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Christmas Eve

Isaiah 9:2-7; Luke 2:1-20 On this holy night “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness--on them light has shined.” On this holy night we come together in the gathering dark to celebrate the coming of a of a new light into the world, Jesus Christ our Lord. Tonight, we remember that Jesus Christ took on flesh and was born as one of us, that God has chosen to become incarnate and dwell among us.   Tonight, a new light dawns, and we hear again the ancient story of salvation coming into the world as we welcome the coming of the Lord. And tonight we hear again that enduring message of hope, this ancient story passed down year after year, generation after generation for millennia, this message that has survived wars and persecutions, misunderstandings and heresies, exclusion and cooption, this message that shows us that love wins, in the face of every barrier, even in face of indescribable evil, hope always finds a way to su...
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4th Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 7:10-16, Romans 1:1-7, Matt 1:18-25           So today is the fourth and final Sunday in Advent.   Christmas is in 3 days.   Are you ready do you feel prepared?   I’m sure that some of you feel you have the season well in hand.   Presents bought and wrapped, travel plans and schedules complete, cooking, baking and cleaning well under way and so on.   Others like me, may still feel a bit behind, overwhelmed and unsure what even still needs to get done, much less whether we will actually do it .   I have always admired those people who manage to get all their Christmas shopping done in October.   Because whether we are having a big extravagant family Christmas or a quiet time at home with some much needed relaxing it pays to be prepared.           And our bible readings for today seek to make sure we are prepared for Christmas too but in a way that has no...
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3rd Sunday of Advent

Matt 11:2-11 This is the 3 rd Sunday in Advent, or to the rest of the world, only 10 shopping days left until Christmas, and inevitably, expectations are mounting as the seasonal frenzy really gets into full swing.   Parties, Concerts, family get togethers, great food, presents, there are so many great things coming up in the next 2 weeks. But for all the joy and hype of the season, sometimes it can feel like there is an awful lot of stress and pressure that comes along with all these heightened expectations.   And with all the running around trying to meet all of these demands and expectations for the season, it can often leave us feeling a bit let down by the end of it.   Or like our expectations never quite come true.   In the season of Advent, we prepare for the Lord’s second coming and for his coming at Christmas, yet it never quite comes out as we think.   It is so hard for to live up to our own heightened expectations of this season.   Yet the...
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2nd Sunday of Advent

  Isaiah 11:1-10, Matt 3:1-12 See everyone stayed home last week when I liked the lessons, and now this week, you all come back to this messy set of readings, especially this doozy of a Gospel reading.   We all have to admit, John’s entry into the Christmas narrative tends to feel a bit jarring.   We are so used to the prince of peace and glad tidings of great joy.   Festive readings and joyous carols.   Instead today we encounter John wailing in the dessert.   Demanding repentance and calling those who came out to see him a brood of vipers.   It doesn’t exactly seem like a great evangelism tool and it is certainly not what we are used to when we think about Jesus coming into the world. But John’s message is critically important for those who came to him, and for us and for the whole world to hear, especially at this time of the year.   And while John’s approach may make us a bit uncomfortable, that is the point.   Because it is importa...
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1st Sunday of Advent

  Mathew 24:36-44 Today is the start of the Advent season here at church and for many of us, this weekend also marked the start of our full swing preparations for Christmas.   Many of us spent the weekend hauling boxes of Christmas decorations up from the basement, braving Black Friday crowds to get a jump on our Christmas shopping and breaking out the Christmas music.   Even here, those old familiar carols are starting to permeate the service.   And all of this is ostensibly because someday soon, an adorable baby will be born in a manger in Nazareth.   But this is also the start of Advent and Advent isn’t really about all that.   Advent is a season not so much about preparing for Christmas as it is preparing for Jesus.   And I don’t mean the baby in a manger but the real living, crucified and resurrected Jesus who is alive and working in the lives of his followers. This is the Jesus we are called to watch for today, for he is coming and alread...
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Christ the King Sunday Reflection 8:30

Our King [RCL] Jeremiah 23:1-6; Canticle 16; Colossians 1:11-20; Luke 23:33-43 Today, as we celebrate Christ the King, we witness strong-man authoritarians who aspire to be kings espousing nationalist, white-supremacist, anti-immigration, anti-LGBTQ, and anti-democratic policies rise up across the world and right here in the United States. In 1925, as the world was being gripped by similar nationalist, secularist, anti-Semitic, authoritarian, fascist dictators, Pope Pius XI instituted Christ the King Sunday to refocus us on why we are here – to be icons of God’s love in this world. Originally set as the last Sunday of October, Pope Paul VI moved it to the Last Sunday before Advent and called it, “The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.”      Christ the King is a title that strikes a peculiar tension since any and all descriptions of Jesus thankfully bear little or no resemblance to the kinds of earthly leaders and kings Jeremiah condemns in n...
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23rd Sunday After Pentecost

  Luke 21:5-19, 2 Thess 3:6-13 This is the last Sunday of Ordinary time.   The very last Green Sunday of the year, we are drawing to a close our time of walking alongside Luke through his challenging world-changing teaching.   And so Luke, of course has to finish with a bang.   He is not letting us go easy is he?   Instead he goes out with one last big teaching for us about what it really means to follow Jesus in difficult times.   And once again it feels oddly timely even if it is also really ominous. Because today Luke tells us a story about how the world is coming to an end.   But not really.   In our gospel from Luke today, Jesus flips the traditional apocalyptic discourse on its head and talks about how the world is not actually coming to an end.   No matter how much it might feel like it to his followers.   It starts with the disciples feeling good about themselves, admiring the beauty of the temple that the Jewish people, m...
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