As we keep journeying with God our hearts can open, our perspectives can shift, and our very lives can become an offering to God. We just have to keep walking.

The [Christian Nationalist] movement is neither Christian, nor patriotic. Instead, this movement is the politicizing of Christian beliefs and the co-opting of Christian terminology and symbols, to promote what is essentially White supremacy.

Consider how you’ve seen the light of Christ shining through the faces around you. Next, wonder about how you’ve been Christ’s light to those around you.

Love is the only true antidote to all that's going on in our world.

May we let go of our ego attachments, so that we may be met with our deeper spiritual need. May our longing and yearning uncover God’s longing in and for us, and our spiritual hunger lead us to what will really fulfill us. And may our radical love and works of justice enable all people to live under God’s blessing.

If we look at these call stories closely, we see five themes that can guide us to a greater understanding of how the Holy Spirit is moving in our lives.

We mark these life passages together in community so that we can be a light to each other, so that when one of us doesn't feel so strong in our light, somebody else can shine God’s light in our direction.

Mary understands something profound about Jesus—he can transform moments of emptiness into abundance, bringing healing and fullness where there is need.

All last month, we talked about waiting for the coming of the Christ-child, then we celebrated the birth of Jesus, and, finally, last week we observed Epiphany, when the announcement of that birth was shared widely, out in the world. Today, we jump ahead in the life of Jesus, to when he himself was baptized. 

Our world today seems as dark and perilous as the one through which the Magi traveled. But we can arise, shine, and find God in hidden places – perhaps in the space between breaths, or through the whispers of the waves on the shore. We too can choose the compassionate road and offer refuge to those who, like the holy family, are excluded and afraid – those searching for shelter, healing, identity, connection.

I am blessed by your presence in my life, and celebrate the ways we share God’s love, grace and mercy with the world around us—one person at a time. Merry Christmas!

Today's readings memorialize Mary consenting to be the God-bearer, but they also prod us to wonder how we might serve as God-bearers to and for each other. And, believe it or not, all of that is probably as simple as the words of the song  “What a wonderful life” by Louis Armstrong. He sings: “I see friends shaking hands, saying, ‘How do you do?’. They're really saying, ‘I love you.’”

In these next two weeks of our Advent waiting you may want to light a candle each evening to meditate on the light that is coming into the world through Jesus’ birth and through Christ being made fully manifest in our world.

Our new Children’s & Family Minister, Jackson (Jack) Cord, took the time to answer a few questions from our communications desk this past week. We certainly enjoyed the opportunity to get to know him a bit better, and we hope you will too!

How do we intentionally invigorate our spiritual lives? There’s one easy answer. We come here, together, in worship to explore another way of looking at the world. We don’t just do this for a sense of adventure. We do it to refocus on God—to experience the “tender compassion of our God,” and to have our feet be “guided into the way of peace.”

Many theologians, priests and writers refuse to speak of God’s “kingdom”. Instead, many of us say, God’s “kin-dom”, purposefully leaving out the “g” of kingdom to indicate the inclusivity and non-hierarchical nature of a kin-dom—a realm where we are all connected—where we are “kin” and responsible for, and accountable to, each other.

Some of the stories we heard reminded us of the importance of this work. We will quite literally be saving lives, especially among our LGBTQI kids, in whom isolation and rates of suicide are skyrocketing; but studies show that having a safe place to belong and be one's true self can make all the difference in the world.

Let evangelism move at the speed of relationships, learn from your mistakes, and point people to Jesus. If you do these things, you will be fishers of people in the tradition of St. Andrew.

Author L.R. Knost writes: “Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break and all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you."

For these reasons and many others, compassion is not a quaint idea but in a fallen world, it is a revolutionary act. Compassion is not a noun. It is a verb. Compassion compels us to connect with others.