Advent HOPE -
From Generation to Generation: There’s Room for Every Story
Prelude - “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” [by J. Zundel] - Sarah Park
Welcome to the Mantua Center in this Season of Advent. We are a community seeking to have open minds, open hearts, and open arms.
From Generation to Generation, we have gathered in this space…
We believe in a God
who promised to Abraham, who wrestled with Jacob,
who walked with Ruth, who spoke with Moses,
who grieved with Bathsheba, who danced with David,
who dreamed with Joseph, and who hoped like Mary.
We gather believing in a God who has been
loving, inviting, transforming, and challenging us
from generation to generation.
And we believe that same God is here with us now,
saying, “Come on in; there’s room for you here.”
Amen.
Advent Candle Lighting - Sandi Kossick
Cody Calapa, Delaney Calapa, Linda Idoine, and Josh Delaney
Worship Leader (Sandi Kossick):
The folks who put together our Advent Theme this year sent our surveys to over a hundred people, from the ages of two to 100 years old and each week in Advent we’ll get to hear some of their answers. Thank you to all the volunteers today who will share their responses. For the first week in Advent--the Sunday of Hope--they were asked the question, “What gives you hope?” So…from the voices of different generations let’s listen to their answers:
Cody Calapa: My two-year-old son.
Laney Calapa: Dogs wagging their tails.
Linda Idoine: Talking with young people.
Josh Delaney: Kindness from strangers.
Cody Calapa: Spending time in the woods.
Laney Calapa: Waffles.
Linda Idoine: Hands clasped in prayer.
Josh Delaney: Social progress.
Cody Calapa: The way my son calls everybody “buddy.”
Laney Calapa: The ringing of church bells.
Linda Idoine: Babies trying over and over to take their first step.
Josh Delaney: The turning of seasons.
Cody Calapa: Christian community.
Laney Calapa: Books.
Linda Idoine: Friendship with my adult children.
Josh Delaney: Advocates for justice.
Cody Calapa: Hearing children in the pews sing the hymns.
Laney Calapa: The sunrise every single morning.
Linda Idoine: What gives you hope?
Josh Delaney: Today we light the candle of hope to remind ourselves that God is at work in the world.
Laney/Cody lights ONE purple candle
Linda Idoine: From generation to generation, God has brought good news of love and compassion, justice and community. Let us rest and abide in that good news. Amen.
*Opening Hymn - O Come, O Come Emmanuel #119, v.1
O come, O come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear.
Refrain:
Rejoice, rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
Prayers of the People - Pam Auble
Invitation to Generosity
Invitation - Sandi Kossick
Offertory
Music: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel ” [by T. Holmore]
The Doxology #46
Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise God, all creatures here below;
praise God above, ye heavenly host: Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
Offering Prayer - Sandi Kossick
Children’s Moment - O Little Town of Bethlehem #144, v.1&3
O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light;
the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.
How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts the joys of highest heaven.
No ear may hear Christ coming, but in this world of sin,
where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in.
Prayers of Preparation - Rev. Chad Delaney
Introduction
In God’s house, everyone is welcome—
those who seem like they have it all together,
and those who feel like their world is falling apart.
As we approach our time of Communion we remember:
No matter who we are, there’s room for us here.
With that confidence, will you join me in the prayer of preparation:
ONE: God of today and God of tomorrow, you say, “Bring your full self. There’s room for you here.”
ALL: But we say, “Our lives are too messy.”
ONE: You say, “Bring your hopes and your dreams. There’s room for you here.”
ALL: But we say, “It’s too risky to hope.”
ONE: You say, “Bring your grief and your prayers. There’s room for you here.”
ALL: But we say, “Some things are easier to forget.”
ONE: God of today and God of tomorrow, we know in our hearts that there’s room for us here.
ALL: Release us from our hesitations, open us up to your embracing love
ONE: Help us remember, today and tomorrow,
ALL: There’s room for every story. Amen.
Communion
Meditation - Pete Pruszynski
Communion Hymn - Come, O Long Expected Jesus #125, v.1
Come, O long-expected Jesus, born to set your people free.
From our fears and sins release us; Christ, in whom our rest shall be.
You, our strength and consolation, come salvation to impart;
dear desire of every nation, joy of many a longing heart.
Prayer & Lord’s Prayer - Pete Pruszynski
Words of Institution - Rev. Chad Delaney
Music: “Are Ye Able, Said the Master” [by H. S. Mason]
Scripture - Matthew 1:1-17
In a few moments I’ll ask you to share SOMETHING about your family history with a neighbor. Where your ancestors are from or just something interesting. Just wanted to give you a heads
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION
God of the ages, in scripture we hear stories of people like us—
ordinary people, people who longed to know you, people who longed to follow you,
people who made mistakes, people who tried to grow—
old, young, native, immigrant, new to the faith, lifelong believer.
In scripture we hear stories of people like us, so just as you walked with them,
help us to hear and remember all the ways that you walk with us.
We are listening. We are grateful. We are yours. Amen.
MATTHEW 1:1-17 - LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN
An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, 4and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6and Jesse the father of King David.
And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah, 11and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.
Sermon - There’s Room for Every Story - Rev. Chad Delaney
The great transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Every book is a quotation; and every house is a quotation out of all forests, and mines, and stone quarries; and every person is a quotation from all their ancestors.”
If you are a quotation from all your ancestors… what would you say?
Almost every kid in elementary school has to do a bit of their family tree. When youth come to be baptized I have them fill out a Faith Family Tree. We do this because we do not exist ex nihilo -- out of nothing. Each of us comes from something. Each of us has a story that is traced through our ancestors. Every moment of existence before us has resulted in us in this moment. It is a humbling and mysterious reality. It is why many of us have taken interest in our family history, some of us may have even explored it deeply or even taken those DNA testing kits to get a better sense of who we are and where we came from.
Let’s just take a moment and share with a neighbor something positive or interesting about your family history…I’ll give you 20 seconds!
Ok, now take a moment and talk to your neighbor about something really controversial or bad in your family history….HA! Just kidding. Now some of us may be willing to share those stories…however, they are usually not the ones that we would choose to tell or hang on our walls or put into our sacred texts. Usually, they are lost and forgotten.
The Gospel of Matthew begins the story of Jesus with a genealogy. Not the most exciting way to begin a Gospel with a bunch of people we never heard of and hard-to-pronounce names---yet, it was clearly important to them. Why?
One reason of course was to trace Jesus’ lineage through the line of David. The Royal line for the Messiah was to be traced back through David and God’s unconditional covenant with him. Royal Lineage was passed down patrilineally (through the males) and so this established Jesus’ ancestral legitimacy. Nevermind that that--according to the Gospel--Joseph had NOTHING to do with Jesus’ birth. Yet, the line is traced back through him.
But there is something much more interesting and powerful buried in this list of names for us all to hear today. Most of these names are not names we heard in Sunday School so we are likely unfamiliar with them (I know I was). But I am here to tell you this is quite a mixed bag of folks that Jesus has here in his family history. Now you would think that in building the Messianic resume that the Gospel writer might be inclined to keep controversy and bad characters OUT of the lineage. This is Jesus--the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God!--why air any dirty laundry? But Matthew doesn’t shy away from it.
CHEER: When you look at the list here, it turns out that there were many godly, honorable men and women who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.
- Abraham and Isaac
- Rahab - the woman who helped the spies
- King Uzziah
- King Hezekiah
- High Priest Zadok
- Mary and Joseph
And then…in the genealogy of Jesus there were a few average dudes named who are literally only mentioned in a couple genealogies of the Bible. People like…
- Salmon
- Abiud
- You ever heard of them? I never heard of them. But they are in there.
And there also some AWKWARD/Uncomfortable names included. Turns out the line from David to Jesus was not all Israelite people all the way through. Showing up in Jesus’ lineage were:
- Tamar…who was likely a Canaanite.
- Rehoboam…whose mother was an Ammonite.
- Ruth…who was a Moabite.
- Multiple foreigners from different lands who may have worshipped other gods and held other customs.
And then the most surprising…there were some downright evil people included in the lineage.
- Ahaz who allowed the sacrifice of children…even his son to the god Molech
- Mannasseh who built shrines to Baal and Asherah
- Amon burnt the Torah and let spiderwebs cover God’s altar
Matthew…even in the ancestry of JESUS is not afraid to mention the good, the bland, the awkward, and the ugly. It's not just a show, it's the raw and real.
This is all instructive for today as we move forward as God’s people. The story of our ancestors needs to be told. Yes, even the ones that make us cringe. Think about all the bad stuff in the history of the church that people really don’t want to talk about…yet it needs to be named. Things like The Crusades, Anti-Semitism, Slavery, Inquisitions, Conversion Therapy, Prosperity Gospel, scandals of malice and abuse. We cannot and should not shy away from it as you know what they say about those who don’t remember the mistakes of the past. Yet, there are powers in our world, our culture, our community who would try to (sometimes) literally whitewash our history to make it cleaner, nicer, or purer. To sweep it under the rug. This is not reflective of the Gospel of honesty and truth as seen here in Matthew. Can we face the truth and tell the truth? Will we have the courage to tell the whole story and learn from our mistakes?
And then, of course, we can also see within the WHOLE story of the Church that it includes so much goodness and triumph. Extraordinary men and women who gave their lives to live and love in the likeness of Jesus. Who proclaimed peace in the middle of violence. Who gave food to the hungry. Who gave shelter to the abused. Who sat-in at dining tables and boycotted buses. Who fought for human rights and spoke out for justice. Who listened to the bereaved and accompanied the lonely. Who loved their neighbors and even their enemies. Thanks be to god for these amazing stories of inspiration and love.
And THANKS BE TO GOD that in this genealogy is GOOD NEWS for all of us. No matter how we might see ourselves …the Good, The Bland, the Awkward, or the Ugly…(or all of the above) there is a place for us in this family of faith. There is room for every one of our stories. As we say around here…we gather not as PERFECT people, but people perfectly loved seeking to live and love like Jesus. There is room in this place and at the Table for every story.
In this Advent Season, in these moments of awaiting the birth of our Saviour, we place our HOPE in the God of a long line of sinners and saints and everywhere in between--The Good, the Bland, the Awkward, and the Ugly. As Rev. Dr. Christine Hong says, “Matthew lists the names of Jesus’ forebearers as a marker of hope finally realized. Even today, names are the seeded hope of one generation planted in another. They are the thread that connects our histories, stories, and futures. We are the hopes of those who’ve come before, and we live in hope for those who will come after us.” Let’s pass on our stories of joy and triumph, sadness and struggle from Generation to Generation. Welcome to the Season of Advent where God welcomes every story. Thanks be to God! Amen.
*Closing Hymn - Lo, How a Rose E’re Blooming #160, v. 1-2
Lo, how a rose, e'er blooming, from tender stem hath sprung,
of Jesse's lineage coming by faithful prophets sung;
it came, a flow'ret bright, amid the cold of winter when half-spent was the night.
Isaiah 'twas foretold it, the rose I have in mind;
with Mary we behold it, the virgin mother kind.
To show God's love aright she bore to us a Savior
when half-spent was the night.
Benediction - Rev. Chad Delaney
As you leave this place, may you go with HOPE knowing that from generation to generation, we have been claimed and loved. From generation to generation, God has been by our side. From generation to generation, we are not alone. The God of yesterday and the God of tomorrow knows us by name, loves us, and calls us forth, saying, “Go be the person you are called to be, love wildly, do justice, and come back soon.” May it be so. Amen.
Postlude - “Standing on the Promises” [by R. K. Carter] - Sarah Park