sermon notes Dec. 15

Is. 35, Lk. 1:46,

Isaiah’s vision is  an ecological vision isn;t it? We used to hide from such texts, but now we tend to celebrate them with our environmental awareness.After all the psalmist says that the heaven proclaim god’s handiwork and our psalm for today that God is creator of all in heaven and earth. we clearly have it in our power to radically reshape and even destroy much life on this fragile planet, this gift of God’s creation, this object of God’s continued governance and providence, and care.

In this time of year, we see and use nature as a backdrop for deep spiritual connection

Evergreen and light and stars.Our passage  is careful to use natural transformation a sthe backdrop for human transformation.It sketches a dream, but it is still realistic about human nature. we are embedded in a natural course that is often violent and cruel. Many of us prefer the comforting illusion that nature is naturally peaceful, and that human beings are not naturally violent and aggressive. No, cultural evolution and transformation  must be the engine of change for our continued moral evolution.Isaiah 35 is about the reversals of misfortune afflicting Israel and offers the promise of better days ahead.

At the same time, Mary’s prayer is very much a prayer about god;’s way in the world of humans, of the great reversal, the great repentance from injustice and abuse of power to a new day. Christmas brings out the push for a more level field of social relationship.s the guest A couple of Saturdays ago were so impressed that a judge from the county court would be serving them. It seemed to strike them much more fully than our sight of having the leaders  often serving Communion to those under their spiritual charge.I heard recently that the noted theologian Rush Limbaugh called the Pope a Marxist .If he enters a church, I could only imagine what he would say of Mary;s prayer.For that matter, what would he say of the God who chose to place the hopes and fears of all the years under the care of a young woman who could pray like this in the words of the tradition of her faith, and ours? She sees her conception as a sign that thing need to and will change for those in the world who are of low estate as the old language would say. ti is part of the reason that we feel compelled to consider the least of these in the Christmas season.

This is a season when we speak different words. We greet each other with the blessings of the season. In the face of greed, we give presents. i was so moved by the simplicity of gift requests on the board that Victoria Hiatt set up downstairs and the speed with which people gravitated to it. The people with the Christmas blues may well lead worship and sing the loudest hymns.The lonely receive connection through the liturgy and experience the communion of the saints.One day the people whom we serve lunch will host us at a big thank you gathering.One day the open devastation of St Louis and East St Louis the blight of streets in Alton will look like parks, and the river shores teeming with commerce. No more will words about decline and worry dominate church meetings but the question will become one of how to handle an influx of people and programs.One day the resentment machine won’t find it helpful to invent items to stir the pot of seething about social change. One day an African American will be president of the Untied States and the Supreme Court will have three women on it     . Oh, that’s already happened.