Sermon by Seminary Intern, Deklan J. Lewis

Last year I had wrote and preached from the Gospel of Luke on the Baptism of Christ.

Luckily, Luke & Matthew are not too different from each other. I am going to read the passage from Luke, though, just because it provides a slightly different context. This is from Luke 3:15-17 & 3:21-22.

“As the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire…Now, when all the people were baptized and Jesus had also been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove and a voice came from heaven. You are my son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

Last year, when I studied this passage from Luke, I was in a slightly different place on my journey at that point, and I was feeling very skeptical of the scripture. One of my professors suggested to me that I, instead of looking at passages of the Bible for the things that I didn’t agree with, or the things that frustrated me to look for the things that did make sense, and dig into those. Rather than being distracted by what I didn’t believe, I could find the things that I did believe.

I came upon something really interesting in the commentary that I was reading. In discussing Jesus’ baptism, the commentator observed that Jesus approaches his baptism with humility, and one can imagine with faith and trust. He comes to the place where John is preaching a message of repentance and forgiveness of sins, of turning back to the selfless ways of caring for the weak and the marginalized. In response, Jesus submits himself to the cleansing ritual. Jesus’ thoughts and motivations in offering himself for baptism remain a mystery to us for now, but we have his example to follow. Those observations struck a chord, and I found myself stuck on this question.

Why was Jesus baptized? Why did he have to be baptized?

If he was perfect, there wouldn’t have been a reason for him to be baptized. Perhaps he wasn’t perfect in the way that we’ve always been taught. I know that’s maybe an unpopular opinion, but stick with me. Maybe Jesus made mistakes. Maybe he did things he shouldn’t have done. I think that leaving his parents to stay in the synagogue might have been an example of this. But because he’s Jesus, we brush it under the rug and say that he was supposed to be there because he was God and not a normal 12-year-old sneaking off and disobeying his parents, because obviously, the son of God is never late.

Another thing, do we really think that all that time he spent as a carpenter, Jesus never smashed his thumb and let out an expletive? I’ve only been whittling for like a month, and I have done it at least 10 times. The Bible says that he had siblings. Are we supposed to imagine that he never got upset with him, that he never got into a fist fight over who got to sit up front on the camel?

I am probably gonna ruffle a couple of feathers here. To be honest, my own were a bit ruffled when I was going through this, but what if Jesus was just like us? I mean, it does say that he put on flesh so that he could sympathize with us, but how could he sympathize if he was perfect and never sinned?

I am not sure if this will resonate with you or not, but for me, for a long time, if I screwed up, that was the end of the world.

I was terrible, and no one could possibly love me. Then, because I thought that they would be disappointed and not love me, I resented them and would go unintentionally doing the things that I knew they would not approve of to further separate myself from them. Many of us learn these patterns of behavior at a young age, and they are reinforced over and over again by our families of origin, school teachers, and the churches that we grew up in. For me, the pattern began young and before I was conscious of it, I had developed some nasty habits and coping mechanisms that had become quite addictive by the time I reached adulthood.

By the time I realized I had problems, the cycle seemed impossible to break. No amount of trying or praying or repenting and swearing I would never do it again seemed to work. I can relate to those people lining the banks of the Jordan waiting to be baptized by this charismatic, borderline crazy, religious figure named John. I’ve been in that line thinking that if this guy touched me, I’d be free of all of my habits and hang-ups. Maybe if I were baptized at this church and I was fully immersed as opposed to being sprinkled, it would finally actually wash off all the dirt, and when it didn’t work, and I walked away feeling more broken than before, believing God must really be done with me this time, and there was nothing I could do about it. I’d go right back to whatever the destructive habit was at the time.

What was it that made Jesus go down to the river that day?

Was it Holy Spirit intuition? Like the day at the synagogue? Was it on his checklist from God that day? What if it was a deep nagging, the thing that he kept returning to, the feeling of failure, of disappointment to his parents, earthly and heavenly. What if that day, he knew something had to change, so he strapped on his sandals, trekked down to the river to see his cousin, just to get his mom to stop nagging him.

But with secret hope in his heart, he waited in line just like everybody else. He didn’t push to the front or demand special treatment. At least that’s what the account in Luke tells us. In fact, it says that Jesus was last. It said when everyone was baptized and Jesus was baptized,

I wonder if he thought about leaving. Maybe he got out of line and headed toward home only to feel that pull. Turn back around and get in line at the end. Maybe he hoped that some of the crowd would go away so that he could get a few moments alone with his cousin.

I once went to a healing and deliverance service to see what all the hype was about this particular so-called prophet. There were hundreds of people there. I waited in line forever. People were being slain in the spirit, speaking in tongues, breaking their canes, stomping on glasses. I thought, this must be my day. This guy has gotta be the real deal. I stood in line, I looked around, and I saw this woman whom I knew. We had gone to several such services together in the past, but had lost touch when I did what I always did, and she chastised me for wasting God’s time. She had said that it was useless for me to keep getting in prayer lines and taking time away from other people who really needed prayer, that my problem was that I didn’t want to be free because if I did, all I had to do was walk in it, whatever that meant. Seeing her was it for me. I was out. I didn’t need that type of negativity.

I wonder if there was anybody that day in the crowd with Jesus whose opinions really got his goat. Or maybe he was afraid that John, who seemed to know things about Jesus that others didn’t, would turn him away. In the story of Matthew, John says, You are the one who should be baptizing me. But Jesus was like, Nope, it’s gotta be the other way around. He was pretty adamant. Which further reinforces my wondering about why. It could have been because he knew that it was to be a sign or a fulfillment of ancient prophecy, or perhaps because he needed to be baptized. Maybe he had things he needed to turn from so that he could turn towards other things.

One thing I noted is that Jesus was praying after he was baptized. Did he not get what he was expecting when John baptized him?

I can imagine him exclaiming, directing his frustration toward God. I’m wet, I’m cold, and there’s seaweed in my epic hair, but I feel the same. I’m supposed to be your son, but I just feel like some guy, and I can’t stop. Are you even up there? Are you even listening? Continuing from the gospel account, it says, “And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

Well, gee, that was worth the weight and some seaweed. I don’t know about you, but those are words that I have wanted to hear my entire life. The desire for those words has caused me to go to crazy lengths and to put myself in some less-than-desirable situations. To hear that I am loved, chosen, the pride of someone’s life, I wanted to hear that from my parents. As long as I can remember, those words should be a given from our parents at least. No child should have to wonder about the love of their mother or father, but many of us do. It is no wonder then that many of us struggle to believe in the unconditional love of God.

I wonder if this was part of Jesus’ struggle. At least in the Luke telling of the story. There’s no fanfare from the crowd after this heavenly announcement. There’s no article in the Jordan Times “Dove descends and names Jesus the carpenter as God’s son.” In fact, it could be the case that nobody other than Jesus even knew that this happened.

What if Jesus were or is just like us? What if he wondered about the nature of God’s love for him? What if he wondered if he’d missed the mark or been replaced by some other kid, a few villages away, who really never did fight with his siblings? What if he came to the river that day needing an epiphany?

To hear the voice of a parent speaking the words, You are my son. You are the one I want. You are special. You are loved. You make me proud. Now, that would be worth any price. Waiting all day in the hot sun with a bunch of sweaty sinners. Any amount of seaweed, fish swimming around my ankles, and slimy river sand and stones between my toes.

At the beginning of the next chapter of Luke, it says that immediately, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit and probably some newly found confidence in his identity, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wild.

We know how the story goes. The devil comes and tests Jesus, and he gets all the answers right. How do you think he could do that? Here’s what I think. When you hear God, or even someone whom you respect and whose love you desire, when you hear them claim you as their own, when they show you how much you are loved. When you know, then you know that no matter what, their love for you could never & would never change. You can do anything. You can give up whatever’s holding you back. You can face any challenge. You can look the devil in the eye and say, I don’t need what you’ve got.

Even if you mess up and pick some questionable friends or call a lady a dog or flip over some tables out of righteous anger, you can still know that they love you, and you can know that God will work it all out.

The other thing that I think is that once you hear that voice, you are free to live into who God has called you to be, who God calls all of us to be in the community. There was this thought that had never occurred to me. Jesus comes to this place where John is preaching a message of repentance and forgiveness of sins, of turning back to the selfless ways of caring for the weak and the marginalized. It’s not just about what we turn from, but also what we turn to. The selfless, caring for the weak and the marginalized. He turned from whatever he needed to leave behind so that he could turn toward what God had for him.

I think that’s how it is for us too. It doesn’t end with accepting Jesus and being baptized. We’re called to more.

Where are you this morning? Do you need an epiphany? Do you need to be baptized? Are you waiting in line for the prophet to heal you?

I believe that God is saying to everyone, Here you are, my child. You are chosen. You are special. I am proud of you. Just think on that for a minute. Let it soak in, let it wash over you, like the water of the Jordan River and don’t mind the seaweed or the thing that just brushed your ankles.

The heavenly parent loves you. The heavenly parent looks at you and smiles. You make God happy. Maybe this week is a good time for you to spend some time in the unconditional love of God and get to know how freedom feels.

Or maybe you’ve already had that experience. Maybe you’re living in the freedom of knowing what it is to be loved, but still, something is missing. What’s next? You may wonder. Maybe it’s time to take another turn. A turn toward the work that God calls us toward. The work of justice and building community. Maybe for you, this week is about seeking opportunities to join God in the work of restoring shalom to this war-torn earth that we live on.

Either way, it’s good news. And I think we could all use a little bit of that these days.

May it be so. Amen.

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At Church of the Apostles, we know that many among us are carrying deep and honest questions about faith, especially in light of what is happening in our country and throughout the world. Questions like, “Where is God in all of this?” are not signs of weak faith, but part of a faithful journey we are called to walk together.

To create space for these important conversations, we invite you to a new monthly series, Asking the Hard Questions, hosted by our seminary intern, Deklan Lewis, and held in the Parlor. Together, we will explore doubt, struggle, and belief as meaningful and faithful parts of discipleship.

Our first two gatherings will include viewing and discussing the film God on Trial, as we wrestle with faith and what it means to follow Jesus today, much like Jacob wrestling with God.

To accommodate different schedules, two sessions will be offered each month:

• Last Monday of each month at 10 AM
• Last Thursday of each month at 6 PM

All are welcome to join this thoughtful, open, and supportive conversation. We hope you’ll consider being part of this meaningful time together.

Sermon by Rev. Dr. Dennis Lippart

My wife and I have six sons between us, and when our sons began getting married, we discovered that when holidays come, you don’t see your sons because daughters go home to their mothers for holidays.

Rather than fight that fight, we decided to create our own holiday. About the end of October, we picked a date that nobody had picked for anything, and we decided everybody would come to our house for turkey, stuffing, and sweet potato pie, and all the trimmings. We have done that every year for over 10 years. We call it hollowgiving.

Most holidays are arbitrary anyway. We can make one up on Christmas Eve. I’ve always wanted to come to the blue Christmas that Kathryn was doing here for years, but Christmas Eve was always when we see the grandchildren in New Jersey. On Christmas Eve my wife and I usually exchange presents because Christmas Day is filled with grandkids and all that kind of stuff.

It occurred to me that maybe we need another time when we can exchange our presents with each other. I called it Donkey Day, the day Joseph loaded up the donkey to go wherever he was gonna go. It happened before everything else happened. There was Donkey Day, and we’ve been practicing Donkey Day, except when I reread the Christmas stories recently. There’s no donkey in the Christmas stories.

We tell ourselves there has to be a donkey, but there’s no donkey in the Christmas story. If there’s no donkey in the store, I really can’t call it donkey day. As far as we know, Joseph and Mary simply walked to wherever they had to go. Having a donkey was probably a very middle-class thing to own livestock, and there’s no indication that they were anything other than wandering migrants, so they didn’t have a donkey.

But Matthew tells us another story about Christmas. He tells us a story about astrologers.

How many people here have checked their horoscopes recently? Some people we were with recently were checking their Chinese Zodiac to see what year they were. 2026 is the year of the horse, and they were going on about things.

Did you ever ask yourself why Herod had no astrologers in his court? We talk about the stars as if everybody saw them. I’ve seen articles that it had to be a comet. There’s no indication in the story that anybody other than these guys from the foreign country actually saw this star, which meant they were professional stargazers or astrologers. Herod did not have any astrologers in his court. They didn’t see the star. You know why? It was forbidden knowledge.

That’s why the story goes back to the first Samuel. One of my favorite stories in the Old Testament was about King Saul going to consult the last witch available in Israel because he’d killed all the witches and he’d chased all the witches, astrologers, tarot readers, necromancers out, and all those who foretold the future and read palms out. He got rid of them all because it was all forbidden knowledge. That’s why, when it comes back to the Christmas story, there are no astrologers in the royal court because it’s forbidden knowledge.

But yet we all know about the stars. We all know about the Zodiac signs. My wife’s gotten to be an excellent stargazer at 1:30 in the morning. She’s got pictures to prove it. She was out looking for the Pleiades the other day, but it was too overcast to see them.

We haven’t let go of forbidden knowledge, and sometimes it takes people with different languages and different perspectives, who have knowledge that’s supposed to be forbidden to us, to tell us things that are true about our own stories.

Matthew tells his story in the gospel, which is addressed to the churches. They are modeled after the synagogue, so bear with me on this. The only religion that I know of, which was devoted to telling the sacred stories, or telling the stories about what God has done for the people, happened in the synagogues. The other religion celebrated rituals, events, and current things that were going on. But only in the synagogues do you get together to hear the old stories because people didn’t have Bibles. You didn’t have scrolls, you didn’t have a big book at home. You couldn’t go read the stories for yourself. The only place to be in touch with the history of the old stories was to get together and listen to the rabbi read from scrolls. The Rabbis knew the old stories and the scholars knew the old stories. We got together back in the day, once a week on Saturday, to listen to the old stories because the old stories were important.

Matthew tells an old story. The story he tells about the birth of Jesus and the visitors from the East who see the stars in the sky is the same story that some of the old documents that did not get into the Bible tell about Abraham and Abraham’s birth. Abraham’s birth is foretold by a star in the sky. Abraham’s birth was accompanied by the slaughter of innocence. Matthew tells a story that is not even original. The scholars would’ve known the references to Abraham. So Matthew’s trying to make Jesus into the new Abraham, the new father of a nation, a new people. He’s telling the old story that’s been told about Abraham over again in the context of Jesus.

Some of you may be aware of the crusades. Did you know there was a children’s crusade? The children all ended up being sold into slavery.

It seems historically, over and over again, powerful people, to maintain political and economic control, do it at the expense of the most vulnerable and the most innocent. It’s happened before. All I’m gonna say about it happening now is I’ve heard that 20,000 children have died in Gaza. I’ve read that it’s estimated that 20,000 children have disappeared from Ukraine. I’ve heard it said that this year, mostly in Africa, 600,000 people have died from lack of medicine and lack of food, and 400,000 of those have been children. So we ask ourselves, what are we to do?

Well, we have a story. Maybe, from that story, we could create a holiday? The 12 days of Christmas didn’t really work. The Russians celebrate gift-giving on Epiphany. Today is the day of Epiphany, by the way, when the wise, the magi, the astrologers, the foreigners, brought their gifts to Mary. We could make it a holiday where we all give gifts to our mothers, but we don’t. We could make it a day when we celebrate making places safe for people who wander, are homeless, or people who feel threatened, but we don’t. So we ask ourselves, what are we to do?

I think I have a clue, with all that’s going on in the world, that maybe we’re simply asked to be witnesses to the light to say. This is light, and that is darkness. If we say it loudly and often enough to remind each other of what’s light and what’s darkness. Maybe just maybe we’ll find that the darkness is not overcome, and the light shines in the dark, and we have to confess sometimes that we are not the light, but we can bear witness to the light, we can testify to the light, we can point to the light. We can even sometimes light a light. One of the earliest songs I remember singing is “This Little Light of Mine.” We’ll let it shine.

We are called like John, not to necessarily be the light if we find it beyond our capacity, but for none of us is it beyond our capacity to bear witness to, testify, point to, and sometimes to hold the light.

May it be so. Amen.

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Community Game Nights return in 2026! Join us on the second Saturdays of each month, starting January 10th, for games, snacks, and fun in the Main Lobby from 6-9 PM. Bring your favorite games and invite your friends and family, everyone is welcome!

Sermon by Seminary Intern, Deklan J, Lewis

 As I was preparing this week, the last couple of weeks, really, and thinking about what should be said about the magi and about this story, kind of racking my brain honestly.

Because a lot of sermons for a very long time have been preached on all of these texts. But specifically this one, you know, we talk about the magi, the wise men, every year. I thought I knew, uh, from the beginning that I wanted to do something a little different and that I wanted to make it about sharing our gifts. I had every intention of sitting down last night and writing an amazing sermon. Then I had an anxiety attack at work, so my night ended up being blown out.

I thought we were just gonna share gifts. So I’m going to share some of my gifts with you this morning and talk about the gifts that we all have that we can share with the world and with one another.

One of the things that popped into my head this week was that the Magi were not people that Mary and Joseph would’ve ever met under any other circumstances.

They were from a distant land. They were these mysterious figures. We have all kinds of theories about who they are, but I’m not sure anybody is 100% sure who these people were. From the very beginning of Jesus’ story, it was about drawing in people who weren’t already included.

We talked the other week about the shepherds and how they were people who were ostracized by society, and this week we’re looking at these foreigners who are mysterious and strange. Probably didn’t have the same religious beliefs as Jesus’ family did. To me, that says a lot. Even in the Old Testament, when Abraham initially received God’s covenant, it was about becoming a blessing to the whole world, and how Jesus was sent to be that blessing to the whole world, to include those who hadn’t been included.

Which also had me thinking about my own journey and my own experience of not being included, and finding places where I am included and where my gifts can be used and expressed. Most of the time when I step up to this microphone, I’m talking about those things, but they’re very important to me, and I know that they’re important to you. In the sense that they were important enough for you to take a vote. One of the questions that we had during our Q&A session was, “Why is it such a big deal that we make a public statement? Why is it such a big deal that we become official and make this statement about being open and affirming?”

One of the things that I talked about was that for a lot of people, we have been publicly excluded. So, we’re unsure whether we’re welcome or not. Even if we feel welcome when we walk through the doors, we don’t know if we’re 100% welcome. I can walk in, and I can sit in your pew, and you can all be super nice to me, and we could even have dinner together, or I could join a small group, or any of these things. But if I want to go the next step and use my gifts for the service of the church, if I wanna serve on a ministry team, or if I wanna serve on the board, or if I want to be a pastor, that’s a whole other level of whether or not I’m included. To be in a place where I know that I can use all of my gifts, where I can bring my gifts, is a really amazing thing. I wanted to say thank you to you for that gift.

It’s all tied together. When I was struggling to find a place where I could use my gifts, it made me feel like I didn’t have any because they weren’t acceptable.

That reminded me of a song, and I’m gonna play that song, and I’m hoping you guys will sing along with me.

Come, they told me, pa rum pum pum pum
A newborn King to see, pa rum pum pum pum
Our finest gifts we bring, pa rum pum pum pum
To lay before the King, pa rum pum pum pum
So to honour Him, pa rum pum pum pum When we come.
Little baby, pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring, pa rum pum pum pum
That’s fit to give a King, pa rum pum pum pum
Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum On my drum?
Mary nodded, pa rum pum pum pum
The ox and lamb kept time, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my drum for Him, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my best for Him, pa rum pum pum pum
Then He smiled at me,

That was one of the songs that popped into my head this week as I was thinking about gifts. How the gifts that we bring all look very different. Another part of the story is that Mary was very much the one who brought the gift. She carried the ultimate gift for nine months and brought it, and the world has been ever blessed by it.

Earlier in the season, when we were on Mary’s Sunday, as Pastor Kathryn called it, there was a song that I was reminded of that I have fallen in love with. I had asked her if we were planning to do it, and she said, No, because the congregation doesn’t know it so well. We will reserve it for another time. I think this Sunday is the time, because it’s another gift that I can share with you, and I hope that you will be blessed by it as well. It’s called the Canticle of the Turning, and I put the words up, not so you feel like you have to sing, but so you can see them.

My soul cries out with a joyful shout
That the God of my heart is great
And my spirit sings of the Wondrous things
That you bring to the ones who wait
You fixed your sight on your servant’s plight
And my weakness you did not spurn
So from east to west shall my name be blest
Could the world be about to turn?
My heart shall sing of the day you bring
Let the fires of your justice burn
Wipe away all tears for the dawn draws near
And the world is about to turn!

Though I am small, my God, my all, you
Work great things in me
And your mercy will last from the Depths
Of the past to the end of the age to be
Your very name puts the proud to shame
And to those who would for you yearn
You will show your might
Put the strong to flight
For the world is about to turn
My heart shall sing of the day you bring
Let the fires of your justice burn
Wipe away all tears
For the dawn draws near
And the world is about to turn!

From the halls of power to the fortress tower
Not a stone will be left on stone
Let the king beware for your
Justice tears ev’ry tyrant from his throne
The hungry poor shall weep no more
For the food they can never ears
There are tables spread, ev’ry
Mouth be fed
For the world is about to turn
My heart shall sing of the day you bring
Let the fires of your justice burn
Wipe away all tears
For the dawn draws near
And the world is about to turn!

Though the nations rage from age to age
We remember
Who holds us fast
God’s mercy must deliver us from the conqueror’s crushing grasp
This saving word that out forebears
Heard is the promise which holds us bound
‘Til the spear and rod can be
Crushed by God
Who is turning the world around
My heart shall sing of the day you bring
Let the fires of your justice burn
Wipe away all tears
For the dawn draws near
And the world is about to turn!

My heart shall sing of the day you bring
Let the fires of your justice burn
Wipe away all tears
For the dawn draws near
And the world is about to turn!

We all have gifts. I think I’ve said that probably a hundred times in this sermon.

I can sing, I play guitar, I make little people out of wooden pieces, and I do some art. I like to think that my presence can be a gift sometimes, depending on the situation. You all have gifts, whether it’s a smile, whether it’s a hug, whether it’s the amazing cookies that you bake. Anything that you do, the crocheting or knitting, the patches that you make for your quilts, the garden that you grow out back, we all have them. The world needs them. The world needs all of the gifts. We need diversity. We need difference. Because without it, there are things that are missing.

I have one more song to share with you, and it’s a different kind of song. It’s called Hey Moon, and it’s sung from the perspective of the Star. I heard it a couple of years ago, and it actually made me choke up. It talks about how we’re here for a reason.

Hey, hey Moon
It’s funny how time just flies
Yesterday we were just kids
Hanging in the sky
Staying up all night

Hey, hey Moon
Do you ever get tear in your eye?
When you think about the time that God came down
I couldn’t help myself
I had to shine so bright

I remember that newborn baby?
And the wise men that traveled so far
That’s when I knew I was made for a reason
I feel like the luckiest star
Hey Moon

Hey, hey Moon
It’s funny how things have changed
I wish they could see the things we’ve seen
Before the colored lights
And Christmas trees

Hey, hey Moon
So many people are searching for signs
God is stirring in their hearts
They will lift their wandering eyes
And see us shine

Then they’ll remember that newborn baby?
And the wise men that traveled so far
Then they’ll that they were made for a reason
I feel like the luckiest star
Hey Moon

Silent night
Holy night
All is calm
All is bright

I hope that you’ll all take your gifts and let them shine. I hope that you remember that you were made for a reason, and I hope you feel like the luckiest star.

May it be so. Amen.

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Love is our theme for this fourth Sunday in Advent, and that seems like something we shouldn’t have to define, but right now I feel like we do.

I decided to define love by saying what it is not. It is called a negative argument. Love is not violence against someone who has different beliefs or values from us. Love is not violence against when we see our brothers and sisters of any faith or no faith hurt. That is not love. When we see it, and we remain silent, that is not love. Love is not cruel words meant to create hardship or pain for another; that is not love.

Then the scripture from 1 Corinthians came back to me, because we need a little bit of positivity here. “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth.” – 1 Corinthians 13:4-6

Our God has made it quite clear that the expectation of us is that we love. We are to love our God. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves. We are to love the stranger among us. We are to love our enemy, and we are to love ourselves. That is the commandment of God. We are to be people of love doing loving acts for others.

The Isaiah scripture today, Isaiah 7:10-16, was written 3,000 years ago and was written in Hebrew. Then in about the third century BCE, it was translated into Greek.

A lot of people didn’t speak Hebrew; the religious leaders spoke Hebrew, the scholars spoke Hebrew, but the people spoke Greek because that was the language of business at that time. There was a translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek. That was called the Septuagint translation. Sep meaning seven, it was the translation of the 70 because it was translated by 72 translators, six from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. So remember, like that’s still important. The 12 tribes of Israel were still important, so six people from each tribe got to come in, and they translated it, and when they translated it, they wrote, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel.”

However, it wasn’t really accurate to the Hebrew. Fortunately, the NRSV, which is the Bible that you have in your pews, instead of using the Septuagint, went back to the original Hebrew. This is also a whole lot closer to what I have. “Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son.” – Matthew 1:23.

Do you see the differences? One, she’s a virgin. It’s just she’s young. One place, she shall conceive, future tense. The other one, she’s already pregnant a thousand years before Jesus is born. I just told you all of that to say that this is one of the scriptures that Christians, particularly some Jewish people, feel that we have co-opted to make it fit Jesus. Because Matthew used the Septuagint when he wrote, so that is what was in Matthew’s gospel, and they like that to match. People want you to read it in Matthew and then go back to Isaiah and find it.

Scripture’s messy, folks, it’s not clean. It’s precise. But today is Joseph’s day, and I don’t wanna take time away from Joseph. I want you to think for a moment what you know about Joseph.

I’m going to guess that you know Joseph as the one who did what the angel told him to do. He gets lifted as that he gets celebrated. The angel told him not to be afraid, take Mary, and that’s what he did. But let’s give Joseph a little bit more credit. Not that, you know, if an angel shows up, listen to him, but we don’t all get angels. We can all sit and think about what the right thing to do is.

Joseph and Mary were not two teenagers who fell in love, and this was all wonderful. That’s not what marriage was in the first century. Mary was a liability to her family, especially when she was pregnant without being married. But Mary was a liability even before she was pregnant. She was a drain on the family system, so she needed to go. She needed to be married off. Where’s the dowry? Where’s the money for her? Let’s get her out. She’s of marrying age. Let’s get this woman married.

Joseph is portrayed as such a nice, innocent young man. What was good about that was that they did not portray the harshness of how the people lived under Roman oppression. I tell you that, but they depicted it well because the people were really struggling with poverty under Roman oppression.

But I think Joseph really struggled with this as he followed the angel. He looked at this situation, and he said, “What does Mary need?” Mary needs to be protected, and she needs security. She needs safety and security. He realized he could provide that. Joseph knew that he could do that. If Mary were pregnant out of wedlock, she would have been killed. That punishment is stoning. She would not have survived. So whether the baby was God’s or not, he was saving a life by taking her as his wife.

I think he just needs credit. Joseph needs credit for being the kind of man who is willing to stand up and say, I choose family. I can choose to be the earthly father of Jesus, and he accepted that choice.

They chose love. In the midst of fear, they chose love against all odds, and they knew that being together was better than being apart.

We are called to choose love.

As I sat with that, what came to me was how I love the church calendar because it is circular or maybe a spiral. We come around to the same stories, and hopefully we grow a little bit. I read the first verses of John’s Gospel on Christmas Eve and on Good Friday. I know that you probably didn’t pick up on that, so I’ll clue you in to that.

But I went back to see how I was closing my sermons in Lent, and this is what I said in Lent. One of the pieces that I love about the church year is that Lent and Holy Week tie to Advent and Christmas. So to complete the circle, how we treat others matters. What is the most loving thing to do now?

To quote Stephen Sills, love the ones you’re with, and remember from the wisdom of Stephen Sondheim, and maybe this will come back to you. Careful. The things you say. Children will listen. Careful the things you do, children will see. Learn. Children may not obey, but children will listen. Children will look to you for which way to turn, to learn what to be careful before you say, listen to me, children will listen.

May it be so. Amen.

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I pride myself on caring and doing for others who have needs, and I will do that at my own expense.

So, this year I’m finding it hard to be joyful coming into Christmas, but fortunately, we are celebrating and including those who are not as joyful at Christmas.

As I was putting this together, I thought, “What I’m feeling is tired, worn, and weary.” If you are with me, I invite you to join me in singing Precious Lord, Take My Hand. I was really drawn by the fact that we don’t sing this in Advent. This is not one of the times that we usually sing this, but pay attention to the lyrics as we do.

“Precious Lord, take my hand. I am tired. I am weak. I am worn. Take my hand. Precious Lord”

I think that also could have been the song of the Israelites when they had been moved into exile.

Although it’s not clear what timeframe Exodus 35 is actually in, there’s some contention about when it was actually written. If it was written during the Babylonian exile by the writer who wrote first Isaiah, or if it was written sometime later. But it was written to people who felt lost, who felt like they needed their God, and it was written to give them hope. I don’t know if you noticed this, but I’m going to help you see this in this scripture.

But for the most part, the verbs are in the future tense. This is a part of Advent too; it’s happened and yet not yet. It says that Christ was born today, and we might feel like “ooh, but not.” Because that’s what Advent is. It’s this already, and yet, not yet. That’s where we are. To these people, Isaiah wrote, and it said,  “…for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert“ – Isaiah 35:6. That’s future tense. It will happen.

Water is a symbol of life. It’s one of the elements that we cannot survive without. The prophet is reminding us that God will provide life. Life will happen. You’ll rejoice again. You will have reason to rejoice again. Even if you aren’t right now. Because you don’t need to tell people to rejoice when they’re rejoicing. But God is about doing something new in the future. A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the holy way. It’s not there yet. They don’t know how they’re going to get home yet, but they are going to get home. There is hope in the future. God will create a way in which we will experience the gift of God’s joy, even if we don’t feel it right now.

I thought it was interesting to hear this from a couple of different perspectives, so I’m gonna give you a few variations of this. Isaiah 35:1-10 says to strengthen, but this is the present tense. So, for today, it has shifted to the present tense, “Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful of heart, “Be strong. Do not fear! Here is your God” – Isaiah 35:3-4. If I go to the Hebrew, TaNaK, which is their Bible, it reads this way. “Strengthen your drooping arms and steady your tottering knees.” For me, maybe it’s because I’m getting that new knee that just made me smile to steady my tottering knees. Yes, please. The inclusive Bible wrote it this way, “Say to all of those who are faint of heart, take courage.” Not to be strong, but take courage. I hear those differently.

There’s good news in the future. For now, we are not to be afraid of that classic phrase that is said so many times, Do not be afraid. Fear not all those different variations, but that is the most common phrase in the Bible. God wants us. God wants our trust. So, for today, can we have hope? Even if life isn’t wonderful, even if you feel displaced, forgotten outside. For today, know that God is here and that whatever is, whatever struggles are in your life, God will make a way.

I think that leads us right into Mary.

I chose this year to give you the picture of our Lady of Guadalupe, who’s actually quite ornate because she’s an icon for worship. But Mary was living through a time that was not a good time for the Jewish people. They were under Roman oppression. Rome was taxing them into poverty. They had soldiers who were not kind to them, and the people were afraid. The people were really afraid.

And yet, to this young teenager, God comes and says, “Do not be afraid for God is doing a new thing, and you will have a child, and that child will become the savior of the world and will change everything.” In Luke 1:52, Mary says, “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly.”

It’s very much a justice-oriented piece. We say that we are about social justice. We wanna be compassionate and empathetic. Our God is compassionate. Our God cares about those who feel left out at the margins. Those for whom maybe it’s a health issue, maybe it’s a family issue, maybe it’s a relationship issue, maybe it’s an economic issue. Whatever it is that’s going on, God cares. God asks us, like Mary, to just hold a space.

Our job in Advent is to watch and wait. It’s not a passive wait. It’s not that we’ll just go back to bed and then, when something happens, we’ll get up. It is a, we’re paying attention, waiting. It’s a waiting with attention, with focus. What is God doing? What do we see happening around us? What are the graces that we are given for the cashier who is kind, who’s actually happy to be working because that means they’re gonna be able to pay their bills this week? Can we find that grace and patience for the grumpy customer in front of us, who we wish would just go away? Or maybe if we see them, then when we get to the cashier, maybe we will be kinder. How can we affect those around us in ways that bring more hope, peace, love, and joy?

Well, today we are focused on the joy, and I called this sermon Singing Out Our Joy.

Even Isaiah 35 is written like a song. It’s very lyrical, so now I’m gonna invite you to sing again, but this time we’re gonna sing another song that you know well, which is called Give Thanks. And I want you to pay attention to these words too, because I think they also support Mary’s song.

Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because He’s given
Jesus Christ, His Son

Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because He’s given
Jesus Christ, His Son

And now let the weak say, “I am strong”
Let the poor say, “I am rich”
Because of what the Lord has done for us

And now let the weak say, “I am strong”
Let the poor say, “I am rich”
Because of what the Lord has done for us

This is not the end. God is still at work in our world and bringing about new life. We may be tottering, but all we need to do is to watch, wait, and be attentive to all that God is doing.

May it be so. Amen.

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