A Spirit Of Possibility
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
For the final Sunday before Christmas, the lectionary's gospel passage gives us a wonderful lead-in to the nativity -- Luke's account of the annunciation. In addition to being for many a treasured part of the Christmas season due to the text's inclusion in the traditional lessons and carols service, this familiar story that is an entirely appropriate precursor, since conception is the "cause" and birth the "effect." We all know where babies come from... or at least we think we know -- but God has an entirely different plan in mind for Mary, as the angel Gabriel reveals to her. It's interesting that the angel's first words to Mary are "Fear not"; perhaps that's because when angels appear it's usually a sign that God has something in mind for us that's going to turn our lives upside down. That's certainly the case for Mary, whose initial response is quizzical when Gabriel tells her the astounding news that she will bear a son even though she is still a virgin. As if that isn't crazy enough, Gabriel goes on to mention that elderly Elizabeth is pregnant as well. Now, any sane person who finds themselves in Mary's shoes would probably be incredulous -- how could something that defies all known laws of science and nature be possible? In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Dean Feldmeyer points out that Gabriel's succinct answer to that question -- "For nothing will be impossible with God" -- is the essential point of the text: no matter how dire the circumstances or how impossible we think something is, the Lord God of hosts can make it happen... and so can we, when we let the Holy Spirit work in our lives. We can try to remain stuck in our ways and avoid the disruption... or we can invite God's presence and with his guidance and our hard work let miracles occur.
Team member Mary Austin offers some additional thoughts about the gospel text and about Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as homeless persons whose sojourn in Bethlehem and Egypt renders them outsiders akin to immigrants in our society. With immigration policy in the headlines again as one of the hot-button issues in the Republican presidential debates, it's a good time to consider the human cost of our decisions, and where God may line up when balancing the needs of the powerful against those of the lowly.
A Spirit of Possibility
by Dean Feldmeyer
Luke 1:26-38; Luke 1:46b-55
In Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his old business partner Jacob Marley, who tells him that he is about to be visited by three ghosts or spirits. Scrooge replies: "I -- I think I'd rather not." When Marley continues and tells Scrooge that each apparition will occur upon the hour, Scrooge asks if they can't all come at once and get it over with.
Compare Scrooge's response to Marley -- fear mixed with annoyance and irascibility -- with that of Mary when she is visited by the angel Gabriel.
Mary is not so much afraid as perplexed when Gabriel first greets her. When he tells her how she has been chosen to bear God's Son, she is curious: "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" When Gabriel explains the plan, she responds with a song: "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior."
So which response to supernatural intervention is more normal? What, given the same circumstances, would be our response?
This week's lectionary texts ask us to consider how we respond to God's good news that, when the Holy Spirit is present in our lives, the impossible becomes possible.
THE WORLD
Burnout. Despair. Emptiness. Depression.
Call it what you will, it's all the same: the feeling that it's all hopeless, that we're spinning our wheels. It's the feeling that the work we are doing has all been done before and will have to be done again because the problems are simply not getting solved. It's the sudden and inescapable notion that there may, in fact, be no solutions to the problems, that maybe they are unsolvable.
Maybe peace is an illusion.
We Baby Boomers have known war all our lives. Born immediately after World War II and during the Korean War, we were raised under the cloud of the Cold War. We fought in and/or protested against the war in Vietnam. We raised our children during Desert Storm and the conflicts in Bosnia and Rwanda. They are raising our grandchildren during wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and under the cloud of global terrorism.
Maybe the search for peace is a vain and empty quest. Maybe good will among people is a fantasy.
Every time we think we've made a few strides in getting along with each other, another hate crime makes its way into the headlines. Forty-five years after the death of Martin Luther King Jr., we still hate, hurt, and even kill each other because of the color of our skins, the accent of our speech, or our sexual orientation.
Our leaders are not exempt from the ill will that infects our population in general. Our politicians have so cemented themselves to their philosophical positions that they are incapable of compromise or cooperation. The ones who have come up with ideas that may solve our problems are afraid to voice them only to see them mired and drowned in the quicksand of partisan politics.
Maybe the poor really will always be with us.
We pastors are perhaps more aware than most of the bottomless pit of need that exists all around us. We offer help to one person who is simply replaced by another. There's no end to the line of people who wait at our door for a handout. Often they are the same people, returning time after time, month after month, for help. They are, to be honest, the hard-core unemployed and unemployable. They are the sick, the mentally ill, the addicted, the broke and the broken, and there is nothing in the system to meet their endless needs and given the state of our country's economy, there probably isn't going to be.
Meanwhile, in the world of sports, the Angels have decided to pay 32-year-old first baseman Albert Pujols $25 million a year for the next ten years to play baseball.
It is easy to see how people get burned out and give up.
The problems go on and on. The needs of the world are endless, a black hole of pain and want.
As long as people are people, the chances that we are going to come up with a solution are just about nil. It's just impossible.
THE WORD
Then, just about the time we are ready to throw up our hands and walk away, to give up and give in to the hopelessness of it all, the impossibility of it, along comes this little, teenage girl who challenges our pessimism.
The Christmas narrative in Luke comes to us in the form of Grand Opera, especially the story of the Immaculate Conception as we read it today. Most of the dialogue, we note, is written in verse as would be the lyrics of a song.
We begin with Gabriel, the Deus ex Machina. Usually depicted bathed in light and holding a trumpet and/or a sword, Gabriel is God's messenger. He has already visited Zechariah and Elizabeth to announce a miraculous conception and birth to them, a son who will emulate Elijah and become known as John the Baptist. Now he appears again, this time to Mary in verses 26-38. He knows he is a frightening sight, so after telling her that she is favored by God he adds that she should not be afraid. God, he tells her, is going to do the impossible through her.
Mary's response? "I am the Lord's maid, ready to serve" (Eugene Peterson's The Message).
The alternative Psalm reading is the Magnificat (Luke 1:46b-55), the first of two arias praising God that are sung in this story (the second is sung by Zechariah at the birth of John).
In her aria, Mary sings praise to God for choosing to do great things through her, but she also sings of the great things God has done to and through Israel throughout history. God has shown mercy to those who fear him. God has scattered the strong and the proud. God has lifted the lowly and brought the powerful down from their thrones. God has filled the hungry and sent the rich away empty.
All of these are things that would be impossible for people to pull off on their own. It is through the power of God that they are accomplished.
Mary's aria reminds us that faith history is filled with examples of God doing the impossible on behalf of God's faithful and obedient people.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
The Indicative
It is tempting to take the story of the Immaculate Conception at face value, as the story of one miracle that happened a long time ago -- an awesome miracle to be sure, but just one -- and to simply leave it at that. We look on with our mouths agape, we blink at the wonder of it, we applaud God's power and Mary's compliance, and then we turn and walk away and go on about our business as though the story has nothing to do with our world. But this little teenage girl (most scholars put her at 15-16 years old) won't allow us to treat her or her story so glibly.
She reminds us, in the Magnificat, that this is just one more miracle in the history of the People of God, one more time that God has entered the human story through obedient humanity to change the course of history, to do the impossible for the benefit of God's people.
The Christmas story begins with two impossible conceptions made possible by virtue of the faith and obedience of God's People.
The Imperative
The story calls us to open our hearts to God's Holy Spirit as a spirit of possibility. God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, makes impossible things happen -- and most often, those miracles occur through the faithful, obedient work of God's People.
The first Christmas might not have come to pass but for the faithful responses of Mary and Elizabeth -- and if Christmas is to come in a real and significant way again this year, some 2,000 years later, it will do so through the faithful and obedient response of God's People today.
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Mary Austin
Luke 1:26-38; Luke 1:47-55
The issue of immigration has been in the news again lately, following the passage of the strict anti-immigrant law in Alabama. The law allows police officers to ask people about their immigration status at traffic stops, makes it a crime to offer an illegal immigrant a ride or other help, and requires public schools to check the immigration status of students. Some parts of the law have been put on hold by the courts, and the state attorney general is now recommending that some provisions be repealed. In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review the constitutionality of a similarly strict Arizona law that is at odds with several federal immigration laws and policies.
In truth, immigration should be in the news all the time, as an estimated 11 million people are here in the country illegally. As the campaign for president takes shape, the Republican candidates have offered various views about how to address the problem of people who are here in the country illegally. Some of the candidates, like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, offer a path to citizenship -- with conditions -- for people who have been here a long time. Others, like Michele Bachmann, advocate removing all illegal immigrants from the country.
The Luke texts about Mary remind us that she, Joseph, and Jesus will soon be immigrants themselves. The texts for this Fourth Sunday in Advent include Luke 1:26-38, the angel's announcement, and Luke 1:47-55, Mary's response. In the first passage, the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will soon bear a child to be "called the Son of the Most High," who will reign over God's people forever. The second passage is Mary's joyful response.
One wonders, reading the story each year, if her response would be so enthusiastic if she knew what was ahead. She and Joseph will have a long, bumpy trip first to Bethlehem and then on into Egypt. To keep Jesus safe from Herod, they become immigrants. They too must come to know the alienating experience of being in a strange place, not knowing anyone, uncertain about how to make a living. Their precarious existence must include the fears that today's immigrants know. They know both the strangeness and the hope of being in a different country.
Immigration policy is thorny because it involves human beings. How should we address the hard work that people have put into this country, even if they first came here without permission? How do we value the work of skilled workers (like computer programmers) and the hard labor of farm workers, all of whom do jobs that support our economy? How should we manage the legitimate fears that many people have of persecution in their home countries? How do we balance justice and compassion for families where the children, born here, are citizens, but the parents are not? How do we plan for the futures of young people brought here as children and who have no connection with the country where they are officially citizens?
The specifics of immigration policy will be debated from now until the 2012 election, but Mary's poem of praise offers us a response as people of faith. God, she proclaims, "has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty" (vv. 52-53). Mary's song reminds us again that when sides are chosen and lines are drawn, God is on the side of the hungry, the hunted, and the fearful. When we choose to call some people more worthy than others, God always takes the other side. When we overlook the poor and the invisible, God sees, and is already bringing justice. The mighty God has mercy "from generation to generation" for all who need it. May it be that we can follow well enough to do the same.
ILLUSTRATIONS
When you think of powerhouse college football programs, names like Notre Dame, Alabama, and Oklahoma come to mind -- not Baylor. In fact, the football team from the Baptist-affiliated university in Waco, Texas, has traditionally been considered a doormat. Since the Big 12 Conference was formed in 1996, the Bears' performance has been particularly dismal -- entering the 2011 season, their cumulative record in league play was 18 wins and 102 losses. So it's not the preferred destination for the blue-chip recruits who dominate the rosters of college football royalty.
But that didn't deter a young man by the name of Robert Griffin III, who this past week walked off with the Heisman Trophy, annually awarded to the nation's most outstanding college football player. Griffin, who began the season on the periphery of the Heisman race, led his team back to respectability (Baylor's last bowl game prior to his arrival on campus was in 1994) while exhibiting a dazzling ability to run, pass, and guide them on improbable last-minute comebacks to upset ranked opponents (e.g. TCU and Oklahoma). Before the season, most observers would have laughed at the idea that the Heisman would be given to a player from an outpost well off the beaten path of the usual sites -- but just because it was unlikely didn't make it impossible... a fact that Griffin noted with some penetratingly insightful acceptance remarks: "This is unbelievably believable. It's unbelievable because in the moment we're all amazed when great things happen. But it's believable because great things don't happen without hard work."
Isn't that a great analogy for how faith works to make the impossible possible? Living out our faith is the hard work that we engage in to "prepare the way" for God to make great things happen in our lives and those around us. When we say to God, as Mary did, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word," then we are open to God making miracles happen... in Griffin's words the "unbelievably believable."
* * *
It's now nearly two years since the devastating earthquake struck Haiti, leveling much of Port-au-Prince and leaving over a million people homeless. It seemed beyond cruel for such a destructive event to strike the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, obliterating most of what little functioning government there had been. It seemed an impossible situation and though much of the world responded, the logistical and bureaucratic obstacles to getting help to the people who needed it were especially daunting, even for experienced non-governmental organizations like the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. It seemed foolhardy for someone unaccustomed to dealing with such a minefield to get involved -- but that didn't stop Sean Penn.
The acclaimed actor/director, who has often been pilloried for his political outspokenness, felt a personal call to respond, so he set up the J/P Haitian Relief Organization. Penn has dedicated his life to working to reduce the suffering in Haiti, noting that "There's no end point. This is where I'll be when I'm not working [in films] for the rest of my life." Despite all the obstacles, Penn and his foundation have persisted in doing magnificent work -- and they have gained enough respect for the quality and know-how of their efforts Penn even testified before Congress along with the top official of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and seemed at least as (if not more) well-versed on the practical issues facing both governmental and private aid agencies in Haiti.
Whatever you think of his politics, Penn's continuing devotion to improving such a seemingly impossible situation is a shining example of working to make the impossible possible.
* * *
Here is a story that never grows old -- an angel comes to a little wisp of a girl and tells her she will be the mother of the Savior of the world. Naturally she asks, "How can this be?" Christmas topples the impossibles of all our lives.
Ann Kiemel tried for years to have a child of her own. After a series of miscarriages, she developed an infection that doctors could not cure for a long time. They put her on pain-killing drugs and in time she became addicted. It took her years to recover. But she came out on the far end a different person. In the preface to I Love the Word Impossible (Tyndale House Publishers, 1976, pp. 11-12), she writes after her addiction words of comfort for the impossibles in our lives:
I love the word impossible...
it's like joy after sorrow.
People being friends after being enemies.
Rainbows after drenching rain.
A wound healed.
Sunsets on quiet evenings after hot, noisy days.
Paralyzed, injured limbs learning to grow strong and useful again.
Forgiveness after wrong.
Truth after fog.
New love-made babies, birds learning to fly and own the sky.
Bitterness turned to mellowness.
Fresh, genuine hope... once abandoned.
People finding each other at right moments,
In unexpected, obscure places...
For God-ordained reasons.
On the Sunday before Christmas what better word could we sound than Luke's words from his birth story: "For nothing will be impossible with God." Surely God must love the word "impossible."
* * *
The Republican Party seemed assured of victory in the 1948 presidential election. The votes of the Democrats would be split among three candidates -- Henry Wallace, Strom Thurmond, and Harry Truman -- giving the Republicans a comfortable lead. Also, the campaign of the leading Democratic contender, Harry Truman, was not organized. He had made many mistakes, such as calling Stalin "a decent fellow" in an Oregon speech and dedicating an airport in Iowa to the wrong person. Thomas E. Dewey was so confident of his success that prior to the election he announced his cabinet and purchased his inaugural suit. Everyone knew that the Republicans would win, demonstrated by the fact that the Chicago Tribune printed a victory headline before the votes were counted that declared Dewey the winner. Who can forget that vivid picture of president-elect Harry S. Truman holding high the newspaper's headline: "Dewey Defeats Truman"? Truman persevered throughout the campaign and won. He never lost hope. He never accepted defeat.
Luke tells us, "For nothing will be impossible with God." As we believe in God, we, like Truman, should never lose hope.
* * *
Cecil B. DeMille said the most memorable moment of his career was filming the crucifixion scene for the movie The King of Kings. During a mob sequence, the multitude of cast members and extras gathered on the side of a bare, ugly hill before three stark crosses, screaming "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Suddenly DeMille was uncomfortable with the actions before him, for the scene was being filmed on December 24. The producer was telling the story of Jesus' death on the eve of his birth. Troubled, DeMille called for five minutes of silent prayer so all could honor the Christ. Looking over the crowd he realized he done a foolish thing, for the actors and actresses would just use the time to drink, smoke, and engage in cheap talk. Annoyed, DeMille bowed his head in prayer. Shortly he heard a few voices, then more, and soon all joined in one chorus: "It came upon a midnight clear, the glorious song of old." DeMille looked up to see the entire cast and crew on their knees, bowing before the cross of Christ, singing a carol.
Perplexed -- that is the feeling that many of us have when others do not understand the joy, and more importantly the theological significance, of Christmas. Yet if we persist in our witness, as DeMille did, we may find the world singing a carol in harmonious unity.
* * *
The ability of the Christmas spirit to transform lives and restore fellowship is aptly illustrated in Charles Dickens' story A Christmas Carol. Everyone is familiar with the miser Ebenezer Scrooge, whose attitude toward Christmas (as with life itself) was "Bah! Humbug!" Then on Christmas Eve he is visited by the ghost of Marley, his late business partner. In three visions -- Christmas past, present, and yet to come -- Scrooge glimpses his life as a schoolboy, then as an apprentice and young lover. This is followed by a final vision of the joyous Christmas celebration in the home of Bob Cratchit, his underpaid clerk, and what Scrooge's own lot would be if he were to die now, heartless and despised.
These revelations redeemed his disposition, transforming Scrooge to a cheerful, benevolent, and friendly caretaker. Awakening Christmas morning with a renewed countenance, a jubilant Scrooge whoops, "I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A Merry Christmas to everybody!" It is indeed a joyous time for those who capture the true message Christmas.
In the Christmas story we so often focus on Mary the person and her description of herself as "the lowliness of his servant" that we fail to entertain the rest of her message. A good summary of that message is when she says of God, "He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly." Ebenezer Scrooge is a good literary example of one who was brought down from his throne and in doing so the lowly Bob Cratchit was lifted up.
* * *
In May 2008, federal authorities led a massive raid on a meatpacking plant in Postville -- the largest employer in northeastern Iowa -- in which nearly 400 workers were arrested in a crackdown on illegal immigrants. The move certainly disturbed the placid exterior of a seemingly bucolic community but was justified on the grounds of numerous violations of both labor and immigration law.
Two and a half years later, it appears that the fate of Postville, Iowa, is a powerful reminder of the human cost of our immigration policy. As with many things in life, it seems that there are always unintended side effects that we never take into account -- and a recent examination reveals that in the aftermath of the raid many people have suffered and the town has been destabilized. Though the meatpacking plant is under new ownership (the previous CEO has been convicted of fraud and sent to prison), it appears that the more things change, the more they stay the same (just with lower wages). When we endeavor to enforce immigration law, we need to balance legitimate concerns with a sensitivity to the human cost for "the least of these."
* * *
The importance ascribed to Christian teaching is outlined in the Constitutions of the Holy Fathers, Book VII, written in the fourth century, which states, "That it is our duty to esteem our Christian teachers above our parents -- the former being the means of our well-being, the other only of our being."
For the first four centuries of the Christian church, education was confined to preparing individuals, children and adults, women and men, for baptism. A convert participating in these studies was known as a catechumen, which in the Greek means "one who is being taught." The catechumenal classes relied mostly upon creeds and liturgy as the means of conveying the meaning of the Christian faith. Scattered throughout the New Testament are partial references to the creeds and liturgies that were used in the church and shared with the catechumens. A creed recited in the church and offered for instructional purposes was recorded by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15: 3-6: "that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time..."
Until one was baptized, participation in the Lord's Supper was denied. In fact, a catechumen could not even be present. The church during these many years was persecuted by the Roman authorities. At trial the only acceptable proof that the defendant was a Christian and eligible for capital punishment was if it could be proven that he or she partook of the Eucharist, which could only be substantiated by observation. Fearing imposters, spies, and informants, a catechumen could be present in the worship service until the elements were to be consecrated and served. At this point of the service anyone who was a known Christian was excused from the assembly. Only with baptism could it be assured that a worshiper was a believer willing to accept martyrdom. This becomes evident upon a review of "The Divine Liturgy of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark, The Disciple of the Holy Peter." In the last line of Section I of a four-part liturgy, prior to the hymn and incense to celebrate the consecration of the bread and wine, the deacon announces, "Take care that none of the catechumens remain."
Mary may have been perplexed and pondering about Gabriel's message, but she did understand the Jewish scriptures. From that understanding she learned the meaning of obedience to God's word. That is why when the Holy Spirit came upon her she was able to say, "Here am I." Advent, the beginning of the Christian year, and Christmas, when we are most focused on the meaning of Jesus, is a time for all of us -- children and adults alike -- to become a catechumen.
* * *
A woman went to the doctor's office. She was seen by one of the new doctors but after about four minutes in the examination room she burst out, screaming as she ran down the hall. An older doctor stopped and asked her what the problem was, and she explained. He had her sit down and relax in another room.
The older doctor marched back to the first and demanded, "What's the matter with you? Mrs. Terry is 63 years old, she has four grown children and seven grandchildren, and you told her she was pregnant?"
The new doctor smiled smugly as he continued to write on his clipboard. "Cured her hiccups though, didn't it?"
-- Ralph Milton
* * *
Jesus observed, "Without me you can do nothing." Yet we act, for the most part, as though without us God can do nothing. We think we have to make Christmas come, which is to say we think we have to bring about the redemption of the universe on our own -- when all God needs is a willing womb, a place of safety, nourishment, and love. "Oh, but nothing will get done," you say. "If I don't do it, Christmas won't happen." And we crowd out Christ with our fretful fears.
God asks us to give away everything of ourselves. The gift of greatest efficacy and power that we can offer God and creation is not our skills, gifts, abilities, and possessions. Mary offered only space, love, and belief.
Try it. Leave behind your briefcase and notes. Leave behind your honed skills and knowledge. Leave the Christmas decorations up in the attic. Go to someone in need and say, "Here, all I have is Christ." And find out that that is enough....
The intensity and strain that many of us bring to Christmas must suggest to some onlookers that, on the whole, Christians do not seem to have gotten the point of it. Probably few of us have the faith or the nerve to tamper with hallowed Christmas traditions on a large scale or with our other holiday celebrations. But a small experiment might prove interesting. What if, instead of doing something, we were to be something special? Be a womb. Be a dwelling for God. Be surprised.
-- Loretta Ross-Gotta, "Ready For Christmas?" in Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas (Plough Publishing House, 2001)
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: I will sing of your steadfast love, O God, forever;
People: with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
Leader: I declare that your steadfast love is established forever;
People: your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.
Leader: You said, "I have made a covenant with my chosen one:
People: 'I will establish your descendants forever and build your throne for all generations.' "
OR
Leader: My soul magnifies God,
People: and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
Leader: for God has looked with favor on our lowliness;
People: for the mighty one has done great things for us.
Leader: God has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
People: God has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly.
OR
Leader: Come and worship the God who acts among us.
People: We come to celebrate the ways God has worked.
Leader: But God hasn't stopped working in and through us!
People: Does God still want to work in ordinary people like us?
Leader: God desires nothing more than that we should share God's love with all creation!
People: We are God's people. Let the work of God begin in us!
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"
found in:
UMH: 211
H82: 56
PH: 9
AAHH: 188
NNBH: 82
NCH: 116
CH: 119
LBW: 34
ELW: 257
"People, Look East"
found in:
UMH: 202
PH: 12
CH: 142
ELW: 248
"Blessed Be the God of Israel"
found in:
UMH: 209
H82: 444
CH: 135
ELW: 250/252
Renew: 128
"I Want to Walk As a Child of the Light"
found in:
UMH: 206
H82: 490
ELW: 815
Renew: 152
"Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart"
found in:
UMH: 500
PH: 326
AAHH: 312
NCH: 290
CH: 265
LBW: 486
ELW: 800
"Spirit of the Living God"
found in:
UMH: 393
PH: 322
AAHH: 320
NNBH: 133
NCH: 285
CH: 259
Renew: 90
"O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright"
found in:
UMH: 247
PH: 69
NCH: 158
CH: 105
LBW: 76
ELW: 308
"Love Came Down at Christmas"
found in:
UMH: 242
H82: 84
NCH: 165
"Tell Out, My Soul"
found in:
UMH: 200
H82: 437/438
Renew: 130
"My Soul Gives Glory to My God"
found in:
UMH: 198
CH: 130
ELW: 882
"Sing Unto the Lord a New Song"
found in:
CCB: 16
"Open Our Eyes, Lord"
found in:
CCB: 77
Renew: 91
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
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who desires to bring wondrous salvation to your creation: Grant us, your creatures, the faith to trust that with you all is possible; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come into your presence, O God, to worship you and to offer ourselves as your servants. Fill us with your Spirit and make us bold to serve you as we serve others. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially the ways in which we place the working of God in the past and do not look for God to be active among us.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We read the Bible as ancient history and forget that it is our spiritual genealogy. It is not just about the past but is about your ongoing relationship with us. Forgive us our shortsightedness and empower us to actively open our lives to the work you wish to do here and now. Amen.
Leader: God is always looking for ways to bring salvation to us and to all creation. God bless us as we open our lives to this wonder, once again.
Prayer for Illumination
Send the light of your Spirit upon us, O God that we may truly discern your call to be your servants and to live as servants of others. Amen.
Prayer of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
Praise and glory, worship and honor are yours, O God, for you are the one who was and is and ever shall be.
(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 read the Bible as ancient history and forget that it is our spiritual genealogy. It is not just about the past but is about your ongoing relationship with us. Forgive us our shortsightedness and empower us to actively open our lives to the work you wish to do here and now.
We give you thanks for all the ways you have come to save us and especially for those who have heard your call to be faithful servants. It is through their witness that we have learned of you and of your great love.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children's Sermon Starter
Talk about how Elizabeth was a very old woman and Mary was just a teenager but God wanted to use them to bring salvation to the entire world. It doesn't matter if we are young or old, boy or girl. It doesn't matter who you are because God wants us to help make the world the place where joy and peace are everywhere.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Nothing Is Impossible With God
Luke 1:26-38
Today we are going to talk about the very beginning of the Christmas story. Does anyone remember what happened first? (Let the children respond. Offer help as needed.) The angel came and delivered some news to Mary. What did the angel tell Mary? (Let them respond.) The angel told Mary not to be afraid because she had been chosen by God to do something special. The angel said that Mary was going to have a baby. This would be no ordinary baby; this baby would be God's son. The angel told Mary that this child would be different from other babies because God had some very important things for him to do.
What news this was from the angel! It was a miracle! But Mary must have been a bit confused and maybe even a little scared. It must have been difficult to understand everything the angel had said. How could it be? How could something like this happen to her? How could she be the mother of God's Son?
The Bible tells us that the angel told Mary something else before he left. The angel said, "With God, nothing is impossible."
With God, nothing is impossible. Say that with me: "With God, nothing is impossible." Say it again: "With God, nothing is impossible." Do you believe that? It's true. No matter how impossible something seems, no matter how much we believe we cannot do something, if it's God's will, and if we are willing to try, nothing is impossible for us.
Imagine there is someone who is always mean to you. Maybe she says bad things to you or always tries to get you in trouble. You just can't stand this person, but you know God wants you to be nice to her. It seems impossible, doesn't it? But it's not. With God's help, you can do it.
Suppose God wants you to be a missionary when you grow up. Suppose he wants you to go far away and tell others about him and his love. Impossible? No. Why? Because, say it with me, "With God, nothing is impossible."
Mary was confused and afraid and she did not fully understand how something so important could be happening to her. It seemed impossible, but it did happen -- because, say it with me one more time, "With God, nothing is impossible!"
I want you to remember that. God bless you.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, December 18, 2011, issue.
Copyright 2011 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.
Team member Mary Austin offers some additional thoughts about the gospel text and about Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as homeless persons whose sojourn in Bethlehem and Egypt renders them outsiders akin to immigrants in our society. With immigration policy in the headlines again as one of the hot-button issues in the Republican presidential debates, it's a good time to consider the human cost of our decisions, and where God may line up when balancing the needs of the powerful against those of the lowly.
A Spirit of Possibility
by Dean Feldmeyer
Luke 1:26-38; Luke 1:46b-55
In Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his old business partner Jacob Marley, who tells him that he is about to be visited by three ghosts or spirits. Scrooge replies: "I -- I think I'd rather not." When Marley continues and tells Scrooge that each apparition will occur upon the hour, Scrooge asks if they can't all come at once and get it over with.
Compare Scrooge's response to Marley -- fear mixed with annoyance and irascibility -- with that of Mary when she is visited by the angel Gabriel.
Mary is not so much afraid as perplexed when Gabriel first greets her. When he tells her how she has been chosen to bear God's Son, she is curious: "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" When Gabriel explains the plan, she responds with a song: "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior."
So which response to supernatural intervention is more normal? What, given the same circumstances, would be our response?
This week's lectionary texts ask us to consider how we respond to God's good news that, when the Holy Spirit is present in our lives, the impossible becomes possible.
THE WORLD
Burnout. Despair. Emptiness. Depression.
Call it what you will, it's all the same: the feeling that it's all hopeless, that we're spinning our wheels. It's the feeling that the work we are doing has all been done before and will have to be done again because the problems are simply not getting solved. It's the sudden and inescapable notion that there may, in fact, be no solutions to the problems, that maybe they are unsolvable.
Maybe peace is an illusion.
We Baby Boomers have known war all our lives. Born immediately after World War II and during the Korean War, we were raised under the cloud of the Cold War. We fought in and/or protested against the war in Vietnam. We raised our children during Desert Storm and the conflicts in Bosnia and Rwanda. They are raising our grandchildren during wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and under the cloud of global terrorism.
Maybe the search for peace is a vain and empty quest. Maybe good will among people is a fantasy.
Every time we think we've made a few strides in getting along with each other, another hate crime makes its way into the headlines. Forty-five years after the death of Martin Luther King Jr., we still hate, hurt, and even kill each other because of the color of our skins, the accent of our speech, or our sexual orientation.
Our leaders are not exempt from the ill will that infects our population in general. Our politicians have so cemented themselves to their philosophical positions that they are incapable of compromise or cooperation. The ones who have come up with ideas that may solve our problems are afraid to voice them only to see them mired and drowned in the quicksand of partisan politics.
Maybe the poor really will always be with us.
We pastors are perhaps more aware than most of the bottomless pit of need that exists all around us. We offer help to one person who is simply replaced by another. There's no end to the line of people who wait at our door for a handout. Often they are the same people, returning time after time, month after month, for help. They are, to be honest, the hard-core unemployed and unemployable. They are the sick, the mentally ill, the addicted, the broke and the broken, and there is nothing in the system to meet their endless needs and given the state of our country's economy, there probably isn't going to be.
Meanwhile, in the world of sports, the Angels have decided to pay 32-year-old first baseman Albert Pujols $25 million a year for the next ten years to play baseball.
It is easy to see how people get burned out and give up.
The problems go on and on. The needs of the world are endless, a black hole of pain and want.
As long as people are people, the chances that we are going to come up with a solution are just about nil. It's just impossible.
THE WORD
Then, just about the time we are ready to throw up our hands and walk away, to give up and give in to the hopelessness of it all, the impossibility of it, along comes this little, teenage girl who challenges our pessimism.
The Christmas narrative in Luke comes to us in the form of Grand Opera, especially the story of the Immaculate Conception as we read it today. Most of the dialogue, we note, is written in verse as would be the lyrics of a song.
We begin with Gabriel, the Deus ex Machina. Usually depicted bathed in light and holding a trumpet and/or a sword, Gabriel is God's messenger. He has already visited Zechariah and Elizabeth to announce a miraculous conception and birth to them, a son who will emulate Elijah and become known as John the Baptist. Now he appears again, this time to Mary in verses 26-38. He knows he is a frightening sight, so after telling her that she is favored by God he adds that she should not be afraid. God, he tells her, is going to do the impossible through her.
Mary's response? "I am the Lord's maid, ready to serve" (Eugene Peterson's The Message).
The alternative Psalm reading is the Magnificat (Luke 1:46b-55), the first of two arias praising God that are sung in this story (the second is sung by Zechariah at the birth of John).
In her aria, Mary sings praise to God for choosing to do great things through her, but she also sings of the great things God has done to and through Israel throughout history. God has shown mercy to those who fear him. God has scattered the strong and the proud. God has lifted the lowly and brought the powerful down from their thrones. God has filled the hungry and sent the rich away empty.
All of these are things that would be impossible for people to pull off on their own. It is through the power of God that they are accomplished.
Mary's aria reminds us that faith history is filled with examples of God doing the impossible on behalf of God's faithful and obedient people.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
The Indicative
It is tempting to take the story of the Immaculate Conception at face value, as the story of one miracle that happened a long time ago -- an awesome miracle to be sure, but just one -- and to simply leave it at that. We look on with our mouths agape, we blink at the wonder of it, we applaud God's power and Mary's compliance, and then we turn and walk away and go on about our business as though the story has nothing to do with our world. But this little teenage girl (most scholars put her at 15-16 years old) won't allow us to treat her or her story so glibly.
She reminds us, in the Magnificat, that this is just one more miracle in the history of the People of God, one more time that God has entered the human story through obedient humanity to change the course of history, to do the impossible for the benefit of God's people.
The Christmas story begins with two impossible conceptions made possible by virtue of the faith and obedience of God's People.
The Imperative
The story calls us to open our hearts to God's Holy Spirit as a spirit of possibility. God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, makes impossible things happen -- and most often, those miracles occur through the faithful, obedient work of God's People.
The first Christmas might not have come to pass but for the faithful responses of Mary and Elizabeth -- and if Christmas is to come in a real and significant way again this year, some 2,000 years later, it will do so through the faithful and obedient response of God's People today.
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Mary Austin
Luke 1:26-38; Luke 1:47-55
The issue of immigration has been in the news again lately, following the passage of the strict anti-immigrant law in Alabama. The law allows police officers to ask people about their immigration status at traffic stops, makes it a crime to offer an illegal immigrant a ride or other help, and requires public schools to check the immigration status of students. Some parts of the law have been put on hold by the courts, and the state attorney general is now recommending that some provisions be repealed. In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review the constitutionality of a similarly strict Arizona law that is at odds with several federal immigration laws and policies.
In truth, immigration should be in the news all the time, as an estimated 11 million people are here in the country illegally. As the campaign for president takes shape, the Republican candidates have offered various views about how to address the problem of people who are here in the country illegally. Some of the candidates, like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, offer a path to citizenship -- with conditions -- for people who have been here a long time. Others, like Michele Bachmann, advocate removing all illegal immigrants from the country.
The Luke texts about Mary remind us that she, Joseph, and Jesus will soon be immigrants themselves. The texts for this Fourth Sunday in Advent include Luke 1:26-38, the angel's announcement, and Luke 1:47-55, Mary's response. In the first passage, the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will soon bear a child to be "called the Son of the Most High," who will reign over God's people forever. The second passage is Mary's joyful response.
One wonders, reading the story each year, if her response would be so enthusiastic if she knew what was ahead. She and Joseph will have a long, bumpy trip first to Bethlehem and then on into Egypt. To keep Jesus safe from Herod, they become immigrants. They too must come to know the alienating experience of being in a strange place, not knowing anyone, uncertain about how to make a living. Their precarious existence must include the fears that today's immigrants know. They know both the strangeness and the hope of being in a different country.
Immigration policy is thorny because it involves human beings. How should we address the hard work that people have put into this country, even if they first came here without permission? How do we value the work of skilled workers (like computer programmers) and the hard labor of farm workers, all of whom do jobs that support our economy? How should we manage the legitimate fears that many people have of persecution in their home countries? How do we balance justice and compassion for families where the children, born here, are citizens, but the parents are not? How do we plan for the futures of young people brought here as children and who have no connection with the country where they are officially citizens?
The specifics of immigration policy will be debated from now until the 2012 election, but Mary's poem of praise offers us a response as people of faith. God, she proclaims, "has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty" (vv. 52-53). Mary's song reminds us again that when sides are chosen and lines are drawn, God is on the side of the hungry, the hunted, and the fearful. When we choose to call some people more worthy than others, God always takes the other side. When we overlook the poor and the invisible, God sees, and is already bringing justice. The mighty God has mercy "from generation to generation" for all who need it. May it be that we can follow well enough to do the same.
ILLUSTRATIONS
When you think of powerhouse college football programs, names like Notre Dame, Alabama, and Oklahoma come to mind -- not Baylor. In fact, the football team from the Baptist-affiliated university in Waco, Texas, has traditionally been considered a doormat. Since the Big 12 Conference was formed in 1996, the Bears' performance has been particularly dismal -- entering the 2011 season, their cumulative record in league play was 18 wins and 102 losses. So it's not the preferred destination for the blue-chip recruits who dominate the rosters of college football royalty.
But that didn't deter a young man by the name of Robert Griffin III, who this past week walked off with the Heisman Trophy, annually awarded to the nation's most outstanding college football player. Griffin, who began the season on the periphery of the Heisman race, led his team back to respectability (Baylor's last bowl game prior to his arrival on campus was in 1994) while exhibiting a dazzling ability to run, pass, and guide them on improbable last-minute comebacks to upset ranked opponents (e.g. TCU and Oklahoma). Before the season, most observers would have laughed at the idea that the Heisman would be given to a player from an outpost well off the beaten path of the usual sites -- but just because it was unlikely didn't make it impossible... a fact that Griffin noted with some penetratingly insightful acceptance remarks: "This is unbelievably believable. It's unbelievable because in the moment we're all amazed when great things happen. But it's believable because great things don't happen without hard work."
Isn't that a great analogy for how faith works to make the impossible possible? Living out our faith is the hard work that we engage in to "prepare the way" for God to make great things happen in our lives and those around us. When we say to God, as Mary did, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word," then we are open to God making miracles happen... in Griffin's words the "unbelievably believable."
* * *
It's now nearly two years since the devastating earthquake struck Haiti, leveling much of Port-au-Prince and leaving over a million people homeless. It seemed beyond cruel for such a destructive event to strike the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, obliterating most of what little functioning government there had been. It seemed an impossible situation and though much of the world responded, the logistical and bureaucratic obstacles to getting help to the people who needed it were especially daunting, even for experienced non-governmental organizations like the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. It seemed foolhardy for someone unaccustomed to dealing with such a minefield to get involved -- but that didn't stop Sean Penn.
The acclaimed actor/director, who has often been pilloried for his political outspokenness, felt a personal call to respond, so he set up the J/P Haitian Relief Organization. Penn has dedicated his life to working to reduce the suffering in Haiti, noting that "There's no end point. This is where I'll be when I'm not working [in films] for the rest of my life." Despite all the obstacles, Penn and his foundation have persisted in doing magnificent work -- and they have gained enough respect for the quality and know-how of their efforts Penn even testified before Congress along with the top official of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and seemed at least as (if not more) well-versed on the practical issues facing both governmental and private aid agencies in Haiti.
Whatever you think of his politics, Penn's continuing devotion to improving such a seemingly impossible situation is a shining example of working to make the impossible possible.
* * *
Here is a story that never grows old -- an angel comes to a little wisp of a girl and tells her she will be the mother of the Savior of the world. Naturally she asks, "How can this be?" Christmas topples the impossibles of all our lives.
Ann Kiemel tried for years to have a child of her own. After a series of miscarriages, she developed an infection that doctors could not cure for a long time. They put her on pain-killing drugs and in time she became addicted. It took her years to recover. But she came out on the far end a different person. In the preface to I Love the Word Impossible (Tyndale House Publishers, 1976, pp. 11-12), she writes after her addiction words of comfort for the impossibles in our lives:
I love the word impossible...
it's like joy after sorrow.
People being friends after being enemies.
Rainbows after drenching rain.
A wound healed.
Sunsets on quiet evenings after hot, noisy days.
Paralyzed, injured limbs learning to grow strong and useful again.
Forgiveness after wrong.
Truth after fog.
New love-made babies, birds learning to fly and own the sky.
Bitterness turned to mellowness.
Fresh, genuine hope... once abandoned.
People finding each other at right moments,
In unexpected, obscure places...
For God-ordained reasons.
On the Sunday before Christmas what better word could we sound than Luke's words from his birth story: "For nothing will be impossible with God." Surely God must love the word "impossible."
* * *
The Republican Party seemed assured of victory in the 1948 presidential election. The votes of the Democrats would be split among three candidates -- Henry Wallace, Strom Thurmond, and Harry Truman -- giving the Republicans a comfortable lead. Also, the campaign of the leading Democratic contender, Harry Truman, was not organized. He had made many mistakes, such as calling Stalin "a decent fellow" in an Oregon speech and dedicating an airport in Iowa to the wrong person. Thomas E. Dewey was so confident of his success that prior to the election he announced his cabinet and purchased his inaugural suit. Everyone knew that the Republicans would win, demonstrated by the fact that the Chicago Tribune printed a victory headline before the votes were counted that declared Dewey the winner. Who can forget that vivid picture of president-elect Harry S. Truman holding high the newspaper's headline: "Dewey Defeats Truman"? Truman persevered throughout the campaign and won. He never lost hope. He never accepted defeat.
Luke tells us, "For nothing will be impossible with God." As we believe in God, we, like Truman, should never lose hope.
* * *
Cecil B. DeMille said the most memorable moment of his career was filming the crucifixion scene for the movie The King of Kings. During a mob sequence, the multitude of cast members and extras gathered on the side of a bare, ugly hill before three stark crosses, screaming "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Suddenly DeMille was uncomfortable with the actions before him, for the scene was being filmed on December 24. The producer was telling the story of Jesus' death on the eve of his birth. Troubled, DeMille called for five minutes of silent prayer so all could honor the Christ. Looking over the crowd he realized he done a foolish thing, for the actors and actresses would just use the time to drink, smoke, and engage in cheap talk. Annoyed, DeMille bowed his head in prayer. Shortly he heard a few voices, then more, and soon all joined in one chorus: "It came upon a midnight clear, the glorious song of old." DeMille looked up to see the entire cast and crew on their knees, bowing before the cross of Christ, singing a carol.
Perplexed -- that is the feeling that many of us have when others do not understand the joy, and more importantly the theological significance, of Christmas. Yet if we persist in our witness, as DeMille did, we may find the world singing a carol in harmonious unity.
* * *
The ability of the Christmas spirit to transform lives and restore fellowship is aptly illustrated in Charles Dickens' story A Christmas Carol. Everyone is familiar with the miser Ebenezer Scrooge, whose attitude toward Christmas (as with life itself) was "Bah! Humbug!" Then on Christmas Eve he is visited by the ghost of Marley, his late business partner. In three visions -- Christmas past, present, and yet to come -- Scrooge glimpses his life as a schoolboy, then as an apprentice and young lover. This is followed by a final vision of the joyous Christmas celebration in the home of Bob Cratchit, his underpaid clerk, and what Scrooge's own lot would be if he were to die now, heartless and despised.
These revelations redeemed his disposition, transforming Scrooge to a cheerful, benevolent, and friendly caretaker. Awakening Christmas morning with a renewed countenance, a jubilant Scrooge whoops, "I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A Merry Christmas to everybody!" It is indeed a joyous time for those who capture the true message Christmas.
In the Christmas story we so often focus on Mary the person and her description of herself as "the lowliness of his servant" that we fail to entertain the rest of her message. A good summary of that message is when she says of God, "He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly." Ebenezer Scrooge is a good literary example of one who was brought down from his throne and in doing so the lowly Bob Cratchit was lifted up.
* * *
In May 2008, federal authorities led a massive raid on a meatpacking plant in Postville -- the largest employer in northeastern Iowa -- in which nearly 400 workers were arrested in a crackdown on illegal immigrants. The move certainly disturbed the placid exterior of a seemingly bucolic community but was justified on the grounds of numerous violations of both labor and immigration law.
Two and a half years later, it appears that the fate of Postville, Iowa, is a powerful reminder of the human cost of our immigration policy. As with many things in life, it seems that there are always unintended side effects that we never take into account -- and a recent examination reveals that in the aftermath of the raid many people have suffered and the town has been destabilized. Though the meatpacking plant is under new ownership (the previous CEO has been convicted of fraud and sent to prison), it appears that the more things change, the more they stay the same (just with lower wages). When we endeavor to enforce immigration law, we need to balance legitimate concerns with a sensitivity to the human cost for "the least of these."
* * *
The importance ascribed to Christian teaching is outlined in the Constitutions of the Holy Fathers, Book VII, written in the fourth century, which states, "That it is our duty to esteem our Christian teachers above our parents -- the former being the means of our well-being, the other only of our being."
For the first four centuries of the Christian church, education was confined to preparing individuals, children and adults, women and men, for baptism. A convert participating in these studies was known as a catechumen, which in the Greek means "one who is being taught." The catechumenal classes relied mostly upon creeds and liturgy as the means of conveying the meaning of the Christian faith. Scattered throughout the New Testament are partial references to the creeds and liturgies that were used in the church and shared with the catechumens. A creed recited in the church and offered for instructional purposes was recorded by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15: 3-6: "that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time..."
Until one was baptized, participation in the Lord's Supper was denied. In fact, a catechumen could not even be present. The church during these many years was persecuted by the Roman authorities. At trial the only acceptable proof that the defendant was a Christian and eligible for capital punishment was if it could be proven that he or she partook of the Eucharist, which could only be substantiated by observation. Fearing imposters, spies, and informants, a catechumen could be present in the worship service until the elements were to be consecrated and served. At this point of the service anyone who was a known Christian was excused from the assembly. Only with baptism could it be assured that a worshiper was a believer willing to accept martyrdom. This becomes evident upon a review of "The Divine Liturgy of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark, The Disciple of the Holy Peter." In the last line of Section I of a four-part liturgy, prior to the hymn and incense to celebrate the consecration of the bread and wine, the deacon announces, "Take care that none of the catechumens remain."
Mary may have been perplexed and pondering about Gabriel's message, but she did understand the Jewish scriptures. From that understanding she learned the meaning of obedience to God's word. That is why when the Holy Spirit came upon her she was able to say, "Here am I." Advent, the beginning of the Christian year, and Christmas, when we are most focused on the meaning of Jesus, is a time for all of us -- children and adults alike -- to become a catechumen.
* * *
A woman went to the doctor's office. She was seen by one of the new doctors but after about four minutes in the examination room she burst out, screaming as she ran down the hall. An older doctor stopped and asked her what the problem was, and she explained. He had her sit down and relax in another room.
The older doctor marched back to the first and demanded, "What's the matter with you? Mrs. Terry is 63 years old, she has four grown children and seven grandchildren, and you told her she was pregnant?"
The new doctor smiled smugly as he continued to write on his clipboard. "Cured her hiccups though, didn't it?"
-- Ralph Milton
* * *
Jesus observed, "Without me you can do nothing." Yet we act, for the most part, as though without us God can do nothing. We think we have to make Christmas come, which is to say we think we have to bring about the redemption of the universe on our own -- when all God needs is a willing womb, a place of safety, nourishment, and love. "Oh, but nothing will get done," you say. "If I don't do it, Christmas won't happen." And we crowd out Christ with our fretful fears.
God asks us to give away everything of ourselves. The gift of greatest efficacy and power that we can offer God and creation is not our skills, gifts, abilities, and possessions. Mary offered only space, love, and belief.
Try it. Leave behind your briefcase and notes. Leave behind your honed skills and knowledge. Leave the Christmas decorations up in the attic. Go to someone in need and say, "Here, all I have is Christ." And find out that that is enough....
The intensity and strain that many of us bring to Christmas must suggest to some onlookers that, on the whole, Christians do not seem to have gotten the point of it. Probably few of us have the faith or the nerve to tamper with hallowed Christmas traditions on a large scale or with our other holiday celebrations. But a small experiment might prove interesting. What if, instead of doing something, we were to be something special? Be a womb. Be a dwelling for God. Be surprised.
-- Loretta Ross-Gotta, "Ready For Christmas?" in Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas (Plough Publishing House, 2001)
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: I will sing of your steadfast love, O God, forever;
People: with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
Leader: I declare that your steadfast love is established forever;
People: your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.
Leader: You said, "I have made a covenant with my chosen one:
People: 'I will establish your descendants forever and build your throne for all generations.' "
OR
Leader: My soul magnifies God,
People: and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
Leader: for God has looked with favor on our lowliness;
People: for the mighty one has done great things for us.
Leader: God has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
People: God has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly.
OR
Leader: Come and worship the God who acts among us.
People: We come to celebrate the ways God has worked.
Leader: But God hasn't stopped working in and through us!
People: Does God still want to work in ordinary people like us?
Leader: God desires nothing more than that we should share God's love with all creation!
People: We are God's people. Let the work of God begin in us!
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"
found in:
UMH: 211
H82: 56
PH: 9
AAHH: 188
NNBH: 82
NCH: 116
CH: 119
LBW: 34
ELW: 257
"People, Look East"
found in:
UMH: 202
PH: 12
CH: 142
ELW: 248
"Blessed Be the God of Israel"
found in:
UMH: 209
H82: 444
CH: 135
ELW: 250/252
Renew: 128
"I Want to Walk As a Child of the Light"
found in:
UMH: 206
H82: 490
ELW: 815
Renew: 152
"Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart"
found in:
UMH: 500
PH: 326
AAHH: 312
NCH: 290
CH: 265
LBW: 486
ELW: 800
"Spirit of the Living God"
found in:
UMH: 393
PH: 322
AAHH: 320
NNBH: 133
NCH: 285
CH: 259
Renew: 90
"O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright"
found in:
UMH: 247
PH: 69
NCH: 158
CH: 105
LBW: 76
ELW: 308
"Love Came Down at Christmas"
found in:
UMH: 242
H82: 84
NCH: 165
"Tell Out, My Soul"
found in:
UMH: 200
H82: 437/438
Renew: 130
"My Soul Gives Glory to My God"
found in:
UMH: 198
CH: 130
ELW: 882
"Sing Unto the Lord a New Song"
found in:
CCB: 16
"Open Our Eyes, Lord"
found in:
CCB: 77
Renew: 91
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
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who desires to bring wondrous salvation to your creation: Grant us, your creatures, the faith to trust that with you all is possible; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come into your presence, O God, to worship you and to offer ourselves as your servants. Fill us with your Spirit and make us bold to serve you as we serve others. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially the ways in which we place the working of God in the past and do not look for God to be active among us.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We read the Bible as ancient history and forget that it is our spiritual genealogy. It is not just about the past but is about your ongoing relationship with us. Forgive us our shortsightedness and empower us to actively open our lives to the work you wish to do here and now. Amen.
Leader: God is always looking for ways to bring salvation to us and to all creation. God bless us as we open our lives to this wonder, once again.
Prayer for Illumination
Send the light of your Spirit upon us, O God that we may truly discern your call to be your servants and to live as servants of others. Amen.
Prayer of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
Praise and glory, worship and honor are yours, O God, for you are the one who was and is and ever shall be.
(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 read the Bible as ancient history and forget that it is our spiritual genealogy. It is not just about the past but is about your ongoing relationship with us. Forgive us our shortsightedness and empower us to actively open our lives to the work you wish to do here and now.
We give you thanks for all the ways you have come to save us and especially for those who have heard your call to be faithful servants. It is through their witness that we have learned of you and of your great love.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children's Sermon Starter
Talk about how Elizabeth was a very old woman and Mary was just a teenager but God wanted to use them to bring salvation to the entire world. It doesn't matter if we are young or old, boy or girl. It doesn't matter who you are because God wants us to help make the world the place where joy and peace are everywhere.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Nothing Is Impossible With God
Luke 1:26-38
Today we are going to talk about the very beginning of the Christmas story. Does anyone remember what happened first? (Let the children respond. Offer help as needed.) The angel came and delivered some news to Mary. What did the angel tell Mary? (Let them respond.) The angel told Mary not to be afraid because she had been chosen by God to do something special. The angel said that Mary was going to have a baby. This would be no ordinary baby; this baby would be God's son. The angel told Mary that this child would be different from other babies because God had some very important things for him to do.
What news this was from the angel! It was a miracle! But Mary must have been a bit confused and maybe even a little scared. It must have been difficult to understand everything the angel had said. How could it be? How could something like this happen to her? How could she be the mother of God's Son?
The Bible tells us that the angel told Mary something else before he left. The angel said, "With God, nothing is impossible."
With God, nothing is impossible. Say that with me: "With God, nothing is impossible." Say it again: "With God, nothing is impossible." Do you believe that? It's true. No matter how impossible something seems, no matter how much we believe we cannot do something, if it's God's will, and if we are willing to try, nothing is impossible for us.
Imagine there is someone who is always mean to you. Maybe she says bad things to you or always tries to get you in trouble. You just can't stand this person, but you know God wants you to be nice to her. It seems impossible, doesn't it? But it's not. With God's help, you can do it.
Suppose God wants you to be a missionary when you grow up. Suppose he wants you to go far away and tell others about him and his love. Impossible? No. Why? Because, say it with me, "With God, nothing is impossible."
Mary was confused and afraid and she did not fully understand how something so important could be happening to her. It seemed impossible, but it did happen -- because, say it with me one more time, "With God, nothing is impossible!"
I want you to remember that. God bless you.
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The Immediate Word, December 18, 2011, issue.
Copyright 2011 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.
