UNITED
Third Sunday of Advent -
Anne G. Cohen
Zephaniah 3:14-20
Luke 3:7-18
For Our Reflection:
"What does it mean to be adopted?" asked one child of another.
The little girl beamed with a bright beautiful smile as she replied,
"It means you grew in your mother's heart instead of her tummy."
- from a story by George Dolan
The Sacrament of Adoption
My brothers and I - in childhood and as recently as a few years ago -
used to tease my sister by telling her she was adopted. Jean is the
family recessive gene - she looks more like grandma while we all look
more like our parents. As a child she was so easy to tease because she
would laugh the first ten times - and only burst into tears on the 15th
or 20th time. It took me decades to figure out that just because she
laughed - it didn't mean it didn't hurt.
Part of the fuel was our family enjoyment of comedian Bill Cosby - who
had us rolling on the floor with his routine about his brother Russell.
He'd tell Russell that the police brought him - and that proved he was
adopted - and therefore not really part of the family. It was
hysterical. But it was also mean - and it was also untrue - which made
it easier to laugh about.
Somehow in our culture as a whole - adoption has had a deeply negative -
even shameful mystique. Birth parents - especially the mothers who were
the proof of any indiscretion - were sent away from home to give birth
and then reenter society as if nothing had happened.
Adoptive parents kept the fact a secret from the child - and even the
community. Adopted children would find out as teens or adults -
sometimes through teasing or meanness or mistake. And they found
adoption records sealed. They'd been essentially lied to - as well as
abandoned - unworthy of birth parent love for some God-awful reason -
potentially vulnerable to abandonment again. And there was no one to
talk to about it.
Adoption - up until recently - was all tangled up with moral and
emotional guilt - as well as grief and unresolvable
identity crisis.
This made the label "adopted" funny ONLY if it WASN'T true.
A shift in culture - mostly due to psychological research and influence
- has caused this attitude to begin to change. Guilt and Grief are
still lifted up as primary emotions in the adoption process. But to
these are now added Gratitude, Grace and Gift.
Whenever possible, birth parents are now invited to make an Adoption
Plan and participate in the selection of parents for their baby.
Openness - along a spectrum - is the hallmark of adoption arrangements.
And children are told early and often that they are adopted and special
and a gift - and that they are lucky to have so MANY parents who love
them in so many ways. The records are open and secrecy is discouraged
because of the damage it does.
In church we talk about our chosen community of faith. But we need to
be reminded that - in the Christian scriptures - "Adoption...is the
central biblical image for entrance into the family of
faith."
(Jeanne Stevenson- Moessner" Womb-love: The
practice
and theology of adoption" Christian Century,
Paul's letter to the church in
that moves us to call God "Abba - Daddy." He tells the folks in
that through adoption we are no longer SLAVES but CHILDREN of God. And
the church in
as God's children through Christ.
arrival of Messiah, preaches that "God is able from these stones to
raise up children to Abraham." Abraham is
viewed literally as God's
friend. Through Abraham we are adopted and inherit the friendship of
God - especially if we treat others as God would have us do: share out
clothes and food with others, practice fair business trade, avoid
extortion, usury, embezzlement, insider trading, false profit reporting,
etc. In a way,
God. But it is clear that God makes the choice. And children are
raised from the very stones into God's heart.
In the Hebrew scriptures adoption is lifted up as
sacred for a variety
of reasons. In Genesis, Jacob adopts two of Joseph's sons so that they
will receive the family inheritance. It is part of a reconciliation
process. In Exodus, the mother of Moses makes an adoption plan in order
to save the life of her son. Moses' sister selects Pharaoh's daughter
as a suitable adoptive mother and the story rolls from there.
Esther is adopted by her cousin, Mordecai, who raises her as his own
daughter. This act keeps the future Queen Esther from the suffering and
probable death of orphanhood - and ultimately
preserves her so that she
might preserve her people.
Jeanne Stevenson- Moessner, theologian writing for
the Christian
Century, notes that:
***
In the Nativity scene, the adoptive father Joseph and the biological
mother Mary represent all humankind. God is at work as creator AND as
adopting parent. And, of course, God is the child - who will later be
abandoned on the cross. the emotions and
experiences of birth mother,
adoptive parent and child are all embraced by God. (p.13)
***
Adoptive father Walter Wangerin writes about his
daughter's search for
her birth parents and her own identity. He feels invisible until he
identifies himself with Joseph, the adoptive father of Jesus. He
writes:
***
Training up the child of one's own loins has a deep spiritual and
genetic appropriateness. One doesn't question one's right and the
instinctive rightness of one's methods. Communication is as deep as the
chromosomes. [My wife] Thanne and I have raised
children born to us as
well as children adopted, and we've experienced the difference. In
order to train up the adopted child, one must also learn HER language,
since communication begins at the surface of things. One must never
assume a complete knowledge of this child except as watchfulness and
love reveal her. And very early the adoptive parent realized that the
methods of
natural conception. (p.13)
***
In the Protestant Church we practice two sacraments. They are the two
that Jesus himself participated in - therefore sanctioning. They are
Baptism and Communion.
The Roman Catholic Church, recognizing the sacramental nature of so many
aspects of human experience, observes five additional sacraments:
Confirmation
Confession (Penance or Reconciliation)
Holy Orders of Priests and Nuns (or Ordination)
Marriage
and
Unction or Extreme Unction (Anointing of the sick or dying)
I suggest that perhaps there is an eighth - or, for us - a third
sacrament to be added to our community life as religious people - The
Sacrament of Adoption. It is practiced by God, was central to the life
of Jesus and is a core tenet of the faith - biblically and
theologically. Case made.
Five centuries before Jesus was adopted, the prophet Zephaniah called
for religious renewal - a transformation of this world so that "it comes
to reflect God's vision of a world without violence injustice and
oppression... where even God may sing in response to human singing."
(NRSV Harper Collins)
I will... gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame
into praise...
At that time I will bring you home,
at the time when I gather you... (
God is singing to Her children - you are no longer outcast. Shame is
now praise. I will bring you home, gather you in
my arms as my beloved
children. God is singing to His children - you may not have grown in my
womb but you have grown in my heart since the moment I laid eyes on
you. You are as much my child as my first born and more loved than you
can imagine.
As this world continues to be transformed by the Spirit of God....
May all who participate in the Sacrament of Adoption experience the
Gratitude, Grace and Gift of the Holy which heals the guilt and grief
that comes with such profound experiences.
And may our calls upon God be answered in song
by our Divine Adoptive Parent -
the One Who Brings Us Home
and Gathers Us into Loving Arms.
***********
Bulletin
WE GATHER FOR PRAYER AND CELEBRATION
Music for Gathering
Welcome and Perspective on the Day
Musical Preparation for Worship - A Time for Centering
+ Call to Worship (unison)
Dear God,
A candle is lit for the baby born in shadows.
A candle is lit for the woman who prepared food.
A candle is lit for the person who wrote the story of this wondrous
event.
A candle will always be alight in the hearts of those who remember.
Amen.
+ Advent Hymn Watcher, Tell Us of the Night Hymnal
# 103
+ Candle Prayer (unison)
The candle of hope burns alone. Out of its brightness comes a vast
brilliance of love. This is the way it happens - one candle lights
another,
then the lights keep flickering on as the confidence grows. Sometimes
all it takes is a voice... and out of that voice comes
the song of a
million.
+ Our Common Prayer (unison)
Creator God who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,
on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil,
For Thine is the kingdom and the power
And the glory forever. Amen.
Time for Silent Reflection
One: My soul waits in silence.
All: God is my rock and my fortress. I will
be at
peace.
Silent Reflection
The
Assurance of Good News (unison)
The Creator loves us into being.
The Christ loves us into grace.
The Spirit loves us into blessings. Blessed be!
Sung
Response How Great Our
Joy by Lloyd Larson
WE TEACH, REFLECT AND PROCLAIM
Lighting
Conversation with Our Children
The Candle of Love
Children's Hymn (sung as candle is
lit) Advent
is Waiting
CSB #9
Reading from the Hebrew Prophets
Zephaniah 3:14-20
Reading from the Christian
Gospels Luke
3:7-18
Meditation The Sacrament of Adoption
WE RESPOND TO GOD'S INVITATION
Intercessions, Celebrations and Encouragements
Call to
Prayer
Be still and know that I am God
Hymnal # 743
Time for
Silence
Our Joys and
Concerns and an Offering of Prayer
Sung
Response Sweet Little Jesus Boy Traditional
Bob Erickson - vocal and piano
We Offer Our Gifts So That Our Lives May Be Our Prayer
Offertory The Night Before
Christmas by Carly
Simon
Prayer of
Gratitude (unison)
God, help us to understand and know the one that wears a
working glove. These hands are spent in labor and in toil
done out of love and care. There is good that comes from
all people. There is satisfaction in the value of earning a living.
We all create, work, try, in our different ways, but each one
of us is still forever learning. Amen.
+ Sending Hymn Get
Ready CSB #4
+ Commissioning (unison)
[We] pray that all the storms are changed to peace,
all the bullets are changed to chocolate,
all the prisons are changed to gardens,
and all the defeats are changed to touchdowns. Amen.
+ Sung Response (we gather in some semblance of a circle)
NCH # 584 Refrain
I am the Light of the World
You people come and follow me
If you follow and love you'll learn the mystery
Of what you were meant to do and be
+ Postlude
WORSHIP NOTES
Call to Worship is by Elizabeth Dyer from Blessing New Voices:
Prayers of Young People and Worship Resources for Youth Ministry
by Maren C. Tirabassi
c.2000 United Church Press p.44
Candle Prayer is by Kathy Garlo, Ibid. p.65
The Assurance of Good News is by Maren Irabassi, Ibid. p.79 (adapted)
Prayer of Dedication is by Meghan Good, Ibid. p.69
Commissioning is by Nathaniel Ash-Morgan, Ibid. p.66