This morning the scripture texts were about listening for the Spirit song. David misheard it completely. The message of God sounded a little too unlikely to Zecheriah and he lost his voice. Mary struggled with the message but she is remembered as the one who said yes to God’s gift.
How do you respond to unexpected gifts? Do you act delighted and begin to think of how you can return it for something you really want? Do you drop it on the regift pile? Do you put it on a shelf with plans to wear it when everything else wears out.
The Vatican received a gift this year they could not have expected. 2,000 solar panels. A Germon firm offered these to the Vatican as an Epiphany gift. They began to installl them a few months ago and they’ll be in place by the end of this month.
The CEO of SolarWorld said, “If the three wise men from the East came to Bethlehem today, they would in all probability bring a solar cell in addition to gold, francincense and myrrh.”
This will help the Vatican to meet the EU’s target for 2020 to get 20% of its energy from renewable resources.
Now that’s a gift that keeps on giving!
Peter
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Monday, December 22, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
It’s one thing to hear the Christmas story. It’s another thing to be the Christmas story. This morning our Sunday School put on a delightful Christmas pageant.
This drama is being acted out this season in great Cathedrals and little country churches around the world this season. Little ones who cannot yet read are watching the big kids, following the older and wiser shepherds and angels when it’s time to stand up or move across the floor. Lines will be slightly mangled at times, cues will be missed, but nobody is upset. It’s all part of the wondrous drama. And the story is communicated.
Some of the best moments are entirely unscripted. This morning the magi made a grand entrance with the stately camel. I have not seen a better camel anywhere. As the drama continued, the camel sat down at the front. One child and then another approached the beast. Almost on tip toe. Cautiously. With wonderment. the congregation were as entranced with the child as the child was with this animal. The camel titled it’s head and gazed on the child. We all got caught up in the wonder of the moment. Those are the moments that happen without a writer or director.
Wonder. What a gift. Watch for it.
Peter
You can also send your comments to assistant.webmaster@emmanuelunited.ca
and I will make sure they are posted.
This drama is being acted out this season in great Cathedrals and little country churches around the world this season. Little ones who cannot yet read are watching the big kids, following the older and wiser shepherds and angels when it’s time to stand up or move across the floor. Lines will be slightly mangled at times, cues will be missed, but nobody is upset. It’s all part of the wondrous drama. And the story is communicated.
Some of the best moments are entirely unscripted. This morning the magi made a grand entrance with the stately camel. I have not seen a better camel anywhere. As the drama continued, the camel sat down at the front. One child and then another approached the beast. Almost on tip toe. Cautiously. With wonderment. the congregation were as entranced with the child as the child was with this animal. The camel titled it’s head and gazed on the child. We all got caught up in the wonder of the moment. Those are the moments that happen without a writer or director.
Wonder. What a gift. Watch for it.
Peter
You can also send your comments to assistant.webmaster@emmanuelunited.ca
and I will make sure they are posted.
Monday, December 8, 2008
“A voice cries out in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” Isaiah 40:3
The prophet we know as Second Isaiah lived in the midst of chaos. Plunging stock markets and political unrest had nothing on his time. Israel was about to go home. Decades of exile in the wilderness of a foreign land were about to end.
It was like having someone like Martin Luther King Jr. stand up and say, “I have a dream. But it’s not about the distant future. We are going to live to see this dream come true. We’re finally going home!”
Do you have the sense that we are living in exile? In what ways? What forces press in upon us and dislodge us from our values? Do you feel that at this time of year? Do you feel far from where you would like to be, as a person, family member, church member?
Is there any good news in the chaos of our times? How do we live gospel values in the midst of uncertainty? Is it easier or harder to live the faith in a turbulent time? What roads need to be cleaned up to prepare us to be a more peace-filled community? How do people in our lives need to be comforted?
So many questions....
Peter
You can also send your comments to assistant.webmaster@emmanuelunited.ca
and I will make sure they are posted.
The prophet we know as Second Isaiah lived in the midst of chaos. Plunging stock markets and political unrest had nothing on his time. Israel was about to go home. Decades of exile in the wilderness of a foreign land were about to end.
It was like having someone like Martin Luther King Jr. stand up and say, “I have a dream. But it’s not about the distant future. We are going to live to see this dream come true. We’re finally going home!”
Do you have the sense that we are living in exile? In what ways? What forces press in upon us and dislodge us from our values? Do you feel that at this time of year? Do you feel far from where you would like to be, as a person, family member, church member?
Is there any good news in the chaos of our times? How do we live gospel values in the midst of uncertainty? Is it easier or harder to live the faith in a turbulent time? What roads need to be cleaned up to prepare us to be a more peace-filled community? How do people in our lives need to be comforted?
So many questions....
Peter
You can also send your comments to assistant.webmaster@emmanuelunited.ca
and I will make sure they are posted.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Mark 13
In my earliest memory of a moment of awe, I am standing on my tip toes, looking over a stone wall at a great expanse of green water. I have never seen anything so immense. As far as I can see there is water. Having lived in a dry place without lakes, I have no frame of reference for a scene like this. The feeling of wonder practically lifts me off the ground.
The water I am looking out upon is the Indian Ocean. Back then in the late 1950s the place is called Bombay. It is our last day in India, and we are watching the sun go down. As we walk along the sea wall of Marine Drive, the water is on our left. On our right are large hotels including the Taj Mahal Hotel.
As I watched the reports of the terror attack this past week, I thought about that wondrous walk seen through the eyes of an almost five year old. What a terribly sad place it has become for so many. This morning’s apocalyptic reading from Mark 13 does not feel out of place.
In my earliest memory of a moment of awe, I am standing on my tip toes, looking over a stone wall at a great expanse of green water. I have never seen anything so immense. As far as I can see there is water. Having lived in a dry place without lakes, I have no frame of reference for a scene like this. The feeling of wonder practically lifts me off the ground.
The water I am looking out upon is the Indian Ocean. Back then in the late 1950s the place is called Bombay. It is our last day in India, and we are watching the sun go down. As we walk along the sea wall of Marine Drive, the water is on our left. On our right are large hotels including the Taj Mahal Hotel.
As I watched the reports of the terror attack this past week, I thought about that wondrous walk seen through the eyes of an almost five year old. What a terribly sad place it has become for so many. This morning’s apocalyptic reading from Mark 13 does not feel out of place.
Neither does a psalm of lament.
Peter
You can also send your comments to assistant.webmaster@emmanuelunited.ca
and I will make sure they are posted.
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