Friday, December 22, 2006
Collect:
Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.
Readings:
AM Psalm 40, 54; Isa. 10:5-19
PM Psalm 51, 2 Pet. 2:17-22; Matt. 11:2-15
From Forward Day by Day:
Psalm 40. I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; see, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O LORD.
For years I had unrestrained lips. My joy and enthusiasm for all things gushed forth. I didn't hold back. Maybe that is why God called me to the ministry of listening. In order to provide pastoral care you must listen to those you are called to help, you must observe the setting, and you must wait for God.
God makes each of us special. I recently read that each of us share 99.9 percent the same DNA. It is only in that 0.1 percent we differ. That small portion is why we are who we are. What did God call you to do or to be? Haven't thought that God calls each of us for something special? Even if we only live a minute or one hundred years, I believe we all have a very special purpose for God. What is yours?
Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Anglican Cycle of Prayer: Lagos - (Province of Lagos, Nigeria) The Most Revd Ephraim Adebola Ademowo
Advent Calendar: Ways to help others:
8. Give Alternatives' gift certificates, gift resources, gift memberships. (www.simpleliving.org )The recipients receive a catalog and can start where they want to. This makes us helpful and generous, not pushy.
Advent Calendar: Open Wide the Doors To Christ by Elizabeth Bookser Barkley
FRIDAY (Is 56:1-3, 6-8; Jn 5:33-36) Be a light in the darkness. During these long days, we might feel that the daylight hours are too short, especially as we cram in parties, shopping and gift-wrapping. Move inward today to find a spark of love. Be a modern-day John the Baptist—a "lamp, set aflame and burning bright"—as you interact with family and friends.
From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.
Magnificat by Adam of Perseigne, A French Cistercian, Abbot of the monastery of Perseigne in the Diocese of Mans, b. about the middle of the twelfth century.
You magnify him because amid this world's darkness, being more luminous than the sun, more beautiful than the moon, more fragrant than the rose, and whiter than snow, you reveal more fully the splendor of God.
You magnify him, not by giving him an increase of his boundless magnitude, but by bringing, amid the world's darkness, the light of the true divinity. You magnify him when you are raised to so high a dignity that you receive the fullness of grace; when you merit to receive the visit of the Holy Spirit; and when, becoming the Mother of God, while remaining an inviolate Virgin, you give birth to a Savior for a world that is being lost.
But whence do you get the power to do this? From the fact that the Lord is with you, the Lord who makes his gifts become your merits. That is why it is said that you "magnify" him so much more to the extent that you are more magnified in and by him.
Your soul, then, magnifies the Lord only in the sense that you yourself are magnified by him, even to receiving magnificently the fullness of grace and reaching the magnificence of a unique glory. For you are the receptacle of the Word, the cellar of the new wine which inebriates the sobriety of believers. You are the Mother of God!
Praises (Lauds) of Nativity Matins, Tone 4 (by Andrew of Jerusalem)
Make glad, O ye righteous; greatly rejoice, O ye heavens; ye mountains, dance for joy. Christ is born, and like the cherubim the Virgin makes a throne, carrying at her bosom God the Word made flesh. Shepherds glorify the new-born Child, magi offer the Master gifts. Angels sing praises, saying: 'O Lord past understanding, glory to Thee!'
It was the good pleasure of the Father: the Word became flesh, and the Virgin bore God made man. A star spreads abroad the tidings: the Magi worship, the shepherds stand amazed, and the creation is filled with mighty joy.
O Mother of God, Virgin who hast borne the Saviour, thou hast overthrown the ancient curse of Eve. For thou hast become the Mother of Him in whom the Father was well pleased, and has carried at thy bosom God the incarnate Word. We cannot fathom this mystery: but by faith alone we all glorify it, crying with thee and saying: O Lord past all interpretation, glory to Thee!
O come, let us sing the praises of the Mother of the Saviour, who after bearing child still remained Virgin. Rejoice, thou Living City of God the King, in which Christ has dwelt, bringing to pass our salvation. With Gabriel we sing thy praises; with the shepherds we glorify thee, crying: O Mother of God, intercede for our salvation with Him who took flesh from thee!
"SHE WHO BELIEVED" AND "FOR THE PERSON WHO HAS EVERYTHING"
She Who Believed
And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.
Luke 1:45
Trust does not come easily to adults. We've been burned one time too many. We're not about to hand over our battered hearts without something in the way of a guarantee. But we know there are no guarantees. So we don't get our hopes up. And we hold what hope we do have close to our chests.We don't show it to anybody.
Of course, Mary was very young. Maybe she didn't know any better. But wait -- this line isn't spoken by Mary. Elizabeth says this, in the story as we have it. Middle-aged Elizabeth, improbably expecting the child she surely never thought she'd have. She's not talking only about young Mary. She's talking about herself, too. She's talking about anybody who dares to hope.
Why do we refuse our own hope? We dread our disappointment. Perhaps we dread our own embarrassment. Our reality stands next to the bright vision of our longing, and it is not displayed to advantage. Maybe we even think we'll jinx ourselves. Sshh-- don't say anything about your hope. They'll take it away if you mention it.
But here is the truth: just as there are no charms, there are no jinxes. Neither hope nor despair makes things happen by magic. What they do is change us. Hope itself comforts and strengthens, right in the moment of hoping, whether or not what I long for ever comes to pass. And despair only ensures that I will experience every bad thing twice -- once before it arrives and then again when it's here.
Sorrow and disappointment will come to all of us on their own -- we won't need to decide in favor of it. It costs us no more to allow ourselves to dream the reality God promises, and it makes us glad, right then and there.
+
Advent IV, Year C:
Micah 5:2-4
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-49(50-56)
Psalm 80 or 80:1-7
+
And here is the ERD meditation:
For the Person Who Has Everything
Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb...
Luke 1:42
All babies are blessings, no matter who they are or where they're born. Each one is in the image of God. But they don't all get the same chance to grow into adults who will burnish that image into something bright and beautiful.
Every day, 3,000 African children die of malaria. An adult can often fight back against the disease, emerging on the other side of an attack weak but still alive, but its symptoms race through the tiny body of a child too quickly to be arrested, even if anti-malarial drugs are available. The chances of curing a stricken child in a remote village are slim to none. The key, then, is preventing infection in the first place.
NetsforLifeSM is a partnership program of Episcopal Relief and Development which will distribute one million treated mosquito nets and train people in their use in 16 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa over the next three years. The nets are good for three to five years. Anglican churches, with whom we have had relationships for decades, are the local partners, and ERD is drawing other funding agencies and individuals together to support this massive effort.
The Millennium Development Goal of a decrease in childhood mortality is one that all of us can endorse. In this season, in which we welcome a child born into poverty as the Son of God, some mosquito nets and a note explaining them just might be the best present you could give the person who has everything.
+
To learn more about NetsforLifeSM, or to make a donation toward the mosquito nets, visit http://www.er-d.org/ or telephone 1-800-334-7626.
Copyright © 2006 Barbara Crafton - http://www.geraniumfarm.org
Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.
Readings:
AM Psalm 40, 54; Isa. 10:5-19
PM Psalm 51, 2 Pet. 2:17-22; Matt. 11:2-15
From Forward Day by Day:
Psalm 40. I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; see, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O LORD.
For years I had unrestrained lips. My joy and enthusiasm for all things gushed forth. I didn't hold back. Maybe that is why God called me to the ministry of listening. In order to provide pastoral care you must listen to those you are called to help, you must observe the setting, and you must wait for God.
God makes each of us special. I recently read that each of us share 99.9 percent the same DNA. It is only in that 0.1 percent we differ. That small portion is why we are who we are. What did God call you to do or to be? Haven't thought that God calls each of us for something special? Even if we only live a minute or one hundred years, I believe we all have a very special purpose for God. What is yours?
Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Anglican Cycle of Prayer: Lagos - (Province of Lagos, Nigeria) The Most Revd Ephraim Adebola Ademowo
Advent Calendar: Ways to help others:
8. Give Alternatives' gift certificates, gift resources, gift memberships. (www.simpleliving.org )The recipients receive a catalog and can start where they want to. This makes us helpful and generous, not pushy.
Advent Calendar: Open Wide the Doors To Christ by Elizabeth Bookser Barkley
FRIDAY (Is 56:1-3, 6-8; Jn 5:33-36) Be a light in the darkness. During these long days, we might feel that the daylight hours are too short, especially as we cram in parties, shopping and gift-wrapping. Move inward today to find a spark of love. Be a modern-day John the Baptist—a "lamp, set aflame and burning bright"—as you interact with family and friends.
From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.
Magnificat by Adam of Perseigne, A French Cistercian, Abbot of the monastery of Perseigne in the Diocese of Mans, b. about the middle of the twelfth century.
You magnify him because amid this world's darkness, being more luminous than the sun, more beautiful than the moon, more fragrant than the rose, and whiter than snow, you reveal more fully the splendor of God.
You magnify him, not by giving him an increase of his boundless magnitude, but by bringing, amid the world's darkness, the light of the true divinity. You magnify him when you are raised to so high a dignity that you receive the fullness of grace; when you merit to receive the visit of the Holy Spirit; and when, becoming the Mother of God, while remaining an inviolate Virgin, you give birth to a Savior for a world that is being lost.
But whence do you get the power to do this? From the fact that the Lord is with you, the Lord who makes his gifts become your merits. That is why it is said that you "magnify" him so much more to the extent that you are more magnified in and by him.
Your soul, then, magnifies the Lord only in the sense that you yourself are magnified by him, even to receiving magnificently the fullness of grace and reaching the magnificence of a unique glory. For you are the receptacle of the Word, the cellar of the new wine which inebriates the sobriety of believers. You are the Mother of God!
Praises (Lauds) of Nativity Matins, Tone 4 (by Andrew of Jerusalem)
Make glad, O ye righteous; greatly rejoice, O ye heavens; ye mountains, dance for joy. Christ is born, and like the cherubim the Virgin makes a throne, carrying at her bosom God the Word made flesh. Shepherds glorify the new-born Child, magi offer the Master gifts. Angels sing praises, saying: 'O Lord past understanding, glory to Thee!'
It was the good pleasure of the Father: the Word became flesh, and the Virgin bore God made man. A star spreads abroad the tidings: the Magi worship, the shepherds stand amazed, and the creation is filled with mighty joy.
O Mother of God, Virgin who hast borne the Saviour, thou hast overthrown the ancient curse of Eve. For thou hast become the Mother of Him in whom the Father was well pleased, and has carried at thy bosom God the incarnate Word. We cannot fathom this mystery: but by faith alone we all glorify it, crying with thee and saying: O Lord past all interpretation, glory to Thee!
O come, let us sing the praises of the Mother of the Saviour, who after bearing child still remained Virgin. Rejoice, thou Living City of God the King, in which Christ has dwelt, bringing to pass our salvation. With Gabriel we sing thy praises; with the shepherds we glorify thee, crying: O Mother of God, intercede for our salvation with Him who took flesh from thee!
"SHE WHO BELIEVED" AND "FOR THE PERSON WHO HAS EVERYTHING"
She Who Believed
And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.
Luke 1:45
Trust does not come easily to adults. We've been burned one time too many. We're not about to hand over our battered hearts without something in the way of a guarantee. But we know there are no guarantees. So we don't get our hopes up. And we hold what hope we do have close to our chests.We don't show it to anybody.
Of course, Mary was very young. Maybe she didn't know any better. But wait -- this line isn't spoken by Mary. Elizabeth says this, in the story as we have it. Middle-aged Elizabeth, improbably expecting the child she surely never thought she'd have. She's not talking only about young Mary. She's talking about herself, too. She's talking about anybody who dares to hope.
Why do we refuse our own hope? We dread our disappointment. Perhaps we dread our own embarrassment. Our reality stands next to the bright vision of our longing, and it is not displayed to advantage. Maybe we even think we'll jinx ourselves. Sshh-- don't say anything about your hope. They'll take it away if you mention it.
But here is the truth: just as there are no charms, there are no jinxes. Neither hope nor despair makes things happen by magic. What they do is change us. Hope itself comforts and strengthens, right in the moment of hoping, whether or not what I long for ever comes to pass. And despair only ensures that I will experience every bad thing twice -- once before it arrives and then again when it's here.
Sorrow and disappointment will come to all of us on their own -- we won't need to decide in favor of it. It costs us no more to allow ourselves to dream the reality God promises, and it makes us glad, right then and there.
+
Advent IV, Year C:
Micah 5:2-4
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-49(50-56)
Psalm 80 or 80:1-7
+
And here is the ERD meditation:
For the Person Who Has Everything
Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb...
Luke 1:42
All babies are blessings, no matter who they are or where they're born. Each one is in the image of God. But they don't all get the same chance to grow into adults who will burnish that image into something bright and beautiful.
Every day, 3,000 African children die of malaria. An adult can often fight back against the disease, emerging on the other side of an attack weak but still alive, but its symptoms race through the tiny body of a child too quickly to be arrested, even if anti-malarial drugs are available. The chances of curing a stricken child in a remote village are slim to none. The key, then, is preventing infection in the first place.
NetsforLifeSM is a partnership program of Episcopal Relief and Development which will distribute one million treated mosquito nets and train people in their use in 16 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa over the next three years. The nets are good for three to five years. Anglican churches, with whom we have had relationships for decades, are the local partners, and ERD is drawing other funding agencies and individuals together to support this massive effort.
The Millennium Development Goal of a decrease in childhood mortality is one that all of us can endorse. In this season, in which we welcome a child born into poverty as the Son of God, some mosquito nets and a note explaining them just might be the best present you could give the person who has everything.
+
To learn more about NetsforLifeSM, or to make a donation toward the mosquito nets, visit http://www.er-d.org/ or telephone 1-800-334-7626.
Copyright © 2006 Barbara Crafton - http://www.geraniumfarm.org
posted by Gloriamarie Amalfitano @ 11:29 AM
1 Comments:
At 2:04 PM,
The Celtic Rebel Webmaster said…
Love your Blog, Gloriamarie! I'll be checking this out frequently.
Amanda Demers from St. Sam's
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