From the Pastor
First Presbyterian Church of Honeoye Falls
December 2011

Dear friends in Christ,

Intersections.

We experience them every day. Two roads cross, or "T". We look both ways and walk or drive through them.

Friends meet after years apart. They share how their lives have "intersected" through the years.

In my first parish (Quanah, Texas), I discovered quite by accident that my paternal great-grandmother was the greataunt of one of the members of the church I served, and that an uncle of mine grew up in that town (and even helped lay the brick on the street in front of the manse). A couple of unexpected, deeply moving "intersections."

Advent (the four Sundays/weeks prior to Christmas) is a season of incredible intersection:

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. (Revised Standard Version)
And the Word became flesh and lived among us. (New Revised Standard Version)
The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. (The Message)
The Word became flesh and set up a tent among us. (Val's translation from the Greek)

That’s an intersection!

The very Word of God (the Word which was present at creation) became flesh (intersected with our very being) and dwelt/lived/moved into the neighborhood/set up a tent among us. That's an intersection of heaven and earth, divine and human that is—frankly—unique among faith messages.

Advent explores those intersections, as we and the world around us celebrate the birth of Jesus in Nazareth.

Where is God active in your life (our church's life) right now?
Where (even, in whom) do you (and our church) experience the presence, the care, the Word of God?
For whom might you yourself (and our church) be an intersection between God and human life?
What excites your (our church's) passion in a healthy, whole-making way?
Where does the world cry out for the intersection of God's love and our world, as if to quote Isaiah, "Would that you, Lord, would tear apart the heavens and come down!" Who needs to hear the gospel message: “Fear not, for I bring you good news of great joy, for to you is born this day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord?” In other words, for whom might you/we be angels?
Do any intersections happen for you/for us in the course of worshiping together?

These are intersection questions. Advent invites us to ask them, and to be open to the responses that come through the asking.

Looking for intersections,

Reverend Val