Resources for Advent Week 2

Monday Prayer

Adapted from the UMC Social Creed and Sunday's Advent Candle Liturgy

Holy One, Mighty God, Lover of our Souls,

We pause. We breathe. We reflect.

We thank you for this season where we anticipate the Unexpected Messiah.

We await the Christ who comes to be born in us,

reminding ourselves that you are God, and we are not.

We hear the prophet who speaks to us saying:

God loves and cares for all of creation,

wills the healing and wholeness of all life,

weeps at the plunder of earth’s goodness.

And so shall we.

God sees every injustice and responds with compassion,

provides a cup that overflows,

reignites our souls when shadows come.

And so shall we.

So today, we pray for unity and oneness for all God’s created order.

May God’s perfect love be birthed among and through us today.

O come o come, great God of Might

Who to thy tribes on Sinai’s height,

In ancient times once gave the law,

In cloud and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice!

Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

Tuesday Questions for Reflection

Adapted from Names for the Messiah by Walter Bruggemann...you may also choose to watch Pastor Wes's sermon from Sunday, which discusses the topics in this section.

Sunday's contemporary reading stated: The phrase “Mighty God” from Isaiah does not first of all invite a question about Jesus’s status as “God” or “Man.” Instead, it asks about his power in a world that is organized around many claimants for power, most especially the power of Rome. It is clear that he will not compete with the power of Rome on the terms of Rome. His assertion in the Fourth Gospel at his trial before the Roman governor is, “My kingdom is not from this world.”

1. In what do you think people have misunderstood Jesus's statement, "My kingdom is not from this world?" What do you think he really meant, and what does that say about the way Jesus understood power and authority?

2. Continuing on this week's sermon theme of God's power and might, consider that Jesus gave the disciples the authority to "cure the sick." Have you ever felt or practiced this authority? In whatever ways you understand this kind of authority and power, what do you think this could look like in your life today, this week, and in the coming year?

3. How do you see the church displaying the power of God, as modeled by Jesus, in our world today?

Wednesday Devotional Meditation

Taken from The Journey by Adam Hamilton, which is our 2019 Advent Book Study.

It is not by accident that Matthew tells us that while Gabriel spoke directly to Mary, Joseph's message came in a dream. We can see a connection between this Joseph and the patriarch Joseph, whose story fills nearly thirteen chapters of Genesis. God spoke to that Joseph in dreams (hence the title of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat), and in a similar way God spoke to Joseph the carpenter in dreams. Matthew looks for these kinds of parallels between the Old Testament and the story of Jesus.

Has God ever spoken to you in a dream? I hardly remember the dreams I have when I sleep. But I frequently have what could be called day dreams. Some might call these visions. In them I sometimes see what could be; what I believe God wants to be. These are ideas that come to me while I'm reading Scripture, or hearing someone else preach, or meeting with my small group, or conversing with others. Often these are dreams that come when seeing places of great need. I carry a little black book with me to write down these dreams when they occur, because I quickly forget them.

Dreams can also emerge as you hear other people's dreams. Several years ago Karla, one of our staff members at the church, felt compelled to start a worship service for senior adults who had Alzheimer's, dementia, or other forms of memory loss. She announced it to area nursing homes, and they began sending buses of people to the worship service in our chapel.

Karla and her team filled the service with well-known hymns, familiar creeds, the Lord's Prayer, and simple messages that might help people remember who they are. Recently the teachers in our daytime kids program began bringing the little children to sing for the worship service. The three- and four-year-olds sang, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong; they are week, but he is strong." As the children sang the chorus, "Yes, Jesus loves me," voices of people who could not remember their own names joined the children: "Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so."

The dream of one woman became the dream of a host of volunteers, and together they did what they felt God was leading them to do. The result was something extraordinary.

God spoke to Joseph in dreams. Joseph's dreams called him to devote the rest of his life to nurturing, mentoring, and protecting Jesus. My dreams from God seldom come at night. They are a sense of calling that wells up inside.

Are you listening for God to speak to you? And if God speaks, are you willing to obey? Listening for God's dreams, and following them, made all the difference in Joseph's life, and it makes all the difference in our lives as well.

Thursday Questions for Reflection

Adapted from The Journey by Adam Hamilton

1. How do you think Joseph first learned of Mary's pregnancy? Did Mary tell him? Did it come in the form of a rumor? Might Elizabeth, Zechariah, or some other member of Mary's family have told him? How do you think Joseph felt as he first received that news?

2. Joseph experience an angel in a dream. How do you think he knew it was an angel? How would you feel if you dreamed of an angel telling you to do something contrary to popular custom and perhaps contrary to what you were feeling?

3. Which of the angel's pronouncements might have surprised Joseph more: that the child was conceived by the Holy Spirit, or that the child would save his people from sin?

4. What do you think the primary lesson is when you look at Joseph's part of this story of the birth of Jesus?

Friday Prayer

From Psalm 51

Create in me a clean heart, oh God,

and put a new and right spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from your presence,

and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and sustain in me a willing spirit...

Oh God, Open my lips

and my mouth will declare your praise.

Amen.

Resources for Advent Week 1

Monday Prayer

Adapted from Names for the Messiah by Walter Bruggemann...you may also choose to watch Pastor Wes's sermon from Sunday, which discusses the topics in this section.

Sunday's contemporary reading stated: The phrase “Mighty God” from Isaiah does not first of all invite a question about Jesus’s status as “God” or “Man.” Instead, it asks about his power in a world that is organized around many claimants for power, most especially the power of Rome. It is clear that he will not compete with the power of Rome on the terms of Rome. His assertion in the Fourth Gospel at his trial before the Roman governor is, “My kingdom is not from this world.”

1. In what do you think people have misunderstood Jesus's statement, "My kingdom is not from this world?" What do you think he really meant, and what does that say about the way Jesus understood power and authority?

2. Continuing on this week's sermon theme of God's power and might, consider that Jesus gave the disciples the authority to "cure the sick." Have you ever felt or practiced this authority? In whatever ways you understand this kind of authority and power, what do you think this could look like in your life today, this week, and in the coming year?

3. How do you see the church displaying the power of God, as modeled by Jesus, in our world today?

Wednesday Devotional Meditation

Taken from The Journey by Adam Hamilton, which is our 2019 Advent Book Study.

It is not by accident that Matthew tells us that while Gabriel spoke directly to Mary, Joseph's message came in a dream. We can see a connection between this Joseph and the patriarch Joseph, whose story fills nearly thirteen chapters of Genesis. God spoke to that Joseph in dreams (hence the title of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat), and in a similar way God spoke to Joseph the carpenter in dreams. Matthew looks for these kinds of parallels between the Old Testament and the story of Jesus.

Has God ever spoken to you in a dream? I hardly remember the dreams I have when I sleep. But I frequently have what could be called day dreams. Some might call these visions. In them I sometimes see what could be; what I believe God wants to be. These are ideas that come to me while I'm reading Scripture, or hearing someone else preach, or meeting with my small group, or conversing with others. Often these are dreams that come when seeing places of great need. I carry a little black book with me to write down these dreams when they occur, because I quickly forget them.

Dreams can also emerge as you hear other people's dreams. Several years ago Karla, one of our staff members at the church, felt compelled to start a worship service for senior adults who had Alzheimer's, dementia, or other forms of memory loss. She announced it to area nursing homes, and they began sending buses of people to the worship service in our chapel.

Karla and her team filled the service with well-known hymns, familiar creeds, the Lord's Prayer, and simple messages that might help people remember who they are. Recently the teachers in our daytime kids program began bringing the little children to sing for the worship service. The three- and four-year-olds sang, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong; they are week, but he is strong." As the children sang the chorus, "Yes, Jesus loves me," voices of people who could not remember their own names joined the children: "Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so."

The dream of one woman became the dream of a host of volunteers, and together they did what they felt God was leading them to do. The result was something extraordinary.

God spoke to Joseph in dreams. Joseph's dreams called him to devote the rest of his life to nurturing, mentoring, and protecting Jesus. My dreams from God seldom come at night. They are a sense of calling that wells up inside.

Are you listening for God to speak to you? And if God speaks, are you willing to obey? Listening for God's dreams, and following them, made all the difference in Joseph's life, and it makes all the difference in our lives as well.

Thursday Questions for Reflection

Adapted from The Journey by Adam Hamilton

1. How do you think Joseph first learned of Mary's pregnancy? Did Mary tell him? Did it come in the form of a rumor? Might Elizabeth, Zechariah, or some other member of Mary's family have told him? How do you think Joseph felt as he first received that news?

2. Joseph experience an angel in a dream. How do you think he knew it was an angel? How would you feel if you dreamed of an angel telling you to do something contrary to popular custom and perhaps contrary to what you were feeling?

3. Which of the angel's pronouncements might have surprised Joseph more: that the child was conceived by the Holy Spirit, or that the child would save his people from sin?

4. What do you think the primary lesson is when you look at Joseph's part of this story of the birth of Jesus?

Friday Prayer

From Psalm 51

Create in me a clean heart, oh God,

and put a new and right spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from your presence,

and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and sustain in me a willing spirit...

Oh God, Open my lips

and my mouth will declare your praise.

Amen.

Christ-mass Preparations Begin!

This Sunday, our preparations for the arrival of the Christ-child begin! I invite you join us, especially if you have not been to church in a while, for a very special Advent Season leading up to Christmas.

This is such a special and holy season. I hope you will make it a point to step away from the secular holiday events to truly explore the meaning and message of this season of peace and joy as we together await for the birth of Jesus.

This Sunday we will begin a new series entitled, "The Unexpected Messiah," which will focus on the ways that Jesus was not the Savior that everyone thought they wanted, but he was exactly what was needed. The series is based on the famous line from Isaiah 9: "A child is born to us, a son is given to us, and authority will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace." In this Advent series, we will turn these historic titles upside down, inside out, and back up again to explore the ways Jesus was an unexpected Messiah, queering and challenging the expectations of what deliverance means for the world.

I am excited to discover new sides to Jesus as we journey from here to the manger on Christmas Eve.

I hope to see you soon on the road to Bethlehem!

Winter Outreach

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?' -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Our Winter Outreach Shelter provides refuge on the coldest nights of the year saving people’s lives. Our guests range from those who have always been poor and have always lived with housing insecurity to others who have become unhoused because of their mental health or substance use challenges. And many others are unhoused for reasons that we will never know.

Over the last 10 years, I have stayed committed to this program because the generous, incredible people who take refuge for a safe night’s rest in our care. I cannot tell you how many times I have watched someone, carrying on their backs all they own, quickly dig through their few belongings to find pants or a belt for another guest who needs it more! Today, I am grateful to share some of the stories of those who have shared a night of their lives with me:

Among past guests was the woman who carried herself elegantly as she rolled her small suitcase into the shelter. One of our volunteers gasped, remarking: “she was my teacher!” Quietly, he said that this woman had been an impressive teacher that he remembered well from his childhood.

I remember a young couple, sitting up late into the night as they studied for an exam in a dental tech program they were both enrolled in. The next week, they came back SO excited to tell us that they had passed the exam – largely due to the help of one of our volunteers who sat up helping them prepare.

And then there was the family of four: mom, full-time-employed dad, and two small children. The mom cried as she said that two months earlier she had been the one passing out sandwiches to the homeless. But then the pipes broke in their apartment, the apartment was condemned, and they were suddenly unhoused without money to pay a deposit and first/last month rent.

Every one of our guests has their own story. And ALL deserve a warm place to stay on deadly cold nights.

God with the People

God with the Privileged?

This Sunday, we will continue our sermon series, "God with the People," and this story of God's relationship with the Israelites from Genesis to Jesus, we have come to the time of the great Kings of Israel.

Saul, David, and Solomon each have big stories written about them in our Bibles, especially King David. While many of those stories are about their great successes, others include murder, adultery, and other serious mistakes. We quickly get the clear sense that the Kings were blessed leaders and regular people with faults.

As we continue our larger story of God with the People, this week we will take a closer look at these leaders as we consider how God is with these people: the wealthy, privileged, top 1%, rulers. If God is with the people, then that means everyone. But how is God's relationship to the most privileged similar or different from God relationship with the 99%? Join us on Sunday as we find out together!

Fellowship Sunday

51 years ago, 12 people met together in a little pink house with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir streaming through a boombox. Rev. Troy Perry, a twice-defrocked Pentecostal & Baptist minister, put an ad in the Advocate magazine, wore his vestments, and consecrated communion over a coffee table that served as an altar. This was the first service of Metropolitan Community Churches where people, like us, now gather around the world each week to celebrate our loving God who made LGBTQ+ people in God's own image.

This week, articles of MCC's history were welcomed into the Smithsonian American History Museum. It was a momentous occasion where MCC's unique role in uniting spirituality and sexuality was honored and celebrated.

Many of the items donated were used in the very first days of MCC, including Rev. Troy's Book of Common Prayer, which he used as he conducted some of the first same-gender unions and far too many funerals of those who died due to complications from HIV/AIDS. When speaking of some of these things, he said that he kept good record of what happened in those early years because he knew he was making history; he knew what MCC was doing was important for the world.

46 years ago, MCCGSL became the first house of worship for gender and sexual minorities in St. Louis. In 2014, our own pastor, Rev. Wes, performed the first legal gay marriage in the State of Missouri. We, too, are doing ministry that makes history and is important for the world.

As MCC's story is made of us, we are history. While we look toward the next 50 years of MCC's history, what things do you want to be remembered for? What is the faithful legacy we will be a part of creating? How will we make the world more just, peaceful, and kind?

Join us this Sunday as we celebrate our shared history and consider what God may be calling us to next!

Wear Orange to Take a Stand

This week, Pastor Lauren and I joined with the rest of the clergy in the Carondelet neighborhood to host a Community Prayer Vigil for the child victims of gun violence in St. Louis. Before that night 22 teens and children under 18 had become victims of gun violence in 2019 in our city.

Literally while we were gathered in prayer and sharing, just three miles away, another 6-year-old was killed in an act of gun violence. To add to that bitterness, just this morning a 3-year-old boy was shot and later died at the hospital. That means that a gun has killed 24 kids this year in St. Louis.

I grew up in the country...in the foothills (or as we would have said "footheels") of Tennessee's Appalachian Mountains. There, guns were a part of life. My family had guns, I was taught to use those guns safely even at a young age, and I honestly gave it very little thought. So, I am not writing today about guns, the personal freedom to own guns, or the crazy politics of our country. I am writing about the universal right to life that everyone of us--and especially our kiddos--have.

In Matthew 19, Jesus moves the adults aside and orders that the children be brought to him. He recognized the importance of children and the collective responsibility every person has to protect them. It sounds kind of funny to say, but Jesus was a Mama Bear! Don't mess with his kiddos, or he will protect them like a Mama Bear!

Even though you may not be the mama or daddy to any of the kids in our city who have been shot, you can be their Mama Bear. You can take a stand to say this must be stopped. Our kids must be kept safe.

At our Prayer Vigil we encouraged everyone to wear an orange ribbon to take a stand for the children in our community. Orange is the official color that calls for an end for gun violence. You can wear an orange ribbon or any orange clothing as one small way to take your stand. On SATURDAY (remember service is moved this weekend), I will be wearing an orange stole as a symbol that our church is lifting up every one of these 24 children and their families in prayer. Let us stand with Jesus...for the kids...for life.