{ The First Half of The Church Calendar }

ADVENT ~ Week 1

The Second Sunday After The

January 14, 2018

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O God, you spoke your wordand revealed your good news in Jesus, the Christ.Fill ALL creation with that word again,so that by proclaiming your joyful promises to ALL nationsand singing of your glorious hope to ALL peoples,we may become one living body,your incarnate presence on the earth. Amen.

A Prayer For The Epiphany

ADVENT ~ Week 1

The Second Sunday After The

John 1:35-46

Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

John 1:46a

What Nathaneal Got Wrong…

1. FOOLISHLY PARROTING CULTURAL ASSUMPTIONSNazareth was considered to be, let’s say, “sub par”and Nathaneal just goes along with the party line

1. FOOLISHLY PARROTING CULTURAL ASSUMPTIONSNazareth was considered to be, let’s say, “sub par”and Nathaneal just goes along with the party line

What Nathaneal Got Wrong…

2. IGNORANTLY ASSUMING THE WORST The place of one’s origin doesn’t determine their character, value or their future

1. CHANGED HIS TUNE WHEN HE SAW HE WAS WRONGRepented of old assumptions when they were upended

What Nathaneal Got Right

What Nathaneal Got Right

2. DECLARED HIS ALLEGIANCE TO JESUSSaw past old assumptions ENOUGH to repent & follow

1. CHANGED HIS TUNE WHEN HE SAW HE WAS WRONGRepented of old assumptions when they were upended

1. REJECTING THE WORST OF OUR CULTURAL HISTORYMoving beyond deep-seeded cultural/racial stereotypesand our cultural/historical arrogance/ignorance

What We Can Learn

What We Can Learn

2. REFUSING TO ASSUME/BELIEVE THE WORSTFolks’ place of origin, skin color, etc. doesn’t determinetheir worth, dignity, character, calling, future, etc.

1. REJECTING THE WORST OF OUR CULTURAL HISTORYMoving beyond deep-seeded cultural/racial stereotypesand our cultural/historical arrogance/ignorance

- Being from Mexico doesn’t make one a rapist or “illegal”

- Being from Haiti, or any of the 54 predominantly black African nations, doesn’t make one unworthy/undeserving

- Being a woman of whatever dress/look doesn’t make one deserving of verbal, physical or sexual harassment

- Being a white man from the south doesn’t make onea violent white supremacist, or unintelligent

- Being a Muslim doesn’t make one a radical extremist

1. REJECTING THE WORST OF OUR CULTURAL HISTORYMoving beyond deep-seeded cultural/racial stereotypes

What We Can Learn

2. REFUSTING TO ASSUME/BELIEVE THE WORSTFolks’ place of origin, skin color, etc. doesn’t determinetheir worth, dignity, character, calling, future, etc.

3. REPENTING WHEN WE’RE PROVEN WRONGBeing open to it, acknowledging it, learning/growing…

What We Can Learn

3. REPENTING WHEN WE’RE PROVEN WRONGBeing open to it, acknowledging it, learning/growing…

What We Can Learn

4. DECLARING OUR ALLEGIANCE TO JESUSBelieving ENOUGH to follow him, knowing ourrepentance/growth will be a gradual, lifelong process

Related Thoughts on MLK Weekend

Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46a)

Without question, many said similar thingsof Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Can anything goodcome from Birmingham, Alabama? Can anythinggood come from a black man in America?”

Related Thoughts on MLK Weekend

1. WE MUST LEARN TO SEE PEOPLE AS GOD DOESAs having inherent worth/dignity as human beingscreated in God’s image, not DESPITE their skin coloror place of origin but partially BECAUSE of those things

Related Thoughts on MLK Weekend

1. WE MUST LEARN TO SEE PEOPLE AS GOD DOESAs having inherent worth/dignity as human beingscreated in God’s image, not DESPITE their skin coloror place of origin but partially BECAUSE of those things

Related Thoughts on MLK Weekend

2. WE MUST NOT IGNORE THE WHOLE OF HIS MESSAGE It’s incredibly easy – especially for white people – to play his “greatest hits” and forget the “deep tracks”

“I have a dream that one day my childrenwill one day live in a nation where theywill not be judged by the color of their skin,but by the content of their character.”

Greatest Hits…

“Darkness does not drive out darkness;only light can do thatHate can’t drive out hate;only love can do that.”

Greatest Hits…

“Love is the only force capableof transforming an enemyinto a friend.”

Greatest Hits…

“Injustice anywhereis a threat tojustice everywhere.”

Deep Tracks…

“We must rapidly begin the shift from a ‘thing-oriented’ society to a ‘person-oriented’society. When machines and computers,profit motives and property rights areconsidered more important than people,the giant triplets of racism, materialism andmilitarism are incapable of being conquered.”

Deep Tracks…

“I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in hisstride toward freedom is not the Ku Klux Klanner,but the white moderate who is more devotedto order than justice; who prefers a negative peacewhich is the absence of tension to a positive peacewhich is the presence of justice.”

Deep Tracks…

"Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to reeducate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn."

Deep Tracks…

“Why does white America delude itself, and how does it rationalize the evil it retains?...(white people’s belief in the fairness of America)is a fantasy of self-deception and comfortable vanity…There aren’t enough white persons in our country who are willing to cherish democratic principles over privilege.”

Deep Tracks…

1. MARTIN IS “I HAVE A DREAM” AND “LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL” AND “BEYOND VIETNAM”We dishonor the “dream” if we forget the “letter”…

Closing Thoughts on Jesus & MLK Jr.

1. MARTIN IS “I HAVE A DREAM” AND “LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL” AND “BEYOND VIETNAM”We dishonor the “dream” if we forget the “letter”…

Closing Thoughts on Jesus & MLK Jr.

2. JESUS SHOWS US THAT GOOD PEOPLE CAN COME FROM ANYWHERE, INCLUDING THE “SUB PAR”Nathaneal’s “Nazareth” might be your “Manhattan, NY”or “Manhattan, KS” or another’s “Haiti, Mexico, etc.”

Holy God, you gather the WHOLE universe into your radiant presence and continually reveal your Son as our Savior. Bring healing to ALL wounds, make whole ALL that is broken, speak truth to ALL illusion, and shed light in EVERY darkness, that ALL creation will see your glory and know your Christ. Amen.

A Closing Prayer

Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ And, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.

Mark 12