January 5, 2014 Ephesians 1: 3-14 Rev. Catherine Purves Do you know what’s sad? I’ll tell you what’s sad: Being a baby strapped in a car seat. That’s sad. Modern car seats are nothing like your car’s seatbelts. They look more like the restraining apparatus that they have on roller coaster rides. The poor baby is only going to the grocery store, not tobogganing in the Alps. Nevertheless, she is strapped down, locked in,…
December 29, 2013 Hebrews 2: 10-18 Matthew 2: 13-23 Rev. Catherine Purves The Christmas trees are still dropping pine needles onto the carpet. You may even have a few Christmas presents that are unopened awaiting late holiday visitors (I know we do). In church we’re still singing Christmas carols. And the spending frenzy is on-going at the mall. But suddenly our readings for this first Sunday after Christmas bring us down with a thud,…
December 22, 2013 4th Advent Matthew 1: 18-25 Rev. Catherine Purves Everyone thinks about Mary at Christmastime. It’s easy to visualize the young, innocent girl and to imagine the shock it must have been for her to be told – by an angel no less – that she was going to have a baby when this was just not physically possible. Everyone sympathizes with Mary. She must have been frightened. She must have…
December 15, 2013 Third Sunday of Advent James 5: 7-11 Matthew 11: 2-6 Rev. Catherine Purves “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope,…
December 8, 2013 2nd Sunday of Advent Romans 15: 4-13 Matthew 3: 1-12 Rev. Catherine Purves Name-calling is a nasty business. Children are good at it. They can turn just about any given name into a put-down. If you’re lucky enough to have a safe name like John or Mary, you can still be called Fatty or Stupid. Human beings, young and old, seem to have a need to put people into categories…