Immediate Word

For December 23, 2018:

• All I Want for Christmas is You by Mary Austin -- What would the world look like if Mary’s prophetic vision were reality? If the reversals she imagines came to life, what would the world look like?
• Second Thoughts: Always Family, but Never Facebook Friends by Bethany Peerbolte -- Love of family is essential to the nativity story and should be central to our Christmas traditions too.
• Sermon illustrations by Tom Willadsen, Ron Love and Chris Keating.
• Worship resources by George Reed that focus on God’s care for the poor and marginalized; families restored.
• Nobodies Are Somebodies, Too Children’s sermon by Dean Feldmeyer -- God has shown us that there are no such things as Somebodies and Nobodies.  There just the People of God and God loves us all equally.

All I Want for Christmas is You
by Mary Austin
Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)

On a trip to New York City this month, visiting my daughter at college, I popped into Macy's at Herald Square, the iconic flagship Macy’s. I wanted to see what Christmas looked like at the store that sponsors the Thanksgiving Day parade in New York. Famous for being the background for the movie Miracle on 34th Street, Macy’s has a 13,000 square foot Santaland, plus an in-store McDonald’s for tired and cranky kids. There are also a dozen other restaurants (including a wine bar for tired and cranky parents) and three different Starbucks counters. Ironically, the song playing loudly over the store speakers was “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” If only that were true, there would be no need to shop!

Amid the Christmas excess, a homeless woman was trudging through the store, wearily dragging her sleeping bag behind her. With just one small bag in her hand, she seemed exhausted by whatever had happened to her, and oblivious to the Christmas mania around her.

Her image stays with me, as I hear Mary’s song this Christmas.

In the Scriptures
Luke gives Mary this stirring piece of poetry, and we hear her proclaiming the significance of the child who is coming. Even before his birth, we hear the news that he won’t be the expected kind of messiah. There’s no prediction of military might, or glee about the coming triumph over the dominating Roman power. This messiah, even before his birth, is known as one who cares for the poor.

The powerful will be toppled, but not so other people can take their place in the same kind of system of domination. Their power gives way to a world where the hungry have food, and the downtrodden finally are heard.

We can imagine that Mary herself knows what it’s like to be among the downtrodden. As a woman, she knows what it’s like to be a second class citizen. As an unmarried pregnant woman, she knows what it’s like to be scorned. Her own position in society is precarious. Her pregnancy gives her a window into the lives of other despised people.

Instead of fixating on her own situation, Mary sees the world around her with a wider gaze. She understands that the child she’s carrying has a role, not just in her life, but in the life that God envisions for all people. She speaks in the tradition of the prophets of Israel, announcing God’s plans and calling people out of narrow mindedness and back to God’s vision.

In the News
We are, alas, far from God’s imagination for us. In the U.S. alone, the US Census Bureau reports that the poverty rate in 2017 was 12.3 percent of the population, or over 39 million people. However, the poverty threshold for a family of five was an income of $29,986 for five people. That amount of money is far from enough to house and feed five people securely for a year.

The gap between wealthy people and poor people is growing wider, and economic growth in the U.S. is not translating into gains for everyone, notes the Brookings Institution. Comedian Chris Rock said recently that poor people don’t realize how large the gap is. “If poor people knew how rich rich people are, there would be riots in the streets.” An article in Scientific American says that recent studies suggest Chris Rock is right. We don’t really understand how big the gap is. “The average American believes that the richest fifth own 59% of the wealth and that the bottom 40% own 9%. The reality is strikingly different. The top 20% of US households own more than 84% of the wealth, and the bottom 40% combine for a paltry 0.3%.” One study “asked about 55,000 people from 40 countries to estimate how much corporate CEOs and unskilled workers earned. Then they asked people how much CEOs and workers should earn. The median American estimated that the CEO-to-worker pay-ratio was 30-to-1, and that ideally, it’d be 7-to-1. The reality? 354-to-1. Fifty years ago, it was 20-to-1. Again, the patterns were the same for all subgroups, regardless of age, education, political affiliation, or opinion on inequality and pay.” The researchers say that “respondents underestimate actual pay gaps, and their ideal pay gaps are even further from reality than those underestimates.” We imagine that we’re doing better than we actually are, to even out the gaps between wealthy people and poor people, and the reality is much worse than we know.

There are plenty of people in our society who could sing Mary’s song of longing. The person driving for Uber as a second job, or the person working 19 hours a week at two different jobs, just under the threshold for benefits at each place. The older person who used to have a professional job, and now is delivering packages for Amazon, or the recent college graduate cobbling together three part-time jobs. The people who are hungry at the end of every month, or the children who are hungry in the summer when there’s no school breakfast or lunch.

In the Sermon
In the Connections commentary, Paul Simpson Duke posits that Mary’s visit to Elizabeth is “the first gathering of the community of Jesus.” He adds that these women, doing God’s work, are “a prototype of church.” Their time together, he says, reminds us how much we need each other as we do God’s work. The sermon might talk about where we find our sources of support, as we follow God’s leading in our own lives. Is church a source of support for us? If not, how could we make it so? Do we look for our sustenance elsewhere? How do we find rest and strength, the way Mary and Elizabeth find it in each other, as we follow God’s voice?

Or, the sermon might look at how we use our experiences of being poor, or looked down on, or oppressed, to connect with other people in similar situations.

Or, the sermon could consider what the world would look like if Mary’s prophetic vision was reality. If the reversals she imagines came to life, what would the world look like? People who have disabilities would find ramps everywhere, and things would all come in large print, surrounded by bright lighting. Those of us who don’t have a disability right now would be looked down on, because we live such untested lives. People who are poor would be lauded for their persistence, and asked to teach the rest of us what they know about creative survival in a world that runs on money. People with excessive wealth would be scorned for not sharing with their neighbors.

In that bright, glittery Macy’s in New York, I wasn’t expecting to find a homeless person, and it took me a minute to realize what I was seeing. By the time I found some cash and went to look for her, she was gone. Searching through the store, I never saw her again. She stays in my mind as a reverse Christmas angel, a messenger reminding me how slow I am to sing Mary’s song. Trudging along in her weariness, she stands out in my mind in sharp contrast to the store around her. She reminds me how far Christmas can get from God’s vision of fullness for all people. A silent Christmas prophet, she calls me back God’s dream of the poor lifted up, and the hungry filled with good things.


SECOND THOUGHTS
Always Family, but Never Facebook Friends
by Bethany Peerbolte
Psalm 80, Luke 1:39-56

Around this time of year I change my normal “how was your week” to asking “what holiday tradition are you looking forward to?” When asked of friends and congregation members it helps lead us into a deeper conversation. I usually get one of three response variations. There is the brush off answer of “oh you know, the usual.” Which I follow up with asking for specifics. People are usually shocked to hear not everyone celebrates the same way their family does. I thoroughly stunned a friend of mine when she found out most people go to church on Christmas Eve and not Christmas Day. Her family had always gone the day of Christmas and she had never discussed the subject in detail with others. She assumed when people said they had church they meant Christmas Day.

Another common response I get is confusion. Some people do not think of their Christmas plans as having any real traditions. They think I mean going caroling, or volunteering at a soup kitchen, something big and grand. I have to ask “what would your family be really sad about if you didn’t do it this year.” This usually triggers something they can focus in on as a tradition. Baking cookies, giving presents, or simply calling to check in can be sacred tradition too.

Then there are the people who know their traditions. They understand family traditions are tightly knitted into Christmas, and without them Christmas would feel empty. These are the people who can rattle off their December plans as if they had their calendar in front of them. They can tell you at what time the kids can open presents, the time dinner is served to the quarter hour, and grandma’s gingerbread recipe to the teaspoon.

In recent years I have heard a lot more of a fourth response. In a regrettable groan some people will reply “getting together with the family.” This is usually accompanied with the name of a family member who they have had to unfollow of social media due to infuriating posts. If Christmas is the time for family, it has also become a time for tense rooms and thin ice conversations.

The psalmist ends Psalm 80 with this line “Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.” This could be the prayer of any of us walking into a family Christmas party. Restore us to the easy-going frivolity we once enjoyed with these people. This restoring may be to a time we can actually remember when the family coexisted together in harmony. The good ol’ days of Christmas cheer and good tidings. For some of us the memory of those times might be fading, or only exist as a wish we once made for peace among our family.

The psalmist is crying for a restoration that Israel has only ever dreamed. They can remember anger and tears among the family. They have seen God work to save and grow their family, but the fruit of peace never seems to bloom. That one shining moment is just out of reach. The world has come into the midst of the family of Israel and inspired all kinds of trouble. If only God would turn toward them again and help them mend what is broken. Then they would only ever serve God and live and love in peace.

We may pray that God’s face shines through the faces of the family we will converse with so that the hateful posts melt from our memory. We know more about our family than anyone should ever know thanks to social media. In the past you may have suspected an uncle was racist, but now we know for sure. That information can eat away at our ability to keep Christmas traditions alive. That information makes it seem like every comment, every quip, or gesture has a hidden dark meaning. Somehow we need to continue to find God’s face shining through the darkness.

Since ultimately what we really need is for God to save us from ourselves and our need to chime in and correct every misinformed comment. Christmas family gatherings can quickly become a battle between our two selves. One self wants to enjoy the day, create happy memories, and say goodbye with true sorrow that it will be another year till we hang out again. The other self wants to be the one to enlighten the room, to stand up for what we believe, and not sit idly by as ignorance reigns. One says grin and bear it, the other screams charge forward.  This is where I’m supposed to insert the wise answer. I apologize for having none.

Mary knew the importance of family. When she hears about Elizabeth’s pregnancy and her own joyous state, she rushes to share the moment with her cousin. It’s a good thing too because Elizabeth is a little out of her element. She asks, “Why has this happened to me?” She needs a reminder that even a child late in life is a blessing. Mary’s visit restores her to joy. Their shared time together allows them to see God’s face shining. Shining into a moment that was dangerous for both of them, a moment where they needed saving. Elizabeth was in late age and the pregnancy would have been hard on her body and dangerous. Mary was pregnant and unmarried -- a very precarious and dangerous situation in which to be. They are both saved, though. Their support of each other is inspired by familial love.

Hopefully the family love did not stop there. It is believed the infamous innkeeper of the nativity was a distant cousin who stepped up to let Mary and Joseph bunker down in their barn - even though this was the cousin with the wife who was pregnant before marriage. These were the family members who claimed God was the father of the baby. The innkeeper cousin must have thought “they are crazy, I will have to keep from rolling my eyes when they tell the story, but they deserve a place to sleep.” Who knows what happened when Mary and Joseph eventually made it home with a new child no one had met? The whispers and rumors might have been vicious. Hopefully the family rallied behind them, supported them and reprimanded the gossips.

Love of family is essential to the nativity story and should be central to our Christmas traditions, too. Loving our family is not always comfortable, and it often does not look the same as loving our friends. At times this may mean biting our tongues, other times it may be gently asking a probing question, and still others it might be a full-fledged argument. Finding ways to keep the love alive even in tense rooms is what familial love is all about.

Let’s grab the casserole out of the back seat, schlep the presents up to the door, and pray together “Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.”



ILLUSTRATIONS

From team member Tom Willadsen:

Inscrutable Christmas song lyrics
A friend makes an annual Christmas compilation CD and for the past several years she’s sent them to me.  It’s always a delight to hear old familiar, beloved Christmas songs done by new artists.  There’s Randy Travis’s version of “Joy to the World” and the Brian Setzer Orchestra put out a collection a few years ago of classic rockabilly, swing and Big Band Era arrangements that are just plain fun.  And, of course, my friend includes the timeless classics, the standards that one simply must hear before Christmas: Billy Squier’s “Christmas is a Time to Say ‘I Love You;’” The Chipmunks’ “Please Christmas Don’t Be Late;” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town.”  [My generation is showing, I know.]  I was driving across town, driving down Memory Lane of Christmases Past, singing along to Brenda Lee’s classic “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” and I realized, “These lyrics make no sense!”  I get the pumpkin pie, and the Christmas party hop but what on earth does “in a new old fashioned way” mean?  It rhymes with “have a happy holiday.” But how does one dance in a new old fashioned way? 

I know, I know there are times when I try too hard to analyze song lyrics.  Guilty as charged.  Thirty years ago when I was working in a coffee shop I stopped what I was doing listening to Bo Diddley singing “Who do you love,” and said, “That should be whom, ‘whom do you love?”  I could give other examples but you get the idea.  Still, I kept tripping over those words “new old fashioned.”

Then I took a look at the Gospel lesson for this morning.  And saw a lot of new old things going on.  For some reason I imagined the conversation between Elizabeth and her younger cousin Mary as a vocal duet.

* * *

The Magnificat echoes the song that Hannah sang in 1 Samuel 2 when she presented Samuel to Eli at Shiloh. 
It’s a new, old-fashioned song.

* * *

More cover versions of old songs
There are a lot of reversals in the lesson(s) from Luke this morning.  Mary’s song echoes Hannah’s.  Hannah’s song picks up on themes of an even older song, perhaps the oldest song in the Bible.  The song that Miriam sang—and that the Israelite women danced to—after Pharoah’s cavalry drowned in the Sea of Reeds.  Moses is recorded as having sung a longer song, but scholar’s believe the Song of Miriam—which was also danced—is older. 

* * *
A Grace Note before this morning’s Gospel reading, Luke 1:37 “For nothing will be impossible with God.”
That’s what the angel Gabriel said to Mary after telling her she would deliver an extraordinary baby.  Maybe it also applied to her cousin, Elizabeth’s pregnancy late in life.  Either way, the extraordinary, miraculous births echo other births.  Sarah was told something very similar in Genesis 18:14, when whoever it was who had come to visit Abraham and Sarah told her she would have a son.  “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?”

The very end of this part of the Isaac birth narrative is that Sarah laughed to herself.  This miraculous birth was also a divine joke.  The founding of Judaism and Christianity is way back in history with a baby named “Laughter.”  

* * *

Everything comes from somewhere…
That was a mantra of one of my college Geography professors.  Jesus was born, according to prophecy in Micah and Luke and Matthew’s gospels, in Bethlehem.  Bethlehem is not an exceptional place. 

Places, any kind of places, are only significant because of what happens in them, who is from them.  I spent an autumn afternoon years ago in a park on the northside of Chicago talking to a man who was very proud to from Genoa, Italy, the birthplace of Christopher Columbus.  (Bonus points if you’re now humming “Saturday in the Park” by Chicago!)  Our conversation took place 531 years after Columbus’s birth!  He was still talking about it!

We’re still talking about, and singing about Bethlehem. 

* * *

I have good news and bad news…
Micah’s oracles mix salvation and judgment.  They contrast security and strength.  Today’s lesson is chosen because it names Bethlehem, a small settlement, as being the place from which the ruler of Israel would come.   

Bethlehem is the place that the chief priests and scribes told Herod the “King of the Jews” would be born.

The other parts of Micah, however are a comboplatter of good news and bad news.

A friend of mine often begins conversations with “I have good news and bad news…” it’s a standard set up in comedy.  Sometimes one has to be inventive to find something good in the current moment.

Baseball fans, Cub fans in particular, will resonate with this example:

I have good news and bad news; which do you want first?
Gimme the good.
OK.  The Phillies don’t have anyone on base.
And the bad news?
Mike Schmidt just hit a grand slam.
(Look, it’s December 23, one of the days with the least daylight all year!  Spread a little sunshine to the baseball fans in your flocks!)

* * *

In Micah contrast between Bethlehem and Jerusalem
The judgment God foretells is to those in the capital who believe they dwell in security.  The prophecy however, goes on to lift up “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”  God’s word cuts both ways, or one could say it’s a two-edged sword.

That’s not just true in this morning’s passages, but may be especially worth bringing up during Advent’s march toward Christmas and all the commercial trappings and distraction of the season.  Lead the worshippers to this apparently insignificant place.

* * * * * * * * *

From team member Ron Love:

Luke 1:39ff
Blessing / Celebration
In many European countries, early on Easter Monday, the girls come out of their homes wearing traditional red, black and white folkloric dress. The young men walk down the streets, also in traditional dress of high black boots, black hats, white shirts and cream-colored trousers. The men follow the girls playing instruments and the older women of the village have prepared a cornucopia of food.
A young lady is pulled from the crowd and held by two young men, as a third throws a bucket of ice cold water on her just drawn from a well. This Easter rite is called “sprinkling.” The purpose is to secure beauty, health, and even love for the young lady. When the ritual has been completed, everyone gathers for a community banquet. Sadly, in the early twenty-first century, as Europe has become increasingly secularized, this Christian religious ritual of community acceptance and fellowship is only practiced in small villages.

* * *

Luke 1:40-42
Family / Friendship / Community
Dr. Mary Cameron, who has a doctorate in historical geography, reported that homes that were being built after the 1950s were, increasingly, being designed without front porches, and that, by the 1970s, the front porch had disappeared altogether from home designs. One reason for this is air conditioning, as people no longer needed to sit in the cool breeze to avoid the summer heat. But, this was only a minor reason. The most significant reason was the dawn of television. Prior to television people would sit on their front porch and socialize with neighbors. Television brought people indoors where they stayed cocooned in front of their entertainment box.

* * *

Luke 1:40-42
Family / Friendship / Community
John Donne lived for many years in poverty, relying on wealthy friends to sustain him. After he received a substantial inheritance, he used some of the money to pay for his education. He also used his new-found wealth on womanizing and travel. In 1601, Donne secretly married Anne Moore, with whom he had twelve children. After his marriage, Donne had a conversion experience, and, in 1615, he became an Anglican priest. In 1621, he was appointed Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London. He served as a member of parliament in 1601 and 1614. He also became an established poet, recognized for his strong, sensual style. His compositions included sonnets, love poems and religious poems. One of his better known and more popular poems is No Man Is An Island.

No man is an island,
entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the continent,
a part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
as well as if a promontory were,
as well as if a manor of thy friend’s
or of thine own were.
Any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind;
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
it tolls for thee.

* * *

Psalm 80
Faith
In the Spring of 1573, Roman Catholic authorities in Antwerp arrested Maeyken Wens, who was an Anabaptist. They subjected her to torture, trying to get her to renounce her beliefs, as she opposed the Catholic teaching on baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Failing to convert Wens, on October 5 they sentenced her to death. Her tongue was screwed tight so that she could not speak to bystanders when she was taken to be burned at the stake. While in prison she wrote a letter to her husband saying, “Oh, how easy it is to be a Christian, so long as the flesh is not put to trial, or nothing has to be relinquished; then it is an easy thing to be a Christian.”

* * *

Luke 1:40-42
Family / Friendship / Community
Aharon Appelfeld was nine-years-old when he heard that the Germans had shot his mother and grandmother on their farm in Romania. The young Jewish boy knew what was happening to his family, and he jumped out of a second-floor window into a corn field. He was later caught and taken to a forced-labor camp in Transnistria. From there he escaped into the forest and found a group of Ukrainian criminals. He became their slave boy, but knowing he was Jewish they kept him alive. He later left them and took refuge with a village prostitute. But, when one of her clients recognized Aharon as a Jew, he fled once more. Aharon spent the rest of the war working as a cook for the Soviet army.

In 1946 he immigrated to Israel. It was there that, along with teaching at the university, he became a novelist. Appelfeld, in his novels, rarely ventured into historical analysis or first-person anecdote of the Holocaust.  Instead, the murder of six million European Jews hung ominously in the background of his books, addressed obliquely through the presence of dirtied trains, curls of smoke, and characters with disabilities or missing limbs. In preparing a novel, Appelfeld would write ideas down on paper and put them in a drawer. Then, after several years, he would remove them and prepare a manuscript for publication. Appelfeld said that writing stabilized his life and gave shape to the family members he had lost during the Holocaust.

Regarding the list of family members’ names that he used in his novels, Appelfeld said, “This list gave me a ground that I understood. I was not alone. I still had my family. They exist in me. I made myself a family on paper. I wrote it down, and they became real.”

* * *

Micah 2:2-5a
Salvation
Patricia Lockwood is a poet and the daughter of a Catholic priest. Her father, Greg, was a married Episcopal priest when he decided to join the Roman Catholic Church. The Pope allowed the married man to be ordained into the Catholic order. In May 2015, Lockwood published her memoir titled Priestdaddy. The title of the book comes from the fact that her father was a married Roman Catholic priest.

In her book, she recounts how the image of the church changed with the movie The Exorcist, instead of the sunnier days depicted in Going My Way and The Bells of St. Mary’s. In her book, she recounts the first time her father saw the movie The Exorcist. Rev. Lockwood was on board a nuclear submarine, and there was not enough room for him to leap out of his chair with fear. Ms. Lockwood recounts his experience with these words, “Put yourself in his place. You’re a drop of blood at the center of the ocean…All of a sudden you look up at a screen and see a possessed 12-year-old with violent head vomiting green chunks and backwards Latin. She’s so full of demon that the only way to relieve her feelings is to have sex with a crucifix. You would convert too. I guarantee it.”

* * *

Micah 5:2-5a
Peace
The Greek word for “peacemakers” that Matthew used here in Jesus’ beatitude is eirenopoios. The word eirenopoios is a compound word, made up of eirene, “peace,” and a form of the verb poieo, “do, make.” When we put the two parts of the word together (eirene = “peace” + poieo = “do, make”) what we end up with is a beatitude in which Jesus declared that, “Blessed are the peace-doers” or “peacemakers.” Jesus’ beatitude in Matthew 5:9 is the only occurrence of this word in the New Testament.

* * *

Micah 5:2-5a
Peace
Pope Francis became the 266th pope, and the first pope from Latin American, on March 13, 2013. Francis throughout his bishopric has openly declared the reality of Satan and the demonic powers that envelope creation. In a sermon preached on April 10, 2014 he said, “The Prince of this world, Satan, doesn’t want our holiness, he doesn’t want us to follow Christ. Maybe some of you might say: ‘But Father, how old fashioned you are to speak about the devil in the 21st century!’ But look out because the devil is present! The devil is here… even in the 21st century! And we mustn’t be naive, right? We must learn from the Gospel how to fight against Satan.”

* * *

Luke 1:41
Holy Spirit
Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth President of the United States, taking office on March 4, 1861. Lincoln was a student of the Bible, and direct quotes from the scriptures or allusions to Bible passages are scattered throughout all of his speeches. In fact, absent of knowledge of the Bible, an individual can never fully comprehend the wisdom and depth of Lincoln’s public oratory and written correspondences. Regarding the scriptures, Lincoln said, “I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book.”

* * *

Micah 5:2-5a
Salvation
Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, who is a Franciscan nun, is better known to most of us simply as Mother Angelica. And perhaps her name parallels her angelic and radiant personality for those who watched her television program. In 1981, Mother Angelica started broadcasting religious programs from a converted garage in Birmingham, Alabama. Over the next twenty years, she developed a media network that included radio, TV, and internet channels as well as printed media. Mother Angelica offered this explanation of salvation: “Salvation brings the soul a deep awareness of God's love. Life takes on more meaning, for it now has a purpose.”

* * * * * * * * *

From team member Chris Keating:

Micah 5:2-5a
Dwelling secure
A recent article in Bloomberg suggested that while poverty rates in the United States as measured by federal poverty guidelines may have dropped, relative poverty remains a substantial problem, especially thanks to income inequality. Moreover, the article points to the need to also measure poverty by economic growth. As Noah Smith writes:

Imagine a 55-year-old single woman with diabetes working a part-time job making close to minimum wage. Thanks to government assistance, her total income is $15,000 a year. But if she loses her job or has a medical emergency — both of which, as Matthew Desmond’s book “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City” illustrates, are sadly common — she will probably become homeless. That in turn will make it very hard to get a new job, or to pay for her future health-care needs. In short, her situation is very precarious.

* * *

Micah 5:2-5a
Imagining world peace
World peace is hard to imagine, let alone measure. But the 2018 Global Peace Index makes an attempt at analyzing data pertaining to global peace indicators.  Using both qualitative and quantitative measures, the GPI analysis shows that the worldwide level of peace has decreased by 0.27% in 2018, the lowest mark in the last ten years. The report notes:

The results of the 2018 GPI find that the global level of peace has deteriorated by 0.27% in the last year, marking the fourth successive year of deteriorations. Ninety-two countries deteriorated, while 71 countries improved. The 2018 GPI reveals a world in which the tensions, conflicts, and crises that emerged in the past decade remain unresolved, especially in the Middle East, resulting in a gradual, sustained fall in peacefulness. Underlying the fall in peacefulness, six of the nine regions in the world deteriorated in the last year. The four most peaceful regions – Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific, and South America – all recorded deteriorations, with the largest overall deterioration occurring in South America, owing to falls in the Safety and Security domain, mainly due to increases in the incarceration rate and impact of terrorism.

* * *

Luke 1:39-45
Scattering of the poor
We typically associate poverty in America with run down cities and dying rural hamlets. Yet new surveys are revealing what many pastors have long suspected — suburban poverty is growing. In fact, while poverty is growing across the country, it is rising faster in the suburbs than anywhere else. According to some experts, there are a few steps which could be taken to address the problems associated with suburban poverty. Blogger Frankie Wallace observes:

For one, the U.S. can work toward ascertaining that the minimum wage matches the living wage. According to financial experts, the minimum wage is drastically lower than a living wage across the nation. While the federal minimum wage is $7.25, the basic living wage is more than double that at $16 per hour. Ensuring that any full-time employee could support themselves and their family would help solve part of the poverty issue.




WORSHIP
by George Reed

Call to Worship:
Leader: Let our souls magnify the Lord.
People: Let our spirits rejoice in God our Savior,
Leader: The Mighty One has done great things for us.
People: God’s mercy is for those who fear God from generation to generation.
Leader: God has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
People: God has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.

OR

Leader: Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock!
People: You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.
Leader: Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
People: God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?
Leader: Restore us, O God of hosts.
People: Let your face shine, that we may be saved.

OR

Leader: Come and hear the vision God has for all creation!
People: With joy and trembling we wait to hear God’s word!
Leader: God sees as one large family, sharing the bounty of earth.
People: We are one people but we don’t share very well.
Leader: The Christ comes to set things right, to raise the low and lower the mighty.
People: We will join in this work of righting God’s world!

Hymns and Songs:
All Who Love and Serve Your City
UMH: 433
H82: 570/571
PH: 413
CH: 670
LBW: 436
ELA: 724
W&P: 625

Let There Be Light
UMH: 440
NNBH: 450
NCH: 589  
STLT: 142

What Child Is This
UMH: 219
H82: 115
PH: 53
AAHH: 220
NNBH: 86
NCH: 148
CH: 162
LBW: 40
ELA: 296
W&P: 184

Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates
UMH: 213
H82: 436
PH: 8
NCH: 117
CH: 129
LBW: 32
W&P: 176
AMEC: 94    

Savior of the Nations, Come
UMH: 214
PH: 14
LBW: 28
ELA: 263
W&P: 168

Joy to the World
UMH: 246
H82: 100
PH: 40
AAHH: 197
NNBH: 94
NCH: 132
CH: 143
LBW: 39
ELA: 267
W&P: 179
AMEC: 120
STLT: 245

O Little Town of Bethlehem
UMH: 230
H82: 78/79
PH: 43/44
AAHH: 204
NNBH: 90
NCH: 133
CH: 144
LBW: 41
ELA: 279
W&P: 180
AMEC: 109
STLT: 246/247

Tell Out, My Soul
UMH: 200
H82: 437/738
W&P: 41

My Soul Gives Glory to My God
UMH: 198
CH: 130
ELA: 882
Emmanuel, Emmanuel
CCB: 31
Renew: 28

Shine, Jesus, Shine
CCB: 81
Renew: 247

Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
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 created us all as your dear children:
Grant us the grace to see each other as you created us
so that we might grant dignity to all your children;
through Jesus Christ our Savior.  Amen.

OR

We praise you, O God, for making us your family.  You made us in your own image and likeness and filled us with your own Spirit.  Help us to see your likeness in all people.  Give us the will to raise the lowly lift up the fallen.  Amen. 

Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our adulation of the rich and powerful and scorning of the poor and lowly.

People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned.  We look with favor on those who are wealthy and powerful.  We adore those who are famous for being famous.  We look with disdain on those who are poor and struggling.  We forget that you created us all.  We forget that we are sisters and brothers together.  Forgive us and move us do the work of Jesus as we raise up the lowly and refuse to worship the mighty.  Amen.

Leader: God welcomes all who join the work of the Christ.  Receive God’s grace and the power of the Spirit to do the work of Jesus. 

Prayers of the People
Glory and praise to you, O God, who created us as your own dear family.  We praise you for the love which created us and binds us all together.

(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 with favor on those who are wealthy and powerful.  We adore those who are famous for being famous.  We look with disdain on those who are poor and struggling.  We forget that you created us all.  We forget that we are sisters and brothers together.  Forgive us and move us do the work of Jesus as we raise up the lowly and refuse to worship the mighty.

We give you thanks for those who work tirelessly to correct the imbalance we have imposed on creation.  We thank you for those who work with the poor and the discarded.  We thank you for those who work to correct the systems that produce these problems. 

(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)

We pray for all our sisters and brothers today.  We pray especially for those who feel downtrodden and despised.

(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 Our Father 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
Talk to the children about how we are almost to Christmas, the time when we celebrate Jesus being born in a stable and laid in a manger.  Talk about how poor his family must have been.  They traveled 90 miles.  We think of them with a donkey but they might not have had even that.  They ended up sleeping in a barn.  When we remember Jesus’ birth we remember that many babies are born in as bad or worse places.  When we celebrate Jesus’ birth we can also pray for all babies that they will be healthy and loved.  If your congregation has a bassinet/baby ministry or there is one in your community you might invite children to bring a gift to the Christmas services for that.  Provide a list of needed items.


CHILDREN'S SERMON
Nobodies Are Somebodies, Too
by Dean Feldmeyer
Luke 1:39-55

And Mary said, I'm bursting with God-news; I'm dancing the song of my Savior God. God took one good look at me, and look what happened - I'm the most fortunate woman on earth! What God has done for me will never be forgotten, the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others. His mercy flows in wave after wave on those who are in awe before him. He bared his arm and showed his strength, scattered the bluffing braggarts. He knocked tyrants off their high horses, pulled victims out of the mud. The starving poor sat down to a banquet; the callous rich were left out in the cold. He embraced his chosen child, Israel; he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high.  (Luke 1: 46-54; The Message Bible)

You will need:  Cards or pieces of construction paper in two colors.  Equal number of the two colors, enough for every child to have a card.  On one color you have written, “Nobody.”  On the other color you have written, “Somebody.”

Before you begin:  Distribute the cards to the kids so that an equal or near equal number receive “Nobody” and “Somebody” cards.

Now say:

Good morning, sisters and brothers.  Did everyone get a card?  Yes?  Okay, great.

Now, let’s see what those cards say?  Okay, your card says “Somebody.”  Hey, congratulations!  You’re a “Somebody.”  You get to sit right up here close to me.  Everyone whose card is this color, you are all “Somebodies.”  Come on, in.  Bring it in close to me, here.  Okay?

Now, what do the other cards say?  Oooooooh, I’m so sorry.  Looks like you guys are “Nobodies.”  You’ll have to sit on the outside, or maybe over there.  This space is reserved for “Somebodies,” so you’ll have to go over there.  That’s right. Just have a seat, way over there in the “Nobodies,” area.

There. All nice and organized, right?  “Somebodies” here and “Nobodies” there.  Nice, huh?
(Allow an uncomfortably long silence to follow as all just sit and take in the arrangement.)

So, what do you think of this arrangement?  (No doubt, some in either group will like it, some not. Do not let that deter you.  Forge on. Pick a couple who don’t like the arrangement.) 

You don’t like it?  Well, my goodness, why not?  It’s not fair?  It’s not nice?  It’s uncomfortable?  We love them and we don’t like being separated from our friends, do we?  We don’t like being treated unfairly and we don’t like seeing our friends being treated unfairly.

We don’t like it when people are divided into “Somebodies” and “Nobodies” do we?  But sometimes that happens.  Sometimes we treat people differently, depending on the color of their skin, or the amount of money they have, or the way they talk.  Sometimes we treat people like “Somebodies” and “Nobodies.” BUT, we’re Christians and Jesus taught us that there AIN’T NO NOBODIES!  We’re all “Somebodies.”

Well, you know, you’re right.  This morning’s Bible lesson is from a song that Mary sings when she discovers that she’s going to be the mother of Jesus.  See, Mary was a “Nobody.”  She was just this poor, young girl, from a little town no one had ever heard of.  But God chose HER to be the mother of Jesus.

And, in doing that, God has made Nobodies into Somebodies and Somebodies into Nobodies.  In fact, God has shown us that there are no such things as Somebodies and Nobodies.  There just the People of God and God loves us all equally. So, everyone hand in those cards.  (Tear cards up and throw them away as they are turned over to you.) And everyone come on in to the center, here, for a group hug. That’s it. All Somebodies, right?

That, brothers and sisters, is the Good News for today.  Thank you for coming down and sharing with me, this morning.


* * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Immediate Word, December 23, 2018, issue.

Copyright 2018 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.