Church of the MediatorChristmas’ Meaning Merry Christmas! Today we shift our focus from the events in the stable to asking what does this all mean? Luke told us about that marvelous night when Jesus was born – the angels and the shepherds – Mary pondering all these things in her heart. This is great story telling. Now John […]
What I Want for Christmas Merry Christmas! Every year in my family it was the same question over and over – what do you want for Christmas? The answer from every member of the family was, “I don’t know.” Unfortunately, our gift-giving was reduced to gift cards which more often than not wound up in […]
It’s Not Christmas, Yet. Today is the Fourth Sunday of Advent. Four tapers burn on our Advent wreath, and many of will begin in earnest to prepare for the holiday later this week. It’s not Christmas yet. If your family’s custom is to set up a Nativity Crèche you may do so, including the animals […]
The Prophetic Voice We continue our journey through Advent, now two candles bear silent witness to our coming Lord. Advent’s purpose is to help us prepare our hearts and minds for the mystery that will unfold for in about three weeks from now. This morning we turn our attention to the work of the prophets. […]
A Promise of Hope Happy New Year! This morning marks the beginning of a new church calendar year. Once, again, we, as Christians, demonstrate that we are deliberately out of step with the rest of the world – especially the consumer world. Just look around, the stores have been decorated for Christmas since sometime in […]
A King Like No Other Today we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. This festival marks the end of Ordinary Time and serves as a bridge into Advent. This is a fairly new commemoration – less than 100 years old. It was instituted by Pope Pius XI in December of 1922 as a response […]
Instilling Hope We are approaching the conclusion of Ordinary Time, next Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King which will be the culmination of the journey we have traveled over the past twenty-five weeks. The Gospel for this morning is often called “the little apocalypse” or “revelation” where Jesus tells the disciples what […]
The Saints at Rest Today is the transferred commemoration of All Saints’, which is actually a merging of three holy days: All Hallows’ Eve on 31 October (which gives us the holiday of Halloween), All Saints’ Day on 1st November and All Souls’ or the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed on the 2nd. These […]
What Do You Want Me to Do for You? Our Gospel reading this morning marks a turning point in Mark’s Gospel. This is the last healing miracle Jesus performs. He and the disciples are heading to Jerusalem where eventually he will be arrested and crucified. He is in Jericho taking the pilgrimage route from Galilee, […]
We Don’t Know What We’re Asking There’s an old bit of wisdom that states that if one really doesn’t want to know the answer to a particular question, then don’t ask the question. In today’s reading from the book of Job in the Hebrew scriptures and from the Gospel we hear examples of question being […]