Because of the close proximity this year of the Fourth Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve/Day -- plus the fact that in many congregations the worship service on the last Sunday in Advent is likely to be a de facto Christmas service -- this installment of The Immediate Word will include material for both sets of lectionary texts... but our primary emphasis will be on Christmas themes. One of the main motifs that we return to each year as we celebrate the nativity is “peace on earth.” But as team member Dean Feldmeyer notes, everywhere we look -- from the Middle East to the halls of Congress to even within our own families -- it seems as if it’s extremely difficult to find much evidence of the lasting peace we yearn for.
If we look carefully, there are hopeful signs -- yet as Dean observes, the human pursuit of peace is often a two-steps forward, one-step backward process that requires overcoming significant opposition... and that’s a dynamic we see in many of our current headlines. As Dean points out, true peace is a scarce commodity -- especially in a world where we’re always looking for an edge on the competition, and where we’ve learned to fear the vulnerability that is an inherent part of reaching out to those we see as enemies. And as Dean reminds us, we’re all too willing to wait for others to make peace for us. But even when we take the up the challenge to create peace in our lives, our tentative steps rarely provide the kind of permanent change that Isaiah describes: “For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire” (9:5). For that, Dean tells us, we must look to the “news of great joy” we receive in the coming of the Prince of Peace.
Team member Mary Austin offers additional thoughts on Luke’s nativity account and the theme of children and poverty. Mary notes that we tend to sentimentalize the setting of Jesus’ birth -- but we fail to take into account that it’s essentially the first-century equivalent of God coming to us as a child amidst urban blight and deprivation. Mary ponders the parallels between the child in the manger and homeless children living in shelters, whose lives are impacted in many ways that people who do not lack for creature comforts have difficulty comprehending. That raises the question: Do we see the poverty that is in our midst? Or have we air-brushed it out of our consciousness, just as we’ve removed the seedier aspects in our renderings of the stable? At a time when many of us are festooning one another with gifts that are often unneeded and perhaps unwanted, it’s important to consider those who are the most vulnerable in our society -- children and the poor.
Longing for Peace
by Dean Feldmeyer
Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!” (Luke 2:13-14 KJV)
Really? Peace on earth? Where? When? Good will toward men? What men would that be, exactly? Politicians? Hardly. World leaders? Please. Even in our own families and communities. Even in our churches. Peace? I don’t see it.
Even if we translate these verses differently, like the NRSV does: “...peace among those whom he favors.” Well, he must not favor many, because I don’t see much peace. Not among men. Not among women. Not among anyone.
We long, we hunger, we ache for peace on earth. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all get along peacefully, if only for a moment? When our relationships with other human beings could be based on mutual trust and respect and we could forget about constantly seeking advantage over each other?
What would it take for that to happen?
Perhaps the answer is to be found in the Christmas story...
In the News
Last week, on Saturday, December 14, we observed the first anniversary of the Sandy Hook Massacre when 20 children and six staff members (including the principal and two teachers) were murdered at their school in Newtown, Connecticut.
Since that day, according to Slate, there have been at least 19 more school shootings -- on average, one every 24 days. 11,547 Americans (194 of them children) have died by gun violence -- about 31.6 per day.
Yet Freedom Group (also known as Remington Outdoor Company Inc.), the nation’s largest firearms and ammunition conglomerate and the manufacturer of the Bushmaster XM-15 assault rifle that was used in the Sandy Hook shootings, estimates that its net sales will be up 34 % in 2013 to $1.25 billion.
Meanwhile, President Obama was one of the scores of dignitaries and national leaders who went to South Africa last week to honor a man of peace, Nelson Mandela, at his memorial service. Thousands came to Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium on a cold and rainy day to sing and dance and listen to speakers praise the man who was often referred to by the honorific “Madiba,” his tribal name.
One of those thousands was a little, round Hispanic man who offered his hand to President Obama. When the president shook it, a formal act that shows peaceful intent, he introduced himself: “I’m Raul Castro.”
As soon as the still picture of the encounter hit the media, the history of American presidents shaking hands with despots was forgotten and a firestorm of criticism ensued. Even so innocuous a peace sign as a brief handshake is no longer tolerated by some American political leaders.
Which brings us to the presidential selfie. While at the memorial service, which was a celebration of Mandela’s life and achievements, an event that included singing and dancing as well as speakers, President Obama was once again photographed -- this time smiling and leaning to the right to be included in a selfie (a self-taken photograph) that was being snapped by Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Unwilling to allow even the smallest event to pass without making political fodder of it, critics, most of whom were unaware of the festive nature of the event, boiled in righteous indignation at what they insisted was a lack of respect and decorum.
While all this was going on in South Africa, back home in the USA Representative Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, and Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, were introducing a compromise two-year budget plan that would avoid another government shutdown and at least some of those last-minute standoffs that so plagued the political process in 2013.
But before it even hit the table, there were some who were criticizing it and those who put it together, accusing them of selling out their principles and sending the government in a headlong rush into financial ruin. This produced a strongly worded response from House Speaker John Boehner, who counter-criticized those who would dare to criticize a budget that they had not yet read.
Reporters jumped on this exchange as signs of a “civil war in the Republican party.”
Whether we look to our schools or our political parties, our national and international leaders or our communities and homes, peace is a pretty hard commodity to come by.
In the Scriptures
With the birth of the Messiah the angels declare a new era of peace and good will (Luke 2:13-14).
In Isaiah we read of a new prince who is born, a prince who will one day be king, and we see in this prince Jesus, the one we call Lord: “And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
He is described as one whose authority grows unceasingly, and whose rule is one of “endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom” (Isaiah 9:7). Not simply a lack of aggression, this peace shall be established “with justice and righteousness.”
Later, this same messiah will be the one who says “Blessed are the peacemakers” and calls them the “children of God” (Matthew 5:9). He will admonish his followers to leave their offering at the temple and first go make peace with their neighbors. He will tell them to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them. He will ask them to give freely to those who ask for help, to sell what they have and give it to the poor, and to follow him instead of wealth.
In the Sermon
Peace does not come easily or naturally to 21st-century Americans.
We are a gun-owning, revenge-seeking, violence-prone culture. Our country was born out of war, and war has been the most common experience of all those that unite us. The United States has been at war for 216 years of our 237-year national history (since 1776).
We are the largest weapon-manufacturing country in the world. Our annual military budget ($682 million) is greater than that of China, Russia, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Saudi Arabia, India, Germany, Italy, and Brazil (the next ten countries) combined ($652 million).
Given these figures and the ones above, it is not surprising that many of us feel a little ill at ease when we sing songs declaring our Lord and Savior to be the “Prince of Peace.” It is quite understandable that we feel a twinge of irony when we hear the angels declare “peace on earth and good will to all.”
Perhaps the problem is that we are waiting for someone else to make peace for us. Maybe the dilemma is what we are willing to do when we hear the call of the Psalmist in Psalm 34. When we hear “seek peace and pursue it,” we readily agree to the seeking but not so much to the pursuing.
The newborn Messiah does not create a peaceful world for us against our will. He does not force us into the peaceable kingdom so beautifully portrayed by the artists and composers of this season.
No, what the Messiah does is make it possible for us to make peace and be peaceful. He holds it up to us as not just a dream or a fantasy but a real possibility -- if we are willing to pay the price to achieve it.
But it is left to us to take those first steps of faith that lead to peace, to love those who treat us badly, to pray for those who bully us, to extend an olive branch of cooperation and compromise to those with whom we disagree, to shake the hands of tyrants, and to find and walk that wide road that leads to God’s Kingdom.
It is for us to step out in faith, as did the shepherds and the magi, and go in search of the one we call Messiah, the one who is the Prince of Peace.
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Mary Austin
Luke 2:1-20
The scene is familiar from a thousand Christmas cards -- the serenity of the manger, with Mary and Joseph looking down at the infant Jesus, lying on a pile of hay in the animals’ food box. Each face is peaceful. Even the animals look reverent, and none of them are nosing into the hay under the baby. Sometimes there’s a shiny clean shepherd or two, cradling an impeccably white sheep.
The image suggests completeness and peace. No one looks pinched with cold or stressed about the next meal. No one is looking hungrily at the sheep, imagining mutton stew. In some ways, the picture fulfills Isaiah’s image of the wolf and lamb together. But missing from the picture is the poverty that brings the family to a stable, or to the part of someone’s house where the animals live. Missing from the picture is that Joseph is losing work to be there, which will surely be a financial hardship. Missing from the picture is the expense of raising this new baby, and the toll that poverty will take on this young family.
If Jesus were born into our time, he would be in good company.
The National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) notes that the latest census data shows a poverty rate of 15% for all Americans, and 21.9% for children. “Children are much more likely than adults to live in families in deep poverty, with incomes less than half of the official poverty threshold.... Almost 44 percent of American children live in families with incomes less than twice the poverty line.” The NCCP, part of Columbia University, says: “For 2011, the federal poverty level is $22,350 for a family of four. Children living in families with incomes below the federal poverty level are referred to as poor. But research suggests that, on average, families need an income of about twice the federal poverty level to meet their basic needs.” There are more poor people in reality than the numbers indicate.
Pediatrician Perri Klass suggests that we understand poverty as a disease: “Poverty damages children’s dispositions and blunts their brains. We’ve seen articles about the language deficit in poorer homes and the gaps in school achievement. These remind us that -- more so than in my mother’s generation -- poverty in this country is now likely to define many children’s life trajectories in the harshest terms: poor academic achievement, high dropout rates, and health problems from obesity and diabetes to heart disease, substance abuse, and mental illness. Recently, there has been a lot of focus on the idea of toxic stress, in which a young child’s body and brain may be damaged by too much exposure to so-called stress hormones (Adobe PDF) , like cortisol and norepinephrine. When this level of stress is experienced at an early age, and without sufficient protection, it may actually reset the neurological and hormonal systems, permanently affecting children’s brains and even, we are learning, their genes.”
In recent years, we have given great attention to the problem of childhood obesity and its impact on future health. Klass suggests that the problem of poverty deserves the same attention.
Further, poverty is becoming more concentrated. Poor people are increasingly surrounded by other poor people, with more successful people removed from their lives, friendships, and schools. The Washington Post reports that poor children “dominated classrooms in 13 states in the South and the four Western states with the largest populations in 2011... A decade earlier, just four states reported poor children as a majority of the student population in their public schools. But by 2011, almost half of the nation’s 50 million public-school students -- 48 percent -- qualified for free or reduced-price meals. In some states, such as Mississippi, that proportion rose as high as 71 percent. In a large swath of the country, classrooms are filling with children who begin kindergarten already behind their more privileged peers, who lack the support at home to succeed, and who are more than likely to drop out of school or never attend college.”
If he were born today, Jesus might share the life of Dasani, a homeless girl recently profiled by the New York Times to illustrate the life of homeless people in New York City. Dasani and her family, including seven other children, live together in one room in a city-funded shelter. As the article says, her life in the shelter comes at the intersection of poor parental choices and public policy decisions that keep people in shelters longer: “With the economy growing in 2004, the Bloomberg administration adopted sweeping new policies intended to push the homeless to become more self-reliant. They would no longer get priority access to public housing and other programs, but would receive short-term help with rent. Poor people would be empowered, the mayor argued, and homelessness would decline. But the opposite happened. As rents steadily rose and low-income wages stagnated, chronically poor families like Dasani’s found themselves stuck in a shelter system with fewer exits.” Her parents have had their own struggles with addiction, staying employed, and arrests. At the center of the story is this engaging girl who longs to live somewhere quiet, where she can concentrate.
The quiet of the manger scene of Jesus’ birth hides the poverty behind it. The poverty around us is equally hidden, until we choose to see it. Jesus was born into poverty, and lived his life among the poor, bringing his good news to them. In the season of his birth, that familiar manger scene bids us to do the same.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Ron Love:
Matthew 1:18-25
Pope Francis was recently selected as Time’s “Person of the Year” -- and in the magazine’s cover story, Howard Chua-Eoan and Elizabeth Dias explain the reasoning: “What makes this Pope so important is the speed with which he has captured the imaginations of millions who had given up hoping for the church at all.... In a matter of months, Francis has elevated the healing mission of the church.”
Application: The message of Emmanuel continues to resonate with us this day.
*****
Matthew 1:18-25
When Time magazine selects their “Person of the Year,” the decision is not based on an individual’s outstanding qualities, but on his or her influence on world events. It was refreshing that Pope Francis was selected as the 2013 “Person of the Year.” President Obama made the top ten finalists, but was not on the final five list. Among those considered along with these two fine dignitaries were: Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, for the website difficulties affecting enrollment in the new health care program; Texas Senator Ted Cruz, for his ultra-conservative politics and leadership in stalling the business of Congress while trying to negate the implementation of health care reform; singer Miley Cyrus, for her antics on the MTV Awards show; and Edward Snowden, for his release of classified information on secret NSA programs to Wikileaks.
Application: One can only wonder why the narrow and short-sighted contributions to society of Sebelius, Cruz, Cyrus, and Snowden could ever be considered the significant events of the year. These individuals certainly did not have the impact of an “Emmanuel moment.”
*****
Matthew 1:18-25
Britain’s highest court recently ruled that Scientology is a religion, allowing plaintiff Louisa Hodkin to marry her fiancé in the church’s headquarters in London. Supreme Court Justice Lord Roger Toulson wrote that a religion cannot be confined only to those who believe in a supreme deity, for “to do so would be a form of religious discrimination unacceptable in today’s society.”
Application: A Supreme Court ruling will not alter our understanding of the Christmas message that “God is with us.”
*****
Matthew 1:18-25
Those suggesting that there is a “war on Christmas” are once again this year attacking use of the abbreviation “Xmas” for Christmas -- with their motivation being the slogan “Don’t take Christ out of Christmas.” But as Matthew Schmitz writes for First Things in an article titled “In Praise of ‘Xmas,’ ” the abbreviation is actually Christian with a long symbolic history in the church. The X signifies the Greek letter chi, which is traditionally combined with P, or rho, to signify the name of Christ. The “mas” refers to the Eucharistic celebration. To save time and space, the early scribes went from writing XPmas to Xmas. The X was such a strong Christian religious symbol that, according to renowned poet and translator John Ciardi, illiterate Jews on entering Ellis Island would not sign their names with an X but instead with an O -- kikl in Yiddish, meaning “little circle.”
Application: God will always be with us, and Christ will always be a part of Christmas.
*****
Matthew 1:18-25
Fr. Peter-Michael Preble, of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in the Americas, recently wrote an article for the Huffington Post in which he questioned “The So-Called ‘War on Christmas.’ ” Those who perceive a war on Christmas in the United States, he suggested, ought to read the news and then ask themselves a series of questions: “Are you, as a Christian, prevented by anyone from setting up a Christmas tree in your home? Are you, as a Christian, prevented from attending the church of your choice on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? Are you, as a Christian, prevented from saying ‘Merry Christmas’ to anyone you choose?” Preble then noted that just the day before he penned his piece, 12 nuns in the Syrian city of Maaloula had been kidnapped and the church in their monastery/orphanage was desecrated. “That is persecution,” Preble thundered. The priest went on to write: “The real war on Christmas is that we choose to focus on nonsense while our Christian brothers and sisters around the world are being killed for no other reason than they are Christian and we stand by and do nothing! That is the real war on Christmas.”
Application: Joseph was warned in a dream of persecution, and little has changed since.
***************
From team member Chris Keating:
Isaiah 7:10-16; Isaiah 9:2-7
No Free Breakfast for Hungry Children
A Canadian politician has apologized for his outlandish statement about children and poverty.
Responding to a report that shows British Columbia leading Canada in childhood poverty, Industry Minister James Moore said he doesn’t think it’s his government’s responsibility to make sure children are fed. “Obviously, nobody wants kids to go to school hungry,” he said. “Certainly we want to make sure that kids go to school with full-bellied, but is that always the government’s job, to be there to serve people their breakfast? Is it my job to feed my neighbor’s child? I don’t think so.”
Moore soon took back his words. In a statement posted on his website, he noted: “In response to a question from a reporter last week, I made an insensitive comment that I deeply regret. I apologize. Caring for each other is a Canadian ethic that I strongly believe in -- always have and always will.”
Application: Even more telling than Moore’s insensitive remarks are underlying sentiments (voiced in the “comments” section of the original report) that reveal the struggles some have with the roots of poverty in first-world nations. While Isaiah foresees that the coming child will “eat curds and honey,” and will know how to refuse the evil and choose the good, many children today lack basic nourishment.
*****
Isaiah 7:10-16; Isaiah 9:2-7
Poverty and Child Development
As we consider the texts promising the peace given to us by a child, we may also want to consider how today’s vulnerable children face delays in brain development due to poor nutrition. A study reported by Science Daily on December 11, 2013, offers important evidence linking poverty and biology. It’s a startling report, well worth consideration. One finding: “By age 4, children in families living with incomes under 200 percent of the federal poverty line have less gray matter -- brain tissue critical for processing of information and execution of actions -- than kids growing up in families with higher incomes.”
Application: It is easy to romanticize Christmas by saying it is “all about the children.” It is even possible to redecorate the nativity scene so that it lacks signs of poverty and struggle. But the Isaiah texts remind us that the child is “Immanuel, God-with-us.” At its heart, Christmas is a story of a vulnerable family. When children in poverty suffer, do we understand how it is that God suffers too?
*****
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19; Luke 2:8-11
And There Were Shepherds?
Sheep herding was, and continues to be, a lonely and dangerous occupation -- as a 2012 news report on the daily life of a Peruvian shepherd working in Sun Valley, Idaho, indicates. Photographer Tyler Tjomsland followed Adrian Alvarado Baldeon on his workday. A few things have changed since Jesus’ birth. Shepherd Baldeon uses ear buds to listen to tunes from Pearl Jam while he’s working -- but only during the day. “At night, however, he typically sleeps without music, keeping his ears open to any sound that seems out of place.” Baldeon awakens several times at night to the sounds of his herding dogs’ barking. He’s always listening for the approach of hungry wolves.
Application: Shepherds must stay alert, listening for predators, just as the Psalmist notes. And like the shepherds of Jesus’ day, contemporary shepherds scan the night sky, listening and looking for any “sound that seems out of place.” How alert are we to the sound of God’s good news slipping into the world?
*****
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19; Luke 2:8-11
A Job No One Else Will Do
It’s a bit of an old story, but a 2006 news item recounts the difficulties faced by contemporary shepherds -- most of whom are immigrant workers from Peru, Chile, Bolivia, or Mexico. At the time, most shepherds in the United States were guest workers who toiled under conditions few people would find acceptable. Twelve- to 16-hour days are common, with running water hard to find. As the Washington Post noted about shepherds working in California at the time: “From late March until fall, sheep herding is almost unbearably lonely. Each herder is driven deep into pastures far from town or even a paved road. For weeks on end, he sees no one but the boss, and rarely does he have a cellphone or radio.”
Application: Shepherds were, and continue to be, outsiders. In biblical times, shepherds were ritually impure, unable to participate in worship. Contemporary shepherds are also pushed to the margins; yet Luke reminds us that it was to these lonely and cast-off persons that the heavenly host appeared in full concert, announcing the Messiah’s birth.
***************
From team member Leah Lonsbury:
Luke 2:1-20
While we anticipate and prepare for the birth of the savior, our brothers and sisters in South Africa ended their 10-day mourning period with a final step -- the burial of Nelson Mandela.
In a world where so many speak of peace but never actually do anything to attain and solidify it, Nelson Mandela helped his country take its first steps toward equality and opportunity for all. This is the way to peace.
Ahmed Kathrada, an anti-apartheid activist who was jailed on Robben Island with Mandela, spoke at Mandela’s burial service and remembered his old friend’s “abundant reserves” of love, patience, and tolerance. This is the way to peace.
Mandela shared the Nobel Peace Prize with F.W. de Klerk, the last president of South Africa’s apartheid government, for his efforts at bringing about a peaceful transition in the country. Instead of turning on or seeking revenge on his captors and those who ran the system that kept him imprisoned and so many South African oppressed in so many ways, Associated Press writer Christopher Torchia reports, “He... emerged from prison in 1990 advocating forgiveness and reconciliation, and became president after South Africa’s first all-race elections in 1994.” This is the way to peace.
From Torchia again: “While South Africa faces many problems, including crime, unemployment and economic inequality, Mandela is seen by many compatriots as the father of their nation and around the world as an example of the healing power of reconciliation.”
This is the way to peace, even in a world that tells us that peace is not possible. How might we travel this way in our own lives each day?
*****
Matthew 1:18-25
In Joseph’s time, being a “righteous” man would have meant upholding the law to the greatest extent possible -- but in our passage from Matthew’s gospel for Advent 4 he decides not to publicly shame Mary and “dismiss her quietly.” So it’s likely that the text would more correctly read “...Joseph, being a righteous man but unwilling to expose her to public disgrace...”
This upright man bent a little -- not in submission to the law this time around, but instead to God’s dream as revealed to him by an angel. This was probably a leap for Joseph, who by taking Mary as his wife defied cultural expectations and opened himself to ridicule and shaming. But by doing so, he also opened himself to hope, purpose, and the chance to make God’s dream come true. This new way of living required risk and vulnerability that was probably very unfamiliar to Joseph, but it also made the way for God’s love to be born in his life and in the lives of so many others. How can we open ourselves to this kind of risk and vulnerability so we might also be carriers of God’s dream and love in the world?
For more on the power of vulnerability, see Brené Brown’s TED Talk here.
*****
Luke 2:1-20; Isaiah 9:2-7; and Matthew 1:18-25
I wrote the following reflection eight years ago when I was working in downtown Atlanta with folks who were homeless or right on the edge of homelessness. It’s a good reminder to me in this season that we have a tendency to romanticize the scene of baby Jesus in the manger surrounded by lowing cattle and his doting parents. In reality, “all is calm, all is bright” was probably about as far from Mary and Joseph’s actual experience as you could get.
This Christmas, how might we re-imagine the manger scene in light of all the families that are still turned away each night, our shrinking middle class, and the continual cutting away at our social safety net?
Still No Room
I shuffled into work that morning, tired because my son Aiden got up and stayed up at 4:30 a.m., stressed because I hadn’t started Christmas shopping yet, and torn because Christmas presents seemed so frivolous in the midst of the incredible poverty and chaos I was experiencing each day at Crossroads where I was doing my internship. Hanging out with homeless folks each day had put a real spin on my Christmas spirit. How could I go out and buy Legos for my nephews when I didn’t have bus tokens to give Crossroads’ guests to get to doctors’ appointments? And what about shoes to protect their feet that had to walk and walk the streets of downtown from when they were turned out of their shelter at 5 a.m. to when they were allowed back in at 6:30 p.m.? My co-workers, all six of them, some of them former homeless folks themselves, all managed to tell me in the first two minutes I was in the building that there were some people waiting on me in “my office,” the overcrowded holding room where I sometimes managed to use the phone in between clients and occasionally found a quiet moment to pray with people trying to grasp a little hope for their lives.
When I finally made my way there, smiling at the all too familiar faces in the mailroom line, passing out several “I’ll get to you as soon as I can”s, and getting the morning harumph squeezed out of me by Lopez, our security guru, I opened the door -- only to see Jesus and his family. They were beautiful, and tired, and tender with each other. Joseph stroked the back of Jesus’ head as he pretended to answer a toy telephone and tell his little one that it was Elmo calling. Mary grinned at their sweet foolishness as she rested her head on the arm of the chair in which she sat. I introduced myself and sat down to hear their story. It was so familiar I could have told you the basics of their tale without hearing it first. I heard it every day at Crossroads. No place to live, no extra clothes, no money for prescriptions, no diapers in the diaper bag. No ID, much hassle from the authorities. No rest, no peace, no safety, no options. Great love, struggling faith, enormous strength, and flickering hope. I must have made 15 phone calls trying to find them shelter.
“No room at the inn,” I heard over and over again.
“We can take a single mother with three children. That’s all we have,” the woman at the helpline said.
“How about an intact family that very much wants to stay together?” I countered.
“Well, we could possibly take a mother and two children. Are there two children?”
“Do inner children count?” I tried, thinking I could loosen her up with humor.
SILENCE... Then, “We’ve got nothing for you. No room.”
When I asked for other ideas, she listed all the agencies I had heard tell me no before I called her hotline.
After much frustration and several hours, I finally found them a spot at Taskforce for the Homeless, where Mary and Jesus would sleep in the locked lobby and Joseph would be sent to the often questionable men’s dormitory. Nothing to promise safety or rest there. Nothing nearly as sweet as the smell of hay or the lowing of cattle would meet their senses that night. I excused myself and headed off to make copies for food, ID, and employment assistance referrals for the family. I bumped headlong into a co-worker coming through the copyroom/office/storage/breakroom door.
“You doing all right, Leah?”
“Yeah, just tired and a bit frazzled. I’m frustrated that I have nothing more to offer this family.”
“You able to walk away from this at night?”
“No. But I haven’t taken anybody home with me or given them my ATM pin number yet, so I guess I’m still maintaining ‘healthy boundaries,’ whatever that means.”
“Let me ask you something. You think we oughta stop people we can’t help at the door? We got nothing for some of these folks. Most of these folks.”
I paused. “No. We’ve still got human contact to offer. We’ve got ministry in our name, right? I guess we can still pray, still hope.”
“How are you managing to hang onto hope in the midst of this? Our interns this summer had your same frustrations. They lasted three weeks. Whatcha doing for self-care?” he asked.
“Well, Jesus just gave me a hug and smeared wet Cheerios all over my shirt. That’s what I’m hanging onto today.”
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel.
People: It is you, O God, who leads us like a flock.
Leader: Restore us, O God.
People: Let your face shine that we may be saved.
Leader: Then we will never turn back from you.
People: Give us life so that we may call on your name.
OR
Leader: The Prince of Peace comes among us, once again.
People: Jesus, the Christ, is the only true Prince of Peace.
Leader: It is not in power and violence that peace is found.
People: Peace is found in the unity of all people as sisters and brothers.
Leader: Let us live in the Spirit of Jesus of Nazareth.
People: We will seek peace throughout the world.
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
ELA: 257
W&P: 154
AMEC: 102
STLT: 225
“Let There Be Peace on Earth”
found in:
UMH: 431
CH: 77
W&P: 614
“Hail to the Lord’s Anointed”
found in:
UMH: 203
H82: 616
AAHH: 187
NCH: 104
CH: 140
LBW: 87
ELA: 311
AMEC: 107
“Love Came Down at Christmas”
found in:
UMH: 242
H82: 84
NCH: 165
W&P: 210
“Savior of the Nations, Come”
found in:
UMH: 214
PH: 14
LBW: 28
ELA: 263
W&P: 168
“Dona Nobis Pacem”
found in:
UMH: 376
H82: 712
CH: 297
ELA: 753
STLT: 388
“For the Healing of the Nations”
found in:
UMH: 428
NCH: 576
CH: 668
W&P: 1
“Let There Be Light”
found in:
UMH: 440
NNBH: 450
NCH: 589
STLT: 142
“Let Us Now Depart in Your Peace”
found in:
CCB: 9
“We Are One in Christ Jesus” (“Somos uno en Cristo”)
found in:
CCB: 43
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who created us as one people from one earth: Grant us the wisdom to find in that foundation the peace that you desire to bring to us; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, God, for you are the one who created us as your image and as your children. From one earth you formed us, and you breathed into all of us your own Spirit. As we praise you and listen for your word to us today, help us to be true disciples of Jesus, that we may truly walk the way of peace. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our violent nature.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have created us and made us one people, but we live as if we have no connection with one another. Even within families we find divisions and cause to be belligerent. We are so afraid we might lose some of our advantages that we willingly sacrifice peace and friendship. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us, that we may live as your children in peace and harmony. Amen.
Leader: God is our loving Creator and Parent. God calls us together in peace. Know and celebrate God’s peace in your life.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
Praise and glory to you, O God, creator of all that was and is and ever shall be. You are the fount and the foundation of all of our lives.
(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. You have created us and made us one people, but we live as if we have no connection with one another. Even within families we find divisions and cause to be belligerent. We are so afraid we might lose some of our advantages that we willingly sacrifice peace and friendship. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us, that we may live as your children in peace and harmony.
We give you thanks for our brothers and sisters who have nurtured us and cared for us in this life. We thank you for the peace that Jesus offers us with you and with one another.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our needs, as we come to realize once more that all people are your children.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Talk with the children about how God made us all one people out of one earth. And he sent Jesus to be our brother and our savior... all of us together. Jesus comes to bring us peace.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
The Best Presents
by Teresa L. Major
Matthew 1:18-25
Objects: two Christmas ornament or figurines -- one of the baby Jesus (from a nativity scene) and one of Santa Claus
Look what I’ve got here. Who is this? (Display the figurines and let the children respond.) Of course, this is the baby Jesus. How about this one? Everyone knows who Santa is. Now, let me ask you a question. I want you to think about the answer before you speak, and I want you to be honest. Here’s my question. Who gives the best Christmas presents, Santa Claus or Jesus? (Let the children respond.)
Santa gifts are lots of fun! Trucks, cars, dolls, tea sets, video games, stereos, new clothes, all kinds of stuff to play with! Santa gifts are great, but what about the gifts that Jesus gives?
What kinds of gifts does Jesus give us? (Let the children respond. Direct their answers if necessary.) Jesus gives us hope, peace, love, strength, rest, joy, and all the things that really matter in life. Jesus can give us what we need to live a happy life.
What happens to the Santa gifts after we play with them for a while? (Let the children respond.) The batteries wear out, or we get tired of them and toss them aside, or they break and don’t work like they’re supposed to anymore. But the gifts that Jesus gives never break down. They don’t need batteries, and they will last forever.
There really is no contest; Jesus gives the best presents. We all like the Santa gifts and they are fun to get and to give, but they don’t compare to the wonderful, life-changing gifts that Jesus Christ gives. I hope you enjoy your Santa gifts, but I pray that you treasure your Jesus gifts!
I hope you have a blessed Christmas season. God bless you.
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The Immediate Word, December 22-25, 2013, issue.
Copyright 2013 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.
