Dec. 27, 2015 Christmas I

John 1:14

14 And 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.

 Christmas is past; and the celebration which begins earlier each year, will soon be over.  Yet Christmas is never over.  It never ends.  It is hidden in every day, every word, every deed of our lives.

As we celebrate the Word which became flesh and lived among us, we also celebrate the Word becoming flesh - our flesh - and living still in our midst.

We are to live our words and live The Word so that even our flesh becomes a presence of the God who became human and dwelt among us in Jesus.

For God’s living word - God’s best word to us - is seen before it is heard. felt before it is known, experienced before it is understood, lived before it can be spoken.
God became flesh and lived among us so we could best know God in the most human way possible.   And that is also how we share God - by living God’s word of love.

 “The most important question for me is not, ‘How do I touch people?’  but, ‘How do I live the word I am speaking?”  Henri Nouwen:

Indeed, Christmas is not just once a year.  It is never over.  It is yesterday, today, and forever, as the Word becomes flesh - in us -  and lives among us.
Indeed, Christmas is every day!












Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me keep Christmas all year long, with joy and thankfulness.”

Dec 20, 2015 Advent 4

Luke 1: 39-45

    39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"

Mary is called “blessed” because she allowed herself to be used as a blessing.  She humbly believed what the Lord said to her and let it be accomplished.

God needed Mary to do God’s will.  God couldn’t have done it, at that time, in that way, without Mary.

God needs us to do God’s will in our world.  As unbelievable as it sounds, there are some things God can not do at this time without us.  To follow God’s lead is to discover God’s blessing.  It comes in the doing, for blessing is a serendipity.  Something which happens in the process of surrendering to God’s will.  There will always be a blessing in doing God’s will.

“And Mary said:
 ‘My soul glorifies the Lord
 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
 for he has been mindful
 of the humble state of his servant.
 From now on all generations
will call me blessed,’”  Luke 1:46-48





Prayer thought for the day:  “Lord, what is it you cannot do without me?
Bless me that I might be a blessing and do what only I can do.”

Dec 16, 2012 Advent 3

Luke 3:7-18  (The Message)

7-9 When crowds of people came out for baptism because it was the popular thing to do, John exploded: “Brood of snakes! What do you think you’re doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to deflect God’s judgment? It’s your life that must change, not your skin. And don’t think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as ‘father.’ Being a child of Abraham is neither here nor there—children of Abraham are a dime a dozen. God can make children from stones if he wants. What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it’s deadwood, it goes on the fire.”
10 The crowd asked him, “Then what are we supposed to do?”
11 “If you have two coats, give one away,” he said. “Do the same with your food.”
12 Tax men also came to be baptized and said, “Teacher, what should we do?”
13 He told them, “No more extortion—collect only what is required by law.”
14 Soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”
He told them, “No shakedowns, no blackmail—and be content with your rations.”

John got their attention.  He broke through their blindness, pricked their conscience, penetrated their hearts so they asked, ”What then shall we do?”

It is a question we must ask too, for it is never enough to talk the talk; we must walk the walk.  We must let God get to our hearts and change our way of being, or at best we are just sincere hypocrites, “honoring God with our lips while our hearts are far from God.”

And what is it we are to do?

We are to “To be authentic from the inside out”.  How?
We are to “Share… be fair…be kind.”
That’s it!  Simple yet profound.
A challenge which will lead us to repent often as we seek to live lives which
reflect something of God’s love.

"Three things in human
life are important.
The first is to be kind.
The second is to be kind.
And the third is to be kind."
Henry James








Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, keep me mindful that kindness is next to Godliness.  And being fair and sharing is too!

Dec 6, 2015 Advent 2

Luke 3:1-6
1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar…the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

   “A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
   make straight paths for him.
5 Every valley shall be filled in,
   every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
   the rough ways smooth.
6 And all people will see God’s salvation.’”


Our preparation for Christmas is distracted by the litany of commercialism and the litany of indulgence.  To offset this we need to “discern what is best” about this celebration by going deeper and deeper into the mystery which is Christmas.  This means we look for Christmas to happen in human acts of love wherein we also see “God’s salvation” in action.

This is what Advent is all about.  Discerning.  Getting ready!  When I am ready, I am more able to experience, more able to see.  Ironically, I can also be more spontaneous, more open to chance; call it planned spontaneity; prepared enough to be free to be spontaneous.

A song writer once said,  “Tunes simply pop into my head all the time.
But of course, your head has to be arranged to receive them!”

Are you getting ready to “see” Christmas?  To see it happen again and again hidden in happenings you never expected?  And celebrate the mystery of God’s love incarnate in human flesh?  This is what is coming!
Get ready for a surprise!










“Chance favors the
prepared mind.”
     Louis Pasteur,











Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to not miss Christmas
as it comes over and over and over again, Your love incarnate in human flesh.”