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Vicar Aaron's Message for Advent 4
Mary’s song, the Magnificat, is a well-known text set to music in many different ways, often for evening prayer. You may recognize it from Holden! Mary praises God and names what God has done for her: lifting up the lowly, casting down the mighty. Feeding the hungry, sending the rich away with nothing. The way Mary describes God in the Magnificat foreshadows the kind of work that Jesus will do in his ministry: caring for outcasts, turning tables.
God of the lowly, You look with favor upon all those who struggle. Help us to rejoice in Your mercy and justice, even when it seems distant. Amen.
Pastor Trudy's Message for Christmas Eve
Jesus came into a world that was full of political strife and imperial power; a world where people were oppressed and then they oppressed others. But it was also a world brimming with hope of a Kingdom that transcended it. In our world of political strife and oppression, are we brimming with hope for a Kingdom that transcends it?
Gracious God, You send Jesus to us as a sign of the Kingdom that isn't just coming one day, but is around us...if we are paying attention. Help us to tune out the noise and hear You. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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