“There is nothing so secular that it cannot be sacred, and that is one of the deepest messages of the Incarnation.” --Madeleine L’Engle
Have you ever set out to write something and discovered that somebody has already said exactly what you were hoping to say? That happened to me this week when I sat down to compose my Wednesday message about Mary. In Greek Mary is called theotokos, “God-bearer,” and I wanted to write something about the God who can be found in all the fleshliness of a pregnancy, in all the fragility and wonder of a newborn child.
Then I ran across this beautiful reflection by my dear friend and colleague, Rev. Kai Moore LeFranc, and realized that they had already found the words. It’s written from the perspective of the Angel Gabriel, and I hope it stirs your hearts as it stirred mine. May we all be witnesses to the miracle of Incarnation, the astonishing Good News that our bodily humanness might be the very vehicle through which God reveals Her love to us.
Blessin’s, --Tom
…
Gabriel
by Rev. Kai Moore LeFranc
"Do not be afraid"
I say, every time,
and they are still afraid.
Because when I show up
it means something big is going on.
God is doing something new.
"God is doing something,"
I say,
"And you have a part in it.
God is moving in your life,
in your world,
And you can help us make this new thing happen."
I have delivered some extraordinary messages.
But this message was something else.
This was the message I've waited an eternity to deliver:
God is coming.
Not just in triumph and splendor,
fire or trumpets or a blaze of unreachable glory –
God is coming into the very flesh of this world
your flesh
God will take on blood and guts and flesh and bone
And Mary will hold God in her very body
Your earthly world will hold God in the flesh
somehow
And I do not understand how all that divine splendor
– which you cannot even lay eyes on and live –
how all that is God
can fit in something as small and as ordinary
as a human baby.
But I do know
that this message will change everything.
No wonder they're afraid.
...
QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK: Where do you find God in the “messy miracle” of embodied living? What new things are on their way in your life?
...
COMING UP
Wednesday 12/19
Guilds I & II, 1:30pm
UCCW Choir, 7pm
Thursday 12/20
Tom’s Community Office Hours, 9am-12pm @ Gather
Holden Evening Prayer at 6pm, UCC Watertown. The service lasts 1/2 hour, with a simple potluck meal to follow. This will be the last one.
Friday 12/21
Deadline for all reports and news items for the January newsletter
Sunday 12/23
Adult Bible Study, 8:45am
Sunday Worship 10am,
Book Study, 4pm (Fellowship Hall)
Monday 12/24 (Christmas Eve)
Office closed
Christmas Eve Lessons & Carols Service, 5:30pm
Tuesday 12/25 (Christmas Day)
Office closed - Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!!!
Wednesday, 12/26
Pastor Tom will be out of the office until January 2, 2019