What an unexpected joy to have a white Christmas! One of many Christmas miracles. I hope you all have enjoyed some time in your slippers and pjs curled up with a good book or movie, indulging in some luxurious down time with the ones you love. I know I have. It's been a wonderful time to practice presence, which is what Christmas is all about. Our Emmanuel, God with us.

I also hope you are beholding the wonder of the nativity, the greatest miracle of all. For Christmas has just begun. The 12 Days of Christmas are more than a song but a season of the church, celebrated between December 26th and January 5th, when we take time to remember the outrage and glory of God coming as one of us.

This Christmas Eve, we celebrated a wonderful time as a community remembering the power of the nativity and the greatest reversal the world has ever known. And we also celebrated the wide invitation of the gospel that includes everything and everyone as we packed the house with friends, neighbors and family for our largest gathering this year! My neighbor who walked across the street for the very first time on a Sunday morning, carrying his own folding chair underneath his arm, embodied this for me -- God has indeed moved into the neighborhood and everyone has a seat.

And of course, the highlight for me, as I'm sure it was for many of you, was when a long-time community member lit the Advent Candle and shared her story of Love coming in such a powerful way to redeem and heal her son, who had been lost to addiction for 17 years. There are no words that can fully capture moments like this in a community when a miracle happens right before our eyes and we are forced to shake off our cynicism and unbelief for just a moment and kneel like the shepherds did before this king -- in whom lies the redemption of the whole world.

So as you continue to behold the wonder of the nativity, I will leave you with this poem from our readings last Sunday (inspired by a tweet of Carlos Rodriguez and a icon of Kelly Latimore).

The Great Reversal

Emmanuel. God with us. 
Us the dreamers. 
Us the marginalized. 
Us the forgotten. 
Us the poor.

Emmanuel. God in the flesh. 
You offered a new identity. 
You restored our humanity. 
You called us friends.

King of Kings. 
We did not expect you. 
Not like this. 
A crying babe surrounded by rumor, filth and manure. 
You disrupted the Empire with a love so powerful, 
A gospel so dangerous, 
A message so revolutionary, 
Bringing liberation to the poor and to the slave.

Prince of Peace. 
You entered a world of violence. 
They tried to kill you and the killing continues. 
You were a refugee, seeking asylum in a foreign land. 
And the innocent blood of 2,000 babies still did not quench their thirst for violence, 
Until they nailed your broken body to the cross. 
But you conquered violence with peace; hate with love. 
And so must we.

Savior of The World. 
Caesar declared that He was Lord and Savior of The World. 
But in your coming lies the greatest reversal the world has ever known. 
The poor would be lifted up and the powerful would be brought down. 
The hungry would be filled with good things and the rich would be sent away empty. 
And a poor unwed pregnant teenager living under oppressive occupation 
Would give birth to the Son of God. 
The salvation of the whole world came through a poor and humble servant, 
Through a woman with no power and through the vulnerability of a child.

​by Jessica Ketola

Love Has Come!

​This week, we light the Advent candle of LOVE. God's love is so deep and so wide, far beyond our ability to comprehend it. And yet if we are awake to it, we can sense this love that surrounds us on every side - beneath us, above us, in front of us and behind us. For there is nowhere we can go where God's presence is not already there. God is always present to us, even when we are far from present to God. And this is the greatest gift (present) of all! God, our Emmanuel, is with us.

But I have to admit, I feel a little stressed this week. The pressure of all the preparations -- of work and family and the holiday. It's all fun but it also requires energy, time and imagination. I am needing more than ever to feel God with me.

These days I notice we are not so big on presence. Meaning, our faces are glued to screens and distracted by incoming notifications, texts and emails. And we are often too busy to listen, to slow down, to pay attention and to receive the gift of the other. Often, we can be physically together and yet still fail to show up for one another. If you are around teenagers, you will notice that they will text each other back and forth even when they are sitting in the same room! So this idea of presence is becoming increasingly difficult.

And yet I believe that this is what Christmas invites us to. To awaken from the self-absorption and busyness of our own lives, to be present. To God and to our neighbor. To our family and to the stranger. To be with another. 

Last night, after we shared a community meal and went caroling through the neighborhood, we returned home and the crowd thinned. There was a bunch of clean up to be done, but a friend (who was a stranger just a few months ago) stayed around and offered some cider and what ensued was a lesson in presence. We invited our 17-year-old daughter and 20-year-old son down to join us and we ended up having the sweetest conversation. About life, relationships, longings. It was beautiful. Sure the mess always awaits us but so does the glory. If we are only awake to see it. 

This is what it is to be fully present. To turn away from the tasks and slow down - just long enough to experience the gift of the other. To listen deeply to their stories. For it is almost impossible to distinguish being listened to from being loved. To be curious and to seek to understand. To see with new eyes and to be moved with compassion. Christ showed us the way. 

This Sunday, we will celebrate this Love come in the flesh and this beautiful God who's greatest promise is to be with us, to be present to us. And my prayer for you this week is that you would awaken to the gift of your friends, family, colleagues and neighbors, perhaps even a stranger or two; and that you would be present to them, even as Christ is present to you.  

by Jessica Ketola

Joy To The World!

​This week, we light the Advent candle of JOY. And my heart is bursting with joy. As I celebrate all of the remarkable things that God has done this past year and as I think about each and every one of you and God's goodness and faithfulness in my own life and the life of our community. And just as I was sitting down to pontificate about all of this, an email pinged my inbox from our regional director and Pastor Emeritus, Rose Swetman. Her words resonated with me so I thought I would share them with you.

This Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent and is known as Guadete Sunday! Guadete, “rejoice” in Latin is represented by lighting the rose-colored candle in the Advent wreath. The theme for worship is joy. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, a gift, an enablement of the Spirit.

Theologian Henri Nouwen described the difference between joy and happiness. While happiness is dependent on external conditions, joy is "the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing -- sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death -- can take that love away." Thus joy can be present even in the midst of sadness. I believe this was in Paul’s thoughts as he wrote perhaps his most personal letter to the church at Philippi:

      "Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.
     Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
     And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you."

Neither Henri Nouwen nor the Apostle Paul are talking about some happy clappy form of fake joy, no, they are talking about the deep sense of belovedness that is our birthright, our inheritance. A belovedness that knows without a doubt that no matter what suffering comes our way there is a God that is in the process of reconciling all things to Himself. Everything in heaven and in earth has been delivered from sin and death and is in the process of being put right and the indescribable good news is that we are invited to participate in God’s renewal for our families, neighborhoods, workplaces and beyond. We have been invited to live out our faith in the Way of Jesus and become a part of the story God is telling in the world! - Rose Swetman​

This, my friends, is the good news. That even in the midst of a turbulent and violent world, we are loved and we are held. Love surrounds us. It is the air we breathe and the ground we walk on. This is our joy, the light invading the darkness. The good news that the angel announced to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord." [Luke 2:10-11] 

​GOOD NEWS of GREAT JOY for ALL PEOPLE. Regardless of what you may have heard, the wonder of God coming as flesh and blood as one of us, entering into our mess and suffering hunger, pain and betrayal so that we can know the depths of God's love, is the best kind of news imaginable. And it is for everyone! All people -- regardless of skin color, culture, religion, class, or gender. And it is especially good news to those who have been ostracized and oppressed, marginalized and excluded. And this Sunday, we will continue to explore this grand reversal of God's kingdom that brings down powerful rulers and lifts the humble poor. And so we wait, we watch, and we continue to join in the story of joy, hope, peace and love wherever we see it bursting into the world.

by Jessica Ketola

​Peace on earth. O, how our hearts long for peace.

​And yet it is almost too hard to hope for. Amidst the oppression and suffering, violence and war, hate and strife, our hearts are weary. The words of O Holy Night echo our longing. “A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.” Weary. Yes, we are weary. Tired. In fact, sick and tired. As U2 laments, 

Heaven on earth, We need it now
I'm sick of all of this, Hanging around
Sick of sorrow, Sick of pain
Sick of hearing again and again
That there's gonna be Peace on earth
[U2, Peace on Earth]
 
This profound longing is what Advent is all about. It is about standing in the midst of the darkness and subversively lighting a candle. It is joining in the weary lament of the world and holding space for grief and for suffering. It is also declaring that a new dawn is coming. It is a prophetic act that lives into a reality that is not yet what it will fully be. It is a stubborn hope in the midst of overwhelming despair. The Prince of Peace has come and is bringing healing to the world.
 
But this peace is not a false peace. The prophet Jeremiah laments, “They offer superficial treatments for my people’s mortal wound. They give assurances of peace when there is no peace.” I think so many of us in the Western white church are guilty of saying, “Peace, peace; when there is no peace, ” [Jeremiah 6:14 KJV] and my heart is grieved.
 
For I am painfully aware that it is all too easy to gloss over the gaping wounds of our brothers and sisters who face oppression and violence, discrimination and injustice. It is tempting to avoid the anguish of sitting with those who are suffering and to move on quickly to the sparkling images of peace and love and brotherhood. But peacemaking is far from idyllic scenes of comfort and warmth and cheer. In fact, it is often messy, uncomfortable, and daunting.
 
And yet, Jesus declared, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” [Matthew 5:9] He called us to love our neighbor as ourselves, even to love our enemies. And he subversively broke down all the cultural and social divisions of the day that excluded others because of class, gender, religion, politics and race, declaring that we were all one in Christ.
 
Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother; And in His name all oppression shall cease. [O Holy Night]
 
But what does Peace look like on earth? Here in my neighborhood? Here in the gritty mundane of my everyday life?
 
I do not pretend to know God’s big dream for how peace on earth is to come to my neighborhood in its entirety, but I see some hopeful signs.

~ As we share a meal and conversation around the table with neighbors, strangers and friends every Wednesday night. I am always surprised by who walks in my door and the blessing of receiving the gift of community where all are welcome and everyone is valued. As we gather for a Holiday Neighborhood Party once again and extend the invitation far and wide, we are overjoyed as new connections are made and community is forged across difference. As we find ways to come together, to build friendships and to offer extravagant hospitality, we practice peace in our neighborhood.  

~ As Lynn Newcombe, the Director of Turning Point, and I sit around the table of the Shoreline Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Task Force, we are in awe of the inspiring work of passionate leaders to affect change throughout our community, from the schools to the city to local nonprofits. It is an absolute privilege to be a part of this beautiful work of peace.  

~ As Cecelia Romero-Likes, prepares to lead and facilitate a Social Justice Book Discussion Group, sponsored by King County Library and hosted at City Hall, we are absolutely thrilled to participate in peace making in our community. We will read books by people of color and cultivate practices of empathy and listening, learning from different perspectives and worldviews.  

~ As we begin to partner with local churches to serve those who are often marginalized in our community, as we offer presence and muffins and coffee on Aurora at the THS Methadone Clinic, I believe we are practicing peace as stigmas dissolve into faces and names, people with hopes and dreams just like us.  

~ As we open up our doors every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to offer tutoring and mentoring to at-risk children in the Shoreline School District, we practice peace. As we build friendships and community at Turning Point across culture, race, religion, language and socioeconomic divides, we practice peace. As we share a community meal together and listen to the stories of those who are “other”, we practice peace. And it is one of the richest gifts we receive. ​

~ As so many in our community practice presence and otherliness every day. As teachers, students, professors, artists, mental health practitioners and business professionals; as neighbors, colleagues and friends; and as social justice advocates and community organizers, we practice peace as we listen well to the stories of those around us and offer the gift of presence.

~ And this Sunday as we light the candle of peace, we will hear from Iris Reano, who will speak to us about what peace on earth means to her as an indigenous woman and a single mom. And I could not be more excited! Iris is an eloquent and gracious woman and it is our profound privilege to listen to her story and to see what peace looks like from her perspective.  

So this Advent, we hold the many tensions. We stand in the midst of the darkness, the great upheaval, the injustice and the suffering, and we light a candle and pray, Come, Lord Jesus, come. We practice peace in a hundred and one small ways and yet we long and groan and pray for peace to come in its fullness. We do not gloss over the divisions, the gross injustices and oppressions of our day. Rather we choose to awaken to the groaning in our communities and our neighborhoods and we groan too, allowing our hearts to break and to grieve and to repent. And yet we are not overcome with despair. No, we are people of great hope. For Christ has come. Christ is here. And Christ is coming again. And He is bringing wholeness to everything and everyone and healing all that divides us. And so we can be confident that peace is surely coming here on earth, around our dinner tables, conference calls and playgrounds, so let it begin with us.

​by Jessica Ketola

O Come, O Come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel.

These beautiful words and their haunting melody translated from the Latin hymn “Veni, Veni Emmanuel” capture the heart of this season. For this Sunday marks the first week of Advent [celebrated this year December 3rd thru Christmas Eve] and the beginning of the Church Year. This is a new day and a new dawn as Nina Simone likes to sing.
 
The word Advent means "coming" or "arrival". The focus of the entire season is preparation to celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second Advent. Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000-year-old event in history with nativity scenes of shepherds, wise men and cows and sheep in a stable. And it is far from the "merry and bright" celebration of the holiday, full of shopping and gift wrapping, pictures with Santa, and holiday parties. We do celebrate, but we celebrate the revelation of God in Christ whereby all of creation might be reconciled to God. The liberation of all creation that is groaning, longing for redemption. A redemption in which we now participate, and the consummation of which we anticipate. We affirm that Christ has come, that He is present in the world today, and that He will come again in power. This is our hope in a world brimming with suffering. 

Advent is marked by a spirit of expectation, of anticipation, of preparation, of longing. There is a yearning for deliverance from the evils of the world, first expressed by Israelite slaves in Egypt as they cried out from their bitter oppression. It is the cry of so many today, who are experienced the tyranny of injustice in a world gone mad, and yet who have hope of deliverance by a God who has heard the cries of oppressed slaves and brought deliverance! It is the cry of the immigrant, the refugee, the addict, the poor and the homeless. It is the cry of the Dreamers, victims of sexual misconduct, our Muslim neighbors, and our brown and black brothers and sisters who face injustice, discrimination, persecution, incarceration and violence every day.

It is this hope, however faint at times, that God, however seemingly distant, is here with us, our Emmanuel. It is this hope that while greed and violence and power rule the day, crushing the poor and oppressing the weak, we anticipate a good and wise King who will rule with truth and justice and righteousness over all people and all creation. It is this hope that once anticipated, and now anticipates anew, the reign of an Anointed One, a Messiah, who will bring peace and justice and righteousness to the world. That into the darkness, a light will come. And it will be a light for all people.

This Advent, I do believe it is a new day and a new dawn for our community, and I believe there is an invitation to AWAKE, which is our theme this year. An invitation to awaken to hope, peace, joy, and to love. And to awaken to God’s dream for us as a faith community and the neighborhoods in which we live. If the critique of the North American church is that we have fallen asleep, lulled into the comforts of our own instagram-perfect lives, distracted by the pursuit of success and the good life and shiny objects that promise happiness, far removed from the suffering of the poor, the concerns of our neighbors and the injustices of those who are invisible -- then the call must be to AWAKE! To awake for the King is coming! God’s revolutionary kingdom is here. We don’t want to miss it! [For like so many throughout history, we so often miss seeing the Messiah when he does not appear as we might imagine.]

And so this Sunday, we will enter Advent with lament, with longing and with hope. We will yearn for freedom from oppression in our lives and in the lives of our neighbors and we will pray for justice to come to our streets. And we will wait with hope and light a candle into the darkness and cry, Come, Lord Jesus, Come.

by Jessica Ketola