 |
 |
SCROLL DOWN FOR DECEMBER 12 AND DECEMBER 19
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!
The Advent season is an excellent time to bring hunger related themes into your sermon. In the time when the days are getting darker and we look forward to the coming of the light, we acknowledge the great darkness in our time, the unrealized human potential and millions of lives lost, all for something that is preventable. In this “Little Lent” let us recommit ourselves to doing God’s work with our hands.
Isaiah 35:1-10
Psalm 146:5-10 (8) or Luke 1:46b-55 (47)
Both Psalm 146 and Mary’s song reiterate God’s way of doing and being in the world. According to the Psalm, the Lord (notice how well this text, as well as Isaiah’s, fit into Matthew’s message today), creator of heaven and earth, brings justice to the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. God brings healing to those who are blind and broken, and welcomes strangers (how might this apply to our treatment of immigrants?). If God acts in this way, how might God’s people be expected to act? In what ways do our priorities need to be more aligned with God’s?
The Magnificat, Mary’s song, is often recited at some point during the Advent season. This beautiful song about God’s redemptive activity in history actually carries with it a dangerous message. Mary does not speak of a leveling but of a reversal—those who have power will be toppled and those who are rich will be sent away empty-handed. Do we think that this could still be God’s message? What would the world look like if we lived by these types of priorities?
James 5:7-10
Matthew 11:2-11
John was a faithful messenger who faithfully responded to God’s call on his life. Yet, in his darkest hour, alone in a jail cell, he found himself doubting. Was Jesus truly the messiah? Had he really “prepared the way” for God’s anointed one? Jesus answers the question by pointing to his many deeds that brought justice and healing to the world—the blind see, the lame walk, leapers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead live again, and those who are poor have good news brought to them (clear echoes of Isaiah’s hope for the future!). Today, the work of the people anointed by God bears many of the same marks. How might we participate in Christ’s life-giving activity in our day and time?
David Creech
Director of Hunger Education, ELCA World Hunger
__________________________________________________
Welcome to Hunger Sermon Starters!
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!
The Advent season is an excellent time to bring hunger related themes into your sermon. In the time when the days are getting darker and we look forward to the coming of the light, we acknowledge the great darkness in our time, the unrealized human potential and millions of lives lost, all for something that is preventable. In this “Little Lent” let us recommit ourselves to doing God’s work with our hands.
Isaiah 7:10-16
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19 (7)
Romans 1:1-7
Matthew 1:18-25
The Sunday before Christmas we read about Joseph’s courage and Mary’s faithfulness. Through the faithful obedience of two normal people, with very real struggles and fears, God incarnate entered the world. How might God’s presence be needed in our world today? How is God calling us to be faithful? When we think about hunger and poverty, what might God be calling us to be and do as the body of Christ, God’s hands and feet?
A deeper look at the Gospel reveals an excellent opportunity to think about systems and structures that keep people hungry. After telling us that Mary miraculously conceived from the Holy Spirit, Matthew is careful to demonstrate Joseph’s piety (1:19): “Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.” Joseph, for reasons that are not explicit (Was he worried about how it would look for his betrothed to be pregnant? Did he question her fidelity?), wishes to leave Mary once he discovers that she is with child. Matthew seems to suggest that Joseph’s status as a “righteous” man is protected by his willingness to put Mary away “quietly.” It was culturally appropriate to abandon Mary, leaving her to be a young single mother on her own.
Allow for a provocative question: How is Joseph’s desire in any way “righteous”? Matthew’s justification implies that it is acceptable (even proof of one’s righteousness) to leave a young woman to fend for herself and her child, so long as it is done privately. In spite of Mary’s manifest vulnerability, her health, security, and status are irrelevant. To be fair to Joseph (and Matthew), he was simply operating in the norms and mores of his society (here we see the systems and structures). Moreover, Joseph’s faithfulness to God’s call shows his courage in standing against unjust systems when necessary.
Today, in many parts of the world (and yes, in some sectors of the Global North as well), women and children are seen as second class citizens, and can be simply discarded much like Joseph wished to do to Mary. Women suffer disproportionately from hunger and poverty and are more likely to be abused (sexually and otherwise) and trafficked. On the flip side, women are multipliers when it comes to effectively addressing hunger and poverty. Women produce 60-80% of food crops in the Global South. Yet they are far less likely to own land. Women are also more likely than men to invest money in their family. In short, we see a system (in this case pervasive sexism) that perpetuates and exacerbates hunger and poverty. (For a host of relevant facts and data and some clever media presentations, see www.girleffect.org.)
This week’s Gospel, in my opinion, does not adequately challenge the system (but it does draw us into a discussion of the problem). But we can challenge the system. We can give to programs that support education and empowerment of women (ELCA Good Gifts is a good place to start—see https://community.elca.org/netcommunity/page.aspx?pid=474). We can advocate for laws and policies that protect the rights of women (see www.elca.org/advocacy). We can educate ourselves and others about the issues (the aforementioned Girl Effect Web site will give you plenty to think about). Let’s get started!
David Creech
Director of Hunger Education, ELCA World Hunger