Winthrop Congregational Church, United Church of Christ
No matter who you are. No matter where you are on life's journey. You are welcome here.
Matthew 1:18-25 The Birth of Jesus the Messiah Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus. Luke 1:46-55 Mary’s Song of Praise And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’ Today is the Sunday in Advent when traditionally we are invited to consider love: what it means to love and be loved; how this season of waiting is inspired by love and fueled by love; how the Incarnation is Divine Love come alive and made flesh; and how God has been, is, and will be with us because of love. Love is a risky business. Loving opens us up to the potential for great growth and great pain. Being loved well can help us to learn to trust and to be trustworthy. Love gone awry or withheld or manipulated can break our conviction, warp our confidence, and even put us in danger. Love is a risky business. Fortunately, it is also Jesus’ family business. The first chapter of Matthew is Jesus’ genealogy, and within that genealogy are five women whose stories are shaped by the risks of love:
Only two of the Gospels, Matthew and Luke, tell us the stories surrounding Jesus’ birth. Both Gospels make clear, even before we meet the Christ-child, that we know that his is a family marked by all the complexities of love. In fact, his very life is a testament to the risks of love. Let us return to Matthew and to Joseph’s call story. Most of the Bible does not speak of romance in way that reflects modern American sensibilities around building relationships and building families. Duty and obligation shape stories of marriages and parenting as much, and sometimes more, than love as we might understand it in the modern sense. And, yet, how can we not describe Joseph’s bravery in Matthew as love? How can we not look at the risk he took in staying with Mary, in raising her child, and not call it loving? As Dr. Wil Gafney notes in a commentary on this text, there is a part of Torah that says people caught in adultery should be stoned (even though there are few stories of that happening in the Bible). Even if that violence was unlikely, a pregnancy before marriage and from someone other than her betrothed, according to Gafney, would have made it challenging for Mary to marry someone else later. Her ability to sustain relationships in her community and even have enough money to survive would have been sorely tested. Joseph’s trust in God allowed him to take the risk of treating Mary in the most loving way possible. By continuing with plans to marry, Joseph offered Mary great care in a time she needed it. I do think it’s a little funny that Joseph trusted God enough to marry her, but also made sure a baby boy was born before taking the next steps in the relationship. This is a little bit of “trust but verify” from Joseph that I can appreciate. His love of God was guided by wisdom. I’m sure that would come in handy has he helped raise the child who would come to be known as “God is with us.” In looking over our Advent devotional readings for this week, I saw that the authors invited us to consider the idea that “hope is worth the risk.” Upon reading this phrase, I thought this poem by Emily Dickinson: “Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all - And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - And sore must be the storm - That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm - I’ve heard it in the chillest land - And on the strangest Sea - Yet - never - in Extremity, It asked a crumb - of me. This poem is well-known for a reason. The first line is so lovely, evoking the pretty and tough little birds we all share space with. I think of the chickadees that fuss at me from the red pines next to our house as I boil maple sap outdoors in March. May my hope ever be as tenacious as an annoyed chickadee, frustrated by smoke and disruption, undaunted by the large stature of the irritant, and unceasing in its willingness to shout the truth of its exasperation for all creatures to hear. That being said, the last line of the poem pulls me up a little short. Hope, the tough little thing, even in the hardest situations, “never- in Extremity,/ It asked a crumb- of me.” Far be it from me to take issue with the great Emily Dickinson, but my first impulse is to think of hope as something like a fuel that keeps us going. Kayla Craig, in our devotional, calls hope “a force that propels us toward God’s presence and redemptive plan for all creation, for all time.” Why would hope, a force within us, ask something of us, the ones who would be hopeful? Then, I thought about it a little more. I realized that I often think of hope in a similar way to how I think about love: it is something that both exists but also is something I do with intent. Hope and love may arise unbidden, but also, usually must be cultivated to truly thrive. Our scriptures for the day show us a hope cultivated right alongside love, like how my great-grandfather taught me to grow green beans up a stalk of corn. Joseph and Mary’s sense faithful obligation to, and trust in, God gave rise to deeply loving actions. That same faith and trust was the foundation for the hope that allowed them to accept their calls from God. Maybe they had a potential for hope that was pre-existent within their souls. But, they actually had to feed that hope to make it concrete in this world. Hope didn’t simply float around in their brains. It came alive in their faithful and loving actions. Hope was a risk. And, they took that risk on purpose. I follow a lobsterman named Jacob Knowles on Instagram. A few months ago, he found a thing with feathers, in this case, a migrating pine warbler, that had gotten lost at sea. Between the fog and the northerly wind, the tiny bird ended up a 30-minute boat ride from shore, on the verge of either drowning or becoming seagull food. Because these little birds are brave and want to survive, they are often willing to take the risk of landing on a boat if one comes near. Fortunately, this one landed on one helmed by two loving men. They’ve rescued many a tiny bird as they work and have developed a whole system for managing them. Jacob’s coworker Cody snags the warbler with a net. The humans then stick it under trash can that makes a surprisingly good bird cage. They give it some crumbs to eat and water, and go about their day, eventually heading to land. During this rescue, once they arrived on land, Jacob took hold of the little bird to release it. The bird, a spunky and brave little creature, bit the fire out of his thumb to make sure he remembered that it was a wild thing not to be messed around with. I bet it knows the chickadees at my house. With a respectful laugh and a comment about “biting the hand that feeds you,” Jacob let the bird go, and it flew towards the land and trees where it was supposed to be. We are in a season where we tell, once again, the stories of hopeful risks and loving actions that are the foundations of our faith. My prayer today is that even if you find that your hope is thirty minutes out to sea and stuck in a trash can, you can still find the love you need to sustain it. When powerful forces push you off course, may you find a safe place to land and rest while you figure out what comes next. This Advent, may all those strong enough to do harm to those who are smaller and more desperate, choose to do love instead, even if it means getting their hands a little dirty. And, may the beaks of the small and brave remind the powerful that they can’t do whatever they want without consequence. Hope and love are risks. May we remember these stories of our faith and know that the risks are worth it. Resources consulted while writing this sermon: The video of the bird rescue: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DA3vxMKxtnf/?igsh=MWw3MjJheTcyd295bA== Wil Gafney, "Advent IV, " A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church, Year W (New York, Church Publishing Incorporated, 2021) You can find the text of the poem here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42889/hope-is-the-thing-with-feathers-314 Kayla Craig, "Hope is Worth the Risk," Words for the Beginning: An Advent Devotional (A Sanctified Art, 2024)
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Luke 1:26-29 The Birth of Jesus Foretold In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Isaiah 43:1-7 Restoration and Protection Promised But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life. Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; I will say to the north, ‘Give them up’, and to the south, ‘Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth-- everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.’ Promises have been made. Do not be afraid. This is how we begin Advent this year, with these two assurances: Promises have been made; do not be afraid. With Advent, the church worship calendar has begun anew. Our predecessors in the faith mirrored the cyclical nature of creation when developing our pattern of worship. Fall shifts to winter. Winter into spring. Spring into summer. Summer into fall. Fall, again, into winter. We shift from a reminder that Christ’s Kindom is just and loving into a season of waiting... waiting for redemption, waiting for protection, waiting to be gathered up from all the places we’ve been scatter into the arms of the One who formed us and knows us by name. We are given gifts to make the waiting manageable. This year, the first among them are these reminders: Promises have been made; do not be afraid.
I learned in a book called All Through the Day, All Through the Year that Advent was first celebrated in Spain and France. The word “advent” has roots in in the Latin word “to come.” What are some things we might do to prepare for someone to come to our home? (responses: clean up, prepare where they will stay, make some food, snowplow) Over the course of the next four weeks, we as a church will be preparing for someone to come. We’ve begun our preparations. Our colors have shifted from green to purple. We have extra lights, on the tree and in our Advent wreath, to lead the way. Our musicians are polishing up music for the season. The kids are busily practicing the play that they wrote. We’re going to share a simple meal together to fortify us for this journey. In Advent, we are waiting on something important, but we can’t forget that the waiting is made easier by working and being together. Scholar Joseph Evans calls the biblical prophets “storytellers and holistic commentators on human conditions.” Prophets do not observe this world in disconnected, disinterested way. God has empowered them to see how we are a part of this place and a part of each other. God has tasked them with bringing reminders to humanity. In Isaiah, the prophet reminds people of the covenant... the promises the people made to God and the promises God made to the people. The prophecies recorded in Isaiah were shared under both the memory and threat of war. Chapter 43 is in the portion of the book, as Joseph Blenkinsopp points out in his notes on the text, that hopes to inspire the descendants of those kidnapped into exile in Babylon to return to Judah to rebuild. For those who yearn for a land they’ve never seen and for those who have made a home in a place that was never intended for them, the message is the same. God remembers you and is invested in your well-being. God has made promises to you and will keep them. It is possible to return to the land from which your ancestors were taken. Do not be afraid. The journey will be hard. Rebuilding will not be easy. But I will be with you. Dr. Wil Gafney describes the God we hear in Isaiah as one who, upon gathering her children from the whole earth, will “protect them in such a way as to violate the laws of nature to ensure their safety.” I bet Mary, Jesus’ mom, could tell us something about God and the laws of nature. Because, she clearly is meeting that God in our reading from Luke... or meeting God’s emissary. Notice that she is called “favored one.” This kind of language assumes a measure of intimacy with the Divine. God is invested in her well-being, as God was invested in the well-being of the exiled. Just as God offered them assurance for a hard journey, God is going to offer Mary assurance in the hard journey she will soon face. Mary... engaged but not yet married... teenager, but not yet adult... needs to know that she is not in this alone. Like the prophets who came to Isaiah to bring a reminder of God’s promise, the angel will assure Mary that God is with her. I do appreciate that Mary is described as being “perplexed.” I, too, would be perplexed if an angel showed up and called me favored one. Because I know that no one gets called “favored” in the Bible unless God is getting ready to ask them to do something hard. You know how in families that treat children unfairly, sometimes they will pick a favorite and that kid never has to do anything? That’s the opposite of what favored means in the Bible. To be beloved by God is to be invited to work alongside God for the good of the world. The first Sunday of Advent is a Sunday where we talk about Hope. Perhaps this is the hope we need today: to be reminded that we are beloved, that we can count on God to keep promises, and that we don’t have to be afraid. God loves us and that love comes with responsibilities. Thank goodness God is with us in all this. Scripture tells us that we’re going to need her. Resources consulted while writing this sermon: David B. Batchelder, All Through the Day, All Through the Year: Family Prayers and Celebrations (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 2000) Joseph Evans, "First Sunday after the Epiphany (Baptism of Jesus)," Preaching God's Transforming Justice: A Lectionary Commentary, Year C, Ronald J. Allen, Dale P. Andrews, and Dawn Ottoni- Wilhelm, eds. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012) Joseph Blenkinsopp's notes on Isaiah in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocryphya, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001) Wilda C. Gafney, "Third Sunday of Easter, " A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church: Year B (New York: Church Publishing, 2023) |
AuthorPastor Chrissy is a native of East Tennessee. She and her wife moved to Maine from Illinois. She is a graduate of the Divinity School at Wake Forest University and Chicago Theological Seminary. Archives
January 2025
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