Christ Episcopal Church
Sunday Service
EUCHARIST
or
Morning Prayer
at 9:30 am
In the CHURCH.
Sunday Service
EUCHARIST
or
Morning Prayer
9:30 am
In the CHURCH.
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea,
wise men* from the East came to Jerusalem, asking,
‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?
For we observed his star at its rising,* and have come to pay him homage.’
Matthew 2:1-2 NRSV
"The Glory of God is humanity fully alive"
"The Glory of God is humanity fully alive"
- Irenaus
- Irenaus
JOY
There is nothing I can give you which you have not;
But there is much, very much, that while I cannot give,
You can take.
No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today.
Take heaven!
No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present instant.
Take peace!
The gloom of the world is but a shadow.
Behind it, yet within our Reach is joy.
Take joy!
There is a radiance and glory in the darkness, could we but see,
And to see we have only to look.
I beseech you to look!
Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging its gifts by the covering,
Cast them away as ugly, or heavy, or hard.
Remove the covering and you will find beneath it a living splendor,
Woven of love, by wisdom, with power.
Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the angel's hand
That brings it to you.
Everything we call a trial, a sorrow, or a duty
Believe me, that angel's hand is there, the gift is there,
And the wonder of an overshadowing presence.
Our joys, too, be not content with them as joys.
They, too, conceal diviner gifts.
Life is so full of meaning and purpose,
So full of beauty beneath its covering-
That you will find earth but cloaks your heaven.
And so, at this time, I greet you.
Not quite as the world sends greetings,
But with profound esteem
And with the prayer that for you, now and forever,
The day breaks, and all the shadows flee away.
- Fra Giovanni, Christmas Eve, 1513 A.D.
JOY
There is nothing I can give you which you have not;
But there is much, very much, that while I cannot give,
You can take.
No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today.
Take heaven!
No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present instant.
Take peace!
The gloom of the world is but a shadow.
Behind it, yet within our Reach is joy.
Take joy!
There is a radiance and glory in the darkness, could we but see,
And to see we have only to look.
I beseech you to look!
Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging its gifts by the covering,
Cast them away as ugly, or heavy, or hard.
Remove the covering and you will find beneath it a living splendor,
Woven of love, by wisdom, with power.
Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the angel's hand
That brings it to you.
Everything we call a trial, a sorrow, or a duty
Believe me, that angel's hand is there, the gift is there,
And the wonder of an overshadowing presence.
Our joys, too, be not content with them as joys.
They, too, conceal diviner gifts.
Life is so full of meaning and purpose,
So full of beauty beneath its covering-
That you will find earth but cloaks your heaven.
And so, at this time, I greet you.
Not quite as the world sends greetings,
But with profound esteem
And with the prayer that for you, now and forever,
The day breaks, and all the shadows flee away.
- Fra Giovanni, Christmas Eve, 1513 A.D.
God, give courage to our hearts and souls
That we may laugh and rejoice even as we work and pray.
There is a new creation being born.
God, give courage to our hearts and souls
That we may laugh and rejoice even as we work and pray.
There is a new creation being born.
