8AM - Holy Eucharist
 10AM - Holy Eucharist with Choir and Church School

This Advent, our watching and waiting for Christ to break into our world, is happening in the shadows of power, privilege and prejudice. It is happening as the voices of those oppressed by the sin of racism cry out in the wilderness and the streets of America. My preaching Sunday echoed Advent in America and many asked for a copy of the sermon which can be found at: http://vicarbill.wordpress.com/ and you can watch it online at: http://www.wctv25.com/.

While not a traditional Advent text, I was drawn to Paul's letter to the Ephesians and how we  might live if Paul is right that Christ has created one humanity in place of all human divisions? For Paul it was the longstanding hostility between Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews) and for us it is the division based on power, privilege and prejudice based on the color of one's skin. I invite you to read Paul substituting race for religious insiders/outsiders...

But don't take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God's ways had no idea of any of this, didn't know the first thing about the way God works, hadn't the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God's covenants and promises in Israel, hadn't a clue about what God was doing in the world at large. Now because of Christ-dying that death, shedding that blood-you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything.

The Messiah has made things up between us so that we're now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.

Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father.

That's plain enough, isn't it? You're no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He's using us all-irrespective of how we got here-in what he is building. [Ephesians 2:11-22 The Message]

May you see Christ taking shape day after day-in all the saints if this faith community built by God echoing and accompanying those crying out, outsiders and insiders-all beloved children of God.

Advent Blessings+

Bill