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A Bridge from Advent to Christmas

 

Today’s post is by Gretchen Rode, Associate Pastor at House of Hope in New Hope, MN. This is the first of two posts on how congregations will be worshipping on the 4th Sunday of Advent/Christmas Eve.

 

This year, the 4th Sunday of Advent is also Christmas Eve.  At House of Hope in New Hope, Minnesota, we know that a morning worship service is important so that those who come home for the holidays or routinely come on Sunday morning have a place to be during this usual time.  We also want to honor that it is a busy day for us as pastors/church staff and that most of our people will already be in the Christmas Eve mood.  With this in mind, we hope to have a light-hearted time of gathering to mark this last day of Advent and begin to move into Christmas together as a community.

So, to bridge between Advent and Christmas, we have created a service that starts in Advent and ends in Christmas.  Our service begins in the darkness of Advent with the lighting of the Advent wreath, singing Advent hymns “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” and “Prepare the Royal Highway,” and reading the Gospel for the Day (Luke 1:26-38) which tells the story of the Angel Gabriel coming to Mary.  The Gospel is a perfect bridge to our well-known Christmas story.  We will sing “The Angel Gabriel” after the Gospel (skipping the sermon time) and transition to the Christmas portion of our service.  This second half of the service will include a statement of faith crafted from Psalm 98*, Christmas hymns “Joy to the World” and “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” and, in a nod to the traditions of the season, we will bless Christmas ornaments* and gifts* and sing “Deck the Halls.”  We hope that this shortened service will send our people out into the day, centered on Christ and ready to celebrate together this blessed time of Christmas!

We will be using liturgy from Sundays and Seasons for quite a few parts of this service.  We love the “Call to Worship from Psalm 98” and will be using it as our statement of faith: “Justice for everyone, everything fair! Sing to God something brand new!  For God has done wonderful things!”  For the blessing of Christmas ornaments, we will invite congregation members to bring an ornament from home (and we will have some on hand to give out as well).  This blessing will be a slightly altered “Blessing of the Christmas Tree,”* adding to the last line “May we who stand in its light eagerly welcome the true Light that never fades, and as we carry these ornaments home may we remember that your light goes with us wherever we go. All glory be yours now and forever. Amen.”  We envision that everyone will hold their ornament as they sit in the pew and saying this blessing together.  If there are many children at this service, I might invite them up during this time to help lead the blessing from the front.  We intend to incorporate the Blessing of the Gifts Rite during the Benediction as a sending.

We hope that each part of the service will help our congregation to celebrate this joyful day and to connect rites that are done at home with the welcoming of God into the world that we celebrate at Christmas time in the Church.

 

*Liturgy for the Statement of Faith from Psalm 98, the Blessing of the Christmas Tree, and the Blessing of Gifts come from Sundays and Seasons in the Seasonal Rites for Christmas for Year B, 2018.

 

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Advent Study Series: Beginning at the End

 

 

Advent is a season of hope and expectation. It is a season in which we “prepare the way of the Lord” (Mark 1:3). Advent candles, wreaths and calendars are joined with as-yet unfinished nativity scenes to mark our preparations for the birth of Jesus Christ. This year, ELCA World Hunger’s Advent Study celebrates this season with reflections focused on the preparation of the people of God for the work of the new year – the work of feeding, clothing, accompanying and advocating with our neighbors for a just world in which all are fed.

The four sessions of this Advent Study and the accompanying Advent calendar are based on the Scripture readings for each week of Advent. Each week includes a meditation on the theme, reflection questions, a prayer and hymn suggestions.

May you, your family and your community be blessed this season to see the important role the people of God are called to play in God’s transformation of the world – as individuals, as families and as the church together.

 

 

We begin at the end, and we will end at the beginning. What an odd way to go through Advent! We enter this season of expectation of Jesus’ birth and the advent of his ministry, only to start by hearing the words of Jesus describing the end of days. In a few weeks, we will celebrate the beginning of Jesus’ incarnate life among us.

We begin at the end, and we will end at the beginning.

The heavy thumb of Roman rule, high taxes and widespread vulnerability to poverty were all part of everyday life in first century Palestine. The people among whom Jesus would be born were eager for the Messiah who would deliver them. And there was no shortage of “false messiahs” (Mark 13:22) claiming to offer salvation. Some promised military victory over the Romans. Others claimed gifts of magical power and prophesied re-taking the temple.

And yet, here, in the Gospel of Mark, the true Messiah comes offering a very different story. The people of God will not ride triumphantly into Jerusalem – they will “flee to the mountains” (13:14). They will not re-take Jerusalem and its temple – “all will be thrown down” (13:2b).

But “after that suffering” (13:24)…

In the end…

Of all the Gospels, Mark is perhaps the most honest about suffering. Facing persecution at the hands of Rome, early Christians needed a message that was honest about suffering. More than that, they needed to know that God was honest about their suffering. In Mark, Jesus does not hold back in naming that suffering. The Messiah is born into suffering. The people will face suffering. He himself will suffer.

This wasn’t a newsflash to first century Jews any more than it is to the millions of people today for whom suffering is a mournful part of life – those who know the pangs of food insecurity, those who long for clean water, those who grieve the loss of their homes or their jobs. The idea that suffering is a part of life is sadly nothing new to so many of us. But Jesus makes clear two things that transform how we understand suffering. First, God knows our suffering. And, second – God rejects it.

The “great buildings” (13:2) in Jerusalem, which occasioned the beginning of Jesus’ long speech in Mark 13, were not merely beautiful examples of architecture. They were symbols of the powers and principalities that maintained systems of oppression and marginalization and would eventually carry Jesus to the cross. They seem imperishable, unshakable, overwhelming.

But the world is about to turn. And those walls are coming down.

Advent is a season of hope and expectation, but with Jesus’ exhortation in Mark 13:33 (“Beware, keep alert”), we move from “Advent as anticipation” to “Advent as active alert.” As we await the birth of the Messiah, let Advent be a season not of patience but impatience, not of passivity but activity, seeking out those places where God is already at work undoing systems of suffering and living in the daring confidence founded on faith in the promised end of suffering, sin and death.

Reflection questions

  1. How has God been present with you in your suffering?
  2. Where do you see suffering in the world today? How are people of faith actively working to end it?
  3. As people of faith who believe God rejects suffering, how are we called to respond to suffering in the world?
  4. What is the difference between patient anticipation and being on “active alert” during Advent?

Prayer

Loving God, in your incarnation, you took on to yourself our humanity and our suffering. Be present with us today as we face the pain of hunger, thirst, war, disease and neglect. Keep fresh in our hearts your promise of an end to suffering and an eternity of well-being with you. Send us out among our neighbors, that we may share with them your promise and share with you in the transformation of our world. In the name of your son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Hymn suggestions

Canticle of the Turning ELW 723

The People Walk (Un pueblo que camina) ELW 706

Each Winter as the Year Grows Older ELW 252

To download this entire study, or to see some of our other congregational resources, please visit www.elca.org/Resources/ELCA-World-Hunger.

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ELCA presiding bishop, Heads of Churches in Holy Land and LWF respond to decision to move U.S. Embassy in Israel

The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has issued this statement in response to the decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

In an open letter to U.S. President Trump, the thirteen Heads of Churches in the Holy Land including Bishop Munib Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL), ask the President to take their viewpoint into consideration in the decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) also issued a letter asking President Trump to refrain from recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. 

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Gathering at the Pivot Moments

– Bp. Erik Gronberg

In July of 1991, I enviously watched the youth from my church in Austin, Texas leave for the Gathering in Dallas. I was one year too young to go with them. In 1994, I was in Atlanta, Georgia in the Georgia Dome (where months earlier the beloved Dallas Cowboys won the Super Bowl) with over 35,000 peers. I had never seen so many Lutherans in one place. It was pouring rain when we left the Saturday night mass gathering, yet we walked with the inspiring words of Coretta Scott King ringing in our ears. We were changed. My wife, also an ELCA pastor, was in Atlanta in 1994. We met years later in seminary. When we got to know one another, we immediately connected around the experiences we had at the Atlanta Gathering.

When I was in college, I volunteered in New Orleans. As pastor, I took youth to Gatherings in San Antonio, New Orleans, and Detroit. At each Gathering, I watched and rejoiced as the vision of so many young people was expanded with a realization of the size, diversity, and global impact of our church.

ELCA Youth Gatherings are pivot moments – moments of worshiping with thousands of peers, being challenged to consider another context, seeing the needs of neighbors, asking questions about vocation, engaging in service, being inspired by music and speakers, and just having plain fun. The local parish is the core of our church, yet all ELCA youth should have this mountaintop experience and these pivot moments.

As Bishop of the Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Mission Area/ Synod, I am prioritizing the 2018 Houston Gathering by sponsoring a group from congregations with three or less eligible youth, emerging ministries, and communities of color. It is essential these young people have this opportunity. I am happy to take on this responsibility as a pastor to my synod.

The upcoming Gathering in Houston will be my seventh. I look forward to seeing y’all there. Be prepared to be changed. As we say in Texas, “It’s gonna be a big time.”

 

Rev. Erik Gronberg, Ph.D. is Bishop of the Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Mission Area/ Synod. He resides in Forth Worth with his wife, their three children, and their rescue cat.

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December 10, 2017–Do They Know It’s Christmastime?

Jay McDivitt, Waukesha, WI

 

Warm-up Question

What’s your favorite Christmas song, and why?

Do They Know It’s Christmastime? (Do We?)

This time of year, it’s hard to avoid hearing Christmas music. One song in steady rotation is the 1980s classic, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” Originally produced to bring awareness to famine in parts of Africa, it’s a feel-good favorite that connects Christmastime to a concern for those who are hungry. From the Salvation Army bell-ringers to your congregation’s efforts to be generous this time of year, caring for those who are poor at Christmas is a common theme. With a Savior born in a barn to bring good news to the poor, it’s not a bad idea. Yet, some of the lyrics are worth a second glance:

“And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom.”

Is it possible that even among the most famine-stricken and war-torn places in the world, there is still Christmas joy? Is it possible to be joy-full even when life is sorrow-full? Is it possible that Jesus and his crew might know something about that?

“Well tonight, thank God it’s them instead of you.”

Is there another way for comfortable Christians to be thankful for what we have that doesn’t also involve thanking God that suffering is happening somewhere else, to other people, and not to us?

“And there won’t be snow in Africa this Christmastime.”

That might be true (though not entirely). Not because it never snows on the African continent—it does, although less so each year with a warming climate. It’s most mostly because of geography; the places where it snows in Africa are in the Southern Hemisphere, where it’s summertime on December 25.

“The greatest gift they’ll get this year is life.”

What if all Christians, no matter where they lived, believed that the grace of waking up and breathing in the freedom of being loved and claimed by God is the greatest gift of all? What if there are Christians in Africa who understand this more deeply than some of us could ever imagine?

“Where nothing ever grows, no rain or rivers flow”

Geography again: “Africa” stretches from Senegal in the west to Somalia in the east, from a stone’s throw from Spain (Morocco) and Italy (Tunisia) in the north to Cape Town in South Africa. The USA fits three times inside Africa with room to spare. Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world (fifth if you count Australia). The continent—especially including Madagascar—is abundant with rivers and rainforests and biodiversity that science cannot yet fully appreciate.

“Do they know it’s Christmastime at all?”

Considering that five of the twenty countries where Christianity enjoys the fastest growth—along with three of the top ten countries with the largest number of Christians—are in Africa, there are millions of folks there who have at least heard that it’s almost Christmastime. Even if many (though by no means all) of them are dealing with war, plague, drought, or famine, they’ll be celebrating the birth of Christ in many and various ways—with or without snow.

As Christians in North America shop ‘til they drop in these last few days before Christmas, this song may lead us not only to be generous, but also to wonder: Do we know it’s Christmastime? And what, exactly, does that mean?

Discussion Questions

  • Some of this might sound fussy or hyper-critical. How important is it to think critically about the music we listen to, especially when it comes to how we think about other people and other places in the world? The song encourages us to “feed the world” and raises a concern for the poor among folks who can be generous. Isn’t that a good thing?
  • When you imagine celebrating Christmas while also being hungry or poor, what thoughts, feelings, and images come to mind? Have you ever known people to be joyful even under difficult circumstances?
  • How much do you know about the continent of Africa? Where did you learn about it? Of all the places in the world, whose histories and geographies do you learn the most about in school? Why do you think that is?
  • Are there any other Christmas songs you can think of that sound a little weird or problematic if you really start to think about the lyrics?

Second Sunday of Advent

(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year B at Lectionary Readings

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

 

Gospel Reflection

With all the glitz and glamour of our cultural Christmas, it’s hard to remember that the first Christmas was not a tinsel-strewn affair. Jesus arrived on the scene during a time of widespread oppression and fear, among people who teetered on the edge of hunger and poverty, debt and slavery. Mark’s gospel doesn’t tell us about Jesus’ birth; he begins, rather, with the weirdly-dressed John the Baptist preaching repentance and renewal in the wilderness, inviting people to get down in the water and see the world differently. Only with fresh eyes will we be able to see what God is up to in Jesus—the Son of God who is Good News.

And it starts in the wilderness. Mark’s gospel quotes the other reading for this week from the prophet Isaiah. It’s a message of both upheaval and hope—of the new life that comes from carving out a new path. It’s also a lesson in the importance of grammar—namely, punctuation.

Mark’s gospel says this:

“[T]he voice of one crying out in the wilderness:  ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight’” (Mark 1:3)

But Isaiah said this:

“A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’” (Isaiah 40:3)

See the difference? Mark gives us a messenger from out in the wilderness—as if John comes from some weird other place (hence the clothes) to bring a message to the people about getting their house in order.

Isaiah sends everyone out to the wilderness to see the good thing God is doing out there. Or, more accurately, Isaiah knows that his listeners are already in the wilderness, and—contrary to expectations—that is precisely where God is doing a new thing. God has not abandoned God’s people—despite how desperate their plight. Rather, God is in the wilderness, making a way out of no-way, carving out a smooth path for the people of God to walk through the desert in style, all the way home.

If this is what it means to see God coming into the world—what Christmas is actually all about—then the “snow in Africa” song has it entirely wrong, far beyond its woeful misunderstanding of geography: It is precisely the places of famine and fear where Christmas happens first and foremost. “Christmastime” is a wilderness thing.

And John’s message—despite Mark’s misplaced quotation marks—is as important now as it was then: If you want to know what Christ’s coming means, you may need to strip down a bit, get down into the water, walk into the wild, and see the world from the bottom up. “Repent” isn’t a moral thing; it doesn’t mean, “Be a better person!” It’s about perspective: Turn around. Turn your head. See the world differently.

Which might just mean: Look to Africa, not to “help,” but to see how much “they” know exactly what “Christmastime” means, and how much we might have yet to learn.

Discussion Questions

  • Look again at the quotes from Mark’s gospel and the prophet Isaiah. What’s the difference? What difference does it make?
  • What does “repent” mean to you? How have you heard it as a moral thing? What might it mean to understand repentance as seeing the world differently?
  • It’s not really Christmas yet (but who could ever tell?). Advent is a time for preparation. If Advent is about preparing to see the world differently, what is one person, place, or thing that God might be inviting you to see differently this year? What would it mean to see Jesus—as Good News—in an unexpected place?

Activity Suggestions

Explore the African continent using Google, Wikipedia, etc. In small groups, learn three facts about Africa that you honestly didn’t know before. Together as a group, explore https://africa.lutheranworld.org/ to learn more about Lutherans across Africa. Check out https://www.one.org/us/2012/12/17/how-africa-celebrates-christmas-2/ for some great images about Christmas celebrations in Africa. Make a poster or slide show or some way of sharing with your congregation a little bit about what you learned about Africa, African Christmas traditions, and/or African Lutherans.

Closing Prayer

God, surprise us with your light and life in unexpected places. Help us to learn from friends and neighbors around the world what it means to worship you in the best and the worst of times. Give us new eyes to see you bringing joy to all people, everywhere, even and especially in places where life can be difficult or dangerous. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

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Church Response to HIV Stigma by Willie F. Korboi

 

The Church Response to HIV Stigma

In 2016, I had the privilege of representing the ELCA on the global scene as a member of the International AIDS conference delegation in Durban, South Africa. Throughout the conference, it was encouraging to hear how much has been achieved in the global response to HIV/AIDS.   During the two-day pre-conference, it was exciting to learn how the World Council of Churches (WCC) is responding to the fight against HIV/AIDS globally.  WCC supports and partners with leaders, practitioners and organizations reflective of many faith traditions to eliminate the epidemic of HIV/AIDS. The WCC is also intentional in providing a platform for PLWHA (People Living With HIV/AIDS) to safely and openly share their journeys.   One such story involved a Lutheran pastor living with HIV. He was silenced by his church and salary withheld because of his positive HIV status.   The touching testimonies from PLWHA, encouraged me to solemnly reflect on the challenges that remain in eradicating this global epidemic. One key question continues to permeate my mind.  What more can the ecumenical body do to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, with specific focus on the chief agents’ stigma and discrimination against those living with or affected by HIV/AIDS?

HIV related stigma and discrimination is counter to the purpose of the church in witnessing for Christ. The church is called to love and care for the neighbor as Christ commissioned. To care for the neighbor, one must understand the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS.  In some communities, HIV/AIDS was thought to be linked to sexual disobedience or promiscuity.  Many churches reinforced a biblical narrative of pain, suffering, and death as punishment for disobedience or a consequence of one’s wrong. Thus, blaming and shaming PLWHA.  However, the message of the gospel is to love your neighbor as yourself.

During the conference, many communities shared their approach in breaking stigma and discrimination to learning, education and accompaniment. The role of the church in mitigating the impact of HIV has expanded beyond preaching the message of love.  Churches are partnering with communities to include local leaders, healers, church members, and community based groups in providing accurate information on the facts about HIV; especially considering the modes of transmission, testing and treatment. Access to accurate information and a gospel message of compassion, churches can play a major role in ending the stigma of HIV/AIDS. Today, a growing number of churches are working to encourage a message of love, hope, support and dignity for people living with HIV.   

Bio

A baptized and confirmed Lutheran originally from Liberia, West Africa. I serve as Council Vice President of Peoples’ Community Lutheran Church (PCLC) DE-MD Synod, Region Eight Representative of the African Descent Lutheran Association (ADLA), and HIV/AIDS Awareness Project Coordinator – PCLC. I currently serve on the ELCA Young Reformers Cohort, an alumnus of Elisha’s Call, ELCA Delegate to the International AIDS Conference (2016) and a member of the Association of Liberian Lutherans Living in the Americas (ALLLIA). I am student at the University of Maryland University College, Majoring in Cyber Security.

My fervent prayer is a world where People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are no longer consider threat to society and incarcerated, rather embraced without fear as fellow humans needing love and compassion. This is something dear to me, and is evidence by my partnership with the DE-MD Synod, the ELCA Strategy on HIV/AIDS, the Black AIDS Institute and the Maryland Department of Health – office of Faith and Community based organizations. I also envisioned that, we as a community of believers, can help to ultimately seal the achievement and privilege gap that currently exist.

 

To learn more about ending the stigma of HIV/AIDS, view the ELCA’s repository resource link below :

http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/ELCA_Strategy_on_HIV_and_AIDS.pdf.

 

 

 

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