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AdventWord 2018, Day 20 – “sign”

Posting a sign means that you are serious about the topic. You’ve talked with people, maybe posted a less formal notice. But when you purchase a sign and make it part of your world, you’re screaming your intentions at people.

This is especially true of the sign that was posted outside my church that said “Hate Has No Home Here” in 6 languages.

My spiritual home is a place where people follow the teachings of Jesus. We celebrate his birth in human form soon. And we tell everyone how we do that in loud voices outside our spiritual home. We proclaim that hate is never okay and not something that we allow. We also say that are welcome at the Lord’s table for communion, which is a big reason why I sought out The Episcopal Church after spending most of my life in a less tolerant faith that did not allow non-members to share in the body and blood of the Lord.

Your experiences are different. Thanks for reading mine, which are well captured by the declaration that hate has not home in my church home and in my world.

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the people of this land], that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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AdventWord 2018, Day 19 – “ablaze”

There are times when church is dark and slowly illuminated by the passing of a flame from person to person.

These are the moments when it’s most possible for me to imagine how I might react when faced with the reality that god is indeed one of us, that god is human, and not here in our souls, hearts, and minds, but in human flesh. Those are sacred, faith-inducing moments for me. And I am always thankful for the clergy I’ve known in my life who have helped me appreciate the gift of faith.

Almighty and everlasting God, from whom cometh every good and perfect gift: Send down upon our clergy, and upon the congregations committed to their charge, the healthful Spirit of thy grace and thy blessing. Amen.

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AdventWord 2018, Day 18 – “wash”

Racing through the days until we celebrate god born human, I felt people in church today lean in to Luke’s gospel when Mary greets Elizabeth. The mothers knew not only because of their piety but because mothers know these things. Elizabeth and Mary knew, and Luke’s gospel tells us that John leaped in Elizabeth’s womb.

These humble women knew that their children were special but remained humble. They knew that they were blessed, that they had God’s favor upon them, but Mary also understood and says that her blessing of “great things” is part of the promise made to God’s people.

This humility extends throughout Jesus’ life. He is laid in an animal’s food trough as a newborn. He washes the feet of his disciples and teaches them that no person is so great as to be above doing this for another. As he is brought to a painful human death, he forgives his captors and executioners.

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

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AdventWord 2018 Day 17, “ancestor”

“That church is the sacred ground to that part of the family,” I told my parents as they were preparing to go to a family reunion. I ad spent countless hours in my genealogy research detailing the rich history of a small town church that had baptized, married, and buried dozens of relatives. The church was built in 1756–old for an American location of any kind–and its earnest recordkeeping dates back to the early nineteenth century.

Churches connect us to ancestors.

Even when I don’t share an ancestor’s faith, I am always pleased to learn when someone I’m researching was also a believer. Using newspapers and other contemporaneous works, I try to understand what life was like for my ancestor. Times like Advent and Christmas or Lent and Easter allow me to connect even further, establishing a bridge across generations. I love being able to reflect on how an ancestor viewed their final week of Advent, that period of increasing anticipation that will culminate in the birth of the Christ child in a week.

Do they also have children? What is going on in their church world? How will their family celebrate? Are their photographs or newspaper accounts of special events held that season?

Humanity is one family sharing one planet. Our ancestors were here first and may have shaped where we live or our faith in ways we never imagined.

Look with compassion, Lord on the whole human family. Break down the walls that separate us,. Unite us in bonds of love, and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on Earth. Amen.

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