1-1-12 Listen
Order of Worship

I read an article this week that argued that New Year’s resolutions are for the complacent.  If you really want change in your life, you need some New Year’s revolutions. “Revolutions” refer to real changes, freedom and new life. The author invited friends to consider making New Year’s revolutions based on the teachings of Jesus.   Here are some of their responses:

- Embrace, don’t avoid, suffering.
- Live each day as if it were your last.
- Speak to, not about, each other.
- Have at least one honest conversation every day.
- Become friends with a poor person.
- Say good morning and mean it!
- Learn to be happy without things.
- Be the first to apologize and the last to get your way.

So, what does it take to start one of these revolutions, one might ask?  The author answered by saying that much of it depends on who you follow. Resolutions take personal discipline and the goal is usually self-improvement. Revolutions require obedience to someone or some ideal that is greater than oneself. In the Christian faith, our obedience is to Jesus – God incarnate with us, born to be like us, example and teacher, redeemer and savior. The tools for our revolution include prayer and listening, open hearts and minds, a companionship with the Bible and regular engagement with the world around us.

We will gather for worship on New Year’s Day at one service at 10 am. We begin the New Year with prayers of thanks for that which has been and we will sing songs of hope for that which is ahead of us.  The scripture (Matthew 2:1-12) is the story about Jesus’ presentation at the Temple where those who had been waiting for the Messiah recognize that he has come in this infant baby boy.

I look forward to seeing you in the new year.

Rev. Martha Wingfield

12/25/11 Listen
Order of Worship

Dear Friends,

As we approach the time when we celebrate God’s gift to us in Jesus Christ, we invite you to join us in worship at all of the special services that will take place over the next week:

Christmas Eve Family Candlelight Service, Saturday, December 24th, at 5:00 pm, music by children’s and youth choirs.  

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, Saturday, December 24th, at 7:30 pm, music by the Chancel Choir.

One Worship Service on Christmas Day, Sunday, December 25th, at 10:00 am. This is a family service and Sunday School will be available for children Pre-K to 3rd grade. All children are invited to bring a new gift for the “Blessing of the Toys.”

One Worship Service on new Year’s Day, Sunday January 1st, at 10:00 am. Join us for worship and Holy Communion. Sunday School will be available for children Pre-K to 3rd grade.

God is with us.  Merry Christmas.

Rev. Martha Wingfield

5:00 pm  Service

7:30 pm Service Listen  Watch Video

12-16-11 Listen Watch Video
Order of Worship   Announcements

Dear Friends,

Everyone needs a champion.  When our lives take an unexpected turn and we find ourselves up against forces or circumstances that threaten to overwhelm us, we need someone who is willing to go before us, to march headlong with courage into the fray, even if it means taking a few lumps on our behalf. 

Centuries ago it was the function of knights to be champions for the poor and the weak and the wounded.  The role of medieval knights in an age of chivalry was to be protectors of the helpless and the unarmed – the priest, the peasant, the child, the widow.  They readily put their lives in jeopardy for the sake of others, even strangers.  In the ethic of the “Round Table,” personal glory came from royal service and selfless sacrifice.

Everyone needs a champion, and Mary had hers in the person of Joseph, her soon-to-be groom.  But it didn’t have to be this way.  Joseph, upon being told in a dream that Mary was pregnant out of wedlock and that the child was not his, might justifiably have moved on with his life without Mary, “dismissing her quietly” so as not to disgrace her, but dismissing her nonetheless.  Because her life had taken a sudden and unexpected turn, so too had his.  Joseph had his questions, his doubts, and his fears.  He also had a perfectly good, biblically based excuse for giving up on Mary altogether.  But in the end, emboldened by the Holy Spirit, Joseph did not flinch.  He not only stayed with Mary, but became her Champion in service to the coming of a new King (Matthew 1:18-25).

Who’s your champion?  To whom, in your life, have you become a champion?  Everybody needs one, and everybody who pledges to serve the King is called to become one.  A champion is someone who has overcome their greatest opponent – their very self – by blocking off all possible escape routes, testing their limits, and striving, struggling, and standing for what matters most.

You can be one of them, if you want.

See you Sunday,

Rev. Mark

12-11-11 Listen Watch Video
Order of Worship, Announcements

Dear Friends,

I tend to be the kind of person who always pulls for the so-called “underdog.”  Show me someone who is over-looked, under-estimated, disregarded, and I’m an instant fan.  I like scrappy teams that aren’t supposed to win; on Oscar night, I cast my vote for that low-budget Indy film that features actors I’ve never heard of; whenever I see a “David” pull off an upset against a “Goliath,” I’m inspired.  Tell me a story about someone who, against all odds, rises up from nowhere and refuses to quit until they have fulfilled their dreams, and I’m all ears.

This is why I love the season of Advent.  Every December we meet up with a cast of characters who, on the world’s stage, are nothing more than bit players and cast-offs.  We get people like the fiery John the Baptist – the drifter preacher chosen by God to get the people ready for the coming messiah.  People like Elizabeth, John’s mother – a relative nobody who, in her advanced years, believed that God had blessed her for a very special purpose.  People like Joseph, the carpenter from Nazareth – the hard-working Jewish peasant, chosen by God to be the Messiah’s surrogate father, despite having no previous experience as a father or as ahusband.  And people like Mary, the teenage peasant who, as Luke says, was chosen on account of her “low estate” to bear the Son of God.  These are not only the ancestors of our faith, but the models of what it means to be faithful to God.  Despite extraordinary odds, each of them believed, persevered, and overcame every obstacle and excuse on their way to making history.

The Christmas story is God’s divine protest against the powers of this world that have proclaimed, from the very beginning of time, that you have to be someone in order to be useful; that you have to have a resume, a pedigree, an endorsement in order to make a difference in this world.  Christmas is God’s surprising proclamation that the poor and the forgotten not only matter to God, but are the main characters and indispensible instruments in God’s plan to redeem the world. 

What makes them special is not simply that they were chosen by God, but that each of them, in the end, rose to the occasion and answered the call.  The timing may have been poor.  They most likely felt unprepared and under-qualified.  The risks were tremendous.  And yet, a way, a path, was opened up to them because each of them, like Mary, found a way to say, “Here I am, a servant of the Lord.  Let it be with me according to your word.”

See you Sunday,

Rev. Mark

P.S.  Many of you have told me how much you’ve enjoyed reading my most recent book of sermons, Stirred, Not Shaken (originally published by Chalice Press and now available as an eBook for Kindle and Nook readers).  My first book of sermons, Testimony to the Exiles (2003), will be re-published as an eBook in just a few days.  If you (or a friend) are interested, I invite you to sign-up to my personal mailing list at www.markfeldmeir.com.  I will email everyone as soon as it’s available and the introductory price will be 99 cents (the lowest I can charge) for a very brief time, after which it will go on sale for $5.99.