Dec. 30, 2018                  My Father’s House                                               

Obedience is a dirty word in our society. Somehow we feel that being obedient lessens us, deprives us of our freedoms and rights, and so as young people grow up, they rail against obedience, and some spend their entire lives doing the same. But sometimes obedience is a good thing, sometimes it can set boundaries for us that help us focus, grow into maturity, and open the door to life.  And that’s the message I believe our gospel lesson is teaching us this morning. Especially when it means obedience to God.

I remember growing up that I had the same kind of trouble with being an obedient son. Set up study times for school and homework at home? forget that! That is until my grades in high school were in the tank. Come home before midnight? Why should I do that? Until a drunk plowed into my car and I realized it was safer to not be on the roads late at night Get my chores done early on the weekend, so I am not doing them Sunday night? Who wants to do that?  Until my parents made me stay home from a Sunday party because my chores weren’t done. Show up for work ahead of time ready to work? I’ll get there when I get there – that is until I got fired for not being on time from my first job. – Well, that one didn’t actually happen, just used it as an example, but I hope by now you are getting my message, obedience, can be a good thing! It can help one avoid a lot of painful, and troublesome experiences. 

Throughout the gospel stories of Jesus birth we find one example of obedience to God after another. We find an obedient Zechariah faithfully perfoming his duties. We find an obedient Mary, accepting in humility her role as Jesus mother. We find an obedient Joseph doing what God directs him to do in a dream. We find obedient Kings who being warned in a dream do not return to Herod. We find an obedient Mary and Joseph observing all the rituals of their religion, and be find them again, obediently bringing Jesus to the temple for his bar mitzvah, and finally we hear about Jesus who obeys his parents, and grows in wisdom and stature and human favor. And each time, we find these people being obedient to God, we see God overcoming another obstacle in their lives!

Now, I realize the name of my sermon this morning is “My Father’s House”, and that’s the direction I was headed this week, until the passing of Della Rohrer. That event reminded me of the days, when people didn’t think that obedience to authority, one’s parents, and even God was not such a bad thing. Obedience was how one learned how to live, how to behave, how to have a better life.

It may not always have been the most fun, but it also avoided a whole bunch of problems that people get themselves in today. It helped people to, as our gospel lesson says, “increase in wisdom, and grow in divine and human favor.” And as I wrote Della’s eulogy, it reminded me what a full life people had during those times, and that their obedience taught them to overcome the challenges of life that face them.

So back to “My Father’s House”. The first step in learning obedience, or at least discerning when it is appropriate to be obedient, is devotion to God, specifically the God revealed to us in Jesus Christ!  And that only comes when we gather for worship to hear God’s Word proclaimed. It only happens when we practice God’s love and faithfulness in our fellowship and life together. That only happens when we devote ourselves to God’s house and to God’s mission in the world.

And that reminds me of just one other thing. There’s a line in the song, “O Holy Night” that’s been jangling around in my head the last few days. It goes like this: “A thrill of hope a weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.” As we approach the new year and we wonder how we will renew our lives, and renew our church, it reminds me that renewal only comes through dedication, a renewed level a dedication to God’s will for our lives, and for the work of God’s house! For therein lies a new and glorious morn!

And that’s the good news of Jesus Christ!