Christmas II, Morning Prayer Rite II Alex Hillis

This is going to be a little bit different beside what our usual service is, it'll be the Eucharist, and we'll follow the program to a team with a morning prayer.

Behold, the dwelling of God is with humankind.

God will dwell with them, and they shall be God's people.

And God's very self will be with them and be their God.

Dearly beloved, we have come together in the presence of Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at God's hand.

To set forth God's most worthy praise, to hear the Holy Word, and to ask for ourselves and on behalf of others those things that are necessary for our life and our salvation.

And so that we may prepare ourselves in heart and mind to worship God, let us kneel in silence and with penitent and obedient hearts confess our sins, that we may obtain forgiveness by God's infinite goodness and mercy.

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed by what we have done and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart.

We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

We are truly sorry and humbly repent.

For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us, that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your name.

Amen.

Almighty God, have mercy on us.

Forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Strengthen us in all goodness and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life.

Amen.

O Lord, open our lips.

Glory to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, will be forever.

Amen.

Oh come, let us adore Him.

Alleluia.

Be joyful in the Lord, all you lands.

Come before God's presence with a song.

Know this the Lord is God.

We are God's people and the sheep of God's pasture.

Enter God's gates with thanksgiving.

Go to God's courts with praise to God and call upon God's name.

For the Lord is good, God's mercy is everlasting.

Comfort my people, says your God.

Speak heart tender to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her term of service is fulfilled, that her inequity is absolved, that she has received from the hand of the righteous judge double for all her sins.

A heavenly voice cries out, In the wilderness clear the way of the everlasting God, make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low, the rugged ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.

But the glory of the majesty of the ages shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together.

For the mouth of the thunder of Sinai has spoken, a heavenly voice says, Cry out! And I said, What shall I cry?

The voice replied, All people are grass, their fidelity is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the fire Sinai blows upon it.

Surely the people are grass.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

The word of the Lord.

The song to Simeon.

Lord, you now have set your servant free.

For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior.

A light to alight the nations.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

I will now read the song, responded by half verse.

I will praise the name of God with a song.

This will please the saving God more than an ox.

Let the oppressed see it and be glad.

For the faithful one hears the needy.

Let heaven and earth praise her.

For God will save Zion.

And the children of her servants shall inherit it.

Second reading from Galatians.

I say that as long as heirs are minors, they are no better than slaves, though they are the masters of all.

But they remain under guardians and trustees until the time set by the Father.

So also for us, while we were minors, we were enslaved by the constituted elements of the world.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent God's own son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption like children.

And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of God's own Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father, so you are no longer a slave, but a child.

And of a child then also an heir through God.

The word of the Lord.

Arise, shine, for your light has come.

For behold, darkness covers the land.

But over you the Lord will rise.

His glory will appear on you.

Nations will stream to your light.

Your gates will always be open.

They will call you the city of the Lord.

Violence will no more be heard in your land.

You will call your walls salvation.

The sun will no more be your light by day.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.

This man was righteous and devout, waiting to welcome the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit, she rested on him.

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Messiah of the Most High God.

Led by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple.

When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary under that which was taught, Simeon took him in his arms and prayed to God, saying, You release now your slave in peace, master.

According to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people, Israel.

And the child's mother and father were amazed at what was being said about him.

Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother, Mary, This child is set for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign provoking contention.

Also, your own soul, a sword will pierce, so that the true hearts of many will be revealed.

There was also a prophet Anna, the daughter of Manil of the tribe of Asher.

She was of great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage.

Then, as a widow to the age of eighty-four, she never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.

At that moment she came and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

The word of the Lord.

No one could see it.

Um, one second as I grab my little note card that's gonna help me kind of keep track of my notes and adjust my mic just a little.

I have uh what I was taught in new school theater and high school is uh tea.

Helps keep the microphone on your face.

But I have a beard, and that does not help my situation.

So do apologize while I'm adjusting that a little.

Um, good morning, everyone.

This is morning prayer.

Mike is uh off and away uh with his family out in San Diego.

They're having a wonderful time, I'm sure.

Um, and I'm excited to be here leading morning prayer.

The difference between morning prayer and what we have every other Sunday is Eucharist.

We won't be doing Eucharist today.

I'm not an ordained priest, I can't uh do all that fancy stuff.

Um but that's okay because we can still make a connection and still grow our faith without that.

Um we also uh it was funny, I um I was talking to one of our parishioners after the 8 o'clock service, and he came up to me and he goes, So uh so Mike's a half hour.

I said, What?

He said, So without Mike, he's a half hour more, he's a half hour longer.

And I said, Yeah, I guess so.

I guess uh I guess he had a 15-minute eucharist, he had a little bit longer of a sermon and announcements.

Yeah, he probably has an hour, yeah.

That's what he's equal.

So if you want to know how much time Mike in search for the service, about half an hour.

It's good to know.

Uh so but I won't be taking half an hour or anywhere near that long.

Um you'll actually find that the service is much quicker.

Um I did also have a lot of person go, I really like that service.

That was really nice.

I was like, oh yeah, you'd probably have to because it's quick.

Um so but happy New Year's, everyone.

Here we are, New Year's Eve.

You made it to the end of 2023.

I said this at the Christmas service, uh, Christmas Eve service, the family service.

I said, I don't uh this is still true now, I don't know how we're here.

I feel like yesterday it was September 24th.

I blinked, woke up one morning, and I was like, oh, end of the year.

You're like, oh, okay, this is great.

Let's do this.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Um, so I am feeling overwhelmed and rushed.

Um, I am looking forward to the new year, though.

Um I don't normally do New Year's resolutions.

Um it and I'm not trying to to make anyone feel bad who does do New Year's resolutions.

I just feel like in my life, if there's a resolution I need to solve, something I need to do for myself that I'm better myself, I should probably do it in that moment and not worry about the new year.

Um, but that being said, this year, I came up with an idea that I was like, oh, but that's kind of something I want to do.

And I want to start writing.

I want to start writing in a journal.

Um, and then I started talking about in my head what that was, and I was like, oh, it's diary writing, is what I want to do.

Um, because I want to start writing what happens in my day to remind myself what happened in my day, because I get to the end of the week and I've done lots of fun stuff with my kids and with my family, but I couldn't tell you what we did.

I don't know how we did it.

And Evie talked, she my daughter was four years old, she came up to me and talked to me about something we did months ago, and I was like, we did do that.

That was fun as a family, but I don't remember how or why we did that.

So I was like, that's something I want to start doing.

That's fun, and I'm gonna start um writing writing in my journal.

And then I actually pulled out my three-month calendar and I started projecting out the next three months.

My wife and I are starting to try to sit down at the beginning of our month and project our next few months so we know kind of what's going on, keep our world kind of less chaotic.

And I was just kind of kept having it prepped for 2024, and as I was really getting into it and really kind of thinking about also what I was going to talk about today, I realized like, God, Christmas was a week ago.

Christmas was last Sunday, and I think to myself, am I moving too fast?

Am I am I going that just seems like such a long time ago?

And it made me think about how, first of all, here in the Episcopal Church, first and foremost, it's still Christmas.

We technically are now in the season of Christmas.

On Christmas Day begins the 12 days of Christmas here in the Episcopal Church, where we actually, as this day is the Christmas Day.

We are still in Christmas the season.

And we are still in that season because, like I said, at the family service, the story in which we tell on Christmas Eve has not necessarily happened in the way that we've nice bookended really quickly, and then all the little kids come out and it's cute, and you got this and that, and everyone's coming out.

That's not really how the story goes.

We represent Epiphany Sunday, which is coming up, as the Sunday in which the three wise men actually arrive.

We think maybe a couple years later than when everyone else arrived.

And it's a reminder that, you know, the story isn't always what we think it, and the story's not done.

It reminded me a lot of a mountaintop experience.

And in the church, you'll hear uh, I mean, at least I've heard it quite a couple times, the mountaintop experience.

And what this is in reference to is originally the mountaintop experience, is the idea that about Moses, way back in the Old Testament, goes up to the mountain, literally goes all the way up to the mountain to talk to God.

Literally conversational with God.

That's where he gets the Ten Commandments, that's where he has all his conversations.

He literally goes up to the mountaintop to be closer to God and talk to him.

And so that's kind of where we get this reference of the mountaintop experience.

When you yourself feel close to God in your faith.

I was thinking of some good examples of what that is in our world today.

I came up with a couple ideas.

Um, first and foremost, the kind of funny one that I thought of that Mike and I kind of chuckle about, but a lot of church workers, chuckle, people who work in churches chuckle about is that uh we saw we see a lot of mountaintop goers on Christmas Eve and Easter.

We see a lot of those mountaintop goers who make the journey through that.

Not that that's a bad thing.

We all do church and faith our own way.

We love to see everyone who shows up on those Christmas Eve, but a lot of the times you see people, we go, ma'am, I haven't seen you in a long time.

It's been a little while.

But that could be a mountaintop experience.

You come, you're close to God, you're here on Christmas Eve, you've remembered, ah, yes, Christmas Eve.

Ah, yes, Easter, I'm here.

Um, some other mountaintop experiences I've experienced in my life and have good examples of is there's uh a youth weekend here that the Jesus puts on called Happening Weekend.

It's at Camp Allen, and they go Friday to Sunday afternoon.

Um, they all gather together in um in in basically they get the big group comes in, they get split into little families, they call them families.

Um they do little Bible studies together, they do uh they do prayer stations.

They do all these different kinds of things to help them see prayer and view prayer in a different perspective than what they see on Sunday mornings at church.

To give them an idea of what prayer and what worship can be in a style that more is tune to maybe where they're at in their faith.

It's a really cool experience.

A lot of these kids come out transformed in a transformative way.

And for a lot of them, they would tell you it's a good mountaintop experience.

It's a good, close feeling to God that they've never felt before.

Personally, a good mountaintop experience for me was also at Camp Allen, not happening.

I didn't do happening in high school, but I did do uh counseling, summer camp counseling in the summer.

And that to me was a mountaintop experience because I for a long time had hardened my heart to Camp Allen and did not want to do anything with Camp Allen or summer camp.

And God kind of melted away my heart and said, hey, if ministry is what you want to do, if you want to work with youth, this is your opportunity, this is your chance to go do it.

So I spent the month, so I did it, I finally did it, I spent the month of June and July counseling, and it changed my heart.

It changed, I came out transformed, knowing that this is what I wanted to do, knowing that I loved it.

I love being surrounded by people who are also trying to do the same thing with me.

It was a mountaintop experience for me that changed my life and made me feel closer to God.

The common theme that all these things have, that's and all these things are transformative, right?

All these things are transformative.

We also, one last one that I had is God.

God, right?

God has a transformative moment.

Last Sunday on Christmas Eve, when God literally becomes man.

He transforms himself.

We in these mountaintop experiences transform ourselves.

God's a little opposite.

He doesn't go to the mountaintop, he kind of comes down the mountaintop to us.

But the idea is the same.

He's transformed, he's something new.

All these experiences have that same thing.

They also have the same experience, the same end result about these experiences that I've talked about.

That's the hardest part about these, is coming down the mountain.

Moses comes down the mountain with the Ten Commandments, and he's got to explain to a generation of people how to live a good, honest, godly life.

We leave Christmas Eve and Easter, and we've got things to do.

The children, the youth leave happening weekend with this cool experience of how to see their faith.

And on Monday, literally 12 hours later, they've got to go back to school.

Alex's summer camp, being a counselor, having all the fun of the world, no cares in the world.

He's there, he's fed, he's taken care of, has to go back home, figure out where he's gonna go to college, go to college, and figure out how to live his life.

We have to walk back down the mountaintops.

There's a song by Ben Rector, and he says one of his songs, and I think it puts it really well.

Life is not the mountaintops.

Life is the walking in between.

And here we are walking in between the mountaintop experience.

I like to imagine that in our mountaintop Christmas Eve happening, whatever that is to you, there's a light on the top of that mountain shining bright, and you're embracing it.

And you're you're you're basking in that light.

And what we're called to do is to take that light with us back down the mountain.

And share it as we walk between the mountains with each other.

And that's not always easy because the light will flicker, the light will dim.

The light becomes harder to show people.

Sometimes people don't like the light showing them, just you put it away.

The walking in between is not easy.

I I like the idea that Mike has.

And he said this a couple times in confirmation, a couple other places I've heard him say.

It's really very cool.

He talks about coming to the altar.

And when we come to the altar, most of us, all of us, take the bread, take the wine.

But there are some of us who really can't, who really can't take the bread for any certain reason, who can't drink their wine because they've given up.

They don't want to.

There's multiple reasons that people can't actually take the bread and wine.

And Mike, my favorite thing Mike says, Mike says, it doesn't matter.

Come to the altar because it's about your intent.

Because when you're up here, you're given the hope.

You're given the light again.

You're refreshed in the light.

The bread and the wine is a beautiful symbol of receiving that light again.

Reminding yourself to hold that light.

But it's not the reason you're at the altar.

God, it's the hope that has come on Christmas Eve.

And our gospel today, the intent is there when Joseph and Mary go and they take the, it's the after the birth of Jesus story.

They literally go to a temple shining the light of Jesus.

And the people in the temple are excited.

We hear the two of them, Simeon and Anna, who, Anna is 84 years old, has lived a quiet life in this temple.

And as soon as Jesus walks in the door as a baby, gets excited and is ready to see the Jesus and is motivated.

And that's what we can do with our life in between the mountains when we take it.

It is going to be hard to keep it littered.

It is going to be sometimes people won't like it.

But the impact we can make when that light shines can be like Anna in the gospel.

And we can change the world.

We can change our worship.

Change those around us.

We can love those around us like Jesus did, even as a little babe who simply walked into the temple.

So when we take our light from the mountain, I encourage you not to just leave it there.

Not to show up on Christmas Eve and go, this is really cool.

But I encourage you to take it with you in between the mountains, in between the big services and big alpha.

Shine it as hard as we can.

Because that's what we're called to do.

That's what God, what Jesus came down to do for us, to shine that light.

Not just in the moment of the story of the birth, but his whole life through and through all the image we have.

I hope you all have a wonderful happy new year.

I hope you continue to shine a light.

And I hope that you enjoy the big lights in the sky guide as much as my Oriol does, and as much as my wonderful does comment.

The third day he rose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God and Father Almighty.

From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

Amen.

Let us pray.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Forgive us this day our daily prayer, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not to temptation, but deliver us from people.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

In Christ God's word has become flesh, dwelling among us, full of grace and truth.

Let us pray for the true light which enlightens the world, that from the fullness of God all creation may receive grace upon grace, saying, What has come into being in Christ was life.

And the life was the light of all people.

Clothe your church with garments of salvation, and cover her with robes of righteousness, O gracious one, that we may be your witness to testify to the light of what has come into being in Christ who is life.

Inspire the leaders of our nation and all in authority in the ways of grace and truth, that we may no longer be a people enslaved under the law, but may know unto ourselves to be heirs, adopted as God's children.

What has come into being in Christ was life.

That the fullness of your heart may be known for the healing of the earth.

What has come into being in Christ was life.

Live among us, O Word, made flesh, and reconcile this community to your light.

What has come into being in Christ was life.

Hear our gratitude for your glory manifest among us.

Receive those who have died as hearers of eternal life.

Loving and gracious Creator.

That your word may flesh and be grace upon grace to all the earth, and the power of your Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Amen.

Show us your mercy, O Lord.

Clothe your ministers with righteousness.

Give peace, O Lord, and all the world.

Lord, keep this nation under your care.

Let your way be known upon the earth.

Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten.

But the humble of the poor.

Create in us clean hearts, O God.

O God, you make us glad with the weekly remembrance of the glorious resurrection of your Son, our Lord.

Give us this day such blessing through our worship of you that the week to come may be spent in your favor through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified.

Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy church.

That in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we, your unworthy servants, give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving kindness to us and all whom you have made.

We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life, but above all for your immeasurable love and the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, for the means of grace, for the hope of glory, and we pray to give us such an awareness of your mercies that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit be honor and glory throughout all ages.

Amen.

Let us bless the Lord.

Glory to God whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.

Glory to God from generation to generation in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever.

Amen.

Please join me in singing joy to the world.

Yeah, we play the play a little outro.