Good Work
Stories
Object:
Contents
StoryShare Archives
A Story to Live By: "Good Work"
Shining Moments: "A Tender Mercy" by Jenee Woodward
Good Stories: "Preparing the Way" by Jo Perry-Sumwalt
Scrap Pile: Advent Communion Liturgy by Thom M. Shuman
Send Stories!
StoryShare Archives
Check out "Patient Waiting," a tellable Advent tale which will warm the heart and bring a tear to the eye. You can find it in the StoryShare archives under Advent 2, Cycle B. You can now access that story, as well as any of the more than 200 other stories, jokes, and sermons contained in the Cycle B editions of StoryShare. Just go to the CSS website at http://www.csspub.com and click on the StoryShare icon, or go directly to the StoryShare homepage at http://www.csspub.com/story.lasso. When you fill in your user ID (your e-mail address) and your password, you can view the current installment -- and you can also search the entire archive of previous StoryShare editions by day, scripture, and/or keyword. (Just go to the left-hand column where it reads "Search StoryShare Archives.") Click the "submit" button, and you will see a brief summary of the StoryShare edition that relates to your query. Be sure to click on "more" to view the entire installment. Let us know if you have any difficulty accessing the archives.
Keep sending your stories to StoryShare. Your contributions have helped to make StoryShare one of the best preaching and teaching resources available. If your ministry has been blessed by these stories, invite all of your friends who appreciate a good story to click on http://www.csspub.com/storysample1.lasso and check out the sample editions of StoryShare that are now available. (A password is not needed to view the sample editions.) Better yet, send them a gift subscription to StoryShare for just $19.95 a year. Just contact CSS toll-free at (800) 537-1030 Monday - Friday from 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM (Eastern Time) or send an e-mail to orders@csspub.com, and our customer service team will be happy to assist you.
A Story to Live By
Good Work
I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:6
Josh and Karen Zarandona tell this story about Brenda, a young woman who was invited to go rock climbing one day. Although she was very scared, she went with her group to a tremendous granite cliff, put on the gear, took hold of the rope, and started up the face of the rock.
She reached a ledge where she could take a breather, and as she was hanging on there, with hundreds of feet below her and hundreds of feet above her, the safety rope snapped against Brenda's eye and knocked out her contact lens. Of course she looked and looked and looked, hoping the lens had landed on the ledge, but it just wasn't there. Here she was, far from home, her sight now blurry. She was desperate and began to get upset, so she prayed to the Lord to help her to find it.
When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing, but there was no contact lens to be found. She sat down, despondent, waiting for the rest of the party to make it up the face of the cliff. She looked out across range after range of mountains, thinking of that verse that says, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth." She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me."
Finally, they walked down the trail to the bottom, where there was a new party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?" That would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across the face of the rock, carrying the lens on its back! Brenda told me that her father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a picture of an ant lugging that contact lens with the words, "Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You." I think it would probably do some of us good to occasionally say, "God, I don't know why you want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy. But if you want me to carry it, I will."
Shining Moments
A Tender Mercy
by Jenee Woodward
By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet to the way of peace.
Luke 1:78-79
Our son, Phil, has autism. He is 10 years old and is severely handicapped by his disability. Our family learned to slow down at Christmas a number of years ago, when he was unable to tolerate any of the celebration. He could not handle the changing scenarios -- the twinkling lights, the changes in grocery store displays, the changes in the sanctuary at church, presents appearing under the tree, the tree itself, and the moved furniture. He would fall down on the floor and scream, unable to move, afraid to open his eyes, almost constantly from Thanksgiving until well after Christmas, when it was all over. We carried him through that time, his head covered with his coat, so we could get through our daily errands, or sat with him, huddled in his room, carefully ordered in exactly the same way it had been since summer, with no Christmas trappings.
Of course, our neighbor across the street is one of those folks who buys every new outdoor Christmas display. Our son slept on the sofa in the living room for two Decembers, trying to stay awake so he could make sure that all of the lights across the street -- on the whole block! -- were functioning correctly. If any went out, or even when the lights came on or turned off outside at the proper times, he could scream and cry in panic until they were fixed. Yes, one cold night I spent an hour on top of the neighbor's garage, replacing one bulb in the Santa display so the boy would sleep!
Worship on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day was overcrowded and yet hushed, not a good combination for an autistic child. Christmas celebrations at home were a nightmare. Phil would scream and cry as each package was moved and (gasp!) unwrapped. As frightened as he was when each package appeared beneath the tree, he was equally frightened when it was removed from there or changed in the unwrapping process. We tried to find him a present he'd enjoy, but he'd merely scream and cry in panic at the intrusion on his carefully ordered world, and the gifts would sit ignored until he outgrew them and we gave them to some little boy who could appreciate them.
He wanted nothing. He would look straight at toys we thought he would like, and he would not react at all. He asked for nothing. He anticipated nothing. He just screamed and cried at all of it. It is no bliss to have a child who doesn't get it -- who doesn't want anything and doesn't want to have anything to do with Christmas commercialism. Or it is only bliss in some romantic fantasy. In real life, it is a surreal nightmare.
Last year, right around Thanksgiving, we once more asked the kids what they wanted for Christmas. Our 14-year-old daughter sat down and made out her list. And our 10-year-old son, for the first time in his life, answered the question. "PlayStation 2," he said. "I want PlayStation 2 Christmas." We just about fell over. His sister gave him a piece of paper. She wrote "Phil's Christmas List" at the top. He wrote "PLAYSTATION TOW" under her heading. "At Sam's," he said. "Go to car."
So, we drove to Sam's. Phil has never looked at anything there, never seemed to notice that Sam's has anything he might want. But he led us right to the PlayStation 2 sets, picked out the bundle he wanted, and put it in the cart. "Open at Christmas," he said. He watched gleefully as we wrapped the package, and then he solemnly placed it under the tree. So a PlayStation 2 game set sits there, wrapped, with his name on it, and he waits to open it. "December 25," he says. "Open PlayStation 2 December 25."
Last night, after we had returned from yet another Christmas rehearsal with our daughter, Phil found a Best Buy ad in the paper and turned immediately to the PlayStation games. He circled Harry Potter and John Madden Football, handed the ad to his father, and said, "I want Christmas." There were tears in my eyes. It's such a small thing, but such a truly amazing thing. It's one more bit of hope that he will be able to function in some semblance of society as an adult one day: that he might be able to live just a bit more independently, and one day want the things he needs to survive enough to work for them. This is not a forgone conclusion with autistic folks, which makes them particularly unemployable, no matter what their intelligence is. Consumerism might be "the enemy," but a kid who understands none of it is only a hero in Chicken Soup for the Soul stories.
This Advent season, I am grateful for being able to appreciate what complexity and miracle is involved in such small, "selfish" acts as wanting something for Christmas and expressing those wants to another person. I'm grateful that my son is able to enjoy all of the commercial cultural trappings of the holiday this year instead of running from them, screaming. I'm grateful for the many ways Phil helps me to stop and look again, even at my most "Christian" conclusions. And I'm especially grateful that my son helps me see Christ's humble birth, over and over again, even in the midst of nightmares and worries I could not have imagined 10 years ago, even in the midst of Advent.
Jenee Woodard is the author of the lectionary resource website "The Text This Week" (http://www.textweek.com/). She teaches classes for clergy and laypeople online and "live" around her home in Jackson, Michigan. She and her spouse, Bob, have two children, 15-year-old Jaie and 11-year-old Phil. (This story was written a year ago when Phil was 10.) She is also active in church, school, and community activities, and coaches gymnastics at the club her daughter attends.
Good Stories
Preparing the Way
by Jo Perry-Sumwalt
He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.' "
Luke 3:3-6
A young director faced his cast and crew, slumped in their auditorium seats before the stage of Green Haven medium security prison for women. The youngest member present was 16, the oldest 19. All had been convicted and sentenced as adults for gang-related shootings, stabbings, and killings. Their combined sentences averaged 25 years. Most would be in their mid to late twenties before they were eligible for parole. Some would be middle-aged women.
David Pryor's dream of beginning a prison ministry for young felons through stage productions was off to a rocky start. The girls before him were willing enough to fill their empty time learning parts for a musical production, but most had balked at his insistence on a Bible study. Their sullen presence was their testimony.
"So, what is Godspell all about?" he asked. Each of the girls maintained her practiced, detached "I don't care" expression and no one spoke. "Sasha," he added, singling out the girl he had chosen to play the vamp role of Mary Magdalene.
"It's about a bunch of hippie clown types from the '60s," she muttered.
"Naw," another countered, "it's about a Bible story."
"Okay!" David jumped back in. "So why did somebody write a musical play about a Bible story? Who do all of you cast members represent?"
There were shrugs and grunts of dismissal. "Audra, who do you play?"
"Jesus Christ," the girl said with emphasis, making her reply a curse as well as an answer. David's gaze met her hooded glare evenly.
"Right," he said. "Open your Bibles to page 2 in the back section." After much loud page flipping and grumbling he added, "Okay, Jesus Christ, read what's printed after the big number 3, down through the small number 3."
The exotic-looking girl glared at him again, then pulled off the baseball cap she wore, shook out a mane of dark, wavy hair, and stood in her place. "Matthew, chapter 3, verses 1 through 3," she began clearly, to the snorts and chuckles of approval from the group. "In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.' This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, 'The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.' "
With no comment on the girl's knowledge of biblical structure, David hurried on. "Okay, somebody look up Isaiah 40:1-11." The girl named Shirley, who would play the John the Baptist role, raised her hand lazily, and when called on to read verses 3 through 8, repeated the familiar verse from Matthew and continued, "A voice says, 'Cry out!' And I said, 'What shall I cry?' All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever."
There was no comment when Shirley finished reading. Most of the girls just stared at David. A few stared off into space.
"What you need to understand," David began, "is that Isaiah was ordered by God to tell the people of Israel that God would take care of them. The thing was, another country had defeated Israel in battle and taken all of the young, important, educated people to be prisoners in their country. They left the old, sick, uneducated people in Israel, and sent their army to run Jerusalem and their people to live there. The enemy army tore down the Jewish temple -- their most holy place -- and wouldn't let the people follow their religious rules anymore. They made them worship the foreign gods. They broke up families. They took away every bit of the Israelites' identity that they could to make them nobody and nothing."
None of the girls looked at David anymore. This they understood only too well.
"The thing was," he went on in a softer voice, "the Israelite people knew that all of this was their own fault. They hadn't been faithful to God, hadn't kept the laws. They believed they were damned forever.
"But then God sent this prophet, Isaiah, to tell the people God still cared. God would bring them home and they would be God's people again. God forgave them for screwing up.
"You see," he concluded, "the people saw their lives as hopeless. They judged God based on their bad experiences alone, not on how great God is. They ignored the fact that God can do anything, anytime. That's why God gave them the message that they would be saved even though they didn't deserve it. The rules can be suspended whenever God decides. That's called grace.
"Now, the prisoners in that foreign land probably thought Isaiah was nuts, just like you think I am, but God's message is just as true today as it was then. You are not just grass. You will be saved by God, like they were, because God said you would be. Time's up. See you tomorrow."
The shuffling and mumbling of the group making their way toward the exit, where armed guards awaited them, was silenced by one voice.
"When did God say we would be saved?" Audra demanded, standing firmly by her seat and glaring at David.
"Ah," the director answered with a smug smile, "That's what Godspell is all about!"
Scrap Pile
Advent Communion Liturgy
by Thom M. Shuman
Call to Worship
Leader: Welcome to this place,
where we seek our hearts' true home.
People: Here, we gather with God's people;
here, we hold one another in our hearts.
Leader: Welcome to this place,
where we seek our hearts' true home.
People: Here, God looks in favor on us;
here, we discover God's intentions for us.
Leader: Welcome to this place,
where we seek our hearts' true home.
People: Here, we find a feast prepared for us;
here, we taste God's grace and hope.
Leader: Welcome to this place!
People: Where we seek our hearts' true home.
Prayer of the Day (and our Lord's Prayer)
Blessed God, Faithful Promise-giver:
you hold us in your love and will not let us go,
no matter how often we may break your heart.
Jesus Christ, Dawn from on high:
we remember your birth with joy and await your Day,
when you complete your work of love and grace.
Holy Spirit, Refiner and Renewer of God's people:
you invite us to share in the gospel,
to grow in understanding,
to live with one another,
to cope with anxiety,
to serve the world in God's name.
God in Community, Holy in One,
we lift our prayers in joy,
thanking and remembering the One who taught us to pray, saying,
Our Father . . .
Call to Reconciliation
God is the witness to our lives,
the One who sees all that we do and fail to do,
the One who hears what we say, and don't.
God is also the One who cleanses us, who makes us pure, who forgives us.
Join me as we pray to our God:
(Unison) Prayer of Confession
Refining God, it is not easy for us to admit that we are not a blameless people. We trust the promises of politicians, but have trouble believing the ones you have made. We find ourselves captive to emotions and lusts that stun us, but doubt you can rescue us. We prefer the shadowy streets of the world rather than walking in your Light.
Forgive us, Faithful God. May the Light of Christ show us your way; may the Love of Christ overflow from our lives to others; may the Life of Christ be our model as we seek to be your faithful people.
(Silent prayers may be offered)
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: Do you feel it?
God's tender mercy rests on you, heals you, transforms you.
Do you see it?
God's light breaks into our lives and shows us the way.
People: Renewed and made whole, we see the path God has prepared for us:
the way of peace,
the way of hope,
the way of grace,
the way of service.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
Great Prayer of Thanksgiving
Leader: As we wait to celebrate Christ's birth, may the Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Leader: As we await Christ's return, let us lift up our hearts.
People: Our hearts are lifted to our God.
Leader: As we trust in the One who comes to us, let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People: Joy is in our hearts, and praise is on our lips.
Leader: Glory and praise are offered to you, God of Advent.
On the first day of eternity,
you began to create all that is true and just, beautiful and blameless,
calling all that you shaped and formed "good!"
Our ancestors danced in Eden's fields, pure and blameless --
but hearing the music of the world, they turned away from you.
Calling us back through the mouths of prophets,
we defied you, to follow those with power and pain.
Then you sent John, your messenger, to proclaim the coming of the One who ushers in your Kingdom of justice and righteousness.
Therefore, we praise you,
joining our voices with those who, from the first day to the last,
glorify your name, singing:
Sanctus
Holy are you, Trustworthy God,
and blessed is Jesus Christ, your Compassion, your Hope, your Son.
Into the midst of the status quo of rulers and events beyond our control,
he came to place our feet on the Kingdom's street called Peace.
Into the darkness of our lives caused by sin and defiance,
he bears the light of your grace.
Taking the brokenness of our world,
he reshapes us into pure and blameless people.
Into that shadow we dread called death,
he strides in obedience and faith so that we might be brought to life.
As we prepare to celebrate his birth,
as we remember his life, death, and resurrection,
as we anticipate his return,
we sing of those mysteries we call faith:
Memorial Acclamation
Holy Spirit, come to us, and to these gifts of the bread and cup.
As you transform these ordinary objects into sacramental grace,
transform us from ordinary folk into the citizens of God's Kingdom.
Fill us with the bread of heaven,
that we might feed the hungriest of your children.
Pour the cup of grace into us,
that we might overflow with love.
Make us a compassionate people who have a passion for justice.
Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,
all honor and glory are yours, Great God our Advent,
now and forever. Amen.
**************
Here is a prayer we will use on the back of our bulletin on the Second Sunday of Advent:
if you came
with a fistful of anger,
who could endure?
but you come
with open hands,
eager to grasp our own in love.
if you came
with the fire of judgment,
who could endure?
but you come
with the light of grace,
to show us the way.
if you came
hardened against our sin,
who could endure?
but you come
holding us in your heart,
that we might have life.
if you came
bearing bad news,
we might be able to handle it . . .
but can we endure
the gift
of good news?
even so,
come, Lord Jesus,
come.
Thom M. Shuman pastors Greenhills (Presbyterian) Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he seeks to be servant to God's people.
StoryShare Archives
A Story to Live By: "Good Work"
Shining Moments: "A Tender Mercy" by Jenee Woodward
Good Stories: "Preparing the Way" by Jo Perry-Sumwalt
Scrap Pile: Advent Communion Liturgy by Thom M. Shuman
Send Stories!
StoryShare Archives
Check out "Patient Waiting," a tellable Advent tale which will warm the heart and bring a tear to the eye. You can find it in the StoryShare archives under Advent 2, Cycle B. You can now access that story, as well as any of the more than 200 other stories, jokes, and sermons contained in the Cycle B editions of StoryShare. Just go to the CSS website at http://www.csspub.com and click on the StoryShare icon, or go directly to the StoryShare homepage at http://www.csspub.com/story.lasso. When you fill in your user ID (your e-mail address) and your password, you can view the current installment -- and you can also search the entire archive of previous StoryShare editions by day, scripture, and/or keyword. (Just go to the left-hand column where it reads "Search StoryShare Archives.") Click the "submit" button, and you will see a brief summary of the StoryShare edition that relates to your query. Be sure to click on "more" to view the entire installment. Let us know if you have any difficulty accessing the archives.
Keep sending your stories to StoryShare. Your contributions have helped to make StoryShare one of the best preaching and teaching resources available. If your ministry has been blessed by these stories, invite all of your friends who appreciate a good story to click on http://www.csspub.com/storysample1.lasso and check out the sample editions of StoryShare that are now available. (A password is not needed to view the sample editions.) Better yet, send them a gift subscription to StoryShare for just $19.95 a year. Just contact CSS toll-free at (800) 537-1030 Monday - Friday from 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM (Eastern Time) or send an e-mail to orders@csspub.com, and our customer service team will be happy to assist you.
A Story to Live By
Good Work
I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:6
Josh and Karen Zarandona tell this story about Brenda, a young woman who was invited to go rock climbing one day. Although she was very scared, she went with her group to a tremendous granite cliff, put on the gear, took hold of the rope, and started up the face of the rock.
She reached a ledge where she could take a breather, and as she was hanging on there, with hundreds of feet below her and hundreds of feet above her, the safety rope snapped against Brenda's eye and knocked out her contact lens. Of course she looked and looked and looked, hoping the lens had landed on the ledge, but it just wasn't there. Here she was, far from home, her sight now blurry. She was desperate and began to get upset, so she prayed to the Lord to help her to find it.
When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing, but there was no contact lens to be found. She sat down, despondent, waiting for the rest of the party to make it up the face of the cliff. She looked out across range after range of mountains, thinking of that verse that says, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth." She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me."
Finally, they walked down the trail to the bottom, where there was a new party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?" That would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across the face of the rock, carrying the lens on its back! Brenda told me that her father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a picture of an ant lugging that contact lens with the words, "Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You." I think it would probably do some of us good to occasionally say, "God, I don't know why you want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy. But if you want me to carry it, I will."
Shining Moments
A Tender Mercy
by Jenee Woodward
By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet to the way of peace.
Luke 1:78-79
Our son, Phil, has autism. He is 10 years old and is severely handicapped by his disability. Our family learned to slow down at Christmas a number of years ago, when he was unable to tolerate any of the celebration. He could not handle the changing scenarios -- the twinkling lights, the changes in grocery store displays, the changes in the sanctuary at church, presents appearing under the tree, the tree itself, and the moved furniture. He would fall down on the floor and scream, unable to move, afraid to open his eyes, almost constantly from Thanksgiving until well after Christmas, when it was all over. We carried him through that time, his head covered with his coat, so we could get through our daily errands, or sat with him, huddled in his room, carefully ordered in exactly the same way it had been since summer, with no Christmas trappings.
Of course, our neighbor across the street is one of those folks who buys every new outdoor Christmas display. Our son slept on the sofa in the living room for two Decembers, trying to stay awake so he could make sure that all of the lights across the street -- on the whole block! -- were functioning correctly. If any went out, or even when the lights came on or turned off outside at the proper times, he could scream and cry in panic until they were fixed. Yes, one cold night I spent an hour on top of the neighbor's garage, replacing one bulb in the Santa display so the boy would sleep!
Worship on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day was overcrowded and yet hushed, not a good combination for an autistic child. Christmas celebrations at home were a nightmare. Phil would scream and cry as each package was moved and (gasp!) unwrapped. As frightened as he was when each package appeared beneath the tree, he was equally frightened when it was removed from there or changed in the unwrapping process. We tried to find him a present he'd enjoy, but he'd merely scream and cry in panic at the intrusion on his carefully ordered world, and the gifts would sit ignored until he outgrew them and we gave them to some little boy who could appreciate them.
He wanted nothing. He would look straight at toys we thought he would like, and he would not react at all. He asked for nothing. He anticipated nothing. He just screamed and cried at all of it. It is no bliss to have a child who doesn't get it -- who doesn't want anything and doesn't want to have anything to do with Christmas commercialism. Or it is only bliss in some romantic fantasy. In real life, it is a surreal nightmare.
Last year, right around Thanksgiving, we once more asked the kids what they wanted for Christmas. Our 14-year-old daughter sat down and made out her list. And our 10-year-old son, for the first time in his life, answered the question. "PlayStation 2," he said. "I want PlayStation 2 Christmas." We just about fell over. His sister gave him a piece of paper. She wrote "Phil's Christmas List" at the top. He wrote "PLAYSTATION TOW" under her heading. "At Sam's," he said. "Go to car."
So, we drove to Sam's. Phil has never looked at anything there, never seemed to notice that Sam's has anything he might want. But he led us right to the PlayStation 2 sets, picked out the bundle he wanted, and put it in the cart. "Open at Christmas," he said. He watched gleefully as we wrapped the package, and then he solemnly placed it under the tree. So a PlayStation 2 game set sits there, wrapped, with his name on it, and he waits to open it. "December 25," he says. "Open PlayStation 2 December 25."
Last night, after we had returned from yet another Christmas rehearsal with our daughter, Phil found a Best Buy ad in the paper and turned immediately to the PlayStation games. He circled Harry Potter and John Madden Football, handed the ad to his father, and said, "I want Christmas." There were tears in my eyes. It's such a small thing, but such a truly amazing thing. It's one more bit of hope that he will be able to function in some semblance of society as an adult one day: that he might be able to live just a bit more independently, and one day want the things he needs to survive enough to work for them. This is not a forgone conclusion with autistic folks, which makes them particularly unemployable, no matter what their intelligence is. Consumerism might be "the enemy," but a kid who understands none of it is only a hero in Chicken Soup for the Soul stories.
This Advent season, I am grateful for being able to appreciate what complexity and miracle is involved in such small, "selfish" acts as wanting something for Christmas and expressing those wants to another person. I'm grateful that my son is able to enjoy all of the commercial cultural trappings of the holiday this year instead of running from them, screaming. I'm grateful for the many ways Phil helps me to stop and look again, even at my most "Christian" conclusions. And I'm especially grateful that my son helps me see Christ's humble birth, over and over again, even in the midst of nightmares and worries I could not have imagined 10 years ago, even in the midst of Advent.
Jenee Woodard is the author of the lectionary resource website "The Text This Week" (http://www.textweek.com/). She teaches classes for clergy and laypeople online and "live" around her home in Jackson, Michigan. She and her spouse, Bob, have two children, 15-year-old Jaie and 11-year-old Phil. (This story was written a year ago when Phil was 10.) She is also active in church, school, and community activities, and coaches gymnastics at the club her daughter attends.
Good Stories
Preparing the Way
by Jo Perry-Sumwalt
He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.' "
Luke 3:3-6
A young director faced his cast and crew, slumped in their auditorium seats before the stage of Green Haven medium security prison for women. The youngest member present was 16, the oldest 19. All had been convicted and sentenced as adults for gang-related shootings, stabbings, and killings. Their combined sentences averaged 25 years. Most would be in their mid to late twenties before they were eligible for parole. Some would be middle-aged women.
David Pryor's dream of beginning a prison ministry for young felons through stage productions was off to a rocky start. The girls before him were willing enough to fill their empty time learning parts for a musical production, but most had balked at his insistence on a Bible study. Their sullen presence was their testimony.
"So, what is Godspell all about?" he asked. Each of the girls maintained her practiced, detached "I don't care" expression and no one spoke. "Sasha," he added, singling out the girl he had chosen to play the vamp role of Mary Magdalene.
"It's about a bunch of hippie clown types from the '60s," she muttered.
"Naw," another countered, "it's about a Bible story."
"Okay!" David jumped back in. "So why did somebody write a musical play about a Bible story? Who do all of you cast members represent?"
There were shrugs and grunts of dismissal. "Audra, who do you play?"
"Jesus Christ," the girl said with emphasis, making her reply a curse as well as an answer. David's gaze met her hooded glare evenly.
"Right," he said. "Open your Bibles to page 2 in the back section." After much loud page flipping and grumbling he added, "Okay, Jesus Christ, read what's printed after the big number 3, down through the small number 3."
The exotic-looking girl glared at him again, then pulled off the baseball cap she wore, shook out a mane of dark, wavy hair, and stood in her place. "Matthew, chapter 3, verses 1 through 3," she began clearly, to the snorts and chuckles of approval from the group. "In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.' This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, 'The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.' "
With no comment on the girl's knowledge of biblical structure, David hurried on. "Okay, somebody look up Isaiah 40:1-11." The girl named Shirley, who would play the John the Baptist role, raised her hand lazily, and when called on to read verses 3 through 8, repeated the familiar verse from Matthew and continued, "A voice says, 'Cry out!' And I said, 'What shall I cry?' All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever."
There was no comment when Shirley finished reading. Most of the girls just stared at David. A few stared off into space.
"What you need to understand," David began, "is that Isaiah was ordered by God to tell the people of Israel that God would take care of them. The thing was, another country had defeated Israel in battle and taken all of the young, important, educated people to be prisoners in their country. They left the old, sick, uneducated people in Israel, and sent their army to run Jerusalem and their people to live there. The enemy army tore down the Jewish temple -- their most holy place -- and wouldn't let the people follow their religious rules anymore. They made them worship the foreign gods. They broke up families. They took away every bit of the Israelites' identity that they could to make them nobody and nothing."
None of the girls looked at David anymore. This they understood only too well.
"The thing was," he went on in a softer voice, "the Israelite people knew that all of this was their own fault. They hadn't been faithful to God, hadn't kept the laws. They believed they were damned forever.
"But then God sent this prophet, Isaiah, to tell the people God still cared. God would bring them home and they would be God's people again. God forgave them for screwing up.
"You see," he concluded, "the people saw their lives as hopeless. They judged God based on their bad experiences alone, not on how great God is. They ignored the fact that God can do anything, anytime. That's why God gave them the message that they would be saved even though they didn't deserve it. The rules can be suspended whenever God decides. That's called grace.
"Now, the prisoners in that foreign land probably thought Isaiah was nuts, just like you think I am, but God's message is just as true today as it was then. You are not just grass. You will be saved by God, like they were, because God said you would be. Time's up. See you tomorrow."
The shuffling and mumbling of the group making their way toward the exit, where armed guards awaited them, was silenced by one voice.
"When did God say we would be saved?" Audra demanded, standing firmly by her seat and glaring at David.
"Ah," the director answered with a smug smile, "That's what Godspell is all about!"
Scrap Pile
Advent Communion Liturgy
by Thom M. Shuman
Call to Worship
Leader: Welcome to this place,
where we seek our hearts' true home.
People: Here, we gather with God's people;
here, we hold one another in our hearts.
Leader: Welcome to this place,
where we seek our hearts' true home.
People: Here, God looks in favor on us;
here, we discover God's intentions for us.
Leader: Welcome to this place,
where we seek our hearts' true home.
People: Here, we find a feast prepared for us;
here, we taste God's grace and hope.
Leader: Welcome to this place!
People: Where we seek our hearts' true home.
Prayer of the Day (and our Lord's Prayer)
Blessed God, Faithful Promise-giver:
you hold us in your love and will not let us go,
no matter how often we may break your heart.
Jesus Christ, Dawn from on high:
we remember your birth with joy and await your Day,
when you complete your work of love and grace.
Holy Spirit, Refiner and Renewer of God's people:
you invite us to share in the gospel,
to grow in understanding,
to live with one another,
to cope with anxiety,
to serve the world in God's name.
God in Community, Holy in One,
we lift our prayers in joy,
thanking and remembering the One who taught us to pray, saying,
Our Father . . .
Call to Reconciliation
God is the witness to our lives,
the One who sees all that we do and fail to do,
the One who hears what we say, and don't.
God is also the One who cleanses us, who makes us pure, who forgives us.
Join me as we pray to our God:
(Unison) Prayer of Confession
Refining God, it is not easy for us to admit that we are not a blameless people. We trust the promises of politicians, but have trouble believing the ones you have made. We find ourselves captive to emotions and lusts that stun us, but doubt you can rescue us. We prefer the shadowy streets of the world rather than walking in your Light.
Forgive us, Faithful God. May the Light of Christ show us your way; may the Love of Christ overflow from our lives to others; may the Life of Christ be our model as we seek to be your faithful people.
(Silent prayers may be offered)
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: Do you feel it?
God's tender mercy rests on you, heals you, transforms you.
Do you see it?
God's light breaks into our lives and shows us the way.
People: Renewed and made whole, we see the path God has prepared for us:
the way of peace,
the way of hope,
the way of grace,
the way of service.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
Great Prayer of Thanksgiving
Leader: As we wait to celebrate Christ's birth, may the Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Leader: As we await Christ's return, let us lift up our hearts.
People: Our hearts are lifted to our God.
Leader: As we trust in the One who comes to us, let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People: Joy is in our hearts, and praise is on our lips.
Leader: Glory and praise are offered to you, God of Advent.
On the first day of eternity,
you began to create all that is true and just, beautiful and blameless,
calling all that you shaped and formed "good!"
Our ancestors danced in Eden's fields, pure and blameless --
but hearing the music of the world, they turned away from you.
Calling us back through the mouths of prophets,
we defied you, to follow those with power and pain.
Then you sent John, your messenger, to proclaim the coming of the One who ushers in your Kingdom of justice and righteousness.
Therefore, we praise you,
joining our voices with those who, from the first day to the last,
glorify your name, singing:
Sanctus
Holy are you, Trustworthy God,
and blessed is Jesus Christ, your Compassion, your Hope, your Son.
Into the midst of the status quo of rulers and events beyond our control,
he came to place our feet on the Kingdom's street called Peace.
Into the darkness of our lives caused by sin and defiance,
he bears the light of your grace.
Taking the brokenness of our world,
he reshapes us into pure and blameless people.
Into that shadow we dread called death,
he strides in obedience and faith so that we might be brought to life.
As we prepare to celebrate his birth,
as we remember his life, death, and resurrection,
as we anticipate his return,
we sing of those mysteries we call faith:
Memorial Acclamation
Holy Spirit, come to us, and to these gifts of the bread and cup.
As you transform these ordinary objects into sacramental grace,
transform us from ordinary folk into the citizens of God's Kingdom.
Fill us with the bread of heaven,
that we might feed the hungriest of your children.
Pour the cup of grace into us,
that we might overflow with love.
Make us a compassionate people who have a passion for justice.
Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,
all honor and glory are yours, Great God our Advent,
now and forever. Amen.
**************
Here is a prayer we will use on the back of our bulletin on the Second Sunday of Advent:
if you came
with a fistful of anger,
who could endure?
but you come
with open hands,
eager to grasp our own in love.
if you came
with the fire of judgment,
who could endure?
but you come
with the light of grace,
to show us the way.
if you came
hardened against our sin,
who could endure?
but you come
holding us in your heart,
that we might have life.
if you came
bearing bad news,
we might be able to handle it . . .
but can we endure
the gift
of good news?
even so,
come, Lord Jesus,
come.
Thom M. Shuman pastors Greenhills (Presbyterian) Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he seeks to be servant to God's people.
