The Angel Gabriel is asking Mary for a favor. This is Gabriel’s second appearance in this Christmas story. The angel had already visited Zechariah and left him speechless. The powerful presence of an angelic messenger left the religious leader silent. He wasn’t able to speak for nine months. Then in the sixth month of the pregnancy of Elizabeth, Angel Gabriel came to visit Mary. Mary keeps her thoughts to herself. The angel said: “Greetings favored one” – one who God brings grace
Mary’s angelic visitor comes to ask a favor! Hey, um God wants to fulfill the promise of sending a savior to the world that will be Immanuel and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will reign forever and ever. He will grow and the favor of God is upon him (Luke 2:40). You will raise him as your own child and watch him mature into a man. You’ll even have to watch him die on a cross before all of Jerusalem! Do you mind helping out? Can you help with me with this favor? She was open to doing God a favor.
When the angel said, “Mary, Most favored one”, it doesn’t mean that God chose Mary because of a certain quality. The Latin translation and if you grew up Roman Catholic, you would know is “Hail Mary, Full of Grace”. This perspective leads to a sort of Marian devotion. It lifts Mary up really high because we think that God plays favorites. She is not God’s favorite child or God is not playing favorites! She hasn’t earned God’s favor; God is bringing favored upon her; Mary is the recipient of Grace. The word “favored one” in the Greek is charitoo; is from “charis” and it means grace, endue with special honor:—highly favoured.
What kind of favor is he asking for? My wife helped give some kid a jump in his truck at the store today. I picked up my brother in Niles and drove him to the airport! Doug Haugen was available for pastoral care emergencies while I was gone. We all participate in doing and receiving favors from others.
We have all received a favor or done a favor. It means to do it without expecting something in return. When someone asks, “Can you do me a favor”, you don’t keep a tally of how many they have done and how many you have done for them. Sometimes we may feel that we have lost favor with others or with God. Yet today we are reminded that we have all received favor; found favor
This favor would leave Zechariah and Elizabeth’s life’s changed forever. Their son would be the one who prepare the way for Jesus, John the Baptist, and John would die at the hands of King Herod. The angel’s favor would leave Mary changed forever. Nothing like being a favorite child and the burden and responsibility that calling carries. Pregnancy is never easy or safe from complications. The hope that Gabriel proclaims is a vulnerable hope - fragile, ambiguous, contrary to experience.
So much of our lives is spent operating out of fear. On the way to the airport, signs remind us of the Orange threat level. We are afraid to stand before our relatives who are hurting during this season and offer just our ears like Zechariah. We are afraid to offer a favor to a friend or a family member because we know we’ve been burned before. We are afraid to land at Midway knowing that there is ice and snow everywhere as we land on Friday mid-morning. We fear what will happen as we get older, watching our relatives and friends get sick.
The angel brings a word of comfort by saying: Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. I’m afraid that I have fallen out of favor with God? How can I find favor with God? Being favored also offers a promise. The angel Gabriel said to both Zechariah and to Mary, “Don’t be afraid! Don’t be afraid. You are the Favored One, God is with you. God is calling you do bear and birth new life this Christmas as we enter the favor of God’s good graces in Christ.
I spoke words of encouragement on Thursday to my sister and family at the funeral of her husband, Larry Ellington, who died in Mississippi on Monday. I spoke the words of Jesus when spoke Jesus words to the disciples in John 14: “Do not let your hearts be troubled; don’t let them be afraid. In my father’s house there are many mansions, If it were not so would I go and prepare a place for you so that where I am you may be also. And you know the place that I am going.”
We have found favor with God and there is room for us all in God’s house. We are called by the one who favors us; who fancies us; and has done us the greatest favor ever! The one who favor you has offered a substitute to take your place. What a great favor! We are called to by God today, who is knocking on the window; who is ringing the bell. Do me a favor, open the door, and let ‘em in; yeah, yeah; yeah, yeah, yeah! Even if you don’t open the door; the messengers of God are being sent to you again in this favorable season. We receive this favor like Mary, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to you word.”
Let us pray: Gracious God, you have granted us your favor and welcomed us back into your favor. We are granted your favor and you call us to share that favor with others. Guide us in this favorable season, we pray in Jesus name, Amen.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Luke 1:26-28 - "The Greatest Favor" (12-21-08)
The Angel Gabriel is asking Mary for a favor. This is Gabriel’s second appearance in this Christmas story. The angel had already visited Zechariah and left him speechless. The powerful presence of an angelic messenger left the religious leader silent. He wasn’t able to speak for nine months. Then in the sixth month of the pregnancy of Elizabeth, Angel Gabriel came to visit Mary. Mary keeps her thoughts to herself. The angel said: “Greetings favored one” – one who God brings grace
Mary’s angelic visitor comes to ask a favor! Hey, um God wants to fulfill the promise of sending a savior to the world that will be Immanuel and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will reign forever and ever. He will grow and the favor of God is upon him (Luke 2:40). You will raise him as your own child and watch him mature into a man. You’ll even have to watch him die on a cross before all of Jerusalem! Do you mind helping out? Can you help with me with this favor? She was open to doing God a favor.
When the angel said, “Mary, Most favored one”, it doesn’t mean that God chose Mary because of a certain quality. The Latin translation and if you grew up Roman Catholic, you would know is “Hail Mary, Full of Grace”. This perspective leads to a sort of Marian devotion. It lifts Mary up really high because we think that God plays favorites. She is not God’s favorite child or God is not playing favorites! She hasn’t earned God’s favor; God is bringing favored upon her; Mary is the recipient of Grace. The word “favored one” in the Greek is charitoo; is from “charis” and it means grace, endue with special honor:—highly favoured.
What kind of favor is he asking for? My wife helped give some kid a jump in his truck at the store today. I picked up my brother in Niles and drove him to the airport! Doug Haugen was available for pastoral care emergencies while I was gone. We all participate in doing and receiving favors from others.
We have all received a favor or done a favor. It means to do it without expecting something in return. When someone asks, “Can you do me a favor”, you don’t keep a tally of how many they have done and how many you have done for them. Sometimes we may feel that we have lost favor with others or with God. Yet today we are reminded that we have all received favor; found favor
This favor would leave Zechariah and Elizabeth’s life’s changed forever. Their son would be the one who prepare the way for Jesus, John the Baptist, and John would die at the hands of King Herod. The angel’s favor would leave Mary changed forever. Nothing like being a favorite child and the burden and responsibility that calling carries. Pregnancy is never easy or safe from complications. The hope that Gabriel proclaims is a vulnerable hope - fragile, ambiguous, contrary to experience.
So much of our lives is spent operating out of fear. On the way to the airport, signs remind us of the Orange threat level. We are afraid to stand before our relatives who are hurting during this season and offer just our ears like Zechariah. We are afraid to offer a favor to a friend or a family member because we know we’ve been burned before. We are afraid to land at Midway knowing that there is ice and snow everywhere as we land on Friday mid-morning. We fear what will happen as we get older, watching our relatives and friends get sick.
The angel brings a word of comfort by saying: Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. I’m afraid that I have fallen out of favor with God? How can I find favor with God? Being favored also offers a promise. The angel Gabriel said to both Zechariah and to Mary, “Don’t be afraid! Don’t be afraid. You are the Favored One, God is with you. God is calling you do bear and birth new life this Christmas as we enter the favor of God’s good graces in Christ.
I spoke words of encouragement on Thursday to my sister and family at the funeral of her husband, Larry Ellington, who died in Mississippi on Monday. I spoke the words of Jesus when spoke Jesus words to the disciples in John 14: “Do not let your hearts be troubled; don’t let them be afraid. In my father’s house there are many mansions, If it were not so would I go and prepare a place for you so that where I am you may be also. And you know the place that I am going.”
We have found favor with God and there is room for us all in God’s house. We are called by the one who favors us; who fancies us; and has done us the greatest favor ever! The one who favor you has offered a substitute to take your place. What a great favor! We are called to by God today, who is knocking on the window; who is ringing the bell. Do me a favor, open the door, and let ‘em in; yeah, yeah; yeah, yeah, yeah! Even if you don’t open the door; the messengers of God are being sent to you again in this favorable season. We receive this favor like Mary, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to you word.”
Let us pray: Gracious God, you have granted us your favor and welcomed us back into your favor. We are granted your favor and you call us to share that favor with others. Guide us in this favorable season, we pray in Jesus name, Amen.
Mary’s angelic visitor comes to ask a favor! Hey, um God wants to fulfill the promise of sending a savior to the world that will be Immanuel and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will reign forever and ever. He will grow and the favor of God is upon him (Luke 2:40). You will raise him as your own child and watch him mature into a man. You’ll even have to watch him die on a cross before all of Jerusalem! Do you mind helping out? Can you help with me with this favor? She was open to doing God a favor.
When the angel said, “Mary, Most favored one”, it doesn’t mean that God chose Mary because of a certain quality. The Latin translation and if you grew up Roman Catholic, you would know is “Hail Mary, Full of Grace”. This perspective leads to a sort of Marian devotion. It lifts Mary up really high because we think that God plays favorites. She is not God’s favorite child or God is not playing favorites! She hasn’t earned God’s favor; God is bringing favored upon her; Mary is the recipient of Grace. The word “favored one” in the Greek is charitoo; is from “charis” and it means grace, endue with special honor:—highly favoured.
What kind of favor is he asking for? My wife helped give some kid a jump in his truck at the store today. I picked up my brother in Niles and drove him to the airport! Doug Haugen was available for pastoral care emergencies while I was gone. We all participate in doing and receiving favors from others.
We have all received a favor or done a favor. It means to do it without expecting something in return. When someone asks, “Can you do me a favor”, you don’t keep a tally of how many they have done and how many you have done for them. Sometimes we may feel that we have lost favor with others or with God. Yet today we are reminded that we have all received favor; found favor
This favor would leave Zechariah and Elizabeth’s life’s changed forever. Their son would be the one who prepare the way for Jesus, John the Baptist, and John would die at the hands of King Herod. The angel’s favor would leave Mary changed forever. Nothing like being a favorite child and the burden and responsibility that calling carries. Pregnancy is never easy or safe from complications. The hope that Gabriel proclaims is a vulnerable hope - fragile, ambiguous, contrary to experience.
So much of our lives is spent operating out of fear. On the way to the airport, signs remind us of the Orange threat level. We are afraid to stand before our relatives who are hurting during this season and offer just our ears like Zechariah. We are afraid to offer a favor to a friend or a family member because we know we’ve been burned before. We are afraid to land at Midway knowing that there is ice and snow everywhere as we land on Friday mid-morning. We fear what will happen as we get older, watching our relatives and friends get sick.
The angel brings a word of comfort by saying: Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. I’m afraid that I have fallen out of favor with God? How can I find favor with God? Being favored also offers a promise. The angel Gabriel said to both Zechariah and to Mary, “Don’t be afraid! Don’t be afraid. You are the Favored One, God is with you. God is calling you do bear and birth new life this Christmas as we enter the favor of God’s good graces in Christ.
I spoke words of encouragement on Thursday to my sister and family at the funeral of her husband, Larry Ellington, who died in Mississippi on Monday. I spoke the words of Jesus when spoke Jesus words to the disciples in John 14: “Do not let your hearts be troubled; don’t let them be afraid. In my father’s house there are many mansions, If it were not so would I go and prepare a place for you so that where I am you may be also. And you know the place that I am going.”
We have found favor with God and there is room for us all in God’s house. We are called by the one who favors us; who fancies us; and has done us the greatest favor ever! The one who favor you has offered a substitute to take your place. What a great favor! We are called to by God today, who is knocking on the window; who is ringing the bell. Do me a favor, open the door, and let ‘em in; yeah, yeah; yeah, yeah, yeah! Even if you don’t open the door; the messengers of God are being sent to you again in this favorable season. We receive this favor like Mary, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to you word.”
Let us pray: Gracious God, you have granted us your favor and welcomed us back into your favor. We are granted your favor and you call us to share that favor with others. Guide us in this favorable season, we pray in Jesus name, Amen.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Mark 1:1-8 - "Prepare Which Way?" (12-7-08)
John the Baptist is screaming for people to prepare! There he is out at the
These words of John the Baptist call out to us with the words of Isaiah, “Prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight his path. John is quoting Isaiah 40: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.” This map shows that the people were living in exile along the Tigris and
This is a season of preparation. We are preparing for Christmas. Perhaps in some ways, John the Baptist is preparing us again for Christmas the way Saint Nicolas is preparing us! The main difference is John the Baptist will confront the forces that defy God and have his head cut off. Yet our focus on Santa Claus begins to prepare us for Christmas. Yet yesterday was the day we remember the birth of Saint Nicholas. December 6th is the day we remember the birth of Saint Nicholas, who was born in 270AD and died in 346AD. He was known as Nicholas of Myra in Modern Day Turkey. He became a priest and bishop, serving the poor and providing for the basic needs. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him.[1]
Saint in the Latin in Santus, which of course led to Santa and the Nicholas turned into Nick or Claus, we have eventually Santa Claus. Well Nathan shared that the Danish tradition is to leave a boot out for Saint Nicolas. So after the Eagle Scout ceremony on Friday, Nathan and I did such a thing. I told him that Saint Nicholas usually brought food or left money for the food pantry. Lo and behold on Saturday morning, there was a can of soup and $5 in their boots for the food pantry.
We are all preparing for Christmas. One thing we do to prepare for Christmas in our family is to make cookies. Well Tammy does the baking. Yet I decided to make oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies with the kids on Monday as a way to prepare. They were up on the chair and I had the kitchen aid mixer. Put that in my hands and it turned into a power tool. I cranked it up to ten and the kids were watching the dough spin and spin. It was cool. Yet I wasn’t prepared well because I added a tablespoon of baking soda instead of a teaspoon – bad after taste. I asked the kids if they wanted a taste of the dough and Nathan said, “You don’t eat it with uncooked eggs”. And I said, “You are right young man, don’t ever do that!” Also, with the batter being so whipped, the cookies came out flat. “They don’t look like Oma’s cookies.”
There are so many things to prepare to celebrate Christmas. We all have different things we do to prepare for Christ. There are many different ways to prepare. You have to pull out the lights, the tree, decorations, cookies, shop and plan for parties and gifts. How do you prepare for Christmas? What are some of the things you do to prepare? Often some of these vary things we do to prepare have to do with the way we prepared and celebrated Christmas in the past. Putting up the tree with the kids this year I was able to share the stories of many of the ornaments. We went shopping for gift certificates for Tammy and the kids told her we shopped. They didn’t say what we got her but they told her we went shopping.
Yet the preparation puts so much pressure on us to have a joy-filled Christmas when things just don’t seem very joyful. Yet today, let’s prepare by going back to the beginning of what Christmas is all about. Let’s prepare for Christmas by looking to the past. We go back to the beginning of the GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ. John tells us of the coming of Christ and the people prepare to receive Christ by confessing and repenting of their sins. Even if we are not yet prepared or ready, Christ comes to us; catching us unprepared and unrepentant. Even if we are not prepared to be filled with so much joy this season, Christ comes to us and surprises us with a joy found in struggle. Nothing shall stand in the way! Make straight a highway!
Let us pray: Gracious God, you catch us busy and unprepared to receive Christ today. You come to us and bear the price of our sin upon the cross. The exile is over and a way has been made for us through Christ. Guide us in this way until that final way is made clear. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
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