Joseph – Between Sundays for the Week of December 8, 2025
Holiness, like contemplation which we wrote about last week, also gets a bad rap among church-going folk. If someone gets called “holy,” it’s rarely a compliment. Our notion of holy often evokes an image of someone who is pious, a sanctimonious holier-than-thou jerk, or narrow-minded and self righteous. “Holy” folks are not people we want to watch the game with or with whom we want to grab lunch.
But what if we’ve gotten it all wrong. Scripture tells that God is holy. In fact, God defines holy. Scripture also reveals God speaking to God’s people and saying: “Be holy, because I the Lord your God, am holy.” God wants us to mirror divine holiness in the world by rolling up our sleeves and joining with whatever God is doing in the world.
Joseph shows us what this could look like (Matthew 1:18-25) when he reaches beyond what is within his rights to do, namely divorce Mary, and instead takes her as his wife. He hears the voice of a divine messenger in the night who offers him the courage and assurance he needs to embrace God’s holiness by taking Mary as his wife, and naming her child, Jesus, making him a Son of David.
Like our ancestor, Joseph, there are countless reasons why we could say “no” to mirroring God’s holiness, especially when it’s related to Biblical values of hospitality and love for our neighbors. It’s contentious. There’s apt to be repercussions. We don’t want to be a lone voice. People may question our judgement. But embracing God’s holiness in our lives is, in part, about rejecting the daily temptations we face to scapegoat, demonize, and cutoff others, and instead move toward the situations where we can mirror God’s justice, love, and mercy in our lives.
When we reflect God’s holiness in these ways, we participate in bringing Emmanuel – God with us – to desperate places in this world. And as we bring Emmanuel to the world, we bring Emmanuel to our own imperfect lives as well and have the opportunity to glimpse God’s holiness in the midst of our own mess!
Come, Emmanuel!
P.S. Look in Ponderings, below, for the prayer Pastor Amy shared on Sunday and for resources to help you mark these days of Advent waiting and watching.
P.S.S. Share in the celebration of the second Sunday in Advent in worship from Sunday here (the gospel reading begins at 22:46). Links to previous worship videos on Facebook and YouTube are always available on our website.
In looking for resources to share with families, I came across a non-for-profit digital site called SALT. SALT’s main focus is on visual and compelling storytelling, but they also “provide progressive Christian congregations with vibrant, modern church resources to help them tell their stories”, as stated on their website. SALT’s team created a set of Advent candle lighting litanies that are beautifully written for use by individuals, families and even congregations. Below is SALT’s introduction to the litanies and also the second candle litany for this week. If you are interested in all of the Advent litanies (including Christmas Eve), you can click here to find them.
Advent means “coming.” It is a time of longing, watching, and praying for God’s healing, transformative presence to be ever more vibrantly present in the world. In this sense, Advent is a season in which we focus on that key phrase in the Lord’s Prayer, “thy kingdom come.” As Christians, the good news we strive to live by and declare is that love is stronger than hate, peace more enduring than war, hope more powerful than despair — and the light of God’s love will dispel forever the shadows of shame cast by violence, suffering, sorrow, and contempt.
To help proclaim that God’s new world is at hand, here is this week’s candle lighting litany. The litany begins by telling the truth about a world that is all too barren of peace. And then, after the candle has been lit, we cry out with all people of faith — past, present, and future — that God is, even now, coming into the world!
Week Two: Peace
Reader One: Because of war, because of violence in our communities, because there is still so much unrest in our hearts, we light a candle of peace…
Reader Two: Because hatred is still so strong, because so many swords have not yet been remade into ploughshares, we light a candle of peace… (Light the second candle in your Advent wreath.)
Reader One: May the light from this candle overwhelm the world.
Reader Two: May the light from this candle say to all that God’s peace is coming, on earth as it already is in heaven.
Reader One: Friends, be not afraid, God’s peace is at hand!
Ponderings
Let your goodness, Lord, appear to us, that we, made in your image, conform ourselves to it. In our own strength we cannot imitate your majesty, power and wonder; nor is it fitting for us to try. But your mercy reaches from the heavens, through the clouds, to the earth below. You have come to us as a small child, but you have brought us the greatest of all gifts, the gift of eternal love. Caress us with your tiny hands, embrace us with your tiny arms, and pierce our hearts with your soft, sweet cries. Amen (Bernard of Clarivaux)
It’s not late to start your Advent preparation of making room for the Christ-child. Here are some resources that can help you to mark the days of waiting and watching.
Everything Happens Playlist: Songs for the long ache and the small joy.
Daily Reflections delivered to your inbox from Kate Bowler.
Journey with Jesus has created an archive of poetry for Advent offering 42 poems on seasonal themes.
All Creation Waits by Gayle Boss, provides 25 reflections and original woodcut illustrations of animals in the winter dark.