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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:
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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.)
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