Looking Ahead to February 8, 2026 -- 5th Sunday After Epiphany

 The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Isaiah 58:1-12
• Matthew 5:17-20

The Sermon title is Choose God's Fast!

Early Thoughts: In just a couple of weeks we will find ourselves in Lent. One of the old traditions of Lent is that it is a time of fasting, of choosing to abstain from certain things (most traditionally meat) for the season as we prepare for Easter. Nowadays this tradition is most commonly found in the question "what are you giving up for Lent?" -- with the understanding that what you give up is supposed to be something you would actually miss. [Side note: this tradition of fasting, of Lent as a somber season may well be the reason the Mardi Gras and Carnival take place just before Lent-- a final blowout before we start the Lenten fast.]

Fasting as a spiritual discipline has an ancient history. In Torah we find there are times when one is supposed or required to fast (Yom Kippur comes to mind) as part of the rituals of life. Fasting is a sacrificial act done to strengthen the spirit or as an act of penance. It is found in many different traditions.

But do we sometimes get it wrong?

Do people sometimes make a big deal, a big show of fasting as a way of showing how strong they are? Do people sometimes make it about themselves and not about the discipline? Even when it is about the discipline do we always allow the act of fasting to lead us into a deeper relationship with the Holy, to lead us to make a commitment to the Reign of God?

Do we sometimes think deciding not to eat chocolate (talk about denying oneself) makes a real difference in the world? What would it mean to participate in a Godly fast?

Many years ago this post ascribed to Pope Francis (there is some disagreement whether he was the first to say these things or if he even said them) floated through many Facebook feeds. These words challenge the reader to reconsider what to 'give up for Lent'.  The list isn't about eating and drinking or any of the other things people often claim to be giving up. Instead they challenge us to give up things that get in the way of Kingdom-living -- and replace them with healthier/more helpful alternatives Is that more what God has in mind for a fast?

Reading this week's passage from Isaiah makes me think so. Speaking through the prophet God tells the people that they have been getting fasting wrong. They have been going though the motions but not living into the spirit. They make a show of the fast but still quarrel, still oppress each other, still look out for themselves first.

The fast God chooses is one that breaks the yokes of injustice and oppression.  The fast that God chooses humbles rather than makes proud. The fast that God chooses leads to the hungry being fed and the naked being clothed. The fast that God chooses, the fast that God would have us choose, leads to renewal and rebirth, to a world rebuilt and restored.

So what fast would God have us choose in 2026?  Or maybe how would God have us fast in 2026?  Choosing not to eat, a hunger strike, can be a powerful tool of protest, has been for years. Boycotts are/can be, in my mind, a type of fasting and have been shown to be powerful tools as well.  Fasting can help change the world.

Or there are the fasts we take for our own health, the ones that allow us to be energized to take on the reality of life. Many people choose to take a break from Social Media for just this purpose.  Or some take on a "buy nothing" month to re-center themselves. Or maybe making a sincere effort to avoid sarcasm for a period of time. Fasting comes in many forms.

IS there a fast you feel called to undertake as we approach Lent this year?
--Gord

Minister's Annual Report...

 

Celebrating the gifts of the Spirit,
we are a loving and supportive congregation

in service to the Church, the Community, and the World through Faith

Do you recognize those words? They are from our congregational Vision Statement. I believe that Vision Statements do two things. They describe both who we think we are and who we want to be (or more theologically, who we are called to be). I also believe that Vision and Mission Statements are meaningless if we never look at them, reflect on them, and ask how they intersect with what we are actually doing. So as you read through this Annual Report I encourage you to ask yourself how you see the words of our Vision and Mission Statements (which you can find printed out at the beginning of this booklet) lived out in these pages.

Everything you see in these reports, everything you see when you come in for Sunday worship, everything you see when taking part in the communal life of St. Paul’s is made possible because many people have worked together to make it happen. People have given money. People have dreamed and planned and facilitated events. People have attended and supported. Everything that happens in this community happens because of this community. Thank you all for making this place what it is.

• thank you to Ministry Team members
• thank you to readers and greeters and communion servers
• thank you to those who prepare and serve coffee each Sunday
• thank you to those who deliver newsletters, who connect and check in on community members
• thank you to all who faithfully give via envelopes or e-transfers or PAR
• thank you to those who are intentional about greeting visitors and newcomers
• thank you to those who share their musical gifts
• thank you to those who help other events happen (from Garage Sale to Concerts to Coffee parties)
• thank you for all those other things I have forgotten as I made up this list

Together we live out our Vision Statement. Together we make this community the place we love, a place where we feel loved and supported. Thank You Thank You, and in case you missed it – THANK YOU.

The past year has had its ups and its downs. We have said good bye to active and vital members of the community, even as we have celebrated their lives and given thanks for the gifts that they shared. We have carefully watched our local givings even as we celebrate the added income form Card’s which has led us to another 5 digit surplus. We have shared dreams about what we could maybe possibly do even as we have been forced to acknowledge that maybe we have less energy and fewer volunteers to do what we dream. I wonder what your highlights and lowlights of the past year have been? Maybe we can find a way to share some of those at the Annual Meeting this year?

One of the purposes of an Annual Report, in my mind at least, is also to look ahead. What do we need to do to continue to grow into the community described in our Vision Statement? How do we move beyond existing into thriving, how do we become a more vibrant voice for God’s Beloved Community in Grande Prairie. As I ask myself those questions I think back a couple of years to the report from the Pathfinders group. That report highlighted the need for intentionally marketing ourselves to the community, making St. Paul’s better known. It is an issue that comes up repeatedly in churches. We tend to say “this needs to happen” but are not sure how to do it or are lacking the tools/confidence/know-how to make it happen. Your Council has agreed to have someone come to talk with us about marketing questions. It is my hope that we can find a way to light our light shine more brightly. It is my hope that as we do that we can more boldly invite others to come and check us out, to see if we are a community where they too find a spiritual home.

For the last few years General Council has encouraged us to live into this vision:

Called by God, as disciples of Jesus, The United Church of Canada seeks to be a bold, connected, evolving church of diverse, courageous, hope-filled communities united in deep spirituality, inspiring worship, and daring justice.

In the Toward 2035 initiative (https://united-church.ca/toward2035) launched last year we are encouraged to imagine:

In The United Church of Canada, inspired, resilient, and diverse contextual communities of disciples seek to continue the story of Jesus by embodying Christ’s presence in the world. The church is present and deeply connected coast-to-coast-to-coast in rural and urban settings, and in ecumenical and global relationships. Guided by hope-filled, adaptive and effective ministry leaders, the denomination is increasingly multigenerational, multiracial, and intercultural.

As a part of that national vision may we be Deep, Bold, and Daring in 2026 and beyond, God being our helper and guide.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to February 1, 2026

This is the first Sunday of the month so it is a week both to celebrate Communion and to highlight or Local Outreach Fund.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Psalm 15
• Micah 6:1-8

Source

The Sermon title is How Should We Live?

Early Thoughts: In the face of injustice, in the face of a deep lack of grace, in the face of a serious absence of humility how should we live? What should we do?

If we truly believe that choosing to follow The Way of Jesus calls us to be different people, if we truly want to live as transformed people what would that look like?

In a world where state-sponsored terrorists execute citizens on the streets on Minneapolis, where governments restrict the rights of people based on gender or sexuality, where the richer get richer and the poor struggle to get by, where 'me/I/mine' too often seems more important than 'we/us/ours' how should we respond?

Scripture answers these questions over and over again. From Moses through the Prophets to Jesus the answer is laid before us. Still we seem to struggle to get it right.

Do Justice. Love Kindness. Walk Humbly with God.

It is easy to say. Even easy to sing. It might be harder to actually do. In fact I know it is harder to actually do. Apparently it is even harder to push our governments, our wider society to do.

In some United Church circles Micah 6:8 has taken on a very special status. It has been lifted up time and time again, usually with the emphasis on the first instruction -- do justice. We as a denomination with strong roots in the Social Gospel movement of the late 19th-early 20th centuries have often pushed hard for a more just world. Social, Community, and Financial Justice is a key issue in Scripture. We need to continue not only to push for justice but to actually do it ourselves in our own circles of  power and influence. But there are two more instructions.

What does it mean to love kindness? Kindness sometimes gets confused with niceness but I don't think they are the same. Niceness can too easily become "don't make waves" or "just get along" whereas loving kindness brings to my mind the Golden Rule philosophy -- do unto others as you would have done to you. To love kindness, I think, means caring for the needs of the people around you -- at which point it often intersects with the first instruction to do justice.

Then we have the question of humility. One of my colleagues has pointed out in the past that this may be the piece of Micah 6:8 where we most often fall short. When we think it is all up to us to rebuild the world we have failed to walk humbly with God. When we fail to listen to the people around us we have failed to walk humbly with God. When we insist that we are the only ones with the correct point of view we have failed to walk humbly with God. Most certainly can do better at being humble.

The world is not what we wish it was. Justice, love, kindness, and humility often seem in short supply. God calls us to live as transformed people. God calls us to put our faith in action, not just words and songs. We know how we are called to live. How will we respond?
--Gord

Lent Newsletter -- Deep Spirituality

 Let us start with a story...

Jane looked at the time. Listed office hours were over. There was nobody else in the building. With a deep sigh she pulled out her phone, turned it off and put it back in her pocket. Then she stood up and made her way to the sanctuary.

There Jane turned on the sound system and started playing some gentle instrumental music. Then she turned off all the lights, letting the space soak on the sunlight streaming through the stained glass windows, and made her way to the chancel. Jane flipped open the big Bible on the communion table till she found the passage she was looking for. She read it aloud into the empty space, letting the words resound off the walls, then she flipped open the book of poetry she had brought from the office and read aloud one of her favourite pieces. As the last line of the poem echoed across the room Jane set the poetry down and sat silently in the choir loft.

4 or 5 minutes later she stood up and made her way down the chancel steps. Slowly, reflectively, even meditatively, Jane started weaving her way through the rows of seats. Carefully she passed between the rows, back and forth, like it was a very basic labyrinth. As she walked Jane allowed her mind to drift. For a while she reflected on the passage she had just read. For a while she replayed the poem. Then she started to quietly murmur words of prayer. Finally she fell silent and walked on, down one side of the sanctuary then back up the other, until she found herself standing again at the foot of the chancel steps.

There Jane settled into the front pew. She sat with her eyes closed, letting the music flow over her, silently lifting up her joys, her worries, her confusions, her hopes to the Holy One.

Suddenly she heard the church door slam and a cluster of voices in the hall, calling out her name. Then a group of people, the Social Committee, burst into the sanctuary. “Oh good! You aren’t busy!” the chair called out. “We need to have a quick meeting to discuss next month’s pancake supper!”

Jane grimaced. Then, as calmly as she could, she said: “Actually I am in the middle of something. If you go to the library I can join you in about 15 minutes.” The group left (though she could hear some grumbling as they went) and Jane tried to find that quiet calm place from which she had been dragged. But alas the moment was gone. She gathered up her book, turned off the sound system, grabbed what she needed from the office and joined the group in the library.

The next day there was a phone call from the chair of the personnel committee. They were concerned that when a group of people had come in (unannounced) and asked to talk Jane had made them wait even though she had clearly had only been resting in the sanctuary. Jane explained that she was working, she was doing the work she needed to be ready to serve, she was taking care of her Spirit. The call ended with a rather brusque “Well don’t let it happen again”.

....................

Back in 2022 the General Council released new vision and mission statements. Embedded in those were three pairs of words: Deep Spirituality, Bold Discipleship, Daring Justice. We were all invited to embrace those ideals as ways we live out our Christian faith. This year our newsletters will invite us to reflect on them. As it happens I have also chosen them as the launching points for three of our Sundays in Lent this year.

We start with the most foundational piece – Deep Spirituality. This is, in my mind, what we build on if we are to be bold disciples. It is what gives us the courage to dare and take risks for justice (as I write these words I think of the people of Minnesota where dozens of clergy were arrested this weekend as part of protests against the terror inducing activities of ICE). As people of faith we are invited and encourage to intentionally take time and sink into God’s presence. As people of faith we feed our spirits/souls to allow us to live out our faith.

Christopher Grundy has a song called By the Stream. Within that song are these lyrics (I think inspired by Psalm 1)

“Blessed are those who trust in God

they will be like a tree by the water
and sending out its roots by the Stream”

Listening to the song, reflecting on those lyrics reminds me of the importance of attending to our spiritual needs. There we get nourishment. There we get what we need to be able to live out our faith.

The story about Jane up above is a work of fiction. It started writing itself in my head a couple of days ago. It is not a “names changed to protect the innocent” thing it never happened to anyone I know. In fact it is based on an old joke about the minister in their study praying and someone comes in and says “oh good you aren’t busy”. I just expanded it a bit. But the story (and the old joke) tells us a lot about how we sometimes see the work involved in deep spirituality.

Sometimes we see those quiet, “non-productive” times as less important, a thing that can be knocked off the calendar in favour of more important “productive” work. With all the important things to do can we really take time to sit quietly, or walk along the creek, or watch the birds, or sing random hymns? I think we have to. I think that when we don’t take that time it is so much harder to keep doing the “important” things.

As people of faith our guidance and strength comes from God. If we don’t attend to our spiritual health, if we don’t sink deep into God’s presence and love we suffer. We might become exhausted. We might lose hope. We might start to think it all depends on us. Deep Spirituality may not always prevent such things but it can help avoid them, it can help us recover when they hit.

I close with one of my favourite verses, one that I have used as a bit of a mantra at times to sink into God’s presence: “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10)

Looking Ahead to January 25, 2026 -- 3rd Sunday After Epiphany

 The Scripture Reading this week is Matthew 4:12-25

The Sermon title is Good from Nazareth?

Early Thoughts: In the John reading from last week there was one line that always sticks with me. When Phillip tells Nathanael about Jesus Nathanael responds with "Can anything good come from Nazareth?"

This week's reading suggests the yes, indeed something good can come from Nazareth.

Most scholars agree that Nazareth was a bit of a backwater town. Some have suggested that even worse it was a backwater town from a backwater province. Galilee and Galileans were not always seen positively by those in Jerusalem and Judea. They spoke differently (as in a regional accent). They were far from Jerusalem. Can anything good come from way out there?

SO glad we would never hold those sorts of attitudes today....right?

At any rater maybe the idea that Galilee was removed from the center of things is why Matthew tells us the Jesus withdraws there after John the Baptist is arrested. Maybe Jesus is going where the heat is a little bit less. [Narrative note, as Matthew tells his story this makes it appear that Jesus returns from his 40 days in the wilderness (temptation story) and immediately heads north to Galilee.] Away from Judea, away from Jerusalem. At the same time Matthew has told us earlier (chapter 2) that Jesus grew up in Nazareth so maybe he is just going home?

At any rate we are still left with Nathanael's question from last week. Can anything good come from a backwater town? Cana anything important come from a place we easily forget?

Yes. Yes it can. God tends to surprise us that way. In fact I would argue that throughout the course of Scripture God often comes from unexpected places to launch something new. Amos was a vine dresser. David was a shepherd boy. Jesus came from Nazareth.

And then something amazing happens. This unknown person from a backwater town arrives with a splash. People leave their very livelihood to follow him. People from all around start coming seeking wisdom and healing.  Something good indeed came from Nazareth.

How many times might we miss what God is doing because we fall into the trap Nathanael falls into? How many times might we discount the source and stop looking (which Nathanael did not do, he remained engaged and saw Jesus for who he was)? Can we have the open hearts and minds to see where God is active?

This is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Christian Unity is one of those things that often seems like a good idea but not a reality. Churches often fall prey to dismissing what another church does simply because they are doing it. Churches often have trouble getting past our differences and recognize what God is doing in that place.

I challenge all of us to get past those times when we are tempted to say "Can anything good come from______?". I challenge all of us to look for what God is doing even (or perhaps especially) when the source seems very unlikely to us. Who knows what surprises we might find with that level of openness?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to January 18, 2025-- 2nd Sunday After Epiphany

 

From Facebook

The Scripture Reading this week is John 1:29-51

The Sermon title is Come and See

Early Thoughts: It isn't enough to know second hand. Sometimes you need to see/experience for yourself.

There is a story in Matthew's Gospel (Matthew 11:2-6) where disciples of John come and ask Jesus if he is the one who was promised or if another was coming. In answer Jesus tells them to go back and tell John what they have seen. What have they experienced? Actions matter, seeing is more important than descriptions.

In these early verses from John's  Gospel many people are told about Jesus. They all need to go and see for themselves. John (the Baptist, not the Gospel writer) believes because he saw. John then tells others about Jesus and they go to seek him out. Then Jesus invites them to "Come and See". One of them then goes to his brother and says (I think) "you gotta come see this guy!" and another connection is made, another follower joins the crowd.

Then we have Phillip and Nathanael who again are called forth by immediate contact --even through Nathanael's initial skepticism. 

That first hand experience of the presence of God has more power than someone telling you of their own experience. This is not to say that we should not share our stories and tell others of our experiences. We need to do that but we need to do it as a way of inviting others in to seek their own experiences. Think of Andrew going to Simon/Peter after spending hours with Jesus. He invites his brother to come and see for himself. We nee to invite others to come and see what God is doing in the world today.

Seeing for ourselves is the best counter to our doubt and our skepticism. Experiencing for ourselves hits harder, sinks deeper into our psyche than relying on second-hand experiences.

This continues into John's story.  When Jesus stands before Pilate  Jesus asks "Do you ask this on your own or did others tell you about me?" (John 18:34). Do we know Jesus, know who Jesus is only because of what other say or because we have met him ourselves? Do we know about God or do we know God (or probably both)? John is also the Gospel writer who gives us the story of Thomas, the disciple who refuses to believe in the resurrection until he has his own personal encounter with the Risen Christ.

Seeing, experiencing for ourselves is important. Inviting others to "come and see" so they can see and experience for themselves is part of how we spread the Good News of faith.

What would make us offer that invitation? What would we invite others to see, to experience? Who in our story of life and faith has offered the invitation to us?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to January 11, 2026 -- Baptism of Christ Sunday

 

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Isaiah 42:1-9
• Matthew 3:13-17

The Sermon title is Beloved Servant

Early Thoughts: What does it mean to remember that you are baptised? 

It could be an act of blessing and affirmation. It also could remind us of a deep calling. Both at the same time.

From the earliest days baptism as been the rite of initiation for the Christian church. From the beginning it has been a rite where the newly baptized is joined with Christ -- "dying and rising with Christ" is the traditional language. In baptism, as our baptism liturgy puts it,

we are called, claimed, and commissioned:
we are named as God’s children,
claimed by Christ,
and united with the whole Christian community
of every time and place.
Strengthened by the Holy Spirit,
we live out our commission;
to spread the love we have been given throughout the world.

So what does it meant to remember that you are baptized?

Our readings this week talk about Jesus. One tells of Jesus being baptized by John -- and indeed on of the reasons Christians hold Baptism as a sacrament is because while we have no record of him baptizing anybody Jesus himself was baptized. The other is one of the passages from Isaiah that talks about the Suffering Servant. There is some disagreement about who Isaiah had in mind as the Suffering Servant but Christians have long read these passages as being about Jesus. SO taking the two together we have Jesus as Beloved Servant.

In Baptism we share in the death and resurrection of Christ. In Baptism we are named as God's children, we are claimed by Christ, and we are commissioned to take part in God's action of remaking the world. Maybe in Baptism we too are named as God's Beloved Servant?

This is both blessing and challenge, to me at least.  It is a great blessing to be reminded that we are Beloved by God, tat we are a Beloved child of God. We tend to like that. But there is the commissioning side to it as well. We are to be servants, to serve. 

Called to serve means we advocate for the Reign of God (remembering that Jesus was all about proclaiming the present/coming Kingdom of God). It means that we speak out against those things/persons/policies that work against the Reign of God. It may mean we have to run counter to some powerful or influential voices in the world around us. This can be difficult.

Still we are able to do this, to the best we can, because of the first part. We are able to play a part in God's ongoing mission to repair and remake the world because we are God's Beloved children. Remembering this moves us past our guilt and shame and regret. Remembering that we are Beloved helps us to turn (or to repent) and go a different direction, to go home by another way.

We need to remind ourselves of the blessing and the burden of being Baptized on a regular basis -- maybe even daily. We need to remind ourselves what it means to be baptized and reflect on how that gets lived out. Sometimes we do this to push ourselves (and each other) to live into God's mission. Sometimes we do it to lift ourselves out of depression or shame or guilt. Sometimes we do it to give us hope for the future.

In Baptism we are reborn (or "born again" to use a different turn of phrase). When we remember what it means to be baptized we can be reborn again and again and again. When we remember and recommit ourselves to our identity as Baptized. life wins and we are reborn.  Thanks be to God.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to January 4, 2026 -- Epiphany Sunday

Welcome to a New Year! As this is the first Sunday of a new month we will be celebrating the sacrament of Communion this week.

The Scripture Readings for this Epiphany Sunday are:

• Matthew 2:1-12
• Luke 2:25-38

The Sermon title is Seeing the Child

Early Thoughts: What happens when we encounter God? What happens when we see clearly for an instant?

Both our stories this week are about people seeking or waiting to see the Promised One. In both our stories they end up having their quest fulfilled. In one case they "go home by a different way". In another both people are moved to praise and proclaim how God is at work in this child.

One of many artistic
impressions of the Magi
Source

The Magi are learned people from far away. They read the signs and know that something big is happening so they travel far to find the new king who has been born. Along the way they alert the current king of a possible contender because they are still stuck in a different understanding of where to find the Promised One. They look first among the high and mighty. They find the child in a much humbler space. 

The story tells us why the Magi go home by a different road. They do it because a dream warns them to avoid going back to Herod. Alerted by their earlier visit Herod is now seeking to get rid of any possible competition (which appears very much on brand for what we know of Herod the Great). However there have been many over the centuries who wonder if there is something more to that last line. Aside from the very practical political reason, is Matthew perhaps suggesting that the Magi have been changed by the encounter? It is an interesting question. How were they affected by their long journey and the actual finding of the child? These are people with a different spirituality, a different, non-Jewish, understanding of the Divine. How might the encounter with Emmanuel, God-Made-Flesh (as Christians describe this child) change them?

Rembrandt's interpretation 
of that day in the temple
source

Then we have Simeon and Anna. They are both well advanced in years. They are both in the temple when Mary and Joseph arrive with their newborn son. Both of them, on seeing the child, know who he is. Both of them respond with praise and prophecy. What could easily have been described as a pair of chance encounters takes on a whole new level of meaning because God is revealed.

This Sunday we are marking (two days early) the ancient festival of Epiphany. Capitalized the word epiphany refers specifically to this festival where the visit and adoration of the Magi is remembered. But as a word apart from the festival epiphany is something that happens many ways. Dictionary.com reminds us that the word refers to a revelation, either as a manifestation of Divine presence or as a sudden burst of insight. For the next several weeks the Christian Year has us in the Season After Epiphany (which bridges the time until the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday -- February 18 this year). I think that one of the themes of this season is to open ourselves for the possibility that God might be revealed to us. I mean yes, we are supposed to be aware of that all the time but maybe this is a time to be extra aware?

What impact does God being revealed to us have in our lives? Are we really aware of it at the time or only in retrospect?

Epiphanies (not the festival) happen in many ways. God is revealed in many different ways. Sometimes, I think, we totally miss it when it happens. But when we recognize it! When we become aware that something deeply special is happening right her and now! It leaves a mark. Encountering God changes us -- if we let it. 

I have learned that many of us have stories of becoming aware, sometimes suddenly, sometimes surprisingly, that God is really present with us in a situation. Many of us can look back and tell how that experience (or those experiences) has shaped us as people of faith.

The Magi were seeking the child. Simeon was waiting for a promise to come true. Anna might just have happened to be there or maybe she too was waiting. They had their chance. Are you seeking or waiting or jus happen to be at the right place at the right time? What happens when you too see the child for who he really is?
--Gord

To Ponder, PErchance to Dream --Christmas Eve 2025

(Cross posted to Worship Offerings )

And Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart”
In her heart, not just thinking them over, she pondered them in her heart. The place where dreams and hopes live. The core of our being. That is where these things she had heard and experienced rested. Her heart.

What did Mary ponder that night? As she lay there exhausted in that place where animals usually slept, looking at her newborn child in that manger ,what ran through her mind, heart, and soul. As the baby woke and cried out, as she picked him up and began to nurse, what was she seeing, thinking, feeling, hoping?

Did she wonder what the future would be like? Had she, like many parents before and since, spent the last 9 months dreaming about the life her child would live? Now that the child was here did she listen to the story that the shepherds babbled about angels and a message from God about a Saviour and wonder what that meant for her son? Did it make her hopeful or worried?

Or maybe she thought back to that day back in Nazareth. Was it only 9 months ago? That day when suddenly Gabriel appeared and told her she was favoured. He had told her that this would be a special child, one who would regain the throne of her ancestor David. Mary had not known what to do, this couldn’t be right, she questioned Gabriel and then agreed to the offer. But maybe a seed had been planted in her heart. Is that where the dream began?

Maybe she then thought of the hurried trip to see Elizabeth. She had to get away from the rumours and sideways glances, had to find a place of safety. Elizabeth was family, was married to a priest, and lived far away. That would be a safe place. Did her thoughts drift to the day she arrived and Elizabeth told of her child leaping and dancing with joy at the mere approach of Mary and the baby growing in her belly?

Maybe the pondering landed on the song that came to Mary’s lips that day. The song of power and defiance and hope. The dream of a world renewed and reborn. The dream that her child would bring healing, liberation, and freedom. The dream that God was at work in turning the tables, turning the world upside down through this child that she carried. Somehow Mary just knew it to be true. This little being that was turning and swimming in her womb would do all those things. It was more than a dream or a hope, it was a promise. Now that the child was here did her ears ring with that song once again? Did she sing it to him now, just as she had sung it to him so many times before?

Had she been there when Elizabeth’s son was born? Had she been there that day when John was named and Zechariah found his voice again? Had she listened to his song of hope and promise about John and about another, a saviour who would come? Listening to that song may well have deepened the dreams about the child. The dream wasn’t only hers...

Or maybe there was another side to the pondering. Maybe Mary remembered the dream, the hope, the promise and then compared it to what she knew of the world. Would the dream survive in the midst of imperial power? She knew what that power could do. She had seen the legions in action. Would Rome step aside as the dream came true?

What did Mary ponder as she held her newborn son to her chest, listening to his breathing?

I think she saw the hope. I think that she looked back on all that had happened over those last 9 months and remembered every moment. I am sure that like so many other parents-to-be she had spent many a night dreaming about her child. I think that in those sleepless nights when it was so hard to get comfortable she thought about what Gabriel had said, what she had sung, remembering many long talks with Elizabeth about the future, whispering and singing to her belly, sharing the hope and dream with her unborn child, and now she looked at that child and saw all those hopes and promises reflected in his eyes.

Then she would come to the present. The long journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, the arrival in a town bursting at the seams, the beginnings of the labour pains even as it became obvious that nobody had any room, the grateful acceptance of a space in the lower level of a house because the guest room was full, the pain of childbirth, and the surprise of shepherds bursting in with their story. And she pondered it all, seeing the dream and the hope, a dream and hope that the shepherd’s story seemed to reinforce. I want to think that Mary held the dream high and pondered how the world could be so much better because of this small child gently nursing in her arms.

And now, 2000 years later we sit and listen to the story again. We too are invited to ponder all these things in our hearts. We too are invited to share the dream.

What do we ponder here tonight? What dreams do we bring with us to this Christmas Eve?

I think our Christmas dreams have much in common with Mary’s. I think that after all these years the dream of God re-ordering the world, of God bringing peace and justice to God’s children still resonates among people of faith. The world sometimes seems like a broken place. There is much that could be better. Christmas invites us to dream of the ‘better’.

The Christmas promise carries with it many dreams. The birth of a child always makes us dream about the future, the birth of this child also makes us dream about the present. At Christmas God breaks into the here and now, the promises are for a Jewish peasant family 2000 years ago, for us here and now, for those who will come after us.

The birth of Jesus awakens hope in our lives. Hope that drives out despair. In a world where bad news and violence and division seems to rule the day Christmas wakes us up to possibility. We are people of hope, we dream of a world where hope is stronger than despair.

One of the titles Jesus is given is the Prince of Peace. Our Christmas dream is of the “time foretold when peace shall over all the earth it’s ancient splendours fling”. We dream of a transformed world where weapons of war are turned into tools of peace, where “they shall not hurt or destroy on all God’s holy mountain”.

A traditional Jewish song says “Joy shall come even to the wilderness...deserts like a garden blossom”. The old carol proclaims “Joy to the World, the Lord is come!”. Our Christmas dream involves Joy. In the dry places of our lives, where joy seems distant or impossible Christmas reminds us of the God who shares our lives intimately, the God who is always with us. We sink into deep trust and find Joy in God’s deepest presence. We dream of Joy blossoming in the world like the desert after a rain.

Love came down at Christmas, Christina Rossetti once wrote. Love was born at Christmas. The idea of Emmanuel, God-With-Us taking on human flesh and walking among us sounds like a dream. The idea of Love taking on human form and moving in the world is a dream, a dream of the God who is actively leading us to love each other as we have been loved. Our Christmas Dream includes remembering how deeply we are loved by God.

Mary dreamed that her child would transform the world. Mary dreamed of a time of peace and justice and renewal. All these centuries later we still share her dream. We ponder the promises of the story. We dream a dream, a hopeful dream that leads us to live as renewed people, people of hope, people building peace, people singing for joy, people actively loving our neighbours.

Keep dreaming my friends. As we listen to the angel song ringing through the sky keep dreaming of all that this night promises: Peace on the Earth, Good will to all. Christ is Born, Alleluia! Amen.

Looking Ahead to December 21, 2025 -- Advent 4

 

The Scripture readings this week are:

• 1 John 4:7-12, 16-19
• John 1:1-14

The Sermon title is The Christmas Dream: Embodied Love

Early Thoughts: What was that first word? The one that was with God from the beginning...what was it it? What is it?

Theologically speaking, when John talks about the Word, the Word which becomes flesh and dwells or abides among us, we see the 2nd person of the Trinity, Jesus, the one we call Christ. John is telling us that Jesus (the 2nd person of the Trinity to use an understanding that would be codified in the 4th-5th century) has been co-existent with God (the 1st person of the Trinity) since the beginning. Indeed nothing was created without this Word.

But what if we have to say it was an actual word, a part of speech?

I posit that the creating word which has been with and been part of  God since the beginning is in fact Love. After all the passage from 1 John (likely written by a different person than the Gospel of John but someone who shares a similar theology) names that "Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him." If God is love then it makes sense to me the that Word is also love, love becomes flesh and dwells (or abides) among us. This is the Christmas story, this is the mystery of the Incarnation.

What does it do to see Jesus as Love with flesh on? What does it to our understanding of the world if we say that nothing was created without Love?

I think it makes a world of difference. If we claim to follow the one who is Love Enfleshed, the very embodiment of Love it has to change how we interact with each other. If we claim that all that is created was created through Love then it has to impact how we interact with all of creation.

Part of my Christmas Dream is that, as Christina Rossetti once wrote, Love shall be our token/Love shall be yours and love be mine/Love to God and to all men [sic]/Love for plea and gift and sign. It is my dream that when we meet Love with skin on laying in a manger we will be changed. As we follow the one who commands us to Love each other as we have first been loved (John 13:34) we change the world.

Love is free and wild in the world. Our job is not to try and tame or restrict it. Our calling is to dance with it, joining with wild abandon. Love has been in the world from the beginning, humanity had trouble understanding it so Love took on human form and dwelt/abided among us. Love then defeated the power of death and continues to dwell/abide among us. May we feel free to join in the dance.
--Gord