Salem Sermon Archive
Sermon for December 18-19 2010
December 18-19, 2010
Advent 4A
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
Matthew 1:18-25
Salem Lutheran Church, Sycamore, Illinois
I think my neighbor’s house has been foreclosed upon.
I can’t say this with absolute certainty but this past summer when I was out mowing my lawn he stopped me to ask if the church had money that could help as there was a great deal going wrong in their life just then --- not the least of which was they were behind on the mortgage. I told him about our food pantry and I suggested some other resources, but no, we weren’t in a position to help on that scale…
I can’t say this with absolute certainty, because we’re not more than nodding acquaintances and beyond a ‘hello’ or a ‘good morning’ not much has passed between us since, but a few weeks ago as I was leaving I noticed their truck was loaded down with possessions… but I wasn’t home much over the next few days and so I didn’t see the multiple trips it must have taken to move their treasured things.
And then suddenly a week ago last Tuesday the house stood dark. The front screen door isn’t latching and there is no one there to close it. There are no dogs barking, no cat sitting in the window, and no garbage sitting on the curb on Tuesday morning. The wrought iron furniture still sits out back under the cover of snow and a plastic cooler is on the front stoop, but overall it’s pretty obvious that no one is living there. And there was never a ‘for sale’ sign out front to indicate that this transition happened in a less messy kind of way.
And so I find myself wondering about them now. Wondering where they’ve landed. If they’ve moved in with family or friends. If work will soon return so that they can get back on their feet again. And what it must feel like at this time of year especially, to be loading up the back of the truck with all your things…
I find myself wondering about them and all those who find themselves in tough places this year. And I wonder how the words of our Psalm today might speak for them or to any one of us who have ever found ourselves where we never expected to be. For here on the edge of celebrating Christ’s birth again, we hear the words of the Psalmist crying out in pain, seeking rescue. “Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.” Even the hollow house sitting next to mine now seems to cry out these words, yearning for restoration. How much more so the family who called it home just a few days ago.
It’s into that kind of desperation, that kind of sadness, that kind of uncertainty about what tomorrow or next week or the coming year might bring that an angel visits Joseph in today’s Gospel lesson. Joseph who, no doubt, had his own life planned in a certain way, only to find it taking a path he could never have imagined or hoped for. For we who know this story so well know that he has learned that Mary is pregnant and he knows the child is not his. I wonder if Joseph wasn’t crying out the words of the Psalmist: “Restore us, God: let your face shine that we may be saved!” O God just take me back to yesterday before my world turned upside down. Or if you can’t do that, then just show me a way through this that will leave the least amount of hurt and suffering behind.
We can be certain that Joseph probably had more than one sleepless night trying to decide what he should do in an impossible situation where he couldn’t see any good ending. When it probably seemed as though God had turned his back on them … much less had his face shining on them with any kind of favor. And so even before this night-time visit, Joseph turns to the one resource he’s always relied on: his faith and its beliefs and practices --- but even then he responds with more mercy than the law would normally prescribe … for Joseph decided finally to quietly divorce Mary. Not that this was a perfect solution for surely in that time and place the scandal would follow her and her unborn child all of their lives. And not that this would heal his own broken heart. But it certainly seemed better than having her stoned for her apparent misdeed.
The bills can’t be paid. It’s time to move on. The truck is loaded up. There’s a pregnancy where there shouldn’t be. The future is unknown. Shame, scandal, fear are written all over it…
But the story doesn’t end there with Joseph’s sleepless nights and his less than perfect but best that he can come up with decision. For our story today would remind us that exactly when we can’t see another way, God already has one. For God’s own messenger wakes Joseph from sleep and as Joseph follows his direction, desperation and fear and resignation are replaced with kindness and mercy. Oh, there is still sacrifice in this story, to be sure, but this is sacrifice with purpose and hope: making this not an ending but a new beginning that will forever change the world…
So I can’t be sure of the answer to this question, but I wonder how this story speaks to a world of messy situations… where jobs are lost or are too lean, where homes are foreclosed on and whole families are suddenly living off the generosity of friends. I can’t be sure, but I wonder how this story speaks to a world where families, maybe even your family, doesn’t look the same as it did a year ago; where struggle or pain or grief seems to rule the day more often than not. Perhaps it is some kind of gift in those times and places to hear this story of Joseph who finds himself in a place of such potential heartbreak and tragedy to be shown that the only way out or above it or beyond it or through it is through kindness, generosity and sacrifice. And perhaps that, in the end, is the call for all of us, too. Whether we hear the cry of the Psalmist as our own --- or its echo in the face of our neighbors. For whatever our losses, whatever our hopes --- we would surely do well to follow Joseph now as he listens to God’s own call. For as he does so, clearly claiming Jesus as his own, the world is never the same again.
May it be so for all of us. As we hear the promise that Emmanuel, God is with us, in Christ Jesus, may we respond as Joseph did. And especially in the hard times that come to us each one, may we know God’s messengers putting us to be kind and generous and yes, even self-sacrificial for the sake of others. For as Joseph listened and responded to God’s leading, it was the path to restoration and wholeness. More than that, of course, with Joseph it wound up changing the course of history. Do you suppose this could be so for all of us as well? Amen.
Sermon for December 18-19 2010
December 18-19, 2010
Advent 4A
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
Matthew 1:18-25
Salem Lutheran Church, Sycamore, Illinois
I think my neighbor’s house has been foreclosed upon.
I can’t say this with absolute certainty but this past summer when I was out mowing my lawn he stopped me to ask if the church had money that could help as there was a great deal going wrong in their life just then --- not the least of which was they were behind on the mortgage. I told him about our food pantry and I suggested some other resources, but no, we weren’t in a position to help on that scale…
I can’t say this with absolute certainty, because we’re not more than nodding acquaintances and beyond a ‘hello’ or a ‘good morning’ not much has passed between us since, but a few weeks ago as I was leaving I noticed their truck was loaded down with possessions… but I wasn’t home much over the next few days and so I didn’t see the multiple trips it must have taken to move their treasured things.
And then suddenly a week ago last Tuesday the house stood dark. The front screen door isn’t latching and there is no one there to close it. There are no dogs barking, no cat sitting in the window, and no garbage sitting on the curb on Tuesday morning. The wrought iron furniture still sits out back under the cover of snow and a plastic cooler is on the front stoop, but overall it’s pretty obvious that no one is living there. And there was never a ‘for sale’ sign out front to indicate that this transition happened in a less messy kind of way.
And so I find myself wondering about them now. Wondering where they’ve landed. If they’ve moved in with family or friends. If work will soon return so that they can get back on their feet again. And what it must feel like at this time of year especially, to be loading up the back of the truck with all your things…
I find myself wondering about them and all those who find themselves in tough places this year. And I wonder how the words of our Psalm today might speak for them or to any one of us who have ever found ourselves where we never expected to be. For here on the edge of celebrating Christ’s birth again, we hear the words of the Psalmist crying out in pain, seeking rescue. “Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.” Even the hollow house sitting next to mine now seems to cry out these words, yearning for restoration. How much more so the family who called it home just a few days ago.
It’s into that kind of desperation, that kind of sadness, that kind of uncertainty about what tomorrow or next week or the coming year might bring that an angel visits Joseph in today’s Gospel lesson. Joseph who, no doubt, had his own life planned in a certain way, only to find it taking a path he could never have imagined or hoped for. For we who know this story so well know that he has learned that Mary is pregnant and he knows the child is not his. I wonder if Joseph wasn’t crying out the words of the Psalmist: “Restore us, God: let your face shine that we may be saved!” O God just take me back to yesterday before my world turned upside down. Or if you can’t do that, then just show me a way through this that will leave the least amount of hurt and suffering behind.
We can be certain that Joseph probably had more than one sleepless night trying to decide what he should do in an impossible situation where he couldn’t see any good ending. When it probably seemed as though God had turned his back on them … much less had his face shining on them with any kind of favor. And so even before this night-time visit, Joseph turns to the one resource he’s always relied on: his faith and its beliefs and practices --- but even then he responds with more mercy than the law would normally prescribe … for Joseph decided finally to quietly divorce Mary. Not that this was a perfect solution for surely in that time and place the scandal would follow her and her unborn child all of their lives. And not that this would heal his own broken heart. But it certainly seemed better than having her stoned for her apparent misdeed.
The bills can’t be paid. It’s time to move on. The truck is loaded up. There’s a pregnancy where there shouldn’t be. The future is unknown. Shame, scandal, fear are written all over it…
But the story doesn’t end there with Joseph’s sleepless nights and his less than perfect but best that he can come up with decision. For our story today would remind us that exactly when we can’t see another way, God already has one. For God’s own messenger wakes Joseph from sleep and as Joseph follows his direction, desperation and fear and resignation are replaced with kindness and mercy. Oh, there is still sacrifice in this story, to be sure, but this is sacrifice with purpose and hope: making this not an ending but a new beginning that will forever change the world…
So I can’t be sure of the answer to this question, but I wonder how this story speaks to a world of messy situations… where jobs are lost or are too lean, where homes are foreclosed on and whole families are suddenly living off the generosity of friends. I can’t be sure, but I wonder how this story speaks to a world where families, maybe even your family, doesn’t look the same as it did a year ago; where struggle or pain or grief seems to rule the day more often than not. Perhaps it is some kind of gift in those times and places to hear this story of Joseph who finds himself in a place of such potential heartbreak and tragedy to be shown that the only way out or above it or beyond it or through it is through kindness, generosity and sacrifice. And perhaps that, in the end, is the call for all of us, too. Whether we hear the cry of the Psalmist as our own --- or its echo in the face of our neighbors. For whatever our losses, whatever our hopes --- we would surely do well to follow Joseph now as he listens to God’s own call. For as he does so, clearly claiming Jesus as his own, the world is never the same again.
May it be so for all of us. As we hear the promise that Emmanuel, God is with us, in Christ Jesus, may we respond as Joseph did. And especially in the hard times that come to us each one, may we know God’s messengers putting us to be kind and generous and yes, even self-sacrificial for the sake of others. For as Joseph listened and responded to God’s leading, it was the path to restoration and wholeness. More than that, of course, with Joseph it wound up changing the course of history. Do you suppose this could be so for all of us as well? Amen.