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Reflection from our
Co-Pastors, Tuesday Dec 28, 2021
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CHRISTMAS MEDITATION: THE FULLNESS OF THE TIME
BY SR. JOAN CHITTISTER
The Christmas season, or Christmastide, is not about one feast day. It is a series of feasts that embed us in a kind of refracted glory, the underpinnings, the other pieces of the mosaic that complete the feast itself.
The feasts of a season create a heightened awareness in us of what the season's major feast is about. They help us to understand the feast from multiple perspectives and various layers of meaning. Together they create a mosaic that fleshes out for us the fullest meaning of the feast. They give us a way of looking at our own world differently because through them we come to see Jesus differently. They provide the hope because of which we can move in the dark parts of the spiritual life with both confidence and conviction.
Christmas--the light that shown upon a manger--was also, the ancients knew, the light that led them on beyond it as well. If God is truly with us, has been manifested among us, companions us as we go, knows our pains and our hopes, then life is not a dark forest from which there is no exit. It is a darkness, however dark, that is always overcome by light.
How do we know that? We know that because surrounding the feast of Christmas are the feasts that open up to us the real nature of this child whom, with the shepherds, we have come to realize lives with us, in us, as much today as yesterday.
These minor feasts of Christmastide give us a great deal more than a manger. They give us, as adults, models to live by if we, too, are to be steeped in Jesus and full of new life.
THE FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY (December 26)
The Feast of the Holy Family depicts Jesus in a home where he grows in wisdom, age, and grace. (Luke 2: 52) It is a model of what we want for the children of our time. It is a model of the kind of love and care that encourages children to grow up to be on their own but guides them as they do.
This feast causes us to pause and look at our own families, both the ones we grew up in and the ones we're now developing ourselves. It raises questions in us about the harmony of the home we're in now--and what part we play in both its peace and its disturbance. We are brought to wonder what wisdom, maturity, and virtue the children of our time are able to see in us that will transfer itself to them. We must ask ourselves if we are learning from one another, caring for one another, becoming more spiritual together as we go. And if not, why not? And what do we intend to do about it, as Jesus did, for the sake of the rest of the world?
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EPIPHANY (January 6)
The second great feast of the Christmas season that amplifies our awareness of the person of Jesus is the Western church’s separate celebration of the ancient Eastern feast of the Epiphany.
While the Eastern church concentrates on the baptism of Jesus as the divine revelation of the Holy Trinity, the Western church continues to maintain the story of the Magi. These foreign kings, themselves altered by strange manifestations of the stars in the heavens, like the shepherds, find their way to the child and, the scriptures say, “to pay him homage.” (Matthew 2: 2) The world recognizes the heavenly in this tiny child. And the child recognizes the people of God in them. This is not a Christian child only; this child belongs to the world.
THE BAPTISM OF JESUS (January 9)
On the Sunday after Epiphany, the Christmas season ends in the West with its own celebration of the baptism of Jesus by John at the Jordan. As the Eastern church points out, it is at this moment that we see for the first time the union of God the Creator, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. But we see something else as well.
We see Jesus accepting baptism by John, a sign that Jesus accepts humanity. His own and ours, in all of its struggles, all of its limitations, all of its burdens, and all its focus on the ultimate, on the divine
The feast days of Christmastide make the full meaning of Christmas clear.
There can be no doubt about it: this child is human, yes, but he is of heavenly as well as earthly origin. In this child’s light we all walk safely through the unknown. We are all here with the Magi, full of gifts to give in his behalf. What's more, with the opening of the heavens on the Bank of the Jordan, we all have our first vision of life beyond life.
Christmas is larger than a baby in a manger. Christmas is the coming of a whole new world. More than that, it is what makes that world possible.
Amen
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Anti-Racism Training & Healing |
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“My Grandmother’s Hands” Book Club
Wednesdays - January 5th to March 18th
Join the ECC Truth & Reconciliation Commission for a winter book club on Resmaa Menakem's My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending our Hearts and Bodies.
We will be meeting virtually every other Wednesday over the course of 12 weeks starting January 5th from 5:30-7:00pm Pacific time to discuss and practice the embodied exercises to help heal from the racial trauma that lives in our bodies.
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Madonna Hospital urgently needs your help to replace a generator.
The chronically inconsistent electrical power supplied by the city of Umuahia has been even more inconsistent in the past few months. The hospital has relied on the old generator more and more. The generator stopped working and despite efforts to repair it, it is not functioning and needs to be replaced.
A new 250kva generator is too expensive at a cost of 16 million Naira or $40,000. A used 250kva generator is more affordable at 8 million Naira or $20,000 and it can be purchased in Nigeria.
Please consider making as generous of a donation as you are able by:
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visiting www.wadso.org click on “Donate Now” and specifying Madonna Hospital.
- Mail a check made out to WADSO with “Madonna Hospital” in the memo line, to Kent Spangler, 501 Charrington Ct., Ft. Collins, CO 80525.
*donations are tax deductible
You can meet some of the staff of Madonna Hospital and see the hospital by viewing this short video created by Chris Cloyd.
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Volunteer and Giving Opportunities |
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Request for Volunteers
Mary of Magdala is in need of more Eucharistic Ministers and Lectors.
If you can be part of these valuable ministries please contact:
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Praying for peace, health, and well-being through challenging times
+Yvonne Keefe - member
+Michael Juranek, recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, friend of David and Mary Lou Devlin
+Everly Parks - 4 year-old with cancer, friend to Lynne and Jim Barnes, members.
+Joyce - for her cancer treatments, friend to Suzanne King, member.
+Harry, 11 year canine companion to Gray La Fond.
+Allison and Madison- Granddaughters Cousin Nancy and Sister-in-law Judy - Dick and Sandra Life, members.
+Dan Scace, Tom Dykers and Monte
Bowthorpe - friends of Dick Life, member
+Josef Schneider - prayers for healing from recent injury, member
+Charli - in thanksgiving for prayers answered, friend of Jean Christen
+ Mary Etta Fothergill - friend of member Cathy Engel
+Dorothea Grimm - Mother of Rosanna Bateman, member
+Mary Detweiller - member
+Jerry Padilla, father and Ryan Cordova nephew of Lisa Jones - member
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+Joanne Gallagher - member
+Rosemary - Fr Michael's mother
+Dani - niece of the Cloyds - members
+Mike Gudim
+Suzanne King - member
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A blessed and peaceful repose of souls for those who've passed and comfort for the friends and families.
+Joan and Bill Wertzberger - friends of member Cathy Engel
+Michael Beavan, brother of Anne Beavan, member
+For the niece of Steve and Cheryl Backsen (of Trinity Lutheran) and the entire Backsen family
+Fr. Denny Dempsey - and in gratitude for his spiritual presence in my life - Gaston Lopez
+Leo Six – Father of Michael Six, member
+Dr. Barbara Immroth - sister of member Joanne Gallagher
+Dolores Orsi - mother of member
Jared Orsi
+Herman Phillip - friend of Brad Rouse
+Adrian - Son of Joe & Ann - friends of
members Cindy and David Cloyd
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Saturday, Dec 25, 2021 - Recording, Christmas Day
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Past Recordings, Bulletins, and Announcements
For all bulletins, reflections, Sunday recordings during, visit our webpage. Please contact us with questions, concerns and ideas for better connection with and for the community - marymagdalafc@gmail.com. And feel free to call the office at 970 493-9536.
Newsletters of Trinity Lutheran Church and the St. Paul's Episcopal
What are our partners in ministry up to? Go here for the Trinity Lutheran Church monthly newsletter, "Tidings". And here is St Paul's weekly bulletin
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Who Are the 301 Faith Partners? |
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The 301 Faith Partners have a Vision, Mission and Values statement that guides our relationships, interactions, and shared projects and ministries.
Our Vision – ‘Our guiding Light’
Weaving a tapestry of love, hope and justice for the world.
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Read the Vision, Mission, Core Values and Covenant here.
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