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Showing posts from December, 2017

Christmas and the Grinch

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Luke 2:1-20 The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season! Now, Please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason. It could be his head wasn't screwed on just right. It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. But I think that the most likely reason of all may have been that his heart was two sizes too small. But, Whatever the reason, His heart or his shoes, he stood there on Christmas Eve, hating the Whos, Christmas seems to always include a Grinch. There is always someone who just doesn't get caught up in the season. They are doubters and scoffers. The decorations are offensive to their eyes. The music annoys them. They feel busier than they want to be. There are too many people in the stores. Parking is awful. The streets are slippery. And, they are resentful at the social pressure to conform to the season. In response to "Merry Christmas" inwardly they "Bah Humbug". Of course some of us have good reaso

Advent 4- Mary and her song

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Luke 1:26-38, 46-55 The mother of Jesus has had a particularly important place in Christianity. Tradition tells us that when Luke was writing his gospel he interviewed Mary, among others. Mary receives high praise in Scripture. The angel Gabriel comes to her saying, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you" (Lk 1:28). At seeing Mary her cousin “Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!’” (Lk 1:41-42). Recognizing her favored status Mary proclaims, “from now on all generations will call me blessed” (Lk 1:48). We find Mary’s presence throughout the gospels. She created the context for Jesus’ first miracle in John when he turned water into wine (Jn 2). At the cross Mary is there with John as Jesus declares her his mother, and John her son. She is present with the disciples after the resurrection as well. She is also at the end of the Bible in Revelation

Advent 3- John the Voice

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John 1:6-8, 19-28 In C.S. Lewis’ The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe four children arrive in a mystical land called “Narnia”. It is a land ruled by a witch who has caused the whole land to become enchanted- her magic makes it always winter, but never Christmas. The land is still good, and there are still good creatures there, but it is an oppressed land. The potential of the land is locked away. The potential of the good beings there is repressed. The green grass is frozen under the snow. The trees are locked in a stasis. The good people are not free to do good, but have to avoid the eye of the minions of the witch. The potential for joy, for love, for laughter, for goodness is frozen. The four children are at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Beaver when they hear that someone is coming to help. … “’They say Aslan is on the move- perhaps has already landed.’ And now a very curious thing happened. None of the children knew who Aslan was any more than you do; but the moment the Beav

Advent 2- Being at home in God's presence

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2 Peter 3:8-15 There is an interesting TV show Crystal and I saw recently. It’s called “The Good Place”. The premise of the show is that a woman named Eleanor has died and has arrived in the “Good Place” (as opposed to the “Bad Place”). The Good Place is for those who have done an incredible amount of good in their life and very little bad. So a kind of paradise has been created for them by an “architect” named Michael, who seems to be a kind of angel. Eleanor soon realizes that she doesn’t actually deserve to be there. Someone with her same name died at the exact time she did and there was a mix up. The other Eleanor was a human rights activist and a lawyer who got people off death row who were wrongly convicted. … This Eleanor actually deserved to be in the “Bad Place”. She actually worked selling fake drugs to seniors over the phone, and was just generally not a great person. … Eleanor then goes about both trying to hide the fact that she doesn’t deserve to be the

The Spirituality of Apocalypse

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Mark 13:24-37 Advent throws a lot of us off. For most of us Advent is about preparing for Christmas. We are putting up Christmas lights on our houses, and our Christmas trees in the living room. We are starting to hear Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby echo in the stores. We settle into the fact that winter isn’t going anywhere, and we even hope for a white Christmas. Then we come to church and it is doom and gloom-  “in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken”.  … It’s a far cry from “baby, it’s cold outside” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. It seems like every year we are caught off guard. We want to jump into Christmas carols and there is some liturgical Grinch holding it all back and telling us we have to think about this thing called Advent. Advent means “coming” or “arrival”. It is the season when