Year: 2021

Christmastide

December 25, 2021

Good morning.  I usually start off by saying “if you remember one thing I’ve said today, then I’ve done my job.”  So I’ll start off by saying:  AA’S Third Step says, “Made a decision to turn my will and my life over to the care of God.”  My will is my thoughts and my life are my actions.

A week ago Saturday, I said goodbye to one of my dogs.  His name was Empty.  It was a sad moment for me, but my conscience is clear.  It was his time, and that was the last act of love that we did for him. …

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Advent 4

December 19, 2021

In our lectionary text for today, we pick up the story of Mary and Elizabeth at its dramatic climax: the six-months -along baby in Elizabeth’s womb “jumps for joy” when Mary arrives on Elizabeth’s doorstep, newly pregnant by the holy spirit’s divine intervention.

Both women are given prophetic speech by Luke. First Elizabeth, who says (in a loud voice), “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why am I so favored, that the mother of the Messiah should come to me?”

Elizabeth’s question is rhetorical — she already knows that Mary is carrying “the Messiah.”…

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Advent 3

December 12, 2021

We’re in the midst of a pandemic virus with seemingly no end to its mutations. At the same time, we are experiencing epidemics of addiction and deaths from opioids and from firearm violence. Our political partisanship has risen to levels dangerous to our representative democracy. Our nation continues to experience racial injustice and violence against racial, ethnic, and religious minorities but may not have the will to examine our history to see what brought us to this state and what we can do about it. And threatening us over everything else is the dangerous impact of climate change.…

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