Agape Meal Sermon
Lectionary: Various Occasions 4. "Of the Incarnation" (BCP p.928) Isaiah 11.1-10 Psalm 111 I John 4.1-11 Luke 1.26-38 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. (Ps 111.10) A few days ago The New York Times reported that Greece has abandoned about one thousand migrants at sea over the last few months. In at least thirty-one instances, they were sailed to the edge of Greek waters and then loaded onto life rafts. I couldn’t stop thinking about it as I bumped into Isaiah’s prophecy in this service: For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord / as the waters cover the sea . (Is. 11.9) I can’t help but hold this contrast in my heart: the prophet’s image of hope rooted in the ocean, and the migrants for whom that same ocean is now their watery crucifix. For the Israelites, the sea is often a symbol of death—they were not a seafaring people, after all. The sea is where the misfortunate go to die. It is the chaos that God bound to create the universe. It is the w...