(Note to the reader: This sermon is written for use the Sunday after the tsunami disasters in the Indian Ocean. While it makes reference to the lessons for the Second Sunday after Christmas Day, it is topical in nature). As we gather in worship today we have to remember before God the mounting numbers of…

Where should we look to see the magi, the wise men, the Gentiles of today, the people perhaps different from us who are following the star to Jesus? May we consider this question with open hearts. In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Today’s Gospel presents an epiphany. Epiphany comes from a…

There are no coincidences. Each of us has had times when we have been struck by the oddness of events in our lives. An unexpected visit or a chance meeting connects us with people we haven’t been in touch with for many years; we apply for a job and discover the interviewer knows a mutual…

Last Sunday we focused on the reality that we are allowed little time at the manger. If the Christmas créche is still placed in the liturgical space of your church, today might be a good time for moving the Holy Family to another place in the building, symbolizing their journey to Egypt. Children would especially…

Most of us are still recovering from the busy-ness of ending an old year on our civil calendars, and of launching a new one. The beginning of a New Year invariably calls for taking stock; for determining whether we are still afloat or not. We look back over “the changes and chances” of the past…

This Gospel lesson is the one window we have into Jesus’ life in early adolescence. But we really can’t appropriately use the term adolescence in this context. Entrance into adulthood was pegged at the 12th year in that culture. So the visit to the Temple in Jerusalem was a time of transition for the 12…

The gospel reading for this Sunday is the story of the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt, trying to avoid the evil clutches of King Herod. An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph as he was sleeping, and warned him in a dream that King Herod would stop at nothing to get his hands on…