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CHRISTIAN. BREADWINNER. WIFE. by Lindsey Foster Stringer
Near the end of Rev. Adam Hamilton’s book “Revival,” he brings up Wesley’s sermon “The Use of Money” which has three seemingly simple rules: Gain all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can. As a Christian (and American) woman, the “gain all you can” is the part that is hard to sort through in a society that has (I think recently) revalued a “traditional” role for wives to not work for pay and for husbands to bring home the bacon (tofu in my house) solo.
For the last five years, I've brought home more income than my husband. Over the last three years, we’ve added two terrific kids to our family. For the last year, I've brought home the decisive majority of our income as my husband pursues a Ph.D. I will continue to do so (gladly!) until he graduates, and possibly beyond. Throughout all of this, I’ve had my share of well-intentioned Christians ask me when I'm going to quit working.
It's tempting to think that something isn't "right" in our family. That we don't have a biblically-based marriage. That I'm undermining my husband and our relationship. I doubt that I'm alone in feeling that, because according to the Pew Research Center, more women are becoming the breadwinner in their relationship. According to the organization's 2013 Breadwinner Moms report, 5.1 million American women are married moms who are the breadwinner. The percentage of moms who are the sole or primary breadwinner has increased by nearly four times since 1960. There has even been a best-selling book published in the last year, “When She Makes More,” that has been covered by major media sites such as Time and Forbes.So while we have a definite cultural shift taking place, I think it's important to look to the Bible for wisdom to discern if this shift is one that Christians should embrace or one of which we should be wary. Searching the Bible, I haven’t seen anything that says a husband should make more money than his wife. I definitely haven’t seen any scripture that says a woman shouldn’t work outside the home. (Whatever that means… I work from a home office for pay.)
Let’s explore this a bit more. Does the Bible say that women should not pursue the gifts and talents given to them by God if they result in them making more money than their husband? Or that men should not choose to spend more time raising children if that means making less money, or no money at all?Here is some of what I do see:
Proverbs 31 - “A wife of noble character who can find?... She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family and portions for her female servants. She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.”
1 Corinthians 12:4-6 - “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.”
No indication that men work should for pay and women shouldn’t. Or that women should work for pay and men shouldn’t. Or even a distinction by parental status — after all, the Proverbs 31 woman does have children.
So what would a Christian and biblical example look like for the distribution of work in a marriage? Presumably it can take lots of different shapes. Here’s what my husband and I have thus far discerned, and are trying to pursue together:
• Each spouse pursues careers and vocations that allows them to flourish in their God-given skills and talents, to the greater glory of God. This could mean working for pay. Or raising children. Or volunteering. Or all of the above.
• Each spouse may make career or vocational sacrifices at this or that time in the relationship out of service to the other. And the sacrifice is reciprocated when possible.
• The needs of children are met and balanced with the needs of both parets to pursue what they have been called to do.
We certainly don’t have it all figured out, and the way that each of us “figures things out” will look different across relationships. I would love to hear what the three principles above look like in your life.
Lindsey blogs at changetherace.com and is the author of “Mortgage Free in 3.”
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5 ideas to make the most of Advent by Billy Doidge Kilgore
There are more reasons to take Advent seriously than there are decorative lights on your Christmas tree. Advent is often overlooked as a pre-game warmup for Christmas, which is unfortunate because it is a rich season for spiritual growth. It launches a suspense-filled journey leading us through the darkness of the world to the hope found in the Christ child. Over the four weeks of Advent, space is made for us to move closer to God’s presence, and to receive the love, mercy and healing our hearts desperately desire.If you desire something more meaningful than an Amazon gift card can purchase, then I recommend you thoughtfully observe Advent this month. Choose to carve out time from the relentless holiday pace to encounter the holy. Finding this time is easier said than done this time of year, but it is possible to keep the beauty and blessing of Advent from slipping through our fingers. Below I offer five ways to make the most of this season.
1. Practice waiting
Waiting is a radical act in the month of December. Resisting the sprint towards Christmas requires us to go against the grain of popular culture, which is more consumed with unceasing activity than the long and slow journey to Bethlehem. Waiting demands we slow down, open our distracted hearts and make room for the sacred in the middle of the frenzy. It means not rushing to the manger, but absorbing the unfolding story of Scripture that leads us to the birth of the Christ child. Waiting can also mean not singing Christmas hymns the first few weeks of Advent, keeping the tree in the box for a while and setting up the Nativity scene on Christmas Eve. In the end, those who wait are rewarded with the deeper satisfaction of growing closer to God rather than the empty feeling associated with holiday exhaustion.
2. Find a devotional
Daily devotionals encourage deeper thought and reflection. Choose a challenging devotional, something outside your comfort zone that causes you to closely examine your spiritual life. Richard Rohr’s “Preparing for Christmas” is guiding me this Advent, but there are many other resources. Select one and build a regular time, fifteen to thirty minutes, into your daily schedule. Before you open the devotional take a deep breath, consider meditating on the suggested scriptures, think deeply about the author’s writing and reflect on how it intersects with your life. If you don’t have that much time to spare, read the devotional as long as it takes you to finish your cup of morning coffee. A few focused minutes of devotion goes a long way!
3. Write in a journal
If you choose to use a devotional guide, then I encourage you to journal. A blank page reserved for your scattered thoughts and raw feelings will help you to move to a deeper place. The daily refection is bound to shake loose emotions and thoughts that you've kept below the surface, which is why it's helpful to provide an outlet for whatever rises up. Find an appealing journal and a favorite pen or create a private blog online to record your progress through the season. Use the freedom of the blank pages to be vulnerable before God. Another reason to journal is that it will serve as a reminder in years to come of the struggle you experienced and the ways God was present in your life during these moments; it will give you perspective on your growth and hopefully inspire you to continue on your spiritual journey.
4. Join a small group
While a personal devotional and journal are helpful, sharing Advent with others is a meaningful way to experience the season. Try joining or starting a small group during Advent that will give you a place to offer your struggles and reflections for the purpose of building up the body of Christ. An organized small group focused on the themes of Advent can take you to a place that cannot be reached on your own; it can build relationships that enrich and sustain your spiritual life. Include an appropriate book or devotional for the group, and consider structuring the time together around another activity. One of the most successful Advent activities I've experienced was a weekly soup and discussion group.
5. Create a ritual
There are several meaningful traditions surrounding the season of Advent. One way to embrace the season is the Advent wreath, which offers a beautiful symbol to mark the journey to the arrival of the Christ child. Wreaths, used both in homes and worship spaces, contain special candles that are lit alongside guided Scripture readings and prayers. If you are searching for a unique ritual, create your own meaningful activity. A colleague shared with me a creative idea her congregation is embracing this Advent. The ritual involves passing statuettes of Mary and Joseph from household to household. Each home is invited to sign up for a day or more to host the holy family as they make their way to Bethlehem for the birth of the Christ. When it is time to pass the statuettes to another family they are invited to celebrate with them over coffee, singing, prayer, etc. Another colleague offered the thoughtful idea of creating a personal Advent calendar for your home that lists an act of kindness each day for your family to carry out.
I offer these ideas to help you make the most of Advent. They are only a few of the meaningful ways to experience the season. I am curious to hear your ideas. What would you add to this list? I invite you to share rituals, practices and ideas that have helped you move deeper into Advent as you patiently wait for the coming of the Christ child.
Billy Doidge Kilgore blogs at OurDeepestSelves.com.
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Understanding biblical colorblindness by Dave Barnhart
“Go, you swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth…” (Isaiah 18:2)When I’ve taught Isaiah’s oracle concerning the Ethiopian Empire in college classes or church, students are often struck by what it doesn’t say: It says nothing about skin color. The thing that set the Ethiopians apart, in the minds of the prophet’s contemporaries in 700 BCE, was the fact that they were tall and had no facial hair—not that they were black.
While many white Christians express a desire for “colorblindness,” the concept itself is problematic. In a country where racism touches every aspect of our lives, it’s difficult to imagine what real “colorblindness” means.
For thousands of years, Judah was a major crossroads for three continents. Trade routes from Asia and Africa and Europe crisscrossed the fertile crescent. They would not have thought of people as “black” or “brown” or “white,” because there were multiple ethnic groups that could be described that way. To identify someone by skin color would have been wildly inaccurate; it was just one more physical characteristic, and had little to do with language, custom or tradition. To them, our modern racial distinctions about skin color would have been as irrelevant as talking about people with large thumbs, or bald people.
On a recent trip to Bath, England, I had the privilege of seeing the remains of a mummified man from Syria from the first century. When he died in Bath, among Romans and Celts, he was a trader in the far north of the Roman Empire, thousands of miles away from his ancestral home. His displacement reminded me that the ancient world was as diverse as ours — perhaps more so.
Yet how they categorized the world, dividing it into tribes and people groups, seems alien to us Americans of the 21st century, who focus almost entirely on the amount of melanin in our skin. Plow through the Bible and you will be hard-pressed to identify any references to skin color except for a few ambiguous ones (like Song of Songs 1:6). White skin was generally associated with disease (Numbers 12:10).
There are certainly references to multiple ethnicities and people groups, languages and customs. Uriah is a Hittite (2 Samuel 11:3), Simon is from Niger (Acts 13:1), Ruth is a Moabite (Ruth 1:22), and even seasoned Bible scholars and historians have a hard time keeping the Elamites, Cherethites, Perizzites and Hivites straight. The authors of the Bible were very aware of ethnic differences. The word we generally translate as “nations” is the Greek “ethnoi,” which is where we get the word “ethnic.”
But “race” is a modern invention, what sociologists describe as a “social construction.” (Author Toni Morrison recently told Steven Colbert that we are all one race: the human race). In spite of the centuries of pseudoscience and bad scholarship that created the concept of race (primarily to justify slavery and other forms of oppression), there is no biological (or theological) basis for race. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t real — our perception of reality is filtered through it, and it’s impossible to shake off centuries of our American history of oppression and become truly “colorblind.” In fact, holding up being “colorblind” or “post-racial” as an ideal simply perpetuates racism. The idea that we are on the cusp of a “post-racial” society, especially among the rising generation, is still wishful thinking. Some say instead we should aim to become “color-wise.”
It’s no secret that white Christians are often afraid to talk about race. Well-meaning Christians sometimes assert that if we all just love each other and individually do what Jesus asked us to do, society will sort itself out and we can eliminate racism without ever talking about it — as if systemic injustice and inequality would evaporate all by themselves.
Of course, many Christians recognize the Eurocentric portrayals of a blond-haired, blue-eyed, white Jesus in paintings and movies as being historically wrong. But what strikes me about the Isaiah passage is just how easy it is to read over it without being aware that the Bible is confronting me with my own privilege and assumptions. How many times have I read this scripture without being conscious of how the bankrupt idea of race informs my own worldview? How often do I plunge into the Bible, reading this alien text, without considering how different its authors’ worlds were from my own?
I do think good Bible reading has a role to play in overcoming racism and injustice. When we step into the world of the biblical authors, we begin to feel how alien their culture is to ours, and ours to theirs. And across time, we can hear God’s call to become a different kind of society — neither ancient nor modern, theirs nor ours, but God’s way of living to which God has been calling us for thousands of years. When we read about a God who shows no partiality (Acts 10:34, Romans 2:11, Galatians 2:6), we don’t mean a God who treats all people generically the same, but one who is deeply involved in history and the struggle to right historic wrongs, to reconcile and make peace even when it hurts.
Dave Barnhart is the pastor of Saint Junia UMC in Birmingham, Ala. He blogs at DaveBarnhart.net.
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Coffeehouse sanctuary by Matt Rawle
<iframe width="600" height="338" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/AsSVXBZh9eM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>“This is the story of David vs. Goliath,” a business owner told the reporter. The British Broadcasting Corporation recently ran a story about the potential closing of Highland Coffees, a local coffee shop just off the Louisiana State University campus in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. When news of the expected closing hit social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) news feeds were flooded with pleas and petitions begging for community intervention. The outcry was loud enough that Highland Coffees negotiated a new lease to ensure that the coffee pots would be brewing for years to come. Although it would be interesting enough to study the influence social media has on “real world,” decisions, what caught my attention was how much the devoted Highland Coffees community sounded like a church.
“This is my sanctuary,” a young woman replied.
“We’ve laid to rest some of my friends who used to come here,” a man said with regret.
“If this place wasn’t here, I’m not sure what the future would hold,” another man lamented.
These words of celebration and mourning sound like a welcome video for an early morning worship service, but they aren’t. Here is a community using words traditionally offered in the context of faith communities, yet I’m not convinced that even the most devoted java-seeker would suggest that Highland Coffees is a religious expression. Or maybe they would? Here are some thoughts:It’s not about the coffee
In my opinion Highland Coffees serves the best cup of coffee you can enjoy anywhere. This is a bold claim, and I stand by it. Interestingly, no one in the video suggested that Highland Coffees is meaningful because of the coffee. The customers talked about a welcoming community, an inviting environment, and the feeling of acceptance. Certainly coffee plays a role in the formation of community. Sharing some caffeine and muffins around wooden tables is bound to become a tie that binds. Methodists wouldn’t know what to do with themselves should the carafes run dry. If I were writing this 15 years ago I might suggest that you model your youth area after a coffee shop, but it’s not about the coffee. It’s about the community that has formed around it.
Sanctuary of selfThe story opens with a young woman saying that the coffee shop is her sanctuary. I am certain she doesn’t mean the communal areas contain a chancel, font, pulpit and pews; rather she captures part of what a sanctuary is — a safe place. Maybe it’s time for the church to give up “sanctuary” as a place of worship. At least, where the word is proclaimed and the sacraments shared shouldn’t be a safe place as much as it should be a place of challenge where our assumptions are rocked and our soul is stirred.
But I’m not ready to give up the word just yet. “Sanctuary” also means “holy ground.” It’s the kind of place where we hear a voice from a bush unconsumed by flame calling us to devote our lives to ending oppression. It’s the kind of place where we dream of a ladder upon which angels freely come and go because God is present and we didn’t know it. It’s the kind of place where we offer to Christ what we think is nothing, and thousands are fed through grace. The coffee shop sanctuary certainly is a place of safety and comfort, but ultimately it’s a sanctuary of self. The only thing it asks of you is $5 and your time. Some would say that it’s really starting to sound like church.
A cup of social media
It may be a bit dramatic to say that social media saved Highland Coffees. I think I can safely say that being savvy with social media won’t save the church either. With that said, the digital sharing that Highland might soon close stirred up a real passion in the community. The click of a share button, repeated several thousand times, can lead to real world change. There is a simple beauty in the way this works. Simple systems reproduce quickly, and simplicity is not a word often used to describe the mainline Protestant tradition. To be clear, I do not think following Christ is easy, but the church would benefit from institutional simplicity.
Who’s wagging whom?
The real question with which I wrestle is why the coffee shop sounds like a church? Is the coffee shop mimicking the church DNA? Maybe the Holy Spirit is moving away from the locus of lazy worship to where young adults are already gathering. God’s patience has waned before — “Your incense is an abomination to me. Your festivals are a burden to me, and I am tired of bearing them” (Isaiah 1:13-14). Could the coffee shop be the altar to an unknown God who will soon be recognized as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Could it be that the hallway coffee and altar wine have switched places?
Has God forgotten his people? No, but a coffee house sanctuary should be embarrassing to those who thought they had the word monopolized (Romans 11:1, 11). I am thankful for Highland Coffees, I am thankful for the Church, and one day, heaven and earth will be one.
Matt Rawle blogs at MattRawle.com.
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Partisanship by Steve Harper
I believe historians may look at our generation and name partisanship as the largest contributive factor to our local/global gridlock. Whether in civic or eccesial societies, our inability/unwillingness to get together has all but killed our ability to come together.I personally believe partisanship is a manifestation of the “darkened mind” which Paul says happens whenever idolatry (self-glorification instead of God-glorification) takes over. Partisanship is the contemporary term for what the Bible calls haughtiness, and Scripture is clear that this spirit is sinful, and that it prevents us from being part of God’s Kingdom.
In his list of evidence that we are living in the flesh rather than in the Spirit, Paul includes “group rivalry” among other things (Galatians 6:20 CEB). There is no way for us to justify contentiousness or judgmentalism. Partisanship is antithetical to the will and way of God.
Partisanship is found when winning is paramount and where procedures are in place for determining who is in and who is out. And when that outcome is couched in language of righteousness and unrighteousness, partisanship will endorse whatever it takes to be victorious “in Jesus’ name.”
Partisanship is egotisim existing within a system where what should have been conversation becomes contentiousness — where compromise that could lead us to a better place is declared to be dangerous — where what might have been sharing deteriorates into shunning. Partisanship uses battle imagery, justifying warfare because the cause is worth it.
Partisanship undermines the fruit of the Spirit, replacing it with opposite attitudes and actions that leave us praying “God, I thank you that I am not like other people,” when the truth is, we are exactly like them.
Steve Harper is the author of “For the Sake of the Bride.” He blogs at Oboedire.
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Theological studies are for everyone by Justo L. González
For most of us, theological studies are a preparation for the ordained ministry, much as medical studies are a preparation for the practice of medicine. For this reason, many of our discussions regarding theological education have to do with the academic requirements for ordination, how to help pastors be more effective, and so on. All of this may be very important, but it is grounded on a misunderstanding of the main reason to study theology.Theological studies are not the specialty of the ordained ministry, like medical studies are the specialty of physicians, but rather the way in which the church and all its members, both jointly and individually, express our love for God, as the commandment says, with all our mind. When believers study Scripture, they do not do it because it is an ordination requirement, but because in it we find the word of God for our lives and for the life of the church. One should study theology not in order to pass an examination but in order to learn how to see everything—including the life of the church—in the light of the word and action of God. Whoever studies the history of the church should do so not because it is required but because this history is part of our inheritance—much like the stories of our families that we learned on our grandmothers’ laps.
Augustine did not study theology in order to be ordained, but simply because his own faith led him to it. This is what we hear in the words of Anselm: “No matter how imperfectly, I wish to understand your truth, that truth that my heart believes and loves.” That is what we see throughout the ancient church, in which the main form of theological education was the catechumenate — an education that some continued because their faith led them to do so, with the result that some among them were then elected pastors. It is because we have forgotten this that we have developed an entire system of theological education quite apart from Christian education, with the inevitable result that the laity has come to think of biblical and theological studies as a matter for specialists. Thus is lost the fundamental dimension of biblical and theological studies as part of the life of the entire people of God and as an expression of loving God with all our minds.
The remedy for this must be no less than a radical transformation in theological education — a transformation that cannot be limited to curricular matters or to means of communication and evaluation, but one that must be grounded on a renewed vision of theological education. In this vision, all of Christian life is, among other things, a life of theological study and reflection. This should lead to an uninterrupted continuity between Christian education as it is provided in the local church and that which is available to more advanced students. Every believer — not only those who seek ordination — is called to learn as much as possible about the Bible, theology, the history of the church, and the practice of faith in today’s world.
Justo L. González has taught at the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico and Candler School of Theology, Emory University, in Atlanta, Georgia. This article is an excerpt from Justo’s upcoming book The History of Theological Education, available January 2015 from Abingdon Press.
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Are #Christian hashtags rallying the faithful or just luring trolls? by Sarah Pulliam Bailey / Religion News Service
WASHINGTON (RNS) Standing on the sidewalk outside an imposing downtown church, Michael Corral carried a portable loudspeaker and a handmade wooden cross with an old-fashioned message: “REPENT & BELIEVE.”
“They’re twisting Scripture to see through their sins,” he said, as a group of pro-LGBT evangelicals met inside.
Meanwhile, halfway across the country, conservative activist Eric Teetsel was monitoring the same conference from his home in Kansas, firing off 140-character tweets using the conference hashtag, #TRPinDC.“I have more respect for those who acknowledge what the Bible says and reject it than those who twist it to serve their goals,” tweeted Teetsel, the executive director of the Manhattan Declaration project, which works to preserve traditional marriage.
It was essentially the same message, but two different mediums and two different audiences. In 2014, activists like Teetsel can reach a far broader audience — 3,600 followers in his case, not counting retweets — than streetside evangelists like Corral.
Some leaders use trending topics or hashtags to build momentum around a certain conversation. The idea is that by pointing followers to a catchy hashtag, activists can spark conversation and rally supporters around a cause. On Monday (Nov. 24), for example, Twitter lit up with the hashtag #PrayForFerguson after a grand jury decided not to indict a white police officer who fatally shot a black teenager.
One of the earlier noteworthy mobilizing campaigns included #KONY2012, a movement founded by a Christian, who launched a campaign to try to capture African Lord’s Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony. First Lady Michelle Obama famously participated in the #BringBackOurGirls campaign after more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls were kidnapped by the terrorist group Boko Haram.
But everyone on Twitter is learning that a hashtag cuts both ways — it can be hijacked or lampooned by detractors, and it’s a key way that online activists are pushing back against opposing messages or what some might even call hate speech.
Last week, embattled comedian Bill Cosby posted a photo of himself and wrote: “Go ahead. Meme me! #cosbymeme.” The idea immediately backfired, as people began making rape allegations against him. The New York Police Department, too, asked followers to send photos of themselves posing with officers and using the hashtag #myNYPD. The effort morphed into a slew of negative tweets about aggressive policing.
The Duggar family of TLC’s “19 Kids And Counting” recently posted about daughter Jessa Duggar’s marriage to Ben Seewald and the criticism they received for posting a photo of the chaste young couple kissing.
“We challenge all married couples to take a happily married picture and post it here,” they posted. Several same-sex couples gladly took up the challenge, knowing full well that the Duggars have spoken out against homosexuality.
When more than 1,000 Southern Baptists gathered in Nashville last month for a massive Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission conference on homosexuality, the live stream set off fiery debate. Its official hashtag, #ERLC2014, was quickly hijacked with negative responses.
Aaron Meares, an evangelical pastor in western Michigan, wasn’t able to access the conference’s live-stream feed, so he followed the #ERLC2014 instead. At a conference that was notable for its kinder, gentler tone toward gays, “seems there’s a vast diff. in tone b/w the presenters and the critics,” he tweeted.
Evangelical author Barnabas Piper saw the hits from the other side coming in live time as Southern Baptist leader Al Mohler gave the opening address. “It’s daylight, trolls,” he tweeted, using the online term for take-no-prisoners critics. “You have to wait until sundown to tweet about #ERLC2014.”
Evangelical author Rachel Held Evans did not attend the conference but followed the live stream, offering steady pushback to the conference speakers to her more than 56,000 followers. “You can’t promote a livestream and hashtag and then get annoyed when people use it,” she tweeted.
One of the conference sponsors said his company considered promoting materials through the official conference hashtag but decided against it because he didn’t want his product associated with a feed that was already ripe with conflict.
Most organizers know online dissent is part of the game.
“It doesn’t bother me,” said ERLC head Russell Moore. “I think that just goes with the territory of social media right now. I think most people know that and understand that.”
Most LGBT-focused gatherings don’t receive the same level of online vitriol, said Zach Ford, the editor of ThinkProgress LGBT, a blog hosted by the progressive Center for American Progress. He attended and wrote about the Nashville conference, and many attendees, he said, were surprised that messages of “love your LGBT neighbor” weren’t better received.
“I think a lot felt taken aback,” Ford said. “There’s a big disconnect between intent of message and reception of message.”
Ford said there’s also a difference between hate speech — so prevalent on the Web — and speech that is perceived as hateful.
“When you call something hate speech, you’re assigning intent,” he said. “What I learned from my conversations with people at Nashville is that they don’t intend harm against gay people. They don’t understand that messages that they’re reinforcing are received as hateful.”
Back in Washington, the Reformation Project’s pro-gay evangelical conference attracted a smaller crowd — about 350 — but also a lot less activity on its #TRPinDC hashtag. One reason? The conference wasn’t live streamed to remote audiences.
Indeed, Ed Stetzer, a veteran observer of the evangelical scene and a prominent pollster, tweeted that he was “glad to see people are (generally) not trying to troll #TRPinDC. It is a shame that so many use Twitter to twist & distort.”
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Why the post-racial label only perpetuates racism by Hussein Rashid / Religion News Service
(RNS) The shooting of Michael Brown and the failure of a grand jury to indict the shooter, Darren Wilson, are symptoms of a wider malaise.It is part of a deep-seated illness that infects our body politic: racism.
The sad reality is that so many people believe we live in a post-racial society because we have a black president. We cannot address the issue, challenge ourselves and transform our societies without a prophetic voice. Ferguson is the space where I see that voice re-emerging into America’s consciousness.
Racism is not just about individual acts. It is about a system that allows unarmed black boys to be shot at a rate 20 times that of white boys; it allows a prosecutor to deliver a speech as a defense attorney for the accused after he fails to get an indictment. It is a system that has a black president telling people to calm down as the police, in military gear, attack them.
Racism is not about racists. It is about power that is directed against marginalized groups to keep them marginalized. We see this in American history directed against Jews, Catholics, Irish, Italians, Muslims, gays, Sikhs, women and so many more, but always against blacks. It is about prejudice mixed with that power, so that those with power always preserve themselves.
Therefore, the talk of a post-racial society can exist only among those with power who say they are not racist. But that does not erase racism.
To say we are post-racial is to actively engage with and perpetuate racism and racist structures. This is liberal racism, at best, and a desire to maintain the systems of domination, at worst.
The only response to this sort of deep, structural bias is a prophetic reimagining of the world in which we live. The prophetic voice is a vision of the world not as it could be, but as it should be.
When I hear people say we should all protest like Martin Luther King Jr., I have to wonder who they think Martin was. He was not someone who said racism was bad and then got arrested, beaten. He spoke out against war; he spoke for economic equality; he spoke for a total reconstruction of American society.
His vision was twinned with that of Malcolm X. Their successes are intimately linked. It is that shared space of deeply held beliefs, coupled with a powerful love, that allowed both, with so many others, to challenge the inequality of the time. Sanitizing King or X is a part of racism, too. It turns phrases like “content of our character” into a platitude and a cudgel against the very people it was meant to uplift.
Police officer Wilson’s testimony tells us racism is an existential part of the American experience. He called Michael Brown an “it” and a “demon.” He shot Brown multiple times, as though Brown were some inhuman beast.
Yet, the prophetic voice says that because Wilson saw Brown as a demon does not mean God was absent. It means Wilson’s demons stopped him from seeing God in Brown.
How can one summon compassion with such anger at the verdict? We saw it, as faith leaders stood arm-in-arm protecting peaceful protesters; as members of rival gangs stood in solidarity; as clergy walked saying, “This is what theology looks like.”
It is compassion that lies at the core of the prophetic voice, to feel the experiences of another person. And that compassion naturally leads to a reimagining of the way we do things.
The tragedy in Ferguson has created a space for that transformative, compassionate voice to emerge once more. May we see a thousand Martins and a thousand Malcolms.
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Why I require our staff to work on Christmas Eve by Ron Edmondson
I’m not a huge rule maker. I like to operate in freedom and so I try to leader others that way. I’m strict about very few things.(Can I be completely honest? — I’d rather break a rule than keep one. Certainly I love to write better rules.)
I’m a little different on Christmas Eve.
I’m strict. I write rules. An ole controlling leader.
Our ministerial staff works on Christmas Eve.
Period. No excuses.
That’s harsh, isn’t it?
Christmas Eve is a big deal in this church. Always has been. Long before I became pastor.
We now have three services to accommodate crowds, but the church has always had one packed service that is live on television. Near 100,000 people in our region watch the show and the past couple of years we’ve rebroadcast the show several times on Christmas Day. It’s somewhat of a community event.
But there’s another reason.
Culturally speaking, Christmas has in many ways become the new Easter. Not theologically of course — you can’t trump the Resurrection — but as an opportunity to reach lost people.
They’ll come at Christmas. It’s a culturally acceptable thing to do. A familiar affair. Get dressed up (or not) and gather together to sing familiar Christmas songs. It’s a great family tradition.
And who can’t love a baby in a manger story? You can attract people at Christmas like no other time of the year.
We would never think of staff missing Easter. It’s an “all hands on deck” kind of day.
So, I make Christmas Eve a priority and require our staff to be here.
(Now, in complete transparency, if there were extenuating circumstances with a staff member we would certainly consider them.)
And sure, it’s difficult on families to understand. I get that. My family has to sacrifice also. We live four hours from our family and we now miss Christmas Eve together.
But if we had a job as a police officer or at a hospital emergency room, no one would question why we had to work. It comes with the job.
And in church work, Christmas Eve, if it’s done well, can be a great part of the job. Lives are at stake. It’s a vital work. An “all hands on deck” kind of day.
Ron Edmondson blogs at RonEdmondson.com.
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This Sunday, 7 December 2014
Second Sunday of Advent - Lectionary Scriptures:Isaiah 40:1-11
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
2 Peter 3:8-15a
Mark 1:1-8
Isaiah 40: Messages of Comfort
Prepare for God’s Arrival
1-2 “Comfort, oh comfort my people,”
says your God.
“Speak softly and tenderly to Jerusalem,
but also make it very clear
That she has served her sentence,
that her sin is taken care of—forgiven!
She’s been punished enough and more than enough,
and now it’s over and done with.”
3-5 Thunder in the desert!
“Prepare for God’s arrival!
Make the road straight and smooth,
a highway fit for our God.
Fill in the valleys,
level off the hills,
Smooth out the ruts,
clear out the rocks.
Then God’s bright glory will shine
and everyone will see it.
Yes. Just as God has said.”
6-8 A voice says, “Shout!”
I said, “What shall I shout?”
“These people are nothing but grass,
their love fragile as wildflowers.
The grass withers, the wildflowers fade,
if God so much as puffs on them.
Aren’t these people just so much grass?
True, the grass withers and the wildflowers fade,
but our God’s Word stands firm and forever.”
9-11 Climb a high mountain, Zion.
You’re the preacher of good news.
Raise your voice. Make it good and loud, Jerusalem.
You’re the preacher of good news.
Speak loud and clear. Don’t be timid!
Tell the cities of Judah,
“Look! Your God!”
Look at him! God, the Master, comes in power,
ready to go into action.
He is going to pay back his enemies
and reward those who have loved him.
Like a shepherd, he will care for his flock,
gathering the lambs in his arms,
Hugging them as he carries them,
leading the nursing ewes to good pasture.
Psalm 85: A Korah Psalm
1-3 God, you smiled on your good earth!
You brought good times back to Jacob!
You lifted the cloud of guilt from your people,
you put their sins far out of sight.
You took back your sin-provoked threats,
you cooled your hot, righteous anger.
8-9 I can’t wait to hear what he’ll say.
God’s about to pronounce his people well,
The holy people he loves so much,
so they’ll never again live like fools.
See how close his salvation is to those who fear him?
Our country is home base for Glory!
10-13 Love and Truth meet in the street,
Right Living and Whole Living embrace and kiss!
Truth sprouts green from the ground,
Right Living pours down from the skies!
Oh yes! God gives Goodness and Beauty;
our land responds with Bounty and Blessing.
Right Living strides out before him,
and clears a path for his passage.
2 Peter 3: The Day the Sky Will Collapse
8-9 Don’t overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day. God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change.
10 But when the Day of God’s Judgment does come, it will be unannounced, like a thief. The sky will collapse with a thunderous bang, everything disintegrating in a huge conflagration, earth and all its works exposed to the scrutiny of Judgment.
11-13 Since everything here today might well be gone tomorrow, do you see how essential it is to live a holy life? Daily expect the Day of God, eager for its arrival. The galaxies will burn up and the elements melt down that day—but we’ll hardly notice. We’ll be looking the other way, ready for the promised new heavens and the promised new earth, all landscaped with righteousness.
14-16 So, my dear friends, since this is what you have to look forward to, do your very best to be found living at your best, in purity and peace. Interpret our Master’s patient restraint for what it is: salvation. Our good brother Paul, who was given much wisdom in these matters, refers to this in all his letters, and has written you essentially the same thing. Some things Paul writes are difficult to understand. Irresponsible people who don’t know what they are talking about twist them every which way. They do it to the rest of the Scriptures, too, destroying themselves as they do it.
Mark 1: John the Baptizer
1-3 The good news of Jesus Christ—the Message!—begins here, following to the letter the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
Watch closely: I’m sending my preacher ahead of you;
He’ll make the road smooth for you.
Thunder in the desert!
Prepare for God’s arrival!
Make the road smooth and straight!
4-6 John the Baptizer appeared in the wild, preaching a baptism of life-change that leads to forgiveness of sins. People thronged to him from Judea and Jerusalem and, as they confessed their sins, were baptized by him in the Jordan River into a changed life. John wore a camel-hair habit, tied at the waist with a leather belt. He ate locusts and wild field honey.
7-8 As he preached he said, “The real action comes next: The star in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will change your life. I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. His baptism—a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit—will change you from the inside out.”
John Wesley's Notes-Commentary:
Isaiah 40:1-11
Verse 1
[1] Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Ye — Ye prophets and ministers.
Verse 2
[2] Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins.
Warfare — The time of her captivity, and misery.
Double — Not twice as much as her sins deserved, but abundantly enough to answer God's design in this chastisement, which was to humble and reform them, and to warn others by their example.
Verse 3
[3] The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
The voice — An abrupt speech. Methinks I hear a voice.
Wilderness — This immediately relates to the deliverance of the Jews out of Babylon, and smoothing their passage from thence to Judea, which lay through a great wilderness; but principally to their redemption by the Messiah, whose coming was ushered in by the cry of John the baptist, in the wilderness.
Prepare ye the way — You to whom this work belongs. He alludes to the custom of princes who send pioneers before them to prepare the way through which they are to pass. The meaning is, God shall by his spirit so dispose mens hearts, and by his providence so order the affairs of the world, as to make way for the accomplishment of his promise. This was eminently fulfilled, when Christ, who was, and is God, blessed for ever, came into the world in a visible manner.
Verse 6
[6] The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
Cry — God speaks unto his ministers.
He — The prophet.
All flesh — The prophet having foretold glorious things, confirms the certainty of them, by representing the vast difference between the nature, and word, and work of men and of God. All that men are or have, yea, their highest accomplishments, are but like the grass of the field, weak and vanishing, soon nipt and brought to nothing; but God's word is like himself, immutable and irresistible: and therefore as the mouth of the Lord, and not of man, hath spoken these things, so doubt not but they shall be fulfilled.
Verse 9
[9] O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
Zion — Zion or Jerusalem is the publisher, and the cities of Judah the hearers.
Get up — That thy voice may be better heard.
Afraid — Lest thou shouldest be found a false prophet.
Say — To all my people in the several places of their abode.
Behold — Take notice of this wonderful work, and glorious appearance of your God.
Verse 10
[10] Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
His arm — He shall need no succours, for his own power shall be sufficient to govern his people, and to destroy his adversaries.
His reward — He comes furnished with recompences as well of blessings for his friends, as of vengeance for his enemies.
His work — He carries on his work effectually: for that is said in scripture to be before a man which is in his power.
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
Verse 1
[1] LORD, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.
Captivity — The captives.
Verse 8
[8] I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.
Will hear — Diligently observe.
Will speak — What answer God will give to my prayers.
Peace — He will give an answer of peace.
Saints — Not to all that are called God's people, but only to those who are truly such.
Verse 9
[9] Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.
His salvation — That compleat salvation for which all the Israel of God wait; even the redemption by the Messiah; of which not only Christian, but even Jewish writers understand this place; and to which the following passages properly belong. And the psalmist might well say this salvation was nigh, because the seventy weeks determined by Daniel were begun.
Glory — The glorious presence of God, and the God of glory himself, even Christ, who is the brightness of his father's glory.
Verse 10
[10] Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Kissed — That great work of redemption by Christ, shall clearly manifest God's mercy in redeeming his people Israel, and in the conversion of the Gentiles; his truth in fulfilling that great promise of sending his son, his righteousness in punishing sin, on his son, and in conferring righteousness upon guilty and lost creatures; and his peace or reconciliation to sinners, and that peace of conscience which attends upon it.
Verse 11
[11] Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Truth — Truth among men.
Righteousness — And God's justice shall be satisfied: he shall look down upon sinful men with a smiling countenance.
Verse 13
[13] Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.
Before him — As his harbinger. He shall fulfil all righteousness, he shall satisfy the righteousness of God, and shall advance righteousness and holiness among men.
Set us — Shall cause us to walk in those righteous ways wherein he walketh.
2 Peter 3:8-15a
Verse 8
[8] But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
But be not ye ignorant — Whatever they are.
Of this one thing — Which casts much light on the point in hand.
That one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day — Moses had said, Psalms 90:4, "A thousand years in thy sight are as one day;" which St. Peter applies with regard to the last day, so as to denote both his eternity, whereby he exceeds all measure of time in his essence and in his operation; his knowledge, to which all things past or to come are present every moment; his power, which needs no long delay, in order to bring its work to perfection; and his longsuffering, which excludes all impatience of expectation, and desire of making haste.
One day is with the Lord as a thousand years — That is, in one day, in one moment he can do the work of a thousand years. Therefore he "is not slow:" he is always equally ready to fulfil his promise.
And a thousand years are as one day — That is, no delay is long to God. A thousand years are as one day to the eternal God. Therefore "he is longsuffering:" he gives us space for repentance, without any inconvenience to himself. In a word, with God time passes neither slower nor swifter than is suitable to him and his economy; nor can there be any reason why it should be necessary for him either to delay or hasten the end of all things. How can we comprehend this? If we could comprehend it, St. Peter needed not to have added, with the Lord.
Verse 9
[9] The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
The Lord is not slow — As if the time fixed for it were past.
Concerning his promise — Which shall surely be fulfilled in its season.
But is longsuffering towards us — Children of men. Not willing that any soul, which he hath made should perish.
Verse 10
[10] But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief — Suddenly, unexpectedly.
In which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise — Surprisingly expressed by the very sound of the original word.
The elements shall melt with fervent heat — The elements seem to mean, the sun, moon, and stars; not the four, commonly so called; for air and water cannot melt, and the earth is mentioned immediately after. The earth and all the works - Whether of nature or art.
That are therein shall be burned up — And has not God already abundantly provided for this? 1. By the stores of subterranean fire which are so frequently bursting out at Aetna, Vesuvius, Hecla, and many other burning mountains. 2. By the ethereal (vulgarly called electrical) fire, diffused through the whole globe; which, if the secret chain that now binds it up were loosed, would immediately dissolve the whole frame of nature. 3. By comets, one of which, if it touch the earth in its course toward the sun, must needs strike it into that abyss of fire; if in its return from the sun, when it is heated, as a great man computes, two thousand times hotter than a red-hot cannonball, it must destroy all vegetables and animals long before their contact, and soon after burn it up.
Verse 11
[11] Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
Seeing then that all these things are dissolved — To the eye of faith it appears as done already.
All these things — Mentioned before; all that are included in that scriptural expression, "the heavens and the earth;" that is, the universe. On the fourth day God made the stars, Genesis 1:16, which will be dissolved together with the earth. They are deceived, therefore, who restrain either the history of the creation, or this description of the destruction, of the world to the earth and lower heavens; imagining the stars to be more ancient than the earth, and to survive it. Both the dissolution and renovation are ascribed, not to the one heaven which surrounds the earth, but to the heavens in general, 2 Peter 3:10,13, without any restriction or limitation.
What persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation — With men.
And godliness — Toward your Creator.
Verse 12
[12] Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
Hastening on — As it were by your earnest desires and fervent prayers.
The coming of the day of God — Many myriads of days he grants to men: one, the last, is the day of God himself.
Verse 13
[13] Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
We look for new heavens and a new earth — Raised as it were out of the ashes of the old; we look for an entire new state of things.
Wherein dwelleth righteousness — Only righteous spirits. How great a mystery!
Verse 14
[14] Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
Labour that whenever he cometh ye may be found in peace - May meet him without terror, being sprinkled with his blood, and sanctified by his Spirit, so as to be without spot and blameless. Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:22.
Verse 15
[15] And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
And account the longsuffering of the Lord salvation — Not only designed to lead men to repentance, but actually conducing thereto: a precious means of saving many more souls.
As our beloved brother Paul also hath written to you — This refers not only to the single sentence preceding, but to all that went before. St. Paul had written to the same effect concerning the end of the world, in several parts of his epistles, and particularly in his Epistle to the Hebrews. Romans 2:4.
Mark 1:1-8
Verse 1
[1] The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;
The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ — The evangelist speaks with strict propriety: for the beginning of the Gospel is in the account of John the Baptist, contained in the first paragraph; the Gospel itself in the rest of the book. Matthew 3:1; Luke 3:1
Verse 2
[2] As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
Malachi 3:1
Verse 3
[3] The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Isaiah 40:3.
Verse 4
[4] John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
Preaching the baptism of repentance — That is, preaching repentance, and baptizing as a sign and means of it.
Verse 7
[7] And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
The latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose — That is, to do him the very meanest service.
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ADVENT REPENTANCE by Paul E. Flesner
A Sermon on Mark 1:1-8The way in which the church prepares for Christmas compared to the way the rest of the world prepares for Christmas is confusing to many folks—including many in the church. Two examples: the “mood” of Advent is “penitential” and more somber (which surprises folks), and we don't sing Christmas carols, which baffles people.
These reactions to Advent aren't surprising, since we do bring our “secular” experience into church with us. If everyone else is singing Christmas carols, why can't we do it in church? After all, we're the ones who gave the world the Christmas holiday. However, the result of such expectations is that we frequently come to view Advent as “so many spiritual shopping days before Christmas,” rather than seeing Advent as a time to prepare ourselves for a face-to-face encounter with the God of time and eternity.
The words of a Christmas song go something like this: “Oh, the real meaning of Christmas is the giving of love everyday.” That sounds nice, but it is not the real meaning of Christmas! In the church we prepare for Christmas in a different way, because for the church, Christmas is a holy day, not a holiday. There is a profound difference between the two!
Christmas is a holy day because God became one of us! Christmas is a holy day because God began a journey toward a cross and an empty tomb to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves! Christmas is a holy day because the invisible God of the universe became visible in a way that we could see directly! If Christmas is merely a “holiday,” then it is understandable to see Advent as a time when we try to get into the holiday spirit. However, since Christmas is a holy day, Advent is a time for us to prepare for an encounter with the Holy One.
You might not care too much right now about meeting the Holy One. Right now you might be more interested in singing Christmas carols, or buying Christmas gifts, or baking Christmas cookies — and generally getting into the Christmas spirit. However, before you “tune me out," let me make a couple of observations: First, the day will come for every one of us when we will meet the Holy One, whether we want to or not. I am not saying that to scare you. It simply is. Secondly, if your life today is in any kind of disarray, an encounter with the Holy One will make a big difference.
Meeting the Holy One face to face goes so far beyond such an experience that we cannot even begin to comprehend it. The prospect can even be frightening, for in the presence of God, you and I look shabby by comparison. Yet, that is what Christmas is about. God came to wrap us in the mantle of God's holiness so that our lives can take on a new look, a new luster, a new value, a new direction—a new hope.
How can we prepare ourselves for an encounter with the Holy One? Look at John the Baptist. I will grant you that his appearance is not in keeping with Christmas. A camel hair outfit is certainly not as festive as a Santa suit. Nor does his message ring with the “holiday spirit.” However, he does address the matter of preparing to meet the Holy One, for that is what his message of repentance is all about.
In order to comprehend fully what this means, I think we need to examine our traditional notions of what repentance means. The Greek word for “repent” means “to change.” But somewhere along the way we've picked up a different notion of repentance. I suspect our understanding of repentance is more associated with “hell fire and brimstone” and is characterized by cartoons with a long-bearded man and his sign which announces the end of the world and calls people to repent, lest they be damned eternally.
It's no wonder that people get turned off by this matter of “repentance.” That's heavy stuff. If I had to live under that kind of a cloud, I wouldn't be too crazy about repentance. No, repentance simply means to change —to turn around and walk in a new direction. In short, to “reverse direction.”
However, because Christmas is a time of tradition, it can be difficult for us to understand Advent as preparing to make changes. But if Christmas is really about an encounter with the Holy One, then Christmas must also be about change—changes in our values and priorities, changes in our attitudes, changes in the way we treat others.
What changes are we supposed to make to prepare ourselves? That is a fair question, but I will answer it with another question: “What are we currently doing in our lives that keeps us from being sensitive to God's presence in our life and the lives of other people around us?” Let me put it another way: “What are we doing that keeps us at arm's length from God and from someone else?”
For some of us, it is working too hard. For some of us, it is too much ambition. For some of us, it is too much greed. For some of us, it is a negative attitude and outlook. For some of us, it is inner hostility and resentment. For some of us, it is a chip on our shoulder. For some of us, it is a hatred that we won't let go of. For some of us, it is even too much religion in the form of false piety and arrogant self-righteousness.
The specifics of what God calls each of to change is different. But they do have something in common: we are called to drop the barriers that we erect in our lives which prevent us from being open and sensitive to the spirit of God! As long as we have erected barriers in our lives against other people, the net result will be a barrier against God!
My friends, if you're looking for the holiday spirit, you won't find it here. But if you are looking for an encounter with the Holy One — if you are looking for the presence of the living God who sent his Son to change the hearts and lives of people — then you've come to the right place! To paraphrase the message of John the Baptist, “Reverse direction, for the kingdom of God has arrived!”
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WORSHIP ELEMENTS: DECEMBER 7, 2014 by Deborah Sokolove, Worship Elements
Second Sunday of AdventCOLOR: Blue or Purple
SCRIPTURE READINGS: Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13; 2 Peter 3:8-15a; Mark 1:1-8
THEME IDEAS
In these readings, we are told to prepare for the day when God will be among us. Isaiah’s vision of comfort and rest comes as a promise to all who struggle, while the Gospel message calls us to repentance in expectation that God will be among us very soon. No one knows the exact time or day, but we can depend on God’s promises and love.
INVITATION AND GATHERING
Call to Worship (Psalm 85)
Let us hear what God will speak,
for the Holy One speaks peace to the people,
to the faithful, and to all who turn to God in their hearts.
Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet.
Righteousness and peace will embrace.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
The Holy One will give what is good,
and we will bring our praise and song.
—Or—
Gathering Words (Isaiah 40)
The world is dark and cold.
We look for signs of your coming.
The world is hungry for righteousness.
We look for signs of your coming.
The world yearns for your love.
We look for signs of your coming.
Opening Prayer (Isaiah 40, Psalm 85, 2 Peter 3)
God of winter and starlight,
you have promised us your presence:
to live among us,
to right all wrongs,
to bring good things to all who wait
for your new day.
In these dark days,
we look for signs of your coming:
the sounds of children at play,
the music that fills our hearts
with anticipation,
the company of all who serve
the last and the least.
Make us at home with righteousness,
that we may be ready to walk
in your holy ways. Amen.
PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE
Prayer of Confession (Isaiah 40, Psalm 85)
God of love and kindness,
you have promised to renew our lives,
to be with us in a new heaven and new earth—
a realm where steadfast love and faithfulness
embrace forever.
We are afraid of your promised coming.
We cling to rules we understand:
the rules of privilege and power.
We are afraid of a world of true justice and peace,
afraid that you will change the way
things have always been.
As we wait for you to live among us,
we confess our unwillingness to see
that you have always been here.
Words of Assurance (Isaiah 40, Psalm 85)
In God’s love and mercy,
we are given each new day
for the healing of the world.
In the name of Christ, you are forgiven.
In the name of Christ, you are forgiven.
Response to the Word (Isaiah 40, Psalm 85, 2 Peter 3, Mark 1)
God of patience and peace,
as John the Baptizer called the people
to repentance,
so you call us to new life
in your Spirit.
Help us wait for your promised coming,
and prepare your way
with faithfulness and steadfast love. Amen.
THANKSGIVING AND COMMUNION
Offering Prayer (Isaiah 40, 2 Peter 3, Mark 1)
Lord God, you have shown us your glory:
in your holy word,
in the blessings of our daily lives,
and in the promise of your eternal kingdom.
You share your glory with us,
giving us the power to live
in holiness and godliness.
Your loving patience gives us hope
as we await the coming of your Son, Jesus Christ.
In gratitude and thanks,
we offer you our hearts, our lives,
and all that we have.
Use these gifts, we pray,
to prepare your way of salvation
and to establish your realm of peace.
This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
(Amy B. Hunter)
Communion Prayer
God of justice and bounty,
in your new day,
the world is filled with good things.
Bless these gifts of bread and wine,
fruit of the vine and work of human hands,
that they may nourish us as we await your coming,
in the name of Christ, who lived and died
so that we might live. Amen.
Great Thanksgiving
Christ be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give our thanks to the Holy One.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is a right, good, and a joyful thing,
always and everywhere, to give you thanks.
You lead us in paths of righteousness and peace.
In the words of the prophet Isaiah,
and the cry of John the Baptizer,
you have spoken of your great love
for your people and have promised
to heal all that is broken and forsaken,
to redeem all who are lost and alone.
And so, with your people on earth,
and all the great cloud of witnesses in heaven,
we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
Holy, holy, holy One, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is the one who comes
in your holy name.
Hosanna in the highest.
Holy are you, and holy is your child, Jesus Christ,
who came to the river to be baptized,
and taught us of the Holy Spirit,
living in us and around us and among us.
On the night in which he gave himself up
(continue the Words of Institution)
do this in remembrance of me.
And so, in remembrance of your mighty acts
in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves
in praise and thanksgiving
as a holy and living sacrifice
as we proclaim the mystery of faith.
Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here,
and on these gifts of bread and wine.
Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ,
that we may become one with Christ,
who lived and died and rose to bring healing
to a broken world.
By your Spirit make us one with Christ,
one with each other, and one in ministry
to all the world, until we feast together
at the heavenly banquet in your eternal realm.
Maker of justice and mercy,
Spirit of compassion and grace,
Lover of all creation,
we give you thanks and praise.
Amen.
SENDING FORTH
Benediction (Isaiah 40, Mark 1)
Go out to a world that hungers for righteousness.
Prepare the highway for our God:
make ready the paths of peace.
Amen.
CONTEMPORARY OPTIONS
Gathering Words (Isaiah 40, Mark 1)
Prepare the way of the Holy One.
Prepare the way of our God.
Make ready the paths of peace.
Prepare the way of our God.
Make ready your hearts for the coming of the Lord.
Prepare the way of our God.
—Or—
Gathering Words (Isaiah 40, Mark 1)
Prepare the way of the Holy One.
Prepare the way of our God.
Praise Sentences
The Holy One gives what is good.
We give our thanks and praise.
From “The Abingdon Worship Annual 2011,” edited by Mary J. Scifres and B.J. Beu, Copyright © 2010 by Abingdon Press. “The Abingdon Worship Annual 2015” is now available.
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WORSHIP CONNECTION: DECEMBER 7, 2014 by Nancy C. Townley Worship Connection
Second Sunday of AdventLectionary: Isaiah 40:1-11, Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13; 2 Peter 3: 8-15a; Mark 1:1-8
CALLS TO WORSHIP
Call to Worship #1
L: Days are getting darker.
P: Who will come to give us light?
L: The voice of the prophet cries in the wilderness of our lives!
P: Is this prophet the One who brings the light?
L: This prophet brings witness to the Light which is coming for all people.
P: Praise be to God who has heard our cries. AMEN.
Call to Worship #2
L: What have you come to see?
P: We have come to see the Light.
L: The light of hope is here for you.
P: God’s hope shines through our darkness.
L: Come, worship the Lord of Light and Hope!
P: Praise God for the breaking of light into our lives. AMEN.
Call to Worship #3
This call to worship is done in the form of an inclusive skit. The people who have been given the flashlights should be near enough to the front of the worship area to shine their lights on the floor beyond the Person with the packages. You will need a pile of packages and you may decide whether to wrap them or not. These packages represent burdens and you may want to label them with a "burden" such as "sorrow, fear, loneliness, anger, frustration, sadness, etc.
[Person enters with a pile of packages in arms, obscuring their sight and causing the person to weave around.]
L: Hello. May I help you with those burdens you carry?
Person: I can manage. I always have. Just tell me if I’m going to step off the curb.
L: It’s hard to manage when so many obstacles are in the way.
Person: That’s life.....full of obstacles. (Person begins to shuffle packages unsuccessfully as they begin to drop to the floor). Oh, no! Now I’ve done it!
L: Here, let me help you. I can carry some of these for you.
Person: My goodness, it’s dark here. I guess I hadn’t realized how dark things have gotten.
L: There is light available to show the way.
Person: I sure could use some light. I’m far too lost as it is.
L: The Light is coming to the world. We are here to proclaim the good news of that Light.
People: Jesus is the Light that is coming. He will show the way. Meanwhile, let us offer our lights to you. (The choir and congregation members who have flashlights shine them on the floor in front of the Person).
L: This may help. Watch for the light. Wait for the Light. He is coming to you.
Person: Thank you, thank you so much.
People: Praise be to God who brings the light to each of us. AMEN.
Call to Worship #4
L: (singing) "This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine."
P: Where can we get that Light?
L: This represents the Light of God coming into the world. It’s here for us right now.
P: But it does not give a lot of light.
L: It gives us enough light to begin our journey through the darkness. Come, do not be afraid. God will give us the Light we need.
P: We come this day, seeking Light and Hope in our darkness. AMEN.
PRAYERS, READINGS, BENEDICTION
Invocation/Opening Prayer
Lord of Darkness and of Light, come to us this day in the midst of our growing darkness bringing the light of hope to our lives. Keep our hearts and minds alert to your presence. Give peace to our stressed spirits. In this season of Advent, prepare us to greet the One who will lift our burdens and change our lives forever. AMEN.
The Advent Light
Theme for bulletin insert: Today we will place light from two sources on our worship center. The first light comes from the candle, which was placed here last week, but remained unlit. The second source is a flashlight, with its small, bur directed beam of light to show us the way to Hope.
L: Last week we placed this candle on our worship center, but it remained unlit so that we would take the time to actually think about the darkness and hope for the light.
Person 1: We light this candle, remembering that in the midst of darkness, God created the world and all that is in it. In the midst of our darkness, God has again brought light
[Person 1 lights the Advent Candle].
L: Today we place a flashlight in our worship center as the second light of Advent. This common object becomes uncommon as it reveals God’s love and direction for our lives.
Person 2: We turn this flashlight on, with its small beam. The darkness is great, but God’s powerful light will show us the way, our path is illuminated by God’s gracious love. This light represents direction and hope.
[Person 2 turns the flashlight on. Note: make sure that the light is either shining on the floor or down an aisle, not in the face of any persons in the sanctuary]
L: Let us pray: Lord of love and light, give us direction this day. Draw us from our darkness back to you. Help us to remember that your light and presence are always with us. AMEN.
Prayer of Confession
December is upon us, Lord, and we are on the "greased slide to Christmas". Time seems to get away from us and we get trapped in the buy-wrap-send syndrome. Lord, we confess that it is easy to get involved in all these opportunities and stresses that come our way. Forgive us when we put our faith on a back burner and focus instead on pressures in our lives. Help us to take time to see your beam of direction which shines in our path, leading us to peace and hope. Clear our spirits of the frustrations and anxieties of this season, so that the Light which you are sending into the world will truly shine in and through us to others. These things we pray in the name of Jesus, our Hope and our Light. AMEN.
Pastoral Prayer
Directing God, who has offered us a way through the darkness to your light, be with us this day as we rush headlong into this holiday season. Remind us again of the wonders that you have in store for us. We are getting wrapped up in ribbon, tape, and paper to the point where we can no longer move. We are prisoners of our own best intentions, reflected in our gifts. Break through the clutter and the darkness of our souls. Shine your light on our path. Calm our spirits, lift our hearts to you. As we have lifted so many names and situations to you for your healing and comforting love, we also bring our lives, our selves for your care and mercy. Help us remember that you always care for us. You have sent us your very best, not in a greeting card, but in the person of Jesus, your beloved Son, that we might come out of our darkness and into the light of your Kingdom. Heal and protect us, gracious Lord. Shine your light again in our lives that we may see the true spirit of this season is in loving and taking time to listen and care for our selves and for others. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. AMEN.
Offertory Prayer
Giver of the most precious Gift of all, we return to you this day our thanks represented in these gifts and in the lives of all these dear people. Bless these gifts and all these people that they may be lights of your love in our dark world. AMEN.
Litany
L: It gets darker much earlier. I don’t like this deep, foreboding darkness.
P: The Light is coming.
L: I keep looking down, trying not to stumble and fall
P: The Light is coming
L: I don’t know what to expect. I am pressured on all sides to be here or there and to do this or that. I have no time, no peace, no hope.
P: The Light is coming. Look up! Do not be afraid.
L: But if I look up, I might stumble. I don’t know what’s ahead for me.
P: The Light is coming. Do not be afraid.
L: Lord, where is the light?
P: It is here, on your path so that you won’t stumble. It is here in your heart so that you will not fear. It is here in your soul to give you Hope.
L: Lord, help me to see and feel the presence of your light.
P: Dear One, the Light is given to you and to all the World. Trust in the Light. Wait, Watch, it is here.
[If you have given flashlights to the choir or to a group of people, have them shine the light on the worship center or on a central point on the floor in front of the worship center, then slowly turn their lights upward, showing on the ceiling. Have them pause for a few minutes and then turn off their flashlights]
Benediction, Blessing, Commission
On you, dear Ones, the light of Hope has shined. Keep that light in your hearts and spirits. Remember that even the smallest beam of light can illumine a pathway. Let your light shine before others that they may know the love of God. Go in peace and let God’s peace flow through you. AMEN.
ARTISTIC ELEMENTS
[Note: It will be important to include in your worship bulletin a brief description of the meaning of this worship visual setting]
[Note: in these Advent services we will be visualizing worship by using various non-traditional sources of light. Last Sunday we began by placing an unlighted pillar candle on the worship center. Today we add a flashlight.]
SURFACE: Place a riser on the left side of the worship center. Place a riser on the right side of the worship center on which a flashlight may be supported or leaned so that its beam will shine on a spot in the aisle or in front of the worship center. If you desire, the light can be focused on the ceiling
FABRIC: Cover the entire worship center with landscapers’ burlap, making sure that it comes to the floor in front of the worship center. Beginning at the riser on the left side of the worship center drape a long strip of blue cloth across the worship center toward the right and then down in front of the center onto the floor, puddling the fabric. Make sure that some of the blue fabric is near the riser for the flashlight.
FLOWERS AND FOLIAGE: No flowers or foliage are used for this week. No greens of any kind.
CANDLES: Use a tall white pillar candle, placing it on the riser on the left side of the worship center.
ROCKS & WOOD: Rocks and pieces of wood may be placed on the floor in the front of the worship center, near the puddled fabric, but use them sparingly.
OTHER: Place a medium sized, working flashlight in the worship center. Determine if you want the beam, when it is switched on to shine on the floor, in an aisle or at the ceiling. Place the light so that it is solidly aimed and the switch to turn on the light is within easy access for the person who will be turning it on. The flashlight should be anchored so that when it is turned on the light direction is not changed. Additionally, have some flashlights for the choir and for members of the congregation. They are used in this worship service, both in one of the calls to worship and in the Litany. You may ask them to bring a flashlight from home or you may provide the flashlights.
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WORSHIP FOR KIDS: DECEMBER 7, 2014 by Carolyn C. Brown
From a Child's Point of ViewOld Testament: Isaiah 40:1-11. Children are confused by the profusion of poetic images in this familiar Advent prophecy and generally tune out before the end of the reading. They are more likely to hear and remember one or two phrases that are repeated in the liturgy than to recall the message of the passage.
The first two verses must be read in historical context and speak mainly to adults who have enough life experience to appreciate the promise of relief. Some older children find in the phrase," 'Comfort, O comfort my people,' says your God" reassurance that God cares for us.
The action called for in verses 3-5 sounds like a massive construction project to literal thinkers. They immediately picture bulldozers and cranes they have seen along the roads. So they depend on the preacher to give everyday examples of ways we are to build a highway for God.
The message of verses 6-11, especially verses 6-8, is beyond children's experience and understanding. (Consider omitting them to focus on verses 1-5.) The image of God as a caring shepherd in verse 11, however, assures older children that they can depend on God's love and care.
Psalm: Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13. The poetic images of this passage strike children as strange. They tend to giggle at their mental pictures of two human forms named Righteousness and Peace kissing each other, and one named Faithfulness exploding up out of the ground. Explaining all this is more trouble than it is worth to either preachers or children. So read this for adults and trust that children will hear and appreciate it later in their lives.
Epistle: 2 Peter 3:8-15a. The adults in the early church were concerned about why Jesus had not yet returned in glory. Children, however, live very much in the present. The future return of Christ is significant to them only because of what it says about the present world. If that return is presented as a fearful judgment, children view the world as a dangerous place, under the control of a threatening God. If the return is presented by recalling that God was here in the beginning and that God also will be at the end of the world, children view the world as a safe place, under the care of a loving, powerful God. The difference is critical to their feelings about the world and their place in it.
As the year 2000 approaches, more and more end-of-the-world talk is likely. Children are particularly frightened by groups that set specific dates and make vivid claims about what will happen on that date. They need to be told to ignore all such claims. When specific claims are being touted in the community, children need to be assured that those claims are false. The Bible repeatedly insists that Jesus' return will surprise everyone.
Gospel: Mark 1:1-8. Children in congregations which practice mainly infant baptism need help in understanding the purpose of John's "baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." Explain that it was a ceremony people carried out to show that they were going to make some changes in the way they lived. Underlying that baptism was, and is, the belief that we can change. Children often believe just the opposite. They feel trapped by what is demanded of them at home and school. They sense that both adults and peers expect them to behave in certain ways and would be suspicious of any changes, even for the better. They feel powerless to change their behavior or to resolve difficult situations that confront their families and friends.
In this passage, John insists that we can make changes. He baptized with water to call his listeners (and us) to make needed changes. He promised that "the One who comes" would give the people the power of Holy Spirit, so that they could make even greater changes. Help the children celebrate this power that has been given to them.
Watch Words
Repent may be a new word. Use change as it's synonym, to build understanding and familiarity with it. John wanted people to change their ways.
Avoid theological abstractions about confession and repentance. Speak instead about making changes in our lives, to live more like God's people.
Let the Children Sing
"Lord, I Want to Be a Christian" is the most child-accessible hymn about making changes. Focus on what "more" we can be. Consider creating new verses to match the changes suggested in today's sermon.
Sing about God's dependable care, with the hymn version of Psalm 23 that is most familiar. (Children understand paraphrases of the psalm more readily than the shepherd hymns filled with theological language about its meaning.)
The Liturgical Child
1. Open worship with John's call to prepare the way of the Lord. Begin with a trumpet fanfare from the back of the sanctuary. Then have Isaiah 40:3-5 either sung or read by a strong male voice, also from the back of the sanctuary. Worship leaders and choirs then process on a hymn such as "Come Christians, Join to Sing" (even nonreaders can join in on the Alleluias), or a musical setting of John's call (the musical "Godspell" offers a very effective one).
2. Light the first two candles of the Advent wreath, saying:
Last week we lighted a candle to remind ourselves to watch for places where God is at work in the world. Because God is at work, we can light a candle this week for change. God calls us to make changes. God calls each of us to make some changes in what we do and say at home, at school, at work, and with our friends. And God calls us all to work together to change our world to make it more fair for everyone. Advent is a time for making changes for God.
3. If you sing the Gloria Patri regularly, feature "As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be" today. Either,
A. point out the phrase, put it into your own words, and note that when we sing it, we, like Isaiah and the psalmist, say that God was God in the beginning and always will be God. Or,
B. use the phrase as a congregational response to a litany praising God, who creates and takes loving care of the world in the past, the present, and the future.
4. Have each section of the Isaiah lection read by a different reader, perhaps including readers of different ages. For example, an older adult reads verses 1-2, an older child reads verses 3-5, a mid-adult reads verses 6-8, and a teenager reads verses 9-11. All need to be standing near a microphone so that they can step up to it to read in quick succession.
Sermon Resources
1. One symbol for God's presence from the beginning through the end of history is the combined Alpha and Omega. Explain the meaning of the letters and point out any Alpha and Omega symbols among your Chrismons, on paraments, or carved or painted in your sanctuary. (Use a flashlight to highlight those that are out of reach.)
2. Recall children's questions about God:
If God made the world, who made God?
What was there before there was God?
What will God do after the world is over?
In responding to them, describe the attributes of God upon which we can depend.
3. Build the entire sermon around a comparison of the construction of a highway and "preparing the way of the Lord." Discuss deciding where to build the road, clearing the land, grading the road bed, paving for heavy traffic, and landscaping.
Adapted from Forbid Them Not: Involving Children in Sunday Worship © Abingdon Press
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SERMON OPTIONS: DECEMBER 7, 2014
A Voice in the WildernessIsaiah 40:1-11
Speak tenderly? Not John! Isaiah might have expected it, but the John who quotes this passage, the John of tradition, the John who dressed in camel's hair and ate a weird diet, did anything but speak tenderly. Here in this tender season of preparation, John seems harsh and discordant. But here the voice of the prophet is less confrontational and more comforting, helping to prepare our hearts and the way of the Lord.
I. God's Coming in Christ Brings Comfort
This is the season of comfort. God does comfort us. Dr. Barry Bailey, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, was asked to hold the funeral for rock guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. Part of the tragedy was that life for Stevie Ray Vaughan had just turned good. He had been clean and sober for the last couple of years, and his career was on the rise. He had just finished an album with his brother.
Bailey says the most moving part of the service was when Stevie Wonder, Bonnie Raitt, and Jackson Browne asked if they could sing a special song at the conclusion. It was impromptu and a cappella. They chose to sing "Amazing Grace." Imagine, there was Stevie Wonder, a man born blind, singing, "I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see." Those are words of faith, hope, grace, and resurrection. They sang of and found comfort and hope through the gift of God's presence. Why? Because God brings comfort to God's people.
II. God's Coming in Christ Reveals Glory
God's comfort comes as God is revealed in Christ.
One day while going through the radio stations, I heard Garth Brooks's song, "I've Got Friends in Low Places." I'd heard it before, but it suddenly dawned on me that those words could have been Jesus' words. That's what the Incarnation is all about. Jesus does have friends in low places. That's what got him in trouble. He hung out with outcasts, winebibbers, people who were blind or deaf, people who had leprosy; sinners of every shape and color. Jesus does have friends in low places: us.
And it is in the very nature of who Jesus calls friends that the glory of God is revealed. There is comfort because the Word became flesh. God stepped down and became one of us.
III. God's Coming in Christ Demonstrates Power
In that stepping down, God revealed true power. Advent and Christmas are about God's heart being wrapped in swaddling clothes and the frailty of human flesh to show us God's might. We find God's might revealed not in earth-shaking thunder, not in mountains being leveled, but in a baby born in Bethlehem and in arms outstretched in love. We see God's might as God seeks us out and shows divine love. We see God's might in God's power and desire to forgive. One evening while putting her daughter to bed, a mother asked what it was like to be four years old. The little girl responded, "It's special." Mom smiled and asked her why.
The little girl looked at her mother in disbelief, doubting her mother's sincerity, than smiled and said, "Because I know my mommy loves me." The voice in the wilderness reminds us that God became one of us. God's might and glory are revealed in a humble birth, a blood-stained cross, and an empty tomb, signs of God's great love for us. Life becomes special and we find comfort. (Billy D. Strayhorn)
Are You Ready for Christmas?
2 Peter 3:8-15a
Are you ready for Christmas? That's the question you'll probably be asked a hundred times during this season. I think it's a good question. We Christians can take it in its purest sense: "Are you ready for the coming of Christ?" After all, Christ's coming is at the center of our celebration. And Christ's coming is the determining factor in how we live our lives—not only his first coming, but his second coming. That's Peter's message to his church: "Are you ready for the coming of Christ?"
Peter makes at least three observations about Christ's coming that will ready us for this Advent season.
I. God's Watch Keeps a Different Time
God doesn't operate according to Timexes, Casios, or Swiss-made chronometers. God made time and stands outside it. That's why a thousand years is as one day and one day is as a thousand years.
"How long 'til Christmas?" ask the little voices beginning about this time of the year. "I wish Christmas would hurry up and get here!" As a child, I remember it seemed like a thousand years between Thanksgiving and Christmas! God works according to his watch, not ours. When Jesus arrived in a stable, the timing even caught many of those looking for a Messiah off guard. If he'd arrived when Sennacherib had surrounded Jerusalem seven hundred years earlier, God's timing might be more easily understood. If he'd arrived when Nebuchadnezzar besieged the city, while the people were crying for a deliverer, God's timing might be more easily understood. But God's watch runs on a different time. Jesus' advent occurred at the precise time God decided because God's watch keeps the best time of all.
His second coming will be according to that same timing. Not when we expect or when we deem appropriate, but when God's watch sounds the hour, Jesus will come again.
II. God's Tendency Is Patience
While many of us long for a hurried-up Christmas, we all know that, officially at least, Christmas doesn't come until December 25. Our tendency is impatience. Whether it's government bureaucracy or church committees, the checkout lane or the interstate, we are an impatient people.
But God is a God of patience. While many of us might like to see Christ's second coming today, God waits, providing an opportunity for more people to respond to his love. Even in Jesus' life, God displayed patience. He allowed Jesus to be born as a baby, waiting thirty years for him to become the man we came to know as the Christ. God's tendency is patience.
III. God's Surprise Entrance Calls for Readiness
Peter warns that the second coming will be a surprise. Like a thief in the night, Christ will come as an unexpected and, in many cases, uninvited Savior. Just like his birth, Jesus' next coming will catch many by surprise. While in minor tones we call, "O come, O come, Emmanuel," when he comes, his arrival will still be unexpected. For that reason, Peter says, as we anxiously await his arrival, our lives ought to be holy, godly, spotless specimens of purity. The ethics of Christianity are based on this eschatological surprise. Peter says we ought to live today as if it were our last because it might be! Every day is a constant recommitment to holy living because today just might be the Day. During this season when someone asks you, "Are you ready for Christmas?" take the question in its fullest sense: "Are you ready for the coming of Christ?" (H. Blake Harwell)
An Advent Carol
Mark 1:1-8
"Old Marley was as dead as a doornail...." You remember that Charles Dickens begins A Christmas Carol in this way. And why?
Because, as a recent video version intones, if that fact if not distinctly understood, "nothing wonderful can come of this story I am going to relate." Dickens gives us what we need to know at the very beginning so that we will understand—even better than Scrooge—what's really going on here. Because we do, we can appreciate just how wonderful are the things that do happen. Think of today's text in much the same way. Mark is telling us what we need to know, what we must understand, and distinctly—that Jesus is the Son of God—so that we can really understand, even better than the disciples and John the fire-breathing baptizer, what wonderful things are happening in the story.
I. Old Words, New Words
Part of the wonder of the story of Jesus is how the ancient message is made new. When the people went streaming into the desert to hear John, it wasn't for the novelty of the message that they went. They had heard the words before. Rather, they went for the power of old words made new. John's presence and preaching made the ancient message fresh. Jesus, of course, will go that one better and make the ancient message flesh.
John's message of expectation was powerful, and precisely because of its familiarity, Jesus' incarnation was more powerful still. Because, in him, expectation gives way to realization.
II. Old Place, New Place
The wilderness, of all places, is where the gospel of Jesus Christ begins. That new message is rooted in the old message that God's delivering of his people always begins is the wilderness.
God's speaking is heard in the wilderness. Remember how Moses heard the call? God's saving is experienced in the wilderness. Remember how the children of Israel escaped Pharaoh in the wilderness? God's molding is accomplished in the wilderness. Remember how the saved children were disciplined and shaped in the wilderness before reaching the Promised Land?
The wilderness is where the redemption of enslaved Israel took root and flourished. As God now begins to save all his children, this old venue is the new context for salvation. And whether the wilderness is literal or metaphorical, the truth remains: God's call can be heard in the wilderness. God's salvation can be experienced in the wilderness. God's people are to be formed in the wilderness.
III. Old Message, New Message
The sermon is an old one—preached by John and by prophets before him. Preached by Jesus, too, and by all who followed him. Repent and believe! But as old as the message is, it is ever new, for each time it is preached, according to John's testimony, there comes one after to baptize with the Holy Spirit. Jesus himself attends the preaching of the old word and brings it to reality in new ways. And so, as the old hymn says, does the "old, old story" become the "new, new song."
Mark tells us what we need to know right from the beginning so that wondrous things can come from our telling and retelling of the story. Reading the title is, then, like having read the story's last page. The beginning, then, is the end, and the end just the beginning. (Thomas R. Steagald)
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Obama immigration action may split evangelical coalition by Alan Gomez / USA Today
MIAMI (RNS) In announcing his decision to protect nearly 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation, President Obama turned to Scripture, calling on Americans to protect the strangers in their land.Yet the president’s decision to bypass Congress and act on his own threatens to fracture a broad, and rare, coalition of religious groups, mostly Christian, including moderate and conservative evangelicals and Catholics, that had come together to push for a solution to improving the nation’s immigration system.
Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, said the president’s move could tear apart that coalition and halt the momentum it established for passing a plan through Congress.
Moore said it’s been a difficult road to get so many groups on the same page. Can they stay together after the president’s action?
“It certainly didn’t help,” Moore said. “What we have united around is the idea of fixing a broken system with an earned path toward legal status or citizenship, not a blanket amnesty of any kind. This situation doesn’t fix that problem.”
For the past couple of years, legislators and immigration advocacy groups have tried to bring together a broad cross-section of interest groups to support a sweeping rewrite to the nation’s immigration laws. High-tech business leaders worked with farmers and ranchers. Sheriffs and police chiefs talked with minority groups. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce negotiated with top labor unions. And moderate and conservative religious groups spoke with one voice.
“Immigration reform created an incredible, unified coalition of people that don’t normally work together,” said the Rev. Tony Suarez, a Norfolk, Va., pastor and vice president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.
That coalition helped win enough conservative support to pass a broad immigration bill through the Senate last year, when 14 Republicans joined Democrats in a rare moment of bipartisanship. That momentum seemed to carry over into the House of Representatives, where Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, had some members gauge his caucus’ support for passing their own version of an immigration bill. Though the Senate bill died in the House, some advocates hoped the new Republican Congress would look to move legislation before the 2016 elections.
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., who worked for years on an immigration bill and tried to muster enough support among his colleagues, said the president’s decision could blow up the tenuous religious coalition that will be critical to any progress in Congress.
“In an area where we started seeing some more unity, in an area that I think had the potential to bring together the American people, the president now, I think, has really driven a very, very large wedge into it,” Diaz-Balart said.
Some Christian leaders are disappointed to see how quickly others are running away from immigration in the wake of Obama’s decision.
“It is troubling,” Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski said. “The neo-nativists, or the anti-immigrant faction of the Republican Party, has allowed for this to happen. But it’s not the majority of the party. All these people upset with Obama making this decision just have to take a deep breath.”
Many in the Christian community, Wenski included, see reason for hope.
The Rev. Gabriel Salguero, president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, flew with Obama aboard Air Force One last week when the president traveled to Las Vegas to start selling his immigration plan.
Salguero told Obama his group supported the president’s decision and assured him that the broader religious coalition would stick together to push Congress to pass a long-term solution to the immigration issue. Because, as Salguero put it, religious leaders are unlike politicians and D.C. insiders in one key way.
“Sometimes people are so caught up in the partisanship of the Beltway that they think the evangelical community reflects that tenor of conversation,” Salguero said. “We don’t. We’re different. We talk the language we have in common, which is the Gospel. So we can have disagreements, but our relationship is strong.”
Suarez said religious leaders spoke often in the days before the president’s announcement and knew they would each respond in very different ways. He said none of those conversations indicated a complete breakup of the coalition, and he remains confident it will be back come January, pressing the new Congress for an immigration bill.
“Anytime you’re going to build a coalition, you have to know when to walk together and when to walk separate,” he said. “You have to know when to give people the opportunity to express themselves and then come back together for the reason that brought us all together.”
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10 things you should say to a grieving person by Tom Fuerst
My post a few days ago, “10 things you should never say to a grieving person,” sparked a lot of discussion, both affirming and challenging to my ten points. Most people were grateful for the list, as it helps them know exactly what clichés to avoid at funerals or in the presence of a grieving friend.A number of concerned people, however, noted that the post is largely negative — that is, it tells us what not to say, but doesn’t tell us what we can say.
And while I appreciate the criticism, I think it really gets at the heart of why the original post was needed. But let me tell a brief story first.
The pain doesn't go away
My dad died in a motorcycle accident six years ago. Only 50 years old, he left behind four adult children. Obviously, the news of the accident obliterated us, leaving us all reeling and disoriented. It was the first major death any of us had ever dealt with. At 28 years old, you’re still supposed to have two to three more decades with your dad. Barely into adulthood, I didn’t realize how much I still felt like a child until my dad was gone.
No goodbye.
No “I love you.”
Just gone.
Predictably, at his funeral endless people, all with good intentions, tried to say consoling things. I realized then and there that I hated the funeral visitation line. The whole experience of having people come through line and feel like they just have to say something to you is awkward and deflating.
I came to wonder, not for the last time, if people really think there’s a magic set of words that can just solve my “problem.” Do people really think that they’re going to be able to string together the right combination of syllables and somehow make my dad’s death less tragic?
Surely they don’t.
But it seemed a lot of folks sure were giving their best effort at it. As if, maybe by saying the right thing my dad would come up out of the grave like Lazarus.
In the midst of all the mini-counseling sessions, there was, however, one man who came up to me and said something I will never forget. If you’ve got to say anything at all to a grieving person, learn something from him.
Without an ounce of discomfort or awkwardness, most likely because he wasn’t trying to solve my problem, an elderly gentleman named Charlie came up to me. A few years before, he’d lost his wife to cancer and still grieved her death as he tried to manage survival day after day without her.
In all the wisdom that comes along with that kind of grief, Charlie put his arms around me, hugged me, then looked into my eyes and said, “The pain doesn’t go away. You just learn to live with it.”
That was the most truthful, brutally honest, beautiful thing anyone had said to me all day. I was tired of tired, canned answers.
I was tired of people trying to snap me out of grief with their clichés. This man spoke unadulterated truth — this sucks. It’s going to suck forever. The only hope in it is that you learn to live with it. Or, in the words of Andrew Peterson, “The aching may remain, but the breaking does not.”
Here’s the point…
This man was able to speak such direct truth to me precisely because he knew it firsthand. He didn’t need to make up for his own insecurities by settling for a cheap word. No, he knew something of the pain, he knew something of the fruitlessness of answers in that moment, and he knew what could be said and what shouldn’t be said.
And maybe that’s the problem with much of our conduct at funerals. For many Americans, we spend so much time avoiding suffering that we don’t know what to do when it stares us in the face. We don’t know what to say. Or, more telling, we don’t know that most of us just shouldn’t say anything at all.
When I wrote my original post, I had endless well-meaning people say, “Why didn’t you write 10 things you should say to a grieving person?”
But the question, well-intentioned as it may be, misses the point entirely. We do not have to say anything at all. In fact, most of us shouldn’t say anything.
Silence is holy and healing
Since when is silence in the face of tragedy not a good option? Since when do we have to fill every moment with words?
It is a very culturally American thing to feel like you have to talk all the time. Our culture knows as much about silence as it does about grieving, which is to say nothing. We can’t be alone with our thoughts on the best of days, let alone on the worst of days. We feel this addictive need to talk, speak, yell, whisper, offer and blather, all because we have no idea how to be silent. We have no idea that silence can, in fact, be holy. And silence is almost never inappropriate.
There is something to be learned from Job’s friends in this regard. After he lost his family, Job’s friends showed up and for three full days they said absolutely nothing. Their silence was the sound of love and reverence for Job’s grief. It was not until they started speaking that they started making mistakes. They wanted to solve Job’s grief, give a reason for it, offer a divine perspective on it. But Job, who, unlike many grievers, had the wherewithal to argue back, denied their stupid answers and and faulty assumptions regarding both what he needed and the very character of the God they assumed they knew.
You just look like you needed a hug
Let me illustrate the appropriateness and holiness of silence with one other brief story from my dad’s death. Shortly after dad’s funeral, in central Missouri, I had to return to Lexington, Kentucky, to resume my seminary studies. With my heart still beating off-rhythm, with grief still a dirty film on my soul, I walked back onto campus, eyes low, hoping not to make eye contact with anyone. I was tired of people. I was tired of answers.
In fact, I planned my trip to campus at a time when I knew classes were already in session. I planned to be late to class precisely so I didn’t have to talk to anyone. So when I walked on campus, the courtyard was empty.
Well, it was empty except for one, lone figure, a Jeremiah Aja.
Jeremiah was some distance from me walking in a different direction. But when he saw me, he yelled my name and started walking right toward me. Admittedly, I was leery of what was coming. But when he got right up to me, he simply put his arms around me and held me tightly for a few seconds. Then he said, “You just looked like you needed a hug.” He then turned and walked away.
To most people who think they need a quick, home run cliché to solve people’s grief problems, this may actually seem like an anti-climactic story.
But to those who know grief, and know it cannot be solved easily, you will understand why this is a moment I will likely never forget. Nothing profound was said. Nothing profound was done. There was a hug. A recognition of my need. And a refusal to try to make things better.
Jeremiah did the right thing. I think we could learn a lot from his simplicity.
In the end, I cannot tell people specific things to say to their grieving friends. Why? Because the things you say and do are always caught up in your relationship 1) with the person who is grieving, and 2) your relationship with grief, itself (have you ever deeply grieved?). The appropriateness of your words and actions only makes sense in light of how well you know the grieving person, and how well you know what is hurting them.
I don’t mean this to be a cop-out answer. It would be nice if there were 10 things you should say to a grieving person. But that’s just not reality.
But silence is never a bad option. Silence is healing. Silence is holy.
So what should we say?
For those of you who will be disappointed if you don’t get more practical advice, here are some general thoughts on what should happen when you come face to face with grief.
First, keep in mind that there is no magical thing you can say to make a grieving person feel better. Nothing. You could find the best thing in the world to say and it still will not undo all the pain.
Second, instead of focusing on what you should say, focus instead of listening to them (if they want to talk). Don’t force them to talk, but if they want to, don’t offer grieving advice. Rather, use “active listening skills.” That is, keep asking questions that lead back to their feelings, not yours, their story, not yours.
After listening to their story, you can say, “So, when X happened, you felt Y?” That will invite them to talk about their feeling as much or as little as they want.
When I counsel with people, that is often what I spend most of my time doing: “When X happened, you felt Y?” That often sparks more talking on their part, it lets them explore their own feelings, and it also lets them correct you if “Y” wasn’t exactly what they were feeling.
All of this is good precisely because it allows them to do 99% of the talking, while you just have to listen and ask questions … concrete, specific, emotional questions, not general questions.
Third, if they don’t want to talk, that’s okay. They’re not going to blame you if it’s awkward — they know it’s awkward for you, because their whole lives are awkward right now. So be okay with it being awkward. Don’t try to solve the awkwardness. After all, the awkward is about your feelings, and you want to keep focused on theirs.
Fourth, ask tangible, practical questions. What are the things you need me to do for you at work while you’re out? Are there errands I can run for you? Can I shop for you? What are foods you like? (Seriously, if you’re going to put together a “make them a meal” community plan, for God’s sake avoid pasta! Grieving people get tired of pasta!) Offer to do specific things for them so they can focus on other things, unless of course, they want the mental break. After all, sometimes doing normal chores can be healing because it gives you a sense of equilibrium to do something so mundane.
Fifth, as I said above, if you don’t feel wise enough to talk with them, or if you don’t feel close enough with them, just go be with them. DO NOT AVOID THEM. Hug them, ask them a few questions about tangible things you can do for them, pray with them if they’re up for it, and let them know you will continue to pray for them. Then leave. It’s okay.
Sixth, send them texts/emails/cards, etc. over the coming months, on the anniversary of their loss, on the birthday of the person they lost, etc. One thing people forget is that grieving people rarely forget the day a tragedy happened, even if the rest of the world forgets that day. If you want to help someone, don’t forget that day, even if you have to write it in your calendar.
Seventh, understand that many people will be wrestling deeply with their faith during a time of grief. And that is okay. God is in their grief. God is suffering with them. Their hearts are raw and God is working with that. Don’t short-circuit their grief or their questions by cheap answers to eternal questions. Besides, even if you did have the perfect answer from God, would that somehow make their grief less tragic? I don’t think it would.
Instead, when tough questions about the faith arise, put your arm around them and simply say, “I don’t know what is happening here. But I know that God’s heart breaks with yours.” Your theological answer doesn’t have to be any deeper than that. God suffers with them. God knows grief. He lost a child once.
The time of grief is not necessarily the wisest time for your theological musings. Rather, it is time for you to be God-with-skin-on, being his hands and feet and embracing arms. You don’t need to be his mouthpiece.
I hope this provided the tangible assistance many of you were looking for. Though, as I said, I think the best option is holy, reverential silence.
Your turn: Do you have any advice from your own experience of grief? Do you have any stories of people who handled your grief well?
Tom Fuerst blogs at Tom1st.com. You can subscribe to his blog via email here.
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