The Neighborhood Podcast

Chosen, Upheld, And Not Alone: Isaiah’s Courage Meets Joseph’s Dream (December 17 Midweek Prayer Service)

• Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing

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Fear doesn’t vanish on command, and it rarely keeps office hours. We open with a breath prayer—mercy in, mercy out—and let that rhythm carry us into Isaiah 41, where trembling coastlands meet a voice that says, “Do not be afraid, for I am with you.” From there, the room becomes a small chorus of courage: each one helps the other, I have chosen you, upheld by a victorious right hand. With liturgical art, we notice coastlines, plants that signal peace, and the steadying symbol of a hand that holds.

Our focus shifts to Joseph’s troubled sleep in Matthew 1. He is gentle, honorable, and ready to do the kind thing in a hard moment—until an angel reframes the story and asks more of him. “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.” We sit with the weight of that sentence and the quiet strength it takes to obey. Artist Nicolette Faison’s “In Too Deep” pulls that inner storm to the surface: a clenched fist, restless feet, a whispering messenger, and Mary aglow with a life worth celebrating. The colors stay bright on purpose, reminding us that tension and joy can share the same canvas. Emmanuel—God with us—arrives not as a slogan but as a life that rearranges our choices.

We hold space for real names and needs: a death mourned, a long surgery underway, a scan that brings relief. Our prayers widen to those who feel alone—single parents, the incarcerated, immigrants, anyone carrying grief or addiction—and we ask to learn how to reach across the divides. Music stitches it all together with carols that name light in the dark and the nearness of God. A closing poem remembers childhood walkie-talkies as “heart strings,” a promise that when you whisper, someone will be close. If you’re longing for courage that feels human and hope that feels near, press play and stay with us. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs comfort, and leave a review to help others find the conversation.

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SPEAKER_03:

All right, y'all. Good afternoon. Morning, afternoon. We are on we are on the threshold. All right, friends. Let's breathe in God's mercies and breathe out God's mercies to others. Breathe in God's mercies and breathe out God's mercies to others. Finally, breathe in God's mercies. Breathe out God's mercies to others. Let us worship God. Who would like to do our call to worship today? All right, Mary, who wants to do our prayer for illumination? Barbara and Lynn, why don't you do the first reading? And Bill, I'm gonna conscript you to do the second reading, okay? Let us be called to worship.

SPEAKER_07:

Here in worship, we pray together. We stand together, we sing together, we listen together. Here in worship, we are not alone. So when life gives you reason to grieve, to fear, or to worry, remember this moment. We are not alone. Let us worship our with us God.

SPEAKER_03:

Stand, sit, tough deal.

SPEAKER_09:

Okay, I'll give it a prayer of illumination. Manuel, we turn off alarm clocks, we pour cups of coffee, we slip shoes onto our feet, and comb back fly away hairs, we travel to this room and settle into this space, all in hopes of drawing closer to you. So as we hear your word, read aloud read aloud, help. Help us to feel your presence in our midst. For we are reaching out our hands, we are reaching out our hearts. Speak to us now with hope. We pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_08:

Scripture reading from Isaiah 41, 5 through 10. The coastlands have seen and are afraid. The ends of the earth tremble. They have drawn near and come. Each one helps the other, saying to one another, Take courage. The artisan encourages the goldsmith, and the one who smooths with the hammer encourages the one who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good. And they fasten it with nails so that it cannot be moved. But you, Israel, my servant Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend, you whom I took from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off. Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.

SPEAKER_03:

All right, take a moment and read back over that, and I want to invite everyone to pick a word or phrase that is standing out to you today. On that reading, as you are pondering those words, you can also look at this artwork that you see up here on the screen. It's from um Lauren Wright Pittman. It is inspired by the scripture that was just read for us. What do you notice in or well let's not get ahead of ourselves? Was there a word or phrase that stood out, uh stood out to you before we jumped to the liturgical art? Yeah, do not be afraid. I can hear you. Each one helps the other. Take courage. And here it's not talking about people, it's talking about the earth, right? We get to people a little bit later. But yeah, thank you. Take take courage, help one another. Abraham, my friend. Anybody else? For me, it's I have chosen. And what do you all notice in this uh artistic depiction of this passage? You can see. Does it make you think of a particular children's church song? Yeah, maybe. You can see the coastlands that are um mentioned at the beginning of this Isaiah passage. Oh, you're right. Good good observation there. It's it is if if this is God, it is technically in the right hands, being and we have that verb uphold uh uh in that scripture. You see some plants as well. So anybody want to take a wager what type of plants they see there. I learned some new ones. Um and I I cannot pronounce it, I will not pronounce this very well. Boogin V that, that one, I can never say that. Um that uh represents peace. There's also uh Lantana, Lantana, something like that, um, and red valerian are the three different um plants that are depicted there. All right, so Jan, I'm gonna ask you to read the second passage, the Matthew passage for us.

SPEAKER_06:

Now the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet. Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means God is with us. When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Jesus.

SPEAKER_03:

Thanks be to God. Take a moment, look back over the passage, and or take a moment to soak in this piece of liturgical art that uh that we have before us. This is by the way, this is called uh in too deep is the title of this of this piece. Inspired by this passage. Yeah, so they'll they'll use the word sensual. It's certainly a very different feel from the other piece of work. Very colorful, very vibrant. Yeah, so you see who is who we can be round the buttons. Yep, yeah. Um we can presume to be Mary in the upper left hand cradling her belly. What else do you notice? Yeah, if we were to presume that's Joseph, his hand is in a fist. Yeah. I mean, if if if he is indeed sleeping, which we are it appears that that's what it does not look like it's the most restful sleep in the world. At least his body position is a little his toes are kind of kind of yeah. Um so if you've ever if you've ever seen somebody have a r have uh have a nightmare or a or or a dream, that's kind of, yeah. So maybe some maybe some tension, some uncertainty. Yeah, the angel speaking right into his ear. It looks almost like little wisps of smoke coming down. And I think what stands out to me the most is his blue hair. That vibrant blue hair and um and the mustache too. The uh the twirl on the mustache is interesting. The artist's name is uh is Nicolette uh Nicolette Faison. And this is what she this is what the artist had to say about this. She said, My inaugural contribution to a sanctified art in twent in 2023 focused on the relationship between Mary and Elizabeth. After having a challenging pregnancy of my own, I used my art to explore the divine connections of people who carry pregnancies and how that special type of relationship benefits the community. But even after reading these pregnancy stories time and time again, I have struggled to sit with Joseph and how he processes all of this change with his new wife. Somehow life is always in alignment with the text, and now as I process a divorce, I think more often what it would feel like for someone else to come in and try to fit into my established family system. This made me think of a Joseph who can't sleep well at night, as his mind is uneasy with the words of Gabriel in his ear. I wanted Joseph to have an uncomfortable sleep form with a clenched fist that shows us he is tense even while he dreams. His foot is raised up in a way that looks almost like he could pop up at any moment. Funny enough, this is how I slept through my own pregnancies. His hair, while luxurious, has flowy movement to it, leaning into the uneasiness. The soft spiral pattern in the background also implies movement. We don't see Joseph often in holy art. We receive the occasional holy family portrait, which is often not detailed, but Joseph does not really get his own place in the story. He is almost like the forgotten father after Jesus comes of age, so his time is really now. I don't think his position needs to be a cornerstone for the birth story. However, as my own life changes, I can appreciate the importance of his devotion and obedience to God. In the artwork, the angel Gabriel is talking to Joseph as he sleeps, with silver locks reminiscent of God from the children's book I illustrated called God's Holy Darkness. This is a nod to my own work, which honors holiness as brown, coarse textured, and wise. Why wouldn't an angel both resemble God and the people they are called to speak to? The dreamy pregnant body we see in the top left is styled in an outfit that is a nod to Beyonce's 2017 Grammys performance costume for the song Love Drought. At that time, Beyonce was pregnant with her twins, Sir and Rumi, and gave one of the most outstanding performances someone so far along could provide. Her full costume also included a golden headpiece that resembled that of an icon, a goddess, even. How appropriate for a woman of faith carrying twins, performing a song from an album where she experienced betrayal, heartbreak, and reconciliation, to perform at this last supper-like table in such an outfit, knowing her marriage and pregnancy could have killed her. In my painting, the pregnant belly is celebrated with rays beaming from it, followed by soft clouds, reminding us this is a dream. The colored choices are bright, detailed, and whimsical to keep us in the fantasy. There is vibrancy here because while Joseph is uncomfortable, this is still something to be celebrated. Reverend Nicolette Faison. All right. What prayer requests do we have? Um do we have this day? Um I don't know if y'all heard, but Jim Tosco um passed away. Uh he was a former or current member of this church. I'm not sure, but he has some connection here. But George Setzer, he'd have been in hospice for some for some time now. So we we pray for um for Jim Tosco and for his family. I also heard today that um Miss Michelle, who's one of our preschool teachers, is having a very uh significant uh surgery for her cancer treatment today. It's about seven, eight hours long today. So we send prayers to to Miss Michelle for a successful surgery. Um any other prayer requests today? Yeah, Mary. Do you have happy news? What's that? Oh good. Um so that's your niece, Jennifer. All right, thank you. Anyone else? All right, let us pray. Once I find my prayer. We don't always know the words to pray. We stumble over our words, we meander in our thoughts, we fail to be eloquent when we try, but no matter our words, we know that you are listening. So today, holy God, we want to say thank you for the reachers. Thank you for the people in our life who have reached for us when we have needed it most. Thank you for friends and family. For Sunday school teachers and confirmation mentors, for therapists, school chaplains, for neighbors and attentive strangers. Thank you for the people who, like Joseph, who chose to reach for us and stay by our side when we needed it most. We pause to remember their names and faces now, and to silently left these individuals to you in gratitude. We pray for those who do not have a Joseph in their life. In particular, we remember those in isolation jail cells, or those in medical quarantine. We pray for single parents for widowers. We pray for immigrants and foreign exchange students who often feel alone in a new country. We pray for those who feel isolated by their grief, their addiction, or their mental health. Show us how to reach across dividing lines. Show us how to walk with each other on the good days and the bad. Show us how to see each other. Show us how to reach for each other. As you do, like Joseph, we will do our best to walk each other home. We lift up to you this day those that we have discussed. We pray especially for Jen Tosco, whom you have welcomed into your loving eternal arms. Be with all who mourn his death. We pray for Miss Michelle, our preschool teacher who's having surgery today. Be with her and bless the hands of the doctors and the nurses that will be operating on her. We pray for a successful outcome. And we pray with joy and thanksgiving for Barbara's knees, Jennifer, for the good news of her scan. We pray that she may continue to have good news. We pray for those for whom the news is not good. Be with us, help us to reach out towards one another as you call us, as uh as the God who has first reached out unto us. And so, with hope for a better tomorrow, we pray the words your son taught us to pray, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, divine the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

SPEAKER_04:

I chose our first hymn today because of as a response to the call to worship that we pray together, we are not alone, and we sang together that Christ is a light in the darkness, and that we share in the wonder, and that he will never leave us. And then our last two songs, and we are going to sing together the sending music rather than we play something. Um Rose mentions both our characters, uh Joseph and Mary. And well, I think of uh the angel as well. And then Heart the Herald Angels, I think, fits this best. It puts both scriptures together and then mentions the name Emmanuel. So I just wanted to say that before we sing low hour. How do we sing low hour rose? So you're looking at that now. And you know, I think everyone knows this hand. I mean, it's not like everybody's favorite Christmas carol, but we we've we've heard it before, we've sung it. But the rhythm is a little tricky, right? So we go along at the beginning. And here's the surprise. It's like a syncopator there. Um that happens again on the second line, and then on the last line. So beware, and let's all try to sing it together, not just the way we want to. You know, whatever feels good. Whatever comes out. Let's try to do it together.

SPEAKER_03:

And as our benediction, I'm gonna ask Bill to read us our poetry prayer.

SPEAKER_04:

When we were children, we fell asleep with walkie-talkies tucked under our pillows. All that separated us was a bathroom, a hallway, a few feet of empty space. But as children, even small distances can feel like miles. So after the parents whispered prayers over our skin knees and spelling tests, after they kissed our sweaty foreheads and tucked us into bed, we'd pull the walkie-talkies out from under our pillows, we'd roll the dial on the top of the transceiver, we'd sputter that invisible tether to life, and with a few crackles in the quiet of the night, you'd whisper my name. I'd press down the button, I'd promise I was close. As an adult, I don't know whatever happened to those blue-gray walkie-talkies, but I know that even today, if the monsters in the closet feel too real, and you whisper my name, I promise I'll be close.

SPEAKER_03:

In our family, we call those heart strings. Whenever we drop Hazel Grace or Winnie off at school, we say, we tug a little bit, and she says, Can you feel it? Yes. Friends, let us uh sing our closing song, Hark the Herald Angels. Go in peace. We will not have a midweek service next week, by the way. But we we have enough worship services uh next Wednesday.