I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.
~Matthew 25:35-36
 
In memory of my father,
who asked me whether to invite a beggar home with us
and waited for my answer.
~Kelly Johnson, The Fear of Beggars
 
Reign of Christ Sunday gets us ready to “ring in” the new year in the Christian calendar. On the following Sunday we will begin that journey toward a weary world that is centered in a stable—a substandard location for a child to be born—to find, astonishingly, the one who comes in the name of the Lord, the promised one, earth’s hope, the advent of God.
 
This Sunday, then, functions like a check-in or check-up. It does so by way of an implicit and unexpected promise. Feeding the hungry, welcoming strangers. Clothing. Tending. Healing. Visiting. As we are doing these things, we are not only mending the world, we are putting ourselves in the very locations where Christ himself dwells, where we ourselves can be transformed and thrive.
 
In Matthew 5:42, Jesus tells his disciples “Give to the one who asks of you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.” This is not a strategy for systemic change. It is an invitation to habituate ourselves out of the love of money and into the love of neighbor. “Strangerliness is a habit that has been learned slowly,” writes Kelly Johnson. “We will unlearn it with difficulty, and we will not do so without making changes, in our finances, our locations, our ways of doing business, and our encounters with strangers.”
 
We end the year with an invitation to orient ourselves toward the One we will encounter in the beginning of the next. And to our surprise we discover we are putting ourselves in healing’s way. We are gaining our own lives back. What a strange and wonderful thing! Our Thanksgiving belongs to God!
 
Enter into worship this Sunday.
 
Readings: Ezekiel 34:11-24 † Psalm 100 † Ephesians 1:15-23 † Matthew 25:31-46
 
About the Art: Food for the Hungry, Drink for the Thirsty, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57571 [retrieved November 21, 2023]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Biberach_Spital_Relief_img04.jpg - Andreas Praefcke.

​Many of our texts as we journey through these last few weeks of ordinary time ask us to consider what we do in the waiting. Waiting isa theme we will meet again, of course, as we prepare for the birth of the baby this Advent. What kind of waiting brings us closer to knowing God’s kin-dom among us? How might we use the talents, the treasures that God has given us, in ways that contribute to the reign of peace and love for all poeple? We’re not talking about material treasures, but those gifts that makes us who we are—our passions and loves; the beauty we long to be a part of.
 
This Sunday, as we gather, we will consider what these treasures are. We’ll ask ourselves: What lies close to our own hearts and to the heart of the St Andrew congregation? And we will remember that we are not alone in the waiting. God has made us a people who thrive when we share our treasures—the things that are close to our hearts—and when we, with God’s help, follow the creativity and possibility that comes form such sharing. We want to respond to God’s call to the church to thrive in the communities and with the neighbors we are called to love, and so on Sunday we will also consider together how we might go about exploring what lies at the heart of our wider community.
 
The converastion will be richer with your particpation and so we hope you will join us. We will not worship in our normal pattern, but the elements of our worship will still be present.

• there will not be communion, but we will break bread and good food together
• there will not be choir, but we will share music together
• there will not be a sermon, but we will learn together

 
We will start at our usual 10:00am time but plan to stay just a little longer, until around noon. Lunch is provided! If you can’t be with us physically, you can be present to the conversation via our live stream and we will ask you to share your thoughts in email ([email protected]) during or after the event.
 
Can’t wait to see you!
 
Readings: Matthew 21:1-11 † Psalm 118 † Isaiah 50:4-9a † Psalm 31:9-16 † Philippians 2:5-11 † Matthew 27:11-54
 
About the Art: History of Our Community – YMCA Boys and Girls Club, Pearl-Cohn 9th Grade Academy, Nashville, TN. Image retrieved on November 14, 2023 from https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2009/06/11/to-build-a-better-community/.

Her eyes are closed. She is the color of all the weather and days that have past. Her hand is either protecting the flame or being warmed by it.

Is she to be dreaming of wisdom? Is she to be dreaming of the future? Is she to be dreaming of a future of peace? Is she dreaming of a future of liberation?

We don’t know, do we. We can only look and imagine.

We hear Amos this week, in one of his most convicting passages, one that every worship preparer reads with fear and trembling.

…I take not delight in your solemn assemblies…Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
BUT let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Using poetry and rhythm, Amos asks the question: Is your worship for your own enjoyment or self-importance, or is it to lead you to work for God’s justice?

How does this offer us a clear lens for our worship and for our lives as we are sent out?

One more question: If you had to pick a word to describe what you think God’s desire is for the world, would it be “peace” or “liberation?” Chew on that for a bit, and bring that meal with you to worship.
​
Come and worship. In-person or online.

 
Readings: Amos 5:18-24 † Psalm 70 † 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 † Matthew 25:1-13
 
About the Art: Lamp of Wisdom, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54977 [retrieved November 8, 2023]. Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rowanbank/5815103193/.​

​“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
 
~Matthew 5:3-6
 
On a day like All Saints when we remember those who have gone before us, who have paved the way an modeled the shape of a life-affirming Christian Way, it may be easy for us to stop at the second of the beatitudes, struck by our sense of loss for loved ones. Indeed, this work of mourning is necessary for us to find our way through difficult loss to the newness that the eastering God raises in us and our communities.
 
But in the whole of the beatitudes in Matthew, Jesus is actually offering a template of this life-affirming Way that we should not miss. To sit with these is to sit with the kind of truth-telling that sets us free and those who follow us.
 
This Sunday we will take time to remember and bless those who have gone before us. Bring pictures or a token of remembrance with you as we create a visual representation of all the saints in light and the God who will wipe away every tear.
 
Enter into worship.
 
Readings: Revelation 7:9-17 † Psalm 34:1-10, 22 † 1 John 3:1-3 † Matthew 5:1-12
 
About the Art: Anonymous. Grief, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56330 [retrieved October 25, 2023]. Original source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shockinglytasty/15117071790 - CC BY-SA 2.0.