December 13-14, 2008
Third Sunday of Advent Gaudete – REJOICE
Isaiah 6:1-11 First Thessalonians 5:16-24 John 1:6-28
With the reliability and comfort of having celebrated Christmas for 2,000+ years we have lost the incredulity and peculiarity of the Incarnation. We accept as a matter of course that Jesus was the Son of God, that he was born, lived, suffered and died…and we do this with shrugs of nonchalance. Yet, the notion of God becoming human was as novel to the people of two-millennia ago as some of today’s controversies are to our own populace. Indeed, our Jewish brothers and sisters were not anti-Jesus, it was simply incomprehensible that the dignity and auspicious power of God would become a frail human being. Thus, when we hear in Scripture that many of the Jews rejected Jesus…it is not a hateful rejection as much as a living-out what their whole perception of God called them to honor and believe. In today’s Second Reading from Paul to the people of Thessalonica we hear: ‘Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances. Test everything, retain what is good.’ As we open ourselves to the nearness of Christmas on this Gaudete Sunday (REJOICE), how might we be attempting to quench those things that disturb our rhythms and regular way of living our lives? Rather than embracing newness, might we have fallen into a pessimistic trap of presuming new things are always wrong…we don’t just test them, we judge and condemn them simply because they rattle our cages, (like those who voted against our President-elect simply because he is a man of color?) In welcoming the anticipated birth of Jesus are we anticipating that Jesus will confirm what we already believe and want to hold as true? What if God is trying to move us, nudge us away from whom we have been into whom he desires us to be? Gosh, what if Christmas is not about holding on to the way things have always been but a joyous, wondrous throwing open of our hearts to what things CAN BE?
Thank you for joining with us on the weekend of REJOICING (Gaudete) at the nearness of Christmas. A reminder that this is the occasion of our annual Rectory Open House, the Bulletin has directions and gate code…consider yourself invited for a visit and some pre-holiday cheer. As we have always done, we are once again soliciting POTTED POINSETTIA plants for our use in transforming our Grand Hall into a festive/reverent environment for Christmas. PLEASE…nothing smaller than 6-inch potted poinsettias, and the hefty 10-inchers from Costco are even better. (The small little plants dry out and pretty much get tossed before they even go on display…so please avoid those.) If you can help out with a donation of some plants, please bring them with you next weekend and place them in the Kitchen or on the shelf near the kitchen roll-up window. THANKS! The Bulletin has the full Christmas schedule, please accept one on your way home and make your plans now. Keep in mind that the Christmas Eve 4:00 p.m. Mass is MOBBED out onto the lawn, the 6:30 is about ¾ full and the 9:00 p.m. ‘It’s Midnight In New York’ Mass is standing room only. Christmas Day 8 is pretty empty and Christmas Day 10 a.m. is about ¾ full but the Christmas Day 10:15 a.m. is PACKED. As you plan and allow the spirit of REJOICING to creep into your heart, remember, you are loved. FKB
