LIGHT INTO THE WORLD

  
HEBREWS 1:1-3


1Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

HYMN #69VU “Away in A Manger”

JOHN 1:1-14

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 14And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

MESSAGE

(Project the first slide and begin in a dramatic whisper.)

1. Shhh… here he is… Baby Jesus, sleeping. This isn’t an ordinary baby and his birth isn’t an ordinary story. It happened over 2000 years ago and we still tell it every year at Christmas time. So, get ready because it’s time to hear (and see) the story again.

2. A long, long time ago there lived a young woman named Mary. One night Mary sat at her window and gazed up into the night sky. She felt a new stirring in her heart. The darkness seemed to change and she saw a wondrous light. It grew brighter and brighter and then it seemed like the light came right into her bedroom!

3. Was this an angel?!? Deep down and all around Mary heard the words, “Mary, you’re going to have a baby and he will be the special leader – the Messiah – that God promised to send to the world. His name will be Jesus.” At first Mary was afraid. She didn’t understand how this could happen. She thought about it for a while and then she answered the angel,

4. “If that is God’s plan for me, that is what will happen.” Mary felt God’s love around her, like a big warm hug and she wasn’t afraid anymore. Mary heard that Elizabeth was having a baby, too. Mary decided to visit Elizabeth.

5. They had so much to talk about. As Mary approached Elizabeth’s home, she called out, “Elizabeth, it’s Mary!” At that moment the baby in Elizabeth kicked with joy.

6. Mary was happy and she sang, “I am filled with joy and I praise God!” Then some bad news arrived.

7. The Roman govern¬ment wanted a census done and Mary and Joseph would have to travel to Bethlehem to be counted.

8. This couldn’t have come at a worse time! Mary’s baby would be born soon and Bethlehem was a long way off. Mary thought about that long trip. The road seemed endless and she knew it would be difficult. She also knew that God would be with them on this journey.

9. So, they loaded up their donkey with food, water and blankets and they set off. Mary thought about the road again and she said to herself, “We’re walking down this road as husband and wife but when we travel home again, we’ll be a new family.” Everywhere Mary and Joseph went in Bethlehem it was the same thing.

10. No. No. No. No room for you. Mary cried, “Joseph, we need to find a room soon – I’m so tired and our baby’s going to be born tonight!” “Mary, there are so many people here. It looks like every inn is full. I’ll keep looking but I’m getting worried.”

11. Finally, an innkeeper said, “I have no room in my inn but you can sleep in my stable. At least it’s warm with the animals in there. It’s the only room I have. I’ll let you stay there cheap!” Mary and Joseph were grateful.

12. And on that dark night, Jesus was born into the world. (in silence, moved from darkness into light and Jesus’ birth)

13. The news spread quickly.

14. In fact, the whole universe was excited about the news! The planets and stars and comets and moons danced in the sky. They sang praises to God for this wonderful gift. The universe sang, “Let the heavens be glad! Let the skies rejoice! Joy to the world! Let every heart prepare him room …and heaven and na¬ture sing.” And the heavens did sing that night!

15. There were shepherds out that night and they, too, heard the heavens singing. There was a strange and holy light and the shepherds looked up when the sky started to speak. Angels!

16. It felt like the earth was moving and changing right under them. The angels sang, “Gloria! Christ is born in Bethlehem. Glory to the newborn king!” The mountains shone and the air rushed and swirled around the shepherds.

17. The shepherds were the first visitors at the stable. When they arrived, the shepherds saw that everyone, even the sleeping baby, was smiling and happy.

18. Jesus had the sweetest smile on his face and the everyone kind of knew this special child…(wait)…would change the world forever.

SPECIAL MUSIC

“Baby Jesus” - Annie Gregg

HYMN #71VU “The Huron Carol”

CHRISTMAS PRAYERS

Loving God, Help us remember the birth of Jesus; that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds,

and the ponderings of Joseph and Mary. Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world. Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting. Teach us to be merry with clear hearts. May the Christmas morning make us happy to be your people,

On this day especially, we think about family, friends, neighbors. Thank you for these loved ones. We also think of those who know strained relationships. Please heal the wounds, division and conflicts that stand between people and help us to remember how dearly you love them.

We remember Jesus humble birth – shared to us as a birth in a stable. We pray for those who have no place to live. We remember your challenging message of caring and giving and we pray for peace in families and nations throughout the world. We bless you and give you thanks in your Spirit who brings our hearts to life the Christmas Day and forever. And hear us God as we join together in a paraphrase of Jesus’ family prayer:

Our Father-Mother;
Who is in the heavens
May your name be made holy;
May your dominion come;
May your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today the bread we need;
and forgive us our debts
as we have forgiven our debtors.
And do not put us to the test,
but rescue us from evil.
For yours is the dominion
and the power and the glory forever.
Amen
 (United Church of Christ - USA)
HYMN #43VU “Go Tell It On the Mountain”

 

OFFERING

As we go out to live this story of love born among us, may we offer gifts of our own for the work of the church in the world, to reach out in love to the poor. Our offering can be received as a retiring offering today; the plates are available at the back. We pray God’s blessing on those gifts of money and the people who will use it to offer gifts of life, healing, and love to those in need.

SENDING OUT

As you go, make a joyful noise to God with all the earth, Sing joyous songs of praise, Let the trumpets ring, the seas roar and the mountains sing For God has come among us, and love is born within us Hallelujah!

FOUR CHRISTMAS PRESENCE

 
Watch the Christmas Story fit for a Queen:  Bethlehemian Rhapsody

December 24, 2011
 Christmas Eve
 Isaiah 52:7-12
 Matthew 1:18-21
 Luke 2:15b-20
 Galations 4:4-7

(prayer)

There was a time in the history of God’s people in the Bible that ancient Judah was at the mercy of an expanding empire. Okay that happened a few times. One of those times occurred about six hundred years before Jesus’ time.

From the time of King Saul, the southern Hebrew kingdom of Judah had run its own affairs, it had expanded its territories, created Jerusalem as a new central city and even built a magnificent temple in which to worship God.

All that came crashing down when from the watersheds of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, the Babylonian Empire marched west and eyed the valuable trade routes in Judah that bridged Africa, Europe and Asia.

With a massive effort the Babylonians gained control: the political and religious leaders were deposed and sent off into exile. Landowners too were forced out. In the end, any citizen that held no worth to the empire was forced into refugee camps back in Babylon. As for Temple in Jerusalem, the very symbol of God’s presence – it was plundered of anything valuable and laid to ruin. For almost 400 years, the Temple had stood as a sign that God was with the people. Theologically, some of the more fundamentalist among the people came to believe that God actually physically dwelled in the temple. Now it was gone. Imagine how that felt.

You may know Psalm 137, written during this time: 1By the rivers of Babylon—there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion. 2On the willows there we hung up our harps. 3For there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’ 4How could we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?

Imagine what a demoralizing devastating time it must have been.

//

And yet it was into this time that the prophet spoke (words that we began our service with tonight): 7...The messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, ...says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’ 8Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices, together they sing for joy; for in plain sight they see the return of the LORD to Zion. 9Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem; for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.

Words of hope that an end to the exile will come. Words that what has been taken apart can be rebuilt. Words that God IS present.

One of the gifts of the Christmas story is the presence of God. Solid as a rock!

//

//

Mary’s pregnancy came as a surprise to her family. So much so, that the gospels hint that this embarrassing, young, unwed mother was sent off to live with a distant relative during the pregnancy. Be that as it may, it was perhaps a bigger surprise to Joseph, her fiancé. ‘She must have been unfaithful’ – that has to be what Joseph thought. He couldn’t marry her. It would be a scandal; it would be wrong. He had every right to publically disgrace her, but instead he chose to just end things quietly and move on with his life. But...one morning Joseph felt differently. For a moment, he thought he had dreamed about angels, but that’s just silly. Even so, Joseph felt at peace with Mary and about the baby she carried. The child was not a disgrace – this whole situation was a blessing. The child would change people’s lives, Joseph just knew that. The child would bring safety and salvation. In fact, Joseph decided then and there to name the baby (assuming it’s a boy) Yeshua (God Saves) – a name we have come to pronounce as Jesus.

One of the gifts of the Christmas story is the trusting presence of Joseph. Comforting like a pillow!

//

//

Mary lay there quietly, with Jesus resting against her breast. I imagine, her looking down at him - at the miracle that every child is to her or his mother at that moment. She watched his little breaths; his small movements; his eyes opening and closing. And she was quiet. At least she was quiet on the outside. Inside, her mind raced.

She thought about the last year; the engagement to Joseph; that strange messenger, telling her she would bear God’s child; the controversy over her pregnancy; Joseph’s compassion and honour and trust. Now these shepherds, who she didn’t know, shared a similar message. Could this young baby, her baby – be that special?

If her child is the Messiah, God’s anointed, even God’s child alive on earth, things are going to change.

While the others talked about the wonder of the moment, Mary pondered the changes that were coming.

One of the gifts of the Christmas story is the pondering presence of Mary. Watching, reflecting and seeing things for how they were and might be! (mirror)

//

//

And of course, the gift of gifts: the presence of the Christ. (manger and child).

Jesus, born of a woman, born into the reality of our existence and also Emmanuel – an old name that means “God-is-with-us”.

//

Tomorrow, there will be countless numbers of presents opened – gifts exchanged – wrapping destined for the recycle bins.

Tonight – let us pledge to appreciate the presence of the holy in our midst. That we are not alone – that God is with us – known to us in Jesus – and alive within us always.

Amen.

**choir**

ON THE LONGEST NIGHT

December 21, 2011

COMING TOGETHER

This night is the longest night of the year.  For us in the northern hemisphere, the sun is at its lowest angle and its light and warmth are further away than at any time of the year.

The night seems dark and it is hard to see the guiding star above us.  This Christmas season is, for many people, a time of great joy and celebration.  But for those who know grief, who are experiencing hardships, sadness or frustration, the shouts of Joy to the World can be muted.  It can be a long, dark time.

In this simple service, we want to acknowledge these shadows and embrace them so that we can know that we are not alone:  that God is with us.  Listen to this good news found in the gospel of John:

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ^2[[The Word] was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through [the Word], and without [the Word] not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴in [the Word] was life, and the life was the light of all people. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

Let’s pray together:

PRAYER

God of Love and Understanding, we come here in this quiet place seeking your reassurance and hope.  We come in the midst of noise, listening for your gentle heartbeat.  We come in the cold, wanting the embrace of your warm love.  Grant us a taste of the hope, peace, joy and love that you promise to all.  Amen.

POEM  “Footprints”

One night I had a dream.

I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.

Across the sky flashed scenes from my life.

For each scene , I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand:

one belonging to me and one belonging to the Lord.

When the last scene of my life flashed before me,

I looked back at the footprints in the sand.

I noticed that many times along the path of my life,

there was only one set of footprints.

I also noticed that this happened at the very lowest

and saddest times of my life.

This really bothered me and I questioned the Lord about it:

Lord, you said, that once I decided to follow you,

you’d walk with me all the way;

But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times of my life,

there is only one set of footprints.

I don’t understand why, when I needed you most, you would leave me?

The lord replied, My precious child.

I love you and would never leave you,

During your times of trial and suffering,

when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.

SCRIPTURE

Ezra 3:10-13  The first temple had been laid to ruin during a time when the Judean people were forced to live in exile in Babylon.  After some 70 years people returned and re-built the temple.  For most it was a time of joy, but for those who remembered the old temple it was a time of bitter memories.

10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments were stationed to praise the Lord with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, according to the directions of King David of Israel; ¹¹and they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord,
‘For he is good, for his steadfast love endures for ever towards Israel.’ And all the people responded with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. ¹²But many of the priests and Levites and heads of families, old people who had seen the first house on its foundations, wept with a loud voice when they saw this house, though many shouted aloud for joy, ¹³so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted so loudly that the sound was heard far away.

Luke 14:16-23  This story offers hope for those who have no one to invite them.  It reminds us that in God’s divine order, no one is excluded – all are invited.

¹⁶Then Jesus^* said …, ‘Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. ¹⁷At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, “Come; for everything is ready now.” ¹⁸But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, “I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my apologies.” ¹⁹Another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my apologies.” ²⁰Another said, “I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.” ²¹So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, “Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.” ²²And the slave said, “Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.” ²³Then the master said to the slave, “Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled.”

Luke 2:1-7  and Matthew 2:13-15a  Jesus himself was no stranger to being a stranger, an outsider, a refugee.

2In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. ²This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³All went to their own towns to be registered. ⁴Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. ⁵He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. ⁶While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. ⁷And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

And …

¹³ … An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ ¹⁴Then Joseph^* got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, ¹⁵and remained there until the death of Herod.

Matthew 8:19-20  In his own life, Jesus shared the experience of having no place to call home, no family, no security.

¹⁹A scribe then approached and said, ‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’ ²⁰And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’

John 11:32-36  In his life, Jesus knew the pain of losing a loved one.

³²When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ ³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the [others] who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. ³⁴He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ ³⁵Jesus began to weep. ³⁶So the [crowd] said, ‘See how he loved him!’

Matthew 11:28-30  When burdens get piled on top of burdens, the load can crush us.  Jesus offers to help.

‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’

Romans 8:38-39  The Apostle Paul wrote with such confidence that God’s love breaks through any barrier we experience or imagine.

³⁸For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Matthew 5:1-12  Jesus taught that a “blessing” was an experience of the loving presence of God whether we are knowing joy or difficulty.

5When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. ²Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5 ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6 ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

7 ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

8 ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9 ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

10 ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 ‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely^* on my account.

¹²Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

1^st Corinthians 11:23-26  In brokenness, Jesus offered nourishment and new promise.

(break and pour while reading)

23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, ²⁴and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for^* you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ ²⁵In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ ²⁶For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

CANDLE LIGHTING

SHARING BROKEN BREAD AND POURED CUP

Even though this is the longest night, it is not completely dark.  There is still light.  The days have been shorter, but there is still the light of day.  And even the night is guarded by the moon, planets and stars.  And beginning tomorrow, the days will begin to lengthen.

The path of life’s difficulties can never be completely dark as long as even a single candle burns.  And so, we will be comforted in the candle’s warmth and glow.

If you wish, I invite you to come forward and light a candle, maybe more than one.  It may be for you a candle of memorial, or a candle of struggle, one of hope or a desire for peace or a symbol of a simple prayer.

And in the ritual of the church, I invite you as well to come and take a piece of this bread and [dip it into the] a cup of grape juice and share the communion of Christ.

Let all that we do here bring you spiritual warmth and nourishment.

(music)

PRAYERS

Ever-present God, we wonder how it can be in a world of more than seven billion people that anyone can be alone?  Perhaps it is because loneliness is not about who is around us, but rather an isolation of the heart.  May we know that we are truly never alone!  We pray for all those who are gripped by loneliness this Christmas.

Death touches every life in some way.  The death of someone close is hard.  To face the world without a familiar face is a daunting task.  It doesn’t matter if it has been days or months or years, we will always have an empty space within us.  We pray for all those who are gripped by grief this Christmas.

There are pressures all around us to determine our value by the bottom line.  The cycles of boom and bust are too often tied to our happiness and worth.  The economics of our society can be a source of great pressure.  It can be hard to make ends meet for a variety of reasons, but we must never believe that we are only a number or that our worth is seen but the numbers of dollars in our pockets.  We are of immeasurable value to you, O God.  We pray for all those who are gripped by financial pressures  and who are gripped by life’s burdens this Christmas.

Each one of us knows what it is like to feel afraid, but for some the fear is paralyzing:  a fear of others, a fear of the unknown, a fear of illness, a fear for our safety.  Every fear can shrink a person.  May tomorrow find us feeling more calm and safe.  We pray for all who are gripped by fear this Christmas.

God your creation seems based on relationship.  Our interaction with each other seems to be part of your plan.  Yet some human relationships end and are strained.  Separation, divorce, harsh words, regretted actions, ll remind us that not everything we build in life stays strong.  We seek a reconciliation of the heart; even if words are left unsaid and relationships cannot be restored, we will hope for peace and respect. We pray for all those who are gripped by strained relationships this Christmas.

Our bodies and minds are delicate.  The balance can be lost.  Illness can be with us for a short time, or it can become a long term reality in our lives.  Illness can be scary and uncertain.  Medicine and therapy cannot always bring cure.  We pray for healing, if not from the illness, then from the worry and anxiety.  We pray for all those who are gripped by illness this Christmas.

Gentle God, pain can linger for years.  We can carry the worries of the past.  We can hang on to regret and grief for things that might have been.  Let us realize that the past cannot hurt us any longer.  It is done; it is history.  Help us, God, to let go of that which we cannot control, so that we will not be burdened by our past.  We pray for all those who need to “let go” this Christmas.

Strengthen by this meal of unity and in the glows of these candles, let us join together in the Lord’s Prayer:

   Our Father,

who art in heaven, hallow-ed 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 trespasses

as we forgive those that trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory

forever and ever,  Amen.

VIDEO

"How Did You Find Me Here?" link to YouTube

GOING OUT

You are welcome to stay here for a while if you would like.  As you are ready :  Go in peace, knowing that the God whose love created the world, who sent Jesus into this same world to be our friend, companion and savior, is the same God who in the Spirit is journeys with you everywhere you go.  The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out!  Thanks be to God.  Amen.

HEARTLAND

December 18, 2011
Advent 4
2nd Samuel 7:1-11
Luke 1:46-55

(prayer)

“My soul magnifies the lord! And my spirit rejoices in God, my saviour”. Luke chapter one, verses forty-six and forty-seven. The beginning of the Magnificat: the Song of Mary. This is how the gospel of Luke reports on Mary’s reaction to the reality of a child within her womb.

The gospel tells us that Mary received an angelic message that she would bear a child and that the child would be ‘great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’

//

Did you happen to notice this picture as the announcements were scrolling by before the service? A few friends of mine were sharing it on facebook this past week. It is from a billboard put up by an Anglican church in Auckland, New Zealand. Look at the expression on her face? Do you see what anachronistic object she is holding in her hands? The results are in: she’s pregnant.

//

It looks like Mary is saying what Patti said when she and I looked a similar stick in March of 2002: “Oh God...”
This Is really happening.

Now, everything will be different.

I’m not married yet.

People won’t understand.

My family won’t understand.

Joseph won’t understand.

I need to go visit Elizabeth.

And that’s what the gospel of Luke says Mary does. Mary has an elderly relative, Elizabeth: the wife of a temple priest (Zechariah) Elizabeth was said to be barren, but was now six months pregnant with her first child. Would she understand what Mary was going through?

Well, the gospel tells us that Elizabeth was exactly what Mary needed. When she arrived, she was greeted with warmth and welcome. She was not treated as the unwed mother embarrassment to the family.

Elizabeth welcomed Mary with joy and excitement for the reality of their lives.

It is out of that environment that Mary sings her song: “My soul magnifies the lord! And my spirit rejoices in God, my saviour” and that Elizabeth proclaims I am filled with the Holy Spirit. These two women both feel that they increased in their experience of God as a direct result of their un-expected, ‘expecting’ situations.

//

Today, I am inviting us to delve into Mary’s heart and soul as she came to terms with her role in the Christmas story. In less than a week, we will (likely) be singing

All is calm; all is bright,

round yon virgin mother and child

Although, I don’t intend it to be the main topic of this sermon, I want to spend a little time speaking about Mary, the virgin.

The central biblical reference that sends us down this path is Isaiah 7:14 -- Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: the maiden is with child and she will bear a son, and will call his name Immanuel.

About 200 years before Mary lived, the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek. When the translators worked on Isaiah 7:14, they translated עַלְמָה, ’almah, which means maiden or young woman with παρθένος, parthenos, which means ‘virgin’. Hebrew does have a word that more clearly identifies a virgin, בְּתוּלָה, betulah. But ’almah (not betulah) is the word in Isaiah 7:14. So the Hebrew text of Isaiah says that the sign is that “a young woman is pregnant”, but the Greek version available to (and quoted by) the Greek-speaking authors of the gospels assumes that the sign is that “a virgin is pregnant”.

The authors of Matthew and Luke (the only gospels to attempt to tell stories of Jesus’ birth), clearly want their narratives to be consistent with the Greek translation of Isaiah 7:14 – and so Mary is openly claimed to be a virgin.

Many modern theological thinkers question the historicity of that claim, just on the inconsistencies from the original Hebrew text.

Does it matter? Now I can’t be 100% sure that Franco Harris caught the immaculate reception and there is TV footage of it. What I am to make of the claim about Mary, written down some 45 years after the fact, with the author using a faulty translation?
For some questioning the virgin birth might be faith shattering. For me, I don’t need to be convinced that the actual biology of Jesus’ conception was supernatural to believe that Mary believed that her pregnancy was the will of God and that her child would be great, and would be called the Son of the Most High. He would reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there would be no end.

I don’t need Jesus’ conception to be miraculous for me to believe that “The Spirit of the Lord was upon Jesus, that God had anointed him to bring good news to the poor; to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

//

I will say that there was a strong spiritualism that surrounded Jesus’ birth: a spiritualism that we see echoed in how the gospel writers record Mary’s reaction to being pregnant:

“My soul magnifies the lord!

And my spirit rejoices in God, my saviour”.

//

//

Perhaps it was the combination of the warm welcome, and the rush of excitement and hormones that allowed Mary to find that thin place where she was able to see God most clearly – as if through a magnifying glass. In this mystical state, she sings that she feels very blessed, that God is with her and looking out for her as God has done throughout the ages. God lifts up the lowly, fills the hungry with good things. Mary feels this to be true for her own experience of God, whom she calls “The Mighty One”.

Within Mary’s heart, within her soul, God was a reality. And that she was a home for God’s purposes to be fulfilled.

//

Sometimes people think that faith is about accepting a set of beliefs and that those beliefs are pretty much set: come to believe what is handed to you.

I am increasing unconvinced that this true.

Faith is more complex, more fluid, more flexible. People have spiritual experiences all of the time without the pre-benefit of a prescribed dogma. This has been true throughout the ages. In fact, it is through the sharing of these experiences, in the finding of similarities and a desire to understand that people work together on what eventually might sound like a set of beliefs or dogma.

As it was for Elizabeth, I am coming to believe that faith is about being filled with the Spirit – being in-spirited, inspired.

In the 1st century of the New Testament, the dominant philosophy was that the mind and the spirit were separate; there was a dualistic teaching that did not see the head and the heart as being on the same plain. This also found function in seeing the spirit as above the physical; and it was used to justify seeing men above women. This philosophy can be found all throughout the gospels and the New Testament letters with only occasional attempts to bridge the gaps: more often our scriptural mentors tell us to forgo the physical for the spiritual; to focus on the ‘next world’ at the expense of this world.

As a 21st century person, my head and my heart are kin to each other – reason and feeling are in constant conversation about what is real for me. I refuse to see the world we live in as being devoid of spirit – I do not long for the destruction of the world to usher in an age of enlightenment. I’m expecting to see 2012 (sorry Mayans)

My mind is amazed at the complexity and harmony of what I experience of this planet and this universe. At the same time, my heart is moved by the thought that I am part of this. And that I have the ability to wonder about such things.

I don’t need God to prove a spiritual aspect to my existence. I do not need a sign. Jesus does not need to have been born of a virgin for me to think and feel that he was ‘of God’.

I need to have an open heart to allow for mystery, yet unexplained. And I need my mind to be satisfied by what makes sense given what I have come to know.

//

As we share this old, old story of Immanuel – of God-With-Us – let us pledge to experience it all with fresh hearts, with vigilant minds.

//

One thing that Advent and Christmas can magnify for us is that we are reminded that the basic nature of God...is Love. Love is the final candle that encircles our advent wreath.

//

What is love?

It is common to see “love” from a purely emotional perspective. Love is a feeling. Love is of the heart.

But, I am suggesting that when it comes to a faith perspective on ‘love’ that it needs to be of both the heart and the head – it is both a feeling and a thought.

A spiritual message of a faith founded in the life and teachings of Jesus is that we are meant to wonder about

 The reason for love – What is it? How does it affect us; and

 The reason to love – What difference does it make to me...and to the world because of me.

For Mary, the ‘depth of her being’ felt the love of God becoming more present in her life and she expressed that in the way she spent time with Elizabeth.

And in her mind, she imagined the practical aspects of this love being lived out: the poor uplifted; the hungry fed, promises kept.

Love is of the heart and the head. It is a feeling and a thought...and that leads to action.

Love needs to be felt (emotionally) and love needs to touch lives for it to be known in its fullest reality. Love needs to be known beyond the superficial.

King David thought that he could show love and admiration for God by creating a symbol of wealth and power in which to worship God – to house their holy relic. But God’s desire was for the people to know peace and safety – to live prosperous lives in their homeland.

//

Mary’s life was turned upside down when she became pregnant – but her soul was filled with the love of God and she knew that her child would show love to this world in a new and special way. She shunned the rumours and the loose talk about her character and instead felt blessed when she realized that she was truly welcomed for who she was right at that moment.

Love is meant to be felt and love is meant to touch.

This is easy for most people within their inner circle of family and close friends. But let’s remember that Jesus didn’t just talk about love and save it for his friends. He risked love by showing it in real and tangible ways to all whom he encountered.

May it be so with us. Each person we meet – each stranger we encounter is worthy of our compassion and care because, they – like us – are part of the household of God. The holy spark that enlivens our spirit, burns within everyone to some degree or another.

//

I love the simple song by Jim and Jean Strathdee that invites us to let that spark of God within each of us be what we notice when we encounter someone – whether they be friend, enemy, family or stranger. I want to end this message time with the invitation to greet each other with the words and intent of this simple song.

“The Spirit In Me Greets The Spirit in You”



#89MV “Love is the Touch”

KNOWING JOY; LIVING JOY

December 11, 2011
Advent 3
Isaiah 61:1-4
1st Thessalonians 5:16-24

(prayer)

In just a couple of weeks we will be exchanging the standard seasonal greeting: Merry Christmas. The word ‘merry’ is a very appropriate adjective for this season – it denotes a celebration and excitement that is special – enhanced beyond the norm.

I also like the British phraseology:

But I heard him exclaim,

‘ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all,

and to all a good-night!"

‘Happy Christmas’ engenders a different reaction in me than the North American ‘merry Christmas’. ‘Happy’ draws me more inward than ‘Merry’ does. When I hear merry, I think sharing the experience: the merriment of a Christmas party or the family together on Christmas morning. Whereas happy feels more like a state of being – a contentment, a sense of personal comfort and security that is not dependant on anything else that might be going on around me.

“[Have a] Merry Christmas”

is an invitation to celebrate.

“[Have a] Happy Christmas”

is an invitation to be content.

Both of these are valuable invitations, indeed.

//

And yet…there is something lacking. Celebrations come and go. They are beyond the ordinary – they have their impact because they are not the norm.

And (I would suggest) that happiness is an experience of the moment as well. Happiness is tied to contentment – and not all moments of life are ‘happy’. We like happiness – we strive for as much as we can get. But it exists largely on the surface of life – easily displaced by hardship, frustration, worry and loss.

//

The New Testament reading today invites us to a deeper version of merriment and happiness: “rejoice always!”

We can have our moments of ‘happy’, of ‘merry’, but what we really long for is “joy”.

The way I choose to use the word [joy] is to see it as deeply founded happiness. “Rejoicing” is merriment that comes from the depth of who we are.

It is one of the most desirable of emotional states and it is a significant theme of the Christmas season - JOY. And yet, it may be the most elusive thing at this time of the year.

Our world has become so short-term oriented: instant gratification. This has served humanity well throughout its evolution. If you are able to live in the moment, if you can react to what’s around you and get what you need as soon as possible, you stay alive.

The reality is that beyond these life and death, existence situations, instant gratification creates a shallow perspective on our existence. We aren’t able to appreciate the value of those moments when we are able to pause and wait and reflect on more than simple gratification – short-term happiness.

//

Joy is more than happiness. It is deeper. And “deep” can be challenging. It takes time and effort to cultivate a state of joy in our lives. In a world that seems to be increasingly pressing in around us, does anyone have time to be truly joyful anymore?

Whereas experiences of happiness and merriment can simply present themselves in our lives and we can ride that train for a while, Joy requires effort. Joy requires vulnerability. The kind of joy our Bibles talk about open us up to the complexity of our mysterious relationship with God. To seek this kind of joy is to be vulnerable enough (humble enough) to allow the Spirit be active within us. Joy (in this way) is life approach – my whole being shall exult in my God. Joy comes to the surface from deep within us and the world can be changed.

//

Last week I talks about the diverse authorship of the prophetic book of Isaiah: how the first 39 chapters may indeed be the work of Isaiah, son of Amoz, prophet to the pre-exilic kings of Judah, but that at chapter 40, we have the words of a later prophet who was among those people of Judah taken into exile – the prophet who spoke of a hope that the people’s exile would end with such wonderful words: “In the wilderness, prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

Today our reading comes from a third section of Isaiah, chapter 60 begins post-exilic words – the remnant of the exiles and their families born in exile have returned to a very different Judah and are beginning a time of restoration of their lives and a reclamation of the value of their faith in this land of promise.

The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me;

he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners.

The rejoicing of deep faith involve allowing the Spirit to be active – mending broken hearts, bringing dignity and liberty to those feeling bound. The prophet spoke to people grieving the loss of their history – the impact of seventy years of exile, while the symbols of their life in Judah were looted and laid in ruins. The prophet says that the spirit will comfort those who mourn these losses, not with traditional songs and symbols of lament (ashes and ripped tunics), but with symbols of life (flowers and mantles of praise).

//

I love the forest imagery in Isaiah 61: They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, to display his glory. They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations. They shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.

Mighty oaks – trees deeply rooted and symbols of a strong connection to the earth. It is God who gives the people this rootedness. And out of the depth of their relationship with God that the ‘restoration’ will be possible.

This is possible because “the spirit of Yahweh Elohim (the spirit of the LORD GOD) is upon me!”

Centuries later, the Christian leader, Paul, would write: “Do not quench the spirit!” I see that as a call to allow the spirit to be active within the depth of who we are.

If we had read further in Isaiah 61, we would have heard the prophet go on to say in verse ten: I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole being shall exult in my God.

Paul’s version of that sentiment in First Thessalonians 5:23 was to say: May the God of peace…sanctify you entirely.

Deeply founded rejoicing.

Deeply founded joy.

Entire, Holy Joy.

//

As we bask in the soft glow of our third candle in our advent wreath, we are challenged to let joy into the depth of who we are.

That sounds like a desirable thing, doesn’t it? So why is deep joy, so elusive?

I think because we can, sometimes be a bit afraid of digging deep into our psyches.

Real Joy is a deep emotion and deep emotions go together. Letting joy in can also involve us in the other deep emotions (grief, passion, utter disappointment, love).

Anyone who has known deep love knows what I am talking about. When we commit ourselves to loving another at the depth of our being – the highs can be so high, but the lows can be soul crushing. Do you know the experience of living through the death of someone you deeply and strongly loved? The pain of grief and loss is also deep and strong.

Maybe that is a deeper experience than you have had. Myself, I still think about two mentor I have had in my life.

One was someone I knew as a young adult working at camp. This person was old (probably in his thirties) and still had a passion for camp leadership. And the guy could play guitar – he seemed to be able to play anything. And he was so creative and handy – he could fix or make anything. I was like a starry-eyed puppy following him around. I admired him.

The other was a United Church minister who I met just after I was ordained. This person had such energy for church and ministry. He was innovative. We found ourselves working in the same area of Presbytery work. Right away, people started referring to me as a younger version of him. After all, we both had mustaches and played guitar. I admired him.

Both of these mentors, it turned out, had trouble keeping the ‘zippers shut’. They both destroyed their marriages with infidelity. And both of them used ‘sex’ as a tool of power and found themselves being drummed out of the roles I had met them in because of sexual harassment charges.

Admiration and awe became a distasteful disappointment. I let myself get in deep and I also got some deep pain.

//

Think about those times in your life when a deep joy has been connected to a deep pain.

//

As a people who are called to ‘rejoice always’ we are invited into a complex emotional state of being.

//

In ten days, I will be offering a service that has become a tradition in my time at St. David’s. A number of different churches offer what can be called a “service of healing” or “a blue Christmas service”. I refer to ours as “the longest night service” and try to hold it as close to the winter solstice as possible. The Christmas season is a time when “joy” is front and centre. While some are singing “Joy to the World” others are gripped by a different deep emotion: grief (recent or lingering), worry, hardship (financial or emotional), fear, loneliness and many other expressions.

I know what it is like to feel the wonder and beauty of the depth of joy – expressed in love and trust; and I know what it is like to feel the grief and disappointment, if I had never loved or trusted in the first place.

Some choose to avoid the depth to avoid the pain.

Then again as Garth Brookes sang it:

Looking back on the memory of

The dance we shared beneath the stars above

For a moment all the world was right

How could I have known

you'd ever say goodbye

And now I'm glad I didn't know

The way it all would end the way it all would go

Our lives are better left to chance

I could have missed the pain

But I'd of had to miss the dance

In the bigger picture, many of us, most of us can look back and say that the depth was worth it when it comes to those significant relationships we know in this life.

//

But there is one more layer to this discussion I want to offer this morning.

In both of our readings – Isaiah and First Thessalonians – the joy being offered to the people is coming at a time of struggle. The people of Isaiah’s time were returning back from a devastating exile; and the people of Paul’s time had first hand experiences with persecution.

Joy is more than a state of emotional being – it is a gift and a promise from God. To proclaim that I will rejoice always, that I will pray, that I will give thanks…is to not allow the struggle to define us. But rather to allow our lives to be defined by our spiritual relationship with God.

As the post-exilic prophet said: I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole being shall exult in my God; for the LORD has clothed me with the garments of salvation, the LORD has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up.



Knowing God is to know Joy.

Living Joy is to know God.

//

This is where deep faith starts – by grabbing onto the promise and hope that God can be joyfully know and that we are not alone, no matter how elusive joy can sometime feel.

Let us pray:

Gracious God, our hearts are ready to be filled with joy. Let our joy shine brightly so that those cloaked by sadness may find their sorrow lifted. Amen.



#134MV “Dreaming Mary”

SPEAK TENDERLY

December 4, 2011
Advent 2
Isaiah 40:1-11
Mark 1:1-8

(prayer)

The Hebrew word for preacher is קֹהֶלֶת‎‎ (ko-he’-let). ‘Qoheleth’ is the title of one of the books of the Hebrew Bible: the Old Testament. We are more familiar with this book by its Greek-rooted name, ‘Ecclesiastes’ (which means ‘member of the assembly’). This preacher’s most familiar words from the book of Ecclesiastes remind us that: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Eccl 3:1). The preacher goes on to list several examples of opposite, but common, life experiences, like:

• a time to be born, and a time to die;

• a time to plant, and a time to harvest;

• a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

• a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

It is good to be reminded that different times have different needs and opportunities.

//

Even though Isaiah, chapter one, verse one identifies the author as Isaiah, the son of Amoz, the full book of Isaiah is thought to actually be at least two books. Isaiah appears to have two maybe three authors: each writing in a different time into a different context of the lives of the people of Judah. The book as a whole must have been skillfully edited together later to give it a common flow and feeling.

The first half of Isaiah (chapters 1-39) comes from a prophet who lived in Judah, likely in Jerusalem: it was probably Isaiah, son of Amoz, as it says at the start of the book. This Isaiah is the same person who is named in the books of 2nd Kings and 2nd Chronicles as a trusted counsellor and advisor to King Hezekiah and three of his predecessors. The Isaiah of chapters 1-39, lived in the Southern Hebrew Kingdom of Judah in the time of the divided kingdom. He lived through the time when the Kingdom of Israel in the north was overrun by the Assyrian Empire. However, even if Isaiah served as a prophet to kings for 60-plus years as some scholars speculate, he would have died before the southern kingdom was invaded by the Babylonians, which led to most of the people of Judah being forced into exile.

So, we can call Isaiah a “pre-exilic” prophet.

//

When we read on in the book of Isaiah, chapter 40 marks a distinct change in tone. Beginning with chapter 40, we are reading words written ‘during’ the Babylonian exile. We can see that as we look at the first eleven verses today. The imagery...is of Jerusalem imprisoned. The people are comforted by the prophet for their hardship and for the hardship of Jerusalem: the physical abode of their life and faith.

The prophet then describes what we could call a second exodus. While Moses of old led the people across the obstacle of the Red Sea, in this time and place, it was land - it was a wilderness - that stood between the people in exile and their home in Judah.

3A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.

It is a beautiful passage. Imagine a rough and rugged wilderness being transformed so that it contained a straight level highway. I think the imagery of the trans-continental railways is comparable. Trains can handle a bit of grade-variance, but for the most part, if there is a valley, a bridge is needed; if there is a mountain, a tunnel is needed – to keep the tracks as level and straight as possible. The wilderness is transformed to make passage possible.

The physical barrier that existed for the exiled Judeans is not a barrier for God. Isaiah chapter 40 is the promise that the people will return home. That hope was needed to sustain the people during this time.

It was a time for hope.

//

I’m actually feeling a bit behind the times. I was telling some ministry colleagues this week, that because I wasn’t leading church last week, I have to keep reminding myself that Advent has already begun. So, I don’t feel too badly for revisiting the theme of last week’s first advent candle: hope.

Isaiah 40 is all about hope and promise.

//

But...it also speaks to today’s candle theme: peace. The people are comforted and invited to ‘speak tenderly’. That is the language of an active peace.

//

To appreciate a need for tenderness is to appreciate the value in calmness, in a relaxed and safe environment. That is the essence of peace. The prophet knew that Jerusalem was under siege – that any remaining inhabitants were at the mercy of the Babylonians – it seemed the best they could hope for was to be sent into exile as well. The prophet does not use the language of rebellion, the prophet doesn’t even use that language of lament and sadness – the prophet speaks of tenderness.

There is a sense of active care in that word: tenderness.

“Peace” is most often defined by what it is not. On all of dictionary websites I looked at this week, the first definition offered for the noun peace was basically the same. Some of these said that peace is

• “The absence of war or other hostilities” (The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language)

• “the state existing during the absence of war” (Collins English Dictionary)

• “the normal, non-warring condition of a nation, group of nations, or the world” (dictionary.com)

The implication is that peace means nothing unless it has war/conflict to compare it to. War, by contrast, is definable in and of itself:

• “A state of open, armed, often prolonged conflict carried on between nations, states, or parties” (The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language)

• “(Military) open armed conflict between two or more parties, nations, or states” (Collins English Dictionary)

• “a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land, sea, or air” (dictionary.com)

I found this dictionary search a bit disheartening – because I know that ‘peace’ is more than the absence of what it is not. The Hebrew word translated as peace is שָׁלוֹם (shalom). But its biblical meaning is more complex: in shalom there is a sense of ‘wholeness’ and ‘completeness’. On a day-to-day, it is the common greeting of meeting and departing: ‘hello’, ‘goodbye’. In that way, shalom is a promise – we come together and we separate in peace.

That is the same goal we try to express each Sunday, when we spend part of our worship time greeting each other – we call it sharing the peace. Its place in the liturgies of the church dating back hundreds and hundreds of years is that, in Christ, we are whole and we are to see each other with compassion and care – even if that is not how we are feeling.

That kind of peace is an inner attitude – where we come to terms with the need to express and live out a holy tenderness.

//

It was less than a month ago that, within our Canadian cultural context, we pause in remembrance of those who lived through war.

So seldom do wars end in a peace based on tenderness. The peace at the end of war is a forced peace usually; the conflict ends because someone is forced to give up the fight. In that way, the dictionary definitions apply – peace is simply the state of things when we are not at war. That kind of peace has a level of sadness to it, especially for the vanquished, but for everyone who had to live in that time – for there is loss on every side of war.

//

When we lit that second candle today, I hope that it means more than that. I will hold stubbornly to the promise that Peace is more than the absence of war – peace involves caring about the impact of the current situation: to simply care about “what is”.

//

As the television system in Canada went ‘digital’ this past year, our cable provider told us that we needed a digital box to be able to continue to get the channels we have been watching. The advantage is that we are now able to watch some digital channels we couldn’t see before we had the box. The other day I was watching KTLA, a local station out of Los Angeles, and caught live coverage of the police moving in to break up the Occupy LA encampment. It was such a contrast in images – people sitting in circles, chanting, singing, as the riot gear-clad police closed their circle tighter. One by one, protesters were forced to their feet and had their hands bound with those plastic, zip-style handcuffs. A few fought back, but it was striking how many simply went along peacefully (so to speak). Of course the footage that found the airplay on the news programs was of those few who resisted arrest.

This occupy movement has been hard for much of our society to understand. Passive confrontation is hard to figure out. Angry violent demonstrations are easy to oppose and to justify moving in with batons and handcuffs. But we are witnessing a situation where the violence doesn’t exist until the batons are brought in. I suspect that most of us have seen the images from the University of California – Davis where the peaceful protesters were simply sitting on the sidewalk [slide] and the riot-geared campus police officer went back and forth down the line emptying the pepper spray bottle.

// At its heart, the Occupy movement is an expression that the status quo is frustratingly broken and unfair. There are any number of reasons why the occupiers believe things are this way, so the Occupy movement is disjointed in the details of its message.

But, in all honesty, amongst the occupiers there is a belief that things can really change. There is enough cynicism to see there is a problem with fairness in our systems, but not so much cynicism that stops the belief that change is possible.

//

Keeping the peace in the midst of change is extremely hard, because change is always about ‘loss’ and people will often fight to avoid losing. And so it is not surprising to see the violent fight in relation to the occupy movement does not come from the occupiers.

Peace is more than the absence of violence – it is an attitude that tenderness should be the normative state of the way we relate to each other. This is counter-cultural. The wider society has trouble with ‘tenderness’ – it is seen as a weak or defeated attitude.

But if we are able to hold onto tenderness in a time of change, even loss, we may very well be living in the light of this second candle. The Judeans living in exile, knew change to a much greater extent that we do that’s for sure – and the message to them was one of tenderness. Live out the change in peace and hope.

//

Change was the message of John the Baptist. His key word was ‘repent’, which means change direction, turn back to God, he was saying to the crowds by the river. The gospel writers borrowed the comforting exilic language from Isaiah to bring meaning to John’s call to change – what was literally a desert highway to the people of six centuries earlier, now a highway of the heart, where people could walk straight to God. That is the message John wants the people to hear, before they get to experience that reality in an experience of Jesus.

//

I suppose the challenge is still before us in our time and place, will we hear the call to tender living – a path of safety and security, light a highway with all of the obstacles and dangers removed.

Living in peace and hope may be counter cultural, but that is our calling. Jesus’ brought a new way of seeing people with compassion and care. Even his disciples were shocked at how much tenderness Jesus showed. In the end he would tell them to love one another as he had loved them.

And here at the beginning of Jesus’ life and ministry, John invites people to be on that path as well and be ready for a spirit that will change them.

//

Let us be people of comfort, of tenderness, of peace – even in the midst of change.

Let us pray...

In the midst of chaos, O God, we seek a patience to wait, to listen and to act with all compassion and tenderness. As followers of Jesus, we will live his shalom. Amen.



**Offering**