12/27/2020 = Luke 2:22-40 = “Believe This: The Time Has Come”

(Click HERE to find the Facebook Live video of today’s service [begins at the 13-minute mark, sermon starts at the 29-minute mark])

(Click HERE to donate to Lidgerwood Church)

Mark Wheeler

Luke 2:22-40                                                                                                

Sunday following Christmas, 12/27/2020

“Believe This: The Time Has Come!”                                                                     

Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church

The Gospel Good News that we have proclaimed throughout this Advent/Christmas season ends today with a reading 2^nd chapter of Luke that starts, “When the time came…”.

Indeed, the time has come for us to move from the narrative of birthing to the narrative of redemption. The story of Jesus’ ritual cleansing as a child contains stories of people who had been waiting for this moment. But the time of waiting is over – for us too. Like Isaiah who says, “for Zion’s sake I won’t stay silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I won’t sit still,” we will not stop our songs of resistance until justice shines out like a light for all.

Open with “Light of the World”

Holy One,    we thank You for the glimpses we have caught throughout this season of Advent and Christmas of Your gifts of peace, love, joy and hope.

Even in the midst of fear, of challenge, of struggle – even when we have not been sure of tomorrow,

You have ignited the Light within us … that we might glow with its brilliance from the inside out. Keep reminding us how to Believe … even when …. Amen.

Let’s take a second to greet each other, and those in the room, look at the camera and say HI to your friends who are at home. Tell your loved ones, “May the Glory of Christ be with you.”

Welcome to this “gathering” in God’s name. We are assembled in NorthEast Spokane, WA, along with people from all over the world. We are very glad you are “here” with us.

For those who made it into the building this morning – thank you for wearing your masks and following the seating and walking protocols. We do this not to protect ourselves from others, but to protect others from ourselves. Because we love each other, we wear masks and keep distance to keep each other safe from this “invisible potential enemy”. COVID numbers are way up in our area – let’s not give them an opportunity to climb even higher. Our Elders are listening to CDC guidelines and deciding on what seems best practices for each others’ safety. We love you, and we want everyone to be and to stay well.

Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit presence and power, in your homes, through your phones and computers, in this building here, and in your lives. Feel free to laugh at our efforts … and pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.

Listen now and join in as Ken leads our reading of  our Isaiah prophecy – and those at home, if you still have Advent Candles, light all four candles and the Christ Candle and keep them near you in this time of worship and prayer – as we light our Advent Wreath.

Our song of praise today sings of the wonder of our Lord’s arrival!  – We Three Kings of Orient Are – played and sung by Faith Nolander, and her parents!

Through the Written Word, 

And endorsed by our spoken word,

May we know Your Living Word, 

Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For this Advent/Christmas series, we followed the lead of the Revised Common Lectionary Year B (these are assigned readings that cross denominational lines, and that takes 3-years to get through the whole Bible – minus a number of chapters that were deemed “unpreachable” chapters – that’s a whole ’nother topic). Year B utilizes readings from the Prophet Isaiah and Luke.

That means that this is a year when the story does not include the “slaughter of the innocents” (Matthew’s Gospel in which – the plot of Herod to kill Jesus by killing all boys under the age of two). Certainly this could be powerful in the midst of a series about how our fear drives us to annihilate each other. But this cycle emphasizes the moment when Mary and Joseph, being good Jews, take Jesus at the appointed time for His ritual cleansing in the Temple. Two people, Simeon and Anna, recognize and name Jesus as the One they had been waiting for – who would be the reconciliation of the people. Taken with the Isaiah text we read in the Call to Worship, it is a powerful statement about crossing a ritual threshold into a brand new day, into a new expression of the Kingdom in which we raise our voices for change and for healing.

Let’s go back to Isaiah for a moment. These verses come very late in the book, believed to have been written in the rebuilding of Jerusalem. when the Israelites were starting to return from exile to their Promised Land. They echo the earlier verses written in exile, a voice that predicts the celebration when the people return home. Ritual is evoked here as well. The metaphors of victory clothing (think of a ticker-tape celebration parade), marriage clothing (God is in covenant with us and we are dressed in our finest  Sunday Best because of this), seeds that sprout and blossom in nature’s explosion of beauty, royalty in regalia and garlands. This is the kind of exuberant proclamation that this moment requires and it certainly involves raising our voices. Indeed Isaiah says they will never stop raising their voices and doing what must be done to bring righteousness and salvation.

So hear how Luke describes this “one week old Baby Jesus” story:

Listen here to the Word of God … Luke 2:22-40 …. —- [The screen will show this passage.]

2 ²² When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), ²⁴ 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.”

²⁵ 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 on him. ²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. ²⁷ 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, ²⁸ Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

²⁹ “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
    you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
³⁰ For my eyes have seen your salvation,
³¹     which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and the glory of your people Israel.”

³³ The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. ³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, ³⁵ so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

³⁶ There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, ³⁷ and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. ³⁸ Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

³⁹ When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. ⁴⁰ And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.

Did you hear what I heard?  In the midst of the rituals of the Temple, Simeon not only calls attention to Jesus, but adds his prediction that “falling and rising” will happen as people encounter an inner-transformation as “the thoughts of many hearts are revealed” and that this Baby Jesus “will one day be a sign that people will speak against!”

Anna, who has been in mourning for so long (through ritualized prayer and fasting), then embodies that inner-transformation as her mourning turns to praise, raising her voice and speaking to everyone about Jesus.

Just as soon as the words come out of Simeon’s mouth, they are embodied in Anna’s response.

This is the thing about the Christmas story! It’s not meant to be just a beautiful story of the strange birth of in a manger bed. Not just an invitation to tell “’Twas the Night Before Christmas”…. These Christmas narratives invite us to think about our own inner transformation after having encountered Jesus in our lives.

Paul tells the early church, II Corinthians 6, where he quotes from Isaiah 49:8, “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the time of favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and appoint you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land, to apportion its desolate inheritances.’”  But Paul changed the future tense to a fulfilled promise past tense: “As God’s fellow workers, then, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says (Isaiah 49:8), ‘In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’  I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, today is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no one can discredit our ministry.…”

In the midst of all our fears, and pains, and angers, and troubles, in the midst of our suffering, and loneliness, and doubts, and sickness, and grief  – Do you hear what I hear? Can you see what I see? Do you know what I know?

A star, a song, a Child, God’s gift of Peace which passes understanding, God’s gift of Love beyond our borders, God’s gift of Joy overflowing, God’s gift of Hope surpassing our doubts, and God’s gift of Light shining in our darkness!

Between today and next Sunday, we begin a brand new year, a new decade even. We leave 2020 behind, and we begin 2021!

Friends, Now is the time of God’s favor! Today is the day of salvation! May we turn our mourning into praise and sing songs of triumphant victory, God’s ever-present Almighty arms reaching to offer grace and mercy!

May the thoughts of our hearts discover God’s peace, love, joy and hope blazing brightly through the sky! Today … is the day … to be transformed … and to shine the light of Christ in us and through us! Amen.

As we move into a time of prayer together – let me talk with our kids for a minute – all-y’all can listen in:

This Advent we’re going to learn a little sign-language – because that’s a beautiful way to bring light into the darkness of Beethoven’s deafness.  This year is the 100^th anniversary of the great song “This Little Light of Mine”. Let’s sing it quietly, and let’s add the sign language that goes with it:

Prayer Page –  In times when humanity disappoints,

perhaps when even our own thoughts and behaviors disappoint,

it is an important act to call out, to name and claim, the consequences of our wrongs.

And in times of distress it is a prophetic act to call out, to name and claim, our belief that peace, love, joy, and hope are what we are born for, and are possible in our world.

Leader: We believe that we have failed to see Christ AND

People: We believe that we can wake up and serve Him by serving others.

We believe that we have waited for someone else to rescue us AND

We believe that we can be the change we want to see.

We believe that we have hidden the Light for far too long AND

We believe that Christ’s Light can shine whenever we open ourselves to be Christ’s presence in the world.

We believe, even when we are discouraged.

We believe, that when we are discouraged,

raising our voices for justice will offer

… more Peace!

… more Love!

… more Joy!

… more Hope!

… and more Light!

Believe, with a hopeful heart!

Believe, and shine your light!

Believe, because the song we sing is sung for all!

And now let the weak say, “I am strong;”

let the poor say, “I am rich

because of what our God has done for us.”

Believe!

And now – call out a name, a place, a people, a situation, you are lifting to the Lord in prayer ….  “Have mercy on us, O Lord.”    [Lord’s Prayer]  Amen.

– Christmas Joy Offering & Pledge Cards and our Offering (4449 N Nevada St, Spokane, 99207 ; or click HERE, or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”)

This Advent Season – while we all are suffering to some degree because of the COVID pandemic and all of the hoopla and restrictions that goes with it, our closing song is what is known as  Christmas Carols of Resistance:

Today’s “Carol of Resistance” was written on 1962, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis.  It is said that, inspired by seeing babies pushed in strollers in New York City while the dire threat of nuclear war loomed, Noel Regney wrote, “said the night wind to the little lamb,“ and “pray for peace, people everywhere.” The “star dancing in the night with a tail as big as a kite” can be interpreted as the star of Bethlehem but also what a nuclear missile looks like in flight. The composers said in an interview later that it was difficult to actually sing the song that year without crying. Indeed, our prayers for peace continue and the need to protect the children of the world and secure a future for them are as dire as ever. As the last song in our series, let us hear this Carol of Resistance, “a song high above the trees” with our voices “big as the sea”:

Expedition Song  – Do You Hear What I Hear?! ….   led by Donna Stone singing  (our suggestion is no congregational singing, but if you’re wearing your masks appropriately, who would know who is singing?).

Next Sunday, like we did today – please RSVP to us if you plan to attend so we can properly set up – and please CALL IN or email or text – so we can share with you what the plans will be – whether we will be allowed to continue to meet or not.

We close with this benediction:       In this Advent Season of waiting know this …

We wait for justice     but we do not wait to work for change;

We wait for restored health     but we do not wait to work to heal;

We wait for wholeness     but we do not wait to work at binding brokenness;

We wait for peace     but we do not wait to work to eliminate hatred.

And so, my friends, like bells ringing out the news

that the sun still shines even on dark, cloudy days,

fill the night left in darkness with messages of hope.

Go into your lives humming the tunes that keep that hope alive in you

and that spur you on in your work of justice and reconciliation.

Raise your voices and repeat after me…

“We believe even when!”

“We believe even when!”

Amen!

Resources: 

McFee, Marcia; Worship Design Studio; Advent 2020.

Christmas Eve Worship

Click HERE for the Facebook Live link. (Service starts at the 14-minute mark, and the sermon begins at 40 minutes)

12/21/2020 = Blue Christmas 2020

(Facebook Live video feed can be found HERE. The service actually begins at the 25-minute mark.)

May the Lord bless your pre-Christmas days.

Blue Christmas Ideas

People have undergone unprecedented loss this year. Family and friends have succumbed to death in this pandemic, millions have lost economic security through loss of jobs, some have lost businesses they built over a lifetime. Most of us have lost our beloved rhythms of life that felt familiar and gave our lives the richness of gatherings and adventure. And we can name so many losses related to hatred and violence.

On this shortest day of the year, and as we head into the longest night,

we gather, mindful of the losses that have multiplied throughout the year.

As we look back at it all at once,

we are in danger of being overwhelmed by its tragedies–

sickness, violence, fire, hurricane, earthquake, death and more.

Our aim tonight is to acknowledge this, to mourn this, and to know that in all of this,

there is the possibility of more light.

If we are to be overwhelmed, let it be that we are overwhelmed with the assurance that we are not alone.

We are able to do this because the longest night is the birth canal for ever-more-light as the days begin to lengthen and we wait for the springtime of new life.

Some of our earliest evidence is that our ancient ancestors saw this night

and the dawn of tomorrow as the appropriate time to honor their lost loved ones.

It was this moment that symbolized most powerfully that the path

to everlasting life is filled with the light of a new and growing dawn.

Some would argue that Christ’s birth is celebrated when it is

as a way to commemorate the Winter Solstice –

on the third day after the darkest day, the Light of the World is born – resurrection is even honored in this season’s birthday!

Psalm 36:9 says, “Within You is the spring of life;

in your light, we see light.”

As we light up this tree, though its light is as blue as many of us feel,

the light is still there.

When we feel as if our light is dimmed,

we can rely on the Holy Light to continue to shine

until we ourselves shine bright once more.

We are not alone.

Please join me in a Litany of Losses. A prayer prompted by pain and lament. Your lines will be prompted.

Loss of Life

We mourn this night the loss of life.

[light the first candle]

For so many, the pandemic has taken loved ones.

We mourn the loss of those close to us and those whose names we do not know.

We mourn those who perished while working to save other lives.

We mourn those who died, not of pandemic, but of other causes.

And we mourn the loss, in many cases, of our ability to be with them as they passed, our loss of gathering together for comfort in the ways we needed so much.

If there is someone in your life that you mourn tonight, say their names, and we will all mourn with each other: . . . . .

I invite you to repeat after me:

We mourn this loss of life. We mourn this loss of life.

We honor and remember these loved ones. We honor and remember these loved ones.

We pray for comfort and peace. We pray for comfort and peace.

Amen. Amen.

Loss of Livelihood

We mourn this night the loss of livelihoods.

[light the second candle]

For so many, the pandemic has taken the security of food, shelter, care for families, and medical care.

We mourn the loss of businesses that could not withstand the circumstances.

These were not just businesses, but they were dreams born of passion and hard work.

We mourn those who find themselves needing to rely on others for help when what they really want to do is to be able to help others.

If there is someone in your life whose livelihood you mourn tonight, say their names, and we will all mourn with each other: . . . . .

I invite you to repeat after me:

We mourn this loss of livelihood. We mourn this loss of livelihood.

We honor and remember the dreams now deferred. We honor and remember the dreams now deferred.

We pray for sustenance and resilience. We pray for sustenance and resilience.

Amen. Amen.

Loss of Love

We lament this night the loss of love.

[light the third candle]

Our society’s dilemma, centuries in the making, has created such hatred, suffering, oppression, and ill-will.

We mourn the loss of those whose lives were lost to brutality and violence.

We mourn the loss of our ability to love one another despite our differences, as beings who deserve to be seen for our inherent beauty and worth.

We mourn that black and brown peoples have perished and suffered at the greatest proportion in the pandemic of coronavirus.

We mourn the pandemic of racism that still plagues the fabric of our communities.

If there is someone in your life whose lost love you lament tonight, say their names, and we will all lament with each other: . . . . .

I invite you to repeat after me:

We lament this loss of love. We lament this loss of love.

We honor and remember the work of prophets who proclaim justice. We honor and remember the work of prophets who proclaim justice.

We pray for compassion and change. We pray for compassion and change.

Amen. Amen.

Loss of Liveliness

We lament this night the loss of liveliness.

[light the fourth candle]

For so many, this year has robbed us of our energy, our enthusiasm, and our sense of well-being.

We mourn teachers and leaders and caregivers and workers who are struggling to help those in their care,

themselves exhausted and needing the sustenance they give to others.

We mourn the loss of all who are suffering with anxiety and depression, who are finding it difficult to live each day with fullness or to find hope for tomorrow.

We mourn those we have lost to suicide.

We mourn those who find themselves addicted to substances in order to ease the pain that feels unbearable.

We mourn those who are experiencing their place of shelter as an abusive place from which they struggle to escape.

If there is someone in your life whose sense of liveliness you lament tonight, say their names, and we will all lament with each other: . . . . .

I invite you to repeat after me:

We mourn this loss of liveliness. We mourn this loss of liveliness.

We honor and remember that each person is precious and whole. We honor and remember that each person is precious and whole.

We pray for recovery and renewed vigor. We pray for recovery and renewed vigor.

Amen. Amen.

True Light

And now we light a fifth candle.

Just as we will do later this week on Christmas Eve, We light this as a sign of our belief …

We believe in the Light that has come and is coming.

[light the fifth candle in the center]

This light casts its glow on all the surrounding prayers we have prayed.

This light resides within us, perhaps dim for a time, but always lit – an ember of the Holy inside us.

This light reminds us that we are not alone.

[Invite people to whatever ritual action you have decided on… lighting their own candles, placing luminaries, offering food donations, etc.

This action can be accompanied by instrumental music or singers at a safe distance. Then you could close with a prayer.]

Our gracious and Holy God, the One who sent the True Light, the Light of all lights, into the darkness of our despair,

Tonight we say we believe even when our hearts are heavy with sadness, even when our hopes seem dimmed, even when peace eludes us, even when we feel alone and isolated from someone we love so dearly.

On this longest night of the year, we believe in Your ever-present Light living within us – to lift us with peace that passes understanding, with love that overwhelms fear, with joy that brightens darkness, and with the hope of Your glory calling us to be Yours and to belong in Your grace and mercy.

In Jesus’s Christmas, Word becoming flesh and dwelling with us, name we pray, Amen.

Worship Notes

Worship series design © Worship Design Studio by Marcia McFee. Used, adapted, and live-streamed with permission. www.worshipdesignstudio.com.

12/20/2020 = Mark 1:1-15 = “We Believe in the Son: Hope for Tomorrow”

(Click HERE to find the FB Live video feed – starts at the 10 minute mark, sermon begins at the 24 minute mark)

(Click HERE to donate to Lidgerwood Church)

Mark Wheeler

Mark 1:1-15                                                                                                      

“We Believe in the Son: Hope for Tomorrow”                                                        

Fourth Sunday of Advent, 12/20/2020

Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church

This is the Sunday of “hope.” Both our Call to Worship from Isaiah 40 and our Gospel reading come out of times when people needed hope for a new day. Isaiah is writing to a people in exile. The text in chapter 40 is part of what’s often thought of as “Second Isaiah” and has a much more comforting tone than the first set of chapters in Isaiah. It reminds me of what people have been saying about how shaming people into wearing masks just doesn’t work. No matter how defiant one is, we are still deep-down scared. We are sick and tired of the bad news but denying it doesn’t make it go away.

So comfort is where Isaiah goes. God is giving us hope for tomorrow. “Speak tenderly” – understand one another’s deep pain that comes out in strange ways that we ourselves don’t fully understand. When we begin to listen, we begin to understand, when we hear each other’s pain, we are motivated to do the right thing for each other.

Mark’s Gospel is the first to come out, and the shortest. He gets right to the action-packed narrative of Jesus’s transformative ministry. He has no time for birth narratives here. John the Baptist is the poet in Mark’s origin story of Christianity. Making paths for new life and making way for the baptizing of the Spirit is the key here. Make yourself ready because God is about to do something you didn’t expect.

We see Jesus out in the wilderness, “among the wild animals,” and angels take care of Him. Ahh … here is a note of hope. Can we see those who attend to us in so many ways as the angels of God’s presence never leaving us alone to the dangers of the world? And can we hear the call to be those angels, messengers of Good News, as well?

Open with “Light of the World”

Holy One,    we thank You for the glimpses we catch of Your gift of untiring hope.

Even in the midst of fear, of challenge, of struggle – even when our view is obscured by clouds of doubt,

ignite the flame of hope within us … that we might glow with its brilliance from the inside out.

Help us face this “dark night of the soul” and embrace it as a womb of rebirth! Amen.

Let’s take a second to greet each other, and those in the room, look at the camera and say HI to your friends who are at home. Tell your loved ones, “May the Hope of Glory be with you.”

Welcome to this “gathering” in God’s name. We are assembled in NorthEast Spokane, WA, along with people from all over the world. We are very glad you are “here” with us.

For those who made it into the building this morning – thank you for wearing your masks and following the seating and walking protocols. We do this not to protect ourselves from others, but to protect others from ourselves. Because we love each other, we wear masks and keep distance to keep each other safe from this “invisible potential enemy”. COVID numbers are way up in our area – let’s not give them an opportunity to climb even higher. Our Elders are listening to CDC guidelines and deciding on what seems best practices for each others’ safety. We love you, and we want everyone to be and to stay well.

Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit presence and power, in your homes, through your phones and computers, in this building here, and in your lives. Feel free to laugh at our efforts … and pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.

Listen now and join in as Gene Peden leads our reading of  our Isaiah prophecy – and those at home, if you have Advent Candles, light three candles and keep them near you in this time of worship and prayer – as we light our Advent Wreath.

Our song of praise today sings of the hope of our Lord’s arrival!  – Come thou Long-Expected Jesus – sung by Gene Peden.

Through the Written Word, 

And endorsed by our spoken word,

May we know Your Living Word, 

Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In my mind, our Advent themes have grown with intensity – peace, love, joy, and today we commemorate the theme of hope! The noise does not necessarily get louder with each new theme, but the depth of emotion certainly might!

What a time this is! I know I have been preaching “hope” and “waiting” for several months now, let alone all Advent Season, and it may seem redundant to be closing this season of more thematic “waiting.” It is difficult to convince ourselves, much less others, that we should keep up hope and somehow find love, joy, and peace in this difficult time. My prayer is that you will tend gently to yourself, friends, and that you are surprised by the way the Holy Spirit “alights” in your hearts as you prepare for what this week holds.

In 12-days, the start of 2021, my fervent hope is that “the rest of the story” hindsight of this moment in history is that we were transformed in important ways in the midst of the groaning. One thing seems clear. We will never be the same. Nor perhaps should we be. So the question is … how do we hope for the transformation we cannot see nor perhaps even imagine at this moment? How do we hope in the grief and exhaustion during a season that has a lot of expectations of excitement?

We have invested our Advent Sundays in the opening chapters of the four Gospel stories – looking for the hoped-for Christmas birth-narratives: John, the last Gospel written, tells the whole story in one sentence (“The Word – which is with God and is God, the Word which created everything that is created – the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”); Matthew leads into the story of Jesus’s birth with his long genealogy from Abraham thru David and the exile to Joseph the husband of Mary the mother of Jesus; Luke doesn’t even get to the birthday of the Messiah until chapter 2, but he starts with the story of Jesus’s distant cousin’s upcoming birthday, and the impossible pregnancies of a woman well-past menopause and a young virgin girl.

Today we look at Mark’s opening chapter – and guess what – there is nothing about Bethlehem at all! But here’s a clue as to why: Matthew treats Jesus as the King of all kings (it is his Gospel that includes the “kings” from the east looking for the new-born King of the Jews); Luke thinks of Jesus as the Messiah for the whole world (his Gospel’s genealogy goes all the way back to Adam and Eve); John’s Gospel concentrates on Jesus’s divinity (was with God and was God, God sent His Son, etc). It is true that all four Gospels believe all those things about Jesus, but each one emphasizes different aspects of Jesus’s Messiahship!

Mark’s Gospel’s emphasis is on Jesus as the Servant of God who suffers for God’s people (Isaiah’s “suffering servant” prophecies – and I believe he does not include a genealogy like Matthew and Luke because Jesus is a Servant, He is THE Servant – and servants don’t get credit for their genealogies!)

Who here remembers the 1977 ABC 8-episode mini-series, Roots, about the genealogy of an African American to the life of a slave from West Africa sold in the US in the 1700s. Part of the gift of this series was how it revealed the family ties of people who had been thought of by whites as less than people (3/5 human!).  Omoro, the father of the young boy later to be the beginning of this American slave-story, holds his newborn infant son to the heavens, Lion King style, and says, “Kunta Kinte, behold the only thing greater than yourself!”

So listen to how Mark begins his Gospel Account (and how he closes this opening section of his Account):

Listen here to the Word of God … Mark 1:1-15 …. —- [The screen will show this passage.]

1 ¹ The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, ² as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: (40:3)

“I will send my messenger ahead of you,
    who will prepare your way”—
³ “a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.’”

⁴ And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵ The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. ⁶ John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷ And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. ⁸ I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

⁹ At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰ Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. ¹¹ And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

¹² At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, ¹³ and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

¹⁴ After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ¹⁵ “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

The beginning of the Good News of God – Jesus is baptized by his mother’s cousin’s son – is sent by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights (what does that remind you of?) – and after his baptizer is imprisoned Jesus goes to Galilee in the northern district of Israel proclaim the Good News of God: “The Kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe this Good News!”

What is the Good News of the Christmas story? The Kingdom of God has come near.

What are we supposed to do with this Good News? Repent and believe it!

How do we find hope when our small businesses are closing all around us? How do we discover peace when our politics fill the air with vitriol? Where do we experience love or joy when our loved ones are suffering, from COVID or from isolation or from both, and we can’t even give them a real hug?

Jesus says to repent – to turn our attitudes of complaint into attitudes of confident thanks, to turn our self-focused concerns into care for others around us, to turn away from my own cries of pain and fear to our  God of comfort and confidence.

And Jesus says to believe this Good News of God’s ever-present Kingdom!

Tomorrow afternoon, at sunset, 4pm, we will hold our first-ever Blue Christmas service – a time to lament our losses, to grieve what we have been forced to give up, to mourn our multitude of missed opportunities – but also a time to discover within the depths of our faith God’s Kingdom presence in Peace which passes understanding, Love beyond the walls of lament, joy bouncing in among our s and anxieties, and especially hope for a renewed relationship with the One who offers us His Son for justice and reconciliation!

Mark’s gift to us with his lack-of-a-Christmas story is the gift of hope!

As we light the candles on our advent wreath, the four candles remind us that Jesus brings peace, love, joy, and hope into the world. It is true, “The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin, the Light of the world is Jesus!“

As we move into a time of prayer together – let me talk with our kids for a minute – all-y’all can listen in:

This Advent we’re going to learn a little sign-language – because that’s a beautiful way to bring light into the darkness of Beethoven’s deafness.  This year is the 100^th anniversary of the great song “This Little Light of Mine”. Let’s sing it quietly, and let’s add the sign language that goes with it:

Prayer Page –

Leader: We believe that we have looked the other way too many times AND

People: We believe that we are capable of facing reality and working for change.

We believe that our fear of difference has robbed us of compassion AND

We believe that we can look deeper and hold onto the things that we have in common.

We believe that our fear of doubt makes us stop asking tough questions AND

We believe that asking tough questions in the face of injustice is faithfulness.

We believe, even when we are discouraged.

We believe, that when we are discouraged,

raising our voices for justice will offer the world hope!

Believe, with a hopeful heart!

Believe, and shine your light!

Believe, because the song we sing is sung for all!

And now let the weak say, “I am strong;”

let the poor say, “I am rich

because of what our God has done for us.”

Believe!

And now – call out a name, a place, a people, a situation, you are lifting to the Lord in prayer ….  “Have mercy on us, O Lord.”    [Lord’s Prayer]  Amen.

– Christmas Joy Offering & Pledge Cards and our Offering (4449 N Nevada St, Spokane, 99207 ; or click HERE)   or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”)

This Advent Season – while we all are suffering to some degree because of the COVID pandemic and all of the hoopla and restrictions that goes with it, our closing song is what is known as  Christmas Carols of Resistance:

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote today’s Carol-of-Resistance-poem at Harvard University on Christmas Day in 1863 during the heart of the Civil War. His wife had died tragically in a fire and he had just found out that his son had been injured as a soldier for the Union. He heard the sound of Christmas-bells and began to write, spurred on by his sorrow at the state of humankind. Listen for the heart-ache and the hope in his words of failure and faith:

Expedition Song  – I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day! ….   led by Lilly Haeger singing  (our suggestion is no congregational singing, but if you’re wearing your masks appropriately, who would know who is singing?).

Next Sunday, like we did today – please RSVP to us if you plan to attend so we can properly set up – and please CALL IN or email or text – so we can share with you what the plans will be – whether we will be allowed to continue to meet or not.

We close with this benediction:       In this Advent Season of waiting know this …

We wait for justice     but we do not wait to work for change;

We wait for restored health     but we do not wait to work to heal;

We wait for wholeness     but we do not wait to work at binding brokenness;

We wait for peace     but we do not wait to work to eliminate hatred.

And so, my friends, like bells ringing out the news

that the sun still shines even on dark, cloudy days,

fill the night left in darkness with messages of hope.

Go into your lives humming the tunes that keep that hope alive in you

and that spur you on in your work of justice and reconciliation.

Raise your voices and repeat after me…

“We believe even when!”

“We believe even when!”

Amen!

Resources: 

McFee, Marcia; Worship Design Studio; Advent 2020.

12/13/2020 = Luke 1:1-4, 26-56 = We Believe Even When: Ode to Joy”

(Click HERE to see the FB Live video, service begins at the 7-minute mark, sermon starts at the 21-minute mark – the sounds gets WAY better after we actually get started)

(Click HERE to DONATE to Lidgerwood Church’s ministries)

Mark Wheeler

Luke 1:1-4, 26-56                                                                                               

“We Believe in God: Ode to Joy”                                                                   

Third Sunday of Advent, 12/13/2020

Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church

This week we turn to Luke’s writing which is an account in two acts: the Gospel Good News of Jesus and then the story of the early church–the “Jesus community”, the Acts of the Apostles.

Whether you were a Jew or Gentile in those days, becoming a part of this illegal early Christian movement could bring punishment for your allegiance. Surely the message in both Luke and Isaiah that the downcast, lowly, and oppressed would rise up is a welcome and inspirational account. Like the Jewish exiled people of Isaiah’s time and like the early Christians in Acts, we also sometimes wonder where God is in our suffering. We long to hear the promise that a reason for joyful praise of good news on the way!

Open with “Light of the World”

Holy One,    we thank You for the glimpses we catch of Your gift of the depths of joy.

Even in the midst of fear, of challenge, of struggle – even when we are not sure of Your presence,

ignite the flame of joy within us.

Help us face the silence of unknowing and embrace it as the pregnant pause before joyful new beginnings.  Amen.

Let’s take a second to greet each other, and those in the room, look at the camera and say HI to your friends who are at home. Tell your loved ones, “May the Joy of Christ be with you.”

Welcome to this “gathering” in God’s name. We are assembled in NorthEast Spokane, WA, along with people from all over the world. We are very glad you are “here” with us.

For those who made it into the building this morning – thank you for wearing your masks and following the seating and walking protocols. We do this not to protect ourselves from others, but to protect others from ourselves. Because we love each other, we wear masks and keep distance to keep each other safe from this “invisible potential enemy”. COVID numbers are way up in our area – let’s not give them an opportunity to climb even higher. Our Elders are listening to CDC guidelines and deciding on what seems best practices for each others’ safety. We love you, and we want everyone to be and to stay well.

Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit presence and power, in your homes, through your phones and computers, in this building here, and in your lives. Feel free to laugh at our efforts … and pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.

Listen now and join in as Linda Tufto leads our reading of  our Isaiah prophecy – and those at home, if you have Advent Candles, light three candles and keep them near you in this time of worship and prayer – as we light our Advent Wreath.

Our song of praise today sings of the amazing joy our Lord offers us!  – Joy to the World – sung by Chan and Sherry Park.

Through the Written Word, 

And endorsed by our spoken word,

May we know Your Living Word, 

Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Call to Worship from Isaiah comes late in the book and he has moved to words about rebuilding the city walls and the Temple in Jerusalem after the exile. The work to “remove barriers from my people’s road” is a long haul in terms of reconstructing the entrenched roads of injustice we have created in our society. We must continue to “survey, survey!” We must continue to tend to the hearts that are crushed. Joy comes in our work, step-by-step, to break down barriers and strength comes in trust that God is working alongside us, inviting us to keep checking in about our own penchant to steer the road off course again and again.

Who knows who is in the mood to rejoice about progress related to the pandemic on this 3^rd Sunday of Advent, but like the community to whom Isaiah wrote, we know we will still be mourning and in need of  words of comfort. And like those in exile, we need to look ahead and trust that there will be reasons to praise. God says, “For those who mourn, I will create a reason for praise… I will heal them.”

We turn to Luke’s origin story this week. Luke is a journalist and this longest book of the four Gospels details the events of Jesus’s birth as an important way of understanding who Jesus is. It is also a way to help non-Jews get “the facts,” not just the rumors, so they can see Jesus’s saving presence for them as well.

To these fledgling new Christian communities, Mary’s Magnificat would have read like a rallying protest speech, calling for justice and putting powerful words in the mouth of a self-proclaimed “servant.” Some in those early communities would have heard their own occupation reflected in that word.

Joy – deep human thriving – can happen in the midst of oppression when people are inspired to raise their voice, to raise up to their full height and proclaim their worth.

Listen here to the Word of God … Luke 1:1-4, 26-56 …. —- [The screen will show this passage.]

1 ¹ Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, ² just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. ³ With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, ⁴ so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. …

²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² 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, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on 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. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”

³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

³⁹ At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, ⁴⁰ where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴² In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! ⁴³ But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵ Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

⁴⁶ And Mary said:

“My soul glorifies the Lord
⁴⁷     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
⁴⁸ for he has been mindful
    of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
⁴⁹     for the Mighty One has done great things for me — holy is his name.
⁵⁰ His mercy extends to those who fear him,    from generation to generation.
⁵¹ He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;    he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
⁵² He has brought down rulers from their thrones    but has lifted up the humble.
⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things    but has sent the rich away empty.
⁵⁴ He has helped his servant Israel,    remembering to be merciful
⁵⁵ to Abraham and his descendants forever,    just as he promised our ancestors.”

⁵⁶ Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.

Two weeks ago I discovered a documentary Following the Ninth – film about the global impact of Beethoven’s final symphony. Written in 1824, near the end of Beethoven’s life, the Ninth Symphony was composed by a man with little to be thankful for.

Sick, alienated from almost everyone, and completely deaf, Beethoven had never managed to find love, nor create the family he’d always wanted. And yet, despite this, he managed to create an anthem of joy that embraces the transcendence of beauty over suffering.

Celebrated to this day for its ability to heal, repair, and bring people together across great divides, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony has become an anthem of liberation and hope that has inspired many around the world. Who knows the more familiar name of this symphonic masterpiece? [Ode to Joy]

Listen to this list of some of the places and times Ode to Joy has been used to celebrate justice and hope over injustice and doom, just in the last 30 years or so:

• At Tiananmen Square in 1989, students played the Ninth Symphony over loudspeakers as the army came in to crush their struggle for freedom.
• In Chile, women living under the Pinochet dictatorship sang Ode to Joy at torture- prisons, where men inside took hope when they heard their voices.
• As the Berlin Wall came down in December 1989, it collapsed to the sound of Leonard Bernstein conducting Beethoven’s Ninth as an “Ode to Freedom.”
• In Japan each December, the Ninth Symphony is performed hundreds of times, often with 10,000 people in the chorus. The Following the Ninth documentary gives us insight into the heightened importance of this massive communal Ninth, known as “Daiku,” in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami of 2011.

Luke’s Christmas narrative, most well known for its peace and hope as Linus Van Pelt recites this story on the school stage in Charlie Brown’s Christmas special, is filled with joy! – The angelic announcements are joy-filled! The encounter with Elizabeth brings joy to Elizabeth, and to the 6-months-along fetus John-the-Baptist (remember, he leapt when Mary entered the house! Mary’s Magnificat sings her joy to God!

Like the Isaiah 57 passage we read, Luke 1 doubles down, triples down, on that theme of joy! Even in the midst of very troubled times!

Beethoven’s Ode to Joy was written in his final years of lonely, sickly, deaf-misery!

The beginning of that documentary features Billy Bragg, a British punk rocker (who sees himself as a “common man” self-trained musician) who wrote three new verses to the Ode to Joy. They are, in some ways, a “magnificat” for our day.

Luke’s gift to us with his Christmas story is the gift of joy!

As we light the candles on our advent wreath, the four candles remind us that Jesus brings peace, love, joy, and hope into the world. It is true, “The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin, the Light of the world is Jesus!“

As we move into a time of prayer together – let me talk with our kids for a minute – all-y’all can listen in:

This Advent we’re going to learn a little sign-language – because that’s a beautiful way to bring light into the darkness of Beethoven’s deafness.  This year is the 100^th anniversary of the great song “This Little Light of Mine”. Let’s sing it quietly, and let’s add the sign language that goes with it:

Prayer Page –

Leader: We believe that we have sometimes been silent in the face of injustice AND

People: We believe that we are capable of raising our voices and insisting on goodness for all.

We believe that we have been afraid of feeling deeply, making our joy small AND

We believe that the deep joy of community can always be present, even in hard times.

We believe that sometimes we wonder if we can make a difference AND

We believe that small acts of kindness and help do make a real difference.

We believe, even when we are discouraged.

We believe, that when we are discouraged,

raising our voices for justice will offer joy to the world!

Believe, with a joyful heart!

Believe, and shine your light!

Believe, because the song we sing is sung for all!

And now let the weak say, “I am strong;”

let the poor say, “I am rich

because of what our God has done for us.”

Believe!

And now – call out a name, a place, a people, a situation, you are lifting to the Lord in prayer ….  “Have mercy on us, O Lord.”    [Lord’s Prayer]  Amen.

– Christmas Joy Offering & Pledge Cards and our Offering (4449 N Nevada St, Spokane, 99207 ; or Click HERE, or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”)

This Advent Season – while we all are suffering to some degree because of the COVID pandemic and all of the hoopla and restrictions that goes with it, our closing song is what is known as  Christmas Carols of Resistance:

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, which is the basis of the tune for our hymn “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee,” has been a powerful witness to the human spirit to overcome adversity in many instances around the globe. British punk rock star, Billy Bragg, wrote an alternative translation of the original German choral score for a school teacher to teach the children in her classroom, and it soon became a popular anthem, even being performed for the Queen of England. In these words you can hear the call to resist division, to raise our voices, to “furnish every heart with joy and banish all hatred for good.”

Expedition Song  – Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee – with some added verses at the beginning! ….   led by Diana and Deanna singing  (our suggestion is no congregational singing, but if you’re wearing your masks appropriately, who would know who is singing?).

Next Sunday, like we did today – please RSVP to us if you plan to attend so we can properly set up – and please CALL IN or email or text – so we can share with you what the plans will be – whether we will be allowed to continue to meet or not.

We close with this benediction:       In this Advent Season of waiting know this …

We wait for justice     but we do not wait to work for change;

We wait for restored health     but we do not wait to work to heal;

We wait for wholeness     but we do not wait to work at binding brokenness;

We wait for peace     but we do not wait to work to eliminate hatred.

And so, my friends, like bells ringing out the news

that God is ever-present with us,

fill the night left by sadness with messages of joy.

Go into your lives humming the tunes that keep that joy alive in you

and that spur you on in your work of justice and reconciliation.

Raise your voices and repeat after me…

“We believe even when!”

“We believe even when!”

Amen!

Resources: 

McFee, Marcia; Worship Design Studio; Advent 2020.

12/06/2020 = Matthew 1:1-25 = “We Believe in Love: Daring Right Relationship”

(Click HERE to find the Facebook Live video feed of this service – starts at 15 minutes, sermon begins at 38 minutes – BUT the silly pastor (that’s me, btw) left the Youtube website on his computer, so most of the service is Youtube music, sorry …. (but it’s beautiful Josh Snodgrass Christmas music – and he has given me open permission to play his stuff, so there’s that ….)

(Click HERE to donate to Lidgerwood Church)

Mark Wheeler

Matthew 1:1-25                                                                                               

“We Believe in Love: Daring Right Relationship”                                               

Second Sunday of Advent, 12/06/2020

Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church

In both Isaiah in today’s Call to Worship and the first chapter of Gospel of Matthew and, a messenger appears as a sign from God, heralding a new era. In each passage, the words “do not be afraid” appear… offering a clue that the messenger – whether prophet or angel – was referencing something that caused fear in the recipient. A new way of being, of relating and loving takes courage – giving up the present order of things so that a new and better day can be born.

Open with “Light of the World”

Holy One,     we thank You for the glimpses we catch of Your gift of daring love.

Even in the midst of fear, of challenge, of struggle – even when we aren’t sure that goodwill among us can be found, ignite the flame of love within us,

Help us face the pain of life

and embrace the assurance that light is already here, and is always coming. Amen.

Let’s take a second to greet each other, and those in the room, look at the camera and say HI to your friends who are at home. Tell your loved ones, “May the Peace of Christ be with you.”

Welcome to this “gathering” in God’s name. We are assembled in NorthEast Spokane, WA, along with people from all over the world. We are very glad you are “here” with us.

For those who made it into the building this morning – thank you for wearing your masks and following the seating and walking protocols. We do this not to protect ourselves from others, but to protect others from ourselves. Because we love each other, we wear masks and keep distance to keep each other safe from this “invisible potential enemy”. COVID numbers are way up in our area – let’s not give them an opportunity to climb even higher. Our Elders are listening to CDC guidelines and deciding on what seems best practices for each others’ safety. We love you, and we want everyone to be and to stay well.

Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit presence and power, in your homes, through your phones and computers, in this building here, and in your lives. Feel free to laugh at our efforts … and pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.

Listen now and join in as Pastor Kathy leads our reading of  our Isaiah prophecy – and those at home, if you have candles, light a candle and keep it near you in this time of worship and prayer – as we light our Advent Wreath.

Our song of praise today sings of Christ’s amazing love He offers us!  – Way Maker – this was a July Virtual Choir performance by Fellowship Church if God in Hillyard. Click HERE.

Through the Written Word, 

And endorsed by our spoken word,

May we know Your Living Word,

Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

This Sunday, when “love” is our Advent focus, two passages bring talk of “signs” of God’s presence, God’s love, but also of God’s challenge to us to get love right.

Some of us may be theologically skeptical about saying “it was a sign from God” but signs were deeply important to ancient peoples. Think of them as symbols – tangible things pointing beyond themselves to some greater concept. The “sign” that comes up in the complex Isaiah passage – fraught with the politics of the day and plenty of fear of annihilation (“they shook as the trees of a forest shake” – and it is Matthew’s Gospel that tells us about King Herod’s tyrannous genocide of all the little boys 2-years old and under ) – this sign is a child. Children were often signs in the Hebrew texts and certainly as we look at this as a symbol, we see the child as the future generation. And this future is Immanuel, He is literally “God with us.”

Last week we explored the esoteric opening lines of the Gospel of John. His entire Christmas narrative is told in one sentence, The Word which is God and is responsible for creation became flesh and dwells among us.

This week, we turn to the Gospel of Matthew, written for an Old-Testament-literate crowd. Matthew is careful to connect Jesus strongly to Jewish heritage and history. Matthew’s “origin story” of Christianity begins with a long genealogy (notice the care taken to mention the exile, Isaiah’s time, in the midst of that history). Here we see the past struggles connected to the present, connected to the future.

This child is the product of an historical lineup of generations and will be the sign that God is with us into the future trials as well, trials yet to even be imagined!

We hear of Joseph’s radical act of love in a situation that gave him every reason to walk away. The messenger says, “don’t be afraid to do the hard thing here… there’s a big payoff for humanity in it.”

Listen here to the Word of God … Matthew 1:1-25 …. —- [The screen will show this passage.]

1 ¹ This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:

² Abraham was the father of Isaac,

Isaac the father of Jacob,

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

³ Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,

Perez the father of Hezron,

Hezron the father of Ram,

⁴ Ram the father of Amminadab,

Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,

⁵ Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,

Obed the father of Jesse,

⁶ and Jesse the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,

⁷ Solomon the father of Rehoboam,

Rehoboam the father of Abijah,

Abijah the father of Asa,

⁸ Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,

Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,

Jehoram the father of Uzziah,

⁹ Uzziah the father of Jotham,

Jotham the father of Ahaz,

Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

¹⁰ Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,

Manasseh the father of Amon,

Amon the father of Josiah,

¹¹ and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

¹² After the exile to Babylon:

Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,

Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

¹³ Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,

Abihud the father of Eliakim,

Eliakim the father of Azor,

¹⁴ Azor the father of Zadok,

Zadok the father of Akim,

Akim the father of Elihud,

¹⁵ Elihud the father of Eleazar,

Eleazar the father of Matthan,

Matthan the father of Jacob,

¹⁶ and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

¹⁷ Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”^[g] (which means “God with us”).

²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵ But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

The only way the future is cared for is to love it like a child. We must love the child, nurture the child – or, as we use the symbolic meaning – love the future, nurture the future and that is done by being courageous enough to love differently, love fully, love in a way that nurtures all of humanity’s future, not destroys it.

Isaiah talks about God’s love for His people even while His people are not acting like God’s chosen people! And because we believe God still loves us even when … we parents are able to love our children, even when our children behave in ways that deny their up-bringing. We can love our siblings even when they act like self-centered brats. We are given the strength to love our neighbors even when they look differently from us or have different gods than we have or have dogs that mess in our yard!

I’ve just run across a documentary that is such a powerful story of young people and the way that loves transforms who we are. Talk about a sign … this story wakes us up to the thousands of young lives in danger of getting lost in the penal system. It’s called Girls on the Wall. The movie, at first difficult for some of us to hear the harsh language and anger of these young girls, and the reality of their violent pasts, but as the film progresses, we see the root of that anger, we see the longing for love in spite of all their defenses, and we come to know and love them, wanting them to have the love that has so eluded them.

In some ways, it reminds me that Jesus’ seemingly “illegitimate” birth and humble beginnings could have squashed the message forever. What do we miss out on when we judge too quickly, dismiss too soon? Deeper love requires longer listening times, suspending judgment, taking our time, being with each other in the ways that “God with us” came in human form to get up close and deeply personal with us.

As we light the candles on our advent wreath, the four candles remind us that Jesus brings peace, love, joy, and hope into the world. It is true, “The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin, the Light of the world is Jesus!“

As we move into a time of prayer together – let me talk with our kids for a minute – all-y’all can listen in:

This Advent we’re going to learn a little sign-language – because that’s a beautiful way to bring light into the darkness deafness.  This year is the 100^th anniversary of the great song “This Little Light of Mine”. Let’s sing it quietly, and let’s add the sign language that goes with it:

Prayer Page –

Leader: We believe that we have been taught to fear one another AND

People: We believe that we are capable of learning to love.

We believe that our society is built on a foundation of oppression of some over others AND

We believe that we can speak this truth and move to act in ways

 that balance this inequity.

We believe that we are afraid AND

We believe that we can lean on each other and God for courage to face anything.

We believe, even when we are discouraged.

We believe, that when we are discouraged,

raising our voices for justice will bring about more love in the world!

Believe, with a loving heart!

Believe, and shine Your light!

Believe, because the song we sing is sung for all!

And now let the weak say, “I am strong;”

let the poor say, “I am rich

because of what our God has done for us.”

Believe!

And now – call out a name, a place, a people, a situation, you are lifting to the Lord in prayer ….  “Have mercy on us, O Lord.”    [Lord’s Prayer]  Amen.

– Christmas Joy Offering & Pledge Cards and our Offering (4449 N Nevada St, Spokane, 99207 ; or Clicking HERE ) or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”

Pastor Kathy Sandusky will lead us in prayer and say the words of institution over the Communion elements of God’s perfect love for us. Please listen, and join in the old, old confession of faith:

Christ has died;

Christ is risen;

Christ will come again!

This Advent Season – while we all are suffering to some degree because of the COVID pandemic and all of the hoopla and restrictions that goes with it, our closing song is what is known as  Christmas Carols of Resistance:

Our Carol of Resistance this week was written in 1849 by a Massachusetts minister, Rev. Edmund Hamilton Sears. One verse has been left out of most hymnals over the decades then but there’s a new hymnal, Glory to God, that restores this powerful verse that refers to the love-song of the angels being drowned out by our warring nature:

Expedition Song  – It Came upon a Midnight Clear! ….   led by Julie on the piano, and Vern singing for us (our suggestion is no congregational singing, but if you’re wearing your masks appropriately, who would know who is singing?). Listen to the wonder of this 4^th verse.

Next Sunday, like we did today – please RSVP to us if you plan to attend so we can properly set up – and please CALL IN or email or text – so we can share with you what the plans will be – whether we will be allowed to continue to meet or not.

We close with this benediction:       In this Advent Season of waiting know this …

We wait for peace     but we do not wait to work to eliminate hatred.

We wait for justice     but we do not wait to work for change;

We wait for restored health     but we do not wait to work to heal;

We wait for wholeness     but we do not wait to work at binding brokenness;

And so, my friends, like bells ringing out the news

that God is with us, Emmanuel,

fill the night left by fear with messages of love.

Go into your lives humming the tunes that keep that love alive in you

and that spur you on in your work of justice and reconciliation.

Raise your voices and repeat after me…

“We believe even when!”

“We believe even when!”

Amen!

Resources: 

McFee, Marcia; Worship Design Studio; Advent 2020.