Second Sunday of Advent

Year 1: December 9, 2018

Preaching Text: Esther 4:1-17

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Mellon by Patty Lovell

(Written for ages 4-9)

Comment:  What do we do when we are faced with challenges and fear for the future? That’s the situation Esther faces in our passage, where King Ahasuerus has fallen for Haman’s plot to kill all of the Jewish people in the kingdom. The king does not know that Esther is Jewish, but her uncle Mordecai and the Jewish community know it, and they urge her to speak to the king on their behalf. She could be killed for this and she is afraid, but she agrees, asking that her uncle and their community join her in preparatory fasting before she does so. Esther is facing a challenge and is afraid, but she leans on her community for support and is able to confront the king. In Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon, Molly Lou Melon has to face the challenge of a bully at school who taunts her and teases her. Every day at school, he thinks of new ways to bully her. But Molly Lou’s grandmother supports her, gives her wise advice, and encourages her, so that Molly Lou is able not only to go to school and face her bully, but to overcome his taunts by standing tall. We may be facing challenges and fear frightening words and plans like Esther and Molly Lou. But if we lean on the wise words of our friends and family and lean on the support of our communities of faith, the people God has given us, we can face our fears and overcome the challenges we are up against.

Thanks to Sara Anne Berger, Union Presbyterian Seminary alumna and minister of First Presbyterian Church, Nachitoches, LA, for writing the Year 1 Narrative Lectionary Links.

Lectionary Links (NL): December 9, 2018 by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.