John Hougen, Elkins Park PA

 Warm-up Question

At the moment, questioning what is true and what is false, what is real news and what is fake news, dominates political and moral analysis in the United States. Let’s turn these questions inward and ask: what is the truth about who I am and who God is? For the warm-up, discuss this question: What do you believe is true in the Bible stories of Jesus’ birth; what do you doubt; and what do you not believe?

The Truth, the whole Truth … 

January 6 was the Christian holy day Epiphany, which literally means a revealing, an unveiling, a manifestation. Epiphany (aka Three Kings Day) commemorates the visit of the Wise Men (aka Magi) to the infant Jesus (aka the Messiah). God revealed His Son to the Magi. A truth was unveiled as they knelt before the manifestation of God’s Self on earth.

The Day of Epiphany is the beginning of the season of Epiphany, a season of discovery during which we are invited to open ourselves to revelations about Jesus and revelations about ourselves. Maybe we won’t get to the whole truth; but, during Epiphany, our goal can be to get as close to the whole truth as possible.

Having a confidant can help you discover more of the truth about yourself and your beliefs. A confidant is someone to whom you can reveal the truth as you know it. If you don’t have a confidant, I hope you find that someone or that group sooner rather than later. You will know you’ve found trusted confidants when you are sure they will affirm the best about you and not reject you or judge you harshly for the worst. And, trusted confidants only reveal to others what you want them to reveal. Your secrets are safe with them.

As our confidants respond to what we tell them, we discover new truths about ourselves. Their responses help us uncover what is below the surface in our self-understanding. As we dialogue with sensitive others, we also come to know them more completely. The way they respond to us tells us important truths about who they are.

God is the ideal confidant. God listens when we pray, when we think, when we question. God knows us fully, seeing more deeply than we do into who we are and who we might become. God not only knows us fully, God loves us completely: forgiving our sins, lifting us up when we fall, and calling us to become a better version of ourselves. As God’s love becomes real for us, we discover more of the truth about God. Our dialogue with God reveals what is holy in God and in us: caring is holy; forgiveness is holy; truth is holy; love is holy.

Discussion Questions

• Without revealing any secrets, if you have a confidant, share with the group what it is about your confidant that enables you to trust her or him with the whole truth about who you are.
• Is God one of your confidants? Do you reveal yourself in prayer either in church or privately? If so, which of God’s qualities are most real to you? Is the God to whom you pray loving? kind? merciful? understanding? all-knowing? all-powerful? judgmental? distant? close? mysterious? something else?
• If you don’t pray, what thoughts or feelings lead you to choose not praying over praying?

Baptism of our Lord/First Sunday after Epiphany

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

Today’s Gospel reading is about two kinds of baptism: baptism with water and baptism with the Spirit. John the Baptist proclaims that he baptizes with water, but the one coming after him (Jesus) will baptize with the Spirit. In the Lutheran tradition and many others, the two become one. God sends the Holy Spirit into the water as the promises, prayers and pronouncements of the sacrament are spoken. Spirit, Word, and Water mingle as the baptizer speaks: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” In this moment, the one baptized is blessed with water and the Spirit, and promised that the Spirit will remain with her or him forever.

Three truths are revealed in Mark 1: 4-11. Three epiphanies related to baptism are unveiled, challenging us to ask: are they as true for us as they were for those who were with John the Baptist by the River Jordan?

First, in verses four and five, we are challenged to decide whether we are like the “people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem.” They made the trip from the safety of their homes into the dangerous wilderness to see and hear John the Baptist. Why? Because John was proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. John’s baptism accomplished the cleansing the people longed for. People confessed and repented.  (To repent means to be turned around to face a new future.) With water and the Word, using John the Baptist, God forgave them and gave them a new direction for their lives.

We are challenged to ask whether it is the truth that inside us is a longing to come clean, to confess the whole truth about ourselves, and to be forgiven for the parts of that truth that are unholy. Is it true that inside each of us is a longing to be fully known and fully loved, and given a fresh start, a clean slate?

A second epiphany awaits us in verses nine through eleven. These verses report that Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan.  ^“And just as (Jesus) was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’”

We are challenged to ask whether we accept as truth that Jesus is Divine, full of God’s love, and the exemplar of how to please God. The Gospels confirm these assertions as true as they go on to describe Jesus’ ministry, death, and resurrection. At the same time, we are challenged to accept or reject the notion that we too want to please God, that Jesus is the personification of our deepest hopes for ourselves.

A third epiphany is ours if we understand that our baptisms reveal who we are as surely as Jesus’ baptism revealed who he was. As we come up out of the waters of baptism, the Holy Spirit descends on us and God speaks, “As brothers and sisters of my Son Jesus, you too are my beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

We are challenged to ask whether we accept the improbable Gospel truth that God regards us as God regards Jesus: worthy of love, worthy of intimacy, and worthy of resurrection to an eternal intimacy with the Divine.

Mark 1: 4-11 proclaims that it is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth that the journey of the Christian during the season of Epiphany, (and throughout life) is marked by epiphanies of who we are:

• people who long for confession, repentance, and forgiveness,
• people invited to accept God’s love for us as his children
• and people who want to be more like Jesus;

and revelations of who God is:

• a God of infinite mercy,
• a God who loves us as much as God loves Jesus,
• a God whose Spirit empowers us to be like Jesus.

Discussion Questions

• At this time in your life, do you receive the three epiphanies identified in the Gospel reflection as true, maybe true, or false? They are
  • You long for forgiveness, a clean slate.
  • Jesus is God’s beloved Son, and you wish you were more like him.
  • God loves you as much as God loves Jesus.

• The baptisms performed by John the Baptist in the River Jordan were very dramatic. In order to be baptized, people overcame their fear of the wilderness and their shame which kept them from speaking of their sins. They were desperate to receive a baptism of forgiveness. When Jesus was baptized, the drama unfolded publicly as the Spirit of God became visible and God’s voice became audible. You can’t get more dramatic than that! How do the urgency and drama of these baptisms compare to the baptisms in your congregation? If you answer that they are similar, what makes the urgency and drama of baptism in your congregation obvious to witnesses? If you answer today’s baptisms have less urgency and drama, how might the life-changing revelations of baptism be made more obvious to those who witness them?

• The Bible teaches us that Jesus was without sin. (see e.g. Hebrews 4:15). If that is so, and John baptized people so their sins might be forgiven, and their lives turned around, why do you think Jesus wanted to be baptized by John?

Activity Suggestions

Look at the section on baptism in the hymnal your congregation uses. Copy the words that help you understand why water is used in baptism. Then, copy the words that help you understand what it means to be “baptized with the Spirit.”

Closing Prayer

Lord: help us to see thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, and follow thee more nearly, day by day. Amen.

(From the 1971 Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak musical Godspell – based on a prayer ascribed to the 13th-century English bishop Saint Richard of Chichester)

Tim Jacobsen, West Des Moines, IA

Warm-up Questions

What does a typical day look like for you?  When do you get up? Go to bed? What activities or commitments do you have? Do you feel too busy or do you need more to do?

Being Busy

Life is busy, there is no denying that, but do we as a society choose to make ourselves busier? In the movie, The Sandlot, a group of kids gets together to just play baseball, hangout, eat smores (smore what?), and just be kids. This seems so odd to us today. Why would they waste their time just playing?   What about all their AP classes, traveling teams, competitions, practices, church activities, and other commitments. How are they going to be the best at what they do, if they play just for fun?

Our culture puts so much emphasis on being busy. What is one of the first things you say to people when they ask how you are? Typically, it sounds like this, “I’m doing well; I’m just so tired and busy.” We even say we are busy when we are just going to sit with our phones or play video games. We need to reshape our definition of busyness and our priorities.

An episode of the podcast, On Being with Krista Tippet, discussed the “disease of being busy.” This disease of being “busy” (and let’s call it what it is, the dis-ease of being busy, when we are never at ease) is spiritually destructive to our health and well-being. It saps our ability to be fully present with those we love the most in our families, and it keeps us from forming the kind of community that we all so desperately crave.

Discussion Questions

• Why do we need to be busy?
• Why has our culture put such an emphasis on being busy?
• Do you feel too busy?

First Sunday of Christmas

Isaiah 61:10-62:3

Psalm 148

Ephesians 3:1-12

Luke 2:22-40

(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

Remember back to a time when things seemed simpler? I’m sure we can all recall those moments when life just seemed to flow, and everything was easier and simpler. Our Gospel for today has Mary and Joseph taking Jesus to the temple for sacred rituals and rites.  This dedication ritual occurred at the temple and gave a sense of normalcy to the birth of the savior which was prophesied and had just happened.

In the midst of our busyness we have lost sight of rituals and the importance of these moments.  Our appreciation of religious ritual often extends little beyond Christmas and Easter worship or the occasional Sunday. It is something to check off the list in our busy life. Yet God is moving and speaking to us all the time. When we take time to slow down and partake in those spiritual moments we can really hear God speak and see God at work.

Mary and Joseph hear God through Simeon and Anna prophesying all the amazing things that God incarnate in Jesus will do among us humans.  God can and does speak through the seemingly normal routines of life. Love has come to us and dwells among all. God is speaking amid the busyness of life.  What would life look like if we really took time to slow down and listen?

Discussion Questions

• Have you ever heard God speak to you? What does it sound and feel like?
• What seemingly normal things in our lives do we do where we could share God’s love with others?
• As the new year starts, how can you adjust your life to take time to slow down and listen to God?
• Does making your faith growth and time with God make a difference? Why is or isn’t it a priority for you?

Activity Suggestions

Sometimes to start a new habit or routine we need to make a plan. Have students work in small groups or as a whole group to make a plan to take time to intentionally grow in faith and serve others throughout the year. Accountability can be a huge help in making faith growth happen. You might use a Bible app to find a reading plan.

Closing Prayer

Lord, I often feel overwhelmed by too many demands.  Help me rest in your love and never be too busy to seek your will for my life.  Amen

Bryan Jaster, Winchester, VA

Warm-up Question

What is something surprising you were asked to do in the past week?  What did you do in response to being asked?

How Can This Be?

Washington, D. C.  You likely know it as America’s capital and the place where our national government has its home.  Many visit to see the Smithsonian, explore the monuments, and go to plays or sports events.

However, not as well known is the large population of people who continue to live in parks, shelters, or moving back and forth between housing and the streets.   Thankfully, according to the DC Department of Human Services, the number of adults and children who experience homelessness has dropped 34% from 2009 to 2017.  One night earlier this year, there were 7,473 people unsheltered in an emergency shelter or in a transitional housing facility.

Recently youth from our community met two men in Washington D.C. who help lead an organization called Teens Opposing Poverty.  They told stories of living on streets for 10-12 years each. A small number of teenagers chose not to ignore them.  The teens fed them, brought clean, white socks, and got to know them as human beings.  They blessed them and the new homeless friends blessed back.

One day the teens asked “How can this be that you have to live on the streets and under benches?”  Hearing answers, these youth continued to stick around, offering hope and small steps toward living fuller lives.   As a result of the blessing from teenagers who loved them, these two men are both off the streets. They are employed and have families.  They are proud to lead groups of teenagers through Teen Opposing Poverty.  Youth get to know others who live on the streets trapped in the cycle of poverty.

Be sure to check out Teens Opposing Poverty at http://teensopposingpoverty.org.  Their mission is to empower youth to meet physical needs and offer hope, friendship, opportunity and encouragement to the poor, not just as an annual event, but as a regular part of their lives.  They know that teenagers have a unique voice give from God to transform lives!

Discussion Questions

• Do you know anyone who is affected by homelessness? Why do people in our country not have adequate shelter, food, or employment?
• How is daily life different for those who live on streets each day?
• What are some unique gifts that teenagers have to help transform poverty? How do you or teenagers you know share them?

Fourth Sunday in 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

“How can this be?”

It’s a reasonable question which Mary asks.  As this story begins in Luke we hear conversation between a messenger of God named Gabriel and a virgin whose name is Mary.  The angel messenger finds Mary in Nazareth and says, “Do not be afraid.”  Mary is perplexed by the words of this messenger.

Next, Gabriel tells Mary, that although she is an unwed virgin, her soon to be born son Jesus “will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.  He will reign and his reign will be forever.”

This is an unexpected blessing from Gabriel to Mary!  Mary is blessed before she says yes.

To understand the surprising power of this blessing it helps to know that she would have been familiar with the titles being given to her unborn son.   The titles now given to Jesus (“Son of God,” “Savior of the World,” and “Messiah/Christ”) were previously given to Caesar.  Before Jesus was conceived, Caesar Augustus had already been proclaimed by Roman imperial theology as “Son of God” and “Savior of the World.”  Mary lives in the middle of the powerful Pax Romana reign where Caesar is given these titles and everyone knows them just as we might know the name of a president or king today.  Imagine her surprise when this visiting angel proclaims that her soon to be born son is the actual ruler and king to be given these titles, and not only of this land, but of the whole world.

Mary says, “How can this be?” Indeed!  How CAN this be?!?

The angel is persistent and says God the Most High and Holy Spirit will take over all of this.  And, oh by the way, your cousin also quite unexpectedly will have a son too because with God nothing is impossible.

Finally, Mary says, “Yes” and honors the gift of bringing this Son of God into the world.

Discussion Questions

• Read the story again. What parts now get your attention?
• When have you, liked Mary, said, “How can this be?” Was it in a moment like that of the teenagers in DC who encountered hurting lives and wanted to make a difference?  Or was it a time when you received an unexpected blessing?   Share stories with each other.
• What messages do you think God is trying to communicate to the world now, in December 2017, as we practice Advent together and listen carefully to God? Mary responded with “Yes, I’m a servant of God; let it come to me as you have said.”   Share some responses to what you think God may be saying now to grow God’s reign on earth today.

Activity Suggestions

Pull out your phones and research local organizations which respond to those who encounter homelessness in some way.   Perhaps find a place where food is given out and give food.  Find a way to offer help to those in transitional or relief housing.  See if there is some unmet need to which you can respond.  If you’re on Christmas break today, take time to help in the next few days if needed.  Perhaps you will find something in your community that grabs your attention when you ask “How can this be?” Be alert for something that blesses you and invites you to respond.

Once you have found a way to serve that fits your gifts, contact the leaders, schedule a time and show up and serve.

Closing Prayer

O God we, with your servant, Mary ask “How can this be?” in a world that is filled both with crushing poverty and unexpected blessing.  Help us to receive your messengers openly and be messengers of your great news and kingdom today.  May we respond with “yes” to your gifts and serve humbly.  Amen.

Andrew Karrmann, Bellevue, NE

 Warm-up Questions

• Many people are afraid of the dark and have anxiety about the time between turning off the light and getting into bed. What do you do when you have to turn off a light switch and then walk across the room to the safety of your bed?
• Where else have you experienced darkness in your own world?

A Light in the Darkness

Daniela Schiller is an Israeli Professor of Neuroscience who runs her own research lab at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai in New York City.On June 3rd, 2010 she told a story about a darkness in her own life.  

Daniela grew up in Israel with a father who survived the Holocaust in Germany

before settling in Israel to raise his family. Daniela visits her father once a year and often her visit coincides with Holocaust Memorial Day. On this day at 10 am, Israeli citizens hear a siren across the country which signals the time to stop everything you are doing and stand at attention for one minute of silent reflection on the horrors faced by Jewish people during World War II. But Daniela noticed that while this national moment of silence was happening, her father (who she thought would want to participate in this national moment more than anyone else) would remain seated at the table, sipping his coffee, and reading his newspaper as if nothing were going on. She always thought this was strange, but didn’t have the type of relationship with her father where she could ask him about his feelings. 

Schiller was inspired by a movie called, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” in which the main character tries to remove the painful memory of his ex-girlfriend through a radical medical procedure. Schiller’s experience growing up with a father who couldn’t seem to acknowledge his most painful memories caused her to research a little bit more about the possibility of such a procedure. It turned out that the movie was based on actual science and there was a lab in New York City working on that specific idea. She immediately signed up and received a grant to study in the lab.

 Schiller’s new colleagues had discovered that the simple act of recalling a memory left it vulnerable to influence while it was being loaded in the brain. They imagined allowing people to recall traumatic memories and while the memory was vulnerable, injecting a drug to block the memory from being formed once again, effectively erasing the memory permanently. This had been shown in mice, but now it was Schiller’s job to prove that it was possible in human beings.

 Schiller began her experiments by using classical (or Pavlovian) conditioning to force her human subjects to associate seeing a blue square with receiving an electric shock. After a few trials, she was successful and she was able to measure a physiological response of fear in her subjects whenever they saw a blue square. Unfortunately, the US Government was far more lenient regarding the use of electric shocks on humans than with experimental drugs, so she had to come up with a new way to remove the association of fear with the blue square in her subjects.

 While reviewing a similar study with mice, which seemed to fail, Daniela noticed that there was something different about this study. After implanting the negative memory in the mice, by mistake the mice were allowed to experience something pleasant in the subsequent iterations of the experiment. This seemed to alter the painful memory over time, and without the use of any drugs, the mice were cured of their irrational fear. So, Daniela began to try this in the people she was studying. By changing from an electric shock to the feeling of winning a prize, she was able to alleviate her subjects’ fear of blue squares.

 The next year, while visiting her father, Daniela once again heard the sirens for Holocaust Memorial Day going off. As she looked over at her father, she began to understand what he was doing for the first time. The siren was his blue square and he was was doing something pleasant while his memory was vulnerable. So she poured herself a cup of coffee, borrowed a section of her dad’s newspaper, and sat down next to him.

Discussion Questions

• What darkness do you think was being triggered in Daniela’s father’s mind when the sirens sounded on Holocaust Memorial Day?
• What sorts of things trigger you to think about the darkness in your own world?
• What did Daniela’s father do to shine a little light on his dark memories?
• What can you do to shine light on your own dark memories?

Third Sunday in 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

In the first couple of verses we find out who this John the Baptist character is. We are told very plainly that he is not the light (Christ is!), but that he is simply here to tell us all about the light so we can recognize it when it shows up.

 This turns out to be very important because while John is going around telling people about Christ, there is clearly some confusion about who is doing what. The leaders of the Jewish community at the time have trouble keeping John and Jesus separate as they are hearing stories about the two of them. So, they bring John in to ask him a few questions. They want to know just who John thinks he is, causing all this confusion by baptizing people even though he claims not to be Christ, or Elijah, or a prophet. John let’s them know that he is just someone out in the world telling people what they already know: that they should follow the path of God just like Isaiah said and that they needn’t be worried about what he is doing because there is someone coming who even John wouldn’t be worthy of untying his shoe.

 As we wait in the season of Advent, we often struggle with balancing “The Christmas Spirit” and the idea that we should be waiting for the light of Christ to shine in our world on Christmas Day. John is very careful to make a distinction between himself and the light. So, are we supposed to see ourselves as John, pointing to the light of Christ in the midst of a broken world? Or are we supposed to be the light ourselves, by being “little Christs” as Luther said in his Theology of the Cross? Is there room for both?

 Advent is a season which reminds us that although we live in a world full of darkness and sadness, there is a light and that light comes every year on Christmas Day. Although we look forward to a day when Christ returns and fulfills his Kingdom, we must reconcile this idea with the fact that we live in a world unfulfilled. Can we still point to evidence of Christ in a broken world? Can we tell ourselves and others about the coming Kingdom, even if we can’t see it ourselves? Can we point to God’s light even in the darkest parts of our own lives? Can we take it a step further and be that light to others in their darkest moments?

 As Lutheran Christians, we are daily forgiven and washed of our sins. This gives us the freedom to relive the darkest moments of our lives over and over without the fear that we might be forced to be stuck in the darkness. Each time we call on our own fearful and scared memories they are left vulnerable to God’s Word (which is Christ) saying, “I love you and forgive you not in spite of what you’ve done, but because of it.” Christ can keep shining that light through the actions of others (like friends, family, and church members), into our personal darkness. Eventually, this light shines so bright that others can see it in us, despite our own darkness and we become the little Christs that Luther talked about.

Discussion Questions

• Can you point to evidence of Christ even in the broken world we live in today?
• Can you see yourself as a little Christ even if you cannot be sinless like Christ?
• How can you point to Christ in your own world like John the Baptist pointed to Christ in his?

Activity Suggestions

Make your own little Christ by drawing something that represents Christ to you. It could be a cross, a dove, a flame, a light bulb, a dude in a robe with a beard, or anything else you can think of. Then take your little Christ with you to a place where you see the light of Christ shining in our broken world. Take a selfie with you pointing to the little Christ and share it on social media with the hashtag #PointingToChrist. Try this more than once throughout your week and don’t forget to search your favorite social media platform for the hashtag to see how others have found the light of Christ in their lives.

Closing Prayer

Father, God, Lord,

Thank you for this chance to come together to learn more about you and your Word. Thanks, also for your willingness to enter into the darkest parts of our lives to shine your light and help us heal. Please walk with us in the weeks, months, and years ahead as we seek out the cracks in the darkness of our world where your light shines through. Allow us to point to that light so that others can see it as well. We lift up the darkness and light in our own lives and know that you hear our prayers, whether we shout them with joy from the mountaintops or hold them inside with sighs to deep for words. Thank you for listening.  Amen.

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.