March 15, 2025 • 34 mins
Imagine a world where love and hope challenge the very foundations of societal norms. In this episode, we journey through the Advent season, exploring the profound impact of these themes in our lives. We revisit the powerful narrative of Mary and Elizabeth from the Gospel of Luke, revealing how their courage and acceptance of divine will set an example for us all. Through this story, we uncover the importance of consenting to co-create with the Holy Spirit and how embracing this divine collaboration can fill our lives with purpose and meaning.
Join us as we examine the transformative role of the Holy Spirit in the lives of these remarkable women, transcending age and societal judgment. We highlight the beauty of mutual support and recognition of God's work, demonstrated in the encounter between Mary and Elizabeth. Elizabeth's joyous acclamation of Mary's blessing is a testament to the significance of belief and the power of divine promises. As we ponder their faith and courage, we are invited to reflect on how these themes of hope, joy, and love can inspire us to trust in the unseen work of the Holy Spirit in our own lives.
Finally, we turn our attention to the revolutionary love embodied during the Advent season, challenging oppressive systems and reminding us of the principles of God's kingdom. We discuss the notion of vulnerability as fertile ground for divine intervention, drawing insights from historical and biblical figures. As we prepare for Christmas, we are encouraged to embrace the transformative power of love and the assurance of new life being nurtured even in times of waiting. This episode serves as a heartfelt invitation to embrace love and hope, guiding us to live in a way that reflects heaven on earth.
This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving
In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the First Love Church Podcast.
This is a collection of Sundayteachings inspired by the
Revised Common Lectionary andrecorded weekly in Ocala,
florida, morning.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm sure glad you're here at church.
I'm glad you're watching online.
Welcome to everyone.
Merry Christmas, happy New Year.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
It's not Christmas yet Not until Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Wednesday,Christmas but we do celebrate
the Christmas season.
This idea and Advent is even agreater understanding or a
greater knowledge of thisbeautiful hope that love came
for us.
Love came for us.
Love is still coming for us.
Love is coming for us inincredible and beautiful and
(00:42):
wonderful ways, and one of thethings that is so beautiful
about us gathering together isthat we do get to see how love
expands.
How someone loves someone elseinspires us to love each other
and to love the world better,and so I'm so grateful for your
presence here and for the waythat you care for each other so
beautifully and hopefully, andit is a good news to be in the
(01:05):
presence of love.
Advent reminds us that this iswhat it's always been about.
In fact, Advent brings to us onDecember 1st.
It is the Christian calendar'snew year, and it is love is the
beginning of everything, love isthe end of everything, love is
all that it's ever been about,and this is an invitation for us
to reorient ourselves in thelove that God has for us, in our
(01:28):
belovedness, in the hope of theworld that is coming for us,
and I am so grateful thattogether we get to study the
text, that we get to remindourselves and that the spirit
that is here among us gets toreignite or gets to illumine the
word of Christ in us.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
You know, for the past four weeks now, we've been
sitting in darkness as a church,and by that I mean our main
lights are off, and it's beendifficult for some to try to
take notes and see what's goingon.
And, based on how old I'mgetting, I think it's just best
that the lights are low.
But the truth of the matter is,when we set in darkness here,
(02:15):
it reminds us that we are atsome level.
Whether you realize it or not,you are in darkness In some
areas.
But it's these themes that wetalk about and they can be
practices for us, the practiceof love which will bring light
and life to us.
And so we must be reminded that.
(02:37):
You know, because I hear peopleall the time is this all?
There is no, and that's why wehave these practices and these
lessons, so that we can remindyou.
No, seek after joy, hope, peaceand love, because these are the
beautiful gifts that this lifehas to offer and we miss out on
it so much.
(02:57):
And really maintaining it as apractice is, for us, the way
that we can develop in thoseskills, any skill you have.
You might have had some naturalinkling, but the truth is it
was your discipline to practiceand develop that made you
(03:18):
skillful in whatever gift thatyou operate well in and for us.
I want to see that, for us asfollowers, that we're known by
these fruits and that peopleexperience them and that you get
to have a life filled with thelove of God.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
And this is what it's always been about.
We've mentioned that a fewtimes that there are things in
our life and the experiencesthat we have that sometimes tell
us that life is about somethingother.
But, life is the life that Godgave us, is about love, is about
allowing the Holy Spirit toillumine us and for our love to
be able to expand.
(03:56):
And so this morning in the textwe get to see this beautiful
experience between Mary andElizabeth, and we get to hear
Mary's prophecy of Jesus and ofthe hope for the world.
And so if you would just remindyourself this week to maybe
(04:16):
allow the spirit to bring thisto your remembrance as we read
this morning, may you hear itand see it everywhere.
But we read from Luke's gospelin verse 39, but in chapter one.
So after the angel appears toMary and says to Mary God is up
to something and God wants toknow if you would like to
(04:36):
participate.
And Mary says yes.
First she says I don't know howthis will happen, and then the
angel tells her the Holy Spiritwill come.
And that is the answer for allof us today, beloved, we have
questions.
How will peace come to theearth?
The Holy Spirit will come.
How will this happen?
(04:57):
The Holy Spirit will come, andthis invitation to co-create
with the Holy Spirit is ourinvitation as well.
And Mary gives her consent.
And Mary says okay, be it untome, according to your word.
So she goes from this place ofawe because this angel has
showed up to this place of okay,I'll do whatever you tell me to
(05:18):
do.
And this becomes this beautiful, incredible conversation and
lifestyle.
And again I hear Mary sayingthis a few times in the
scriptures.
She says be it unto me,according to your will.
And then later, as Jesus isborn and he's beginning his
ministry and the people needwine, and Mary says Jesus, can
(05:40):
we do something about that?
And he tells her that he's onit.
And she leans over and sayssomething very similar to the
people around her and sayswhatever he tells you to do, do
it.
It is the same thing as be itunto me, according to your will.
Whatever you tell me to do, Iwill do this.
So Mary has consented, the HolySpirit has come upon her and
(06:00):
she takes off and she goes toElizabeth's house.
Now there's a few things I wantto bring out before we read the
text.
Elizabeth is a much older womanwho has been marginalized.
She is a wife of a priest, butshe has not had a child, and so
in their culture it was assuredthat she had done something
wrong.
There was some kind of curse onthe family.
(06:22):
Something bad had happened, shehad made something wrong.
There was some kind of curse onthe family.
Something bad had happened, shehad made a mistake, and so she
had suffered for years underjust the assumption and the
whispers of people who saidsurely she is not blessed.
I remind you that an angel alsoshows up to Zachariah and says
this is what's going to happen.
(06:42):
Your older wife is going tohave a child.
And Zachariah says, yeah,that's not going to happen.
Do you understand how thingswork in the world?
And then the angel says no moretalking for you Until the baby
is born.
No more talking for you If thisis the kind of response you're
going to have to the invitationthat the Holy One is among you,
and the Holy One is going to dothis thing.
And so I bring that to yourremembrance, because you're
(07:06):
going to hear Elizabeth talk toMary in such a beautiful way.
Mary is a much younger womanwho, upon taking this call to
birth the Holy One, she realizesthere will be people who talk.
There will be situations wherepeople think that she is either
crazy or she is a full-on sinnerin this kind of condition.
And so we listen to the song ofthe older and we listen to the
(07:29):
song of the younger and we hearGod in the middle of it.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
You know, and I think the shame would be that you and
I would listen to this messagetoday and it would just be like
a you know book report about thestory that happened a long time
ago, instead of the purpose andrelevance for your life and
mine today.
Because we see something likeChrist being born in Mary and we
(08:01):
see, well, that's obviously amove of the Holy Spirit.
And then we have situations inour life and we go well, there's
no way that's ever going tochange.
And how is it that we canassume that the rough people in
(08:21):
our life are too big for God tochange or the mistakes we've
made are too big for God to fix?
When we really will step out ofthis church building and walk
into a world that was createdbecause the Holy Spirit hovered
over the void and then made itgood?
We forget that God is able toput that baby in the womb of
(08:49):
that woman who's past the age ofconceiving, and that was the
holy spirit that did that.
And so if I feel like, well,maybe I'm too old to to the of a
dog to learn these new tricks,or maybe there's no way in my
body that these things can befulfilled, wait a minute.
What about the Holy Spirit?
(09:10):
And I think that a thing thatwe ought to learn from Zachariah
is before God shuts up ourmouth for us, why don't we just
be quiet when we don'tunderstand, instead of speaking
immediately against thepossibility of hope, of joy, of
peace, of love, do you follow me, because it's the Holy Spirit
(09:35):
that will bring it to pass inyour life, in just the way that
this is now a reminder, anevidence that God has done it
before and God will do it againin you and I.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Amen.
I love this beautiful part ofthe story where it tells us that
Mary has this encounter andthen Mary hurries, she rushes
off to talk to her aunt aboutthis, someone else who has also
been marginalized, someone elsewho also understands what she is
going to enter into, and shebegins to talk to this older
woman.
And so I love that this storyis so beautifully age-inclusive,
(10:14):
but even more than that, asksus to look past that and see
this new kingdom that God isbringing Afterward.
Mary arose and hurried off tothe hill country of Judea, to
the village where Zachariah andElizabeth lived, and, arriving
at their home, mary enters thehouse and is and greeted
Elizabeth, and at the moment shehears Mary's voice.
(10:36):
The baby within Elizabeth'swomb jumps and kicks and
suddenly Elizabeth was filled tooverflowing with the Holy
Spirit.
Now this is so incredible andso beautiful because even
beforehand, the prophecy is thatwhen John is born, this baby
inside of Elizabeth that he'sgoing to be filled with the Holy
(10:57):
Spirit before he's even born,and this baby that is within her
is so overflowing with Spiritthat it fills Elizabeth too, and
there is so much goodness inthat that the spirit of God in
you can affect the spirit of Godin other people, that there is
this healing, this beautifulinclusion that comes, and with a
loud voice.
I love this.
(11:19):
It doesn't say demure, itdoesn't say she kept it down.
She whispered this with a loudvoice.
She prophesied with power.
I mean.
Mary comes into the house, thebabe jumps inside of her.
Elizabeth then is filled withthe Holy Spirit and she says
Mary, you are a woman given thehighest favor and privilege
(11:39):
above all others, for your childis destined to bring God great
delight.
How do I deserve such aremarkable honor to have the
mother of my Lord come and visitme and listen to her prophecy?
Elizabeth's here.
She recognizes the baby in Maryas the Lord.
(11:59):
She's the very first person torecognize this incredible thing
and say it out loud.
What you are carrying, what youare doing, what is forming in
you, this is the Lord.
How do I deserve such an honor?
The moment you came into thedoor and greeted me, my baby
danced inside of me withecstatic joy.
Great favor is upon you, foryou have believed every word
(12:25):
spoken to you from the Lord.
Now, this is the part that isso essential for us to pay
attention to today.
Mary, you believed every wordspoken to you from the Lord.
We see here that Mary is abeliever, that she has always,
at this place in her life,declared I'm going to believe
what God has said.
I don't know how it's going tohappen, but be it unto me,
(12:48):
according to your word, thisidea that we believe that love
is true, that God's words, thatlove's words, can be trusted,
this is the hope for all of us.
And Mary sang this song.
I love that.
When these women are together,one of them's loud and
prophesying with power andpraise, this is incredible.
(13:10):
Who am I that I would even bein the presence of the woman who
carries my Lord?
And then Mary bursts into song.
My soul is ecstatic,overflowing with praises to God.
My spirit bursts with joy overmy life-giving God, for he set
his tender gaze upon me, hislowly servant girl, and from
(13:33):
here on, everyone will know thatI have been favored and blessed
.
This is a prophecy.
This is a beautiful thing, butI'd want to tell you that Mary
was not out of touch withreality when she knew, and she
knows the neighbors willprobably not talk like this.
This is a conversation betweenher and her cousin, elizabeth,
(13:55):
who is this older woman who haswisdom who has also encountered
the Holy Spirit.
And she begins to say everyonewill recognize that I have been
favored and blessed and blessed.
And I want to tell you thatwill recognize that I have been
favored and blessed.
And I want to tell you that asshe grew in her pregnancy and
people knew that she was notmarried, they did not call her
favored and blessed.
They said a lot of things thatwere not.
(14:16):
And so this is the beauty ofAdvent for us.
It teaches us to be able tohold in us this incredible
tension of the now and the not.
Yet One day every knee will bowand every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to theglory of God the Father.
But that day hasn't happenedyet.
And yet Mary's prophecy fromhere, from this very place in
(14:39):
history, prophesies to the wholeworld and says there will be a
day when we recognize that theconsent of a woman who said I
will allow the Holy Spirit tobirth something in me.
And the promise of Advent is tous that Christ can be born in
all of us, that love can beformed in us in such a way that
what we see is the promise ofGod's good kingdom.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
You know, there's so many powerful things that are
being taught to us here in thispassage of scripture, you know,
one is, you know, the transferof authority from being just by
men to now God doing thisthrough the main characters here
, of being women is to not bemissed.
That that god is not uh goingto from, from this moment
(15:22):
forward, make the church aboutwhat a man would do, uh, and,
and exclude women, uh, or orhave women do everything and
exclude the men that we're allcalled and that that's a
beautiful thing, what we seehere.
But beyond that, I want you tothink about these two women at
the time for which this ishappening.
(15:45):
They're completely immersed ina culture where they're
basically property of theirhusbands, considered maybe even
less than a human being in theculture, and yet God is doing in
them, in this weak place, he isdoing something strong.
And so I think to myself abouthow oftentimes I look at the
(16:08):
weakness of my life as unfertileground, or obviously proof that
nothing can change in me, orobviously proof that nothing can
change in me when we see, Ithink of the multi-layered
things that God has shown ushere.
One of the very most importantthings are how, within our
weakness, god will become strong.
And I think the contrary is sotrue.
(16:31):
How, in my own strength and myown ability, when I put my faith
in that and suppose that thatis how things are going to
happen, I tend to seem to alwayspush my blessings just out of
arm's reach, because there neverwas a place intended for you
and I to try to earn something,or based on our skills that we
(16:54):
would achieve that.
But because of God's great lovefor you that in any
vulnerability or weakness, hewould make things right for you,
that God would bringtransformation, healing,
blessing, provision for you.
And so let's stop hiding thosevulnerabilities from God and
(17:15):
recognize how they're just sucha right place for God, a stage
for God to perform, you know, anopportunity for you to see the
hand of God.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
We pause here for a moment to thank you for joining
us today.
If you're finding this episodemeaningful, would you take a
moment to share it with a friend?
This podcast is made possiblethanks to the generosity of
people just like you.
If you would like to supportthe ongoing work of First Love
Church and the continued work ofour podcast, visit us online at
(17:54):
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subscribe.
The Mighty One has worked amighty miracle for me.
Holy is his name.
Mercy kisses all his godlylovers from one generation to
the next.
Mighty power flows from him toscatter all of those who walk in
(18:17):
pride, powerful princes.
He tears from their thrones andhe lifts up the lowly to take
their place.
She begins to have thispolitical discourse.
She begins to talk about whatit's like to grow up with an
oppressive government over you.
She begins to talk about thislove that is growing in her.
(18:38):
That will come in such a waythat it will not even be noticed
or be seen, but will absolutelyrevolutionize the world.
This is an invitation intolove's revolution.
And she begins to say listen,those people that thought that
greed and power were going to bethe way that Jesus is going to
come and show us something elsethat loves, co-suffering,
(19:00):
generosity is going to move thethings that couldn't be moved by
just sheer force or bymanipulation.
And it's such a beautifulreminder for us today that the
kingdom of God, the kingdom oflove, comes and looks like a
towel in a basin, it looks likefeeding the hungry, it looks
(19:21):
like loosing the bands that callpeople into prisons and that
keep people addicted.
And this is the invitation ofthe upside down world those who
hunger for him will always befilled.
This is such a beautifulprophecy for us to see.
(19:58):
She's reminding us of theseincredible truths what has been
said before will happen.
And this she is saying toherself, to her cousin who is
here.
She's reminding herself of thisbeautiful truth that just
because it has not happened yetdoes not mean it is not
happening.
This is the power of Advent.
(20:18):
We stand between the now andthe not yet have hope beloved.
This is an incredible time ofwaiting.
Sometimes we get tired ofwaiting, sometimes it becomes to
us a burden, and Mary isreminding us the power of the
Holy Spirit will wait with you.
Sometimes the dark seems likethere can be nothing going on,
(20:41):
but this is when the seedactually begins to grow.
This is when nature rests andthen remind us spring is coming.
In dark places we are not alone, that the presence, the
hovering of the Holy Spirit iswith us, calling us and calling
the whole world to new life.
I love this part where shereminds us it's going to be like
(21:05):
to the descendants, to peoplewho have waited a long time, for
those of you who have triedreally hard and find no results.
This message is for you, forthose of you who have prayed for
years and are not seeing anintervention yet.
This is the good news for you,this is the good news for us,
(21:25):
this is the good news for theworld that love has come.
This week, in the middle of theweek, we'll celebrate Christmas
and in fact, on Christmas Evewe'll have here at the church a
Christmas Eve service wherewe'll sing the Christmas hymns
and read the story from Luke andwe'll have Holy Communion
together and then we go home andit's still not Christmas and
(21:46):
that, for us, is kind of whatit's like, where we do the
things and we remind ourselvesof the rituals and we gather
together and we're renewed withhope and nothing changes.
But beloved.
Just because nothing changes toour eyes does not mean that the
Holy Spirit is not at work,building this new life, inviting
us into the kingdom.
(22:07):
That is love.
And we hear Mary's song whereshe's saying listen, the proud
and the powerful thought thatwhat they needed was thrones and
what they needed was oppressivesystems.
And I'm gonna tell you thatlove is going to be born, and
love is going to bring us tosomething completely different.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
You know, for us there really needs to be that
place of contemplation, ofsetting and waiting, that we can
have the revelation of thingsthat we're holding on to that
seem right.
You know, just this past weekI've had such revelation about
(22:47):
work, because the biggeststruggle in my life is
surrounding work, and by thatjust I mean that obviously
work's hard.
People don't want to work.
If you had your, rather youcould just pick up a paycheck on
Friday and not do anything.
How fun would that be.
I don't mean it that way.
I mean more along the lines oflike, if I'm going to fight with
Heather and our fights arereally usually we don't yell at
(23:11):
each other anymore.
What's the point?
But when you're just havingthat disagreement, you're not at
peace.
It's going to be aroundpreparing a worship list Isn't
that the craziest thing you'veever heard?
But it's our work.
And so if we're going to havedisagreements and struggle, it's
(23:34):
going to be around work.
And if I'm going to get reallyin any kind of frustration with
my sons, the, the about the onlytime it ever happens is when
we're out doing a little project, and then it almost always
happens then because around thiswork, you know, and so I
probably asked god a milliontimes about that.
(23:56):
You know, can't, can we justhave peace?
You know, can you just wave amagic wand over our work?
You know, why do my sons do notlike me when it comes around
work?
You know, would you fix them,please, lord?
And you know, and there's,there's all this opportunity.
(24:17):
But as I just this week began tolook at what is the deal, you
know, I began to see that I putthe work above everything, that
I go, okay, we got to get thisjob done, so this is the most
important thing.
And then I noticed earlier inthe week, it got about three
(24:39):
o'clock.
We worked all day long, youknow, almost eight hours, but I
wanted to work 10.
I said, well, let's work tilldusk.
And everybody was like, done,and I'm pushing because no, we
said we were gonna do, you know.
And so I got in that thingwhere work becomes the most
important thing.
Instead of, all of us weretired.
(25:00):
How about, considering thepeople around me?
Well, I could ask God to wave amagic wand over our work all I
want.
But if I'm going to continue tobehave the way that I'm behaving
about work, it's going tocontinue to hurt the hearts of
my sons and my wife, and therewill always be conflict there
and and I could say, god, whydon't you show up?
And then I take that time ofquiet and I realize and God gave
(25:29):
me this very simple principleWork can never be as important
as the people I'm working with,and that is an epiphany to me,
that is a profound revelationthat, if I don't let that slip
through my fingers, can keep,because anytime I want to get
this job done, yeah, but at thecost of yelling at my son, at
(25:50):
the cost of fighting with mywife.
Is that really what?
And that's what I had beendoing, maybe unaware, I mean, I
honestly don't think I saidlet's just be a jerk to everyone
I love.
But, for whatever reason, I hadcoveted with that idea that
work is so important that I haveto yell to get it done.
And I'm telling you that.
(26:12):
Where do you have these placeswhere you can sit and just let
God show you?
Where do I have amisinterpretation?
Where do I have amisunderstanding about the world
?
And where have I picked up theworld's system of doing things
that is contrary to God?
Well, it would need to be.
As I sit in the darkness andrealize I don't like the
(26:35):
darkness anymore and I cry outto God not just wave a magic
wand and fix my family, but showme where my misunderstandings
are, throwing a bomb in thisplace.
That, I say, is to be a safeplace, is to be holy and sacred
the home.
And I'm the one destroying it,it's my hands and I'm going.
(26:59):
God, where are you in the middleof all this?
Well, I could testify God.
For all these years you prayand he doesn't fix it Because
our work is still miserable.
Or I could look at where I amnot surrendered.
Amen.
Now, this is just for me.
You guys got it all together,so stretch your hands towards me
.
Or maybe is there an area inyour life where we need this
(27:24):
place of contemplation and weneed to be able to sit down and
say God, have your work in me,show me.
And I got to kick some sacredcows here For us men.
Most of the time, the answerwill be found in your wife's
voice.
We didn't want that.
(27:45):
Our arrogance and pride wantedto be the one to discover it.
And so many of the times, forso many years, heather's been on
the side just whispering to me.
Be kind to them.
You're being rough on them.
Well, if I don't tell them, howare they going to learn?
Well, do I really want them tolearn how rough the world is
(28:08):
because I am a jerk?
Is that really the lesson thatI want to teach, or do I want to
teach that there is a place oflove?
And so I had a friend the otherday and I was talking to him
and he was just telling me abouthow he just can't understand
how come his kids are.
(28:29):
And I hear his wife alongsidejust saying would you, why don't
you?
Just?
All I'm asking for you is tolisten to him and be peaceful
and he's like, yeah, but they'vegot to learn.
If men, if we would sometimesand listen to the Holy Spirit
that might be speaking throughyour spouse.
(28:50):
Oh man, it got quiet in here.
Heather, run out and get thecar started.
There's going to be a mutiny.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
I suspect that what the Holy Spirit is up to is
reminding us of who God is, ofwhat God is, of how God speaks,
and it is always gently.
The voice of the Holy Spirit isnever harsh.
The voice of the Holy Spirit isnever harsh.
The voice of the Holy Spirit isnever angry.
The voice of the Holy Spiritwill never condemn you.
(29:20):
God's voice to us is gentle.
God's voice to us is kind.
We have a good shepherd belovedand that is good news to all of
us that when we need adjusting,it will come through a gentle
voice, that there are thingsthat we can trust in the
goodness.
In fact, the scriptures tellsus let your gentleness be known
(29:40):
to all.
We see this in the way thatJesus behaved in Mary's own
gentleness.
We see this over and over againbeing something that Jesus gets
to emulate.
Because we see the gentleness inMary, the gentleness in Jesus,
we see the gentleness in thisseason even in the way that
babies are formed in us in agentle, holy, very safe place.
(30:04):
But because God can neverforget to show mercy, may you be
reminded of this this morning.
May Mary's song remind you thatmercy is always present, that
mercy always triumphs overjudgment, that God is infinite
mercy.
And so where we need mercy inour life, god is.
And we see this time of Advent,this song between Elizabeth and
(30:28):
Mary that remind us of hope.
Now, they sang this songtogether, together, and I wonder
if, as things you know actuallyprogressed for them if they
needed to rehearse the song, ormaybe they sang it to each other
when things got very difficult.
This understanding of therehearsing of the goodness of
God, the rehearsing of this hopethat the proud and those people
(30:51):
who oppress will be brought lowand those who are lowly will be
lifted up.
Jesus says these same words,but he uses the prophet Isaiah
and he said I have come to setthe captives free.
I have come to heal the brokenhearted.
I have come to loose those whoare bound.
And so Jesus says these samewords to us that the coming of
(31:13):
the Christ looks like thisgentle invitation into a kingdom
that is completely upside down,where people around in the
culture say greed is the way tohave.
Jesus tells us that generosityis the way that we live, that
love serves, that love comes,that love is with those who are
(31:33):
marginalized and love includesand says everyone is welcomed at
this beautiful table, everyoneis welcomed at the kingdom of
God, that love is what is shownhere and that, following the
belief, the trust that Mary hasthat God is at work, that God's
(31:53):
work can be done through herBeloveds, god's work can be done
through you that, if you willallow Christ to be formed in you
, there is so much hope.
What our world needs is hope,not wishes, but hope.
Hope in the fact that love hascome and that love is still
coming for us, that the HolySpirit is with us always.
(32:15):
The Holy Spirit, the agent oftransformation, the agent that
changes the way that we think.
And Jesus invited us into thiskind of life where we'll change
the way that we think aboutthings.
Love changes that for us, andthis is an invitation into
love's change, into the hope forthe world, into the hope for us
(32:37):
that there will be a day when,as it is in heaven, it will be
done here on the earth.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
I was told that there's a tribe of people and
when their babies are born, thewomen of the tribe go off and
they pray and they get a songand the song is about this baby.
And then they go into where thebaby's being born and they sing
the song over the mother and thebaby.
(33:04):
As the baby's being born andthroughout the whole life of
that child.
They teach that child thatchild's song.
They teach that child thatchild's song and when,
inevitably, a child goes wrongand gets out of line and
mischievous and starts to driftaway from the family and their
faith and their purpose, theydon't go out and scream and yell
(33:29):
, they just go over and theysing the song over that young
adult.
They sing their song and theygently remind them of who they
really are, not who they'veforgotten and become.
You know, and I love this songhere because I think that it
(33:54):
reminds us of what we'veforgotten.
And let this song be sung overyou and remind you who you
really are and God is in lovewith you and is giving you this
peace.
And so follow that song and letit remind you of who you really
(34:18):
are.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
We hope you've enjoyed this week's sermon.
If you would like moreinformation about us, visit us
online at firstlovechurchorg.
Welcome to the First Love Church Podcast.
This is a collection of Sundayteachings inspired by the
Revised Common Lectionary andrecorded weekly in Ocala,
florida, morning.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm sure glad you're here at church.
I'm glad you're watching online.
Welcome to everyone.
Merry Christmas, happy New Year.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
It's not Christmas yet Not until Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Wednesday,Christmas but we do celebrate
the Christmas season.
This idea and Advent is even agreater understanding or a
greater knowledge of thisbeautiful hope that love came
for us.
Love came for us.
Love is still coming for us.
Love is coming for us inincredible and beautiful and
(00:42):
wonderful ways, and one of thethings that is so beautiful
about us gathering together isthat we do get to see how love
expands.
How someone loves someone elseinspires us to love each other
and to love the world better,and so I'm so grateful for your
presence here and for the waythat you care for each other so
beautifully and hopefully, andit is a good news to be in the
(01:05):
presence of love.
Advent reminds us that this iswhat it's always been about.
In fact, Advent brings to us onDecember 1st.
It is the Christian calendar'snew year, and it is love is the
beginning of everything, love isthe end of everything, love is
all that it's ever been about,and this is an invitation for us
to reorient ourselves in thelove that God has for us, in our
(01:28):
belovedness, in the hope of theworld that is coming for us,
and I am so grateful thattogether we get to study the
text, that we get to remindourselves and that the spirit
that is here among us gets toreignite or gets to illumine the
word of Christ in us.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
You know, for the past four weeks now, we've been
sitting in darkness as a church,and by that I mean our main
lights are off, and it's beendifficult for some to try to
take notes and see what's goingon.
And, based on how old I'mgetting, I think it's just best
that the lights are low.
But the truth of the matter is,when we set in darkness here,
(02:15):
it reminds us that we are atsome level.
Whether you realize it or not,you are in darkness In some
areas.
But it's these themes that wetalk about and they can be
practices for us, the practiceof love which will bring light
and life to us.
And so we must be reminded that.
(02:37):
You know, because I hear peopleall the time is this all?
There is no, and that's why wehave these practices and these
lessons, so that we can remindyou.
No, seek after joy, hope, peaceand love, because these are the
beautiful gifts that this lifehas to offer and we miss out on
it so much.
(02:57):
And really maintaining it as apractice is, for us, the way
that we can develop in thoseskills, any skill you have.
You might have had some naturalinkling, but the truth is it
was your discipline to practiceand develop that made you
(03:18):
skillful in whatever gift thatyou operate well in and for us.
I want to see that, for us asfollowers, that we're known by
these fruits and that peopleexperience them and that you get
to have a life filled with thelove of God.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
And this is what it's always been about.
We've mentioned that a fewtimes that there are things in
our life and the experiencesthat we have that sometimes tell
us that life is about somethingother.
But, life is the life that Godgave us, is about love, is about
allowing the Holy Spirit toillumine us and for our love to
be able to expand.
(03:56):
And so this morning in the textwe get to see this beautiful
experience between Mary andElizabeth, and we get to hear
Mary's prophecy of Jesus and ofthe hope for the world.
And so if you would just remindyourself this week to maybe
(04:16):
allow the spirit to bring thisto your remembrance as we read
this morning, may you hear itand see it everywhere.
But we read from Luke's gospelin verse 39, but in chapter one.
So after the angel appears toMary and says to Mary God is up
to something and God wants toknow if you would like to
(04:36):
participate.
And Mary says yes.
First she says I don't know howthis will happen, and then the
angel tells her the Holy Spiritwill come.
And that is the answer for allof us today, beloved, we have
questions.
How will peace come to theearth?
The Holy Spirit will come.
How will this happen?
(04:57):
The Holy Spirit will come, andthis invitation to co-create
with the Holy Spirit is ourinvitation as well.
And Mary gives her consent.
And Mary says okay, be it untome, according to your word.
So she goes from this place ofawe because this angel has
showed up to this place of okay,I'll do whatever you tell me to
(05:18):
do.
And this becomes this beautiful, incredible conversation and
lifestyle.
And again I hear Mary sayingthis a few times in the
scriptures.
She says be it unto me,according to your will.
And then later, as Jesus isborn and he's beginning his
ministry and the people needwine, and Mary says Jesus, can
(05:40):
we do something about that?
And he tells her that he's onit.
And she leans over and sayssomething very similar to the
people around her and sayswhatever he tells you to do, do
it.
It is the same thing as be itunto me, according to your will.
Whatever you tell me to do, Iwill do this.
So Mary has consented, the HolySpirit has come upon her and
(06:00):
she takes off and she goes toElizabeth's house.
Now there's a few things I wantto bring out before we read the
text.
Elizabeth is a much older womanwho has been marginalized.
She is a wife of a priest, butshe has not had a child, and so
in their culture it was assuredthat she had done something
wrong.
There was some kind of curse onthe family.
(06:22):
Something bad had happened, shehad made something wrong.
There was some kind of curse onthe family.
Something bad had happened, shehad made a mistake, and so she
had suffered for years underjust the assumption and the
whispers of people who saidsurely she is not blessed.
I remind you that an angel alsoshows up to Zachariah and says
this is what's going to happen.
(06:42):
Your older wife is going tohave a child.
And Zachariah says, yeah,that's not going to happen.
Do you understand how thingswork in the world?
And then the angel says no moretalking for you Until the baby
is born.
No more talking for you If thisis the kind of response you're
going to have to the invitationthat the Holy One is among you,
and the Holy One is going to dothis thing.
And so I bring that to yourremembrance, because you're
(07:06):
going to hear Elizabeth talk toMary in such a beautiful way.
Mary is a much younger womanwho, upon taking this call to
birth the Holy One, she realizesthere will be people who talk.
There will be situations wherepeople think that she is either
crazy or she is a full-on sinnerin this kind of condition.
And so we listen to the song ofthe older and we listen to the
(07:29):
song of the younger and we hearGod in the middle of it.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
You know, and I think the shame would be that you and
I would listen to this messagetoday and it would just be like
a you know book report about thestory that happened a long time
ago, instead of the purpose andrelevance for your life and
mine today.
Because we see something likeChrist being born in Mary and we
(08:01):
see, well, that's obviously amove of the Holy Spirit.
And then we have situations inour life and we go well, there's
no way that's ever going tochange.
And how is it that we canassume that the rough people in
(08:21):
our life are too big for God tochange or the mistakes we've
made are too big for God to fix?
When we really will step out ofthis church building and walk
into a world that was createdbecause the Holy Spirit hovered
over the void and then made itgood?
We forget that God is able toput that baby in the womb of
(08:49):
that woman who's past the age ofconceiving, and that was the
holy spirit that did that.
And so if I feel like, well,maybe I'm too old to to the of a
dog to learn these new tricks,or maybe there's no way in my
body that these things can befulfilled, wait a minute.
What about the Holy Spirit?
(09:10):
And I think that a thing thatwe ought to learn from Zachariah
is before God shuts up ourmouth for us, why don't we just
be quiet when we don'tunderstand, instead of speaking
immediately against thepossibility of hope, of joy, of
peace, of love, do you follow me, because it's the Holy Spirit
(09:35):
that will bring it to pass inyour life, in just the way that
this is now a reminder, anevidence that God has done it
before and God will do it againin you and I.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Amen.
I love this beautiful part ofthe story where it tells us that
Mary has this encounter andthen Mary hurries, she rushes
off to talk to her aunt aboutthis, someone else who has also
been marginalized, someone elsewho also understands what she is
going to enter into, and shebegins to talk to this older
woman.
And so I love that this storyis so beautifully age-inclusive,
(10:14):
but even more than that, asksus to look past that and see
this new kingdom that God isbringing Afterward.
Mary arose and hurried off tothe hill country of Judea, to
the village where Zachariah andElizabeth lived, and, arriving
at their home, mary enters thehouse and is and greeted
Elizabeth, and at the moment shehears Mary's voice.
(10:36):
The baby within Elizabeth'swomb jumps and kicks and
suddenly Elizabeth was filled tooverflowing with the Holy
Spirit.
Now this is so incredible andso beautiful because even
beforehand, the prophecy is thatwhen John is born, this baby
inside of Elizabeth that he'sgoing to be filled with the Holy
(10:57):
Spirit before he's even born,and this baby that is within her
is so overflowing with Spiritthat it fills Elizabeth too, and
there is so much goodness inthat that the spirit of God in
you can affect the spirit of Godin other people, that there is
this healing, this beautifulinclusion that comes, and with a
loud voice.
I love this.
(11:19):
It doesn't say demure, itdoesn't say she kept it down.
She whispered this with a loudvoice.
She prophesied with power.
I mean.
Mary comes into the house, thebabe jumps inside of her.
Elizabeth then is filled withthe Holy Spirit and she says
Mary, you are a woman given thehighest favor and privilege
(11:39):
above all others, for your childis destined to bring God great
delight.
How do I deserve such aremarkable honor to have the
mother of my Lord come and visitme and listen to her prophecy?
Elizabeth's here.
She recognizes the baby in Maryas the Lord.
(11:59):
She's the very first person torecognize this incredible thing
and say it out loud.
What you are carrying, what youare doing, what is forming in
you, this is the Lord.
How do I deserve such an honor?
The moment you came into thedoor and greeted me, my baby
danced inside of me withecstatic joy.
Great favor is upon you, foryou have believed every word
(12:25):
spoken to you from the Lord.
Now, this is the part that isso essential for us to pay
attention to today.
Mary, you believed every wordspoken to you from the Lord.
We see here that Mary is abeliever, that she has always,
at this place in her life,declared I'm going to believe
what God has said.
I don't know how it's going tohappen, but be it unto me,
(12:48):
according to your word, thisidea that we believe that love
is true, that God's words, thatlove's words, can be trusted,
this is the hope for all of us.
And Mary sang this song.
I love that.
When these women are together,one of them's loud and
prophesying with power andpraise, this is incredible.
(13:10):
Who am I that I would even bein the presence of the woman who
carries my Lord?
And then Mary bursts into song.
My soul is ecstatic,overflowing with praises to God.
My spirit bursts with joy overmy life-giving God, for he set
his tender gaze upon me, hislowly servant girl, and from
(13:33):
here on, everyone will know thatI have been favored and blessed
.
This is a prophecy.
This is a beautiful thing, butI'd want to tell you that Mary
was not out of touch withreality when she knew, and she
knows the neighbors willprobably not talk like this.
This is a conversation betweenher and her cousin, elizabeth,
(13:55):
who is this older woman who haswisdom who has also encountered
the Holy Spirit.
And she begins to say everyonewill recognize that I have been
favored and blessed and blessed.
And I want to tell you thatwill recognize that I have been
favored and blessed.
And I want to tell you that asshe grew in her pregnancy and
people knew that she was notmarried, they did not call her
favored and blessed.
They said a lot of things thatwere not.
(14:16):
And so this is the beauty ofAdvent for us.
It teaches us to be able tohold in us this incredible
tension of the now and the not.
Yet One day every knee will bowand every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to theglory of God the Father.
But that day hasn't happenedyet.
And yet Mary's prophecy fromhere, from this very place in
(14:39):
history, prophesies to the wholeworld and says there will be a
day when we recognize that theconsent of a woman who said I
will allow the Holy Spirit tobirth something in me.
And the promise of Advent is tous that Christ can be born in
all of us, that love can beformed in us in such a way that
what we see is the promise ofGod's good kingdom.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
You know, there's so many powerful things that are
being taught to us here in thispassage of scripture, you know,
one is, you know, the transferof authority from being just by
men to now God doing thisthrough the main characters here
, of being women is to not bemissed.
That that god is not uh goingto from, from this moment
(15:22):
forward, make the church aboutwhat a man would do, uh, and,
and exclude women, uh, or orhave women do everything and
exclude the men that we're allcalled and that that's a
beautiful thing, what we seehere.
But beyond that, I want you tothink about these two women at
the time for which this ishappening.
(15:45):
They're completely immersed ina culture where they're
basically property of theirhusbands, considered maybe even
less than a human being in theculture, and yet God is doing in
them, in this weak place, he isdoing something strong.
And so I think to myself abouthow oftentimes I look at the
(16:08):
weakness of my life as unfertileground, or obviously proof that
nothing can change in me, orobviously proof that nothing can
change in me when we see, Ithink of the multi-layered
things that God has shown ushere.
One of the very most importantthings are how, within our
weakness, god will become strong.
And I think the contrary is sotrue.
(16:31):
How, in my own strength and myown ability, when I put my faith
in that and suppose that thatis how things are going to
happen, I tend to seem to alwayspush my blessings just out of
arm's reach, because there neverwas a place intended for you
and I to try to earn something,or based on our skills that we
(16:54):
would achieve that.
But because of God's great lovefor you that in any
vulnerability or weakness, hewould make things right for you,
that God would bringtransformation, healing,
blessing, provision for you.
And so let's stop hiding thosevulnerabilities from God and
(17:15):
recognize how they're just sucha right place for God, a stage
for God to perform, you know, anopportunity for you to see the
hand of God.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
We pause here for a moment to thank you for joining
us today.
If you're finding this episodemeaningful, would you take a
moment to share it with a friend?
This podcast is made possiblethanks to the generosity of
people just like you.
If you would like to supportthe ongoing work of First Love
Church and the continued work ofour podcast, visit us online at
(17:54):
firstlovechurchorg, remindingyou to like, follow and
subscribe.
The Mighty One has worked amighty miracle for me.
Holy is his name.
Mercy kisses all his godlylovers from one generation to
the next.
Mighty power flows from him toscatter all of those who walk in
(18:17):
pride, powerful princes.
He tears from their thrones andhe lifts up the lowly to take
their place.
She begins to have thispolitical discourse.
She begins to talk about whatit's like to grow up with an
oppressive government over you.
She begins to talk about thislove that is growing in her.
(18:38):
That will come in such a waythat it will not even be noticed
or be seen, but will absolutelyrevolutionize the world.
This is an invitation intolove's revolution.
And she begins to say listen,those people that thought that
greed and power were going to bethe way that Jesus is going to
come and show us something elsethat loves, co-suffering,
(19:00):
generosity is going to move thethings that couldn't be moved by
just sheer force or bymanipulation.
And it's such a beautifulreminder for us today that the
kingdom of God, the kingdom oflove, comes and looks like a
towel in a basin, it looks likefeeding the hungry, it looks
(19:21):
like loosing the bands that callpeople into prisons and that
keep people addicted.
And this is the invitation ofthe upside down world those who
hunger for him will always befilled.
This is such a beautifulprophecy for us to see.
(19:58):
She's reminding us of theseincredible truths what has been
said before will happen.
And this she is saying toherself, to her cousin who is
here.
She's reminding herself of thisbeautiful truth that just
because it has not happened yetdoes not mean it is not
happening.
This is the power of Advent.
(20:18):
We stand between the now andthe not yet have hope beloved.
This is an incredible time ofwaiting.
Sometimes we get tired ofwaiting, sometimes it becomes to
us a burden, and Mary isreminding us the power of the
Holy Spirit will wait with you.
Sometimes the dark seems likethere can be nothing going on,
(20:41):
but this is when the seedactually begins to grow.
This is when nature rests andthen remind us spring is coming.
In dark places we are not alone, that the presence, the
hovering of the Holy Spirit iswith us, calling us and calling
the whole world to new life.
I love this part where shereminds us it's going to be like
(21:05):
to the descendants, to peoplewho have waited a long time, for
those of you who have triedreally hard and find no results.
This message is for you, forthose of you who have prayed for
years and are not seeing anintervention yet.
This is the good news for you,this is the good news for us,
(21:25):
this is the good news for theworld that love has come.
This week, in the middle of theweek, we'll celebrate Christmas
and in fact, on Christmas Evewe'll have here at the church a
Christmas Eve service wherewe'll sing the Christmas hymns
and read the story from Luke andwe'll have Holy Communion
together and then we go home andit's still not Christmas and
(21:46):
that, for us, is kind of whatit's like, where we do the
things and we remind ourselvesof the rituals and we gather
together and we're renewed withhope and nothing changes.
But beloved.
Just because nothing changes toour eyes does not mean that the
Holy Spirit is not at work,building this new life, inviting
us into the kingdom.
(22:07):
That is love.
And we hear Mary's song whereshe's saying listen, the proud
and the powerful thought thatwhat they needed was thrones and
what they needed was oppressivesystems.
And I'm gonna tell you thatlove is going to be born, and
love is going to bring us tosomething completely different.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
You know, for us there really needs to be that
place of contemplation, ofsetting and waiting, that we can
have the revelation of thingsthat we're holding on to that
seem right.
You know, just this past weekI've had such revelation about
(22:47):
work, because the biggeststruggle in my life is
surrounding work, and by thatjust I mean that obviously
work's hard.
People don't want to work.
If you had your, rather youcould just pick up a paycheck on
Friday and not do anything.
How fun would that be.
I don't mean it that way.
I mean more along the lines oflike, if I'm going to fight with
Heather and our fights arereally usually we don't yell at
(23:11):
each other anymore.
What's the point?
But when you're just havingthat disagreement, you're not at
peace.
It's going to be aroundpreparing a worship list Isn't
that the craziest thing you'veever heard?
But it's our work.
And so if we're going to havedisagreements and struggle, it's
(23:34):
going to be around work.
And if I'm going to get reallyin any kind of frustration with
my sons, the, the about the onlytime it ever happens is when
we're out doing a little project, and then it almost always
happens then because around thiswork, you know, and so I
probably asked god a milliontimes about that.
(23:56):
You know, can't, can we justhave peace?
You know, can you just wave amagic wand over our work?
You know, why do my sons do notlike me when it comes around
work?
You know, would you fix them,please, lord?
And you know, and there's,there's all this opportunity.
(24:17):
But as I just this week began tolook at what is the deal, you
know, I began to see that I putthe work above everything, that
I go, okay, we got to get thisjob done, so this is the most
important thing.
And then I noticed earlier inthe week, it got about three
(24:39):
o'clock.
We worked all day long, youknow, almost eight hours, but I
wanted to work 10.
I said, well, let's work tilldusk.
And everybody was like, done,and I'm pushing because no, we
said we were gonna do, you know.
And so I got in that thingwhere work becomes the most
important thing.
Instead of, all of us weretired.
(25:00):
How about, considering thepeople around me?
Well, I could ask God to wave amagic wand over our work all I
want.
But if I'm going to continue tobehave the way that I'm behaving
about work, it's going tocontinue to hurt the hearts of
my sons and my wife, and therewill always be conflict there
and and I could say, god, whydon't you show up?
And then I take that time ofquiet and I realize and God gave
(25:29):
me this very simple principleWork can never be as important
as the people I'm working with,and that is an epiphany to me,
that is a profound revelationthat, if I don't let that slip
through my fingers, can keep,because anytime I want to get
this job done, yeah, but at thecost of yelling at my son, at
(25:50):
the cost of fighting with mywife.
Is that really what?
And that's what I had beendoing, maybe unaware, I mean, I
honestly don't think I saidlet's just be a jerk to everyone
I love.
But, for whatever reason, I hadcoveted with that idea that
work is so important that I haveto yell to get it done.
And I'm telling you that.
(26:12):
Where do you have these placeswhere you can sit and just let
God show you?
Where do I have amisinterpretation?
Where do I have amisunderstanding about the world
?
And where have I picked up theworld's system of doing things
that is contrary to God?
Well, it would need to be.
As I sit in the darkness andrealize I don't like the
(26:35):
darkness anymore and I cry outto God not just wave a magic
wand and fix my family, but showme where my misunderstandings
are, throwing a bomb in thisplace.
That, I say, is to be a safeplace, is to be holy and sacred
the home.
And I'm the one destroying it,it's my hands and I'm going.
(26:59):
God, where are you in the middleof all this?
Well, I could testify God.
For all these years you prayand he doesn't fix it Because
our work is still miserable.
Or I could look at where I amnot surrendered.
Amen.
Now, this is just for me.
You guys got it all together,so stretch your hands towards me
.
Or maybe is there an area inyour life where we need this
(27:24):
place of contemplation and weneed to be able to sit down and
say God, have your work in me,show me.
And I got to kick some sacredcows here For us men.
Most of the time, the answerwill be found in your wife's
voice.
We didn't want that.
(27:45):
Our arrogance and pride wantedto be the one to discover it.
And so many of the times, forso many years, heather's been on
the side just whispering to me.
Be kind to them.
You're being rough on them.
Well, if I don't tell them, howare they going to learn?
Well, do I really want them tolearn how rough the world is
(28:08):
because I am a jerk?
Is that really the lesson thatI want to teach, or do I want to
teach that there is a place oflove?
And so I had a friend the otherday and I was talking to him
and he was just telling me abouthow he just can't understand
how come his kids are.
(28:29):
And I hear his wife alongsidejust saying would you, why don't
you?
Just?
All I'm asking for you is tolisten to him and be peaceful
and he's like, yeah, but they'vegot to learn.
If men, if we would sometimesand listen to the Holy Spirit
that might be speaking throughyour spouse.
(28:50):
Oh man, it got quiet in here.
Heather, run out and get thecar started.
There's going to be a mutiny.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
I suspect that what the Holy Spirit is up to is
reminding us of who God is, ofwhat God is, of how God speaks,
and it is always gently.
The voice of the Holy Spirit isnever harsh.
The voice of the Holy Spirit isnever harsh.
The voice of the Holy Spirit isnever angry.
The voice of the Holy Spiritwill never condemn you.
(29:20):
God's voice to us is gentle.
God's voice to us is kind.
We have a good shepherd belovedand that is good news to all of
us that when we need adjusting,it will come through a gentle
voice, that there are thingsthat we can trust in the
goodness.
In fact, the scriptures tellsus let your gentleness be known
(29:40):
to all.
We see this in the way thatJesus behaved in Mary's own
gentleness.
We see this over and over againbeing something that Jesus gets
to emulate.
Because we see the gentleness inMary, the gentleness in Jesus,
we see the gentleness in thisseason even in the way that
babies are formed in us in agentle, holy, very safe place.
(30:04):
But because God can neverforget to show mercy, may you be
reminded of this this morning.
May Mary's song remind you thatmercy is always present, that
mercy always triumphs overjudgment, that God is infinite
mercy.
And so where we need mercy inour life, god is.
And we see this time of Advent,this song between Elizabeth and
(30:28):
Mary that remind us of hope.
Now, they sang this songtogether, together, and I wonder
if, as things you know actuallyprogressed for them if they
needed to rehearse the song, ormaybe they sang it to each other
when things got very difficult.
This understanding of therehearsing of the goodness of
God, the rehearsing of this hopethat the proud and those people
(30:51):
who oppress will be brought lowand those who are lowly will be
lifted up.
Jesus says these same words,but he uses the prophet Isaiah
and he said I have come to setthe captives free.
I have come to heal the brokenhearted.
I have come to loose those whoare bound.
And so Jesus says these samewords to us that the coming of
(31:13):
the Christ looks like thisgentle invitation into a kingdom
that is completely upside down,where people around in the
culture say greed is the way tohave.
Jesus tells us that generosityis the way that we live, that
love serves, that love comes,that love is with those who are
(31:33):
marginalized and love includesand says everyone is welcomed at
this beautiful table, everyoneis welcomed at the kingdom of
God, that love is what is shownhere and that, following the
belief, the trust that Mary hasthat God is at work, that God's
(31:53):
work can be done through herBeloveds, god's work can be done
through you that, if you willallow Christ to be formed in you
, there is so much hope.
What our world needs is hope,not wishes, but hope.
Hope in the fact that love hascome and that love is still
coming for us, that the HolySpirit is with us always.
(32:15):
The Holy Spirit, the agent oftransformation, the agent that
changes the way that we think.
And Jesus invited us into thiskind of life where we'll change
the way that we think aboutthings.
Love changes that for us, andthis is an invitation into
love's change, into the hope forthe world, into the hope for us
(32:37):
that there will be a day when,as it is in heaven, it will be
done here on the earth.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
I was told that there's a tribe of people and
when their babies are born, thewomen of the tribe go off and
they pray and they get a songand the song is about this baby.
And then they go into where thebaby's being born and they sing
the song over the mother and thebaby.
(33:04):
As the baby's being born andthroughout the whole life of
that child.
They teach that child thatchild's song.
They teach that child thatchild's song and when,
inevitably, a child goes wrongand gets out of line and
mischievous and starts to driftaway from the family and their
faith and their purpose, theydon't go out and scream and yell
(33:29):
, they just go over and theysing the song over that young
adult.
They sing their song and theygently remind them of who they
really are, not who they'veforgotten and become.
You know, and I love this songhere because I think that it
(33:54):
reminds us of what we'veforgotten.
And let this song be sung overyou and remind you who you
really are and God is in lovewith you and is giving you this
peace.
And so follow that song and letit remind you of who you really
(34:18):
are.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
We hope you've enjoyed this week's sermon.
If you would like moreinformation about us, visit us
online at firstlovechurchorg.
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