We beseech thee, Almighty God, to purify our consciences by thy daily visitation, that when thy Son our Lord cometh he may find in us a mansion prepared for himself….

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Well, we’ve arrived at last at the fourth and final Sunday of Advent; we’re drawing ever closer to the Nativity of our Lord and the festivities of Christmastide. And so it is fitting that our Collect this morning and our lessons from Scripture are concerned with what was necessary for the Incarnation to happen at all. What were the conditions that had to be in place in order for the Word to be made flesh? It’s an important question for us to ask, because the answer will in turn reveal what is necessary for Christ to “be born in us today,” as the carol sings. However it happened that God became man will be the way by which man becomes God. So this is the question on which the entire Christian life depends. 

Bear fruits that befit repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
So I’m not going to join John the Baptist and call you all a brood of vipers -- don’t worry. But I am going to start with a question that gets at what he is getting at, and that is, why are you here? What brings you to church this Sunday and all the other Sundays? 

​Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

After the funeral for Kathy Carpenter was over this past Thursday, I joined the family in driving down to Red Rock Cemetery to commit her body to the earth, where she will rest until the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. If you haven’t been to Red Rock Cemetery, it’s basically a field in the middle of a sprawling pasture, surrounded by the gently rolling hills that give this part of the state its unmistakable beauty, as far as the eye can see. Were it not for the rusty rod iron sign at the entrance, you might miss it altogether. There are few if any trees to speak of and an old silo down the road a bit stands as one of the only signs that there are any people are nearby at all. Except, of course, for the modest tombstones that adorn the field, neatly spaced, bearing the names of the departed.

​In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

When it comes to the start of anything new -- whether it’s New Year’s Day or the first day of school -- we’re accustomed to think about it like we’ve been given a clean slate. It’s when we get to hit the reset button and start over. And I suppose that’s well and good enough. The relief of a new beginning is that nothing has happened yet, which means that we haven’t messed anything up yet, and so we think of it as this brief moment when we can make our resolutions and set our goals before we smudge the lens or scratch the finish.

​These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Happy All Saints Day! Or at least All Saints Sunday. All Saints Day proper was back on November 1, but thanks to a provision in our Prayer Book, we are allowed to observe this principal feast day both on its actual date and on the following Sunday -- which is today. So happy All Saints Day again!