Christmas has become a monster of a season, but what it comes down to is almost embarrasingly basic. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Jesus is painfully, disappointingly local in his saving work. And the woirld's need is massive, endless. How will this possibly do?

 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox

John helps us anticipate Jesus. But he didn't get everything about the one for whom we wait quite right.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Advent present us with the challenge of hope--a full recogntion of what's dreadful about the world while also fully assured that God is coming, while also here, to restore, renew, and reign in love. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

We've reached the end of the church year, Christ the King Sunday, a tricky feast day.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Jesus warns that the world won't go easy on us. Isaiah envisions a new reality that will have worked all that out. Ours is to persevere toward this point.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC) 

God is still speaking. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Prayer is a moemnt alone with your God, and sometimes that's as hard a things as there is.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Jacob made progress, leaving Esau behind. Are we okay with that?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

God's presence shows up in places least expected and places where we perhaps we least want to be. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Where there is, turns out, either nothing or everything.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Look for hopeless causes for the right of redemption might be yours.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The church has squandered our wealth. What now to do?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Freedom is a terrible bruned. No wonder so many seek a cage.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The old ship of Zion moves slowly, but there's room for everyone.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Keeping the sabbath is as much about liberation as it is about rest.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Jesus is tough to match moods with in August. Let's see if we can try,.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

 

A moment arrives, and all your readying must be done. Now you just receive.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Teach us to pray, the disciples said. Not how, or why, what to pray. Instead simply, Teach us to pray.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Be the Good Samaritan. Be the man who set out. There will come opporutnities for you be one or the other, and both make for good.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

...and the what is the why. Sharing Jesus' love isn't a means to an end, it's the manifestation of the end. You don't get a rpize for doing it, it is itself the prize. Love. Love in action.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The end is decided but how you get there is another question.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The church is more weed than wheat, as if right.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Not all who wander are lost. But some are. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Peter is pulling a thread that could unravel the whole garment...

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Tabitha--she who was raised.

Montery Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

You aren't that. So listen in peace and reassurance.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

If nothing else, respond: words to live by.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Remember your way back into hope.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Palm Sunday is supposed to be a plesant celebration. I'm sorry to say, however...

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Embarrassing, intimate, smelling is indiscrimate--but also exclusive. With its insistence on the body, smelling demands, "You had to be there."

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

I wonder where you are in this familiar story.

Montery Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Time to get serious. No more Airbnb for us. Time to plant roots and bear fruit.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

What do you want? 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Bread and circus, please! But we don't live by bread alone.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Jesus and the twelve were hardly the gods they were enacting to be--and this is very much the point.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

A close encounter with the holy can really leave us feeling ugly. Best to avoid it  then?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

It would come to be called the "fullness of time." More coloquially, it's the 1st century AD. So, why now for God to act so radically in Christ? What made it the right time?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

It might be a tough thing to manage these days, but moments of joy will find us, enlighten us. Look for these moments and treasure them in your hearts.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The magi were expecting probably something quite different...?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The 2nd Sunday after Christmas is maybe the worst Sunday to find ourselves back online for worship. But here we are...

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)