Who are we waiting for?

In Day School Chapel this morning, I asked the kids if they could remember what season the church is in now. A few said "Fall", many said "Christmas", but a few helpful souls proudly cried out "Advent!" Next I reminded them that Advent means "coming" and asked who is coming that we are waiting for this season. Thankfully, everyone called out in unison "Jesus!" (No matter how carefully this question is phrased, it is hard to avoid "Santa" as an answer.) I told the story of the angel appearing to Mary and then in a dream to Joseph telling them about this child Mary would bear. Like us in this season, Mary and Joseph had to wait and see what would come. I love their participation in this great plan of God's. The way Mary says, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." And Joseph seems to be a pretty quiet man, but he wakes from his dream and takes Mary as his wife as the angel says. It makes me wonder how I can be a willing participant this season (and beyond) in the wild and wonderful dream of God.

Comments

Gospel as Stand-Up Comedy

April 8, 2018 Easter 2 John 20:19-31 Today in the church world is often called Low Sunday because of the generally low attendance. After all, everyone came last week and heard the biggest story of all! So church can be crossed off the to-do list for a while. Have you heard the joke about the man who came out of church on Easter and the minister pulled him aside and said, "You need to join the Army of the Lord!" The man replied, "I'm already in the Army of the Lord." The minister questioned, “Then how come I don't see you except at Christmas and Easter?" The man whispered back, "I'm in the secret service." I recently heard a name for today that I much prefer to Low Sunday - Holy Humor Sunday. Apparently, the early church had a tradition of observing the week following Easter Sunday as "days of joy and laughter" with parties and picnics to celebrate Jesus' resurrection. And so there is a (small but grow

Shining Like the Sun

Last Epiphany Exodus 34:29-35; Luke 9:28-36 My youngest daughter, Maya, will turn 9 years old on Tuesday. Which makes me feel a bit nostalgic. Just yesterday she was my baby, happily toddling after her older brother and sister. A naturally joyful person, she was just as excited about a trip to the grocery store as a trip to the zoo, so she transformed our boring chores into adventures just by her presence. And now she is this big kid -- a total extrovert who loves making slime and turning cartwheels. Sometimes Maya’s birthday is just a regular day. Every once in a while it falls on Ash Wednesday (which makes celebrating a little hard). This year, it’s on Shrove Tuesday, which is perfect for her! Because Maya is our pancake fairy. In our house, whenever we find ourselves with a free Saturday morning, Maya and I make pancakes. We work side by side, laughing and sniffing and tasting -- and sometimes pretending we are competing on a Chopped championship. Often there is

Is Jesus passing through our midst? (4 Epiphany Sermon)

Luke 4:21-30 “But passing through the midst of them he went away.” At first glance, this last line from this morning’s Gospel seemed like a perfect metaphor for this season of Epiphany. Jesus passes through the midst of the crowd. Which is, in a way, what Epiphany is all about – God making God’s self known in our midst, our learning to recognize God all around us. The problem of course, which is so often the problem with pieces of scripture that at first seem very promising, is that that isn’t all. The context isn’t the greatest – the crowd that Jesus is passing through the midst of just happens to be an angry, unruly, blood-thirsty mob. And there’s the small problem of the few words tacked on to the end of the hopeful part about passing through their midst – after passing through, “he went away.” I’d much prefer Jesus to have passed through their midst and then have them realize their error; or maybe Jesus could pass through their midst and they finally understand exactly who it w

Faith in Progress

Search This Blog