Is It Over Yet?

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.

Is it over yet?  Are the carols gone from the air waves? Have the stores dismantled their decorations?  Has Christmas been put away to make room for Valentine’s Day?

It seems like we’ve been preparing for Christmas form months.  Does anyone know when the first Christmas displays went up in Wal-Mart?

The first display I saw was on November first.  It probably would have been earlier if it weren’t for Halloween.

We waited and waited for Christmas and it was over in a flash.  But it did not happen that way for Mary; and we should not let go of Christmas so quickly either.

All who heard the shepherds were amazed at the story they had to tell.  It was Mary who kept turning the events over and over in her mind, trying to figure out their meaning.  From the moment of the angel’s unbelievable declaration, she realized that for the rest of her days she would be living with mystery.  And so she kept all these things in her heart.

Paul reminds us that because Jesus was born of a woman, we are made children of God.  The Spirit of Jesus is given to us so that we can call God by the intimate term “Abba,” or Daddy.  Is this any less amazing than the report of the shepherds?  Yet, when was the last time any one of us went in haste to announce this marvel?

When the first day of the New Year falls on a Sunday we celebrate “The Naming of Jesus.”  Another traditional name for this day is “The Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.”  So today we celebrate that wonderful relationship between mother and son; between Mary and Jesus.

One very old tradition for this day is to pray for peace.  This year, peace is much more than a seasonal theme.  It might conjure up the faces of frightened children dressed in foreign garb, or that of a daughter or son in uniform.  Making the prayer of Aaron our own, we beg God to look upon us kindly and give us peace.  Here again, Mary may well serve as our model.  She considered deeply the events of her life.  So must we, if peace is to take root in our day and take flesh in our lives.

As we go forward into this new year, let us all try to remember that we are a people formed through Christmas.  Many Christians refer to themselves as Easter people, meaning that they focus their faith on the Resurrection.  Others are Good Friday people, centring their faith on Jesus’ suffering for us.  We need to be both of these, but we also need to be Christmas people.  We need to remember always that God placed himself in our care as a helpless baby; a baby that was given the Greek name Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs), which in Aramaic is יֵשׁוּעַ (Yēšûă‘), or Joshua, meaning “Yahweh delivers,” or “Yahweh rescues.”

Jesus had this name before the Resurrection.

Jesus had this name before the crucifixion.

Jesus even had this name before he was born.

So as we start a new year, how are you or I rescued or delivered by God just by knowing that God came among us a human baby.

How can you or I model our families after the relationship between Jesus and Mary?

How can we bring that maternal love into our relationship with the church and each other?

How can we remember, each day, that Aaron’s blessing of Israel, which I repeat most Sundays, has already happened at Jesus’ birth.  God has blessed us and kept us.  God has made his face to shine upon us.  God has been gracious to us.  God has lifted up his countenance upon us and given us peace.

We repeat this blessing so often because the blessing of Christmas is not a one day thing.  Jesus’ birth changed our relationship with God forever.  By remembering Jesus’ birth, we renew that relationship and that blessing every time we bring it to mind.  By remembering that love, we can bring that love into our lives.

And so at the beginning of this new year, I pray that we all find the openness to see God’s light and the courage to follow wherever it leads us.

The True Meaning of Christmas - Fill In the Blanks

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Is it true? This whole story of Christmas?


Who can tell me the story of Christmas?


What was God like before Christmas?


Do any of you have a baby brother or sister? What are they like? Are they powerful? Can they do anything for you? Can they do anything for themselves?


Now what was God like before Christmas? … And what was God like on Christmas?


What does that mean to you? How does that change your life? How does that change all of our lives?


O God, how great, how strong, how bold,
You ruled our lives both young and old,
And then one day in winter cold,
You gave yourself to us to hold.

From that day on our world was new,
Our vengeful God, away he flew,
Now at our breast, the baby grew,
Our God, with us, was human too.

The strife and hate of old were done,
The ancient war at last was won,
New life we found in God the Son,
Our loving God, the Three in One.

Doxologies Great and Small

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith-- to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.

These are the last words of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Many believe that someone other than Paul wrote them and added them to the end of the letter, but regardless of who wrote them, they are an important statement by the early church.

Does anyone know what this kind of statement is called?


It is called a doxology. There are a couple of doxologies which you probably know much better. One is an old hymn. Feel free to join me if you know it.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
praise him, all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heavenly host;
praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

When I was growing up, we sang this each and every Sunday in church.

Can anyone think of another doxology that we use here in church?


Glory to God,
whose power, working in us,
can do infinitely more
than we can ask or imagine.
Glory to God from generation to generation,
in the Church and in Christ Jesus,
for ever and ever. Amen.

We say these words every time we share the Holy Eucharist according to the Book of Alternative Services.

All three of these doxologies share one key point. All of them direct our praise to God. All of them say that it is God’s glory, not ours.

In some ways, though, they are all quite different. In my opinion, the doxology from Romans is the strongest and the one we say regularly is the weakest. Ours lets us almost entirely off the hook.


That’s right. I said that I believe that the Anglican Church doesn’t always make the right choice. As a denomination we make mistakes. I’m also sure that many Anglicans would not agree with me that this choice of doxology is a mistake.

Would you like to know why I think our doxology is weak?


Of the three doxologies, ours is the only one that is passive on our part. We don’t have to do anything.

Glory to God, whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.

God’s glory is there. God works in us. We don’t have to do anything. We don’t even have to ask or imagine because we couldn’t ask or imagine anything good enough.

Glory to God from generation to generation, in the Church and in Christ Jesus, for ever and ever. Amen.

God’s glory is still there. It is passed down to us in every generation. We still don’t have to do anything.

This is a recipe for a failing, passive church. This is a plan for stagnation and decline. This is what we, as Anglicans, have been doing for far too long.


Let’s try another one. “Praise God, from whom all creatures flow ….” This doxology fixed one thing. It is active. If we follow this doxology we must actively praise God. This is a good thing, but it is very limited. Praise God and the rest will just happen. This is the doxology that I grew up with in the Presbyterian Church. They haven’t done so well either.

That leaves us with the doxology from Romans. How is this doxology different? Well, first off, it is longer. It isn’t particularly poetic. It is harder to remember. And it isn’t particularly well written.

If we can get past all of that, it is a much stronger statement. I’m going to read you a paraphrase of the doxology from Romans by a theologian from Montreal named Dr. Chris Haslam. He is a retired engineer who turned to a study of theology after retiring.


God has commanded my preaching of the good news, and the proclamation of Jesus Christ in order that the mystery that was long kept secret might be revealed to all people through the Scriptures, and that by this revelation God might streng¬then you in faith and thus in obedience to him. To the only wise God be the glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.


It has the same bits as the other doxologies. The glory belongs to God. God is working in us. It doesn’t really talk about worship. Instead it talks about obedience, proclamation and preaching the good news. These are not the duties of God, they are our duties. God does not do them through us. Instead, God strengthens us so that we can do them. There is absolutely nothing passive about this doxology.


Each and every one of us is called to preach the Gospel … not just the priest.

Each and every one of us is called to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.

Each and every one of us is called to reveal the mystery of God living as one of us, walking beside us as a brother, sharing our pain as a friend, nursing at the breast as our son, dying a horrible death because of our weaknesses.

Refusing to let death stop him from doing all of the rest over and over again.

This is the good news or Gospel that the doxology from Romans commands us to shout aloud.

This is the ministry that every baptized member of the Christian Church has promised before God that we will do.

Praise and Glory be to God that God has promised to strengthen us for this work.

Why the Pink Candle?

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.


Why is there One Pink Advent Candle?

"In our Advent Wreath, three candles are purple and one is pink. Why the one pink candle?"
Before I answer the specific question, for those who aren't familiar with the church "liturgical" year, let's look at the season of Advent.

Advent is the beginning of the church year. The first Sunday of Advent (and the first Sunday of the church year) is the fourth Sunday preceding Christmas day. This year it was November 27th. The church divides the year into seasons, much like our meteorological year. The seasons are Advent, Christmastide, Epiphany, Lent, Eastertide, and finally Pentecost. Although there has been a move in some denominations to remove the seasons of Epiphany and Pentecost and rename them Ordinary Time, my personal belief is there is no "ordinary time" in the church. All seasons in the church are extraordinary.

In any event, Advent is a four-Sunday season of preparation in the church (and the world) for the arrival of Christ into the world, both at Christmas and in our lives. An Advent wreath is one of the traditional accessories for the season. The wreath is decorated with greenery and laid upon a stand. A large white candle, called the Christ Candle, stands in the middle of the wreath and four candles are placed into the wreath surrounding the central candle. The four candles may be all blue, all purple, or three purple and one pink. These candles are lit on successive Sundays in Advent, one for each week. The pink one is lit on the third week and the Christ Candle is lit on either Christmas Eve or Christmas day, and on each Sunday during Christmastide.

Now, why the pink candle?

In the earliest years of the church the only church season was Lent, the seven weeks prior to Easter. Lent was a season of fasting and prayer as the church commemorated the crucifixion of Jesus. The traditional color of banners in the church during this time was a deep purple, signifying royalty, repentance, and suffering. During Lent the church lit seven candles, one for each week of the solemn season. However solemn the season, the story of Lent also has a twinge of hope and joy since the death of Christ prefigured the resurrection. So, on the third Sunday of Lent, the church was encouraged not to fast, but to feast. In ancient times on this particular Sunday the Pope would honor a citizen with a pink rose, and as time passed the priests wore pink vestments on this day as a reminder of the coming joy.

When the season of Advent was instituted the church viewed it as a mini-Lent, a time for reflection and repentance (thus the purple). In so doing, the church adopted the first four candles of Lent and changed the third candle of Advent to pink in honor of the Lenten tradition. This is why we have a pink candle in our Advent Wreaths.

To further heighten the sense of anticipation of Christ's coming during Advent, the church named each candle in the wreath -- the first being hope, the second peace, the third joy, and the fourth love (there are a number of other traditional names as well, though these are some of the most ancient). It has always seemed fitting to me that the pink candle is the candle of joy, the one that speaks to us with its twinge of color.

Two weeks ago this parish took a good look at our financial standing and started to look with hope for a future where we are still a part of this community.

Last week, we came together with a sense of peace, having done all that we could to start the process of figuring it all out.

This week, parish council and I will be meeting with members of the Parish Relations Committee of the Diocese. It is very important that we look at this as a time of joy. This week we take the next step on our journey into the future.

If we can keep that joy strong in our hearts as we work together, our next step will be easy. We will be able to love one another and ourselves. With joy and love, we can become a strong parish with two churches who work together and help each other to search for and find new meaning in our lives together.

If we can do all of that, we can do anything. We will have a long and vibrant future here. We can become excited again about the work we are called to do in this place. We can truly welcome Christ into our lives.


And so I would like you to look at the end of your bulletins to the Advent Message. Would you please read it with me.


Advent is the beginning of the new church year. It is a time for looking within ourselves and finding a new way forward. It is a time for new beginnings. It is a time to challenge ourselves, to push ourselves, to make demands of ourselves which may not be comfortable or easy. This year we will be doing this together as we search for new and exciting ways to be “church” in our community North of Smokey.


Thanks to http://www.hcna.us/columns/pink_advent_candle.html for the part about the Advent candles.

Advent and Penance

I speak to you in the name of the One, True, and Living God.  Amen.

Does anyone know why the colour of Advent is purple?  - Why does Advent share a colour with Lent?

Advent and Lent are both “penitential” seasons.

So what does it mean to be penitent?

The Latin root for the word means either to regret or to have remorse.

 

I’m sure all of you have pictures in your mind about what it means to be penitent or to do penance.  Some of these pictures will be historically accurate, some will be inspired by movies, and I’m sure some of them are pure folk-lore.

Does anyone know what our church’s current practise is around penance?

I’m going to read a definition of Anglican penance which can be found on Wikipedia.  It is a well written definition.

Confession and absolution, sometimes called the Sacrament of Reconciliation, is the rite or sacrament by which one is restored to God when one's relationship with God has been broken by sin. The form is the words of absolution, which may be accompanied by the sign of the cross. Confession and absolution is normally done corporately (the congregation invited to confess their sins, a moment of silent prayer while the congregation does so, a spoken general confession, and the words of absolution). Individuals, however, can and do also participate in aural confession, privately meeting with a priest to confess his or her sins, during which time the priest can provide both counselling, urge reconciliation with parties that have been sinned against, and suggest certain spiritual disciplines (penance). There is no approved ceremony for a private confession of sins, the event being provided for in the Anglican tradition only in uncommon instances where an individual cannot quiet his conscience or find consolation in the General Confession that is part of the liturgy.

Anglican clergy do not typically require acts of penance after receiving absolution; but such acts, if done, are intended to be healing and preventative. The phrase "all may, some should, none must" is often taken as the Anglican attitude towards the sacrament, though there are provinces and parishes where participation in the sacrament is expected for the forgiveness of post-baptismal sin. The priest is bound by the seal of confession. This binds the priest to never speak of what he or she has heard in the confessional to anyone.

So that is our “practice” around penance, but what is it about?

Here is where being Anglican becomes a problem!  There are as many understandings of penance as there are Anglicans.  Our church is bound together by common liturgy (the way we worship) but we have many different ways of understanding why we do what we do.

The best I can do to tell you what penance means is to give you some possible perspectives.

Once tradition, which comes from the very early church, is often called “original sin.”  The basic idea of original sin is that every descendant of Adam shares in his sin of eating the forbidden fruit.  Because of this we are by nature sinful and must constantly try to fix our relationship with God.  Since it was first talked about in the 2^nd century by Irenaeus, theologians have never stopped fighting about this idea.

 

Another tradition views penance as spiritual healing and growth.  In the Eastern Orthodox Church, confession is not made to the priest.  Confession is made directly to Christ.  The penitent confesses not only their sins, but also their good acts and good things that they are thinking of doing.  Confession not only improves the penitent’s relationship with Christ, it also helps the penitent to understand themselves, leading to better spiritual health.

 

Our Lutheran brothers and sisters have a very concise understanding of penance.  It is divided into two parts: confession and faith.  In their understanding, forgiveness has nothing to do with penance.  Penance is something we do to improve our relationship with God.  Forgiveness is a gift that we have already been given by God.

 

So that’s what it means to be penitent.  So I’m done, right?

Oh yes, I said I was going to explain what penitence has to do with Advent.

 

Just a little bit ago, we sang a song which was probably new to you: “Prepare the Way of the Lord.”  That is what we are doing throughout Advent.  We are preparing our lives for the coming of Jesus Christ.  We are making room for him in our hearts and in our actions.

If you think about any of these understandings of penance, they all work to improve or fix our relationship with God. 

As we move through Advent, we are getting ready.  We are making ourselves pure.  We are healing our spirits.  We are doing all of this to prepare the way for Christ to come more fully into our lives.

This is why we are penitent in Advent.  Not to punish ourselves for every wrong we have ever done, but to be healed spiritually so that we are ready to see how blessed we are by God’s many gifts to us.

Thanks be to God.