Jesus and Me ... and the Cats

  Luke 2:22-40 A re you familiar with the carol, “The Twelve Days of Christmas?”  Well, that song is about the season of Christmas – the twelve days beginning with Christmas Day and ending on January 5, Epiphany, the day that the Visit of the Magi is celebrated. From the first Sunday in Advent to Epiphany, starting with the story of Zachariah  and Gabriel to the tale of how three wise men followed a star to Bethlehem, we watch the glorious, miraculous unfolding of the fullness of God’s time.   MESSAGE If a story begins with “in the fullness of time”, it’s pretty much a given that it’s going to be about a person or a group of people who have been waiting for something to happen for a very long time.   To be exact, humanity had been waiting since the snake and apple incident in the Garden of Eden when God cursed the serpent, “ I will put enmity between you and the woman,   and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head,   and you ...

 Note:  for a video that includes the Advent Candle writing, prayers and this message, click here:   https://youtu.be/OVM1cc_1Qng      The video will be released on Sunday, December 20, at 9:00 am EST. Matthew 1:18-25 Well everyone needs compassion A love that's never failing ... … Everyone needs forgiveness The kindness of a Savior The hope of nations      “Mighty to Save” by Laura Story   The marriage contract had been agreed upon by both Mary and Joseph’s family.   The only thing left to do was to publicly take Mary into his home.   Now, though … The law was clear.   He had no choice.   Mary had obviously committed adultery, so there was no recourse but to divorce her.   But how?   Should he publicly charge her with adultery which would lead to her stoning or should he show compassion and quietly end the marriage.   Either way, all their plans for the future were gone. Have we eve...

To watch a video of this message which includes the lighting of the Advent Candle, scripture readings and prayer, click on:   https://youtu.be/3uqHF-HkuL0 The video will be available after 9 am, EST. Luke 1:39-56 In the fullness of time … What I find awesome and joy-inspiring in the stories of the first chapter of Luke is watching God in and through the lives of ordinary people like you and me, ordering the fulfillment of his promises of deliverance and salvation for humanity and all of creation. This is the third Sunday of Advent, and the theme is “joy.”   The joy candle in the Advent wreath is pink representing the lifting of the darkness in anticipation of the birth of Jesus. The Church of the Visitation (formerly  Abbey Church of St John in the Woods ) is a  Catholic church in Ein Karem Jerusalem, and honors the visit of Mary to Elizabeth.  Traditionally, this site is where Mary recited her song of joy and praise, the Magnificat.   The cou...

  To watch a video that includes this message, prayers and the reading for the Advent Candle, click on the following link.  The video will be released on Sunday, December 6, 2020, at 9:00 am EST :    https://youtu.be/bk0_3xEHbVw Luke 1:26-38 What does peace look like for you?  I find that I’m most at peace late at night or very early in the morning.  That’s when it’s quiet, and I can think and pray and just … be.  Two of my favorite winter activities are shoveling snow or cross country skiing at night for the same reason. For my mother, peace was having no conflict in the household, particularly when my little sister and I got along.  I think our teen years when we were both at home the hardest on her.  Sometimes, we took our frustration with each other out in battles of the bands – Bruce Springsteen versus the 1812 overture complete with real cannon fire. Dave Ramsey’s program, Financial Peace University, is named that for a reason.  Wh...

  If you would like to watch a video that includes the Advent Candle Lighting Service, prayers and the reading of the scripture as well as the message, please go to:   https://youtu.be/bffNeFnDPFk Luke 1:5-25 Advent – something or someone is coming.   Something or someone, in the fullness of time, when the time is right will show up.     Advent is called the season of lights – a world waiting in darkness to see a great light.   Light at the end of the tunnel – light symbolizing hope during a trying time. Hope, something we need right now to preserver. Zechariah and Elizabeth had given up hope, the hope of ever having a child.   Infertility is painful enough, but in the culture of their time, barrenness was an indication that the woman had sinned.   No wonder Luke emphasized to his original reading audience that both Zachariah, a priest, and his wife Elizabeth were righteous people.   That also makes sense of Elizabeth’s declaration ...

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  If you would like to watch a video of this message that includes the scripture readings and prayers, please go to:   https://youtu.be/f_HQrxjVdF8 Psalm 100 Ezekiel 34:11-24 Matthew 25:39-46   I’m not saying it’s going to get wild today, but it is certainly going to get wooly.   Boy, do we have sheep today – sheep in flocks, stray sheep, hungry sheep, fat sheep and skinny sheep.   Throw in some goats and a parable about the second coming of Christ for good measure, and we have a message about the key to being prepared for Christ’s return – compassionate mercy.   It’s an unusual Sunday when three of the four lectionary readings have so much in common, besides sheep.   There’s God’s loving kindness and care and his faithful commitment to his relationship with humanity and our welfare.   Throw in mercy, and we have one of the essential characteristics of God’s unconditional love for us – compassionate mercy.   In Ezekiel 34, ...

  Want to watch this rather than read it?  Go to   https://youtu.be/zY5zPjU2TNM 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Matthew 25:14-30   Both our passages for today have a common purpose:   to instruct followers of Christ to endure through difficult times and to live in anticipation of the Lord’s return.   Paul also offers encouragement and words of comfort to his readers.   Are Paul’s teachings relevant to us today in how we endure in our current anxious times?   “A talent, a whole talent?!?   My master entrusted me with a whole talent!   What am I going to do?   I don’t know anything about investing money or making a profit?   What if I get swindled?   What if a thief sneaks into my room at night and steals it?   What if I lose it somewhere? I’m in for a world of hurt if I fail!!   Think, think, think… I know!   I’ll bury it in a deep hole and return it to my Master when he returns.”   The servant acte...

  Proverbs 6:6-8 Matthew 25:1-13   Winter is coming, and Ice Melt is on my mind.   Being prepared is important.   In the Book of Proverbs, an instruction manual on how to live wisely and righteously, 6:6-8 advises us:   6  Go to the ant, you lazybones;      consider its ways, and be wise. 7  Without having any chief      or officer or ruler, 8  it prepares its food in summer,      and gathers its sustenance in harvest.   This passage reminds me of the Aesop’s Fable about the ant and the grasshopper.   All summer long and into the fall, the wise ant diligently gathered food and stored it away for the winter while the foolish grasshopper played the time away.   Come the bitter cold and snow of winter, and because of its foolish lack of preparation, the grasshopper died.   We all know winter is coming, but we’re never quite sure when the snowy and icy con...

      Revelation 7:9-17, Revelation 21:1-7   What is a saint?   A saint is simply a Christian, which includes all of us here.   Hebrews 12:1 says, we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who are like cheering us on, encouraging us when things get tough.   Among those witnesses is the “communion of saints,”   which includes the faithful who have gone on to glory and our brothers and sisters in Christ who are living in the world today.    Just as the members of our faith community are lending their support to us in our walk, imagine people like Abraham, Isaiah, Paul, and John Wesley at the side lines giving us the “thumbs up.”   Or what tickles me, is the thought of Ruth, Ester, all the Marys who were at Jesus, Tomb that first Easter morning and my grandmother shouting, “you go, girl!”   Today, we will honor and remember those who are no longer with us who may have encouraged us and supported us both as human ...

  Psalm 90   I took some time off last week to catch up on some projects at home.   While I worked, the radio was on in the background. Every hour, on the hour, it was evident that the news was not getting any better.   The newest recommendation is that families cancel their thanksgiving gatherings this year.   This was followed by a report that the South Bend, Indiana, Health Department tried to close churches until March 31, 2021.   (Being near the Indiana border, what happens in that state concerns us in Michigan.) I don’t know about you, but I’m getting tired, weary and worn down by this pandemic that seems to have no end.  COVID-19 has isolated us from important networks of support:  family, friends and supportive communities like the church.  We are denied healthy, appropriate touch which is so important to our ability to thrive as human beings, and we feel helpless and hopeless as our options dwindle.   These days, one ...