Parish Call and Advent Meditations

PARISH ADVENT | CHRISTMAS

CALL | EPIPHANY

DOUBLE EDITION ADVENT MEDITATIONS INCLUDED

Paying Attention to the Words

The Rev. Dr. Matthew E. Burdette

When I was an undergraduate student, I discovered for myself what Karl Barth called “the strange new world within the Bible.” I grew up with the Bible, but I was reading it unassisted for the first time. Before long, I realized that I needed to learn how to read the Bible—that its many genres and authors each called for careful attention. Especially as I worked through the New Testament epistles, which have complex arguments, I would annotate as I read, making careful observations: Who is doing what? When? To whom?

Where? By what means? Why? With time, what emerged was a clear picture of the New Testament’s most basic and most shocking claim: The God of Israel is in fact the God of all creation, and he has become a human in Jesus, who suffered death and rose again in order to rescue us from the power of sin and death and to make us God’s children.

Contrary to what I had assumed, the Christian faith is not primarily an ethic, nor a philosophy, nor even a spirituality—even as Christianity has moral content, philosophical implications, and invites us to understand ourselves as fundamentally spiritual creatures designed to know and be known by God. Rather, the Christian faith announces first and foremost something that has allegedly happened.

The good news that we Christians proclaim does not begin with arguments for the existence of God, or the superiority of Christian ethics over other ethical systems, but, like the blind man Jesus healed, something more basic: “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see” (John 9:25).

It is easy for us to lose sight of this basic fact about our faith, that we are a people who proclaim that something has happened, that is, that God has done something out there in the world and so also in here, in our lives and in our hearts.

The season of Advent is a good time to come back to the center, and to pay attention to the words we hear and the words we say. Sometimes, when we are not paying attention, the words drift off and take on new forms. Nouns become adjectives, for example. We

might speak of “incarnational ministry,” and lose sight of the fact that such ministry is our mandate because of the Incarnation, that is, because “the Word became flesh and lived among us” (John 1:14). Or we might speak about experiencing moments of “resurrection,” losing sight of the fact that the hope we have for new life is grounded solely in the Resurrection.

Advent is the time in our life of worship when we give thanks to God for something radically specific: For taking on our frail and humble humanity in Mary’s baby boy, and so giving us the hope of sharing in his eternal life and glory. We give thanks to God for being the one who makes and keeps promises, and we are renewed in our hope that, just as Jesus came into the world in humility, so one day he will come again in glory to join us to himself forever. In Advent, we remember and proclaim and give thanks for what God has done, and we devote ourselves again to the promise of what God will do.

Because of what God has done in Jesus, we are invited to make sense of our lives within that story. You exist because God has written you as one of the characters in this story of salvation. Who are you in that story? If the major plot point of this story is that God has taken on flesh in Jesus, what is the meaning of the subplot that is your life and the life of our church community?

If the conclusion of this story is our union with God, what does that free you from and for each day? What role in this story is God calling you to play?

These are just some of the questions that Advent might evoke in us if we attend to the words, and experience again the shock and grace of what God has done.

Advent Liturgy:

The Penitential Order

and Expectation

Michael Smith, Minister of Music Advent and Lent are sometimes described as “penitential” seasons; times for us to examine ourselves individually and corporately before God as we prepare for the great feasts of Christmas and Easter, respectively. In order to heighten that aspect, we will use the “Penitential Order” as a way of beginning our Advent worship. It can be found on page 351 of the Book of Common Prayer. There is much precedent in ancient worship for beginning worship with a confession. In the medieval church, the priest and servers would quietly confess their sins to each other at the altar before beginning the service. Our daily office (Morning and Evening Prayer) often begins with a confession.

There are two key elements to this order: The Summary of the Law and the Confession and Absolution of Sins.

First, we hear the Summary of the Law, which is the answer Jesus gave to the question, “What is the greatest commandment?” We know his answer: Jesus said, "The first commandment is this: Hear, O Israel: The Lord your God is the only Lord. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12:29-31 This might be a prompt for our confession: how have we lived up to this call to Love, Equip, and Serve as individuals and as a church?

Next, the Confession and Absolution of Sins. We say to each other and to God, out loud, that WE HAVE NOT. This not a moment for beating ourselves up, or for groveling. We are simply acknowledging that we cannot save ourselves. We cannot be simply moral or good and be done with it, because we are all sinners. We confess to God and to each other in order to receive forgiveness from God, and to attempt repentance- a turning around. Having confessed and been restored to oneness with God, our neighbors, and ourselves, we continue with the service, ready to receive Jesus in the Eucharist.

Of the many events throughout any year which renew our sense of loss, the approaching holiday season is perhaps the most difficult. Everywhere we turn in our daily life we see the atmosphere of the Christmas season conveying a message of joy, celebration, and anticipation.

We hear Christmas music all around us. We are inundated with commercials of gift-giving. We hear invariable references about being together with family and friends, which causes the greatest pain for many as this is a reminder of their feeling of loss.

Many of us are suffering, though. Broken relationships, job security, the effects of COVID-19 and social distancing, feelings of isolation and solitude, grief, and loss; all of these can contribute to a feeling of being heavy-hearted during a society around us who feel merry as they celebrate the season. Sometimes we hurt terribly as the holidays approach and we can’t display the same festive spirit as others appear to do.

It is during these times we need to make the space and take time to acknowledge our sadness and concern. There is comfort in knowing we are not alone: God is with us. For all these reasons, we, the Pastoral Care and the Worship and Arts Commissions, invite you to participate and join in sharing prayers, Scripture, and music. Please join us for this special service to feel God’s presence in your time of darkness and to be comforted knowing that you are not alone, and that God’s Word is everpresent to shine light into our lives.

Keeping Us Common:

The Book of Common Prayer

and Continuity

Michael Smith, Minister of Music “Let all things be done decently and in order.”

I Corinthians 14:40 A key part of our identity as a worshiping community is our use of the Book of Common Prayer. Many of you have experienced the comfort of the familiar and the ritual in 2020. Isolation, sickness, fear, uncertainty...sin; all these things disorder us. When we come together in worship, we need to be reordered or re-membered as the Body of Christ, whether that happens in person or virtually. Part of that re-membering is remembering words that we use to worship God. God gave us Jesus as the eternal Logos, or Word, and so words are holy and sacred.

Our use of the repeated texts and passages in liturgy has sometimes been criticized by other traditions as being “rote prayers” or as being too constrictive. My own experience, having been raised as a Southern Baptist, is that the liturgy of the Prayer Book gives me a secure framework to form my prayers and an enriched vocabulary for when I want to speak to God from my heart.

You may notice that some of the words in our worship have been changed to more accurately reflect exactly what The Book of Common Prayer says: that is intentional. It is too easy to try and mold the liturgy to reflect our own individual desires or specific contemporary tastes. It is far better to trust what has been discerned in community- namely, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church. The Prayer Book has been altered many times since Thomas Cranmer’s groundbreaking 1549 (and later, 1662) editions.

Parishioners at St. Thomas have used every single authorized version since then (1662 as Anglicans, 1789, 1892, 1928, 1940, and 1979 as American Episcopalians). That is an amazing legacy and heritage. We will continue to worship and pray in Common and trust the discernment of the Church in ordering our worship.

Advent and Christmas Music

Weekly Musical Meditations: Fr. Matt and Michael will discuss the text of a piece of Advent music, followed by a recording of our choir singing the piece.

Look for these each of the four weeks of Advent.

A Service of Lessons and Carols: This year, our beloved tradition of Lessons and Carols will be presented virtually. The choir is producing a video recording of readings and music that tell the story of salvation, from the Garden of Eden to the Word Made Flesh dwelling among us.

The video will be released closer to Christmas, so be sure and watch for it and share it with friends and family.

Twelve Days of Carols: During the twelve days of Christmas, we will release a favorite carol for each day! Feel free to sing along in your homes. If any individuals or families would like to participate (this is more about fun than musical quality!), please let Michael Smith know ASAP. msmith@stthomaswhitemarsh.org

Follow the Star

Lisa Lonie, Carillonneur This Advent season, take a glance towards the carillon tower any evening.

Do you see it?

It’s the Star of Bethlehem, piercing the night with over a dozen lights.

Every year, our dedicated grounds crew makes the annual trek up the tower’s circular stairs, through the playing cabin, up the rung ladder, through the bells (a tight squeeze for sure!), up yet another ladder to a trap door and finally onto the roof where they hoist and secure the star. Built originally by a parishioner, this star has been a seasonal fixture at St. Thomas' for over 50 years.

So, this Advent, if you’re on Bethlehem Pike, Church Road, or even on the turnpike, glance towards St. Thomas' Church.

The Star is calling.

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel: The Ancient “O” Antiphons

“O come, O come, Emmanuel” is one of the most beloved Advent hymns, but it’s actually a composite of seven verses meant to be sung in the seven days leading up to Christmas Eve.

Dec 23: O Emmanuel (God with us) O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.

As you may know, at Evening Prayer or Evensong (known as Vespers before the 1662 Anglican Prayer Book), the Magnificat is one of the canticles. Traditionally, there is a special antiphon, or added verse, that is sung before the Magnificat. Each of these verse that make up “O come, O come Emmanuel” were originally antiphons for the Magnificat to be sung on December 17-23.

Perhaps the coolest thing about the “O” Antiphons is that the title of each one forms an acrostic when read backwards!

Because in the original Latin each one begins with “O”, they are known as the “O Antiphons.” They are mentioned by the 8th century, though they may go back even further to the 6th century. Each one calls out to Christ through a different image or metaphor, telling us something about how the Incarnation will save us.

Dec 17: O Sapienta (Wisdom) O come, thou Wisdom from on high, who orderest all things mightily; to us the path of knowledge show, and teach us in her ways to go.

Dec 18: O Adonai (Lord) O come, O come, thou Lord of might, who to thy tribes on Sinai’s height in ancient times didst give the law in cloud and majesty and awe.

Dec 19: O Radix Jesse (Root, or Branch of Jesse) O come, thou Branch of Jesse’s tree, free them from Satan’s tyranny that trust thy mighty power to save, and give them victory o’er the grave.

Dec 20: O Clavis David (Key of David) O come, thou Key of David, come , and open wide our heavenly home; make safe the way that leads on high, and close the path to misery.

Dec 21: O Oriens (Dawning) O come, thou Dayspring from on high, and cheer us by thy drawing nigh; disperse the gloomy clous of night, and death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Dec 22: O Rex Gentium (King of the Nations) O come, Desire of nations, bind in one the hearts of all mankind; bid thou our sad division cease, and be thyself our King of Peace.

Emmanuel Rex Genitum Oriens Clavis David Radix Jesse Adonai Sapientia ERO CRAS, which is Latin for “Tomorrow, I will be there.” So, God, although the Creator of time, is not bound by time. Christ’s coming to us is not only an historic event, but now and always in all directions of time.

If you use an Advent Calendar to mark the days leading up to Christmas Eve, consider using these verses for each day beginning on December 17 as a way to pray for Christ’s Second Coming and the deliverance He will bring.

- Michael Smith

Children, Youth and Family Ministry

Sharon Werner and Kelly Martin, CYF Chairs

Youth Events: - Youth met for an outdoor Star Wars movie on the labyrinth in September. It was a chilly night but we had snacks and friends to keep us entertained.

- Families and Youth were invited to carve pumpkins for display at the church as a fun kickoff for Halloween, a way to "Let Your Light Shine" and a wonderful welcome to Matthew and Evie Burdette on their first weekend. It was a beautiful sight and we hope to make this a new tradition.

- In November, a holiday card-making event brought together adults, youth and families to make cards for those parishioners in need of a little extra love.

- For December, a virtual Nativity pageant is planned, as well as a weekly holiday storytime for the younger kids.

The CYF Commission has been working to keep our children, youth and families connected through the pandemic.

Formation: Family Table enjoyed meeting on the labyrinth for the month of September and has since moved to MacColl Auditorium as the weather gets colder. With plenty of space and the opportunity to worship in new ways, even as we return to some beloved traditions (the Wiggle Song!), families are enjoying the gift of being able to reconnect. In August, small groups met on-line for Godly play and in November families were invited to participate in an in-person Thanksgiving card making event. Families are invited to participate in altar guild set-up as a safe and meaningful way to be more involved right now! If you'd like to learn more or to volunteer, please contact Kelly Martin (kellyann7561@gmail.com).

Youth Formation started Sunday night Zoom meetings in October. During Advent, we plan to have older youth prepare a short Advent lesson and reflect on the season together. It's been wonderful to see each other's faces again and keep in touch. If you haven't received the invitation to join us for 6th to12th grade formation, please email Sharon Werner for information (sharwerner1@gmail.com).

We look forward to working with Father Matt to keep us connected safely and lovingly in these next months.

Adult Spiritual Formation

Willi Gillespie, Chair One of the emphases of the Adult Spiritual Formation commission over the last year has been to think long and hard about where our work is truly centered. Christian formation is about transformation; it is about remembering who we are and Whose we are, and living into that startling identity. We are called to be active participants in our formation, to welcome the voice of God into every facet of our lives. The work of the Adult Spiritual Formation commission, then, is to discern how we can help facilitate that process of becoming. Even as a gardener does not control growth, but encourages things to grow through tending, nurturing, setting the right kind of environment, and working to remove obstacles, so ASF seeks to cultivate an atmosphere that is ideal for our inner growth.

There are so many entry points into this process. The programmatic offerings we schedule are aids to this work as a community, including worship services, Bible studies, prayer services, and service opportunities. But they are only part of a greater whole.

The Book of Common Prayer outlines a regimen that is designed to help us in this process of being reshaped into the image of Christ, particularly through the daily offices, such as Morning Prayer.

We are also formed as we worship together, encountering Christ in the hymns and prayers and readings, and again in the Eucharist. We are formed as we come together and learn from each other, as well as learning to love one another through the things we like and dislike about one another. We are formed as we serve, encountering God through creation and in all people; this is especially fruitful when our service is combined with good mentoring or shepherding.

We are formed as we learn to communicate with God from places of need, celebration, appreciation, and humility. We are formed as we wrestle with the written revelation of God in the Bible through reading and studying and praying. We are formed as we learn to respond to God’s heart in the fight for justice. We are formed as we help each other see Jesus in our own lives and in others’ lives.

I would like to invite you to use the seasons of Advent and Christmas to ponder how you are participating in this journey of living into our holy identity. How might you increase the surface area of your life to be exposed to the voice of God? I want to bring your attention to some of the ways we are currently making space to encourage this process of becoming something new in Christ. It can be daunting to think of doing all the things, so I encourage you to consider not doing all the things; maybe it is more about adding just one thing, or even reapproaching the things you already participate in with a renewed sense of purpose. Perhaps you may even feel a call to do fewer things as you discern; this is okay, too!

Whichever path you take, a great step might be to have a conversation with another parishioner to help you look for ways God is reshaping our hearts and reordering our priorities.

Sometimes the leap of faith is simply to show up for a scheduled offering, whether it be online or in person, and to have an open heart to how God might surprise you as you come into contact with the fellowship of Christ. While the list is not at all comprehensive, here are a few of the spaces where you might want to “show up” for your formation during this season.

Bible Studies Monday On Zoom Women’s Bible Study 7:00-8:30 PM Led by Ginger Goodrich Wednesday On Zoom Matthew Mark, Luke and Dawn Gospels Study 7:00-8:00 AM All genders welcome.

Led by Sarah Elliott Wednesday On Zoom Preparing for Sunday 7:30-8:30 PM Reflective preview of coming Sunday lectionary/readings All genders welcome.

Coordinated by Will Gillespie Thursday On Zoom Women’s Bible Study 10:00-11:30 PM Led by Ginger Goodrich Sarah Elliott ss.elliott@comcast.net

As part of our continued work toward racial reconciliation, we hope to offer small group opportunities in the new year to go through the Sacred Ground curriculum put forth by the Episcopal Church. It combines reading and videos with thoughtful discussion over ten sessions to expand our sensitivity toward racial inequities and to help us think about various people groups through a renewed theological lens.

This is an invaluable first step before engaging in further racism work.

Contact Will information.

Gillespie

for

more

Ginger Goodrich vpgoodrich@gmail.com Will Gillespie gillespie_wm2@yahoo.com Jeff Korn jmkorn1023@gmail.com

If you want to participate in a Bible study using the Approaching the Gospels Together method and cannot find one here that works with your schedule, please contact Sarah or Ginger to discuss possibilities of forming a group.

Friday On Zoom Women of the Word 9:30-11:00 AM Led by Sarah Elliott

Morning Prayer Monday-Friday On Zoom 8:30AM Led by Jeff Korn.

Saturday On Zoom 9:00AM Led by Jeff Korn.

St. Thomas’ Preschool opened their doors for 70 students (ages 3-5) on September 14th 2020, after being closed since March 13, 2020. We opened with 17 brave and remarkable staff who were excited and eager to see our STP children back in school again. We spent months preparing for our opening and we couldn’t have done it without the support of our amazing STP Board, the Church and Vestry and our relationship with the National Association of Episcopal Schools. We had weekly meetings to plan our safe STP reopening plan (Safe, Together and Prepared!)

We have a strict COVID plan that our licensing agency, Department of Human Services, required us to prepare for our families. Each family and staff had to sign prior to the first day of school. To keep all safe, we opened with 7 classrooms inside and 7 classrooms outside on our beautiful 48 acre campus! We have tents for covered areas when we have inclement weather and all our children are in small pods of 8 or 10 students with 2 teachers.

We stay in our safe pods throughout the day when we are inside and outside. Each class is designated a new space outside each week to keep the fun coming and to keep us effectively social distanced. The students spend most of their day outside playing, learning and exploring!

Our staff and children have to wear masks during the day. The children do get mask breaks outside. We provided each student with a fun animal print face mask from Learning Express on the first day of school. We also equipped each staff with a variety of masks and shields, gloves and HEPA hospital grade air purifiers in each classroom. We had our filters cleaned in our HVAC unit to help with air quality and encourage the teachers to keep the windows open during the day when they are in the classroom. Our building is sanitized daily at the end of the school day by our staff and our cleaning company. A parent also donated an electrostatic sprayer that we use weekly to sanitize the building.

The children came into school so happy to be back! We are so pleased that we entering our second month of school! We have been busy with creative ways to continue to honor our special events here at STP. We had St. Francis Pet blessings in carline, an outdoor socially distanced halloween parade in our upper parking lot and we will have our annual thanksgiving feast in small pods with muffins and apple sauce! Lastly, we are working on how we can honor one of our most treasured events, the annual Christmas Pageant. We are so blessed to have such creative ideas from the staff!

Follow us on Facebook St. Thomas’ Preschool and instagram stps_1951 to see all the fun we are having each day!

Shari Petrakis, Director St. Thomas’ Preschool

Annual Giving 2021

Joe Culley, Stewardship Chair

Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:16 Our theme this year is Let Your Light Shine, inspired by the fifth chapter of Matthew’s gospel. For me this means living a Godcentered life, doing the next right thing and being of service.

Our Stewardship Commission welcomed two new members in 2020, Emily Hunsicker and Jason Martin. We continued to work with our California-based consultant Rick Felton, the former Executive Director for The Episcopal Network for Stewardship (TENS) on building a year-round culture of generosity at St. Thomas’.

We held a successful weekend virtual stewardship workshop in September that had over 25 members participate. In October we had numerous first person testimonials during worship, on recorded video and in written form. The early response to our efforts to amplify the importance of our annual appeal has been very encouraging.

Given that our annual meeting has been accelerated to January of 2021 we ask that if you have not prayerfully considered your 2021 pledge you do so at this time and let your light shine.

Finally I’d like to thank three members of our Stewardship Commission who stepped down this year, Pem Hutchinson, Bob Jones and Don Schreiber. They have contributed a tremendous amount of their time, talent and treasure to our Committee and St. Thomas as a whole and we are forever grateful. ________ We give thanks for the 181 pledges received and we encourage others to "shine their light" by making a pledge before December.

15. Thank you!

stthomaswhitemarsh.org./giving

Diocesan Convention 2020

The Diocese of Pennsylvania held its 237th Convention virtually on November 6th and 7th. As St. Thomas’ deputies to the convention, Liz Butler-Rodgers, Jim Hilliard, and Elizabeth Bitterman were excited and honored to attend along with Father Matt, who received a special welcome into the Diocese.

We began with worship on Friday evening, led by Bishop Daniel Gutierrez, who stated, "Let us make a commitment that this blessed diocese will have one distinguishing mark: not political correctness, moral superiority, or reliance on past glories. Let our identity be love. Found in Christ. One God. One Love. One Diocese." On Saturday morning, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry delivered a recorded message, urging healing and the Way of Love. Visit diopa.org to view these moving and important messages.

Clergy and Deputies representing the 134 churches that comprise our diocese approved a budget with a very small increase in budgeted expenses. In addition, the process for requesting Sacred Gifts from parishes was streamlined, requesting 5.75% of 2019 Normal Operating Income from each parish. In order for St. Thomas’ to come into line with the One Sacred Gift request, our diocesan pledge for 2021 would increase by about $13,000 over 2020. Using attendance numbers from non-pandemic times, this increase represents less than $1.00 per week per attendee, and will help to relieve the support burden carried by smaller churches with more limited resources than ours. We also approved a resolution regarding clergy compensation that provides more cogent and simplified guidelines to parishes.

St. Thomas’ continues to offer gifts of leadership to the Diocese as Phil Anspach remains in the role of Assistant Treasurer on the Finance Committee, and Chris Gadsden was elected to the Church Foundation.

Bishop Gutierrez characterizes the relationship between the Diocese and the churches as an upside-down pyramid. Diocesan staff have worked tirelessly providing support and resources as parishes have pivoted to online services and more as a result of the pandemic. In addition, the Diocese has recently launched Serviam Institute, an initiative that will offer online training to lay leaders on a wide spectrum of subjects.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry offering a message to the convention delegates.

In early 2022 the Bishop will embark on a listening tour of parishes. He seeks to hear our hopes and our prayers, and together, we will discern a path forward.

He asks the questions, “What will our church look like? How will we spread the news of Jesus Christ?

What might we accomplish if we shed our fear and look to the future? Where is Christ calling us as a Diocese? He states that as a church, “We can not mirror society. We must be a door to a different path.”

Thank you for the opportunity to represent St. Thomas’ at the 237th Convention of the Diocese of Pennsylvania.

Liz Butler-Rodgers, Jim Hilliard, and Elizabeth Bitterman Convention Delegates

Thank You!

Dear Beloved in Christ, Thank you for the incredible send off this past Sunday: for the generous purse, the beautiful peach altar flowers, and the moving blessing sung by the choir on the lawn. I am so very grateful to you for your heartfelt letters, cards, and emails received as well as the beautiful photo scrapbook. Most of all, thank you for sharing your lives with me over these past twenty-two months.

Together, we have been challenged, inspired, and fed, often in unexpected ways. In our quest for the divine, H. Richard Niebuhr says that the surprise is that “we sought a god to love and were found by a god that loves us.”

Know that you are deeply loved by this God made known in Jesus and God will use you to change the world.

I have related to some of you that when I first met your new rector, it felt like what I call “a Holy Spirit moment.” It was clear to me that the Spirit has called Matthew Burdette to serve among you, as together, you continue to discover God’s preferred and promised future.

You are blessed indeed and I am so very excited for you as you begin this next chapter together.

I am beginning an interim ministry at St. James’, Langhorne in early November and am happy that I will not be far away, still serving in the Diocese of Pennsylvania. I join the apostle Paul in saying, Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God…[and] find myself praying for you with a glad heart. (Philippians 1:3-4, The Message).

With deep gratitude, The Rev. Paul Briggs

Advent Meditations Advent is, among other things, the season of starting over, of longing, of waiting; it is a season of remembering the prayers of people across time and space, and joining their cry; it is a season of asking God to draw near to reveal something we desperately need.

For many people, this year seems to bear a theme of heightened need. Pain and suffering and alienation are often unavoidable; in previous years, perhaps the fortunate among us were able to distract ourselves enough to not feel the weight of things pressing in on our lives, let alone the lives of others in our community.

Interestingly, pain and suffering and alienation are perhaps what drive us most to beg for the drawing near of God’s promises of strength, help, comfort, and presence with us. If anything is different this year, perhaps it is in part that we have been denied the anesthetic.

I want to offer a disclaimer here – this is not intended as a theme for the reflections that follow, but I do hope that my musings can provide a helpful lens through which to read them. On my spiritual journey this year I am playing with the meaning of the name Emmanuel, which St. Matthew interprets as “God with us.” Jesus frequently models expanding the boundaries of where we expect to encounter God. He comes to the outside; born to a people in an occupied territory, not in his hometown, and not even in a proper building. Those blessed to witness his coming are perhaps as visible in society as trash collectors. In his life he repeatedly and perhaps progressively moves the fence to target the unusual suspects. I am wondering how I, too, might expand my definition of us to include them – those image-bearers of God whom I don’t necessarily want God to draw near to, if I am brutally honest.

As we process our own pain and suffering this year, I wonder how we might allow our own pain to serve as a channel to listen with greater empathy to the voices of those whom we have tended to ignore? How might we emulate the Christ by drawing near to those other people, whose difficulties surely must serve as lightning rods for the rushing-in mercy of God? As we ponder the daily readings, how can we make space in our theology and practice for those people? When God comes, how can we draw near to the stable and the pastures to see the new life of God breaking in? How can we get close enough to those other people that “them” becomes “us”?

Come, Jesus! Come, save! Emmanuel, come! God-with-us-and-alsowith-them, come! Draw me to the spaces where you are showing up. I want to be where you are, to witness your nearness. Come!

Will Gillespie, Chair of Adult Spiritual Formation

Sunday, November 29 Isaiah 1:1-9; Matthew 25:1-13 Reflection on Isaiah 1:1-9 In America, our de facto religious belief is deism: Consciously or unconsciously, we are suspicious of the belief that God is personal and is personally involved in our lives. Rather, our cultural deism envisions of god in the backdrop of our lives, a benign horizon of meaning who would not infringe on our autonomy, nor dare to discipline us for wrongdoing.

Just for this reason, the biblical God is perpetually bewildering to us, and we experience the Bible, not so much as an act of God’s self-disclosure, but as a problem to be solved.

It’s no surprise, then, that Isaiah 1 is unsettling. The Lord is shockingly personal. Like a parent at wits end, the Lord screams, not at his rebellious child, but to an imaginary third person—“Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth.” This third person is a witness of the Lord’s parental suffering. The child, Israel, may hear only the Lord’s anger and frustration, but the Lord’s witness will hear his great love for Israel: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me…

Israel does not know, my people do not understand.”

The passage contains a subtle shift, which we may miss; Isaiah does not speak on the Lord’s behalf again until verse 11. Verses 4-9 are the prophet’s words. He comes to play the part of the Lord’s witness against Israel, while also identifying with Israel. And it is in Isaiah’s words that we hear the Lord’s love, hidden in his anger: “If the Lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we would have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah” (v. 9).

Difficult passages of Scripture such as this one tempt us to hold the Bible and the Lord revealed therein at a distance, or we feel mystified by them. The invitation, however, is to break with the deism we might be assuming unconsciously, and behold anew the God who is radically personal and who deals with us seriously, like a parent who loves us enough to shout at the ceiling when we are driving ourselves towards disaster.

Matthew Burdette

Monday, November 30 Isaiah 1:10-20; Luke 20:1-8

Tuesday, December 1 Isaiah 1:21-31; Luke 20:9-18

The most meaningful verses from today’s readings for me were verses 16 and 17 of Isaiah, chapter 1. Isaiah - the “mouth of the Lord” – tells us in the preceding verses that the Lord has had enough of burnt offerings, fat and blood and instead wishes for us to:

I know it’s not popular to talk about repentance. And in a big way, it feels disingenuous, for it is always easier to recommend repentance to another than it is to do it for oneself. But this raises for me what feels like a critical question – what kind of religion – what kind of faith – what kind of relationship to God do I have if I always start from the place of being right? Put another way, how can I possibly presume that I am without fault?

16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, 17 learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.

I believe Isaiah in these verses is telling us how to prepare ourselves to be in relationship with God. First we are told to wash and make ourselves clean. Next God tells us to remove the evil from our doings and to “cease to do evil.” To me these two statements in verse 16 mean that God wants our hearts, our minds, our souls and our bodies to be clean – to be free from the inner turmoil we feel when we do wrong and make ourselves feel separated from God. Next, we are told to learn to do good. I love that God does not expect us to be good immediately, but we are to learn and work on being good. The balance of verse 17 defines “good” as seeking justice, rescuing the oppressed, defending the orphan and pleading for the widow. To me, these are all active verbs, calling on us to take action in support of the oppressed, the weak and the helpless. Notice that these different actions – all presented as helping others – at the same time help us because being clean and doing good allows us to be closer to God.

One of the themes through today’s readings from Isaiah and Luke is of being egregiously off base. In the gospel, Jesus’ statement evokes an audible reaction from the scandalized listeners. And Isaiah uses embarrassingly bold imagery to confront God’s people with their missing the mark.

I wonder as I read these passages, how do I hear the word of God when it does not speak well of someone?

Who do I identify with in the stories? Can I let down my pride enough to identify with the ones who were scandalized by the word of God? Isaiah is well aware that he is delivering an unwelcome word. But even in this challenging passage, there is hope in verse 27.

God’s faithful city shall once again be characterized by its justice – and the people who humbled themselves to embark on the journey of righting their wrongs find themselves at the center of its hopeful rebirth. While I have been slowly waking up from my willful slumber about the injustices enacted today in our own land, I have found hope in the posture of repentance. This is not, as deniers purport, a posture of continual selfflagellation. Rather, it is a mercy to be able to admit that we have gotten many things wrong, and we can begin to see with new sight the dream of God for a just society where all people are treated as image-bearers of God, worthy of listening to, caring for, and fighting for. This is how we reclaim the honor of our identity in Christ.

Roger Clark Will Gillespie

Wed, December 2 Isaiah 1:21-31; Luke 20:9-18 As someone who is trained as a teacher, I spend a lot of time thinking about learned behavior.

Behavior is learned in many ways: by observation, by instruction, sometimes even by what seems to be the passive osmosis of uncorrected habits. So when Isaiah calls us to walk in the light of the Lord, he is calling us not only to learn a new behavior, but to unlearn old behaviors.

We are to unlearn war; unlearn our bent towards resisting God's grace. But what will fill that vacuum of unlearned behaviors? We are attracted to the shiny, the new. The latest spiritual fads: diviners and soothsayers, as Isaiah puts it. "Filled with idols, the work of their hands." When God calls us to return to him, we often try to get there through spiritual practices from other traditions. They may be beneficial, but are not The Way which Isaiah foretold: Jesus Christ, the Son given unto us. "Let us go to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." Friends, going to the house of God, the Church, is the means God has given us for most effectively encountering Jesus and being formed in the mind of Christ. Let's make a renewed commitment at this "new year" of Advent to prioritize gathering together as the body of Christ- livestreamed or present, vaccinated or socially distant. God has big things in store for St. Thomas' Church: let us return to the house of the God of Jacob.

Michael Smith

Thursday, December 3 Isaiah 2:12-22; Luke 20:27-40 Jesus’ response to the Sadducees is one of the best examples of Scriptural Jui Jitsu. I dream of being able to recite scripture chapter and verse to put theological adversaries (dare I say enemies) in their place. The closest I ever came was once upon exiting Trinity Church (NYC) on a work day, a street evangelist approached me and asked, “What will you say to God when you die for why you deserve to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” I responded, “ I ‘do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in ‘my’ own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. ‘I am’ not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy: Grant ‘me’ therefore, gracious Lord, so to’ enter into thy heavenly kingdom”. He was speechless. Yes, I love a good verbal Jui Jitsu and by this story I have revealed part of my sinful nature, PRIDE and ARROGANCE. Which brings me to face the words for today from Isaiah. Isaiah has something to say of these sins. He talks of being humbled, fleeing to “holes in the ground” throwing away “to moles and bats their idols of gold which they made to worship”. But certainly, we don’t worship idols, do we?

I for one am guilty; I put my trust, I depend upon, my abilities to overcome adversity. I, also, depend upon heretical ideas such as “universal salvation” (nice we all get to go to heaven regardless). I once heard that everyone has a favorite heresy, what is yours? I often believe wholeheartedly that I am in control. And when the truth bears down upon me and I am humbled by my own powerlessness it feels and manifests itself very much as Isaiah describes, fleeing to “holes in the ground” and feeling “when He rises to shake the earth”, to shake the false ground upon which I have relied. All leaving me with but one option, to “stop trusting in mere humans" (myself especially), to trust Our God and His “manifold and great mercies”.

Stroud Hellebusch

Friday, December 4 Isaiah 3: 8-15; Luke 20:41---21:4 I used to think that the story of the Widow’s Mite (Luke 21: l-4, see also Mark 12:41 -44) was about the widow’s faith that God will provide her daily bread and that meaning of giving was more about the giver’s intent than the size of the gift. But reading the verses before and following this story in Luke and Mark, and the text from Isaiah, I now see a different interpretation.

I now look at the Widow’s Mite as part of Jesus’s long condemnation of the false values of the Temple leaders. Having grown up in poverty, Jesus was appalled that the leaders of the Temple had distorted its meaning so that it would now squeeze the last coins from an impoverished widow and leave her with nothing to live on, knowing that her house may be the next to be devoured (verse 20:47). Jesus is attacking a religious institution that had become a con job, fleecing the public while the leaders lead luxurious lives of pretension. I see Jesus boldly challenging the distorted values of the religious leaders – the Temple leaders then, and in many houses-of-worship today. Loving God is not about fine clothes, the best seats and the respect and honor of a community.

These verses in Luke are connected to Isaiah’s condemnation (3:14-15) of the elders and princes who have devoured the vineyard and crushed the people by grinding their faces. Both Isaiah and Jesus are boldly criticizing the same behavior by society’s elites towards the Widow and the powerless.

My Advent prayer for today is: Loving God, help us forgo the false trappings of status and wealth.

Open our hearts this Advent season to your command to love you and to love our neighbor.

And give us the courage of Isaiah and Jesus to speak out against falsehoods and injustice, so that we may realize the Kingdom of God in our lives.

Amen.

Roger Clark

Saturday, December 5 Isaiah 4:2-6; Luke 21:5-19 In my Bible, Luke 21:5-38 is titled, “Signs of the End of the Age.” The disciples ask Jesus what signs to watch for when the end of days is near. He first tells them not to be deceived by false prophets. He then says, “Do not be afraid,” before listing a number of terrifying signs: earthquakes, pestilences, famine, wars, and signs from the heavens. This passage has been used throughout the centuries like a Magic 8-Ball to ask, “Is Jesus coming now?” “Is it now?” “How about now?”

A recent survey conducted by Lifeway Research of 1,000 pastors found that 56% believe that Jesus will return in their lifetime, and 9 in 10 believe current events are pointing to Jesus’ imminent return. And this survey was conducted before the pandemic – January 24 to February 11, 2020.

2020 has tested all of us emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. We are weary. Life seems out of control. It is no wonder that even clergy are eager to “see” signs in our current social, environmental, and political climates. And yet, is knowing the day and hour of Jesus’ return more important than getting ready for that day?

Yes, even the Magi studied the heavens for signs of Christ’s birth, but it was for the purpose of bowing down and worshipping Him as the King of Kings. Fearful Herod only wanted to know the signs for the purpose of control. If he could know the exact time the star appeared he could eliminate the one who challenged his power and authority.

Predicting Jesus’ return is as futile as Herod’s attempt to stop God’s plan of salvation by murdering all the young boys in Bethlehem. We have very little control over life. That’s just the truth. We can choose to take comfort in a sovereign Lord, or we can give prognosticating power to the latest breaking news.

We can use Advent as a time to prepare our hearts to receive the promise the infant Jesus brings, or we can grasp for security in information and institutions. We can choose the way of the Magi, or the way of Herod.

Stacy Smith

Sunday, December 6 Isaiah 5:1-7; Luke 7:28-35 I see in both lessons a message that although God has made wonderful preparations for us, not all of us are prepared to receive and make use of his grace. In Isaiah, He has prepared a vineyard, providing for it all that should be necessary to grow the best grapes and to produce wine from them. In Luke, He has sent John the Baptist to prepare for mankind a path to salvation through Jesus Christ.

Even though God's vineyard has been given all the benefits that should enable it to produce the best grapes, the grapes it produces are inedible. And even though God has sent John to prepare the faithful for the coming of Jesus, the true prophet; the Pharisees and lawyers, who are in charge of proclaiming and interpreting the Law for the people, are unmoved and refuse to accept God's grace.

These lessons say to me that we must recognize and accept the goodness that surrounds us and is provided to us by God to enable us to grow and flourish.

If we fail to recognize the prophets who are sent to us, or if we follow a route that leads us away from God, we will be denied the goodness He has offered to us, and our fate will be like that of the barren vineyard.

Scott Watson

Monday, December 7 Isaiah 5:8-12 ,18-23; Luke 21:20-28 “That is an ungodly amount of pillows,” a friend related to me once sitting at the foot of my bed. We were chatting about my inability to sleep. The room was cold, the blackout shades in order, melatonin at the bedside. Her phrase rang truer than she knew as my eyes were perpetually weary.

I would come to find sleep would never arrive with a heavier blanket, or more comfortable pajamas. Much like those Isaiah cites as seeking inner solace from earthly things, the superficial salves found in my room ripe for deep slumber only functioned to distract. Through their fleeting effectiveness, any plethora of elements ultimately robbed me, the seeker, of a restful experience because tangible items do not solve for a burdened mind.

These passages offer a grounding reminder that the restless soul is relieved by pursuing a path of self-awareness through the lens of the Lord’s teachings. Peace comes when one fills up the rooms of one’s head with faith, love and Godly conviction. It is no coincidence that when we neglect to pay attention to our spiritual compass, we find it difficult to discern the real virtue of daily pursuits, or soundly judge ourselves or others.

During this contemplative time, occurring within a tumultuous year, my hope is that we may all look for what is worthy in God’s eyes and reflect meditatively upon these values. More importantly perhaps, we may emanate God’s goodness and grace to benefit any number of people, be they loved ones or total strangers. There are so many living within cacophonyfilled spaces ready to find rest.

Kelly Lawson Culley

Tuesday, December 8 Isaiah 5:13-17, 24-24; Luke 21:29-38

Wednesday, December 9 Isaiah 6:1-13; John 7:53-8:11

29 He told them this parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near. "Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man." Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives, and all the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple.

Reflect on how the “characters” in these two passages become aware of their sin and how they respond to that awareness.

I love figs - food of the gods they say. A ripe fig is unlike any fruit I know, sweet, meaty and delicious. I grow a fig tree at my house and as a horticulturist, I'm aware that when a fig and other trees begin sprouting leaves the warm weather season is coming and it's time to prepare for summer. I will retrieve my hose out of the shed and be ready for watering when the days are hot and dry. I will take time to weed and add compost to my trees to keep them healthy. I will scout constantly to look for fungus and insect infestations. Constant diligence is required for success. As this passage begins from Luke, "Look at the fig tree and all the trees, as they sprout leaves you know summer is coming," I feel this is a metaphor for telling me the birth of Jesus is near, as is his second coming and judgement. So it is during this season of advent, in the way that constant tending of the tree helps create a healthy harvest, tending to myself is required for me to be ready for Advent and God's judgement.

So how to prepare? What does God want from me? I ask myself some questions: am I feeling too much anger to welcome a baby Jesus and his message of love, humility and peace? Am I too busy with material things, acting selfishly, or letting my ego get the better of me? Am I loving my neighbor as myself and am I judging others? Regarding judgement day, will I act appropriately to avoid evil, and love my neighbor? When that day of judgement will come is unknown to me, but I do know that when I have performed an act caring, loving, or humility, a few times during my time here on earth, it just feels good.

It's just remembering to do this continuously that I struggle with, so I am grateful for our season of Advent, to remind me that just like caring for the fig tree - if I remember to be humble and caring, and I remember this sentiment daily, there's a chance the love of Jesus will grow within me, and God will look fondly upon me.

Brenda Sullivan

In Isaiah, the prophet sees God in all God’s glory. The prophet immediately recognizes his sinfulness and is afraid that he will die.

In John’s Gospel, the woman is caught committing a sin and expects that she will be stoned to death.

But the scribes and the Pharisees are so caught up in their plan to destroy Jesus that they are not aware of their own sin. Jesus points it out to them and then bends down to write with his finger on the ground.

What does he write? Perhaps he writes the words of Jeremiah 17:13 – “Lord, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.” Perhaps he starts writing their names and they are reminded of the Jeremiah verse. Perhaps he is just doodling, giving them time to reflect on his words. No matter what he writes, the scribes and Pharisees simply walk away.

Both the prophet and the woman are granted new life. God forgives the prophet and sends him out to deliver a message.

Jesus tells the woman that he does not condemn her and sends her out to live a changed life.

Loving and merciful God, help me to recognize my sin and to turn to you for forgiveness. Then send me out to do your work in the world. Amen.

Sarah Elliot

Thursday, December 10 Isaiah 7:1-9; Luke 22:1-13:

Friday, December 11 Isaiah 7:10-25; Luke 22:14-30

I see in both of the scriptural readings for today that God is in charge and is providing for our best interests in times of uncertainty. Sometimes he even tells us in advance of his intentions for us, if we can but listen.

It always strikes me that the apostles chose this moment to bicker over who among them was to be regarded as the greatest. That seems so trite and yet so human. I imagine Peter starting this discussion and the others jumping in to make their case why they should be number one.

God sends Isaiah to reassure King Ahaz that he will prevail in the upcoming battle, because God will be with him. In Luke, after we are told of Judas' upcoming treachery (inspired by the devil, but necessary to fulfill God's plan for Jesus' resurrection), we hear Jesus tell Peter and John exactly what they will find when He sends them to seek a place to hold the Passover meal, and to prepare it for Him and the twelve.

In all three of these stories, God is executing His plan for the participants, and in two of them, He has told them what to expect along the way. I take this as a message that we can look for God's guidance in our own lives, and hopefully recognize His voice when He speaks to us and do those things He intends for us to do. This is how we can keep on a path towards righteousness and service.

Charleen Watson

I wonder about Jesus' emotional reaction to observing this dispute. Something Luke does not report, but I wonder. Knowing what is ahead of him and this being his last opportunity to celebrate a meal (and prepare them for what's ahead) with his inner circle, there had to be a level of disappointment if not frustration with his followers.

His patient teaching encourages them to be the one who serves, as he has chosen to serve. How different our world could be if this was the path more travelled, to be one who seeks to serve rather than one who seeks to be exalted.

Judy Neely

Saturday, December 12 Isaiah 8:1-15; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-18; Luke 22:31-38 2 Thessalonians 3:6-18 One order, brothers, we must give you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: don’t associate with the brother whose life is undisciplined, and not in accordance with the tradition which you received from us…don’t get tired of honest work!

The early church in Thessalonica had rejoiced in the first Advent – the birth and life of Jesus – and were eagerly waiting for the second coming, the promised physical return of Jesus. In fact St. Paul wrote to them because they thought the second Advent was immanent – they were doing too much waiting and not enough working. Some of them had even decided to quit their jobs while waiting!

Two thousand years later we are still awaiting his return, the second Advent. The history of the church during these many centuries confirm’s St. Paul’s prediction or trouble, persecution, and insidious efforts to pervert the good news of our salvation through Christ and his tender care of us during our waiting.

We, as St Thomas’ Church, are experiencing an Advent of sorts – the coming of our new rector. A time for us to renew our efforts. During this season we too need to stay vigilant in our service to one another, to our community, to our brothers and sisters living in very difficult situations of conflict and lack of food, learning what it means to be imitators of Christ.

The good news is that the time between the ascension of our Lord and his second Advent is not a time of his absence.

One of the names of Jesus is Immanuel. The name means “God with us.” No matter what difficulties or hardships still await the church, we are still called and are able to joyfully follow him in caring for the “least, littlest, and lost.” Remember that as he bodily left this earth, he exclaimed, “Lo, I am with you always.”

Bob Heerdt

Sunday, December 13 Isaiah 13:6-13, John 3:22-30 When I read these two passages for the 3rd Sunday in Advent, I was first struck by the intensity of the destruction that was promised on the day of the Lord in Isaiah 13:6-13. God was angry! And then, reading John 3:22-30, I felt relief coupled with joy at the coming of our savior, Jesus Christ. God is our Creator and he made us and has given us all that we have. When we humans fall away from him and are not in relationship with him, as was happening in Babylon at the time of Isaiah, God gets angry. He, like any good father, wants to correct us. Yet God wants to be in relationship with us (after all, he created us!) He always gives us a chance to turn from our wrong ways. This is what we look forward to in Advent, another chance: God sending his son to us as the avenue by which we can grow closer to God. John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus. Johns followers were not so sure about this new Jesus on the scene, but John reminded them that all that Jesus had and did, came from God, just as all that any of us has comes from God. When John uses the metaphor from a wedding feast, that Jesus is the bridegroom and we are the bride, once again, we know that God wants to be in relationship with us! Thanks be to God! Emily Hunsicker

Monday, December 14 Isaiah 8:16---9:1, Luke 22:39-53 Isaiah warns us not to listen to mediums and fortune tellers. And we think, oh the people that Isaiah was talking to over 2,500 years ago were ignorant and uneducated.

Yet. President Reagan's wife Nancy consulted an astrologer. That was in the 20th century at a time when there were commercials for psychic hotlines on TV. Maybe we giggled again. Yet, recently, in this 21st century, I heard a commentator on the business TV network CNBC, talk about "Tells" as it related to the stock market.

We want to be able to see into the future. We want help making the right decisions.

In Luke, Jesus tells us not to fall into temptation. We live in a time of Spin Doctors and misinformation. It is very easy to be confused. Whom do we believe?

God does send Messengers.

Sometimes a prophet like Isaiah and sometimes an angel who may be more personal to us. At Christmas it may be easier to understand that we believe in the Faith and Hope that a small child brings to us. Jesus tells us to pray. That is what we are commanded to do. However, we also need to listen to what God is telling us through our Spirit. Trust in the Lord. Alleluia.

Arlene Johnston

Tuesday, December 15 Isaiah 9:1-7, Luke 22:54-69 “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” The start of today’s passage from Isaiah is talking about us. We are living in a land of deep darkness.

Every day we hear new stories of violence and racial injustice.

Our country and our government are deeply divided. Businesses are struggling to stay open and unemployment is rampant. And over it all looms the deadly coronavirus, making us fear illness, death, and even leaving our houses for routine activities.

In the selection from Luke, we find Peter in a dark place, probably darker than he has ever before experienced. His friend and Lord Jesus has been arrested, facing trial and almost certainly the death he had foretold. It is all too much for Peter, so he denies even knowing Jesus.

In the face of all this darkness, Isaiah provides a ray of hope, the “great light.” In the words made familiar by the Hallelujah Chorus, unto us a child is born, Jesus, the light of the world.

As we make our way through these uncertain and trying times, let us keep our eyes on the light to come, not the darkness of today. Let us keep our faith in God and not deny Jesus as Peter did.

Susan Hunsicker

Wednesday, December 16 Isaiah 9:8-17; Mark 1:1-8 Isaiah 9:8-17: Pride and arrogance made the Israelites think they could get away with all of the bad things they were doing. Even though God made Israel a nation and gave them the land they occupied as they had wanted, they forgot all of that and put their trust in themselves rather than in Him. I think we often find ourselves doing the same thing. We tend to take pride in our accomplishments rather than giving God the credit for all of our abilities and resources. Lord help us to always put you first and remember to give you thanks for all that we have.

Mark 1:1-8: John the Baptist is preaching the good news about Jesus - just as Isaiah had prophesied. John is the man coming from the wilderness wearing camel’s hair and eating bugs telling us to ‘Get ready! Someone is coming who is more powerful than I who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit’.

To me, this reading evokes the feeling of the Advent season. I have to keep telling myself ‘Wait. Slow down. Listen. Pay attention. Something wonderful is coming!’

Anne Anspach

Thursday, December 17 Isaiah 9:18---10:4, Matthew 3:1-12

Friday, December 18 Isaiah 10:5-19, Matthew 11:2-15

Here comes John the Baptist, like clockwork, each Advent; dressed like a crazy person, locusts on his breath. We hear that this fore-runner of Jesus might have a word for us, and we hear that we must be baptized in repentance; but when we get there, sure he will be proud of us for heeding his call, he turns on us and calls us snakes! He shouts, "Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" What is going on here? We're doing the right thing, aren't we? We have Abraham as our ancestor! Our church has been here for 300 years! Some of us are cradle Episcopalians! Our liturgy is reverent and our theology is rational! And John tells us that none of that is worth anything.

In Isaiah chapter 10, God uses the arrogant, haughty Assyrians against the people of Jerusalem, destroying Jerusalem’s body and soul. In Matthew, chapter 11, verse 1l, Jesus says, “Yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he”, referring to John the Baptist. Arrogant, powerful people are not the most important. God looks out for all of us and there is a place at his table for everyone. People in need are as important and have more to give than arrogant folks.

Whew. This is not what we want to hear. All of our history, and theology, and liturgy, and traditions- God can raise that up from the stones if God wishes. And what good will we be then? Cut down and thrown into the fire.

But the baptism we need is not the water of repentance, but the fire of the Spirit. That fire cleanses away all superficialities and veneer, until we are left with what we are before God: created for his glory, broken jars of clay that can still be mended and used.

We know that when Jesus is baptized by wild John, a dove descends. The poet T.S. Eliot amplifies that story for us in his "Four Quartets": “The dove descending breaks the air With flame of incandescent terror Of which the tongues declare The one discharge from sin and error.

The only hope, or else despair Lies in the choice of pyre or pyreTo be redeemed from fire by fire.

Who then devised the torment? Love.

Love is the unfamiliar Name Behind the hands that wove The intolerable shirt of flame Which human power cannot remove.

We only live, only suspire Consumed by either fire or fire.”

Michael Smith

Katie Worrall

Saturday, December 19 Isaiah 10:20-27, Luke 3:1-9 Every one of us can agree that this has been a year like no other. It is the first time that we have ever had the threat of an airborne virus, with no treatment or vaccine, looming over our heads every day. People all over the country and the entire world are fearful of losing their jobs and their situations. There is simply no way to sugarcoat the situation, it is a dark time for everyone. Although this dark time is new to us, dark times in general are as old as time. Our spiritual ancestors in the past have always found comfort and strength in stories about what God has done communicated through the Bible. Let’s take a look at some of those today, because I would not be a bit surprised if the truths contained in our Bible readings, about God and about us, are just as applicable today as they were when these collections were compiled.

Today’s reading from the Hebrew Bible is from Isaiah and Gospel reading from Luke are relevant to this wilderness time we now encounter. The Israelite were dealing with a foe, the Assyrians, and we are dealing with a microscopic foe. We are all facing varying levels of hardship, but we can hold onto the unending hope that we have in God. This is not a naïve type of hope, rather, living into this hope is the only chance we have to keep our heads above water. Like Israel, we are scattered far and wide, in quarantine from one another right now. Isaiah reminds us that even though we do not yet know what we will look like when we come back together, God will keep us and eventually bring us back together. As verses 20 and 21 say, “On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on the one who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the holy one of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.” Yet our good friend John the Baptist reminds us in today’s Gospel that this hope is not a passive hope at all. This is a hope that requires action, and we are reminded that often times the most important actions start not by condemning others as an indication of your own virtue and righteousness, but by looking ourselves in the mirror.

John tell us that, “every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the foundation of God.” All of this happening is conditional though. All of this will only come to fruition if we accept a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Could it be that in all of this lonesomeness and isolation God is actually calling us to repentance?

This type of humility is how God helps us to see our fellow travelers on this Earth truly as our equals, as we realize that although sinners, everyone is loved powerfully and equally by God. My prayer is that we will experience that, so that God’s salvation truly may be seen by all.

Sean Martin

Sunday, December 20 Isaiah 42: 1-12; John 3:16-21 I read this passage and recognize that it portends the coming of our Lord Jesus. (It is further referenced in Matthew 12: 18-21.) However, when I read further, I learn of the freeing of man and the fulfilment of God’s covenant to his people and providing a light to the Gentiles. I like to think that the coming of a new age is the light of our Lord liberating us and encouraging us to love one another as we should love our Lord. We are freed from our bondage of darkness and now we walk together in the light. I also am reminded of John Donne, the great seventeenth century English poet and minister, who wrote that “No man is an island unto himself” which means that no one is selfsufficient, because everyone relies on others. I like to think that the others are ourselves and that we unite in our belief in our Lord Jesus and that we derive our strength and our sense of being in this mutual love for our fellow man.

And our Lord is coming, and His birth will change the world. The marginalized, the infirmed and the disenfranchised will all be united collectively into a universal family. God bless our earth family in these trying times. We will shout from the mountaintops when we survive this tribulation that is merely another test of our faith. May we all experience God’s love during this Advent season.

Ben Linton III

Monday, December 21 Isaiah 11:1-9, John 5:30-47 Picture a series of images that layer together other like transparencies to build a picture.

Layer 1 shows a garden. God walked there. There are many trees. Two have names: Life, and Knowledge of Good and Evil. A river waters the garden. It’s not a normal river: as it flows it gets bigger, but it is not fed by tributaries. Instead, it splits into four great rivers that water the whole earth.

You can read the picture that is layer 3 in Ezekiel 43-48. Back in chapter 10 Ezekiel watched as the Glory of God departed from the temple. God left his people and he did not come back, not in Ezekiel. But Ezekiel received a vision of a day when God’s Glory would return. A river is running out of the temple. It gets deeper and bigger as it goes. It is lined by trees that give fruit, and whose leaves heal the nations.

Layer 4 shows the righteous, who love God’s law: trees planted by rivers, bearing fruit. Their leaves withstand heat, drought, disease. (Ps. 1) The next layer is stark. A dead tree. A crossbeam. A dead man affixed to it. A spear. A gush of water and blood.

The final layer depicts a new city. A river runs down the main street.

The tree of life grows on each side. It gives new fruit every month. Its leaves heal. God is there. (Rev. 21-22) Think of our passage in Isaiah as layer 2. We see a stump, but it isn’t dead after all. There is a shoot. That shoot embodies the righteousness in Psalms and Proverbs. When it sprouts, wolves stop eating sheep.

Snakes lose their venom. The whole earth becomes safe because it becomes “full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

Think about that last phrase. What is the sea without its water? Can it even be the sea? What is the earth without the knowledge of the Lord?

Can it even be the earth?

We are living among these layers like trees growing in two worlds, roots in soil and branches in sky--or to use other words, planted both in time and eternity. In the gospels the tree image overlaps the picture of a vine. The shoot is a vine, of which we are branches. We may be outwardly wasting away as we encounter heat and disease, but his sap runs through us. Our leaves stay fresh. They bring health to the world in the time of dis-ease.

We can’t be complacent, though.

For leaves to heal, they usually need to be plucked.

Gratia Léger

Tuesday, December 22 Isaiah 11:10-16, Luke 1:5-25 When Isaiah began his ministry, around 740 B.C. the nation of Israel had been divided into two kingdoms. The Kingdom of Israel, the northern Kingdom, had been conquered by Assyria. Judah, the southern Kingdom, with the Holy City of Jerusalem at its center, had been left vulnerable. God’s people from both kingdoms were scattered throughout the nations; those who were left had become enemies filled with jealousy and hostility towards each other.

Isaiah, however, envisions a day that is coming when the new king from the royal line of David will be a signal to the nations. When that day comes, the Lord will use his power to gather together the scattered people of both Israel and Judah. The kingdom of Israel will no longer be jealous of Judah, and Judah will no longer be the enemy of Israel.

The Lord will remove all obstacles; the Lord will dry up the waters so anyone can walk across them, the Lord will create a highway so all people can find a way to freedom.

Our own recent history has brought a sharp awareness of what it feels like to live in a nation divided by fear and hostility. Isaiah’s vision reminds us that, now that the new King has come, the Lord will provide the bridges and highways that will bring all people together. As our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, describes it, the loving, liberating, life-giving power of God will lead, guide, and support every step we take towards peace and justice for all of God’s people.

Ginger Goodrich

Wednesday, December 23 Isaiah 28:9-22, Luke 1:5-25 Luke 1:26-38- The Annunciation When Mary went to the fountain that day in Nazareth, the Judaic prophesy of the Messiah had already been told and prayed over for a least 700 years. Isaiah 9:6-7, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” But Jesus was called to redeem more than Israel from the Romans, and that defiance of expectations begins at conception.

Why Mary? And why tell her story right after that of Zechariah and Elizabeth? At a glance they appear in parallel, but the contrasts are where the meaning rests. Zechariah holds power and prestige as an elder priest. His life is ordered, all that lacks is a child who will be a blessing to his home and absolve Elizabeth of “disgrace.”

Compare Mary’s circumstance. She’s an unwed virgin girl of uncertain means in a dusty village. In a world where stoning was an acceptable response to a wide array of crimes, would her neighbors see the birth of Jesus as a blessing? We know she does. The next time we meet her she gives us the Magnificat. We also know the responses of Zechariah to a similar miracle. He was struck dumb for doubting.

So we have the righteousness of Mary, but are immediately shown its not righteousness in any kind of measured, rational containable way. Even though Zachariah had all of the appearances of being the servant of the Lord, Mary is the one the honor goes to. “Behold, the servant of the Lord, may it be to me according to your word.” She is the true servant because she welcomes an incomprehensible word from the Lord. Yes. Jesus is indeed coming to fulfill the law of Israel, but he breached the banks of Jewish expectation while still a twinkle in his mother’s womb.

Alan Smith

Thursday, December 24 Isaiah 35: 17-22, Luke 1:57-66 The Gospel reading from Luke today is where we get the text for The Song of Zechariah or Benedictus Dominus Deus¬ – one of the canticles used during Morning Prayer. I am part of a small group of parishioners that have been meeting 6 days a week on Zoom since the beginning of the shut-down to pray the Morning Office, so I jumped on the chance to share some thoughts on this passage.

There is so much to draw from in this passage – freedom, salvation, forgiveness, compassion, promises fulfilled – too much to fit into a few paragraphs, so I’ll just pull out a couple of phases that always speak to me when we read this canticle each week during Morning Prayer.

I am always drawn to the phrase “Free to worship him without fear, holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life” and am reminded that we are able to worship him, not only in our individual walks with God, but as a community – be it in person on Sundays, or, has been the norm for many months now, in smaller communities virtually, and am grateful for that.

The conclusion of the canticle also sticks with me each week – “and to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Reminding me to quiet my heart and mind – not always an easy thing to do. To take a deep breath, to say a quick prayer, to think before I speak, to be grateful, and to trust God’s guidance.

Jeff Korn

The Magi’s Dream

A Poem for Epiphany (January 6) Night has come to Bethlehem, The family is asleep, Exhausted by the wonders seen, The news outrageous, deep.

‘That I may come and worship him.’

Ox and ass have closed their eyes, Their ears now hear no sound.

Shepherds have gone back to their flocks, The mouse still noses around.

‘That I may come and worship him.’

Kings have left for their distant lands, Fractious camels moan.

At a desert spring they make their farewells.

‘It’s a mighty way to home!’

‘That I may come and worship him.’

Later that night their heads are filled With a dream-drenched holy ray.

‘Do not return to Herod the king, Go back another way.’

‘That I may come and worship him.’

And so our Christ is saved from death His mission to complete To change the world by selfless love Satan’s legions to beat.

Robert Tear (1939-2011)

St. Thomas' Church, Whitemarsh 7020 Camp Hill Road Fort Washington, PA 19034