All Means All
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For December 24/25, 2023:
All Means All
by Dean Feldmeyer
Psalm 96, Luke 2:8-14
Say the word “exclusive,” and I automatically think of those phony, rich-people clubs that are exclusive only because they cost so much to join. Like the CORE in New York City, where the initiation fee is $50,000 and the annual dues are $15,000 per year. (They have never disclosed what CORE stands for if, indeed, it stands for anything.)
Or clubs whose exclusivity is based on prejudice and, sometimes, plain, old fashioned racism. Like the famous Augusta National Golf Course in Augusta, Georgia, where the Masters is played every year. They used to be exclusive, primarily, because they didn’t allow female or black golfers as members.
The ban on African-Americans joining the club was finally lifted in 1991, well after Lee Elder broke Augusta’s race barrier by playing in the Masters in 1975 (he was not allowed to use the locker room, however, and had to change clothes in the restroom of a gas station down the road). Augusta didn’t allow women members until 2012.
Today, Augusta is exclusive only because of its exorbitant fees and the fact that they limit their membership to 300 souls. Oh, and you have to be invited to join. (Asking to join pretty much ruins any chance you might have had.) They don’t disclose their initiation fee but it is estimated to be between $30,000 and $40,000 with annual dues estimated to be around $5,000. The green fees for a round of golf at Augusta National are $350 for members and their guests.
There are other clubs, informal ones, usually, that are based solely on achievement, the most exclusive of which is called the Condor Club. In golf, a “condor” is a score of 4 under par on one hole. This feat is only achievable on a par-5 (or longer) hole, which are usually the longest, hardest holes on any given course, making this achievement incredibly rare. The first recorded ‘condor’ was struck by Larry Bruce in 1962, when he hit a hole-in-one on a par-5 hole at the Hope County Club in Arkansas. There have been only 4 attested ‘condors’ scored in the history of golf, and none at a professionally sanctioned course and never at a professional tournament, making the “Condor Club” the most exclusive in the sports world.
It could be said that Christianity is not a cheap or easy club to belong to, but neither is it an exclusive one.
In the News
In our culture, exclusivity is a prize much to be valued and sought after.
Watch the local TV news and count how many times you hear claims of exclusivity. “Mr. XX spoke to our reporter XX in an interview you will hear only on Channel 9 News…” or “with this story which you will see only on Channel 12 News.”
Retailers offer exclusives in the form of items that are available “only at our stores” and will be “available only for the next two weeks.” Plus, you get a special, exclusive discount if you have their exclusive membership card.
Politicians offer exclusive access to truth, patriotism, love of country, and safety for your family if you will only see the light, believe their promises, and vote for them. “We’re the true patriots. We really care about the American people. We know the truth that the other side is hiding from you. Join us and you’ll be part of the small, exclusive group that knows what they don’t want you to know.”
The Biden Promise Tracker monitors the 99 most important campaign promises of President Joseph R. Biden, since he was elected in November 2020. There’s also a Trump-o-meter that has been used for tracking the promises of Donald Trump when he was in power. And most of those promises had to do with making America and Americans the exclusive holders of truth and power.
One of the most popular claims of the MAGA Republicans is that they will up the ante on American exclusivity, closing the national borders by building a wall to keep people out of the United States and then allow only a few, lucky souls into the country who can prove that they have something real and concrete to offer.
But the most blatant exclusivists of them all may be the preachers — and cultists are the worst of the bunch.
Religious cults are led by charismatic leaders whose personalities draw people to them. Especially vulnerable are people who feel lonely and alone.
Cult leaders tend to have a charismatic ability to convince these vulnerable folks that they alone have the answers to life’s problems. They alone can save others from their struggles and misery by sharing with them this exclusive knowledge and offering them membership in an exclusive group of people who share the same knowledge. Then, with the right mix of flattery, otherworldly teachings, and control over finances, these leaders create an environment where followers feel they have no choice but to obey.
The History Cooperative website offers the names of cult leaders like Jim Jones (People’s Temple), David Koresh (Branch Davidians), and David Berg (Family International) as examples of this exclusivist cultic appeal.
But cult leaders are the extreme example. Christian and other religious leaders often offer what they claim are their exclusive claims to truth and exclusive membership in special groups.
Joel Osteen and other evangelists of the “prosperity gospel” promise entre into that exclusive group of Americans who are wealthy, happy, and successful.
So called “faith healers” offer admittance into the exclusive club of people whose faith is strong enough to be healed of their physical maladies.
The most common exclusivist claim in Christendom, however, is one that can be found not in cults or TV evangelists but in the church on the corner — the claim of exclusive salvation. We are the ones who are going to heaven when we die because we know the truth; everyone else is going to Hell because they believe in lies. Much of popular “rapture” theology finds its most potent appeal in exactly that kind of exclusivism.
It has been said that for many Christians, the greatest appeal of Christianity is the promise that they will be on the bus that goes to heaven, waving through the window at all the poor sinners who didn’t make the cut. And critics make the claim that, to the degree that this is actually the case, Christianity is just another cult that should be ignored and avoided.
In the Scripture
The lectionary readings for tonight/today, put to rest the lie that Christianity is an exclusive club. And they achieve that task with three common words: “For all peoples” (Psalm 96), or “for all people” (Luke 2:10).
Emphasis on “ALL.” And, in this case, all really means all.
It is not uncommon to find passages in the Bible where the writers speak of all people, when what the really mean is all Jews or all Palestinian Jews.
Jesus and the angels that attend to him, as well as some of the prophets, are not so picky about how they define “all.” When they say all, they mean all. Everyone. Todas las personas.
In the psalm, the poet instructs the choir and all those who have come to worship the Lord to sing this new song that has been written for this special occasion (perhaps the birth of a new son to the King and Queen?). The new song is one of praise and thanksgiving for the amazing and wonderful things that God does — not just for the royal family or even just for the Hebrew people over whom they reign.
No, the amazing and awesome things about which we are being called to sing are the ones God has done, “For all the peoples.” (Peoples, plural, meaning groups of people. Nations. Tribes. Races. That kind of thing.) The poet is speaking sociologically about what God does for everyone. The rain makes everyone’s crops grow. The sea produces fish for all those who throw nets into it. The trees shade all who walk under them and produce fruit for any who pick it.
God’s mighty works are to be held in awe not just because of what they are but for whom they are done as well. The “for whom” is “for everyone!”
In the gospel lesson the angels come to announce the birth of the Messiah to the shepherds and take what the psalmist has said yet a step further.
This child whose birth we celebrate on this night, represents good news not just for shepherds. Not just for royalty. Not just for his family. Not just for Jews or some select group of religious gentiles. This child represents good news, God’s good news, for all people. Every single person in the world.
It is a message of radical inclusivity. No one is excluded.
In the Sermon
The indicative has been made clear by the psalmist and by the angels who sing before the shepherds. “Do not be afraid! For behold, I am bringing to you good news of great joy for all the people.”
Tonight/today we celebrate God’s good news of Jesus Christ. The good news is so good that the response it elicits is one of great joy, not mild amusement. Not even momentary happiness. Not glee or giddiness but Joy with a capital “J.”
God is doing a wonderful and miraculous thing for God’s creation and no one, not one single soul, is going to be left out. Everyone is included.
Women, men, children, young, old, rich, poor, straight, gay, black, brown, red, white, yellow, tan. Every language and accent. Every gift and talent. Every ability or disability.
Do we doubt that this is the case? Look at the nativity scene on your coffee table or out on your lawn. Who is represented there? A day laborer and his teenage wife and their baby, some shepherds (the lowest of the low on the economic food chain) and some rich foreigners following a star and a rumor. The kind of people we walk by on the street, every day. Ordinary people caught in the picture of an extraordinary event. Common folks come to celebrate a most uncommon thing.
To every single one, the message is the same: God’s good news is for you. You are accepted — accepted by the God of all creation, the God who is greater than you and whose name you do not even know.
Accept the good news that you are accepted. Merry Christmas!
Nothingness and God
by Katy Stenta
Luke 1:26-38
In the News
It feels these days that many things seem impossible. Peace definitely seems to be one of them. Recently the Israeli ambassador, Tzipi Hotovely, outright dismissed the solution that the United States had been laying it’s hopes on, which was the two state solution. Is peace or any solution even possible in the Middle East?
Another question is, how do we fuel the unending need for progress and technology in the world? As richer countries have benefitted from these innovations, they seem ready to put strictures on poorer countries that do not seem equitable, even though the richer countries seem to have trouble keeping their own commitments. However, there is hope, as the world does seem to be moving more and more away from fossil fuels.
Finally, the current state of the world wealth has made it so that those who are rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Those who are dealing with inflation at the bottom of the socio-economic scale are definitely feeling it the worst. After an era during the pandemic when the help that was needed was often met with free food and stimulus money, now food banks and the like are seeing the highest demand ever, with much smaller donations to meet the need. Where is the answer to all of this woe in the world especially with Christmas around the corner? How are we supposed to be merry?
In the Scriptures
In reflection to the Magnificat and John the Baptist’s call to “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord,” we see a deep hunger for the world to be turned upside-down. The call of Christmas is more apocalyptic — more of a revealing and uncovering of how things are — than one might originally assume. The joy is understanding that wrongs will be righted and justice will prevail, not in forcing everyone to celebrate Christmas or in the commercial consumerism of Christmas.
There is a great meme going around that says that the first thing Mary and Elizabeth did when they shared that they were pregnant was to discuss how the whole world would be overturned to be more just — and that they should be included in reflections of Biblical Womanhood. Mary and Elizabeth understand that if they are both pregnant then anything is possible for God — for both of their pregnancies should have been impossible. If God could arrange their pregnancies, what else could be possible for the future of the world? They dared to dream?
In the Sermon
It is hard to be comfortable with nothingness, silence, or emptiness. It is easy to think that there is nothing there, so nothing will happen. And yet, Mary declares that “nothing is impossible with God” because God can work where nothing is. Our God is the one who works in the gaps, and Mary was willing to live there. When Mary accepted the call, she was accepting it from a mysterious voice, stepping into a life in the gaps, with whispers about her and her family, and probably weird silences, believing that God can work with the awkward spaces. God created the entire world out of the void, but it is still hard to sit in silence, to see nothing and think — God can work with that. It is difficult to see a gap between where we are and where we need to be and trust that the Holy Spirit will provide. However, it is good to practice to try to remember what Mary declared from the gaps: “Nothing will be impossible with God.”
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Tom Willadsen:
A Day in Two Seasons
I’m writing illustrations for both the 4th Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve this week. Today, is both the last day of the first season of the church year, and the first day of the Season of Christmas. Sometime between when you give the benediction at the morning service and when you call the congregation to worship in the evening, the church season will have changed. Some traditions say that the Season of Christmas begins at sundown on Christmas Eve. The Presbyterian Planning Calendar shows the date December 24 as half purple and half white. An invisible / separates the purple in the upper left from the white in the lower right.
Many families have annual arguments over when one should open presents. There was no argument in my family, “Are they Christmas presents or Christmas Eve presents?” mom asked my brother and me rhetorically.
My brother, alas, married into a family who opens their presents on Christmas Eve. While this is clearly wrong, one could argue that if they open them after sundown, they are technically opening them in the Christmas season.
* * *
Romans 16:25-27
Mystery
“The energy driving my words remains a mystery to me. Those words have been popping into my head ever since I was a little kid putting together my first little book of songs. I never questioned that mystery or tried to figure it out. Figure it out and it’s no longer a mystery. And the thing about mysteries is that they’re fun.” (Energy Follows Thought: The Stories Behind My Songs, Willie Nelson with David Ritz and Mickey Raphael, William Morrow, An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2023, p. 11.)
* * *
Luke 1:26-38
Let it be with me according to your word
The Beatles’ penultimate #1 hit in the United States was “Let It Be.” The song was released March 6, 1970, and debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart at #6, then the highest debuting single ever. Paul McCartney wrote and sang the song, but it was credited to the Lennon-McCartney partnership. McCartney tells the story that he had a dream during a tense time recording The Beatles, better known as “The White Album.” His mother, who had died of cancer in 1956, appeared to him in that dream.
McCartney later said: "It was great to visit with her again. I felt very blessed to have that dream. So that got me writing 'Let It Be'." In a later interview he said about the dream that his mother had told him, "It will be all right, just let it be." When asked if the phrase "Mother Mary" in the song referred to Mary, mother of Jesus, McCartney has typically replied that listeners can interpret the song however they like. Let It Be (Beatles song) - Wikipedia
In today’s reading it is Mary who says, “Let It Be;” the Boomers will connect Mary’s words to the song, guaranteed.
* * *
Luke 1:26-38
Let it be — a very Beatles Advent
Here’s a fun challenge, try to work in the title to other #1 songs by the Beatles into your sermon today.
These should be easy:
• I Want to Hold Your Hand
• She Loves You
• Can’t Buy Me Love
• Love Me Do
• A Hard Day’s Night
• I Feel Fine
• Help!
• Yesterday
• We Can Work It Out
• All You Need Is Love
• Hey Jude
• Get Back (Maybe use when you preach Matthew 2:19)
• Come Together
• The Long and Winding Road
Not so easy:
• Eight Days a Week
• Ticket to Ride
• Paperback Writer
• Penny Lane (Maybe tie this in to the Christmas Joy Offering)
• Hello Goodbye
• Lady Madonna — Only made it to #4, but it’s a gimme.
* * *
Luke 1:26-38
Let it be me
The Everly Brothers were the first recording act to have chart success with “Let It Be Me.” Their version reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960. In 1964 Jerry Butler and Betty Everett had the highest charting version, reaching #5 on the Hot 100. Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry made my favorite version, which reached #36 on the Hot 100 and #14 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs Chart in 1969. Willie Nelson was the last recording artist to have a Top 40 hit with this tune, his version reached # 40 in 1982.
Some other recording artists who have covered the song are:
Sonny & Cher, Tom Jones, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Brenda Lee, Petula Clark, Paul Weller, Blinky & Edwin Starr, the 5th Dimension, Rod Stewart and George Harrison.
It is perfectly suited for a male/female duet, though it is hardly a stretch to imagine Mary singing the first verse to Gabriel
I bless the day I found you
I want to stay around you
And so I beg you, let it be me
* * *
Luke 1:26-38
Let it be in Latin
In the Latin version of Luke, Mary says to Gabriel “Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum…” “Let it be done according to your word.” To English speakers “fiat” means something like the edict of an autocrat (or a tiny imported car from Italy). In Latin in this verb tense it really conveys Mary’s wish, as she expressed it to the Lord’s agent, Gabriel, to be used as the mother of the Lord.
* * *
Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)
Perhaps the second most-recognized passage of scripture
Toward the end of A Charlie Brown Christmas Linus walks to center stage, asks for a spotlight, drops his security blanket and recites the annunciation of the shepherds, from the second chapter of Luke’s gospel, in the King James version. The recitation has anchored this passage of scripture in more aural memories among American Baby Boomers than any other passage from the New Testament. Only the 23rd Psalm is more readily recalled. It came in a 25-minute cartoon with shoddy animation and children voicing the characters that CBS network executive thought they would only show once. It won the Emmy for Primetime Children’s Programming in 1966.
* * *
Titus 2:11-14
Jesus = God
Besides today’s reading from Titus, there are only two passages in the New Testament in which Jesus is equated with God: Romans 9:5 and Hebrews 1:8. This “High Christology” probably reflects a later composition, which argues against Paul having actually written the Letter to Titus.
* * * * * *
From team member Quantisha Mason-Doll:
Psalm 89:1-4;19-26
Rejoice even in the Darkness
How do we sing of the Lord’s great love when the 2020s have been relentlessly difficult? There is a little less than two weeks left in 2023 and I would argue that many of us have not fully recovered from March 2020. These last three years, for some, have felt like a lifetime. The light and love of the Lord seems like a flight of fancy given the state of things. Christmas and the Advent season are supposed to be a time of waiting and rejoicing, yet for many, that is not the case. There are those who are bombarded with the pain and suffering of the inhumanity of humans. How can we stand at the pulpit and spread Christmas cheer? Personally, whenever the weight of the world seems too much to bear, I am reminded of the power of proclaiming love. Not regular love, but the kind of love that finds someone reporting from a war zone. It is the radical love for another, and proclaiming through that love, that God has not forgotten or abandoned any of us. God is here and present even when it does not feel as if the Lord is with us. The Lord promises a faithful love. The least we can do is trust in that promise even when it seems as if the sun will not rise.
* * *
Luke 1:26-38
Practical matters
Picture this: The heavens open, rays of light shine down, there is a crescendo of music and the angel of the Lord says to you: “Your descendants will reign forever; your kingdom will never end!” If only I could see the look on the angel Gabriel's face when Mary, the future mother of God, did not respond with fear or trembling but rebutted the angel's proclamation with what to her might have seemed like a rhetorical question. How could I (she) have a child if I (she) has not laid with a man? I think her question speaks to the character of Mary — she knows the birds and the bees and she knows her worth. There is no fear, only the clear direct question of someone who trusts in the Lord yet knows the way in which the world works.
If only we could be like Mary when we are faced with the radical and unexpected. Calm, collected, and ready to stand up for one's own worth. Mary and Elizabeth carried the truth of the Angels' words — for no word from God will ever fail.
* * *
John 1:1-14
We
“Shoulders” by spoken word artist Shane Koyczan has been my go-to poem on empathy for the better part of a decade now. What first stood out to me was how he spoke of how we, humanity, once saw God in everything. It mirrors John and his story of the God’s word. God was there and would always be there. What stands out now is that when we are facing dire situations we lose sight of God in all things. We fight, we argue, and we refuse to acknowledge that Christ the King was born — in the words of John — All. We, the collective, have forgotten what it means to be part of something larger than ourselves. John wrote during a time when the collective was more important than the individual. When one suffers, all suffer.
* * * * * *
From team member Mary Austin:
Isaiah 9:2-7
Joy
The prophet Isaiah announces that joy will be evidence of God’s coming, saying, “You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy.” Author and preacher John Claypool says that God always wants to share the divine joy. He invites, “Imagine a celestial card game. In the beginning, God holds the whole deck of cards, but the desire to share God’s joy prompts God to deal some of God’s power to the human beings around the table. This means that such empowered creatures have the capacity to play the hands that they have been dealt as they wish or to act in any way that they choose, for their freedom is authentic. However, the essence of the biblical story is that, while sharing God’s power with others, God remains at the table and in the game as the Ingenious Alchemist!" (From God the Ingenious Alchemist: Transforming Tragedy Into Blessing by John R. Claypool.)
God is always dealing more joy!
* * *
Isaiah 9:2-7
Light Draws Us In
The prophet Isaiah proclaims the goodness of God using light as an image to show the presence of God.
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness —
on them light has shined.
You have multiplied the nation,
you have increased its joy.
Ingrid Fetell Lee says that light touches a deep place within us. "Studies affirm that people generally prefer lighting that is variable, rather than uniform. These hills and valleys of light attract our eyes to points of interest within a space, but even more important, they draw us together…people are unconsciously attracted to light, the brightest spots will be the ones where people congregate, making these the most lively and joyful hubs of activity in a space. If a space feels dead, a powerful remedy is to create focal points of light where you want people to be. A sofa by the fireplace, a window seat, a dining table bathed in the warm light of a pendant lamp: these places are always alive because we, like moths, cannot resist the light." (from Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness)
* * *
Luke 2:1-14 (15-20), Isaiah 9:2-7
The Glory of God
The light and glory of God come vividly into our lives, too. Author Heather Lanier recalls, “After a few decades of winding faith and doubt, I became an Episcopalian in my thirties. It wasn’t hard for me to believe that there’s a Great Unseen who created (among all other things) wheatgrass, gravity, Saturn, and snails. It wasn’t hard for me to imagine that this same God ventured into the body of a baby who at first couldn’t hold up his head, who eventually jammed his divine toe into his teething mouth. It wasn’t even hard to believe that this baby grew to be thirty-two, was murdered by an imperialist empire, and then came back from the dead a few days later. You know what was hard? Other than the whole love your neighbor as yourself thing? A surprising challenge of my faith has been the extended feast of Christmas. Celebrating for twelve straight days a promise I don’t yet see.”
The world after Christmas was jarring for her. “When the day-calendar flipped to December 26, I was taken off-guard. Not only did the neighbors tear down their lights. The icebergs were still hollowing out, drone attacks continued, lead-tainted waters were still poisoning citizens, and world peace did not descend on every nation like doves holding wee olive branches.”
Still, the light comes, and grows. She adds, “And that’s a truth we can carry not just for twelve days but for years and a lifetime: In the deepest dark, the light is still promised. The infinite love of the Great Unseen is bigger than every planet and every light year between every planet. It’s bigger, even, than any one religion. And miraculously, it can also fit inside our small and often stingy human hearts. In the Christian tradition, that’s the offering of the Christ child: Love might just fill every heart enough to heal us.”
* * *
Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)
Christmas Hope
Sometimes angels announce the good news, and other times it comes from messengers closer to home. Charlotte Maya was dreading the first Christmas after the death of her husband. She couldn’t bear the holiday songs or decorations, even for her two young sons. She remembers, “The doorbell rang one mid-December evening…when my 6-year-old son opened the door, nobody was there. Instead, on the doormat, was a triangular box, a kit to make a gingerbread house, trimmed with a wide silver ribbon and a note that read “On the First Day of Christmas.…”
A mystery.
The next night, the doorbell rang again. Another package. Two snowman mugs, a packet for hot chocolate tucked inside each one, tied with the same silver ribbon and including the same white card, reading “On the Second Day of Christmas.…” We didn’t hear a car engine or receding footsteps or a muffled giggle. We didn’t see anyone scurry away. Not a shape or a shadow.”
The third night, they turned out all the light and waited to see their mystery gift giver. When they looked away for a minute, the doorbell rang, and there was the gift on the porch. Each night there was a gift: six apples, seven clementines, eight packets of gum — each adorned with the signature silver ribbon, the white square note and the childlike handwriting.
“It was a strange feeling, to be wrenched so hard by grief and darkness on the one hand and drawn so firmly toward light and hope on the other. To feel bereft and abandoned yet also held, grounded and supported. ’Tis the season, as they say. The darkness was overwhelming and terrifying and completely unfair when the tender newborn entered the scene. It is hard to imagine that the infant hope will make any difference. But there he is.”
What would happen on the twelfth night? Charlotte Maya says, “It looked as if someone had delivered to us the contents of an entire sleigh. The boys opened their car doors and raced to the porch, where they found 12 exquisitely wrapped packages — four for Danny, four for Jason and four for me…The white card read: “Merry Christmas!”
She never learned who brought the gifts. It remains a mystery, much like the mystery of Jesus coming to be born in our lives. As she says, “I’m glad I don’t know. Even as it was happening, the not knowing quickly became my favorite part. That mysterious light pushing its way into our ineffable darkness. Not a miracle. Not magic. Just generous, selfless, human love.”
* * * * * *
From team member Chris Keating:
Luke 1:46b-55; Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26
Strength for the weak
Both the Magnificat and Psalm 89 sing of God’s steadfast love as a love that strengthens the weak and lowly, reversing inequities and demonstrating the Lord’s covenant faithfulness. Though the songs emerge from separate contexts — Mary sings of God’s actions in upending the powers of the world, while the psalmist centers God’s power in David’s royalty — both affirm the possibilities of God’s saving actions.
These texts yearn for the presence of God to strengthen arms that have buckled under the weight of oppression and struggle. This is our Advent task, notes Knox Thames, made ever more important in a time of “unrelenting human rights abuses, atrocities, and persecution” when “promises of peace on earth seem far away.”
Thames explores the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, a monumental treaty establishing international standards for human rights. He observes that the landmark nature of the declaration has set benchmarks for measuring progress toward eradicating injustice, even though there is still a long way to go. “Advent reminds us of that long wait,” Thames writes, “Its rhythms encourage optimism for a day when promises are fulfilled. The Advent season teaches hope for a brighter tomorrow, which is what human rights defenders most need right now.”
Thames served as a special envoy for religious minorities in the State Department. He reminds us of the role Advent offers in strengthening our hopes, even in times that are difficult. “We are in ‘now and not yet’ circumstances,” he continues, “The dark time before the dawn. We know what’s right, but wrongs keep happening. In a time of persecution, we should learn from Advent’s lesson of hopeful anticipation for the arrival of better times. The Advent season can serve as a source of spiritual resilience and a reminder that, even in challenging times, there is hope for a brighter future.”
* * *
Luke 1:26-38
Irregular blessings
Mary’s encounter with Gabriel leaves her perplexed and confused, uncertain of how the angel’s message could be true. Gabriel assures Mary that she has no reason to be afraid — but certainly she must have been saying, “That’s what you angels always say.” Despite her circumstances, it is clear that God has blessed her rather irregular situation.
In that light, one cannot help noticing that the Vatican’s decision to offer priests leeway in blessing same-gendered couples and others in nontraditional circumstances came during Advent. On Monday, Pope Francis gave formal approval for priests to offer blessings to same sex couples and others in what the church calls “irregular situations,” which includes divorced and remarried couples who did not receive an annulment for previous marriages. The action does not permit priests to bless couples during a ceremony or act of civil union, but instead suggests that such blessings could be offered in meetings with priests or at a shrine. The document concludes, “God never turns away anyone who approaches him! Ultimately, a blessing offers people a means to increase their trust in God.”
* * *
Luke 1:26-38
What seemed impossible
Inside the new church, a floor drain is the only sign that the building used to be a dog kennel. A group of United Methodists in North Carolina have transformed the former kennel into a worship space following their “exile” from their previous congregations. In the middle of an industrial park, a new church is emerging, filled with the sort of faithfulness Mary showed in trusting God in what appeared to be impossible circumstances.
Members of the new United Methodist mission in Advance, NC, say they were blindsided when their former congregations acted to disaffiliate with the UMC. Feeling displaced by their church’s actions left them with feelings of grief and impossibility. “We were broken when we came here — I’m telling you we all were broken!” said Lois Steelman, formerly of Bethlehem United Methodist Church, where she and her husband were members for 50 years. The new mission church is keeping things simple and is not necessarily looking to build a new building. After a year of meeting together, the congregation is beginning to overcome grief with hope that may have seemed impossible. As one member noted, “At this point, we’re growing our connections to one another and are ready for what God shows us next.”
* * *
Isaiah 9:2-7
Seeing a great light
Though not as divine as the holy light Isaiah imagines, Christmas lights have certainly become a growth industry. Holiday decorating spending has increased 45% over the last decade, according to data sourced by the National Retail Federation. Over 84% of Americans spend between $100-$500 on decorations, with more than 15% spending upwards of $500. The global Christmas Decoration Market indicates these trends will continue to be robust until at least 2030. A participant in a study by Rocket Homes said, “I wish I could spend more and completely indulge in the Christmas season because it’s such a magical and family-oriented time.” The spending seems to sweep others into the spirit, Rocket’s report continues, and seems to be rooted in a feeling of creating community. While fewer and fewer Americans are interested in religion, more seem to be caught up in the Christmas spirit. Rocket’s report adds this unintentionally ironic note that “decorating for the holidays appears to be altruistic: a way to unite families and even create a more inclusive neighborhood.”
* * *
Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)
A decree went out
In those days, a decree went out from the Governor of Texas, granting power to police to arrest migrants who have crossed the border into Texas illegally — testing a battle over the ability of states to enforce federal immigration laws. There are, of course, important differences between the emperor Augustus and a democratically elected state governor, and the questions about immigration policies are complex. Yet the choice to enact legislation at a time of year when many celebrate Mary and Jospeh’s search for safe lodging is striking.
Los Posadas celebrations occur in Hispanic communities from December 16-24, including in many Texas cities. The custom dates back more than 400 years and retells the Holy Family’s quest for shelter. At its heart, Los Posadas honors hospitality and the welcoming of strangers. Immigrant rights advocates note the connections between Mary and Joseph’s frantic search and our national conversations over immigration. The new law has sparked criticism over the potential for racial profiling as well as the state’s overreach into matters reserved for the federal government. Despite Abbot’s support for increasingly aggressive anti-immigration measures, including a proposed 1.5 billion dollars to complete a border wall, illegal immigrations have continued and remain high.
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Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)
Pondering these things
“My happiest Christmas memories take the form of snapshots,” writes Margaret Renkl, even if no actual photographs or video exists. “Such memories exist entirely as fragments, freeze-frame likenesses of ephemeral joy,” she continues, evoking reminders of Mary carefully tucking the memories of the nativity into her heart. “Whatever may happen to the details of long-past joys,” Renkl reflects, “however they may vanish, the joy itself seems to linger in the end.” Her essay is a moving witness to the sublime profundity of Christmas morning. She adds:
Christmas comes on with its twinkle lights and its bustle and its beloved tale of angels and frightened shepherds and wise men following an uncommonly bright star. Christmas comes on, and I am surrounded by these moments of pure, distilled happiness that have trailed me through this season across the decades.
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WORSHIP
by George Reed
Resources for Advent 4
Call to Worship
One: We will sing of your steadfast love, O God.
All: Forever we will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
One: I declare that your steadfast love is established forever.
All: Your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.
One: God said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one.”
All: “My faithfulness and steadfast love shall be with him.”
OR
One: God comes to us to lead us to life full and abundant.
All: We are looking for a path but we do not see one.
One: God comes to open our eyes to new possibilities.
All: We pray for sight that we may see with God’s eyes.
One: Believe the good news that God comes to dwell with us.
All: We trust in God who makes a way in the wilderness.
Hymns and Songs
Hail to the Lord’s Anointed
UMH: 203
H82: 616
AAHH: 187
NCH: 104
CH: 140
LBW: 87
ELW: 311
AMEC: 107
Renew: 101
Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates
UMH: 213
H82: 436
PH: 8
GTG: 93
NCH: 117
CH: 129
LBW: 32
W&P: 176
AMEC: 94
Renew: 59
Toda la Tierra (All Earth Is Waiting)
UMH: 210
NCH: 121
ELW: 266
W&P 163
My Soul Gives Glory to My God
UMH: 198
GTG: 99
CH: 130
ELW: 882
Tell Out, My Soul
UMH: 200
H82: 437/438
W&P: 41
Renew: 130
Blessed Be the God of Israel
UMH: 209
H82: 444
GTG: 109
CH: 135
ELW: 552
W&P: 158
Renew: 128
Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above
UMH: 126
H82: 408
PH: 483
GTG: 645
NCH: 6
CH: 6
W&P: 56
Renew: 52
All My Hope Is Firmly Grounded
UMH: 132
H82: 665
NCH: 408
CH: 88
ELW: 757
That Boy-Child of Mary
UMH: 241
PH: 55
GTG: 139
ELW: 293
W&P 211
In the Bleak Midwinter
UMH: 221
H82: 112
PH: 36
GTG: 144
NCH: 128
ELW: 294
W&P 196
STLT 241
God Is So Good
CCB: 74
I Call You Faithful
CCB: 70
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The 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
ELW: 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 creates out of nothing all that is or ever will be:
Grant us the faith to trust you to create a way for us
where there seems to be no way forward;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are the one who creates all out of nothing. Help us to trust you to make a way for us where there seems to be no way forward. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our failure to trust in an ever-creating God.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We claim you as the God who creates out of nothing all that is but fail to trust you to be able to create a way for us in this world. We look to our own cleverness and our own strength when time after time they have failed us. We trust that our wealth and social standing will get us through. We fail to trust in you and your love to guide us. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us that we might truly live as your children. Amen.
One: God does make a way where there is none. God makes a way of forgiveness and newness of life in the midst of our sin. Receive God’s grace and share the Good News with others that our God is with us.
Prayers of the People
Glorious are you, O God, who contains all of creation in your hand. All that was, and is, and ever will be emanates from your heart of love.
(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 claim you as the God who creates out of nothing all that is but fail to trust you to be able to create a way for us in this world. We look to our own cleverness and our own strength when time after time they have failed us. We trust that our wealth and social standing will get us through. We fail to trust in you and your love to guide us. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us that we might truly live as your children.
We give you thanks for all the blessings you have sent to us. We thank you for those who have shown us that you are the God who is to be trusted. We thank you for Mary and for her ‘yes’ to you. Thank you for sending Jesus to show us the way to life eternal.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We pray for those who find themselves in places where there seems to be no path and no way forward. We pray for those who are alone and lonely this season and for those who find no laughter and joy at this time of year. We pray for the sick and dying and for those who are grieving. We pray for those who suffer in poverty and want.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray 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.
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Resources for Christmas
Call to Worship
One: O sing to God a new song; sing to God, all the earth.
All: Sing to God, bless God’s name; tell of God’s salvation from day to day.
One: Ascribe to God, O peoples, ascribe to God glory and strength.
All: Worship God in holy splendor; tremble before God, all the earth.
One: Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice.
All: God will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with truth.
OR
One: Rejoice! Our God has come to dwell among us.
All: Our hearts of full of joy knowing God is with us.
One: God comes with good news for all God’s children.
All: We will share the good news with everyone.
One: God has come to draw us together as God’s family.
All: We welcome all God’s people with love and joy.
Hymns and Songs
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
UMH: 211
H82: 56
PH: 9
GTG: 88
AAHH: 188
NNBH: 82
NCH: 116
CH: 119
LBW: 34
ELW: 257
W&P: 154
AMEC: 102
STLT 225
Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light
UMH: 223
H82: 91
PH: 26
GTG: 130
NCH: 140
W&P: 202
Infant Holy, Infant Lowly
UMH: 229
PH: 37
GTG: 128
CH: 163
LBW: 44
ELW: 276
W&P: 221
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
UMH: 236
H82: 94/95
PH: 58/59
GTG: 117/118
NNBH: 92
CH: 154
W&P: 228
AMEC: 110
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
UMH: 240
H82: 87
PH: 31/32
GTG: 119/127
AAHH: 217
NNBH: 81
NCH: 144
CH: 150
LBW: 60
ELW: 270
W&P: 185
AMEC: 115
Once in Royal David’s City
UMH: 250
H82: 102
PH: 49
GTG: 140
NCH: 145
CH: 165
ELW: 269
W&P: 183
STLT 228
In the Bleak Midwinter
UMH: 221
H82: 112
PH: 36
GTG: 144
NCH: 128
ELW: 294
W&P: 196
STLT 241
The First Noel
UMH: 245
H82: 109
PH: 56
GTG: 147
NNBH: 87
NCH: 139
CH: 151
LBW: 56
ELW: 300
W&P: 229
AMEC: 111
Silent Night, Holy Night
UMH: 239
H82: 111
PH: 60
GTG: 122
AAHH: 211
NNBH: 101
NCH: 134
CH: 145
LBW: 65
ELW: 281
W&P: 186
AMEC: 116
STLT 251/252
Joy to the World
UMH: 246
H82: 100
PH: 40
GTG: 134/266
AAHH: 197
NNBH: 94
NCH: 132
CH: 143
LBW: 39
ELW: 267
W&P: 179
AMEC: 120
STLT 245
All Hail, King Jesus
CCB: 29
Renew: 35
His Name Is Wonderful
CCB: 32
Renew: 30
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The 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
ELW: 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 sent your Son as good news to all the world:
Grant us the grace to reach out in love to all your children
that we might dwell as one family under your love;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you sent your Son to be good news to all people. You sent us a Savior to bring all creation under your reign. Help us to be part of your work as we reach out in love to others. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we fail to accept all people as God’s children.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have ignored the presence of the Christ in the faces of the poor, the hungry, the stranger, the alien, the other. We go to great expense to celebrate the coming of the Christ in a manger, but we ignore his coming each day in those around us. Forgive us and help our celebration of the Christ’s coming to be not just one day but every day. Amen.
One: God’s love and forgiveness is our, God’s freely given gift. Receive it and share it with the Christ in whatever guise you see him.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory to you, O God, because you not only created us in your image, but you came to dwell among us as one of us. In love you deigned to take on our human flesh and mortality.
(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 have ignored the presence of the Christ in the faces of the poor, the hungry, the stranger, the alien, the other. We go to great expense to celebrate the coming of the Christ in a manger, but we ignore his coming each day in those around us. Forgive us and help our celebration of the Christ's coming to be not just one day but every day.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you show your love for us and for all your children. We thank you for the good news that is for all people in your coming to dwell among us as one of us. We thank you for your constant presence and your constant grace. We thank you for the gift of the Christ, your Son, who brings us your love and life.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need and especially for those who have been made to feel that the good news is not for them. We pray for those who have been pushed aside and ignored. We pray for ourselves that we may welcome the Christ who comes not just as a babe in a manger but in the stranger, the person in need, the neighbor.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray 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.
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CHILDREN'S SERMON
An Unexpected Gift
by Elena Delhagen
Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)
You will need an empty box wrapped and decorated as a Christmas gift.
Hello, friends! If you’re like me, you are very excited right now, because Christmas is almost here, and I just love Christmas, don’t you? What are some of your favorite things about Christmas? (Allow time for answers.)
One of my favorite things about Christmas is the gifts — not just receiving them, though. I love to give gifts to my friends and family and people that I love. It makes me feel so good in my heart to give someone a gift and see how much they enjoy it when they open it.
(Hold up gift.) As you see, I have a gift here. I’m not sure who it’s from; it was left in my office without any sort of tag or card. But look at how beautifully it’s wrapped and decorated — isn’t it lovely? I’m sure it is going to be an awesome gift! In fact, let me just go ahead and open it right now.
(Open up gift, show the empty box.) Wait a second. Wait just a second. An empty box? Huh? I definitely wasn’t expecting that! The wrapping paper and the ribbons and everything was just so pretty, I thought for sure this would be an amazing gift, something I’d cherish for the rest of my life. But an empty box? I didn’t see that one coming!
(Set box down.) You know, in a way, this kind of reminds me of the first Christmas. See, all of God’s people, the Israelites, they were waiting for their messiah, the one who would come to save them. And they all had these ideas of what that person would look like! Some thought he’d be a big strong warrior who would help them win all their battles. Some thought he’d be a rich king dressed in royal colors and wearing a crown. They all had expectations, but something they weren’t expecting? A baby.
It was kind of like those shepherds who the angels appeared to. They were waiting for that good news, and they were so excited, just like I was when I had that unwrapped gift. Then the angel came and told them the Lord had been born! The Messiah! The Savior! And they would see him as a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. I’m sure they must have had a reaction just like I did. Wait a second? Huh? A baby?! It was so unexpected!
But you know, Jesus coming to earth as a baby was the best gift that God could have ever given us. Jesus being a baby, who needed to be fed, who cried, and who got cold, meant that Jesus really understood all the things that we go through! When we get hungry, or sad, or cold, or scared, sometimes we feel like no one understands us. But Jesus does. Because he experienced it, too. God being a baby, who grew up to be an adult, means that God knows and cares about every single thing we go through in our lives, both the good and the bad.
Even more, it shows us that God isn’t far away from us. God is here, with us. He understands us. He is Immanuel, which is a special name for Jesus that means God with us.
That is truly is the best gift we could ever receive, don’t you think?
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The Immediate Word, December 24/25, 2023 issue.
Copyright 2023 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.
- All Means All by Dean Feldmeyer. When the angels of the Lord say “all peoples” they really do mean, “ALL peoples.”
- Nothingness and God by Katy Stenta based on Luke 1:26-38.
- Sermon illustrations by Tom Willadsen, Mary Austin, Chris Keating, Quantisha Mason-Doll.
- Worship resources for Advent 4 and Christmas by George Reed.
- Children's sermon: An Unexpected Gift by Elena Delhagen based on Luke 2:1-14 (15-20).
All Means Allby Dean Feldmeyer
Psalm 96, Luke 2:8-14
Say the word “exclusive,” and I automatically think of those phony, rich-people clubs that are exclusive only because they cost so much to join. Like the CORE in New York City, where the initiation fee is $50,000 and the annual dues are $15,000 per year. (They have never disclosed what CORE stands for if, indeed, it stands for anything.)
Or clubs whose exclusivity is based on prejudice and, sometimes, plain, old fashioned racism. Like the famous Augusta National Golf Course in Augusta, Georgia, where the Masters is played every year. They used to be exclusive, primarily, because they didn’t allow female or black golfers as members.
The ban on African-Americans joining the club was finally lifted in 1991, well after Lee Elder broke Augusta’s race barrier by playing in the Masters in 1975 (he was not allowed to use the locker room, however, and had to change clothes in the restroom of a gas station down the road). Augusta didn’t allow women members until 2012.
Today, Augusta is exclusive only because of its exorbitant fees and the fact that they limit their membership to 300 souls. Oh, and you have to be invited to join. (Asking to join pretty much ruins any chance you might have had.) They don’t disclose their initiation fee but it is estimated to be between $30,000 and $40,000 with annual dues estimated to be around $5,000. The green fees for a round of golf at Augusta National are $350 for members and their guests.
There are other clubs, informal ones, usually, that are based solely on achievement, the most exclusive of which is called the Condor Club. In golf, a “condor” is a score of 4 under par on one hole. This feat is only achievable on a par-5 (or longer) hole, which are usually the longest, hardest holes on any given course, making this achievement incredibly rare. The first recorded ‘condor’ was struck by Larry Bruce in 1962, when he hit a hole-in-one on a par-5 hole at the Hope County Club in Arkansas. There have been only 4 attested ‘condors’ scored in the history of golf, and none at a professionally sanctioned course and never at a professional tournament, making the “Condor Club” the most exclusive in the sports world.
It could be said that Christianity is not a cheap or easy club to belong to, but neither is it an exclusive one.
In the News
In our culture, exclusivity is a prize much to be valued and sought after.
Watch the local TV news and count how many times you hear claims of exclusivity. “Mr. XX spoke to our reporter XX in an interview you will hear only on Channel 9 News…” or “with this story which you will see only on Channel 12 News.”
Retailers offer exclusives in the form of items that are available “only at our stores” and will be “available only for the next two weeks.” Plus, you get a special, exclusive discount if you have their exclusive membership card.
Politicians offer exclusive access to truth, patriotism, love of country, and safety for your family if you will only see the light, believe their promises, and vote for them. “We’re the true patriots. We really care about the American people. We know the truth that the other side is hiding from you. Join us and you’ll be part of the small, exclusive group that knows what they don’t want you to know.”
The Biden Promise Tracker monitors the 99 most important campaign promises of President Joseph R. Biden, since he was elected in November 2020. There’s also a Trump-o-meter that has been used for tracking the promises of Donald Trump when he was in power. And most of those promises had to do with making America and Americans the exclusive holders of truth and power.
One of the most popular claims of the MAGA Republicans is that they will up the ante on American exclusivity, closing the national borders by building a wall to keep people out of the United States and then allow only a few, lucky souls into the country who can prove that they have something real and concrete to offer.
But the most blatant exclusivists of them all may be the preachers — and cultists are the worst of the bunch.
Religious cults are led by charismatic leaders whose personalities draw people to them. Especially vulnerable are people who feel lonely and alone.
Cult leaders tend to have a charismatic ability to convince these vulnerable folks that they alone have the answers to life’s problems. They alone can save others from their struggles and misery by sharing with them this exclusive knowledge and offering them membership in an exclusive group of people who share the same knowledge. Then, with the right mix of flattery, otherworldly teachings, and control over finances, these leaders create an environment where followers feel they have no choice but to obey.
The History Cooperative website offers the names of cult leaders like Jim Jones (People’s Temple), David Koresh (Branch Davidians), and David Berg (Family International) as examples of this exclusivist cultic appeal.
But cult leaders are the extreme example. Christian and other religious leaders often offer what they claim are their exclusive claims to truth and exclusive membership in special groups.
Joel Osteen and other evangelists of the “prosperity gospel” promise entre into that exclusive group of Americans who are wealthy, happy, and successful.
So called “faith healers” offer admittance into the exclusive club of people whose faith is strong enough to be healed of their physical maladies.
The most common exclusivist claim in Christendom, however, is one that can be found not in cults or TV evangelists but in the church on the corner — the claim of exclusive salvation. We are the ones who are going to heaven when we die because we know the truth; everyone else is going to Hell because they believe in lies. Much of popular “rapture” theology finds its most potent appeal in exactly that kind of exclusivism.
It has been said that for many Christians, the greatest appeal of Christianity is the promise that they will be on the bus that goes to heaven, waving through the window at all the poor sinners who didn’t make the cut. And critics make the claim that, to the degree that this is actually the case, Christianity is just another cult that should be ignored and avoided.
In the Scripture
The lectionary readings for tonight/today, put to rest the lie that Christianity is an exclusive club. And they achieve that task with three common words: “For all peoples” (Psalm 96), or “for all people” (Luke 2:10).
Emphasis on “ALL.” And, in this case, all really means all.
It is not uncommon to find passages in the Bible where the writers speak of all people, when what the really mean is all Jews or all Palestinian Jews.
Jesus and the angels that attend to him, as well as some of the prophets, are not so picky about how they define “all.” When they say all, they mean all. Everyone. Todas las personas.
In the psalm, the poet instructs the choir and all those who have come to worship the Lord to sing this new song that has been written for this special occasion (perhaps the birth of a new son to the King and Queen?). The new song is one of praise and thanksgiving for the amazing and wonderful things that God does — not just for the royal family or even just for the Hebrew people over whom they reign.
No, the amazing and awesome things about which we are being called to sing are the ones God has done, “For all the peoples.” (Peoples, plural, meaning groups of people. Nations. Tribes. Races. That kind of thing.) The poet is speaking sociologically about what God does for everyone. The rain makes everyone’s crops grow. The sea produces fish for all those who throw nets into it. The trees shade all who walk under them and produce fruit for any who pick it.
God’s mighty works are to be held in awe not just because of what they are but for whom they are done as well. The “for whom” is “for everyone!”
In the gospel lesson the angels come to announce the birth of the Messiah to the shepherds and take what the psalmist has said yet a step further.
This child whose birth we celebrate on this night, represents good news not just for shepherds. Not just for royalty. Not just for his family. Not just for Jews or some select group of religious gentiles. This child represents good news, God’s good news, for all people. Every single person in the world.
It is a message of radical inclusivity. No one is excluded.
In the Sermon
The indicative has been made clear by the psalmist and by the angels who sing before the shepherds. “Do not be afraid! For behold, I am bringing to you good news of great joy for all the people.”
Tonight/today we celebrate God’s good news of Jesus Christ. The good news is so good that the response it elicits is one of great joy, not mild amusement. Not even momentary happiness. Not glee or giddiness but Joy with a capital “J.”
God is doing a wonderful and miraculous thing for God’s creation and no one, not one single soul, is going to be left out. Everyone is included.
Women, men, children, young, old, rich, poor, straight, gay, black, brown, red, white, yellow, tan. Every language and accent. Every gift and talent. Every ability or disability.
Do we doubt that this is the case? Look at the nativity scene on your coffee table or out on your lawn. Who is represented there? A day laborer and his teenage wife and their baby, some shepherds (the lowest of the low on the economic food chain) and some rich foreigners following a star and a rumor. The kind of people we walk by on the street, every day. Ordinary people caught in the picture of an extraordinary event. Common folks come to celebrate a most uncommon thing.
To every single one, the message is the same: God’s good news is for you. You are accepted — accepted by the God of all creation, the God who is greater than you and whose name you do not even know.
Accept the good news that you are accepted. Merry Christmas!
Nothingness and Godby Katy Stenta
Luke 1:26-38
In the News
It feels these days that many things seem impossible. Peace definitely seems to be one of them. Recently the Israeli ambassador, Tzipi Hotovely, outright dismissed the solution that the United States had been laying it’s hopes on, which was the two state solution. Is peace or any solution even possible in the Middle East?
Another question is, how do we fuel the unending need for progress and technology in the world? As richer countries have benefitted from these innovations, they seem ready to put strictures on poorer countries that do not seem equitable, even though the richer countries seem to have trouble keeping their own commitments. However, there is hope, as the world does seem to be moving more and more away from fossil fuels.
Finally, the current state of the world wealth has made it so that those who are rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Those who are dealing with inflation at the bottom of the socio-economic scale are definitely feeling it the worst. After an era during the pandemic when the help that was needed was often met with free food and stimulus money, now food banks and the like are seeing the highest demand ever, with much smaller donations to meet the need. Where is the answer to all of this woe in the world especially with Christmas around the corner? How are we supposed to be merry?
In the Scriptures
In reflection to the Magnificat and John the Baptist’s call to “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord,” we see a deep hunger for the world to be turned upside-down. The call of Christmas is more apocalyptic — more of a revealing and uncovering of how things are — than one might originally assume. The joy is understanding that wrongs will be righted and justice will prevail, not in forcing everyone to celebrate Christmas or in the commercial consumerism of Christmas.
There is a great meme going around that says that the first thing Mary and Elizabeth did when they shared that they were pregnant was to discuss how the whole world would be overturned to be more just — and that they should be included in reflections of Biblical Womanhood. Mary and Elizabeth understand that if they are both pregnant then anything is possible for God — for both of their pregnancies should have been impossible. If God could arrange their pregnancies, what else could be possible for the future of the world? They dared to dream?
In the Sermon
It is hard to be comfortable with nothingness, silence, or emptiness. It is easy to think that there is nothing there, so nothing will happen. And yet, Mary declares that “nothing is impossible with God” because God can work where nothing is. Our God is the one who works in the gaps, and Mary was willing to live there. When Mary accepted the call, she was accepting it from a mysterious voice, stepping into a life in the gaps, with whispers about her and her family, and probably weird silences, believing that God can work with the awkward spaces. God created the entire world out of the void, but it is still hard to sit in silence, to see nothing and think — God can work with that. It is difficult to see a gap between where we are and where we need to be and trust that the Holy Spirit will provide. However, it is good to practice to try to remember what Mary declared from the gaps: “Nothing will be impossible with God.”
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Tom Willadsen:A Day in Two Seasons
I’m writing illustrations for both the 4th Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve this week. Today, is both the last day of the first season of the church year, and the first day of the Season of Christmas. Sometime between when you give the benediction at the morning service and when you call the congregation to worship in the evening, the church season will have changed. Some traditions say that the Season of Christmas begins at sundown on Christmas Eve. The Presbyterian Planning Calendar shows the date December 24 as half purple and half white. An invisible / separates the purple in the upper left from the white in the lower right.
Many families have annual arguments over when one should open presents. There was no argument in my family, “Are they Christmas presents or Christmas Eve presents?” mom asked my brother and me rhetorically.
My brother, alas, married into a family who opens their presents on Christmas Eve. While this is clearly wrong, one could argue that if they open them after sundown, they are technically opening them in the Christmas season.
* * *
Romans 16:25-27
Mystery
“The energy driving my words remains a mystery to me. Those words have been popping into my head ever since I was a little kid putting together my first little book of songs. I never questioned that mystery or tried to figure it out. Figure it out and it’s no longer a mystery. And the thing about mysteries is that they’re fun.” (Energy Follows Thought: The Stories Behind My Songs, Willie Nelson with David Ritz and Mickey Raphael, William Morrow, An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2023, p. 11.)
* * *
Luke 1:26-38
Let it be with me according to your word
The Beatles’ penultimate #1 hit in the United States was “Let It Be.” The song was released March 6, 1970, and debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart at #6, then the highest debuting single ever. Paul McCartney wrote and sang the song, but it was credited to the Lennon-McCartney partnership. McCartney tells the story that he had a dream during a tense time recording The Beatles, better known as “The White Album.” His mother, who had died of cancer in 1956, appeared to him in that dream.
McCartney later said: "It was great to visit with her again. I felt very blessed to have that dream. So that got me writing 'Let It Be'." In a later interview he said about the dream that his mother had told him, "It will be all right, just let it be." When asked if the phrase "Mother Mary" in the song referred to Mary, mother of Jesus, McCartney has typically replied that listeners can interpret the song however they like. Let It Be (Beatles song) - Wikipedia
In today’s reading it is Mary who says, “Let It Be;” the Boomers will connect Mary’s words to the song, guaranteed.
* * *
Luke 1:26-38
Let it be — a very Beatles Advent
Here’s a fun challenge, try to work in the title to other #1 songs by the Beatles into your sermon today.
These should be easy:
• I Want to Hold Your Hand
• She Loves You
• Can’t Buy Me Love
• Love Me Do
• A Hard Day’s Night
• I Feel Fine
• Help!
• Yesterday
• We Can Work It Out
• All You Need Is Love
• Hey Jude
• Get Back (Maybe use when you preach Matthew 2:19)
• Come Together
• The Long and Winding Road
Not so easy:
• Eight Days a Week
• Ticket to Ride
• Paperback Writer
• Penny Lane (Maybe tie this in to the Christmas Joy Offering)
• Hello Goodbye
• Lady Madonna — Only made it to #4, but it’s a gimme.
* * *
Luke 1:26-38
Let it be me
The Everly Brothers were the first recording act to have chart success with “Let It Be Me.” Their version reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960. In 1964 Jerry Butler and Betty Everett had the highest charting version, reaching #5 on the Hot 100. Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry made my favorite version, which reached #36 on the Hot 100 and #14 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs Chart in 1969. Willie Nelson was the last recording artist to have a Top 40 hit with this tune, his version reached # 40 in 1982.
Some other recording artists who have covered the song are:
Sonny & Cher, Tom Jones, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Brenda Lee, Petula Clark, Paul Weller, Blinky & Edwin Starr, the 5th Dimension, Rod Stewart and George Harrison.
It is perfectly suited for a male/female duet, though it is hardly a stretch to imagine Mary singing the first verse to Gabriel
I bless the day I found you
I want to stay around you
And so I beg you, let it be me
* * *
Luke 1:26-38
Let it be in Latin
In the Latin version of Luke, Mary says to Gabriel “Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum…” “Let it be done according to your word.” To English speakers “fiat” means something like the edict of an autocrat (or a tiny imported car from Italy). In Latin in this verb tense it really conveys Mary’s wish, as she expressed it to the Lord’s agent, Gabriel, to be used as the mother of the Lord.
* * *
Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)
Perhaps the second most-recognized passage of scripture
Toward the end of A Charlie Brown Christmas Linus walks to center stage, asks for a spotlight, drops his security blanket and recites the annunciation of the shepherds, from the second chapter of Luke’s gospel, in the King James version. The recitation has anchored this passage of scripture in more aural memories among American Baby Boomers than any other passage from the New Testament. Only the 23rd Psalm is more readily recalled. It came in a 25-minute cartoon with shoddy animation and children voicing the characters that CBS network executive thought they would only show once. It won the Emmy for Primetime Children’s Programming in 1966.
* * *
Titus 2:11-14
Jesus = God
Besides today’s reading from Titus, there are only two passages in the New Testament in which Jesus is equated with God: Romans 9:5 and Hebrews 1:8. This “High Christology” probably reflects a later composition, which argues against Paul having actually written the Letter to Titus.
* * * * * *
From team member Quantisha Mason-Doll:Psalm 89:1-4;19-26
Rejoice even in the Darkness
How do we sing of the Lord’s great love when the 2020s have been relentlessly difficult? There is a little less than two weeks left in 2023 and I would argue that many of us have not fully recovered from March 2020. These last three years, for some, have felt like a lifetime. The light and love of the Lord seems like a flight of fancy given the state of things. Christmas and the Advent season are supposed to be a time of waiting and rejoicing, yet for many, that is not the case. There are those who are bombarded with the pain and suffering of the inhumanity of humans. How can we stand at the pulpit and spread Christmas cheer? Personally, whenever the weight of the world seems too much to bear, I am reminded of the power of proclaiming love. Not regular love, but the kind of love that finds someone reporting from a war zone. It is the radical love for another, and proclaiming through that love, that God has not forgotten or abandoned any of us. God is here and present even when it does not feel as if the Lord is with us. The Lord promises a faithful love. The least we can do is trust in that promise even when it seems as if the sun will not rise.
* * *
Luke 1:26-38
Practical matters
Picture this: The heavens open, rays of light shine down, there is a crescendo of music and the angel of the Lord says to you: “Your descendants will reign forever; your kingdom will never end!” If only I could see the look on the angel Gabriel's face when Mary, the future mother of God, did not respond with fear or trembling but rebutted the angel's proclamation with what to her might have seemed like a rhetorical question. How could I (she) have a child if I (she) has not laid with a man? I think her question speaks to the character of Mary — she knows the birds and the bees and she knows her worth. There is no fear, only the clear direct question of someone who trusts in the Lord yet knows the way in which the world works.
If only we could be like Mary when we are faced with the radical and unexpected. Calm, collected, and ready to stand up for one's own worth. Mary and Elizabeth carried the truth of the Angels' words — for no word from God will ever fail.
* * *
John 1:1-14
We
“Shoulders” by spoken word artist Shane Koyczan has been my go-to poem on empathy for the better part of a decade now. What first stood out to me was how he spoke of how we, humanity, once saw God in everything. It mirrors John and his story of the God’s word. God was there and would always be there. What stands out now is that when we are facing dire situations we lose sight of God in all things. We fight, we argue, and we refuse to acknowledge that Christ the King was born — in the words of John — All. We, the collective, have forgotten what it means to be part of something larger than ourselves. John wrote during a time when the collective was more important than the individual. When one suffers, all suffer.
* * * * * *
From team member Mary Austin:Isaiah 9:2-7
Joy
The prophet Isaiah announces that joy will be evidence of God’s coming, saying, “You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy.” Author and preacher John Claypool says that God always wants to share the divine joy. He invites, “Imagine a celestial card game. In the beginning, God holds the whole deck of cards, but the desire to share God’s joy prompts God to deal some of God’s power to the human beings around the table. This means that such empowered creatures have the capacity to play the hands that they have been dealt as they wish or to act in any way that they choose, for their freedom is authentic. However, the essence of the biblical story is that, while sharing God’s power with others, God remains at the table and in the game as the Ingenious Alchemist!" (From God the Ingenious Alchemist: Transforming Tragedy Into Blessing by John R. Claypool.)
God is always dealing more joy!
* * *
Isaiah 9:2-7
Light Draws Us In
The prophet Isaiah proclaims the goodness of God using light as an image to show the presence of God.
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness —
on them light has shined.
You have multiplied the nation,
you have increased its joy.
Ingrid Fetell Lee says that light touches a deep place within us. "Studies affirm that people generally prefer lighting that is variable, rather than uniform. These hills and valleys of light attract our eyes to points of interest within a space, but even more important, they draw us together…people are unconsciously attracted to light, the brightest spots will be the ones where people congregate, making these the most lively and joyful hubs of activity in a space. If a space feels dead, a powerful remedy is to create focal points of light where you want people to be. A sofa by the fireplace, a window seat, a dining table bathed in the warm light of a pendant lamp: these places are always alive because we, like moths, cannot resist the light." (from Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness)
* * *
Luke 2:1-14 (15-20), Isaiah 9:2-7
The Glory of God
The light and glory of God come vividly into our lives, too. Author Heather Lanier recalls, “After a few decades of winding faith and doubt, I became an Episcopalian in my thirties. It wasn’t hard for me to believe that there’s a Great Unseen who created (among all other things) wheatgrass, gravity, Saturn, and snails. It wasn’t hard for me to imagine that this same God ventured into the body of a baby who at first couldn’t hold up his head, who eventually jammed his divine toe into his teething mouth. It wasn’t even hard to believe that this baby grew to be thirty-two, was murdered by an imperialist empire, and then came back from the dead a few days later. You know what was hard? Other than the whole love your neighbor as yourself thing? A surprising challenge of my faith has been the extended feast of Christmas. Celebrating for twelve straight days a promise I don’t yet see.”
The world after Christmas was jarring for her. “When the day-calendar flipped to December 26, I was taken off-guard. Not only did the neighbors tear down their lights. The icebergs were still hollowing out, drone attacks continued, lead-tainted waters were still poisoning citizens, and world peace did not descend on every nation like doves holding wee olive branches.”
Still, the light comes, and grows. She adds, “And that’s a truth we can carry not just for twelve days but for years and a lifetime: In the deepest dark, the light is still promised. The infinite love of the Great Unseen is bigger than every planet and every light year between every planet. It’s bigger, even, than any one religion. And miraculously, it can also fit inside our small and often stingy human hearts. In the Christian tradition, that’s the offering of the Christ child: Love might just fill every heart enough to heal us.”
* * *
Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)
Christmas Hope
Sometimes angels announce the good news, and other times it comes from messengers closer to home. Charlotte Maya was dreading the first Christmas after the death of her husband. She couldn’t bear the holiday songs or decorations, even for her two young sons. She remembers, “The doorbell rang one mid-December evening…when my 6-year-old son opened the door, nobody was there. Instead, on the doormat, was a triangular box, a kit to make a gingerbread house, trimmed with a wide silver ribbon and a note that read “On the First Day of Christmas.…”
A mystery.
The next night, the doorbell rang again. Another package. Two snowman mugs, a packet for hot chocolate tucked inside each one, tied with the same silver ribbon and including the same white card, reading “On the Second Day of Christmas.…” We didn’t hear a car engine or receding footsteps or a muffled giggle. We didn’t see anyone scurry away. Not a shape or a shadow.”
The third night, they turned out all the light and waited to see their mystery gift giver. When they looked away for a minute, the doorbell rang, and there was the gift on the porch. Each night there was a gift: six apples, seven clementines, eight packets of gum — each adorned with the signature silver ribbon, the white square note and the childlike handwriting.
“It was a strange feeling, to be wrenched so hard by grief and darkness on the one hand and drawn so firmly toward light and hope on the other. To feel bereft and abandoned yet also held, grounded and supported. ’Tis the season, as they say. The darkness was overwhelming and terrifying and completely unfair when the tender newborn entered the scene. It is hard to imagine that the infant hope will make any difference. But there he is.”
What would happen on the twelfth night? Charlotte Maya says, “It looked as if someone had delivered to us the contents of an entire sleigh. The boys opened their car doors and raced to the porch, where they found 12 exquisitely wrapped packages — four for Danny, four for Jason and four for me…The white card read: “Merry Christmas!”
She never learned who brought the gifts. It remains a mystery, much like the mystery of Jesus coming to be born in our lives. As she says, “I’m glad I don’t know. Even as it was happening, the not knowing quickly became my favorite part. That mysterious light pushing its way into our ineffable darkness. Not a miracle. Not magic. Just generous, selfless, human love.”
* * * * * *
From team member Chris Keating:Luke 1:46b-55; Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26
Strength for the weak
Both the Magnificat and Psalm 89 sing of God’s steadfast love as a love that strengthens the weak and lowly, reversing inequities and demonstrating the Lord’s covenant faithfulness. Though the songs emerge from separate contexts — Mary sings of God’s actions in upending the powers of the world, while the psalmist centers God’s power in David’s royalty — both affirm the possibilities of God’s saving actions.
These texts yearn for the presence of God to strengthen arms that have buckled under the weight of oppression and struggle. This is our Advent task, notes Knox Thames, made ever more important in a time of “unrelenting human rights abuses, atrocities, and persecution” when “promises of peace on earth seem far away.”
Thames explores the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, a monumental treaty establishing international standards for human rights. He observes that the landmark nature of the declaration has set benchmarks for measuring progress toward eradicating injustice, even though there is still a long way to go. “Advent reminds us of that long wait,” Thames writes, “Its rhythms encourage optimism for a day when promises are fulfilled. The Advent season teaches hope for a brighter tomorrow, which is what human rights defenders most need right now.”
Thames served as a special envoy for religious minorities in the State Department. He reminds us of the role Advent offers in strengthening our hopes, even in times that are difficult. “We are in ‘now and not yet’ circumstances,” he continues, “The dark time before the dawn. We know what’s right, but wrongs keep happening. In a time of persecution, we should learn from Advent’s lesson of hopeful anticipation for the arrival of better times. The Advent season can serve as a source of spiritual resilience and a reminder that, even in challenging times, there is hope for a brighter future.”
* * *
Luke 1:26-38
Irregular blessings
Mary’s encounter with Gabriel leaves her perplexed and confused, uncertain of how the angel’s message could be true. Gabriel assures Mary that she has no reason to be afraid — but certainly she must have been saying, “That’s what you angels always say.” Despite her circumstances, it is clear that God has blessed her rather irregular situation.
In that light, one cannot help noticing that the Vatican’s decision to offer priests leeway in blessing same-gendered couples and others in nontraditional circumstances came during Advent. On Monday, Pope Francis gave formal approval for priests to offer blessings to same sex couples and others in what the church calls “irregular situations,” which includes divorced and remarried couples who did not receive an annulment for previous marriages. The action does not permit priests to bless couples during a ceremony or act of civil union, but instead suggests that such blessings could be offered in meetings with priests or at a shrine. The document concludes, “God never turns away anyone who approaches him! Ultimately, a blessing offers people a means to increase their trust in God.”
* * *
Luke 1:26-38
What seemed impossible
Inside the new church, a floor drain is the only sign that the building used to be a dog kennel. A group of United Methodists in North Carolina have transformed the former kennel into a worship space following their “exile” from their previous congregations. In the middle of an industrial park, a new church is emerging, filled with the sort of faithfulness Mary showed in trusting God in what appeared to be impossible circumstances.
Members of the new United Methodist mission in Advance, NC, say they were blindsided when their former congregations acted to disaffiliate with the UMC. Feeling displaced by their church’s actions left them with feelings of grief and impossibility. “We were broken when we came here — I’m telling you we all were broken!” said Lois Steelman, formerly of Bethlehem United Methodist Church, where she and her husband were members for 50 years. The new mission church is keeping things simple and is not necessarily looking to build a new building. After a year of meeting together, the congregation is beginning to overcome grief with hope that may have seemed impossible. As one member noted, “At this point, we’re growing our connections to one another and are ready for what God shows us next.”
* * *
Isaiah 9:2-7
Seeing a great light
Though not as divine as the holy light Isaiah imagines, Christmas lights have certainly become a growth industry. Holiday decorating spending has increased 45% over the last decade, according to data sourced by the National Retail Federation. Over 84% of Americans spend between $100-$500 on decorations, with more than 15% spending upwards of $500. The global Christmas Decoration Market indicates these trends will continue to be robust until at least 2030. A participant in a study by Rocket Homes said, “I wish I could spend more and completely indulge in the Christmas season because it’s such a magical and family-oriented time.” The spending seems to sweep others into the spirit, Rocket’s report continues, and seems to be rooted in a feeling of creating community. While fewer and fewer Americans are interested in religion, more seem to be caught up in the Christmas spirit. Rocket’s report adds this unintentionally ironic note that “decorating for the holidays appears to be altruistic: a way to unite families and even create a more inclusive neighborhood.”
* * *
Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)
A decree went out
In those days, a decree went out from the Governor of Texas, granting power to police to arrest migrants who have crossed the border into Texas illegally — testing a battle over the ability of states to enforce federal immigration laws. There are, of course, important differences between the emperor Augustus and a democratically elected state governor, and the questions about immigration policies are complex. Yet the choice to enact legislation at a time of year when many celebrate Mary and Jospeh’s search for safe lodging is striking.
Los Posadas celebrations occur in Hispanic communities from December 16-24, including in many Texas cities. The custom dates back more than 400 years and retells the Holy Family’s quest for shelter. At its heart, Los Posadas honors hospitality and the welcoming of strangers. Immigrant rights advocates note the connections between Mary and Joseph’s frantic search and our national conversations over immigration. The new law has sparked criticism over the potential for racial profiling as well as the state’s overreach into matters reserved for the federal government. Despite Abbot’s support for increasingly aggressive anti-immigration measures, including a proposed 1.5 billion dollars to complete a border wall, illegal immigrations have continued and remain high.
* * *
Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)
Pondering these things
“My happiest Christmas memories take the form of snapshots,” writes Margaret Renkl, even if no actual photographs or video exists. “Such memories exist entirely as fragments, freeze-frame likenesses of ephemeral joy,” she continues, evoking reminders of Mary carefully tucking the memories of the nativity into her heart. “Whatever may happen to the details of long-past joys,” Renkl reflects, “however they may vanish, the joy itself seems to linger in the end.” Her essay is a moving witness to the sublime profundity of Christmas morning. She adds:
Christmas comes on with its twinkle lights and its bustle and its beloved tale of angels and frightened shepherds and wise men following an uncommonly bright star. Christmas comes on, and I am surrounded by these moments of pure, distilled happiness that have trailed me through this season across the decades.
* * * * * *
WORSHIPby George Reed
Resources for Advent 4
Call to Worship
One: We will sing of your steadfast love, O God.
All: Forever we will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
One: I declare that your steadfast love is established forever.
All: Your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.
One: God said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one.”
All: “My faithfulness and steadfast love shall be with him.”
OR
One: God comes to us to lead us to life full and abundant.
All: We are looking for a path but we do not see one.
One: God comes to open our eyes to new possibilities.
All: We pray for sight that we may see with God’s eyes.
One: Believe the good news that God comes to dwell with us.
All: We trust in God who makes a way in the wilderness.
Hymns and Songs
Hail to the Lord’s Anointed
UMH: 203
H82: 616
AAHH: 187
NCH: 104
CH: 140
LBW: 87
ELW: 311
AMEC: 107
Renew: 101
Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates
UMH: 213
H82: 436
PH: 8
GTG: 93
NCH: 117
CH: 129
LBW: 32
W&P: 176
AMEC: 94
Renew: 59
Toda la Tierra (All Earth Is Waiting)
UMH: 210
NCH: 121
ELW: 266
W&P 163
My Soul Gives Glory to My God
UMH: 198
GTG: 99
CH: 130
ELW: 882
Tell Out, My Soul
UMH: 200
H82: 437/438
W&P: 41
Renew: 130
Blessed Be the God of Israel
UMH: 209
H82: 444
GTG: 109
CH: 135
ELW: 552
W&P: 158
Renew: 128
Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above
UMH: 126
H82: 408
PH: 483
GTG: 645
NCH: 6
CH: 6
W&P: 56
Renew: 52
All My Hope Is Firmly Grounded
UMH: 132
H82: 665
NCH: 408
CH: 88
ELW: 757
That Boy-Child of Mary
UMH: 241
PH: 55
GTG: 139
ELW: 293
W&P 211
In the Bleak Midwinter
UMH: 221
H82: 112
PH: 36
GTG: 144
NCH: 128
ELW: 294
W&P 196
STLT 241
God Is So Good
CCB: 74
I Call You Faithful
CCB: 70
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The 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
ELW: 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 creates out of nothing all that is or ever will be:
Grant us the faith to trust you to create a way for us
where there seems to be no way forward;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are the one who creates all out of nothing. Help us to trust you to make a way for us where there seems to be no way forward. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our failure to trust in an ever-creating God.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We claim you as the God who creates out of nothing all that is but fail to trust you to be able to create a way for us in this world. We look to our own cleverness and our own strength when time after time they have failed us. We trust that our wealth and social standing will get us through. We fail to trust in you and your love to guide us. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us that we might truly live as your children. Amen.
One: God does make a way where there is none. God makes a way of forgiveness and newness of life in the midst of our sin. Receive God’s grace and share the Good News with others that our God is with us.
Prayers of the People
Glorious are you, O God, who contains all of creation in your hand. All that was, and is, and ever will be emanates from your heart of love.
(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 claim you as the God who creates out of nothing all that is but fail to trust you to be able to create a way for us in this world. We look to our own cleverness and our own strength when time after time they have failed us. We trust that our wealth and social standing will get us through. We fail to trust in you and your love to guide us. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us that we might truly live as your children.
We give you thanks for all the blessings you have sent to us. We thank you for those who have shown us that you are the God who is to be trusted. We thank you for Mary and for her ‘yes’ to you. Thank you for sending Jesus to show us the way to life eternal.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We pray for those who find themselves in places where there seems to be no path and no way forward. We pray for those who are alone and lonely this season and for those who find no laughter and joy at this time of year. We pray for the sick and dying and for those who are grieving. We pray for those who suffer in poverty and want.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray 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.
* * *
Resources for Christmas
Call to Worship
One: O sing to God a new song; sing to God, all the earth.
All: Sing to God, bless God’s name; tell of God’s salvation from day to day.
One: Ascribe to God, O peoples, ascribe to God glory and strength.
All: Worship God in holy splendor; tremble before God, all the earth.
One: Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice.
All: God will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with truth.
OR
One: Rejoice! Our God has come to dwell among us.
All: Our hearts of full of joy knowing God is with us.
One: God comes with good news for all God’s children.
All: We will share the good news with everyone.
One: God has come to draw us together as God’s family.
All: We welcome all God’s people with love and joy.
Hymns and Songs
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
UMH: 211
H82: 56
PH: 9
GTG: 88
AAHH: 188
NNBH: 82
NCH: 116
CH: 119
LBW: 34
ELW: 257
W&P: 154
AMEC: 102
STLT 225
Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light
UMH: 223
H82: 91
PH: 26
GTG: 130
NCH: 140
W&P: 202
Infant Holy, Infant Lowly
UMH: 229
PH: 37
GTG: 128
CH: 163
LBW: 44
ELW: 276
W&P: 221
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
UMH: 236
H82: 94/95
PH: 58/59
GTG: 117/118
NNBH: 92
CH: 154
W&P: 228
AMEC: 110
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
UMH: 240
H82: 87
PH: 31/32
GTG: 119/127
AAHH: 217
NNBH: 81
NCH: 144
CH: 150
LBW: 60
ELW: 270
W&P: 185
AMEC: 115
Once in Royal David’s City
UMH: 250
H82: 102
PH: 49
GTG: 140
NCH: 145
CH: 165
ELW: 269
W&P: 183
STLT 228
In the Bleak Midwinter
UMH: 221
H82: 112
PH: 36
GTG: 144
NCH: 128
ELW: 294
W&P: 196
STLT 241
The First Noel
UMH: 245
H82: 109
PH: 56
GTG: 147
NNBH: 87
NCH: 139
CH: 151
LBW: 56
ELW: 300
W&P: 229
AMEC: 111
Silent Night, Holy Night
UMH: 239
H82: 111
PH: 60
GTG: 122
AAHH: 211
NNBH: 101
NCH: 134
CH: 145
LBW: 65
ELW: 281
W&P: 186
AMEC: 116
STLT 251/252
Joy to the World
UMH: 246
H82: 100
PH: 40
GTG: 134/266
AAHH: 197
NNBH: 94
NCH: 132
CH: 143
LBW: 39
ELW: 267
W&P: 179
AMEC: 120
STLT 245
All Hail, King Jesus
CCB: 29
Renew: 35
His Name Is Wonderful
CCB: 32
Renew: 30
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The 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
ELW: 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 sent your Son as good news to all the world:
Grant us the grace to reach out in love to all your children
that we might dwell as one family under your love;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you sent your Son to be good news to all people. You sent us a Savior to bring all creation under your reign. Help us to be part of your work as we reach out in love to others. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we fail to accept all people as God’s children.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have ignored the presence of the Christ in the faces of the poor, the hungry, the stranger, the alien, the other. We go to great expense to celebrate the coming of the Christ in a manger, but we ignore his coming each day in those around us. Forgive us and help our celebration of the Christ’s coming to be not just one day but every day. Amen.
One: God’s love and forgiveness is our, God’s freely given gift. Receive it and share it with the Christ in whatever guise you see him.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory to you, O God, because you not only created us in your image, but you came to dwell among us as one of us. In love you deigned to take on our human flesh and mortality.
(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 have ignored the presence of the Christ in the faces of the poor, the hungry, the stranger, the alien, the other. We go to great expense to celebrate the coming of the Christ in a manger, but we ignore his coming each day in those around us. Forgive us and help our celebration of the Christ's coming to be not just one day but every day.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you show your love for us and for all your children. We thank you for the good news that is for all people in your coming to dwell among us as one of us. We thank you for your constant presence and your constant grace. We thank you for the gift of the Christ, your Son, who brings us your love and life.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need and especially for those who have been made to feel that the good news is not for them. We pray for those who have been pushed aside and ignored. We pray for ourselves that we may welcome the Christ who comes not just as a babe in a manger but in the stranger, the person in need, the neighbor.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray 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.
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CHILDREN'S SERMONAn Unexpected Gift
by Elena Delhagen
Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)
You will need an empty box wrapped and decorated as a Christmas gift.
Hello, friends! If you’re like me, you are very excited right now, because Christmas is almost here, and I just love Christmas, don’t you? What are some of your favorite things about Christmas? (Allow time for answers.)
One of my favorite things about Christmas is the gifts — not just receiving them, though. I love to give gifts to my friends and family and people that I love. It makes me feel so good in my heart to give someone a gift and see how much they enjoy it when they open it.
(Hold up gift.) As you see, I have a gift here. I’m not sure who it’s from; it was left in my office without any sort of tag or card. But look at how beautifully it’s wrapped and decorated — isn’t it lovely? I’m sure it is going to be an awesome gift! In fact, let me just go ahead and open it right now.
(Open up gift, show the empty box.) Wait a second. Wait just a second. An empty box? Huh? I definitely wasn’t expecting that! The wrapping paper and the ribbons and everything was just so pretty, I thought for sure this would be an amazing gift, something I’d cherish for the rest of my life. But an empty box? I didn’t see that one coming!
(Set box down.) You know, in a way, this kind of reminds me of the first Christmas. See, all of God’s people, the Israelites, they were waiting for their messiah, the one who would come to save them. And they all had these ideas of what that person would look like! Some thought he’d be a big strong warrior who would help them win all their battles. Some thought he’d be a rich king dressed in royal colors and wearing a crown. They all had expectations, but something they weren’t expecting? A baby.
It was kind of like those shepherds who the angels appeared to. They were waiting for that good news, and they were so excited, just like I was when I had that unwrapped gift. Then the angel came and told them the Lord had been born! The Messiah! The Savior! And they would see him as a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. I’m sure they must have had a reaction just like I did. Wait a second? Huh? A baby?! It was so unexpected!
But you know, Jesus coming to earth as a baby was the best gift that God could have ever given us. Jesus being a baby, who needed to be fed, who cried, and who got cold, meant that Jesus really understood all the things that we go through! When we get hungry, or sad, or cold, or scared, sometimes we feel like no one understands us. But Jesus does. Because he experienced it, too. God being a baby, who grew up to be an adult, means that God knows and cares about every single thing we go through in our lives, both the good and the bad.
Even more, it shows us that God isn’t far away from us. God is here, with us. He understands us. He is Immanuel, which is a special name for Jesus that means God with us.
That is truly is the best gift we could ever receive, don’t you think?
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The Immediate Word, December 24/25, 2023 issue.
Copyright 2023 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.
