Passage: 2 Peter 1:12-19    

  Description: Who is Jesus for you? Who is Jesus in our faith? These may seem like obvious questions, but the answers, when we pause to reflect, take us deeper into our Christian faith and into the practice of that faith. In this Advent season of waiting once again to celebrate the arrival of God’s beloved son, we prepare our hearts by asking the question of ourselves and of each other – Who is Jesus? The image we are offered this week in scripture and through the Advent candle lighting ceremony is that of Jesus as the Morning Star. But what exactly does that mean? The image of Jesus as the morning star comes from the 2nd Letter of Peter. It is also used in the book of Revelation. Jesus is our morning star. In 2nd Peter, we are invited to anticipate the dawning of a new day when the morning star rises in our hearts. We know that moment, don’t we? As prairie people, with the wonderfully broad eastern sky, we have watched and waited for the sunrise, ready to welcome a new day. It is those moments just before the sunrise which are so magical and mystical. The sky has that special colour – more blue than black – as the light of the sun begins to warm the sky long before it breaks the horizon. The stars shimmer – and there is that one star, the morning star, that is especially bright. Actually, the morning star is the planet Venus – a mere 330 million kilometres from us, much closer than any of the nearest stars. It is Venus that announces the dawn and welcomes the sun, sparkling brightly as we watch and wait for the sun to return to us in its orbit, warming the earth and brightening our homes. It is such a powerful image - the morning star. We all have those times in our lives when we wait for the dawn, times when life is shadowed, depressing and filled with gloom. Grief, depression, tragedy, loss of a job, divorce, the economy, loss of good health or mobility – there are many circumstances that leave us unable to see what is good in life, what is joyful. It can feel as if a shadow has descended over us, and it is hard to believe that there will be hope and love and joy ever again in our lives.

Passage: Luke 5:1-11 & Philippians 2:1-5    

  Description: In the Christian Church Calendar, this is really like New Year’s Eve. It’s the last Sunday in the Church year, which means next Sunday is Advent and we begin the new year anticipating the Birth of Jesus. But that would mean getting ahead of ourselves. For today, let’s stay with the Christian Church’s equivalent of New Year’s Eve, called the Reign of Christ Sunday. I usually find New Year’s Eve a little bewildering. It seems to be a lot of out with the old and in with the new. Or, a listing of all the things we’re going to do differently with our best intentions attached. Or maybe some reflection and introspection on the year that has passed. And of course, there’s noise makers, confetti, food, libations, and most importantly the traditions of bringing in the new year with our loved ones and friends. It’s that last part about being with loved ones and friends that I think really connects with Paul’s reflections from today’s reading according to his letter to the Philippians. He had in mind, the Philippian church as a gathering of loved ones and friends—journeying together to the heart of God. Paul deeply loved his Christian communities. His letters were always encouraging and loving (except the Galatians who were nothing but a source of frustration for him—they were Celts, what can you do). But that being the distraction that it is, and hopefully a spark of humour, Paul always found ways to encourage, support, and love even in the face of other distractions, challenges or disruptions. Always. And yes, even the Galatians. Paul writes, “If then there is any encouragement in Christ, and consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, and compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind…. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interest of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” (Phil.2: 1-2, 4-5) It’s a great New Year’s Eve letter. It offers a reset as we move into the New Year and the coming weeks of Advent. What a beautiful intention that we set ourselves about the practices of encouragement, love, compassion, sympathy and joy—that we not hunker down into our own self-interests but look upon the interests of others—that we be of one mind, and have the mind of Christ in us—which really is about journeying together to the heart of God. We are on the cusp of the New Christian Year and Paul reminds us about the kind of headspace and heart-space we need to be in as we contemplate the reign of Christ. This takes practice… of course. But I am convinced that it is more relevant and necessary than ever.

Passage: 2 Timothy 1:1-14    

  Description: Linnea Good, musician and storyteller, shares a story about the healing of Bartimaeus and also talks about how God is in the story. A wonderful listen.

Passage: John 3:1-17 & 1 John 4:7-19    

  Description: God is Love… these words glowed in the dark from a little wooden plaque that hung on the wall next to my bed when I was about 9 years old. My church gave me this plaque as a gift from our Sunday School. Next to the words were two little blue birds framed by a heart. So simple. Since then, and all these years later, I’ve pondered that little plaque, it’s words and especially how they glowed after I turned out the light. God is Love, even through the night. Following our walk around the 6 roots of attachment as outlined by Dr. Gordon Neufeld, the fifth root of attachment is love. At or around 4 years old, our hearts become awakened to love. Four-year-old’s give their heart away to their caring adults. It’s why four-year-old’s want to marry their mom or dad. They want to marry their sister or brother. They want to marry their teacher. Four-year-old’s draw hearts and colour them and give them away. Four-year-old’s love valentines’ day! At the tender age of around 4 we learn about love for the first time and what it means to give our love to someone else. We take this first experience of love into the rest of our lives. A four-year-old’s love is innocent. It is unconditional. It is child-like of course. On the one hand it emerges on its own as part of our human development. On the other hand, it is evoked because the child is in the care of loving adults. It is a deep root and when the conditions are right, there is room for the child to learn about, feel, and express love. Hearts everywhere! That’s why my bedroom plaque was so comforting. God is love, glowing in the dark reminded me that I could exist in the presence of God and experience unconditional love. I knew that God loved me first. And in return, I gave my heart to God. As we reflect on the words about God’s love in 1 John today, we hear the mystery that, “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.” (1 Jn 4:16b) These words are written specifically for the Christian Community. John’s understanding of love is grounded in the mystery of God’s love at work in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Passage: Luke 17:11-19 & 1 Thessalonians 5:16-23    

  Description: Rev. Susan & Rev. David have a conversation about gratitude. As followers of Jesus, we are called to practice gratitude - which goes far beyond feeling thankful. It is a choice of a way of life that involves looking for what we have to be grateful for in all circumstances. In a society where there is so much hate-filled speech, so many death threats and sexual assault threats leveled at those in any sort of leadership position, it is more important than ever that we practice gratitude to counter this.