Looking Ahead to December 22, 2019 -- Advent 4 -- Love

This week in our "Stories of the Season" series we will be reading Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect, which is a story about self-sacrificing love.

The Scripture readings this week are:

• 1 John 4:16-21
• John 15:4-14

The Sermon title is Evergreen Love.

Early Thoughts: I think love is a verb, not a feeling. For those of us who follow Christ it is also a commandment, a way of living, a Rule of Life. It is part of being Christ-like.

More specifically we are called to love our neighbours both the ones we like and the ones we don't like (I would point out Jesus never commands us to like anybody) which, if love is a verb, means to act lovingly towards them. We are called to give of ourselves for the benefit of others.

We are able to do this, however imperfectly, for one reason. We are able to love and give of ourselves because we have been loved in this way. Giving of ourselves, in whatever way we are able to do so, puts arms and legs on the rhetoric of love. It means we have pushed aside the fear of loss and giving up in the service of our neighbour.

Isn't this what Jesus models? Isn't this what the Incarnation accomplishes? Jesus comes to live out love, and in the end Jesus' commitment to living out of love and proclaiming the power of the Kingdom will lead him to the cross.

Our story this week is about a pine tree who gives up on looking perfect to be closer to perfect in a different way. I believe we have many voices telling us what we ought to be in the world. Christ may challenge us to set aside some of those ideals in the service of a higher cause.

With the birth of a child the world is changed. With Christmas the world is changed. When we hear again the angels saying "For unto you is born this day..." will we be changed?

Love. It makes all things possible.
--Gord

PS: when I chose the sermon title I was thinking of the love theme from the movie A Star is Born (the Kris Kristofferson and Barbra Streisand version) which is called Evergreen. Really it is a classic romantic love song but some of the lines fit with this week's service:

Like a rose under the April snow
I was always certain love would grow
Love ageless and evergreen...
Morning glory and midnight sun
Time we've learned to sail above
Time won't change the meaning of one love
Ageless and ever evergreen

Looking Ahead to December 15, 2019 -- Advent 3 -- Joy

This Sunday will be Pageant Sunday, with our home-written pageant Bethlehem Debunked.  The Youth Group and Sunday School will lead us on an exploration of what the Christmas story tells us.

Before and after the Pageant itself we will hear an excerpt from The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. (Choice of book is no comment on the Pageant we will see)

Looking Ahead to December 8, 2019 -- Advent 2 -- Hope

This week in our "Stories of the Season" series the story is The Christmas Miracle of Johnathon Toomey

The Scripture Readings are:

• Isaiah 40:1-9
• Matthew 11:28-29
• Revelation 21:1-7

The Sermon title is Hope in the Face of Despair



Early Thoughts:  As Linnea Good says, sometimes Christmas is hard. It might be hard for a variety of reasons. Maybe this is the first year after a death in the family (either family of blood or family of choice). Maybe this is the first Christmas after the ending of a long-term relationship. Or perhaps the first year Christmas does not include the kids coming home -- or the first year you can't go home for Christmas. Maybe the winds of economic storms have swept through your life and just getting by is hard enough.

Christmas provides no inoculation from all those things that can make life hard. In fact, given all the expectations around Christmas it can make all those things much harder. It can make one start to despair...

One of the traditional themes of Advent is HOPE. Christian hope is not intended to be pollyanna-ish. It is not a false hope that pretends the hard things aren't real. Our hope names the hard things for what they are, but looks beyond them to see where God is in the situation. What is God doing in the midst of this mess? What might God have waiting after God walks with us through the mud?

Our passages this week speak to this hope. Isaiah talks to people in exile and offers words of comfort and promise. Jesus speaks to those carrying heavy burdens and offers rest (this verse was used to dedicate the bench outside our building). Revelation offers us a vision of the Kingdom of God in full flower.

This week in worship we will take time to hang cards of memory on a tree as we carry our memories into the rest of the Christmas season. Part of how we name our reality and live into hope.

If we let it, despair can claim a large piece of our lives. But we are people of hope. We are not alone in times of struggle. And there is light beyond the shadow. WE await the birth of a child that shares the promise of God for comfort and presence. God can move in our lives bringing hope that stands in the face of despair.

Thanks be to God.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to December 1, 2019 -- Advent 1 -- Peace

This being the first Sunday of the month we will be celebrating the Sacrament of Communion. Also as it is the first Sunday of the month our 2nd Offering for Local Outreach will be taken.

This year our theme for Advent is "Stories of the Season". Each week our service will be interacting with a Christmas children's book. This week's story is A Special Place for Santa, chosen in part in honor of St. Nicholas' Day on December 6th.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Isaiah 2:1-5
• 1 John 4:7-8, 11-13
• Mark 10:13-16

The Sermon title is Peace and Children

Early Thoughts: Jesus said "let the children come to me". I truly believe that the path to the Peace lies through children, through caring for children, through taking seriously the question of what kind of a world we intend to leave for the generations that will follow us.

St. Nicholas is, as many know, the patron saint of Children.

There is another reason I see a linkage between this particular book and Peace.  {Spoiler Alert} At the end of the book Santa places a gift beside the manger -- the list of all the kind and loving things people had done over the year..  The path to peace is through love and kindness and justice (which many say is love put into action).

Jesus also said "Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it". Admittedly we can easily idealize the innocence of children. Children can learn quickly how to be hardened and uncaring. But children also have the ability to show us what it means to act lovingly to anyone who comes across their path. Children can show us how to trust when we have started to forget. Children can remind us of the possibilities of having faith. All those things help breed peaceful relationships.

The Baby whose birth we are awaiting will be called the Prince of Peace. As we get ready for his birth we should talk about the path that leads to peace and love. In another passage from Isaiah that talks about the promised time of peace it is said "and a little child shall lead them".
Peace and children, they go together somehow. Or at least they should.
--Gord

Looking Forward to December 23, 2018 -- Advent 4 -- The Hope of Christmas Future

This week we come to the end of the Advent Season, and so to the end of our Advent worship series and the visit of the Ghost of Christmas-Yet-To-Come.

The Scripture Readings for this week are:

• Isaiah 2:2-5
• Isaiah 7:10-16

The Sermon title is Shadows that Can Be Changed

Early Thoughts: Are we locked into an unchangeable system? Are we such a product of our past and our present that our future is already preordained? That is Scrooge's fear. Having had a change of heart already he is terrified that the shadows he is shown by this last specter are things that must be rather than shadows of things that may be.

But we find out, as Scrooge does, that they are not set in stone. The future may well follow along a course set by our past and present but it is not immutable. Scandalous as it may seem sometimes people can change and in so doing change the punishment we may think they so richly deserve. One word for that is Grace. Another word is repentance. Or maybe redemption.

The life of faith is a life where all three tenses come together. In the life of faith we meet God in the past and the present and the future and recognize that God is active in all those places. This is why we speak of God as the one who is, and was, and is to come.  And because God was and is and will be active we rejoice in the knowledge that the future is changeable and changing.

God has a hope for the future. Isaiah shares one version of that hope in the passage from chapter 2 we are reading this week. There is a lot of evidence in the past and present of humanity that the hope is in vain. There is also evidence that the hope is slowly coming to fruition (although it does not get nearly as much press). As God leads (or drags or goads) God's beloved creation towards that hope God is active in the here and now. God continues to speak to us, sending us messengers to push us to look carefully and clearly at who we are.

For to US a child is born. To US a son is given. The angel message of Good News of Great Joy for all people continues to resound.  Because God loves the world God sends Christ's love and message. Because God loves the world the shadows of the future can be changed. But only if we, like Scrooge, are willing to take the hard look at who we were and are and ask who we want to be. Only if we are willing to let God lead (or drag or goad) us in a new direction.

Redemption and liberation and transformation ARE possible, are in fact happening all the time. Glory to God in the Highest. And on Earth Peace, Goodwill toward all.
--Gord

And as Tiny Tim said:

Looking Forward to December 9, 2018 -- Advent 3 -- Joy -- The Life of Christmas Present

This week our worship series takes us to the visit of the Ghost of Christmas Present

 

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Deuteronomy 15:7-11
• Luke 1:46-55

The Sermon title is See The World Today

Early Thoughts: Sometimes it is hard to trust in the Advent promises of Joy and Peace and Hope and Love. But that has always been the truth.

In Palestine at the time of Caesar Augustus and Herod the Great life was hard. Shepherds were often seen as lowest of the low (after all they probably stank of sheep). And to them angels appeared saying "behold I bring you tidings of great joy".

In the world of Victorian England, where Dickens writes A Christmas Carol, poverty and suffering were widespread, the gap between the haves and the have-nots was wide. Logically speaking the Crachits could see nothing to celebrate. Even Scrooge's nephew Fred, while better off than the Crachits had little reason to celebrate (at least according to his uncle). But on his journey with the Spirit Scrooge sees that they find deep joy in the season.

This week we sing one of my favourite Advent Hymns, Tomorrow Christ is Coming.One of the reasons it is a favourite is because it pushes us to acknowledge that the world is still full of darkness. But then it reminds us of where the Joy and hope of the season really lie: "but Jesus Christ is risen and comes again in bread. To still our deepest hunger and raise us from the dead."

It is sometimes tempting, in the midst of Christmas decor and music, to turn a blind eye to the hardships of the world, even if only for a couple of weeks. Christ calls to do the opposite. Christ calls us to see the world clearly. This means seeing the darkness but also seeing the glow coming from the manger. Christmas hope and peace and joy are not based on what fills the front pages of our newspapers. They are based in Love taking human form. They are based in the God who invites shepherds to the manger, who invites a miserly curmudgeon to be redeemed, who is made incarnate so that we too can be transformed.

Yes we need to see the world clearly. And that is not always pleasant. But we also need to see clearly the source of our hope and joy. Christmas, God coming into the world to offer redemption and transformation, is not only part of our past. It is also a part of our present. SO we can sing the words of Isaiah :

Looking Forward to December 2, 2018 --Advent 2 -- The Remembrance of Christmas Past

This being the first Sunday of the month we will be celebrating the Sacrament of Communion.

This week our Advent theme takes us to the 2nd Stave of A Christmas Carol and the visit from the Ghost of Christmas Past. As a part of marking Christmas Past we will take time near the end of the service for a Blue Christmas commemoration.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Isaiah 40:1-2
• Revelation 21:3-5
• Luke 4:17-19

The Sermon title is Carry Forward the Past

Early Thoughts: We are all a product of our past, for better or for worse. In our past we have been taught various things, various ways of being, various ways of believing, various ways of interacting with others. In our past we have been wounded. In our past we have been blessed. All of those things from our past have shaped who we are today.

This can feel like a trap. It can feel like we are doomed to be who we are because of who we were. It can feel that because of our past wounds we are forever broken, because of the sorrow in our past joy is harder to find now.

What do you carry forward from your past?

Here is the redeeming word of Grace. While our past has shaped us, it does not need to trap us. Isaiah speaking to exiles in Babylon and the close of John's Revelation while on the Island of Patmos remind us that God is actively easing our comforts and bringing our pain to a close. We can learn from our past but not let it control us forever.

Christmas is one of those times of year that often seems inextricably bound up with the past, with traditions, with having to do things the "way they have always been done". This can be difficult for many people. Sometimes we need to find a new way free of the past. Sometimes the past leaves us in unhealthy places. I have come to believe that God (who is and was and yet will be, who is past present and future) calls us to look at how we got here with both a nostalgic AND a critical eye.

What will you do with what you carry forward from your past?

Scrooge is led on a journey of his past. This journey helps him see how he got to be the man he is. That journey reminds him of some of the pains that live in his soul. As we continue our journey to the manger we do need to name those things that dampen our joyfulness. Some of those are in our present, in our recent past, or deep in the depths of time. We do that not to allow them to take over. Nor do we think that by naming them we can "get over them". We do it because we we trust in the God who offers comfort, who conquers death. This is the God who is breaking into the world again this Christmas, the God who redeems our past and helps us decide what we are going to carry forward.
--Gord

Newsletter & Newspaper piece

[I was needing to write for both the local paper and the December Newsletter in the same week. So I wrote this and sent it both places]

Let the Transformation Begin!

The lights are up on the streetlight poles. The decorations are in the malls. As I write these words there are ads out for Black Friday sales. It’s beginning to look more like Christmas.

Many of us have some things, without which Christmas is not complete. Maybe it is a favoured bit of baking, or a particular song, or a party or get together, or a visit with a close friend. Maybe it is a special church service. Whatever it is, you just need those things for the season to feel right.

Two of those things for me are reading Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and watching the How The Grinch Stole Christmas (the original half hour narrated by Boris Karloff, not the Jim Carrey movie) on TV. In fact if I had to choose I would rather watch the Grinch over that other perpetual favourite A Charlie Brown Christmas. (Luckily we own both on DVD so I don’t have to choose anymore)

Why do those two things hold such a place in my vision of ‘making Christmas’? Certainly a lot has to do with history. The first time I was on stage was playing Scrooge in a school play when I was in Grade 5 and I grew up reading and watching the Grinch every year. But there is something more. Something thematic, something in the meaning of those stories.

Ebenezer Scrooge and the Grinch have something in common. They hate Christmas. At the beginning of their stories they are thoroughly unlikeable characters. They seem to have no redeeming values. At the end of their stories they are totally different. They are, to use churchy language, redeemed. The Grinch carves the roast beast. And Scrooge, well we are told that in his life after that magical night “It was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge”. If Scrooge and the Grinch can be transformed and redeemed than surely there is hope for all of us.

Christmas is about many things. But at its heart it is about God choosing to reveal Godself in a new way to accomplish something. To me one of the biggest things God accomplishing in the story of Christ is transforming and redeeming us and the world around us. That transformation starts at Christmas. It starts at the beginning when a young girl hears she is going to have a baby when that shouldn’t be happening. Afraid at first, she ends up singing a song that really has the markers of a revolutionary manifesto: “he has filled the hungry...and sent the rich away empty”. This child will not only change Mary’s life but the world as a whole.

When the baby whose birth we are getting ready for grows up he will stand in his home synagogue and proclaim “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me ... [God] has sent me to proclaim release to the captives”. I hear echoes of his mother’s song in those words. In Christ God is working to transform the world, to turn it upside down and shake it up. In Christ God is showing us (as individuals and as a community) that we can be redeemed, set free from those things that bind us up. In Christ God is inviting us to be changed, to have our beliefs and priorities challenged, to turn and follow a different path.

I firmly believe that each of us has a bit of Scrooge, a bit of the Grinch, in our being. Sometimes we tuck it away, sometimes it comes out boldly. Sometimes our hearts are hardened or 2 sizes too small and we fail to care about each other as fully as God asks us to. I see this when we worry more about the bags of bottles someone grabs from our backyard than the fact that people need to steal bottles to get money for food. I see this when we worry about property values being lowered because “those people” are in the neighbourhood rather than asking how best to help people get their lives back in control. And yes, both of those examples grow directly out of comments I have seen from Grande Prairie people in various Facebook discussions.

When the Scrooge in us rears up its head we are reminded that we too need to be redeemed and transformed. When the Grinch speaks in our voice we know we need to find a different path (though hopefully our hearts won’t grow three sizes because that sounds medically dangerous). But here is the hope.

Christmas is coming! God is once again breaking into our world and our lives. Transformation and redemption are possible. Are we willing to let it happen?

Blessed Christmas.

Looking forward to November 25, 2018 -- Advent 1 -- Bah Humbug

This year we are starting Advent a week earlier than usual to give us time to work through a resource called The Redemption of Scrooge. This week's chapter of the resource is "Bah Humbug"

The Scripture Readings for this week are:

• Galatians 6:7
• Luke 16:19-31

The Sermon title is Marley or Lazarus?

Early Thoughts: Do we really get what we deserve? Do we truly reap what we sow? Or is there a chance to change the path?

Those are some of the questions that get raised in the opening pages of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. By the end of the story we get an answer. But as people of Christian faith we already know it. At least I think we do. In Christ, God offers us forgiveness and a chance to repent.

But the story of Lazarus and the rich man seems to suggest an answer different than the one we find in A Christmas Carol and the one offered in Christ. Because the rich man can not convince Abraham to allow his agony to be eased or to warn his family to change their ways. It appears that there is no way out.

Marley offers a different message. Marley tells Scrooge (and us) that there is a chance, nay a requirement, for Scrooge to avoid Marley's fate.

Who will we believe -- Marley or Abraham and the Rich Man? Often we want others to reap what they have sown but we would rather have a chance to change. That is assuming that we are willing to change.

In Christ God offers the world a chance for transformation and redemption. At Christmas the annual cycle of transforming the world, of transforming the people of the world begins again. Abraham was sure that the family of the Rich Man would not listen to another messenger because they had ignored all the messages before that. Scrooge starts out wanting to ignore Marley or explain the apparition away "more of gravy than the grave". Which will we be? Will we accept the challenge of transformation God offers us in Christ?
--Gord

Looking Forward to December 10, 2017 -- Advent 2

This Sunday we will celebrate the Sacrament of Communion

The Scripture reading this week is Isaiah 55:1-13

The Sermon title is Go Out in Joy

Early Thoughts:
They could be forgiven for having no hope. After all, they were living in exile, a defeated and enslaved people whose land and temple had been destroyed. And to these people God speaks through Isaiah saying:

Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price...Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. 3Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.

In the midst of the lives of scarcity, shattered dreams, and despair God speaks of abundance and promise and hope.

If we are honest, we would admit that we do spend our money and our labour in ways that are often less than satisfying. Often those choices feel forced upon us. And short of the Kingdom of God coming to full flower I am not sure that will totally change anytime soon.

On the other hand, the passage reminds us, there is more about life than those things.  God is still active and changing the world. God's word (the word of life, of love, of hope) is still falling on the world. God is still speaking, and God promises that God's word will have an impact -- eventually at least..

Which means that we can go forth in joy and peace, we can join in the celebration of the earth.

Christ is coming, the birth of hope is nigh, Joy shall come, even to the wilderness.
--Gord

Looking Forward to December 11, 2016 -- Advent 3, the Annunciation

The Scripture Reading this week is Luke 1:26-49

The Sermon title is Congratulations!

 

Early thoughts:  Hi Mary, favoured by God. Congratulations! You are having a baby!

Or maybe a more classic formulation:

Hail Mary, full of grace.
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

But what did Mary think? Did it really feel like a congratulations moment?


Mary is an interesting character in the faith story. Strong yet humble. Virgin yet mother. And, according to the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, she herself was conceived sinless. What do we do with her?

For many years some in Protestant circles have not done much, because to be too Marian was to approach Papist practices. But that seems to be ebbing, we seem to be talking about Mary a bit more. Still I am not sure what to make of her, what to make of this announcement.

Much of the talk about the Annunciation scene is about what God is doing (sensible since in the end that is the main topic of Scripture -- how is God active in our world). But if we take seriously that God is in relationship with God's people, a people who have free will, we have to talk about Mary's role in the story.

I suspect most teen girls in this day and age (or any other age for that matter) would not feel that congratulations were in order when they first got the news that they were pregnant at the wrong time. I wonder how many would feel blessed at first?

Luke's account of Jesus' birth focuses our attention squarely on Jesus' mother, Mary of Nazareth. Maybe to fully explore Luke's story and Luke's understanding of what God is doing we should take a closer look at her too.
--Gord

Looking Forward to December 4, 2016 -- Advent 2, the Promise of Jubilee

This being the first Sunday of the month we will be celebrating the Sacrament of Communion.

The Scripture Reading this week is Isaiah 61:1-11

The Sermon title is Jubilee!

Early Thoughts: Free the slaves! Cancel the debts! Liberate the oppressed!

Scripture shows us that God has some strange ideas. Particularly where economics is concerned. Scripture [specifically Deuteronomy 15] shows us that God advocates for Sabbath years, a time where debts are cancelled and slaves are freed. And in Leviticus 25:8-55 God commands a Jubilee year on the fiftieth year (after a sabbath of sabbaths) when not only is the land left fallow (which hopefully has happened at other occasions as part of good land management) but all land is returned to the families to whom it originally belonged [Jewish families that is, not the Canaanites from who it was wrested to be distributed amongst the people of Israel]. Read about these rules for yourself here. Together the Sabbath year and the Jubilee year make a statement about freedom, about economics, about how we build a caring society.

As far as I have ever heard, there is little evidence for the Jubilee year happening on a regular (or even ever) basis.  I suspect the rules of the Sabbath year were at best unevenly followed as well.

But what if they were? Would that be a sign of God's Kingdom breaking into the world?

I think Isaiah has Jubilee-plus in his mind in chapter 61. The year of the Lord's favour will certainly be a Jubilee year. The time when all will be set right is certainly a sign of (and a call for) Jubilee. It will be more than that though. Not only will land be returned (land is life in many cultures) and economics made level again but there will be healing and rejoicing and freedom. This is what it means to look for the Kingdom of God. We look for Jubilee.

I invite you to read Luke 4:14-31. The beginning of the public ministry of one Jesus of Nazareth. How does he begin his ministry? With Isaiah 61 and the year of Jubilee-plus. When God breaks into the world Jubilee comes. To Christian eyes Isaiah 61 is a foreboding of Jesus, a foretelling of what is going to happen in the life of the man from Nazareth.

Where do you see signs of Jubilee in the world? Do you see any?
What would it mean for Jubilee to become a reality here and now?
Is that the path to actual peace in the world? Is justice a pre-condition for peace?
Christmas is coming, are we ready for the world to be changed?
Are we ready for the possibility of Jubilee?
--Gord

Looking Forward to November 27, 2016 -- Daniel in the Lion's Den, Advent 1

The Scripture readings for this week are:

• Daniel 6:6-27
• Joel 2:28-29

The Sermon title is God Saves

Early Thoughts: Psalm 121 laments "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help."

It then answers: "My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth."

This week we have a story of jealousy/insecurity. And a story of faithfulness in the face of threat. And a story of God's salvific power. Oh, and a few lions thrown in for good measure.

Living in exile, Daniel has become influential and powerful. And as often happens this makes some of his colleagues jealous and nervous. So they decide to get rid of him.

It is hardly unheard of for a power bloc in a society to manipulate the system and get a law passed that is targeted at a specific individual or group.  In fact it is rather common. Then the person/group have to decide it they will play it safe or if they will continue to be true to who they are, knowing that this puts them in jeopardy.

Daniel chooses the latter. And Darius is caught in the trap. (The fact that Darius is so easily played suggests his strength is not in leadership)

But God intervenes.  And Daniel is not broken and consumed by the lions.  Then Darius has an attack of leadership and destroys those counselors who played him so well (which may be very politically expedient since it also ensures they will not plot against Darius himself in the future) before praising the God Daniel follows.

It is one of those stories many of us heard as children (though those versions might have omitted the wholesale slaughter of verses 23 and 24). But why do we continue to tell it? Specifically this week, as we head in to the season of preparation for the birth of Jesus. What does this passage tell us in 2016?

WE live in a world where jealousy and nervousness and insecurity and fear still drive and shape major policy decisions. We live in a world where it sometimes seems that playing it safe is wiser than wholeheartedly being who God has formed us to be. We live in a world where lion's dens come in a variety of shapes and forms.

We also live in a world of hope.

We live in a world where God is at work, sending visions and dreams. WE live in a world where the Kingdom is growing (slowly, sometimes with a setback or two) to full flower. We live in a world where we trust that, in the words of Dame Julian of Norwich, "all will be well".

One etymology of the name Jeshua (Jesus) is God Saves. We await the birth of God Saves.  That is where our hope lies. Even in the face of lions we await the birth of God Saves. Even in the face of threats that would push us to be less than who God has created us to be we have hope and confidence. We can share the visions and the dreams God has sent us because we have hope, because we know that God is in control (sometimes despite the seeming lack of evidence), because God is active in teh world.

Thanks be to God
--Gord

Looking Ahead to December 20, 2015 -- Advent 4

The Scripture readings this week are:

• Luke 1:26-45
• Luke 1:47-55 (VU p.898)

The Sermon Title is Joy that Changes the World



Early Thoughts: Hail Mary full of grace!  You're pregnant.

That would be a discussion one might remember.

Mary fascinates me. We sing carols about her gentle-ness, traditionally she has been called meek and mild and obedient.

I think we miss something.  I think she was a revolutionary.  I think she helps set up the landslide that changes the world.

"For the world is about to turn" says one of the songs we will sing on Sunday.  Christmas is about that turning.  Christmas, whatever else it is about, is about God sending a Messiah and that changes the world.  That is the "glad tidings of great joy that shall be for all people" we hear about from the angels on Christmas Eve.  It isn't just about the God who will not, can not let go of God's people.  It is about a God who sees that the world needs to be changed and goes about changing it.

Joy to the Earth, the Saviour Reigns!

Joy, which is far more than happiness, is a powerful emotion.  Joy springs from a sense of God's presence.  Joy leads to hope, hope leads to power, power changes the world, undergirded by love, bringing out God's Peace.  NOt the Pax Romana, or the Pax Brittanica, or the Pax Americana. God's Peace. 

THe day is coming, the world is about to turn.  And for that we are joyful.
--Gord

Looking Forward to December 6, 2015 -- Advent 2

This being the first Sunday of December we will be celebrating the Sacrament of Communion.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Luke 1:5-20, 57-66
• Luke 1:67-80 (VU p.900)

The Sermon title is A Miraculous Birth, A Special Child

Early Thoughts: Christmas is about birth.  In fact as Luke tells the story it includes 2 births.  This week we look at the often overlooked birth, the cousin who will later baptise Jesus in the Jordan.

AS the story goes, John should not have been born.  Everyone believed his parents were infertile (or at least that his mother was). Zechariah has trouble believing the angel and for that is rendered speechless for the duration of the pregnancy.

But this is a special baby for reasons beyond the miracle of his conception.  This child will be a prophet. This child will turn people's hearts back to God. This child will be, even in utero, filled with the Holy Spirit. So the angel promises.

Then we jump to his birth. There is a bit of confusion and possibly even scandal about what his name will be, but out of that scene Zechariah gets his voice back.  And he sings.

John, his father sings, will be the one to prepare the way. John will remind the people to take responsibility for their sins.  John will, in his own way, lead the people in the path of peace.

When we next meet John the peace will seem a little absent.  His preaching is not the style one would find in the line of "How to Win Friends and Influence People".  But he does influence people, he does gain a following -- so much of one that he becomes a threat to public order and so is killed.  But maybe that is one of the ways we get to Peace.  Maybe we have to be ready to be offended and be offensive to get to the Reign of Peace and Justice.  Maybe we have to face the realities that are uncomfortable if we are actually going to change how we work, how the world works.

Some thoughts as we prepare for the birth of the Prince of Peace.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to November 29, 2015 -- First Sunday of Advent

The Scripture Reading this week is Isaiah 40:1-11

The Sermon Title is Promised Hope Conquers Lived Despair

Early Thoughts:  What are the words of comfort that we need to hear?  What is the lived despair that needs hope to come in and conquer it in 2015?

Have you noticed that there is almost never a shortage of despair? Just like there is always something to worry about, there always seems to be plenty of signs that all is lost.

Maybe a close friend or family member has been "downsized".

Maybe you have had to stop reading news about refugees, or terrorist attacks, or bombing strategies.

Maybe you or someone close to you has had to deal with racism, or sexism, or some other ism.

Maybe it is the crime rates in town lately.

What robs you of hope?  What makes you wonder if God is still active?  What makes it hard to see the road through the wilderness?

This is the world into which Christ is born.  This is the world into which God speaks words of comfort and hope and promise.

These verses from Isaiah were spoken first to captives, exiles, a long way from home.  Exiles removed from the place where, they had always been told, God lived, the place where they could meet God. And then the Word comes to them speaking of comfort, of pardon, of return, of home, of Good News. Into the midst of their despair came hope and renewal.

What is the Good News we need to hear?  What is the word of hope and comfort that will rebuild the highway? What will defeat the despair we see around the world every day in our news feeds and lead us to the the top of the mountain to shout out good tidings (which shall be for all people, for unto us is born this day...)

Highway building is a lot of work.  Maybe there is muskeg and swamp to be dug out, dirt and gravel to be moved around, chasms to be bridged, blockages to be worked around or blown apart, but in the end...

What will start us seeing the roadway where once was only wilderness and mud and rock?
--Gord

Advent Preview....

Been doing some pre-work for Advent today:

Advent 1 (November 29)
We start Advent with the Sunday of Hope. The sermon title is Promised Hope Conquers Lived Despair. Years ago the people of Israel and Judah were in exile.  They wondered if God had abandoned them. Then they heard words of hope.

What is the source of our despair in Grande Prairie in 2015? Why do we need to hear words of hope and comfort? If Christ were to be born here and now what would we want done?



Advent 2 (December 6) [This Sunday will include Communion]
We light another Candle and we pray for peace.  The sermon title is A Miraculous Birth, A Special Child. Nope, not that birth--it comes later.  Did you know that the Christmas story has 2 babies, about 6 months apart? This week we talk about the elder -- a boy named John, son of Zechariah and Elizabeth.

What does John have to do with Peace? WEll part of that might be found in the song his father sings.  Certainly John reminds us that the path to peace calls us to be changed.



Advent 3 (December 13)
This Sunday is Pageant Day!!!! The Sunday School is working away on it.  And of course this year will include another original song.

I am sure we won't use puppets though...


Advent 4 (December 20)
One more week, one final candle -- the candle of Joy. This week we join Mary in proclaiming the Joy that Changes the World.I think we miss so much about Mary when we see her as meek and mild.  She is a force to be reckoned with! And I think she shows a great understanding of the stakes of the events.  Just read her song!  Or better yet, listen to it (this is my favoured setting of it):


AS we sing songs of Joy, as we prepare to welcome the Promised Child, are we ready for the world, for US, to be changed by our encounters with the child?

And because I love this old one...

Looking Forward to December 21, 2014 -- Advent 4

The Scripture Readings for this Sunday are:

• Luke 1:26-38
• Matthew 1:18-25

The Sermon Title is He Said She Said

Early Thoughts:  How did that discussion go?  That one between Mary and Joseph.

It is pure speculation of course.  We have no way of knowing what happened between them when the discovery of Mary's "too soon" pregnancy was made.  Luke tells us the story as Mary experiences it.  Matthew gives us an insight into what happens for Joseph.

But sometime they had to talk to each other...

Mary has a story of an angel and a conversation.  Mary can talk about her (mild) argument with the angel -- "How can this be".  She can share her feelings.  Maybe even share why she agreed -- or if she though not agreeing was an option.

Joseph has a story of a dream.  But before the dream comes his resolution to put Mary aside.  What was he feeling?  Why did he believe his dream?  Whyy did he change his mind?

What if Mary and Joseph each got to tell their story (a mixture of Scripture and imagination) and then turned to each other and talked to each other?  What might that look like?

This Sunday we are going to try and find out.
Will they find consistencies in each other's stories?  Will they have to apologize to each other?  How will they say they found out?  And where do they see God in the whole event?
--Gord

Looking Forward to December 14, 2014 -- Advent 3 & Blue Christmas

There are in fact 2 worship services at St. Paul's this Sunday.

In the morning we have our Annual Sunday School Pageant, written locally, with an original song too!  This year we hear from the Birds of Bethlehem.

Then in the afternoon we have our Blue Christmas service.  This year we will be using our Advent candle themes of hope, peace, joy and love to reflect on light and darkness in this quieter service as we head toward Christmas.

Looking Forward to December 7, 2014 -- Advent 2

This being the first Sunday of December we will be celebrating Communion.

The Scripture Reading this week is Isaiah 42:1-9

The Sermon title is The Servant

Early Thoughts:  Who is this servant?  And how does it tie in to Christmas preparations?

For most, if not all of church history the Christian community has interpreted the Servant songs of Isaiah as referring to Jesus, the Messiah.  It is, however, less clear what Isaiah might have meant.  He could have been sharing a messianic "job description" (although it misses distinct things that the Messiah was expected to accomplish--like the renewal of the Davidic monarchy) and so the servant is the Messiah.  Or the Servant could be the people/nation as a whole.  In English translation (both in Christian Bibles and in my copy of the Tanakh, the Jewish Bible) I personally think it reads as the Servant as a singular individual.  And as the inheritor of Christian tradition I see Christ in it quite clearly.

Which answers how this relates to Christmas.  It isn't about pregnancy and birth but it does tell us something about the one who will be born.

I think it also tells us something about the Kingdom.  Whatever else Jesus was or did, it is clear in the Gospel accounts that his primary passion, his main message was proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom of God.  And so he described what the Kingdom would be like, he showed how people would live in the Kingdom.  It could be argued that everything Jesus did or said--the wise aphorisms, the parables, the healings, everything--was about the Kingdom.  And so everything that the servant does in this passage is also about building or living in the Kingdom.

In the Advent season we are not only waiting to celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth 2 millennia ago.  We are also waiting for the Kingdom to be born in our midst in 2014.  Where do we look for the servant today?
--Gord