Rev. Zach

Isaiah 9:2-7     Titus 2:11-14     Luke 2:1-20 Tonight, is a night of proclamation and hope! Tonight, is truly a night of expectation and wonder! Tonight, is the night that we experience the pure and unadulterated joy of celebrating the birth of Jesus. And all of us have received the same profound gift. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This phrase took on new meaning for me this year when I saw the play, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” I heard these words in a new way when the young girl playing the angel – who had a star shaved into the side of her head – pointed a fairy wand into the crowd and said repeatedly, “Unto you!” She did it with such urgency and sincerity that I realized that this message was for me as much as it was for her. It mattered for me to receive it, and it mattered for her to say it. She said it for the whole audience, as much as she said it to each of...

Isaiah 61:1-11     Romans 16:25-27     Luke 1:26-38 Well, the time of preparation is at an end. Did you get it all done? Me either. But, no matter, this journey is about to begin! Not just the journey to the Holy City that will be enacted in so many ways throughout all of Christendom, but the journey of faith that we mark every year with the promised birth of Jesus. Yes, our season of expectation and hope has ended with a promise. The promise is that God will interrupt our lives. Some of you are hearing that and may be reacting like Lucy telling Schroeder to play Jingle Bells. You know the scene. He plays several styles until in exasperation he plays the note by note version on the piano, and she yells, “THAT’S IT!” You see, we really don’t want God to interrupt our lives in any way that actually changes anything. We want our traditions and the comforts they bring. We want to get our shopping done. We want to touch and taste and see t...

Isaiah 40:1-11      2 Peter 3:8-15a      Mark 1:1-8 Hurry up and wait. Hurry up and wait. Isn’t that what Advent seems like sometimes? For two thousand years we’ve been told that salvation is coming. Yet, when I look at the news, I can’t help but think, “Any time now, Lord…” Jesus tells us to be prepared, but what does that even mean? [Interrupted by congregation member] “Oh, I know! [Sings a verse of “ Be Prepared ” from The Lion King. ]” Um...thanks, but no. That’s actually the opposite of what Jesus was talking about. The power of God was displayed through vulnerability—through a baby in a manger, and a man on a cross. No, this is about something entirely different. What about the rest of you? What are things that you do to prepare for a big change – any kind of change that you can anticipate? “Make a list. Clean House. Hide stuff. Honestly accept the need.” These are all really important things to do, and as they say, ...

Isaiah 64:1-9      1 Corinthians 1:3-9      Mark 13:24-37 Let’s start out with a game. This one is called “Party Quirks”. I have some contestants that have been preselected, and I have a host. The way this works is that one person will pretend to be hosting a party. The others will come in one at a time and exhibit some kind of “quirk”. The host has to guess the identity of the guest’s quirk. [The guests in this game will be a person who loves Christmas, the Grinch, someone who is has the Christmas blues, a person who reminds everyone that Jesus is the reason for the season, and an end times preacher.] Wasn’t that fun?! Now, out of all of those guests, who would you say was the most out of place? Right – the End Times Preacher! Yet that is exactly what we have in our readings today, both from Isaiah and Mark. Just when you think you’ve had enough from the Gospel of Matthew about the Kingdom of God that is both present and yet to be – ...