Church of the Advent of Christ the King

How often do we miss God all around us because we are too wrapped up in our own narrative?

A brief history of the extinguishing of the Paschal Candle, compiled by Viliami Dauwe, parish Ceremonarius.

I spent a good deal of my childhood wondering if I was really a Christian.

Deacon Rebekah Hays Estera: "But I'm going to tell you a secret. I am a Christmas Christian. I am a Christmas Christian preaching during Holy Week."

I love liturgy. What I love about it is that there is something for everyone.

The stories of our spiritual ancestors are rife with Resurrection.

Have you ever had your words twisted and then used against you? In Christ, God has. Have you ever been abandoned by your friends? In Christ, God knows how that feels.

I have a confession to make.

He was as good as dead.

It is human nature to get excited about what is wrong instead of what is right.

I will never forget the night I was "born again."

No one can be baptized a Roman Catholic, a Presbyterian, Baptist, or an Episcopalian. We are baptized as Christians within certain traditions. Those traditions are meant to bring about our spiritual transformation not used as some set of regulations to keep the devil away or correct other people’s mistakes.

We were baptized. We experience our own wildernesses where our trust in God is tested. We die on our crosses, giving up our own will. We are resurrected over and over in this life. Then we bring others into this story wherein life begins to make more sense.

Think of all the ways you have been called. Think about all of the ways you have experienced the power of God, the mercy and healing of Christ, and the inspiration and comfort of the Holy Spirit. Think about those manifestations especially if you are not feeling any of them in life right now.

The God who makes all things new is not creating a world where we must finally get everything right, but a world where there is nothing left to hide from. The God who wipes away tears, death, mourning, and pain also wipes away shame. And when we see one another the way God sees us — when we see ourselves the way God sees us — there is no hiding in the garden. There is only being fully known, and fully held.

The totality of our lives is one thing but today we celebrate something even more awesome. We celebrate the totality of life itself. The eternal Word, who existed before anything else existed, enters our reality.

This is the gift we unwrap each Christmastide. The Wisdom of God is accessible to us now. God went through human life, death and resurrection to deliver this gift to us. It is important that we regularly discern what it is in our lives that we are doing with this gift.

God chose to understand us with great intimacy. God’s judgement is already revealing in our lives that which can stand the light of day.

In the face of oppression, joy is holy. Joy in the face of oppression is holy rebellion. When our queer and trans, BIPOC and immigrant siblings are joyful, even as their rights are being rolled back, it is a holy thing. It is saying that I am the image of God and you cannot take that away

Everyone enters a wilderness at some point. We go there due to illness, emotional stress, or spiritual dryness. Some of us are there for a time. Others live with chronic situations of mind or body. Whatever our wilderness, it is often difficult to find God in the midst of it.

We believe that Jesus has come as one of us, he will come again in glory, and he is still with us. God does not use a calendar or a watch. Christ has come, Christ is risen, Christ will come again, and it is all happening at once. God does not live in time. God is eternal.

But in idolizing the past we keep the present locked in amber, always yearning for something different in the opposite direction of where God is calling us. The Good News for a human condition inclined to idolize the past and sentimentalize the present is that once the Israelites reached their promise to Abraham, the promise didn't stop.

Every time we utter a prayer, every time we sing a hymn, every time we repeat the Eucharistic Prayer, every time we reach out to those in need, we are sustaining the Vigil of the Church. Every baptized disciple of Christ is a minister of the Vigil.

The Lord has always called his people, whether Israel or the Church, to go beyond the requirements and live abundantly. Take risks. Climb a tree.