Advent devotional for December 5th

The Abbey on Iona (Scotland)

"Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." - Proverbs 25:25

"I learn by going where I have to go." - Theodore Roethke, The Waking

Throughout the world are sacred places to which people have set out on pilgrimage.  Often they are places of profound stillness which offer the traveller an opportunity for contemplation, whist others are places of joy and noisy celebration.  What it is that makes the pilgrim journey is known only to the individual human heart.  But the call to set out, when it is heard, is unmistakable.

'A place of hope,' they say, and in their thousands they journey, year by year, to this tiny island on the margins of Europe.  Sunswept and windswept, yet always deeply a place of transformation.  We need you, with your alternative vision, with your ever present questions, your often uncomfortable silence.  For you are a place of prayer, of Christ's abiding; holding together the frayed threads of our fleeting devotion, opening a path for healing and for peace.  Not momentary healing nor easy faith, but struggle, commitment and a continuing conversation. (Peter Millar, writing of Iona)

+Lord of the pilgrim soul, nourish us with glimpses of those places where healing, reconciliation and peace are to be found.  Amen.

Chilly morning in Iraan

 

There was such joy among the faithful gathered in Iraan this morning!  With a decided chill in the air it was a real blessing to have a warm fellowship with whom to share the second Sunday of Advent.
Among the joys and concerns today:

Joys:
+Evans T. will be welcoming his family for Christmas.
+Lee and Dottie M. were able to turn to friends for help this past week.
+Eddy C. had great news from the doctor this past week.
+Thanks to Kirke M. making the church look so nice for Advent.

Concerns:
+Kirke M. asked us to remember those struggling to make ends meet, the long-term unemployed and all those we come in contact with that could use our assistance during this month.

Prayers for healing: Aaron B., Tommy Z.K.B., Ed C., Eddy C., Jacob C., Snooks C., Jonnie D., Greg H., Kash K., Billie M., Shane M., Pat M., Kathy P., Doug S., Eva S., Sue S., Alfred L.T., Colton W., Diane S., Tammy W., and the abuse victims at Penn State.

Continued Prayers: Our church - our schools - teachers, staff & students - Our country and our leaders - our military (and their families) - the unemployed - the homeless - victims of natural disasters - countries fighting for freedom.

Second Sunday of Advent

Back in May, I was thinking about Mary and the presence of God, and I wrote this in my journal: 
Closer than breathing, nearer than hands and feet is the presence of God.

Mary was the chosen one. I have often thought that I would like to visit with her and ask her about her thoughts. She had to have been overwhelmed, but she knew that God's Grace surrounded her. Like a hammock on a sunny afternoon, the Grace of God holds us , comforts us , and gives us peace. Oh, how we are blessed!
Every child is a gift from God. Each one has his or her own talents and abilities. In it's own way, each child can make a difference in the world. It is our responsibility to teach the children and bring them up knowing God's Grace and the story of Jesus.

Thank you,
Marilyn Whitaker (First UMC - McCamey)

Advent devotional for December 3rd

A stained-glass window of the Annunciation in Saint Mary's Church, Painesville, OH.

"The angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God.  And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.'"  - Luke 1:30-31
+++++
"Knowing how leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back." (Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken)
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Loving God, be with us as we move across new thresholds and into new experiences.  May we see your face among all our fellow travellers, and may your light and joy sustain us throughout this life-long journey.  Amen

(2005 Advent devotional from St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London)

Advent Devotional for December 2nd

Interior of the Rosaire Chapel - Ville de Vence, France

[The devotional entries for the remainder of time leading up to Christmas Day (with the exception of Sundays) will come from a devotional prepared for London's St. Martin-in-the-Fields church in 2005.  These entries take as a theme, 'Hope to the ends of the earth,' a belief echoed in T.S. Eliot's poem, The Journey of the Magi.  Advent is about a journey: what and/or who do you hope to find on Christmas morning?]

"Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.  I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." - Isaiah 43:18-19)
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To Vence - small, on a sun warmed hill, uncommercial, slow, peaceful.  Walked to the Matisse cathedral - small, pure, clean-cut.  White, with blue tile roof sparkling in the sun.  But shut!  Only open to the public two days a week... I was desolate and wandered to the back of the walled nunnery, where I could see a corner of the chapel and sketched it, feeling like Alice outside the garden, watching the white doves and orange trees... I began to cry.  I knew it was so lovely inside, pure white with the sun through blue, yellow and green stained windows.


Then I heard a voice.  "Ne pleurez plus, entrez," (cry no more, enter) and the Mother Superior let me in, after denying all the wealthy people in cars.  I just knelt in the sun and the colours of sky, sea and sun, in the pure white heart of the chapel.  "Vous êtes si gentil," (You are so nice) I stammered.  The nun smiled.  "C'est la miséricorde de Dieu" (It is the mercy of God).  It was.


- A postcard to her mother from the poet Sylvia Plath

(2005 Advent Devotional from St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London)

Hello from the Convalescent Center

The Thursday morning coffee time at the McCamey Convalescent Center was a lively time with dozens of residents and community visitors on hand.  Pastor Charles was present as well and shared the greeting of the Iraan community with those gathered for coffee and donuts.

Advent Devotional for December 1st

Zechariah the priest holding a scroll showing the opening words of the Benedictus
Kizhi Monastery, Russia (early 1700's)

The sermon text this week is the Canticle of Zechariah, Luke 1:67-79:

His [John the Baptizer's] father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us- to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace."