Reflections on "Surprising Hope"

It was Lessons and Carols with the traditional nine Scripture lessons, special anthems, Christmas carols, and handbells.  With a packed service, I gave the abbreviated sermon below.

 “Surprising Hope” December 18, 2022; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Denton; Lessons and Carols; Richard B. Culp

Introduction:  We continue looking for surprises in the stories surrounding Christ’s birth.  This morning, we heard the stories read and sung in such a beautiful way, which, of course, is not surprising!

But, let’s take a few moments and think about the surprising hope we discover in these stories.  

Move 1:  First of all, we might be surprised how the hope is for all the world.

 As we move toward Christmas, many of us are contemplating what gifts to give those special people in our lives.

We think about what to make or what to buy and often make it very specific to the person to whom we give the gift.  Often, the terrific gift we give one person would not be much of a gift for someone else.

The hope Christ brings is not for one particular person or one particular group of people, but for all the world.

When the prophets proclaim our hope in God, it is a hope for the transformation of the whole world.

When God arrives in Christ, its implications extend to the King of Herod and invite shepherds and wise men to come to Bethlehem to claim their hope.

the hope Christ brings to the world is expansive and inviting to all people and all the world.

Move 2:  Hope shows up in surprising places

“O Little Town of Bethlehem” - who would expect the hope of the world to show up in this little town in Judah?

Gary Thomas, “Wise Christians Clip Obituaries,” Christianity Today, October 3, 1994, p.26 as quoted in “Life’s Two Pockets” Homiletics, October 29, 1995:  When George H. W.  Bush was Vice President he represented the country at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.  His widow stood motionless by the coffin until a few seconds before it was to be closed.  As the soldier approached to close the lid, she reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband’s chest.  There in the midst of an atheistic society, [in a communist world, a grieving widow finds her hope in Jesus Christ, the resurrected one, the one born in Bethlehem] she claimed the hope that there was another life, a life best represented by Jesus Christ. 

Conclusion:  As you hear the stories of Christ's birth this year, look for the surprising ways the coming of Christ impacts all the world and look for how the Christ-child finds you in surprising ways.

 

Reflections on "Surprising Appeal" Matthew 3: 1-12

Another week of sermon preparation that engaged me.  I have been going for a run once a week (I do other workouts the other days), and I think it has helped my sermon preparation.  As I run, I think through the sermon, and if write down my thoughts when I return, it helps in the sermon process.

I've always liked preaching the John the Baptist story.  This is the first time I have noticed (or it has made a difference in my thinking) that Matthew is the only gospel that mentions the Pharisees and Sadducees specifically in this story (mark and Luke only talk about the crowds).  I also found it very interesting that the NRSV and NIV translations differed in how they presented the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to the river.  that information added to the sermon content.

“Surprising Appeal” December 4, 2022; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Denton; Matthew 3: 1-12; Richard B. Culp

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ²‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ ³This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,
‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
   make his paths straight.” ’
⁴Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, ⁶and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸Bear fruit worthy of repentance. ⁹Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. ¹⁰Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

11 ‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹²His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’

Introduction:  one of the things I like about watching TV at this time of year is the new commercials that have a holiday theme to them - like the Prudential character who causes the Christmas tree to catch on fire and burn the house down.  Thus, the need for insurance.

Have you seen that new commercial on tv where the camera closes in on a guy standing there in what looks like a leather swimsuit with hair all over it?  It looks kind of like an ad for a remake of the movie “George of the Jungle.”  

He’s standing there with honey in one hand and a locust in the other.  I figure this is going to be a commercial for a company that makes honey because I don’t think the edible locust industry does much advertising.

Then, the guy shouts:  “you brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”  

Have you seen that commercial?  

I didn’t think so.  John the Baptist is not commercial material.  

But, surprisingly enough, people are coming to River Jordan to hear John and be baptized by John

Move 1:  As we reflect on surprises in the stories leading up to Christ’s birth, one of the big surprises for me is that people are coming out to the Jordan River to see and hear John.

a.  What is so appealing about John the Baptist?

1. He’s not giving away Christmas gifts or singing Christmas carols or telling sentimental Christmas stories. 

2. He is baptizing — he is enacting a tradition of water baptism that comes from the Jewish tradition for those who convert to Judaism. (https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/second-sunday-of-advent/commentary-on-matthew-31-12-3) 

3. In other words, he’s doing a liturgical act from church don at the river and people are flocking to him. 

4. And he’s calling people to repent.

5. And he is announcing that some, including the leaders of Judaism, are a brood of vipers.

b.  Why are people showing up in droves for baptism or a call to repentance?

1. We have this image that people are standing in line on the river banks just so they can get what John the Baptist is offering.

2.  Would you show up?

Move 2:  I suspect we know why they show up?  

People keep showing up because they want more for their lives

a.  John the Baptist appeals to people because they want to confess their sins.

1. They want to name that which they have done wrong, 

2. To name it so they can move on in their lives.

3.  to name it so it no longer holds power over them

b. John the Baptist appeals to people looking for a change

1.  We remember the word repentance comes from the Greek metanoia, which means to think again, to think anew, to have a change of mind, a change of consciousness….

2.  the heart of the word repentance means turning around, starting over, taking another direction, choosing another course

3.  Repentance is about the imagination; it’s the ability to dream a new dream.  It’s about seeing differently….repentance invites us to shift our imagination to see a new pattering, to see the light sometimes hidden in the dark 0 to open ourselves to the joy, and liberating surprises of God (Betsy Swetenberg, Those Who dream…Prepare the Way, Journal for Preachers, Volume XLVI, Number 1, Advent, 2022, 11, 12)

4. Repentance is less about the direction you have been going, and more about the direction you are now heading.  

5.  Repentance, in short, is realizing that God is pointing you one way, that you’ve been traveling another way, and changing course. …(http://www.davidlose.net/2016/11/advent-2-a-reclaiming-repentance/; David Lose, ….in the meantime blog)

6. People show up to hear John’s call to repentance because they want to imagine new possibilities.

c. Preacher and professor Tom Long notes that  “If John the Baptist had only cried “Repent!” he would have been wasting his breath. 

1.  John points people to the kingdom of heaven.

2. John points people to Jesus Christ.

3. People keep showing up because they have the desire for something new in their lives.

to be part of something new God is doing in the world.

Move 3:  At least three groups of people show up at the River Jordan to join John in the waters of baptism.

a.  The group of people who know they want what John has to offer.

1. They have looked over their lives and decided they needed something more.

2. So they come to confess, repent, and be baptized.

b.  The Pharisees and Sadducees make up the second group.

1.   The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible that we read this morning has a generous translation that reads as if the Pharisees and Sadducees were coming for baptism. 

2.  The New International Version has a more accurate translation that simply notes the  Pharisees and Sadducees coming to “where he was baptizing,” not necessarily to be baptized.

3.  they show up to watch, 

maybe take some notes,

or sit in judgment, 

or check out a competitor,

and prepare the case against John the Baptist.

4.  Maybe they were changed by the experience.  Maybe not.

c. I also imagine a third group — those who just happened to be there or had wandered down because they heard others were gathering there.

1. They do not know their own need for change and new life, or at least they have not admitted it.

2. But they are there, too, hearing the call to confess, repent, and be baptized.

Conclusion: Not matter why they were there, those at the River Jordan heard John’s appeal.

Confess your sins.

Repent.

Be baptized.

Change your direction and go toward the kingdom of heaven, 

go toward the one who is coming,

Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

Does that sound like something you want;

something you need;

Something surprisingly appealing to you?

 

Reflections on “Surprising History” Mathew 1: 1-17

this sermon kicked off our "Advent Surprises" preaching series.  I have always found Matthew's genealogy fascinating, so this sermon has been talked about by me in different settings through the years.  I thought of it as a creative approach to an advent sermon, but then my daughter in Richmond, VA, called to tell me about the minister's sermon at the church she visited - it was the same text, although his theme was about the generations, not the surprises.   

As I preached the section about the specifics of the five women, I realized that for us, we do not recognize the women as "sekeletons in the closet" for Jesus' genealogy because we have told their stories through the years and highlighted their good qualities.

It felt like a good start to the preaching series! 

“Surprising History” November 27, 2022; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Denton; Mathew 1: 1-17; Richard B. Culp

Matthew 1: 1-17:  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 Amos, and Amos 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. 

Introduction:  During Advent, we will spend our sermon time looking at surprises in the stories leading up to Christ’s birth (You already may be surprised that I was able to pronounce all those names!).

As we reflect on surprises, perhaps you can remember a surprising gift you received one year? 

 Or a surprising visit?  

Or a surprising moment you have had through the years as you move through Advent to Christmas.

We reflect on these surprises and are reminded of the surprising God we follow and how God continues to surprise us.  

So listen to the stories this Advent and look for the surprising ways God is engaging you.

Move 1:  We begin with a reading of the genealogy of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew.

a. Our first surprise comes if we compare the genealogy in Matthew with the genealogy recorded in the Gospel of Luke.

1. they do not match.  

2. I am not someone who has spent a lot of time tracing my family’s genealogy, but I do remember a school project years ago when we had to trace our family’s genealogy for about three or four generations.

3. I remember that as the third Culp child to have that teacher, it was a pretty easy assignment - all I had to do was fill in the chart with the work my two sisters had done before me.

4.  The genealogy did not change. 

It traced back through the same people each time.  there was only one genealogical path.

b. But Matthew and Luke record different genealogies.

1.  Different names (go home and read them and compare).

2.  Lukes traces Jesus’ genealogy back to Noah.

3. Matthew traces Jesus’ genealogy back to Abraham.

            c. Matthew’s genealogy tells us something important about Jesus (so does Luke’s, but that’s another sermon)

1.  by tracing Jesus’ genealogy back to Abraham, Matthew ties Jesus’ identity to the Israelites, the people of God.

2.  Jesus is the “chip off the old block” of the Israelites. 

3.  Jesus, intimately connected to God’s people.

4. jesus, showing God’s ongoing desire to be faithful to God’s people, instead of God just tossing away the old, failed relationships and starting anew.

6. Surprise - God is not going to give up on God’s people however flawed they might be;

surprise - God is not going to give up on the world, however failed it might be;

surprise - God is not going to give up on you or on me, but God is going to connect to us and redeem us by coming to us in the person of Jesus Christ, who is already connected to us by his birth.

Move 2:  Another surprise - Jesus’ genealogy traces itself back through women.

a. Most of the names mentioned are, as expected, men.

1.  that is how genealogies in that time were t4raced.

2. that’s how Luke does it.

3.  But surprise, Matthew begins with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and then mentions four other women.

 

b. Not only does Matthew trace Jesus’ lineage through women, but the women are not ones we might expect to be mentioned.  

1.  If you are telling your family’s history to all the world;

If you are tracing your genealogy and leave the path to include certain women,

you might do so to clean things up;

hide the skeletons in the closet  

to make your family look its best.

3. Surprisingly, Matthew does the opposite.

He seems to make a point of listing women whose stories are scandalous.

            (Here is the summary of the women as provided by Rev. Nanette Sawyer on her blog "Question the Text," http://www.questionthetext.org/2013/12/15/when-is-righteousness-scandalous/, and from Harper’s Bible Dictionary, plus my own working knowledge of the five women) 

 

1.      First, there is Tamar, the Canaanite daughter-in-law of Judah, who after her husbands died, is denied the protections under Jewish law marriage, so she tricks her father-in-law into impregnating her with twins, one of whom was Perez, an ancestor of King David.

 

2.    Then there is Rahab, a prostitute, who is not one of God’s people; but she lives in Jericho and saves the spies from Israel by hiding them from the Canaanites and helping them escape in the night.  For saving the spies, the Israelites spare her family.  Rahab was the mother of Boaz, an ancestor of King David. 

 

 

3.    The third woman is Ruth, who follows her mother-in-law back to Israel after the death of her husband. Ruth is a Moabite outsider to the Israelite tradition who marries Boaz and becomes the mother of Obed, an ancestor of King David.  

  

3.    The next woman mentioned is Bathsheba, although she is not called by name, but  referred to as the wife of Uriah, the husband on whom she cheated with King David, which led to David having him killed;  Bathsheba eventually married King David became the mother of King Solomon, the next king in David’s lineage.

 

5. This brings us to Mary, the young woman who is pregnant when she shouldn’t be, appearing to be unrighteous by conventional standards.

c.  Joseph Phelps reminds us that during Advent, “We proclaim this truth to “an oblivious world.”  We announce that “we detect God's presence in our midst “(Journal of Preaching, "Preaching Advent Hope," Joseph Phelps, 8). 

  1. What does God’s presence look like?

2.  The genealogy in Matthew tells us some surprising things:

To include Tamar means that Jesus is connected to people who have been left outside and powerless,  and who might be desperate enough to use trickery are invited to be part of Christ's story.

To include Rahab suggests that Jesus is tied to people with a shady history, but are willing to risk themselves are invited to be part of Jesus' story.

To include Ruth means that Jesus comes from outsiders, strangers in our midst, particularly those who understand what it means to stand with others, 

Bathsheba's presence means that Jesus is related to people who have a history that is less than glowing.

The inclusion of Mary ties Jesus to the young and fearful who step out in faith. 

3.  To include the names of those women in the genealogy of Jesus, Matthew opens the door for us to see ourselves as part of God’s ongoing, surprising story in the world.

move 3:  Finally, the genealogy makes a surprising claim - Jesus is the Messiah.

a.  Maybe no one should have been surprised that the Messiah finally arrived.

1. God’s people had been clamoring for generations for God to send the Messiah.

2. The prophets had promised a Messiah would come.

3. Now, Matthew boldly announces that Jesus this baby born to Mary, is the Messiah.

b.  a surprising claim, made even more surprising by the circumstances of his impending arrival.

1. as we move this Advent toward the manger in Bethlehem;

as we look for Christ to come again;

as we look to the world around us to see signs of God’s continued work in our midst;

as we seek to link our lives to Christ;

Prepare yourself for a surprise or two.

For that is the history of our God.  Amen.

Conclusion: