On the Threshold

 

On this threshold of one year to another, I encourage you to imagine God is sitting side by side with you.  God’s love has you, holds you.  Today, I encourage you to think about:

 

What brought you joy and made a positive impact on you?  Make a list ~ feel free to review what you wrote yesterday.

 

Who made a positive impact on your life?  List the names of those who left fingerprints on your heart.

 

Your accomplishments this last year ~ this doesn’t have to be “I won an Olympic medal” kind of triumph.  It can be something you worked on ~ like I walked a mile most days or I tried to love my enemies, or I was more loving toward my family.  I know many of us don’t want to pat ourselves on the back, but take a moment to honor that you made it through this year ~ which, given all that has happened, is really something.  And this past year has changed us all.

 

Now think about a challenge you faced ~ could be a family member who died or standing up for justice, or trying a new way of being in the world. 

 

What did you learn about yourself this last year?

 

If you could sum up this year in one word, what would it be and why?

 

May this prayerful pondering be a holy moment filled with God’s love that has you.  Amen.

Pause to Reflect and Review

 

On the cusp of a New Year, I invite you to rewind, review, and recall this past year.  I think the best way to do this is to take a few deep breaths.  Slowly inhale, hold the breath of life, and exhale ~ even sigh loudly.  Then, on a piece of paper, write down all you can remember about 2025  ~ you may want to make three columns: the good, the bad, the ugly!  Please know, this is NOT a quiz.  You can use your calendar to help spark your memory.  You don’t have to write down every meeting, volunteer moment, doctor’s appointment, or worship service (or sermon!).  Survey and scan the days that culminated and combined to create this year.  There is a great wisdom that goes, “the days are long and the years are short.”  This is that feeling that you have this time of year, wondering, “Where did time go!?!?!?” 

 

As you review the good, bad, and ugly…look also for places of bewilderment, wonder, awe this past year.  I was in awe when I witnessed my first Broadway musical.  I was in wonder as we wandered around New York City as a family.  I felt chills race and run up and down my spine as my son graduated from college and began his master’s program ~ where did the time go?!?!? 

 

Today, listen to the story your calendar wants to share with you and where God showed up (unexpected, like a baby born in a stable) this year for you.  Amen.  

Christmas that Lingers and Leaves an Impression

 

Whether you are still in the Christmas Spirit or ready to put the tree away in the attic, today I offer you the powerful words of the Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman:

 

When the carols have been stilled,
When the star-topped tree is taken down,
When family and friends are gone home,
When we are back to our schedules
The work of Christmas begins:
   To welcome the refugee,
   To heal a broken planet,
   To feed the hungry,
   To build bridges of trust, not walls of fear,
   To share our gifts,
   To seek justice and peace for all people,
   To bring Christ’s light to the world.

 

Which of the words above sang to your soul?  Which of the above invitations stretched your soul?  Which did your soul bellow, “Objection!” because you don’t think you have the energy to engage in the work of Christmas?  Which of the above caused you to think, “Maybe”?  Which of the above baffled and bewildered you? 

 

We live in a world where we think that we know.  We reward confidence and certainty; we snicker sarcastically or call people “flip-floppers” or worse when they have not formed an opinion instantly on everything…because the reality is that our opinions change.  Pause for a moment, because you are not the same person you were a year ago.  Life has changed, and our thinking changes.  The Christmas Season is about bafflement.  We think we know about the baby born in a manger with the songs of angels, but do we let this truth interrupt and disrupt our lives with shepherd-like courage?  Do we seek out the stable-like places today where God is still showing up and angels still singing out?  Remembering that a stable was smelly, musty, dusty, and not exactly where God was expected to make a grand entrance to the world.  That means if we think we know where God is (like church or the halls of power/privilege or with fame/fortune), chances are we are still missing the sacred. The poem/prayer above reminds us that God is with the refugee, fleeing, hiding, and afraid about their paperwork and legal status.  God is with creation, crying out against our seeing soil and trees as mere means to an end and profit.  In the child whose belly is empty, even as we throw away leftovers.  God is in those we wall out both physically and emotionally.  God is with the least, lost, and lonely.  We are called to go like shepherds and wise ones ~ not because we know the truth, but to explore and experience the Eternal truth here and now again…and every day in 2026.  May this be our call and put in our calendars every day.  Amen.  

Lingering Love of God

 

We all live off his generous abundance, gift after gift after gift.

 

While the packages may have been unwrapped, God keeps giving.  While the feast has already been made and eaten, leaving leftovers in your fridge, God keeps giving.  While the company may have come and gone, you may think that Christmas has too, but God keeps showing up, speaking up, singing out, and blessing our lives.  Gift after gift after gift.  “All life is but a gift from You, and ever in Your care” (from the hymn: I Sing the Mighty Power of God). We sing this truth as one to shape our whole lives.  For some reading this today, there is a Christmas letdown, the thrill and joy have subsided, and silence has moved in.  For some reading this, there are still parties to attend and family/friends to see.  For some, reading this, there is loneliness, and for others, there is questioning, and for others, exhaustion.  Wherever you are — emotionally, spiritually, physically—God is there.  If God is found in barns, God can be found in our lives. God shows up to shepherds, God still sings to us.  If God longs to break into our world, move into our neighborhoods, awaken our lives, that was not just true yesterday but every day.  May the afterglow of this holy holiday continue to inspire and influence the words we speak and our actions every day. Amen.  

Christmas Prayer

 

Bethlehem Bound...Arriving Soon

 

We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Parent, like Child,

 

Tonight, we behold and we will be held by a love that has us.  We gaze into the eternal eyes of the One who is the light to our lives, church, community, and world.  We stand in silent awe of a love that never lets us go.  So, come all ye faithful.  Come and join the angels from the realms of glory.  Listen as Hark! The Herald Angels sing on this O Holy Night.  That in the Little Town of Bethlehem all this took place.  That once in royal David’s City, a canticle of turning and the first gleam of Christmas shone bright.  For away in a manger it (hope, peace, joy, and love ~ God’s very presence) came upon a midnight clear.  This, this is Christ our Lord born on this silent night.

 

Please join us in worship at 4, 7, and 10 p.m. ~ 7 p.m. service will be livestreamed. 

 

May God’s hope, peace, joy, and love enfold and hold you.  Amen.   

Bethlehem Bound ~ Christmas Eve Eve...

 

The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.

 

God-next-door is the holy invitation of life.  Jesus’s succinct summary of the gospel ~ ^“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”  Christmas helps open us to the holy part of humanity.  We sense connectedness and joyfulness, as well as the afterglow of laughter at parties.  And then just as the mystery of this moment slowly starts to make a difference, we blink, and suddenly the stores deeply discount the inflatable Santas…to make room for Valentine’s Day…Christmas vanishes around us and within us.  And yet, it doesn’t have to.  You have a choice to let the lingering truths of this season guide you and ground you in the New Year.  You can decide to stubbornly cling to hope as Jesus did.  You can practice peace by pausing between the stimulus (what someone says) and your response (what/how you say), because honestly, no one is keeping score of your snappy, sarcastic comebacks.  You can hold love as what has power, even when the external evidence objects as you read the paper or scroll online.  You can sing out joyfully, not because everything is perfect…but if we wait until the world reflects God’s realm…we might never find “reasons” to rejoice.  In fact, maybe singing, “Joy to the world” might just send a ripple into the universe.   So much of the Christmas story sounds foolish to modern-day cynics and critics…a baby born in a barn is God?  Shepherds as your PR team?  A young teenager as the womb God breaks forth?  While some may sarcastically laugh, my soul longs for the truth.  This, this is Christ my Lord, who reorders my life and reorients my soul to be about living love for God, the other, and myself as the way of faith and full life.  May it be so for you today as you stroll around your neighborhood gazing at Christmas lights and wonder as you wander how God’s love is here and now.  Amen.  

Bethlehem Bound...Almost There

 

We inch closer to the stable where love’s pure light shines bright.  We tentatively, reverently, and with open hearts cross the threshold into the humble barn where Jesus is born.  We stand in the scratchy straw next to earthy-smelling shepherds, and our souls feel their worth.  Hold the word for Advent that has brought you this far…and once again read these words from John 1, slowly savoring each word.

 

The Word was first, the Word present to God, God present to the Word. The Word was God, in readiness for God from day one. Everything was created through him; nothing—not one thing! came into being without him.  What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out. There once was a man, his name John, sent by God to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light. The Life-Light was the real thing: Every person entering Life he brings into Light. He was in the world, the world was there through him, and yet the world didn’t even notice. He came to his own people, but they didn’t want him.  But whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said, He made to be their true selves, their child-of-God selves. These are the God-begotten, not blood-begotten, not flesh-begotten, not sex-begotten. The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Parent, like child, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish. John pointed him out and called, “This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word.”  We all live off his generous abundance, gift after gift after gift. We got the basics from Moses, and then this exuberant giving and receiving, This endless knowing and understanding— all this came through Jesus, the Messiah. No one has ever seen God, not so much as a glimpse. This one-of-a-kind God-Expression, who exists at the very heart of the Parent, has made holy plain as day.

 

A vulnerable infant, we proclaim amid a world drunk on power, is one-of-a-kind God-Expression.  

Wait, re-read that sentence for our contradictory counter-culturalism.  A baby ~ weak and dependent ~ is God?  

Jesus exists at the very heart of the Parent made holy plain and in the flesh.  Jesus reflected God’s presence with a brilliant boldness and belovedness that awakens our souls to live differently.  Jesus sparked a flame of hope, peace, joy, and love within us ~ lighting the way to this holy week.  Jesus' birth is not just some historical event from the past, but it is still part of your life right here and now.  

How have you prepared a manger-size place for Jesus this Christmas?  

Please do not read that question with any shame or dripping with not enough-ness or drenched with shoulds and oughts.  You are where you are.  If God can find space in a drafty, dusty barn, God can make a space in your soul today, even if you are racing around still trying to find a gift for someone.  God can find a space amid the burnt sugar cookies, the words spoken in exhaustion to a clerk, to the less-than-warm-and-fuzzy thoughts you had in traffic yesterday.  

Jesus’ birth isn’t about our perfect preparations, but our willingness in this moment ~ here and now ~ to say, “O come, o come Emmanuel.”  Say and sing those words with me, “O come, o come Emmanuel.”  Because as soon as that word, “Emmanuel,” falls from your lips, it becomes reality ~ God with us (that what Emmanuel means).  God with you, right now, in the beautiful brokenness in the eternal incompleteness.  In the holy holes of our lives that look like a moth-feasted-on garment.  You are God’s beloved.  There is already a manger in your heart, just see it, step close to it, and kneel before the One who helps your soul feel alive.  May God’s hope, peace, joy, and love guide you this week and every week in 2026.  Amen.

Bethlehem Bound

 

Who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

 

The Gospel of John loves a good puzzle stuffed inside a mystery wrapped in an enigma!  John loves nothing more than to confuse you.  In chapter three, Nicodemus, who was a scholar, religious leader, and learned man, goes to see Jesus.  Jesus, in turn, tries to tell Nick that he must be born again…or it could be translated born anew…or could be translated born from above.  What Jesus is saying here is really hard to translate!  Even the words are confusing, so no wonder Nick scratches his head, stupefied and stunned!  This Word of God made flesh, John is saying in the words above, is both human and divine.  This is true not only of Christ but of you and me.  Yet, like Nick, we get confused.  We lose the divine part of our ability to see the face of God in another.  Our hearts become clouded and souls stormy, so we cannot engage the world through God’s hope, peace, joy, and love.  There is a reason why we light candles at Advent ~ they are to help us see differently.  We look for hope and seek to embody hope.  We engage in peace and want peace to begin with me.  We laugh with joy and invite others to join the dance.  We love, because God forms us with love from the top of our head to our pinkie toe.  You are not a glorious accident; you are a beloved of God.  You are not some prisoner to the politics or powers that be, but a beloved of God.  You are not defined by your worst mistake, but forgiven to let loose your light and let God’s prayer shine through you.  Take your word that has brought you thus far on the way, out into the world to be one way God can be experienced through you this day.  And may God’s love enfold and hold you as we round the corner and a stable comes into view on the horizon.  Amen.  

Bethlehem Bound

 

But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.

 

You are beloved.  If you hear nothing else this Advent season, know that you are God’s beloved.  If you carry any promise and prayer from Advent into 2026, hold onto the truth that God’s love has you and holds you.  To be sure, God’s love is not bubble wrap.  It won’t stop the stumbles, bumbles, heartbreak, and soul ache.  God’s love is not a money-back guarantee or promise of the “good life”.  Living as God’s beloved doesn’t mean that it is all pony rides beside a chocolate river in the Willie Wonka Chocolate Factory. 

Nope.  

Some storms drench us.  Some floods sweep us off our feet.  There is pain that no amount of binge watching, screen staring, spiked eggnog consuming, or shopping sprees can save us from.  We numb ourselves because sometimes the ache is too much to bear.  We numb ourselves because it is a culturally acceptable way to deal with the hurt.  We numb ourselves in our attempt to find what our restless hearts long to encounter ~ which is love.  To be sure, there is a gap between our proclamation of God’s love and our experience of that holy affection.  Sometimes what gets in the way between us and God is our own busyness and stubbornness.  Sometimes the obstacle between us and God is societal ~ the strains of trying to make ends meet, or getting kicked off your health insurance, or medical issues that confound the doctors who too quickly leave the room because they cannot cure you.  

Hold this.  

To believe in God’s love is not to say that everything will be roses, but it is to lean into a promise that Divine love is at work in us and through us and seeking us every day.  God so loves the world, John 3 proclaims, that God came in the flesh on earth.  This is scandalous!  God, who is holy, enters this bruised, broken, beautiful world to walk with us.  Not just in a barn two thousand years ago, but again and again and again every day in your life and mine.  Faith is a pair of eyeglasses that helps us focus on God’s arrival in our ordinary lives.  The word you are carrying to the manger is meant to be a magnifying glass to observe this ordinary life.  May you open your heart vulnerably, as God vulnerably came to earth, to find afresh and anew today God’s love has you and won’t ever let you go.  Amen.

Morning Meditation

 

He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 

 

What a powerful, heartbreaking sentence!  Christ comes to the world, and we mistake, misunderstand, and maim God’s hope, peace, love, and joy in the world.  Not just two thousand years ago, but again and again and again.  We reject Christ when we use our words to hurt and harm each other.  We reject Christ when we bully and blame others.  We reject Christ when we let racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, economic elitism, classism, agism, and all the other ways that we are jockeying for position in this world lead us rather than Christ.  When I put someone down on social media, I am rejecting Christ.  When I gossip behind someone’s back to make myself feel better, I am rejecting Christ.  When I talk about “them” and “those” people, I reject Christ.  We are playing a dangerous game in our world ~ one of violence (weapons and words and some imaginary scoreboard politically), but there are people in Cuba, Gaza, Israel, Sudan, Darfur, Jamaica, Ukraine, Russia, China, Sarasota, and across our communities who are Christ here and now.  I know that living God’s hope, peace, joy, and love is difficult and demanding.  I get that trying to love our enemies when they wield weapons that hurt too many people can feel foolish and deadly.  I get that being a Christian is not an easy way to feel safe, secure, or seen.  Rejection is part of our human life.  Humans are beautifully broken, both in Jesus’ time and ours.  Who do you struggle to accept today?  Please remember that acceptance doesn’t mean affirmation or affection.  Acceptance means that I recognize the humanity and the God-image of another.  Doesn’t mean I understand the other.  Doesn’t mean I can change the other.  To accept is to pray for peace, health, and love to be with that person.  So, today, think of someone you struggle to love.  And pray, “God, may _______ (fill in the person’s name) know peace, health, and love.”  You may say that with a clenched jaw and tight shoulders.  You may say it but realize you don’t mean it.  Your words matter.  What you speak into the universe creates a ripple and riff.  May you and I be God’s prayer this day through our words, and may the word you are carrying to the manger this year be a blessing to you and those you encounter today.  Amen.

Bethlehem Bound

 

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him.

 

There is a great quote, “the more I learn, the less I know.”  

The more I experience this mysterious world, the more I am baffled.  

The more I interact with fellow featherless bipeds, the more I realize we are all just complex contradictions walking around.  

Each day, there is something that causes me to scratch my head in both amazement and prayer.  Growing up, I would hear adults say, “Welp, I am not surprised.”  As though this person has so cognitively conquered the world and understands all mysteries that they know all the tricks and tips.  I think people would say that to appear superior, but honestly, we are all bumbling and baffled bipeds trying to make our way.  

Sometimes when I lament, “They didn’t teach me that in seminary.”  Of course they didn’t!!  There is no way seminary or any school can teach you everything, because the world is the classroom…

your life is the curriculum…

your experience is your lesson every day.  

The question is not what we know, but are we willing to be taught?  

The question is not, did I earn an “A” (life is not about the grade), but am I willing to stay open and curious about this strange life we are all living?  

The question is, are we willing to let the Word, God’s expression in the flesh and breath of your life today, help expand as you explore the unfolding of the universe?  

God is the composer still writing the symphony.  God is the author, still editing the story.  The word you selected sixteen days ago is one doorway for you to enter the stable and stand in the scratchy straw this Advent.  That word in all its beautiful incompleteness is one window into your soul and is preparing your life for Christ to enter.  So may you and I let loose with our word and light and presence through which God is still entering the world that God might be known/encountered through you and me and we today.  Amen. 

Bethlehem Bound

 

As we let the candles of hope, peace, and love burn brightly within us, slowly read and savor John’s poetic reminder of the Cosmic Christ who has always been collaborating and conspiring with the Creator since the beginning.  I invite you to read aloud so you can hear, feel and experience these words:

 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴ in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.

⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸ He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. ⁹ The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. ¹² But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.  ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ ”) ¹⁶ From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷ The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

 

Fifteen days ago, I asked you to select a word to carry with you to the manger this year.  A word that I pray blessed you and maybe even frustrated you occasionally.  You may wonder, “Why did I pick 'hope’ when the headlines every day shout reasons why that word seems foolish or as far away from reality as the planet Pluto?”  Or maybe you selected “Peace” and each day have found a few moments to sit, breathe, be, letting that word wash over you.  Or maybe you have decided to trade your word for a different one, like trying on shoes for a journey.  Regardless of where you are with your word, we know that words shape us.  Words impact us.  While I learned that famous childhood refrain/rhyme, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” ~ you and I know that this isn’t true. Words wound.  Words can be weaponized by politicians, pundits, and pastors.  Yet, God sends God’s Words/Wisdom/Dream/Prayer in the flesh and form of Jesus. 

 

In John’s gospel, he opens with a poetic riff on Genesis 1 by saying that God’s Word has been eternally present and participated in creation.  In verse 6, John takes an exit ramp to talk about John.  On November 30^th, in church, we heard about Zachariah and Elizabeth, John’s parents, who were advanced in age, their AARP cards tattered and torn.  Their hope of ever having a child had long ago been let go of and seemed impossible/impractical/ill-advised as their bodies told the score of a long life.  But then…surprise..a birth announcement.  The gospel of John does some wonderful verbal gymnastics above.  Re-read verse 8, John was not…I repeat was not…the light.  All four gospel writers have what is called “The problem of John the baptizer.”  By all accounts, John the Baptizer was a popular prophet.  His followers on Twitter were numerous, and his attendance numbers at worship services required police to direct traffic.  Just kidding.  But John the baptizer was well-known.  John had disciples who followed him and thought he was the Messiah.  So, the gospel writers must acknowledge John, but don’t want to distract from Jesus.  I don’t think Jesus had a problem with John.  I don’t think Jesus was concerned about who or how you experienced the love of God, only that you knew deep in your heart and soul this truth. 

 

Today, hold your word for the wisdom and love it longs to let loose in your life.  And may your word guide and ground you as we turn the corner and count down to Christmas Eve.  With God’s love to you all~  Amen.  

Bethlehem Bound

 

The Light shines into the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it or put it out.

 

Begin this morning by speaking your Advent word aloud and listening for how the Eternal Echo responds to your voice.

 

Light and darkness are dancing today.  This is true in John’s prologue, and it is true in Genesis.  In fact, the very first act of creation we read is, And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light God saw that the light was good, and the Creator separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness Artist/Author/Inventor called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. (Genesis 1:3-5).  Go back and re-read this.  Notice that a familiar phrase is missing.  Usually, God’s creativity culminates in God saying that what is formed and fashioned is good, except here.  Separation is not declared as “good”.  Having light and darkness as distinct or different is not called good.  Darkness and light have always been in a divine dance.  Both are needed and necessary.  Both are holy.  There is a great hymn called “Holy Darkness.”  The opening words are:

 

Holy darkness, blessed night,
heaven's answer hidden from our sight.
As we await you, O God of silence,
we embrace your holy night.

 

Tonight, when the sun sets, light a candle (which our Jewish friends will do tonight to welcome the Sabbath).  Let that flickering flame dance with the darkness ~ see how the two hug and hold each other.  Let the light and darkness meet you in the story.  Speak your Advent Word aloud to the light and darkness, seeing how both have truths to sing to you.  May the holy darkness of God bless you this night as we continue to make our way to the manger on Christmas Eve to see how darkness and light are always tangled and twisted with each other.  May God’s peace/shalom/wholeness/healing and presence hold and enfold you this week.  Amen. 

Bethlehem Bound

 

This is the true Light that comes to all the peoples of the world and shines on everyone

Begin this morning by speaking your Advent word aloud and listening for how the Eternal Echo responds to your voice.

 

There is a universalist nature to God’s embrace that we are hearing this week.  Everyone, everywhere, no expectations.  Of course, we want to control God’s flashlight.  We want to tell God who is on our “naughty” and “nice” list, playing Santa Claus.  We want to block out some who seem unworthy of God’s light, determine and distinguish who has earned or deserved God’s love this Christmas.  We want to put coal in people’s stockings, especially the ones who have hurt us.  Take that, we think, because the one who laughs last wins. 

 

I don’t understand the unconditional and unceasing part of God.  There are certainly people whom I would prefer not be invited to the manger this year.  And, I think the very people I don’t want to gaze into the eyes of the vulnerable Christ-child, might be the very ones who need it the most.  At the manger, I might see the humanness of another.  Those who go reluctantly to the manger join with those who skip all the way to Bethlehem.  Those who show up at church to appease family are just as loved as those of us who have already picked out our Christmas Eve attire.  The Carol, Come All Ye Faithful reminds us of the inclusiveness of the invitation.  Come all…even if your faith is on fumes or empty.  Even if you feel this whole love stuff is foolish.  Even if you still think some people should be blocked at the barn door, because God doesn’t have a bouncer to keep the riffraff out.  In fact, God seems to delight in the lost, lonely, and left out.  Those who come to the manger feeling forgotten or pushed to the fringe get the front row seat.  The stable is full of people not on our guest list.  The stable is not reserved for those who have perfect attendance and pledge cards that were increased or the “right” beliefs.  Come all. That has been, is, and will always be God’s calling card.  Come all.  Be drenched in a light that changes the story you tell yourself about yourself, others, and especially God.  Come all.  Today and tomorrow and every day in 2026.  Come, let’s dance together.  And may God’s peace/shalom/wholeness/healing and presence hold and enfold you this week.  Amen. 

Bethlehem Bound

 

Creator’s life shone out from the Word, giving light to all human beings.

 

Begin this morning by speaking your Advent word aloud and listening for how the Eternal Echo responds to your voice.

 

How is God shining through your Word this week?  Has someone you encountered this week spoken your word back to you?  That might be one way God is moving in your midst.  Where have you stumbled unexpectedly onto your word in the most surprising way?  Pay attention today.  Find creative, fun, faithful, and meaningful ways to work your Advent word into every conversation.  Notice what happens when you drop the word “Hope” (if that is your word) into a sentence to someone.  Notice what happens when you try to write a prayer with that word at the center.  Notice what is born in you and through you as that word escapes both your lips this day.

 

May you and your word find fabulous and faithful ways to let God’s presence loose in the unexpected world today.  And may God’s peace/shalom/wholeness/healing and presence hold and enfold you this week.  Amen. 

Bethlehem Bound

 

And not one thing exists that he did not create

 

Begin this morning by speaking your Advent word aloud and listening for how the Eternal Echo responds to your voice.

 

Not one thing…or put a positive spin on this…everything.  Everything, everywhere exists because of God’s creativity.  You.  Me.  That squirrel outside my window and the tree s/he is scurrying around.  My neighbor.  The person who frustrates and flummoxes me.  The person who hurts me.  The person who loves me.  The vampire bat that swoops in, skimming my head.  The dog that places his head in my lap, letting me feel unconditional love and peace.  Everything, everywhere, was envisioned and imprinted with God.

 

Wait. 

 

What do you mean the person who yelled at me?  What do you mean the animal that dug up my tomato plants?  What do you mean the leader on the news who makes my blood boil?

 

How can that be part of God’s good creation?

 

I don’t know.  There is plenty of evidence to object to God’s goodness in this world.  There are plenty of hard hearts like Herod in Jesus’ birth narrative who hurt and harm children, rob the dignity and divinity of fellow humans.  There are plenty of people who use their free will like a sword to throw hate around. 

 

The hurt and harm are real.  The hurt and harm threaten to steal our hope and peace. And God’s love is infused and implanted in everything.  Whether we decide to live from that place or not has been the mystery of human life since the very beginning.  Why does Cain kill Abel?  Why does Pharaoh enslave God’s people?  Why does Babylon come crushing in destroying, and devastating lives?  Why does God’s love incarnate hang from a cross?  Why do people today still act as though the mystery of this world should author our lives with a hope, peace, love, and joy?  Why do we act as though God is distant because we cannot prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is present?  Why do barriers block us from encountering the Divine?  Why do we feel justified in hating?  These questions will never have answers.  I can either let the frustrating mystery of people lead me to bitterness or break me open.  I can either act as if nothing is a mystery or everything is.  I can either arrive at Bethlehem this year exhausted or excited that something new is being birthed.  As J. Drew Lanthem says, “God prefers wombs,” and I would add tombs.  God works through a beautiful darkness, helping us to collaborate with a Creator who is still fashioning and forming you and me and everything, everything, everything, and everyone we encounter today.  May God’s peace/shalom/wholeness/healing and presence hold and enfold you this week.  Amen. 

Bethlehem Bound

 

Last week, we held a word you selected close to your heart, ears, and life.  Or maybe you decided you needed more than just one word this Advent.  Or maybe you are longing right now to trade your word for another, the way you would swap something from your lunch with something from your friend’s lunch at school growing up (I’ll trade you a Hostess cupcake for that Little Debbie treat we’d say to each other ~ like we were playing Let’s Make a Deal).  Here is my deal for you.  You are welcome to find a new word this week if you’d like or continue to carry the word you selected last week.  No right answers or rules or shoulds/have tos during this Advent.  Sometimes we make a choice and feel disappointed, wanting to rewind time.  On the road to Bethlehem, maybe you need to set down your word from last week, for it has taken you as far as it can.  Or maybe you want to keep carrying your word because you sense there is a blessing not yet revealed or realized.  Or maybe your word has been a light to your path.  Or maybe you are still struggling to find a word.  Right now, find a word or a few.  Say your word aloud.  Let the letters leap from your tongue into the world as a blessing that no one may hear, but God does.  Your word, your life, your presence on the path to the manger, creating space and a place for God this year.

 

Slowly read, aloud preferably so you hear your own voice, the Indigenous People’s Version of John 1:

 

Long ago, in the time before all days, before the creation of all things, the one who is known as the Word was there face-to-face with the Great Spirit.  This Word fully represents the Creator and shows us who he is and what he is like.  He has always been there from the beginning, for the Word and Creator are one and the same.  Through the Word all things came into being, and not one thing exists that he did not create.  Creator’s life shone out from the Word, giving light to all human beings.  This is the true Light that comes to all the peoples of the world and shines on everyone.  The Light shines into the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it or put it out.

Into the wilderness of the Land of Promise (Judea) came a man named Gift of Goodwill (John).  He was sent by the Great Spirit to tell what he knew about the Light so everyone could believe.  He was not the Light but came to speak the truth about the Light.  The true Light that shines on all people was coming into the darkness of this world.  He came down into this world, and even though he made all things, the world did not recognize him.  Even his own tribe did not welcome or honor him. But all who welcome and trust him receive their birthright as children of the Great Spirit.  Creator’s Word became a flesh-and-blood human being and pitched his sacred tent among us, living as one of us.  We looked upon his great beauty and saw how honorable he was, the kind of honor held only by this one Son who fully represents his Father – full of his great kindness and truth. 

Gift of Goodwill (John) told what he knew about him and cried out with a loud voice, “The one I have told you about is here!  He comes after me, but is much greater – my elder!  He has more honor, for even though he is thought to be younger, he existed before I was born.” 

From the fullness of his being, we have all had many gifts of kindness poured out on us.  Drawn from the Water (Moses) gave us our tribal laws, but the gift of great kindness and truth came from Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the Chosen One.  No one has ever seen the Great Spirit but the one Son, who is himself the Great Spirit and closest to the Father’s heart, has shown us what he is like.  (First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament).

 

Was there a word above that sang to your shy soul?  Did you hear something new, feel something new, encounter a truth that has always been in this passage, but this translation illuminated for you?  Let these words inspire and infuse us as we begin the second week of Advent and our travel to Bethlehem this year.  May God’s peace/shalom/wholeness/healing and presence hold and enfold you this week.  Amen. 

Bethlehem Bound

 

Through the Word all things came into being…

 

What is coming into being with your word this week?  Maybe your Advent word is helping you explore this holy season.  Maybe your Advent word is frustrating you because you two had a tiff last night when you were thinking about all the other words you could have chosen and you decided that “hope” was your word…or “peace”…or “love”…or “light,” and now that word feels heavy or unable to uphold you.

 

Take time with your word today.  Go look up a definition of the word you’ve selected.  Make as many sentences with your word as you can.  If you are frustrated, you could start with, “I can’t believe I picked “hope” as my word.”  Google quotes using your word, see how other people have played with this word previously.  Or just write it down on a piece of paper again and again and again, because all words can be Holy when we let God enter the “third space” with us and our word.  In fact, God is already there.  What might God be singing to you this day in your word?

 

Please pray with me: God, I picked this word, (speak your word aloud).  What do You want me to discover or uncover in this word?  Did I get it right?  Help me continue to explore and express and experience the elasticity of this holy word as I let it work in me and through me in these days.  Let my word and Your presence guide me deeper into this season of Advent.  Amen.