Messages

In Week 1 of our Advent series "Her Story, His Story, Our Story," we examine Tamar’s startling, justice-driven story (Genesis 38) to see how God works through messy, painful lives and bring righteousness and redemption into the world. Tamar (a marginalized, twice-widowed, woman) is denied her rightful place, but takes bold, risky action to secure justice when Judah and his family fail her. Through this, Judah is finally forced to “recognize” his sin and the birth of Perez (whose name means “breakthrough”) pictures how God’s justice breaks through human failure. In the end, this sermon urges us to resist a sentimental, sanitized faith, to see the vulnerable as God sees them, and to allow God’s disruptive mercy to change how we use power to protect the powerless. While Tamar's’ story is complex, it reminds us that Jesus’ birth is the ultimate breaking-through and that the Kingdom of God will one day bring perfect justice for all.