12/24/2017
4 Advent & Christmas Eve
This Sunday has a dual identity in the church: 4 Advent and Christmas Eve. This gives us an opportunity that hasn’t happened since 2006 to explore the connection between the annunciation by the angel Gabriel to Mary (4 Advent) and the birth of Jesus (Christmas Day).
12/17/2017
3 Advent
John the Baptizer said that his task was to give witness that the Savior was about to arrive. And when he had given his witness, and when Jesus arrived, John told his followers that it was time for them to go to Jesus.
John’s job was not to be the focus, but to bring focus to Jesus.
12/10/2017
2 Advent
Reverend Ardyss preached on the need for us to find a place for peace in our lives; the peace that we are on a journey, going where God wants us to go.
12/3/2017
1 Advent
… The stores had aisle after aisle of blinking Christmas tree lights, silver metallic Christmas trees, red satin bells, and lots of statues of Santa, snowmen, elves, and reindeer. The stores were sparkling and musical and happy; but they only had one blow-up crèche scene with a cartoon-ish underinflated version of the baby Jesus in it. The experience got me thinking about the lights of Christmas versus the light of Christ at Christmas.
11/26/2017
Pentecost Last
Martin Luther King once said that the tragedy of the civil rights movement was not the evil done by the bad people, but the indifference of the “good” people—those who did not take the opportunities that were open to them. One theme of the last three weeks of Gospel lessons is the tragedy of lost opportunity. Three weeks ago Jesus taught that even in hardship we can find blessings. The foolish bridesmaids from two weeks ago missed the feast because they missed the opportunity to get oil for their lamps. Last week, the slave with one talent failed to take the opportunity to make an increase on what had been given to him by his master. All missed opportunities.
11/19/2017
Pentecost 24A
Proper 28
I grew up in a culture that some of you might connect with:
A child is to be seen, and (not heard)
Don’t speak to an adult unless (you are spoken to)
This culture taught me to stay quiet, and to believe I should never think I am very good at anything. In language as a Christian, I learned to ignore God’s gifts in me.
11/12/2017
Pentecost 23A
Proper 27
Reverend Ardyss asked us to consider if our oil jar of faith is kept filled, to ensure that we are ‘ready’.
This group of people I just introduced you to have been my great cloud of witnesses that are mentioned in Hebrews 12:1. They kept me moving on a path that I didn’t realize was a path until years later.
Today we have come to the first part of Jesus giving us the Readers Digest version of the faith-walk God wants from each of us. It took the Pharisees 613 commands to summarize God’s law (the Decalogue); it took Jesus two commands, with a total of five parts, to spell out our purpose as Christians. This passage in Matt 22 is called the Great Commandment. (Matt 28 is the Great Commission.) Jesus took one piece of his Great Commandment from Deut 6:4-5, to love God. The other part is from Lev 19:18b, to love our neighbor.
I love the irony in the Isaiah passage. God anointed Cyrus, empowered him to defeat his enemies, calls him by name. Cyrus was the king of Persia. He defeated the Babylonian empire, and allowed the exiled Israelites to return to their homeland. God was the source of the power that enabled Cyrus to defeat Babylon. Our God is the god of all creation; not just of Israel; speaking today, not just the god of the people who worship Him. Cyrus didn’t know God, but God called him by name, and used him to accomplish God’s purpose.