This is the first Sunday of the Christmas Season – the fourth day of Christmas if you’re counting, and hoping your true love will send you those four calling birds. But our Gospel reading actually speaks of that second-day-of-Christmas gift – the two turtledoves, which is the sacrifice that poor Jewish people, when they couldn’t…
Merry Christmas! Whether you are one of those people who has used your Advent season of preparation wisely, and all is calm and all is bright at your house: everything wrapped, mailed, decked and baked; or whether like me you will leave this place to a few more hours of batteries, gift wrap, allen wrenches…
“Nothing will be impossible with God.” It’s a simple, startling pronouncement from the angel Gabriel, one that, perhaps, we still have a hard time believing. And the difficulty lies not in those kind of existential conundrums that high school philosophers are so fond of, like: “Can God create a stone so heavy God can’t lift it?” No, the difficulty here is much…
In case you were wondering, we didn’t run out of blue candles. Our Advent candle is pink today for a reason. It is the third Sunday of Advent, sometimes called ‘Rose Sunday,” but traditionally known as “Gaudete Sunday,” ‘gaudete being a Latin word that means ‘rejoice,’ because the proper introit for the day begins with that word. Our ancestors, in their wisdom,…
When I was young, December always seemed like the longest month of the year. Despite all the excitement and bustle of the holiday season, it seemed like Christmas would never get here. From the day after Thanksgiving, when the whole family would be involved in baking the first batches of Christmas cookies (and we were finally allowed to play Fred Waring and…
“And what I say to you, I say to all: Keep awake!” These are the last words that Jesus leaves us with, today – the first day of Advent. The Church begins a new year today. The green vestments are gone, and we’re moving into a new cycle of readings. Last year, the Gospel lessons were taken from Matthew. This year we’re…
It’s the last Sunday of the church year. Can you believe that Advent starts next week? Only 31 praying days left ‘til Christmas. And as the year winds to a close, our Sunday readings bring us to focus on last things, and the promise of ultimate transformation that God holds before us and the world.…
My beloved co-chair, Lucy, isn’t here today. She’s gone out to Ohio to help care for her brother Ray who is back in the hospital. Last Sunday Fr. Bill gave what I thought was the best stewardship sermon I’ve ever heard. If you missed it I encourage you to read it on our website. Bill’s invitation to head up the Stewardship Committee…
Be prepared! That’s Jesus’ message for today. Something you’ve probably been told many times throughout your life. If you are of a certain age, as I am, you were told in your youth to always carry a dime for a phone call. And then a quarter. And then thirty cents. And no really, younger folks, there actually used to be public telephones…
Today we celebrate All Saints Day. It was actually yesterday, but it’s one of those holidays on our church calendar that’s important enough to move around if it doesn’t fall on a Sunday so that we can all celebrate it together. The old name for this feast was “All Hallows’ Day,” and you can’t have…