you for next week.
But, there is work to be done, sisters and brothers. The time of preparation that is Advent is not over, it is just coming to a climax. And there is a lovely way for all of us to participate in the remaining days of Advent, to be actors in the drama.
It is found in your hymnals, in the Cranberry colour Evangelical Lutheran Worship. Hymn #257: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.
You may not have known this, but this hymn coincides with what we call in the Church the “O Antiphons.” There are 8 verses corresponding to the remaining 8 days prior to the Eve of Christmas. It all begins this coming Tuesday, December 17th.
If you turn to Hymn #257, you will see that it is all prepared for you. The “O Antiphons” are paraphrased one per verse, December 17th through December 23rd. The instructions are at the bottom of the page.
I encourage you to do this! Take a book home with you (bring it back on Christmas Eve) and use it for yourself, your family and be part of the drama that is a reflection of Jesus coming into the world, into your hearts.
And let us all say: Amen.
Deo Gratias (+)
The Rev. Benjamin Larzelere III
Retired
1Κτλ is the abbreviation in Greek for και τα λοιπα which means “and the rest”. It is the Greek way of saying the Latin et cetera or as we know it “etc.“
Nota(ble) Be(n)e 