If you are more into listening than reading, Words Twice a Week is available, along with other good stuff, as a podcast from St Paul’s Episcopal Church. Click here.
And this is kind of cool, here’s a link to a short video set to James Taylor singing Some Children See Him (Alfred Burt Carol). From there you can also get to Cher, Kenny Loggins, Andy Williams, and some other folks each singing it as well. Fun for us at St Paul’s. When the choir sang it last year, we were in some pretty good company. Who knew? Well, maybe you did. It was news to me.
And Sunday is the Third of Advent – Gaudete, or ”The Rose Candle”. It’s about joy!
Ps 126 Bringing in the sheaves!
+ vs 1 – when God brought us back to Zion, or when God restored our fortunes, or apparently one possible translation is “When God set the fate of Zion” We often associate this psalm as a memory of coming back from the Babylonian Exile, but there are other possible themes. It’s one of the “Psalms of Ascent” – possibly the people sang this as they were going up to Jerusalem for an annual pilgrimage. The CEV calls these psalms “Songs for worship” – it ends up with planting and harvesting images and perhaps was part of an agricultural festival.
+ the psalm remembers the good time when God brought us back. So we are remembering that God brought us to a good time and also recognizing that we need to be brought back again. What “good time” (golden age?) do we remember back to? What would it mean for God to bring us to a time like that? Or bring a time like that to us? (Is that different?)
+ vs 2 refers to what other nations said about us. What are other nations saying about us today? What are other faith traditions saying about us? What are we saying about others?
+ vs 5 asks for God’s help (“we cried, now let us celebrate”) and vs 6 affirms faithfully (“we cried, but we will celebrate”)
+ in some cultures, especially those that live very close to the land, planting time is sometimes a time of hunger and weeping because the choice must be made whether to eat the seed or to plant it. It takes a good amount of faith to plant, throw away, the only food you have in hopes of it growing and providing food for the next year. The soil, the rains, the insect pests – it’s a tight balance.
Isaiah 61.1-4, 8-11
+ “the spirit of the Lord is upon me” – or, the CEV translates “The Spirit of the Lord God has taken control of me!” That sounds more like letting the remote operator take control of your computer. I have known a number of people who I felt were speaking God’s word, but I don’t know if I have ever known one whom I felt God had taken control of. Certainly don’t feel like God has ever “taken control” of me? Have you?
+ whenever the lectionary leaves out verses, I always go right to them. Looking at vs 5-7, “they will hire foreigners to take care of their sheep and their vineyards and clean their homes – no I added that last bit; “the treasures of the nations will belong to them” – ripe for exploiting; “they were terribly insulted, horribly mistreated” – what does that resonate with for you? So maybe the lectionary is suggesting those are things we should shy away from?
+ vs1-4 are the words of the speaker, the servant, the prophet and the message is to “tell the oppressed the good news.” So this is bedrock “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” This is a message for those who are broken-hearted, who are suffering under a load of debt, who are captives or slaves or caught in the repercussions of years of racism, who are homeless and hungry, who are hopeless. One of the little blurbs I read each day noted the difference between helpless and hopeless. So anyway, careful now, which group do we (I, you) belong to? Marna was suggesting last night that we think about which Christmas story character we resonate with this year. I have to admit that to some extent I resonate with the animals in the stable – I’m pretty comfortable, I’m not sure I want to move aside to let a baby be born in my space, especially not a "Baby"! So perhaps I need to be “troubled” with Christmas this year, more than “comforted”. (I’m a little more comfortable with “troubled” than with “afflicted” when it applies to me!)
+ So this is not a message for Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg or any of the other “centi-billionaires”. There was a comment about how Bill Gates is trying to give his money away, but it just keeps coming in faster than he can. Does this suggest something wrong with the system?
+ and note, it is the oppressed and suffering who will be the “Trees of Justice” and rebuilders of the cities. Groups who try to help those with needs often stress the importance of having clients, some of those they are trying to help, on their board or staff.
+ Tree of Justice – when we were in Lucerne last year we heard about the Linden Tree (I think it was) where people dealt with legal issues. They believed that persons had to tell the truth if they were standing under the linden tree. Here’s a brief piece and a neat picture about this idea.
+ vs5-9 are God speaking – and God loves justice and hates robbery and injustice. I suppose God likes other stuff too – praise, kindness, humility, etc, but here the focus is on justice.
+ God will make a covenant with them. Wait a minute, didn’t God already do that? Is this something beyond the 10 Words for Life?
+ “God’s saving power and justice are the clothes I wear” – brings up uncomfortable thoughts of The Emperor’s New Clothes! Do I need to look in a different mirror?
+ vs11 The Lord will bring about justice. So what is our job? How do we fit in? Or more importantly, are we helping or hindering?
+ the year of the Lord’s favor – could this be looking forward to a sabbatical or jubilee year? Especially if one of the issues is those who are suffering under a load of debt?
Ok – this has gotten kind of heavy and it’s supposed to be the “Joy Sunday”. Here’s a prayer -
God of Advent waiting,
We are troubled by robbery and unrighteousness, even our own.
Help us find you in our troubled times;
help us find the joy in flowers and wreaths, olive oil lotions, carols and songs of praise,
that we might be strengthened
to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with you through your world.
Moving on -
John 1.6-8, 19-28
+ kind of like 20 questions – are you _____? No. Are you ______? No. Or maybe that ice breaker game where you pin famous people’s names on guest’s backs. “Am I _______?” No. “Am I ________?” Nope!
+ John – the Baptist, Forerunner, Messenger, now Witness. John was not the light, but he came to witness to the light. One writer notes that John know who he wasn’t and who he was. He wasn’t the Messiah, he was the witness. As a church, are we clear about what we are?
+ John baptizes with water always and only so that people will see Jesus. There is no “baptism for repentance” here, and even “he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” doesn’t come along for 5 more verses.
+ “Here among you is one you do not know” – that’s kind of a haunting quote, isn’t it. Who might we overlook on Sunday morning? Who might we be missing among the asylum seekers turned back at our boarders? Who might we be overlooking among the homeless and hungry?
+ but then Fred Craddock notes that some have made of life of looking for the messiah, preferring that to accepting the responsibility that finding a messiah brings.
+ through this gospel, people continually do not fully recognize Jesus – Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, the high priest, Pilate, even the disciples. How do we think of Jesus? Can we acknowledge that our knowledge is partial, imperfect? That others might have a different understanding that might be as valid as ours, or even more so?
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