Alex Zuber, Harrisonburg, VA

Warm-up Question

What is the most urgent or pressing thing in your life right now?  (It could be a good thing or a challenge)

Tear It Open!

For all the build-up, Christmas just flies by too fast!  Some of us (me included) may have been singing along with Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” since November 1, but Christmas is still over too soon.

I know I could slow down and savor the moment more, but I’m always far too delighted by the frenzied rush of Christmas morning.  It doesn’t seem to matter what age I am, when I get a package wrapped in bright, shiny, joyful paper, I just want to tear it open as fast as I can!  Whether you’re in a family that has everyone open their presents all at once, or one where. you patiently wait to open one present at a time, while everyone watches, there’s a magical thrill to tearing open the wrapping paper.

As joyful as this practice is each year, I always feel a bit of sadness as I carry huge garbage bags loaded with Christmas wrapping paper out to the street for the trash collection.  Not just because Christmas is over, but because this joyful tradition is inherently wasteful.  The site Brightly says, “The U.S. is estimated to produce 4.6 million pounds of wrapping paper every year, and half of that—approximately 2.3 million pounds—winds up in landfills.”

And it’s not just the paper in those trash bags! “Ribbons and bows are a problem, too: If every family reused two feet of ribbon, it would save enough to tie a bow around the planet.”  It pulls at my heart to balance  this joyful tradition of tearing open presents with the deep call I feel to better steward creation.  Perhaps we can have both.  We can all take simple steps to find eco-friendly paper, reuse some paper and bags, wrap more creatively with repurposed paper, and look into reusable cloth alternatives.

Discussion Questions

• What is your practice of present opening on Christmas morning? Do you tear into presents with urgency or not?
• Before reading this post have you ever considered the waste that is created by the holidays?
• What can you and your family do to take a more sustainable approach to the holidays next year?

Baptism of our Lord

Genesis 1:1-5

Acts 19:1-7

Mark 1:4-11

(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

Particularly as we read the Gospel of Mark, I can’t help but think of the urgency of tearing open gifts on Christmas, because Mark is a gospel that gets down to business quickly!  Christmas? Nope.  Magi and a star? No. Jesus as a child in the temple? Nah.  Mark doesn’t have time for such things!  Our gospel writer launches into the gospel with urgency, saying simply “The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ,” and then doesn’t let up for 16 chapters.  (Even the Easter story includes  no original post-resurrection appearances by Jesus!  It just ends.)

In Mark, Jesus is on the move, and Jesus is in action.  He’s teaching, healing, casting out demons, and proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is near!  Before this happens, John the Baptizer appears, offering a baptism of repentance  and proclaiming the coming of one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.  Jesus comes to John and receives this baptism for himself in solidarity with the people, and just as he emerges from the water, the heavens are “torn apart and the Spirit descends like a dove upon him.” Did you hear that?  The heavens are “torn apart”, not merely “opened” as they are in Matthew and Luke.  This is a dramatic and urgent scene!

Jesus is always getting into the action, and Mark is particular about showing that God—just like a kid of any age on Christmas morning—is tearing open the heavens like wrapping paper to declare the belovedness of Jesus.  And you too, are beloved!

As John offered a baptism of repentance, we receive the forgiveness of sins through our baptisms.  We are washed in the Holy Spirit through the love of Jesus.  God proclaims over the waters of our baptism that we are beloved as well.  God is indeed pleased to call us God’s children.  And this baptized life calls us to walk with both a spirit of repentance,  which transforms our hearts, and  a spirit of  joy and hope for all creation.  Just as we can rethink the joyful practice of Christmas paper to better care for our world, so our baptism calls us to live into our belovedness by tearing apart the ways of sin which divide us from one another, and obscure the presence of God.

God is urgently, joyfully tearing open the heavens to be among us, to proclaim belovedness over creation through the joy and hope we share in loving one another.  Dear one, YOU are God’s beloved, and with YOU God is well pleased!

Discussion Questions

• Baptismal candidates declare “I renounce them!” to the powers of evil. What evil(s) do you renounce? (Mark 1:9-11)
• Jesus’ baptism was the beginning of his ministry; how was your baptism the beginning of yours? (Mark 1:10-11)

Activity Suggestions

• Make a to-do list this week, and then sort it by what is most urgent.  Then read the five points of the Baptismal Covenant, below.  Discuss with a friend how these things can be done through each of the urgent tasks you’ve identified.  If it’s hard to imagine these things reflecting your baptismal covenant, how can you reprioritize, or reimagine these activities as an extension of your baptismal calling?  (Covenant: to live among God’s faithful people, to hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper, to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, to serve all people, following the example of Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth)
• Baptism is our adoption into God’s family as God’s child, and God is “very pleased” (Mark 1:11) that this is so.  As a way of testing how your life would be affected if you always had a reminder of that gracious truth, take an index card and write the words of verse 11, starting with your own first name, “_____, You are my beloved child;  with you I am well pleased.”  Fold this index card and carry it around with you all week, in a pocket or purse where you will come across it often.  Then pay attention to how hearing this word from God – a reminder of your adoption – changes the way you think about yourself and the world around you. (Credit: Dave Delaney, VA Synod, ELCA)

Closing Prayer 

We give you thanks, O God, that through water and the Holy Spirit you give us new birth, cleanse us from sin, and raise us to eternal life. Stir up in us the gift of your Holy Spirit: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence, both now and forever. Amen. (From the “Affirmation of Baptism” liturgy in Evangelical Lutheran Worship)

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)

Linnea Peterson, Minneapolis, MN

Warm-up Questions

• Have you ever tried to talk about something that happened to you and had someone refuse to believe you? 
• Do you think some people are believed more than others when they talk about their experiences? What do you think leads to that difference? 

Believe Me

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. 

Discussion Questions

• Have you ever felt like your gender has affected the way other people treat you? What about other aspects of your identity? 
• Have you ever noticed yourself treating someone else differently based on something about their identity? 
• In many ways, a conservatorship locks an adult into the legal status of a minor. What might justify such an arrangement?  When should it be terminated?
• Do parents and guardians currently have too much control over the lives of their children or other minors in their care? If you think there should be changes to the balance of power between parents/guardians and minors, what should those changes look like? What is the ideal balance of freedom versus safety for those under 18? 

Fourth Sunday of Advent

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16

Romans 16:25-27

Luke 1:26-38

(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

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. 

Discussion Questions

• How do you think Christianity would look different if we chose not to believe Mary about Jesus being of divine origin? 
• Would Jesus still be special if he had been conceived in the conventional way?
• Have you heard of “respectability politics”? Can you think of other behaviors that the letters in the New Testament mandate or ban that you think fit into this pattern? 

Activity Suggestions

• The United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalists have created a comprehensive sexuality education curriculum called Our Whole Lives, which some ELCA congregations have also started to participate. Look up the Our Whole Lives curriculum and see if there is anything in it that you think would be beneficial to your congregation. 
• Gather supplies to donate to a local women’s shelter. Hygiene and menstrual products are often greatly appreciated. 
• Listen to the Britney Spears song “Stronger” and discuss how the lyrics relate to or differ from the gospel passage for today. 

Closing Prayer

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

Warm-up Question

How do you react when things do not go your way?  How do you get though the rough times in life?  

Hope in the Wilderness

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.

Discussion Questions

• Read the words to Ingemann’s hymn (ELW 327, LBW 355).  Where do you see words of hope?  Words of joy?  Words which would reveal resilience?
• Hope and light are major themes of Advent.  Where do you see signs of hope today?  Where is there light shining in the darkness?
• What  hymn or song  instills hope in you?  What hymn or song  brings you joy?

Third Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

John 1:6-8, 19-28

(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

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.

Discussion Questions

• What are some of the wildernesses in the world today?  Are people willing to face and enter the wilderness in order to grow and gain strength?
• How do we Christians bear witness today to the presence of Jesus?
• Is the symbol of light still a powerful one in our day?  Why?

Activity Suggestion

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.

Closing Prayer

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

Warm-up Question

Are you being called beyond your comfort zone to live Jesus’ way of love, peace and understanding?

An Unsettling Call

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 20^th 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 19^th and early 20^th 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 20^th 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.”  

Discussion Questions

• In can be uncomfortable and very challenging to become more aware of the ways Indigenous people have been treated by a colonizing, dominate white culture.  While we were not personally involved, we still benefit from the taking of others land and live in a country where others still suffer from that theft of land and culture.   Why might it be valuable to live into this discomfort and participate in a truth and healing movement?  
• In the 1920’s Oklahoma depicted in the movie sin is present in the laws, policies, and practices that enable violence and exploitation. Are you aware of sinful structures (laws, policies, or common practices and attitudes that harmed neighbors) which have been present in our country in various locations? After reflecting on the film, and other dark parts of our national history, what do you want to learn more about? What are the various opinions about this out there?  What, if anything, do you feel called to do?

Second Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 40:1-11

2 Peter 3:8-15a

Mark 1:1-8

(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

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!  

Discussion Questions

• Can you think of a time in your life when leaving your comfort zone has been life giving for you? What happened?   What was that like for you?
• What injustice in your immediate daily life or in the world are your feeling called to address?  Does this make you uncomfortable, even afraid, in some way?  What good could come out of taking action to think and act in new ways?
• How might God and others in your community of faith help give you wisdom and courage to go beyond your discomfort to live more boldly in Jesus’ resurrection life of love and justice for all.

Activity Suggestions

• Watch the movie “Killers of the Flower Moon”  (Available on Apple +) and reflect together using the study guide resource provided by the ELCA as part of the Truth and Healing movement:  https://www.elca.org/Our-Work/Congregations-and-Synods/Ethnic-Specific-and-Multicultural-Ministries/Indigenous-Ministries-and-Tribal-Relations/Truth-and-Healing-Movement
• As a group on poster paper or a white board, design a road that Jesus wants to walk with people toward Truth and Healing.  What would you put on that road?  What “Fueling Stations” would be helpful along the way?

Closing Prayer

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