Dec 17, 2017 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 10, 2017 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.”

Dec. 3, 2017 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.”

Nov. 26, 2017 Christ The King Sunday

Mt. 25:34-40

34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what's coming to you in this kingdom. It's been ready for you since the world's foundation. 35 And here's why: I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was homeless and you gave me a room, 36 I was shivering and you gave me clothes, I was sick and you stopped to visit, I was in prison and you came to me.' 37 "Then those 'sheep' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? 38 And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' 39 40 Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me - you did it to me.”

And what ever else these words mean, they do mean that our faith is to be active in love in ways that not even we are aware, in places we least expect to be doing anything religious and with people we never dreamed would have anything to do with God.

As Mother Terese says -
“At the end of life we will not be judged by
              how many diplomas we have received
      how much money we have made
      how many great things we have done,
We will be judged by
       ‘I was hungry and you gave me to eat
        I was naked and you clothed me
        I was homeless and you took me in.’

Hungry not only for bread - but hungry for love
Naked not only for clothing - but naked for human dignity and respect.
Homeless not only for want of a room of bricks - but homeless because of rejection. This is Christ in distressing disguise.  
What we do to them we do to him!  









”Do you want to be a saint?
Be kind, be kind, be kind.”
A Western Mystic








Prayer thoughts for the week
“Lord, help me to be kind, kinder, kindest.
And my faith be active in love.”

Nov 19, 2017 Pentecost 23

Matt 25:14-30  (The Message)
14 "It's also like a man going off on an extended trip. He called his servants together and delegated responsibilities. 15 To one he gave five thousand dollars, to another two thousand, to a third one thousand, depending on their abilities. Then he left. 16 Right off, the first servant went to work and doubled his master's investment. 17 The second did the same. 18 But the man with the single thousand dug a hole and carefully buried his master's money. 19 "After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. 20 The one given five thousand dollars showed him how he had doubled his investment. 21 His master commended him: 'Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.' 22 "The servant with the two thousand showed how he also had doubled his master's investment. 23 His master commended him: 'Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.' 24 "The servant given one thousand said, 'Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. 25 I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.' 26 "The master was furious. 'That's a terrible way to live! It's criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? 27 The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest. 28 "'Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this "play-it-safe" who won't go out on a limb. 29 30 Throw him out into utter darkness.'

The emphasis of this parable is on the servant who did nothing - who was afraid to fail so he didn’t try.  The parable warns us against doing nothing with our talents...our uniqueness...our creativity...our ideas and skills...our unique self.

When we don’t use it we lose it!   It is okay to fail; make a mistake, have a flop.
God has a cure for mistakes.  It’s called forgiveness. It is not okay to do nothing.
Dare to risk making a mistake and discover what God can do even with the little you might have. It can make a big difference in someone's life.  And yours too!




“In this one sense, we human beings
are akin to the battery in a flashlight;
unused, it corrodes.  What we do not
use is wasted; what we do not share
we cannot keep.”  Loomis









Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, give me the courage to try, and try again,
until I too can be a part of the goodness of your Kingdom on earth.”

Nov. 12, 2017 Pentecost 23

Matt 25:1-13 (The Message)

1 "God's kingdom is like ten young virgins who took oil lamps and went out to greet the bridegroom. 2 Five were silly and five were smart. 3 The silly virgins took lamps, but no extra oil. 4 The smart virgins took jars of oil to feed their lamps. 5 The bridegroom didn't show up when they expected him, and they all fell asleep. 6 "In the middle of the night someone yelled out, 'He's here! The bridegroom's here! Go out and greet him!' 7 "The ten virgins got up and got their lamps ready. 8 The silly virgins said to the smart ones, 'Our lamps are going out; lend us some of your oil.' 9 "They answered, 'There might not be enough to go around; go buy your own.' 10 "They did, but while they were out buying oil, the bridegroom arrived. When everyone who was there to greet him had gone into the wedding feast, the door was locked. 11 "Much later, the other virgins, the silly ones, showed up and knocked on the door, saying, 'Master, we're here. Let us in.' 12 "He answered, 'Do I know you? I don't think I know you.' 13 "So stay alert. You have no idea when he might arrive."

It is by grace that we are saved, yet grace which makes no difference in who we are and how we are, becomes no grace at all.

The five foolish bridesmaids remind us that we dare not take grace (oil in our lamp) for granted.  We must always be ready when the moment of ministry comes.  The moment to live out our gift of grace.

The five wise bridesmaids who had enough oil and could not share it reminds us that:
There are some things no one can do for me - I have to do it for myself.
I have to be responsible that there is enough oil in my lamp.
As Post Grape-Nuts says, “You gotta try it a week - for yourself.”

We need to be ready to be responsible to others, with enough oil in our lamps to be a source of hope, comfort, and joy to them.







We need to be ready to give
the gift we have been given -
the gift of grace!






Prayer thoughts for the week:
        "Lord, reminded me often that life and everything in it is a gift before it is a right.
          And help me keep my lamp full of oil so I am ready to be "a random act of kindness".
            reflecting your love for me and through me."

Nov. 5, 2017, All Saints Sunday

Matthew 5:1-12 (NRSV)  The Beatitudes

5 When Jesus[a] saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then 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. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

All Saints Sunday has to do with our hearts.  “Blessed are the pure of heart, (those who have opened their hearts to the redeeming goodness of God’s love) for they will see God.”(  Matt. 5:8) And they will be a blessing.  It will be said of them “He/she had a good heart!”

Heart.  The word appears 872 times in the Bible.
It is an all inclusive word which captures all that we are and means everything we are, the very center our our being, the very soul of our existence.  In the O.T. as well as new and even today, “the ‘heart’ is at the center of a person’s motivations and actions.  It is the deepest fiber and sinew of the human will power”   John S. McClure

As Jesus says a bit further in the sermon on the Mount:
“The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of the evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.”  Lk. 6:45

How is it with your heart?
Believe it or not, want it or not,  God would, through Word and Sacrament search us, cleanse us, call us, equip us, change us, enrich us, forgive us, so that from the heart we might “be merciful, just as (our God) is merciful.”  Mt. 6:36

It makes all the difference in the world when our hearts are turned towards God and God’s grace is at work in our hearts, taking the worst which happens to us and making it a blessing; and taking the best that happens to us and making that a blessing too, not just for us but for others too, who need to know they also are loved by God.

Then we are numbered with the Saints for a Saint is someone with a “good heart”.  A heart which has been captured by the awesome love of God!




“The heart has its reasons,
which reason does not know.”
Blaise Pascal











Prayer thought for the week:  “Purge my heart of evil and fill it with love so I too can be a blessing/“