Rev. John M. Edgerton

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Sometimes what we need from God comes in the form of a story; a story about a woman or a man who shows us a way, when we could see no way; a person who shows that we are not alone, never alone, always and ever surrounded by brethren. So I offer you a story. It is a story submerged within the deep and mist covered past of the people of Israel, from a time of myth and miracle a time of kings and prophets and giants. It is the story of a woman, named Michal.

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King Solomon is said to have been the wisest of all the kings of Israel. He was known far and wide for being able to expound at length on any topic you could wish—from music and poetry to the classification of plants and animals. The Kingdom prospered, there was peace, whatever he turned his energies toward seemed to invariably be a success. But Solomon had a secret. There was a secret to his wisdom, it was not ordinary.

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If you’re new to the church, maybe you look around worship and see that people seem to know all kinds of rituals and prayers that you don’t know, and people seem to believe all kinds of things that you aren’t sure you can believe, it might make you wonder: is there a place in this church for me? Or maybe you’ve been here a long time and church isn’t how you remember it, it might make you wonder, is there a place in this church for me?

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I love the Christmas stories from scripture. But to be honest, in my rational mind I find the familiar scriptures to be hard to believe in sometimes. The angels with their wings aflutter, shepherds with their hearts aflutter. The wise men traveling from far away, guided by starlight to encounter something new and necessary. A young woman believing the impossible was true, a young man believing she was telling the truth. These things stretch credulity, it’s true. But these are not what I find so hard to believe. It’s what the prophet Isaiah says:

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Jesus got in a lot of trouble. He got in trouble because of what he said, true. But he got in a whole lot more trouble because of what he did. And of all the things he did that got him in trouble, the one thing that got him in hot water more than anything else, was his behavior on the Sabbath. People everywhere he went would confront Jesus about why he did not rest on the day of rest, why he did not honor the Sabbath.