Before the wilderness, there is a blessing: This is my Son, the Beloved.

The hopes and fears of all the years are met here tonight.

Joseph became an indispensable agent of God’s story, as his wife’s song proclaims: “God lifts up the lowly.”

That is the work and the joy of the gospel.

John the Baptist calls us to prepare the way of the Lord and to repent of the ways that we have hurt creation and each other.

Advent calls us to wake up to God’s promises for us.

This is the good news of Christ the King, who reigns from a cross:

The church is so much bigger than any building or place because the church is so much more than that.

In a word, saints are blessed.

Jesus invites us to change our perspective.

Instead, Jesus calls us to move beyond division and binary thinking.

There is a blessing in our wrestling, reminding us that we are not alone.

This is a story about the power of one that attests to the love of the One who loves us first and always.

All around us, creation laments.

This message is good news for those who are hungry, cast aside, and ignored.

How much more profound is the way Christ throws off all respectability in order to save us who are lost and despairing.

Today we hear the good news of a God who seeks us out and finds us in our lostness.

But here’s the thing: Because Jesus wants our full attention, he also invites us to bring our full selves – the best and the not-so-great.

At God’s banquet table, there is a place for all and enough for all. That’s Jesus’s point.

Audio sermon from the 11th Sunday after Pentecost with guest preacher Rev. Paul Pfeffer