A totally upside down worldview...

What a wonderful celebration took place today during worship. Over the past 36 hours we have had about 10 inches of snow - and it started again before church. But still about 100 people showed up! The little folk joined me in lighting the Advent candles - the 8 year old acolyte then turned and winked at my wife (God is he cute!) There was jazz, gospel, classical music and Advent hymns - traditional choirs and folk music ensembles - guitar, organ and piano - a real feast.

(Worship today felt like this sculpture outside of St. Martin in the Fields, London which shows a life sized baby emerging from a massive marble block with the "And the word became flesh..." etched along the side. Incredible.)

There was no sermon, just a conversation about what the music evoked in us: how birthing and honoring women helps ground us in the true heart of this season, how God promises to come in those most unexpected places and how the little baby John the Baptist danced for joy in his momma's belly. At the conclusion of our time of reflection, our Mission Team came to the front of the Sanctuary and started distributing envelopes to everyone gathered - young and old, members and guests alike - with a $10 bill, a blank card and a note asking them to bring a blessing to someone in whatever way they felt inspired by the Spirit through this cash. In other words, be like Mary and let God fill you so that you might bring a blessing to birth in the world.

The place went wild. You see, we are a struggling congregation. We have an endowment that has been devoured over the last 30 years. Conventional wisdom tells us that unless we turn things around in 5 years, we will have to close. Or change. Or something. So the idea of giving away $1000 just doesn't make sense. But then neither does the Incarnation or the Lord's birth or anything else we honor at this time of year. So we did it and man was it wonderful. And now we get to wait and see what blessings people share...

And then to wrap things up, a new guitar choir debuted doing "Silent Night" - 5 adults who love music and have just started learning the guitar together on Thursday nights - led us all in our favorite carol. A true blessing and a truly upside down worldview... there just might be hope for us yet. Made me think of my favorite Celtic Christmas tune...