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THE EMMANUEL CHILD - from Sunday, December 18, 2016

12/20/2016

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The image of a special child being born to lead God's people into God's promise has a long history. Think of all the biblical women who had surprise children! The Chosen One who would be known as Emmanuel - literally in Hebrew "God with us" - comes to shake things up for God's people. Good news? It should be, but you decide.

The biblical women who have these surprise children give birth to significant figures who carry forward God's covenant in important ways. Sarah (Isaac), Rebekah (Jacob), Rachel (Joseph), Hannah (Samuel) all fit this pattern.

When the prophet Isaiah confronts Judah's King Ahaz, he challenges his approach to a difficult poilitical situation involving Judah's northern neighbors, Israel and Aram. He demands that the king seek a sign from God who is ready to provide for him. The king demurs, suddenly finding (false) piety. Aggravated by the king's inaction (and ineptitude), Isaiah declares that an unnamed pregnant woman will bear a son who will be called Emmanuel.

In other words, God is providing a sign, even though the king hasn't brought himself to ask for one. The sign makes clear that God will be with God's people as they remain faithful. The threats that have the king cowering will be negated. However, failure in a faithful response will bring even worse, the brunt of the Assyrian army.

In Matthew's account of the nativity, the focus is on Joseph, not Mary. Give Joseph a break. He isn't running away, but trying to do the best thing. However, a nocturnal vision with an angelic  visitor persuades him to reconsider. Frankly, he doesn't get any new information beyond what Mary has likely shared with him. But he decides to act faithfully with the angel's affirmation. 

Like I said, this child comes to shake things up. Mary makes that very clear as we heard last week. Both Joseph and Mary certainly have their lives upended by this surprise child.

Even with our best Advent preparations, are we prepared for Emmanuel - "God with us" - coming to shake up our lives?

Explore the whole story and its nuances in the sermon video below, noting the downloads available below the video panel.

12-18-16-ff-answers.pdf
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12-18-16-the_emmanuel_child.pdf
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LIBERATING LOVE - from Sunday, December 11, 2016

12/13/2016

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The good news of new life in Jesus should be recognized as a message geared more for those in the struggling class than for most of us who are set in the comfortable class. For them, the message is how God's love brings liberation from bondage, and hope amid despair that anything could ever change. It's a powerful message for all.

The prophet Isaiah proclaims an amazing vision of transformation in chapter 35 (a text that really belongs with "Second Isaiah" of chs. 40-55). It begins with the canvas of the desert and paints the imagery of blooms of renewal - a paradise? This is attributed to the God who comes.

The prophet's vision mixes in people, particularly the blind, the deaf, the lame, and the mute. All of them experience a liberation from what has precluded their life opprtunity and are brought to rejoicing. 

The desert wilderness provides a nature metaphor for the liberating impact of God's loving intervention. Included is the pilgrim's path, the highway which the prophet calls the Way of Holiness. "Wicked fools" and natural predators will not be allowed. The image closes with the joyous celebration of God's liberating love.

In Mary's son in Luke 1, we get a very different impression of the young woman who was visited by an angel, who seemed fearful and hesitant, who submitted to the sacred mystery that had come to her. Here, we have an empowered voice, like a prophet who has developed confidence about what God is doing. Her words are powerful. She is no longer a meek, humble, and confused young lady. She announces the powerful coming of the Lord and the sacred liberation for God's people, a liberation authored in God's love.

Get the whole story in the sermon video below, and note the downloads below the video panel.

12-11-16-ff-answers.pdf
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12-11-16-liberating_love.pdf
File Size: 166 kb
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PRESUMPTIONS AND PREPARATION - from Sunday, December 4, 2016

12/5/2016

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There is a lot that we take for granted, and we make our plans and preparations guided by those presumptions. But what happens when we're wrong in those presumptions. Do we double down insisting on the correctness of our mistakes, or change and plan accordingly? Our Advent scriptures confront us with the new things God is doing, and it's going to upset some folks. 

In Isaiah 11, the lifeless, forsaken stump of the Davidic line of kings, marked with corruption, neglect, and indifference to the people and to God's ways, seems like a done deal. Yet from this dead remnant comes new life, a remarkable shoot coming from the stump that promises to transform the experience of God's people. 

This represents the coming Chosen One of God who will bring justice and peace to a people long deprived of both. The presumption that the stump had nothing left to offer, and symbolized God's failure among his people, gets upended by the spiritual transformation that the Chosen One promises to bring.

In Matthew 3, a different kind of prophet appears in the desert wilderness preaching repentance and spiritual transformation. John the Baptist showed himself to be a bit freaky in appearance and in lifestyle, but his message proved quite popular as many trekked through the desert to come and be baptized.

But this attention also caught the eye of the powers-that-be in Jerusalem; Pharisees and Sadducees. John recognizes these folks standing off from the crowd, watching the proceedings. John calls them out in a blistering diatribe. Their presumption of righteousness  gets roundly denounced as John proceeds to announce the coming of One greater than himself, one who baptizes not with water, but with Spirit. They've got some new preparations to make.

Find out what all of this means in the sermon video below and the downloads below the video panel.

12-04-16-ff-answers.pdf
File Size: 29 kb
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12-04-16-presumption_and_preparation.pdf
File Size: 179 kb
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