24th Sunday After Pentecost

Year 3: November 19, 2017

Preaching Text: Isaiah 9:1-7

The Thanksgiving Door by Debby Atwell

(Written for ages 5-9)

Comment: In her commentary on this text, Juliana Claassens reflects on the “power of these texts to “inspire people to try to change their external realities,” and quotes Gene Tucker’s reflection that “Such a day of peace and justice as envisioned in this text may never come, but it certainly will not if there is no image drawing people toward it.”  The grandmother of the family who runs the New World Café has this type of inspiration and imagination. Using a potato, she jams the door to the café open big and wide, like a happy heart. Through her actions, light, love and welcoming are exchanged between the family, and an older couple who find themselves in the open café. Through this text and story, we are invited to envision and make space for moments where light may break through the darkness, and God’s love and peace may be shared.

Thanks to Union Presbyterian Seminary alumna Noell Rathbun for writing the Year 4 Narrative Lectionary Links.

Lectionary Links (NL): November 19, 2017 by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.