For nothing will be impossible with God. – Luke 1:37 I am a miracle. When you look at me, you may see the teenaged girl with pain in her heart and cuts down her arms. Or the empty alcohol bottles and the blurry memories. Or the scars from abandonment and relationship abuse. But if that’s […]
Read full text
Our help is in the name of the Eternal One, the maker of heaven and earth. – Psalm 124:8 ‘What if Martin didn’t stand up? What if Rosa didn’t sit down? … What if Maya didn’t speak out? What if Langston Hughes didn’t write it down?’ In India Arie’s song “What If,” she asks what […]
Read full text
God of all seasons and senses, grant us the sense of your timing to submit gracefully and rejoice quietly in the turn of the seasons. In this season of short days and long nights, of grey and white and cold, teach us the lessons of endings; children growing, friends leaving, loved ones dying, grieving over, […]
Read full text
Greetings, You know that I missed out on schooling so never got the proper hang of writing and rarely needed it anyway so long as I could scribble a bill. I’ve asked the Rabbi to help me with this short letter telling you the latest news. Everything is overshadowed by this tax registration. There’s no […]
Read full text
God Doesn’t ask us To believe in the future. God calls us To believe the future in! Without vision, People perish. God Doesn’t ask us To believe in love. God asks us to believe love in, By what we do and say In our relationships And daily priorities. God Doesn’t ask us To believe in […]
Read full text
Let us go from this place proclaiming That we have seen the glory of God Believing that there is a light that shines in the darkness Which the darkness shall not overcome. May the love of the Creator The joy of the Spirit And the peace of the Christ-child Be with you this Christmas, and […]
Read full text
This morning we have come to tell again The story of angels and shepherds Of disbelieving fathers and unlikely mothers. This morning we have come to hear again The good, good news Of love born among us Of God here with us. This morning we prepare to receive the gift Of a child born in […]
Read full text
Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be….’ — Luke 1:34 “How can this be? In the Advent season, we prepare to say yes to God’s call, to step forward in courage, faith and hope, whatever that might look like in each of our lives. God, forgive us for those times when we have […]
Read full text
I never believed in Santa Claus – That jolly man in red, Squeezing down the chimney pot When all should be in bed. I never thought he brought me presents Neatly wrapped beneath the tree – I knew my Mum looked through her catalogue And ordered gifts for me. And not just me, you understand […]
Read full text
Making use of John 1:5 I am cast adrift, O God, I am cut off from your face. A thick darkness surrounds me, I am enmeshed in a mist of confusion. And it seems all creation must mourn, Must mourn and lament, must weep, For we are alone and apart, The light has gone out […]
Read full text
Holy and loving God, in this Advent Season [on this Sunday of Advent], we turn our hearts and our minds towards you. You are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures. You embrace with tenderness all that exists: Every creature that crawls or swims or flies, every plant that turns […]
Read full text
A responsive Call to Worship written specifically for intergenerational worship (works well during Advent) God, you came into the world weak: A baby born in a stable, Sleeping in a feeding trough With animal sounds and smells all around. This is how love came to earth. God, you have made us vulnerable. Our bodies can […]
Read full text
A Christmas Carol for today Tune: Cranham – original words: Christina Rossetti Photo by Carol Kreis, USA In this bleak pandemic, lonely and afraid City streets are empty, gatherings delayed Snow has fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, Oh this bleak pandemic, how long will it stay? Once there was a stable, in a […]
Read full text
Tune: I saw three ships The love of God is with us here Good News for all, Good News for all The Word of life in flesh appears God comes to dwell here among us This Christmas let us celebrate As hope is born, as hope is born Let love abound and conquer hate Let […]
Read full text
Response-able Luke 1:26-32 (Jesus’ birth told to Mary) Advent 4, Year B Supplies: • Illustrated Bible – pictures of Mary & Angel, Nativity, adult Jesus • Strips of cloth – one for each child and leader • Baby doll – ideally brown-skinned like a baby Jesus of Palestine Empty manger, i.e. no baby Jesus yet […]
Read full text
You can make this a litany with the responses in bold italics, and substitute the indigenous, Māori language words with the English translations in square brackets—although you might appreciate the explanation of these concepts in the footnotes. By faith, Mary let go of fear, and engendered a mothering God. This faith may lead us through […]
Read full text
Who am I? The mother, a vessel for someone else’s plan? The father, not the father, standing sentinel? A shepherd, dirty and bedraggled, a loner from the veld? A magi, wise and discerning, hoping in star-studded messages? An angel, iridescent, illuminating and terrifying? A donkey, nuzzling the manger, hungrily searching for hay? A lamb, bleating, […]
Read full text
Eternal One, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever you had formed the earth and the world, From everlasting to everlasting You are God. — Psalm 90:1-2 Bright eyes take in all the world. Tiny hands wave and reach and hold. Feet kick and push. […]
Read full text
How easy it is to get caught up in the busy-ness, the doing, the decorating, the cooking, the sending, the buying, the eating of Christmas. Now don’t get me wrong, I love each of these parts of Christmas – setting up the Christmas tree and hanging decorations, the home-made Christmas cookies and egg nog, writing […]
Read full text
“‘God did it,’ isn’t an explanation,” said Joseph. He got no account for the baby’s chromosomes, No description of the mechanism that Transmuted the divine shadow into royal blood. “‘The devil made me do it’ would have sounded better to me,” said Joseph, Though it never did him any good When he said it to […]
Read full text
This prayer might be used on the 4th Sunday of Advent, Christmas Day or for a Lessons and Carols service. When Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem They found there was no room. We confess that in the midst of all our anxieties We have not made room in our hearts for others. We confess […]
Read full text
This morning we have come to tell again The story of angels and shepherds Of disbelieving fathers and unlikely mothers This morning we have come to hear again The good, good news Of love born among us Of God here with us This morning we prepare to receive the gift Of a child born in […]
Read full text