Fourth Sunday In Advent
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VI, Cycle C
Object:
COMMENTARY ON THE LESSONS
Lesson 1: Micah 5:2-5a (C); Micah 5:1-4 (RC); Micah 5:2-4 (E)
Israel has been defeated. However, there will be a revival. A new leader will be raised up. He will come from Bethlehem, and he will establish a new reign of Davidic kingship. He will be the long-awaited man who will reestablish the Jewish nation. Here we have a messianic passage, perhaps dating from the eighth century before Christ. We will have noted in all of our recent Old Testament passages that the theme is echoed again and again: in the face of defeat and suffering, the undefeatable expectation that a great day will come, that the lost will be found, the broken renewed, the humiliated will stand tall among the rest. Reading this, although we know what history held for the people to whom Micah spoke, yet we must stand in awe before the panorama of Jewish history, and can have no doubt whatsoever that for a people so beset by adversity to remain courageous and optimistic is only possible because the God of power has never left their side.
Usually, we preachers will settle on the epistle or the Gospel for our preaching next Sunday (or for any other preaching occasions). But we could do worse than to use a passage like this to emphasize the promise that God is always with us, not winning our battles for us, but seeing to it that though we may be beaten we are never defeated.
Lesson 2: Hebrews 10:5-10 (C, RC, E)
Quoting from Psalm 40, this writer disparages all the contemporary forms of sacrifice. Far from bringing anyone close to God, it grants them only a dim shadow of God. Sacrifice of animals or other possessions is meaningless if it is done as a means of getting closer to God. Jesus has made the only sacrifice necessary for that. The part that sacrifice must play is, not as a means of getting closer to God, but as a response to the closeness we already have to God.
Gospel: Luke 1:39-45 (C); Luke 1:39-44 (RC); Luke 1:39-49 (50-56) (E)
There is a current theory abroad that Jesus was not a very good family man. In his book Jesus At Thirty, Bible scholar James Miller cites many passages in which he sees Jesus as rejecting his family members, being, if we are blunt about the matter, insensitive. While I'm not a scholar, my instincts lead me to reject this. But one thing is clear, Mary must have suffered terribly over the fact that her son, filled with a divinely given calling, obviously did not devote much time or attention to the rest of his family. I don't know where Joseph fitted in. Though there's dispute, it does seem fairly certain that Jesus had siblings, and they hardly figure at all in the Gospels. Even Mary, though deified in tradition outside the Bible, gets short shrift in the Bible. Maybe we can attribute that more to the pick and choose choices of the Gospel writers, than to any rejection by Jesus. I suppose we can't really know the truth of all of this. One thing we do know, Mary bore a son who would change the world, and paid a dear price by seeing that son thrust out into a world in which she could have little or no part, and she would see him die a terrible death.
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: "Standing Fast"
Text: Micah 5:2-5a
Theme: Courage in the face of disaster. Maybe all of us are required to face defeat at one time or another, but we can depend on one great truth: If we are faithful to God, God will be faithful to us. Remember, darkness, however dark, is always followed by the dawn. A poet spoke for those who turn a courageous face to the darkened sky:
Tho giant rains put out the sun,
Here stand I for a sign.
Tho earth be filled with waters dark
My cup is filled with wine.
Go, tell the trembling priests that here,
Under the deluge rod,
One nameless, tattered broken man
Stood up and drank to God.
Yes! Many of us have been there. Micah was right. There is one who comes to make things right, to see that while we may for the moment be beaten, we need never be defeated.
Title: "Christian Sacrifice"
Text: Hebrews 10:5-10
Theme: In preaching, it's important to keep one's integrity and not try to sell people on the idea that if they sacrifice (translated: give money to the church) they will be rewarded. That's a ploy we hear all too often on television and, I am told, in some churches. But it's not biblical. What we can say is that the signs of spiritual health according to the Bible are, among other things, a generous spirit and a willingness to sacrifice for others.
What forms of sacrifice do we suppose are pleasing to God?
1. Charity to the poor and the lonely. A friend of mine discovered that an old lady in his congregation routinely spent Christmas alone. Her few relatives lived far away, and she had neither the wherewithal nor the energy to go there. So, loneliness at the time when everyone seeks joy. My friend invited that lady to have dinner and spend the day the following Christmas. She has done so each year since. I have to believe that pleases God. An anonymous person in our city recently read that an inner city organization which cares for poverty stricken little boys and girls after school while their moms earn minimum wage was closing because they didn't have enough money to stay open any longer. That anonymous person provided a substantial sum to prolong the operation. No one knows who did that, but a bunch of children still have their playtime after school because someone cared. That's the kind of sacrifice Jesus would applaud, I believe.
2. Thoughtfulness to the people around us. Not just at Christmas. Always. It's easy for us to let our own hangups -- grumpiness, tiredness, shyness -- make us not very much fun for those around us. Sometimes just taking charge of our own emotions and making ourselves treat people the way we would want them to treat us is a genuine sacrifice. Leo Buscaglia told about a bus driver who decided his ministry to the world was to brighten the morning for riders heading to work. He turned many a miserable looking grouch into a smiling friend.
3. Making the other person happy. If you're married and human, you know there are problems in living together. Not bad ones, I hope (though, of course for some, they are). But the tendency is for all of us to wish that our spouses and children would make life happy for us. They must do so (this school of thought would hold) by liking what we like, preferring the kinds of vacations we prefer, wanting to party when we want to party, and so on. I noticed in Blondie, that Dagwood couldn't sleep because daughter Cookie was out on a date. He groused to Blondie that it was late, and Cookie wasn't home. Blondie explained that Cookie was allowed out until midnight, and it wasn't midnight yet. "But doesn't she know I can't sleep until she gets home? Doesn't she think about that?" Dagwood complained. Blondie put him straight: "Maybe she's not thinking about you right now." That's human, and Dagwood forgot that a beautiful young blonde on a hot date has other things on her mind than the old man trying to go to sleep. My point here is that one sacrifice which makes for happy relationships is that we do without our own way some of the time with the specific intent of making the other person -- or persons -- happy. Remember the old poem?
To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you're wrong, admit it;
Whenever you're right, shut up.
(See also Psalm 51:17)
Title: "A Christian Home"
Text: Luke 1:39-45
Theme: Question: How do we use this in preaching? One theme might be the price parents pay to send their children out into the world. We could also talk about the responsibility busy young people have toward those who have nurtured and raised them. At Christmas time, family relationships do seem a valid theme. I don't want to appear, even by implication, to imply that Jesus was unkind to Mary. But that thought will probably not occur to our church members unless we suggest it.
We have had, and will have, many opportunities to discuss the meaning of the Incarnation. I'm inclined to talk about family relationships since this is a time when I hope families are together, and good spirit is more than ordinarily about. Next Sunday we'll think about the Incarnation, then, and I would go with family relationships. I would suggest five characteristics of Christian family life:
1. Respect. It begins with Mom and Dad showing respect for each other in daily living. It includes respect for one's children, for their individuality, their right to have opinions and to express feelings. By this means, children learn, in turn, to respect their parents. And that is how they learn, in due time, to respect other authority figures who deserve respect: the cop on the beat, the teacher and the principal and, yes, the pastor of the church.
2. Loyalty. To each other, first. But this doesn't necessarily always mean we defend them right or wrong. My wife is a teacher, and a parent who is truly loyal to a child will assist the teacher in teaching discipline and responsibility. People who experience loyalty at home are generally loyal to their friends and people to whom they have made commitments.
3. Humor. A family of people who can laugh at themselves, and have fun together, is a family which will probably have a happy home life.
4. Kindness. One of my favorite quotes is that of Catholic Bishop Fulton Sheen who said there are three characteristics of a Christian: kindness, kindness, and kindness.
5. Religious faith. We are all asked to face trouble in life. Not one of us will escape through a full life without having to deal with pain, illness, death, rejection, loneliness, failure, and a few other things. Facing all of that without a deep faith is a terrible way to live.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
Slow me down, Lord.
Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.
Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time.
Give me, amid the confusion of the day, the calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tension of my nerves and muscles with the soothing music of the singing streams that live in my memory.
Help me to know the magical, restoring power of sleep.
Teach me the art of taking minute vacations -- slowing down to look at a flower, to chat with a friend, to pat a dog, to read a few lines from a good book.
Slow me down, Lord, and inspire me to sink my roots deep into the soil of life's enduring values that I may grow toward the stars of my greater destiny.
____________
A friend of mine told of a visit her family made to a home for handicapped children. As she waited for her husband while seated in a car in the parking lot, she watched as a young couple got out of their car, to be greeted by a child of about four or five who was accompanied by a caretaker. The young woman of the couple, obviously the little girl's mother, dropped to her knees and embraced the child. My friend told of the tears coursing down the cheeks of the mother, and the blank look on the very pretty face of the little girl who was obviously unable to comprehend her mother's love and her mother's grief. For a long time the mother held her little girl in warm embrace, only after a time, releasing her back to the care of the nurse. My friend said she could only think how God must feel just as that mother did when He surrounds some of us with His great love and we are oblivious to such grace.
____________
"I am thinking of you today because it is Christmas, and I wish you happiness. And tomorrow, because it will be the day after Christmas, I shall still wish you happiness. My thoughts and my wishes will be with you always. Whatever joy comes to you will make me glad. All through the year I wish you the spirit of Christmas."
-- Henry Van Dyke
____________
Psalm Of The Day
Luke 1:47-55 -- "My soul magnifies the Lord."
Psalm 80:1-7 -- "Give ear, O shepherd of Israel."
Prayer Of The Day
Soon, now, we will try to appropriate and celebrate the true meaning of this Christ event. Lord, we ask that you help us divert our attention from the festivities of Christmas enough that we may feast on the real gift of Christmas: that we might take into ourselves the salvation which he will bring to our lives. We ask this, and ask forgiveness for the shortcomings which have marked our lives recently. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Lesson 1: Micah 5:2-5a (C); Micah 5:1-4 (RC); Micah 5:2-4 (E)
Israel has been defeated. However, there will be a revival. A new leader will be raised up. He will come from Bethlehem, and he will establish a new reign of Davidic kingship. He will be the long-awaited man who will reestablish the Jewish nation. Here we have a messianic passage, perhaps dating from the eighth century before Christ. We will have noted in all of our recent Old Testament passages that the theme is echoed again and again: in the face of defeat and suffering, the undefeatable expectation that a great day will come, that the lost will be found, the broken renewed, the humiliated will stand tall among the rest. Reading this, although we know what history held for the people to whom Micah spoke, yet we must stand in awe before the panorama of Jewish history, and can have no doubt whatsoever that for a people so beset by adversity to remain courageous and optimistic is only possible because the God of power has never left their side.
Usually, we preachers will settle on the epistle or the Gospel for our preaching next Sunday (or for any other preaching occasions). But we could do worse than to use a passage like this to emphasize the promise that God is always with us, not winning our battles for us, but seeing to it that though we may be beaten we are never defeated.
Lesson 2: Hebrews 10:5-10 (C, RC, E)
Quoting from Psalm 40, this writer disparages all the contemporary forms of sacrifice. Far from bringing anyone close to God, it grants them only a dim shadow of God. Sacrifice of animals or other possessions is meaningless if it is done as a means of getting closer to God. Jesus has made the only sacrifice necessary for that. The part that sacrifice must play is, not as a means of getting closer to God, but as a response to the closeness we already have to God.
Gospel: Luke 1:39-45 (C); Luke 1:39-44 (RC); Luke 1:39-49 (50-56) (E)
There is a current theory abroad that Jesus was not a very good family man. In his book Jesus At Thirty, Bible scholar James Miller cites many passages in which he sees Jesus as rejecting his family members, being, if we are blunt about the matter, insensitive. While I'm not a scholar, my instincts lead me to reject this. But one thing is clear, Mary must have suffered terribly over the fact that her son, filled with a divinely given calling, obviously did not devote much time or attention to the rest of his family. I don't know where Joseph fitted in. Though there's dispute, it does seem fairly certain that Jesus had siblings, and they hardly figure at all in the Gospels. Even Mary, though deified in tradition outside the Bible, gets short shrift in the Bible. Maybe we can attribute that more to the pick and choose choices of the Gospel writers, than to any rejection by Jesus. I suppose we can't really know the truth of all of this. One thing we do know, Mary bore a son who would change the world, and paid a dear price by seeing that son thrust out into a world in which she could have little or no part, and she would see him die a terrible death.
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: "Standing Fast"
Text: Micah 5:2-5a
Theme: Courage in the face of disaster. Maybe all of us are required to face defeat at one time or another, but we can depend on one great truth: If we are faithful to God, God will be faithful to us. Remember, darkness, however dark, is always followed by the dawn. A poet spoke for those who turn a courageous face to the darkened sky:
Tho giant rains put out the sun,
Here stand I for a sign.
Tho earth be filled with waters dark
My cup is filled with wine.
Go, tell the trembling priests that here,
Under the deluge rod,
One nameless, tattered broken man
Stood up and drank to God.
Yes! Many of us have been there. Micah was right. There is one who comes to make things right, to see that while we may for the moment be beaten, we need never be defeated.
Title: "Christian Sacrifice"
Text: Hebrews 10:5-10
Theme: In preaching, it's important to keep one's integrity and not try to sell people on the idea that if they sacrifice (translated: give money to the church) they will be rewarded. That's a ploy we hear all too often on television and, I am told, in some churches. But it's not biblical. What we can say is that the signs of spiritual health according to the Bible are, among other things, a generous spirit and a willingness to sacrifice for others.
What forms of sacrifice do we suppose are pleasing to God?
1. Charity to the poor and the lonely. A friend of mine discovered that an old lady in his congregation routinely spent Christmas alone. Her few relatives lived far away, and she had neither the wherewithal nor the energy to go there. So, loneliness at the time when everyone seeks joy. My friend invited that lady to have dinner and spend the day the following Christmas. She has done so each year since. I have to believe that pleases God. An anonymous person in our city recently read that an inner city organization which cares for poverty stricken little boys and girls after school while their moms earn minimum wage was closing because they didn't have enough money to stay open any longer. That anonymous person provided a substantial sum to prolong the operation. No one knows who did that, but a bunch of children still have their playtime after school because someone cared. That's the kind of sacrifice Jesus would applaud, I believe.
2. Thoughtfulness to the people around us. Not just at Christmas. Always. It's easy for us to let our own hangups -- grumpiness, tiredness, shyness -- make us not very much fun for those around us. Sometimes just taking charge of our own emotions and making ourselves treat people the way we would want them to treat us is a genuine sacrifice. Leo Buscaglia told about a bus driver who decided his ministry to the world was to brighten the morning for riders heading to work. He turned many a miserable looking grouch into a smiling friend.
3. Making the other person happy. If you're married and human, you know there are problems in living together. Not bad ones, I hope (though, of course for some, they are). But the tendency is for all of us to wish that our spouses and children would make life happy for us. They must do so (this school of thought would hold) by liking what we like, preferring the kinds of vacations we prefer, wanting to party when we want to party, and so on. I noticed in Blondie, that Dagwood couldn't sleep because daughter Cookie was out on a date. He groused to Blondie that it was late, and Cookie wasn't home. Blondie explained that Cookie was allowed out until midnight, and it wasn't midnight yet. "But doesn't she know I can't sleep until she gets home? Doesn't she think about that?" Dagwood complained. Blondie put him straight: "Maybe she's not thinking about you right now." That's human, and Dagwood forgot that a beautiful young blonde on a hot date has other things on her mind than the old man trying to go to sleep. My point here is that one sacrifice which makes for happy relationships is that we do without our own way some of the time with the specific intent of making the other person -- or persons -- happy. Remember the old poem?
To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you're wrong, admit it;
Whenever you're right, shut up.
(See also Psalm 51:17)
Title: "A Christian Home"
Text: Luke 1:39-45
Theme: Question: How do we use this in preaching? One theme might be the price parents pay to send their children out into the world. We could also talk about the responsibility busy young people have toward those who have nurtured and raised them. At Christmas time, family relationships do seem a valid theme. I don't want to appear, even by implication, to imply that Jesus was unkind to Mary. But that thought will probably not occur to our church members unless we suggest it.
We have had, and will have, many opportunities to discuss the meaning of the Incarnation. I'm inclined to talk about family relationships since this is a time when I hope families are together, and good spirit is more than ordinarily about. Next Sunday we'll think about the Incarnation, then, and I would go with family relationships. I would suggest five characteristics of Christian family life:
1. Respect. It begins with Mom and Dad showing respect for each other in daily living. It includes respect for one's children, for their individuality, their right to have opinions and to express feelings. By this means, children learn, in turn, to respect their parents. And that is how they learn, in due time, to respect other authority figures who deserve respect: the cop on the beat, the teacher and the principal and, yes, the pastor of the church.
2. Loyalty. To each other, first. But this doesn't necessarily always mean we defend them right or wrong. My wife is a teacher, and a parent who is truly loyal to a child will assist the teacher in teaching discipline and responsibility. People who experience loyalty at home are generally loyal to their friends and people to whom they have made commitments.
3. Humor. A family of people who can laugh at themselves, and have fun together, is a family which will probably have a happy home life.
4. Kindness. One of my favorite quotes is that of Catholic Bishop Fulton Sheen who said there are three characteristics of a Christian: kindness, kindness, and kindness.
5. Religious faith. We are all asked to face trouble in life. Not one of us will escape through a full life without having to deal with pain, illness, death, rejection, loneliness, failure, and a few other things. Facing all of that without a deep faith is a terrible way to live.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
Slow me down, Lord.
Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.
Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time.
Give me, amid the confusion of the day, the calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tension of my nerves and muscles with the soothing music of the singing streams that live in my memory.
Help me to know the magical, restoring power of sleep.
Teach me the art of taking minute vacations -- slowing down to look at a flower, to chat with a friend, to pat a dog, to read a few lines from a good book.
Slow me down, Lord, and inspire me to sink my roots deep into the soil of life's enduring values that I may grow toward the stars of my greater destiny.
____________
A friend of mine told of a visit her family made to a home for handicapped children. As she waited for her husband while seated in a car in the parking lot, she watched as a young couple got out of their car, to be greeted by a child of about four or five who was accompanied by a caretaker. The young woman of the couple, obviously the little girl's mother, dropped to her knees and embraced the child. My friend told of the tears coursing down the cheeks of the mother, and the blank look on the very pretty face of the little girl who was obviously unable to comprehend her mother's love and her mother's grief. For a long time the mother held her little girl in warm embrace, only after a time, releasing her back to the care of the nurse. My friend said she could only think how God must feel just as that mother did when He surrounds some of us with His great love and we are oblivious to such grace.
____________
"I am thinking of you today because it is Christmas, and I wish you happiness. And tomorrow, because it will be the day after Christmas, I shall still wish you happiness. My thoughts and my wishes will be with you always. Whatever joy comes to you will make me glad. All through the year I wish you the spirit of Christmas."
-- Henry Van Dyke
____________
Psalm Of The Day
Luke 1:47-55 -- "My soul magnifies the Lord."
Psalm 80:1-7 -- "Give ear, O shepherd of Israel."
Prayer Of The Day
Soon, now, we will try to appropriate and celebrate the true meaning of this Christ event. Lord, we ask that you help us divert our attention from the festivities of Christmas enough that we may feast on the real gift of Christmas: that we might take into ourselves the salvation which he will bring to our lives. We ask this, and ask forgiveness for the shortcomings which have marked our lives recently. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
