The Bishop and Canons will offer a reflection each week during Advent and Christmas, t
hrough the Feast of the Epiphany. This year, reflections will call us to consider the Christian call to welcome and care for the refugee in our midst.
The Collect of the Day
Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The Lessons
Meditation
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Bishop White
Emmanuel. God is with us. This is both a promise, and a call to serve.
The promise speaks to us in the midst of life at every moment, but especially in times that try us and stretch us. When living as faithfully as possible fails to insulate us from hardship or pain, we cling fast to the promise: God is with us. When circumstances give way to an unexpected blessing, and we are tempted to claim that such a blessing is due somehow to us, the promise saves us: God is with us. God, the source of all, is with us.
Serving God above all is else is a central to our faith. God is served as we love each person who bears the divine image as a neighbor, and God is served as we care for his creation which continually testifies to his glory. God is with us, became one of us.
"Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself...."
A mansion prepared for Christ is constructed as we especially care for the vulnerable in our neighborhoods and around the world, those displaced by war and famine and drought, those who look for light in the midst of darkness, and those who fervently seek hope when reasons for despair are abundant. A mansion for Emmanuel is furnished with a table that ever expands, and each seat there is one of honor and dignity.
That mansion we prepare stands in contrast to the reality that the Holy Child, Virgin Mother, and Guardian Father will experience soon after Jesus' birth, when they must flee the murderous wrath and madness of King Herod, and become refugees, dwelling in a country not their own. Every family, every person, deserves to live and grow and thrive free of the hardship, disease, famine, and the constant reality of death. Until all people live in peace and safety, the mansion for Christ is not finished.
Emmanuel. God is with us. A promise and a call.
The Episcopal Church partners with the federal government to resettle thousands of refugees each year through Episcopal Migration Ministries. Our diocesan budget includes annual support for their local affiliate, Kentucky Refugee Ministries. The Episcopal Church began its ministry to refugees with port chaplains in the late 1800s, and developed resettlement programs to aid European refugees in the lead up to WWII. Our formal partnership to assist the US in resettlement work began in 1980 and continues today.
Learn more about the work Episcopal Migration Ministries does on our behalf here:
Give to support the work of Kentucky Refugee Ministries:
WHAT YOUR GIFT CAN DO
$25 provides a blanket for a refugee child
$50 provides a monthly bus pass for an adult seeking work
$75 provides groceries for a family's first week in Kentucky
$100 assists with medications for a sick mother
$150 assists with a heating bill for a 1-bedroom apartment
$500 assists with rent for a family's new apartment
$1,000 assists a family if someone gets ill and can't work
$2,500 co-sponsors a new family for 3-months
Hymn
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
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Advent Blessing
Christ, the Sun of Righteousness shine upon you and scatter the darkness from before your path; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among us, and remain with us always.
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