I saw the latest Lord of the Rings movie: Two Towers. In Jackson's films, as well as in the books, Tolkien's characters know they are part of a story - not a fantasy epic of course - but part of a "Middle Earth epic" larger than themselves, larger than their own situation or circumstances.   

They recall poems and songs together that remind them of the roles that others have played - great heroes and events that are part of the depth that make Tolkien's folk come alive. Whatever the current plot challenge, there is a comfort in knowing that there is a story to time, a path that is being walked with a sense of greater purpose.  

And they know that they are a part of that greater purpose, and that their personal stories will join the tales that are told around the hearths of future story participants.  Without spoiling the film... there is a particular scene in Two Towers where Samwise and Frodo comfort each other during their travels to Mordor by speculating on what will be said of them.  

We two are part of a greater story begun by God, in the beginning with the Word. We also have been celebrating 175 years of our congregations story by doing some of these same things.  

We display the old pictures, share the old stories. We remember the challenges that caused our forebearers to act. The needs of a nation during wartime, the needs of this community for justice, food, shelter, education & spiritual nurture. We sing old songs knowing that God has brought our story through the past, we learn new songs as the spirit moves us ever forward unto new joy, new challenge, new chapters.  

As one year moves into the next we will, in one form or another, continue to bear the deep story that is within us. But, when the fullness of time had come, God sent Jesus to be born under the law that we might receive adoption as children.  Adoption… into Christ’s Story – the word that was in the beginning, that was God…As children – that are full heirs of Christ, but children nevertheless, who receive nurture and encouragement.  

It takes a village to raise a child. Many of you have heard that African Proverb before. Mary and Joseph raised Jesus in the community of Hebrew temple culture. 

If we were to read a little ahead in our Gospel lesson this morning we would see just how much the two parents relied on their community to keep an eye out for Jesus. In the story our lectionary does bring to us however we encounter Mary and Joseph as new parents fulfilling the rituals of the faith community. Similar to the sacrament of baptism that we practice - Mary and Joseph present their child before God give him a name and fulfill the required actions of the faith. In this case, circumcision and a small sacrifice.  

In the grand scheme of the author of Luke's Gospel, this is to show that everything about Jesus fulfilled the Law of Moses. In the context of this new family’s story within God's Kingdom, Joseph and Mary are making the choice to affirm their story with that of the community of faith - as you are also doing to one degree or another by being here in this community of faith this morning.

Rich Mullins was one of my favorite contemporary Christian songwriters and performers.  He wrote a fun song called "Boy Like Me, Man Like You" in which the man he was talking about is Jesus of course. In the Song he playfully speculates how Jesus' life as a boy may or may not have been like his own. He sings:

“I was 12 years old in the meeting house, listening to the old men pray.  I was tryin’ hard to figure out what it was they was tryin’ to say… Did they tell you stories about the saints of old, Stories about their faith, they say stories like that make a boy grow bold, stories like that make a man walk straight.”

The gospel does not grow within us on its own.  Its mysteries are planted and nurtured by the village. Our celebration of Advent and Christmas Eve was chock full of ritual that has reminded the young and old of the magical story of the Word being made flesh among us.   Our rituals remind us - let us listen in on the story of history - but it also engages us in the tale today. Like Jesus and Rich Mullins, the Simeons and Annas of our story shape us. Simeon and Anna of course each have their own rich stories and undoubtedly many congregations are hearing sermons about those stories today.  

I want us to recognize Anna and Simeon however as individuals like we frequently meet at church – in this place or in the places of worship that you grew up in. These are wise folks who have recognized the potential in us - who made expectations of us to use our gifts (either as kids or as adults) or who have sung our praises and promoted our worth.  

Our parents do these things for sure.  But they can’t do it and have it mean so much, than when it is reinforced by another adult from outside the immediate family perspective. 

I can remember my sister, for instance, a long time ago. By about 4th grade, because they all paid her so much attention and they made her feel so good, my sister had asked every gray haired woman in our church to be her adopted grandmother –and they all were so tickled.   

For me, if Jesus’ parents needed a village to keep track of him – how much more were my parents grateful for our church. I could name countless people besides my folks who kept me in line, but also showed me God's Kingdom and pointed out Christ in my own life.  They were grey haired friends, youth advisors, pastors, older kids in the youth group, Sunday school teachers and other friendly faces.  

It is truly a blessing to be brought up within a church family.  What an advantage our children have to be connected to so many other adults and so many other kids – in an environment that asks the hard questions and ponders God’s word and the mysteries of faith.  Church kids are so much different than children who are only given a secular story. They have the resources of all of you to guide and to be mirrors to the piece/peace of God they carry within themselves. I recognize the depth of person I am because of it – that I wouldn’t be without it. I see it in the lives of kids I have worked with across the country.  

A study done by The National Study of Youth and Religion based at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill also indicates a strong positive effect of religion on youth. The Report, called Religion and the Life Attitudes and Self images of American Adolescents finds that religious 12th graders in the United States have significantly higher self esteem and hold more positive attitudes about life in general than less religious peers. I believe this affirms the investments that this congregation has made with youth ministry that have been so worthwhile in the lives of each class that we commission and each class we graduate. It also tells us that we should continue to seek more ways for young people to make the faith their own – for allowing them ways to be invested in the corporate story that is Third Presbyterian Church.  

I have a quote on our church’s web site under my name and picture that I truly believe.  It qualifies a popular statement among youth ministry professionals that says: “The Youth are not the future of the Church, they are the present of the Church.”  Indeed, there will be no church if our youth are not its future – and for them to be its future they must be allowed to have a stake in its present.

What I emphasize is what it takes to allow the youth to be the present of the Church… They must be allowed ownership – have something at stake in it.. we must allow them room to share their gifts and the visions they have for God’s Kingdom in the here and now.  

We have to work around their busy schedules and as parents and teachers and community leaders make it a priority in their schedules. What input do youth have in our committees and session? They have some. What influence do they have on our worship services? Well, when they are singing they are all here…  I wonder how much more we can be ready to do with them.

One of the biggest joys in my life has been realizing that I have been able to be a Simeon or Anna in the lives of others.  

Some of you have realized the same thing. I know it – I have seen it happen in Johnston Hall, over in the Education building, in the Celebration Center during Qabats. On Sunday nights with the youth programs. In the pews in and aisles of this space. 

Encouraging the young and the old. Being a mentor and a guarantor at our community’s best we end up playing roles of child and guide as new year leads to new year.  

And like Frodo & Samwise of Tolkien’s epic, each of us supports the other. Each of us contributes to the chapter of this time that is being written. The stories of our own souls.The stories of our families. The Story that is Third Church. The stories of our larger community & national life. The story of our village earth, and finally it is Christ’s story with which all of our tales must eventually be tied with, in the fullness of time.