sermons
All Of Us
Be An Elizabeth
Lydia Shiu
Dec 28, 2025
Have you ever had to start over?
Starting at a new school. Moving to a brand new city. Starting over single after heartbreak.
I started a new job one time at a church, not here. Another church. First day, I went into the church office, I walked in. No one’s there that early. It’s empty. No one cares that it’s your first day. The communications guy walks out and I’m like,
hi I’m the new hire.
And he’s like, uh I’m not sure, let me see find… And I tried my best to make him like me by making a joke.
“Oh it’s alright, don’t worry about me, I’ll just sit in this corner and pray until someone needs me.”
There are two opposing feelings that can happen when you are starting something new. Excitement and fear. There’s a name for this feeling. Ambivalence. I thought ambivalence was like hesitation but you might hesitate because the feeling is both positive and negative. You are both looking forward to it and want it and you don’t want it at all and want to run the other way. Both, at the same time.
Maybe you might be feeling that way a bit about the new year coming. Another year is coming to a close. A part of me is glad that it’s over. Could use a new leaf.
- But will the new year bring new good things to me?
- Will it be just more of the same, same grief work, same heartbreaks, same loneliness and sadness or busyness trekking along another year?
Maybe there is something delightful and surprising in store for me.
I wanted to kind of extend the Christmas story today. Everyday is Christmas day at church! I wanted to reflect on this story of waiting and expecting something new and what that could mean for us. Actually it was Pastor Dan, our elementary pastor who shared the Bible story with us, his idea, or wonderings. I wonder what it feels like to welcome this new baby Jesus into our lives. Along with, as we’re welcoming a new year, What does it mean to welcome the Gospel of new creation into our lives?
For Mary it did begin with fear. And she needed not just her own story, but to hear someone else’s miracle to make it even a possibility in her mind. And then, she took off flight into a vision of hope she dared to entertain in her mind with joy.
So those are my 3 points today.
- Fear is okay.
- You might need a friend.
- Dare to Rejoice and Hope.
I’ve been in therapy for the past few years for… anger. That’s right. I’ve apparently got anger issues. We’ve been working for years on managing it. How to regulate myself when the kids are screaming, crying, and breaking down. She told me to write anger, like cursive letters, and say, I am feeling angry. That was the most surface level the way it’s been manifesting. How to process grief and anger about systemic injustice and racism. My therapist pushed me further down.
What else? What else are you angry about? She was like, your parents. I’m like, I mean yeah when I was in my 20’s, I already did years of therapy because of my anger at my parents. Now that I’m a parent, I understand everything! Umma, Appa, if you’re watching I forgive you. You were great.
Then one day, after I got off the Zoom therapy session. With these questions in my mind. What am I so angry about? What feels so unfair and unjust, that was out of my control? I went to the bathroom, and on the throne it hit me, I burst into tears thinking about the nine-year old little Korean girl moving to America. It seemed like such a stupid thing to be angry about.
Like, the immigration story? Comeon. That’s so overplayed. But then I remembered the movie Inside Out. And how hard it was for that little girl to move to San Francisco from Minnesota. Lydia’s Sadness did not get to take up space. Lydia’s Joy definitely just shut everyone up. Which is why Lydia’s Anger is sometimes so angry. Apparently the whole point of the movie is Sadness and Anger is valid and okay.
My favorite part of Mary’s story is not the poetic prophetic part, the triumphant obedient Mary. It’s too holy and perfect for my taste. Give me broken humanity. One with doubt and fear and disbelief. One who is suspicious and greatly troubled at what an angel is saying, wondering what kind of greeting this might be. And I’m still slightly annoyed at the obsession with these great origin stories in virginity.
Somebody with a PhD in history of the gaze of women’s sexuality talk to me about this please. Regardless, just imagine. You’re engaged. And someone comes to you and says, you’re pregnant. It would be confusing times. Maybe afraid of what your fiancee might say or do or think, as last week’s Kids Church Christmas pageant Joseph confessed.
“What would my relatives think?”
I wouldn’t break out into a song either immediately.
The Good News, whether through an angel, or Scripture, or a conviction in your heart through a spiritual experience, might come at us abruptly with an audacious even suspicious power that can feel daunting. It might invite us to move into that fear and grief, asking us to let go of the old way of doing things. And letting go of old ways of doing things feels scary. And you know what helps when you’re scared? Not being alone. Having someone to comfort you and encourage you.
And that’s why you might need a friend. We need one another to share our testimonies. To hear it, share it, and believe it. To share our struggles and the suffering. To share our miracles and God’s answered prayers. We need one another to remind one another. Especially when you’re afraid.
When you are afraid, tired, anxious– you need a hype woman. Listen to this
Luke 1:39-42
39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea,
40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.
41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
42 In a loud voice she exclaimed:
“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!
43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
Do you have an Elizabeth in your life? You know, one who’s all hopped up on the Holy Spirit, in a loud voice exclaiming,
“Blessed are you!”
Everyone needs at least one of those. One who tells you that when you come around, their baby leaps for joy at the sight of you. If you don’t, I pray that God will give one to you. She’ll keep us grounded. She’ll remind us of the blessings all around us. She’ll tell you the struggle that she’s been through. She’ll praise God with you and for you when you’re scared. Go stay with her for three months.
And be the Elizabeth for someone. Go around sharing God’s miracles in your life. Be a testament. We need your loud vibes please. This is why we do faith in community. Not isolated. Because our destinies are shared and intertwined with one another.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed lately but we’ve been working to integrate our youth group into the service more. You might’ve seen high schoolers on stage in the band or in other ministry areas. They do have a youth program where they meet in the basement of the Ministry Center the first three Sundays of the month.
And as I’ve been having the privilege to work with our Elementary Pastor Dan, Pre/k Pastor Aubrie, and Youth Pastor Bri, we’ve been discussing in our weekly team meetings, where and when and why and how did we get to a church culture where we tuck the kids away to their own rooms? Is the purpose to keep them occupied while the grown ups do the serious Jesus stuff and not have them distracting us? Our team says a strong no. That’s why we don’t call it Sunday School but Kids Church. The kids are doing church too.
I mean of course there’s age appropriate content, considering the stage of development in spiritual formation. We’ll actually have a really cool Workshop called Parenting After Deconstruction happening in April where an expert will talk to us about how we can be thoughtful about that. But, one of the beauties of church actually is the intergenerational space we get to be around with one another. That’s not just the job of a Kids Church volunteer. Because it’s not about learning Bible content. Church is being in community with one another, hearing each other’s stories, rooting for each other, leaning on one another. Ages 0-99.
A study from the Fuller Youth Institute, called “Sticky Faith” research, found that about half of high school youth group kids drift from faith in college. It led a longitudinal study identifying key factors for lasting faith. An important one is the impact of intergenerational relationships, with a 5:1 adult-to-kid ratio. Our young people need meaningful relationships with 5 grown ups outside of their parents in the faith context.
That means they can’t just stay in the basement during church. They need to be mixed into the wider church. In order for them to be able to receive Christ into their lives and live into the new creation in faith, they need Elizabeths in their lives. An elder saying, look at me, God did miracles on me and look at the mercy God’s bestowed upon me. I was not disregarded as worthless. God used me. I am worthy of love and so are you. They need five Elizabeths in their lives, at least.
Actually they’ll probably be an Elizabeth for you. Last week one of the high schooler boys said hi to me, first! And I felt so cool. And the teens were also the winners of the Cookie Bake Off on Christmas Eve earlier this week, with that chocolate cookie with Cayenne Powder, a little spicy sweet goodness, for The Most Delicious category and the chocolate dipped pretzel “cookie” that looked like tiny Christmas trees for the Most Creative. Sylvie, Freya, Harvey – good work. I bet you Elizabeth made cookies for Mary, I’m sure of it.
And so with some cookies in our belly for the journey we can maybe
Dare to Rejoice and Hope. As you welcome the new year. As you welcome God’s new creation in your life. Fear is okay. And, Joy is okay. Both of them, co-existing is okay. As Brene Brown would say, and I say to my kids,
that’s being brave. Being scared and doing it with the belief, I can do it, even if you think you can’t.
My third point is to dare to rejoice. And if you’re going through a season of depression or grief, I mean it’s the dead of winter, let’s be honest, many of us are, or in a season of depression, you might be thinking,
“oh gee thanks, tell me more, to rejoice.”
Look I’m not saying will-power into being joyful. I’m not saying,
“Just be positive!”
because your Sadness will respond with,
“I’m positive that’s not going to work.”
Daring to rejoice is the imagination of a faithful protest. It’s praying words you don’t believe or are not sure about. It’s receiving and expecting the gifts of God coming at you, like a fool in love.
To rejoice is to take the leap of faith. And leaping, sometimes works.
Like just try skipping and tell me you don’t feel a little childlike wonder.
Our movement, our practice in the ritual of worship reinforces and proclaims even before our minds and mouths can.
Do you dare worship and sing praises when your world is crumbling?
My kid asked me the other day, while listening to Christmas Carols in the car. Is Bethlehem a real town? And good thing she couldn’t see my face. I said,
“yeah, it’s real.”
She asked,
“have we been there?”
I said,
“no, we haven’t been there”
with a pinch in my heart. I’m thinking of the videos of Palestinian Christians celebrating Christmas in Bethlehem this year, after three years of war and bombing. I’m thinking of their Christmas celebrations with deep deep grief in their hearts. How stark the joy is at the heels of destruction and death. How precious the joy is, all the more, than ever before.
Even if you are scared of the unknown, starting anew, daring to wonder if God has a new mercy waiting for you tomorrow, worship and sing. Praise Jesus. Bring glory to God in the dark of your rock bottom. It’s a ridiculous thing for me to tell you to do but that’s the gospel. Ridiculous.
Ridiculous for a young lowly pregnant out of wedlock girl to proclaim the glorious riches of Jesus. But she dares. She dares to prophesy.
Listen. This is Mary’s Song
Mary’s Song
And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”
What is her song’s thesis?
She’s happy, humbled, blessed and… her reasons for these are not just because she’s pregnant with a baby. She paints a vision for a future
Where God has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble,
filled the hungry with good things,
but has sent the rich away empty.
Her joy does not come from a surface level joy, everything’s fine, or simply lofty thoughts but grounded in a real picture of what heaven on earth can look like. Her joy is from a place of resistance and an unapologetic thrust of her imagination of justice, in spite of all that she saw in her world, the rulers on thrones oppressing the humble and the hungry going empty, the rich filled. She doesn’t even put it in the future tense but past tense.
Do you have that kind of audacious foolish joy? Do we dare look so ridiculous being that joyful when the sky is falling? No, many of us, I often, don’t have that kind of faith. I don’t expect and hope that much, because, well, I don’t want to be disappointed again.
I’ve been listening to a kind of silly podcasts lately on productivity, efficiency and organizing. Because you know, with the new year and all, I want to be more organized. More of my work streamlined, daily routines automated. And one of the podcasts suggested as one of six ways to get organized. She said, after you organize and clean one little drawer, celebrate. She said celebrate, and maybe do a little dance whenever you pass by it. It sounded silly but she elaborated, how it’ll halt your feelings of being overwhelmed by all that you should do. That celebration motivates and puts you in a good mood to do the next thing.
Look, I have been feeling pretty jaded about justice lately. It looks as though evil continues to just prevail. And it feels pretty overwhelming.
- What if the joy to the world was actually real?
- What if what Jesus did by coming into this world was actually worthy of me doing a little dance and cleaning up and community organizing my little corner of the world?
- What if praising worshipping Jesus is the only way to welcome him into my life again and again, year after year?
As we start a new year, maybe you are feeling dread or fear or anxiety. That’s okay. Even the mother of God felt such things.
Maybe you could use a friend or a community. Myself, Steve, and Ivy, the pastors of this church are all starting new community groups in the new year. Join one. Mine’s on Wednesdays at Noon on zoom.
And maybe, claim a little joy and step into the new year with a little dance, even if it feels silly. Let us dare to rejoice and hope with fear and friends. Let me pray for us.
Christ Lord Jesus,
Who came into Mary’s world like a wrecking ball.
One who disrupts our lives of numbness and mundane apathy with a call higher for justice and love. For peace rather than destruction. We worship you and praise you for the joy that you bring to us. Remind us of that joy again and again, even this week, as some of us continue to endure the cold, the loneliness, the chronic pain, the aching grief, hold us in your loving arms and comfort us in the warmth of your love and mercy we pray. Amen.