Dec. 28, 2014 Christmas 1

Luke 2:34,35

34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

Jesus came as a sign; a sign of God’s love.  A sign to be spoken for or against.

Many spoke against Jesus in his days - those who loved their religious ritual and formalism more then a living faith.  They didn’t want to lose their importance as religious leaders to one who would make it so easy to be a child of God. The Rich Young Ruler spoke against Jesus; he wanted to buy his way in, not enter through the grace of God. The Pharisee’s spoke against Jesus - they were too proud to live by grace.

The question we all have to struggle with is “Do I speak against the sign God has given us?”

With Christmas over -
do I live as one who has
celebrated it’s mystery
and experienced its joy?

 

Dec 21, 2014 Advent 4

Luke 1:26--38 (The Message)
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth 27 to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin's name, Mary. 28 Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her: Good morning! You're beautiful with God's beauty, Beautiful inside and out! God be with you. 29 She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. 30 But the angel assured her, "Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: 31 You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great, be called 'Son of the Highest.' The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; 33 He will rule Jacob's house forever - no end, ever, to his kingdom." 34 Mary said to the angel, "But how? I've never slept with a man." 35 The angel answered, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Highest hover over you; Therefore, the child you bring to birth will be called Holy, Son of God. 36 "And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months' pregnant! 37 Nothing, you see, is impossible with God." 38 And Mary said, Yes, I see it all now: I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say. Then the angel left her. Blessed Among Women

It is incredible - that Dr. Luke  would report that a young woman would conceive without a man in her life; that Elizabeth, Mary, and Joseph would believe what they were told by angles. It is incredible -not that God could do it.  But that they believed it would be done through them!

The miracle of Christmas you see, is not that God was born of a virgin, but that a virgin believed God was to be born through her.  Not that the Holy Spirit caused Mary to conceive, but that Joseph (and Mary) believed it was the Holy Spirit who did it.

 “The miracle of Christ as Virgin-born,
is a trifle for the mighty God.  That God
becomes a man is an even greater miracle.
But the most amazing of them all is that
the maiden finds the angle’s message credible
and that the Child he promised would be hers.”
                     Martin Luther








Prayer thoughts for the week:
“Lord, help me to believe in the miracle of Christmas.
And walk with Mary and Joseph in a faith active in love.”

Dec 14, 2014 Advent 3

John 1:6-8, 24-27 (The Message)

6 There once was a man, his name John, sent by God 7 to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. 8 John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light. …
24 Those sent to question him were from the Pharisee party. 25 Now they had a question of their own: "If you're neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet, why do you baptize?" 26 John answered, "I only baptize using water. A person you don't recognize has taken his stand in your midst. 27 He comes after me, but he is not in second place to me. I'm not even worthy to hold his coat for him."

“Love came down at Christmas,
love all lovely, love divine;
love was born at Christmas,
star and angles gave the sign.”

And the world did not know him...
And his own people did not recognize him.
And as strange as it sounds. even among us,  more often then we would like to think,
he stands as “One whom we do not know.”

He is among us in places we least expect, in people we find it difficult to be civil toward let alone love and in ways we are far from wanting to take as our way on this earth.  For His way is the way of love and that is the hardest thing for us to come to in this world.  We say we know what love is yet we reject it as the way to run our world.

It is too soft, we say; too sentimental, too easy, too forgiving.  It’s a good way to get yourself killed,  And of course, that’s exactly what happened to this Baby who commands so must attention at this time of the year.
   
Without love, as Paul reminds us so emphatically in his hymn to love, no matter what we do or believe, we are nothing!






That’s what makes this season such a
powerful time of the year.  This is no
casual thing we are celebrating.
This is the cosmic event of all time!












Prayer thoughts for the week:  “Lord, open my eyes to see Jesus in human form-
in those I know not yet am called to love and in those I least expect him to be yet
there he is. Loving, serving, giving hope to the hopeless and a hand to the needy.”

Dec 7, 2014 Advent 2

Mark 1:1-8  (The Message)

1 The good news of Jesus Christ - the Message! - begins here, 2 following to the letter the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Watch closely: I'm sending my preacher ahead of you; He'll make the road smooth for you. 3 Thunder in the desert! Prepare for God's arrival! Make the road smooth and straight! 4 John the Baptizer appeared in the wild, preaching a baptism of life-change (repentance) that leads to forgiveness of sins. 5 People thronged to him from Judea and Jerusalem and, as they confessed their sins, were baptized by him in the Jordan River into a changed life. 6 John wore a camel-hair habit, tied at the waist with a leather belt. He ate locusts and wild field honey. 7 As he preached he said, "The real action comes next: The star in this drama, to whom I'm a mere stagehand, will change your life. 8 I'm baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. His baptism - a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit - will change you from the inside out."

Today we are reminded not to rush headlong into our celebration of Christmas.  To not start the celebrating until we have had time to be still and discover again how deep is God’s love.

We are reminded that we may well need to clean up our own act first, to come to repentance and open ourselves to change, before we can really celebrate Christmas.

Repentance - sounds like pouring cold water on a happy time, but it isn’t.  It is the way to make a happy time happier.  For it opens us to the joy of forgiveness and the joy of Christmas.  God waits for us to come to repentance, so God can love us in a way which makes a real difference in our lives.  So God can soften our hard hearts and make us more loving, as God is loving.



There is something of Scrooge in all of us.
We are reminded today to confess this
so we can truly celebrate the mystery
of Christmas.




Prayer thoughts for the week:
“Lord, help me be open to changing my mind and heart, so your love can be at work in me and through me.  Keep me from thinking I don't have any
Scrooge in me, and help me to confess and be forgiven.”

Nov.30, 2014 Advent 1

Mark 13:32-37  (The Message)

32 "But the exact day and hour? No one knows that, not even heaven's angels, not even the Son. Only the Father. 33 So keep a sharp lookout, for you don't know the timetable. 34 It's like a man who takes a trip, leaving home and putting his servants in charge, each assigned a task, and commanding the gatekeeper to stand watch. 35 So, stay at your post, watching. You have no idea when the homeowner is returning, whether evening, midnight, cockcrow, or morning. 36 You don't want him showing up unannounced, with you asleep on the job. 37 I say it to you, and I'm saying it to all: Stay at your post. Keep watch.”


The word watch often goes with the word out.
“You better watch out, you better not pout...”
It carries more of a sense of a threat of something bad happening rather than a promise of something good happening.
This produces more fear, guilt, apprehension,  which leads to up tight, unhappy living and believing.  How contrary to the spirit of Jesus, who came that we might have life abundantly!

So...lets put in a different preposition - in.

Watch in faith, in joy, in thankfulness, in anticipation of something good going to happen.  Watch in faith for the mystery of God to unfold before your very eyes.
It will...it has...it does...it is happening now!



Watch in faith for the mystery of God to unfold before your very eyes.





Prayer thoughts for the week:
“Lord, open my heart and mind to the joy which is coming,
watching in anticipation of the mystery of your coming to unfold
before my eyes.”