I was talking to my mom this week. Since my granny can’t get out to see a Christmas pageant at a church, mom is thinking about trying to organize a tiny one with my niece and nephew. My nephew Sol is a great reader, so he’ll be the narrator. My niece Lyla, with her big imagination, will probably be an angel with one line “(be not afraid”) or a shepherd with some sheep or maybe both. Mom asked me about what part of the story to have the kids read. I asked, “How much do you want to have to explain to Sol about marriage and pregnancies?” Not much, as it turned out. So, that meant Mary’s visitation from the angel in Luke 1 and today’s reading from Matthew 1 were out. They’re gonna start the story with Matthew 2. Explaining a census seems a little simpler than explaining why Joseph might not have been excited to hear that his fiancée was pregnant.

     There are some Bible stories that I think that people who have heard them frequently forget how strange or scandalous they can be the first time you hear them. The stories around Jesus’ birth are that kind of Bible story. The Advent and Christmas seasons are full of sweet scenes of the little Holy Family. Meanwhile, when we turn to the Bible story itself, we are reminded of the real stakes for this couple if they choose to do what God asks of them. People have been, and are to this day, ostracized from family and community under circumstances that are quite similar to those described in our reading. Two thousand years into this Jesus movement, when so often in the West the word “Christian” is used to mean “respectable” and “well-behaved,” it is good to be reminded of the scandal that began our relationship with Christ. Remembering the scandalous nature of the Incarnation can help us be braver in a world that too often prefers we act politely rather than justly.

     Given the differences in culture, the challenges in translating Greek to English, and years of tradition surrounding this story, the precise nature of Joseph and Mary’s relationship in Matthew is confusing. The New Revised Standard version describes them as being “engaged.” In our culture, this means not yet married but planning to be married at some point. This is how Eugene Park understands their relationship in his commentary. Mitzi Minor reads it a little differently in hers. She adds some context to help us understand what marriages in respectable families would look like in this era.

     Minor argues that a better translation indicates that they are married but not yet living together. She notes that marriages in this era were economic arrangements made between the fathers of a man and a woman with the ultimate goal of producing “legitimate heirs” for the household of the man. While it is clear that these kinds of households could be loving and something that we would call love could grow between the couple, Minor says, “love wasn’t the reason for the marriage.” Mary and Joseph’s marriage had been arranged and was already what we would consider “legal.” However, for some reason, they were not living together. Minor suggests that maybe the house wasn’t done or maybe Joseph was busy with an apprenticeship.

     Apparently, though, regardless of whether you understand them to be engaged or married but not cohabitating, Mary’s pregnancy has come at an inopportune time. If they are not yet married, they should not have been spending time together in a way that would result in pregnancy. If they are married but not yet living together, it would have been assumed that Mary would have had access to suitors other than her husband, and therefore, according to Minor, it would not have been easy to prove that her child was Joseph’s. The easiest explanation for her pregnancy would have been that she had committed adultery.
As Boyung Lee points out in her commentary on this text in our Advent devotional, there were frightening consequences for women suspected of adultery. Deuteronomy 22: 23-24 indicates that even the suspicion of adultery was enough to warrant stoning. Beyond all the dangers of pregnancy as a teenager in first century Palestine, Mary was in danger within her community. And, as Joash Thomas points out in an interesting post about the religious traditions that would have been important to Joseph, Joseph also risked damage to his reputation and future marriage prospects. This is why he initially considers divorce, though he is clear that he wants to do so quietly, in order to protect Mary. The stakes are so high in this story! Life and death and the lineage of an entire family!

     This is why God’s ask and Joseph’s assent are so important. With Mary’s life and Joseph’s family line on the line, an angel shows up in a dream with an invitation to Joseph to further turn his whole life upside down. “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.” The reasonable thing would have been divorce. The respectable thing would have been divorce. God asked Joseph to do the loving and just thing instead. Stay with Mary and do not make her do this alone.
Lee refers to this as a “theology of proximity.” That is a definition of righteousness and faithfulness that includes actively drawing closer to the vulnerable. It means “aligning ourselves with those at risk,” even if that increases risk to our own selves... even when we are afraid. In his post about Joseph, Thomas points out that Joseph is able to take this kind of risk because building his faith has been a vital part of his life. He is described as a righteous man, but righteousness doesn’t just happen, it’s cultivated. We have historical records of the kinds of faith practices that Joseph might have participated in that could have fortified him for the work of partnering with Mary to raise the Messiah.

     Thomas said that a devout first century Jewish man could have been expected to pray at three different designated times a day. He would have observed the Sabbath and attended services at the synagogue where he would have engaged with Scripture with other attendees. He also had a religious expectation to tithe and care for people who had fewer resources than him. He would have followed religious dietary and other purity laws and fasted according to their traditions. Each one of these activities and all of them together would have helped to build a foundation of receptivity to the Spirit in Joseph’s heart.

     When you know the stories of a different Joseph the dreamer, it might be easier to believe that God would show up in your dreams, too. When you know the story of Abraham and Sarah, it might be easier to imagine that a miraculous pregnancy could change the world. When you know that Isaiah spoke of God-with-us, it might be easier to believe that God would be with you and Mary through this pregnancy and in the Child to come. Thomas argues that Joseph has been preparing for this moment his whole life just by being faithful.

     Boyung Lee says, “God’s work in this world unfolds not through lone heroes, but through the joined hands of those who choose: relationship over self-protection, accompaniment over certainty, and presence over perfection.” In this Advent season, I hope you have connected to the practices that can allow you to say yes when God comes calling. Because, God will call each one of us to be a part of Christ’s entrance into this world. May we be as willing as Joseph to overcome the fear that could stop us, and stand with the ones who need accompaniment the most.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Joash Thomas: https://www.instagram.com/p/DSgMknejyzY/?img_index=3&igsh=MTIzNzNjdjc2Z2JjZw==
J. Andrew Overman's notes on Matthew inThe New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocryphya, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)
Boyung Lee, "When We are Running Out of Hope, God is at Work," from What Do You Fear? Insisting on Hope This Advent, a devotional from A Sanctified Art: https://sanctifiedart.org/what-do-you-fear-advent-devotional-booklet
Mitzi Minor: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/jesus-as-immanuel-2/commentary-on-matthew-118-25-10
​Eugene Park: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-of-advent/commentary-on-matthew-118-25-11

Matthew 11:1-11 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

Now when Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and proclaim his message in their cities.

Messengers from John the Baptist

When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his[b] disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with a skin disease are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

Jesus Praises John the Baptist

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What, then, did you go out to see? Someone[c] dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces.  What, then, did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’
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“Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist, yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

     Though the book of Matthew starts out talking about Joseph’s family, when we fast forward to chapter 3, we’re back to Mary’s family and John, whose parents we met last week. Unlike Luke, we don’t learn anything about John’s birth in Matthew, and his parents aren’t mentioned at all, nor is his familial connection to Jesus. In fact, the first time we hear of him at all is at Jesus’ baptism. He’s fully adult out teaching in the wilderness, saying “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” He is also described as fulfilling a prophecy from Isaiah. He’s the voice crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” It is clear from the moment we see him that he had a very clear sense of mission and was unafraid to tell powerful people what they were doing wrong. Even the king wasn’t beyond his rebuke. John is eventually arrested sometime after baptizing Jesus. His arrest, according to J. Andrew Overman’s notes on Matthew, is the catalyst for Jesus entering into public ministry.

     Our reading for today comes after Jesus has been preaching for a while. John, who appears to have long-ago accepted his role as prophet of the coming messiah and accepted Jesus as being particularly blessed by God, nevertheless sends out emissaries to make sure that Jesus is the one they have been waiting for. John sends his disciples to Jesus to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” John has never appeared to have been one for dithering. Maybe he knew his time was limited. He couldn’t waste what he had left. Or, maybe as Boyung Lee suggests, John needed reassurance that his mission hadn’t been in vain.

     Lee points out that John had once called Jesus “lamb of God.” Why would he need reassurance now? Being imprisoned by a dangerous and powerful man is challenging at best, terrifying and demoralizing at worst, and this was prison constructed with the intent to do harm. There was no lip service to rehabilitation in the Roman era. There was only punishment. And, sometimes that punishment was death. Are we hearing, as Lee suggests, doubt growing within John as he faced frightening consequences to tell hard truths to dangerous men? She says, “This is not doubt born of cynicism. It is the trembling that comes when conviction meets suffering— when the cost of faithfulness has been high, and the fruit appears small. It is what hope sounds like when it’s running thin.” Jesus hears whatever is going on with John through the questions of his emissaries and responds with grace and assurance.

      First, Jesus tells John’s disciples to report on the good works he’s been doing: “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” Jesus is bringing the care God promised to the vulnerable, and John should know about it. He also says, “bless is anyone who takes no offense at me. Overman points out in his notes on this section that all of this is a reference to prophecies in the book of Isaiah (Is. 29:18-19, 35:5-6, 42:18, 61:1). Jesus is affirming that he is fulfilling the prophecies. John doesn’t have to wait anymore. This is enough assurance for the emissaries, who take this good news back to John.

     Then Jesus turns around and does something else. After the emissaries have left, Jesus began to affirm to all who would listen John’s own call to be a prophet. This appears to me to be a kind attempt at restoring his reputation. It may also just be Jesus telling the truth. He was good about that. He wasn’t going to let Herod’s accusations of sedition be the last public word on John’s legacy. Jesus said that John was, indeed, the prophet about whom was written, “See, I am sending you my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you (Malachi 3:1 and maybe also Isaiah 40.3).” In fact, he affirmed John to be a prophet without compare in their time.

     Jesus continues this affirmation after our reading, correcting the record for those who might believe that John’s arrest shows that he was untrustworthy. Jesus argued to the contrary: John’s dedication to God’s calling, even at great personal cost, demonstrated integrity and divine inspiration. This week marked the 70th anniversary of the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott. I can’t help but see parallels between the story of the boycott and today’s scripture. The catalyst for the boycott was the arrest of experienced civil rights organizer Rosa Parks for not following the racist laws that allowed bus drivers to demand Black people give up seats for white passengers. She was not the only person to have been arrested for this, but she was the person organizers believed could be most successfully defended in a way that could overturn the racist law.

     The strike went on for 381 days, drawing national attention to local leaders like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy Sr., who were involved in the boycott. The boycott was not easy. It required a significant willingness to sacrifice on the part of the boycotters and a significant amount of organizing to get Black people to and from their responsibilities without the public buses. Organizers and allies faced no small risk of violence for speaking the truth of the sinfulness of segregation. But, for them, like John, the risk was worth arrest, because they were called by God to pursue Justice.

     Today’s Advent theme is peace. About four months into the boycott, the day before he was to go to trial for violating Alabama’s anti-boycott law, Dr. King gave a sermon, where, among many things, he spoke of peace as “not merely [the] absence of ... tension, but the presence of justice.” He also said, “If peace means keeping my mouth shut in the midst of injustice and evil, I don't want it.” This feels to me a like a sentiment that both Jesus and John would have shared. Dr. King would lose that trial, though his sentence would be suspended on appeal. He would end up in jail many times though. It is good to remember that being imprisoned doesn’t always mean you did something wrong.

     I pray that you will hear the affirmation you need, like John did, when hope is short and consequences are unjust. I hope that you will have a defender who will tell the truth about who you are and what you do. In challenging season that demand truth telling and justice seeking, I pray that you have peace from Christ reminding you that you are just who you say you are and who God has called you to be. You may not have the same call as John, but, as we learned in Montgomery, regular people can make a path for God’s righteousness to enter the world, too. John didn’t have to wait for another, and neither do we. The one we have been waiting for is here and leading us forward into a future of love and justice.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
J. Andrew Overman's notes on Matthew in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocryphya, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)
Boyung Lee, "When We are Running Out of Hope, God is at Work," from What Do You Fear? Insisting on Hope This Advent, a devotional from A Sanctified Art: https://sanctifiedart.org/what-do-you-fear-advent-devotional-booklet
An article on the anniversary of the Montgomery bus boycott: https://apnews.com/article/montgomery-bus-boycott-anniversary-events-civil-rights-844b1cba2267fd60d30211f596d3edbf
​Dr. King's sermon where he talks about a negative peace vs a justice-filled peace: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/when-peace-becomes-obnoxious
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Luke 1:5-13 The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was descended from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. But they had no children because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.
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Once when he was serving as priest before God during his section’s turn of duty, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to offer incense. Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified, and fear overwhelmed him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.

    Four Sundays. Four words to help guide us through the season of Advent. What are the four words that will guide our worship over the next four weeks? Does anyone remember? Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. What is today’s theme? Hope. Advent always begins with hope. The name for the season Advent comes from the Latin word “adventus,” which means “coming” or “arrival.” Who are we hoping will come during the season of Advent? Jesus. That’s right. Like anyone who is expecting a new member of the family, we are getting ourselves and our place ready for their arrival. Because, as with any new member of the household, Jesus’ arrival will change everything.

     We have already done a few things to prepare. We’ve added special paraments in purple to remind us of the season. We’ve added a tree that we will decorate throughout the season. We’ve added the special wreath of candles, one of which we’ll light every week. Does anyone light candles at home, too? If you want some candles and don’t have them yet, we have some out in the lobby. You’re welcome to take them when you leave worship today.

     In the Northern Hemisphere, where practices of Advent first developed, we start these practices of hopeful expectation in the darkest part of the year. Together, we’ll move towards the winter solstice, where the days would finally start to get longer again, days after which we will celebrate Christ’s birth. I’ve often wondered if part of the reason we want to have extra candles around during Advent is because we need a little more light and warmth in the dark and the cold. It has come to mean a lot to me personally that something beautiful and powerful and awe-inspiring and overwhelming will arrive in the darkest season. And we’ve been handed down tools to make our way through the dark together.

     There are people we usually talk about during Advent. For those of you who have celebrated Advent before, can you remember some of those people? You may have heard some of their names in the story Lacey read for today. (let the congregation name some of the people, who might include Mary, Joseph, Herod, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Angels, maybe Jesus’ whole family line, the magi, shepherds, Herod). Our reading today started by telling us the name of a king to help us understand what time frame we’re hearing about. What was that king’s name? Herod.

     Was Herod a kind king? No. He wasn’t. In a commentary on our story, Dr. Boyung Lee, who is a professor at a theology school in Colorado, reminds us that Herod had been appointed the leader of Judea by Rome. The people of Judea were accustomed to having a king that they thought God appointed, not an outside nation. Herod, and everyone else, knew he only had the job of king because Rome wanted him to. They could remove him at any time. He would become cruel and mean-spirited, hurting anyone who he worried was trying to remove him from power. He was not a kind king. He was a bully who was mean to the people he was supposed to be taking care of because he was afraid.

     Part of what is powerful about Jesus’ birth is that he won’t come into the world when everything is perfect and in a place where everything is just right. The Gospel of Luke wants us to see God’s Word become a human in the midst of a hard time in a place led by dangerous people. God will be born into humanity in a special way within a regular family living in a challenging time. This family was also a family that was being sustained by their faith in a hard time. We’ll learn more about that as we meet Jesus’ parents. Even in his extended family, who we meet in today’s story, faith in God was a vital part of their lives. Elizabeth and Zechariah, Mary’s older cousin and her husband, were deeply faithful people. And even they were surprised by God in this story.

     Elizabeth and Zechariah wanted to have a baby but had never been able to do so. Dr. Lee reminds us that in this time, if you wanted to have children but were unable to become pregnant, lots of people thought that meant God was mad at you and therefore wouldn’t help you to become pregnant. The Bible tells us that God wasn’t mad at them, though. They just were having a hard time having a baby and had thought that they were so old that they never would. But, as Dr. Lee says in our devotional, “their faith endured, even in waiting.” They are good examples for us as people living in a hard time both because they had a wicked king and because of medical issues in their family. They show us how faith and our faith practices can be a tool for making our way into a future that is unclear.

     It’s interesting, isn’t it, that when the angel of God appears to Zechariah, even though he was faithful and hoped something like this would happen, he was still afraid. We don’t stop being afraid of surprising things just because we love God. Dr. Lee points out that Zechariah isn’t just slightly startled. He’s afraid in a way that leaves him shaken in body and spirit. When enough bad stuff happens, we can come to expect only bad things. Or, as Dr. Lee puts it, “we may grow so used to disappointment that when hope finally arrives, it startles us. When God interrupts, we flinch.” One of my hopes for us in this season of Advent, is that we can be reminded that fear is a natural response to scary things and uncertain things, but we mustn’t let fear totally shape how we engage with the world. Today’s scripture shows us a God who hears our fears first. And then, responds to them.

     Dr. Lee points out that Zechariah’s fear does not disqualify him from receiving a gift from God. Instead, this moment of fear is the beginning of Zechariah’s transformation. The transformation will not be easy. Zechariah’s not going to be able to speak for a while... like the entire nine months of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. Elizabeth seems to have gotten most of the bravery in the family. Eventually, her faithfulness appears to move her husband. When their son is born and she wants to name him John, Zechariah agrees with her that that will be their child’s name. In standing up for and with his wife, Zechariah finally allows himself to be overcome with hope and is able to speak again. Fear is a part of his story, but it doesn’t stop him from being present with his wife, and it doesn’t stop him from embracing the son he thought he’d never have.

     I read a commentary from the Salt Project this week that talked about a Christian monk named Bernard of Clairvaux, who lived about 900 years ago. Bernard wrote about “three Advents.” The first Advent was when Jesus was born into a human family. The third Advent will be Jesus’ return in the future. He called everything thing else that is happening between that first Christmas and Christ’s return the “middle Advent.” We are living in that Middle Advent. This is the “everyday arrival of Jesus” in our ritual life at church, in the Spirit that moves us in our hearts and minds, and in the faces of the hungry and thirsty people, weary asylum seekers, and those isolated in prison. As we go about the work we’re called to, as Zechariah worked in the temple, we may find ourselves afraid and overwhelmed. Let us remember that our fear does not make us incapable of carrying out the mission God calls us to. And, in the end, may our faith and hope overwhelm the fear that has kept us silent. God has heard our prayer. May we hear God’s messengers who assure us that the future we have hoped for can still come to pass.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
General Advent info: https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2019/11/26/be-ready-salts-lectionary-commentary-for-advent-week-one
A nice history of Advent from the United Methodist Church: https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/book-of-worship/advent
​An introduction to the season from the UCC: https://www.ucc.org/sermon-seeds/2025-2026-advent-and-christmas-series-may-peace-be-within-you/
Boyung Lee, "In the Time of Herod, We Long for God to Break In, " from What Do You Fear? Insisting on Hope This Advent, a devotional from A Sanctified Art: https://sanctifiedart.org/what-do-you-fear-advent-devotional-booklet

Luke 20:27-38 The Resurrection and Marriage (New International Version)
Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. 

“Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children,
the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers.
The first one married a woman and died childless. The second and then the third married her,
and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. Finally, the woman died too. 

Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”
Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage.  But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. 

But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’

He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

Isaiah 25:1, 4,6-10a Praise to the Lord (New International Version)

25 Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.

You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall.

On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.
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In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.” The hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain.

     Before I begin, let’s all turn to our bulletins. Look at the two songs we are singing together today. What word is in the title of both songs? Saint! Can anyone tell me what a saint is? There are so many ways to talk about saints! In some churches, when they talk about “saints,” it’s kind of like they are talking about churchy super heroes... people who were devout in their faith, who loved Jesus and their neighbor so much that the church believes they deserve a fancy, special title. These saints can continue to help people, even after they’ve been gone from this earth a long time. St. Michael, St. Catherine, St. Jude, St. Nicholas, and St. Francis Xavier are some of this kind of saint.

     Not all Christians use the word “saint” that specifically, though. There is someone named Carolyn Brown who’s job it was before she retired to develop Sunday School programs. She says that “Saints are people through whom God shines. Each saint shows us a different part of God.”   I read another pastor who said, “A saint is someone who loves and follows Jesus.” And, this doesn’t just have to be people in stories in the Bible or famous people. Every day, regular people who try hard to love God and love their neighbors are saints, too. We might think of saints as people like Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a pastor who fought for civil rights as a saint. Or, Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, one of the first women ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church and a civil rights lawyer, as saints. But, according to the Bible, the people who are sitting right next to you in the pews can be saints.

     In this room are the saints that break down boxes at the food pantry, and the saints that make brownies for the church fair, and the saints who write cards to people who are sick and the saints who call their congress people and fight for people who don’t have enough food. There are saints here that keep track of my receipts and teach Sunday School and make music and clean up flower beds. The apostle Paul talked about Christians who are “called to belong to Christ” as also being “called to be saints.” We are all, then, called to be saints.

     I’m talking about saints because today we are celebrating a special day in the church year called All Saints Day. This is a day in the church calendar where we remember the saints of the church and give thanks for them. I read someone described the saints as Christians who have come before us and are with us now as “cheering (for us) and encouraging us on” as we develop our relationship with God and neighbor. At a recent gathering of clergy that I went to, I described what it’s like to go rock-climbing at the gym at Colby. When I am there, I have someone called a belayer who is connected to me by a rope. They keep me from falling to the ground if I slip. They also help me figure how to climb higher if I get stuck. Other people who are waiting to climb cheer and help, too. The saints feel like that are doing those things for us while we are maturing in our faith and service.

     Sometimes when we talk about saints, we’re talking especially about people who have taught us about the faith and served with us at church who have also died. I read something by someone named Joe Iovino who said, “From the early days of Christianity, there is a sense that the Church consists of not only all living believers, but also all who have gone before us.” We believe that as Christians, we are all part of one community, not just with those in our church, but with people from all places and times. In book called Hebrews, which is really an ancient Christian sermon, the author tells us we are surrounded by a “great cloud of witnesses” who help us persevere. This means people who have come before us, even when they aren’t alive anymore, are watching over us and encouraging us as we try to be good people and be faithful to God.

     One activity we might do on All Saints Day is offer up a prayer of thanksgiving and remembrance for those who are no longer here with us in the body, but who have joined the great cloud of witnesses. We might lift up the names of Jack Everett, Martha Payne, Lee Gilman, and Kate Goodspeed as the saints who have gone from our side to God’s arms this year. You may have others you want to make sure to remember. As you came into church, you were handed a leaf. I invite you to write on that leaf the names of some of the saints that you’d like to remember and give thanks for today. There will come a point in the service where I will invite you to come forward and add them to this memory tree. If you are online, you can add the names of your saints to the chat. Today, we also remember that, even though we can’t see them, the people we love and all the saints who have come before us are still with us.

     Today’s scripture reading is from the prophet Isaiah, speaking about how they know that God intends good things for creation. God is a trustworthy refuge to the poor and to those who are in distress. Isaiah calls God “a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.” They understand that God will provide for everyone’s needs, and will ultimately even conquer death, wiping away the tears from every face and the shame that people feel. This is an image of God whose power is mostly clearly seen in compassion, in a meal shared by everyone who wants and needs to eat. We’re going to have communion today, too. As we eat this simple meal together, let us give thanks to God who gave us the saints who have helped God offer mercy and care to those who need it. Death, while still real, does not fully separate us from the saints who have come before. Let us hear and know that God will offer care for all who mourn and for all nations. And, let us come together to praise God for the saints who are still showing us the way to Christ.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
​Illustrated Ministry's Sunday School lesson on All Saints: https://store.illustratedministry.com/products/childrens-bundle-all-saints-day?variant=29568207519842
Carolyn Brown: https://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2014/10/year-all-saints-day-saturday-november-1.html
A couple helpful resource from the United Methodist Church:

• https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/stand-firm-hold-fast/all-saints-sunday-year-c-lectionary-planning-notes/all-saints-sunday-year-c-childrens-message
• Joe Iovino: https://www.umc.org/en/content/all-saints-day-a-holy-day-john-wesley-loved

The notes on "saint" in the HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, revised Edition, ed. Paul J. Achtemeier (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996).
Stephen B. Reid: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-28/commentary-on-isaiah-251-9

     There weren’t really cops in ancient Rome. There were Roman soldiers, tasked with keeping the kind of peace Rome wanted, by any violent means necessary. Well trained in Roman military strategy and usually well equipped with weapons and armor, they were imposing forces in every place that Rome stationed them to control the local population. It is rare that any people being occupied speaks well of their occupier. That is as true of the earliest of Jesus’ disciples as it is of anyone now who resents the presence of soldiers they did not call and who do not necessarily have their well-being at the forefront of their minds.

     Centurions were soldiers with command responsibility over one hundred soldiers in a Roman legion. Each legion would be between 5,400 and 6,000 soldiers, as well as additional auxiliary troops recruited from the people Rome was occupying. Centurions within a legion might also be of lesser or higher rank, with the highest-ranking Centurion being a kind of “knight” among Roman nobility. Men who achieved this rank were a part of a small but prestigious group of military leaders. According to the research I read in writing this sermon, the highest-ranking centurions could retire with quite the pension. Their wealth and the power that came from their station as respected agents of Rome would mean that in many towns, they would be considered among the “notable” citizens.

     Cornelius isn’t the only “good” Centurion that pops up in the Gospels. In Luke 7, a centurion desperate to save the life of a person he enslaved reached out to Jesus for help. That Centurion had Jewish elders who would vouch for him. They said, “He is worthy of having you do this for him, for he loves our people. And, it is he who build our synagogue.” The fact that the elders feel the need to vouch for him tells us something about a typical Centurion/Israelite relationship. Usually, there would not have been much trust there. But, there was here.

     The Centurion, himself speaks with great humility towards Jesus, sending friends to Jesus in his stead, sharing that he believes himself unworthy of speaking to Jesus in person, but still he hopes that Jesus will heal the person he has enslaved and trusts that Jesus can with just one word. Jesus is amazed by the centurion’s faith, saying, “not even in Israel have I found such faith.” When the friends returned to the centurion’s home, the enslaved person is once again in good health.

     There is also a centurion at the crucifixion in both Mark and Luke. In Luke, the centurion who had supervised the soldier who had treated Jesus so cruelly and thrown lots for his clothes, still managed to be moved when Jesus breathed his last breath, saying “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” That centurion praised God (and we are to understand that this is the God of the Jewish people, not one of the Roman pantheons), and said “Certainly this man was innocent.” Acts, the book today’s reading came from, is the sequel to Luke. Luke may have been priming us to understand that even the agents of the empire could use their power for good. Even the agents of the empire could craft a faith that brought healing.

     Everyone in this room is a descendant of Cornelius. Ruthanna B. Hooke points that out in her commentary. Many scholars argue that this story of Peter’s Spirit-inspired change of heart that allows him to be in relationship with Cornelius is the turning point of the entire book of Acts, and probably the turning point of the early church. I’ve talked before about how one of the most contentious arguments within the first generation of the church was whether one had to follow Jewish religious laws in order to follow Jesus. Religious restrictions around food, both what you eat and with whom you share it, were particularly contentious in a religious community that centered itself around a meal shared in memory of Jesus.

     If you’ve spent your whole life building communal identity through one set of shared ritual obligations, it can feel threatening to be told that you don’t have to follow them the same way anymore. When you’ve cultivated a sense of safety by being leery of agents of an empire who happily help crucify you, it can feel threatening to imagine building relationships with citizens of that empire. It is no small thing that the Spirit led the early leaders of the church to find ways to welcome Gentiles into full fellowship. Nearly everyone here is a part of the church 2000 years later because Peter and Paul were led to do this. Today’s scripture is Peter’s story. We’ve already heard some of Paul’s.

     The earlier centurions of Luke and the Ethiopian Eunuch, another faithful Gentile back in Acts 8, were perhaps foreshadowing for this story. The Good Samaritan might have been a little bit of one, too, though they were in a little different category than Gentiles when it came to matters of ritual purity. The story of Pentecost in Acts 2 including a word that God would “pour out my Spirit on all flesh.” This story is a natural extension of that promise.

     Ruthanna Hooke and Israel Kamudzandu both point out in their commentaries that the inclusion of Gentiles into the church was not something the disciples expected or maybe he wanted to happen. This is all God’s work, moving the Spirit to change the hearts of the leaders of the early church. The Spirit must have already been working on Cornelius, because, while he had not officially become Jewish, he like the Ethiopian before him, prayed steadily to the Jewish God and gave money to people who needed it, a core devotional act for those following this God. God sees him and knows him and wants to welcome him into fellowship. God’s messenger makes that clear, and tells Cornelius how to make his inner commitment to God develop into a full relationship with the followers of the Incarnation. This is only possible because Cornelius had already been walking in faith. Now, the Spirit is directing him to other pilgrims who will join him. Like the first centurion in Luke, he sends trusted people ahead of him, this time to find Peter, instead of Jesus.

     Peter, for his part, will be moved by a wild dream of food he knows he’s not supposed to eat. Remember, this isn’t food he’s allergic to or something. This is food his community has opted not to eat as a demonstrate of their commitment to the covenant with their God. He could not more imagine eating some of these foods than he could imagine turning his back on Christ. And, yet, the Spirit spoke to him and said he was called to do a new thing in faith. “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” This happened three times in the dream. Peter was still trying to figure out what to make of this dream when the group that Cornelius sent shows up at the home where he was staying.

     In his commentary on the text, Andrew Warner notes that tanners had, and still have, a job that many find unsavory. Tanners work with animal carcasses. They cured hides with human urine, aged until in turned into ammonia. All tanners lived with a certain amount of stigma due to their smelly, messy, bloody work. Warner notes that Jewish tanners also risked religious impurity because of their work. In spending time with the tanner, Peter is already showing us Christians, once again, that early Christians spent much time among the outcast and marginalized in a community. We probably shouldn’t be surprised that the Spirit would also move them into relationship with those who might have more power due to their connections to the Roman occupation, but less trust due to the same thing. Christ will find a way to build relationship among those who seek to love their neighbors. And, Cornelius loved his neighbors.

     The Spirit tells Peter to go with the men back to Cornelius’ home. The dream was to show him that God would be ok with it. They describe Cornelius as faithful and “well-spoken of by the whole Jewish nation.” That means his generosity and faithfulness appeared sincere to his neighbors. How a person acts matters. And, Cornelius acted out of generosity demanded in Torah.

     Peter and Cornelius meet. We didn’t hear most of their encounter today, but it is a good one.... good enough to change the whole nature of the church ever more. Peter said “God told me not to call anyone profane or unclean.” And, Cornelius says, “God told me to go find you and listen to what you have to say.” He says that his whole household was ready to hear what good news Peter would bring. Peter starts his good news with these words, “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, and in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” Then, he goes on to tell him about Jesus.

     In the verses after today’s reading, the Gentiles of Cornelius’s household received Peter’s words and received the Holy Spirit, as the disciples did at Pentecost. They began speaking in tongues they had not known before, because they had to say something about this good news that was made clear to them and the old words they had simply would not suffice. Peter will know this moment is important and will say, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” No one could. So, they baptized the whole Gentile household. And, then they stay together for several days.

     May the Spirit move us to share so much that all will know us by our generosity, just like Cornelius. May we be moved like Peter was to see all people as God’s people. May we speak well of God’s whole creation, and live a life where our neighbors speak well of us. Our generosity will be what helps us find our way to Christ.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
The notes on Centurion in in the HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, revised Edition, ed. Paul J. Achtemeier (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1996).

Ruthanna B. Hooke: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/peters-vision-2/commentary-on-acts-101-17-34-35-3

Israel Kamudzandu: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/peters-vision-2/commentary-on-acts-101-17-34-35-2
​
Andrew Warner's Commentary in our stewardship material

     I read a commentary by a friend and colleague this week, the Rev. Dr. Elena Larssen, who is a conference minister in the Ohio part of the Heartland Conference. She called today’s reading a “greatest hit” of Christian Scripture. Like when a beloved and fun song comes on the radio, it’s probably a good time to stick to this station for a bit. You can sing along if you want.

     As Amanda Brobst-Renaud notes in her commentary, this story has a little bit of everything: a dangerous fight, bandits, someone who is hurt and in danger, plot twists, unlikely heroes, and a call to action at the end. We get to hear the story because someone who knows religious law well is trying to test Jesus. The person asks, “What I must do to inherit eternal life?” Does anyone know the answer? “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” As is probably not a surprise to anyone in this room, the person familiar with the law said that Jesus was right. Then, the man asked, “who is my neighbor?” That turned out to be a trickier question. Jesus did as he often does... answer with a question.

     First, some background: lots of the Bible shows us a loving God. Lots of the Bible also reflects the biases and fears of the people who initially shared the stories that became our scripture. This means that sometimes we get to read about ancient fights among people who lived right next to each other. Central to understanding Jesus’ response to the lawyer is understanding one of those ancient fights: the one between the Judeans and Samaritans.

     I think it would be fair to say that these two groups used to be one people. The land of the Hebrews came to be split into two kingdoms. Samaria (also called Israel) was the region to the north and Judea was the region to the south. They shared religious history and language and also trauma. Both communities understood themselves to be descendants of Hebrew patriarch Jacob. They both followed the law given to Moses. Both communities understood themselves to be worshiping in the traditions of their ancestors. They had faced, and had been conquered by the same oppressive empires, Assyria and later Rome.  And yet, they had significant disagreements around how to interpret their shared religious laws, and significant disagreements about where and whether to gather for corporate worship. Would the oldest hills and high places where their ancestors encountered God be central to worship or would it be the Temple in Jerusalem?

     By the time we get to this encounter between Jesus and the man who knew the law, we have centuries of enmity between Judeans and Samaritans. Just a few chapters before this story, when a Samaritan village would not host Jesus and his followers, Jesus' followers offered to try to make it rain down fire from heaven to destroy the village. Jesus was often poorly received in an area. Rarely were his disciples so ready to do violence to other people who reject Jesus as they were to a group of Samaritans who did.

     Jesus would have likely been taught that Samaritans were a problem. So, why tell a story where one was a hero? Jesus shared this story while in conversation with another thoughtful and faithful Jewish person, a man deeply familiar with their shared religious law. It seems like an interesting tension in their tradition, right? They are called to love their neighbors. But, even in scripture some of their literal neighbors, like the Samaritans, get called wicked. They are supposed to avoid them! So, how does the faithful person possibly love their neighbor when they're pretty sure that their neighbors are awful?

    In a time when health care is so unaffordable and often inaccessible and where leaders are fighting right now about if and how to help regular people more easily afford it, it should be noted that one of the good things the Samaritan does is pay for a desperate stranger’s healthcare. The so-called good and respectable people don’t. They aren’t even regular ol’ good people. They are religious leaders who know the called to love neighbor by heart... they literally teach this to other people through their roles as priest and lay associate of the priest. But, like many of us, they ignore their religious obligations because of reason that are not made clear in the text but we can easily imagine. Maybe they were afraid. Maybe they thought someone else would do it. Maybe they were just mean and didn’t care.

     Their motivation isn’t as important as their action... or lack of action. We don’t know what they are thinking. We do see what they are doing, which is ignoring someone in pain, despite the fact they have devoted themselves to a religion that tells them not to do that. As Brobst-Renaud points out, Jesus isn’t interested in offering an excuse. He does, however, provide a counter example. That is the Samaritan.

     To folks who haven’t been raised to mistrust Samaritans, this story doesn’t pack that much of a surprise. Helping an injured person seems like the right thing to do, after all! But, Jesus is talking to someone who expects little good from a Samaritan. I think Jesus deploys the surprise of a Samaritan hero to heighten his point that actions, not just the ideas that live in our heads, demonstrate faith. It is possible to act faithfully according to God’s expectations even if the broader community doesn’t assume you will. Mercy is a foundational behavior of a faithful person.

     In her commentary on this text, Larssen quotes church father Augustine of Hippo, who once said “All humanity are our neighbors.” That certainly reminds us of our responsibility to one another clear, but also makes it seem huge and unwieldy. The Samaritans actions, though, are pretty concrete and specific. Be moved by someone’s suffering. Tend to issues that are most pressing. Share the resources you have with those who need them. Make sure the person who needs help has enough help to really get better. Find trustworthy partners, like the innkeeper.

     Larssen wonders if the best place to see the church in this story is as the innkeeper, a trusted partner to the ones binding up the broken and a safe place for hurt people to heal.  After all, we have a building and we want to make good use of it. We work to discern how to welcome people into this space, how to make sure it’s in good working order, and a resource not just for us but for our town. Last weekend, we hosted a group of preaching students who needed some experience preaching in an actual pulpit. They briefly became ministry partners to us, too, chipping in some food for our food pantry. For a church that began by meeting in a tavern, it seems fitting to see ourselves as innkeepers, making a space for those who need healing and for those looking to serve others.

     There’s a Mary Chapin Carpenter song where she says, “sometimes you’re the windshield. Sometimes you’re the bug.” I imagine, sometimes each of us is the Samaritan. And, sometimes the priest. And, sometimes the person in the ditch, needing mercy to survive. May we add to that list the Innkeeper, reading to host those who need mercy, and able to be trusted with the resources shared with us and the jobs we are given. Jesus isn’t the only one being tested on what it means to live a faithful life in challenging times. We are, too. Let us remember the examples of the innkeeper and the Samaritan. If we do, we’ll always be up to the test.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Elena Larssen’s notes from the UCC stewardship materials

Amanda Brobst-Renaud: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-15-3/commentary-on-luke-1025-37-4

James D. Purvis’ notes on Samaritans and Samaria in the HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, revised Edition, ed. Paul J. Achtemeier (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1996).

Marion Lloyd Soards’ notes on Luke in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocryphya, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)

Thanks for preaching while I was away, Bob.
-Pastor Chrissy

This Sunday was World Communion Sunday and the beginning of our Stewardship season. Illustrated Ministry has a great set of lesson plans for World Communion Sunday. I used it to organize our time together, in addition to worship elements from our stewardship materials and some of Carolyn Brown's lesson plan on 1 Corinthians. 

Here's some of the things we did together in worship: 

Practiced saying "hello" and "welcome" in languages other than English. 
Illustrated Ministry offered this suggestion.

One of the simplest ways we can make someone else feel welcome is by telling them they are! When we greet and welcome someone, it shows them we appreciate and are grateful for them. I asked people if they knew how to say "hello" and "welcome in languages other than English. People shared words from Mandarin, Spanish, French, Arabic, Dutch, German, and others. Below are a couple examples.

Spanish:  
Hello = Hola  
Good morning/day = Buenos Dias (bwen ohs dee ahs)  
Welcome = Bienvenido (bee in veh need oh) 

French: 
Hi= Salut (sal-oo) 
Welcome= Bienvenue (bee-in-ven-ew) 

German:
Hello = Hallo (hah low)  
Good day = Gutentag (goo ten tahg) 
Welcome = Willkommen (vill koh men) 

 Peskotomuhkati-Wolastoqey 
We welcome you= Kulasikulpon (ku-la-zi-kulpin) 
(thanks to the folks who run this website for the information: https://pmportal.org/dictionary/ulasihkuwal)

Mi’gmaq 
Welcome/come in and sit down= Pjila'si (up-chi-laa-si) 
(thanks to the folks who run this website for the information: https://mikmaqonline.org/entries/p/pjila'si/pjila'si.html)

American Sign Language:  
Below are two videos of how to greet people in ASL 

We also talked about how a minister named Hugo Thompson Kerr first came up with the idea of celebrating World Communion Sunday. And, we answered some questions from the Illustrated Ministry lesson about how we experience communion at our church.

• Think about the first time you had communion here. Do you remember it?
• How did you know that it was ok for you to eat and drink? 
  
• How can you make sure that people who have never eaten here before know that they are welcome to eat here the first time they come?  

Resource links: 
I looked up words in two Wabanaki languages. I found that information on these websites: 
-https://pmportal.org/dictionary/ulasihkuwal
-https://mikmaqonline.org/entries/p/pjila'si/pjila'si.html

Carolyn Brown talks about the Corinthians text and about how it is used in the liturgical year here: : https://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2016/01/year-c-maundy-thursday-march-24-2016.html
Illustrated Ministry's whole lesson plan, which includes some things I left out: https://store.illustratedministry.com/products/childrens-bundle-world-communion-sunday?_pos=1&_psq=world+commu&_ss=e&_v=1.0