Sunday Worship
Podcast: Reflection for December 5, 2021
- Details
Podcast: the reflection for the Second Sunday of Advent, December 5, 2021
by Rev. Jeanne Randall-Bodman
Click on the player below to listen now:
Liberating Words:
Psalm 78: 1-7
Genesis 17: 15-22
Luke 1: 39-45
Duration: about 18 minutes
Download MP3 (right click and select "Save Target As..." or "Save Link As..."; opens in a new window/tab)
Our podcast theme music was composed by KMUCC members Dave Parker and Kathy Walden (used by permission of the composers).
Blue Christmas Service
- Details
December 15, 2021 at 7:15 pm
Christmas can be a bittersweet time of year. For people living with grief, undergoing significant life changes, or struggles of any kind, the holiday season can hold hidden challenges. This is also the time of year with the longest nights of the year, so on one of those long nights, we will gather to rest in the sacred darkness, trusting that God is with us in darkness and light.
In the sanctuary and on ZOOM
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89337698851?pwd=dVVhS0Y5TTVFaUxCUHJjRVp3azNUUT09
Meeting ID: 893 3769 8851
Passcode: 947790
Not a Story of Inhospitality
- Details
To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.
-Mary Oliver
The booster and flu shots I had yesterday knocked me sideways so I spent much of the day snuggled under a blanket on the couch, shivering and trying to resist the temptation to doom scroll the news on my phone. I decided instead to re-read all the children’s Christmas books we have in the house. The picture book variety. Over and over again, I saw images of the manger from Luke’s version of the nativity story. The manger, which is in the text. And the stable, the animals and the cold-hearted inn-keeper – which are not anywhere in the text.
Like thousands of others, Mary and Joseph were internally displaced people, forced to move at the whim of an occupying force that had a deep love of counting things. Like thousands of others, they were vulnerable to Rome’s caprice. Like thousands of others, they relied on the hospitality of extended family to buffer the effects of Rome’s caprice. We know how the story goes: when the couple got to Bethlehem, there was no room for them in the “inn.” We hear the English word inn and our imaginations supply the picture of an ancient motel, complete with innkeeper. Much like the inn and inn keeper found later in the book of Luke, in the story of the good Samaritan.
But the author of Luke uses a different word here in the nativity story. Kataluma – can be translated as inn, but it more often referred to the hut or “upper room” built on the roof of some of the one-story, one-room houses common in that time and place. Katalumas were used to offer hospitality. And sometimes they were rented out. Imagine an ancient air bnb. It was this room, this kataluma, on the roof of a home probably belonging to one of Joseph’s relatives, that was too full for Mary and Joseph. So, instead of being shown to the room on the roof, the expectant couple settled down -- not outside, around back in an imaginary stable. Not in the gutter or a cave. But inside, down below with the rest of the family. Jesus was born as generations of his ancestors would have been, in the warmth of extended family. In an ordinary place, among ordinary people, receiving the tender care and hospitality of that community. In the kind of house with a central area where the very few animals owned by each family were brought in at night for warmth and security.
This is not a story of inhospitality. “Mary and Joseph found shelter in the kindness of people, presumably Joseph’s kin in his traditional homeland of Bethlehem. It is a story of what people under occupation have been doing for millennia: Looking after each other.” Now that is a story I want to sing. Of the extraordinariness and stubborn persistence of ordinary human kindness. Of hope that endures because God is present in everyday spaces.
God came uniquely in Jesus to teach us how to look and see and love the holy in each other, in our neighbor, in the stranger – in everyone.
A blessed, joyful Christmas to each and all of you.
Sunday Worship: In person and live on Zoom
- Details
We gather for worship at 10:00 am every Sunday
Together is a good place to be! Whoever you are, you're welcome here.
Celebrating the Second Sunday of Advent, 12/5/2021
In person worship in the church building at 4790 SE Logus Rd, Milwaukie OR 97222.
For the time being, face masks are required while inside the building.
We also ask that everyone follow social distancing guidelines.
Simultaneous live-streaming over the KMUCC Zoom Worship Space.
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/984869259?pwd=YzQ0MEpRZXdYdE5JWDZ2SUYvZXc3UT09
Meeting ID: 984 869 259
Passcode: 314810
Join us by phone: (253) 215-8782 USA, or (301) 715-8592 USA
Theology On Tap
- Details
Theology On Tap: 7:00 pm on the 3rd Tuesday each month - will meet on Nov. 23, 2021 this month.
This isn't a closed group or an event you need to have been to before. If you like to talk with your church friends about life, the universe, and everything, come on in!
Currently reading Reading Diana Butler Bass’ book “Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence”
ZOOM gathering
Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86121354549?pwd=eThVUE1wZEVaVWZzM2VVcENHVGZqQT09
Meeting ID: 861 2135 4549
Passcode: 596986
No matter who ...
- Details
No matter who you are, or where you are on life's journey, you're welcome here!
If you know that God's love embraces all persons equally, no matter their gender, race, or sexual identity...
If you understand that faith is a matter of mind as well as heart, and that taking the Bible seriously means it cannot always be taken literally...
If, for you, diversity, tolerance, and inclusion are strengths to be taught...
If you believe that Christ calls us to be nothing less than global citizens, that the social expression of love is justice and that spiritual concerns are inseparable from a commitment to the natural world...
If you have wished for a more open and embracing community of faith to nurture your spirit and raise your children, and haven't yet found a place of belonging...
... then please know that Kairos-Milwaukie United Church of Christ is the place for you.
Kairos-Milwaukie UCC seeks to create a community where participants can experience intellectual and spiritual excitement; a spirit of openness and acceptance, as well as love and laughter. We are a community where evangelism is in partnership with social justice; where personal spiritual growth and concern for the poor and disenfranchised go hand in hand; where nurture and action are two sides of the same coin; where love for tradition and a sense of urgency about the future are integrally linked. We are a community of faithful people who have known the joy of having been loved, accepted and affirmed by God. We are a community that celebrates our diversity as a way to understand and respond to the inclusiveness of God's love and the wideness of God's mercy.