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
Monday, December 31, 2018
Monday, December 17, 2018
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:
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
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 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
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:
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:
The Scripture Readings for this week are:
- Isaiah 2:2-5
- Isaiah 7:10-16
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:
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
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:
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 :
The Scripture Readings this week are:
- Deuteronomy 15:7-11
- Luke 1:46-55
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 :
Monday, November 26, 2018
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:
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
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.
- Isaiah 40:1-2
- Revelation 21:3-5
- Luke 4:17-19
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
Thursday, November 22, 2018
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.
Monday, November 19, 2018
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:
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
- 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
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