Overcoming Shame and Anxiety

 Scripture:

Micah 5:2-5a  • 

 

Luke 1:46b-55 or Psalm 80:1-7  • 

 

Hebrews 10:5-10  • 

 

Luke 1:39-45, (46-55)

  

Imagine a young girl, unmarried and pregnant 2000 years ago in Judea. The gospel says she left her hometown in haste to go to her cousin Elizabeth’s home. Why? How was she met and received? And how did Mary respond?

What a blessing we have in this week’s gospel. Mary, surely anxious and in what her countrymen would say is a shameful condition, is met with joy, and gives us her Magnificat. She is received with joy, and thanks God, declares her lowliness in humility, and shows us how the glory of God finds favor in the lowly and lays out for us God’s merciful plan of salvation in the baby she carries. The mighty and powerful will be brought down, the prideful will be scattered, and the hungry will be filled with good things. Shame and anxiety will be no more as God in his mercy has given us his Son to bear and remove all sin and that which separates us from God and each other. Mary’s heart is bursting with joy and love and hope. And if we receive those who are ashamed or have anxiety with joy, and love, Christ, in his love, comes again, and give them strength and hope.

We light the fourth candle in this last Sunday of Advent, with hope, joy and love. Reflect on this as Elizabeth receives Mary, and Christ is born in Bethlehem, and in our hearts this Christmas.

Our readings this week are:  Fr. Rick Morley's remarks about Elizabeth in "from shame to blessing with haste," Dan Clendenin's "Blessed is the Child You Will Bear - Advent and Anxiety," and The Debie Thomas' "At the Threshold."

Rejoice Always? How do we do that?

 Scripture: Zephaniah 3:14-20  • Isaiah 12:2-6  • Philippians 4:4-7  • Luke 3:7-18

Amid the hustle and bustle of the season, year's end work to finish, cleaning, baking, decorating, shopping, wrapping presents, meetings, choir practice, addressing Christmas cards, office and church dinners, worshiping, reading, checking off our lists and agendas, thinking of others...thinking of others? There are a lot of emotions which come into play during Advent and Christmas. How can we rejoice in all things?

We again encounter John the Baptizer, crying out for repentance in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord, and this time, in addition to the urgency of his message, we see can hear anger in his voice. What place does this have in the good news coming near? In preparing for the Lord, what are we called to do? See Good News? Ouch that hurts! by Peter Woods.

Yes, we have all experienced or witnessed the full range of emotions and human conditions during the Christmas season. Great joy, wonder, surprise and sadness, loneliness, nostalgia, and anger. And in the midst of all of our humanity, the Lord comes to us, the giver of life, to share all that is life with us. Read "Joy- their Color of Grace" by Christopher Burkett, and the story of the grandmother, Gagi, to see how anger and self pity is overcome by joy, as we prepare for the coming of the Lord, who is doing something wonderful and new.

For a profound article on joy and rejoicing, recognizing God's presence,and exercising joy in tough times, a forward calling for joy, read Debie Thomas' "Rejoice Always?"

What, or Who Do We Listen To?

 Scripture: Baruch 5:1-9 or Malachi 3:1-4  • Luke 1:68-79  • Philippians 1:3-11  •

Luke 3:1-6

The prophet Isaiah foretold the coming of a voice of one crying in the wilderness, called, and calling us, to prepare the way of the Lord, to make his paths straight, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.  From Luke's gospel, we recognize this to be John the Baptist, or better yet, to begin with John the Baptist. We are to prepare for a new beginning.

What is a prophet? What do prophets do? Why do we need a prophet? That is the question The Rev. Leon Johnson asks in his homily, "Who Needs a Prophet" What do you think about prophets, and why do you think we do, or don't, need prophets? What does John the Baptist do? What are we called to do?

What, or whose voice do we listen to? The Rev. Lucy Standlund, in "Prepare the Way," asks. 
Is it the voice of the powerful and privileged? Debie Thomas examines this, and more in 

"A Voice Crying."

In "This Isn't the Way It's Supposed to Be," The Rev. Frank Pagano tells us it is good news to know something isn't what it should be, and to be able to move on, with hope and the power to move on to God's peace with forgiveness.