Looking Ahead to January 5, 2020 -- Epiphany Sunday (and the 12th Day of Christmas)

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

Adoration of the Magi

In the seasons of the Church Year the 12 Days of Christmas begin on December 25th and go until January 5th, the day before Epiphany. Epiphany is a feast where we remember the story told by Matthew about the Magi visiting Bethlehem. It is common in some churches to celebrate Epiphany on the Sunday preceding it, which we are doing this week.

The Scripture Reading will be the story of the Magi and what happens after they visit. You can read it in Matthew 2:1-23

Flight into Egypt

The Sermon title is Adoration, Murder, Refugees

Early Thoughts:  Such a warm story, uplifting, joyous -- until it isn't. Where there is light there is a shadow.  Maybe that is why we need to find another road.

The birth of Christ, of the Word made Flesh, means that nothing will ever be the same again. In some way the Herods of the world know this to be true and so they strike out. Which means we may have to return home by another road. It also might mean we need to weep and wail for a time.

The basics of this story are well known.  Matthew tells of visitors, wise men from the east, who come searching for a new king. They visit the current king in search of information. They end up in Bethlehem in a house with a young child (up to 2 years old to judge from the later events in the story). They produce rich gifts and then go home by a different path, choosing not to inform the current king where the child is.

Then it gets less cheery. The child's parents are warned to run for their lives, and so they head to Egypt. They seek refuge in a strange land, fleeing from certain death, never to return. Sadly the king is not worried about finding the right child. So he orders the death of any possible pretenders to the throne. Later the child and his family, wary of the king's son, return to a different place where the child will grow up, to emerge into public life some decades later.

Merry Christmas! Happy Epiphany!

God breaking into the world means nothing can be the same again. God breaking into the world and declaring that it is time to lift up the lowly, to cast down the mighty, to live by a whole different set of priorities threatens the comfort of the way we are used to living. And the world continues to strike back in various ways.

The Epiphany story, in full, pushes us to ask hard questions. It is nice to think of "what a wonderful event this must have been that people came form far away to give this young child such rich gifts". But, as we have shown, that is only half the story. I think we need to focus on the rest of the story.

Massacre of the Innocents

Herod felt threatened. Herod struck back in a murderous fashion. And the Holy Family became refugees, never to return home (in Matthew's story we have no reason to believe that Mary and Joseph were not originally from Bethlehem). The world was changing and Herod wanted to keep that from happening.

What does Christmas threaten in our world? Who are the Herods of our day? How are they reacting to changes that threaten their comfort or their worldview or their position? Where are we in that equation? Who is forced to seek refuge because they are part of the change that is happening?

I find these to be hard questions. Partly because I suspect sometimes we are striking out against the change that God is bringing forth in the world.  Partly because change is challenging. Largely because I am not convinced there are clear-cut easy answers.

But there is one line that echos in my soul in this story. It comes from the middle, as we transition form joy and worship into fear and murder and flight: " they left for their own country by another road". The Magi make this choice out of fear for the child (and possibly themselves). Why might we need to find another road? Maybe we do it out of fear. Maybe out of desperation. Maybe because we have changed where we think we are going?

What road will we take into the post-Christmas world this year?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to December 24, 2019 -- Christmas Eve (service is at 7:00 pm)

This evening's service will conclude our "Stories of the Season" series. We will be hearing a number of stories from the book Listen, Said the Donkey. 

There is a legend that on Christmas Eve the animals can talk using human speech. The Carol The Friendly Beasts grows out of this legend, as (it seems) does this book.

We will hear the Christmas story (including the visit of the Magi so the Epiphany story as well) from the point of view of a Donkey, a Lamb,  a Cat and a Dog.

Then we will hear how Scripture tells those stories as we read:

• Luke 2:1-20
• Matthew 2:1-14

Interspersed with all these stories we will sing carols, we will hear special music -- choir and solo and handbells, we will pray. At the end of the service we will take part in spreading the Light of Christmas with our candles.

Please join us to hear the old story in a new way!

Looking Forward to January 6, 2019 -- Epiphany Sunday

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

For the "Time with the Young at Heart" this week we will be reading the short story The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry

The Scripture Reading for this week is Matthew 2:1-11.

The Sermon title is How to Choose the Perfect Gift...

Early Thoughts: What makes something a good gift? The Epiphany story has many things to talk about. But one of the aspects of the story is those gifts: Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. Are they good gifts? Why? Why not?

2000 years of tradition have ascribed a lot of meaning to the gifts of the Magi (Gold for a king, Frankincense for Deity, Myrrh as a sign of death to come). And it is plausible that Matthew had that meaning in mind when he wrote the story down. But on the face of it they do not appear to be practical gifts.  There are many jokes out there about what the wise women brought to the infant Christ -- all much more practical. Wisdom comes in many guises.

Then there is O. Henry and his Magi. I first read this story about 35 years ago and it has stuck with me every since. I have also seen a variety of interpretations of it in Christmas TV shows. Two that stick with me are Bert & Ernie and Mickey & Minnie. Stories where each character places such a high importance on getting the "right" gift for their beloved that they are willing to part with their most valuable possession. [As I recall, Bert sells his pigeons and Ernie sells his rubber duck].

What makes something the right gift?

I think part of what makes a good gift is that it has meaning in the life of the recipient. The combs for Della's hair, the chain for Jim's watch, they have direct ties to the lives of the recipients, they highlight something valuable in their lives. From a literary and theological viewpoint does that make the gifts of the Biblical Magi good?

Another piece of the puzzle is the sacrifice. That is in fact the major point of the O. Henry story. To make a really big gift means giving something of ourselves. That is a traditional part of Christology (Doctrine about who Christ was and is), that God was giving of Godself in the Christ event. That is part of my theology of Stewardship, we are not asked to give of our excess but are asked to make some level of sacrifice as we join in the work God is doing in our world.

We all have times through the year when we give gifts. How do you choose what makes a good gift to give?
--Gord

Looking Forward to Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve Service this year will be at 8:00.

I'll tell you right now it will be different from past years. We are trying something other than ending with candles and Silent Night (we are still singing Silent Night on this its 200th anniversary just not to end the service)!

The Scripture Readings that will be a part of the service are:

• John 1:1-5
• Luke 1:46-55
• Luke 2:1-20

There will also be 2 poems read:

• There Is No Silent Night by Rt. Rev. Dr. Richard Bott (current Moderator of the United Church of Canada
• No Longer Alone by Miriam Therese Winter (off an old Medical Mission Sisters Christmas album)

And of course there will be carols sung and choir singing and handbells played.

The Christmas Reflection is called The Revolution Starts Tonight....Again

Early Thoughts: The World is about to turn. But then that is true every Christmas.

Beyond the cute pageants and the familiar carols and the TV specials (many of us learned the King James Version of the Christmas story by watching Linus recite it in answer to Charlie Brown's question -- some of us still sing Hark the Herald Angels with faces turned up just like the Peanuts gang) lies a deeper side of this night. The child born this night will change, and is still changing the world.

Before Jesus is born Mary sings (or says, which is actually the verb in the Biblical text) one of the passages we will hear this Christmas Eve. It talks about filling up the poor and hungry while sending the rich away empty, about lifting up the lowly and sending the proud and mighty tumbling. When Jesus is grown he will say things like "Blessed are the meek" and "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because God has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor". Christmas marks the turning of the world.

Christmas reminds us how much God loves the world. Christmas reminds us that God is still active in the world. Christmas reminds us that God has a hope for the world. For God's hope to become reality the world will need to be transformed. The world will need to be redeemed, set free from old habits and chains. The coming of the Kingdom of the Prince of Peace, Love incarnate, the Word-Made-Flesh comes with a revolutionsary amount of change. And it starts tonight.

Jut like it started last Christmas Eve. And the one before that, and all the others.  The Revolution seems slow to take effect. But when God breaks into the world, when Christ is born, when once again we hear the angel say "For unto you is born this day in the City of David" we know that God is still there and that the revolution starts tonight...again.

Birth means change. Are we ready for it?
--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 Ahead to December 24, 2017 -- Christmas Eve

There are two services this coming Sunday. One in the morning and one in the evening.

During the morning service we will be celebrating the sacrament of baptism. We then will join in exploring the story of Christmas.


Our evening service will be at 8:00. At that service we will have lots of music as the Handbell Choir, Junior Choir and Adult Choir will all be taking part, along with a number of carols being sung by the congregation. As is our custom, the service will close with candle lighting and the singing of Silent Night by the glow of our candles.



The Scripture Readings for the evening service are:

• Isaiah 9:2, 6-7
• Luke 2:1-21

There will also be a couple of poems read, one written by J.R.R. Tolkien and one written by Madeleine L'Engle.

The Christmas Reflection this year is called A Child is Born

Early Thoughts: Birth. It changes things. Every child that is born makes a different family, makes a different city, makes a different world. Whenever a new member joins a community the community is changed.

The change may be small. It may take a while to know the difference. Or the change might be overwhelming, noticeable immediately. But there WILL be change!

What kind of change does the birth story we tell this night presage?

What is being born as we sit and listen for angel song this Christmas?

At Christmas we celebrate a birth that happened 200 years ago. At Christmas we celebrate a birth that happens this very night.  Both. At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus the man from Nazareth, we celebrate the coming of the kingdom that Jesus will announce as an adult. We also celebrate that the angelic announcement is as much for us as it was for the shepherds of Luke's account.

For to US a child is born. For to US a son is given. For to US is born this night in the City of David...

Birth, it changes things.  Tonight we mark a birth that has changed, is changing, and will continue to change the world.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to Blue Christmas

This Sunday afternoon at 3:00 we are having our Annual Blue Christmas service.  This service is that time when we pause to recognize that sometimes the Christmas season can be difficult for some people. Maybe money is tight and the stress of trying to meet expectations is unbearable. Maybe this is the year that an adult child is not coming home for the first time (or conversely that the grandparents can no longer travel in the winter). Maybe this is that first Christmas after a death in the family, or maybe is the the 10th, or 21st, or 40th...

For whatever reason, Christmas can be hard. And so we need to give each other space to feels the hardness, We need to ask how God is speaking into the anxiety or the emptiness this Christmas.

Because God is. God speaks to our joy and to our sorrow, to our hope and to our despair, to our comfort and to our discomfort.

The Scripture passages we will read on Sunday afternoon are:

• Isaiah 40:1-11
• Luke 2:1-8

As usual, we will have time for people to light candles as a part of our quieter reflection on where God is in the midst of the season.

Newspaper COlumn for December 1

Is There a Place this Year?

Let’s start with a story (I like stories):

The wind gusted, sending the fresh snow swirling around the lamp post. Miriam shivered, pulling the thin coat tighter around her chest. “Gonna be a cold one tonight,” she muttered, squinting through the darkness.

A little further down the block was the big old church. Miriam remembered going there as a child, remembered the beautiful stained glass windows. Suddenly a friendly voice boomed in her ear. “Merry Christmas! Please come and join us for worship!”

Miriam looked around, wondering who the cheerful man was talking to. Surely it couldn’t be her. Christmas Eve was a special service, someone wearing an old coat and wrapped in a hand-me-down blanket didn’t fit in with the fancy dresses and bright lights. But there was nobody else around. “Ar-are you talking to m-m-me?” she asked.

“Of course my dear,” the greeter replied. “Come in and warm up at least.” Miriam could hardly believe her ears; certainly a chance to get out of the wind was welcome. Gratefully she made her way up the old stone stairs and snuck into a pew way at the back of the sanctuary, just as the opening notes of the first hymn were being played.

As she listened to the familiar old carols Miriam couldn’t help remembering the Christmases of her childhood. Things were so much happier, so much simpler then. “What had gone wrong?” she muttered to herself. Then the pageant started. Watching Mary and Joseph get turned away from the inn Miriam felt her heart reach out to them. She knew what it meant to have nowhere to go.

After the service, Miriam started to wrap herself in the blanket again and sneak out without being seen. No luck. The greeter was right there beside her again. “Where will you sleep tonight?” he asked. Miriam said nothing, just looked away.

Finally she looked up, “I don’t know, there was no place at the shelter.”

“Well that will never do” the young man said. He paused for a moment then a smile came back to his face. “Please come to my parent’s house with me,” he said. The story we just heard reminds us that there should always be a place somewhere.

It might have been a trick of the light and wind. But at that moment Miriam was sure that the greeter’s face was shining, just like the angel in the window behind her. And somewhere she heard voices singing “Hallelujah!”…

We lose it in the lights and the carols. We focus on the baby in the manger or the angels on the hillside, or on the man this baby will become, and we lose it. We lose sight of the fact that Christmas comes to the least and lowest. In the New Revised Standard Version of Luke’s Christmas story we are told that Jesus is laid in the manger because there was no place for them in the inn. Not just the inn was full but there was no place, they did not belong. Then then angels appear to shepherds, dirty smelly shepherds who also did not belong in polite society (at least not without a bath). Where was the place for them?

Miriam was sure she didn’t belong either. But she was told otherwise, she was invited in.

Christmas is not about trees and lights and presents and carols. Christmas is about God joining in with our life. And Luke tells us that God chooses to do that with people who don’t belong, with people who don’t have a place, with those on the outskirts of their world. Christmas reminds us that in God’s eyes all have a place, in fact that those at the bottom have a special place in God’s eyes.

Over 40 years ago Miriam Therese Winter (of the Medical Mission Sisters) wrote these lyrics:

On a dark day deep in December, grinding the poverty, grey was the morn.

Only the clean of heart still can remember the day and the moment when Jesus was born.

On a dark day deep in the present, grinding the loneliness and plight of the poor.

Only the clean of heart dare to remember, the poor were His Gospel and their hope is sure

From Mary’s song of revolution, to the birth of Jesus and on through the preaching and teaching of Jesus it is obvious that God’s plan is for there to be a place for all – even (or perhaps especially) if established understandings and hierarchies have to be destroyed first. We are still waiting for it to happen. Maybe this Christmas it will start.

If Christmas happened in Grande Prairie in 2017 who would fill the parts? Is there a place for everybody in our Christmas celebrations? In our life as a community?

Looking Forward to January 1, 2016 -- New Year's Day, 8th Day of Christmas

The Scripture readings this week are:

• Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
• Revelation 21:1-6

The Meditation title is There Is A Time...



Early Thoughts: As midnight strikes we take one calendar off the wall and put the new one up...

A new beginning. A place for reflecting on what was.

For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven says Qoheleth, the Preacher, the writer of Ecclesiastes. Is this a piece of hopeful wisdom? Is it a reason to despair?

2016 has passed. And it was a year for the history books.  More than one person has commented on the amount of musical talent lost during the year (David Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen, George Michael, Alan Thicke...). We saw a US election that was...interesting. And we wait to see what will flow from the new administration (some waiting with hope, some with utter dread).

What is this a time for? As the chronometers of our lives continue to tick, what season is this?

And then there is God's time. We mark time with clocks and calendars and schedules. And we believe and trust that God is active within this time line. But there is another type of time. Kairos.

Kairos is a time when God acts. (for more about Kairos see the Wikipedia entry here). Merriam-Webster defines it as: a time when conditions are right for the accomplishment of a crucial action :  the opportune and decisive moment

What is God doing right now? In God's eye what is this the time for? Why is this time significant?

Ther is a time...for what exactly?
--Gord

Looking Forward to December 24, 2016 -- Christmas Eve

This Saturday we will have 2 services. One at 6:30 and one at 8:00.

The early service is a shorter, and somewhat more chaotic, service aimed at families with younger children. It will include some prayer, some carols, and the telling of the Christmas story via an impromptu pageant.

Photo Credit

The later service is our larger service. It will include the singing of carols, pieces from both voice and handbell choirs, prayers, a video, the reading of a poem by Maya Angelou, and conclude with lighting candles and singing Silent Night by candlelight.

The Scripture Reading is Luke 2:1-20. Here it is in the King James Version because, well some of us just hear the story told in that language.

The Meditation is titled Peace on Earth.

Early Thoughts: It is right there in the angel proclamation. Peace on Earth.

Centuries earlier Isaiah promised the coming of a child who would be called the Prince of Peace.

Each year we tell the story and share the hope for Peace on Earth.

So why is it so hard to find? Why have 2000 years gone by since the Jesus event and we have yet to really live into Peace on Earth?

It could be easy to despair, to give up hope. It could be easy to say the Peace on Earth is a fool's dream. Or maybe we could couch our despair in religious language and say that Peace on Earth will only be a reality when the Reign of God comes to full bloom on earth, that in the meantime the best we can do is to be a less-violent as possible.

But Christmas tells us different. At Christmas we are reminded that God has not (and will not) given up on the world. Once again God breaks into our lives, bringing the promise and the possibility of Peace on Earth. As people of faith, hope and love we continue to listen for angel song, we continue to run with the shepherds to see the one who has been born. Jesus, Emmanuel (God-With-Us), Messiah, Prince of Peace.

Blessed Christmas

Gord

Photo Credit

December Newsletter

Be Afraid?

Watching the news for, well my whole adult life, I have come to realize that apparently selling people on fear is a very potent way to motivate them. And so...

And the angel appeared in the midst of the congregation and said:

“BE afraid, be very afraid! For unto you is born this day a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And he will cause you to rethink your entire lives!”

Not quite how we remember the Christmas story going is it? For years I have reminded people that more often than not an angel’s appearance begins with an exhortation NOT to be afraid. Scripture reminds us that we need to live in hope and trust and not be afraid. Fear does not lead to the Kingdom.

And yet... I wonder. Maybe we should be a little afraid. At least if we take Christmas and Jesus seriously.

Between Christmas and Easter this year the Narrative Lectionary is going to lead us through the Gospel according to Luke. Luke has long been my favourite of the 4 Gospels, in part because it contains classic stories such as the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son and the Emmaus Road but also because Luke makes plain the social justice that accompanies the Kingdom.

In this Gospel Jesus will begin his ministry by reading a passage from Isaiah that proclaims the beginning of the Jubilee year. In the Jubilee year debts are cancelled, slaves are freed, land is returned to its ancestral owners. The Jubilee year, the coming of the Kingdom, turns our economic order upside down.

In this Gospel we have Mary’s song. Mary sings of the proud being toppled from their thrones and the lowly lifted up. Mary sings this song knowing that the child she carries in her womb is the one who will do these things. The final verse of my favoured musical setting of Mary’s song reads:

Though the nations rage from age to age, we remember who holds us fast:

God’s mercy must deliver us from the conqueror’s crushing grasp

This saving word that our forebears heard is the promise which hold us bound

‘til the spear and rod can be crushed by God who is turning the world around

(verse 4 of My Soul Cries Out More Voices #120)

Be not afraid, for there are tidings of great joy for all the people. Soon will be born a Saviour, Christ the Lord. God’s presence will be revealed in a child in a manger.

But at the same time, be a little afraid, because God is at loose in the world. Be a little anxious, because God is making changes in the world. Be watchful, the Jubilee is coming, the time when the economic order will be turned over to ensure that all have what they need for life, and that in abundance.

Christmas is coming! God is breaking into our lives! For that we rejoice. And as we wait for the Baby Jesus we watch for the changes God will bring.

Blessed Christmas!

Gord

Looking Forward to January 3, 2016 -- Sunday Closest to Epiphany

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

The famed (in song at least) 12 Days of Christmas technically refer to the Christmas season of the Christian Year. This season begins on December 25 (December 24 being the last day of Advent) and continues until January 5th, the day before the Feast of Epiphany, which celebrates the visit of the Magi as told in Matthew's Gospel. Theoretically worship to celebrate Epiphany should happen on January 6th. Pragmatically, many of us mark the occasion on the Sunday immediately preceding the actual date.

The Epiphany story is told in the 2nd chapter of Matthew, and actually has two parts. Part one, the part we usually tell, is the magi traveling and visiting with their gifts. Part two, which is often skipped over because it is much less celebratory, tells of Herod's response to hearing that a child has been born "King of the Jews". We will read the whole story (which coincidentally is also the whole chapter). So our reading this week is Matthew 2:1-23.

The sermon title is Adoration and Murder, The Refugee Messiah

Early Thoughts: Did they know what the result of their visit would be? When the Magi did what probably seemed obvious to them, and asked the current King of the Jews where the baby was did they know how murderous his response would be?

I hope not. Because if they did they were being incredibly negligent.

The fact remains that Herod's response IS murderous. The story is clear that in the space of a few sentences the child goes from being lauded by foreign visitors to running for his life. The Messiah is a refugee, who never returns to live in his birthplace.

Now to be honest, it is plausible that the whole story is theology that Matthew is attempting to turn into history. But still why does it ring so true? Certainly Matthew portrays Herod acting in a way that, based on his reputation, he likely would have done. Certainly tyrannical rulers tend to look unkindly on those who might replace them. And we know full well that refugees are not a new thing. When the world fails to be what it could be, when people try to win the day through death and murder, there are those who flee for their lives.

What does it mean for us to remember that Jesus, Emmanuel, the Messiah was also a refugee?

O Come let us Adore him?
--Gord

Looking Forward to December 24 -- Christmas Eve

We have two services this Thursday. One at 6:30 which is aimed at young families, and the other at 8:00.

At both services we will be hearing the Christmas story as told by Luke.

At the 6:30 service the story will be told with action! As people arrive the younger folk will be invited to take a part in the story and then as it is told they will play out their parts.  There will be some speaking parts as well.

The 8:00 service will feature:

• the Jr. Choir
• the Sr. Choir
• the Handbell Choir
• candles
• 2 Christmas poems

Oh and the story as well!

The Meditation at this service is called The Angel's Story

Early Thoughts:  What would the story be like if the angel told it?

What might the angel have to say to us at Christmas 2015?

We will hear the story from the perspective of an angel serving under the "wing" of Gabriel, the grand herald of heaven.  What did this angel see and hear?  What impression did the messages and events have on him?  And maybe, just maybe, there is a message to us that needs to be shared as the story is told...

Looking Forward to December 24, 2014

This Wednesday is Christmas Eve.  And we have two services.

At the first service (6:30) we will hear Linus share the Christmas story, as so many of us grew up hearing him tell it after Charlie Brown asked if anyone could tell him what Christmas was all about.  Then we will hear about A Candle for Christmas and the children (with help from their parents) will be invited to make themselves a paper bag lantern.

Our other service is at 8:00.

We will have Scripture and music, lots of music, and will close with candles and the singing of Silent night in a darkened room.  The handbells will play, there will be a duet between piano and organ, both Junior and Senior Choirs will sing.

The Scripture Readings for this service are:

• Isaiah 9:2-7
• Luke 2:1-20

The Christmas Reflection is called Light in the Darkness

Early Thoughts: One of the images used at Christmas is the counterpoint of light versus darkness.  Admittedly it is one the images that makes the most sense in Northern latitudes.  As the days grow short and the world gets darker we put up coloured lights and light candles and talk about the Light of the World being born.

This image is one I have been doing a lot of looking at this Advent season.  Darkness as an image is used for many things.  Many people, at some time in their lives, are afraid of the Dark.  Darkness conceals, you don't always know what lurks out in the shadows.  In both the Lord of the Rings and in Harry Potter the enemy is called the Dark Lord. And in both stories the world gets darker and darker as the story progresses--until the darkness is overcome (it gets harder and harder to watch the Harry Potter movies on our TV because they literally get so dark we can hardly see anything).  And let us be honest, there are plenty of reasons to see the world as a dark (and potentially getting darker) place in 2014.  Our news headlines have not always been the most joyful place have they?

But in the midst the dark world we have a strange star in the Scriptural sky, we have the glory of angel choirs, we have the light shining from the manger.

Undoubtedly there are hazards of the dark/light dichotomy.  It has fed into many unhelpful, unfortunate, and unloving descriptions of people.  And since darkness is part of the creation of which God says "it is good" we do it a disservice to always think of shadow and darkness as points of fear.  But it is a powerful image.  SO what does it mean to us in the here and now?

And if we are people who walk in a time of great darkness, how is light shining on us?  And might we learn something from the darkness?

Lots of possible directions for a short(ish) reflection.  Where will I end up?  SOme and find out!
--Gord

Looking Forward to January 5, 2013 -- Epiphany Sunday

This being the first Sunday of January (and of the New Year) we will be celebrating the Sacrament of Communion.

The Scripture Reading for this week is Matthew 2:1-23

The Sermon title is Gifts & Blessings, Fear & Murder

Early Thoughts:  It is a story we all know.  Sort of.  Matthew's version of the Nativity story has the visitors from afar bringing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  And so we have the "three kings" showing up in many Sunday school pageants (and of course in the carol of that name).

But the thing is we often don't read the whole story.  As the lectionary is built the 2nd half of the story is set to be read the Sunday after Christmas (which is often the Sunday before we read the 1st, more familiar, half) which is often a "low" Sunday in terms of attendance.  So this week we will read the WHOLE story.  Both the adoration and the tragedy.

How do we react when the world is being changed?  Do we celebrate or strike out?  

Matthew, in chapter 2, reminds us that both happen.  Matthew reminds us that sometimes discretion is the better part of valour (go to Egypt until the danger has passed).  Matthew reminds us that God breaking into the world, God transforming the world, is a threat to some people.

As God continues to break into the world, as God continues to cause transformation to happen in the world, are we aligning ourselves on the side  of gifts and blessings?  Or are we reacting in fear, in murder?
--Gord

Looking Forward to December 24, Christmas Eve -- the 8:00 service

This service will have Prayers, Carols, Handbells, Candles, Drama, Choirs, Organ!  Oh and the story of course.

The Scripture Readings for this service are:

• Isaiah 9:2-7
• Luke 2:1-20

 There will also be a three person drama where residents of Bethlehem are discussing the strange events.  One is the Innkeeper.  One is the midwife.  One is a wealthy townsperson.

Then there will be a meditation called The Center

Early Thoughts:  This evening we light the candle at the center of our wreath.  It is the center of our circle and signifies the One who is at the center of our hope, the center of the season, the center of our faith.

What is the center of the season? Is it light?  Is it life? Is it love?  I would argue it is all these things wrapped up in a baffling baby.

At the center of the season is the Birth of the one who taught about love, who is sometimes referred to as Love Incarnate.  It is the Birth of the one who came to bring Life, and that in Abundance.  It is the birth of the one who is called the Light of the World.

The center of the season is announced by angel song to frightened shepherds.  "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord".  The center of our faith now lies in a manger, wrapped in swaddling cloths.

On this night we move towards the center.  We gather with the shepherds to see this thing which has been told to us.  Having been to the center we now move out from it.  How will we do that?
--Gord

Looking Forward to December 24, Christmas Eve -- the 6:30 service

This service is our less formal service. 

We will say some prayers, and sing some carols.  We will tell the Christmas story (though I am tempted to see if I can find a YouTube of Linus telling it....)

We will also tell/read the story "Room for a Little One".  AS children arrive they will be asked if they want to be a Dog, Cat or Mouse and then they can take part in the story as it is told.

It is expected that the service will be between 30 and 45 minutes long.

Looking Forward to December 24, 2012 -- Christmas Eve

The Scripture Readings for this service are:
Isaiah 9:2-7 (which will form the backbone of the Call to Worship)
Luke 2:1-20

The Reflection is called What is Born for you tonight?

Early Thoughts:   Why do we celebrate Christmas every year?  Is it a great big birthday party?  Or is it because we believe that the Christ is born again and again, that God continues to become God-With-Us in new and surprising ways?

I say it is the latter.  I say that this (and every) year we are called once again to look and see where God is being born.  It will not likely be where or how we expect it.  But God comes again to bring hope, God comes again to push us toward peace, God comes again to reveal joy, God comes again to spread love. 

Both Isaiah and Luke make it clear that the birth we await is for the people of God, not for God. So for US a child is born.  What is being born for you this Christmas?

What I wrote for the DHT Christmas SEction...

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11)

It is the heart of the story we tell at this time of year. The birth of a child. The birth of hope. The birth that was promised, the light in the darkness.

The original Christmas takes place in a world full of despair. This Christmas comes into a world that also knows too much despair. But still Hope is being born. Still Emmanuel, God -With-Us, is breaking into the world to bring change, to lead us into the Reign of God.

What is being born for you this year? Where is God breaking into your life?

The Congregation of St. Paul's United Church invites one and all to join us in celebrating the Birth of the Promised Child December 24 at 7:00pm.

We wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year.

And as Tiny Tim put it so well. God Bless Us! Every One!

I also sent two pictures for them to choose between.  THey are from the recent Nativity Scene exhibit here at St. Paul's:

 

Worship Teasers

November 25 -- How Do We Know? -- No not a take-off on the Whitney Houston song. (Although that sounds like a great idea! Maybe I will go with that) Instead it is asking how we know Jesus. Now I have to go write a song...


December 2 -- Hope or Fear?-- A baby being born changes life completely. And any parent will tell you that there is both hope and fear in that time of waiting. Why should Christmas be any different? Oh and we will have Communion this Sunday.

December 9 -- Ready to be Refined? -- Sometimes the lectionary gives us strange readings as we prepare for Christmas. But what if preparing for God to break into our world means refining our lives? Are we ready for that? Now to research charcoal burning and ore refining...


December 16 – Our Christmas Pageant Sunday. Come and see what the Sunday School has in store for us this year!

 December 23 -- What if She Said NO? -- Gentle Mary Meek and Mild. Or maybe not. Linnea Good has a song about Mary where she is bold and ready to claim her place in the world. And so I have to ask, what if Mary had said no???? Did God have a back-up plan?

Christmas Eve -- What is Born For You Tonight? -- If you are like me you always hear the Christmas story told in the voice of Linus Van Pelt “For unto you is born this night...That is what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown” But Christmas is about more than one baby being born. Christmas is about God breaking into our lives here today. So how is hope breaking into your life this Christmas?



December 30 – Shall we have a “regular” service this week? Or something more informal involving carol singing and chatting together? Maybe some looking forward to 2013 or reflecting on 2012? What would you prefer???

January 6 -- The Wise Ones Visit –Our Christmas story and season end with the story of visitors from abroad. This year the three “traditional” Magi will come to visit with us and tell their story. Anyone want to be a wise guy????