Restoring Human Dignity

Happy New Year!  My hope for all of us during this new year is that we will work for the restoration of the dignity of human nature.  Our biblical texts and the collect for today are about a call to restoration.  There is so much suffering and violence throughout the world that we are all in need of restoring human dignity by respecting the human diversity that God has created.

One example of this call is the appointed Collect for this second Sunday after Christmas.  Although it is a new prayer in our Prayer Book, its original date is from the 13^th century.  In it we prayed to God "who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature."  A commentary states, “In a wonderful manner God created the dignity of human nature and restored that dignity in an even more wonderful manner, therefore we can ask to share in the dignity of His Son who shared in our humanity.”

The Old Testament Prophet Jeremiah had long ago issued a call to restoration.  In speaking about the return of the people of Israel from bondage in Egypt he said, “They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall become like a watered garden, and they shall never languish again. Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.”

As the theologian, Frederick Buechner points out, “God speaks a great truth through the tears of the weeping prophet.  On the other side of mourning is joy; on the other side of sorrow is gladness. The young will dance and the old shall be merry for the Lord who scattered them will bring them back to life like a well-watered garden.” 

For us living in this new year of 2016 the reality of the world's frequent failure either to praise God for restoring human dignity in Jesus Christ, or simply to respect the dignity of every human being because it is the right thing to do, is a major concern.  Whether we work by contributing to the housing, feeding and clothing of those who are homeless, or advocating for compassionate care and repatriation of refugees, our vocation and ministry is a direct response to Jesus and our covenant relationship with God.

In today’s gospel, following the flight into Egypt to escape Herod’s search for the baby Jesus to destroy him, an angel of God “appeared to Joseph and told him it was safe to take his family back to the district of Galilee and the town of Nazareth. There he made his home so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be called a Nazorean.’" God restored Jesus and his family to their rightful home.

Jesus of Nazareth is the gift of God's presence among us. The voice of the Church and the proclamation of the Gospel continue to ring out clearly and faithfully, celebrating the Incarnation, the birth of God in our midst.  Christmas and the season of Epiphany that begins on Wednesday say that, through the birth of Jesus, God is in relationship with us working for the restoration of human dignity.  No matter how dark the night or how bright the day, God is the one who is faithful and always present.  

May we n this Christmas season and throughout the year, join in the blessing we heard from the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing…. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ…may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe."

The spirit of wisdom and revelation and the hope of our ministry is the culmination of our response to God’s call to restore human dignity throughout the world.  Let us continue to "strive for justice and peace…and respect the dignity of every human being.”  And, may God continue to bless us, and keep us ever faithful, loving and caring for those in need.  Amen.