Christmas and Epiphany 2015-2016

Star over Bethlehem by Tim Jutsum

Christ Church                                                                                         Christmas & Epiphany2015
THE SONG         VOL. 1   ISSUE 2                         SWEET WAS THE SONG                                          16TH CENTURY CAROL

Sweet was the Song the Virgin sang

when she to Bethlem Juda came,

and was delivered of a Son. 

That blessed Jesus hath to name:

Lula,lula, lula, lullaby,

"Sweet Babe" sung she.

And rocked him sweetly on her knee.

Editors letter- An open letter to babies:

Dear Babies,

You are wonderful little bundles of chaos. Come on, admit it. You love to disrupt. You won’t sit still. You make loud noises, like YOP and HARC, at inappropriate times. And, when we don’t give you our undivided attention you cry. If we continue to ignore you, you cry louder. You can be a real problem. 

You also make things hard for your mothers. They want to be with the grown-ups. The grown-ups are doing beautiful and important things. Serious things. God things. It’s embarrassing. But, babies, your mommies love you and want you to be with them. They want you to grow up to do beautiful and important God things, too. But, they also worry that someone may not see how wonderful you are and scold you, or scold them, though truly, baby darlings, it feels like the same thing. 

I, for one, am very happy to be reminded that you shout HARC. Some angels once did the same thing. It was to announce a baby coming who would be the most disruptive person ever born. He would grow up to remind the grown-ups that the babies were the most important people in the room; to remind them that God sees them as babies and it would benefit them to agree. 

Now, is a very good time to shout HARK! We will all be doing it. Our hearts sing it with you. It turns out this group of grown-ups you have found yourselves a part of have wrapped their whole selves around being wrapped in God’s disrupting joy, just as He wrapped himself in human flesh to be born a baby. This is the season famous for wrapping and opening. Happy Christmas, baby darlings. Please feel free to yell Hark, anytime.

Affectionately yours,

Val Jutsum

                                             Rector's Notes

“For a star to be born, there is one thing that must happen: a gaseous nebula must collapse. 
So collapse. 
Crumble.
This is not your destruction. 
This is your birth.”

            Nikka Ursula

I feel so much compassion for the wise men who followed the star. When I was a child, my compassion surfaced as pity. No matter which crèche or nativity seen, I always read them the same: they were sad because the real king was this baby. And they had been told to give away the things that made them so kingly. To give them to the baby. Later in life my compassion surfaced as sympathy. They were the last to make it to the manger. The angels burst open the night sky with song and light for the shepherds, but not for the wise men. Far away from those angel lit skies, the wise men had to study and question all on their own the star that appeared. The slowness of their long journey seemed symbolic of the slowness of their understanding - punishment even, for living inside their heads as astrologers, as scholars.

Midlife opens a new perspective. They are wise because they don’t care about the knowledge they’ve amassed. Maybe at one point in their lives they did, but not now. These old men want to concede their power to the child – they don’t take it personally. They know that in every age there is an old order, and the old order must die to the new – they don’t take this personally, either.

They’ve lived long enough to know that true power is surrender. Surrender of possessions that otherwise possess us, whether those possessions are in our bank accounts or in our heads.  They know that every beginning is preceded by an ending, and they are comfortable enough in their own skin to be known in their period of history as “the ending.” 

And yet this changing of the guard at the manger will not mean a swift transition into the new order. Laying their crowns at the baby’s manger is not such a big deal.  What makes them wise, what makes them stand apart from everyone else, what makes them fit to be kings is how they are willing to live out the rest of their lives as strangers instead of kings. Leaving their crowns with the baby is the easy part. The hard part, the part they came all this way for, is the return journey. They won’t be the same after the manger experience (no one ever is). They won’t fit in. And they probably know that no one back home will listen to them, let alone believe them. There are journeys we make that are the stuff of legends, that are even Biblical in proportion. The journey of the magi, led by the star, is one of them.

 But it’s this other journey that fills me with compassion for the magi. It’s not so much that they won’t be the kings they once were but, (in the words of T.S. Elliot) they will live out the rest of their lives “no longer at ease in the old dispensation,” which is a hard way to live. And yet it’s the only life to live if you’ve seen and understood what the wise men have.

Maybe they’ll become prophets.

Ruth+

Music Director's Notes

Christmas at Christ Church will be celebrated richly with our principal Choral Eucharist of the Nativity at 10:30 PM with the prelude beginning at 10:15 PM.  The Christ Church Youth Ensemble will perform two works arranged by Fellows Jeremy Jelinek and Stacey Yang, and the Christ Church Choir will perform seasonal carols and motets. Other musicians will include our VanDelinder Fellows (Davis Badaszewski, Jeremy Jelinek, and Stacey Yang) a string ensemble, and organist David Higgs. Be sure to bring your friends to this festive liturgy.  

Our dedicated musicians are long-time members of the parish, new members, faculty from the Eastman School of Music, and students who participate in Christ Church’s vocational development and training program in sacred music. Students in our program are afforded the opportunity of putting their skills into practice through our supervised liturgical training.  In our program, they are confronted with the “real world” of church music and are exposed to situations that cannot be replicated in the classroom. 

Our three Vanderlinder Fellows: Davis Badaszewski, Jeremy Jelinek, and Stacey Yang receive training and supervision in the various aspects of church music skills.  They put into practice what they learn by teaching and directing the Christ Church Youth Ensemble, playing accompaniments and hymns for liturgies, and directing and singing in the Christ Church Choir and Schola Cantorum. It is extremely exciting to see how mutually enriching our Vanderlinder Fellows program has become. The benefit to these students, our parish, and our new and growing community is tremendous.  We are eternally grateful to Roy E. VanDelinder for his bequest that comes to us through the Rochester Community Foundation. This program is making important and lasting changes in peoples lives and drawing people to Christ Church.  Roy’s desire to foster the training of Eastman organ majors in liturgical organ skills is flourishing. These Fellows are exceptional and will surely become leaders in the field of sacred music.

Stephen Kennedy, Music Director

Two important January concerts and events that you will not want to miss:

Sunday, January 3, 2016 

Candlelight Concert: 8:30 PM

Beiliang Zhu, Bach on the Baroque Cello

Sunday, January 10, 2016 

7:00 – 8:00 PM

12th Night Celebration: Entrance of the Magi led by the dancing star of Bethlehem, Music by the Christ Church Choir, Organists David Higgs and Stephen Kennedy.

Reception following in the Guild Room

9:00 PM

COMPLINE: sung by the Schola Cantorum, Stephen Kennedy, director 

works by Byrd, Gibbons & Tallis

You may also support our music education and enrichment opportunities for young musicians who are dedicating their lives to the field of sacred music by contributing to Christ Church’s "Friends of Music" fund.

Please continue to follow the musical life of our parish by reading the monthly Music Notes and Calendar that are emailed from my address  via MailChimp. 

Here, you will find some of the rich threads that make up the complicated and beautiful fabric of our lives here at Christ Church. Life is more than just times, dates and check lists.  We have a strong tradition of exceptional, world class music, but did you know we are also ridiculously talented when it comes to other art forms? We have artists who paint, sculpt, write stories and poetry. We want to be a venue for this work to be seen. This issue features painting by Stephen Kennedy,  and Renate Eckart. The paintings ushering you into Stephen Kennedy's music notes, are his. The painting below is by Renate Eckart. Below you will also see calligraphy from Ann Piato and sculpture created by Jo Bernhardt. There is poetry gifted by Kitty Jospe and Steven Metcalfe. We hope you enjoy wandering in the Art Show section. 

 O Christmas Tree Standing on a Song of Rejoicing, by Kitty Jospe

                                                            O

                                                          Anti-

                                                       phons[1] let 

                                                  Christmas beget

                                                not glittercoat stock-

                                             ingstuff nor Santa-ho nor

                                        sore Grinch-bellow with grimace!

                                     Torches, torches, let us run with light 

                              O key of David, O root of Jesse, O Emmanuel

                            whatever your faith in dark December, up the ante

                       for good-hearted cheer, give not just to the lucky, but live

              remembering we all come from, return to, dust.  O Holy word, bright

                                        with hope, a man, a woman and a decree,

                                                shepherds in fields sore

                                                afraid and three Kings,

                                                O and star of wonder,

Gaudete! Christus est natus ex Maria Virgine, Gaudete!  Tempus ad est gratiae, hoc quod

optabamus Carmina laeticiae, Devote redamus. Gaudete!    Gaudete Christus est natus us

O

sapientia

Adonai, Oriens, 

wisdom, seven names of God, 

light returning to break open each day!

Let us praise the Lord with dancing, singing !

There’s no need for a Christmas tree if we sing rejoice!

Even if the oak has lost its leaves, light will silver its branches.

remember only this word, rejoice, that is the heart’s treasure, 

the joy for all that is that continues without us,

 the beauty created before us

the hope that helps sail us

 from this

to that. 

Last year, I created a poem “O Christmas tree, standing on two lines of rejoicing”, inspired by the O Antiphons, and the Latin words of Gaudete.  This year, playing on the December 17 antiphon, O Sapientia (with a Celtic echo of the oak tree as the “cosmic storehouse of wisdom, and for the Greeks, the symbol of Zeus) I think of the lightto come as we draw near to Winter Solstice, and Christmas.  In this year of increasing violence, the need for enlightenment, the shine of understanding feels more urgent than ever.  I think of my own failing memory, for names, even cherished books, piano pieces I used to play, the slow loss of family I cherish, and am reminded how one word can tip the balance – Rejoice.  An affirmation of Thanks.  A celebration of mystery.

7 times thanks, as in the 7 names of Adonai.  7 times for each of the 7 stars of the Pleiades, so important for the Greeks navigating their sails in the Mediterranean,  and 7 mornings,  (and evenings) when Venus, Goddess of Love announces dawn and dusk;

Let us go full circle with wisdom and Epiphany with the arrival of Kings, following the “Star in the East”... O Oriens... splendor lucis aeternae et sol justitiae... 

With love,

Kitty

December 4, 2015

• December 2015
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• November 2015
  • Nov 11, 2015 Nov 11, 2015
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• February 2017
  • Feb 7, 2017 Feb 7, 2017
• September 2016
  • Sep 30, 2016 Sep 30, 2016
  • Sep 30, 2016 Sep 30, 2016
• December 2015
  • Dec 22, 2015 Dec 22, 2015
  • Dec 22, 2015 Dec 22, 2015
  • Dec 22, 2015 Dec 22, 2015

Advent 2015 archive edition

      Christ Church                                                                                    Advent  2015

THE SONG   VOL.1      HARK! THE GLAD SOUND     THE HYMNAL 1982    HYMN 71

                          Hark! the glad sound, the Savior comes! the Savior promised long:

let every heart prepare a throne and every voice a song.

-Philip Doddridge

Let every heart prepare a home and every voice 

a song.

Editor's Letter:  An open letter about names

  People do this thing that I find staggeringly great. We make stuff. The stuff we make has the power to open our hearts and share our selves, often with fewer filters. The stuff we make inspires other makers to do more making. All this creating is woven into our identity as humans. We are creators and it’s one of the many ways we find ourselves imitating Christ, imbued in God. I love it when God, in the creation narrative says, “That’s good…and that’s good… and that’s very good.” because, we say that, too. I also love it that one of the bullet points of our job description, in this same narrative, is to name stuff; the stuff we find and the stuff we make.

We wanted to make a new publication, a web and print magazine sort of a thing, for our family of Christ Church and whatever part of the pond our ripples touch. I frequently look around the church on a Sunday morning and feel deeply moved by the huge amount of majestic, brilliant, loving, gifted people who surround me.  Wow…just, wow.  Here, all around me, is heaven. This  new publication should have a new name.

We considered names that were fun and whimsical, such as: X-Cathedral Statements and East End Times, and frankly, I liked both of those, and yet, when I said them they made me chuckle, but left me unmoved. We are grander. We are more of a song.

A song is a living thing. There is something about a song that is hard wired into being human. I think it’s because it has a life of its own, yet we make them. They inspire and console. They are ancient and now. They are the miracle that flows from the gifted composers, magnificent instruments, and voices in this sacred space. I love the metaphor of God singing the whole universe, and beyond, into being. 

As it turns out, we are a Song.

Val Jutsum
Editor

                                               Rector's Notes

One sabbatical evening I walked the beach of the Marie Joseph Retreat Center in Biddeford Pool, Maine. Three days in, I was no longer struggling against the silence of my silent retreat. A product of my frenetic, chronically overworked and hurried culture, I’d finally found the means to embrace the open ended stretch, vast as the ocean, of quiet and stillness. So when I found my way to a marshy pond and saw a turtle (Blanding’s), I sat on a bench and envied him. “He doesn’t fight silence,” I told myself. Look at him. He goes about the business of survival in a quiet, unhurried, non anxious manner. How can I learn from him, how can he be my teacher? Then, out of nowhere – and contrary to the nature and purpose of a silent spiritual retreat - I castigated myself and the rest of the human race: what is wrong with us that we can’t be more like this turtle?

It was good that I had a few more days at the retreat center to do what my spiritual director always reminds me to do, to be kind to myself. Driving home on rt (?) from Maine, it came to me that I don’t, in fact, have to be like a Blanding’s Turtle to be a better priest. Or a better mother. Or a better person. The struggle to be more fully human in a world that feels increasingly dehumanizing is a struggle that is holy to God. The struggle to sit and be still is holy to God. Being human is holy to God. You gave me the luxury of stepping away from the ten thousand things to be still, and I welled up with gratitude.

On my sabbatical, I made food grow from the earth – I’ve never done that. Cherry tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, snap peas, and carrot tops (I assume there were carrots underground but I never found them). I don’t really know how to describe this, but I got to know Liza and Hannah in a new way. We rode bikes through the streets of Stone Harbor, New Jersey, played and cheated at Monopoly, “adopted” endangered species of turtle and bird, jumped on the trampoline, overspent on ice cream cones, and grew together in the long hours we shared.

On my sabbatical, I did what many of you already do – ministry outside of ministry (ministry within my ministry?) I participated in labor and climate justice events, and planned an interfaith service in anticipation of the Pope’s visit to the United States. Jewish, Christian, Hindi, Buddhist, and Muslim voices spoke at St. Mary’s on Washington Square in September, uniting in the call to care for our earth and its inhabitants. I did not speak, but I got to know each speaker personally. I learned that, as much as I love to speak and preach, I absolutely love to be the one who arranges the microphone and gets glasses of water for other speakers.  These endeavors have deepened my relationships with my interfaith colleagues to lasting friendships. 

On my sabbatical, something came clear, which frightened me at first. It came clear that I would not return to you with a vision. I would not return with a “this is our identity – this is our mission!” proclamation. What came clear is that, working alongside you, I am supposed to keep the home fires burning. I am among you to visit the sick, to preach the Gospel, to celebrate the resurrection, and to keep our doors open to friends and strangers alike.  I’m not sure how I got it in my head that I should announce some new or more grandiose vision or mission for Christ Church, but I did. What came crystal clear to me is the call I must have forgotten in search of something more complicated, more sophisticated: the call, “feed my sheep.” The call to baptize in the name of Jesus, to bury the dead, to bless the vows of the newly married; the call to work hard with you and your vestry, to cook for covered dish suppers, to raise the young people in our midst. The call to help balance the budget, to maintain our physical property, to serve Christ and to be Christ in all the glory and frailty of what it means to be human and to be “community.” The call to listen to God and one another with open and discerning hearts – we can’t afford not to! The winds of change are ever upon us, and God’s Spirit is ever brooding over His Church in the act of new creation.

When I returned from sabbatical, you gave me two new, custom made chasubles. When I say “thank you,” I mean THANK YOU. I have never been at a church where the chasubles I wear are just the right fit. This is how generous you are.  I like to joke about how fashionable I am in them, and to do little dances around the sacristy, but my humor is a cover up. It is serious business to wear a chasuble.  And yet something wonderful happened several Thursdays ago. I was alone in the sacristy as I donned the red chasuble for the feast of St. Simon and Jude and, I kid you not, I had an image of wrapping the Christ Church quilt around me. 

When you installed me as your rector, you gave me a quilt that was quite literally sewn from the fabric of your own lives, from pieces of cloth you had given for the sewing of the quilt. I’ve never thought about my chasuble as a Christ Church quilt, but of course it is! At every Christ Church baptism, we welcome the newly baptized into the priesthood of all believers with a specially sewn Christ Church quilt. Suddenly, I know what it means to wear the chasubles you have given me, and I am overwhelmed with gratitude. It means that we are knit together in the priesthood of all believers, those who have come before us in this magnificent, old cathedral building and those who will come after. The fabric of our past, present, and future will always be sewn together in the work we have shared in this holy place and outside of it. I cannot express my gratitude for these chasubles and all that they mean – they stir in me the very gratitude that God wants and needs us - but I will do my best to live and minister from this deep gratitude.  As I write, I am overflowing with it. 

Music Director's Notes

ADVENT for Christ Church Music

For many years now, Christ Church Music has been striving to reach out to the greater Rochester community by offering unique and distinctive reasons for people to view our church as a center for spiritual nourishment through music.  With Tuesday Pipes, Candlelight Concerts, Advent Lessons and Carols, special events and liturgies, EROI Festivals, Jazz Festivals, and Compline, Christ Church has become an essential hub for many Rochesterians. With our Youth Ensemble, Consort, Christ Church Choir, Schola Cantorum, as well as our collaborations with Publick Musick and Pegasus, ours is one of the busiest and comprehensive music programs in the region.

Although we have been building this program for more than 20 years now, it is only “Advent” in the program’s development. We are planning to create and develop even more reasons for people to feel passionate about calling Christ Church home.  Please feel free to assist and support our program in any way you can.  Donations may be made through the special envelopes for music during this Advent season.  You may also support our music education and enrichment opportunities for young musicians who are dedicating their lives to the field of sacred music by contributing to Christ Church’s "Friends of Music" fund.

Please continue to follow the musical life of our parish by reading the monthly Music Notes and Calendar that are emailed from my address  via MailChimp.

The music sound files contained here are from the many CD recordings that have we have produced over the years.  These recordings are available for purchase by clicking the link below. 

http://www.christchurchrochester.org/recordings-cd-shop

Other links of interest are:

https://www.facebook.com/ccscholacantorum/?fref=ts

https://www.facebook.com/ChristChurchRochester/?fref=ts

http://www.christchurchrochester.org

In this issue . . .

• FALL FESTIVE DINNER
• LESSONS AND CAROLS
• YOUTH GROUP EVENT
• ADVENT WREATH MAKING
• CANDLELIGHT CONCERT
• ANGEL TREE
• USHERS NEEDED!
• RAIHN UPCOMING EVENTS
• UPCOMING GARDENING DAY
• LECTORS NEEDED!

Talent share and dinner with friends: Friday, November 20th, 6:30 in the Guild Room

Pots of delicious food, laughter, and people entertaining each other with lighthearted joy, is not just a scene from one of the Chronicles of Narnia. It is a description of an evening at Christ Church. This particularly charming evening will take place on November 20th at 6:30 pm. Please bring something to share with friends; a morsel of supper, an entertainment, a heart for cheering others and receiving cheer in return. See you, there.

 To celebrate the Advent season, the Christ Church Choir and members of the the Christ church congregation will sponsor a Service of Advent Lessons and Carols at 7 PM on Friday, December 4.  The service will feature the Great O Antiphons.  These antiphons, of which there are 7 and which refer to the Messiah in the various ways He is known, have been used in this service or services of this kind since almost the beginning of the Christian church. They played an important role in monasteries throughout the Middle Ages and beyond.  The music, the procession of banners and seasonal scriptural readings make for a sublime introduction to the liturgical season which precedes Christmas.  Indeed, the service offers one an opportunity to escape the frenetic pace of the holiday season and to focus on the meaning of Advent and the approaching Nativity of our Lord. 

            Following the service there will be a reception and a visit from St. Nicholas who will have goodies for all.  Please plan on joining us for what portends to be a sublime and ethereal event. 

Dear Christ Church,

So much of Advent Spirituality is about waiting for deliverance. We encounter apocalyptic themes of the end of this world and the breaking in of a new one. While we wait with eager longing, Christians the world over are beginning to hear God's longing as well: that we care for one another and for this earth, our fragile island home, in new ways.

Please join the Youth Formation Group Friday, December 11, from 6:30 - 9 pm as they host Rochester members of the Pachamama Alliance, and help lead the adults of our parish and community in an urgent conversation: how can we live together in our loving Creator’s world in ways that are more environmentally sustainable, socially just, and grounded in faith?

Sign up sheets for "The Call to Care: Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream" are on the hallway bulletin board, or you can sign up through the front office: 454-3878.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoXJZ_3-J9w

In Christ,

Ruth+

The LEGO figures take cover behind last years Advent wreath. 

After the Thanksgiving Day feast, while the frenzy of pre-Christmas activities whirl around us, we have a quiet gift in the season of Advent. We wrap ourselves in the smoky beauty of the fire of candles, to light our way, for our journey into the heart of God.  November 29th, on Sunday, at 5:30, we will gather to build wreaths of evergreens and trinkets that remind us that we are all children in the eyes of God. These become, in our homes, the home of the lights of the season. Join us. Bring a dish to pass. You can RSVP in the contact section of this publication. All are welcome. 

CHRISTMAS SERVICES

Christmas Eve:      5 p.m. service;  10:15 p.m. (prelude) & 10:30 p.m. service

Christmas Day:     10:00am in the chapel

                 Shout outs!

                         Newsy bits that inquiring minds need to know.

Be a Christ Church Rock Star!

Well, maybe not a Rock Star but we are looking for persons that would be willing to volunteer just one Sunday a month as a Christ Church usher.  Besides being part of the offering and assisting with communion, Christ Church ushers pride ourselves on being that friendly face to visitors that are coming to our beautiful church.  Openings do exist for usher positions that allow you to participate in our great services with minimal disruption to your worship. 

If you think that serving as an usher would be a great way for you to contribute your time to Christ Church, please contact Hugh E. Kierig at 585-705-6723 or via e-mail at hkierig55@gmail.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

THE ANGEL TREE

 

One of our many Outreach programs is the collection of Christmas gifts for the Willow Domestic Violence Center (formally the Alternatives for Battered Women) clients and their families.  The in gathering of these gifts will take place on the first and second Sundays in December.

 

Angels with gift suggestions written on them will decorate two trees.  Parishioners are asked to take an Angel (or two) and bring their gifts into church unwrapped.  This is our opportunity to provide some pleasure for these families. 

WANTED
Christ Church needs a few more
LECTORS
If you like to read and can climb the stairs up
to our Lectionary Angel, we need YOU!
We can help you become a pro at the microphone.
If interested contact Pat Kingsley
pkingsly@rochester.rr.com
or 585-621-4728

RAIHN News:

Since it will be time to start thinking of the holidays soon, here are some neat and simple ways to help families in need during the holiday seasons through supporting RAIHN:     

1)   SAVE THE DATE for the annual Shop Til You Drop and Dining at Benucci’s!!!  Mark your calendars for Tuesday, December 1st,  5 – 9pm at Pittsford Plaza.  Benuccii’s will again donate 20% of your dining check to RAIHN – reservations recommended #264-1300. Go to ww.raihn.org for more information

2)      Link your Amazon accounts to RAIHN at AmazonSmile, and a portion of every purchase will be donated to RAIHN.  Follow this link - https://smile.amazon.com/ch/41-2064888.

3)      Also, if you want to shop at Old Navy, Target, Staples, Expedia, Shutterfly, and lots more, visithttp://www.goodsearch.com/goodshop first to find coupons, then shop through their link and they will donate to RAIHN.

(Links are on RAIHN's website www.raihn.org on the Home page).

RAIHN 2015 Volunteer Trainings   

• Tuesday, January 19th, 2016, 6:30 pm,  Messiah Lutheran Church, 4301 Mt. Read Blvd., Rochester

• Tuesday, April 12th, 2016, 6:30 pm, United Church of Pittsford, 123 S. Main St., Pittsford

GARDENING INVITATION 

Dear Gardeners,
Deb, Kitty, and the St. John Fisher "Students With a Vision" made amazing inroads in the fall cleanup, creating some 40 bags of leaves, moving shrubs, extirpating weeds, and other activities in some of these lovely fall days. We're scheduling one last go at the last minute just to tidy up the last roses of summer (or whatever else). Please join us for one hour (or more) on Saturday, Nov. 21 between 1 and 3 p.m. Bring rakes and spades if you have them. We have some if you don't. 

To dirty fingernails--
Sarah

This space is dedicated to the creative works of our own church family. Please consider becoming a contributor for a future issue of The Song.

A Visit to the Gallery                                                                                             by Renate Eckert

"The Painting on the left is a copy of a Kandinsky Painting and the one on the right is one I created."

This painting can be viewed at Barnes and Nobles.   The Rochester Art club is having their fall show there during the month of November.  

God's holy laughter

   Filled Heaven,

        Stilled Earth;

Made of our anguished cries

        Muffled echoes of The Fall.

 

By Ron Hilton

Baptism 2005 Tim Jutsum

Let’s not only think about Advent, let’s live in it.

                        The Rev’d Steven Metcalfe

To one enchanted by the intellect, Advent spells trouble.  Even as we look toward the traditional story of Jesus’ birth, some of us keep tossing in tasty morsels of theology and historical practice.  You’ll hear themeslike “holy anticipation” or looking back with renewed enthusiasm to the prophets who promise God will himself care for the sheep, or out of the wilderness comes word of humanity’s new start from the likes of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and others.  We look not only for present rescue from the consequences of losing our way to God but also the more spectacular promise of sharing in the Love of God at the very end of all that is.  See how Advent can flip the thinking switch on.  In a way yet to be described adequately, the person filled with God, Jesus, will ultimately gather us into one people where each human being will be a shining star and the “earth will be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.”   This is the spiritual track of creation as Christians understand it.  The Way of Christ runs beneath, beside, and within the biblical stories we choose to hold before us.  Dissecting the Gospel narratives with even the sharpest intellectual tools will never result in opening our hearts to any Advent attitude.  That awakening comes when, as the angel told Mary, “A sword will pierce your own soul, too.”

Advent revives the often dormant recognition of the tangle that is human life both personally and at every level of community.  Who among us can reveal the way out of persistent mistreatment of people who are generally considered contemptible?  Despite our pride- enhanced power to manipulate creation to serve human comfort, we’re not accustomed to looking back and seeing wreckage as well as triumph.  Mostly it appears we want to rebuild that great tower of Babel to reach the “place” we’re told God is so that the creature can dethrone the creator.  First this happens within us where God often is an idea, an image, a set of beliefs, a projection of our gentlest though most ruthless perception of power.  As the psalmist says in Psalm 13, “They say in their heart, ‘God has forgotten; he hides his face; he will never notice.’” Advent judges human grandiosity, pierces delusion and casts blinding light on our cooly cruel unconcern with much beyond our own survival.  It is the child, innocence, and putting aside every pretense of knowing and doing the Truth of God on our own that will lead to the gift of righteousness.

 

For thou art our salvation, Lord, 

Our shelter and our great reward;

Without thy grace we waste away

Like flowers that wither and decay.

            Charles Coffin (hymn76)

                IN CHAPEL

In a quiet, faintly musty, candlelit chapel

the Christian and not so Christian gather

To listen to the breathing of each others’ souls

Voiced over by bits of music from now and then.

Prayers are said which mention anguished claims

of trust which people need, to hold to hope, or

make thanksgivings more than feelings left in silent air.

This a holy time though even “holy” seems a fantasy.

This is different from how we usually live

where things we do and what we think

chain us to a “now” so unrelenting or so dire.

Hours pass without a second thought of who we are.

But here you sit and listen without the need

to do or figure out a problem to be solved.

We simply let ourselves be free to know that One

who gives us life can hear, not merely words but more: our heart’s intent.

Additional credits: Original artwork- Val Jutsum, Photography- Annie Jutsum, Val Jutsum