WINTER IS HERE

It snowed last night. SW Montana had a winter storm warning and was gearing up for "the firt big one" of the season. Let's just say that I should be so lucky to have a job where I'm that wrong that often. It did snow, but nothing as dramatic as they were predicting. However, the roads are extremely icy and slick, so drivers need to be careful. For the most part, we do pretty good in that department out here.

Today in VC is beautiful. Blue skies reflecting sunshine off the snow, with the mountains standing out in the background. Have I mentioned that I love being here? I love being here.

With the arrival of winter, it means that football season is winding down, and basketball season is heating up. I don't particulary care for this. However, GU is playing well, having defeated two #3 teams in the last two weeks. I may be in Montana. I may now be a canonical resident of the Diocese of Montana (yes, that was made official last week), but I'm still a Spokane boy at heart, and I enjoy seeing the Zags play. One of my rare treats while in seminary was to catch a Zag game. At least it kept me connected vicariously to home.

And now, you too can see them play. They will be on ESPN 2 tonight at 5 PT, 6 MT, 7 CT & 8 ET. Go here for the story. Of course, the last time I told everyone to watch a game (Montana vs James Madison for the Div. I-AA championship), my team lost. So maybe don't watch, just follow it on game tracker. Or check out the score tomorrow. I, on the other hand, will be watching.

In other news, CC is trying to figure out how we are going to handle the furnace situation. As in, it died and we need a new one. All activities and worship services are now being held in the parish hall until further notice. My article in the local newspaper appeared today, so maybe we'll collect some sympathy dollars.

I'm also gearing up for the bishop's visitation, Ash Wednesday, Lent, and Easter. I think I'm looking forward to the season after Pentecost (where NOTHING happens) for the first time in my life.

Blessings for the upcoming year, and y'all play safe.

CHRISTMAS TRIDUUM

Well, I survived. Christmas Eve, Day and Christmas I over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Next year I'll have vacation time. I think I'm taking the following week off. Three services in three days; three sermons in three days -- one of which wasn't finally written until last night. I know I'm not the only clergy person to go through this, so I won't whine; but I am glad it's over.

When I was in seminary, my homiletics instructor had us give a "serial sermon" based on a particular time of the year. We did this in groups. Senior Jane, Pastor Tripp, Micah, and (I think) The Rev. Susie, combined to preach on Holy Week. My group included The Rev. Heather and we had to preach on "The Bread of Life" series, that really long section from John where Jesus mentions being the Bread of Life something like 4300 times (well, not really, but you get the idea). I decided to co-opt that approach.

Rather than write three distinct sermons, I wrote one really LONG sermon and broke it into three parts. Or, that was the idea. In actuality, I wrote three sermons that stole ideas from each other and hoped that it all hung together. I've posted them in the order preached, so you can kind of get the feel of what it was like had you been to all three services.

I'm so worn out right now that I have NO IDEA if this even worked. And, if you missed a service, you might be left with the idea that I didn't deliver my best. So, it either worked fabulously (if you were at all three), or none of it worked. In which case I either need to be better at creating a serial sermon, or I need to give up on the whole endeavor.

Anyway, feel free to read and comment. Merry Christmas to all of you, and I hope my preacher friends all survived the weekend.

Peace

CHRISTMAS EVE

What makes this night so special? Why do people who don’t normally attend church attend this service? And before you get the idea that I’m picking on you, I’m not. People all over the world brave all kinds of weather conditions and winter roads to attend maybe their second service of the year. Why is that?

In part I think it’s because Christmas touches on an important event in our life: birth. Births are a happy and joyous occasion if everything goes right. What’s the first thing a new parent does? Well, if you’re like me, you counted fingers and toes. I wanted to make sure everything went right. And this one went right.

Why are births such happy times? Simple. Babies attract us. Is there anything better than flirting with a baby? We see those big eyes and that goofy smile and we just fall apart. We play peekaboo, we stick out our tongue, we wink. People more dignified than I are heard saying, "Oooh whudda koot widdle thing you are! Yes you are! You’re so kewt!" Or, "Oogie woogie boogie thhppp!" Or, "Bippity boppity boo, I love you. Bippity boppity woop! I got your nose. Yes I do, I got your nose!" Babies remind us that life is precious and joyous and miraculous all at the same time.

But there’s something else to this service. Something deeper that, at some level, we all know is there but might be afraid to acknowledge it. Because if we acknowledged it, then we might have to admit that, not only does God exist, but that we need God in our lives. So maybe, coming to service on Christmas eve is a sort of compromise. We come because we feel we are expected to, but we don’t want to come too often so that we give up control of our lives. But God is everywhere, even in babies.

And speaking of God and babies, I remember hearing several times that, as a parent, I would be perceived as God by my child. Afterall, I protected her, clothed her and nourished her. When she cried out, I answered. It was this they had in mind. I was that all-powerful being that would be seen as God, so I had best behave myself.

But you know what? They got it wrong. I wasn’t God. God was in my daughter. In her face I saw pure, unadulterated love. In her face I saw trust. In her face I saw the reason to do my best. In her face, I saw God.

The ancients talked about "thin places" where this world and the spirit world came into contact. Sometimes that thin place was a physical place, a holy site, like here. Sometimes that thin place was a time, like Hallowe’en or Christmas. Sometimes that thin place is a person, like a baby. Babies are thin places. We can look at them and see something other-worldly. Babies are places where we see God.

I am convinced that every person in every church tonight recognizes that God is in the face of a baby. And isn’t this why we are here, to gaze upon the face of a child in whom God resides?
On Sunday we’ll hear from John and his writings on light and dark. We get a little of that from Luke tonight: "The shepherds were watching their flocks by night," and, "The glory of the Lord shone around them." Babies have a way of lighting up a room, don’t they. Babies radiate that light of pure love that makes us smile.

And so it is with baby Jesus. Except that this baby not only lit up a manger in Bethlehem, this baby lit up the whole world. Isaiah testified to it when he wrote, "the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." Our collect testifies to it when we prayed, "this holy night shines with the brightness of the true Light." And we testify to it when we gather to gaze upon the light of Christ in a child and proclaim to the world that he lives among us and in us.

Why is this night special? Because on this night we see the living God, lying in a manger, with wide eyes and a goofy smile. Because this night we can hold God in our arms and say, "Oooh whudda kewt widdle thing you are! I gotch yer nose, yes I do!" Because this night we can gaze into the face of God and know that our overwhelming love for our children is the same overwhelming love that God shows us. Because this night we can say, "God is with us."

CHRISTMAS DAY

Today we hear the second half of Luke’s account of the birth story. Last night we heard about the census, the birth, the manger, the angels and the shepherds.

In our minds eye, or at least in our cultural eye, we have created this scene over and over. Sweet Mary, smiling at the Christ child, wrapped in swaddling clothes. Joseph, the proud father, doing what dad’s have done for thousands of years. The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes, but little Lord Jesus no crying he makes. And the shepherds are staring wide-eyed and bewildered at the kid.

I think this in an invention of city-folk. When you live in a city, one often longs for the simpler country life. It’s quiet. You can see the stars. There’s no hustle and bustle. And oh, by the way, wouldn’t this be a wonderful setting for Jesus to be born in?

But we know different. Mary and Joseph come to Sheridan for the census. But they were late, and the Moriah Motel was all booked up. Luckily Sherry has a little shed out back and she let them stay there. Better than nothing. They had a little heat and were out of the cold. Not perfect, but it would do.

And then there’s the baby. We all know what babies are like; and if you think Jesus was this little bundle of perfect calm and grace, think again. I’m betting that he had colic.

So here’s the family, outside in a stable full of animals; a young girl exhausted from the trip and now a mother; a dad who knows he’s not the father but has pledged to take care of these two people; and a new baby who won’t shut up. Add to this mix a bunch of shepherds who crash the party and announce that angels have told them that the kid is the Messiah.

"And Mary pondered all these things in her heart." I bet. A young girl, unmarried and pregnant by bizarre circumstance. Angels visiting not only her, but her relative Elizabeth, her fiancé Joseph, and a bunch of shepherds. Giving birth to a colicky baby in a stable. What did God have in mind?

What God had in mind was a little light. Babies, even colicky ones, shine a little light into our lives. Eventually the kid will stop crying and go to sleep. And any parent can tell you that when the baby sleeps, you just watch him or her lay there, breathing softly, peacefully, and you soak that up.

And as this baby grows, there will be good times and bad times. And the best of times are when you hold the child, say, "I love you," and they say, "I love you, too." This is what God had in mind.

All those other gods – Zeus and Neptune and Molech and Baal – those were different. They were either superhumans who messed with our lives, or they were some far off diety whose only relationship with people was sacrificial. What God had in mind was a new way of doing things.

This new way of doing things involved real relationships, and the only way that was going to be accomplished was for God to take human form. The relationship of parent and child. The relationship between teacher and student. The relationship between friends. The relationship between believer and seeker.

The Incarnation of God is a wondrous thing. We can look into the wide eyes and goofy smile of baby Jesus and get a glimpse of the light of God. As he grows, we can watch him struggle with life, just like we struggled. As an adult, we can share our stories with him over pizza and beer. This is what God had in mind.

And now, some 2000 years later, we are the shepherds. We are the ones who saw the light of the angels last night. We are the ones who stood in awe staring at this colicky baby who would be Messiah. We are the ones who leave that scene and tell others that God is with us. We are just as much a part of this story as the characters in Luke. We know what it’s like to love a newborn baby. We know what it means to experience a relationship with God. But relationships take work, and they will die if neglected. Let’s not relegate God to the pages of the bible; but like the shepherds, let’s tell the world that God is with us.

CHRISTMAS I

So now we have John. I think these first few verses of this gospel make more sense if you read it using the voice of Yoda. It just has that kind of feeling to it. John does a lot with images of light and dark. And if you couple that with the readings from Luke, it’s clear that something special is going on.

The baby Jesus born in a manger. The shepherds who were keeping watch over their flocks by night. The glory of the Lord that lit up the night sky around the angels. Isaiah saying that the people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light.

All of these things shine a little light in our dark world. In a world where terrorism and wars and threats of wars and natural disasters and the general inhumanity of people towards other people, the birth of Christ sheds a little light of hope and peace and love. At Christmas we can look into the face of a sleeping baby, or a smiling baby, and instinctively know that the world is a brighter place.

And yes, that baby will grow up and everything will not be so rosy. John points out that, even though Jesus came into the world that was his own, he was not accepted by his own people. This doesn’t just apply to the Jews, this applies to us today as well. Think about how many people in this community don’t profess the Christian faith, for whatever reason.

We all have the power to become children of God, simply by accepting Jesus as Savior. Once we do that, the light of Jesus, the light that is in that baby, will enlighten us. And once we have that light in us, we will be able to overcome the darkness. That’s not to say that it will be easy, but nothing worth obtaining is ever easy.

The best way to fight the darkness is with light. The best way to fight hate is with love. When the skinheads and neo-nazis marched through downtown Coeur d’Alene, store owners closed up shop and held a community-wide picnic in the park. Rather than line the streets and shout obscenities at them (and giving the media some prime footage), they simply ignored them and found a way to build community over destroying it. When a synagogue in Missoula was at the receiving end of vandalism, the majority of churches in town and other groups banded together to help clean and repair the building.

These are just a few examples of the light outshining the darkness. The darkness can fight it, but the light will always win. And that light first appeared to us in the form of a baby, born to an unwed mother in a manger. That light was first proclaimed to shepherds by angels, and then by John the Baptist. And now it is our turn to shine the light of Christ into a dark world.

We are the shepherds to whom the angels announced the birth of Jesus. We are the shepherds who came and saw and then told everyone what they had witnessed. Just as they began to spread the light so long ago, we continue in their footsteps, spreading the light throughout the world.

However, we also represent the people who don’t accept Jesus. Do we really accept him, or are we just going through the motions? Do we really believe that the light of Christ can change the world, or are we embarrassed and hide our own light? Do we really believe that this child, who lit up a manger, has the ability to transform us? Are we really ready to be as goofy in the world’s eyes as we seem to be when attracting the attention of a baby?

What’s special about this whole event? What is God doing here? What’s special is that we recognize that this baby has not only the ability to light up our own lives, but that he has the ability to light up the lives of others through us. What God is doing here is showing us that it’s relationships that matter. The relationship of parent and child, teacher and student, us and them.

Yes, God is omnipotent and omniscient and could use that power in a myriad of ways. But God became incarnate so that we could experience that relationship one-on-one. The joy of holding a baby. The excitement of learning from a favorite teacher. The satisfaction of a good conversation over pizza and beer. And it is the light of those relationships that will overcome the dark.

So go be a shepherd and tell everyone of this miracle. Go follow John and bring people to be baptized. Go follow Jesus and love people for who they are. Go shine your light into the world.

REVEREND REF'S GOE SURVIVAL GUIDE

As promised to several seminary seniors, here's my guide to surviving the GOE's. Of course, this is what worked for me. Individual results may vary.

1. Clean the office. You can't think with a bunch of clutter surrounding you.

2. Organize your books by topic. This will keep everything handy, and it will reinforce the fact that, yes, you do know this stuff.

3. Create and Save 7 documents, one for each question. Each document should be titled with your GOE number, question number and pagination. You don't want to be formatting this stuff the day of the question.

4. Buy an extra print cartridge.

5. If your family is living with you, send them to a hotel. I'm serious. This was the best investment we made. It kept them out of my hair, and it kept me from being weird around them.

6. Remember that each question is designed with the impression that any priest can answer any question with the books on his/her shelf. Don't worry about what you don't have; use what you've got. Relax, you know the answer.

7. Allow yourself 30 minutes to read, re-read and mull over the question. Figure out what is needed and what isn't. It's like those old math problems with the trains. Cross out the extra words and find the question. You may not need 30 minutes, but allow for it.

8. Stay on task. My timeline was this: 30 minutes to read and pray; 2 hrs to draft and write an answer; 45 minutes to type the answer; 15 minutes to proofread. That, of course, was for the half-day questions. The all day one was adjusted accordingly.

9. Don't try to look for the "RIGHT" answer; there isn't one. Write your answer and defend and support it well. A well-argued "wrong" answer is better than a poorly-argued "right" answer.

10. Dress for success. I wore a shirt and tie. It reminded me that this was serious and I am less likely to goof off if I'm dressed for the part. Kind of like giving a business presentation.

11. GOD DID NOT SET YOU UP TO FAIL!! YOU CAN DO THIS.

JUST LAZY

Today is a late day for me. VC has a vestry meeting tonight, so I won't go into the office until around 1 pm. That gives me time to do some personal stuff around the house this morning; which, apparently, includes roaming around the blogiverse.

While there, I decided to go check on AKMA and see how he survived the trip. He awoke Monday morning feeling . . . less than well, and I was slightly worried about putting him on a plane. It turns out that everything is fine, or at least not bad.

He managed to post several entries about his first trip to Montana and my previously mentioned ordination thing. Because he has done such a fine job, I will STRONGLY SUGGEST that you go visit his site and read up on the experience, as well as check out some really cool pics.

And now, the day beckons.

ADVENT IV - YEAR A

What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet, would it not? Todd is an old English word for fox. Joelene is the feminine of Joel and means "Yahweh is God." Philip comes from the Greek phil and hippos, meaning "friend of horses." Philip was also one of the twelve apostles. John comes from the Greek Johannes, which in turn comes from the Hebrew Yochanan, and means "God is gracious." Jane, Jan & Janet are feminizations of John. George comes from the Greek ge, meaning earth, and ergon, meaning worker; earth worker, or farmer. And Dorothy is a form of Dorothea; Doron meaning gift, and thea meaning of God. Dorothy means "Gift of God."

Why all of this focus on names? Matthew, remember, was written for both the Jews and the Gentiles. He was trying to deal with the tension between the two groups, between the old and the new. And Matthew did a lot with names. His genealogy of Jesus named the royal line. He includes Abraham and David and Solomon and Ahaz and Hezekiah. All this to show that Jesus was the royal Davidic Messiah.

But notice who else he includes: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. Tamar was Judah’s daughter-in-law; Judah being one of the eleven brothers of Joseph. After her two husbands died, she prostituted herself to Judah and eventually gave birth to twins; one of which is in the direct lineage of Jesus. Rahab was a professional prostitute in Jericho who hid a few Israelite spies and was saved during that city’s destruction. Ruth was a Moabite, a foreigner, who, depending on how you read the story, seduced Boaz. And Bathsheba, wife of Uriah the Hittite, had an affair with King David.

Matthew includes the names of women, prostitutes, adulteresses and outsiders in the lineage of Jesus. Their names help show that Jesus is not only the Davidic Messiah, the Messiah of Israel, but that Jesus has ties to the outsider, the Gentile, the impure, the Other. These names show that Jesus came to save everybody, not just a select few.

And names play an important part in today’s gospel. An angel appears to Joseph and tells him to name the baby Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. Jesus was a relatively common name, lots of people had it. In fact, it was Jesus Barabbas who was released by Pilate. In Hebrew, this name is pronounced Yeshua. It’s the same name as Joshua, the leader of the Israelites after the death of Moses. It was Joshua who attacked Jericho but spared the life of Rahab. The meaning of Yeshua is "Yahweh is salvation."

Yahweh is salvation. "You will name him Jesus because he will save his people from their sins." And isn’t this exactly what happened? Jesus forgave people of their sins and ultimately died on the cross for our sins.

But Matthew also uses another name: Emmanuel. The angel tells Joseph to name the kid Jesus, and Matthew says that this is to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy of a virgin birth whose child will be called Emmanuel. I don’t know about you, but Jesus and Emmanuel don’t even sound close. It seems like Matthew is stretching things a bit.

Emmanuel, though, means "God is with us." Notice something important here, though. Isaiah’s prophecy says that the woman will call him Immanuel. Matthew, however, changes this to say that THEY shall name him Emmanuel. They. The others who recognize that Jesus is God incarnate, the second person of the Trinity. They who recognize that God is with them in flesh and blood. They. Us. We name him Emmanuel.

This name is given at the beginning of the gospel, and "God is with us" plays throughout the whole story. And finally, Matthew comes full circle and ties everything together at the end of his gospel. For what are the last words of Jesus according to Matthew? "I am with you always, to the end of the age."

What’s in a name? For Matthew, and for us apparently, everything.

"THEOLOGICALLY SPEAKING . . . "

We like dessert. We especially like ice cream. Whenever we went to Canon Beach, we would make sure to stop at the Tillamook Cheese Factory and get fresh ice cream. When we moved to Chicago, we couldn't get Tillamook anymore, but discovered Dean's. That was pretty good stuff. Now we're in Montana, and no Tillamook and no Dean's to be found. But we have found another brand name (can't remember it right now) that makes pretty good ice cream.

One flavor is chocolate with caramel and cashews. The Kid doesn't particularly care for this flavor, while I and Mrs. Ref enjoy it. So we bought an extra one this time out. When I told The Kid that the only one open was the nut kind, she said,

"Well, if you and mom ate that kind, and I ate the other kind, then theologically speaking, there would still be enough of the other kind because I'd be the only one eating it."

We're pretty sure she meant "theoretically speaking," but I've been pondering the theology of ice cream ever since.

ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS

The weekend finally came to a close. And it has been a LONG one. Two trips to Butte on Friday, the trip to Helena on Saturday, the ordination, the reception, the trip home, first full Eucharist on Sunday, baptism/confirmation class, Lessons and Carols Sunday night, greening the church, potluck, and another trip to Butte today to return AKMA.

And I've realized that I haven't even touched the Christmas eve service. I should do that . . . soon.

The ordination went splendidly. The sermon was great. Nothing tragic happened. And we had tons of food leftover. Which was good, because we needed it for the potluck after Lessons and Carols.

All of that is over, and now it's on with the rest of my life. After all that we've been through, it's good to be here. If this next phase is anything like the last, we won't be bored.

CHANGES

I made some changes to my sidebar. Moved some things around, deleted some blogs that have appeared to be inactive, created a new heading or two. But the biggest change is moving Senior Susie into the Clergy Blogs. She will be ordained on Saturday to the diaconate, but seeing as how I will also be busy that day . . . I thought I would make a preemptive move.

Congratulations Susie!!

THE PROBLEM'S PLAIN TO SEE: TOO MUCH TECHNOLOGY

It's obvious that I'm no techno-geek. I'm not even a minor handyman-geek. Although, I did get that bathroom faucet installed (see below).

So, here's the deal. I want to do a web site thing for my two parishes, but I don't have a clue as to how to do that. And then I got to thinking, "Hey, I do a blog. Hey, that's like a website for idiots (no offense to those of you who actually know what you are doing). Hey, I could do a blog site for the parishes. Yeah, that's the ticket."

So I am now out blog shopping. I like some of the things that Blogger does, but I also like the calendar that Chattablogs lets you use. I'm wondering if you can "pre-post" with Chattablogs? That way I could post about upcoming events that would register on the calendar. For instance, we have the bishop's visitation scheduled for February 6. I could post on that visit, date it for February, and site visitors could click on that highlighted date and get information about the visit.

Any suggestions, comments, ideas welcomed at this time. In the immortal words of Mr. Bartles, "Thanks for your support."

ADVENT III-A

Our friend John is in prison, just a few chapters away from being decapitated. He has heard about Jesus, and sends his disciples to ask if he is the one who they are waiting for. After John’s disciples get an answer, Jesus turns to the crowd to ask why they went out into the wilderness to see John. Between John’s question and Jesus’ questions to the crowd, I think this whole gospel lesson can be summed up in one question: What are you waiting for?

What are you waiting for? That question can be taken so many different ways. All you need to do is put the emphasis on a different part of the question. Let me ask you this question three different ways.

WHAT are you waiting for? The Messiah, the promised one. The one of whom John, the last great prophet of the old order, announced. The one of whom Isaiah said, "Make his paths straight." We are waiting for that one, for the one who comes in the name of the Lord; we are waiting for the one who rules with justice and mercy, and whose kingdom will never end.

"Are you the one?" John’s disciples asked. Jesus answered, "The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the poor receive good news." But it’s not enough, is it? Read through Matthew and you will see several instances of people asking for a sign. As if all that Jesus has done didn’t matter. What they really are asking for, I think, is for Jesus to do something they expect; something that fits into their understanding of who God and the Messiah are.

Which brings me to the second form of the question: What are YOU waiting for? We all have different understandings of God. We all read scripture differently. Those understandings and readings can lead to vastly different interpretations.

For instance, broadly speaking, we can interpret the scriptures as an exclusive document – a set of rules and expectations – that limits who is accepted by God; or we can interpret them as an inclusive document – a guide that shows how God is continually reaching out towards the "other" in an effort to be reconciled with humanity.

I think, if anything, we should expect the unexpected from God. Time and time again God surpasses how we think God should act. Do you think God should come into this world, smite the heathen, raise the holy and righteous to heaven while throwing out the apostate and sinners into the outer darkness and unquenchable fire where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth?!? If so, then how do you explain Jesus as a babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger? How do you receive the kingdom of God as a little child if that is your expectation? Maybe we all need to reexamine just what it is that we are waiting for.

And finally: What are you WAITING for? During Advent, that’s relatively easy to answer. We are waiting for the arrival of Christ. We are waiting for God to be made man so that we might have a human example of how to live Godly lives. But what about beyond that?

In this season, we anticipate the coming of God. But we’ve been through this before. I mean, this is my 40th Advent. When do we move beyond the season? When do we stop waiting for God to come, and start working for God? Many times scripture points out that God doesn’t want sacrifices but love, compassion, mercy and justice.

If all we do is come to church on Sundays, we are missing the point. Our actions have no substance. They have become meaningless and rote. We have done it so long that we have created a rut. And if we continue, that rut will become our grave.

Two weeks ago, Jesus told us to be ready and to stay awake because the Son of Man would return at an unexpected hour. If all we do is WAIT, we’ll get drowsy. We’ll get bored. We’ll get distracted. Yes, we need to wait, but it needs to be a productive waiting. A waiting with a mission. Are we waiting with a purpose, or are we just waiting?

John proclaimed the coming of the Messiah, and from prison he sent his disciples to ask if Jesus was the one. Jesus answered, "The blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dead are raised."

What are you waiting for?

WHAT A DAY

It was a full day around the Ref household. Saturday is the only day of the week that I get to sleep in, so I did. I rolled out of bed around 9:30, and Mrs. Ref chose to sleep until 10.

We needed a Christmas tree. I think, if memory serves, the year The Kid was born we purchased an artificial tree. It was really nice. The great thing about artificial trees is that you can leave off certain branches so that it sits flush against the wall. This is a cool thing. The other thing about them is that you can bend the "branches" anyway you want and they stay. This is very helpful for heavy ornaments.

When we left SWTS, we chose not to move the tree, so we donated it to the seminary since they didn't have one. We thought it would be nice for the people on the block to put it up in the lounge. I hope nobody forgot about it.

Anyway, we needed a tree. So we walked downtown and bought one from the FFA kids. This necessitated a tree stand, which we purchased from Ace. I carried the tree home (remember, this is a small town). While I worked on cutting the trunk, and only doing minor damage to my left hand, Mrs. Ref worked on assembling the tree stand. I got the better end of the deal. Finally, the tree was up. Let's just say that you can tell it's the real thing.

After that, Mrs. Ref drove up to VC to practice for the women's choir that will be singing at Lessons and Carols up there next week. While she was out, The Kid and I set up the parish hall for services (due to losing the furnace to the church building). I spent the rest of the day doing laundry and a little plumming. The cold water in our bathroom faucet decided last week (or maybe two weeks ago) to not shut off completely. This is a new faucet, so I wasn't real happy. Mrs. Ref and I picked up a new one yesterday while in Bozeman, and we'll return the old, defective one later. Anyway, those of you who know me know that my reaction to anything remotely mechanical is along the lines of, "Look -- it's magic!!"

Well, I finally screwed up enough courage to attempt this little adventure. I managed to get the water shut off, the old faucet removed, the new faucet installed and the water turned back on with minimal drippage and only one instance of improper language. Although, in the context of the moment, maybe it was totally proper. Either way, I got the thing on and it works like, well, like magic.

And to make the day even better, inbetween the sink and the multiple loads of laundry, I got to watch the Montana/Sam Houston State game. For those who don't know, these two teams play at the Div. 1-AA level, where they have a playoff system. This was the semi-final round, and Montana managed to win the game! That's way cool! The final score was 35-13, but honestly, I think it was closer than that. Anyway, Montana is in the Championship game. They play next Friday night on ESPN2, at 8 ET, 7 CT, 6 MT, 5 PT. Mark your calendars. I'm going to watch most of it, but not all. Sometime during that game I need to make a trip to Butte and pick up my preacher for the ordination on Saturday. Hopefully the Griz will have the game well in hand and I can relax.

Finally, we ordered pizza from the best pizzaria I have ever eaten at, including Chicago, and decorated the tree. It was definitely a full day.

JUST STUFF

Stuff #1: As noted below (that is, if you followed the link), AKMA is going to preach at my ordination to the priesthood. I am way excited and blessed to have this happen. However, I noticed on his blog site that he listed dates of upcoming events. He points out that on Dec. 18 he will be "Preaching at the Ordination of Reverend Ref, Way Out in Montana Somewhere."

Now, just to be clear, the ordination is in Helena. That's NOT "Way Out in Montana Somewhere." Helena is the state capital. I mean, it has paved streets, stoplights and everything!

Way Out in Montana indeed.

Nevertheless, I'm happy to have him. Mrs. Ref did point out though, that although he won't be preaching "Way Out in Montana," he'll certainly be living there for a bit.


Stuff #2: We've been smelling something strange at CC lately. Being new, I just figured that it's always been that way. Wrong! Turns out the furnace, shall we say, has seen better days. The inspector shut the thing down, informed me not to turn the heat on because there was the possibility that it might ignite the gasses that were around it. That can't be good.

I've got some companies coming tomorrow to give us bids. In the meantime, Sunday morning services and the Lessons and Carols service will be transferred to the parish hall, which is a separate building. I'll use a folding table for the altar, and we'll just move the elements and candles over there. Hopefully it will be a VERY temporary solution.

I wonder if The Kid will think it's cute?

COUNTDOWN

I think. The ordination service is almost all set. I just have a few minor details regarding the service, and that part will be done. The congregation is taking care of the reception, so that's nice that I don't have to worry about that. The last two service items should be finished by this week.

It turns out that the 18th is a popular day for ordinations. There's Susie and EJ and Sandra and Gwynne and Shannon (and Charlie -- thanks to Wes for jarring my overworked brain) just to name the one's that come immediately to mind. Luckily I managed to get dibs on my choice for preacher-dude early on.

Which reminds me, I mentioned many many moons ago that I would try to get a killer preacher (or something like that -- I'm too lazy to find my exact wording from that long ago). Well, he agreed and has made plans to fly out. For those wondering who this mystery dude is, you can check him out here. I am excited to have him come to town.

There are less than two weeks before the deed is done, and only one more Sunday of doing the "Deacon's Mass" thing. I can't wait.

ADVENT II - YEAR A

Last week we rang in the New Year in grand style. Well, maybe not GRAND style; afterall, there was no champagne or dropping apple, but we did have party hats and noisemakers. For those who missed it, we also looked at New Year’s resolutions and I talked about trying to keep those fresh while staying awake and being watchful.

Today I want to talk a little bit about the up coming year and the gospel from which we will get most of our lessons. If you are following along at home, this is Year A of the Sunday lectionary, and Year 1 of the Daily lectionary. Year A is Matthew’s year.

What do we know about Matthew? Well, like most people of history, a little more than most but less than we would like. Tradition holds that he was a tax collector and one of the twelve disciples/apostles. His gospel was likely written about 10 - 15 years after the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. Matthew shares several things with Mark & Luke, but some things are distinctly his. Kind of like three witnesses to an accident. So, what is Matthew’s take on Jesus?
For Matthew, Jesus is the promised king who would deliver Israel. He uses a royal genealogy, different from Luke, that goes back to Abraham through David. This is shown when the wise men come to pay homage to Jesus, and it is shown when the Judean king, Herod, feels threatened by him.

This feeling of being threatened, however, doesn’t only apply to Herod. It applies to all of Israel and the religious leaders as well. Matthew is writing about change. The old ways of doing things and how we think about God are giving way to new ways. This is not easy. In fact, it’s downright threatening.

The Jews, like us, wanted to be comfortable in their beliefs and practices. They wanted to maintain the status quo. During Matthew’s time, the church and synagogues were in a struggle; a struggle over what constituted truth. Was Jesus God incarnate who came to give a new insight into our relationship with God and who welcomed outsiders? Or was Jesus a rabbi gone bad who threatened the purity of Israel by challenging and changing the rules?

This seems to be at the heart of Matthew - the tension between a new vision of God’s kingdom and the desire to maintain the current understanding of what we think God demands from us. Kind of sounds like today, doesn’t it? There’s one group who see God doing a new thing and opening the borders to outsiders and those we thought to be excluded, and there’s another group who are determined to keep the church holy and pure and free from contamination. In the Episcopal Church, this is known as the Canon 40/41 argument: 'We've never done it that way before', and 'We've always done it that way'. Who says the gospel isn’t relevant today?

In Matthew, the gospel is preached to the Jews AND the Gentiles; however, it is the Gentiles who are open to receiving the gospel. In Matthew, the Jews are mired in the old ways, unable to change. This is one of the reasons that Christians persecuted the Jews over the ages. The tension between new and old became magnified in a way that laid the blame for the crucifixion of Jesus squarely on the Jews.

So there’s a little background on Matthew before we get going. And how does all of this tension between the new and the old play out today? Well, you can’t get more tension filled than John the Baptist. Here’s a guy, living in the desert, eating honey-covered grasshoppers, screaming, "REPENT!!" and calling the religious leaders a brood of vipers.

Matthew sees him as fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy about one crying out in the wilderness to "Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." Make his paths straight. I’ve been thinking a lot about that this past week. What are John and Isaiah saying here? How can we make straight the paths of God? One way is to look at the gospel from a social justice issue. Think about a landscape – mountains and valleys – and the road that goes up and down through those. If the mountains are the wealthy, and the valleys are the poor, how can we make the path straight? We can work to reduce the elevation difference. We can work to raise up the lowly and educate the wealthy that those who live in the valleys are just as valuable as those who live on the mountain tops.

Or, we can look at it from a personal issue. What do we do, personally, that keeps God from being part of our lives? Or gets us off the "straight and narrow"? Deals, conditions, expectations, rules and regulations. Sometimes this is so simple – feed, clothe, shelter. But we get so caught up in other stuff that it doesn’t allow for God to have a straight path into our lives, let alone into the lives of those who need to hear and experience the gospel.

In this Advent season, let’s try to find a way to bear fruit worthy of repentance. Before the coming of the Lord, let’s work on making his path straight. Let’s find a way that allows God to have a straight path into our lives.

"THAT'S SO CUTE!"

Tonight was the annual Sheridan Christmas Stroll. It's a community thing when you walk around downtown and check out all of the merchants. How this is different from any other day in Sheridan, I'm not sure. But we greened CC, had the heat and lights on and left the front door open for anyone who wanted to stop in.

The Kid and I wandered around town for a little bit. She wanted to stop in several stores and shop. Eleven years old and it's easy to tell she's going to be a high maintenance woman when she grows up. We hit a clothing store, a knick knack store, and a jewelry store. On our way back, she wanted to stop in and see the Methodist church because we had never been in it.

The first thing she noticed was the Nativity scene. Yep -- they had out Mary, Joseph, Jesus, the shepherds, barn animals, and the three wisemen. She was NOT a happy camper. "Somebody should tell them that this is just wrong!" I just smiled.

Then she noticed the altar. "How come it's so small?"

"Well, they have a different focus than we do. And most Methodists do communion a little different than we do."

"How do they do it?"

"I can't say for sure about this one, but every Methodist church I've been in they pass a tray of individual wafers along the pews. And then they pass a tray of little individual cups of grapejuice."

"That's so cute! I don't think I would like it, but it really is cute that they use little cups."

I smiled all the way home.

INA GODDA DAVITA

Hooray! My mother godda new job!! If anyone deserves it, she does. She bumped around lately from job to job, was laid off a couple of times, and was faced with trying to land a new job while being over 50 (but I will never say just how much over 50 -- I are a good son).

Then she decided to go back to school. She was interested in pharmacy-type work, so went to a pharmacy-type trade school. There were alot of reasons for this, but one was that this was only a year-long program. In many respects, she did what I did when I was 22 -- opted for the quick fix education and hoped something would pan out.

Well, to be blunt, she got screwed. A year of pharmacy schooling and no job offers whatsoever. Not even a lead. So she went back to looking for a position in the field she always worked in, payroll. Hey, someone has to process all of your checks and W-2's. She landed a job with a casino and thought it would work out.

Well, to be blunt again, it apparently sucked pond scum. So off to pound the pavement again. This time she (hopefully) found a good position. It's with a company called DaVita. I think they do some type of top-secret government work and if she told me exactly what she was doing she would have to kill me. Or maybe the details just slipped my mind. But the best part is that she will still be able to make it out to MT for the ordination in (gulp) 15 days.

Anyway -- Way to go Mom! Hope it all works out this time. You deserve it.

And now it's my turn to be proud. I love you.

FIELD TRIP

No, not for me. I was on my way up to the library to check e-mail (Mrs. Ref sort of has a monopoly on the home computer during the day now that she types up all of the clinic and PT transcription). I walked. I always walk. This town isn't big enough to drive in unless you're buying groceries.

Anyway, I passed a class of what looked to be 1st, 2nd or 3rd graders out for a field trip. Now where, you might ask, would a class go for a field trip in this town? The answer is the Maddison Meat Market. You betcha. The kids were going to see first hand how it is done. Heather had a good post along those lines. It's probably a good thing that they learn how it all works.

And on top of it, I'm sure they got some tasty treats afterwards.