Advent Devotional 2013

S AINT A NDREW ’ S E PISCOPAL C HURCH A DVENT D EVOTIONAL D ECEMBER 2013

W RITTEN WITH LOVE BY MEMBERS OF OUR CONGREGATION

T HE

READINGS

are from Year Two of the Daily Office Lectionary for

Advent, pages 937 & 938 of the Book of Common Prayer. In the citation of the Psalms, those for the morning are given first, then those for the evening. However, any of the Psalms appointed for a given day may be used in the morning or the evening.

ANOTHER

WAY TO COUNT THE DAYS

‌

PRAYERS

FOR USE WITH YOUR

ADVENT WREATH

The Collects for the Sundays in Advent are found on pages 211-212 in the Book of Common Prayer.

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.

Holy Thief, stealing away our false securities and idle vanity: awaken us from the dull sleep that clings to empty fear and vacant routine; unfold on us the time of crisis when love of truth floods a thirsty world; through Jesus Christ, the one who is to come. Amen.

Collect for Advent I, Year A, Prayers for an Inclusive Church SIMPLIFY CHRISTMAS

Start at simpleliving.startlogic.com ~ #6. Recommended Resources for the Season The Christmas Pledge Believing in the beauty and simplicity of Christmas, I commit myself to the following: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

To remember those people who truly need my gifts To express my love for family and friends in more direct ways than presents To rededicate myself to the spiritual growth of my family To examine my holiday activities in light of the true spirit of Christmas To initiate one act of peacemaking within my circle of family and friends

From the Institute for Peace and Justice http://www.ipj-ppj.org/

SCHEDULE

ON

OF

THE

BACK COVER ~

C H R IS T M A S S E R V IC E S , D E C E M B E R 2013

G RETCHEN W OLF P RITCHARD ’ S S UNDAY P APER , J R . includes a NOTE TO PARENTS on the back every week. They are always worth reading, as you can see from this, for the Second Sunday in Advent: “You better watch out - you better not cry - you better not shout I’m tellin’ you why: Santa Claus is coming to town! He sees you when you’re sleeping - he knows when you’re awake - he knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness’ sake! ...”

We tell our children that Advent is the time to get ready for Christmas, and naturally they think of holiday shopping and decorations, candy and Santa Claus ... and whatever we tell them about Santa Claus, they will surely pick up from somewhere the idea that he will bring them gifts only if they have been good boys and girls. Santa may be a right jolly old elf ... but we have a deep need to make his visit a visit of judgment as well as of grace.

The Scriptures feel the same ambivalence. The Messiah comes in grace and glory, but also in judgment and fire, sifting wheat from chaff. And for three weeks of this Advent season in which we look forward to his birth as a helpless and winsome human child, we get not even a glimpse or a hint of Baby Jesus. Instead we are told to cast off the works of darkness, to watch and wait and be ready; and while the gracious Messiah waits in the wings, the center stage is taken by an outlandish, abrasive, unkempt fanatic, who keeps telling us to clean up our act: You better watch out— Santa Claus is coming to town. He’s making a list, and checking it twice ... look out, shape up, here he comes.

“Santa Claus is Coming to Town” is an obnoxious song, but not because it warns us that the jolly old elf may actually care how we live. It is obnoxious because of its idea of goodness: not crying, not shouting, giving no trouble. Children quickly learn that they are most lovable when they are angelically asleep. But John shouts and cries, and Jesus tells us again and again to wake up. Let us never give our children the idea that being “good,” or being people of peace, merely means doing a vanishing act, being wimpy, making sure never to bother anyone.

This week, talk over with your children: what does it mean to be “good?”

How do we “repent” and be ready for the Savior’s coming, and his Kingdom of Peace? © 1989 by Gretchen Wolff Pritchard. Used by permission.

THE SUNDAY PAPER, 19 Colony Road, New Haven, CT 06511, USA 203-624-2520 - www.the-sunday-paper.com

WHAT

CHILDREN REALLY WANT FOR

CHRISTMAS:

1. Relaxed and loving time with the family.

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, children feel their parent’s stress as time is consumed with preparation, shopping, parties, benefits, rehearsals, money worries, rushing around. Parents need to make a conscious decision to set aside relaxed time with their families which means having to say “no” to some chores or events.

2. Realistic expectations about gifts.

Watching television on a Saturday morning, a child may see 50-60 toy commercials using sophisticated techniques to get them to “need” the item. Know that kids want their parents to define the celebration and share their sense of values. When children have family activities to look forward to before and after the present-opening, gifts start taking their rightful place in the festivities.

3. Strong family traditions.

Children perceive that anything they can count on year after year is a tradition, and most of us have more of these hidden traditions that we realize. The holiday food, customary visits, music, how you display Christmas cards. Talk with your children to find out which holiday activities are most important to them and make an effort to do them.

4. An evenly paced holiday season.

Hold off on some important traditions until a week or so before Christmas, and create some traditions in the week after Christmas.

Don’t decorate until the third Sunday in Advent and leave them up until Epiphany.

AND

REALLY

–

ISN’T THAT WHAT WE ALL WANT?

Copyright © October 2012.Sharon Ely Pearson.

Church Publishing Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Used by permission.

December 1, 2013 Psalm 122

Isaiah 2:1-5

The First Sunday of Advent Romans 13:11-15

Matthew 24:36-44

For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee.

Psalm 122:8 Marcum holler was a place beyond all others. You will not find it on any map but I can show you how to get there.

Go to the mouth of the Big Sandy River where it empties into the Ohio. Follow the Big Sandy upstream to Fort Gay, where the river splits. The easternmost course is the Tug Fork. Follow it upstream to the mouth of Stonecoal Creek.

Find a place off the road to park the car. From here you go on foot. You need a guide to show you the way, both on the ground and in the culture. Marcum holler is an isolated place and people have little outside contact. Many families have been here since colonial days. My family is one of them.

Before I was born a teen-aged kinsman came here. He was returning from a far-away land and bore a Purple Heart with Gold Star Device along with other such bits of metal and silk. A parade of one, he came to the mouth of Stonecoal Creek and cast these things into the Tug. Then, too soon a man, he walked up the creek toward home.

In later years he would appear as the geezer in some of my stories. He was not the first to pause here, nor the last. I came after my own service. I reckon there will come others.

The homes are modest. There are no grand buildings, no schools or churches. I recollect when people got their education at home and their religion outside standing on Mother Earth. Some still do. Even today there is no television. The acrid air of coal smoke is the constant reminder of how folks cook and heat their homes. Newspapers are not delivered and people go out to the post office to pick up the mail. These folks are no different than you or me. Perhaps their circumstances are different.

Outside events rarely penetrate here. Marcum holler is a place where it is still 9/10.

Recently I returned. I thought I would visit where I came from but it was a false notion. What I found is where I am now.

Isn’t this often how it is when we read Holy Scripture?

Barry Chafin

Monday, December 2, 2013 Psalms 1, 2, 3, 4, 7

Amos 2:6-16

2 Peter 1:1-11

Matthew 21:1-11

Many people consider the Bible an instruction book. And for a given set of people, at a given moment in history, perhaps a given set of passages were instructions from God. The passage from 2 Peter suggests that we already know how to please God, and that is through Christ, the one who invited us to God. It also urges us not to waste time on what is not essential to God; but to focus on what we have been called here to do.

Jesus often gave his disciples specific instructions, as in today’s reading from Matthew. Most often, the disciples were very messy, doubtful and unfocused when following his instructions. Although we do read in the New Testament, more than once, of Jesus admonishing the disciples for a lack of understanding, no essential plan of God was thwarted by their humanity.

Advent is the season of giving the Divine, in all her forms, a royal welcome in our lives. We do that by honoring the divinity that coexists with our humanity – both in ourselves and others. We can do that by following an external set of instructions, such our liturgical practices, and also by our inner knowing and awareness. Either way, we can’t mess it up. If our intention is to honor God, we will.

Kim Torres

Tuesday, December 3, 2013 Psalm 5, 6, 10, 11

Amos 3:1-11

2 Peter 1:12-21

Matthew 21:12-22

In this gospel story Jesus does two things: first, he gets into what modern day psychologists/psychiatrists might call a “high energy state” and he cleans house (actually he cleans temple) by clearing out the money changers who were profiteering from all the pilgrims, two, he later curses a fig tree that is not bearing any fruit which causes the tree to shrivel up and die. On first glance it is easy to see how he could get angry at the moneychangers and give them what they deserved, but not so easy to see why he would kill a fig tree just because it wasn’t bearing any fruit. A quick internet search turns up the idea that the tree is representative of Israel and Jesus is just showing that the corruption rampant in the Jewish faith (that was causing the faith to wither and die) was akin to the fig tree that was bearing no fruit.

I can certainly see that there is much to recommend such an interpretation of these passages, but what stands out to me is Jesus’ passion - his total involvement. In a broader sense I would liken it to compassion. He sees something that needs to be rectified and he does what needs to be done.

He wants to show that life without involvement is no life at all and thus the fig tree goes down. You can see his commitment to being totally involved in his whole life. He even saw that through his death he could become even more involved in changing the direction of a world that was headed the wrong way. I liken that degree of involvement to the Buddhist monks that have performed self-immolation in an effort to bring attention to wrongs desperately needing to be righted. That degree of passion seems so foreign to me personally, yet I can still admire it and strive for it. I can certainly see God in those actions.

Thus, I can pray: Lord, grant me the clarity of vision and the fortitude to do what needs to be done so that my life might bring forth fruit that is pleasing in Thy sight.

Rob Nolan

Wednesday, December 4, 2013 Psalm 118:14-21

1 Corinthians 15:12-20

“I shall not die, but live* and declare the works of the LORD. The LORD has punished me sorely,* but he did not hand me over to death

John 5:24-27

Psalm 118:17-18

“If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain.”

1 Corinthians 15:12 “‘Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”

John 5:24 As we move through December, the lines at the stores get longer, the mail arrives later, and waiting becomes a way of life. It’s the price we pay, I often counsel myself, for this Advent season of joyful anticipation.

Today’s readings remind us that Advent, however, is our “Little Lent,” a time for repentance and reconciliation. The epistle and the gospel show that as Christians, we are a resurrection people, to be prepared for God’s presence today as well as for the Second Coming of Christ, when, as the Nicene Creed says, “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.”

Fittingly, the readings come the first week of Advent, though they were selected for the day commemorating the life of John of Damascus, a hymn-writer said to be the last of the early Fathers of the Church, and an effective defender of icons. Opposing the iconoclastic position of Emperor Leo III, John argued it was no longer improper to create images of God because Jesus’ incarnation made earthly matter and the human form acceptable means for portraying the divine presence in our midst and the Second Coming of Christ.

These readings, as do icons, urge us to consider what it means in our daily lives to believe in resurrection and also to consider, as did today’s psalmist, that as a recipient of God’s grace “I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the LORD…” Ultimately they challenge us as Christians to ask not only if we are prepared to die today but also if we are prepared to live today “marked as Christ’s own forever” and what such a life might look like.

The Rev. Mary Jane Cherry

Thursday December 5, 2013 Psalm 18:1-20,21-50

In honor of Elizabeth Felix Parrack

Amos 4:6-13 2 Peter 3:11-18 Matthew 21:33-46

She would be in bed for a year recovering from what doctors diagnosed as scarlet fever with the possibility of limited leg strength and poor endurance.

She went on to become a first-place ballroom dancer for many years.

She nearly lost her life giving birth to her son, and then went on to be part of a parents group that started a school so many children could learn.

Everyone she met was greeted with a kind word and a smile – the waitress, the bell hop, the cab driver, the CEO of Heinz.

She shared a partnership for life with her college sweetheart, then had to “start a new chapter of her life” in her eighties, when he died after a long battle with a brain tumor.

How was she able to rise up and keep moving forward with all the challenges she faced in the course of her 90 years? No matter what her struggles or heartaches, she always returned to that which gave her consolation and strength - reading from the Bible and The Book of Common Prayer. Both were ever present on her bedside table. How many times might she have read Psalm 18, vs. 2: “The Lord is my rock and my fortress . . .” vs. 28: “The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness . . .” vs. 32: “It is God that girdeth me with strength . . .” and vs. 49: Therefore, I will give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, and sing praises unto thy name.

May we all be encouraged by the Psalm to honestly offer up our problems to God, to have a relationship with God which will calm and comfort us.

Candy Parrack

Friday, December 6, 2013 Psalm 16, 17, 22

Amos 5:1-17

Jude 1-16

Matthew 22:1-14

Today, we celebrate the feast of Nicholas: bishop of Myra, patron of seafarers, and gift-bearer to children who leave empty shoes (or hang empty stockings) to be filled with treats for the good or lumps of coal for the undeserving. We inhabit a world of extremes for which clichés abound: saints and sinners, darkness and light, body and spirit, good versus evil, change versus tradition, red states versus blue states, us against them. We look for the coming of light in the lengthening winter darkness, being cautioned against unbelief and unpreparedness. God’s “mercy, peace, and love” are promised “in fullest measure” to those seekers after good, the chosen few.

I, on the other hand, am more apt to be found caught in a whirl of unbelief and unpreparedness, “chosen” by a seasonal panic that exceeds any doubts about virgin births. Time is flying by and I am struggling to complete Christmas shopping, baking, and decorating. What is a body to do? Amos calls us to make our way to God and live, not to rely on our busy efforts to get everything just right. But it is the gospel appointed for daily prayer on St. Nicholas’ day (Mark 10:13-16, instead of the ordinary reading for today) that catches me short with its call to “receive the kingdom of God as a little child,” brought to Jesus on the faithful impulsiveness of others— instead of by my own doing—to be taken up in God’s embrace. Only with childlike abandon, carried by my husband and family, by my friends and colleagues, and by my fellow pilgrims at St. Andrew’s, may I hope (in Jude’s words) to “live in the love of God…kept safe for the coming of Jesus Christ.”

Dark days may be upon us, but love lights an Advent wreath candle and beckons us closer together to receive Jesus’ gentle touch with the knowledge that all of us are born as children of God. What a gift!

Charles Raith

Saturday, December 7, 2013 Psalm 20, 21, 110, 116, 117 Amos 5:18-27 Jude 17-25 Matthew 22:15-22 I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving* and call upon the name of the Lord.

I will fulfill my vows to the Lord* in the presence of all his people

Psalm 116: 15-16

Seventeen years ago today, December 7, 1996, I was ordained into the sacred priesthood at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. My chasuble was white for the feast day (St. Ambrose), but I wore the red stole used months earlier at my ordination to the diaconate (St. Alban, martyr). It was now converted from a deacon sash to a priest stole.

It was a gift from my sponsoring parish, St. Paul’s, Seattle, in the Diocese of Olympia. Each side has three symbols: a descending dove, in the marvelous style of Northeast Native American art - to remind me of the ancient original peoples of that diocese; three waves of blue - to remind me of Puget Sound and the mesmerizing beauty there; and a pink triangle to remind me of all the witnessing souls abused, beaten, or killed who had led to my standing in that magnificent gothic cathedral as an openly gay duly ordained priest in Christ’s one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

I think of that stole from time to time as I stand at the many altars I have served in fulfillment “… of my vows to the Lord,” and offer “the sacrifice of thanksgiving” in the “presence of all his people.” I ponder where I have been, and where I am going, on this seemingly long faith journey. I ponder the hope I still hold in my heart for God’s Church, for God’s world, and for all God’s people – all of them. It points me toward the perseverance needed to journey in faith, the perseverance needed to “run the race.” And it reminds me of the perseverance needed to boldly proclaim the Good News of Christ with our very lives.

Witnessing is not always easy. It has its share of heart-breaking pain. And like the season of Advent, it often requires patience and waiting: just being. But if we persevere, we can with God’s help, each in our own small way, manifest that cry of the ancient prophet Amos: “… let justice flow like a stream, and righteousness like a river that never runs dry.”

Amos 5:24 The Rev. Bill Parker

The Second Sunday of Advent Sunday, December 8, 2013 Psalm 148, 149, 150, 114

Amos 6:1-14

2 Thess. 1:5-12

Luke 1:57-68

At this time of year, one word, or forms of it, seems to pop up frequently: deliver, deliver to, delivered by.” Especially on these Sundays, we recall the miraculous stories of Elizabeth delivering John, Mary delivering Jesus and the three wise men delivering frankincense, myrrh and gold to the infant Messiah.

In our daily December routines we shop for presents to be delivered, find boxes and cards delivered to our doors and family and friends carrying packages to us. The very word “deliver” seems to herald good news, making it is easy to stop hearing these stories at “glad tidings”. But after reviewing our readings for today, I felt a very different undercurrent.

In our first reading, two years before a great earthquake, Amos spoke of his vision in which he saw Israel being punished by God for its complacency and idleness. Amos finally tempers a long litany of the disaster that will befall Israel by giving them the key to their own deliverance from a sure death saying “For thus saith Jehovah unto the house of Israel, seek ye me, and ye shall live.”

Today’s Psalms remind us that we and everything in heaven and on earth are to praise the Lord and in return the Lord will beautify the humble with salvation -- just as he will give his Saints two-edged swords to execute vengeance and punishments on the people.

In his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul reminds his followers that when Jesus is revealed from heaven he will inflict vengeance on those who do not know God and obey his gospel. Paul prays that if his followers believe in his testimony and are faithful, God will find them worthy and deliver them from his vengeance.

Finally, in Luke’s Gospel, Luke tells of Zechariah’s disbelief when the angel Gabriel tells him that his wife would bear him a son. Because he did not believe, Gabriel made Zechariah mute. Luke reveals that Zechariah’s “mouth was opened and his tongue loosed” only after he confirmed that his son would be called John, as God commanded. His renewed belief in the word of God delivered him from his muteness.

My sense of these readings is that while they remind us of the joy and miracles that faith delivers into our lives, we cannot become complacent and idle. We must sing praises to God and pray to be delivered from the sorrow that is the consequence of the lack of faith and faithfulness.

Linda George

Monday, December 9, 2013 Psalm 25, 9, 15

Amos 7:1-9

Revelation 1:1-8

Matthew 22:23-33

Yet a little while, and the wicked shall be no more; though you look diligently for their place they will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

Psalm 37:10 The ritual of Advent is of vital importance within the church year because it teaches us the value of waiting. In the sometimes frenzied pace of modern life we miss out in learning patience and on the grace of simply waiting on the Lord. “Answer me now, Lord, not later,” is our intention.

There are evil people all around brandishing their guns. Mean and unthinking people have taken over the decisions that affect our lives. They think of themselves and their pocket books while the poor suffer. How long, O Lord, how long?

It is very difficult to wait for justice to be done. And I don’t know of anyone who really believes that the “meek shall inherit the land.” There is no evidence to that promise. It is the rich and the powerful and those with the weapons who seem to inherit the land. The meek are deprived even of their inheritance, having their ancestral lands stolen from them.

This is what I think every time I read this verse and the echo of it in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.”

What did the Psalmist mean? What was it that Jesus was promising us?

Every time I read the Bible I become aware that Time seems to be differently interpreted within its pages from our interpretation of Time.

We understand so little about God’s time (kairos in the Greek), about eternity, and even about justice. Sometimes when I observe the suffering of Christians I know well (especially in the Middle East) I cry out in agony, “How long o, Lord, how long?” And no answer comes.

Then I sit still and listen to the still small voice and remember the suffering of Jesus on the cross. I realize that what is demanded of me is to believe in the goodness of the Lord, to be patient, and to wait for God’s time. It is not easy, but it is asked of us: “Yet a little time,” and Advent will turn into Christmas, the long waiting will be over and the Awaited One shall come.

Katerina Whitley

Tuesday, December 10, 2013 Psalms 26, 28, 36, 39 Amos 7:10-17 Revelation 1:9-16 Matthew 22:34-46 ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment.

And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’

Matthew 22:34-40 The ‘Law’ is a constantly evolving, yet never changing, structure given to us by God for the purpose of living in harmony and peace. To Adam and Eve, one law was given. To Noah, seven laws were given. To Moses, ten laws were given. And then, by the time of Jesus the Jews had 813 laws that were supposed to be of equal importance. The Law was not meant to ‘save’ a person or keep an individual from being condemned, the whole purpose of the Law was to create unity. There is no individual salvation in Jewish theology, now or then. That was what Jesus was highlighting. Jesus was upset with the way the priestly class had developed an ‘us’ and ‘them’ theology. He was shaming them back into seeing nothing was more important than taking care of others and to find and connect with God. Only by loving your neighbor as yourself, can you love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. In the Midrash there is Jewish parable used to illustrate this point. Several people were sailing in a ship.

One takes out a drill and begins drilling into the floor of the ship. “What are you doing?” the others ask anxiously. “Why should you care?” was the reply. “Aren’t I drilling only under my place?” This parable illustrates how dependent we are on each other. The connection we have is critical.

When one of the ties are broken and we begin going our own way, doing our own thing (like the man in the ship) we are not just affecting ourselves, we are weakening the whole.

So the first Law, love God, is what we are commanded to do. The second, love your neighbor as yourself, is the directions for how to love God, how to find God, how to experience God. There is no ‘us’ and ‘them’, there is no place for division in Jesus’ Law. Sandie Griffin

Wednesday, December 11 Psalm 38, 119:25-48 Amos 8:1-14 Revelation 1:17-2:7 Matthew 23:1-12 The lectionary gospel for this day, Matthew 23:1-12, continues the words of Jesus spoken to a gathering of Hebrew elders – Sadducees and Pharisees – who sought to trap Him into making statements they considered foolish or blasphemous. They asked: what are the greatest commandments? He answered with words that define Christianity very simply. The first: Love the Lord with all your soul, with all your heart, with all your mind. The second is like that: Love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus then turned to strangers, friends, and disciples, and listed several ways to be un-Christian: Wrap yourself in ostentatious piety; see yourself as superior to the rest of squalid humanity; gather the titles and trappings of wealth and powerful positions.

How we do love these things! “The Honorable”, “Nobel Laureate”, “Hedge-Fund Billionaire”; “Diva”; “MVP”; “World-Class”; identify the talented or lucky ones in the media. Ordinary mortals are happy to be named “Supervisor” or “Employee of the Month”. But the words of the gospel are shocking. We are told to call no one “rabbi”, “teacher”, or even “father”, because these titles pertain to God and to God’s Messiah.

The meaning of words change with time and place, and we must often struggle with this problem in reading Scripture. Today, these three words for us are simple identifiers, with no special honorific quality. To Jesus’ audience, the words were caught up in their understanding of their faith, and to squabbles between religious factions. But looking at the entire passage, we can see an eternal meaning. The word rabbi meant, to the assembled crowd, “great one” or “master”. So Jesus says, “You must not be called ‘rabbi’, for you have one Rabbi, and you are all brothers”. The lesson ends with: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; whoever humbles himself will be exalted”. We must constantly remind ourselves that the honors we get and give are trivial, and ephemeral. We are, with all our brother and sister human beings, small things in the hand of an awesome, but benevolent, God. As we sang recently, He’s got you and me, brother, in His hands He’s got you and me, sister, in His hands He’s got the whole wide world in His hands.

Dick Rivers

Thursday, December 12, 2013 Psalm 37:1-18,19-42 Amos 9:1-10 Revelation 2:8-17 Matthew 23:13-26 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.” Matthew 23:23 All of chapter 23 in Matthew’s gospel shows Jesus at his toughest. There is a relentless refrain of Woes aimed at those who profess knowledge and religious righteousness but neglect what matters in the eyes of God. Jesus uses painful words against those who take advantage of the poor and weak while at the same time trying to fool God by observing the outward demands of the Law. This whole chapter reminds me of politicians who claim to be Christian while depriving children of food stamps and of televangelists who, as Jesus says, “. . .you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves” (verse 15). The great Baptist preacher Will Campbell called them “electronic soul molesters.”

You will ask: What does all this have to do with Advent? A great deal.

Advent, in addition to anticipation of joy also means a time of repentance.

We are reminded at this time of the dark places in the human heart and in society and of the great need for a Savior. Jesus gives us very strong hints of what he would say to those who hide their hardness of heart behind a pretense of defending Christmas. Being able to say “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy holidays” has nothing to do with a heart that is prepared for the coming of Christ, nothing. The outward pretenses of religiosity were the objects of scathing rebuke by the Lord. Hypocrisy was the one vice that brought forth his harshest words; he used them like whips against those who tried to fool God. Being ready for Christmas means seeing clearly who we are and what our society has become; it means repenting of neglecting the poor; it means the practice of mercy, justice and trust. It also means being courageous enough to call the powerful and the rich to repentance. Observe Jesus’ relentless truth-telling with no regard to the position the hypocrites held in that society. O, for a modicum of that kind of courage in this time of Advent.

Katerina Whitley

Friday, December 13, 2013 Psalm 31, 35

Haggai 1:1-15

Revelation 2:18-29

Matthew 23:27-39

God loves each of us as if there were only one of us. St. Augustine of Hippo Preach the Gospel always. If necessary, use words. Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi With appreciation to The Rev. Don Overton

Saturday, December 14, 2013 Psalm 30, 32, 42, 43 Haggai 2:1-9

Revelation 3:1-6 Matthew 24:1-14

Themes of redemption, of being cast down and then with God’s help, being raised up again, seem to come and go like waves all through the readings for today. In those four psalms, David cries out for help again and again. He is sick, or mourning, drowned, oppressed or guilty. By the end of each one, he has seen the light of hope.

St. Matthew shows us Jesus prophesying the end of the temple, which must have seemed to the disciples like prophesying the end of civilization.

But the temple had already been built and destroyed twice. After the long exile in Babylon, prophet Haggai shows us the people who laboriously built up again the temple, razed to the ground by the Assyrians many years before. And in Jesus’ lifetime Herod was rebuilding the temple yet again.

In Revelation, the words of hope to the church of Sardis repeat the lesson: Wake up! rebuild! conquer! Don’t lie around like a dead person. It is not too late to join the ones in white robes who walk with the Son of Man. In my own life the message came to me not from Sardis but from Laodicea: You are neither hot nor cold, you are lukewarm. I will spit you out of my mouth. This hit me with such force that I left my comfortable life and started something completely different. Laodicea itself lies in ruins now, a field strewn with shattered marble. And surely so does Sardis.

But the message remains.

Cities, temples, civilizations, fall and are rebuilt and fall again. The message, the invitation from God, to turn to God and to rejoice in God, has never changed. And it will change your life.

Sarah Acland

The Third Sunday in Advent

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Psalm 148, 149, 150 Amos 6:1-14 2 Thessalonians 1:5-12 Luke 1:57-68 Each child has his or her own unique relationship with God, the growth of which is guided by the Holy Spirit.

This idea is at the center of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, the children’s formation program at St. Andrew’s. The adults in the classroom are responsible for creating an environment that invites the child into the work of building that relationship, but God and the child do the work.

This year the oldest children in the program are fourth graders. They were invited to contribute to this booklet by writing their own words, copying scriptures that are meaningful to them, or drawing pictures.

Molly wrote a poem expressing her joy in the loving care of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.

Jesus is everything to us.

He tends us as we grow.

Jesus never stops believing [in us.*] He is our father – We love him head to toe!

Molly Preston

Charlotte chose to copy two verses from the story of Jesus’ birth, accompanied by a joyful drawing of Christmas holly. Owing to the difficulty of inserting a color picture into this devotional, the original artwork was replaced by a pencil drawing.

“She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger. Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”

Charlotte Franklin

Monday, December 16, 2013 Psalm 41, 52, 44 Zechariah 1:7-17 Revelation 3:7-13 Matthew 24:15-31 God is there in all our trials, in good times and in bad. We just have to love Him, believe in Him, and trust that He has a plan, and things will all work out as they should, even when we fight Him, tooth and nail. Because when we look back, we can see that everything has played out the way that it should, even if we didn’t think so at that time.

Rob Minotto

Tuesday, December 17, 2013 Psalm 45, 47, 48 Zechariah 2:1-13 Revelation 3:14-22 Matthew 24:32-44 The readings for today strike an apocalyptic tone that makes them challenging to set alongside the cozy and comfortable feelings we may have at this time in the year. Images of destruction, fear, narrowly escaping a terror… these conjure the World Trade Center’s destruction in my mind, as when I sat in my classroom with a dazed group of students watching the television coverage. “I have scattered you to the four winds”, says Zechariah.

Jesus takes an equally frightening tone, “Keep watch, you do not know when your Lord will come.” A sudden event that will sweep away the people … will the man in the field or the woman at the stone be taken by death or saved by the coming of the Son of Man? Jesus’ words were written after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, in which many did die suddenly and in terror. Jesus’ followers at that time lived in fear and waited for a sudden and supernatural event that would usher in a new world. This passage reads differently for modern Christians, leaving us to wonder how to make sense of it in our post-modern setting.

I suppose the very fact that our lives can be swept away so suddenly should give us pause and make us meditate on that truth. We live in a wealthy country where we are more at risk from heart disease or possibly a drunk driver than the threat of soldiers destroying our lives and homes.

Yet it can all be taken away in moments and my greatest fear is that I could suddenly lose those I care about most. For me, coming to church eases that fear, and as I look around at friends at worship or enjoying coffee and pastry together, I feel that difficulties will still occur but for today I am safe and so are my friends and family.

At this time when we are relaxing with our loved ones and looking forward to a feast, we can make a point to relish this precious life with all the frustrations and gifts that it offers. A song says, “This may be the last time we ever get together.” My prayer is to live in such a way that, should it be the last time, I have left those whom I have known happier and stronger.

Lora Baete

Wednesday, December 18, 2013 Psalm 119:49-72,49 Zech. 3:1-10 Revelation 4:1-8

Matthew 24:45-51

God speaks of loyalty and commitment to His creation.

God expects nothing less in our commitment to Him and to each other.

Travis Egbert

Thursday, December 19, 2013 Psalm 50, 33

Zechariah 1:1-14

Revelation 4:9-5:5

Matthew 25:1-13

“Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” This passage is a reminder that there are not just certain occasions or times of the year that we should be working toward what we have been called by God to do or be. We need to be constantly working toward this end. It is not a project we pull out before Christmas; the celebration of Jesus’ birth.

Nor sacrifices offered before Easter; as we walk through the 40 days of our preparation for Jesus’ death and resurrection. We should be constantly working toward becoming what God has called us to be on this earth. We must take some time each day, each hour, each minute, to be quiet so we can hear what God is calling us to be and do.

Each person, creature and circumstance we encounter each day offers these moments to be silent and hear what God has in mind for us. The moment may be just that, a glimpse that is easily missed in this hurried and electronic world we now live in. This mindful preparation and work is never ending and ever evolving; it will take our lifetimes to accomplish.

We should never grow weary of this; it should feed on itself and give us more energy and passion as we realize our callings and move in its direction. And know this; the direction is likely to change several times over the course of our lives here on Earth. As we take the time to be silent enough to hear what God is sharing with us we will effortlessly change course and grow a little more in the direction God is showing us.

God calls each of us to be and do something even very slightly different from any other person on Earth. This is why God created each and every one of us as individuals. Look for the quiet moments God is sending and hear the message being sent. It is very empowering.

Maggie Kastner

Friday, December 20, 2013 Psalm 40, 54, 51 Zechariah 7:8-8:8 Revelation 5:6-14 Matthew 25:14-30 When my son Connor was a small baby, I would go to a local mall and walk with the retirees in the morning as a way to get exercise and lose some extra weight. Usually I would take a jogging stroller but one morning I felt like a change and put the baby in backpack carrier and trudged with him on my back. He wasn’t used to this contraption and immediately grabbed a handful of my long hair and gripped hard like a baby monkey. This is how immature mammals are designed by nature to stay safe with their mothers; that gripping power enables them to ride along with mom until they are able to take care of themselves.

In our parable for today, a servant is criticized severely for not being more clever in the use of his master’s money; other servants had made a 100% profit with the money they had been given to use but the “worthless” slave had, because of his fear, buried the money he was responsible for lest he lose it. He did not try to make what he was given benefit his master, himself or anybody else but kept it with a clam-like grip safe in a hole. I don’t call this slave worthless but rather immature, like a baby monkey afraid to fall off mother’s back and holding on to the little he has. This servant, owned by a master he fears and small in the world himself (the money he had wasn’t even his), is then cast aside without hope or compassion. The master shows himself to be how the slave feared he would be. The slave lived in a sad and lonely world in which people behaved this way towards each other. How unfortunate, brutal and removed this is from our relatively easy existence. Yet how common it is for those who have little to fear losing what they do have. This servant misses the truth that those who give themselves away are rewarded abundantly. My prayer for today is that I can release the fearful grip of the immature soul and be willing to invest myself in the world and in the lives of others. The promise that Jesus holds forth is that if we are unafraid and give compassion a try in this world, we get it all back plus extra.

Lora Baete

Saturday, December 21, 2013 Psalm 55, 138, 139

Zech. 8:9-1

Revelation 6:1-17

Matthew 25:31-46

“Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life; having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity and in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new Heaven to dim.”

Sir Francis Drake In these last few days before Christmas, we continue to be bombarded by advertisements showing the “abundance of things.” In our modern world, we are constantly confronted by “stuff.” The mall stores, large and small, flaunt material objects before us as some magic cure for our spiritual emptiness.

It is important in the remaining days before the celebration of the birth of our Savior, that we concentrate on the truly significant “things” of the season: love, charity, hope, and faith. Let us not lose our “thirst for the waters of life.”

Martha Bell Stukenborg

Sunday, December 22, 2013 The Fourth Sunday in Advent Psalm 24, 29, 8, 84

Genesis 3:8-15

Revelation 12:1-10

John 3:16-21

As I write, I am inspired by the beautiful full moon and particularly by Psalm 8. What inspires you?

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, You have entrusted us to care for the earth, O Lord. I am amazed by small miracles of nature. What amazes you?

You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: It comforts me, especially in challenging times, to look for signs from heaven through nature. The sound of an owl, the beauty of a finch, the smell of a rose, the taste of a homegrown tomato, a hug from our loved ones. What comforts you? all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.

John 3:16-21 offers hope and light. The sunrise gives me hope. What gives you hope?

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. Leigh Anne Preston

Monday, December 23, 2013 Psalm 61, 62, 112, 115

Zephaniah 3:14-20

Titus 1:1-16 Luke 1:1-25

Some people find it easy to interact with others. They make it seem effortless to walk up, shake hands and introduce themselves. I am not good at making “chit chat” and fear I will say something that I will be embarrassed about later. I wish sometimes that we didn’t have to talk so much in our daily lives. Some types of monks, both Christian and Buddhist, take vows of silence for periods of time as a kind of spiritual discipline. I envy them in a way because I know I would make far fewer faux pas if I didn’t have to blunder along talking all the time. I am fairly educated yet when it comes to people skills I feel like a grade school student at times.

We read today about what happened to Zechariah, a righteous priest of the Temple, who was struck dumb as a kind of mark on him as one who did not believe in the wonder that would happen to him and his barren wife, Elizabeth. Perhaps Zechariah, an educated elite, couldn’t see how such a wonder as was being offered him could possibly happen in the real world.

He blundered out his question much the same as other characters in the gospels such as Peter and Thomas do elsewhere. He is what I call a “dopey doubter”, a kind of character that takes our place in the story so that the questions that we ourselves have as readers can be answered for us.

The Bible is full of examples of doubters; even the Psalms sometimes question God’s intent. Perhaps Zechariah is not being marked by his dumbness but allowed to silence himself so that a wonder can occur.

Maybe it is a gift for the over-educated scholar to get to be quiet for a change so that the thing that he couldn’t believe could happen can come about.

Maybe that is the way forward for those of us who think we know what is true and can’t imagine how it could be otherwise. A well-used saying, cleverly reversed, can open a new way to think about the miraculous, “If I hadn’t believed it I wouldn’t have seen it”.

My prayer for this day is to be spiritually open-minded so that the unexpected good can flow into my life.

Lora Baete

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Christmas Eve

Psalm 45, 46 Baruch 4:36-5:9 Galatians 3:23-4:7 Matthew 1:18-25 “Be Still and Know That I Am God” Psalm 46:10 Living with chronic mental illness has been a lifelong struggle for me. When going through a severe depression as I am now, I have learned to go back to the basics for help. One of these basics is my love for the Psalms. Full of the imagery of struggling people they reassure me that only God will save me. I can rely on God’s strength to bring me up out of the waters that “have come up to my neck” Psalm 69:1b One of the hardest things for me to do in a severe depression is to get my mind to shut up. I think constantly, and go over and over my struggles so that I can’t even go to sleep at night. Imagined conversations - what I should or will say run like a hamster on the wheel in the cage in my head. What should I do next? How can I get relief? I can’t listen for God in this chaos. I can’t heal until I can silence my mind.

I’m not good at meditation but yoga has been helping. It quiets my mind as I focus on my breathing and the rhythms of the postures and sun salutations. It relaxes my body and leaves me open to listen to God. I feel so much better at the end of a session when we say goodbye to each other with “Namaste- the highest in me honors the highest in you.” Then I realize God is there inside me, ready to help lift me up.

No one can get me out of the depression but me- with God’s help. I must make the call to get an appointment with my psychiatrist to get my medication adjusted. I must call to see my therapist and work on solutions. I must reach out to friends and family for support and prayers. I must ask for time off work to reduce stress while I work on healing. I have to get myself out of the house to take a walk in nature where I am closest to God among creation. The exercise clears my head, gets the endorphins flowing, and gets rid of pent up anger. After the walk, sitting on a rock on the bank of a bubbling stream is often where I can be still and listen to God. Then the solutions about what I need to do come flowing.

“Be still and know that I am God”“ also means to remember that I am NOT God. I am not in control of the world, other people, or systems. I must give up this illusion and realize my powerlessness. I am only in control of myself, my actions, and my words. I need to focus on what I say and do, not what others say and do (or don’t do). I have to stop judging others and look at the log in my own eye. I must clean up my act and be who that God inside me asks me to be- kind, compassionate, giving, loving, and strong. I can lift myself up out of the depression with God’s help and the help of God in others. Then I can go out into the world and do the work God sends me out to do-- feed the hungry, care for the sick, fight for liberty and justice for all, clean up the Earth, and love my neighbor.

As I wait for the birth of my savior Jesus, Advent is the perfect time to “Be still and know that I am God.” Cam Norman

Christmas Day

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Psalm 2, 85, 110:1-5, 7 Micah 4:1-5, 5:2-4 1 John 4:7-16 John 3:31-36 “Christians Awake! Salute the Happy Morn Whereon the Savior of the World was Born!”

Happy Christmas! This will be short, because this is a busy day, and you want to get to the presents, and the cooking, and the arrival of aunts and cousins. There are tidings of comfort and joy, and a baby in his mother’s arms.

But wait a moment. The readings for today aren’t really like that. The psalms particularly are full of fear and wrath, and pleas for salvation. This baby isn’t coming into a peaceful, cozy world. All around him in the Roman world, peace is maintained by the sword. Micah hoped that swords would be beaten into ploughshares, but that hasn’t happened. This child’s life will be dangerous, and short. We are looking ahead to Good Friday.

But don’t despair, for he has left a legacy, and we have room for hope.

“The one who comes from heaven is above all,” says the Evangelist. And later: “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them”. So here is our recipe for peace: the sword must become a ploughshare, so that the field can be planted, the hungry fed and peace come to all. That sword is in our own mind, and in our own midst, and it must be melted down by love.

It’s the only way. Happy Christmas!

Sarah Acland

BUT

WAIT, THERE’S MORE

…

December 25-January 6

These days the “Christmas season” begins before Thanksgiving and the excitement builds to a climax on December 25, then stops. Christmas is over, and people go back to their normal lives. But in our tradition the Christmas season is different. Advent begins on the 4th Sunday before Christmas and we await the coming of Christ in a spirit of expectation.

Christmas Day ushers in twelve days of celebration, ending on January 6 with the feast of the Epiphany. Exhortations to follow this calendar rather than the secular one have become routine at this time of year, but most of us are simply too tired after Christmas Day to do much more celebrating.

The real twelve days of Christmas are important not just as a way of thumbing our noses at the secular calendar. They are important because they allow us to on the meaning of the Incarnation in our lives. “O God, who marvelously created and yet more marvelously restored the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity …” BCP 214. In Christ, our human nature was united to God, and when Christ enters our hearts, he brings us into that union.

The feasts that fall in the Christmas season reflect on the ways the mystery of the Incarnation works itself out in the body of Christ.

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The Feast of St. Stephen – Dec. 26. This deacon was the forerunner of all who show the love of Christ by their care for the neglected. He was also the first martyr, witnessing to Christ by giving up his life.

St. John the Evangelist –Dec. 27. The witness of St. John turned Greek philosophy on its head with his affirmation, “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” John 1:14.

The Feast of the Holy Innocents – Dec. 28. The children murdered

by Herod were not martyrs like Stephen, or inspired like John. They died unjustly before they had a chance to know or to will, but they died for Christ nonetheless. If Christ did not come for them how can we think he came for us? As we remember the Holy Innocents, we remember that the coming of Christ brings hope to the most hopeless.

And, in the most radical way possible, we confess that like them we are saved by the mercy of Christ, not by our own doing or knowing.

Even as you pack up the decorations, take time to sit in wonder and ponder on the implications of the Incarnation of God as a human baby.

Adapted by Martha Holland from a post in Christianity Today www.christianitytoday.com/ch/news/2004/dec24.html

2013 Schedule of Advent and Christmas Services at Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church Christmas Pageant and Reception Sunday, December 15 at 4:00 p.m.

Advent Quiet Day Saturday, December 21 from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.

Register in advance for lunch and childcare

Longest Night/Blue Christmas Eucharist Sunday, December 22 at 4:00 p.m.

Christmas Eve Services Family Eucharist, with Junior Choir singing at 4:00 p.m.

Choral Eucharist with Chancel Choir singing at 10:00 p.m.

Christmas Day Eucharist with piano and carols at 10:00 a.m.