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“In Search of our Kneeling Places.” by Ann Weems

In each heart lies a Bethlehem,

an inn where we must ultimately answer

Whether there is room or not.

When we are Bethlehem-bound

We experience our own advent in his.

When we are Bethlehem-bound

We can no longer look the other way

Conveniently not seeing the stars

Not hearing angel voices.

We can no longer excuse ourselves by busily

Tending our sheep or our kingdoms.

This advent let’s go to Bethlehem

And see this thing that the Lord has made known to us.

In the midst of shopping sprees

Let’s ponder in our hearts the Gift of Gifts.

Through the tinsel

Let’s look for the gold of the Christmas star.

In the excitement and confusion, in the merry chaos,

This Advent, let’s go to Bethlehem

And find our kneeling places.

In the Advent season, we wait in joyous expectation for the birth of Christ. We shift our attention from worrying about the problems that face us to a crude manger in Bethlehem, where all of God’s promises are fulfilled. We shift from thinking about scarcity to the abundance that we have from God. Please take time to relax in this busy season and journey with all of us at St. John’s to Bethlehem.

Some see the Coming of God as a time of trial when folks were swept away by the waters of the flood or when they will be left behind on the field. I see the coming of Jesus as an achievement of perfect love. My expectation for all of you is that you will feel a love so deep you could scarcely even imagine it. Perhaps until then, you will turn from the notion of penalty and punishment to the hope of everlasting love with our Lord. “How very little can be done under the spirit of fear” Florence Nightingale once said. It is for this reason that we have changed our color from purple to blue. Purple is the color of a penitential season when we try to stop sinning. It is a very masculine perspective that the threat of punishment will get us to behave. Blue is the color of hope. We turn (despite the darkness) to the eternal love of God. In this season of hope we will look to feminine perspectives of motivation through and towards love. Advent is a time when we love each other as Christ loves us. It is a time when we remember those who we love by giving them our kindness and attention. Please take the time to visit with your family, co-workers, and friends. Advent is a time when we give of ourselves to others as Christ gave of himself to us. We bring about the coming of the kingdom of God by looking beyond ourselves. We pray for one another and help the poor and needy where we can. I ask each member of St. John’s to draw closer to the love of God in the coming year.

In Christ’s love,
Fr. Duncan

• Nothing can separate you from God’s love, absolutely nothing! God is enough for time, God is enough for eternity. God is enough! - Hannah Whitall Smith
• The greatest honor we can give Almighty God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of his love. - Julian of Norwich
• “Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable…and receives the impossible.” – Corrie Ten Boom
• "The key is for you to discover what you love to do, what you were created to do, and then do it for the people around you with love. That is the abundant life, dear girl, no matter where in the world you live." — Robin Jones Gunn
• “It is well.” - The Shunammite Woman (2 Kings 4:26)