Christmas 4

970 served!  All were blessed!  Amazing music!

Get some rest!

Merry Christmas...

Christmas 3

Lovely- spectacular!  Strings, carols, candles, Holy Communion.... warmth, beauty, peace, and togetherness.... just does not get any better!

437 served at Christ's Table tonight!

I had the chance to worship with my family as well.. such a blessing to see their faces lit by candlelight.

Warm glows all around on a dark, dreary, rainy night.

Peace, peace, peace!

Christmas 2

Marvelous!  The children were as inquisitive and excited we we predicted!  276 served at the birthday party of our Lord.

Our Holy family with big brother angel were beautiful!  Jesus slept through it all!  (It's a girl!)

Unfortunately, my voice got scratchy... here's to hoping that I can get that straightened out soon.

Only 2 mentions of Santa!

Now, for the orchestra, carols, communion and candlelight Part 1 (aka 7pm)!

Peace!

Pre-Christmas Eve 5pm

With a soggy, gray afternoon into an early evening... we begin our pilgrimage tonight to worship the Babe of Bethlehem!

Grateful for the dry sanctuary and the warmth of voices and light.

Eager to celebrate the birth of our Savior!

Our first service is all about the little ones... noise, excitement, wonder, cheer... and wiggles!  Lots and lots of wiggling and eagerness in the children.

And we are all children... reminds me of Tuesday when I visited a local nursing home during the Holiday party. There in the midst of a hundred wheelchairs was Santa.  He was dancing with an older woman who was absolutely enthralled!

It is that kind of wonder and awe- we will see mirrored in the children's eyes.

The table is set here we go...

Land of Deep Darkness

Blue Christmas Service Saturday December 20, 2014

Reverend Michelle L. Knight

Isaiah 9:2-7

“Christmas Lights: Land of Deep Darkness”

Let us pray… Come Light of the World and illumine the darkness within and around, so that we may cling to your brilliant hope.  Come, Emmanuel, come.  Amen.

The land of deep darkness…is Peshawar, Pakistan as that community mourns 148 deaths by terrorist attack.  The land of deep darkness is Sydney, Australia as the community grieves the hostage crisis and attack which left three dead and others wounded. The land of deep darkness is Sierra Leone and Liberia as medical workers go house to house checking on Ebola patients and their families. The land of deep darkness…is Anderson, Indiana where a malnourished 40 pound teenager was rescued from the abuse of her grandparents. 

The land of deep darkness…is where are families live be they Brownsburg, Avon, Indianapolis, Hendricks county… my street, your street, my home and your home.  Just five days after Christmas our goddaughter will have her third brain surgery to remove a tumor.  Yes, there is a lot of different kinds of darkness.

Indeed, our land… dwells in darkness.  Just 9 hours and 22 minutes of day light tomorrow… the year’s shortest day.  Tonight begins the longest night. 

It is no coincidence that the winter solstice is also the Feast Day for Saint Thomas the Apostle!  The ancient church leaders were wise to make this connection. You remember Thomas?!  He was the disciple who missed the opportunity greet the Risen Jesus and thus expressed his doubts about Jesus…until he met the Risen Lord for himself!  Thus there is an inherent significance when we connect Thomas's struggle to believe the tale of Jesus' resurrection, the long nights just before Christmas, and the struggle with darkness faced by those living with loss.  Winter solstice; the longest night of the year and St. Thomas, our deep darkness are good companions.

Into the darkness a prophet speaks.  Isaiah’s words resonate today as they did millennia ago when he first uttered them.  Technology has changed, but the darkness has not.  We live in a land of deep darkness; that is unfortunately, always contemporary: violence, war, anguish, suffering, pain, loss, trauma, abuse, neglect, and isolation. 

And yet, and yet, it is into this darkness Jesus was born.  This is the message of the prophet… that light is coming. Light will dawn in a child whose presence, giftedness, leadership and love will illumine the world.  No wonder his nicknames will be Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.  No wonder he is worthy of all this fuss.  "We celebrate joyfully 'a son given to us' not in spite of all that is horrible, dangerous, or distressing about the world around us, but precisely because of it."(Weekly Comments on the Revised Common Lectionary, Theological Hall of the Uniting Church, Melbourne, Australia) 

Because of the darkness Jesus was born for us.

And this is our hope.

This is our light…in the midst of the deep darkness.

This is hope to hang onto because peace exists because of Him.

Our Bishop writes his bi-monthly, E-Pistle.  This week my email in-box was filled with his Blue Christmas message.  Bishop Mike said it best; “Jesus was born into the darkness, to a people who were living in darkness, poverty, repression, defeat and pain. Jesus came into a hurting world to bring light, hope and healing. Jesus did not come to those who were in the midst of parties and celebrations focused upon wealth and the accumulation of possessions (in fact the grown-up Jesus had harsh words for those persons for being a part of injustice). No, Jesus came into a hurting world to help and heal hurting people.”

Jesus came to help you.

Jesus came to heal you.

He came to help and heal me too.

His light makes all the difference as we live in our land of darkness.

Earlier this Advent the clergy of our district met for worship, teaching session, and a wonderful meal at Greenwood UMC.  Pastor In Suk gave an inspiring message from her childhood. In Suk moved from Korea to the US when she was in her twenties. She told us about one of the Christmas traditions in her native Korean village. 

Imagine a huge bonfire built outside the doors of a small, simple church.  On a December  dark and cold night, children, teens and adults would tend the fire; bringing wood, stirring the embers so that heat was just right.  Special Christmas cake was baked on this fire.  And it took some time to do the baking.  As fires go... the flames needed to be tended so that the cake would not burn. 

While some folks tended the fire, other parents and church leaders were in the sanctuary leading the children and teens through the story of God.  Children ran back and forth from outside by the fire to inner warmth of the church sanctuary  where the entire story of the Bible was enacted and told from the Garden of Eden all the way to the birth of Jesus, the visitation by shepherds and wise travelers from the east.  Must have taken awhile to bake those special Christmas cakes!

In Suk reflects on the wonder and joy of that special night with her church family.  The night was a celebration of dramatic contrasts: dark and light; cold and warm; hunger and satisfaction; waiting and the expectation; unknown of the future and also hope.  And all of the evening’s activities; both the bonfire and the Word of God, were tended by the community working and sharing together.  I can just imagine running from the fire as a small child back into the sanctuary where the story of God unfolds so that young and old alike hear the long, wandering narrative of God’s saving, loving grace for humanity culminating in a stable with a child who is born for us. 

We may not be in Korea, but there is fire tonight that needs to be tended.  You are here because your fire feels dim amidst the darkness.  And we: young and old, married and widowed, single and divorced, grieving and hopeful, eager and downtrodden; as a community tend the flames of our hope together.  Our God first put the light within each one of us.  Then, gave us the gift of Jesus to further empower with compassion.  We need only stir the embers this evening. 

          You may have heard about a Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.  She is credited with wonderful insight and wisdom into the stages of grief and the process of grieving.  A less known thought of hers is this, “People are like stained - glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”

            The prophet Isaiah reminds us all that we do have a light within. Together we tend the flame. Tending looks like prayer, support, encouragement, and being present to one another.  Members of our prayer ministry and pastoral staff will come forward by the kneeling rails.  Mark will provide beautiful reflective music.

            If you need prayer, encouragement or the warmth of a friend of God… come forward.

If you are here because someone you love is suffering and struggling, come forward and receive prayer for them and yourself as a person of support. Let us tend the Light of God within one another.  Amen.

Graduation!

Here is our newest graduate- fresh from receiving his MBA (focus in Accounting) from Indiana Wesleyan University on Saturday December 13, 2014!

After two and a half years of going to to school straight through; he is finished!

We are so proud of my husband!

Not only did he achieve a 4.0, but he also graduated debt free.
He accomplished all of this while working one full time job as well as two part time gigs on the side.

Besides that he completed his higher education while he mother was in hospice and saw her through to her eternal home during his toughest class, Economics!

Eric met many new friends and wonderful professors!  He is thrilled with his achievement and so are we!

He is a fantastic role model of diligence, patience, and hard work!  I am so glad he has modeled for our daughter the gifts and blessings of education.

Now, time to celebrate and catch up on rest!

Congratulations!

Female Lead Pastors of Large UM Churches

Recently while reading items in the news feed of my Facebook account, one of my clergy colleagues shared this blog entry from Reverend Jeremy Smith (blog is entitled Hacking Christianity).  he does an excellent job of working through the myths and issues surrounding the lack of female lead pastors within large churches in United Methodism.

I wish you happy reading, and then for all of us, within the United Methodist community to lift up, coach, encourage and empower leaders (female and male) for the vital ministries God calls them toward.

http://hackingchristianity.net/2014/12/why-do-the-largest-umcs-not-have-female-pastors.html

Advent

Advent, 'the coming', as a church season is here and I could not be more eager to relish and soak in the significance.

Waiting on God to end hunger, pain, sorrow, injustice, illness, disease, mental illness, despair, violence, sin, war, brain tumor's, breast cancer, ALS, etc.  I have a whole long list; my list grows every Advent, of all the things I am eagerly waiting on God to end, heal and redeem.

Thank God for God and Advent.  A special time for waiting... resting... reflecting on what is and what is nto yet to be...

I talked with Calvary's children about how Advent is like an adventure a faith journey into the past to remember Jesus birth, and also a journey into the future to celebrate Jesus will come again in fullness, glory and splendor.  And we do this journey NOW!  In the midst of the have-done, almost-accomplished, yet-to be of the world.

What a relief Advent is that I do not do a thing.  But God does.  What a joy Advent reminds me that God is moving, and working and I can trust in my waiting on God.

Advent, come on!  And Come!