Posts from December 2012

Toward Sunday

The English word “Epiphany” comes from the Greek word epiphaneia which means “appearance” or “manifestation”. On Epiphany we celebrate the moments that God becomes known to us.  Our worship this week will be rooted in Matthew 2.1-12.  This ancient story of the wise ones bringing gifts to the baby Jesus points to God making God’s self known to humankind. What good news have you witnessed over this Advent and Christmas season? Are there some specific attributes of God that you…

12 days of Christmas.

Every day for twelve good days embody love in simple ways: share food, write cards, befriend the poor, do someone else’s dirty chore, stand up for justice, sing a song― let all you do for twelve days long be what you give and do and are for Mary’s child beneath the star. Let each day be a Christmas prayer of joy and thanks and loving care, each day, though it be bright or blah, a day of gratitude and awe:…

Christmas isn’t over!

Christmas isn’t over yet. We have twelve days in which to let the child be born in us anew, to let the holy light shine through, twelve days to love and give our gifts, to say or do some thing that lifts another’s spirits, or their load, or shines a light along their road, twelve days to fight the world’s pull to be asleep and comfortable, but be awake in trust and care because the Holy One is near, twelve…

Christ is Born

  Christ is born― the Prince of Peace, reigning in your heart and throughout the universe; the Word made Flesh, Light of Life, shining from deep in your soul. The Beloved will never leave your side, never disdain your place in life, never abandon your darkness or leave you in your suffering. Christ is born, and Love is in the world. Christ is born. The tender child is yours. Gently care for him. Steve Garness-Holmes, 12.25.12

What WAITS WITHin?

 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb.  —Luke 1.39-41 A holy life, a divine presence grows within you. Blessed are you, and blessed is the fruit of your soul. And blessed is your trust that what in silence and mystery God has spoken to you will be fulfilled.…

Where are you from?

There is a place in scripture that says “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1.46)  We should hear this as a put down on Jesus.  Thinking that any significant teacher, preacher, rabbi, could come from such a small village of no acclaim was unthinkable.  It would be like saying “No one expects anything good to come from Needles or Cool!  Get real!”  This is a judgement on a town and her inhabitants.  So, when we pause to consider…

Toward Sunday

We move into the last week of Advent as we WAIT WITHin the words of Micah 5.2-5. “The speeches of the prophet we know as Micah are believed to refer to events around the eighth century BCE, a time of great unrest and turmoil for the northern kingdom and Jerusalem because of the domineering strength of the Assyrian nation. The people to whom Micah’s words were directed had no chance to match the warring might of their neighbors. Micah insisted…

Light

In the Bible it says:  “What has come into being in Jesus was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it”  (John 1.3b-5)   But yesterday for many of us, it felt like the darkness won.  For awhile it was dark for us all.  For many of us it feels dark still.  So what will be your next step? Is it okay to stayed glued…

Water

“Isaiah’s language in 12:2-6 of the wells of God’s salvation speaks both to those who suffer water’s absence and those who feel drowned in the waters of destruction. God’s salvation flows and overflows, fulfilling the deepest need of parched souls with the very presence of God in their midst…..Water is a common motif in the Hebrew Scriptures. There are narratives of God’s miraculous provision of water for desperate persons (Genesis 21:19) and communities (Exodus 17:1-7). Water is often used as…

The Sun Will Rise

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/28486389] Music stirs and touches the deepest longing of the human spirit.  The hymns and songs of the Advent season can awaken our longings and touch our souls at any age.  Our deep longings do not live in the smell of Christmas trees or the curiosity of what is inside the wrapped boxes.  Our deep longings live in the hope of being released from resentments, being loved in relationship, feeling touched by God.  This season we are closing worship…

Still waiting.

Three Parts to The Season by Susan Palo Cherwien There are three parts to this season: the waiting and the waiting and the waiting. Waiting for the Christ child to come, to be sure, who we know already came. Waiting for the burning coming of the Christ in our hearts, for the I-am-with-you-always. Waiting for the great coming of the reign of God when each table is a banquet and bread lines are no more. There are three comings to…
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