The Mainline Minister

The Nativity of Our Lord according to St. Luke, chapter 2, verses 1-20 Authorized (King James) Version And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel

It's 10:20 on the morning of Christmas Eve and, frankly, it feel's like time's up.  Our rota of services begins in just a few hours and I can't say I'm ready.  Oh, don't worry, the bulletins are ready and the sermon has been prepared but I'm not yet prepared for the arrival of the Christ child.  Then again I never am.  And you know what?  It doesn't matter.  He's still coming.  And though my soul may still be wandering and my heart might be perplexed, Almighty God will still love me, save me, forgive me, no matter the hour, no matter the day. 

Honestly, are you ready for the Fourth Sunday of Advent? What, you're focused on Christmas and haven't been paying attention? Sigh.  I suspect there's a lot of this going around, including in many pulpits today.  Understandably we're excited by the imminent birth of Jesus but we shouldn't rush things.  Every moment of our lives is fashioned by God and should be treasured, even those where we have to wait. Tomorrow will be chock full of excitement.  Today, let's take advantage of this last moment of quiet.  Let's pray, let's reflect and get ready.

A lot of people are going to be scrambling around today, trying to get presents and make ready for guests.  Christmas is just a couple of days from now and time is running out.  But why are we running around, doing things at the last minute?  Jesus isn't really going to be born on Monday evening.  He isn't coming.   He's already been and gone and, our faith tells us, coming again at a time of his own choosing.  Our deadlines really don't matter to God, the Holy Spirit takes no note of them. I won't tell you to sit back and be quiet today (though you should), but I would ask you to remember that Jesus loves you even if that card arrives late or you don't have all of the gifts you wanted.  There's always Christmas 2019 ...

The Winter Solstice falls today.  With the shortest day before us, the darkness will fall early and linger longer.  Winter will be felt by many, some in their bodies, others in their souls.  During Advent, we recognize this fact as we prepare for a new reality grounded in God's love.  To someone without food or shelter, or love or friendship, that can seem like a grand, but empty, promise.  You can help make this coming change real for others.  By sharing food or an open hand, you can reflect the hospitality that is so often in short supply, but is so, so needed. 

I've said it before and so have others: a lot of life depends on your perspective, who you choose to see things.  Is the glass half full or half empty?  Circumstances help to dictate our choice, but it is ultimately a choice.  Advent is a time to reflect on the coming of Jesus into our lives, to ask what his presence means, whether we see him as a gift or an inconvenience.  To paraphrase a popular TV saying, Jesus is coming. There's not much time.  We need to prepare ourselves for his arrival.  And that includes whether we will welcome him with joy or resentment, the way of God's grace or this fallen world.

In case you haven't noticed, the weather, at least here in New England, has been, well, crazy this winter.  Cold snaps followed by warming, snow, then rain and back again.  Today it started out in the teens and by Friday it's supposed to be in the 50s.  What's going on?  Who knows.  Climate change, polar vortex, New England being New England, something we don't yet understand - they're all viable explanations for why we live in the winter wonderland that might also be called  Crazytown.  All I can do is be prepared. Salt the ice on the walk, have a scraper in the car, you know the drill.  I'll try to be prepared. Advent has been like this, too.  We know what's supposed to happen but for each of us there have been surprises large and small, joyful or sad.  We're able to deal with the roller coaster of life by grounding ourselves in prayer, by taking time to reflect on what it all means.  Winter and Advent will both end, bringing new seas

This morning I went to the dump.  Or should I say the "transfer station"?   Frankly, I'm not sure what it's officially called here in Lebanon; I just know it's where I go to bring boxes to be recycled, trash tossed, debris disposed of, you get the idea.  When we lived in Rockport, Mass. the dump was officially rechristened a transfer station and, hoo boy, that decision from years ago is still a point of contention. What we call something matters.  There's been a lot of discussion about this in recent years, some helpful, some not.  But names matter.  There's a reason we call this time Advent, and not pre-Christmas.  Something special is going on right now.  With one week to go until Christmas Day, I hope we'll make the most of the Advent season that remains.

Are you praying this Advent?  What are you praying for?  Just "religious" things - or perhaps other things?  This morning, I was asked to offer a prayer for a non-church meeting in which I was participating. It didn't take me long to realize that the rhythms of this season are appropriate to other parts of life, especially as we look to the future.  So I asked God's blessing on our work and off we went. As we embark on this last full week of Advent, I invite you to think about this.  And to pray.  A lot.

We're going to take a break today from our preparing and contemplating and praying to experience a little joy.  When we consider all that God has done, is doing, and will do for us we have ample reason to rejoice.  All that is good in our lives can ultimately be traced back to a loving and munificent God who blesses us in so many ways.  In a week and a half, we may feel happiness when we turn to open our Christmas presents.  But the true joy will be ours when we recognize that greatest of gifts, which was given to us 2,000 years ago: the infant Jesus. Rejoice!

It's Saturday morning and not much is going on.  We've had breakfast and will soon begin preparing for tomorrow's parsonage party.  All told, it looks to be a quiet day.  But I can't say that with total assurance.  Things happen.  People call.  Life intrudes.  It may get very busy.  Maybe I should be on guard. But that's not the type of preparation Advent calls for.  It's one thing to get the proverbial emergency kit ready. It's another to make ready for God.  When our maker breaks into our daily routines, it's anything but a disaster though we might think we're being inconvenienced.  Our routines and habits may need to change to make room for Christ.  We may need to make room for the Holy Spirit to move in our lives.  When this happens, it will be anything but a quiet day.  It will be blessed and holy and wonderful.

Yes, that word again.  Preparing. Getting ready. Blah, blah, blah. Can't we just get on with it? Well, no, we can't.  Those parental maxims from childhood about the need to have everything in order are true, even if they may annoy us.  We need to prepare for all sorts of things: moving, new jobs, changes in relationships, and, yes, the arrival of Christ.  We now have ten days until Christmas Eve.  Think about that: ten days and then we'll be in church presumably singing carols and reading the nativity story and welcoming guests or hitting the road for a visit and then making a dinner and opening presents and it's all so much if you think about it.  So, so much.  So use these last days of Advent (we're more than half way there!), to pray, to prepare, to make room in your heart and your life for the Christ child.

My phone reported a temperature of 4 degrees Fahrenheit this morning.  A chilly morning.  Gelid, even. And a reminder that part of preparing for the coming of the Christ child is to take care of those in need of help now, not to wait for someone else to do so in the future.  So, help out at a shelter, make a gift, open your door.  Joseph and Mary didn't have a place to stay, and we feel bad about that, don't we?  Well, there's no reason to feel any less concern for those without food and shelter in our neighborhoods today.  Helping out is one way to be holy, and being holy is part of getting ready for God's arrival.

Yeah, I thought that title would get your attention. This morning Ross Douthat wrote a column about paganism in the United States.  He's long commented on the ebbing of orthodoxy in the nation's Christian churches so I wasn't surprised that he once again turned to this theme.  But what caught my attention was a factoid deep into the piece: there may be more witches in the U.S. than members of the United Church of Christ.  For those of you not paying attention, First Congregational Church of Lebanon is part of the UCC, as are most Congregational Churches today.  This statistic is depressing, but there's a delicious irony if you think about the history of the Witch Trials. What does any of this have to with Advent?  Well, this is the time for us to reflect and prepare.  We need to ask ourselves with honesty what the church needs to do to successfully share the message of Jesus Christ with the world.  I think both the fundamentalist right and the pro

My phone was slow this morning.  Yes, I know this is a first-world problem, but I'll complain anyway. Stories and messages were taking what seemed to be an eternity to load up.  I wanted to see things now and felt myself becoming impatient.  As I stared at screen with gray boxes rather than images related to news stories my frustration mounted.  That's when the irony of the situation made itself know.  This is Advent.  Waiting and patience are to be welcomed.  We're supposed to slow down.  So I lay my phone down to do other things. It wasn't that long ago that smart phones didn't exist.  In the Arcadia of memory, I was super productive, reading Balzac, helping the hungry, and doing other amazing things with my time.  Now it seems I waste my time looking at screens.  Of course, in the past, I wasn't as virtuous as I imagine nor am I as lost in cyberspace today.  But it's something to think about.  How are we spending out time?  Is the re

We're now well into Advent. Have you been reflecting and praying?  What have your discerned?  While we tell people to be quiet, to pause during this season, we are not called to just sit around and do nothing.  We are called to prepare.  You've surely had guests over -- preparations never take care of themselves.  They take focus, they take work.  While we're getting ready, it may not feel as if much is happening - but when we're done.  Wow.  The results can be breathtaking.  So to with readying ourselves for the arrival of the Christ child.  We may not feel like we're getting anything done but if we commit ourselves, the results will be amazing.

Pay Attention Today in church we'll read from Luke 3 and learn about John. You remember him?  The irascible, angry guy who wears animal skins, eats bugs, and rants? They man who called our attention to the coming of God, the need to repent, the urgency of preparing a way for the Lord?  Yeah, that guy. John clearly wanted to get the attention of the people and by including his story in the Gospel, the early church leaders wanted to get ours, too.  That John went to such lengths to get through to us should give us pause.  Yes, we're busy. Yes, we have other claims on our time.  But maybe we can listen to John for a minute.  Then we can think about what he says.  And, then when we realize we've given him our attention, we can act on his call. Pay attention. God's coming.

Did you know that we're through 30% of Advent?  I feel like we've barely started and yet before we know it Advent will be over!  Help! This might be a convenient moment to panic, but I'll suggest a different course of action: take a deep breath. We still have 70% of Advent to go.  It may seem banal and cliched, but there's truth in the thought that how we look at things makes a difference.  Let's take this moment to appreciate the time still before us, the opportunities for reflection, the chances we will have to be still and pray. Christmas will get here.  Let's not rush it.

I was catching up on my newspaper reading this morning and read George W Bush's eulogy of his father.  It was poignant and moving, everything the moment called for, indeed all one hoped for.  But already in today's fast moving world, it seems like that service was long ago, a piece of history. Today, we remember another piece of history: December 7, 1941 and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  That event drew our country into the greatest war ever.  Millions died, even more were injured.  FDR was right when he said it was a day that would live in infamy.  But what else might we recall from that event long ago?  Just the perfidy of the enemy?  Or how that foe, now a democracy, has become one of our nation's greatest and steadfast friends. History isn't simply facts but meaning. What and how we choose to remember shapes who we are.  Advent is a time to stop and remember the past, to pause to remember God's promises to his people, and to think

It's quiet today.  Oh, there are things to be done at work and at home. But the mania of the season has yet to descend.  That will come in due course, most likely before it's anticipated and in unwelcome form.  You know, stuff happens.  Which is why I treasure this time, this quiet, this peace.  It's a chance to really reflect on Advent, to think about the Gospel passage for this coming Sunday, of John's arrival and his call to repentance and preparation. I pray that we will take advantage of this respite.  The storm, the chaos, the craziness will arrive.  For now though ... it's quiet.  Thank God.

When I was growing up and for many years thereafter, I had to look out of a first floor window at an externally placed thermometer to find out what the temperature was.  For a forecast, I looked at the paper or could turn on a radio (but had to wait for the information to be shared).  Now, I just tap an app and there's all the information in one convenient place.  I love the how accessible the forecast is.  But there's a bit of regret.  There's no work and thus no real reward, no true sense of discovery. During Advent we look for answers (or at least should) to life's biggest questions, for the light in the darkness, for the hope of the world.  We will have to work.  To have them handed to us on a platter would devalue them.  So as we search for the Lord this season, let us be grateful that it isn't too easy, that we may have to exert ourselves, to find the One who is also seeking us.

Surely you've seen the bumper sticker or heard the phrase: random acts of kindness, playing off the unwanted reality of random acts of violence.  It's a nice thought, but this Advent might we take it a step further?  Rather than be random, let's be intentional.  Let's think about who in our lives -- relative, friend, acquaintance, colleague -- would benefit from some extra kindness. Imagine how much it will mean when the recipient realizes that you were thinking about them.  It's kind of the way we should feel, after all, when we acknowledge that God has been thinking about us.  The gift of and in Jesus wasn't random but very much planned with all of us in mind. So let's take a moment this Advent for some intentional acts of kindness.

Advent began yesterday, but in some ways it feels as if it should begin today.  Why? Well, it's Monday, when most of us begin our work week.  Of course, thinking of Advent as 'work' suggests we may be missing the message of this season.  Advent shouldn't be something we do with heavy hearts.  It shouldn't be a burden to be borne or assignment to be completed.  Instead, it's an opportunity to reorient ourselves, to refresh our perspective, to make sense of what is going on around us.  Advent is the time to prepare ourselves for Jesus, not to run to and fro in a mad quest to complete our spiritual errands. As we start our Advent, let's first get our bearings and make sure we're heading off in the right direction, the one which will take us to the infant in a manger.

Welcome to Advent.  As has been the case in previous years, you may now wait. The idea of a season of waiting is counter-cultural, especially in today's on-demand society.  We like everything NOW.  Which is why we are so in need of this break.  If you think you're ready for everything this season offers and demands, I think you may need to think about things some more.  Nobody is ever ready for Jesus.  That doesn't mean we can't try to get everything in order, to clean our spiritual houses, to throw out the existential junk, to wait for his arrival. Welcome to Advent.  And get ready to wait.