Words Once A Week 12.14.22
Some introductory thoughts on some of the lectionary texts for this Sunday – Fourth of Advent
(And I am on this cruise and don’t have any books, so it’s mostly just a few thoughts and more questions than I like, but there you are!)
Isaiah 7:10-16
+ so who was Ahaz? Why won’t he ask God for a sign when God tells him to?
+ the “young woman” is pregnant – nothing to see here, except that any pregnancy is a wonderful, sacred event.
+ so the child is going to grow up, which God identifies as “knowing the difference between good and evil and choosing good”. Before that happens the two enemy kings will be gone, and so the land will produce milk and honey for the child to eat.
+ does this have anything to do with Jesus?
+ does this have anything to do with us? What about the young men and women who are having children, or considering it, today? What will the world be by the time they grow up?
+ does “learning to choose the good” describe “growing up” for you? And then, how grown up are we?
+ what kind of signs does God show us today?
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
+ “stir up your might and come and save us”! On the one hand, we certainly have in mind “Come and bash the Russians, or at least Putin, for what is happening in Ukraine. Because anything we do seems fairly ineffective. On the other hand, we don’t really understand that God “comes to bash people”, no matter what we might wish. So….what do we want God to do? What does God want us to do?
+ how might this sound different to us and to people getting bashed in Ukraine?
+ who is eating the bread of tears today? What kind of bread are we eating? Well, on this cruise we are eating really good breads – it’s hard to stop. It’s definitely not the bread of tears – at least not our tears. Do we eat the bread of someone else’ tears?
Matthew 1:18-25
+ Margie just started reading a book (Without a Map) about a teenager, good kid, good student in the 60’s who got pregnant and was ostracized by her community and family. At least that’s what Margie has told me it is about. Sounds rugged.
+ So we hear about Joseph’s reaction and response – how is Mary feeling about all this?
+ does this really sound like a fulfillment of what was “spoken by the Lord through the prophet”? Or is that kind of a stretch?
Stir up your might, Lord;
come and bless all of your children
with the knowing of good from evil,
and that all might eat bread of health and happiness,
help us choose the good.
That’s what I got for now……..
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