Have you ever heard the story of the rector who was preaching to the congregation on a Sunday, and it’s that time of the year that is stewardship, and a lot of the talk is about giving? The rector says to the congregation, “I have good news. We have all the money we need. We have all the money we need to do all that we need to do.” And the congregation looks a little puzzled. And the rector says, “But here’s the challenge: all the money is in your pockets…”
The historian and theologian Diana Butler Bass, in responding to the tragedy in Arizona last week was quoted as saying that: ” ..the core values of our faith are at odds with violence and the rhetoric of violence. We need to give our people hope that the God born a few weeks ago in a manger is still among us, deeply grieving and deeply caring.”
In every tragedy, whether near or far, in every loss, whether ours or another’s, in every fear and doubt and any crisis that we encounter (and we all encounter many throughout our lives) in all of these instances it is eventually to God that we turn for answers, for comfort, for a reason to go on…
Today is our annual meeting day. I apologize for this service starting later. This is the first time we’ve tried it between services so now we have some ideas about how we can tweak that a little better next year. What I want to do today is, rather that what you might call a regular homily, I will present some thoughts in the context of our annual meeting day. St. Paul’s has many blessings to be thankful for. But with those blessings also come challenges. And so this year, 2011, it certainly is a year of blessings and challenges. I want to share some information with you and put it in context to understand what we’re experiencing as well as that experience within the larger church…
The 1st Lesson: Christ’s birth and kingdom are foretold – Isaiah 9:2, 6-7
The 2nd Lesson: The prophet Micah foretells the glory of the little Bethlehem – Micah 5:2-4
The 3rd Lesson: The prophet in exile foresees the coming of the glory of the Lord – Isaiah 60:1-6, 19
The 4th Lesson: St. Luke tells of the birth of Jesus – Luke 7:7-7
The 5th Lesson: The Shepherds go to the manger – Luke 2:8-11
The 6th Lesson: The wise men are led by the star – Matthew 2:1-5a, 10-11
The 7th Lesson: St. John unfolds the great mystery of the Incarnation – John 1:1-14
He became a child so that you could become a full mature human being. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes so that you could be unraveled from the meshes of death. He came on the earth so that you could live beneath the stars. There was no place for him in the inn so that there could be many dwelling places for you in heaven. He was rich but he became poor for us. His poverty is our riches and his weakness is our strength. He is poor for us but in himself he is rich. You can see him lying there in swaddling clothes but what you cannot see is that he is God’s son…
Good Evening and Merry Christmas. I’d like to offer a thought tonight. Many years ago when I was in the seminary one of my professors once said, “When you preach, just try to say one thing. Tonight I’d like to say one thing. I hope that when you leave here, that that one thing is something you take with you tonight. I’d like to do that by sharing some wisdom from two spiritual writers that I admire, Richard Rohr and Thomas Keating. Share two things from their lives that perhaps captured that one thing…
Four or five years ago the neighbor behind me moved out and someone new moved in during the Fall. At Christmas time, as is my habit, I was taking sweets around to my neighbors and I stopped, for the first time, at this house. Two children answered the door with the dad close behind: a boy about 3 years old, and a girl, maybe 5 years old. I said “Merry Christmas” and introduced myself and offered my gifts. There was a tree in the living room, decorated, and the house had outside lights. So I asked the children, do you think that Santa will be able to find you in your new house?
Today is the third Sunday of Advent. As we continue our journey through Advent, we’re in a time of waiting and wondering, looking back and looking forward. Advent is a time of hoping and searching. Advent is the time of light shining in the darkness, peace overcoming conflict and war, and warmth entering the cold of the world we live in. Advent is a chance of new beginnings. So we try to discover for ourselves and bring about for others images of hope offered in this season of expecting the unexpected…
We have a special guest who’s going to be with us this morning, and taking that into consideration I’d like to share with you only a few thoughts, kind of a “homilette.” He’s certainly an odd kind of figure: John the Baptist. If you think about John the Baptist as we just heard in the Gospel reading, we have certain images in our mind. Oftentimes John is portrayed as being in the desert, oftentimes standing in a river, sometimes holding a staff, oftentimes wearing what looks like animal skins. He’s depicted in our gospel reading today as eating locusts and wild honey…
The words of the prophet Isaiah in today’s Old Testament lesson are especially fitting as we enter the season of Advent. The season of watching and waiting. A season of anticipation and expectation. For they speak of the future in a way that not only expresses our deepest longings but also offers a glimpse of what it might be like if those longings were actually realized. “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war any more…”