In last week’s lectionary gospel reading John the Baptist talked about preparing the way of the Lord, and in this week’s assigned Old Testament text Isaiah discusses a coming time of transformation when “the desert shall rejoice and bloom” and “the tongue of the speechless [will] sing for joy.” Moreover, Isaiah says, right in the middle of this new land will be a “highway... and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God’s people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.” In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Leah Lonsbury examines what we can do to prepare this “Holy Way” -- and she notes that this week’s Psalm text provides us with a roadmap in the form of a specific description of all that God can accomplish, aided by the work of the faithful... starting with executing justice for the oppressed and giving food to the hungry.
As Leah points out, generosity may well be on our minds now anyway -- since the month before Christmas is not only the prime shopping season of the year but is also the time when charities receive the lion’s share of their yearly donations. But supporting charitable work, Leah reminds us, is about more than assuaging the guilt we might feel because of abundance in our own lives or meeting the significant and very real need of many less fortunate -- it’s also an important imperative of our faith. When we help others while keeping our focus on the God who provides for us all, we are essentially functioning as messengers for Christ’s Kingdom -- pointing the way toward the One who is to come and doing our part to transform the world and to lay the foundation for his “Holy Way.”
Team member Mary Austin offers additional thoughts on the epistle reading’s theme of patience. James tells us to patiently wait for the coming of the Lord -- but the nature of that patience is something that’s often misunderstood. In our culture, patience is generally thought of in passive terms... as in cheerfully waiting our turn in an interminably long line. (And as we all know, patience of that sort is becoming an ever scarcer resource.) But Mary reminds us that the patience James describes is really much more along the lines of our Advent waiting -- in other words, active waiting rather than passive waiting. While we patiently await the Lord's return, we are to actively be doing his work in the world -- not merely waiting in line timidly until God calls our number. And Mary suggests that there may be no better example of active preparation than the remarkable life of Nelson Mandela, whose passing last week has been marked by worldwide respect for his achievements. Despite being confined for 27 years in prison -- never knowing if he would ever be freed -- Mandela spent his incarceration meticulously preparing himself for the great responsibility of leadership that would surely come his way if he were to be eventually released. His time of patient waiting and preparation was amazingly successful, as rather than seeking revenge after gaining his freedom, Mandela managed to bring forgiveness and reconciliation to a country wracked by decades of violent strife.
’Tis the Season...
by Leah Lonsbury
Isaiah 35:1-10; Psalm 146; Matthew 11:2-11
’Tis the season for extended store hours, crazy sales, long lines everywhere, and typically reasonable people doing things that don’t seem very reasonable at all outside of this Festival of Consumption. Where I live, one of the sought-after child-care centers known for its innovative staff and programming excellence opened its doors at 5 a.m. on Black Friday so parents could drop their kids off on the way to the early-bird sales. But massive accumulation at low, low prices isn’t all the Christmas season is about, right?
Right. It’s also about gratitude, compassion, and charitable giving. Now is the time when we’re most likely to give that stash of old clothes we’ve been meaning to share. Now is the time when we ring bells, join our coworkers and children in serving food at the local shelter, and choose a toy we would have enjoyed for Toys for Tots. Now is the time when we inundate charities and nonprofits with volunteer requests and donations that are hard for them to handle and not quite (or sometimes even close to) what they need.
Vanessa Small of the Washington Post recently wrote an article on “The Seven Worst Ways to Give to Charity,” in which she cautions against giving blindly and forcing a volunteering agenda on an already overtaxed nonprofit staff and their clientele, especially during the holiday season. Small writes: “So before you are overtaken by the giving spirit, there are a few things charities and nonprofits are dying for you to know.”
Small goes on to recenter the act of giving on those who will receive instead of on the guilt or enthusiasm of the giver. Shame about our Christmas shopping abundance and a seasonably-only warmed heart won’t cut it, she seems to be saying. There’s a right way to go about these kinds of charitable acts. One piece of that is to spread our giving and good will throughout the year. Michael Curtin, chief executive of DC Central Kitchen, says of this: “We are incredibly blessed to have an abundance of volunteers, but people are hungry and need jobs all year long.”
The fact that the hungry, jobless, and homeless are with us all year long has been getting more attention in the press as of late. Perhaps this is because of a painful cut in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP or food stamps) in November. Or maybe it’s because of the Black Friday protests at Walmart and the fast food workers’ walkout due to insufficient wages that leave hard-working people scrambling to feed their children and pay their bills. Even President Obama is talking about the struggles and the social immobility of the poor in our current economic setup.
As people of faith and followers of the one who heals the sick, feeds the hungry, and calls us to love one another as we love ourselves, we know these are not struggles we can ignore -- at Christmas or any other time of the year. Just last week, John the Baptist called us to “prepare the way.” But what is that way?
This week, Isaiah tells us of a Holy Way, a highway through to transformation -- where “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped... [where] the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy” (35:5-6).
So how do we find that Holy Way in a culture that calls us in so many different directions? Psalm 146 has some pointers for us -- a message of hope and a clear path to follow: “Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God...” (v. 5).
’Tis always the season to seek out that Holy Way.
In the News
Vanessa Small’s “The Seven Worst Ways to Give to Charity” reveals a little more of the real story behind our giving and the real state of our hearts than many of us of us realize or are prepared to see. Here’s what Small reveals...
7. We tend to give our castoffs -- unfashionable and dirty clothes, household items in disrepair, toys our children have broken or lost the parts to, and cars that are smashed up and would cost more to repair than they are worth. Our trash doesn’t become a treasure just because someone is in need. Eric Salmi, spokesperson for Catholic Charities, says: “...the quality of stuff is really important because we’re passing things off to people who we want to feel dignified.”
What do our “gifts” communicate about how we view those in need? Are they about making room in our hearts or our houses?
6. Our charitable giving doesn’t work out quite like our last-minute shopping habits. We have a tendency to give what we want at our own convenience, including our own time and efforts, instead of planning in advance, calling ahead, and asking how we might serve the specific needs a charity is trying to address. “It’s wonderful that people are inspired to give this time of year, but without advance notice, we can end up massively overstocked on one item but still very short on several other items that we need,” says Jennifer Dean, volunteer manager of Miriam’s Kitchen.
Who is the giving for in situations like this? What is it about?
5. We have a tendency to want to serve via a two-hour window in the soup kitchen on December 23rd, and get frustrated when we’re asked to drive Meals on Wheels at an entirely different location and time instead. Renee Hoyt-Atkinson of Volunteer Fairfax says it’s important to be flexible: “Be open-minded about what it really means to give.”
If we’re truly interested in contributing our time, energy, and resources towards addressing need in our midst, why would we think it would be in a convenient way or at a convenient time? Whose need do we really want to fill?
4. We’re sure that everybody celebrates as we do. We’re a lot more likely to donate canned corn, cranberry sauce, and turkey at the end of November instead of the more practical and in greater demand food staples at other times of year. A fairly standard nonprofit food item list often reads: canned meat, canned tuna, canned fruit with no sugar added, and other foods that are high in protein and low in sugar. “People think everyone would love to have Thanksgiving dinner and love cranberries,” says Hoyt-Atkinson. “We live in a place where we have a very eclectic population, and not everyone eats that food or likes it.”
Why must our donations be festive? Why don’t we address the deeper problems and greater deficit that exist all year long? Why do we think people would rather eat cranberry sauce than green beans?
3. We’d much rather buy canned peas and peanut butter than hit the “donate now” button or give cash, even if that’s what the charity wants and needs most or can use most effectively. Paul Hebblethwaite, development director of a local Salvation Army, says the group had to turn away many in-kind donations after the typhoon in the Philippines. According to Hebblethwaite, “It’s cheaper to purchase supplies from the community of a nearby country than to ship the goods.”
Whose vision are we trying to implement when we give? Why is it hard for us to let the experts hold the financial and strategic planning reins?
2. We like to give what we’d like to have, not necessarily what could really benefit a charity or a person in need. Karen Jupiter, development director at Good Shepherd Housing, recalls receiving broken toys and a Halloween pumpkin-head candy bowl for a homeless client who was moving into an apartment. “That’s not the top priority when you’ve been homeless,” said Jupiter.
Are we trying to make those in the need a mirror image of ourselves? Can we see the need that really exists, or are we blinded by our own desires and projections?
1. We have a tendency to think that people are only hungry on Thanksgiving and only need gloves and socks at Christmastime. Just because we only perceive or acknowledge need at the holidays doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist all year long. Betsy Cavendish, president of the Appleseed Foundation, says her organization -- a public interest justice center -- works best when volunteers commit throughout the year. “Our projects are more long-term, so we might prefer 100 hours from one person than 100 people giving one hour.”
Why don’t we see people in need as people who attempt to pay their bills, feed their children, and improve their lives every month -- not just in November and December? People just like us. Why does our commitment to our human family’s well-being only extend for such a short season?
In the Scriptures
Perhaps Isaiah’s weak hands, feeble knees, and fearful heart don’t belong to those on the other end of our charitable giving but to us. Perhaps ours are the eyes that are blind, the ears that are deaf. Maybe it’s the desert wilderness of our hearts and souls that shall rejoice and blossom abundantly, breaking forth in joy and singing when the transforming glory of the Lord comes to shine on us. There’s always that one line we like to leave out, though... “Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense” (v. 4b).
Ouch. But if Small’s article needed writing, then the larger public (of all of us) is probably in need of some upsetting and resetting -- some transformation, if we will. It is, after all, that turning upside-down that marks the coming of God and God’s new way of traveling through this life with us -- The Holy Way. And along The Way, the burning sands become a pool for God’s people to drink deeply, and God’s healing can begin.
Barbara Lundblad writes on workingpreacher.org that this passage comes right in the midst of some serious doom and gloom in Isaiah’s larger prophecy. It likely showed up before any kind of rescue or return of God’s people from the diaspora. But why this hope in the midst of so much brokenness and despair? Was it the work of a hopelessly optimistic scribe or the breath of the Spirit? Lundblad writes: “ ‘Put it here,’ breathed the Spirit, ‘before anyone is ready. Interrupt the narrative of despair.’ So, here it is: a word that couldn’t wait until it might make more sense.”
This is Isaiah’s word of interruption, God’s way of turning things upside-down. We’re waiting for a baby savior, right? Born to an unwed, teenage mother in a stable? The Messiah destined to ride a donkey and be crucified with criminals? That’s the one.
In our passage from Matthew for this week, Jesus is speaking to the crowds about John, but his words describe the people’s reaction to him as well. “What did you expect? What were you seeking? Why are you surprised? The blind see. The lame walk. The outcast are reconciled and brought back into community. The Good News is coming to the poor and the infirm. Why can’t you recognize it as the inbreaking of the kingdom?”
In the midst of Syria crumbling to civil war; the Philippines revealing that some superstorm victims have yet to receive aid; workers all over our own country having to turn to public assistance while their CEOs’ paychecks balloon; American cities going bankrupt and absorbing their workers’ pensions; families quietly going bankrupt from job loss and medical bills; and our own fall to busy self-absorption, routine, and hardening hearts -- the despairing narrative of our world and our personal lives could use some interruption.
So how do we get from interruption to transformation? How do we prepare this Holy Way?
Psalm 146 has some specific ideas for us. First, it’s clear that it’s God’s work already underway that we join in as heralds and masons, announcing what can be with our living and paving The Way through our actions and relationships. God is already in motion. We already have reason to see with optimistic eyes and a place to put our hope in trust (v. 5).
Second, God is both roadmap and companion on the Holy Way. God executes justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry, sets the prisoner free, opens the eyes of the blind, lifts up those who are bowed down, loves the righteous, watches over strangers, upholds the orphan and the widow, and undoes the plans of the wicked (vv. 7-9).
How better to prepare for the One who is coming than to lay the bricks and create the path through loving one another and joining in God’s holy work? This is often inconvenient, year-round, surprising, and hard work, but it is also work that moves us outside of ourselves and into a partnership with God that affirms and announces the belovedness of each of our follower travelers and ourselves on The Way. There isn’t a bigger interrupter of despair or a greater act of transformation than that.
In the Sermon
This week, the preacher might consider...
* Inviting the people to consider what kind of holy interruption and transformation they need or can offer. How can they bring justice? What oppression do they come in contact with as they go about their lives? How do they hunger, and what hunger can they satisfy in transformative ways? How do they need to be set free, and what release can they provide? (Consider all the ways we imprison ourselves and others psychologically, socially, and spiritually.) How does their blindness manifest itself, and how can they help open someone else’s eyes? What keeps them bowed down, and how can they lift up another who is being crushed? How are they strangers, and how can they watch over someone else who lives on the margins or in unfamiliar or threatening territory? How are they vulnerable and alone, and who do they know who might need care, protection, and a nurturing presence like that of a parent or partner?
* Sharing Vanessa Small’s article and asking what our giving says about us. What are we saying and doing through our giving? Does it match John’s call to prepare the way? Does it put us in partnership with God’s efforts in the world? Does it mirror this description of Jesus from Arland J. Hultgren?
Jesus did not come to gain earthly power. He came among the people to serve them, bringing life. Instead of casting away those persons who are at the margins of society --persons that many would want to send away and out of sight -- it is precisely to those people that the Messiah came to restore and save.
* Asking where we see our world’s narrative of despair being interrupted, the transformation of the blossoming desert variety happening, and the Holy Way being built and tread. And following up by questioning how we can cause that kind of interruption, transformation, building, and journeying through our own actions and in our own relationships.
* Examining the difference between what we expect and what we get in Jesus and God’s movement in the world. How does it scramble our thinking and fool our plans? How is it surprising, upsetting, and transforming? How does it turn the world upside-down (and so right-side up)? My church community has “Upside Down” as its Advent theme. You can see more on that in our sermon archives and weekly bulletins.
* Holding up and celebrating the legacy of Nelson Mandela as a great interrupter of despair and agent of transformation on the Holy Way, and asking how we can see glimpses of that kind of legacy being formed by Pope Francis.
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Mary Austin
Isaiah 35:1-10; James 5:7-10
Isaiah, the visionary of the Hebrew scriptures, delights us all through Advent with his clarity about what the realm of God will look like. When justice prevails and war ceases, the people of God will live in a world we can barely imagine -- but Isaiah can. He provokes our longings by showing us in vivid detail the world God is creating. When God’s world comes to life, “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.” Not just the human condition will change. The deserts will become places of abundance, not death, as “waters shall break forth in the wilderness.” The highways that carry foreign invaders in and prisoners out will now be places of celebration as “the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing.” This is a joyful image of homecoming as the lost return, and all “sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
More than any other prophet, Isaiah helps us understand what the world of God’s complete shalom will look like. He’s an artist of the future, creating a vision of God’s realm as it comes to life. What we can barely imagine, Isaiah puts into words. His vision fuels our longing.
And Advent is the season of longing, of our sharpened waiting for the realm of God to come. In Advent, we tune our minds and hearts to look even more diligently for signs of God’s presence among us. Our waiting has two layers -- anticipating the birth of the Christ Child, and looking toward the time of God’s return to bring all things to fullness in the divine reign. As we wait, James counsels us to “Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.”
Patience is a spiritual skill that grows more difficult with each month, as we have to wait for fewer and fewer things. We are out of practice with waiting. Our phones cough up the answer to every question. Our online orders arrive in a day or two -- which apparently is too long, since Amazon founder Jeff Bezos would like to deliver our items by drones. Speed dating allows us to go with our first impressions of people -- and reject them after five minutes instead of wasting a whole hour, or several months, learning that they’re not right.
All of this hurry feeds the selfish, impulsive side of our personalities.
Waiting is the corrective to our self-centered impulses. Waiting allows things to emerge that we don’t see right away. Waiting allows our understanding to develop.
Be patient, James advises. Our best gifts may come wrapped in patience.
The life of Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa and a tireless activist for equality for black South Africans who passed away last week, illuminates the power of patience. Mandela spent 27 years as a prisoner of the white South African government, and emerged from prison on Robben Island refined into a peaceful warrior and a model of the power of forgiveness. As an Associated Press article summed up his life, “Nelson Mandela led black South Africans in their struggle to throw off the yoke of white rule and then helped the entire nation heal the wounds of racial division. But his message of perseverance, respect, and forgiveness didn’t just heal South Africa. He also inspired people in countries far and wide in their fights against authoritarian rule.”
Desmond Tutu, a fellow South African and retired archbishop in the Anglican church, knew Mandela well, and believes that his years in prison were an essential part of his character as a leader. Those years of waiting for release, waiting for justice, were also years of formation. Tutu observes: “People say, look at what he achieved in his years in government -- what a waste those 27 years in prison were. I maintain his prison term was necessary because when he went to jail, he was angry. He was relatively young and had experienced a miscarriage of justice; he wasn’t a statesperson, ready to be forgiving: he was commander-in-chief of the armed wing of the party, which was quite prepared to use violence. The time in jail was quite crucial. Of course, suffering embitters some people, but it ennobles others. Prison became a crucible that burned away the dross. People could never say to him: ‘You talk glibly of forgiveness. You haven’t suffered. What do you know?’ Twenty-seven years gave him the authority to say, let us try to forgive.”
In that same way, our waiting is not just a passive sitting by, but an active process of transformation -- of ourselves, and the world. James calls up an example of how we are to wait, saying, “The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.” It sounds simple enough... until we remember that the farmer waits by weeding and watering the crops, actively anticipating the harvest and doing his or her part to make it come to fruition.
Our waiting is meant to be the same kind of active waiting. While we wait for the harvest of God’s justice, we prepare the ground and weed out the things that interfere with God’s plans. Isaiah counsels us that waiting also has a community aspect. While we wait for God’s plans to be revealed, we are to take up the work of building up the people around us: “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear!’ ” We encourage each other, so we can all wait together.
One example of this kind of active waiting is Pope Francis, who is reportedly sneaking out of the Vatican at night to visit with the homeless people of Rome. He did the same thing as Cardinal Bergoglio before becoming pope, sitting on the street and eating with the homeless people of Buenos Aires. Some might say that this doesn’t do anything for the plight of homeless people, but the pope believes that even knowing someone cares makes a difference. And who knows which of our actions will shape the future, in concert with God?
In The Christian Century, Katie Givens Kime writes (about another text) that “because we cannot control the future, we fear it. We want to predict, control, explain, and order it.” Instead, Advent invites us to do our part, and to wait eagerly for the revealing of God’s work. Advent invites us to wait... actively.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
Isaiah 35:1-10
Nothing Changed, Everything Transformed
Theologian Paul Tillich, in his sermon “You Are Accepted,” said that when we are struck by grace, nothing is changed but everything is transformed.
It can be likened to entering a dark room and turning on the light. The room is not changed. It is, essentially, as it was before the light was turned on. The children’s toys are still strewn about, the ottoman is still sitting in the middle of the room, the newspaper is still lying on the seat of the recliner.
But now that the lights have been turned on, I can see the room clearly. I can avoid stepping on the toys and tripping over the ottoman and sitting on the newspaper.
Like the light, grace does not transform the world -- it transforms me and how I see and respond to the world around me.
*****
Isaiah 35:1-10
From Clark Kent to Superman
When I was a boy I watched the old black-and-white ’50s television series Adventures of Superman, based on the comic book character and staring George Reeves. It was such a regular part of my life that I often wondered how the comic book character (which first appeared in 1938) didn’t look more like Reeves. How could they have gotten it so wrong?
We knew, when we watched the show, that Clark Kent was Superman -- and we often wondered how no one else, especially Lois Lane, didn’t eventually catch on. I mean, yeah, he looked different without his glasses, but not THAT different.
What I didn’t realize was that when Superman whipped off those glasses, looked over his shoulder, and then slipped into that closet, he wasn’t just changing his outfits, he was entering the closet as one person and exiting it as another. He was being transformed.
And transformation, true transformation, changes us into a whole different being.
*****
James 5:7-10
The Patience of Joseph
James Bain isn’t angry about spending 35 years of his life in prison for a horrific crime that he didn’t commit. “How can I be?” he told Business Insider. “You can’t go back.” Bain actually feels blessed for his experience -- comparing himself to Joseph, the biblical character who was wrongfully imprisoned before emerging with greater power to create change.
Bain was convicted of breaking and entering, kidnapping, and rape in 1974 and sentenced to life in prison. He spent the next 35 years transferring between six different prisons across the state of Florida. Until his conviction, he’d never had more than a few parking tickets.
From his first day in the system, Bain maintained his innocence, even pleading with the court for DNA testing on five different occasions.
In 2009, the Innocence Project of Florida, a state branch of the national nonprofit dedicated to exonerating innocent prisoners, offered to help him with the case. Less than eight months later, the court finally agreed to DNA testing, which proved Bain couldn’t have committed the rape. The state vacated his sentenced after Bain had spent 35 years behind bars -- the longest time served by an innocent man eventually freed using DNA evidence.
*****
James 5:7-10
The Patience of Joseph 2.0 & 3.0
Kash Delano Register, who spent the last 34 years in jail for murder, has finally walked free after the sisters of the case’s sole witness said their sibling lied in court.
And in 2011, after spending 27 years in prison for rapes and attacks prosecutors finally admitted he did not commit, Thomas Haynesworth started his new life as a free man by placing a call on a cellphone for the first time in his life and by eating the Chinese takeout he had been craving for years -- all at his mother’s cozy bungalow, where a spare bedroom always waited for him. On his 46th birthday, Haynesworth was finally home.
*****
James 5:7-10
Elevator Solution
The owner of a high-rise office tower grew tired of hearing his tenants complain that the elevators were too slow. Valuable time was being lost each day, they argued, while they were riding in elevators up and down, from floor to floor. Couldn’t he get them to go faster?
He contacted the contractor who had installed and serviced the elevators and asked if anything could be done to make them move faster, but the company said that the elevators were now traveling at their top, safe speed.
The complaints continued to come in, so the man spent considerable money to hire a world-famous elevator engineer as a consultant to see if a solution could be found.
After a week of examining the elevators, the engineer came to the building owner and announced that the problem had been solved. If complaints weren’t reduced by at least 90 percent in the next week, he said, he would refund the owner’s money.
The building owner was impressed, wrote the man a check, and then hurried to experience the improved elevators for himself. What he discovered was that the engineer had done nothing mechanically to the elevators. He had simply installed mirrors in all of them and in the waiting areas on each floor.
And the engineer was right. There were no more complaints.
***************
From team member Chris Keating:
Isaiah 35:1-10
Opening the Eyes of the Blind
Isaiah proclaims a promise that God shall one day redeem those who lives have been filled with chaos and pain, and declares: “Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear!’ ” For many homeless children, however, the promise of redemption has yet to be fulfilled. There are currently about 22,000 homeless children in New York City, the highest number since the Great Depression. A recent New York Times magazine piece profiled one of these children, and captured her yearning to let sorrow and sighing flew away. The writer details this young homeless girl’s struggle:
She wakes to the sound of breathing. The smaller children lie tangled beside her, their chests rising and falling under winter coats and wool blankets. A few feet away, their mother and father sleep near the mop bucket they use as a toilet. Two other children share a mattress by the rotting wall where the mice live, opposite the baby, whose crib is warmed by a hair dryer perched on a milk crate.
The 11-year-old girl’s name is Dasani, and she is one of 280 children who live in the Auburn Family Residence in the Bronx. Before heading to school every day, Dasani is responsible for helping her siblings get ready, including feeding her infant sister, Baby Lele:
Her mornings begin with Baby Lele, whom she changes, dresses, and feeds, checking that the formula distributed by the shelter is not, once again, expired. She then wipes down the family’s small refrigerator, stuffed with lukewarm milk, Tropicana grape juice, and containers of leftover Chinese. After tidying the dresser drawers she shares with a sister, Dasani rushes her younger siblings onto the school bus.
“I have a lot on my plate,” she says, taking inventory: The fork and spoon are her parents and the macaroni, her siblings -- except for Baby Lele, who is a plump chicken breast.
“So that’s a lot on my plate -- with some cornbread,” she says. “That’s a lot on my plate.”
Application: With “a lot on her plate,” Dasani is among those for whom the promise Isaiah is proclaimed. She is among those whom people of faith are called to feed and clothe, one of the little ones for whom Christ was born.
*****
Isaiah 35:1-10
The Glory of the Lord Shines Around Them
’Tis the season for Christmas pageants -- but how often do our carefully scripted plays seek to be as inclusive as the vision of Isaiah in chapter 35? The prophet describes a bold community of differently abled persons praising God -- those who cannot see, those who do not hear, and those whose bodies have limitations. As Stacey Simpson Duke notes in her commentary for the Third Week of Advent in Feasting on The Word, [Year A, Vol. 1], “this text offers rich possibilities for preaching toward inclusion and communal wholeness, and not simply for those who have suffered isolation because of disability.”
At a Presbyterian church in Corvallis, Oregon, church members have been staging Christmas plays since 1978 that intentionally include persons with disabilities. It’s a time when sorrow and sighing flee away, and joy abounds:
The show tells the traditional nativity story, and includes Christmas songs such as “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” “We Three Kings,” and “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” Most of the people on stage have intellectual or developmental disabilities, but there are another 17 people on stage helping out who do not.
Judy Winkler, the show’s coordinator, said the members of the cast look forward to the show for months before rehearsals start. “It’s special for them, like for all of us, to share their talents,” she said.
June Taylor, a volunteer with the show for the past four years, said the cast members are incredibly supportive of each other and are generally happy for each other’s performances.
Application: Isaiah points to a joyful procession of God’s people, including those marginalized because of their limitations or disabilities. The hope which Isaiah proclaims is a hope that overcomes the isolation of disability and reaches to those who yearn for God’s words of redemption.
*****
James 5:7-10
What Are We Waiting For?
No one will be surprised to learn that, according to a 2012 survey, we spend a lot of time waiting. The survey found that:
* We wait in line 7 minutes each day for coffee;
* We wait 15 minutes for a table at a restaurant;
* Most people spend 21 minutes sitting in traffic;
* Waiting in the security lines at the airport takes about 28 minutes;
* Sitting in the doctor’s office occupies about 32 minutes of our day.
Application: Our Advent waiting is much different from the sorts of inconveniences we experience every day. James reminds us to wait with an active patience, much like the prophets who dared to speak in the name of the Lord.
*****
James 5:7-10
Impossibly Speeded Up
M. J. Ryan, author of The Power of Patience, notes how “impossibly more speeded up we’ve gotten in the past decade.” As examples of our “hurry sickness,” Ryan cites teenagers impatiently texting, updating their Facebook status, or fidgeting during a three-minute song, “even one they profess to love.” Ryan goes on to observe:
Then there’s me. I’m just as hyped up as ever -- or perhaps more. Everything is urgent now -- clients expect an instant response, traffic is worse and so I’m frantically trying not to be late, I must say yes to every opportunity because another may not arrive.
I know better. I know that the capacity for patience -- that blend of stick-to-it-ness and ability to tolerate delay calmly -- is a must-have quality that not only contributes to our sense of well-being but is the foundation of success at home and at work. Patience helps us create space between impulse and action, which allows us to respond to challenging people and situations wisely. It allows us to hang in there and keep going, whether with a person or with a process. It keeps us out of fight-or-flight, so we have access to the executive and intelligent part of our brains rather than just responding from our limbic systems, where our thinking is more primitive.
Application: During Advent, it seems nearly impossible to have the sort of patience James implores for his readers. As Ryan points out, our capacity for patience is built on the ability to tolerate delay calmly, perhaps not unlike the experience of Nelson Mandela or others who were required to wait patiently for justice. This season requires us to create a holy space between impulse and action, allowing us to prepare for the One who is coming.
*****
Matthew 11:2-11
Signs of Salvation
As John the Baptist languished in prison he had received reports about Jesus’ work, causing him to wonder if Jesus was the “one who is to come.” In response, Jesus sends messengers to tell John about the “fruits worthy of repentance” they have witnessed -- the blind can see, the disabled can walk, the sick are healed, the deaf hear, the dead receive new life, and the poor are given good news. Jesus asks the crowd, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” John is hailed by Jesus as a messenger called to point out the signs which lead to salvation. The messenger of God is best understood as one whose generous spirit points others toward salvation.
In a similar way, Nelson Mandela bore witness to the signs of salvation and the fruits worthy of repentance. While some have rightly hailed him as the singular savior of South Africa, at least one commentator notes that Mandela’s greater contribution to the “people’s politics” has been ignored. Mandela’s greatness, argues Harry Boyte, is best viewed by the way he empowered people to shape their world. Like John the Baptist, his power was the ability to point people in the right direction.
Boyte quotes from an interview with Jakes Gerwel, who was an aide to Mandela:
Mandela, Gerwel argued, stressed psychological liberation akin to the emphasis of Black Consciousness Movement leader Steve Biko. “Not to be victim to your suffering [and] to be victim of those who perpetrated it against you... He rose above that by the generosity of spirit....”
Gerwel traced such generosity to Mandela’s politics. “People often talk about Mandela’s values,” Gerwel said. “The thing that I remember him teaching me was: ‘Jakes, never let your enemy choose the terrain of combat by reacting in anger. If you act in anger to anybody, you are allowing that person to choose the terrain.’ This was a combination of genuine principled morals with a great tactical sense.”
Application: In many ways, Nelson Mandela was the messenger of peace and reconciliation for a nation and world often divided by hatred. Like John the Baptist, his ability to point to the signs of salvation prepared people to receive the Messiah’s greatest gift.
***************
From team member Ron Love:
Isaiah 35:1-10
San Francisco tech entrepreneur Trevor Traina has launched a new website called IfOnly.com. By paying an established fee, the website helps you “connect” with a famous celebrity, either through something as small as a guitar pick or as big as a redesigned kitchen with the first meal prepared by a renowned chef. The website is tying into two trends: people like an experience more than yet another luxury good; and social media has increased our connection with the famous. The celebrities who participate must give 10% of their earnings to the charity of their choice, but according to Traina, most have given closer to 70%.
Application: Isaiah’s prophecy continues to manifest itself upon us as we see the wilderness blossoming.
*****
James 5:7-10
“I’ve had too much humble pie. That’s the last slice. I’m full.” Those words were spoken by White House chief of staff Denis McDonough as he defended the difficult start of the new national health care program. His message was that it’s time to quit lamenting about the health care overhaul’s well-documented problems and start emphasizing its benefits.
Application: James cautions that as we patiently wait for the return of Christ we should not be grumbling among ourselves, but always moving forward in his service.
*****
James 5:7-10
With the Washington Redskins suffering through a losing season, coach Mike Shanahan said at the end of November, “I think the players are smart enough to understand that if you are 3-8, everybody is playing for their jobs.” He went on to say, “That is the nature of our business. I don’t care if it’s players, coaches, support staff. The nature of this game is to find a way to win and if you don’t win, everybody is accountable.”
Application: While waiting for the return of Jesus, James cautions believers to continue to live as an example of the suffering Jesus.
*****
Matthew 11:2-11
This year’s Cyber Monday was the most profitable since data was first tracked in 2001. Not including transactions by mobile devices, online shopping expenditures on Cyber Monday 2013 were $1.74 billion, an 18% increase over last year. Gian Fulgonia, the chairman of comScore, a firm which tracks online shopping, said: “Cyber Monday itself continues to be the most important day of the online holiday shopping season.”
Application: Cyber Monday may be good news for retailers, but in the season of Advent Christians have the good news given to John the Baptist.
*****
Matthew 11:2-11
Being Will Ferrell, nothing can ever be taken seriously -- not even the evening news for the people of Bismarck, North Dakota. Promoting his new movie Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, Ferrell arranged to do the evening news broadcast for Bismarck station KXMB. He went on camera (with viewers uninformed of his coming appearance), as Ron Burgundy, the character from his movie, dressed in his signature three-piece rust-colored suit. Ferrell’s antics throughout the broadcast, though humorous, prevented serious news reporting.
Application: John the Baptist asked a serious question and wanted a serious answer. There is a time and place for the Will Ferrells of the world (in the movies and on Saturday Night Live), but not at KXMB.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob.
People: Happy are those whose hope is in our God.
Leader: Our God watches over the strangers.
People: Our God upholds the orphan and the widow.
Leader: Our God will reign forever.
People: Our God will reign for all generations. Praise God!
OR
Leader: Come and learn the Way of our God.
People: We yearn to know the way to live fully.
Leader: Come and join the faithful through the ages.
People: We will join them in their service to God and others.
Leader: Come and be part of God’s great plan for creation.
People: We celebrate what God is doing and join in God’s work.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
found in:
UMH: 211
H82: 56
PH: 9
AAHH: 188
NNBH: 82
NCH: 116
CH: 119
LBW: 34
ELA: 257
W&P: 154
AMEC: 102
STLT: 225
“Toda la Tiera” (“All Earth Is Waiting”)
found in:
UMH: 210
NCH: 121
ELA: 266
W&P: 163
“My Soul Gives Glory to My God”
found in:
UMH: 198
CH: 130
ELA: 882
“Tell Out, My Soul”
found in:
UMH: 201
H82: 437, 438
W&P: 41
Renew: 130
“I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light”
found in:
UMH: 206
H82: 490
ELA: 815
W&P: 248
Renew: 152
“Savior of the Nations, Come”
found in:
UMH: 214
PH: 14
LBW: 28
ELA: 263
W&P: 168
“Once in Royal David’s City”
found in:
UMH: 250
H82: 102
PH: 49
NCH: 145
CH: 165
ELA: 269
W&P: 183
STLT: 228
“O God of Every Nation”
found in:
UMH: 435
H82: 607
PH: 289
CH: 680
LBW: 416
ELA: 713
W&P: 626
“Arise, Shine”
found in:
CCB: 2
Renew: 123
“People Need the Lord”
found in:
CCB: 52
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who is building a highway of justice and compassion: Grant us the courage to join you in making this holy way in all that we do and say in order to bring your reign to its fullness; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come to worship you, O God of justice and compassion. As we praise your holy name today, may we be so filled with your Spirit that we will be able to join in your building a highway of righteousness. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our failure to join God in the work of justice and compassion.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We look at the hurts of the world and are content to judge people rather than seek to save them. In our most generous moments we are willing to grant that perhaps in your grace you may save them, but we want nothing to do with it. Sometimes this makes us feel guilty, so we toss some change in a kettle or send a small check in the mail to a charity that doesn’t bother us too often during the year. We are so busy getting ready for Christmas that we forget we are called to be disciples, not observers. Forgive us, and empower us to build with you the Way that brings all creation to its completion. Amen.
Leader: God is at work redeeming creation, even us. Receive God’s love and forgiveness and God’s invitation to join in the work of salvation.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
Praise and glory be to you, O God, who comes to bring salvation to all creation.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We look at the hurts of the world and are content to judge people rather than seek to save them. In our most generous moments we are willing to grant that perhaps in your grace you may save them, but we want nothing to do with it. Sometimes this makes us feel guilty, so we toss some change in a kettle or send a small check in the mail to a charity that doesn’t bother us too often during the year. We are so busy getting ready for Christmas that we forget we are called to be disciples, not observers. Forgive us, and empower us to build with you the Way that brings all creation to its completion.
We give you thanks for all the times we have experienced your gracious presence among us. We thank you for those you have called to lead us into justice for all your creatures. We thank you for those who have shown compassion for us and taught us to show it to others. Most of all we thank you for Jesus, your Christ, who shows us the Way.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our needs. There are many who long for justice and mercy. There are many who suffer needlessly. There is much work to do as you prepare your Way among us.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Waiting and being patient is not easy. Share with the children that while it is difficult to wait, we also need to be busy. Just like waiting for Christmas means doing things to get ready (putting up the tree, etc.), so does getting ready for God. We need to do kind things for others to help God prepare for the future.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
It’s Hard to Wait!
James 5:7-10
Object: a wrapped gift
How many of you have a Christmas tree? (let the children respond with a show of hands) Did you decorate it? What do your trees look like? (listen to their responses for a moment) Do you have presents under the tree? (hold up your gift) We put presents like this under our tree. They are so pretty to look at, and they’re all different. They’re big and small, and of many different colors. Some are heavy, and some are light. Sometimes when I look at all the presents I just can’t stand to wait so long for Christmas!
The first verse in today’s Bible reading says, “Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.” Be patient. God knows that it is hard for us to be patient. It’s hard to wait for good things to come, and it’s hard to wait for bad things to end. Sometimes I wish that life had a fast-forward button like the one I have on my video recorder or my DVD player. If I had a button like that I could fast-forward through everything I don’t like and get to the good parts.
But you know what? If life only had good parts, how special would they really be? I mean, Christmas is great and everything, but the waiting is part of what makes it so special. The good times are so good because we have to wait and be patient for them. Then, when they come, we appreciate them more.
I wish I could open my present, but it’s just not time yet. God has given us many wonderful things. Some gifts we see now; other gifts will come. What we have to do is learn how to wait and be patient until it’s the right time.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, please help us learn how to be patient and wait for all the good things that you have for us. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, December 15, 2013, issue.
Copyright 2013 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
