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Showing posts from December, 2017

Christmas Reflection

Almighty God, you have given your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and to be born of a pure virgin: Grant that we, who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit; through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with you and the same Spirit be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP 213) Merry Christmas! Joy to the World! I hope this Christmas season may be one of joy and grace for you as we celebrate the love of God which has saved us, even when we are constantly in need of saving from only ourselves. May light and hope enter your heart, that you may see Christ in all who are around you!

Advent 4B

Good Morning! I don't know about y'all but did you notice the timing of today? This morning, Gabriel announces to Mary that she will have the baby Jesus... and then when y'all come back tonight, only a few hours later There's baby Jesus! I have been told that time goes fast when you're getting ready for a baby, but that seems a little too fast! Mary and Gabriel These two figures are quite polar opposites. Here we have Mary, a lowly, poor, dirty fourteen ish year old girl whose bridal price was maybe a donkey or a few sheep a nobody in a nobody town and then we have Gabriel one of God's archangels in charge of legions of angels keeper of the trumpet which will blow to signify the end of times a mass of energy, power, and light thrown together by God's plan to save the world. It almost sounds like the start of a Hollywood movie. Keeping in line with their outrageous disparity Gabriel greets Mary, an...

Advent 3 Reflection

Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Fourth Sunday of Advent, BCP 212) "Please keep all hands and feet inside until the ride has come to a complete stop. Thank you." For many in the church, this Sunday is going to feel like a roller coaster of emotion and story. We start the day with the Fourth Sunday of Advent... which usually gives us another few days or week to prepare for Christmas. Yet, this year, its only a few hours after we hear the story of Mary learning she will have a baby does the baby appear on the scene, changing the world. The Annunciation, the story of Mary and Gabriel, does actually have its own feast day in the church, nine months before Christmas, on March 25th. However, most people only hear this story during Advent. I hope you will join ...

Unity at St. John's and Grace

12/14 "As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."  - John 17:21b-23 In the 17th chapter of the gospel according to John, Jesus earnestly prays for his followers. In his long prayer to God, he covers many subjects, but one of the most prevalent ones is that he wishes that his followers will live together in unity. He asks God to bind together all his followers so that they will be one as he and the Father are one. Unfortunately, Church history shows that Jesus' prayer has been desperately needed. Those of us who call ourselves Jesus' followers have seen fit to separate and divide ourselves in so many ways throughout the centuries. However, ...

Advent 2B

In the gospel of Mark The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ Starts before Jesus is even on the scene. It starts with Isaiah... It starts with the prophets! Isaiah being the representative And then we get John. The crazy evangelist. Luckily we don't all have to wear camels hair and leather And eat honey and locusts. Though I thought about bringing some in for coffee hour this week... Any story really begins back before the main character Many times I've heard people tell their life stories by beginning with their parents or grandparents, because what comes before us makes a huge impact on who we are and what we do. Personally I know the truth of this in my own story My parents' stories have impacted my life in so many ways. I am named after my mother's mother, Sharon, who died in a car accident long before I was born. Yet, her name, her legacy, and her death, all impacted how I was raised and who I am today. So...

Advent 1B

Have you ever seen the comedy movie  Chicken Little? The sky is falling! If you haven't seen the movie, what happens is that Chicken Little is sitting under a tree when a piece of sky falls and hits him on the head.  He starts panicking. He runs to the town bell tower and starts ringing the emergency bell. And everyone else starts panicking. Without knowing why. So much so, people are running around, running into things, screaming and carrying on, that the town water tower falls apart  and the huge round part at the top,  full of water, falls down and rolls around town destroying things. Chicken Little's panic does actually cause a real emergency. All because he believes the sky is falling. The sky is falling! Jesus says it, so it must be true. Quite literally, Jesus says the stars are falling out of the sky. Remember the three kinds of apocalypse? The world ending because of natural disaster the wor...