Small Action = Massive Transformation
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For December 15, 2019:
Small Action = Massive Transformation
by Bethany Peerbolte
Isaiah 35:1-10, James 5:7-10, Luke 1:39-56
In the Scripture
Isaiah 35:1-10, James 5:7-10, Luke 1:39-56
The lectionary takes Mary’s song of praise out of the context of her visit to Elizabeth, but I encourage preachers to extend the selection to include their greeting to one another. These women, simply by being in community together, release healing and thanksgiving in one another. It is a beautiful moment of women supporting women. One is “on in years” the other is unwed and pregnant, two things the world did not, and still does not, look kindly on. Luke’s gospel does a gorgeous job of lifting the experiences of women. This first section of Luke is the only place in the Gospel writings where “women are given speeches that are not followed by the women being corrected” (Women’s Bible Commentary pg501). Read that again…. Hearing women speak without the mansplaining is reason enough to include as many of these women’s words as possible.
Elizabeth and Mary’s pregnancies are integrally linked because of the men they will raise. However, their experiences were notably different. Elizabeth’s partner is immediately overjoyed with her getting pregnant. Mary’s partner not so much. Thankfully he comes around to joyful. Elizabeth has a home she can prepare a nursery in, where she can nest as she waits for the baby. Mary is so uncomfortable in her home she leaves for three months. We don’t know exactly why she left, but we can give a good guess as to the social environment the unwed soon-to-be mother was enduring. Elizabeth had been waiting for this child, desperately wanted this child. Mary was just starting to plan a wedding, now she is planning for a baby.
Before we think Elizabeth had it easy, we need to remember that a few paragraphs before this visit Elizabeth was in despair. She was barren and saw that situation as the disgrace she had to endure. Getting pregnant helped her begin healing that hurt, but it isn’t until Mary walks in the door that she is whole again. Elizabeth sees this visit as an immense honor. The mother of her Lord has come. This declaration is the only time a woman makes a Christological confession in the Gospel (yet another reason to let these words be read on Sunday). This knowledge comes from being “filled with the Holy Spirit” when she hears Mary’s greeting.
Let’s break this down. Elizabeth is struggling with disgrace because she has not been blessed with a child. God answers her prayer and her home is filled with joy and gladness. Mary, weary from the stares and gossip of her neighbors, travels to Elizabeth’s home. When she arrives she greets Elizabeth and Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit. Essentially making her a prophet. Upon which Elizabeth declares that Mary’s son Jesus is Lord. Mary is so relieved by the warm joyful welcome it releases in her a prayer so beautiful we have named it The Magnificat.
Such simple human action, such powerful divine transformation.
Isaiah talks about grand transformations too, the eyes of the blind being opened and the ears of the deaf hearing. However, when we look at how these things are accomplished in the miracles Jesus performed they are done by such simple means, often by a simple touch or declaration. This is great news because when read another way we realize we are all blind and deaf to something. Knowing that this kind of spiritual healing does not take a huge procedure to fix is comforting.
Verse 5 is where eyes and ears are unstopped and immediately after that water is released into the dry, dying environment. Isaiah emphasizes that one effort can create a ripple that touches the whole eco system. Verse 6 is a continued metaphor about what changes in a life when they can finally see and hear God’s presence. It is like water breaking forth and turning burning sand into a cool refreshing pool. It creates a highway that is safe to travel, easy to follow, and leads to everlasting joy. All started with a healing touch.
James is a helpful addition because the audience he was writing to is still present in our pews. There are some that will hear the message “small efforts cause great transformation” and reply “when.” To James they are asking when does Jesus return. Church attenders this Sunday may be asking when will we see the transformation. James gives an answer to wait and trust. Like a farmer who trusts their effort to plan and tend to a seed will reap a fruitful plant, we too must sometimes wait for the fruits of our efforts.
In the News
During this time of the year we get to hear a few more heartwarming stories of how neighbors are helping one another. Any story where someone does a seemingly simple or small task that has a big impact will help congregations understand that transformation only needs a small nudge to get moving.
There is a small movement of people who are trying to live with zero waste. They do things like bringing their own mason jars to fill up with cereal, or ditching plastic waste bins for simply rinsing garbage bins after they dump the trash in the compactor. Among these zero wasters is a mantra, “We don’t need a handful of zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.” Essentially pointing out the need for serious recycling in every household.
As climate change barrels forward, many children are becoming so concerned about climate change they are finding ways to convince adults to act. In Vancouver, two sisters are holding their parents to a higher standard of recycling and consumption. They are walking more, reducing meat consumption, and simply being more careful when they buy products. Their parents hope these efforts will help reduce their daughters’ anxiety about climate change and begin a ripple effect of change in their community.
Taking smaller steps to achieve a bigger goal is also endorsed by Forbes. In a recent article the magazine encouraged readers to think small. They suggest starting with small goals like “sorting through the mail everyday” rather than making a resolution to “be more organized.” Once a person is consistent with the small goal and has created a habit, they are able to maintain the first goal and add another small goal to their expectations. Caroline Arnold calls these “micro resolutions” in her book Small Move, Big Change.
However, maybe we aren’t in a place where we can start setting goals. Perhaps life dealt a huge blow and the day to day tasks are already overwhelming. Even in grief, smaller is better. This advice is given by Carolyn Hax in her lifestyle column to a women suffering through a divorce. Carolyn suggests just doing what you need to do at the moment. If you need to go to work, be clean, dressed, and competent and worry about the next stuff after. Small steps create a new normal and make space for grief to be processed.
In the Sermon
It’s a worn-out sentiment, but…Christmas is stressful. We worry about who has the best decoration, who is giving us gifts that we need to reciprocate, and how all the cookies will get made in time. The news stations spend extra time reporting on heartwarming stories, but many of those are grand gestures of generosity. These verses can refocus us on the small efforts and affirm that they are just as impactful.
Mary changes Elizabeth by saying “Hello.” Elizabeth releases Mary’s song of praise with a joyful welcome. None of what these women do is extraordinary. The extraordinary part is the effect their actions have on each other. Just as God chooses imperfect people to do great things, God asks them to do seemingly small tasks that end up changing the world around them. When the only things getting recognition are the big gestures it paralyzes any will to help on a smaller scale. The thought creeps into our minds that we can’t make a difference if we can only give $5, or only volunteer for an hour. These verses free us back up to do what we can for one another.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Discovering Patience In A Frenzied Holiday
by Chris Keating
James 5:7-10
It’s the third week in Advent, and if you’re like most church folks your to do list is larger than Santa’s naughty list. Your desk is a mess, and there’s an annual report to be finished. You just got a call that the girl playing Mary has the flu and is “iffy” for Sunday. The head usher is demanding to know how many ushers will be needed for Christmas Eve. Your DCE is worried that the angel wings need to be pressed, and the music director says the tenors are threatening to boycott the cantata (again).
Merry Christmas, pastor.
Your first thought is that perhaps you should have planned better. But while proper planning may prevent poor performance, it can’t stop little Caitlyn from getting sick. The second thought is that perhaps you should have used one of those Christmas cool-looking planning templates you saw on Pinterest. But then you realize that the template says you should begin planning for Advent in August, and suddenly your spirit is sagging more than an old Christmas stocking.
Fatigued by your congregation’s lurching and rambling toward Christmas, you close your door for a few moments of quiet reflection and turn to this week’s lectionary lesson. Lo, this rose of a text is blooming: “Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.”
Before you contemplate whether Martin Luther was correct in adjudicating James as being nothing more than a “straw epistle,” take a step back from the whirling Christmas factory. Do something counter cultural, if only for a few moments. Explore the epistle’s context and its call to Christian practice. Reflect on James’ exhortation to patience and consider how this text could alter your congregation’s preparation for Christmas.
The sermon may write itself.
James is primarily an exposition on Christian wisdom and a call to maturity of faith. The letter addresses conflicts in community and offers a series of warnings: make sure faith is accompanied by sound practices (2:26), live peaceably and gently (3:17) and humbly, without coveting or judging (4:1-10) or judging others (4:12). The faithful are adjured to live with endurance and faithfulness so that “they may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.” (1:4).
Our cultural view of patience is often informed by stories of long-suffering sports fans who wade through their favorite teams’ dry spells. Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs fans understand this sort of patience. Most recently, Jeff Lanham of Milan, Indiana, discovered the hard work of patience when he vowed to stay on the roof of the restaurant he owns until the Cincinnati Bengal’s won a football game. What started as a joke soon became a well-publicized promise.
For the record, Lanham remained on the roof for 57 days until the Bengals beat the Jets. As a man of his word, Lanham even hosted Thanksgiving dinner on his roof. In case you’re considering sleeping in a tent on the roof of the church until the tenors quit complaining, consider that Lanham owns a restaurant and had access to showers and indoor plumbing.
Lanham certainly made his point, but the patience James expects is more than a stunt or even old-fashioned stubbornness. It recalls the faithfulness of Job in speaking back to God in his suffering, and the witness of the prophets in the face of social injustice. It summons the faithful to living with the expectant hope that arises from confidence in God. His words on patience follow closely James’ condemnation of the haughtiness of rich people. Those who have not been patient in acquiring riches have done so by ignoring the cries of the poor. “You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure,” James warns, “You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.”
The implication is that those who have lived in luxury were those whose frantic search for success and opulence are not those who understand the necessity of patience. James’ words call the church to a stance of prophetic waiting, even in times of crisis. His words are provocative, striking at the heart of faith that has become complicit with worldly ambition. The intensity of James’ words mirrors the striking actions of the Claremont, California, United Methodist Church in suburban Los Angeles. The church set up a nativity display last week depicting Mary, Joseph, and Jesus as refugees detained in cages, generating waves of responses.
Patience, as advocated by James, is not just the theological undercoating of the epistle, but indeed the life of the Christian. It’s an Advent message worth considering, especially with the holidays in full swing. Patience is under fire at every turn, and endurance has become a sort of “grin and bear it” routine instead of giving faithful witness to the coming of Christ.
There’s little patience observed in the ongoing impeachment hearings, and even less by pundits and commentators. Patience is not found in crowded shopping mall parking lots, or on Facebook where social media posts seem to draw out kneejerk snark. Even wide-eyed children find it hard to be patient, especially since there’s that sneaky Elf on the Shelf monitoring their every move.
Being patient may be a virtue, but it is also a Christian practice of faith sorely needed in navigating this hyperlinked, turbo-charged world of frenetic exceptionalism. So, offer to iron the angel wings, and gently remind the tenors they can’t always have their way. Let James’ message of patient endurance guide you this third Sunday of Advent.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Isaiah 35:1-10
Blooming
Isaiah promises an abundance of blooms in the dry desert, and yet we can miss the bloom if we aren’t seeing with attentive eyes. Poet and teacher Mark Nepo tells about a visit to his grandmother when he learned this.
“Jesus said, “The eye is the lamp of the soul.” This is an interesting phrase and metaphorically, not only does the eye see, but it lets light in and lets light out. Our heart, mind, being and self is our container of spirit: the one window we have on the world. So our window on life, in whatever way you want to look at it, is the conduit between who we are and the rest of the world — the rest of life. And we need to take care of that window, keep it clean and be able to open it, not just look through it.
Here’s a little story about windows. My beloved immigrant grandmother lived to be ninety-four and I loved to spend time with her. During the last spring of her life, on a beautiful day in May, I went to see her and found her sitting on the edge of her bed feeling glum. When I asked her what was wrong, she looked at the small window in her room and in her Russian accent said, “Ah, it’s a grey day.”
I immediately thought Oh, she’s not lucid. Then I looked at the window and saw that it hadn’t been cleaned in six months. So I said, “Grandma, the window’s dirty. We’ll get it cleaned and I’ll take you out in the courtyard.” She looked at the window and with the recognition and humor of someone who’d been here for almost a hundred years, sighed and said ‘Ah, gotta dirty eye, see a dirty world’.”
We have to be wise enough to see the blooms, when God brings them.
* * *
James 5:7-10
Patience
Advent reminds us every year that few of us are patient enough. Each year, the world around us operates faster, and Advent’s challenges are deeper. Still, life is willing to teach us patience, if we are willing to learn. Eve Hogan says that dementia is an excellent teacher. She says that, in addition to life’s other challenges, “My abilities are also challenged by dementia. In this case, my dad’s, not my own. Dementia teaches me acceptance by putting my impatience right in my face. In my work, I teach people that both patience and impatience only exist in the presence of annoyance. Patience is only a slightly better behaved version of impatience. I explain that the only way out of the patience and impatience trap is to practice acceptance of what is (rather than resistance to it) and then, figure out what to do about the situation.
So there I find myself, resisting that my dad has just asked me the same question for the thousandth time, or called me by my sister’s name for the millionth time. My annoyance rises; my resistance rears its ugly head. My ego is in charge and I feel frustrated and judgmental. Then my own teachings dance around my head tauntingly. I take a deep breath. I practice acceptance rather than resistance. I smile and lovingly answer to the wrong name and change my answer to the question slightly hoping this one will stick.”
There’s a mystery gift in her father’s forgetfulness, amid the lessons. “Oddly, I thank God that Dad can’t remember how impatient I was last time he asked me the question. His dementia gives me an opportunity to perfect my self-mastery. I am offered a new, moment-to-moment opportunity to get my response right. Perhaps all of our relationships would benefit from both the ability to be more careful and the ability to quickly forget when someone else wasn’t. Dementia is teaching me clarity and the importance of only saying what matters.”
Life offers us all a wealth of lessons in patience!
* * *
James 5:7-10
Patience, #2
We Americans hate to wait! We despise waiting for anything. Computer gurus say that “Internet users may be a particularly impatient bunch. His research has found that we're willing to be patient, on average, for two seconds while waiting for an online video to load. After five seconds, the abandonment rate is 25 percent. When you get to 10 seconds, half are gone.” Our problem is that “occupied time feels shorter than unoccupied time, so when we're standing in a long line or in a doctor's office waiting room, the time does feel as if it's dragging on. Waiting can provoke impatience, stress and anxiety, and in turn, anxiety also makes waits seem longer.”
The dreaded task of waiting in line can be another teacher of patience, if we let it be. Writer Carolyn Gregoire says, “Most of us would like to have more peace and stillness in our lives, and yet we don't make use of life's many daily opportunities to just be still and practice patience. No opportunity is better than when we're waiting — when we so often whip out our phones and busy ourselves with texts, emails, Candy Crush, Spotify or Twitter. But what if we welcomed these idle, luxuriously long in-between moments as opportunities to simply wait? In Japanese, there is a concept known as ma, which refers to a gap, pause or negative space between things. The term is generally used in the context of the Zen aesthetic, but it's also a useful construct when it comes to how we think of spending our time. We can use life's inevitable waiting periods as moments of ma — ways to create still points in our constantly turning worlds.”
Advent is a time of ma, giving us the opportunity to create some stillness as we anticipate God’s coming. She suggests that we use the time waiting in line to put down our phones and try one of these things: “Smile at a stranger. Practice a "sights and sounds" meditation, clearing your thoughts and simply directing your full awareness to the visual and auditory stimuli in your present environment. Let someone who's in a rush cut in front of you. Make a mental list of things you're grateful for. Take some deep breaths. Send a kind thought to someone you love. Read a book.”
Happy waiting!
* * *
Isaiah 35:1-10, Luke 1:46b-55
The Mystery Muffin Giver: Joy in Small Things
An anonymous, but generous, writer tells about her mom's secret pastime. “My Mom lives in a retirement community and she moved in after my dad passed. She loves it. Most of her neighbors in the apartments are widows just like her and they keep each other good company. In this community, though, while lunches and dinners are prepared in the dining room, there's no breakfast. Now, my mom is an early — and I mean early riser (between 4-5 AM). She likes to watch the sun rise daily. Before, when my dad was around and all of us hadn't moved out, she'd also be up baking. But she's quit baking now that there's no one to bake for. A few weeks back, though, I told her, "Why don't you bake your goodies and share it with your neighbors?" Make it a mystery so it will give them something to think about and it will be a treat to the ones that do not cook, especially the males and the sick. That way, You ALL win!" She loved the idea and now, she is back to baking! Each day, something new and no one has yet caught on. I even sent her some smile cards recently to add with her goodie treat! When I visit her, I also help her bake and deliver some of these glorious muffins to some dwellers on the other end of the complex! Everyone has been talking about. "Who is the Mystery Muffin Giver?" and "When will she strike again?" and "Whom will she target now?" They are all smiling, comparing their goodies, and talking about their favorites. More recently, I even got my mom a muffin cookbook. She's so cute — she hides it in the cabinet so she can try some new creative versions without anyone figuring out the Mystery Muffin Giver!”
A small thing can have a big impact — in both directions!
* * * * * *
From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
Isaiah 35:1-10
Trust Garmin No. 1
Isaiah describes the “Holy Way” highway home to Zion as so wide and well-marked that no one, not even fools, will get lost when they travel on it. In our world, today, that means that it will probably have lots of large, easy to read signs, and it will be regularly updated on Garmin and Waze.
I remember when GPS first made its way to the popular marketplace. I got a Garmin that plugged into my dashboard and sat in a beanbag on top so I could see the screen. Unfortunately, the program had not been recently updated so, the first time I used it, about half the time it told me that I was driving through a cornfield or in a river and warned me to “turn around at next available spot” so I could get on the right track.
That night I went home, plugged it into my computer and uploaded the most recent data into my new toy and I now do that about once a year. Since then, my friends have joined me in my travel mantra. “Do not doubt. Trust Garmin.”
* * *
Isaiah 35:1-10
Trust Garmin No. 2
One of the frustrating things about using GPS travel helpers is that they show you only the short plan. “Turn Left in 2 miles on Main Street.” That, and a promise that you’ll arrive at your ultimate destination at a certain time, is about all you get. When you turn left on Main Street, Garmin will tell you what the next step is, but that’s all.
There’s no big picture.
I like the specific instructions, sure, but I’d also like to know how the whole trip is laid out, what I can expect five, ten and even fifty miles down the road.
Yeah, I trust Garmin, sure. But only up to a point. It’s also nice to know what the whole trip is going to look like, what I can expect to see and experience as I go along the way.
Be that as it may, however, God, according to Isaiah, operates like Garmin: “Trust me. I’ll get you there in a way that’s so clear and easy, even fools won’t get lost.”
And, to be honest, when it comes to map reading, he’s describing me to a T.
* * *
James 5:7-10
Gimme Patience
There’s a bumper sticker/meme that says: “God, please grant me patience. Right now!”
It is popular and oft repeated because it’s so true for so many of us. Even Phillips Brooks, the great preacher and author of the Christmas carol, “O, Little Town of Bethlehem,” who was known for his quiet, faithful demeanor, occasionally experienced impatience.
The story goes that one day a friend entered the minister’s study and saw him pacing back and forth with a frown upon his face and his hands clasped behind his back. "What's the trouble, Mr. Brooks?" he asked.
"The trouble,” Brooks replied, “is that I'm in a hurry, but God isn't!"
* * *
James 5:7-10
3 More Candles
The same experiences that demanded patience of me when I was a child, now demand decisive action of me as an adult.
I remember as a child, sitting in church on the First Sunday of Advent and watching as they lit the first candle. I would think, “Oh, gee. Three more weeks to Christmas.” It seemed like an eternity.
Now I am an old man, with much to do and, as I watch them light the first Advent candle, I think, “Oh, no! Only three more weeks to Christmas.” It seems like a moment.
* * *
Matthew 11: 2-11
Now You See It
Human beings rely heavily on our eyes. Scientists tell us that even though we have five senses, we get about 80 percent of our input from vision. Yet, our eyes, by themselves, aren’t all that dependable.
Magicians know this and take advantage of it in their tricks. They use misdirection, convincing you to look here while they do something there that they don’t want you to see. They know how to use suggestion, convincing you that you saw something that you didn’t.
Referees and umpires know this. That’s why we have instant replay now available to officials so they can use the camera to see what they might have missed. And, even then, plays get muffed.
Like last week when Houston guard James Harden’s dunk went through the rim and net but wasn’t awarded two points because the referees were not sure the ball made it through. Video of the shot shows that it clearly went through and Houston should have been awarded 2 points.
(Houston lost to San Antonio 135-133 in double overtime but Harden’s dunk with 7:50 left in the fourth quarter would’ve put the Rockets up 104-89.)
The Innocence Project knows this. About 75 percent of the people they have exonerated and had released from prison after being convicted for crimes they didn’t commit have been sent to prison on faulty eyewitness testimony.
But in this week’s gospel lesson Jesus says that, where he is concerned, seeing is believing. We can, in fact, trust our eyes.
Is he the messiah? Look at him and tell us what you see?
“The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”
* * *
Matthew 11:2-11
Seeing Is Believing; Doing Is Faith
Jesus tells the disciples of John the Baptist to go back and tell John what they have seen. By this, it is supposed, John will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the one for which Israel has longed and waited.
But what about those of us who cannot see, first hand, what Jesus does. We have to rely on the hearsay evidence provided by the authors of the Gospels. That, and faith.
What, then, is the difference in belief and faith?
My father used to put it this way:
“If I watch you walk on a tightrope, pushing a wheelbarrow, across Niagara Falls a dozen times I will believe, without doubt, that you can do it. That’s belief. It requires nothing but intellectual assent. Faith, is what I have when I get in the wheelbarrow.”
* * * * * *
From team member Ron Love
Isaiah 35:1
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus
The wife of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Fannie, tragically died after her dress caught on fire. Henry, awoken from a nap, tried to extinguish the flames as best he could, first with a rug and then his own body, but his wife had already suffered severe burns. She died the next morning, July 10, 1861. Henry’s facial burns were severe enough that he was unable to attend his own wife’s funeral. He grew a beard to hide his burned face, and at times feared that he would be sent to an asylum on account of his grief.
In March 1863, 18-year-old Charles Appleton Longfellow, the oldest of six children, without his father’s blessing, walked out of his family’s house on Brattle Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He boarded a train bound for Washington, DC, traveling over 400 miles across the eastern seaboard in order to join President Lincoln’s Union Army to fight in the Civil War.
While dining at home on December 1, 1863, Longfellow received a telegram that his son had been severely wounded four days earlier in Virginia, while involved in the Battle of New Hope Church during the Mine Run Campaign. A bullet went through his left shoulder, exiting under his right shoulder blade. It had traveled across his back and skimmed his spine. Charley avoided being paralyzed by less than an inch.
On Christmas day, 1863, Longfellow, a 57-year-old widowed father of six children, with the oldest child still hospitalized from a battle wound, wrote a poem seeking to capture the distraught feelings in his own heart, and the feelings he observed in others residing in Cambridge. As he contemplated the tragedy of his own life and the grief that engulfed a nation, he heard Christmas bells and carolers singing “peace on earth.” This inspired Longfellow to write the poem Christmas Bells, which in 1872 became the song I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.
You can read the poem here. As you read the original poem, note how Longfellow intersperses the discouragement of war and the assurance of a coming peace.
* * *
Isaiah 35:8
A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God's people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.
He became one of the most popular and best-known singers whose career spanned more than a half-century, with his first song being sung publicly in 1943. The singer, Perry Como, began his adult life as a barber, who soon became known as the “Signing Barber.” Known for being a very personable performer, television viewers felt he was singing just for them. In the 1950s Como, along with Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole, were the most popular Christmas holiday singers.
In 1954, Como, celebrating his sixth year on television, knew he did not want to sing another generic holiday song, but one that reflected his own personality. Como was a very religious man, and he wanted a song that would reflect his faith. It would be a song that would reflect the meaning of Christmas for him; a time for the gathering of family and friends, and a time for worship and praise. He asked his two song writers, Al Stillman and Robert Allen, to write a song that would reflect Como’ personality and beliefs. The label under which Como sang, RCA, did not want the word “Christmas” used in the song, because a more generic word would generate more sales.
The early 1950s was a time when air travel was limited, and almost all major roads were two-lane blacktop. So, getting home for Christmas was a challenging task for families that were scattered across the nation, having returned from two wars — World War II and the Korean War. The song, (There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays, was written in one day, reflected family and friends gathering after a long cross-country journey. You can read the lyrics here.
* * *
Isaiah 35:1
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus
In 1949, the “Singing Cowboy” had a major hit song that captivated the nation. When Gene Autry sang Rudolf the Red-Noised Reindeer, people became sympathetic when Rudolf, the cast-off reindeer, was abused by the other reindeer that “Used to laugh and call him names They never let poor Rudolph Join in any reindeer games.” But the sympathy that people displayed turned to joy when Santa said, “Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say, Rudolph with your nose so bright, Won't you guide my sleigh tonight.” The other reindeer now admired Rudolf, and they even said Rudolf will be “The most famous reindeer of all.” The admiration of Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen went on to say “You'll go down in history.” The song touched the hearts of everyone as the cast-away reindeer was recognized as having value and attributes to admire.
At the time of the release of this Christmas song children were becoming less interested in cowboy songs, and even though Rudolf was a huge success, the Singing Cowboy’s career began to wane. Autry needed another song that would put him back on the charts.
Writers Jack Rollins and Steve Nelson presented the song Frosty the Snowman to Autry, who immediately liked it. While Rudolf was recorded in one day, months were spent on recording Frosty. The song, produced by Columbia Records, brought in Carl Cotner’s Orchestra for the music and the Cass County Boys for backup vocals. The song was released the following year in 1950, and like Rudolf, Frosty captured the souls of people everywhere. Once again Autry was at the top of the charts, with the song reaching number seven in December of that year. Even though Christmas is never mentioned in the lyrics, it became associated as a Christmas song.
In composing the song Rollins and Nelson came up with the idea that Christmas would lose its nostalgia without children playing in the snow. And being a Christmas song, there also needed to be a touch of magic: “That he came to life one day. There must have been some magic in that old silk hat they found.” But like Rudolf, the real appeal of the song is that it offered joy and hope. One need not fear, for the melting snowman offered hope for he would return: “Frosty the snowman had to hurry on his way. But he waved goodbye saying, ‘Don’t you cry I'll be back again, someday.’”
* * *
Luke 14:46b-55
John Betjeman was one of the most popular British poets of his age. He was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1972 until his death in 1984. Betjeman was an Anglican, and his religious beliefs came through in some of his poems. In a letter written on Christmas Day 1947, he wrote: “Also my view of the world is that man is born to fulfil the purposes of his Creator i.e. to Praise his Creator, to stand in awe of Him and to dread Him. In this way I differ from most modern poets, who are agnostics and have an idea that Man is the centre of the Universe or is a helpless bubble blown about by uncontrolled forces.” In his poem Christmas, he presents an affectionate portrait of the charm of the typical Christmas scene, which then culminates in a challenge that is presented in the last stanza. The line challenges us to accept the Incarnation with its irreplaceable connection to the Holy Eucharist.
No love that in a family dwells,
No caroling in frosty air,
Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
Can with this single Truth compare -
That God was man in Palestine
And lives today in Bread and Wine.
* * *
Luke 14:46b-55
The “Bright Morning Star” is considered to be the planet Venus, whose orbit lies between that of the earth and the sun. Therefore, it can never rise high in the night sky as seen from earth. Due to this positioning, in the eastern morning sky it is visible an hour or so before sunrise, and in the western evening sky it can be viewed an hour or so before sunset; but, it can never be seen during the dark hours of the night.
The Christological title of the Morning Star is one of the titles that is applied to Jesus. It comes to us from Revelation 22:16 which reads, “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” This important symbolism dictates that Jesus is the Messiah.
It is the brightest of all stars, setting to the forefront the splendor of Jesus. The star is the herald of the dawn, symbolic of the Resurrection and that Jesus will guide us through the coming day. In the dusk of the setting sun and the coming fear of the dark shadows of night, it is the assurance of protection. The star is a scepter that declares that Jesus is a representative of a prince. The star is a prominent symbol of royalty and power, enthroning Jesus as the King of kings and Lord of lords.
A star is not something that a nation can keep onto itself, for it is viewed by all people the world over. Jesus shines as far more than the Messiah of Israel, but as the savior of the world. This is one of the few biblical passages that thinks of the Messiah not only in terms of the exaltation of the Jewish nation, but of the enlightenment of all nations. The “Morning Star” is the assurance of guidance, protection and victory over the Satanic forces of evil.
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Give our land your justice, O God.
People: Send upon us your righteousness.
Leader: May righteousness flourish and peace abound.
People: Blessed be the God of Israel, who does wondrous things.
Leader: Blessed be God’s glorious name forever.
People: May God’s glory fill the whole earth. Amen and Amen.
OR
Leader: Come, let us worship our God and our Creator.
People: With joy we sing the praises of our God.
Leader: Let us celebrate the unity of being God’s children.
People: We rejoice that we are all one family in God.
Leader: Let us live out our beliefs in kindness to all.
People: We will reach out to others in care and grace.
Hymns and Songs:
Jesus Calls Us
UMH: 398
H82: 549/550
NNBH: 183
NCH: 171/172
CH: 337
LBW: 494
ELW: 696
W&P: 345
AMEC: 238
I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light
UMH: 206
H82: 490
ELW: 815
W&P: 248
Renew: 152549/550
Lord, Speak to Me
UMH: 463
PH: 426
NCH: 531
ELW: 676
W&P: 593
Lord, I Want to Be a Christian
UMH: 402
PH: 372
AAHH: 463
NNBH: 156
NCH: 454
CH: 589
W&P: 457
AMEC: 282
Renew: 145
What Does the Lord Require?
UMH: 441
H82: 605
PH: 405
CH: 659
W&P: 686
Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates
UMH: 213
H82: 436
PH: 8
NCH: 117
CH: 129
LBW: 32
W&P: 176
AMEC: 94
Renew: 59
Take Up Thy Cross
UMH: 415
H82: 675
PH: 393
LBW: 398
ELW: 667
W&P: 351
AMEC: 294
Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life
UMH: 427
H82: 609
PH: 408
NCH: 543
CH: 665
LBW: 429
ELW: 719
W&P: 591
AMEC: 561
Make Me a Servant
CCB: 90
You Are Mine
CCB: 58
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
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 is the Creator of us all
Grant us the grace to remember that we are your children
and all humanity is part of our family which we lovingly embrace;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are the One who created us all. You have made us sisters and brothers one to the other. Help us to remember whose family humanity is so that we can embrace on another in love. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially the ways in which we abuse one another often in God’s name.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have been blessed with a world full of sisters and brothers and yet we isolate ourselves from each other finding division where there is unity. We talk about our faith but we often fail to live it in our daily dealings with one another. Instead of our faith uniting us we use it to separate and condemn. Help us hear you calling us back to you and to being in community with all your children. Amen.
Leader: God is always calling us home to be in communion with God and with one another. Receive God’s love and grace and share it with your sisters and brothers this week.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory be to you, O God, who is our hope. In you alone we find our unity and our peace.
(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 been blessed with a world full of sisters and brothers and yet we isolate ourselves from each other finding division where there is unity. We talk about our faith but we often fail to live it in our daily dealings with one another. Instead of our faith uniting us we use it to separate and condemn. Help us hear you calling us back to you and to being in community with all your children.
We thank you for the prophets of old and of now who remind us that we are all your children. We thank you for those who accept us even though we are different from them. We thank you for your Spirit that unites us all in your own self.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for those who feel rejected and despised because people see them as being different. We pray for the bonds of peace and hope to unite us all in your holy family.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Read Isaiah 9:6-7.
This Sunday is about peace. Do you ever argue with your sisters or brothers or your friends. Maybe you want to play one game and they want to play something else. When we don’t get along it isn’t very much fun. It makes us feel sad or maybe mad. Isaiah reminds us that God wants us to be in peace, to get along. God wants it for us and for everyone. God invites us to help make peace happen by trying to get along with each other and helping others.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Releasing The Joy
by Tom Willadsen
Isaiah 35:1-10, James 5:7-10
Isaiah 35:1-10
Suggestion #1 (No props besides kids willing to answer questions.)
There are wonderful, contrasting images in Isaiah that can help the kids really understand the transformation Isaiah.
Ask the kids:
“What is the opposite of weak?”
What is the opposite of feeble? (They might not recognize this word; you might suggest other ways to convey “feeble.” Perhaps “clumsy,” “unsteady walking.” Or ask What is the opposite of feeble-minded?)
What is the opposite of fear/afraid?
What is the opposite of blind?
What is the opposite of deaf?
What is the opposite of mute? (Again, they might not recognize the term.)
What is the opposite of anosmic? Think of this as bonus question; it doesn’t exactly relate to Isaiah. Anosmic is the inability to smell or taste.
Tying things more closely to the text, building to the conclusion. Ask what a person who is no longer feeble can do. When they say “walk,” ask them “What’s better than walking?” lead them to “leap like a deer.”
Do the same thing with what can someone do who is no longer mute? After they say “talk” or “speak” lead them toward, “sing for joy!”
* * *
Isaiah 35:1-10
Suggestion #2 (No props besides kids willing to answer questions.)
In v. 8 Isaiah calls a highway the “Holy Way.” Here’s the thing about highways. They can be high, that is elevated above the ground, such that they are not impeded by things like rivers or crossroads. They can also be high in the sense of “the high seas,” which means “open to all” or “public.”
There will not be bandits or predators on the Lord’s highway. More importantly, “no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.” [NRSV] Ask if they have ever been lost. Lots of children have stories of being afraid when they got lost in the supermarket or got separated from a parent at the mall or some other public place.
Most families have stories about getting lost. Many of them, if they’re told through the years take on a certain “ha ha, we got through that all right,” spirit. In the moment, however, people get tense, tempers get short and it can be frustrating, if not outright anxiety producing. Try to get the kids to see that the Holy Highway will be so fabulous and clearly marked that it will be impossible to get lost on it.
You might want to select one of the kids and ask her to spin around three times with her eyes closed, then try to walk in a straight line. Even stumbling like that will not be possible. That’s how awesome the Holy Highway will be.
* * *
James 5:7-10
Only suggestion — Be patient (no props needed)
With Christmas just ten days away, anticipation and excitement are running high among the little ones today. This is also the Third Sunday of Advent, the day that we light the pink/joy candle. One way to look at that is that the joy is building up so much that we need to let a little out, otherwise we’ll explode with too much joy. Imagine the pink candle as a symbolic release valve as on a pressure cooker.
Ask the kids if they’re waiting for anything, is anything special coming up? There may be specific presents they’re waiting/hoping for. You don’t want to turn this into a visit with Santa, but it is helpful for them to focus on something in particular they’re waiting for. You might want to suggest visits to grandparents, or cousins visiting, coinciding with presents.
Ask them to define “patience.” Ask whether they’ve ever had to be patient, or if someone have ever told them to be patient. “Is it easy to be patient?” “Does being told to be patient make being patient easier?” Ask what they do when they’re being patient. Do they try to think about other things, or do something physical to get their minds off what they’re waiting for?
The lesson from James reminds us that farmers have to be patient waiting for their crops to be harvested.
Patience is a virtue.
Things happen on the Lord’s time. We know when Christmas will come, but we do not know when Christ will return. No one knows. All we can do is be patient and stay ready.
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The Immediate Word, December 15, 2019 issue.
Copyright 2019 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.
- Small Action = Massive Transformation by Bethany Peerbolte — We live in a culture that admires accomplishment, time management, and overworking for a cause or passion, The verses from this week’s lectionary tell us to operate a little differently...
- Second Thoughts: Discovering Patience In A Frenzied Holiday by Chris Keating — James’ Advent message may provide healing comfort to those ensnared by nonstop Christmas activities.
- Sermon illustrations by Mary Austin, Dean Feldmeyer, and Ron Love.
- Worship resources by George Reed that focus on how small things can make a large difference; patience.
- Children’s sermon: Releasing the Joy by Tom Willadsen — With Christmas so close, anticipation and excitement are running high among the little ones. Imagine the pink candle as a symbolic release valve as on a pressure cooker.
Small Action = Massive Transformationby Bethany Peerbolte
Isaiah 35:1-10, James 5:7-10, Luke 1:39-56
In the Scripture
Isaiah 35:1-10, James 5:7-10, Luke 1:39-56
The lectionary takes Mary’s song of praise out of the context of her visit to Elizabeth, but I encourage preachers to extend the selection to include their greeting to one another. These women, simply by being in community together, release healing and thanksgiving in one another. It is a beautiful moment of women supporting women. One is “on in years” the other is unwed and pregnant, two things the world did not, and still does not, look kindly on. Luke’s gospel does a gorgeous job of lifting the experiences of women. This first section of Luke is the only place in the Gospel writings where “women are given speeches that are not followed by the women being corrected” (Women’s Bible Commentary pg501). Read that again…. Hearing women speak without the mansplaining is reason enough to include as many of these women’s words as possible.
Elizabeth and Mary’s pregnancies are integrally linked because of the men they will raise. However, their experiences were notably different. Elizabeth’s partner is immediately overjoyed with her getting pregnant. Mary’s partner not so much. Thankfully he comes around to joyful. Elizabeth has a home she can prepare a nursery in, where she can nest as she waits for the baby. Mary is so uncomfortable in her home she leaves for three months. We don’t know exactly why she left, but we can give a good guess as to the social environment the unwed soon-to-be mother was enduring. Elizabeth had been waiting for this child, desperately wanted this child. Mary was just starting to plan a wedding, now she is planning for a baby.
Before we think Elizabeth had it easy, we need to remember that a few paragraphs before this visit Elizabeth was in despair. She was barren and saw that situation as the disgrace she had to endure. Getting pregnant helped her begin healing that hurt, but it isn’t until Mary walks in the door that she is whole again. Elizabeth sees this visit as an immense honor. The mother of her Lord has come. This declaration is the only time a woman makes a Christological confession in the Gospel (yet another reason to let these words be read on Sunday). This knowledge comes from being “filled with the Holy Spirit” when she hears Mary’s greeting.
Let’s break this down. Elizabeth is struggling with disgrace because she has not been blessed with a child. God answers her prayer and her home is filled with joy and gladness. Mary, weary from the stares and gossip of her neighbors, travels to Elizabeth’s home. When she arrives she greets Elizabeth and Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit. Essentially making her a prophet. Upon which Elizabeth declares that Mary’s son Jesus is Lord. Mary is so relieved by the warm joyful welcome it releases in her a prayer so beautiful we have named it The Magnificat.
Such simple human action, such powerful divine transformation.
Isaiah talks about grand transformations too, the eyes of the blind being opened and the ears of the deaf hearing. However, when we look at how these things are accomplished in the miracles Jesus performed they are done by such simple means, often by a simple touch or declaration. This is great news because when read another way we realize we are all blind and deaf to something. Knowing that this kind of spiritual healing does not take a huge procedure to fix is comforting.
Verse 5 is where eyes and ears are unstopped and immediately after that water is released into the dry, dying environment. Isaiah emphasizes that one effort can create a ripple that touches the whole eco system. Verse 6 is a continued metaphor about what changes in a life when they can finally see and hear God’s presence. It is like water breaking forth and turning burning sand into a cool refreshing pool. It creates a highway that is safe to travel, easy to follow, and leads to everlasting joy. All started with a healing touch.
James is a helpful addition because the audience he was writing to is still present in our pews. There are some that will hear the message “small efforts cause great transformation” and reply “when.” To James they are asking when does Jesus return. Church attenders this Sunday may be asking when will we see the transformation. James gives an answer to wait and trust. Like a farmer who trusts their effort to plan and tend to a seed will reap a fruitful plant, we too must sometimes wait for the fruits of our efforts.
In the News
During this time of the year we get to hear a few more heartwarming stories of how neighbors are helping one another. Any story where someone does a seemingly simple or small task that has a big impact will help congregations understand that transformation only needs a small nudge to get moving.
There is a small movement of people who are trying to live with zero waste. They do things like bringing their own mason jars to fill up with cereal, or ditching plastic waste bins for simply rinsing garbage bins after they dump the trash in the compactor. Among these zero wasters is a mantra, “We don’t need a handful of zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.” Essentially pointing out the need for serious recycling in every household.
As climate change barrels forward, many children are becoming so concerned about climate change they are finding ways to convince adults to act. In Vancouver, two sisters are holding their parents to a higher standard of recycling and consumption. They are walking more, reducing meat consumption, and simply being more careful when they buy products. Their parents hope these efforts will help reduce their daughters’ anxiety about climate change and begin a ripple effect of change in their community.
Taking smaller steps to achieve a bigger goal is also endorsed by Forbes. In a recent article the magazine encouraged readers to think small. They suggest starting with small goals like “sorting through the mail everyday” rather than making a resolution to “be more organized.” Once a person is consistent with the small goal and has created a habit, they are able to maintain the first goal and add another small goal to their expectations. Caroline Arnold calls these “micro resolutions” in her book Small Move, Big Change.
However, maybe we aren’t in a place where we can start setting goals. Perhaps life dealt a huge blow and the day to day tasks are already overwhelming. Even in grief, smaller is better. This advice is given by Carolyn Hax in her lifestyle column to a women suffering through a divorce. Carolyn suggests just doing what you need to do at the moment. If you need to go to work, be clean, dressed, and competent and worry about the next stuff after. Small steps create a new normal and make space for grief to be processed.
In the Sermon
It’s a worn-out sentiment, but…Christmas is stressful. We worry about who has the best decoration, who is giving us gifts that we need to reciprocate, and how all the cookies will get made in time. The news stations spend extra time reporting on heartwarming stories, but many of those are grand gestures of generosity. These verses can refocus us on the small efforts and affirm that they are just as impactful.
Mary changes Elizabeth by saying “Hello.” Elizabeth releases Mary’s song of praise with a joyful welcome. None of what these women do is extraordinary. The extraordinary part is the effect their actions have on each other. Just as God chooses imperfect people to do great things, God asks them to do seemingly small tasks that end up changing the world around them. When the only things getting recognition are the big gestures it paralyzes any will to help on a smaller scale. The thought creeps into our minds that we can’t make a difference if we can only give $5, or only volunteer for an hour. These verses free us back up to do what we can for one another.
SECOND THOUGHTSDiscovering Patience In A Frenzied Holiday
by Chris Keating
James 5:7-10
It’s the third week in Advent, and if you’re like most church folks your to do list is larger than Santa’s naughty list. Your desk is a mess, and there’s an annual report to be finished. You just got a call that the girl playing Mary has the flu and is “iffy” for Sunday. The head usher is demanding to know how many ushers will be needed for Christmas Eve. Your DCE is worried that the angel wings need to be pressed, and the music director says the tenors are threatening to boycott the cantata (again).
Merry Christmas, pastor.
Your first thought is that perhaps you should have planned better. But while proper planning may prevent poor performance, it can’t stop little Caitlyn from getting sick. The second thought is that perhaps you should have used one of those Christmas cool-looking planning templates you saw on Pinterest. But then you realize that the template says you should begin planning for Advent in August, and suddenly your spirit is sagging more than an old Christmas stocking.
Fatigued by your congregation’s lurching and rambling toward Christmas, you close your door for a few moments of quiet reflection and turn to this week’s lectionary lesson. Lo, this rose of a text is blooming: “Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.”
Before you contemplate whether Martin Luther was correct in adjudicating James as being nothing more than a “straw epistle,” take a step back from the whirling Christmas factory. Do something counter cultural, if only for a few moments. Explore the epistle’s context and its call to Christian practice. Reflect on James’ exhortation to patience and consider how this text could alter your congregation’s preparation for Christmas.
The sermon may write itself.
James is primarily an exposition on Christian wisdom and a call to maturity of faith. The letter addresses conflicts in community and offers a series of warnings: make sure faith is accompanied by sound practices (2:26), live peaceably and gently (3:17) and humbly, without coveting or judging (4:1-10) or judging others (4:12). The faithful are adjured to live with endurance and faithfulness so that “they may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.” (1:4).
Our cultural view of patience is often informed by stories of long-suffering sports fans who wade through their favorite teams’ dry spells. Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs fans understand this sort of patience. Most recently, Jeff Lanham of Milan, Indiana, discovered the hard work of patience when he vowed to stay on the roof of the restaurant he owns until the Cincinnati Bengal’s won a football game. What started as a joke soon became a well-publicized promise.
For the record, Lanham remained on the roof for 57 days until the Bengals beat the Jets. As a man of his word, Lanham even hosted Thanksgiving dinner on his roof. In case you’re considering sleeping in a tent on the roof of the church until the tenors quit complaining, consider that Lanham owns a restaurant and had access to showers and indoor plumbing.
Lanham certainly made his point, but the patience James expects is more than a stunt or even old-fashioned stubbornness. It recalls the faithfulness of Job in speaking back to God in his suffering, and the witness of the prophets in the face of social injustice. It summons the faithful to living with the expectant hope that arises from confidence in God. His words on patience follow closely James’ condemnation of the haughtiness of rich people. Those who have not been patient in acquiring riches have done so by ignoring the cries of the poor. “You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure,” James warns, “You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.”
The implication is that those who have lived in luxury were those whose frantic search for success and opulence are not those who understand the necessity of patience. James’ words call the church to a stance of prophetic waiting, even in times of crisis. His words are provocative, striking at the heart of faith that has become complicit with worldly ambition. The intensity of James’ words mirrors the striking actions of the Claremont, California, United Methodist Church in suburban Los Angeles. The church set up a nativity display last week depicting Mary, Joseph, and Jesus as refugees detained in cages, generating waves of responses.
Patience, as advocated by James, is not just the theological undercoating of the epistle, but indeed the life of the Christian. It’s an Advent message worth considering, especially with the holidays in full swing. Patience is under fire at every turn, and endurance has become a sort of “grin and bear it” routine instead of giving faithful witness to the coming of Christ.
There’s little patience observed in the ongoing impeachment hearings, and even less by pundits and commentators. Patience is not found in crowded shopping mall parking lots, or on Facebook where social media posts seem to draw out kneejerk snark. Even wide-eyed children find it hard to be patient, especially since there’s that sneaky Elf on the Shelf monitoring their every move.
Being patient may be a virtue, but it is also a Christian practice of faith sorely needed in navigating this hyperlinked, turbo-charged world of frenetic exceptionalism. So, offer to iron the angel wings, and gently remind the tenors they can’t always have their way. Let James’ message of patient endurance guide you this third Sunday of Advent.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:Isaiah 35:1-10
Blooming
Isaiah promises an abundance of blooms in the dry desert, and yet we can miss the bloom if we aren’t seeing with attentive eyes. Poet and teacher Mark Nepo tells about a visit to his grandmother when he learned this.
“Jesus said, “The eye is the lamp of the soul.” This is an interesting phrase and metaphorically, not only does the eye see, but it lets light in and lets light out. Our heart, mind, being and self is our container of spirit: the one window we have on the world. So our window on life, in whatever way you want to look at it, is the conduit between who we are and the rest of the world — the rest of life. And we need to take care of that window, keep it clean and be able to open it, not just look through it.
Here’s a little story about windows. My beloved immigrant grandmother lived to be ninety-four and I loved to spend time with her. During the last spring of her life, on a beautiful day in May, I went to see her and found her sitting on the edge of her bed feeling glum. When I asked her what was wrong, she looked at the small window in her room and in her Russian accent said, “Ah, it’s a grey day.”
I immediately thought Oh, she’s not lucid. Then I looked at the window and saw that it hadn’t been cleaned in six months. So I said, “Grandma, the window’s dirty. We’ll get it cleaned and I’ll take you out in the courtyard.” She looked at the window and with the recognition and humor of someone who’d been here for almost a hundred years, sighed and said ‘Ah, gotta dirty eye, see a dirty world’.”
We have to be wise enough to see the blooms, when God brings them.
* * *
James 5:7-10
Patience
Advent reminds us every year that few of us are patient enough. Each year, the world around us operates faster, and Advent’s challenges are deeper. Still, life is willing to teach us patience, if we are willing to learn. Eve Hogan says that dementia is an excellent teacher. She says that, in addition to life’s other challenges, “My abilities are also challenged by dementia. In this case, my dad’s, not my own. Dementia teaches me acceptance by putting my impatience right in my face. In my work, I teach people that both patience and impatience only exist in the presence of annoyance. Patience is only a slightly better behaved version of impatience. I explain that the only way out of the patience and impatience trap is to practice acceptance of what is (rather than resistance to it) and then, figure out what to do about the situation.
So there I find myself, resisting that my dad has just asked me the same question for the thousandth time, or called me by my sister’s name for the millionth time. My annoyance rises; my resistance rears its ugly head. My ego is in charge and I feel frustrated and judgmental. Then my own teachings dance around my head tauntingly. I take a deep breath. I practice acceptance rather than resistance. I smile and lovingly answer to the wrong name and change my answer to the question slightly hoping this one will stick.”
There’s a mystery gift in her father’s forgetfulness, amid the lessons. “Oddly, I thank God that Dad can’t remember how impatient I was last time he asked me the question. His dementia gives me an opportunity to perfect my self-mastery. I am offered a new, moment-to-moment opportunity to get my response right. Perhaps all of our relationships would benefit from both the ability to be more careful and the ability to quickly forget when someone else wasn’t. Dementia is teaching me clarity and the importance of only saying what matters.”
Life offers us all a wealth of lessons in patience!
* * *
James 5:7-10
Patience, #2
We Americans hate to wait! We despise waiting for anything. Computer gurus say that “Internet users may be a particularly impatient bunch. His research has found that we're willing to be patient, on average, for two seconds while waiting for an online video to load. After five seconds, the abandonment rate is 25 percent. When you get to 10 seconds, half are gone.” Our problem is that “occupied time feels shorter than unoccupied time, so when we're standing in a long line or in a doctor's office waiting room, the time does feel as if it's dragging on. Waiting can provoke impatience, stress and anxiety, and in turn, anxiety also makes waits seem longer.”
The dreaded task of waiting in line can be another teacher of patience, if we let it be. Writer Carolyn Gregoire says, “Most of us would like to have more peace and stillness in our lives, and yet we don't make use of life's many daily opportunities to just be still and practice patience. No opportunity is better than when we're waiting — when we so often whip out our phones and busy ourselves with texts, emails, Candy Crush, Spotify or Twitter. But what if we welcomed these idle, luxuriously long in-between moments as opportunities to simply wait? In Japanese, there is a concept known as ma, which refers to a gap, pause or negative space between things. The term is generally used in the context of the Zen aesthetic, but it's also a useful construct when it comes to how we think of spending our time. We can use life's inevitable waiting periods as moments of ma — ways to create still points in our constantly turning worlds.”
Advent is a time of ma, giving us the opportunity to create some stillness as we anticipate God’s coming. She suggests that we use the time waiting in line to put down our phones and try one of these things: “Smile at a stranger. Practice a "sights and sounds" meditation, clearing your thoughts and simply directing your full awareness to the visual and auditory stimuli in your present environment. Let someone who's in a rush cut in front of you. Make a mental list of things you're grateful for. Take some deep breaths. Send a kind thought to someone you love. Read a book.”
Happy waiting!
* * *
Isaiah 35:1-10, Luke 1:46b-55
The Mystery Muffin Giver: Joy in Small Things
An anonymous, but generous, writer tells about her mom's secret pastime. “My Mom lives in a retirement community and she moved in after my dad passed. She loves it. Most of her neighbors in the apartments are widows just like her and they keep each other good company. In this community, though, while lunches and dinners are prepared in the dining room, there's no breakfast. Now, my mom is an early — and I mean early riser (between 4-5 AM). She likes to watch the sun rise daily. Before, when my dad was around and all of us hadn't moved out, she'd also be up baking. But she's quit baking now that there's no one to bake for. A few weeks back, though, I told her, "Why don't you bake your goodies and share it with your neighbors?" Make it a mystery so it will give them something to think about and it will be a treat to the ones that do not cook, especially the males and the sick. That way, You ALL win!" She loved the idea and now, she is back to baking! Each day, something new and no one has yet caught on. I even sent her some smile cards recently to add with her goodie treat! When I visit her, I also help her bake and deliver some of these glorious muffins to some dwellers on the other end of the complex! Everyone has been talking about. "Who is the Mystery Muffin Giver?" and "When will she strike again?" and "Whom will she target now?" They are all smiling, comparing their goodies, and talking about their favorites. More recently, I even got my mom a muffin cookbook. She's so cute — she hides it in the cabinet so she can try some new creative versions without anyone figuring out the Mystery Muffin Giver!”
A small thing can have a big impact — in both directions!
* * * * * *
From team member Dean Feldmeyer:Isaiah 35:1-10
Trust Garmin No. 1
Isaiah describes the “Holy Way” highway home to Zion as so wide and well-marked that no one, not even fools, will get lost when they travel on it. In our world, today, that means that it will probably have lots of large, easy to read signs, and it will be regularly updated on Garmin and Waze.
I remember when GPS first made its way to the popular marketplace. I got a Garmin that plugged into my dashboard and sat in a beanbag on top so I could see the screen. Unfortunately, the program had not been recently updated so, the first time I used it, about half the time it told me that I was driving through a cornfield or in a river and warned me to “turn around at next available spot” so I could get on the right track.
That night I went home, plugged it into my computer and uploaded the most recent data into my new toy and I now do that about once a year. Since then, my friends have joined me in my travel mantra. “Do not doubt. Trust Garmin.”
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Isaiah 35:1-10
Trust Garmin No. 2
One of the frustrating things about using GPS travel helpers is that they show you only the short plan. “Turn Left in 2 miles on Main Street.” That, and a promise that you’ll arrive at your ultimate destination at a certain time, is about all you get. When you turn left on Main Street, Garmin will tell you what the next step is, but that’s all.
There’s no big picture.
I like the specific instructions, sure, but I’d also like to know how the whole trip is laid out, what I can expect five, ten and even fifty miles down the road.
Yeah, I trust Garmin, sure. But only up to a point. It’s also nice to know what the whole trip is going to look like, what I can expect to see and experience as I go along the way.
Be that as it may, however, God, according to Isaiah, operates like Garmin: “Trust me. I’ll get you there in a way that’s so clear and easy, even fools won’t get lost.”
And, to be honest, when it comes to map reading, he’s describing me to a T.
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James 5:7-10
Gimme Patience
There’s a bumper sticker/meme that says: “God, please grant me patience. Right now!”
It is popular and oft repeated because it’s so true for so many of us. Even Phillips Brooks, the great preacher and author of the Christmas carol, “O, Little Town of Bethlehem,” who was known for his quiet, faithful demeanor, occasionally experienced impatience.
The story goes that one day a friend entered the minister’s study and saw him pacing back and forth with a frown upon his face and his hands clasped behind his back. "What's the trouble, Mr. Brooks?" he asked.
"The trouble,” Brooks replied, “is that I'm in a hurry, but God isn't!"
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James 5:7-10
3 More Candles
The same experiences that demanded patience of me when I was a child, now demand decisive action of me as an adult.
I remember as a child, sitting in church on the First Sunday of Advent and watching as they lit the first candle. I would think, “Oh, gee. Three more weeks to Christmas.” It seemed like an eternity.
Now I am an old man, with much to do and, as I watch them light the first Advent candle, I think, “Oh, no! Only three more weeks to Christmas.” It seems like a moment.
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Matthew 11: 2-11
Now You See It
Human beings rely heavily on our eyes. Scientists tell us that even though we have five senses, we get about 80 percent of our input from vision. Yet, our eyes, by themselves, aren’t all that dependable.
Magicians know this and take advantage of it in their tricks. They use misdirection, convincing you to look here while they do something there that they don’t want you to see. They know how to use suggestion, convincing you that you saw something that you didn’t.
Referees and umpires know this. That’s why we have instant replay now available to officials so they can use the camera to see what they might have missed. And, even then, plays get muffed.
Like last week when Houston guard James Harden’s dunk went through the rim and net but wasn’t awarded two points because the referees were not sure the ball made it through. Video of the shot shows that it clearly went through and Houston should have been awarded 2 points.
(Houston lost to San Antonio 135-133 in double overtime but Harden’s dunk with 7:50 left in the fourth quarter would’ve put the Rockets up 104-89.)
The Innocence Project knows this. About 75 percent of the people they have exonerated and had released from prison after being convicted for crimes they didn’t commit have been sent to prison on faulty eyewitness testimony.
But in this week’s gospel lesson Jesus says that, where he is concerned, seeing is believing. We can, in fact, trust our eyes.
Is he the messiah? Look at him and tell us what you see?
“The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”
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Matthew 11:2-11
Seeing Is Believing; Doing Is Faith
Jesus tells the disciples of John the Baptist to go back and tell John what they have seen. By this, it is supposed, John will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the one for which Israel has longed and waited.
But what about those of us who cannot see, first hand, what Jesus does. We have to rely on the hearsay evidence provided by the authors of the Gospels. That, and faith.
What, then, is the difference in belief and faith?
My father used to put it this way:
“If I watch you walk on a tightrope, pushing a wheelbarrow, across Niagara Falls a dozen times I will believe, without doubt, that you can do it. That’s belief. It requires nothing but intellectual assent. Faith, is what I have when I get in the wheelbarrow.”
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From team member Ron LoveIsaiah 35:1
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus
The wife of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Fannie, tragically died after her dress caught on fire. Henry, awoken from a nap, tried to extinguish the flames as best he could, first with a rug and then his own body, but his wife had already suffered severe burns. She died the next morning, July 10, 1861. Henry’s facial burns were severe enough that he was unable to attend his own wife’s funeral. He grew a beard to hide his burned face, and at times feared that he would be sent to an asylum on account of his grief.
In March 1863, 18-year-old Charles Appleton Longfellow, the oldest of six children, without his father’s blessing, walked out of his family’s house on Brattle Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He boarded a train bound for Washington, DC, traveling over 400 miles across the eastern seaboard in order to join President Lincoln’s Union Army to fight in the Civil War.
While dining at home on December 1, 1863, Longfellow received a telegram that his son had been severely wounded four days earlier in Virginia, while involved in the Battle of New Hope Church during the Mine Run Campaign. A bullet went through his left shoulder, exiting under his right shoulder blade. It had traveled across his back and skimmed his spine. Charley avoided being paralyzed by less than an inch.
On Christmas day, 1863, Longfellow, a 57-year-old widowed father of six children, with the oldest child still hospitalized from a battle wound, wrote a poem seeking to capture the distraught feelings in his own heart, and the feelings he observed in others residing in Cambridge. As he contemplated the tragedy of his own life and the grief that engulfed a nation, he heard Christmas bells and carolers singing “peace on earth.” This inspired Longfellow to write the poem Christmas Bells, which in 1872 became the song I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.
You can read the poem here. As you read the original poem, note how Longfellow intersperses the discouragement of war and the assurance of a coming peace.
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Isaiah 35:8
A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God's people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.
He became one of the most popular and best-known singers whose career spanned more than a half-century, with his first song being sung publicly in 1943. The singer, Perry Como, began his adult life as a barber, who soon became known as the “Signing Barber.” Known for being a very personable performer, television viewers felt he was singing just for them. In the 1950s Como, along with Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole, were the most popular Christmas holiday singers.
In 1954, Como, celebrating his sixth year on television, knew he did not want to sing another generic holiday song, but one that reflected his own personality. Como was a very religious man, and he wanted a song that would reflect his faith. It would be a song that would reflect the meaning of Christmas for him; a time for the gathering of family and friends, and a time for worship and praise. He asked his two song writers, Al Stillman and Robert Allen, to write a song that would reflect Como’ personality and beliefs. The label under which Como sang, RCA, did not want the word “Christmas” used in the song, because a more generic word would generate more sales.
The early 1950s was a time when air travel was limited, and almost all major roads were two-lane blacktop. So, getting home for Christmas was a challenging task for families that were scattered across the nation, having returned from two wars — World War II and the Korean War. The song, (There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays, was written in one day, reflected family and friends gathering after a long cross-country journey. You can read the lyrics here.
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Isaiah 35:1
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus
In 1949, the “Singing Cowboy” had a major hit song that captivated the nation. When Gene Autry sang Rudolf the Red-Noised Reindeer, people became sympathetic when Rudolf, the cast-off reindeer, was abused by the other reindeer that “Used to laugh and call him names They never let poor Rudolph Join in any reindeer games.” But the sympathy that people displayed turned to joy when Santa said, “Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say, Rudolph with your nose so bright, Won't you guide my sleigh tonight.” The other reindeer now admired Rudolf, and they even said Rudolf will be “The most famous reindeer of all.” The admiration of Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen went on to say “You'll go down in history.” The song touched the hearts of everyone as the cast-away reindeer was recognized as having value and attributes to admire.
At the time of the release of this Christmas song children were becoming less interested in cowboy songs, and even though Rudolf was a huge success, the Singing Cowboy’s career began to wane. Autry needed another song that would put him back on the charts.
Writers Jack Rollins and Steve Nelson presented the song Frosty the Snowman to Autry, who immediately liked it. While Rudolf was recorded in one day, months were spent on recording Frosty. The song, produced by Columbia Records, brought in Carl Cotner’s Orchestra for the music and the Cass County Boys for backup vocals. The song was released the following year in 1950, and like Rudolf, Frosty captured the souls of people everywhere. Once again Autry was at the top of the charts, with the song reaching number seven in December of that year. Even though Christmas is never mentioned in the lyrics, it became associated as a Christmas song.
In composing the song Rollins and Nelson came up with the idea that Christmas would lose its nostalgia without children playing in the snow. And being a Christmas song, there also needed to be a touch of magic: “That he came to life one day. There must have been some magic in that old silk hat they found.” But like Rudolf, the real appeal of the song is that it offered joy and hope. One need not fear, for the melting snowman offered hope for he would return: “Frosty the snowman had to hurry on his way. But he waved goodbye saying, ‘Don’t you cry I'll be back again, someday.’”
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Luke 14:46b-55
John Betjeman was one of the most popular British poets of his age. He was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1972 until his death in 1984. Betjeman was an Anglican, and his religious beliefs came through in some of his poems. In a letter written on Christmas Day 1947, he wrote: “Also my view of the world is that man is born to fulfil the purposes of his Creator i.e. to Praise his Creator, to stand in awe of Him and to dread Him. In this way I differ from most modern poets, who are agnostics and have an idea that Man is the centre of the Universe or is a helpless bubble blown about by uncontrolled forces.” In his poem Christmas, he presents an affectionate portrait of the charm of the typical Christmas scene, which then culminates in a challenge that is presented in the last stanza. The line challenges us to accept the Incarnation with its irreplaceable connection to the Holy Eucharist.
No love that in a family dwells,
No caroling in frosty air,
Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
Can with this single Truth compare -
That God was man in Palestine
And lives today in Bread and Wine.
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Luke 14:46b-55
The “Bright Morning Star” is considered to be the planet Venus, whose orbit lies between that of the earth and the sun. Therefore, it can never rise high in the night sky as seen from earth. Due to this positioning, in the eastern morning sky it is visible an hour or so before sunrise, and in the western evening sky it can be viewed an hour or so before sunset; but, it can never be seen during the dark hours of the night.
The Christological title of the Morning Star is one of the titles that is applied to Jesus. It comes to us from Revelation 22:16 which reads, “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” This important symbolism dictates that Jesus is the Messiah.
It is the brightest of all stars, setting to the forefront the splendor of Jesus. The star is the herald of the dawn, symbolic of the Resurrection and that Jesus will guide us through the coming day. In the dusk of the setting sun and the coming fear of the dark shadows of night, it is the assurance of protection. The star is a scepter that declares that Jesus is a representative of a prince. The star is a prominent symbol of royalty and power, enthroning Jesus as the King of kings and Lord of lords.
A star is not something that a nation can keep onto itself, for it is viewed by all people the world over. Jesus shines as far more than the Messiah of Israel, but as the savior of the world. This is one of the few biblical passages that thinks of the Messiah not only in terms of the exaltation of the Jewish nation, but of the enlightenment of all nations. The “Morning Star” is the assurance of guidance, protection and victory over the Satanic forces of evil.
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WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Give our land your justice, O God.
People: Send upon us your righteousness.
Leader: May righteousness flourish and peace abound.
People: Blessed be the God of Israel, who does wondrous things.
Leader: Blessed be God’s glorious name forever.
People: May God’s glory fill the whole earth. Amen and Amen.
OR
Leader: Come, let us worship our God and our Creator.
People: With joy we sing the praises of our God.
Leader: Let us celebrate the unity of being God’s children.
People: We rejoice that we are all one family in God.
Leader: Let us live out our beliefs in kindness to all.
People: We will reach out to others in care and grace.
Hymns and Songs:
Jesus Calls Us
UMH: 398
H82: 549/550
NNBH: 183
NCH: 171/172
CH: 337
LBW: 494
ELW: 696
W&P: 345
AMEC: 238
I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light
UMH: 206
H82: 490
ELW: 815
W&P: 248
Renew: 152549/550
Lord, Speak to Me
UMH: 463
PH: 426
NCH: 531
ELW: 676
W&P: 593
Lord, I Want to Be a Christian
UMH: 402
PH: 372
AAHH: 463
NNBH: 156
NCH: 454
CH: 589
W&P: 457
AMEC: 282
Renew: 145
What Does the Lord Require?
UMH: 441
H82: 605
PH: 405
CH: 659
W&P: 686
Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates
UMH: 213
H82: 436
PH: 8
NCH: 117
CH: 129
LBW: 32
W&P: 176
AMEC: 94
Renew: 59
Take Up Thy Cross
UMH: 415
H82: 675
PH: 393
LBW: 398
ELW: 667
W&P: 351
AMEC: 294
Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life
UMH: 427
H82: 609
PH: 408
NCH: 543
CH: 665
LBW: 429
ELW: 719
W&P: 591
AMEC: 561
Make Me a Servant
CCB: 90
You Are Mine
CCB: 58
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
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 is the Creator of us all
Grant us the grace to remember that we are your children
and all humanity is part of our family which we lovingly embrace;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are the One who created us all. You have made us sisters and brothers one to the other. Help us to remember whose family humanity is so that we can embrace on another in love. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially the ways in which we abuse one another often in God’s name.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have been blessed with a world full of sisters and brothers and yet we isolate ourselves from each other finding division where there is unity. We talk about our faith but we often fail to live it in our daily dealings with one another. Instead of our faith uniting us we use it to separate and condemn. Help us hear you calling us back to you and to being in community with all your children. Amen.
Leader: God is always calling us home to be in communion with God and with one another. Receive God’s love and grace and share it with your sisters and brothers this week.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory be to you, O God, who is our hope. In you alone we find our unity and our peace.
(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 been blessed with a world full of sisters and brothers and yet we isolate ourselves from each other finding division where there is unity. We talk about our faith but we often fail to live it in our daily dealings with one another. Instead of our faith uniting us we use it to separate and condemn. Help us hear you calling us back to you and to being in community with all your children.
We thank you for the prophets of old and of now who remind us that we are all your children. We thank you for those who accept us even though we are different from them. We thank you for your Spirit that unites us all in your own self.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for those who feel rejected and despised because people see them as being different. We pray for the bonds of peace and hope to unite us all in your holy family.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Read Isaiah 9:6-7.
This Sunday is about peace. Do you ever argue with your sisters or brothers or your friends. Maybe you want to play one game and they want to play something else. When we don’t get along it isn’t very much fun. It makes us feel sad or maybe mad. Isaiah reminds us that God wants us to be in peace, to get along. God wants it for us and for everyone. God invites us to help make peace happen by trying to get along with each other and helping others.
CHILDREN'S SERMONReleasing The Joy
by Tom Willadsen
Isaiah 35:1-10, James 5:7-10
Isaiah 35:1-10
Suggestion #1 (No props besides kids willing to answer questions.)
There are wonderful, contrasting images in Isaiah that can help the kids really understand the transformation Isaiah.
Ask the kids:
“What is the opposite of weak?”
What is the opposite of feeble? (They might not recognize this word; you might suggest other ways to convey “feeble.” Perhaps “clumsy,” “unsteady walking.” Or ask What is the opposite of feeble-minded?)
What is the opposite of fear/afraid?
What is the opposite of blind?
What is the opposite of deaf?
What is the opposite of mute? (Again, they might not recognize the term.)
What is the opposite of anosmic? Think of this as bonus question; it doesn’t exactly relate to Isaiah. Anosmic is the inability to smell or taste.
Tying things more closely to the text, building to the conclusion. Ask what a person who is no longer feeble can do. When they say “walk,” ask them “What’s better than walking?” lead them to “leap like a deer.”
Do the same thing with what can someone do who is no longer mute? After they say “talk” or “speak” lead them toward, “sing for joy!”
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Isaiah 35:1-10
Suggestion #2 (No props besides kids willing to answer questions.)
In v. 8 Isaiah calls a highway the “Holy Way.” Here’s the thing about highways. They can be high, that is elevated above the ground, such that they are not impeded by things like rivers or crossroads. They can also be high in the sense of “the high seas,” which means “open to all” or “public.”
There will not be bandits or predators on the Lord’s highway. More importantly, “no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.” [NRSV] Ask if they have ever been lost. Lots of children have stories of being afraid when they got lost in the supermarket or got separated from a parent at the mall or some other public place.
Most families have stories about getting lost. Many of them, if they’re told through the years take on a certain “ha ha, we got through that all right,” spirit. In the moment, however, people get tense, tempers get short and it can be frustrating, if not outright anxiety producing. Try to get the kids to see that the Holy Highway will be so fabulous and clearly marked that it will be impossible to get lost on it.
You might want to select one of the kids and ask her to spin around three times with her eyes closed, then try to walk in a straight line. Even stumbling like that will not be possible. That’s how awesome the Holy Highway will be.
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James 5:7-10
Only suggestion — Be patient (no props needed)
With Christmas just ten days away, anticipation and excitement are running high among the little ones today. This is also the Third Sunday of Advent, the day that we light the pink/joy candle. One way to look at that is that the joy is building up so much that we need to let a little out, otherwise we’ll explode with too much joy. Imagine the pink candle as a symbolic release valve as on a pressure cooker.
Ask the kids if they’re waiting for anything, is anything special coming up? There may be specific presents they’re waiting/hoping for. You don’t want to turn this into a visit with Santa, but it is helpful for them to focus on something in particular they’re waiting for. You might want to suggest visits to grandparents, or cousins visiting, coinciding with presents.
Ask them to define “patience.” Ask whether they’ve ever had to be patient, or if someone have ever told them to be patient. “Is it easy to be patient?” “Does being told to be patient make being patient easier?” Ask what they do when they’re being patient. Do they try to think about other things, or do something physical to get their minds off what they’re waiting for?
The lesson from James reminds us that farmers have to be patient waiting for their crops to be harvested.
Patience is a virtue.
Things happen on the Lord’s time. We know when Christmas will come, but we do not know when Christ will return. No one knows. All we can do is be patient and stay ready.
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The Immediate Word, December 15, 2019 issue.
Copyright 2019 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.
