For Those Who Seek Perfection

Psalm 72:10-14 May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute, may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. May all kings fall down before him, all nations give him service. For he delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence he redeems their life; and precious is their blood in his sight.

The King, the Lord Christ, calls for community that includes all; he calls us to help one another lest we fall. He calls for help when a person is poor and in need; forgive us Lord for we have so qualified “need” that your call we no longer willingly heed. Those who have no help the Christ would deliver; many less vocal types who need help hide in fear and shiver. Forgive us Lord for many times our community only includes the blonde, blue-eyed, and the slim; not the unlovely because it requires much to include them. God forgive us when we hold to our power of plenty while there is less and less help for the many. We fight over how to protect your “book” while at the world’s oppression and violence we refuse to look. Send the powerful hand of King Jesus to reorder our souls as we learn to share our gold. God, in our midst, create a community that includes all of us as in King Jesus we put our trust.

“When the saying on our coins is written in our hearts a new community will come to be.”

Epiphany

Matthew 2:1-2 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage."

We come this day of Epiphany to remember the kings came to worship Jesus, perhaps on bended knee. Let us this day open our hearts to see what called to the wise men three. A star shining bright as a sign they set out the child to find. Let us come this day and ourselves bring our everyday life as we allow for Jesus to be our king. The kings brought gift of gold, myrrh, and frankincense to the young child to present. Little did the kings know that God has sent a gift to give; baby King Jesus had come that all humanity could wholly live.

Christmas Twelve; A Day Late

The tree will be taken down and used as mulch for the ground. Time will dim the memory of lights shining brightly in the night. We will stop doing our Christmas thing and turn to merry making as we eat the cakes of the kings. Gone, now for a year, are the carols we sing and we replace the purity of white with gold, purple, and green. Let the spirit of the Christ child continue to grow and his love for each other on Christmas Twelve we show.

Christmas Eleven

It is good to believe God spoke a gentle word; a word that can still be heard. A word gentle enough that when believed takes away fear and allows for one’s soul to be of good cheer. A word gentle as it protects the soul from evil attacks and gently brings one’s wholeness back. We could use God’s gentle word in amongst us that we may find the ultimate good to trust. In a world more and more driven by suspicion and greed it is exactly God’s gentle word that we need. When we find ourselves collectively lost and at cross purposes we can know of direction, grace, and gentleness of which God has a great surplus. On earth in a manger a new born baby’s cry is a gentle echo from heaven to remind us of God’s redemptive gentle word on Christmas Eleven.

Christmas Ten

Building was empty of a congregation while God kept watch in this rural church station. The air was crisp and cold and soon would be warmed by the gathering souls. God was in the their midst all the while as they greeted each other with hugs and smiles. Their singing was strong, not loud, as they worshipped, this small crowd. They stood with faith and witnessed with their creed and they opened up to each other and shared their needs. Another song of praise they did lift and with God and the world shared their gifts. Look this day, Christmas Ten, at the joy on their faces as they experience, in community, God's grace.

VRC

Christmas Nine, Gumbo Grace

The blue of the day turns a bit pale as the goodness of God we hail. The sun going down makes an orange fire in the sky as we give ourselves over to a God on which we can rely. God’s love moves in the ending of day as it touches people of every class from the best heeled to those the uncaring term as “trash.” After all God’s gift did not come to life in the best of places and only survived by God’s grace. Like the many ingredients added to well browned rue, God’s gift was given everybody else and you. God’s young son was worshipped by shepherds who responded to good news on angel’s wings and later by the star reading kings. God gift of love in the Christ child is big enough to cover persons the most assertive and the gentlest mild. God’s gift of love is available to the person well known around town and to the old man or woman digging in the ground. The child, Christ Jesus, came into the world for “all” and that means any of us upon his holy gracious name can call.

Christmas Eight

Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 (KJV) To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life. And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.

Much in life is difficult but with time taken joy can be life’s result. We take time to build something that will last and soon find that it is simply a memory of the past. Many are lost in the midst of sadness and crying yet with time they can be found rejoicing. When we look at time we find a lovely gift of the divine. In time we invest our labor seeking to curry life’s favor. When time we try diligently to control we risk losing the notion of our very souls. Perhaps on Christmas Day number eight we can faithfully find a new way in life to relate. “Every person should eat and drink and the good of their labor enjoy” as we turn with faith in time to Mary’s baby boy.

VRC