Nativity Sets?

I invite you, before reading the rest of this post to read the story of Christmas, according to the author of St. Luke:

Luke 2:1-14, New Revised Standard Version

I don’t have a nativity set in my house. My lack of clarity and decisiveness on the matter of buying one is the subject of some amount stress for my wife. I will occasionally find the perfect set and tell Alisha I am going to buy it and then I don’t. When she asks me why, I usually say, “Because it misses the point.”

When I decide to buy one, I am thinking about one of two things.

One is that looking at a beautifully crafted set reminds me of the joy and mystery of the gift of Jesus. When I see one that is handcrafted, I am moved by the gifts of the artist and how she used those gifts to lovingly craft this re-presentation of this wondrous scene.

I also think about the fact that people are learn differently and are moved differently. While some may begin to understand the grace of God through words of scripture or the words of a sermon, some may get the message of grace much more clearly by looking at the scene of Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus.

When I was a child, my only hearing of the Christmas story was setting up the nativity scene and asking my Mother what all the pieces meant.

When I decide not to buy the nativity scene, I am thinking about something else. When I consider not just the birth of Jesus, but the life of Jesus and the death of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus and the ascension of Jesus and the promised return of Jesus, can I imagine that Jesus would wish me to respond by buying an expensive collection of plastic, wood, resin or clay?

I am caught in the tension between celebrating and sharing the gift or just trying to simply live it out. Perhaps I will buy a nativity set this year, but perhaps instead of being made of plaster and wood, it will be made out of insecticide treated bed nets that will help Africans prevent the spread of Malaria or maybe it will be made out of food to feed refugees of the latest earthquake. Perhaps it won’t be on my mantle reminding me about the meaning of Christmas, it will be out in the world showing others God’s love through simple acts of human love.

In reflecting on the story of Christmas, Ted Wardlaw, president of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary recently wrote, “We often want to spray shellac over this story and treat it like an artifact that we place on our shelves with all the other curios and memorabilia. But if this story becomes too timeless—too hermetically sealed, too untouchable—then it loses its ability to surprise us, and thus to invade our lives until it touches each one of us.”[1]

Whether we have a nativity set or not, whether it is new and represents another way to remember and celebrate or it is old and holds with it memories of Christmases past, I think it is important to remember what it is and consider why we have it.

And as we share the stories of Christmas, I think it is important to not see them as artifacts, but as living words that shape not just our holiday decorating, but our very lives.

I invite you to pause for a moment and read again Luke’s Christmas story, this time from Eugene Peterson’s The Message. Let it come alive in you and then, in the silence, think about how it may be alive for you this year.

Luke 2:1-14, The Message

peace,

will

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[1] Ted Wardlaw, “Luke 2:1-20”, In This Season, 2005 Advent Reflections from the Austin Seminary Community

This Week's Sermon

Here is the sermon from this past Sunday.

Sermon #11 - What Are We Waiting For?

As always, your thoughts and comments are always welcome!

peace,

will

And So This is Christmas Pt. II

Now with live video.

And So This is Christmas

A few images of the season... All courtesy of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel of Black Friday shopping at the Sawgrass Mills Mall.

Happy Thanksgiving

I want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving and share a little thought about the day from Ben Franklin from The Compleated Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin.

It seems that Thanksgiving was originally proposed as a day of fast, not of feast. You can thank "a farmer of plain sense" that you are enjoying a table full of food instead of spending the day hungry. The idea is still the same, taking a day to remember where all our blessings come from.

peace,

will

The Real Story of the First Thanksgiving
By Benjamin Franklin (1785)

“There is a tradition that in the planting of New England, the first settlers met with many difficulties and hardships, as is generally the case when a civiliz’d people attempt to establish themselves in a wilderness country. Being so piously dispos’d, they sought relief from heaven by laying their wants and distresses before the Lord in frequent set days of fasting and prayer. Constant meditation and discourse on these subjects kept their minds gloomy and discontented, and like the children of Israel there were many dispos’d to return to the Egypt which persecution had induc’d them to abandon.

“At length, when it was proposed in the Assembly to proclaim another fast, a farmer of plain sense rose and remark’d that the inconveniences they suffer’d, and concerning which they had so often weary’d heaven with their complaints, were not so great as they might have expected, and were diminishing every day as the colony strengthen’d; that the earth began to reward their labour and furnish liberally for their subsistence; that their seas and rivers were full of fish, the air sweet, the climate healthy, and above all, they were in the full enjoyment of liberty, civil and religious.

“He therefore thought that reflecting and conversing on these subjects would be more comfortable and lead more to make them contented with their situation; and that it would be more becoming the gratitude they ow’d to the divine being, if instead of a fast they should proclaim a thanksgiving. His advice was taken, and from that day to this, they have in every year observ’d circumstances of public felicity sufficient to furnish employment for a Thanksgiving Day, which is therefore constantly ordered and religiously observed.”

Promises to Keep

One of the things I miss about living in Austin was how easy it was to see fascinating people speak. Between three seminaries, a giant university, the state capital and a bunch of funky bookstores, there was always an opportunity to see authors, theologians, politicians and self-proclaimed philosophers sharing something.

Of course, this happens in Corpus Christi as well, you just have to look a little harder to find it. We had Paul R. Dirdak, from the UMC General Board of Global Ministries just this week. And on Sunday, December 4th at 7 p.m., another great opportunity presents itself. St. John's UMC (5300 Alameda - between Airline and Ennis Joslin) is presenting a talk from Holocaust Survivor Ernest Michel.

Mr. Michel spend six years in some of the Nazi's most notorious concentration camps. He also served as a special correspondent at the Neuremberg War Crimes Trial and is now an author, lecturer and community leader.

This will be worth the short drive. I hope to see you there.

peace,

will

Bishop's Thanksgiving Service

Thanks to everyone from Grace who attended the Bishop's Annual Thanksgiving Service at First UMC. It was a great worship service and it was wonderful to hear from The Rev. Paul R. Dirdak, deputy general secretary of the General Board of Global Ministries. He spoke about all the amazing things The United Methodist Committee on Relief is doing throughout the world.

Although I have been accused of talking about UMCOR too much, most of us don't know a lot about the relief efforts they are involved in throughout the world. UMCOR is a well respected, well run humanitarian agency and we all should be proud of their work.

Check out the work they are involved in at The General Board of Global Ministries Website.

peace,

will

Intelligent Design? The Vatican Weighs in Again

You may have read earlier in the month ("Now how about that...") A post about a Catholic cardinal coming out in support of Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Well now another Vatican official weighs in on the issue:

Vatican Official Refutes Intelligent Design

What I find most exciting about this is that we seem to be getting a rare glimpse into the Vatican's discussion of this issue. If you do a google news search on the topic, (let me point out, if you know how to do a google news search, you are a geek, welcome to my club) you will find that there have been a number of news stories about statements from a number of high ranking Catholics sharing some views that are not entirely compatible. That is wonderful to watch. Say what you want about the Catholic church, they have some of the greatest theologians of our age and it is a shame when they we don't get to hear their views because they are shielded behind the publicly released opinion of only the Pope.

This may sound terribly boring to some, but this is really important stuff. How we think about creation, how we think about evolution, and how we consider God's role in all this can greatly affect how we do science and how we treat our world and each other.

peace,

will

Charge Conference Tonight

Tonight is Grace UMC's annual Charge Conference. For those of you who aren't Methodists or just haven't heard about his aspect of the life of this denomination, a brief explanation. The United Methodist Church is a connectional church. Although each church is a fairly independent unit, we are all part of the national church. One way to see this is to think of non-denominational churches on one hand, who are not necessarily responsible to anyone other than themselves (and God of course) and, on the other hand, the Catholic Church which has a very top-down administration. United Methodists are somewhere in between.

One way this connection is shown most clearly is in the appointment of pastors. John and I are appointed by the Bishop of the Southwest Texas Conference and that is who we technically work for. We are not hired by the church, though the church does get a lot of say in what kind of pastors it will get.

The other way the connection is visible is in the annual Charge Conference. Every year each United Methodist congregation is required to call a Charge Conference and it is required that the District Superintendent is present. She (in our case Rev. Barbara Ruth) represents the Bishop and the Annual Conference at the meeting. There is certain business that can only be done at the Charge Conference. Most of the really big decision of the church must be voted on in the presence of the District Superintendent or her representative. These include buying of selling land, building new structures, and setting the salary of the pastors (who technically work for the Annual Conference, but are paid by the church.)

Some of this might just be too much information. But I encourage you, if you are around to come by. Only the Church Council votes at this meeting, but anyone is welcome. A lot of this stuff can seem pretty mundane, but it is how our church works and all of this is necessary business so our church can carry out is mission of worshipping and serving God and loving and serving each other.

And I always love questions about how the church works, feel free to ask.

peace,


will

Will the real Goliath please stand up?

I was just sent a link to an interesting article on MSNBC about a little biblical archeology.

Scientists find ‘Goliath’ inscribed on pottery

enjoy,

will

Sermon Posts - A Little Easier to Navigate

Thanks to a wise suggestion, I have made some minor changes to the page where I post the sermons. It is now a lot easier to navigate, though I am still working on making it easier to print.

http://gracesermons.blogspot.com/

peace,

will

This week's sermon

Is now posted here.

The sermon was a little different at each service. If you were at 9:45 you will notice that there is quite a bit of stuff in the manuscript that you didn't hear. I had to cut quite a bit for time.

You comments are always welcome.

peace,

will

Blessing of the Animals

Here is a photo of Pastor John laying hands on Pat Pike's dog (I am sorry I don't know Pat's dog's name) during the blessing of the animals.

We had a much larger turn out than expected and it was a wonderful time. If you didn't get a chance to come, don't worry. We are already planning for next year.

peace,

will

Now how about that...

I just came across this in the news...

Evolution in the bible, says Vatican

It is a very short article and worth the read.

peace,

will

Biblical History in the News

For graduates of Disciple I, those taking it now or anyone as fascinated by Old Testament history as I am, you may find this article from Reuters India interesting.

Israel agrees not to convert 'lost tribe' in India

It is too tempting to see the scriptures of the Old Testament dry and irrelevant, but the history and theology of the scripture are still at work in our world today.

(and how cool is it that we can read news from India as easily as we can read news from Corpus Christi?)

peace,

will

Getting ready for Sunday

It has actually been a few Sundays since I last preached. It was just a calendar thing. There was no sermon for our celebration Sunday and then we had Reformation Sunday and All Saints Sunday, two days that John really gets into. Of course the Senior Pastor gets to preach on his favorite days and I am quite alright with that. It actually works out well for John and I. John really loves the special Sundays in the life of the church. He loves things like All Saints and World Communion Sunday. I, on the other hand, really like the "ordinary" Sundays. I like the Sundays that have nothing particularly attached to them. I love starting my worship planning with no real idea of what the message is going to be about. For me, on most Sundays, the message I start hearing in the scripture for that day begins to shape not only the sermon, but the hymns and the prayers and the liturgy. Of course, we do the same thing on "special" Sundays, it is just that we start those with a theme already in mind.

This week, the scripture that is forming Sunday's worship is Matthew 25:14-30. It is the parable of the talents. This is a very unnerving sort of parable for some. Over the last week, I have been wrestling with it quite a bit trying to see what message it might have for us this week. You will have to check back to see how it goes.

peace,

will

Blessing of ALL the animals...

Bodhi was so inspired by the Blessing of the Animals today at Grace, that he tried to pass the love of God along to a skunk in the backyard. The skunk, not realizing that Bodhi was attempting to share the love of God, thought it was simply being chased by a big dog and did what skunks in that position very often do. The skunk sprayed Bodhi. And Bodhi smelled very, very bad. This is him after a very, very, very long bath that involved several gallons of dog shampoo, some peroxide, baking soda, dish detergent and everything else we found under the sink that we thought wouldn't harm him.

We are feeling (and smelling) much better. Remember, skunks are God's creatures too. Just stay away from them anyway.

peace,

will

Back to Kerrville

I took a couple of days off after post 100. Thanks for the comments! Don't forget to tell your friends.

I am off again on Monday to Kerrville. In case you missed the post about why I go there every six weeks, you can read it here.

I will probably need to pack some warm stuff. It gets pretty cold up there in the fall and the heat in the rooms is fairly non-existent. Perhaps my sunburn from Friday's day at the beach will keep me warm.

peace,

will

About the Weblog... The 100th Post

As I logged on this morning, I realized that this is my 100th post. I actually started this blog on May 26th, before I even got to Grace. As I look over the posts, I realize that some of them are quite profound, some mundane and some just plain silly. I have really enjoyed this exercise so far, and now I want to step it up a bit. For that, I will need your help in two ways.

First of all, I want the weblog to be interactive. I think this technology presents an amazing opportunity in the life of a church. Statistically, most members of the church have very little personal interaction with the pastor. For most members, a handshake on Sunday morning is the most personal time they spend with a pastor. Because of this, pastors like John and I, hear very little feedback from most of the congregation. I am not just talking about feedback regarding worship, or the sermon, or the selection of hymns. I am talking about issues that affect us and the church in our lives and in our world.

Not only do most people not have much personal interaction with the pastors, we actually have very little with each other. Grace UMC has nearly 1000 members. How many of us know all of them. So may, but how many of those people do we get a chance to talk to about things other than the weather or the temperature of the sanctuary?

Just over the last couple weeks, I have posted thoughts on poverty, a link to an article on Rosa Parks, and a link to an article about the United Methodist Committee on Relief's ongoing efforts on the Gulf Coast. I think it would be wonderful if we all had a chance to see where we all weigh in on these things.

The best way to get people commenting is to comment. Once people see that this is a safe to share, we may get more sharing.

Second, I need your help spreading the word. I can print bulletin and newsletter notices, I can mention it from the pulpit, but the best for people to hear about this space is for someone they know to tell them. Write down the address on piece of paper and give it to a friend, better yet, e-mail them the link. Even easier, at the bottom of each post, there is a little envelope, click it and you can send a post to anyone via e-mail. If you see a post that interests you, send it to someone. And don't be limited to members of the church. I believe in the power of technology for outreach. Someone outside of our church may get a glimpse of Grace through the words of this weblog (mine or yours) and decide that we might be worth visiting. It was a shabby, old church sign that brought me to God, why not a weblog.

My 100th post is probably also my longest. Thank you to all who faithfully read and to those who comment about it in person. (It is good to be reminded that someone is reading.) I thank God for all of you.

peace,

will

Make a Joyful Noise Sunday In Pictures

In case you couldn't be there.