(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 100th 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 4th 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.
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