Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

I looked at this lectionary this morning and immediately thought, What kind of sign is this? Young women get pregnant and have kids all the time. As for naming him Immanuel, people often look at their life experiences and see them as being evidence that God is with them or is not with them. Take a look at postcards 13 and 14 from the postsecret project. So really, is this a sign of any import? And then, as they say in teacher parlance, I made a text-to-self connection. (Or maybe it was text-to-world?)

In 2001, I went to Cuba with a group from my college to study Cuban music and dance. As part of a final research project, I interviewed a woman in her twenties to gather her impressions about relationships between men and women. She insisted that we have the conversation outside, for fear that someone would overhear her or that our conversation might be recorded. So we talked quietly about relationships and her own hopes and fears. She told me that she did not want to get married. She never wanted to have children. None of her friends were married, and none of them wanted to be. She told me that it was so difficult to make a living, to live in a decent place, and to have enough to eat, that none of them wanted to bring a child into the life and world that they inhabited. In that community and in that society, if the young woman is with child, it is a sign of hope for the future. It is a sign of courage to give your child over to a world that you trust will be better than your own.

And yet, I look at the community in the Bronx where I teach high school and it seems like such a different situation. Last year, I personally knew of 5 girls who were pregnant in our school of 350 students, and there were probably many more than that all told. To me, these young women with child look like a sign of despair. They seem to speak of women who believe that there will be no opportunities for them after high school, that their only value is in their bodies and their ability to have children.

The young woman is with child. Is this a sign of hope or despair? How do we interpret this sign in our times?

A couple of years ago, I was talking to some friends at a seminary, and they started discussing an ancient Christology that eventually was declared heresy. According to the understanding of the nature of Jesus that was developed in Adoptionism, he was born as an ordinary human and then “adopted” by God at his baptism as God’s spirit, shaped like a dove, descended on him; God’s nature and God’s power did not enter into Jesus until this moment. Two of my friends argued that they believed this to be true, that God’s nature and God’s power could not possibly have rested in an infant’s body.

There was something very disturbing about this idea to me. I want to believe that incarnation means that God understands what it is like to live with the fragility and limitation that being human entails. I want to believe that God knows what it is like to be poor, hungry, tired, unable to communicate clearly, and dependent on people for life itself. When I need God and can’t even put words to my prayer, I want to believe that God “remembers” what it was like.

The scripture in the lectionary for today, the second Sunday of Advent, is Isaiah 11:1-10. It begins, “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” This image speaks to me of fragility, of the seedling that needs protection, of the green life that needs care to thrive. This Advent, I am keeping watch for fragile things, the green shoot bursting into my life from some dark corner, the infant idea that needs my help to hold up its head, the emergence of God in delicate and breakable moments. Oh come, oh come Emanuel.

Tues Sept 7: host-Patrick, cook and ritual-Isaac
Tues Sept 21: host-Sarah, cook-Mabel, ritual-Johannes

Sat Oct 2: Michael Mass hike
Tues Oct 5: host and cook-Amber, ritual-Sarah
Tues Oct 19: host and cook-Caleb, ritual-Katie
Sat Oct 30: Planning meeting and Halloween Social hosted by Johannes

Tues Nov 2: All Saints Day! host-Amber, cook-Patrick, ritual-Ula and Isaac
Tues Nov 16: Math and Physics are Fun! host-Isaac, cook-Sarah, ritual-Johannes and Isaac
Sat Nov 27: Thanksgiving Social event in NYC, host-TBD
Tues Nov 30: Isaac and Katie host movie and games night

Tues Dec 7: Advent! host-Johannes, ritual-Patrick, cook needed
Tues Dec 21: Advent! host, cook, and ritual needed

Creativity
User-Generated Content
Food
Un-Dogmatic
Defining Your Own Participation
Intimacy
Welcoming / Inclusion
Personal Spiritual Journey
Transmission Shows Up / Support
Music
Gender Inclusive Language for God
Christian-based
Free

Here is our list of upcoming Transmission events for the summer. We meet at 7pm on the first and third Wednesday of each month. Please click on Contact to join our email list and receive announcements with addresses and directions for our events.

Wed July 7: host-Isaac, cook-Isaac, Patrick, Violet, ritual-Dan and Amber – we will be blessing Katie, Issac, and Patrick’s new apartment
Wed July 21: host-Dan, cook-Dan, ritual-Bowie
Sat July 31: planning meeting, location TBD

Wed Aug 4: host-Mabel, cook-Isaac, ritual-Patrick
Wed Aug 18: host-Johannes, cook-Violet, ritual-Isaac
Sat Aug 28: planning meeting, location TBD

Wed Sept 1: host-Patrick, COOK AND RITUAL NEEDED
Wed Sept 15: host-Sarah, cook-Mabel, ritual-Johannes
Sat Sept 25: planning meeting, location TBD

Transmission will be celebrating Good Friday this evening by remembering the seven last words of Jesus in seven different locations throughout lower Manhattan. All are welcome to join us. We will be meeting at 6pm at the Winter Garden and will begin the service shortly thereafter. If you would like to come, please bring headphones and, if possible, an mp3 player (such as an iPod, etc).