What Kind Of Rejoicing?
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For December 22, 2024:
What Kind Of Rejoicing?
by Mary Austin
Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)
The recent murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on the street in New York City generated…not much outrage, and a lot of guilty satisfaction. The reversal of power felt good for a moment for everyone who has been terrorized, ignored, or denied service by their health insurance company. Writer Deborah Copaken says that when she told her husband about the murder, knowing her awful history with the company, his first reaction was, “Did you do it?”
Online reactions included things like “This needs to be the new norm,” on X/Twitter. Or, “My only question is did the CEO of UnitedHealthcare die quickly or over several months waiting to find out if his insurance would cover his treatment for the fatal gunshot wound?” Others said, “Thoughts and deductibles to the family. Unfortunately, my condolences are out-of-network.”
All of this vengeful rejoicing “highlighted the anger and frustration over the state of health care in America, where those with private insurance often find themselves in Kafkaesque tangles while seeking reimbursement for medical treatment and are often denied.” Every adult who has health insurance understands how someone could be driven to the edge by the current healthcare “system.” A piece in Politico wonders, “The glee with which so many people online responded to the news of the killing shocked the consciences of politicians and pundits alike. How are we to make sense of such a grim, ugly public sentiment?”
In Luke’s gospel, Mary calls us to rejoice about what God is doing. God is reversing the world’s balance of power, toppling the lofty and lifting up the downtrodden. Is this the rejoicing she has in mind?
In the Scriptures
Mary must be frightened for herself and the child she’s carrying. Her future is uncertain, and she doesn’t know how her family and her betrothed, Joseph, will react to the news of her pregnancy. In The First Advent in Palestine, Kelley Nikondeha notes that Mary’s song springs from her own life reversals. “Mary sings of her low estate, a status typically translated as “poor” or “humble.” But there is a fuller connotation to this word, tapeinōsis, that refers to humiliation or distress. And this can be seen earlier in the Hebrew Bible, as the word is used to connote the sexual humiliation of Dinah, the concubine in Judges 19, and King David’s daughter Tamar, to name just a few…What if Mary sings of her own humiliation and God’s astounding redemption of her shame in this present moment? Instead of punishment, blessing? What if she sings as the first fruit of God’s grand reversal? What if she goes on to sing of God exalting the other humiliated ones with such confidence because she has already experienced the beginning of such holy upheaval herself?” Mary doesn’t just sing of God’s reversals, she embodies them.
Nikondeha adds, “Mary’s anthem tells of those brutalized by the empire, literally and metaphorically, who will know God’s recompense. Liberation will overcome humiliation and stigma; God’s justice will have the final victorious word for those like her in the world.” As she takes refuge with her older cousin, Mary sings this song in the peace of that haven. It’s easy to imagine that she might quote a psalm, calling out a version of “why have you forsaken me, God?” Instead, the words in her mouth are this gorgeous piece of poetry and she expands the song beyond her own sorrows. She speaks in the style of the Hebrew prophets, announcing a message from God. Even before Jesus is born, Mary understands that he won’t be an ordinary kind of child, or an ordinary kind of messiah.
The whole system will change. God is not just exchanging one CEO for another.
In the News
Deborah Kopaken notes “For years, I have been writing about the dangers and absurdities of for-profit healthcare. I wrote a whole book about it. I’ve written dozens of articles and op-eds, one of which recently won an award for opinion writing. Hell, I started this Substack to address the many inequities in women’s health that are driven by our effed up, for-profit healthcare system. Why? Because for those of us unlucky enough to nearly die or go deaf or get sick or, if you’re me, all three and more, dealing with our American healthcare system — especially UnitedHealth Group, the worst of the worst, which raked in approximately $450 billion last year in revenue; is being investigated for antitrust dealings by the DOJ; and spent nearly $6 million on lobbying to keep the American healthcare status quo — can and often does feel like going up against the mafia, again and again, only to get kneecapped and go bankrupt every goddamned time.”
UnitedHealthcare specializes in behavior that is unfriendly to customers. A lawsuit last year accused the company of “deploying an AI model known by the company to have a 90% error rate, overriding determinations made by the patients’ physicians that the expenses were medically necessary.” One lawsuit notes that “The elderly are prematurely kicked out of care facilities nationwide or forced to deplete family savings to continue receiving necessary medical care, all because [UnitedHealth's] AI model 'disagrees' with their real live doctors’ determinations,” according to the complaint, which was filed by the family members of elderly people who died.
Another family's lawsuit exposed the company’s determination to deny treatment to a college student because it was too expensive, forcing him back to a treatment that he already knew wouldn’t work.
In that light, we can understand why merchandise with the gunman’s three words “defend, deny, depose,” appeared online almost immediately. People wanted their own piece of the reversal. “There were more than 800 results on Etsy for “Deny, Defend, Depose” — the three words that were reportedly etched onto the bullet shell casings at the scene of UHC CEO Brian Thompson’s murder last week.” For a moment, it felt like the imbalance of power shifted toward the little person.
Exploring a theory posited by Eric Hobsbawm, Politico suggests this is a work of “social banditry.” Social bandits — like Robin Hood — arise when people lose faith in institutions to solve their problems. “In a world where ordinary people feel the pinch of economic inequality or change, and in which they have little faith that the state can redress their grievances, social banditry becomes an appealing force. Indeed, public trust in government is at an all-time low. In such an environment, it’s little wonder that a masked killer with a bag of Monopoly money can become an instant folk hero.”
The power of social bandits “resides in the vacuum that is effective government. In the absence of a strong and responsive government, many Americans may continue to celebrate social banditry as an expression of their discontent with the economic state of affairs.”
In the Sermon
Fortunately, our allegiance is to God, not to Caesar. Unfortunately, we need an effective and compassionate government to ensure that people have the essentials of life. We count on God for our ultimate reality, and we also live in the real world where we and others need health care, safe streets, and truthful leaders. The sermon could talk about this tension in our loyalties as people of faith. Mary offers us a vision of God’s world. How do we use our lives to take steps to get there?
In her new book, The Serviceberry, Robin Wall Kimmerer highlights a different kind of economy. The sermon might help people think about how to imagine different systems, the way Mary does in her song. Dr. Wall Kimmerer says, “Most of us are enmeshed in the market economy, which by definition is a monetary system in which the production and distribution of goods is regulated by the “market forces” of supply and demand. Exchanges are voluntary and entrepreneurs are free to pursue profits. The market economy is based on private property and competition in navigating the gap between supply and demand — i.e., scarcity. The greater the gap between supply and demand, the greater the scarcity, and therefore the price to obtain those goods rises and profit increases follow… The greatest status and success come from possession and profit. Food security is assured by private accumulation. Gift economies arise from the abundance of gifts from the Earth, which are owned by no one and therefore shared. Sharing engenders relationships of goodwill and bonds that ensure you will be invited to the feast when your neighbor is fortunate.” Mary gives us an image of that world — how do we see our neighbors as fellow creatures in need, instead of competition for resources?
Paul Simpson Duke (Connections commentary) suggests that Mary’s visit to Elizabeth is “the first gathering of the community of Jesus.” Even before the birth of Jesus, he offers the idea that these two women, doing God’s work, are giving us a new image for how the community of faith gathers. How does that strike you? The sermon could explore what we can learn from this unplanned, unexpected meeting of two people experiencing God at work.
Mary speaks about God’s future, saying that God has brought down the powerful from their windowed CEO suites, and lifted up the chronically ill; God has filled the unhoused with delicious food and shut down the excessive Christmas parties of billionaires. The accused New York City shooter attempted to do the same thing, and yet his action doesn’t generate true rejoicing for us. The world’s injustices still remain, and Mary still invites us to join her in God’s work. The true rejoicing is yet ahead.
SECOND THOUGHTS
A New Kind Of Power
by Dean Feldmeyer
Isaiah 9:1-7, Luke 1:39-45 (46-55), Luke 2:1-20
He 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.
Luke 1:52-53 (Mary)
In the Scripture
I always think of Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus as a grand opera.
Act One, Scene One: Gabriel appears before Zechariah and announces the impending birth of John the Baptist. Gabriel is a tenor, of course, and he has a brief song, not quite an aria. Call it an arietta, a small aria where he announces the good news that Zecharia doesn’t believe and which disbelief costs him his voice. At least for a while.
Elizabeth gets pregnant and expresses her surprise and joy in her own arietta.
Act One, Scene Two: Gabriel is back and, in another arietta, brings good news to Mary. She’s going to get pregnant by the Holy Spirit and, just to put an exclamation point on it he tells her about her cousin, Elizabeth, who everyone said was too old go get pregnant and how she is… wait for it… yep, you guessed it, preggers.
Mary agrees to go through with this crazy pregnancy by the Holy Spirit thing and then off she goes to stay a while with her cousin, Elizabeth, who can tell as soon as Mary comes through the door that she’s pregnant. And how did she know? Why little Johnny started dancing and kicking as soon as she entered the room, of course.
Then Mary sings her own aria — “My Soul Magnifies the Lord,” also known as the Magnificat. And…Curtain.
Act One, Scene Three: The Temple — the eighth day after the birth of John. Elizabeth and Zechariah have taken him to be circumcised and have his name officially registered. When asked by the priest what the child’s name is going to be, Zechariah steps up and says, John and everyone gasps in surprise. There’s never been a John in his family before. But that’s the name Gabriel told him to use, and he uses it and, believe it or not, the scales, or whatever, fall from John’s vocal chords and he can talk, only he decides to sing his own aria. (I always think of Zecharia as a Basso Profundo.)
Curtain. Intermission. While we stand around talking and sipping Pellegrino, let’s go back to Mary’s aria and think about what she said.
The high point, in verses 52-53, is when the orchestra swells and the audience experiences cold chills and maybe a little lump in their throat.
With the birth of this child the structures upon which the culture has been built will be turned upside down. The powerful people will be deposed, and the powerless will be exalted, the hungry will be filled up and those elites who never leave a table until they are full will leave unfed. Good news for some; bad news for others.
And those are the words that linger in our minds as we come to Act Two, Scene One, which opens with two huge chorus numbers (always an audience favorite). First, we hear, in a flashback, from Isaiah (9:1-7). Probably something like the number from Handel’s Messiah — “For Unto Us a Child is Born.”
Then, after Scene Two, a quiet number in the stable with just Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. In Scene Three, the Angel chorus bursts onto the scene and sings to the shepherds who, in Scene Four, go to Bethlehem, visit the stable, and then go about town spreading the good news in a bouncy quartet number about what they have seen and experienced.
Something powerful has happened in Bethlehem and power, as we know it, will never be the same. All because of this one little baby.
In the News
We need look no further than the evening news to see evidence that power never lasts. Power, and those who wield it, fades and dies and is replaced by another power and another to wield it.
The President of the United States is widely considered to be the most powerful person in the world but only for a limited time. Elections and term limits make that exalted office a game of musical chairs. Biden is deposed and Trump takes his place. Liberal/progressive politics hold the reins of power only to be replaced by conservative politics in all three branches of government.
We are used to that kind of shift in the United States because it’s written into our constitution. We may feel bad about losing a presidential election, but we know that the loss lasts for only four years, after which we will have another chance to shift the power dynamic back to one that favors our politics.
Not so much in other countries. 2024 has seen huge shifts in power around the world. In the United Kingdom, Conservatives were brought down, and Labor has stepped into the gap. In Syria, Bashar Al-Assad has been chased out of his palace and the leader of the rebels who deposed him, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has moved in. We can only guess how this change, from a ruthless, brutal dictator to an organization that the United States has identified as a terrorist organization, will play out. But make no mistake, the power has shifted.
It has been a brutal year for liberals and progressives all over the globe. The African National Congress, which has been the majority party in South Africa for over a quarter century, is no longer so. Liberal leadership has had to surrender power to conservatives in Japan, France, and Germany.
Human power, we learn from the news, is ephemeral and transient. It never lasts for long. It lives and dies, and another steps up to take its place.
But, as important as all that may be to our day-to-day lives, it’s not the kind of power shift that Luke is talking about. Luke, in Mary’s aria, “The Magnificat,” tells us that the change in power that is going to be brought by Jesus is of the cosmic, spiritual kind.
In the Sermon
Why would a multi-millionaire want to run for public office? What more could they possibly want or hope to gain that they can’t already buy?
The answer: Power.
When you’ve made more money than you can possibly spend in ten lifetimes, what’s the one thing you haven’t bought and may not ever be able to buy with all your money? Power.
What’s the one thing that you can get only if you grab it, or someone gives it to you? Power.
What’s the thing without which you can’t change the entire world? Power
Or so we’re told.
Then little Mary steps to center stage. There is a long, quiet pause. The orchestra strikes a soft, major chord, and we hear that the very definition of power is about to change. How we get power, how we use it, and the effect it has, will, with the birth of this child and the life he will lead, change all that.
Because of Christmas, power is no longer going to be the sole purview of the wealthy, the aristocracy, the intellectuals, the one percent, the elite.
Because of Christmas, power is now going to be available to the poor, the young, the elderly, the common people because power itself, as we know it, is going to change.
Because of Christmas, power, real power, is no longer the ability to make people do what you want them to do. Real power is now the ability to lift people up, heal their wounds, feed their bodies, their minds, and their spirits. Real power is now the ability to give, forgive, to reconcile and to be reconciled, to hope and to give hope.
This is the power, the new power, which is born this night in Bethlehem, and it is given to us as a gift. The greatest gift of all.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Tom Willadsen:
Micah 5:2-5a
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Well, I was born in a small town
And I live in a small town
Probably die in a small town
Oh, those small communities
John Mellencamp had a hit song (peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100) with “Small Town” in 1985. He sings the praises of growing up in Seymour and Bloomington, Indiana. He’s content with his roots.
I am also midwestern to the marrow of my bones. I was born in suburban Chicago, but my family moved to Peoria, Illinois, before my first birthday. My mother’s family had lived in Peoria at least five generations by the time she returned with my brother and me.
I grew up hearing the phrase, “Will it play in Peoria?” It goes back to the vaudeville age, when talent agents would ask of acts, “Will it play in Peoria?” because Peoria had a reputation for tough audiences.
“Although vaudeville left Peoria many years ago, the phrase was revived in 1969 when John D. Ehrlichman said to a newsman, "Don't worry, it'll play in Peoria," in reference to a decision by President Richard M. Nixon that seemed calculated to upset Easterners.” (Will it Play in Peoria?, accessed 12/6/24)
“Peoria” became a kind of shorthand for mainstream, middle America. People from Chicagoland refer to Peoria as “that great, little test market downstate.”
Today’s lesson from the prophet Micah references Bethlehem as “one of the little clans of Judah,” yet the ruler will come from this little town.
It is not cities that matter, nor is it the population of cities. It is the people who come from them that put them “on the map.”
People snicker when they hear “Peoria.” And I myself have said, “It’s a good place to be from.” But everyone comes from somewhere, and our roots are not nearly as important as the fruits of the Spirit we bear.
* * *
Micah 5:2-5a
“Bethlehem”
The name “Bethlehem” is a compound Hebrew word that means, literally, “House of bread.” We can think of “bread” as food in general, as in “give us this day our daily bread.” Remember back to November 3 and 10 when the lectionary’s Hebrew scripture lessons came from Ruth? You may recall that Ruth, the Moabite, returned to Naomi’s hometown of Bethlehem after the deaths of Naomi’s sons and husband. Ruth resolutely chose to stay with Naomi. Thanks to Naomi’s scheming, Ruth secures a prominent husband, Boaz. Together Ruth and Boaz have a son, Obed, who has a son, Jesse, who has a son, David. Bethlehem, though little, is very significant in the unfolding of the Lord’s plan of salvation.
* * *
Luke 1:47-55; Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)
The lectionary has the former reading from Luke in place of the customary Psalm, and the latter in the place of the gospel reading.
The former reading is commonly known as The Magnificat, as Mary begins her song of praise with these Latin words: “Magnificat anima mea Dominum,” which the NRSV renders as “My soul magnifies the Lord.”
* * *
Psalm 80:1-7
The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ song “Otherside” begins with a plaintive “How long, how long, will I slide.” The song reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2000. Unfortunately, the rest of the lyrics really do not have any connection with the longing of the author of Psalm 80. Still, playing the first few notes might convey the longing for restoration that the psalmist conveys, especially to GenXers.
* * *
Hebrews 10:5-10
Paraphrasing a Psalm
The first three verses of today’s reading from Hebrews are a paraphrase of Psalm 40:6-8, with some subtle, significant changes. One change is that the author says that Christ said these words:
Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body you have prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘See, I have come to do your will, O God’
(in the scroll of the book it is written of me).”
(vv. 5b-7, NRSV)
The text alluded to, Psalm 40:5b-8, appears in slightly different form in the NRSV:
Sacrifice and offering you do not desire,
but you have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin offering
you have not required.
Then I said, “Here I am;
in the scroll of the book it is written of me.
I delight to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart.”
The most interesting textual variation is “but a body you have prepared for me” against “but you have given me an open ear.” The Hebrew phrase rendered “but you have given me an open ear,” is stronger and more graphic in the original language. A better rendering might be “you have bored (or dug) ears for me.” Being able to listen to God’s word is a gift given by God. And the receiver of this gift takes on a great obligation.
The Septuagint (Greek translation of Hebrew scriptures) has “but a body you have prepared for me,” which is more in harmony with the author of Hebrews’ emphasis on Christ’s sacrificial death being superior to the repeated sacrifices for sin, described in the Torah.
* * *
Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)
Duets and Arias?
Here’s a new way to conceive of the first chapter of Luke’s gospel: Opera.
Imagine Zechariah’s conversation with Gabriel in the sanctuary as a duet, which Gabriel finishes, because Zechariah has been rendered mute by the angel.
Gabriel sings a second duet immediately after his tune with Zechariah, this time with Mary.
Mary visits Elizabeth, who sings an aria upon hearing Mary’s greeting.
Then Mary goes full aria with the Magnificat.
The resolution of the first act, I mean, chapter, is Zechariah’s aria, with his newly restored voice.
Confession: The guy who mentioned the Red Hot Chili Peppers and John Mellencamp and wrote extensively about his hometown — Peoria, Illinois, above, did not come up with this observation himself. Credit Dean Feldmeyer, one of the elder statespersons of The Immediate Word with this image.
* * * * * *
From team member Chris Keating:
Micah 5:2-5a
Feeding the flock means smelling like sheep
Micah’s prophesies invite Israel to imagine the arrival of a new leader who will restore hope, justice, and peace among people lost in a corrupt and chaotic world. The new leader, however, will draw on the legacy of Israel’s past covenant with God, and will provide stability the way a shepherd cares for sheep. Micah’s images call to mind Pope Francis’ famous remark that the most effective Christian leaders ought to be “shepherds with the smell of sheep.” “Leaders who isolate themselves from the needs of real people,” the Pope said, “lose heart and become in a sense collectors of antiquities or novelties.”
* * *
Micah 5:2-5a
The life of a shepherd
During an interview with Homeboy Industries founder Fr. Greg Boyle, podcaster Lee Camp, speaks of the way Boyle’s vocation evokes a sense of deep personal satisfaction and spiritual stability. It reminded him, said Camp, of hearing theologian Stanley Hauerwas read a paper.
He opened with a phrase from an Englishman who was an Oxford trained writer and then had decided to go back home and be a shepherd. And in one of his essays, this Oxford trained writer who's a shepherd is reflecting upon one day looking at the sheep and says, quote, 'this is my life. I want no other.'
* * *
Micah 5:2-5a
Feeding people for peace
Growing income inequality remains a major obstacle for achieving peace and stability in 75 of the world’s most vulnerable countries. A study by the World Bank noted that nearly one quarter of the world’s population — about 1.9 billion people — living in countries rich with natural resources yet impoverished by wide gaps between rich and poor. Termed “International Development Association (IDA) countries by the World Bank, these nations experience the extremes of younger populations and ample natural resources. But between 2020 and 2024, the average per capita incomes in half of these IDA countries grew slower than wealthier countries. “One out of three (low-income nations) is poorer on average than it was on the eve of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
These countries account for nearly 90% of all people facing malnutrition or hunger. World Bank economist Indermit Gill observed, “The world cannot afford to turn its back on IDA countries. The welfare of these countries has always been crucial to the long-term outlook for global prosperity. Three of the world’s economic powerhouses today — China, India, and South Korea — were all once IDA borrowers. All three prospered in ways that whittled down extreme poverty and raised living standards. With help from abroad, today’s batch of IDA countries has the potential to do the same.”
* * *
Luke 1:39-55
Redefining power
Mary sings of the ways God has looked upon the lowly and has filled the hungry with good things. God’s great reversal of fortune may come as a surprise to those who have grown accustomed to the perks of wealth, according to a former health insurance executive. Wendell Potter was formerly the vice president for corporate communications for health insurance giant Cigna. Shortly before walking away from his position, Potter helped organize Cigna’s investor day in 2007 in New York City, the same sort of event where UnitedHealthcare’s CEO attended the day he was killed.
Such events, says Potter, are filled with displays of opulence reaped from the profits earned from its customers. Potter observes:
As I recall, Cigna spent a quarter-million dollars of its customers’ money on that six-hour meeting, including $60,000 just to feed the 150 investors, analysts, and Cigna executives who had been invited. Another $50,000 covered the speaking fee of the author of a book extolling the supposed merits of high-deductible health plans, euphemistically marketed at the time as “consumer-driven” health plans (CDHPs), that Cigna and its competitors had begun embracing. The industry’s overall strategy was to move as many health plan enrollees as possible, and as soon as possible, into CDHPs because of their defining feature: a mandate that patients must spend hundreds and often thousands of dollars out of their own pockets before their coverage will kick in.
The strategy, says Potter, was to force patients to pay more out of their own pockets for medically necessary care to make more money available as rewards to shareholders. Eventually he walked away from the career. “I didn’t have it in me anymore to keep deceiving the public.”
* * *
Luke 1:39-55
A Different Kind of Power
Alban at Duke Divinity editor Prince Rivers reflects on the church’s paradoxical relationship with the word “power.” “It’s almost a dirty word,” Rivers writes this week, “One that’s become synonymous with oppression. The paradox is that while we don’t typically advocate powerlessness, we aren’t sure what to think about having more power.” Rivers encourages church leaders to ponder the sort of power available to them, and invites them to see Advent as offering new paradigms for power. “This power is a gift from God and must be honored and stewarded as such,” Rivers writes. “Whatever power we have is to be used to advance God’s vision for the world and not merely our self-interests. Jesus’ life demonstrates a power that is expressed in serving others instead of subjugating others.”
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship
One: God’s mercy is from generation to generation.
All: God has shown strength with a mighty arm.
One: God has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
All: God has brought down the powerful from their thrones.
One: God has lifted the lowly and fill the hungry with good things.
All: God has remembered the promise made to our ancestors. Praise God!
OR
One: God comes as a shepherd to care for the sheep.
All: We welcome the God who comes in love and peace.
One: God comes to restore us as a community of love.
All: We open our hearts to our faithful God.
One: God calls us to the work of justice and mercy.
All: With God’s help we will seek to lift the lowly.
Hymns and Songs
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
UMH: 211
H82: 56
PH: 9
GTG: 88
AAHH: 188
NNBH: 82
NCH: 116
CH: 119
LBW: 34
ELW: 257
W&P: 154
AMEC: 102
STLT: 225
Savior of the Nations, Come
UMH: 214
PH: 14
GTG: 102
LBW: 28
ELW: 263
W&P: 168
My Soul Gives Glory to My God
UMH: 198
GTG: 99
CH: 130
ELW: 882
Toda la Tierra (All Earth Is Waiting)
UMH: 210
NCH: 121
ELW: 266
W&P: 163
Come Down, O Love Divine
UMH: 475
H82: 516
PH: 313
GTG: 282
NCH: 289
CH: 582
LBW: 508
ELW: 804
W&P: 330
O Zion, Haste (O Christian, Haste)
UMH: 573
H82: 539
NNBH: 422
CH: 482
LBW: 397
ELW: 668
AMEC: 566
All Who Love and Serve Your City
UMH: 433
H82: 570/571
PH: 413
GTG: 351
CH: 670
LBW: 436
ELW: 724
W&P: 625
Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming
UMH: 216
H82: 81
PH: 48
GTG: 129
NCH: 127
CH: 160
LBW: 58
ELW: 272
W&P: 130
O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright
UMH: 247
PH: 69
GTG: 827
NCH: 158
CH: 105
LBW: 76
ELW: 308
W&P: 230
Arise, Shine
CCB: 2
Renew: 123
We Are His Hands
CCB: 85
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who raises the lowly and upholds the poor:
Grant us the courage to stand up to unrighteous power
so that all your children are filled with good things;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you raise the lowly and uphold the poor. You are the source of justice and mercy. Help us to join in your work as we seek break the bonds of poverty and abuse. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we fail to speak for the poor and the helpless.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We see injustice around us, but we keep silent because it does not affect us directly. We see corporations reap obscene profits while exploiting those they say they serve. The poor get poorer, and the rich get richer, and we ignore Mary’s song. We ignore the oppressive powers at play in the Christmas story, so we don’t have to deal with the oppression around us. Call us back to your Christ and his message of love for all. Forgive us our callousness and renew your Spirit within us. Amen.
One: God seeks all so that they may rejoice and be blessed by love. Receive God’s forgiveness and work for justice and mercy.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory to you, O God of all creation. You are God not just of the elite but of the poorest of the poor. You are the One who lifts up so that all may receive your grace.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We see injustice around us, but we keep silent because it does not affect us directly. We see corporations reap obscene profits while exploiting those they say they serve. The poor get poorer, and the rich get richer, and we ignore Mary's song. We ignore the oppressive powers at play in the Christmas story, so we don't have to deal with the oppression around us. Call us back to your Christ and his message of love for all. Forgive us our callousness and renew your Spirit within us.
We give you thanks for love which embraces all creation. We are blessed to celebrate your coming among us as one of us. Jesus comes and teaches us how to truly live as children of the Most High. We thank you for those who have faithfully followed your Christ and who lead us to be disciples. Your blessings are all around us.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We pray for those who do not have the means to take care of their basic needs. We pray for those who live in repression and violence. We lift up to your radiance those who dwell in darkness. We pray for those who go to do the work of Mary’s song even as they place themselves in grave danger. We pray for the will to sing her song with all we do and say.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
* * * * * *
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Being Magnifiers
by Katy Stenta
Luke 1:46b-55
Object: Magnifying glass
Here Mary sings a song about magnifying the Lord.
She glorifies God, talking about all that God has done for humanity, making louder and bigger who God is so that we might better understand it.
Just like a magnifying glass makes words bigger, Mary is saying that her job is to make the good works and good news of God bigger.
So, can we magnify Mary’s song by repeating some of what she says?
Repeat after me:
God is full of mercy
God is full of mercy
God brings down the powerful
God brings down the powerful
God lifts up the downtrodden
God lifts up the downtrodden
God fills up the hungry with good things!
God fills up the hungry with good things!
Yes! What great magnifiers you are! Now we need to remember to do these things by helping people in need and working to fill the world with goodness.
Let’s remember to be magnifying glasses for God this Christmas.
Let’s pray
God
Help us
To magnify you
In our
Voices
In our hearts
And in our souls
Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, December 22, 2024 issue.
Copyright 2024 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.
- What Kind Of Rejoicing? by Mary Austin based on Luke 1:39-45 (46-55).
- Second Thoughts: A New Kind Of Power by Dean Feldmeyer based on Isaiah 9:1-7, Luke 1:39-45 (46-55), Luke 2:1-20.
- Sermon illustrations by Tom Willadsen and Chris Keating.
- Worship resources by George Reed.
- Children's sermon: Being Magnifiers by Katy Stenta based on Luke 1:46b-55.
What Kind Of Rejoicing?by Mary Austin
Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)
The recent murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on the street in New York City generated…not much outrage, and a lot of guilty satisfaction. The reversal of power felt good for a moment for everyone who has been terrorized, ignored, or denied service by their health insurance company. Writer Deborah Copaken says that when she told her husband about the murder, knowing her awful history with the company, his first reaction was, “Did you do it?”
Online reactions included things like “This needs to be the new norm,” on X/Twitter. Or, “My only question is did the CEO of UnitedHealthcare die quickly or over several months waiting to find out if his insurance would cover his treatment for the fatal gunshot wound?” Others said, “Thoughts and deductibles to the family. Unfortunately, my condolences are out-of-network.”
All of this vengeful rejoicing “highlighted the anger and frustration over the state of health care in America, where those with private insurance often find themselves in Kafkaesque tangles while seeking reimbursement for medical treatment and are often denied.” Every adult who has health insurance understands how someone could be driven to the edge by the current healthcare “system.” A piece in Politico wonders, “The glee with which so many people online responded to the news of the killing shocked the consciences of politicians and pundits alike. How are we to make sense of such a grim, ugly public sentiment?”
In Luke’s gospel, Mary calls us to rejoice about what God is doing. God is reversing the world’s balance of power, toppling the lofty and lifting up the downtrodden. Is this the rejoicing she has in mind?
In the Scriptures
Mary must be frightened for herself and the child she’s carrying. Her future is uncertain, and she doesn’t know how her family and her betrothed, Joseph, will react to the news of her pregnancy. In The First Advent in Palestine, Kelley Nikondeha notes that Mary’s song springs from her own life reversals. “Mary sings of her low estate, a status typically translated as “poor” or “humble.” But there is a fuller connotation to this word, tapeinōsis, that refers to humiliation or distress. And this can be seen earlier in the Hebrew Bible, as the word is used to connote the sexual humiliation of Dinah, the concubine in Judges 19, and King David’s daughter Tamar, to name just a few…What if Mary sings of her own humiliation and God’s astounding redemption of her shame in this present moment? Instead of punishment, blessing? What if she sings as the first fruit of God’s grand reversal? What if she goes on to sing of God exalting the other humiliated ones with such confidence because she has already experienced the beginning of such holy upheaval herself?” Mary doesn’t just sing of God’s reversals, she embodies them.
Nikondeha adds, “Mary’s anthem tells of those brutalized by the empire, literally and metaphorically, who will know God’s recompense. Liberation will overcome humiliation and stigma; God’s justice will have the final victorious word for those like her in the world.” As she takes refuge with her older cousin, Mary sings this song in the peace of that haven. It’s easy to imagine that she might quote a psalm, calling out a version of “why have you forsaken me, God?” Instead, the words in her mouth are this gorgeous piece of poetry and she expands the song beyond her own sorrows. She speaks in the style of the Hebrew prophets, announcing a message from God. Even before Jesus is born, Mary understands that he won’t be an ordinary kind of child, or an ordinary kind of messiah.
The whole system will change. God is not just exchanging one CEO for another.
In the News
Deborah Kopaken notes “For years, I have been writing about the dangers and absurdities of for-profit healthcare. I wrote a whole book about it. I’ve written dozens of articles and op-eds, one of which recently won an award for opinion writing. Hell, I started this Substack to address the many inequities in women’s health that are driven by our effed up, for-profit healthcare system. Why? Because for those of us unlucky enough to nearly die or go deaf or get sick or, if you’re me, all three and more, dealing with our American healthcare system — especially UnitedHealth Group, the worst of the worst, which raked in approximately $450 billion last year in revenue; is being investigated for antitrust dealings by the DOJ; and spent nearly $6 million on lobbying to keep the American healthcare status quo — can and often does feel like going up against the mafia, again and again, only to get kneecapped and go bankrupt every goddamned time.”
UnitedHealthcare specializes in behavior that is unfriendly to customers. A lawsuit last year accused the company of “deploying an AI model known by the company to have a 90% error rate, overriding determinations made by the patients’ physicians that the expenses were medically necessary.” One lawsuit notes that “The elderly are prematurely kicked out of care facilities nationwide or forced to deplete family savings to continue receiving necessary medical care, all because [UnitedHealth's] AI model 'disagrees' with their real live doctors’ determinations,” according to the complaint, which was filed by the family members of elderly people who died.
Another family's lawsuit exposed the company’s determination to deny treatment to a college student because it was too expensive, forcing him back to a treatment that he already knew wouldn’t work.
In that light, we can understand why merchandise with the gunman’s three words “defend, deny, depose,” appeared online almost immediately. People wanted their own piece of the reversal. “There were more than 800 results on Etsy for “Deny, Defend, Depose” — the three words that were reportedly etched onto the bullet shell casings at the scene of UHC CEO Brian Thompson’s murder last week.” For a moment, it felt like the imbalance of power shifted toward the little person.
Exploring a theory posited by Eric Hobsbawm, Politico suggests this is a work of “social banditry.” Social bandits — like Robin Hood — arise when people lose faith in institutions to solve their problems. “In a world where ordinary people feel the pinch of economic inequality or change, and in which they have little faith that the state can redress their grievances, social banditry becomes an appealing force. Indeed, public trust in government is at an all-time low. In such an environment, it’s little wonder that a masked killer with a bag of Monopoly money can become an instant folk hero.”
The power of social bandits “resides in the vacuum that is effective government. In the absence of a strong and responsive government, many Americans may continue to celebrate social banditry as an expression of their discontent with the economic state of affairs.”
In the Sermon
Fortunately, our allegiance is to God, not to Caesar. Unfortunately, we need an effective and compassionate government to ensure that people have the essentials of life. We count on God for our ultimate reality, and we also live in the real world where we and others need health care, safe streets, and truthful leaders. The sermon could talk about this tension in our loyalties as people of faith. Mary offers us a vision of God’s world. How do we use our lives to take steps to get there?
In her new book, The Serviceberry, Robin Wall Kimmerer highlights a different kind of economy. The sermon might help people think about how to imagine different systems, the way Mary does in her song. Dr. Wall Kimmerer says, “Most of us are enmeshed in the market economy, which by definition is a monetary system in which the production and distribution of goods is regulated by the “market forces” of supply and demand. Exchanges are voluntary and entrepreneurs are free to pursue profits. The market economy is based on private property and competition in navigating the gap between supply and demand — i.e., scarcity. The greater the gap between supply and demand, the greater the scarcity, and therefore the price to obtain those goods rises and profit increases follow… The greatest status and success come from possession and profit. Food security is assured by private accumulation. Gift economies arise from the abundance of gifts from the Earth, which are owned by no one and therefore shared. Sharing engenders relationships of goodwill and bonds that ensure you will be invited to the feast when your neighbor is fortunate.” Mary gives us an image of that world — how do we see our neighbors as fellow creatures in need, instead of competition for resources?
Paul Simpson Duke (Connections commentary) suggests that Mary’s visit to Elizabeth is “the first gathering of the community of Jesus.” Even before the birth of Jesus, he offers the idea that these two women, doing God’s work, are giving us a new image for how the community of faith gathers. How does that strike you? The sermon could explore what we can learn from this unplanned, unexpected meeting of two people experiencing God at work.
Mary speaks about God’s future, saying that God has brought down the powerful from their windowed CEO suites, and lifted up the chronically ill; God has filled the unhoused with delicious food and shut down the excessive Christmas parties of billionaires. The accused New York City shooter attempted to do the same thing, and yet his action doesn’t generate true rejoicing for us. The world’s injustices still remain, and Mary still invites us to join her in God’s work. The true rejoicing is yet ahead.
SECOND THOUGHTSA New Kind Of Power
by Dean Feldmeyer
Isaiah 9:1-7, Luke 1:39-45 (46-55), Luke 2:1-20
He 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.
Luke 1:52-53 (Mary)
In the Scripture
I always think of Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus as a grand opera.
Act One, Scene One: Gabriel appears before Zechariah and announces the impending birth of John the Baptist. Gabriel is a tenor, of course, and he has a brief song, not quite an aria. Call it an arietta, a small aria where he announces the good news that Zecharia doesn’t believe and which disbelief costs him his voice. At least for a while.
Elizabeth gets pregnant and expresses her surprise and joy in her own arietta.
Act One, Scene Two: Gabriel is back and, in another arietta, brings good news to Mary. She’s going to get pregnant by the Holy Spirit and, just to put an exclamation point on it he tells her about her cousin, Elizabeth, who everyone said was too old go get pregnant and how she is… wait for it… yep, you guessed it, preggers.
Mary agrees to go through with this crazy pregnancy by the Holy Spirit thing and then off she goes to stay a while with her cousin, Elizabeth, who can tell as soon as Mary comes through the door that she’s pregnant. And how did she know? Why little Johnny started dancing and kicking as soon as she entered the room, of course.
Then Mary sings her own aria — “My Soul Magnifies the Lord,” also known as the Magnificat. And…Curtain.
Act One, Scene Three: The Temple — the eighth day after the birth of John. Elizabeth and Zechariah have taken him to be circumcised and have his name officially registered. When asked by the priest what the child’s name is going to be, Zechariah steps up and says, John and everyone gasps in surprise. There’s never been a John in his family before. But that’s the name Gabriel told him to use, and he uses it and, believe it or not, the scales, or whatever, fall from John’s vocal chords and he can talk, only he decides to sing his own aria. (I always think of Zecharia as a Basso Profundo.)
Curtain. Intermission. While we stand around talking and sipping Pellegrino, let’s go back to Mary’s aria and think about what she said.
The high point, in verses 52-53, is when the orchestra swells and the audience experiences cold chills and maybe a little lump in their throat.
With the birth of this child the structures upon which the culture has been built will be turned upside down. The powerful people will be deposed, and the powerless will be exalted, the hungry will be filled up and those elites who never leave a table until they are full will leave unfed. Good news for some; bad news for others.
And those are the words that linger in our minds as we come to Act Two, Scene One, which opens with two huge chorus numbers (always an audience favorite). First, we hear, in a flashback, from Isaiah (9:1-7). Probably something like the number from Handel’s Messiah — “For Unto Us a Child is Born.”
Then, after Scene Two, a quiet number in the stable with just Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. In Scene Three, the Angel chorus bursts onto the scene and sings to the shepherds who, in Scene Four, go to Bethlehem, visit the stable, and then go about town spreading the good news in a bouncy quartet number about what they have seen and experienced.
Something powerful has happened in Bethlehem and power, as we know it, will never be the same. All because of this one little baby.
In the News
We need look no further than the evening news to see evidence that power never lasts. Power, and those who wield it, fades and dies and is replaced by another power and another to wield it.
The President of the United States is widely considered to be the most powerful person in the world but only for a limited time. Elections and term limits make that exalted office a game of musical chairs. Biden is deposed and Trump takes his place. Liberal/progressive politics hold the reins of power only to be replaced by conservative politics in all three branches of government.
We are used to that kind of shift in the United States because it’s written into our constitution. We may feel bad about losing a presidential election, but we know that the loss lasts for only four years, after which we will have another chance to shift the power dynamic back to one that favors our politics.
Not so much in other countries. 2024 has seen huge shifts in power around the world. In the United Kingdom, Conservatives were brought down, and Labor has stepped into the gap. In Syria, Bashar Al-Assad has been chased out of his palace and the leader of the rebels who deposed him, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has moved in. We can only guess how this change, from a ruthless, brutal dictator to an organization that the United States has identified as a terrorist organization, will play out. But make no mistake, the power has shifted.
It has been a brutal year for liberals and progressives all over the globe. The African National Congress, which has been the majority party in South Africa for over a quarter century, is no longer so. Liberal leadership has had to surrender power to conservatives in Japan, France, and Germany.
Human power, we learn from the news, is ephemeral and transient. It never lasts for long. It lives and dies, and another steps up to take its place.
But, as important as all that may be to our day-to-day lives, it’s not the kind of power shift that Luke is talking about. Luke, in Mary’s aria, “The Magnificat,” tells us that the change in power that is going to be brought by Jesus is of the cosmic, spiritual kind.
In the Sermon
Why would a multi-millionaire want to run for public office? What more could they possibly want or hope to gain that they can’t already buy?
The answer: Power.
When you’ve made more money than you can possibly spend in ten lifetimes, what’s the one thing you haven’t bought and may not ever be able to buy with all your money? Power.
What’s the one thing that you can get only if you grab it, or someone gives it to you? Power.
What’s the thing without which you can’t change the entire world? Power
Or so we’re told.
Then little Mary steps to center stage. There is a long, quiet pause. The orchestra strikes a soft, major chord, and we hear that the very definition of power is about to change. How we get power, how we use it, and the effect it has, will, with the birth of this child and the life he will lead, change all that.
Because of Christmas, power is no longer going to be the sole purview of the wealthy, the aristocracy, the intellectuals, the one percent, the elite.
Because of Christmas, power is now going to be available to the poor, the young, the elderly, the common people because power itself, as we know it, is going to change.
Because of Christmas, power, real power, is no longer the ability to make people do what you want them to do. Real power is now the ability to lift people up, heal their wounds, feed their bodies, their minds, and their spirits. Real power is now the ability to give, forgive, to reconcile and to be reconciled, to hope and to give hope.
This is the power, the new power, which is born this night in Bethlehem, and it is given to us as a gift. The greatest gift of all.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Tom Willadsen:Micah 5:2-5a
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Well, I was born in a small town
And I live in a small town
Probably die in a small town
Oh, those small communities
John Mellencamp had a hit song (peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100) with “Small Town” in 1985. He sings the praises of growing up in Seymour and Bloomington, Indiana. He’s content with his roots.
I am also midwestern to the marrow of my bones. I was born in suburban Chicago, but my family moved to Peoria, Illinois, before my first birthday. My mother’s family had lived in Peoria at least five generations by the time she returned with my brother and me.
I grew up hearing the phrase, “Will it play in Peoria?” It goes back to the vaudeville age, when talent agents would ask of acts, “Will it play in Peoria?” because Peoria had a reputation for tough audiences.
“Although vaudeville left Peoria many years ago, the phrase was revived in 1969 when John D. Ehrlichman said to a newsman, "Don't worry, it'll play in Peoria," in reference to a decision by President Richard M. Nixon that seemed calculated to upset Easterners.” (Will it Play in Peoria?, accessed 12/6/24)
“Peoria” became a kind of shorthand for mainstream, middle America. People from Chicagoland refer to Peoria as “that great, little test market downstate.”
Today’s lesson from the prophet Micah references Bethlehem as “one of the little clans of Judah,” yet the ruler will come from this little town.
It is not cities that matter, nor is it the population of cities. It is the people who come from them that put them “on the map.”
People snicker when they hear “Peoria.” And I myself have said, “It’s a good place to be from.” But everyone comes from somewhere, and our roots are not nearly as important as the fruits of the Spirit we bear.
* * *
Micah 5:2-5a
“Bethlehem”
The name “Bethlehem” is a compound Hebrew word that means, literally, “House of bread.” We can think of “bread” as food in general, as in “give us this day our daily bread.” Remember back to November 3 and 10 when the lectionary’s Hebrew scripture lessons came from Ruth? You may recall that Ruth, the Moabite, returned to Naomi’s hometown of Bethlehem after the deaths of Naomi’s sons and husband. Ruth resolutely chose to stay with Naomi. Thanks to Naomi’s scheming, Ruth secures a prominent husband, Boaz. Together Ruth and Boaz have a son, Obed, who has a son, Jesse, who has a son, David. Bethlehem, though little, is very significant in the unfolding of the Lord’s plan of salvation.
* * *
Luke 1:47-55; Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)
The lectionary has the former reading from Luke in place of the customary Psalm, and the latter in the place of the gospel reading.
The former reading is commonly known as The Magnificat, as Mary begins her song of praise with these Latin words: “Magnificat anima mea Dominum,” which the NRSV renders as “My soul magnifies the Lord.”
* * *
Psalm 80:1-7
The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ song “Otherside” begins with a plaintive “How long, how long, will I slide.” The song reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2000. Unfortunately, the rest of the lyrics really do not have any connection with the longing of the author of Psalm 80. Still, playing the first few notes might convey the longing for restoration that the psalmist conveys, especially to GenXers.
* * *
Hebrews 10:5-10
Paraphrasing a Psalm
The first three verses of today’s reading from Hebrews are a paraphrase of Psalm 40:6-8, with some subtle, significant changes. One change is that the author says that Christ said these words:
Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body you have prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘See, I have come to do your will, O God’
(in the scroll of the book it is written of me).”
(vv. 5b-7, NRSV)
The text alluded to, Psalm 40:5b-8, appears in slightly different form in the NRSV:
Sacrifice and offering you do not desire,
but you have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin offering
you have not required.
Then I said, “Here I am;
in the scroll of the book it is written of me.
I delight to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart.”
The most interesting textual variation is “but a body you have prepared for me” against “but you have given me an open ear.” The Hebrew phrase rendered “but you have given me an open ear,” is stronger and more graphic in the original language. A better rendering might be “you have bored (or dug) ears for me.” Being able to listen to God’s word is a gift given by God. And the receiver of this gift takes on a great obligation.
The Septuagint (Greek translation of Hebrew scriptures) has “but a body you have prepared for me,” which is more in harmony with the author of Hebrews’ emphasis on Christ’s sacrificial death being superior to the repeated sacrifices for sin, described in the Torah.
* * *
Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)
Duets and Arias?
Here’s a new way to conceive of the first chapter of Luke’s gospel: Opera.
Imagine Zechariah’s conversation with Gabriel in the sanctuary as a duet, which Gabriel finishes, because Zechariah has been rendered mute by the angel.
Gabriel sings a second duet immediately after his tune with Zechariah, this time with Mary.
Mary visits Elizabeth, who sings an aria upon hearing Mary’s greeting.
Then Mary goes full aria with the Magnificat.
The resolution of the first act, I mean, chapter, is Zechariah’s aria, with his newly restored voice.
Confession: The guy who mentioned the Red Hot Chili Peppers and John Mellencamp and wrote extensively about his hometown — Peoria, Illinois, above, did not come up with this observation himself. Credit Dean Feldmeyer, one of the elder statespersons of The Immediate Word with this image.
* * * * * *
From team member Chris Keating:Micah 5:2-5a
Feeding the flock means smelling like sheep
Micah’s prophesies invite Israel to imagine the arrival of a new leader who will restore hope, justice, and peace among people lost in a corrupt and chaotic world. The new leader, however, will draw on the legacy of Israel’s past covenant with God, and will provide stability the way a shepherd cares for sheep. Micah’s images call to mind Pope Francis’ famous remark that the most effective Christian leaders ought to be “shepherds with the smell of sheep.” “Leaders who isolate themselves from the needs of real people,” the Pope said, “lose heart and become in a sense collectors of antiquities or novelties.”
* * *
Micah 5:2-5a
The life of a shepherd
During an interview with Homeboy Industries founder Fr. Greg Boyle, podcaster Lee Camp, speaks of the way Boyle’s vocation evokes a sense of deep personal satisfaction and spiritual stability. It reminded him, said Camp, of hearing theologian Stanley Hauerwas read a paper.
He opened with a phrase from an Englishman who was an Oxford trained writer and then had decided to go back home and be a shepherd. And in one of his essays, this Oxford trained writer who's a shepherd is reflecting upon one day looking at the sheep and says, quote, 'this is my life. I want no other.'
* * *
Micah 5:2-5a
Feeding people for peace
Growing income inequality remains a major obstacle for achieving peace and stability in 75 of the world’s most vulnerable countries. A study by the World Bank noted that nearly one quarter of the world’s population — about 1.9 billion people — living in countries rich with natural resources yet impoverished by wide gaps between rich and poor. Termed “International Development Association (IDA) countries by the World Bank, these nations experience the extremes of younger populations and ample natural resources. But between 2020 and 2024, the average per capita incomes in half of these IDA countries grew slower than wealthier countries. “One out of three (low-income nations) is poorer on average than it was on the eve of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
These countries account for nearly 90% of all people facing malnutrition or hunger. World Bank economist Indermit Gill observed, “The world cannot afford to turn its back on IDA countries. The welfare of these countries has always been crucial to the long-term outlook for global prosperity. Three of the world’s economic powerhouses today — China, India, and South Korea — were all once IDA borrowers. All three prospered in ways that whittled down extreme poverty and raised living standards. With help from abroad, today’s batch of IDA countries has the potential to do the same.”
* * *
Luke 1:39-55
Redefining power
Mary sings of the ways God has looked upon the lowly and has filled the hungry with good things. God’s great reversal of fortune may come as a surprise to those who have grown accustomed to the perks of wealth, according to a former health insurance executive. Wendell Potter was formerly the vice president for corporate communications for health insurance giant Cigna. Shortly before walking away from his position, Potter helped organize Cigna’s investor day in 2007 in New York City, the same sort of event where UnitedHealthcare’s CEO attended the day he was killed.
Such events, says Potter, are filled with displays of opulence reaped from the profits earned from its customers. Potter observes:
As I recall, Cigna spent a quarter-million dollars of its customers’ money on that six-hour meeting, including $60,000 just to feed the 150 investors, analysts, and Cigna executives who had been invited. Another $50,000 covered the speaking fee of the author of a book extolling the supposed merits of high-deductible health plans, euphemistically marketed at the time as “consumer-driven” health plans (CDHPs), that Cigna and its competitors had begun embracing. The industry’s overall strategy was to move as many health plan enrollees as possible, and as soon as possible, into CDHPs because of their defining feature: a mandate that patients must spend hundreds and often thousands of dollars out of their own pockets before their coverage will kick in.
The strategy, says Potter, was to force patients to pay more out of their own pockets for medically necessary care to make more money available as rewards to shareholders. Eventually he walked away from the career. “I didn’t have it in me anymore to keep deceiving the public.”
* * *
Luke 1:39-55
A Different Kind of Power
Alban at Duke Divinity editor Prince Rivers reflects on the church’s paradoxical relationship with the word “power.” “It’s almost a dirty word,” Rivers writes this week, “One that’s become synonymous with oppression. The paradox is that while we don’t typically advocate powerlessness, we aren’t sure what to think about having more power.” Rivers encourages church leaders to ponder the sort of power available to them, and invites them to see Advent as offering new paradigms for power. “This power is a gift from God and must be honored and stewarded as such,” Rivers writes. “Whatever power we have is to be used to advance God’s vision for the world and not merely our self-interests. Jesus’ life demonstrates a power that is expressed in serving others instead of subjugating others.”
* * * * * *
WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship
One: God’s mercy is from generation to generation.
All: God has shown strength with a mighty arm.
One: God has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
All: God has brought down the powerful from their thrones.
One: God has lifted the lowly and fill the hungry with good things.
All: God has remembered the promise made to our ancestors. Praise God!
OR
One: God comes as a shepherd to care for the sheep.
All: We welcome the God who comes in love and peace.
One: God comes to restore us as a community of love.
All: We open our hearts to our faithful God.
One: God calls us to the work of justice and mercy.
All: With God’s help we will seek to lift the lowly.
Hymns and Songs
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
UMH: 211
H82: 56
PH: 9
GTG: 88
AAHH: 188
NNBH: 82
NCH: 116
CH: 119
LBW: 34
ELW: 257
W&P: 154
AMEC: 102
STLT: 225
Savior of the Nations, Come
UMH: 214
PH: 14
GTG: 102
LBW: 28
ELW: 263
W&P: 168
My Soul Gives Glory to My God
UMH: 198
GTG: 99
CH: 130
ELW: 882
Toda la Tierra (All Earth Is Waiting)
UMH: 210
NCH: 121
ELW: 266
W&P: 163
Come Down, O Love Divine
UMH: 475
H82: 516
PH: 313
GTG: 282
NCH: 289
CH: 582
LBW: 508
ELW: 804
W&P: 330
O Zion, Haste (O Christian, Haste)
UMH: 573
H82: 539
NNBH: 422
CH: 482
LBW: 397
ELW: 668
AMEC: 566
All Who Love and Serve Your City
UMH: 433
H82: 570/571
PH: 413
GTG: 351
CH: 670
LBW: 436
ELW: 724
W&P: 625
Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming
UMH: 216
H82: 81
PH: 48
GTG: 129
NCH: 127
CH: 160
LBW: 58
ELW: 272
W&P: 130
O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright
UMH: 247
PH: 69
GTG: 827
NCH: 158
CH: 105
LBW: 76
ELW: 308
W&P: 230
Arise, Shine
CCB: 2
Renew: 123
We Are His Hands
CCB: 85
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who raises the lowly and upholds the poor:
Grant us the courage to stand up to unrighteous power
so that all your children are filled with good things;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you raise the lowly and uphold the poor. You are the source of justice and mercy. Help us to join in your work as we seek break the bonds of poverty and abuse. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we fail to speak for the poor and the helpless.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We see injustice around us, but we keep silent because it does not affect us directly. We see corporations reap obscene profits while exploiting those they say they serve. The poor get poorer, and the rich get richer, and we ignore Mary’s song. We ignore the oppressive powers at play in the Christmas story, so we don’t have to deal with the oppression around us. Call us back to your Christ and his message of love for all. Forgive us our callousness and renew your Spirit within us. Amen.
One: God seeks all so that they may rejoice and be blessed by love. Receive God’s forgiveness and work for justice and mercy.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory to you, O God of all creation. You are God not just of the elite but of the poorest of the poor. You are the One who lifts up so that all may receive your grace.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We see injustice around us, but we keep silent because it does not affect us directly. We see corporations reap obscene profits while exploiting those they say they serve. The poor get poorer, and the rich get richer, and we ignore Mary's song. We ignore the oppressive powers at play in the Christmas story, so we don't have to deal with the oppression around us. Call us back to your Christ and his message of love for all. Forgive us our callousness and renew your Spirit within us.
We give you thanks for love which embraces all creation. We are blessed to celebrate your coming among us as one of us. Jesus comes and teaches us how to truly live as children of the Most High. We thank you for those who have faithfully followed your Christ and who lead us to be disciples. Your blessings are all around us.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We pray for those who do not have the means to take care of their basic needs. We pray for those who live in repression and violence. We lift up to your radiance those who dwell in darkness. We pray for those who go to do the work of Mary’s song even as they place themselves in grave danger. We pray for the will to sing her song with all we do and say.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
* * * * * *
CHILDREN'S SERMONBeing Magnifiers
by Katy Stenta
Luke 1:46b-55
Object: Magnifying glass
Here Mary sings a song about magnifying the Lord.
She glorifies God, talking about all that God has done for humanity, making louder and bigger who God is so that we might better understand it.
Just like a magnifying glass makes words bigger, Mary is saying that her job is to make the good works and good news of God bigger.
So, can we magnify Mary’s song by repeating some of what she says?
Repeat after me:
God is full of mercy
God is full of mercy
God brings down the powerful
God brings down the powerful
God lifts up the downtrodden
God lifts up the downtrodden
God fills up the hungry with good things!
God fills up the hungry with good things!
Yes! What great magnifiers you are! Now we need to remember to do these things by helping people in need and working to fill the world with goodness.
Let’s remember to be magnifying glasses for God this Christmas.
Let’s pray
God
Help us
To magnify you
In our
Voices
In our hearts
And in our souls
Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, December 22, 2024 issue.
Copyright 2024 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.
