Author Archives: chaplaineliza

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Flight into Egypt

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“Flight into Egypt”

Matthew 2:13-23– December 28, 2025

            From time to time, I enjoy listening to radio serials. I suspect you all know the kind I’m thinking of. Old time radio shows like “Those Were the Days” broadcasts feature classic radio shows from the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s. Periodically, I tune in to the show, and sometimes get caught up in an exciting, suspenseful adventure serial. Each installment usually ends with a cliffhanger, and the next installment of the serial begins: “When last we left our story . . . “

            Here, in our lectionary reading from the Gospel of Matthew, we have just such an installment. We come into the story right smack dab in the middle of things, with loose ends left hanging all over the place. It is not a pleasant story. The topic of this sermon is not pleasant, either—I’m telling you right now, up front.

            We are breaking into the Gospel account at one of the really gripping, gut-wrenching parts, but I’d like to zoom in on this particular scene. We look at Joseph, in Bethlehem, with his fiancée Mary and newborn baby Jesus. Joseph gets an emergency communique from an angel, in a dream. The angel says, “Get up, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

What would you do if you had to flee from danger, immediately? Be on the run at very short notice? Can you imagine you and your family traveling on an emergency basis, with the added complication of transporting a very young child?

            It may not be physical harm threatened against you or your family. However, there are many other traumatic or life-shattering things that can up-end our lives. “When you are plunged underwater by news you can scarcely comprehend, let alone respond to, how do you take your next breath? When all your visions of a joyous tomorrow are spoken out of existence by whispered words of tragedy or denial, how do you put one foot in front of another on your way into the void?” [1]

            I cannot even imagine what went through Joseph’s mind at that moment. From all accounts of King Herod and his life and reign, he was a tyrant. Looking at writings from contemporary authors of that period, Herod was cruel and bloodthirsty. He was also two-faced, as we can see from a few verses before our lectionary reading today, from his response to the Magi. He sent the Magi to Bethlehem, and requested that they come back after they find this “King of the Jews,” because Herod wished to “worship” this King as well. I have a pretty good idea of exactly what Herod wished to do to the baby Jesus from what follows.

            The Holy Family fled Bethlehem in a hurry. We know that. They fled across a distance, across boundaries, racial lines and cultural spaces. They encountered ethnic differences and language barriers, too, as they made their flight into Egypt.           

            Father James Martin wrote in a recent social media post, “It’s not surprising that in 1952, Pope Pius XII wrote: “The émigré Holy Family of Nazareth, fleeing into Egypt, is the archetype of every refugee family. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, living in exile in Egypt to escape the fury of an evil king, are, for all times and all places, the models and protectors of every migrant, alien and refugee of whatever kind who, whether compelled by fear of persecution or by want, is forced to leave his native land, his beloved parents and relatives, his close friends, to seek a foreign soil.” [2]

            I live in a suburb of Chicago, with the months-long Operation Midway Blitz occurring right here in Chicago and surrounding area. I have been praying with and for the clergy who go regularly to the federal facility in Broadview, on what has been named Faithful Fridays. I mourn with so many because of the injustice. Yes, I take the words of Jesus in Matthew 25 quite seriously. I regularly consider: what would Jesus do?

            Let us go back to the Holy Family fleeing to Egypt, in fear of King Herod and his military goons. But – I want to check in with you all as I am preaching. I know very well that these issues I am talking about are difficult for many people, traumatic for some, and even so upsetting that certain dear ones cannot even sit here and listen any longer. And – that is absolutely okay, to excuse yourself or leave the room or the sanctuary. Please, take this as an invitation for us all to tend to each other’s well-being.

            As we consider the Holy Family on the run, I would like to remind us all of countless families on the move for all kinds of reasons. Of course, some in danger for their lives! And, some on the move because of catastrophic natural disasters, or wars, or widespread extreme poverty. Sometimes, fleeing your safe, familiar town and place where you grew up is the only painful option left after heart breaking and gut-wrenching trials and traumas.

            I would like to highlight something important from Fr. Martin: “the Greek word that Matthew’s Gospel uses is a key: it’s ‘pheuge,’ to flee, one of the ancient roots of the word “refugee.” When we think of refugees, migrants and internally displaced peoples today, we are invited to remember the Holy Family, the ‘archetype,’ as Pope Pius XII said, of ‘every refugee family.’ And we should treat them accordingly.” [3]

            As we reflect upon the situation of the Holy Family as refugees, in the first century, we need to seriously consider the heartbreaking situations of so many refugees today. We are confronted with the serious question: what does God ask of us? If we look to the Bible, to both the clear commands from Micah 6:8 and from Matthew 25, consider these ringing words of Rev. Sharon Blezzard, Lutheran pastor, It does not matter whether we are considering refugees, strangers, aliens, migrants or immigrants. All are human beings, all created by God.

“We can be God’s presence to others in the midst of their suffering, and we can work to alleviate suffering, injustice, and pain in the world. Encourage [all of us] to find their voice and place of power to make a difference through small steps grounded in faithful community and fervent prayer.” [4]

            May it be so! Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/toda-la-tierra-espera/first-sunday-after-christmas-day-year-a-lectionary-planning-notes/first-sunday-after-christmas-day-year-a-preaching-notes

[2] https://x.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/2005287734017950134

[3] https://x.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/2005287734017950134

[4] https://www.stewardshipoflife.org/2013/12/refugees-all/

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The Word Became Flesh

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“The Word Became Flesh”

John 1:1-14 – December 25, 2025

            Words, words, words, words!! Words of every kind, of every description. Words that tell, words that show, words that praise, words that criticize. Words separate and draw together. Words fill people with joy and peace as well as with suspicion and animosity. Words have power. Whether insightful words or divisive words, encouraging words or capitulating words, words have the ability to shake emotions and to inflame passions for good or for evil.

            How do people use words and language, anyway? People speaking a common language need to agree upon the sense of what they say. It helps to be bound together by social convention as well as language rules of practice and use. In fact, language provides the structure of our common experience, understanding and perspectives. But I don’t want to get all high-falutin’ and theoretical. I want to bring this home to where we live.

            We all use language. Every day. In conversation at home, or on the telephone, or at work. Reading a newspaper or writing e-mail. All of these uses of language use words. Words communicate meaning, ideas, stories. Each one of us has a personal story, of what it was like, what happened, and what it’s like now. Our stories are communicated using words and language, and each individual has a creative, unique way to tell his or her story.

            The story of an individual’s own personal life makes sense because it is part of a larger story, the Story that has the story of Jesus Christ at its center. It is a story of God’s initiative which calls for my gratitude and response, a Story some theologians have called ‘the history of salvation.’ It is the Story of Jesus, the Story set forth in the Word of God that attracts, crossing boundaries and transcending lines of race, class, culture and age.

            Our gospel text for today, the first 14 verses of the Gospel of John, is a restatement of an old theme. Remember Genesis 1:1? “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Most scholars today believe the apostle John was thinking of that introduction to the Greatest Story ever told when he wrote his own portion of it. John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word.” John reframed that Story, and gave it a new look from a different perspective.

            In John, Chapter 1, we have God, the creative God who made heaven and earth. The almighty God wanted to communicate with us puny, limited human beings. But how was God supposed to communicate His Story?

            I can remember when my children were younger, in first and second grades. Sometimes they would need help with their homework at night. Years before, I had taken several courses of math in college . . . college algebra, trigonometry, analytical geometry. But, after considering more advanced mathematical ideas, how was I supposed to explain simple addition and subtraction to my young children in language they would understand?

            That’s the way I look at God’s problem sometimes. It’s sort of like God, able to do the most advanced mathematics possible–in God’s head!!–and God needed to be able to explain the simplest addition and subtraction problems to us ordinary, simple-minded human beings.

            There was another problem, as if the simple-mindedness of humanity wasn’t enough. That problem was (and is!!)  sin. Funny thing, how sin keeps cropping up in our lives and getting in the way. Sin divides people from one another as well as from God. Sin isolates and forces apart. Sin happens on a horizontal plane with other people as well as on a vertical plane with God. And sin causes humanity to walk in darkness and to run from God’s presence.

            So here we have a loving God, a God of light, a God who wants so much to communicate with us fallen, sinful human beings. But how was God supposed to communicate God’s Story?

            The Gospel of John tells us how. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was God. The Word is God. Jesus is the Word. John 1:14 says that the Word, Jesus, became flesh,  and . . . the Word dwelt among us.

            Think about it: the whole idea of God becoming a helpless baby, a human being, able to feel cold and heat, able to be hungry and thirsty, with blood and bones and a nervous system and a digestive system. So staggering was this idea that some of the people in John’s day could not believe it. God? the creative God who made heaven and earth? Coming to earth as a helpless, human baby? No way!!

            And, that’s not all!! Not only did this Creator God appear in creation so that our eyes could see Him, this almighty God, after making Himself flesh and blood, has the crazy idea of dwelling among people. Becoming one of us limited human beings, sharing our food and living in our midst. Jesus became fully man. He didn’t just seem to be a man, and pretend to be human. He really and truly became human, living with us as one of us.

            What a way for the almighty, eternal, creative God to communicate to us in a way that we limited human beings might possibly understand. God wanted humanity to understand His Story of good news, the Bible, but God also wanted humanity to understand God’s Word made flesh, the one called Jesus of Nazareth.

            Jesus (the Word incarnate) is the central principle of Scripture as well as the central character of the Greatest Story ever told. Reformed believers have throughout the centuries been finding new ways to confess their faith, using the fallible, limited resources of language that have been handed down to humanity throughout the generations. God helps us understand His Story, and there is nothing God wants more than for us to want to understand God’s Story better and better.

            A good many years ago, a bible translator went to a remote, mountainous region in the interior of Africa. He worked hard at turning an obscure oral language into a written language, which involved decoding the language, writing a grammar, learning extensive vocabulary, and finally translating a portion of the Bible into the heart language of that particular people-group.

            After several years of intense work and language preparation, when he felt he was ready, the missionary made his first presentation of the Story of Jesus to a group of headmen from the tribe. He was surprised at their response, which was unlike any he had ever had before in all his years of being a missionary and telling people the Story of Jesus. The group of men just sat there in silence, and then the chief came forward.

            The chief grasped the missionary’s hands and, with tears in his eyes, thanked him for coming to tell them the Story of Jesus. “This Story of good news is the one my people have waited for, all their lives long!!” And then came the clincher: the chief asked, “Your tribe has had this Story for many, many years. What took you so long to tell us?”

            Communicating the Story of Jesus has power! Awesome power! This is a Story that can change people’s lives for eternity. Telling the Story in someone’s heart language is one of the best ways to communicate how much God loves us.

            When Jesus came to this earth, He spoke the language of the people of His region, and He communicated ideas in ways people could understand. Yes, He was the Word become flesh, and yes, He showed us how to live this life that we have to live. Jesus, ‘the one Word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death.’

            Praise God that God sent the Son Jesus into this world, the Word incarnate, the Word that became a helpless baby in Bethlehem. Praise God that God has given us the right to repair that broken relationship with us, and to be called the children of God. And praise God that God loved us so much that He gave His only begotten Son on our behalf, to reconcile us to God for eternity.

            Gloria in excelsis Deo.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

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Joy for Those Who Wander

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“Joy for Those Who Wander”

Luke 2:1-7 (2:4-5) – December 14, 2025

            When some thing or some reading or some sermon is so familiar, so recognizable, are you tempted to tune it out? Turn it off?

I am preaching from an alternative lectionary, enlarging our Advent meditation on Dr. Luke’s so-familiar chapters. Today, I preach from the beginning of Luke chapter 2. Such a recognizable narrative! It has everything a story needs! Not only promise and heritage, not only memory and mystery. But, hearing an old story yet again brings its own kind of anticipation!

Although, the familiarity surrounding today’s reading is a particular problem for preachers. How do we make the reading fresh, bring it to life again, imbue it with that something extra special enough to cause people to tune in rather than tune out?

            Let us listen again to a portion of today’s reading: “And everyone went to their own town to register.4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.”

            Joseph and Mary began to travel from Nazareth in the north of Galilee up to Bethlehem. A suburb of Jerusalem, really. A small town on the outskirts of the capital city, a good ways to the south of Galilee. We find Mary and Joseph (probably without a donkey – sorry to all of the lovers of traditional Christmas cards, everywhere) on the road, walking south to register for the census. And, they were not the only ones on the road.

            Can you see yourself – can I see myself – on the road? Are we all in transit, traveling along, not anywhere particularly fixed? Even those of us who have lived in the same place for a long time, is there something about your life, about our walk with God that makes you think that we all are on the road? Could it be that we all are wandering from one place to another, and not having a definite place to call home?

            The apostle Paul speaks of the temporary nature of this world, of this earthly tent we all inhabit. He says in 2 Corinthians 5, “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” So, with that to look forward to, it gives us all a heavenly perspective to view our earthly tents, and the journey each of us is on, in this wide world today.

            Which brings us back to considering: the long trip for the census. And, since Bethlehem was the ancestral home of King David, that meant there were quite a lot of people who had to be counted who were descended from David. Including Joseph. Remember the genealogy written in the Gospel of Matthew?

            Speaking of descendants of David, I am sorry to prick the other balloons of belief in the traditional Christmas carols and traditions. “It would be unthinkable that Joseph, returning to his place of ancestral origins, would not have been received by family members, even if they were not close relatives.” Presbyterian missionary and pastor Dr. Kenneth Bailey, who is renowned for his studies of first-century Palestinian culture, comments:

“Even if he has never been there before he can appear suddenly at the home of a distant cousin, recite his genealogy, and he is among friends. Joseph had only to say, ‘I am Joseph, son of Jacob, son of Matthan, son of Eleazar, the son of Eliud,’ and the immediate response must have been, ‘You are welcome. What can we do for you?’” [1]

            I know this might be news to you – and it was to me. Jesus was not born in a cave or far on the outskirts of town, out adjacent to the field surrounding Bethlehem. However, this still does not let us off the hook for considering the larger question. Mary and Joseph were traveling, and were on the way, in between. According to Biblical record, they did not have very much money at all. (Although, because of the generous dictates of hospitality, they must have been put up in some cousin’s home while they were sojourning in Bethlehem.)

            I still would like to know! Our position as believers in the one true God makes us sojourners in this world; and this position is so similar to Mary and Joseph’s position as sojourners or travelers, too. Is there any solidarity for others today who are transient, who are traveling or sojourning, especially young families? Perhaps with mothers who are great with child at this time of the year, and are looking for even a temporary place to lay their heads?

             We can take this unexpected look at the Holy Family one step further. I remember a suburban church I attended a number of years ago. One of the smaller trees near the front door to the sanctuary was practically covered with blue ribbons. A sign was posted next to the tree, saying “While celebrating One homeless Family, these ribbons ask us to remember the homeless with us today.” I had never thought about the Holy Family in that way before. It’s God’s unexpected manner of opening our eyes, and displaying the new or different way we can look at Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus.

            As we consider the birth of the baby Jesus in Bethlehem, as the Holy Family was traveling through, we can see this birth as so much more than simply a claim or confession of the church. As you and I are sojourners through this world, so we also are traveling through. Jesus, God’s eternal Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, emptied Himself. He willingly put Himself in this human flesh and became incarnate of the Virgin Mary. And, this is the most important part! This miraculous birth shows us the truth of our God. Our God loves us so much that the only way to really, truly show us how much was to become one of us. The Baby born in Bethlehem. [2]

            The baby Jesus, His parents Mary and Joseph – the Holy Family was on the way, traveling. Sojourning, and so are we. We are travelers, looking forward to that heavenly home, prepared for us in heaven. Are you on the road with us? On the way with Jesus?

            I close with two verses from a much beloved Christmas carol, collected in Appalachia by John Jacob Niles around 1900. Listen and hear the words of traveling, of being on the way.

 When Mary birthed Jesus, ’twas in a cow’s stall/with wise men and farmers and shepherd and all.
but high from God’s heaven a star’s light did fall, /and the promise of ages it did then recall.

I wonder as I wander, out under the sky, /how Jesus the Savior did come for to die
for poor ordinary people like you and like I; /I wonder as I wander, out under the sky.

            Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!)

[1] https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/once-more-jesus-was-not-born-in-a-stable/

[2] https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/christmas-preaching

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Peace for Those Who Wait

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“Peace for Those Who Wait”

            Waiting. I can remember waiting while being pregnant. Waiting for the weeks to pass. Waiting for another prenatal visit. Especially waiting during that last month. And, waiting for the labor pains finally to kick in and to get going, for the baby to finally be born. (Each of my pregnancies involved long labors.)

            I can relate to our Gospel reading from Luke chapter 1 today! Waiting! Waiting for something huge to happen. Waiting for babies to be born.

Except, Mary found herself in the early months of pregnancy without the protection of a husband or partner. I have a feeling she and Joseph were having continuing dialogue about her being pregnant, and not by Joseph. That must have been awkward, to say the least! We find that Mary traveled and went to her older cousin Elizabeth’s house, some distance away, for several months. Elizabeth’s home must have been a sanctuary in an unpeaceful time for Mary, while she was in a time of waiting.

Let us look at the current day, and focus on the United States. Things today, situations here and now are certainly not peaceful. We are looking at the second Sunday in Advent, and the second candle on the Advent wreath signifies the candle of Peace. Can you and I possibly find peace in an unpeaceful world?

Is there a way to look for God’s peace in a turbulent and tumultuous time?

As I said last week, we are well used to seeing Mary as a sweet, calm, quiet, almost docile follower of God’s will for her life. Last week, I brought up the fact that Mary, our Mary that Dr. Luke tells us about, was also a prophet! As a prophet, she brought hope to the world. Was it possible that Mary also brought peace to an unpeaceful world?  

This prophetic role, this insight is a new way of looking at Mary for me. New for me, and I hope enlightening to you, too. As we consider the call of the prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures, and consider the call of Mary by the angel Gabriel, we see all the familiar, classic steps: we see God’s initial call to Mary, God’s task, Mary the prophet’s objection, God’s reassurance, and Mary the prophet’s acceptance of call. [1]

All of these are found in Mary’s conversation with the angel Gabriel in the account of the Annunciation, found in Luke chapter 1. I was struck by – you might say, gobsmacked by – the clarity of all those classic steps of the prophet’s call displayed, and I had never seen it before. Sure, I had approached this insight in years past, even preaching about how Mary was a radical by singing about such radical ideas.

Even though I have been well acquainted with the first chapter of Luke for decades, the further concept of Mary as God’s chosen prophet never fully clicked with me. Until now.

As we go on to look at the Canticle that Mary sings, I want to bring before us the earth-shattering idea that “Luke portrays her in a startling role: one that shakes up the way we’ve been brought up to think of her and invites us to stop observing her and start imitating her.” [2]

Can you listen with open ears to Mary sing of God who “has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble,” and “has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” This is a classic story (or song) about the “haves” and the “have-nots,” and we can guess who Mary associates herself with! The Jewish people are definitely downtrodden; the Roman empire certainly has them under their collective boot heel. Nevertheless, Mary’s prophetic notes of joy ring out for all to hear in the Magnificat!

Remember, Mary’s song, giving glory, magnifying God, is also clearly a radical protest song. As she sings about the injustice not only in her hometown, but within the whole occupied Jewish nation, any peace but a forced “peace” was the furthest thing from the minds of the Roman occupiers. Yet, “the new world Mary sings about here isn’t elusive or unquantifiable at all. The hope she holds onto is one passed on to her from her ancestors: from Hannah, who sang this hymn of reversal and revolution in the Hebrew scriptures, to the Psalmist, who echoed praise to God for raising the poor from the dust and lifting the needy out of their desperation.” [3]

One of my favorite interpretations of the Canticle Mary sings, the Magnificat, is a newer song written by artist Rory Cooney, set to a traditional Irish tune called “Star of the County Down.” It is presented as a story-song with refrain: “Though the nations rage from age to age, we remember who holds us fast: God’s mercy must deliver us from the conqueror’s crushing grasp. This saving word that our forebears heard is the promise which holds us bound, ‘til the spear and rod can be crushed by God, who is turning the world around.” [4]

Can you believe how radical, how revolutionary an idea this was (and is)? Especially to a large group of people who have been poor, downtrodden, and left on the outskirts for generations, perhaps for centuries? What good news – even marvelous news – this would be to such a group of people, to know that God not only loves them, but God cares about each of them, and is actively coming to their defense, to fill their stomachs and right their wrongs!

Here in the United States, right now, we have a large segment of the population becoming fearful and anxious. Not only about the economic situation for individuals and families, but also the current political situation. The roaming of ICE agents and Department of Homeland Security walking freely, touchy and eager to display their confounding and overwhelming strength, their power over.

How striking and similar is this to the occupying Roman army in first century Palestine? Some striking and sadly similar parallels between the first and twenty-first centuries. In both cases, God’s love was and is displayed, overcoming worldly power.

As the Canticle of the Turning says in the last verse, “Though the nations rage from age to age, we remember who holds us fast: God’s mercy must deliver us from the conqueror’s crushing grasp. This saving word that our forbears heard is the promise that holds us bound, ‘Til the spear and rod be crushed by God, who is turning the world around.” [5]

  Let those with ears to hear, hear the words of the prophet Mary. Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!)

[1] http://www.patheos.com/progressive-christian/mary-reluctant-prophet-alyce-mckenzie-12-17-2012.html

[2] Ibid.

[3] The Do Not Be Afraid Advent Devotional – © 2022 Illustrated Ministry, LLC

[4] Cooney, Rory, “Canticle of the Turning,” (GIA Pulications, Inc. Chicago, IL: 1990)

[5] Ibid.

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Hope, for Mary and for Us

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“Hope, for Mary and for Us”

Luke 1:26-45 (1:38) – November 30, 2025

            I have a secret confession to make. I am greatly thankful that I have never had to take a job in retail. As I said to my husband this past weekend, I would have quit after the first day, simply because of the constant, cheesy, sometimes saccharin-sweet Christmas music that is piped in over the PA system at every retail store I go into. This is done for about two months before Christmas. And, that’s a long, long time to hear Christmas carols and songs, non-stop.

            And yet – and yet, as we consider this alternative Advent Bible reading from Luke chapter 1 today, I invite you to come with me back in time, to a time before there even was a Christmas. We are not only going to time-travel, but we are going to ocean-hop, too. Let us go to the modest home of a teenager named Mary, living with her parents in Palestine, around the beginning of the first century of the Common (or, Christian) Era.

            This teenaged girl – really, young woman, as she was in that time and place – had an angel visitation. We even find out the Angel’s name, Gabriel. The few times that the angel Gabriel appears in the Bible (that we know of), are times of great importance. Especially this appearance, when Gabriel heralds the birth of the coming Messiah! But, we haven’t gotten there yet. Mary is in her parents’ home when the angel suddenly arrives, about to upend everything concerning Mary and her life as she knows it.  

            Another very important fact: the country where Mary is living, and her people, the Jews, are under Roman rule. Palestine is an occupied country, like so many other regions and nations under the boot of Rome and the powerful Roman army. Palestine doesn’t sound much like a “Silent Night, Holy Night,” where “all is calm, all is bright.” Does it?

            Our mighty God does not wait until everything is perfect, or everything is calm and placid, to work wonders and miracles. God sent the angel Gabriel to a teenager in a modest house, in a country under military occupation. Not to the ruling classes, not to the king’s family in his luxurious palace, but to an unlikely young woman in a backwater town.

            Let us shift gears and move our focus to the modern day. Here in the United States, we have a great deal of internal struggle! Things today are certainly not perfect, or calm or placid. As we mark the first Sunday in Advent, the first candle on the Advent wreath is called the candle of Hope. Can you and I possibly find hope in an atmosphere of anxiety? Of uncertainty? Overwhelmed by pervasive negativity, with the American people’s attitudes filled with division, derision and defensiveness?

            Let’s return to Mary and the angel. How does Gabriel lead off in this conversation from Luke chapter 1? 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Admittedly, Mary wonders what on earth is going on! Dr. Luke tells us, Mary “was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.” I dare say you and I would be greatly troubled, too, if we were to encounter an angel!

            Sure enough, Gabriel announces to Mary that she is highly favored, and that “you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Mary probably knew her place in society of her time, as a female, as a second-class citizen. Mary “is common, ordinary, of little account in her world and definitely not the stuff of legends…and she knows it. Only after expressing her wonder and dismay, and then hearing again Gabriel’s affirmation and promise, does she manage to summon the courage to believe that God has indeed favoring her by working in her and through her for the health of the world.” [1] What was Mary’s response to the angel? 38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.”

We all know very well that our teenaged Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit, and gave birth to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem. We are well used to seeing Mary as a sweet, calm, quiet, almost docile follower of God’s will for her life. However, I would like to suggest that Mary was also a prophet! As a prophet, she would also be a bringer of hope to the world!

This prophetic role, this insight is a new way of looking at Mary for me. New for me, and I hope enlightening to you, too. As we consider the call of the prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures, and consider the call of Mary by the angel Gabriel, we see all the familiar, classic steps: we see God’s initial call, God’s task, the prophet’s objection, God’s reassurance, and the prophet’s acceptance of call. [2]

 I will say more about this next week, when we take a look at the Canticle that Mary sings, but I want to bring before us the earth-shattering idea that “Luke portrays her in a startling role: one that shakes up the way we’ve been brought up to think of her and invites us to stop observing her and start imitating her.” [3]

 I know that the Christmas carol “Once in Royal David’s City” calls mother Mary “mild,” and the typical portrayal of her on Christmas cards is calm, placid and docile. But, how can this mild depiction of Mary cause our hearts to be hopeful, today? Especially when it seems that the whole world is uncertain, the current political situation is contentious, and our society in the United States is fractured and broken?

            While Mary’s specific task is specific to her, the prophetic call remains open to everyone. God can call each one of us to a prophetic role, especially at this time of Advent, at this grateful and expectant time of year when people are looking up, looking outward, looking for hope. We can all be like Mary, the prophet, bearing good news to everyone.

            Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/favored-ones

[2] http://www.patheos.com/progressive-christian/mary-reluctant-prophet-alyce-mckenzie-12-17-2012.html

[3] Ibid.

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God’s Kind of Love

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“God’s Kind of Love”

(I was privileged to celebrate the wedding of two of my friends last weekend! Here is the meditation I gave at the wedding.)

1 John 4:13-17 (4:17) – November 15, 2025

            Weddings are wonderful events. Brides and grooms try their best to make them meaningful, personalized, and one-of-a-kind! This is especially true about the music chosen.

I have strong feelings about certain songs that are featured at weddings. I won’t name any specific song, but I think you can recognize them when you hear them. I’m thinking of hearts and flowers, sappy songs that highlight love as a warm and fuzzy, surface-kind-of feeling. What happens when that warm and fuzzy feeling called “love” goes away?

We are here today to celebrate the wedding of our two friends. How wonderful, how fitting that we also talk about celebrating how much we love one another! Not a sappy, fuzzy kind of love, but a kind of love that goes the distance. A deep-down love that endures.

Many people, indeed, many ministers lift up the Bible reading from 1 Corinthians 13, where the Apostle Paul talks all about love. The “Love Chapter” from the New Testament is a wonderful statement about love.

I am a chaplain, and it’s part of my job description to talk about the Bible. How does the Bible describe love? I prefer the Apostle John and his marvelous description, his plain words on the subject of love – God’s love. Our Bible reading from the first letter of John written to his scattered church members describes love – the way God sees love. St. John writes: “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and God’s love is made complete in us.”

Here in this description, St. John tells his friends all about love – God’s love. And, John raises love to the next level. Or, perhaps another way of describing it: John raises the bar for measuring love. “Since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

When I think of the number one example of love, I think of our Lord Jesus, while He was here on this earth. I think of how Jesus lived, how He acted, and how He carried out His ministry. Jesus showed us how to love, by displaying love in action. Jesus truly showed His friends (as well as all the world) a life of love – and caring and compassion for all people.

            What better thing to do than to think of our Lord Jesus, when He was here on this earth, and ask ourselves “What would Jesus do?” How would Jesus act?  Who would Jesus love?”

            In recovery circles, a common saying is “do the next right thing.” I had a friend in recovery, of blessed memory, who is now with the Lord. He always tried his very best to be loving, caring and giving. He knew that common recovery saying very well, except he would change one word. He would often say “do the next loving thing.” That’s how to fulfill John’s definition of love from 1 John chapter 4.

            So – what would Jesus do? Do the next loving thing. Go. Do that.

            Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

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Stand Firm in Benediction!

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“Stand Firm in Benediction!”

2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 (2:16-17) – November 9, 2025

            It’s sometimes difficult to be persistent! To hold on, and continue working, continue trying, despite delays and disappointments and detours. Isn’t it? Continuing to work all alone, standing by and standing up when others fall away. Even just being faithful, and doing what you promised to do can be a real trudge up a long, winding road, up a steep and lonely hill.

            It’s a good thing that as we live the Christian life, so often we are in community with each other! Isn’t it easier and more companionable to be traveling together, or working on a project together, or carrying a load together, with a group of friends?

            That’s what the Apostle Paul was writing about, here in this second letter to the young church in Thessalonica. When Paul and his friends were on their second missionary journey, they had only spent a short time in that city before they needed to leave. This was a young church that Paul planted, and Paul had already sent one letter to the believers there. He sent this second one to correct some misunderstandings and to renew the Thessalonian believers’ hope in Christ.

            We are focusing on this small section right in the middle of Paul’s letter. He breaks away from giving further instruction on the confusing timing of our Lord Jesus Christ’s return to giving encouragement to his fellow believers. “But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

            When I hear about churches and pastors today who really focus on the “end times,” and about the prophecies in both the Hebrew Scriptures as well as the few times in the New Testament that refer to the Second Coming, I often roll my eyes. If you have ever read or heard of the books on the End Times, the books are so much dominated by fear and anxiety, by persecution of Christians by cartoonish bad guys. Those same churches and pastors so often advise their congregations of strict rule-following, and black-and-white do’s and don’ts.

            Yes, I did read that first portion of the assigned reading from 2 Thessalonians 2 this past week, and I did not feel led to write a sermon on it. However, I continued reading in chapter 2, and found Paul encouraging his Thessalonian friends, and thanking God for them!

As commentator Mariam Kamell says, “Christians can be confident, encouraged people because we know that we are held as first fruits by God’s choice, preserved through the Spirit. In Paul’s paradigm there is neither room for pride in our efforts to improve the world, nor despair at the state of the world around us. For Paul, all of this talk about the end is to encourage us in our security in Christ and draw us ever further in the Spirit’s sanctifying work.” [1]

            So, we are not to despair over the End Times! We are not to be fearful and cower in the shadows, dominated by fear and anxiety! Instead, we are to rejoice, and be hopeful in our security and salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ.

            Paul then says, “so then,” which is very similar to his connecting word “therefore.” As one of my Bible instructors used to say when I was attending a Christian college for undergrad, “See what “therefore” is there, for! Why is Paul using this particular connecting word?  “15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachingswe passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.”

            I know things and people and situations in this world today can be really scary, and even make us want to hide under the covers! Especially when we consider persecution and lawlessness – however, God has the final word. “Don’t worry about what will happen when you (or people you love) die and don’t worry about what will happen when you grow up or get to be a teenager or [grown-up].   Instead, think about today.  Live as God’s person today.  Do the best you can and know that God is with you.” [2]  

            Isn’t that wonderful encouragement for all of us? Instead of cowering in fear, or being a strict rule-follower or else! We are to know we are God’s people, followers of Jesus Christ, and led by the Spirit of God. Paul prays that the Thessalonian believers are to be encouraged – in their inner being.

“This is clearly a ministry of the indwelling Spirit of Christ. Against the wiles of this age, may we look in faith to the one who constantly surprises us with his love and inspires us with courage and confidence, enabling us to stand firm and not be overwhelmed by the vagaries of life. Our God will buttress us in our faith; this we can rightly ask in prayer, believing.” [3]

            The apostle Paul is truly being encouraging to his friends. Yes, they had some misunderstandings about what Paul preached to them, which Paul clarified. Yes, some of these believers were acting in ways displeasing or disappointing to our God, but at the end of the day and the end of this letter, Paul wanted to give encouragement and hope, not fear and dismay! We are to be cautious around churches and ministers who want to fix, manage and control every aspect of life! Paul leads with the grace of Christ, and the love of God. Period.

            And then, what should burst out of Paul but a benediction! Just as in the middle of the letter to the Ephesians, here at the end of the second chapter to the Thessalonians is a marvelous benediction. We will close with Carolyn Brown’s wonderful paraphrase of Paul’s words:

            “Remember that God loves you.  God chose you to hear about that love and to know the stories of Jesus.  Do not forget them.  Live by them every day.  And may God who created the whole universe, Jesus who showed us how much God loves us, and the Holy Spirit who guides us be with you giving you courage and strength to be God’s people every day.” [4]

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-32-3/commentary-on-2-thessalonians-21-5-13-17-3

[2] https://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2016/09/year-c-proper-27-32nd-sunday-in.html

[3]  https://www.lectionarystudies.com/sunday32caiie.html

[4] https://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2016/09/year-c-proper-27-32nd-sunday-in.html

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A Time for Everything

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“A Time for Everything”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, 11 (3:1, 11) – November 2, 2025

Time has a funny way of getting away from us, doesn’t it? Time can be rushing by while you and I are sitting, watching, on a treadmill or a big hamster wheel. Time is elastic, sometimes stretching out, tedious while we are waiting, other times jam-packed with events and decisions and happenings all on top of each other!

Our reading from Ecclesiastes 3 tells us a lot about time. This reading tells us about different facets of life, too. There is a time for everything. Everything under the sun.

This book of Ecclesiastes is traditionally thought to be written by the older King Solomon. We are pretty clear about Solomon’s birth and death dates. Scholars place this book about 935 or so, BCE. Again, this was late in Solomon’s life. As you and I consider this chapter 3, I invite you to consider the older Solomon. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, for sure. One of the favored sons of King David, he had it all! Money, property, women, power. The country of Israel was at peace, too! So, as he wrote this book, he was writing from a reflective, almost contemplative point of view.

I want us to zero in on Ecclesiastes chapter 3. One of my favorite commentators is Carolyn Brown, now retired Director of Children’s Ministry at a PC/USA church. She wrote a comprehensive collection of readings for each of the weeks of the 3-year Revised Common Lectionary cycle. I have often quoted her insights, as I will today.

            In this reading, our preacher lists 14 pairs of opposites. These opposites come from all areas of life, and some of these opposites are stark, and some are especially illuminating. In verse 2, as we see in a large part of the world, there are the changes of the seasons. All you and I need to do is to look outside and view the glory of the changing seasons in the colorful display of the leaves on the trees! We cannot plant seeds outside right now. It is not the time of year for that.  We can’t plant seeds in the winter, or harvest them in the spring.

            Verse 6 reminds us there are times we need to save things carefully – like putting aside clothes to wear again, or wear at a different season. There are other times when we need to let things go – like giving away old clothes or toys or other stuff we have outgrown. And, in verse 7, we see there is a time to be silent, and conversely, definitely a time to speak out! Sometimes, it is hard to know which time it is. [1] Hard, even soul-searching, indeed!

            As I considered this reading in depth, and in particular for my sermon preparation, my thoughts return again and again to verses 1 and 2. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die.” Both birth and death are  part of God’s plan for our lives. Both birth and death are part of the cycle or circle of life.

            My online friend Michelle van Loon had this penetrating reflection. “King David’s last recorded message to his people includes words that foreshadow the message of the book of Ecclesiastes, which was written long after David’s death: David said, “We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace.” (1 Chron 29:15 NLT)” [2]

            These times today are uncertain times. As workplaces are restructured, businesses merge or close, or other structures in our lives are disrupted, many people lose their livelihoods. People across the country, even across the world, are in a place of not knowing, not understanding what is going on. Moreover, during the past week here in Chicago there is the uncertainty, even the trauma for our children, young people and seniors of watching masked, armed men pull people out of cars and off of sidewalks. Disappearing them, as unnamed troops habitually do in other countries with strong-arm governments. What kinds of long-term, traumatic reactions and effects are being sown in countless lives, hearts and brains here and now?

I have now been studying trauma and its effects on people observing traumatic events for almost two years, for my doctoral studies. This devastating activity in my own hometown and suburbs is completely beyond my understanding, given what I know about the founding of this country, and its welcome to immigrants from Germany, Poland, and an orthodox Jewish family – who I count as my ancestors. Which brings us full circle to All Saints Sunday, and lifting up the saints from this church, and from other churches and places and spaces throughout the world.

            Verse 4 from Ecclesiastes chapter 3 tells us, “a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” There are times when life is sad and we cry, for good reason. There are other times when life is so happy that we laugh a lot. We may prefer the happy, laughing times. But, God is with us in both happy and sad times. [3]  

            What is dawning on my mind and heart from this Scripture reading is that God has indeed set times and places in all of our lives. Yes, there are appointed times, and seasons for things and events to happen. Yes, there even is a time for churches to be planted, just as there is for churches to close. God indeed has the last word. God can make a way through. God opens a window in the skies, in the everlasting, sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy day Solomon paints for us. God does indeed make everything beautiful in its time! Everything is in God’s time.

            I remind myself that I can be reassured, and comforted by these thoughts. We need to remember that God holds everything and all of us through it all, in all of our times. We can have certainty of God’s unending love. After all, it is because of my surety in God’s amazing and unending love that I have allowance and ability to explore, to even wonder about these important questions about time and the different facets of life, as highlighted by Ecclesiastes 3. As we pass from one season of time into another, I invite us all to ask: what comes to mind as we reflect on what has been, and as we begin to think about and articulate our hopes for what will be? [4]

We can reflect upon the saints who were in this place, and in other places we remember. “It is a ‘yes’ to God’s life moving through all things, calling us forward to changed lives and changed communities.” [5] And, we can look forward to the time that God has for all of us that lies ahead of each one of us.  

         As the litany we will share later in this service tells us, “Now, as we journey from this house into the future, we give you thanks O God. Be with us in thanksgiving as we move into other communities that will allow us to share the story, break the bread and live abundantly with God.  Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2013/11/new-years-day-years-b-c.html

[2] A reflection post from Facebook, from Michelle Van Loon on October 23, 2025.

[3] https://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2013/11/new-years-day-years-b-c.html

[4] http://words.dancingwiththeword.com/2013/12/a-new-years-reflection.html

[5] https://www.patheos.com/resources/additional-resources/2010/12/happy-sacred-new-year-bruce-epperly

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God’s Law in Our Hearts

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“God’s Law in Our Hearts”

Jeremiah 31:31-34 (31:33) – October 26, 2025

            Relationships are foundational to life. Positive, negative, distant, close.  Both of my parents are gone now, but I had a relationship with both of them. My sisters and brothers—again, I have relationships with them. Members of my extended family, too, are included in my list of relationships. Also my friends, acquaintances, colleagues, even my enemies. All of these people have relationships with me. Think about yourself. You have relationships with many, many people, too. Most of these people I just mentioned, if not all of them. Positive or negative, distant or close. We all have relationships—or friendships—with many people.

            But what about God? What kind of relationship do you and I have with God? Is that relationship good? Even wonderful? Is it close? Or distant? Bumpy at times?

            Our scripture reading for today talks about this relationship. Here. On this Reformation Sunday, we celebrate our clear relationship with God, the relationship that Martin Luther celebrated! But, the prophet is talking about it from God’s perspective. God’s view of the relationship, or the friendship, if you will.

            God wants to be friends. We’re not talking about a distant God, a God Who wound up the universe like a watch, put it on some shelf, and then walked away and promptly forgot all about it. No!! God wants to be in a relationship.

            If we look at this passage, we see that God had a relationship—a friendship, we could say—with the nation of Israel. God was the one Who started it. See what verse 32 says? God took the nation of Israel by the hand when God led them out of Egypt. God wanted the friendship. Israel did not start the relationship.

            We can compare that friendship to God’s friendship with us. God wants us as friends, too!  Just like the nation of Israel, God goes out of His way to make friends with us. You and me. Each and every one of us. God approaches us.

            But something happened. Something awful! The nation of Israel was not a faithful friend to God. The relationship was disrupted, broken. But God didn’t break it. No! Israel did. Remember the many, many times in the Hebrew Scriptures that Israel ran away from God? Or forgot about God? Or just plain ignored God? Time after time, we can read about how the nation stumbled, resisted, or was unfaithful to their friendship. Their relationship.

            A number of times in the various prophets’ writings, the relationship between God and Israel is pictured as a marriage. God is the husband, and Israel is the wife. God is always faithful, and Israel is not. Israel stumbles, falls, ignores her God, or just plain runs away in disobedience. Here in verse 32, the prophet tells us that Israel is unfaithful.

            What about us? What about you and me, in our on-again, off-again relationship with God? That is what Martin Luther talked about, so often. He had a real and abiding sense of his own sinfulness, his own unfaithfulness to God.

Isn’t it a lot the same with us? Don’t we stumble, or fall? Haven’t we forgotten about God a lot of the time, or even been unfaithful to our Lord? I’m thinking of sin. Putting other things in God’s place. Making other things or other people in our lives more important to us than God. 

            Our relationship with God is broken! Disrupted. Sometimes we grow so used to sinning, to being apart from God, that you and I cannot choose to do anything else.

            What a predicament! Our relationship with God—under the Old Covenant—is gone. Destroyed. We are sunk, there is not a chance for you and for me. But, wait! God does not leave us there! God still wants to be friends with us! With you, and with me.

God loves us so much that God is ready and willing to forgive our sin. Forgive us when we stumble and fall, when we put other things or other people in God’s place. God is ready to forgive absolutely. Unconditionally.

God’s nature is not punishing or arbitrary, but instead loving and forgiving. As Rev. Sharon Blezzard says, “as a Lutheran Christian I am called to re-formation on a continual basis. Even though I do die daily to sin, I also rise to newness of life; therefore, I am indeed always being made new. Thanks to the amazing gift of grace in Christ Jesus, I have options! I have a future, right here and right now.” [1]

            Just like Joseph, ruler of Egypt, freely forgave his brothers at the end of Genesis when they stood before him, God is more than willing to forgive us. Joseph’s brothers did some awful things to Joseph, but Joseph was ready and willing to forgive their treachery because of his love for them and for his father Jacob. How much more then is God able to forgive us for our falling short, for our running away, even for our disobedience! God loves us so much! . . .  God loves us this much! (spreads arms wide)

            This forgiveness is heart language, from God. The foundation of this forgiveness comes from our new knowledge of God, written on our hearts. And what is our response to God’s love? God’s forgiveness? God’s reconciling embrace? You and I have the opportunity to live changed lives, as changed people—from the inside out. God is not willing that anyone should be strangers, but instead that all would have the opportunity to be friends with God. Best friends.

God says it! Our Lord will be our God. We will be God’s people. And that’s a promise. That’s forgiveness. That’s the opportunity that each of us has to be with God, forever.

            Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://www.stewardshipoflife.org/2015/10/oh-the-options/

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Continue – Persist – Be Faithful!

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“Continue – Persist – Be Faithful”  

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5 (4:1-3) – October 19, 2025

Have you seen the comics lately? I’m sure everyone here is familiar with the comics section of the newspapers–the daily comics in black and white, and the Sunday comics in full color–even if you don’t read them regularly. Can you picture this scene from the comics? A single panel, showing two business men by an office water cooler. One looks like a boss, and he says to the other, “If there’s one thing I hate, it’s a yes-man. Isn’t that right, Baxter?”

We chuckle, because we all are familiar with that kind of attitude. I’m sure we can recognize that tendency in other guises, other forms. In some other places, not only a place of employment but also clubs, associations, even places of worship. Getting some yes-man to tell us what we want to hear . . . not what’s good for us to hear, not what we need to hear, but instead what we want to hear. This kind of black-and-white attitude is going way overboard!  

            As we consider this Bible reading from 2 Timothy chapter 3 today, let us reflect again on these words from the older man Paul to his young friend Timothy: “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

            I suspect that Paul – and his friends, the other disciples, and other, older believers – could easily relate dozens of times that they had experiences in the faith communities they called home. Experiences where “yes-men” (or, “yes-people”) put in their definite opinions, where one group of people held up “tradition” as the gold medal standard, and everything had to bow before “tradition.” This “traditional” group of believers sound as intolerant as the “black-and-white” people I mentioned just before. A pendulum swinging way to one side or the other.

            Our commentator Dr. Dirk Lange says, “We have always done it this way” can mean anything from the worship of the early church to what a congregation has done for just the past twenty years. The writer to this particular church community, and especially to this follower named Timothy calls upon tradition. It is not to be ignored! “Continue in what you have learned” and not just recently but since your childhood.” [1]  You and I need to sit up straight and find out exactly what the older man Paul had to say about tradition! Or, is it about the Word of God, instead?

            The Hebrew Scripture reading for this Sunday comes from Jeremiah 31, and tells us that “The day will come when God’s word will not be on stone tablets or in books, but written into our very hearts.” This reading from 2 Timothy and the reading from Jeremiah are all about the Word of God! Except, how does that square with a concentration on tradition?

            When a pendulum swings, especially if it swings widely, we can watch the wide swing get more and more extreme. This is so similar to observing people with firm, set-in-their-ways opinions and manner of thinking and behavior.    

            Our writer Paul tells Timothy he could be sure of one thing: his firm foundation of the Word of God, taught to him by reliable elders in the faith. Not twisting this way and that, not susceptible to following “tradition” blindly, like so many sheep.

             But, Paul does not stop there. This is a letter to Timothy, after all. Timothy is a church leader, a pastor of a congregation, and Paul uses this letter to not only give advice to his younger friend, but to advise and instruct. “Timothy is instructed to be a faithful student and teacher of the Word.  Under that is the belief that to be a strong, true church a congregation must be made up of people who know their Bible well.” [2]  Not in the sense of bashing others over the head with their superior biblical knowledge, no! No, we are to use the Bible as a standard, as a measuring tape or yard stick to guide others along the road of journeying with Jesus.

            We have the assurance, from our scripture passage today, that Timothy had the opportunity to know God. He had the opportunity to read some of the same texts we have to read today! Timothy was instructed, from the time he was very young, in the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. His mother and grandmother were both women of faith, and Timothy grew up in a believing household, a household that put God first.

            The descriptive words to Timothy that Paul uses here are important: teaching, correcting, training. “The Scripture invites us into a pattern of gospel living. It does not provide “yes” and “no” answers to every situation, every question, every dilemma. Those who have “confessed” the faith in life-threatening situations understand that there are many gray areas, hard to resolve through Scripture alone (take the example of Dietrich Bonhoeffer or Martin Luther King, Jr.).”  [3]

I consider the commands in this passage to be good advice to anyone wanting to follow Christ more nearly, even in gray areas, even through difficult times. We are to proclaim the message. Communicate the Good News! In whatever way we can. How do we put it into practice? How do we live the Christian life? Now what, in other words?

            This command may give some people pause. How can I preach the Good News? Another way of thinking about it is . . . telling what God has done in your life. What has God done for you? How has God made a difference in your life? How has God made a difference in mine? What new things have you and I learned from the Lord lately? What an opportunity it is to share these things with others, with our friends, with those who might not know God.

            Thank God we have been given this Good News! I can tell about God’s faithfulness in my busy, hectic life. I can praise God for helping me to walk the Christian walk, one day at a time, and so can you. That’s truly something to celebrate. That’s truly Good News to share. Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1]  https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-29-3/commentary-on-2-timothy-314-45

[2] https://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2013/09/year-c-proper-24-29th-sunday-in.html

[3] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-29-3/commentary-on-2-timothy-314-45