One of the reasons, I believe, that so many mega-church pulpits are the launching pads for verbal displays of rhetorical power, is that the real Jesus of the gospels seems far less interesting than the God of Glory who promises material success as signs of spiritual accomplishment. Jesus' ministry, we recall on this first Sunday after the Epiphany, didn't begin with him grasping the reins of power from John and starting to baptize people with displays of divine omnipotence.

Today is the 7th day of Christmas - seven swans a-swimming .. Imagine a bevy of swans swimming gorgeously around the room. And the theme today is: Rejoice!

For unto us a Son is born, unto us a Child is given ..

Rejoice! for the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us," . (Eugene Peterson: "The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes.")

In 1945 a barely nineteen year old German captive in a prisoner of war camp in Scotland received a small Bible with a printed note in the front from a parishioner here at St. Thomas' Parish. Having been ordered to the front lines in a Belgian forest only a short time before the end of World War II, he later recounted that he surrendered in the field, in the dark of night, to the first British soldier he could find.

As Advent starts today, so does our Christian year. I'm always sort of glad that it sneaks up on us right after Thanksgiving. As our liturgical New Year's, today is a little like January 1st, without all the party-mess and fatigue. And yet our everyday experiences of the demands and rewards involved in authentic hospitality should remind us that Advent itself requires the familiar disciplines of preparation if we are to have our house in order and be able to celebrate the arrival of Christ in the midst of our harried and hurried worlds of work and home.