We inherit this good news. It becomes our work to inhabit the meaning. So if you will take a word from a pastor this Christmas, let it be this: set down the news cycle, at least for these next few days. Instead, take time for the deeper news, the good news, even this year, especially this year. Take the time to let the great joy take root. Find ways to choose love. Choose to be present. Choose to dig past all the wrapping to the deep structure. God, out of love for us, broke all our rules, to spend time with all the wrong people. Imagine the world we could build if we likewise chose to go to the edges, to spend our time with those for whom our society makes no room. Imagine what would be possible if we allowed ourselves to be loved into loving.
Category Archives: Jesus
Is it the end, or the beginning?
Until we decide to stop seeing this moment as the end of history, until we start asking “what new world would we like to see born?” we are stuck in the apocalypse.
All Saints: Take off your Grave Clothes
The Rev. Mike Angell preaches on All Saints Day: Your faith isn’t just yours. Your faith was passed down to you. Never forget that, and know when you come down the aisle of church, when you sing a song of the saints of God, when you stand around the table, you are not alone. The communion of the saints, all the saints is here to. So take off your grave clothes. Be Free. Practice resurrection, and get out there and get about the work of setting others free. That’s what Jesus asks of us, this All Saints Day.
What does a thinking Christian do with Halloween?
Part of why we need to be careful about Halloween is because there are so many stories around us that associate evil with women’s bodies, with other cultures, with those who are different. Specific evils: Racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, age-ism, these evils haunt us. Real concrete harm is done when we allow these forces to run amok. Some modern feminists have re-claimed Lilith. Some in our congregation may even have once attended a “Lilith Fair” concert, a tour which featured women artists and told the rabbinic story of Lilith as Adam’s first wife, who refused to be subservient to men. When we encounter resistance to Halloween, I think we have to ask ourselves: what has done more damage in our history, literal demons?
Mike Angell 