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 Magnificat, Mary’s song, is often recited at some point during the Advent season. Her song describes God’s way of doing and being in the world. 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? 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? What would the world look like if we lived by these types of priorities?

The Christmas story reminds us of how God is incarnated in the world. In the incarnation God acted decisively in and through those who were poor and marginalized. A young unwed woman (there are few people more marginalized in antiquity) has a child in the backwoods of Rome. The incarnation did not take place in the seat of power among nobles but in the margin, with a powerless woman. The first to hear the good news are shepherds, another marginalized and lowly group. Jesus’ ministry was characterized by feeding and healing those who were vulnerable, and his consistent stand against those in power ultimately led to his death.

In the context of hunger, we are reminded of the dignity of those who are marginalized in our day. In the Bible, these are just the types of people through whom God acts. We are called to walk alongside and work with those are poor and hungry.