People's Prayers: Prayers of the People: In the Shelter of Shaddai ~ 4th Sunday of Advent '24 WLC* Yr C

For Sunday, December 22, 2024, Readings: Exodus 20:1-21, Psalm 91, Romans 8:14-25, Luke 1:46-56

For in six days the CREATOR OF ALL made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them; and God rested the on the seventh day; therefore the EVER-LIVING GOD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. [Exodus 20:11]

She who settles in the shelter of the Most High, who stays in the shadow of Shaddai [at her breast]: She will say to the SHELTERING GOD, “My refuge and my stronghold; my God, in her I trust.” [Psalm 91:1-3]

It is that same Spirit who bears witness with our spirit that we are daughters and sons of God. 17 And if daughters and sons, then heirs, heirs of God and heirs with Christ, if it is true that we suffer with Christ so that we may also be glorified with Christ… For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. [Romans:16-17, 24-25]

“My soul magnifies the Holy One, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for God has looked with favor on the lowliness of God’s own womb-slave. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is God’s name. [Luke 1:46-49]

With her expansive titles for God, especially in this excerpt from Exodus, Dr. Gafney gives us, as always, a continuing fresh opportunity to reflect on our non-limited God. Her womanist translation of Psalm 91 is likely a significant challenge to very many readers yet it is an invitation to think about what draws us in and/or what pushes us away from this poetic vision and the ever important "why".

Hope, for me, is the important takeaway in the reading from Romans just beyond the reassurance that we are all heirs of God and heirs with Christ. We are not reprieved from suffering but rather we can wait with patience for our hope to be realized.

And then it is time to listen, to hear, to feel deeply, the beauty of the exchange between two kinswomen and consider who they were in their time and who they have become to us. The elder Elizabeth, was a barren woman for so many years until suddenly she is with child, a very important child, John, the Baptizer, who will prepare the way of the Lord. In her day she was likely ostracized in her community for most of her adult life, or at the very least considered a failure because of her seeming infertility. The much younger Mary, generally considered to be between the ages of 12-14, recently told by an Angel that she is bearing the Son of God, (can you imagine?!), would perhaps bear shame in her community as well as the uncertainty of Joseph, her betrothed, because of her condition. Would he be able to come to terms with this mystery in such a time? Would we, in our own time? (Of course, we already know he'll have an angelic visitation of his own in Matthew 1:18-25, and will be a loving, protective husband.)

These women come together and speak to us, to awaken us from the haze of frantic preparations for a celebration that is increasingly more earth-bound than spiritual. In their greetings to each other we discover the unexpectedness of this moment of expectation, the message of embracing the twists and turns of life, and recognizing that God is present at all times ~ when we feel elated and when we feel shamed or anxious or uncertain. We are not alone in the darkest of times or in the happiest. Jesus comes as the face of God to sanctify and save us. Stop, sit, breathe in the peace of the quiet. Even as the clock and calendar call, let us not race ahead, but remain in the stillness for a time, in the space between not yet and almost, savoring the expectation of Christ's birth, and finding an unexpected freshness in the joy of anticipation for the Holy One. In days of worry, anger, fear, grief, or any other part of life that is unsettling, let us find our inner faith made stronger in knowing that the One Who is coming, is already here, for us each to be in the shelter of Shaddai*** all together as His own.

*Readings for our Parish in this Year C are from The Rev. Dr. Wilda [Wil] Gafney, Womanist biblical scholar, and is the Right Rev. Sam B. Hulsey Professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas. She is the author of A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church Yr C, here after designated on my posts as WCL and translator of its biblical selections. Learn more about her and her work at her website: https://www.wilgafney.com/ [for slightly more detail, see my blog post for December 1, 2024, Advent I WCL, see link below] The readings and prayers of the people follow.

** In some of Dr. Gafney’s notes for this week she explains her use of the word slave in Exodus 20:2,4,17 in which the Hebrew root is the same as serve in v.4 and also for “worship” in other translations. Also, in v 10 the sojourner, she says, “The text is clear that they are ‘your’ sojourner or immigrant [neighbor]; they belong to the community.” Her choice to use “explicitly feminine language…mirrors and inverts traditional translation” and she invites “readers to pray the song reflecting on any perceived barriers in the use of feminine language as universal language.” In Psalm 91, for example, Dr. Gafney says that the divine title Shaddai***means ‘the Breasted One’; a shad is a woman’s breast in Hebrew. In her book for Year C, Dr. Gafney explains her process and sources of translation of each reading she uses, which is impossible to offer in this space. Fascinating and illuminating, not merely because of the womanist highlighting, but for a greater appreciation of and fresh perspective in each biblical reading as most are not, or rarely, used in Sunday preaching or Daily Lectionaries. For slightly more information see: https://prayersofthepeople.blogspot.com/2024/11/prayers-of-people-advent-ure-begins.html

Readings for Advent IV – December 22, 2024

Exodus 20:1-21: Now God declared all these declarations: 2 I am the HOLY ONE your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves. 3 There shall be no other gods for you in my face. 4 You shall not make for yourself an idol of any form that is in the heavens on high, or that is on the earth below, or that is in the waters under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them: I the THUNDER OF SINAI your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of parents upon children to the third and the fourth [generation] of those who hate me. 6 And faithfully loving to the thousandth [generation] of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 You shall not lift up as a trifling thing the Name of the MAJESTY OF THE AGES your God, for the JUDGE OF ALL FLESH will not acquit anyone who lifts up as a trifling thing the Name of the FIRE OF SINAI. 8 Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. 9 Six days shall you labor and do all your work. 10 Now the seventh day is a sabbath to the WOMB OF CREATION your God; you shall not do any work—you, your daughter or your son, your female slave or your male slave, your livestock or [the sojourner] your immigrant [neighbor] in your towns. 11 For in six days the CREATOR OF ALL made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them; and God rested the on the seventh day; therefore the EVER-LIVING GOD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. 12 Honor your mother and your father, so that your days may be long in the land that the FAITHFUL ONE your God is giving you. 13 You shall not murder. 14 You shall not commit adultery. 15 You shall not steal. 16 You shall testify against your neighbor [as] a lying witness. 17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s woman, or female slave or male slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s. 18 When all the women, children, and men saw the thunder and the lightning—and the sound of the trumpet!—and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and they trembled, and they stood far off. 19 And the people said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen, yet do not let God speak to us or we shall die.” 20 Then Moses said to the people, “Fear not for it is only to test you that God has come, and for the sake that the fear of God would be upon you all so that you do not sin.” 21 Then the women, children, and men stood far off while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

Psalm 91: 1 She who settles in the shelter of the Most High, who stays in the shadow of Shaddai [at her breast]: 2 She will say to the SHELTERING GOD, “My refuge and my stronghold; my God, in her I trust.” 3 For she will deliver you from the snare of the huntress and from the devastating pestilence. 4 She will cover you with her pinions, and under her wings shall you find refuge; a shield and buckler are her faithfulness. 5 You shall not fear the terror of night, or the arrow that flies by day; 6 nor even the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or the destruction that ravages at noonday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, yet near you, it shall not approach. 8 Only glance with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. 9 For you, the SAVING GOD is your refuge, the Most High, your habitation. 10 No evil shall befall you, no plague come near your tent. 11 For her angels will she command for you, to keep you in all your ways. 12 On their hands shall they carry you, lest you strike your foot against a stone. 13 On the lion and the adder shall you tread; you will trample the young lion and the serpent. 14 For she who is bound to me, I will deliver her; I will exalt her, for she knows my Name. 15 When she calls me, I will answer her. I will be with her in trouble; I will rescue her and honor her. 16 With long life shall I satisfy her, and show her my salvation.

Romans 8:14-25: Now as many as are led by the Spirit of God are daughters and sons of God. 15 For you all did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall again into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption through which we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 It is that same Spirit who bears witness with our spirit that we are daughters and sons of God. 17 And if daughters and sons, then heirs, heirs of God and heirs with Christ, if it is true that we suffer with Christ so that we may also be glorified with Christ. 18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the daughters and sons of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the daughters and sons of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Luke 1:46-56: “My soul magnifies the Holy One, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for God has looked with favor on the lowliness of God’s own womb-slave. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is God’s name. 50 God’s loving-kindness is for those who fear God from generation to generation. 51 God has shown the strength of God’s own arm; God has scattered the arrogant in the intent of their hearts. 52 God has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53 God has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. 54 God has helped God’s own child, Israel, a memorial to God’s mercy, 55 just as God said to our mothers and fathers, to [Hagar and] and Sarah and Abraham, to their descendants forever.” 56 And Mary remained with Elizabeth about three months and then returned to her home.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE PRAY

Leader: ~ MAJESTY OF THE AGES, OUR GOD, magnify our faith to rejoice again in the coming of our Savior. Look with favor upon us, Mighty One, keep Your loving kindness within us to share with others, as we know the strength of Your own arm will lift us all. Feed our sisters and brothers who are hungry and without shelter; and may the sojourners among us feel safe and valued as our neighbors.

O SHELTERING GOD

RESPONSE: Our Refuge and our Stronghold

~ MAJESTY OF THE AGES, OUR GOD, help us to lift up all bowed low in this World, in our Nation, and in our Community from war in its many guises, from the poverty of heart and spirit, and anger born of fear. Fill us with the courage and constancy to remind our earthly leaders to persevere in the cause of peace, justice, and mercy for all of Your children of every size, color, age, and struggle. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O SHELTERING GOD