Zephaniah 3: 14-20
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Close to Home: A Home for All
A colleague named Nathan shared the story of a memorable Christmas Eve service. He said that a young woman came to worship that night, someone who had a friend in the congregation. As the service went on, he noticed her and he thought that she was shrinking back from it, almost physically withdrawing into herself to avoid engaging with what was happening. His first thought was that the style of worship offended her, but when he spoke to her afterwards, she said she thought it was really amazing. But she also said that she had never been in a service before where it felt like the words really mattered and that if you said them you had to be prepared to change your life and live them. And she wasn’t. She wasn’t willing to make those kind of changes, so she had to withdraw, to distance herself from the claim on her life. She got it. Nathan thought that John the Baptizer would have been pleased...Sermon Starters (Advent 3C)(2021)
Are you going home for Christmas? Frederick Buechner has written that in mid-December 1953 he was in church one Sunday, listening to a sermon by his mentor, Rev. George Buttrick. Buttrick, too, related overhearing some people in the church narthex the week prior talking about Christmas and home. And when in his sermon that Sunday morning in New York City Buttrick asked, “Are you going home for Christmas,” Buechner says the question was asked with such a sense of longing that tears leapt to his eyes. Home. What is it really that we mean by that word? What do retailers and the postal service want to conjure by the word “home”? Is it a scene from a Norman Rockwell painting, all soft colors, crackling fires on the hearth, wide-eyed children whose eyes sparkle in the light of the Christmas tree? Is that home? Is it the sense of “Home sweet home” counted-cross stitched and framed over the mantle, or Dorothy clicking her heels together three times and saying, “There’s no place like home”? Is that home? Is it finally actually a place? Or is home more a longing?...Haunted by Joy
There’s a story floating around the internet about a 92-year-old woman whose husband died after 70 years of marriage. In spite of that or perhaps because of that, she still preferred to be called Mrs. Jones. However, after his death, her physical condition became such that it was necessary for her to move into a nursing home. As she was being led from the lobby to her new room, the nurse who was escorting her tried to give her a vivid description of the room, including the eyelet curtains that framed the window. As Mrs. Jones listened to this description and slowly maneuvered her walker down the hallway, she smiled sweetly and said with enthusiasm, “I love it.” At that point, the nurse who was guiding her thought that maybe she had made the room sound better than it really was, so she became concerned that Mrs. Jones might be disappointed when she was confronted with its reality. Therefore, she cautioned, “You haven’t even seen the room…just wait.” But Mrs. Jones replied, “That doesn’t have anything to do with it. Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. I have already decided to love it.” She added, “I make a decision every morning when I wake up. I have a choice: I can spend the day in bed focusing on the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or I can get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I’ll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I’ve stored away just for this time in my life.” I don’t know about you, but that’s an attitude I need to adopt in my life.
Resources from 2018 to 2020
Preaching Helps (Advent 3C)(2018)
A recent issue of Christianity Today asked the perennial question, “If God wants us to believe in him, why doesn’t God come out of hiding?” Why doesn’t God overwhelm us with a powerful appearance, so that there can be no question about his existence? It’s a good question and the discussion of it in Christianity Today is profound, exploring all the places in space and time where God hides. It ends, as you’d expect, with a reference to the cross. That is where God appeared so that we could see him and believe...Reassembled (Zephaniah)
Could Picasso paint a realistic face? Sure. See his self-portrait below left. But sometimes it's the elements that have been fragmented and reassembled that tell the story most fully. His portrait of Dora Maar below right was painted in June of 1941. Because of his notoriety, Picasso was one of the few "degenerate" artists who were allowed to live (reasonably) unbothered during the Nazi occupation of Paris. What would it say for Picasso to have lived in the midst of such a human nightmare and paint a lovely portrait of a woman sitting in a chair wearing a hat?...
Resources from 2012 to 2014
You Make My Heart Dance, Lord
("Christian poet and novelist Ruth Harnden has written eloquently about the joys and trials of her mother's later years. She wrote that her mom had maintained a relationship with Hilda, the elderly Scandinavian woman who had served as the family cook for many years. Then, late in life, Hilda married and moved away to Oregon...")
Resources from 2009 to 2011
Advent 3C (2009)
("'Are you going home for Christmas?' What question is more commonplace in December? You are at the store paying for your groceries when a cashier glances over to the bagger to ask, 'So, you going home for Christmas next week?' Two older couples meet up in the dairy section: 'Hey, Charlie and Doreen! Are your kids coming home for Christmas?'...")
Resources from the Archives
Blue Christmas
A woman, who had recently lost her husband and was facing her first Christmas without him, included in her Christmas cards a letter where she reflected upon some of her thoughts and feelings. She wrote: "I wonder about many things, things that I have noticed. I wonder, how can it be that my husband, who is dead, continues to live and minister to me and to the children? I wonder, how is it that in the midst of searing heartache, I found God and the power to keep on going? I wonder, how is it that as a result of this tragedy, old friendships are deepened and new friendships formed?" And then she answered her own questions at the end of the letter by writing, "Christmas is the promise that God can be trusted to meet all our needs. Some say the first Christmas without my husband will be very painful. I'm sure it will be. But without Christmas, my life would be impossible."Rejoice with All Your Heart
"I want to make a confession." That was the first thing Jack said to me after we introduced ourselves. Jack was in his mid 20s. The hospital chaplain had contacted me because Jack wanted to see a minister. "I've done some really terrible things. There are some things that I don't think can be made right again. I've done things that can't be forgiven," he said softly but firmly. He continued saying. "I'm here in the hospital because I have ruined my body. "It started when I was in high school. It never entered my head that I would be here is hospital because of the things I did back then." He went on detailing his rebellious teen years without making any excuses, as if he were a prosecuting attorney. He told me a story of bad sexual habits, drug abuse and even an attempt to end his own life through an overdose. He concluded by saying that his wayward life was the reason he was about to lose an eye when he was operated on for a brain tumour. With tears welling in his eyes, he said finally after a short pause, "If I had believed in God more, gone to church more, and followed the advice of my Sunday School teachers, I wouldn't be in this mess. I got all tangled up in all kinds of wrong things and I couldn't get out of them. My problems are all my fault. With this brain tumour what kind of future do I have?"...God Will Be Present
"Blaise Pascal was an influential scientist who lived in the 1600’s. He was something of a genius. For example, at the age of twelve, even before he had received any formal training in geometry, Pascal independently discovered and demonstrated Euclid’s thirty-two propositions. He was also a Christian. When he died in 1662 his servant found a small piece of parchment sewn into his coat..."