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Christ Church Covington
Second Sunday after Christmas
January 05, 2003
One Ring to rule them all, one Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them…
In Tolkien’s classic tale, The Lord of the Rings, a menace threatens
the freedom of all the inhabitants of the fabled land of Middle-Earth.
That menace is the One Ring. A simple unadorned right of gold forged by
the Dark Lord Sauron and stolen from him in battle, its whereabouts became
shrouded in the mists of time. But the One Ring has a will of its own, and
just as the Dark Lord greedily searches for it, so it desires to return to
him, so that together they might subject the entire world to their warped
dominion. Thus the One Ring re-emerges, but by an ironic twist of fate,
falls into the custody of one Frodo Baggins. As it turns out, this twist
of fate is fortuitous indeed, because the ring has a strange effect on
those with whom it comes into contact. It deludes them with its power, and
it twists their minds into believing that they are entitled to the kind of
domination that it offers. Your see, Frodo is a peace-loving hobbit, one
of a race of small people whose thoughts (not to mention travels) rarely
drift beyond the borders of their beloved Shire – their rural agrarian
Eden. If hobbits have delusions of grandeur and dreams of lordship that
the One Ring might take hold of and amplify, such thoughts are buried deep
beneath concern for such things as breakfast, second breakfast, and
elevenses. For hobbits’ minds are occupied with passing of the seasons,
the bringing of the harvest, and enjoying life’s simple pleasures. But
while Hobbits are relatively safe from the power of the One Ring, they are
utterly vulnerable to the power of the Dark Lord, whose minions the
Ringwraiths search diligently and in all corners for the Ring. So it would
seem that fate has chosen Frodo to set out on a journey, a journey beyond
his wildest imaginings. The Ring must be brought to the heart of Sauron’s
realm and there destroyed, so that neither the Dark Lord nor anyone else
might wield its terrible power. With Ringwraiths closing in from behind
and certain doom ahead, he beleaguered Frodo sets out. Why? Because this
task was set before him and no other, and he as the single-heartedness not
to turn aside from it.
So likewise we find Joseph in today’s Gospel. But far from being given
custody of a gold right of power, Joseph has been given custody of a
living baby boy and his mother: the Prince of Peace and the Graced One.
Perhaps providence also likewise delivered the Christ Child into the
household of a simple carpenter, whose concerns didn’t drift far beyond
the safety of his own family. Hunted by another dark lord – the evil King
Herod – Joseph is charged with protecting this child who will in due time
scatter the darkness and vanquish such power of bondage and domination as
is symbolized by the One Ring. In the Gospel of Matthew, poor Joseph gets
far more than he bargained for by being betrothed to Mary. Because of
Jesus, Joseph endured the hardships of a journey that he couldn’t have
foreseen or mapped out for himself. Why? Because this task was set before
him and no other, and his unswerving obedience to God and overarching
concern for the child and his mother would not permit him to turn aside
from seeing it through.
Friends, you and I have set out on a journey of faith, and scriptures such
as today’s Gospel warn us that the journey will be perilous, will take us
to places we never thought we’d go, and that we’ll end up doing things we
never thought possible. And while the Christian pilgrimage is always a
shared journey, there are tasks set before you and no other. Sometimes
this might feel to you like you’re being singled out for an unfair blow.
But such trials are actually honors, tributes to your goodness and
strength.
We have the assurance that the One Ring has already been destroyed – Jesus
did that by his cross and resurrection. And while our journeys will surely
take us out of our comfort zones, the Good Shepherd assures us of safety
as long as we follow him. Therefore, let obedience to God’s word to you
and an overarching concern for this, the spiritual family that God has
given you guide the way that you should go. What adventures we’ll share in
this life, and what stories we’ll share around the feasting table in the
next life.
Amen.
The Rev’d Robert M. Odom
M.Div., Curate
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