Words of Welcome

  Psalm 148 The joyous strains of the angel voices singing praise to God can be heard echoing from the heavens and across the mountains. They invite us to join in singing  “Gloria in Excelsis Deo!” Yes, “Glory to God in the Highest!” And as Isaiah declared: “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness” ( Is. 61:10 ). Let us, therefore, join this joyous chorus that brings together the voices of heaven and earth and all that dwells within them, in shouting “Praise the Lord!” Or, if you prefer the Hebrew, we can shout “Hallelujah!”   This morning we gather on the third day of Christmas, which means our true loves should give us “three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree!” That means there are still nine more days of Christmas before the season closes on January 6, the Day of Epiphany. January 6 is the day western Christians cele

The Annunciation to Mary, by Fr. George Saget 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16 The angel Gabriel revealed to Mary that God had chosen her to be the mother of the “Son of the Most High.” This son of hers would also receive the throne of his ancestor David and “reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” ( Lk 1:26-33 ). So, in answer to the song, “Mary Did You Know?” the answer is yes, Gabriel gave her the news.  Gabriel’s announcement to Mary is rooted in God’s promise to David made centuries before that David’s house and kingdom would be “made sure forever before me, your throne shall be established forever.” (2 Sam 7:16).  With this promise, we move closer to the “little town of Bethlehem,” where the Son of the Most High lay in a manger. To get a feel for the story that we read in Second Samuel, we need to remember that the story of David’s encounter with Nathan took place four hundred years before the story was written for exiles living in Babylon. When t

  Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 We lit the pink candle this morning, which means it’s time to rejoice. This is the message the prophet delivered to a group of people who had returned home from exile in Babylon:  “I will rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation.” Paul puts it this way in his first letter to the Thessalonians: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” ( 1 Thess. 5:16-18) .  So, in the words of an old Three Dog Night song, let us sing: “Joy to the world, all the boys and girls, now Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, Joy to you and me.” When the exiles returned home from Babylon, they found their homeland lying in ruins. To get a sense of the devastation that is envisioned by this post-exilic prophet, we might think in terms of what we’ve observed from the wars in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. When you survey this kind of

  John the Baptist, Rosary Basilica, Lourdes Isaiah 40:1-11 Imagine this scene: You’re standing in the heavenly courts when God gets up to speak. God tells the heavenly council: “Comfort, O comfort my people.” Yes, “speak tenderly to Jerusalem” because the city has paid the penalty. Therefore, the time for healing has begun.      Then a voice from the council responds: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God” so that “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.” That’s good news for exiles living in Babylon because that means it’s time for God to lead them home on a brand-new freeway!   Then a third voice offers a word of caution. While God is faithful, people are a lot like grass that withers when “the breath of the Lord blows upon it.” Nevertheless, despite our tendency to fall short of God’s expectations, God’s word stands forever. In this, there is hope.  So, let us go to the mountain and shout out with our strength to

  Isaiah 64:1-9 Right now, many of us are praying: “Lord, Have Mercy.” We’re praying for 2020 to end so we can finally move into 2021. This year has been so challenging that the numbers “2020" have become the newest “swear word.” Surely 2021 will be a much better year!   The good news is that the first Sunday of Advent signals the beginning of a new liturgical year. It invites us to wait patiently, but with anticipation, for Jesus’ return in glory to set up the realm of God. We’re trying to symbolize this feeling of anticipation by the way we’re setting the Table. We’re starting out with a rather simple layout with just one candle, the candle of hope, sitting on the Table. Over the coming weeks, we’ll add more elements to the Table as we build toward the revealing of Emmanuel, God with Us, on Christmas Eve. While Advent helps us prepare for Christmas, the Scriptures and hymns of the season remind us that Advent is a forward-looking season. Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem serves as

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 We’ve made it to the end of the road and it’s judgment time. We began this cycle of our life together as church on the first Sunday of Advent, and now the church year has wound its way to this moment when we declare that “Jesus reigns where’re the sun does its successive journeys run; his love shall spread from shore to shore till moons wax and wane no more.” We’ve heard a word of encouragement this morning from the prophet Ezekiel. The prophet spoke these words to exiles living in Babylon. He told them that God is the shepherd who brings the scattered sheep living in exile back home to their own land. In doing this, God seeks out the lost, binds up the wounded, and strengthens the weak. When it comes to the “fat and strong sheep,” well, God will “feed them with justice.”    There are parallels between Ezekiel’s message and the Twenty-third Psalm . Like the Psalmist, the prophet speaks words of comfort and compassion to the flock, but as Wil Gafney reminds

Psalm 78:1-8 There is an old Graham Nash song that speaks of teaching the children well. It encourages fathers to “Feed them on your dreams. The one they’ll picks, the one you'll know by.”  The song also encourages children to teach their parents well. The final word is this: “And know they love you.” Yes, know they love you! [Graham Nash, "Teach Your Children Well ."]  Many family gatherings are being put on hold during the upcoming holidays, but these gatherings often including the telling of family stories. It’s a way to share some nostalgia, but also family dreams. What is true for our families, is true of our faith communities. So Passover provides an opportunity for Jewish children to ask questions about what it means to be Jewish. The answers to these questions help form the next generation in the faith. While the church plays an important role in this process, it starts with the family. Parents share their beliefs and religious practices with their children, s

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 It seems strangely appropriate to hear an apocalyptic reading from scripture at the close of a week featuring rising COVID cases and a bitterly contested Presidential election. Are these signs that Jesus is about to return and take us home? If so, are you ready?    In last Sunday’s reading from 1 Thessalonians 2, we heard Paul commend the Thessalonians for embracing his message as a word from God ( 1 Thess. 2:9-13) . Now, Paul addresses the matter of Jesus’ return in glory and the fate of those who had already died. This reading draws on Jewish apocalyptic imagery that envisioned the replacement of the old, broken, world order with God’s new creation. This is the message Paul had preached in Thessalonika.  The only difference is that he envisioned Jesus being the agent of this dramatic break in human history. The Thessalonians were looking forward to this new day, but they were worried about the fate of those who had died before all of this took place. Thi

Young Clergy Man Reading 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13 We come together to worship on the eve of an election. I know many of us are anxious about the outcome and the aftermath of this election. All I can say is, if you’ve not voted, drop off any absentee ballots at your clerk’s office or go vote on Tuesday. Then pray hard! We also gather on All Saints Day to remember and honor all God’s saints, “who from their labors rest.” The word we hear from Paul and his companions to the church in Thessalonika is the oldest document in the New Testament. This is about as close as we get to the very beginnings of the Christian story, which continues to unfold into our day. This community lived with a great deal of anxiety. Part of this anxiety was rooted in their expectation that Jesus was going to return any minute. With this expectation came questions about those who had died. Would they get caught up with Jesus when he returned? I don’t think we experience the same kind of anxiety as the Thessaloni

  Psalm 1 Picture yourself traveling down a road. You come to a fork in the road, so which fork do you choose? Which is the wise choice? What resources do you need to choose wisely? What do you need to know? When it comes to choosing wisely, one of my favorite scenes in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade has to do with choosing wisely. There is a group of people who have reached the room containing the Holy Grail. The room is filled with cups and chalices, but only one is the cup of Christ, which holds the promise of life. The knight guarding the grail tells the seekers: “But choose wisely, for while the true Grail will bring you life, the false Grail will take it from you.” If you’ve seen the movie, you know the villain goes first and chooses a beautiful jewel-encrusted chalice that was fit for a king. Unfortunately, when he drinks from the cup, instead of gaining life, he loses it in typical Spielberg fashion. Now, Indiana has to choose a cup that can provide life-rest

  Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23 Give thanks because God is good! Let us also give thanks because God’s “steadfast love endures forever.” When it comes to the love of God, we’re not just talking about feelings. When Scripture speaks of God’s steadfast love, that love is rooted in the covenant that God first made with Abraham and then reaffirmed at Sinai and in Jesus’ institution of the Lord’s Supper. While we might not always be faithful to that covenant, God’s commitment to this covenant is permanent.      While God remains faithful to the covenant, the Psalmist speaks for all of us when he confesses that “we and our ancestors have sinned.” Yes, we’ve been known to exhibit quite a bit of faithlessness. While the Psalmist begins by giving thanks for God’s steadfast love, the Psalm also provides a lengthy accounting of Israel’s many failures after God delivered them from Egypt. One of those moments of faithlessness came at Mount Horeb while Moses was up on the mountain, meeting with God, and

Psalm 19 Today is World Communion Sunday, and in my theology of the Table, Jesus, the Word of God incarnate, encounters us in this meal. Psalm 19 speaks of other encounters with God, both in the silent voices of the heavens and in the words of Scripture. Together the heavens, Scripture, and the Table proclaim the glory of God. So, what word from God are you hearing in these voices?   The Psalmist declares that “the heavens are telling the glory of God.” Or as Michael Morgan’s version announces:  The heav’ns unfold your glory, Lord/ In every realm of space/ The outmost bounds of all that is/ Resound your wondrous grace [ The Psalter for Christian Worship , p. 29].  The Psalmist also declares that the “Law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.” Or, in the words of Michael Morgan: “Your Word is sure and perfect still, a source of light and life.” The lectionary’s Old Testament reading for today comes from Exodus 20, which reveals the commandments of God, which the Psalmist