Text: Luke 2:8-20

8 Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah,[a] the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host,[b] praising God and saying,14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them, 19 and Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told them.

Speaker: Mark Rupp

It was the night of the Winter Solstice back in the year 2020. On that longest night of the year, the staff at the Atlanta Friends Meeting House decided to invite…

Text: John 1:1-14

Speaker: Joel Miller

About 100 years ago, an astronomer named Edwin Hubble published a paper that changed the way we think.  Using what was then the world’s largest telescope, combined with a theoretical model developed by fellow American astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt, Hubble argued that the universe was larger than the Milky Way.  Not only were there other galaxies, but these galaxies were moving away from each other.  We live, he proposed, in an expanding universe. 

Seventy years before that paper, Charles Darwin published his On the Origin of Species.  Rather than cosmology and physics, Darwin’s interest was biology.  He focused on life and its unfolding on this singular planet.  Darwin presented a sweeping theory that life on earth descended from a common ancestry, through a process called natural selection, with adaptations to different environments across time producing the vast diversity of species past and present.

None of these ideas were brand new.  It took a bit for them to be widely accepted within the academy.  They have since been largely affirmed, and refined.  As our best current models about where we, and everything we can see, touch, and measure, come from, they present a remarkable picture.

Like – A common ancestry – not just on the tree of life, but all the way back to an unimaginably hot and dense point, which explodes – not into space, but as space and time, still expanding. 

Like – The gifts of stars, drawing the most basic particles into themselves, fusing the simplest atoms of hydrogen and helium into oxygen and carbon, physics giving birth to chemistry. Lighting up the dark universe like a Christmas tree on a winter night.  And in their death, creating the higher elements through supernovae explosions and mergers of leftover cores.  Stars’ spectacular sacrifice seeding the universe with new possibilities. 

Remarkable,…

Text: Matthew 1:18-25

Speaker: Joel Miller

Of the four gospels in our Bible, only Matthew tells us much of anything about Joseph.    

In Luke, the angel visits Mary.  It’s Mary who must decide how to respond.  And when she needs backup, Mary goes not to Joseph, but to her relative Elizabeth.  There, pondering and pregnant, Mary declares, “God has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly.”  In Luke, Joseph barely gets an honorable mention.

John’s gospel mentions Joseph only twice.  Both times it’s when Jesus is referred to as “the son of Joseph:” By Philip (1:45) and then the crowds (6:42) trying to figure out where this upstart roaming rabbi and wonder worker comes from.         

And Mark, the oldest gospel, remarkably, never mentions Joseph at all.  When Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth and the people he grew up with are astounded by his teaching, they say, “Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary?”  In a culture where male lineage was everything, to refer to someone as the son of their mother was akin to calling them an illegitimate child.  It’s no wonder Mark follows this up by saying “And they took offense at him.”  The Greek word is skandalon.  And they were scandalized by Jesus, the son of Mary.

Matthew not only mentions Joseph, but essentially tells the birth story from his perspective. 

Matthew opens with “An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah.”  He starts with Abraham, and follows the male line through Isaac and Jacob, through Boaz and Jesse and David, through a line of kings which includes Hezekiah and Josiah, through a series of unknown names after the Babylonian exile all the way up to “Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born.”

Now there’s a couple things that make this an…

Speaker: Sarah MartinText: Mark 1:1-8

I’ll be honest: I’ve never really loved this story.

It’s just, well, kinda boring. Many Bible verses inspire or comfort me, from “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” in Genesis, to “Behold, I am making all things new” in Revelations. And literally none of them are in here. Or even anything close. It’s just a story about some people getting dunked in a river. Captivating, I’m sure.

Also, the whole scene just reminds me of a tent revival meeting. Like the people are all there to get “saved” by “accepting Jesus into their hearts” or whatever. I know I’m projecting concepts anachronistic to the original participants here, but I can’t help it; it’s just what comes to mind. This story feels like just more fuel on the fire for problematic theologies that boil redemption down to some sort of cosmic math equation, with humanity’s badness on one side and Jesus’s very real human blood on the other.

All this is why I asked if someone could read the poem Lily just read, which I found while flipping through my phone bookmarks trying to decide if I should say yes to speaking today. Maybe it’s a bit of a cop-out, talking about a poem in a sermon. But sometimes some non-Bible writing can shed new light on a Bible story. I’m sure Becca Lachman, at least, is so happy right now. Hey Becca, if you’re listening.

One connection between this poem and our story today is that it starts with someone changing their mind. This is something I thought about after Joel reminded me that “changing your mind” is a broader meaning of the word translated as “repentance” in this story. “Don’t be foolish,” the poet says. Seems like good advice. Then they instantly change…

Text: Philippians 4:6-9 NIVSpeakers: Tim Jaquet, Jim Myers, Debbie Walker

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

…