Home Worship for the week of December 28
Morning Prayer: God of glory, Your splendor shines from a manger in Bethlehem, where the Light of the world is humbly born into the darkness of human night. Open our eyes to Christ’s presence in the shadows of our world, so that we, like Him, may become beacons of Your justice, and defenders of all for whom there is no room. Amen. (Lectionary Prayers)
Hymn: #234 O Come, All Ye Faithful
- O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him, born the King of angels;
Refrain: O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him,
O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
- True God of true God, Light from Light Eternal, lo, He shuns not the Virgin's womb;
Son of the Father, begotten not created; (Refrain)
- Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation; O sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!
Glory to God, all glory in the highest; (Refrain)
- See how the shepherds, summoned to His cradle, leaving their flocks, draw nigh to gaze;
we too will thither bend our joyful footsteps; (Refrain)
- Child, for us sinners poor and in the manger, we would embrace Thee with love and awe.
Who would not love Thee, loving us so dearly? (Refrain)
- Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning, Jesus, to Thee be all glory given.
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing: (Refrain)
Isaiah 63:7-9
7 I will recount the Lord’s faithful acts;
I will sing the Lord’s praises,
because of all the Lord did for us,
for God’s great favor toward the house of Israel.
God treated them compassionately
and with deep affection.
8 God said, “Truly, they are my people,
children who won’t do what is wrong.”
God became their savior.
9 During all their distress, God also was distressed,
so a messenger who served Him saved them.
In love and mercy God redeemed them,
lifting and carrying them throughout earlier times.
Prayers of Intercession: Thank You, Lord, for hearing our prayers for those dear to our hearts. We now pray as You have taught us: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us, not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Offering spotlight: Thank you for feeding our neighbors by making purchases for The Blessings Box. Please consider picking up a few items the next time you are shopping, see something on sale, or have a BOGO item available to you, but don’t need two. You may place items in the grocery carts in both the Lighthouse and lower level of the church. No time to shop? The Blessings Box team will be happy to shop for you and welcome cash and/or gift card donations (Dollar Tree or Dollar General preferred, since we can stretch our monetary donations further at these stores, but also cards from Wal-Mart, Target, Giant, or Weis).
Offering prayer: Steadfast God of refuge and promise, even when the world makes no room, even when fear seems stronger than hope, You are with us. In the flight to Egypt, in the cries of grief, in the fragile beginnings of new life, You make a way. Receive these gifts, O God, as signs of our willingness to make room for Your kingdom among us. Use what we bring—not just our treasure, but our time, our voices, our compassion—to heal what is broken, to protect the vulnerable, and to embody Your saving love. In the name of Jesus, our Light in the shadows. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)
Preparation Hymn: #219 What Child Is This
- What child is this who, laid to rest, on Mary's lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet, while shepherds watch are keeping?
Refrain: This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
haste, haste to bring him laud, the babe, the son of Mary.
- Why lies He in such mean estate where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christians, fear, for sinners here the silent Word is pleading. (Refrain) - So bring Him incense, gold, and myrrh, come, peasant, king, to own Him;
the King of kings salvation brings, let loving hearts enthrone Him. (Refrain)
Scripture: Matthew 2:13-23
13 When the magi had departed, an angel from the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up. Take the child and His mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod will soon search for the child in order to kill Him.” 14 Joseph got up and, during the night, took the child and His mother to Egypt. 15 He stayed there until Herod died. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: I have called my son out of Egypt.[a]
16 When Herod knew the magi had fooled him, he grew very angry. He sent soldiers to kill all the children in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding territory who were two years old and younger, according to the time that he had learned from the magi. 17 This fulfilled the word spoken through Jeremiah the prophet:
18 A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and much grieving.
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she did not want to be comforted,
because they were no more.[b]
19 After King Herod died, an angel from the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. 20 “Get up,” the angel said, “and take the child and His mother and go to the land of Israel. Those who were trying to kill the child are dead.” 21 Joseph got up, took the child and His mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus ruled over Judea in place of his father Herod, Joseph was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he went to the area of Galilee. 23 He settled in a city called Nazareth so that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled: He will be called a Nazarene.
Message: Responding When the Words Come to Life Pastor Becky
I start today with this disclaimer. I can't come to this account and not read or react to it neutrally. Each week I try very hard to not bring my gender or all the other things that make up who I am into my preaching. I try to preach in a way that there's something for everybody. Because the person of Jesus is for everyone, the call to discipleship is for everyone. I try not to have a lopsided view that weighs heavily to a female point of view.
Yet this text is different. I can only see it from the helplessness of a mother when she is up against power.
This isn't the first story of the erasure of children in the Bible. Pharaoh wanted the baby boys of Israel killed. We find that account in the Exodus 1 starting at verse 9.The Israelites are becoming great in number and could have threatened Pharaoh and the native Egyptians power and way of life. So a plan is hatched that all baby boys were to be killed at birth by their midwives. Now the midwives feared God, and they lied and said that they missed the births of these children. To circumvent the midwives, Pharaoh authorizes any and all Egyptians to throw all Hebrew boys into the Nile. He decreed that ordinary folks become agents of the throne, protectors of their way of life and kill the baby boys of Israel.
Power will always look to protect itself. It will always look to keep what it believes belongs to it. When threatened, power will kill. No sacrifice is too great in the eyes of power, as long as who or what is in power stays in power.
That's the problem with power. It's corruptible and once it's corrupted, it can't be redeemed. It just gets replaced. That's what happened to Herod. Once he died, another Herod came into power, and after him, yet another. We see this played out all through history. Honestly, it's hard to find any good power in any government anywhere. Power only gets replaced each time with the same human limitations and human flaws.
This is why Jesus should be appealing. He champions the least, the lonely, and the lost, He squares up against oppression, heals and looks to the good. Jesus shows us another way to live. Jesus doesn't look for humanity to crown Him. He already comes with power, power ordained by God. It's decided long before time and it's established through eternity.
The power Jesus is imbued with is the power to reconcile all to the God that created them. This power is to heal and care. This power puts in place the means of survival and the path to flourishing. It removes barriers and builds communities.
Yet time and time again, the innkeeper from the nativity story is heard. There is no room. The innkeeper doesn't speak in scripture, when we read the account in Luke. But his actions say that there is no room.
There was no room in Bethlehem for a King and a Messiah, and to prove it, Herod killed the children under the age of 2.
In Jerusalem there was no room for a Messiah and the Temple, and to approve it, Jesus was crucified.
Power will never make room for salvation, the complete redemption of all the creation. We see this all around us in the abuse of our environment, the abuse of children and the abuse of the marginalized. It plays out in the rise of housing and food instability, the fight over land and ownership, and the excess to healthcare. The examples are endless.
We must remind ourselves, in Jesus, we have hope and a helper, the Holy Spirit. Our hope is that one day salvation will come and so will the help for us to strive toward that day.
It starts with a commitment to make room in our lives for Jesus. Our lives are to be the room needed for Jesus to come into our community, our time, and our world. This room forces out corrupt power and replaces it with the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit continues to call, it is a call for each of us to embrace different lives with different goals, both working with and on God's plan for all of creation. Because in the face of power, human power, only Jesus overcomes and creates something uncorruptible. Amen.
Closing Hymn: #577 God of Grace and God of Glory
- God of grace and God of glory, on Thy people pour Thy power;
Crown Thine ancient church’s story; bring her bud to glorious flower.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the facing of this hour, (of this hour)
For the facing of this hour.
- Lo! the hosts of evil round us scorn Thy Christ, assail His ways!
Fears and doubts too long have bound us; free our hearts to work and praise.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the living of these days, (of these days)
For the living of these days.
- Cure Thy children’s warring madness, bend our pride to Thy control;
Shame our wanton, selfish gladness, rich in things and poor in soul.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, lest we miss Thy kingdom’s goal,
(kingdom’s goal) lest we miss Thy kingdom’s goal.
- Save us from weak resignation to the evils we deplore;
Let the search for Thy salvation be our glory evermore.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, serving Thee who we adore, (we adore)
Serving Thee whom we adore.
Blessing: While remembering that Christ came to earth as a baby, remember also that He lived and died and is available through prayer. May the Lord bless you through God the Father, Jesus Christ the risen Savior, and the presence of the Holy Spirit.
