With so much important news occurring in the past week -- and lectionary texts that provide excellent springboards for viewing these events in light of the scriptural witness -- we’re again offering a pair of main articles in this installment of The Immediate Word.
For the First Sunday after Christmas, team member Chris Keating examines the wildfire-like spread of the #I’llRideWithYou meme, which went viral globally on social media in the wake of last week’s hostage incident in Sydney, Australia. As the crisis was still unfolding, a story spread on Twitter and Facebook of a Muslim woman who was riding a commuter train in the area removing her hijab because she was afraid of reprisals or at least of being judged harshly, and another woman sitting next to her in more “normal” clothing offering to walk/ride with her and protect her. Though there has been some doubt cast on the truth of the initial story, it’s no coincidence that the sentiment touched people so deeply -- it speaks to our belief in the best of human nature... the desire to reach out and protect others in the same way that Isaiah describes God protecting us: clothing us “in garments of salvation” and covering us “with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” Unfortunately, there was no such protective garb to be found for the victims of another event in the headlines -- the more than 100 children gruesomely executed in an attack on their school by Taliban militants. Where were their garments of salvation? Chris points out that there are no easy answers -- yet even so, we can still trust completely in our Lord and his garments of salvation and his robe of righteousness. More to the point, Chris suggests that we can be bearers of these garments ourselves in our actions toward others.
For New Year’s Day, team member Mary Austin uses the familiar Ecclesiastes text to consider the groundbreaking changes in Cuba policy announced by the Obama administration. What began as a simple prisoner swap was but a prelude to news of an agreement to restore diplomatic ties severed more than 50 years ago. While the longstanding trade embargo will almost certainly remain largely in place for the time being, there is no question that a time of change and new beginnings is on the horizon for a relationship that has seemed frozen in place for decades... even as we’ve normalized relations with other former enemies like Vietnam. As Mary suggests, for everything there is a season... a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace -- and a time for restoring the formal process of talking to one another. But moreover, Mary asks us to think about how we utilize time and its inevitable changes in the context of our own lives. How are we measuring time, and how attentive are we being to the times of change we experience daily?
The Garments of Righteousness
by Chris Keating
Isaiah 62:10--62:3
It’s the Sunday after Christmas, and many will be sporting their new Christmas duds.
Those new sweaters were gifts from the heart, perhaps not unlike the new garments of salvation Isaiah describes in 61:10--62:3. Sackcloth and ashes are replaced with the clothing of gladness. God’s gift of salvation has appeared, and the old garments are no longer sufficient.
What you wear matters, as noted in Australia last week. The deadly siege in a Sydney café prompted worries about possible backlash against Muslims who wear religious garb. In response, the “I’ll ride with you” campaign emerged. It’s another reminder that God is doing a new thing.
It was also a hopeful light shining against the dark shadows of the week’s tragedies. There was little hope and no garments of protection for others who were killed last week -- including the hundreds of schoolchildren murdered by Taliban gunmen in Pakistan, or the police officers gunned down in New York City and Florida.
In the News
Last week’s headlines were chock full of examples of human cruelty. Nothing about the hostage siege in Sydney or the assault on innocent children makes sense. To paraphrase “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” our steps have indeed been painful and slow.
In Australia, a warm summer day turned eerily icy Monday morning when Man Haron Monis pointed a gun at the head of the manager of the Lindt Chocolate café in the heart of Sydney’s Martin Place business district. It was 9:40 a.m., and a 16-hour siege was beginning. Monis told the hostages he had planted bombs around the building, and that he was a representative of the militant Islamic State. Brandishing an ISIS-styled flag, Monis next ordered the hostages to line up against the café’s windows.
Monis, who was born in Iran, had a long history of interactions with police, including a previous conviction of sending offensive letters to soldiers stationed in Afghanistan. News of the crisis spread across the country as the standoff continued into the evening. It came to an end early Tuesday morning when police stormed the café. Monis and two hostages were killed in the fracas.
Throughout the crisis, Muslims across Australia began to worry about backlash and possible reprisals. Some Muslim women reported being spat on, according to Reuters, and a right-leaning Australian political faction called upon its followers to protest at Australian mosques. Yet as the darkness descended on the crisis, one light began to shine.
In the chaos, a bit of compassion emerged.
During the siege, a story began circulating on social media about a woman on a commuter train who noticed another woman -- presumably a Muslim -- taking off her hijab. After they left the train, the woman ran up to the Muslim woman and said, “Put it back on. I’ll walk with you.” As the story began to circulate, Australian writer Tessa Kum tweeted, “If you regularly take the #373... (and) wear religious attire, & don’t feel safe alone: I’ll ride with you.”
#I’llRideWithYou became a reality. In 12 hours, the hashtag appeared in 150,000 tweets.
There have been reports that Rachael Jacobs, the woman who reported the original encounter, may have exaggerated some aspects of her story. Regardless, a larger point had been made. Australians turned to acts of kindness, and not revenge. In response to hatred, Australians offered signs of compassion -- including the Muslim bride who took a detour on her wedding day to place her bouquet at the memorial for the hostages who had died.
Perhaps that is the meaning of being clothed with compassion: peaceful persons who happened to be wearing religious attire knew others would walk with them. As one writer noted:
This hashtag movement is a powerful sign that Australians won’t get worked up into an Islamophobic rage because of the actions of a single madman. It’s also a lesson for countries like the U.S., where hate crimes against Muslims spike whenever there’s a criminal or terrorist incident involving Muslims, or even when something innocuous happens like debating the placement of a mosque in New York City which wasn’t even a mosque. Australian social media users are showing Muslims they’re safe in their home and shouldn’t fear retaliation for an incident they’re not linked to.... [I]f your faith in humanity hasn’t been restored yet, perhaps these tweets will help.
Yet even these extensions of compassion were not enough to stop the unvarnished evil of Tuesday’s Taliban-led attack at a Pakistani school. Unfortunately, the shining light from down under had to compete with the shadows of horror.
It was a deadly slaughter of innocents -- more than 150 children and school personnel were murdered in Peshawar. Even a nation hardened by endless acts of terrorism was devastated by the sight of the children in school uniforms being carried home in coffins. Teenage Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, herself a survivor of a Taliban shooting, reacted by saying she was “horrified” by the massacre. The outrage of parents was palpable: “My son was in uniform in the morning. He is in a casket now,” said one father. “My son was my dream. My dream has been killed.”
Yet the violent headlines of the week were not yet over. On Saturday, two uniformed New York City police officers were shot point-blank while sitting in their patrol car. It was an execution-style killing. It’s believed to be at least in part an attempt to avenge the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, both of whom were killed by police in 2014. And then, early on Sunday morning there was yet another murder of a police officer in Tarpon Springs, Florida, though authorities do not believe there is a connection between the Florida shooting and the deaths of the NYPD officers.
Uniformed children, uniformed officers, religiously cloaked individuals -- all of them yearning for the robe of righteousness, the garments of salvation. Evil is around us these holy days, challenging our understanding of the One who is born to be the Prince of Peace.
In the Scriptures
The joyful proclamation of the prophet is ecstatic, an announcement that justice and righteousness has prevailed. God has triumphed over injustice, and the prophet is ebullient. The prophet rejoices with an energy reserved for life’s triumphant moments.
Indeed, it feels like Christmas morning in Isaiah 61:10--62:3. Even the sweater from great aunt Eleanor is a reason to rejoice. Every fiber in the prophet’s being rejoices at what God has done. As Australian pastor/theologian Howard Wallace notes, the abundant imagery of a wedding festival adorns this passage with hope. The prophet understands, says Wallace, that God has claimed Israel as a bride.
In response, the prophet cannot remain silent (62:1). Righteousness shall burn brightly, like a torch. The dawn of hope will be seen in the bride’s resplendent beauty, “a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord.” No longer will God’s people be forsaken (v. 4) or desolate, but rather forever joined with God. This is the promise of the covenant.
In the Sermon
The gray clouds of December in my neck of the woods seem to match much of the world’s spirit. There’s a general feeling of anguish in the face of the world’s struggles. Those who wear religious garb are viewed with suspicion. Children who wear school uniforms are murdered without reason. Police officers on duty are executed in revenge. Against this milieu of ugliness a slender hand of hope arises, like a shoot (61:11) breaking out of the brown turf of winter.
This is the meaning of our Christmas garb -- the hand cloaked with compassion that reaches toward a stranger in love, the tear-soaked cloth that covers the lifeless face of a child, the leader who is wrapped in justice and a desire to bring healing. Whether or not Rachael Jacobs actually said the words “I’ll walk with you” is not nearly as important as the hope the movement has spawned. This is indeed our Christmas message. Worn out by the glitz and glamour of the secular holiday, our congregations will return to church on Sunday, hoping to hear this promise: “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her vindication shines out like the dawn.” So wear your new Christmas sweaters this Sunday -- and allow them to become the garments of righteousness.
As the Clock Strikes Midnight
by Mary Austin
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
Certain things are always true in American life.
We love baseball, apple pie, and Mom. We play “The Star-Spangled Banner” before sporting events. We may not understand our neighbor, and we’re moved by the plight of a stranger. And we hate Cuba.
Now, in the fullness of time, the last one is changing. As the old year closes and a new year begins, a new relationship with Cuba is also beginning.
In the News
Last week President Obama announced a new policy of normalizing relations with Cuba, after a 50-year chill during which travel to and trade with Cuba were banned. Some changes will require action by Congress, but the president issued an executive order to make those changes that are under his control. As the Miami Herald reported, “Obama not only said that the U.S. and Cuba would work toward reestablishing embassies in their respective capitals but also that the United States planned a series of measures that would increase U.S. travel and trade with Cuba and allow a freer flow of information to and from the island. The U.S. also is reviewing whether Cuba should remain on a list of state sponsors of terrorism.” The embargo on trade must be lifted by Congress, but the president signaled a new chapter in America’s relationship with its close neighbor.
Travel bans were lifted for trips in several categories, but travel for pleasure is still banned -- so trips to Cuban beaches may have to wait, for now. As NPR reported, for the moment only charter flights are allowed between the U.S. and Cuba; improvements will be needed to handle an influx of American tourists: “Cruise ship companies such as Carnival say Cuba presents some exciting possibilities but note that the country needs investments in docks and other infrastructure to accommodate big ships. A handful of international chains have hotels in Cuba, but far too few to handle large volumes of U.S. tourists.”
Still, President Obama’s announcement shifted a relationship that seemed set in stone, even if foolishly so. For the president, it seemed that the time had come to do something new. As he said, “I do not believe we can keep doing the same thing for over five decades and expect a different result.”
In light of the announcement, others are wondering if it’s possible to recover land or businesses taken by the Cuban government. As the New York Times reported: “With the stroke of a pen or the pointing of a rifle, countless farms, oil refineries, homes, factories, and other businesses were nationalized -- losses that ultimately led the United States government to prohibit trade with Cuba.... Although the president did not mention the contentious issue in his announcement, lawyers are scrambling to determine whether normalized relations with Cuba will create an opportunity to get compensation for lost properties now estimated to be worth nearly $7 billion. Cuba’s gross domestic product is about $68 billion, making cash payouts highly unlikely. But companies interested in foreign investment in Cuba are probably imagining how their settlements could be exchanged for other investment deals, said Robert L. Muse, a Washington lawyer who represents several claimants and watches the issue closely. ‘I think a large flare has gone up over the corporate claimants. They are not going to miss it,’ Mr. Muse said. ‘I think it’s unlikely that Coca-Cola’s highest aspiration is to recover a state-of-the-art 1950s bottling plant. If people approach it with the right flexibility, innovation is going to be key.’ ” Once the rules change, is this the time to invest in Cuba? The president’s announcement starts the clock on speculation about possibilities for travel, trade, and foreign investment.
In the Scriptures
The start of a new year invites us to think about time, and the intersection of human time with God’s time. The author of Ecclesiastes, the Teacher, writes with a sense that all time is in God’s hands. Time shifts, and life gives way to death. Dancing and mourning trade places over and over, as do laughter and tears. The Teacher calls us to be attentive to time and its changes. Shifts in the calendar remind us to look for changes in the spirit, and new seasons call us to other new pursuits. A new year feels like the right time for other new things.
Researchers suggest that if we want to make better use of our time, paradoxically we should do less with the time we have. Slate.com reports that researchers Eldal Shafir and Sendhill Mullainathan have discovered that scarcity wears us out. When we lack something -- time or money -- we have to make countless decisions about how to allocate what we do have. A lack of time is just as exhausting as a lack of money, and requires a series of choices about how to use our time to meet our obligations: “The researchers argue that when busy people get busier, it leads to ignored deadlines, a cluttered desk, and a vicious cycle of falling further and further behind. Amid the disorder, a lot of bad decisions get made, and the best means of escape from this cycle may be a moratorium on new obligations.” The best new year’s resolution we can make, they believe, is to free up time.
Most of the time, we’re too busy to think clearly about our time: “But occasional periods of self-reflection -- like the days of reckoning that arrive in late December each year -- provide an opportunity to think.... The advice that Mullainathan and Shafir have for resolution-makers isn’t that you refrain from trying to better yourself, but rather that you lock in commitments to self-betterment that won’t require vigilance or attention in the year ahead. So while it’s on your mind, go ahead and increase the default contribution to your pension plan; buy a smaller fridge that won’t hold as much ice cream; force Outlook to block off every Friday afternoon to clean up your desk and the rest of your affairs; and use both the time and mental space that commitments like these can free up to stay on top of the workload and pressures that are already part of your daily life.” To make the most of our time, we need time to think. We need the balance that the Teacher observes in Ecclesiastes, with time to work and time to rest, time to do and time to think.
The fleeting nature of time makes it more precious, and we try to jam more into it. Doing less allows time to feel more full, but it goes against the grain of our culture where being busy is a badge of honor. The busier we are, the more important we must be. Apps and shortcuts aim at getting more done in less time, but both the researchers and the Teacher suggest that the way to find treasure in the time we have is to slow down, not speed up.
In the Sermon
The New York Times reports that the demise of the wristwatch has been overstated. Most people of a certain age pull out their phones to check the time, and many of them consider a watch not a timekeeping essential but rather a fashion accessory: “To be fair, the doomsayers were not entirely wrong. Few people actually need a watch to tell time anymore. Melanie Shreffler, editor in chief of Ypulse, a website and market research company that tracks youth trends, observed, ‘even the high school and college students who wear watches usually pull out their cellphones to check the time.’ But that’s the point. A watch these days may strike some people as an impractical, frivolous, and often costly way to express individual style. But that is just another way of saying that it’s fashion.... For a generation raised on Game Boys, however, the appeal seems to go a little deeper than just a desire for another fashion accessory. In a world surrounded by ever-glowing LCD screens, there’s an analog chic to wearing a mechanical instrument.” There’s also a restful simplicity to looking at a watch -- it just tells the time, instead of distracting the wearer with new texts and tweets, the calendar and games.
The sermon might look at how we measure time -- with productivity apps, with watches or phones, or with the clock on the wall in the nursing home. What time feels the most filled with God’s presence? Time with friends? Alone in prayer? Walking? Visiting the sick? What parts of our time feel most attuned with God? As the new year begins, perhaps our resolutions should be about seeking more of that kind of time, whatever it is for each of us.
The sermon might also look at how we use our time. Who in our lives uses time with the most wisdom? How can we live out the Teacher’s claim that there is enough time for every human activity?
Or the sermon might look at how we know when it’s time for a change. Like the president and Cuba, how do we know when we’ve spent enough time on one course of action? What signals to us that we need to change? Is it the voice of the Spirit? Personal frustration? Exasperation with others? How we can we read the time and know it’s time to do something different?
Certain things are always true, and one of them is that our time here is limited. Birth and death find their rhythm in all of our lives, and the knowledge of the end sharpens the importance of the time we have. As the new year comes, how will we live so our time is filled and graced by the luminous presence of God, and we go through our days knowing it?
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Leah Lonsbury:
Isaiah 61:10--62:3; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:22-40 (Christmas 1);
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13; Revelation 21:1-6a (New Year’s Day)
Reverend Libby Lane was announced this month as the first female bishop in the Church of England. Any number of connections could be drawn from Rev. Lane’s upcoming consecration...
* Isaiah 61:10--62:3 -- Surely this is a reason to “greatly rejoice in the Lord” with our whole beings, as Isaiah celebrates God’s faithful and generous provision to a people who have been oppressed. In this act, there is the beginning of “vindication” for female priests who have been long overlooked for such positions, and according to the Church of England this “new name” for Rev. Lane is one “that the mouth of the Lord will give.” Additionally, the office of bishop comes with some of the trappings of prestige and ceremony, like the “crown of beauty” and the “royal diadem in the hand of your God.” How might Rev. Lane be seen as that crown or royal diadem as she works to carry out God’s work as a bishop?
* Galatians 4:4-7 -- Paul points out that God’s Word made flesh (the Son) is born of a woman. God’s Word will come in a different way from this woman priest in a new office. Those who were apart from God have been adopted as God’s children. Women clergy have been apart (excluded) from the House of Lords and have now been “adopted” into this expression of God’s family. Female priests are no longer relegated to inferior status (in rule and theory), so they follow Paul’s “moving on up” pattern of “no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.”
* Luke 2:22-40 -- Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been corresponding with Archbishop John Sentamu of York, who will preside over Rev. Lane’s consecration as bishop. Archbishop Tutu expressed his joy and relief to Sentamu on this change in policy that has been a long time coming: “Wonderful that you over there will soon have women bishops. Yippee! I know you have pushed for this for a long time. Yippee again!” How might this response be seen as similar to the long-awaited relief that Simeon finds in the appearance of Jesus and his assurance that he can now go in peace?
* Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 -- “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” ...even female bishops in the Church of England.
* Revelation 21:1-6a -- How can the appointment of the Church of England’s first female bishop serve as a glimpse of the inbreaking of “a new heaven and a new earth” and the long, slow passing away of “the first heaven and the first earth”?
*****
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
New York Police Department Commissioner Bill Bratton, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, and the leaders of the five unions that represent NYPD officers have called for a halt in protests and demonstrations until after the holidays and the funerals of the two officers slain in a recent attack by Ismaaiyl Brinsley. Many believe Brinsley may have been acting in response to non-indictments in the cases involving the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner at the hands of police officers.
Prior to Brinsley’s attack, de Blasio had incurred the wrath of the police unions and their leadership by expressing sympathy for nationwide protests in response to the Brown and Garner cases, and for cautioning his biracial son to avoid a confrontation with the police. It was perhaps predictable that those who felt de Blasio was engaging in “cop-bashing” had blamed the mayor in part for Brinsley’s ambush. Before the request to delay public responses, the Sergeants Benevolent Association (one of the five police unions in New York City) attacked deBlasio when it took to Twitter with this message: The blood of 2 executed police officers is on the hands of Mayor de Blasio. May God bless their families and may they rest in peace.
Pat Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (the city’s largest police union), also seemed upset that de Blasio had shown sympathy with protestors, as he said publicly on Saturday: “There’s blood on many hands tonight. That blood on the hands starts at City Hall in the Office of the Mayor.”
Protestors in New York City and many cities across the country, however, might not be in agreement with the decision to ask for a delay in demonstrations. They might be more apt to say the season to speak and act is now, and that this “matter under heaven” cannot be pushed aside until a date when it works better for those involved.
*****
Matthew 25:31-46
After an eight-month study, the Associated Press is reporting that at least 786 children in the U.S. (most under the age of 4) have died in the last six years “in plain view of child protection authorities.” While their families were being investigated by child protective services agencies, these children were beaten, starved, neglected, or left alone to drown. The reported number doesn’t begin to touch the unaccounted for deaths of children that the agencies involved don’t seem to know how to process (or which choose not to process for one reason or another).
From the AP:
The lack of comprehensive data makes it difficult to measure how well those responsible for keeping children safe are protecting their most vulnerable charges.
The data collection system on child deaths is so flawed that no one can even say with accuracy how many children overall die from abuse or neglect every year. The federal government estimates an average of about 1,650 deaths annually in recent years; many believe the actual number is twice as high.
Even more lacking is comprehensive, publicly available data about the number of children dying while the subject of an open case or while receiving assistance from the agencies that exist to keep them safe -- the focus of AP’s reporting.
How will these agencies be sorted by Jesus -- as sheep or goats? What about adults in the general public who ought to be more concerned for the welfare of “the least of these who are members of [God’s] family” and tuned into their welfare? Surely we can imagine the voices of these children in Jesus’ list of “for I was hungry... thirsty... a stranger...” What will be our response?
***************
From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
Isaiah 61:10--62:3
Why We Wear Clothes
According to the Discovery.com website, human beings began to wear clothing about 170,000 years ago -- and it wasn’t for modesty but for warmth. We had lived for millennia in sub-Saharan Africa, naked as jaybirds and without much hair to keep us warm. But once we left Africa and started migrating north, we found ourselves confronted with the ice age and the cold temperatures that went with it.
The evidence for all this comes from a study of lice, of all things. It was published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution in an article that is way too complicated and, well, yucky to explain here, but it is a fact. Body lice began to develop at about the same time clothing did, so by studying the DNA of body lice we can calculate when clothing first made the scene.
The article states that our ability to create clothing was one of the four developments that brought human beings out of the caves, along with “the controlled use of fire, new hunting strategies, and new stone tools,” all of which began to develop around the same time.
Since our ancestors are thought to have migrated out of Africa and into colder climates and higher latitudes anywhere from 100,000 to 60,000 years ago, the findings indicate that the invention of clothing made such long journeys northward possible.
Interestingly, while clothing was invented about 170,000 years ago, style didn’t develop for another 63,000 years -- when people began to express individuality and status by wearing distinctive clothing, shoes, and jewelry, and to don makeup and sport tattoos.
*****
Isaiah 61:10--62:3
Ten Fun Facts About Clothing and Fashion
1. The word “jeans” comes from the cotton pants worn by “Genes” -- the local term for Genoan sailors.
2. The average American owns seven pairs of blue jeans.
3. Initially, both men and women wore togas in Rome -- but after the 2nd century BC, respectable women wore stolas while prostitutes were required to wear a toga.
4. More than 2 billion t-shirts are sold each year.
5. The four major fashion capitals of the world are New York, London, Milan, and Paris. Each city holds major fashion shows twice annually, in February and September.
6. It was not acceptable for women to wear shorts in public until World War II, when women (because they were doing jobs traditionally associated with men) began to wear men’s clothing.
7. The first fashion magazine was published in Germany in 1586.
8. American households spend about 3.8% of their income on clothing, which equates to approximately $1,700 per person. By comparison, Americans spent 11% of their income on clothes in 1950.
9. The price of clothing has decreased by 8.5% since 1992, even when adjusted for inflation.
10. Due to a practice in the fashion industry known as “vanity sizing,” a dress that was a size 8 in 1967 is considered a size 0 today.
*****
Isaiah 61:10--62:3
Six Ways America Changed How the World Dresses
According to Justin Fenner (writing for Details.com), these six totally American inventions “form the underpinnings of wardrobes all over the world.”
Blue Jeans
Blue jeans are, without a doubt, one of America's biggest contributions to fashion, if not to the world in general. They were invented by a German immigrant named Levi Strauss, who in 1872 partnered with a tailor named Jacob Davis to make trousers from denim that used copper rivets to strengthen the pockets and other areas where the fabric came under heavy stress. That first pair of jeans got a patent in 1873. The rest, as they say, is history.
Zippers
The first zipper was patented by a Chicago-based engineer named Whitcomb Judson in 1893. He designed it not for clothing but for boots, because he was impatient with tying long shoelaces on tall boots.
T-Shirts
There are varying theories about how the t-shirt was invented, but all of them point back to the standard-issue uniforms of American military members somewhere between World War I and II. In order to prevent soldiers and sailors from sweating through their uniforms, the armed forces started including light cotton undershirts in their kits. Soldiers coming home from World War II made them fashionable as a stand-alone garment.
Sneakers
The marriage of a rubber sole with a canvas upper -- the innovation that laid the groundwork for all modern sneakers -- was invented by the U.S. Rubber Company, which introduced Keds in 1916.
Sunglasses
Eye coverings designed to block out the sun’s harmful rays have been adorning the faces of humanity since prehistoric times, but it was American Sam Foster who created inexpensive sunglasses in 1929, when he began selling them on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, under the name Foster Grant.
Oxford-Cloth Button-Down Shirts
John Brooks, the grandson of Brooks Brothers founder Henry Sand Brooks, was inspired when he saw a group of polo players with their collars buttoned to their shirts during a stay in London in 1896. He was so taken with the design that he had a sample sent back to New York City, where in 1900 the collar was copied and pasted onto a variety of shirts, including one cut from oxford cloth.
*****
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
The Snowdrop
As the “snow” in their name suggests, snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) are among the earliest bloomers in the yard. Depending on your region, these flowers will bloom in February or March. Snowdrops may not even wait for the snow to melt before emerging from their winter sleep, instead pushing right up through the snow -- a delightful sight for the winter-weary!
So lovely and welcome are they that Hans Christian Anderson created a fairy tale about them.
It begins in the middle of winter and the darkest part of the year. The wind howls and everything seems dead. But under the earth a little snowdrop bulb is stirring. She wants to stretch, wants to reach up into the world. But when the snowdrop asks for the sunshine to help, the sun replies that he is too weak and that the snowdrop should wait until spring.
But the snowdrop doesn’t want to wait. She pushes forward, and when she opens her eyes she has been born into the world. It is cold though, and the freezing wind and snow tell the snowdrop that she has come too soon and that she will never survive the night.
The snowdrop may be small but she is also tough... and when morning comes she is still alive. A mother passes with her daughter -- and the snowdrop is proud to hear herself described as a very special flower, the very first sign of spring.
*****
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
Six People Who Switched Careers at Mid-life and Survived
It is not true that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Here are some “old dogs” who switched careers late in life and became huge successes because they took the chance:
1. Colonel Sanders
Harland Sanders was doing okay with a little motel and restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky -- but when he was 65, Interstate 75 opened seven miles from Sanders’ restaurant and his business begin to dwindle. So he perfected his fried chicken recipe and started selling franchises. When he sold his Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in 1965, there were 900 of them.
2. Laura Ingalls Wilder
Wilder published her first Little House on the Prairie novel when she was 65 years old, and she still managed to crank out 12 books in her series.
3. Takichiro Mori
Mori was an economics professor, until he left academia in 1959 at age 55 to become a real estate investor. Starting with two modest buildings he inherited from his father, Mori expanded his empire -- and by the time he died in 1993, Mori was Forbes magazine’s two-time reigning world’s richest man with a net worth of around $13 billion.
4. Grandma Moses
Anna Mary Robertson Moses is one of the biggest names in American folk art, and she didn’t even pick up a brush until she was well into her eighth decade. Grandma Moses was originally a big fan of embroidery, but once her arthritis grew too painful for her to hold a needle she decided to give painting a try in the mid-1930s. She was 76 when she cranked out her first canvas, and she lived another 25 years as a painter -- long enough to see the canvases she had sold for $3 fetch prices north of $10,000.
5. Edmond Hoyle
The English expert on the rules of various card games and namesake of the phrase “according to Hoyle” didn’t put pen to paper until he was 70 years old.
6. Ronald Reagan
Reagan was fairly famous as an actor in “B” movies, but he wasn’t elected to public office until he was 55 years old, when he was first elected governor of California. Reagan had done some previous politicking as the president of the Screen Actors Guild and as a spokesman for General Electric, but nothing on his resumé made him look like a sure-fire two-term president.
***************
From team member Ron Love:
Luke 2:22-40
Rejoicing
Norman Bridwell, best known as the author and illustrator of the Clifford the Big Red Dog series of children’s books, recently died at the age of 86. The books put onto paper Bridwell’s own childhood fantasy of having a dog big enough to ride -- but more than that, Clifford was as big as a house. The main reason Clifford is red is because that happened to be the color of ink on Bridwell’s desk when he first began to draw the character. Though Clifford was mischievous, he was also the embodiment of kindness and amiability. Clifford was, according to Bidwell, a bright red lesson on how to get along with others.
*****
Luke 2:22-40
Rejoicing
Dick Rich, the renowned creator of 1960s humorous television commercials, recently passed. One of his most famous ad campaigns whimsically promoted Alka-Seltzer with the refrain “No Matter What Shape Your Stomach’s In,” accompanied by a visual montage of stomachs of various sizes and shapes and how Alka-Seltzer could cure their indigestion. In creating an advertisement, Rich relied more on images than on a great slogan. He said his litmus test for an ad was WIWIJ: “Will It Work in Japan?”
*****
Luke 2:22-40
A Sword Will Pierce Your Soul
Last week nine Taliban gunmen stormed the Army Public School and Degree College in Peshawar, Pakistan. Of the 145 people killed, 132 of them were children from the ages of 5 to 17. The assailants used automatic weapons, grenades, and suicide vests to bring forth death. Teachers were shot and then set on fire. Wounded students were shot in the head. The Taliban claimed that the attack was in retaliation for the children killed in the ongoing offensive against them in the Northern Provinces. A spokesman for the Taliban said, “Our shura decided to target these enemies of Islam right in their homes so they can feel the pain of losing their children.”
*****
Luke 2:22-40
A Sword Will Pierce Your Soul
Phil Stern, a celebrated photographer of movie stars and presidents, recently died at the age of 94. But Stern’s photographs were not made for beauty; instead they focused on their subjects’ humanity. Stern said, “I was never interested in the glamour. I was interested in the tears and agony behind it.”
*****
Luke 2:22-40
A Sword Will Pierce Your Soul
France has recently put on an art exhibit titled “Collaboration 1940-1945.” It is a public admission that the Vichy government in France during World War II cooperated with the Germans in the extermination of Jews. Prominent in the display is a 1942 telegram to all local prefects dictating that they are to supervise the transfer of Jews to deportation camps. The telegram reads: “The head of state wants you to take personal control of the measures taken with regard to foreign Jews. You should not hesitate to destroy any resistance you may encounter among these populations.”
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Praise God! Praise God from the heavens; praise God in the heights!
People: Praise God, all God’s angels; praise God, all God’s host!
Leader: Praise God, sun and moon; praise God, all you shining stars!
People: Praise God, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens!
Leader: Let us praise the name of God, who commanded and all were created.
People: Praise God men and women alike, old and young together!
OR
Leader: Come into God’s presence and know the salvation of our God.
People: We come to be healed and made whole by God’s grace.
Leader: God spreads the mantle of salvation over us.
People: We rejoice in God’s healing grace.
Leader: God heals us that we may be healers of others.
People: In gratitude for all God does for us, we will offer God’s love and grace to others.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus”
found in:
UMH: 196
H82: 66
PH: 1, 2
NCH: 122
LBW: 30
ELA: 354
W&P: 103
“Hail to the Lord’s Anointed”
found in:
UMH: 203
H82: 616
AAHH: 187
NCH: 104
CH: 140
LBW: 87
ELA: 311
AMEC: 107
Renew: 101
“Savior of the Nations, Come”
found in:
UMH: 214
PH: 14
LBW: 28
ELA: 263
W&P: 168
“My Master, See, the Time Has Come”
found in:
UMH: 226
“Love Came Down at Christmas”
found in:
UMH: 242
H82: 84
NCH: 165
W&P: 210
“O Spirit of the Living God”
found in:
UMH: 539
H82: 531
NCH: 263
LBW: 318
“Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service”
found in:
UMH: 581
H82: 610
PH: 427
CH: 46
LBW: 423
ELA: 712
W&P: 575
Renew: 286
“Here I Am, Lord”
found in:
UMH: 593
PH: 525
AAHH: 567
CH: 452
ELA: 574
W&P: 559
Renew: 149
“Make Me a Servant”
found in:
CCB: 90
“I Am Loved”
found in:
CCB: 80
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who comes to be our salvation: Clothe us in your righteousness not so much that we may be saved but that being thus clothed we may offer healing and safety to others; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, for you come to bring us salvation. We pray that we may be clothed in your righteousness so that we may offer your healing and wholeness to others. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially the ways in which we are more concerned with our own salvation rather than spreading the mantle of it upon others.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We gladly receive the good news of your love, grace, and forgiveness, but we are very slow to offer them to others. We wrap ourselves in the mantle of your salvation and think that makes us better than others. Forgive us, and call us back to you and your work of salvation. Help us to spread your mantle of salvation over those we come in contact with each day. Amen.
Leader: God does desire our salvation and the healing of all creation. Receive God’s love and grace, and give it to others that you might receive it even more fully.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
We praise you, O God of our salvation, for the wonders of your grace.
(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 gladly receive the good news of your love, grace, and forgiveness, but we are very slow to offer them to others. We wrap ourselves in the mantle of your salvation and think that makes us better than others. Forgive us, and call us back to you and your work of salvation. Help us to spread your mantle of salvation over those we come in contact with each day.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you bless us and offer us your healing and wholeness. We thank you for the great gift of Jesus and the ways in which we learn to live in your love through him.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for your broken world in its need for healing. Help us to join you in your work of saving those who desperately need the wholeness they can only find in your love.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Talk to the children about the gifts they received for Christmas. Talk to them about the gift God gave us in Jesus, and the special gift that God gave us in allowing us to share God’s love with others.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
The Nunc Dimittis
Luke 2:22-40
How many of you go to school? (Let the children answer.) I remember when I was going to school at your age, and as the months passed and it got closer and closer to the day we would be dismissed for summer vacation, I would get more and more anxious for the day to come. When the last day of school finally arrived, I couldn’t wait for that final bell to ring so I could begin my summer vacation. Do any of you feel that way when the last day of school arrives? (Let them answer.)
The Gospel tells us about a man who felt like that about seeing Jesus. This man’s name was Simeon, and he had been waiting for many years to see Jesus. God had told him that he would see the Messiah before he died, and he had been waiting and waiting. When Joseph and Mary brought the baby Jesus into the temple for a ceremony, Simeon knew that Jesus was the Messiah, the one that God had promised would come and save all people. He took the baby in his arms and said, “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace.” By that he meant that he was now ready to die because the day he had been waiting for was here. God had promised that he would see Jesus, and now he had seen him and could die in peace. (If your church uses the Nunc Dimittis in a liturgy, you can explain that this is the scripture that has given us these words.)
Christmas was this past week. We celebrated the birth of Jesus, and like Simeon, we are very happy that Jesus has been born and that he is part of our lives too. You are not old and ready to die like Simeon, but are you happy that Jesus was born? (Let them answer.) Yes, of course we are all very happy. Let’s tell God how happy we are.
Prayer: Dear Father in Heaven: We are all, like Simeon, very happy that You sent Jesus into the world to save all of us from our sins. Because of him, we can all depart this world in peace whenever You call us to be with You in Heaven. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, December 28, 2014, issue.
Copyright 2014 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.
