December 29, 2019 Christmas 1

Matt 2:13-15, 19-21 (The Promise)

13 After the scholars were gone, God's angel showed up again in Joseph's dream and commanded, "Get up. Take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt. Stay until further notice. Herod is on the hunt for this child, and wants to kill him." 14 Joseph obeyed. He got up, took the child and his mother under cover of darkness. They were out of town and well on their way by daylight. 15 They lived in Egypt until Herod's death.. ..19 Later, when Herod died, God's angel appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt: 20 "Up, take the child and his mother and return to Israel. All those out to murder the child are dead." 21 Joseph obeyed. He got up, took the child and his mother, and reentered Israel.

Without the human drama this story doesn’t touch our lives.  It sounds like a fairy tale which might have happened once, but which could never happen again to or with us.

Joseph makes real for us the struggle of God coming to us - and asking us to do something we would never do by ourselves.  God touches us in ways which require risk.  It is when we risk that we discover God’s will for us.

Often this means that we follow our feelings; that deep urging from within.

For faith, as P.T. Forsythe defined it, “is a power and passion in authority among the powers and passions of life”.  It is one of the strongest challenges  in our lives.  It turns us on to the spirit of God who is trying to get us to ‘go to Egypt’...to risk our lives in order that we might really find our purpose, and really live!

“Faith is a kind of knowing that        
doesn’t need to know for certain…”
Fr. Richard Rohr







Prayer though for the week:  “Lord, help me to live by faith and risk loving you in all I say and do.”

Dec 22, 2019 Advent 4

Matt.1:18-25  (The Promise)

18 The birth of Jesus took place like this. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. Before they came to the marriage bed, Joseph discovered she was pregnant. (It was by the Holy Spirit, but he didn't know that.) 19 Joseph, chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things quietly so Mary would not be disgraced. 20 While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God's angel spoke in the dream: "Joseph, son of David, don't hesitate to get married. Mary's pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God's Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. 21 She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus - 'God saves' - because he will save his people from their sins." 22 This would bring the prophet's embryonic sermon to full term: 23 Watch for this - a virgin will get pregnant and bear a son; They will name him Emmanuel (Hebrew for "God is with us"). 24 Then Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God's angel commanded in the dream: He married Mary. 25 But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. He named the baby Jesus.


The Christmas story as told by Matthew is a reminder that all things were not easy for Joseph or Mary.  It is no small thing to believe that “that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”

Joseph was a special sort of person who risked much on a dream and on a willingness to be used by God.

He did not reject Mary openly; he did not even “put her away secretly”, but took her as his wife and became a part of the greatest drama to ever happen - the birth of  Immanuel - God with us!

As we celebrate Christmas the question looms - Is it possible God would do something through us, like God did through Joseph, if we only dared dream enough and risk enough?




“It is Christmas every time you
let God love others through you... yes,
it is Christmas every time you smile at
your brother and offer him your hand."  
Mother Teresa





Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, let Christmas come through me,
hidden ‘in, under, and with’ my words and actions this week, and every week.”

Dec 15, 2019 Advent 3

Matt.11:2-6  (The Message)

2 John, meanwhile, had been locked up in prison. When he got wind of what Jesus was doing, he sent his own disciples 3 to ask, "Are you the One we've been expecting, or are we still waiting?" 4 Jesus told them, "Go back and tell John what's going on: 5 The blind see, The lame walk, Lepers are cleansed, The deaf hear, The dead are raised, The wretched of the earth learn that God is on their side. 6 "Is this what you were expecting? Then count yourselves most blessed!"

The mystery and miracle of Christmas is that it comes in the most unlikely places.
John wasn’t sure it was in Jesus - who was too soft for John.
We too are not always sure where God is in our midst - is God really there in the infant holy, infant lowly?  Yes!  And It is a holy mystery.

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science (and true religion).
Who ever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead.”       Albert Einstein






"The most beautiful experience
we can have is the mysterious.”
 Albert Einstein











Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, mysterious Lord, help me to believe what the eye cannot see, and what the mind cannot comprehend.  Help me to believe that it did happen!  And that it continues to happen, as love overcomes hate in our lives and through our actions.”  Amen

Dec 8, 2019 Advent 2

Matt 3:1-2 (The Message)

1 While Jesus was living in the Galilean hills, John, called "the Baptizer," was preaching in the desert country of Judea. 2 His message was simple and austere, like his desert surroundings: "Change your life. God's kingdom is here."

John came as a voice in the wilderness crying, “Repent...” -
and many didn’t hear; and many of those who did hear didn’t heed; and those who did hear and heed were ushered into the greatest experience of their lives - they discovered the joy of repentance (turning around) and the joy of life with God.

The call to repent may not have been welcome in John’s day even as it is not what we want to hear today.

The poet Auden echoes the need for repentance in our day when, sitting in a Nightclub on 52nd Street in New York City he wrote:

“Faces along the bar
 Cling to their average day;
 The lights must never go out,
 The music must always play.
 Lest we should see who we are,
 Lost in a haunted woods;
Children afraid of the night,
Who have never been happy or good.”

To repent - ”to change one’s mind”,  “to turn around”, to face our inner most self and confess our inner most secrets, our not so holy intentions, is to open the door to forgiveness, and to the possibility of being both happy and good.  It is a most positive act through which God’s grace enters our lives.




Our challenge is to practice repentance
until it becomes a part of our very being.
Something we do often and joyfully because
we know it leads to the joy of forgiveness.









Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to see who I am, confess my inner most secrets and less then holy intentions.  Help me to live repentance so I can be both happy and good.”  Amen

December 1. 2019 Advent 1

Matt. 24:36-44 (The Message)

36 "But the exact day and hour? No one knows that, not even heaven's angels, not even the Son. Only the Father knows. 37 "The Arrival of the Son of Man will take place in times like Noah's. 38 Before the great flood everyone was carrying on as usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ark. 39 They knew nothing - until the flood hit and swept everything away. 40 Two men will be working in the field - one will be taken, one left behind; 41 two women will be grinding at the mill - one will be taken, one left behind. 42 So stay awake, alert. You have no idea what day your Master will show up. 43 But you do know this: You know that if the homeowner had known what time of night the burglar would arrive, he would have been there with his dogs to prevent the break-in. 44 Be vigilant just like that. You have no idea when the Son of Man is going to show up.


It has said that “When we look at the past too much we become depressed or guilty.  When we look to the future too far, we become anxious; when we live in the present, we have less guilt or anxiety.”

Our text causes us to look to the future - perhaps too far - and can give us a good case of anxiety.  We are to be ready for what is to come.  To be on alert, which is both time consuming and emotionally draining.

However, Jesus words are meant to be a promise not a threat.  To warm our hearts not scare us into heaven.  For it is a Friend who is speaking,  a Friend who is coming.  We need not fear!  What a Friend we have in Jesus!

We are getting ready again to celebrate his coming.  We have no idea how he will appear, but stay awake, he will show up in human form again, and again, and again!



"Perhaps Christianity has more to do
with being redemptively human than being
superhumanly spiritual.  It involves the
conversion, not from human being to
spiritual hero, but from inhuman to human.
God will be known in and through our humanity."
William E. Peatman





Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to both see and be you in our humanity.”

Nov. 24, 2019, Christ The King Sunday

Luke 23:33-43  (The Message)

33 When they got to the place called Skull Hill, they crucified him, along with the criminals, one on his right, the other on his left.
34-35 Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.”
Dividing up his clothes, they threw dice for them. The people stood there staring at Jesus, and the ringleaders made faces, taunting, “He saved others. Let’s see him save himself! The Messiah of God—ha! The Chosen—ha!”
36-37 The soldiers also came up and poked fun at him, making a game of it. They toasted him with sour wine: “So you’re King of the Jews! Save yourself!”
38 Printed over him was a sign: this is the king of the jews.
39 One of the criminals hanging alongside cursed him: “Some Messiah you are! Save yourself! Save us!”
40-41 But the other one made him shut up: “Have you no fear of God? You’re getting the same as him. We deserve this, but not him—he did nothing to deserve this.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom.”
43 He said, “Don’t worry, I will. Today you will join me in paradise.”

What ever we say about Jesus and his Kingdom, however we try to understand the manifestation of power and glory which was his as the King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right; how ever much we are moved by the powerful words of the Hallelujah Chorus which shouts “King of Kings and Lord of Lords, forever!”   We are reminded today that Jesus Kingdom is not of this world and is not like anything else in this world.  It is not made up of that which makes up our kingdoms.  it is as different as night is from day.

For it is not a matter of power politics; nor of deceptive promises.  It is not a matter of domination and manipulation.  Jesus Kingdom is made up of compassion, kindness, gentleness, forgiveness, joy, peace and is found in places of weakness and foolishness, where the power and wisdom of God is revealed in all its power  and glory.

Robert MacAfee Brown relates the following life experience.

“The story is a true one.  It takes place on the roof of one of the crematoria at Birkenau, the death camp of Auschwitz, on a gray, cheerless day in the summer of 1979.

A group of us are standing on ruins the Germans tried (unsuccessfully) to obliterate, to hide evidence that six million Jews had been shot and gassed and burned in such places, solely because they were Jews.

I reflect: if Golgotha revealed the sense of God-forsakenness of one Jew, Birkenau multiplies that anguish at least three and a half million times.  For the rest of my life, this crematorium will represent the most powerful case against God;  the spot where one could - with justice-denounce, deny, or (worst of all) ignore God, the God who was silent.

On what use are words as such a time?  So many cried out to God at this spot and were not heard.  Human silence today seems the only appropriate response to divine silence yesterday.

We remain silent.  Our silence is deafening.

And then it comes - first from the lips of one man, Elie Wiesel (standing in the camp where thirty-fife years earlier his life and family and faith were destroyed), and then in a mounting chorus from others, mostly Jews, the great affirmation:

‘Shema Yisroel, Adonai Elohenu,
Adonai echod, Hear, O Israel,
the Lord our God, the Lord is One."








Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, may your kingdom come this week, this day, this hour, in and through me your unworthy servant.”  Amen

Nov. 17, 2019, 23rd Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 21: 5-19 (The Message)

5-6 One day people were standing around talking about the Temple, remarking how beautiful it was, the splendor of its stonework and memorial gifts. Jesus said, “All this you’re admiring so much—the time is coming when every stone in that building will end up in a heap of rubble.”
7 They asked him, “Teacher, when is this going to happen? What clue will we get that it’s about to take place?”
8-9 He said, “Watch out for the doomsday deceivers. Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities claiming, ‘I’m the One,’ or, ‘The end is near.’ Don’t fall for any of that. When you hear of wars and uprisings, keep your head and don’t panic. This is routine history and no sign of the end.”
10-11 He went on, “Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Huge earthquakes will occur in various places. There will be famines. You’ll think at times that the very sky is falling.
12-15 “But before any of this happens, they’ll arrest you, hunt you down, and drag you to court and jail. It will go from bad to worse, dog-eat-dog, everyone at your throat because you carry my name. You’ll end up on the witness stand, called to testify. Make up your mind right now not to worry about it. I’ll give you the words and wisdom that will reduce all your accusers to stammers and stutters.
16-19 “You’ll even be turned in by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. Some of you will be killed. There’s no telling who will hate you because of me. Even so, every detail of your body and soul—even the hairs of your head!—is in my care; nothing of you will be lost. Staying with it—that’s what is required. Stay with it to the end. You won’t be sorry; you’ll be saved.


The American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald once said:
“The test of first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.  One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them better.”

This certainly is the mark of faith which often has to hope against hope and act in love in spite of all the hate.  This is what this text is all about.

It is about the faith which is sure of what it hopes for and certain of what it cannot see.
It is about the love which dares to bear all things, believe all things, hope all things,
endure all things.
It is about being witness to the truth in the face of evil and daring to believe that not a hair on our heads will perish.

 It is not the evil which shall prevail; it is faith in the goodness of God which will prevail!
Indeed, not a hair will perish of what God wants to preserve!





“Christ risen from the dead shows that
there is nothing rebellious creation
can do to cause something to perish
that God wants to preserve.”
Anonymous









Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to hang on when all seems hopeless.  Help me to trust Your endless love when all seems lost.  Amen”