Countdown to Christmas

 

Countdown to Christmas, eh? Those slow-pokes at the Hallmark Channel finally got around to it mid-October.

Hallmark movie moral: Everything works out. Grandma is content.

Hallmark movie moral, holiday version: Everything will work out by Christmas. Grandma is content.

Every reader of the church calendar knows

• Dec 25 Nativity of our Lord
• Mar 25 Annunciation
• Jun 24 Nativity of John the Baptist 

But alert readers have done the math and know it all begins fifteen months before Christmas:

• Sep 25  Shut-up Sunday

Angel: Your wife is pregnant.

Zech: Shut up!

Gabe: No, you shut up!

...

It's in the book, look it up.

prayer

 

Creator you called all into being; through your Word you brought all things to be that are, or were, or will be. Creator you called us into humanity; we are called to be your people. Creator you called us into community, to be people of praise to glorify your Name. And you called us through your Son to become agents of reconciliation, working to bring the kingdom of heaven into being in this world.

You called us into the fullness of being, completed in the work of your Word and Spirit. And you called us to bring this completion of creation closer for all creatures, our fellow human beings, and to be stewards of all you have made.

You call each of us to become fully human, to become the persons whom you know and love in aspiration. Fulfill in each of us our common calling and the unique calling of each person. Help us to honor that communal calling – and that uniqueness – in one another.

You call each of us to journey through our life, closer to you, passing through, as you will, nascency, infancy, youth, adulthood, seniority, and the completion of life in death. Help us to become in each part of our lives fully your own people, as you have intended us to be.

Help us to rejoice in your creation as we develop in our capacity to serve and enjoy the world you have made. Guide each of us in times of folly and of wisdom; help us discern in each other and our selves how you would have us to be.

And at each stage of our lives you call us into ever-developing relationships with you and each other. May we in all our lives, together and alone, from beginning to end, grow into the fullness of life, gathered through Jesus your Word into the one community of heaven.

Amen.

changes

Transfiguration 2013

Up the mountain to a vision of glory. Down the mountain and back to work. That is where he led them.

Jesus had just been having a conversation with them. What are people saying about me? He’d asked.

They say you’re Elijah or one of the prophets come back. Come back to save us, come back to lead us.

But who do you say that I am? You are the Messiah.

And then he tells them that it means that he will suffer and die. Are you with me? Will you follow me?

Peter, James, and John, three apostles, go up the mountain with him. It is time for prayer.

And then he goes on ahead, and they see the vision.

Among the ancient prophets of Israel, Moses and Elijah stand out, as ones who spoke with God. Jesus is there with them. All three clothed in white.

And Peter thinks he gets it. He’s close. He sees that Jesus is one of the great prophets of Israel.

It is like the feast of booths – the one where you set up tents to dwell in, while you celebrate God’s presence with the people in the wilderness.

So why not stay here for a while?

But that is not what happens. The cloud descends.

The cloud signals – and covers – God’s presence.

It is the cloud of obscurity, the cloud of unknowing.

It is the cloud of revelation, the cloud of glory.

So no wonder they’re afraid.

When the cloud descends, everything is hidden.

And out of the cloud a voice speaks.

And what it says it said before: this is my chosen Son.

Listen to him!

God calls to them to a higher understanding, a higher purpose, than the one they knew.

They were friends of Jesus, followers of his way. And now they knew who he really was, what he would do.

Jesus was the redeemer of Israel – and more.

This was the midpoint of the story of Jesus’ ministry.

Baptized in the Jordan, calling the disciples and embarking on the mission in Galilee: all that was behind him.

Ahead of him: Jerusalem. The cross, the passion, death.

And then resurrection and ascension.

Glory.

Here they were at the midpoint, at the crisis point, of Jesus’ vocation.

Would he accept the glory and the passion, the pain and the joy?

Jesus freely accepted the call of God. And he went forward.

To Jerusalem, and glory.

What happened on the mountain was a transfiguration, a change in appearance, one that revealed a reality beyond common knowing.

What happened on the mountain was a transformation, a change in being, which revealed the purpose of God.

We are called into that purpose. We are called into that transformation.

We are called to take our place in the larger purpose of God.

For we do not proclaim ourselves, we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord. For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor 4:5a, 6)

And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, from the Spirit. (2 Cor 3.18)

We too are in the middle of the story, in the confusion that precedes every transformation. We are in the middle of the story, from baptism to resurrection, from creation to Glory, to the completion of God’s purpose, when our faces will shine as we reflect that image of the invisible God who is found in Christ Jesus, as the light of Christ illuminates us and shines forth from us to a newly lightening world.

Jesus came to embrace humankind in the love of God. He came to proclaim and embody the coming of God’s reign.

And he came to call us into that work.

We are called, ourselves, to be transformed, to be fully his people.

We are called, individually, that we individually might be transformed into the image of the likeness of God.

That we might, in other words, become God’s people as he made us to be, as we are called to become.

We are called, together, that we together might become the agents of transformation, heralds of the presence of God in the world.

We are called, that the world God has made might be transformed into the joyful kingdom it was meant to be.

We are called to be a community of transformation.

We are called to call others. We are called to be church, first, for others – and then, for our fellowship together.

We are called into this holy mystery that we might take part in its working out in the world; as it works out in us, in our lives, in our words and acts.

So we are called for a purpose greater than ourselves. And we are called to live into that great calling which is ours in Christ Jesus.

It starts here.

The kingdom of heaven starts here.

Phil 2.1-4

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.

Phil 3.1, 4.4-9

Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.

Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received ... and the God of peace will be with you.

Phil 4.19-20

And my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

The Transfiguration, Exodus 34:29-35 , Psalm 99 , 2 Peter 1:13-21 , Luke 9:28-36 , transitions, Phil 2:1-4, Phil 4:4-9, JRL+

Sources and resources include: Greg Rhodes, Massey Shepherd, John Forman, Susanne Kromberg, Paul Mitchell,  Tom Wright, Herbert O'Driscoll, Rob Voyle, ...

A note from the Rector

It has been my joy to serve as pastor, priest, and teacher for Saint Alban’s Church since the first of Advent 2007. During that time together I have presided at worship and vestry meetings, preached and taught, visited people at home and in hospitals, and conducted baptisms, weddings, and funerals.

We have shared together times of sorrow and times of joy. After next Sunday someone else will take up these duties, and I will return this fall to full-time academic work, to finish up my doctoral studies.

My wife Sarah and I have been blessed by our time with this congregation and will always remember our ministry among you with affection and gratitude.

Blessings to all in Christ Jesus and may you continue to journey into a future with hope.

Father John


http://stalbansedmonds.org/2013/07/a-note-from-the-rector/

Posted on July 30, 2013 by rector

See also:

Re: Thursday evening special Vestry meeting 7pm Parish Hall

 

baked beans

I checked with my mother about this story. 

One time early in their marriage my mother wanted to prepare a fancy meal for my father, but the pot roast got burned in the oven. 

He told her, “Honey, I’d just as soon have baked beans.” 

He only needed one thing – which was, I think, her company.

But, she said, he really did like baked beans.

Jesus says to Martha you only need one thing. Sounds like one dish, maybe. No need for a fancy meal. Let’s just be together. 

But he goes on to say: Mary has chosen the good portion, and for that reason it will not be taken away from her.

Attending to the guest is the heart of hospitality. It is the best part of being a host.

And that is the part that Mary has chosen. She will listen to what the Lord is saying.

What is going on here? She is feasting on the Word – the host for that feast is Jesus.

We become what we are called to become as we attend to what the Lord is saying, and allow our actions to come out of that centering place, that Word.

“Organizations journey toward their image of the future” (David Cooperrider). For the church our image of the future must first and last be an image of Christ, of the fulfillment of his word in the world. 

That fulfillment is his prophetic kingdom come to be.

 

JRL+

2013 July 21
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

“Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Looking up from the New Town in Edinburgh toward the Castle atop the Royal Mile, I could hear a bagpiper in the gloaming. When I took the tour of the Castle the next day, I saw Saint Margaret’s Chapel, commemorating her returning Scotland to the strong roots of its faith in the 11^th century.

I saw something more recent too: a large building, one of the most prominent on the top of the hill – a sort of mausoleum or temple, a sacred space of some sort.

It was a war memorial, a remembrance place, dedicated to honoring those sons of Scotland who had given their lives in the First World War.

All around me, when I went inside, were books, large books, inscribed with the names of the fallen. There were men attending who explained the index.

 In those books somewhere in large letters you could find the name of one person in particular. If you stepped back you could see them all – names written in the books of honor.

We don’t know about each particular person, how they lived or how they died. They died not knowing if their cause would succeed. We do know that they served. And their names were written in the books of honor.

What we encounter repeatedly in the Bible is the image of a book in which names are written: the book of the covenant, the book of life.

In this Gospel’s telling today, it is the book of those who went forth to love and serve the Lord, by proclaiming and living the Word, so that they could say, to those they passed, receptive or inhospitable, that the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.

That is what matters – to serve. Faithfulness, yes, even in unfaithfulness to repent and return to serve.

Now how did Jesus send them out? What tasks did he set before them? He sent them to prepare the way – by bringing healing and good news to places he himself purposed to go. They were in that sense sent on in advance.

Go — go urgently — without staff or spare sandals or knapsack for provisions. Go – even into a foreign land, Samaria. Go – depending on the people who receive you.

Go – depending even more profoundly on the Word of God, on the message I send with you.

That becomes your family, that becomes your identity, and that becomes your home: the message of the Kingdom of God that you carry with you.

This utter trust in the Word of God can be demonstrated in small and simple ways – remember now Naaman the Aramean, the great general of Syria, sent by his king for healing.

This adventure began when someone listened to a small voice – the voice of a slave girl, a captive from Israel, serving Naaman’s wife. “If only he could see the prophet in Samaria,” she said, “he could be healed.”

Her mistress listened to this voice of a little one – one easily dismissed as of no power or influence, a slave after all and merely a child – but she listened and the great and mighty were changed.

For the king sent the general, and the general, with mighty expectations, went forth, ventured out of his own land, for healing from a stranger. He was outside his territory, and even his family, and soon without even the dignity of his position.

Go tell him to jump in the river Jordan, said the prophet from inside his house.

Eventually the man did – he was persuaded to take this small step that really was a great leap for a man of his kind.

It was an adventure into obscurity, a humbling – and with that journey completed he became as a little child – and came to know and worship the living God.

The story continues: “Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, ‘Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.’” (v. 15a)

Remember now those 70 others that Jesus sent out – these are not the disciples whose names we know. Their names are written in the heavens and that is their glory.

We do not know who they were. They need not have been the mighty of the Earth. Some of them could have been as obscure as slave girls and children.

But we know they went forth and we know the message they proclaimed: “The Kingdom of Heaven has come near you.”

If we can hear it,

If we can welcome it,

If we can make it at home with us,

If we can show it, and

If we can carry it forward into our world, then we can say it too:

“The Kingdom of Heaven has come near you – today.”

May it be so. Amen.

JRL+

CProper9 2013

July 7
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 9: 2 Kings 5:1-14. Psalm 30. Galatians 6:1-16. Luke 10:1-11, 16-20.

Father John

Father John is a Camaldolese Benedictine Oblate. A graduate of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, he has completed the Certificate of Graduate Studies in Pastoral Leadership through Seattle University and is a candidate for the Doctor of Ministry degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary.