This sermon was preached at our celebrations on the 24th,  but it speaks to the great themes of the whole of the 12 Days of Christmas… and in fact into the life of the people of faith as we make our way into Epiphanytide and beyond.

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et us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place.”  As Luke tells the story, the shepherds leave their fields to go into the little town where they find a baby born in a barn, sleeping in the feed trough.  It was, needless to say, an unusual manifestation of the glory of God.  But for those shepherds, it was apparently tranformative: “and they returned to the fields, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.”

At the conclusion of his wonderful retelling of the story, the Minnesota story-teller Garrison Keillor remarks that it was the shepherds who were the lucky ones; that they didn’t have to do anything to earn the experience of seeing this child… it was just given to them, as a gift.

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e call the community into a time of prayer.

Lord you are with us, You knit us together in mutual love and caring.  You pour out abundant gifts that enrich our existence and challenge us to give our best.  Let the words of our mouth proclaim the dawn of redemption that Christ inaugurates.  Let the actions that arise from our hearts and minds spread abroad the good news of his reconciling love.   Plant in every heart the love of Him who is the Saviour of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ; and with that love burning, make this world of ours a world of hope and promise – for all peoples, and for all times.

Lord in your mercy…

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call the community into a time of prayer.

This season of arrival is marked by a spirit of expectation, of anticipation, of preparation and of longing.  We yearn for deliverance from the burdens of the world, looking forward to Messiah, who will bring the peace and justice and righteousness longed for by all.   Lord in your mercy…

Hear our prayer.

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music, art and life at saint benedict’s table

This essay appeared in Creating Change: the arts as catalyst for spiritual transformation, edited by Keri Wehlander and published by CopperHouse Books, 2008.

 When imagination fails doctrines become ossified, witness and proclamation wooden, doxologies and litanies empty, consolations hollow, and ethics legalistic. (Amos Niven Wilder, Theopoetic)

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n much of his written work, and perhaps most notably in an essay entitled “Rethinking Church Models through Scripture,”[1], the Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann has argued persuasively that as was the case for Israel in exile, the key task for an increasingly marginalized church is that of re-texting the community in its foundational – and often subversive – narratives.  I actually wonder to what degree we have really faced the reality that the church in many quarters has not only declined numerically, but has also been deprivileged?  That, to borrow another image from Brueggemann, the church has been moved from judge’s bench to witness stand, where we’ve found that we are but one in a whole series of others, all waiting to give witness in an increasingly pluralistic society?[2]  The truth is that we are no longer a key societal arbiter of what is right or true or good, but one of the many voices asking to be heard.  We are in a situation analogous to Israel in exile – though our move into exile has not been marked by that level of violence and upheaval – wherein our language and our practices are not echoed, carried or supported by the broader culture; certainly not in any significant way.

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Is Mary singing about a revolution?

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e’re coming up now on the fourth Sunday of Advent, when the story of Mary is told and her great song, Magnificat, is sung.   It is actually a bit odd how easily we sing this text, as it speaks so transparently about what can only be called subversion or revolution.

Remember, this is the song which Mary sings up in the hill country, where she has gone to visit her kinswoman Elizabeth.  After being greeted by Elizabeth (“Blessed are you among women”), Mary sings out her song of praise and hope.  It starts out innocently enough:

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Father, we watch, we wait, we long for you

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am the voice of the one crying out in the wilderness.  Make straight the way of the Lord.

Father, we come to worship during this season of advent – where we wait, long and watch for you.  Our senses are on overload with our attention being drawn in many directions.  We hear Christmas carols everywhere, the playful laughter of children, we enjoy the scent of fresh greenery and hot cider, we see beautiful displays of lights, colourful and animated, the most lavish of creations to the most modest decoration.  At a time of parties, preparations and  pageants, may we take the lead of John in tonight’s gospel to take moments to disengage and to welcome stillness and contemplation, imagine newness, to continue our vigil in our walk towards Christmas.  Open the way for the unexpected, O God, as we look amongst the crowd, around the corner and amidst the mayhem for this Christ child.

Make straight the way of the Lord. Lord in Your Mercy…

Hear our prayer.

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an Advent musing from Catherine Pate

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work in a mall. Well, I don’t exactly work in a mall, but my office is situated in a mall.  As I sit at my computer each day I overlook the second floor corridor as people make their way from one end of the mall to the other, weaving in and out of stores like mice scurrying in and out of their burrows.

From where I sit, I am eye level with the twinkling lights of one of the many decorated archways lining this particular corridor beginning on November 1^st through January 1st. In the midst of the little white lights that dangle like untied shoe laces, an enormous red and gold bow hangs stiffly from the centre of the garland crowning it on both sides, just as it has each year for at least the last four. (more…)

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Some of you will know of the battle Gerald Folkerts is currently fighting, as he struggles against an aggressive brain tumour, and some may even be following the “Gravel Road” blog that his family has been posting for him.  What follows here is a call to prayer, a lament, an affirmation of the need to tell the truth… but ultimately it is one friend trying to make sense of what another friend is going through.

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ay by day remind yourself that you are going to die,” writes St Benedict in his instructions to his monks (Rule of St Benedict, 4:47), which is pretty sobering advice even if one is in good health.  I’ve been thinking about that bit of counsel a fair bit lately, as I’ve watched my friend Gerald walk ever closer to the edge of his own death.

In early September, the doctors discovered that Gerald had a brain tumour, and within days of that diagnosis he was on the operating table.  I was away from the city when that all took place, and so it wasn’t until early October that I was able to go to his home to talk with him about how he was managing.  It was a cool and rainy autumn day, but we still walked the block up his street to the local coffee spot; “I’m a B.C. boy,” he said, “and this is great weather.”  Over a cup of coffee he spoke with great openness about his fears, hopes, and struggles, and then we wandered back up the street in what was now a deluge of rain.  “Great weather,” he remarked, as I climbed into my car.

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reator our God we ask that our church be a place led by leaders who set the tone and challenge of the season.  We ask that the spirit of peace, hope, love and joy fill the lives of our Bishops, Priests, Deacons and the heads of ministries throughout their communities.  May the whole church work in cooperation with all its members to meet the needs of their surrounding communities, the larger church and all peoples of our world. Lord in your mercy.

Hear our prayer.

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This message arrived just the other day, and it seemed timely to get it up on the site as we make our way through Advent.  For those of you who don’t know the connection between saint ben’s and the HOME/OMUKA project in Uganda, Lola Eidse was one of the founding members of our community, who is now living and working in Uganda in this very challenging project.

Christmas is fast approaching and I have to say that though I miss many things about that festive holiday season in Canada…I do not miss the rush and panic to complete all the  shopping and spending time in those busy/crazy malls and stores.

Here in Uganda we are planning a small but festive Christmas day of our own… we plan to go to a Christmas Eve Church service in a nearby church…giving our boys each a new dress shirt to wear on Christmas day….and hosting a small feast for our close family and friends in the afternoon of Christmas day.  We hope to purchase a certain local tree in a big pot to serve as our Christmas tree….maybe add some twinkle lights ( I brought one strand from home) and the boys will maybe help me to string popcorn and make paper chains to decorate…. I have to ask some more questions about the popcorn though, we don’t want any four or six-legged uninvited guests to show up for our Christmas party!!!    We hope it will be a memorable time…

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