Monthly Archives: December 2018

Words of Witness – Advent Week 4: LOVE

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We gather here today in response to God’s love

that feeds our souls like a good meal with friends,  

filling our minds and hearts and senses

until our best selves overflow.

aerial photo of mountain surrounded by fog

Photo by icon0.com on Pexels.com

Despite the selfish demands and betrayals of love we have suffered.

Despite the impatient and half-hearted attempts at love we have offered.

Despite our flawed definitions and our misplaced affections,

We come.

 

We come because of all these things, believing

in a love that is bigger than us, and better;

that is offered to us as we are,

even as it is beyond our scope to comprehend as we are.

Lord help our unbelief.

 

We gather in love

and in need of God’s perfect love.

A love that has been through everything

and come out stronger.

A love that knows and accepts us so deeply

that the stranger no longer poses a threat.

A love to grow into.

The gentle touch of the sun on our upturned faces

Its soft warmth on our backs when it is no more

and no less than the light by which we see.

A faint trickle of water music

heard throughout life’s song-rich forest

telling us that wherever we go,

we will never go thirsty.

 

We are God’s people.

We light this candle as a sign of the love of God,

who comes to walk in our shoes

and make a home among us.

O come, Immanuel. 

 

 

Composed by and for the American Church in Paris community, the work of the people to the glory of God.

Words of Witness – Advent Week 3: JOY

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We gather here today in God’s Spirit of joy

that erases all memory of pain and fear

like the holy cry of a newborn child.

 

Despite the status quo and daily grind that stifle our humanity

Despite unanswered prayers that make us doubt divinity

In the face of desperation and discrimination, sickness and loss,

In the face of death itself, we come.

 

We come because of all these things,

believing that God’s joy is as unconditional as God’s love,

as unbounded and independent of circumstances as God’s own Spirit.

Holy Spirit, help our unbelief.

 

We gather in the joy of the Spirit who groans for us,

longing that our joy be made full,

that our joy be made deeper

than the pride we can buoy only with compliments,

more grounded than the mania we conjure against depression.

The joy of letting our guard down.

The joy of going beyond our limitations and our successes.

Giving more, doing more than we thought possible

only to find we have and are more than when we began.

Joy in the journey when the end is not yet in sight.

Walking freely in the counsel of the wise.

Being blessed by our children.

Joy transcending time and place

to make joy possible in our time and place.

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“The Way of Water” – photograph by Jenn Cavanaugh

We are God’s people.

We light this candle as a sign of God’s joy

who comes to us in the newness of life

and makes a home among us, and for us.

O come, Immanuel.

 

 

Composed by and for the American Church in Paris community, the work of the people to the glory of God.

Words of Witness – Advent Week 2: PEACE

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We gather here today in response to Christ’s peace

that draws our eyes upward

like birdsong and rainbow against a storm-dark sky,

promising an end to destruction.

 
Despite the interminable warzones we shrug must always be so;

Despite the seething culture wars boiling over into our own streets;

Despite our clenched fists, anxious minds, and overburdened hearts;

Despite our frustrated relationships and hard-wired wariness, we come.

banksylovevspeace

by Banksy

 
We come because of all these things,

believing that our inner chaos can be rightly ordered,

that wrongs will be righted, that wars and fears shall cease,

that a day will come when we will no longer live by the sword or die by the gun.

Jesus help our unbelief.

 
We gather in the name of the savior who is our peace,

a peace beyond fleeting distraction,

beyond the suppression of hostility.

A more perfect peace we glimpse

from the zone we enter when we run, when we bike,

when we read, when we create.

Peace resonating after the choir’s last chord.

Peace with God and with ourselves.

Well-placed trust in friends and harmony with enemies,

smiles from strangers and the company of those who love us.

All the world’s children tucked safely into beds,

Falling snow framed in a picture window,

and the time to watch it fall,

mug in hand, good things baking in the oven.

The smell of a forest in its prime, clearing the air,

The trickle of snowmelt, reviving the earth.

Peace running like a warm bath at the end of a hard day,

when all has been done and done well.

 
We are God’s people.

We light this candle as a sign of God’s peace

who comes to us in the fullness of time

and makes a home among us.

O come, Immanuel.

Words of Witness – Advent week 1: HOPE

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We gather here today in response to God’s hope

that calls us like church bells,

heralding the birth of a savior

and new life offered to all.

selective focus photography of paintbrush near paint pallet

Photo by Steve Johnson on Pexels.com

Despite the failure of our systems to protect the innocent.

Despite the arrogance of those who say there is no hope.

Despite our distorted desires

and disheartening battles, we come.

 

We come because of all these things,

believing that things could be different,

that things could be better;

that we could be changed.

God help our unbelief.

 

We gather in hope

and in need of God’s perfect hope.

A hope like unbounded light

at the end of our tunneled vision.

A hope like cool waves on sunburnt skin.

A hope that smells like fresh-baked bread,

sustaining our bodies.

A hope that tastes like fresh spring water,

restoring our souls.

A hope like the mess of a palette

resolving itself on canvas

into wonder.

 

We are God’s people.

We light this candle

as a sign of our hope in the God who comes to us in our darkest hour

and makes a home among us.

O come, Immanuel.

 

Composed by and for the American Church in Paris community, the work of the people to the glory of God.