CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
Dearest Lord, our Abba Father, help us in these Holy days to recognize and feel your most profound love for us and all of creation. Let us see in the tender, innocence of the Christ child your willing vulnerability. We pray not to dwell on feelings of unworthiness, but to find our worth in ministering to others. Teach us the way to receive your love; how to embrace the teachings of Jesus, and how to let the loving presence of your most Holy Spirit shine through us. May all whom we encounter in the days ahead see your Spirit revealed in our every expression, word, and deed. Be visible in us most wondrous and merciful God, we pray in the name of our savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
PREPARING FOR THE OFFERING
The “His” and “Hers” Van Cleef & Arpels “Poetic Wish” Watches are the most expensive gift in the Neiman Marcus catalogue this year priced at $1,090,000.00. It pains me to inform you that the $354,000 Special Edition McLaren 12C Spider sold out 2 hours after sales officially began. I believe the $100,000 Heritage hen houses and $150,000 Whiskey Woody Tailgate Trailers are still available as are the Jetlev R200 water propelled jet packs at $99,500 a piece and the $90,000 Pinel & Pinel arcade trunk with Formula 1 racing seat, a Thrustmaster T500 RS Force steering Wheel, 24 PlayStation 3 games, an 1800-watt wireless music system and a motion-detection camera. No matter what it costs and no matter how pretty it may be; it is still stuff, that eventually breaks. God’s love doesn’t and won’t.
UNISON OFFERTORY PRAYER
Lord, Bless the gifts we set before you. We offer them in love with a spirit of hopefulness knowing that with your blessing, these tithes and offerings have the power to advance the message of the gospel, breathe new life into your church and its ministries, and help many who are in need. May the generosity of this holiday linger throughout the year as we discover new and creative ways to be the living proof of your graciousness and love. In the name of the Christ. Amen.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Sunday December 16, 2012 "NOT CAMELOT"
CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
Loving and Merciful God, it is indeed a joy to be in your company this morning, as we ponder the meaning of belonging to the body of Christ. In the moment of our first confession of faith we realized that we have always belonged to you, heart and soul; body and mind. Help us model our faith with a daring spirit, unencumbered by timidity or fear. Make our hands the hands of welcome that reach out to the stranger, and offer help to those who are just learning how to walk in the faith. Teach us the servant way, which endeavors always to look out for brother and sister, seeking to know them, to listen to their hopes and dreams, and help heal their hurts and sorrows. Let this work be our joy, O Lord, in the name of the Christ we pray. Amen.
PREPARING FOR THE OFFERING
My mother took me into the FAO Schwartz 5th Avenue store when I was 13. I remember staring goggle-eyed at the huge Steiff stuffed animals. They are sought after collectibles and come in all types and sizes. I was curious to know how long they had been around. Margarete Steiff was born in 1847. She contracted polio in 1849, but was determined to live a normal life. She became a seamstress and made her first little elephant pin cushion in 1879. Her motto was: “Only the best is good enough for children.” Let us embrace her motto and help our church be the best for our children.
UNISON OFFERTORY PRAYER
Lord, Bless the gifts we set before you. We offer them with grateful, joyful hearts. We seek to serve you in all our work, at all times, in all places as often as ever we can. May the work of our hands, the prayers of our hearts, and the gifts we offer in the name of the Christ glorify your mostly holy name. Breathe your renewing Spirit into us that we may be the living proof of your graciousness and love for all the world. Amen.
Loving and Merciful God, it is indeed a joy to be in your company this morning, as we ponder the meaning of belonging to the body of Christ. In the moment of our first confession of faith we realized that we have always belonged to you, heart and soul; body and mind. Help us model our faith with a daring spirit, unencumbered by timidity or fear. Make our hands the hands of welcome that reach out to the stranger, and offer help to those who are just learning how to walk in the faith. Teach us the servant way, which endeavors always to look out for brother and sister, seeking to know them, to listen to their hopes and dreams, and help heal their hurts and sorrows. Let this work be our joy, O Lord, in the name of the Christ we pray. Amen.
PREPARING FOR THE OFFERING
My mother took me into the FAO Schwartz 5th Avenue store when I was 13. I remember staring goggle-eyed at the huge Steiff stuffed animals. They are sought after collectibles and come in all types and sizes. I was curious to know how long they had been around. Margarete Steiff was born in 1847. She contracted polio in 1849, but was determined to live a normal life. She became a seamstress and made her first little elephant pin cushion in 1879. Her motto was: “Only the best is good enough for children.” Let us embrace her motto and help our church be the best for our children.
UNISON OFFERTORY PRAYER
Lord, Bless the gifts we set before you. We offer them with grateful, joyful hearts. We seek to serve you in all our work, at all times, in all places as often as ever we can. May the work of our hands, the prayers of our hearts, and the gifts we offer in the name of the Christ glorify your mostly holy name. Breathe your renewing Spirit into us that we may be the living proof of your graciousness and love for all the world. Amen.
December 16, 2012 "NOT CAMELOT"
Monday December 17, 2012
The text of this article is excerpted from the sermon preached on Sunday
December 16, 2012 in the aftermath of the Newtown Tragedy.
“Not Camelot”
In the musical “Camelot” King Arthur sings about his fantasy Kingdom where by law July and August cannot be too hot, where there is a legal limit to the snow, winter is forbidden till December and March the second on the dot. The summer lingers through September; the rain may never fall till after sundown and by eight the morning fog must disappear; the snow may never slush upon the hillside and by nine PM the moonlight must appear. In short there’s simply not a more congenial spot for happily-ever-aftering than Camelot. (1)
When holiday hearts are broken, shattered in sympathy for the families of the murdered women and children of Newtown, we are stingingly aware that we don’t live in Camelot. In Camelot there are wars and death and destruction, but the line between good and evil is clearly visible. As observers on the outside looking in we see who is working for good in Camelot and who is planning evil.
But we live in this world where good is not always visible and evil is not always predictable.
When bad things happen like the December 14th massacre of 20 children and 7 women-- we are left speechless, yet screaming on the inside wanting answers, wanting to know WHY!???!! We want an explanation. We demand an explanation from anyone who can tell us just what we could have done to prevent such evil from finding its way into our midst. We want to know the mechanism that kick starts the indifferent machine. We want to locate and find the kill switch, or the launch key to turn it back, to abort the launch. “O God, Where is the button that will stop the action? O God, where is the rewind button that will take us back to the time before the evil happened?” Superman used his power to reverse the earth’s direction, to spin the world backwards in time so he could rescue his beloved Lois Lane in the nick of time.
Experts will scramble to explain positing a failure of impulse control, or a messiah complex, psychopathy, or sociopathy. In truth all of the reasons for evil are pathological---the Greek word from which the word pathology is derived is the word pathos, which means suffering. Pathology, then, is about suffering. Pathophysiology is about the suffering of the body. It is the study of all that causes the body to suffer. We have tests and machines that seek out what causes the body to suffer. When a body is broken or attacked by viruses or bacteria, we may be appalled by their appearance, but we can see the devastation and we can intellectually prepare ourselves for how we will respond to the attack.
When my little sister died at the age of 8 from the chicken pox virus invading her brain she was only the 3rd such case they had seen at Boston Children’s hospital. That was in 1959. In 1981 I had been a registered nurse for 11 years. I was working to pay my way through Seminary doing a shift in the pediatric unit of San Dimas Community Hospital. I read an article posted on the bulletin board about a disease called Reye’s syndrome – named for the physician who identified it. It was believed to be caused by the use of aspirin in treating viral infections in children particularly the Chicken Pox virus. What the researchers discovered was that aspirin (probably for its anticoagulant properties) actually aided the virus in crossing the blood brain barrier resulting in the inflammation of the lining of the brain, causing a marked headache, fever, seizures, coma and death. Twenty-two years after my sister died I learned what had caused her death. But we all took aspirin for a fever when I was a little girl. And not everyone got Reye’s syndrome when their fever was treated with aspirin. (2)
Psychopathology is the suffering of the psyche the suffering of the mind. We cannot see what causes it, and we can only guess at what might relieve the suffering. We are so frightened by it, that we are unable to prepare ourselves intellectually or emotionally for the toll which the suffering mind exacts from all of its victims as it wreaks havoc on itself and others.
Just as we want to wield magical powers over the pathos that devastates the human body, so too, we want to wield power over the pathos that devastates the human mind. But we do not have magical powers. We are in fact powerless to eradicate pathos. We want to be able to repair the world, to repair all of the brokenness that accompanies human existence, but that is not part of our job description.
Today we are called to hug each other and our children even tighter. Today Jesus calls us to embrace blessing in the midst of mourning, for we are promised comfort. He reminds us to let the little children come to him, and never stop them, for it is to them that the kingdom of heaven belongs.
Keep the words of Paul close at hand and always in your heart:
“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35; 37-39)
AMEN.
(1) Musical by Alan J. Lerner and Frederick Lowe 1960 based on the novel by T.H. White “The Once and Future King” 1958
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reye's_syndrome and http://www.reyessyndrome.org/
The text of this article is excerpted from the sermon preached on Sunday
December 16, 2012 in the aftermath of the Newtown Tragedy.
“Not Camelot”
In the musical “Camelot” King Arthur sings about his fantasy Kingdom where by law July and August cannot be too hot, where there is a legal limit to the snow, winter is forbidden till December and March the second on the dot. The summer lingers through September; the rain may never fall till after sundown and by eight the morning fog must disappear; the snow may never slush upon the hillside and by nine PM the moonlight must appear. In short there’s simply not a more congenial spot for happily-ever-aftering than Camelot. (1)
When holiday hearts are broken, shattered in sympathy for the families of the murdered women and children of Newtown, we are stingingly aware that we don’t live in Camelot. In Camelot there are wars and death and destruction, but the line between good and evil is clearly visible. As observers on the outside looking in we see who is working for good in Camelot and who is planning evil.
But we live in this world where good is not always visible and evil is not always predictable.
When bad things happen like the December 14th massacre of 20 children and 7 women-- we are left speechless, yet screaming on the inside wanting answers, wanting to know WHY!???!! We want an explanation. We demand an explanation from anyone who can tell us just what we could have done to prevent such evil from finding its way into our midst. We want to know the mechanism that kick starts the indifferent machine. We want to locate and find the kill switch, or the launch key to turn it back, to abort the launch. “O God, Where is the button that will stop the action? O God, where is the rewind button that will take us back to the time before the evil happened?” Superman used his power to reverse the earth’s direction, to spin the world backwards in time so he could rescue his beloved Lois Lane in the nick of time.
Experts will scramble to explain positing a failure of impulse control, or a messiah complex, psychopathy, or sociopathy. In truth all of the reasons for evil are pathological---the Greek word from which the word pathology is derived is the word pathos, which means suffering. Pathology, then, is about suffering. Pathophysiology is about the suffering of the body. It is the study of all that causes the body to suffer. We have tests and machines that seek out what causes the body to suffer. When a body is broken or attacked by viruses or bacteria, we may be appalled by their appearance, but we can see the devastation and we can intellectually prepare ourselves for how we will respond to the attack.
When my little sister died at the age of 8 from the chicken pox virus invading her brain she was only the 3rd such case they had seen at Boston Children’s hospital. That was in 1959. In 1981 I had been a registered nurse for 11 years. I was working to pay my way through Seminary doing a shift in the pediatric unit of San Dimas Community Hospital. I read an article posted on the bulletin board about a disease called Reye’s syndrome – named for the physician who identified it. It was believed to be caused by the use of aspirin in treating viral infections in children particularly the Chicken Pox virus. What the researchers discovered was that aspirin (probably for its anticoagulant properties) actually aided the virus in crossing the blood brain barrier resulting in the inflammation of the lining of the brain, causing a marked headache, fever, seizures, coma and death. Twenty-two years after my sister died I learned what had caused her death. But we all took aspirin for a fever when I was a little girl. And not everyone got Reye’s syndrome when their fever was treated with aspirin. (2)
Psychopathology is the suffering of the psyche the suffering of the mind. We cannot see what causes it, and we can only guess at what might relieve the suffering. We are so frightened by it, that we are unable to prepare ourselves intellectually or emotionally for the toll which the suffering mind exacts from all of its victims as it wreaks havoc on itself and others.
Just as we want to wield magical powers over the pathos that devastates the human body, so too, we want to wield power over the pathos that devastates the human mind. But we do not have magical powers. We are in fact powerless to eradicate pathos. We want to be able to repair the world, to repair all of the brokenness that accompanies human existence, but that is not part of our job description.
Today we are called to hug each other and our children even tighter. Today Jesus calls us to embrace blessing in the midst of mourning, for we are promised comfort. He reminds us to let the little children come to him, and never stop them, for it is to them that the kingdom of heaven belongs.
Keep the words of Paul close at hand and always in your heart:
“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35; 37-39)
AMEN.
(1) Musical by Alan J. Lerner and Frederick Lowe 1960 based on the novel by T.H. White “The Once and Future King” 1958
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reye's_syndrome and http://www.reyessyndrome.org/
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
December 9, 2012 "SURPASSING PEACE"
CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
Wondrous and loving God, when we think of you creating the world, some of us imagine your hand as a paintbrush, the colors flowing from your fingertips, textures spreading across the canvas of space. Some of us see the sculptor’s hand moving, molding, smoothing, carving the clay forming the planets, the stars and creatures of all sizes and shapes. Still other’s of us see you as moving spirit, dancing, blowing, spinning, breathing the whole universe into being. In all of this creating we imagine yours is a labor of love. Therefore, sing to us your melody of peace. When we are struck down, frustrated with our crying, spent from illness, lead us to your sanctuary to hear your voice of comfort and mercy. In the name of the Christ we pray. Amen.
PREPARING FOR THE OFFERING
What does the verb to give mean? It’s pretty straightforward, isn’t it? You give of yourself, or what you have to someone or something usually because you want to. But we use the word in conjunction with a bunch of other words, giving the word, give, different meanings. For example: give-in; give-up; give-over; give-all; give-out, give away and giveaway. The meaning changes too, when you put a prefix or another word in front of give, as in, re-give, out-give, and maybe even, un-give. Of course, the most familiar combo would be forgive. Each form has a meaning all it’s own, but only one offers us the peace of God which surpasses all understanding.
UNISON OFFERTORY PRAYER
Lord, Bless the gifts we set before you. We offer them with a spirit of hopefulness knowing that with your blessing, they have the power to advance the message of the gospel, breathe new life into the work and ministries of your church, and, in turn, help those in need. Empower your church, to be the living proof of your graciousness and love for all the world. Amen.
Wondrous and loving God, when we think of you creating the world, some of us imagine your hand as a paintbrush, the colors flowing from your fingertips, textures spreading across the canvas of space. Some of us see the sculptor’s hand moving, molding, smoothing, carving the clay forming the planets, the stars and creatures of all sizes and shapes. Still other’s of us see you as moving spirit, dancing, blowing, spinning, breathing the whole universe into being. In all of this creating we imagine yours is a labor of love. Therefore, sing to us your melody of peace. When we are struck down, frustrated with our crying, spent from illness, lead us to your sanctuary to hear your voice of comfort and mercy. In the name of the Christ we pray. Amen.
PREPARING FOR THE OFFERING
What does the verb to give mean? It’s pretty straightforward, isn’t it? You give of yourself, or what you have to someone or something usually because you want to. But we use the word in conjunction with a bunch of other words, giving the word, give, different meanings. For example: give-in; give-up; give-over; give-all; give-out, give away and giveaway. The meaning changes too, when you put a prefix or another word in front of give, as in, re-give, out-give, and maybe even, un-give. Of course, the most familiar combo would be forgive. Each form has a meaning all it’s own, but only one offers us the peace of God which surpasses all understanding.
UNISON OFFERTORY PRAYER
Lord, Bless the gifts we set before you. We offer them with a spirit of hopefulness knowing that with your blessing, they have the power to advance the message of the gospel, breathe new life into the work and ministries of your church, and, in turn, help those in need. Empower your church, to be the living proof of your graciousness and love for all the world. Amen.
Monday, December 3, 2012
December 2, 2012 "THE SOREST TROUBLE" Job 4:1-6
THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT "HOPE"
CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
Prepare our hearts, Lord, for the coming of your kingdom upon the earth. Let us not be idle, or bored with waiting, drumming our fingers on the altar, waiting; fixing our eyes on the lone flickering candle that longs to tell us something is coming, waiting; our minds anxious about there being only 22 more days to shop, decorate the house and put up the lights, waiting; our spirits impatient with already knowing what to expect. Lend us your memory, O God that we can know how you desired to be in covenant with us, so much so that you made a radical new decision. Remind us, merciful God, that what we are waiting for in the uncertain times of every age, is your purpose revealed. We pray that you will find us alert and watching for the coming of your Son, today and all of the days of this Advent Season. In the name of the Christ we pray. Amen.
PREPARING FOR THE OFFERING
How can we possibly move our minds away from the shopping season to the Advent season? The onslaught of glitz, glitter and jingle focuses our attention on goods and goodies to be consumed. My brother does Christmas because its tradition; he no more in tune with the reason for the season than the man in the moon. One thing I do applaud him for — he waits until the very last minute of December 24th to buy gifts. If stores were open on the 25th, he’d wait until then. That is as it should be.
UNISON OFFERTORY PRAYER
Lord, Bless the gifts we set before you. We offer them with a spirit of hopefulness knowing that with your blessing, they have the power to advance the message of the gospel, breathe new life into the work and ministries of your church, and, in turn, help those in need. Empower your church, to be the living proof of your graciousness and love for all the world. Amen.
CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
Prepare our hearts, Lord, for the coming of your kingdom upon the earth. Let us not be idle, or bored with waiting, drumming our fingers on the altar, waiting; fixing our eyes on the lone flickering candle that longs to tell us something is coming, waiting; our minds anxious about there being only 22 more days to shop, decorate the house and put up the lights, waiting; our spirits impatient with already knowing what to expect. Lend us your memory, O God that we can know how you desired to be in covenant with us, so much so that you made a radical new decision. Remind us, merciful God, that what we are waiting for in the uncertain times of every age, is your purpose revealed. We pray that you will find us alert and watching for the coming of your Son, today and all of the days of this Advent Season. In the name of the Christ we pray. Amen.
PREPARING FOR THE OFFERING
How can we possibly move our minds away from the shopping season to the Advent season? The onslaught of glitz, glitter and jingle focuses our attention on goods and goodies to be consumed. My brother does Christmas because its tradition; he no more in tune with the reason for the season than the man in the moon. One thing I do applaud him for — he waits until the very last minute of December 24th to buy gifts. If stores were open on the 25th, he’d wait until then. That is as it should be.
UNISON OFFERTORY PRAYER
Lord, Bless the gifts we set before you. We offer them with a spirit of hopefulness knowing that with your blessing, they have the power to advance the message of the gospel, breathe new life into the work and ministries of your church, and, in turn, help those in need. Empower your church, to be the living proof of your graciousness and love for all the world. Amen.
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