City Called Heaven

Whose Story Would You Rather Believe? Luke 2:1–14 [15–20] With the intimate associations of Christmas to home and family, comfort and security, Christmas Eve is not always seen as an evangelical opportunity. And this may not be the best time to pressure people into making a personal commitment for Christ. Yet Christmas is a crucial time when we can choose whose story to listen to, whose story to believe. One story blares on Caesar’s Network News. This story shows the Emperor literally ruling over the world. Images of Caesar and Roman gods fill every city, proclaiming “Caesar is Lord.” This story reinforces the message that you had best submit, in order to enjoy the blessings of Roman-imposed peace. Significance and value are defined by how you fit into the Imperial story. In this story, Joseph and Mary were a flyspeck among countless conquered peoples, their role simply to pay tribute and glorify Rome. Yet there is this little bitty baby... If it were up to Caesar, you would never...

My long-distance friend Erik Doughty writes weekly prayers based on the lectionary. This week's seemed especially timely. (Prayer based on texts for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, year C.) "Unbalanced Load Error" blinks at us from the washing machine, which does not work well now, despite the Frequently Asked Questions online, and the Knowledge Database. Someone will need to arrive with the ability to repair it, soon. That washer is not the only one with an unbalanced load error. We carry with us the weight of Too Much-- Too Much Responsibility, Too Much Stuff Too Much to Afford Too Much to Understand Too Much to Do Too Much to Bear. Arrive soon, Christ Jesus, with mercy and strength. Re-balance us, that we who have Too Much may share with those who have need; and what pain and struggle no one needs take from us and destroy. You who give grace to the unremarkable and unexpected, grace us too. Wash us clean, right our balance, send us out to get our hands dirty in your wor...

Coming out of the bank today, I heard the guy in front of me exchange a greeting of peace with someone: "Salaam Aleichem - Peace (or well-being) be upon you." So as I approached him I wished him the same, and he answered back. As we walked to our cars I called out to him, "One of the things I love about Islam is that you cannot get though the day without speaking peace." Only a little while later I heard from a friend, soon to deploy to Egypt with the National Guard, about the shootings at Fort Hood, and the report that a shooter had an Arab name. One is always on unstable ground if one rushes to simple explanations of tragedy. But it is not hard to imagine that violence can infect and affect those exposed to it, sometimes fatally, and that words of peace must be butressed with works of peace. God, all-powerful, all-compassionate, all-knowing, all-merciful: dwell with all those touched by violence, and minister to any who are tempted to hatred. Grant rest to those s...

On Sunday, the church observes All Saints Day (also known as All Souls or All Hallows) Day. At All Saints, the church remembers all those who have gone before us in faith, and especially those who have died in the preceding year. The word Hallowe'en is a contraction of All Hallows Evening, the night before All Saints Day. It was an Irish and Scots custom to place a candle in their western (sun-setting) window on the eve of All Hallows' to honor the departed. There has also been a folk belief that the souls of those who have died continue to roam the earth until All Saints Day, and from this comes the association of Halloween with ghost, witches, ghouls, gobblins, monsters. Then on All Saints Day, we remember the new life that Christ has promised. At St. Matthews in Jersey City we will remember our loved ones who have died, writing their names in a memorial book. We will light yahrzeit candles and bring them one by one to the high altar, so that the memory of the blessed dead is...

God of wind and of rain, God of sunlight and shadow, ruler of seasons and turnings, nurture and sustain in us trust in thy goodness and confidence in thy loving faithfulness, that, as we are turned and tossed by changes beyond our control, we may always turn to thee and seek thy grace, trusting in the one who lives in us and gave himself for us, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Art by Liz Wright, "Determination, or Weathering the Storm."

Prayer Corner - October, 2009 Our gospel readings lately have had Jesus involved with children. The gospels do not describe him teaching children to pray, as he did with his older disciples. But prayer is a natural desire of young people, just as it is with those of greater years. They, and we, long for One who will hear our inmost voice. And just as with other forms of speech, children benefit from examples, teaching, and practice. There are at least three basic things adults can do to help children develop a prayer life. The first is to pray yourself, so that people – including children – can see that prayer is part of your life. Even better is praying together with the children in your life, holding hands as you pray, or they pray, or you say the same prayers together. This leads naturally to the second basic way to help children with prayer. Teach them. Teach and repeat prayers they can use, and teach habits and times for prayer. The world’s prayer warriors most often began with si...

We notice anniversaries, sometimes in our flesh and bones, even when the calendar date is not consciously marked or observed. It still strikes me as a little jarring when September 11th (2009) is referenced simply as a date on the calendar, when ordinary meetings are scheduled, bars hold happy hours, and movies are premiered. I’m ok with that - it's natural and even good. I’m just noting it as my reaction. Eight years of living means that much has happened since that morning when the sky was bright and clear, and an ordinary day became so deeply marked, profoundly affecting to so many. Those four planes striking the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, and those two collapsing towers, sent out ripples which are still being felt. We have had eight years of wars, with costs far exceeding the heavy toll of 9/11/01. The cruelty perpetrated eight years ago has unfortunately been multiplied in military and civilian casualties, in expressions of ethnic prejudice, in ...