And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”

The first lesson I try to teach, when we have student pastors, is that the closer you get to Christmas or Easter, the less you need to say.

The job of preaching, in general but especially now and in the Spring, is to get out of the way and let the story tell itself.

We know the story, so we sing the songs and my job is simply to be suggestive of how the story may be trying to tell itself in our hearts.

It is a story of peace.

Micah speaks of God’s peace emerging, not from the political and financial and spiritual center of Jerusalem, not from Washington or Baghdad, not from Wall Street or Singapore, not from the Vatican or Mecca or Jerusalem, but from Bethlehem.

For us that sounds right and holy as we sing of silent streets in that little town, but for Micah that was a way of saying that God’s peace will not come from where you expect it, but it will come from remarkably common and unlikely places. For Bethlehem was no holier, no more special than, well, Clover Hill.

Peace doesn’t come from political, financial or ecclesiastical power, it comes from a humble people who turn to God, or it doesn’t come at all, as we are discovering – again – as a nation.

So where is the peace in your life this day?

Hold the question for a moment.

Yes, it is a story about peace, but not just peace, it is a story about peace and purpose.

Peter and Andrew, James and John were fisherman when their purpose in life was changed, but they were not changed by much, for Jesus would use them as they were, their skills and vocabulary and resources to fish for him, to bring his peace and purpose to others.

Bethlehem was a small place in a minor territory, and its purpose became the assurance that there are no places too small, no territories too minor for God’s peace.

What are the skills and vocabulary and resources that Jesus wants you to use, in order to bring others to him, in order to bring peace and purpose to others?

Where is the purpose in your life this day?

Hold that question for a moment as well.

It is a story of peace and a story of purpose, but not just peace and purpose for they are not enough to sustain us, not without the story of the presence of God in the weak and helpless, the poor and the needy.

Mary and Joseph were shoved around by the system, victims of a government so focused on its own needs and the raising of taxes that it lost sight of the needs of the people. Apparently we didn’t invent the government of New Jersey, it pre-existed us. But God was with Mary and Joseph.

God had not forsaken them.

And God is with us and God has not forsaken us.

Where is that presence of God in your life and my life and our life together, today?

Where is the peace?

Where is the purpose?

Where is the presence?

And this isn’t one of those typical Jack sermons where I dump the questions on you and tell you to go home and figure out the answers for yourself.

No I know the answer.

I know the answer in your life and in my life.

I know where the peace is and I know what the purpose is and I know where the holy presence is experienced.

Peace and purpose and presence are all found in the sacred relationships that God has given to us.

They are found in the spouse.

They are found in the child.

They are found in the parent.

They are found in the sibling.

They are found in the relative.

They are found in the friend.

They are found in the neighbor.

They are found in the stranger.

They are found in the ones who make us laugh.

They are found in the ones who make us angry.

They are found in the ones from whom we have drifted.

They are found in the ones to whom we have been drawn.

Peace and purpose and the presence are found in the sacred relationships that we have with one another, here and out there. And what is true for us as individuals is true for us as a Church, peace and purpose and God’s presence exists in our relationships with our mission partners, with our sister Churches, with all of the people who in one way or another look to us for signs of peace and hope and joy, all the regular worshipers and all of the December tourists.

Cherish those relationships today.

Nurture those relationships today.

Pray for those relationships today.

This is the heart of Mark’s gospel: people being with people and through their relationships God works in so many lives. And please don’t grow weary of these holy relationships that God has given you, for miracles will emerge.

You know the story, and we will tell it again tonight, and we’ll sing about it and we’ll think about it late tonight and again tomorrow in our homes.

And the story tells itself pretty well.

But before I get out of the way this morning, I want to - on a deep and personal level - give my testimony to the power of God’s peace and purpose and presence in our relationships. It comes by way of a Christmas gift that Debi and I received, a gift that so many of you contributed to.

I have spoken before of our niece, Jennifer, who was injured in a diving accident in August and was told that she had a 1% chance of ever walking again.

Here, in her words, in a Christmas letter she wrote, is her current status:

Just a short week after (beginning rehab) I took my first step. I was using the parallel bars and took about 15 steps the first time I tried. †We all were in astonishment at that point. Less then 1% chance of moving.....eat my dust. I continued on the parallel bars for about another week and then graduated to a walker. . . . Since starting with the walker and only walking 25 feet, I have now walked a total of 380 feet in one session . . . No one can tell me how much more I will get back, but I am grateful for all that has come back so far. Life is so much easier with the small use of my legs that I have now. But don't worry, I'm not ready to quit, so you'll be hearing of many more accomplishments. I have no doubt that this coming year will be better then the last . . .

I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year........ Bring on 2007!!!!!!

Your prayers, the prayers of others, have all contributed to Jennifer’s ability to persevere and to conquer. You don’t know her, you don’t have to know her, but our relationship here has helped God bring peace and purpose and his presence into her life and therefore into our lives.

Listen to the sounds of angels singing the First Noel, and give thanks to God for the ways in which they still are singing, the ways in which he still is acting, and realize that it is always the First Noel and there will be no Last Noel until the whole universe is singing Noel together for the first time since the dawn of creation.

In the meantime we have our sacred relationships, with each other and with others outside of here, so we have all of the peace and purpose and presence of God that we need, more than enough to follow Christ so that he can use our skills, our vocabulary and our resources to bring others into relationship with us and with God.

And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”