Christmas

Mother Katherine’s sermon preached on Jan. 1, 2023, at 10:30 AM

Posted by on Sun, Jan 1, 2023 in Christmas, Feast Days, Sermons

As I hear people say how much they want to leave 2022 behind, how ready we are for this new year, it occurred to me that I heard the same thing — last year. And the year prior. Yes, there’s been more than a little ‘bad news’, even a sense of ongoing darkness…

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Mother Katherine’s sermon preached on Dec. 25, 2022, at 10:30 AM

Posted by on Sun, Dec 25, 2022 in Christmas, Feast Days, Sermons

If Luke is all about the visuals, tangible details and painting the story for us to feast our eyes upon, then John is about what we hear, the sounds more than the sights. The Word as a symbol is already rather abstract —nothing we can really picture seeing. It gives us a depth of knowing instead.

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Mother Katherine’s sermon preached on Dec. 24, 2022, at 10:00 PM

Posted by on Sat, Dec 24, 2022 in Christmas, Feast Days, Sermons

No room for them. What if Joseph and Mary had knocked on yours or my door? Taking the story literally, I’m embarrassed to say my first thought is where could I put them? Because the guest bed is covered with books, a bit of ironing to do, gifts to wrap, and stuff that just needing to be put away.

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Mother Katherine’s sermon preached on Jan. 2, 2022

Posted by on Sun, Jan 2, 2022 in Christmas, Epiphany, Feast Days, Sermons

The Magi, as Matthew calls them, are not Jewish—they are not planning a move to Jerusalem nor seeking to convert. Yet still they “came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?’” And when Herod hears the news he is frightened enough (along with all Jerusalem) that he summons them requesting he be told the pertinent details when they’ve found the child. We aren’t told why Herod’s own chief priests and scribes didn’t foresee this, and yet God does not always send us on the most direct route, in this case neither metaphorically or literally.

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Mother Katherine’s sermon preached on Dec. 25, 2021

Posted by on Sat, Dec 25, 2021 in Christmas, Feast Days, Sermons

Last night I spoke of the action words, the verbs in Luke’s telling, they bring his story close, embellishment drawing us in so we can almost smell the sweet hay, stifling a sneeze. Today’s words are not picturesque, they instead begin to open a door to the mystery and as we read it’s as if the magnitude of it blows the roof right off. Beginning with the very first line of the whole of Torah and scripture is a bold move. John isn’t borrowing it, he’s saying the Incarnation of God is a kind of bookend to the whole of the testament which has gone before. “In the beginning was the Word” closes what went before and says that in the coming of Word made flesh there is a whole new creation.

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Mother Katherine’s sermon preached on Dec. 24, 2021

Posted by on Fri, Dec 24, 2021 in Christmas, Feast Days, Sermons

From a world which came apart, “we have come together.” We are all at different times Mary, Joseph, the Christ Child, the shepherds, and the angels. And if you tend to be a bit late to the scene, it must mean you’re the Magi this time. We embody these ordinary and remarkable folks who gathered in a Bethlehem stable so long ago; attentive, awe-struck, blessed.

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