Sunday, December 7, 2014 – Advent 2 (full size gallery)
A successful Village Dinner on Dec. 3 with Pork Tenderloin, greens and peanut butter pie was enjoyed by 40+ thanks to Eunice, Cookie, and Betty.
On Sunday, Dec. 7, we took up the 3rd session of Singing Mary’s Song at 10am. The notes are here. There was more discussion among the dozen attending this week. Much of the discussion was on increase and decrease with the examples of John the Baptist decreasing in favor of Jesus, Mary decreasing in favor of Mary.
In particular relating it to Advent:
1. Decrease what is hateful and alienating, for the increase of healing and forgiveness, which finally are the only source of life.
2. Decrease what is fraudulent and pretense, for the increase of life-giving truth telling in your life, truth telling about you and your neighbor, about the sickness of our society and our enmeshment in that sickness
3. Decrease what is hateful and alienating, for the increase of healing and forgiveness, which finally are the only source of life
The 3rd chapter also deals with the idea of withdrawal. It is its own form of gaining understanding and helping us return. At that point we may hear a new message.
The creche was out this week. Children love them – you can see both amazement and curiosity as they view it. We are fortunate in the children that attend Godly Play.
This week is Advent 2 known as the first appearance of John the Baptist, that transitional before the older prophets and Jesus. It forces us to confront our own wilderness. John preached a change of spirit and lifestyle, a metanoia, to straighten the way of the Lord. His words had an effect, for many from far and near went to hear his message. Jesus power was to be more transformational – those who received the Messiah would be freed from sin, sickness, and death. Jesus is the next step
The sermon pictured John as a road worker based on the readings particularly from Mark’s Gospel. "He’d have on a helmet and steel toed boots and a safety vest and he’d be working on the roads I travel all the time, and on some of the back roads I travel, he’d be holding up one of those signs I dread—Stop—because the traffic is now able to travel on only one lane and now I’m going to have to wait for the oncoming traffic before I can go. "
"John the Baptist slows us down and reminds us that in order to prepare for God to come into our lives, we have to face up to what’s sinful and to work on getting rid of those sins as part of our preparation for the arrival of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. We’ve all got inner roadwork to do! "
"Once I repair the potholes and fill the sink holes and widen the road and construct some new roads, the journey is going to be a lot easier, and we want God to be able to have a smooth trip into our hearts!"
During the announcements at 11am, Boyd Wisdom, representing the Vestry, presented Catherine a gift for becoming rector. It was a stole hand made by Susan Tilt, fabric artist in Colonial Beach. Catherine has always admired Susan’s work for Bishop Goff and so was extremely appreciative to have one of her own. The details on the stole relate to Catherine’s life and is a separate study in itself to see all the work Susan put into it. It is an extremely moving piece of art that shows so much personal care and inspiration. The Vestry and particularly Boyd and Barbara Wisdom and Elizabeth Heimbach should be commended for the time they put into it, visiting Susan’s studio and suggesting items for the stole.
Helmut announced that due to the generosity of the congregation the ECM had helped families at both Thanksgiving and Christmas. In particular during Christmas we are supporting 3 families, all single mother families – one with one child and two others with multiple children.
There is a lot coming up with events next Friday (Christmas tree liighting), Saturday (Choir retreat) and Sunday (Singing Mary’s Song, Advent 3) and especially the Everetts Party at 5pm.
We are also trying to collect foods for the Village Harvest distribution on Dec. 17. Here is the list for December. Please your contributions by next Sunday, Dec. 14.
We also enjoyed our Moravian influenced coffee hour. This is a separate topic in itself.
Commentary by Canon Lance Ousley, Diocese of Olympia, Washington
"Stewardship is a continuous preparation of the heart to receive the presence of Christ in our world. It also is the chief means by which we "preach" the Gospel to the outside world without merely using words. So often our stewardship is the beginning of unveiling to others who Christ is to us in our lives. James said, "Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith" (cf. 1 James 2:18b). Our lessons this week center on the proclamation of the Good News as preparation to receive and usher Christ into our world. If not this, what else would our stewardship be about?
"I will start with the gospel lesson this week because, I especially am intrigued by the words of the opening sentence in Mark’ Gospel account. He states: "The beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God." Mark could have simply started with, "Here is the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God," but he doesn’t. We should pay attention to what Mark is saying about the Gospel by saying, "the beginning". Mark’s gospel-on-the run says there is more to come, this is only the beginning. This call to action invites us into stewardship of this urgent message of good news for the world. Stewardship is not just about our financial resources, but it is the sharing and utilization of all our blessings for God’s kingdom. Certainly, the Gospel is the chief of our blessings. Clearly, there is a call to action here in the first sentence of Mark’s gospel account, which is echoed in Peter’s words to the church urging them to "lead lives of holiness and godliness." Our stewardship of the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, continues what Mark stated as the beginning. When we live out this continuation, we also are stewards of hope in the wilderness like the song of the psalmist this Sunday.
"We get the voice that calls out for us to prepare the way for the Lord from Isaiah 40. This preparation is the clearing away anything that would get in the way of the Lord’s coming into our hearts and the hearts of others. In our contemporary context, it might mean simplifying our lives so there is not so much baggage cluttering the landscape of our world so that we may see and recognize God in our midst. So often we put our trust in the things of this world, but God wants us to trust only in God. The cultural things which are exalted in our world are brought low, and the spiritual things that had seemed unimportant in our lives are brought into the forefront. Stewardship could be described as the right use of our blessings for God’s purposes. Getting our lives into proper perspective can help us to prepare for the Lord to come into the world. It also can prepare us to be more authentic voices in the wilderness of our culture that so longs for good news that speaks with our lives, ‘Here is your God.’"