What do you fear? In the time of Herod, we long for God to break in (first Sunday of Advent) (Lamentations3:55-57, Luke 1:5-13)
Date: November 30, 2025
Location: Broadway UMC, Chicago
Theme: What do you fear? In the time of Herod, we long for
God to break in (first Sunday of Advent)
Scriptures: Lamentations3:55-57, Luke 1:5-13
0. Greeting & Thanksgiving
Good morning, siblings of the Broadway United Methodist
Church.
It is a joy and honor to share a brief message this Sunday
with you.
Thank you, Rev. Alka, for inviting me to be here worshiping
with you today. And thank you, Alexia and Robert, for putting the worship
elements together.
And—on behalf of the Chicago Coalition of Welcoming Churches—I want to express our deepest appreciation for your support and participation in the Chicago Pride Parade and the Pre-Pride Worship Service.
This year was historic:
More than 150 people attended in person, and
Over 400 joined online for the Pre-Pride worship service.
CCWC could not offer this meaningful witness without your
presence, leadership, and courage.
For all you do—for your hospitality, your justice work, your public witness—thank you.
Let us pray:
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.
1. Opening
Advent begins not with glitter or warm cheer, but with
Scripture that speaks honestly and the first snowstorm this year:
“In the time of Herod…”
“From the depths of the pit, I called on Your name.”
These are words born in fear and chill.
And maybe that is exactly where Advent must begin—telling
the truth about the world we’re living in, and the fears we carry in our
bodies.
2. “In the Time of Herod…”: The World of Fear
Luke opens the story of Jesus by naming the political
reality:
Herod’s rule—marked by paranoia, surveillance, economic
exploitation, and violence, as double oppression, along with Roman Empire.
People survived by staying quiet.
They lived under the long shadow of empire.
And we know this world too.
Not the same Herod, but the same patterns:
Governments using fear to keep us quiet.
Communities targeted because of who they are, who we are, as
queer, trans, undocumented, Black, Asian, disabled.
World AIDS Day is no longer mentioned by the government,
dignity of humanity and memories of the lost ones are fading out.
Systematically, LGBTQI’s images are made invisible.
People exhausted by violence, by political cruelty, by the
constant hum of anxiety in the background of daily life.
Empire still knows how to make people afraid.
We, too, live “in the time of Herod.”
3. Zechariah’s Encounter: Fear as Human Truth
In the time of Herod, God sends an angel, Gabriel, to
Zechariah.
He responds not with joy but with tarassó, or in
Taiwanese “真到驚”, deep
inner shaking, a fear that disturbs body and spirit, because he could not
understand: I am too old to have a child, my hope will not make it.
This is the confusion out of uncertainty, especially in a
troubled time, for ordinary people.
This also the fear that makes people flinch even when good
news arrives.
Many of us know this kind of fear and confusion— on personal
and on political aspects, fears and confusions for our families, our futures,
our safety.
However, fear and confusion are not failures.
Fear and confusion are the body telling the truth of
vulnerability: are we too late?
4. Lamentations: Fear in the Pit
Lamentations gives us another picture:
“I called on Your name from the depths of the pit… You
heard my plea.”
This is trauma language, the voice of someone who has lost
everything and tried to grape onto the very last string.
And yet, even in the pit, God draws near in the darkest
hour.
God does not say, “Be stronger.”
God simply says, “Do not be afraid” which implies
that the prayer has been heard and answered from the deep of our hope and
anxiety.
Fear becomes the place where God begins to intervene and
transform.
5. Fear in Our Bodies Today
Trauma theory names fear through four responses:
fight, flight, freeze, fawn.
Many of us might be living in one of these modes right now.
But underneath fear, there is often something deeper:
grief, longing, unspoken hopes and visions, former disappointments, confusion and undercity of our own beings.
If you like me, a fan of Star Trek, you might feel a kind of déjà vu here: isn’t this the same situation that when any species encountered The Borg? The famous and notorious statement, “We are the Borg, you will lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness our own, your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.” The oppressor would be so happy to se us to give up hope and resistance, stop waiting for the salvation and possibility of change.
And Advent turns toward us gently and asks:
What are we afraid to hope for?
What prayers have we stopped praying?
Where has fear caused us to step back and satisfied by
what’s going on around us?
6. A Word for a Queer- and Trans-Affirming Church
However, if you never watched any episode of Star Trek, but
you are fortunate and blessed here today, in-person and online.
This congregation knows something about “Herodian times.”
Some of you have survived church exclusion, family
rejection, unsafe jobs, unsafe streets, assimilation from all kinds of norms,
abusive theologies and toxic environment.
Fear is not abstract—it is embodied.
But your presence here is a sign of Advent:
that fear is not the final word, and love refuses to be
driven out or kept silence.
In a world that tells queer and trans people to hide,
you live the truth that God draws near to the ones pushed to
the margins.
Like Zechariah, your fear does not disqualify you.
Like the author of Lamentations, your lament is heard.
Or, like Jean Luc Picard and Seven of Nine, who were captive,
assimilated, but now is restored, liberated, and transformed.
Like many witnesses, your troubled spirit can become the
doorway through which God enters.
7. Advent Promise: God Breaks In
Louis Armstrong realized one of his famous and influential song in 1967, “What a wonderful world.” This song was left unnoticed in the US until the movie “Good morning, Vietnam” in 1987. Louis sag as follow, “ I see tree of green, red roses too, I see them bloom, for me and you. And I think to myself, what a wonderful world….The color of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky, are also on the faces, of people going by, I see friends, shaking hands, saying, How Do You Do? They are really saying I Love You”… the lyrics end with “Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world.” In Louis’ time, the hatred toward black communities, and the shadow of the war, he sang out loud his hope and dream.
The promise of Advent is not:
“Do not be afraid because nothing bad will happen.”
The promise is:
“Do not be afraid, because God comes near and closer.”
God, he comes closer to the weary, God, she comes closer to
the marginalized, God, they come closer to queer and trans youth, to every
trembling heart, to those living through “the time of Herod.”
God’s nearness does not erase fear or confusion, but God’s
nearness transforms our relationship to what troubles us.
Last year, the United Methodist Church voted to lift bans on
both same-sex weddings and the ordination of LGBTQ clergy (2024). We have
celebrated this historical achievement and now carry on our mission and vision
of inclusivity and a just world for all.
It’s never too late to hope and to dream for a better future,
especially in the time like this!
8. Closing Invitation
So perhaps the question this Advent is not, “How do I get
rid of fear?”
Perhaps the deeper question is:
Can I name my fear honestly and still believe God is near?
Because God is near, in the pit, in the temple,
in our longing, in our
waiting, in our fear and confusion.
And in the time of Herod, God broke in and transformed.
And, surely, God is still breaking in today.
Don’t be afraid, let it come what may.
God is near.
Indeed, God is near.
Amen.
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