Christmas Eve Reflection

Reflection for Christmas Eve, 2012.

Luke 2:1-20

"There was no room for them at the inn."

“Let every heart prepare him room.” Isaac Watts

“O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today.” Phillips Brooks

I don't want to mingle too many of my own words with the beautiful poetry of the scriptures and these carols.

But I wanted to point our attention to something we may miss this Christmas. It's right in front of our eyes, but we might miss it.

Celebrating With Mary

A sermon for the fourth Sunday of Advent given at the United Church of Acworth, NH on December 23, 2012.

Luke 1:39-56

What does it mean to have joy? In light of tragic recent events how do we come to church and light a candle of joy?

Rachelle and I were listening to NPR's On Point on Friday morning. The episode which you can still listen to online was addressing the spiritual challenges of Newtown.

Near the beginning of the show Miroslav Volf, a professor of mine from Yale and a guest on the show made the comment that “it feels like a dark cloud has descended on the season of joy.”

As we listen to our gospel reading we hear the joyful singing voice of Mary:

“My soul proclaims your greatness, O God, and my spirit rejoice in you”

Why is Mary rejoicing? What gives this poor, unwed, teenage mother the joy that so beautifully pours out in these verses?

Well, what is the content of her joy? What do we hear in her song?

What Should We Do?

A sermon for the third Sunday of Advent given at the United Church of Acworth, NH on December 16, 2012.

Luke 3:10-18

On Friday Rachelle and I went to Walpole to watch their production of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. It's a very familiar story. Ebenezer Scrooge is wealthy, stingy, mean, and unhappy. When people wish him Merry Christmas he responds, “bah, humbug.” He is a business man and does not have time for charity.

But on this Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by three spirits of past, present, and future Christmases. These spirits show him what has been, what is, and what is possible.

Scrooge is shown a mirror so to speak. He is shown himself he begins to feel remorse for the way he has lived his life, putting business over the concerns of his fellow human beings.

In a climactic moment, when Scrooge follows the pointing finger of the spirit of Christmas yet to come and finds it directing him to his own name inscribed on a gravestone, Scrooge breaks down.

A Few Words for the New Year

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

This past semester just ended on Thursday. I still have one paper to turn in, but thanks to the miracle of the internet I can hand it in online this week. This past semester I took a course called Foundations of Christian Worship in which we learned about how Christians have gathered for worship since the beginning of the Christian movement with the apostles up to the present day. We learned about how music, words, space, and movement are used and have been used to contribute to the offering of worship when Christians gather. I also took a course called Pastoral Theology and Care. I found this one to be more stretching, more challenging than the other one, teaching me about all of the ways that we relate as human beings, what kinds of things enhance our ability to relate to one another, to connect, and what kinds of things serve as barriers. 

How do we offer ourselves to one another in a way that is truly serving, truly loving? If you've gotten sick of hearing me say things like slow down and listen, it's because that has been a recurring take-home point from that class. We cannot be present to God and present to one another if we are too caught up in ourselves.

Next semester I am planning to take another course on Pastoral Care, focusing on mental illness as it relates to Pastoral care. And I'm planning also to take a course called Principles and Practice of Preaching. And that's the round about way to introduce the story I'm going to share. It's a story told by the man who will be my professor next semester. His name is Thomas Troeger.

Here's the story: