<html><body>Here my draft which will be scrutinised over the next 30 plus hours! 8 - )<div><br></div><div>Blessings for your Celebrations.</div><div><br></div><div>Bob</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY CHRISTMAS EVE/DAY 2015<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">ISAIAH 9:2-7 PSALM 96 TITUS 2:11-14<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">ISAIAH 62:6-12 PSALM 97 TITUS 3:4-7</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">LUKE 2:1-20<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> In the midst of the cold, with rain and wind returning at the end of November and running through this month, one of the most comforting thoughts is that of a nice warm fire. Just mentioning it can make you relax, knowing that there will be light and heat, that you’ll be protected no matter how stormy it is outside. I have to admit that not having a fireplace, no matter how well a furnace functions, is a bit of a disappointment. I know all the arguments about sending carbon-laden particles up the chimney. I know about having to split and stack and bring in wood. I remember when I was growing up we had fireplaces in most of the rooms and we burned coal, coal which had to be brought up by the bucket-load from the cellar. Sitting near a fire, appreciating the ever-changing flames, hearing the wood crackle and settle down – it gives such a feeling of emotional warmth and security. What could be better?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Well, someone with whom to enjoy the fire, of course! Someone who could sit with you, talk with you, or just stay silent as you listened to music, or watched TV, or simply watched those flames. Yes, having someone else present – that makes everything complete. This is how we measure ourselves, I think. We gauge who we are and what we do in terms of the relationships we have, especially the ones which are fulfilling, and emotionally and spiritually satisfying. No matter how warm we may be, without this special company, the fire loses something. And in reverse, having this company can make even the dimmest, draughtiest room brighter and much more enjoyable. Sharing seems to be what life is about.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Sharing – that’s what we celebrate tonight/today. The incredible insight of God brought about Jesus’ birth in our midst to help us see, and touch, and hear what God is all about – about loving us, about being present with us, whether we’re cold or hot, emotionally down or well-balanced. God became human in the person of Jesus to bring us the fiercest, most practical Love that we can imagine. God came so that we might be able to trust again, no matter what else may be going on in the world. With God, draughts, wind, rain, ice, whatever it may be that impinges on us and threatens to dampen our spirits; with God, everything becomes personal.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> There’s a story that told of some young children who were asked to define love. Billy, aged four, said, “When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.” That’s what God says to us now, as we celebrate once again that mystery that is so personal to each of us.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> One glorious night, God’s love reached down and touched the earth. And nothing was changed, yet everything was changed. The rain, the wind, the struggles, the aching bones, the failing eyesight, the inability to understand the actions of some people, the homelessness, the inter-religious fighting, the struggle for power – it was still there after Jesus was born. Two thousand years later, they’re still part of our daily lives. We see and know people for whom life is not easy – in fact it can be a tremendous struggle to find something about which to hope as one goes to sleep, or when one wakens in the morning. Yet everything was changed. As Billy, wise way beyond his four years, said, “When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Mary and Joseph, they looked at the baby and called Him Jesus. And the baby grew to know that He was safe with them. The visitors who came and were transformed by being in Jesus’ Presence, somehow they discovered something which could and would give them hope.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Did they still have to chase after sheep that wandered all over the place, into the most difficult spots? Of course they did. Did they still have to stay up nights to be sure that the ewes birthed safely? Of course they did. Did they still have to have at least one of the group awake at night to warn about and fight off predators? Of course they did. That much had not changed for them. They had a job to do, a very menial job, for which the community gave them little or no respect.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Yet on that glorious night, God’s touch, God’s human-to-human touch, somehow transformed them inside, enabled them to have hope no matter what, and encouraged them to work for a better expression of life.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">So with us. It may have been one such night many decades ago. It may have been fairly recently. It may be <b><u>THIS</u></b> night. Or it may not be for a while. No matter, in God’s infinite Love and Joy, there was, there is, there will be a night, a glorious night. And, if it hasn’t happened yet, we can take hope that it <b><u>WILL</u></b> happen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We think of the angel – or at least, I often do – as having some trumpet-like voice that soars out over every noise on earth and brings everything to a standstill. But so many times, I and others have found that the angel actually whispers to us from somewhere deep within us, or somewhere beyond us; the angel whispers that Jesus’ birth signals a new day, a different day, a day in which we’re given all sorts of opportunities to notice and experience Love.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">There’s a commercial on TV right now that talks about that special Love. Now, if you believe the voice-over on the TV, that Love is shown, or is rewarded, with a diamond. But that’s not God’s Love. God’s love, as the poem puts it, came down at Christmas, Love, all lovely, Love divine – Love which is yours and is mine.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Remember Billy? Who said that, in the right voice, using our own, personal names, Love brings something incredible that allows us to trust implicitly, no matter what? <b><u>THAT’S</u></b> the Love that came to touch not just the earth, but every single one of us. “When our life is darkest night, hope has burned a way of guiding light. … This new day will be a turning point for everyone.” But we have to let, to invite, “the Christ-child in and reach for the new day.” <span class="MsoFootnoteReference">1</span> God, two thousand years ago, God right now, has blessed us with such incredible grace and potential; God has promised us Jesus’ Presence, always. And God has allowed us to make the decision whether or not to see, whether or not to hear, whether or not to trust, whether or not to hope.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Part of the process of recognising, of deciding, of committing to allowing God’s Love to enfold us is that often we may not think of looking in the places which are simple. Out of tremendous love and respect for us, God came, in Jesus, to a very every-day, lacklustre place. God was greeted by ordinary people in off the street and hillside. God was wrapped for warmth and protection in the simplest, most traditional manner possible and was fed as were and are practically every baby since the beginning of time. In other words, God, in such an unassuming way, blessed us where we are, not insisting that we clean up, or put on fancy clothes, or even sweep and vacuum the house. God simply asks us to come as we are, and to be allowed ourselves to be filled with wonder and gratitude at the way that miracles occur in the simplest sharing of love. It’s love – the Love of God for us, the love of one human for another, the love of one community for another; it’s love which reminds us that darkness, anger, misunderstanding, ignorance – all the things that can fill lives with tiredness and misery; it’s Love which can transform our lives. It’s Love for which we long and which God gives to us, because God knows our longings.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Mark MacDonald, one time priest of this Diocese, former Bishop of Alaska and is now<span style="color: rgb(35, 31, 32);"> is national Indigenous bishop of the Anglican Church of Canada, wrote an article entitled “the God who sees me”, pointing out that God comes in ways we may least expect.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(35, 31, 32);"> “Most who read this, Mark wrote, “will be people who choose to dwell within the safety of God’s mercy as it is found in the faith and life of Christian community. But Scripture shows a distinct and different path, off the grid of the usual way of grace. God sees, in a special way, those who can’t be seen by others; those who have found themselves exiled from human comfort, conscience and community, either by design or circumstance. They have a God who sees them, even beyond the borders of the community of faith.” Think not just of God’s birth to Mary. Let your mind also take in whom God will be and with whom God will interact. … “The doors of God’s world, now coming upon us, are not only open to those we cannot see — perhaps do not want to see — but they are open with a special welcome and privilege, as should be our hearts and churches. But there is a dimension for us: this love and mercy is specifically and directly aimed at us when, as is inevitable, we find ourselves beyond the faith and life that we profess.” <span class="MsoFootnoteReference">2</span> When the light seems to go out in our lives, when we feel as if we’re struggling most, and don’t know where to turn for help, God becomes present and tangible.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Steven Charleston, Mark MacDonald’s predecessor as Bishop of Alaska, put it this way.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"> “The light will return. It will come again when the darkness has grown old and self-confident, arrogant in its assumption of power, when the clash of armies seem</span><span class="textexposedshow">s unending and the voices of hope have become but a whisper. Then the light will appear, in the deepest place of fear, least expected, a glimmer in the hand of the poor, a flicker among those who refuse to forget how to love. And the light will become brighter, with each one of us who turn to see it, warming us where our pain is greatest, releasing us to see one another more clearly, a light to follow, to cherish, to protect. Look up now. The season of shadows is over.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="textexposedshow"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"> “The light will return.</span>” <sup>3</sup> The Light <b><u>HAS</u></b> returned, for you, and you, and you, and me – for everyone in creation, whether we and they know it or not, even if we’ve never known what Light looks like.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> What draughts, what difficulties, what stresses await us in the weeks and months ahead? What will the new year be like? We can’t be sure. But there’s one thing of which we <b><u>CAN</u></b> be sure. Whatever comes our way, God will be present, someone who <b><u>REALLY</u></b> cares.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="textexposedshow"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"> One glorious night, God’s love reached down and touched the earth. <b><u>THIS</u></b> is why we have come here, regardless of weather or anything else. We’re here because “w</span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">hen someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.” Tonight/ today, God speaks our names one more time.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">NOTES:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[1]</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> From <i>“Born on a New Day”.</i> <span style="padding: 0in; border: 1pt none windowtext;">Philip Lawson wrote a Christmas text to John David's 1990 song<i> "You are the New Day"</i></span>, words and music by John David. See <span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 33); background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><a href="http://www.philiplawson.net/reviews.html">www.philiplawson.net/reviews.html</a> </span><span style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Hear the carol at<span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 33);"> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gtwHH8d18k">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gtwHH8d18k</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><br></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 15.3333px;">2</span> “</span><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.75pt;">The God who sees me” </span></i><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">By <a href="http://www.anglicanjournal.com/bios/Mark%20MacDonald"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">Mark MacDonald</span></a> on November, 30 2015<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.anglicanjournal.com/articles/the-god-who-sees-me?utm_source=Anglican+Journal&utm_campaign=fafd9d3705-Anglican_Journal_Daily06_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3a3db95463-fafd9d3705-243820449">http://www.anglicanjournal.com/articles/the-god-who-sees-me?utm_source=Anglican+Journal&utm_campaign=fafd9d3705-Anglican_Journal_Daily06_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3a3db95463-fafd9d3705-243820449</a></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 102, 33); background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">3</span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Steven Charleston, Facebook, 22<sup>nd</sup> December 2015, 2:59 pm <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bishop.charleston?fref=nf">https://www.facebook.com/bishop.charleston?fref=nf</a></span></p></div></body></html>