Christmas Eve, 2010

Worship for Christmas Eve 2010 10:30 o’clock

Hymn 143 Joy to the World

Worship for Christmas Eve 2010 10:30 o’clock

Hymn 143 Joy to the World

(Choir, Readers, Elders, Deacons, and Pastor process)

Dialogue Shealyn Scott

Leader: The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

Congregation: The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has never mastered it.

Leader: Those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness,
on them light has shined.

Congregation: We have beheld Christ's glory,
glory as of the only Son from the Father.

Leader: For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given.

Congregation: In him was life, and the life was the light of all people.

Opening prayer

Almighty God,
you have filled us with the new light of the Word
who became flesh and lived among us.
Let the light of our faith shine in all we do;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.

Lighting the Christ Candle

Candle liturgy The Morris Family

One: Hope, peace, joy, and love. Four candles, four promises continually offered to us by God, and all of them manifest in this one we light tonight: the Christ candle. In Christ we find the hope of transformation, the peace that follows justice, the joy of self-fulfillment in community, and the love that encompasses us in all our diversity, empowering us to make our own unique contribution to this world. In Christ we find light and life, and the courage to be like him, answering his call and following in his footsteps.

[All candles are lit.] Sing all verses of “One Candle Is Lit" #128

1. Come surely, Lord Jesus, as dawn follows night,
   our hearts long to greet you, as roses, the light.
   Salvation, draw near us, our vision engage.
   One candle is lit for the hope of the age.
2. Come quickly, shalom, teach us how to prepare
   for a gift that compels us with justice to care.
   Our spirits are restless till sin and war cease.
   One candle is lit for the reign of God's peace.
3. Come, festively sing while awaiting the birth,
   join angels in dancing from heaven to earth.
   Wave banners of good news, lift high thankful praise.
   One candle is lit for the joy of these days.
4. Come, wander where lion and lamb gently play,
   where evil is banished and faith takes the day,
   a babe in a manger to fool the world's eyes.
   One candle is lit for God's loving surprise.
5. Come, listen, the sounds of God-with-us ring clear,
   and signs of a cross in the distance appear.
   The Word once made flesh, yet the Word ever near.
   One candle is lit for the Christ-birthday here.

All: We rejoice in God’s steadfast presence in our lives,
and in God’s unique presence in the life of Jesus of Nazareth—
born of Mary, growing through childhood into an adult ministry,
in all his life manifesting the peace, love, and justice of God;
his voice undimmed by the centuries-
his call and his promise as clear to us as it was to his disciples so long ago.
Come to us, Lord Jesus,
Be born in us this night, in our hearts, our minds, our lives.
May the light of your life be kindled in us,
And lead us to the shining truth,
of God with us, God for us, God in us. Amen.

The King Will Come from Bethlehem

Lesson Micah 5: 2, 5a Craig Smith
"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." And he will be their peace.

Carol 165 “Once in Royal David's City” (solo, v.1; all v. 4)

The Annunciation to Mary

Lesson Luke 1: 26 - 35, 38 Carrie Dyson
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,
to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary.
The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.

But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.

You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

Carol 161 “I Wonder as I Wander”

The Birth of Jesus

Lesson Luke 2: 1 - 7 Cody Baker
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)

And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.

He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Carol 144 “O Little Town of Bethlehem

Carol 155 “Angels We Have Heard on High”

The Shepherds Go to See the Savior
Lesson Luke 2: 8 - 16 Brynli Scott


And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.

An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.

Carol 170 “How Great Our Joy”

Carol 167 “Go Tell It on the Mountain”

Jesus Receives His Name
Lesson Luke 2:21 - 36 Deejay Whitehead

On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.

When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord"), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: "a pair of doves or two young pigeons."

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace.

For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."

Carol 164 “Good Christian Friends, Rejoice”

The Magi Follow the Star

Lesson Matthew 2: 1 - 11 Shealyn Scott

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.

When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.

"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: "'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.

Carol 172 “We Three Kings” (Men Solo on vv. 2,3,4)

The Gathering at the Table

Carol 148 "O Come, All Ye Faithful"

Invitation to the Table Chris Whitehead

Meditation Beth Armwstrong, Elder

Prayer & Lord’s Prayer Connie Baker, Elder

Words of Institution Chris

Distribution

The Elders will pass the chalices and trays to four Deacons, and then the elders will step down with the servers (and the loaves), taking their positions at the base of the chancel.

The people will be invited to step down the center aisle to receive Communion. The Elders will tear off a piece of bread and hand it to each worshiper, then the people will step to the outside with their choice of dipping or taking a cup from the tray. They will then move further to the outside, take a candle, and begin to form a ring in the sanctuary.

The Mystery of the Incarnation (and passing of the flame)

The flame will be passed by tipping the unlit wick toward the flame.

Lesson John 1:1 - 14 Chris Whitehead
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

In him was life, and that life was the light of all.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never mastered it.
The Word became flesh and made his home among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Carol 145 “Silent Night”

Dismissal

Let us extinguish the flames from our candles, but not our hearts.

May our hearts always burn with the fire of the Spirit.

May our faces always shine with the light of Christ.

May our lives always reflect the love of God so that God, through us, may be a beacon of light in a dark and fragmented world. Amen.

Worship. December 19, 2010

Worship for Sunday, December 19, 2010

The Fourth Sunday in Advent

Theme: Love

Candle liturgy

One: We have lit three candles—for hope, for peace, and for joy. Today we light the fourth candle—the candle of love. With this flame we signify the love of God that surrounds and fills us at all times, but that we recognize in a special way in the Christmas story. There is no greater power than love. It is stronger than rulers and empires, stronger than grief or despair, stronger even than death. We love, because God loves us.

(Four candles are lit. Sing verse four of “One Candle Is Lit " #128")

Come, wander where lion and lamb gently play,
where evil is banished and faith takes the day,
a babe in a manger to fool the world's eyes.
One candle is lit for God's loving surprise.

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.

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

Father - we rejoice at this time in your most gracious will - a will that

is so shaped by your love that has held nothing back from us. As we ponder

this day the message of the angels to Mary and to Joseph and how their

lives were changed by their acceptance of that message - we pray that our

lives too may be changed - that we may be people who trust in your word

despite the obstacles - despite the impossibilities - that at first present

themselves to us as we hear it. Grant that like Mary we may be your

willing and humble servants - and that like Joseph we may place obedience

to the vision you give us over any thoughts of our reputation or

convenience... In your gracious love, Lord hear our prayer....

We thank you God, that is since it is to the needy and the lost, and to the

least that you sent Jesus, we can know that he also comes to us. We thank

you that in Him, the Mystery of Love was born and is known, the love that

names us good and the power that makes us good. Help us to always

celebrate the radiance of Christ, he who was born in Bethlehem to be our

light and the light of the whole world. In your gracious love, Lord hear our prayer...

Lord - we pray today for those who need the gift of Christmas in their

lives - those who have not understood your unique statement of their worth

in your sight... We pray for our cities, and those who govern, that you will give them wisdom and courage. We pray for those who feel empty, that they may discover

the Babe of Christmas who fills the soul with peace and hope... We pray

for those who feel alone - that they may discover that you are with them -

that Jesus is still Emmanuel, and that in him and through him you inhabit

every heart and transform every life open to his Spirit.. We pray for those who are sick and hurting, whether from ailments that are obvious, or perhaps more subtle. We pray for those who serve this nation at home and abroad, especially those who are apart from their families. In your gracious love, Lord, hear our prayer...

We ask all things through Christ Jesus - the babe of Bethlehem, the lamb

that was slain, the one who is both our brother and our Lord. Amen.

Matthew 1:18-25

¹⁸This is how Jesus Christ was born. A young woman named Mary was engaged to Joseph from King David's family. But before they were married, she learned that she was going to have a baby by God's Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Joseph was a good man^a and did not want to embarrass Mary in front of everyone. So he decided to quietly call off the wedding.

²⁰While Joseph was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord came to him in a dream. The angel said, "Joseph, the baby that Mary will have is from the Holy Spirit. Go ahead and marry her. ²¹Then after her baby is born, name him Jesus,^b because he will save his people from their sins."
²²So the LORD'S promise came true, just as the prophet had said, ²³"A virgin will have a baby boy, and he will be called Immanuel," which means "God is with us."
²⁴After Joseph woke up, he and Mary were soon married, just as the LORD'S angel had told him to do. ²⁵But they did not sleep together before her baby was born. Then Joseph named him Jesus.

“I Know It to Be True”

Many of you know that I am one-eighth Cherokee, but you may not know that Kate has Mayflower passengers in her family tree. And so, in our house, we often have discussions about what “her people did to my people.”

Native American wisdom is interesting to me—not just because of my background, but because of how grounded it is in simplicity, and how compatible it is with the Gospel.

A friend of mine in Oregon—who is of Nez Perce tribal lineage-- once told the way in which his people would begin a story. The storyteller would start by saying, “I don't know whether it happened this way, but I know it to be true.”

Do you see what he was getting at? The factual details of the story are secondary to the point, or truth, of the story. The truth of the story stands on its own, no matter where the narrative might take off from reality.

And in that regard, I've got to tell you that this story of the birth of Jesus makes me a little uncomfortable. I mean, I know it to be true, but I wonder if it really did happen this way.

Matthew's version of the birth is a stripped down, bare-bones tale. Mary and Joseph are already in Bethlehem, so there's no need to set the story against the national census like Luke does. No need to have the couple travel from Nazareth to be counted. No need for a full inn leading to a birth in the stable.

Matthew does not deal with all of that. He is far more concerned with the relationship of Joseph, Mary, God, and the Holy Spirit.

Joseph and Mary were engaged, which in that culture meant you were already married—that your fathers had selected your partner in our to form a family alliance of the type needed to survive. We used to ask, “who gives this woman...” in the wedding ceremony because the wedding in history was a transaction in which one man gives a woman—his property—to the next man who will own her.

While the transaction was not finalized—as in consummated—it was a done deal. The Hebrews regarded this relationship with such honor, that it was considered adultery to violate it. If a woman who was promised to one man slept with another, then the woman and the man were both put to death. Women belonged to men—either their fathers or their husbands—and that arrangement was not be violated.

This was a patriarchal society—both in Roman and Hebrew terms. Women were not terribly important in the general scheme of things—vessels for childbearing mostly. The important part of a marriage is that the line and the name of the father would be carried on through his heirs, especially male heirs, who would then make alliances with the daughter of other powerful men to be certain that the future of the family lineage was secure.

And so, when Joseph finds out that his bride is carrying a child not of his making, it must have really ticked him off. Can you imagine him walking around Bethlehem muttering to himself? “How could she? And who did this with her? Was it Ezra? Simon? I'll kill him!”

Except, he wouldn't have to, by Levitical code, both Mary and the violator of Joseph's property would be killed by stoning from the whole community.

But Joseph loved Mary, and he was a better man than his traditions would allow him to be. He was just going to quietly divorce her—in which case she'd simply be an outcast and not the victim of a lynching.

Joseph was good guy—not so good that he would just pretend the baby was his—that was too much. But to have Mary put to death for her mistake, well, that was too much, too.

And then the angel—the messenger of the Lord appears to Joseph and tells Joseph that his bride is not an adulterer, but rather a chosen one—impregnated by God through the Holy Spirit. She will give birth, not to any ordinary boy, but to the son of God, whose name would be Emmanuel—God with us.

Boy, if Joseph hadn't been confounded and bewildered already, now the situation was downright, well, bizarre. And so, Joseph takes a leap of faith, and keeps Mary as his wife.

I worked for several years in a Catholic hospital named for Joseph. In the garden outside the main entrance stood a marble statue with a plaque which read, “Saint Joseph: foster father of our Lord.”

In our culture, calling Joseph a foster father might make sense. But, what would that have meant to him? To raise a child that was not his own? To pretend that his name, his line would be continued through this child—knowing that it wasn't so had to have painful in that culture. We call Mary “the first in faith,” but I think Joseph has the much longer leap to make. Mary, after all, knew what she did or didn't do, but Joseph...?

I gotta tell you, this is just beyond reason. I'm just not able to say with confidence that I know it to have happened just this way.

But, yet, I know it to be true.

Flash forward 80 years.

The stories that have surrounded the life, death, and life again of Jesus that have been swirling about are compiled by a writer which the tradition has named Matthew—and he includes this part of the story; that Jesus was divinely conceived by a virgin. Yes, in part, he does so to match the story to the prophet Isaiah, and yet the case can be made that the translations of Isaiah were influenced by Christian tradition.

And yes, it's true that Roman mythology was full of virgin birth stories—virgins impregnated by the gods to produce demi-gods. But, those stories were told of the gods raping young women in order to assert their power over humans.

The story of Joseph and Mary and God and the Spirit is not that kind of story. Rita Nakashima Brock, a Disciples theologian who teaches at Starr King School of Theology, wrote this month in a very provocative article in The Huffington Post of the scandal that this telling of the story would have—not in the Jewish community of Joseph's peers—but in the Roman Empire in which it was set.

Told in this way, this story was an in-your-face challenge to the Roman Empire—where male emperors carried on their father's line in power.

Listen to the words of Mary in Luke's account of the annunciation:

And Mary said,
"My soul magnifies the Lord,...
for the Mighty One has done great things for me, ...
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
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.

A story told of a woman, conceiving and bearing a child with no human father who was not only God, but King was a direct challenge to the emperors who demanded that they be worshiped as gods. This Son of God who is born to Mary is one who will topple kingdoms and turn on its head the world in which the rich always win and the poor are always trampled underfoot.

The communities which formed around these stories did nothing short of change the world in the name of Jesus. Did they take the stories as literal fact and accurate portrayals of events, or understand them in the metaphorical sense like we do? I don't know, but I know they knew it to be true. And they so changed the world that there were for them no more “our people versus your people,” because even the Romans became a part of the body.

And today, we claim this story as our own—knowing it to be true. But, in order to live out its truth, we must allow this child to be born in the manger of our hearts and change our very being, so that we, too, can change the world in his name.

This Advent season is that opportunity we have each year to welcome the Christ-Child once more, and to hear Mary's words anew of God's turning wealth and power on its head. It’s our chance to use Joseph as our model of faith—faced with an overwhelming situation that defied everything he knew about reality, he trusted in God and knew it to be true. True, not in his head, but in his heart. True, not as an intellectual assent, but a something that touched his very being. Once again, this opportunity is before us.

Let's not blow it.

Offering Invitation

The theme for this fourth Sunday of Advent is love. For God so loved the world, that he gave... We too, give, not from compulsion, but from love. Let us now lovingly present our tithes and offerings to God.

Offering Prayer

Father, teach us how to listen for your call in our lives. Teach us how to be faithful stewards with the gifts you have entrusted to us. Teach us how to use this offering as a source of your ministry and mission. Teach us how to bow down on our knees and to spend time beholding the miracles all around us. In the name of the greatest teacher, Emmanuel, we pray. Amen.

Benediction/Commission and Blessing (Minister and Congregation)

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.

Worship. December 5, 2010

Worship for Sunday, December 5, 2010

Prayers of the People

For the peace of the world, and for our unity in Christ.

Come, Lord Jesus, and save us.

For all who serve in ministry in all the expressions of the church--in Congregations, in Regional Church, and in our General Church.

Come, Lord Jesus, and save us.

For the church throughout the world and the faithful in every place.

Come, Lord Jesus, and save us.

For the leaders of the nations and all in authority, especially for our President Barack, our Vice-President Joe, our Senators George and Sherrod, and our Representative Jim.

Come, Lord Jesus, and save us.

For justice, peace, and freedom among peoples of the earth.

Come, Lord Jesus, and save us.

For travelers, for the sick and the suffering, for the hungry and the oppressed, and for those in prison.

Come, Lord Jesus, and save us.

For the dying and the dead.

Come, Lord Jesus, and save us.

For our deliverance from all affliction, strife, and need.

Come, Lord Jesus, and save us.

Scripture: Matthew 3:1-12

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”

Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.

Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

Sermon: “Appearing Now in Our Wilderness; John the Baptist!”

When I was a kid, I used to pretend to go to sleep, so that my mother would think I was asleep, then she would go to sleep. Then I would sneak out to the family room and turn on the TV at 11:30 to hear Ed McMahon announce “The Tonight Show, starring Johnny Carson!”

Then, he’d name all the guests and himself, and then came that wonderful sound, “Heeeeeeeeeeeere’s Johnny!”

And then that wonderful Paul Anka theme would play and the great man himself would appear. And the next ten minutes would be s great treat--if Johnny’s jokes didn’t wake my mother, and I’d have to go back to bed.

I was thinking about Ed McMahon this week, and how important his job was. On one level, he was just an announcer performing a perfunctory job. Say the name of the show, the names of the guests, then introduce Johnny and get out of the way.

But Ed put himself into that every night, and I came to appreciate and look forward to the sound of his voice, knowing that something good would follow.

Today, we have Andy Richter, whose voice brings Conan O’Brien into our homes every night.

The announcer--at least with Ed and Andy--can become so identified with the star that you can only think of the two of them together. When you hear the name of one, the other pops into your head.

Such is the case with Jesus of Nazareth--the star--and his announcer/cousin John, know as the Baptist. You can’t think of John without Jesus’ face popping up in your memory. And when Advent rolls around each year, John makes an appearance and you know that it’s almost time for Jesus to arrive.

And so, John goes to the theatre in Israel, gets the microphone, warms up the audience with a few jokes, and then says,, “The kingdom of God is near--and now, heeeeere’s Jesus!”

At least that’s what I’d like to have happen.

But, instead, we get John, dressed like a goofball, eating a weirdo diet and quoting from some Old Testament prophet.

And then he addresses the people in the crowd by saying, “You brood of vipers!”

I’ve got to tell you, nobody ever wins over an audience or a congregation by calling them reptiles. I know of some churches that are reptilian, but you would call them that. Out loud. To their faces.

But John does.

And then he yells at them, “who warned you of the wrath to come?”

Uh, you did, John.

And they kept coming and coming to hear more and more of this kind of abuse.

I’ve got to tell you, I can do without this--this--John the Baptist.

There’s actually an ever-lengthening list of things I can do with out at this time of year.

I can do without the stores blasting “Frosty the Snowman’ and “The First Noёl” back-to-back as if there’s no difference between the two.

I can do without Santa kneeling before the manger in a nativity scene.

I can do without the imaginary “War on Christmas” stirring up problems that don’t exist. (Though there is a war on Advent!)

And I can do without judgment.

And, I bet you can, too.

Let’s face it--if given our druthers, we’d skip John the Baptist and move on to the babe in the manger. We’d dispense with the minor key hymns and plow right on into the Christmas Carols. And we’d be done with this “you brood of vipers” stuff and read about the light of love coming into the world.

But, there’s a reason why we move slowly into Christmas--unlike the surrounding culture, where Frosty and Noёl start playing before the Halloween candy is gone from the shelves.

We still have a few more verses of “O Come. O Come Emmanuel” to sing in a minor key before we can get to “Joy to the World.”

Advent is about preparation. Not just the preparation of the sanctuary and our homes with greenery and lights. Advent is about preparing for the coming of Christ by greening our hearts and putting our lives in the light of God for scrutiny.

Advent is about serious self-examination. We talked about the whys and whats of the decorations last Sunday, but here’s the reason that the color of Advent is purple--the same as in Lent. Purple is the color of royalty, but in traditions of the church it is associated with penitence. It is asking, “Is the manger of my heart fit for the arrival of the Christ child?”

I said I can do without the judgment, but I won’t. And neither will you, you brood of vi-tal and wonderful folks. Today, we ask, “Who are we as followers of Jesus Christ?”

One of my heroes was a wonderful man who died this past summer. He was an Elder at First Christian Church in Santa Monica, California. He had a quiet dignity and an ability to work with young people that is unsurpassed in the field in which he was best known--basketball. I’m speaking, of course, of John Wooden, who coached UCLA to ten national titles. In the world of college basketball, he was peerless.

But, he was also a man of great faith whose life in and out of the church and on and off the court was lived with the purpose of letting Christ shine in all he did.

He was known for his pithy aphorisms and his words reflected the devotion he lived. He once said, “If I were ever prosecuted for my religion, I truly hope there would be enough evidence to convict me.”

That’s what Advent is about. It’s looking for evidence by the light of a purple candle. It’s holding that light to our hearts and asking if the evidence for conviction is there.

And yet, it’s also a realization that nothing we can do on our own can make us any better than anyone else. Christ comes as a helpless babe to remind us of our own helplessness, and reinforces our dependence on the grace of God. Christ comes, not of our doing, but as a true gift.

Gifts in our culture are not gifts at all. Jacques Derrida, the late French philosopher said that there are no such things as gifts, because in our human societies, something--even if it is only a spoken, “thank you,” is expected in return. There are no gifts he says--only transactions. When someone gives us a gift, we scramble to reciprocate if we haven’t already gotten one for them. We pore over stacks of Christmas cards to make sure that we haven’t left any one off our Christmas card list!

But, the gift of Christ asks only that we receive him, and let him live in us. Can we ever really be ready for that? I doubt it, but we we’re here to try. And we’re going to have to listen to the announcer for awhile until it is time for the star to emerge.

Offering Sentence & Prayer

In this busy season, our most important preparations will happen here in our hearts when we make a way for God to come into our lives, when we "prepare the way of the Lord." In the midst of our preparations, we bring gifts to share so that God's love will shine brightly through the ministry of this church and in our own lives as well. Let us now present our tithes and offerings.

Righteous and just God, we give thanks for the sun and moon, and the rain and grass. May the gifts we offer help justice and peace to abound, reflecting your glory throughout the whole earth. Amen and Amen.

Benediction

Take your encouragement from Christ,

that your joy may be complete.

We will share in the Spirit;

We will find consolation in love.

Practice a ministry of humility and compassion

For God is at work in you, empowering you

We will welcome Christ into our hearts.

We will lives worthy of the Gospel.

We will go forth in hope and in peace.

Worship November 21, 2010

Worship for November 21, 2010

Christ the King Sunday

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

Let us pray... Gracious God - we pray for ourselves at this time - that we

might remember who is in control in creation - who hold together all things -

and that he might be the one who controls our life.

Help us to let go of ourselves and our fears and worries and to rest ourselves in Christ Jesus.

Help us to grow in faith, to rejoice always in what you have done, to submit

our will and our plans to your will and your plan for our lives.

Lord, remember us…

(sung #569) …Jesus, Remember me when you come into your kingdom.

Gracious God, we pray for others - we pray that those who are ruled by money, by status, by the desire to get ahead, by addictions, or by any other force other than that of our Lord, may awaken and realize their poverty, and reach out to you.

We ask for those who are afraid that their life is in a downward spiral that cannot be reversed that they may realize the authority and the power of Christ over all that afflicts them;

we pray for those who have no hope - those whose days consist of a meaningless cycle of frantic work, desperate pleasure, and restless sleep. Lord, remember us…

…Jesus, Remember me when you come into your kingdom.

We ask for the special burdens upon our hearts at this time - we praise and thank you for all the blessings you give us without our even asking.

We pray those who dwell in places of strife, need, and want:

We pray - for those who have been bereaved in the past week

We pray too for those others named before you this day by our brothers and sisters in faith. We remember

Lord, Remember us…

…Jesus, Remember me when you come into your kingdom.

We pray to you Lord, through Jesus our King - our brother - and our redeemer. Amen.

Luke 23.³³When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they crucified him, along with the criminals, one on his right and the other on his left.³⁴Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.” They drew lots as a way of dividing up his clothing.

³⁵The people were standing around watching, but the leaders sneered at him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself if he really is the Christ sent from God, the chosen one.”

³⁶The soldiers also mocked him. They came up to him offering him sour wine³⁷and saying, “If you really are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” ³⁸Above his head was a notice of the formal charge against him. It read “This is the king of the Jews.”

³⁹One of the criminals hanging next to Jesus insulted him, “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

⁴⁰Responding, the other criminal spoke harshly to him, “Don’t you fear God, seeing that you’ve also been sentenced to die?⁴¹We are rightly condemned, for we are receiving the appropriate sentence for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong.” ⁴²Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

⁴³Jesus replied, “I assure you that today you will be with me in paradise.”

“Thanks for a King?”

Christ the King Sunday always catches me by surprise, even though I know for a whole year in advance that it is coming. It is Christ the King Sunday, that wonderful time of year when we American Christians can give thanks that we have no king and try to figure out at the same time what it means to have one!

Of course, we don’t want a King. We’re Americans! We barely want a president. Whoever’s in office, we moan and complain about for four years, then catch our breath and start complaining again. One of the reasons that I pray for our political leaders on schedule like I do is I kinda’ hope that it balances out the complaining I do!

We don’t want a king. We declared our independence from Great Britain mostly because of that, then fought and won a bloody eight-year war to back up that declaration. We don’t want a king.

And here it is, the last Sunday in the church year, rolling around to remind us that whether we want one or not, we have one.

Does that make it hard to invite our unchurched friends to worship? The notion of king smacks of pre-enlightenment patriarchy, triumphalism, classism.

And, folks, what evidence do we have that there even is a King Jesus? What evidence is there in the world that it is ruled by someone loving and beneficent, powerful, just, healing--or by anyone at all, for that matter?

When I think of a king (and this is true of a lot Americans of my generation), this is the guy that usually come to mind. (Elvis slide). Maybe if I could think of him (Elvis carrying cross slide). Nah.

What kind of king is this, anyway?

One who is hung on a cross in the most humiliating and painful form of capital punishment the world has ever seen?

A king who is put to death as a common criminal-along with two other criminals, whom he invites into his kingdom.

Two criminals die with Jesus that day. Not a very regal sight. Yet, today we honor Christ as our king at the lowest point of his life. Not ruling from a throne, but nailed to his throne. Not wearing a crown of gold but one of thorns. Not waving to his citizens from a balcony, but hanging from a cross convulsing in pain. He is the king who is abandoned, ridiculed, and mocked. He is the king who wields no power and has no army riding to his rescue. He writhes in pain utterly powerless and defeated.

This is our king and we are his subjects. So how will we serve him? Here is what he says to us: I am the hungry person in the street weary and underfed; I am the waiting and the anxious parent; I am the nursing home patient, wheelchair-bound and alone; I am the confused and abused child; I am the teenager whose parents just divorced; I am the convicted man isolated in a prison cell. I am the least significant human person in need. These are the faces you are to serve . . . they are mine. Remember them as I remember you.

Can we really give thanks for a king like that? One who presents himself to us as the dregs of society?

What kind of king is this? What kind of king do we have anyway? The one who thinks of the other first even as he draws his final breaths. The one who dies for the other. The one to whom the criminal on the right asks, “Jesus remember me.”

That same king hears us today as we plead with him. When we are facing a long illness. When one of our children is struggling. When cancer returns after being in remission for years. When we receive a take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum from our employer. When we regret the way we have lived our life and don’t know where to turn for forgiveness. “Jesus remember me.” He who mercifully extended forgiveness in the last moments of his life . . . remembers us.

And for this, we can indeed give thanks. What do you think?

Prayer for the Gifts

Eternal God, we offer to you these gifts and our lives. May Christ the King rule in our hearts and lives so that we are powerful witnesses to the truth of your kingdom of love, justice, mercy and peace. May the gifts of time, talents, and future gifts which we give to you this day, be blessed by your joyful and loving spirit, that we too may be joyful and loving in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Benediction

Though the days increase in their darkness, the Lord of light and love reigns supreme. May the power of God’s love be in your hearts and reflected in your lives now and always. Go in peace and may God’s peace be with you. AMEN.

"On Our Hearts" Sermon October 24, 2010

“On Our Hearts”

Jeremiah 31:27-34

October 24, 2010
First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Mansfield, Ohio

27The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. 28And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. 29In those days they shall no longer say: “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” 30But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge. 31The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. 33But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Let’s play a little game called Know Your Religious Texts. You have the quiz—and I bet you’ve already gone through it and peeked at the answers, haven’t you?

1. Which holy book stipulates that a girl who does not bleed on her wedding night is to be put to death?

a. Koran

b. Old Testament

c. (Hindu) Upanishads

2. Which holy text declares: “Let there be no compulsion in religion”?

a. Koran

b. Gospel of Matthew

c. Letter of Paul to the Romans

3. The terrorists who pioneered the suicide vest in modern times, and the use of women in terror attacks, were affiliated with which major religion?

a. Islam

b. Christianity

c. Hinduism

4. "Every child is touched by the devil as soon as he is born and this contact makes him cry. Excepted are Mary and her Son.” This verse is from:

a. Letters of Paul to the Corinthians

b. The Book of Revelation

c. An Islamic hadith, or religious tale.

5. Which holy text is sympathetic to slavery?

a. Old Testament

b. New Testament

c. Koran

6. In the New Testament, Jesus’ views of homosexuality are:

a. strongly condemnatory

b. forgiving

c. never mentioned

7. Which holy text urges responding to evil with kindness, saying: “repel the evil deed with one which is better.”

a. Gospel of Luke

b. Book of Isaiah

c. Koran

8. Which religious figure preaches tolerance by suggesting that God looks after all peoples and leads them all to their promised lands?

a. Muhammad

b. Amos

c. Jesus

9. Which of these religious leaders was a polygamist?

a. Jacob

b. King David

c. Muhammad

10. What characterizes Muhammad’s behavior toward the Jews of his time?

a. He killed them.

b. He married one.

c. He praised them as a chosen people.

11. Which holy scripture urges that the "little ones" of the enemy be dashed against the stones?

a. Book of Psalms

b. Koran

c. Leviticus

12. Which holy scripture suggests beating wives who misbehave?

a. Koran

b. Letters of Paul to the Corinthians

c. Book of Judges

13. Which religious leader is quoted as commanding women to be silent during services?

a. The first Dalai Lama

b. St. Paul

c. Muhammad

Answers:

1. b. Deuteronomy 22:21.

2. a. Koran, 2:256. But other sections of the Koran do describe coercion.

3. c. Most early suicide bombings were by Tamil Hindus (some secular) in Sri Lanka and India.

4. c. Hadith. Islam teaches that Jesus was a prophet to be revered.

5. All of the above.

6. c. Other parts of the New and Old Testaments object to homosexuality, but there’s no indication of Jesus’ views.

7. c. Koran, 41:34. Jesus says much the same thing in different words.

8. b. Amos 9:7

9. all of them

10. all of these. Muhammad’s Jewish wife was seized in battle, which undermines the spirit of the gesture. By some accounts he had a second Jewish wife as well.

11. a. Psalm 137

12. a. Koran 4:34

13. b. St. Paul, both in 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Timothy 2, but many scholars believe that neither section was actually written by Paul.

How many of learned something about the Q’uran? How many of you learned something about the Old Testament? The New Testament?

Not all these things are flattering about our faith, are they? I once heard a Christian say, “I learned all I needed to know about the Jewish faith from the Old Testament.” Really? But Judaism is a living faith, with many divisions or denominations. It is diverse and modern—in many ways post-modern. And even fundamentalist Jews don’t advocate killing non-virgins on their wedding night, or smashing the heads of their enemies’ children. You can’t completely understand a people of faith by reading their sacred texts. 56yh

So why is that? Am I saying that someone couldn’t find a New Testament and learn all they needed to know by reading it? You could certainly learn something about the ideas of our faith, but would you really understand our faith itself? Would you come to know the church? And could you come to know Christ just from reading the text?

This is a subject that ministers and denominations argue about, but my own thinking on this subject is no. You can’t know the church just by reading the texts, because the church is the living, breathing body of Christ. Jesus did not leave us a text. Jesus left a community, in which our Christian scriptures came to be.

The ancient Hebrew community had the texts. God had delivered the Law to Moses (as the tradition tells it) and it was written down and studied and the worship rituals were observed. And yet, God tells Jeremiah that his beloved, chosen people are like a wife who has been unfaithful to her husband. By not living according to the covenant God had made with them, the people had turned their backs to the Lord, resulting in a kind of adulterous ugliness.

Covenant is another word for a relationship--a formalized relationship. God has made a covenant with us. We have made a covenant with God. That is the heart of Jeremiah. And the people know all about the covenants that they made along their history--with Noah, with Abraham, the covenant on Sinai with Moses. They know they are a covenant people.
"I will be your God," says Yahweh,

But, the process breaks down in just what it means to be in covenant. The people assumed it was about privilege. God loves us—and nobody else. David Steele compares the people with a spoiled rich kid roaring down the street in his father’s Mercedes at 90 miles an hour, figuring the world better get out of his way. It’s all right. If something goes wrong, Daddy will write a check and fix it. If we have a covenant with God, we can do as we please and God will take care of us.

But, Jeremiah knows that God did not choose the nation of Israel as a people of privilege. God chose them to become a people who would live out God's best idea for human life. These people are intended to model human community and justice, to be a light to the nations--a beacon for humanity that points, not to themselves, but to the love and grace of God.

Nearly all of the book of Jeremiah is filled with Jeremiah pleading for the people to live out the covenant that God has called them into.

And then, Jeremiah begins to tell the people who, though in relationship with God, essentially rejected him, that God is doing something new. God does not reject his people, but rather, a new covenant—not sealed with a rainbow as with Noah, or with circumcision as with Abraham, or with the Law as with Moses will be made.

No, this New Covenant will touch the heart of people. God's law, God's ideas, God's intentions will somehow get inside of people. This new relationship will be more simple, more natural. And in that New Covenant God will not seem so distant. Folk will not feel God is watching them from heaven or a lofty mountain. No, somehow folk are going to realize
That God is right there with them. "God with us, God beside us, God within us."

"They shall all know me," the Lord says, "From the least of them to the greatest."

For Christians, we pick up the story with our own. A baby is born in a stable and lives a humble life. And despite that humility, he is called Emmanuel—God with us. He becomes the great teacher and preacher.

And he dies, but yet he lives. He shares a final meal with his friends,
Pours out wine for them and says "This is the new covenant in my blood." And from that new covenant, sealed not with a text, but with the very blood of Christ, a people arise who understand themselves as people of the new covenant—the church. And hearts are opened and changed. God is no longer off there someplace, God is right here—in our hearts. And every Sunday we recall that by breaking bread and pouring the out the wine again.

Now, I would like to end that story we started in Jeremiah by saying that everything is great and perfect, and justice rules the earth. Because the new covenant is written on our hearts in blood—the blood of Christ. Even so, the promise of that heart-borne covenant hasn’t come to be—at least not yet!

Because, we are frail and faulty humans, and the things our forebears did in pushing themselves away from God—we still do.

We let greed and fear and hatred and jealousy rule in our hearts. Did I mention fear? Our nation right now is one big cottage industry of fear. (I’ll be glad when the campaign season is over!)

And that, my beloved, is why we haven’t thrown the texts away. Because we must continually go back to these stories and remind ourselves that we are God’s people. That God has told us—even if we walkthrough the darkest valley, we have nothing to fear—God is with us.

We read the stories that Jesus told to remember that loving our neighbor means even loving the Samaritans (rotten louts that they are).

And the story of Elijah, whose prayers fed a woman who had enough for one last meal before dying—and yet, the food never seemed to be exhausted. We need to hear that story again and again to remind ourselves as God’s people, we live in overflowing abundance, and not in scarcity—especially in these uncertain times. Especially as we plan our giving for the coming year.

And we go back to these texts to remind us of what it means to be in relationship with God. But we don’t do it in a vacuum. We don’t do it all alone. God’s covenant people gather together, and read these stories right out loud. Because the scriptures without the community are empty. Even when we study and read them at home—we’re not alone. We still read them in community.

And we relive the story at the table and seal that covenant one more time—in blood--before we go out into the world to share the good news that God wants everyone to belong.

At least that’s how it’s supposed to work. Tell me what you think of what we have here in our corner of God’s covenant people. Is this relationship that we have with God and with each other worth sharing? Then let’s get to it! What do you think?