107 Concord Road, Wayland Massachusetts 01778

And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. Luke 2:22

Of all days of the church calendar, this one might have the richest and deepest layering of meanings. Its biblical reference is Luke 2 in which Mary and her child come to the temple to fulfill the law following childbirth. There they are met and greeted by two holy elders, Simeon and Anna. Simeon’s song of blessing and celebration is one we sing almost every week after we have received our Lord in communion:  Now let your servant depart in peace, your word has been fulfilled….a light for the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.

Kept in Jerusalem as a procession since the fourth century, the several themes of the day have been emphasized by the various branches of Christianity over the centuries. Some have kept the day as a feast of Mary, emphasizing her purification in the temple. Others have kept the nativity and the presentation together as one event. Others have emphasized Simeon’s line about Jesus being the light of the world, making this day another festival of light.

Known also as Candlemas in some parts of the church, this is a day to bless the candles and to say thank you to those who take care of the holy places. It’s appropriate for us to say thank you to Milly Engberg, our sacristan (keeper of the sacred things).

The story of the presentation shows three generations together in an important ritual, reminding me of our congregation and of how the generations interact and learn from one another.

In folk culture, this day is full of weather proverbs, such as that a sunny Candlemas means extended winter, a rainy one an early spring. There are folk tales in Europe about wolves and badgers bringing signs of changes to come. German immigrants brought the story about the badger to America where it turned into one told by a groundhog.

The heavens declare the glory of God,

     and the sky proclaims its maker’s handiwork.

One day tells its tale to another,

     and one night imparts knowledge to another.  Psalm 19:1-2

There are words spoken all around us, in everything, in every bit of weather, in every famous landscape and in every out-of-the-way corner. As Christians we say that the natural world is creation. By this we mean that the world is sacred and, in some deep way, the natural world is speaking. The word of God is speaking in evolving life forms, in healing processes. The world is wonderful. That’s a faith statement for us. Therefore we hope to be thankful, joyful, responsible human beings.

We tell who we are even when words are not spoken. The results of our creativity, carelessness, ambition, destructiveness, all stand as testimony–speaking loudly–about who we are and what we believe about life.

Sunday we will meditate on Psalm 19.  We’ll trace the broad theological lines of it, the spiritual logic that runs from the word in the sky to the word of the law to the word in human heart to the word of human belief and testimony. Words matter. Our Christian faith is all about words.

The choir practices at 8:45 am.

During the service we will take a moment to say thank you to Dick and Mazie Stitt for their faithful service to Peace over many years.

Faith formation for our children at 11 am.

The semiannual meeting of our congregation is this Sunday at 11 am. All adult members of the church should attend to discuss and vote on the budget for the year.

Bring in cake, brownie and pudding mixes for the Wayland Food Pantry.

Remember to pick up an information sheet for the trip to Germany led by Pastor Christian Holleck of St Peter’s Lutheran Church in Harwich. To learn more about the trip, speak to Doris Wald.

Kirsten and I leave Sunday evening for a week in Barcelona. Nate is there for the month of January, living with a family and teaching math and physics in a high school. The three of us fly back together January 31.

Once when Jesus^* was praying alone, with only the disciples near him, he asked them, ‘Who do the crowds say that I am?’ ¹⁹They answered, ‘John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered, ‘The Messiah of God.’ Luke 9:18-20

According to Luke, Jesus took the disciples by surprise with his question of identity. Their answers are all over the place. They name their favorites from the sacred history of Israel. Peter’s confession is rock-solid and startling, even today. Western Christianity split over what to make of Peter’s confession. The Roman Catholic Church said that the important thing is Peter’s office, and a lineage of tradition and authority that keeps that confession alive in a person and a place (the Pope in residence in Rome). Protestants said, the words are what matter. Wherever a faith community repeats Peter’s confession about Jesus, there the Christian church has its proper foundation. In our ecumenical age of dialogue, this difference is the basis of discussion. The Confession of St Peter begins the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”

Last week we heard about the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. Sunday we hear the second story of the Epiphany, the wedding at Cana. This event, the first of Jesus’ miracles, sometimes is taken as a model and reflection of word and sacrament worship.

Last Sunday I began going through the parts of our morning worship. We talked about flowers and candles and music that signal a special ceremony and meal. This week we’ll continue along that line, asking questions about how we should act in church and why, what we should wear and why, why we should come in the first place and what we might hope to get out of it.

As a worshiping community we train ourselves and our children  (in Christ’s spirit) for life qualities and capacities that are deep and fine and human (and increasingly rare) such as reverence, compassion and wonder. More on this Sunday.

The flowers on Sunday will be given by Mary Ann Borkowski in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Last week I challenged us to fill in every week of the flower chart, so that we don’t have to make multiple announcements through the year or depend on a few people to bring flowers. Every one of you can do this. It’s a simple, important little ministry of grace and hospitality. You may email me and I’ll put your name on the sheet.

The choir rehearses at 8:45 am.

Bring in pudding, cake and brownie mixes for the Wayland Food Pantry.

Rejoicing Spirits at 4 pm Sunday.

Mary Ann has prepared a flower chart for the new year. It’s hanging on the bulletin board in the fellowship hall. Sign up for a Sunday to give flowers.

Bring flowers from your garden when you find them there or buy them at the supermarket or at a florist. Have them delivered or call or email me and I’ll pick them up wherever you say or bring them to church yourself and place them on the altar on Sunday morning.

Bringing them up to the church yourself and placing them on the altar as a gift is the best way, of course.

However, you can give flowers for our worship without ever leaving your computer chair. Use the phone, a couple emails, your credit card or your checkbook. You’ll be done in ten minutes, and you’ll make a number of people happy.

At Easter and Christmas we have potted plants. That’s our tradition. On other Sundays, try to bring cut flowers. Put them in an appropriate vase; you decide what that is. There is an array of glass vases in the cupboard above the sink in the kitchen; use one of those if you want.

Flowers are part of our liturgy. Flowers say that the service is a special event. The people who have gathered are about to do some extraordinary things together.

Add a note of memorial or honor and I will include that in the bulletin. Then take a moment to send the bulletin to someone who might like to know that a loved one has been remembered or an event honored.

Take the flowers home with you. Bring them to a nursing home or to a neighbor.

A bouquet of flowers will adorn our worship room and brighten the day of someone in the community.

If the flowers remain on the altar for a while, and even die there, that’s okay.

Here’s a challenge for us.  Let’s try to fill the flower chart for the whole year. Every one of you can do it. Sign up or email me and I’ll put your name on the list.

Again, a special thanks to Mary Ann, our flower coordinator and leader, and to others who pay special attention to the flowers. Your efforts are appreciated.

An epiphany is a moment of discovery. Suddenly you understand. …was blind but now I see… describes an epiphany.

The Sundays after the Epiphany invite us to discover who Jesus is, in a few well-chosen episodes. The first of these episodes is upcoming. Jesus is baptized in the Jordan.

Baptism means you belong, you have a place in the world and a purpose in life. The Christian life begins in baptism.

Our baptisms follow Jesus’ baptism. He jumps into the waters of the Jordan River and we jump in behind him. What he does after his baptism is what we try to do. Because he was baptized, we are baptized. Because he belongs to God, to the earth, and to eternity, so do we.

As we begin the new calendar year together, I want to speak about the central ritual of our church, Sunday morning worship. We’ll think about why we do what we do, why we have a choir, greeters, assistants, acolytes, readers, why we go to church in the first place, and how we should act there.

We’ll begin this Sunday by talking about gifts.  We are gifted and so we take on roles in the world according to our gifts. We start each Sunday morning liturgy by acknowledging that life is a gift from God, but that there is a problem with that: we don’t know what to do with our gifts. We don’t know what to do with our lives. We make mistakes and bad decisions. We hurt ourselves and other people, and often don’t care that we’ve done these things. The confession and the Kyrie acknowledge this tragic and undeniable fact about human beings. So we confess, ask for forgiveness, draw near to God through Christ and are filled up again with the word and sacraments.

The choir rehearses at 8:45 am. If you have a voice you are invited to sing in the choir.

Offering envelopes are on the table in the narthex.

Faith formation for our children at 11 am.

Prayer group at 11 am.

The council meets Monday at 7:30 to finalize the proposed budget for the January 24 semiannual meeting.

Wayland Food Pantry in January: pudding, cake and brownie mixes.

The flower sheet is on the bulletin board. Take a moment to sign up for flowers for a Sunday or two. Sign up for a whole month if you want!  Give flowers in memory or in honor of someone or of some event. Thank you to Mary Ann and Carol for their attention to the flowers and the indoor plants of the church. I hope to write a separate email in the next couple of days about flowers.

Semiannual meeting of the members, Sunday, January 24 at 11 am. This is our budget meeting which establishes our spending plan for the year.

After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Luke 2:46

Tomorrow we hear about the child Jesus in Jerusalem, in the center of learning and ritual. His parents lose track of him. When they find him he has entered into a new phase of life. We’ll think about annual rituals we have in our lives, how we are called into vocations, and what to do when we are lost.

It’s the beginning of the new year so we’ll stand outside–in humility and openness to the world around us–and make our confession there. We’ll talk about how appropriate it is for us to say or sing the entrance rite outside the walls of the word and sacrament room. There is a spiritual prelude at work in the kyrie which comes to climax in the hymn of praise, which in turn leads to the reading of the word.

I encourage all of you to come and enjoy your church, decorated for Christmas. We’ll sing Christmas hymns and see all the symbols and colors of the season with the rush and intensity behind us.

A word of thanks to all of you who attended and helped with Christmas at Peace. There are so many reasons that this year was happy and satisfying to me, and all of them have to do with you.

We keep Christmas together, and this year, again, you brought your talents and attention to preparation for the services and to leadership and supportive roles within them. Mainly, you showed up. You sang and listened and prayed and took part in the liturgy. Thank you.

I am so proud of our kids, our kids at home and our college kids who attend our services when they come back home. I am grateful to the adults who decorated the church, to all our musicians, to all of you who continue to support and help in many ways. Peace is warm, friendly and alive because of all of you.

And he shall feed his flock