Poem based on John 1:1-18 2nd Sunday after Christmas

before all time and being

before the light and darkness

was the God of creation

---- the Alpha

before all worlds

---- and Omega

once again in the timelessness of god

who for a brief moment

-------- in this place

-------- this time

Lived among us

the Word and the work of God

uniting

again and always

the Creator and the Creation

the Word and the Work

in one

the Christ

Emmanuel

Opening Litany based on Psalm 66:1-5

Worship Leader: Come and see all you people, Shout for joy to the Lord our God all the earth!  Sing to the glory of God’s holy name and make your praise glorious

Congregation: How awesome are the deeds of the Lord our God.  How great the power of the Lord God Almighty and all who oppose the Lord our God bow in honor and praise. 

Worship Leader: We will sing the praises of the Lord our God and call everyone to come and see what the Lord has done. 

Congregation: Shout for joy to God, all the earth! Sing to the glory of the name of our God.  Sing to the glory of God’s holy name and make your praise glorious

Worship Leader: Come and see what God has done

Congregation: Come and see and praise the Lord our God for all the awesome deeds created for all of humankind.  

Opening Litany based on Psalm 147

Worship Leader: Let us Praise the Lord for it is good to sing praises to the Lord our God.

Congregation: The Lord builds up the people of God and gathers those scattered by the deceit of their hearts and ways.

Worship Leader: The Lord heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.  The Lord creates the heavens and calls each star by name.  Great and wonderful is the Lord our God whose might and power have no limit.  The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.

Congregation:  Sing to the Lord with grateful praise and make music to the Lord our God.  For the Lord covers the sky with clouds and supplies the earth with rain.

Worship Leader: The Lord makes the grass to grow on the hills, food for the cattle who graze and beauty for the birds to fly over.

Congregation: The Lord does not take pleasure in the strength of the horse or warrior, but rather delights in those who live in the awe and love of the Lord.

Worship Leader: Praise the Lord all you people of God.  For the Lord is your refuge and strength.  The Lord brings peace and satisfies the people with good things.

Congregation: The Lord our God has set the world and all that is in it in motion.  At the word of the Lord, the earth responds.

Worship Leader: The word and ways of the Lord have been given to the people of God.

Congregation: Let us Praise the Lord for it is good to sing praises to the Lord our God.   

soul

Sunday January 5^th, Jeremiah 31: This is what the LORD says: “Sing with joy for Jacob; shout for the foremost of the nations. Make your praises heard, and say, ‘LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’ ⁸ See, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor; a great throng will return.  When we come into contact with the Holy, singing for joy, dancing for joy and grinning from ear to ear, seem to be our only choices.  When we come into contact with the Holy, even the blind and lame will be dancing in the streets.  This is about the exiles returning to Jerusalem, but it is also a vision of you and I, exiles in the land of “less than” returning to the presence of the Lord, to a land of creation called good.  When we return to the Lord from any of our wayward journey’s we may happen to take in life, it is as if someone turned on the light and turned up the music.  You might try to sit this one out, but you won’t be able to.  Dancing for joy is what the soul knows and dancing for joy is what the soul does.  

light

Monday January 6^th, Jeremiah 31: ¹² They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will rejoice in the bounty of the LORD— the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, the young of the flocks and herds. They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more. ¹³ Then young women will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.  Like a well-watered garden, the love of God will blossom and bloom in our lives once we welcome the Lord into our lives.  Our lives’ will not remain as they had been; they will not return to normal, they will not be just good enough.  What will be will be newness and joy everlasting.  Come into the light of the Lord and see what blossoms and blooms in your life.  Welcome to Epiphany, it is amazing what a little light can do.  

grow

Tuesday January 7^th, Ephesians 1:  ³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.  This does not mean that some are chosen and some are not chosen.  What it means is that Christ is predestined to love us and forgive us and care for us, all of us.  From before the foundation of the world, God has determined that we will be loved.  Christ is the way we are loved and life lived to the fullest is the result of being loved.  Our task is now to go forth and show that same love to others.  That is how we watch the love of Christ grow within us.  

destiny

Wednesday January 8^th, Ephesians 1: ¹¹ In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, ¹² in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.  We are predestined not because we are holy and mighty, not because we are righteous and in good standing before our Lord.  We are predestined because that is who God is, and how God does in this world.  We are predestined because God loves us and wants us to love one another.  We are predestined not by merit but by grace.  We therefore are called to love one another with that same grace… it is after all our pre-determined destiny.  

darkness

Thursday January 9^th, John 1:  ¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. In this world we are limited by time and space.  We therefore forget that the God who created time and space and everything else is not so limited.  In the beginning before the existence of time and space was God.  In the end when there is no more time and space there will be God.  In the middle where you and I live there is God.  And this God brought life to all of humankind.  Can you, who are less than God condemn any of your children?  Could you who are less than God in the ability to love throw the switch that would bring on the death and eternal torment of one of your children?  I wonder sometimes how it is so easy to attribute that barbarism then to God?  Is it really who God is, or is it simply a projection of our fear and hate?  According to scripture, God brought light into the darkness.  Perhaps even the darkness of the human heart can be penetrated by the love of God.  

spark

Friday January 10^th, John 1:  ⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.  All who believed in the name of God have been given the right to become a child of God…  And those who did not believe in God’s name??  Perhaps we jump too quickly to conclusions fed from our own darkness in projecting negative human attributes onto God.  For in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and all that lives therein and called it good.  Surely even those who did not recognize him still carry that spark of God created goodness within.  Perhaps our job is to recognize that spark.

winning

Saturday January 11^th, John 1: ¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.  The word that created and called this creation good came into the world not to condemn, but to save.  To think that some will be saved while some will be condemned is to say that human badness is badder than the good, the grace that God can muster.  If it ever comes to a choice, I put my money on the goodness of God winning every time.  

10w for December 29th, Voice in the Desert, NL.

The following is a 10 minute worship for December 29th, Voice in the Desert, NL.   You can listen on the flash player below. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our Email List."  The song for the day is: :Rivers in the Desert" by The Rivers Voice from the CD "Shout for Joy"   http://www.riversvoice.com/shop.php

 

10w for December 28th, Holy Innocents and 1st Sunday of Christmas.

The following is a 10 minute worship for December 28th, Holy Innocents and 1st Sunday of Christmas.   You can listen on the flash player below. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our Email List."  The song for the day is: "Cry Mercy" by Dakota Road from the CD "All Are Welcome"  http://www.dakotaroadmusic.com/index.php?p=product&id=82&parent=4

10w for December 27th, John, Apostle.

The following is a 10 minute worship for December 27th, John, Apostle.   You can listen on the flash player below. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our Email List."  The song for the day is "Give me Jesus" by Rachel Kurtz from the CD "The Recession Sessions"  http://rachelkurtz.com/music/
   

The Holy Innocents Matthew 2:13-18

Among the Pure and Innocent Cries

of a Newborn Child

Come the shrill reminders

of a world

---- and systems

far from that touch of life

a child brings

Far from

the trusting eyes

of love

that want only someone to show caring

Far from this

lies

our world

of agendas

and power and money

shock and awe

collateral damage

and the bleeding, smoldering bodies

of someone else’s child

and the nations play the game

of vying for position 

to make the world a better place
through the moans of death

and lifeless bodies

that are the victims of

what we claim

is a better world

Hear that cry

so pure and innocent

of a newborn child

and remember

what power and ambition and money

disguised as caring and freedom

can do

Good

Sunday December 29^th, Isaiah 63: 7 I will tell about the kind deeds the LORD has done. They deserve praise! The LORD has shown mercy to the people of Israel; he has been kind and good.  8 The LORD rescued his people, and said, they are mine, they won't betray me."  This is an interesting first lesson to the story of Herod’s slaughter of the innocent children while looking for the baby Jesus.  God created the world and called it good.  God created humanity and called it good.  The temptation in the garden was to be like god.  The very essence of our sin is to react to that small spark that is within us and in some small demonic way act on our desire to be  in charge, to be our own little god.  Within us is also the spark that God called good.  It is the spark that can draw us forward in spite of the troubles and turmoil’s in the world.  It is the spark that gives the world hope through the presence of God within each and every one of us.  This season and into the New Year, live a life that fans into flame that spark within you that God saw in creation and called good.  

open

Monday December 30^th, Isaiah 63: 9 It troubled the LORD to see them in trouble, and his angel saved them. The LORD was truly merciful, so he rescued his people. He took them in his arms and carried them all those years. And now through Jesus, the Lord has been carrying us all these years and millennia.  The Lord has been carrying us and nurturing us all that time to bring out the good within, the spark of God within each and every person, given to us in the creation of the world and called good.  Will you allow the Lord to work through you this coming year and be a spark of Good for the world around you?  As we see the results of a world gone mad with greed and power, will you be a counter voice, a counter life?  The Lord will be with you in your endeavors for good and the angel of the Lord will guide you on your way, if your heart is open.  Pray that God would open your heart and use you to be the spark of Good in the world.

hope

Tuesday December 31^st, Matthew 2:  1 Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea during the time when Herod was king. When Jesus was born, some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem.2 They asked, "Where is the baby who was born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."  The angels brought the good news to the shepherds in the hills and they came and worshiped the new born king.  The angels were the light that drew the Magi from the east, spreading the good news beyond the boundaries of existence and acceptability of holiness to worship the new born king.  It was the old king and those who strove for power and wealth who were too busy, too occupied to see what was right before them.  God’s blessings are for all, but all do not see, all did not hear.  This New Year be part of the message of hope in a world that all too often sees only the struggle for power.  Let those who have ears hear.  

empty

Wednesday January 1^st,  Matthew 2:  3 When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, as were all the people in Jerusalem. 4 Herod called a meeting of all the leading priests and teachers of the law and asked them where the Christ would be born.5 They answered, "In the town of Bethlehem in Judea. Being able to look it up, to know about Jesus, is different from knowing Jesus.  Herod was able to find out about Jesus, but not able to find Jesus.  When the motivation in our hearts is governed by our desire for power and greed, all we find are empty facts and empty cradles.  It is when our heart is open that we begin to see God.  This new year, open your heart to the possibility of God in your life, in your heart.  If Jesus is just part of your to-do list, you will most likely come up empty handed as well as empty hearted.

presence

Thursday January 2^nd, Matthew 2: 9 After the wise men heard the king, they left. The star that they had seen in the east went before them until it stopped above the place where the child was.10 When the wise men saw the star, they were filled with joy.11 They came to the house where the child was and saw him with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. They opened their gifts and gave him treasures of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.12 But God warned the wise men in a dream not to go back to Herod, so they returned to their own country by a different way.  There is a tale that the star that guided the wise men was not a star but the presence of God, the presence of Christ who shone before them and led them on the way.  This gift of the Lord’s leading; the Lord’s calling in life is indeed that light that outshines all other gifts in our lives.  God’s leading brought them from a faraway land, it led them to the seat of power in the world.  Not political, or military or monetary power, but the creative power of love that comes from God.  You too can be open to this power of love that will lead and guide you through life.  You too can open your hearts to the love of God as your guide.  It may not bring you riches, it may even cause you to give away some of the riches you have, but it will be far more valuable for it is the power of love.  In this new year ahead of you, let the power of God’s love guide you in what you do in this world.  

Moses

Friday January 3^rd, Matthew 2:  13 After they left, an angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up! Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt, because Herod is starting to look for the child so he can kill him. Stay in Egypt until I tell you to return."  14 So Joseph got up and left for Egypt during the night with the child and his mother.15 And Joseph stayed in Egypt until Herod died. This happened to bring about what the Lord had said through the prophet: "I called my son out of Egypt."  For Matthew, Jesus is the new Moses who is here to lead the people into the new Promised Land.  This story of the families run to Egypt and subsequent return is one way to connect that story.  The slaughter of the holy innocents is another as the hearers recall Pharaoh’s slaughter of the holy innocents of their ancestors.   In the struggles to maintain wealth and power it is often the innocents who become the victims.  Victims like too many in our wars that all too often function as an opportunity for profit.  It is the innocents who are often the dispensable victims in the quest for more.  As Moses led the people from bondage to freedom, so too, Jesus will now undertake the task of leading the people of this world from bondage to freedom.  May you in this new year, move from the battle field of power and away from bondage to this system and into the life of freedom that comes only from following the risen Christ.  

eyes

Saturday January 4^th, Matthew 2: 16 When Herod saw that the wise men had tricked him, he was furious. So he gave an order to kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem and in the surrounding area who were two years old or younger. This was in keeping with the time he learned from the wise men.  The powers of evil and greed seldom see the victims in their path.  To Herod they were only collateral damage in the quest to maintain power.  In his lifelong quest for power even his own children had fallen victim to his greed and quest for power.  In the world of God they are not faceless victims, they are the children of God.  When we see the children who have fallen in times of war, they are the children of God.  When we see the hungry in the food lines, they are the children of God.  When we hear of collateral damage, they are the children of God.  When we hear of children in far off lands, we are reminded that the wise men from far off lands came to worship the King and are the children of God.   This new year, let us open our eyes to all who are the children of God.  

10w for December 22nd, Waiting in Wonder, NL.

The following is a 10 minute worship for December 22nd, Waiting in Wonder, NL.   You can listen on the flash player below. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our Email List."

10w for December 22nd, Waiting into faith, A4.

The following is a 10 minute worship for December 22nd, Waiting into faith, A4.   You can listen on the flash player below. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our Email List."

What have you been up to Jesus?

Poem based on Matthew 1:18-25 The Birth of Jesus Christ

Fear not

Broke into the darkness

Fear not

Into the night of doubt

Fear not

To take this one called blessed

Fear not

As the world is about to change unnoticed

For into this world will come

Not just a son

But the very God of creation

(Immanuel)

To be held by those rough hands

Loved

Kissed

Nurtured

By none other than

Fear not

You Joseph

And he took Mary into his home

And they had a son

And named him

(God with us)

Jesus

Opening Litany based on Psalm 80:7-15

Pastor: Restore us, God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.

Congregation: You liberated your people from slavery in the land of the Pharaohs.  You gave them a great land and a great calling, just as you have given us a great land and a great calling.  You blessed them with abundance as you have blessed us with abundance.  

Pastor: Why then O Lord have you broken down the walls so that all who pass by may pick its grapes? Why O Lord do you let the wild things and insects ravage and feed upon the abundance you have blessed us with?

Congregation: Return to us, God Almighty! Look to us from your heavenly realm and watch over this blessing you have planted, the children of God you have called your own, and help us in turn return to You as the cornerstone of our lives. 

Boldly Be

Sunday December 22^nd, Isaiah 7: God spoke to Ahaz and said, "Ask for a sign from your God. Ask anything. Be extravagant. Ask for the moon!" But Ahaz said, "I'd never do that. I'd never make demands like that on God!" Do we sometimes not ask God for what we want because deep down inside we still want to be in control?  If we ask God and we get it, then we have to admit to ourselves that our gracious God is indeed a gracious God and not some automaton that responds to Our doing, Our pleading, Our manipulation.  All we have and all we will ever have is a gift from God and that is a hard fact to swallow for many.  We want to believe that deep down inside we are in control and God answered Our prayers.  We are in control and we believed and belonged to the Right theology/church.  To prove we are Right and in the right all we are asked to do us use it for the small kingdoms and churches of this world, but then sometimes we realize it is simply for our little kingdom (small k).  So, Ask, Seek, Knock and Boldly Be the Kingdom (capitol K) in this world and let God be God.   

Welcome to the revolution

Monday December 23^rd, Isaiah 7: "Then listen to this, government of David! It's bad enough that you make people tired with your pious, timid hypocrisies, but now you're making God tired. So the Master is going to give you a sign anyway. Watch for this: A girl who is presently a virgin will get pregnant. She'll bear a son and name him Immanuel (God-With-Us).  There had been stories of miraculous births in the Old Testament, and they had been, like with Sarah, accompanied with the laughter of joy and disbelief from someone unable to have children.  Not this time, something new was happening, something that was going to shake up the world.  Instead of someone too old or unable to have children, this was something different, something new.  A young maiden would conceive and bear a son and name him Immanuel, God with us.  This would be a new beginning for humanity, and new beginning for creation, and new beginning for our relationship with God the creator.  This new beginning would be called, Immanuel, God with us.  This is not the God with us in the form of altars, idols, circumcision, laws or worship in a specific place, but God in you, God in me, God in Joe and Mary down the street, and God in those we don’t know and even God in those we do know and call our enemy.  The call is no longer to find God up in heaven somewhere, but rather God in one another and therefore to begin to treat one another as the children of God and in doing so, treat them as our brothers and sisters.   Welcome to the revolution, it has just begun.

accepted

Tuesday December 24^th, Matthew 1:  But after he had considered this, Peace came over him when an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." In Matthew the actors are primarily male.  Joseph is the one who hears of the impending birth of the Christ child.  This is the day when those who seldom go to church, show up for the Candle Light Worship service and hear at least once a year, the good news.  This day we celebrate that new thing that God did, and continues to do, in the world.  This day we celebrate the presence of God in each and every person as well as our call to treat one another in that new light.  When Joseph accepted that what Mary was with was because of the Holy Spirit, he experienced that something new called peace.  We too can begin to experience that same Peace that comes from God when we accept the presence of God, the presence of the Holy Spirit, in each and every person in this creation that God created and called good.  This Christmas, may you discover anew the presence of Immanuel in your life and may you be given the double blessing of peace that comes with acknowledging the presence of God in all who inhabit this creation God has called good.  

eyebrow

Wednesday December 25^th, Matthew 1: This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. A blessed Christmas day to you all. Throughout history, many have raised a question and an eyebrow at this text.  How do we really know this is the case?  If your daughter told you she was pregnant and the father was God would you believe her?  If your fiancé told you this, would you believe her?  All of which are primarily possessive male questions. For the birth of Christ most of us are able to get around these questions and focus on the birth of Christ.  Can we not then in some way get around all those nagging questions about our neighbor, our enemy, the others in our life and begin to accept them as Children of God also?  Perhaps for all of humanity the question is not who they are or how did they get there, but rather who is God calling them, and us, to be and how do we learn to get along.   

divorce tie

Thursday December 26^th, Matthew 1: Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.  All indications in Matthew are that Mary and Joseph were living in Bethlehem.  Bethlehem was a small town outside of Jerusalem.  I grew up in a small town of 250 people.  Don’t tell me that anyone can divorce quietly in a small town or village. Most times if I drove to fast through town, my parents would get a call before I got home letting them know how fast I was driving and who was in the car with me.  Keep in mind that this was in the days when the phone was on a wooden box that hung on the wall and every call had to go through an operator, no cell phones here.  The theme of divorce is Matthews way to relating the birth of Jesus back to the midrash stories of couples divorcing so as not to conceive male children after Pharaoh gave that decree that all male children were to be killed (the First Christmas by Borg & Crossan).  Matthew is presenting Jesus as the new Moses who will lead his children, and that includes all of us, to a new kind of freedom.  Not just freedom from slave masters but more importantly from our own deceits, lies and destructive thoughts and behaviors.  Jesus came to save us from the cruelest taskmaster of all, which is often ourselves.  

Make no mistake

Friday December 27^th, Matthew 1: All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."  The new thing has happed and is happening today in the lives of those around us.  God is with us and has been with us all along.  God is with you and God is with me.  God is with the people in our churches and God is with those who wouldn’t dream of ever setting foot in any kind of church.  This new thing that God has done is both a blessing and a calling.  A blessing knowing that God will continue to be with us and that our salvation and forgiveness is already given, a gift from God.  A calling knowing that God will continue to be with others in this world and we are called to deal with them, friends and enemies alike, knowing that we are dealing with the children of God.  Make no mistake; this does not make them automatically easy to get along with.  It does not say that they see us as a brother or a sister.  It is after all about our calling not theirs.  It does not make things all sweet and wonderful all the time, or even some of the time.  It simply compels us to treat one another as brothers and sisters in Christ and maybe, just maybe in the long run, we, or our children, or our grandchildren will know what it is like to live in peace.  

spirit

Saturday December 28^th, Matthew 1: When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.  When we go into this post-Christmas world, a world in which we have acknowledged that God is indeed with us, all of us.  May we follow the lead of the Spirit and bring one another into our lives as brothers and sisters, friends and family.  As we look back on the year may we see where we have not done so well as a child of God, a community and as a nation and vow to do better in the year ahead.  I pray that in the coming year, we as individuals and as a nation will begin to see the beauty of the gift of Christmas, the gift of Jesus, God with us, as a gift for all people.  I pray we will truly find our footing as a people and begin once again to treat others in this world and in this nation as the children of God with the same understanding most of us would give to our own brothers and sisters.  Maybe then we can start to live up to the bold phrase on our money, In God we Trust.  And may the spirit of Christmas, may the spirit of God with you, with me, with us, and guide us in the year ahead, Amen! 

10w for December 15th, Homecoming.

The following is a 10 minute worship for December 15th, Homecoming.   You can listen on the flash player below. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our Email List."  The song for the day is: “Silent Night (Lord of My Life)” by Lady Antebellum from the album, On This Winter’s Night. You can find this album and others at http://ladyantebellum.com. 

10w for December 15th, Are You the One?

The following is a 10 minute worship for December 15th, Are You the One? You can listen on the flash player below. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our Email List."  The song for the day is: “Silent Night (Lord of My Life)” by Lady Antebellum from the album, On This Winter’s Night. You can find this album and others at http://ladyantebellum.com. 

going home, Narrative Lectionary video

Christmas is coming

poem based on Matthew 11:2-11 3rd Sunday of Advent

Are you the one

Who is to come

The one prepared for from before all time

(the blind see)

Are you the one

Claimed by the thunder crack

And the dove gently coming down

(the lame walk)

Are you the one for whom I baptized

Calling one and all to run

From the life of games

To the calling of God

(the deaf hear)

You seem so gentle

Not what I expected

When I first leapt in my mothers womb

Not what I expected

Out there at the river’s edge

Not what I expected

(new life)

And yet somehow

(good news for the poor)

more

Opening Litany based on Psalm 146

Pastor: Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! 

Congregation: I will praise the Lord as long as I live and will sing praises to my God all my whole life long. 

Pastor: Do not put your trust in mortals, the powers of this world, for they are no help, when their breath departs, they return to the earth like everyone else and on that very day their plans perish. 

Congregation: Happy are those whose help and hope is in the Lord our God who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them and who keeps faith for ever

Pastor: For it is the Lord our God who executes justice for the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. 

Congregation: The Lord sets the prisoners free and opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down and loves the righteous. 

Pastor: The Lord watches over the strangers and upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked the Lord will bring to ruin. 

Congregation: The Lord will reign forever and our God for all generations.  I will indeed Praise the Lord with my whole life.

garden

Sunday December 15^th, Isaiah 35: The desert and the parched lands will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.  Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.  All the lands of the earth will become as the garden of creation, filled with lush fruits, fragrant blossoms and towering orchards.  All people will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.  This sounds like the Garden of Eden all over again, but then again, isn’t that an indication of what God wants for us anyway?  We can never get there on our own, but we can get a lot closer to that God intended reality than where we are currently living.  Think of spending priorities for our nation alone. Cut food stamps, cut unemployment, cut day care, cut social security and now the call to cut Medicaid, while at the same time, increase spending military, border security and surveillance. It is an image of a steady sift from the Advent cry of the angels to fear not, to the insecure and helpless cry of “Fear” and send me more money while you are at it.  Imagine what would happen if just one nation decided to shift half of military spending to helping in this world?  Imagine what would happen if the majority of the nations decided to follow suit?  Imagine!! And you may be able to get just a glimpse of what God intends for humanity, and how far we have to go to get there.  To do nothing, is to side with fear.

calling

Monday December 16^th, Isaiah 35: Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come and bring justice, God’s true justice and grace, Our Lord will being salvation to all creation.   Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer and the mute tongue shout for joy.  We again turn to visions of the Garden of Eden returned, God’s vision for humanity.  It can also be seen in the context of today’s Advent Gospel as a calling for all followers of God.  Again, imagine a world where energies are placed more on helping than on ego and money agendas.  Imagine a world where the children of God care for the feeble hands, the old tired knees, and fearful hearts.  Imagine a world where the blind see and the deaf hear, where the lame sign up for dancing lessons and the mute for singing lessons.  Imagine a world where the children of God at least make this a priority rather than personal piety and sexual issues.  Imagine!!!  God does!!  Just read the scriptures, they are filled with the images of hope.

relationship

Tuesday December 17^th, Isaiah 35: The fullness of God’s love and grace will fill every heart and the sounds of Joy will fill the universe as the throngs of all creation enter into the presence of God with singing, and everlasting joy will crown their heads.  Gladness and joy will overtake all of creation, and sorrow and sighing will flee away forever. Joy is the awareness of God’s presence in your life, in your heart.  Finding God is never a search out there somewhere, through some program or Bible Study or the “right” religion (remember, “right” religions are always the wrong ones).  It is a matter of becoming aware of what is already inside you, inside everyone, from birth.  When that presence of God within you is discovered, all creation and all heaven sing for joy.  Discovering that presence of God in another is to begin to see the meaning of God’s gift of love.  To see the presence of God in your enemy, is to know the basis of God’s justice and God’s peace.  Iran, Syria, Sudan, Israel/Palestine, etc, etc, etc….. are only possible with the immature and self-centered concept that you have a relationship with God and others do not.  Only when the world begins to see the presence of God in their enemy will they begin to see the gladness and joy God has in store for all of us.  

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Wednesday December 18^th, James 5:  7 Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. 9 Don't grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!  James was written sometime after the resurrection.  Making sense out of what they perceived as having to wait too long was foremost in their hearts and minds.  My theory is that the second coming must wait until all humanity begins to grasp that the world is not made up of us and them, only an expanded “us” each with the love of God embedded in their hearts.  Even James was able to get at least a glimpse of it in verse 9.  Maybe you can begin to get a glimpse of God’s heavenly intention for earth too!!