3rd Monday of Advent

3rd week in Advent -- Monday                           Luke 2:15-20

                                   The Shepherds

If the Wise Men were the wealthy, world travelers of their day, the Shepherds lived at the other end of the economic spectrum.  They were poor, uneducated, simple people.  They kept their flocks, protected them from the wild animals.  They fed their sheep, found them shelter in storms, searched the wilderness for water holes, slept near them at night.

One night, the unexpected and unimaginable happened:  bright lights, angels, heavenly anthems, divine message.  They hurried to Bethlehem, and what did they find?  More sheep ... and some cows and a donkey ... a woman and a man ... and a newborn baby.

Suddenly, they knew -- they KNEW -- that they were the first human witnesses to God=s greatest Gift.  And what did they do?  They went out and told their story.  They didn=t thump Bibles, harangue on street corners, buy time on TV.  They simply told other people the Story -- God has come to us, Immanuel!

Good News is hard to keep quiet.

O God:

We so often think that we have to do GREAT things for you, or we should do nothing at all.  Help us to remember to be faithful in the little things in life, like sharing your love and Good News with those around us; in Jesus= name we pray.  Amen.

A prayer after the school shootings

This was the prayer I offered during this morning's worship service at Central Presbyterian Church in Omaha, NE...

Gracious, Loving, Compassionate, Grieving, Hope-giving God; we come to you this day, and we bring to you everything that we are, everything that we are feeling.  We bring to you our sense of outrage.  We bring to you our despair.  We bring to you our unanswered and ultimately unanswerable questions.  We bring to you our compassion for those who have suffered loss… and especially for those who have had the lives of loved ones ripped away from them.  No words are adequate, O Lord.  So we simply bring ourselves here, and open ourselves to an awareness of your presence.  Remind us, gracious God, that there is no place where you are not present.  You are in the midst of our times of joy, gratitude, and celebration.  You are in our midst in our times of our doubts, questions, and despair.  You are with us in our times of anger, frustration, and helplessness.

Throughout human history, you have stood with your people.  You were with Adam and Eve, and even with Cain, after the murder of Abel.  You were with the Hebrew people during their enslavement in Egypt.  You stood by the Jews when they were taken into Exile in Babylon and other places.  You were with early Christians who were tortured and martyred for the Faith.  You were with innocent Arab Christians who were killed during the Crusades.  You marched with the millions who were sent to prison camps and to their deaths by the Nazis.  You are with Palestinian Christians who are caught in the struggle between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Muslims.  You are with the congregation in Pennsylvania… with those who grieve in Oregon… with those who grieve in Connecticut… with all who suffer and grieve this day.

Remind us, loving God, that you never, ever abandon us… despite how we sometimes feel.  You are faithful to us, even when we are faithless to you.  You love us, even when we do not feel loving towards others.  You grant us peace, even when we are most in turmoil.  You birth hope within us, even when we most despair.

As we mark the observance of your birth in Jesus, be born anew in us… this day, and every day.  Hear these and all of our prayers, gracious and compassionate and loving God; for we offer them, our lives, our fears, our hopes, our entire world to you, in the name of Jesus Christ our Redeemer and Lord.  Amen.

2nd Saturday of Advent

2nd week in Advent -- Saturday                           Luke 2:8-14

                                       The Angels

What strange creatures these angels must be!  Singing in choirs . . . making a frightening announcement to a little girl named Mary . . . coming to Joseph in a dream saying, AGet up and go.  Time to leave.  Hope you like Egypt this time of year!@

Angels -- startling poor shepherds with earth-shattering, ear-splitting news: AGOOD NEWS!  A baby -- God=s Baby -- is born!  Hurry and take a look!@

The word, Aangel,@ literally means Amessenger.@  They were God=s first attempt at communication -- before fax machines, before e-mail, before computers, before books.  God=s messengers they were.

Aren=t we called to be Amessengers@ sometimes?  Aren=t we called to add music to someone=s life, to comfort them when frightening news comes, to help people understand and realize their deepest dreams, to share good news in depressing situations?

I believe there are heavenly angels, but I also believe we can share their work -- being God=s messengers to those around us.  And we don=t even need wings or haloes!

O Lord:

Help us to be angels for those whom we meet and greet each day, sharing your love and grace with them; in Jesus= name we pray.  Amen.

2nd Friday of Advent

2nd week in Advent -- Friday                             John 1:12-14

                             The Word Made Flesh

Words sometimes drive me crazy!

I’ve learned to use them,

to communicate thoughts,

feelings,

emotions,

ideas.

But words can be so misused,

and so noisy.

Television blaring,

radio blasting.

Commercials which insult our intelligence,

assault our contentment,

assail our values.

Whoever said,

“Sticks and stones may

 break my bones, but

 words will never hurt me,”

lied!

Yet what did God do?

Came to us,

“Word made flesh,”

John said.

Jesus came,

in the midst of our wordiness,

to utter the single Word most needed in our lives:

the divine “Yes!” to our very existence.

O Lord:

Words fill up our time, our lives, our space.  Yet words are so often empty, or hurtful, or filled with loneliness.  Help us to be open to your Word of life and love in our lives.  Refill and renew us, we pray; in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

2nd Thursday of Advent

2nd week in Advent -- Thursday                            John 1:1-5

                            The Light of the World

I once went “spelunking.”  Don’t worry about rushing to your dictionaries.  I’ll tell you what it means.  It means “cave exploring.”  This was not a guided tour of Meramac Caverns or Mammoth Cave.  My venture in spelunking was in a real cave -- to which you hiked, where you got down on all fours to crawl inside, where you tied a rope at the cave’s mouth so you could find your way out again.

By best estimates, we meandered about three-quarters of a mile back inside the cave.  We were about out of rope, so we sat down.  Then, just to see what it was like, we turned off our flashlights.  The presence of the darkness was overpowering.  You could almost feel its cloak.

After what seemed like an hour (but was only probably 30 seconds!), flashlights popped back on.  We all -- collectively, instinctively -- took a deep, cleansing breath.  LIGHT!  We could see where we were.  We could feel safe and secure.  We could find our way out.

Jesus is the Light of our world.  And as St. John put it so well: “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  Thanks be to God!

God:

We see it all around us . . . hatred instead of love, hurt instead of healing, doubt instead of faith and trust, despair instead of hope, darkness instead of light.  Help us to be instruments of your Son, our Lord, in shining a ray of light into the lives of those around us; in His name we pray.  Amen.

2nd Wednesday of Advent

2nd week in Advent -- Wednesday                       Isaiah 9:6-7

                          Justice and Righteousness

The world is not always fair.

I think someone forgot to tell me that.

I expected that

if you are good, you’ll get good in return;

if you are nice, people will be nice to you;

if you smile a lot, people will like you.

So who wanted to hear about

injustice?

intolerance?

bigotry?

hatred?

No, those were ugly words used to describe

even uglier deeds;

and no one knew what to do about them.

Except God.

Along comes a Child,

who will usher in a kingdom

demonstrated by what we most want:

justice and righteousness,

to make things fair.

The kingdom of God is yet to come

in its fullness and richness . . .

but it’s already begun here,

whenever we pray

“Thy kingdom come,

 Thy will be done.”

O Lord:

We long for fairness in our world, and are both saddened and angered when people act unfair or unkind.  Keep us hopeful that your kingdom has already come in Jesus Christ, and that your kingdom will someday come in its fullness; for we pray as Jesus taught us:  Our Father, . . .

2nd Tuesday of Advent

2nd week in Advent -- Tuesday                               Isaiah 9:6

                                   Prince of Peace

Prince of Peace:

How we need you in our world today!

Families are broken,

relationships are endangered.

Come, Prince of Peace!

People live in ghettos,

yet we are surprised when they riot.

Come, Prince of Peace!

Nations teach warfare,

and preach with weapons of destruction.

Come, Prince of Peace!

Peoples’ bodies are hurting,

their souls need healing.

Come, Prince of Peace!

We’ve not learned to share our abundance,

so people starve while we go on diets.

Come, Prince of Peace!

Lord Jesus Christ,

Divine Prince of Peace:

We need you now in our world.

Do not tarry much longer.

Amen!