“I am the Alpha and the Omega”, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
~Revelation 1:8

I tried to present the Christian hope no longer as such an “opium of the beyond” but rather as the divine power that makes us alive in this world.
~Jürgen Moltmann, 20th century


Advent always begins with a look back that looks forward: “The days are surely coming,” says Jeremiah (33:14) as the prophet remembers a richer time in Israel’s life under the house of David, and draws from rich memory to imagine a new chapter emerging. This is no empty nostalgia, however. The memory is creating something new: justice and righteousness in the land, safety through true peace, not under the menacing threat of violence or intimidation. The religious imagination invites us to see the larger meaning, the greater possibilities in historic events and human behavior infused by the Sprit of God. There are signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars (Luke 21:25), and the fig tree (Luke 21:29). Events have mythmaking power if we look to them as an invitation to reflect more deeply on our own experiences for their life-giving (and death-dealing) qualities.

Such is the case with our own traditions. Many of us have found new meaning, new or renewed importance in our holiday practices, for example—especially amidst the restrictions and the loss of this pandemic. So the cardinal comes to visit us this Advent. It is a familiar visitor in American lore—a symbol of beauty and warmth. A burst of color in our gray winter landscape. American colonists named the birds cardinals as a nod to the red-gowned religious figures. Egyptian, Celtic, Maori, Irish, and Hindu spiritualism, as well as the lore and legends of many Indigenous American people received the visit of a cardinal with joy and pathos.

What traditions and practices are renewing you this year? Which aren’t? What is being made new this year? What needs to be abandoned so hope can blossom? 

​Enter into worship.

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‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. ~Revelation 1:8
 
 
Every year at this time we remind ourselves that Christ the King Sunday, or Reign of Christ Sunday, as it has been known in more recent times, was instituted in 1925 as a response to the rise of Christian Nationalism in Europe. It’s purpose was to remind us that our hearts, our minds and our daily actions belong to an ever-loving God: A God who call us to acts of mercy and justice, not conquest and violence.
 
The one to whom we belong rejects violence in all its forms, and instead invites us to a table overflowing. The one to whom we belong equips us and sends us to set this table in world through acts of mercy and love. There is a power here, at this table, against which kings and conquest cannot stand. Thanks be to God! 
 
Enter into worship and remember your place at God’s table.

We continue to keep our financial commitments to our mission partners and staff. If you are not yet able to join us, thank you for remembering to send in your financial pledges and offerings or donating here. ​

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.
~Mark 13:8

Does anyone really long for destruction and degradation? It is hard to imagine this to be the case, if the alternative is renewal, longevity, and the fullness of life for all.

Jesus sees the signs, though, of unrest, of relationships and governance so broken that they are already crumbling. It is not an end, though, as much as a beginning when God is in the mix. Or, as the preacher to the Hebrew congregation said it (Hebrews 10:23-25): “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.” Indeed there is more good, practical advice for us today as well in this ancient wisdom: “And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

​Enter into worship. 

We continue to keep our financial commitments to our mission partners and staff. If you are not yet able to join us, thank you for remembering to send in your financial pledges and offerings or donating here. ​

Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without next-of-kin; and may his name be renowned in Israel!”
~Ruth 4:14


There is this persistent claim in our Christian story that blessing comes when you embrace someone you aren’t supposed to, when you give of yourself in ways that go against your best interests, that take a chance. When you put yourself and your wants second, or last. But there’s also a clear-eyed sense that widows and others on the margins of polite society get taken advantage of, regularly, get assigned last place by default. You get the sense that there are systems that are so ravenous that they have no limits when it comes to what and who they will devour.

Mark and Ruth both introduce us to widows who are in threat of being annihilated at the hands of those who have more than they need. And yet, they both are revealed as rich beyond our imagination in terms of faith, resourcefulness and strength. What might we learn about the foundations on which wholeness, well-being, and possibility are built?

​Enter into worship.

We continue to keep our financial commitments to our mission partners and staff. If you are not yet able to join us, thank you for remembering to send in your financial pledges and offerings or donating here. ​