Faith & Fidelity // Rev. Matt Kennedy // Dec 7 2025

Surveys tell us Americans are steadily losing trust in institutions like government, media, education, and (near the top of the list) "organized religion." This isn't new. The Bible tells more than a few stories of corruption in the temple & priesthood.This includes the days that Jesus was born into. First century Jews not only longed for political revolution to overthrow the Roman occupation, they longed for spiritual revival to purify the temple. When Luke begins his gospel, he starts with the story of a priest and his wife who are a faithful remnant within a vapid institution: Elizabeth and Zachariah were, "righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly" (Luke 1:6). Like many Biblical couples they have a story of infertility met with miraculous conception, but they also show us the kind of people who get an early glimpse at God's coming Kingdom: the humble and the faithful.In this second week of our sermon series on the women of Advent, we'll look at the story of Elizabeth and the birth of John the Baptist and notice how much it rhymes with the Old Testament story of Hannah and the birth of the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 1). Both show us God's work is not bound to corrupt human systems, but in the temples of the heart within women and men who remain devoted to God even when their surroundings are not.