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Therefore …

Following God’s Plan

Sermon by Stephen A. Ricketts

Providence-Fort Washington United Methodist Church

1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26; Colossians 3:12-17; Luke 2:41-52

First Sunday After Christmas - December 27, 2009

College Student Sunday

Good Morning! If you’re a little bit confused about who is standing in front of you today, I’m the other Stephen Ricketts. You don’t see very much of me because I’ve been away at school; I’m a freshman linguistics major at the university of Maryland. We’re a small group, as far as I know, I am one of two linguistics majors in my class. Linguistics is the scientific study of all language, rather than studying one specific language; though I have studied French, Russian, and Greek with varying degrees of success.

Now, getting to what I’m actually up here to do. As you know, in addition to today being the first Sunday after Christmas, today is college student Sunday, which is why I’m up here at all. If you’re wondering why we’re having a college student Sunday, allow me to fill you in on a little bit of church logistics. The Sundays around Christmas, Easter, and other big holidays only have a small amount of lectionary connected to them that tends to be repeated fairly often from year to year. To avoid repeating themselves too often, pastors sometimes invite guests to preach on days like today. So… we’re having college student Sunday.

Although I’ve wound up speaking on few occasions like this, I will admit that this was one of the more difficult sermons I’ve had to write. This particular set of lessons has the challenge of being neither a peculiar selection nor a difficult passage to passage to understand. Of course, guest preachers don’t usually get particularly difficult passages to work with, but I still had a hard time relating to this story. I can honestly say I’ve never stayed away from my parents to go spend more time in discussion with a teacher. (Though, as my mother will attest, I have been known to linger after piano lessons.) This is a silly example, but it does illuminate the difficulty I had with this passage. But what is really going on here? All that the boy Jesus really wanted was to spend some more time with God and with the community of faith. After a closer look, it becomes clear that there is a message here that makes sense. There existed in Jesus and there exists in us a need for fellowship with God.

Now, we cannot simply take this as it stands; implicit in this lesson is an imperative: We must be in our father’s house. As Christians, we are ever seeking to emulate Christ, and just as boy Jesus did, so should we. Now that’s all well and good, but that is a very vague phrase, what does he mean when he says he must be in his father’s house? There is clearly more to it than simply being present in the temple for discussions and prayers. There is another layer of meaning which is not immediately obvious.

The other scriptures for today offer some insight to this question. In Colossians, Paul tells us we should “let the word of Christ dwell in us richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in our hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.”

If we take a look at what Jesus was doing in the temple, it’s pretty similar; it says he was sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions. So by being in our father’s house I mean that we must try to emulate Christ, and we must search for for opportunities for fellowship and look for chances to grow in our faith. This can mean many different things to different people. To me at college this past semester, it meant finding a small group of people with the same beliefs as me and spending time in fellowship with them weekly. To you, it might mean coming here weekly, or finding a Bible study, or singing in the choir, or engaging in any of the other ways God is active around this church and the church worldwide. Whatever it is, we as Christians cannot ignore this imperative and we must be in our father’s house.

Perhaps “being in our father’s house” is not the best of terms because we must also remember that this is not a passive thing that we do; Jesus was asking questions and answering with a depth of understanding that impressed the teachers in the temple. So we can see that simply showing up and sitting quietly is not enough. Christ’s example shows that we must be fully invested and engaged in what we are doing for it to have any meaning for us at all.

This passage is unique in that it gives us a glimpse of the formative years of Christ. This is a rare moment of contrast in the gospels: unlike the rest of the gospel story, Jesus is the student rather than the teacher. He is taking the time to learn from his teachers, and we, especially we college students must seek out those who know more than us to teach us and to engage us in meaningful dialogue and instruction. In fact, going to a college that did not have professors would be silly waste of time (though I do know some people who would approve of the change).

Now, as there often is with scripture lessons, there is another perspective to be considered with regards to “being in our father’s house” The teachers in the temple were certainly a part of what Jesus had in mind, but they did not seek him out; they were there and he found them. Sometimes taking a step back and letting God bring what is needed to you is just as important as going looking.

The reverse of the idea of fully applying ourselves is that we need to give others the chance to fully engage as well. Here Paul reminds us to “clothe [ourselves] with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” We should remember that all are welcome here, regardless.

Jesus was learning, but the other side of it is that the teachers were teaching. I know that I would not be many of the things I am today if someone wiser and more experienced than me had not taken the time to work with me and shown me how to sing, how to play music, how to drive a car, or preach a sermon. It is important to remember that students go nowhere without their teachers; it must have been an auspicious honor to claim Jesus as a student when he began his own career as a teacher.

When all of this was said and done, both the Old Testament and Gospel lessons say that Jesus, and also Samuel both grew in human and divine favor. There is certainly something to be said for paying attention to relationships, and making an effort to spend time in fellowship with the church will strengthen anyone’s personal relationship with God. And spending time with the community will deepen our relationship with each other. Also, it says Samuel grew in stature along with favor; I’m looking forward to that part.

So where does this leave us? We went through an awful lot of digging through these passages to reach some simple conclusions. Seek out God, and allow ourselves to be sought by God. Be engaged in mission, service, and witness in the world.

We must follow Christ to Our Father’s House and there be in true fellowship with God.

Amen.