SORRY FOR THE TECHNICAL GLITCH IN GETTING OUT THIS WEEK'S HEARTBEAT!
News item from USA Today via Jim Winn:
Up to 100 Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic priests and monks swinging brooms clashed inside the Church of Nativity today in Bethlehem in a frenzied turf battle, the Associated Press reports. Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian clerics share the administration of the church, which often leads to jurisdictional disputes. The fighting broke out during cleaning of the West Bank church in preparation for Orthodox Christmas celebrations in early January, as each side jealously guards its territory. Palestinian police, using batons and shields, were called in to break up the fighting inside the basilica. "It was a trivial problem that . . . occurs every year," police Lieutenant-Colonel Khaled al-Tamimi tells Reuters. "Everything is all right and things have returned to normal.” He tells the news agency that there were no arrests "because all those involved were men of God."
I hope there are exemptions for ‘women of God’ too!
With news like this we at Beach United can celebrate our peaceful Christmas ecumenical services with St Aidan’s Anglican congregation. In addition, we are discovering a shared passion with St Aidan’s for serving food to those in our community who are hungry. In shared moments of worship and outreach we can see evidence of God’s love writ large.
And now we move from our Christmas season into our season of epiphany. Christmas gave us an opportunity to see God revealed in baby Jesus. Epiphany offers us 8 weeks to see God’s revelation even more clearly.
We begin looking for God revealed this Sunday when we hear about Jesus being baptized by his cousin John (Mark 1:4-11). Baptism plays an important part in our faith life because it is one of two sacraments, meaning a visible expression of God’s invisible grace. But what happens when we turn that grace into a wall that excludes others? Or when we turn our particular baptism ritual into the only way to enter heaven?
So this Sunday, let’s focus our spiritual eyes on an inclusive God as we revisit baptism. Oh, and prepare to get wet!
Shalom, Abigail
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