City Of Light Anglican Churchaurora, Illinois

Tonight with ashes on our heads we remember that we are marked by sin and death, but even more we remember that we are marked by the cross of Jesus where our sin is met with forgiveness and freedom, where our death is met with resurrection. For those who die in Christ, death is a door to eternal life, the healing of our bodies, everlasting freedom from death and sin. And that resurrection life begins now as we repent and believe the gospel.

Luke 9:28-36 Jesus shows us his gory on the mountain so that we can follow him into and out of the wilderness.

Ephesians 3:14-21 If it's true that you can have a relationship with God, what kind of relationship would you want?

Following the tragic shooting in Aurora, Father Trevor asks the question, "When Psalm 46 says that the Lord is our refuge and our strength, that he is ever present in our times of trouble, is that just a comforting idea or is that really true? Can we build our lives and face our deaths trusting that God is with us?" In the Bible, we read a story we can live in, we meet a God we can know, and we experience a healing that changes our lives.

I'm sorry that we who claim the name of Christ don't always live in Christ and that we sometimes build our own walls sin brick by sin brick to separate us from one another and make it more difficult to enter into the household of God. But Jesus did not come to keep people out. He came to invite all people into the household of God through him.

He did not create a world with suffering. When suffering entered the world he made a plan to enter into our suffering. On the cross, God ends suffering so that at the end there will be no suffering and the world will be healed. Where is God when we're suffering? He’s not sleeping, he’s weeping. God carries the weight of our suffering so that he can give us the weight of his glory.

Is it true that there is a God who made us? Or is it true that the world has just happened to happen? Is there something meaningful out there outside of ourselves that we can be a part of, or do we have to find and manufacture meaning ourselves?

Eternal God, you have promised your salvation to all peoples, and have given us a vision of a great multitude around your throne, from all nations and tribes and languages: Help us to bring this vision into our time and place; banish from us all prejudices and false presumptions; and enable us to hear and to speak new words of hope and praise; through Jesus Christ, the living Word. Amen.

On most Sundays I tend to sit in the very, ‘way’ back of the room and that gives me a pretty unique perspective week in and week out. It’s a beautiful picture of the church, of this home that we have here at city of light. From the joyful celebrations to our brokenness and our hurts, but to also see the healing and restoration that God brings to us and to our church family here in this home He has given us.

In Acts 10, we see that God opens the doors of his household to every household and all nations.

It was in that painful season that I realized I belonged within the community of City of Light. It was then that I recognized that God had been weaving me into the family tapestry. At the first worship night at the the Parish house this fall, I remember listening to everyone singing and thinking “This is my family.”

Kings and princes fall to their knees Lay their incense, spices and gold at his feet For his temple humble home Bid him welcome in your own The Christ, the Christ, we behold him The Christ, the Christ, angels extol him Robed in our shame, crowned with our sorrows he reigns Do you not perceive him? He stands at the door Will you not receive him? Oil and wine he will pour You who hunger come and taste You who slumber come awake The Christ, the Christ, we behold him The Christ, the Christ, angels extol him Robed in our shame, crowned with our sorrows he reigns (Crowned with our sorrows you reign) You who hunger, come and taste Find forgiveness in his gaze credits released January 6, 2019 written by David Yeager produced and mixed by John Pudar David Yeager: guitar, violin, vocals John Featheringham: piano, organ John Pudar: guitar, bass, percussion license all rights reserved Find more of David's music at https://davidyeagerband.bandcamp.com/music

God builds his household through our households. As he blesses us, he blesses others through us. As he is present to us, he is present through us. As he shines his light to our hearts, he shines his light to others hearts. Visit, O blessed Lord, this home with the gladness of your presence. Bless all who live here with the gift of your love; and grant that they may manifest your love [to each other and] to all whose lives they touch. May they grow in grace and in the knowledge and love of you; guide, comfort, and strengthen them; and preserve them in peace, O Jesus Christ, now and forever. Let’s begin this year by offering our households to him to shine his light through us as he shines his light to us.

The Bible says in the gospel of John that God became a person and moved into the neighborhood. God became our neighbor. And then we kicked him out. At Christmas, we remember that even though we didn’t want Jesus to be our neighbor, he always wants to be our neighbor. He was rejected by us as our neighbor so that we would never have to be rejected by him as his neighbor.

Luke 1:39 - 55 John, Elizabeth, and Mary all respond with joy and celebration that God's promises are coming true. Mary's song receives God's promises not just generally, but personally. God's promises turn our minds from the regrets of the past and they lift our eyes from the constraints of the presents to set our hearts on the hope of the future that is determined not by our circumstances but by the love of God.

God is with us, God delights in us, God sings over us. Zephaniah 3:14-20 Psalm 85 Luke 3:7-18

God has given us an incredible promise, that he will come again to wipe away every tear and right every wrong. In the middle of that improbable promise it seems impossible. But we can hope in God’s future promise because he kept his promise in the past. We believe in the second coming because of the first. He made his promise for you. He will keep it for you. We can be children of the promise.

Lesson - Zechariah 14:4-9 (NVI) Psalm - Psalm 50:1-6 (NIV) Gospel - Luke 21:25-36 (NIV) Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

“The greatest healing we will ever experience is called “resurrection.” after our bodies die, Jesus will heal us from death, our bodies will come alive, we will never die again.” —Father Trevor McMaken

Shame comes to hide and divide but Jesus comes to find and dignify. Shame wants to separate us from God but God wants to separate us from shame. Shame sets in early, but it's not the way it was supposed to be and it's not the way it will be. In the Garden (Genesis 3) God comes to find Adam and Eve hiding in their shame. At the well (John 4) Jesus comes to find the woman hiding in her shame. God comes to us in our shame to show us that he knows everything about us and still loves us.