Sermons, Resources, etc...
In short, a collection of stuff we have used in Church or in daily life to encourage, support and teach. If you borrow anything, just let others know where you found it!
A New Year's Blessing for Homes
Download the file below for a Blessing for your home for the New Year. Use a piece of chalk for your doorstep, or a crayon and a piece of paper if you live in an apartment. This can be used by family, a couple, a single, anyone who has a place they consider to be "home" even if it isn't a house. God dwells with us everywhere.
| home_blessing_2012_pdf.pdf |
Anne's Christmas Sermon
What the Angel “really” said
A sermon by The Rev. Anne O. Weatherholt, Rector
Christmas 2011
We see it on Christmas cards, we hear it in carols and we have just heard it in the traditional Christmas story—the message of the Angel to the Shepherds.
“FOR UNTO YOU IS BORN THIS DAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID,
A SAVIOR, WHICH IS CHRIST THE LORD.”
Little do we realize just how important this message is, how full of meaning for us today, how complex and complete this message is for every human on the face of the earth.
What brought you here this evening?
Someone gave you a message.
Someone brought you or invited you.
Who was it? Maybe a relative who is no longer with us.
Maybe a parent, a spouse, or a friend?
Maybe a quiet deep longing for God.
What brought you here this evening?
God’s message, delivered through a messenger.
Angel—that title literally means Messenger from God!
The message of the Angel reveals God’s message to all of us:
For unto YOU is born…
Echoing the prophet Isaiah
– For a child has been born for us, a son given to us;
This is a specific gift to us
It is an arrow in the direct center of the target
of God’s love for the world
The Angel delivered this message first to a group of shepherds
Ordinary working-class folks, outside at night, night shift
doing what they needed to do
The message is delivered to US here
—ordinary folks, at night, trying to do just what we need to do.
For unto you is BORN…
Birth is usually a messy, painful affair, as most parents know.
What you get is a small baby, unable to speak
Totally dependent for survival on you.
God, the creator of all, becomes totally dependent on US.
Human flesh and blood becomes the blessed instrument of God.
Birth has all the potential of new beginnings.
Birth means a new start, many unknowns, lots of responsibility.
Birth is the way to learn again the ancient truth
That we are here by God’s intent, God’s creation and purpose.
Birth is the way God came to be among, with us in real life
New Birth is the way God continues to come among us;
God offers us the invitation to be born again;
God offers to be dependent on US to be the new messengers
Of His love.
For unto you is born THIS DAY
THIS DAY the new birth takes place
Anchored in time
This is not a promise of things to come
Nor a reminder of things past
THIS DAY is the DAY of God’s birth among us!
Every time we wake up to begin a new day
is the gift of a chance to make new choices
Each time we go to rest is the reminder of the resting of God’s
Holy Spirit within us.
For unto you is born this day IN THE CITY OF DAVID
Now here is a real place!
Bethlehem is still a city where people live and work
Shepherds still have sheep
Mothers & fathers tend to their children
And make a living at useful trades
The City of David has been on the same spot
For thousands of years
Through war and peace;
Through Caesars, kings, sultans and presidents
God showed up in person in this place;
a city to represent all cities, towns and villages.
God continues to show up in our own community
In the faces of those we are called to serve
In the moments of grace when we know God is near.
Even when things are bad and seem impossible
We may not see him – but God is here
The great story of God’s salvation is anchored in real time and place.
And God most often shows up in that story of salvation
Not just in times of plenty and happiness
But in times of desperation and longing
God shows up to work through the lives of women and men
God is here, in this place, even as God has been here in all the
Lives of the faithful who call this their spiritual home.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David A SAVIOR
Sometimes I think the greatest need we have
Is to be saved from ourselves.
From the narrowness of our own images of ourselves
And the world as we see it.
And our Savior comes quietly, gently, by invitation
All the mighty power of God is concentrated
Distilled to its essence
In a baby, who will grow and learn and be just like us
In every way—to know every pain and sorrow
Every disappointment and frustration
The pendulum of God’s love is set loose in this birth
And swings out into the world
Reaching its greatest arc when the power of our sin,
and the sin of the whole world
Is broken by the hard wood of the cross.
And through this one life of Jesus, we are given a new image of
The world, of each other and of ourselves
A corrected, renewed image
Closer to the way things are supposed to be
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior
WHICH IS CHRIST THE LORD
The prophet Isaiah spoke out of the burning ruin of Jerusalem
Destroyed by enemy forces
To promise that a Messiah would be given
And his name would be:
Not powerful warlord But Wonderful Counselor –
Not faithless idol But Mighty God –
Not temporary fix But Everlasting Father –
Not vengeful despot But the Prince of peace—
Our Savior holds the most powerful force on earth
In gentle hands that touched the sick and outcast
In living hands that broke the bread and held the cup
In innocent hands that did not resist unjustified execution
Our Savior still holds the greatest power on earth
Through our hands as WE touch the sick and outcast
As we receive the bread of life and the cup of salvation
As we stand with the innocent to resist the proud.
We are all the messengers of this Good News
Commissioned by God to tell others
We cannot keep this gift for ourselves alone
Hoarding what God has given us freely.
Say it with me again:
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David,
a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
Say it and this time say, for unto US and IN THIS PLACE
“For unto US is born this day IN THIS PLACE
a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
A sermon by The Rev. Anne O. Weatherholt, Rector
Christmas 2011
We see it on Christmas cards, we hear it in carols and we have just heard it in the traditional Christmas story—the message of the Angel to the Shepherds.
“FOR UNTO YOU IS BORN THIS DAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID,
A SAVIOR, WHICH IS CHRIST THE LORD.”
Little do we realize just how important this message is, how full of meaning for us today, how complex and complete this message is for every human on the face of the earth.
What brought you here this evening?
Someone gave you a message.
Someone brought you or invited you.
Who was it? Maybe a relative who is no longer with us.
Maybe a parent, a spouse, or a friend?
Maybe a quiet deep longing for God.
What brought you here this evening?
God’s message, delivered through a messenger.
Angel—that title literally means Messenger from God!
The message of the Angel reveals God’s message to all of us:
For unto YOU is born…
Echoing the prophet Isaiah
– For a child has been born for us, a son given to us;
This is a specific gift to us
It is an arrow in the direct center of the target
of God’s love for the world
The Angel delivered this message first to a group of shepherds
Ordinary working-class folks, outside at night, night shift
doing what they needed to do
The message is delivered to US here
—ordinary folks, at night, trying to do just what we need to do.
For unto you is BORN…
Birth is usually a messy, painful affair, as most parents know.
What you get is a small baby, unable to speak
Totally dependent for survival on you.
God, the creator of all, becomes totally dependent on US.
Human flesh and blood becomes the blessed instrument of God.
Birth has all the potential of new beginnings.
Birth means a new start, many unknowns, lots of responsibility.
Birth is the way to learn again the ancient truth
That we are here by God’s intent, God’s creation and purpose.
Birth is the way God came to be among, with us in real life
New Birth is the way God continues to come among us;
God offers us the invitation to be born again;
God offers to be dependent on US to be the new messengers
Of His love.
For unto you is born THIS DAY
THIS DAY the new birth takes place
Anchored in time
This is not a promise of things to come
Nor a reminder of things past
THIS DAY is the DAY of God’s birth among us!
Every time we wake up to begin a new day
is the gift of a chance to make new choices
Each time we go to rest is the reminder of the resting of God’s
Holy Spirit within us.
For unto you is born this day IN THE CITY OF DAVID
Now here is a real place!
Bethlehem is still a city where people live and work
Shepherds still have sheep
Mothers & fathers tend to their children
And make a living at useful trades
The City of David has been on the same spot
For thousands of years
Through war and peace;
Through Caesars, kings, sultans and presidents
God showed up in person in this place;
a city to represent all cities, towns and villages.
God continues to show up in our own community
In the faces of those we are called to serve
In the moments of grace when we know God is near.
Even when things are bad and seem impossible
We may not see him – but God is here
The great story of God’s salvation is anchored in real time and place.
And God most often shows up in that story of salvation
Not just in times of plenty and happiness
But in times of desperation and longing
God shows up to work through the lives of women and men
God is here, in this place, even as God has been here in all the
Lives of the faithful who call this their spiritual home.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David A SAVIOR
Sometimes I think the greatest need we have
Is to be saved from ourselves.
From the narrowness of our own images of ourselves
And the world as we see it.
And our Savior comes quietly, gently, by invitation
All the mighty power of God is concentrated
Distilled to its essence
In a baby, who will grow and learn and be just like us
In every way—to know every pain and sorrow
Every disappointment and frustration
The pendulum of God’s love is set loose in this birth
And swings out into the world
Reaching its greatest arc when the power of our sin,
and the sin of the whole world
Is broken by the hard wood of the cross.
And through this one life of Jesus, we are given a new image of
The world, of each other and of ourselves
A corrected, renewed image
Closer to the way things are supposed to be
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior
WHICH IS CHRIST THE LORD
The prophet Isaiah spoke out of the burning ruin of Jerusalem
Destroyed by enemy forces
To promise that a Messiah would be given
And his name would be:
Not powerful warlord But Wonderful Counselor –
Not faithless idol But Mighty God –
Not temporary fix But Everlasting Father –
Not vengeful despot But the Prince of peace—
Our Savior holds the most powerful force on earth
In gentle hands that touched the sick and outcast
In living hands that broke the bread and held the cup
In innocent hands that did not resist unjustified execution
Our Savior still holds the greatest power on earth
Through our hands as WE touch the sick and outcast
As we receive the bread of life and the cup of salvation
As we stand with the innocent to resist the proud.
We are all the messengers of this Good News
Commissioned by God to tell others
We cannot keep this gift for ourselves alone
Hoarding what God has given us freely.
Say it with me again:
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David,
a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
Say it and this time say, for unto US and IN THIS PLACE
“For unto US is born this day IN THIS PLACE
a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”