There is no Faith Lens post this week
“He came to his own home, and his own people received him not.
But to all who received him he gave power to become the children of God” (RSV)
ELCA Blogs
“He came to his own home, and his own people received him not.
But to all who received him he gave power to become the children of God” (RSV)
Linnea Peterson, Minneapolis, MN
A couple of months ago, pop star Britney Spears released a memoir, The Woman in Me, bringing her back into the national spotlight. Though her most popular songs came out over 20 years ago, Spears has received attention in recent years with the #FreeBritney movement, which was an effort by Spears and her supporters to end the conservatorship that gave Spears’ father, Jamie Spears, legal control over Britney Spears’ life, medical options, and finances.
As with movements such as #MeToo, the #FreeBritney movement had at its heart a commitment to believing women. In this context, the title of Spears’ memoir seems deliberate, particularly the use of the word woman. She could have titled the book something like The Adult in Me or The Grownup in Me to signal that she is no longer a teen sensation and has matured. Focusing on her womanhood, rather than just her adulthood, indicates not only that she is now an adult but also that her gender is important to her. Perhaps it serves to remind readers that her gender has played a significant role in how others treat her, as well.
As with many societies around the world and throughout history, our society has an unfortunate tendency to discount or dismiss women’s stories, even when those stories are true. In the case of Britney Spears, it took a long time and a lot of public pressure for the legal system to take seriously that she was competent to make her own decisions and that her father was misusing his control over her.
Through the efforts and belief of many of Britney Spears’ supporters, as well as Spears’ advocacy for herself, the conservatorship was finally ended. In the time since, Spears has been able to reclaim her voice enough to write and publish a memoir.
Yet Spears is far from the only woman who has been disregarded and disbelieved. Many situations, from small interpersonal discussions or disagreements, to group projects and business strategy, to large, complex global conflicts, would benefit from paying more attention to the perspectives of women. That only happens if women speak up and men create space and listen well.
(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.
What stands out to me in this gospel reading is that Luke does not in any way question or cast doubt upon Mary’s insistence that she is a virgin. Surely people who knew Mary during her pregnancy or during the early years of Jesus’ life must have wondered whether he was Joseph’s son, since he was born during Mary and Joseph’s betrothal. This would likely have been a topic that some people found scandalous and gossiped about, but Luke does not engage in any such speculation.
Matthew reports that Joseph had a dream where an angel told him that Mary was still a virgin, that her child was of the Holy Spirit, and that Joseph should marry Mary, even though she was pregnant with a child that was not his. Luke does not contain this story. In Luke, the only testimony we have that Mary was a virgin when she conceived Jesus is Mary’s own testimony. It is significant that Luke chooses to believe Mary about her virginity at the time of Jesus’ conception.
While Christianity sometimes fails to live up to this standard of believing women, we would have a very different religion if we did not believe Mary’s account of how she became pregnant with Jesus. The story of Jesus and our theology about him are influenced by the fact that we view Jesus to be of divine origin, something that we believe, in part, because of Mary’s account of how she became pregnant.
The church has too often silenced women, a tradition that began with some of the New Testament epistles forbidding women from speaking in church. Such a prohibition, along with many of the ideas about what constitutes Christian behavior found in the epistles, was an effort to appear blameless to the rest of Roman society, a strategy now known as “respectability politics.”
The ELCA and its predecessor Lutheran denominations have been ordaining women for 53 years. This is something to celebrate, and I am deeply grateful for the many female pastors I have had throughout my life. It is, however, worth noting that the first American Lutheran woman of color was ordained just 43 years ago, 10 years later than the first white American Lutheran woman, and also that women in same-sex relationships have only been eligible for ordination in the ELCA since 2009. Both LGBTQ+ women and women of color wait significantly longer, on average, for calls in the ELCA than their white, straight, male counterparts. There is still plenty of ground to cover as we strive to listen to more women in the church.
Gracious God, you created us in your male and female image. You know the truth, and you believe us when we tell you or others about what we have experienced. Guide us to believe others when they share the truth of their lives with us. Remind us to listen to those who might otherwise be disbelieved or ignored. Strengthen us to keep speaking up when we are the ones in that situation. Amen.
Dennis Sepper, Rosemount, MN
How do you react when things do not go your way? How do you get though the rough times in life?
Bernhardt Ingemann was born on May 28, 1789, the son of a Lutheran Pastor who died when Ingemann was 11 years old. Bernhardt entered the University of Copenhagen in 1806. The following year, when the British attacked Copenhagen to prevent Napoleon from taking the Norwegian-Danish navy, Ingemann helped to defend the city. His apartment and his early works were burned in the siege. In 1809 he lost his mother, three brothers, and a niece in a tuberculosis epidemic, a tragedy reflected in much of his later poetry. Ingemann was a sensitive, soft-spoken person with few friends. However, as a writer of children’s stories, he was second in popularity only to Hans Christian Andersen, whom he counted among his friends.
In 1825, Bernhardt Ingemann wrote a Danish hymn for the season of Advent. Its themes include expectant song, light through darkness, ransom, and rejoicing—many of the Advent themes. The hymn is still popular today. We know it as “Through the Night of Doubt and Sorrow.”
From elementary school all the way through college; school teachers, principals, student life staff and counselors teach students how to be “resilient.” Resilience is defined as “the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties” in life. Resilience is a good quality to have. No matter what our age might be, we have to face some challenging circumstances or experiences.
This Third Sunday of Advent has been known as Gaudete Sunday or the Sunday of Joy. Sometimes this Sunday is represented in the Advent wreath by a pink candle instead of the usual blue or purple. In our second lesson text, Saint Paul encourages us to “rejoice always.” This is where the characteristic of resilience comes to be a strength. Facing tough times and coming through them often leads to personal growth and even a stronger resolve of character.
In addition, as Christians, we have the faith and the promise of God that no matter what happens in the world or in our lives, Jesus is with us to bear us up and carry us through. We can manufacture joy by playing a favorite game or eating a favorite food, but those do not last very long. Our joy, our resilience, comes from God and Christ. That is what helped Bernhardt Ingemann not only cope with the difficulties of his life, but also gave him the strength to write the words to a hymn that is as meaningful to us today as it was to him and those around him back then.
(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.
People tried to avoid the wilderness. Yet, people were willing to enter the wilderness to seek John the Baptist. Sometimes entering the wilderness is what people do in order to gain something like peace or joy. We cannot always avoid facing a bad situation or somehow make it better. The best we can do is pray and remember the promise of God and Jesus that they are always with us, no matter what has happened.
Notice that some of the people in today’s gospel text believed that John might be the promised messiah or the prophet Elijah coming back into the world. One of our tasks in life is to figure out who we are called to be. Who are we in the world and in our communities? Most times the people closest to us help us figure that out. They tell us what they see as our strengths or what talents they see in us. But sometimes people place expectations on us that are not as good for us.
That is what happens to John the Baptist. People really want him to be the Messiah, the Chosen One. They would accept John as the Christ in a moment. However, John knows his place. The Bible says “He [John] confessed and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Messiah.’” John knows he is a witness to the coming of Jesus, the true Messiah.
Sometimes we humans forget our place. We fool ourselves into believing we can fix any problems that come our way, forgetting that we are God’s creatures and it is God and Jesus who can get us through the troubled times.
In the opening verses of today’s Gospel text, the author John refers to Jesus as “the light.” Later in John’s Gospel Jesus refers to himself as the “light of the world” (John 8:12). In a world where electricity did not exist, light in the darkness was a blessing. Jesus, as the light entering the darkness of the peoples’ lives and giving light to one’s path forward, is a powerful symbol of what Jesus means to the people and to the world. When we find ourselves in times of darkness, the light of Jesus can give us hope and see us through whatever difficulty we are in.
As children we sang the song “This Little Light of Mine, I’m Gonna’ Let it Shine.” Think of one of your gifts or characteristics that you can let shine for your friends and your community. Identify a gift in one other person and tell them how that gift is shining for others.
Loving God, let the light of Jesus shine in our lives, in our communities and in the world. Help us to be like John the Baptist, knowing our place before you. Help us also to be like John in bearing witness to Christ and the hope Jesus’ presence can give. Guide us in the Advent days ahead until we sign the carols and hymns of Christmas announcing the birth of Jesus. Amen
Steve Peterson, Sauk Rapids, MN
Are you being called beyond your comfort zone to live Jesus’ way of love, peace and understanding?
The Formation of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples (IWGIA Document No. 29, 1979) offers a picture of Indigenous peoples before they were invaded and subjugated, a vision of vitality and wholeness. The document continues, “Other peoples arrived
thirsting for blood, for gold, for land and all its wealth,
carrying the cross and the sword, one in each hand
without knowing or waiting to learn the ways of our worlds,
they considered us to be lower than animals,
they stole our land from us and took us from our lands,
they made slaves…”
The movie Killers of the Flower Moon released this fall in theaters (and currently streaming on Apple+) is based on David Grann’s 2017 book about real life events in Oklahoma in the early years of the 20th Century. The film offers a window into how this subjugation and dehumanizing of native peoples played out in a particular place and time.
During the time period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries the Osage Nation, like many Indigenous Tribes, was forced to give up their homeland to European settlers and to relocate, in this case more than once, finally landing in Oklahoma. The land that became theirs in Oklahoma turned out to have oil underneath it. Subsequently, the oil revenue due individual Osage tribal members was largely withheld from them under guardianships of white community members who were assigned to individuals. This was based on the racist rational that the Osage people themselves were not capable of their own agency.
In a variety of dishonest and immoral actions, including those depicted in “Killers of the Flower Moon” movie, the Osage people experienced the consequences of being brutally conquered, beaten down, killed, impoverished and deeply traumatized. These dehumanizing actions by European peoples, “thirsting for blood, for gold, for land and all its wealth” are still being felt today.
Martin Scorsese, director of Killers of the Flower Moon, stresses in an October 12 interview with The Guardian, “The most important thing to remember is that while the story is set in the 1920s, it’s not a ‘historical’ film. What I mean by that is, that the effects of the tragedy are still felt within the community.”
In the same Guardian article, Geoffrey Standing Bear, current chief of the Osage Nation asserts that the whole white population seems to have been in on the horrendous treatment of his ancestors in the early 20th century. He posits that, “It’s not, who was complicit? It’s who wasn’t complicit?” He stresses, “This tragedy is almost within living memory, it was the time of our grandparents.”
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has initiated a Truth and Healing movement within the church in order to “provide opportunities to learn the true history and current realities of Indigenous people. It is these truths, truths that have been ignored by most for hundreds of years, that will bring healing for both Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people.”
(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.
John the Baptist is an unsettling character with an unsettling message. He takes us out of our comfort zone. John jarringly invites us to rethink what we believe and how we act. Mark introduces this alarming character, John, in an unsettling wilderness setting, with a disquieting message right at the beginning of his Gospel.
The “beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” consists of this wild guy crying out in the wilderness, with a life-changing, comfort zone busting Good News. He proclaims, presumably shouts, a message of radical change, reordered life paths, and repentance of sin.
And if this is not jarring enough, John says soon one greater than he will appear, bringing the Holy Spirit. In other words, “Fasten your seat belt, we are about to take off into a whole new dimension of living.”
An online review of the Film Killers of a Flower Moon, is titled An Unsettling Masterpiece. The review describes a scene at the beginning of the movie “when the screen fills with men toiling in what looks like a lake of fire. Inky silhouettes in a red-orange void…these are ordinary men in a hell of human making. It’s a rightly apocalyptic image for this cruel and baroque American story of love, murder, greed and unspeakable betrayal in 1920s Indian Country.”
At the end of the movie the narrator, director Scorsese in a cameo appearance, challenges the viewer to be changed by this story, to see and to live in a more life-giving way. Confronted by this story of evil enacted and accepted in 1920’s Oklahoma, the viewer is invited to repent of the sins of our culture, seek forgiveness, and live in life-giving way.
While John the Baptist certainly invites people into repentance and forgiveness of individual sins, it seems that he and Jesus are also proclaiming a much broader and more unsettling message. The gospel envisions way of living which is life-giving and just for all people.
At the end of Mark’s gospel the witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection are terrified. No wonder they are afraid, recognizing the awesome responsibility and calling they have before them now, to share this unsettling good news! Perhaps we are afraid as well. Perhaps we are afraid of confronting dark parts of our common history and seeking common repentance. It is hard to advocate for Jesus’ disquieting yet more life-giving way of living and being.
In her book, I Can Do No Other, theologian Anna Madsen writes, “If we believe in the risen Jesus—the raised one who spent his life healing the sick, serving the poor, teaching the crowds, feeding the hungry, forgiving the sinners, and welcoming the outcasts—we become ambassadors of that Jesus.”
Jesus’ way is in direct contrast to the dehumanizing way greed and dominance depicted in Killers of a Flower Moon.” Jesus’ way begins with the unsettling prophetic voice of John the Baptist crying in the wilderness, urging us to repent of such things, to put them in the past. As uncomfortable as it may be at times, following his way allows us to really be alive. Jesus calls us to leave our comfort zones and embrace the wonderful news of God’s liberation and love for all people!
Gracious and just God, help us to see those places in our lives and in our culture where we are called to repent. Make us instruments of your justice and inclusion of all people within the circle of your unconditional love. Help us to move beyond our discomfort and and give us courage to be instruments of your love and peace, so that all may have healing, wholeness, and abundant life. Amen
Chris Heavner, Clemson, SC
Our lives can be upended in an instant:
Political ads offer very little in the way of plans and programs to deal with such disruption. They excel only at warning us how horrible life will be if the other candidate prevails. How our lives will be “upended” if we allow “them” to be in control.
In most instances, we turn to the Church and to our Messiah, hoping they will shield us from the changes which might upend our lives. We turn to God as a protection against any reordering of our common refrain: “Lord, deliver your servant.” But, what if Jesus is the one who is bringing the change? What if the path on which we presently tread is a one which needs to come to an end? How do we interact with a God who insists that all things be made new?
When Martin Luther washed his face each morning he saw this as a reminder that in baptism we have promised to see each day as a new beginning and a new start. Change didn’t happen once, 2000 years ago. It wasn’t something that occurred on the day of our baptism and never again. As we wash our face, we emerge with the awareness that on this day God is calling us to something different from our previous days.
As we begin the Advent season, we speak of how different the world will be when God’s Messiah is among us. The songs and lessons of Advent are petitions to God to “make all things new.” Isaiah 64:1 will be read in many church services this Sunday. “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence.”
What if God isn’t the one who protects or prevents upheavals? What if God is the one who brings it — and possibly requires it?
(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.
Mark 13 is written in the apocalyptic style. You are probably familiar with this type of literature from the final book of our New Testament, Revelation. Daniel is an Old Testament book written in the same style. In fact, many of the images we find in Revelation are repeated images from Daniel. Our reading from Mark 13 includes at least four references to Daniel (Dan. 7:13, 9:27,11:31, 12:11.) Mark’s instruction, “let the reader understand,” (v. 14) is another such reference.
Contrary to what we are often encouraged to think, apocalyptic writings are not intended to frighten or threaten us. Apocalyptic writings are affirmations that God the creator and redeemer is always with us. The world may be turned upside down, but that turning is the very thing which allows us to experience the world God prefers.
Apocalyptic writings affirm the faith community’s confidence that no matter how crushed we might be, God has not abandoned us. No matter how hopeless we might feel, God’s gift of salvation remains.
As the words of Mark’s 13th chapter were being written, the followers of Jesus were experiencing hardships beyond our imagination. Their communities were being destroyed. They faced hunger and oppression for continuing with their family’s religious rituals. The world in which they found themselves was harsh. Religious and political powers threatened anyone who didn’t go along with the status quo.
The faithful followers of Jesus joyfully anticipated the day when Christ would be among them and would right the wrongs they suffered. They looked forward to the world being turned upside down. They lifted their voices to God to ask for upheaval and a reversal of the way things are.
Let’s make sure to note that while Mark 13 expresses these affirmations, the gospel writer warns against trying to predict the day or time when Messiah will come. There is always a temptation to see events as indicators that the change we seek is about to happen. Verse 32 suggests that even Jesus (the Son) doesn’t know. The righting of systemic wrongs must be left in God’s hands. Mark reminds his readers that there is no better place to be than in God’s hands.
We cannot – by our actions or even by our prayers – dictate the hour of God’s arrival. Nor can we determine the contours of the New Earth. Our role is to be ready. Our call is to “keep awake,” to dream of an upended world in which the way of Jesus is known and experienced by all of God’s children. We must not shut our eyes to the way of Christ and the assurances of God’s justice. Keep awake!
During Advent, many of our congregations make use of Marty Haugen’s Holden Evening Prayer. Experience the beauty of one of the songs in this liturgy, “Annunciation and Magnificat.” Lovely music, powerful affirmation of God’s favor. But, do pay attention to the words. Two options for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nABzv_TInaI has a printed copy of the words. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79GlnqXpp1Q is a congregation’s Advent service. Discuss how Mary’s words might touch the upheavals those in your group are experiencing.
O God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, enter our lives on this day and reshape us so as to reflect the people you know us to be. Through the assurances of those who have gone before us, allow us to face the new day with the confidence that your will is being done. With boldness let us embrace the change which will make your peace and your justice a reality for those the world would overlook. All of this in your time, O Lord. Amen.