Nothing will be Impossible with God –– 24 December 2023
Rather than seeing the fourth Sunday of Advent as the end of a season, try seeing it as the beginning of something, the salutation that draws us into a conversation about Immanuel. The Last Sunday of Advent is not our last chance to sing all those favorite carols; it is just the beginning. –– John H. Barden
Luke 1:26–38
Mary's hopes for her unborn child must have included something really grand. Unless we want to grant her total foreknowledge, these dreams may have been wide ranging and with many possibilities. Maybe he would turn out to be a second Herod the Great, the monarch responsible for building the magnificent giant temple that later awed Jesus's contemporaries. So perhaps Herod had approached the model of kingship bequeathed by David and Solomon combined, at least as far as this was possible with the Romans ultimately in charge of the country.
Maybe by some fluke of talent backed by the traditional right ancestry, Jesus might have grabbed Herod the Great's legacy, and become as close to a Davidic client-monarch as would have been feasible under Roman rule. It would not have lasted forever, but a lot stranger things have happened (look at the sudden spectacular rise of the Tudors in England!).
Later on in Luke's Gospel, Jesus is given the chance to become a Herod-style king. It is one of the temptations in the wilderness (Lk 4:5–8). He rejects this unequivocally, for the condition is worship of Satan. A parallel choice is also part of the legend of the Buddha, for whom a prophecy given at his birth revealed that he would be either a world-ruler or a world-savior. In that case, the story has him born a prince, making the first option at least socially plausible. Try to prevent such a child from his destiny as world-savior…it proved impossible. –– Lucy Bregman
Romans 16:25–27
Have you ever tried to sum up the themes of the service in your benediction? What are you going to do with this closing doxology from Romans? Can you write other words of doxology that declare how the mystery of the ages is being disclosed in Christ today? –– Stephen C. Kolderup
2 Samuel 7:1–11, 16
After all this time, God has one simple question: “What kind of home will we make for God?”
There are certainly many models from which to choose. Like Solomon, David's son, and thousands of our forebears in the faith, we could construct a beautiful sanctuary that will last forever, made of cedar or marble or bricks. We could build God's house on a hill so that everyone can see how much we love God. Or we could try something different, take over a storefront in a shopping mall, and put up big signs so that everyone who sees them knows that God is there with them, too. –– Daphne Burt
John H. Barden, a Presbyterian pastor, received the Angell Award in 2005 from the Presbyterian Writers’ Guild for his book of original folktales, ‘Postle Jack Tales (KiwE Publishing, 2004).
Lucy Bregman, professor of religion at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, is the author of several books including Beyond Silence and Denial: Death and Dying Reconsidered (WJK, 1999) and Preaching Death (Baylor Univ., 2011).
Stephen C. Kolderup recently served as interim pastor for South Jacksonville Presbyterian Church in Florida.
Daphne L. Burt, an ELCA pastor, has served in church and college settings as pastor or chaplain in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Virginia, Illinois, North and South Carolina, and Tennessee. She has a Dmin from the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago.
Homily Service 42, no. 1 (2009): 35–42.