Worship for December 18, 2011

December 18, 2011

Advent Prayer

All: Loving God, we open ourselves to you this Christmas season.
As these candles are lit, light our lives with your imagination.
Show us the creative power of hope.
Teach us the peace that comes from justice.
Fill us with the kind of joy that cannot be contained, but must be shared.
Magnify your love within us.
Prepare our hearts to be transformed by you,
That we may walk in the light of Christ. Amen.

Morning Prayers

O God our Father and our Mother, we come to you today with praises on our lips and love in our hearts. We are glad to be here and thankful for the opportunity to worship you. In this season of hope, peace, joy, and love, we see so much celebration, but very little joy. Help us to share the true joy of Advent and Christmas with all whom we encounter this season.

We are anxious, o God, about the future of your church. We have so much at stake in our finances and in our planning that it seems overwhelming. Guide us in your way, and give us peace and comfort so that we may serve you with gladness.

We are concerned with out cities and townships, O Lord. We pray for wisdom and justice for all who govern, especially our own Russ. Help them all to know your presence and guidance.

We are concerned for the sick among us and known us. We pray for healing and wholeness for them. May they know your healing presence.

We have brought burdens with us today on our hearts which cannot speak with our lips. Hear us Lord, even in our silence.

We pray all these in the name of Jesus, our Christ. Amen.

Luke 1:26-56

26 When Elizabeth was six months pregnant, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a city in Galilee, 27 to a virgin who was engaged to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David’s house. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 When the angel came to her, he said, “ Rejoice, favored one! The Lord is with you! ” 29She was confused by these words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said, “ Don’t be afraid, Mary. God is honoring you. 31 Look! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and he will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of David his father. 33 He will rule over Jacob’s house forever, and there will be no end to his kingdom. ”
34 Then Mary said to the angel, “ How will this happen since I haven’t had sexual relations with a man? ”
35 The angel replied, “ The Holy Spirit will come over you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the one who is to be born will be holy. He will be called God’s Son. 36 Look, even in her old age, your relative Elizabeth has conceived a son. This woman who was labeled ‘unable to conceive’ is now six months pregnant. 37 Nothing is impossible for God. ”
38 Then Mary said, “ I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be with me just as you have said. ” Then the angel left her.
39 Mary got up and hurried to a city in the Judean highlands. 40 She entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 With a loud voice she blurted out, “ God has blessed you above all women, and he has blessed the child you carry. 43 Why do I have this honor, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. 45 Happy is she who believed that the Lord would fulfill the promises he made to her. ”
46 Mary said,
• “ With all my heart I glorify the Lord!
• 47 In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior.
• 48 He has looked with favor on the low status of his servant.
• Look! From now on, everyone will consider me highly favored
• 49 because the mighty one has done great things for me.
• Holy is his name.
• 50 He shows mercy to everyone,
• from one generation to the next,
• who honors him as God.
• 51 He has shown strength with his arm.
• He has scattered those with arrogant thoughts and proud inclinations.
• 52 He has pulled the powerful down from their thrones
• and lifted up the lowly.
• 53 He has filled the hungry with good things
• and sent the rich away empty-handed.
• 54 He has come to the aid of his servant Israel,
• remembering his mercy,
• 55 just as he promised to our ancestors,
• to Abraham and to Abraham’s descendants forever. ”
56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months, and then returned to her home.
©2010 Common English Bible
Making Room for Jesus

This is the season for hospitality. Most of us have been to or will attend a Christmas party. Many of us will be a part of family gatherings next weekend. Everything will be at its brightest and best. The good silverware will be used, and the best china on the table. New recipes will be tried out and old standards revived.
My mother loved the holidays--especially the cooking. She loved watching her husband and three sons and their families consuming the good food she made--even though sometimes it looked like we were attacking the food like lions on a wildebeest. In many ways, she made me what I am today.
Henry Langknecht, who teaches at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, writes this about Martin Luther’s wife Katharina:
She rose at 4 a.m. every day. She cooked and fed the household, bred cattle, brewed beer and ministered to the sick. She provided a home for six children of her own, four orphans, and a constant stream of Luther’s students from the seminary.
Now, that’s hospitality.
John Dominic Crossan has said that if you boil Jesus’ ministry on earth down to the core, what he was about was hospitality and healing. Jesus practiced what Crossan calls “open commensality,” which means everyone was welcome to whatever table Jesus would grace, regardless of profession (Tax Collectors), reputation (Sinners), religious sect (Pharisees), or gender. Men and women were welcome to eat with Jesus and be partners in the conversation. Scandalous, indeed!
The readings before us today are so well known that they have their own names. The first part of our reading is called the Annunciation, in which the angel Gabriel visits Mary and tells her that she is going to conceive a child and give birth to God’s Son.
Mary is confused--and probably frightened--I mean, how often do angels appear out of nowhere and say such disturbing things? And yet, even in her fear and confusion, she accepts the situation that has been thrust upon her. In so doing, Mary performs the ultimate act of hospitality. She welcomes the Christ-child into her womb and into her heart. The Creator of all there is has found a home in the womb of a peasant girl from Nazareth.
Mary then goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth and Elizabeth welcomes her into her home. Again, hospitality. When Mary greets Elizabeth, the child inside her leaps for joy. This is important, because it foretells a positive relationship between the boys that these two women are carrying. Elsewhere in the Bible, activity in the womb is not good. It was written that Jacob and Esau were fighting in Rebecca’s womb. But the son that Elizabeth is carrying (whom we will later know as John the Baptist) will make way for and then get out of the way of Mary’s son, Jesus.
While she is enjoying Elizabeth’s hospitality, Mary sings for joy. And this song has its own name--the Magnificat. The name is from the first word of the song in Latin. Older translations begin it with “my soul magnifies the Lord.” Our version, from the Common English Bible begins this way, “With all my heart I glorify the Lord! In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior.”
Imagine that. A poor, pregnant, unmarried peasant girl from Nazareth crying out with joy at the circumstance she is in. I just had a thought this week that maybe Mary went to her cousin Elizabeth’s house in the hill country because of the shame of her pregnancy. I wonder.
But her words do not tell a tale of shame. Her words are about justice--not criminal justice, but God’s justice--which is about putting things right. What she sings is radical. Those folks down at Occupy Wall Street don’t have anything on Mary. In the world that Mary sees, the powerful will be brought down and the lowly lifted up. The hungry will be filled, but the rich will be sent away empty-handed. What’s up will be down and what’s down will be up. In a world where the creator of all there is finds a home in the womb of a poor Galilean peasant girl, all bets are off. Nothing will ever be the same.
So what about us? What is our call today from this ancient text? We are called to welcome the Christ-child into our hearts and minds and to continue to sing about justice. Three weeks ago we read the parable of the final judgment, in which two groups of people were surprised to learn that in their interactions with the poor, the hungry, the stranger, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned were interactions with Jesus. He told them and he tells us today that how we treat the least of these is how we treat him.
I want to challenge each of us to perform an act of hospitality for someone today--someone not in your family. Inviting strangers into our homes is scary, but welcoming them is welcoming the Christ-child. Do something for someone else--even if it’s putting a buck in a Salvation Army bucket. The Salvation Army is very good at welcoming, and when you give to them, you participate in that welcoming.
Welcome Christ into your Christmas. Put the shopping on hold and open your heart.
I’d love to know what you are thinking.

Offering Invitation and Prayer
In addition to our weekly giving, today, we receive the Christmas Offering of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This offering stays entirely in our region, funding our Camp Christian and the Regional Church Staff. Let us give with Great joy!

Loving God, we thank you for all you give to us. As we return these gifts, may they and we strive to bring justice to the lives of others. In the name of the Christ-child we pray. Amen.


Benediction

Depart in peace, and take with you the certain knowledge
That God is always coming into the world.
We will seek God, not in a long ago stable or ancient manger,
But in the people we meet and the depths of our own hearts.
May the blessing of Christmas make you a blessing to others;
May the peace of the season pervade all that you do.
We will welcome the challenge of discipleship.
We will offer ourselves as God’s ministers.
We will go forth in hope, peace, joy, and love. (Thanks to the good folks at Processandfaith.org for the Advent Prayer and Benediction)