CMC Christmas Eve Service 2022 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.

Scripture:Luke 1:26-38

Meditation by Katie Graber

Throughout Advent, we’ve been hearing about women from Jesus’ family history who don’t have big famous stories in the bible. We’ve heard imaginative interpretations and questions about Tamar and Ruth and Rahab and Bathsheba – about who they were and what might have happened.

But now we get to Mary, mother of Jesus, who we know well. Or we think we do, we’ve certainly heard a lot about her. It’s Christmas eve – we know she made it to Bethlehem, and she’s about to have a baby. But even in stories like Jesus’ birth, we engage in interpretation whether we realize it or not. Our nativity scenes are amalgamations of time and place, with the Wise Men and animals and angels and shepherds all together at the same time. And there are additions that have become tradition, such as the number 3 for the wise men, the cattle who are lowing and the baby who never cries.

I have no problem with this! I firmly believe that things don’t need to be true in order to be meaningful. I’m sure many of us have experienced viewpoint-changing epiphanies from fictional stories. We learn about how the world works through the true and fictional stories we hear, and also through the things that lie between fact and fiction, like the songs and poetry that makes us feel.

The flip side of adding to Bible stories is that we sometimes accept their brevity without really thinking about how strange it is. With the story of Mary, we have the angel Gabriel coming to visit and telling her she will conceive and give birth to a son. The Bible says Mary…

CMC Worship Scripture and Sermon 12/18/22 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.

Bathsheba: Nuancing Power/Nuancing Humanity, Bethany E. McLean Davey

Today’s sermon engages sexual violence, so I begin by inviting you to care
compassionately and deeply for yourself. I invite you to honor your capacities to
be physically and emotionally present—or absent—and I invite you to do what you
need to care tenderly for yourself in the midst. Taking care may look different for
each of us, but you are invited to give yourself permission to access this care. You
—and your stories—matter.

I would like to share with you an exercise I learned through Dr. Mari Ramler of
Tennessee Tech University. Fluent in trauma work and healing, Dr. Ramler taught
us the regulating power of this practice. I invite you to observe it or try it,
whichever is most comfortable for you. *Demonstrate This is My Hand* I’m
grateful to Dr. Ramler for so graciously sharing this practice. I share it with you as
an invitation to gift yourself self-regulation and comfort in this way, or in the ways
that most resonate for you.

And now, we head toward Bathsheba. As with the other women highlighted
throughout advent, Bathsheba’s reputation precedes her. Though I originally titled
this sermon “Nuancing Power,” the title, “Nuancing Humanity” might be more
fitting, as we engage Bathsheba’s very human existence. Bathsheba’s name is often
associated with words such as seductress, temptress, conniving, victim, widow—
all of which convey particular character associations. She is complex, to say the
least, and today we move toward her with curiosity—and hopefully—with
compassion.

In 1 Kings, as Ruth just read, Bathsheba approaches King David—now her
husband—in the intimacy of his bedroom, at the height of his old age, to advocate
that her son Solomon be awarded kingship after David. Solomon is the son of both
David and Bathsheba, the son who reportedly…

Sermon | Speaking and Listening
Text: Ruth 1
Speaker: Sarah Martin

Originally this sermon was supposed to be about Ruth. But then I read what Naomi says at the end of chapter 1, the thing we just heard about her bitter life, and I was intrigued, and all the ideas I had for this sermon were about that, because my brain is kind of ornery like that. Then I thought about it, and realized, whenever this story comes up Ruth gets all the attention anyway. And Joel said it was all good, if I wanted to talk about Naomi, so that’s what’s gonna happen, folks. Although Ruth will make an appearance at the end.

The reason Naomi’s speech intrigued me is that it’s really a weird addition to the story. When Naomi and Ruth arrive back in Naomi’s homeland, instead of jumping straight into the main narrative, the author gifts us this strange little interlude that’s just Naomi throwing shade at God for letting all these bad things happen to her. And then she pretty much fades into the background of the story. What?

I don’t really know why this speech is in there. Like most of the Bible—or anything—it could be interpreted in lots of ways. But, when I was thinking about why this speech might be included I did notice that Naomi sounds a lot like the character of Job.

In case you aren’t familiar with the story of Job, I took a class on his book of the Bible in college, so I can tell you all about it. Joel said I could talk about Job too, so feel free to come with me on this brief detour. Basically, Job suffers a series of catastrophes orchestrated by God and Satan in order to test…

CMC Worship Scripture and Sermon 12/4/22 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.

Rahab’s Story
Lavonne van der Zwaag
December 4, 2022

This is the second Sunday we are looking into the lives of the named women in Jesus’ lineage as listed in Matthew 1. Today we are hearing the story of Rahab. Once again, we’re reminded that our ancestry can include stories that are hard to hear or understand. Unlike Tamar’s story last week, Rahab doesn’t just pretend to be a prostitute; she WAS a prostitute. People like to look to Rahab’s story as being about redemption from a sinful existence to a Godly life. People believe her story shows that God had a plan for Rahab’s life and she was rescued because she chose to do God’s will. I propose that her story isn’t that straight-forward.

In articles that I found about Rahab, there was some conjecture about whether Rahab lived in poverty as an outcast in the margins of Canaanite society; or whether she was a successful business woman, a madam of sorts, whose services were sought out by men in high and powerful places. Some proposed that she was an innkeeper and provided additional services to wealthy merchants seeking companionship while they were “on the road”. Some proposed that she might have even owned a second business which might explain why she had all that flax on her rooftop which effectively hid the spies.

After reading about Rahab and looking more closely into her life, I find her to be a complex and interesting character. Whether she was a poor prostitute that was living life on the edge of poverty or a successful business woman, we can assume that Rahab’s profession and status as a single head-of-household definitely meant she lived…

CMC Scripture and Sermon 11.27.2022.mp4 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.

Sermon | Tamar and Tricksters
Text: Genesis 38:1-27
Speaker: Barbara Lehman

Well. That is some tale! Convoluted, more than a bit creepy, and, for me, confusing. What in the world is going on? Who is married to whom? Who is living and who is dead? What is the purpose of this story? I was frankly repulsed by this Me Too-like account until I revisited the part about how Tamar tricks Judah. After Tamar has lost two husbands (neither of which may have been her choice, I might add) and Judah has sent her back to live in her father’s house (also not necessarily her wish) as a widow, when she hears that Judah would be traveling nearby, she decides to take action. She disguises herself as a prostitute to attract Judah, who propositions her (which tells me something unsavory about his character and that she probably knew). She asks him what he will give her and then cleverly secures collateral until he can deliver the kid he promises: his signet, cord, and staff, which would identify Judah as the owner, far more than a sheep would. Then she gets pregnant, and Judah, who didn’t recognize her, is informed and condemns her to be burned since he assumes that she had been a whore. But Tamar doesn’t panic when they come to get her. She produces the signet, cord, and staff and declares that their owner made her pregnant, which Judah has to acknowledge.

Aha, I think! Here is a woman—a status that can convey subjugation to more powerful men and a lack of agency over one’s fate—who uses her intelligence and cunning to overcome the tragedy (being taken for two good-for-nothing husbands…