The Details:

*A reminder to mark December 23rd  5P.M. We will share a meal together, a time

of worship and a bit of a music oriented celebration. Please RSVP to me (meghan.pavlick@gmail.com) ASAP.

*Jodi King In Concert – http://www.jodiking.com/   for more info and tickets

*December 16th 7:30 p.m. at Elim Chapel – the Advent gathering of

Sanctus – an evening of worship

*A reminder to bring your own mugs on Sunday mornings, as this ain’t yo mama’s kitchen…

The Blurp

In my studies this Advent, I’ve been especially struck by how many of the key characters in the story burst into poetry at critical points in the narrative. Sometimes it feels a bit like reading the script for a musical. The setting is established, the problem or tension is made plain, the characters engage in various actions (and with God as an actor, sometimes the action is a bit bizarre), and then…somebody bursts into song! One minute  they are doing their job, talking to their friends, their family, the next…”la, la, la…”.

If you have ever watched a musical, you know what I mean. If it’s well done, it can be transporting. You just get picked up and swept along with it. If it’s poorly done, it’s cheesy and very hard to sit through.

I’m not inclined or qualified to pass theatrical judgement on whether the stories we visit in Advent would be good musical theatre. For me, those moment of song point to something else. They point to our longing to be caught up in the story, to experience an intersection between the world the story takes place in and the one we live in every day.

This Sunday morning we will seek that sort of intersection through conversation and reflection. I don’t want to say too much about the details. I am still working to confirm some guests that know the story I want to explore from the “inside”.

Instead of leaving you with the details, I think I’ll have one of my favorite Advent writers bust out a poem…

See you on Sunday!

Salutation  (Luci Shaw)

Framed in light,

Mary sings through the doorway.

Elizabeth’s six month joy

jumps, a palable greeting,

a hidden first encounter

between son and Son.

And my heart turns over

when I meet Jesus

in you.