St. Andrew's Advent Devotional 2014

Advent Devotional Written by members of Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church

November 30 - December 25, 2014

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Calendar of Events for Advent and Christmas at Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church Christmas Pageant , followed by a Reception in Collins Hall 4:00 p.m.

Sunday, December 21

Blue Christm AS Acknowledging the sorrows of the season 6:00 p.m.

Christmas Eve Junior Choir singing Chancel Choir singing

Wednesday, December 24 4:00 p.m.

10:00 p.m.

Christmas Day Carols & Piano

Monday, December 22

Thursday, December 25 10:00 a.m.

1st Sunday of Christmas No Sunday School

Sunday, December 28 8:15 and 11:00 a.m.

2nd Sunday of Christmas Holy Eucharist Sunday School Lessons &Carols

Sunday, January 4 8:15 a.m.

10:00 a.m.

11:00 a.m.

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Family Advent Activities One challenge in Advent is to make it a time of expectation for Christ’s coming, not a time of expectation for shiny toys. Here are some ways to help your family remember the reason for the season.

Remember a family is whatever you want it to be. Feel free to invite a single parent with young children – or 2 or 3 single friends – to celebrate Advent with you. ✭ Look in your hymnal – pages 53-76 are hymns for Advent. Sing them with your family.

If you don’t know the tune you can always make one up. Or go to www.cyberhymnal.org – you’ll learn a bit about the authors and composers and can click on midi files of the tunes.

There were only three of our hymns I couldn’t find by first line or tune name. Easiest to search the alphabetical listing for the first line, but you can also search by tune name in the search box. ✭ Have one ‘family night’ each week of Advent – let the children help plan the menu and activity with the adults and look forward to this special time with each other. Prepare the family meal together then play a board game, go for a walk, drive around a neighborhood with lovely decorations, set up the family crèche and tell the Christmas story again, go shopping for ‘Angel Tree’ presents . . . ✭ Read aloud to each other – or let the person who likes reading out loud best read to the family. You could pick something seasonal like “The Twenty Four Days Before Christmas”

by Madeline L’Engle, but it could be any book the whole family would enjoy. ✭ Invite someone to join your family for the evening and cook a simple meal together.

Don’t make it difficult. It doesn’t have to be “Holiday Entertaining” – just invite someone you’d like to know better for soup and grilled cheese or pizza. Make it easy and comfortable. ✭ Make Christmas decorations together. Depending on your family’s abilities these can be as simple as cutting snowflakes out of folded up paper and taping them to your windows, or as complicated as shaving crayons to iron between sheets of wax paper to make ‘stained glass windows.’ Google ‘Advent Craft’ and you’ll find more ideas than you’ll ever have time to make.

Prayers for use with your Advent Wreath: ~6~

Blessing at Candle Lighting: Lord God, you who sent into the world your beloved son as a light that shines in darkness, invest this, our Advent symbol, with the power of your love and light. As each of these candles is lighted, may we light within ourselves the desire to prepare a way for your kingdom. As each new candle is lighted, may the flame of Christ’s coming grow brighter and brighter so that this Christmas may see the coming of the Lord of Light into our hearts and your world. (Candle is lighted.) We pray, that the richness of God’s blessing rest upon this Advent wreath, upon our home and upon each of us as we light this candle in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Collects for the Sundays in Advent First Sunday of Advent: Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

Second Sunday of Advent: Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

Third Sunday of Advent: Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and forever. Amen.

Fourth Sunday of Advent: Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one god, now and forever. Amen.

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The First Sunday of Advent Isaiah 64:1-9

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Psalm 80:1-7

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Mark 13:24-37

God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Corinthians 1:3 Tell me something better than wading hip-deep in a cool, free-running trout stream fishing with one of the best men you know.

The Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River runs into and through the heartland of my people like an artery. It runs through my earliest memories. Among the early memories are those of fishing with the geezer.

Later, there was that one summer when we fished every day. We never took down our fly rods the entire time. I had never done that before and have not done it since. This was the symbol of that last great season before I took up working at jobs.

You can tell a lot about a man by how he approaches a stream. In my youthful exuberance I splashed right in, to catch a fish in a hurry. Of course this scared away every fish.

The geezer approached a stream with his eyes. From long experience he understood by the surface of the water how it was underneath, and where a fish might lie. When he made his cast he knew how to present his fly so it would entice a strike. He fished upstream toward its source. He had no anticipation that he would get there, it was the endeavor that mattered. I watched from a distance, and after a delay, followed after him.

There was a shared sadness that last day when we broke down our rods and put them away.

The summer that seemed so long in its early days when it stretched out before me came to its close. Gone already. It was a feeling you can have only once. I could not know then that I would never fish with the geezer again.

The geezer is gone now. He has moved around the bend and I cannot see the water he fishes. I miss him most during those optimistic moments of anticipation when I approach a trout stream slowly, from a distance, and look it over.

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Now the Advent Season stretches out before us. We mark a new beginning. In due course it will be Christmas, we will celebrate the Christ child and His fellowship.

Barry Chafin

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December 1, 2014 Psalms 1,2,3,4,7

Feast of St. Andrew (transferred from Nov. 30) Isaiah 1:10-20

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Luke 20:1-8

We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place where your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it.”

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3, 8 Today is the Feast of St. Andrew, the patron of this parish. The reading from Paul’s first letter to the early church of Thessalonica in Greece describes Paul’s praise to that fledgling community. He had planted a church, and their embracing of the Gospel, manifested in their steadiness in hospitality, faith, and love had spread throughout the region, so much so that Paul did not need to speak of it for others were already talking about them before he could say anything! What a wonderful witness to the faith and ministry of that church in Thessalonica.

As we begin our Advent journey together, it is my prayer that St. Andrew’s in the Highlands of Louisville will become such a witness to the Gospel of grace, mercy, love, faith and inclusion. So much so that this parish becomes a buzz word throughout the region, and a beacon of hope pointing to Christ for this neighborhood and city that I have come to love as many of you do. How might God be calling you to manifest hope in Christ and create a buzz among our neighbors?

Fr. Bill Parker

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Tuesday, December 2, 2014 Psalm 5, 6, 10, 11

Isaiah 40:1-11

1 Thessalonians 2:1-2

Luke 20-9-18

He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.

Isaiah 40:11 I love the presentation of “The Good Shepherd” in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Level I atrium. The children are 3-5 years old. My favorite “wondering question” after the presentation is “What does it feel like to be carried?” Since they are still carried at times by their parents, I get answers like “I’m up high and I can see everything,” and “I feel safe and close to my Daddy.”

Unfortunately, I have no memories of literally being carried. But I have many memories of being figuratively carried by my St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church family. Through the death of my mother at age 11, through the loss of a pregnancy, through two painful divorces, and through several depressions you have lifted me up and carried me through to the other side. You did it by holding me, crying with me, comforting me, calling me, hugging me, and sending me cards with encouraging words. You let me sleep at your house when I was afraid of being alone, fed me when I was skin and bones, and you prayed for me and with me. I couldn’t have done it alone.

I hope that sometime I have helped carry you. That’s what the community of Christ’s church is all about.

Cam Norman

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Wednesday, December 3, 2014 Psalms 119:1-24

Isaiah 2:1-11

1 Thessalonians 2:13-20

Luke 20:19-26

Contemplating what I would say here, I thought I might write about our past week in the hospital. About finding out our daughter might have a rare auto inflammatory disease that befalls one person in a million. About the anxiety involved in coming to terms with this news.

But then what stands out most about the week, is being surrounded in the loving prayers of my family, friends, church, coworkers and many who don’t even know us. Getting texts and calls from long lost friends, having meals magically show up.

As I sat in my chair reading my mother’s Bible early the other morning waiting for the sun to rise and offer me its daily renewal of hope, one line in the Psalms reading stood out to me.

“I am a sojourner on the earth…hide not thy commandments from me!”

Other versions use the word stranger, but I like sojourner. It feels more welcome, like a traveler, a guest. We are sojourners on the earth, only passing through briefly. There were many before us and there will be many after us. The same is true of the hospital. And throughout that time and upon our return home, we have found ourselves enveloped in prayer, love and warmth. Our faith, all of the prayers and the acts of kindness are what has gotten us through this difficult time.

The two greatest commandments in action.

Leigh Anne Preston

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Thursday, December 4, 2014 Psalm 8:1-20, 21-50

Isaiah 2:12-22

1 Thessalonians 3:1-13

Luke 20:27-40

When I was asked to write an Advent reflection, I assumed that when I read the scriptures for the day I would have an immediate inspiration. Unfortunately, when I did read the scriptures I was left cold. The Old Testament reading, Psalm, and Epistle all seemed to be about the benefits of being blameless, which I can in no way relate to, and the Gospel was one of those “establishment tries to trick Jesus with a question about The Law” passages. I was really hoping for something more interesting, more inspiring – something that seemed to have ANYTHING AT ALL to do with Advent. Today’s readings struck me as the ones you plow through to get to the Shepherds Abiding in the Fields.

And then at some point it came to me: that’s real life. To paraphrase Allen Saunders, life is what happens while you’re waiting for life to happen. It’s easy to spend our time so focused on the exciting and dramatic peaks that we miss the plains and valleys where the majority of our lives actually take place. Christmas Day is sparkle and brightness. It’s easy to see Advent as just a quiet, dark time that we have to struggle through until we get to the good stuff. It’s instilled in us, with the best of intentions, when we are too young to know the difference – if we can stand the waiting, the days of Not Christmas, we will be rewarded with the bright and shiny.

Life, like Advent, is mostly made up of the long, slow, in-between periods. It’s easy to have the mindset of muddling through, head down, until we get to the good parts. But the good parts are often few and far between. If we don’t learn to appreciate the slow and dark times, the ordinary times, the waiting times, we risk waking up surrounded by torn paper and broken toys, thinking only of the next bright, shiny day.

So I’m going to give today’s scriptures another go. Maybe something will show itself once I stop focusing on how long it is until the next exciting moment. And if today’s readings don’t illuminate, there’s always tomorrow – another quiet, dark day full of promise.

Ted Gross

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Friday, December 5, 2014 Psalms 16, 17, 22

Isaiah 3:8-15

1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

Luke 20:41-21:4

I set out to write an Advent message filled with inspiration and wit. And then someone needed a snack and another someone needed me to fix the problem with the TV, and 24 hours later I can’t remember what we’ve done to pass the time, and here I sit again trying to write the same devotional full of wit and inspiration, hoping it won’t show that I haven’t read anything more intellectual than Pippi Longstocking in a long, long time.

I sat down ready to be inspired by readings surrounding the Christmas story, but today’s readings don’t sound much like Advent to me. Luke’s gospel readings for today are filled with examples of the lawmakers trying to trick Jesus into condemning himself, but he never failed to surprise them. He always had the right words to say. Oh, if I could just be a little more like Jesus! I wish I could have some of that divine inspiration in my daily life. Especially when my kids talk back or refuse to do what they are told. I mean, how many times do I have to say, don’t touch the donuts?! (or the laptop, or your sister’s face….?) Um……where was I? (Sorry, I had to quiet the kids while the baby sleeps and break up a fight.) Oh, yes, divine inspiration: Jesus, could I please have some of that? I struggle to be more perfect every day and to be like Jesus. I know he wouldn’t yell at the kids are throw an adult temper tantrum like I do. I hate that I struggle to keep the Christ in Christmas for myself and the kids and I wish I could be a bit more like Jesus, always having the right thing to say. But the truth is, God gave us Jesus because we are human, and inherently imperfect. He sent Jesus to show us hope. There’s hope for all of us, even those of us that yell at our strong-willed children.

In Advent we relive the stories of Jesus’ birth and life to be reminded of the incredible gift that he is to us. We don’t have to be perfect, when we mess up, God will forgive us. I still wish I could get a message from God every time the kids spill cereal and milk all over the dog and the floor one minute before we leave for school, but Advent is a reminder that Jesus was sent to us to ensure that we are forgiven, even when we can’t find kind words or the appropriate action at times like those. I may not know what to do or say all the time, but sometimes, through the grace of God, I get it right. And even when I yell at the kids or just can’t find the emotional strength to care today that someone’s invisible finger injury hurts, (Just get a band aid for goodness sakes!!), I know I am forgiven and it will all be OK. Nissa Warden

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Saturday, December 6, 2014 Psalm 20, 21:1-13, 110:1-7, 116 Isaiah 4:2-6

1 Thessalonians 3:1-13

Luke 21:5-19

I have had the good fortune of having close exposure to varied faith-based ideas. I was brought up in the Catholic Church and married to a Jewish man for a decade and a half.

Confusion and debate galore! My recent experience in Haiti exposed me to devout Christian faith I have never witnessed before...balanced by beliefs in voodoo. I have been to the Vatican twice, seen the Pope, traveled around European churches and Asian temples. I even took a decade of ignoring religion altogether. It was the birth of my daughter that convinced me to take another look. And I am happy for both of us that it did.

The question I come back to over and over again is, “Isn’t all humanity loved and living under the one same God? If a person lives a life of giving and caring for others and has not been educated about Christ, is that person truly not welcome in the Kingdom of God?” I am well aware that university degrees have been created on that very topic and a controversial topic, it is. Yet I am moved to bring it up in this time of anticipation and celebration.

I picked this date because December 6 is my mother’s birthday. My mother is a woman of warmth and goodness with whom I have never sat down and read scripture at the kitchen table but has taught me what it is to be a Godly human being, accepting and nurturing to all people and eager to spread joy as far as she can.

My wishes for this Advent season include a hope to continue coming closer to Christ.

Helping to create a bridge for my daughter to build her own relationship with Christ and all the questions that come with it. With each candle lit, every Christmas carol, all celebratory moments this season, I hope that all of us truly do “love our neighbors as ourselves,” no matter where those neighbors live, what those neighbors believe or what those neighbors have done. All of us are made in God’s image...we have it within us.

Have you ever heard the Chinese proverb, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”? I believe Christ came to teach us how to fish. Cast your line as often as you can. Imagine how many neighbors you’ll catch.

Candace Shiffman

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Sunday, December 7, 2014 Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13

Second Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 40:1-11

2 Peter 3:8-15a

Mark 1:1-8

“Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

2 Peter 3: 11-13, 18 Today is the 18th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood that occurred in the magnificent Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. What a glorious day it was being surrounded by parents, family, friends, and fellow ordinands (there were some 8 or so of us ordained that day). It was the culmination of years of continuous discernment, countless interviews, intense study, difficult tests-including week long ordination exams, various Standing Committee and Vestry meetings, and constant evaluation – spanning all in all some 5 years of my life. In these ways, it was an end, a goal. I had finally arrived, had Bishop’s hands placed on my head, my hands anointed with oil, a stole put around my neck, and a chasuble over my shoulders. As a priest I gave out Holy Communion for the first time in that cavernous structure, my dear father standing next to me administering the chalice. I will never forget that day.

Though that day was an end to many trials and more than my fair share of tribulations, it was really just the beginning. Like many things in life, we can receive the knowledge and training to fulfill a certain role, or perform a task or skill, but it is in actually doing it that we grow into the fullness of that role, task, or skill. It is that way for priests; it is that way for us Christians.

Both are important: the training and education, and the actual doing.

Peter urges his readers to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and indeed we all are called to do so. It is a necessary responsibility that we learn the faith of the Apostles handed down to us and pass that to our children. It is equally true that we must manifest that growth in faith by our very lives. We are called to witness to a new reality that is not quite visible – the already not yet: the new heavens and new earth that are discerned with the eyes of faith and manifested in our faithfulness in witness to that new reality where righteousness is at home. How are you growing into the likeness of Christ; and how are you manifesting this new righteousness as it breaks into this world this Advent?

Fr. Bill Parker ~ 16 ~

Monday December 8, 2014 Psalms 25,9,15

Isaiah 5:8-12, 18-23

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Luke 21:20-28

“For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. … But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day. … For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.”

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Night and darkness usually get a bad rap – in our churches and popular culture as well as Paul’s letter. “Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping,” we pray during Compline.

“Rage, rage against the dying of the light,” 20th Century poet Dylan Thomas’s iconic line, may be heard recited multiple times in the recently released movie Interstellar. Rarely does any good come from darkness in the movies. The exception I recall is the 1970s thriller Wait until Dark when the blind heroine held captive in her apartment, uses darkness to escape her tormentor.

In Learning to Walk in the Dark, Barbara Brown Taylor observes that the Bible mentions darkness about 100 times, all references negative. That’s unfortunate. Profound things happen at night and in darkness in scripture. As Moses meets with God in the dark cloud on Mount Sinai, the Israelites below hear God’s voice coming from the darkness. Abraham, Jacob, Joseph have life-transforming, divine encounters at night. Jesus’s ministry begins after 40 days AND 40 nights in the wilderness. A flash of light alone may not be enough for transformation. Like Paul on the road to Damascus, paradoxically we may need to experience darkness to clearly see what matters and act.

Unequivocally declaring that we, Children of Light, are “not of darkness,” Paul has me wondering what to make of this reading during Advent as we prepare for Christmas, a bittersweet season at best for some. As I hope the following haiku suggests, the passage reminds me simply to keep faith with the Lord: Like a thief in night, He finds us, Children of God, In light and darkness With our resurrected Lord, nothing life-threatening – not fear, not hardship, especially not the dark night of the soul.

Deacon Mary Jane Cherry ~ 17 ~

Tuesday, December 9 Psalms 16, 17, 22

Isaiah 3:8-15

1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

Luke 20:41 – 21:4

The writers of these Advent “devotionals” are given a little card to help us with our modest task (no more than 400 words!). The card has a list of readings, taken from the Episcopal Daily Lectionary: some First Lessons, Second Lessons, Psalms, Gospels. I am addicted to inspiration from the written word, sacred and secular. I feel compelled to make something out of what has fallen into my hand, and to share the frustrations that sermonizing places on clergy once a week, and on newspaper pundits every day. So I go to my Bible, and hunt up the first assigned passage.

Isaiah 5: 13-17 – A prophecy of coming disaster, but hardly an Advent concept. Where is your joyous promise, Isaiah, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given..”? I try the next: Isaiah 5: 24-25. It doesn’t exist; a cryptic footnote says “transposed to follow 10:4”. Even Google won’t help with that, so I try the Psalms.

Psalm 26 – One of those miserable descriptions of unrewarded, self-described piety that occasionally shows up in the Psalms. Try the next, Psalm 26. A cry for help. No… 36: A group portrait of the wicked; doesn’t inspire me. Psalm 39: The psalmist recognizes his own frailty, and cries for help again. It has possibilities, but let’s see what the other readings say.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28 – A discussion of the Day of Judgment, with some helpful behavioral suggestions, and that recurrent theme in Christianity, that salvation, not damnation, is what is really promised us, all for the asking. I think: a good starting point. I could expand on that.

But what does Luke have to say?

Luke 21:29-38 – The fig-tree parable: We are told to look, in times of darkness and troubles, for signs of rebirth, enlightenment, safety, liberation. Finally, I find words that are Advent words. The eternal, divine, optimism. We are not helpless, for we “stand In the presence of the Son of Man”. Our human weaknesses - greed, anger, violence, false piety, mindless pursuit of pleasure – can all be overcome by devotion to what was spoken by the Son of Man, who remains forever with us.

Dick Rivers

~ 18 ~

Wednesday, December 10, 2014 Psalm 38, 119:25-48

Isaiah 6:1-13

2 Thessalonians 1:1-12

John 7:53-8:11

Psalm 119:33-34, 41, 44 33. “Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end.

34. Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart.

41. May your unfailing love come to me, Lord, Your salvation according to your promise.

44. I will always obey your law, for ever and ever.” Psalm 119:33-34, 41, 44

This season has always crept up on me.

I know I’m supposed to reflect on the virtues of Christ’s birth and gift to us as a people. I’m supposed to mentally and spiritually prepare but I’m not sure what to do or how to honor it.

As a child, I remember being excited at this time of year. I went to church every Sunday and vividly remember when the Advent wreath and candles were introduced. I remember a beautiful manger with beautifully crafted statues of the Wise Men, Mary, Joseph and animals.

My mother would decorate and bake for weeks. We would go to Christmas Eve Mass, sing Christmas hymns and carols and then celebrate with special friends. My family was blessed with an abundance of gifts and love.

Over the last several years I have watched our daughter’s participate in making Advent wreaths, in making cards and preparing donations for those less fortunate than us. I have watched them set up the manager and recount Christ’s birth in the pageant. The Christmas pageant is one of my favorite things at St. Andrew’s as I have had the opportunity to meet and get to know families more fully. I feel truly blessed when I witness the children, teenagers and young adults helping one another, showing each other love and kindness, and watching them spread joy with their participation. The youth at St. Andrew’s are one of our biggest treasures. They represent the truth of the season to me today.

I find it difficult to focus on the genuine meaning of Christmas in today’s world. Every Sunday that I sit in the congregation and listen to the readings and the sermon I thank God for letting me be present at that moment. That is when I am able to focus on my mission as a Christian, as a mother, wife, daughter and friend. I thank God for the gift of St. Andrew’s to me and my family and the blessings it brings to us. I suppose this is how I honor the season.

By being here and participating.

Cathleen Franklin ~ 19 ~

Thursday, December 11, 2014 Psalm 37:1-42

Isaiah 7:1-9

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

For prayer is nothing else than being on good terms with God. Saint Teresa of Avila

~ 20 ~

Luke 22:1-13

Friday, December 12 Psalms 31, 35

Isaiah 7:10-25

2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:5

Luke 22:14-30

THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS My favorite Christmas movie is “It’s a Wonderful Life.” James Stewart’s George Bailey is a relatable hero. His need to do the right thing by his friends and family has driven his life and put him in a position in which he questions his importance. He allows the daily grind to prevent him from seeing the beauty of his life. By the magic of Hollywood, he is given the opportunity to see what the world would be like without him in it and he learns that “no man is a failure who has friends.”

We all get wrapped up in our to-do lists and our work responsibilities and our family obligations. We are all George Bailey. Christmas is a special time of year that encroaches in every aspect of our routines. From the grocery store to the radio, Christmas is all around us.

We can take the opportunity to reflect on what is truly important... love. Christ’s love for us, our love for Christ and his church, the love we have for family and friends and the love we strive to have for our fellow man.

Maybe I’m a romantic, but to me, it truly is a wonderful life and the Christmas season helps me remember who I’m working for and who I serve.

An Anonymous St. Andrean

~ 21 ~

Saturday, December 13, 2014 Psalm 30, 32, 42, 43

Isaiah 8:1-15

2 Thessalonians 3:6-18

Luke 22:31-38

With the holiday season brings much hustle and bustle in our lives. We stretch ourselves thin, busily trying to prepare for the best Christmas Ever! Everyone is working hard, but our efforts can take us further from God. In the Epistle, Paul warns us we should always work hard and not be lazy, or busybodies, not take for granted that the coming of Christ absolves us from the daily work of feeding ourselves and our family. This is no less true in Advent, but our work, our toil, is not about finding the perfect gift, fitting in every must-do holiday tradition, covering the table with the most impressive feasts. Our work is perhaps counter to what the Thessalonians were being warned away from – we need to work to be still, to find Christ in the stillness between, to be ready to welcome Jesus. Alert, aware, and present.

During this season remember to work hard at the things that will bring you closer to God. Work hard at enjoying the season as we prepare for the birth of our Savior. Take a moment to say the Advent mantra, “Come Lord Jesus, bring your peace.�

Alice and Sandy Carroll

~ 22 ~

The Third Sunday of Advent Psalm 126

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

Sunday, December 14, 2014 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

John 1:6-8, 19-28

In the reading for today, John the Baptist says of Jesus “That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.”

I’ve been blessed with two dogs as an adult. Both, strays, found me. Buster was lost in our Highlands neighborhood, a puppy with a stinky, oversized collar and no tags. Buster was all about … well, Buster. A cream-colored Benji-ish, poodle/terrier mix he was smart, a little crazy, and into things. Buster chewed the arm off our first living room sofa, dug holes until our backyard looked like a munitions proving-ground, and sunbathed on the peak of the roof of our Cape Cod house. He was our parenting training wheels to the point that we referred to each other as “Mom” and “Dad”. Buster did what he wanted, was loved, and gave lots of love back to his family. Buster passed at the age of 13 leaving a doggie-void I hesitated to fill.

I felt Buster had been sent, and just needed to practice patience.

Dog number two came to us years later. On my way to work in the ice storm of 2009, I almost hit a big hound dog/German Shepherd mix who was struggling down a nearly impassible Payne Street. He was shivering, his shaggy back was encrusted with ice, and he had no collar.

He also had serious brown eyes, an accommodating disposition, and the grey muzzle of an old man. He joined our family, and Max was all about … me. He high-stepped around on big, brown paws in a walkie-dance every time I held his leash, slept on the floor by my side of the bed, and, most of all, always watched my face – intently. Studying moods, wanting to do what he thought I needed at the time. The vet estimated he was ten years old when he found us. Even though we only had three years with him, I still get teary sometimes when I walk the neighborhood route Max and I took hundreds of times.

Dear Lord, I feel I’ve lived a Buster kind of life most of my years. Please grant me your grace to live a Max kind of life, where you are greater and I am less, to strive to keep my eyes, ears, and heart inclined to you. To experience the joy of providing what is needed to the right person at the right time. Amen.

Pris Capes

~ 23 ~

Monday, December 15, 2014 Psalms 41, 52, 44

Isaiah 8:16--9:1

2 Peter 1: 1--11

Luke 22: 39--53

These readings were a surprise to me at first. They don’t seem to have anything to do with Christmas. One of the psalms consists of agonized pleas to God to return his favor to his people. The passage from Isaiah is very dark – ghosts and spirits, distress and darkness with just a tiny gleam of hope coming at the end, a hope coming from Galilee. Peter’s greeting to his congregations in his second letter is not dark, but it contains warnings against stumbling and a list of very onerous prescriptions on how to keep the faith. And finally the Gospel: the Gospel passage from Luke is the most anguished in the whole Bible, the agony in Gethsemane, the betrayal and the arrest of Jesus.

Isn’t Christmas a time of joy? A celebration of a beautiful Baby, holding out his arms to all the world? A time of happy children receiving gifts?

So then I remembered the gifts that were brought to the Baby Jesus. Gold – a gift for royalty.

Frankincense – a costly offering to a God. And myrrh.

Myrrh is a spice, the resin of a little thorny tree that grows in Yemen and Somalia. It has a strange and not very pleasant perfume. Myrrh has been used for centuries to embalm the dead.

So these passages are a reminder that Christmas is not simply a time of joy and light.

Christmas also celebrates the purpose of this Baby: He would light a fire that has burned for two thousand years, and would himself go through the fire of suffering to save his world.

How Mary must have shuddered when she saw the myrrh.

Sarah Acland

~ 24 ~

Tuesday, December 16, 2014 Psalms 45, 47, 48

Isaiah 9:1-7

2 Peter 1:12-21

Luke 22:54-69

Isaiah’s prophecy of the birth of the Christ child resounds with great anticipation and the hope for the coming of a messiah into the world. In times of constant war and subjugation of the weak by the powerful, the prophet foretold the ascendancy of an all-wise ruler who would redeem Israel from the cruelty of ethnic violence and foreign oppression; a king endowed by God with the power to establish a reign of endless peace and prosperity throughout all the lands.

It was only in the initial years following the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus that his disciples could come to comprehend that it was this man – born into poverty and ultimately murdered by his own kinsmen – who was the Prince of Peace of whom Isaiah had spoken; and that he would redeem all mankind from tyranny not by establishing a benevolent political empire but instead through the most humble moment of self-sacrifice.

It was Jesus of Nazareth who would come to us as the Wonderful Counselor of whom Isaiah wrote. It is by our recognizing the significance of his life and death among us that we may be ransomed from the captivity of our inherent corruption; and may therefore be the beneficiaries of an eternal peace “which passeth all understanding.”

Jack Trawick

~ 25 ~

Wednesday, December 17, 2014 Psalm 119:49-72, 49, 53

Isaiah 9:8-17

2 Peter 2:1-10a

Mark 1:1-8

God is able to use us in spite of our weaknesses and failures, as long as we’re willing to let His grace work in and through us.

Saint Augustine of Canterbury

~ 26 ~

Thursday, December 18 Psalm 33, 50; 59, 60.

Isa. 9:18-10:4

2 Peter 2:10b-16

Matt. 3:1-12

As we prepare for our celebration of Christmas, the news all around us is filled with sadness, war, poverty and problems that boggle the mind. What are we do? The Lessons for this day bring to us the woes of past centuries as if we don’t have enough of our own! Throughout time mankind has tried to solve these vexing questions.

Psalm 33:10-12 says it all for me: 10. The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.

11. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

12. Happy is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.

Psalm 33:10-12

That God brings our “counsels to nothing” was burned into my mind by William Stringfellow, an Episcopal laymen and activist from the 1960’s. An article by J. Scott Jackson in the The Living Church Magazine (November 30, 2014 p 11-12), brought it to my mind again.

Stringfellow wrote, “The drama of history takes place amongst God and human beings, and the principalities and powers, and the great institutions and ideologies active in the world. It is the corruption and shallowness of humanism which beguiles Jew or Christian into believing that human beings are masters of their institutions or ideologies…”* But, among the grim and dread-filled lessons appointed for this day in Advent, the Psalm brings a hopeful perspective. God’s plan is for a happy human family and He has the “counsel” to make a happy nation. How I pray for the end of injustice, poverty and strife.

However, I am told that our plans to end problems come “to nothing!” Perhaps the words of the third verse of Praise to the Lord the Almighty can refresh us in this season of Advent as we await and prepare for the birth of the Son of God: “Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy way and defend thee, surely his goodness and mercy shall ever attend thee: ponder anew what the almighty can do who with his love doth be friend thee.” The Hymnal 1980 #390 - Joachim Neander 1650-1680 * quoted by J Scott Jackson, scholar and writer Stringfellow, William: Essential Writings, Edited by Bill Wylie-Kellermann. Orbis, 2013 p. 179.

Fr. Don Overton ~ 27 ~

Friday, December 19, 2014 Psalms 40, 54, 51

Isaiah 10:5-19

2 Peter 2:17-22

Matthew 11:2-15

“I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.�

Ps. 40:1-3 This passage resonates with me. I know I have not always waited patiently for the God in tough times but I have always known that God will get me through. I know that God hears me and will take care of me. I am learning that I need to be as patient as possible so that I can hear and see the wonderful things God is doing.

When we see and hear God it is the most awesome experience we will have! Our prayers can sometimes be answered quickly but more often it will take time. How much time depends on how long it takes us to hear and see the work of God; to figure out that the answers to our prayers may not manifest the way we are expecting. Patience definitely pays off! Patience seems a very small thing to offer for the rewards we receive from God. Maggie Kastner

~ 28 ~

Saturday, December 20 2014 Psalms 55, 138, 139:1–17 Isaiah 10:20–27

Jude 17–25

Luke 3:1–9

On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry Announces that the Lord is nigh …

As Christmas draws near, the lectionary readings from Old and New Testaments announcing Jesus get clearer and come closer. John the Baptist, whose miraculous birth echoes those of a long line of prophets and patriarchs, has lived his life entirely for this moment. He has lived in the Judean desert as a Nazarene, an ascetic, with uncut hair, clothing strange enough to draw comment, eating whatever he can find there. He reminds people of the prophet Elijah, who is to return and herald the Messiah. When he emerged, people were immediately drawn to him – the word suggests they “flocked to” him. He preached the coming of a new way of life, he washed the people to symbolize that new way, and he promised the coming of the Messiah. And the Messiah came, and was recognized, and was baptized.

Remember that John was Jesus’s cousin. He was about six months older and although their homes were not very close, they were close enough that Mary could travel the distance in early pregnancy. So the cousins likely enough grew up spending some time with each other, playing together, doing whatever boys did in first-century Palestine. It would be good to know more about the children of that time; children were not important enough to record.

Times were hard for poor people in an occupied country, but in many ways it was more secure and more structured than that country is today. Which boy was the leader? John was older, the son of a priest, Jesus the son of a small-town carpenter. It’s hard to speculate. But certainly John came to know who Jesus was. He came out of the desert ready to announce him, and launched him on his ministry.

John had attracted many followers, the first one being Saint Andrew, and some continued in “the way of John” long afterwards. In Acts 18 and 19, Luke describes groups from Alexandria and Ephesus who were following the baptism of John. And there still may be a sect in modern Iraq who look to John as their spiritual founder. John was a great leader and preached a revolutionary message. But in Advent we remember that when Jesus came, he recognized the Messiah, and stood aside to point the way.

Sarah Acland

~ 29 ~

Sunday, December 21, 2014

The Fourth Sunday of Advent Christmas Pageant and Reception, 4:00 p.m.

Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16

Romans 16:25-27

Luke 1:26-38

And now we come to December 21st and the longest night of the year. To many, it is met with fear, loneliness, and a sense of sadness, especially by those who have recently or during this Advent season suffered the loss of someone dear. It is not good, however, to dwell on the darkness of this night nor the brevity of the daylight preceding it. We must, instead, concentrate our thoughts on tomorrow when the days begin to lengthen again and bring to us the eternal hope of Spring.

As we journey through the waiting period of Advent and encounter the darkness along the way, let us all focus on the hope, the salvation, and the light which becomes possible by the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Martha Stukenborg

~ 30 ~

Blue Christmas Service, 6:00 p.m.

Psalm 61, 62, 112, 115

Monday, December 22, 2014

Isaiah 11:1-9

Revelation 20:1-10

John 5:30-47

The several readings appointed for today, December 22, all exhort us to resist distraction and keep true to our faith and be patient in waiting “for he who is coming.” In this way we will do the “will of God and receive what he promises.”

December 22 is also the feast day of St. Thomas the Apostle. One of the Twelve Apostles, Thomas was initially skeptical about Jesus’ resurrection, but later proclaimed Jesus, “My Lord and My God.” I like to work the Jumble in the newspaper. Unscrambling the letters to make sense of them at least briefly satisfies my desire to find resolutions amid chaos.

As I turned these readings over in my head I wondered what these readings might have to do with Thomas, the Apostle.

We know from the Apostle Mark, that Mary Magdalene went to the apostles after Jesus appeared to her at the open tomb. She found them mourning and weeping. They did not believe what she told them. Amid the chaos surrounding the crucifixion, her words were as a jumble to them. When Jesus appeared to Thomas he was full of doubt. How could death not be final? We know that Thomas resolved his doubts only by touching the wounds on Jesus’ hands and side.

As much as we might wish that this season of Advent could be one of peace and reflection, for those who have much and for those who have little, this is too often a season of distractions, if not chaos. How do we see the gift that God sent into this world when such a gift arrives in the midst of a swirling vortex of 21st century human chaos? How do we resist distraction, keep true to our faith and wait patiently “for he who is coming”?

Perhaps the message of St. Thomas is that when surrounded by events that are beyond our comprehension, the non-sensical jumble that is life, we have permission to reach out and get in touch with the truth. But how do we do this 2014 years later?

Thomas Merton asked the question “What is the good of religion without personal spiritual direction? Without Sacraments, without any means of grace except a desultory prayer now and then, at interval, and an occasional vague sermon.”

That may be the question for our Advent contemplation.

Linda George ~ 31 ~

Tuesday, December 23, 2014 Psalms 66, 67, 116, 117

Isaiah 11:10-16

1. Out of our plaintive reveries The still sad music of humanity Echoes all around us; And from within the heart A thousand dream-memories Cry out for something new, Old loves and hates Have had their way; Old habits with their ragged dress Have shamed us long enough; Old ambitions like fallen leaves Are blown before the wind Into the streets of yesterday; Is there a new word of hope, we ask, Some fresh vision of what A new desire to wash the conscience clean?

Must all our tomorrows Make mockery of our yearning To leave the past in yesterday, And above this misty sod, Reach for the beckoning stars, To light our path To the city which has foundations Whose maker and builder is God?

Revelation 20:11-21:8

Luke 1:25

3. What celestial voice Dares to raise the song, “Behold, I make all things new!”

Is it only our imagination The cry of our fearful hearts, Echoing against the stars?

Up from the depths of Time does A heavenly Voice speak true?

When, of the everlasting Mercy Past sins and failures Are cast into the deep, Making all things at last Become really new.

4. Must the past Like a broken record Play again its mournful tune?

Or like a mirror shattered Give us back again The distorted images Of unfulfilled deeds, Or that boring sameness That makes every day But a copy carboned of the last?

But the new is never really Altogether new, 2. Must children’s taunts and teasings In any time or season; Rule the soul full grown, Full of surprises And ever drag us down That catch us off-guard Forever into despair?

As though memory had no reason Just as the wounds of buried sorrow To soothe a broken heart; Rise up from the dusty tombs of reveries, Or no mission to warn us To cast a shadow upon the brightest day, What pitfalls and swamps to avoid And taunt us to our graves?

On our pilgrimage to the grave ~ 32 ~

5. Long ago and faraway, Between bitter despair And plaintive remorse, Heaven raised its banner high To offer itself anew Outside a city wall Beneath a darkening sky, 6. Incarnate there upon a cross The Voice that cries; “I make all things new!”

Gave faith a new beginning, Hope a new surprise, Love a new assurance, And spoke for us a promise true.

7. That self-same Voice In Mercy cried; “Father forgive …”

Now our hearts, broken And stained by sin – By surrendered faith Can find itself anew.

8. There Love Eternal Embraced our forsakedness, Crying in its own despair, Tasted our deserved death, And drink the cup of all our bitter regrets, Dark passions, All self-deceiving illusions All our wars, all our stealing, Lying, raping, burning, torturing, Running, hiding, crying, Drink every bitter drip to the last dregs Of all our haunting emptiness, Until clean or spent, Love cried – “I THIRST!” Now cries that self-same LOVE – “I make all things new!”

“With Wisdom beyond your own knowledge, Holiness beyond your goodness, Mercy beyond your sinning, Vision beyond your blindness, Freedom beyond your bondage!”

From heaven above, Cries the Voice of Deathless Love – “Behold I make all things new!”

And we can have it so; Then come with heart bending low, The blessing is for you!

Michele Darlene Hall

~ 33 ~

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Christmas Eve Services 4:00 & 10:00 p.m.

Psalm 45, 46

Revelation 22:12-17-21

Isaiah 35:1-10

Luke 1:67-80

Throughout Advent those who read the lectionary for the Daily Office were lamenting that the readings didn’t seem to fit into the spirit of expectation that the season holds. Yet somehow they each found an idea that gave them an insight or challenge.

Finding glimpses of tomorrow’s dawn is not difficult with these readings for the last day of Advent. The Psalms extol the coming King, Isaiah speaks of joy so great the very land will be transformed and the people healed, and Revelation bids us to respond to Jesus’ invitation with a resounding “Yes!” And then Luke tells us of the words Zechariah proclaims over his infant son, John: And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.

By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Luke 1:76-78 The last two lines catch my heart this night. From fish swimming in poisoned water to humans hiding in fear of any of the denials of common dignity we inflict on one another, so many of God’s creatures are sitting in darkness, cowering from the shadow of death. Where are the ways of peace?

But see! Look and see that God’s Light is not on tomorrow’s horizon, but is here with us now, has been with us all along. Like a beacon it is teaching us to share the love of God, not by arguing over God’s name or nature, but by treating one another with decency and dignity.

From antiquity God’s love has been guiding us to the way of peace. The way has been prepared for us, the truth spoken to us. Now we only have to acknowledge what has always been to share the joy with others and with all of God’s creation.

Why is it so easy to call for “us” to be better, but so hard to ask myself to see my own faults and to recognize that they are forgiven. Can I see that God’s peace is near, as close as my own heart? Do I understand that my peace depends on my ability to share it with you?

Martha Holland ~ 34 ~

Christmas Day Psalm 96

Thursday, December 25, 2014 Service at 10:00 a.m.

Isaiah 9:2-7

Titus 2:11-14

Luke 2:1-14(15-20)

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness – on them light has shined.

Isaiah 9:2

~ 35 ~

~ 36 ~

“For outlandish creatures like us, on our way to a heart, a brain, and courage, Bethlehem is not the end of our journey but only the beginning - not home but the place through which we must pass if ever we are to reach home at last.� ~ Frederick Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat

~ 37 ~

SAINT ANDREW’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH 2233 Woodbourne Avenue Louisville, KY 40205 Tel: (502) 452-9581 Fax: (502) 452-9582 parishoffice@mysaintandrews.org www.mysaintandrews.org

HOLY EUCHARIST Sunday, 8:15 a.m., 11:00 a.m.

Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.

OFFICE HOURS Tuesday-Friday 10:00 a.m.-4 p.m.

CLERGY AND STAFF The Rt. Rev. Terry White, Bishop, Diocese of Kentucky The Rev. William Parker, Interim Rector The Rev. Mary Jane Cherry, Deacon and Parish Communicator

Martha Holland, Children’s Minister and Parish Administrator

David Brown Music Director

Marci Dickinson Organist, Handbell Director

Emily Smith Junior Choir Director

Ruth Kempf Bookkeeper

Rafael Fonseca Sexton

Marcos Villareal Sexton

ST. ANDREW’S VESTRY Senior Warden: Tom Capes ~ Junior Warden: Sally Erny Secretary of the Vestry: Perry Puckett Treasurer: Bill Chandler ~ Assistant Treasurer: Tom Strohmeier Members: Sarah Acland, Sandy Carroll, Bill Chandler, Travis Egbert, Cathleen Franklin, Maggie Kastner, Rick Morris, Perry Puckett, Tom Strohmeier, Jack Vanderburgh ~ 38 ~