Go - December 23, 2018

Go!

“Magnificat anima mea Dominum”

“The Visitation,” accessed December 18, 2018, http://artimage.princeton.edu/files/ProductionJpegs/y1994-17.jpg.

We are the bearers of Christ’s love for the world.

A love that compels us to get up and do!

How can we love our neighbor if we do not go to them?

How can we be filled with Christ’s love and sit still?

If Christ’s love is in us, sitting still is the last thing we can do! We must go!

The love like no other, the love only present when God joins us, stirs our soul.

As the incarnate God approaches, oh so close, our soul leaps!

As John leapt in Elizabeth’s womb at the approach of Mary.

The infinite love of God is so close, we become restless.

We must go!

We must go, and proclaim this blessed news!

We must go, and serve the poor and homeless!

We must go, and feed those who hunger!

We must go, and clothe the naked!

We must go, to embrace the stranger!

We must go, and give voice to the voiceless!

We must go, and be present to the very least!

We must go, and stand for those on the margins!

We must go, in love as Christ loved us.

Is it daunting to go into the world with the love of Christ? Yes.

But we will go, for Christ goes with us.

Post by Mike Corey

Turn - December 18, 2018

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Turn to the Lord, repent of your sins, transform your lives, be prepared for the coming of the Messiah.

That who will be born in every heart repented and transformed. That is the Advent season, an invitation to wait, to prepare the way to receive Love in each one of us.

And thus, allow our life to be transformed. Turning to God and His commandments, leaving aside the things that perishes us and dedicate our lives to the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

What does it mean to turn to God? It means to take a turn from where we are to the face of God, the one who lives in our neighbor. That homeless person, that immigrant, that junkie, the elderly, the sick, that outcast, that single mom who must face the monthly expenses and who barely manages to.

To get to see all of that we must be transformed by that God made Man, Jesus Christ, the Emanuel. The one who once turned tables at the entrance to the temple, showing us the right way to do our Father's will.

Since I decided to follow Christ, my life is no longer the same, even if I wanted it to be the same, it couldn’t be, because light has nothing to do with the darkness. To walk in the same way of the Lord transforms us so we can see the big picture, it is a new birth in the spiritual life.

My fourth grandson Eli, who was born this week, is proof of God's love, a seed of hope that God has with humanity. He knows we can do it.

Let us take that example of Jesus of bravery and authority in ourselves and turn to the way of the good, of the way of love. Amen.

Post by Roxana Videla Olivares

The Way of Love - December 17, 2018

God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

Copyright 212 west: the spoken life

During the season of Advent, our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has invited us to reflect on the way of love. For many of us, there are numerous paths to love. Some have found love through the sacred acts of prayer, blessings, learning, and worship while others discovered love through the movements of turning, going, and rest. Collectively, these expressions of love or the various ways to love have a purpose. In Luke 10:27, Our Lord Jesus Christ reminds us of the purpose of our love. The purpose or the object of Christian love allows us to, “ Love the Lord our God with all our hearts and with all our souls and with all our strength and with all our minds '; and to 'Love our neighbor as Ourselves.” Love, according to Christ, embodies an inclusive communal experience between the Divine and humanity. In loving God with our very being: hearts, minds, souls and strength, we become conduits of the divine character of God. As written by the evangelist in John 4:7-21, “God is love” and those who love God and their neighbors translate the divine will of God.

We, despite the harsh realities of human experiences, are beautifully and wonderfully made in the image of God through His love and grace to be beacons of love as revealed in the Gospels and through the Scriptures. As we celebrate the coming and birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, lets us remember to share our love with God and with our neighbors. Since the Creation of the world, God has shared His Love with humanity. Do you remember? It occurred through the breath of life and it was reaffirmed through the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In the words of A.J. Russell, I proclaim that “I am Love because God is Love,” because I am made in the image of God and I am willing to testify of my Love.

Oh, what a blessing and joy to receive and give love.

Post by Shancia Jarrett

All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the
prophet: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him
Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” –Matthew 1:22-23


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I can offer you no words that have not been said, no song that has been left unsung. We can only go back to the beginning, the beginning that starts tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day when our savior arrives. It is the newest day celebrating our oldest wish for when the sun climbs over our rooftops it will bring light into the world exposing our dreams for renewal.

Two thousand years ago a woman held her baby and perhaps she whispered a prayer quietly into her newborn’s ear. A prayer passing on her own dreams and speaking of the dreams she had for her boy. A prayer for calm. A prayer of an unending desire for peace. A prayer for concord rather than discord. A prayer for protection, a promise to be the protector.

Every day before that day and every day since that day, a mother has spoken that same prayer to her own child. A child, mere minutes or hours old, a witness to nothing serving as a witness to hope. Strengthened with her mother’s prayer, that child has the capacity to change this world for the better. Strengthened by his mother’s love, that child can bring renewal to a tired world.

The constancy of love passing from generation to generation is evidence of God’s intended consequence for all of us. We do not love God out of fear that if we do not, we will be punished or cast away. No, the consequence of loving God is God’s love. It is God’s love that can be shared with all of humanity.

Tomorrow is evidence of God’s love. Tomorrow is Christmas. Tomorrow is our charge to renew that love.

And from that love, comes hope. From that love comes the desire to enter into the world and share that love without judgement or stipulation, to tear down walls that impede that love, to lift up the lowly so that they might experience that love, and to love those who do not love us so that we might all renew that love.

And tomorrow, tomorrow and every day past and present, God has and will hold us in her arms again and whisper to us a quiet prayer. A prayer that says: “I love you.”

God is with us.

Post by Matt Handi

Sheep and Goats

I invite you to take a moment to consider our Gospel reading for this Saturday, Dec. 23rd:

Matthew 25:31-46

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Sometimes, perhaps often, God’s message to us about what it means to live faithfully can be presented in confusing ways. God speaks in parables that scholars and theologians take great care in dissecting and debating. But in our Gospel reading for today, Jesus provides a clear and simple laundry list of what is expected of his disciples:

For I was hungry and you gave me food

I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink

I was a stranger and you welcomed me

I was naked and you gave me clothing

I was sick and you cared for me

I was in prison and you visited me

This is one of the last things that Jesus says to his followers—this is the climax of Jesus’ Earthly ministry. We encounter him here talking about Salvation and using the examples of the Goats and the Sheep. His words are perfectly clear--my command is this: love each other as I have loved you. We show our love for Jesus and we live faithful lives by loving and serving other people. We live lives of faith by responding to others and the needs of our world in the way that Jesus would.

What matters, as Jesus so clearly illustrates for us, is not how loudly we boast our faith. What matters is not our status, not our achievements, not our tiles, and not our wealth. No, what matters is our continued willingness to let the life of God be lived through us and our interactions with others and the world.

Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.

At Convention Bishop Douglas suggested that we are entering a “New Missional Age”—an age of renewal, a “new Reformation” in which God is inviting us to be the Jesus Movement. Well this—today’s Gospel—is at the core of what it means to be part of the Jesus movement. As disciples of Jesus are called to look at one another and see the face of God. We are called to love one another. And as today’s Gospel message makes perfectly clear: it is as simple and difficult as that.

As we await the coming of the Christ child, may we renew our commitment to living as disciples of Jesus as we share God’s love with the world.

Post and photo by Dana Capsso Stivers

Revelation as Renewal

“After this I looked, and there in heaven a door stood open! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.’” Revelation 1:1

Our reading this morning is from the book of Revelation. In it, John is given a glimpse of God’s throne and provides us with a vivid description. It is a regal throne surrounded by a rainbow that looks like an emerald and 24 other thrones where the elders sit. It is quite the picture, a throne room fit only for God.

What is interesting though is the fact that the door stood open. John does not say he saw the door swing open. He did not see an angel fiddling with keys as he tried to unlock the door. There was no combination code to be entered, no key card to be swiped. John looked. And he saw the door was open. Isn’t that wonderful!

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When we cry out for healing, when we pray for the Spirit to visit us, when we look at a broken world and shake our fists in frustration, we are directing our prayers and supplications and thanksgivings toward our God whose door is always open.

And when we wish to bring closer the kingdom of God here on earth by serving in our various ministries; when we go out into the world after our Sunday worship to spread the good news through our words and through our deeds, when we love as deeply as we can love, we are creating a relationship with God.

God is not hiding behind a wall or a door bolted shut. God is with us. God is beside us. God is within us. Our prayers are heard. Our actions are noticed. Seek out God for God is willing to be found.

The door is open. The threshold is ours to cross.

Post by Matt Handi

We Wait.

We wait.

Did you watch the news today?

Did you hear what the president said?

That earthquake in Mexico was devastating.

33% of Puerto Rico is still without power.

I heard there was rioting in the West Bank. I heard one protester was killed.

41 million Americans struggle with hunger. 13 million of those hungry are children.

There was a school shooting last week. It hardly made the news.

We can wait to be saved from all of this.

We can wait for Jesus.

We can also act as Jesus tells us.

We can stand up to injustice.

We can love our neighbors.

All of them.

We can sue for peace and heal the injured.

Or we can wait.

We can prepare for the arrival of our savior by building the kingdom of God here on earth.

We can wait

or we can do.

We can hold firm to the divisions

-- and bad feelings  --

that keep us separate

or

we can reach out our hands in peace.

We can adhere to the old ways that keep us apart

or

welcome the new.

Meet the hungry with food.

Give the thirsty a drink.

Invite the stranger in.

                                                                                                                       Clothe the naked.

Care for the sick.

Visit the prisoner.   

We can wait.

Or we can do.

We can wait.

Or we can renew.

Post by Matt Handi

Remembering Sandy Hook

The power of the wicked shall be broken. (Ps. 37:17)

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. From students, teachers, and administrators to first responders, parents, and community members, people across society were forced, then and afterward, to respond to an unprecedented hatred, hatred that should never have had recourse to a firearm, hatred that should never have inflicted itself on a living being.

That hatred drove people to the most violent, harrowing ends of human experience, ends that are now unbearably all-too-familiar, judging by the news and our society’s collective reactions to similar tragedies: grieve, move on quick, and let it be, we are told—this is just how the world works.

But on that day and in the weeks, months, and years that followed, we witnessed bravery and love beyond all telling in the face of that hatred: children who encouraged their classmates to flee, teachers who gave their lives that their students might live, parents who devoted themselves to reducing gun violence in schools and communities.

Even so, there is an ever-present temptation to give in to the insistence that we let it be. The challenges before us may seem too large, the obstacles too many. But that awful beauty in midst of terror, the divine light that shines in the darkness which the darkness cannot overcome, should give us hope that God can make a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert (Is. 43:16, 19).

God does not grace us with witnessing bravery and love just for us to gaze upon bravery and love from afar and admire those qualities in others. Still less does God bless us and have us share this earth with people who embody those virtues just so we can remember them in eloquent eulogies and lament them and their untimely passing.

God means for us to take up those virtues ourselves and live them out in our own lives—in the words of the letter to the Ephesians, to take up the whole armor of God, so that we may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Bravery and love are virtues that exist for more than just the extremes of human experience; they are gifts that God gives us through the Holy Spirit that we cultivate little by little throughout our daily lives.

What that looks like will vary from person to person, but in all of us who seek to follow Jesus, that means a stubborn resistance, no matter the odds, to the temptation that lulls us into making peace with—or worse, embracing—evil, in even the smallest of ways. In all of us who seek to follow Jesus, that means an unfailing heart for those whom, as we hear at Lessons and Carols throughout this month, God particularly loves: the poor and helpless, the cold, the hungry and oppressed, the sick and those who mourn, the lonely and unloved, the aged and little children, as well as all those who do not know and love the Lord Jesus Christ.

This day, as we remember those who lost their lives and those who gave them, I invite you to set aside five minutes to pray for bravery to contend with evil and injustice, and for love to heal hatred and make us friends with God and one another. May our God act through us, in us, and with us, so that the power of the wicked may be broken.

Post by Armando Ghinaglia

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Image labeled for reuse with modification from June Mita Photography: https://www.flickr.com/photos/junie_moon_photoshare/7659087176

I wait

By Stacey Kohl
 

I wait.

As the days grow shorter and the nights longer, I wait.

As the wind blows more sharply and the world around me grows colder, I wait.

As the very earth seems to sink low into the darkness of winter, I wait.

I wait.  

I wait because I know someone is coming—because I know someone has already come.

I wait because I know this someone will take the darkness and make it light

Will take the cold and make it warmth

Will take the weight of so much pain,

so much anger,

so much loneliness,

so much hate,

and lift it away.

I wait because the one who is coming—the one who has already come—is love itself.

And love is always worth waiting for.