12/26/2021 = Luke 2:41-52; Colossians 3:12-17 = “Making Room … for Dwelling”

There’s a little technical difficulty at the beginning – but hang in just a few minutes and the video gets straightened out.

(Click HERE to watch this service on FBLive, starts at 6:00, sermon begins at 19:30)

(Click HERE t donate to Lidgerwood Church’s mission and ministry)

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 Mark Wheeler

Luke 2:41-52                                                                                                     

First Sunday of Christmas, 12/26/2021

 “Making Room … for Dwelling!”                                                                           

Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church 

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MP3 – Hope Waits Accompaniment

Welcome everyone! Happy Christmas Season!!

Developed in the 14th century, the word “dwell” became known as a “lingering” or “abiding.” It had connections to “in-habit”– another word developed at that time. After an Advent/Christmas season of focusing on Housing the Holy, how will we linger and abide in this habit of hospitality? What habits did you invite into your heart in this season that you desire to take with you into the new year? How might we sustain the dwelling places that feed, house, clothe those who need it most?

MP3 – Hope Waits Verse 5

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Christmas Song of Love

Love comes to us at Christmas   Love comes to heal our souls.

    Love brings an invitation          that our hearts might be made whole.

As we gather at the stable    in the darkness, glad and grateful,

      for the sacred in our midst,    for the wonder and delight,  Christ is born in us tonight!

Lighting the Advent Candle of Joy  . . . . . . Darrell & Sandy McNeil

Darrell: Today we light the Christ Candle once again that illumines the Door of Welcome.

Sandy: May this light shine in our hearts, in our lives, and in our church.

Darrell: May Christ’s Light awaken us to possibilities and lead us to greater hospitality.

Sandy: There IS room in this Inn, a House for the Holy.

MP3 – Hope Waits Verse 5

Darrell lights the Advent Candles of HOPE & PEACE & JOY & LOVE & CHRIST

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Thank you, on behalf of our Elders’ Council, thank you for … continuing to be a place where LIGHT shines even in the continued darkness of this COVID Season by:

“Wearing your mask while inside the building.”

This is not because we are afraid, but because we want to love our neighbors. We truly want that no one should feel judged, and everyone should feel safe, so continue to be gentle with each other. Listening to the Philippians 2:4 passage:

“ in humility, each counting others better than himself; each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.”  Philippians 2:4

We are gathered in our church sanctuary – a holy place – and it’s also a safe place – where the divine and the human connect together. Welcome to this holy sacred and safe place today.

CAMERA   

Let’s take a second to welcome 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, whoever you can see , “The Christ Dwell in you – and also in 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.

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. Pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.

Our opening song of praise and devotion –– #151 – Go tell It on the Mountain – led by Lilly Haeger, Dick McCarter, & Micki Worden!!Please join them and sing these words of proclamation together.

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We pray today with the New Testament Apostle Paul from the book of Colossians 3:12-17:

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to [Abba God] through him.

  Amen.

For these last four weeks of discovering the Inn where the Holy Family was staying, of hearing that we are welcomed into the Inn that welcomed Mary and Joseph, and then of becoming the Inn where “God with us” enters into our lives and where God now dwells, and where we, in the image of God, welcome others into God’s presence with us… let’s imagine, with appropriate biblical references, Old Testament promises and prophecies and New Testament proclamations and professions, what that place looks like, what it sounds like, what it smells like, how it feels, what it means … for us … today.

Today, from the New Testament Gospel According to Luke and we jump ahead 12 years – Jesus is almost at the Jewish age of “becoming a man” (bar mitzvah).

Listen to God’s Word from Luke 2:41-52 —-

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2  ⁴¹ Each year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival. ⁴² When he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to their custom. ⁴³ After the festival was over, they were returning home, but the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t know it. ⁴⁴ Supposing that he was among their band of travelers, they journeyed on for a full day while looking for him among their family and friends.

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⁴⁵ When they didn’t find Jesus, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple. He was sitting among the teachers, listening to them and putting questions to them. ⁴⁷ Everyone who heard him was amazed by his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ When his parents saw him, they were shocked.

His mother said, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Listen! Your father and I have been worried. We’ve been looking for you!”

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⁴⁹ Jesus replied, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that it was necessary for me to be in my Father’s house?” ⁵⁰ But they didn’t understand what he said to them.

⁵¹ Jesus went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. His mother cherished every word in her heart. ⁵² Jesus matured in wisdom and years, and in favor with God and with people.

To be honest – I seldom preach the “lectionary” Bible readings – those are the assigned readings on a three-year cycle – I mean I use them for Advent most years, but not the other 48 Sundays in the year. Today’s Lectionary reading seems oddly out of place. Yesterday was the celebration of Jesus’ birth, and today we read about His 12-year old encounter with the Temple officials in Jerusalem. (What happened to Simeon and Anna? What about His family’s refugee-escape to Egypt?)  But here we are.

We have this story of Jesus in the Temple asking why His parents were so worried because they should have  known Jesus had to be “here in this House” – in God’s house.

This stirs the idea of dwelling. Where do we dwell? And how do we create this House for the Holy, where we’re invited to dwell, ourselves, in that house of God.

We invested our Advent Sundays preparing for the baby, making room at the Table. We talked about how to have enough portions for ourselves so there’s enough for everyone. We saw this prophet who got on tiptoes and saw the Kingdom of God.

And now, the Baby has been born.

But now the actual work begins, the excitement of working with this Baby, the toddler saved by Egypt, the pre- teen at the Temple. We meet this – this confirmation kid at the Temple. The Son of God growing in stature with God and with people! That’s the indwelling.

And we’ve got this letter from the Apostle Paul to the Church community on Colossae. Paul’s talking about gratitude and the singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. This is the worship of God. The bearing with one another, being, forgiving, promoting peace. This is what happens in the House of the Holy where we are to dwell.

Jesus is saying, “I dwell in the house of God. Of course, I’m here.”

This idea of dwelling shows up throughout the Old Testament. Where it also asks about where we put our identity. Who’s are you? To whom do you belong? Who is your community? And we note well that it sometimes gets translated as abiding, especially in the Gospel of John. It makes us ask the question, where are we at home? Are we at home in the seat of Imperial power? Or are we at home wherever the Word is preached and taught? Are we at home in the heart of the vulnerable people like Mary? Or only in the places of power?

And Colossians takes that a step further; it’s not just, “Where do you feel at home?” it’s, “What are you going to wear?“

This year, maybe more than most, Jennifer and I have been more aware of the plight of people without homes, for whom clothing is their only shelter. Their clothing is their house. How we dress affects how we live.

And so where are we going to be at home in terms of what are we going to choose to wear? Will it be compassion? Paul in the New Testament is not above telling us to wear armor. Protect yourself. It’s a war out there. You’ve got to do what it takes to keep yourself safe.

This passage in Colossians is a reminder that we are only going to be at home in this world when we are wearing things that are good for other people, where we are clothed and wrapped and at home in the midst of compassion and kindness. And we’re bearing together with each other where other people’s needs come first.

Professor Jon Berquist, SFTS, talks about his grandmother’s dress that had more pockets than imaginable and often had a sweater with even more pockets. And in every pocket, there was something that was good for someone else. Like candy or a handkerchief to wash away the tears, whatever you needed, she already had it in her clothes. (Like Batman’s utility Belt – we can wear what it takes to show God’s power and grace. Like a good Boy Scout, right? Always be  prepared to offer grace to our neighbors!)

Paul’s talking about clothing ourselves with love that binds us together. It’s like the idea of a scarf that two people are wearing at once, and it binds them together and makes them both warm. Have you seen the “get-along-shirts” 14 that some parents have employed to make siblings forgive each other – a shirt that they have to wear together! 15

We become the House for the Holy in how we are together….

The gift of Christmas is that God is choosing to dwell with us and in us.  And when God is in us, we will sing the same kinds of songs that Mary sang. And we will have that kind of new heart and changed life, that Jeremiah and John the Baptist talked about. And it comes from God, with us!

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And this is the House of the Holy. And so we work both for the physical housing of people so that they are cared for and have shelter, but we also work for the construction of our own dwelling places where the Holy can be that light.

God dwells in us! Do we dwell in Him?  Amen.

17   Preparing Our Hearts in Prayer,   

MP3 – Make My Heart a Stable – Advent 4

Make of my heart a stable, a house for the holy, a warm and sturdy place for Christ  to live and grow.

In this moment we open the doors of our hearts to honesty before God

about what we’ve done and left undone that created less hope in a hurting world.

Let us breathe out this regret… [pause to breathe out]

  and breathe in the life-giving, forgiving Spirit of God… [pause to breathe in]

and out again with the Peace of Christ… [another breath out].

18    Make of my life a stable, a house for the holy, a warm and sturdy place for Christ to live and grow.

In this moment we open the doors of our lives to the call of the Holy Spirit,

inviting us to become more than we can ask or imagine.

Let us breathe out our fear… [pause to breathe out]

  and breathe in the courage of the Spirit of God… [pause to breathe in]

and out again, with the Peace of Christ… [another breath out].

19    Make of our church a stable, a house for the holy, a warm and sturdy place for Christ to live and grow.

In this moment we open the doors of this church,

filling it with the compassion of Christ for all those who are struggling.

Listen for the prompt, and call out a name or a situation …]  

We remember and pray for…

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… those who are celebrating God’s presence with wonder and faith;

may love abound!

… those who are suffering economic hardship, and insecurity in basic needs;

may abundance be shared.

… those who are suffering emotionally, finding it difficult to cope;

may paths open and hope return.

… those who are suffering surgery, illness or injury;

may healing abound.

…. those who are suffering loneliness and isolation;

may companionship and solace arrive.

… those who are suffering discrimination, fear and violence;

may they know respect, respite, and safety.

May the Compassion of Christ be born in us,

dwell within us,

move outward from us,

to meet the needs of the world,

making a House for the Holy that is each and every child of God.

We pray this in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray:

23   [The Lord’s Prayer]

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On Blue Christmas, 5 of us gathered here, and another 5 on-line, as we took the time to truly grieve some losses, feel our struggles, mourn our disappointments – and to look for the Light of Christ to shine in our darkness.

During the week, over 400 families were fed and gifted with Christmas love by “If You Could Save Just One”, and I watched volunteers love their neighbors, and lower-income families feel loved by God’s people!

This Christmas Season, may we each discover Gods love a little more deeply, and share that grace with our neighbors a little more boldly!

– Offering (4449 N Nevada St, Spokane, 99207 ; or click HERE, or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”)

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Expedition Song  – Good Christian Friends Rejoice!   #157 –!  – Donna Stone!  We have finally reached the actual Christmas Season when Christmas carols SHOULD be sung! Be ready for a few more weeks of Christmas in our worship!

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We continue with this benediction:     May God’s Door of Welcome
swing open in our hearts and in our lives.
 
May Christ’s humble first dwelling
remind us of the plenty we already know.
 
And may the Holy Spirit lead us into
more possibility and hospitality
than we can imagine,
making room in The Inn for all.
 
May it be so for you. May it be so for us.
May it be so for this church. Amen.

30   Announcements      

Resources: 

McFee, Marcia; “The Inn”; Worship design Studio; 2021. (Interviews with Jon Berquist and Grace Imathiu.)

12/24/2021 = Christmas Eve = Isaiah 9:2-7, Luke 2:1-7 = Becoming the Inn

(Click HERE to see the FBLive video of this service, starts at 7:00)

(Click HERE to donate to Lidgerwood Church’s mission and ministries)

 Mark Wheeler

Isaiah 9:2-7, Luke 2:1-7                                                                                                       

Christmas Eve, 12/24/2021

 “Becoming the Inn!”                                                                                                 

Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church 

1  Opening Music – “Mary, Did You Know?” … Ashley & Jake Davis (on Zoom)

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Welcome everyone! It is so good to be gathered at the Inn – the House of the Holy – and to Become this Inn of hospitality-and-welcome which offers salvation through the One whose birth we celebrate tonight! This welcome goes to everyone in the House – special thanks to Michelina for leading our songs on the piano tonight – and it also goes to every one worshiping with us from home! Together we ARE the House of the Holy!

All through the season of Advent as we prepared for Christmas, we’ve been exploring how we as a church can “make more room in the inn,” becoming more hospitable to the needs of our community.

On this Christmas Eve, we declare that The Inn is open for the business of compassion with room enough for all! The long-awaited Messiah has been born and on Him the light shines. We have only to open the doors of our lives and say “welcome.” Our Advent journey has led us to this moment when the light shining through the closed doors of life becomes an open door to new possibilities, new relationships.

What a poignant moment for us this year as the light – the hope, peace, joy and love – multiplies from one illuminated heart to another.

.

MP3 – Hope Waits Verse 5

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Advent Song of Advent-Fulfilled  

Love comes to us at Christmas      

         Love comes to heal our souls

Love brings an invitation

That our hearts might be made whole

As we gather at the stable

            in the darkness, glad and grateful

For the sacred in our midst,

            For wonder and delight         

            Christ is born in us this night.

Lighting the Advent Candle of Chrstmas  . . . . . . Lary & Sandy O’Neal

Lary: Tonight we offer the Lights of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love to illumine the Door of Welcome.

Sandy: And we add the brightest light of all – the Light of the Newborn Jesus. It shines bright like the star that rose over Bethlehem.

Lary: May this light also shine in our hearts, in our lives and in our church.

Sandy: May this light awaken us to possibilities and lead us to greater hospitality. There IS room in this Inn, a House for the Holy.

MP3 – Hope Waits Verse 5

3    Lary lights the Advent Candles and the Christ Candle

The Light of Christ be with you – And also with you.

On this evening of music and song, let’s listen as Sherry Park sings our Song of Hope  #160 – O Holy Night – and then let’s join her after the first verse.

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Listen to the Prophet Isaiah, chapter 9:2-7…. ­­– Johnny Sides

² The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
a light has dawned on those living in the land of  darkness.
³ You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy.
The people have rejoiced before you as they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils.

9   ⁴ For you have shattered their oppressive yoke and the rod on their shoulders, the staff of their oppressor, just as you did on the day of Midian.
⁵ For every trampling boot of battle and the bloodied garments of war will be burned as fuel for the fire.

10   ⁶ For a child will be born for us,
    a son will be given to us,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
He will be named
     Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
     Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

11   ⁷ The dominion will be vast,
     and its prosperity will never end.
He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.

Let’s listen as Donna & Ken Stone lead our Song of Peace  #171 – Hark! the Herald Angels Sing – please join them as you feel led.

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Tonight, from the New Testament Gospel According to Luke we read “The Story”… Pastor Kathy Sandusky

Listen to God’s Word from Luke 2:1-7 —-

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2 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be registered. ² This first registration took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. ³ So everyone went to be registered, each to his own town.

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⁴ Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David, ⁵ to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 

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⁷ Then she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no guest room available for them.

Again Ken & Donna Stone lead our Song of Joy  #146 – Joy to the World – please stand and join them as you are ready.

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21  Listening for God’s Voice Today – Becoming the Inn that Welcomes  

Don’t you just love that passage that Johnny read from Isaiah?! That’s one of those classic Christmas Eve prophecies that we naturally burst out in song – right? Handel’s Messiah!

This is a passage of regime change where the powers of one generation are passed onto the next. And every time that happens, there is a possibility, an opening for God‘s grace to break through on the stage of human history. And Isaiah is saying that this is the opportunity for us as we pass leadership to another generation – that millennials or Gen Xes or Gen Ys  can lead us if we listen. But that’s a very vulnerable thing to confess and a very anti-establishment thing to confess. As church, as families, we spend so much of our time trying to form the next generation so that they will be like us.

The glorious possibility is that God could do something new. And in a world as broken as ours is, the chance that God can start over and be miraculous. We do not need to simply repeat our hard-learned lessons, the kind of thing that we thought were immovable, the mightiness of God harkens back in my mind to the events of Exodus where huge bodies of water can be split by the arm of God, and the impossible can happen so that people can be set free. The Prince of Peace that we could actually be a prince who would bring peace to us and others who would choose something besides war

And this image reminds me of Jesus‘ statement about those of us who try to hide the light. I mean, we can put a bushel basket over a candle and try to hide it and keep it to ourselves. But one of two things is going to happen: either the candle is going to extinguish and go out, or the basket’s going to catch on fire. And in 2021, guess which is the most likely outcome!

And when we are in a land of darkness, we need the light. So much for trying to do to keep that dimly burning candle still alive. Don’t let the wind get to it. Don’t let the Spirit blow through it. Protect that light on our altars in our closed buildings.

This New Testament story gives us this wonderful counterpoint, because that passage starts out with no light at all. No vision, just the boring words of a government official and the power of bureaucracy trying to snuff out light and life, and Luke in the next two chapters is going to give us a lot more information about how empires and bureaucracy tries to stuff out new life.

Here in Luke 2, Quirinius is trying to manage immigration, trying to take a census, trying to get everything counted – that is exactly the backdrop where God brings new life in unexpected places.

When we feel like there is no way out – no escape from the drama and trauma of life – no light shining in our dark corner of the world – this is where Christ is born! This is where God enters our lives. This is where Hope finds life, where Peace catches hold, where Joy catches aflame, where Love is rooted and branches out!

This Christmas – discover God’s amazing grace, and in the coming days, weeks, months, find someone near you who needs this light as well.

The Inn where the Holy Family was staying, the Inn that welcomes Mary and Joseph, and the Inn that we might become where “God with us” enters into our lives and where God now dwells, and where we, in the image of God, welcome others into God’s presence with us.

22   Preparing Our Hearts in Prayer,   

MP3 – Make My Heart a Stable – Advent 4

Make of my heart a stable, a house for the holy, a warm and sturdy place for Christ to live and grow.

In this moment we open the doors of our hearts to honesty before God

about what we’ve done and left undone that created less hope in a hurting world.

Let us breathe out this regret… [pause to breathe out]

  and breathe in the life-giving, forgiving Spirit of God… [pause to breathe in]

and out again with the Peace of Christ… [another breath out].

23    Make of my life a stable, a house for the holy, a warm and sturdy place for Christ to live and grow.

In this moment we open the doors of our lives to the call of the Holy Spirit,

inviting us to become more than we can ask or imagine.

Let us breathe out our fear… [pause to breathe out]

  and breathe in the courage of the Spirit of God… [pause to breathe in]

and out again, with the Joy of Christ… [another breath out].

24    Make of our church a stable, a house for the holy, a warm and sturdy place for Christ to live and grow.

In this moment we open the doors of this church,

filling it with the compassion of Christ for all those who are struggling.

[call out a name or a situation …]

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We remember and pray for…

… those who are celebrating God’s presence, newly discovered or long-held in faith;

may love abound!

… those who are suffering economic hardship, and insecurity in basic needs;

may abundance be shared.

… those who are suffering emotionally, finding it difficult to cope;

may paths open and hope return.

… those who are suffering illness or injury;

may healing abound.

…. those who are suffering loneliness and isolation;

may companionship and solace arrive.

… those who are suffering discrimination, fear and violence;

may they know respect, respite, and safety.

May the Compassion of Christ be born in us,

reside within us,

move outward from us,

to meet the needs of the world,

making a House for the Holy that is each and every child of God.

We pray this in the name of Jesus, who teaches us to pray:

[Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name – Your Kingdom come, Your will be done … on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And lead us away from temptation. And deliver us from evil. For Yours in the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever. Amen]

Let’s listen as Lilly Haeger leads our Song of Love  #150 – What Child Is This? – please join her as you feel led.

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Communion – on the 3^rd day after the darkest day, Christ enters our lives, dwells among us, and so we come to His Table and celebrate His death and resurrection even as we celebrate His incarnation and birth.

After Jesus was born, the visitors began to show up to his birthplace, spurred by the message of the angels. But what we know is that in the presence of Jesus there are no visitors, we are all family with a place reserved for each one of us… [and so as we gather around this Table – all who claim Chhrist as Lord and Savior are invited in]. And so, let us hear about those who gathered and join them in the presence of Jesus:

(Luke 2: 8-20) Nearby shepherds were living in the fields, guarding their sheep at night. The Lord’s angel stood before them, the Lord’s glory shone around them, and they were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid! Look! I bring good news to you—wonderful, joyous news for all people. Your savior is born today in David’s city. He is Christ the Lord. This is a sign for you: you will find a newborn baby wrapped snugly and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great assembly of the heavenly forces was with the angel praising God. They said, “Glory to God in heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors.”

When the angels returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go right now to Bethlehem and see what’s happened. Let’s confirm what the Lord has revealed to us.” They went quickly and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger.  

Michelina softly plays Away in a Manger (#149)

When they saw this, they reported what they had been told about this child. Everyone who heard it was amazed at what the shepherds told them. Mary committed these things to memory and considered them carefully. The shepherds returned home, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. Everything happened just as they had been told.

[Pastor Kathy]

We gather tonight at the Manger of Grace.

And it is right, and a good and joyful thing, on this special night and always and everywhere, to give thanks to God, creator of heaven and earth. God, who breathed into us the same breath as the infant Jesus, God, who crafted our every fiber just as He did His own Son, God, who formed us in His own image – that same newborn image of the One Who Walked Among Us, Thanks and praise be to God!

God’s intention was for every created thing to have a place, to have vitality, to have sustenance in this world. Join in His purpose, offering hospitality and healing to the suffering world.

Join me is prayer as we approach His Table: Holy are You, and blessed is Your Son Jesus Christ. In the midst of a time of despair, oppression, division, and fear, Your gestation in the house of a holy womb – through an unlikely midwife of salvation power – brought Jesus, the Christ, into this world.

Into The Inn of simplicity came a life dedicated and anointed by the Holy Spirit to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to announce that the time had come when You would save Your people. A common birth for common people, You made a new covenant with us to be midwives, by water and the Spirit, birthing more hope, more peace, more joy, more love in this world, making more room in this house, at this table, for all. …

In another house, on another night – the night in which Jesus gave Himself up for us – He took bread, gave thanks and broke the bread, gave it to His disciples, and said: “Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

When the supper was over, He took the cup, gave thanks and gave it to His disciples, and said: “Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of God’s mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us.

Lighting the Christ Candle – and becoming the Light of Christ in our world – becoming the Inn that Houses the Holy –. Friends, this is the moment we’ve been waiting for. This is the moment we missed so much last year. Yes, we found ways to “pass the light” from one to another across the distance, knowing that nothing could extinguish the light of God, knowing that Christ was with us and will always be with us. But oh, how good it is to be in this Holy House together. And for those who are watching online, we feel you, we know you are there, we are so glad that you join us in this moment with a candle lit at your own holy house. The Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to be connected, as we found out last year. Light you candle – hold it high and see its light.

And let us sing this beloved song, Silent Night, that has been present through two centuries of ups and downs, steadfast in its message that the light still shines.

Expedition Song  – Silent Night   #164

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34   Merry, Blessed Christmas to you – one and all!

Resources: 

McFee, Marcia; “The Inn”; Worship design Studio; 2021. (Interviews with Jon Berquist and Grace Imathiu.)

12/19/2021= Luke 1:39-55 = “Making Room … for Love”

(Click HERE to find the FBLive video of this service; starts at 7:30, sermon at 21:50)

Click HERE to donate to Lidgerwood church’s mission and ministries)

1                                                                                      

 Mark Wheeler

Luke 1:39-55                                                                                                       

Fourth Sunday of Advent, 12/19/2021

 “Making Room … for Love!”                                                                                   

Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church 

MP3 – Hope Waits Accompaniment

Welcome everyone! Happy Advent!

This has been an Advent season of praying with prophets: Jeremiah, Baruch, Isaiah, Micah. And today the prophet is Mary – the woman who was the “original House for the Holy”. She was “the Inn,” her womb gestating love for the world. With all her heart, she proclaims that the lowly are lifted, the hungry are fed, mercy reigns.

Like Mary, we must envision, we must see, we must proclaim and we must act on that vision for the world that God continues to call us to co-create.

What is the view from the Inn that God has prepared?

MP3 – Hope Waits Verse 4

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Advent Song of Love

Love waits for us at Advent   Joy waits for us to care.

    Love waits for our compassion          freely offered, freely shared.

In this time of preparation    for the work of co-creation,

      for the birthing of a world    where  faith shapes all we do.  Love is born in us anew!

Lighting the Advent Candle of Joy  . . . . . . Ashley & Jake Davis

Jake: Today we offer the Light of Love to illumine the Door of Welcome.

Ashley: May this light shine in our hearts, in our lives, and in our church.

Hope: May Love awaken us to possibilities and lead us to greater hospitality.

Oran: There IS room in this Inn, a House for the Holy.

MP3 – Hope Waits Verse 3

Jake lights the Advent Candles of HOPE & PEACE & JOY & LOVE

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Thank you, on behalf of our Elders’ Council, thank you for … continuing to be a place of LOVE even in this continued COVID Season by:

“Wearing your mask while inside the building.”

This is not because we are afraid, but because we want to love our neighbors. We truly want that no one should feel judged, and everyone should feel safe, so continue to be gentle with each other. Listening to the Philippians 2:4 passage:

“ in humility, each counting others better than himself; each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.”  Philippians 2:4

We are gathered in our church sanctuary – a holy place – and it’s also a safe place – where the divine and the human connect together. Welcome to this holy sacred and safe place today.

CAMERA   

Let’s take a second to welcome 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, whoever you can see , “The Love of Christ be with you – and also 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.

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. Pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.

Our opening song of praise and devotion –– #133 – O Come, O Come, Emmanuel – led by Jake Davis!!Please join him and sing these words of invitation together.

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We pray today with the Prophet Micah from the book of Micah 5:2-5:

As for you, Bethlehem of Ephrathah,

    though you are the least significant of Judah’s forces,

        one who is to be a ruler in Israel on my behalf will come out from you.

    His origin is from remote times, from ancient days.

Therefore, he will give them up

        until the time when she who is in labor gives birth.

        The rest of his kin will return to the people of Israel.

He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,

        in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

        They will dwell secure,

        because he will surely become great throughout the earth;

        he will become one of peace.  Amen.

In this Advent Season of discovering the Inn where the Holy Family was staying, of hearing that we are welcomed into the Inn that welcomed Mary and Joseph, and then of becoming the Inn where “God with us” enters into our lives and where God now dwells, and where we, in the image of God, welcome others into God’s presence with us… let’s imagine, with appropriate biblical references, Old Testament promises and prophecies and New Testament proclamations and professions, what that place looks like, what it sounds like, what it smells like, how it feels, what it means … for us … today.

Today, from the New Testament Gospel According to Luke and we read part of Mary’s story, after the “annunciation”, but still months before Jesus’ birthday.

Listen to God’s Word from Luke 1:39-55 —-

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1 ³⁹  Mary got up and hurried to a city in the Judean highlands. ⁴⁰ She entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴² With a loud voice she blurted out, “God has blessed you above all women, and he has blessed the child you carry. ⁴³ Why do I have this honor, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ As soon as I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. ⁴⁵ Happy is she who believed that the Lord would fulfill the promises he made to her.”

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⁴⁶  Mary said,

“With all my heart I glorify the Lord!

     ⁴⁷  In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my Savior.

⁴⁸  He has looked with favor on the low status of his servant.

    Look! From now on, everyone will consider me highly favored ⁴⁹ because the mighty one has done great things for me.

    Holy is his name.

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⁵⁰  He shows mercy to everyone,

        from one generation to the next,

        who honors him as God.

⁵¹  He has shown strength with his arm.

    He has scattered those with arrogant thoughts and proud inclinations.

⁵²     He has pulled the powerful down from their thrones and lifted up the lowly.

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⁵³   He has filled the hungry with good things

    and sent the rich away empty-handed.

⁵⁴   He has come to the aid of his servant Israel,

        remembering his mercy,

    just as he promised to our ancestors,

⁵⁵    to Abraham and to Abraham’s descendants

    forever.”

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It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Right? On this 4^th Sunday of Advent we are, in fact, very close to Christmas Eve. And this House for the Holy, this Inn where Jesus is born, we discover, is a room with a view.

We hear the Old Testament prophet Micah here, of course, a great prophet.

Prophets are those who believe in God’s story. So the prophet is one who is like, you know what? This is God’s story.

And so we’ve walked with these prophets who have helped us make room, create room at the Table. They have helped us to understand what is enough, and here now, we discover Immanuel, God-with-us, in a place like a small-town, back-woods, cattle trough!

But, our view from this Inn shows us that Mary is also a prophet. In the tradition of all prophets, her words come to us.

Kenyan-born, Pastor Grace Imathiu, reminds us that “Mary, is a young girl. Okay. We’re going to dismiss her. Okay. She is young so we dismiss her. Okay. She is not married. Okay, we dismiss her. She is pregnant and not married. Okay. Look, I’m going to dismiss her completely.

 Oh my goodness. That’s the old story. That’s the old social construct.”

So what is the view from the room that God is building?

If we take up residence in that place that God is building no matter what state of repair or disrepair it is in, I think, the beauty of looking at the place where Jesus was born which – there’s a lot we cannot know about it – but at least we can know that this is not a usual place for a baby to be born. This birth had to happen, no matter what, no matter where. And this is the room that God is building in the most unlikely of places.

God is building something right in the middle of our church when we don’t know how we’re going to survive or what we’re doing next. This is where God is building a House for the Holy to reside.

So the view is the Kingdom of God. Thy Kingdom come … on earth as it is in heaven!

That is the view. And to see the Kingdom of God, then we have to be on our tiptoes and we cannot be weighed down by all the junk of the old story that the prophets have been trying to help us unload through Advent 1, 2, 3 and here it’s now Mary glimpses this.

There are so many things will try to pull us down so that we can’t get on our tiptoes. And that’s why the prophets tell us we’ve got to make room. That’s why we had to do a lot of cleaning up on Advent 1. And the people around the Table having enough. All that was in order to be able to get on our tiptoes.

And we face the danger of cleaning out the room and then just sitting there and feeling the emptiness and feeling like we have to fill it up with something and all we fill it up with is what we’ve known before because it’s all we can see.

Micah points us to the labor that it takes to give birth. And then Mary really chimes in with the labor of what will happen in this birthing of a new world, a new world order.

Micah’s word is strong because he’s so simple. And after some of the prophets we’ve had in the previous weeks in talking about the glory of God that will be seen throughout the whole earth and things like that, Micah starts out this passage focusing on almost unknown city….  Bethlehem is one of the, today we would say, suburbs of Jerusalem. It’s not a very classy suburb. It is not the part of town where you go to get the good stuff. But there is an air of hope here – one of the terms that the Old Testament uses for cities around Jerusalem is “daughter of Zion”.

But it starts to pick up on some of the vulnerability that becomes such a strong theme this close to Christmas. God‘s work through the vulnerable ones. In the midst of the vulnerable and disregarded places, God has already been bringing us a Ruler. Even if our eyes are on the capital city, on the big headlines, on the flashy things of the world, God is preparing salvation in a place we would discard. And it is there amongst God’s vulnerable people that God‘s greatest work is just about to unfold.

So it starts in a place like Bethlehem. The vulnerability of that moment of labor, the defenselessness, the inability to do anything else except what your body is telling you to do right now. This is, again, vulnerability. And it is in the places of helplessness, defenselessness, in the places where people don’t have other choices, that God is alive and active.

For those of us who think we’re in control of our lives, much of the time, this is a hard passage because it’s so much simpler than we make our lives to be. And it shows God‘s activity among people who have fewer choices than we do.

How can we tell where God is working, where God is active, where God is in the midst of saving us? Well, in this case, it’s someone who smells like sheep.

Mary understands that what is happening in her is a sign that God is always bringing new life in the lowest places of the earth. And so she’s not praising herself here. She’s pointing out and saying that in the vulnerable places, God is always working and is always planting new seeds that we often forget to look for.

This is very much a song, the Magnificat. Like Miriam’s song after coming through the Red Sea.  And this is a song of such vulnerability and of such joy that it’s a moving experience. And she is singing this with Jesus in her womb. These melodies of God working among the lowly is what Jesus first learns to dance to.

So it’s not just a mental song that gets stuck in your mind or in your ear. This is flowing through the whole body. And provides strength we didn’t know we had.

So, as we talk about housing the holy, the idea that the Lord’s Prayer where we pray for God’s Kingdom in heaven can be God’s Kingdom on earth as well! 

Here’s exactly where we see the incarnation that this season leads to.

For Micah and Mary, it’s about loving our neighbors and always looking for news ways to show God’s love!

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On this Fourth Sunday of Advent 2021 we re-discover the love of faithful connection with the God of righteousness, and our connections to our fellow neighbors.

As we are welcomed into God’s presence, may we be such an invitingly warm welcome of righteousness to everyone around us.

There’s real Love in that! Amen.  

17   Preparing Our Hearts in Prayer,   

MP3 – Make My Heart a Stable – Advent 4

Make of my heart a stable, a house for the holy, a warm and sturdy place for love to live and grow.

In this moment we open the doors of our hearts to honesty before God

about what we’ve done and left undone that created less hope in a hurting world.

Let us breathe out this regret… [pause to breathe out]

  and breathe in the life-giving, forgiving Spirit of God… [pause to breathe in]

and out again with the Peace of Christ… [another breath out].

18    Make of my life a stable, a house for the holy, a warm and sturdy place for love to live and grow.

In this moment we open the doors of our lives to the call of the Holy Spirit,

inviting us to become more than we can ask or imagine.

Let us breathe out our fear… [pause to breathe out]

  and breathe in the courage of the Spirit of God… [pause to breathe in]

and out again, with the Peace of Christ… [another breath out].

19    Make of our church a stable, a house for the holy, a warm and sturdy place for love to live and grow.

In this moment we open the doors of this church,

filling it with the compassion of Christ for all those who are struggling.

As Pastor Kathy leads us in prayer, listen for the prompt, and call out a name or a situation … on]  

We remember and pray for…

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… those who are celebrating God’s presence with victory and faith;

may love abound!

… those who are suffering economic hardship, and insecurity in basic needs;

may abundance be shared.

… those who are suffering mentally, finding it difficult to cope;

may paths open and hope return.

… those who are suffering illness or injury;

may healing abound.

…. those who are suffering loneliness and isolation;

may companionship and solace arrive.

… those who are suffering discrimination, fear and violence;

may they know respect, respite, and safety.

May the Advent of Compassion be born in us,

reside within us,

move outward from us,

to meet the needs of the world,

making a house for the Holy that is each and every child of God.

We pray this in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray:

23   [The Lord’s Prayer]

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Imagine living in Bethlehem at the time of Jesus’ birth. Little town with big expectations! As we heard, the prophet Micah, hundreds of years earlier, had predicted that a baby would be born in this “least significant” place, one that would “surely become great.” This was part of the sacred texts of the people and surely something that everyone in Bethlehem, including the Innkeeper, knew about.

But did they believe it?

Did they believe that someone great, a peaceful ruler, would come from their town?

Perhaps not enough to realize the possibilities of a pregnant woman on their doorstep that night.

Do we believe that we are capable of birthing something life-changing for the people in our community? As the Body of Christ, could we live with more expectation of what is possible? Could we look more closely at what is right in front of us?

– Offering (4449 N Nevada St, Spokane, 99207 ; or click HERE, or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”)

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Expedition Song  – O Come All Ye Faithful?   #173 –!  – Jake Davis!  Each week of this series we have “expedited” with a Christmas Carol. Yes, Advent is not yet the birth of Christ. Today’s closing carol is “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” an 18th century hymn by John Francis Wade. This carol invites us to come “joyful and triumphant.” It moves between exhortation and doctrine from the Nicene Creed. And each verse moves from boisterous to almost a hushed tone at the beginning of the refrain as we tiptoe into the stable with “O come, let us adore him”.

Each one of us has known the need to love and be loved, to forgive and be forgiven. May we approach each person we meet with the adoration of Jesus Christ, tender and merciful, loving and kind, and make this a house that welcomes all to adore Him.

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We continue with this benediction:     May God’s Door of Welcome
swing open in our hearts and in our lives.
 
May Christ’s humble first dwelling
remind us of the plenty we already know.
 
And may the Holy Spirit lead us into
more possibility and hospitality
than we can imagine,
making room in The Inn for all.
 
May it be so for you. May it be so for us.
May it be so for this church. Amen.

31-32   Announcements      

Resources: 

McFee, Marcia; “The Inn”; Worship design Studio; 2021. (Interviews with Jon Berquist and Grace Imathiu.)

12/12/2021 = Luke 3:7-18 = “Making Room … for Joy”

(Click HERE to see the FBLive video of this service, starts at 12:30, sermon at 26:30)

(Click HERE to donate to Lidgerwood Church mission and ministries)

1                                                                                      

 Mark Wheeler

Luke 3:7-18                                                                                                          

Third Sunday of Advent, 12/12/2021

 “Making Room … for Joy!”                                                                                     

Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church 

MP3 – Hope Waits Accompaniment

Welcome everyone! Happy Advent!

When we read today’s Gospel account, we see that as John baptized new converts, he invited them to live with “changed hearts and lives.” When he was asked how to do that, his answers all point to making sure no one is cheated or left without the basic necessities of life, including the right to not be harassed.

A full life of joy, which the prophet Isaiah describes as an everflowing spring, is the birthright of all children of God. May our faith work toward making that so.

MP3 – Hope Waits Verse 3

2-3  

Advent Song of Peace

Joy waits for us at Advent   Joy waits for us to sing.

    Joy waits for our amazement          at the grace in everything.

In this time of preparation    for the work of co-creation,

      for the birthing of a world    where  wonder is restored.  Joy is born in us once more!

Lighting the Advent Candle of Joy  . . . . . . Chan & Sherry Park

Chan: Today we offer the Light of Joy to illumine the Door of Welcome.

Sherry: May this light shine in our hearts, in our lives, and in our church.

Chan: May Joy awaken us to possibilities and lead us to greater hospitality.

Sherry: There IS room in this Inn, a House for the Holy.

MP3 – Hope Waits Verse 3

Chan lights the Advent Candles of HOPE & PEACE & JOY

4-5  

Thank you, on behalf of our Elders’ Council, thank you for … allowing a sense of JOY even in this continued COVID Season by:

“Wearing your mask while inside the building.”

This is not because we are afraid, but because we want to love our neighbors. We truly want that no one should feel judged, and everyone should feel safe, so continue to be gentle with each other. Listening to the Philippians 2:4 passage:

“ in humility, each counting others better than himself; each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.”  Philippians 2:4

We are gathered in our church sanctuary – a holy place – and it’s also a safe place – where the divine and the human connect together. Welcome to this holy sacred and safe place today.

CAMERA   

Let’s take a second to welcome 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, whoever you can see , “The Joy of Christ be with you – and also 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.

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. Pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.

Our opening song of praise and devotion –– #146 – Joy to the World! The Lord is Come – led by Lilly Haeger!!Please join her and sing these words shouting for joy together.

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We pray today with the Prophet Isaiah from the book of Isaiah 12:2-6:

God is indeed my salvation;

I will trust and won’t be afraid.

Yah, the Lord, is my strength and my shield;

he has become my salvation.”

You will draw water with joy from the springs of salvation.

And you will say on that day:

“Thank the Lord; call on God’s name;

proclaim God’s deeds among the peoples;

declare that God’s name is exalted.

Sing to the Lord, who has done glorious things;

proclaim this throughout all the earth.”

Shout and sing for joy, city of Zion,

because the holy one of Israel is great among you.  Amen.

In this Advent Season of discovering the Inn where the Holy Family was staying, of hearing that we are welcomed into the Inn that welcomed Mary and Joseph, and then of becoming the Inn where “God with us” enters into our lives and where God now dwells, and where we, in the image of God, welcome others into God’s presence with us… let’s imagine, with appropriate biblical references, Old Testament promises and prophecies and New Testament proclamations and professions, what that place looks like, what it sounds like, what it smells like, how it feels, what it means … for us … today.

Today, from the New Testament Gospel According to Luke and we jump beyond Jesus’ birthday and childhood, and we go to where Jesus’ 2^nd cousin John is at the Jordan River baptizing people into a new life of humble repentance and faith reform into God’s-Kingdom-on-earth-as-it-is-in-heaven-living. Listen to God’s Word from Luke 3:7-18 —-

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3 ⁷  Then John said to the crowds who came to be baptized by him, “You children of snakes! Who warned you to escape from the angry judgment that is coming soon? ⁸ Produce fruit that shows you have changed your hearts and lives. And don’t even think about saying to yourselves, Abraham is our father. I tell you that God is able to raise up Abraham’s children from these stones. ⁹ The ax is already at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be chopped down and tossed into the fire.” 

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¹⁰  The crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” ¹¹ John answered, “Whoever has two shirts must share with the one who has none, and whoever has food must do the same.” ¹² Even tax collectors came to be baptized. They said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?” ¹³ He replied, “Collect no more than you are authorized to collect.” ¹⁴ Soldiers asked, “What about us? What should we do?” He answered, “Don’t cheat or harass anyone, and be satisfied with your pay.”

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¹⁵  The people were filled with expectation, and everyone wondered whether John might be the Christ.

¹⁶ John replied to them all, “I baptize you with water, but the one who is more powerful than me is coming. I’m not worthy to loosen the strap of his sandals.

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¹⁶ He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ The shovel he uses to sift the wheat from the husks is in his hands. He will clean out his threshing area and bring the wheat into his barn. But he will burn the husks with a fire that can’t be put out.” ¹⁸ With many other words John appealed to them, proclaiming good news to the people. 

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The text from Isaiah that led us in prayer a few minutes ago, was written by a prophet of God to a people exiled from their homeland, their homes and families and businesses and schools. Consider your most dire straits, and then imagine them 10-times worse. That’s what the Israelites were living in – Babylon’s darkness and dread. And Isaiah writes of the Lord’s presence even in our desperation: “You will draw water with joy from the springs of salvation.”

Some of you live on a well, so you know the reality of the sense of the “bottomlessness” of a well. Most of us just turn a knob and water pours forth from a faucet, also seemingly bottomless. Right? No matter how much we dip into the well, there’s still more to get.

When we visited Brianna in Shishmaref, AK, their water is collected from rainfall. And because of the extreme cold temps, there is very little actual plumbing. So each household needs to make regular visits to the giant water-tank at the Washateria, to get 50-gallons, take that home and use sparingly until you need to do it all over again.

Most of us live with plenty – of water, of food, of shoes, of stuff! And Isaiah and John the Baptist remind us that real hospitality means we share with those who don’t.

Isaiah writes: Sing to the Lord, who has done glorious things; proclaim this throughout all the earth. Shout and sing for joy, city of Zion, because the holy one of Israel is great among you.

Sing for joy – not because all is happy or easy or comfortable or convenient! Even when life is hard, when health diagnoses declare dis-ease, when finances fall short, when loss of life looms near – sing for joy not because we are happy – sing for joy because the holy one  of Israel is great among you – Immanuel, God is with us! This is what Christmas proclaims so very clearly!

Joy is what happens when we go to that eternal well-spring of life, when we drink from that “living-well” of God’s holy presence!

Kenyan-born, Pastor Grace Imathiu, asks if we trust God enough to experience joy no matter our life circumstance?  Do we trust that God will see us through and that we will get to this place of deep wells, and that God is, in fact, with us in the muck of life?!

Isaiah calls out to the city of Zion to shout and sing for joy! But they’re not even in Zion. They are exiled from Zion! But sing for joy because the holy one of Israel is great among you, is with you right now!

This is faith, right? To celebrate Christmas when we are still wearing masks, when the Omicron Variant threatens even more contagion than does the still present Delta Variant of this dang Corona Virus that keeps us at arms’ length. Singing Joy to the World, while praying for our loved ones whom we might not be able to see because of health concerns or travel restrictions.

Hear this! You wanna get even with this Pandemic? Celebrate Christmas with Holy Spirit Joy! Real celebrations are a thing the world does not understand! (That’s like heaping hot coals on their heads, by loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us – let’s do that, too!)

We feel like we live in this sense of scarcity, like our resources are scarce, when indeed what we need for utterly complete joy is already super-powerfully present. Right? This year especially, with fewer Christmas trees, and limited supply chains, and more expensive gifts with less money…. But this Isaiah text assumes abundance, the drawing of water with joy from the Springs of salvation and a spring is something that actually, it’s a bottomless pit. I mean, it’s ever-flowing. And so, whenever we see this mention of spring, a water spring, in the Bible, it’s pointing to abundance, a never-ending supply.

San Francisco Theological Seminary Old Testament professor Jon Berquist says this reminds him of the Old Testament stories of manna. How you get enough for today and then there’s still enough for tomorrow. And how this process teaches us the rhythm of trust and hope and experiencing that in a way that teaches us to only take what we need, only what we need. “Give us this day our daily bread ….”

After we get what we need, we can celebrate that the rest belongs to other people. And the rest of creation, for that matter. And that it is God who has done all these glorious things for all the earth. This is even bigger than the biggest well-spring we can imagine. Because this spring goes out to every nation and still never runs dry.

To have joy just by yourself really isn’t possible. So, if we’re not sharing it, it’s not joy. And this experience that the Holy one is great among us is something that will heal the world. Not just our city, our church, our community, our house, our kind of people, our way of life. The joy just moves out so much further than anything we can imagine.

This is what John is talking about in this Luke passage about changed hearts and lives.  People ask him, “What do you mean?” A heart transplant is a big deal. It’s complicated these days. Imagine what it was like 2000 years ago. We just can’t do. We can’t change. It’s too disruptive. And what John keeps showing us is that no matter who you are or what you do, every day there’s an opportunity to reach out to one person. And that’s what it means to have a changed heart and a changed life.

Jon Berquist says it’s as simple as, If you have two of something, share with someone who has none. Take the food you have and share it with one person. We don’t need a large task force and an initiative with massive global funding to cure hunger. That’s not what we’re called to do in this passage. We’re called to feed people one at a time.

That is the beauty of things like our outdoor Food Library! We are incompetent to the task of feeding all the hungry in Spokane. And so we freeze, we’re not sure what to do. But, 18-months ago when our office was closed and no one was in the building to help people from our Food Pantry, our Deacons had this brain-storm of an idea putting one outside, and inviting our neighbors to contribute to it!  And they do!  Last Thursday morning I was in the parking lot with Cary Peden, who was helping Gene’s project of installing a better door and lock on our shed – and I got to meet two neighbors come and put food INTO our Pantry, and within an hour two others came and gratefully filled one bag of groceries each!

We can not fix it all, but we can do what’s right in front of us.

That’s what “If You Could Save Just One” does for our low-income, at-risk teens and their families! That’s what we do with Child Empowerment Outreach in Kenya. Discern what’s right in front of us, which actually invites us to simply open our eyes and our hands. And in some ways, open our doors, come out of the church building, see what’s happening right there.

So, as we talk about housing the holy, the idea that God’s abundant generosity enables us to trust Him with our generosity. Good things can start out so small, seemingly insignificant; like a new-born babe, maybe lying in a manger. Right? How much more insignificant could one possibly be?

But here’s where we see the incarnation that this season leads to.

For Isaiah and John the Baptist, it’s about loving our neighbors so that there’s always enough from the well-spring!

15  

On this Third Sunday of Advent 2021 we re-discover the joy of faithful connection with the God of righteousness, and our connections to our fellow neighbors.

As we are welcomed into God’s presence, may we be such an invitingly warm welcome of righteousness to everyone around us.

There’s real Joy in that! Amen.      

16   Preparing Our Hearts in Prayer,   

MP3 – Make My Heart a Stable – Advent 3

Make of my heart a stable, a house for the holy, a warm and sturdy place for joy to live and grow.

In this moment we open the doors of our hearts to honesty before God

about what we’ve done and left undone that created less hope in a hurting world.

Let us breathe out this regret… [pause to breathe out]

  and breathe in the life-giving, forgiving Spirit of God… [pause to breathe in]

and out again with the Peace of Christ… [another breath out].

17    Make of my life a stable, a house for the holy, a warm and sturdy place for joy to live and grow.

In this moment we open the doors of our lives to the call of the Holy Spirit,

inviting us to become more than we can ask or imagine.

Let us breathe out our fear… [pause to breathe out]

  and breathe in the courage of the Spirit of God… [pause to breathe in]

and out again, with the Peace of Christ… [another breath out].

18    Make of our church a stable, a house for the holy, a warm and sturdy place for joy to live and grow.

In this moment we open the doors of this church,

filling it with the compassion of Christ for all those who are struggling.

Listen for the prompt, and call out a name or a situation …

We remember and pray for…

19-21   

… those who are celebrating God’s presence with victory and faith;

may joy abound!

… those who are suffering economic hardship, and insecurity in basic needs;

may abundance be shared.

… those who are suffering mentally, finding it difficult to cope;

may paths open and hope return.

… those who are suffering illness or injury;

may healing abound.

…. those who are suffering loneliness and isolation;

may companionship and solace arrive.

… those who are suffering discrimination, fear and violence;

may they know respect, respite, and safety.

May the Advent of Compassion be born in us,

reside within us,

move outward from us,

to meet the needs of the world,

making a house for the Holy that is each and every child of God.

We pray this in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray:

22   [The Lord’s Prayer]

23 

Many imaginative tales have been spun about “The Inn” and the people who may have been involved in the story. As we’ve already said, we know very little about the Inn from the Bible. There’s a theory that it wasn’t an “inn” at all but the downstairs of a house where the family animals were kept, under the top floor where the family lived. (The Church in Bethlehem is actually built over a “cave”, or a “home’s basement”, where this could have been true.)

This scenario suggests that each and every home can be a birthing place for more goodness in this world.

It suggests that this House of God, this church, might contain a surprising nook or cranny that could house a holy endeavor for bringing more joy to someone’s life.  (I think maybe what happens across the street in the garage is, indeed, this kind of hospitality!)

This Advent season may our tithes and offerings stoke the possibilities for our own hospitality.

Listen to this “Christmas Joy Offering” minute for mission from our Missions Elder, Scott Lockwood:

– Offering (4449 N Nevada St, Spokane, 99207 ; or click HERE, or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”)

24

Expedition Song  – What Child Is This?   #150 –!  – Donna Stone!  Each week of this series we will “expedite” with a Christmas Carol. Yes, Advent is not yet the birth of Christ. For today’s closing carol we sing “What Child Is This?” that invites “peasants and kings” to claim Christ as their own. Chatterton Dix, the writer, was not a pastor like most of the 19^th century hymn writers. He was an English businessman who asks the question, “Why lies He in such mean estate?” referring to the stable, and in the second verse he answers that by connecting the humble, wooden birth manger to the wood of the cross “borne” at Jesus’ death.

True joy acknowledges the reality of suffering in the world, and invites all people regardless of status to claim Christ’s grace and joy. May we offer that Hope and Peace to the hurting world around us, and experience God’s Joy together!

25-27

28  

We continue with this benediction:     May God’s Door of Welcome
swing open in our hearts and in our lives.
 
May Christ’s humble first dwelling
remind us of the plenty we already know.
 
And may the Holy Spirit lead us into
more possibility and hospitality
than we can imagine,
making room in The Inn for all.
 
May it be so for you. May it be so for us.
May it be so for this church. Amen.

29-30   Announcements      

31   December Birthdays

7 – Joanne Medhus    10 – Ridge Wanyonyi       14 – Kathy Sandusky     17 – Doug Stone        

23 – Nancy Jo Cromer         26 – Edina Wanyonyi

Resources: 

McFee, Marcia; “The Inn”; Worship design Studio; 2021. (Interviews with Jon Berquist and Grace Imathiu.)

12/05/2021 = Philippians 1:3-11 = “Making Room … for Peace”

(Click HERE to see the FB video ,starts at 11:30, sermon starts at 24:00)

(Click HERE to donate to Lidgerwood Church’s mission and ministries)

                                                                                      

 Mark Wheeler

Philippians 1:3-11                                                                                             

Second Sunday of Advent, 12/05/2021

 “Making Room … for Peace!”                                                                                 

Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church 

MP3 – Hope Waits Accompaniment

Welcome everyone! Happy Advent!

Like the childhood game of “musical chairs” , we can be convinced that there are not enough places at the Table.  And so we shrink the guest list or create a “kids’ table” just in case there is not enough room, and we scramble to make sure we get a seat.

And yet our Holy Bible invites us to imagine and make real the invitation to all people to the Table, dressed in the garments of a Peace that comes with justice. This is what really matters – this is the fruit of what is right and good.

This Advent season we ask, how our church can become a house where the Holy will be born anew–offering respite, sustenance and care, opening the doors ever wider to those seeking shelter from the onslaught of life. No one church can do it all, but each can do something. As we study the biblical prophets that call us to care for our neighbors and “make room in the inn”, the lonely and frightened spaces within us are filled with the light of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.

MP3 – Hope Waits Verse 2

2-3  

Advent Song of Peace

Peace waits for us at Advent   Peace waits for us to rest.

    Peace waits for our acceptance          of the truth that we are blessed.

In this time of preparation    for the work of co-creation,

      for the birthing of a world    of gentleness and play.  Peace is born in us each day!

Lighting the Advent Candle of Hope  . . . . . . Pastor Kathy Sandusky & Helen Sevey

Kathy: Today we offer the Light of Peace to illumine the Door of Welcome.

Helen: May this light shine in our hearts, in our lives, and in our church.

Kathy: May Peace awaken us to possibilities and lead us to greater hospitality.

Helen: There IS room in this Inn, a House for the Holy.

MP3 – Hope Waits Verse 2

Kathy lights the Advent Candles of HOPE & PEACE

4-5  

Thank you, on behalf of our Elders’ Council, thank you for … maintaining a sense of PEACE by:

“Wearing your mask while inside the building.”

This is not because we are afraid, but because we want to love our neighbors. We truly want that no one should feel judged, and everyone should feel safe, so continue to be gentle with each other. Listening to the Philippians 2:4 passage:

“ in humility, each counting others better than himself; each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.”  Philippians 2:4

We are gathered in our church sanctuary – a holy place – and it’s also a safe place – where the divine and the human connect together. Welcome to this holy sacred and safe place today.

CAMERA   

Let’s take a second to welcome 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, whoever you can see , “The Peace of Christ be with you – and also 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.

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. Pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.

Our opening song of praise and devotion –– #135 – Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus – led by Dick McCarter!!Please join hin and sing these words praying for peace together.

6-7  

8  

We pray today with the Jeremiah’s scribe from the apocryphal book of Baruch 5:1-5:

Take off your mourning clothes and oppression, Jerusalem!

    Dress yourself in the dignity of God’s glory forever.

Wrap the justice that comes from God around yourself like a robe.

    Place the eternal one’s glory  on your head like a crown.

God will show your brilliance everywhere under heaven.

    God will give you this name    by which to be called forever:

    The Peace That Comes from Justice, The Honor That Comes from Reverence for God!

Get up, Jerusalem! Stand on the high place,    and look around to the east!

See your children gathered from the west to the east by the holy one’s word,    as they rejoice that God has remembered them.  Amen.

In this Advent Season of discovering the Inn where the Holy Family was staying, of hearing that we are welcomed into the Inn that welcomed Mary and Joseph, and then of becoming the Inn where “God with us” enters into our lives and where God now dwells, and where we, in the image of God, welcome others into God’s presence with us… let’s imagine, with appropriate biblical references, Old Testament promises and prophecies and New Testament proclamations and professions, what that place looked like, what it sounded like, what it smelled like, how it felt, what it means … for us … today.

Today, from the New Testament Epistle of Paul we hear promise and prayer for our Peace from God’s Holy Spirit, from Philippians 1:3-11 —-

9  

1 ³  I thank my God every time I mention you in my prayers. ⁴  I’m thankful for all of you every time I pray, and it’s always a prayer full of joy. ⁵  I’m glad because of the way you have been my partners in the ministry of the gospel from the time you first believed it until now. ⁶  I’m sure about this: the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus.

10  

⁷  I have good reason to think this way about all of you because I keep you in my heart. You are all my partners in God’s grace, both during my time in prison and in the defense and support of the gospel. ⁸  God is my witness that I feel affection for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus.

11  

⁹ This is my prayer: that your love might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight. ¹⁰ I pray this so that you will be able to decide what really matters and so you will be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ. ¹¹ I pray that you will then be filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes from Jesus Christ, in order to give glory and praise to God.

12  

Remember the analogy of musical chairs we started with this morning? Where we take a chair away and we experience a lack of seats, there’s never enough room. But in this beautiful poetry from Philippians, God’s love is becoming more and more rich. I think there’s richness there and that there is where we are filled with the fruit of righteousness. And this is what really matters. We hear God’s Word and we decide what really matters.

I think that’s one of the things that this dang Pandemic did was force us (or invite) us to think about, to discern, what really matters.

Kenyan-born, Pastor Grace Imathiu, suggests that last Sunday’s theme of Hope calls us to “make room” at our Table. And if there’s going to be a child coming to us – think “the Christ-Child” –  we are forced to clean out a room because we need to make the nursery. Parents, remember that first baby?

So last Sunday, we’ve cleaned and made room. And on this Second Week of Advent there’s going to be food served. We need to make room at the Table for this new one who’s coming to be with us.

If we go with this child-of-Bethlehem-idea that yes, indeed, there is a need to make room at the Table because we will eat together (some day, we will actually sit-down and eat together – this Saturday at Frankie Doodles at 9am is one way); that’s the way we become family – we eat together, we all pull up a chair to the Table. And when a child is this beloved, it doesn’t matter how small our Table is. We will find a way to make room.

I read a story this week about a family that had triplets, and a very small breakfast nook-table – they cut three holes in the center of the table and fashioned three baby seats in the holes, so that the two very-tired-parents could watch and feed all three babies at once! Right? We find a way!

Maybe that’s why this Philippian passage is so helpful – because it’s about love. I mean, the whole Philippian letter is such a love letter.

I know that some of us approach Paul with a little anxiety. In Philippians, we just want to hang out with Paul, because he just is Paul in love with the Church. And, so, maybe that’s the beginning, letting love find a way to make room at the Table.

In our opening prayer, we read from a book that is  not in our Bible; Baruch is a part of what we call the Deuterocanonical books. They’re the ones that are part of the Bible in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and were well known in Jesus’ time. There are other of these Deuterocanonical books or Apocryphal books that are quoted in the New Testament. Our New Testament writers knew this material very well. But for a variety of reasons, were not included in the Holy Canon of Scripture for us. So, while it is not Scripture – it is faithful testimony of God’s Hope and Peace.  Baruch is probably extended poetry that is reflecting on the experience of exile, that is the experience of homelessness; the experience of being a refugee.

For those of you who are reading through the Bible this year, last week we should have read the book of James – can anyone tell us what James says “true religion” is?  [taking care of the widows and orphans – James 1:27). I found at least 15 Old Testament passages where God commands that God’s people do just that – and at least half of these passages also include taking care of “aliens”, “soldiers”, “strangers,” “foreigners” – we might say “refugees”!

Both Baruch and Philippians lean into this theme, hard.

If we are caring for widows, children, and immigrants and planting justice and peace for them, we’re creating a community that will care for everyone and we are bringing new life wherever we go.

And so the East and the West is a reminder, I think, of the biblical call to justice for immigrants of every generation. And that again is one of these Advent themes where Joseph and Mary become immigrants that are going to become refugees (remember when they flee to Egypt to escape from King Herod’s massacre of baby boys! And Jesus will then grow up as a homeless immigrant.

So, as we talk about housing the holy, the idea that God is fashioning a new heart to go inside us, we see the incarnation that this season leads to.

For Paul and Jeremiah, it’s about loving our neighbors so that there’s always room at the Table!

On this Second Sunday of Advent 2021 we re-discover the peace of faithful connection with the God of righteousness, and our connections to our fellow neighbors.

As we are welcomed into God’s presence, may we be such an invitingly warm welcome of righteousness to everyone around us.

There’s real Peace in that! Amen.

13   Preparing Our Hearts in Prayer,   

MP3 – Make My Heart a Stable – Advent 2

Make of my heart a stable, a house for the holy, a warm and sturdy place for peace to live and grow.

In this moment we open the doors of our hearts to honesty before God

about what we’ve done and left undone that created less hope in a hurting world.

Let us breathe out this regret… [pause to breathe out]

  and breathe in the life-giving, forgiving Spirit of God… [pause to breathe in]

and out again with the Peace of Christ… [another breath out].

14    Make of my life a stable, a house for the holy, a warm and sturdy place for peace to live and grow.

In this moment we open the doors of our lives to the call of the Holy Spirit,

inviting us to become more than we can ask or imagine.

Let us breathe out our fear… [pause to breathe out]

  and breathe in the courage of the Spirit of God… [pause to breathe in]

and out again, with the Peace of Christ… [another breath out].

15    Make of our church a stable, a house for the holy, a warm and sturdy place for peace to live and grow.

In this moment we open the doors of this church,

filling it with the compassion of Christ for all those who are struggling.

As Pastor Kathy leads us in prayer, listen for the prompt, and call out a name or a situation … on]  

We remember and pray for…

16-18   

… those who are suffering economic hardship, and insecurity in basic needs;

may abundance be shared.

… those who are suffering mentally, finding it difficult to cope;

may paths open and hope return.

… those who are suffering illness or injury;

may healing abound.

…. those who are suffering loneliness and isolation;

may companionship and solace arrive.

… those who are suffering discrimination, fear and violence;

may they know respect, respite, and safety.

May the Advent of Compassion be born in us,

reside within us,

move outward from us,

to meet the needs of the world,

making a house for the Holy that is each and every child of God.

We pray this in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray:

19   [The Lord’s Prayer]

20 

Some scholars have wondered if “The Inn” and its “Keeper” were part of Joseph’s family – after all, he went back to his hometown for the census. Or perhaps Joseph’s own family did not or could not make room for them and they had to look elsewhere for a place to stay.

As many of us know, family can be complicated. We’ll never know the real circumstances of Joseph’s family relations but the story can help us gain deeper compassion for what we DO know – too many people experience rejection, even from family.

What if we endeavored to BE family to those who need it most, to “house the Holy” in ways we have not yet imagined?

This Advent season may our tithes and offerings stoke the possibilities for our own hospitality.

– Offering (4449 N Nevada St, Spokane, 99207 ; or click HERE, or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”)

21

Pastor Kathy, come and lead us in our Communion Prayer and Words of Institution

22

And so,

with your people on earth

and all the company of heaven

we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy , holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,

heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

23

24

in union with Christ’s offering for us,

as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died; Christ is risen;  Christ will come again.

25

Expedition Song  – It Came Upon a Midnight Clear   #170 –!  – Deanna & Gene Peden!  Each week of this series we will “expedite” with a Christmas Carol. Yes, Advent is not yet the birth of Christ. For today’s closing carol we sing “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” a carol written by Edmund Sears and one of the earliest social gospel hymns written. Sears was writing from Boston in the years just before the Civil War and this hymn emphasizes the message of the angels, “peace on earth, goodwill to all.”

You can hear this especially clearly in a verse not included in our hymnals but which is perfect for our theme – pay special attention to verse 4 today:

26-29

30  

We continue with this benediction:     May God’s Door of Welcome
swing open in our hearts and in our lives.
 
May Christ’s humble first dwelling
remind us of the plenty we already know.
 
And may the Holy Spirit lead us into
more possibility and hospitality
than we can imagine,
making room in The Inn for all.
 
May it be so for you. May it be so for us.
May it be so for this church. Amen.

31-32   Announcements      

Resources: 

McFee, Marcia; “The Inn”; Worship design Studio; 2021. (Interviews with Jon Berquist and Grace Imathiu.)