The lessons for each Sunday in the church year proclaim God’s grace in Jesus Christ. Also derived from a Sunday’s text are lessons for the Christ-inspired and Christ-like life of God’s people. The comments here will help you find hunger related threads—sermon starters—among the themes of this day’s texts. (We’re presuming you have already done your exegetical work on the texts.) God bless your proclamation (and teaching) of what is most certainly true.

The lessons for each Sunday in the church year proclaim God’s grace in Jesus Christ. Also derived from a Sunday’s texts are lessons for the Christ-inspired and Christ-like life of God’s people. The comments here will help you find hunger related threads-sermon starters- among the themes of this day’s texts. (We’re presuming you have already done your exegetical work on the texts.) God bless your proclamation (and teaching) of what is most certainly true.

· Isaiah picks up on the strong “praise” accent so strongly emphasized in Psalm 148. Interesting to note, however, that the psalmist links praise and righteousness in vs. 11 as a reminder that the voice of praise is connected to acts of reflecting God’s call for righteousness. Great praise is best expressed in “right living” or daily actions that reflect God’s priorities and passions of “right living.”

· Psalm 148 calls on all things in both heaven and Earth to join in the chorus of praise. All creation is included as the psalmist names all categories including: mountains and trees, cattle and kings, all things and all people. If there is a Sunday when the worship “praise bands” should dominate the service, it this Sunday. No holding back now…everything should enter into the sounds of praise.

· The letter to the Galatians 4:1–11 is entitled in some commentaries as:
“Enslavement under the law; freedom for all of God’s children.” Christ is sent, at a time in God’s timetable, in order to ransom those who were in bondage under the law.” We hear echoes of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s proclamation, “Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we are free at last.”

· The theme of “Freedom in Christ” as adopted children of God and joining heirs is a mighty one. We could invite people to walk by the baptismal font on their way to the communion altar, dip their fingers in the water, and trace the sign on the cross on their foreheads as a reminder of whose we are.

· Notice also the strong accent on inclusivity regarding the blessings of this child. Jesus’s salvation is prepared for ALL PEOPLES. Sometimes we are given the impression that inclusivity was created by the modern liberal church, but really it is rooted in the old tradition of Simeon.

· You might ask the choir to sing the wonderful “Nunc Dimintus” (Lord, now let your servant depart in peace.) You could also display on a big screen in the sanctuary the wonderful painting entitled “Simeon’s Moment” by the artist, Ron DiCianni. (You can google it and see it for yourself.) This unique picture shows Simeon holding the baby Jesus with a tear on his cheek and a map of the world subtly in the background. It’s a sermon in and of itself. Jesus, God’s blessed son and gift to the whole world.

In the season of Advent we wait expectantly for the promised light. During the twelve days of Christmas, we celebrate the light revealed in the incarnation. Epiphany is the day we celebrate the appearance or revelation of Christ to the nations. All the texts of the day are thus intended to be read through a Christological lens.

Almighty and ever-living God, you revealed the incarnation of your Son by the brilliant shining of a star. Shine the light of your justice always in our hearts and over all lands, and accept our lives as the treasure we offer in your praise and for your service, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Isaiah 60:1-6 describes the dawn of the kingdom when the Gentiles will flock to Jerusalem (the “you” in all these verses is a feminine singular). The prophet promises that the light of God will arise and draw nations and kings. The “wealth of the nations” (v. 5) will find its way to Jerusalem and camels will bring gold and frankincense. The parallels to Matthew 2:1-12 are clear.

The selection from Psalm 72 (vv.1-7, 10-14) is a plea for God to help the king rule with justice. Read Christologically, this psalm describes many of the ways in which Jesus lived out the kingdom of God: judging the poor with justice (v. 2), defending the cause of the poor and giving deliverance to the needy (v. 4), having pity on the weak and the needy (v. 13), and so on. Verse 11 also has a clear echo in the passage from Matthew’s Gospel.

In Ephesians 3:1-12, Paul (or one of his students) describes the mystery (i.e., something previously unknown that has been recently revealed—an epiphany!) that Gentiles have been brought into the family of God.

One interesting phrase perhaps worth exploring a bit is found in verse 10: God revealed the mystery “so that the multifaceted wisdom of God may be known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places through the church…” This verse has an interesting connection to the Magi and Herod. Though the lectionary reading stops at verse 12 (the rather ominous warning to the wise men not to return to King Herod), as the story continues, Herod in a rage kills all the children in and around Jerusalem who were under two years of age, the so-called slaughter of the innocents (Matt 2:16-18). This is where I see the connection—the wisdom and activity of God upset the normal power structures. Princes and principalities (both earthly and heavenly) are threatened by God’s kingdom.

In our own time there are systems and structures (in biblical parlance, rulers and authorities) that stand in opposition, even violent opposition, to God’s Kingdom. The church exists to make known the wisdom of God to those rulers and authorities. What does the coming of God’s kingdom look like in our own time? What systems and structures need to be challenged? (My own thoughts are immediately drawn to our current economic crisis.) How will the church today make known the wisdom of God?

Matthew 2:1-12 describes the journey of the Magi to Jesus. The text in many ways can be read as a fulfillment of prophecy (explicit in Matthew’s narrative in vv. 5-6 and connecting nicely with the other texts assigned for today). The Magi may be understood to represent the full inclusion of the Gentiles. In this way, God’s promises have been fulfilled, and a new era has dawned.

In our current context, however, this neat and tidy summation of God’s activity can be explored more deeply. In spite of the fulfillment language in both Ephesians and Matthew, we nonetheless still live in a liminal stage (what George Eldon Ladd called the “already and not yet”). Yes, the light has come in the Christ event; yet we still await the final fulfillment (Romans 8:18-25 expresses this idea well).

Although Christ has come and we have a taste of God’s promises, we still live in very uncertain times. The current financial crisis threatens the livelihood of millions (one estimate I’ve read is that by the time we emerge from the recession, nearly 50 million in the US will be living below the poverty line [see the report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, available at http://www.cbpp.org/11-24-08pov.pdf]; already the crisis has plunged more than 115 million people into poverty worldwide [see www.bread.org]). Wars, famine, and disease persist throughout the world. In this way, I find Psalm 72 to be a beautiful prayer for our times—that God would empower rulers (in our cities, states, nations, and world) to govern justly and defend the cause of the poor. May the church, empowered by the gracious Holy Spirit, lead by example!