[Hand out both bread and wine so that they are in our hands]

Yesterday I was in my car and had a little Christmas tantrum “I HATE Christmas!” thumped the steering wheel… “I can’t wait for it to be over…”

Every day I feel like I’m running from thing to thing and doing them all badly, traffic’s terrible – don’t get me started on Highpoint and there’s so many social things to do, I’m barely overlapping with my housemates… I’m stressed out. Yesterday in my car I asked myself the question, “Where is God in this?” How can I engage with the deeper meaning of Christmas when I get swept up in the commercialness and busyness of it?

I’m going to read a poem by Peter Rollins called “In the name…” in an attempt to answer that – invite you to hold the elements and reflect on where you yourself are at at this point of the season… and where God is in the mix. Some of the language may be a bit confronting but it captures some of the missed feelings I have around this time of year and I trust that while we won’t identify with all of it, we will all identify with some of it.

The Lord be with you… and also with you.

In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

In the name of goodness and love and broken community.

In the name of meaning and feeling and I hope you don’t screw me…

In the name of darkness and light and ungraspable twilight

In the name of meal times and sharing and caring by firelight

In the name of action and peace and human redemption

In the name of eating, and drinking and table confession

In the name of sadness, regret, and holy obsession, the holy name of anger, the spirit of aggression…

In the name of forgive and forget and I hope I get over this…

In the name of the Father, and Son and the Holy Spirit

In the name of beauty and beaten and broken down daily.

In the name of seeing our creeds and believing in maybe, we gather here, a table of strangers, and speak of our hopeland and talk of our danger…

to make sense of our thinking to authenticate lives to humanise feeling and stop telling lies.

In the name of philosophy, theology and who gives a damn?

In the name of employment and study and finding new family.

In the name of our passion, our loving and indecent obsessions

In the name of prayer and of worship and of demon possession.

In the name of solitude, and quiet and holy reflection.

In the name of the lost, and the lonely and the withered direction

In the name of efficiency, stupidity and the wholly ineffectual

In the name of the straight, the queer, transgender and bisexual

In the name of boot clogs, and boob jobs and erectile dysfunction. Schizophrenia, hysteria and obsessive compulsion.

In the name of Mary and Jesus and the mostly silent Joseph.

In the name of speaking to ourselves, saying this is more than I can cope with…

In the name of touch up and break up, and break down and weeping

In the name of therapy, and prozac and full-hearted breathing.

In the name of sadness and madness and years since I’ve smiled.

In the name of the unknown, alien and the holy in exile

In the name of goodness and kindness and intentionality. 

In the name of harbor and shelter and family.

(like telling an exciting secret…)

Christ is coming!

Christ is coming!

Christ is coming!

The Lord be with you… and also with you.

Let’s eat and drink.

This week, the second of advent, we light the candle of peace. We light it knowing full well that peace is elusive, and in some parts of the world almost completely absent – but God is never absent from us. God is always preparing something new. And even where there is war and discord, whether between countries, within families or within our own hearts, God is present, leading us to new possibilities. Loving God, in this time of preparation and planning, we thank you for the hope and peace you unfailingly offer us. Show us the creative power of hope. The us the peace that comes from justice. Prepare our hearts to be transformed by You – that we might walk in Your light. Amen.