We approach the Third Sunday of Advent known as Gaudete Sunday because the word for the day is "Rejoice" and "Joy" is traditionally the name given to the third (often pink) candle.
We wonder how to preach joy in the midst of tragedy.
The tragedy of super-storm Sandy is still fresh enough to spawn this week's super star benefit concert, and tomorrow seven New Orleans chefs will be cooking for hurricane victims and first responders. We haven't gotten over that one yet.
There were two deaths in my congregation this week, a 93 year old matriarch of the congregation and a retired former pastor. The tradition is to light a candle for them.
"In the midst of life, we are in death..." ... always ...
But when it's little kids and their school principal and the school psychologist (according to the latest reports) who have been gunned down in their "nice neighborhood" school . . . words fail.
But words we will find.
Let's figure it out together, friends.
You'll find here abundant coffee, chocolate and hugs to go with all those tears.
Here we are, together . . . again.
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Worship Resources suggested by RevGals and our friends (updating as we go):
Song from Church World Service: A Prayer for Our Children
Worshipping With Children: What Do We Say to the Children When Kids Are Killed With Their Teachers at School?
Max Lucado: A Christmas Prayer
Forrest Palmer, APCE President: A Pastoral Letter
From Christianity Today: A Round-up of Responses
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Worshipping With Children: What Do We Say to the Children When Kids Are Killed With Their Teachers at School?
Max Lucado: A Christmas Prayer
Forrest Palmer, APCE President: A Pastoral Letter
From Christianity Today: A Round-up of Responses
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Sharon, thank you for opening the conversation. As I mentioned on Facebook, I had been buffing up a sustainable sermon for what is my next-to-last Sunday in this call. It no longer feels adequate or even adaptable. The other thought I had was very light-hearted, and that feels inadequate, too. The last time I addressed a very violent and very current event in the sermon (the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords and others), I discovered that my congregation were not big news-watchers, and some didn't know what I was talking about. So I'm at square one, with a title of "Discomfort and Joy," and Isaiah and John the Baptist with which to work.
ReplyDeleteMartha, I also have a sustainable sermon I was hoping to use. I'm not sure now what I will do.
DeleteMaybe if you know they are not big news watchers, they need you to clue them in.
Thinking ... a word from this horrible tragedy is that Jesus came into the real world -- was not born under a beautifully lit creche or Christmas tree. I feel like sometimes we want Christmas (or church or even school -- or a "good neighborhood" in CT) to be a reliable safe space.
What a refuge this place is in all sorts of circumstance. Sharon thanks for being on hand and posting early so that we can come here and share our grief. I've been transported back to Dunblane in Scotland where there was what sounds like a similar massacre of children and their teachers some years ago - just when I was training for ministry. I'm sure many folk in Scotland will be transported back to that darkness. But I'm wondering how much I let that affect the preaching on Sunday. I know this sounds awful but I suspect many of my congregation will see this as "an American tragedy" perhaps dealing with it by denial. I feel really emotional and don't want to disrupt others coping.
ReplyDeleteAnd, to cap it all,mthenpovery reading we are going with are the joyful ones from Zephaniah and Philippians. Tagore is going through my head: your joy is your sorrow unmasked - perhaps that's a direction to aim for. Breathing out as much peace and love as I can through the aching sorrow.
Just like we would have seen that as a Scottish tragedy. Is there a word in this about "the world" as in "God so loved . . ." We in the U.S. are way too prone to think that we are the world. (sigh)
DeleteHugs, Liz!
I am having a similar dilemma, Liz. I am tending in the direction of focusing a fair amount of the prayers on the tragedy but not really making much of it (if at all) in the sermon. But that might change as I start writing. Thanks for reminding me of the resonance of Dunblane. I was not living in Scotland at the time so I probably hadn't appreciated how much this would bring that back for people.
DeleteStill stunned so not thinking straight.
Praying for all involved.
Since we started talking on FB, I've been thinking about the Chardon school shootings -- maybe two hours from my church, with a couple of articles on the young man in custody in the Cleveland paper this past week. That one I addressed in the pastoral prayer. This one I am a good deal more troubled by -- the youth of the children, the season of the year, and my own stuff. Now I am thinking about going with the sermon I have, but adjusting it per what I was contemplating on FB.
ReplyDeleteYes, Robin, all of those lenses and contexts make for a very sad scene. It's hard to look at or imagine the pain and heartache. The thing that keeps going around in my head right now is that God did know what kind of world it was that needed saving -- i.e., a world that did desperately need to be saved.
DeleteSo glad you are here!
Because of a Cantata on the 23rd, I'm reading Micah and Mary/Elizabeth this week.
ReplyDeleteBack at square one, however. Suspect I will allude to the dangers faced by the Holy Family a little later in their story (flight to Egypt, murder of the innocents) just be be explicit about where God is in the midst of this nonsense.
Right now I am Rachel and I refuse to be consoled.
I went rather off lectionary this week and am reading the Annunciation form 1:26-55. There's something about holy innocence - Mary is a virgin - that is resonating with me. But how do we preach? How do we even speak? I also have to bless our local college's December graduation tomorrow and am completely at a loss for how to acknowledge and sit with the grief of today without wiping out their hope for the future.
DeleteMaybe that God doesn't give up on us? That's our hope. Even when the things we do, or the culture we create, or the news we hear doesn't coincide with love/hope/peace/joy, God does not give up on us. So even though I appreciate the sentiment behind, say, the Onion story here (warning for language), we don't say "Eff everything." We pray for one another, even for our enemies, even for the ones who commit the destructive acts. We look for the helpers, as Mr. Rogers wisely said, and remember how much goodness there is even at the same time there is so much brokenness. We come together and give thanks that there is a God who loves us even in the midst of terrible loss. And we do it on behalf of those who are too sad or too angry or too shocked to do it for themselves.
DeleteAnd maybe that's my sermon.
The Brekke - - I've been wondering about how we even speak, too. I'm not sure yet that I will. I may in the end, but I'm not positive. I was drawn to the O Antiphons this evening as prayers of longing. There might be those for us, time of quiet, and letting Scripture preach itself. I don't know. I'm not convinced that's the way to go, but I don't know if I trust myself enough to talk.
DeleteStephanie, I feel you COMPLETELY. I am leaning toward a short homily which is centering on Gabriele's words to Mary "Do not be afraid, Mary..."
DeleteSome kind of repetitive Do not be afraid, the Lord is near"
And then some call & response. Maybe. I think I'll just cry if I try to talk too long.
Well, I was going to be all funny about "snakes" in view of the gospel, and THAT would be just indecent in this context.
ReplyDeleteExcept that I can talk about how it is that we as humans do things we KNOW to be wrong (I'm reading Jacob Needleman)...and say something about the joy we NEED RIGHT NOW which is in the faithful promise of the little child coming to deal not just with the evil outside ourselves but the evil within...but I'm no further than that. Going to scrub floor now and see if that's inspiring at all.
I was trying to put the expectancy of the crowds and the harsh words of John the Baptist together. And your talk about the evil within and outside hit something for me.
DeleteAlso, talking to the children's ministry coordinator, and I said It's hard to have a good word, but It's my responsibility/task whatever to have good news for the congregation, even now.
Yeah, I had snake stuff, too. Can't go there.
DeleteDiane, yep. And it's sometimes excruciatingly difficult to do honestly.
Deleteyou bet, Sharon. don't feel like I'm up to it. but praying to reach for some words, somewhere.
DeleteAnd an aside on the incursion of real life hell into carefully laid sermon plans: I am doing my Christmas Eve sermon from the POV of a shepherd. When Kate Middleton was hospitalized, I had what I thought was a brilliant idea: to talk about the accessibility of Jesus to all in contrast to the inaccessibility of a future monarch of England, hidden behind hospital security. I even discussed it with a parishioner, who was watching Katie Couric talking about "the pregnant princess" when I stopped by for a visit one afternoon. She loved it.
ReplyDeleteThen the nurse implicated in the phone call died of suicide. So much for the theme of the accessibility of God. Not to mention, of course, that my own craziness and grief have been exacerbated by both the nurse and her family and the plight of the radio announcers.
Really, there is no room for me to maneuver this year.
Robin - I salute your ability/temerity to preach at all.
DeleteWhat Liz said.
DeleteThat's very lovely of you ladies. It's quite possible that I've reached my limit.
DeleteRobin, would it be possible to use various scriptures from the Psalms etc...with just a few words...and long periods of silence after them for you sermon on Sunday?
DeleteI have to think awful lot about my context tonight. That might be a good avenue for the pastoral prayer.
Deletethe children are doing their christmas party at 10:00 on Sunday. I wish they were preaching at all the services. I suspect that they will be more eloquent than I....
ReplyDeleteTheirs may be the best vantage point for the good news we are all finding so elusive.
Deletethat's the truth, Sharon.
DeleteMy prayers are with all of you this weekend. I don't have a supply gig this Sunday. Instead, I'm struggling to concentrate on Advent 4 and Christmas Eve in this window of time this afternoon. Tears keep intruding.
ReplyDeleteHugs, esperanza. It's just like that right now, huh?
DeletePeace and Hope are things we can cultivate in our hearts. Joy is a fruit of peace and faith, and not an end in itself. Joy is not always present. That's why it is joy. Because there are times of despair. The despair-er in Lamentations feels comforted because God's mercies are new every morning. How to hold tight to each other until Joy comes? It comes in the morning, and we're preaching this Sunday in the metaphorical 1 am. Back to square one indeed -- back to hope.
ReplyDeleteHolding as tight as I can! The time metaphor helps, Kathy. Thanks.
DeleteI think I'm going eschatological for this. I had already set up the service around Isaiah 12. So "You will say in that day..." resonates with the "How long, O Lord..." that rippled across my FB feed today.
ReplyDeleteAppropriate (for the topic) sermon illustration that we wish we didn't have, right? But "there will always be . . ." so we lament and long for the day.
DeleteI had to chuckle at "going eschatalogical" because, oddly enough, we all know what you mean!
And so it goes...
DeleteHeading out to a joyous occasion for a family close to us, involving a very small child. Oy.
ReplyDeleteFor those who might not have seen this on Facebook:
ReplyDeleteTonight at 9:30, Hebrew scholar Wil Gafney will be leading a chat and offering support on how to preach Advent 3 in light of today's tragedy in Connecticut. Follow #what2preach if you are interested.
I think we are also going to cross-post to Facebook.
Please let me know if you have questions about the technology of this, or want to participate but don't know how. I'll try to help.
Sharon - I can low-tech copy/paste Wil's tweets to here or to FB if that would be helpful
Deletewhere will it be on Facebook? I'm not sure I'm connected to Wil on Twitter. I would love to listen in on her thoughts.
DeleteDiane - following the hashtag will get you Wil's comments plus those who respond back with that hashtag.
DeleteI am not preaching this Sunday, due to the children's Christmas pageant scheduled for worship. Still, I've been thinking about what I may say in worship .... and I have pinot grigio to share this evening.
ReplyDeleteI've been writing more prayers of lament than usual this Advent, so I keep revisiting the congruences between lament and Advent. It seems to me that -- in order to prepare our eyes to see the trees clapping and the lame dancing, in order to prepare our ears to hear the orphans & widows begin to sing -- we need to first recognize that the trees are mourning, the lame are in pain and discouraged, and the orphans & widows are weighed down by the systems that drain rather than nurture them.
In other words, we must put down our blinders and let our hearts break over the world and share its desperation for the Joy, the Hope, the Peace, the Love that is delayed in coming! "How long" indeed!
I agree with tellthestories: Advent is an eschatological season. We are not striving to generate joy for the Christmas holiday, we are striving to testify to a Joy that will be a balm to every tear.
Blessings, preachers, on our own grief and on our task this weekend.
Amen, Rachel.
DeleteAnd, with thanks in advance, I'm holding out my empty glass to you.
Sharing my latest favorite snack which goes surprisingly well with the aforementioned pinot grigio: raisins and almond butter.
ReplyDeleteA (long?) while ago someone in this group asked what our joyful moments are. I couldn't boil it down to any one thing, but that question did help me define what I think joy is - - I experience joy when I am aware that in a given moment I am doing exactly what God wants me to be doing. With that definition it removes any (necessary) tie to happiness, glee, etc. I don't know if that is going to be a part of my Sunday or not, but it could be.
ReplyDeleteI'm using the Narrative Lectionary, and the passage in that for this week is Isaiah 61:1-11. My theme was "God's longing for restoration." It still most DEFINITELY fits, but I don't know that I have words to speak out loud. The song after the sermon is "O Come, O Come" and on Thursday I asked the organist to try to put a light spin on it since I was going to try to end in an "up" mood. I think I'll call her and change that so we can go to place of deep longing. This evening I read and prayed the O Antiphons, and I think in those words of longing and invitation there might be something for this Sunday.
With Rachel and tellthestories, I tend to think the joy we talk about at Advent isn't necessarily a "right now" joy, but the joy that will coming with the reign of Christ, a joy we can barely even imagine right now (a joy, to go along with my theme of restoration, that will come when all is set right with the world as God intends it to be).
I know I will put 27 (or the appropriate number if it is different by then) candles all over our communion table.
Sounds like you can make some good changes in the service.
DeleteThat kind of joy is challenging to preach about as good news in an instant gratification world.
Thanks, Stephanie!
Your definition is very helpful, Stephanie.
Deletethank you for the definition, it will make it into my sermon tomorrow
DeleteI am devastated and working at revamping what was my "joy" sermon with "shaking off our burdens" using the Zephaniah scripture with the translation from The Message on "shaking off burdens." I was doing a "postures of Advent" series...raising our heads, taking a step, shaking off burdens, and leaping for joy. I'm circling back now and really focusing on the burdens part, allowing for lots of time to mourn for the burdens and heaviness of this awful tragedy. I think I'll be using the idea from Anne Lamott's "Help, Thanks, Wow" about having a "God box" that we can release our prayers into. Still working it all out.
ReplyDeleteMay Christ have mercy this night...
CC, "postures of Advent" series -- nice! I like where you are going with it because it seems to me that we don't engage in any of those movements "lightly." Because of the way the world is and what is at stake, each of those are courageous and counter-cultural. I'm very intrigued!
DeleteThanks for this glimpse and may God bless!
thank you -it is helpful to read what you are all writing and thinking
ReplyDeleteI am preaching twice on Sunday (to unknown congrgations) and don't know what to preach. Too numb to think and too overtired to sleep
We all know that feeling. No fun. Take good care, as best you can.
DeleteOh, what a difficult day to be preaching to unknown congregations. May the Spirit send you words and rest.
DeleteAnother prayer which might be adapted and/or help with sermons
ReplyDeletehere
Great find. Thanks
DeleteJust added this from Worshipping With Children to the the resource list above.
ReplyDeleteI will also add to that list the prayer you offered, Purple. Thank you.
And using this...
ReplyDeletehttp://shawnkirchner.com/music/holy_world/holy.html
Sooooo - my sermon was about roots vs fruits. Relying on our past faith & feeling entitled vs living out our faith every day. How John offers simple prescriptions of being fair and honest. Oy.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the Joy (as others have said above) is in spite of the messiness and sadness - going eschatological indeed - is how to preach Sunday. It allows room for both the fear and grief of today to reside next the joy, hope, peace and love we talk about in Advent.
Sorry - continuing the thought before it slips away:
DeletePracticing the fruits of the Spirit (love, patience, peace, joy, kindness, faith, etc) in the midst of the tragedy takes an incredible amount of courage. It only happens when we have prepared the way by practicing those fruits before. Roots can be shallow - but Fruits point to a deeper grounding.
Here's a link to the prayer I posted and deleted, so as not to take up all that space:
ReplyDeletehttp://hosted-p0.vresp.com/792627/3e5f4e5d23/ARCHIVE#like
Thanks, Robin!
ReplyDeleteReminder: At 9:30 Eastern, Dr. Wil Gafney will be hosting a Twitter conversation about preaching Advent 3 in light of today's tragedy in CT. You can follow on Twitter at #what2preach or on the RevGalBlogPals group on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteYour Facebook host is Amy Peden Haynie.
I will be here and there, but mostly here. Help yourselves to your beverage of choice on the snack table. There's also popcorn and cinnamon rolls. Because I like them. A lot.
I'm facilitating a web chat here, on FB (my page and RevGals) and on Twitter #What2Preach. Hopefully Martha (or someone) will help move comments from twitter to here.
ReplyDeleteI'll be playing the role of "someone" if there is to be one!
DeleteWelcome to #What2Preach. Let us wrestle with the scriptures, God and reality as we seek to proclaim a living, healing and transforming word.
ReplyDeleteWil: A word of encouragement: Stand in integrity. Be honest. Acknowledge your pain. Your Gospel is embodied in hurting human flesh.
Delete@WilGafney @fifthpastor @SpiritGirl39 the most obvious is Rachel Weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted (Jeremiah 31:15).
ReplyDeleteAndre Johnson: I would also say listen to the voices of the people within the congregation; especially children
DeleteWil: If you’re a lectionary preacher admit the “rejoicing” in the texts doesn’t fit. We’re in too much pain to rejoice.
DeleteWil: How empire is manifest in access to guns but not mental health care.
DeleteWil: If you observe Rose Sunday perhaps the concern of a mother, the Virgin, for her Child is a starting place.
DeletePamela R. Lightsey: I'm preaching from the lectionary - Luke 3:10-15. Selected earlier this week. Sermon focus on verse 10,"What then shall we do?"
DeleteAndre Johnson: I think the mental health issue is an important issue to address; at least for our congregation
Wil: For me Job is a resource. Cry to heaven, scream at God, even curse God.
Sharon, thanks for help w/ cross posting! Blessings!
Delete#What2Preach For me Job is a resource. Cry to heaven, scream at God, even curse God.
ReplyDeleteWil: This is an Immanuel moment. God is with us. This is a sure promise. God was with the dying. God is with the grieving.
DeleteAndre Johnson: it is definitely time to lament and proclaim the prophetic mantle
DeleteWil: Teaching people to scream at God is a holy duty.
DeleteAndre Johnson: we also had a tragedy here in Mphs. where a 15 year old shot 2 police officers killing one.
Wil: RT @wjr_1 Joy is in juxtaposition to grief and sorrow, right? We hope for joy. But this is the world we live in.
Wil: Wrestle the text and wrestle the God of the text. We're wrestling with you.
Delete@proverbsthepoet: like Isaiah 55:12, we cannot get to the rejoicing without first sitting with the suffering.
Andre Johnson: being prophetic in this case will mean standing against folks who will tell you "this is not the time"
Liz Moen: Think I may look at Mary and Elizabeth, 2 mothers full of hope in and beyond their children. Both would have reason to grieve.
DeleteWil: Jane Redmont:Talk abt what Advent is & violence w/ which so many children live, & that faith is forged/challenged in the midst
God the Healer: I am playing off “What should we do?” (Luke 3:12c, 14b NRSV). How do we help one another in this time of tragedy?
Liz Moen: Immanuel is focus of Blue Christmas on 20th. Need something else for Sunday
ReplyDeleteReginaldWalton: im preaching a sermon on healing from II Corinthians. Community healing and reflection is found there.
Rashad Grove: The prophetic risk is imperative
@txpreach: Preaching this wknd requires being true to the text & the context - and the context has changed. Be willing to speak truth.
Amy Peden Haynie: Mary and Elizabeth, 2 mothers full of hope in and beyond their children. Both would have reason to grieve.
DeleteG Lake Dylan: what to do with the pink (rose)?
Wil: Zech 3:17-20 part of lectionary has some potential. Cut it up if you need to. Make it relevant to your context.
(About rose/pink color above) Wil: The pink rose is the midpoint between sorrow & joy, death & life. It is a transitory color.
ReplyDeleteKaryn L. Wiseman: The Elizabeth/Mary story about joy/pain - hope/loss - fear/courage - is tough but true for so many. We live in the mess/midst.
Valerie Bridgeman: take the vantage point of a child and see if it changes what we say
(not on hashtag) -- "gathering the community to find voice, to own pain, and to call for change - the 'we' becomes real"
Delete(not on hashtag) --"I guess what I really want us to be really point that community is children, parents, gunpeddlers, killers, law, and more"
Rashad Grove: The culture of violence that's entrenched in our society and a theology of mental health
Valerie Bridgeman: LectionaryPhilippians 4:4-7 a peace that "does not make sense" in the presence of this senselessness? feels sappy
Wil: Preaching friends, let us pray for those who will stand and preach, pray & prophesy, lament & comfort, weep & wail
DeleteRashad Grove: The value of human life and how the tragic connects all of us. It transcends all walls and barriers
Wil: The same smoke floats over all our heads. Help one another. It is the only way to survive. E. Weisel
Diane Roth: children are doing program on Sunday late. what will it mean to hear their voices?
DeleteMy reply to her would be: EVERYTHING!
Valerie Bridgeman: ITwould help preachers to TALK to several people in their congregations before they preach Sunday
Andre Johnson: jump in the discussion! I would like to hear from the ones who will sit in pews this Sunday. What would you like to hear?
(can't decipher the to/from, but) Listen before you preach.
Wil: And not just to the voice you call God in your head. [me: AMEN]
Wil responding to someone: The value of human life and how the tragic connects all of us. It transcends all walls and barriers// Yes!
Karyn L. Wiseman: Absolutely preachers need to take time to talk to their members/know context. Listen before you speak. Hear before you herald.
Reginald Walton: I wonder how the pastors are going to approach this situation and eulogize 5 year olds and comfort the families?
DeleteWil: As we wind down I return to where we began: attend to your own grief and fear and rage. Your humanity, your incarnation.
Wil: Lectionary preachers: The lectionary is a gift, not a commandment. Trust God's word in and to you.
ReplyDeleteValerie Bridgeman: I hope for a world that looks face forward on its inhumanity. but then look too at its humanity. God will be in both glances
Wil: Don't let the lectionary hobble you. Don't let the expectation to shout invalidate you.
Naomi Christine: How do preachers help to usher folks into a re-introduction to God? What happens in that instant when God became a Stranger?
ReplyDeleteDiane Roth: earlier this week I thought of Question what do you really want for Christmas. still good Q but sounds different, like lament.
Naomi Christine: We've been in wait-mode. Who, now, do we wait for?
Wil: Thank you for listening and sharing tonight. Bless each of you in and for your commitment to the Gospel.
iSwag: Preach how #America has a high tolerance 4 pain and a low one 4 #freedom. These lives were col. damage 4 the freedom.
Thanks so much Sharon! I couldn't be in three virtual places at once. I am praying with and for all of you all who are wrestling with the lectionary and with God. I'll check back in with you later.
ReplyDeleteYou are so very welcome, Wil! Thank you for hosting the Twitter conversation and for your encouragement and insights. So very helpful!
DeleteJosiah Armstrong: We say that God is with those who grieve in Christ. But, how? Where is the evidence?
ReplyDeletenice job over here Sharon!!
DeleteI was copying off your page sometimes, Amy! I agree: it's good to have something to do right now.
DeleteFriends, so glad to see this thread. I am a brand new bivocational pastor--in week three of my service--and I am located in CT. Yes, I have tossed my clever, funny at points sermon. And while I don't know quite what the message will be, I have gathered some scriptures for the start of our service, have a beautiful poem ("Candles" by Miriam Therese Winter, a faculty mentor and friend), and trust the words will come. I thought of this little congregation to which I am responsive and responsible, and though I was at my other job, I took a few minutes to feel my way to a prayer. I offer it below, trusting that words for Sunday will come as well:
ReplyDeleteEver-present God, we pray that you would reveal yourself to us in this moment. Just this past week, we lit a candle for peace. How can it be that violence has ripped through this fragile peace once more, and children and their teachers have died in this attack? We don't know the details--and we don't need to know--but we trust that you were present there. We believe there were acts of courage, and we thank you for them. We are assured there were acts of comfort in the face of fear, and we thank you for them. We know there is great love, between parents being reunited with their children, and, yes, in the waves of grief that begin now for those who must face the loss of those most precious to them.
Our sadness runs so, so deep, but your love runs deeper still. Meet us in this present darkness, and shine a light for us to follow in the hours, days, and weeks ahead. Lead us to those places where we, too, might shine a light as individuals and as a community. Help us to hold up one another and to reach out for what we need.
In the name of Jesus, who came to earth as one of us, knowing hurt, knowing sorrow, knowing loss, and weeping for the death of a friend, Amen.
Thank you, Jennifer, for your prayer. Peace be with you, the congregation you serve, and the people of CT.
ReplyDeleteIn two hours, there will be a new party starting, RevGals! So, get a little rest and have peaceful dreams. First one up gets to make the coffee!
ReplyDeleteNot preaching Sunday but waiting for the thoughts and words to come for my weekly e-letter to the congregation. Am at an advent retreat. As I listened to the words and music in the Taize vespers, the tension between our longing for God's peace and comfort and the pain of the moment seemed to be captured by/in the music and the chanting of the music. We ended with ubi caritas(where love and charity prevail, god himself is there). It seemed like the right place/ thought to be in at the moment
ReplyDeleteNot preaching this week. I did not sleep well last night. I preach both Advent IV and Christmas Eve so I have to work on a couple of sermons in as many days.
ReplyDeleteI am still numbed by yesterday's events and had to blog on it this morning. Need to find quiet to find God today.
I doubt that anyone is still working in sermons at this point in the evening, but I found a couple of images that I found valuable, and maybe someone west of me (or who is just up at a late hour, like me) could find useful. There's an article in the Christian Post about Stephen Colbert's faith helping him through tragedy, and he says that he always keeps with him a card, given to him by a priest, that says, "joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God" Here's the link: http://www.christianpost.com/news/stephen-colbert-on-the-difference-between-joy-and-happiness-82558/
ReplyDeleteThe other image is that of Martin Rinkhart, who was the only pastor left in the town of Eilenburg, Germany, during the Thirty Years war. In 1637, the year of the Great Pestilence, he presided over as many as 50 funerals a day, including his wife's, who died that May. In the midst of this, he wrote the hymn, "Now Thank We All Our God" a hymn of joy
Dear Sisters ~ I am not preaching tomorrow. I am liturgist and leading prayers while my husband preaches. But know I am / will continue to be in prayer for all who step into that holy space of preaching tomorrow to hurting people. May God give all of us the "right" words to proclaim. ~Anne
ReplyDelete